Why We Crave Gurus: A Skeptic's Reckoning With Belief, Bitcoin, and Burning Man | Vikram Gandhi

Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Ten Percent Happier podcast. I'm Dan Harris. For decades, various friends of mine have very passionately encouraged me to go to Burning Man, the annual festival in, the Desert Of Nevada that draws tens of thousands of people. And, these passionate invitations and exhortations have, landed for me as, sometimes inspiring and intriguing and sometimes irritating. It's, people who really are into Burning Man a little bit remind me of that classic, cartoon in the New Yorker from a decade ago. It has two women eating lunch, And one of them says to the other, I've been gluten free for a week, and I'm already annoying. And, that can really happen with people who get deeply into Burning Man. So today, we're gonna talk about the truth about Burning Man, but we're gonna talk about it much more than that because my guest is a fascinating, figure in the culture. His name is Vikram Gandhi. He's the co director of a new, documentary on HBO called The Man Will Burn, but he's done a lot of other stuff that I wanna talk to him about. In fact, he he burst, onto the collective consciousness, in the early aughts, when he made a documentary called Kumare in which he plays a fake Indian guru who, is able to inspire a real following conundrum, that creates a real reckoning for him. So we're gonna talk to, Vikram today about, whether a skeptic can find meaning, why we're so drawn to gurus, what is the truth about Burning Man, and much more. Vikram Gandhi after this quick break. A few things before we hear from our sponsors. I've got exciting news. If you love this show but do not love listening to the advertisements, a subscription to my app, Ten Percent with Dan Harris, now includes a private ad free feed of the Ten Percent Happier podcast available on whatever platform you choose, whether that's Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or right inside the app itself. Plus, along with an ad free listening experience, the app also gives you a growing library of meditations from world class teachers, exclusive livestream events with me and many of our incredible instructors, and robust and supportive discussion threads where you can ask questions, share your struggles, and connect with our growing community. We've got a free fourteen day trial. If you wanna try it before you buy, join the party. Danharris.com. We'll be right back after this. As a man of a certain age, I've become increasingly, sensitive to the need to take care of my skin. I've been, trying to put moisturizer on every night before I go to bed, which is not something I ever thought about, frankly, for the, preceding fifty plus years of my life. But I have recently found a product that I really love when it comes to my moisturizer game pre bed. It's called GU. It's a Korean skin care brand that's built a cult following …