What happens when a country is discussed constantly, but rarely understood? Bobak Kalhor brings a filmmaker’s eye, an Iranian-American life story, and a historian’s discipline to a conversation that moves from Iran’s revolutionary past to the unconscious forces shaping humanity’s future. Having left Iran as a child during the revolution, Bobak speaks from both personal memory and years of historical inquiry, including his documentary A Dying King: The Shah of Iran. This conversation does not reduce Iran to headlines, regimes, or slogans. It asks what the West often fails to understand: that Iranians may argue, divide, and oppose one another internally, but that external attacks can quickly transform division into unity. From there, the conversation turns inward. Bobak reflects on Dr. Bernard Bail’s dream work, the mother’s imprint, and the question of who we are before fear, anxiety, trauma, and history imprint themselves on us. He describes the search for the authentic self as difficult work — but the kind of work that opens more doors the deeper it goes. The episode ultimately returns to love: not as sentiment, but as the internal tool humanity has neglected. Technology may advance, wars may grow more sophisticated, and political systems may change, but Bobak argues that what we build inwardly may be the only thing we truly take with us. Follow our socials: Instagram / / andnowlove.podcast Facebook / / And Now Love Podcast Youtube / / @AndNowLovePodcast TikTok / / and.now.love.podc 00:00 Introduction 01:35 Who Are We Before the Imprint? 03:48 Dr. Bail’s Impact on Bobak 04:12 The Dream Interpretation That Changed Everything 06:18 Going Inward to Understand the World 08:44 Escaping Iran as a Child 10:39 Iranian Roots and American Identity 12:44 Why Iran Is So Difficult to Understand 14:38 The Fragility and Survival of Iran 17:32 Looking at History With Compassion 18:20 Iran’s Rainbow of Opinions 21:30 90 Million People, One Canvas 24:35 What the West Gets Wrong About Iran 25:29 Reza Pahlavi and Iran’s Future 30:24 A Dying King and the Shah’s Final Year 33:12 Why Iran Is Bigger Than One War 34:18 At War With a Country We Barely Understand 35:31 Iran’s Repeated Revolutions 47:15 What We Build Inside Is All We Take With Us 48:19 Women, Peace, and the Future of Iran 54:03 The Mission of And Now Love 55:40 Closing