Shadowing Practice: Supernatural thinking: Your brain’s anti-anxiety mode | Clay Routledge - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Our great intelligence causes great anxiety.
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There's a burden to our cognitive enlightenment.
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As existential organisms, there's all sorts of supernatural beliefs that we invest in.
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There's the common ones that most people are familiar with related to the religious traditions that we're part of,
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but there's also all sorts of other types of supernatural beliefs such as the belief in ghosts, a belief in other types of spirits,
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a belief in psychic powers, a belief in almost superhuman abilities like mind reading.
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We also invest in things that aren't necessarily hardcore beliefs but that we might refer to as supernatural light, things like UFOs and aliens.
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Our interest in the supernatural is probably a story as old as our species.
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There's something about wanting to not be confined by earthly parameters.
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The story of supernatural thinking is a complex one.
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That is, there's not just one source or one cause of our supernatural interest, but a big one is the realization of our mortality.
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Supernatural beliefs give us some sense that even though life on this planet is short, even though it's uncertain.
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There's a part of me that is more than that.
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There's a part of me that's beyond my material existence.
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I have some spiritual essence that transcends mortality.
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We also have to deal with the loss of loved ones.
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And supernatural beliefs help us deal with loss.
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When a loved one passes, we gain some sense of comfort and our sadness that we still remain connected to them in some way.
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In some way, the relationship persists, even though they're not physically with us anymore.
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All animals at some level need to make sense of the external world.
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It helps to have some basic understanding of cause and effect.
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But what makes humans unique is not only do we need to make sense of our external world
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so we can navigate it, but we also have an internal world.
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We're very introspective.
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We're highly self -aware, and so we want to make sense of our own lives.
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And supernatural beliefs can help us make sense of the external world by helping make it more orderly and predictable,
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but it also plays a critical role in helping us make sense of our own existence.
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At some level, all humans are aware of the fact that we're tiny.
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We're tiny in a lot of ways, right?
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If you think about our relative size in the universe,
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we're just a tiny speck on a planet that's just a tiny part of a much larger universe.
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In addition to that, if you think about the concept of time, that also makes us feel small.
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We know that our time on this planet is very brief in the grand scheme of things.
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Supernatural beliefs help us connect ourselves to something that solves that problem of smallness.
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Even though I'm only here for a brief moment in time, I'm connected to others who have been here for a long time
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and hopefully connected to others that will be here for a long time in the future.
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As humans who are highly introspective, we have all sorts of insecurities and personal struggles that we have to deal with.
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Supernatural beliefs in a lot of ways help us.
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They help offer guidance.
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They help us feel like there's some sense of order or purpose in our lives.
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They're part of that dialogue with the self.
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That's one of the reasons people pray, for instance, is they want to have a conversation
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or connection with the divine as a way to help resolve some of their personal challenges and struggles.
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So there seems to be a lot of evidence that supernatural thinking is natural to humans.
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It's part of what it means to be a human, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's good.
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Critics of supernatural beliefs would think that they can make us believe in things that are just scientifically false.
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Supernatural beliefs can make people dogmatic, which can and contribute to serious conflict, even war.
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At the same time, they are actually also quite good for us.
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That anxiety inspires us.
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It's part of the story of what makes us want to advance society
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and to help others because we look beyond the mortal self.
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Supernatural beliefs help us feel like we're part of a meaningful cosmic drama.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Supernatural thinking: Your brain’s anti-anxiety mode”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: supernatural, belief, sense, tiny, sorts. This video has 36 sentences and 724 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:34. The speaker talks at a natural 158 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 82% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| belief noun | /bɪˈliːf/ | Mental acceptance of a claim as true. |
| supernatural adjective | /ˌsu.pəɹˈnæ.tʃə.ɹəl/ | Above nature; beyond or added to nature, often so considered because it is given by a deity or some force beyond that with which humans are born. |
| connect verb | /kəˈnɛkt/ | To join (to another object): to attach, or to be intended to attach or capable of attaching, to another object. |
| necessarily adverb | /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/ | Inevitably; of necessity. |
| anxiety noun | /æŋˈzaɪ.əti/ | An unpleasant state of mental uneasiness, nervousness, apprehension and obsession or concern about some uncertain event. |
| invest verb | /ɪnˈvɛst/ | To spend money, time, or energy on something, especially for some benefit or purpose; used with in. |
| mortality noun | /mɔɹˈtælɪti/ | The state of being susceptible to death. |
| relative noun | /ˈɹɛl.ə.tɪv/ | Someone connected by blood, marriage, or adoption; someone in the same family. |
| refer verb | /ɹɪˈfɜː/ | To direct the attention of (someone toward something). |
| ghost noun | /ɡoʊst/ | A disembodied soul; a soul or spirit of a deceased person; a spirit appearing after death. |
| solve verb | /sɒlv/ | To find an answer or solution to a problem or question; to work out. |
| comfort noun | /ˈkʌm.fət/ | Contentment, ease. |
| pray verb | /pɹeɪ/ | To direct words, thoughts, or one's attention to a deity or any higher being, for the sake of adoration, thanks, petition for help, etc. |
| spiritual adjective | /ˈspɪɹɪt͡ʃuəl/ | Of or pertaining to the spirit or the soul. |
| contribute verb | /kənˈtɹɪb.jut/ | To give something that is or becomes part of a larger whole. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 13 contractions and reduced forms, such as we're, they're, aren't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: speculation /ˌspɛk.jəˈleɪ.ʃən/, realization /ˌɹɪə.laɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/, existential /ˌɛɡzɪˈstɛnʃl̩/
- Long words — get the stress right: supernatural /ˌsu.pəɹˈnæ.tʃə.ɹəl/, necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, anxiety /æŋˈzaɪ.əti/, mortality /mɔɹˈtælɪti/, speculation /ˌspɛk.jəˈleɪ.ʃən/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like belief, supernatural, connect.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.