Rainn Wilson is best known for his role as Dwight Schrute on The Office—one of the most iconic characters in television history. The Office consistently ranks among the greatest TV shows of all time and has remained one of the most watched shows on streaming services in the last five years.
But there’s so much more to Rainn than his acting career. As the co-founder of SoulPancake, he has spent years exploring life’s biggest questions and is one of Hollywood’s most outspoken voices on spirituality. He’s also a bestselling author, with The Bassoon King (2015) and SoulBoom (2023), the latter making an instant splash on The New York Times bestseller list.
In this episode, Rainn opens up about his personal journey—his battles with addiction, anxiety, and an existential crisis, and how he found healing through therapy and spirituality. We also dive into his Hollywood breakthrough, the myth that success leads to happiness, and why he believes the Western world is in desperate need of a spiritual revolution.
From consciousness and religion to human suffering and mental health, this is Rainn at his most raw, insightful, and thought-provoking.
Timestamps: 0:00 - Intro 2:43 - Sponsor: N-2 Water 3:42 - Getting rejected at Juilliard 12:22 - Rainn’s drug addiction 15:25 - Going to therapy for first time 17:58 - Why Rainn had a mental health crisis 21:41 - Constant panic attacks 26:57 - Generational trauma & Rainn’s childhood 34:18 - Becoming an atheist 38:08 - Considering spirituality 42:34 - Answered prayer or coincidence? 46:10 - Investigating the truth 54:11 - Moving to Hollywood 56:20 - Landing The Office role 1:02:55 - Becoming famous 1:04:47 - The Rocker 1:10:44 - The insatiable desire for more 1:17:53 - My Last Days 1:22:13 - The need for a spiritual revolution 1:32:54 - Psychedelics 1:39:07 - Consciousness 1:49:48 - Religion 1:56:54 - Morality 2:07:19 - Suffering, pain & struggles 2:15:45 - Are all religions the same? 2:29:08 - Biggest takeaways
Get 20% off your first order of N-2 Water with code EARLYSIPS at checkout: https://www.n-2water.com/mightypursuit
Buy SoulBoom: https://amzn.to/41N1qEc
Related Episodes: https://youtu.be/m-9o5aFAqrI https://youtu.be/f5mzNrdactw
Rainn Wilson Links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rainnwilson/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rainnwilson
Mighty Pursuit Links: Website: https://www.mightypursuit.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mightypursuit/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mightypursuit/ X: https://x.com/MightyPursuit
For business inquiries: hello@mightypursuit.com
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!