E167 Ryan Bush Nietzsche Beyond Good & Evil
Let’s Be Well Together Podcast - Episode 167
Date: April 8, 2025
Participants: John Webster, Isabelle Sinclair and Sheila Webster
Guest: Ryan A. Bush
Start Times and Segments:
[0:00:17] What’s On Your Mind: We wonder about a possible shift in social media habits, exploring what we see as a decrease in posting and the increase in passive consumption on TikTok and YouTube, including privacy concerns and the desire to be more present in real life.
[0:08:56] Expanding Minds Interview: [Intellectual Wellness] Ryan Bush explains Nietzsche’s concept of “beyond good and evil” as an invitation to escape conventional moral frameworks that divide the world into absolute rights and wrongs. Traditional morality can be dogmatic, rigid, inherited and reductionist—often based on unquestioned assumptions that reward obedience over understanding. Ryan sees these systems as creating intellectual stagnation by discouraging critical thinking and nuance. Instead, drawing from Nietzsche, he prefers evolving our values through personal reflection and philosophical courage. Ryan encourages moving past dogmatic moral binaries toward a more dynamic, context-sensitive approach to ethics—one that evolves with insight and experience.
Link to Ryan’s Video: How to Go Beyond Good and Evil (and Why You Should) – Nietzsche on the Mistakes of Morality
[0:29:11] Move That Body: Gardening not only beautifies your surroundings but also serves as an excellent exercise routine. The physical tasks involved, such as raking, lifting, and cutting, help you stay fit while enjoying the fresh air and the rewarding sight of your hard work.
Takeaways:
Ryan – Morality based on fixed rules is a limitation—true freedom begins where good and evil dissolve.
Ryan – Ethics rooted in cultural consensus are often tools of control, not expressions of truth.
Ryan – The dichotomy of good versus evil is a human construct, not an absolute framework.
Ryan – Authentic living arises not from obeying moral codes but from alignment with inner truth.
Ryan – Transcending good and evil opens the door to a more fluid, dynamic, and personal ethics.
Ryan – Moral systems tend to simplify reality, flattening the richness of human experience.
Ryan – True responsibility comes not from conformity, but from the courage to choose without moral crutches.
Guest Information: Ryan A Bush is a thinker, author and designer focused on building better systems, better people, and a better future. His background is in the design of systems. He’s worked with tech startups to design and develop everything from physical products to software, to buildings, to business models. He’s had a lifelong interest in introspective investigation, ravenous reading, and obsessive self-optimization. For many years, Ryan has studied the insights of ancient teachers, practical philosophers and cognitive scientists. He’s written two books – The first – Designing the Mind – helps readers understand the workings of their own minds and the keys to sculpting them. The second – Become Who You Are – is about the psychology of well-being and concepts connected with Happiness.
Links to some of Ryan’s books:
Become Who You Are: A New Theory of Self-Esteem, Human Greatness, and the Opposite of Depression
The Book of Self Mastery: Timeless Quotes About Knowing, Changing, and Mastering Yourself
Link to Mindform community: https://mindform.io/
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Thanks for joining us,
(-(-_(-_-)_-)-) Your wellness check-in team
John, Sammy, Cameron, Sheila, Elise, Isabelle, Noura, Julie and Riley