Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome back to RealClear Podcast everybody.
This is your host, Lucas Klein.
It is Sunday, August 24th, 2025.
It's about 7:00 AM and I'm gonna talk to you here briefly before I go out there and get some work done on the property.
Uh, you can only work for around three or four hours when it's really this hot, otherwise, in the middle of the day.
(00:24):
You're cooking out there in the sun, and I'm prone to overexertion, uh, as many of you know, who are members and have listened to me for a while.
You understand my, my medical, uh, issues that I do to myself in the heat.
Last year I tore my bicep and had surgery and luckily I have made a full recovery and pumping iron again and out there doing everything I would do with my other arm.
(00:51):
And I hear that it's probably gonna be stronger than my other arm.
Anyways, it's, and it's almost gaining the same, the bicep is gaining the same shape again as my other arm.
And so I'm getting some symmetry.
That was a worry of mine.
It was, it was looking too round, you know, as I would, um, flex in the mirror to sort of look and, and see how it's going through the years, not just for narcissistic reflection, but I would, um, sort of monitor the change and, you know, I would supinate and, and see how it's, uh, communicating across the, across the arm.
(01:25):
And everything's gone fine.
And now it's starting to get that, that high peak, that kind of, uh, sharp peak at the top, which is, um, nice to see.
But anyways, I last year.
I got pretty severe, um, uh, heat exhaustion.
It probably was heat stroke to be frank.
And I got that the weekend before my surgery because I could use my arm and I needed to finish these projects.
(01:49):
I had on my ranch building these buildings and me and my, my neighbor Doug, who I hired to come over and help me, he does some handyman work.
Really good guy.
And I just, I had one arm.
With another arm that I could use, uh, comfortably but not adequately.
And so I got these buildings done that I constructed from the ground up foundation all the way up to the roof.
(02:09):
And I wanted to get it all done prior to my surgery.
So I gave myself heat stroke prior to a, prior to a rather significant surgery.
I don't recommend doing that.
And then this year I was conscious enough and cognizant enough of that experience because I didn't wanna repeat it.
Um, and I got heat exhaustion.
Two days ago being out in the heat, um, doing some work.
(02:32):
So I, I improved, meaning I didn't get heat stroke, but I got heat exhaustion.
So I expect that by next summer I only get mildly overheated and then I come inside and I just, I don't know, have a margarita or something and fucking chill out, which I, I don't do easily.
(02:55):
Um.
I keep projects open and I love to, to build things and, and make declarative statements both physically and, and, um, in an oratory sense.
So that leads into what am I doing and what do I see as a foot for American culture? I don't know what I'm doing.
(03:17):
As you can tell, newsflash, I have gone through iterations of this podcast where I am not sure.
Where I want to take it.
I, I think I, I know I want to take it somewhere over time, but I'm letting it naturally evolve.
Um, so I, I appreciate you staying on, and some of you members I realize may not be motivated to continue your membership.
(03:41):
That's okay.
But this is, um, this is a genuine reflection and I'm not so sure you get that.
In many places in the podcast world, and lemme tell you why.
If you have regular broadcasts and someone's trying to like make a living from it, you're pretty sure at that point that they must produce.
(04:08):
Um, I don't have to produce, if any of you have been with me since the beginning, way back in 2021.
That has been something that I've stated from the beginning.
I, I don't have to do this.
I like doing it.
I don't have to do it.
Um, I do want membership dues because who wants to do anything for free? And I, I really appreciate your support.
(04:30):
And by the way, to remind you, I do give 10% of any revenues to real clear 10% of profit to veterans charities.
Um, but the purpose of this must be genuine and authentic to me.
So I, I become nauseated by podcasts, by the, um, placement of advertisements, by the, the reading of sponsors, by the must broadcast, find something in the world to yammer about podcasts.
(05:07):
There's not always something that really attracts me, and in fact, there's value in turning away from being attracted to something.
In the world.
There's, there is value to internalizing for a bit and then returning to the exterior.
And I think that's what I've been doing.
(05:28):
I've also needed to make a, a rather profound career shift that has been much more, um, foundational for me and, and, and of the essence we might say.
As many of you know who have listened to the miniseries I just had on the state of psychotherapy, I, I don't believe that that is a viable profession anymore.
And you can, I won't recast my positions there.
(05:49):
You can re, you can look at those, that miniseries with Kuvan Seal, uh, Todd Hyen, John Mills and Mark McDonald, all in the psychiatric and psychological, uh, professions.
And, and I have, I've been a forensic psychologist since 2013.
I've worked in prisons on civil cases, criminal matters.
(06:10):
Um, I've vast experience and I've just returned to it.
Um, I, I open the door and I've said, this is, look, this is where I'm gonna spend my career.
I'm always gonna see highly motivated patients who are a good fit with me.
Um, notice I don't say who I'm a good fit for.
That's, it's just a slight of hand there.
(06:32):
Um, I mean a, a good fit for me.
I, one has to recognize who they are in a rather concrete operational manner when they reach their, their middle Ages and be real about that.
And so as I, as I evaluate patients for Fittedness, there is a recognition that at this point, after three analyses of my own, I am who I am.
(06:57):
Okay.
Warts and all.
And I need to evaluate the patient for, for whether they're going to fit into my provisions of treatment.
That's an honest way of going about treating people.
The modern relational way is the fantasy of the, of the, of the therapist, believing that they can morph nicely and therapeutically into what the patient needs.
(07:27):
I really don't think that that's.
Possible, and I think it's, um, driven by market forces.
We might say that fantasy of being able to shift like a spirit into what someone's needs are, is driven by market forces.
I'll let you fill in the gaps there.
(07:49):
So.
I am a forensic psychologist.
Now I'm pursuing board certification, which there's only around three to 400, um, uh, ABIs, American Board of Professional Psychologists.
The highest distinction you can possibly get in the field, in the field of, of, of psychology at all.
Um.
There's only two super credible abbis.
(08:12):
There's neuropsychology and forensics, which have existed since 1943 and they've expanded them, but these are the two, these are the two whammies, and there's only three to 400 abbis in the country at this point, and I'm going to achieve mine at some point.
I don't know when.
It's a long grueling process, and the reason is that though this field is more exclusive because it, you actually have to know what you're doing in a, in a demonstrated sense.
(08:38):
That it kind of scares the, it scares a lot of the, um, charlatans away, which is a good thing.
In the field of therapy, you find people who are complete charlatans.
You find them, uh, sadly all too frequently because they are behind closed doors with only one audience member and nothing they do is ever verifiable well in forensics.
(09:01):
It's the practice of psychology in public.
It really is.
Everything you do is discoverable, and often I'm sitting in front of a jury panel and with a public audience, an actual public audience.
Court reporters and all the rest.
Well, if you don't know what you're doing, you're not gonna be prone, you're not gonna be willing to sit in front of people and, and do that.
(09:23):
Um, so I enjoy this because it, it separates the wheat from the chaff and, and that that means that my, my colleagues in this vein of my field are more credible people than you're gonna find in the therapy profession.
I still am going to continue.
Um, waging the fight within American psychoanalysis, uh, against what I see as a radical takeover of, of, of a profession that has helped me tremendously.
(09:56):
So I don't want to abandon it, but I'm certainly not going to anchor myself to it, if that makes sense.
So I wanna speak more broadly about what I'm actually interested in.
Um, a as many of you know, I think that you can look at the modern coffee shop.
And you can find, you can see pathology in a modern coffee shop, depending on where it is and, and, and so on.
(10:21):
It's regionally differentiated.
Now, I, I don't advise going out into public and, and taking purely in observer standpoint, like you're, like you're in a science project because that stops you from just being in humanity.
And I like people.
I like to, I, I like to find the common suffrage amongst us to connect with the spirit and people.
(10:50):
Um, that being said, when I go out, I see things and I have for several years that, that it really make me uncomfortable.
And I think coffee shops are a, a, they are a Petri dish for some very acute things.
Are wrong with American culture.
(11:11):
I've had this observation for several years when I used to practice in Solana Beach.
And it's a little coastal, very affluent coastal town.
Kind of a combination of, um, like beach, beach bum with like, lemme put it this way.
Um, a beach bum who puts his surfboard in an Aston Martin that, that's Solana Beach and then drives back to, uh, you know, a a $3 million condo that overlooks the ocean.
(11:42):
That's, uh, that's where it is.
So I've noticed this since I practiced there.
There was this really, um, affluent coffee shop on a, on a little place called South Ros, and I won't name it, but just because I don't wanna discredit them.
They make great coffee.
I remember they used to make a latte.
(12:03):
This is back in 2013.
And I saw it up on the board, it was $9 and 50 cents.
I thought that was outrageous back then.
Now there are coffee shops serving drip coffee for $7.
There are coffee shops and I've taken pictures of the menus 'cause I didn't think other people would believe me.
(12:26):
Calling, uh uh, pour Over Coffees Market price.
Now a pour over is just when a coffee clerk working at the, at the coffee shops, I don't call them baristas, it's just I don't believe in a silly language.
Um, when they grind some coffee in front of you, uh, special coffee.
(12:47):
Yeah.
So, you know, single origin, uh, so to speak.
And then they, they, they put it in this little thing and then they, they pour hot water over it into your individual cup.
And they do this while.
Arced over, they arc their backs and they, they, they make it look like it's some kind of chemistry project.
(13:09):
A very, very, um, complex, careful procedure that must be done just so.
And it takes a long time and I ordered one on accident once and I had somewhere to go.
And remember, this is a guy who can't not go out and get heat stroke to do things right.
(13:32):
One of the lingering problems, uh, left unanalyzed across my three different analyses.
Um.
So I'm sort of looking at this whole thing, wondering what is happening to me, what is happening to me right now? This is taking like 15 minutes.
What is going on here? I just want a coffee.
(13:53):
I want to get in my truck.
I need to go.
And from here, go to real clear podcast.com,
or click the link in the show notes below real clear podcast.com.
You'll get everything in its full form.
Thanks.
Welcome back to RealClear Podcast everybody.
This is your host, Lucas Klein.
It is Sunday, August 24th, 2025.
It's about 7:00 AM and I'm gonna talk to you here briefly before I go out there and get some work done on the property.
Uh, you can only work for around three or four hours when it's really this hot, otherwise, in the middle of the day.
(00:24):
You're cooking out there in the sun, and I'm prone to overexertion, uh, as many of you know, who are members and have listened to me for a while.
You understand my, my medical, uh, issues that I do to myself in the heat.
Last year I tore my bicep and had surgery and luckily I have made a full recovery and pumping iron again and out there doing everything I would do with my other arm.
(00:51):
And I hear that it's probably gonna be stronger than my other arm.
Anyways, it's, and it's almost gaining the same, the bicep is gaining the same shape again as my other arm.
And so I'm getting some symmetry.
That was a worry of mine.
It was, it was looking too round, you know, as I would, um, flex in the mirror to sort of look and, and see how it's going through the years, not just for narcissistic reflection, but I would, um, sort of monitor the change and, you know, I would supinate and, and see how it's, uh, communicating across the, across the arm.
(01:25):
And everything's gone fine.
And now it's starting to get that, that high peak, that kind of, uh, sharp peak at the top, which is, um, nice to see.
But anyways, I last year.
I got pretty severe, um, uh, heat exhaustion.
It probably was heat stroke to be frank.
And I got that the weekend before my surgery because I could use my arm and I needed to finish these projects.
(01:49):
I had on my ranch building these buildings and me and my, my neighbor Doug, who I hired to come over and help me, he does some handyman work.
Really good guy.
And I just, I had one arm.
With another arm that I could use, uh, comfortably but not adequately.
And so I got these buildings done that I constructed from the ground up foundation all the way up to the roof.
(02:09):
And I wanted to get it all done prior to my surgery.
So I gave myself heat stroke prior to a, prior to a rather significant surgery.
I don't recommend doing that.
And then this year I was conscious enough and cognizant enough of that experience because I didn't wanna repeat it.
Um, and I got heat exhaustion.
Two days ago being out in the heat, um, doing some work.
(02:32):
So I, I improved, meaning I didn't get heat stroke, but I got heat exhaustion.
So I expect that by next summer I only get mildly overheated and then I come inside and I just, I don't know, have a margarita or something and fucking chill out, which I, I don't do easily.
(02:55):
Um.
I keep projects open and I love to, to build things and, and make declarative statements both physically and, and, um, in an oratory sense.
So that leads into what am I doing and what do I see as a foot for American culture? I don't know what I'm doing.
(03:17):
As you can tell, newsflash, I have gone through iterations of this podcast where I am not sure.
Where I want to take it.
I, I think I, I know I want to take it somewhere over time, but I'm letting it naturally evolve.
Um, so I, I appreciate you staying on, and some of you members I realize may not be motivated to continue your membership.
(03:41):
That's okay.
But this is, um, this is a genuine reflection and I'm not so sure you get that.
In many places in the podcast world, and lemme tell you why.
If you have regular broadcasts and someone's trying to like make a living from it, you're pretty sure at that point that they must produce.
(04:08):
Um, I don't have to produce, if any of you have been with me since the beginning, way back in 2021.
That has been something that I've stated from the beginning.
I, I don't have to do this.
I like doing it.
I don't have to do it.
Um, I do want membership dues because who wants to do anything for free? And I, I really appreciate your support.
(04:30):
And by the way, to remind you, I do give 10% of any revenues to real clear 10% of profit to veterans charities.
Um, but the purpose of this must be genuine and authentic to me.
So I, I become nauseated by podcasts, by the, um, placement of advertisements, by the, the reading of sponsors, by the must broadcast, find something in the world to yammer about podcasts.
(05:07):
There's not always something that really attracts me, and in fact, there's value in turning away from being attracted to something.
In the world.
There's, there is value to internalizing for a bit and then returning to the exterior.
And I think that's what I've been doing.
(05:28):
I've also needed to make a, a rather profound career shift that has been much more, um, foundational for me and, and, and of the essence we might say.
As many of you know who have listened to the miniseries I just had on the state of psychotherapy, I, I don't believe that that is a viable profession anymore.
And you can, I won't recast my positions there.
(05:49):
You can re, you can look at those, that miniseries with Kuvan Seal, uh, Todd Hyen, John Mills and Mark McDonald, all in the psychiatric and psychological, uh, professions.
And, and I have, I've been a forensic psychologist since 2013.
I've worked in prisons on civil cases, criminal matters.
(06:10):
Um, I've vast experience and I've just returned to it.
Um, I, I open the door and I've said, this is, look, this is where I'm gonna spend my career.
I'm always gonna see highly motivated patients who are a good fit with me.
Um, notice I don't say who I'm a good fit for.
That's, it's just a slight of hand there.
(06:32):
Um, I mean a, a good fit for me.
I, one has to recognize who they are in a rather concrete operational manner when they reach their, their middle Ages and be real about that.
And so as I, as I evaluate patients for Fittedness, there is a recognition that at this point, after three analyses of my own, I am who I am.
(06:57):
Okay.
Warts and all.
And I need to evaluate the patient for, for whether they're going to fit into my provisions of treatment.
That's an honest way of going about treating people.
The modern relational way is the fantasy of the, of the, of the therapist, believing that they can morph nicely and therapeutically into what the patient needs.
(07:27):
I really don't think that that's.
Possible, and I think it's, um, driven by market forces.
We might say that fantasy of being able to shift like a spirit into what someone's needs are, is driven by market forces.
I'll let you fill in the gaps there.
(07:49):
So.
I am a forensic psychologist.
Now I'm pursuing board certification, which there's only around three to 400, um, uh, ABIs, American Board of Professional Psychologists.
The highest distinction you can possibly get in the field, in the field of, of, of psychology at all.
Um.
There's only two super credible abbis.
(08:12):
There's neuropsychology and forensics, which have existed since 1943 and they've expanded them, but these are the two, these are the two whammies, and there's only three to 400 abbis in the country at this point, and I'm going to achieve mine at some point.
I don't know when.
It's a long grueling process, and the reason is that though this field is more exclusive because it, you actually have to know what you're doing in a, in a demonstrated sense.
(08:38):
That it kind of scares the, it scares a lot of the, um, charlatans away, which is a good thing.
In the field of therapy, you find people who are complete charlatans.
You find them, uh, sadly all too frequently because they are behind closed doors with only one audience member and nothing they do is ever verifiable well in forensics.
(09:01):
It's the practice of psychology in public.
It really is.
Everything you do is discoverable, and often I'm sitting in front of a jury panel and with a public audience, an actual public audience.
Court reporters and all the rest.
Well, if you don't know what you're doing, you're not gonna be prone, you're not gonna be willing to sit in front of people and, and do that.
(09:23):
Um, so I enjoy this because it, it separates the wheat from the chaff and, and that that means that my, my colleagues in this vein of my field are more credible people than you're gonna find in the therapy profession.
I still am going to continue.
Um, waging the fight within American psychoanalysis, uh, against what I see as a radical takeover of, of, of a profession that has helped me tremendously.
(09:56):
So I don't want to abandon it, but I'm certainly not going to anchor myself to it, if that makes sense.
So I wanna speak more broadly about what I'm actually interested in.
Um, a as many of you know, I think that you can look at the modern coffee shop.
And you can find, you can see pathology in a modern coffee shop, depending on where it is and, and, and so on.
(10:21):
It's regionally differentiated.
Now, I, I don't advise going out into public and, and taking purely in observer standpoint, like you're, like you're in a science project because that stops you from just being in humanity.
And I like people.
I like to, I, I like to find the common suffrage amongst us to connect with the spirit and people.
(10:50):
Um, that being said, when I go out, I see things and I have for several years that, that it really make me uncomfortable.
And I think coffee shops are a, a, they are a Petri dish for some very acute things.
Are wrong with American culture.
(11:11):
I've had this observation for several years when I used to practice in Solana Beach.
And it's a little coastal, very affluent coastal town.
Kind of a combination of, um, like beach, beach bum with like, lemme put it this way.
Um, a beach bum who puts his surfboard in an Aston Martin that, that's Solana Beach and then drives back to, uh, you know, a a $3 million condo that overlooks the ocean.
(11:42):
That's, uh, that's where it is.
So I've noticed this since I practiced there.
There was this really, um, affluent coffee shop on a, on a little place called South Ros, and I won't name it, but just because I don't wanna discredit them.
They make great coffee.
I remember they used to make a latte.
(12:03):
This is back in 2013.
And I saw it up on the board, it was $9 and 50 cents.
I thought that was outrageous back then.
Now there are coffee shops serving drip coffee for $7.
There are coffee shops and I've taken pictures of the menus 'cause I didn't think other people would believe me.
(12:26):
Calling, uh uh, pour Over Coffees Market price.
Now a pour over is just when a coffee clerk working at the, at the coffee shops, I don't call them baristas, it's just I don't believe in a silly language.
Um, when they grind some coffee in front of you, uh, special coffee.
(12:47):
Yeah.
So, you know, single origin, uh, so to speak.
And then they, they, they put it in this little thing and then they, they pour hot water over it into your individual cup.
And they do this while.
Arced over, they arc their backs and they, they, they make it look like it's some kind of chemistry project.
(13:09):
A very, very, um, complex, careful procedure that must be done just so.
And it takes a long time and I ordered one on accident once and I had somewhere to go.
And remember, this is a guy who can't not go out and get heat stroke to do things right.
(13:32):
One of the lingering problems, uh, left unanalyzed across my three different analyses.
Um.
So I'm sort of looking at this whole thing, wondering what is happening to me, what is happening to me right now? This is taking like 15 minutes.
What is going on here? I just want a coffee.
(13:53):
I want to get in my truck.
I need to go.
And from here, go to real clear podcast.com,
or click the link in the show notes below real clear podcast.com.
You'll get everything in its full form.
Thanks.
Popular Podcasts
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!
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.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.