This is the challenge, Mark says: “Since everybody has a partial piece of the truth, we need to ask ourselves, am I curious enough to understand another’s partial piece of truth in order to enrich myself and help me understand that we are all in this together?” “We need to take up the fight for greater awareness that recognizes the good, the true, the beautiful, and the oneness of what is,” he continues. Despite all that Mark has shared with us regarding the current Administration’s dehumanizing, authoritarian tactics and other significant factors contributing to the deterioration of our democracy, when asked what gives him hope, Mark answers, “A lot of things!” The discussion ends in a hopeful place—grim realities balanced with inspiring trends, including the growing recognition around the world that we are all in this together in what is essentially one global village. Recorded December 4, 2025.

“To understand is to forgive.” – Dr. Michael Fischler

Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

1. What the problem of pervasive civic ignorance signifies for our democracy (01:02)
2. Our susceptibility to authoritarian leaders is not surprising considering our ignorance of civil responsibility (04:53)
3. Future shock: people under stress regress psychologically, making it even easier for an authoritarian to take over (06:57)
4. There is more than one reason for our pervasive civic ignorance (09:08)
5. Using A.I. to fact-check what we see and hear (10:37)
6. Education: cognitive understanding in young people has plunged below lowest-level functioning thresholds (16:35)
7. Among students, autism, ADHD, anxiety & depression diagnoses are through the roof (18:03)
8. Because of people’s lack of achievement & lack of civic understanding, it makes sense that people are willing to let democracy go (19:40)
9. Cultivating a quest for truth is part of the solution (22:48)
10. A call to contemplative warriors to take up the fight for greater awareness that recognizes the good, the true, the beautiful—and the oneness of what is (25:35)
11. Everybody has a partial piece of the truth (28:36)
12. To understand is to forgive (32:30)
13. The Supreme Court is asking, should we even take race into account? (35:22)
14. What gives Mark hope? A lot of things! (39:51)

Resources & References – Part 2

1. Professor Mark Fischler, Plymouth State University
2. The Integral Justice Warrior series, co-hosted by Mark Fischler and Corey deVos (Integral Life website)
3. Justice David Souter’s speech at UNH’s Franklin Pierce School of Law: Constitutionally Speaking: How Does The Constitution Keep Up With The Times
4. Alvin Toffler, Future Shock
5. Jia Lynn Yang, America’s Children Are Unwell (NY Times, Nov 2025)
6. Ken Wilber, A Post-Truth World: Politics, Polarization, and a Vision for Transcending the Chaos
7. Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, chapter 27: “…what is a good man but a bad man’s teacher…”
8. Ken Wilber’s prime directive: protect and promote the well-being of the whole developmental spiral of consciousness, rather than privileging just one level or worldview, A Theory of Everything
9. Louisiana v. Calais
10. Greg Thomas on the Deep Transformation podcast: Using the Dance of Our Differences to Wise Up, Harmonize, and Actualize

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Mark Fischler is a professor of Ethics, Constitutional Law, and Criminal Procedure at Plymouth State University. Prior to joining the Plymouth State faculty, he practiced law, representing poor criminal defendants for the New Hampshire Public Defender’s Office. Mark left the law after being guided by the Universe to focus on his Spiritual Awareness for almost two years. Upon his return, he was called to become a teacher and accepted a job at Plymouth State in 2003.

Since then, Mark has worked extensively with alternative theoretical models in law, constitutional law, and higher education, and has published on integral applications to teaching, being a lawyer, and legal theory. In his time at the university, he’s been a chair, Dean, and Interim VP. His focus in the classroom is ethics and criminal procedure and constitutional law. He is well respected for a teaching philosophy that emphasizes recognizing the humanity and dignity of each student. Professor Fischler was awarded the outstanding teaching award at his university in 2014. He currently offers a weekly Spiritual Inquiry class for college students and also for faculty and staff.

---

Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Mark cites some stunning figures illustrating the widespread ignorance of democratic processes and institutions among the populace in this country, and describes why a lack of civic understanding makes us susceptible to authoritarians coming in and taking over. He also acknowledges that progressives are at fault for marginalizing conservatives, and calls on us to recognize the honor and dignity of all people, regardless of their politics—this is part of the solution, he explains. Mark’s passionate caring, wanting the best for all people and all beings, is a current that flows throughout, grounding the discussion in a beautiful way, while also making for a heartbreaking contrast relative to the chilling events happening in the political arena now. Recorded December 4, 2025.

“An ignorant people can never remain a free people.” – Thomas Jefferson

Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

1. Introducing a frequent guest on Deep Transformation: Ethics, Law & Criminal Justice professor Mark Fischler, to help us make sense of our deteriorating democracy (00:43)
2. The trajectory of Trump’s presidency: the devolution of democracy towards authoritarian government (01:51)
3. John presents defining characteristics of fascism according to A. I. (04:01)
4. How does Mark define authoritarianism? (07:24)
5. Mark offers examples of 12 hallmarks of authoritarian government that happened in 2025, beginning with the stifling of dissent and speech (08:12)
6. Statistics on how U.S. citizens feel our democracy is performing (16:51)
7. What surprises Mark the most? The crassness & crudeness of the Trump Administration (18:15)
8. The deterioration in the greater culture at large: who and what is responsible? (21:19)
9. Deflecting our attention using whataboutism breeds cynicism & corrodes our democracy (24:45)
10. We need to demand civil, fact-based discussion from our leaders, but we’re all accepting it’s okay to act like toddlers and dehumanize each other (30:00)
11. Recognizing the humanity & inner dignity of everyone is part of the solution (31:16)
12. Progressives on their side are at fault for marginalizing conservatives (33:38)
13. The red meme mentality (Spiral Dynamics) that is taking place (39:24)
14. Why pervasive civic ignorance in the U.S. is a very significant problem (41:57)

Resources & References – Part 1

1. Professor Mark Fischler, Plymouth State University
2. The Integral Justice Warrior series, co-hosted by Mark Fischler and Corey deVos (Integral Life website)
3. NY Times Editorial Board, Are We Losing Our Democracy? (Oct 2025)
4. Judge Michael Luttig, President for Life (The Atlantic, Dec 2025)
5. Tom Nichols, A Confederacy of Toddlers (The Atlantic, Nov 2025)
6. Supreme Court Justice David Souter
7. Ken Wilber’s prime directive: protect and promote the well-being of the whole developmental spiral of consciousness, rather than privileging just one level or worldview, A Theory of Everything
8. Mona Charon, Whataboutism Is Rotting Our Brains, Our Consciences, and Our Politics (The Bulwark, June 2025)
9. David Brooks, What if We’re the Bad Guys Here? (NY Times Opinion, Aug 2023)
10. Don Beck & Christopher Cowan, Spiral Dynamics, Mastering Values, Leadership and Change
11. Ken Wilber, Boomeritis
12. Justice David Souter’s speech at UNH’s Franklin Pierce School of Law: Constitutionally Speaking: How Does The Constitution Keep Up With The Times

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Mark Fischler is a professor of Ethics, Constitutional Law, and Criminal Procedure at Plymouth State University. Prior to joining the Plymouth State faculty, he practiced law, representing poor criminal defendants for the New Hampshire Public Defender’s Office. Mark left the law after being guided by the Universe to focus on his Spiritual Awareness for almost two years. Upon his return, he was called to become a teacher and accepted a job at Plymouth State in 2003.

Since then, Mark has worked extensively with alternative theoretical models in law, constitutional law, and higher education, and has published on integral applications to teaching, being a lawyer, and legal theory. In his time at the university, he’s been a chair, Dean, and Interim VP. His focus in the classroom is ethics and criminal procedure and constitutional law. He is well respected for a teaching...]]>Ep. 219 (Part 1 of 2) | Constitutional Law expert and Ethics professor Mark Fischler joins Deep Transformation again, to help us make sense of the slide towards authoritarianism happening in the United States today. Mark’s vast knowledge of the law, the Constitution, and the Supreme Court, his deep comprehension of ethics and morality, his Integral understanding, and his profound contemplative awareness all make for an extraordinary exploration of what is going on in this country at levels we don’t often consider. Beginning with examples of events in 2025 that are representative of various facets of authoritarianism, Mark goes on to discuss how the very crassness of the current Administration is undermining democracy: “We need to demand civil, fact-based discussion from our leaders, but we’re all accepting it’s okay to act like toddlers and dehumanize each other.”

Mark cites some stunning figures illustrating the widespread ignorance of democratic processes and institutions among the populace in this country, and describes why a lack of civic understanding makes us susceptible to authoritarians coming in and taking over. He also acknowledges that progressives are at fault for marginalizing conservatives, and calls on us to recognize the honor and dignity of all people, regardless of their politics—this is part of the solution, he explains. Mark’s passionate caring, wanting the best for all people and all beings, is a current that flows throughout, grounding the discussion in a beautiful way, while also making for a heartbreaking contrast relative to the chilling events happening in the political arena now. Recorded December 4, 2025.

“An ignorant people can never remain a free people.” – Thomas Jefferson

Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

1. Introducing a frequent guest on Deep Transformation: Ethics, Law & Criminal Justice professor Mark Fischler, to help us make sense of our deteriorating democracy (00:43)
2. The trajectory of Trump’s presidency: the devolution of democracy towards authoritarian government (01:51)
3. John presents defining characteristics of fascism according to A. I. (04:01)
4. How does Mark define authoritarianism? (07:24)
5. Mark offers examples of 12 hallmarks of authoritarian government that happened in 2025, beginning with the stifling of dissent and speech (08:12)
6. Statistics on how U.S. citizens feel our democracy is performing (16:51)
7. What surprises Mark the most? The crassness & crudeness of the Trump Administration (18:15)
8. The deterioration in the greater culture at large: who and what is responsible? (21:19)
9. Deflecting our attention using whataboutism breeds cynicism & corrodes our democracy (24:45)
10. We need to demand civil, fact-based discussion from our leaders, but we’re all accepting it’s okay to act like toddlers and dehumanize each other (30:00)
11. Recognizing the humanity & inner dignity of everyone is part of the solution (31:16)
12. Progressives on their side are at fault for marginalizing conservatives (33:38)
13. The red meme mentality (Spiral Dynamics) that is taking place (39:24)
14. Why pervasive civic ignorance in the U.S. is a very significant problem (41:57)

Resources & References – Part 1

1. Professor Mark Fischler, Plymouth State University
2. The Integral Justice Warrior series, co-hosted by Mark Fischler and Corey deVos (Integral Life website)
3. NY Times Editorial Board, Are We Losing Our Democracy? (Oct 2025)
4. Judge Michael Luttig, President for Life (The Atlantic, Dec 2025)
5. Tom Nichols, A Confederacy of Toddlers (The Atlantic, Nov 2025)
6. Supreme Court Justice David Souter
7. Ken Wilber’s prime directive: protect and promote the well-being of the whole developmental spiral of consciousness, rather than privileging just one level or worldview, A Theory of Everything
8. Mona Charon, Whataboutism Is Rotting Our Brains, Our Consciences, and Our Politics (The Bulwark, June 2025)
9. David Brooks, What if We’re the Bad Guys Here? (NY Times Opinion, Aug 2023)
10. Don Beck & Christopher Cowan, Spiral Dynamics, Mastering Values, Leadership and Change
11. Ken Wilber, Boomeritis
12. Justice David Souter’s speech at UNH’s Franklin Pierce School of Law: Constitutionally Speaking: How Does The Constitution Keep Up With The Times

---

Mark Fischler is a professor of Ethics, Constitutional Law, and Criminal Procedure at Plymouth State University. Prior to joining the Plymouth State faculty, he practiced law, representing poor criminal defendants for the New Hampshire Public Defender’s Office. Mark left the law after being guided by the Universe to focus on his Spiritual Awareness for almost two years. Upon his return, he was called to become a teacher and accepted a job at Plymouth State in 2003.

Since then, Mark has worked extensively with alternative theoretical models in law, constitutional law, and higher education, and has published on integral applications to teaching, being a lawyer, and legal theory. In his time at the university, he’s been a chair, Dean, and Interim VP. His focus in the classroom is ethics and criminal procedure and constitutional law. He is well respected for a teaching philosophy that emphasizes recognizing the humanity and dignity of each student. Professor Fischler was awarded the outstanding teaching award at his university in 2014. He currently offers a weekly Spiritual Inquiry class for college students and also for faculty and staff.

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Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Just knowing the absolute does not eliminate all obstacles, Hameed continues. Even as we go very deep, there are “ego islands” that pose ongoing difficulties. But the practice is to be with our experience and let it inform us—allow our life experiences to become the arena for the expression of spirit. All we need to do is abide in the knowing that the absolute is expressing itself through us, Hameed says. And laughs telling a story about the “do nothing” instructions of lamas and Zen teachers, as they attempt to show their students that there is nothing to be done but get out of the way. All manifestation, our lives, even our problems and challenges and getting lost in the illusion is all a play of the absolute, Roger reflects. Another very rich, deeply nourishing conversation with A. H. Almaas. Recorded November 13, 2025.

“If we become mature enough to cease and desist, to let reality take its course… when we’re out of the way, true nature will come through—that’s what a true human is.”

Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

1. Is there such a thing as a false descent? (00:33)
2. Most of the time, a realization of the absolute is incomplete—there are still some issues that haven’t been worked out (01:43)
3. Hameed’s teachings expanded as his experience expanded (04:22)
4. Even a spiritual teacher with an incomplete realization can be helpful; what causes trouble is when teachers don’t acknowledge their knowing is limited (07:26)
5. All we need to do is abide in the knowing that the absolute is expressing itself through us (12:25)
6. The practice is to be with our experience; the ego gets in the way by trying to take over (15:00)
7. The great freedom of allowing reality to take its course: the do nothing meditation (18:02)
8. Our life is fulfilled when we’re acting at the behest of the absolute (23:10)
9. Even as we know the absolute, there is always more to be free from (24:17)
10. The central issue of descent is letting go of all identification—of our ego, even of the absolute (28:41)
11. Reality is such an interesting thing—even ignorance is an interesting thing (31:57)
12. True nature is indestructible, incorruptible—at bottom it is perfect (34:26)
13. Don’t get discouraged reading this chapter, if you just learn a few things, that’s all that matters (37:02)

Resources & References – Part 2

1. A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
2. A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
3. Chogyal Namkhai Norbu & Adriano Clemente, The Supreme Source: The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde, initial Dzogchen book that says any spiritual practice will only delay enlightenment
4. Seng-t’san, the Third Chinese Patriarch, The Hsin Hsin Ming, Verses on the Faith-Mind
5. A. H. Almaas, Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery
6. Dzogchen
7. Lectio Divina

The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

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Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

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Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

What was it like for Hameed as he descended, living in the absolute dimension at the same time as living in the everyday world? co-host John Dupuy asks. Something transcendent lives through the body with the individual as the organ of perception, Hameed responds. “The entire universe becomes subtle shimmerings…like the waves in quantum theory; the blackness so extreme that it shines—and that sheen is the world.” Different from the classic Eastern spiritual path, where what is significant is living the transcendent rather than living regular life, in the Diamond Approach (Hameed’s path), actualization is the goal, coming back to the everyday world and living life as an expression of the Absolute. Recorded November 13, 2025.

“It is inherent to true nature for it to be lived in the world.”

Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

1. Introducing the 17th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, focusing on the journey of descent: actualizing the realization of the absolute (00:39)
2. The path begins with the journey of ascent, then comes realization, then the path of descent: actualization, living your realization (04:46)
3. Being in the world and not of it is an important principle of the Diamond Approach (06:44)
4. What was it like for Hameed as he descended, living in the absolute dimension and the everyday world simultaneously? (08:17)
5. It’s not the individual who descends but the Absolute (14:45)
6. Differentiating from the Eastern spiritual path, where what’s important is living the transcendent rather than living life (19:33)
7. Are there obstacles to the descent? (20:44)
8. In descent, the entire universe becomes subtle shimmerings… like the waves in quantum theory (25:04)
9. Something transcendent lives through the body; the individual is the organ of perception (27:06)
10. Hameed was already a spiritual teacher, sharing about the journey of ascent, before he experienced the journey of descent (29:49)
11. Can a person experience a series of cycles of ascent and descent? (31:06)
12. In Christian language, the descent is the father coming into this world, appearing as the son (33:14)
13. Authenticity: the practice is to be your experience, abide in it, and let it reveal its truth (34:29)
14. The quintessence is the full integration of all the dimensions (36:13)
15. The absence of substance is what gives the Absolute its power (37:46)

Resources & References – Part 1

1. A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
2. A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
3. Ramana Maharshi, Hindu sage and liberated being
4. Cynthia Bourgeault, modern-day mystic, author, retreat leader
5. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
6. Arnold Toynbee’s cycle of withdrawal and return, A Study of History
7. Dzogchen
8. Mahamudra
9. Dharmakāya

The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

---

Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

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Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Jack relates that the experience of awakening can be felt in different ways: it might feel like everything is love, perfection, emptiness, or freedom. For me, the channel is love and my practice is to love everyone, he explains. We have to love both the lion and the gazelle, he continues, and shares a poignant story of how very loving Ram Dass became towards the end of his life, loving everything, even his pain. When the conversation turns towards the potential demise of humanity, Jack wonders, will we be able to do something beneficial with our consciousness now that we’re aware that we are all connected? What is the spirit you want to lead with? he asks. What is the dance you want to do? A thoroughly thought provoking, nourishing, inspiring conversation. Recorded October 2, 2025.

“You think you’re separate – you think you exist. But you’re not who you think you are. You are consciousness in drag.”

Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

1. You think you’re separate, but you’re not who you think you are (00:27)
2. The bodhisattva vow as aspiration, never off-duty (04:23)
3. What real greatness is changes with each turning of Buddhism (08:26)
4. The experience of awakening can be felt in different ways: love, perfection, emptiness, or freedom (12:19)
5. Jack’s channel & inspiration is love; and a story of how very loving Ram Dass became (19:00)
6. Teaching activists to remember to hold themselves in their own circle of compassion at the Oslo Freedom Forum (23:52)
7. Jack’s upcoming workshop: Inner Technology for Outer Technologists (29:18)
8. How do you embody the bodhisattva? Spiritual practice isn’t a grim duty—it’s actually joyful (31:08)
9. As Andre Gidé said, joy is our moral obligation (32:49)
10. What stands out to Jack about all the amazing people he’s encountered? (34:09)
11. When there’s a greatness of heart…that is the great power (35:04)
12. The hospice now is for humanity, not for Earth, which knows how to take care of itself (37:42)
13. What is the spirit you want to lead with? What is the dance you want to do? (40:18)
14. The end questions: Did I love well? Did I live fully? Did I learn to let go? (41:13)
15. Your purpose here is to deliver your cargo, your gifts (41:47)

Resources & References – Part 2

1. Jack Kornfield, founding teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation Center and the Insight Meditation Society, author of A Path with Heart and many more
2. Stanislav Grof, LSD: Doorway to the Numinous
3. Ram Dass & Rameshwar Das, Be Love Now: The Path of the Heart
4. The Oslo Freedom Forum, bringing together the world’s most engaging human rights advocates, journalists, artists, tech entrepreneurs & world leaders to brainstorm ways to unleash human potential around the globe
5. The Dalai Lama & Desmond Tutu, The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World
6. Nobel prize winner André Gide
7. Malidoma Patrice Somé, shaman, writer & workshop leader, primarily in the field of spirituality
8. Zen Master Seungsahn, The Compass of Zen

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Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, India, and Burma. He holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is a founding teacher of the Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts and Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California. He is one of the key teachers to introduce mindfulness practice to the West, has taught internationally since 1974, and is the author of 17 books which have sold 2 million copies.

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Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

The topic of greatness—real greatness—is woven throughout the dialogue, as Jack recounts the seed events of his own spiritual journey and ruminates on Roger’s question, what is the sacred question at the center of your life? This is a question Jack often asks his own students, and we are inspired to ponder it for ourselves, along with, if you were to write your own bodhisattva vow, what would it be? Jack is a master at inspiring us to live our ideals, to broaden the possibilities of our lives, and to remember the miracle of our existence. A warmly personal, deeply profound discussion. Recorded October 2, 2025.

“The beautiful thing about the bodhisattva ideal is that it becomes your intention… it becomes the setting of the compass of your heart.”

Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

1. Introducing the first of Deep Transformation’s What is Real Greatness? series (00:38)
2. Introducing renowned meditation teacher, prolific author, and clinical psychologist Jack Kornfield (03:09)
3. In discussing real greatness, Jack advises not to throw out money & power as being unworthy (04:47)
4. The story of Emperor Ashoka, who shifted from seeking outer greatness to seeking inner greatness: peace of mind and heart (07:49)
5. How the Buddha turned the Hindu caste system on its head, honoring young monks for their innate nobility (13:17)
6. Can you remember your own beauty & dignity? Can you see it in others? (16:19)
7. Each of us has a sacred question at the center of our lives, what’s been Jack’s? (17:30)
8. Jack’s first draw to Buddhism: suffering and the relief from suffering (21:08)
9. The seeds of our sacred journeys: the path doesn’t go from here to there but from there to here (24:15)
10. It’s completely weird that we exist! (25:40)
11. King Ashoka & other historical figures, good candidates for the What is Real Greatness Series (27:13)
12. Do we ask ourselves, “How do I live?” (28:28)
13. The beautiful thing about the bodhisattva ideal is that it becomes the setting of the compass of your heart (31:32)
14. The prayer with which the Dalai Lama begins his day (36:37)
15. Ideals illuminate the possibilities of how we might live (38:39)
16. If you were to write your own bodhisattva vow… what would it be? (40:47)
17. Sometimes it’s suffering and sometimes it’s an awakening experience that draws us to spirituality (44:28)
18. Jane Goodall, interspecies bodhisattva, and the story of Joanna Macy’s wake (47:37)

Resources & References – Part 1

1. Jack Kornfield, founding teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation Center and the Insight Meditation Society
2. Mind & Life Institute, bringing science & contemplative wisdom together to better understand the mind and create positive change in the world
3. Jack Kornfield, A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life
4. Jack Kornfield, The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology
5. Jack Kornfield, No Time Like the Present: Finding Freedom, Love, and Joy Right Where You Are
6. Emperor Ashoka the Great is credited with an important role in spreading Buddhism across ancient Asia
7. Dr. Wing-tsit Chan, Chinese scholar and professor
8. T. S. Eliot, “…the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time, ” from Eliot’s 1942 poem “Little Gidding”
9. Meditations of Marcus Aurelius
10. Shantideva, 8th-century CE Indian philosopher, Buddhist monk, poet & scholar
11. Diane Ackerman’s poem “School Prayer,” “In the name of daybreak… I offer myself humbly as a guardian of nature…”
12. The Sufi tradition of Sohbet
13. Trudy Goodman, founding teacher of InsightLA and co-founder of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy
14. Remembering Jane Goodall
15. Joanna Macy, beloved environmental activist, author & scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep...]]>Ep. 215 (Part 1 of 2) | The first of Deep Transformation’s What is Real Greatness Series, this conversation with world-renowned meditation teacher Jack Kornfield is filled with beautiful teachings touching into the sacred at the heart of our lives and the point of our whole spiritual journey: to remember and embody our innate capacity to awaken and experience the reality of our own innate dignity and nobility. Respecting ourselves at the deepest level is what transforms us and transforms society too, Jack explains. “Do you hold yourself with nobility and respect?” he asks. “Can you remember your own beauty and dignity? Can you see it in others?”

    The topic of greatness—real greatness—is woven throughout the dialogue, as Jack recounts the seed events of his own spiritual journey and ruminates on Roger’s question, what is the sacred question at the center of your life? This is a question Jack often asks his own students, and we are inspired to ponder it for ourselves, along with, if you were to write your own bodhisattva vow, what would it be? Jack is a master at inspiring us to live our ideals, to broaden the possibilities of our lives, and to remember the miracle of our existence. A warmly personal, deeply profound discussion. Recorded October 2, 2025.

    “The beautiful thing about the bodhisattva ideal is that it becomes your intention… it becomes the setting of the compass of your heart.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    1. Introducing the first of Deep Transformation’s What is Real Greatness? series (00:38)
    2. Introducing renowned meditation teacher, prolific author, and clinical psychologist Jack Kornfield (03:09)
    3. In discussing real greatness, Jack advises not to throw out money & power as being unworthy (04:47)
    4. The story of Emperor Ashoka, who shifted from seeking outer greatness to seeking inner greatness: peace of mind and heart (07:49)
    5. How the Buddha turned the Hindu caste system on its head, honoring young monks for their innate nobility (13:17)
    6. Can you remember your own beauty & dignity? Can you see it in others? (16:19)
    7. Each of us has a sacred question at the center of our lives, what’s been Jack’s? (17:30)
    8. Jack’s first draw to Buddhism: suffering and the relief from suffering (21:08)
    9. The seeds of our sacred journeys: the path doesn’t go from here to there but from there to here (24:15)
    10. It’s completely weird that we exist! (25:40)
    11. King Ashoka & other historical figures, good candidates for the What is Real Greatness Series (27:13)
    12. Do we ask ourselves, “How do I live?” (28:28)
    13. The beautiful thing about the bodhisattva ideal is that it becomes the setting of the compass of your heart (31:32)
    14. The prayer with which the Dalai Lama begins his day (36:37)
    15. Ideals illuminate the possibilities of how we might live (38:39)
    16. If you were to write your own bodhisattva vow… what would it be? (40:47)
    17. Sometimes it’s suffering and sometimes it’s an awakening experience that draws us to spirituality (44:28)
    18. Jane Goodall, interspecies bodhisattva, and the story of Joanna Macy’s wake (47:37)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    1. Jack Kornfield, founding teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation Center and the Insight Meditation Society
    2. Mind & Life Institute, bringing science & contemplative wisdom together to better understand the mind and create positive change in the world
    3. Jack Kornfield, A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life
    4. Jack Kornfield, The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology
    5. Jack Kornfield, No Time Like the Present: Finding Freedom, Love, and Joy Right Where You Are
    6. Emperor Ashoka the Great is credited with an important role in spreading Buddhism across ancient Asia
    7. Dr. Wing-tsit Chan, Chinese scholar and professor
    8. T. S. Eliot, “…the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time, ” from Eliot’s 1942 poem “Little Gidding”
    9. Meditations of Marcus Aurelius
    10. Shantideva, 8th-century CE Indian philosopher, Buddhist monk, poet & scholar
    11. Diane Ackerman’s poem “School Prayer,” “In the name of daybreak… I offer myself humbly as a guardian of nature…”
    12. The Sufi tradition of Sohbet
    13. Trudy Goodman, founding teacher of InsightLA and co-founder of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy
    14. Remembering Jane Goodall
    15. Joanna Macy, beloved environmental activist, author & scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep ecology
    
    

    ---

    Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, India, and Burma. He holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is a founding teacher of the Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts and Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California. He is one of the key teachers to introduce mindfulness practice to the West, has taught internationally since 1974, and is the author of 17 books which have sold 2 million copies.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>4c0ec607-046a-4a20-bcf5-3349cdcb86ddThu, 01 Jan 2026 05:00:00 -040054:56falsefull215215Finding Our True Home in the Absolute: Experiencing Intimacy with Everything, with A. H. AlmaasEp. 214 (Part 2 of 2) | Part 2 of the 16th dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series takes us on a sweet journey farther into our exploration of the nature of the absolute. Hameed Ali discusses the paradox of the absolute, being both source and cessation of all things, the nonduality of emptiness and beingness, these being two sides of the same coin, and explains why many nondual teachings do not touch upon the absolute. He makes sense of the difficult-to-fathom concept of pure emptiness, explaining that the absolute’s nature is absence—in contrast with presence—and relates that Mystery is the essence of the absolute, the fundamental essence of the nature of reality. “We are never going to know where it’s at, what’s happening, what life is about,” he laughs. Our knowledge is but “small islands in the vast ocean of mystery we live in;” mystery cannot be eliminated.

    In the absolute, the soul finds its final resting place, Hameed tells us. The absolute is our true home—the essence of the meaning of home. All humans are searching for their true home, Hameed says, and they search in many places. But here the search is over. Reflections of the absolute bring us closer to love, like when we are in love, Hameed continues. Being in love with an outer beloved brings us closer to the inner beloved and we see deeper. “The absolute is total intimacy, Hameed finishes. “In the absolute we are intimate with everything.” How do we express this in the world, in our ordinary lives? “It becomes very simple,” Hameed says. “The absolute is the essence of simplicity—so simple, even though there is a profundity…” Recorded October 9, 2025.

    “You don’t have to experience the absolute to know nonduality.”

    ​ Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    1. Emptiness is nondual with consciousness, two sides of the same thing (01:03)
    2. Many nondual teachings don’t talk about the absolute (02:50)
    3. You don’t have to experience the absolute to know nonduality (03:32)
    4. There’s no sense of individual self, but some teachings take the absolute as the ultimate Self (04:52)
    5. Making sense of pure emptiness: the absolute’s nature is absence—in contrast with presence (09:47)
    6. The absolute is the essence of mystery (12:59)
    7. Experiencing all phenomena as projections of the absolute (13:57)
    8. The absolute reveals that true nature itself is unmanifest (17:58)
    9. Mystery is the nature of the absolute; the absolute IS mystery (19:08)
    10. The absolute is the extreme limit of purity; the heart empty of everything except the love of God (23:13)
    11. We live in an ocean of mystery; what we know are little islands (25:07)
    12. The search ends in the absolute; the soul is home (27:32)
    13. Reflections of the absolute bring us closer to love, like when we are in love (32:28)
    14. The absolute can pour itself into a manifest being expressing itself in the world: beyond realization to actualization (33:46)
    15. The absolute is the essence of simplicity, even though there is a profundity… (35:23)
    16. The absolute is total intimacy; we are intimate with everything (38:28)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    1. A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    2. A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    3. Stanislav Grof writes about the plenum void in Beyond the Brain: Birth, Death, and Transcendence in Psychotherapy
    4. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That
    5. Kashmir Shaivism
    6. Longchenpa: A Guide For Readers (Shambhala)
    7. Samaneri Jayasāra’s YouTube readings: The Wisdom of the Masters
    8. Samaneri Jayasāra on the Deep Transformation podcast: Creating Priceless Gifts of Wisdom
    9. Huston Smith’s autobiography, Tales of Wonder: Adventures Chasing the Divine
    10. The Ten Ox Herding Pictures from the Zen tradition
    11. Isaac Newton, “… to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore…”
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books,...]]>Ep. 214 (Part 2 of 2) | Part 2 of the 16th dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series takes us on a sweet journey farther into our exploration of the nature of the absolute. Hameed Ali discusses the paradox of the absolute, being both source and cessation of all things, the nonduality of emptiness and beingness, these being two sides of the same coin, and explains why many nondual teachings do not touch upon the absolute. He makes sense of the difficult-to-fathom concept of pure emptiness, explaining that the absolute’s nature is absence—in contrast with presence—and relates that Mystery is the essence of the absolute, the fundamental essence of the nature of reality. “We are never going to know where it’s at, what’s happening, what life is about,” he laughs. Our knowledge is but “small islands in the vast ocean of mystery we live in;” mystery cannot be eliminated.

    In the absolute, the soul finds its final resting place, Hameed tells us. The absolute is our true home—the essence of the meaning of home. All humans are searching for their true home, Hameed says, and they search in many places. But here the search is over. Reflections of the absolute bring us closer to love, like when we are in love, Hameed continues. Being in love with an outer beloved brings us closer to the inner beloved and we see deeper. “The absolute is total intimacy, Hameed finishes. “In the absolute we are intimate with everything.” How do we express this in the world, in our ordinary lives? “It becomes very simple,” Hameed says. “The absolute is the essence of simplicity—so simple, even though there is a profundity…” Recorded October 9, 2025.

    “You don’t have to experience the absolute to know nonduality.”

    ​ Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    1. Emptiness is nondual with consciousness, two sides of the same thing (01:03)
    2. Many nondual teachings don’t talk about the absolute (02:50)
    3. You don’t have to experience the absolute to know nonduality (03:32)
    4. There’s no sense of individual self, but some teachings take the absolute as the ultimate Self (04:52)
    5. Making sense of pure emptiness: the absolute’s nature is absence—in contrast with presence (09:47)
    6. The absolute is the essence of mystery (12:59)
    7. Experiencing all phenomena as projections of the absolute (13:57)
    8. The absolute reveals that true nature itself is unmanifest (17:58)
    9. Mystery is the nature of the absolute; the absolute IS mystery (19:08)
    10. The absolute is the extreme limit of purity; the heart empty of everything except the love of God (23:13)
    11. We live in an ocean of mystery; what we know are little islands (25:07)
    12. The search ends in the absolute; the soul is home (27:32)
    13. Reflections of the absolute bring us closer to love, like when we are in love (32:28)
    14. The absolute can pour itself into a manifest being expressing itself in the world: beyond realization to actualization (33:46)
    15. The absolute is the essence of simplicity, even though there is a profundity… (35:23)
    16. The absolute is total intimacy; we are intimate with everything (38:28)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    1. A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    2. A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    3. Stanislav Grof writes about the plenum void in Beyond the Brain: Birth, Death, and Transcendence in Psychotherapy
    4. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That
    5. Kashmir Shaivism
    6. Longchenpa: A Guide For Readers (Shambhala)
    7. Samaneri Jayasāra’s YouTube readings: The Wisdom of the Masters
    8. Samaneri Jayasāra on the Deep Transformation podcast: Creating Priceless Gifts of Wisdom
    9. Huston Smith’s autobiography, Tales of Wonder: Adventures Chasing the Divine
    10. The Ten Ox Herding Pictures from the Zen tradition
    11. Isaac Newton, “… to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore…”
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>1625c137-73b4-40ee-bd72-93372f186430Thu, 25 Dec 2025 05:00:00 -040040:24falsefull214214Into the Absolute: At One with the Radiant Source of All, with A. H. Almaas (Part 1)Ep. 213 (Part 1 of 2) | The 16th dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series is about the absolute, the source dimension of all manifestation, deeper than any other dimension, the vastness beyond vastness. In Part 1, Hameed gives a wonderful description of the majesty and the blackness of the absolute, and tells the story of when he first experienced being one with the absolute himself. When Roger Walsh asks him, what are the doorways to the absolute, Hameed talks about mystical poverty and also the way of the heart. “When the true beloved shines through the heart, it’s an amazing ecstasy… a mindblowing kind of beauty,” he says. He discusses the fear people often feel as they approach cessation of all perception, and the need for the basic trust we were born with (which often gets clobbered as we grow up) to proceed. What changes after an experience of the absolute? John Dupuy asks. If one abides in this realization, it cleanses the soul of all impurities, and our action embodies the virtues, Hameed answers.

    In Part 2, which will be released December 25th, Hameed delves into the paradox of the absolute (the absolute is the elimination, the annihilation, the cessation of all things—and the source of all things), the nonduality of emptiness and awareness, and explains that mystery is the essence of the absolute: the absolute IS mystery, he says. There is laughter all around when Hameed says you can never completely “get” it, because there’s nothing there to get! Your mind disappears as you’re trying to get it. Towards the end, the conversation relaxes so deeply into the subject of the absolute, you can just about feel its presence. We become intimate with everything in the absolute, Hameed says. It is the soul’s final resting place, our true home, where the search ends. Recorded October 9, 2025.

    “The absolute itself is majesty, and the universe that emerges is beauty.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing dialogue #16 in the 
    • A.H. Almaas Wisdom Series, focusing on the source dimension, the apex of Hameed’s book The Inner Journey Home (00:41)
    • “By simply witnessing the process of manifestation… the soul experiences itself as a vast silent witness… discovering a dimension deeper than any other, the absolute” (02:18)
    • Being the absolute, one experiences an emptiness so empty there is no sensation (05:29)
    • Cessation of perception, as the Buddha called it, was exactly Hameed’s experience (09:57)
    • Neglected teachings of Nisargadatta: awareness that is not aware of itself can be experienced as “rock-like” (11:26)
    • The story of Hameed’s first experience of the absolute (15:19)
    • Is the absolute the destination? What is cessation? Is it the same as the absolute? (16:47)
    • What changes after an experience of the absolute? (21:00) 
    • The absolute is majesty, the universe that emerges is beauty (23:18)
    • The flowering of virtues follows true realization (24:24)
    • The spiritual path has two sides: knowing who you are and living it (26:03)
    • Moving towards cessation, people feel terror (26:53)
    • Trust is essential; the more we are loved as an infant, the more we trust (28:25)
    • What are the doorways into the realization of the absolute? (32:02)
    • Mystical poverty is one doorway; the recognition that the soul has nothing of its own—it all comes from the Source (35:29)
    • There is also the way of the heart, finding the true beloved within (38:03)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Beloved: The Heart’s Journey to Divine Unity
    • Ramana Maharshi, Hindu sage and liberated being
    • Dzogchen’s dharmakāya
    • The black light in Sufism (see Henry Corbin’s The Man of Light in Iranian Sufism and others)
    • Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That, “I am rock-like; awareness that is not aware of itself”
    • Advaita Vedanta
    • St. John of the Cross talks about black light in The Dark Night of the Soul
    • Erik Erikson, Childhood and Society : The Landmark Work on the Social Significance of Childhood
    • Ibn Arabi, Sufi mystic, poet, philosopher, “… look for me in the heart of my lovers”
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by...]]>Ep. 213 (Part 1 of 2) | The 16th dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series is about the absolute, the source dimension of all manifestation, deeper than any other dimension, the vastness beyond vastness. In Part 1, Hameed gives a wonderful description of the majesty and the blackness of the absolute, and tells the story of when he first experienced being one with the absolute himself. When Roger Walsh asks him, what are the doorways to the absolute, Hameed talks about mystical poverty and also the way of the heart. “When the true beloved shines through the heart, it’s an amazing ecstasy… a mindblowing kind of beauty,” he says. He discusses the fear people often feel as they approach cessation of all perception, and the need for the basic trust we were born with (which often gets clobbered as we grow up) to proceed. What changes after an experience of the absolute? John Dupuy asks. If one abides in this realization, it cleanses the soul of all impurities, and our action embodies the virtues, Hameed answers.

    In Part 2, which will be released December 25th, Hameed delves into the paradox of the absolute (the absolute is the elimination, the annihilation, the cessation of all things—and the source of all things), the nonduality of emptiness and awareness, and explains that mystery is the essence of the absolute: the absolute IS mystery, he says. There is laughter all around when Hameed says you can never completely “get” it, because there’s nothing there to get! Your mind disappears as you’re trying to get it. Towards the end, the conversation relaxes so deeply into the subject of the absolute, you can just about feel its presence. We become intimate with everything in the absolute, Hameed says. It is the soul’s final resting place, our true home, where the search ends. Recorded October 9, 2025.

    “The absolute itself is majesty, and the universe that emerges is beauty.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing dialogue #16 in the 
    • A.H. Almaas Wisdom Series, focusing on the source dimension, the apex of Hameed’s book The Inner Journey Home (00:41)
    • “By simply witnessing the process of manifestation… the soul experiences itself as a vast silent witness… discovering a dimension deeper than any other, the absolute” (02:18)
    • Being the absolute, one experiences an emptiness so empty there is no sensation (05:29)
    • Cessation of perception, as the Buddha called it, was exactly Hameed’s experience (09:57)
    • Neglected teachings of Nisargadatta: awareness that is not aware of itself can be experienced as “rock-like” (11:26)
    • The story of Hameed’s first experience of the absolute (15:19)
    • Is the absolute the destination? What is cessation? Is it the same as the absolute? (16:47)
    • What changes after an experience of the absolute? (21:00) 
    • The absolute is majesty, the universe that emerges is beauty (23:18)
    • The flowering of virtues follows true realization (24:24)
    • The spiritual path has two sides: knowing who you are and living it (26:03)
    • Moving towards cessation, people feel terror (26:53)
    • Trust is essential; the more we are loved as an infant, the more we trust (28:25)
    • What are the doorways into the realization of the absolute? (32:02)
    • Mystical poverty is one doorway; the recognition that the soul has nothing of its own—it all comes from the Source (35:29)
    • There is also the way of the heart, finding the true beloved within (38:03)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Beloved: The Heart’s Journey to Divine Unity
    • Ramana Maharshi, Hindu sage and liberated being
    • Dzogchen’s dharmakāya
    • The black light in Sufism (see Henry Corbin’s The Man of Light in Iranian Sufism and others)
    • Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That, “I am rock-like; awareness that is not aware of itself”
    • Advaita Vedanta
    • St. John of the Cross talks about black light in The Dark Night of the Soul
    • Erik Erikson, Childhood and Society : The Landmark Work on the Social Significance of Childhood
    • Ibn Arabi, Sufi mystic, poet, philosopher, “… look for me in the heart of my lovers”
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>099ae59f-3f8c-4f24-9a1e-bbdb4000d112Thu, 18 Dec 2025 05:00:00 -040042:32falsefull213213Exposing Injustice & Suffering in Palestine & Around the World with Filmmakers Zaya & Maurizio BenazzoEp. 212 (Part 2 of 2) | In Part 2 of the compelling conversation with SAND founders Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo, the discussion turns to the making of their 2021 documentary film about the tragic injustices inflicted upon Palestinians in the West Bank. Where Olive Trees Weep is a very beautiful, heartbreaking, and eye opening film we highly recommend to our listeners. “How do we stop the violence?” asks co-host John Dupuy. No one knows the answer, but “each of us can find a way to alleviate the suffering in Palestine now as we grapple with the question of how to stop the wounds that continue to bleed,” Zaya and Maurizio contend. “We can stand for justice, food, and human rights, recognize the dignity of Palestinians and fight for their freedom.” 

    Spiritual communities are mostly quiet on this issue, Zaya mentions. But “it’s not a political issue,” she says, “it’s a human issue—we are losing our humanity. If we believe in oneness, we need to face our discomfort and turn towards the pain, towards the suffering. Discomfort is the very essence of the issue on a psychological and archetypal level,” Zaya adds. Zaya and Maurizio are also working on a remarkable series of films called The Eternal Song, an ongoing project to bring forth teachings from Indigenous communities around the world. To date, they have released The Eternal Song, Mauri: The Vital Essence of All Beings, and most recently If an Owl Calls Your Name. Thank you, Zaya and Maurizio, for contributing your gifts in these stunning films, so poignant and important in these disconnected, turbulent times, and for sharing your extraordinary wisdom with our Deep Transformation listeners. Recorded October 16, 2025.

    “Opening to the darkness and the pain is the gift of this time. We are all one; we cannot continue to separate ourselves into our comfortable silos.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Making the 2021 film Where Olive Trees Weep, about the tragic mistreatment of Palestinians in the West Bank (00:58)
    • Making films about the effects of colonization all over the world (04:36)
    • The more hateful the emails Zaya & Mauriozio received, the more they answered & engaged (06:01)
    • There are 80 years of history behind the conflict in Palestine; everywhere you look there’s injustice (06:57)
    • Apartheid in Palestine is maybe more extreme than in South Africa (10:26)
    • What can we do about Gaza now? Stand for justice, food & human rights, recognize the dignity of Palestinians & fight for their freedom (12:37)
    • Netanyahu is not the problem, the system is rotten to the core (15:20)
    • How do we stop the violence? (18:49)
    • Acknowledging the beauty & power of Zaya & Maurizio’s Where Olive Trees Weep (20:37)
    • The silence about Gaza in most spiritual communities: if we believe in oneness, we need to turn towards the suffering (25:38) 
    • Thanking Zaya & Maurizio for the film, and tales of the transformative effects of engaging with senders of hate mail (29:26)
    • Zaya & Maurizio’s movie The Eternal Song came out in June 2025, but they are making many more films in Indigenous communities, like If an Owl Calls Your Name (link below) (34:10)
    • Opening to the darkness and the pain is the gift of this time—we are all one, and we cannot continue to separate ourselves into our comfortable silos (37:57)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Zaya & Maurizio Benazzo, founders of the Science & Nonduality Conference
    • The Wisdom of Trauma featuring Gabor Maté, produced by Zaya & Maurizio Benazzo
    • Where Olive Trees Weep, produced by Zaya & Maurizio Benazzo
    • Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb
    • Meital Yaniv, Bloodlines
    • Tara Brach, courageous spiritual teacher
    • John Dupuy’s song, Ukraine! on YouTube
    • The Eternal Song, produced by Zaya & Maurizio Benazzo 
    • Mauri: The Vital Essence of All Beings, produced by Zaya & Maurizio Benazzo 
    • If an Owl Calls Your Name, produced by Zaya & Maurizio Benazzo
    
    

    ---

    Maurizio and Zaya Benazzo merged their lifelong passions for science and mysticism when they met in 2007, and their first project together was filming the documentary Rays of the Absolute on the life and teachings of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. This project sparked their next level of creation and collaboration: SAND, a global community inspired by the timeless wisdom traditions, informed by modern science, and grounded in direct experience. Together they have produced and directed several award-winning documentaries including The Wisdom of Trauma, The Art of Life, Rays of the Absolute, Where Olive Trees Weep, Mauri, and If an Owl Calls Your Name. 

    Zaya and Maurizio live, work, and play on the unceded ancestral lands of the Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo people, in Sebastopol, California.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 212 (Part 2 of 2) | In Part 2 of the compelling conversation with SAND founders Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo, the discussion turns to the making of their 2021 documentary film about the tragic injustices inflicted upon Palestinians in the West Bank. Where Olive Trees Weep is a very beautiful, heartbreaking, and eye opening film we highly recommend to our listeners. “How do we stop the violence?” asks co-host John Dupuy. No one knows the answer, but “each of us can find a way to alleviate the suffering in Palestine now as we grapple with the question of how to stop the wounds that continue to bleed,” Zaya and Maurizio contend. “We can stand for justice, food, and human rights, recognize the dignity of Palestinians and fight for their freedom.” 

    Spiritual communities are mostly quiet on this issue, Zaya mentions. But “it’s not a political issue,” she says, “it’s a human issue—we are losing our humanity. If we believe in oneness, we need to face our discomfort and turn towards the pain, towards the suffering. Discomfort is the very essence of the issue on a psychological and archetypal level,” Zaya adds. Zaya and Maurizio are also working on a remarkable series of films called The Eternal Song, an ongoing project to bring forth teachings from Indigenous communities around the world. To date, they have released The Eternal Song, Mauri: The Vital Essence of All Beings, and most recently If an Owl Calls Your Name. Thank you, Zaya and Maurizio, for contributing your gifts in these stunning films, so poignant and important in these disconnected, turbulent times, and for sharing your extraordinary wisdom with our Deep Transformation listeners. Recorded October 16, 2025.

    “Opening to the darkness and the pain is the gift of this time. We are all one; we cannot continue to separate ourselves into our comfortable silos.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Making the 2021 film Where Olive Trees Weep, about the tragic mistreatment of Palestinians in the West Bank (00:58)
    • Making films about the effects of colonization all over the world (04:36)
    • The more hateful the emails Zaya & Mauriozio received, the more they answered & engaged (06:01)
    • There are 80 years of history behind the conflict in Palestine; everywhere you look there’s injustice (06:57)
    • Apartheid in Palestine is maybe more extreme than in South Africa (10:26)
    • What can we do about Gaza now? Stand for justice, food & human rights, recognize the dignity of Palestinians & fight for their freedom (12:37)
    • Netanyahu is not the problem, the system is rotten to the core (15:20)
    • How do we stop the violence? (18:49)
    • Acknowledging the beauty & power of Zaya & Maurizio’s Where Olive Trees Weep (20:37)
    • The silence about Gaza in most spiritual communities: if we believe in oneness, we need to turn towards the suffering (25:38) 
    • Thanking Zaya & Maurizio for the film, and tales of the transformative effects of engaging with senders of hate mail (29:26)
    • Zaya & Maurizio’s movie The Eternal Song came out in June 2025, but they are making many more films in Indigenous communities, like If an Owl Calls Your Name (link below) (34:10)
    • Opening to the darkness and the pain is the gift of this time—we are all one, and we cannot continue to separate ourselves into our comfortable silos (37:57)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Zaya & Maurizio Benazzo, founders of the Science & Nonduality Conference
    • The Wisdom of Trauma featuring Gabor Maté, produced by Zaya & Maurizio Benazzo
    • Where Olive Trees Weep, produced by Zaya & Maurizio Benazzo
    • Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb
    • Meital Yaniv, Bloodlines
    • Tara Brach, courageous spiritual teacher
    • John Dupuy’s song, Ukraine! on YouTube
    • The Eternal Song, produced by Zaya & Maurizio Benazzo 
    • Mauri: The Vital Essence of All Beings, produced by Zaya & Maurizio Benazzo 
    • If an Owl Calls Your Name, produced by Zaya & Maurizio Benazzo
    
    

    ---

    Maurizio and Zaya Benazzo merged their lifelong passions for science and mysticism when they met in 2007, and their first project together was filming the documentary Rays of the Absolute on the life and teachings of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. This project sparked their next level of creation and collaboration: SAND, a global community inspired by the timeless wisdom traditions, informed by modern science, and grounded in direct experience. Together they have produced and directed several award-winning documentaries including The Wisdom of Trauma, The Art of Life, Rays of the Absolute, Where Olive Trees Weep, Mauri, and If an Owl Calls Your Name. 

    Zaya and Maurizio live, work, and play on the unceded ancestral lands of the Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo people, in Sebastopol, California.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>db7f76a3-ac51-4e27-ab1c-9a1ab835f96eThu, 11 Dec 2025 05:00:00 -040041:51truefull212212Where Science, Spirituality & Indigenous Wisdom Meet: The Remarkable Contributions of Filmmakers Zaya & Maurizio BenazzoEp. 211 (Part 1 of 2) | Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo are not only the founders of the longstanding and highly regarded Science & Nonduality Conference (SAND), but also brilliant filmmakers, producing stunning documentaries about the injustice and suffering occurring in Palestine and elsewhere, as well as films that feature the eternal wisdom of elders from Indigenous communities around the world. Zaya and Maurizio are clearly passionate about their work, and co-host Roger Walsh points out they do a beautiful job of intertwining the personal, professional, and spiritual into an offering that meets the needs of our time. As Maurizio says, “There is no spiritual work. Period. Everything is spiritual work! It’s life.”

    In Part 1 of this episode, lively and inspired, Zaya and Maurizio share what they’ve learned about life, spirituality, trauma, healing, guidance, and the deep-time perspective of the Maori. They relate the trajectory of SAND’s evolution from featuring male-dominated nondual teachings to including an understanding of trauma, somatic healing, feminine, earth-oriented teachings, and Indigenous wisdom. “Healing never ends; it’s a lifelong journey—there’s no modern solution that will ‘fix’ you,” Zaya tells us. Also, “We are constantly being guided if we just listen.”

    In Part 2, Zaya and Maurizio describe the making of their 2021 documentary about the tragic mistreatment of Palestinians in the West Bank, a beautiful, heartbreaking film called Where Olive Trees Weep. Also their film The Eternal Song, an ongoing project to bring forth Indigenous teachings, so valuable and timely for us now in our chaotic, disconnected world. This whole conversation is thought provoking, delightful, profound, paradigm shifting, and inspiring all at once. Recorded October 16, 2025.

    “There is no spiritual work without trauma work.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing Zaya & Maurizio Benazzo, documentary filmmakers & founders of the Science & Nonduality Conference (SAND) (00:57)
    • Tracing the trajectory of Zaya & Maurizio’s work, beginning in India (02:24)
    • What was Nisargadatta Maharaj’s legacy? (03:47)
    • Putting science and mystics together: the seed that created SAND (06:35)
    • How SAND evolved from male-dominated nondual teachings to include the body, an understanding of trauma, and female & Indigenous teachers (08:18)
    • Feminizing spiritual teachings: women mystics & their connection with the Earth (12:38)
    • SAND focuses on educating the audience to be open, ask good questions, rather than uplifting particular teachers (16:09)
    • How the film The Wisdom of Trauma with Gabor Maté went viral (20:08)
    • All of life is spiritual work, and there’s no spiritual work without trauma work, but spiritual bypassing was very real at SAND (24:13)
    • With Maté’s understanding about trauma, people find they’re not alone and they don’t need to “fix” the pain (26:39)
    • Healing is a lifelong journey; trauma is systemic and intergenerational (32:08)
    • The deep-time perspective and how the Maori trace their ancestors back to the stars (33:22)
    • Indigenous teachers say we heal backwards and we heal forwards; nothing is individual, we are all interconnected (34:54)
    • Now is the time for the Long Dark, not the time for the search for the light (38:52)
    • We are all here for a purpose, and we are constantly being guided if we just listen (42:31)
    • The suffering of today’s youth, isolated and without elders (45:00)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Zaya & Maurizio Benazzo, founders of the Science & Nonduality Conference
    • Zaya & Maurizio’s first movie together: The Rays of the Absolute: The Legacy of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
    • Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That
    • Dr. Gabor Maté, The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture
    • The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series (on the Deep Transformation podcast)
    • The Wisdom of Trauma featuring Gabor Maté, produced by Zaya & Maurizio Benazzo
    • Mauri: The Vital Essence of All Beings, produced by Zaya & Maurizio Benazzo
    • Francis Weller: The Long Dark (YouTube video)
    • Arnold Toynbee, A Study of History (the cycle of withdrawal and return)
    • Where Olive Trees Weep, produced by Zaya & Maurizio Benazzo
    
    

    ---

    Maurizio and Zaya Benazzo merged their lifelong passions for science and mysticism when they met in 2007, and their first project together was filming the documentary Rays of the Absolute on the life and teachings of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. This project sparked their next level of creation and collaboration: SAND, a global community inspired by the timeless wisdom traditions, informed by modern science, and grounded in direct experience. Together they have produced and directed several award-winning documentaries including The Wisdom of Trauma, The Art of Life, Rays of the Absolute, Where Olive Trees Weep, Mauri, and If an Owl Calls Your Name. 

    Zaya and Maurizio live, work, and play on the unceded ancestral lands of the Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo people, in Sebastopol, California.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 211 (Part 1 of 2) | Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo are not only the founders of the longstanding and highly regarded Science & Nonduality Conference (SAND), but also brilliant filmmakers, producing stunning documentaries about the injustice and suffering occurring in Palestine and elsewhere, as well as films that feature the eternal wisdom of elders from Indigenous communities around the world. Zaya and Maurizio are clearly passionate about their work, and co-host Roger Walsh points out they do a beautiful job of intertwining the personal, professional, and spiritual into an offering that meets the needs of our time. As Maurizio says, “There is no spiritual work. Period. Everything is spiritual work! It’s life.”

    In Part 1 of this episode, lively and inspired, Zaya and Maurizio share what they’ve learned about life, spirituality, trauma, healing, guidance, and the deep-time perspective of the Maori. They relate the trajectory of SAND’s evolution from featuring male-dominated nondual teachings to including an understanding of trauma, somatic healing, feminine, earth-oriented teachings, and Indigenous wisdom. “Healing never ends; it’s a lifelong journey—there’s no modern solution that will ‘fix’ you,” Zaya tells us. Also, “We are constantly being guided if we just listen.”

    In Part 2, Zaya and Maurizio describe the making of their 2021 documentary about the tragic mistreatment of Palestinians in the West Bank, a beautiful, heartbreaking film called Where Olive Trees Weep. Also their film The Eternal Song, an ongoing project to bring forth Indigenous teachings, so valuable and timely for us now in our chaotic, disconnected world. This whole conversation is thought provoking, delightful, profound, paradigm shifting, and inspiring all at once. Recorded October 16, 2025.

    “There is no spiritual work without trauma work.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing Zaya & Maurizio Benazzo, documentary filmmakers & founders of the Science & Nonduality Conference (SAND) (00:57)
    • Tracing the trajectory of Zaya & Maurizio’s work, beginning in India (02:24)
    • What was Nisargadatta Maharaj’s legacy? (03:47)
    • Putting science and mystics together: the seed that created SAND (06:35)
    • How SAND evolved from male-dominated nondual teachings to include the body, an understanding of trauma, and female & Indigenous teachers (08:18)
    • Feminizing spiritual teachings: women mystics & their connection with the Earth (12:38)
    • SAND focuses on educating the audience to be open, ask good questions, rather than uplifting particular teachers (16:09)
    • How the film The Wisdom of Trauma with Gabor Maté went viral (20:08)
    • All of life is spiritual work, and there’s no spiritual work without trauma work, but spiritual bypassing was very real at SAND (24:13)
    • With Maté’s understanding about trauma, people find they’re not alone and they don’t need to “fix” the pain (26:39)
    • Healing is a lifelong journey; trauma is systemic and intergenerational (32:08)
    • The deep-time perspective and how the Maori trace their ancestors back to the stars (33:22)
    • Indigenous teachers say we heal backwards and we heal forwards; nothing is individual, we are all interconnected (34:54)
    • Now is the time for the Long Dark, not the time for the search for the light (38:52)
    • We are all here for a purpose, and we are constantly being guided if we just listen (42:31)
    • The suffering of today’s youth, isolated and without elders (45:00)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Zaya & Maurizio Benazzo, founders of the Science & Nonduality Conference
    • Zaya & Maurizio’s first movie together: The Rays of the Absolute: The Legacy of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
    • Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That
    • Dr. Gabor Maté, The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture
    • The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series (on the Deep Transformation podcast)
    • The Wisdom of Trauma featuring Gabor Maté, produced by Zaya & Maurizio Benazzo
    • Mauri: The Vital Essence of All Beings, produced by Zaya & Maurizio Benazzo
    • Francis Weller: The Long Dark (YouTube video)
    • Arnold Toynbee, A Study of History (the cycle of withdrawal and return)
    • Where Olive Trees Weep, produced by Zaya & Maurizio Benazzo
    
    

    ---

    Maurizio and Zaya Benazzo merged their lifelong passions for science and mysticism when they met in 2007, and their first project together was filming the documentary Rays of the Absolute on the life and teachings of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. This project sparked their next level of creation and collaboration: SAND, a global community inspired by the timeless wisdom traditions, informed by modern science, and grounded in direct experience. Together they have produced and directed several award-winning documentaries including The Wisdom of Trauma, The Art of Life, Rays of the Absolute, Where Olive Trees Weep, Mauri, and If an Owl Calls Your Name. 

    Zaya and Maurizio live, work, and play on the unceded ancestral lands of the Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo people, in Sebastopol, California.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>47852c7d-d6a7-44fd-8420-8517ddf9c23aThu, 04 Dec 2025 05:00:00 -040049:44truefull211211The Force Behind Spiritual Evolution: Discovering the Source of Our Inner FireEp. 210 (Part 3 of 3) | In Part 3 of the 15th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali speaks about the evolutionary aspect of the creative dynamism of the universe. He explains there is an optimizing, transformative force that is responsible for one form changing to another, like a caterpillar to a butterfly. This developmental force is in alignment with Western concepts of evolution and progress, and applies to spiritual realization, too. There is also an optimizing force specific to the human soul, Hameed tells us, that fuels the hearts that burn with the desire for liberation. This is the force responsible for spiritual development. In Buddhism it is called bodhicitta, the desire for enlightenment.

    Why do some people have a fierce desire to seek the truth, asks co-host Roger Walsh, but many do not? Hameed replies that most people are busy making a living, doing their best to get by. In this case the transformative force remains a potential but is not actualized. Seekers possessed by the flame of the search turn inward, asking, What is God? What is truth? What is reality? Scientists look at this externally, he says, but it is the inward turn that reveals the source of the inner fire, the logos, the word that speaks through our souls and through our hearts. Towards the end of the conversation, Hameed laughs at how upside down things are with us looking for answers everywhere but within and thinking the logos speaks through who we think we are, not realizing we ourselves actually are the logos. If we realize who we truly are, he says, the world itself becomes richer. Another infinitely inspiring talk with A. H. Almaas, filled with astonishing wisdom and loving humor. Recorded September 11, 2025.

    “Be attentive to the inner calling. Inner pleasure far surpasses outer pleasure.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3

    • The developmental aspect of creative dynamism & the Western concept of evolution, of progress (00:39)
    • Development is part of the order, the progression of one form to another, the process of maturation, like spiritual realization (03:36)
    • The universe has an optimizing, transformative force, like a caterpillar to a butterfly (09:02)
    • There is also an optimizing force specific to the human soul, where hearts burn with desire for liberation; this is responsible for spiritual development (11:41) 
    • Why do some people have this desire and most do not? (13:44)
    • In the Western world, spiritual realization is a luxury; in the East there is some support for people pursuing realization (17:08)
    • Intensifying & purifying spiritual aspiration with practice: we find pleasure when the soul turns inward (19:13)
    • Be attentive to this inner calling: know thyself (22:40)
    • The flame of the search reveals the source of the inner fire, the logos, the word that is speaking through our souls, our hearts (25:02)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 3

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Mahamudra’s one taste, the third of the Four Stages of Yoga
    • Dzogchen
    • Ramana Maharshi
    • Markabah, the second diamond vehicle to appear, is the vehicle of pleasure, understanding pleasure from the spiritual perspective
    
    

    ---

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 210 (Part 3 of 3) | In Part 3 of the 15th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali speaks about the evolutionary aspect of the creative dynamism of the universe. He explains there is an optimizing, transformative force that is responsible for one form changing to another, like a caterpillar to a butterfly. This developmental force is in alignment with Western concepts of evolution and progress, and applies to spiritual realization, too. There is also an optimizing force specific to the human soul, Hameed tells us, that fuels the hearts that burn with the desire for liberation. This is the force responsible for spiritual development. In Buddhism it is called bodhicitta, the desire for enlightenment.

    Why do some people have a fierce desire to seek the truth, asks co-host Roger Walsh, but many do not? Hameed replies that most people are busy making a living, doing their best to get by. In this case the transformative force remains a potential but is not actualized. Seekers possessed by the flame of the search turn inward, asking, What is God? What is truth? What is reality? Scientists look at this externally, he says, but it is the inward turn that reveals the source of the inner fire, the logos, the word that speaks through our souls and through our hearts. Towards the end of the conversation, Hameed laughs at how upside down things are with us looking for answers everywhere but within and thinking the logos speaks through who we think we are, not realizing we ourselves actually are the logos. If we realize who we truly are, he says, the world itself becomes richer. Another infinitely inspiring talk with A. H. Almaas, filled with astonishing wisdom and loving humor. Recorded September 11, 2025.

    “Be attentive to the inner calling. Inner pleasure far surpasses outer pleasure.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3

    • The developmental aspect of creative dynamism & the Western concept of evolution, of progress (00:39)
    • Development is part of the order, the progression of one form to another, the process of maturation, like spiritual realization (03:36)
    • The universe has an optimizing, transformative force, like a caterpillar to a butterfly (09:02)
    • There is also an optimizing force specific to the human soul, where hearts burn with desire for liberation; this is responsible for spiritual development (11:41) 
    • Why do some people have this desire and most do not? (13:44)
    • In the Western world, spiritual realization is a luxury; in the East there is some support for people pursuing realization (17:08)
    • Intensifying & purifying spiritual aspiration with practice: we find pleasure when the soul turns inward (19:13)
    • Be attentive to this inner calling: know thyself (22:40)
    • The flame of the search reveals the source of the inner fire, the logos, the word that is speaking through our souls, our hearts (25:02)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 3

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Mahamudra’s one taste, the third of the Four Stages of Yoga
    • Dzogchen
    • Ramana Maharshi
    • Markabah, the second diamond vehicle to appear, is the vehicle of pleasure, understanding pleasure from the spiritual perspective
    
    

    ---

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>3b064b42-e8fb-454d-a0e5-b29a0bc27c7cThu, 27 Nov 2025 05:00:00 -040031:34falsefull210210Aligning with the Dynamism & Flow of the Cosmos with A. H. AlmaasEp. 209 (Part 2 of 3) | In Part 2 of the 15th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali delves into the very creation of reality by the logos, the source of all life. Logos (an ancient Greek term) is often considered to mean “word,” but Hameed uses it in its deeper sense, where logos is not only the word but also the speaker—the living field of manifestation. The soul is very similar to the logos, Hameed adds, with the same sense of flow, dynamism, and creativity. Hameed points out that the universe could have been created haphazardly, but because it was created in an orderly fashion, it allows for our lives to be meaningful. And, he continues, it is the dimension of love implicit in the logos that brings a beautiful sense of harmony, love, and gratitude to the human soul.

    What about all the disharmony in the world? co-host Roger Walsh asks. How can genocide happen in a world that is divinely harmonious? To help explain this, Hameed uses the human body as an example of two perspectives that co-exist: from the perspective of time, we die, he says, but from the perspective of the particle, all is perfect. Hameed also describes his personal experience of being aligned with the creative dynamism of the logos, creating himself and the world anew each moment, like the way frames in a movie are constantly being replaced. The more we live this, he says, the more we bring harmony to the world. Join us also for Part 3 of this deep and intriguing dive into the nature of reality, where Hameed continues to talk about creative dynamism and the logos, and explains how this pertains to our own individual spiritual evolution. Recorded September 11, 2025.

    “For the divine all is harmony, but for us human beings, it looks like mayhem.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • The soul is very similar to the logos, with the same sense of flow, dynamism & creativity (00:42)
    • Quantum theory says the field is generated by physical phenomena—but the logos is created out of spiritual mass, it’s the living field of manifestation (01:25)
    • The universe is alive and the logos is the source of all life (05:25)
    • Creative dynamism is a nondual dynamism that brings order to the universe; this creative order is what makes our lives meaningful (05:50)
    • An intelligence has created the universe so that it knows itself (09:42)
    • All forms in the nondual are basically noetic forms, and the logos is an unfoldment of these forms (11:30)
    • If the dimension of love is implicit in the logos, it brings a beautiful sense of harmony, love & gratitude to the human soul (12:35)
    • What about all the disharmony in the world? For the divine all is harmony, but for us human beings, it looks like mayhem (13:24)
    • Take the example of the human body: from the perspective of time we die, from the perspective of the particle it’s all perfect (14:47)
    • Hameed’s experience of creating himself and the world each moment (17:01)
    • The dualistic world is not an illusion; it’s one way the logos manifests reality (21:18)
    • Direct transmission: the Black Hat Ceremony of the 16th Karmapa (22:30)
    • In the Diamond Approach, transmission happens through words; the word is not separate from the state (25:59)
    • The word transmission is a misnomer; it’s a direct invocation (28:53)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Federico Faggin, Italian-American physicist, engineer, inventor
    • The Great Perfection, Center for Contemplative Research
    • Advaita Vedanta
    • Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, 16th Karmapa, the Black Hat Ceremony
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 209 (Part 2 of 3) | In Part 2 of the 15th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali delves into the very creation of reality by the logos, the source of all life. Logos (an ancient Greek term) is often considered to mean “word,” but Hameed uses it in its deeper sense, where logos is not only the word but also the speaker—the living field of manifestation. The soul is very similar to the logos, Hameed adds, with the same sense of flow, dynamism, and creativity. Hameed points out that the universe could have been created haphazardly, but because it was created in an orderly fashion, it allows for our lives to be meaningful. And, he continues, it is the dimension of love implicit in the logos that brings a beautiful sense of harmony, love, and gratitude to the human soul.

    What about all the disharmony in the world? co-host Roger Walsh asks. How can genocide happen in a world that is divinely harmonious? To help explain this, Hameed uses the human body as an example of two perspectives that co-exist: from the perspective of time, we die, he says, but from the perspective of the particle, all is perfect. Hameed also describes his personal experience of being aligned with the creative dynamism of the logos, creating himself and the world anew each moment, like the way frames in a movie are constantly being replaced. The more we live this, he says, the more we bring harmony to the world. Join us also for Part 3 of this deep and intriguing dive into the nature of reality, where Hameed continues to talk about creative dynamism and the logos, and explains how this pertains to our own individual spiritual evolution. Recorded September 11, 2025.

    “For the divine all is harmony, but for us human beings, it looks like mayhem.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • The soul is very similar to the logos, with the same sense of flow, dynamism & creativity (00:42)
    • Quantum theory says the field is generated by physical phenomena—but the logos is created out of spiritual mass, it’s the living field of manifestation (01:25)
    • The universe is alive and the logos is the source of all life (05:25)
    • Creative dynamism is a nondual dynamism that brings order to the universe; this creative order is what makes our lives meaningful (05:50)
    • An intelligence has created the universe so that it knows itself (09:42)
    • All forms in the nondual are basically noetic forms, and the logos is an unfoldment of these forms (11:30)
    • If the dimension of love is implicit in the logos, it brings a beautiful sense of harmony, love & gratitude to the human soul (12:35)
    • What about all the disharmony in the world? For the divine all is harmony, but for us human beings, it looks like mayhem (13:24)
    • Take the example of the human body: from the perspective of time we die, from the perspective of the particle it’s all perfect (14:47)
    • Hameed’s experience of creating himself and the world each moment (17:01)
    • The dualistic world is not an illusion; it’s one way the logos manifests reality (21:18)
    • Direct transmission: the Black Hat Ceremony of the 16th Karmapa (22:30)
    • In the Diamond Approach, transmission happens through words; the word is not separate from the state (25:59)
    • The word transmission is a misnomer; it’s a direct invocation (28:53)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Federico Faggin, Italian-American physicist, engineer, inventor
    • The Great Perfection, Center for Contemplative Research
    • Advaita Vedanta
    • Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, 16th Karmapa, the Black Hat Ceremony
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>fb52d427-1951-4316-b4f4-694fb909dc19Thu, 20 Nov 2025 05:00:00 -040032:46falsefull209209How Does Anything (Including Us) Change in a Nondual World? with A. H. AlmaasEp. 208 (Part 1 of 3) | In Part 1 of the 15th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali enlightens us about the dynamic, creative force that generates our reality. “Dynamism is constant,” Hameed explains, “it never stops—it is constantly creating what we experience, what we perceive.” Hameed calls this nondual dimension of true nature—of our nature—creative dynamism. How do you explain change, he asks, if it’s not happening in time, and all of reality is one fabric, nondual? The dynamism Hameed speaks of, ongoing and total, has a radical implication: the entire universe is re-created, instant by instant. Not only the physical dimension, Hameed adds, but all dimensions—mental, emotional, and spiritual—are re-created anew.

    As co-host Roger Walsh points out, Hameed’s teachings come from direct experience, and Hameed describes his own mind-blowing experience of the moment-by-moment re-creation of himself and the world in Part 2 of this dialogue. Nothing persists, he discovers, movement is not continual. In Part 1, Hameed also explores the subjects of free will, action, and choice as addressed from a nondual perspective, and the fact that we and our actions emerge from the totality of reality. As always, Hameed transmits his joy and exuberance at the mysterious and marvelous ways true nature expresses itself, and it is exciting to realize our own nature is as dynamic, creative, flowing and changing, as the universe. Recorded September 11, 2025.

    “All of reality is part of one unified fabric, so what does it mean when a bird flies from one place to another?”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing dialogue #15 in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, focusing on the chapter “Logos & Creative Dynamism” in 
    • The Inner Journey Home (01:11)
    • How do other spiritual traditions explain change? (03:05)
    • Opening to the fact that our true nature has dynamism and flow (05:51)
    • Where does the word the "logos" come from? (07:07)
    • Radical dynamism: the entire universe is re-created, instant by instant (09:58)
    • Replacement: reality is replaced each instant, just like in the movies when one screen replaces the last (13:13)
    • Not just the physical dimension, but all dimensions—mental, emotional & spiritual—are created anew (18:51)
    • Free will, action, choice addressed from a nondual perspective (21:15)
    • We need to acknowledge our choice-making capacity and the fact that we and our actions are emerging from the totality of reality (24:49)
    • Dynamism shows we don’t need the “doer”—the universe is what “does” (27:09)
    • The teaching of transitoriness (30:20)
    • Each soul is a ripple in the ocean, a part of what is being constantly recreated (30:49)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Advaita Vedanta
    • Dzogchen
    • Mahamudra
    • Kashmir Shaivism
    • The Sufi doctrine of “Renewing of Creation at each instant,” Introduction to Sufi Doctrine, chapter 10 (pdf)
    • Logos
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 208 (Part 1 of 3) | In Part 1 of the 15th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali enlightens us about the dynamic, creative force that generates our reality. “Dynamism is constant,” Hameed explains, “it never stops—it is constantly creating what we experience, what we perceive.” Hameed calls this nondual dimension of true nature—of our nature—creative dynamism. How do you explain change, he asks, if it’s not happening in time, and all of reality is one fabric, nondual? The dynamism Hameed speaks of, ongoing and total, has a radical implication: the entire universe is re-created, instant by instant. Not only the physical dimension, Hameed adds, but all dimensions—mental, emotional, and spiritual—are re-created anew.

    As co-host Roger Walsh points out, Hameed’s teachings come from direct experience, and Hameed describes his own mind-blowing experience of the moment-by-moment re-creation of himself and the world in Part 2 of this dialogue. Nothing persists, he discovers, movement is not continual. In Part 1, Hameed also explores the subjects of free will, action, and choice as addressed from a nondual perspective, and the fact that we and our actions emerge from the totality of reality. As always, Hameed transmits his joy and exuberance at the mysterious and marvelous ways true nature expresses itself, and it is exciting to realize our own nature is as dynamic, creative, flowing and changing, as the universe. Recorded September 11, 2025.

    “All of reality is part of one unified fabric, so what does it mean when a bird flies from one place to another?”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing dialogue #15 in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, focusing on the chapter “Logos & Creative Dynamism” in 
    • The Inner Journey Home (01:11)
    • How do other spiritual traditions explain change? (03:05)
    • Opening to the fact that our true nature has dynamism and flow (05:51)
    • Where does the word the "logos" come from? (07:07)
    • Radical dynamism: the entire universe is re-created, instant by instant (09:58)
    • Replacement: reality is replaced each instant, just like in the movies when one screen replaces the last (13:13)
    • Not just the physical dimension, but all dimensions—mental, emotional & spiritual—are created anew (18:51)
    • Free will, action, choice addressed from a nondual perspective (21:15)
    • We need to acknowledge our choice-making capacity and the fact that we and our actions are emerging from the totality of reality (24:49)
    • Dynamism shows we don’t need the “doer”—the universe is what “does” (27:09)
    • The teaching of transitoriness (30:20)
    • Each soul is a ripple in the ocean, a part of what is being constantly recreated (30:49)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Advaita Vedanta
    • Dzogchen
    • Mahamudra
    • Kashmir Shaivism
    • The Sufi doctrine of “Renewing of Creation at each instant,” Introduction to Sufi Doctrine, chapter 10 (pdf)
    • Logos
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>d141e079-9269-4090-88c0-40c2e0646258Thu, 13 Nov 2025 05:00:00 -040034:44falsefull208208Governor Jerry Brown on Life, Power, and the Future of Humanity (Part 2)Ep. 207 (Part 2 of 2) | In this extraordinary, compelling conversation, visionary, activist, and long-time politician, former Governor of California Jerry Brown gets right to the heart of the things that matter most. From truth seeking on an individual level (the importance of inquiring into the depths of our reality), to the challenge of our democracy (getting a consensus in a population that has no coherence), to the problem of leadership (now it’s all about winning, which works on the football field but not for international relations), the fear and greed that drive the arms race (we’re not talking about the arms issue, and to not talk about it is to be complicit), and the existential danger of nuclear war (as important as it is underreported), Jerry nails the essence of our most pressing issues. 

    Jerry’s deep concern about the existential threats we face today, such as nuclear war and climate change, is matched by his enthusiasm for life and excitement over the fact that the future is unknowable. “We have to turn,” he says, “and everyone can contribute to amplifying the turn.” We discover some of the key formative events that shaped Jerry’s keenly discerning character, so evident throughout his career and still today in his eighties, and why co-host Roger Walsh describes him as a “force of nature.” This conversation is thoroughly enjoyable, inspirational, eye opening, and disturbing too. “We are on the brink, but no one wants to hear it,” Jerry says. “How do you speak the truth in a way it can be heard?” Recorded August 7, 2025.

    “The future is unknown, so don’t conclude that all is dark – or that all is bright! It’s unknown, so as long as we’re breathing and functioning, we have a lot to do.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Waking up with enthusiasm, excitement, and inherent appreciation (01:06)
    • What is Jerry engaged in right now? (03:34)
    • Roger’s summary of the global issues facing us today (05:50)
    • The nuclear danger is as important as it is underreported, and the key to proliferation is fear (07:17)
    • The ICBM Caucus (11:38)
    • Not talking about the arms issue is to be complicit (13:52)  
    • Sitting with the question, what can I do? (16:19)
    • Social and political recognition of danger is so very important (18:12)
    • We have to turn and everyone can contribute to amplifying the turn (19:01)
    • The future is unknowable, so we do what we can (20:05)
    • Living in inquiry, the quest for truth (22:44)
    • Why was Jerry drawn to work for the good of the environment? (23:47)
    • The Jesuit belief in eternal damnation (27:55)
    • What you can derive from Zen (30:45)
    • Becoming individuators on the developmental path (33:15)
    • What does Jerry wish he’d known sooner? (34:49)
    • There’s always more to be learned (37:29)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Jerry Brown, Chair of the California-China Climate Institute at UC Berkeley
    • Ernest Samuels, Henry Adams
    • Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
    • William Hartung & Ben Freeman, The Trillion Dollar War Machine
    • Inside the ICBM Lobby: Special Interests or the Public Interest (Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft)
    • Greta Thunberg, Swedish climate and political activist
    • Daniel Ellsberg, political activist, economist, and U.S. military analyst
    • Denis Hayes, coordinator of the first Earth Day
    • St. Ignatius’ Meditations
    
    

    ---

    Jerry Brown was born in San Francisco on April 7, 1938. He was elected Trustee for the LA Community College District in 1969, California Secretary of State in 1970, and Governor of California in 1974 and 1978. After his governorship, he lectured and traveled widely, practiced law, served as chair of the California Democratic Party and ran for president. Brown was elected Mayor of Oakland in 1998, California Attorney General in 2006, and Governor again in 2010 and 2014. Brown currently serves as chair of the California-China Climate Institute at UC Berkeley, executive chair of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, chair of the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation Advisory Board, on the board of the Council on Criminal Justice, and as chair of the Oakland Military Institute College Preparatory Academy, one of two public charter schools he founded in Oakland more than 20 years ago.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 207 (Part 2 of 2) | In this extraordinary, compelling conversation, visionary, activist, and long-time politician, former Governor of California Jerry Brown gets right to the heart of the things that matter most. From truth seeking on an individual level (the importance of inquiring into the depths of our reality), to the challenge of our democracy (getting a consensus in a population that has no coherence), to the problem of leadership (now it’s all about winning, which works on the football field but not for international relations), the fear and greed that drive the arms race (we’re not talking about the arms issue, and to not talk about it is to be complicit), and the existential danger of nuclear war (as important as it is underreported), Jerry nails the essence of our most pressing issues. 

    Jerry’s deep concern about the existential threats we face today, such as nuclear war and climate change, is matched by his enthusiasm for life and excitement over the fact that the future is unknowable. “We have to turn,” he says, “and everyone can contribute to amplifying the turn.” We discover some of the key formative events that shaped Jerry’s keenly discerning character, so evident throughout his career and still today in his eighties, and why co-host Roger Walsh describes him as a “force of nature.” This conversation is thoroughly enjoyable, inspirational, eye opening, and disturbing too. “We are on the brink, but no one wants to hear it,” Jerry says. “How do you speak the truth in a way it can be heard?” Recorded August 7, 2025.

    “The future is unknown, so don’t conclude that all is dark – or that all is bright! It’s unknown, so as long as we’re breathing and functioning, we have a lot to do.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Waking up with enthusiasm, excitement, and inherent appreciation (01:06)
    • What is Jerry engaged in right now? (03:34)
    • Roger’s summary of the global issues facing us today (05:50)
    • The nuclear danger is as important as it is underreported, and the key to proliferation is fear (07:17)
    • The ICBM Caucus (11:38)
    • Not talking about the arms issue is to be complicit (13:52)  
    • Sitting with the question, what can I do? (16:19)
    • Social and political recognition of danger is so very important (18:12)
    • We have to turn and everyone can contribute to amplifying the turn (19:01)
    • The future is unknowable, so we do what we can (20:05)
    • Living in inquiry, the quest for truth (22:44)
    • Why was Jerry drawn to work for the good of the environment? (23:47)
    • The Jesuit belief in eternal damnation (27:55)
    • What you can derive from Zen (30:45)
    • Becoming individuators on the developmental path (33:15)
    • What does Jerry wish he’d known sooner? (34:49)
    • There’s always more to be learned (37:29)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Jerry Brown, Chair of the California-China Climate Institute at UC Berkeley
    • Ernest Samuels, Henry Adams
    • Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
    • William Hartung & Ben Freeman, The Trillion Dollar War Machine
    • Inside the ICBM Lobby: Special Interests or the Public Interest (Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft)
    • Greta Thunberg, Swedish climate and political activist
    • Daniel Ellsberg, political activist, economist, and U.S. military analyst
    • Denis Hayes, coordinator of the first Earth Day
    • St. Ignatius’ Meditations
    
    

    ---

    Jerry Brown was born in San Francisco on April 7, 1938. He was elected Trustee for the LA Community College District in 1969, California Secretary of State in 1970, and Governor of California in 1974 and 1978. After his governorship, he lectured and traveled widely, practiced law, served as chair of the California Democratic Party and ran for president. Brown was elected Mayor of Oakland in 1998, California Attorney General in 2006, and Governor again in 2010 and 2014. Brown currently serves as chair of the California-China Climate Institute at UC Berkeley, executive chair of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, chair of the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation Advisory Board, on the board of the Council on Criminal Justice, and as chair of the Oakland Military Institute College Preparatory Academy, one of two public charter schools he founded in Oakland more than 20 years ago.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>5b57b7fe-1634-4a28-b9e8-b5c7f758d7e1Thu, 06 Nov 2025 05:00:00 -040041:32falsefull207207Governor Jerry Brown on Life, Power, and the Future of HumanityEp. 206 (Part 1 of 2) | In this extraordinary, compelling conversation, visionary, activist, and long-time politician, former Governor of California Jerry Brown gets right to the heart of the things that matter most. From truth seeking on an individual level (the importance of inquiring into the depths of our reality), to the challenge of our democracy (getting a consensus in a population that has no coherence), to the problem of leadership (now it’s all about winning, which works on the football field but not for international relations), the fear and greed that drive the arms race (we’re not talking about the arms issue, and to not talk about it is to be complicit), and the existential danger of nuclear war (as important as it is underreported), Jerry nails the essence of our most pressing issues. 

    Jerry’s deep concern about the existential threats we face today, such as nuclear war and climate change, is matched by his enthusiasm for life and excitement over the fact that the future is unknowable. “We have to turn,” he says, “and everyone can contribute to amplifying the turn.” We discover some of the key formative events that shaped Jerry’s keenly discerning character, so evident throughout his career and still today in his eighties, and why co-host Roger Walsh describes him as a “force of nature.” This conversation is thoroughly enjoyable, inspirational, eye opening, and disturbing too. “We are on the brink, but no one wants to hear it,” Jerry says. “How do you speak the truth in a way it can be heard?” Recorded August 7, 2025.

    “We should not sleep in the delusion that things are better than they are.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing former Governor of California, Jerry Brown (00:43)
    • Jerry’s Jesuit background and the transformative process (02:29)
    • What shaped Jerry’s orientation to life? Growing up in a more innocent, unambiguous time in San Francisco (04:10)
    • Today’s chaos and confusion is what led to the presidency of Donald Trump (10:20)
    • The challenge in a democracy is getting a consensus—right now the “We” in “We the People” doesn’t have coherence (14:44)
    • Today the democratic ideal is up for grabs; it’s zero-sum—all about winning, and the payoff for scapegoating is very high (15:52)
    • We need an enormous amount of resources to address our problems, but using tax dollars requires a public belief and commitment that is not there (17:41)
    • The doomsday clock is ticking, the dangers are growing: nuclear, bio, climate, AI, satellites & weaponry (21:42)
    • Planetary realism and the need to work together: shared vulnerability needs to give rise to shared interest (26:35)
    • What can we do as individuals? Where you can be helpful and human and responsive, do that (32:05)
    • We are in the power of forces that a) we don’t control and b) we can’t do anything about (35:50)
    • We are on the brink, but no one wants to hear it: how do you speak the truth in a way it can be heard? (36:57)
    • Sitting Zazen in the face of what’s happening (39:32)
    • Jesuit slogan: Do what you’re doing (age quod agis) (42:20)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Jerry Brown, Executive Chair of the the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
    • Jerry Brown, Chair of the California-China Climate Institute at UC Berkeley
    •  The Doomsday Clock
    • William (Bill) Perry, My Journey at the Nuclear Brink
    • Barry McGuire song “Eve of Destruction” (1965)
    • Jerry Brown, A Stark Nuclear Warning (2016 NY Times book review of William Parry’s book)
    • Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
    • Lawrence Langer, Holocaust scholar who criticized Viktor Frankl’s book
    • Werner Erhard, “Life is empty and meaningless, and it’s empty and meaningless that it’s empty and meaningless.”
    • Age quod agis, “Digging Deeper: Age Quod Agis”
    
    

    ---

    Jerry Brown was born in San Francisco on April 7, 1938. He was elected Trustee for the LA Community College District in 1969, California Secretary of State in 1970, and Governor of California in 1974 and 1978. After his governorship, he lectured and traveled widely, practiced law, served as chair of the California Democratic Party and ran for president. Brown was elected Mayor of Oakland in 1998, California Attorney General in 2006, and Governor again in 2010 and 2014. Brown currently serves as chair of the California-China Climate Institute at UC Berkeley, executive chair of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, chair of the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation Advisory Board, on the board of the Council on Criminal Justice, and as chair of the Oakland Military Institute College Preparatory Academy, one of two public charter schools he founded in Oakland more than 20 years ago.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 206 (Part 1 of 2) | In this extraordinary, compelling conversation, visionary, activist, and long-time politician, former Governor of California Jerry Brown gets right to the heart of the things that matter most. From truth seeking on an individual level (the importance of inquiring into the depths of our reality), to the challenge of our democracy (getting a consensus in a population that has no coherence), to the problem of leadership (now it’s all about winning, which works on the football field but not for international relations), the fear and greed that drive the arms race (we’re not talking about the arms issue, and to not talk about it is to be complicit), and the existential danger of nuclear war (as important as it is underreported), Jerry nails the essence of our most pressing issues. 

    Jerry’s deep concern about the existential threats we face today, such as nuclear war and climate change, is matched by his enthusiasm for life and excitement over the fact that the future is unknowable. “We have to turn,” he says, “and everyone can contribute to amplifying the turn.” We discover some of the key formative events that shaped Jerry’s keenly discerning character, so evident throughout his career and still today in his eighties, and why co-host Roger Walsh describes him as a “force of nature.” This conversation is thoroughly enjoyable, inspirational, eye opening, and disturbing too. “We are on the brink, but no one wants to hear it,” Jerry says. “How do you speak the truth in a way it can be heard?” Recorded August 7, 2025.

    “We should not sleep in the delusion that things are better than they are.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing former Governor of California, Jerry Brown (00:43)
    • Jerry’s Jesuit background and the transformative process (02:29)
    • What shaped Jerry’s orientation to life? Growing up in a more innocent, unambiguous time in San Francisco (04:10)
    • Today’s chaos and confusion is what led to the presidency of Donald Trump (10:20)
    • The challenge in a democracy is getting a consensus—right now the “We” in “We the People” doesn’t have coherence (14:44)
    • Today the democratic ideal is up for grabs; it’s zero-sum—all about winning, and the payoff for scapegoating is very high (15:52)
    • We need an enormous amount of resources to address our problems, but using tax dollars requires a public belief and commitment that is not there (17:41)
    • The doomsday clock is ticking, the dangers are growing: nuclear, bio, climate, AI, satellites & weaponry (21:42)
    • Planetary realism and the need to work together: shared vulnerability needs to give rise to shared interest (26:35)
    • What can we do as individuals? Where you can be helpful and human and responsive, do that (32:05)
    • We are in the power of forces that a) we don’t control and b) we can’t do anything about (35:50)
    • We are on the brink, but no one wants to hear it: how do you speak the truth in a way it can be heard? (36:57)
    • Sitting Zazen in the face of what’s happening (39:32)
    • Jesuit slogan: Do what you’re doing (age quod agis) (42:20)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Jerry Brown, Executive Chair of the the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
    • Jerry Brown, Chair of the California-China Climate Institute at UC Berkeley
    •  The Doomsday Clock
    • William (Bill) Perry, My Journey at the Nuclear Brink
    • Barry McGuire song “Eve of Destruction” (1965)
    • Jerry Brown, A Stark Nuclear Warning (2016 NY Times book review of William Parry’s book)
    • Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
    • Lawrence Langer, Holocaust scholar who criticized Viktor Frankl’s book
    • Werner Erhard, “Life is empty and meaningless, and it’s empty and meaningless that it’s empty and meaningless.”
    • Age quod agis, “Digging Deeper: Age Quod Agis”
    
    

    ---

    Jerry Brown was born in San Francisco on April 7, 1938. He was elected Trustee for the LA Community College District in 1969, California Secretary of State in 1970, and Governor of California in 1974 and 1978. After his governorship, he lectured and traveled widely, practiced law, served as chair of the California Democratic Party and ran for president. Brown was elected Mayor of Oakland in 1998, California Attorney General in 2006, and Governor again in 2010 and 2014. Brown currently serves as chair of the California-China Climate Institute at UC Berkeley, executive chair of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, chair of the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation Advisory Board, on the board of the Council on Criminal Justice, and as chair of the Oakland Military Institute College Preparatory Academy, one of two public charter schools he founded in Oakland more than 20 years ago.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>426a2f6f-9592-4fd2-be38-5fe3604ec73cThu, 30 Oct 2025 05:00:00 -040045:32falsefull206206Waking Up to Pure Awareness: Transcending Your Mind with A. H. Almaas (Part 2)Ep. 205 (Part 2 of 2) | In the fourteenth dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali explores the nonconceptual nature of the dimension of pure awareness, guiding us into the realm that lies beyond conceptual dichotomies such as being/nonbeing, being/doing, duality/nonduality, good/bad, and meaningful/meaningless. Beyond knowing, this dimension exposes and challenges conceptual polarities, and when we arrive at this level of realization we are able to trust letting go of knowingness and wake up to pure awareness. People fear annihilation at the prospect of going beyond concepts, Hameed explains, and it does lead to a death: the death of mind, the death of the doer. But even here beyond knowing, Hameed continues, the nonconceptual always operates from compassion and love. 

    How do we develop a continuity of nonconceptual awareness? Roger and John wonder. One way is when knowing is integrated into being, Hameed answers. Then everything just happens; the doing is funneled through the individual. And there is another way, through developing the “pearl beyond price,” the individual, Hameed adds, but this way is rare. As co-host Roger Walsh says, this is an especially nourishing, stimulating, and intriguing discussion, with Hameed doing a beautiful job of relating how our concepts form the basis of our existence and what it means to transcend them, let go of our mind, deconstruct our perception of ourselves as the “doer,” and wake up to pure awareness. Recorded August 14, 2025.

    “Conceptual dichotomies are important for the functioning of the human being, they are our building blocks… We need to recognize their usefulness—and also be able to be without them.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • The conceptual dichotomy between good and bad (00:28)
    • The nonconceptual always operates from compassion (02:31)
    • Most spiritual teachings focus on the dichotomy of being/nonbeing (04:40)
    • Non-knowing is a deeper realization; if you become aware of it, you wake up to pure awareness (06:00)
    • Goodness is inherent; Ram Dass understood loving awareness (07:43)
    • The dichotomy of duality/nonduality (11:04)
    • Conceptual dichotomies are important, they are our building blocks; we need to recognize their usefulness and also be able to be without them (13:07)
    • The problem comes when we believe our concepts are fundamentally true and we become locked into our separate identities (18:27)
    • The dichotomy of meaningful/meaningless (19:13)
    • Purpose/purposelessness and the Buddhist idea that our purpose is enlightenment (23:05)
    • Time/timelessness (25:32)
    • Going beyond the concept of God: the universal heretic (26:33)
    • The master of knowledge: you can use the knowledge but you are not bound by it or attached to it (28:01)
    • The view of totality (32:22)
    • Love & compassion are inherent to all spiritual teachings (33:43)
    • Living in pure awareness: the 16th Karmapa (37:45)
    • Hameed, Roger & John discuss Deep Transformation guests Frank Ostaseski of Zen Hospice and former CA governor Jerry Brown (40:16)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Ram Dass & Rameshwar Das, Be Love Now: The Path of the Heart
    • Dzogchen
    • A. H. Almaas, Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery
    • Iain McGilchrist, psychiatrist, philosopher, neuroscientist: Channel McGilchrist
    • 16th Karmapa: Interview with a Buddha
    • Learning From Death and Dying: Lessons for All of Us From Zen Hospice with Frank Ostaseski (Deep Transformation podcast)
    • Jerry Brown (Deep Transformation podcast coming up October 30th; we’ll add the link here when it goes live.)
    
    

    ---

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 205 (Part 2 of 2) | In the fourteenth dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali explores the nonconceptual nature of the dimension of pure awareness, guiding us into the realm that lies beyond conceptual dichotomies such as being/nonbeing, being/doing, duality/nonduality, good/bad, and meaningful/meaningless. Beyond knowing, this dimension exposes and challenges conceptual polarities, and when we arrive at this level of realization we are able to trust letting go of knowingness and wake up to pure awareness. People fear annihilation at the prospect of going beyond concepts, Hameed explains, and it does lead to a death: the death of mind, the death of the doer. But even here beyond knowing, Hameed continues, the nonconceptual always operates from compassion and love. 

    How do we develop a continuity of nonconceptual awareness? Roger and John wonder. One way is when knowing is integrated into being, Hameed answers. Then everything just happens; the doing is funneled through the individual. And there is another way, through developing the “pearl beyond price,” the individual, Hameed adds, but this way is rare. As co-host Roger Walsh says, this is an especially nourishing, stimulating, and intriguing discussion, with Hameed doing a beautiful job of relating how our concepts form the basis of our existence and what it means to transcend them, let go of our mind, deconstruct our perception of ourselves as the “doer,” and wake up to pure awareness. Recorded August 14, 2025.

    “Conceptual dichotomies are important for the functioning of the human being, they are our building blocks… We need to recognize their usefulness—and also be able to be without them.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • The conceptual dichotomy between good and bad (00:28)
    • The nonconceptual always operates from compassion (02:31)
    • Most spiritual teachings focus on the dichotomy of being/nonbeing (04:40)
    • Non-knowing is a deeper realization; if you become aware of it, you wake up to pure awareness (06:00)
    • Goodness is inherent; Ram Dass understood loving awareness (07:43)
    • The dichotomy of duality/nonduality (11:04)
    • Conceptual dichotomies are important, they are our building blocks; we need to recognize their usefulness and also be able to be without them (13:07)
    • The problem comes when we believe our concepts are fundamentally true and we become locked into our separate identities (18:27)
    • The dichotomy of meaningful/meaningless (19:13)
    • Purpose/purposelessness and the Buddhist idea that our purpose is enlightenment (23:05)
    • Time/timelessness (25:32)
    • Going beyond the concept of God: the universal heretic (26:33)
    • The master of knowledge: you can use the knowledge but you are not bound by it or attached to it (28:01)
    • The view of totality (32:22)
    • Love & compassion are inherent to all spiritual teachings (33:43)
    • Living in pure awareness: the 16th Karmapa (37:45)
    • Hameed, Roger & John discuss Deep Transformation guests Frank Ostaseski of Zen Hospice and former CA governor Jerry Brown (40:16)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Ram Dass & Rameshwar Das, Be Love Now: The Path of the Heart
    • Dzogchen
    • A. H. Almaas, Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery
    • Iain McGilchrist, psychiatrist, philosopher, neuroscientist: Channel McGilchrist
    • 16th Karmapa: Interview with a Buddha
    • Learning From Death and Dying: Lessons for All of Us From Zen Hospice with Frank Ostaseski (Deep Transformation podcast)
    • Jerry Brown (Deep Transformation podcast coming up October 30th; we’ll add the link here when it goes live.)
    
    

    ---

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>675dca98-88d3-43eb-948f-d39d9512ff51Thu, 23 Oct 2025 05:00:00 -040044:41falsefull205205Waking Up to Pure Awareness: Transcending Your Mind with A. H. Almaas (Part 1)Ep. 204 (Part 1 of 2) | In the fourteenth dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali explores the nonconceptual nature of the dimension of pure awareness, guiding us into the realm that lies beyond conceptual dichotomies such as being/nonbeing, being/doing, duality/nonduality, good/bad, and meaningful/meaningless. Beyond knowing, this dimension exposes and challenges conceptual polarities, and when we arrive at this level of realization we are able to trust letting go of knowingness and wake up to pure awareness. People fear annihilation at the prospect of going beyond concepts, Hameed explains, and it does lead to a death: the death of mind, the death of the doer. But even here beyond knowing, Hameed continues, the nonconceptual always operates from compassion and love. 

    How do we develop a continuity of nonconceptual awareness? Roger and John wonder. One way is when knowing is integrated into being, Hameed answers. Then everything just happens; the doing is funneled through the individual. And there is another way, through developing the “pearl beyond price,” the individual, Hameed adds, but this way is rare. As co-host Roger Walsh says, this is an especially nourishing, stimulating, and intriguing discussion, with Hameed doing a beautiful job of relating how our concepts form the basis of our existence and what it means to transcend them, let go of our mind, deconstruct our perception of ourselves as the “doer,” and wake up to pure awareness. Recorded August 14, 2025.

    “To be in the nonconceptual state, i.e. in sitting meditation, is half of it, but to actualize it is the other half.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing the 14th dialogue in the 
    • A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, focusing on nonconceptual awareness & transcending conceptual dichotomies (00:51)
    • Nondual reality, at the heart of The Inner Journey Home, is differentiated into five dimensions, each of which reveals something important about the deconstruction process that happens with spiritual practice (03:41)
    • Nonconceptual means beyond the capacity of knowing (07:34)
    • The experience of pure awareness transcends the dichotomy of existence/nonexistence (10:02)
    • In Dzogchen, rigpa includes knowing—but pure awareness means no knowing, just perception (10:30)
    • The dichotomy of being/doing is often a “sticking place” in our practice (16:10)
    • How do we develop a continuity of nonconceptual awareness? (19:44)
    • People fear annihilation at the prospect of going beyond concepts, and it does lead to the death of mind, the death of the doer (23:03) 
    • With this level of realization, we can trust letting go of our knowingness (27:10)
    • What are ways for actualization to occur? (29:20)
    • In true, deep sleep there is cessation, all awareness gone (34:38)
    • When God manifests through the individual, the two dimensions of being and knowing can happen at the same (37:16)
    • Many traditions think the individual is an illusion—it’s not an illusion, it’s an appearance (39:12)
    • Most human beings get arrested at the ego stage of development, the separate stage (43:14)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Gnosis
    • Reification, the process of treating an abstract concept or idea as a concrete, real thing
    • Advaita Vedanta
    
    

    ---

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 204 (Part 1 of 2) | In the fourteenth dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali explores the nonconceptual nature of the dimension of pure awareness, guiding us into the realm that lies beyond conceptual dichotomies such as being/nonbeing, being/doing, duality/nonduality, good/bad, and meaningful/meaningless. Beyond knowing, this dimension exposes and challenges conceptual polarities, and when we arrive at this level of realization we are able to trust letting go of knowingness and wake up to pure awareness. People fear annihilation at the prospect of going beyond concepts, Hameed explains, and it does lead to a death: the death of mind, the death of the doer. But even here beyond knowing, Hameed continues, the nonconceptual always operates from compassion and love. 

    How do we develop a continuity of nonconceptual awareness? Roger and John wonder. One way is when knowing is integrated into being, Hameed answers. Then everything just happens; the doing is funneled through the individual. And there is another way, through developing the “pearl beyond price,” the individual, Hameed adds, but this way is rare. As co-host Roger Walsh says, this is an especially nourishing, stimulating, and intriguing discussion, with Hameed doing a beautiful job of relating how our concepts form the basis of our existence and what it means to transcend them, let go of our mind, deconstruct our perception of ourselves as the “doer,” and wake up to pure awareness. Recorded August 14, 2025.

    “To be in the nonconceptual state, i.e. in sitting meditation, is half of it, but to actualize it is the other half.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing the 14th dialogue in the 
    • A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, focusing on nonconceptual awareness & transcending conceptual dichotomies (00:51)
    • Nondual reality, at the heart of The Inner Journey Home, is differentiated into five dimensions, each of which reveals something important about the deconstruction process that happens with spiritual practice (03:41)
    • Nonconceptual means beyond the capacity of knowing (07:34)
    • The experience of pure awareness transcends the dichotomy of existence/nonexistence (10:02)
    • In Dzogchen, rigpa includes knowing—but pure awareness means no knowing, just perception (10:30)
    • The dichotomy of being/doing is often a “sticking place” in our practice (16:10)
    • How do we develop a continuity of nonconceptual awareness? (19:44)
    • People fear annihilation at the prospect of going beyond concepts, and it does lead to the death of mind, the death of the doer (23:03) 
    • With this level of realization, we can trust letting go of our knowingness (27:10)
    • What are ways for actualization to occur? (29:20)
    • In true, deep sleep there is cessation, all awareness gone (34:38)
    • When God manifests through the individual, the two dimensions of being and knowing can happen at the same (37:16)
    • Many traditions think the individual is an illusion—it’s not an illusion, it’s an appearance (39:12)
    • Most human beings get arrested at the ego stage of development, the separate stage (43:14)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Gnosis
    • Reification, the process of treating an abstract concept or idea as a concrete, real thing
    • Advaita Vedanta
    
    

    ---

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>8cf685fb-f7ba-4944-a8d5-842936a36111Thu, 16 Oct 2025 05:00:00 -040047:36falsefull204204Discernment Practices and Pope Francis' Calls to ActionEp. 203 (Part 2 of 2) | In this rich, delightful, and profound conversation, Integral Theory informed Father David McCallum, SJ, currently serving the Catholic Church as executive director of the Program for Discerning Leadership, leads us into a world filled with mission, purpose, and service, foundational to which is the practice of discernment. David describes discernment as the capacity to exercise good judgment, hold complexity, and wait for clarity. This is not only a practice for individuals, he explains, but also a communal one, providing a way for communities to discern and design together the future they want to create—through listening, dialoguing, participating. Discernment is a way of knowing and making sense of reality, David continues, and especially important now in this era of changes and choices to be made.

    David enlightens us as to the beautiful and far-sighted reforms proposed by the late Pope Francis, who was all for changing the balance of authority and participation in the Church; for people to have direct experience of Presence and the capacity to practice discernment; who also advocated for taking swift action on behalf of our planet, even calling out the part in the Bible that says man has dominion over the Earth. From David’s description of “the journey worth making”—surrendering, opening, accepting divine grace and love—to using Otto Scharmer’s U Process to help find the courage to change and simplify our lives for the benefit of all, to the Church’s relationship with A.I., David provides us with an extraordinarily mind-broadening, motivating, and spiritually fulfilling perspective. Recorded July 10, 2025.

    “Disasters and oppression today are by-products of a spiritual crisis… We don’t see the unity of all.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Turning inward for guidance: making discernment practices & skills available to all (01:07)
    • The hunger to get back to direct experience (04:04) 
    • Practicing with the Ignatius exercises including contemplation: the path of silence (06:40)
    • Pope Francis’ call out for action on behalf of the Earth (09:39)
    • Using Otto Scharmer’s U Process to gain the courage to simplify our lives and make the commitment to change (12:11)
    • Pope Francis’ challenging the idea that men should have dominion over the earth (13:30)
    • Disasters and oppression today are by-products of a spiritual crisis; we don’t see the unity of all (15:13) 
    • Liberation theology: awakening the poor to their plight, giving them tools to remediate systemic injustice (16:52)
    • Why Jesuits were killed in El Salvador (19:28)
    • In the current situation in the U.S., what shape will/should religiously motivated resistance take? (20:23)
    • The church, A.I., and the danger of losing our human competencies to machines (27:32)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Father David McCallum, SJ, The Program for Discerning Leadership
    • The Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola
    • Jesuit Roshi Bob Kennedy; award-winning documentary film about a 90-year-old Zen master who also happens to be a Jesuit priest (trailer)
    • Frederic Laloux, Reinventing Organizations
    • Connecting to Source: The U Process (The Systems Thinker website)
    • Otto Scharmer, action researcher, author of Theory U, co-author of Leading from the Emerging Future: From Ego-system to Eco-system Economies
    • Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si’
    • Daniel Berrigan, Jesuit anti-war activist
    • Pope Leo XIV’s message concerning AI at the United Nations’ AI for Good Summit (Vatican News)
    • The Friar Who Became the Vatican’s Go-To Guy on A.I. (New York Times article)
    • Yuval Harari on AI and Human Evolution, WSJ Leadership Institute (YouTube video)
    • Mustafa Suleyman, The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century’s Greatest Dilemma
    • They Asked ChatGPT Questions. The Answers Sent Them Spiraling (New York Times article)
    • ChatGPT is Becoming a Religion with Taylor Lorenz (YouTube video)
    • Thomas Hubl, collective trauma expert, see also Deep Transformation podcast Healing Collective Trauma with Thomas Hubl, and Discerning Leadership’s Trauma Informed Leadership with Thomas Hubl (YouTube video)
    
    

    ---

    Fr. David McCallum, S.J., Ed.D, is a Jesuit priest from the USA who serves as the founding Executive Director of the Program for Discerning Leadership, a special initiative of the Society of Jesus headquartered in Rome. The Program provides leadership formation and organizational development support for senior Vatican officials and major superiors of religious orders headquartered in Rome and internationally. From 2021 through 2024, Fr. McCallum has worked with the Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops on the Commission on Methodology, as a member of the international group that developed the synthesis of the National and Regional Bishop’s Conferences reports at Frascati, and as a facilitator expert at the Synods in October 2023 and 2024. 

    Formerly, Fr. McCallum served as faculty member and then the Dean of the Madden School of Business and as the VP of Mission Integration and Development at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY. His doctoral research at Teachers College, Columbia University, focused on the implications of developmental diversity in meeting the leadership challenges of conflict, complexity, and ambiguity.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 203 (Part 2 of 2) | In this rich, delightful, and profound conversation, Integral Theory informed Father David McCallum, SJ, currently serving the Catholic Church as executive director of the Program for Discerning Leadership, leads us into a world filled with mission, purpose, and service, foundational to which is the practice of discernment. David describes discernment as the capacity to exercise good judgment, hold complexity, and wait for clarity. This is not only a practice for individuals, he explains, but also a communal one, providing a way for communities to discern and design together the future they want to create—through listening, dialoguing, participating. Discernment is a way of knowing and making sense of reality, David continues, and especially important now in this era of changes and choices to be made.

    David enlightens us as to the beautiful and far-sighted reforms proposed by the late Pope Francis, who was all for changing the balance of authority and participation in the Church; for people to have direct experience of Presence and the capacity to practice discernment; who also advocated for taking swift action on behalf of our planet, even calling out the part in the Bible that says man has dominion over the Earth. From David’s description of “the journey worth making”—surrendering, opening, accepting divine grace and love—to using Otto Scharmer’s U Process to help find the courage to change and simplify our lives for the benefit of all, to the Church’s relationship with A.I., David provides us with an extraordinarily mind-broadening, motivating, and spiritually fulfilling perspective. Recorded July 10, 2025.

    “Disasters and oppression today are by-products of a spiritual crisis… We don’t see the unity of all.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Turning inward for guidance: making discernment practices & skills available to all (01:07)
    • The hunger to get back to direct experience (04:04) 
    • Practicing with the Ignatius exercises including contemplation: the path of silence (06:40)
    • Pope Francis’ call out for action on behalf of the Earth (09:39)
    • Using Otto Scharmer’s U Process to gain the courage to simplify our lives and make the commitment to change (12:11)
    • Pope Francis’ challenging the idea that men should have dominion over the earth (13:30)
    • Disasters and oppression today are by-products of a spiritual crisis; we don’t see the unity of all (15:13) 
    • Liberation theology: awakening the poor to their plight, giving them tools to remediate systemic injustice (16:52)
    • Why Jesuits were killed in El Salvador (19:28)
    • In the current situation in the U.S., what shape will/should religiously motivated resistance take? (20:23)
    • The church, A.I., and the danger of losing our human competencies to machines (27:32)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Father David McCallum, SJ, The Program for Discerning Leadership
    • The Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola
    • Jesuit Roshi Bob Kennedy; award-winning documentary film about a 90-year-old Zen master who also happens to be a Jesuit priest (trailer)
    • Frederic Laloux, Reinventing Organizations
    • Connecting to Source: The U Process (The Systems Thinker website)
    • Otto Scharmer, action researcher, author of Theory U, co-author of Leading from the Emerging Future: From Ego-system to Eco-system Economies
    • Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si’
    • Daniel Berrigan, Jesuit anti-war activist
    • Pope Leo XIV’s message concerning AI at the United Nations’ AI for Good Summit (Vatican News)
    • The Friar Who Became the Vatican’s Go-To Guy on A.I. (New York Times article)
    • Yuval Harari on AI and Human Evolution, WSJ Leadership Institute (YouTube video)
    • Mustafa Suleyman, The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century’s Greatest Dilemma
    • They Asked ChatGPT Questions. The Answers Sent Them Spiraling (New York Times article)
    • ChatGPT is Becoming a Religion with Taylor Lorenz (YouTube video)
    • Thomas Hubl, collective trauma expert, see also Deep Transformation podcast Healing Collective Trauma with Thomas Hubl, and Discerning Leadership’s Trauma Informed Leadership with Thomas Hubl (YouTube video)
    
    

    ---

    Fr. David McCallum, S.J., Ed.D, is a Jesuit priest from the USA who serves as the founding Executive Director of the Program for Discerning Leadership, a special initiative of the Society of Jesus headquartered in Rome. The Program provides leadership formation and organizational development support for senior Vatican officials and major superiors of religious orders headquartered in Rome and internationally. From 2021 through 2024, Fr. McCallum has worked with the Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops on the Commission on Methodology, as a member of the international group that developed the synthesis of the National and Regional Bishop’s Conferences reports at Frascati, and as a facilitator expert at the Synods in October 2023 and 2024. 

    Formerly, Fr. McCallum served as faculty member and then the Dean of the Madden School of Business and as the VP of Mission Integration and Development at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY. His doctoral research at Teachers College, Columbia University, focused on the implications of developmental diversity in meeting the leadership challenges of conflict, complexity, and ambiguity.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>d32b432e-1312-4cdd-bb83-508c582e8a36Thu, 09 Oct 2025 05:00:00 -040039:57falsefull203203Mission, Purpose, and Service in the Catholic ChurchEp. 202 (Part 1 of 2) | In this rich, delightful, and profound conversation, Integral Theory informed Father David McCallum, SJ, currently serving the Catholic Church as executive director of the Program for Discerning Leadership, leads us into a world filled with mission, purpose, and service, foundational to which is the practice of discernment. David describes discernment as the capacity to exercise good judgment, hold complexity, and wait for clarity. This is not only a practice for individuals, he explains, but also a communal one, providing a way for communities to discern and design together the future they want to create—through listening, dialoguing, participating. Discernment is a way of knowing and making sense of reality, David continues, and especially important now in this era of changes and choices to be made.

    David enlightens us as to the beautiful and far-sighted reforms proposed by the late Pope Francis, who was all for changing the balance of authority and participation in the Church; for people to have direct experience of Presence and the capacity to practice discernment; who also advocated for taking swift action on behalf of our planet, even calling out the part in the Bible that says man has dominion over the Earth. From David’s description of “the journey worth making”—surrendering, opening, accepting divine grace and love—to using Otto Scharmer’s U Process to help find the courage to change and simplify our lives for the benefit of all, to the Church’s relationship with A.I., David provides us with an extraordinarily mind-broadening, motivating, and spiritually fulfilling perspective. Recorded July 10, 2025.

    “No secular, material, and empirical path is going to satisfy the longing we have for a transcendent purpose, for meaning, for existential belonging, in the ways that a healthy spirituality can.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing Fr. David McCallum, integrally informed Jesuit priest currently serving the Catholic Church as the executive director of the Program for Discerning Leadership (00:48)
    • How did David come to devote his life to the Catholic Church? (01:48)
    • The journey worth making: surrendering, opening, accepting grace (09:42)
    • So many are disconnected from the deeper wellspring of spirituality (13:07)
    • Pope Francis was a reformer, focused on changing the balance of authority and participation (16:46)
    • Pope Francis also focused on the process of synodality, real dialogue, the importance of discernment & following where the spirit wants to lead us (19:31)
    • Pope Leo XIV, self-effacing, generous, hard working, introspective, bringing balance and discipline (22:27)
    • How does David’s understanding of developmental stages inform his work? (25:28)
    • Using metatheories as a map to make sense of the change in era we are living through now (28:09)
    • The rise of secularism; also burgeoning fundamentalism (31:26)
    • Without faith, how can we make sense of suffering? (33:25)
    • The temptation of ideology in these anxiety-producing times (36:07)
    • What is discernment?
    • Communal discernment: What is the future we want to create together? (40:39)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Father David McCallum, SJ, The Program for Discerning Leadership
    • Graham Greene, English writer and journalist, one of the leading novelists of the 20th century
    • Integral Christianity: Answering the Call to Evolve with Paul Smith and Ken Wilber (2011)
    • Brother David Steindl-Rast, Benedictine monk, author, and lecturer, committed to interfaith dialogue
    • Ignatius of Loyola, co-founder of the religious order of the Society of Jesus, Ignatian spirituality
    • Pope Francis, first Jesuit pope, serving 2013 – 2025
    • Pope Leo XIV, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State, elected in 2025
    • Robert Kegan, leading developmental psychologist, The Evolving Self, In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life
    • Ken Wilber’s collected works
    • Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Jesuit paleontologist, philosopher, mystic, and teacher
    • George Coyne, director of the Vatican Observatory
    • Quaker tradition of communal discernment
    
    

    ---

    Fr. David McCallum, S.J., Ed.D, is a Jesuit priest from the USA who serves as the founding Executive Director of the Program for Discerning Leadership, a special initiative of the Society of Jesus headquartered in Rome. The Program provides leadership formation and organizational development support for senior Vatican officials and major superiors of religious orders headquartered in Rome and internationally. From 2021 through 2024, Fr. McCallum has worked with the Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops on the Commission on Methodology, as a member of the international group that developed the synthesis of the National and Regional Bishop’s Conferences reports at Frascati, and as a facilitator expert at the Synods in October 2023 and 2024. 

    Formerly, Fr. McCallum served as faculty member and then the Dean of the Madden School of Business and as the VP of Mission Integration and Development at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY. His doctoral research at Teachers College, Columbia University, focused on the implications of developmental diversity in meeting the leadership challenges of conflict, complexity, and ambiguity.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 202 (Part 1 of 2) | In this rich, delightful, and profound conversation, Integral Theory informed Father David McCallum, SJ, currently serving the Catholic Church as executive director of the Program for Discerning Leadership, leads us into a world filled with mission, purpose, and service, foundational to which is the practice of discernment. David describes discernment as the capacity to exercise good judgment, hold complexity, and wait for clarity. This is not only a practice for individuals, he explains, but also a communal one, providing a way for communities to discern and design together the future they want to create—through listening, dialoguing, participating. Discernment is a way of knowing and making sense of reality, David continues, and especially important now in this era of changes and choices to be made.

    David enlightens us as to the beautiful and far-sighted reforms proposed by the late Pope Francis, who was all for changing the balance of authority and participation in the Church; for people to have direct experience of Presence and the capacity to practice discernment; who also advocated for taking swift action on behalf of our planet, even calling out the part in the Bible that says man has dominion over the Earth. From David’s description of “the journey worth making”—surrendering, opening, accepting divine grace and love—to using Otto Scharmer’s U Process to help find the courage to change and simplify our lives for the benefit of all, to the Church’s relationship with A.I., David provides us with an extraordinarily mind-broadening, motivating, and spiritually fulfilling perspective. Recorded July 10, 2025.

    “No secular, material, and empirical path is going to satisfy the longing we have for a transcendent purpose, for meaning, for existential belonging, in the ways that a healthy spirituality can.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing Fr. David McCallum, integrally informed Jesuit priest currently serving the Catholic Church as the executive director of the Program for Discerning Leadership (00:48)
    • How did David come to devote his life to the Catholic Church? (01:48)
    • The journey worth making: surrendering, opening, accepting grace (09:42)
    • So many are disconnected from the deeper wellspring of spirituality (13:07)
    • Pope Francis was a reformer, focused on changing the balance of authority and participation (16:46)
    • Pope Francis also focused on the process of synodality, real dialogue, the importance of discernment & following where the spirit wants to lead us (19:31)
    • Pope Leo XIV, self-effacing, generous, hard working, introspective, bringing balance and discipline (22:27)
    • How does David’s understanding of developmental stages inform his work? (25:28)
    • Using metatheories as a map to make sense of the change in era we are living through now (28:09)
    • The rise of secularism; also burgeoning fundamentalism (31:26)
    • Without faith, how can we make sense of suffering? (33:25)
    • The temptation of ideology in these anxiety-producing times (36:07)
    • What is discernment?
    • Communal discernment: What is the future we want to create together? (40:39)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Father David McCallum, SJ, The Program for Discerning Leadership
    • Graham Greene, English writer and journalist, one of the leading novelists of the 20th century
    • Integral Christianity: Answering the Call to Evolve with Paul Smith and Ken Wilber (2011)
    • Brother David Steindl-Rast, Benedictine monk, author, and lecturer, committed to interfaith dialogue
    • Ignatius of Loyola, co-founder of the religious order of the Society of Jesus, Ignatian spirituality
    • Pope Francis, first Jesuit pope, serving 2013 – 2025
    • Pope Leo XIV, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State, elected in 2025
    • Robert Kegan, leading developmental psychologist, The Evolving Self, In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life
    • Ken Wilber’s collected works
    • Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Jesuit paleontologist, philosopher, mystic, and teacher
    • George Coyne, director of the Vatican Observatory
    • Quaker tradition of communal discernment
    
    

    ---

    Fr. David McCallum, S.J., Ed.D, is a Jesuit priest from the USA who serves as the founding Executive Director of the Program for Discerning Leadership, a special initiative of the Society of Jesus headquartered in Rome. The Program provides leadership formation and organizational development support for senior Vatican officials and major superiors of religious orders headquartered in Rome and internationally. From 2021 through 2024, Fr. McCallum has worked with the Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops on the Commission on Methodology, as a member of the international group that developed the synthesis of the National and Regional Bishop’s Conferences reports at Frascati, and as a facilitator expert at the Synods in October 2023 and 2024. 

    Formerly, Fr. McCallum served as faculty member and then the Dean of the Madden School of Business and as the VP of Mission Integration and Development at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY. His doctoral research at Teachers College, Columbia University, focused on the implications of developmental diversity in meeting the leadership challenges of conflict, complexity, and ambiguity.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>2e659452-d8b0-47b8-a79c-23af491fa70fThu, 02 Oct 2025 05:00:00 -040044:33falsefull202202Our Deepest Knowing: Awakening to Pure Being and Pure Awareness with A. H. Almaas (Part 2)Ep. 201 (Part 2 of 2) | In the thirteenth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali delves into the subject of knowing, or basic knowledge, at the deepest level of awareness. Different from ordinary knowledge, basic knowledge is inherent and immediate, an important feature of reality. You can know Being by being Being, he says; know consciousness by being consciousness, know peace by being peace. Being and knowing are the same thing, he explains, two sides of a coin. Some of what Hameed shares here is unique to his Diamond Approach teaching, and not found in other spiritual teachings, such as what he imparts about the origin of mind and the distinction he makes between pure being and pure awareness.

    Hameed explains that we need our conceptual mind (to do our taxes, he laughs), but that reification—treating concepts as if they were real things—creates obstacles and alienates us from our true nature. The aim of all spiritual practice is to go beyond reification to immediate experience, he says. When Hameed describes the difference between pure presence and pure awareness, John wonders, how does Hameed remember the state of pure awareness when there’s no knowing in that state? And what does it feel like to experience no ground of being? Hameed answers in his usual enlightening, gently humorous way, leaving listeners in a state of open-minded wonder. Vastly illuminating, this conversation goes directly to the heart of being and the heart of knowing at the very foundation of true nature. Recorded July 17, 2025.

    “Mind is not an obstacle. Not an enemy. The obstacle is the reified representation of mind. If we take the knowledge of that mind to be reality, that is the obstacle.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • How does Hameed remember the state of pure awareness when there’s no knowing in that state? (00:32)
    • Most spiritual teachings have pure awareness and pure presence as inseparable, but in this teaching they can be distinguished (03:26)
    • The experience of pure awareness: transparency, translucence, freedom (04:02) 
    • The world is not an illusion; it is the face of God (06:13)
    • The logos is what makes things manifest (09:48)
    • Connecting the dimensions of pure being and pure awareness: mind is not an obstacle (11:46)
    • Gurdjieff’s “stupid saints” (13:14)
    • Mind is not the enemy; it’s the reification of knowing that is the obstacle (14:07)
    • Pure awareness is more fundamental than pure being because there are no concepts; freedom is more palpable in pure awareness (17:14)
    • Hameed’s multiple kinds of freedom; freedom independent from the ground of being (22:10)
    • What does it feel like to realize there is no ground? (25:02)
    • Transcending conceptual dichotomies: in spiritual liberation dichotomies can be stumbling blocks, like being vs nonbeing (25:20)
    • Will science start to accept the ground of being? (29:38)
    • Is math, the Euclidean theorem, a property of reality? (32:42)
    • Consciousness and quantum theory (34:27)
    • Knowing is fundamental to the universe; it’s inherent to our true nature (38:41)
    • There’s no reason to have to choose between knowing and being, they’re two sides of the same thing (39:51)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Dzogchen
    • Advaita Vedanta
    • Kashmir Shaivism
    • Sri Aurobindo
    • The Greek logos is what makes things manifest
    • U. G. Krishnamurti, Thought is Your Enemy: Conversations with U.G. Krishnamurti
    • G. I. Gurdjieff, Views from the Real World
    • Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Indian philosopher who became Vice-President of India
    • Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That
    • A. H. Almaas, Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery
    • A. H. Almaas, The Alchemy of Freedom: The Philosophers’ Stone and the Secrets of Existence
    • Roger Penrose, The Emperor’s New Mind
    • Federico Faggin, Science is Ready for Consciousness
    • Quantum Consciousness Debate: Does the Wave Function Actually Exist? (YouTube video with Penrose, Faggin & Kastrup)
    • Ken Wilber, Quantum Questions: Mystical Writings of the World’s Greatest Physicists
    
    

    ---

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to...]]>Ep. 201 (Part 2 of 2) | In the thirteenth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali delves into the subject of knowing, or basic knowledge, at the deepest level of awareness. Different from ordinary knowledge, basic knowledge is inherent and immediate, an important feature of reality. You can know Being by being Being, he says; know consciousness by being consciousness, know peace by being peace. Being and knowing are the same thing, he explains, two sides of a coin. Some of what Hameed shares here is unique to his Diamond Approach teaching, and not found in other spiritual teachings, such as what he imparts about the origin of mind and the distinction he makes between pure being and pure awareness.

    Hameed explains that we need our conceptual mind (to do our taxes, he laughs), but that reification—treating concepts as if they were real things—creates obstacles and alienates us from our true nature. The aim of all spiritual practice is to go beyond reification to immediate experience, he says. When Hameed describes the difference between pure presence and pure awareness, John wonders, how does Hameed remember the state of pure awareness when there’s no knowing in that state? And what does it feel like to experience no ground of being? Hameed answers in his usual enlightening, gently humorous way, leaving listeners in a state of open-minded wonder. Vastly illuminating, this conversation goes directly to the heart of being and the heart of knowing at the very foundation of true nature. Recorded July 17, 2025.

    “Mind is not an obstacle. Not an enemy. The obstacle is the reified representation of mind. If we take the knowledge of that mind to be reality, that is the obstacle.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • How does Hameed remember the state of pure awareness when there’s no knowing in that state? (00:32)
    • Most spiritual teachings have pure awareness and pure presence as inseparable, but in this teaching they can be distinguished (03:26)
    • The experience of pure awareness: transparency, translucence, freedom (04:02) 
    • The world is not an illusion; it is the face of God (06:13)
    • The logos is what makes things manifest (09:48)
    • Connecting the dimensions of pure being and pure awareness: mind is not an obstacle (11:46)
    • Gurdjieff’s “stupid saints” (13:14)
    • Mind is not the enemy; it’s the reification of knowing that is the obstacle (14:07)
    • Pure awareness is more fundamental than pure being because there are no concepts; freedom is more palpable in pure awareness (17:14)
    • Hameed’s multiple kinds of freedom; freedom independent from the ground of being (22:10)
    • What does it feel like to realize there is no ground? (25:02)
    • Transcending conceptual dichotomies: in spiritual liberation dichotomies can be stumbling blocks, like being vs nonbeing (25:20)
    • Will science start to accept the ground of being? (29:38)
    • Is math, the Euclidean theorem, a property of reality? (32:42)
    • Consciousness and quantum theory (34:27)
    • Knowing is fundamental to the universe; it’s inherent to our true nature (38:41)
    • There’s no reason to have to choose between knowing and being, they’re two sides of the same thing (39:51)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Dzogchen
    • Advaita Vedanta
    • Kashmir Shaivism
    • Sri Aurobindo
    • The Greek logos is what makes things manifest
    • U. G. Krishnamurti, Thought is Your Enemy: Conversations with U.G. Krishnamurti
    • G. I. Gurdjieff, Views from the Real World
    • Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Indian philosopher who became Vice-President of India
    • Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That
    • A. H. Almaas, Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery
    • A. H. Almaas, The Alchemy of Freedom: The Philosophers’ Stone and the Secrets of Existence
    • Roger Penrose, The Emperor’s New Mind
    • Federico Faggin, Science is Ready for Consciousness
    • Quantum Consciousness Debate: Does the Wave Function Actually Exist? (YouTube video with Penrose, Faggin & Kastrup)
    • Ken Wilber, Quantum Questions: Mystical Writings of the World’s Greatest Physicists
    
    

    ---

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>7dfb8801-221a-497f-ba3f-a1e96a507235Thu, 25 Sep 2025 05:00:00 -040043:36falsefull201201Our Deepest Knowing: Awakening to Pure Being and Pure Awareness with A. H. AlmaasEp. 200 (Part 1 of 2) | In the thirteenth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali delves into the subject of knowing, or basic knowledge, at the deepest level of awareness. Different from ordinary knowledge, basic knowledge is inherent and immediate, an important feature of reality. You can know Being by being Being, he says; know consciousness by being consciousness, know peace by being peace. Being and knowing are the same thing, he explains, two sides of a coin. Some of what Hameed shares here is unique to his Diamond Approach teaching, and not found in other spiritual teachings, such as what he imparts about the origin of mind and the distinction he makes between pure being and pure awareness.

    Hameed explains that we need our conceptual mind (to do our taxes, he laughs), but that reification—treating concepts as if they were real things—creates obstacles and alienates us from our true nature. The aim of all spiritual practice is to go beyond reification to immediate experience, he says. When Hameed describes the difference between pure presence and pure awareness, John wonders, how does Hameed remember the state of pure awareness when there’s no knowing in that state? And what does it feel like to experience no ground of being? Hameed answers in his usual enlightening, gently humorous way, leaving listeners in a state of open-minded wonder. Vastly illuminating, this conversation goes directly to the heart of being and the heart of knowing at the very foundation of true nature. Recorded July 17, 2025.

    “Being is the origin of mind.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing the 13th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, focusing on the basic knowing at the foundation of our awareness & the reified way we see reality (00:46)
    • The work is to recognize that reification is happening (02:55)
    • We need to understand there are two kinds of knowing: ordinary knowing and basic knowing (04:12)
    • There are degrees of how immediate our knowing is (07:55)
    • Where does mind come from? (09:52)
    • The recognition of Being and the knowing of Being are the same thing; this is a basic nondual understanding (11:45)
    • The ground of mind is knowing: without knowing there is no mind (15:20)
    • To know implies a concept: the concept of being (17:25)
    • Reification is a developmental achievement (23:14)
    • The story of Maharishi and the Senate committee (26:50)
    • The aim of all spiritual practice is to go beyond reification to immediate experience (27:43)
    • For the realized individual, basic knowing is primary (29:58)
    • Knowing always means concept (31:56)
    • We can get to an awareness that is free of knowing; what Hameed calls nonconceptual, pure awareness (35:41)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Reification, the act of treating something abstract, like an idea, concept, or relationship, as if it were a concrete object or thing 
    • Bishop George Berkeley, Anglo-Irish philosopher and clergyman, regarded as the founder of immaterialism, later referred to as subjective idealism, for whom the university and town of Berkeley was named
    • Gnosis
    • Rigpa, a central concept in Dzogchen
    • Advaita Vedanta
    • Plotinus’ concept of nous, the origin of all things in the realm of Platonic Forms
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 200 (Part 1 of 2) | In the thirteenth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali delves into the subject of knowing, or basic knowledge, at the deepest level of awareness. Different from ordinary knowledge, basic knowledge is inherent and immediate, an important feature of reality. You can know Being by being Being, he says; know consciousness by being consciousness, know peace by being peace. Being and knowing are the same thing, he explains, two sides of a coin. Some of what Hameed shares here is unique to his Diamond Approach teaching, and not found in other spiritual teachings, such as what he imparts about the origin of mind and the distinction he makes between pure being and pure awareness.

    Hameed explains that we need our conceptual mind (to do our taxes, he laughs), but that reification—treating concepts as if they were real things—creates obstacles and alienates us from our true nature. The aim of all spiritual practice is to go beyond reification to immediate experience, he says. When Hameed describes the difference between pure presence and pure awareness, John wonders, how does Hameed remember the state of pure awareness when there’s no knowing in that state? And what does it feel like to experience no ground of being? Hameed answers in his usual enlightening, gently humorous way, leaving listeners in a state of open-minded wonder. Vastly illuminating, this conversation goes directly to the heart of being and the heart of knowing at the very foundation of true nature. Recorded July 17, 2025.

    “Being is the origin of mind.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing the 13th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, focusing on the basic knowing at the foundation of our awareness & the reified way we see reality (00:46)
    • The work is to recognize that reification is happening (02:55)
    • We need to understand there are two kinds of knowing: ordinary knowing and basic knowing (04:12)
    • There are degrees of how immediate our knowing is (07:55)
    • Where does mind come from? (09:52)
    • The recognition of Being and the knowing of Being are the same thing; this is a basic nondual understanding (11:45)
    • The ground of mind is knowing: without knowing there is no mind (15:20)
    • To know implies a concept: the concept of being (17:25)
    • Reification is a developmental achievement (23:14)
    • The story of Maharishi and the Senate committee (26:50)
    • The aim of all spiritual practice is to go beyond reification to immediate experience (27:43)
    • For the realized individual, basic knowing is primary (29:58)
    • Knowing always means concept (31:56)
    • We can get to an awareness that is free of knowing; what Hameed calls nonconceptual, pure awareness (35:41)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Reification, the act of treating something abstract, like an idea, concept, or relationship, as if it were a concrete object or thing 
    • Bishop George Berkeley, Anglo-Irish philosopher and clergyman, regarded as the founder of immaterialism, later referred to as subjective idealism, for whom the university and town of Berkeley was named
    • Gnosis
    • Rigpa, a central concept in Dzogchen
    • Advaita Vedanta
    • Plotinus’ concept of nous, the origin of all things in the realm of Platonic Forms
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>62cbbfd6-e621-4d78-84fb-6cc09321a3d4Thu, 18 Sep 2025 05:00:00 -040042:52falsefull200200Growing Beyond Conflict: The Power of Polarity Thinking for Healing, Thriving, and Becoming Wiser (Part 3)Ep. 199 (Part 3 of 3) | Polarity management pioneer and author Barry Johnson and adult development expert Beena Sharma are masterful teachers on the subject of polarities and what polarity thinking can bring to the world, benefitting our well-being at every level. Together they explain what polarities are, why they matter, how to apply and leverage them, and the essence of polarity wisdom: pursuing the upsides of opposite poles. Barry is careful to explain that although either/or thinking is the root of our troubles, both/and thinking by itself isn’t the answer either. Integrating either/or with both/and thinking and recognizing the interdependence of all things is the road to transformation and, Beena adds, the engine of human development, of human maturity.

    Barry explains the profound spiritual understanding foundational to polarity wisdom and Beena details how polarities shift according to our developmental stage. Each of the polarities discussed—justice/mercy, claiming power/sharing power, being/doing, to name a few—illuminates its sphere, whether it relates to democracy, social justice, or spiritual practice. Barry and Beena are passionate about the promise of polarity thinking and their excitement is contagious in this fast-paced, delightfully lucid dialogue, jam-packed with information that is practical, inspiring, and potentially life changing. Recorded May 22, 2025.

    “Universal interdependence is the most clear example of divine, unconditional love, and the polarity is the smallest element within universal interdependence—the interdependence of two.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3

    • Back to stages: from self-interest to harmonizing, to independence, multiperspectivality, and oneness (00:35)
    • We are born unique and we become more unique; we are born connected and appreciate being connected more and more (08:23)
    • Applying polarity thinking to contemporary politics: immigration (09:29)
    • The language of compassionate action (12:08)
    • How polarity thinking can help us with the metacrisis (16:02)
    • Leveraging polarities in everyday life, socially & culturally (20:11)
    • How do we select what to do when faced by an overwhelming amount of choices? (25:42)
    • We have to consciously become more competent, more masterful (27:28)
    • Polarity tension is always there, and we need to forgive ourselves and others for not always doing a good job with leveraging key polarities, i.e. work & home, self-care & achievement (28:51)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 3

    • Barry Johnson, And: Making a Difference by Leveraging Polarity, Paradox, or Dilemma
    • Barry Johnson, Polarity Management: Identifying and Managing Unsolvable Problems
    • Beena Sharma, founder Vertical Development Academy (VeDA)
    • The 8 Stages of Vertical Development with Beena Sharma (Deep Transformation podcast)
    • Richard Rohr, Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer
    • Daniel Schmachtenberger, “Development in Progress” (Consilience Project website)
    
    

    ---

    Barry Johnson, Ph.D., is a founder of Polarity Partnerships LLC, whose mission is to “enhance our quality of life on the planet by supplementing Or Thinking with And Thinking.” Barry has been involved in movement politics since his first march on Washington in 1963; in 1970 he turned his attention to understanding how systems became dysfunctional and how to co-create systems that worked for everyone. In that pursuit, the first polarity map and set of principles were generated. Barry has worked with organizations large and small, including business, industry, governments, educational and healthcare systems, and movement organizations to discover how And Thinking can be useful in accomplishing their mission. Barry’s recent work has been focused on how a polarity lens can be useful in addressing the rise of authoritarianism in the United States and around the world.

    Along the way, Barry published three books and coordinated the publishing of a fourth: Polarity Management: Identifying and Managing Unsolvable Problems, Managing Polarities in Congregations: Eight Keys for Thriving Faith Communities, with Roy Oswald, And: Making a Difference by Leveraging Polarity, Paradox or Dilemma, Volume One, and And, Volume 2, Applications (written by 54 professionals who have applied And-thinking in their settings).

    ---

    Beena Sharma currently stewards Vertical Development Academy (VeDA) as its founding president, with a vision to enhance the practice of human development in service of civilizational resilience. Beena’s focus is on facilitating human maturity through a deep appreciation of the theory and practice of adult learning that catalyzes the development of wiser, more integrated human beings who can respond to personal, interpersonal, community, and larger systems challenges in more adequate ways. One of Beena’s unique contributions lies in leveraging the wisdom of polarities in service of human maturity, and Beena is one of the world’s leading teachers of polarity thinking. Beena is currently working on launching services that seek to build polarity wisdom in leaders and organizations around the world.

    Beena is a gifted master coach, consultant, teacher, and thought leader. She has been recognized nationally and internationally for her achievements in successfully conceptualizing, developing, and delivering systemic leadership development initiatives. She is a regular keynote faculty member for McKinsey’s Executive Leadership Program serving leaders in Australia and New Zealand, and has led efforts as an executive and consultant for various agencies of the US Government, leading private sector companies in healthcare and other industries in the US, UK, Europe, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, and India.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 199 (Part 3 of 3) | Polarity management pioneer and author Barry Johnson and adult development expert Beena Sharma are masterful teachers on the subject of polarities and what polarity thinking can bring to the world, benefitting our well-being at every level. Together they explain what polarities are, why they matter, how to apply and leverage them, and the essence of polarity wisdom: pursuing the upsides of opposite poles. Barry is careful to explain that although either/or thinking is the root of our troubles, both/and thinking by itself isn’t the answer either. Integrating either/or with both/and thinking and recognizing the interdependence of all things is the road to transformation and, Beena adds, the engine of human development, of human maturity.

    Barry explains the profound spiritual understanding foundational to polarity wisdom and Beena details how polarities shift according to our developmental stage. Each of the polarities discussed—justice/mercy, claiming power/sharing power, being/doing, to name a few—illuminates its sphere, whether it relates to democracy, social justice, or spiritual practice. Barry and Beena are passionate about the promise of polarity thinking and their excitement is contagious in this fast-paced, delightfully lucid dialogue, jam-packed with information that is practical, inspiring, and potentially life changing. Recorded May 22, 2025.

    “Universal interdependence is the most clear example of divine, unconditional love, and the polarity is the smallest element within universal interdependence—the interdependence of two.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3

    • Back to stages: from self-interest to harmonizing, to independence, multiperspectivality, and oneness (00:35)
    • We are born unique and we become more unique; we are born connected and appreciate being connected more and more (08:23)
    • Applying polarity thinking to contemporary politics: immigration (09:29)
    • The language of compassionate action (12:08)
    • How polarity thinking can help us with the metacrisis (16:02)
    • Leveraging polarities in everyday life, socially & culturally (20:11)
    • How do we select what to do when faced by an overwhelming amount of choices? (25:42)
    • We have to consciously become more competent, more masterful (27:28)
    • Polarity tension is always there, and we need to forgive ourselves and others for not always doing a good job with leveraging key polarities, i.e. work & home, self-care & achievement (28:51)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 3

    • Barry Johnson, And: Making a Difference by Leveraging Polarity, Paradox, or Dilemma
    • Barry Johnson, Polarity Management: Identifying and Managing Unsolvable Problems
    • Beena Sharma, founder Vertical Development Academy (VeDA)
    • The 8 Stages of Vertical Development with Beena Sharma (Deep Transformation podcast)
    • Richard Rohr, Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer
    • Daniel Schmachtenberger, “Development in Progress” (Consilience Project website)
    
    

    ---

    Barry Johnson, Ph.D., is a founder of Polarity Partnerships LLC, whose mission is to “enhance our quality of life on the planet by supplementing Or Thinking with And Thinking.” Barry has been involved in movement politics since his first march on Washington in 1963; in 1970 he turned his attention to understanding how systems became dysfunctional and how to co-create systems that worked for everyone. In that pursuit, the first polarity map and set of principles were generated. Barry has worked with organizations large and small, including business, industry, governments, educational and healthcare systems, and movement organizations to discover how And Thinking can be useful in accomplishing their mission. Barry’s recent work has been focused on how a polarity lens can be useful in addressing the rise of authoritarianism in the United States and around the world.

    Along the way, Barry published three books and coordinated the publishing of a fourth: Polarity Management: Identifying and Managing Unsolvable Problems, Managing Polarities in Congregations: Eight Keys for Thriving Faith Communities, with Roy Oswald, And: Making a Difference by Leveraging Polarity, Paradox or Dilemma, Volume One, and And, Volume 2, Applications (written by 54 professionals who have applied And-thinking in their settings).

    ---

    Beena Sharma currently stewards Vertical Development Academy (VeDA) as its founding president, with a vision to enhance the practice of human development in service of civilizational resilience. Beena’s focus is on facilitating human maturity through a deep appreciation of the theory and practice of adult learning that catalyzes the development of wiser, more integrated human beings who can respond to personal, interpersonal, community, and larger systems challenges in more adequate ways. One of Beena’s unique contributions lies in leveraging the wisdom of polarities in service of human maturity, and Beena is one of the world’s leading teachers of polarity thinking. Beena is currently working on launching services that seek to build polarity wisdom in leaders and organizations around the world.

    Beena is a gifted master coach, consultant, teacher, and thought leader. She has been recognized nationally and internationally for her achievements in successfully conceptualizing, developing, and delivering systemic leadership development initiatives. She is a regular keynote faculty member for McKinsey’s Executive Leadership Program serving leaders in Australia and New Zealand, and has led efforts as an executive and consultant for various agencies of the US Government, leading private sector companies in healthcare and other industries in the US, UK, Europe, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, and India.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>cdc4a288-5bd8-42c4-98ea-9dd40dbf06d6Thu, 11 Sep 2025 05:00:00 -040031:42falsefull199199Growing Beyond Conflict: The Power of Polarity Thinking for Healing, Thriving, and Becoming Wiser (Part 2)Ep. 198 (Part 2 of 3) | Polarity management pioneer and author Barry Johnson and adult development expert Beena Sharma are masterful teachers on the subject of polarities and what polarity thinking can bring to the world, benefitting our well-being at every level. Together they explain what polarities are, why they matter, how to apply and leverage them, and the essence of polarity wisdom: pursuing the upsides of opposite poles. Barry is careful to explain that although either/or thinking is the root of our troubles, both/and thinking by itself isn’t the answer either. Integrating either/or with both/and thinking and recognizing the interdependence of all things is the road to transformation and, Beena adds, the engine of human development, of human maturity.

    Barry explains the profound spiritual understanding foundational to polarity wisdom and Beena details how polarities shift according to our developmental stage. Each of the polarities discussed—justice/mercy, claiming power/sharing power, being/doing, to name a few—illuminates its sphere, whether it relates to democracy, social justice, or spiritual practice. Barry and Beena are passionate about the promise of polarity thinking and their excitement is contagious in this fast-paced, delightfully lucid dialogue, jam-packed with information that is practical, inspiring, and potentially life changing. Recorded May 22, 2025.

    “Love is a natural byproduct of seeing completely.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Looking at the pole preferences that show up at each stage of development (00:37) 
    • The integrative stage of development doesn’t reject either/or thinking or both/and thinking (04:42)
    • Embracing polarities’ upsides elevates you; you come to a higher place (08:05)
    • Tyranny and democracy: how do you both provide direction and encourage participation? (08:54)
    • The spiritual polarity of doing and being and Martin Buber’s I and thou (14:08)
    • How polarities nest and stack: Beena leads a nesting and upleveling exercise (18:10)
    • Relating polarity thinking to quantum physics & the richness of the subject of universal interdependence (22:32)
    • How do we respond to opposition at different developmental stages? (24:33)
    • Jack Gibb’s trust theory: love is a natural byproduct of seeing completely (28:24)
    • Seeing life and death as two poles and the violence in nature (29:28)
    • Enhancing our capacity to love: individuals, enemies, countries; universal interdependence is a manifestation of divine love (32:44)
    • Taking radical responsibility for our own incapacity to see (36:42)
    • Love as a natural response to seeing fully and defenselessly (38:23)
    • Barry’s profound realization about heaven, hell, and universal love (40:14)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Barry Johnson, And: Making a Difference by Leveraging Polarity, Paradox, or Dilemma
    • Barry Johnson, Polarity Management: Identifying and Managing Unsolvable Problems
    • Beena Sharma, founder Vertical Development Academy (VeDA)
    • The 8 Stages of Vertical Development with Beena Sharma (Deep Transformation podcast)
    • Martin Buber, I and Thou
    • California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), Sanjay Manchanda
    • Carlo Rovelli, Helgoland: Making Sense of the Quantum Revolution
    • Jack R. Gibb, Trust: A New View of Personal And Organizational Development
    • Richard Rohr’s Center for Action and Contemplation’s Daily Meditations
    
    

    ---

    Barry Johnson, Ph.D., is a founder of Polarity Partnerships LLC, whose mission is to “enhance our quality of life on the planet by supplementing Or Thinking with And Thinking.” Barry has been involved in movement politics since his first march on Washington in 1963; in 1970 he turned his attention to understanding how systems became dysfunctional and how to co-create systems that worked for everyone. In that pursuit, the first polarity map and set of principles were generated. Barry has worked with organizations large and small, including business, industry, governments, educational and healthcare systems, and movement organizations to discover how And Thinking can be useful in accomplishing their mission. Barry’s recent work has been focused on how a polarity lens can be useful in addressing the rise of authoritarianism in the United States and around the world.

    Along the way, Barry published three books and coordinated the publishing of a fourth: Polarity Management: Identifying and Managing Unsolvable Problems, Managing Polarities in Congregations: Eight Keys for Thriving Faith Communities, with Roy Oswald, And: Making a Difference by Leveraging Polarity, Paradox or Dilemma, Volume One, and And, Volume 2, Applications (written by 54 professionals who have applied And-thinking in their settings).

    ---

    Beena Sharma currently stewards Vertical Development Academy (VeDA) as its founding president, with a vision to enhance the practice of human development in service of civilizational resilience. Beena’s focus is on facilitating human maturity through a deep appreciation of the theory and practice of adult learning that catalyzes the development of wiser, more integrated human beings who can respond to personal, interpersonal, community, and larger systems challenges in more adequate ways. One of Beena’s unique contributions lies in leveraging the wisdom of polarities in service of human maturity, and Beena is one of the world’s leading teachers of polarity thinking. Beena is currently working on launching services that seek to build polarity wisdom in leaders and organizations around the world.

    Beena is a gifted master coach, consultant, teacher, and thought leader. She has been recognized nationally and internationally for her achievements in successfully conceptualizing, developing, and delivering systemic leadership development initiatives. She is a regular keynote faculty member for McKinsey’s Executive Leadership Program serving leaders in Australia and New Zealand, and has led efforts as an executive and consultant for various agencies of the US Government, leading private sector companies in healthcare and other industries in the US, UK, Europe, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, and India. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 198 (Part 2 of 3) | Polarity management pioneer and author Barry Johnson and adult development expert Beena Sharma are masterful teachers on the subject of polarities and what polarity thinking can bring to the world, benefitting our well-being at every level. Together they explain what polarities are, why they matter, how to apply and leverage them, and the essence of polarity wisdom: pursuing the upsides of opposite poles. Barry is careful to explain that although either/or thinking is the root of our troubles, both/and thinking by itself isn’t the answer either. Integrating either/or with both/and thinking and recognizing the interdependence of all things is the road to transformation and, Beena adds, the engine of human development, of human maturity.

    Barry explains the profound spiritual understanding foundational to polarity wisdom and Beena details how polarities shift according to our developmental stage. Each of the polarities discussed—justice/mercy, claiming power/sharing power, being/doing, to name a few—illuminates its sphere, whether it relates to democracy, social justice, or spiritual practice. Barry and Beena are passionate about the promise of polarity thinking and their excitement is contagious in this fast-paced, delightfully lucid dialogue, jam-packed with information that is practical, inspiring, and potentially life changing. Recorded May 22, 2025.

    “Love is a natural byproduct of seeing completely.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Looking at the pole preferences that show up at each stage of development (00:37) 
    • The integrative stage of development doesn’t reject either/or thinking or both/and thinking (04:42)
    • Embracing polarities’ upsides elevates you; you come to a higher place (08:05)
    • Tyranny and democracy: how do you both provide direction and encourage participation? (08:54)
    • The spiritual polarity of doing and being and Martin Buber’s I and thou (14:08)
    • How polarities nest and stack: Beena leads a nesting and upleveling exercise (18:10)
    • Relating polarity thinking to quantum physics & the richness of the subject of universal interdependence (22:32)
    • How do we respond to opposition at different developmental stages? (24:33)
    • Jack Gibb’s trust theory: love is a natural byproduct of seeing completely (28:24)
    • Seeing life and death as two poles and the violence in nature (29:28)
    • Enhancing our capacity to love: individuals, enemies, countries; universal interdependence is a manifestation of divine love (32:44)
    • Taking radical responsibility for our own incapacity to see (36:42)
    • Love as a natural response to seeing fully and defenselessly (38:23)
    • Barry’s profound realization about heaven, hell, and universal love (40:14)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Barry Johnson, And: Making a Difference by Leveraging Polarity, Paradox, or Dilemma
    • Barry Johnson, Polarity Management: Identifying and Managing Unsolvable Problems
    • Beena Sharma, founder Vertical Development Academy (VeDA)
    • The 8 Stages of Vertical Development with Beena Sharma (Deep Transformation podcast)
    • Martin Buber, I and Thou
    • California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), Sanjay Manchanda
    • Carlo Rovelli, Helgoland: Making Sense of the Quantum Revolution
    • Jack R. Gibb, Trust: A New View of Personal And Organizational Development
    • Richard Rohr’s Center for Action and Contemplation’s Daily Meditations
    
    

    ---

    Barry Johnson, Ph.D., is a founder of Polarity Partnerships LLC, whose mission is to “enhance our quality of life on the planet by supplementing Or Thinking with And Thinking.” Barry has been involved in movement politics since his first march on Washington in 1963; in 1970 he turned his attention to understanding how systems became dysfunctional and how to co-create systems that worked for everyone. In that pursuit, the first polarity map and set of principles were generated. Barry has worked with organizations large and small, including business, industry, governments, educational and healthcare systems, and movement organizations to discover how And Thinking can be useful in accomplishing their mission. Barry’s recent work has been focused on how a polarity lens can be useful in addressing the rise of authoritarianism in the United States and around the world.

    Along the way, Barry published three books and coordinated the publishing of a fourth: Polarity Management: Identifying and Managing Unsolvable Problems, Managing Polarities in Congregations: Eight Keys for Thriving Faith Communities, with Roy Oswald, And: Making a Difference by Leveraging Polarity, Paradox or Dilemma, Volume One, and And, Volume 2, Applications (written by 54 professionals who have applied And-thinking in their settings).

    ---

    Beena Sharma currently stewards Vertical Development Academy (VeDA) as its founding president, with a vision to enhance the practice of human development in service of civilizational resilience. Beena’s focus is on facilitating human maturity through a deep appreciation of the theory and practice of adult learning that catalyzes the development of wiser, more integrated human beings who can respond to personal, interpersonal, community, and larger systems challenges in more adequate ways. One of Beena’s unique contributions lies in leveraging the wisdom of polarities in service of human maturity, and Beena is one of the world’s leading teachers of polarity thinking. Beena is currently working on launching services that seek to build polarity wisdom in leaders and organizations around the world.

    Beena is a gifted master coach, consultant, teacher, and thought leader. She has been recognized nationally and internationally for her achievements in successfully conceptualizing, developing, and delivering systemic leadership development initiatives. She is a regular keynote faculty member for McKinsey’s Executive Leadership Program serving leaders in Australia and New Zealand, and has led efforts as an executive and consultant for various agencies of the US Government, leading private sector companies in healthcare and other industries in the US, UK, Europe, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, and India. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>27f549cf-a22b-4e2f-80fc-92de17330dedThu, 04 Sep 2025 05:00:00 -040045:52falsefull198198Growing Beyond Conflict: The Power of Polarity Thinking for Healing, Thriving, and Becoming WiserEp. 197 (Part 1 of 3) | Polarity management pioneer and author Barry Johnson and adult development expert Beena Sharma are masterful teachers on the subject of polarities and what polarity thinking can bring to the world, benefitting our well-being at every level. Together they explain what polarities are, why they matter, how to apply and leverage them, and the essence of polarity wisdom: pursuing the upsides of opposite poles. Barry is careful to explain that although either/or thinking is the root of our troubles, both/and thinking by itself isn’t the answer either. Integrating either/or with both/and thinking and recognizing the interdependence of all things is the road to transformation and, Beena adds, the engine of human development, of human maturity.

    Barry explains the profound spiritual understanding foundational to polarity wisdom and Beena details how polarities shift according to our developmental stage. Each of the polarities discussed—justice/mercy, claiming power/sharing power, being/doing, to name a few—illuminates its sphere, whether it relates to democracy, social justice, or spiritual practice. Barry and Beena are passionate about the promise of polarity thinking and their excitement is contagious in this fast-paced, delightfully lucid dialogue, jam-packed with information that is practical, inspiring, and potentially life changing. Recorded May 22, 2025.

    “Either/or thinking without both/and thinking is the root cause of poverty, racism, sexism, and war.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing polarity management pioneer & author Barry Johnson and adult development expert Beena Sharma (00:48)
    • How did Barry discover polarities? (02:15)
    • The essential dimension of polarities—interdependent pairs—and the universal interdependence of all of life (03:08)
    • The capacity to integrate and recognize interdependence is the driving force of adult human development (03:47)
    • The difference between polarity management and polarity wisdom (05:37)
    • A key polarity in leadership and democracy: claiming power & sharing power (07:20)
    • Experiential exercise: the infinity loop (08:11)
    • What is true for all polarities: each pole brings something special that is essential to the relationship (11:15)
    • The integrating wisdom that includes and transcends both polarities encompasses all dualities, reflecting traditional East Indian wisdom (12:12)
    • As a leader, how can we be both clear & flexible, self-assured & humble, and as an organization, centralized & decentralized? (13:51)
    • The oscillation between activity and rest (14:55)
    • Leveraging polarities: maximizing upsides and minimizing downsides (16:22)
    • Either/or thinking is essential, but it needs to be supplemented with both/and thinking (16:34)
    • Privileging one pole as better, you enter into dysfunction (19:33)
    • Interpersonal relationships: we see the positive value of our preferred pole but the downside of the other’s opposite preferred pole (20:56)
    • The essence of polarity wisdom: embracing the wisdom of the opposite pole (21:41)
    • Polarity thinking is an antidote to rigidity; it heals polarization (22:25)
    • Either/or thinking without both/and thinking is the root cause of evil (23:09)
    • Pursuing justice to the neglect of mercy (its interdependent pole) (26:47)
    • Does both/and thinking require a certain level of maturity? (32:14)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Barry Johnson, And: Making a Difference by Leveraging Polarity, Paradox, or Dilemma
    • Barry Johnson, Polarity Management: Identifying and Managing Unsolvable Problems
    • Beena Sharma, founder Vertical Development Academy (VeDA)
    • Desmond Tutu, No Future Without Forgiveness
    • The 8 Stages of Vertical Development with Beena Sharma (Deep Transformation podcast)
    
    

    ---

    Barry Johnson, Ph.D., is a founder of Polarity Partnerships LLC, whose mission is to “enhance our quality of life on the planet by supplementing Or Thinking with And Thinking.” Barry has been involved in movement politics since his first march on Washington in 1963; in 1970 he turned his attention to understanding how systems became dysfunctional and how to co-create systems that worked for everyone. In that pursuit, the first polarity map and set of principles were generated. Barry has worked with organizations large and small, including business, industry, governments, educational and healthcare systems, and movement organizations to discover how And Thinking can be useful in accomplishing their mission. Barry’s recent work has been focused on how a polarity lens can be useful in addressing the rise of authoritarianism in the United States and around the world.

    Along the way, Barry published three books and coordinated the publishing of a fourth: Polarity Management: Identifying and Managing Unsolvable Problems, Managing Polarities in Congregations: Eight Keys for Thriving Faith Communities, with Roy Oswald, And: Making a Difference by Leveraging Polarity, Paradox or Dilemma, Volume One, and And, Volume 2, Applications (written by 54 professionals who have applied And-thinking in their settings).

    ---

    Beena Sharma currently stewards Vertical Development Academy (VeDA) as its founding president, with a vision to enhance the practice of human development in service of civilizational resilience. Beena’s focus is on facilitating human maturity through a deep appreciation of the theory and practice of adult learning that catalyzes the development of wiser, more integrated human beings who can respond to personal, interpersonal, community, and larger systems challenges in more adequate ways. One of Beena’s unique contributions lies in leveraging the wisdom of polarities in service of human maturity, and Beena is one of the world’s leading teachers of polarity thinking. Beena is currently working on launching services that seek to build polarity wisdom in leaders and organizations around the world.

    Beena is a gifted master coach, consultant, teacher, and thought leader. She has been recognized nationally and internationally for her achievements in successfully conceptualizing, developing, and delivering systemic leadership development initiatives. She is a regular keynote faculty member for McKinsey’s Executive Leadership Program serving leaders in Australia and New Zealand, and has led efforts as an executive and consultant for various agencies of the US Government, leading private sector companies in healthcare and other industries in the US, UK, Europe, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, and India.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 197 (Part 1 of 3) | Polarity management pioneer and author Barry Johnson and adult development expert Beena Sharma are masterful teachers on the subject of polarities and what polarity thinking can bring to the world, benefitting our well-being at every level. Together they explain what polarities are, why they matter, how to apply and leverage them, and the essence of polarity wisdom: pursuing the upsides of opposite poles. Barry is careful to explain that although either/or thinking is the root of our troubles, both/and thinking by itself isn’t the answer either. Integrating either/or with both/and thinking and recognizing the interdependence of all things is the road to transformation and, Beena adds, the engine of human development, of human maturity.

    Barry explains the profound spiritual understanding foundational to polarity wisdom and Beena details how polarities shift according to our developmental stage. Each of the polarities discussed—justice/mercy, claiming power/sharing power, being/doing, to name a few—illuminates its sphere, whether it relates to democracy, social justice, or spiritual practice. Barry and Beena are passionate about the promise of polarity thinking and their excitement is contagious in this fast-paced, delightfully lucid dialogue, jam-packed with information that is practical, inspiring, and potentially life changing. Recorded May 22, 2025.

    “Either/or thinking without both/and thinking is the root cause of poverty, racism, sexism, and war.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing polarity management pioneer & author Barry Johnson and adult development expert Beena Sharma (00:48)
    • How did Barry discover polarities? (02:15)
    • The essential dimension of polarities—interdependent pairs—and the universal interdependence of all of life (03:08)
    • The capacity to integrate and recognize interdependence is the driving force of adult human development (03:47)
    • The difference between polarity management and polarity wisdom (05:37)
    • A key polarity in leadership and democracy: claiming power & sharing power (07:20)
    • Experiential exercise: the infinity loop (08:11)
    • What is true for all polarities: each pole brings something special that is essential to the relationship (11:15)
    • The integrating wisdom that includes and transcends both polarities encompasses all dualities, reflecting traditional East Indian wisdom (12:12)
    • As a leader, how can we be both clear & flexible, self-assured & humble, and as an organization, centralized & decentralized? (13:51)
    • The oscillation between activity and rest (14:55)
    • Leveraging polarities: maximizing upsides and minimizing downsides (16:22)
    • Either/or thinking is essential, but it needs to be supplemented with both/and thinking (16:34)
    • Privileging one pole as better, you enter into dysfunction (19:33)
    • Interpersonal relationships: we see the positive value of our preferred pole but the downside of the other’s opposite preferred pole (20:56)
    • The essence of polarity wisdom: embracing the wisdom of the opposite pole (21:41)
    • Polarity thinking is an antidote to rigidity; it heals polarization (22:25)
    • Either/or thinking without both/and thinking is the root cause of evil (23:09)
    • Pursuing justice to the neglect of mercy (its interdependent pole) (26:47)
    • Does both/and thinking require a certain level of maturity? (32:14)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Barry Johnson, And: Making a Difference by Leveraging Polarity, Paradox, or Dilemma
    • Barry Johnson, Polarity Management: Identifying and Managing Unsolvable Problems
    • Beena Sharma, founder Vertical Development Academy (VeDA)
    • Desmond Tutu, No Future Without Forgiveness
    • The 8 Stages of Vertical Development with Beena Sharma (Deep Transformation podcast)
    
    

    ---

    Barry Johnson, Ph.D., is a founder of Polarity Partnerships LLC, whose mission is to “enhance our quality of life on the planet by supplementing Or Thinking with And Thinking.” Barry has been involved in movement politics since his first march on Washington in 1963; in 1970 he turned his attention to understanding how systems became dysfunctional and how to co-create systems that worked for everyone. In that pursuit, the first polarity map and set of principles were generated. Barry has worked with organizations large and small, including business, industry, governments, educational and healthcare systems, and movement organizations to discover how And Thinking can be useful in accomplishing their mission. Barry’s recent work has been focused on how a polarity lens can be useful in addressing the rise of authoritarianism in the United States and around the world.

    Along the way, Barry published three books and coordinated the publishing of a fourth: Polarity Management: Identifying and Managing Unsolvable Problems, Managing Polarities in Congregations: Eight Keys for Thriving Faith Communities, with Roy Oswald, And: Making a Difference by Leveraging Polarity, Paradox or Dilemma, Volume One, and And, Volume 2, Applications (written by 54 professionals who have applied And-thinking in their settings).

    ---

    Beena Sharma currently stewards Vertical Development Academy (VeDA) as its founding president, with a vision to enhance the practice of human development in service of civilizational resilience. Beena’s focus is on facilitating human maturity through a deep appreciation of the theory and practice of adult learning that catalyzes the development of wiser, more integrated human beings who can respond to personal, interpersonal, community, and larger systems challenges in more adequate ways. One of Beena’s unique contributions lies in leveraging the wisdom of polarities in service of human maturity, and Beena is one of the world’s leading teachers of polarity thinking. Beena is currently working on launching services that seek to build polarity wisdom in leaders and organizations around the world.

    Beena is a gifted master coach, consultant, teacher, and thought leader. She has been recognized nationally and internationally for her achievements in successfully conceptualizing, developing, and delivering systemic leadership development initiatives. She is a regular keynote faculty member for McKinsey’s Executive Leadership Program serving leaders in Australia and New Zealand, and has led efforts as an executive and consultant for various agencies of the US Government, leading private sector companies in healthcare and other industries in the US, UK, Europe, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, and India.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>32bf3baa-da3b-47a2-8974-4612b7b17689Thu, 28 Aug 2025 05:00:00 -040036:14falsefull197197Opening to Pure Being: Awakening to the Fundamental Nature of Reality with A. H. Almaas (Part 2)Ep. 196 (Part 2 of 2) | n the twelfth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali guides us into the profound experience of pure being, which lies at the core of all mystical teachings. There are two nondual ways of experiencing the fullness of being, he explains. We can recognize we are infinite and boundless—as if we were the sky, but still experiencing this through our being—or, we can experience the oneness of being from the perspective of all manifestation: the mountain, the rocks, the molecules and atoms... “Wherever you go, physically or mentally, is pure being.” Hameed calls the first recognition “unity,” and the latter “oneness.”

    Hameed clarifies the paradox of nothingness: “being and nothing are two ways of knowing the same thing; you can feel it as a fullness or you can feel it as an emptiness.” And he explains that being being and knowing being are the same thing, when knowing  is understood in its deeper sense as gnosis. “Awakening is knowing our being or our awareness for what it is,” he says. Why is Hameed so uniquely articulate in talking about the experience of pure being? John asks him. This talk is an amazing teaching—visual and sensory, scientific and mathematical, deeply mystical and spiritual—Hameed comes at the subject of pure being from all angles. Recorded June 26, 2025.

    “Practice is clearing the way, but whether awakening emerges or not is not up to you.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Why Hameed is so uniquely articulate talking about these experiences, and why some teachers don’t talk about these things (00:27)
    • The nothingness side of pure presence (04:28)
    • The spaciousness here appears different; it is non-Euclidean (07:44)
    • Being and nothing are two ways of knowing the same thing; you can feel it as a fullness or you can feel it as an emptiness (09:22)
    • What other traditions teach about emptiness (11:34)
    • Awareness is pure beingness too (13:53)
    • Awareness is an ontological reality; it is an “is-ness” we can recognize and it includes knowing (18:14) 
    • Being being is the same thing as knowing being; this is gnosis: knowing by being (20:23)
    • Awakening is knowing our being or our awareness for what it is (23:44)
    • Knowing and mind are fundamental, not just intellectual (25:52)
    • Awakened awareness: realizing that awareness is the nature of everything (27:10)
    • Awakening cannot be earned; it is a recognition, but there are obstacles in the way (29:37)
    • We’ll get into knowing and reification next time (32:45)
    • This teaching affirms you are a real being, and you are an expression of the being of God (33:55)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Bernard Riemann, German mathematician who developed Riemannian geometry, a type of non-Euclidean geometry
    • Saccidānanda, the subjective experience of the ultimate unchanging reality
    • Mahmud Shabistari, 14th-century mystical Persian poet, The Secret Rose Garden
    • Rigpa is a central concept in Dzogchen
    • Mahamudra practice, the highest form of Tibetan Buddhist meditation
    
    

    ---

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 196 (Part 2 of 2) | n the twelfth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali guides us into the profound experience of pure being, which lies at the core of all mystical teachings. There are two nondual ways of experiencing the fullness of being, he explains. We can recognize we are infinite and boundless—as if we were the sky, but still experiencing this through our being—or, we can experience the oneness of being from the perspective of all manifestation: the mountain, the rocks, the molecules and atoms... “Wherever you go, physically or mentally, is pure being.” Hameed calls the first recognition “unity,” and the latter “oneness.”

    Hameed clarifies the paradox of nothingness: “being and nothing are two ways of knowing the same thing; you can feel it as a fullness or you can feel it as an emptiness.” And he explains that being being and knowing being are the same thing, when knowing  is understood in its deeper sense as gnosis. “Awakening is knowing our being or our awareness for what it is,” he says. Why is Hameed so uniquely articulate in talking about the experience of pure being? John asks him. This talk is an amazing teaching—visual and sensory, scientific and mathematical, deeply mystical and spiritual—Hameed comes at the subject of pure being from all angles. Recorded June 26, 2025.

    “Practice is clearing the way, but whether awakening emerges or not is not up to you.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Why Hameed is so uniquely articulate talking about these experiences, and why some teachers don’t talk about these things (00:27)
    • The nothingness side of pure presence (04:28)
    • The spaciousness here appears different; it is non-Euclidean (07:44)
    • Being and nothing are two ways of knowing the same thing; you can feel it as a fullness or you can feel it as an emptiness (09:22)
    • What other traditions teach about emptiness (11:34)
    • Awareness is pure beingness too (13:53)
    • Awareness is an ontological reality; it is an “is-ness” we can recognize and it includes knowing (18:14) 
    • Being being is the same thing as knowing being; this is gnosis: knowing by being (20:23)
    • Awakening is knowing our being or our awareness for what it is (23:44)
    • Knowing and mind are fundamental, not just intellectual (25:52)
    • Awakened awareness: realizing that awareness is the nature of everything (27:10)
    • Awakening cannot be earned; it is a recognition, but there are obstacles in the way (29:37)
    • We’ll get into knowing and reification next time (32:45)
    • This teaching affirms you are a real being, and you are an expression of the being of God (33:55)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Bernard Riemann, German mathematician who developed Riemannian geometry, a type of non-Euclidean geometry
    • Saccidānanda, the subjective experience of the ultimate unchanging reality
    • Mahmud Shabistari, 14th-century mystical Persian poet, The Secret Rose Garden
    • Rigpa is a central concept in Dzogchen
    • Mahamudra practice, the highest form of Tibetan Buddhist meditation
    
    

    ---

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>18b74889-d21e-4af7-830e-1d3be3165890Thu, 21 Aug 2025 05:00:00 -040038:39falsefull196196Opening to Pure Being: Awakening to the Fundamental Nature of Reality with A. H. AlmaasEp. 195 (Part 1 of 2) | In the twelfth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali guides us into the profound experience of pure being, which lies at the core of all mystical teachings. There are two nondual ways of experiencing the fullness of being, he explains. We can recognize we are infinite and boundless—as if we were the sky, but still experiencing this through our being—or, we can experience the oneness of being from the perspective of all manifestation: the mountain, the rocks, the molecules and atoms… “Wherever you go, physically or mentally, is pure being.” Hameed calls the first recognition “unity,” and the latter “oneness.”

    Hameed clarifies the paradox of nothingness: “being and nothing are two ways of knowing the same thing; you can feel it as a fullness or you can feel it as an emptiness.” And he explains that being being and knowing being are the same thing, when knowing is understood in its deeper sense as gnosis. “Awakening is knowing our being or our awareness for what it is,” he says. Why is Hameed so uniquely articulate in talking about the experience of pure being? John asks him. This talk is an amazing teaching—visual and sensory, scientific and mathematical, deeply mystical and spiritual—Hameed comes at the subject of pure being from all angles. Recorded June 26, 2025.

    “One way of experiencing pure being is from within itself; then there is experiencing it from the perspective of all manifestation. This is when we understand form is formlessness and formlessness is form.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing the 12th dialogue of the 
    • A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series focused on Hameed’s nondual teachings, and experiencing the fullness of being (00:33)
    • The difference between the localized experience of presence and the infinite, boundless experience of presence (01:50)
    • Divine love, pure presence is the precursor of all other qualities (03:15)
    • More fundamental than divine love is the simplicity of pure presence, pure being (06:09)
    • Our alienation from completeness causes a sense of lack in us all (11:19)
    • There are 2 major ways of experiencing the fullness of being, both nondual (15:27)
    • The second way is experiencing it from the perspective of all manifestation; this is when we understand form is formlessness and formlessness is form (22:14) 
    • Nonduality is implicit in both experiences—subject and object are the same thing (26:09)
    • If you look a little deeper, you find that formlessness is behind everything (28:17)
    • All manifestations of true nature are an antidote to suffering (28:43)
    • Ordinary mind perceives everything as separate, singular (31:04)
    • Science deals with behavior only; quantum physics comes closest to acknowledging there is something besides the physical (32:59)
    • Can mathematics take us to a realization of pure being? (36:58)
    • It would be possible for scientists to study this if they practiced inquiry into the observer, into the experience (39:50)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Advaita Vedanta
    • Ibn Arabi, a major figure in Islamic mysticism (Sufism) and one of the most influential thinkers associated with nonduality in the Islamic tradition
    • Meister Eckhart, German Catholic priest, theologian, philosopher & mystic
    • Dzogchen
    • Sir Roger Penrose & Dr. Stuart Hameroff, Consciousness and the Physics of the Brain (YouTube video)
    • David Bohm, Wholeness and the Implicate Order
    • Niels Bohr, Martin Heidegger, Erwin Schrödinger
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 195 (Part 1 of 2) | In the twelfth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali guides us into the profound experience of pure being, which lies at the core of all mystical teachings. There are two nondual ways of experiencing the fullness of being, he explains. We can recognize we are infinite and boundless—as if we were the sky, but still experiencing this through our being—or, we can experience the oneness of being from the perspective of all manifestation: the mountain, the rocks, the molecules and atoms… “Wherever you go, physically or mentally, is pure being.” Hameed calls the first recognition “unity,” and the latter “oneness.”

    Hameed clarifies the paradox of nothingness: “being and nothing are two ways of knowing the same thing; you can feel it as a fullness or you can feel it as an emptiness.” And he explains that being being and knowing being are the same thing, when knowing is understood in its deeper sense as gnosis. “Awakening is knowing our being or our awareness for what it is,” he says. Why is Hameed so uniquely articulate in talking about the experience of pure being? John asks him. This talk is an amazing teaching—visual and sensory, scientific and mathematical, deeply mystical and spiritual—Hameed comes at the subject of pure being from all angles. Recorded June 26, 2025.

    “One way of experiencing pure being is from within itself; then there is experiencing it from the perspective of all manifestation. This is when we understand form is formlessness and formlessness is form.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing the 12th dialogue of the 
    • A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series focused on Hameed’s nondual teachings, and experiencing the fullness of being (00:33)
    • The difference between the localized experience of presence and the infinite, boundless experience of presence (01:50)
    • Divine love, pure presence is the precursor of all other qualities (03:15)
    • More fundamental than divine love is the simplicity of pure presence, pure being (06:09)
    • Our alienation from completeness causes a sense of lack in us all (11:19)
    • There are 2 major ways of experiencing the fullness of being, both nondual (15:27)
    • The second way is experiencing it from the perspective of all manifestation; this is when we understand form is formlessness and formlessness is form (22:14) 
    • Nonduality is implicit in both experiences—subject and object are the same thing (26:09)
    • If you look a little deeper, you find that formlessness is behind everything (28:17)
    • All manifestations of true nature are an antidote to suffering (28:43)
    • Ordinary mind perceives everything as separate, singular (31:04)
    • Science deals with behavior only; quantum physics comes closest to acknowledging there is something besides the physical (32:59)
    • Can mathematics take us to a realization of pure being? (36:58)
    • It would be possible for scientists to study this if they practiced inquiry into the observer, into the experience (39:50)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Advaita Vedanta
    • Ibn Arabi, a major figure in Islamic mysticism (Sufism) and one of the most influential thinkers associated with nonduality in the Islamic tradition
    • Meister Eckhart, German Catholic priest, theologian, philosopher & mystic
    • Dzogchen
    • Sir Roger Penrose & Dr. Stuart Hameroff, Consciousness and the Physics of the Brain (YouTube video)
    • David Bohm, Wholeness and the Implicate Order
    • Niels Bohr, Martin Heidegger, Erwin Schrödinger
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>d1e66d41-8aad-467c-9474-73eed95bcf0aThu, 14 Aug 2025 05:00:00 -040042:49falsefull195195Learning From Death and Dying: Lessons for All of Us From Zen Hospice with Frank Ostaseski (Part 2)Ep. 194 (Part 2 of 2) | Frank Ostaseski, Zen hospice pioneer, founder of the Metta Institute, and author of The Five Invitations, speaks with us about the profound wisdom and potential for transformation that is unleashed in the process of dying. “Suppose we imagine death as an unprecedented opportunity for transformation, he says, adding, “so why wait until we are dying?” In attending over a thousand people in hospice, Frank has often seen them experience a real sense of discovery in the dying process; there is a time of acceptance, a time of letting go, and then a deeper state of surrendering to something larger. The walls that prop up the self start tumbling down, Frank explains, and a larger connection emerges that is always there.

    Frank would like to see the process of dying brought out of the closet—shared about, learned from, and not reduced to a medical event. It’s important to meet death with don’t-know mind and trust the dying process to teach each of us what we need to know, he explains. And some of what we can do right now to open ourselves to the wisdom of death is pay attention to how we end things, and to how we love. This far reaching discussion delves gently into the divine mystery of death and dying, touching on radical acceptance, transcending self, don’t-know mind, everyday compassion and boundless compassion, grief as an expression of love, and creating rituals to mark this passage and all passages. We are left feeling unexpectedly comforted and liberated at the same time. Recorded December 5, 2024.

    “Grief is a way we continue to love someone… a natural response to the experience of love.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    1. What qualities do people need to be with the dying? (00:27)
    2. Boundless compassion needs everyday compassion (02:09)
    3. Don’t wait to tell people that you love them (03:55)
    4. Grief is a way we continue to love someone, a natural response to the experience of love (06:06)
    5. There are subtler experiences after surrender: tracking consciousness as the brain stops (06:38)
    6. Gratefulness and a deep sense of belonging to something larger (09:52)
    7. Cultivating don’t know mind; meeting dying with don’t know mind (12:47)
    8. Terminal lucidity (17:49)
    9. Practices we can do now: how do we meet endings? (19:54)
    10. Impermanence is not later; it’s in this very moment (22:35)
    11. Cultural changes Frank would like to see (26:15)
    12. Proximate karma (30:00)
    13. Better drugs than sedation: psychedelics could help us meet the profundity of the experience (30:37)
    14. Bathing the body after death: a wonderful tradition that can fundamentally shift our relation with death (33:45)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    1. Frank Ostaseski’s website: https://frankostaseski.com/
    2. Frank Ostaseski, The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully
    3. Metta Institute, founded by Frank Ostaseski, to provide innovative programs and trainings that foster mindful & compassionate end-of-life care
    4. Frank Ostaseski, founding director of the San Francisco Zen Hospice Project (now Zen Caregiving Project)
    5. Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind
    6. Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, On Death and Dying
    7. Death Over Dinner.org: Let’s have dinner and talk about death
    8. Ram Dass, Frank Ostaseski, Joan Halifax, Stages of the Journey (audiobook)
    9. Bill Moyers PBS series, On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying
    
    

    ---

    Frank Ostaseski is an internationally respected Buddhist teacher, visionary co-founder of the Zen Hospice Project, and founder of the Metta Institute. He has lectured at Harvard Medical School, the Mayo Clinic, leading corporations like Google and Apple Inc., and teaches at major spiritual centers around the globe. Frank is the 2018 recipient of the prestigious Humanities Award from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.

    Frank has accompanied over 1,000 people through the dying process and trained thousands of healthcare clinicians and family caregivers around the world. His groundbreaking work has been featured on the Bill Moyers PBS series On Our Own Terms, highlighted on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and honored by H.H. the Dalai Lama. He is the author of The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 194 (Part 2 of 2) | Frank Ostaseski, Zen hospice pioneer, founder of the Metta Institute, and author of The Five Invitations, speaks with us about the profound wisdom and potential for transformation that is unleashed in the process of dying. “Suppose we imagine death as an unprecedented opportunity for transformation, he says, adding, “so why wait until we are dying?” In attending over a thousand people in hospice, Frank has often seen them experience a real sense of discovery in the dying process; there is a time of acceptance, a time of letting go, and then a deeper state of surrendering to something larger. The walls that prop up the self start tumbling down, Frank explains, and a larger connection emerges that is always there.

    Frank would like to see the process of dying brought out of the closet—shared about, learned from, and not reduced to a medical event. It’s important to meet death with don’t-know mind and trust the dying process to teach each of us what we need to know, he explains. And some of what we can do right now to open ourselves to the wisdom of death is pay attention to how we end things, and to how we love. This far reaching discussion delves gently into the divine mystery of death and dying, touching on radical acceptance, transcending self, don’t-know mind, everyday compassion and boundless compassion, grief as an expression of love, and creating rituals to mark this passage and all passages. We are left feeling unexpectedly comforted and liberated at the same time. Recorded December 5, 2024.

    “Grief is a way we continue to love someone… a natural response to the experience of love.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    1. What qualities do people need to be with the dying? (00:27)
    2. Boundless compassion needs everyday compassion (02:09)
    3. Don’t wait to tell people that you love them (03:55)
    4. Grief is a way we continue to love someone, a natural response to the experience of love (06:06)
    5. There are subtler experiences after surrender: tracking consciousness as the brain stops (06:38)
    6. Gratefulness and a deep sense of belonging to something larger (09:52)
    7. Cultivating don’t know mind; meeting dying with don’t know mind (12:47)
    8. Terminal lucidity (17:49)
    9. Practices we can do now: how do we meet endings? (19:54)
    10. Impermanence is not later; it’s in this very moment (22:35)
    11. Cultural changes Frank would like to see (26:15)
    12. Proximate karma (30:00)
    13. Better drugs than sedation: psychedelics could help us meet the profundity of the experience (30:37)
    14. Bathing the body after death: a wonderful tradition that can fundamentally shift our relation with death (33:45)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    1. Frank Ostaseski’s website: https://frankostaseski.com/
    2. Frank Ostaseski, The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully
    3. Metta Institute, founded by Frank Ostaseski, to provide innovative programs and trainings that foster mindful & compassionate end-of-life care
    4. Frank Ostaseski, founding director of the San Francisco Zen Hospice Project (now Zen Caregiving Project)
    5. Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind
    6. Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, On Death and Dying
    7. Death Over Dinner.org: Let’s have dinner and talk about death
    8. Ram Dass, Frank Ostaseski, Joan Halifax, Stages of the Journey (audiobook)
    9. Bill Moyers PBS series, On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying
    
    

    ---

    Frank Ostaseski is an internationally respected Buddhist teacher, visionary co-founder of the Zen Hospice Project, and founder of the Metta Institute. He has lectured at Harvard Medical School, the Mayo Clinic, leading corporations like Google and Apple Inc., and teaches at major spiritual centers around the globe. Frank is the 2018 recipient of the prestigious Humanities Award from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.

    Frank has accompanied over 1,000 people through the dying process and trained thousands of healthcare clinicians and family caregivers around the world. His groundbreaking work has been featured on the Bill Moyers PBS series On Our Own Terms, highlighted on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and honored by H.H. the Dalai Lama. He is the author of The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>c1684b02-6d9d-43e4-b074-ac99bf7140d4Thu, 07 Aug 2025 05:00:00 -040039:59falsefull194194Learning From Death and Dying: Lessons for All of Us From Zen Hospice with Frank OstaseskiEp. 193 (Part 1 of 2) | Frank Ostaseski, Zen hospice pioneer, founder of the Metta Institute, and author of The Five Invitations, speaks with us about the profound wisdom and potential for transformation that is unleashed in the process of dying. “Suppose we imagine death as an unprecedented opportunity for transformation, he says, adding, “so why wait until we are dying?” In attending over a thousand people in hospice, Frank has often seen them experience a real sense of discovery in the dying process; there is a time of acceptance, a time of letting go, and then a deeper state of surrendering to something larger. The walls that prop up the self start tumbling down, Frank explains, and a larger connection emerges that is always there.

    Frank would like to see the process of dying brought out of the closet—shared about, learned from, and not reduced to a medical event. It’s important to meet death with don’t-know mind and trust the dying process to teach each of us what we need to know, he explains. And some of what we can do right now to open ourselves to the wisdom of death is pay attention to how we end things, and to how we love. This far reaching discussion delves gently into the divine mystery of death and dying, touching on radical acceptance, transcending self, don’t-know mind, everyday compassion and boundless compassion, grief as an expression of love, and creating rituals to mark this passage and all passages. We are left feeling unexpectedly comforted and liberated at the same time. Recorded December 5, 2024.

    “Dying is not predominantly a medical event, and we ought to stop treating it as if it were.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    1. Introducing Frank Ostaseski, co-founder of the Zen Hospice Project & author of The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully (00:35)
    2. What drew Frank into working with the dying? (01:51)
    3. John’s brush with death and how it affects him now (03:05)
    4. Does a contemplative practice help in a near-death experience? (08:10)
    5. Dying brings about certain conditions that help us transcend our small self (11:39)
    6. Facing death is an unprecedented opportunity for transformation—why wait until we are dying? (12:38)
    7. Acceptance is only the beginning, letting go has an important role, but there is a deeper dimension: surrender (14:23)
    8. Who are we after we are stripped of our identities? (20:43)
    9. Another way of understanding surrender: a deep relaxation rather than a giving up (22:19)
    10. We need to not project our standard of what dying should look like on people who are dying (30:30)
    11. Roger’s comments about how touched he was by Frank’s book, The Five Invitations (36:39)
    12. How painfully inadequate medical training is for helping the dying (38:28)
    13. How vulnerable doctors became during Covid, when they had to take on the role of family members (40:20)
    14. Time-of-death rituals are growing in medical centers around the world (42:17)
    15. Playing Brahms’ Lullaby throughout the hospital to mark a birth (46:18)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    1. Frank Ostaseski’s website: https://frankostaseski.com/
    2. Frank Ostaseski, The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully
    3. Metta Institute, founded by Frank Ostaseski, to provide innovative programs and trainings that foster mindful & compassionate end-of-life care
    4. Frank Ostaseski, founding director of the San Francisco Zen Hospice Project (now Zen Caregiving Project)
    5. Elizabeth Kübler-Ross and the five stages of grief, On Death and Dying
    6. Neptune Society
    7. Rachel Naomi Remen, Kitchen Table Wisdom & My Grandfather’s Blessings
    8. Johannes Brahms, Lullaby (YouTube video)
    
    

    ---

    Frank Ostaseski is an internationally respected Buddhist teacher, visionary co-founder of the Zen Hospice Project, and founder of the Metta Institute. He has lectured at Harvard Medical School, the Mayo Clinic, leading corporations like Google and Apple Inc., and teaches at major spiritual centers around the globe. Frank is the 2018 recipient of the prestigious Humanities Award from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.

    Frank has accompanied over 1,000 people through the dying process and trained thousands of healthcare clinicians and family caregivers around the world. His groundbreaking work has been featured on the Bill Moyers PBS series On Our Own Terms, highlighted on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and honored by H.H. the Dalai Lama. He is the author of The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 193 (Part 1 of 2) | Frank Ostaseski, Zen hospice pioneer, founder of the Metta Institute, and author of The Five Invitations, speaks with us about the profound wisdom and potential for transformation that is unleashed in the process of dying. “Suppose we imagine death as an unprecedented opportunity for transformation, he says, adding, “so why wait until we are dying?” In attending over a thousand people in hospice, Frank has often seen them experience a real sense of discovery in the dying process; there is a time of acceptance, a time of letting go, and then a deeper state of surrendering to something larger. The walls that prop up the self start tumbling down, Frank explains, and a larger connection emerges that is always there.

    Frank would like to see the process of dying brought out of the closet—shared about, learned from, and not reduced to a medical event. It’s important to meet death with don’t-know mind and trust the dying process to teach each of us what we need to know, he explains. And some of what we can do right now to open ourselves to the wisdom of death is pay attention to how we end things, and to how we love. This far reaching discussion delves gently into the divine mystery of death and dying, touching on radical acceptance, transcending self, don’t-know mind, everyday compassion and boundless compassion, grief as an expression of love, and creating rituals to mark this passage and all passages. We are left feeling unexpectedly comforted and liberated at the same time. Recorded December 5, 2024.

    “Dying is not predominantly a medical event, and we ought to stop treating it as if it were.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    1. Introducing Frank Ostaseski, co-founder of the Zen Hospice Project & author of The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully (00:35)
    2. What drew Frank into working with the dying? (01:51)
    3. John’s brush with death and how it affects him now (03:05)
    4. Does a contemplative practice help in a near-death experience? (08:10)
    5. Dying brings about certain conditions that help us transcend our small self (11:39)
    6. Facing death is an unprecedented opportunity for transformation—why wait until we are dying? (12:38)
    7. Acceptance is only the beginning, letting go has an important role, but there is a deeper dimension: surrender (14:23)
    8. Who are we after we are stripped of our identities? (20:43)
    9. Another way of understanding surrender: a deep relaxation rather than a giving up (22:19)
    10. We need to not project our standard of what dying should look like on people who are dying (30:30)
    11. Roger’s comments about how touched he was by Frank’s book, The Five Invitations (36:39)
    12. How painfully inadequate medical training is for helping the dying (38:28)
    13. How vulnerable doctors became during Covid, when they had to take on the role of family members (40:20)
    14. Time-of-death rituals are growing in medical centers around the world (42:17)
    15. Playing Brahms’ Lullaby throughout the hospital to mark a birth (46:18)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    1. Frank Ostaseski’s website: https://frankostaseski.com/
    2. Frank Ostaseski, The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully
    3. Metta Institute, founded by Frank Ostaseski, to provide innovative programs and trainings that foster mindful & compassionate end-of-life care
    4. Frank Ostaseski, founding director of the San Francisco Zen Hospice Project (now Zen Caregiving Project)
    5. Elizabeth Kübler-Ross and the five stages of grief, On Death and Dying
    6. Neptune Society
    7. Rachel Naomi Remen, Kitchen Table Wisdom & My Grandfather’s Blessings
    8. Johannes Brahms, Lullaby (YouTube video)
    
    

    ---

    Frank Ostaseski is an internationally respected Buddhist teacher, visionary co-founder of the Zen Hospice Project, and founder of the Metta Institute. He has lectured at Harvard Medical School, the Mayo Clinic, leading corporations like Google and Apple Inc., and teaches at major spiritual centers around the globe. Frank is the 2018 recipient of the prestigious Humanities Award from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.

    Frank has accompanied over 1,000 people through the dying process and trained thousands of healthcare clinicians and family caregivers around the world. His groundbreaking work has been featured on the Bill Moyers PBS series On Our Own Terms, highlighted on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and honored by H.H. the Dalai Lama. He is the author of The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>5fa75a12-9518-4dc2-9e28-654beb7428cfThu, 31 Jul 2025 05:00:00 -040048:18falsefull193193Assault on Democracy: The Legal, Ethical & Spiritual Implications of America’s Democratic Crisis (Part 2)Ep. 192 (Part 2 of 2) | Professor Mark Fischler, constitutional law expert and co-host of the Integral Justice Warrior podcast, helps us make sense of what’s happening to our democracy, providing context—historical, legal, ethical—for the plethora of disturbing and destructive acts occurring on a daily basis in our political arena. The rule of law is under direct attack at this time, he explains, and an assault on democracy is essentially an assault on our most fundamental values—the principles this country was founded on: inclusivity, equality, and dignity for all. 

    Mark clarifies President Trump’s political actions in the context of developmental stages, unpacks Project 2025, and discusses the assault on higher education and critical thinking and what it portends. The trajectory of where we are headed, Mark points out, is regressing into values we have already transcended. We need our democratic foundation to move to deeper, post-democratic levels that are reflective of greater levels of interconnection and inclusivity—not the opposite, he says. What will it take to change the regressive trajectory? Courage! And involvement. Thank you, Mark, for bringing a rare depth and much-needed clarity to the subject of the evolving democratic crisis occurring in our nation today and its implications for our future. Recorded June 12, 2025.

    “The assault on democracy we are experiencing is also an assault on a spiritual understanding of the deeper nature of our existence.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • The assault on higher education and critical thinking, continued (01:07) 
    • The idea of inherent capabilities of race is a slippery slope (02:33)
    • Authoritarianism, the “authoritarian slide,” and the current administration (11:16)
    • Do you cave if your livelihood is threatened or do you stand up for the values of your country? (14:12)
    • The assault on democracy is an assault on our foundational spiritual values (19:26)
    • The leftist postmodern approach to transgender issues & immigration created fodder for the movement towards authoritarianism (23:12)
    • The importance of creating an educated citizenry (28:03)
    • MLK’s four basic steps for nonviolent action (32:09)
    • Take direct action only after you’ve entered into a purified state such as Jesus had on the cross (34:05)
    • Prevent violence in protests, disable provocateurs (36:16)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • The Integral Justice Warrior series, co-hosted by Mark Fischler and Corey deVos (Integral Life website)
    • Greg Thomas, CEO of the Jazz Leadership Project on the Deep Transformation podcast, From Race to Culture to Cosmos: Using the Dance of Our Differences to Wise Up, Harmonize, and Actualize
    • Martin Luther King Jr.’s last speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” (YouTube video)
    • Robb Smith, The Great Release: The Rise of Trump and the End of U.S. Hegemony (eBook available on Integral Life)
    • Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society
    • Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from the Birmingham Jail
    
    

    ---

    Mark Fischler is a professor of Ethics, Constitutional Law, and Criminal Procedure at Plymouth State University. Prior to joining the Plymouth State faculty, he practiced law, representing poor criminal defendants for the New Hampshire Public Defender’s Office. Mark left the law after being guided by the Universe to focus on his Spiritual Awareness for almost two years. Upon his return, he was called to become a teacher and accepted a job at Plymouth State in 2003. 

    Since then, Mark has worked extensively with alternative theoretical models in law, constitutional law, and higher education, and has published on integral applications to teaching, being a lawyer, and legal theory. In his time at the university, he’s been a chair, Dean, and Interim VP. His focus in the classroom is ethics and criminal procedure and constitutional law. He is well respected for a teaching philosophy that emphasizes recognizing the humanity and dignity of each student. Professor Fischler was awarded the outstanding teaching award at his university in 2014. He currently offers a weekly Spiritual Inquiry class for college students.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 192 (Part 2 of 2) | Professor Mark Fischler, constitutional law expert and co-host of the Integral Justice Warrior podcast, helps us make sense of what’s happening to our democracy, providing context—historical, legal, ethical—for the plethora of disturbing and destructive acts occurring on a daily basis in our political arena. The rule of law is under direct attack at this time, he explains, and an assault on democracy is essentially an assault on our most fundamental values—the principles this country was founded on: inclusivity, equality, and dignity for all. 

    Mark clarifies President Trump’s political actions in the context of developmental stages, unpacks Project 2025, and discusses the assault on higher education and critical thinking and what it portends. The trajectory of where we are headed, Mark points out, is regressing into values we have already transcended. We need our democratic foundation to move to deeper, post-democratic levels that are reflective of greater levels of interconnection and inclusivity—not the opposite, he says. What will it take to change the regressive trajectory? Courage! And involvement. Thank you, Mark, for bringing a rare depth and much-needed clarity to the subject of the evolving democratic crisis occurring in our nation today and its implications for our future. Recorded June 12, 2025.

    “The assault on democracy we are experiencing is also an assault on a spiritual understanding of the deeper nature of our existence.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • The assault on higher education and critical thinking, continued (01:07) 
    • The idea of inherent capabilities of race is a slippery slope (02:33)
    • Authoritarianism, the “authoritarian slide,” and the current administration (11:16)
    • Do you cave if your livelihood is threatened or do you stand up for the values of your country? (14:12)
    • The assault on democracy is an assault on our foundational spiritual values (19:26)
    • The leftist postmodern approach to transgender issues & immigration created fodder for the movement towards authoritarianism (23:12)
    • The importance of creating an educated citizenry (28:03)
    • MLK’s four basic steps for nonviolent action (32:09)
    • Take direct action only after you’ve entered into a purified state such as Jesus had on the cross (34:05)
    • Prevent violence in protests, disable provocateurs (36:16)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • The Integral Justice Warrior series, co-hosted by Mark Fischler and Corey deVos (Integral Life website)
    • Greg Thomas, CEO of the Jazz Leadership Project on the Deep Transformation podcast, From Race to Culture to Cosmos: Using the Dance of Our Differences to Wise Up, Harmonize, and Actualize
    • Martin Luther King Jr.’s last speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” (YouTube video)
    • Robb Smith, The Great Release: The Rise of Trump and the End of U.S. Hegemony (eBook available on Integral Life)
    • Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society
    • Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from the Birmingham Jail
    
    

    ---

    Mark Fischler is a professor of Ethics, Constitutional Law, and Criminal Procedure at Plymouth State University. Prior to joining the Plymouth State faculty, he practiced law, representing poor criminal defendants for the New Hampshire Public Defender’s Office. Mark left the law after being guided by the Universe to focus on his Spiritual Awareness for almost two years. Upon his return, he was called to become a teacher and accepted a job at Plymouth State in 2003. 

    Since then, Mark has worked extensively with alternative theoretical models in law, constitutional law, and higher education, and has published on integral applications to teaching, being a lawyer, and legal theory. In his time at the university, he’s been a chair, Dean, and Interim VP. His focus in the classroom is ethics and criminal procedure and constitutional law. He is well respected for a teaching philosophy that emphasizes recognizing the humanity and dignity of each student. Professor Fischler was awarded the outstanding teaching award at his university in 2014. He currently offers a weekly Spiritual Inquiry class for college students.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>38ae2ac9-32e9-45c8-802e-48d72e4b847eThu, 24 Jul 2025 05:00:00 -040040:38falsefull192192Assault on Democracy: The Legal, Ethical & Spiritual Implications of America’s Democratic CrisisEp. 191 (Part 1 of 2) | Professor Mark Fischler, constitutional law expert and co-host of the Integral Justice Warrior podcast, helps us make sense of what’s happening to our democracy, providing context—historical, legal, ethical—for the plethora of disturbing and destructive acts occurring on a daily basis in our political arena. The rule of law is under direct attack at this time, he explains, and an assault on democracy is essentially an assault on our most fundamental values—the principles this country was founded on: inclusivity, equality, and dignity for all. 

    Mark clarifies President Trump’s political actions in the context of developmental stages, unpacks Project 2025, and discusses the assault on higher education and critical thinking and what it portends. The trajectory of where we are headed, Mark points out, is regressing into values we have already transcended. We need our democratic foundation to move to deeper, post-democratic levels that are reflective of greater levels of interconnection and inclusivity—not the opposite, he says. What will it take to change the regressive trajectory? Courage! And involvement. Thank you, Mark, for bringing a rare depth and much-needed clarity to the subject of the evolving democratic crisis occurring in our nation today and its implications for our future. Recorded June 12, 2025.

    “The rule of law is a hard-earned process… and it’s under direct attack at this time in our country.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing constitutional law expert, professor of Ethics, Constitutional Law, and Criminal Procedure, and co-host of the Integral Justice Warrior podcast, Mark Fischler (00:39)
    • Trump, tribalism, and the zero-sum game: there are winners & losers; the losers deserve to lose (01:31)
    • The rule of law is under direct attack in the U.S. at this time (11:34)
    • Dehumanization and Trump’s pre-conventional ethic of retribution (14:41)
    • Our nation is built on ethics of higher purpose; our founding fathers specifically banned gifts to the President in the Constitution (17:30)
    • Where is Congress in all of this? (21:13)
    • Treason and bribery are the two legal grounds for impeachment (21:55)
    • What is Project 2025, and the over-rulings of judicial rulings by the executive (25:33)
    • The Heritage Foundation, responsible for developing the central ideas of Project 2025 (29:41)
    • Project 2025’s pre-conventional position on abortion and family (32:49)
    • Why does democracy matter? (36:22)
    • What we are experiencing is a direct attack on the principles of inclusivity (37:53)
    • How does slashing Medicare and Medicaid square with Christian values? (40:21)
    • The trajectory of where we are headed: regressing into values we have already transcended (43:14)
    • The left has made it easy for the far right (43:48)
    • The assault on higher education and critical thinking (44:17)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • The Integral Justice Warrior series, co-hosted by Mark Fischler and Corey deVos (Integral Life website)
    • J. Michael Luttig, The End of Rule of Law in America (The Atlantic Magazine)
    • Don Beck & Christopher Cowan, Spiral Dynamics
    • Martin Buber, best known for his philosophy of dialogue centered on the distinction between the I–Thou relationship and the I–It relationship
    • Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from the Birmingham Jail
    • Lincoln’s Gettysburg address
    • Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address
    • Project 2025 Presidential Transition Project, developed by The Heritage Foundation
    • Winston Churchill, “The worst form of government”
    
    

    ---

    Mark Fischler is a professor of Ethics, Constitutional Law, and Criminal Procedure at Plymouth State University. Prior to joining the Plymouth State faculty, he practiced law, representing poor criminal defendants for the New Hampshire Public Defender’s Office. Mark left the law after being guided by the Universe to focus on his Spiritual Awareness for almost two years. Upon his return, he was called to become a teacher and accepted a job at Plymouth State in 2003. 

    Since then, Mark has worked extensively with alternative theoretical models in law, constitutional law, and higher education, and has published on integral applications to teaching, being a lawyer, and legal theory. In his time at the university, he’s been a chair, Dean, and Interim VP. His focus in the classroom is ethics and criminal procedure and constitutional law. He is well respected for a teaching philosophy that emphasizes recognizing the humanity and dignity of each student. Professor Fischler was awarded the outstanding teaching award at his university in 2014. He currently offers a weekly Spiritual Inquiry class for college students.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 191 (Part 1 of 2) | Professor Mark Fischler, constitutional law expert and co-host of the Integral Justice Warrior podcast, helps us make sense of what’s happening to our democracy, providing context—historical, legal, ethical—for the plethora of disturbing and destructive acts occurring on a daily basis in our political arena. The rule of law is under direct attack at this time, he explains, and an assault on democracy is essentially an assault on our most fundamental values—the principles this country was founded on: inclusivity, equality, and dignity for all. 

    Mark clarifies President Trump’s political actions in the context of developmental stages, unpacks Project 2025, and discusses the assault on higher education and critical thinking and what it portends. The trajectory of where we are headed, Mark points out, is regressing into values we have already transcended. We need our democratic foundation to move to deeper, post-democratic levels that are reflective of greater levels of interconnection and inclusivity—not the opposite, he says. What will it take to change the regressive trajectory? Courage! And involvement. Thank you, Mark, for bringing a rare depth and much-needed clarity to the subject of the evolving democratic crisis occurring in our nation today and its implications for our future. Recorded June 12, 2025.

    “The rule of law is a hard-earned process… and it’s under direct attack at this time in our country.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing constitutional law expert, professor of Ethics, Constitutional Law, and Criminal Procedure, and co-host of the Integral Justice Warrior podcast, Mark Fischler (00:39)
    • Trump, tribalism, and the zero-sum game: there are winners & losers; the losers deserve to lose (01:31)
    • The rule of law is under direct attack in the U.S. at this time (11:34)
    • Dehumanization and Trump’s pre-conventional ethic of retribution (14:41)
    • Our nation is built on ethics of higher purpose; our founding fathers specifically banned gifts to the President in the Constitution (17:30)
    • Where is Congress in all of this? (21:13)
    • Treason and bribery are the two legal grounds for impeachment (21:55)
    • What is Project 2025, and the over-rulings of judicial rulings by the executive (25:33)
    • The Heritage Foundation, responsible for developing the central ideas of Project 2025 (29:41)
    • Project 2025’s pre-conventional position on abortion and family (32:49)
    • Why does democracy matter? (36:22)
    • What we are experiencing is a direct attack on the principles of inclusivity (37:53)
    • How does slashing Medicare and Medicaid square with Christian values? (40:21)
    • The trajectory of where we are headed: regressing into values we have already transcended (43:14)
    • The left has made it easy for the far right (43:48)
    • The assault on higher education and critical thinking (44:17)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • The Integral Justice Warrior series, co-hosted by Mark Fischler and Corey deVos (Integral Life website)
    • J. Michael Luttig, The End of Rule of Law in America (The Atlantic Magazine)
    • Don Beck & Christopher Cowan, Spiral Dynamics
    • Martin Buber, best known for his philosophy of dialogue centered on the distinction between the I–Thou relationship and the I–It relationship
    • Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from the Birmingham Jail
    • Lincoln’s Gettysburg address
    • Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address
    • Project 2025 Presidential Transition Project, developed by The Heritage Foundation
    • Winston Churchill, “The worst form of government”
    
    

    ---

    Mark Fischler is a professor of Ethics, Constitutional Law, and Criminal Procedure at Plymouth State University. Prior to joining the Plymouth State faculty, he practiced law, representing poor criminal defendants for the New Hampshire Public Defender’s Office. Mark left the law after being guided by the Universe to focus on his Spiritual Awareness for almost two years. Upon his return, he was called to become a teacher and accepted a job at Plymouth State in 2003. 

    Since then, Mark has worked extensively with alternative theoretical models in law, constitutional law, and higher education, and has published on integral applications to teaching, being a lawyer, and legal theory. In his time at the university, he’s been a chair, Dean, and Interim VP. His focus in the classroom is ethics and criminal procedure and constitutional law. He is well respected for a teaching philosophy that emphasizes recognizing the humanity and dignity of each student. Professor Fischler was awarded the outstanding teaching award at his university in 2014. He currently offers a weekly Spiritual Inquiry class for college students.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>aed42a90-c706-423b-a48b-11057cbfda9bThu, 17 Jul 2025 05:00:00 -040048:33falsefull191191The Boundless Dimension of Divine Love: A Potential Available to Us All with A. H. Almaas (Part 2)Ep. 190 (Part 2 of 2) | The eleventh Wisdom Series dialogue with A. H. Almaas brings us to the second turning of his teaching, into the boundless dimension of divine love. Hameed explores this nondual dimension in detail: its qualities, what it’s like to experience firsthand, and what the effects of such an experience are likely to be. This boundless dimension of loving consciousness is the first of the five boundless dimensions, though love continues to develop throughout them all. Hameed gives a beautiful account of his initial experience with this dimension, when divine love and light permeated all of reality. “Why don’t more people experience this if love is always there? asks co-host John Dupuy, and Hameed explains that it’s always there in potential form though not always manifest; the experience is there for when we are ripe for it.

    Having awakened to this dimension, one can’t help but want everyone to feel this way, Hameed says, and this is the main reason spiritual teachers teach. Hameed describes the obstacles that prevent us from experiencing the reality of divine love, how it challenges our perceived separateness, and tells us that after experiencing this unity, returning to separateness is not a choice. It turns out that experiencing boundless love is not a panacea for enlightenment, but creates an upwelling of obstacles and a state where our boundedness feels even more restrictive than before. Hameed also relates how hatred and greed can exist in this reality of pure goodness, and tells us that it is here, in the ocean of love and light, that they are transformed. A wonderfully numinous, illuminating conversation. Recorded May 1, 2025.

    “The love is what makes us human—you can’t be really human without heart.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Two ways of functioning: from the perspective of the soul, or from the perspective of the ocean of love (00:35)
    • A third way of functioning is when the ocean manifests the functioning itself (03:58)
    • The ocean of love dissolves all fears (06:06)
    • Love takes forms; this dimension is an example of the formless taking form (07:06)
    • The sense of pure “goodness” in this dimension is unmistakable—you can’t help but want everyone to feel this (10:34) 
    • Hatred is not a quality of being; it’s a distortion of a quality of being (14:37)
    • Hameed’s experience of the beast, an inherent part of the ego (17:40)
    • Experiencing Jabba the Hut, who represents greed; greed gets healed in this dimension (21:23)
    • Your curiosity—wanting to know and being willing to experience—is the only way to transform greed or hatred; you can’t push them away (29:02)
    • Five steps towards true nature (31:41)
    • The heart (love) keeps developing through all the dimensions (34:20)
    • You can’t be really human without heart (35:32)
    • How do we continue to develop and manifest this connection with love? (36:20)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • A. H. Almaas, Luminous Night’s Journey: An Autobiographical Fragment
    • Plato’s “the Good”
    • Jabba the Hut appears in the second sequel to Star Wars movie: Return of the Jedi (1983)
    • Tibetan Buddhism’s wrathful deities
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 190 (Part 2 of 2) | The eleventh Wisdom Series dialogue with A. H. Almaas brings us to the second turning of his teaching, into the boundless dimension of divine love. Hameed explores this nondual dimension in detail: its qualities, what it’s like to experience firsthand, and what the effects of such an experience are likely to be. This boundless dimension of loving consciousness is the first of the five boundless dimensions, though love continues to develop throughout them all. Hameed gives a beautiful account of his initial experience with this dimension, when divine love and light permeated all of reality. “Why don’t more people experience this if love is always there? asks co-host John Dupuy, and Hameed explains that it’s always there in potential form though not always manifest; the experience is there for when we are ripe for it.

    Having awakened to this dimension, one can’t help but want everyone to feel this way, Hameed says, and this is the main reason spiritual teachers teach. Hameed describes the obstacles that prevent us from experiencing the reality of divine love, how it challenges our perceived separateness, and tells us that after experiencing this unity, returning to separateness is not a choice. It turns out that experiencing boundless love is not a panacea for enlightenment, but creates an upwelling of obstacles and a state where our boundedness feels even more restrictive than before. Hameed also relates how hatred and greed can exist in this reality of pure goodness, and tells us that it is here, in the ocean of love and light, that they are transformed. A wonderfully numinous, illuminating conversation. Recorded May 1, 2025.

    “The love is what makes us human—you can’t be really human without heart.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Two ways of functioning: from the perspective of the soul, or from the perspective of the ocean of love (00:35)
    • A third way of functioning is when the ocean manifests the functioning itself (03:58)
    • The ocean of love dissolves all fears (06:06)
    • Love takes forms; this dimension is an example of the formless taking form (07:06)
    • The sense of pure “goodness” in this dimension is unmistakable—you can’t help but want everyone to feel this (10:34) 
    • Hatred is not a quality of being; it’s a distortion of a quality of being (14:37)
    • Hameed’s experience of the beast, an inherent part of the ego (17:40)
    • Experiencing Jabba the Hut, who represents greed; greed gets healed in this dimension (21:23)
    • Your curiosity—wanting to know and being willing to experience—is the only way to transform greed or hatred; you can’t push them away (29:02)
    • Five steps towards true nature (31:41)
    • The heart (love) keeps developing through all the dimensions (34:20)
    • You can’t be really human without heart (35:32)
    • How do we continue to develop and manifest this connection with love? (36:20)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • A. H. Almaas, Luminous Night’s Journey: An Autobiographical Fragment
    • Plato’s “the Good”
    • Jabba the Hut appears in the second sequel to Star Wars movie: Return of the Jedi (1983)
    • Tibetan Buddhism’s wrathful deities
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>eab33d04-04d6-4e81-bb24-2cf7de165844Thu, 10 Jul 2025 05:00:00 -040040:19falsefull190190The Boundless Dimension of Divine Love: A Potential Available to Us All with A. H. AlmaasEp. 189 (Part 1 of 2) | The eleventh Wisdom Series dialogue with A. H. Almaas brings us to the second turning of his teaching, into the boundless dimension of divine love. Hameed explores this nondual dimension in detail: its qualities, what it’s like to experience firsthand, and what the effects of such an experience are likely to be. This boundless dimension of loving consciousness is the first of the five boundless dimensions, though love continues to develop throughout them all. Hameed gives a beautiful account of his initial experience with this dimension, when divine love and light permeated all of reality. “Why don’t more people experience this if love is always there? asks co-host John Dupuy, and Hameed explains that it’s always there in potential form though not always manifest; the experience is there for when we are ripe for it.

    Having awakened to this dimension, one can’t help but want everyone to feel this way, Hameed says, and this is the main reason spiritual teachers teach. Hameed describes the obstacles that prevent us from experiencing the reality of divine love, how it challenges our perceived separateness, and tells us that after experiencing this unity, returning to separateness is not a choice. It turns out that experiencing boundless love is not a panacea for enlightenment, but creates an upwelling of obstacles and a state where our boundedness feels even more restrictive than before. Hameed also relates how hatred and greed can exist in this reality of pure goodness, and tells us that it is here, in the ocean of love and light, that they are transformed. A wonderfully numinous, illuminating conversation. Recorded May 1, 2025.

    “Full nonduality: not just nonduality between subject and object…but where nothing is separate from anything else—one indivisible medium of loving consciousness.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing the 11th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, focusing on the first of the five boundless dimensions: the ocean of love and light (00:35)
    • Transitioning to the second turning of the teaching: the dimension of divine love (01:54)
    • Hameed’s first experience of boundless love (04:46)
    • This is what Rumi writes about—it’s not a unique experience but a potential for everyone (10:30)
    • Full nonduality: not just between subject and object, but where nothing is separate from anything else (12:00)
    • Why don’t more people experience this if love is always there? (14:08)
    • All five dimensions (and maybe more) are implicit in nondual consciousness (19:17)
    • Obstacles in the way of experiencing divine love (21:03)
    • We cannot make this experience of presence happen—it is an emergence, a revelation (22:33)
    • The movement back to separateness happens because it has been imprinted in the soul (24:48)
    • The experience of divine love creates an upwelling of obstacles (26:27)
    • Inquiry is the way to surrender your attachment to yourself as an individual (29:11)
    • Our functioning can continue to happen after our boundaries have dissolved (32:35)
    • Two main ego identifications: boundedness & our sense of identity (36:02)
    • This dimension teaches how we can function as an individual expression of boundless love while not being separate from it (37:59)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • A. H. Almaas, Luminous Night’s Journey: An Autobiographical Fragment
    • George Fox, founder of the Quakers, “I saw also… an infinite ocean of light and love…”
    • Rigpa, a central concept in Dzogchen
    • Advaita Vedanta
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 189 (Part 1 of 2) | The eleventh Wisdom Series dialogue with A. H. Almaas brings us to the second turning of his teaching, into the boundless dimension of divine love. Hameed explores this nondual dimension in detail: its qualities, what it’s like to experience firsthand, and what the effects of such an experience are likely to be. This boundless dimension of loving consciousness is the first of the five boundless dimensions, though love continues to develop throughout them all. Hameed gives a beautiful account of his initial experience with this dimension, when divine love and light permeated all of reality. “Why don’t more people experience this if love is always there? asks co-host John Dupuy, and Hameed explains that it’s always there in potential form though not always manifest; the experience is there for when we are ripe for it.

    Having awakened to this dimension, one can’t help but want everyone to feel this way, Hameed says, and this is the main reason spiritual teachers teach. Hameed describes the obstacles that prevent us from experiencing the reality of divine love, how it challenges our perceived separateness, and tells us that after experiencing this unity, returning to separateness is not a choice. It turns out that experiencing boundless love is not a panacea for enlightenment, but creates an upwelling of obstacles and a state where our boundedness feels even more restrictive than before. Hameed also relates how hatred and greed can exist in this reality of pure goodness, and tells us that it is here, in the ocean of love and light, that they are transformed. A wonderfully numinous, illuminating conversation. Recorded May 1, 2025.

    “Full nonduality: not just nonduality between subject and object…but where nothing is separate from anything else—one indivisible medium of loving consciousness.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing the 11th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, focusing on the first of the five boundless dimensions: the ocean of love and light (00:35)
    • Transitioning to the second turning of the teaching: the dimension of divine love (01:54)
    • Hameed’s first experience of boundless love (04:46)
    • This is what Rumi writes about—it’s not a unique experience but a potential for everyone (10:30)
    • Full nonduality: not just between subject and object, but where nothing is separate from anything else (12:00)
    • Why don’t more people experience this if love is always there? (14:08)
    • All five dimensions (and maybe more) are implicit in nondual consciousness (19:17)
    • Obstacles in the way of experiencing divine love (21:03)
    • We cannot make this experience of presence happen—it is an emergence, a revelation (22:33)
    • The movement back to separateness happens because it has been imprinted in the soul (24:48)
    • The experience of divine love creates an upwelling of obstacles (26:27)
    • Inquiry is the way to surrender your attachment to yourself as an individual (29:11)
    • Our functioning can continue to happen after our boundaries have dissolved (32:35)
    • Two main ego identifications: boundedness & our sense of identity (36:02)
    • This dimension teaches how we can function as an individual expression of boundless love while not being separate from it (37:59)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • A. H. Almaas, Luminous Night’s Journey: An Autobiographical Fragment
    • George Fox, founder of the Quakers, “I saw also… an infinite ocean of light and love…”
    • Rigpa, a central concept in Dzogchen
    • Advaita Vedanta
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>3c2a17d9-a04c-4949-9d08-9345a0729246Thu, 03 Jul 2025 05:00:00 -040041:27falsefull189189Current Politics from an Integral Taoist PerspectiveEp. 188 (Part 2 of 2) | Dr. Sally Adnams Jones has pioneered the field of art therapy as an agent of transformation and healing, choosing to work particularly with people living with no economic infrastructure: refugees, and victims of natural disasters, genocide, war, pandemics, and more. What Sally has found is that creating art within a community works miracles for the dispossessed and traumatized, in that it provides an embodied, practical method of engendering feelings of pride, a sense of belonging, finding one’s voice, and perceiving the future as something one can affect and shape. In fact, this work is applicable to everyone everywhere—it is in accessing our creativity that we come to ask, “How do we start to build the world we need?” An Integral Taoist, Sally shares her perspective on the yin and yang of creativity, explaining that ultimately, creativity is emergence working through the human body.

    At the heart of Integral Taoism is an understanding that the nature of emergence itself is to become aware of your polarity and integrate it. The more you do that, the more creative you become. The discussion transitions from the dance of polarity in creativity to how the polarities of yin and yang are playing out in politics today. Sally is a Canadian therapist and exceptionally well informed about politics—here we gain a perspective on current U.S. – Canadian relations and world politics that is revelatory. Recorded May 29, 2025.

    “Every single Canadian is deeply traumatized right now.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • How the movement between parts and whole, yin and yang, plays out in politics (01:21)
    • The threat to Canada’s sovereignty, what Canada is doing in response, and Canada’s unifying, integral leader (03:12)
    • How did it feel when Trump started talking about annexing Canada? (06:44)
    • Under the Trump regime, the U.S. has become an arms dealer (10:21)
    • How Sally’s growing up in South Africa under constant threat of civil war informs her views of fascism and the reversal of the American ideal of democracy (13:12)
    • Advice for political resisters: establish a line that cannot be crossed (18:54)
    • Coordinated resistance to the U.S. from external sources (24:14)
    • Global politics, macroeconomics, and the rise of authoritarianism (27:36)
    • Misinformation and the radicalization of young white men through the fourth estate (30:22)
    • New challenges we face with fascism, and why American tech bros think Western Civilization is under threat (34:54)
    • The future: who has control of the skies? (39:49)
    • What is the most strategic thing one can do? (41:16)
    • How do you stay grounded and balanced? Learning self-regulation, connecting with nature (43:56)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Sally Adnams Jones, Art-Making with Refugees and Survivors: Creative and Transformative Responses to Trauma After Natural Disasters, War and Other Crises
    • Sally’s website: sallyadnamsjones.com 
    • Sally’s podcast: Radical Emergence
    • Gandhi and Non-violence
    • Nelson Mandela: The Freedom Fighter (YouTube documentary)
    • Sinclair Lewis, It Can’t Happen Here
    • Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention, “It Can’t Happen Here”
    • Great Replacement conspiracy theory
    
    

    ---

    Dr. Sally Adnams Jones is an Expressive Arts Therapist, Psycho-Spiritual Educator, podcaster, writer, and artist. A South African-Canadian, Sally lives on Vancouver Island, amongst the old-growth forest, owls, elk, and wild lupines. Her interests are in human development; the phenomenology of creativity; the emergence of intelligent, natural systems; her grandchildren; and a healthy future for all. 

    Sally has developed a theory called Integral Taoism that explores polarity as a cosmic principle of emergence, including through human sexuality, power dynamics, and creative flow. You can find her at her website, sallyadnamsjones.com; her podcast, radicalemergence.org; on YouTube at Dr Sally Adnams Jones; or read her book, Art-Making with Refugees and Survivors: Creative and Transformative Responses to Trauma After Natural Disasters, War and Other Crises.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 188 (Part 2 of 2) | Dr. Sally Adnams Jones has pioneered the field of art therapy as an agent of transformation and healing, choosing to work particularly with people living with no economic infrastructure: refugees, and victims of natural disasters, genocide, war, pandemics, and more. What Sally has found is that creating art within a community works miracles for the dispossessed and traumatized, in that it provides an embodied, practical method of engendering feelings of pride, a sense of belonging, finding one’s voice, and perceiving the future as something one can affect and shape. In fact, this work is applicable to everyone everywhere—it is in accessing our creativity that we come to ask, “How do we start to build the world we need?” An Integral Taoist, Sally shares her perspective on the yin and yang of creativity, explaining that ultimately, creativity is emergence working through the human body.

    At the heart of Integral Taoism is an understanding that the nature of emergence itself is to become aware of your polarity and integrate it. The more you do that, the more creative you become. The discussion transitions from the dance of polarity in creativity to how the polarities of yin and yang are playing out in politics today. Sally is a Canadian therapist and exceptionally well informed about politics—here we gain a perspective on current U.S. – Canadian relations and world politics that is revelatory. Recorded May 29, 2025.

    “Every single Canadian is deeply traumatized right now.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • How the movement between parts and whole, yin and yang, plays out in politics (01:21)
    • The threat to Canada’s sovereignty, what Canada is doing in response, and Canada’s unifying, integral leader (03:12)
    • How did it feel when Trump started talking about annexing Canada? (06:44)
    • Under the Trump regime, the U.S. has become an arms dealer (10:21)
    • How Sally’s growing up in South Africa under constant threat of civil war informs her views of fascism and the reversal of the American ideal of democracy (13:12)
    • Advice for political resisters: establish a line that cannot be crossed (18:54)
    • Coordinated resistance to the U.S. from external sources (24:14)
    • Global politics, macroeconomics, and the rise of authoritarianism (27:36)
    • Misinformation and the radicalization of young white men through the fourth estate (30:22)
    • New challenges we face with fascism, and why American tech bros think Western Civilization is under threat (34:54)
    • The future: who has control of the skies? (39:49)
    • What is the most strategic thing one can do? (41:16)
    • How do you stay grounded and balanced? Learning self-regulation, connecting with nature (43:56)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Sally Adnams Jones, Art-Making with Refugees and Survivors: Creative and Transformative Responses to Trauma After Natural Disasters, War and Other Crises
    • Sally’s website: sallyadnamsjones.com 
    • Sally’s podcast: Radical Emergence
    • Gandhi and Non-violence
    • Nelson Mandela: The Freedom Fighter (YouTube documentary)
    • Sinclair Lewis, It Can’t Happen Here
    • Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention, “It Can’t Happen Here”
    • Great Replacement conspiracy theory
    
    

    ---

    Dr. Sally Adnams Jones is an Expressive Arts Therapist, Psycho-Spiritual Educator, podcaster, writer, and artist. A South African-Canadian, Sally lives on Vancouver Island, amongst the old-growth forest, owls, elk, and wild lupines. Her interests are in human development; the phenomenology of creativity; the emergence of intelligent, natural systems; her grandchildren; and a healthy future for all. 

    Sally has developed a theory called Integral Taoism that explores polarity as a cosmic principle of emergence, including through human sexuality, power dynamics, and creative flow. You can find her at her website, sallyadnamsjones.com; her podcast, radicalemergence.org; on YouTube at Dr Sally Adnams Jones; or read her book, Art-Making with Refugees and Survivors: Creative and Transformative Responses to Trauma After Natural Disasters, War and Other Crises.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>54065b8f-997a-471b-8a86-836fe95e4cddThu, 26 Jun 2025 05:00:00 -040052:14falsefull188188The Healing Power of Creating ArtEp. 187 (Part 1 of 2) | Dr. Sally Adnams Jones has pioneered the field of art therapy as an agent of transformation and healing, choosing to work particularly with people living with no economic infrastructure: refugees, and victims of natural disasters, genocide, war, pandemics, and more. What Sally has found is that creating art within a community works miracles for the dispossessed and traumatized, in that it provides an embodied, practical method of engendering feelings of pride, a sense of belonging, finding one’s voice, and perceiving the future as something one can affect and shape. In fact, this work is applicable to everyone everywhere—it is in accessing our creativity that we come to ask, “How do we start to build the world we need?” An Integral Taoist, Sally shares her perspective on the yin and yang of creativity, explaining that ultimately, creativity is emergence working through the human body.

    At the heart of Integral Taoism is an understanding that the nature of emergence itself is to become aware of your polarity and integrate it. The more you do that, the more creative you become. The discussion transitions from the dance of polarity in creativity to how the polarities of yin and yang are playing out in politics today. Sally is a Canadian therapist and exceptionally well informed about politics—here we gain a perspective on current U.S. – Canadian relations and world politics that is revelatory. Recorded May 29, 2025.

    “The basis of self-esteem is agency—and how you find agency is finding your hands, your heart, and your voice.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing Dr. Sally Adnams Jones, pioneer of transformation through creativity, psycho-spiritual educator, artist, author (00:56)
    • How did Sally come to this work? Every kind of trauma exists in South Africa (01:58)
    • Sally’s book, Art-Making with Refugees and Survivors, is about how to access our creativity when we’ve been dispossessed and dislocated, with no agency left (05:11)
    • Using your hands to access pre-verbal trauma: it starts with the thumb/hand/brain connection (07:07)
    • Building self-esteem, pride, community, and hope through creating art (09:02)
    • How does Sally build trust going into indigenous communities? (12:20)
    • What happened to our creativity? In the modern era, we started discounting the right hemisphere (18:05)
    • De-gendering creativity (20:43)
    • Integral Taoism: understanding that the nature of emergence is to become aware of your polarity and integrate it (22:44)
    • At the lower chakras, masculine and feminine come together as procreative; at the higher levels as creative (25:58)
    • The ultimate understanding is about the mystery, an embodied channel to the divine (28:53)
    • Creativity: emergence working through the human body (29:55)
    • How do we potentiate through our body? Through understanding polarity principles (32:08)
    • Sally’s initiation to Integral Taoism in a park in Beijing, China (36:49)
    • As an integrally informed Canadian therapist, what does Sally think about current U.S./Canada politics? (41:51)
    • Polarization, and how polarities and yin/yang play out in politics (44:12)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Sally Adnams Jones, Art-Making with Refugees and Survivors: Creative and Transformative Responses to Trauma After Natural Disasters, War and Other Crises
    • Sally’s website: sallyadnamsjones.com 
    • Sally’s podcast: Radical Emergence
    • Dr. Carol Hofmeyr, founder of the Keiskamma Art Project, ‘Reluctant medic’ highlights poverty (Rhodes University, 2024)
    • Iain McGilchrist, psychiatrist, philosopher, neuroscientist The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World
    • John Dupuy’s song, Ukraine! (YouTube video)
    • Arthur Koestler, The Act of Creation
    • Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology
    
    

    ---

    Dr. Sally Adnams Jones is an Expressive Arts Therapist, Psycho-Spiritual Educator, podcaster, writer, and artist. A South African-Canadian, Sally lives on Vancouver Island, amongst the old-growth forest, owls, elk, and wild lupines. Her interests are in human development; the phenomenology of creativity; the emergence of intelligent, natural systems; her grandchildren; and a healthy future for all. 

    Sally has developed a theory called Integral Taoism that explores polarity as a cosmic principle of emergence, including through human sexuality, power dynamics, and creative flow. You can find her at her website, sallyadnamsjones.com; her podcast, radicalemergence.org; on YouTube at Dr Sally Adnams Jones; or read her book, Art-Making with Refugees and Survivors: Creative and Transformative Responses to Trauma After Natural Disasters, War and Other Crises.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 187 (Part 1 of 2) | Dr. Sally Adnams Jones has pioneered the field of art therapy as an agent of transformation and healing, choosing to work particularly with people living with no economic infrastructure: refugees, and victims of natural disasters, genocide, war, pandemics, and more. What Sally has found is that creating art within a community works miracles for the dispossessed and traumatized, in that it provides an embodied, practical method of engendering feelings of pride, a sense of belonging, finding one’s voice, and perceiving the future as something one can affect and shape. In fact, this work is applicable to everyone everywhere—it is in accessing our creativity that we come to ask, “How do we start to build the world we need?” An Integral Taoist, Sally shares her perspective on the yin and yang of creativity, explaining that ultimately, creativity is emergence working through the human body.

    At the heart of Integral Taoism is an understanding that the nature of emergence itself is to become aware of your polarity and integrate it. The more you do that, the more creative you become. The discussion transitions from the dance of polarity in creativity to how the polarities of yin and yang are playing out in politics today. Sally is a Canadian therapist and exceptionally well informed about politics—here we gain a perspective on current U.S. – Canadian relations and world politics that is revelatory. Recorded May 29, 2025.

    “The basis of self-esteem is agency—and how you find agency is finding your hands, your heart, and your voice.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing Dr. Sally Adnams Jones, pioneer of transformation through creativity, psycho-spiritual educator, artist, author (00:56)
    • How did Sally come to this work? Every kind of trauma exists in South Africa (01:58)
    • Sally’s book, Art-Making with Refugees and Survivors, is about how to access our creativity when we’ve been dispossessed and dislocated, with no agency left (05:11)
    • Using your hands to access pre-verbal trauma: it starts with the thumb/hand/brain connection (07:07)
    • Building self-esteem, pride, community, and hope through creating art (09:02)
    • How does Sally build trust going into indigenous communities? (12:20)
    • What happened to our creativity? In the modern era, we started discounting the right hemisphere (18:05)
    • De-gendering creativity (20:43)
    • Integral Taoism: understanding that the nature of emergence is to become aware of your polarity and integrate it (22:44)
    • At the lower chakras, masculine and feminine come together as procreative; at the higher levels as creative (25:58)
    • The ultimate understanding is about the mystery, an embodied channel to the divine (28:53)
    • Creativity: emergence working through the human body (29:55)
    • How do we potentiate through our body? Through understanding polarity principles (32:08)
    • Sally’s initiation to Integral Taoism in a park in Beijing, China (36:49)
    • As an integrally informed Canadian therapist, what does Sally think about current U.S./Canada politics? (41:51)
    • Polarization, and how polarities and yin/yang play out in politics (44:12)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Sally Adnams Jones, Art-Making with Refugees and Survivors: Creative and Transformative Responses to Trauma After Natural Disasters, War and Other Crises
    • Sally’s website: sallyadnamsjones.com 
    • Sally’s podcast: Radical Emergence
    • Dr. Carol Hofmeyr, founder of the Keiskamma Art Project, ‘Reluctant medic’ highlights poverty (Rhodes University, 2024)
    • Iain McGilchrist, psychiatrist, philosopher, neuroscientist The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World
    • John Dupuy’s song, Ukraine! (YouTube video)
    • Arthur Koestler, The Act of Creation
    • Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology
    
    

    ---

    Dr. Sally Adnams Jones is an Expressive Arts Therapist, Psycho-Spiritual Educator, podcaster, writer, and artist. A South African-Canadian, Sally lives on Vancouver Island, amongst the old-growth forest, owls, elk, and wild lupines. Her interests are in human development; the phenomenology of creativity; the emergence of intelligent, natural systems; her grandchildren; and a healthy future for all. 

    Sally has developed a theory called Integral Taoism that explores polarity as a cosmic principle of emergence, including through human sexuality, power dynamics, and creative flow. You can find her at her website, sallyadnamsjones.com; her podcast, radicalemergence.org; on YouTube at Dr Sally Adnams Jones; or read her book, Art-Making with Refugees and Survivors: Creative and Transformative Responses to Trauma After Natural Disasters, War and Other Crises.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>f3bf13fa-af8e-4e34-a0df-53f62192a6b6Thu, 19 Jun 2025 05:00:00 -040048:41falsefull187187Wake Up and Love: Becoming Vessels of Grace (Part 2)Ep. 186 (Part 2 of 2) | In this lively, mind and heart-opening conversation, Miranda Macpherson, contemporary spiritual teacher and author, shares the extraordinary wisdom she has gained from experience—both from the initial life-changing transmission of boundless love she received in Ramana Maharshi’s cave, and from the subsequent need for integration of the deeper truths that were revealed upon being called back “down the mountain,” back to the West to teach and serve. For her, the trick of navigating ordinary life without reconstructing an ego boiled down to three words: What’s needed now? 

    Miranda discusses how to show up in the world of today and not let resistance to right action win. “Wake up and love,” she offers. “Take inventory, ask, is there anything in the way of me being openhearted and awake in this moment?” She explains a practice she developed called ego relaxation, emphasizes the power of devotion—the source of strength, love, courage, and motivation—and shares several of the key questions she asks herself in her own practice to keep her receptive to existential grace. Miranda’s inspiring teachings are infused with her foundational sense of divine benevolence; “Grace is alive!” she tells us. And being human, we can embody grace; we can become “grace delivery devices.” Recorded November 1, 2024.

    “Being human is a grace delivery device.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • After the ascent the descent; "coming down the mountain" (01:28)
    • The power of devotion (04:12)
    • A mantra carries with it the love, spiritual energy, and devotion of countless beings before us (06:28)
    • The power of pilgrimages (08:58)
    • Miranda’s practice now: Can I open my heart to all the suffering, let it be understood more completely, and be transformed? (12:22)
    • Wake up and love: ask "Is there anything in the way of me being openhearted and awake in the now?" (15:44)
    • Practicing with our blind spots (18:46)
    • Multitasking is a disaster for spiritual practice (20:22)
    • Ramana Maharshi’s transmission in the cave: Be nothing, do nothing, get nothing… be as you are. Rest in God. (22:24)
    • Ego relaxation as a practice (23:40)
    • Showing up and resting in God at the same time (26:50)
    • The divine dance—here we are, learning how to be the best human beings we can be (30:41)
    • The divine force always brings forth what is needed, but the gate is humility and surrender (34:24)
    • What helps us into a posture of humility? (35:39)
    • Appreciating Roger Walsh: do-er and be-er, curious and humble (38:15)
    • Being human is a “grace delivery device;” embodying grace—grace is alive! (40:35)
    • The importance of yes, of thank you (43:38)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Miranda’s website: MirandaMacpherson.com, The Living Grace Global Sangha
    • Miranda Macpherson, The Way of Grace: The Transforming Power of Ego Relaxation
    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach, see also Deep Transformation podcast’s A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series (also available on YouTube)
    • Rupert Sheldrake, Science and Spiritual Practices: Transformative Experiences and Their Effects on Our Bodies, Brains, and Health
    • Andrew Harvey, author & founder of the Institute for Sacred Activism, The Hope (free audiobook)
    • Ramana Maharshi, Indian sage and liberated being, 1879-1950
    • G. I. Gurdjieff, In Search of Being: The Fourth Way to Consciousness
    • A Course in Miracles, Helen Schucman and the Foundation for Inner Peace
    • Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine
    • Roger’s article looking at A Course of Miracles through a Hindu lens: The Perennial Wisdom of A Course in Miracles
    • Roger Walsh & Frances Vaughan’s book of excerpts from A Course of Miracles, Accept this Gift 
    
    

    ---

    Miranda Macpherson is a contemporary spiritual teacher who has been guiding others into direct experience of the sacred for over thirty years internationally. In her twenties she founded the OneSpirit Interfaith Foundation in London, where she trained and ordained over 600 ministers and counsellors. Today Miranda leads the Living Grace Global Sangha, leads retreats internationally, broadcasts extensively, and serves as core faculty at The Shift Network. Unapologetically feminine, joyful, and down to earth in her way of being, Miranda is dedicated to loving people all the way back into the freedom and wholeness of our true nature.

    Miranda’s books include The Way of Grace: the Transforming Power of Ego Relaxation (Sounds True), Boundless Love (Rider) and Meditations on Boundless Love (Sounds True), and the Cultivating Grace Card Deck. Miranda is also a kirtan musician and singer with two mantra albums: Streams of Grace and The Heart of Being. Find out more at Ep. 186 (Part 2 of 2) | In this lively, mind and heart-opening conversation, Miranda Macpherson, contemporary spiritual teacher and author, shares the extraordinary wisdom she has gained from experience—both from the initial life-changing transmission of boundless love she received in Ramana Maharshi’s cave, and from the subsequent need for integration of the deeper truths that were revealed upon being called back “down the mountain,” back to the West to teach and serve. For her, the trick of navigating ordinary life without reconstructing an ego boiled down to three words: What’s needed now? 

    Miranda discusses how to show up in the world of today and not let resistance to right action win. “Wake up and love,” she offers. “Take inventory, ask, is there anything in the way of me being openhearted and awake in this moment?” She explains a practice she developed called ego relaxation, emphasizes the power of devotion—the source of strength, love, courage, and motivation—and shares several of the key questions she asks herself in her own practice to keep her receptive to existential grace. Miranda’s inspiring teachings are infused with her foundational sense of divine benevolence; “Grace is alive!” she tells us. And being human, we can embody grace; we can become “grace delivery devices.” Recorded November 1, 2024.

    “Being human is a grace delivery device.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • After the ascent the descent; "coming down the mountain" (01:28)
    • The power of devotion (04:12)
    • A mantra carries with it the love, spiritual energy, and devotion of countless beings before us (06:28)
    • The power of pilgrimages (08:58)
    • Miranda’s practice now: Can I open my heart to all the suffering, let it be understood more completely, and be transformed? (12:22)
    • Wake up and love: ask "Is there anything in the way of me being openhearted and awake in the now?" (15:44)
    • Practicing with our blind spots (18:46)
    • Multitasking is a disaster for spiritual practice (20:22)
    • Ramana Maharshi’s transmission in the cave: Be nothing, do nothing, get nothing… be as you are. Rest in God. (22:24)
    • Ego relaxation as a practice (23:40)
    • Showing up and resting in God at the same time (26:50)
    • The divine dance—here we are, learning how to be the best human beings we can be (30:41)
    • The divine force always brings forth what is needed, but the gate is humility and surrender (34:24)
    • What helps us into a posture of humility? (35:39)
    • Appreciating Roger Walsh: do-er and be-er, curious and humble (38:15)
    • Being human is a “grace delivery device;” embodying grace—grace is alive! (40:35)
    • The importance of yes, of thank you (43:38)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Miranda’s website: MirandaMacpherson.com, The Living Grace Global Sangha
    • Miranda Macpherson, The Way of Grace: The Transforming Power of Ego Relaxation
    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach, see also Deep Transformation podcast’s A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series (also available on YouTube)
    • Rupert Sheldrake, Science and Spiritual Practices: Transformative Experiences and Their Effects on Our Bodies, Brains, and Health
    • Andrew Harvey, author & founder of the Institute for Sacred Activism, The Hope (free audiobook)
    • Ramana Maharshi, Indian sage and liberated being, 1879-1950
    • G. I. Gurdjieff, In Search of Being: The Fourth Way to Consciousness
    • A Course in Miracles, Helen Schucman and the Foundation for Inner Peace
    • Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine
    • Roger’s article looking at A Course of Miracles through a Hindu lens: The Perennial Wisdom of A Course in Miracles
    • Roger Walsh & Frances Vaughan’s book of excerpts from A Course of Miracles, Accept this Gift 
    
    

    ---

    Miranda Macpherson is a contemporary spiritual teacher who has been guiding others into direct experience of the sacred for over thirty years internationally. In her twenties she founded the OneSpirit Interfaith Foundation in London, where she trained and ordained over 600 ministers and counsellors. Today Miranda leads the Living Grace Global Sangha, leads retreats internationally, broadcasts extensively, and serves as core faculty at The Shift Network. Unapologetically feminine, joyful, and down to earth in her way of being, Miranda is dedicated to loving people all the way back into the freedom and wholeness of our true nature.

    Miranda’s books include The Way of Grace: the Transforming Power of Ego Relaxation (Sounds True), Boundless Love (Rider) and Meditations on Boundless Love (Sounds True), and the Cultivating Grace Card Deck. Miranda is also a kirtan musician and singer with two mantra albums: Streams of Grace and The Heart of Being. Find out more at www.mirandamacpherson.com.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>6cdbe73a-1cbb-4a96-98ad-667d9ca99ef7Thu, 12 Jun 2025 05:00:00 -040047:41falsefull186186Wake Up and Love: Becoming Vessels of GraceEp. 185 (Part 1 of 2) | In this lively, mind and heart-opening conversation, Miranda Macpherson, contemporary spiritual teacher and author, shares the extraordinary wisdom she has gained from experience—both from the initial life-changing transmission of boundless love she received in Ramana Maharshi’s cave, and from the subsequent need for integration of the deeper truths that were revealed upon being called back “down the mountain,” back to the West to teach and serve. For her, the trick of navigating ordinary life without reconstructing an ego boiled down to three words: What’s needed now? 

    Miranda discusses how to show up in the world of today and not let resistance to right action win. “Wake up and love,” she offers. “Take inventory, ask, is there anything in the way of me being openhearted and awake in this moment?” She explains a practice she developed called ego relaxation, emphasizes the power of devotion—the source of strength, love, courage, and motivation—and shares several of the key questions she asks herself in her own practice to keep her receptive to existential grace. Miranda’s inspiring teachings are infused with her foundational sense of divine benevolence; “Grace is alive!” she tells us. And being human, we can embody grace; we can become “grace delivery devices.” Recorded November 1, 2024.

    “There’s always more evolution, openness, clarification, expansion, and possibility—because God is exponential.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • A prayer for all of us—for the human family and the highest possibilities (01:03)
    • Introducing interfaith minister, spiritual teacher, author, and leader of the Living Grace Global Sangha, Miranda Macpherson (02:53)
    • What brought Miranda to the spiritual path? (03:56)
    • Miranda’s early prayer of resistance (I’m done here!) and the subsequent explosion of boundless love (08:37)
    • Miranda’s opportunity at a young age to learn what a soul grapples with, hanging out with adults in a psych ward (12:14)
    • Were there mentors to help Miranda after her opening? (17:01)
    • How much harder it must be for teenagers to copy with existential crisis today (21:59)
    • The G word: what is the authentic language of our own soul? (24:17)
    • The fear we all have of remembering the ancient, forgotten song (25:14)
    • Ultimately it asks for full surrender; then there is only God (27:18)
    • It’s in the edgiest places that the biggest openings often happen (28:38)
    • For every realization you have to ask, what is its wisdom? How can it be expressed & embodied so its only impact is a blessing? (30:20)
    • Are there more people waking up now? (33:39)
    • Not knowing what anything is for: being receptive to existential grace (38:17)
    • Being absorbed into the depth of the nonconceptual: pure being in its thunderous, unshakable, silent depth (39:48)
    • The experience in the cave obliterated everything—all spiritual concepts were erased (42:46)
    • How to navigate ordinary life without reconstructing an ego (43:46)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Miranda’s website: MirandaMacpherson.com
    • The Living Grace Global Sangha
    • Miranda Macpherson, The Way of Grace: The Transforming Power of Ego Relaxation
    • Miranda Macpherson, Boundless Love: Transforming Your Life with Grace and Inspiration
    • Miranda Macpherson, Meditations on Boundless Love (Sounds True audiobook)
    • Miranda’s oracle card deck, Cultivating Grace: Access Inner Peace, Clarity, and Joy on Your Spiritual Path
    • Ramana Maharshi, Indian sage and liberated being, 1879-1950
    • Gerald G. Jampolsky, Love is Letting Go of Fear
    • A Course in Miracles, Helen Schucman and the Foundation for Inner Peace
    • Ken Wilber, The Religion of Tomorrow (waking up, growing up, cleaning up, showing up) 
    
    

    ---

    Miranda Macpherson is a contemporary spiritual teacher who has been guiding others into direct experience of the sacred for over thirty years internationally. In her twenties she founded the OneSpirit Interfaith Foundation in London, where she trained and ordained over 600 ministers and counsellors. Today Miranda leads the Living Grace Global Sangha, leads retreats internationally, broadcasts extensively, and serves as core faculty at The Shift Network. Unapologetically feminine, joyful, and down to earth in her way of being, Miranda is dedicated to loving people all the way back into the freedom and wholeness of our true nature.

    Miranda’s books include The Way of Grace: the Transforming Power of Ego Relaxation (Sounds True), Boundless Love (Rider) and Meditations on Boundless Love (Sounds True), and the Cultivating Grace Card Deck. Miranda is also a kirtan musician and singer with two mantra albums: Streams of Grace and The Heart of Being. Find out more at www.mirandamacpherson.com.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 185 (Part 1 of 2) | In this lively, mind and heart-opening conversation, Miranda Macpherson, contemporary spiritual teacher and author, shares the extraordinary wisdom she has gained from experience—both from the initial life-changing transmission of boundless love she received in Ramana Maharshi’s cave, and from the subsequent need for integration of the deeper truths that were revealed upon being called back “down the mountain,” back to the West to teach and serve. For her, the trick of navigating ordinary life without reconstructing an ego boiled down to three words: What’s needed now? 

    Miranda discusses how to show up in the world of today and not let resistance to right action win. “Wake up and love,” she offers. “Take inventory, ask, is there anything in the way of me being openhearted and awake in this moment?” She explains a practice she developed called ego relaxation, emphasizes the power of devotion—the source of strength, love, courage, and motivation—and shares several of the key questions she asks herself in her own practice to keep her receptive to existential grace. Miranda’s inspiring teachings are infused with her foundational sense of divine benevolence; “Grace is alive!” she tells us. And being human, we can embody grace; we can become “grace delivery devices.” Recorded November 1, 2024.

    “There’s always more evolution, openness, clarification, expansion, and possibility—because God is exponential.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • A prayer for all of us—for the human family and the highest possibilities (01:03)
    • Introducing interfaith minister, spiritual teacher, author, and leader of the Living Grace Global Sangha, Miranda Macpherson (02:53)
    • What brought Miranda to the spiritual path? (03:56)
    • Miranda’s early prayer of resistance (I’m done here!) and the subsequent explosion of boundless love (08:37)
    • Miranda’s opportunity at a young age to learn what a soul grapples with, hanging out with adults in a psych ward (12:14)
    • Were there mentors to help Miranda after her opening? (17:01)
    • How much harder it must be for teenagers to copy with existential crisis today (21:59)
    • The G word: what is the authentic language of our own soul? (24:17)
    • The fear we all have of remembering the ancient, forgotten song (25:14)
    • Ultimately it asks for full surrender; then there is only God (27:18)
    • It’s in the edgiest places that the biggest openings often happen (28:38)
    • For every realization you have to ask, what is its wisdom? How can it be expressed & embodied so its only impact is a blessing? (30:20)
    • Are there more people waking up now? (33:39)
    • Not knowing what anything is for: being receptive to existential grace (38:17)
    • Being absorbed into the depth of the nonconceptual: pure being in its thunderous, unshakable, silent depth (39:48)
    • The experience in the cave obliterated everything—all spiritual concepts were erased (42:46)
    • How to navigate ordinary life without reconstructing an ego (43:46)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Miranda’s website: MirandaMacpherson.com
    • The Living Grace Global Sangha
    • Miranda Macpherson, The Way of Grace: The Transforming Power of Ego Relaxation
    • Miranda Macpherson, Boundless Love: Transforming Your Life with Grace and Inspiration
    • Miranda Macpherson, Meditations on Boundless Love (Sounds True audiobook)
    • Miranda’s oracle card deck, Cultivating Grace: Access Inner Peace, Clarity, and Joy on Your Spiritual Path
    • Ramana Maharshi, Indian sage and liberated being, 1879-1950
    • Gerald G. Jampolsky, Love is Letting Go of Fear
    • A Course in Miracles, Helen Schucman and the Foundation for Inner Peace
    • Ken Wilber, The Religion of Tomorrow (waking up, growing up, cleaning up, showing up) 
    
    

    ---

    Miranda Macpherson is a contemporary spiritual teacher who has been guiding others into direct experience of the sacred for over thirty years internationally. In her twenties she founded the OneSpirit Interfaith Foundation in London, where she trained and ordained over 600 ministers and counsellors. Today Miranda leads the Living Grace Global Sangha, leads retreats internationally, broadcasts extensively, and serves as core faculty at The Shift Network. Unapologetically feminine, joyful, and down to earth in her way of being, Miranda is dedicated to loving people all the way back into the freedom and wholeness of our true nature.

    Miranda’s books include The Way of Grace: the Transforming Power of Ego Relaxation (Sounds True), Boundless Love (Rider) and Meditations on Boundless Love (Sounds True), and the Cultivating Grace Card Deck. Miranda is also a kirtan musician and singer with two mantra albums: Streams of Grace and The Heart of Being. Find out more at www.mirandamacpherson.com.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>f654d6b2-c73b-4e62-9e3a-ad2fafa66febThu, 05 Jun 2025 05:00:00 -040047:24falsefull185185Opening to the Absolute: The Mystery That Liberates with A. H. Almaas (Part 2)Ep. 184 (Part 2 of 2) | In the tenth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali addresses what co-host Roger Walsh calls perhaps Inner Journey Home’s most profound chapter of all, the chapter on True Nature, as well as subjects he writes about in his autobiographical fragment, Luminous Night’s Journey. In the second turning of the Diamond Approach teaching, we transition from exploring individual true nature to boundless true nature—the absolute, ground of all manifestation. Following the mystery of truth, you come to absolute truth, Hameed tells us, and you find a mystery that not only liberates but makes everything happen. Hameed describes the absolute as the radiant blackness before the light, its luminosity awareness, and relates how, in the absolute, the feeling of intimacy is palpable. Here, the soul recognizes “I am home.”

    Hameed relates how being and nonbeing are integrated, and about how time and space emerge out of true nature. Every moment is a new creation, he explains, not formed by the past or present, but new, instant to instant, from nonbeing to being. Hameed says true nature is the essence of freedom, and that in these troubled times the important thing is to recognize “I am free” and ultimately indestructible, and to be ourselves, grounded by the truth of our inner nature. Towards the end of the conversation, co-host John Dupuy asks Hameed, “What motivates you? Why aren’t you simply hanging out being true nature?” Hameed laughs and responds, “I am.” Recorded April 10, 2025.

    “The idea is to be free. Inwardly.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Beingness is what Hameed calls presence; everything is both being and non-being (00:52)
    • Being in the world but not of this world (04:12)
    • The effects of studying Reichian therapy and breathwork on Hameed’s experience and way of teaching (06:32)
    • The body needs to be open and at ease to experience presence; this is why yoga is widely practiced in East Indian traditions (09:17)
    • Is having an ego a necessary stage for waking up? (13:01)
    • Space and time are created by true nature, even though it is timeless (14:43)
    • True nature is the essence of freedom; it is “radically unqualifiable” (19:38)
    • The depths of our experience set the limit on our intellectual understanding (22:53)
    • In these troubled times, the important thing is to recognize “I am free” and be ourselves, grounded by the truth of our inner nature (25:07)
    • Profound equanimity allows deeper compassion to emerge (28:29)
    • The values of true nature are fundamental and eternal; how do we manifest these all the time? (29:20)
    • After all the amazing, mind-shattering realizations, life becomes ordinary and simple (32:21)
    • What motivates Hameed now? (35:24)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • A. H. Almaas, Luminous Night’s Journey: An Autobiographical Fragment
    • Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That
    • Mahamudra
    • Wilhem Reich, Reichian therapy
    • Nāgārjuna, central philosopher of Mahayana Buddhism
    • Plato’s cardinal virtues
    • The Ten Ox Herding Pictures from the Zen tradition
    • Viktor Frankl, “Everything can be taken away from one except…” 
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 184 (Part 2 of 2) | In the tenth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali addresses what co-host Roger Walsh calls perhaps Inner Journey Home’s most profound chapter of all, the chapter on True Nature, as well as subjects he writes about in his autobiographical fragment, Luminous Night’s Journey. In the second turning of the Diamond Approach teaching, we transition from exploring individual true nature to boundless true nature—the absolute, ground of all manifestation. Following the mystery of truth, you come to absolute truth, Hameed tells us, and you find a mystery that not only liberates but makes everything happen. Hameed describes the absolute as the radiant blackness before the light, its luminosity awareness, and relates how, in the absolute, the feeling of intimacy is palpable. Here, the soul recognizes “I am home.”

    Hameed relates how being and nonbeing are integrated, and about how time and space emerge out of true nature. Every moment is a new creation, he explains, not formed by the past or present, but new, instant to instant, from nonbeing to being. Hameed says true nature is the essence of freedom, and that in these troubled times the important thing is to recognize “I am free” and ultimately indestructible, and to be ourselves, grounded by the truth of our inner nature. Towards the end of the conversation, co-host John Dupuy asks Hameed, “What motivates you? Why aren’t you simply hanging out being true nature?” Hameed laughs and responds, “I am.” Recorded April 10, 2025.

    “The idea is to be free. Inwardly.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Beingness is what Hameed calls presence; everything is both being and non-being (00:52)
    • Being in the world but not of this world (04:12)
    • The effects of studying Reichian therapy and breathwork on Hameed’s experience and way of teaching (06:32)
    • The body needs to be open and at ease to experience presence; this is why yoga is widely practiced in East Indian traditions (09:17)
    • Is having an ego a necessary stage for waking up? (13:01)
    • Space and time are created by true nature, even though it is timeless (14:43)
    • True nature is the essence of freedom; it is “radically unqualifiable” (19:38)
    • The depths of our experience set the limit on our intellectual understanding (22:53)
    • In these troubled times, the important thing is to recognize “I am free” and be ourselves, grounded by the truth of our inner nature (25:07)
    • Profound equanimity allows deeper compassion to emerge (28:29)
    • The values of true nature are fundamental and eternal; how do we manifest these all the time? (29:20)
    • After all the amazing, mind-shattering realizations, life becomes ordinary and simple (32:21)
    • What motivates Hameed now? (35:24)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • A. H. Almaas, Luminous Night’s Journey: An Autobiographical Fragment
    • Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That
    • Mahamudra
    • Wilhem Reich, Reichian therapy
    • Nāgārjuna, central philosopher of Mahayana Buddhism
    • Plato’s cardinal virtues
    • The Ten Ox Herding Pictures from the Zen tradition
    • Viktor Frankl, “Everything can be taken away from one except…” 
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>4148189c-6a00-46c1-9863-eace5db22a9eThu, 29 May 2025 05:00:00 -040041:28falsefull184184Opening to the Absolute: The Mystery That Liberates with A. H. AlmaasEp. 183 (Part 1 of 2) | In the tenth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali addresses what co-host Roger Walsh calls perhaps Inner Journey Home’s most profound chapter of all, the chapter on True Nature, as well as subjects he writes about in his autobiographical fragment, Luminous Night’s Journey. In the second turning of the Diamond Approach teaching, we transition from exploring individual true nature to boundless true nature—the absolute, ground of all manifestation. Following the mystery of truth, you come to absolute truth, Hameed tells us, and you find a mystery that not only liberates but makes everything happen. Hameed describes the absolute as the radiant blackness before the light, its luminosity awareness, and relates how, in the absolute, the feeling of intimacy is palpable. Here, the soul recognizes “I am home.”

    Hameed relates how being and nonbeing are integrated, and about how time and space emerge out of true nature. Every moment is a new creation, he explains, not formed by the past or present, but new, instant to instant, from nonbeing to being. Hameed says true nature is the essence of freedom, and that in these troubled and times the important thing is to recognize “I am free” and ultimately indestructible, and to be ourselves, grounded by the truth of our inner nature. Towards the end of the conversation, co-host John Dupuy asks Hameed, “What motivates you? Why aren’t you simply hanging out being true nature?” Hameed laughs and responds, “I am.” Recorded April 10, 2025.

    “In the absolute, everything dissolves; the absolute is the universal solvent.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing the 10th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, focusing on The Inner Journey Home‘s chapter, True Nature (00:55)
    • What is the phenomenological experience of presence? (02:07)
    • The soul can feel like presence—but more often it is structured by our history and appears as our ego self (05:14)
    • Presence is the true nature of everything: perfect, complete, totally blissful (06:24)
    • Love of truth naturally appears in the heart along the inner journey (09:04)
    • The concern with talking about true nature is if you describe it, people look for something that isn’t it (11:57)
    • Hameed wrote Luminous Night’s Journey to elucidate the experience of the soul, the absolute, and how soul and absolute are integrated (13:48)
    • In the second turning of the teaching, we transition from individual true nature to boundless true nature: the absolute, the ground of all manifestation (18:11)
    • The visible and invisible, manifest and unmanifest (19:58)
    • Everything happens not from present to future, but from nonbeing to being (21:04)
    • Everything dissolves in the absolute: it is the universal solvent (21:41)
    • The absolute is the luminous, radiant blackness before the light (24:57)
    • In the absolute, the soul recognizes “I am home” (26:47)
    • Looking into the absolute, there is nothing; looking away from it, you see the manifest (28:48)
    • The concept and experience of cessation (30:44)
    • Hameed’s distinction between consciousness and awareness (32:40)
    • Awareness = luminosity + emptiness (34:25)
    • Emptiness is not empty space, it’s being and nonbeing unified (36:39)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • A. H. Almaas, Luminous Night’s Journey: An Autobiographical Fragment
    • Fourth Way teacher E.J. Gold, The American Book of the Dead
    • Saccidānanda, a description of the subjective experience of ultimate unchanging reality: existence, consciousness, bliss
    • St. John of the Cross, “The Dark Night of the Soul” (poem)
    • Dharmakāya
    • Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That, “Every moment is a new creation.”
    • The cessation of perception as recognized by the Buddha (Wisdom Library website)
    • Fana, the Sufi experience of cessation
    • Nirodha refers to the cessation or renouncing of craving and desire; it is the third of the Four Noble Truths
    • Dzogchen
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 183 (Part 1 of 2) | In the tenth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali addresses what co-host Roger Walsh calls perhaps Inner Journey Home’s most profound chapter of all, the chapter on True Nature, as well as subjects he writes about in his autobiographical fragment, Luminous Night’s Journey. In the second turning of the Diamond Approach teaching, we transition from exploring individual true nature to boundless true nature—the absolute, ground of all manifestation. Following the mystery of truth, you come to absolute truth, Hameed tells us, and you find a mystery that not only liberates but makes everything happen. Hameed describes the absolute as the radiant blackness before the light, its luminosity awareness, and relates how, in the absolute, the feeling of intimacy is palpable. Here, the soul recognizes “I am home.”

    Hameed relates how being and nonbeing are integrated, and about how time and space emerge out of true nature. Every moment is a new creation, he explains, not formed by the past or present, but new, instant to instant, from nonbeing to being. Hameed says true nature is the essence of freedom, and that in these troubled and times the important thing is to recognize “I am free” and ultimately indestructible, and to be ourselves, grounded by the truth of our inner nature. Towards the end of the conversation, co-host John Dupuy asks Hameed, “What motivates you? Why aren’t you simply hanging out being true nature?” Hameed laughs and responds, “I am.” Recorded April 10, 2025.

    “In the absolute, everything dissolves; the absolute is the universal solvent.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing the 10th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, focusing on The Inner Journey Home‘s chapter, True Nature (00:55)
    • What is the phenomenological experience of presence? (02:07)
    • The soul can feel like presence—but more often it is structured by our history and appears as our ego self (05:14)
    • Presence is the true nature of everything: perfect, complete, totally blissful (06:24)
    • Love of truth naturally appears in the heart along the inner journey (09:04)
    • The concern with talking about true nature is if you describe it, people look for something that isn’t it (11:57)
    • Hameed wrote Luminous Night’s Journey to elucidate the experience of the soul, the absolute, and how soul and absolute are integrated (13:48)
    • In the second turning of the teaching, we transition from individual true nature to boundless true nature: the absolute, the ground of all manifestation (18:11)
    • The visible and invisible, manifest and unmanifest (19:58)
    • Everything happens not from present to future, but from nonbeing to being (21:04)
    • Everything dissolves in the absolute: it is the universal solvent (21:41)
    • The absolute is the luminous, radiant blackness before the light (24:57)
    • In the absolute, the soul recognizes “I am home” (26:47)
    • Looking into the absolute, there is nothing; looking away from it, you see the manifest (28:48)
    • The concept and experience of cessation (30:44)
    • Hameed’s distinction between consciousness and awareness (32:40)
    • Awareness = luminosity + emptiness (34:25)
    • Emptiness is not empty space, it’s being and nonbeing unified (36:39)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • A. H. Almaas, Luminous Night’s Journey: An Autobiographical Fragment
    • Fourth Way teacher E.J. Gold, The American Book of the Dead
    • Saccidānanda, a description of the subjective experience of ultimate unchanging reality: existence, consciousness, bliss
    • St. John of the Cross, “The Dark Night of the Soul” (poem)
    • Dharmakāya
    • Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That, “Every moment is a new creation.”
    • The cessation of perception as recognized by the Buddha (Wisdom Library website)
    • Fana, the Sufi experience of cessation
    • Nirodha refers to the cessation or renouncing of craving and desire; it is the third of the Four Noble Truths
    • Dzogchen
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>46994cb5-da1c-4ef9-b845-8b47f5651c12Thu, 22 May 2025 06:00:00 -040040:50falsefull183183Exploring the Mysteries of Consciousness: Asking Life’s Big Questions (Part 2)Ep. 182 (Part 2 of 2) | Robert Lawrence Kuhn, producer of the popular PBS series Closer to Truth, which explores consciousness, the mystery of existence, and related topics with an open-minded approach, recently authored a remarkable article: “A Landscape of Consciousness,” in which he surveyed over 200 theories about what consciousness is. Robert tells how he inhabited each theory for a few days while writing it up, and discovered that unlike with other fields of knowledge, a study of consciousness produces more theories the more we know, rather than narrowing the field down. He emphasizes we need to be expansive with our universe of understanding of what consciousness is, and realize that how we engage with the Big Questions of life depends upon our particular theory of consciousness.

    Robert tells how the Big Questions, notably what is consciousness and why is there something rather than nothing, have called him all his life, leading him to create the Closer to Truth series, to explore these questions with the leading minds of our time. What Robert didn’t know to begin with, but marvels about now, is how the passion for delving into the most fundamental, existential questions we face as humans unifies people around the world, from every demographic, providing a unique and wonderful point of integration. This is a fascinating, warm, engaging conversation that draws us ever farther into an exploration of the mysteries of life, where we glimpse what lies at the core of humanity. Recorded April 17th, 2025.

    “It’s not that we have too many theories of consciousness, it’s that we have one too few.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • The challenge of putting these theories into a digestible form (00:54)
    • Understanding our personal theories of consciousness as extensions of our worldview (03:14)
    • Our own theories often evolve from materialism to panpsychism to idealism (07:11)
    • How the title Closer to Truth for the PBS/YouTube series came about (11:59)
    • It’s easier to entertain materialist or atheist theories in environments constructed by humans—exposed to the natural universe, you encounter awe, wonder, connection (14:04)
    • The concept of awe and transcendence in art and how it reflects our nature of mind (16:16)
    • What has exploring these theories of consciousness done to Robert? (17:59)
    • The closer we look, the more we end up in bottomless mystery (23:36)
    • How exploring the Big Questions unifies people—cutting across religion, race, culture (25:28) 
    • Acknowledging the limits of knowledge—epistemic humility—appreciating the mystery, and universality (29:54)
    • The deeper your understanding goes, the richer your appreciation and awe (31:16)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Robert Lawrence Kuhn, creator, producer, and host of the PBS series, Closer To Truth
    • Robert Lawrence Kuhn, “A Landscape of Consciousness,”article in Progress in Biophysics & Molecular Biology, August 2024
    • Paul Davies, quantum physicist, director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, “The universe is about something.” 
    • Steven Weinberg, theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in physics
    • David Charmers, philosopher, cognitive scientist
    • Ken Wilber on Integral Epistemology (The Ken Show on Integral Life)
    • Mind, Art, Transcendence Series (Closer to Truth video)
    • Dora Serviarian Kuhn, Khachaturian Piano Concerto (YouTube video)
    
    

    ---

    Robert Lawrence Kuhn is a public intellectual; he is the creator, writer, host, and executive producer of Closer To Truth, the long-running PBS/public television series and leading global resource on Cosmos (cosmology/physics, philosophy of science), Life (philosophy of biology), Mind (consciousness, brain/mind, philosophy of mind), and Meaning (theism/atheism/agnosticism, global philosophy of religion, critical thinking). Kuhn’s comprehensive review article on theories of consciousness—“A Landscape of Consciousness: Toward a Taxonomy of Explanations and Implications”—is published in Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology (August 2024, pp. 28-169). In its review, IAI News says, “Kuhn has written perhaps the most comprehensive article on the landscape of theories of consciousness in recent memory.” 

    Dr. Kuhn has written or edited over 30 books, including The Mystery of Existence: Why is there Anything At All? (with John Leslie); Closer To Truth: Challenging Current Belief; Closer To Truth: Science, Meaning and the Future; The Library of Investment Banking; How China’s Leaders Think (featuring President Xi Jinping); The Man Who Changed China: The Life and Legacy of Jiang Zemin (China’s best-selling book in 2005 and in December 2022); and The Origin and Significance of Zero: An Interdisciplinary Perspective” (with Peter Gobets). He is chairman of The Kuhn Foundation, and has a BA in Human Biology (Johns Hopkins), a PhD in Anatomy/Brain Research (UCLA), and an SM (MBA) in Management (MIT).

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 182 (Part 2 of 2) | Robert Lawrence Kuhn, producer of the popular PBS series Closer to Truth, which explores consciousness, the mystery of existence, and related topics with an open-minded approach, recently authored a remarkable article: “A Landscape of Consciousness,” in which he surveyed over 200 theories about what consciousness is. Robert tells how he inhabited each theory for a few days while writing it up, and discovered that unlike with other fields of knowledge, a study of consciousness produces more theories the more we know, rather than narrowing the field down. He emphasizes we need to be expansive with our universe of understanding of what consciousness is, and realize that how we engage with the Big Questions of life depends upon our particular theory of consciousness.

    Robert tells how the Big Questions, notably what is consciousness and why is there something rather than nothing, have called him all his life, leading him to create the Closer to Truth series, to explore these questions with the leading minds of our time. What Robert didn’t know to begin with, but marvels about now, is how the passion for delving into the most fundamental, existential questions we face as humans unifies people around the world, from every demographic, providing a unique and wonderful point of integration. This is a fascinating, warm, engaging conversation that draws us ever farther into an exploration of the mysteries of life, where we glimpse what lies at the core of humanity. Recorded April 17th, 2025.

    “It’s not that we have too many theories of consciousness, it’s that we have one too few.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • The challenge of putting these theories into a digestible form (00:54)
    • Understanding our personal theories of consciousness as extensions of our worldview (03:14)
    • Our own theories often evolve from materialism to panpsychism to idealism (07:11)
    • How the title Closer to Truth for the PBS/YouTube series came about (11:59)
    • It’s easier to entertain materialist or atheist theories in environments constructed by humans—exposed to the natural universe, you encounter awe, wonder, connection (14:04)
    • The concept of awe and transcendence in art and how it reflects our nature of mind (16:16)
    • What has exploring these theories of consciousness done to Robert? (17:59)
    • The closer we look, the more we end up in bottomless mystery (23:36)
    • How exploring the Big Questions unifies people—cutting across religion, race, culture (25:28) 
    • Acknowledging the limits of knowledge—epistemic humility—appreciating the mystery, and universality (29:54)
    • The deeper your understanding goes, the richer your appreciation and awe (31:16)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Robert Lawrence Kuhn, creator, producer, and host of the PBS series, Closer To Truth
    • Robert Lawrence Kuhn, “A Landscape of Consciousness,”article in Progress in Biophysics & Molecular Biology, August 2024
    • Paul Davies, quantum physicist, director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, “The universe is about something.” 
    • Steven Weinberg, theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in physics
    • David Charmers, philosopher, cognitive scientist
    • Ken Wilber on Integral Epistemology (The Ken Show on Integral Life)
    • Mind, Art, Transcendence Series (Closer to Truth video)
    • Dora Serviarian Kuhn, Khachaturian Piano Concerto (YouTube video)
    
    

    ---

    Robert Lawrence Kuhn is a public intellectual; he is the creator, writer, host, and executive producer of Closer To Truth, the long-running PBS/public television series and leading global resource on Cosmos (cosmology/physics, philosophy of science), Life (philosophy of biology), Mind (consciousness, brain/mind, philosophy of mind), and Meaning (theism/atheism/agnosticism, global philosophy of religion, critical thinking). Kuhn’s comprehensive review article on theories of consciousness—“A Landscape of Consciousness: Toward a Taxonomy of Explanations and Implications”—is published in Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology (August 2024, pp. 28-169). In its review, IAI News says, “Kuhn has written perhaps the most comprehensive article on the landscape of theories of consciousness in recent memory.” 

    Dr. Kuhn has written or edited over 30 books, including The Mystery of Existence: Why is there Anything At All? (with John Leslie); Closer To Truth: Challenging Current Belief; Closer To Truth: Science, Meaning and the Future; The Library of Investment Banking; How China’s Leaders Think (featuring President Xi Jinping); The Man Who Changed China: The Life and Legacy of Jiang Zemin (China’s best-selling book in 2005 and in December 2022); and The Origin and Significance of Zero: An Interdisciplinary Perspective” (with Peter Gobets). He is chairman of The Kuhn Foundation, and has a BA in Human Biology (Johns Hopkins), a PhD in Anatomy/Brain Research (UCLA), and an SM (MBA) in Management (MIT).

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>12907879-6ced-48a3-b48c-7d53be24d1e7Thu, 15 May 2025 05:00:00 -040037:24falsefull182182Exploring the Mysteries of Consciousness: Asking Life’s Big QuestionsEp. 181 (Part 1 of 2) | Robert Lawrence Kuhn, producer of the popular PBS series Closer to Truth, which explores consciousness, the mystery of existence, and related topics with an open-minded approach, recently authored a remarkable article: “A Landscape of Consciousness,” in which he surveyed over 200 theories about what consciousness is. Robert tells how he inhabited each theory for a few days while writing it up, and discovered that unlike with other fields of knowledge, a study of consciousness produces more theories the more we know, rather than narrowing the field down. He emphasizes we need to be expansive with our universe of understanding of what consciousness is, and realize that how we engage with the Big Questions of life depends upon our particular theory of consciousness.

    Robert tells how the Big Questions, notably what is consciousness and why is there something rather than nothing, have called him all his life, leading him to create the Closer to Truth series, to explore these questions with the leading minds of our time. What Robert didn’t know to begin with, but marvels about now, is how the passion for delving into the most fundamental, existential questions we face as humans unifies people around the world, from every demographic, providing a unique and wonderful point of integration. This is a fascinating, warm, engaging conversation that draws us ever farther into an exploration of the mysteries of life, where we glimpse what lies at the core of humanity. Recorded April 17th, 2025.

    “Consciousness is perhaps the single most unifying question that humanity can explore.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing Robert Lawrence Kuhn, author, public intellectual, producer of the PBS series Closer to Truth, which explores fundamental questions of existence (01:02)
    • How did it feel to be writing “A Landscape of Consciousness,” a 175k-word article that surveys over 200 theories about what consciousness is (02:50)
    • Now Robert is building a website with notated theories of consciousness that allows for theories to grow and change (11:33)
    • Consciousness theories, unlike other fields of knowledge, grow the more we know (14:59)
    • All the “big questions” are dependent on your theory of consciousness (18:57)
    • Why is there something rather than nothing? What is consciousness? Two fundamental questions that have been with Robert all along (23:17)
    • Nine levels of nothing and the deep nature of phenomenal consciousness (25:36)
    • Why Robert didn’t include his own theory in his survey, and then did—in 71 words (26:58)
    • What does the explosion of consciousness theories say about consciousness? (30:27)
    • The self-referential paradox of understanding consciousness (35:04)
    • How to structure and organize the amalgam of theories (37:08)
    • Roughly half the theories went into materialism categories (39:02)
    • Challenge theorists conclude we can never understand consciousness (41:03)
    • Robert’s theory categories: materialism, non reductive physicalism, quantum, integrated information, panpsychism, monism, dualism, idealism, illusory, anomalies and altered states (42:18)
    • What kind of knowledge do psychedelics and altered states offer? (49:20)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Robert Lawrence Kuhn, creator, producer, and host of the PBS series, Closer To Truth
    • Robert Lawrence Kuhn, “A Landscape of Consciousness,”article in Progress in Biophysics & Molecular Biology, August 2024
    • Anil Seth & Tim Bayne, Theories of Consciousness (Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2022)
    • Computational + functionalism
    • Robert Lawrence Kuhn, “Levels of Nothing”
    • Progress in Biophysics & Molecular Biology (Journal)
    • Denis Noble, visionary, one of the pioneers of systems biology
    • Raymond Tallis, philosopher, poet, cultural critic, neuroscientist, coined the term neuromania
    • Sir Roger Penrose & Dr. Stuart Hameroff, Consciousness and the Physics of the Brain (YouTube video)
    • John Torday, PhD, physiologist at UCLA, investigator at the Lundquist Institute
    • Non-reductive physicalism
    • Integrated information theory, led by Giulio Tononi and Christof Koch
    • Panpsychism
    • Colin McGinn, British philosopher best known for his work in philosophy of mind
    • Paul Davies, quantum physicist, director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science
    
    

    ---

    Robert Lawrence Kuhn is a public intellectual; he is the creator, writer, host, and executive producer of Closer To Truth, the long-running PBS/public television series and leading global resource on Cosmos (cosmology/physics, philosophy of science), Life (philosophy of biology), Mind (consciousness, brain/mind, philosophy of mind), and Meaning (theism/atheism/agnosticism, global philosophy of religion, critical thinking). Kuhn’s comprehensive review article on theories of consciousness—“A Landscape of Consciousness: Toward a Taxonomy of Explanations and Implications”—is published in Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology (August 2024, pp. 28-169). In its review, IAI News says, “Kuhn has written perhaps the most comprehensive article on the landscape of theories of consciousness in recent memory.” 

    Dr. Kuhn has written or edited over 30 books, including The Mystery of Existence: Why is there Anything At All? (with John Leslie); Closer To Truth: Challenging Current Belief; Closer To Truth: Science, Meaning and the Future; The Library of Investment Banking; How China’s Leaders Think (featuring President Xi Jinping); The Man Who Changed China: The Life and Legacy of Jiang Zemin (China’s best-selling book in 2005 and in December 2022); and The Origin and Significance of Zero: An Interdisciplinary Perspective” (with Peter Gobets). He is chairman of The Kuhn Foundation, and has a BA in Human Biology (Johns Hopkins), a PhD in Anatomy/Brain Research (UCLA), and an SM (MBA) in Management (MIT).

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 181 (Part 1 of 2) | Robert Lawrence Kuhn, producer of the popular PBS series Closer to Truth, which explores consciousness, the mystery of existence, and related topics with an open-minded approach, recently authored a remarkable article: “A Landscape of Consciousness,” in which he surveyed over 200 theories about what consciousness is. Robert tells how he inhabited each theory for a few days while writing it up, and discovered that unlike with other fields of knowledge, a study of consciousness produces more theories the more we know, rather than narrowing the field down. He emphasizes we need to be expansive with our universe of understanding of what consciousness is, and realize that how we engage with the Big Questions of life depends upon our particular theory of consciousness.

    Robert tells how the Big Questions, notably what is consciousness and why is there something rather than nothing, have called him all his life, leading him to create the Closer to Truth series, to explore these questions with the leading minds of our time. What Robert didn’t know to begin with, but marvels about now, is how the passion for delving into the most fundamental, existential questions we face as humans unifies people around the world, from every demographic, providing a unique and wonderful point of integration. This is a fascinating, warm, engaging conversation that draws us ever farther into an exploration of the mysteries of life, where we glimpse what lies at the core of humanity. Recorded April 17th, 2025.

    “Consciousness is perhaps the single most unifying question that humanity can explore.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing Robert Lawrence Kuhn, author, public intellectual, producer of the PBS series Closer to Truth, which explores fundamental questions of existence (01:02)
    • How did it feel to be writing “A Landscape of Consciousness,” a 175k-word article that surveys over 200 theories about what consciousness is (02:50)
    • Now Robert is building a website with notated theories of consciousness that allows for theories to grow and change (11:33)
    • Consciousness theories, unlike other fields of knowledge, grow the more we know (14:59)
    • All the “big questions” are dependent on your theory of consciousness (18:57)
    • Why is there something rather than nothing? What is consciousness? Two fundamental questions that have been with Robert all along (23:17)
    • Nine levels of nothing and the deep nature of phenomenal consciousness (25:36)
    • Why Robert didn’t include his own theory in his survey, and then did—in 71 words (26:58)
    • What does the explosion of consciousness theories say about consciousness? (30:27)
    • The self-referential paradox of understanding consciousness (35:04)
    • How to structure and organize the amalgam of theories (37:08)
    • Roughly half the theories went into materialism categories (39:02)
    • Challenge theorists conclude we can never understand consciousness (41:03)
    • Robert’s theory categories: materialism, non reductive physicalism, quantum, integrated information, panpsychism, monism, dualism, idealism, illusory, anomalies and altered states (42:18)
    • What kind of knowledge do psychedelics and altered states offer? (49:20)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Robert Lawrence Kuhn, creator, producer, and host of the PBS series, Closer To Truth
    • Robert Lawrence Kuhn, “A Landscape of Consciousness,”article in Progress in Biophysics & Molecular Biology, August 2024
    • Anil Seth & Tim Bayne, Theories of Consciousness (Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2022)
    • Computational + functionalism
    • Robert Lawrence Kuhn, “Levels of Nothing”
    • Progress in Biophysics & Molecular Biology (Journal)
    • Denis Noble, visionary, one of the pioneers of systems biology
    • Raymond Tallis, philosopher, poet, cultural critic, neuroscientist, coined the term neuromania
    • Sir Roger Penrose & Dr. Stuart Hameroff, Consciousness and the Physics of the Brain (YouTube video)
    • John Torday, PhD, physiologist at UCLA, investigator at the Lundquist Institute
    • Non-reductive physicalism
    • Integrated information theory, led by Giulio Tononi and Christof Koch
    • Panpsychism
    • Colin McGinn, British philosopher best known for his work in philosophy of mind
    • Paul Davies, quantum physicist, director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science
    
    

    ---

    Robert Lawrence Kuhn is a public intellectual; he is the creator, writer, host, and executive producer of Closer To Truth, the long-running PBS/public television series and leading global resource on Cosmos (cosmology/physics, philosophy of science), Life (philosophy of biology), Mind (consciousness, brain/mind, philosophy of mind), and Meaning (theism/atheism/agnosticism, global philosophy of religion, critical thinking). Kuhn’s comprehensive review article on theories of consciousness—“A Landscape of Consciousness: Toward a Taxonomy of Explanations and Implications”—is published in Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology (August 2024, pp. 28-169). In its review, IAI News says, “Kuhn has written perhaps the most comprehensive article on the landscape of theories of consciousness in recent memory.” 

    Dr. Kuhn has written or edited over 30 books, including The Mystery of Existence: Why is there Anything At All? (with John Leslie); Closer To Truth: Challenging Current Belief; Closer To Truth: Science, Meaning and the Future; The Library of Investment Banking; How China’s Leaders Think (featuring President Xi Jinping); The Man Who Changed China: The Life and Legacy of Jiang Zemin (China’s best-selling book in 2005 and in December 2022); and The Origin and Significance of Zero: An Interdisciplinary Perspective” (with Peter Gobets). He is chairman of The Kuhn Foundation, and has a BA in Human Biology (Johns Hopkins), a PhD in Anatomy/Brain Research (UCLA), and an SM (MBA) in Management (MIT).

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>6ddcc76c-3529-4e3d-9be7-d7fa574bfdd7Thu, 08 May 2025 05:00:00 -040052:19falsefull181181Opening to Our Deepest Ground: Illuminating the Journey of Healing and Awakening (Part 2)Ep. 180 (Part 2 of 2) | In this podcast, John Prendergast, spiritual teacher, depth psychotherapist (retired), and prolific author, eloquently lays out the territory we encounter on the spiritual path as we move towards opening to our deepest ground. John defines deepest ground as “ungraspable and unfathomable, something we can know intimately as a quality of awareness, unbounded and open.” “When we touch into this,” he continues, “we move from a place of love, peace and groundedness.” In working with students and clients over four decades, John says the presence or absence of ground has been the most important theme. 

    John has a gift for communicating exactly what is most useful for a spiritual practitioner to hear: taking an integral and nondual approach different from traditional psychotherapy, he invites us to evoke presence—welcome the experience, welcome the fear of annihilation—let go of ordinary knowledge and allow a translucent, transformative space to emerge around ordinary mind. Blending archetypal wisdom and guidance with spacious emptiness, John explains that opening to unbounded awareness supports the process of individuation and actualization; he also weaves in an intriguing version of the hero’s journey, where the hero emerges from the underground, not as a figure of accomplishment and victory, but as a simple, humble being, void of ego. The rich wisdom and gentle guidance offered here is invaluable, worthy of listening to many a time. Recorded November 7, 2024.

    “We are on the wave of life waking up to itself through humanity.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Gaining an experiential understanding of the archetypal teachings of Carl Jung to better understand multidimensional ground (01:19)  
    • Jungian archetypes are subtle ground; Ramana Maharshi’s focus is no ground (05:09)
    • Trusting the wisdom of our own psyches (09:07)
    • Blending archetypal wisdom and guidance with spacious emptiness (12:07)
    • The collective unconscious: linking consciousness to our ancestors (14:29)
    • Multidimensional healing: healing ancestral lineages (15:20)
    • Eastern transcendence and Western focus on living life: opening to unbounded awareness supports the process of individuation and actualization (16:51)
    • The living question: What is life asking of you? (21:20)
    • The first encounter is with darkness, stillness, emptiness; then comes a sense of pure potentiality and an upwelling current of life (22:41)
    • What does engaged nonduality look like? Existential crisis and climate change (27:18)
    • Frequency holders and/or frequency actors (31:56)
    • Invitation to nondual communities: what is the natural response to this genuine existential threat? (33:02)
    • The hesitancy people feel about bringing out the light of awareness (34:37)
    • Opening the heart to collective suffering (35:30)
    • Our love of truth will bring us to our deepest ground: let that be our guide (37:18)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Carl Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections
    • Carl Jung, The Red Book: A Reader’s Edition 
    • Advaita Vedanta 
    • Kashmir Shaivism
    • Ramana Maharshi, Indian sage and liberated being, 1879-1950
    • John Prendergast’s website: Listening from Silence
    • John Prendergast, Your Deepest Ground: A Guide to Embodied Spirituality
    • John Prendergast, The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence
    • John Prendergast, In Touch: How to Tune In to the Inner Guidance of Your Body and Trust Yourself
    • John Prendergast, The Sacred Mirror: Nondual Wisdom and Psychotherapy
    
    

    ---

    A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, John J. Prendergast, PhD. is a nondual teacher, author, retired psychotherapist, and retired Adjunct Professor of Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco where he taught masters level counseling students for twenty-three years. John studied for many years with the European sage Dr. Jean Klein, as well as with Adyashanti. He was invited to share the dharma by Dorothy Hunt in 2011 and received dharma transmission (authorization to teach) from Adyashanti in 2023. John has been offering residential retreats with his wife, Christiane, since 2015, in both the U.S. and, more recently, in Europe. He also has extensive experience teaching online.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 180 (Part 2 of 2) | In this podcast, John Prendergast, spiritual teacher, depth psychotherapist (retired), and prolific author, eloquently lays out the territory we encounter on the spiritual path as we move towards opening to our deepest ground. John defines deepest ground as “ungraspable and unfathomable, something we can know intimately as a quality of awareness, unbounded and open.” “When we touch into this,” he continues, “we move from a place of love, peace and groundedness.” In working with students and clients over four decades, John says the presence or absence of ground has been the most important theme. 

    John has a gift for communicating exactly what is most useful for a spiritual practitioner to hear: taking an integral and nondual approach different from traditional psychotherapy, he invites us to evoke presence—welcome the experience, welcome the fear of annihilation—let go of ordinary knowledge and allow a translucent, transformative space to emerge around ordinary mind. Blending archetypal wisdom and guidance with spacious emptiness, John explains that opening to unbounded awareness supports the process of individuation and actualization; he also weaves in an intriguing version of the hero’s journey, where the hero emerges from the underground, not as a figure of accomplishment and victory, but as a simple, humble being, void of ego. The rich wisdom and gentle guidance offered here is invaluable, worthy of listening to many a time. Recorded November 7, 2024.

    “We are on the wave of life waking up to itself through humanity.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Gaining an experiential understanding of the archetypal teachings of Carl Jung to better understand multidimensional ground (01:19)  
    • Jungian archetypes are subtle ground; Ramana Maharshi’s focus is no ground (05:09)
    • Trusting the wisdom of our own psyches (09:07)
    • Blending archetypal wisdom and guidance with spacious emptiness (12:07)
    • The collective unconscious: linking consciousness to our ancestors (14:29)
    • Multidimensional healing: healing ancestral lineages (15:20)
    • Eastern transcendence and Western focus on living life: opening to unbounded awareness supports the process of individuation and actualization (16:51)
    • The living question: What is life asking of you? (21:20)
    • The first encounter is with darkness, stillness, emptiness; then comes a sense of pure potentiality and an upwelling current of life (22:41)
    • What does engaged nonduality look like? Existential crisis and climate change (27:18)
    • Frequency holders and/or frequency actors (31:56)
    • Invitation to nondual communities: what is the natural response to this genuine existential threat? (33:02)
    • The hesitancy people feel about bringing out the light of awareness (34:37)
    • Opening the heart to collective suffering (35:30)
    • Our love of truth will bring us to our deepest ground: let that be our guide (37:18)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Carl Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections
    • Carl Jung, The Red Book: A Reader’s Edition 
    • Advaita Vedanta 
    • Kashmir Shaivism
    • Ramana Maharshi, Indian sage and liberated being, 1879-1950
    • John Prendergast’s website: Listening from Silence
    • John Prendergast, Your Deepest Ground: A Guide to Embodied Spirituality
    • John Prendergast, The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence
    • John Prendergast, In Touch: How to Tune In to the Inner Guidance of Your Body and Trust Yourself
    • John Prendergast, The Sacred Mirror: Nondual Wisdom and Psychotherapy
    
    

    ---

    A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, John J. Prendergast, PhD. is a nondual teacher, author, retired psychotherapist, and retired Adjunct Professor of Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco where he taught masters level counseling students for twenty-three years. John studied for many years with the European sage Dr. Jean Klein, as well as with Adyashanti. He was invited to share the dharma by Dorothy Hunt in 2011 and received dharma transmission (authorization to teach) from Adyashanti in 2023. John has been offering residential retreats with his wife, Christiane, since 2015, in both the U.S. and, more recently, in Europe. He also has extensive experience teaching online.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>4e6d2b51-3be2-4db8-8bb8-b0d1c467ccd1Thu, 01 May 2025 05:00:00 -040041:55falsefull180180Opening to Our Deepest Ground: Illuminating the Journey of Healing and AwakeningEp. 179 (Part 1 of 2) | In this podcast, John Prendergast, spiritual teacher, depth psychotherapist (retired), and prolific author, eloquently lays out the territory we encounter on the spiritual path as we move towards opening to our deepest ground. John defines deepest ground as “ungraspable and unfathomable, something we can know intimately as a quality of awareness, unbounded and open.” “When we touch into this,” he continues, “we move from a place of love, peace and groundedness.” In working with students and clients over four decades, John says the presence or absence of ground has been the most important theme. 

    John has a gift for communicating exactly what is most useful for a spiritual practitioner to hear: taking an integral and nondual approach different from traditional psychotherapy, he invites us to evoke presence—welcome the experience, welcome the fear of annihilation—let go of ordinary knowledge and allow a translucent, transformative space to emerge around ordinary mind. Blending archetypal wisdom and guidance with spacious emptiness, John explains that opening to unbounded awareness supports the process of individuation and actualization; he also weaves in an intriguing version of the hero’s journey, where the hero emerges from the underground, not as a figure of accomplishment and victory, but as a simple, humble being, void of ego. The rich wisdom and gentle guidance offered here is invaluable, worthy of listening to many a time. Recorded November 7, 2024.

    “Transcendence is a beautiful first step… but there’s a very important process of embodying awareness more and more deeply, in the physical body, in the subtle body.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing John Prendergast, Ph.D., retired psychotherapist, spiritual teacher, and author, whose most recent book is Your Deepest Ground (00:57)
    • What is our deepest ground? (01:55)
    • What is the difference between presence and ground? (04:29)
    • The fear of losing control, of annihilation, that comes up in the process of healing and awakening (06:47)
    • Using the myth of the underground descent, but emerging not as a hero, but simple and humble—devoid of egoic will (09:29)
    • A translucency of the body/mind emerges: a core illumination (13:18)
    • Meditation, self-inquiry, and time with authentic teachers are what have brought John to luminosity (15:09)
    • The connection to one’s teacher: for John, this was Jean Klein and Adyashanti (16:25)
    • Back to returning to the world—not as a hero, but where there’s no sense of accomplishment and hierarchy disappears (17:55)
    • The tyranny of the enlightenment drive (20:42)
    • Willfulness gradually transforms into willingness (24:07)
    • Individual guidance can come as the small, still voice but also in kinesthetic form (25:25)
    • Are there specific practices that facilitate opening to our deepest ground? (27:24)
    • Evoking presence: John leads an invitation to welcome the experience, welcome the fear of annihilation (29:14)
    • The difference between John’s work and traditional psychotherapy (31:31)
    • Beyond welcoming, John teaches a self-inquiry practice that asks, “Do I really want to know what is true?” (36:15) 
    • Working not just on personal limiting beliefs but existential limiting beliefs—e.g., “I am a separate self” (39:19)
    • Recognizing the limitation of rational thought, a transformative space emerges around ordinary mind (41:59)
    • What is the experience of transrational knowing? (43:01)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • John Prendergast’s website: Listening from Silence
    • John Prendergast, Your Deepest Ground: A Guide to Embodied Spirituality
    • John Prendergast, The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence
    • John Prendergast, In Touch: How to Tune In to the Inner Guidance of Your Body and Trust Yourself
    • John Prendergast, The Sacred Mirror: Nondual Wisdom and Psychotherapy
    • Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces
    • Arnold Toynbee, A Study of History (abridgment by D.C. Somervell)
    • Carl Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections
    • J.R.R Tolkien, The Hobbit
    • Dante Alighieri, Dante’s Inferno
    • Adyashanti, spiritual teacher, Open Gate Sangha
    • Jean Klein, spiritual teacher, The Ease of Being
    • The 10 Ox Herding Pictures
    • Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi
    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach, see also Deep Transformation’s A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series
    • Stanislav Grof
    
    

    ---

    A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, John J. Prendergast, PhD. is a nondual teacher, author, retired psychotherapist, and retired Adjunct Professor of Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco where he taught masters level counseling students for twenty-three years. John studied for many years with the European sage Dr. Jean Klein, as well as with Adyashanti. He was invited to share the dharma by Dorothy Hunt in 2011 and received dharma transmission (authorization to...]]>Ep. 179 (Part 1 of 2) | In this podcast, John Prendergast, spiritual teacher, depth psychotherapist (retired), and prolific author, eloquently lays out the territory we encounter on the spiritual path as we move towards opening to our deepest ground. John defines deepest ground as “ungraspable and unfathomable, something we can know intimately as a quality of awareness, unbounded and open.” “When we touch into this,” he continues, “we move from a place of love, peace and groundedness.” In working with students and clients over four decades, John says the presence or absence of ground has been the most important theme. 

    John has a gift for communicating exactly what is most useful for a spiritual practitioner to hear: taking an integral and nondual approach different from traditional psychotherapy, he invites us to evoke presence—welcome the experience, welcome the fear of annihilation—let go of ordinary knowledge and allow a translucent, transformative space to emerge around ordinary mind. Blending archetypal wisdom and guidance with spacious emptiness, John explains that opening to unbounded awareness supports the process of individuation and actualization; he also weaves in an intriguing version of the hero’s journey, where the hero emerges from the underground, not as a figure of accomplishment and victory, but as a simple, humble being, void of ego. The rich wisdom and gentle guidance offered here is invaluable, worthy of listening to many a time. Recorded November 7, 2024.

    “Transcendence is a beautiful first step… but there’s a very important process of embodying awareness more and more deeply, in the physical body, in the subtle body.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing John Prendergast, Ph.D., retired psychotherapist, spiritual teacher, and author, whose most recent book is Your Deepest Ground (00:57)
    • What is our deepest ground? (01:55)
    • What is the difference between presence and ground? (04:29)
    • The fear of losing control, of annihilation, that comes up in the process of healing and awakening (06:47)
    • Using the myth of the underground descent, but emerging not as a hero, but simple and humble—devoid of egoic will (09:29)
    • A translucency of the body/mind emerges: a core illumination (13:18)
    • Meditation, self-inquiry, and time with authentic teachers are what have brought John to luminosity (15:09)
    • The connection to one’s teacher: for John, this was Jean Klein and Adyashanti (16:25)
    • Back to returning to the world—not as a hero, but where there’s no sense of accomplishment and hierarchy disappears (17:55)
    • The tyranny of the enlightenment drive (20:42)
    • Willfulness gradually transforms into willingness (24:07)
    • Individual guidance can come as the small, still voice but also in kinesthetic form (25:25)
    • Are there specific practices that facilitate opening to our deepest ground? (27:24)
    • Evoking presence: John leads an invitation to welcome the experience, welcome the fear of annihilation (29:14)
    • The difference between John’s work and traditional psychotherapy (31:31)
    • Beyond welcoming, John teaches a self-inquiry practice that asks, “Do I really want to know what is true?” (36:15) 
    • Working not just on personal limiting beliefs but existential limiting beliefs—e.g., “I am a separate self” (39:19)
    • Recognizing the limitation of rational thought, a transformative space emerges around ordinary mind (41:59)
    • What is the experience of transrational knowing? (43:01)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • John Prendergast’s website: Listening from Silence
    • John Prendergast, Your Deepest Ground: A Guide to Embodied Spirituality
    • John Prendergast, The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence
    • John Prendergast, In Touch: How to Tune In to the Inner Guidance of Your Body and Trust Yourself
    • John Prendergast, The Sacred Mirror: Nondual Wisdom and Psychotherapy
    • Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces
    • Arnold Toynbee, A Study of History (abridgment by D.C. Somervell)
    • Carl Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections
    • J.R.R Tolkien, The Hobbit
    • Dante Alighieri, Dante’s Inferno
    • Adyashanti, spiritual teacher, Open Gate Sangha
    • Jean Klein, spiritual teacher, The Ease of Being
    • The 10 Ox Herding Pictures
    • Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi
    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach, see also Deep Transformation’s A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series
    • Stanislav Grof
    
    

    ---

    A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, John J. Prendergast, PhD. is a nondual teacher, author, retired psychotherapist, and retired Adjunct Professor of Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco where he taught masters level counseling students for twenty-three years. John studied for many years with the European sage Dr. Jean Klein, as well as with Adyashanti. He was invited to share the dharma by Dorothy Hunt in 2011 and received dharma transmission (authorization to teach) from Adyashanti in 2023. John has been offering residential retreats with his wife, Christiane, since 2015, in both the U.S. and, more recently, in Europe. He also has extensive experience teaching online.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>a67151e3-9e14-410a-a956-0adb3323e2b6Thu, 24 Apr 2025 05:00:00 -040047:01falsefull179179The Diamond Vehicle Revelations: True Nature’s Messages and Messengers of Wisdom with A. H. Almaas (Part 2)Ep. 178 (Part 2 of 2) | In the ninth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed gives a fascinating account of how four distinctly different wisdom teachings came to him in succession, directly from true nature, embodied in the form of diamonds. “In the beginning, I didn’t know…what the hell were these? Is it my imagination?” Hameed laughs. But then his colleagues and students experienced the diamondness too. Like angels of revelation, each diamond vehicle brings a different type of wisdom: the first diamond vehicle, Guidance, brings clarity and initiated the practice of inquiry; the second embodies the wisdom that pleasure is what we are, bringing an understanding of pleasure from a spiritual perspective; the third diamond vehicle holds the wisdom of how to conduct our lives from a place of truth, and the fourth the wisdom of true knowledge—knowing by being—the knowing that is needed for awakening.

    Not only do we hear marvelous stories of how the diamond-shaped wisdom messengers appeared to Hameed, but he also imparts a wonderfully comprehensive yet succinct rendering of the teachings they brought, and the conversation flows from embodying wisdom to embodying pleasure, the inward turn, and why bliss must be combined with emptiness for enlightenment to occur. Also, how to live a life of truth with the inner compass provided by the third diamond teaching, the pitfalls of the ego’s tendency to accommodate others, how being is inseparable from knowing, and lots more. A very full, warm, rich conversation, filled also with humor, sparkle, and delight. Recorded January 30, 2025.

    “The Diamond Dome brings in the wisdom of true knowledge—spiritual knowledge, knowing by being—the knowing that is needed for awakening.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Emptiness has a bliss to it (00:49)
    • The death tantra and sexual tantra paths to enlightenment (01:06)
    • Emptiness/fullness, being/non-being, unity/particularity: two sides of reality (03:18)
    • We lose track of the particularity when we focus on unity only (05:22)
    • There are many different levels of particularity: ego, body, soul… Each diamond vehicle is a particularity (09:39)
    • The Citadel, the third diamond vehicle, is the essential conscience, the wisdom of how to conduct your life from the perspective of true nature (10:05)
    • Accommodating is part of the behavior of the ego, but in accommodating, most of the time you are selling yourself, compromising (13:20)
    • Living a life of truth brings in the unity and the particularity (15:37)
    • You transition when you become willing to sacrifice comforts, relationships, the supports of the ego, to align only with truth (17:56)
    • On this path, the vehicle first appears then manifests each of its aspects—different shaped diamonds within a diamond (21:31)
    • For Hameed, first Diamond Guidance appeared, then Markabah, then the Citadel, then the Diamond Dome (24:24)
    • The Diamond Dome brings in the wisdom of true knowledge—spiritual knowledge, knowing by being—the knowing that is needed for awakening (25:41)
    • This vehicle brings the knowledge of each aspect; basic concepts are clearly delineated (29:27)
    • True nature informs the individual mind with basic concepts (34:38)
    • Each vehicle highlights certain parts of the ego as obstacles to realization; the dome highlights self-identity, the “I-ness” of the ego (36:26)
    • To embody the Diamond Dome the ego needs to experience cessation (37:43)
    
    

    Resources & References

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Vajrayana Buddhism’s Saṃbhogakāya
    • The three kayas of Mahayana Buddhism (Lion’s Roar website)
    • A. H. Almaas, Space Cruiser Inquiry: True Guidance for the Inner Journey
    • Advaita Vedanta
    • Dzogchen
    • Dogen, founder of the Sōtō School of Zen, “A blade of grass is a blade of grass.”
    • William Blake, “Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,” from “Auguries of Innocence”
    • A Course in Miracles, Helen Schucman and the Foundation for Inner Peace
    • Walt Whitman, “Dismiss whatever insults your own soul,” from the preface of Leaves of Grass
    • The cessation of perception as recognized by the Buddha (Wisdom Library website)
    • A. H. Almaas, Luminous Night’s Journey: An Autobiographical Fragment
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Ep. 178 (Part 2 of 2) | In the ninth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed gives a fascinating account of how four distinctly different wisdom teachings came to him in succession, directly from true nature, embodied in the form of diamonds. “In the beginning, I didn’t know…what the hell were these? Is it my imagination?” Hameed laughs. But then his colleagues and students experienced the diamondness too. Like angels of revelation, each diamond vehicle brings a different type of wisdom: the first diamond vehicle, Guidance, brings clarity and initiated the practice of inquiry; the second embodies the wisdom that pleasure is what we are, bringing an understanding of pleasure from a spiritual perspective; the third diamond vehicle holds the wisdom of how to conduct our lives from a place of truth, and the fourth the wisdom of true knowledge—knowing by being—the knowing that is needed for awakening.

    Not only do we hear marvelous stories of how the diamond-shaped wisdom messengers appeared to Hameed, but he also imparts a wonderfully comprehensive yet succinct rendering of the teachings they brought, and the conversation flows from embodying wisdom to embodying pleasure, the inward turn, and why bliss must be combined with emptiness for enlightenment to occur. Also, how to live a life of truth with the inner compass provided by the third diamond teaching, the pitfalls of the ego’s tendency to accommodate others, how being is inseparable from knowing, and lots more. A very full, warm, rich conversation, filled also with humor, sparkle, and delight. Recorded January 30, 2025.

    “The Diamond Dome brings in the wisdom of true knowledge—spiritual knowledge, knowing by being—the knowing that is needed for awakening.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Emptiness has a bliss to it (00:49)
    • The death tantra and sexual tantra paths to enlightenment (01:06)
    • Emptiness/fullness, being/non-being, unity/particularity: two sides of reality (03:18)
    • We lose track of the particularity when we focus on unity only (05:22)
    • There are many different levels of particularity: ego, body, soul… Each diamond vehicle is a particularity (09:39)
    • The Citadel, the third diamond vehicle, is the essential conscience, the wisdom of how to conduct your life from the perspective of true nature (10:05)
    • Accommodating is part of the behavior of the ego, but in accommodating, most of the time you are selling yourself, compromising (13:20)
    • Living a life of truth brings in the unity and the particularity (15:37)
    • You transition when you become willing to sacrifice comforts, relationships, the supports of the ego, to align only with truth (17:56)
    • On this path, the vehicle first appears then manifests each of its aspects—different shaped diamonds within a diamond (21:31)
    • For Hameed, first Diamond Guidance appeared, then Markabah, then the Citadel, then the Diamond Dome (24:24)
    • The Diamond Dome brings in the wisdom of true knowledge—spiritual knowledge, knowing by being—the knowing that is needed for awakening (25:41)
    • This vehicle brings the knowledge of each aspect; basic concepts are clearly delineated (29:27)
    • True nature informs the individual mind with basic concepts (34:38)
    • Each vehicle highlights certain parts of the ego as obstacles to realization; the dome highlights self-identity, the “I-ness” of the ego (36:26)
    • To embody the Diamond Dome the ego needs to experience cessation (37:43)
    
    

    Resources & References

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Vajrayana Buddhism’s Saṃbhogakāya
    • The three kayas of Mahayana Buddhism (Lion’s Roar website)
    • A. H. Almaas, Space Cruiser Inquiry: True Guidance for the Inner Journey
    • Advaita Vedanta
    • Dzogchen
    • Dogen, founder of the Sōtō School of Zen, “A blade of grass is a blade of grass.”
    • William Blake, “Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,” from “Auguries of Innocence”
    • A Course in Miracles, Helen Schucman and the Foundation for Inner Peace
    • Walt Whitman, “Dismiss whatever insults your own soul,” from the preface of Leaves of Grass
    • The cessation of perception as recognized by the Buddha (Wisdom Library website)
    • A. H. Almaas, Luminous Night’s Journey: An Autobiographical Fragment
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>a9e8a18d-9eaa-4e64-8ce7-12bb7f4ff4faThu, 17 Apr 2025 05:00:00 -040042:36falsefull178178The Diamond Vehicle Revelations: True Nature’s Messages and Messengers of Wisdom with A. H. AlmaasEp. 177 (Part 1 of 2) | In the ninth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed gives a fascinating account of how four distinctly different wisdom teachings came to him in succession, directly from true nature, embodied in the form of diamonds. “In the beginning, I didn’t know…what the hell were these? Is it my imagination?” Hameed laughs. But then his colleagues and students experienced the diamondness too. Like angels of revelation, each diamond vehicle brings a different type of wisdom: the first diamond vehicle, Guidance, brings clarity and initiated the practice of inquiry; the second embodies the wisdom that pleasure is what we are, bringing an understanding of pleasure from a spiritual perspective; the third diamond vehicle holds the wisdom of how to conduct our lives from a place of truth, and the fourth the wisdom of true knowledge—knowing by being—the knowing that is needed for awakening.

    Not only do we hear marvelous stories of how the diamond-shaped wisdom messengers appeared to Hameed, but he also imparts a wonderfully comprehensive yet succinct rendering of the teachings they brought, and the conversation flows from embodying wisdom to embodying pleasure, the inward turn, and why bliss must be combined with emptiness for enlightenment to occur. Also, how to live a life of truth with the inner compass provided by the third diamond teaching, the pitfalls of the ego’s tendency to accommodate others, how being is inseparable from knowing, and lots more. A very full, warm, rich conversation, filled also with humor, sparkle, and delight. Recorded January 30, 2025.

    “For enlightenment to happen, emptiness has to be combined with bliss.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing the 9th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series: How did the Diamond Approach teaching come to Hameed? (00:53)
    • First came a pure, transparent presence like liquid diamond: clarity itself (04:46)
    • The diamond also came with a sense of precision, of sharp discrimination, of objectivity (08:07)
    • Hameed’s vision of the diamond vehicles: like a fleet of ships in black space (11:05)
    • The first diamond vehicle, guidance, brought about the practice of inquiry (12:06)
    • Hameed’s near-death experience: looking down upon his body it was a body of diamonds; two diamonds called him back: love and joy (13:23)
    • Recounting this experience to friends later, the diamond vehicle filled the room—the sacred manifest (17:08)
    • Manifest in this one body was the guidance for the teaching, like an angel of revelation but shaped like a spaceship made of diamonds (19:46)
    • Each diamond vehicle brings a different kind of wisdom (20:58)
    • Diamond wisdom can be used as guidance in the scientific field (22:36)
    • It’s not just a teaching, but a presence that embodies the teaching; embodying the presence is learning the teaching (25:11)
    • The second diamond vehicle is the vehicle of pleasure, understanding pleasure from the spiritual perspective: the teaching of the inward turn (27:04)
    • Pleasure turns out to be a whole realm, where all aspects appear in their pleasurable form (34:38)
    • Inner guidance is where the truth is from instant to instant, telling you to look here, not there (35:58)
    • Hameed differentiates pleasure from bliss, because pleasure is something ordinary human beings know (37:39)
    • Embodying the wisdom that pleasure is what we are (40:08)
    • All the vehicles are expressions of the essence of consciousness, messengers of wisdom (40:54)
    • For enlightenment to happen, emptiness has to be combined with bliss (42:10)
    
    

    Resources & References

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Vajrayana Buddhism’s Saṃbhogakāya
    • The three kayas of Mahayana Buddhism (Lion’s Roar website)
    • A. H. Almaas, Space Cruiser Inquiry: True Guidance for the Inner Journey
    • Advaita Vedanta
    • Dzogchen
    • Dogen, founder of the Sōtō School of Zen, “A blade of grass is a blade of grass.”
    • William Blake, “Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,” from “Auguries of Innocence”
    • A Course in Miracles, Helen Schucman and the Foundation for Inner Peace
    • Walt Whitman, “Dismiss whatever insults your own soul,” from the preface of Leaves of Grass 
    • The cessation of perception as recognized by the Buddha (Wisdom Library website)
    • A. H. Almaas, Luminous Night’s Journey: An Autobiographical Fragment
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True]]>Ep. 177 (Part 1 of 2) | In the ninth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed gives a fascinating account of how four distinctly different wisdom teachings came to him in succession, directly from true nature, embodied in the form of diamonds. “In the beginning, I didn’t know…what the hell were these? Is it my imagination?” Hameed laughs. But then his colleagues and students experienced the diamondness too. Like angels of revelation, each diamond vehicle brings a different type of wisdom: the first diamond vehicle, Guidance, brings clarity and initiated the practice of inquiry; the second embodies the wisdom that pleasure is what we are, bringing an understanding of pleasure from a spiritual perspective; the third diamond vehicle holds the wisdom of how to conduct our lives from a place of truth, and the fourth the wisdom of true knowledge—knowing by being—the knowing that is needed for awakening.

    Not only do we hear marvelous stories of how the diamond-shaped wisdom messengers appeared to Hameed, but he also imparts a wonderfully comprehensive yet succinct rendering of the teachings they brought, and the conversation flows from embodying wisdom to embodying pleasure, the inward turn, and why bliss must be combined with emptiness for enlightenment to occur. Also, how to live a life of truth with the inner compass provided by the third diamond teaching, the pitfalls of the ego’s tendency to accommodate others, how being is inseparable from knowing, and lots more. A very full, warm, rich conversation, filled also with humor, sparkle, and delight. Recorded January 30, 2025.

    “For enlightenment to happen, emptiness has to be combined with bliss.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing the 9th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series: How did the Diamond Approach teaching come to Hameed? (00:53)
    • First came a pure, transparent presence like liquid diamond: clarity itself (04:46)
    • The diamond also came with a sense of precision, of sharp discrimination, of objectivity (08:07)
    • Hameed’s vision of the diamond vehicles: like a fleet of ships in black space (11:05)
    • The first diamond vehicle, guidance, brought about the practice of inquiry (12:06)
    • Hameed’s near-death experience: looking down upon his body it was a body of diamonds; two diamonds called him back: love and joy (13:23)
    • Recounting this experience to friends later, the diamond vehicle filled the room—the sacred manifest (17:08)
    • Manifest in this one body was the guidance for the teaching, like an angel of revelation but shaped like a spaceship made of diamonds (19:46)
    • Each diamond vehicle brings a different kind of wisdom (20:58)
    • Diamond wisdom can be used as guidance in the scientific field (22:36)
    • It’s not just a teaching, but a presence that embodies the teaching; embodying the presence is learning the teaching (25:11)
    • The second diamond vehicle is the vehicle of pleasure, understanding pleasure from the spiritual perspective: the teaching of the inward turn (27:04)
    • Pleasure turns out to be a whole realm, where all aspects appear in their pleasurable form (34:38)
    • Inner guidance is where the truth is from instant to instant, telling you to look here, not there (35:58)
    • Hameed differentiates pleasure from bliss, because pleasure is something ordinary human beings know (37:39)
    • Embodying the wisdom that pleasure is what we are (40:08)
    • All the vehicles are expressions of the essence of consciousness, messengers of wisdom (40:54)
    • For enlightenment to happen, emptiness has to be combined with bliss (42:10)
    
    

    Resources & References

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Vajrayana Buddhism’s Saṃbhogakāya
    • The three kayas of Mahayana Buddhism (Lion’s Roar website)
    • A. H. Almaas, Space Cruiser Inquiry: True Guidance for the Inner Journey
    • Advaita Vedanta
    • Dzogchen
    • Dogen, founder of the Sōtō School of Zen, “A blade of grass is a blade of grass.”
    • William Blake, “Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,” from “Auguries of Innocence”
    • A Course in Miracles, Helen Schucman and the Foundation for Inner Peace
    • Walt Whitman, “Dismiss whatever insults your own soul,” from the preface of Leaves of Grass 
    • The cessation of perception as recognized by the Buddha (Wisdom Library website)
    • A. H. Almaas, Luminous Night’s Journey: An Autobiographical Fragment
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>de84f2a1-2cbe-46f8-b13a-b557655bbd74Thu, 10 Apr 2025 05:00:00 -040045:45falsefull177177The Path of Wisdom, Heart, and Ethics: A Developmental Perspective on the Journey of Awakening (Part 3)Ep. 176 (Part 3 of 3) | Longtime spiritual practitioner, gifted teacher, Tibetan Buddhist lama, and developmental psychology specialist Kimberley Lafferty integrates contemporary psychology and wisdom tradition in this lively, luminous conversation about the process of awakening, the evolution of ethics, and the extraordinary capacities that come online as we mature into later stages of development. What do developmental perspectives have to add to our understanding of human nature and to spiritual practice? Our meaning-making shifts radically as we develop, Kimberley says, and because of that our reality itself shifts. This is why communicating with people with very different points of view can fail so miserably—one person’s reality is simply not the same as the next person’s reality. We need to discern, what is their meaning-making reality in this moment? What is ours?

    Throughout, Kimberley grounds the discussion in practical, real-life scenarios; she also shares intriguing research on later stage development that has found that as we mature, our senses evolve: our hearing evolves to deep attunement; our seeing evolves to witnessing, our capacity of touch evolves to embody presence. It’s exciting and inspiring to see the road ahead, to acquire new insights and tools to improve communication across cultural (and age) divides, to have the concept of bodhicitta unpacked so deftly and common misperceptions about emptiness corrected—and to witness Kimberley’s wise and zesty approach to life: “What connects us all is our luminous, aware consciousness,” she says, “and if we can lean into the messiness, I think we can find our way through.” Recorded October 3, 2024.

    “How can I reconstruct myself to be truth, goodness, and beauty?”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3

    • What are some of the capacities that come online as people mature? (01:26)
    • At late stage development, people awaken to individual construction; this is meta-awareness or 5th person perspective (03:40)
    • It’s like waking up in a lucid dream and realizing you’re dreaming (06:00)
    • How can I reconstruct myself to be truth, goodness, and beauty? (07:24)
    • Development is a balloon, not a ladder (10:15)
    • How developmental theory illuminates broader perspective taking: the capacity of skillful means (13:12)
    • Siddhis (transpersonal powers) start to come on: precognitive capacities, the capacity of empathy (16:24)
    • What challenges come about as we develop? (17:40)
    • What connects us is our luminous, aware consciousness—if we can lean into the messiness, we can find our way through (22:43)
    • What are humans becoming? The possibility of becoming trans-human (25:28)
    • In later stages, our senses evolve: our hearing evolves to deep attunement; our seeing evolves to witnessing, to see through time and space, our capacity of touch evolves to embody presence (28:49)
    • Seeing polarities rather than opposites: polarities are the building blocks of how we construct reality (31:50)
    • Bodhicitta taps us into our ultimate nature (35:12)
    • Correcting misperceptions of the bodhisattva vow (40:34)
    • The tradition of debate in the Tibetan-Buddhist tradition (42:30)
    • You are not alone; there is spiritual support available (45:36)
    
    

    Resources & References

    • Kimberley Lafferty’s website: The Confluence Experience (Education, Community, Experiences)
    • 12-month living immersion in the STAGES matrix with Terri O’Fallon & Kimberley Lafferty
    • The Association for Spiritual Integrity (ASI)
    • Vajrayana Buddhism
    • Huston Smith, The World’s Religions
    • His Holiness the Dalai Lama, The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living
    • Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory
    • Dan Brown, Buddhist meditation teacher and author
    • Abraham Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being
    • Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind
    • Brian Daizen Victoria, Zen at War
    • The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series (Deep Transformation podcast series)
    
    

    ---

    Kimberley Theresa Lafferty is a seasoned teacher-practitioner specializing in constructive developmental psychology and Indo-Tibetan Vajrayana. She leads multi-year, private spiritual education cohorts with the Confluence Experience, and co-leads, with Terri O’Fallon, the penultimate Minds I year-long developmental course of Stages International. She is an active Board member for the Association for Spiritual Integrity. Kimberley is also a wife and mother to a young son, living in a remote valley of the North Cascades of North America which deeply impacts her worldview and practice.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 176 (Part 3 of 3) | Longtime spiritual practitioner, gifted teacher, Tibetan Buddhist lama, and developmental psychology specialist Kimberley Lafferty integrates contemporary psychology and wisdom tradition in this lively, luminous conversation about the process of awakening, the evolution of ethics, and the extraordinary capacities that come online as we mature into later stages of development. What do developmental perspectives have to add to our understanding of human nature and to spiritual practice? Our meaning-making shifts radically as we develop, Kimberley says, and because of that our reality itself shifts. This is why communicating with people with very different points of view can fail so miserably—one person’s reality is simply not the same as the next person’s reality. We need to discern, what is their meaning-making reality in this moment? What is ours?

    Throughout, Kimberley grounds the discussion in practical, real-life scenarios; she also shares intriguing research on later stage development that has found that as we mature, our senses evolve: our hearing evolves to deep attunement; our seeing evolves to witnessing, our capacity of touch evolves to embody presence. It’s exciting and inspiring to see the road ahead, to acquire new insights and tools to improve communication across cultural (and age) divides, to have the concept of bodhicitta unpacked so deftly and common misperceptions about emptiness corrected—and to witness Kimberley’s wise and zesty approach to life: “What connects us all is our luminous, aware consciousness,” she says, “and if we can lean into the messiness, I think we can find our way through.” Recorded October 3, 2024.

    “How can I reconstruct myself to be truth, goodness, and beauty?”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3

    • What are some of the capacities that come online as people mature? (01:26)
    • At late stage development, people awaken to individual construction; this is meta-awareness or 5th person perspective (03:40)
    • It’s like waking up in a lucid dream and realizing you’re dreaming (06:00)
    • How can I reconstruct myself to be truth, goodness, and beauty? (07:24)
    • Development is a balloon, not a ladder (10:15)
    • How developmental theory illuminates broader perspective taking: the capacity of skillful means (13:12)
    • Siddhis (transpersonal powers) start to come on: precognitive capacities, the capacity of empathy (16:24)
    • What challenges come about as we develop? (17:40)
    • What connects us is our luminous, aware consciousness—if we can lean into the messiness, we can find our way through (22:43)
    • What are humans becoming? The possibility of becoming trans-human (25:28)
    • In later stages, our senses evolve: our hearing evolves to deep attunement; our seeing evolves to witnessing, to see through time and space, our capacity of touch evolves to embody presence (28:49)
    • Seeing polarities rather than opposites: polarities are the building blocks of how we construct reality (31:50)
    • Bodhicitta taps us into our ultimate nature (35:12)
    • Correcting misperceptions of the bodhisattva vow (40:34)
    • The tradition of debate in the Tibetan-Buddhist tradition (42:30)
    • You are not alone; there is spiritual support available (45:36)
    
    

    Resources & References

    • Kimberley Lafferty’s website: The Confluence Experience (Education, Community, Experiences)
    • 12-month living immersion in the STAGES matrix with Terri O’Fallon & Kimberley Lafferty
    • The Association for Spiritual Integrity (ASI)
    • Vajrayana Buddhism
    • Huston Smith, The World’s Religions
    • His Holiness the Dalai Lama, The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living
    • Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory
    • Dan Brown, Buddhist meditation teacher and author
    • Abraham Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being
    • Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind
    • Brian Daizen Victoria, Zen at War
    • The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series (Deep Transformation podcast series)
    
    

    ---

    Kimberley Theresa Lafferty is a seasoned teacher-practitioner specializing in constructive developmental psychology and Indo-Tibetan Vajrayana. She leads multi-year, private spiritual education cohorts with the Confluence Experience, and co-leads, with Terri O’Fallon, the penultimate Minds I year-long developmental course of Stages International. She is an active Board member for the Association for Spiritual Integrity. Kimberley is also a wife and mother to a young son, living in a remote valley of the North Cascades of North America which deeply impacts her worldview and practice.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>59b16a17-f89f-442d-ae44-20cda6ed408eThu, 03 Apr 2025 05:00:00 -040048:08falsefull176176The Path of Wisdom, Heart, and Ethics: A Developmental Perspective on the Journey of Awakening (Part 2)Ep. 175 (Part 2 of 3) | Longtime spiritual practitioner, gifted teacher, Tibetan Buddhist lama, and developmental psychology specialist Kimberley Lafferty integrates contemporary psychology and wisdom tradition in this lively, luminous conversation about the process of awakening, the evolution of ethics, and the extraordinary capacities that come online as we mature into later stages of development. What do developmental perspectives have to add to our understanding of human nature and to spiritual practice? Our meaning-making shifts radically as we develop, Kimberley says, and because of that our reality itself shifts. This is why communicating with people with very different points of view can fail so miserably—one person’s reality is simply not the same as the next person’s reality. We need to discern, what is their meaning-making reality in this moment? What is ours?

    Throughout, Kimberley grounds the discussion in practical, real-life scenarios; she also shares intriguing research on later stage development that has found that as we mature, our senses evolve: our hearing evolves to deep attunement; our seeing evolves to witnessing, our capacity of touch evolves to embody presence. It’s exciting and inspiring to see the road ahead, to acquire new insights and tools to improve communication across cultural (and age) divides, to have the concept of bodhicitta unpacked so deftly and common misperceptions about emptiness corrected—and to witness Kimberley’s wise and zesty approach to life: “What connects us all is our luminous, aware consciousness,” she says, “and if we can lean into the messiness, I think we can find our way through.” Recorded October 3, 2024.

    “If we have no traditional spiritual boundaries to teach our children, we end up raising narcissists.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Ethics involve intention: looking into the mind at the moment of intention (00:53)
    • How to explain misuse and abuse of power in a spiritual organization? (04:18)
    • What is missing for many teachers and healers is ethical training (11:11)
    • How do warrior ethics make sense? Spirituality at an ethnocentric developmental stage (12:58)
    • Misunderstanding emptiness: the emptiness of ethics; there is no ethics (17:20)
    • A spiritual tradition can be complemented by modern understanding & practices—what do we need to update? (19:21)
    • The importance of a developmental understanding and spiritual education (20:46)
    • We need to teach our children that what they do matters (23:09)
    • The feeling of deep belonging that comes with a lineage, belonging to a mystical family, having them at your back (25:09)
    • What do developmental perspectives have to add to our understanding of human nature and to contemplative practices? (28:16)
    • The connection between spiritual experiences and later stages of development: meaning-making radically shifts throughout our life span—because of that our reality itself shifts (31:52)
    • What stage is presenting right now? In me. In you. In others? (33:58)
    • Leveraging the strengths of each perspective and stage (37:29)
    
    

    Resources & References

    • Kimberley Lafferty’s website: The Confluence Experience (Education, Community, Experiences)
    • 12-month living immersion in the STAGES matrix with Terri O’Fallon & Kimberley Lafferty
    • The Association for Spiritual Integrity (ASI)
    • Vajrayana Buddhism
    • Huston Smith, The World’s Religions
    • His Holiness the Dalai Lama, The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living
    • Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory
    • Dan Brown, Buddhist meditation teacher and author
    • Abraham Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being
    • Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind
    • Brian Daizen Victoria, Zen at War
    • The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series (Deep Transformation podcast series)
    
    

    ---

    Kimberley Theresa Lafferty is a seasoned teacher-practitioner specializing in constructive developmental psychology and Indo-Tibetan Vajrayana. She leads multi-year, private spiritual education cohorts with the Confluence Experience, and co-leads, with Terri O’Fallon, the penultimate Minds I year-long developmental course of Stages International. She is an active Board member for the Association for Spiritual Integrity. Kimberley is also a wife and mother to a young son, living in a remote valley of the North Cascades of North America which deeply impacts her worldview and practice.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 175 (Part 2 of 3) | Longtime spiritual practitioner, gifted teacher, Tibetan Buddhist lama, and developmental psychology specialist Kimberley Lafferty integrates contemporary psychology and wisdom tradition in this lively, luminous conversation about the process of awakening, the evolution of ethics, and the extraordinary capacities that come online as we mature into later stages of development. What do developmental perspectives have to add to our understanding of human nature and to spiritual practice? Our meaning-making shifts radically as we develop, Kimberley says, and because of that our reality itself shifts. This is why communicating with people with very different points of view can fail so miserably—one person’s reality is simply not the same as the next person’s reality. We need to discern, what is their meaning-making reality in this moment? What is ours?

    Throughout, Kimberley grounds the discussion in practical, real-life scenarios; she also shares intriguing research on later stage development that has found that as we mature, our senses evolve: our hearing evolves to deep attunement; our seeing evolves to witnessing, our capacity of touch evolves to embody presence. It’s exciting and inspiring to see the road ahead, to acquire new insights and tools to improve communication across cultural (and age) divides, to have the concept of bodhicitta unpacked so deftly and common misperceptions about emptiness corrected—and to witness Kimberley’s wise and zesty approach to life: “What connects us all is our luminous, aware consciousness,” she says, “and if we can lean into the messiness, I think we can find our way through.” Recorded October 3, 2024.

    “If we have no traditional spiritual boundaries to teach our children, we end up raising narcissists.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Ethics involve intention: looking into the mind at the moment of intention (00:53)
    • How to explain misuse and abuse of power in a spiritual organization? (04:18)
    • What is missing for many teachers and healers is ethical training (11:11)
    • How do warrior ethics make sense? Spirituality at an ethnocentric developmental stage (12:58)
    • Misunderstanding emptiness: the emptiness of ethics; there is no ethics (17:20)
    • A spiritual tradition can be complemented by modern understanding & practices—what do we need to update? (19:21)
    • The importance of a developmental understanding and spiritual education (20:46)
    • We need to teach our children that what they do matters (23:09)
    • The feeling of deep belonging that comes with a lineage, belonging to a mystical family, having them at your back (25:09)
    • What do developmental perspectives have to add to our understanding of human nature and to contemplative practices? (28:16)
    • The connection between spiritual experiences and later stages of development: meaning-making radically shifts throughout our life span—because of that our reality itself shifts (31:52)
    • What stage is presenting right now? In me. In you. In others? (33:58)
    • Leveraging the strengths of each perspective and stage (37:29)
    
    

    Resources & References

    • Kimberley Lafferty’s website: The Confluence Experience (Education, Community, Experiences)
    • 12-month living immersion in the STAGES matrix with Terri O’Fallon & Kimberley Lafferty
    • The Association for Spiritual Integrity (ASI)
    • Vajrayana Buddhism
    • Huston Smith, The World’s Religions
    • His Holiness the Dalai Lama, The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living
    • Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory
    • Dan Brown, Buddhist meditation teacher and author
    • Abraham Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being
    • Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind
    • Brian Daizen Victoria, Zen at War
    • The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series (Deep Transformation podcast series)
    
    

    ---

    Kimberley Theresa Lafferty is a seasoned teacher-practitioner specializing in constructive developmental psychology and Indo-Tibetan Vajrayana. She leads multi-year, private spiritual education cohorts with the Confluence Experience, and co-leads, with Terri O’Fallon, the penultimate Minds I year-long developmental course of Stages International. She is an active Board member for the Association for Spiritual Integrity. Kimberley is also a wife and mother to a young son, living in a remote valley of the North Cascades of North America which deeply impacts her worldview and practice.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>9d7ec758-35d8-4929-9da5-91f24ab79b2fThu, 27 Mar 2025 05:00:00 -040041:41falsefull175175The Path of Wisdom, Heart, and Ethics: A Developmental Perspective on the Journey of AwakeningEp. 174 (Part 1 of 3) | Longtime spiritual practitioner, gifted teacher, Tibetan Buddhist lama, and developmental psychology specialist Kimberley Lafferty integrates contemporary psychology and wisdom tradition in this lively, luminous conversation about the process of awakening, the evolution of ethics, and the extraordinary capacities that come online as we mature into later stages of development. What do developmental perspectives have to add to our understanding of human nature and to spiritual practice? Our meaning-making shifts radically as we develop, Kimberley says, and because of that our reality itself shifts. This is why communicating with people with very different points of view can fail so miserably—one person’s reality is simply not the same as the next person’s reality. We need to discern, what is their meaning-making reality in this moment? What is ours?

    Throughout, Kimberley grounds the discussion in practical, real-life scenarios; she also shares intriguing research on later stage development that has found that as we mature, our senses evolve: our hearing evolves to deep attunement; our seeing evolves to witnessing, our capacity of touch evolves to embody presence. It’s exciting and inspiring to see the road ahead, to acquire new insights and tools to improve communication across cultural (and age) divides, to have the concept of bodhicitta unpacked so deftly and common misperceptions about emptiness corrected—and to witness Kimberley’s wise and zesty approach to life: “What connects us all is our luminous, aware consciousness,” she says, “and if we can lean into the messiness, I think we can find our way through.” Recorded October 3, 2024.

    “Applying a developmental understanding and developmental education is essential to any situation that we have.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing Kimberley Lafferty, teacher-practitioner specializing in developmental psychology and Indo-Tibetan Buddhism (01:02)
    • What drew Kimberley into Buddhism? Suffering! And an awakening experience (02:36)
    • The Dalai Lama’s path is what spoke to Kimberley’s feeling of losing her compass and Integral Theory kept her grounded in modernity (07:11)
    • The 3 interpenetrating principal paths of Tibetan Buddhism: ethics, bodhicitta (the path of the warrior heart), and wisdom itself (09:17)
    • Unpacking the concept of bodhicitta (13:54)
    • Metacognition: an ability we grow into in the later stages of ego development (16:52)
    • The richness of Tibetan Buddhism begins with the understanding that everything changes (21:37)
    • How do kindness and compassion follow from a realization of emptiness? (25:50)
    • There is emptiness and there is Clear Light, they are not the same (27:09)
    • If emptiness is the canvas and karma is the paint: how do I repaint for the future? (31:08)
    • Ethics and karma: everything we think, say, and do is the material cause for the next moment of our reality (32:54)
    • Ethical training starts with be kind, do no harm, because God (or Santa) is watching (35:00)
    • As we evolve, our ethics become more subtle and expand to include all people and the responsibility of becoming a light in the world (36:23)
    • Stepping into our divinity, our gifts and creativity (41:09)
    • Vajrajana ethics invite us to think about who is doing the giving, the recipient, and the gift (43:35)
    
    

    Resources & References

    • Kimberley Lafferty’s website: The Confluence Experience (Education, Community, Experiences)
    • 12-month living immersion in the STAGES matrix with Terri O’Fallon & Kimberley Lafferty
    • The Association for Spiritual Integrity (ASI)
    • Vajrayana Buddhism
    • Huston Smith, The World’s Religions
    • His Holiness the Dalai Lama, The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living
    • Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory
    • Dan Brown, Buddhist meditation teacher and author
    • Abraham Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being
    • Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind
    • Brian Daizen Victoria, Zen at War
    • The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series (Deep Transformation podcast series)
    
    

    ---

    Kimberley Theresa Lafferty is a seasoned teacher-practitioner specializing in constructive developmental psychology and Indo-Tibetan Vajrayana. She leads multi-year, private spiritual education cohorts with the Confluence Experience, and co-leads, with Terri O’Fallon, the penultimate Minds I year-long developmental course of Stages International. She is an active Board member for the Association for Spiritual Integrity. Kimberley is also a wife and mother to a young son, living in a remote valley of the North Cascades of North America which deeply impacts her worldview and practice.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 174 (Part 1 of 3) | Longtime spiritual practitioner, gifted teacher, Tibetan Buddhist lama, and developmental psychology specialist Kimberley Lafferty integrates contemporary psychology and wisdom tradition in this lively, luminous conversation about the process of awakening, the evolution of ethics, and the extraordinary capacities that come online as we mature into later stages of development. What do developmental perspectives have to add to our understanding of human nature and to spiritual practice? Our meaning-making shifts radically as we develop, Kimberley says, and because of that our reality itself shifts. This is why communicating with people with very different points of view can fail so miserably—one person’s reality is simply not the same as the next person’s reality. We need to discern, what is their meaning-making reality in this moment? What is ours?

    Throughout, Kimberley grounds the discussion in practical, real-life scenarios; she also shares intriguing research on later stage development that has found that as we mature, our senses evolve: our hearing evolves to deep attunement; our seeing evolves to witnessing, our capacity of touch evolves to embody presence. It’s exciting and inspiring to see the road ahead, to acquire new insights and tools to improve communication across cultural (and age) divides, to have the concept of bodhicitta unpacked so deftly and common misperceptions about emptiness corrected—and to witness Kimberley’s wise and zesty approach to life: “What connects us all is our luminous, aware consciousness,” she says, “and if we can lean into the messiness, I think we can find our way through.” Recorded October 3, 2024.

    “Applying a developmental understanding and developmental education is essential to any situation that we have.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing Kimberley Lafferty, teacher-practitioner specializing in developmental psychology and Indo-Tibetan Buddhism (01:02)
    • What drew Kimberley into Buddhism? Suffering! And an awakening experience (02:36)
    • The Dalai Lama’s path is what spoke to Kimberley’s feeling of losing her compass and Integral Theory kept her grounded in modernity (07:11)
    • The 3 interpenetrating principal paths of Tibetan Buddhism: ethics, bodhicitta (the path of the warrior heart), and wisdom itself (09:17)
    • Unpacking the concept of bodhicitta (13:54)
    • Metacognition: an ability we grow into in the later stages of ego development (16:52)
    • The richness of Tibetan Buddhism begins with the understanding that everything changes (21:37)
    • How do kindness and compassion follow from a realization of emptiness? (25:50)
    • There is emptiness and there is Clear Light, they are not the same (27:09)
    • If emptiness is the canvas and karma is the paint: how do I repaint for the future? (31:08)
    • Ethics and karma: everything we think, say, and do is the material cause for the next moment of our reality (32:54)
    • Ethical training starts with be kind, do no harm, because God (or Santa) is watching (35:00)
    • As we evolve, our ethics become more subtle and expand to include all people and the responsibility of becoming a light in the world (36:23)
    • Stepping into our divinity, our gifts and creativity (41:09)
    • Vajrajana ethics invite us to think about who is doing the giving, the recipient, and the gift (43:35)
    
    

    Resources & References

    • Kimberley Lafferty’s website: The Confluence Experience (Education, Community, Experiences)
    • 12-month living immersion in the STAGES matrix with Terri O’Fallon & Kimberley Lafferty
    • The Association for Spiritual Integrity (ASI)
    • Vajrayana Buddhism
    • Huston Smith, The World’s Religions
    • His Holiness the Dalai Lama, The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living
    • Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory
    • Dan Brown, Buddhist meditation teacher and author
    • Abraham Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being
    • Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind
    • Brian Daizen Victoria, Zen at War
    • The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series (Deep Transformation podcast series)
    
    

    ---

    Kimberley Theresa Lafferty is a seasoned teacher-practitioner specializing in constructive developmental psychology and Indo-Tibetan Vajrayana. She leads multi-year, private spiritual education cohorts with the Confluence Experience, and co-leads, with Terri O’Fallon, the penultimate Minds I year-long developmental course of Stages International. She is an active Board member for the Association for Spiritual Integrity. Kimberley is also a wife and mother to a young son, living in a remote valley of the North Cascades of North America which deeply impacts her worldview and practice.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>f54fea30-9287-4350-9c17-4b699468cbf9Thu, 20 Mar 2025 05:00:00 -040046:28falsefull174174Navigating the Inner Journey Home: To Presence, With Presence, In Presence with A. H. Almaas (Part 2)Ep. 173 (Part 2 of 2) | In this 8th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali gives a clear, colorful description of the three stages we go through on the spiritual path: the journey to presence, the journey with presence, and the journey in presence. “There’s much more to the journey than just being free of suffering,” he says, “in the journey with presence, there’s a whole universe to discover—unexpectedly we find there is a whole realm of splendor, beauty, freedom, and liberation.” In the third journey, the journey in presence, the stage of actualization, we are swimming in the ocean of presence or we are the presence itself. Hameed relates how impeccability, strong and pure like stainless steel, is an important part of actualizing presence, embodying our essence in our daily lives. “The ‘I am’ can function in the world as a person,” he explains, “I can be the vastness, an infinite, black, luminous night, completely formless, but still walk in the street as a person.”

    Hameed also talks about the “pearl beyond price”—the individuated self that brings a functional capacity to the isness, which is why it is of incomparable price—and the point of existence, point of light, or pure I-ness. He discusses the individuation of the soul and the realization that the nature of the soul is the nature of everything: this is the nondual experience. This dialogue is another treasure trove of spiritual transmission by Hameed—with humor, clarity, precision, and beautiful metaphor, his teachings, even as deeply profound and mysterious as they are, come as wonderful revelations for us to grasp onto, leading us forward on the inner journey home. Recorded January 3, 2025.

    “Presence is the ground of all reality.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • What is the I in ‘I am that’? A point of light, presence, existence (00:53)
    • I-am-that are three different things (04:25)
    • At some point, the point of light and the pearl beyond price become unified (06:56)
    • The ego self is insecure: that’s why there is selfishness (09:04)
    • With the realization of I am that, the “that” changes (12:30)
    • The “I am” can function in the world as a person: I can be the vastness, formless & infinite, but still walk in the street as a person (14:01)
    • In the source dimension, all people are nothing but organs of perception for the absolute (15:05)
    • What brought Hameed back from the absolute? (17:46)
    • Each teaching has their ultimate, but there is more than one ultimate (19:24)
    • There’s much more to the journey than just being free of suffering (20:31)
    • Ignorance never ends (21:26)
    • Is there a best way to study spirituality? (22:57)
    • The essentialization of the soul: recognizing that presence is our true nature, essence is a living consciousness (25:21)
    • Realizing the ground of being: the nature of the soul is the nature of everything; this is the nondual experience (27:18)
    • The issues that come up on the journey: psychodynamic, structural, existential & epistemological (33:17)
    
    

    Resources & References

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Dzogchen, a tradition of teachings in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Bön aimed at discovering and continuing in the ultimate ground of existence
    • Advaita Vedanta
    • A. H. Almaas, The Pearl Beyond Price: Integration of Personality into Being: An Object Relations Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Point of Existence: Transformations of Narcissism in Self-Realization
    • Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That
    • Isaac Newton, “I do not know what I may appear to the world…”
    • A. H. Almaas, Luminous Night’s Journey: An Autobiographical Fragment
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 173 (Part 2 of 2) | In this 8th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali gives a clear, colorful description of the three stages we go through on the spiritual path: the journey to presence, the journey with presence, and the journey in presence. “There’s much more to the journey than just being free of suffering,” he says, “in the journey with presence, there’s a whole universe to discover—unexpectedly we find there is a whole realm of splendor, beauty, freedom, and liberation.” In the third journey, the journey in presence, the stage of actualization, we are swimming in the ocean of presence or we are the presence itself. Hameed relates how impeccability, strong and pure like stainless steel, is an important part of actualizing presence, embodying our essence in our daily lives. “The ‘I am’ can function in the world as a person,” he explains, “I can be the vastness, an infinite, black, luminous night, completely formless, but still walk in the street as a person.”

    Hameed also talks about the “pearl beyond price”—the individuated self that brings a functional capacity to the isness, which is why it is of incomparable price—and the point of existence, point of light, or pure I-ness. He discusses the individuation of the soul and the realization that the nature of the soul is the nature of everything: this is the nondual experience. This dialogue is another treasure trove of spiritual transmission by Hameed—with humor, clarity, precision, and beautiful metaphor, his teachings, even as deeply profound and mysterious as they are, come as wonderful revelations for us to grasp onto, leading us forward on the inner journey home. Recorded January 3, 2025.

    “Presence is the ground of all reality.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • What is the I in ‘I am that’? A point of light, presence, existence (00:53)
    • I-am-that are three different things (04:25)
    • At some point, the point of light and the pearl beyond price become unified (06:56)
    • The ego self is insecure: that’s why there is selfishness (09:04)
    • With the realization of I am that, the “that” changes (12:30)
    • The “I am” can function in the world as a person: I can be the vastness, formless & infinite, but still walk in the street as a person (14:01)
    • In the source dimension, all people are nothing but organs of perception for the absolute (15:05)
    • What brought Hameed back from the absolute? (17:46)
    • Each teaching has their ultimate, but there is more than one ultimate (19:24)
    • There’s much more to the journey than just being free of suffering (20:31)
    • Ignorance never ends (21:26)
    • Is there a best way to study spirituality? (22:57)
    • The essentialization of the soul: recognizing that presence is our true nature, essence is a living consciousness (25:21)
    • Realizing the ground of being: the nature of the soul is the nature of everything; this is the nondual experience (27:18)
    • The issues that come up on the journey: psychodynamic, structural, existential & epistemological (33:17)
    
    

    Resources & References

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Dzogchen, a tradition of teachings in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Bön aimed at discovering and continuing in the ultimate ground of existence
    • Advaita Vedanta
    • A. H. Almaas, The Pearl Beyond Price: Integration of Personality into Being: An Object Relations Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Point of Existence: Transformations of Narcissism in Self-Realization
    • Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That
    • Isaac Newton, “I do not know what I may appear to the world…”
    • A. H. Almaas, Luminous Night’s Journey: An Autobiographical Fragment
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>15f4c9cb-7fde-43a4-ade9-0d76e0e0055eThu, 13 Mar 2025 05:00:00 -040039:45falsefull173173Navigating the Inner Journey Home: To Presence, With Presence, In Presence with A. H. AlmaasEp. 172 (Part 1 of 2) | In this 8th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali gives a clear, colorful description of the three stages we go through on the spiritual path: the journey to presence, the journey with presence, and the journey in presence. “There’s much more to the journey than just being free of suffering,” he says, “in the journey with presence, there’s a whole universe to discover—unexpectedly we find there is a whole realm of splendor, beauty, freedom, and liberation.” In the third journey, the journey in presence, the stage of actualization, we are swimming in the ocean of presence or we are the presence itself. Hameed relates how impeccability, strong and pure like stainless steel, is an important part of actualizing presence, embodying our essence in our daily lives. “The ‘I am’ can function in the world as a person,” he explains, “I can be the vastness, an infinite, black, luminous night, completely formless, but still walk in the street as a person.”

    Hameed also talks about the “pearl beyond price”—the individuated self that brings a functional capacity to the isness, which is why it is of incomparable price—and the point of existence, point of light, or pure I-ness. He discusses the individuation of the soul and the realization that the nature of the soul is the nature of everything: this is the nondual experience. This dialogue is another treasure trove of spiritual transmission by Hameed—with humor, clarity, precision, and beautiful metaphor, his teachings, even as deeply profound and mysterious as they are, come as wonderful revelations for us to grasp onto, leading us forward on the inner journey home. Recorded January 3, 2025.

    “The experience of presence is the defining experience of this path.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing the 8th dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, which focuses on the 15th chapter of The Inner Journey Home: “The Inner Journey” (00:56)
    • Hameed outlines 3 stages of the inner journey: the journey to presence, the journey with presence, the journey in presence (03:00)
    • First, the individual soul, structured through early life experience, begins (with practice) to recognize presence (09:50)
    • Second is the journey with presence: working with the theory of holes before opening to spaciousness (12:22)
    • The second stage is the fun part—when everything is completely new and somewhat miraculous (14:56)
    • Experiencing the true potential of a human being: unexpectedly we find there is a whole realm of splendor, beauty, freedom & liberation (17:59)
    • The third journey is actualization, when we are swimming in the ocean of presence or we are the presence itself: self-realization; the self is the presence (19:55)
    • Impeccability: living in a way that is faithful to our true nature (21:12)
    • Roger’s summary of Hameed’s points: presence is not static, learning about true nature is an ongoing, marvelous surprise, viewing spiritual maturation along a spectrum, and how realizing presence brings with it the deep desire that all beings experience it (23:34)
    • In other traditions, there isn’t much discussion beyond the realization itself (25:56)
    • The world is never “fixed” (28:55)
    • Part of the soul’s maturation is individuation; personal-ness turns out to be a quality of presence (30:10)
    • The pearl beyond price (the individuated self) is known also to the gnostics, the Sufis, the Taoists… it is protected by a fearsome monster (the ego) (33:28)
    • The point of light, the point of existence, is pure “I-ness” (38:42)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Dzogchen, a tradition of teachings in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Bön aimed at discovering and continuing in the ultimate ground of existence
    • Advaita Vedanta
    • A. H. Almaas, The Pearl Beyond Price: Integration of Personality into Being: An Object Relations Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Point of Existence: Transformations of Narcissism in Self-Realization
    • Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That
    • Isaac Newton, “I do not know what I may appear to the world…”
    • A. H. Almaas, Luminous Night’s Journey: An Autobiographical Fragment
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 172 (Part 1 of 2) | In this 8th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali gives a clear, colorful description of the three stages we go through on the spiritual path: the journey to presence, the journey with presence, and the journey in presence. “There’s much more to the journey than just being free of suffering,” he says, “in the journey with presence, there’s a whole universe to discover—unexpectedly we find there is a whole realm of splendor, beauty, freedom, and liberation.” In the third journey, the journey in presence, the stage of actualization, we are swimming in the ocean of presence or we are the presence itself. Hameed relates how impeccability, strong and pure like stainless steel, is an important part of actualizing presence, embodying our essence in our daily lives. “The ‘I am’ can function in the world as a person,” he explains, “I can be the vastness, an infinite, black, luminous night, completely formless, but still walk in the street as a person.”

    Hameed also talks about the “pearl beyond price”—the individuated self that brings a functional capacity to the isness, which is why it is of incomparable price—and the point of existence, point of light, or pure I-ness. He discusses the individuation of the soul and the realization that the nature of the soul is the nature of everything: this is the nondual experience. This dialogue is another treasure trove of spiritual transmission by Hameed—with humor, clarity, precision, and beautiful metaphor, his teachings, even as deeply profound and mysterious as they are, come as wonderful revelations for us to grasp onto, leading us forward on the inner journey home. Recorded January 3, 2025.

    “The experience of presence is the defining experience of this path.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing the 8th dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, which focuses on the 15th chapter of The Inner Journey Home: “The Inner Journey” (00:56)
    • Hameed outlines 3 stages of the inner journey: the journey to presence, the journey with presence, the journey in presence (03:00)
    • First, the individual soul, structured through early life experience, begins (with practice) to recognize presence (09:50)
    • Second is the journey with presence: working with the theory of holes before opening to spaciousness (12:22)
    • The second stage is the fun part—when everything is completely new and somewhat miraculous (14:56)
    • Experiencing the true potential of a human being: unexpectedly we find there is a whole realm of splendor, beauty, freedom & liberation (17:59)
    • The third journey is actualization, when we are swimming in the ocean of presence or we are the presence itself: self-realization; the self is the presence (19:55)
    • Impeccability: living in a way that is faithful to our true nature (21:12)
    • Roger’s summary of Hameed’s points: presence is not static, learning about true nature is an ongoing, marvelous surprise, viewing spiritual maturation along a spectrum, and how realizing presence brings with it the deep desire that all beings experience it (23:34)
    • In other traditions, there isn’t much discussion beyond the realization itself (25:56)
    • The world is never “fixed” (28:55)
    • Part of the soul’s maturation is individuation; personal-ness turns out to be a quality of presence (30:10)
    • The pearl beyond price (the individuated self) is known also to the gnostics, the Sufis, the Taoists… it is protected by a fearsome monster (the ego) (33:28)
    • The point of light, the point of existence, is pure “I-ness” (38:42)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Dzogchen, a tradition of teachings in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Bön aimed at discovering and continuing in the ultimate ground of existence
    • Advaita Vedanta
    • A. H. Almaas, The Pearl Beyond Price: Integration of Personality into Being: An Object Relations Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Point of Existence: Transformations of Narcissism in Self-Realization
    • Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That
    • Isaac Newton, “I do not know what I may appear to the world…”
    • A. H. Almaas, Luminous Night’s Journey: An Autobiographical Fragment
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>97542c60-7cde-4ecc-9ddf-d120a9a96254Thu, 06 Mar 2025 05:00:00 -040041:20falsefull172172Trauma Treatment in Ukraine: Facing and Healing the Horrendous Wounds of War with Mark Walsh & Kristina Obluchynska (Part 2)Ep. 171 (Part 2 of 2) | An emotionally powerful and deeply inspiring conversation with renowned embodiment and trauma educator Mark Walsh from the U.K. and Ukrainian psychologist and trauma trainer Kristina Obluchynska, where we learn about effective ways of treating trauma in the middle of an ongoing war, what trauma therapists are left holding, and how beautiful is the human spirit when it embraces right action. When Russia commenced its full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago, Mark went to Ukraine, located willing psychology students, educated them in body-oriented trauma therapy and training, and with Kristina and several other trainees co-founded Sane Ukraine, with the urgent mission of preventing an epidemic of trauma disorders in Ukraine. Beginning with applying trauma first aid and teaching resilience skills in places like the local railroad station where people were coming in from the front lines, and in bomb shelters, Kristina and several other psychologists have now educated thousands of people about trauma—active duty soldiers, veterans, survivors, wives of combatants, and first-line responders such as doctors, teachers, and social workers—and trained hundreds of them to become trauma trainers themselves. 

    It is an honor to bear witness to Mark’s courageous actions and the humble heroism of Kristina and her team in the face of the devastation being leveled on Ukraine and Ukrainians. “We don’t grieve,” Kristina tells us, “because grief comes after safety. We don’t even use the word safe anymore,” she continues, “only relatively safe.” Mark points out that modern warfare is not just running around with guns—drones hunt civilians and if you move, they kill you. “Do we all have PTSD?” the soldiers ask. With Sane Ukraine, there is someone to answer their questions and teach them what they can do to help themselves and each other. Resilience comes from relationship—from connection to self, others, nature, and spirit. Does the concept of post traumatic growth even apply considering the intensity of this war? co-host Roger wonders. At the end of this extraordinary, heartfelt conversation, when asked what we could do to help, Kristina advises, “Help the army. We are talking here about healing, but what we really need is to survive.” Recorded January 9, 2025.

    “It’s not reasonable for young women to be talking about mass rape and torture in dark bomb shelters . . . There’s a darkness that will be there perhaps forever.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Surviving Bucha (00:57)
    • The pros and cons of group work (03:23)
    • Does the concept of post traumatic growth apply in the intensity of this war? (05:40)
    • Singing traditional songs helps foster the belief that we will survive this (09:50)
    • How does Mark help trainers to find strength? Love people unconditionally and continually (12:31)
    • There are actually less mental health problems in Ukraine than in the UK or the US (16:35)
    • What has been most inspiring for Mark? The girls—and the purity of the work (17:24)
    • The hardest thing? The huge grief (18:53)
    • What are Kristina’s practices to keep sane? (20:05)
    • What is the hardest for Kristina? The guilt is the worst (23:38)
    • What is most inspiring for Kristina? The ability to do something for people who have been in the war (25:02)
    • What is the difference between pre-Ukraine Mark and post-Ukraine Mark? (26:33)
    • The pre-war Kristina and the post-war Kristina: everything is possible (28:12)
    • How can listeners help? Sane Ukraine could use funding & educational support; professionals could offer tension & trauma releasing (TRE) trainings (31:39)
    • Help the army: we are talking about healing, but what we really need is to survive (33:49)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • The Masha Fund, helping Ukrainian women overcome the psychological consequences of war
    • Stuart Heller, The Dance of Becoming: Living Life as a Martial Art*
    • Veteran Hub: providing peer-to peer veteran support, also serving those who are waiting for or who have lost loved ones in service
    • The Association of Families of Defenders of Azovstal, the defenders of Mariupol united to accelerate the processes related to the return of soldiers home
    • Mark Walsh, Kristina Obluchynska, co-founders, Sane Ukraine
    • Mark Walsh, founder and CEO of Embodiment Unlimited
    • Kristina Obluchynska can be contacted through Deep Transformation Podcast’s support email
    • Mark Walsh, The Body in Coaching and Training: An Introduction to Embodied Facilitation,* Embodied Meditation: Mindfulness, the Body, and Daily Life*
    • Mark’s Embodiment Coaching Podcast
    
    ]]>Ep. 171 (Part 2 of 2) | An emotionally powerful and deeply inspiring conversation with renowned embodiment and trauma educator Mark Walsh from the U.K. and Ukrainian psychologist and trauma trainer Kristina Obluchynska, where we learn about effective ways of treating trauma in the middle of an ongoing war, what trauma therapists are left holding, and how beautiful is the human spirit when it embraces right action. When Russia commenced its full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago, Mark went to Ukraine, located willing psychology students, educated them in body-oriented trauma therapy and training, and with Kristina and several other trainees co-founded Sane Ukraine, with the urgent mission of preventing an epidemic of trauma disorders in Ukraine. Beginning with applying trauma first aid and teaching resilience skills in places like the local railroad station where people were coming in from the front lines, and in bomb shelters, Kristina and several other psychologists have now educated thousands of people about trauma—active duty soldiers, veterans, survivors, wives of combatants, and first-line responders such as doctors, teachers, and social workers—and trained hundreds of them to become trauma trainers themselves. 

    It is an honor to bear witness to Mark’s courageous actions and the humble heroism of Kristina and her team in the face of the devastation being leveled on Ukraine and Ukrainians. “We don’t grieve,” Kristina tells us, “because grief comes after safety. We don’t even use the word safe anymore,” she continues, “only relatively safe.” Mark points out that modern warfare is not just running around with guns—drones hunt civilians and if you move, they kill you. “Do we all have PTSD?” the soldiers ask. With Sane Ukraine, there is someone to answer their questions and teach them what they can do to help themselves and each other. Resilience comes from relationship—from connection to self, others, nature, and spirit. Does the concept of post traumatic growth even apply considering the intensity of this war? co-host Roger wonders. At the end of this extraordinary, heartfelt conversation, when asked what we could do to help, Kristina advises, “Help the army. We are talking here about healing, but what we really need is to survive.” Recorded January 9, 2025.

    “It’s not reasonable for young women to be talking about mass rape and torture in dark bomb shelters . . . There’s a darkness that will be there perhaps forever.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Surviving Bucha (00:57)
    • The pros and cons of group work (03:23)
    • Does the concept of post traumatic growth apply in the intensity of this war? (05:40)
    • Singing traditional songs helps foster the belief that we will survive this (09:50)
    • How does Mark help trainers to find strength? Love people unconditionally and continually (12:31)
    • There are actually less mental health problems in Ukraine than in the UK or the US (16:35)
    • What has been most inspiring for Mark? The girls—and the purity of the work (17:24)
    • The hardest thing? The huge grief (18:53)
    • What are Kristina’s practices to keep sane? (20:05)
    • What is the hardest for Kristina? The guilt is the worst (23:38)
    • What is most inspiring for Kristina? The ability to do something for people who have been in the war (25:02)
    • What is the difference between pre-Ukraine Mark and post-Ukraine Mark? (26:33)
    • The pre-war Kristina and the post-war Kristina: everything is possible (28:12)
    • How can listeners help? Sane Ukraine could use funding & educational support; professionals could offer tension & trauma releasing (TRE) trainings (31:39)
    • Help the army: we are talking about healing, but what we really need is to survive (33:49)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • The Masha Fund, helping Ukrainian women overcome the psychological consequences of war
    • Stuart Heller, The Dance of Becoming: Living Life as a Martial Art*
    • Veteran Hub: providing peer-to peer veteran support, also serving those who are waiting for or who have lost loved ones in service
    • The Association of Families of Defenders of Azovstal, the defenders of Mariupol united to accelerate the processes related to the return of soldiers home
    • Mark Walsh, Kristina Obluchynska, co-founders, Sane Ukraine
    • Mark Walsh, founder and CEO of Embodiment Unlimited
    • Kristina Obluchynska can be contacted through Deep Transformation Podcast’s support email
    • Mark Walsh, The Body in Coaching and Training: An Introduction to Embodied Facilitation,* Embodied Meditation: Mindfulness, the Body, and Daily Life*
    • Mark’s Embodiment Coaching Podcast
    
    ]]>7e683264-7e44-4b89-8d06-d6b68c9e51d8Thu, 27 Feb 2025 05:00:00 -040036:26truefull171171Trauma Treatment in Ukraine: Facing and Healing the Horrendous Wounds of War with Mark Walsh & Kristina ObluchynskaEp. 170 (Part 1 of 2) | An emotionally powerful and deeply inspiring conversation with renowned embodiment and trauma educator Mark Walsh from the U.K. and Ukrainian psychologist and trauma trainer Kristina Obluchynska, where we learn about effective ways of treating trauma in the middle of an ongoing war, what trauma therapists are left holding, and how beautiful is the human spirit when it embraces right action. When Russia commenced its full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago, Mark went to Ukraine, located willing psychology students, educated them in body-oriented trauma therapy and training, and with Kristina and several other trainees co-founded Sane Ukraine, with the urgent mission of preventing an epidemic of trauma disorders in Ukraine. Beginning with applying trauma first aid and teaching resilience skills in places like the local railroad station where people were coming in from the front lines, and in bomb shelters, Kristina and several other psychologists have now educated thousands of people about trauma—active duty soldiers, veterans, survivors, wives of combatants, and first-line responders such as doctors, teachers, and social workers—and trained hundreds of them to become trauma trainers themselves. 

    It is an honor to bear witness to Mark’s courageous actions and the humble heroism of Kristina and her team in the face of the devastation being leveled on Ukraine and Ukrainians. “We don’t grieve,” Kristina tells us, “because grief comes after safety. We don’t even use the word safe anymore,” she continues, “only relatively safe.” Mark points out that modern warfare is not just running around with guns—drones hunt civilians and if you move, they kill you. “Do we all have PTSD?” the soldiers ask. With Sane Ukraine, there is someone to answer their questions and teach them what they can do to help themselves and each other. Resilience comes from relationship—from connection to self, others, nature, and spirit. Does the concept of post traumatic growth even apply considering the intensity of this war? co-host Roger wonders. At the end of this extraordinary, heartfelt conversation, when asked what we could do to help, Kristina advises, “Help the army. We are talking here about healing, but what we really need is to survive.” Recorded January 9, 2025.

    “There is nothing that can prepare human psychology for modern warfare.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing Mark Walsh, trauma trainer, author, founder & CEO of Embodiment Unlimited, and Kristina Obluchynska, clinical psychologist & trauma therapist, who together co-founded Sane Ukraine to provide training in trauma therapy and resilience skills to professionals, soldiers, combatants’ families and more (01:03)
    • What compelled Mark to get involved in Ukraine and found Sane Ukraine? (02:33)
    • How did Kristina get involved with Mark’s trauma training? (06:29)
    • It requires 3 hours a day of body/mind practice to keep trainees in a state where they can learn something in between running to the bomb shelters (08:30)
    • Trauma training started happening in person all over the place: Lviv is now the world’s most trauma-informed city (11:11)
    • When Kristina and her team were invited to do combat resilience training, they were told, “We have 2,000 soldiers, please do something for them!” (13:11)
    • Training psychologists, social workers, veterans, and wives of combatants (14:01)
    • Elements of the 3-day training: tactic, tactic medicine, psychological resilience (15:42)
    • Combatants ask, “Do we all have PTSD?” (17:44)
    • What are the symptoms of trauma? (18:28)
    • Nothing can prepare human psychology for modern warfare (20:06)
    • Now it’s all about exhaustion, because the only way out is to be injured, or dead (22:55)
    • Meaning is a resilience factor: Man’s Search for Meaning is the most sold book in Ukraine, ever (25:10)
    • The importance of relationship: connection to self, to others, to the land, to spirit (28:08)
    • Healing mountain trips for veterans have a dramatically positive effect (29:27)
    • What are trauma therapists like Kristina and her team holding? (31:49)
    • We don’t use the word safe anymore—only “relatively safe” (34:24)
    • Using humor and selling trauma therapy (36:41)
    • Using Stephen Porges’ traffic light model (39:09)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Mark Walsh, Kristina Obluchynska, co-founders, Sane Ukraine
    • Mark Walsh, founder and CEO of Embodiment Unlimited
    • Kristina Obluchynska can be contacted through Deep Transformation Podcast’s support email
    • Mark Walsh, The Body in Coaching and Training: An Introduction to Embodied Facilitation,* Embodied Meditation: Mindfulness, the Body, and Daily Life*
    • Mark’s Embodiment Coaching Podcast
    • Polyvagal theory
    • Stephen Porges, The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory: The Transformative Power of Feeling Safe*
    • EMDR Ukraine
    • Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning*
    • Colorado’s Huts for Vets, wilderness therapy for veterans and active-duty service members
    • The traffic light model, Dr. Stephen Porges: What is the Polyvagal Theory? (YouTube video) 
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    “Mr Embodiment” (Mark Walsh) is the author of The Body in Coaching and Training: An Introduction to Embodied Facilitation and Embodied Meditation. Mark hosts The Embodiment Coaching Podcast (3 million+ downloads), and led the world’s largest Zoom event, The Embodiment Conference. He founded the Embodied Facilitator Course, and has trained over 2,000 embodiment coaches in over 40 countries. Mark went to Ukraine twice during the recent conflict and set up saneukraine.org, a charity now run solely by Ukrainian professionals to provide trauma and embodiment training to trainers, therapists, and coaches. Mark has worked in war zones, and entertained over 50,000 children. He has headlined International Coach Federation events, taught at Moscow State University, and lived with the circus in Ethiopia. Mark is an aikido black belt, and has 25 years of experience in other martial arts, yoga, bodywork, improv comedy, conscious dance, and meditation. Embodiment is his obsession, life’s work, and frankly, at this point, he couldn’t get a job doing anything else. 

    ---

    Kristina Obluchynska is a clinical psychologist, in the process of training to be a psychotherapist with a medical background. In her practice, Kristina integrates gestalt and body-oriented psychotherapy with trauma therapy methods, and uses nature-based therapy as well....]]>Ep. 170 (Part 1 of 2) | An emotionally powerful and deeply inspiring conversation with renowned embodiment and trauma educator Mark Walsh from the U.K. and Ukrainian psychologist and trauma trainer Kristina Obluchynska, where we learn about effective ways of treating trauma in the middle of an ongoing war, what trauma therapists are left holding, and how beautiful is the human spirit when it embraces right action. When Russia commenced its full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago, Mark went to Ukraine, located willing psychology students, educated them in body-oriented trauma therapy and training, and with Kristina and several other trainees co-founded Sane Ukraine, with the urgent mission of preventing an epidemic of trauma disorders in Ukraine. Beginning with applying trauma first aid and teaching resilience skills in places like the local railroad station where people were coming in from the front lines, and in bomb shelters, Kristina and several other psychologists have now educated thousands of people about trauma—active duty soldiers, veterans, survivors, wives of combatants, and first-line responders such as doctors, teachers, and social workers—and trained hundreds of them to become trauma trainers themselves. 

    It is an honor to bear witness to Mark’s courageous actions and the humble heroism of Kristina and her team in the face of the devastation being leveled on Ukraine and Ukrainians. “We don’t grieve,” Kristina tells us, “because grief comes after safety. We don’t even use the word safe anymore,” she continues, “only relatively safe.” Mark points out that modern warfare is not just running around with guns—drones hunt civilians and if you move, they kill you. “Do we all have PTSD?” the soldiers ask. With Sane Ukraine, there is someone to answer their questions and teach them what they can do to help themselves and each other. Resilience comes from relationship—from connection to self, others, nature, and spirit. Does the concept of post traumatic growth even apply considering the intensity of this war? co-host Roger wonders. At the end of this extraordinary, heartfelt conversation, when asked what we could do to help, Kristina advises, “Help the army. We are talking here about healing, but what we really need is to survive.” Recorded January 9, 2025.

    “There is nothing that can prepare human psychology for modern warfare.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing Mark Walsh, trauma trainer, author, founder & CEO of Embodiment Unlimited, and Kristina Obluchynska, clinical psychologist & trauma therapist, who together co-founded Sane Ukraine to provide training in trauma therapy and resilience skills to professionals, soldiers, combatants’ families and more (01:03)
    • What compelled Mark to get involved in Ukraine and found Sane Ukraine? (02:33)
    • How did Kristina get involved with Mark’s trauma training? (06:29)
    • It requires 3 hours a day of body/mind practice to keep trainees in a state where they can learn something in between running to the bomb shelters (08:30)
    • Trauma training started happening in person all over the place: Lviv is now the world’s most trauma-informed city (11:11)
    • When Kristina and her team were invited to do combat resilience training, they were told, “We have 2,000 soldiers, please do something for them!” (13:11)
    • Training psychologists, social workers, veterans, and wives of combatants (14:01)
    • Elements of the 3-day training: tactic, tactic medicine, psychological resilience (15:42)
    • Combatants ask, “Do we all have PTSD?” (17:44)
    • What are the symptoms of trauma? (18:28)
    • Nothing can prepare human psychology for modern warfare (20:06)
    • Now it’s all about exhaustion, because the only way out is to be injured, or dead (22:55)
    • Meaning is a resilience factor: Man’s Search for Meaning is the most sold book in Ukraine, ever (25:10)
    • The importance of relationship: connection to self, to others, to the land, to spirit (28:08)
    • Healing mountain trips for veterans have a dramatically positive effect (29:27)
    • What are trauma therapists like Kristina and her team holding? (31:49)
    • We don’t use the word safe anymore—only “relatively safe” (34:24)
    • Using humor and selling trauma therapy (36:41)
    • Using Stephen Porges’ traffic light model (39:09)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Mark Walsh, Kristina Obluchynska, co-founders, Sane Ukraine
    • Mark Walsh, founder and CEO of Embodiment Unlimited
    • Kristina Obluchynska can be contacted through Deep Transformation Podcast’s support email
    • Mark Walsh, The Body in Coaching and Training: An Introduction to Embodied Facilitation,* Embodied Meditation: Mindfulness, the Body, and Daily Life*
    • Mark’s Embodiment Coaching Podcast
    • Polyvagal theory
    • Stephen Porges, The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory: The Transformative Power of Feeling Safe*
    • EMDR Ukraine
    • Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning*
    • Colorado’s Huts for Vets, wilderness therapy for veterans and active-duty service members
    • The traffic light model, Dr. Stephen Porges: What is the Polyvagal Theory? (YouTube video) 
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    “Mr Embodiment” (Mark Walsh) is the author of The Body in Coaching and Training: An Introduction to Embodied Facilitation and Embodied Meditation. Mark hosts The Embodiment Coaching Podcast (3 million+ downloads), and led the world’s largest Zoom event, The Embodiment Conference. He founded the Embodied Facilitator Course, and has trained over 2,000 embodiment coaches in over 40 countries. Mark went to Ukraine twice during the recent conflict and set up saneukraine.org, a charity now run solely by Ukrainian professionals to provide trauma and embodiment training to trainers, therapists, and coaches. Mark has worked in war zones, and entertained over 50,000 children. He has headlined International Coach Federation events, taught at Moscow State University, and lived with the circus in Ethiopia. Mark is an aikido black belt, and has 25 years of experience in other martial arts, yoga, bodywork, improv comedy, conscious dance, and meditation. Embodiment is his obsession, life’s work, and frankly, at this point, he couldn’t get a job doing anything else. 

    ---

    Kristina Obluchynska is a clinical psychologist, in the process of training to be a psychotherapist with a medical background. In her practice, Kristina integrates gestalt and body-oriented psychotherapy with trauma therapy methods, and uses nature-based therapy as well. Kristina’s main work is done with combatants and veterans and their families, as well as with first-line responders in Ukraine, such as doctors and social workers. Together with her colleagues and with Mark Walsh’s help, she co-founded Sane Ukraine, a charity foundation with more than 60 trainers that provides knowledge about trauma and psychological first aid to combatants and civilians. The full-scale invasion of Ukraine caught Kristina and her colleagues when they were Master’s Degree students at Ukrainian Catholic University, and Kristina is now an assistant at the Department of Clinical Psychology, sharing knowledge about psychological trauma and how to work with it using various approaches. Kristina loves and believes in Ukraine—she participated in the Revolution of Dignity and actively supports the Ukrainian army via psychological trainings and volunteer work.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>20ab9285-ca64-4b9e-b887-64c34c8dd6a7Thu, 20 Feb 2025 05:00:00 -040041:54truefull170170Relationship’s Farther Reaches: Exploring the Potentials of Loving, Learning & Growing Together (Part 2)Ep. 169 (Part 2 of 2) | Integral psychologist Keith Witt can’t get enough of the magic and beauty that happens in relationships as people begin to develop what he calls “a post-issue consciousness.” He explains that when our executive self, our wise self or witness, kicks in and forges a caring connection with the places where we hold our hurt and our traumas, then integration and healing start to happen, eventually with almost no conscious energy expenditure. “My job is to help people develop the witness,” Keith says, so they can observe their defensive or destructive states and reach for compassionate understanding, for themselves, for their partner, and for others.

    Keith tells us the three foundations of the modern marriage are friendship, a love affair, and an ability to resolve issues that come up, and says the shift to a post-issue relationship happens when all three facets become intentional. “Post-issue couples don’t let things get in the way of their love,” he says. Throughout the conversation, Keith shares a goldmine of therapeutic wisdom on the subject of relationships, including the client/therapist relationship, and in true Integral fashion, he includes perspectives from all sorts of interesting angles, such as our evolutionary development, neural development, and moral and spiritual development. This discussion is warm, friendly, cheerful, lively, and chock full of useful information and insights. Keith’s excitement about the evolutionary directionality of human relationships is contagious and inspiring. Recorded August 16, 2024.

    “We have a responsibility to be our best self, our wise self, all the time… this is a good place to grow towards as an individual—and a necessary way to grow as a psychotherapist.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Having an agreed-on, go-to technique for when problems arise (01:27)
    • The defensive state wants to attack or flee, and the stories you tell yourself to justify attacking or fleeing (03:18)
    • Distinguishing between constructive guidance and destructive shadow (04:32)
    • Flexibility in couples therapy: going on instinct (07:52)
    • Discourse and dialectic is a 21st century metapsychology (10:19)
    • The developmental process of becoming more sensitive to when you’re “off” and also to when your relationship is “off” (12:36)
    • A flourishing relationship is a liberation (15:05)
    • Being a transpersonal therapist means you don’t take things personally (16:47)
    • Therapist/client relationship is a major determinant of outcome (18:56)
    • Growing toward being our best self all of the time is a good directionality (21:46) 
    • The importance of telling the truth skillfully and compassionate understanding (23:29)
    • The 6 foundational moral states we are born with get corrupted by defensive states (26:39)
    • Radical acceptance: there is nothing I cannot share with my partner (29:44)
    • Is forceful intervention ever necessary? Recovery from addiction comes before working on a relationship (32:52)
    • Post-issue moments are our human birthright (42:31) 
    • Looking for deeper truths about the human experience in conversations like this is enacting a 21st century metapsychology (43:04) 
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Dr. Keith Witt’s website: https://drkeithwitt.com/
    • Keith Witt, From Trauma and Transcendence (free eBook)
    • Keith Witt, The Gift of Shame: Why We Need Shame and How To Use it To Love and Grow*
    • Keith Witt, Waking Up: Psychotherapy as Art, Spirituality, and Science (free eBook)
    • Helen Schucman, A Course of Miracles* (Foundation for Inner Peace)
    • Keith Witt, Shadow Light: Illuminations at the Edge of Darkness*
    • Keith Witt, Loving Completely: A Five Star Practice for Creating Great Relationships*
    • Miyamoto Musashi, Book of Five Rings* 
    • Roger Walsh, The Perennial Wisdom of A Course in Miracles: The Course and the Four Yogas
    • Esther Perel: Your Guide to Relationship Intelligence
    • Carl Rogers, Client-Centered Therapy: Its Current Practice, Implications, and Theory*
    • Roberk Carkhuff, Seven Skills Summary (Primary Goals website)
    • Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion*
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Dr. Keith Witt is a Licensed Psychologist, teacher, and author who has lived and worked in Santa Barbara since 1973. He has conducted over 75,000 therapy sessions and published ten books, including Loving Completely, Shadow Light, and Integral Mindfulness. His books Waking Up and Sessions were two of the first books on Integrally informed psychotherapy. In presentations and classes around the U.S. and internationally, Keith has explored love, therapy, interpersonal relationships, and development from multiple perspectives, weaving neuroscience, Integral theory, wisdom traditions, and numerous forms of psychotherapy into a coherent cosmology of love and healing.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 169 (Part 2 of 2) | Integral psychologist Keith Witt can’t get enough of the magic and beauty that happens in relationships as people begin to develop what he calls “a post-issue consciousness.” He explains that when our executive self, our wise self or witness, kicks in and forges a caring connection with the places where we hold our hurt and our traumas, then integration and healing start to happen, eventually with almost no conscious energy expenditure. “My job is to help people develop the witness,” Keith says, so they can observe their defensive or destructive states and reach for compassionate understanding, for themselves, for their partner, and for others.

    Keith tells us the three foundations of the modern marriage are friendship, a love affair, and an ability to resolve issues that come up, and says the shift to a post-issue relationship happens when all three facets become intentional. “Post-issue couples don’t let things get in the way of their love,” he says. Throughout the conversation, Keith shares a goldmine of therapeutic wisdom on the subject of relationships, including the client/therapist relationship, and in true Integral fashion, he includes perspectives from all sorts of interesting angles, such as our evolutionary development, neural development, and moral and spiritual development. This discussion is warm, friendly, cheerful, lively, and chock full of useful information and insights. Keith’s excitement about the evolutionary directionality of human relationships is contagious and inspiring. Recorded August 16, 2024.

    “We have a responsibility to be our best self, our wise self, all the time… this is a good place to grow towards as an individual—and a necessary way to grow as a psychotherapist.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Having an agreed-on, go-to technique for when problems arise (01:27)
    • The defensive state wants to attack or flee, and the stories you tell yourself to justify attacking or fleeing (03:18)
    • Distinguishing between constructive guidance and destructive shadow (04:32)
    • Flexibility in couples therapy: going on instinct (07:52)
    • Discourse and dialectic is a 21st century metapsychology (10:19)
    • The developmental process of becoming more sensitive to when you’re “off” and also to when your relationship is “off” (12:36)
    • A flourishing relationship is a liberation (15:05)
    • Being a transpersonal therapist means you don’t take things personally (16:47)
    • Therapist/client relationship is a major determinant of outcome (18:56)
    • Growing toward being our best self all of the time is a good directionality (21:46) 
    • The importance of telling the truth skillfully and compassionate understanding (23:29)
    • The 6 foundational moral states we are born with get corrupted by defensive states (26:39)
    • Radical acceptance: there is nothing I cannot share with my partner (29:44)
    • Is forceful intervention ever necessary? Recovery from addiction comes before working on a relationship (32:52)
    • Post-issue moments are our human birthright (42:31) 
    • Looking for deeper truths about the human experience in conversations like this is enacting a 21st century metapsychology (43:04) 
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Dr. Keith Witt’s website: https://drkeithwitt.com/
    • Keith Witt, From Trauma and Transcendence (free eBook)
    • Keith Witt, The Gift of Shame: Why We Need Shame and How To Use it To Love and Grow*
    • Keith Witt, Waking Up: Psychotherapy as Art, Spirituality, and Science (free eBook)
    • Helen Schucman, A Course of Miracles* (Foundation for Inner Peace)
    • Keith Witt, Shadow Light: Illuminations at the Edge of Darkness*
    • Keith Witt, Loving Completely: A Five Star Practice for Creating Great Relationships*
    • Miyamoto Musashi, Book of Five Rings* 
    • Roger Walsh, The Perennial Wisdom of A Course in Miracles: The Course and the Four Yogas
    • Esther Perel: Your Guide to Relationship Intelligence
    • Carl Rogers, Client-Centered Therapy: Its Current Practice, Implications, and Theory*
    • Roberk Carkhuff, Seven Skills Summary (Primary Goals website)
    • Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion*
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Dr. Keith Witt is a Licensed Psychologist, teacher, and author who has lived and worked in Santa Barbara since 1973. He has conducted over 75,000 therapy sessions and published ten books, including Loving Completely, Shadow Light, and Integral Mindfulness. His books Waking Up and Sessions were two of the first books on Integrally informed psychotherapy. In presentations and classes around the U.S. and internationally, Keith has explored love, therapy, interpersonal relationships, and development from multiple perspectives, weaving neuroscience, Integral theory, wisdom traditions, and numerous forms of psychotherapy into a coherent cosmology of love and healing.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>cc815ff3-73db-4212-8315-2a3ee89ffd8fThu, 13 Feb 2025 05:00:00 -040047:33falsefull169169Relationship’s Farther Reaches: Exploring the Potentials of Loving, Learning & Growing TogetherEp. 168 (Part 1 of 2) | Integral psychologist Keith Witt can’t get enough of the magic and beauty that happens in relationships as people begin to develop what he calls “a post-issue consciousness.” He explains that when our executive self, our wise self or witness, kicks in and forges a caring connection with the places where we hold our hurt and our traumas, then integration and healing start to happen, eventually with almost no conscious energy expenditure. “My job is to help people develop the witness,” Keith says, so they can observe their defensive or destructive states and reach for compassionate understanding, for themselves, for their partner, and for others.

    Keith tells us the three foundations of the modern marriage are friendship, a love affair, and an ability to resolve issues that come up, and says the shift to a post-issue relationship happens when all three facets become intentional. “Post-issue couples don’t let things get in the way of their love,” he says. Throughout the conversation, Keith shares a goldmine of therapeutic wisdom on the subject of relationships, including the client/therapist relationship, and in true Integral fashion, he includes perspectives from all sorts of interesting angles, such as our evolutionary development, neural development, and moral and spiritual development. This discussion is warm, friendly, cheerful, lively, and chock full of useful information and insights. Keith’s excitement about the evolutionary directionality of human relationships is contagious and inspiring. Recorded August 16, 2024.

    “Evolution in humans is characterized by deeper consciousness and more compassion . . . evolution has a directionality—and it’s toward unity.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing Integral psychologist and prolific author Dr. Keith Witt (01:00)
    • What is a post-issue relationship? (03:11)
    • What happens when couples develop emotional intelligence and are able to love each other more? (05:48)
    • Example of an argument in a post-issue relationship (07:35)
    • How complexity and therapeutic parts work figures into it (08:47)
    • How do people grow internally? How do we integrate? (10:01)
    • A healing cosmology came to Keith after he learned about Integral Theory and all the systems came together (11:59)
    • It helps if couples have a sense of evolutionary development (14:24)
    • Egalitarian relationships that came online in the last 50-70 years brought along new potentials for love and problem solving (18:33) 
    • What happens when we go into defensive states? (19:21)
    • Evolution has a directionality toward deeper consciousness, compassion, unity (22:56)
    • Liberating ourselves by not cooperating with the argument (24:20)
    • How does the long time it takes to raise a human child affect our social learning? (25:38)
    • Humans are ultra social: 90% chimpanzee/10% bee (28:01)
    • Resilience and trauma programming are actually memory systems (30:57)
    • How do people move towards a post-issue relationship? (32:44)
    • The key is making it an intentional relationship (35:38)
    • Self awareness: we’re often crippled based on a history of trauma (38:42)
    • Leading couples therapist John Gottman teaches what works for happy couples to unhappy couples (39:58)
    • Physiological arousal—once people are escalated to a certain point, they can’t think (41:58)
    • What couples should not do: make negative comparisons (43:38)
    • Can Keith tell if a couple will stay together? There’s a certain magic to some couples (44:49)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Dr. Keith Witt’s website: https://drkeithwitt.com/
    • The Dunbar number
    • Keith Witt, From Trauma and Transcendence (free eBook)
    • Keith Witt, The Gift of Shame: Why We Need Shame and How To Use it To Love and Grow*
    • Internal Family Systems (IFS) Institute
    • Von Economo neurons
    • Joseph Chilton Pearce, Model Imperative (Kindred Newsletter)
    • Bert Parlee, Ph.D.
    • Keith Witt, Waking Up: Psychotherapy as Art, Spirituality, and Science (free eBook)
    • Susan Johnson, The Practice of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy: Creating Connection*
    • John Gottman, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Dr. Keith Witt is a Licensed Psychologist, teacher, and author who has lived and worked in Santa Barbara since 1973. He has conducted over 75,000 therapy sessions and published ten books, including Loving Completely, Shadow Light, and Integral Mindfulness. His books Waking Up and Sessions were two of the first books on Integrally informed psychotherapy. In presentations and classes around the U.S. and internationally, Keith has explored love, therapy, interpersonal relationships, and development from multiple perspectives, weaving neuroscience, Integral theory, wisdom traditions, and numerous forms of psychotherapy into a coherent cosmology of love and healing.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 168 (Part 1 of 2) | Integral psychologist Keith Witt can’t get enough of the magic and beauty that happens in relationships as people begin to develop what he calls “a post-issue consciousness.” He explains that when our executive self, our wise self or witness, kicks in and forges a caring connection with the places where we hold our hurt and our traumas, then integration and healing start to happen, eventually with almost no conscious energy expenditure. “My job is to help people develop the witness,” Keith says, so they can observe their defensive or destructive states and reach for compassionate understanding, for themselves, for their partner, and for others.

    Keith tells us the three foundations of the modern marriage are friendship, a love affair, and an ability to resolve issues that come up, and says the shift to a post-issue relationship happens when all three facets become intentional. “Post-issue couples don’t let things get in the way of their love,” he says. Throughout the conversation, Keith shares a goldmine of therapeutic wisdom on the subject of relationships, including the client/therapist relationship, and in true Integral fashion, he includes perspectives from all sorts of interesting angles, such as our evolutionary development, neural development, and moral and spiritual development. This discussion is warm, friendly, cheerful, lively, and chock full of useful information and insights. Keith’s excitement about the evolutionary directionality of human relationships is contagious and inspiring. Recorded August 16, 2024.

    “Evolution in humans is characterized by deeper consciousness and more compassion . . . evolution has a directionality—and it’s toward unity.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing Integral psychologist and prolific author Dr. Keith Witt (01:00)
    • What is a post-issue relationship? (03:11)
    • What happens when couples develop emotional intelligence and are able to love each other more? (05:48)
    • Example of an argument in a post-issue relationship (07:35)
    • How complexity and therapeutic parts work figures into it (08:47)
    • How do people grow internally? How do we integrate? (10:01)
    • A healing cosmology came to Keith after he learned about Integral Theory and all the systems came together (11:59)
    • It helps if couples have a sense of evolutionary development (14:24)
    • Egalitarian relationships that came online in the last 50-70 years brought along new potentials for love and problem solving (18:33) 
    • What happens when we go into defensive states? (19:21)
    • Evolution has a directionality toward deeper consciousness, compassion, unity (22:56)
    • Liberating ourselves by not cooperating with the argument (24:20)
    • How does the long time it takes to raise a human child affect our social learning? (25:38)
    • Humans are ultra social: 90% chimpanzee/10% bee (28:01)
    • Resilience and trauma programming are actually memory systems (30:57)
    • How do people move towards a post-issue relationship? (32:44)
    • The key is making it an intentional relationship (35:38)
    • Self awareness: we’re often crippled based on a history of trauma (38:42)
    • Leading couples therapist John Gottman teaches what works for happy couples to unhappy couples (39:58)
    • Physiological arousal—once people are escalated to a certain point, they can’t think (41:58)
    • What couples should not do: make negative comparisons (43:38)
    • Can Keith tell if a couple will stay together? There’s a certain magic to some couples (44:49)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Dr. Keith Witt’s website: https://drkeithwitt.com/
    • The Dunbar number
    • Keith Witt, From Trauma and Transcendence (free eBook)
    • Keith Witt, The Gift of Shame: Why We Need Shame and How To Use it To Love and Grow*
    • Internal Family Systems (IFS) Institute
    • Von Economo neurons
    • Joseph Chilton Pearce, Model Imperative (Kindred Newsletter)
    • Bert Parlee, Ph.D.
    • Keith Witt, Waking Up: Psychotherapy as Art, Spirituality, and Science (free eBook)
    • Susan Johnson, The Practice of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy: Creating Connection*
    • John Gottman, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Dr. Keith Witt is a Licensed Psychologist, teacher, and author who has lived and worked in Santa Barbara since 1973. He has conducted over 75,000 therapy sessions and published ten books, including Loving Completely, Shadow Light, and Integral Mindfulness. His books Waking Up and Sessions were two of the first books on Integrally informed psychotherapy. In presentations and classes around the U.S. and internationally, Keith has explored love, therapy, interpersonal relationships, and development from multiple perspectives, weaving neuroscience, Integral theory, wisdom traditions, and numerous forms of psychotherapy into a coherent cosmology of love and healing.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>419d9595-ae48-49ba-8135-97b67ace16cdThu, 06 Feb 2025 05:00:00 -040049:28falsefull168168The Alchemy of Transformation: Exploring the Essence of Presence with A. H. Almaas (Part 2)Ep. 167 (Part 2 of 2) | In the 7th dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali enlightens us as to the nature of presence. Our path begins with the recognition that spirit is presence, he explains, an insight which all spiritual traditions share; this is where most of their focus lies. But this is not the end of the story, Hameed tells us—discovering spirit is only half the work. The other half is actualizing presence by clarifying and purifying our souls. Presence works as an agent of transformation in this process; appearing in our souls as curiosity and a love of truth, it leads us home. The discussion turns to virtues, the fruition of realization, and how it is that realized teachers can behave in entirely unethical ways: “realization is no guarantee of ethical behavior.”

    This conversation is packed with insights regarding many related topics: how ethics most importantly concern our relations with others, that kindness becomes spontaneous for the true master, the distinction between universal grace and specific grace, how inner spaciousness or emptiness is the other side of the coin from presence or fullness, and the question arises, “Why is it that some people are interested in going deeper and others not?” Hameed also speaks of his own experience of unilocal realization, where all time and space are found in the center of the heart and accessing information from the future is possible. It is not so much I am this or that, he says, it’s simply I am. This warm, illuminating discussion has a fascinating flow and sparks many instances of quiet laughter on all sides. Recorded December 12, 2024.

    “True nature is a real magician; to know yourself as that magician is true realization.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Living ethically is conducive to realization (00:50)
    • True mastery means your kindness is spontaneous (02:15)
    • Ethics apply more at an ego level; spirit has its own principles (04:28)
    • Feeling the pain of being constricted is one way the spiritual impulse arises (05:59)
    • Why do some people want to go deeper than others? (06:40)
    • The love of truth leads us home: the dynamic of realization (09:14)
    • Unilocal realization: experiencing all time and space in the heart (11:10)
    • Hameed can learn from his future self and from people who have died (12:26)
    • Trusting ourselves, and the distinction between universal grace and specific grace (16:28)
    • Practice helps make us grace-prone; most people need a teacher or guide (19:24)
    • Presence is the fullness and inner spaciousness the emptiness side of things (21:50)
    • True nature is a real magician; to know yourself as that magician is true realization (26:52) 
    • Space/time emanates from our true nature (29:02)
    • Ethics are relative to our time and culture; but essential ethics are timeless (31:24)
    • Selflessness and concern for the well-being of all has grown over time (33:35)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Abraham Maslow’s term metamotivation, the motivation of people who are self-actualized
    • Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, 16th Karmapa
    • Sri Atmananda Krishna Menon
    • Dzogchen Rinpoche
    • Dōgen Zenji, founder of the Sōtō school of Zen
    • A. H. Almaas, The Void: Inner Spaciousness and Ego Structure
    • Dzogchen, a tradition of teachings in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Bön aimed at discovering and continuing in the ultimate ground of existence
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 167 (Part 2 of 2) | In the 7th dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali enlightens us as to the nature of presence. Our path begins with the recognition that spirit is presence, he explains, an insight which all spiritual traditions share; this is where most of their focus lies. But this is not the end of the story, Hameed tells us—discovering spirit is only half the work. The other half is actualizing presence by clarifying and purifying our souls. Presence works as an agent of transformation in this process; appearing in our souls as curiosity and a love of truth, it leads us home. The discussion turns to virtues, the fruition of realization, and how it is that realized teachers can behave in entirely unethical ways: “realization is no guarantee of ethical behavior.”

    This conversation is packed with insights regarding many related topics: how ethics most importantly concern our relations with others, that kindness becomes spontaneous for the true master, the distinction between universal grace and specific grace, how inner spaciousness or emptiness is the other side of the coin from presence or fullness, and the question arises, “Why is it that some people are interested in going deeper and others not?” Hameed also speaks of his own experience of unilocal realization, where all time and space are found in the center of the heart and accessing information from the future is possible. It is not so much I am this or that, he says, it’s simply I am. This warm, illuminating discussion has a fascinating flow and sparks many instances of quiet laughter on all sides. Recorded December 12, 2024.

    “True nature is a real magician; to know yourself as that magician is true realization.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Living ethically is conducive to realization (00:50)
    • True mastery means your kindness is spontaneous (02:15)
    • Ethics apply more at an ego level; spirit has its own principles (04:28)
    • Feeling the pain of being constricted is one way the spiritual impulse arises (05:59)
    • Why do some people want to go deeper than others? (06:40)
    • The love of truth leads us home: the dynamic of realization (09:14)
    • Unilocal realization: experiencing all time and space in the heart (11:10)
    • Hameed can learn from his future self and from people who have died (12:26)
    • Trusting ourselves, and the distinction between universal grace and specific grace (16:28)
    • Practice helps make us grace-prone; most people need a teacher or guide (19:24)
    • Presence is the fullness and inner spaciousness the emptiness side of things (21:50)
    • True nature is a real magician; to know yourself as that magician is true realization (26:52) 
    • Space/time emanates from our true nature (29:02)
    • Ethics are relative to our time and culture; but essential ethics are timeless (31:24)
    • Selflessness and concern for the well-being of all has grown over time (33:35)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
    • Abraham Maslow’s term metamotivation, the motivation of people who are self-actualized
    • Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, 16th Karmapa
    • Sri Atmananda Krishna Menon
    • Dzogchen Rinpoche
    • Dōgen Zenji, founder of the Sōtō school of Zen
    • A. H. Almaas, The Void: Inner Spaciousness and Ego Structure
    • Dzogchen, a tradition of teachings in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Bön aimed at discovering and continuing in the ultimate ground of existence
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>9a66a618-3cf6-48f5-b4f6-4c0bf47f1653Thu, 30 Jan 2025 05:00:00 -040039:07falsefull167167The Alchemy of Transformation: Exploring the Essence of Presence with A. H. AlmaasEp. 166 (Part 1 of 2) | In the 7th dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali enlightens us as to the nature of presence. Our path begins with the recognition that spirit is presence, he explains, an insight which all spiritual traditions share; this is where most of their focus lies. But this is not the end of the story, Hameed tells us—discovering spirit is only half the work. The other half is actualizing presence by clarifying and purifying our souls. Presence works as an agent of transformation in this process; appearing in our souls as curiosity and a love of truth, it leads us home. The discussion turns to virtues, the fruition of realization, and how it is that realized teachers can behave in entirely unethical ways: “realization is no guarantee of ethical behavior.”

    This conversation is packed with insights regarding many related topics: how ethics most importantly concern our relations with others, that kindness becomes spontaneous for the true master, the distinction between universal grace and specific grace, how inner spaciousness or emptiness is the other side of the coin from presence or fullness, and the question arises, “Why is it that some people are interested in going deeper and others not?” Hameed also speaks of his own experience of unilocal realization, where all time and space are found in the center of the heart and accessing information from the future is possible. It is not so much I am this or that, he says, it’s simply I am. This warm, illuminating discussion has a fascinating flow and sparks many instances of quiet laughter on all sides. Recorded December 12, 2024.

    “Presence is both the inner nature and the elixir of transformation.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing the 7th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series (01:01)
    • The basic spiritual insight common to all schools is the recognition of what spirit is: a palpable presence, a substrate of all reality (01:37)
    • The path begins with recognizing presence and then goes on (03:49)
    • Presence is being, the way we experience our true nature (05:55)
    • Exploring the essential qualities of the soul is an important tool to expose and dissolve components of the ego (07:55)
    • Recognizing true nature doesn’t mean we express it in our life (09:09)
    • Discovering spirit is only half the work, the other half is purifying the soul (10:50)
    • Great traditions don’t get into actualization; psychology is what allowed us to develop practices like inquiry that help to release ego structures (13:02)
    • How realized teachers can be angry, or sadistic (17:18)
    • Animal soul, human soul, angelic soul: most of us operate from the animal soul (19:40)
    • Working on character (21:43)
    • Realization and teaching skill are quite different (23:36)
    • There’s no guarantee a realized person will behave ethically (27:01)
    • Virtues are the impact of spiritual presence on the soul (28:17)
    • An important part of ethical behavior is in relationship (28:59)
    • “Objective conscience” supports us in living a life of truth (29:22)
    • Liberation is different from realization; with liberation there are no imprints of time left in you (32:38)
    • The inner child is an imprint of the past, the structure doesn’t last (33:45)
    • Getting beyond victimhood (34:44)
    • Guilt versus true sorrow (36:12)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
    • Fritz Perls, founder of Gestalt Therapy, “Awareness in itself is healing.”
    • Frederick Perls, Ralph Hefferline, Paul Goodman, Gestalt Therapy* 
    • A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Dialogue 4, “Discovering the Souls Treasures,” is where Hameed talks about the specific qualities of the soul (YouTube video)
    • Dilgo Khyentse & Orgyen Tobgyal, The Life and Times of Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 166 (Part 1 of 2) | In the 7th dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali enlightens us as to the nature of presence. Our path begins with the recognition that spirit is presence, he explains, an insight which all spiritual traditions share; this is where most of their focus lies. But this is not the end of the story, Hameed tells us—discovering spirit is only half the work. The other half is actualizing presence by clarifying and purifying our souls. Presence works as an agent of transformation in this process; appearing in our souls as curiosity and a love of truth, it leads us home. The discussion turns to virtues, the fruition of realization, and how it is that realized teachers can behave in entirely unethical ways: “realization is no guarantee of ethical behavior.”

    This conversation is packed with insights regarding many related topics: how ethics most importantly concern our relations with others, that kindness becomes spontaneous for the true master, the distinction between universal grace and specific grace, how inner spaciousness or emptiness is the other side of the coin from presence or fullness, and the question arises, “Why is it that some people are interested in going deeper and others not?” Hameed also speaks of his own experience of unilocal realization, where all time and space are found in the center of the heart and accessing information from the future is possible. It is not so much I am this or that, he says, it’s simply I am. This warm, illuminating discussion has a fascinating flow and sparks many instances of quiet laughter on all sides. Recorded December 12, 2024.

    “Presence is both the inner nature and the elixir of transformation.”

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing the 7th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series (01:01)
    • The basic spiritual insight common to all schools is the recognition of what spirit is: a palpable presence, a substrate of all reality (01:37)
    • The path begins with recognizing presence and then goes on (03:49)
    • Presence is being, the way we experience our true nature (05:55)
    • Exploring the essential qualities of the soul is an important tool to expose and dissolve components of the ego (07:55)
    • Recognizing true nature doesn’t mean we express it in our life (09:09)
    • Discovering spirit is only half the work, the other half is purifying the soul (10:50)
    • Great traditions don’t get into actualization; psychology is what allowed us to develop practices like inquiry that help to release ego structures (13:02)
    • How realized teachers can be angry, or sadistic (17:18)
    • Animal soul, human soul, angelic soul: most of us operate from the animal soul (19:40)
    • Working on character (21:43)
    • Realization and teaching skill are quite different (23:36)
    • There’s no guarantee a realized person will behave ethically (27:01)
    • Virtues are the impact of spiritual presence on the soul (28:17)
    • An important part of ethical behavior is in relationship (28:59)
    • “Objective conscience” supports us in living a life of truth (29:22)
    • Liberation is different from realization; with liberation there are no imprints of time left in you (32:38)
    • The inner child is an imprint of the past, the structure doesn’t last (33:45)
    • Getting beyond victimhood (34:44)
    • Guilt versus true sorrow (36:12)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
    • Fritz Perls, founder of Gestalt Therapy, “Awareness in itself is healing.”
    • Frederick Perls, Ralph Hefferline, Paul Goodman, Gestalt Therapy* 
    • A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Dialogue 4, “Discovering the Souls Treasures,” is where Hameed talks about the specific qualities of the soul (YouTube video)
    • Dilgo Khyentse & Orgyen Tobgyal, The Life and Times of Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>195c2d6c-7bf2-43f9-bb2f-f31ad199c4a8Thu, 23 Jan 2025 05:00:00 -040039:26falsefull166166Waking Up the World: Being True to Life with Sounds True's Tami Simon (Part 2)Ep. 165 (Part 2 of 2) | Tami Simon, founder of the highly regarded multimedia publishing company Sounds True, covers a lot of inspiring ground in this heartening, lively, candid conversation. She tells the extraordinary story of how she came to devote herself to disseminating spiritual wisdom; about finding the edges and growing into them on her own path of awakening; the spiritual teachers she has encountered whose teachings have affected her the most; the wholeness of spiritual vision and psychological health; and discovering that, like all of us, spiritual leaders can be both luminous and in need of healing at the same time. Tami is an ardent torchbearer for the conscious business movement, explaining that business can be the way we give our gifts—that the endeavors of an inspired entrepreneur can be expressions of love and provide an incredible way of connecting with other people.

    What is so striking throughout is the depth of Tami’s clarity about what matters in life and her unwavering commitment to acting with integrity. Tami has a remarkable ability to translate her spiritual insights and principles into action—as co-host Roger Walsh points out, she is a beautiful example of a karma yogic life, where being of service is the fuel, the inspiration, and the content of her life, as she continuously works towards furthering both her own spiritual awakening and the awakening of all. Tami offers a lovely, poetic rendering of the effects of living a true and meaningful life: “The litmus test is always somebody’s wake, the ripples of their life, how they’ve impacted others . . . the beauty, love, and justice that live in the wake of a person.” A genuinely engaging, illuminating, memorable conversation. Recorded October 17, 2024.

    “What I feel I owe people is the truth.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • What are some of the people and ideas that really stand out to Tami? (01:14)
    • Every podcast guest has given a gift (02:01)
    • Learning somatic practices from Reggie Ray (03:30)
    • Meeting Adyashanti, the ‘goodest’ human Tami ever met (04:31)
    • A. H. Almaas’ Diamond Approach: the possibilities for expanding knowledge in the spiritual universe (06:10)
    • Coming into the notion of original voice with Clarissa Pinkola Estes; Caroline Myss’ illumination of shadow work (06:45)
    • Discovering that spiritual teachers can be luminous and also have parts that are harmful and need healing (09:52)
    • How spiritual vision & psychological health seamlessly come together in the Diamond Approach (13:38)
    • Psychotherapist Bruce Tift’s idea that we alternate between spiritual vision and the developmental work of psychology (16:00)
    • The litmus test is what lives in the wake of a person (17:13)
    • Tami’s practice: asking what is needed now, moment by moment (19:26)
    • Paying attention to what is being said to us by others and our environment (23:58)
    • The Integral movement: we benefit from having it in our consciousness (25:43)
    • The Internal Family Systems (IFS) movement: the notion of being self-led in any given moment: compassionate, courageous, curious, calm (27:14)
    • Conscious business: the movement for business to be a crucible for personal growth (29:05) 
    • What were the darkest times for Sounds True? (33:40)
    • What does it mean to be true? That’s what matters (37:22)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Tami Simon, founder of multimedia publishing company Sounds True
    • Tami’s podcast, Insights at the Edge
    • Tami Simon, Being True: What Matters Most in Work, Life & Love (audio program)
    • Reggie Ray, The Awakening Body: Somatic Meditation for Discovering Our Deepest Life*, The Practice of Pure Awareness: Somatic Meditation for Awakening the Sacred*
    • Adyashanti, spiritual teacher, Open Gate Sangha
    • A. H. Almaas, founder of The Diamond Approach, see also Deep Transformation podcast’s A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series
    • Clarissa Pinkola Estés, About Original and Wild Voice in Speaking and Writing 
    • Caroline Myss, The Shadow Course, Part 2, with Andrew Harvey and Tami Simon
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home*
    • Bruce Tift, Buddhist psychotherapist, Already Free*
    • Sally Kempton, Meditation for the Love of It: Enjoying Your Own Deepest Experience*
    • What is the Integral Movement? (Integral Life YouTube video)
    • Richard Schwartz, The Founder of Internal Family Systems
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    In 1985, at 22 years of age, Tami Simon founded Sounds True, a multi-media company dedicated to disseminating spiritual wisdom. She is also the founder of the Sounds True Foundation which creates equitable access to Sounds True’s programs and the Inner MBA, an immersion learning program that teaches the inner skills of conscious business. Tami hosts a popular weekly podcast called “Insights at the Edge,” where she interviews Sounds True authors, delving deeply into their discoveries and personal experiences. With Sounds True, she has released the audio program “Being True: What Matters Most in Work, Life, and Love.” Tami lives with her wife of twenty-three years, Julie M. Kramer, and their two spoodles, Raspberry and Bula, in British Columbia.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 165 (Part 2 of 2) | Tami Simon, founder of the highly regarded multimedia publishing company Sounds True, covers a lot of inspiring ground in this heartening, lively, candid conversation. She tells the extraordinary story of how she came to devote herself to disseminating spiritual wisdom; about finding the edges and growing into them on her own path of awakening; the spiritual teachers she has encountered whose teachings have affected her the most; the wholeness of spiritual vision and psychological health; and discovering that, like all of us, spiritual leaders can be both luminous and in need of healing at the same time. Tami is an ardent torchbearer for the conscious business movement, explaining that business can be the way we give our gifts—that the endeavors of an inspired entrepreneur can be expressions of love and provide an incredible way of connecting with other people.

    What is so striking throughout is the depth of Tami’s clarity about what matters in life and her unwavering commitment to acting with integrity. Tami has a remarkable ability to translate her spiritual insights and principles into action—as co-host Roger Walsh points out, she is a beautiful example of a karma yogic life, where being of service is the fuel, the inspiration, and the content of her life, as she continuously works towards furthering both her own spiritual awakening and the awakening of all. Tami offers a lovely, poetic rendering of the effects of living a true and meaningful life: “The litmus test is always somebody’s wake, the ripples of their life, how they’ve impacted others . . . the beauty, love, and justice that live in the wake of a person.” A genuinely engaging, illuminating, memorable conversation. Recorded October 17, 2024.

    “What I feel I owe people is the truth.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • What are some of the people and ideas that really stand out to Tami? (01:14)
    • Every podcast guest has given a gift (02:01)
    • Learning somatic practices from Reggie Ray (03:30)
    • Meeting Adyashanti, the ‘goodest’ human Tami ever met (04:31)
    • A. H. Almaas’ Diamond Approach: the possibilities for expanding knowledge in the spiritual universe (06:10)
    • Coming into the notion of original voice with Clarissa Pinkola Estes; Caroline Myss’ illumination of shadow work (06:45)
    • Discovering that spiritual teachers can be luminous and also have parts that are harmful and need healing (09:52)
    • How spiritual vision & psychological health seamlessly come together in the Diamond Approach (13:38)
    • Psychotherapist Bruce Tift’s idea that we alternate between spiritual vision and the developmental work of psychology (16:00)
    • The litmus test is what lives in the wake of a person (17:13)
    • Tami’s practice: asking what is needed now, moment by moment (19:26)
    • Paying attention to what is being said to us by others and our environment (23:58)
    • The Integral movement: we benefit from having it in our consciousness (25:43)
    • The Internal Family Systems (IFS) movement: the notion of being self-led in any given moment: compassionate, courageous, curious, calm (27:14)
    • Conscious business: the movement for business to be a crucible for personal growth (29:05) 
    • What were the darkest times for Sounds True? (33:40)
    • What does it mean to be true? That’s what matters (37:22)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Tami Simon, founder of multimedia publishing company Sounds True
    • Tami’s podcast, Insights at the Edge
    • Tami Simon, Being True: What Matters Most in Work, Life & Love (audio program)
    • Reggie Ray, The Awakening Body: Somatic Meditation for Discovering Our Deepest Life*, The Practice of Pure Awareness: Somatic Meditation for Awakening the Sacred*
    • Adyashanti, spiritual teacher, Open Gate Sangha
    • A. H. Almaas, founder of The Diamond Approach, see also Deep Transformation podcast’s A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series
    • Clarissa Pinkola Estés, About Original and Wild Voice in Speaking and Writing 
    • Caroline Myss, The Shadow Course, Part 2, with Andrew Harvey and Tami Simon
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home*
    • Bruce Tift, Buddhist psychotherapist, Already Free*
    • Sally Kempton, Meditation for the Love of It: Enjoying Your Own Deepest Experience*
    • What is the Integral Movement? (Integral Life YouTube video)
    • Richard Schwartz, The Founder of Internal Family Systems
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    In 1985, at 22 years of age, Tami Simon founded Sounds True, a multi-media company dedicated to disseminating spiritual wisdom. She is also the founder of the Sounds True Foundation which creates equitable access to Sounds True’s programs and the Inner MBA, an immersion learning program that teaches the inner skills of conscious business. Tami hosts a popular weekly podcast called “Insights at the Edge,” where she interviews Sounds True authors, delving deeply into their discoveries and personal experiences. With Sounds True, she has released the audio program “Being True: What Matters Most in Work, Life, and Love.” Tami lives with her wife of twenty-three years, Julie M. Kramer, and their two spoodles, Raspberry and Bula, in British Columbia.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>6aeb204b-4666-45be-8232-2cc895bdfd67Thu, 16 Jan 2025 05:00:00 -040040:30falsefull165165Waking Up the World: Being True to Life with Sounds True's Tami SimonEp. 164 (Part 1 of 2) | Tami Simon, founder of the highly regarded multimedia publishing company Sounds True, covers a lot of inspiring ground in this heartening, lively, candid conversation. She tells the extraordinary story of how she came to devote herself to disseminating spiritual wisdom; about finding the edges and growing into them on her own path of awakening; the spiritual teachers she has encountered whose teachings have affected her the most; the wholeness of spiritual vision and psychological health; and discovering that, like all of us, spiritual leaders can be both luminous and in need of healing at the same time. Tami is an ardent torchbearer for the conscious business movement, explaining that business can be the way we give our gifts—that the endeavors of an inspired entrepreneur can be expressions of love and provide an incredible way of connecting with other people.

    What is so striking throughout is the depth of Tami’s clarity about what matters in life and her unwavering commitment to acting with integrity. Tami has a remarkable ability to translate her spiritual insights and principles into action—as co-host Roger Walsh points out, she is a beautiful example of a karma yogic life, where being of service is the fuel, the inspiration, and the content of her life, as she continuously works towards furthering both her own spiritual awakening and the awakening of all. Tami offers a lovely, poetic rendering of the effects of living a true and meaningful life: “The litmus test is always somebody’s wake, the ripples of their life, how they’ve impacted others . . . the beauty, love, and justice that live in the wake of a person.” A genuinely engaging, illuminating, memorable conversation. Recorded October 17, 2024.

    “If our spiritual vision doesn’t translate into treating ourselves and other people, and the environment and the world well, and building a just society, I’m not interested in it.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing founder of the multimedia publishing company Sounds True, author, entrepreneur & popular podcast host, Tami Simon (00:53)
    • What is the spirit or ideal animating Tami’s venture? Broadcast awakening! (02:20)
    • Tami was given 3 words right at the start: disseminate spiritual wisdom (03:47)
    • The origin of Sounds True: synchronicities, altered state experience, and the concept of transformational economy (05:30)
    • How Vipassana retreats changed Tami (10:10)
    • Tami wanted to understand Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory in her body, in her bones (12:24)
    • Meditation felt like a homecoming, a sense of belonging as never before: this is how it feels to feel okay (15:03)
    • Sounds True has been Tami’s “ground of growth,” an incredible crucible—because it’s so stressful (18:12)
    • Heart opening experiences keep on going (20:20)
    • Entrepreneurial endeavors as an expression of love (23:05)
    • Service is inherent in the energy of the human heart (26:30)
    • Integrity is critical: a grace field rooted in the central part of the body (30:29)
    • Responding to the many problems of contemporary media and our media-ted lives (36:43)
    • What is the most strategic and economic way I can serve? (41:20)
    • Technological change and Tami’s willingness to adapt (42:33)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Tami Simon, founder of multimedia publishing company Sounds True
    • Tami’s podcast, Insights at the Edge
    • Tami Simon, Being True: What Matters Most in Work, Life & Love (audio program)
    • Eugene Gendlin, Focusing*
    • Karen Johnson, The Jeweled Path: A Biography of the Diamond Approach to Inner Realization*
    • S.N. Goenka, Vipassana Meditation
    • Tami’s interviews with Ken Wilber: Kosmic Consciousness
    • Dr. Gunapala Dharmasiri, one of Sri Lanka’s foremost Buddhist scholars, Fundamentals of Buddhist Ethics* 
    • Melissa Bernstein, Entrepreneur in Residence of Sounds True’s The Inner MBA certification program
    • Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind*
    • Wallace Black Elk, Native American shamanic teacher, Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota*
    • The Social Dilemma (docudrama)
    • The A.I. Dilemma (Aspen Institute YouTube video)
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    In 1985, at 22 years of age, Tami Simon founded Sounds True, a multi-media company dedicated to disseminating spiritual wisdom. She is also the founder of the Sounds True Foundation which creates equitable access to Sounds True’s programs and the Inner MBA, an immersion learning program that teaches the inner skills of conscious business. Tami hosts a popular weekly podcast called “Insights at the Edge,” where she interviews Sounds True authors, delving deeply into their discoveries and personal experiences. With Sounds True, she has released the audio program “Being True: What Matters Most in Work, Life, and Love.” Tami lives with her wife of twenty-three years, Julie M. Kramer, and their two spoodles, Raspberry and Bula, in British Columbia.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 164 (Part 1 of 2) | Tami Simon, founder of the highly regarded multimedia publishing company Sounds True, covers a lot of inspiring ground in this heartening, lively, candid conversation. She tells the extraordinary story of how she came to devote herself to disseminating spiritual wisdom; about finding the edges and growing into them on her own path of awakening; the spiritual teachers she has encountered whose teachings have affected her the most; the wholeness of spiritual vision and psychological health; and discovering that, like all of us, spiritual leaders can be both luminous and in need of healing at the same time. Tami is an ardent torchbearer for the conscious business movement, explaining that business can be the way we give our gifts—that the endeavors of an inspired entrepreneur can be expressions of love and provide an incredible way of connecting with other people.

    What is so striking throughout is the depth of Tami’s clarity about what matters in life and her unwavering commitment to acting with integrity. Tami has a remarkable ability to translate her spiritual insights and principles into action—as co-host Roger Walsh points out, she is a beautiful example of a karma yogic life, where being of service is the fuel, the inspiration, and the content of her life, as she continuously works towards furthering both her own spiritual awakening and the awakening of all. Tami offers a lovely, poetic rendering of the effects of living a true and meaningful life: “The litmus test is always somebody’s wake, the ripples of their life, how they’ve impacted others . . . the beauty, love, and justice that live in the wake of a person.” A genuinely engaging, illuminating, memorable conversation. Recorded October 17, 2024.

    “If our spiritual vision doesn’t translate into treating ourselves and other people, and the environment and the world well, and building a just society, I’m not interested in it.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing founder of the multimedia publishing company Sounds True, author, entrepreneur & popular podcast host, Tami Simon (00:53)
    • What is the spirit or ideal animating Tami’s venture? Broadcast awakening! (02:20)
    • Tami was given 3 words right at the start: disseminate spiritual wisdom (03:47)
    • The origin of Sounds True: synchronicities, altered state experience, and the concept of transformational economy (05:30)
    • How Vipassana retreats changed Tami (10:10)
    • Tami wanted to understand Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory in her body, in her bones (12:24)
    • Meditation felt like a homecoming, a sense of belonging as never before: this is how it feels to feel okay (15:03)
    • Sounds True has been Tami’s “ground of growth,” an incredible crucible—because it’s so stressful (18:12)
    • Heart opening experiences keep on going (20:20)
    • Entrepreneurial endeavors as an expression of love (23:05)
    • Service is inherent in the energy of the human heart (26:30)
    • Integrity is critical: a grace field rooted in the central part of the body (30:29)
    • Responding to the many problems of contemporary media and our media-ted lives (36:43)
    • What is the most strategic and economic way I can serve? (41:20)
    • Technological change and Tami’s willingness to adapt (42:33)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Tami Simon, founder of multimedia publishing company Sounds True
    • Tami’s podcast, Insights at the Edge
    • Tami Simon, Being True: What Matters Most in Work, Life & Love (audio program)
    • Eugene Gendlin, Focusing*
    • Karen Johnson, The Jeweled Path: A Biography of the Diamond Approach to Inner Realization*
    • S.N. Goenka, Vipassana Meditation
    • Tami’s interviews with Ken Wilber: Kosmic Consciousness
    • Dr. Gunapala Dharmasiri, one of Sri Lanka’s foremost Buddhist scholars, Fundamentals of Buddhist Ethics* 
    • Melissa Bernstein, Entrepreneur in Residence of Sounds True’s The Inner MBA certification program
    • Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind*
    • Wallace Black Elk, Native American shamanic teacher, Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota*
    • The Social Dilemma (docudrama)
    • The A.I. Dilemma (Aspen Institute YouTube video)
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    In 1985, at 22 years of age, Tami Simon founded Sounds True, a multi-media company dedicated to disseminating spiritual wisdom. She is also the founder of the Sounds True Foundation which creates equitable access to Sounds True’s programs and the Inner MBA, an immersion learning program that teaches the inner skills of conscious business. Tami hosts a popular weekly podcast called “Insights at the Edge,” where she interviews Sounds True authors, delving deeply into their discoveries and personal experiences. With Sounds True, she has released the audio program “Being True: What Matters Most in Work, Life, and Love.” Tami lives with her wife of twenty-three years, Julie M. Kramer, and their two spoodles, Raspberry and Bula, in British Columbia.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>58064ed6-ebd9-4c67-8322-8bdb0b65af91Thu, 09 Jan 2025 05:00:00 -040046:34falsefull164164Awakening to Our True Nature: Releasing Limiting Ego Structures & Freeing the Soul with A. H. Almaas (Part 2)Ep. 163 (Part 2 of 2) | In the sixth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali tells us that whereas pure consciousness is already perfect and does not change or grow, individual consciousness is an impressionable organism—alive, changing, moving, developing. Hameed explains that because the soul is impressionable, the impacts of experience are imprinted upon it, shaping our very consciousness. Ego structures form from repeated impressions, and although they are necessary for survival and to function in a relational world, these structures make it difficult to experience the living presence of our true nature. We experience the ego self instead, mistaking our self-image for what we truly are. When we loosen our conditioning, with help from practices like inquiry and bodywork, our soul becomes free of its imprint and our true potential arises naturally, along with greater compassion and other qualities of the soul. 

    Simply and clearly, Hameed brings us to a deeper understanding of our soul, elucidating what holds us to our limited self-identity and describing what we have to look forward to as the myriad imprints hammered into us by experience become diaphanous, and new impressions no longer make indelible imprints. Hameed also delves into the different ways various traditions talk about the soul, the difference between ordinary knowledge and “knowing,” or gnosis, and tells us that sudden enlightenment and gradual enlightenment are an artificial dichotomy, sharing a story of a sudden enlightenment experience of his own. Once again, Hameed transmits an extraordinary amount of wisdom in a relatively short time, and we emerge brighter, hopeful, and inspired as to our boundless spiritual potential. Recorded November 14, 2024.

    “When the soul becomes free of its original imprint, it becomes open to its inner potential – and inner potential is mostly spiritual potential.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Relaxing the tension in the soul and body is important: working with body armor (00:49)
    • Mature impressionability: when the soul is more free, impacts don’t leave lasting imprints (03:16)
    • When the soul becomes free of its original imprint, it opens to its inner potential (08:34)
    • The enlightenment drive and our spiritual potential (11:41)
    • Psychology and spirituality are not separate in our consciousness (13:51)
    • The different ways different traditions and psychology talk about the soul (15:43)
    • Unique particularity becomes very important in Zen: a flower is a flower (20:43)
    • Gnosis: I know myself without reflection, without memory; I know what I am (23:13)
    • Nonconceptual and transconceptual knowing (25:24)
    • Sudden enlightenment and gradual cultivation are an artificial dichotomy (28:21)
    • What does gradual enlightenment mean? (30:51)
    • Hameed relates an experience of “sudden enlightenment” (31:21)
    • How the evolution of the universe relates to awakened consciousness (33:40)
    • Roger’s acknowledgment of this conversation as uniquely impactful (36:48)
    
    

    Resources & References

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
    • Wilhelm Reich, Reichian therapy, Reich’s Segmental Armouring Theory (Energetics Institute) 
    • Alexander Lowen, developer of Bioenergetic Analysis
    • Stan Grof & Christina Grof, Holotropic Breathwork: A New Approach to Self-Exploration and Therapy*
    • Abraham Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being*
    • Carl Rogers’ fully functioning person, On Becoming A Person: A Therapist’s View of Psychotherapy*
    • Bruno Bettelheim, Freud and Man’s Soul: An Important Re-Interpretation of Freudian Theory*
    • The Chittamatra or “Mind Only” School of Mahayana Buddhism
    • The 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje
    • Dogen, founder of the Sōtō School of Zen, “A blade of grass is a blade of grass.”
    • Gnosis
    • Philip Kapleau, The Three Pillars of Zen: Teaching, Practice, and Enlightenment*
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 163 (Part 2 of 2) | In the sixth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali tells us that whereas pure consciousness is already perfect and does not change or grow, individual consciousness is an impressionable organism—alive, changing, moving, developing. Hameed explains that because the soul is impressionable, the impacts of experience are imprinted upon it, shaping our very consciousness. Ego structures form from repeated impressions, and although they are necessary for survival and to function in a relational world, these structures make it difficult to experience the living presence of our true nature. We experience the ego self instead, mistaking our self-image for what we truly are. When we loosen our conditioning, with help from practices like inquiry and bodywork, our soul becomes free of its imprint and our true potential arises naturally, along with greater compassion and other qualities of the soul. 

    Simply and clearly, Hameed brings us to a deeper understanding of our soul, elucidating what holds us to our limited self-identity and describing what we have to look forward to as the myriad imprints hammered into us by experience become diaphanous, and new impressions no longer make indelible imprints. Hameed also delves into the different ways various traditions talk about the soul, the difference between ordinary knowledge and “knowing,” or gnosis, and tells us that sudden enlightenment and gradual enlightenment are an artificial dichotomy, sharing a story of a sudden enlightenment experience of his own. Once again, Hameed transmits an extraordinary amount of wisdom in a relatively short time, and we emerge brighter, hopeful, and inspired as to our boundless spiritual potential. Recorded November 14, 2024.

    “When the soul becomes free of its original imprint, it becomes open to its inner potential – and inner potential is mostly spiritual potential.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Relaxing the tension in the soul and body is important: working with body armor (00:49)
    • Mature impressionability: when the soul is more free, impacts don’t leave lasting imprints (03:16)
    • When the soul becomes free of its original imprint, it opens to its inner potential (08:34)
    • The enlightenment drive and our spiritual potential (11:41)
    • Psychology and spirituality are not separate in our consciousness (13:51)
    • The different ways different traditions and psychology talk about the soul (15:43)
    • Unique particularity becomes very important in Zen: a flower is a flower (20:43)
    • Gnosis: I know myself without reflection, without memory; I know what I am (23:13)
    • Nonconceptual and transconceptual knowing (25:24)
    • Sudden enlightenment and gradual cultivation are an artificial dichotomy (28:21)
    • What does gradual enlightenment mean? (30:51)
    • Hameed relates an experience of “sudden enlightenment” (31:21)
    • How the evolution of the universe relates to awakened consciousness (33:40)
    • Roger’s acknowledgment of this conversation as uniquely impactful (36:48)
    
    

    Resources & References

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
    • Wilhelm Reich, Reichian therapy, Reich’s Segmental Armouring Theory (Energetics Institute) 
    • Alexander Lowen, developer of Bioenergetic Analysis
    • Stan Grof & Christina Grof, Holotropic Breathwork: A New Approach to Self-Exploration and Therapy*
    • Abraham Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being*
    • Carl Rogers’ fully functioning person, On Becoming A Person: A Therapist’s View of Psychotherapy*
    • Bruno Bettelheim, Freud and Man’s Soul: An Important Re-Interpretation of Freudian Theory*
    • The Chittamatra or “Mind Only” School of Mahayana Buddhism
    • The 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje
    • Dogen, founder of the Sōtō School of Zen, “A blade of grass is a blade of grass.”
    • Gnosis
    • Philip Kapleau, The Three Pillars of Zen: Teaching, Practice, and Enlightenment*
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>6ab88461-5587-43e8-b675-462ee3f6a322Thu, 02 Jan 2025 05:00:00 -040040:01falsefull163163Awakening to Our True Nature: Releasing Limiting Ego Structures & Freeing the Soul with A. H. AlmaasEp. 162 (Part 1 of 2) | In the sixth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali tells us that whereas pure consciousness is already perfect and does not change or grow, individual consciousness is an impressionable organism—alive, changing, moving, developing. Hameed explains that because the soul is impressionable, the impacts of experience are imprinted upon it, shaping our very consciousness. Ego structures form from repeated impressions, and although they are necessary for survival and to function in a relational world, these structures make it difficult to experience the living presence of our true nature. We experience the ego self instead, mistaking our self-image for what we truly are. When we loosen our conditioning, with help from practices like inquiry and bodywork, our soul becomes free of its imprint and our true potential arises naturally, along with greater compassion and other qualities of the soul. 

    Simply and clearly, Hameed brings us to a deeper understanding of our soul, elucidating what holds us to our limited self-identity and describing what we have to look forward to as the myriad imprints hammered into us by experience become diaphanous, and new impressions no longer make indelible imprints. Hameed also delves into the different ways various traditions talk about the soul, the difference between ordinary knowledge and “knowing,” or gnosis, and tells us that sudden enlightenment and gradual enlightenment are an artificial dichotomy, sharing a story of a sudden enlightenment experience of his own. Once again, Hameed transmits an extraordinary amount of wisdom in a relatively short time, and we emerge brighter, hopeful, and inspired as to our boundless spiritual potential. Recorded November 14, 2024.

    “Self-image is not just in the mind, it actually shapes our consciousness.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing the 6th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, beginning with chapter 7 of The Inner Journey Home: the impressionability of the soul (00:51)
    • One of individual consciousness’ properties is impressionability; without it, there would be no learning (02:39)
    • It’s not easy to experience the soul as a living presence because of its impressionability (05:43)
    • The mind is just one of the faculties of the soul (08:10)
    • Like a child, the soul retains affect, feelings, impacts; these traces make it possible for individual consciousness to be structured (10:19)
    • Self-image, self-identity, come from more long lasting types of impressions (12:49)
    • Without impressionability, there wouldn’t be trauma (13:23)
    • Painful, pleasurable, or neutral, some impressions become patterns of behavior (13:47)
    • When we study the soul, we can find the ego structures: rigid, unchanging, the impressions have made an indelible imprint (14:29)
    • Self-image affects consciousness by limiting it: the medium of presence is hidden by the accumulation of impressions (17:35)
    • Self-image actually shapes our consciousness: the soul mistakes itself for the self (23:32)
    • The malleability of the soul is responsible for both conditioning and learning (25:31)
    • How open we are depends on our early experience; also, different souls come in with different capacities (nature/nurture) (26:05)
    • It is natural and necessary for the soul to develop into an ego (30:38)
    • We resist changing our self-image without knowing we are resisting (33:59)
    • The soul believes it is fighting for its life, when actually it is fighting for the life of the ego self (35:15) 
    • Not everyone needs psychotherapy (37:50)
    • The shift from struggling to maintain our ego structures to a state of basic trust (40:21)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
    • Dzogchen, a tradition of teachings in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Bön aimed at discovering and continuing in the ultimate ground of existence
    • Wilhelm Reich, Reichian therapy, Reich’s Segmental Armouring Theory (Energetics Institute) 
    • Alexander Lowen, developer of Bioenergetic Analysis
    • Stan Grof & Christina Grof, Holotropic Breathwork: A New Approach to Self-Exploration and Therapy*
    • Abraham Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being*
    • Carl Rogers’ fully functioning person, On Becoming A Person: A Therapist’s View of Psychotherapy*
    • Bruno Bettelheim, Freud and Man’s Soul: An Important Re-Interpretation of Freudian Theory*
    • The Chittamatra or “Mind Only” School of Mahayana Buddhism
    • The 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje
    • Dogen, founder of the Sōtō School of Zen, “A blade of grass is a blade of grass.”
    • Gnosis
    • Philip Kapleau, The Three Pillars of Zen: Teaching, Practice, and Enlightenment*
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential...]]>Ep. 162 (Part 1 of 2) | In the sixth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali tells us that whereas pure consciousness is already perfect and does not change or grow, individual consciousness is an impressionable organism—alive, changing, moving, developing. Hameed explains that because the soul is impressionable, the impacts of experience are imprinted upon it, shaping our very consciousness. Ego structures form from repeated impressions, and although they are necessary for survival and to function in a relational world, these structures make it difficult to experience the living presence of our true nature. We experience the ego self instead, mistaking our self-image for what we truly are. When we loosen our conditioning, with help from practices like inquiry and bodywork, our soul becomes free of its imprint and our true potential arises naturally, along with greater compassion and other qualities of the soul. 

    Simply and clearly, Hameed brings us to a deeper understanding of our soul, elucidating what holds us to our limited self-identity and describing what we have to look forward to as the myriad imprints hammered into us by experience become diaphanous, and new impressions no longer make indelible imprints. Hameed also delves into the different ways various traditions talk about the soul, the difference between ordinary knowledge and “knowing,” or gnosis, and tells us that sudden enlightenment and gradual enlightenment are an artificial dichotomy, sharing a story of a sudden enlightenment experience of his own. Once again, Hameed transmits an extraordinary amount of wisdom in a relatively short time, and we emerge brighter, hopeful, and inspired as to our boundless spiritual potential. Recorded November 14, 2024.

    “Self-image is not just in the mind, it actually shapes our consciousness.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing the 6th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, beginning with chapter 7 of The Inner Journey Home: the impressionability of the soul (00:51)
    • One of individual consciousness’ properties is impressionability; without it, there would be no learning (02:39)
    • It’s not easy to experience the soul as a living presence because of its impressionability (05:43)
    • The mind is just one of the faculties of the soul (08:10)
    • Like a child, the soul retains affect, feelings, impacts; these traces make it possible for individual consciousness to be structured (10:19)
    • Self-image, self-identity, come from more long lasting types of impressions (12:49)
    • Without impressionability, there wouldn’t be trauma (13:23)
    • Painful, pleasurable, or neutral, some impressions become patterns of behavior (13:47)
    • When we study the soul, we can find the ego structures: rigid, unchanging, the impressions have made an indelible imprint (14:29)
    • Self-image affects consciousness by limiting it: the medium of presence is hidden by the accumulation of impressions (17:35)
    • Self-image actually shapes our consciousness: the soul mistakes itself for the self (23:32)
    • The malleability of the soul is responsible for both conditioning and learning (25:31)
    • How open we are depends on our early experience; also, different souls come in with different capacities (nature/nurture) (26:05)
    • It is natural and necessary for the soul to develop into an ego (30:38)
    • We resist changing our self-image without knowing we are resisting (33:59)
    • The soul believes it is fighting for its life, when actually it is fighting for the life of the ego self (35:15) 
    • Not everyone needs psychotherapy (37:50)
    • The shift from struggling to maintain our ego structures to a state of basic trust (40:21)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
    • Dzogchen, a tradition of teachings in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Bön aimed at discovering and continuing in the ultimate ground of existence
    • Wilhelm Reich, Reichian therapy, Reich’s Segmental Armouring Theory (Energetics Institute) 
    • Alexander Lowen, developer of Bioenergetic Analysis
    • Stan Grof & Christina Grof, Holotropic Breathwork: A New Approach to Self-Exploration and Therapy*
    • Abraham Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being*
    • Carl Rogers’ fully functioning person, On Becoming A Person: A Therapist’s View of Psychotherapy*
    • Bruno Bettelheim, Freud and Man’s Soul: An Important Re-Interpretation of Freudian Theory*
    • The Chittamatra or “Mind Only” School of Mahayana Buddhism
    • The 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje
    • Dogen, founder of the Sōtō School of Zen, “A blade of grass is a blade of grass.”
    • Gnosis
    • Philip Kapleau, The Three Pillars of Zen: Teaching, Practice, and Enlightenment*
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>addacc2e-1c08-408e-acae-dc4b5f8c6d9aThu, 26 Dec 2024 05:00:00 -040043:15falsefull162162The Magic of the GRIP Prison Movement: Guiding Rage into PowerEp. 161 (Part 2 of 2) | In this profoundly moving and inspiring conversation, GRIP Training Institute CEO, Kim Moore, and facilitator/trainer Fateen Jackson, Sr., also a GRIP graduate, educate us as to the power and magic of the GRIP prison movement, based on Jacques Verduin’s model: Leaving Prison Before You Get Out. This yearlong trauma healing and accountability program is unique in the degree of radical transformation it aims for—and delivers. It is about freeing minds, and as Kim points out, goes beyond the duality of teacher/student, inmate/not inmate, victim/offender to where everyone joins in a mutual journey of healing, transformation, and liberation.The program is so transformative that ripple effects from GRIP students can be felt throughout the prison, and GRIP graduates often struggle with how little emotional intelligence and trauma healing work the rest of us have done when they get out.

    Kim and Fateen shine a bright light on the inestimable value of a caring, compassionate community, pointing out that deep personal transformation and taking responsibility doesn’t happen in isolation. They share illuminating stories of their own experiences, and the dedication and gladness they exude in this talk is itself impactful and inspiring. There is something in this conversation, maybe because it touches our deepest brokenness and then lifts it up and redeems it, that reaches right into one’s heart and infuses it with inspiration, hope, compassion, and love. Recorded November 21, 2024.

    “Who have you left out of your heart? How can you expand your sphere of human concern?”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Roger acknowledges the power of GRIP’s processes (01:20)
    • What are the most impactful processes that participants go through? (02:18)
    • Transforming shame into remorse: you are not your crime (05:17)
    • The importance of self-care for facilitators: what practices do Kim & Fateen do? (06:39)
    • Reminding participants who they truly are: you can give love and you can receive love (10:36) 
    • Moving beyond the duality of giver/receiver, victim/offender, teacher/student (12:31) 
    • Transforming belief systems: You are not in prison because of what you did, but because you believed the thoughts that justified the actions you took (14:06) 
    • A longing to hear a genuine apology (16:40)
    • Opening your heart to every offender, no matter what they’ve done (18:25)
    • The transformational power of this work: engendering hope, compassion, redemption, wisdom (21:22)
    • GRIP graduates struggle with how little emotional intelligence and trauma healing work the rest of us have done when they get out (24:25)
    • Can people accept that you are a changed, transformed individual? (25:03)
    • The diversity of this program: everyone is welcome, everyone learns from everyone else (26:29)
    • Meditation: stopping the violence with awareness (29:40)
    • The wisdom that is born in these groups goes way beyond prison (32:56)
    • If you would like to be part of the GRIP family (34:12)
    • What is the vision for GRIP’s future? GRIP’s scaling strategy; connecting with incoming lifers from day one (35:15)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Guiding Rage into Power program, the GRIP Training Institute (where you can watch a moving and impactful short video of a group in process)
    • Jacques Verduin, founder of GRIP, Leaving Prison Before You Get Out: A Transformational Healing Journey for Incarcerated People to Learn How to Guide Their Rage Into Power (GRIP)
    • john a. powell, director of The Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley, advancing groundbreaking approaches to transforming structural marginalization and inequality
    • MC Hammer, Pray (Just to Make it Today), YouTube music video
    
    

    ---

    Kim Moore has spent more than two decades working to make the San Francisco Bay Area a more just and equitable community through her work as a community organizer on issues of affordable housing, healthcare, immigration, violence prevention, and criminal justice reform. She has dedicated the last eight years to The GRIP Training Institute, a restorative justice organization serving hundreds of incarcerated individuals across seven California prisons, where she serves as Executive Director, and the entirety of her career to advancing justice and building a Beloved Community. A strong believer in the principle, “The first revolution is internal,” Kim considers meditation and the Dharma the foundation of her work for justice in the community. Kim is also a Buddhist chaplain in the Theravada tradition, and holds degrees in anthropology from Stanford University and Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.

    ---

    Fateen Jackson, Sr, is from Long Beach, California, and currently resides in Northern California. Fateen completed the GRIP program as a student while still in San Quentin, in 2013. After graduation, he went on to facilitate several groups while still inside. He performed a spoken word piece called the Apologetic Salute, at a TEDx event, which was held at San Quentin in 2016. The spoken word piece was dedicated to the people who have suffered violence at the hands of another person. Fateen regained his freedom in 2019 after former governor Jerry Brown commuted his sentence. He joined the GRIP staff the same year, and is now a Senior Facilitator as well as the Senior Facilitator Trainer/Coordinator for the GRIP organization. He goes inside several institutions to deliver the GRIP program and to train people in the work.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 161 (Part 2 of 2) | In this profoundly moving and inspiring conversation, GRIP Training Institute CEO, Kim Moore, and facilitator/trainer Fateen Jackson, Sr., also a GRIP graduate, educate us as to the power and magic of the GRIP prison movement, based on Jacques Verduin’s model: Leaving Prison Before You Get Out. This yearlong trauma healing and accountability program is unique in the degree of radical transformation it aims for—and delivers. It is about freeing minds, and as Kim points out, goes beyond the duality of teacher/student, inmate/not inmate, victim/offender to where everyone joins in a mutual journey of healing, transformation, and liberation.The program is so transformative that ripple effects from GRIP students can be felt throughout the prison, and GRIP graduates often struggle with how little emotional intelligence and trauma healing work the rest of us have done when they get out.

    Kim and Fateen shine a bright light on the inestimable value of a caring, compassionate community, pointing out that deep personal transformation and taking responsibility doesn’t happen in isolation. They share illuminating stories of their own experiences, and the dedication and gladness they exude in this talk is itself impactful and inspiring. There is something in this conversation, maybe because it touches our deepest brokenness and then lifts it up and redeems it, that reaches right into one’s heart and infuses it with inspiration, hope, compassion, and love. Recorded November 21, 2024.

    “Who have you left out of your heart? How can you expand your sphere of human concern?”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Roger acknowledges the power of GRIP’s processes (01:20)
    • What are the most impactful processes that participants go through? (02:18)
    • Transforming shame into remorse: you are not your crime (05:17)
    • The importance of self-care for facilitators: what practices do Kim & Fateen do? (06:39)
    • Reminding participants who they truly are: you can give love and you can receive love (10:36) 
    • Moving beyond the duality of giver/receiver, victim/offender, teacher/student (12:31) 
    • Transforming belief systems: You are not in prison because of what you did, but because you believed the thoughts that justified the actions you took (14:06) 
    • A longing to hear a genuine apology (16:40)
    • Opening your heart to every offender, no matter what they’ve done (18:25)
    • The transformational power of this work: engendering hope, compassion, redemption, wisdom (21:22)
    • GRIP graduates struggle with how little emotional intelligence and trauma healing work the rest of us have done when they get out (24:25)
    • Can people accept that you are a changed, transformed individual? (25:03)
    • The diversity of this program: everyone is welcome, everyone learns from everyone else (26:29)
    • Meditation: stopping the violence with awareness (29:40)
    • The wisdom that is born in these groups goes way beyond prison (32:56)
    • If you would like to be part of the GRIP family (34:12)
    • What is the vision for GRIP’s future? GRIP’s scaling strategy; connecting with incoming lifers from day one (35:15)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Guiding Rage into Power program, the GRIP Training Institute (where you can watch a moving and impactful short video of a group in process)
    • Jacques Verduin, founder of GRIP, Leaving Prison Before You Get Out: A Transformational Healing Journey for Incarcerated People to Learn How to Guide Their Rage Into Power (GRIP)
    • john a. powell, director of The Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley, advancing groundbreaking approaches to transforming structural marginalization and inequality
    • MC Hammer, Pray (Just to Make it Today), YouTube music video
    
    

    ---

    Kim Moore has spent more than two decades working to make the San Francisco Bay Area a more just and equitable community through her work as a community organizer on issues of affordable housing, healthcare, immigration, violence prevention, and criminal justice reform. She has dedicated the last eight years to The GRIP Training Institute, a restorative justice organization serving hundreds of incarcerated individuals across seven California prisons, where she serves as Executive Director, and the entirety of her career to advancing justice and building a Beloved Community. A strong believer in the principle, “The first revolution is internal,” Kim considers meditation and the Dharma the foundation of her work for justice in the community. Kim is also a Buddhist chaplain in the Theravada tradition, and holds degrees in anthropology from Stanford University and Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.

    ---

    Fateen Jackson, Sr, is from Long Beach, California, and currently resides in Northern California. Fateen completed the GRIP program as a student while still in San Quentin, in 2013. After graduation, he went on to facilitate several groups while still inside. He performed a spoken word piece called the Apologetic Salute, at a TEDx event, which was held at San Quentin in 2016. The spoken word piece was dedicated to the people who have suffered violence at the hands of another person. Fateen regained his freedom in 2019 after former governor Jerry Brown commuted his sentence. He joined the GRIP staff the same year, and is now a Senior Facilitator as well as the Senior Facilitator Trainer/Coordinator for the GRIP organization. He goes inside several institutions to deliver the GRIP program and to train people in the work.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>17d3fd38-37e8-494f-9f87-8236abce9c79Thu, 19 Dec 2024 05:00:00 -040041:10falsefull161161Guiding Rage into Power: From Prisoners to PeacemakersEp. 160 (Part 1 of 2) | In this profoundly moving and inspiring conversation, GRIP Training Institute CEO, Kim Moore, and facilitator/trainer Fateen Jackson, Sr., also a GRIP graduate, educate us as to the power and magic of the GRIP prison movement, based on Jacques Verduin’s model: Leaving Prison Before You Get Out. This yearlong trauma healing and accountability program is unique in the degree of radical transformation it aims for—and delivers. It is about freeing minds, and as Kim points out, goes beyond the duality of teacher/student, inmate/not inmate, victim/offender to where everyone joins in a mutual journey of healing, transformation, and liberation.The program is so transformative that ripple effects from GRIP students can be felt throughout the prison, and GRIP graduates often struggle with how little emotional intelligence and trauma healing work the rest of us have done when they get out.

    Kim and Fateen shine a bright light on the inestimable value of a caring, compassionate community, pointing out that deep personal transformation and taking responsibility doesn’t happen in isolation. They share illuminating stories of their own experiences, and the dedication and gladness they exude in this talk is itself impactful and inspiring. There is something in this conversation, maybe because it touches our deepest brokenness and then lifts it up and redeems it, that reaches right into one’s heart and infuses it with inspiration, hope, compassion, and love. Recorded November 21, 2024.

    “The wisdom that is born in these groups goes way beyond prison.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing GRIP CEO Kim Moore, facilitator/trainer Fateen Jackson, and the remarkable program Guiding Rage into Power (01:15)
    • How did Kim come to have a life purpose of facilitating transformation? (04:06)
    • Moving out of privilege into direct relationship with the realities of criminal justice (06:25)
    • Fateen’s story and how GRIP allowed him to source the trauma that led to prison and transform it (09:19)
    • The morning Fateen was released and the ripple effects of GRIP (16:03)
    • 4 foundations of GRIP: cultivating mindfulness, developing emotional intelligence, doing no harm, understanding victim & survivor impact (19:39)
    • The importance of building a safe container and building trust (20:52)
    • GRIP assignments: the unfinished business letter, apology to the victims letter, and more (22:18)
    • The emotional/energetic arc the group goes through, ending with a deep sense of empathy for the survivors or victims (25:33)
    • What is the power and the magic of GRIP? 1) instruction, 2) practice/tools, 3) processing (28:36)
    • The incredible power of a healing community (30:07)
    • Leaving prison mentally, emotionally, spiritually can happen even while still in prison, without hope of release (30:55) 
    • The healing itself is the reward—that’s where the freedom comes from (32:12) 
    • How GRIP students affect the rest of the prison: flipping the culture of the yard (33:20)
    • Becoming peacemakers: taking responsibility for your own healing doesn’t happen in isolation—it happens in community (34:39)
    • What happens when you get out of prison? (36:22)
    • Recidivism and Fateen’s story of looking for a job (37:46)
    • GRIP’s reentry support for prisoners who are released (42:50)
    • The extraordinarily low 1.7% recidivism rate of GRIP students (46:28)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Guiding Rage into Power program, the GRIP Training Institute (where you can watch a moving and impactful short video of a group in process)
    • Jacques Verduin, founder of GRIP, Leaving Prison Before You Get Out: A Transformational Healing Journey for Incarcerated People to Learn How to Guide Their Rage Into Power (GRIP)
    • john a. powell, director of The Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley, advancing groundbreaking approaches to transforming structural marginalization and inequality
    • MC Hammer, Pray (Just to Make it Today), YouTube music video
    
    

    ---

    Kim Moore has spent more than two decades working to make the San Francisco Bay Area a more just and equitable community through her work as a community organizer on issues of affordable housing, healthcare, immigration, violence prevention, and criminal justice reform. She has dedicated the last eight years to The GRIP Training Institute, a restorative justice organization serving hundreds of incarcerated individuals across seven California prisons, where she serves as Executive Director, and the entirety of her career to advancing justice and building a Beloved Community. A strong believer in the principle, “The first revolution is internal,” Kim considers meditation and the Dharma the foundation of her work for justice in the community. Kim is also a Buddhist chaplain in the Theravada tradition, and holds degrees in anthropology from Stanford University and Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.

    ---

    Fateen Jackson, Sr, is from Long Beach, California, and currently resides in Northern California. Fateen completed the GRIP program as a student while still in San Quentin, in 2013. After graduation, he went on to facilitate several groups while still inside. He performed a spoken word piece called the Apologetic Salute, at a TEDx event, which was held at San Quentin in 2016. The spoken word piece was dedicated to the people who have suffered violence at the hands of another person. Fateen regained his freedom in 2019 after former governor Jerry Brown commuted his sentence. He joined the GRIP staff the same year, and is now a Senior Facilitator as well as the Senior Facilitator Trainer/Coordinator for the GRIP organization. He goes inside several institutions to deliver the GRIP program and to train people in the work.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 160 (Part 1 of 2) | In this profoundly moving and inspiring conversation, GRIP Training Institute CEO, Kim Moore, and facilitator/trainer Fateen Jackson, Sr., also a GRIP graduate, educate us as to the power and magic of the GRIP prison movement, based on Jacques Verduin’s model: Leaving Prison Before You Get Out. This yearlong trauma healing and accountability program is unique in the degree of radical transformation it aims for—and delivers. It is about freeing minds, and as Kim points out, goes beyond the duality of teacher/student, inmate/not inmate, victim/offender to where everyone joins in a mutual journey of healing, transformation, and liberation.The program is so transformative that ripple effects from GRIP students can be felt throughout the prison, and GRIP graduates often struggle with how little emotional intelligence and trauma healing work the rest of us have done when they get out.

    Kim and Fateen shine a bright light on the inestimable value of a caring, compassionate community, pointing out that deep personal transformation and taking responsibility doesn’t happen in isolation. They share illuminating stories of their own experiences, and the dedication and gladness they exude in this talk is itself impactful and inspiring. There is something in this conversation, maybe because it touches our deepest brokenness and then lifts it up and redeems it, that reaches right into one’s heart and infuses it with inspiration, hope, compassion, and love. Recorded November 21, 2024.

    “The wisdom that is born in these groups goes way beyond prison.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing GRIP CEO Kim Moore, facilitator/trainer Fateen Jackson, and the remarkable program Guiding Rage into Power (01:15)
    • How did Kim come to have a life purpose of facilitating transformation? (04:06)
    • Moving out of privilege into direct relationship with the realities of criminal justice (06:25)
    • Fateen’s story and how GRIP allowed him to source the trauma that led to prison and transform it (09:19)
    • The morning Fateen was released and the ripple effects of GRIP (16:03)
    • 4 foundations of GRIP: cultivating mindfulness, developing emotional intelligence, doing no harm, understanding victim & survivor impact (19:39)
    • The importance of building a safe container and building trust (20:52)
    • GRIP assignments: the unfinished business letter, apology to the victims letter, and more (22:18)
    • The emotional/energetic arc the group goes through, ending with a deep sense of empathy for the survivors or victims (25:33)
    • What is the power and the magic of GRIP? 1) instruction, 2) practice/tools, 3) processing (28:36)
    • The incredible power of a healing community (30:07)
    • Leaving prison mentally, emotionally, spiritually can happen even while still in prison, without hope of release (30:55) 
    • The healing itself is the reward—that’s where the freedom comes from (32:12) 
    • How GRIP students affect the rest of the prison: flipping the culture of the yard (33:20)
    • Becoming peacemakers: taking responsibility for your own healing doesn’t happen in isolation—it happens in community (34:39)
    • What happens when you get out of prison? (36:22)
    • Recidivism and Fateen’s story of looking for a job (37:46)
    • GRIP’s reentry support for prisoners who are released (42:50)
    • The extraordinarily low 1.7% recidivism rate of GRIP students (46:28)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Guiding Rage into Power program, the GRIP Training Institute (where you can watch a moving and impactful short video of a group in process)
    • Jacques Verduin, founder of GRIP, Leaving Prison Before You Get Out: A Transformational Healing Journey for Incarcerated People to Learn How to Guide Their Rage Into Power (GRIP)
    • john a. powell, director of The Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley, advancing groundbreaking approaches to transforming structural marginalization and inequality
    • MC Hammer, Pray (Just to Make it Today), YouTube music video
    
    

    ---

    Kim Moore has spent more than two decades working to make the San Francisco Bay Area a more just and equitable community through her work as a community organizer on issues of affordable housing, healthcare, immigration, violence prevention, and criminal justice reform. She has dedicated the last eight years to The GRIP Training Institute, a restorative justice organization serving hundreds of incarcerated individuals across seven California prisons, where she serves as Executive Director, and the entirety of her career to advancing justice and building a Beloved Community. A strong believer in the principle, “The first revolution is internal,” Kim considers meditation and the Dharma the foundation of her work for justice in the community. Kim is also a Buddhist chaplain in the Theravada tradition, and holds degrees in anthropology from Stanford University and Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.

    ---

    Fateen Jackson, Sr, is from Long Beach, California, and currently resides in Northern California. Fateen completed the GRIP program as a student while still in San Quentin, in 2013. After graduation, he went on to facilitate several groups while still inside. He performed a spoken word piece called the Apologetic Salute, at a TEDx event, which was held at San Quentin in 2016. The spoken word piece was dedicated to the people who have suffered violence at the hands of another person. Fateen regained his freedom in 2019 after former governor Jerry Brown commuted his sentence. He joined the GRIP staff the same year, and is now a Senior Facilitator as well as the Senior Facilitator Trainer/Coordinator for the GRIP organization. He goes inside several institutions to deliver the GRIP program and to train people in the work.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>42636f0e-ec19-4f9b-a7e1-d23c8abba932Thu, 12 Dec 2024 05:00:00 -040050:47falsefull160160Boundless Potentials: Opening to the Endless Creativity of the Universe with A. H. Almaas (Part 2)Ep. 159 (Part 2 of 2) | In the 5th dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, spiritual teacher and author Hameed Ali discusses the dynamic, ever changing, infinitely creative nature of the universe, and explains that our individual souls are in some sense a microcosm of this energy, with endless potentials and possibilities. We can experience creative dynamism, Hameed says, as “a sense of infinite energy, pulsing and throbbing, where we see the whole universe in continual emergence, every moment new.” Although the soul has boundless potential, we tend to take the limited approach that what we already know is the extent of things; the key to loosening the limits we place upon ourselves is to practice inquiry and remain open to all directions of possibilities. Each individual experiences the dynamism in a different way and expresses the potentiality of reality in a different way, says Hameed. When we are in touch with our true nature, we share in the creativity of the divine. 

    In this conversation, Hameed also talks about death: how we can be curious about it, how it is the ultimate in finality, one more possibility of reality, and that he doesn’t presume to know it, only that true nature is the source of time and does not die. Life can be experienced like a fountain rather than a flowing river, Hameed relates. And the more our ego structures are released, the more we can open to its beautiful array of endless possibilities. Another profoundly intriguing, subtly humorous, and absolutely enlightening conversation with Hameed Ali. Recorded October 10, 2024.

    “We are thoughts in the mind of God, but God’s thoughts are not like human thoughts, they are creations.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Ordinary knowledge is a subset of basic knowledge, which is implicit in the beingness of what is manifesting; spirituality has to do with basic knowledge (00:59) 
    • What Hameed would like to add to the theory of evolution (04:47)
    • It is possible for the soul to know itself; nothing else we achieve in life will bring total fulfillment (07:44) 
    • The logos is manifesting the potential of reality; part of this potential is for true nature to know itself through the organs of perception of the individual soul (10:06)
    • The human being is designed to fill its purpose, but when you get into true nature, purpose doesn’t apply (12:08)
    • Beyond Maslow’s motivation of self-transcendence: selfless service, transpersonal spontaneity, and the motivation to go beyond what we know (15:14)
    • What about death? Nothing else has the finality of death (21:39)
    • True nature doesn’t die; it is the source of time, pure timelessness (24:35)
    • Dogen drops causality: ash is ash, wood is wood; life is life, death is death (26:48)
    • Death is another possibility of reality (29:06)
    • Experiencing life as a fountain rather than a flowing river (31:51)
    • The more ego structures are released, the more we open to a beautiful array of possibilities & potentials (36:29)
    • The ego is not false, it’s just limited (40:12)
    • What the human being is free to actualize is to be open to all directions of possibilities (41:16)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution
    • Abraham Maslow called the two major kinds of motives deficiency-based and sufficiency-based 
    • Roger Walsh & Lindsay Briner, The Farther Reaches of Motivation: Three Novel Motives from The World’s Contemplative Traditions
    • The Supreme Source: The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde: Kunjed Gyalpo,* one of the original Dzogchen books, translated by Chogyal Namkai Norbu & Adriano Clemente,
    • Dogen, founder of the Sōtō School of Zen, “Ash is ash, wood is wood.”
    • The Tibetan Book of the Dead,* edited by Graham Coleman & Thupten Jinpa, translated by Gyurme Dorje, with introductory commentary by the Dalai Lama
    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 159 (Part 2 of 2) | In the 5th dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, spiritual teacher and author Hameed Ali discusses the dynamic, ever changing, infinitely creative nature of the universe, and explains that our individual souls are in some sense a microcosm of this energy, with endless potentials and possibilities. We can experience creative dynamism, Hameed says, as “a sense of infinite energy, pulsing and throbbing, where we see the whole universe in continual emergence, every moment new.” Although the soul has boundless potential, we tend to take the limited approach that what we already know is the extent of things; the key to loosening the limits we place upon ourselves is to practice inquiry and remain open to all directions of possibilities. Each individual experiences the dynamism in a different way and expresses the potentiality of reality in a different way, says Hameed. When we are in touch with our true nature, we share in the creativity of the divine. 

    In this conversation, Hameed also talks about death: how we can be curious about it, how it is the ultimate in finality, one more possibility of reality, and that he doesn’t presume to know it, only that true nature is the source of time and does not die. Life can be experienced like a fountain rather than a flowing river, Hameed relates. And the more our ego structures are released, the more we can open to its beautiful array of endless possibilities. Another profoundly intriguing, subtly humorous, and absolutely enlightening conversation with Hameed Ali. Recorded October 10, 2024.

    “We are thoughts in the mind of God, but God’s thoughts are not like human thoughts, they are creations.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Ordinary knowledge is a subset of basic knowledge, which is implicit in the beingness of what is manifesting; spirituality has to do with basic knowledge (00:59) 
    • What Hameed would like to add to the theory of evolution (04:47)
    • It is possible for the soul to know itself; nothing else we achieve in life will bring total fulfillment (07:44) 
    • The logos is manifesting the potential of reality; part of this potential is for true nature to know itself through the organs of perception of the individual soul (10:06)
    • The human being is designed to fill its purpose, but when you get into true nature, purpose doesn’t apply (12:08)
    • Beyond Maslow’s motivation of self-transcendence: selfless service, transpersonal spontaneity, and the motivation to go beyond what we know (15:14)
    • What about death? Nothing else has the finality of death (21:39)
    • True nature doesn’t die; it is the source of time, pure timelessness (24:35)
    • Dogen drops causality: ash is ash, wood is wood; life is life, death is death (26:48)
    • Death is another possibility of reality (29:06)
    • Experiencing life as a fountain rather than a flowing river (31:51)
    • The more ego structures are released, the more we open to a beautiful array of possibilities & potentials (36:29)
    • The ego is not false, it’s just limited (40:12)
    • What the human being is free to actualize is to be open to all directions of possibilities (41:16)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution
    • Abraham Maslow called the two major kinds of motives deficiency-based and sufficiency-based 
    • Roger Walsh & Lindsay Briner, The Farther Reaches of Motivation: Three Novel Motives from The World’s Contemplative Traditions
    • The Supreme Source: The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde: Kunjed Gyalpo,* one of the original Dzogchen books, translated by Chogyal Namkai Norbu & Adriano Clemente,
    • Dogen, founder of the Sōtō School of Zen, “Ash is ash, wood is wood.”
    • The Tibetan Book of the Dead,* edited by Graham Coleman & Thupten Jinpa, translated by Gyurme Dorje, with introductory commentary by the Dalai Lama
    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>16c9683c-2df6-461b-bd14-11062a9f76e3Thu, 05 Dec 2024 05:00:00 -040045:11falsefull159159Boundless Potentials: Opening to the Endless Creativity of the Universe with A. H. AlmaasEp. 158 (Part 1 of 2) | In the 5th dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, spiritual teacher and author Hameed Ali discusses the dynamic, ever changing, infinitely creative nature of the universe, and explains that our individual souls are in some sense a microcosm of this energy, with endless potentials and possibilities. We can experience creative dynamism, Hameed says, as “a sense of infinite energy, pulsing and throbbing, where we see the whole universe in continual emergence, every moment new.” Although the soul has boundless potential, we tend to take the limited approach that what we already know is the extent of things; the key to loosening the limits we place upon ourselves is to practice inquiry and remain open to all directions of possibilities. Each individual experiences the dynamism in a different way and expresses the potentiality of reality in a different way, says Hameed. When we are in touch with our true nature, we share in the creativity of the divine. 

    In this conversation, Hameed also talks about death: how we can be curious about it, how it is the ultimate in finality, one more possibility of reality, and that he doesn’t presume to know it, only that true nature is the source of time and does not die. Life can be experienced like a fountain rather than a flowing river, Hameed relates. And the more our ego structures are released, the more we can open to its beautiful array of endless possibilities. Another profoundly intriguing, subtly humorous, and absolutely enlightening conversation with Hameed Ali. Recorded October 10, 2024.

    “The soul is a living expression of the fundamental nature of reality. There’s no end to the potentiality.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing the fifth A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series with Hameed Ali, focusing on the soul’s infinite potential and the creative dynamism of reality (01:07)
    • The soul has boundless potential, but we tend to take the limited approach that what we know already is the extent of things (04:07)
    • We don’t have to look for the boundless possibilities—we just need to be open (08:16)
    • The main tool for fostering this openness is inquiry: what is presenting itself? (10:01)
    • We all share the potential; we are all fundamentally connected (12:16)
    • Reality, true nature, is in constant creative dynamism (13:34)
    • The logos of the integration of spirituality and rational knowing can be applied to every field of knowledge (14:33)
    • Imagine a community of scientists who are all realized spiritually, their inquiry powerfully infused by spiritual understanding (15:50)
    • We are just at the beginning of understanding the physical world (18:22)
    • Just because something is true doesn’t mean it’s complete (21:55)
    • Einstein’s theory of relativity and the Riemannian manifold (26:03)
    • The nondual is never separate from the dual (28:25)
    • Distinguishing between the fundamental nature of pure awareness and the nature of the soul (30:27)
    • The close connection between individual potential and creativity and universal dynamism and creativity (32:24)
    • We can experience creative dynamism: a sense of infinite energy, where we see the universe in continual emergence, every moment new (34:14)
    • Each one of us is a miniature logos (35:40)
    • Each individual experiences the dynamism in a different way and expresses the potentiality of reality in a different way (36:51)
    • God’s thoughts are not like human thoughts—they are creations (39:17)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
    • Dzogchen, a tradition of teachings in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Bön aimed at discovering and continuing in the ultimate ground of existence
    • Alfred North Whitehead, “Every moment is a creative advance into novelty.”
    • Gödel’s incompleteness theorems
    • Einstein’s theory of relativity
    • Riemannian manifold
    • Kashmir Shaivism
    • Heraclitis, pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who had great influence on both ancient and modern Western philosophy
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 158 (Part 1 of 2) | In the 5th dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, spiritual teacher and author Hameed Ali discusses the dynamic, ever changing, infinitely creative nature of the universe, and explains that our individual souls are in some sense a microcosm of this energy, with endless potentials and possibilities. We can experience creative dynamism, Hameed says, as “a sense of infinite energy, pulsing and throbbing, where we see the whole universe in continual emergence, every moment new.” Although the soul has boundless potential, we tend to take the limited approach that what we already know is the extent of things; the key to loosening the limits we place upon ourselves is to practice inquiry and remain open to all directions of possibilities. Each individual experiences the dynamism in a different way and expresses the potentiality of reality in a different way, says Hameed. When we are in touch with our true nature, we share in the creativity of the divine. 

    In this conversation, Hameed also talks about death: how we can be curious about it, how it is the ultimate in finality, one more possibility of reality, and that he doesn’t presume to know it, only that true nature is the source of time and does not die. Life can be experienced like a fountain rather than a flowing river, Hameed relates. And the more our ego structures are released, the more we can open to its beautiful array of endless possibilities. Another profoundly intriguing, subtly humorous, and absolutely enlightening conversation with Hameed Ali. Recorded October 10, 2024.

    “The soul is a living expression of the fundamental nature of reality. There’s no end to the potentiality.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing the fifth A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series with Hameed Ali, focusing on the soul’s infinite potential and the creative dynamism of reality (01:07)
    • The soul has boundless potential, but we tend to take the limited approach that what we know already is the extent of things (04:07)
    • We don’t have to look for the boundless possibilities—we just need to be open (08:16)
    • The main tool for fostering this openness is inquiry: what is presenting itself? (10:01)
    • We all share the potential; we are all fundamentally connected (12:16)
    • Reality, true nature, is in constant creative dynamism (13:34)
    • The logos of the integration of spirituality and rational knowing can be applied to every field of knowledge (14:33)
    • Imagine a community of scientists who are all realized spiritually, their inquiry powerfully infused by spiritual understanding (15:50)
    • We are just at the beginning of understanding the physical world (18:22)
    • Just because something is true doesn’t mean it’s complete (21:55)
    • Einstein’s theory of relativity and the Riemannian manifold (26:03)
    • The nondual is never separate from the dual (28:25)
    • Distinguishing between the fundamental nature of pure awareness and the nature of the soul (30:27)
    • The close connection between individual potential and creativity and universal dynamism and creativity (32:24)
    • We can experience creative dynamism: a sense of infinite energy, where we see the universe in continual emergence, every moment new (34:14)
    • Each one of us is a miniature logos (35:40)
    • Each individual experiences the dynamism in a different way and expresses the potentiality of reality in a different way (36:51)
    • God’s thoughts are not like human thoughts—they are creations (39:17)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
    • Dzogchen, a tradition of teachings in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Bön aimed at discovering and continuing in the ultimate ground of existence
    • Alfred North Whitehead, “Every moment is a creative advance into novelty.”
    • Gödel’s incompleteness theorems
    • Einstein’s theory of relativity
    • Riemannian manifold
    • Kashmir Shaivism
    • Heraclitis, pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who had great influence on both ancient and modern Western philosophy
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>0835f058-22d1-4847-8b6d-018a5f18e163Thu, 28 Nov 2024 05:00:00 -040042:36falsefull158158Understanding Nonduality Across Traditions and Over Time with Sean Esbjörn-Hargens (Part 3)Ep. 157 (Part 3 of 3) | Integral polymath Sean Esbjörn-Hargens is the first comparative scholar to undertake differentiating the myriad varieties of nonduality. A longtime spiritual practitioner within several nondual traditions, Sean wanted to find out how we can understand the relationship between reality, consciousness, and practice. He decided to delve into a comprehensive study of nonduality and was surprised and excited by what he found: 40 distinct nondual traditions, ancient and new, from East and West, fascinating in their differences, their similarities, their uniqueness, and their depth. Sean’s hope is that his comparative analysis of nondual traditions will open the door to a global, cross-tradition dialogue that will supersede centuries of misunderstanding and conflict among people arguing that their realization is the best and/or only correct interpretation of reality and allow nondual traditions to enrich and empower one another.

    Enthusiasm and excitement flow throughout the conversation as Sean reveals provocative patterns he has uncovered in nonduality's history and the distinctions he has mapped so far. It becomes clear that nondual realizations evolve in a way similar to developmental models in terms of subject/object relationship, psychology of self, and taking new perspectives, and that they will continue to evolve. As Sean puts it, “the ontological floor keeps dropping out as the endpoint of spiritual realization.” “What will our nondual traditions look like in a thousand years? In two thousand years!” Sean wonders. Hang on to your hats for a thoroughly enjoyable and eye opening ride through a goldmine of information about the many faces and potentials of our nondual traditions. Recorded September 12, 2024.

    “I want to come back to how we can operationalize this in our own lives…and how it can inform ourselves as practitioners in our journey of realization.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3

    • Is there a process for stabilization of these realizations? (01:25) 
    • 4 primary polarities across traditions: the goal, path, context, and practices (04:16)
    • 2 types of practice: apophatic and cataphatic (07:06)
    • Service is another profound approach to “not two” nonduality (09:49)
    • Enlightened action: no self, being in the flow; reality serves itself through awakened beings (11:46)
    • What is going on psychologically as people move into nondual experiences? (17:18)
    • Like in developmental models, the subject/object relationship, psychology of self, and taking new perspectives all evolve in nondual awareness (20:42)
    • Invitation to explore the richness of different nondual traditions and the potential for a deeper cross-tradition dialogue (25:47)  
    • Sean’s 10-week online course Varieties of Nonduality beginning in January 2025 (26:51)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 3

    • Advaita Vedanta
    • Kashmir Shaivism
    • Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind*
    • David Loy, Nonduality: A Study in Comparative Philosophy*, Nonduality in Buddhism and Beyond*, see also Deep Transformation podcast Growing from Bodhisattva to Ecosattva with David Loy
    • Alan Watts, The Supreme Identity*
    • Understanding the Subject-Object Relationship with Ken Wilber (short YouTube video)
    • The 10 Ox Herding Pictures
    • Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Dean of Integral Education & Integral Noetic Sciences Program Director, California Institute of Human Sciences (CIHS), founder of MetaIntegral, a global transdisciplinary social impact organization
    • Sean’s course coming up in January 2025: Varieties of Nonduality: A 10-Week Course in a Metaintegral Analysis of 10 Contemplative Traditions
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Varieties of Nonduality*

    by Sean Esbjörn-Hargens

    A 10-Week Course in a Metaintegral Analysis of 10 Contemplative Traditions

    Beginning January 2025

    * Sean Hargens has kindly offered a $100 discount to Deep Transformation podcast listeners who sign up for his course! To take advantage of Sean’s offer, simply email him at sean@metaintegral.net, with the following coupon code in the subject line: NONDUALITY2024DT, and request one hundred dollars off the January to March Varieties of Nonduality course. Sean will then send you a PayPal invoice with the reduced rate of $395.

    ---

    Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Ph.D. has spent his life developing “metaintegral” approaches to the fields of ecology, mixed-methods research, psychology and consciousness studies, philosophy of science, holistic education, and post-capital models of measuring social impact. He has been a long time serious meditator and practitioner within several nondual traditions: Tibetan Buddhism, The Russian Orthodox Church (Christianity), A. H. Almaas’ The Diamond Approach, The Ceile De Celtic tradition, and the Hermetic tradition. He is the Founder and Program Director of the MA/PhD program Integral Noetic Sciences at the California Institute for Human Sciences in Encinitas, CA.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 157 (Part 3 of 3) | Integral polymath Sean Esbjörn-Hargens is the first comparative scholar to undertake differentiating the myriad varieties of nonduality. A longtime spiritual practitioner within several nondual traditions, Sean wanted to find out how we can understand the relationship between reality, consciousness, and practice. He decided to delve into a comprehensive study of nonduality and was surprised and excited by what he found: 40 distinct nondual traditions, ancient and new, from East and West, fascinating in their differences, their similarities, their uniqueness, and their depth. Sean’s hope is that his comparative analysis of nondual traditions will open the door to a global, cross-tradition dialogue that will supersede centuries of misunderstanding and conflict among people arguing that their realization is the best and/or only correct interpretation of reality and allow nondual traditions to enrich and empower one another.

    Enthusiasm and excitement flow throughout the conversation as Sean reveals provocative patterns he has uncovered in nonduality's history and the distinctions he has mapped so far. It becomes clear that nondual realizations evolve in a way similar to developmental models in terms of subject/object relationship, psychology of self, and taking new perspectives, and that they will continue to evolve. As Sean puts it, “the ontological floor keeps dropping out as the endpoint of spiritual realization.” “What will our nondual traditions look like in a thousand years? In two thousand years!” Sean wonders. Hang on to your hats for a thoroughly enjoyable and eye opening ride through a goldmine of information about the many faces and potentials of our nondual traditions. Recorded September 12, 2024.

    “I want to come back to how we can operationalize this in our own lives…and how it can inform ourselves as practitioners in our journey of realization.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3

    • Is there a process for stabilization of these realizations? (01:25) 
    • 4 primary polarities across traditions: the goal, path, context, and practices (04:16)
    • 2 types of practice: apophatic and cataphatic (07:06)
    • Service is another profound approach to “not two” nonduality (09:49)
    • Enlightened action: no self, being in the flow; reality serves itself through awakened beings (11:46)
    • What is going on psychologically as people move into nondual experiences? (17:18)
    • Like in developmental models, the subject/object relationship, psychology of self, and taking new perspectives all evolve in nondual awareness (20:42)
    • Invitation to explore the richness of different nondual traditions and the potential for a deeper cross-tradition dialogue (25:47)  
    • Sean’s 10-week online course Varieties of Nonduality beginning in January 2025 (26:51)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 3

    • Advaita Vedanta
    • Kashmir Shaivism
    • Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind*
    • David Loy, Nonduality: A Study in Comparative Philosophy*, Nonduality in Buddhism and Beyond*, see also Deep Transformation podcast Growing from Bodhisattva to Ecosattva with David Loy
    • Alan Watts, The Supreme Identity*
    • Understanding the Subject-Object Relationship with Ken Wilber (short YouTube video)
    • The 10 Ox Herding Pictures
    • Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Dean of Integral Education & Integral Noetic Sciences Program Director, California Institute of Human Sciences (CIHS), founder of MetaIntegral, a global transdisciplinary social impact organization
    • Sean’s course coming up in January 2025: Varieties of Nonduality: A 10-Week Course in a Metaintegral Analysis of 10 Contemplative Traditions
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Varieties of Nonduality*

    by Sean Esbjörn-Hargens

    A 10-Week Course in a Metaintegral Analysis of 10 Contemplative Traditions

    Beginning January 2025

    * Sean Hargens has kindly offered a $100 discount to Deep Transformation podcast listeners who sign up for his course! To take advantage of Sean’s offer, simply email him at sean@metaintegral.net, with the following coupon code in the subject line: NONDUALITY2024DT, and request one hundred dollars off the January to March Varieties of Nonduality course. Sean will then send you a PayPal invoice with the reduced rate of $395.

    ---

    Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Ph.D. has spent his life developing “metaintegral” approaches to the fields of ecology, mixed-methods research, psychology and consciousness studies, philosophy of science, holistic education, and post-capital models of measuring social impact. He has been a long time serious meditator and practitioner within several nondual traditions: Tibetan Buddhism, The Russian Orthodox Church (Christianity), A. H. Almaas’ The Diamond Approach, The Ceile De Celtic tradition, and the Hermetic tradition. He is the Founder and Program Director of the MA/PhD program Integral Noetic Sciences at the California Institute for Human Sciences in Encinitas, CA.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>bd8248e4-a33b-4597-acda-629e87d19b48Thu, 21 Nov 2024 05:00:00 -040034:18truefull157157Understanding Nonduality Across Traditions and Over Time with Sean Esbjörn-Hargens (Part 2)Ep. 156 (Part 2 of 3) | Integral polymath Sean Esbjörn-Hargens is the first comparative scholar to undertake differentiating the myriad varieties of nonduality. A longtime spiritual practitioner within several nondual traditions, Sean wanted to find out how we can understand the relationship between reality, consciousness, and practice. He decided to delve into a comprehensive study of nonduality and was surprised and excited by what he found: 40 distinct nondual traditions, ancient and new, from East and West, fascinating in their differences, their similarities, their uniqueness, and their depth. Sean’s hope is that his comparative analysis of nondual traditions will open the door to a global, cross-tradition dialogue that will supersede centuries of misunderstanding and conflict among people arguing that their realization is the best and/or only correct interpretation of reality and allow nondual traditions to enrich and empower one another.

    Enthusiasm and excitement flow throughout the conversation as Sean reveals provocative patterns he has uncovered in nonduality's history and the distinctions he has mapped so far. It becomes clear that nondual realizations evolve in a way similar to developmental models in terms of subject/object relationship, psychology of self, and taking new perspectives, and that they will continue to evolve. As Sean puts it, “the ontological floor keeps dropping out as the endpoint of spiritual realization.” “What will our nondual traditions look like in a thousand years? In two thousand years!” Sean wonders. Hang on to your hats for a thoroughly enjoyable and eye opening ride through a goldmine of information about the many faces and potentials of our nondual traditions. Recorded September 12, 2024.

    “Our nondual traditions are one of the best things people have created – ever!”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Science and the new relationship between subject and object (00:50) 
    • 6 subject-object strategies that nondual traditions embrace (02:51)
    • Roger’s acknowledgment of the enormous contribution Sean is making as the first comparative scholar to differentiate the varieties of nonduality (04:59)
    • Provocative patterns in the history of nonduality and the mysterious flourishing of nondual traditions from around the 11th to the 14th century (09:28)
    • Nondual texts that only emerged in the last 100 years have expanded our nondual horizons—and there’s a lot more to discover (13:08)
    • The ontological floor keeps dropping out as the endpoint of spiritual realization (16:04)
    • What are our nondual traditions going to look like in 1,000 years? (17:32)
    • The concept of endless realizations and awakenings liberates us from needing to find the ultimate nondual realization (18:29)
    • Dr. Jeffery Martin’s research: 32 fundamental positions on nonduality (20:29)
    • Sequential realizations and why you might go back to a previous realization (21:43)
    • What makes a global, comparative nondual analysis so worthwhile (26:04) 
    • You have to become someone before you become no one; and now you can become everyone (27:48)
    • Merging consciousness with another’s unique realization: all one, empty, while also distinct and unique (30:02)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • The Axial Age
    • Elaine Pagels, Beyond Belief: The Secret of Gospel of Thomas* 
    • Meister Eckhart, Catholic priest, theologian, philosopher & mystic
    • Julian of Norwich, author of Revelations of Divine Love, a medieval book of Christian mystical devotions
    • Marshall Davis, Experiencing God Directly: The Way of Christian Nonduality*
    • Advaita Vedanta
    • Adi Shankara, Vedic scholar
    • Swami Gambhirananda, Eight Upanishads, with the Commentary of Sankaracarya, Vol. I*
    • A. H. Almaas, Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery*
    • A. H. Almaas’ Diamond Approach, see also Deep Transformation podcast’s A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series (also available on YouTube)
    • Dr. Jeffery Martin, The Finders*
    • Center for Consciousness Studies’ Science of Consciousness Conference
    • Carl Rogers’ fully functioning person, On Becoming A Person: A Therapist’s View of Psychotherapy* 
    • A. H. Almaas with Tami Simon, Endless Enlightenment: The View of Totality in the Diamond Approach
    • Marc Gafni, Your Unique Self: The Radical Path to Personal Enlightenment*
    • Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind*
    • Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Dean of Integral Education & Integral Noetic Sciences Program Director, California Institute of Human Sciences (CIHS), founder of MetaIntegral, a global transdisciplinary social impact organization
    • Sean’s course coming up in January 2025: Varieties of Nonduality: A 10-Week Course in a Metaintegral Analysis of 10 Contemplative Traditions
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Varieties of Nonduality*

    by Sean Esbjörn-Hargens

    A 10-Week Course in a Metaintegral Analysis of 10 Contemplative Traditions

    Beginning January 2025

    * Sean Hargens has kindly offered a $100 discount to Deep...]]>Ep. 156 (Part 2 of 3) | Integral polymath Sean Esbjörn-Hargens is the first comparative scholar to undertake differentiating the myriad varieties of nonduality. A longtime spiritual practitioner within several nondual traditions, Sean wanted to find out how we can understand the relationship between reality, consciousness, and practice. He decided to delve into a comprehensive study of nonduality and was surprised and excited by what he found: 40 distinct nondual traditions, ancient and new, from East and West, fascinating in their differences, their similarities, their uniqueness, and their depth. Sean’s hope is that his comparative analysis of nondual traditions will open the door to a global, cross-tradition dialogue that will supersede centuries of misunderstanding and conflict among people arguing that their realization is the best and/or only correct interpretation of reality and allow nondual traditions to enrich and empower one another.

    Enthusiasm and excitement flow throughout the conversation as Sean reveals provocative patterns he has uncovered in nonduality's history and the distinctions he has mapped so far. It becomes clear that nondual realizations evolve in a way similar to developmental models in terms of subject/object relationship, psychology of self, and taking new perspectives, and that they will continue to evolve. As Sean puts it, “the ontological floor keeps dropping out as the endpoint of spiritual realization.” “What will our nondual traditions look like in a thousand years? In two thousand years!” Sean wonders. Hang on to your hats for a thoroughly enjoyable and eye opening ride through a goldmine of information about the many faces and potentials of our nondual traditions. Recorded September 12, 2024.

    “Our nondual traditions are one of the best things people have created – ever!”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Science and the new relationship between subject and object (00:50) 
    • 6 subject-object strategies that nondual traditions embrace (02:51)
    • Roger’s acknowledgment of the enormous contribution Sean is making as the first comparative scholar to differentiate the varieties of nonduality (04:59)
    • Provocative patterns in the history of nonduality and the mysterious flourishing of nondual traditions from around the 11th to the 14th century (09:28)
    • Nondual texts that only emerged in the last 100 years have expanded our nondual horizons—and there’s a lot more to discover (13:08)
    • The ontological floor keeps dropping out as the endpoint of spiritual realization (16:04)
    • What are our nondual traditions going to look like in 1,000 years? (17:32)
    • The concept of endless realizations and awakenings liberates us from needing to find the ultimate nondual realization (18:29)
    • Dr. Jeffery Martin’s research: 32 fundamental positions on nonduality (20:29)
    • Sequential realizations and why you might go back to a previous realization (21:43)
    • What makes a global, comparative nondual analysis so worthwhile (26:04) 
    • You have to become someone before you become no one; and now you can become everyone (27:48)
    • Merging consciousness with another’s unique realization: all one, empty, while also distinct and unique (30:02)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • The Axial Age
    • Elaine Pagels, Beyond Belief: The Secret of Gospel of Thomas* 
    • Meister Eckhart, Catholic priest, theologian, philosopher & mystic
    • Julian of Norwich, author of Revelations of Divine Love, a medieval book of Christian mystical devotions
    • Marshall Davis, Experiencing God Directly: The Way of Christian Nonduality*
    • Advaita Vedanta
    • Adi Shankara, Vedic scholar
    • Swami Gambhirananda, Eight Upanishads, with the Commentary of Sankaracarya, Vol. I*
    • A. H. Almaas, Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery*
    • A. H. Almaas’ Diamond Approach, see also Deep Transformation podcast’s A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series (also available on YouTube)
    • Dr. Jeffery Martin, The Finders*
    • Center for Consciousness Studies’ Science of Consciousness Conference
    • Carl Rogers’ fully functioning person, On Becoming A Person: A Therapist’s View of Psychotherapy* 
    • A. H. Almaas with Tami Simon, Endless Enlightenment: The View of Totality in the Diamond Approach
    • Marc Gafni, Your Unique Self: The Radical Path to Personal Enlightenment*
    • Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind*
    • Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Dean of Integral Education & Integral Noetic Sciences Program Director, California Institute of Human Sciences (CIHS), founder of MetaIntegral, a global transdisciplinary social impact organization
    • Sean’s course coming up in January 2025: Varieties of Nonduality: A 10-Week Course in a Metaintegral Analysis of 10 Contemplative Traditions
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Varieties of Nonduality*

    by Sean Esbjörn-Hargens

    A 10-Week Course in a Metaintegral Analysis of 10 Contemplative Traditions

    Beginning January 2025

    * Sean Hargens has kindly offered a $100 discount to Deep Transformation podcast listeners who sign up for his course! To take advantage of Sean’s offer, simply email him at sean@metaintegral.net, with the following coupon code in the subject line: NONDUALITY2024DT, and request one hundred dollars off the January to March Varieties of Nonduality course. Sean will then send you a PayPal invoice with the reduced rate of $395.

    ---

    Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Ph.D. has spent his life developing “metaintegral” approaches to the fields of ecology, mixed-methods research, psychology and consciousness studies, philosophy of science, holistic education, and post-capital models of measuring social impact. He has been a long time serious meditator and practitioner within several nondual traditions: Tibetan Buddhism, The Russian Orthodox Church (Christianity), A. H. Almaas’ The Diamond Approach, The Ceile De Celtic tradition, and the Hermetic tradition. He is the Founder and Program Director of the MA/PhD program Integral Noetic Sciences at the California Institute for Human Sciences in Encinitas, CA.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>0743bb9a-aace-4b5c-88c9-b55e8a2c0841Thu, 14 Nov 2024 05:00:00 -040034:28falsefull156156Understanding Nonduality Across Traditions and Over Time with Sean Esbjörn-HargensEp. 155 (Part 1 of 3) | Integral polymath Sean Esbjörn-Hargens is the first comparative scholar to undertake differentiating the myriad varieties of nonduality. A longtime spiritual practitioner within several nondual traditions, Sean wanted to find out how we can understand the relationship between reality, consciousness, and practice. He decided to delve into a comprehensive study of nonduality and was surprised and excited by what he found: 40 distinct nondual traditions, ancient and new, from East and West, fascinating in their differences, their similarities, their uniqueness, and their depth. Sean’s hope is that his comparative analysis of nondual traditions will open the door to a global, cross-tradition dialogue that will supersede centuries of misunderstanding and conflict among people arguing that their realization is the best and/or only correct interpretation of reality and allow nondual traditions to enrich and empower one another.

    Enthusiasm and excitement flow throughout the conversation as Sean reveals provocative patterns he has uncovered in nonduality's history and the distinctions he has mapped so far. It becomes clear that nondual realizations evolve in a way similar to developmental models in terms of subject/object relationship, psychology of self, and taking new perspectives, and that they will continue to evolve. As Sean puts it, “the ontological floor keeps dropping out as the endpoint of spiritual realization.” “What will our nondual traditions look like in a thousand years? In two thousand years!” Sean wonders. Hang on to your hats for a thoroughly enjoyable and eye opening ride through a goldmine of information about the many faces and potentials of our nondual traditions. Recorded September 12, 2024.

    “How do we understand the relationship between consciousness, reality, and practice?”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, author, Dean of Integral Education & Integral Noetic Sciences Program Director at CIHS, founder of MetaIntegral (00:59)
    • How was Sean drawn to exploring the topic of nonduality? (05:03)
    • There are over 40 distinct nondual traditions on the planet (07:31)
    • When you say nonduality, what do you mean? (11:02)
    • Advaita Vedanta’s “not two”; there’s only Self, only divine awareness (11:43)
    • 3 major nondual ultimacies: nondual oneness, nondual tantra, nondual union (12:49)
    • In nondual traditions, does divinizing the self lead to the same experience as annihilating the self? (17:43)
    • The I-sphere of nonduality, the we-sphere of nonduality, and the it-sphere of nonduality (19:51)
    • Ken Wilber’s notion of emptiness + view: emptiness doesn’t change but view does, so nonduality evolves (22:00)
    • Varieties of nonduality emphasize different qualities: emptiness + omnipresence, emptiness + bliss, emptiness + luminosity, emptiness + embodiment (23:33)
    • Nonduality is developmental in terms of states: each realization is a deeper, wider experience of nonduality (25:45)
    • Realization is just going to keep going; there is a way in which all views are equal and a way in which some views are better than others (29:41)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Dean of Integral Education & Integral Noetic Sciences Program Director, California Institute of Human Sciences (CIHS), founder of MetaIntegral, a global transdisciplinary social impact organization
    • Sean’s course coming up in January 2025: Varieties of Nonduality: A 10-Week Course in a Metaintegral Analysis of 10 Contemplative Traditions
    • Sean Esbjörn-Hargens & Michael Zimmerman, Integral Ecology: Uniting Multiple Perspectives on the Natural World*
    • Roy Bhaskar, Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Nicholas Hedlund, Mervyn Hartwig, Metatheory for the Twenty-First Century: Critical Realism and Integral Theory in Dialogue*
    • A. H. Almaas’ Diamond Approach, see also Deep Transformation podcast’s A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series (also available on YouTube)
    • David Loy, Nonduality: A Study in Comparative Philosophy*, Nonduality in Buddhism and Beyond*, see also Deep Transformation podcast Growing from Bodhisattva to Ecosattva with David Loy
    • Advaita Vedanta
    • Kashmir Shaivism
    • Meister Eckhart, German Catholic priest, theologian, philosopher & mystic
    • Ken Wilber, No Boundary: Eastern and Western Approaches to Personal Growth*
    • Shingon Buddhism
    • Tiantai Buddhism
    • A. H. Almaas, Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery*
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Varieties of Nonduality*

    by Sean Esbjörn-Hargens

    A 10-Week Course in a Metaintegral Analysis of 10 Contemplative Traditions

    Beginning January 2025

    * Sean Hargens has kindly offered a $100 discount to Deep Transformation podcast listeners who sign up for his course! To take advantage of Sean’s offer, simply email him at sean@metaintegral.net, with the following coupon code in the subject line: NONDUALITY2024DT, and request one hundred dollars off the January to March Varieties of Nonduality course. Sean will then send you a PayPal invoice with the reduced rate of $395.

    ---

    Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Ph.D. has spent his life developing “metaintegral” approaches to the fields of ecology, mixed-methods research, psychology and consciousness studies, philosophy of science, holistic education, and post-capital models of measuring social impact. He has been a long time serious meditator and practitioner within several nondual traditions: Tibetan Buddhism, The Russian Orthodox Church (Christianity), A. H. Almaas’ The Diamond Approach, The Ceile De Celtic tradition, and the Hermetic tradition. He is the Founder and Program Director of the MA/PhD program Integral Noetic Sciences at the California Institute for Human Sciences in Encinitas, CA.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Ep. 155 (Part 1 of 3) | Integral polymath Sean Esbjörn-Hargens is the first comparative scholar to undertake differentiating the myriad varieties of nonduality. A longtime spiritual practitioner within several nondual traditions, Sean wanted to find out how we can understand the relationship between reality, consciousness, and practice. He decided to delve into a comprehensive study of nonduality and was surprised and excited by what he found: 40 distinct nondual traditions, ancient and new, from East and West, fascinating in their differences, their similarities, their uniqueness, and their depth. Sean’s hope is that his comparative analysis of nondual traditions will open the door to a global, cross-tradition dialogue that will supersede centuries of misunderstanding and conflict among people arguing that their realization is the best and/or only correct interpretation of reality and allow nondual traditions to enrich and empower one another.

    Enthusiasm and excitement flow throughout the conversation as Sean reveals provocative patterns he has uncovered in nonduality's history and the distinctions he has mapped so far. It becomes clear that nondual realizations evolve in a way similar to developmental models in terms of subject/object relationship, psychology of self, and taking new perspectives, and that they will continue to evolve. As Sean puts it, “the ontological floor keeps dropping out as the endpoint of spiritual realization.” “What will our nondual traditions look like in a thousand years? In two thousand years!” Sean wonders. Hang on to your hats for a thoroughly enjoyable and eye opening ride through a goldmine of information about the many faces and potentials of our nondual traditions. Recorded September 12, 2024.

    “How do we understand the relationship between consciousness, reality, and practice?”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, author, Dean of Integral Education & Integral Noetic Sciences Program Director at CIHS, founder of MetaIntegral (00:59)
    • How was Sean drawn to exploring the topic of nonduality? (05:03)
    • There are over 40 distinct nondual traditions on the planet (07:31)
    • When you say nonduality, what do you mean? (11:02)
    • Advaita Vedanta’s “not two”; there’s only Self, only divine awareness (11:43)
    • 3 major nondual ultimacies: nondual oneness, nondual tantra, nondual union (12:49)
    • In nondual traditions, does divinizing the self lead to the same experience as annihilating the self? (17:43)
    • The I-sphere of nonduality, the we-sphere of nonduality, and the it-sphere of nonduality (19:51)
    • Ken Wilber’s notion of emptiness + view: emptiness doesn’t change but view does, so nonduality evolves (22:00)
    • Varieties of nonduality emphasize different qualities: emptiness + omnipresence, emptiness + bliss, emptiness + luminosity, emptiness + embodiment (23:33)
    • Nonduality is developmental in terms of states: each realization is a deeper, wider experience of nonduality (25:45)
    • Realization is just going to keep going; there is a way in which all views are equal and a way in which some views are better than others (29:41)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Dean of Integral Education & Integral Noetic Sciences Program Director, California Institute of Human Sciences (CIHS), founder of MetaIntegral, a global transdisciplinary social impact organization
    • Sean’s course coming up in January 2025: Varieties of Nonduality: A 10-Week Course in a Metaintegral Analysis of 10 Contemplative Traditions
    • Sean Esbjörn-Hargens & Michael Zimmerman, Integral Ecology: Uniting Multiple Perspectives on the Natural World*
    • Roy Bhaskar, Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Nicholas Hedlund, Mervyn Hartwig, Metatheory for the Twenty-First Century: Critical Realism and Integral Theory in Dialogue*
    • A. H. Almaas’ Diamond Approach, see also Deep Transformation podcast’s A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series (also available on YouTube)
    • David Loy, Nonduality: A Study in Comparative Philosophy*, Nonduality in Buddhism and Beyond*, see also Deep Transformation podcast Growing from Bodhisattva to Ecosattva with David Loy
    • Advaita Vedanta
    • Kashmir Shaivism
    • Meister Eckhart, German Catholic priest, theologian, philosopher & mystic
    • Ken Wilber, No Boundary: Eastern and Western Approaches to Personal Growth*
    • Shingon Buddhism
    • Tiantai Buddhism
    • A. H. Almaas, Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery*
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Varieties of Nonduality*

    by Sean Esbjörn-Hargens

    A 10-Week Course in a Metaintegral Analysis of 10 Contemplative Traditions

    Beginning January 2025

    * Sean Hargens has kindly offered a $100 discount to Deep Transformation podcast listeners who sign up for his course! To take advantage of Sean’s offer, simply email him at sean@metaintegral.net, with the following coupon code in the subject line: NONDUALITY2024DT, and request one hundred dollars off the January to March Varieties of Nonduality course. Sean will then send you a PayPal invoice with the reduced rate of $395.

    ---

    Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Ph.D. has spent his life developing “metaintegral” approaches to the fields of ecology, mixed-methods research, psychology and consciousness studies, philosophy of science, holistic education, and post-capital models of measuring social impact. He has been a long time serious meditator and practitioner within several nondual traditions: Tibetan Buddhism, The Russian Orthodox Church (Christianity), A. H. Almaas’ The Diamond Approach, The Ceile De Celtic tradition, and the Hermetic tradition. He is the Founder and Program Director of the MA/PhD program Integral Noetic Sciences at the California Institute for Human Sciences in Encinitas, CA.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>ca04b9c8-5164-4338-b759-e9da96c9803cThu, 07 Nov 2024 05:00:00 -040033:17falsefull155155Discovering the Soul’s Treasures: Awakening Our Deepest Capacities & Highest Potentials with A. H. Almaas (Part 2)Ep. 154 (Part 2 of 2) | In this 4th dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, spiritual teacher Hameed Ali explains that much of the beginning of the spiritual path is spent clarifying our individual consciousness from the conditioning of the past in order to wake up and discover our true nature. In the Diamond Approach, this is accomplished using the practice of inquiry, and as we inquire deeply within, qualities intrinsic to consciousness emerge in our awareness. These qualities—like truth, courage, steadfastness, curiosity, and love—each have their own particular sensory expression: a certain color, texture, warmth or coolness, varying degrees of sweetness. The more these qualities emerge, Hameed says, the more powerful our practice and the more authentic our life. He calls these qualities treasures of the soul. 

    This beautiful conversation ranges from profoundly moving, as Hameed evokes specific qualities of presence, to humorous, when he tells a funny story about Maharishi Yogi, to intensely illuminating as Hameed talks about the teaching of the first turning, the miracle of ordinary life, what it means to be spiritually mature, the nature of true sorrow, the fact that we are the universe being conscious, and how fundamental nature lies deeper than consciousness, deeper than awareness. It is a multifaceted gem, not to be missed. Recorded September 19, 2024.

    “The soul is the organ of knowledge of the universe.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • We have to take the dualistic world into account (00:59)
    • Mature spirituality: just live your life; you have to start with ordinary life (02:31)
    • The second (nondual), third & fourth turnings recognize there are other ways that reality appears (05:43)
    • You can be pure consciousness living in a world of matter: in some sense, this is more miraculous than that everything is consciousness (07:01)
    • Courage’s presence is like red lava, fiery and ruby red (09:39)
    • Truth is also a quality: when I experience myself as truth, I feel myself as made out of pure gold, the gold of consciousness (10:24)
    • Roger is deeply touched when Hameed evokes the sensory characteristics of the essential qualities; Hameed agrees it is very moving (13:43)
    • To what extent are these sensory experiences specific to Hameed? Or are they universal? (15:02)
    • Sincerity is a quality of presence (17:55)
    • What do all these inherent qualities tell us about the nature of reality? (19:09)
    • Fundamental nature is deeper than consciousness, deeper than awareness: I am is completely indeterminate (20:43)
    • The nature of rational thought, discriminating awareness (24:22)
    • Can we integrate ordinary knowledge with true knowing? (27:15)
    • It’s important for people to know that consciousness can appear as a particular quality (29:13)
    • These qualities are the treasures of the soul and the journey of learning about them is a beautiful adventure of discovery (31:41)
    • The word brings out the quality and the quality brings out the word (35:21)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
    • Kashmir Shaivism
    • The Platonic Forms of the Socratic Dialogues
    • Ramana Maharshi, Who Am I? The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi*
    • Parmenides, the first philosopher to inquire into the nature of existence itself
    • Sufi mystic Ibn Arabi, “God needs a soul just as much as a soul needs God”
    • Maharishi Yogi, creator of Transcendental Meditation
    • Tibetan Buddhist masters Chögyam Trungpa & Dilgo Khyentse
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 154 (Part 2 of 2) | In this 4th dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, spiritual teacher Hameed Ali explains that much of the beginning of the spiritual path is spent clarifying our individual consciousness from the conditioning of the past in order to wake up and discover our true nature. In the Diamond Approach, this is accomplished using the practice of inquiry, and as we inquire deeply within, qualities intrinsic to consciousness emerge in our awareness. These qualities—like truth, courage, steadfastness, curiosity, and love—each have their own particular sensory expression: a certain color, texture, warmth or coolness, varying degrees of sweetness. The more these qualities emerge, Hameed says, the more powerful our practice and the more authentic our life. He calls these qualities treasures of the soul. 

    This beautiful conversation ranges from profoundly moving, as Hameed evokes specific qualities of presence, to humorous, when he tells a funny story about Maharishi Yogi, to intensely illuminating as Hameed talks about the teaching of the first turning, the miracle of ordinary life, what it means to be spiritually mature, the nature of true sorrow, the fact that we are the universe being conscious, and how fundamental nature lies deeper than consciousness, deeper than awareness. It is a multifaceted gem, not to be missed. Recorded September 19, 2024.

    “The soul is the organ of knowledge of the universe.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • We have to take the dualistic world into account (00:59)
    • Mature spirituality: just live your life; you have to start with ordinary life (02:31)
    • The second (nondual), third & fourth turnings recognize there are other ways that reality appears (05:43)
    • You can be pure consciousness living in a world of matter: in some sense, this is more miraculous than that everything is consciousness (07:01)
    • Courage’s presence is like red lava, fiery and ruby red (09:39)
    • Truth is also a quality: when I experience myself as truth, I feel myself as made out of pure gold, the gold of consciousness (10:24)
    • Roger is deeply touched when Hameed evokes the sensory characteristics of the essential qualities; Hameed agrees it is very moving (13:43)
    • To what extent are these sensory experiences specific to Hameed? Or are they universal? (15:02)
    • Sincerity is a quality of presence (17:55)
    • What do all these inherent qualities tell us about the nature of reality? (19:09)
    • Fundamental nature is deeper than consciousness, deeper than awareness: I am is completely indeterminate (20:43)
    • The nature of rational thought, discriminating awareness (24:22)
    • Can we integrate ordinary knowledge with true knowing? (27:15)
    • It’s important for people to know that consciousness can appear as a particular quality (29:13)
    • These qualities are the treasures of the soul and the journey of learning about them is a beautiful adventure of discovery (31:41)
    • The word brings out the quality and the quality brings out the word (35:21)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
    • Kashmir Shaivism
    • The Platonic Forms of the Socratic Dialogues
    • Ramana Maharshi, Who Am I? The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi*
    • Parmenides, the first philosopher to inquire into the nature of existence itself
    • Sufi mystic Ibn Arabi, “God needs a soul just as much as a soul needs God”
    • Maharishi Yogi, creator of Transcendental Meditation
    • Tibetan Buddhist masters Chögyam Trungpa & Dilgo Khyentse
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>dbd41ce7-9c91-4225-88e2-bbd23337c566Thu, 31 Oct 2024 05:00:00 -040040:01falsefull154154Discovering the Soul’s Treasures: Awakening Our Deepest Capacities & Highest Potentials with A. H. AlmaasEp. 153 (Part 1 of 2) | In this 4th dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, spiritual teacher Hameed Ali explains that much of the beginning of the spiritual path is spent clarifying our individual consciousness from the conditioning of the past in order to wake up and discover our true nature. In the Diamond Approach, this is accomplished using the practice of inquiry, and as we inquire deeply within, qualities intrinsic to consciousness emerge in our awareness. These qualities—like truth, courage, steadfastness, curiosity, and love—each have their own particular sensory expression: a certain color, texture, warmth or coolness, varying degrees of sweetness. The more these qualities emerge, Hameed says, the more powerful our practice and the more authentic our life. He calls these qualities treasures of the soul. 

    This beautiful conversation ranges from profoundly moving, as Hameed evokes specific qualities of presence, to humorous, when he tells a funny story about Maharishi Yogi, to intensely illuminating as Hameed talks about the teaching of the first turning, the miracle of ordinary life, what it means to be spiritually mature, the nature of true sorrow, the fact that we are the universe being conscious, and how fundamental nature lies deeper than consciousness, deeper than awareness. It is a multifaceted gem, not to be missed. Recorded September 19, 2024.

    “Courage, steadfastness, curiosity, and love are all expressions of our pure consciousness appearing as specific qualities.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing the 4th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, focusing on the soul as “organism of consciousness” (00:59)
    • The distinction between universal consciousness and individual consciousness (03:04)
    • Much of the beginning of the path is spent clarifying individual consciousness from the conditioning of the past (05:50)
    • The practice of inquiry is for the individual consciousness to wake up and discover what it is fundamentally (07:25)
    • Courage, steadfastness, curiosity, and love are all expressions of pure consciousness appearing as specific qualities (11:04)
    • Why we need these essential qualities: the more these qualities emerge, the more powerful the practice (13:21)
    • How can you live your life authentically, without the qualities of integrity, courage, intelligence, clarity, inner peacefulness, and true sorrow? (16:02)
    • True sorrow is a quality of presence—sorrow for the suffering, for what’s happening in the world (16:57)
    • These qualities are the closest thing to the Platonic forms, necessary for the spiritual path and necessary for living (19:47)
    • The incomparable or precious pearl at our center and the difference between personal essence and the individual soul (20:58)
    • Psychological individuation is a forerunner for true individuation (23:33)
    • Free of conditioning, we wake up to what we really are (24:59)
    • The essential qualities are implicit in pure consciousness but they become differentiated in the soul (27:24)
    • The teaching of the first turning is that the ordinary world is one way reality manifests—it’s not the product of our ignorance; it has its own spirituality (28:37)
    • Ordinary life is miraculous! (34:36)
    • As Parmenides said, order is the basis of reason (36:36)
    • The universe becomes conscious through the beings who awaken: we are the universe being conscious (37:48)
    • The inner world has more in it than the outer universe (41:52)
    • The story of Maharishi Yogi and the bank accounts (43:46)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
    • Kashmir Shaivism
    • The Platonic Forms of the Socratic Dialogues
    • Ramana Maharshi, Who Am I? The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi*
    • Parmenides, the first philosopher to inquire into the nature of existence itself
    • Sufi mystic Ibn Arabi, “God needs a soul just as much as a soul needs God”
    • Maharishi Yogi, creator of Transcendental Meditation
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 153 (Part 1 of 2) | In this 4th dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, spiritual teacher Hameed Ali explains that much of the beginning of the spiritual path is spent clarifying our individual consciousness from the conditioning of the past in order to wake up and discover our true nature. In the Diamond Approach, this is accomplished using the practice of inquiry, and as we inquire deeply within, qualities intrinsic to consciousness emerge in our awareness. These qualities—like truth, courage, steadfastness, curiosity, and love—each have their own particular sensory expression: a certain color, texture, warmth or coolness, varying degrees of sweetness. The more these qualities emerge, Hameed says, the more powerful our practice and the more authentic our life. He calls these qualities treasures of the soul. 

    This beautiful conversation ranges from profoundly moving, as Hameed evokes specific qualities of presence, to humorous, when he tells a funny story about Maharishi Yogi, to intensely illuminating as Hameed talks about the teaching of the first turning, the miracle of ordinary life, what it means to be spiritually mature, the nature of true sorrow, the fact that we are the universe being conscious, and how fundamental nature lies deeper than consciousness, deeper than awareness. It is a multifaceted gem, not to be missed. Recorded September 19, 2024.

    “Courage, steadfastness, curiosity, and love are all expressions of our pure consciousness appearing as specific qualities.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing the 4th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, focusing on the soul as “organism of consciousness” (00:59)
    • The distinction between universal consciousness and individual consciousness (03:04)
    • Much of the beginning of the path is spent clarifying individual consciousness from the conditioning of the past (05:50)
    • The practice of inquiry is for the individual consciousness to wake up and discover what it is fundamentally (07:25)
    • Courage, steadfastness, curiosity, and love are all expressions of pure consciousness appearing as specific qualities (11:04)
    • Why we need these essential qualities: the more these qualities emerge, the more powerful the practice (13:21)
    • How can you live your life authentically, without the qualities of integrity, courage, intelligence, clarity, inner peacefulness, and true sorrow? (16:02)
    • True sorrow is a quality of presence—sorrow for the suffering, for what’s happening in the world (16:57)
    • These qualities are the closest thing to the Platonic forms, necessary for the spiritual path and necessary for living (19:47)
    • The incomparable or precious pearl at our center and the difference between personal essence and the individual soul (20:58)
    • Psychological individuation is a forerunner for true individuation (23:33)
    • Free of conditioning, we wake up to what we really are (24:59)
    • The essential qualities are implicit in pure consciousness but they become differentiated in the soul (27:24)
    • The teaching of the first turning is that the ordinary world is one way reality manifests—it’s not the product of our ignorance; it has its own spirituality (28:37)
    • Ordinary life is miraculous! (34:36)
    • As Parmenides said, order is the basis of reason (36:36)
    • The universe becomes conscious through the beings who awaken: we are the universe being conscious (37:48)
    • The inner world has more in it than the outer universe (41:52)
    • The story of Maharishi Yogi and the bank accounts (43:46)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
    • Kashmir Shaivism
    • The Platonic Forms of the Socratic Dialogues
    • Ramana Maharshi, Who Am I? The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi*
    • Parmenides, the first philosopher to inquire into the nature of existence itself
    • Sufi mystic Ibn Arabi, “God needs a soul just as much as a soul needs God”
    • Maharishi Yogi, creator of Transcendental Meditation
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>2d43be33-90f9-4792-bf5c-587d81194facThu, 24 Oct 2024 05:00:00 -040046:58falsefull153153Ancestral Wisdom for Spirituality, Recovery & Life: An Integration of Native Traditions, Psychedelic Experiences & Integral Theory (Part 2)Ep. 152 (Part 2 of 2) | Life coach, recovery coach, and plant medicine ceremonialist Ron Interpreter has created a multidimensional, whole person healing modality that integrates Navajo spiritual teachings and traditions with Ken Wilber’s Integral Model and Integral spirituality. Humanity is shifting, Ron explains, and is now looking to the teachings of the ancestors and Indigenous practices that can bring a sense of authenticity, purpose, and meaning to our lives. Native spirituality teaches us how we can relate to the elements of earth, fire, water and air in terms of remedies and medicines, and also in terms of beliefs and emotional connections. Plant medicine and other mind-altering ceremonies provide us with the means to get beyond the psychological limitations we put on ourselves, attain higher states of consciousness, and receive answers to our deepest questions.

    With a calm, articulate fervency, Ron shares the ancestral wisdom he teaches to people in recovery or who are suffering from trauma, including special ops forces and veterans: the Native concepts of taking responsibility, being accountable, forging a relationship with God or Spirit, and living from a profound understanding of what it means to be a human being. “We are in the creation of self—how do we practice our selves?” Ron asks. The Indigenous teachings that Ron brings forward provide a deep sense of grounding in Nature and Spirit, as we come to a better understanding of our place in the universe and the practices that can open us up to living in a sacred way, in connection with divine being. Recorded August 1, 2024.

    “We have to see ourselves as human beings first.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Stopping the blame game—blaming colonialism—and healing intergenerational trauma (01:28)
    • How do we practice our selves? Get back to our ancestral ways, see ourselves as human beings first (05:06)
    • The future of recovery depends on the expansion of the practitioner’s approach and getting back to the elementals (11:00)
    • What are the most valuable Native practices for healing and recovery? (18:10)
    • Psychedelic medicines are tools to get beyond the psychological limitations we put on ourselves (23:52)
    • Ceremony is vitally important to give context and reverence to a plant medicine experience (25:04)
    • Building character in young people (26:11)
    • In order for you to receive the medicine, you need to have a spiritual practice (28:29)
    • At Ron’s church, a long period of practicing breathwork and other modalities will often precede the use of psychedelic tools (32:15)
    • Facilitating plant medicine ceremonies for special ops forces and veterans (34:55)
    • Native traditions are now accessible to help people understand what it means to be human (40:02)
    • The future of addiction, especially with addictive potentials increasing exponentially (42:49) 
    • We have to stop looking at addiction as your experience, my experience (48:49)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
    • Masaru Emoto, The Hidden Messages in Water*
    • Hanzi Freinacht, The Listening Society*, Nordic Ideology*
    • Bildung, linking philosophy and education for both personal and cultural maturation
    • iAwake Technologies, transformative sound technologies for an evolving world, co-founded by John Dupuy
    • The Coming Home Project, founded in 2021 by Navy SEAL veteran Nate Brown
    • The Mission After, founded by Mike Bledsoe, empowering veterans to thrive in civilian life
    • Ron Interpreter’s consulting company, Interpretive Solutions LLC, specializes in business management solutions 
    • Ron Interpreter, co-founder of the church Sanctuary of Consciousness
    • Wesly Feuquay’s Psylogia Institute of Consciousness Evolution
    • John Dupuy, Integral Recovery: A Revolutionary Approach to the Treatment of Alcoholism and Addiction*
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Ron Interpreter is a member of the Navajo Nation, with indigenous relations to the Apache and Yaqui Nations. As an Integral Certified Life Coach, Yoga YTT 200 HR Instructor, and Plant-Medicine Ceremonialist, Ron is motivated by an individual’s commitment of deepening their personal health and spiritual wellbeing. Ron facilitates a healing modality he calls “Beeh Ji Zhoni – Beauty Within,” an integrative practice incorporating Integral Theory and Navajo Principles of wellness to create a divine state of being; in which One’s alignment of consciousness and spirituality is attained by setting positive intentions, practicing self love, and initiating self discipline to create an abundant and healthy lifestyle. 

    In his professional endeavors, Ron has expanded the Integral Theory framework into his Substance Abuse and Addiction Recovery practices by utilizing the Integral Recovery Model to help individuals overcome substance abuse disease. Furthermore, as a co-founder of the church Sanctuary of Consciousness, whose ministry is to elevate consciousness throughout the planet, Ron integrates the Integral Spirituality Model—an approach to cultivating higher states of consciousness in the development of psychodynamic psychology, stimulating enlightenment experiences to cultivate sound life practices to heal the mind/body/soul connection. More about Ron here: The Psylogia Institute and Sanctuary Of Consciousness.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 152 (Part 2 of 2) | Life coach, recovery coach, and plant medicine ceremonialist Ron Interpreter has created a multidimensional, whole person healing modality that integrates Navajo spiritual teachings and traditions with Ken Wilber’s Integral Model and Integral spirituality. Humanity is shifting, Ron explains, and is now looking to the teachings of the ancestors and Indigenous practices that can bring a sense of authenticity, purpose, and meaning to our lives. Native spirituality teaches us how we can relate to the elements of earth, fire, water and air in terms of remedies and medicines, and also in terms of beliefs and emotional connections. Plant medicine and other mind-altering ceremonies provide us with the means to get beyond the psychological limitations we put on ourselves, attain higher states of consciousness, and receive answers to our deepest questions.

    With a calm, articulate fervency, Ron shares the ancestral wisdom he teaches to people in recovery or who are suffering from trauma, including special ops forces and veterans: the Native concepts of taking responsibility, being accountable, forging a relationship with God or Spirit, and living from a profound understanding of what it means to be a human being. “We are in the creation of self—how do we practice our selves?” Ron asks. The Indigenous teachings that Ron brings forward provide a deep sense of grounding in Nature and Spirit, as we come to a better understanding of our place in the universe and the practices that can open us up to living in a sacred way, in connection with divine being. Recorded August 1, 2024.

    “We have to see ourselves as human beings first.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Stopping the blame game—blaming colonialism—and healing intergenerational trauma (01:28)
    • How do we practice our selves? Get back to our ancestral ways, see ourselves as human beings first (05:06)
    • The future of recovery depends on the expansion of the practitioner’s approach and getting back to the elementals (11:00)
    • What are the most valuable Native practices for healing and recovery? (18:10)
    • Psychedelic medicines are tools to get beyond the psychological limitations we put on ourselves (23:52)
    • Ceremony is vitally important to give context and reverence to a plant medicine experience (25:04)
    • Building character in young people (26:11)
    • In order for you to receive the medicine, you need to have a spiritual practice (28:29)
    • At Ron’s church, a long period of practicing breathwork and other modalities will often precede the use of psychedelic tools (32:15)
    • Facilitating plant medicine ceremonies for special ops forces and veterans (34:55)
    • Native traditions are now accessible to help people understand what it means to be human (40:02)
    • The future of addiction, especially with addictive potentials increasing exponentially (42:49) 
    • We have to stop looking at addiction as your experience, my experience (48:49)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
    • Masaru Emoto, The Hidden Messages in Water*
    • Hanzi Freinacht, The Listening Society*, Nordic Ideology*
    • Bildung, linking philosophy and education for both personal and cultural maturation
    • iAwake Technologies, transformative sound technologies for an evolving world, co-founded by John Dupuy
    • The Coming Home Project, founded in 2021 by Navy SEAL veteran Nate Brown
    • The Mission After, founded by Mike Bledsoe, empowering veterans to thrive in civilian life
    • Ron Interpreter’s consulting company, Interpretive Solutions LLC, specializes in business management solutions 
    • Ron Interpreter, co-founder of the church Sanctuary of Consciousness
    • Wesly Feuquay’s Psylogia Institute of Consciousness Evolution
    • John Dupuy, Integral Recovery: A Revolutionary Approach to the Treatment of Alcoholism and Addiction*
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Ron Interpreter is a member of the Navajo Nation, with indigenous relations to the Apache and Yaqui Nations. As an Integral Certified Life Coach, Yoga YTT 200 HR Instructor, and Plant-Medicine Ceremonialist, Ron is motivated by an individual’s commitment of deepening their personal health and spiritual wellbeing. Ron facilitates a healing modality he calls “Beeh Ji Zhoni – Beauty Within,” an integrative practice incorporating Integral Theory and Navajo Principles of wellness to create a divine state of being; in which One’s alignment of consciousness and spirituality is attained by setting positive intentions, practicing self love, and initiating self discipline to create an abundant and healthy lifestyle. 

    In his professional endeavors, Ron has expanded the Integral Theory framework into his Substance Abuse and Addiction Recovery practices by utilizing the Integral Recovery Model to help individuals overcome substance abuse disease. Furthermore, as a co-founder of the church Sanctuary of Consciousness, whose ministry is to elevate consciousness throughout the planet, Ron integrates the Integral Spirituality Model—an approach to cultivating higher states of consciousness in the development of psychodynamic psychology, stimulating enlightenment experiences to cultivate sound life practices to heal the mind/body/soul connection. More about Ron here: The Psylogia Institute and Sanctuary Of Consciousness.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>62eb48f5-1593-414d-b8c8-7b7984e6622bThu, 17 Oct 2024 05:00:00 -040053:44truefull152152Ancestral Wisdom for Spirituality, Recovery & Life: An Integration of Native Traditions, Psychedelic Experiences & Integral TheoryEp. 151 (Part 1 of 2) | Life coach, recovery coach, and plant medicine ceremonialist Ron Interpreter has created a multidimensional, whole person healing modality that integrates Navajo spiritual teachings and traditions with Ken Wilber’s Integral Model and Integral spirituality. Humanity is shifting, Ron explains, and is now looking to the teachings of the ancestors and Indigenous practices that can bring a sense of authenticity, purpose, and meaning to our lives. Native spirituality teaches us how we can relate to the elements of earth, fire, water and air in terms of remedies and medicines, and also in terms of beliefs and emotional connections. Plant medicine and other mind-altering ceremonies provide us with the means to get beyond the psychological limitations we put on ourselves, attain higher states of consciousness, and receive answers to our deepest questions.

    With a calm, articulate fervency, Ron shares the ancestral wisdom he teaches to people in recovery or who are suffering from trauma, including special ops forces and veterans: the Native concepts of taking responsibility, being accountable, forging a relationship with God or Spirit, and living from a profound understanding of what it means to be a human being. “We are in the creation of self—how do we practice ourselves?” Ron asks. The Indigenous teachings that Ron brings forward provide a deep sense of grounding in Nature and Spirit, as we come to a better understanding of our place in the universe and the practices that can open us up to living in a sacred way, in connection with divine being. Recorded August 1, 2024.

    “What life am I practicing? Am I understanding who I am?”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing business consultant, integral life coach, recovery coach, and co-founder of the Sanctuary of Consciousness, Ron Interpreter of the Navajo tribe (00:59)
    • How Ron came to work in recovery as well as teach wellness, yoga & personal development (02:59)
    • Growing up on the Navajo Nation learning about our spiritual relationship with the universe, how to cultivate meaning & purpose, and using peyote medicine as a sacrament (08:11)
    • On to architecture, consulting, wellness, and life coaching (10:01)
    • Enter Integral Theory, which covered all the fundamental bases of Native traditions and philosophies (11:46)
    • From integral coaching to recovery coaching, discovering John’s book Integral Recovery & Ken Wilber’s Integral Spirituality (13:38)
    • In the ancestral teachings of the Navajo Way, the peyote way, and the Presbyterian Church, the voice of God is all the same (18:21)
    • How humanity is starting to look to Indigenous people to understand relating to elementals, cultivating community & authenticity, and finding the meaning of life in psychedelic experiences (20:10)
    • John’s experience of Native American spirituality, the mystical spirituality of AA, awakening to Integral, and writing Integral Recovery (23:08)
    • Everything in life is really up to you (28:23)
    • Ancestral 4-quadrant teachings: the mystical & spiritual; the human experience; what are the practices; where is community in this? (29:31)
    • Integral medicine—the whole person approach (31:22)
    • Integral’s process: wake up, grow up, clean up, show up (33:28)
    • Spirituality is a practice of self (37:20)
    • Cultivating skills to become self-sustainable and free of medications (39:11)
    • Taking responsibility, growing beyond victimhood (41:10)
    • The technique of reframing (49:38) 
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Ron Interpreter’s consulting company, Interpretive Solutions LLC, specializes in business management solutions 
    • Ron Interpreter, co-founder of the church Sanctuary of Consciousness
    • The Wim Hof Method
    • The Aubrey Marcus podcast, Biohacks for a Better Human Experience with Dr. De (podcast)
    • Wesly Feuquay’s Psylogia Institute of Consciousness Evolution
    • Rapid Rewire Method
    • John Dupuy, Integral Recovery: A Revolutionary Approach to the Treatment of Alcoholism and Addiction*
    • Ken Wilber, Integral Spirituality: A Startling New Role for Religion in the Modern and Postmodern World*
    • Wallace Black Elk, Native American shamanic teacher, Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota*
    • SAMSHA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Ron Interpreter is a member of the Navajo Nation, with indigenous relations to the Apache and Yaqui Nations. As an Integral Certified Life Coach, Yoga YTT 200 HR Instructor, and Plant-Medicine Ceremonialist, Ron is motivated by an individual’s commitment of deepening their personal health and spiritual wellbeing. Ron facilitates a healing modality he calls “Beeh Ji Zhoni – Beauty Within,” an integrative practice incorporating Integral Theory and Navajo Principles of wellness to create a divine state of being; in which One’s alignment of consciousness and spirituality is attained by setting positive intentions, practicing self love, and initiating self discipline to create an abundant and healthy lifestyle. 

    In his professional endeavors, Ron has expanded the Integral Theory framework into his Substance Abuse and Addiction Recovery practices by utilizing the Integral Recovery Model to help individuals overcome substance abuse disease. Furthermore, as a co-founder of the church Sanctuary of Consciousness, whose ministry is to elevate consciousness throughout the planet, Ron integrates the Integral Spirituality Model—an approach to cultivating higher states of consciousness in the development of psychodynamic psychology, stimulating enlightenment experiences to cultivate sound life practices to heal the mind/body/soul connection. More about Ron here: The Psylogia Institute and Sanctuary Of Consciousness.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 151 (Part 1 of 2) | Life coach, recovery coach, and plant medicine ceremonialist Ron Interpreter has created a multidimensional, whole person healing modality that integrates Navajo spiritual teachings and traditions with Ken Wilber’s Integral Model and Integral spirituality. Humanity is shifting, Ron explains, and is now looking to the teachings of the ancestors and Indigenous practices that can bring a sense of authenticity, purpose, and meaning to our lives. Native spirituality teaches us how we can relate to the elements of earth, fire, water and air in terms of remedies and medicines, and also in terms of beliefs and emotional connections. Plant medicine and other mind-altering ceremonies provide us with the means to get beyond the psychological limitations we put on ourselves, attain higher states of consciousness, and receive answers to our deepest questions.

    With a calm, articulate fervency, Ron shares the ancestral wisdom he teaches to people in recovery or who are suffering from trauma, including special ops forces and veterans: the Native concepts of taking responsibility, being accountable, forging a relationship with God or Spirit, and living from a profound understanding of what it means to be a human being. “We are in the creation of self—how do we practice ourselves?” Ron asks. The Indigenous teachings that Ron brings forward provide a deep sense of grounding in Nature and Spirit, as we come to a better understanding of our place in the universe and the practices that can open us up to living in a sacred way, in connection with divine being. Recorded August 1, 2024.

    “What life am I practicing? Am I understanding who I am?”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing business consultant, integral life coach, recovery coach, and co-founder of the Sanctuary of Consciousness, Ron Interpreter of the Navajo tribe (00:59)
    • How Ron came to work in recovery as well as teach wellness, yoga & personal development (02:59)
    • Growing up on the Navajo Nation learning about our spiritual relationship with the universe, how to cultivate meaning & purpose, and using peyote medicine as a sacrament (08:11)
    • On to architecture, consulting, wellness, and life coaching (10:01)
    • Enter Integral Theory, which covered all the fundamental bases of Native traditions and philosophies (11:46)
    • From integral coaching to recovery coaching, discovering John’s book Integral Recovery & Ken Wilber’s Integral Spirituality (13:38)
    • In the ancestral teachings of the Navajo Way, the peyote way, and the Presbyterian Church, the voice of God is all the same (18:21)
    • How humanity is starting to look to Indigenous people to understand relating to elementals, cultivating community & authenticity, and finding the meaning of life in psychedelic experiences (20:10)
    • John’s experience of Native American spirituality, the mystical spirituality of AA, awakening to Integral, and writing Integral Recovery (23:08)
    • Everything in life is really up to you (28:23)
    • Ancestral 4-quadrant teachings: the mystical & spiritual; the human experience; what are the practices; where is community in this? (29:31)
    • Integral medicine—the whole person approach (31:22)
    • Integral’s process: wake up, grow up, clean up, show up (33:28)
    • Spirituality is a practice of self (37:20)
    • Cultivating skills to become self-sustainable and free of medications (39:11)
    • Taking responsibility, growing beyond victimhood (41:10)
    • The technique of reframing (49:38) 
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Ron Interpreter’s consulting company, Interpretive Solutions LLC, specializes in business management solutions 
    • Ron Interpreter, co-founder of the church Sanctuary of Consciousness
    • The Wim Hof Method
    • The Aubrey Marcus podcast, Biohacks for a Better Human Experience with Dr. De (podcast)
    • Wesly Feuquay’s Psylogia Institute of Consciousness Evolution
    • Rapid Rewire Method
    • John Dupuy, Integral Recovery: A Revolutionary Approach to the Treatment of Alcoholism and Addiction*
    • Ken Wilber, Integral Spirituality: A Startling New Role for Religion in the Modern and Postmodern World*
    • Wallace Black Elk, Native American shamanic teacher, Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota*
    • SAMSHA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Ron Interpreter is a member of the Navajo Nation, with indigenous relations to the Apache and Yaqui Nations. As an Integral Certified Life Coach, Yoga YTT 200 HR Instructor, and Plant-Medicine Ceremonialist, Ron is motivated by an individual’s commitment of deepening their personal health and spiritual wellbeing. Ron facilitates a healing modality he calls “Beeh Ji Zhoni – Beauty Within,” an integrative practice incorporating Integral Theory and Navajo Principles of wellness to create a divine state of being; in which One’s alignment of consciousness and spirituality is attained by setting positive intentions, practicing self love, and initiating self discipline to create an abundant and healthy lifestyle. 

    In his professional endeavors, Ron has expanded the Integral Theory framework into his Substance Abuse and Addiction Recovery practices by utilizing the Integral Recovery Model to help individuals overcome substance abuse disease. Furthermore, as a co-founder of the church Sanctuary of Consciousness, whose ministry is to elevate consciousness throughout the planet, Ron integrates the Integral Spirituality Model—an approach to cultivating higher states of consciousness in the development of psychodynamic psychology, stimulating enlightenment experiences to cultivate sound life practices to heal the mind/body/soul connection. More about Ron here: The Psylogia Institute and Sanctuary Of Consciousness.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>b1f773e1-132e-41d4-a045-0cf8cd411197Thu, 10 Oct 2024 05:00:00 -040053:12falsefull151151What is Consciousness? The Key to Experiencing Our True Nature with A. H. Almaas (Part 2)Ep. 150 (Part 2 of 2) | In the third dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali brings us to a deeper understanding of individual consciousness, our true nature, in relation to pure consciousness. Once we come to know what consciousness is, he says, our spiritual experience truly begins. The conversation flows through many illuminating teachings: how true nature manifests itself in many ways—there is no one way, no final way; reality is only what we perceive it to be—there is no hard and fast reality “out there;” and the ego is not some sort of developmental mistake—it only becomes a problem if we become fixated on it. Psychology helps us see how the soul became the ego, Hameed explains, and psychodynamics reflect how our individual consciousness becomes imprinted by experience, the effects of which can be unraveled through spiritual inquiry. 

    When asked how he is able to write so remarkably clearly and concisely, fine-cut like a diamond, Hameed explains that the teachings articulate themselves as he writes by becoming his direct experience in the moment. He is not channeling, nor is his individual self expressing an opinion, the teaching simply expresses itself by becoming his true nature. This conversation is inspiring on many levels as consciousness becomes more graspable and because, as Roger says, Hameed’s teaching is grounded in our being capable of realizing being. At the end, Hameed gives a beautifully resonant account of why we love freedom. Once again, Hameed’s profound teachings come as a transmission and are a joy to receive. Recorded August 8, 2024.

    “Depth psychology helps us understand how our soul became our ego.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • How Hameed came to think that soul is the best word to describe a human being (00:45) 
    • The soul is pure consciousness with an aliveness added to it; the soul is always learning (04:26)
    • Knowing what consciousness is is the true opening to spirituality (05:52)
    • Development of the ego is necessary for physical survival, it is not a mistake unless we become fixated upon it (07:32)
    • Arrested development: bottled up consciousness experiences pressure, a sense of pain & suffering (11:49)
    • The ancient concept of soul was replaced by the idea of a separate self (13:14)
    • Unity, disunity, and beyond (14:37)
    • Psychology helps us understand how our soul became our ego (15:41)
    • Psychodynamics show us how early experience impacts current experience, and it is inquiry that helps us unravel the ego (18:26)
    • Our consciousness is a living organism (22:25)
    • Grasping the nature of our soul is not easy, because it’s holographic, dynamic—you can’t give it a form (24:46)
    • There is a nondual unity—united in the medium of consciousness—but it is also holographic: each point contains all other points (27:29)
    • The difference between the holographic Huayan Buddhist perspective and the Zen perspective, where individual uniqueness becomes important (30:11)
    • Do different teachings lead to different experiences of freedom? (33:38)
    • Freedom is a sacred right of each individual (36:21)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
    • William Blake, Auguries of Innocence, “To see a World in a grain of sand…”
    • Huayan Buddhism
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    A. Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 150 (Part 2 of 2) | In the third dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali brings us to a deeper understanding of individual consciousness, our true nature, in relation to pure consciousness. Once we come to know what consciousness is, he says, our spiritual experience truly begins. The conversation flows through many illuminating teachings: how true nature manifests itself in many ways—there is no one way, no final way; reality is only what we perceive it to be—there is no hard and fast reality “out there;” and the ego is not some sort of developmental mistake—it only becomes a problem if we become fixated on it. Psychology helps us see how the soul became the ego, Hameed explains, and psychodynamics reflect how our individual consciousness becomes imprinted by experience, the effects of which can be unraveled through spiritual inquiry. 

    When asked how he is able to write so remarkably clearly and concisely, fine-cut like a diamond, Hameed explains that the teachings articulate themselves as he writes by becoming his direct experience in the moment. He is not channeling, nor is his individual self expressing an opinion, the teaching simply expresses itself by becoming his true nature. This conversation is inspiring on many levels as consciousness becomes more graspable and because, as Roger says, Hameed’s teaching is grounded in our being capable of realizing being. At the end, Hameed gives a beautifully resonant account of why we love freedom. Once again, Hameed’s profound teachings come as a transmission and are a joy to receive. Recorded August 8, 2024.

    “Depth psychology helps us understand how our soul became our ego.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • How Hameed came to think that soul is the best word to describe a human being (00:45) 
    • The soul is pure consciousness with an aliveness added to it; the soul is always learning (04:26)
    • Knowing what consciousness is is the true opening to spirituality (05:52)
    • Development of the ego is necessary for physical survival, it is not a mistake unless we become fixated upon it (07:32)
    • Arrested development: bottled up consciousness experiences pressure, a sense of pain & suffering (11:49)
    • The ancient concept of soul was replaced by the idea of a separate self (13:14)
    • Unity, disunity, and beyond (14:37)
    • Psychology helps us understand how our soul became our ego (15:41)
    • Psychodynamics show us how early experience impacts current experience, and it is inquiry that helps us unravel the ego (18:26)
    • Our consciousness is a living organism (22:25)
    • Grasping the nature of our soul is not easy, because it’s holographic, dynamic—you can’t give it a form (24:46)
    • There is a nondual unity—united in the medium of consciousness—but it is also holographic: each point contains all other points (27:29)
    • The difference between the holographic Huayan Buddhist perspective and the Zen perspective, where individual uniqueness becomes important (30:11)
    • Do different teachings lead to different experiences of freedom? (33:38)
    • Freedom is a sacred right of each individual (36:21)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
    • William Blake, Auguries of Innocence, “To see a World in a grain of sand…”
    • Huayan Buddhism
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    A. Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>b6acddae-55cf-48d1-a662-47b2c6711ed8Thu, 03 Oct 2024 05:00:00 -040040:12falsefull150150What is Consciousness? The Key to Experiencing Our True Nature with A. H. AlmaasEp. 149 (Part 1 of 2) | In the third dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali brings us to a deeper understanding of individual consciousness, our true nature, in relation to pure consciousness. Once we come to know what consciousness is, he says, our spiritual experience truly begins. The conversation flows through many illuminating teachings: how true nature manifests itself in many ways—there is no one way, no final way; reality is only what we perceive it to be—there is no hard and fast reality “out there;” and the ego is not some sort of developmental mistake—it only becomes a problem if we become fixated on it. Psychology helps us see how the soul became the ego, Hameed explains, and psychodynamics reflect how our individual consciousness becomes imprinted by experience, the effects of which can be unraveled through spiritual inquiry. 

    When asked how he is able to write so remarkably clearly and concisely, fine-cut like a diamond, Hameed explains that the teachings articulate themselves as he writes by becoming his direct experience in the moment. He is not channeling, nor is his individual self expressing an opinion, the teaching simply expresses itself by becoming his true nature. This conversation is inspiring on many levels as consciousness becomes more graspable and because, as Roger says, Hameed’s teaching is grounded in our being capable of realizing being. At the end, Hameed gives a beautifully resonant account of why we love freedom. Once again, Hameed’s profound teachings come as a transmission and are a joy to receive. Recorded August 8, 2024.

    “Humanity needs realized individuals, sources of light and understanding, to keep the true spirit of what a human being is alive.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing the third dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, focused on the introduction of The Inner Journey Home, a diagnosis of our root challenge: dissociation (01:02)
    • On humanity’s capacity to wake up from being asleep to who we really are (04:15)
    • This path is a journey into reality, not focused specifically on relief from suffering (07:00)
    • Reality is only what we perceive it to be (08:31)
    • The main delusion we suffer from is believing the way we experience this world is the only way (10:48)
    • Spiritual work doesn’t try to resolve social conflicts—it is for individuals and small groups to transform (13:41)
    • Humanity needs realized individuals, sources of light and understanding, to keep the true spirit of what a human being is alive (15:28)
    • Hameed’s experience of writing: the teaching articulates itself and becomes his experience in the moment—that’s why there is a transmission (16:42)
    • True nature is the fundamental truth of human beings, the nature of consciousness—it’s not physical but at some point the distinction between physical and spiritual disappears (24:27)
    • True nature manifests itself in many ways: there is no one way, no final way (26:00)
    • The journey of ascent and descent: how we come to recognize ourselves as the absolute dimension and how we bring the vastness back into the realm of life (28:47)
    • An individual is not a separate person; the complete human being is one who integrates both heaven and earth (32:45)
    • When did Hameed start speaking English and the remarkable quality of his prose (35:34)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
    • A. H. Almaas, Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery*
    • Karen Johnson, The Jeweled Path: The Biography of the Diamond Approach to Inner Realization*
    • The Ten Ox Herding Pictures from the Zen tradition
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    A. Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 149 (Part 1 of 2) | In the third dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali brings us to a deeper understanding of individual consciousness, our true nature, in relation to pure consciousness. Once we come to know what consciousness is, he says, our spiritual experience truly begins. The conversation flows through many illuminating teachings: how true nature manifests itself in many ways—there is no one way, no final way; reality is only what we perceive it to be—there is no hard and fast reality “out there;” and the ego is not some sort of developmental mistake—it only becomes a problem if we become fixated on it. Psychology helps us see how the soul became the ego, Hameed explains, and psychodynamics reflect how our individual consciousness becomes imprinted by experience, the effects of which can be unraveled through spiritual inquiry. 

    When asked how he is able to write so remarkably clearly and concisely, fine-cut like a diamond, Hameed explains that the teachings articulate themselves as he writes by becoming his direct experience in the moment. He is not channeling, nor is his individual self expressing an opinion, the teaching simply expresses itself by becoming his true nature. This conversation is inspiring on many levels as consciousness becomes more graspable and because, as Roger says, Hameed’s teaching is grounded in our being capable of realizing being. At the end, Hameed gives a beautifully resonant account of why we love freedom. Once again, Hameed’s profound teachings come as a transmission and are a joy to receive. Recorded August 8, 2024.

    “Humanity needs realized individuals, sources of light and understanding, to keep the true spirit of what a human being is alive.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing the third dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, focused on the introduction of The Inner Journey Home, a diagnosis of our root challenge: dissociation (01:02)
    • On humanity’s capacity to wake up from being asleep to who we really are (04:15)
    • This path is a journey into reality, not focused specifically on relief from suffering (07:00)
    • Reality is only what we perceive it to be (08:31)
    • The main delusion we suffer from is believing the way we experience this world is the only way (10:48)
    • Spiritual work doesn’t try to resolve social conflicts—it is for individuals and small groups to transform (13:41)
    • Humanity needs realized individuals, sources of light and understanding, to keep the true spirit of what a human being is alive (15:28)
    • Hameed’s experience of writing: the teaching articulates itself and becomes his experience in the moment—that’s why there is a transmission (16:42)
    • True nature is the fundamental truth of human beings, the nature of consciousness—it’s not physical but at some point the distinction between physical and spiritual disappears (24:27)
    • True nature manifests itself in many ways: there is no one way, no final way (26:00)
    • The journey of ascent and descent: how we come to recognize ourselves as the absolute dimension and how we bring the vastness back into the realm of life (28:47)
    • An individual is not a separate person; the complete human being is one who integrates both heaven and earth (32:45)
    • When did Hameed start speaking English and the remarkable quality of his prose (35:34)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
    • A. H. Almaas, Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery*
    • Karen Johnson, The Jeweled Path: The Biography of the Diamond Approach to Inner Realization*
    • The Ten Ox Herding Pictures from the Zen tradition
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    A. Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>7800246b-b7e1-49dd-9e65-36d5ac0da5ecThu, 26 Sep 2024 05:00:00 -040041:46falsefull149149Spiritual Intelligence: 21 Skills That Underlie Our Capacities for Wisdom, Compassion & Love in ActionCindy Wigglesworth, trailblazer in the field of spiritual intelligence, has created an assessment tool that identifies our spiritual strengths and weaknesses—qualities that fall outside the traditional IQ or emotional intelligence (EQ) parameters—in order to provide a guide for determining which skills we as individuals need to develop in order to show up in the world as love in action. Early on, Cindy recognized the profound benefits that both spiritual practice and EQ assessments had in her leadership development work, wishing only there was a map similar to what EQ offers but going one step higher, to lead people in the realm of spiritual development. So she created a multidimensional self-assessment tool to do just that, wrote the book SQ21: The 21 Skills of Spiritual Intelligence, and founded the global leadership development network Deep Change. 

    Cindy’s dedication, brilliant intellect, integral understanding, and the effects of a lifetime of spiritual motivation and practice are abundantly evident in this warmly personal, articulate, and inspiring conversation about spirituality and how we can come to embody the values we aspire to. It’s easy to love people in the abstract, Cindy points out, but how we actually behave is what’s critical. What would love see? she asks, when talking about the practice of reframing. As co-host John Dupuy said, this conversation is like “an infusion of spiritual vitamins.” It’s also very timely—Cindy reflects that spiritual intelligence skills and learning how to sustain faith are more important than ever in these times of polarization and crisis. Recorded July 18, 2024.

    “Spiritual intelligence is the ability to behave with wisdom and compassion while maintaining inner and outer peace regardless of the situation.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps

    • Introducing Cindy Wigglesworth, world authority on spirituality, creator of the SQ21 assessment that measures spiritual intelligence (01:25)
    • How did Cindy come to focus on the field of spiritual intelligence? (04:18)
    • Cindy’s existential quest began with moving to India at the age of six (05:59)
    • Leadership development skills benefit directly from spiritual practice (10:08)
    • Discovering Goleman & Boyatzis’ work on emotional intelligence (EQ)—where was the equivalent on spiritual intelligence? (11:58)
    • Defining the terms spirituality and spiritual intelligence (15:21)
    • Spiritual intelligence = love in action (18:21)
    • State experiences are not sufficient for showing up as love in the world (20:35)
    • Exemplars of spiritual intelligence and the quality of equanimity (21:53)
    • The road to a pluralistic understanding of Christianity (24:49)
    • Inheriting both strengths & weaknesses of her parents (29:40)
    • Cindy’s SQ model emulates the EQ model with 4 quadrants (31:05)
    • How Cindy developed the 21 skills and survey for her SQ assessment (32:56)
    • A positive age correlation for skills, which grow over time, is essential (36:00)
    • What strikes Cindy having given this test to so many? The 3 levels of value (37:06)
    • The SQ test can uncover weak foundations under skills people thought they had down (39:59)
    • How has Cindy’s understanding of spirituality changed during this process? (41:26) 
    • Spiral Dynamics’ stages of development: we are all playing chords of a melody of colors (42:43)
    • SQ assessment levels’ relationship with developmental stages (46:35)
    • Do certain practices help with building these skills? Reframing skills are Cindy’s favorite: What would love see? (49:32)
    • Exchanging self with other: practicing with Trump and the current political situation (54:45)
    • Cindy’s website and resources (59:04)
    • How does religion factor into this and the importance of sustaining faith in these difficult times (1:00:19)
    
    

    Resources & References

    • Cindy’s website, DeepChange.com, has free resources and a sample assessment
    • Cindy Wigglesworth, SQ21:The 21 Skills of Spiritual Intelligence*
    • Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind*
    • Rachel Carson, Silent Spring*
    • The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
    • Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ*
    • Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis & Annie McKee, Primal Leadership: Unleashing the Power of Emotional Intelligence*
    • Abraham Maslow, The Farther Reaches of Human Nature*
    • Helen Schucman, A Course of Miracles* (Foundation for Inner Peace)
    • Susanne Cook-Greuter, Postautonomous Ego Development: A Study of Its Nature and Measurement*
    • Clare Graves & Don Beck, Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership and Change*
    • Roland (Rollie)Stanich, Integral Christianity: The Way of Embodied Love*
    • James Fowler, Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning*
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Cindy Wigglesworth is the bestselling author of SQ21: The Twenty-One Skills of Spiritual Intelligence. Her SQ21 spiritual intelligence self-assessment has created a validated and diversity-appropriate way of having spiritual conversations in the workplace. John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, calls SQ “the next frontier in Leadership.” Endorsed by Ken Wilber, Cindy’s dialogue with him on SQ is available here: https://integrallife.com/spiritual-intelligence-measuring-the-infinite/. Cindy has appeared on Oprah, PBS, TEDxLowerEastSide, TEDxSonomaCounty and numerous radio programs and conferences. She is the current Chairperson of the Board at Unity of Houston. Her website is www.deepchange.com.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Cindy Wigglesworth, trailblazer in the field of spiritual intelligence, has created an assessment tool that identifies our spiritual strengths and weaknesses—qualities that fall outside the traditional IQ or emotional intelligence (EQ) parameters—in order to provide a guide for determining which skills we as individuals need to develop in order to show up in the world as love in action. Early on, Cindy recognized the profound benefits that both spiritual practice and EQ assessments had in her leadership development work, wishing only there was a map similar to what EQ offers but going one step higher, to lead people in the realm of spiritual development. So she created a multidimensional self-assessment tool to do just that, wrote the book SQ21: The 21 Skills of Spiritual Intelligence, and founded the global leadership development network Deep Change. 

    Cindy’s dedication, brilliant intellect, integral understanding, and the effects of a lifetime of spiritual motivation and practice are abundantly evident in this warmly personal, articulate, and inspiring conversation about spirituality and how we can come to embody the values we aspire to. It’s easy to love people in the abstract, Cindy points out, but how we actually behave is what’s critical. What would love see? she asks, when talking about the practice of reframing. As co-host John Dupuy said, this conversation is like “an infusion of spiritual vitamins.” It’s also very timely—Cindy reflects that spiritual intelligence skills and learning how to sustain faith are more important than ever in these times of polarization and crisis. Recorded July 18, 2024.

    “Spiritual intelligence is the ability to behave with wisdom and compassion while maintaining inner and outer peace regardless of the situation.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps

    • Introducing Cindy Wigglesworth, world authority on spirituality, creator of the SQ21 assessment that measures spiritual intelligence (01:25)
    • How did Cindy come to focus on the field of spiritual intelligence? (04:18)
    • Cindy’s existential quest began with moving to India at the age of six (05:59)
    • Leadership development skills benefit directly from spiritual practice (10:08)
    • Discovering Goleman & Boyatzis’ work on emotional intelligence (EQ)—where was the equivalent on spiritual intelligence? (11:58)
    • Defining the terms spirituality and spiritual intelligence (15:21)
    • Spiritual intelligence = love in action (18:21)
    • State experiences are not sufficient for showing up as love in the world (20:35)
    • Exemplars of spiritual intelligence and the quality of equanimity (21:53)
    • The road to a pluralistic understanding of Christianity (24:49)
    • Inheriting both strengths & weaknesses of her parents (29:40)
    • Cindy’s SQ model emulates the EQ model with 4 quadrants (31:05)
    • How Cindy developed the 21 skills and survey for her SQ assessment (32:56)
    • A positive age correlation for skills, which grow over time, is essential (36:00)
    • What strikes Cindy having given this test to so many? The 3 levels of value (37:06)
    • The SQ test can uncover weak foundations under skills people thought they had down (39:59)
    • How has Cindy’s understanding of spirituality changed during this process? (41:26) 
    • Spiral Dynamics’ stages of development: we are all playing chords of a melody of colors (42:43)
    • SQ assessment levels’ relationship with developmental stages (46:35)
    • Do certain practices help with building these skills? Reframing skills are Cindy’s favorite: What would love see? (49:32)
    • Exchanging self with other: practicing with Trump and the current political situation (54:45)
    • Cindy’s website and resources (59:04)
    • How does religion factor into this and the importance of sustaining faith in these difficult times (1:00:19)
    
    

    Resources & References

    • Cindy’s website, DeepChange.com, has free resources and a sample assessment
    • Cindy Wigglesworth, SQ21:The 21 Skills of Spiritual Intelligence*
    • Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind*
    • Rachel Carson, Silent Spring*
    • The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
    • Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ*
    • Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis & Annie McKee, Primal Leadership: Unleashing the Power of Emotional Intelligence*
    • Abraham Maslow, The Farther Reaches of Human Nature*
    • Helen Schucman, A Course of Miracles* (Foundation for Inner Peace)
    • Susanne Cook-Greuter, Postautonomous Ego Development: A Study of Its Nature and Measurement*
    • Clare Graves & Don Beck, Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership and Change*
    • Roland (Rollie)Stanich, Integral Christianity: The Way of Embodied Love*
    • James Fowler, Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning*
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Cindy Wigglesworth is the bestselling author of SQ21: The Twenty-One Skills of Spiritual Intelligence. Her SQ21 spiritual intelligence self-assessment has created a validated and diversity-appropriate way of having spiritual conversations in the workplace. John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, calls SQ “the next frontier in Leadership.” Endorsed by Ken Wilber, Cindy’s dialogue with him on SQ is available here: https://integrallife.com/spiritual-intelligence-measuring-the-infinite/. Cindy has appeared on Oprah, PBS, TEDxLowerEastSide, TEDxSonomaCounty and numerous radio programs and conferences. She is the current Chairperson of the Board at Unity of Houston. Her website is www.deepchange.com.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>8db4abe3-3eeb-426e-a1d3-6164fb5efd5bThu, 19 Sep 2024 05:00:00 -040001:04:54truefull148148The Wonderful Ideals But Flawed Applications of DEI: Intolerant Tolerance, Undiverse Diversity, Unliberal Liberalism, and More (Part 3)Ep. 147 (Part 3 of 3) | Award-winning author, Zen priest and teacher, Kung Fu master, and professional advisor and trainer, Keith Martin-Smith, took a good look at the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement when he began to notice the damage it was causing people he knew under the guise of progress, or equity. Putting his keen mind to the task, Keith identified seven key areas where the DEI movement goes markedly astray from the values it aspires to. Coming from an integral understanding, Keith does more than simply point out where the movement has backfired. We learn that postmodern thinking is how we became aware of the “subtle soup of racism [and bias] in the cultural field itself”—beyond the concrete, obvious social injustices that activists fought in the 20th century. This more subtle field of bias is responsible for the inequalities we see in society today, which is what the DEI movement would like to tear down. But the ways in which DEI acts to make this happen, ironically, are characterized by exactly the things that DEI is against: intolerance, inequity, undiversity, tribalism, and anti-liberalism.

    In his wise, articulate, and gracious way, Keith makes sense of why the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement has become a political flashpoint, raising the hackles of not only rightwing conservatives but also liberal progressives. Sympathetic to the values of DEI, Keith is all about helping to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive movement. When asked how the values of DEI could be fulfilled to make it the harmonious, effective, correcting movement it aspires to be, Keith responded, “with conversations like this, for one thing,” adding, “we need to realize that everyone has a portion of truth—we just need to connect everyone’s portion of truth with their heart.” Recorded June 6, 2024.

    “Everybody cares…they just care about different things. Consensus and change come from being willing to listen to what people care about and finding space to honor that.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3

    • What is liberalism? (01:18)
    • The nature of DEI’s anti-liberalism: banning free speech and more (05:08)
    • White fragility is a non-argument and it’s anti-liberal (09:30)
    • Another dangerous idea: silence is violence (10:44)
    • Allowing trial by public opinion (11:41)
    • Creating a true meritocracy: results from blind auditioning symphony musicians (14:13)
    • Forced equality of outcome: is forcing 20% of symphony goers to be black a good idea? (15:31)
    • Going far right and far left, you find they mirror each other (18:32)
    • The klansmen who turned in their robes after talking to a black man (21:11)
    • What could be done to fulfill the values of DEI and make it the effective correcting movement it aspires to be? (23:39)
    • DEI at its best: recognizing the subtle ways in which cognitive bias affects the culture (27:05)
    • The postmodern/DEI point of view doesn’t see how they are projecting their beliefs onto the culture (29:45)
    • Microaggressions are real—but DEI proponents conflate microaggressions with macroaggressions (34:46)
    • Critical race theory is the only explanatory theory in the DEI toolbox (39:33)
    • Critical theory says power dynamics distort all interactions (44:15)
    • The presumption of oppression and power is inaccurate from a biological standpoint (50:17)
    • Partial truths are worth honoring (53:14)
    • Everybody cares: finding space to honor that (56:09)
    • What can we do to turn things around? (59:34)
    • The difference between dignity and respect (01:01:10)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 3

    • Steve McIntosh, co-founder of the Institute for Cultural Evolution, author of Developmental Politics: How America Can Grow into a Better Version of Itself*, see also Consciousness Evolves, Politics Can Too (Deep Transformation podcast)
    • Shachar Erez, Israeli therapist who brought a Palestinian woman and far right Israeli woman together on his podcast, see also Coping with the Horrors of War: An Israeli Therapist Shares the Agony, Grief & Uncertainty of Wartime (Deep Transformation podcast)
    • Daryl Davis, How One Man Convinced 200 Ku Klux Klan Members To Give Up Their Robes (NPR story)
    • Jordan Peterson, psychologist, author, popular media commentator
    • Critical race theory
    • Critical theory
    • Dignity versus Respect with Rosalind Wiseman (YouTube video)
    • Keith Martin-Smith’s website: https://www.keithmartinsmith.com
    • Keith Martin-Smith, When the Buddha Needs Therapy*
    • Keith Martin-Smith, A Heart Blown Open: The Life and Practice of Zen Master Jun Po Denis Kelly Roshi*
    • Keith Martin-Smith, The Seven Deadly Sins of DEI (Integral Life video presentation)
    • Keith Martin-Smith, Reintegrating DEI: Beyond the Culture Wars (Integral Life video presentation)
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Keith Martin-Smith is the award-winning author of five books, most recently When the Buddha Needs Therapy, about which Ken Wilber said, “This is a terrific book, fully embracing a truly Integral perspective and highly recommended.” He is also an ordained Zen priest, a Northern Kung Fu lineage holder and recognized sifu, and a professional advisor and trainer. More at KeithMartinSmith.com.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 147 (Part 3 of 3) | Award-winning author, Zen priest and teacher, Kung Fu master, and professional advisor and trainer, Keith Martin-Smith, took a good look at the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement when he began to notice the damage it was causing people he knew under the guise of progress, or equity. Putting his keen mind to the task, Keith identified seven key areas where the DEI movement goes markedly astray from the values it aspires to. Coming from an integral understanding, Keith does more than simply point out where the movement has backfired. We learn that postmodern thinking is how we became aware of the “subtle soup of racism [and bias] in the cultural field itself”—beyond the concrete, obvious social injustices that activists fought in the 20th century. This more subtle field of bias is responsible for the inequalities we see in society today, which is what the DEI movement would like to tear down. But the ways in which DEI acts to make this happen, ironically, are characterized by exactly the things that DEI is against: intolerance, inequity, undiversity, tribalism, and anti-liberalism.

    In his wise, articulate, and gracious way, Keith makes sense of why the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement has become a political flashpoint, raising the hackles of not only rightwing conservatives but also liberal progressives. Sympathetic to the values of DEI, Keith is all about helping to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive movement. When asked how the values of DEI could be fulfilled to make it the harmonious, effective, correcting movement it aspires to be, Keith responded, “with conversations like this, for one thing,” adding, “we need to realize that everyone has a portion of truth—we just need to connect everyone’s portion of truth with their heart.” Recorded June 6, 2024.

    “Everybody cares…they just care about different things. Consensus and change come from being willing to listen to what people care about and finding space to honor that.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3

    • What is liberalism? (01:18)
    • The nature of DEI’s anti-liberalism: banning free speech and more (05:08)
    • White fragility is a non-argument and it’s anti-liberal (09:30)
    • Another dangerous idea: silence is violence (10:44)
    • Allowing trial by public opinion (11:41)
    • Creating a true meritocracy: results from blind auditioning symphony musicians (14:13)
    • Forced equality of outcome: is forcing 20% of symphony goers to be black a good idea? (15:31)
    • Going far right and far left, you find they mirror each other (18:32)
    • The klansmen who turned in their robes after talking to a black man (21:11)
    • What could be done to fulfill the values of DEI and make it the effective correcting movement it aspires to be? (23:39)
    • DEI at its best: recognizing the subtle ways in which cognitive bias affects the culture (27:05)
    • The postmodern/DEI point of view doesn’t see how they are projecting their beliefs onto the culture (29:45)
    • Microaggressions are real—but DEI proponents conflate microaggressions with macroaggressions (34:46)
    • Critical race theory is the only explanatory theory in the DEI toolbox (39:33)
    • Critical theory says power dynamics distort all interactions (44:15)
    • The presumption of oppression and power is inaccurate from a biological standpoint (50:17)
    • Partial truths are worth honoring (53:14)
    • Everybody cares: finding space to honor that (56:09)
    • What can we do to turn things around? (59:34)
    • The difference between dignity and respect (01:01:10)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 3

    • Steve McIntosh, co-founder of the Institute for Cultural Evolution, author of Developmental Politics: How America Can Grow into a Better Version of Itself*, see also Consciousness Evolves, Politics Can Too (Deep Transformation podcast)
    • Shachar Erez, Israeli therapist who brought a Palestinian woman and far right Israeli woman together on his podcast, see also Coping with the Horrors of War: An Israeli Therapist Shares the Agony, Grief & Uncertainty of Wartime (Deep Transformation podcast)
    • Daryl Davis, How One Man Convinced 200 Ku Klux Klan Members To Give Up Their Robes (NPR story)
    • Jordan Peterson, psychologist, author, popular media commentator
    • Critical race theory
    • Critical theory
    • Dignity versus Respect with Rosalind Wiseman (YouTube video)
    • Keith Martin-Smith’s website: https://www.keithmartinsmith.com
    • Keith Martin-Smith, When the Buddha Needs Therapy*
    • Keith Martin-Smith, A Heart Blown Open: The Life and Practice of Zen Master Jun Po Denis Kelly Roshi*
    • Keith Martin-Smith, The Seven Deadly Sins of DEI (Integral Life video presentation)
    • Keith Martin-Smith, Reintegrating DEI: Beyond the Culture Wars (Integral Life video presentation)
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Keith Martin-Smith is the award-winning author of five books, most recently When the Buddha Needs Therapy, about which Ken Wilber said, “This is a terrific book, fully embracing a truly Integral perspective and highly recommended.” He is also an ordained Zen priest, a Northern Kung Fu lineage holder and recognized sifu, and a professional advisor and trainer. More at KeithMartinSmith.com.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>ba55d767-1ed4-4713-8918-7c5346f9c268Thu, 12 Sep 2024 05:00:00 -040001:06:13truefull147147The Wonderful Ideals But Flawed Applications of DEI: Intolerant Tolerance, Undiverse Diversity, Unliberal Liberalism, and More (Part 2)Ep. 146 (Part 2 of 3) | Award-winning author, Zen priest and teacher, Kung Fu master, and professional advisor and trainer, Keith Martin-Smith, took a good look at the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement when he began to notice the damage it was causing people he knew under the guise of progress, or equity. Putting his keen mind to the task, Keith identified seven key areas where the DEI movement goes markedly astray from the values it aspires to. Coming from an integral understanding, Keith does more than simply point out where the movement has backfired. We learn that postmodern thinking is how we became aware of the “subtle soup of racism [and bias] in the cultural field itself”—beyond the concrete, obvious social injustices that activists fought in the 20th century. This more subtle field of bias is responsible for the inequalities we see in society today, which is what the DEI movement would like to tear down. But the ways in which DEI acts to make this happen, ironically, are characterized by exactly the things that DEI is against: intolerance, inequity, undiversity, tribalism, and anti-liberalism.

    In his wise, articulate, and gracious way, Keith makes sense of why the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement has become a political flashpoint, raising the hackles of not only rightwing conservatives but also liberal progressives. Sympathetic to the values of DEI, Keith is all about helping to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive movement. When asked how the values of DEI could be fulfilled to make it the harmonious, effective, correcting movement it aspires to be, Keith responded, “with conversations like this, for one thing,” adding, “we need to realize that everyone has a portion of truth—we just need to connect everyone’s portion of truth with their heart.” Recorded June 6, 2024.

    “All of us deserve to be treated with dignity that is innate in all of us.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • DEI’s overemphasis on oppression and power: how it started (00:50)
    • Critical race theory’s metaview is that the world operates on principles of power and oppression (01:57)
    • The single cause fallacy (02:59) 
    • Drawing the wrong conclusions: Kenyans and marathons, women and STEM fields (04:10)
    • Male dominance in sports caused by bias rather than biology? (12:03)
    • The wage gap between men and women and significant difference it makes to control for factors (18:51)
    • Why men outearn women at Uber: subtle differences in the way men and women behave (27:39)
    • IQ and how men dominate the extremes of the Bell Curve (29:34)
    • Fairness demands that everyone is treated the best way possible (34:18)
    • Brief review of the main DEI flaws covered so far: DEI’s simplistic view of privilege; how DEI’s diversity doesn’t look at diverse mindsets; intolerance of other viewpoints; pushing everything through critical race theory; and how equality of outcomes can be oppressive, unfair, sexist & racist (35:31)
    • Tribalism: DEI compartmentalizes everyone to a tribalistic identity, with the focus on race and sex (40:05)
    • How to explain a white supremacist group run by people who are not white: multiracial whiteness (46:00)
    • The primary goal should be to cultivate relationship rather than projecting a whole history on an individual based on their skin color or sex (49:20)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • André Pichot, known for his critical writings on issues related to genetics
    • Critical Race Theory
    • STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, math)
    • Duke Law Study: Comparing Athletic Performances: The Best Elite Women to Boys and Men
    • Richard Herrnstein & Charles Murray, The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life*
    • Jordan Peterson, psychologist, author, popular media commentator
    • Susan Nieman, Left is Not Woke* 
    • The Proud Boys
    • Keith Martin-Smith’s website: https://www.keithmartinsmith.com
    • Keith Martin-Smith, When the Buddha Needs Therapy*
    • Keith Martin-Smith, A Heart Blown Open: The Life and Practice of Zen Master Jun Po Denis Kelly Roshi*
    • Keith Martin-Smith, The Seven Deadly Sins of DEI (Integral Life video presentation)
    • Keith Martin-Smith, Reintegrating DEI: Beyond the Culture Wars (Integral Life video presentation)
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Keith Martin-Smith is the award-winning author of five books, most recently When the Buddha Needs Therapy, about which Ken Wilber said, “This is a terrific book, fully embracing a truly Integral perspective and highly recommended.” He is also an ordained Zen priest, a Northern Kung Fu lineage holder and recognized sifu, and a professional advisor and trainer. More at KeithMartinSmith.com.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 146 (Part 2 of 3) | Award-winning author, Zen priest and teacher, Kung Fu master, and professional advisor and trainer, Keith Martin-Smith, took a good look at the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement when he began to notice the damage it was causing people he knew under the guise of progress, or equity. Putting his keen mind to the task, Keith identified seven key areas where the DEI movement goes markedly astray from the values it aspires to. Coming from an integral understanding, Keith does more than simply point out where the movement has backfired. We learn that postmodern thinking is how we became aware of the “subtle soup of racism [and bias] in the cultural field itself”—beyond the concrete, obvious social injustices that activists fought in the 20th century. This more subtle field of bias is responsible for the inequalities we see in society today, which is what the DEI movement would like to tear down. But the ways in which DEI acts to make this happen, ironically, are characterized by exactly the things that DEI is against: intolerance, inequity, undiversity, tribalism, and anti-liberalism.

    In his wise, articulate, and gracious way, Keith makes sense of why the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement has become a political flashpoint, raising the hackles of not only rightwing conservatives but also liberal progressives. Sympathetic to the values of DEI, Keith is all about helping to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive movement. When asked how the values of DEI could be fulfilled to make it the harmonious, effective, correcting movement it aspires to be, Keith responded, “with conversations like this, for one thing,” adding, “we need to realize that everyone has a portion of truth—we just need to connect everyone’s portion of truth with their heart.” Recorded June 6, 2024.

    “All of us deserve to be treated with dignity that is innate in all of us.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • DEI’s overemphasis on oppression and power: how it started (00:50)
    • Critical race theory’s metaview is that the world operates on principles of power and oppression (01:57)
    • The single cause fallacy (02:59) 
    • Drawing the wrong conclusions: Kenyans and marathons, women and STEM fields (04:10)
    • Male dominance in sports caused by bias rather than biology? (12:03)
    • The wage gap between men and women and significant difference it makes to control for factors (18:51)
    • Why men outearn women at Uber: subtle differences in the way men and women behave (27:39)
    • IQ and how men dominate the extremes of the Bell Curve (29:34)
    • Fairness demands that everyone is treated the best way possible (34:18)
    • Brief review of the main DEI flaws covered so far: DEI’s simplistic view of privilege; how DEI’s diversity doesn’t look at diverse mindsets; intolerance of other viewpoints; pushing everything through critical race theory; and how equality of outcomes can be oppressive, unfair, sexist & racist (35:31)
    • Tribalism: DEI compartmentalizes everyone to a tribalistic identity, with the focus on race and sex (40:05)
    • How to explain a white supremacist group run by people who are not white: multiracial whiteness (46:00)
    • The primary goal should be to cultivate relationship rather than projecting a whole history on an individual based on their skin color or sex (49:20)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • André Pichot, known for his critical writings on issues related to genetics
    • Critical Race Theory
    • STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, math)
    • Duke Law Study: Comparing Athletic Performances: The Best Elite Women to Boys and Men
    • Richard Herrnstein & Charles Murray, The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life*
    • Jordan Peterson, psychologist, author, popular media commentator
    • Susan Nieman, Left is Not Woke* 
    • The Proud Boys
    • Keith Martin-Smith’s website: https://www.keithmartinsmith.com
    • Keith Martin-Smith, When the Buddha Needs Therapy*
    • Keith Martin-Smith, A Heart Blown Open: The Life and Practice of Zen Master Jun Po Denis Kelly Roshi*
    • Keith Martin-Smith, The Seven Deadly Sins of DEI (Integral Life video presentation)
    • Keith Martin-Smith, Reintegrating DEI: Beyond the Culture Wars (Integral Life video presentation)
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Keith Martin-Smith is the award-winning author of five books, most recently When the Buddha Needs Therapy, about which Ken Wilber said, “This is a terrific book, fully embracing a truly Integral perspective and highly recommended.” He is also an ordained Zen priest, a Northern Kung Fu lineage holder and recognized sifu, and a professional advisor and trainer. More at KeithMartinSmith.com.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>4c9236a7-b94d-4bda-8a1d-ff479d9557e0Thu, 05 Sep 2024 05:00:00 -040053:23truefull146146The Wonderful Ideals But Flawed Applications of DEI: Intolerant Tolerance, Undiverse Diversity, Unliberal Liberalism, and MoreEp. 145 (Part 1 of 3) | Award-winning author, Zen priest and teacher, Kung Fu master, and professional advisor and trainer, Keith Martin-Smith, took a good look at the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement when he began to notice the damage it was causing people he knew under the guise of progress, or equity. Putting his keen mind to the task, Keith identified seven key areas where the DEI movement goes markedly astray from the values it aspires to. Coming from an integral understanding, Keith does more than simply point out where the movement has backfired. We learn that postmodern thinking is how we became aware of the “subtle soup of racism [and bias] in the cultural field itself”—beyond the concrete, obvious social injustices that activists fought in the 20th century. This more subtle field of bias is responsible for the inequalities we see in society today, which is what the DEI movement would like to tear down. But the ways in which DEI acts to make this happen, ironically, are characterized by exactly the things that DEI is against: intolerance, inequity, undiversity, tribalism, and anti-liberalism.

    In his wise, articulate, and gracious way, Keith makes sense of why the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement has become a political flashpoint, raising the hackles of not only rightwing conservatives but also liberal progressives. Sympathetic to the values of DEI, Keith is all about helping to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive movement. When asked how the values of DEI could be fulfilled to make it the harmonious, effective, correcting movement it aspires to be, Keith responded, “with conversations like this, for one thing,” adding, “we need to realize that everyone has a portion of truth—we just need to connect everyone’s portion of truth with their heart.” Recorded June 6, 2024.

    “Everybody cares…they just care about different things. Consensus and change come from being willing to listen to what people care about and finding space to honor that.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing award-winning author, professional advisor & trainer, martial arts master, Zen priest & teacher Keith Martin-Smith (01:12) 
    • How Keith came to articulate what has gone wrong with the diversity, equity & inclusion movement (01:49)
    • The divisiveness of DEI and the need to bring in an integral understanding (06:22)
    • The difference between concrete, overt injustices and systemic injustice (08:27)
    • The subtle soup of racism in the cultural field that we have become aware of in the postmodern period (11:19)
    • All the punches at DEI are being thrown from an early rational or prerational worldview (15:26)
    • What are the seven deadly sins of DEI? (18:15)
    • DEI’s simplistic view of privilege, considering race, sex & gender, but not class, education & family of origin (19:00)
    • What are healthy responses to having been given privilege (as opposed to shame and guilt)? (23:37)
    • DEI proponents lecturing us about privilege don’t talk about their own privilege (26:50)
    • The effect of neglecting class in DEI’s reductionist view of privilege (29:56)
    • The problematic (undiverse) way the DEI movement treats diversity (34:31)
    • Concrete racism versus subtle racism/microaggressions (37:49)
    • Because Asians are doing so well, they are excluded from the diversity discussion (39:56)
    • Intolerant tolerance and the why the 2017 women’s march movement fell apart (41:49)
    • Robin diAngelo, white fragility, systemic internalized racism (43:49)
    • Dismissing views you don’t agree with (46:57)
    • Holding privilege with humility and the importance of genuinely listening (49:05)
    • The purity test requiring people to toe the DEI party line (50:11)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Keith Martin-Smith’s website: https://www.keithmartinsmith.com
    • Keith Martin-Smith, A Heart Blown Open: The Life and Practice of Zen Master Jun Po Denis Kelly Roshi*
    • Keith Martin-Smith, When the Buddha Needs Therapy*
    • Keith Martin-Smith, The Seven Deadly Sins of DEI (Integral Life video presentation)
    • Keith Martin-Smith, Reintegrating DEI: Beyond the Culture Wars (Integral Life video presentation)
    • Reggie Ray, spiritual teacher, founder of the Dharma Ocean foundation
    • Jordan Peterson, psychologist, author, popular media commentator
    • Terri O’Fallon’s model of developmental stages
    • Susanne Cook-Greuter, Ego Development: Nine Levels of Increasing Embrace
    • 2017 Women’s Mar
    • Nikole Hannah-Jones, New York Times reporter, creator of The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story*
    • Ibram X. Kendi, author, professor, anti-racist activist, How To Be an Antiracist*
    • Robin diAngelo, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism*
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Keith Martin-Smith is the award-winning author of five books, most recently When the Buddha Needs Therapy, about which Ken Wilber said, “This is a terrific book, fully embracing a truly Integral perspective and highly recommended.” He is also an ordained Zen priest, a Northern Kung Fu lineage holder and recognized sifu, and a professional advisor and trainer. More at KeithMartinSmith.com.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 145 (Part 1 of 3) | Award-winning author, Zen priest and teacher, Kung Fu master, and professional advisor and trainer, Keith Martin-Smith, took a good look at the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement when he began to notice the damage it was causing people he knew under the guise of progress, or equity. Putting his keen mind to the task, Keith identified seven key areas where the DEI movement goes markedly astray from the values it aspires to. Coming from an integral understanding, Keith does more than simply point out where the movement has backfired. We learn that postmodern thinking is how we became aware of the “subtle soup of racism [and bias] in the cultural field itself”—beyond the concrete, obvious social injustices that activists fought in the 20th century. This more subtle field of bias is responsible for the inequalities we see in society today, which is what the DEI movement would like to tear down. But the ways in which DEI acts to make this happen, ironically, are characterized by exactly the things that DEI is against: intolerance, inequity, undiversity, tribalism, and anti-liberalism.

    In his wise, articulate, and gracious way, Keith makes sense of why the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement has become a political flashpoint, raising the hackles of not only rightwing conservatives but also liberal progressives. Sympathetic to the values of DEI, Keith is all about helping to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive movement. When asked how the values of DEI could be fulfilled to make it the harmonious, effective, correcting movement it aspires to be, Keith responded, “with conversations like this, for one thing,” adding, “we need to realize that everyone has a portion of truth—we just need to connect everyone’s portion of truth with their heart.” Recorded June 6, 2024.

    “Everybody cares…they just care about different things. Consensus and change come from being willing to listen to what people care about and finding space to honor that.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing award-winning author, professional advisor & trainer, martial arts master, Zen priest & teacher Keith Martin-Smith (01:12) 
    • How Keith came to articulate what has gone wrong with the diversity, equity & inclusion movement (01:49)
    • The divisiveness of DEI and the need to bring in an integral understanding (06:22)
    • The difference between concrete, overt injustices and systemic injustice (08:27)
    • The subtle soup of racism in the cultural field that we have become aware of in the postmodern period (11:19)
    • All the punches at DEI are being thrown from an early rational or prerational worldview (15:26)
    • What are the seven deadly sins of DEI? (18:15)
    • DEI’s simplistic view of privilege, considering race, sex & gender, but not class, education & family of origin (19:00)
    • What are healthy responses to having been given privilege (as opposed to shame and guilt)? (23:37)
    • DEI proponents lecturing us about privilege don’t talk about their own privilege (26:50)
    • The effect of neglecting class in DEI’s reductionist view of privilege (29:56)
    • The problematic (undiverse) way the DEI movement treats diversity (34:31)
    • Concrete racism versus subtle racism/microaggressions (37:49)
    • Because Asians are doing so well, they are excluded from the diversity discussion (39:56)
    • Intolerant tolerance and the why the 2017 women’s march movement fell apart (41:49)
    • Robin diAngelo, white fragility, systemic internalized racism (43:49)
    • Dismissing views you don’t agree with (46:57)
    • Holding privilege with humility and the importance of genuinely listening (49:05)
    • The purity test requiring people to toe the DEI party line (50:11)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Keith Martin-Smith’s website: https://www.keithmartinsmith.com
    • Keith Martin-Smith, A Heart Blown Open: The Life and Practice of Zen Master Jun Po Denis Kelly Roshi*
    • Keith Martin-Smith, When the Buddha Needs Therapy*
    • Keith Martin-Smith, The Seven Deadly Sins of DEI (Integral Life video presentation)
    • Keith Martin-Smith, Reintegrating DEI: Beyond the Culture Wars (Integral Life video presentation)
    • Reggie Ray, spiritual teacher, founder of the Dharma Ocean foundation
    • Jordan Peterson, psychologist, author, popular media commentator
    • Terri O’Fallon’s model of developmental stages
    • Susanne Cook-Greuter, Ego Development: Nine Levels of Increasing Embrace
    • 2017 Women’s Mar
    • Nikole Hannah-Jones, New York Times reporter, creator of The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story*
    • Ibram X. Kendi, author, professor, anti-racist activist, How To Be an Antiracist*
    • Robin diAngelo, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism*
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Keith Martin-Smith is the award-winning author of five books, most recently When the Buddha Needs Therapy, about which Ken Wilber said, “This is a terrific book, fully embracing a truly Integral perspective and highly recommended.” He is also an ordained Zen priest, a Northern Kung Fu lineage holder and recognized sifu, and a professional advisor and trainer. More at KeithMartinSmith.com.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>3b708413-e63a-483c-9e03-871ab578b763Thu, 29 Aug 2024 05:00:00 -040055:28truefull145145Exploring the Depths of the Soul: Bridging Ancient Wisdom & Modern Psychology Using the Practice of Inquiry with A. H. Almaas (Part 2)Ep. 144 (Part 2 of 2) | In the second A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series conversation, Hameed Ali describes how the practice of inquiry can aid us on our spiritual journey, illuminating our understanding of our personal experience and our soul. He uses the example of inquiring into a sense of worthlessness to illustrate what happens as we begin to investigate the terrain of our consciousness. There comes a point when the inquiry leads beyond where a psychologist would normally end—when it slips from psychological into spiritual inquiry. “If you stay with the wounding, something will emerge: a sense of inherent value. You recognize ‘I am presence’ and this presence has value—all the way to nondual presence and beyond.” 

    In introducing us to the Diamond Approach’s inquiry technique, Hameed covers a rich array of topics: the dynamism of consciousness; the importance of scientific objectivity in our exploration of inner experience; modern psychology’s revelation of how our sense of self develops; the essential qualities of curiosity and love of truth; and how understanding the ways in which the past influences the present disentangles it. Hameed is a masterful teacher—with just a few words he can illuminate vast territories of spiritual landscape for the purpose of helping his students learn to live their lives from a deeper, liberated condition. Rather than aiming to transcend our experience, Hameed assures us there is a way through, an unraveling we can do, as we discover never-ending realizations about individual consciousness and the nature of reality. Recorded July 4, 2024.

    “The soul is a living embodiment of the life force.” 

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Basic trust: fundamentally we are an indestructible nature, but our basic trust can get whittled away (00:50)
    • Feeling the love inherent to reality (05:27)
    • Marrying ancient knowledge of the soul with advancements in modern psychology (06:09) 
    • Psychology provides us with answers about how our sense of self develops but not about what gets structured—the soul (09:35)
    • Individual consciousness is impressionable, otherwise learning would not be possible (12:31)
    • The self is nothing but the soul structured through the ego stages of development (14:28)
    • Psychodynamics and the self-liberating quality of the soul (15:29)
    • We need our sense of self in order to survive—and in order to become become illuminated, we need a body (17:21)
    • To stay with the ego self is arrested development, but we can develop further to become conscious of consciousness itself (19:53)
    • We can understand the terrain of experience rather than simply transcend it—we can go through it, unravel it, and open up different dimensions of reality as we go (21:40)
    • As we inquire we go deeper, bringing liberation into ordinary life (24:58)
    • The emphasis in the East is on liberation—the emphasis in the West is on how to fulfill life (26:06)
    • What many nondual teachings don’t understand is the individual soul (27:14)
    • The enlightenment drive: motivation beyond ego (30:38)
    • Beyond the enlightenment drive: pure being coming through individual consciousness (34:45)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • The Ridhwan School, home of the Diamond Approach, founded by A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali)
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
    • A. H. Almaas, Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery*
    • Ramana Maharshi, Hindu sage and liberated being, Who Am I?: The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi*
    • Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
    • Bodhicitta
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    A. Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 144 (Part 2 of 2) | In the second A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series conversation, Hameed Ali describes how the practice of inquiry can aid us on our spiritual journey, illuminating our understanding of our personal experience and our soul. He uses the example of inquiring into a sense of worthlessness to illustrate what happens as we begin to investigate the terrain of our consciousness. There comes a point when the inquiry leads beyond where a psychologist would normally end—when it slips from psychological into spiritual inquiry. “If you stay with the wounding, something will emerge: a sense of inherent value. You recognize ‘I am presence’ and this presence has value—all the way to nondual presence and beyond.” 

    In introducing us to the Diamond Approach’s inquiry technique, Hameed covers a rich array of topics: the dynamism of consciousness; the importance of scientific objectivity in our exploration of inner experience; modern psychology’s revelation of how our sense of self develops; the essential qualities of curiosity and love of truth; and how understanding the ways in which the past influences the present disentangles it. Hameed is a masterful teacher—with just a few words he can illuminate vast territories of spiritual landscape for the purpose of helping his students learn to live their lives from a deeper, liberated condition. Rather than aiming to transcend our experience, Hameed assures us there is a way through, an unraveling we can do, as we discover never-ending realizations about individual consciousness and the nature of reality. Recorded July 4, 2024.

    “The soul is a living embodiment of the life force.” 

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Basic trust: fundamentally we are an indestructible nature, but our basic trust can get whittled away (00:50)
    • Feeling the love inherent to reality (05:27)
    • Marrying ancient knowledge of the soul with advancements in modern psychology (06:09) 
    • Psychology provides us with answers about how our sense of self develops but not about what gets structured—the soul (09:35)
    • Individual consciousness is impressionable, otherwise learning would not be possible (12:31)
    • The self is nothing but the soul structured through the ego stages of development (14:28)
    • Psychodynamics and the self-liberating quality of the soul (15:29)
    • We need our sense of self in order to survive—and in order to become become illuminated, we need a body (17:21)
    • To stay with the ego self is arrested development, but we can develop further to become conscious of consciousness itself (19:53)
    • We can understand the terrain of experience rather than simply transcend it—we can go through it, unravel it, and open up different dimensions of reality as we go (21:40)
    • As we inquire we go deeper, bringing liberation into ordinary life (24:58)
    • The emphasis in the East is on liberation—the emphasis in the West is on how to fulfill life (26:06)
    • What many nondual teachings don’t understand is the individual soul (27:14)
    • The enlightenment drive: motivation beyond ego (30:38)
    • Beyond the enlightenment drive: pure being coming through individual consciousness (34:45)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • The Ridhwan School, home of the Diamond Approach, founded by A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali)
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
    • A. H. Almaas, Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery*
    • Ramana Maharshi, Hindu sage and liberated being, Who Am I?: The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi*
    • Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
    • Bodhicitta
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    A. Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>1cdd5c04-eb87-4ae8-9e4f-5d58c806abe2Thu, 22 Aug 2024 05:00:00 -040039:47falsefull144144Exploring the Depths of the Soul: Bridging Ancient Wisdom & Modern Psychology Using the Practice of Inquiry with A. H. AlmaasEp. 143 (Part 1 of 2) | In the second A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series conversation, Hameed Ali describes how the practice of inquiry can aid us on our spiritual journey, illuminating our understanding of our personal experience and our soul. He uses the example of inquiring into a sense of worthlessness to illustrate what happens as we begin to investigate the terrain of our consciousness. There comes a point when the inquiry leads beyond where a psychologist would normally end—when it slips from psychological into spiritual inquiry. “If you stay with the wounding, something will emerge: a sense of inherent value. You recognize ‘I am presence’ and this presence has value—all the way to nondual presence and beyond.” 

    In introducing us to the Diamond Approach’s inquiry technique, Hameed covers a rich array of topics: the dynamism of consciousness; the importance of scientific objectivity in our exploration of inner experience; modern psychology’s revelation of how our sense of self develops; the essential qualities of curiosity and love of truth; and how understanding the ways in which the past influences the present disentangles it. Hameed is a masterful teacher—with just a few words he can illuminate vast territories of spiritual landscape for the purpose of helping his students learn to live their lives from a deeper, liberated condition. Rather than aiming to transcend our experience, Hameed assures us there is a way through, an unraveling we can do, as we discover never-ending realizations about individual consciousness and the nature of reality. Recorded July 4, 2024.

    “What does it mean that ‘I am spiritual in nature’ and what psychological constellation prevents us from knowing this?”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas), founder of the Diamond Approach, the Ridhwan School, and author of The Inner Journey Home and many more (00:59)
    • Why inquiry is essential for transformation, beginning with an investigation of our own subjective, personal experience (04:13)
    • Consciousness is a whole terrain of sensations, emotions, thoughts, reactions, images (09:47) 
    • First we need to become aware of what is obstructing our awareness, then inquire into why that block is there (10:54)
    • Exploring the content of the self: start from the premise we don’t know everything that is going on and be open to finding out (12:57)
    • Two essential ingredients for inquiry: curiosity and a love of the truth for its own sake (14:26)
    • As you get better at inquiry, you learn not to interfere with the experience, to have no end in mind (18:05)
    • Although practiced in the present, inquiry does not deny the impact of the past—it’s open to all time and space (21:35)
    • Inquiring into the wound of worthlessness can bring up fear, then hurt—so we inquire into the fear (24:17)
    • Everything is a question—nothing is left as ultimate truth (25:51)
    • Deficient emptiness can turn into spaciousness (27:48)
    • Roger’s synopsis of the elements of inquiry that Hameed has discussed so far (30:18)
    • If you stay with the wounding, something will emerge: a sense of inherent value (35:46)
    • What does it mean that I am spiritual nature and what psychological constellation prevents us from knowing this? (37:51)
    • Curiosity is connected to the quality of joy—it brings a sense of adventure to the inquiry (39:54)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • The Ridhwan School, home of the Diamond Approach, founded by A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali)
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
    • A. H. Almaas, Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery*
    • Ramana Maharshi, Hindu sage and liberated being, Who Am I?: The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi*
    • Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
    • Bodhicitta
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    A. Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 143 (Part 1 of 2) | In the second A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series conversation, Hameed Ali describes how the practice of inquiry can aid us on our spiritual journey, illuminating our understanding of our personal experience and our soul. He uses the example of inquiring into a sense of worthlessness to illustrate what happens as we begin to investigate the terrain of our consciousness. There comes a point when the inquiry leads beyond where a psychologist would normally end—when it slips from psychological into spiritual inquiry. “If you stay with the wounding, something will emerge: a sense of inherent value. You recognize ‘I am presence’ and this presence has value—all the way to nondual presence and beyond.” 

    In introducing us to the Diamond Approach’s inquiry technique, Hameed covers a rich array of topics: the dynamism of consciousness; the importance of scientific objectivity in our exploration of inner experience; modern psychology’s revelation of how our sense of self develops; the essential qualities of curiosity and love of truth; and how understanding the ways in which the past influences the present disentangles it. Hameed is a masterful teacher—with just a few words he can illuminate vast territories of spiritual landscape for the purpose of helping his students learn to live their lives from a deeper, liberated condition. Rather than aiming to transcend our experience, Hameed assures us there is a way through, an unraveling we can do, as we discover never-ending realizations about individual consciousness and the nature of reality. Recorded July 4, 2024.

    “What does it mean that ‘I am spiritual in nature’ and what psychological constellation prevents us from knowing this?”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas), founder of the Diamond Approach, the Ridhwan School, and author of The Inner Journey Home and many more (00:59)
    • Why inquiry is essential for transformation, beginning with an investigation of our own subjective, personal experience (04:13)
    • Consciousness is a whole terrain of sensations, emotions, thoughts, reactions, images (09:47) 
    • First we need to become aware of what is obstructing our awareness, then inquire into why that block is there (10:54)
    • Exploring the content of the self: start from the premise we don’t know everything that is going on and be open to finding out (12:57)
    • Two essential ingredients for inquiry: curiosity and a love of the truth for its own sake (14:26)
    • As you get better at inquiry, you learn not to interfere with the experience, to have no end in mind (18:05)
    • Although practiced in the present, inquiry does not deny the impact of the past—it’s open to all time and space (21:35)
    • Inquiring into the wound of worthlessness can bring up fear, then hurt—so we inquire into the fear (24:17)
    • Everything is a question—nothing is left as ultimate truth (25:51)
    • Deficient emptiness can turn into spaciousness (27:48)
    • Roger’s synopsis of the elements of inquiry that Hameed has discussed so far (30:18)
    • If you stay with the wounding, something will emerge: a sense of inherent value (35:46)
    • What does it mean that I am spiritual nature and what psychological constellation prevents us from knowing this? (37:51)
    • Curiosity is connected to the quality of joy—it brings a sense of adventure to the inquiry (39:54)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • The Ridhwan School, home of the Diamond Approach, founded by A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali)
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
    • A. H. Almaas, Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery*
    • Ramana Maharshi, Hindu sage and liberated being, Who Am I?: The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi*
    • Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
    • Bodhicitta
    
    

    The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    A. Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>b1dee24c-5efc-4064-bfc7-0858f9ec58dbThu, 15 Aug 2024 05:00:00 -040042:19falsefull143143Big Picture Systems Thinking: A Key Practice for Understanding, Transforming, and Preserving Civilization (Part 2)Ep. 142 (Part 2 of 2) | Award-winning author of The Web of Meaning and founder of the Deep Transformation Network, Jeremy Lent, relates how his discovery of systems thinking opened the door to a whole new way of making sense of the world and illumined his in depth exploration of what creates meaning. In looking into what forms concepts like God, soul, humanity, nature, and science, Jeremy came to understand the thinking that has led to the existential crisis we face now, then began to explore what it would take to break out of the worldview that has caused so much destruction on so many levels. Jeremy integrates systems thinking with concepts from evolutionary biology, neuroscience, ecology, and traditional and indigenous wisdom, forming a holistic view of science, where “maybe the distinction between science and spirituality isn’t really valid.”

    Jeremy’s heartfelt intention is to act as translator—to make it enjoyable for people to explore difficult concepts like consciousness and evolutionary biology they might otherwise steer away from—as well as be a catalyst for large-scale transformation. His vision of a potential future “ecological civilization” builds on the evolutionary success of life itself—ecosystems living in mutual symbiosis—and includes the idea of “islands of coherence” which would provide a bridge from a disintegrating society to a new and flourishing one. Systems thinking, like indigenous wisdom, recognizes the deep connectedness of all things, a realization, Jeremy points out, that leads to the knowing that nothing is inevitable and the choices we make matter. Jeremy leaves us with a sense of agency and of liberation, as well as a sense of responsibility to work together in the shaping of a life-affirming, sustainable future. Recorded June 20, 2024.

    “Based on a deep understanding of systems thinking, there is nothing inevitable about any of this.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Can flourishing-of-the-commons ideas be scaled beyond small, local ventures? (01:25)
    • Polycentric self-organization: a large region in Syria has instituted a form of government called democratic confederalism (03:53)
    • Where are the most strategic places to intervene? (08:45)
    • Becoming a transformation catalyst—amplifying the entire system of people moving toward a life-affirming future (09:59)
    • Neoliberalism is a great model for successfully transforming a culture’s dominant ideas and creating fundamental change (13:13)
    • Is there any hope of a rapid evolutionary leap to a more beautiful, more functional system? (17:18)
    • Breaking through to the next level will require self-organizing and setting conditions for prosocial behavior on a global level (21:23)
    • Understanding that the choices we make matter gives us a sense of agency, liberation, and responsibility (24:46)
    • It’s important to move away from attachment to outcome—just do the right thing to do (28:18)
    • The necessary perspectival shifts will only occur in people at a post-conventional stage of development (30:51)
    • Animate intelligence is an intuitive system that allows people to feel their heart (33:24)
    • Creating a life-affirming future (37:14)
    • Rupert Sheldrake’s morphogenetic fields (39:05)
    • From a systems perspective, these are principles of connectivity (42:18)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Jeremy Lent’s website: https://www.jeremylent.com/
    • Jeremy Lent, founder of the Deep Transformation Network
    • Jeremy Lent, The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe*
    • Jeremy Lent, The Patterning of Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity’s Search for Meaning*
    • Elinor Ostrom, Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action*
    • David Sloan Wilson, This View of Life: Completing the Darwinian Revolution*
    • Christiana Figueres & Tom Rivett-Carnac, The Future We Choose: The Stubborn Optimist’s Guide to the Climate Crisis*
    • Sandra Waddock, Transforming Towards Life-centered Economies: How Business, Government, and Civil Society Can Build a Better World*
    • Ilya Prigogine’s small islands of coherence
    • Neoliberalism, the Mont Pelerin Society, the Overton Window
    • The Fermi paradox
    • Antonio Damasio’s theory of consciousness, The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness*
    • Gerald Edelman’s primary consciousness, The Remembered Present: A Biological Theory of Consciousness*
    • Rupert Sheldrake, Morphic Resonance and Morphic Fields: An Introduction
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Jeremy Lent is an author and speaker whose work investigates the underlying causes of our civilization’s existential crisis, and explores pathways toward a life-affirming future. His award-winning books, The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity’s Search for Meaning and The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe, trace the historical underpinnings and flaws of the dominant worldview, and offer a foundation for an integrative worldview that could lead humanity to a flourishing future. He has written extensively about the vision and specifics of an ecological civilization and is founder of the Ep. 142 (Part 2 of 2) | Award-winning author of The Web of Meaning and founder of the Deep Transformation Network, Jeremy Lent, relates how his discovery of systems thinking opened the door to a whole new way of making sense of the world and illumined his in depth exploration of what creates meaning. In looking into what forms concepts like God, soul, humanity, nature, and science, Jeremy came to understand the thinking that has led to the existential crisis we face now, then began to explore what it would take to break out of the worldview that has caused so much destruction on so many levels. Jeremy integrates systems thinking with concepts from evolutionary biology, neuroscience, ecology, and traditional and indigenous wisdom, forming a holistic view of science, where “maybe the distinction between science and spirituality isn’t really valid.”

    Jeremy’s heartfelt intention is to act as translator—to make it enjoyable for people to explore difficult concepts like consciousness and evolutionary biology they might otherwise steer away from—as well as be a catalyst for large-scale transformation. His vision of a potential future “ecological civilization” builds on the evolutionary success of life itself—ecosystems living in mutual symbiosis—and includes the idea of “islands of coherence” which would provide a bridge from a disintegrating society to a new and flourishing one. Systems thinking, like indigenous wisdom, recognizes the deep connectedness of all things, a realization, Jeremy points out, that leads to the knowing that nothing is inevitable and the choices we make matter. Jeremy leaves us with a sense of agency and of liberation, as well as a sense of responsibility to work together in the shaping of a life-affirming, sustainable future. Recorded June 20, 2024.

    “Based on a deep understanding of systems thinking, there is nothing inevitable about any of this.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Can flourishing-of-the-commons ideas be scaled beyond small, local ventures? (01:25)
    • Polycentric self-organization: a large region in Syria has instituted a form of government called democratic confederalism (03:53)
    • Where are the most strategic places to intervene? (08:45)
    • Becoming a transformation catalyst—amplifying the entire system of people moving toward a life-affirming future (09:59)
    • Neoliberalism is a great model for successfully transforming a culture’s dominant ideas and creating fundamental change (13:13)
    • Is there any hope of a rapid evolutionary leap to a more beautiful, more functional system? (17:18)
    • Breaking through to the next level will require self-organizing and setting conditions for prosocial behavior on a global level (21:23)
    • Understanding that the choices we make matter gives us a sense of agency, liberation, and responsibility (24:46)
    • It’s important to move away from attachment to outcome—just do the right thing to do (28:18)
    • The necessary perspectival shifts will only occur in people at a post-conventional stage of development (30:51)
    • Animate intelligence is an intuitive system that allows people to feel their heart (33:24)
    • Creating a life-affirming future (37:14)
    • Rupert Sheldrake’s morphogenetic fields (39:05)
    • From a systems perspective, these are principles of connectivity (42:18)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Jeremy Lent’s website: https://www.jeremylent.com/
    • Jeremy Lent, founder of the Deep Transformation Network
    • Jeremy Lent, The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe*
    • Jeremy Lent, The Patterning of Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity’s Search for Meaning*
    • Elinor Ostrom, Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action*
    • David Sloan Wilson, This View of Life: Completing the Darwinian Revolution*
    • Christiana Figueres & Tom Rivett-Carnac, The Future We Choose: The Stubborn Optimist’s Guide to the Climate Crisis*
    • Sandra Waddock, Transforming Towards Life-centered Economies: How Business, Government, and Civil Society Can Build a Better World*
    • Ilya Prigogine’s small islands of coherence
    • Neoliberalism, the Mont Pelerin Society, the Overton Window
    • The Fermi paradox
    • Antonio Damasio’s theory of consciousness, The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness*
    • Gerald Edelman’s primary consciousness, The Remembered Present: A Biological Theory of Consciousness*
    • Rupert Sheldrake, Morphic Resonance and Morphic Fields: An Introduction
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Jeremy Lent is an author and speaker whose work investigates the underlying causes of our civilization’s existential crisis, and explores pathways toward a life-affirming future. His award-winning books, The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity’s Search for Meaning and The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe, trace the historical underpinnings and flaws of the dominant worldview, and offer a foundation for an integrative worldview that could lead humanity to a flourishing future. He has written extensively about the vision and specifics of an ecological civilization and is founder of the Deep Transformation Network, an online global community exploring pathways for a deep transformation toward a life-affirming future on a regenerated Earth. Author website: jeremylent.com

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>0cc23a7b-8016-48f5-ab17-903fa5c56191Thu, 08 Aug 2024 05:00:00 -040045:39falsefull142142Big Picture Systems Thinking: A Key Practice for Understanding, Transforming, and Preserving CivilizationEp. 141 (Part 1 of 2) | Award-winning author of The Web of Meaning and founder of the Deep Transformation Network, Jeremy Lent, relates how his discovery of systems thinking opened the door to a whole new way of making sense of the world and illumined his in depth exploration of what creates meaning. In looking into what forms concepts like God, soul, humanity, nature, and science, Jeremy came to understand the thinking that has led to the existential crisis we face now, then began to explore what it would take to break out of the worldview that has caused so much destruction on so many levels. Jeremy integrates systems thinking with concepts from evolutionary biology, neuroscience, ecology, and traditional and indigenous wisdom, forming a holistic view of science, where “maybe the distinction between science and spirituality isn’t really valid.”

    Jeremy’s heartfelt intention is to act as translator—to make it enjoyable for people to explore difficult concepts like consciousness and evolutionary biology they might otherwise steer away from—as well as be a catalyst for large-scale transformation. His vision of a potential future “ecological civilization” builds on the evolutionary success of life itself—ecosystems living in mutual symbiosis—and includes the idea of “islands of coherence” which would provide a bridge from a disintegrating society to a new and flourishing one. Systems thinking, like indigenous wisdom, recognizes the deep connectedness of all things, a realization, Jeremy points out, that leads to the knowing that nothing is inevitable and the choices we make matter. Jeremy leaves us with a sense of agency and of liberation, as well as a sense of responsibility to work together in the shaping of a life-affirming, sustainable future. Recorded June 20, 2024.

    “Every aspect of our world today is founded ultimately on the worldview of reductionism…If we were to design or co-create a civilization built on a sense of deep connectedness, it would look very different.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing Jeremy Lent, award-winning author, integrator, founder of the Deep Transformation Network (01:15)
    • What does meaning come from? Where do mainstream concepts like God, soul, humanity, and nature come from? (02:58)
    • What’s considered valid science turns out to be reductionism and Jeremy’s subsequent discovery of systems science & complexity science (05:25)
    • Jeremy’s intention is to act as translator—make it a joy for people to explore concepts like consciousness and evolutionary biology (08:50)
    • The concept of reductionism (09:36)
    • Where reductionism goes wrong and why systems thinking is so important: studying the relationship between things (12:19)
    • Richard Dawkins attributes everything to our genes, but the reality is far more complex (13:53)
    • What the modern worldview of reductionism has done to our society (16:59) 
    • Jeremy’s new book, Ecological Civilization, applies the principles of ecology that life itself evolved to every aspect of our civilization (18:43)
    • The difference between the metacrisis and the polycrisis: is there something meta, above all the crises, that we need to be aware of? (20:44)
    • The reductionist worldview creates a separatist world that allows for resource exploitation: capitalism is the economic manifestation of a worldview of profound separation (22:29)
    • Moving beyond the dichotomy of individual good and common good (26:57)
    • Individual flourishing, fractl flourishing, holon flourishing (30:38) 
    • The evolution of life itself: learning to cooperate in mutually beneficial symbiosis (34:00)
    • How do we break out from the zero sum game we are stuck in? (35:18)
    • Our dominant system is beginning to unravel: weaving together small islands of coherence while the dominant civilization crumbles (39:16)
    • What are examples of “attractors,” sources of coherence for us to build on? (41:52)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Jeremy Lent’s website: https://www.jeremylent.com/
    • Jeremy Lent, founder of the Deep Transformation Network
    • Jeremy Lent, The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe*
    • Jeremy Lent, The Patterning of Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity’s Search for Meaning*
    • Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene*
    • Fritjof Capra, The Turning Point: Science, Society, and the Rising Culture*
    • Systems theory
    • Reductionism originally started with Descartes
    • Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations*
    • Ayn Rand, author, developer of objectivism
    • Jason Hickel, Less Is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World*
    • Fredric Jameson, “Someone once said that it is easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of capitalism…”
    • Ilya Prigogine’s small islands of coherence
    • The Commons with David Bollier (The Permaculture Podcast on YouTube)
    • Elinor Ostrom, Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action*
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Jeremy Lent is an author and speaker whose work investigates the underlying causes of our civilization’s existential crisis, and explores pathways toward a life-affirming future. His award-winning books, The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity’s Search for Meaning and The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe, trace the historical underpinnings and flaws of the dominant worldview, and offer a foundation for an integrative worldview that could lead humanity to a flourishing future. He has written extensively about the vision and specifics of an ecological civilization and is founder of the Deep Transformation Network, an online global community exploring pathways for a deep transformation toward a life-affirming future on a regenerated Earth. Author website: jeremylent.com

    ---

    Podcast produced...]]>Ep. 141 (Part 1 of 2) | Award-winning author of The Web of Meaning and founder of the Deep Transformation Network, Jeremy Lent, relates how his discovery of systems thinking opened the door to a whole new way of making sense of the world and illumined his in depth exploration of what creates meaning. In looking into what forms concepts like God, soul, humanity, nature, and science, Jeremy came to understand the thinking that has led to the existential crisis we face now, then began to explore what it would take to break out of the worldview that has caused so much destruction on so many levels. Jeremy integrates systems thinking with concepts from evolutionary biology, neuroscience, ecology, and traditional and indigenous wisdom, forming a holistic view of science, where “maybe the distinction between science and spirituality isn’t really valid.”

    Jeremy’s heartfelt intention is to act as translator—to make it enjoyable for people to explore difficult concepts like consciousness and evolutionary biology they might otherwise steer away from—as well as be a catalyst for large-scale transformation. His vision of a potential future “ecological civilization” builds on the evolutionary success of life itself—ecosystems living in mutual symbiosis—and includes the idea of “islands of coherence” which would provide a bridge from a disintegrating society to a new and flourishing one. Systems thinking, like indigenous wisdom, recognizes the deep connectedness of all things, a realization, Jeremy points out, that leads to the knowing that nothing is inevitable and the choices we make matter. Jeremy leaves us with a sense of agency and of liberation, as well as a sense of responsibility to work together in the shaping of a life-affirming, sustainable future. Recorded June 20, 2024.

    “Every aspect of our world today is founded ultimately on the worldview of reductionism…If we were to design or co-create a civilization built on a sense of deep connectedness, it would look very different.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing Jeremy Lent, award-winning author, integrator, founder of the Deep Transformation Network (01:15)
    • What does meaning come from? Where do mainstream concepts like God, soul, humanity, and nature come from? (02:58)
    • What’s considered valid science turns out to be reductionism and Jeremy’s subsequent discovery of systems science & complexity science (05:25)
    • Jeremy’s intention is to act as translator—make it a joy for people to explore concepts like consciousness and evolutionary biology (08:50)
    • The concept of reductionism (09:36)
    • Where reductionism goes wrong and why systems thinking is so important: studying the relationship between things (12:19)
    • Richard Dawkins attributes everything to our genes, but the reality is far more complex (13:53)
    • What the modern worldview of reductionism has done to our society (16:59) 
    • Jeremy’s new book, Ecological Civilization, applies the principles of ecology that life itself evolved to every aspect of our civilization (18:43)
    • The difference between the metacrisis and the polycrisis: is there something meta, above all the crises, that we need to be aware of? (20:44)
    • The reductionist worldview creates a separatist world that allows for resource exploitation: capitalism is the economic manifestation of a worldview of profound separation (22:29)
    • Moving beyond the dichotomy of individual good and common good (26:57)
    • Individual flourishing, fractl flourishing, holon flourishing (30:38) 
    • The evolution of life itself: learning to cooperate in mutually beneficial symbiosis (34:00)
    • How do we break out from the zero sum game we are stuck in? (35:18)
    • Our dominant system is beginning to unravel: weaving together small islands of coherence while the dominant civilization crumbles (39:16)
    • What are examples of “attractors,” sources of coherence for us to build on? (41:52)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Jeremy Lent’s website: https://www.jeremylent.com/
    • Jeremy Lent, founder of the Deep Transformation Network
    • Jeremy Lent, The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe*
    • Jeremy Lent, The Patterning of Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity’s Search for Meaning*
    • Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene*
    • Fritjof Capra, The Turning Point: Science, Society, and the Rising Culture*
    • Systems theory
    • Reductionism originally started with Descartes
    • Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations*
    • Ayn Rand, author, developer of objectivism
    • Jason Hickel, Less Is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World*
    • Fredric Jameson, “Someone once said that it is easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of capitalism…”
    • Ilya Prigogine’s small islands of coherence
    • The Commons with David Bollier (The Permaculture Podcast on YouTube)
    • Elinor Ostrom, Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action*
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Jeremy Lent is an author and speaker whose work investigates the underlying causes of our civilization’s existential crisis, and explores pathways toward a life-affirming future. His award-winning books, The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity’s Search for Meaning and The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe, trace the historical underpinnings and flaws of the dominant worldview, and offer a foundation for an integrative worldview that could lead humanity to a flourishing future. He has written extensively about the vision and specifics of an ecological civilization and is founder of the Deep Transformation Network, an online global community exploring pathways for a deep transformation toward a life-affirming future on a regenerated Earth. Author website: jeremylent.com

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>594c8642-0c18-4429-821e-a6f084913ba5Thu, 01 Aug 2024 05:00:00 -040047:32falsefull141141The Mysterious World of Shamanism: The Power, Practices & Implications of Humankind’s Most Ancient & Enduring Tradition with Roger Walsh as Guest (Part 2)Ep. 140 (Part 2 of 2) | Author, psychiatrist, professor, and Deep Transformation podcast co-host Roger Walsh was drawn to explore the remarkable world of shamanism—a tradition of opening to altered states, intuition, and profound insights and wisdom—when he found it was the one great world tradition he didn’t understand. He was intrigued by Romanian scholar Mircea Eliade’s description of the core feature of a shaman being “ecstatic flight,” and recognizing the lack of any easy to understand book on the subject, Roger was inspired to pursue this subject in depth and write the book himself! In his book and in this conversation, Roger provides us with a brilliant, big picture perspective, pointing out that at the heart of shamanism (and every great world tradition) are psychospiritual technologies—actual practices—that lead us to the doorway of the Great Mystery, and that service is the culmination of each tradition, both as a means to and an expression of one’s realization.

    The dialogue is warm, open, and personal—Roger shares his experience of realizing the vastness of the inner world for the first time (“I felt like I’d lived my entire life on the top six inches of a wave on top of an ocean I didn’t even know existed!”), his realization that “as a culture, we are sleepwalking through life, unaware of the resources, capacities and gifts we bear within us,” and his coming to terms with the Great Mystery. John, too, shares his experiences within the Native American spiritual tradition: the power of the vision quest, prayer, drumming in ceremony, death medicine, and enduring trials in service to one’s people. Roger’s wonderful curiosity, integrity, graciousness, and keen intellect are all in evidence as he discusses the indeterminacy of spirit, mediumship, journeying, and death, and as he marvels at the bottomless, boundless mystery that both surrounds us and is us. Recorded June 27, 2024.

    “Not only does the Great Mystery surround us, but we are Mystery—our own being is Mystery.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • The ethos of service at the heart of shamanism (00:55)
    • Service is the culmination of shamanism—and every world tradition—both as a means to and an expression of one’s realization (02:20)
    • Opening to the Great Mystery: we really don’t know what is going on (05:06)
    • Castaneda’s 4 challenges to becoming a person of knowledge, particularly the challenge of clarity (09:08)
    • Transconceptual intuition and Ken Wilber’s vision-logic (12:11)
    • What about death? (16:21)
    • Shamans were our first general practitioner, spiritual guide, tribal counselor, psychopomp, all rolled into one (18:04)
    • How did humans discover this tradition? (20:04)
    • What is a spirit? A construct of the psyche? An independent intelligence? (21:41)
    • The powerful effects of mediumship throughout human history (24:07)
    • The spiritual practice of journeying (27:55)
    • Bottom line: shamans tap into the depths of the psyche and take us to the doorway of Mystery, leaving us there with remarkable potentials and possibilities (29:49)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers, The Power of Myth*
    • Carlos Castaneda, The Teachings of Don Juan*
    • Ken Wilber’s vision-logic (Integral Life website)
    • The Oracle of Delphi
    • William Blake, British mystic
    • Pearl Curran, who channeled the spirit of Patience Worth
    • Helen Schucman, A Course of Miracles* (Foundation for Inner Peace)
    • Charles Tart, Body Mind Spirit: Exploring the Parapsychology of Spirituality*
    • Roger Walsh, The World of Shamanism: New Views of an Ancient Tradition* (2nd edition)
    • Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind*
    • Roger’s website: https://drrogerwalsh.com
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Dr. Roger Walsh, M.D., Ph.D. DHL, is an author and longtime professor of psychiatry, philosophy, anthropology, and religious studies. Roger’s research and writings span several areas, to include the nature of psychological health and well-being, meditation and contemplative practices, religion and spirituality, wisdom and other virtues, Integral studies, and the psychological roots of our current global crises. He is deeply immersed in contemplative practices as student, researcher, and teacher.

    Roger’s books include Paths Beyond Ego (one of Common Boundary’s “Most Influential Books”), Meditation: Classic and Contemporary Perspectives (“Outstanding Academic Book of the Year Award”), Essential Spirituality: The Seven Central Practices with a foreword by the Dalai Lama, and The World of Shamanism. He is currently editing The World’s Great Wisdom: What Sages Say about Living Wisely and Well. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 140 (Part 2 of 2) | Author, psychiatrist, professor, and Deep Transformation podcast co-host Roger Walsh was drawn to explore the remarkable world of shamanism—a tradition of opening to altered states, intuition, and profound insights and wisdom—when he found it was the one great world tradition he didn’t understand. He was intrigued by Romanian scholar Mircea Eliade’s description of the core feature of a shaman being “ecstatic flight,” and recognizing the lack of any easy to understand book on the subject, Roger was inspired to pursue this subject in depth and write the book himself! In his book and in this conversation, Roger provides us with a brilliant, big picture perspective, pointing out that at the heart of shamanism (and every great world tradition) are psychospiritual technologies—actual practices—that lead us to the doorway of the Great Mystery, and that service is the culmination of each tradition, both as a means to and an expression of one’s realization.

    The dialogue is warm, open, and personal—Roger shares his experience of realizing the vastness of the inner world for the first time (“I felt like I’d lived my entire life on the top six inches of a wave on top of an ocean I didn’t even know existed!”), his realization that “as a culture, we are sleepwalking through life, unaware of the resources, capacities and gifts we bear within us,” and his coming to terms with the Great Mystery. John, too, shares his experiences within the Native American spiritual tradition: the power of the vision quest, prayer, drumming in ceremony, death medicine, and enduring trials in service to one’s people. Roger’s wonderful curiosity, integrity, graciousness, and keen intellect are all in evidence as he discusses the indeterminacy of spirit, mediumship, journeying, and death, and as he marvels at the bottomless, boundless mystery that both surrounds us and is us. Recorded June 27, 2024.

    “Not only does the Great Mystery surround us, but we are Mystery—our own being is Mystery.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • The ethos of service at the heart of shamanism (00:55)
    • Service is the culmination of shamanism—and every world tradition—both as a means to and an expression of one’s realization (02:20)
    • Opening to the Great Mystery: we really don’t know what is going on (05:06)
    • Castaneda’s 4 challenges to becoming a person of knowledge, particularly the challenge of clarity (09:08)
    • Transconceptual intuition and Ken Wilber’s vision-logic (12:11)
    • What about death? (16:21)
    • Shamans were our first general practitioner, spiritual guide, tribal counselor, psychopomp, all rolled into one (18:04)
    • How did humans discover this tradition? (20:04)
    • What is a spirit? A construct of the psyche? An independent intelligence? (21:41)
    • The powerful effects of mediumship throughout human history (24:07)
    • The spiritual practice of journeying (27:55)
    • Bottom line: shamans tap into the depths of the psyche and take us to the doorway of Mystery, leaving us there with remarkable potentials and possibilities (29:49)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers, The Power of Myth*
    • Carlos Castaneda, The Teachings of Don Juan*
    • Ken Wilber’s vision-logic (Integral Life website)
    • The Oracle of Delphi
    • William Blake, British mystic
    • Pearl Curran, who channeled the spirit of Patience Worth
    • Helen Schucman, A Course of Miracles* (Foundation for Inner Peace)
    • Charles Tart, Body Mind Spirit: Exploring the Parapsychology of Spirituality*
    • Roger Walsh, The World of Shamanism: New Views of an Ancient Tradition* (2nd edition)
    • Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind*
    • Roger’s website: https://drrogerwalsh.com
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Dr. Roger Walsh, M.D., Ph.D. DHL, is an author and longtime professor of psychiatry, philosophy, anthropology, and religious studies. Roger’s research and writings span several areas, to include the nature of psychological health and well-being, meditation and contemplative practices, religion and spirituality, wisdom and other virtues, Integral studies, and the psychological roots of our current global crises. He is deeply immersed in contemplative practices as student, researcher, and teacher.

    Roger’s books include Paths Beyond Ego (one of Common Boundary’s “Most Influential Books”), Meditation: Classic and Contemporary Perspectives (“Outstanding Academic Book of the Year Award”), Essential Spirituality: The Seven Central Practices with a foreword by the Dalai Lama, and The World of Shamanism. He is currently editing The World’s Great Wisdom: What Sages Say about Living Wisely and Well. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>69072ea9-2d7f-456d-9586-ea3b49a0dd6dThu, 25 Jul 2024 05:00:00 -040035:57falsefull140140The Mysterious World of Shamanism: The Power, Practices & Implications of Humankind’s Most Ancient & Enduring Tradition with Roger WalshEp. 139 (Part 1 of 2) | Author, psychiatrist, professor, and Deep Transformation podcast co-host Roger Walsh was drawn to explore the remarkable world of shamanism—a tradition of opening to altered states, intuition, and profound insights and wisdom—when he found it was the one great world tradition he didn’t understand. He was intrigued by Romanian scholar Mircea Eliade’s description of the core feature of a shaman being “ecstatic flight,” and recognizing the lack of any easy to understand book on the subject, Roger was inspired to pursue this subject in depth and write the book himself! In his book and in this conversation, Roger provides us with a brilliant, big picture perspective, pointing out that at the heart of shamanism (and every great world tradition) are psychospiritual technologies—actual practices—that lead us to the doorway of the Great Mystery, and that service is the culmination of each tradition, both as a means to and an expression of one’s realization.

    The dialogue is warm, open, and personal—Roger shares his experience of realizing the vastness of the inner world for the first time (“I felt like I’d lived my entire life on the top six inches of a wave on top of an ocean I didn’t even know existed!”), his realization that “as a culture, we are sleepwalking through life, unaware of the resources, capacities and gifts we bear within us,” and his coming to terms with the Great Mystery. John, too, shares his experiences within the Native American spiritual tradition: the power of the vision quest, prayer, drumming in ceremony, death medicine, and enduring trials in service to one’s people. Roger’s wonderful curiosity, integrity, graciousness, and keen intellect are all in evidence as he discusses the indeterminacy of spirit, mediumship, journeying, and death, and as he marvels at the bottomless, boundless mystery that both surrounds us and is us. Recorded June 27, 2024.

    “Shamans were our first general practitioner, spiritual guide, tribal counselor, psychopomp—all rolled into one.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing Deep Transformation podcast co-host Roger Walsh, professor, psychiatrist, and author of The World of Shamanism and Essential Spirituality, among others (01:18)
    • Roger’s book, The World of Shamanism—on the oldest spiritual tradition we know of, found all around the world (04:09)
    • How was Roger drawn to write about shamanism? (06:36)
    • Realizing at the heart of the world’s great religious traditions are psychospiritual technologies—actual practices—to induce the same states of consciousness the founders had discovered (09:31)
    • Shamanism was the one tradition Roger couldn’t understand—after waiting for a good book on it to come out, Roger decided to write it himself (10:46) 
    • John’s experiences with Durwin White Lightning and Wallace Black Elk of the Lakota tribe, and the shamanic effects of connecting with nature (13:35)
    • Roger’s investigation of shamanism included intensive training with Michael Harner, gnostic intermediary who introduced shamanism to the western world (18:38)
    • Through direct experience and a lot of study, including the integral framework of Ken Wilber, Roger brings a big picture perspective to shamanism (22:54)
    • Native American spirituality, death medicine, and the transformative power of the sweat lodge (23:39)
    • The power of the rhythm of the drum in ceremony (27:27)
    • The suffering in our world today reflects the artificial environments in which we live (30:17)
    • The shamanic tradition is closely wedded to nature; going through endurances in the wild to help your people (35:08)
    • John’s experience with vision questing and wolves (37:15)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Roger Walsh, The World of Shamanism: New Views of an Ancient Tradition* (2nd edition)
    • Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind*
    • Roger's website: https://drrogerwalsh.com
    • Mircea Eliade, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy*
    • Wallace Black Elk, Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota*
    • Michael Harner, founder of Core Shamanism, author of The Way of the Shaman*
    • Charles Lawrence on the Deep Transformation podcast: Everything is Sacred: Native American Wisdom on Following Your Destiny, Living Joyously, Dying Fearlessly & Dancing in a World Beyond Everyday Consciousness
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Dr. Roger Walsh, M.D., Ph.D. DHL, is an author and longtime professor of psychiatry, philosophy, anthropology, and religious studies. Roger’s research and writings span several areas, to include the nature of psychological health and well-being, meditation and contemplative practices, religion and spirituality, wisdom and other virtues, Integral studies, and the psychological roots of our current global crises. He is deeply immersed in contemplative practices as student, researcher, and teacher.

    Roger’s books include Paths Beyond Ego (one of Common Boundary’s “Most Influential Books”), Meditation: Classic and Contemporary Perspectives (“Outstanding Academic Book of the Year Award”), Essential Spirituality: The Seven Central Practices with a foreword by the Dalai Lama, and The World of Shamanism. He is currently editing The World’s Great Wisdom: What Sages Say about Living Wisely and Well. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 139 (Part 1 of 2) | Author, psychiatrist, professor, and Deep Transformation podcast co-host Roger Walsh was drawn to explore the remarkable world of shamanism—a tradition of opening to altered states, intuition, and profound insights and wisdom—when he found it was the one great world tradition he didn’t understand. He was intrigued by Romanian scholar Mircea Eliade’s description of the core feature of a shaman being “ecstatic flight,” and recognizing the lack of any easy to understand book on the subject, Roger was inspired to pursue this subject in depth and write the book himself! In his book and in this conversation, Roger provides us with a brilliant, big picture perspective, pointing out that at the heart of shamanism (and every great world tradition) are psychospiritual technologies—actual practices—that lead us to the doorway of the Great Mystery, and that service is the culmination of each tradition, both as a means to and an expression of one’s realization.

    The dialogue is warm, open, and personal—Roger shares his experience of realizing the vastness of the inner world for the first time (“I felt like I’d lived my entire life on the top six inches of a wave on top of an ocean I didn’t even know existed!”), his realization that “as a culture, we are sleepwalking through life, unaware of the resources, capacities and gifts we bear within us,” and his coming to terms with the Great Mystery. John, too, shares his experiences within the Native American spiritual tradition: the power of the vision quest, prayer, drumming in ceremony, death medicine, and enduring trials in service to one’s people. Roger’s wonderful curiosity, integrity, graciousness, and keen intellect are all in evidence as he discusses the indeterminacy of spirit, mediumship, journeying, and death, and as he marvels at the bottomless, boundless mystery that both surrounds us and is us. Recorded June 27, 2024.

    “Shamans were our first general practitioner, spiritual guide, tribal counselor, psychopomp—all rolled into one.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing Deep Transformation podcast co-host Roger Walsh, professor, psychiatrist, and author of The World of Shamanism and Essential Spirituality, among others (01:18)
    • Roger’s book, The World of Shamanism—on the oldest spiritual tradition we know of, found all around the world (04:09)
    • How was Roger drawn to write about shamanism? (06:36)
    • Realizing at the heart of the world’s great religious traditions are psychospiritual technologies—actual practices—to induce the same states of consciousness the founders had discovered (09:31)
    • Shamanism was the one tradition Roger couldn’t understand—after waiting for a good book on it to come out, Roger decided to write it himself (10:46) 
    • John’s experiences with Durwin White Lightning and Wallace Black Elk of the Lakota tribe, and the shamanic effects of connecting with nature (13:35)
    • Roger’s investigation of shamanism included intensive training with Michael Harner, gnostic intermediary who introduced shamanism to the western world (18:38)
    • Through direct experience and a lot of study, including the integral framework of Ken Wilber, Roger brings a big picture perspective to shamanism (22:54)
    • Native American spirituality, death medicine, and the transformative power of the sweat lodge (23:39)
    • The power of the rhythm of the drum in ceremony (27:27)
    • The suffering in our world today reflects the artificial environments in which we live (30:17)
    • The shamanic tradition is closely wedded to nature; going through endurances in the wild to help your people (35:08)
    • John’s experience with vision questing and wolves (37:15)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Roger Walsh, The World of Shamanism: New Views of an Ancient Tradition* (2nd edition)
    • Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind*
    • Roger's website: https://drrogerwalsh.com
    • Mircea Eliade, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy*
    • Wallace Black Elk, Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota*
    • Michael Harner, founder of Core Shamanism, author of The Way of the Shaman*
    • Charles Lawrence on the Deep Transformation podcast: Everything is Sacred: Native American Wisdom on Following Your Destiny, Living Joyously, Dying Fearlessly & Dancing in a World Beyond Everyday Consciousness
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Dr. Roger Walsh, M.D., Ph.D. DHL, is an author and longtime professor of psychiatry, philosophy, anthropology, and religious studies. Roger’s research and writings span several areas, to include the nature of psychological health and well-being, meditation and contemplative practices, religion and spirituality, wisdom and other virtues, Integral studies, and the psychological roots of our current global crises. He is deeply immersed in contemplative practices as student, researcher, and teacher.

    Roger’s books include Paths Beyond Ego (one of Common Boundary’s “Most Influential Books”), Meditation: Classic and Contemporary Perspectives (“Outstanding Academic Book of the Year Award”), Essential Spirituality: The Seven Central Practices with a foreword by the Dalai Lama, and The World of Shamanism. He is currently editing The World’s Great Wisdom: What Sages Say about Living Wisely and Well. 

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>4a2b9868-ba40-4db9-bd36-aa7df3ca0ddfThu, 18 Jul 2024 05:00:00 -040043:11falsefull139139The Diamond Approach: A Unique Blend of Psychology and Spirituality, Creating a Path of Endless Discoveries & Awakenings with A. H. Almaas (Part 2)Ep. 138 (Dialogue 1, Part 2 of 2) | In this rich and engaging conversation, the first episode of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali gives us a beautiful overview of the Diamond Approach, which is a brilliant integration of teachings and a path of awakening born out of his own direct experience and informed by his deep understanding of the world’s great spiritual traditions and modern psychology. Here, Hameed details the many facets of the Diamond Approach that make it unique among spiritual paths, which leads down several intriguing avenues of exploration: What is the Diamond Approach’s understanding of the soul? How does spiritual guidance work? What are the four turnings that give context and structure to students on this spiritual path? Hameed delves, too, into the importance of inquiry on our road to discovering our true nature, love’s role in allowing us to trust reality, and the importance of realizing that the ultimate lives within each individual.

    Hameed also shares personal aspects of his journey: how he was guided from the precise field of physics to the field of psychology, how he came to the revelation of the human soul, and what he attributes to why he has been so receptive to spiritual openings and realizations throughout his life. The Diamond Approach is not only about discovering the nature of absolute reality—it is also about realizing ultimate consciousness in ordinary life, to experience the beauty and richness of a life lived in simple freedom and enjoyment. As Hameed says, “Know, by engaging the path, it is possible to be free.” Recorded June 13, 2024.

    “To get into the spiritual universe and find the richness, the beauty, and the freedom, you need to go deep – you need to go vertical not horizontal.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • What has allowed Hameed to be so unusually receptive to spiritual realizations and teachings? (00:51)
    • How Hameed was guided from physics to psychology (03:13)
    • How psychology got integrated into the Diamond Approach (07:36)
    • Unique to the Diamond Approach is Hameed doesn’t throw away any of what he has experienced, even as things continue to change (08:47)
    • The four turnings are a way of organizing the teaching for students, giving context and framework (10:38)
    • Applying knowledge of the spiritual deep to physics (11:45)
    • Inquiry: the process of dissolving obstacles and discovering reality (15:16)
    • The first of the four turnings: experiencing realizations as a free and timeless individual—ordinary spirituality (18:25)
    • The second turning is nondual: one is the vastness, the ocean of awareness (20:09)
    • The third turning: the realization of nonlocality, the whole universe is in a grain of sand and I am the grain of sand (21:26)
    • The fourth turning includes many realizations—one of which is the realization of “nobody here” (22:30)
    • The fifth turning begins with indeterminacy (24:01)
    • The turnings came to Hameed as a sequence, but there is no limit to potential awakenings (25:18)
    • This path is not for everybody and the importance of validating each spiritual path (27:18)
    • Inquiry is a skill of consciousness (29:35)
    • For true realization you need to go deep—not horizontal but vertical (31:45)
    • The motivation is different for different people, but the important thing is to feel the fire, the passion…and know, by engaging the path, it is possible to be free (33:07)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
    • Object relations theory
    • A. H. Almaas, Space Cruiser Inquiry: True Guidance for the Inner Journey*
    • The Ridhwan School, home of the Diamond Approach, founded by A. H. Almaas
    • A. H. Almaas, Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery*
    
    

    Note: The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as “psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative”), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    A. Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 138 (Dialogue 1, Part 2 of 2) | In this rich and engaging conversation, the first episode of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali gives us a beautiful overview of the Diamond Approach, which is a brilliant integration of teachings and a path of awakening born out of his own direct experience and informed by his deep understanding of the world’s great spiritual traditions and modern psychology. Here, Hameed details the many facets of the Diamond Approach that make it unique among spiritual paths, which leads down several intriguing avenues of exploration: What is the Diamond Approach’s understanding of the soul? How does spiritual guidance work? What are the four turnings that give context and structure to students on this spiritual path? Hameed delves, too, into the importance of inquiry on our road to discovering our true nature, love’s role in allowing us to trust reality, and the importance of realizing that the ultimate lives within each individual.

    Hameed also shares personal aspects of his journey: how he was guided from the precise field of physics to the field of psychology, how he came to the revelation of the human soul, and what he attributes to why he has been so receptive to spiritual openings and realizations throughout his life. The Diamond Approach is not only about discovering the nature of absolute reality—it is also about realizing ultimate consciousness in ordinary life, to experience the beauty and richness of a life lived in simple freedom and enjoyment. As Hameed says, “Know, by engaging the path, it is possible to be free.” Recorded June 13, 2024.

    “To get into the spiritual universe and find the richness, the beauty, and the freedom, you need to go deep – you need to go vertical not horizontal.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • What has allowed Hameed to be so unusually receptive to spiritual realizations and teachings? (00:51)
    • How Hameed was guided from physics to psychology (03:13)
    • How psychology got integrated into the Diamond Approach (07:36)
    • Unique to the Diamond Approach is Hameed doesn’t throw away any of what he has experienced, even as things continue to change (08:47)
    • The four turnings are a way of organizing the teaching for students, giving context and framework (10:38)
    • Applying knowledge of the spiritual deep to physics (11:45)
    • Inquiry: the process of dissolving obstacles and discovering reality (15:16)
    • The first of the four turnings: experiencing realizations as a free and timeless individual—ordinary spirituality (18:25)
    • The second turning is nondual: one is the vastness, the ocean of awareness (20:09)
    • The third turning: the realization of nonlocality, the whole universe is in a grain of sand and I am the grain of sand (21:26)
    • The fourth turning includes many realizations—one of which is the realization of “nobody here” (22:30)
    • The fifth turning begins with indeterminacy (24:01)
    • The turnings came to Hameed as a sequence, but there is no limit to potential awakenings (25:18)
    • This path is not for everybody and the importance of validating each spiritual path (27:18)
    • Inquiry is a skill of consciousness (29:35)
    • For true realization you need to go deep—not horizontal but vertical (31:45)
    • The motivation is different for different people, but the important thing is to feel the fire, the passion…and know, by engaging the path, it is possible to be free (33:07)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
    • Object relations theory
    • A. H. Almaas, Space Cruiser Inquiry: True Guidance for the Inner Journey*
    • The Ridhwan School, home of the Diamond Approach, founded by A. H. Almaas
    • A. H. Almaas, Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery*
    
    

    Note: The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as “psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative”), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    A. Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>484bd8dc-40b9-435d-9000-b4e2c2b17dcfThu, 11 Jul 2024 05:00:00 -040035:50falsefull138138The Diamond Approach: A Unique Blend of Psychology and Spirituality, Creating a Path of Endless Discoveries & Awakenings with A. H. AlmaasEp. 137 (Dialogue 1, Part 1 of 2) | In this rich and engaging conversation, the first episode of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali gives us a beautiful overview of the Diamond Approach, which is a brilliant integration of teachings and a path of awakening born out of his own direct experience and informed by his deep understanding of the world’s great spiritual traditions and modern psychology. Here, Hameed details the many facets of the Diamond Approach that make it unique among spiritual paths, which leads down several intriguing avenues of exploration: What is the Diamond Approach’s understanding of the soul? How does spiritual guidance work? What are the four turnings that give context and structure to students on this spiritual path? Hameed delves, too, into the importance of inquiry on our road to discovering our true nature, love’s role in allowing us to trust reality, and the importance of realizing that the ultimate lives within each individual.

    Hameed also shares personal aspects of his journey: how he was guided from the precise field of physics to the field of psychology, how he came to the revelation of the human soul, and what he attributes to why he has been so receptive to spiritual openings and realizations throughout his life. The Diamond Approach is not only about discovering the nature of absolute reality—it is also about realizing ultimate consciousness in ordinary life, to experience the beauty and richness of a life lived in simple freedom and enjoyment. As Hameed says, “Know, by engaging the path, it is possible to be free.” Recorded June 13, 2024.

    “Regardless of how transcendent or vast, nondual or whatever, is the ultimate nature, the important thing is how it lives as an individual human being living an ordinary human life and enjoying this life the way it can be enjoyed—to the fullest of its possibilities.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, exploring the complete path of awakening developed by Hameed Ali—the Diamond Approach (01:06)
    • John speaks to how this podcast series is based on Hameed’s life’s work, summarized in his transformative book The Inner Journey Home (04:46)
    • The Inner Journey Home: a brilliant integration of teachings as well as a first person account of divine grace (07:34)
    • What is the Diamond Approach and why is it unique? (09:34)
    • The inner body is the lens that, as it turns, sees reality in a different way and reveals different teachings (12:13)
    • The Diamond Approach recognizes the validity of many different spiritual traditions and that there are multiple possible realizations (15:00)
    • After a Nyingma empowerment workshop, Hameed realized a different universe than the Dzogchen universe (16:28)
    • How does spiritual guidance work? It guides the consciousness in how to be open to the next revelation (17:25)
    • A universal commonality the Diamond Approach has with all spiritual teachings is that there is a true spiritual nature to all being, all life (18:44)
    • The Diamond Approach emphasizes that this life has its own value (21:37)
    • The individual is not an illusion—the human soul is an expression of fundamental reality manifesting as individual consciousness (24:07)
    • Spiritual realization can’t happen without a human being to experience it (26:46)
    • What is the Diamond Approach’s understanding of the soul? (27:32)
    • Hameed discovered the soul later in the teachings—after the true nature of fundamental consciousness and the absolute (30:28)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • The Ridhwan School, home of the Diamond Approach, founded by A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali)
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
    • A. H. Almaas, Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery*
    • Ramana Maharshi, Hindu sage and liberated being, Who Am I?: The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi*
    • Nyingma, oldest of the 4 major schools of Tibetan Buddhism
    • Kashmir Shaivism and Shaivism’s tattvas
    • Sufi master Ibn Arabi, “God needs a soul just as much as a soul needs God”
    
    

    Note: The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as “psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative”), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    A. Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 137 (Dialogue 1, Part 1 of 2) | In this rich and engaging conversation, the first episode of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali gives us a beautiful overview of the Diamond Approach, which is a brilliant integration of teachings and a path of awakening born out of his own direct experience and informed by his deep understanding of the world’s great spiritual traditions and modern psychology. Here, Hameed details the many facets of the Diamond Approach that make it unique among spiritual paths, which leads down several intriguing avenues of exploration: What is the Diamond Approach’s understanding of the soul? How does spiritual guidance work? What are the four turnings that give context and structure to students on this spiritual path? Hameed delves, too, into the importance of inquiry on our road to discovering our true nature, love’s role in allowing us to trust reality, and the importance of realizing that the ultimate lives within each individual.

    Hameed also shares personal aspects of his journey: how he was guided from the precise field of physics to the field of psychology, how he came to the revelation of the human soul, and what he attributes to why he has been so receptive to spiritual openings and realizations throughout his life. The Diamond Approach is not only about discovering the nature of absolute reality—it is also about realizing ultimate consciousness in ordinary life, to experience the beauty and richness of a life lived in simple freedom and enjoyment. As Hameed says, “Know, by engaging the path, it is possible to be free.” Recorded June 13, 2024.

    “Regardless of how transcendent or vast, nondual or whatever, is the ultimate nature, the important thing is how it lives as an individual human being living an ordinary human life and enjoying this life the way it can be enjoyed—to the fullest of its possibilities.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, exploring the complete path of awakening developed by Hameed Ali—the Diamond Approach (01:06)
    • John speaks to how this podcast series is based on Hameed’s life’s work, summarized in his transformative book The Inner Journey Home (04:46)
    • The Inner Journey Home: a brilliant integration of teachings as well as a first person account of divine grace (07:34)
    • What is the Diamond Approach and why is it unique? (09:34)
    • The inner body is the lens that, as it turns, sees reality in a different way and reveals different teachings (12:13)
    • The Diamond Approach recognizes the validity of many different spiritual traditions and that there are multiple possible realizations (15:00)
    • After a Nyingma empowerment workshop, Hameed realized a different universe than the Dzogchen universe (16:28)
    • How does spiritual guidance work? It guides the consciousness in how to be open to the next revelation (17:25)
    • A universal commonality the Diamond Approach has with all spiritual teachings is that there is a true spiritual nature to all being, all life (18:44)
    • The Diamond Approach emphasizes that this life has its own value (21:37)
    • The individual is not an illusion—the human soul is an expression of fundamental reality manifesting as individual consciousness (24:07)
    • Spiritual realization can’t happen without a human being to experience it (26:46)
    • What is the Diamond Approach’s understanding of the soul? (27:32)
    • Hameed discovered the soul later in the teachings—after the true nature of fundamental consciousness and the absolute (30:28)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • The Ridhwan School, home of the Diamond Approach, founded by A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali)
    • A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality*
    • A. H. Almaas, Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery*
    • Ramana Maharshi, Hindu sage and liberated being, Who Am I?: The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi*
    • Nyingma, oldest of the 4 major schools of Tibetan Buddhism
    • Kashmir Shaivism and Shaivism’s tattvas
    • Sufi master Ibn Arabi, “God needs a soul just as much as a soul needs God”
    
    

    Note: The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home* (which John describes as “psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative”), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    A. Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

    Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>5920647e-4614-4c0d-bab4-2b3442861e28Thu, 04 Jul 2024 05:00:00 -040037:13falsefull137137Democracy in Decline? Making Sense of the Supreme Court, the Trump Trials, and Threats to Public Morality (Part 2)Ep. 136 (Part 2 of 2) | Criminal justice professor and constitutional law expert Mark Fischler does a brilliant job of deepening our understanding of the challenges facing our democracy, our legal system, and our public morality. How did the democratic process and the values it represents—equality and liberty for all—come to be teetering on the brink? Mark illuminates the fact that the Constitution is not a set-in-stone document, but eminently open to interpretation, and explains that its interpretation is a direct reflection of the worldviews of the Supreme Court justices. In fact, the whole process of democracy needs to be aligned with a certain level of development in order to deliver. Mark points out that democracy hasn’t served all of us, and urges us to explore who and in what ways it has failed, that we may work to correct its flaws and continue to uphold and expand the values foundational to democracy to include respecting and protecting the rights of all beings.

    Mark contrasts the moral integrity of revered public figures such as Socrates and Dr. King, who honored the rule of law despite that it went against their own self interest, with the disregard for the law so prevalent among political figures today, and points out that democracy can be subverted not only by malicious intent, but also by misplaced idealism—when people feel that supporting a charismatic leader or ideology is more important than supporting the principles of democracy. With regard to the Trump trials, the question arises, is any human above the law? Mark also shares where he finds hope—in his own university students with their openness to a deeper ethical understanding and responsibility and willingness to undertake civic action. Mark urges all of us who care about democracy to become engaged now. His wise, integral, highly informed insights about the current state of the legal system and of democracy, here and around the world, are revelatory, alarming, and inspiring in turn. Recorded May 22, 2024.

    “It’s time for us to take absolute responsibility for our democracy: if you have a democracy, you need to be engaged and involved.“

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Democracy only functions properly when there is a foundational rule of law, and the moral integrity of Socrates (01:08)
    • Trumpian politics/political chicanery vs conservative or progressive politics (05:25)
    • Roe vs. Wade and how we have lost the ability to have a sincere conversation about postnatal care (08:19)
    • We are suffering as a people from our inability to enter into a dialectic (09:23)
    • We are not the only democracy at risk: the rise of authoritarianism, populism & demagoguery around the world (12:28)
    • Is there any precedent for a president to be immune from prosecution? (13:27)
    • What is an “official act”? January 6th and interpreting if an act is official or criminal (16:41)
    • Back to democracy at risk: what are democratic values about? (22:19)
    • How is democracy subverted? (23:54) 
    • Misplaced idealism can undermine democracy and subvert the rule of law (27:23)
    • Educated citizenry and moving through levels of development to where we recognize the equal dignity of everyone (29:55)
    • With the internet, there are no consistent, shared news sources, no awareness of civic responsibility (32:52)
    • We need to own that democracy has not worked for everybody (37:09)
    • So much depends on our intention: is it about me and mine or the wellbeing of all? (41:13)
    • What gives Mark hope? Mark’s students and their openness to a deeper ethical understanding and responsibility (43:27) 
    • It’s time for us to take absolute responsibility for our democracy: if you have a democracy, you need to be engaged and involved (44:25)
    
    

    Resources & References

    • The Integral Justice Warrior series, co-hosted by Mark Fischler and Corey deVos (on the Integral Life website)
    • Linda Greenhouse, Pulitzer Prize winner who reported on the Supreme Court for The New York Times from 1978 to 2008, author of The U.S. Supreme Court: A Very Short Introduction*, Justice on the Brink: A Requiem for the Supreme Court*, The Burger Court and the Rise of the Judicial Right*, and more.
    • The Federalist Society and Originalism
    • The Warren Court, 1953-1969
    • Justice Scalia’s Contradictory Originalism (New Yorker article)
    • Plato, Crito’s dialogue with Socrates
    • Sinclair Lewis, It Can’t Happen Here*
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Mark Fischler is a Professor of Criminal Justice and current program coordinator for the criminal justice and criminology programs at Plymouth State University. Prior to joining the Plymouth State faculty, he practiced law, representing poor criminal defendants for the New Hampshire Public Defender’s Office. Mark left the law after being guided by the Universe to focus on his Spiritual Awareness for almost two years. Upon his return, he was called to become a teacher and accepted a job at Plymouth State in 2003. 

    Since then, Mark has worked extensively with alternative theoretical models in law, constitutional law, and higher education, and has published on integral applications to teaching, being a lawyer, and legal theory. In his time at the university, he’s been a chair, Dean, and Interim VP. His focus in the classroom is ethics and criminal procedure and constitutional law. He is well respected for a teaching philosophy that emphasizes recognizing the humanity and dignity of each student. Professor Fischler was awarded the outstanding teaching award at his university in 2014. He currently offers a weekly Spiritual Inquiry class for college students.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 136 (Part 2 of 2) | Criminal justice professor and constitutional law expert Mark Fischler does a brilliant job of deepening our understanding of the challenges facing our democracy, our legal system, and our public morality. How did the democratic process and the values it represents—equality and liberty for all—come to be teetering on the brink? Mark illuminates the fact that the Constitution is not a set-in-stone document, but eminently open to interpretation, and explains that its interpretation is a direct reflection of the worldviews of the Supreme Court justices. In fact, the whole process of democracy needs to be aligned with a certain level of development in order to deliver. Mark points out that democracy hasn’t served all of us, and urges us to explore who and in what ways it has failed, that we may work to correct its flaws and continue to uphold and expand the values foundational to democracy to include respecting and protecting the rights of all beings.

    Mark contrasts the moral integrity of revered public figures such as Socrates and Dr. King, who honored the rule of law despite that it went against their own self interest, with the disregard for the law so prevalent among political figures today, and points out that democracy can be subverted not only by malicious intent, but also by misplaced idealism—when people feel that supporting a charismatic leader or ideology is more important than supporting the principles of democracy. With regard to the Trump trials, the question arises, is any human above the law? Mark also shares where he finds hope—in his own university students with their openness to a deeper ethical understanding and responsibility and willingness to undertake civic action. Mark urges all of us who care about democracy to become engaged now. His wise, integral, highly informed insights about the current state of the legal system and of democracy, here and around the world, are revelatory, alarming, and inspiring in turn. Recorded May 22, 2024.

    “It’s time for us to take absolute responsibility for our democracy: if you have a democracy, you need to be engaged and involved.“

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • Democracy only functions properly when there is a foundational rule of law, and the moral integrity of Socrates (01:08)
    • Trumpian politics/political chicanery vs conservative or progressive politics (05:25)
    • Roe vs. Wade and how we have lost the ability to have a sincere conversation about postnatal care (08:19)
    • We are suffering as a people from our inability to enter into a dialectic (09:23)
    • We are not the only democracy at risk: the rise of authoritarianism, populism & demagoguery around the world (12:28)
    • Is there any precedent for a president to be immune from prosecution? (13:27)
    • What is an “official act”? January 6th and interpreting if an act is official or criminal (16:41)
    • Back to democracy at risk: what are democratic values about? (22:19)
    • How is democracy subverted? (23:54) 
    • Misplaced idealism can undermine democracy and subvert the rule of law (27:23)
    • Educated citizenry and moving through levels of development to where we recognize the equal dignity of everyone (29:55)
    • With the internet, there are no consistent, shared news sources, no awareness of civic responsibility (32:52)
    • We need to own that democracy has not worked for everybody (37:09)
    • So much depends on our intention: is it about me and mine or the wellbeing of all? (41:13)
    • What gives Mark hope? Mark’s students and their openness to a deeper ethical understanding and responsibility (43:27) 
    • It’s time for us to take absolute responsibility for our democracy: if you have a democracy, you need to be engaged and involved (44:25)
    
    

    Resources & References

    • The Integral Justice Warrior series, co-hosted by Mark Fischler and Corey deVos (on the Integral Life website)
    • Linda Greenhouse, Pulitzer Prize winner who reported on the Supreme Court for The New York Times from 1978 to 2008, author of The U.S. Supreme Court: A Very Short Introduction*, Justice on the Brink: A Requiem for the Supreme Court*, The Burger Court and the Rise of the Judicial Right*, and more.
    • The Federalist Society and Originalism
    • The Warren Court, 1953-1969
    • Justice Scalia’s Contradictory Originalism (New Yorker article)
    • Plato, Crito’s dialogue with Socrates
    • Sinclair Lewis, It Can’t Happen Here*
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Mark Fischler is a Professor of Criminal Justice and current program coordinator for the criminal justice and criminology programs at Plymouth State University. Prior to joining the Plymouth State faculty, he practiced law, representing poor criminal defendants for the New Hampshire Public Defender’s Office. Mark left the law after being guided by the Universe to focus on his Spiritual Awareness for almost two years. Upon his return, he was called to become a teacher and accepted a job at Plymouth State in 2003. 

    Since then, Mark has worked extensively with alternative theoretical models in law, constitutional law, and higher education, and has published on integral applications to teaching, being a lawyer, and legal theory. In his time at the university, he’s been a chair, Dean, and Interim VP. His focus in the classroom is ethics and criminal procedure and constitutional law. He is well respected for a teaching philosophy that emphasizes recognizing the humanity and dignity of each student. Professor Fischler was awarded the outstanding teaching award at his university in 2014. He currently offers a weekly Spiritual Inquiry class for college students.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>a6456aca-3c93-4b6f-954f-0a7fdb50ac66Thu, 27 Jun 2024 05:00:00 -040048:42falsefull136136Democracy in Decline? Making Sense of the Supreme Court, the Trump Trials, and Threats to Public MoralityEp. 135 (Part 1 of 2) | Criminal justice professor and constitutional law expert Mark Fischler does a brilliant job of deepening our understanding of the challenges facing our democracy, our legal system, and our public morality. How did the democratic process and the values it represents—equality and liberty for all—come to be teetering on the brink? Mark illuminates the fact that the Constitution is not a set-in-stone document, but eminently open to interpretation, and explains that its interpretation is a direct reflection of the worldviews of the Supreme Court justices. In fact, the whole process of democracy needs to be aligned with a certain level of development in order to deliver. Mark points out that democracy hasn’t served all of us, and urges us to explore who and in what ways it has failed, that we may work to correct its flaws and continue to uphold and expand the values foundational to democracy to include respecting and protecting the rights of all beings.

    Mark contrasts the moral integrity of revered public figures such as Socrates and Dr. King, who honored the rule of law despite that it went against their own self interest, with the disregard for the law so prevalent among political figures today, and points out that democracy can be subverted not only by malicious intent, but also by misplaced idealism—when people feel that supporting a charismatic leader or ideology is more important than supporting the principles of democracy. With regard to the Trump trials, the question arises, is any human above the law? Mark also shares where he finds hope—in his own university students with their openness to a deeper ethical understanding and responsibility and willingness to undertake civic action. Mark urges all of us who care about democracy to become engaged now. His wise, integral, highly informed insights about the current state of the legal system and of democracy, here and around the world, are revelatory, alarming, and inspiring in turn. Recorded May 22, 2024.

    “Democracy really only functions properly when there is a foundational rule of law.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing criminal justice professor and integral expert on constitutional law, Mark Fischler (01:32)
    • The hush money trial: you can’t disengage the politics (03:46)
    • Is any human being above the rule of law? (06:16)
    • It was ethical Republicans that got Nixon to resign; now a cult-like status exists in the party (07:36)
    • How people like Supreme Court Justice Alito’s wife and Justice Thomas’ wife have bought into the Stop the Steal idea, supporting the idea that the 2020 election was false (10:15)
    • Impeachment is the most direct form of accountability in the Supreme Court (12:50)
    • Understanding the nature of the current Supreme Court and how the Constitution gets interpreted according to the justices’ worldviews (14:12)
    • The Citizens United case where the Supreme Court ruled to give corporations the right to freedom of speech (17:31)
    • The current Supreme Court is hostile to the Union movement, to regulation around land use, to green, pluralistic values—it’s all about protecting individual rights (20:13)
    • The Constitution is not the solid document we might think, but is very open to interpretation (23:35)
    • The Federalist Society and the rise of originalism (24:35)
    • The beginning of culture wars in the Supreme Court and how Supreme Court nominee Robert Borg applied originalism to abortion (29:33)
    • Selective interpretation of the Constitution and originalist interpretations of the 2nd and 8th Amendments (33:58)
    • How should democracy be delivered? What we want to see reflected in our interpretation of the Constitution is an honoring of our interconnectivity with all sentient beings (38:19)
    • The Manhattan hush money case soon going to jury and why it turned into a felony case (40:55)
    • Does Trump’s motivation to run for president include attempting to pardon his own crimes? Can someone pardon themself? (46:13)
    
    

    Resources & References

    • The Integral Justice Warrior series, co-hosted by Mark Fischler and Corey deVos (on the Integral Life website)
    • Linda Greenhouse, Pulitzer Prize winner who reported on the Supreme Court for The New York Times from 1978 to 2008, author of The U.S. Supreme Court: A Very Short Introduction*, Justice on the Brink: A Requiem for the Supreme Court*, The Burger Court and the Rise of the Judicial Right*, and more.
    • The Federalist Society and Originalism
    • The Warren Court, 1953-1969
    • Justice Scalia’s Contradictory Originalism (New Yorker article)
    • Plato, Crito’s dialogue with Socrates
    • Sinclair Lewis, It Can’t Happen Here*
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Mark Fischler is a Professor of Criminal Justice and current program coordinator for the criminal justice and criminology programs at Plymouth State University. Prior to joining the Plymouth State faculty, he practiced law, representing poor criminal defendants for the New Hampshire Public Defender’s Office. Mark left the law after being guided by the Universe to focus on his Spiritual Awareness for almost two years. Upon his return, he was called to become a teacher and accepted a job at Plymouth State in 2003. 

    Since then, Mark has worked extensively with alternative theoretical models in law, constitutional law, and higher education, and has published on integral applications to teaching, being a lawyer, and legal theory. In his time at the university, he’s been a chair, Dean, and Interim VP. His focus in the classroom is ethics and criminal procedure and constitutional law. He is well respected for a teaching philosophy that emphasizes recognizing the humanity and dignity of each student. Professor Fischler was awarded the outstanding teaching award at his university in 2014. He currently offers a weekly Spiritual Inquiry class for college students.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 135 (Part 1 of 2) | Criminal justice professor and constitutional law expert Mark Fischler does a brilliant job of deepening our understanding of the challenges facing our democracy, our legal system, and our public morality. How did the democratic process and the values it represents—equality and liberty for all—come to be teetering on the brink? Mark illuminates the fact that the Constitution is not a set-in-stone document, but eminently open to interpretation, and explains that its interpretation is a direct reflection of the worldviews of the Supreme Court justices. In fact, the whole process of democracy needs to be aligned with a certain level of development in order to deliver. Mark points out that democracy hasn’t served all of us, and urges us to explore who and in what ways it has failed, that we may work to correct its flaws and continue to uphold and expand the values foundational to democracy to include respecting and protecting the rights of all beings.

    Mark contrasts the moral integrity of revered public figures such as Socrates and Dr. King, who honored the rule of law despite that it went against their own self interest, with the disregard for the law so prevalent among political figures today, and points out that democracy can be subverted not only by malicious intent, but also by misplaced idealism—when people feel that supporting a charismatic leader or ideology is more important than supporting the principles of democracy. With regard to the Trump trials, the question arises, is any human above the law? Mark also shares where he finds hope—in his own university students with their openness to a deeper ethical understanding and responsibility and willingness to undertake civic action. Mark urges all of us who care about democracy to become engaged now. His wise, integral, highly informed insights about the current state of the legal system and of democracy, here and around the world, are revelatory, alarming, and inspiring in turn. Recorded May 22, 2024.

    “Democracy really only functions properly when there is a foundational rule of law.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing criminal justice professor and integral expert on constitutional law, Mark Fischler (01:32)
    • The hush money trial: you can’t disengage the politics (03:46)
    • Is any human being above the rule of law? (06:16)
    • It was ethical Republicans that got Nixon to resign; now a cult-like status exists in the party (07:36)
    • How people like Supreme Court Justice Alito’s wife and Justice Thomas’ wife have bought into the Stop the Steal idea, supporting the idea that the 2020 election was false (10:15)
    • Impeachment is the most direct form of accountability in the Supreme Court (12:50)
    • Understanding the nature of the current Supreme Court and how the Constitution gets interpreted according to the justices’ worldviews (14:12)
    • The Citizens United case where the Supreme Court ruled to give corporations the right to freedom of speech (17:31)
    • The current Supreme Court is hostile to the Union movement, to regulation around land use, to green, pluralistic values—it’s all about protecting individual rights (20:13)
    • The Constitution is not the solid document we might think, but is very open to interpretation (23:35)
    • The Federalist Society and the rise of originalism (24:35)
    • The beginning of culture wars in the Supreme Court and how Supreme Court nominee Robert Borg applied originalism to abortion (29:33)
    • Selective interpretation of the Constitution and originalist interpretations of the 2nd and 8th Amendments (33:58)
    • How should democracy be delivered? What we want to see reflected in our interpretation of the Constitution is an honoring of our interconnectivity with all sentient beings (38:19)
    • The Manhattan hush money case soon going to jury and why it turned into a felony case (40:55)
    • Does Trump’s motivation to run for president include attempting to pardon his own crimes? Can someone pardon themself? (46:13)
    
    

    Resources & References

    • The Integral Justice Warrior series, co-hosted by Mark Fischler and Corey deVos (on the Integral Life website)
    • Linda Greenhouse, Pulitzer Prize winner who reported on the Supreme Court for The New York Times from 1978 to 2008, author of The U.S. Supreme Court: A Very Short Introduction*, Justice on the Brink: A Requiem for the Supreme Court*, The Burger Court and the Rise of the Judicial Right*, and more.
    • The Federalist Society and Originalism
    • The Warren Court, 1953-1969
    • Justice Scalia’s Contradictory Originalism (New Yorker article)
    • Plato, Crito’s dialogue with Socrates
    • Sinclair Lewis, It Can’t Happen Here*
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Mark Fischler is a Professor of Criminal Justice and current program coordinator for the criminal justice and criminology programs at Plymouth State University. Prior to joining the Plymouth State faculty, he practiced law, representing poor criminal defendants for the New Hampshire Public Defender’s Office. Mark left the law after being guided by the Universe to focus on his Spiritual Awareness for almost two years. Upon his return, he was called to become a teacher and accepted a job at Plymouth State in 2003. 

    Since then, Mark has worked extensively with alternative theoretical models in law, constitutional law, and higher education, and has published on integral applications to teaching, being a lawyer, and legal theory. In his time at the university, he’s been a chair, Dean, and Interim VP. His focus in the classroom is ethics and criminal procedure and constitutional law. He is well respected for a teaching philosophy that emphasizes recognizing the humanity and dignity of each student. Professor Fischler was awarded the outstanding teaching award at his university in 2014. He currently offers a weekly Spiritual Inquiry class for college students.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>1e44c6bb-d50e-4824-ac20-1cd68dcb3c1eThu, 20 Jun 2024 05:00:00 -040051:12falsefull135135The Emerging Stage of Metamodernism: Moving Towards Hope, Values & Aspirational IdealismEp. 134 (Part 2 of 2) | Author, podcaster, farmer, and poet, Brendan Graham Dempsey, brings passion, dedication, clarity, and outstanding scholarship to the fascinating and enormously important study of cultural evolution, which operates on both a personal level and a collective one. He illuminates how, when, and why we shift from one cultural worldview to the next, using his own life’s journey through the cultural stages as a map and paints colorful portraits of the outstanding characteristics of each stage: traditional/premodern, modern, postmodern, and metamodern. Brendan enlightens us as to the tumultuous and often lonely and despairing time that occurs when our prior stage has been deconstructed and we find ourselves between worldviews in a liminal space where sensemaking fails. As he puts it, we live in certain worlds to help us navigate reality. But then things change, and we bump up against the limits of things. Now the time has come to update our sense of the world; we are invited to expand and grow.

    We come to understand why it is necessary for cultures to evolve—to accommodate ever increasing complexity—and why culture wars and confusion result from misunderstanding a worldview that infiltrates your psyche before it’s ready. Brendan explains why postmodernism does not serve us now, introducing and inviting us to the new, emerging worldview of metamodernism, where there is hope in positivity, affirmation, and aspirational idealism. Hope, and the promise of coming together in a new understanding among peoples, a prerequisite for dealing with the challenges of the global crises that affect us all. Brendan brings a big heart, keen mind, and a lot of verve to these complex subjects, which come alive under his brilliant tutelage. As he points out, deconstructing the psyche can help save the world, adding, this is a lot of what the metamodern community is trying to get the word out about. Recorded May 1, 2024.

    “Metamodernism is a worldview of worldviews, a cultural logic of cultural logics, trying to expand beyond the frame we have been working in…to a framework where we can relate to each other in deeper ways, and find deeper modes of understanding, compassion, and empathy with one another.“

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • How do the Civil Rights movement and other awareness expanding movements fit into cultural evolution? (00:57)
    • Postmodernism in academia (06:21)
    • Postmodern art, films, punk, grunge—a response to how superficial the suburban world has become (07:30)
    • To move out of the cynical and skeptical, your critique can’t be all cynical too—you’ve got to start affirming things (08:22)
    • Thus metamodernism: a turn to sincerity, earnestness, moving through irony (10:54)
    • How metamodernism shows up in the arts—like with many worldviews, the artist often shows up as forerunner of the shift in stages (14:28)
    • Metamodernism is a move towards hope, values, aspirational idealism—from negativity to positivity (16:23)
    • Postmodern academia profoundly needs a paradigm shift because all categories of knowledge have been deconstructed (19:52)
    • Culture wars and the confusion that results from misunderstanding a worldview that infiltrates your psyche before it’s ready to assimilate it (23:32)
    • Metamodernism offers tools to help bring clarity to the above (26:20)
    • Postmodernism as an intellectual toolkit is now being deployed by the political right, whereas it started in the leftist intelligentsia (27:14)
    • Truth matters, grand narratives can bring us together, and power can work for the good (29:06) 
    • Complexity and finding an island of coherence in time of chaos (32:51)
    • John on using a metamodern approach to look at science: “This meta stuff really works!” (35:38)
    • The “meta move”: asking what it is we need to take into account that we are not taking into account; applying the logic of systems (37:51)
    • Metamodernism is a worldview of worldviews, trying to expand beyond its frame and discover ways in which we can relate to each other with greater understanding, compassion, and empathy (41:05) 
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States*
    • Robert Venturi, Learning from Las Vegas*
    • David Foster Wallace, writer, professor, early forerunner of metamodernism
    • Hanzi Freinacht, The Listening Society*
    • Ken Wilber, founder of Integral Theory, What is Integral? (Integral Life website)
    • Jason Storm, academic, philosopher, social scientist & author, The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences* (whom Brendan is working with on an academic journal called Metamodern Theory & Praxis)
    • Complexity Theory Overview (Systems Innovation YouTube video)
    • Cory David Barker, diagonal complexity
    • Dr. Gregg Henriques, The Unified Theory of Knowledge
    • Brendan Graham Dempsey, Metamodernism: Or, The Cultural Logic of Cultural Logics*
    • Brendan Graham Dempsey,A Universal Learning Process (The Evolution of Meaning)*
    • Brendan’s website: Sky Meadow Institute
    • Brendan’s podcast: Metamodern Spirituality
    • Brendan’s YouTube channel
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Brendan Graham Dempsey is a writer, poet, farmer, and the director of Sky Meadow Institute, an organization dedicated to promoting systems-based thinking about the things that matter most. He holds a BA in religious studies from the University of Vermont and a master’s in religion and art from Yale University. He is the author of the 7-volume Metamodern Spirituality Series and, most recently, Metamodernism: Or, The Cultural Logic of Cultural Logics. His primary interests include theorizing developments in culture after postmodernism, productively bridging the divide between science and spirituality, and developing sustainable systems for life to flourish. All of these lead through the paradigms of emergence and complexity, which inform all of his work.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 134 (Part 2 of 2) | Author, podcaster, farmer, and poet, Brendan Graham Dempsey, brings passion, dedication, clarity, and outstanding scholarship to the fascinating and enormously important study of cultural evolution, which operates on both a personal level and a collective one. He illuminates how, when, and why we shift from one cultural worldview to the next, using his own life’s journey through the cultural stages as a map and paints colorful portraits of the outstanding characteristics of each stage: traditional/premodern, modern, postmodern, and metamodern. Brendan enlightens us as to the tumultuous and often lonely and despairing time that occurs when our prior stage has been deconstructed and we find ourselves between worldviews in a liminal space where sensemaking fails. As he puts it, we live in certain worlds to help us navigate reality. But then things change, and we bump up against the limits of things. Now the time has come to update our sense of the world; we are invited to expand and grow.

    We come to understand why it is necessary for cultures to evolve—to accommodate ever increasing complexity—and why culture wars and confusion result from misunderstanding a worldview that infiltrates your psyche before it’s ready. Brendan explains why postmodernism does not serve us now, introducing and inviting us to the new, emerging worldview of metamodernism, where there is hope in positivity, affirmation, and aspirational idealism. Hope, and the promise of coming together in a new understanding among peoples, a prerequisite for dealing with the challenges of the global crises that affect us all. Brendan brings a big heart, keen mind, and a lot of verve to these complex subjects, which come alive under his brilliant tutelage. As he points out, deconstructing the psyche can help save the world, adding, this is a lot of what the metamodern community is trying to get the word out about. Recorded May 1, 2024.

    “Metamodernism is a worldview of worldviews, a cultural logic of cultural logics, trying to expand beyond the frame we have been working in…to a framework where we can relate to each other in deeper ways, and find deeper modes of understanding, compassion, and empathy with one another.“

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • How do the Civil Rights movement and other awareness expanding movements fit into cultural evolution? (00:57)
    • Postmodernism in academia (06:21)
    • Postmodern art, films, punk, grunge—a response to how superficial the suburban world has become (07:30)
    • To move out of the cynical and skeptical, your critique can’t be all cynical too—you’ve got to start affirming things (08:22)
    • Thus metamodernism: a turn to sincerity, earnestness, moving through irony (10:54)
    • How metamodernism shows up in the arts—like with many worldviews, the artist often shows up as forerunner of the shift in stages (14:28)
    • Metamodernism is a move towards hope, values, aspirational idealism—from negativity to positivity (16:23)
    • Postmodern academia profoundly needs a paradigm shift because all categories of knowledge have been deconstructed (19:52)
    • Culture wars and the confusion that results from misunderstanding a worldview that infiltrates your psyche before it’s ready to assimilate it (23:32)
    • Metamodernism offers tools to help bring clarity to the above (26:20)
    • Postmodernism as an intellectual toolkit is now being deployed by the political right, whereas it started in the leftist intelligentsia (27:14)
    • Truth matters, grand narratives can bring us together, and power can work for the good (29:06) 
    • Complexity and finding an island of coherence in time of chaos (32:51)
    • John on using a metamodern approach to look at science: “This meta stuff really works!” (35:38)
    • The “meta move”: asking what it is we need to take into account that we are not taking into account; applying the logic of systems (37:51)
    • Metamodernism is a worldview of worldviews, trying to expand beyond its frame and discover ways in which we can relate to each other with greater understanding, compassion, and empathy (41:05) 
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States*
    • Robert Venturi, Learning from Las Vegas*
    • David Foster Wallace, writer, professor, early forerunner of metamodernism
    • Hanzi Freinacht, The Listening Society*
    • Ken Wilber, founder of Integral Theory, What is Integral? (Integral Life website)
    • Jason Storm, academic, philosopher, social scientist & author, The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences* (whom Brendan is working with on an academic journal called Metamodern Theory & Praxis)
    • Complexity Theory Overview (Systems Innovation YouTube video)
    • Cory David Barker, diagonal complexity
    • Dr. Gregg Henriques, The Unified Theory of Knowledge
    • Brendan Graham Dempsey, Metamodernism: Or, The Cultural Logic of Cultural Logics*
    • Brendan Graham Dempsey,A Universal Learning Process (The Evolution of Meaning)*
    • Brendan’s website: Sky Meadow Institute
    • Brendan’s podcast: Metamodern Spirituality
    • Brendan’s YouTube channel
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Brendan Graham Dempsey is a writer, poet, farmer, and the director of Sky Meadow Institute, an organization dedicated to promoting systems-based thinking about the things that matter most. He holds a BA in religious studies from the University of Vermont and a master’s in religion and art from Yale University. He is the author of the 7-volume Metamodern Spirituality Series and, most recently, Metamodernism: Or, The Cultural Logic of Cultural Logics. His primary interests include theorizing developments in culture after postmodernism, productively bridging the divide between science and spirituality, and developing sustainable systems for life to flourish. All of these lead through the paradigms of emergence and complexity, which inform all of his work.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>03f16cbc-e9f2-4c76-b93b-e13e9fe46d39Thu, 13 Jun 2024 05:00:00 -040046:27falsefull134134How and Why Cultures Evolve: Breaking Through to a New Way of SeeingEp. 133 (Part 1 of 2) | Author, podcaster, farmer, and poet, Brendan Graham Dempsey, brings passion, dedication, clarity, and outstanding scholarship to the fascinating and enormously important study of cultural evolution, which operates on both a personal level and a collective one. He illuminates how, when, and why we shift from one cultural worldview to the next, using his own life’s journey through the cultural stages as a map and paints colorful portraits of the outstanding characteristics of each stage: traditional/premodern, modern, postmodern, and metamodern. Brendan enlightens us as to the tumultuous and often lonely and despairing time that occurs when our prior stage has been deconstructed and we find ourselves between worldviews in a liminal space where sensemaking fails. As he puts it, we live in certain worlds to help us navigate reality. But then things change, and we bump up against the limits of things. Now the time has come to update our sense of the world; we are invited to expand and grow.

    We come to understand why it is necessary for cultures to evolve—to accommodate ever increasing complexity—and why culture wars and confusion result from misunderstanding a worldview that infiltrates your psyche before it’s ready. Brendan explains why postmodernism does not serve us now, introducing and inviting us to the new, emerging worldview of metamodernism, where there is hope in positivity, affirmation, and aspirational idealism. Hope, and the promise of coming together in a new understanding among peoples, a prerequisite for dealing with the challenges of the global crises that affect us all. Brendan brings a big heart, keen mind, and a lot of verve to these complex subjects, which come alive under his brilliant tutelage. As he points out, deconstructing the psyche can help save the world, adding, this is a lot of what the metamodern community is trying to get the word out about. Recorded May 1, 2024.

    “It’s absolutely essential that some folks, anyway, try to break through to this other way of seeing that can get us beyond the limits of our worldviews at the moment…in a way that allows us to keep moving forward rather than back.“

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing cultural evolution pioneer, author, poet, farmer, and spiritual podcaster, Brendan Graham Dempsey (01:35)
    • What are the stages our culture has been through? (03:13)
    • Premodern is the traditional stage, linked to the great Axial Age religions that started up around 500 BC (04:56)
    • Modernity was initiated with the move out of the Middle Ages into the Renaissance; postmodernity flowered in the mid 20th century; metamodernity dawned around 2000 (06:14)
    • What are the more subtle differences that constitute these shifts between cultures or worldviews? (07:19)
    • Language is the medium that shapes us individually and shapes how culture plays out: using a psychological lens to look at the complexification process of modes of thought (08:59)
    • The relation between metamodern and integral thought and the new emerging stage of consciousness (12:10)
    • Cultural evolution plays out at the individual level too (16:37)
    • Brendan’s characterization of cultural stages based on his own life’s development, beginning with his youth in a traditional household, where faith relates to day-to-day living and miracles happen (17:58)
    • Brendan’s shift from traditional to modern happened with research and biblical scholarship, exploring faith and religion with an apologetics approach (19:44)
    • What the deconstruction phase looks like on a personal level: moving into the liminal space that exists between worldviews (21:32)
    • The radical relativity of all the different perspectives (27:38)
    • The sense of turmoil and groundlessness when shifting worldviews is often interpreted as something being “wrong;” it takes a tolerance of ambiguity to get through the shift (28:36)
    • Looking at this process through the lens of learning theory gives sense to the moments of senselessness (30:43)
    • A supportive community is a big help during deconstruction (33:19)
    • The hero’s journey element of the process: deconstructing the psyche can help save the world (35:09)
    • Brendan’s initiation into postmodernism: Nietzsche, the meaning crisis, and the failures of modernism (37:04)
    • Postmodernism asks, if we don’t have an absolute answer, what do we have? And throws the notion of progress out the window (40:47)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Brendan Graham Dempsey, Metamodernism: Or, The Cultural Logic of Cultural Logics*
    • Brendan Graham Dempsey, A Universal Learning Process (The Evolution of Meaning)*
    • Brendan’s website: Sky Meadow Institute
    • Brendan’s podcast: Metamodern Spirituality
    • Brendan’s YouTube channel
    • Karl Jaspers coined the term Axial Age 
    • Hanzi Freinacht, The Listening Society*
    • Ken Wilber, founder of Integral Theory, What is Integral? (Integral Life website)
    • Richard Elliot Friedman, Who Wrote the Bible?*
    • Apologetics 
    • Carlos Castaneda, the Four Enemies (traps), The Teachings of Don Juan*
    • Learning theory
    • Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil*
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Brendan Graham Dempsey is a writer, poet, farmer, and the director of Sky Meadow Institute, an organization dedicated to promoting systems-based thinking about the things that matter most. He holds a BA in religious studies from the University of Vermont and a master’s in religion and art from Yale University. He is the author of the 7-volume Metamodern Spirituality Series and, most recently, Metamodernism: Or, The Cultural Logic of Cultural Logics. His primary interests include theorizing developments in culture after postmodernism, productively bridging the divide between science and spirituality, and developing sustainable systems for life to flourish. All of these lead through the paradigms of emergence and complexity, which inform...]]>Ep. 133 (Part 1 of 2) | Author, podcaster, farmer, and poet, Brendan Graham Dempsey, brings passion, dedication, clarity, and outstanding scholarship to the fascinating and enormously important study of cultural evolution, which operates on both a personal level and a collective one. He illuminates how, when, and why we shift from one cultural worldview to the next, using his own life’s journey through the cultural stages as a map and paints colorful portraits of the outstanding characteristics of each stage: traditional/premodern, modern, postmodern, and metamodern. Brendan enlightens us as to the tumultuous and often lonely and despairing time that occurs when our prior stage has been deconstructed and we find ourselves between worldviews in a liminal space where sensemaking fails. As he puts it, we live in certain worlds to help us navigate reality. But then things change, and we bump up against the limits of things. Now the time has come to update our sense of the world; we are invited to expand and grow.

    We come to understand why it is necessary for cultures to evolve—to accommodate ever increasing complexity—and why culture wars and confusion result from misunderstanding a worldview that infiltrates your psyche before it’s ready. Brendan explains why postmodernism does not serve us now, introducing and inviting us to the new, emerging worldview of metamodernism, where there is hope in positivity, affirmation, and aspirational idealism. Hope, and the promise of coming together in a new understanding among peoples, a prerequisite for dealing with the challenges of the global crises that affect us all. Brendan brings a big heart, keen mind, and a lot of verve to these complex subjects, which come alive under his brilliant tutelage. As he points out, deconstructing the psyche can help save the world, adding, this is a lot of what the metamodern community is trying to get the word out about. Recorded May 1, 2024.

    “It’s absolutely essential that some folks, anyway, try to break through to this other way of seeing that can get us beyond the limits of our worldviews at the moment…in a way that allows us to keep moving forward rather than back.“

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing cultural evolution pioneer, author, poet, farmer, and spiritual podcaster, Brendan Graham Dempsey (01:35)
    • What are the stages our culture has been through? (03:13)
    • Premodern is the traditional stage, linked to the great Axial Age religions that started up around 500 BC (04:56)
    • Modernity was initiated with the move out of the Middle Ages into the Renaissance; postmodernity flowered in the mid 20th century; metamodernity dawned around 2000 (06:14)
    • What are the more subtle differences that constitute these shifts between cultures or worldviews? (07:19)
    • Language is the medium that shapes us individually and shapes how culture plays out: using a psychological lens to look at the complexification process of modes of thought (08:59)
    • The relation between metamodern and integral thought and the new emerging stage of consciousness (12:10)
    • Cultural evolution plays out at the individual level too (16:37)
    • Brendan’s characterization of cultural stages based on his own life’s development, beginning with his youth in a traditional household, where faith relates to day-to-day living and miracles happen (17:58)
    • Brendan’s shift from traditional to modern happened with research and biblical scholarship, exploring faith and religion with an apologetics approach (19:44)
    • What the deconstruction phase looks like on a personal level: moving into the liminal space that exists between worldviews (21:32)
    • The radical relativity of all the different perspectives (27:38)
    • The sense of turmoil and groundlessness when shifting worldviews is often interpreted as something being “wrong;” it takes a tolerance of ambiguity to get through the shift (28:36)
    • Looking at this process through the lens of learning theory gives sense to the moments of senselessness (30:43)
    • A supportive community is a big help during deconstruction (33:19)
    • The hero’s journey element of the process: deconstructing the psyche can help save the world (35:09)
    • Brendan’s initiation into postmodernism: Nietzsche, the meaning crisis, and the failures of modernism (37:04)
    • Postmodernism asks, if we don’t have an absolute answer, what do we have? And throws the notion of progress out the window (40:47)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Brendan Graham Dempsey, Metamodernism: Or, The Cultural Logic of Cultural Logics*
    • Brendan Graham Dempsey, A Universal Learning Process (The Evolution of Meaning)*
    • Brendan’s website: Sky Meadow Institute
    • Brendan’s podcast: Metamodern Spirituality
    • Brendan’s YouTube channel
    • Karl Jaspers coined the term Axial Age 
    • Hanzi Freinacht, The Listening Society*
    • Ken Wilber, founder of Integral Theory, What is Integral? (Integral Life website)
    • Richard Elliot Friedman, Who Wrote the Bible?*
    • Apologetics 
    • Carlos Castaneda, the Four Enemies (traps), The Teachings of Don Juan*
    • Learning theory
    • Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil*
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Brendan Graham Dempsey is a writer, poet, farmer, and the director of Sky Meadow Institute, an organization dedicated to promoting systems-based thinking about the things that matter most. He holds a BA in religious studies from the University of Vermont and a master’s in religion and art from Yale University. He is the author of the 7-volume Metamodern Spirituality Series and, most recently, Metamodernism: Or, The Cultural Logic of Cultural Logics. His primary interests include theorizing developments in culture after postmodernism, productively bridging the divide between science and spirituality, and developing sustainable systems for life to flourish. All of these lead through the paradigms of emergence and complexity, which inform all of his work.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>56619316-f586-435e-97b9-6c21e92eada0Thu, 06 Jun 2024 05:00:00 -040047:15falsefull133133The Remarkable Transformative Power of EMDR Therapy: A Revolution in Trauma Treatment & Gateway to Transpersonal Openings (Part 3)Ep. 132 (Part 3 of 3) | World renowned EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing) therapy pioneer and trainer Dr. Laurel Parnell has used EMDR therapy with clients for decades with truly remarkable success. Laurel relates how EMDR therapy dissolves blocks caused by trauma, freeing clients from negative constructs so they can develop their own felt sense of truth, and express from and know their own true nature. After EMDR, she says, “singers sing, writers write, dancers dance.” Not only are clients freed, but the endpoint of EMDR therapy quite often rests in a transpersonal space that is invariably characterized by an upwelling of self-love and compassion for others, an opening to mystery and boundless possibility. Interestingly, because of the resonant field between therapist and client (interpersonal neurobiology), the therapist experiences the transpersonal opening when it happens as well. More often than not, Laurel tells us, the way the session unfolds is a surprise to both client and therapist, with long forgotten little “t” traumas turning out to be responsible for the client’s blocks rather than the expected major life traumas. 

    Laurel makes it clear that the goal of EMDR is to empower the client; the therapist must allow the wisdom to reside in the client rather than in their own interpretation of what unfolds, and adhere strictly to a process of open inquiry. She describes how the therapist’s beliefs can limit the outcome and outlines the advantages of a therapist who has a spiritual practice and transpersonal awareness. Laurel’s leading edge at this point involves Multidimensional Integrative Healing, an evolution from her longtime experience with EMDR, where further dimensions of reality have so often emerged in her work, and her own spiritual journey. It is fascinating to hear her describe how we can not only install helpful inner resources for ourselves, but also counter intergenerational trauma by calling forward ancestral wisdom. A deeply intriguing, eye opening, and impactful conversation with a very wise, enthusiastic, far thinking trailblazer of a teacher. Recorded April 15, 2024.

    “The consciousness that illumines everything illumines everything on all dimensions.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3

    • Normalizing living in the nondual space with Suzanne Segal (00:56)
    • Laurel’s son’s horrific death, the sense of feeling held, and working with a spirit worker afterwards (03:42)
    • Laurel’s further healing on her own with EMDR (08:51)
    • The onset of working with multiple dimensions of reality: working with energetic attachments, ancestral/intergenerational trauma, energetic sovereignty (09:53)
    • Not everything we experience is ours, and should not be integrated (11:20)
    • This way of working is all about empowering the individual, cultivating & developing the very powerful resource deities within us and in other dimensions (15:20)
    • Using Tibetan technology & developing skillful means (16:48)
    • Energetic sovereignty and working with energy bubbles: how to help others without merging with them (20:22)
    • Healing intergenerational trauma: resourcing positive, wholesome, healthy ancestry and bringing it forward (21:59) 
    • The bridging technique: reprocessing past life trauma of the client or even of another energetic being (25:49)
    • Staying open to the multiplicity of possibilities of what could be going on (28:14)
    • What the original pioneering psychedelic therapists discovered about the psyche (29:13)
    • Laurel’s healing journey in the Amazon and recognizing that ancient ways of healing are still important (31:03)
    • Consciousness is so vast, everything is there—grief too (34:48)
    • Primordial purity: everything is an expression of consciousness; nothing needs to be condemned (35:19)
    • There is cross-generational transmission of limiting beliefs, traumas, etc., but also of virtues: bringing forward ancestral wisdom to heal current traumas (37:28)
    • The importance of service, setting good boundaries, and practicing good ethics on the part of the shaman or therapist (42:45)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 3

    • Suzanne Segal, Collision with the Infinite: A Life Beyond the Personal Self*
    • Michael Harner, The Way of the Shaman*, Cave and Cosmos: Shamanic Encounters with Another Reality*
    • Zen Master Seung Sahn, The Compass of Zen*, Only Don’t Know: Selected Teaching Letters of Zen Master Seung Sahn*
    • The Pachamama Alliance
    • Isabel Wilkerson, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration*
    • Dr. Laurel Parnell, Executive Director, The Parnell Institute, a major provider of EMDR training and educational programs, and leading authority on Attachment-Focused EMDR
    • Find an EMDR Therapist at Parnell Institute
    • Laurel Parnell, Transforming Trauma: EMDR: The Revolutionary New Therapy for Freeing the Mind, Clearing the Body, and Opening the Heart*
    • Laurel Parnell, Rewiring the Addicted Brain: An EMDR-Based Treatment Model for Overcoming Addictive Disorders*
    • Laurel Parnell, Attachment-Focused EMDR: Healing Relational Trauma*
    • Laurel Parnell, Tapping In: A Step-by-Step Guide to Activating Your Healing Resources Through Bilateral Stimulation*
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Live Online Training at the Parnell Institute 

    • June 7-8, 2024: Discover the Power of Multidimensional Integrative Healing and EMDR with Laurel Parnell
    
    

    ---

    Laurel Parnell, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of the Parnell Institute and developer of Attachment-Focused EMDR and Multidimensional Integrative Healing. She is a clinical psychologist, author of several books, and leading expert on Eye-movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. Since 1995 she has trained thousands of clinicians in EMDR both nationally and internationally. A meditation practitioner since 1973, she brings a transpersonal orientation to her teaching as well as to her clinical work.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 132 (Part 3 of 3) | World renowned EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing) therapy pioneer and trainer Dr. Laurel Parnell has used EMDR therapy with clients for decades with truly remarkable success. Laurel relates how EMDR therapy dissolves blocks caused by trauma, freeing clients from negative constructs so they can develop their own felt sense of truth, and express from and know their own true nature. After EMDR, she says, “singers sing, writers write, dancers dance.” Not only are clients freed, but the endpoint of EMDR therapy quite often rests in a transpersonal space that is invariably characterized by an upwelling of self-love and compassion for others, an opening to mystery and boundless possibility. Interestingly, because of the resonant field between therapist and client (interpersonal neurobiology), the therapist experiences the transpersonal opening when it happens as well. More often than not, Laurel tells us, the way the session unfolds is a surprise to both client and therapist, with long forgotten little “t” traumas turning out to be responsible for the client’s blocks rather than the expected major life traumas. 

    Laurel makes it clear that the goal of EMDR is to empower the client; the therapist must allow the wisdom to reside in the client rather than in their own interpretation of what unfolds, and adhere strictly to a process of open inquiry. She describes how the therapist’s beliefs can limit the outcome and outlines the advantages of a therapist who has a spiritual practice and transpersonal awareness. Laurel’s leading edge at this point involves Multidimensional Integrative Healing, an evolution from her longtime experience with EMDR, where further dimensions of reality have so often emerged in her work, and her own spiritual journey. It is fascinating to hear her describe how we can not only install helpful inner resources for ourselves, but also counter intergenerational trauma by calling forward ancestral wisdom. A deeply intriguing, eye opening, and impactful conversation with a very wise, enthusiastic, far thinking trailblazer of a teacher. Recorded April 15, 2024.

    “The consciousness that illumines everything illumines everything on all dimensions.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3

    • Normalizing living in the nondual space with Suzanne Segal (00:56)
    • Laurel’s son’s horrific death, the sense of feeling held, and working with a spirit worker afterwards (03:42)
    • Laurel’s further healing on her own with EMDR (08:51)
    • The onset of working with multiple dimensions of reality: working with energetic attachments, ancestral/intergenerational trauma, energetic sovereignty (09:53)
    • Not everything we experience is ours, and should not be integrated (11:20)
    • This way of working is all about empowering the individual, cultivating & developing the very powerful resource deities within us and in other dimensions (15:20)
    • Using Tibetan technology & developing skillful means (16:48)
    • Energetic sovereignty and working with energy bubbles: how to help others without merging with them (20:22)
    • Healing intergenerational trauma: resourcing positive, wholesome, healthy ancestry and bringing it forward (21:59) 
    • The bridging technique: reprocessing past life trauma of the client or even of another energetic being (25:49)
    • Staying open to the multiplicity of possibilities of what could be going on (28:14)
    • What the original pioneering psychedelic therapists discovered about the psyche (29:13)
    • Laurel’s healing journey in the Amazon and recognizing that ancient ways of healing are still important (31:03)
    • Consciousness is so vast, everything is there—grief too (34:48)
    • Primordial purity: everything is an expression of consciousness; nothing needs to be condemned (35:19)
    • There is cross-generational transmission of limiting beliefs, traumas, etc., but also of virtues: bringing forward ancestral wisdom to heal current traumas (37:28)
    • The importance of service, setting good boundaries, and practicing good ethics on the part of the shaman or therapist (42:45)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 3

    • Suzanne Segal, Collision with the Infinite: A Life Beyond the Personal Self*
    • Michael Harner, The Way of the Shaman*, Cave and Cosmos: Shamanic Encounters with Another Reality*
    • Zen Master Seung Sahn, The Compass of Zen*, Only Don’t Know: Selected Teaching Letters of Zen Master Seung Sahn*
    • The Pachamama Alliance
    • Isabel Wilkerson, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration*
    • Dr. Laurel Parnell, Executive Director, The Parnell Institute, a major provider of EMDR training and educational programs, and leading authority on Attachment-Focused EMDR
    • Find an EMDR Therapist at Parnell Institute
    • Laurel Parnell, Transforming Trauma: EMDR: The Revolutionary New Therapy for Freeing the Mind, Clearing the Body, and Opening the Heart*
    • Laurel Parnell, Rewiring the Addicted Brain: An EMDR-Based Treatment Model for Overcoming Addictive Disorders*
    • Laurel Parnell, Attachment-Focused EMDR: Healing Relational Trauma*
    • Laurel Parnell, Tapping In: A Step-by-Step Guide to Activating Your Healing Resources Through Bilateral Stimulation*
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Live Online Training at the Parnell Institute 

    • June 7-8, 2024: Discover the Power of Multidimensional Integrative Healing and EMDR with Laurel Parnell
    
    

    ---

    Laurel Parnell, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of the Parnell Institute and developer of Attachment-Focused EMDR and Multidimensional Integrative Healing. She is a clinical psychologist, author of several books, and leading expert on Eye-movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. Since 1995 she has trained thousands of clinicians in EMDR both nationally and internationally. A meditation practitioner since 1973, she brings a transpersonal orientation to her teaching as well as to her clinical work.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>c1806d5a-56ba-4d04-80c6-6cc42d4fcd42Thu, 30 May 2024 05:00:00 -040046:57falsefull132132The Transformative Power of EMDR Therapy: A Revolution in Trauma Treatment & Gateway to Transpersonal Openings (Part 2)Ep. 131 (Part 2 of 3) | World renowned EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing) therapy pioneer and trainer Dr. Laurel Parnell has used EMDR therapy with clients for decades with truly remarkable success. Laurel relates how EMDR therapy dissolves blocks caused by trauma, freeing clients from negative constructs so they can develop their own felt sense of truth, and express from and know their own true nature. After EMDR, she says, “singers sing, writers write, dancers dance.” Not only are clients freed, but the endpoint of EMDR therapy quite often rests in a transpersonal space that is invariably characterized by an upwelling of self-love and compassion for others, an opening to mystery and boundless possibility. Interestingly, because of the resonant field between therapist and client (interpersonal neurobiology), the therapist experiences the transpersonal opening when it happens as well. More often than not, Laurel tells us, the way the session unfolds is a surprise to both client and therapist, with long forgotten little “t” traumas turning out to be responsible for the client’s blocks rather than the expected major life traumas. 

    Laurel makes it clear that the goal of EMDR is to empower the client; the therapist must allow the wisdom to reside in the client rather than in their own interpretation of what unfolds, and adhere strictly to a process of open inquiry. She describes how the therapist’s beliefs can limit the outcome and outlines the advantages of a therapist who has a spiritual practice and transpersonal awareness. Laurel’s leading edge at this point involves Multidimensional Integrative Healing, an evolution from her longtime experience with EMDR, where further dimensions of reality have so often emerged in her work, and her own spiritual journey. It is fascinating to hear her describe how we can not only install helpful inner resources for ourselves, but also counter intergenerational trauma by calling forward ancestral wisdom. A deeply intriguing, eye opening, and impactful conversation with a very wise, enthusiastic, far thinking trailblazer of a teacher. Recorded April 15, 2024.

    “EMDR clears what isn’t true.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • The amazing healing effects of after-death communications (00:55)
    • Allan Botkin’s research with veterans, inducing after-death communication to heal PTSD (06:26)
    • Roger’s experience of EMDR and how it healed his hypersensitivity (10:04)
    • The therapist experiences the same healing, clearing process as the client, also opening into a transpersonal space (14:12)
    • The importance of spiritual practice for the therapist: meditation, presence, watching thoughts, coming back to the moment, the ability to be curious, allowing things to unfold as they will (16:59)
    • Can we do this on our own? Resource installation or resource tapping (19:35)
    • Activating 4 strong foundational resources: peaceful place, nurturing figure, protective figure, and wise figure (21:09)
    • NeuroTek devices that Laurel and clients can use to aid the process of bilateral stimulation (25:10) 
    • Laurel’s spiritual path: from Tibetan Buddhism to Vipassana to nonduality (27:49)
    • What is important in life after the dissolution of all constructs? (35:47)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Allan Botkin, Induced After-Death Communication: A New Therapy for Healing Grief and Trauma*
    • Zen Master Seung Sahn, The Compass of Zen*, Only Don’t Know: Selected Teaching Letters of Zen Master Seung Sahn*
    • NeuroTek EMDR Shop
    • Laurel Parnell, Installing Resources: An Attachment-Focused EMDR™ In-session Demonstration (YouTube video)
    • Tarthang Tulku, Tibetan Vajrayana teacher and lama who introduced the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism to the U.S.
    • Lama Yeshe co-founded Kopan Monastery & the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition
    • Jack Kornfield & Joseph Goldstein, Vipassana teachers (see also Deep Transformation episode #121, Living on the Spiritual Edge with Joseph Goldstein, or watch on YouTube)
    • Jean Klein, spiritual teacher, The Ease of Being*
    • Suzanne Segal, Collision with the Infinite: A Life Beyond the Personal Self*
    • Dr. Laurel Parnell, Executive Director, The Parnell Institute, a major provider of EMDR training and educational programs, and leading authority on Attachment-Focused EMDR
    • Find an EMDR Therapist at Parnell Institute
    • Laurel Parnell, Transforming Trauma: EMDR: The Revolutionary New Therapy for Freeing the Mind, Clearing the Body, and Opening the Heart*
    • Laurel Parnell, Rewiring the Addicted Brain: An EMDR-Based Treatment Model for Overcoming Addictive Disorders*
    • Laurel Parnell, Attachment-Focused EMDR: Healing Relational Trauma*
    • Laurel Parnell, Tapping In: A Step-by-Step Guide to Activating Your Healing Resources Through Bilateral Stimulation*
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Live Online Training at the Parnell Institute 

    • June 7-8, 2024: Discover the Power of Multidimensional Integrative Healing and EMDR with Laurel Parnell
    
    

    ---

    Laurel Parnell, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of the Parnell Institute and developer of Attachment-Focused EMDR and Multidimensional Integrative Healing. She is a clinical psychologist, author of several books, and leading expert on Eye-movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. Since 1995 she has trained thousands of clinicians in EMDR both nationally and internationally. A meditation practitioner since 1973, she brings a transpersonal orientation to her teaching as well as to her clinical work.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>Ep. 131 (Part 2 of 3) | World renowned EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing) therapy pioneer and trainer Dr. Laurel Parnell has used EMDR therapy with clients for decades with truly remarkable success. Laurel relates how EMDR therapy dissolves blocks caused by trauma, freeing clients from negative constructs so they can develop their own felt sense of truth, and express from and know their own true nature. After EMDR, she says, “singers sing, writers write, dancers dance.” Not only are clients freed, but the endpoint of EMDR therapy quite often rests in a transpersonal space that is invariably characterized by an upwelling of self-love and compassion for others, an opening to mystery and boundless possibility. Interestingly, because of the resonant field between therapist and client (interpersonal neurobiology), the therapist experiences the transpersonal opening when it happens as well. More often than not, Laurel tells us, the way the session unfolds is a surprise to both client and therapist, with long forgotten little “t” traumas turning out to be responsible for the client’s blocks rather than the expected major life traumas. 

    Laurel makes it clear that the goal of EMDR is to empower the client; the therapist must allow the wisdom to reside in the client rather than in their own interpretation of what unfolds, and adhere strictly to a process of open inquiry. She describes how the therapist’s beliefs can limit the outcome and outlines the advantages of a therapist who has a spiritual practice and transpersonal awareness. Laurel’s leading edge at this point involves Multidimensional Integrative Healing, an evolution from her longtime experience with EMDR, where further dimensions of reality have so often emerged in her work, and her own spiritual journey. It is fascinating to hear her describe how we can not only install helpful inner resources for ourselves, but also counter intergenerational trauma by calling forward ancestral wisdom. A deeply intriguing, eye opening, and impactful conversation with a very wise, enthusiastic, far thinking trailblazer of a teacher. Recorded April 15, 2024.

    “EMDR clears what isn’t true.”

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

    • The amazing healing effects of after-death communications (00:55)
    • Allan Botkin’s research with veterans, inducing after-death communication to heal PTSD (06:26)
    • Roger’s experience of EMDR and how it healed his hypersensitivity (10:04)
    • The therapist experiences the same healing, clearing process as the client, also opening into a transpersonal space (14:12)
    • The importance of spiritual practice for the therapist: meditation, presence, watching thoughts, coming back to the moment, the ability to be curious, allowing things to unfold as they will (16:59)
    • Can we do this on our own? Resource installation or resource tapping (19:35)
    • Activating 4 strong foundational resources: peaceful place, nurturing figure, protective figure, and wise figure (21:09)
    • NeuroTek devices that Laurel and clients can use to aid the process of bilateral stimulation (25:10) 
    • Laurel’s spiritual path: from Tibetan Buddhism to Vipassana to nonduality (27:49)
    • What is important in life after the dissolution of all constructs? (35:47)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 2

    • Allan Botkin, Induced After-Death Communication: A New Therapy for Healing Grief and Trauma*
    • Zen Master Seung Sahn, The Compass of Zen*, Only Don’t Know: Selected Teaching Letters of Zen Master Seung Sahn*
    • NeuroTek EMDR Shop
    • Laurel Parnell, Installing Resources: An Attachment-Focused EMDR™ In-session Demonstration (YouTube video)
    • Tarthang Tulku, Tibetan Vajrayana teacher and lama who introduced the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism to the U.S.
    • Lama Yeshe co-founded Kopan Monastery & the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition
    • Jack Kornfield & Joseph Goldstein, Vipassana teachers (see also Deep Transformation episode #121, Living on the Spiritual Edge with Joseph Goldstein, or watch on YouTube)
    • Jean Klein, spiritual teacher, The Ease of Being*
    • Suzanne Segal, Collision with the Infinite: A Life Beyond the Personal Self*
    • Dr. Laurel Parnell, Executive Director, The Parnell Institute, a major provider of EMDR training and educational programs, and leading authority on Attachment-Focused EMDR
    • Find an EMDR Therapist at Parnell Institute
    • Laurel Parnell, Transforming Trauma: EMDR: The Revolutionary New Therapy for Freeing the Mind, Clearing the Body, and Opening the Heart*
    • Laurel Parnell, Rewiring the Addicted Brain: An EMDR-Based Treatment Model for Overcoming Addictive Disorders*
    • Laurel Parnell, Attachment-Focused EMDR: Healing Relational Trauma*
    • Laurel Parnell, Tapping In: A Step-by-Step Guide to Activating Your Healing Resources Through Bilateral Stimulation*
    
    

    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

    ---

    Live Online Training at the Parnell Institute 

    • June 7-8, 2024: Discover the Power of Multidimensional Integrative Healing and EMDR with Laurel Parnell
    
    

    ---

    Laurel Parnell, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of the Parnell Institute and developer of Attachment-Focused EMDR and Multidimensional Integrative Healing. She is a clinical psychologist, author of several books, and leading expert on Eye-movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. Since 1995 she has trained thousands of clinicians in EMDR both nationally and internationally. A meditation practitioner since 1973, she brings a transpersonal orientation to her teaching as well as to her clinical work.

    ---

    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

    ]]>ccfa733c-50f2-435c-9c5f-cbc1962a126bThu, 23 May 2024 05:00:00 -040038:25falsefull131131The Transformative Power of EMDR Therapy: A Revolution in Trauma Treatment & Gateway to Transpersonal OpeningsEp. 130 (Part 1 of 3) | World renowned EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing) therapy pioneer and trainer Dr. Laurel Parnell has used EMDR therapy with clients for decades with truly remarkable success. Laurel relates how EMDR therapy dissolves blocks caused by trauma, freeing clients from negative constructs so they can develop their own felt sense of truth, and express from and know their own true nature. After EMDR, she says, “singers sing, writers write, dancers dance.” Not only are clients freed, but the endpoint of EMDR therapy quite often rests in a transpersonal space that is invariably characterized by an upwelling of self-love and compassion for others, an opening to mystery and boundless possibility. Interestingly, because of the resonant field between therapist and client (interpersonal neurobiology), the therapist experiences the transpersonal opening when it happens as well. More often than not, Laurel tells us, the way the session unfolds is a surprise to both client and therapist, with long forgotten little “t” traumas turning out to be responsible for the client’s blocks rather than the expected major life traumas. 

    Laurel makes it clear that the goal of EMDR is to empower the client; the therapist must allow the wisdom to reside in the client rather than in their own interpretation of what unfolds, and adhere strictly to a process of open inquiry. She describes how the therapist’s beliefs can limit the outcome and outlines the advantages of a therapist who has a spiritual practice and transpersonal awareness. Laurel’s leading edge at this point involves Multidimensional Integrative Healing, an evolution from her longtime experience with EMDR, where further dimensions of reality have so often emerged in her work, and her own spiritual journey. It is fascinating to hear her describe how we can not only install helpful inner resources for ourselves, but also counter intergenerational trauma by calling forward ancestral wisdom. A deeply intriguing, eye opening, and impactful conversation with a very wise, enthusiastic, far thinking trailblazer of a teacher. Recorded April 15, 2024.

    “How many trauma therapies have the upwelling of compassion for self and others as the typical endpoint?“

    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

    • Introducing world renowned EMDR therapist & trainer, leading authority on Attachment-Focused EMDR, author, and longtime spiritual practitioner Dr. Laurel Parnell (01:11)
    • What is EMDR (Eye-movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy) and the power of alternating bilateral stimulation (03:20)
    • EMDR: a highly efficacious trauma therapy that rapidly processes our frozen memories/experiences and moves us toward health and wholeness (05:15)
    • Humanistic psychology theory underlies EMDR, and the difference between EMDR and other therapies based on similar theories (06:48)
    • EMDR clears what isn’t true; it eliminates places of holding in the mind/body, creating space for living in a free, fluid way & allows the expression and knowing of our true self (07:55)
    • Beyond theories, beyond talk therapy (10:30)
    • More often than not what underlies current symptoms and problems is a complete surprise: small “t” traumas (11:31)
    • What is important in any good therapy is the right brain to right brain connection between therapist and client (14:38)
    • The importance of spiritual practice for the therapist (17:55)
    • The most common transpersonal experience/typical result of EMDR is an upwelling of compassion for self and others (21:11)
    • Objective forgiveness: when you see things as they are, a broader context arises (23:57)
    • How therapists can limit the outcomes (26:19)
    • Where EMDR starts to blend with shamanic practices, opening the veil to transpersonal dimensions of reality (28:43)
    • The wisdom abides in the client and the therapist aligns to that (32:09)
    • The Golem effect: self-limiting beliefs do manifest (34:09)
    • No interpretations! This is about inquiry (35:53)
    • How our individual unique ways of self expression come forth (38:26)
    • Empowering people to come to their own truth, which they can then rely on day to day (39:28)
    • The problem with neoshamanism (43:23)
    
    

    Resources & References – Part 1

    • Dr. Laurel Parnell, Executive Director, The Parnell Institute, a major provider of EMDR training and educational programs, and leading authority on Attachment-Focused EMDR
    • Find an EMDR Therapist at Parnell Institute
    • Laurel Parnell, Transforming Trauma: EMDR: The Revolutionary New Therapy for Freeing the Mind, Clearing the Body, and Opening the Heart*
    • Laurel Parnell, Rewiring the Addicted Brain: An EMDR-Based Treatment Model for Overcoming Addictive Disorders*
    • Laurel Parnell, Attachment-Focused EMDR: Healing Relational Trauma*
    • Laurel Parnell, Tapping In: A Step-by-Step Guide to Activating Your Healing Resources Through Bilateral Stimulation*
    • Francine Shapiro, originator and developer of EMDR, founder of the EMDR Institute, Inc.
    • Jean Klein, spiritual teacher, The Ease of Being*
    • Carl Jung, “Learn your theories as well as you can, but put them aside when you touch the miracle of the living soul.”
    • Zen Master Seung Sahn, The Compass of Zen*, Only Don’t Know: Selected Teaching Letters of Zen Master Seung Sahn*
    • Alan Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety*
    • Laurel Parnell, Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) and Spiritual Unfolding, published in the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 
    • CA Institute of Integral Studies
    • The Golem effect
    • Alice Miller, The Truth Will Set You Free: Overcoming Emotional Blindness and Finding Your True Adult Self*, The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self*
    
    

    Live Online Training at the Parnell Institute 

    • June 7-8, 2024: Ep. 130 (Part 1 of 3) | World renowned EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing) therapy pioneer and trainer Dr. Laurel Parnell has used EMDR therapy with clients for decades with truly remarkable success. Laurel relates how EMDR therapy dissolves blocks caused by trauma, freeing clients from negative constructs so they can develop their own felt sense of truth, and express from and know their own true nature. After EMDR, she says, “singers sing, writers write, dancers dance.” Not only are clients freed, but the endpoint of EMDR therapy quite often rests in a transpersonal space that is invariably characterized by an upwelling of self-love and compassion for others, an opening to mystery and boundless possibility. Interestingly, because of the resonant field between therapist and client (interpersonal neurobiology), the therapist experiences the transpersonal opening when it happens as well. More often than not, Laurel tells us, the way the session unfolds is a surprise to both client and therapist, with long forgotten little “t” traumas turning out to be responsible for the client’s blocks rather than the expected major life traumas. 

      Laurel makes it clear that the goal of EMDR is to empower the client; the therapist must allow the wisdom to reside in the client rather than in their own interpretation of what unfolds, and adhere strictly to a process of open inquiry. She describes how the therapist’s beliefs can limit the outcome and outlines the advantages of a therapist who has a spiritual practice and transpersonal awareness. Laurel’s leading edge at this point involves Multidimensional Integrative Healing, an evolution from her longtime experience with EMDR, where further dimensions of reality have so often emerged in her work, and her own spiritual journey. It is fascinating to hear her describe how we can not only install helpful inner resources for ourselves, but also counter intergenerational trauma by calling forward ancestral wisdom. A deeply intriguing, eye opening, and impactful conversation with a very wise, enthusiastic, far thinking trailblazer of a teacher. Recorded April 15, 2024.

      “How many trauma therapies have the upwelling of compassion for self and others as the typical endpoint?“

      (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

      Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

      • Introducing world renowned EMDR therapist & trainer, leading authority on Attachment-Focused EMDR, author, and longtime spiritual practitioner Dr. Laurel Parnell (01:11)
      • What is EMDR (Eye-movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy) and the power of alternating bilateral stimulation (03:20)
      • EMDR: a highly efficacious trauma therapy that rapidly processes our frozen memories/experiences and moves us toward health and wholeness (05:15)
      • Humanistic psychology theory underlies EMDR, and the difference between EMDR and other therapies based on similar theories (06:48)
      • EMDR clears what isn’t true; it eliminates places of holding in the mind/body, creating space for living in a free, fluid way & allows the expression and knowing of our true self (07:55)
      • Beyond theories, beyond talk therapy (10:30)
      • More often than not what underlies current symptoms and problems is a complete surprise: small “t” traumas (11:31)
      • What is important in any good therapy is the right brain to right brain connection between therapist and client (14:38)
      • The importance of spiritual practice for the therapist (17:55)
      • The most common transpersonal experience/typical result of EMDR is an upwelling of compassion for self and others (21:11)
      • Objective forgiveness: when you see things as they are, a broader context arises (23:57)
      • How therapists can limit the outcomes (26:19)
      • Where EMDR starts to blend with shamanic practices, opening the veil to transpersonal dimensions of reality (28:43)
      • The wisdom abides in the client and the therapist aligns to that (32:09)
      • The Golem effect: self-limiting beliefs do manifest (34:09)
      • No interpretations! This is about inquiry (35:53)
      • How our individual unique ways of self expression come forth (38:26)
      • Empowering people to come to their own truth, which they can then rely on day to day (39:28)
      • The problem with neoshamanism (43:23)
      
      

      Resources & References – Part 1

      • Dr. Laurel Parnell, Executive Director, The Parnell Institute, a major provider of EMDR training and educational programs, and leading authority on Attachment-Focused EMDR
      • Find an EMDR Therapist at Parnell Institute
      • Laurel Parnell, Transforming Trauma: EMDR: The Revolutionary New Therapy for Freeing the Mind, Clearing the Body, and Opening the Heart*
      • Laurel Parnell, Rewiring the Addicted Brain: An EMDR-Based Treatment Model for Overcoming Addictive Disorders*
      • Laurel Parnell, Attachment-Focused EMDR: Healing Relational Trauma*
      • Laurel Parnell, Tapping In: A Step-by-Step Guide to Activating Your Healing Resources Through Bilateral Stimulation*
      • Francine Shapiro, originator and developer of EMDR, founder of the EMDR Institute, Inc.
      • Jean Klein, spiritual teacher, The Ease of Being*
      • Carl Jung, “Learn your theories as well as you can, but put them aside when you touch the miracle of the living soul.”
      • Zen Master Seung Sahn, The Compass of Zen*, Only Don’t Know: Selected Teaching Letters of Zen Master Seung Sahn*
      • Alan Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety*
      • Laurel Parnell, Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) and Spiritual Unfolding, published in the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 
      • CA Institute of Integral Studies
      • The Golem effect
      • Alice Miller, The Truth Will Set You Free: Overcoming Emotional Blindness and Finding Your True Adult Self*, The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self*
      
      

      Live Online Training at the Parnell Institute 

      • June 7-8, 2024: Discover the Power of Multidimensional Integrative Healing and EMDR with Laurel Parnell
      
      

      * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

      ---

      Laurel Parnell, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of the Parnell Institute and developer of Attachment-Focused EMDR and Multidimensional Integrative Healing. She is a clinical psychologist, author of several books, and leading expert on Eye-movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. Since 1995 she has trained thousands of clinicians in EMDR both nationally and internationally. A meditation practitioner since 1973, she brings a transpersonal orientation to her teaching as well as to her clinical work.

      ---

      Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

      ]]>e85fc457-f50b-416e-9e9d-8edfb4203275Thu, 16 May 2024 05:00:00 -040045:21falsefull130130Shifting Individual & Corporate Values in an Age of Corporate Malfeasance & Forever Chemicals (Part 2)Ep. 129 (Part 2 of 2) | Environmental philosopher, public health scientist, and corporate malfeasance researcher Dr. Yogi Hendlin is dedicated to understanding, communicating, and addressing the psychological, social, political, and economic barriers that keep us from treading a solid path toward sustainability. One of the areas Yogi is extremely knowledgeable about is the dynamics and drivers of corporate decision making. An underlying belief that the planet is indestructible makes it okay to prioritize profit above global health, or companies may find themselves in a double bind where they would actually prefer to be more strictly regulated but that would mean corporate suicide unless their entire industry was regulated. Interestingly, Yogi has found that learned helplessness operates at all levels of power in inverse relation to actual power and responsibility, citing how some of the most powerful people in the world are saying, “What can I do?” when Indigenous groups with very few resources find ways to thrive in a sustainable way.

      Yogi points out that changing the world is not an event but a process—and delves into how we can make real changes to get off the destructive path we are on, overshooting the limits of our biosphere on every metric. We can create circuit breakers for our habitual, counterproductive routines, we can cultivate skillful communication that allows our defense mechanisms to drop away, we can recognize our fundamental need for community and connection, and we can use spiritual practice and psychedelics to help us regain a sense of wonder and reverence for life. Yogi believes that decolonization and creating ecologies of discourse that reward honesty, vulnerability, admitting mistakes, and asking for help is the way forward. This is an earnest, thought provoking, heartfelt, and inspiring discussion of the way things are, the barriers to change, and hope for the future. Recorded January 11, 2024.

      “All human beings have a fundamental capacity for change and growth, evolution and divinity.”

      Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

      • Decolonizing the psychedelic renaissance: protecting the sacraments & cultural traditions that have been part of psychedelic use for millenia (00:45)
      • Psychoplastogens and the theory that one can engineer a psychedelic trip to fit a 1-hr therapy session (02:21)
      • Ensuring low abuse liability for all our experiences: community and connection are the best way to do this (05:19)
      • The skillful use of psychedelics: including them as part of a larger spiritual practice and the trap of thinking the psychedelic is doing “it” (08:25)
      • Future holiness: psychedelics can help pull us toward the future we know in our hearts is possible; but there are many spiritual paths to help us evolve (11:29)
      • The Buddhist parable of looking for water (14:14)
      • Changing the world is much more than just an event (15:45) 
      • Our systems are all based on efficiency of the wrong kind—we need to learn how our actions affect others (17:12)
      • What are Yogi’s spiritual practices? Vipassana, Buddhist meditation/Taoism, Indigenous practices & ceremonies & more (21:27)
      • A lot of people who are challenging dominant narratives feel lonely (25:45)
      • Stepping up compassion and learning how to be a better communicator & disarm defense mechanisms in others (29:58)
      • Allowing individuals as well as corporations to “save face” (33:11)
      • Creating ecologies of discourse: rewarding honesty, vulnerability, and admitting mistakes (33:50)
      • The value of systems theory and the need for multifaceted responses to get out of our dysfunctional matrix (36:16)
      • “I’m going to always root for solutions that work for everybody, because I understand that the moment we start the us/them demonization thing, we’ve already lost the battle.” (38:33)
      
      

      Resources & References – Part 2

      • Joanna Moncrieff & Mark Horowitz, Depression is probably not caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain – new study (The Conversation)
      • Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
      • Roger Walsh, Higher Wisdom: Eminent Elders Explore the Continuing Impact of Psychedelics*
      • Arundhati Roy, “Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day I can hear her breathing.”
      • Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ (All Are Related)
      • Neil Gaiman, American Gods*
      • Philip Shepherd, Radical Wholeness: The Embodied Present and the Ordinary Grace of Being*
      • Starhawk, The Fifth Sacred Thing*
      • Yogi Hendlin’s website: https://www.yogihendlin.com/,
      • Yogi Hendlin, Assistant Professor, Erasmus School of Philosophy; Core Faculty, Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity Initiative, Erasmus University, Rotterdam; Research Associate, Environmental Health Initiative, University of California, San Francisco
      • Yogi Hendlin, editor-in-chief, Biosemiotics
      
      

      * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

      ---

      Yogi Hale Hendlin is a professor in environmental philosophy and public health at Erasmus University Rotterdam and the University of California, San Francisco. Editor-in-Chief of the journal Biosemiotics, Yogi’s work explores the various ways in which industrialization has supercharged the illusion of separation and control as viable solutions, and instead harkens to the various ways traditional peoples have developed cultural practices from ecologies conducive to integral communities.

      ---

      Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

      ]]>Ep. 129 (Part 2 of 2) | Environmental philosopher, public health scientist, and corporate malfeasance researcher Dr. Yogi Hendlin is dedicated to understanding, communicating, and addressing the psychological, social, political, and economic barriers that keep us from treading a solid path toward sustainability. One of the areas Yogi is extremely knowledgeable about is the dynamics and drivers of corporate decision making. An underlying belief that the planet is indestructible makes it okay to prioritize profit above global health, or companies may find themselves in a double bind where they would actually prefer to be more strictly regulated but that would mean corporate suicide unless their entire industry was regulated. Interestingly, Yogi has found that learned helplessness operates at all levels of power in inverse relation to actual power and responsibility, citing how some of the most powerful people in the world are saying, “What can I do?” when Indigenous groups with very few resources find ways to thrive in a sustainable way.

      Yogi points out that changing the world is not an event but a process—and delves into how we can make real changes to get off the destructive path we are on, overshooting the limits of our biosphere on every metric. We can create circuit breakers for our habitual, counterproductive routines, we can cultivate skillful communication that allows our defense mechanisms to drop away, we can recognize our fundamental need for community and connection, and we can use spiritual practice and psychedelics to help us regain a sense of wonder and reverence for life. Yogi believes that decolonization and creating ecologies of discourse that reward honesty, vulnerability, admitting mistakes, and asking for help is the way forward. This is an earnest, thought provoking, heartfelt, and inspiring discussion of the way things are, the barriers to change, and hope for the future. Recorded January 11, 2024.

      “All human beings have a fundamental capacity for change and growth, evolution and divinity.”

      Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

      • Decolonizing the psychedelic renaissance: protecting the sacraments & cultural traditions that have been part of psychedelic use for millenia (00:45)
      • Psychoplastogens and the theory that one can engineer a psychedelic trip to fit a 1-hr therapy session (02:21)
      • Ensuring low abuse liability for all our experiences: community and connection are the best way to do this (05:19)
      • The skillful use of psychedelics: including them as part of a larger spiritual practice and the trap of thinking the psychedelic is doing “it” (08:25)
      • Future holiness: psychedelics can help pull us toward the future we know in our hearts is possible; but there are many spiritual paths to help us evolve (11:29)
      • The Buddhist parable of looking for water (14:14)
      • Changing the world is much more than just an event (15:45) 
      • Our systems are all based on efficiency of the wrong kind—we need to learn how our actions affect others (17:12)
      • What are Yogi’s spiritual practices? Vipassana, Buddhist meditation/Taoism, Indigenous practices & ceremonies & more (21:27)
      • A lot of people who are challenging dominant narratives feel lonely (25:45)
      • Stepping up compassion and learning how to be a better communicator & disarm defense mechanisms in others (29:58)
      • Allowing individuals as well as corporations to “save face” (33:11)
      • Creating ecologies of discourse: rewarding honesty, vulnerability, and admitting mistakes (33:50)
      • The value of systems theory and the need for multifaceted responses to get out of our dysfunctional matrix (36:16)
      • “I’m going to always root for solutions that work for everybody, because I understand that the moment we start the us/them demonization thing, we’ve already lost the battle.” (38:33)
      
      

      Resources & References – Part 2

      • Joanna Moncrieff & Mark Horowitz, Depression is probably not caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain – new study (The Conversation)
      • Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
      • Roger Walsh, Higher Wisdom: Eminent Elders Explore the Continuing Impact of Psychedelics*
      • Arundhati Roy, “Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day I can hear her breathing.”
      • Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ (All Are Related)
      • Neil Gaiman, American Gods*
      • Philip Shepherd, Radical Wholeness: The Embodied Present and the Ordinary Grace of Being*
      • Starhawk, The Fifth Sacred Thing*
      • Yogi Hendlin’s website: https://www.yogihendlin.com/,
      • Yogi Hendlin, Assistant Professor, Erasmus School of Philosophy; Core Faculty, Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity Initiative, Erasmus University, Rotterdam; Research Associate, Environmental Health Initiative, University of California, San Francisco
      • Yogi Hendlin, editor-in-chief, Biosemiotics
      
      

      * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

      ---

      Yogi Hale Hendlin is a professor in environmental philosophy and public health at Erasmus University Rotterdam and the University of California, San Francisco. Editor-in-Chief of the journal Biosemiotics, Yogi’s work explores the various ways in which industrialization has supercharged the illusion of separation and control as viable solutions, and instead harkens to the various ways traditional peoples have developed cultural practices from ecologies conducive to integral communities.

      ---

      Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

      ]]>1fec3f5c-8464-4bde-8037-38c915f349ddThu, 09 May 2024 05:00:00 -040041:35truefull129129Shifting Individual & Corporate Values in an Age of Corporate Malfeasance & Forever ChemicalsEp. 128 (Part 1 of 2) | Environmental philosopher, public health scientist, and corporate malfeasance researcher Dr. Yogi Hendlin is dedicated to understanding, communicating, and addressing the psychological, social, political, and economic barriers that keep us from treading a solid path toward sustainability. One of the areas Yogi is extremely knowledgeable about is the dynamics and drivers of corporate decision making. An underlying belief that the planet is indestructible makes it okay to prioritize profit above global health, or companies may find themselves in a double bind where they would actually prefer to be more strictly regulated but that would mean corporate suicide unless their entire industry was regulated. Interestingly, Yogi has found that learned helplessness operates at all levels of power in inverse relation to actual power and responsibility, citing how some of the most powerful people in the world are saying, “What can I do?” when Indigenous groups with very few resources find ways to thrive in a sustainable way.

      Yogi points out that changing the world is not an event but a process—and delves into how we can make real changes to get off the destructive path we are on, overshooting the limits of our biosphere on every metric. We can create circuit breakers for our habitual, counterproductive routines, we can cultivate skillful communication that allows our defense mechanisms to drop away, we can recognize our fundamental need for community and connection, and we can use spiritual practice and psychedelics to help us regain a sense of wonder and reverence for life. Yogi believes that decolonization and creating ecologies of discourse that reward honesty, vulnerability, admitting mistakes, and asking for help is the way forward. This is an earnest, thought provoking, heartfelt, and inspiring discussion of the way things are, the barriers to change, and hope for the future. Recorded January 11, 2024.

      “We live disconnected from each other because we don’t need each other.”

      (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

      Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

      • Introducing environmental philosopher, public health scientist, professor & corporate malfeasance researcher, Dr. Yogi Hendlin (01:05)
      • Yogi has coined the term “chemical anthropocene” in reference to the indelible legacy we have created in changing the composition of the earth’s chemistry (and our bodies) (02:18)
      • “Forever chemicals” bioaccumulate in our systems and persist up to 7 generations (04:18)
      • Humans are already bearing a toxic load, and we’re creating a path dependency of toxicity for future generations (06:09)
      • How can we evolve collectively to respond effectively? (07:51)
      • All day, we are called into being in different ways, some very tension inducing, and we have erected barriers to our unmediated appreciation of the world in response to these demands (12:12)
      • We can practice different ways of attending (i.e. fasting from media, eating, work, routine) that act as circuit breakers to our culture’s destructive habits (13:57)
      • The age-old separation between understanding the world through analysis and understanding reality by becoming part of the mindset of the other (15:20)
      • Being open to novelty (apophatic) while also reaffirming the knowledge we already have (cataphatic): the rise of LGBTQ, for example (17:37)
      • Does the “arc of the moral universe bend towards justice”? (19:08)
      • The fate of the world is not independent from our actions (23:17)
      • Decolonization is the way forward and Yogi’s upcoming book, Industrial Pandemics (26:23)
      • Game theory and the double bind: it would be suicide for many companies to do what is best for all (30:00)
      • We are currently engaged in what is essentially a global arms race that is destroying and undermining the basis of life on earth (33:29)
      • Wherein lies the hope? Shifting perspectives, ecodelics (34:53)
      • How learned helplessness operates at all levels of power in inverse relation to actual power and responsibility (35:59)
      • We live disconnected from each other because we don’t need each other (38:07)
      • Meaning making is a participatory event; connecting with and serving community is the fastest way out of depression (39:56)
      
      

      Resources & References – Part 1

      • Yogi Hendlin’s website: https://www.yogihendlin.com/
      • Yogi Hendlin, Assistant Professor, Erasmus School of Philosophy; Core Faculty, Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity Initiative, Erasmus University, Rotterdam; Research Associate, Environmental Health Initiative, University of California, San Francisco
      • Yogi Hendlin, editor-in-chief, Biosemiotics
      • Johan Rockström et al., A Safe Operating Space for Humanity 
      • The Haber process is the main industrial procedure for the production of ammonia by converting atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia
      • The debate between Erklären and Verstehen 
      • The Fusion of Horizons (Steve Thomason YouTube video, simple representation of the concept of joined horizons)
      • Hans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method* (on the joining of horizons)
      • Iain McGilchrist, The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World*
      • Pauline Kleingeld, Kant and Cosmopolitanism: The Philosophical Ideal Of World Citizenship*
      • Douglas Rushkoff, Team Human*
      • Cory Doctorow, The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation*
      • Gregory Bateson et al.’s double bind theory
      • Richard Doyle, Darwin’s Pharmacy: Sex, Plants, and the Evolution of the Noosphere*
      • Charles Eisenstein, The Turning of the Age
      
      

      * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

      ---

      Yogi Hale Hendlin is a professor in environmental philosophy and public health at Erasmus University Rotterdam and the University of California, San Francisco. Editor-in-Chief of the journal Biosemiotics, Yogi’s work explores the various ways in which industrialization has supercharged the illusion of separation and control as viable solutions, and instead harkens to the various ways traditional peoples have developed cultural practices from ecologies...]]>Ep. 128 (Part 1 of 2) | Environmental philosopher, public health scientist, and corporate malfeasance researcher Dr. Yogi Hendlin is dedicated to understanding, communicating, and addressing the psychological, social, political, and economic barriers that keep us from treading a solid path toward sustainability. One of the areas Yogi is extremely knowledgeable about is the dynamics and drivers of corporate decision making. An underlying belief that the planet is indestructible makes it okay to prioritize profit above global health, or companies may find themselves in a double bind where they would actually prefer to be more strictly regulated but that would mean corporate suicide unless their entire industry was regulated. Interestingly, Yogi has found that learned helplessness operates at all levels of power in inverse relation to actual power and responsibility, citing how some of the most powerful people in the world are saying, “What can I do?” when Indigenous groups with very few resources find ways to thrive in a sustainable way.

      Yogi points out that changing the world is not an event but a process—and delves into how we can make real changes to get off the destructive path we are on, overshooting the limits of our biosphere on every metric. We can create circuit breakers for our habitual, counterproductive routines, we can cultivate skillful communication that allows our defense mechanisms to drop away, we can recognize our fundamental need for community and connection, and we can use spiritual practice and psychedelics to help us regain a sense of wonder and reverence for life. Yogi believes that decolonization and creating ecologies of discourse that reward honesty, vulnerability, admitting mistakes, and asking for help is the way forward. This is an earnest, thought provoking, heartfelt, and inspiring discussion of the way things are, the barriers to change, and hope for the future. Recorded January 11, 2024.

      “We live disconnected from each other because we don’t need each other.”

      (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

      Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

      • Introducing environmental philosopher, public health scientist, professor & corporate malfeasance researcher, Dr. Yogi Hendlin (01:05)
      • Yogi has coined the term “chemical anthropocene” in reference to the indelible legacy we have created in changing the composition of the earth’s chemistry (and our bodies) (02:18)
      • “Forever chemicals” bioaccumulate in our systems and persist up to 7 generations (04:18)
      • Humans are already bearing a toxic load, and we’re creating a path dependency of toxicity for future generations (06:09)
      • How can we evolve collectively to respond effectively? (07:51)
      • All day, we are called into being in different ways, some very tension inducing, and we have erected barriers to our unmediated appreciation of the world in response to these demands (12:12)
      • We can practice different ways of attending (i.e. fasting from media, eating, work, routine) that act as circuit breakers to our culture’s destructive habits (13:57)
      • The age-old separation between understanding the world through analysis and understanding reality by becoming part of the mindset of the other (15:20)
      • Being open to novelty (apophatic) while also reaffirming the knowledge we already have (cataphatic): the rise of LGBTQ, for example (17:37)
      • Does the “arc of the moral universe bend towards justice”? (19:08)
      • The fate of the world is not independent from our actions (23:17)
      • Decolonization is the way forward and Yogi’s upcoming book, Industrial Pandemics (26:23)
      • Game theory and the double bind: it would be suicide for many companies to do what is best for all (30:00)
      • We are currently engaged in what is essentially a global arms race that is destroying and undermining the basis of life on earth (33:29)
      • Wherein lies the hope? Shifting perspectives, ecodelics (34:53)
      • How learned helplessness operates at all levels of power in inverse relation to actual power and responsibility (35:59)
      • We live disconnected from each other because we don’t need each other (38:07)
      • Meaning making is a participatory event; connecting with and serving community is the fastest way out of depression (39:56)
      
      

      Resources & References – Part 1

      • Yogi Hendlin’s website: https://www.yogihendlin.com/
      • Yogi Hendlin, Assistant Professor, Erasmus School of Philosophy; Core Faculty, Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity Initiative, Erasmus University, Rotterdam; Research Associate, Environmental Health Initiative, University of California, San Francisco
      • Yogi Hendlin, editor-in-chief, Biosemiotics
      • Johan Rockström et al., A Safe Operating Space for Humanity 
      • The Haber process is the main industrial procedure for the production of ammonia by converting atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia
      • The debate between Erklären and Verstehen 
      • The Fusion of Horizons (Steve Thomason YouTube video, simple representation of the concept of joined horizons)
      • Hans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method* (on the joining of horizons)
      • Iain McGilchrist, The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World*
      • Pauline Kleingeld, Kant and Cosmopolitanism: The Philosophical Ideal Of World Citizenship*
      • Douglas Rushkoff, Team Human*
      • Cory Doctorow, The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation*
      • Gregory Bateson et al.’s double bind theory
      • Richard Doyle, Darwin’s Pharmacy: Sex, Plants, and the Evolution of the Noosphere*
      • Charles Eisenstein, The Turning of the Age
      
      

      * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

      ---

      Yogi Hale Hendlin is a professor in environmental philosophy and public health at Erasmus University Rotterdam and the University of California, San Francisco. Editor-in-Chief of the journal Biosemiotics, Yogi’s work explores the various ways in which industrialization has supercharged the illusion of separation and control as viable solutions, and instead harkens to the various ways traditional peoples have developed cultural practices from ecologies conducive to integral communities.

      ---

      Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

      ]]>57b905bd-7ed0-4eaf-a4d7-7311e98a1a5eThu, 02 May 2024 05:00:00 -040044:10falsefull128128Integrating Activism & Spiritual Practice: Nonduality and the Metacrisis (Part 3)Ep. 127 (Part 3 of 3) | Purpose guide, activist, nonduality student/teacher, and meditation teacher Jonathan Gustin is passionate about bringing the subject of the metacrisis into spiritual practice, essentially updating spiritual traditions that originated on deeply local levels to reflect the world of interrelated global crises we live in today. Jonathan proposes we delve into the relationship between nondual awakening and the metacrisis, using the metacrisis as our spiritual koan, and fostering within our contemplative practice a sense of responsibility for life that manifests in activism. Jonathan’s focus is also on guiding individuals to explore the notion of soul-level purpose—not only to discover our true purpose but embody a purpose that is consistent with love without boundaries. 

      This is a warm, lively, far reaching, and enlightening discussion, tying many intriguing subjects to the overarching theme of nonduality, metacrisis, and soul-level purpose: Native American vision questing, karma yoga, skillful communication, the developmental stages of purpose, the consequences of the delusion of separateness, the difference between humancentric nonduality and ecocentric nonduality, and much more. It is deeply inspirational to approach the metacrisis (which Jonathan provides a wonderful definition of) as an investigation into our relationship with life and reality. Recorded April 4, 2024.

      “The metacrisis is an investigation into our relationship with life and reality; the term itself is a koan.”

      (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

      Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3

      • A definition of the metacrisis: the polycrisis (the multiple interrelated crises) plus the consciousness in which the polycrisis arises and is ultimately made up (00:56)
      • What is beyond (meta) all the elements of the polycrisis? Consciousness (02:32)
      • We cannot engineer our way out of the metacrisis: we will have to heal, mature, and awaken ourselves individually & collectively if we are to make our way through the bottleneck we have created; furthermore, this is a permacrisis (05:11)
      • The metacrisis is an investigation into our relationship with life and reality; the term itself is a koan (09:00)
      • Default (inherited) purpose vs soul-level purpose (11:48)
      • Purpose goes through a number of developmental stages—what are the characteristics of a mature, service-oriented, worldcentric purpose? (16:17)
      • The difference between humancentric nonduality and ecocentric nonduality (20:26)
      • The embodiment piece of nonduality is key (22:31)
      • Updating our spiritual traditions and koans to 2024; asking, What is the metacrisis? (24:01)
      • Jonathan’s open letter to nondual teachers inviting them to integrate the metacrisis into their teachings (33:07)
      • Integral Conference in North America (ICON): Future Human, Denver, May 16th-19th (35:28)
      
      

      Resources & References – Part 3

      • Terry Patten, founder of A New Republic of the Heart, Facing Death: A Call to “Get Real,” the Importance of Being Kind, and Waking Up to the Miracle of Existence (Terry’s Message to Us 3 Weeks Before His Own Passing) (Deep Transformation podcast)
      • James Fowler, Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning*
      • David Loy, Growing from Bodhisattva to Ecosattva: Integrating Personal Practice and Global Activism (Deep Transformation podcast)
      • The Blue Cliff Record*, translated by Thomas Cleary & JC Cleary (compilation of 12th century koans)
      • Lama Surya Das, The Essence of Awakening (Deep Transformation podcast on YouTube)
      • Peter Russell’s “truth decay,” Consciousness: The Bridge Between Science & Spirit
      • Brother David Steindl-Rast, Benedictine monk, author, lecturer committed to interfaith dialogue
      • Jonathan Rowson, Tasting the Pickle: Ten flavours of meta-crisis and the appetite for a new civilisation
      • Daniel Schmachtenberger, Rivalrous dynamics, multiplied by exponential technology, self-terminate. Or: how not to go extinct (The Alternative, YouTube video)
      • John Prendergast, co-author of Jonathan’s upcoming paper on the metacrisis and nonduality
      • Integral Conference in North America (ICON)’s Future Human Conference, Denver, May 16-19, 2024
      • Jonathan Gustin, founder of the Purpose Guides Institute and Green Sangha, a spiritually oriented activist organization
      
      

      Join Roger Walsh at Integral Conference of North America (ICON)’s FUTURE HUMAN conference, May 16-19, 2024 in Denver!

      * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

      ---

      Jonathan Gustin, MA, MFT, is the founder of Purpose Guides Institute. He helps people to find and embody their life’s purpose, and offers training for those who want to become Purpose Guides themselves. He is also a meditation teacher, facilitating meditation gatherings remotely as well as in-person in his hometown of Victoria, BC, Canada.  

      Jonathan has been a psychotherapist and spiritual mentor for over 25 years. He is a retired adjunct professor at JFK University and co-author of Purpose Rising with Ken Wilber, Erwin Laszlo, and Bill Plotkin. He has had the pleasure of co-teaching programs with such luminaries as Human Potential pioneer George Leonard, eco-activist Joanna Macy, eco-psychologist Bill Plotkin, and Non-Duality pioneer Adyashanti. Jonathan looks forward to igniting a global conversation on Non-Duality & The Metacrisis (with a forthcoming paper in Summer 2024). Jonathan’s Institute welcomes a new cohort each September for Purpose Discovery and Purpose Guide Training. You can join him here:

      HERE Zoom Meditation

      HERE Intro to Purpose Discovery

      HERE Non-duality & the MetaCrisis – A group exploration

      ---

      Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

      ]]>Ep. 127 (Part 3 of 3) | Purpose guide, activist, nonduality student/teacher, and meditation teacher Jonathan Gustin is passionate about bringing the subject of the metacrisis into spiritual practice, essentially updating spiritual traditions that originated on deeply local levels to reflect the world of interrelated global crises we live in today. Jonathan proposes we delve into the relationship between nondual awakening and the metacrisis, using the metacrisis as our spiritual koan, and fostering within our contemplative practice a sense of responsibility for life that manifests in activism. Jonathan’s focus is also on guiding individuals to explore the notion of soul-level purpose—not only to discover our true purpose but embody a purpose that is consistent with love without boundaries. 

      This is a warm, lively, far reaching, and enlightening discussion, tying many intriguing subjects to the overarching theme of nonduality, metacrisis, and soul-level purpose: Native American vision questing, karma yoga, skillful communication, the developmental stages of purpose, the consequences of the delusion of separateness, the difference between humancentric nonduality and ecocentric nonduality, and much more. It is deeply inspirational to approach the metacrisis (which Jonathan provides a wonderful definition of) as an investigation into our relationship with life and reality. Recorded April 4, 2024.

      “The metacrisis is an investigation into our relationship with life and reality; the term itself is a koan.”

      (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

      Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3

      • A definition of the metacrisis: the polycrisis (the multiple interrelated crises) plus the consciousness in which the polycrisis arises and is ultimately made up (00:56)
      • What is beyond (meta) all the elements of the polycrisis? Consciousness (02:32)
      • We cannot engineer our way out of the metacrisis: we will have to heal, mature, and awaken ourselves individually & collectively if we are to make our way through the bottleneck we have created; furthermore, this is a permacrisis (05:11)
      • The metacrisis is an investigation into our relationship with life and reality; the term itself is a koan (09:00)
      • Default (inherited) purpose vs soul-level purpose (11:48)
      • Purpose goes through a number of developmental stages—what are the characteristics of a mature, service-oriented, worldcentric purpose? (16:17)
      • The difference between humancentric nonduality and ecocentric nonduality (20:26)
      • The embodiment piece of nonduality is key (22:31)
      • Updating our spiritual traditions and koans to 2024; asking, What is the metacrisis? (24:01)
      • Jonathan’s open letter to nondual teachers inviting them to integrate the metacrisis into their teachings (33:07)
      • Integral Conference in North America (ICON): Future Human, Denver, May 16th-19th (35:28)
      
      

      Resources & References – Part 3

      • Terry Patten, founder of A New Republic of the Heart, Facing Death: A Call to “Get Real,” the Importance of Being Kind, and Waking Up to the Miracle of Existence (Terry’s Message to Us 3 Weeks Before His Own Passing) (Deep Transformation podcast)
      • James Fowler, Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning*
      • David Loy, Growing from Bodhisattva to Ecosattva: Integrating Personal Practice and Global Activism (Deep Transformation podcast)
      • The Blue Cliff Record*, translated by Thomas Cleary & JC Cleary (compilation of 12th century koans)
      • Lama Surya Das, The Essence of Awakening (Deep Transformation podcast on YouTube)
      • Peter Russell’s “truth decay,” Consciousness: The Bridge Between Science & Spirit
      • Brother David Steindl-Rast, Benedictine monk, author, lecturer committed to interfaith dialogue
      • Jonathan Rowson, Tasting the Pickle: Ten flavours of meta-crisis and the appetite for a new civilisation
      • Daniel Schmachtenberger, Rivalrous dynamics, multiplied by exponential technology, self-terminate. Or: how not to go extinct (The Alternative, YouTube video)
      • John Prendergast, co-author of Jonathan’s upcoming paper on the metacrisis and nonduality
      • Integral Conference in North America (ICON)’s Future Human Conference, Denver, May 16-19, 2024
      • Jonathan Gustin, founder of the Purpose Guides Institute and Green Sangha, a spiritually oriented activist organization
      
      

      Join Roger Walsh at Integral Conference of North America (ICON)’s FUTURE HUMAN conference, May 16-19, 2024 in Denver!

      * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

      ---

      Jonathan Gustin, MA, MFT, is the founder of Purpose Guides Institute. He helps people to find and embody their life’s purpose, and offers training for those who want to become Purpose Guides themselves. He is also a meditation teacher, facilitating meditation gatherings remotely as well as in-person in his hometown of Victoria, BC, Canada.  

      Jonathan has been a psychotherapist and spiritual mentor for over 25 years. He is a retired adjunct professor at JFK University and co-author of Purpose Rising with Ken Wilber, Erwin Laszlo, and Bill Plotkin. He has had the pleasure of co-teaching programs with such luminaries as Human Potential pioneer George Leonard, eco-activist Joanna Macy, eco-psychologist Bill Plotkin, and Non-Duality pioneer Adyashanti. Jonathan looks forward to igniting a global conversation on Non-Duality & The Metacrisis (with a forthcoming paper in Summer 2024). Jonathan’s Institute welcomes a new cohort each September for Purpose Discovery and Purpose Guide Training. You can join him here:

      HERE Zoom Meditation

      HERE Intro to Purpose Discovery

      HERE Non-duality & the MetaCrisis – A group exploration

      ---

      Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

      ]]>cb5b51da-3261-40b8-aca1-a250944e5f2dThu, 25 Apr 2024 05:00:00 -040038:06falsefull127127Integrating Activism & Spiritual Practice: Nonduality and the Metacrisis (Part 2)Ep. 126 (Part 2 of 3) | Purpose guide, activist, nonduality student/teacher, and meditation teacher Jonathan Gustin is passionate about bringing the subject of the metacrisis into spiritual practice, essentially updating spiritual traditions that originated on deeply local levels to reflect the world of interrelated global crises we live in today. Jonathan proposes we delve into the relationship between nondual awakening and the metacrisis, using the metacrisis as our spiritual koan, and fostering within our contemplative practice a sense of responsibility for life that manifests in activism. Jonathan’s focus is also on guiding individuals to explore the notion of soul-level purpose—not only to discover our true purpose but embody a purpose that is consistent with love without boundaries. 

      This is a warm, lively, far reaching, and enlightening discussion, tying many intriguing subjects to the overarching theme of nonduality, metacrisis, and soul-level purpose: Native American vision questing, karma yoga, skillful communication, the developmental stages of purpose, the consequences of the delusion of separateness, the difference between humancentric nonduality and ecocentric nonduality, and much more. It is deeply inspirational to approach the metacrisis (which Jonathan provides a wonderful definition of) as an investigation into our relationship with life and reality. Recorded April 4, 2024.

      “The metacrisis is non-separate from meditation, from spiritual awakening, from your soul purpose.”

      (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

      Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

      • Vision questing, praying for guidance, being the open space where insight can enter: “Show me the path that my people can live” (00:52)
      • The benefits of outdoor meditation: “Throughout the universe, one body revealed” (02:58)
      • Nonduality and forest activism (07:40)
      • Can we be responsive to the suffering of the whole, wherever it may be? (09:59)
      • Skillful ideals are pointers, not destinations: it’s all a journey (10:39)
      • Developing collectively to where everything is sacred again (14:36)
      • The consequences of the delusion of separation awaken you to wholeness: being wholeness, expressing wholeness (17:15)
      • The shadow of nonduality: responsibility, the soul piece, activism (20:02)
      • Why are nondual teachers not talking about the metacrisis? (24:40)
      • Traditional spiritual teachers were practicing on deeply local levels; we are now living in a world of global crises, all interrelated, all creating exponential growth of more crises (31:45)
      • How can we talk about the metacrisis? How can we not talk about the metacrisis? How comfortable do we need to allow people to be? (35:52)
      • The beauty of the word “both”: can we hold two people, two perspectives, opposite aspirations at the same time? (39:19)
      • Skillful communication: listen, ask people to explain their positions, do these conversations as a spiritual practice (41:26)
      • Practicing karma yoga: using our work and relationships—our life—as the vehicle of awakening (43:54)
      • It’s going to take every mature person possible to power us out of our adolescent stage (46:38)
      
      

      Resources & References – Part 2

      • Wallace Black Elk, Native American shamanic teacher, Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota*
      • Chan Buddhism
      • Adyashanti, spiritual teacher, Open Gate Sangha
      • Ramana Maharshi, Who Am I? The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi 
      • Nonduality Round Table – Adyashanti, Rupert Spira & John Prendergast (YouTube video)
      • Daniel Schmachtenberger, Rivalrous dynamics, multiplied by exponential technology, self-terminate. Or: how not to go extinct (The Alternative, YouTube video)
      • Dr. Nikki Mirghafori, Bringing Ethics and Wisdom to AI (Deep Transformation podcast)
      • Jonathan Gustin, founder of the Purpose Guides Institute and Green Sangha, a spiritually oriented activist organization
      
      

      Join Roger Walsh at Integral Conference of North America (ICON)’s FUTURE HUMAN conference, May 16-19th, 2024 in Denver!

      * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

      ---

      Jonathan Gustin, MA, MFT, is the founder of Purpose Guides Institute. He helps people to find and embody their life’s purpose, and offers training for those who want to become Purpose Guides themselves. He is also a meditation teacher, facilitating meditation gatherings remotely as well as in-person in his hometown of Victoria, BC, Canada.  

      Jonathan has been a psychotherapist and spiritual mentor for over 25 years. He is a retired adjunct professor at JFK University and co-author of Purpose Rising with Ken Wilber, Erwin Laszlo, and Bill Plotkin. He has had the pleasure of co-teaching programs with such luminaries as Human Potential pioneer George Leonard, eco-activist Joanna Macy, eco-psychologist Bill Plotkin, and Non-Duality pioneer Adyashanti. Jonathan looks forward to igniting a global conversation on Non-Duality & The Metacrisis (with a forthcoming paper in Summer 2024). Jonathan’s Institute welcomes a new cohort each September for Purpose Discovery and Purpose Guide Training. You can join him here:

      HERE Zoom Meditation

      HERE Intro to Purpose Discovery

      HERE Non-duality & the MetaCrisis – A group exploration

      ---

      Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

      ]]>Ep. 126 (Part 2 of 3) | Purpose guide, activist, nonduality student/teacher, and meditation teacher Jonathan Gustin is passionate about bringing the subject of the metacrisis into spiritual practice, essentially updating spiritual traditions that originated on deeply local levels to reflect the world of interrelated global crises we live in today. Jonathan proposes we delve into the relationship between nondual awakening and the metacrisis, using the metacrisis as our spiritual koan, and fostering within our contemplative practice a sense of responsibility for life that manifests in activism. Jonathan’s focus is also on guiding individuals to explore the notion of soul-level purpose—not only to discover our true purpose but embody a purpose that is consistent with love without boundaries. 

      This is a warm, lively, far reaching, and enlightening discussion, tying many intriguing subjects to the overarching theme of nonduality, metacrisis, and soul-level purpose: Native American vision questing, karma yoga, skillful communication, the developmental stages of purpose, the consequences of the delusion of separateness, the difference between humancentric nonduality and ecocentric nonduality, and much more. It is deeply inspirational to approach the metacrisis (which Jonathan provides a wonderful definition of) as an investigation into our relationship with life and reality. Recorded April 4, 2024.

      “The metacrisis is non-separate from meditation, from spiritual awakening, from your soul purpose.”

      (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

      Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

      • Vision questing, praying for guidance, being the open space where insight can enter: “Show me the path that my people can live” (00:52)
      • The benefits of outdoor meditation: “Throughout the universe, one body revealed” (02:58)
      • Nonduality and forest activism (07:40)
      • Can we be responsive to the suffering of the whole, wherever it may be? (09:59)
      • Skillful ideals are pointers, not destinations: it’s all a journey (10:39)
      • Developing collectively to where everything is sacred again (14:36)
      • The consequences of the delusion of separation awaken you to wholeness: being wholeness, expressing wholeness (17:15)
      • The shadow of nonduality: responsibility, the soul piece, activism (20:02)
      • Why are nondual teachers not talking about the metacrisis? (24:40)
      • Traditional spiritual teachers were practicing on deeply local levels; we are now living in a world of global crises, all interrelated, all creating exponential growth of more crises (31:45)
      • How can we talk about the metacrisis? How can we not talk about the metacrisis? How comfortable do we need to allow people to be? (35:52)
      • The beauty of the word “both”: can we hold two people, two perspectives, opposite aspirations at the same time? (39:19)
      • Skillful communication: listen, ask people to explain their positions, do these conversations as a spiritual practice (41:26)
      • Practicing karma yoga: using our work and relationships—our life—as the vehicle of awakening (43:54)
      • It’s going to take every mature person possible to power us out of our adolescent stage (46:38)
      
      

      Resources & References – Part 2

      • Wallace Black Elk, Native American shamanic teacher, Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota*
      • Chan Buddhism
      • Adyashanti, spiritual teacher, Open Gate Sangha
      • Ramana Maharshi, Who Am I? The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi 
      • Nonduality Round Table – Adyashanti, Rupert Spira & John Prendergast (YouTube video)
      • Daniel Schmachtenberger, Rivalrous dynamics, multiplied by exponential technology, self-terminate. Or: how not to go extinct (The Alternative, YouTube video)
      • Dr. Nikki Mirghafori, Bringing Ethics and Wisdom to AI (Deep Transformation podcast)
      • Jonathan Gustin, founder of the Purpose Guides Institute and Green Sangha, a spiritually oriented activist organization
      
      

      Join Roger Walsh at Integral Conference of North America (ICON)’s FUTURE HUMAN conference, May 16-19th, 2024 in Denver!

      * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

      ---

      Jonathan Gustin, MA, MFT, is the founder of Purpose Guides Institute. He helps people to find and embody their life’s purpose, and offers training for those who want to become Purpose Guides themselves. He is also a meditation teacher, facilitating meditation gatherings remotely as well as in-person in his hometown of Victoria, BC, Canada.  

      Jonathan has been a psychotherapist and spiritual mentor for over 25 years. He is a retired adjunct professor at JFK University and co-author of Purpose Rising with Ken Wilber, Erwin Laszlo, and Bill Plotkin. He has had the pleasure of co-teaching programs with such luminaries as Human Potential pioneer George Leonard, eco-activist Joanna Macy, eco-psychologist Bill Plotkin, and Non-Duality pioneer Adyashanti. Jonathan looks forward to igniting a global conversation on Non-Duality & The Metacrisis (with a forthcoming paper in Summer 2024). Jonathan’s Institute welcomes a new cohort each September for Purpose Discovery and Purpose Guide Training. You can join him here:

      HERE Zoom Meditation

      HERE Intro to Purpose Discovery

      HERE Non-duality & the MetaCrisis – A group exploration

      ---

      Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

      ]]>98fddf1d-b1f9-4f2b-9044-fa09386b4caeThu, 18 Apr 2024 05:00:00 -040051:17falsefull126126Integrating Activism & Spiritual Practice: Nonduality and the MetacrisisEp. 125 (Part 1 of 3) | Purpose guide, activist, nonduality student/teacher, and meditation teacher Jonathan Gustin is passionate about bringing the subject of the metacrisis into spiritual practice, essentially updating spiritual traditions that originated on deeply local levels to reflect the world of interrelated global crises we live in today. Jonathan proposes we delve into the relationship between nondual awakening and the metacrisis, using the metacrisis as our spiritual koan, and fostering within our contemplative practice a sense of responsibility for life that manifests in activism. Jonathan’s focus is also on guiding individuals to explore the notion of soul-level purpose—not only to discover our true purpose but embody a purpose that is consistent with love without boundaries. 

      This is a warm, lively, far reaching, and enlightening discussion, tying many intriguing subjects to the overarching theme of nonduality, metacrisis, and soul-level purpose: Native American vision questing, karma yoga, skillful communication, the developmental stages of purpose, the consequences of the delusion of separateness, the difference between humancentric nonduality and ecocentric nonduality, and much more. It is deeply inspirational to approach the metacrisis (which Jonathan provides a wonderful definition of) as an investigation into our relationship with life and reality. Recorded April 4, 2024.

      “When we wake up, we wake up to a love and a responsibility for all things.”

      (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

      Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

      • Introducing meditation teacher, activist, nondual student/teacher, and founder of the Purpose Guides Institute & the Green Sangha organization, Jonathan Gustin (00:51)
      • What inspired Jonathan to adopt climate change as a spiritual practice: Jonathan’s vision of whole person midwifery (02:20)
      • A passion for bringing spiritual practice and activism together (04:20)
      • How can the metacrisis inform nonduality? How can nonduality inform the metacrisis? (05:27)
      • Why does a nondual experience not effect more change in people? (07:43)
      • Nonduality defined: “not two;” the difference between separate and individual, and the underlying unity of reality (09:42)
      • The responsibility aspect: expanding our circle of care, the realization that we are responsible to life brings us to our purpose (12:50) 
      • Marrying liberation (moksha) and service (dharma) into one: liberation/service (15:03)
      • Purpose discovery falls between self-actualization and self-transcendence (17:04)
      • Native American nondual wisdom and Jonathan’s daily practice (19:45)
      • “What is this?” Seung Sahn and Kalu Rinpoche (23:16)
      • For the first time in history we can access all the world’s wisdom: YouTube is the new Alexandria (24:12)
      • Privilege, the top 1%, and the option of service (26:11)
      • Handling the overwhelm of the world’s suffering (29:10)
      • Awakening soul-level purpose and mythopoetic identity (31:09)
      • Understanding and implementing whole person midwifery: Who are you at a soul level? Who are your people? What are you good at? (34:27)
      • “Find the place where your deepest gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet” – Frederick Buechner (37:51)
      
      

      Resources & References – Part 1

      • Jonathan Gustin, founder of the Purpose Guides Institute and Green Sangha, a spiritually oriented activist organization
      • The Advaita Vedanta tradition (Hindu nondual tradition)
      • John Prendergast, co-author of Jonathan’s upcoming paper on the metacrisis and nonduality
      • CA Institute of Integral Studies
      • Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
      • Ramana Maharshi, Who Am I? The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi 
      • Thomas Berry, The Dream of the Earth*, The Great Work: Our Way into the Future*
      • A.H. Almaas, creator of The Diamond Approach, Nonduality and Beyond (Deep Transformation podcast)
      • Wallace Black Elk, Native American shamanic teacher, Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota*
      • What is This? Zen master Seung Sahn, Kalu Rinpoche, and an orange (The Zennist)
      • John Vervaeke, award-winning lecturer on subjects like Awakening from the Meaning Crisis
      • Jonathan Rowson, director of Perspectiva, Making Friends with Conflict, Metamodernity, Construct Awareness, and Other Ways of Facing the Current Metacrisis (Deep Transformation podcast)
      • Daniel Schmachtenberger, founding member of The Consilience Project, Developing a Deeper Understanding of Life: Opening to the Complexity, Wholeness, and Beauty of Reality (Deep Transformation podcast YouTube video)
      • Terry Patten, founder of A New Republic of the Heart, Facing Death: A Call to “Get Real,” the Importance of Being Kind, and Waking Up to the Miracle of Existence (Terry’s Message to Us 3 Weeks Before His Own Passing) (Deep Transformation podcast)
      • Climate Change as Spiritual Practice with Joanna Macy, David Schenk, Larry Churchill (Purpose Guides YouTube video hosted by Jonathan Gustin)
      • Climate Change as Spiritual Teacher with Adyashanti & Jonathan Gustin (YouTube video)
      • Frederick Buechner, “Find the place where your deepest gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet”
      • Joseph...]]>Ep. 125 (Part 1 of 3) | Purpose guide, activist, nonduality student/teacher, and meditation teacher Jonathan Gustin is passionate about bringing the subject of the metacrisis into spiritual practice, essentially updating spiritual traditions that originated on deeply local levels to reflect the world of interrelated global crises we live in today. Jonathan proposes we delve into the relationship between nondual awakening and the metacrisis, using the metacrisis as our spiritual koan, and fostering within our contemplative practice a sense of responsibility for life that manifests in activism. Jonathan’s focus is also on guiding individuals to explore the notion of soul-level purpose—not only to discover our true purpose but embody a purpose that is consistent with love without boundaries. 

        This is a warm, lively, far reaching, and enlightening discussion, tying many intriguing subjects to the overarching theme of nonduality, metacrisis, and soul-level purpose: Native American vision questing, karma yoga, skillful communication, the developmental stages of purpose, the consequences of the delusion of separateness, the difference between humancentric nonduality and ecocentric nonduality, and much more. It is deeply inspirational to approach the metacrisis (which Jonathan provides a wonderful definition of) as an investigation into our relationship with life and reality. Recorded April 4, 2024.

        “When we wake up, we wake up to a love and a responsibility for all things.”

        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

        • Introducing meditation teacher, activist, nondual student/teacher, and founder of the Purpose Guides Institute & the Green Sangha organization, Jonathan Gustin (00:51)
        • What inspired Jonathan to adopt climate change as a spiritual practice: Jonathan’s vision of whole person midwifery (02:20)
        • A passion for bringing spiritual practice and activism together (04:20)
        • How can the metacrisis inform nonduality? How can nonduality inform the metacrisis? (05:27)
        • Why does a nondual experience not effect more change in people? (07:43)
        • Nonduality defined: “not two;” the difference between separate and individual, and the underlying unity of reality (09:42)
        • The responsibility aspect: expanding our circle of care, the realization that we are responsible to life brings us to our purpose (12:50) 
        • Marrying liberation (moksha) and service (dharma) into one: liberation/service (15:03)
        • Purpose discovery falls between self-actualization and self-transcendence (17:04)
        • Native American nondual wisdom and Jonathan’s daily practice (19:45)
        • “What is this?” Seung Sahn and Kalu Rinpoche (23:16)
        • For the first time in history we can access all the world’s wisdom: YouTube is the new Alexandria (24:12)
        • Privilege, the top 1%, and the option of service (26:11)
        • Handling the overwhelm of the world’s suffering (29:10)
        • Awakening soul-level purpose and mythopoetic identity (31:09)
        • Understanding and implementing whole person midwifery: Who are you at a soul level? Who are your people? What are you good at? (34:27)
        • “Find the place where your deepest gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet” – Frederick Buechner (37:51)
        
        

        Resources & References – Part 1

        • Jonathan Gustin, founder of the Purpose Guides Institute and Green Sangha, a spiritually oriented activist organization
        • The Advaita Vedanta tradition (Hindu nondual tradition)
        • John Prendergast, co-author of Jonathan’s upcoming paper on the metacrisis and nonduality
        • CA Institute of Integral Studies
        • Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
        • Ramana Maharshi, Who Am I? The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi 
        • Thomas Berry, The Dream of the Earth*, The Great Work: Our Way into the Future*
        • A.H. Almaas, creator of The Diamond Approach, Nonduality and Beyond (Deep Transformation podcast)
        • Wallace Black Elk, Native American shamanic teacher, Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota*
        • What is This? Zen master Seung Sahn, Kalu Rinpoche, and an orange (The Zennist)
        • John Vervaeke, award-winning lecturer on subjects like Awakening from the Meaning Crisis
        • Jonathan Rowson, director of Perspectiva, Making Friends with Conflict, Metamodernity, Construct Awareness, and Other Ways of Facing the Current Metacrisis (Deep Transformation podcast)
        • Daniel Schmachtenberger, founding member of The Consilience Project, Developing a Deeper Understanding of Life: Opening to the Complexity, Wholeness, and Beauty of Reality (Deep Transformation podcast YouTube video)
        • Terry Patten, founder of A New Republic of the Heart, Facing Death: A Call to “Get Real,” the Importance of Being Kind, and Waking Up to the Miracle of Existence (Terry’s Message to Us 3 Weeks Before His Own Passing) (Deep Transformation podcast)
        • Climate Change as Spiritual Practice with Joanna Macy, David Schenk, Larry Churchill (Purpose Guides YouTube video hosted by Jonathan Gustin)
        • Climate Change as Spiritual Teacher with Adyashanti & Jonathan Gustin (YouTube video)
        • Frederick Buechner, “Find the place where your deepest gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet”
        • Joseph Campbell’s Follow Your Bliss (YouTube video)
        
        

        Join Roger Walsh at Integral Conference of North America (ICON)’s FUTURE HUMAN conference, May 16-19th, 2024 in Denver!

        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

        ---

        Jonathan Gustin, MA, MFT, is the founder of Purpose Guides Institute. He helps people to find and embody their life’s purpose, and offers training for those who want to become Purpose Guides themselves. He is also a meditation teacher, facilitating meditation gatherings remotely as well as in-person in his hometown of Victoria, BC, Canada.  

        Jonathan has been a psychotherapist and spiritual mentor for over 25 years. He is a retired adjunct professor at JFK University and co-author of Purpose Rising with Ken Wilber, Erwin Laszlo, and Bill Plotkin. He has had the pleasure of co-teaching programs with such luminaries as Human Potential pioneer George Leonard, eco-activist Joanna Macy, eco-psychologist Bill Plotkin, and Non-Duality pioneer Adyashanti. Jonathan looks forward to igniting a global conversation on Non-Duality & The Metacrisis (with a forthcoming paper in Summer 2024). Jonathan’s Institute welcomes a new cohort each September for Purpose Discovery and Purpose Guide Training. You can join him here:

        HERE Zoom Meditation

        HERE Intro to Purpose Discovery

        HERE Non-duality & the MetaCrisis – A group exploration

        ---

        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

        ]]>b97cb0c7-437a-4afe-9b35-e0149344ec04Thu, 11 Apr 2024 05:00:00 -040044:04falsefull125125Bringing Ethics & Wisdom to AI: Navigating the Ever Growing Potentials & Challenges of Artificial IntelligenceEp. 124 | In this engaging, informative, and thought provoking conversation, artificial intelligence expert Dr. Nikki Mirghafori gives us a clear picture of where AI technology stands at this point and enlightens us as to its gifts, its potential, and its dangers. Nikki, who is also an internationally acclaimed Buddhist meditation teacher, is passionate about helping to bring equanimity to the whole issue of AI and emphasizes that the fear mongering going on around it is doing all of us a real disservice. She opens our eyes to the enormous potential of AI as applied to global issues such as cleaning up the environment, ending hunger, providing clean water, improving methods of food production—even acting as a wise mentor in supporting people to be their best selves. Nikki tells us that ethical use of AI depends on both designers and users, and that we are not powerless in the way things unfold. 

        How can AI systems be benevolent and supportive and bring out the best in us? Will we be able to maintain our values and ethics as our use of AI continues to expand? If our perception of AI was sort of murky or limited before, this conversation effectively brings us to a much more informed understanding. Nikki explains everything from where we have been exposed to AI without knowing it, the important distinction between weak/narrow AI and strong/general AI (AGI), personal choice engineering, our natural tendency to anthropomorphize AI, and the difference between benevolent AI and compassionate AI. Nikki is a superb teacher and a pleasure to listen to; this conversation is invaluable in its timeliness and its ability to bring us all up to speed on AI. Recorded January 29, 2024.

        “There’s so much good that can come from this technology… the list is endless how much AI technology can be helpful.”

        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

        Topics & Time Stamps

        • Introducing AI research scientist and inventor & gifted meditation teacher and practitioner, Dr. Nikki Mirghafori (01:13)
        • What exactly is AI? (03:07)
        • The important distinction between weak or narrow AI and strong or general AI (AGI) (05:11)
        • AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) which is self-aware and conscious is still only theoretical: fear mongering around AGI is really a disservice to us (06:46)
        • Where have people been exposed to AI without even knowing it? (10:28) 
        • The gifts that AI technology can bring are endless (13:33)
        • The most exciting AI applications for Nikki: finding creative ways to clean up the environment, stop hunger, provide clean water, produce our food, and be a mentor in supporting people to be their best selves (15:07)
        • Pattern recognition: taking input patterns and producing output patterns is the heart/brain of AI (17:35)
        • How can AI help us to become wiser and more compassionate? The ethics of AI depend on both designer and user (20:14)
        • Creating AI in our image and how our developmental level fits in—it’s in the data that the AI system is fed (28:16)
        • Personal choice engineering (32:11) 
        • Kids have become ruder interacting with chatbots like Siri & Alexa: how can we keep our humanity alive and be true to our ethics as we interact with AI? (34:40)
        • Resisting temptation and avoiding sliding down the slippery ethical slope (36:50)
        • What is the mystery of being human? We don’t even know what consciousness is (40:43)
        • The New York Times journalist who was told to leave his wife by a chatbot (45:11)
        • Our natural tendency to project on and anthropomorphize artificial intelligence—many people will be fooled (46:53)
        • Does AI have the potential for exponential growth? AI’s self-improving capacity does not exist now—and may never exist—but parameters, computational power, and storage capacity have become far greater & neural net training has become faster (48:42)
        • Bringing equanimity to the issue of AI (52:42)
        • Why Nikki likes the term “benevolent AI” versus “compassionate AI” (54:23)
        
        

        Resources & References

        • Nikki Mirghafori website: https://www.nikkimirghafori.com
        • Nikki Mirgafori teaching schedule: https://www.nikkimirghafori.com/so/0dOquYoj7?languageTag=en
        • Fei-Fei Li, co-director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence
        • Carlos Casteñeda, “Death is the only wise advisor that we have.” (Journey to Ixtlan*)
        • The Hidden Brain podcast explores the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior and questions that lie at the heart of our complex, changing world
        • Robert Knight and the Knight Cognitive Neuroscience Research Lab at UC Berkeley
        • The 2013 movie Her (YouTube Trailer)
        • Creepy Microsoft Bing Chatbot Urges Tech Columnist To Leave His Wife (Huffington Post)
        
        

        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

        ---

        Dr. Nikki Mirghafori is an Artificial Intelligence scientist and an internationally recognized Buddhist teacher. She serves as a Stewarding Teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, where she is also on the Board of Directors, and a Dharma Teacher at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA.  She teaches with clarity, warmth, and humor on topics ranging from mindful leadership to cultivating kindness, with a rare expertise on mindfulness of death. Dr. Mirghafori is widely published in AI, has led international research collaborations as a Berkeley academic, and advised technology startups. She is of Persian heritage, an advocate for wisdom and compassion in daily life, as well as ethical AI in our zeitgeist. More info at https://www.nikkimirghafori.com.

        ---

        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

        ]]>Ep. 124 | In this engaging, informative, and thought provoking conversation, artificial intelligence expert Dr. Nikki Mirghafori gives us a clear picture of where AI technology stands at this point and enlightens us as to its gifts, its potential, and its dangers. Nikki, who is also an internationally acclaimed Buddhist meditation teacher, is passionate about helping to bring equanimity to the whole issue of AI and emphasizes that the fear mongering going on around it is doing all of us a real disservice. She opens our eyes to the enormous potential of AI as applied to global issues such as cleaning up the environment, ending hunger, providing clean water, improving methods of food production—even acting as a wise mentor in supporting people to be their best selves. Nikki tells us that ethical use of AI depends on both designers and users, and that we are not powerless in the way things unfold. 

        How can AI systems be benevolent and supportive and bring out the best in us? Will we be able to maintain our values and ethics as our use of AI continues to expand? If our perception of AI was sort of murky or limited before, this conversation effectively brings us to a much more informed understanding. Nikki explains everything from where we have been exposed to AI without knowing it, the important distinction between weak/narrow AI and strong/general AI (AGI), personal choice engineering, our natural tendency to anthropomorphize AI, and the difference between benevolent AI and compassionate AI. Nikki is a superb teacher and a pleasure to listen to; this conversation is invaluable in its timeliness and its ability to bring us all up to speed on AI. Recorded January 29, 2024.

        “There’s so much good that can come from this technology… the list is endless how much AI technology can be helpful.”

        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

        Topics & Time Stamps

        • Introducing AI research scientist and inventor & gifted meditation teacher and practitioner, Dr. Nikki Mirghafori (01:13)
        • What exactly is AI? (03:07)
        • The important distinction between weak or narrow AI and strong or general AI (AGI) (05:11)
        • AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) which is self-aware and conscious is still only theoretical: fear mongering around AGI is really a disservice to us (06:46)
        • Where have people been exposed to AI without even knowing it? (10:28) 
        • The gifts that AI technology can bring are endless (13:33)
        • The most exciting AI applications for Nikki: finding creative ways to clean up the environment, stop hunger, provide clean water, produce our food, and be a mentor in supporting people to be their best selves (15:07)
        • Pattern recognition: taking input patterns and producing output patterns is the heart/brain of AI (17:35)
        • How can AI help us to become wiser and more compassionate? The ethics of AI depend on both designer and user (20:14)
        • Creating AI in our image and how our developmental level fits in—it’s in the data that the AI system is fed (28:16)
        • Personal choice engineering (32:11) 
        • Kids have become ruder interacting with chatbots like Siri & Alexa: how can we keep our humanity alive and be true to our ethics as we interact with AI? (34:40)
        • Resisting temptation and avoiding sliding down the slippery ethical slope (36:50)
        • What is the mystery of being human? We don’t even know what consciousness is (40:43)
        • The New York Times journalist who was told to leave his wife by a chatbot (45:11)
        • Our natural tendency to project on and anthropomorphize artificial intelligence—many people will be fooled (46:53)
        • Does AI have the potential for exponential growth? AI’s self-improving capacity does not exist now—and may never exist—but parameters, computational power, and storage capacity have become far greater & neural net training has become faster (48:42)
        • Bringing equanimity to the issue of AI (52:42)
        • Why Nikki likes the term “benevolent AI” versus “compassionate AI” (54:23)
        
        

        Resources & References

        • Nikki Mirghafori website: https://www.nikkimirghafori.com
        • Nikki Mirgafori teaching schedule: https://www.nikkimirghafori.com/so/0dOquYoj7?languageTag=en
        • Fei-Fei Li, co-director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence
        • Carlos Casteñeda, “Death is the only wise advisor that we have.” (Journey to Ixtlan*)
        • The Hidden Brain podcast explores the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior and questions that lie at the heart of our complex, changing world
        • Robert Knight and the Knight Cognitive Neuroscience Research Lab at UC Berkeley
        • The 2013 movie Her (YouTube Trailer)
        • Creepy Microsoft Bing Chatbot Urges Tech Columnist To Leave His Wife (Huffington Post)
        
        

        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

        ---

        Dr. Nikki Mirghafori is an Artificial Intelligence scientist and an internationally recognized Buddhist teacher. She serves as a Stewarding Teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, where she is also on the Board of Directors, and a Dharma Teacher at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA.  She teaches with clarity, warmth, and humor on topics ranging from mindful leadership to cultivating kindness, with a rare expertise on mindfulness of death. Dr. Mirghafori is widely published in AI, has led international research collaborations as a Berkeley academic, and advised technology startups. She is of Persian heritage, an advocate for wisdom and compassion in daily life, as well as ethical AI in our zeitgeist. More info at https://www.nikkimirghafori.com.

        ---

        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

        ]]>342d3ceb-2cef-4cdb-b84a-8f89491ca380Thu, 04 Apr 2024 05:00:00 -040001:00:36falsefull124124Living on the Spiritual Edge: The Ever-Deepening Healing & Transformative Gifts of Opening to Life with Joseph Goldstein (Part 3)Ep. 123 (Part 3 of 3) | Joseph Goldstein, co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, brilliant spiritual teacher, and prolific author, whose books have been foundational to many people’s understanding of Buddhism, mindfulness, and insight meditation, shares rich nuggets of wisdom stemming from a lifetime of ever-deepening practice. The focus of this conversation remains very much in the present, as Joseph describes how the leading edge of his practice never stops moving forward and how his understanding of the most basic ideas becomes ever more refined and liberating. In sharing his insights, he sheds light on and smooths the path for the rest of us: about the mysterious arising of compassion, made easier the more open we are and the less self-referential, about reframing our experience in a way that frees us, about spontaneous responsiveness, and about awakening being a gradual process—until it’s sudden.

        Joseph’s new favorite definition of enlightenment is “lightening up” for the way it conveys a sense of making progress along a journey. And with his humor, humility, and easy, lighthearted manner, Joseph exemplifies and transmits a lighter way of being in the world. He makes it ever so clear that spiritual practice and meditation, examining and investigating our experience moment to moment, naturally leads us to compassionate responsiveness and out of the shackles of what binds us to a self that is ultimately just a construct. Recorded November 2, 2023.

        “Nirvana is like the peace that comes when the refrigerator stops humming.”

        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3

        • An ever-deepening understanding of refuge: for Joseph, refuge feels like being held (00:56)
        • In mindfulness, unwholesome states of mind no longer act as distorting filters—they are wholly accepted (04:12)
        • The effects of recognizing aversion and resistance to your experience (07:03)
        • Liberation is impossible as long as there is attachment to the pleasant, aversion to the unpleasant (08:02)
        • Nirvana is like the peace that comes when the refrigerator stops humming; it also describes the mind free of defilements (10:09)
        • What is unique about the experience of nirvana? What gives it the transformative power to uproot defilements? (15:17)
        • Does the path ever end? Who knows! (19:29)
        • It’s the quality of your interest that is key to staying on the spiritual path: “If you want to understand your mind, sit down and observe it” (22:55)
        • Joseph: “The fact that liberation is inevitable gives me a lot of joy.” (25:18)
        • Reflections on how Buddhist teachings apply to the crises of today: the balance of equanimity and compassion make effective response possible (27:39)
        
        

        Resources & References – Part 3

        • Dogen, founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan in the 13th century
        • A.H. Almaas, founder of The Diamond Approach, see also Deep Transformation episode #43, Nonduality and Beyond: The Exhilarating Adventure of Discovering the Nature of Reality (or watch on YouTube)
        • Joseph’s article on Nirvana: Reflections on Nibbana
        • Anagarika Munindra, Bengali Buddhist master & Vipassana meditation teacher
        • Ram Dass, Grist for the Mill*
        • Angeles Arrien, The Four-Fold Way: Walking the Paths of the Warrior, Healer, Teacher and Visionary*
        • Joseph Goldstein, co-founder Insight Meditation Society 
        • Joseph Goldstein, The Experience of Insight*
        • Joseph Goldstein & Jack Kornfield, Seeking the Heart of Wisdom: The Path of Insight Meditation*
        • Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening*
        • Joseph Goldstein, One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism*
        • Joseph’s article on Nirvana: Reflections on Nibbana
        
        

        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

        ---

        Joseph Goldstein is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society and the Barre Center for Buddhist studies, both in Barre, Massachusetts. He is the author of Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening, A Heart Full of Peace, One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism, Insight Meditation and The Experience of Insight. He has also co-authored books with Sharon Salzberg and Jack Kornfield. Joseph has studied and practiced meditation since 1967 under the guidance of eminent teachers from India, Burma, and Tibet, and he leads Insight Meditation retreats around the world.

        ---

        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

        ]]>Ep. 123 (Part 3 of 3) | Joseph Goldstein, co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, brilliant spiritual teacher, and prolific author, whose books have been foundational to many people’s understanding of Buddhism, mindfulness, and insight meditation, shares rich nuggets of wisdom stemming from a lifetime of ever-deepening practice. The focus of this conversation remains very much in the present, as Joseph describes how the leading edge of his practice never stops moving forward and how his understanding of the most basic ideas becomes ever more refined and liberating. In sharing his insights, he sheds light on and smooths the path for the rest of us: about the mysterious arising of compassion, made easier the more open we are and the less self-referential, about reframing our experience in a way that frees us, about spontaneous responsiveness, and about awakening being a gradual process—until it’s sudden.

        Joseph’s new favorite definition of enlightenment is “lightening up” for the way it conveys a sense of making progress along a journey. And with his humor, humility, and easy, lighthearted manner, Joseph exemplifies and transmits a lighter way of being in the world. He makes it ever so clear that spiritual practice and meditation, examining and investigating our experience moment to moment, naturally leads us to compassionate responsiveness and out of the shackles of what binds us to a self that is ultimately just a construct. Recorded November 2, 2023.

        “Nirvana is like the peace that comes when the refrigerator stops humming.”

        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3

        • An ever-deepening understanding of refuge: for Joseph, refuge feels like being held (00:56)
        • In mindfulness, unwholesome states of mind no longer act as distorting filters—they are wholly accepted (04:12)
        • The effects of recognizing aversion and resistance to your experience (07:03)
        • Liberation is impossible as long as there is attachment to the pleasant, aversion to the unpleasant (08:02)
        • Nirvana is like the peace that comes when the refrigerator stops humming; it also describes the mind free of defilements (10:09)
        • What is unique about the experience of nirvana? What gives it the transformative power to uproot defilements? (15:17)
        • Does the path ever end? Who knows! (19:29)
        • It’s the quality of your interest that is key to staying on the spiritual path: “If you want to understand your mind, sit down and observe it” (22:55)
        • Joseph: “The fact that liberation is inevitable gives me a lot of joy.” (25:18)
        • Reflections on how Buddhist teachings apply to the crises of today: the balance of equanimity and compassion make effective response possible (27:39)
        
        

        Resources & References – Part 3

        • Dogen, founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan in the 13th century
        • A.H. Almaas, founder of The Diamond Approach, see also Deep Transformation episode #43, Nonduality and Beyond: The Exhilarating Adventure of Discovering the Nature of Reality (or watch on YouTube)
        • Joseph’s article on Nirvana: Reflections on Nibbana
        • Anagarika Munindra, Bengali Buddhist master & Vipassana meditation teacher
        • Ram Dass, Grist for the Mill*
        • Angeles Arrien, The Four-Fold Way: Walking the Paths of the Warrior, Healer, Teacher and Visionary*
        • Joseph Goldstein, co-founder Insight Meditation Society 
        • Joseph Goldstein, The Experience of Insight*
        • Joseph Goldstein & Jack Kornfield, Seeking the Heart of Wisdom: The Path of Insight Meditation*
        • Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening*
        • Joseph Goldstein, One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism*
        • Joseph’s article on Nirvana: Reflections on Nibbana
        
        

        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

        ---

        Joseph Goldstein is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society and the Barre Center for Buddhist studies, both in Barre, Massachusetts. He is the author of Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening, A Heart Full of Peace, One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism, Insight Meditation and The Experience of Insight. He has also co-authored books with Sharon Salzberg and Jack Kornfield. Joseph has studied and practiced meditation since 1967 under the guidance of eminent teachers from India, Burma, and Tibet, and he leads Insight Meditation retreats around the world.

        ---

        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

        ]]>7916f4ae-14c6-4a89-9555-0cc055abb95cThu, 28 Mar 2024 05:00:00 -040037:04falsefull123123Living on the Spiritual Edge: The Ever-Deepening Healing & Transformative Gifts of Opening to Life with Joseph Goldstein (Part 2)Ep. 122 (Part 2 of 3) | Joseph Goldstein, co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, brilliant spiritual teacher, and prolific author, whose books have been foundational to many people’s understanding of Buddhism, mindfulness, and insight meditation, shares rich nuggets of wisdom stemming from a lifetime of ever-deepening practice. The focus of this conversation remains very much in the present, as Joseph describes how the leading edge of his practice never stops moving forward and how his understanding of the most basic ideas becomes ever more refined and liberating. In sharing his insights, he sheds light on and smooths the path for the rest of us: about the mysterious arising of compassion, made easier the more open we are and the less self-referential, about reframing our experience in a way that frees us, about spontaneous responsiveness, and about awakening being a gradual process—until it’s sudden.

        Joseph’s new favorite definition of enlightenment is “lightening up” for the way it conveys a sense of making progress along a journey. And with his humor, humility, and easy, lighthearted manner, Joseph exemplifies and transmits a lighter way of being in the world. He makes it ever so clear that spiritual practice and meditation, examining and investigating our experience moment to moment, naturally leads us to compassionate responsiveness and out of the shackles of what binds us to a self that is ultimately just a construct. Recorded November 2, 2023.

        “The forward edge has more to do with the attitude of exploration rather than any particular thing.“

        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

        • The mysterious arising of compassion and what does this say about the nature of reality? (00:52)
        • Compassion is the manifestation of emptiness; responsiveness is the activity of emptiness (03:00)
        • Understanding bodhicitta (05:47)
        • The near enemy of compassion is sorrow, because in sorrow is aversion (09:57)
        • Moving out of sorrow to compassionate response transfigures sorrow into an uplifting energy: moving from self to non-self (13:52) 
        • How unwholesome mind patterns keep us bound, and uprooting the first 3 fetters/defilements in the 1st stage of enlightenment (17:36)
        • Desire and aversion are uprooted at the third stage of enlightenment but conceit, or some manifestation of “I am-ing,” remains (19:47)
        • The experience of the zero center: when we know unmistakably that self is a construct—still there are still deeply conditioned habits of mind, one of which is the habit pattern “I am” (21:38)
        • The power of recognizing the particular defilement that triggers our suffering (23:50)
        • Don’t conflate clear perception, recognition, with mindfulness—recognizing fear is different from accepting fear (29:59)
        
        

        Resources & References – Part 2

        • Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche & Lama Surya Das, Natural Great Perfection*
        • Ram Dass & Paul Gorman, How Can I Help*
        • Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Vajrayana master, scholar, poet, teacher, “When we realize the selfless nature of phenomena, the energy to bring about the good of others dawns uncontrived and effortless.”
        • Alan Watts, Trust Human Nature (YouTube video)
        • Lama Surya Das, Dzogchen teacher, see also Deep Transformation podcast episode #83, The Essence of Awakening
        • Kevin Schanilec, The 10 Fetters, SimplyTheSeen.com
        • Bhikkhu Analayo, Buddhist monk, scholar, meditation teacher
        • Joseph Goldstein, co-founder Insight Meditation Society 
        • Joseph Goldstein, The Experience of Insight*
        • Joseph Goldstein & Jack Kornfield, Seeking the Heart of Wisdom: The Path of Insight Meditation*
        • Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening*
        • Joseph Goldstein, One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism*
        • Joseph’s article on Nirvana: Reflections on Nibbana
        
        

        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

        ---

        Joseph Goldstein is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society and the Barre Center for Buddhist studies, both in Barre, Massachusetts. He is the author of Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening, A Heart Full of Peace, One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism, Insight Meditation and The Experience of Insight. He has also co-authored books with Sharon Salzberg and Jack Kornfield. Joseph has studied and practiced meditation since 1967 under the guidance of eminent teachers from India, Burma, and Tibet, and he leads Insight Meditation retreats around the world.

        ---

        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

        ]]>Ep. 122 (Part 2 of 3) | Joseph Goldstein, co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, brilliant spiritual teacher, and prolific author, whose books have been foundational to many people’s understanding of Buddhism, mindfulness, and insight meditation, shares rich nuggets of wisdom stemming from a lifetime of ever-deepening practice. The focus of this conversation remains very much in the present, as Joseph describes how the leading edge of his practice never stops moving forward and how his understanding of the most basic ideas becomes ever more refined and liberating. In sharing his insights, he sheds light on and smooths the path for the rest of us: about the mysterious arising of compassion, made easier the more open we are and the less self-referential, about reframing our experience in a way that frees us, about spontaneous responsiveness, and about awakening being a gradual process—until it’s sudden.

        Joseph’s new favorite definition of enlightenment is “lightening up” for the way it conveys a sense of making progress along a journey. And with his humor, humility, and easy, lighthearted manner, Joseph exemplifies and transmits a lighter way of being in the world. He makes it ever so clear that spiritual practice and meditation, examining and investigating our experience moment to moment, naturally leads us to compassionate responsiveness and out of the shackles of what binds us to a self that is ultimately just a construct. Recorded November 2, 2023.

        “The forward edge has more to do with the attitude of exploration rather than any particular thing.“

        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

        • The mysterious arising of compassion and what does this say about the nature of reality? (00:52)
        • Compassion is the manifestation of emptiness; responsiveness is the activity of emptiness (03:00)
        • Understanding bodhicitta (05:47)
        • The near enemy of compassion is sorrow, because in sorrow is aversion (09:57)
        • Moving out of sorrow to compassionate response transfigures sorrow into an uplifting energy: moving from self to non-self (13:52) 
        • How unwholesome mind patterns keep us bound, and uprooting the first 3 fetters/defilements in the 1st stage of enlightenment (17:36)
        • Desire and aversion are uprooted at the third stage of enlightenment but conceit, or some manifestation of “I am-ing,” remains (19:47)
        • The experience of the zero center: when we know unmistakably that self is a construct—still there are still deeply conditioned habits of mind, one of which is the habit pattern “I am” (21:38)
        • The power of recognizing the particular defilement that triggers our suffering (23:50)
        • Don’t conflate clear perception, recognition, with mindfulness—recognizing fear is different from accepting fear (29:59)
        
        

        Resources & References – Part 2

        • Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche & Lama Surya Das, Natural Great Perfection*
        • Ram Dass & Paul Gorman, How Can I Help*
        • Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Vajrayana master, scholar, poet, teacher, “When we realize the selfless nature of phenomena, the energy to bring about the good of others dawns uncontrived and effortless.”
        • Alan Watts, Trust Human Nature (YouTube video)
        • Lama Surya Das, Dzogchen teacher, see also Deep Transformation podcast episode #83, The Essence of Awakening
        • Kevin Schanilec, The 10 Fetters, SimplyTheSeen.com
        • Bhikkhu Analayo, Buddhist monk, scholar, meditation teacher
        • Joseph Goldstein, co-founder Insight Meditation Society 
        • Joseph Goldstein, The Experience of Insight*
        • Joseph Goldstein & Jack Kornfield, Seeking the Heart of Wisdom: The Path of Insight Meditation*
        • Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening*
        • Joseph Goldstein, One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism*
        • Joseph’s article on Nirvana: Reflections on Nibbana
        
        

        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

        ---

        Joseph Goldstein is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society and the Barre Center for Buddhist studies, both in Barre, Massachusetts. He is the author of Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening, A Heart Full of Peace, One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism, Insight Meditation and The Experience of Insight. He has also co-authored books with Sharon Salzberg and Jack Kornfield. Joseph has studied and practiced meditation since 1967 under the guidance of eminent teachers from India, Burma, and Tibet, and he leads Insight Meditation retreats around the world.

        ---

        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

        ]]>59480129-2c43-462e-b1d6-21f36f7c70ccThu, 21 Mar 2024 05:00:00 -040039:00falsefull122122Living on the Spiritual Edge: The Ever-Deepening Healing & Transformative Gifts of Opening to Life with Joseph GoldsteinEp. 121 (Part 1 of 3) | Joseph Goldstein, co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, brilliant spiritual teacher, and prolific author, whose books have been foundational to many people’s understanding of Buddhism, mindfulness, and insight meditation, shares rich nuggets of wisdom stemming from a lifetime of ever-deepening practice. The focus of this conversation remains very much in the present, as Joseph describes how the leading edge of his practice never stops moving forward and how his understanding of the most basic ideas becomes ever more refined and liberating. In sharing his insights, he sheds light on and smooths the path for the rest of us: about the mysterious arising of compassion, made easier the more open we are and the less self-referential, about reframing our experience in a way that frees us, about spontaneous responsiveness, and about awakening being a gradual process—until it’s sudden.

        Joseph’s new favorite definition of enlightenment is “lightening up” for the way it conveys a sense of making progress along a journey. And with his humor, humility, and easy, lighthearted manner, Joseph exemplifies and transmits a lighter way of being in the world. He makes it ever so clear that spiritual practice and meditation, examining and investigating our experience moment to moment, naturally leads us to compassionate responsiveness and out of the shackles of what binds us to a self that is ultimately just a construct. Recorded November 2, 2023.

        “The fact that liberation is inevitable gives me a lot of joy.”

        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

        • Introducing Joseph Goldstein, renowned Buddhist meditation teacher, co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society, and author of many spiritual books (01:05)
        • What’s on the edge for Joseph now? The edge is always about clinging, and as what you cling to changes, the edge changes (03:45)
        • Over time, the understanding of mindfulness becomes more and more refined (04:51)
        • Joseph’s new favorite definition of enlightenment: lightening up (08:53)
        • Don’t waste your suffering! Relate to it with interest (10:58)
        • The ultimate reframe: “I” becomes “no-I” (13:44)
        • How walking meditation can open us to a vivid experience of selflessness (15:06)
        • Our lives are lived in relationship to our overlay on experience, going to the direct experience is itself healing and transformative (18:56)
        • The conceptual level lends some sense of permanence but on the level of direct experience, everything changes, nothing is permanent (20:07)
        • Clinging to things that are impermanent gives you rope burn (21:44)
        • Awakening is always gradual…until it’s sudden: the diminishment of defilements and the uprooting of defilements (22:55)
        • Sudden awakening, gradual cultivation, and the necessity to integrate an awakening experience (26:57)
        • There are 4 stages of enlightenment because we are not able to open to the magnitude of suffering all at once; we have gone beyond belief in self, but there is still desire, aversion, conceit (31:53)
        • Practice is a continual deepening (34:35)
        
        

        Resources & References – Part 1

        • Joseph Goldstein, co-founder Insight Meditation Society 
        • Joseph Goldstein, The Experience of Insight*
        • Joseph Goldstein & Jack Kornfield, Seeking the Heart of Wisdom: The Path of Insight Meditation*
        • Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening*
        • Joseph Goldstein, One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism*
        • Joseph’s article on Nirvana: Reflections on Nibbana
        • Sayādaw U Pandita, one of the foremost insight meditation teachers from Burma
        • Anagarika Munindra, Bengali Buddhist master & Vipassana meditation teacher
        • Shunryū Suzuki Roshi, Zen monk who popularized Zen Buddhism in the West, “Everything changes.” Author of Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind* and many more
        • Korean Zen Master Chinul, Tracing Back the Radiance*, “Sudden awakening, gradual cultivation”
        
        

        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

        ---

        Joseph Goldstein is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society and the Barre Center for Buddhist studies, both in Barre, Massachusetts. He is the author of Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening, A Heart Full of Peace, One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism, Insight Meditation and The Experience of Insight. He has also co-authored books with Sharon Salzberg and Jack Kornfield. Joseph has studied and practiced meditation since 1967 under the guidance of eminent teachers from India, Burma, and Tibet, and he leads Insight Meditation retreats around the world.

        ---

        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

        ]]>Ep. 121 (Part 1 of 3) | Joseph Goldstein, co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, brilliant spiritual teacher, and prolific author, whose books have been foundational to many people’s understanding of Buddhism, mindfulness, and insight meditation, shares rich nuggets of wisdom stemming from a lifetime of ever-deepening practice. The focus of this conversation remains very much in the present, as Joseph describes how the leading edge of his practice never stops moving forward and how his understanding of the most basic ideas becomes ever more refined and liberating. In sharing his insights, he sheds light on and smooths the path for the rest of us: about the mysterious arising of compassion, made easier the more open we are and the less self-referential, about reframing our experience in a way that frees us, about spontaneous responsiveness, and about awakening being a gradual process—until it’s sudden.

        Joseph’s new favorite definition of enlightenment is “lightening up” for the way it conveys a sense of making progress along a journey. And with his humor, humility, and easy, lighthearted manner, Joseph exemplifies and transmits a lighter way of being in the world. He makes it ever so clear that spiritual practice and meditation, examining and investigating our experience moment to moment, naturally leads us to compassionate responsiveness and out of the shackles of what binds us to a self that is ultimately just a construct. Recorded November 2, 2023.

        “The fact that liberation is inevitable gives me a lot of joy.”

        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

        • Introducing Joseph Goldstein, renowned Buddhist meditation teacher, co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society, and author of many spiritual books (01:05)
        • What’s on the edge for Joseph now? The edge is always about clinging, and as what you cling to changes, the edge changes (03:45)
        • Over time, the understanding of mindfulness becomes more and more refined (04:51)
        • Joseph’s new favorite definition of enlightenment: lightening up (08:53)
        • Don’t waste your suffering! Relate to it with interest (10:58)
        • The ultimate reframe: “I” becomes “no-I” (13:44)
        • How walking meditation can open us to a vivid experience of selflessness (15:06)
        • Our lives are lived in relationship to our overlay on experience, going to the direct experience is itself healing and transformative (18:56)
        • The conceptual level lends some sense of permanence but on the level of direct experience, everything changes, nothing is permanent (20:07)
        • Clinging to things that are impermanent gives you rope burn (21:44)
        • Awakening is always gradual…until it’s sudden: the diminishment of defilements and the uprooting of defilements (22:55)
        • Sudden awakening, gradual cultivation, and the necessity to integrate an awakening experience (26:57)
        • There are 4 stages of enlightenment because we are not able to open to the magnitude of suffering all at once; we have gone beyond belief in self, but there is still desire, aversion, conceit (31:53)
        • Practice is a continual deepening (34:35)
        
        

        Resources & References – Part 1

        • Joseph Goldstein, co-founder Insight Meditation Society 
        • Joseph Goldstein, The Experience of Insight*
        • Joseph Goldstein & Jack Kornfield, Seeking the Heart of Wisdom: The Path of Insight Meditation*
        • Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening*
        • Joseph Goldstein, One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism*
        • Joseph’s article on Nirvana: Reflections on Nibbana
        • Sayādaw U Pandita, one of the foremost insight meditation teachers from Burma
        • Anagarika Munindra, Bengali Buddhist master & Vipassana meditation teacher
        • Shunryū Suzuki Roshi, Zen monk who popularized Zen Buddhism in the West, “Everything changes.” Author of Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind* and many more
        • Korean Zen Master Chinul, Tracing Back the Radiance*, “Sudden awakening, gradual cultivation”
        
        

        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

        ---

        Joseph Goldstein is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society and the Barre Center for Buddhist studies, both in Barre, Massachusetts. He is the author of Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening, A Heart Full of Peace, One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism, Insight Meditation and The Experience of Insight. He has also co-authored books with Sharon Salzberg and Jack Kornfield. Joseph has studied and practiced meditation since 1967 under the guidance of eminent teachers from India, Burma, and Tibet, and he leads Insight Meditation retreats around the world.

        ---

        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

        ]]>28086358-35f6-4ac4-b2a1-2f74262effb9Thu, 14 Mar 2024 05:00:00 -040039:00falsefull121121Exploring Life Through Poetry & Practice: The Art of Asking and Opening to Life’s Deepest Questions (Part 2)Ep. 120 (Part 2 of 2) | Many time award-winning poet Jane Hirshfield has spent her life steeped in poetry and spiritual practice. Here, we feel almost as if we’ve been invited into her kitchen to talk about life, love, and especially about poems and how they offer us various answers to the abiding questions: who are we, what are we, what is our relationship to each other, what must we be grateful toward? Jane describes poems as vessels of discovery and poetry as taking your understanding and putting it into a form that is holdable, retrievable, transmissible. Poems can also be keys to unlock our despair, she explains, creating a crack in the darkness, a re-entrance to the possibility of wholeness. Jane’s sublime poetry is many-layered; the same poem might be about human love or peace between nations, about the end of love or the fact that love never dies. Jane shares that her lifetime of questioning (her most recent book of new and selected poetry is titled The Asking) has boiled down to one question: How can I serve?

        An awareness of our interconnectedness with all beings, all of life, permeates her work, and Jane is driven to provoke action on contemporary, pressing issues of biosphere, peace, and justice, and help us navigate the tightrope between hope and despair. The conversation also turns to early feminism and the poetry of women mystics that Jane put together in a beautiful anthology called Women in Praise of the Sacred, covering 43 centuries of spiritual poetry by women. When asked about her longtime Zen practice, Jane said, “I needed to become more of a human being, understand a different way of living inside this life I had been given” to become a good poet. She tells us that both poetry and Zen are paths of discovery, exploration, and awareness, and both paths insist that we attend to this world fully. This is a warm, personal, deeply illuminating, and thought provoking conversation, and Jane reads several of her poems, revealing their depth and beauty. Recorded November 30, 2023.

        “I don’t want a model of spirituality that excludes other forms of connection. Inclusion is the only path that makes sense.”

        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

        • How can we become a magnet for creative imagination? (00:49) 
        • Artist retreats are the monastery of creativity (03:51)
        • How Jane was drawn towards poetry, haiku, and Buddhist understanding early on (07:56)
        • In 3-year retreat at Tassajara, writing wasn’t permitted, and how poetry returned after the monastic years (12:40)
        • Both poetry and Zen are paths that insist you attend to this world fully (14:12)
        • Women poets throughout history and the story of Enheduanna, earliest known poet (18:07)
        • Protofeminist movement in the Middle Ages: the Beguines (25:08)
        • Reading of Mechthild of Magdeburg’s poem, and how we carry a molecule of divine remembrance with us (26:56)
        • Spiritual poems of male and female mystics, are they different? (30:12)
        • Poems of the sacred rather than poems of suffering: dark nights of the soul come after moments of awakening as much as before (33:19)
        • Spiritual poems often use the language of eros, and how inclusion of all forms of connection is the only path that makes sense (35:01) 
        • Women have found their voice…yet women have always written poetry (37:09)
        • Reading of “The Poet,” a 1996 poem about poems that have never been published (39:01)
        • “I Imagine Myself in Time” reading (44:12)
        
        

        Resources & References – Part 2

        • Allen Ginsberg, American poet, Buddhist, activist
        • Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, Green Gulch Farm Zen Center
        • Alan Watts popularized Buddhist, Taoist & Hindu philosophy for a Western audience
        • Jane Hirshfield, Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women*
        • Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own*
        • Emily Dickinson, Katherine Anne Porter, Jane Austen
        • Ancient Akkadian poet Enheduanna, The Hymn to Inanna
        • Cole Porter’s song Begin the Beguine
        • Protofeminism and the Beguines
        • Julian of Norwich, “All will be well, all manner of things will be well.”
        • Mechthild of Magdeburg, Beguine, Christian medieval mystic 
        • Mirabai, Hindu mystic and poet
        • Kabir, Indian mystic, poet & saint
        • Eliza Griswold, poet and journalist of conflict zones
        • Nobel prize winners, Louise Glück & Toni Morrison
        • Jane Hirshfield, The Asking: New and Selected Poems* (September 2023)
        • Jane Hirshfield, Ledger: Poems* (2021)
        • Jane Hirshfield, Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women*
        • About Jane Hirshfield, Poetry.org website
        
        

        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

        ---

        Jane Hirshfield, writing “some of the most important poetry in the world today” (The New York Times Magazine), is one of American poetry’s central spokespersons for concerns of the biosphere. Hirshfield’s honors include fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations and National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Center Book Award, the California Book Award, and finalist selection for the National Book Critics Circle Award. The author of two now-classic collections of essays on poetry’s infrastructure and craft, and editor and co-translator of four books presenting world poets from the deep past, Hirshfield’s work,...]]>Ep. 120 (Part 2 of 2) | Many time award-winning poet Jane Hirshfield has spent her life steeped in poetry and spiritual practice. Here, we feel almost as if we’ve been invited into her kitchen to talk about life, love, and especially about poems and how they offer us various answers to the abiding questions: who are we, what are we, what is our relationship to each other, what must we be grateful toward? Jane describes poems as vessels of discovery and poetry as taking your understanding and putting it into a form that is holdable, retrievable, transmissible. Poems can also be keys to unlock our despair, she explains, creating a crack in the darkness, a re-entrance to the possibility of wholeness. Jane’s sublime poetry is many-layered; the same poem might be about human love or peace between nations, about the end of love or the fact that love never dies. Jane shares that her lifetime of questioning (her most recent book of new and selected poetry is titled The Asking) has boiled down to one question: How can I serve?

        An awareness of our interconnectedness with all beings, all of life, permeates her work, and Jane is driven to provoke action on contemporary, pressing issues of biosphere, peace, and justice, and help us navigate the tightrope between hope and despair. The conversation also turns to early feminism and the poetry of women mystics that Jane put together in a beautiful anthology called Women in Praise of the Sacred, covering 43 centuries of spiritual poetry by women. When asked about her longtime Zen practice, Jane said, “I needed to become more of a human being, understand a different way of living inside this life I had been given” to become a good poet. She tells us that both poetry and Zen are paths of discovery, exploration, and awareness, and both paths insist that we attend to this world fully. This is a warm, personal, deeply illuminating, and thought provoking conversation, and Jane reads several of her poems, revealing their depth and beauty. Recorded November 30, 2023.

        “I don’t want a model of spirituality that excludes other forms of connection. Inclusion is the only path that makes sense.”

        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

        • How can we become a magnet for creative imagination? (00:49) 
        • Artist retreats are the monastery of creativity (03:51)
        • How Jane was drawn towards poetry, haiku, and Buddhist understanding early on (07:56)
        • In 3-year retreat at Tassajara, writing wasn’t permitted, and how poetry returned after the monastic years (12:40)
        • Both poetry and Zen are paths that insist you attend to this world fully (14:12)
        • Women poets throughout history and the story of Enheduanna, earliest known poet (18:07)
        • Protofeminist movement in the Middle Ages: the Beguines (25:08)
        • Reading of Mechthild of Magdeburg’s poem, and how we carry a molecule of divine remembrance with us (26:56)
        • Spiritual poems of male and female mystics, are they different? (30:12)
        • Poems of the sacred rather than poems of suffering: dark nights of the soul come after moments of awakening as much as before (33:19)
        • Spiritual poems often use the language of eros, and how inclusion of all forms of connection is the only path that makes sense (35:01) 
        • Women have found their voice…yet women have always written poetry (37:09)
        • Reading of “The Poet,” a 1996 poem about poems that have never been published (39:01)
        • “I Imagine Myself in Time” reading (44:12)
        
        

        Resources & References – Part 2

        • Allen Ginsberg, American poet, Buddhist, activist
        • Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, Green Gulch Farm Zen Center
        • Alan Watts popularized Buddhist, Taoist & Hindu philosophy for a Western audience
        • Jane Hirshfield, Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women*
        • Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own*
        • Emily Dickinson, Katherine Anne Porter, Jane Austen
        • Ancient Akkadian poet Enheduanna, The Hymn to Inanna
        • Cole Porter’s song Begin the Beguine
        • Protofeminism and the Beguines
        • Julian of Norwich, “All will be well, all manner of things will be well.”
        • Mechthild of Magdeburg, Beguine, Christian medieval mystic 
        • Mirabai, Hindu mystic and poet
        • Kabir, Indian mystic, poet & saint
        • Eliza Griswold, poet and journalist of conflict zones
        • Nobel prize winners, Louise Glück & Toni Morrison
        • Jane Hirshfield, The Asking: New and Selected Poems* (September 2023)
        • Jane Hirshfield, Ledger: Poems* (2021)
        • Jane Hirshfield, Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women*
        • About Jane Hirshfield, Poetry.org website
        
        

        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

        ---

        Jane Hirshfield, writing “some of the most important poetry in the world today” (The New York Times Magazine), is one of American poetry’s central spokespersons for concerns of the biosphere. Hirshfield’s honors include fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations and National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Center Book Award, the California Book Award, and finalist selection for the National Book Critics Circle Award. The author of two now-classic collections of essays on poetry’s infrastructure and craft, and editor and co-translator of four books presenting world poets from the deep past, Hirshfield’s work, translated into seventeen languages, appears in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, and ten editions of The Best American Poems. A former chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, she was elected in 2019 into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Her most recently published collection of poetry is The Asking: New & Selected Poems (Knopf, 2023).

        ---

        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

        ]]>2a4ba633-4fc6-47d4-b257-18b396e689d1Thu, 07 Mar 2024 05:00:00 -040049:12falsefull120120Exploring Life Through Poetry & Practice: The Art of Asking and Opening to Life’s Deepest QuestionsEp. 119 (Part 1 of 2) | Many time award-winning poet Jane Hirshfield has spent her life steeped in poetry and spiritual practice. Here, we feel almost as if we’ve been invited into her kitchen to talk about life, love, and especially about poems and how they offer us various answers to the abiding questions: who are we, what are we, what is our relationship to each other, what must we be grateful toward? Jane describes poems as vessels of discovery and poetry as taking your understanding and putting it into a form that is holdable, retrievable, transmissible. Poems can also be keys to unlock our despair, she explains, creating a crack in the darkness, a re-entrance to the possibility of wholeness. Jane’s sublime poetry is many-layered; the same poem might be about human love or peace between nations, about the end of love or the fact that love never dies. Jane shares that her lifetime of questioning (her most recent book of new and selected poetry is titled The Asking) has boiled down to one question: How can I serve?

        An awareness of our interconnectedness with all beings, all of life, permeates her work, and Jane is driven to provoke action on contemporary, pressing issues of biosphere, peace, and justice, and help us navigate the tightrope between hope and despair. The conversation also turns to early feminism and the poetry of women mystics that Jane put together in a beautiful anthology called Women in Praise of the Sacred, covering 43 centuries of spiritual poetry by women. When asked about her longtime Zen practice, Jane said, “I needed to become more of a human being, understand a different way of living inside this life I had been given” to become a good poet. She tells us that both poetry and Zen are paths of discovery, exploration, and awareness, and both paths insist that we attend to this world fully. This is a warm, personal, deeply illuminating, and thought provoking conversation, and Jane reads several of her poems, revealing their depth and beauty. Recorded November 30, 2023.

        “Nonduality is inherent in an existence experienced as a verb and not as a noun.”

        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

        • Introducing award-winning poet and long-time Zen practitioner Jane Hirshfield (00:59)
        • Jane’s recent collection of poems, The Asking, tracks the story of her evolution as a poet (02:33)
        • How the title The Asking came about: a poem is an exploration of a question that can’t be answered (04:50)
        • What is poetry? Poems are vessels of discovery that are retrievable; they provide you with a record of having worked through the questions (08:54)
        • Sacred questions, Zen practice, and how Jane’s questions eventually became one: “How can I serve?” (11:55)
        • Remembering we are all interconnected—this is not a solitary venture (16:16)
        • Jane’s reading of “Today, When I Could Do Nothing,” written the first day of the COVID stay-at-home mandate (18:52) 
        • Entering the zone of poetry you become more open: when you ask a question, you start hearing answers everywhere (24:41)
        • How does the invisible become visible? Poetry finds a way (26:11)
        • If we could understand existence as verbs rather than nouns, it would change everything (27:19)
        • Opening to poetry, synchronicities show up everywhere, things leap into a poem to help (29:08)
        • Science, the advent of the microbiome, and the realization that a large part of us isn’t human (30:54)
        • Jane’s series of poems investigating “what is the self?” and a reading of “My Proteins” (32:18)
        • Poems related to the Earth’s crisis began with Jane’s own perplexity and grief (36:27)
        • Reading of an “all-purpose crisis poem”: “Let Them Not Say” (40:00)
        • Jane’s task as a poet became to make it not so that future generations would say we didn’t do enough in regard to the biosphere, justice, and peace (42:11)
        • What state of consciousness do you need to be in to write a poem, also to read it and receive it? (43:08)
        • Deep depression and the crack a poem opened, a re-entrance into the possibility of wholeness (44:23)
        • Reading of “For What Binds Us,” a poem about love and about peace between nations (46:49) 
        • Poetry made Jane a promise that the scar of a wound is a strength not a weakness (50:14)
        • Keeping the connection to unconscious wisdom alive when poetry is unavailable (52:10)
        • How poetry (and art) can save us in impossible circumstances and despair (53:26)
        • The curative of despair is any sense of agency (56:41)
        
        

        Resources & References – Part 1

        • Jane Hirshfield, The Asking: New and Selected Poems* (September 2023)
        • Jane Hirshfield, Ledger: Poems* (2021)
        • Jane Hirshfield, Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women*
        • About Jane Hirshfield, Poetry.org website
        • Robert Frost, beloved American poet, “… a momentary stay against confusion” comes from The Figure a Poem Makes
        • San Francisco Zen Center, founded by Shunryu Suzuki, author of Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind*
        • Carlo Rovelli, theoretical physicist and author, Events and the Nature of Time (YouTube video)
        • The myth of Psyche (see under Psyche’s trials: sorting grain)
        • Rachel Carson, Silent Spring*
        • Tomas Tranströmer, Swedish poet, “Face to Face”
        • Nâzım Hikmet, Turkish poet
        • The butterfly effect
        
        

        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

        ---

        Jane Hirshfield, writing “some of the most important poetry in the world today” (The New York Times Magazine), is one of American poetry’s central spokespersons for concerns of the biosphere. Hirshfield’s honors include fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations and National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Center Book Award, the California Book Award, and finalist selection for the National Book Critics Circle Award. The author of two now-classic collections of essays on poetry’s infrastructure and craft, and editor and co-translator of four books presenting world poets from the deep past, Hirshfield’s work, translated into seventeen languages, appears in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, and ten editions of The Best American Poems. A former chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, she was elected in 2019 into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Her most recently published collection of poetry is The Asking: New & Selected Poems (Knopf, 2023).

        Ep. 119 (Part 1 of 2) | Many time award-winning poet Jane Hirshfield has spent her life steeped in poetry and spiritual practice. Here, we feel almost as if we’ve been invited into her kitchen to talk about life, love, and especially about poems and how they offer us various answers to the abiding questions: who are we, what are we, what is our relationship to each other, what must we be grateful toward? Jane describes poems as vessels of discovery and poetry as taking your understanding and putting it into a form that is holdable, retrievable, transmissible. Poems can also be keys to unlock our despair, she explains, creating a crack in the darkness, a re-entrance to the possibility of wholeness. Jane’s sublime poetry is many-layered; the same poem might be about human love or peace between nations, about the end of love or the fact that love never dies. Jane shares that her lifetime of questioning (her most recent book of new and selected poetry is titled The Asking) has boiled down to one question: How can I serve?

        An awareness of our interconnectedness with all beings, all of life, permeates her work, and Jane is driven to provoke action on contemporary, pressing issues of biosphere, peace, and justice, and help us navigate the tightrope between hope and despair. The conversation also turns to early feminism and the poetry of women mystics that Jane put together in a beautiful anthology called Women in Praise of the Sacred, covering 43 centuries of spiritual poetry by women. When asked about her longtime Zen practice, Jane said, “I needed to become more of a human being, understand a different way of living inside this life I had been given” to become a good poet. She tells us that both poetry and Zen are paths of discovery, exploration, and awareness, and both paths insist that we attend to this world fully. This is a warm, personal, deeply illuminating, and thought provoking conversation, and Jane reads several of her poems, revealing their depth and beauty. Recorded November 30, 2023.

        “Nonduality is inherent in an existence experienced as a verb and not as a noun.”

        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

        • Introducing award-winning poet and long-time Zen practitioner Jane Hirshfield (00:59)
        • Jane’s recent collection of poems, The Asking, tracks the story of her evolution as a poet (02:33)
        • How the title The Asking came about: a poem is an exploration of a question that can’t be answered (04:50)
        • What is poetry? Poems are vessels of discovery that are retrievable; they provide you with a record of having worked through the questions (08:54)
        • Sacred questions, Zen practice, and how Jane’s questions eventually became one: “How can I serve?” (11:55)
        • Remembering we are all interconnected—this is not a solitary venture (16:16)
        • Jane’s reading of “Today, When I Could Do Nothing,” written the first day of the COVID stay-at-home mandate (18:52) 
        • Entering the zone of poetry you become more open: when you ask a question, you start hearing answers everywhere (24:41)
        • How does the invisible become visible? Poetry finds a way (26:11)
        • If we could understand existence as verbs rather than nouns, it would change everything (27:19)
        • Opening to poetry, synchronicities show up everywhere, things leap into a poem to help (29:08)
        • Science, the advent of the microbiome, and the realization that a large part of us isn’t human (30:54)
        • Jane’s series of poems investigating “what is the self?” and a reading of “My Proteins” (32:18)
        • Poems related to the Earth’s crisis began with Jane’s own perplexity and grief (36:27)
        • Reading of an “all-purpose crisis poem”: “Let Them Not Say” (40:00)
        • Jane’s task as a poet became to make it not so that future generations would say we didn’t do enough in regard to the biosphere, justice, and peace (42:11)
        • What state of consciousness do you need to be in to write a poem, also to read it and receive it? (43:08)
        • Deep depression and the crack a poem opened, a re-entrance into the possibility of wholeness (44:23)
        • Reading of “For What Binds Us,” a poem about love and about peace between nations (46:49) 
        • Poetry made Jane a promise that the scar of a wound is a strength not a weakness (50:14)
        • Keeping the connection to unconscious wisdom alive when poetry is unavailable (52:10)
        • How poetry (and art) can save us in impossible circumstances and despair (53:26)
        • The curative of despair is any sense of agency (56:41)
        
        

        Resources & References – Part 1

        • Jane Hirshfield, The Asking: New and Selected Poems* (September 2023)
        • Jane Hirshfield, Ledger: Poems* (2021)
        • Jane Hirshfield, Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women*
        • About Jane Hirshfield, Poetry.org website
        • Robert Frost, beloved American poet, “… a momentary stay against confusion” comes from The Figure a Poem Makes
        • San Francisco Zen Center, founded by Shunryu Suzuki, author of Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind*
        • Carlo Rovelli, theoretical physicist and author, Events and the Nature of Time (YouTube video)
        • The myth of Psyche (see under Psyche’s trials: sorting grain)
        • Rachel Carson, Silent Spring*
        • Tomas Tranströmer, Swedish poet, “Face to Face”
        • Nâzım Hikmet, Turkish poet
        • The butterfly effect
        
        

        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

        ---

        Jane Hirshfield, writing “some of the most important poetry in the world today” (The New York Times Magazine), is one of American poetry’s central spokespersons for concerns of the biosphere. Hirshfield’s honors include fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations and National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Center Book Award, the California Book Award, and finalist selection for the National Book Critics Circle Award. The author of two now-classic collections of essays on poetry’s infrastructure and craft, and editor and co-translator of four books presenting world poets from the deep past, Hirshfield’s work, translated into seventeen languages, appears in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, and ten editions of The Best American Poems. A former chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, she was elected in 2019 into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Her most recently published collection of poetry is The Asking: New & Selected Poems (Knopf, 2023).

        ---

        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

        ]]>abcb86c7-26a1-4cff-b5a1-560fd9366077Thu, 29 Feb 2024 05:00:00 -040001:01:44falsefull119119Keeping the Soul of Ukraine Alive: Maintaining Personal & National Ideals while Under Fire in UkraineEp. 118 | Psychologist and non-violent communications trainer Kateryna Yasko and her husband, Vytautas Bučiūnas, Integral Master Coach and leadership development expert, relate what it’s like to live in war-torn Ukraine, two years since the Russian invasion began. They share why they chose to return to Kyiv from the safe haven of Lithuania, and describe a “special form of happiness” that occurs when the fragility and beauty of life is brought to the fore, as Russian missiles and drones continue to target civilians and cultural landmarks. It is an existential battle being fought for Ukraine, and Kateryna & Vytas are deeply aware of the importance of keeping the soul of Ukraine alive, the cultural code, the foundation of any democratic nation’s identity. Among other things, Kateryna works with theater groups to stage productions that help make meaning of what Ukrainians are going through, help with processing PTSD, and keep cultural expression alive.

        This poignant conversation reveals what extraordinary courage human beings are capable of when put to the test: to protect loved ones, country, and the values of truth, justice, freedom, and democracy. Kateryna and Vytas emphasize that love is not enough to protect our innate rights and that pacifism is not an option in this case. They provide us with a glimpse into personal family life in modern wartime, a psychological portrait of where Ukrainians are at, a request for help, and a wake up call for all to understand that democracy around the world is not a given and that there are times, like this, when we need to stand up and fight for it. Recorded January 23, 2024.

        “We cannot leave this war to our children.”

        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

        Topics & Time Stamps

        • Introducing Ukrainian psychologist Kateryna Yasko and integral leadership development expert Vytautas Bučiūnas, who have returned to live in Kyiv despite the ongoing war with Russia (01:13)
        • What is it like living in a country at war? The bombing of civilian buildings all over Ukraine happens according to schedule: Mondays, Tuesdays & holidays (03:21)
        • The interior personal dimensions: stress, fear, anger, but also a very meaningful time, a special form of happiness with life so fragile (06:18)
        • Why Kateryna & Vytas have chosen to return to Kyiv, rather than staying in Lithuania where it’s safe (08:51) 
        • Pacifism in this case is not an option: Putin is explicit about his intention to destroy Ukraine as a nation (10:08)
        • Kateryna’s work with military recruiters (as a psychologist), every one of whose motivation is “We cannot leave this war to our children.” (14:33)
        • Maintaining the cultural code, the soul of Ukraine: Kateryna works with producers & directors to support theater groups whose venues have been targeted in Russia’s attempts to destroy Ukraine culturally (16:09)
        • How theater helps people make sense of their trauma, and the staging of Pinocchio to address how to remain humane under circumstances that evoke so much fear, anger & stress (20:08)
        • A philosopher, PhD, and theologian friend has now become a sniper, and how Kateryna, a professional non-violent communications trainer and psychologist, realizes she too may need to become a sniper if Ukraine doesn’t receive enough support to protect itself (22:53) 
        • If Ukraine were to lose, Ukrainian men would become cannon fodder for the Russians, fighting against Western allies (26:04)
        • Invitation to join an Emerge gathering in Ukraine, September 2024, to deliberately envision the global planetary future we want to create (28:57)
        • Ukraine is now the frontier, the best place to feel into the fragility of life and contemplate futurism (32:42)
        • So many tipping points around the world are building up this year and the challenge of making sense of it: peace and democracy are not a given (35:11)
        • A call for support from the United States: peace & democracy are fragile all over the world—don’t take them for granted (36:01)
        • Will Ukraine get the package of funding under consideration in the US? Please do the compassionate action: write your senators and representatives to pass this funding (38:08)
        
        

        Resources & References

        • Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man*
        • Martin Luther King Jr., “…love without power is sentimental and anemic”
        • Hryhorii Skovoroda, one of Ukraine’s greatest philosophers, also a beloved poet, teacher, and composer. The beautiful 18th century mansion that housed the National Literary and Memorial Museum of Hryhorii Skovoroda was singled out and destroyed by the Russians because of its psychological and spiritual value to the Ukrainian people
        • Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio
        • Emerge Ukraine Pilgrimage, September 2024
        
        

        See also previous Deep Transformation podcasts with Kateryna and Vytas:

        • Ukrainian Integral Perspectives on the Ongoing Invasion of Ukraine with Kateryna Yasko & Vytautas Bučiūnas
        • The Moral Imperative to Help Ukraine: Integral Perspectives on the War, Its Global Implications, and the Role of Warrior Consciousness
        • Ukraine, One Year Later: Finding Meaning, Purpose, and Ways to Contribute Amidst the Hell of War
        
        

        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

        ---

        Kateryna Yasko (Ukraine) is an organizational psychologist, a trainer for the development of emotional intelligence, trust, cooperation, effective communication, and peaceful conflict resolution, and co-founder of the consulting company U-Integral. Her academic background is in the area of international relations and law (MSc), business (MBA), and psychology (MSc). She bases her programs on the principles of Ken Wilber’s Integral approach and Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication, and is certified in Spiral Dynamics Integral and in Susanne Cook-Greuter’s Maturity Assessment Profile. Kateryna is also head of the public association “International Institute for Integral Development” and a founder of the educational initiative EMPATIA.PRO, specializing in bringing holistic approaches into educational leadership and learning cultures. 

        Vytautas Bučiūnas (Lithuania–Ukraine) is a co-founder and managing partner of U-Integral, an integral leadership development company. Vytautas also has vast experience as a top manager in the banking sector including working as the Head of Resident Office, Senior Banker, Associate Director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (Russia, Ukraine). Vytautas’ professional profile includes building organizational units from scratch, carrying out large-scale transformations, and managing crises. Vytautas is a certified Integral Master Coach™ (Integral Coaching Canada), an ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC)™, and the only business consultant in Ukraine certified in Leadership Maturity Framework – Maturity Assessment for Professionals (LMF-MAP) and Global Leadership Profile (GLP). Vytautas explores the development of human consciousness and complex social systems from a holistic perspective. He considers the growth of a critical mass of mature leaders with systemic thinking and transformational capabilities to be the key to society’s healthy development.

        ---

        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Ep. 118 | Psychologist and non-violent communications trainer Kateryna Yasko and her husband, Vytautas Bučiūnas, Integral Master Coach and leadership development expert, relate what it’s like to live in war-torn Ukraine, two years since the Russian invasion began. They share why they chose to return to Kyiv from the safe haven of Lithuania, and describe a “special form of happiness” that occurs when the fragility and beauty of life is brought to the fore, as Russian missiles and drones continue to target civilians and cultural landmarks. It is an existential battle being fought for Ukraine, and Kateryna & Vytas are deeply aware of the importance of keeping the soul of Ukraine alive, the cultural code, the foundation of any democratic nation’s identity. Among other things, Kateryna works with theater groups to stage productions that help make meaning of what Ukrainians are going through, help with processing PTSD, and keep cultural expression alive.

        This poignant conversation reveals what extraordinary courage human beings are capable of when put to the test: to protect loved ones, country, and the values of truth, justice, freedom, and democracy. Kateryna and Vytas emphasize that love is not enough to protect our innate rights and that pacifism is not an option in this case. They provide us with a glimpse into personal family life in modern wartime, a psychological portrait of where Ukrainians are at, a request for help, and a wake up call for all to understand that democracy around the world is not a given and that there are times, like this, when we need to stand up and fight for it. Recorded January 23, 2024.

        “We cannot leave this war to our children.”

        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

        Topics & Time Stamps

        • Introducing Ukrainian psychologist Kateryna Yasko and integral leadership development expert Vytautas Bučiūnas, who have returned to live in Kyiv despite the ongoing war with Russia (01:13)
        • What is it like living in a country at war? The bombing of civilian buildings all over Ukraine happens according to schedule: Mondays, Tuesdays & holidays (03:21)
        • The interior personal dimensions: stress, fear, anger, but also a very meaningful time, a special form of happiness with life so fragile (06:18)
        • Why Kateryna & Vytas have chosen to return to Kyiv, rather than staying in Lithuania where it’s safe (08:51) 
        • Pacifism in this case is not an option: Putin is explicit about his intention to destroy Ukraine as a nation (10:08)
        • Kateryna’s work with military recruiters (as a psychologist), every one of whose motivation is “We cannot leave this war to our children.” (14:33)
        • Maintaining the cultural code, the soul of Ukraine: Kateryna works with producers & directors to support theater groups whose venues have been targeted in Russia’s attempts to destroy Ukraine culturally (16:09)
        • How theater helps people make sense of their trauma, and the staging of Pinocchio to address how to remain humane under circumstances that evoke so much fear, anger & stress (20:08)
        • A philosopher, PhD, and theologian friend has now become a sniper, and how Kateryna, a professional non-violent communications trainer and psychologist, realizes she too may need to become a sniper if Ukraine doesn’t receive enough support to protect itself (22:53) 
        • If Ukraine were to lose, Ukrainian men would become cannon fodder for the Russians, fighting against Western allies (26:04)
        • Invitation to join an Emerge gathering in Ukraine, September 2024, to deliberately envision the global planetary future we want to create (28:57)
        • Ukraine is now the frontier, the best place to feel into the fragility of life and contemplate futurism (32:42)
        • So many tipping points around the world are building up this year and the challenge of making sense of it: peace and democracy are not a given (35:11)
        • A call for support from the United States: peace & democracy are fragile all over the world—don’t take them for granted (36:01)
        • Will Ukraine get the package of funding under consideration in the US? Please do the compassionate action: write your senators and representatives to pass this funding (38:08)
        
        

        Resources & References

        • Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man*
        • Martin Luther King Jr., “…love without power is sentimental and anemic”
        • Hryhorii Skovoroda, one of Ukraine’s greatest philosophers, also a beloved poet, teacher, and composer. The beautiful 18th century mansion that housed the National Literary and Memorial Museum of Hryhorii Skovoroda was singled out and destroyed by the Russians because of its psychological and spiritual value to the Ukrainian people
        • Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio
        • Emerge Ukraine Pilgrimage, September 2024
        
        

        See also previous Deep Transformation podcasts with Kateryna and Vytas:

        • Ukrainian Integral Perspectives on the Ongoing Invasion of Ukraine with Kateryna Yasko & Vytautas Bučiūnas
        • The Moral Imperative to Help Ukraine: Integral Perspectives on the War, Its Global Implications, and the Role of Warrior Consciousness
        • Ukraine, One Year Later: Finding Meaning, Purpose, and Ways to Contribute Amidst the Hell of War
        
        

        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

        ---

        Kateryna Yasko (Ukraine) is an organizational psychologist, a trainer for the development of emotional intelligence, trust, cooperation, effective communication, and peaceful conflict resolution, and co-founder of the consulting company U-Integral. Her academic background is in the area of international relations and law (MSc), business (MBA), and psychology (MSc). She bases her programs on the principles of Ken Wilber’s Integral approach and Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication, and is certified in Spiral Dynamics Integral and in Susanne Cook-Greuter’s Maturity Assessment Profile. Kateryna is also head of the public association “International Institute for Integral Development” and a founder of the educational initiative EMPATIA.PRO, specializing in bringing holistic approaches into educational leadership and learning cultures. 

        Vytautas Bučiūnas (Lithuania–Ukraine) is a co-founder and managing partner of U-Integral, an integral leadership development company. Vytautas also has vast experience as a top manager in the banking sector including working as the Head of Resident Office, Senior Banker, Associate Director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (Russia, Ukraine). Vytautas’ professional profile includes building organizational units from scratch, carrying out large-scale transformations, and managing crises. Vytautas is a certified Integral Master Coach™ (Integral Coaching Canada), an ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC)™, and the only business consultant in Ukraine certified in Leadership Maturity Framework – Maturity Assessment for Professionals (LMF-MAP) and Global Leadership Profile (GLP). Vytautas explores the development of human consciousness and complex social systems from a holistic perspective. He considers the growth of a critical mass of mature leaders with systemic thinking and transformational capabilities to be the key to society’s healthy development.

        ---

        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

        ]]>b1fae23e-4d88-491e-808c-f0f3b4106da4Thu, 22 Feb 2024 05:00:00 -040041:21falsefull118118Ken Wilber’s Map of Everything: A Guide to the Brilliance & Span of Wilber’s Work from Philosophy to Psychology, Spirituality and Science (Part 3)Ep. 117 (Part 3 of 3) | Brad Reynolds, author of Embracing Reality: The Integral Vision of Ken Wilber and Where’s Wilber At? Ken Wilber’s Integral Vision in the New Millennium, gives us a beautiful distillation of Ken Wilber’s work, starting from the beginning and spanning decades. Not only does Brad elegantly relate the major themes of Ken’s work, he also makes clear the value of Ken’s contributions—the way this knowledge can be understood and applied to literally expand our notion of reality and evolve our consciousness. Brad deftly leads us through the subjects that Ken has developed: the spectrum of consciousness, the integration of science and religion, transcending and including what has come before, the importance of the transpersonal, and much more. We learn why Ken’s teachings are timeless and also so relevant and important today.

        Brad’s scholarship, his own spiritual practice and insight, his engaging, easygoing style, and the close working relationship he had with Ken for many years make this podcast a goldmine for learning the essence of Ken’s theories, for deepening our appreciation of the magnitude of Ken’s understanding, and above all, the topics covered here point the way for us to evolve as human beings. We come to understand that integral is much more than a theory: it’s a practice, a call to grow and transcend, to become more inclusive, more responsive—to live our true potential. Brad eloquently brings it home just how much we need integral thinkers and leaders right now, with regressive developmental trends on the rise. Especially pertinent in our polarized society, integral shows us how to take all that is valuable within ostensibly conflicting worldviews and integrate it for the benefit of all. Recorded January 3, 2024.

        “Integral thinking is really about encouraging people to be their best selves.”

        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3

        • Ken’s Phase 5: Ending the solitary period and establishing the Integral Institute to apply the AQAL model in the world (00:49)
        • Ken’s health issues multiplied in 2006 (05:19)
        • Brad’s favorite book of Ken’s: Integral Psychology (06:37)
        • Ken’s critique of postmodernism in his novel Boomeritis (09:05)
        • Ken’s new book would often address the flaws in his last book (13:28)
        • What Ken’s The Marriage of Sense and Soul intended to do: how to integrate value-free science with value-laden religion? (14:40)
        • And how do we mitigate the clash of civilizations, the war of worldviews? (19:01)
        • How psychology uses the scientific method to develop our interiors and help heal our fractured culture (20:52)
        • Ken’s theory is based upon the reality of his transpersonal awareness (22:04)
        • The need for integral leaders to permeate our institutions and establish global reconciliation—otherwise there will be a regression (23:39)
        • History is calling on us as a collective to address the pathologies we haven’t addressed or we will lose our democracy and regress down the spectrum of consciousness (25:16)
        • Integral is really about encouraging people to be their best selves, to be inclusive; it’s a way of securing the rights of liberty and justice (27:32)
        • Ken’s most recent publications, The Religion of Tomorrow, A Post-Truth World, and Revolutionary Social Transformation (29:33)
        • Every generation has the responsibility to allow for higher development of human consciousness (35:01)
        • The importance of BEING integral, not just thinking integral (36:02)
        • Roger’s thank you to Brad for synthesizing Ken’s work and the value of integral so beautifully (36:47)
        
        

        Resources & References – Part 3

        • Ken Wilber, Terry Patten, Adam Leonard & Marco Morelli, Integral Life Practice: A 21st-Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity, and Spiritual Awakening* 
        • Jamie Wheal: see Deep Transformation episode #3, Ramping Up Human Evolution in Time to Avert Disaster
        • Integral Life website, run by Corey deVos, see also Deep Transformation episode #67, Illuminating the Integral Vision: A Metatheory for Understanding Our Self, Life, and the World
        • Jeff Salzman, The Daily Evolver podcast, see also Deep Transformation episode #1, Polarization, Being Woke, the Universal Agenda, Mindfulness Going Bad, and the Integral Vision
        • Ken Wilber, Integral Psychology: Consciousness, Spirit, Psychology*
        • Ken Wilber, Boomeritis* (a novel)
        • Ken Wilber, The Marriage of Sense and Soul: Integrating Science and Religion*
        • Steve McIntosh, Developmental Politics: How America Can Grow Into a Better Version of Itself,* see also Deep Transformation episode #20, Consciousness Evolves, Politics Can Too
        • Ken Wilber, The Religion of Tomorrow: A Vision for the Future of the Great Traditions*
        • Brad Reynolds’ website: https://integralartandstudies.com
        • Brad Reynolds, Embracing Reality: The Integral Vision of Ken Wilber*
        • Brad Reynolds, Where’s Wilber At?: Ken Wilber’s Integral Vision in the New Millennium*
        • Brad Reynolds, God’s Great Tradition of Global Wisdom: Guru Yoga-Satsang in the Integral Age*
        
        

        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

        ---

        Brad Reynolds did graduate work at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) before leaving to study under Ken Wilber for nearly a decade (1995-2004), and published two books reviewing Wilber’s work: Embracing Reality: The Integral Vision of Ken Wilber (Tarcher, 2004) and Where’s Wilber At?: Ken Wilber’s Integral Vision in the New Millennium (Paragon House, 2006). He recently published a book reviewing the world’s wisdom traditions called God’s Great Tradition of Global Wisdom: Guru Yoga-Satsang in the Integral Age (Bright Alliance, 2021). Brad is also a graphic artist, laying out books and designing a wide variety of graphics for publication as well as continuing his work in Integral Philosophy and the study of world religions.

        ---

        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

        ]]>Ep. 117 (Part 3 of 3) | Brad Reynolds, author of Embracing Reality: The Integral Vision of Ken Wilber and Where’s Wilber At? Ken Wilber’s Integral Vision in the New Millennium, gives us a beautiful distillation of Ken Wilber’s work, starting from the beginning and spanning decades. Not only does Brad elegantly relate the major themes of Ken’s work, he also makes clear the value of Ken’s contributions—the way this knowledge can be understood and applied to literally expand our notion of reality and evolve our consciousness. Brad deftly leads us through the subjects that Ken has developed: the spectrum of consciousness, the integration of science and religion, transcending and including what has come before, the importance of the transpersonal, and much more. We learn why Ken’s teachings are timeless and also so relevant and important today.

        Brad’s scholarship, his own spiritual practice and insight, his engaging, easygoing style, and the close working relationship he had with Ken for many years make this podcast a goldmine for learning the essence of Ken’s theories, for deepening our appreciation of the magnitude of Ken’s understanding, and above all, the topics covered here point the way for us to evolve as human beings. We come to understand that integral is much more than a theory: it’s a practice, a call to grow and transcend, to become more inclusive, more responsive—to live our true potential. Brad eloquently brings it home just how much we need integral thinkers and leaders right now, with regressive developmental trends on the rise. Especially pertinent in our polarized society, integral shows us how to take all that is valuable within ostensibly conflicting worldviews and integrate it for the benefit of all. Recorded January 3, 2024.

        “Integral thinking is really about encouraging people to be their best selves.”

        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3

        • Ken’s Phase 5: Ending the solitary period and establishing the Integral Institute to apply the AQAL model in the world (00:49)
        • Ken’s health issues multiplied in 2006 (05:19)
        • Brad’s favorite book of Ken’s: Integral Psychology (06:37)
        • Ken’s critique of postmodernism in his novel Boomeritis (09:05)
        • Ken’s new book would often address the flaws in his last book (13:28)
        • What Ken’s The Marriage of Sense and Soul intended to do: how to integrate value-free science with value-laden religion? (14:40)
        • And how do we mitigate the clash of civilizations, the war of worldviews? (19:01)
        • How psychology uses the scientific method to develop our interiors and help heal our fractured culture (20:52)
        • Ken’s theory is based upon the reality of his transpersonal awareness (22:04)
        • The need for integral leaders to permeate our institutions and establish global reconciliation—otherwise there will be a regression (23:39)
        • History is calling on us as a collective to address the pathologies we haven’t addressed or we will lose our democracy and regress down the spectrum of consciousness (25:16)
        • Integral is really about encouraging people to be their best selves, to be inclusive; it’s a way of securing the rights of liberty and justice (27:32)
        • Ken’s most recent publications, The Religion of Tomorrow, A Post-Truth World, and Revolutionary Social Transformation (29:33)
        • Every generation has the responsibility to allow for higher development of human consciousness (35:01)
        • The importance of BEING integral, not just thinking integral (36:02)
        • Roger’s thank you to Brad for synthesizing Ken’s work and the value of integral so beautifully (36:47)
        
        

        Resources & References – Part 3

        • Ken Wilber, Terry Patten, Adam Leonard & Marco Morelli, Integral Life Practice: A 21st-Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity, and Spiritual Awakening* 
        • Jamie Wheal: see Deep Transformation episode #3, Ramping Up Human Evolution in Time to Avert Disaster
        • Integral Life website, run by Corey deVos, see also Deep Transformation episode #67, Illuminating the Integral Vision: A Metatheory for Understanding Our Self, Life, and the World
        • Jeff Salzman, The Daily Evolver podcast, see also Deep Transformation episode #1, Polarization, Being Woke, the Universal Agenda, Mindfulness Going Bad, and the Integral Vision
        • Ken Wilber, Integral Psychology: Consciousness, Spirit, Psychology*
        • Ken Wilber, Boomeritis* (a novel)
        • Ken Wilber, The Marriage of Sense and Soul: Integrating Science and Religion*
        • Steve McIntosh, Developmental Politics: How America Can Grow Into a Better Version of Itself,* see also Deep Transformation episode #20, Consciousness Evolves, Politics Can Too
        • Ken Wilber, The Religion of Tomorrow: A Vision for the Future of the Great Traditions*
        • Brad Reynolds’ website: https://integralartandstudies.com
        • Brad Reynolds, Embracing Reality: The Integral Vision of Ken Wilber*
        • Brad Reynolds, Where’s Wilber At?: Ken Wilber’s Integral Vision in the New Millennium*
        • Brad Reynolds, God’s Great Tradition of Global Wisdom: Guru Yoga-Satsang in the Integral Age*
        
        

        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

        ---

        Brad Reynolds did graduate work at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) before leaving to study under Ken Wilber for nearly a decade (1995-2004), and published two books reviewing Wilber’s work: Embracing Reality: The Integral Vision of Ken Wilber (Tarcher, 2004) and Where’s Wilber At?: Ken Wilber’s Integral Vision in the New Millennium (Paragon House, 2006). He recently published a book reviewing the world’s wisdom traditions called God’s Great Tradition of Global Wisdom: Guru Yoga-Satsang in the Integral Age (Bright Alliance, 2021). Brad is also a graphic artist, laying out books and designing a wide variety of graphics for publication as well as continuing his work in Integral Philosophy and the study of world religions.

        ---

        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

        ]]>941ba2da-8a61-4ebc-96f9-01d64bd18578Thu, 15 Feb 2024 05:00:00 -040041:10falsefull117117Ken Wilber’s Map of Everything: A Guide to the Brilliance & Span of Wilber’s Work from Philosophy to Psychology, Spirituality and Science (Part 2)Ep. 116 (Part 2 of 3) | Brad Reynolds, author of Embracing Reality: The Integral Vision of Ken Wilber and Where’s Wilber At? Ken Wilber’s Integral Vision in the New Millennium, gives us a beautiful distillation of Ken Wilber’s work, starting from the beginning and spanning decades. Not only does Brad elegantly relate the major themes of Ken’s work, he also makes clear the value of Ken’s contributions—the way this knowledge can be understood and applied to literally expand our notion of reality and evolve our consciousness. Brad deftly leads us through the subjects that Ken has developed: the spectrum of consciousness, the integration of science and religion, transcending and including what has come before, the importance of the transpersonal, and much more. We learn why Ken’s teachings are timeless and also so relevant and important today.

        Brad’s scholarship, his own spiritual practice and insight, his engaging, easygoing style, and the close working relationship he had with Ken for many years make this podcast a goldmine for learning the essence of Ken’s theories, for deepening our appreciation of the magnitude of Ken’s understanding, and above all, the topics covered here point the way for us to evolve as human beings. We come to understand that integral is much more than a theory: it’s a practice, a call to grow and transcend, to become more inclusive, more responsive—to live our true potential. Brad eloquently brings it home just how much we need integral thinkers and leaders right now, with regressive developmental trends on the rise. Especially pertinent in our polarized society, integral shows us how to take all that is valuable within ostensibly conflicting worldviews and integrate it for the benefit of all. Recorded January 3, 2024.

        “Reality encompasses all perspectives.”

        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

        • How Phase 3 evolved: the importance of practice & the AQAL map (all quadrants, all stages, all lines, all states, all types) (00:49)
        • No boundary awareness: the limits of the mind and how the heart becomes the driving force (04:19)
        • Hierarchies and the great chain of being—the great nest of spirit—from matter to nature to body, mind, soul & spirit (08:33)
        • Rescuing the interior from scientific materialism and the development of the four quadrants: interior elements of reality are just as authentic as exteriors (10:31) 
        • The importance of a stable ego and the current emphasis on growing up and showing up to avoid spiritual bypassing (13:16)
        • Finding our way in spiritual traditions, cults, and with gurus, and Ken’s map to distinguish spiritual teachers’ legitimacy, authenticity, and authority (17:16)
        • The timeless nature of Ken’s teachings and how they point to the evolution of humanity (26:48)
        • In a cult (and some religious traditions) we are looking for the leader to play our parent, submerging our autonomy (31:15)
        • We are largely at an adolescent stage of development; the difference between adolescent and mature stages of development (33:03)
        • Crucial distinctions between problematic spiritual groups and beneficial spiritual groups (35:49)
        • Roger’s summary of Ken’s 4 phases, with phase 5 still to come (37:35)
        
        

        Resources & References – Part 2

        • Ken Wilber, Integral Psychology: Consciousness, Spirit, Psychology*
        • Ken Wilber, No Boundary: Eastern and Western Approaches to Personal Growth*
        • Ken Wilber, A Brief History of Everything*
        • Dick Anthony, Bruce Ecker & Ken Wilber, Spiritual Choices: The Problems of Recognizing Authentic Paths to Inner Transformation*
        • Brad Reynolds’ website: https://integralartandstudies.com
        • Brad Reynolds, Embracing Reality: The Integral Vision of Ken Wilber*
        • Brad Reynolds, Where’s Wilber At?: Ken Wilber’s Integral Vision in the New Millennium*
        • Brad Reynolds, God’s Great Tradition of Global Wisdom: Guru Yoga-Satsang in the Integral Age*
        
        

        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

        ---

        Brad Reynolds did graduate work at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) before leaving to study under Ken Wilber for nearly a decade (1995-2004), and published two books reviewing Wilber’s work: Embracing Reality: The Integral Vision of Ken Wilber (Tarcher, 2004) and Where’s Wilber At?: Ken Wilber’s Integral Vision in the New Millennium (Paragon House, 2006). He recently published a book reviewing the world’s wisdom traditions called God’s Great Tradition of Global Wisdom: Guru Yoga-Satsang in the Integral Age (Bright Alliance, 2021). Brad is also a graphic artist, laying out books and designing a wide variety of graphics for publication as well as continuing his work in Integral Philosophy and the study of world religions.

        ---

        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

        ]]>Ep. 116 (Part 2 of 3) | Brad Reynolds, author of Embracing Reality: The Integral Vision of Ken Wilber and Where’s Wilber At? Ken Wilber’s Integral Vision in the New Millennium, gives us a beautiful distillation of Ken Wilber’s work, starting from the beginning and spanning decades. Not only does Brad elegantly relate the major themes of Ken’s work, he also makes clear the value of Ken’s contributions—the way this knowledge can be understood and applied to literally expand our notion of reality and evolve our consciousness. Brad deftly leads us through the subjects that Ken has developed: the spectrum of consciousness, the integration of science and religion, transcending and including what has come before, the importance of the transpersonal, and much more. We learn why Ken’s teachings are timeless and also so relevant and important today.

        Brad’s scholarship, his own spiritual practice and insight, his engaging, easygoing style, and the close working relationship he had with Ken for many years make this podcast a goldmine for learning the essence of Ken’s theories, for deepening our appreciation of the magnitude of Ken’s understanding, and above all, the topics covered here point the way for us to evolve as human beings. We come to understand that integral is much more than a theory: it’s a practice, a call to grow and transcend, to become more inclusive, more responsive—to live our true potential. Brad eloquently brings it home just how much we need integral thinkers and leaders right now, with regressive developmental trends on the rise. Especially pertinent in our polarized society, integral shows us how to take all that is valuable within ostensibly conflicting worldviews and integrate it for the benefit of all. Recorded January 3, 2024.

        “Reality encompasses all perspectives.”

        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

        • How Phase 3 evolved: the importance of practice & the AQAL map (all quadrants, all stages, all lines, all states, all types) (00:49)
        • No boundary awareness: the limits of the mind and how the heart becomes the driving force (04:19)
        • Hierarchies and the great chain of being—the great nest of spirit—from matter to nature to body, mind, soul & spirit (08:33)
        • Rescuing the interior from scientific materialism and the development of the four quadrants: interior elements of reality are just as authentic as exteriors (10:31) 
        • The importance of a stable ego and the current emphasis on growing up and showing up to avoid spiritual bypassing (13:16)
        • Finding our way in spiritual traditions, cults, and with gurus, and Ken’s map to distinguish spiritual teachers’ legitimacy, authenticity, and authority (17:16)
        • The timeless nature of Ken’s teachings and how they point to the evolution of humanity (26:48)
        • In a cult (and some religious traditions) we are looking for the leader to play our parent, submerging our autonomy (31:15)
        • We are largely at an adolescent stage of development; the difference between adolescent and mature stages of development (33:03)
        • Crucial distinctions between problematic spiritual groups and beneficial spiritual groups (35:49)
        • Roger’s summary of Ken’s 4 phases, with phase 5 still to come (37:35)
        
        

        Resources & References – Part 2

        • Ken Wilber, Integral Psychology: Consciousness, Spirit, Psychology*
        • Ken Wilber, No Boundary: Eastern and Western Approaches to Personal Growth*
        • Ken Wilber, A Brief History of Everything*
        • Dick Anthony, Bruce Ecker & Ken Wilber, Spiritual Choices: The Problems of Recognizing Authentic Paths to Inner Transformation*
        • Brad Reynolds’ website: https://integralartandstudies.com
        • Brad Reynolds, Embracing Reality: The Integral Vision of Ken Wilber*
        • Brad Reynolds, Where’s Wilber At?: Ken Wilber’s Integral Vision in the New Millennium*
        • Brad Reynolds, God’s Great Tradition of Global Wisdom: Guru Yoga-Satsang in the Integral Age*
        
        

        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

        ---

        Brad Reynolds did graduate work at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) before leaving to study under Ken Wilber for nearly a decade (1995-2004), and published two books reviewing Wilber’s work: Embracing Reality: The Integral Vision of Ken Wilber (Tarcher, 2004) and Where’s Wilber At?: Ken Wilber’s Integral Vision in the New Millennium (Paragon House, 2006). He recently published a book reviewing the world’s wisdom traditions called God’s Great Tradition of Global Wisdom: Guru Yoga-Satsang in the Integral Age (Bright Alliance, 2021). Brad is also a graphic artist, laying out books and designing a wide variety of graphics for publication as well as continuing his work in Integral Philosophy and the study of world religions.

        ---

        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

        ]]>4dc10ede-22a3-4a80-bab4-68be4fe478bbThu, 08 Feb 2024 05:00:00 -040039:56falsefull116116Ken Wilber’s Map of Everything: A Guide to the Brilliance & Span of Wilber’s Work from Philosophy to Psychology, Spirituality and ScienceEp. 115 (Part 1 of 3) | Brad Reynolds, author of Embracing Reality: The Integral Vision of Ken Wilber and Where’s Wilber At? Ken Wilber’s Integral Vision in the New Millennium, gives us a beautiful distillation of Ken Wilber’s work, starting from the beginning and spanning decades. Not only does Brad elegantly relate the major themes of Ken’s work, he also makes clear the value of Ken’s contributions—the way this knowledge can be understood and applied to literally expand our notion of reality and evolve our consciousness. Brad deftly leads us through the subjects that Ken has developed: the spectrum of consciousness, the integration of science and religion, transcending and including what has come before, the importance of the transpersonal, and much more. We learn why Ken’s teachings are timeless and also so relevant and important today.

        Brad’s scholarship, his own spiritual practice and insight, his engaging, easygoing style, and the close working relationship he had with Ken for many years make this podcast a goldmine for learning the essence of Ken’s theories, for deepening our appreciation of the magnitude of Ken’s understanding, and above all, the topics covered here point the way for us to evolve as human beings. We come to understand that integral is much more than a theory: it’s a practice, a call to grow and transcend, to become more inclusive, more responsive—to live our true potential. Brad eloquently brings it home just how much we need integral thinkers and leaders right now, with regressive developmental trends on the rise. Especially pertinent in our polarized society, integral shows us how to take all that is valuable within ostensibly conflicting worldviews and integrate it for the benefit of all. Recorded January 3, 2024.

        “Ken’s theory is based upon the reality of his transpersonal awareness—in other words, it’s based upon practice.”

        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

        • Introducing author Brad Reynolds, who has synthesized Ken Wilber’s life work in his book Embracing Reality (01:01)
        • What led to getting involved with Ken Wilber? How Ken treated the subject of human evolution with extraordinary depth to include stages of development and the contributions of mystical traditions (03:16)
        • Ken’s teachings are timeless partly because he encourages people to take up spiritual practice—something that will always be very important (10:57) 
        • What are Ken’s main contributions? Evolution and development of consciousness using a spectrum model (12:55)
        • Using psychedelics as an entheogen in the 70s: trying to understand the manifold secrets of spirituality (13:32)
        • Ken’s pre-trans fallacy is an excellent critique of scientific materialism, modernity & postmodernity, exploring the development of mysticism and having it transcend and include rational, magical & mythical thinking (17:57)
        • The beauty of using the spectrum model (21:56)
        • How our center of gravity influences us and the attractor aspect of higher levels of development that awaken us to new possibilities (23:28)
        • Ken’s Phase 1: The spectrum of consciousness, how different psychologies and contemplative traditions address different levels of the spectrum (25:01)
        • Ken’s Phase 2: The evolution revolution and Ken’s satori experience that the entire spectrum itself is grounded in divine consciousness (27:09)
        • How did Ken address the stages of development, or fulcrums, to new and higher worldviews? (31:48)
        • Ken subdivided even the transpersonal stages and identified their place on the developmental arc in a way no one had ever done before (34:46)
        • Ken not only outlined stage-specific pathologies but the therapies that would work best for each (35:58)
        
        

        Resources & References – Part 1

        • Brad Reynolds’ website: https://integralartandstudies.com
        • Brad Reynolds, Embracing Reality: The Integral Vision of Ken Wilber*
        • Brad Reynolds, Where’s Wilber At?: Ken Wilber’s Integral Vision in the New Millennium*
        • Brad Reynolds, God’s Great Tradition of Global Wisdom: Guru Yoga-Satsang in the Integral Age*
        • Ken Wilber, Up From Eden: A Transpersonal View of Human Evolution*
        • Louise Leakey, paleontologist & anthropologist with National Graphic Explorations
        • Institute of Human Origins
        • Adi Da, spiritual teacher
        • Ken Wilber, A Sociable God: Toward a New Understanding of Religion*
        • California Institute of Integral Studies
        • Ken Wilber, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution*
        • Aldous Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy*
        • Ken Wilber, The Spectrum of Consciousness*
        • Huston Smith, The World’s Religions*
        • Ken Wilber, The Atman Project: A Transpersonal View of Human Development*
        • Ken Wilber, Odyssey: A Personal Inquiry into Humanistic and Transpersonal Psychology, Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Winter 1982, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 57-90, see also Brad’s introduction to Embracing Reality, section titled “Ken Wilber’s Personal Odyssey“
        • Ken Wilber, Eye to Eye: The Quest for the New Paradigm*
        • Piaget’s 4 Stages of Cognitive Development & Theory
        • Ken Wilber, Jack Engler & Daniel Brown, Transformations of Consciousness: Conventional and Contemplative Perspectives On Development*
        
        

        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

        ---

        Brad Reynolds did graduate work at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) before leaving to study under Ken Wilber for nearly a decade (1995-2004), and published two books reviewing Wilber’s work: Embracing Reality: The Integral Vision of Ken Wilber (Tarcher, 2004) and Where’s Wilber At?: Ken Wilber’s Integral Vision in the New Millennium (Paragon House, 2006). He recently published a book reviewing the world’s wisdom traditions called God’s Great Tradition of Global Wisdom: Guru Yoga-Satsang in the Integral Age (Bright Alliance, 2021). Brad is also a graphic artist, laying out books and designing a wide variety of graphics for publication as well as continuing his work in Integral Philosophy and the study of world religions.

        ---

        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

        ]]>Ep. 115 (Part 1 of 3) | Brad Reynolds, author of Embracing Reality: The Integral Vision of Ken Wilber and Where’s Wilber At? Ken Wilber’s Integral Vision in the New Millennium, gives us a beautiful distillation of Ken Wilber’s work, starting from the beginning and spanning decades. Not only does Brad elegantly relate the major themes of Ken’s work, he also makes clear the value of Ken’s contributions—the way this knowledge can be understood and applied to literally expand our notion of reality and evolve our consciousness. Brad deftly leads us through the subjects that Ken has developed: the spectrum of consciousness, the integration of science and religion, transcending and including what has come before, the importance of the transpersonal, and much more. We learn why Ken’s teachings are timeless and also so relevant and important today.

        Brad’s scholarship, his own spiritual practice and insight, his engaging, easygoing style, and the close working relationship he had with Ken for many years make this podcast a goldmine for learning the essence of Ken’s theories, for deepening our appreciation of the magnitude of Ken’s understanding, and above all, the topics covered here point the way for us to evolve as human beings. We come to understand that integral is much more than a theory: it’s a practice, a call to grow and transcend, to become more inclusive, more responsive—to live our true potential. Brad eloquently brings it home just how much we need integral thinkers and leaders right now, with regressive developmental trends on the rise. Especially pertinent in our polarized society, integral shows us how to take all that is valuable within ostensibly conflicting worldviews and integrate it for the benefit of all. Recorded January 3, 2024.

        “Ken’s theory is based upon the reality of his transpersonal awareness—in other words, it’s based upon practice.”

        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

        • Introducing author Brad Reynolds, who has synthesized Ken Wilber’s life work in his book Embracing Reality (01:01)
        • What led to getting involved with Ken Wilber? How Ken treated the subject of human evolution with extraordinary depth to include stages of development and the contributions of mystical traditions (03:16)
        • Ken’s teachings are timeless partly because he encourages people to take up spiritual practice—something that will always be very important (10:57) 
        • What are Ken’s main contributions? Evolution and development of consciousness using a spectrum model (12:55)
        • Using psychedelics as an entheogen in the 70s: trying to understand the manifold secrets of spirituality (13:32)
        • Ken’s pre-trans fallacy is an excellent critique of scientific materialism, modernity & postmodernity, exploring the development of mysticism and having it transcend and include rational, magical & mythical thinking (17:57)
        • The beauty of using the spectrum model (21:56)
        • How our center of gravity influences us and the attractor aspect of higher levels of development that awaken us to new possibilities (23:28)
        • Ken’s Phase 1: The spectrum of consciousness, how different psychologies and contemplative traditions address different levels of the spectrum (25:01)
        • Ken’s Phase 2: The evolution revolution and Ken’s satori experience that the entire spectrum itself is grounded in divine consciousness (27:09)
        • How did Ken address the stages of development, or fulcrums, to new and higher worldviews? (31:48)
        • Ken subdivided even the transpersonal stages and identified their place on the developmental arc in a way no one had ever done before (34:46)
        • Ken not only outlined stage-specific pathologies but the therapies that would work best for each (35:58)
        
        

        Resources & References – Part 1

        • Brad Reynolds’ website: https://integralartandstudies.com
        • Brad Reynolds, Embracing Reality: The Integral Vision of Ken Wilber*
        • Brad Reynolds, Where’s Wilber At?: Ken Wilber’s Integral Vision in the New Millennium*
        • Brad Reynolds, God’s Great Tradition of Global Wisdom: Guru Yoga-Satsang in the Integral Age*
        • Ken Wilber, Up From Eden: A Transpersonal View of Human Evolution*
        • Louise Leakey, paleontologist & anthropologist with National Graphic Explorations
        • Institute of Human Origins
        • Adi Da, spiritual teacher
        • Ken Wilber, A Sociable God: Toward a New Understanding of Religion*
        • California Institute of Integral Studies
        • Ken Wilber, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution*
        • Aldous Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy*
        • Ken Wilber, The Spectrum of Consciousness*
        • Huston Smith, The World’s Religions*
        • Ken Wilber, The Atman Project: A Transpersonal View of Human Development*
        • Ken Wilber, Odyssey: A Personal Inquiry into Humanistic and Transpersonal Psychology, Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Winter 1982, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 57-90, see also Brad’s introduction to Embracing Reality, section titled “Ken Wilber’s Personal Odyssey“
        • Ken Wilber, Eye to Eye: The Quest for the New Paradigm*
        • Piaget’s 4 Stages of Cognitive Development & Theory
        • Ken Wilber, Jack Engler & Daniel Brown, Transformations of Consciousness: Conventional and Contemplative Perspectives On Development*
        
        

        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

        ---

        Brad Reynolds did graduate work at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) before leaving to study under Ken Wilber for nearly a decade (1995-2004), and published two books reviewing Wilber’s work: Embracing Reality: The Integral Vision of Ken Wilber (Tarcher, 2004) and Where’s Wilber At?: Ken Wilber’s Integral Vision in the New Millennium (Paragon House, 2006). He recently published a book reviewing the world’s wisdom traditions called God’s Great Tradition of Global Wisdom: Guru Yoga-Satsang in the Integral Age (Bright Alliance, 2021). Brad is also a graphic artist, laying out books and designing a wide variety of graphics for publication as well as continuing his work in Integral Philosophy and the study of world religions.

        ---

        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

        ]]>1820d36a-df55-4581-b61e-7673634013a4Thu, 01 Feb 2024 05:00:00 -040042:18falsefull115115Marianne Williamson Speaks from the Heart: The Challenge of Bringing Soul & Integrity to American Politics & the 2024 ElectionEp. 114 | Presidential candidate Marianne Williamson is astonishing in her openness, authenticity, and candor in this moving conversation that enlightens on a spiritual level as well as a political one. First, we learn why she is running for president, and how she thinks she can help America. As Marianne explains it, her talent lies in translating what is happening so people can grasp the full picture. “Everybody sees it,” she says, talking about our money-driven culture and corrupt political system, “but not everybody can put the pieces together.” She adds that if people were to fully understand what is going on, it would create a space for transformation to occur. Marianne’s remarkable ability to consider all sides of an issue and look beyond symptoms to the root cause of some of our greatest problems is also evident, from calling on liberals to assume their share of responsibility for allowing this country to decline morally in the way that it has to her understanding of the political and psychological forces driving the Israel-Hamas war.

        More than a political talk, Marianne reveals a psychological and spiritual portrait of the United States, referencing the brilliant vision of our founding fathers, Martin Luther King’s goal of Beloved Community, and telling a stirring story of the way Abraham Lincoln’s second inauguration reflects the high morality of the populace at that time. On a personal level, Marianne’s uncompromising path towards growth and transformation is both clear and inspiring—she talks about the importance of taking 100% responsibility for one’s experience, about practicing what you preach, living a life of service, and the reality of love. The only thing that is missing from any situation, Marianne tells us, is what we can do about it. Recorded January 9, 2024.

        “We don’t need just another technocrat or political car mechanic…we’re on the wrong road.”

        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

        Topics & Time Stamps

        • Introducing bestselling author and 2024 presidential candidate Marianne Williamson (01:10)
        • On the importance of practicing what you preach, living a life of service (02:06) 
        • We’re living in a very mean-spirited time: people smear, lie, and ruin others very casually (03:50)
        • The division now is more between decent and indecent than left and right (04:55)
        • The effects of social media and the argument Trump created of “why not?” Now everything is a mud bath (06:18)
        • The commodification of our culture: everybody sees it (07:06)
        • Marianne is running for president because she can translate what’s happening to people, thereby creating a space where things can actually transform (07:58)
        • The lack of values we need to concern ourselves with is neoliberalism—by our own passive permission, we are on some level acquiescing, making way for demagogues (10:17)
        • We made a businessman (Trump) a god and now we see the consequences (13:44)
        • The American people are not the problem (15:22)
        • Take 100% responsibility for your experience or you won’t be able to change it (16:45)
        • Running for president, waking up to the ugliest things you can imagine, has been Marianne’s greatest spiritual crucible: what an opportunity to forgive herself and others (18:31)
        • How Marianne addresses symptoms and problems but also their underlying psychological and spiritual roots: “We’ve got to address root cause” (24:01)
        • The Israel-Hamas War and unprocessed trauma: if your own trauma is unprocessed you are incapable of being present for the suffering of others (26:50)
        • Dr. Martin Luther King on the political externalization of the goal of desegregation versus the ultimate true goal of Beloved Community—then and now in Israel and Palestine (29:03)
        • John’s comparison of Marianne and Abraham Lincoln (32:00)
        • Why politicians have become wooden and inauthentic (33:22) 
        • What Marianne has learned personally and a message to the people (35:49)
        • The second election of Abraham Lincoln: amazingly, the people voted against their best interest to free slaves
        • An idea grows stronger when it is shared—and the Deep Transformation podcast (41:02)
        
        

        Resources & References

        • Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles”*
        • Helen Schucman, A Course of Miracles* (Foundation for Inner Peace)
        • Martin Luther King’s legacy: The Coalition of Conscience
        • Physicist Sir James Jeans, The Mysterious Universe*
        • Deep Transformation episode #104, Shachar Erez: Coping with the Horrors of War: An Israeli Therapist Shares the Agony, Grief & Uncertainty of Wartime, Insights on Alleviating Trauma, and the Grace of Integral-Spiritual Practice
        • Dr. Martin Luther King’s vision of The Beloved Community
        • Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life* 
        • Abraham Lincoln’s deeply spiritual second inaugural speech
        
        

        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

        ---

        Marianne Williamson is a bestselling author, political activist, and spiritual thought leader. For over three decades, she has been a leader in spiritual and religiously progressive circles. She is the author of 15 books, four of which have been #1 New York Times bestsellers. In 1989, Marianne founded Project Angel Food, a non-profit organization that has delivered more than 16 million meals to ill and dying homebound patients. She has also worked throughout her career on poverty, anti-hunger, and racial reconciliation issues. In 2004, she co-founded The Peace Alliance and supports the creation of a U.S. Department of Peace. Marianne ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020 and is currently a candidate in the 2024 presidential election.

        ---

        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

        ]]>Ep. 114 | Presidential candidate Marianne Williamson is astonishing in her openness, authenticity, and candor in this moving conversation that enlightens on a spiritual level as well as a political one. First, we learn why she is running for president, and how she thinks she can help America. As Marianne explains it, her talent lies in translating what is happening so people can grasp the full picture. “Everybody sees it,” she says, talking about our money-driven culture and corrupt political system, “but not everybody can put the pieces together.” She adds that if people were to fully understand what is going on, it would create a space for transformation to occur. Marianne’s remarkable ability to consider all sides of an issue and look beyond symptoms to the root cause of some of our greatest problems is also evident, from calling on liberals to assume their share of responsibility for allowing this country to decline morally in the way that it has to her understanding of the political and psychological forces driving the Israel-Hamas war.

        More than a political talk, Marianne reveals a psychological and spiritual portrait of the United States, referencing the brilliant vision of our founding fathers, Martin Luther King’s goal of Beloved Community, and telling a stirring story of the way Abraham Lincoln’s second inauguration reflects the high morality of the populace at that time. On a personal level, Marianne’s uncompromising path towards growth and transformation is both clear and inspiring—she talks about the importance of taking 100% responsibility for one’s experience, about practicing what you preach, living a life of service, and the reality of love. The only thing that is missing from any situation, Marianne tells us, is what we can do about it. Recorded January 9, 2024.

        “We don’t need just another technocrat or political car mechanic…we’re on the wrong road.”

        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

        Topics & Time Stamps

        • Introducing bestselling author and 2024 presidential candidate Marianne Williamson (01:10)
        • On the importance of practicing what you preach, living a life of service (02:06) 
        • We’re living in a very mean-spirited time: people smear, lie, and ruin others very casually (03:50)
        • The division now is more between decent and indecent than left and right (04:55)
        • The effects of social media and the argument Trump created of “why not?” Now everything is a mud bath (06:18)
        • The commodification of our culture: everybody sees it (07:06)
        • Marianne is running for president because she can translate what’s happening to people, thereby creating a space where things can actually transform (07:58)
        • The lack of values we need to concern ourselves with is neoliberalism—by our own passive permission, we are on some level acquiescing, making way for demagogues (10:17)
        • We made a businessman (Trump) a god and now we see the consequences (13:44)
        • The American people are not the problem (15:22)
        • Take 100% responsibility for your experience or you won’t be able to change it (16:45)
        • Running for president, waking up to the ugliest things you can imagine, has been Marianne’s greatest spiritual crucible: what an opportunity to forgive herself and others (18:31)
        • How Marianne addresses symptoms and problems but also their underlying psychological and spiritual roots: “We’ve got to address root cause” (24:01)
        • The Israel-Hamas War and unprocessed trauma: if your own trauma is unprocessed you are incapable of being present for the suffering of others (26:50)
        • Dr. Martin Luther King on the political externalization of the goal of desegregation versus the ultimate true goal of Beloved Community—then and now in Israel and Palestine (29:03)
        • John’s comparison of Marianne and Abraham Lincoln (32:00)
        • Why politicians have become wooden and inauthentic (33:22) 
        • What Marianne has learned personally and a message to the people (35:49)
        • The second election of Abraham Lincoln: amazingly, the people voted against their best interest to free slaves
        • An idea grows stronger when it is shared—and the Deep Transformation podcast (41:02)
        
        

        Resources & References

        • Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles”*
        • Helen Schucman, A Course of Miracles* (Foundation for Inner Peace)
        • Martin Luther King’s legacy: The Coalition of Conscience
        • Physicist Sir James Jeans, The Mysterious Universe*
        • Deep Transformation episode #104, Shachar Erez: Coping with the Horrors of War: An Israeli Therapist Shares the Agony, Grief & Uncertainty of Wartime, Insights on Alleviating Trauma, and the Grace of Integral-Spiritual Practice
        • Dr. Martin Luther King’s vision of The Beloved Community
        • Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life* 
        • Abraham Lincoln’s deeply spiritual second inaugural speech
        
        

        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

        ---

        Marianne Williamson is a bestselling author, political activist, and spiritual thought leader. For over three decades, she has been a leader in spiritual and religiously progressive circles. She is the author of 15 books, four of which have been #1 New York Times bestsellers. In 1989, Marianne founded Project Angel Food, a non-profit organization that has delivered more than 16 million meals to ill and dying homebound patients. She has also worked throughout her career on poverty, anti-hunger, and racial reconciliation issues. In 2004, she co-founded The Peace Alliance and supports the creation of a U.S. Department of Peace. Marianne ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020 and is currently a candidate in the 2024 presidential election.

        ---

        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

        ]]>138de80e-fdb3-4376-a976-fb3c1c04df9aThu, 25 Jan 2024 05:00:00 -040043:50falsefull114114Integrating Spiritual Practices from Different Paths, Deepening Our Explorations of Reality & Developing Leaders for a World at Risk (Part 2)Ep. 113 (Part 2 of 2) | Bruce Alderman, poet, mystic, and spiritual explorer, is also an integral scholar and pioneer of the emerging field of metatheory, looking at how to put our disparate fields of information—spiritual, psychological, philosophical, environmental, scientific—together and integrate them into a useful whole. Here Bruce tells the tale of how he was drawn into an experiential exploration of different worldviews, how he came to find the value in navigating different spiritual traditions, and how he discovered how to integrate mystical experiences, Asian spiritual teachings, and Western education, science, and psychology. Bruce’s unique understanding of interreligious relationships and their potential for meeting current challenges informs his call to the global community of spiritual practitioners to dialogue, critique, deeply listen, and reap the benefits of reflecting back to the other a view that takes them deeper in their understanding of their own position. Bruce also shares a brilliant vision of leadership training practices for developing the skills leaders will need to navigate the unfolding global crises of our time. This program will take form in the upcoming Blue Sky Leaders program at the California Institute of Integral Studies.

        Bruce is beautifully eloquent on many levels, sharing insights on intensifying our intimate experience of Being, trusting our dialogue with Being to bear fruit, and finding coherence while holding multiple paths. Bruce describes his turn towards scholarship and academia as “dancing on the subtle plane,” and thinking as one spiritual practice among many—a practice of union. There are so many gems of wisdom here, relayed in Bruce’s gently humorous, humble, and erudite manner. Bruce also inspires on how each of us can become a change agent simply by being integrous with who we are. Recorded December 6, 2023.

        “We can each become change agents just by being integrous with who we are.”

        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

        • The wild knot as symbol for a human being or culture: we are threads of a relationship that don’t have a final terminus (00:53)
        • The challenges of our time and the need for entangled deep listening (01:59)
        • A leadership training program that includes ongoing contemplative inquiry & practice, and also looks at cultural, political, ecological & spiritual dynamics and new cosmologies (02:26)
        • Hyperobjects: you can’t see climate change, economic collapse, or evolution from a local point of view—it demands collective vision to perceive and apprehend it (04:13) 
        • Bruce’s vision for leadership development and the Blue Sky Leaders program empower people to serve in the great issues of our time (06:13)
        • The bodhisattva ideal is both empowering and self-canceling (10:07)
        • The metaphor of light, salt, and leaven for anyone wanting to be a change agent and serve the flourishing of life (13:23)
        • Krishnamurti’s idea of “living in learning” and a program that is “deliberately developmental” (16:42)
        • What are the specific practices essential for cultivating leaders to navigate the crises that are unfolding? (22:00)
        • We evolved to be optimally functional on a much smaller level—without proper grounding, facing world problems can cause existential crisis (26:13) 
        • Holding a loving center, living and learning together (28:28)
        • Back to interreligious practice: how interfaith dialogues and encounters have typically been handled: exclusivist, inclusivist, pluralist (33:24)
        • In making room for multiple paths of spiritual practice, there is a danger of moving into instrumentalism, thinking practices are mere recipes (36:31)
        • The grit to do the practices and the humility of opening to grace (39:36)
        • What are Bruce’s practices today? (40:21)
        • Bruce’s TSK practice (attuning to time/space/knowledge) that leads him to deep integration (41:35)
        • Nonfinality: how each awakening leads to yet another, sacred secularity (45:35)
        • How did Bruce enter into his exquisite scholarship? Philosophy and academic work is just another way to dance on the subtle plane (49:41)
        
        

        Resources & References – Part 2

        • The wild knot in knot theory
        • Timothy Morton, Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World*
        • Blue Sky Leaders program, CA Institute of Integral Studies
        • What’s the Future (WTF) and What Can We Do About It? Integral Conference, Sedona 2022
        • Roy Bhaskar, English philosopher of science who initiated the philosophical movement of critical realism
        • Robert Kegan, An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization*
        • A.H. Almaas, creator of The Diamond Approach
        • Interview with Sean Kelly, Becoming Gaia (YouTube video), Becoming Gaia: On the Threshold of Planetary Initiation*
        • James Bugental, On Existential-Humanistic Psychotherapy (Interview on Psychotherapy.net)
        • Time, Space & Knowledge (Nyingma Institute), Time, Space & Knowledge: A New Vision of Reality*
        • Raimon Panikkar, Sacred Secularity
        • Hameed Ali (A.H. Almaas) on the Deep Transformation podcast: Nonduality and Beyond: The Exhilarating Adventure of Discovering the Nature of Reality and How Awakenings Can Unfold Endlessly
        • Michael Dowd, Thank God for Evolution*
        • Henryk Skolimowski, The Participatory Mind: A New Theory of Knowledge and of the Universe*
        • George Lakoff & Mark Johnson, Metaphors We Live By*
        • Bruce Alderman, Generative (En)Closures, Bubbles and Magic Circles: A Chat about Integral Postmetaphysical Spirituality and...]]>Ep. 113 (Part 2 of 2) | Bruce Alderman, poet, mystic, and spiritual explorer, is also an integral scholar and pioneer of the emerging field of metatheory, looking at how to put our disparate fields of information—spiritual, psychological, philosophical, environmental, scientific—together and integrate them into a useful whole. Here Bruce tells the tale of how he was drawn into an experiential exploration of different worldviews, how he came to find the value in navigating different spiritual traditions, and how he discovered how to integrate mystical experiences, Asian spiritual teachings, and Western education, science, and psychology. Bruce’s unique understanding of interreligious relationships and their potential for meeting current challenges informs his call to the global community of spiritual practitioners to dialogue, critique, deeply listen, and reap the benefits of reflecting back to the other a view that takes them deeper in their understanding of their own position. Bruce also shares a brilliant vision of leadership training practices for developing the skills leaders will need to navigate the unfolding global crises of our time. This program will take form in the upcoming Blue Sky Leaders program at the California Institute of Integral Studies.

          Bruce is beautifully eloquent on many levels, sharing insights on intensifying our intimate experience of Being, trusting our dialogue with Being to bear fruit, and finding coherence while holding multiple paths. Bruce describes his turn towards scholarship and academia as “dancing on the subtle plane,” and thinking as one spiritual practice among many—a practice of union. There are so many gems of wisdom here, relayed in Bruce’s gently humorous, humble, and erudite manner. Bruce also inspires on how each of us can become a change agent simply by being integrous with who we are. Recorded December 6, 2023.

          “We can each become change agents just by being integrous with who we are.”

          (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

          Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

          • The wild knot as symbol for a human being or culture: we are threads of a relationship that don’t have a final terminus (00:53)
          • The challenges of our time and the need for entangled deep listening (01:59)
          • A leadership training program that includes ongoing contemplative inquiry & practice, and also looks at cultural, political, ecological & spiritual dynamics and new cosmologies (02:26)
          • Hyperobjects: you can’t see climate change, economic collapse, or evolution from a local point of view—it demands collective vision to perceive and apprehend it (04:13) 
          • Bruce’s vision for leadership development and the Blue Sky Leaders program empower people to serve in the great issues of our time (06:13)
          • The bodhisattva ideal is both empowering and self-canceling (10:07)
          • The metaphor of light, salt, and leaven for anyone wanting to be a change agent and serve the flourishing of life (13:23)
          • Krishnamurti’s idea of “living in learning” and a program that is “deliberately developmental” (16:42)
          • What are the specific practices essential for cultivating leaders to navigate the crises that are unfolding? (22:00)
          • We evolved to be optimally functional on a much smaller level—without proper grounding, facing world problems can cause existential crisis (26:13) 
          • Holding a loving center, living and learning together (28:28)
          • Back to interreligious practice: how interfaith dialogues and encounters have typically been handled: exclusivist, inclusivist, pluralist (33:24)
          • In making room for multiple paths of spiritual practice, there is a danger of moving into instrumentalism, thinking practices are mere recipes (36:31)
          • The grit to do the practices and the humility of opening to grace (39:36)
          • What are Bruce’s practices today? (40:21)
          • Bruce’s TSK practice (attuning to time/space/knowledge) that leads him to deep integration (41:35)
          • Nonfinality: how each awakening leads to yet another, sacred secularity (45:35)
          • How did Bruce enter into his exquisite scholarship? Philosophy and academic work is just another way to dance on the subtle plane (49:41)
          
          

          Resources & References – Part 2

          • The wild knot in knot theory
          • Timothy Morton, Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World*
          • Blue Sky Leaders program, CA Institute of Integral Studies
          • What’s the Future (WTF) and What Can We Do About It? Integral Conference, Sedona 2022
          • Roy Bhaskar, English philosopher of science who initiated the philosophical movement of critical realism
          • Robert Kegan, An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization*
          • A.H. Almaas, creator of The Diamond Approach
          • Interview with Sean Kelly, Becoming Gaia (YouTube video), Becoming Gaia: On the Threshold of Planetary Initiation*
          • James Bugental, On Existential-Humanistic Psychotherapy (Interview on Psychotherapy.net)
          • Time, Space & Knowledge (Nyingma Institute), Time, Space & Knowledge: A New Vision of Reality*
          • Raimon Panikkar, Sacred Secularity
          • Hameed Ali (A.H. Almaas) on the Deep Transformation podcast: Nonduality and Beyond: The Exhilarating Adventure of Discovering the Nature of Reality and How Awakenings Can Unfold Endlessly
          • Michael Dowd, Thank God for Evolution*
          • Henryk Skolimowski, The Participatory Mind: A New Theory of Knowledge and of the Universe*
          • George Lakoff & Mark Johnson, Metaphors We Live By*
          • Bruce Alderman, Generative (En)Closures, Bubbles and Magic Circles: A Chat about Integral Postmetaphysical Spirituality and Religion–Bruce Alderman with Edward Berge and Layman Pascal
          • Bruce Alderman, Associate Director, Blue Sky Leaders program, CA Institute of Integral Studies
          • Bruce Alderman, Teacher in the Consciousness, Psychology, and Transformation Program at National University
          • Bruce Alderman, co-host and producer, The Integral Stage YouTube channel
          
          

          * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

          ---

          Bruce Alderman, M.A., is affiliate faculty in the JFK School of Psychology in the Consciousness, Psychology, and Transformation program at National University, and the Associate Director of the Blue Sky Leaders program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He received his master’s degree in Integral Psychology, with an emphasis on Transpersonal Counseling Psychology, from John F Kennedy University in 2005. Prior to working at NU and CIIS, Bruce taught and studied abroad in Asia for several years, including teaching courses on creative writing and inquiry at the Rajghat Besant School, a Krishnamurti school in Varanasi, India. He has published essays in the Journal of Integral Theory and Practice and Consciousness Journal, as well as in several anthologies on Integral philosophy and spirituality, and recently self-published a book of collected poetry. For the past 4 years, he has produced and co-hosted The Integral Stage YouTube channel and podcast.

          ---

          Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

          ]]>6db65c2a-6893-477e-a3d1-b26bcefff690Thu, 18 Jan 2024 05:00:00 -040056:13falsefull113113Integrating Spiritual Practices from Different Paths, Deepening Our Explorations of Reality, and Developing Leaders for a World at RiskEp. 112 (Part 1 of 2) | Bruce Alderman, poet, mystic, and spiritual explorer, is also an integral scholar and pioneer of the emerging field of metatheory, looking at how to put our disparate fields of information—spiritual, psychological, philosophical, environmental, scientific—together and integrate them into a useful whole. Here Bruce tells the tale of how he was drawn into an experiential exploration of different worldviews, how he came to find the value in navigating different spiritual traditions, and how he discovered how to integrate mystical experiences, Asian spiritual teachings, and Western education, science, and psychology. Bruce’s unique understanding of interreligious relationships and their potential for meeting current challenges informs his call to the global community of spiritual practitioners to dialogue, critique, deeply listen, and reap the benefits of reflecting back to the other a view that takes them deeper in their understanding of their own position. Bruce also shares a brilliant vision of leadership training practices for developing the skills leaders will need to navigate the unfolding global crises of our time. This program will take form in the upcoming Blue Sky Leaders program at the California Institute of Integral Studies.

          Bruce is beautifully eloquent on many levels, sharing insights on intensifying our intimate experience of Being, trusting our dialogue with Being to bear fruit, and finding coherence while holding multiple paths. Bruce describes his turn towards scholarship and academia as “dancing on the subtle plane,” and thinking as one spiritual practice among many—a practice of union. There are so many gems of wisdom here, relayed in Bruce’s gently humorous, humble, and erudite manner. Bruce also inspires on how each of us can become a change agent simply by being integrous with who we are. Recorded December 6, 2023.

          “We of the global community of spiritual practitioners owe it to each other to dialogue, critique, and deeply listen.“

          (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

          Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

          • Introducing spiritual pioneer, polymath, and master of metatheory, Bruce Alderman (01:38)
          • How Bruce was drawn into an experiential exploration of different worldviews (04:06)
          • Bruce’s first mystical experiences (07:17)
          • Traveling in Asia, studying music & meditation, not wanting to have to choose one tradition to the exclusion of others (08:37)
          • How to integrate mystical desert experiences, Asian spiritual teachings, and Western education, science, psychology? (11:16)
          • Finding the value in navigating different spiritual traditions and coming face to face with the contradictions between them (14:45)
          • Practicing more than one path at once can cause anguish, incoherence, and also has distinct benefits, and how some traditions can hold the one and the many at the same time (19:55)
          • As A. H. Almaas also came to, the recognition of co-ultimacy of multiple ultimates (22:20)
          • Opening oneself to as much as one can: psyche and existence are self-awakening (23:56) 
          • Hungry for the stories and experiences of humankind and all of their engagements with Being (25:59)
          • The concept of generative enclosure: that consciousness is embedded in the environment and embodied in the body—our experience of the world is mediated by our own context (29:47)
          • Spiritual practice, focusing our enclosures, can invite an intensification of our own experience of being (31:32) 
          • Generative (en)closures, bubbles, and magic circles (33:29)
          • Language is an enactment of being (34:22)
          • Metaphysics tends to look at things with nouns, but what’s coming forward is prepositional modes of being/thinking, intercontextuality, and adverbial thinking—recognizing that being unfolds in different ways at different times (35:34)
          • With/in (with, in, and within) a holographic, nondual recognition, the world is in you and you are in the world, I am with you, you are in me, I am in you (37:46)
          • We of the global community of spiritual practitioners owe it to each other to dialogue, critique, and deeply listen (41:33)
          • There’s no one final point: we call the idea of an ultimate holon the ass holon (44:26)
          • Leadership: we can each become agents of transformation, healing, and insight by being integrous with who we are (46:25)
          • The Blue Sky Leaders program is designed around the question, How do we navigate the deep challenges of our time? (47:29) 
          • Different styles of leadership: emperor or servant-based (50:36)
          • Ryan Nakade’s platinum man model: making it a practice to be able to reflect back to the other a view that takes them deeper in their understanding of their own position (52:24)
          
          

          Resources & References – Part 1

          • Bruce Alderman, Generative (En)Closures, Bubbles and Magic Circles: A Chat about Integral Postmetaphysical Spirituality and Religion–Bruce Alderman with Edward Berge and Layman Pascal
          • Bruce Alderman, Associate Director, Blue Sky Leaders program, CA Institute of Integral Studies
          • Bruce Alderman, Teacher in the Consciousness, Psychology, and Transformation Program at National University
          • Bruce Alderman, co-host and producer, The Integral Stage YouTube channel
          • Thomas Merton, Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist & scholar of comparative religion, An Introduction to Christian Mysticism: Initiation Into the Monastic Tradition*, The Wisdom of the Desert* et. al.
          • Jiddu Krishnamurti & David Bohm, The Ending of Time: Where Philosophy and Physics Meet* 
          • Jiddu Krishnamurti, The Awakening of Intelligence*
          • Ken Wilber, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution*
          • Bruce Alderman, Opening Space for Translineage Practice (Journal of Integral Theory and Practice)
          • Bruce Alderman, Sophia Speaks: An Integral Grammar of Philosophy
          • A.H. Almaas, creator of The Diamond Approach, see also Deep Transformation podcast episode #43, Nonduality and Beyond: The Exhilarating Adventure of Discovering the Nature of Reality and How Awakenings Can Unfold Endlessly
          • Tarthan Tulku, Ep. 112 (Part 1 of 2) | Bruce Alderman, poet, mystic, and spiritual explorer, is also an integral scholar and pioneer of the emerging field of metatheory, looking at how to put our disparate fields of information—spiritual, psychological, philosophical, environmental, scientific—together and integrate them into a useful whole. Here Bruce tells the tale of how he was drawn into an experiential exploration of different worldviews, how he came to find the value in navigating different spiritual traditions, and how he discovered how to integrate mystical experiences, Asian spiritual teachings, and Western education, science, and psychology. Bruce’s unique understanding of interreligious relationships and their potential for meeting current challenges informs his call to the global community of spiritual practitioners to dialogue, critique, deeply listen, and reap the benefits of reflecting back to the other a view that takes them deeper in their understanding of their own position. Bruce also shares a brilliant vision of leadership training practices for developing the skills leaders will need to navigate the unfolding global crises of our time. This program will take form in the upcoming Blue Sky Leaders program at the California Institute of Integral Studies.

            Bruce is beautifully eloquent on many levels, sharing insights on intensifying our intimate experience of Being, trusting our dialogue with Being to bear fruit, and finding coherence while holding multiple paths. Bruce describes his turn towards scholarship and academia as “dancing on the subtle plane,” and thinking as one spiritual practice among many—a practice of union. There are so many gems of wisdom here, relayed in Bruce’s gently humorous, humble, and erudite manner. Bruce also inspires on how each of us can become a change agent simply by being integrous with who we are. Recorded December 6, 2023.

            “We of the global community of spiritual practitioners owe it to each other to dialogue, critique, and deeply listen.“

            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

            • Introducing spiritual pioneer, polymath, and master of metatheory, Bruce Alderman (01:38)
            • How Bruce was drawn into an experiential exploration of different worldviews (04:06)
            • Bruce’s first mystical experiences (07:17)
            • Traveling in Asia, studying music & meditation, not wanting to have to choose one tradition to the exclusion of others (08:37)
            • How to integrate mystical desert experiences, Asian spiritual teachings, and Western education, science, psychology? (11:16)
            • Finding the value in navigating different spiritual traditions and coming face to face with the contradictions between them (14:45)
            • Practicing more than one path at once can cause anguish, incoherence, and also has distinct benefits, and how some traditions can hold the one and the many at the same time (19:55)
            • As A. H. Almaas also came to, the recognition of co-ultimacy of multiple ultimates (22:20)
            • Opening oneself to as much as one can: psyche and existence are self-awakening (23:56) 
            • Hungry for the stories and experiences of humankind and all of their engagements with Being (25:59)
            • The concept of generative enclosure: that consciousness is embedded in the environment and embodied in the body—our experience of the world is mediated by our own context (29:47)
            • Spiritual practice, focusing our enclosures, can invite an intensification of our own experience of being (31:32) 
            • Generative (en)closures, bubbles, and magic circles (33:29)
            • Language is an enactment of being (34:22)
            • Metaphysics tends to look at things with nouns, but what’s coming forward is prepositional modes of being/thinking, intercontextuality, and adverbial thinking—recognizing that being unfolds in different ways at different times (35:34)
            • With/in (with, in, and within) a holographic, nondual recognition, the world is in you and you are in the world, I am with you, you are in me, I am in you (37:46)
            • We of the global community of spiritual practitioners owe it to each other to dialogue, critique, and deeply listen (41:33)
            • There’s no one final point: we call the idea of an ultimate holon the ass holon (44:26)
            • Leadership: we can each become agents of transformation, healing, and insight by being integrous with who we are (46:25)
            • The Blue Sky Leaders program is designed around the question, How do we navigate the deep challenges of our time? (47:29) 
            • Different styles of leadership: emperor or servant-based (50:36)
            • Ryan Nakade’s platinum man model: making it a practice to be able to reflect back to the other a view that takes them deeper in their understanding of their own position (52:24)
            
            

            Resources & References – Part 1

            • Bruce Alderman, Generative (En)Closures, Bubbles and Magic Circles: A Chat about Integral Postmetaphysical Spirituality and Religion–Bruce Alderman with Edward Berge and Layman Pascal
            • Bruce Alderman, Associate Director, Blue Sky Leaders program, CA Institute of Integral Studies
            • Bruce Alderman, Teacher in the Consciousness, Psychology, and Transformation Program at National University
            • Bruce Alderman, co-host and producer, The Integral Stage YouTube channel
            • Thomas Merton, Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist & scholar of comparative religion, An Introduction to Christian Mysticism: Initiation Into the Monastic Tradition*, The Wisdom of the Desert* et. al.
            • Jiddu Krishnamurti & David Bohm, The Ending of Time: Where Philosophy and Physics Meet* 
            • Jiddu Krishnamurti, The Awakening of Intelligence*
            • Ken Wilber, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution*
            • Bruce Alderman, Opening Space for Translineage Practice (Journal of Integral Theory and Practice)
            • Bruce Alderman, Sophia Speaks: An Integral Grammar of Philosophy
            • A.H. Almaas, creator of The Diamond Approach, see also Deep Transformation podcast episode #43, Nonduality and Beyond: The Exhilarating Adventure of Discovering the Nature of Reality and How Awakenings Can Unfold Endlessly
            • Tarthan Tulku, Time, Space & Knowledge (Nyingma Institute), Time, Space & Knowledge: A New Vision of Reality*
            • Augustine, The Confessions of Saint Augustine*
            • Peter Sloterdijk, You Must Change Your Life*
            • Bruno Latour & Michel Serres, Conversations on Science, Culture, and Time*
            • Roy Bhaskar, English philosopher of science who initiated the philosophical movement of critical realism
            • Edgar Morin, On Complexity*
            • Ken Wilber, Nonduality archives (Integral Life website) 
            • David Bohm and the Holographic Universe (Futurism article)
            • Raimon Panikkar, Sacred Secularity
            • Metamodern community: Perspectiva website
            • Ryan Nakade, Straw Man, Steel Man, and All Those Other Men (YouTube video)
            
            

            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

            ---

            Bruce Alderman, M.A., is affiliate faculty in the JFK School of Psychology in the Consciousness, Psychology, and Transformation program at National University, and the Associate Director of the Blue Sky Leaders program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He received his master’s degree in Integral Psychology, with an emphasis on Transpersonal Counseling Psychology, from John F Kennedy University in 2005. Prior to working at NU and CIIS, Bruce taught and studied abroad in Asia for several years, including teaching courses on creative writing and inquiry at the Rajghat Besant School, a Krishnamurti school in Varanasi, India. He has published essays in the Journal of Integral Theory and Practice and Consciousness Journal, as well as in several anthologies on Integral philosophy and spirituality, and recently self-published a book of collected poetry. For the past 4 years, he has produced and co-hosted The Integral Stage YouTube channel and podcast.

            ---

            Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

            ]]>73f9fd8f-247e-46fb-80cd-6027e1e3f086Thu, 11 Jan 2024 05:00:00 -040055:34falsefull112112Sustaining Long-Term Recovery: Healing Effects of Trauma, Stigma & Shame & Forging Lives of Connection, Service & Gratitude with Colette Baron-Reid & Dr. Bob WeathersEp. 111 (Part 2 of 2) | Colette Baron-Reid and Dr. Bob Weathers shine a bright light on the big picture state of addiction in our fragmented culture today—how people have become addicted to disconnection, dissociation, and identifying as victims in addition to substance use and other more traditional addictions—as well as sharing the essential elements and practices that have made their sustained long-term recovery possible. Dr. Bob explains that the first step in addressing addiction is to humanize the conversation around it and why. Our tendency toward addiction is universal, embedded in human nature itself, for one. And research shows that people who have suffered childhood trauma are five to ten times more susceptible to becoming addicts—their stress threshold five to ten times lower than other people’s, their stress hormones five to ten times higher. Studies also show that addiction is the most highly stigmatized mental disorder of all. It is humbling to realize what addicts are up against, calling us to compassion, understanding, and action.

            Both Colette and Bob are solidly grounded in long-term sobriety and deeply dedicated to helping others out of their suffering. Top down, intellectual information is clearly not adequate to sustain recovery—so what is? Spiritual connection, social connection, shadow work, healing shame, surrendering. As Colette says, “In recovery, you discover there is something greater than yourself, your pain, your story, and your limitations—this is the solace.” There comes a turning point when it stops being all about us, and the desire to serve arises. With service comes the all-important experience of belonging. As Bob relates, “It’s not just about not drugging or drinking—I want a vital life.” And what is missing on a global, universal level? Again, connection and community. Recorded August 28, 2023. 

            “Gratitude is the abracadabra that creates our reality. Forgiveness is essential too.”

            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

            • Trauma feeds directly into addiction: studies show childhood trauma victims are 5 to 10 times more at risk for addiction (00:59)
            • Shadow work is absolutely required to sustain sobriety (05:07)
            • Dealing with the shame element of shadow (06:58)
            • Surrendering, letting go, opening up to other individuals and to your higher power (09:40)
            • Living in 24-hour compartments (13:52)
            • The effects of COVID on addiction: living in uncertainty and disconnection and how fear isolates us (15:07)
            • Ideology addiction (20:40)
            • The spiritual aspect of recovery (22:37)
            • Colette’s practices today: conscious connection with a higher power, therapy, EMDR, cultivating humor, and more (25:39)  
            • Bob’s recovery practice and how it evolved (30:09)
            • The bedrock of forgiveness practice and gratitude practice (31:29)
            • Service and love: you matter (37:23)
            
            

            Resources & References – Part 2

            • CDC’s Adverse Childhood Experience studies 
            • John Bradshaw, Healing the Shame that Binds You*
            • The Serenity Prayer (Celebrate Recovery website)
            • Carl Jung, The Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious* (opus contra naturam)
            • The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
            • Guy du Plessis, addiction specialist, Ideology Addiction (on Medium)
            • Bill W, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous
            • James Finley, clinical psychologist, spiritual therapist, author of The Healing Path,* podcast host: Turning to the Mystics, see also James Finley on the Deep Transformation podcast: Sacred Psychotherapy: Bringing Depth & Spirit to Healing, Suffering & Trauma
            • Noah Levine, Refuge Recovery: A Buddhist Path to Recovering from Addiction*
            • John Dupuy, Integral Recovery: A Revolutionary Approach to the Treatment of Alcoholism and Addiction*
            • The Freedom of Forgiveness, guided meditation with brainwave entrainment technology, created by Dr. Bob Weathers in collaboration with iAwake Technologies
            • The Gift of Gratitude – Recovery Edition, guided meditation with brainwave entrainment technology, created by Dr. Bob Weathers in collaboration with iAwake Technologies 
            • Energy Flows, brain wave enhancing guided meditations for aligning the 7 energy centers, created by Colette Baron-Reid in collaboration with iAwake Technologies
            • Colette Baron-Reid’s website: https://www.colettebaronreid.com
            • Colette’s podcast: Inside the Wooniverse, see also Deep Transformation episode #7, Living in Partnership with the Universe (YouTube version)
            • Dr. Bob Weathers, recovery coach: https://www.drbobweathers.com, see also Deep Transformation episode #98, The Future of Addiction & Recovery
            
            

            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

            ---

            Colette Baron-Reid (she/her) is a bestselling author, internationally acclaimed Oracle expert, spiritual intuitive, personal transformation thought leader, business strategist, artist, and educator. She’s the founder of The Oracle School Experience®, OraclePalooza® and the DreamQuest Platinum Mastermind. Colette is also the host of Inside the Wooniverse, a weekly podcast series featuring authentic and playful conversations with some of the world’s most interesting sages, scientists and celebrities. Author of 15 best-selling Oracle card decks, with over a million sold worldwide and 7 books published in 27 languages, Colette’s greatest joy is teaching people they can have a direct and personal dialog with the Universe to help them create their most fulfilling lives.

            Dr. Bob Weathers is a highly regarded addiction educator, recovery coach, author, and public speaker. Over the course of his professional career, “Dr. Bob” has provided tens of thousands of hours of therapeutic counseling and recovery coaching to satisfied clients. He has also committed over four decades to teaching,...]]>Ep. 111 (Part 2 of 2) | Colette Baron-Reid and Dr. Bob Weathers shine a bright light on the big picture state of addiction in our fragmented culture today—how people have become addicted to disconnection, dissociation, and identifying as victims in addition to substance use and other more traditional addictions—as well as sharing the essential elements and practices that have made their sustained long-term recovery possible. Dr. Bob explains that the first step in addressing addiction is to humanize the conversation around it and why. Our tendency toward addiction is universal, embedded in human nature itself, for one. And research shows that people who have suffered childhood trauma are five to ten times more susceptible to becoming addicts—their stress threshold five to ten times lower than other people’s, their stress hormones five to ten times higher. Studies also show that addiction is the most highly stigmatized mental disorder of all. It is humbling to realize what addicts are up against, calling us to compassion, understanding, and action.

            Both Colette and Bob are solidly grounded in long-term sobriety and deeply dedicated to helping others out of their suffering. Top down, intellectual information is clearly not adequate to sustain recovery—so what is? Spiritual connection, social connection, shadow work, healing shame, surrendering. As Colette says, “In recovery, you discover there is something greater than yourself, your pain, your story, and your limitations—this is the solace.” There comes a turning point when it stops being all about us, and the desire to serve arises. With service comes the all-important experience of belonging. As Bob relates, “It’s not just about not drugging or drinking—I want a vital life.” And what is missing on a global, universal level? Again, connection and community. Recorded August 28, 2023. 

            “Gratitude is the abracadabra that creates our reality. Forgiveness is essential too.”

            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

            • Trauma feeds directly into addiction: studies show childhood trauma victims are 5 to 10 times more at risk for addiction (00:59)
            • Shadow work is absolutely required to sustain sobriety (05:07)
            • Dealing with the shame element of shadow (06:58)
            • Surrendering, letting go, opening up to other individuals and to your higher power (09:40)
            • Living in 24-hour compartments (13:52)
            • The effects of COVID on addiction: living in uncertainty and disconnection and how fear isolates us (15:07)
            • Ideology addiction (20:40)
            • The spiritual aspect of recovery (22:37)
            • Colette’s practices today: conscious connection with a higher power, therapy, EMDR, cultivating humor, and more (25:39)  
            • Bob’s recovery practice and how it evolved (30:09)
            • The bedrock of forgiveness practice and gratitude practice (31:29)
            • Service and love: you matter (37:23)
            
            

            Resources & References – Part 2

            • CDC’s Adverse Childhood Experience studies 
            • John Bradshaw, Healing the Shame that Binds You*
            • The Serenity Prayer (Celebrate Recovery website)
            • Carl Jung, The Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious* (opus contra naturam)
            • The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
            • Guy du Plessis, addiction specialist, Ideology Addiction (on Medium)
            • Bill W, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous
            • James Finley, clinical psychologist, spiritual therapist, author of The Healing Path,* podcast host: Turning to the Mystics, see also James Finley on the Deep Transformation podcast: Sacred Psychotherapy: Bringing Depth & Spirit to Healing, Suffering & Trauma
            • Noah Levine, Refuge Recovery: A Buddhist Path to Recovering from Addiction*
            • John Dupuy, Integral Recovery: A Revolutionary Approach to the Treatment of Alcoholism and Addiction*
            • The Freedom of Forgiveness, guided meditation with brainwave entrainment technology, created by Dr. Bob Weathers in collaboration with iAwake Technologies
            • The Gift of Gratitude – Recovery Edition, guided meditation with brainwave entrainment technology, created by Dr. Bob Weathers in collaboration with iAwake Technologies 
            • Energy Flows, brain wave enhancing guided meditations for aligning the 7 energy centers, created by Colette Baron-Reid in collaboration with iAwake Technologies
            • Colette Baron-Reid’s website: https://www.colettebaronreid.com
            • Colette’s podcast: Inside the Wooniverse, see also Deep Transformation episode #7, Living in Partnership with the Universe (YouTube version)
            • Dr. Bob Weathers, recovery coach: https://www.drbobweathers.com, see also Deep Transformation episode #98, The Future of Addiction & Recovery
            
            

            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

            ---

            Colette Baron-Reid (she/her) is a bestselling author, internationally acclaimed Oracle expert, spiritual intuitive, personal transformation thought leader, business strategist, artist, and educator. She’s the founder of The Oracle School Experience®, OraclePalooza® and the DreamQuest Platinum Mastermind. Colette is also the host of Inside the Wooniverse, a weekly podcast series featuring authentic and playful conversations with some of the world’s most interesting sages, scientists and celebrities. Author of 15 best-selling Oracle card decks, with over a million sold worldwide and 7 books published in 27 languages, Colette’s greatest joy is teaching people they can have a direct and personal dialog with the Universe to help them create their most fulfilling lives.

            Dr. Bob Weathers is a highly regarded addiction educator, recovery coach, author, and public speaker. Over the course of his professional career, “Dr. Bob” has provided tens of thousands of hours of therapeutic counseling and recovery coaching to satisfied clients. He has also committed over four decades to teaching, training, and inspiring graduate-level mental health providers at several southern California universities, including helping to develop their nationally accredited addiction studies certificate and mindfulness-based clinical training coursework. His two most recent books on addiction recovery are currently in press with Cambridge University Press.

            ---

            Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

            ]]>5ffd6359-431e-4ac1-83d7-67d4d59a1167Thu, 04 Jan 2024 05:00:00 -040041:50truefull111111Humanizing Addiction: Healing Effects of Trauma, Stigma & Shame and Forging Lives of Connection, Service & Gratitude with Colette Baron-Reid & Dr. Bob WeathersEp. 110 (Part 1 of 2) | Colette Baron-Reid and Dr. Bob Weathers shine a bright light on the big picture state of addiction in our fragmented culture today—how people have become addicted to disconnection, dissociation, and identifying as victims in addition to substance use and other more traditional addictions—as well as sharing the essential elements and practices that have made their sustained long-term recovery possible. Dr. Bob explains that the first step in addressing addiction is to humanize the conversation around it and why. Our tendency toward addiction is universal, embedded in human nature itself, for one. And research shows that people who have suffered childhood trauma are five to ten times more susceptible to becoming addicts—their stress threshold five to ten times lower than other people’s, their stress hormones five to ten times higher. Studies also show that addiction is the most highly stigmatized mental disorder of all. It is humbling to realize what addicts are up against, calling us to compassion, understanding, and action.

            Both Colette and Bob are solidly grounded in long-term sobriety and deeply dedicated to helping others out of their suffering. Top down, intellectual information is clearly not adequate to sustain recovery—so what is? Spiritual connection, social connection, shadow work, healing shame, surrendering. As Colette says, “In recovery, you discover there is something greater than yourself, your pain, your story, and your limitations—this is the solace.” There comes a turning point when it stops being all about us, and the desire to serve arises. With service comes the all-important experience of belonging. As Bob relates, “It’s not just about not drugging or drinking—I want a vital life.” And what is missing on a global, universal level? Again, connection and community. Recorded August 28, 2023.

            “Addiction means to be enslaved.”

            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

            • Introducing Oracle expert, personal transformation thought leader, and bestselling author Colette Baron-Reid; and recovery coach, addiction educator, author & speaker, Dr. Bob Weathers (01:04)
            • The changing face of addiction with technology and the internet: the addiction to disconnection, dissociation, even the addiction to identify as traumatized, as a victim (04:06)
            • Colette’s entire reason for being clean & sober: conscious contact to a higher power (05:47)
            • Fragmentation: addiction used to be more social, but now we are becoming more and more fragmented as we become increasingly disconnected (06:19)
            • Victimology and the universal nature of addiction (07:51)
            • Addiction is the most stigmatized of all disorders and 46.3 million Americans over 12 years old have been identified as substance use addicted (09:18) 
            • Addiction means to be enslaved: the first step is to humanize the conversation about it (10:47)
            • Normality is looking more and more like developmental arrest: we’re all fearful, addicted, and so much less than we could be (12:20)
            • In recovery you discover there is something greater than yourself, your pain, your story, and your limitations—this is the solace (14:13)
            • What are we here to recover? Our original face before we were born (15:28)
            • The importance of practice: Roger’s therapeutic life changes (TLCs) and John’s work on Integral Recovery Practice (see Roger’s article and John’s book in the Resources below) (16:25)
            • There is addiction…but then there is ADDICTION—the kind that is life threatening (17:40)
            • For all of us the answer is finding connection. How can we find community? (20:31)
            • A shift occurs in recovery when the idea of giving back, of service, of compassion kicks in (25:04)
            • Along with connection, the experience of belonging is very important—it comes as a result of altruistic intentions (27:52)
            • Like trauma, addiction is an overused and under-explained term: it’s important to acknowledge nuance and degree (30:21)
            • Our society is a society of addiction (36:35)
            
            

            Resources & References – Part 1

            • Colette Baron-Reid’s website: https://www.colettebaronreid.com
            • Colette’s podcast: Inside the Wooniverse, see also Deep Transformation episode #7, Living in Partnership with the Universe (YouTube version)
            • Dr. Bob Weathers, recovery coach: https://www.drbobweathers.com, see also Deep Transformation episode #98, The Future of Addiction & Recovery
            • The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
            • Johns Hopkins University “Study: Public Feels More Negative Toward People With Drug Addiction Than Those With Mental Illness”
            • Roger Walsh, Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLCs) Can Be Powerful Medicines 
            • John Dupuy, Integral Recovery: A Revolutionary Approach to the Treatment of Alcoholism and Addiction*
            • The Self-Medication Hypothesis of Substance Use Disorders, Harvard Review of Psychiatry, Modified Group Therapy for Substance Abusers, The American Journal on Addictions, The 10-Year Course of AA Participation and Long-Term Outcomes, Substance Use and Addiction Journal
            • Edward Khantzian, Some Treatment Implications of the Ego and Self Disturbances in Alcoholism
            • Johann Hari, The Opposite of Addiction is Connection* (YouTube video)
            • Trauma expert Thomas Hubl, see also Deep Transformation episode #24, Healing Collective Trauma: We Are All Shareholders in a Traumatized World 
            • Trauma expert Gabor Mate, The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture*
            • Diagnostic creep
            • Energy Flows, brain wave enhancing guided meditations for aligning the 7 energy centers, created by Colette Baron-Reid in collaboration with iAwake Technologies
            • Ep. 110 (Part 1 of 2) | Colette Baron-Reid and Dr. Bob Weathers shine a bright light on the big picture state of addiction in our fragmented culture today—how people have become addicted to disconnection, dissociation, and identifying as victims in addition to substance use and other more traditional addictions—as well as sharing the essential elements and practices that have made their sustained long-term recovery possible. Dr. Bob explains that the first step in addressing addiction is to humanize the conversation around it and why. Our tendency toward addiction is universal, embedded in human nature itself, for one. And research shows that people who have suffered childhood trauma are five to ten times more susceptible to becoming addicts—their stress threshold five to ten times lower than other people’s, their stress hormones five to ten times higher. Studies also show that addiction is the most highly stigmatized mental disorder of all. It is humbling to realize what addicts are up against, calling us to compassion, understanding, and action.

              Both Colette and Bob are solidly grounded in long-term sobriety and deeply dedicated to helping others out of their suffering. Top down, intellectual information is clearly not adequate to sustain recovery—so what is? Spiritual connection, social connection, shadow work, healing shame, surrendering. As Colette says, “In recovery, you discover there is something greater than yourself, your pain, your story, and your limitations—this is the solace.” There comes a turning point when it stops being all about us, and the desire to serve arises. With service comes the all-important experience of belonging. As Bob relates, “It’s not just about not drugging or drinking—I want a vital life.” And what is missing on a global, universal level? Again, connection and community. Recorded August 28, 2023.

              “Addiction means to be enslaved.”

              (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

              Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

              • Introducing Oracle expert, personal transformation thought leader, and bestselling author Colette Baron-Reid; and recovery coach, addiction educator, author & speaker, Dr. Bob Weathers (01:04)
              • The changing face of addiction with technology and the internet: the addiction to disconnection, dissociation, even the addiction to identify as traumatized, as a victim (04:06)
              • Colette’s entire reason for being clean & sober: conscious contact to a higher power (05:47)
              • Fragmentation: addiction used to be more social, but now we are becoming more and more fragmented as we become increasingly disconnected (06:19)
              • Victimology and the universal nature of addiction (07:51)
              • Addiction is the most stigmatized of all disorders and 46.3 million Americans over 12 years old have been identified as substance use addicted (09:18) 
              • Addiction means to be enslaved: the first step is to humanize the conversation about it (10:47)
              • Normality is looking more and more like developmental arrest: we’re all fearful, addicted, and so much less than we could be (12:20)
              • In recovery you discover there is something greater than yourself, your pain, your story, and your limitations—this is the solace (14:13)
              • What are we here to recover? Our original face before we were born (15:28)
              • The importance of practice: Roger’s therapeutic life changes (TLCs) and John’s work on Integral Recovery Practice (see Roger’s article and John’s book in the Resources below) (16:25)
              • There is addiction…but then there is ADDICTION—the kind that is life threatening (17:40)
              • For all of us the answer is finding connection. How can we find community? (20:31)
              • A shift occurs in recovery when the idea of giving back, of service, of compassion kicks in (25:04)
              • Along with connection, the experience of belonging is very important—it comes as a result of altruistic intentions (27:52)
              • Like trauma, addiction is an overused and under-explained term: it’s important to acknowledge nuance and degree (30:21)
              • Our society is a society of addiction (36:35)
              
              

              Resources & References – Part 1

              • Colette Baron-Reid’s website: https://www.colettebaronreid.com
              • Colette’s podcast: Inside the Wooniverse, see also Deep Transformation episode #7, Living in Partnership with the Universe (YouTube version)
              • Dr. Bob Weathers, recovery coach: https://www.drbobweathers.com, see also Deep Transformation episode #98, The Future of Addiction & Recovery
              • The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
              • Johns Hopkins University “Study: Public Feels More Negative Toward People With Drug Addiction Than Those With Mental Illness”
              • Roger Walsh, Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLCs) Can Be Powerful Medicines 
              • John Dupuy, Integral Recovery: A Revolutionary Approach to the Treatment of Alcoholism and Addiction*
              • The Self-Medication Hypothesis of Substance Use Disorders, Harvard Review of Psychiatry, Modified Group Therapy for Substance Abusers, The American Journal on Addictions, The 10-Year Course of AA Participation and Long-Term Outcomes, Substance Use and Addiction Journal
              • Edward Khantzian, Some Treatment Implications of the Ego and Self Disturbances in Alcoholism
              • Johann Hari, The Opposite of Addiction is Connection* (YouTube video)
              • Trauma expert Thomas Hubl, see also Deep Transformation episode #24, Healing Collective Trauma: We Are All Shareholders in a Traumatized World 
              • Trauma expert Gabor Mate, The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture*
              • Diagnostic creep
              • Energy Flows, brain wave enhancing guided meditations for aligning the 7 energy centers, created by Colette Baron-Reid in collaboration with iAwake Technologies
              • The Freedom of Forgiveness, guided meditation with brainwave entrainment technology, created by Dr. Bob Weathers in collaboration with iAwake Technologies
              • The Gift of Gratitude – Recovery Edition, guided meditation with brainwave entrainment technology, created by Dr. Bob Weathers in collaboration with iAwake Technologies 
              
              

              * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

              ---

              Colette Baron-Reid (she/her) is a bestselling author, internationally acclaimed Oracle expert, spiritual intuitive, personal transformation thought leader, business strategist, artist, and educator. She’s the founder of The Oracle School Experience®, OraclePalooza® and the DreamQuest Platinum Mastermind. Colette is also the host of Inside the Wooniverse, a weekly podcast series featuring authentic and playful conversations with some of the world’s most interesting sages, scientists and celebrities. Author of 15 best-selling Oracle card decks, with over a million sold worldwide and 7 books published in 27 languages, Colette’s greatest joy is teaching people they can have a direct and personal dialog with the Universe to help them create their most fulfilling lives.

              Dr. Bob Weathers is a highly regarded addiction educator, recovery coach, author, and public speaker. Over the course of his professional career, “Dr. Bob” has provided tens of thousands of hours of therapeutic counseling and recovery coaching to satisfied clients. He has also committed over four decades to teaching, training, and inspiring graduate-level mental health providers at several southern California universities, including helping to develop their nationally accredited addiction studies certificate and mindfulness-based clinical training coursework. His two most recent books on addiction recovery are currently in press with Cambridge University Press.

              ---

              Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

              ]]>defa1745-2f53-4cad-894c-b23edc401cd4Thu, 28 Dec 2023 05:00:00 -040040:37truefull110110Sacred Psychotherapy: Bringing Depth and Spirit to Healing, Suffering & Trauma (Part 2)Ep. 109 (Part 2 of 2) | Dr. James Finley, clinical psychologist, trauma specialist, scholar, poet, and author of the powerful memoir, The Healing Path, has an extraordinary breadth and depth of understanding about trauma and the alchemical effects of adding a depth dimension to therapy. Here, he shares about his own experience of trauma and healing, the therapeutic effects of introducing the depth dimension to his clients, the dynamics of anger and forgiveness, the path of longing, and how love gives itself away in the preciousness of each moment, rendering ordinary life sacred. James’ profound understanding of grace is unmistakable, beautiful, riveting—both from personal experience and as a student of Thomas Merton, who introduced him to the wisdom of the mystics at the Trappist monastery, Gethsemani.

              Practically everything James says is both a poem and a revelation, so whether you are Christian, Buddhist, or atheist, this conversation offers a therapeutic wisdom and understanding of trauma that goes way beyond the norm, as well as a transmission of infinite love, bottomless mercy. At the end, James laughs at how he is talking: “I can’t believe I’m talking like this…a traumatized kid from Akron, Ohio. It’s not coming from me; it’s flowing through me. All I’m doing is passing on what was passed on to me. So as it catches fire in you, it might pass through you into others.” Recorded August 17, 2023.

              “Each person I meet is an infinitely loved broken person.”

              (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

              Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

              • A story about the root broken place: Is there an end to love? (01:22)
              • The bottomless abyss of love gives itself away in the preciousness of this moment, which renders it sacred (02:58) 
              • We can’t bear being unconditionally loved (04:17)
              • The path of longing: one longs to be freed of suffering, but there is also the longing that is an echo of God’s longing for us (05:21)
              • The “thorn in the flesh” is your teacher and reminder, and how powerlessness unites us all (07:53)
              • The “set aside” prayer in James’ memoir The Healing Path and the recognition that we live in bottomless mystery (09:36)
              • A deeper way to understand lies in the deep acceptance of the limits of our understanding (10:55)
              • The first pillar of three-fold practice: finding a quiet place for a daily rendezvous with God, discursive meditation, journaling (12:01)
              • When you ask for help, that is the prayer—the prayer from the heart (15:34)
              • The second & third pillars of practice: a teacher/guidance and community (17:08)
              • James’ daily meditation practice and passing on the lineage, heart to heart (20:01)
              • What is James’ attitude toward death? (24:19)
              • How can I learn to die of love, at the hands of love, till there’s nothing left of me but love? (28:07)
              • Accepting death you have freedom from the tyranny of death in the midst of death (29:15)
              • Learned helplessness can transmute into a profound capacity to surrender and merge (31:30)
              • How God enters through the wounded place, and the parable of being broken and whole (35:01)
              • James’ thanks and his upcoming book on the mystical depths of the Enneagram and psychological and mystical discernment (37:50)
              
              

              Resources & References – Part 2

              • Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain* et al.
              • The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani
              • Turning to Mechthild of Magdeburg (on James’ Turning to the Mystics podcast)
              • St. John of the Cross, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross,* includes The Ascent of Mount Carmel, The Dark Night, The Spiritual Canticle, The Living Flame of Love, Letters, and The Minor Works
              • Gabriel Marcel, French philosopher and leading Christian existentialist
              • Guigo II, Lectio Divina, Turning to Guigo II (on James’ Turning to the Mystics podcast)
              • T.S. Eliot, “I said to my soul, be still and wait without hope…”
              • St. Teresa of Ávila, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Vol. 1,* featuring The Book of Her Life, Spiritual Testimonies, and the Soliloquies
              • James Finley, Christian Meditation: Experiencing the Presence of God*
              • Dan Walsh, metaphysics professor, longtime friend & mentor of Thomas Merton 
              • The five stages of grief (the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross model), On Death and Dying*
              • Dr. Bob Weathers, addiction educator, coach, good friend of James Finley (see Deep Transformation episode #98, The Future of Addiction & Recovery: Wherein Lies the Hope?)
              • Spiritual Directors International 
              • James Finley, The Healing Path: A Memoir and an Invitation*
              • James Finley’s podcast: Turning to the Mystics, hosted on the Center for Action & Contemplation website
              • James Finley, Merton’s Palace of Nowhere*
              
              

              * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

              ---

              Student of Thomas Merton and clinical psychologist, Dr. James Finley teaches how connecting to our Divine indwelling can transcend fear and shame and awaken our True Self. A faculty member at the Center for Action and Contemplation, he is the author of The Healing Path and Merton’s Palace of Nowhere, and the host of CAC’s...]]>Ep. 109 (Part 2 of 2) | Dr. James Finley, clinical psychologist, trauma specialist, scholar, poet, and author of the powerful memoir, The Healing Path, has an extraordinary breadth and depth of understanding about trauma and the alchemical effects of adding a depth dimension to therapy. Here, he shares about his own experience of trauma and healing, the therapeutic effects of introducing the depth dimension to his clients, the dynamics of anger and forgiveness, the path of longing, and how love gives itself away in the preciousness of each moment, rendering ordinary life sacred. James’ profound understanding of grace is unmistakable, beautiful, riveting—both from personal experience and as a student of Thomas Merton, who introduced him to the wisdom of the mystics at the Trappist monastery, Gethsemani.

              Practically everything James says is both a poem and a revelation, so whether you are Christian, Buddhist, or atheist, this conversation offers a therapeutic wisdom and understanding of trauma that goes way beyond the norm, as well as a transmission of infinite love, bottomless mercy. At the end, James laughs at how he is talking: “I can’t believe I’m talking like this…a traumatized kid from Akron, Ohio. It’s not coming from me; it’s flowing through me. All I’m doing is passing on what was passed on to me. So as it catches fire in you, it might pass through you into others.” Recorded August 17, 2023.

              “Each person I meet is an infinitely loved broken person.”

              (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

              Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

              • A story about the root broken place: Is there an end to love? (01:22)
              • The bottomless abyss of love gives itself away in the preciousness of this moment, which renders it sacred (02:58) 
              • We can’t bear being unconditionally loved (04:17)
              • The path of longing: one longs to be freed of suffering, but there is also the longing that is an echo of God’s longing for us (05:21)
              • The “thorn in the flesh” is your teacher and reminder, and how powerlessness unites us all (07:53)
              • The “set aside” prayer in James’ memoir The Healing Path and the recognition that we live in bottomless mystery (09:36)
              • A deeper way to understand lies in the deep acceptance of the limits of our understanding (10:55)
              • The first pillar of three-fold practice: finding a quiet place for a daily rendezvous with God, discursive meditation, journaling (12:01)
              • When you ask for help, that is the prayer—the prayer from the heart (15:34)
              • The second & third pillars of practice: a teacher/guidance and community (17:08)
              • James’ daily meditation practice and passing on the lineage, heart to heart (20:01)
              • What is James’ attitude toward death? (24:19)
              • How can I learn to die of love, at the hands of love, till there’s nothing left of me but love? (28:07)
              • Accepting death you have freedom from the tyranny of death in the midst of death (29:15)
              • Learned helplessness can transmute into a profound capacity to surrender and merge (31:30)
              • How God enters through the wounded place, and the parable of being broken and whole (35:01)
              • James’ thanks and his upcoming book on the mystical depths of the Enneagram and psychological and mystical discernment (37:50)
              
              

              Resources & References – Part 2

              • Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain* et al.
              • The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani
              • Turning to Mechthild of Magdeburg (on James’ Turning to the Mystics podcast)
              • St. John of the Cross, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross,* includes The Ascent of Mount Carmel, The Dark Night, The Spiritual Canticle, The Living Flame of Love, Letters, and The Minor Works
              • Gabriel Marcel, French philosopher and leading Christian existentialist
              • Guigo II, Lectio Divina, Turning to Guigo II (on James’ Turning to the Mystics podcast)
              • T.S. Eliot, “I said to my soul, be still and wait without hope…”
              • St. Teresa of Ávila, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Vol. 1,* featuring The Book of Her Life, Spiritual Testimonies, and the Soliloquies
              • James Finley, Christian Meditation: Experiencing the Presence of God*
              • Dan Walsh, metaphysics professor, longtime friend & mentor of Thomas Merton 
              • The five stages of grief (the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross model), On Death and Dying*
              • Dr. Bob Weathers, addiction educator, coach, good friend of James Finley (see Deep Transformation episode #98, The Future of Addiction & Recovery: Wherein Lies the Hope?)
              • Spiritual Directors International 
              • James Finley, The Healing Path: A Memoir and an Invitation*
              • James Finley’s podcast: Turning to the Mystics, hosted on the Center for Action & Contemplation website
              • James Finley, Merton’s Palace of Nowhere*
              
              

              * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

              ---

              Student of Thomas Merton and clinical psychologist, Dr. James Finley teaches how connecting to our Divine indwelling can transcend fear and shame and awaken our True Self. A faculty member at the Center for Action and Contemplation, he is the author of The Healing Path and Merton’s Palace of Nowhere, and the host of CAC’s podcast Turning to the Mystics.

              ---

              Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

              ]]>9ced3300-d6a4-4ff4-920b-ca1bee6e38f6Thu, 21 Dec 2023 05:00:00 -040042:43falsefull109109Sacred Psychotherapy: Bringing Depth and Spirit to Healing, Suffering & TraumaEp. 108 (Part 1 of 2) | Dr. James Finley, clinical psychologist, trauma specialist, scholar, poet, and author of the powerful memoir, The Healing Path, has an extraordinary breadth and depth of understanding about trauma and the alchemical effects of adding a depth dimension to therapy. Here, he shares about his own experience of trauma and healing, the therapeutic effects of introducing the depth dimension to his clients, the dynamics of anger and forgiveness, the path of longing, and how love gives itself away in the preciousness of each moment, rendering ordinary life sacred. James’ profound understanding of grace is unmistakable, beautiful, riveting—both from personal experience and as a student of Thomas Merton, who introduced him to the wisdom of the mystics at the Trappist monastery, Gethsemani.

              Practically everything James says is both a poem and a revelation, so whether you are Christian, Buddhist, or atheist, this conversation offers a therapeutic wisdom and understanding of trauma that goes way beyond the norm, as well as a transmission of infinite love, bottomless mercy. At the end, James laughs at how he is talking: “I can’t believe I’m talking like this…a traumatized kid from Akron, Ohio. It’s not coming from me; it’s flowing through me. All I’m doing is passing on what was passed on to me. So as it catches fire in you, it might pass through you into others.” Recorded August 17, 2023.

              “In the momentum of the day’s demands, we feel we are skimming across the surface of the depths of our own lives: we are suffering from depth deprivation.” 

              (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

              Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

              • Introducing Dr. James Finley, clinical psychologist specializing in trauma, spiritual therapist, author of The Healing Path & Merton’s Palace of Nowhere (00:58)
              • How does James bring the worlds of psychotherapy and spirituality together? (03:32)
              • James’ experience of God responding during his traumatic childhood and how Thomas Merton introduced him to the mystics at the Trappist monastery (04:22)
              • Teaching high school religion, writing Merton’s Palace of Nowhere about how to find our way to our true self, leading silent contemplative retreats, and becoming a clinical psychologist (07:25)
              • Where trauma and the presence of God touch each other: into the broken places, the light shines through (08:54)
              • There is healing without forgiveness, but there is no healing without anger (11:21)
              • Standing in the clear mindedness of anger, you’re not completely free until you forgive (14:29) 
              • Self-hatred and how we perpetuate the violence until we find a safe place to work it through (18:14)
              • Finding refuge in zazen, forgiving abuse at home and in the monastery, and how James found his way back into mystical Catholicism and the depth dimension (20:58)
              • Where faith comes in to interior healing, where the alchemy happens: being carried along by mercy equals salvation (25:00)
              • Getting past the distortions of religiosity: regrounding therapy in the depth dimension, moving back and forth from the hurting place to infinite love and mercy (26:36)
              • What shines forth out of love or out of tragedy: being intimately overtaken by the nearness of the unexplainable (30:11)
              • When we have just lost everything, we glimpse the infinity of mercy, and a longing is born to abide in the depths so fleetingly glimpsed: this is the path (31:58)
              • Where is all this trauma coming from? We are suffering from depth deprivation (33:13)
              • The horizontal dimension of time is intersected by the vertical depth dimension of the infinite (35:19)
              • “I know it, I know it, I know that I know it”—I can’t say what it is but I can bear witness to it (36:11)
              • Psychotherapy at the depth level is meditation for two (37:27)
              • Roger’s summary of points covered: forgiveness, anger, stages of working through trauma, how religion can be used in the transcendence of ego, and the tragic belief that I am the only one who is broken and suffering (37:39)
              
              

              Resources & References – Part 1

              • James Finley, The Healing Path: A Memoir and an Invitation*
              • James Finley’s podcast: Turning to the Mystics, hosted on the Center for Action & Contemplation website
              • James Finley, Merton’s Palace of Nowhere*
              • James Finley, Christian Meditation: Experiencing the Presence of God*
              • The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani
              • Transpersonal psychology
              • Ken Wilber, Integral Psychology: Consciousness, Spirit, Psychology, Therapy*
              • Ken Wilber, Integral Spirituality: A Startling New Role for Religion in the Modern and Postmodern World*
              • Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain*, et al.*
              • Thomas Merton, The Sign of Jonas*, “I have but one desire, the desire for solitude. To disappear into God’s face.”
              • St. Teresa of Ávila, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Vol. 1 (featuring The Book of Her Life, Spiritual Testimonies, and the Soliloquies*
              • St. John of the Cross, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross* (includes The Ascent of Mount Carmel, The Dark Night, The Spiritual Canticle, The Living Flame of Love, Letters, and The Minor Works)
              • Meister Eckhart, Meister Eckhart, from Whom God Hid Nothing: Sermons, Writings, and Sayings*
              • Richard Rohr’s The Living School
              • Dan Walsh, metaphysics professor, longtime friend & mentor of Thomas Merton 
              • The Poems of St. John of the Cross*, translated by Willis Barnstone
              
              

              * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

              ---

              Student of Thomas Merton and clinical psychologist, Dr. James Finley teaches how connecting to our Divine indwelling can transcend fear and shame and awaken our True Self. A faculty member at the Center for Action and Contemplation, he is the author of The Healing Path and Merton’s Palace of Nowhere, and the host of CAC’s podcast Turning to the Mystics.

              ---

              Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes...]]>Ep. 108 (Part 1 of 2) | Dr. James Finley, clinical psychologist, trauma specialist, scholar, poet, and author of the powerful memoir, The Healing Path, has an extraordinary breadth and depth of understanding about trauma and the alchemical effects of adding a depth dimension to therapy. Here, he shares about his own experience of trauma and healing, the therapeutic effects of introducing the depth dimension to his clients, the dynamics of anger and forgiveness, the path of longing, and how love gives itself away in the preciousness of each moment, rendering ordinary life sacred. James’ profound understanding of grace is unmistakable, beautiful, riveting—both from personal experience and as a student of Thomas Merton, who introduced him to the wisdom of the mystics at the Trappist monastery, Gethsemani.

              Practically everything James says is both a poem and a revelation, so whether you are Christian, Buddhist, or atheist, this conversation offers a therapeutic wisdom and understanding of trauma that goes way beyond the norm, as well as a transmission of infinite love, bottomless mercy. At the end, James laughs at how he is talking: “I can’t believe I’m talking like this…a traumatized kid from Akron, Ohio. It’s not coming from me; it’s flowing through me. All I’m doing is passing on what was passed on to me. So as it catches fire in you, it might pass through you into others.” Recorded August 17, 2023.

              “In the momentum of the day’s demands, we feel we are skimming across the surface of the depths of our own lives: we are suffering from depth deprivation.” 

              (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

              Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

              • Introducing Dr. James Finley, clinical psychologist specializing in trauma, spiritual therapist, author of The Healing Path & Merton’s Palace of Nowhere (00:58)
              • How does James bring the worlds of psychotherapy and spirituality together? (03:32)
              • James’ experience of God responding during his traumatic childhood and how Thomas Merton introduced him to the mystics at the Trappist monastery (04:22)
              • Teaching high school religion, writing Merton’s Palace of Nowhere about how to find our way to our true self, leading silent contemplative retreats, and becoming a clinical psychologist (07:25)
              • Where trauma and the presence of God touch each other: into the broken places, the light shines through (08:54)
              • There is healing without forgiveness, but there is no healing without anger (11:21)
              • Standing in the clear mindedness of anger, you’re not completely free until you forgive (14:29) 
              • Self-hatred and how we perpetuate the violence until we find a safe place to work it through (18:14)
              • Finding refuge in zazen, forgiving abuse at home and in the monastery, and how James found his way back into mystical Catholicism and the depth dimension (20:58)
              • Where faith comes in to interior healing, where the alchemy happens: being carried along by mercy equals salvation (25:00)
              • Getting past the distortions of religiosity: regrounding therapy in the depth dimension, moving back and forth from the hurting place to infinite love and mercy (26:36)
              • What shines forth out of love or out of tragedy: being intimately overtaken by the nearness of the unexplainable (30:11)
              • When we have just lost everything, we glimpse the infinity of mercy, and a longing is born to abide in the depths so fleetingly glimpsed: this is the path (31:58)
              • Where is all this trauma coming from? We are suffering from depth deprivation (33:13)
              • The horizontal dimension of time is intersected by the vertical depth dimension of the infinite (35:19)
              • “I know it, I know it, I know that I know it”—I can’t say what it is but I can bear witness to it (36:11)
              • Psychotherapy at the depth level is meditation for two (37:27)
              • Roger’s summary of points covered: forgiveness, anger, stages of working through trauma, how religion can be used in the transcendence of ego, and the tragic belief that I am the only one who is broken and suffering (37:39)
              
              

              Resources & References – Part 1

              • James Finley, The Healing Path: A Memoir and an Invitation*
              • James Finley’s podcast: Turning to the Mystics, hosted on the Center for Action & Contemplation website
              • James Finley, Merton’s Palace of Nowhere*
              • James Finley, Christian Meditation: Experiencing the Presence of God*
              • The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani
              • Transpersonal psychology
              • Ken Wilber, Integral Psychology: Consciousness, Spirit, Psychology, Therapy*
              • Ken Wilber, Integral Spirituality: A Startling New Role for Religion in the Modern and Postmodern World*
              • Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain*, et al.*
              • Thomas Merton, The Sign of Jonas*, “I have but one desire, the desire for solitude. To disappear into God’s face.”
              • St. Teresa of Ávila, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Vol. 1 (featuring The Book of Her Life, Spiritual Testimonies, and the Soliloquies*
              • St. John of the Cross, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross* (includes The Ascent of Mount Carmel, The Dark Night, The Spiritual Canticle, The Living Flame of Love, Letters, and The Minor Works)
              • Meister Eckhart, Meister Eckhart, from Whom God Hid Nothing: Sermons, Writings, and Sayings*
              • Richard Rohr’s The Living School
              • Dan Walsh, metaphysics professor, longtime friend & mentor of Thomas Merton 
              • The Poems of St. John of the Cross*, translated by Willis Barnstone
              
              

              * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

              ---

              Student of Thomas Merton and clinical psychologist, Dr. James Finley teaches how connecting to our Divine indwelling can transcend fear and shame and awaken our True Self. A faculty member at the Center for Action and Contemplation, he is the author of The Healing Path and Merton’s Palace of Nowhere, and the host of CAC’s podcast Turning to the Mystics.

              ---

              Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

              ]]>74a6640e-5858-4436-a68d-a572401942e1Thu, 14 Dec 2023 05:00:00 -040041:23falsefull108108We Are Wired for Compassion: Finding Hope in a World That Has Lost Its WayEp. 107 (Part 2 of 2) | Dr. Mamphela Ramphele, global thought leader, author, medical doctor, scholar, anti-apartheid activist, and co-founder of the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa has lived her extraordinary life guided by the knowing that every one of us is part of an inextricably linked system, and to live life as an authentic human being means assuming responsibility for oneself, others, and the whole web of life. Here, she connects the dots for us in so many ways, telling the remarkable story of how the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa was born with the realization that accepting a second-class identity was only perpetuating apartheid, internally and externally, and right away, the group became aware they needed to bring forth practical manifestations of this new consciousness. Mamphela has worked to do exactly that—bring the values of expanded consciousness into being—her whole life, first as an anti-apartheid activist and doctor, in bimonthly meetings with Nelson Mandela when he was in prison, writing books on social-economic issues in South Africa, and later, working to manifest the values of compassion, dignity, and social justice on a global level as a managing director of the World Bank, co-president of The Club of Rome, and more.

              When asked what hurts, Mamphela describes the terrible conditions in South Africa, which she explains could have been averted if post-apartheid leaders had chosen to act for the wellbeing of all rather than getting enmeshed in party politics. And what gives Mamphela hope? The hope she sees in the eyes of young people (and old), and the transformations already underway in small communities. As she says, “the world has lost its way…it’s all about having more rather than being more,” but Mamphela believes real change will happen in the next couple of decades, when our personal, professional, and political lives become framed by the same value system—the values of ubuntu, the traditional, indigenous wisdom values of Africa, which are not only Africa’s heritage but all of ours. Inspiring and enlightening, this conversation is a transmission from a vibrant elder who fully understands and puts into practice what it means to live an authentic, compassionate life, with courage, humor, integrity, and wisdom. Recorded November 9, 2023.

              “We need to recognize we are one human family: Europe, America, and MOST of the world—not Europe, America, and the rest of the world.”

              (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

              Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

              • We are wired to be compassionate, wired for self-respect, wired for social justice (01:40)
              • The Global Compassion Coalition and reawakening our basic human compassion (03:44)
              • The personal, professional, and political all have to be governed by the same value system—then we can have wellbeing economics (06:31)
              • What hurts is how we gave away a wonderful opportunity and chose short-term party politics over the true transformation of society (09:04)
              • What brings hope is the hope seen in the eyes of young people—even old people—and that the process of true transformation is underway in small communities (11:39)
              • Ubuntu: living the ethics, principles, and compassion that are embedded in what it means to be human (14:51)
              • The world has lost its way: it’s all about having more rather than being more (16:45) 
              • Assuming responsibility for yourself, others, and the entire web of life is a choice (18:36)
              • It helped a great deal that there was a global anti-establishment movement at the time of Mamphela and her fellow activists’ awakening (21:03)
              • What are Mamphela’s practices to stay centered and keep from being overwhelmed? (22:35)
              • How has Mamphela kept faith in human nature? (29:46)
              • Mamphela’s shift to global activism: channeling energies where it can make a difference (Club of Rome), also modeling to young people that Africans have a rich heritage and their value system matters (33:52)
              • Sustainable ecosystems are sustained by Indigenous Peoples: life is about part of an inextricably linked system (37:03)
              • The need to recognize we are one human family: Europe, America, and MOST of the world—not the “rest of the world” (40:05)
              • “For us to harvest the lessons of nature, we have to become indigenous again;” opening to the great wisdoms of all the ages (40:47)
              • Towards New Narratives of Hope, a recommended publication about the wisdom of Africa—which is everyone’s heritage (see resources below) (41:32)
              
              

              Resources & References – Part 2

              • The Global Compassion Coalition, creating and introducing new approaches to economics, politics, child development, and climate policy that have compassion and justice at their core
              • Rick Hanson, psychologist & best-selling author of Buddha’s Brain* et al. (see also Deep Transformation podcast episode #5, How We Can Hack Our Brain Using Neuroscience)
              • Ubuntu philosophy, the bond that all of humanity shares
              • Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.”
              • The Club of Rome’s mission is to apply holistic, interdisciplinary, and long-term thinking to ensure broader societal and planetary wellbeing; to move towards more equitable economic, financial, and socio-political models; ensure an inclusive human dimension to all systems change; and to emerge from emergency
              • Aurelio Peccei, co-founder of The Club of Rome 
              • The Limits to Growth +50 (Club of Rome website)
              • Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows, Jorgen Randers, William W. Behrens III, The Limits to Growth: A Report for the Club of Rome’s Project on the Predicament of Mankind* (1974)
              • Towards New Narratives of Hope for Fostering Transformative African Futures (Club of Rome website)
              • Mamphela’s website: Dr. Mamphela Ramphele 
              • Mamphela Ramphele, Club of Rome About Page
              • Mamphela Ramphele, co-founder of ReimagineSA, reimagining South Africa rooted in ubuntu
              • Mamphela Ramphele, A Passion for Freedom: My Life*
              • Mamphela Ramphela, Dreams, Betrayal and Hope*
              • Mamphela Ramphele, Conversations with my Sons and Daughters*
              • Mamphela Ramphele, Laying Ghosts to Rest: Dilemmas of the Transformation in South Africa*
              • Mamphela Ramphele & Francis Wilson, Uprooting Poverty: The South African Challenge*
              • Mamphela...]]>Ep. 107 (Part 2 of 2) | Dr. Mamphela Ramphele, global thought leader, author, medical doctor, scholar, anti-apartheid activist, and co-founder of the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa has lived her extraordinary life guided by the knowing that every one of us is part of an inextricably linked system, and to live life as an authentic human being means assuming responsibility for oneself, others, and the whole web of life. Here, she connects the dots for us in so many ways, telling the remarkable story of how the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa was born with the realization that accepting a second-class identity was only perpetuating apartheid, internally and externally, and right away, the group became aware they needed to bring forth practical manifestations of this new consciousness. Mamphela has worked to do exactly that—bring the values of expanded consciousness into being—her whole life, first as an anti-apartheid activist and doctor, in bimonthly meetings with Nelson Mandela when he was in prison, writing books on social-economic issues in South Africa, and later, working to manifest the values of compassion, dignity, and social justice on a global level as a managing director of the World Bank, co-president of The Club of Rome, and more.

                When asked what hurts, Mamphela describes the terrible conditions in South Africa, which she explains could have been averted if post-apartheid leaders had chosen to act for the wellbeing of all rather than getting enmeshed in party politics. And what gives Mamphela hope? The hope she sees in the eyes of young people (and old), and the transformations already underway in small communities. As she says, “the world has lost its way…it’s all about having more rather than being more,” but Mamphela believes real change will happen in the next couple of decades, when our personal, professional, and political lives become framed by the same value system—the values of ubuntu, the traditional, indigenous wisdom values of Africa, which are not only Africa’s heritage but all of ours. Inspiring and enlightening, this conversation is a transmission from a vibrant elder who fully understands and puts into practice what it means to live an authentic, compassionate life, with courage, humor, integrity, and wisdom. Recorded November 9, 2023.

                “We need to recognize we are one human family: Europe, America, and MOST of the world—not Europe, America, and the rest of the world.”

                (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                • We are wired to be compassionate, wired for self-respect, wired for social justice (01:40)
                • The Global Compassion Coalition and reawakening our basic human compassion (03:44)
                • The personal, professional, and political all have to be governed by the same value system—then we can have wellbeing economics (06:31)
                • What hurts is how we gave away a wonderful opportunity and chose short-term party politics over the true transformation of society (09:04)
                • What brings hope is the hope seen in the eyes of young people—even old people—and that the process of true transformation is underway in small communities (11:39)
                • Ubuntu: living the ethics, principles, and compassion that are embedded in what it means to be human (14:51)
                • The world has lost its way: it’s all about having more rather than being more (16:45) 
                • Assuming responsibility for yourself, others, and the entire web of life is a choice (18:36)
                • It helped a great deal that there was a global anti-establishment movement at the time of Mamphela and her fellow activists’ awakening (21:03)
                • What are Mamphela’s practices to stay centered and keep from being overwhelmed? (22:35)
                • How has Mamphela kept faith in human nature? (29:46)
                • Mamphela’s shift to global activism: channeling energies where it can make a difference (Club of Rome), also modeling to young people that Africans have a rich heritage and their value system matters (33:52)
                • Sustainable ecosystems are sustained by Indigenous Peoples: life is about part of an inextricably linked system (37:03)
                • The need to recognize we are one human family: Europe, America, and MOST of the world—not the “rest of the world” (40:05)
                • “For us to harvest the lessons of nature, we have to become indigenous again;” opening to the great wisdoms of all the ages (40:47)
                • Towards New Narratives of Hope, a recommended publication about the wisdom of Africa—which is everyone’s heritage (see resources below) (41:32)
                
                

                Resources & References – Part 2

                • The Global Compassion Coalition, creating and introducing new approaches to economics, politics, child development, and climate policy that have compassion and justice at their core
                • Rick Hanson, psychologist & best-selling author of Buddha’s Brain* et al. (see also Deep Transformation podcast episode #5, How We Can Hack Our Brain Using Neuroscience)
                • Ubuntu philosophy, the bond that all of humanity shares
                • Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.”
                • The Club of Rome’s mission is to apply holistic, interdisciplinary, and long-term thinking to ensure broader societal and planetary wellbeing; to move towards more equitable economic, financial, and socio-political models; ensure an inclusive human dimension to all systems change; and to emerge from emergency
                • Aurelio Peccei, co-founder of The Club of Rome 
                • The Limits to Growth +50 (Club of Rome website)
                • Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows, Jorgen Randers, William W. Behrens III, The Limits to Growth: A Report for the Club of Rome’s Project on the Predicament of Mankind* (1974)
                • Towards New Narratives of Hope for Fostering Transformative African Futures (Club of Rome website)
                • Mamphela’s website: Dr. Mamphela Ramphele 
                • Mamphela Ramphele, Club of Rome About Page
                • Mamphela Ramphele, co-founder of ReimagineSA, reimagining South Africa rooted in ubuntu
                • Mamphela Ramphele, A Passion for Freedom: My Life*
                • Mamphela Ramphela, Dreams, Betrayal and Hope*
                • Mamphela Ramphele, Conversations with my Sons and Daughters*
                • Mamphela Ramphele, Laying Ghosts to Rest: Dilemmas of the Transformation in South Africa*
                • Mamphela Ramphele & Francis Wilson, Uprooting Poverty: The South African Challenge*
                • Mamphela Ramphele & Francis Wilson, Children on the Front Line
                
                

                * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                ---

                Mamphela Ramphele is a world-renowned figure with an outstanding career as an activist, medical doctor, academic, businesswoman, and political thinker. She has been co-president of the Club of Rome, is the co-founder of ReimagineSA, and Chair at the Desmond Tutu IP Trust. Previously, she served as a managing director at the World Bank and as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town. Mamphela obtained a medical degree from the University of Natal in 1968, where she co-founded the Black Consciousness Movement with Steve Biko and became involved in the South African Students Association (SASO). Mamphela has received numerous national and international awards acknowledging her scholarship and leading role in promoting the empowerment of women, youth, and other oppressed people in South Africa and globally, and is the author of several books and publications on socio-economic issues in South Africa.

                ---

                Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                ]]>e38010f9-5de9-4acd-81d1-4613d3a228dbThu, 07 Dec 2023 05:00:00 -040044:33falsefull107107Wired for Self-Respect & Social Justice: Powerful Lessons from the Birth of So. Africa’s Black Consciousness MovementEp. 106 (Part 1 of 2) | Dr. Mamphela Ramphele, global thought leader, author, medical doctor, scholar, anti-apartheid activist, and co-founder of the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa has lived her extraordinary life guided by the knowing that every one of us is part of an inextricably linked system, and to live life as an authentic human being means assuming responsibility for oneself, others, and the whole web of life. Here, she connects the dots for us in so many ways, telling the remarkable story of how the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa was born with the realization that accepting a second-class identity was only perpetuating apartheid, internally and externally, and right away, the group became aware they needed to bring forth practical manifestations of this new consciousness. Mamphela has worked to do exactly that—bring the values of expanded consciousness into being—her whole life, first as an anti-apartheid activist and doctor, in bimonthly meetings with Nelson Mandela when he was in prison, writing books on social-economic issues in South Africa, and later, working to manifest the values of compassion, dignity, and social justice on a global level as a managing director of the World Bank, co-president of The Club of Rome, and more.

                When asked what hurts, Mamphela describes the terrible conditions in South Africa, which she explains could have been averted if post-apartheid leaders had chosen to act for the wellbeing of all rather than getting enmeshed in party politics. And what gives Mamphela hope? The hope she sees in the eyes of young people (and old), and the transformations already underway in small communities. As she says, “the world has lost its way…it’s all about having more rather than being more,” but Mamphela believes real change will happen in the next couple of decades, when our personal, professional, and political lives become framed by the same value system—the values of ubuntu, the traditional, indigenous wisdom values of Africa, which are not only Africa’s heritage but all of ours. Inspiring and enlightening, this conversation is a transmission from a vibrant elder who fully understands and puts into practice what it means to live an authentic, compassionate life, with courage, humor, integrity, and wisdom. Recorded November 9, 2023.

                “The majority of white people [in apartheid South Africa] were petrified of losing their privileges—in the same way we continue with business as usual today, in the face of climate change.”

                (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                • Introducing Mamphela Ramphele, physician, scholar, anti-apartheid activist, author, and global thought leader (01:32)
                • Growing up in a family of educators with encyclopedias & books all over the place, asking, as a young child, what makes my country so different? (03:42)
                • The day the penny dropped: as long as we call ourselves non-whites, we’re perpetuating the rule of the oppressors (06:00)
                • First came a sense of power—we can change things—then the purpose: make a world where no one is identified as a “non-something”  (08:52)
                • This also liberates white people from their superiority complex, which is a burden (10:51)
                • The system itself funded the first meeting of South African students, the founding organization of the Black Consciousness Movement (12:32)
                • The evolution of the Black Consciousness Movement: freeing mind, heart & body from mental slavery & translating the new consciousness into practical manifestations (15:02)
                • The 15 students managed to get news about the Black Power movement, Martin Luther King Jr’s I Have a Dream speech, Malcolm X & Angela Davis (17:37)
                • The majority of white people were petrified of losing their privileges—in the same way we continue with business as usual today, in the face of climate change (19:00)
                • What did we do with the consciousness we had? Recognize we have to practice what we preach, mobilize people to restore their own dignity, and build black solidarity (21:01)
                • The Soweto uprising and the mobilization of workers, parents, faith communities (22:02)
                • The post-apartheid government failed to live up to the ideals that so many died for and how the African National Congress (ANC) tried to own Nelson Mandela (23:57)
                • In the negotiated settlement, they should have been asking how to restructure the economy, but the new ANC missed that boat and focused on politics instead (26:01) 
                • The reunification of Germany could have been a great example of lifting the downtrodden up, erasing differences and equalizing communities (28:54)
                • Asking the wrong question: who will be in power? Shortsightedness and the love of power (31:35)
                • The good news: a resurgence of young people who want fundamental transformation of South Africa, including refocusing politics on citizens as the sovereigns of democracy (36:44)
                • A fully conscious person must understand that to be human is to be relational—what’s important is to be who you were created to be, it’s not about having more (38:20)
                
                

                Resources & References – Part 1

                • Mamphela’s website: Dr. Mamphela Ramphele 
                • Mamphela Ramphele, Club of Rome About Page
                • Mamphela Ramphele, co-founder of ReimagineSA, reimagining South Africa rooted in ubuntu
                • Mamphela Ramphele, A Passion for Freedom: My Life*
                • Mamphela Ramphela, Dreams, Betrayal and Hope*
                • Mamphela Ramphele, Conversations with my Sons and Daughters*
                • Mamphela Ramphele & Francis Wilson, Uprooting Poverty: The South African Challenge*
                • Mamphela Ramphele & Francis Wilson, Children on the Front Line
                • Judith Harlan, Mamphela Ramphele: Challenging Apartheid in South Africa* (Women Changing the World)
                • Steve Biko, South African anti-apartheid activist, protagonist of the film Cry Freedom 
                • University of Natal, South Africa
                • Steve Biko, I Write What I Like: Selected Writings*
                • Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 1963 I Have a Dream speech (YouTube video with subtitles)
                • Malcolm X, minister, human rights activist, Black empowerment advocate, The Autobiography of Malcolm X as Told to Alex Haley*
                • The Black Power Movement
                • Angela Davis, American revolutionary Marxist and feminist political activist, philosopher,...]]>Ep. 106 (Part 1 of 2) | Dr. Mamphela Ramphele, global thought leader, author, medical doctor, scholar, anti-apartheid activist, and co-founder of the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa has lived her extraordinary life guided by the knowing that every one of us is part of an inextricably linked system, and to live life as an authentic human being means assuming responsibility for oneself, others, and the whole web of life. Here, she connects the dots for us in so many ways, telling the remarkable story of how the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa was born with the realization that accepting a second-class identity was only perpetuating apartheid, internally and externally, and right away, the group became aware they needed to bring forth practical manifestations of this new consciousness. Mamphela has worked to do exactly that—bring the values of expanded consciousness into being—her whole life, first as an anti-apartheid activist and doctor, in bimonthly meetings with Nelson Mandela when he was in prison, writing books on social-economic issues in South Africa, and later, working to manifest the values of compassion, dignity, and social justice on a global level as a managing director of the World Bank, co-president of The Club of Rome, and more.

                  When asked what hurts, Mamphela describes the terrible conditions in South Africa, which she explains could have been averted if post-apartheid leaders had chosen to act for the wellbeing of all rather than getting enmeshed in party politics. And what gives Mamphela hope? The hope she sees in the eyes of young people (and old), and the transformations already underway in small communities. As she says, “the world has lost its way…it’s all about having more rather than being more,” but Mamphela believes real change will happen in the next couple of decades, when our personal, professional, and political lives become framed by the same value system—the values of ubuntu, the traditional, indigenous wisdom values of Africa, which are not only Africa’s heritage but all of ours. Inspiring and enlightening, this conversation is a transmission from a vibrant elder who fully understands and puts into practice what it means to live an authentic, compassionate life, with courage, humor, integrity, and wisdom. Recorded November 9, 2023.

                  “The majority of white people [in apartheid South Africa] were petrified of losing their privileges—in the same way we continue with business as usual today, in the face of climate change.”

                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                  • Introducing Mamphela Ramphele, physician, scholar, anti-apartheid activist, author, and global thought leader (01:32)
                  • Growing up in a family of educators with encyclopedias & books all over the place, asking, as a young child, what makes my country so different? (03:42)
                  • The day the penny dropped: as long as we call ourselves non-whites, we’re perpetuating the rule of the oppressors (06:00)
                  • First came a sense of power—we can change things—then the purpose: make a world where no one is identified as a “non-something”  (08:52)
                  • This also liberates white people from their superiority complex, which is a burden (10:51)
                  • The system itself funded the first meeting of South African students, the founding organization of the Black Consciousness Movement (12:32)
                  • The evolution of the Black Consciousness Movement: freeing mind, heart & body from mental slavery & translating the new consciousness into practical manifestations (15:02)
                  • The 15 students managed to get news about the Black Power movement, Martin Luther King Jr’s I Have a Dream speech, Malcolm X & Angela Davis (17:37)
                  • The majority of white people were petrified of losing their privileges—in the same way we continue with business as usual today, in the face of climate change (19:00)
                  • What did we do with the consciousness we had? Recognize we have to practice what we preach, mobilize people to restore their own dignity, and build black solidarity (21:01)
                  • The Soweto uprising and the mobilization of workers, parents, faith communities (22:02)
                  • The post-apartheid government failed to live up to the ideals that so many died for and how the African National Congress (ANC) tried to own Nelson Mandela (23:57)
                  • In the negotiated settlement, they should have been asking how to restructure the economy, but the new ANC missed that boat and focused on politics instead (26:01) 
                  • The reunification of Germany could have been a great example of lifting the downtrodden up, erasing differences and equalizing communities (28:54)
                  • Asking the wrong question: who will be in power? Shortsightedness and the love of power (31:35)
                  • The good news: a resurgence of young people who want fundamental transformation of South Africa, including refocusing politics on citizens as the sovereigns of democracy (36:44)
                  • A fully conscious person must understand that to be human is to be relational—what’s important is to be who you were created to be, it’s not about having more (38:20)
                  
                  

                  Resources & References – Part 1

                  • Mamphela’s website: Dr. Mamphela Ramphele 
                  • Mamphela Ramphele, Club of Rome About Page
                  • Mamphela Ramphele, co-founder of ReimagineSA, reimagining South Africa rooted in ubuntu
                  • Mamphela Ramphele, A Passion for Freedom: My Life*
                  • Mamphela Ramphela, Dreams, Betrayal and Hope*
                  • Mamphela Ramphele, Conversations with my Sons and Daughters*
                  • Mamphela Ramphele & Francis Wilson, Uprooting Poverty: The South African Challenge*
                  • Mamphela Ramphele & Francis Wilson, Children on the Front Line
                  • Judith Harlan, Mamphela Ramphele: Challenging Apartheid in South Africa* (Women Changing the World)
                  • Steve Biko, South African anti-apartheid activist, protagonist of the film Cry Freedom 
                  • University of Natal, South Africa
                  • Steve Biko, I Write What I Like: Selected Writings*
                  • Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 1963 I Have a Dream speech (YouTube video with subtitles)
                  • Malcolm X, minister, human rights activist, Black empowerment advocate, The Autobiography of Malcolm X as Told to Alex Haley*
                  • The Black Power Movement
                  • Angela Davis, American revolutionary Marxist and feminist political activist, philosopher, academic, and author
                  • Horst Kleinschmidt, human rights activist, leader in the National Union of South African Students 
                  • Geoff Budlender, South African lawyer
                  • Soweto uprising, June 1976
                  • Nelson Mandela, first post-apartheid president of South Africa
                  • African National Congress (ANC), social-democratic political party in South Africa
                  • Helmut Kohl, German chancellor who oversaw the reunification of Germany
                  • Francis Wilson, South African economist
                  • Thabo Mbeki, 2nd president of post-apartheid South Africa
                  • Walter Sisulu, South African anti-apartheid activist, Secretary-General of the African National Congress (ANC)
                  • Desmond Tutu, South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist
                  
                  

                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                  ---

                  Mamphela Ramphele is a world-renowned figure with an outstanding career as an activist, medical doctor, academic, businesswoman, and political thinker. She has been co-president of the Club of Rome, is the co-founder of ReimagineSA, and Chair at the Desmond Tutu IP Trust. Previously, she served as a managing director at the World Bank and as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town. Mamphela obtained a medical degree from the University of Natal in 1968, where she co-founded the Black Consciousness Movement with Steve Biko and became involved in the South African Students Association (SASO). Mamphela has received numerous national and international awards acknowledging her scholarship and leading role in promoting the empowerment of women, youth, and other oppressed people in South Africa and globally, and is the author of several books and publications on socio-economic issues in South Africa.

                  ---

                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                  ]]>7604b1a2-526c-429a-b5ae-d2e86b9583d2Thu, 30 Nov 2023 05:00:00 -040040:20falsefull106106Coping with the Horrors of War: An Israeli Therapist Shares the Agony, Grief & Uncertainty of Wartime, Insights on Alleviating Trauma, and the Grace of Integral-Spiritual Practice (Part 2)Ep. 105 (Part 2 of 2) | Shachar Erez, longtime spiritual practitioner and integrally informed therapist in Israel, opens his heart, sharing his pain and overwhelming grief since the outbreak of war with Hamas and revealing another dimension of what’s going on than what we see in the news. It is a profound experience listening to a sensitive, compassionate person openly, honestly, courageously sharing what it feels like to be living with his family under threat of extreme violence, struggling to accept humanity as it is, working to help survivors reframe trauma to prevent PTSD, all amidst utter uncertainty as to the future of Israel and its people. Universal questions are raised: How to remain human in wartime? How is an ethical, spiritual, peaceful person to cope? Is there any hope for peace between Palestine and Israel? And, we are all broken—how do we accept the brokenness and continue to function?

                  The sustaining power of an integral-spiritual practice is clear—it is practice (intense workouts and meditation especially) that gets Shachar through and able to muster up the energy to help others, which in turn is so helpful to him. Shachar marvels at how sitting in the therapist’s chair allows him to embrace all that he hears—all the realities, all the horrors—when if he heard it on the news, he couldn’t take it. As a therapist, Shachar is very much thinking ahead to the near unimaginable challenge of helping all the people who are hurt by this war, in Gaza and in Israel, after the fighting stops. “How do you find a shrink for 12 million people?” he asks, adding, “This should be an awakening all over the Western world—people should not be living in fear like this in 2023.” Recorded November 1, 2023. 

                  “People should not be living in fear like this in 2023.”

                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                  • What is Israel to do in this situation? (02:04)
                  • Israel is inevitably dropping to lower developmental stages—to hope there would be no vengeance is naive (03:40)
                  • How to understand a level of motivation where you sacrifice your own people? (06:49)
                  • There’s no more left wing in Israel—what’s the future of this place? (07:49)
                  • Why Shachar left progressive Berkeley and returned to Israel (10:53)
                  • Can peace happen? The Palestinians have been taught to hate, but John reminds us how the U.S. and Germany, the U.S. and Japan, were reconciled very quickly after WWII (13:30)
                  • The most important practice now: high intensity workouts (17:45)
                  • If numb, do something small to regain functionality and motivation (18:21)
                  • Other helpful practices: talking to people, meditation, volunteering & helping others (19:41)
                  • In trauma, you always feel like you are alone, but Israelis are good at coming together socially if not politically (21:25)
                  • In the midst of trauma and hatred, human kindness is healing (22:43)
                  • What can we who are not near the battle do to help? Stay open to the suffering, to the questions, and avoid dogmatic certainty (23:27)
                  • What would be the most humane response? Holding compassion but holding strength (26:35)
                  • This should be an awakening all over the Western world – there’s something that needs to be realigned: people should not be living in fear like this in 2023 (27:31)
                  • What is the right response ethically, practically? (29:16)
                  • How to remain human? Being with our experience, open to the feelings of others, accepting our humanity (31:38)
                  
                  

                  Resources & References – Part 2

                  • What are the stages of development? (Integral Life website: a cinematic journey created by Corey deVos portraying Ken Wilber’s levels of development)
                  • Don Beck & Christopher Cowan, Spiral Dynamics*
                  • Ken Wilber on Violence vs. Nonviolence (Integral LIfe website)
                  • The Bhagavad-Gita: Krishna’s Counsel in Time of War* 
                  • Shachar’s website (in Hebrew): www.beinghuman.co.il 
                  • The Generous Marriage podcast, co-hosted by Shachar Erez
                  • Shachar’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/shachar.erez
                  
                  

                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                  ---

                  Shachar Erez is a marriage and family therapist living and working in Israel. On good days, he helps couples fall in love again. He’s integrally informed. And trauma informed. And has been practicing an integral practice for many years. Shachar is married to Judy and father to three beautiful kids.

                  Since the horrors that happened in Israel and the war that is still raging, he feels like he’s been practicing all his life for this moment. 

                  ---

                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                  ]]>Ep. 105 (Part 2 of 2) | Shachar Erez, longtime spiritual practitioner and integrally informed therapist in Israel, opens his heart, sharing his pain and overwhelming grief since the outbreak of war with Hamas and revealing another dimension of what’s going on than what we see in the news. It is a profound experience listening to a sensitive, compassionate person openly, honestly, courageously sharing what it feels like to be living with his family under threat of extreme violence, struggling to accept humanity as it is, working to help survivors reframe trauma to prevent PTSD, all amidst utter uncertainty as to the future of Israel and its people. Universal questions are raised: How to remain human in wartime? How is an ethical, spiritual, peaceful person to cope? Is there any hope for peace between Palestine and Israel? And, we are all broken—how do we accept the brokenness and continue to function?

                  The sustaining power of an integral-spiritual practice is clear—it is practice (intense workouts and meditation especially) that gets Shachar through and able to muster up the energy to help others, which in turn is so helpful to him. Shachar marvels at how sitting in the therapist’s chair allows him to embrace all that he hears—all the realities, all the horrors—when if he heard it on the news, he couldn’t take it. As a therapist, Shachar is very much thinking ahead to the near unimaginable challenge of helping all the people who are hurt by this war, in Gaza and in Israel, after the fighting stops. “How do you find a shrink for 12 million people?” he asks, adding, “This should be an awakening all over the Western world—people should not be living in fear like this in 2023.” Recorded November 1, 2023. 

                  “People should not be living in fear like this in 2023.”

                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                  • What is Israel to do in this situation? (02:04)
                  • Israel is inevitably dropping to lower developmental stages—to hope there would be no vengeance is naive (03:40)
                  • How to understand a level of motivation where you sacrifice your own people? (06:49)
                  • There’s no more left wing in Israel—what’s the future of this place? (07:49)
                  • Why Shachar left progressive Berkeley and returned to Israel (10:53)
                  • Can peace happen? The Palestinians have been taught to hate, but John reminds us how the U.S. and Germany, the U.S. and Japan, were reconciled very quickly after WWII (13:30)
                  • The most important practice now: high intensity workouts (17:45)
                  • If numb, do something small to regain functionality and motivation (18:21)
                  • Other helpful practices: talking to people, meditation, volunteering & helping others (19:41)
                  • In trauma, you always feel like you are alone, but Israelis are good at coming together socially if not politically (21:25)
                  • In the midst of trauma and hatred, human kindness is healing (22:43)
                  • What can we who are not near the battle do to help? Stay open to the suffering, to the questions, and avoid dogmatic certainty (23:27)
                  • What would be the most humane response? Holding compassion but holding strength (26:35)
                  • This should be an awakening all over the Western world – there’s something that needs to be realigned: people should not be living in fear like this in 2023 (27:31)
                  • What is the right response ethically, practically? (29:16)
                  • How to remain human? Being with our experience, open to the feelings of others, accepting our humanity (31:38)
                  
                  

                  Resources & References – Part 2

                  • What are the stages of development? (Integral Life website: a cinematic journey created by Corey deVos portraying Ken Wilber’s levels of development)
                  • Don Beck & Christopher Cowan, Spiral Dynamics*
                  • Ken Wilber on Violence vs. Nonviolence (Integral LIfe website)
                  • The Bhagavad-Gita: Krishna’s Counsel in Time of War* 
                  • Shachar’s website (in Hebrew): www.beinghuman.co.il 
                  • The Generous Marriage podcast, co-hosted by Shachar Erez
                  • Shachar’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/shachar.erez
                  
                  

                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                  ---

                  Shachar Erez is a marriage and family therapist living and working in Israel. On good days, he helps couples fall in love again. He’s integrally informed. And trauma informed. And has been practicing an integral practice for many years. Shachar is married to Judy and father to three beautiful kids.

                  Since the horrors that happened in Israel and the war that is still raging, he feels like he’s been practicing all his life for this moment. 

                  ---

                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                  ]]>66db9d75-e0bf-4c27-a338-089008d33b18Thu, 23 Nov 2023 05:00:00 -040037:21truefull105105Coping with the Horrors of War: An Israeli Therapist Shares the Agony, Grief & Uncertainty of Wartime, Insights on Alleviating Trauma, and the Grace of Integral-Spiritual PracticeEp. 104 (Part 1 of 2) | Shachar Erez, longtime spiritual practitioner and integrally informed therapist in Israel, opens his heart, sharing his pain and overwhelming grief since the outbreak of war with Hamas and revealing another dimension of what’s going on than what we see in the news. It is a profound experience listening to a sensitive, compassionate person openly, honestly, courageously sharing what it feels like to be living with his family under threat of extreme violence, struggling to accept humanity as it is, working to help survivors reframe trauma to prevent PTSD, all amidst utter uncertainty as to the future of Israel and its people. Universal questions are raised: How to remain human in wartime? How is an ethical, spiritual, peaceful person to cope? Is there any hope for peace between Palestine and Israel? And, we are all broken—how do we accept the brokenness and continue to function?

                  The sustaining power of an integral-spiritual practice is clear—it is practice (intense workouts and meditation especially) that gets Shachar through and able to muster up the energy to help others, which in turn is so helpful to him. Shachar marvels at how sitting in the therapist’s chair allows him to embrace all that he hears—all the realities, all the horrors—when if he heard it on the news, he couldn’t take it. As a therapist, Shachar is very much thinking ahead to the near unimaginable challenge of helping all the people who are hurt by this war, in Gaza and in Israel, after the fighting stops. “How do you find a shrink for 12 million people?” he asks, adding, “This should be an awakening all over the Western world—people should not be living in fear like this in 2023.” Recorded November 1, 2023. 

                  “I feel I’ve been practicing my whole life for this moment.”

                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                  • Introducing Shachar Erez, integrally informed Israeli therapist specializing in helping couples fall back in love (01:16)
                  • Roger’s hope that this podcast can in some way help allay the extreme partisanship and anti-Semitism arising as a result of Israel’s war with Hamas (04:07)
                  • Describing murder, kidnapping, funerals brings Shachar to tears (05:22)
                  • John’s early experiences gaining an understanding of Israel and the Jewish people (06:10)
                  • How can a man with spiritual values like Shachar get through this time of war and acute stress? (09:23)
                  • The first week just doing small things to keep functioning, then being there for others, working out, doing Integral practices, is what’s getting Shachar through at this point (11:50)
                  • The blessing is a knowing at a deep level that everything is “okay” despite the horror and the brokenness (12:52)
                  • Struggling to find the “other” inside himself, in this case the ability to commit horrific acts, as part of his spiritual practice (13:29)
                  • The Nova music festival massacre, and working to prevent PTSD later by remembering, telling the story, and reframing terror into resourcefulness (14:16)
                  • A therapist’s ability to contain the realities they hear, and the idea of being a sin-eater, eating people’s pain (17:21)
                  • Telling the story, as an Israeli to Americans, Shachar’s heart is torn open—he is usually more of a “tough guy” (18:53)
                  • We are all broken: how do we accept the brokenness and continue to function? (20:49)
                  • Shachar feels he’s been practicing his whole life for this moment (23:15)
                  • There’s something magic that happens when you’re willing to be with others in their pain (24:40)
                  • Agony, openness, and the deep knowing that everything is okay, even though everything is broken and could get a lot worse (30:33)
                  
                  

                  Resources & References – Part 1

                  • Shachar's website (in Hebrew): www.beinghuman.co.il 
                  • The Generous Marriage podcast, co-hosted by Shachar Erez
                  • Shachar's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/shachar.erez
                  • Leon Uris, Exodus*
                  • Leonard Cohen, Anthem (YouTube video) 
                  • Steven Jenkinson, Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul*
                  • Francis Weller, The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief*
                  • Carl Jung “Learn your theories as well as you can, but put them aside when you touch the miracle of the living soul.”
                  • Julian of Norwich, medieval mystic, “All shall be well.” Author, Revelations of Divine Love*
                  
                  

                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                  ---

                  Shachar Erez is a marriage and family therapist living and working in Israel. On good days, he helps couples fall in love again. He’s integrally informed. And trauma informed. And has been practicing an integral practice for many years. Shachar is married to Judy and father to three beautiful kids.

                  Since the horrors that happened in Israel and the war that is still raging, he feels like he’s been practicing all his life for this moment. 

                  ---

                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                  ]]>Ep. 104 (Part 1 of 2) | Shachar Erez, longtime spiritual practitioner and integrally informed therapist in Israel, opens his heart, sharing his pain and overwhelming grief since the outbreak of war with Hamas and revealing another dimension of what’s going on than what we see in the news. It is a profound experience listening to a sensitive, compassionate person openly, honestly, courageously sharing what it feels like to be living with his family under threat of extreme violence, struggling to accept humanity as it is, working to help survivors reframe trauma to prevent PTSD, all amidst utter uncertainty as to the future of Israel and its people. Universal questions are raised: How to remain human in wartime? How is an ethical, spiritual, peaceful person to cope? Is there any hope for peace between Palestine and Israel? And, we are all broken—how do we accept the brokenness and continue to function?

                  The sustaining power of an integral-spiritual practice is clear—it is practice (intense workouts and meditation especially) that gets Shachar through and able to muster up the energy to help others, which in turn is so helpful to him. Shachar marvels at how sitting in the therapist’s chair allows him to embrace all that he hears—all the realities, all the horrors—when if he heard it on the news, he couldn’t take it. As a therapist, Shachar is very much thinking ahead to the near unimaginable challenge of helping all the people who are hurt by this war, in Gaza and in Israel, after the fighting stops. “How do you find a shrink for 12 million people?” he asks, adding, “This should be an awakening all over the Western world—people should not be living in fear like this in 2023.” Recorded November 1, 2023. 

                  “I feel I’ve been practicing my whole life for this moment.”

                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                  • Introducing Shachar Erez, integrally informed Israeli therapist specializing in helping couples fall back in love (01:16)
                  • Roger’s hope that this podcast can in some way help allay the extreme partisanship and anti-Semitism arising as a result of Israel’s war with Hamas (04:07)
                  • Describing murder, kidnapping, funerals brings Shachar to tears (05:22)
                  • John’s early experiences gaining an understanding of Israel and the Jewish people (06:10)
                  • How can a man with spiritual values like Shachar get through this time of war and acute stress? (09:23)
                  • The first week just doing small things to keep functioning, then being there for others, working out, doing Integral practices, is what’s getting Shachar through at this point (11:50)
                  • The blessing is a knowing at a deep level that everything is “okay” despite the horror and the brokenness (12:52)
                  • Struggling to find the “other” inside himself, in this case the ability to commit horrific acts, as part of his spiritual practice (13:29)
                  • The Nova music festival massacre, and working to prevent PTSD later by remembering, telling the story, and reframing terror into resourcefulness (14:16)
                  • A therapist’s ability to contain the realities they hear, and the idea of being a sin-eater, eating people’s pain (17:21)
                  • Telling the story, as an Israeli to Americans, Shachar’s heart is torn open—he is usually more of a “tough guy” (18:53)
                  • We are all broken: how do we accept the brokenness and continue to function? (20:49)
                  • Shachar feels he’s been practicing his whole life for this moment (23:15)
                  • There’s something magic that happens when you’re willing to be with others in their pain (24:40)
                  • Agony, openness, and the deep knowing that everything is okay, even though everything is broken and could get a lot worse (30:33)
                  
                  

                  Resources & References – Part 1

                  • Shachar's website (in Hebrew): www.beinghuman.co.il 
                  • The Generous Marriage podcast, co-hosted by Shachar Erez
                  • Shachar's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/shachar.erez
                  • Leon Uris, Exodus*
                  • Leonard Cohen, Anthem (YouTube video) 
                  • Steven Jenkinson, Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul*
                  • Francis Weller, The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief*
                  • Carl Jung “Learn your theories as well as you can, but put them aside when you touch the miracle of the living soul.”
                  • Julian of Norwich, medieval mystic, “All shall be well.” Author, Revelations of Divine Love*
                  
                  

                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                  ---

                  Shachar Erez is a marriage and family therapist living and working in Israel. On good days, he helps couples fall in love again. He’s integrally informed. And trauma informed. And has been practicing an integral practice for many years. Shachar is married to Judy and father to three beautiful kids.

                  Since the horrors that happened in Israel and the war that is still raging, he feels like he’s been practicing all his life for this moment. 

                  ---

                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                  ]]>83bda643-47ed-47c2-9a81-2525057fa616Thu, 16 Nov 2023 05:00:00 -040038:59falsefull104104Indigenous Knowledge & the Web of Life: Living & Learning in Times of Crisis, Recognizing our Relatedness, Healing Grief & Mental Illness, Sharing Healing Stories & Sustaining Hope with Tyson Yunkaporta (Part 2)Ep. 103 (Part 2 of 2) | “What if I lean into the pain and come out the other side and survive it—and what if I take you with me, as the reader, and together we deal with our pain?” asks Tyson Yunkaporta, author, senior research fellow, founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab. Tyson embodies this era of metacrisis, actively working with the global issues of our time in his work and in his personal life. His books are paradigm rattling and his whole life is a contribution—bringing forth ways in which Aboriginal Indigenous knowledge can help us, stating the need to find a collective narrative we can all agree on in order to survive, expressing himself with utter authenticity, and pointing out emphatically that each one of us is a web of relations, and that’s what matters most.

                  In his own uniquely raw, unguarded, authentic (and funny) way, Tyson describes his personal challenges with mental health and bipolar disorder and the states of mind he was in when he wrote his two books. Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World, was written in just weeks while manic. In dramatic contrast, Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking was written while wrestling with depression. Tyson talks about disinformation and how we collectively need to get to the “right story;” about Aboriginal culture and what it means to be living in a colony; the amazing psycho-technologies Aboriginals have to deal with grief; the radicalization and polarization exacerbated by COVID lockdowns in Australia; the similarity between Indigenous knowledge and the scientific method; the sacredness of magic and how this cannot be scaled. Tyson is a window into Aboriginal Indigenous knowledge and a brilliant translator of that wisdom for the rest of us. Recorded September 21, 2023.

                  “Everything you are is a web of relations – you are a relational net.”

                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                  • Introducing artist, academic, author, podcast host, and founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab, Tyson Yunkaporta (01:21)
                  • Aboriginal & white Australia is really just one world, with Australia squatting on top: living in the overlap space of the Venn diagram (02:50)
                  • How we survive: Aboriginal culture has amazing psychotechnologies of mourning and excels at cultivating humor to effectively heal the grief from facing death so often (05:45) 
                  • How the Aboriginals were indirectly responsible for the first corporation after spearing Dutchmen 500 years ago (06:57)
                  • Tyson’s new book, Right Story, Wrong Story spends a lot of time refuting his first book, Sand Talk (09:20)
                  • Sand Talk was written in a bipolar/manic episode in 2 weeks flat—it includes a lot of solid Indigenous wisdom as well as propaganda about Western institutions (09:51)
                  • Right Story/Wrong Story was written in a state of suicidal depression modeled on Dante’s Inferno (13:14)
                  • The effects of COVID and the harshest lockdowns on the planet on Aboriginal Australia & on Tyson (14:11)
                  • Right Story/Wrong Story looks at disinformation: how can we collectively get to the right story? (16:10)
                  • Tyson explains his mental health challenges and the paradox of being dependent on Western medicine and other Western institutions (17:55)
                  • The capacity to laugh is what gets you through (22:16)
                  • The neurological capacity of an echidna (22:58)
                  • How secular gurus, influencers, are nudging people in horrible directions like fascism, autocracy, exclusionary politics (24:31) 
                  • People get very depressed reading Sand Talk to where Tyson has to talk them off the ledge, similar to the effects of Post-Avatar Depression Syndrome (26:43)
                  • Tyson is a prototypical person, embodying the challenges of this metacrisis era: what if we all lean into the pain together? (28:45) 
                  • Where did the mania go during the 2 years of COVID lockdowns? And the descent into hell with Virgil (30:45)
                  • Sacred altered states are supposed to happen in ceremony only; mental illness is seen as something that impairs your hearing in Aboriginal society (32:20)
                  • Magic is not meant to scale; it’s supposed to be part of your custodial role in caring for the landscape (34:25) 
                  • Our hunger for Indigenous wisdom, for ancient wisdom, for nature’s wisdom (36:03)
                  
                  

                  Resources & References – Part 1

                  • Tyson Yunkaporta, Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World*
                  • Tyson Yunkaporta, Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking*
                  • John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men*
                  • President Obama’s autobiography, A Promised Land*
                  • Ram Dass, spiritual teacher, master of acknowledging his mistakes
                  • Dante Alighieri, Inferno*
                  • Tyson Yunkaporta, founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab
                  • What is Deacon’s Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab? (YouTube video)
                  • Tyson’s podcast, The Other Others
                  
                  

                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                  ---

                  Tyson Yunkaporta is an Aboriginal scholar, founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab at Deakin University in Melbourne, and author of Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World, and more recently, Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking. His work focuses on applying Indigenous methods of inquiry to resolve complex issues and explore global crises. He is also an educator, traditional wood carver, arts critic, researcher, podcast host, and poet.

                  ---

                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                  ]]>Ep. 103 (Part 2 of 2) | “What if I lean into the pain and come out the other side and survive it—and what if I take you with me, as the reader, and together we deal with our pain?” asks Tyson Yunkaporta, author, senior research fellow, founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab. Tyson embodies this era of metacrisis, actively working with the global issues of our time in his work and in his personal life. His books are paradigm rattling and his whole life is a contribution—bringing forth ways in which Aboriginal Indigenous knowledge can help us, stating the need to find a collective narrative we can all agree on in order to survive, expressing himself with utter authenticity, and pointing out emphatically that each one of us is a web of relations, and that’s what matters most.

                  In his own uniquely raw, unguarded, authentic (and funny) way, Tyson describes his personal challenges with mental health and bipolar disorder and the states of mind he was in when he wrote his two books. Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World, was written in just weeks while manic. In dramatic contrast, Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking was written while wrestling with depression. Tyson talks about disinformation and how we collectively need to get to the “right story;” about Aboriginal culture and what it means to be living in a colony; the amazing psycho-technologies Aboriginals have to deal with grief; the radicalization and polarization exacerbated by COVID lockdowns in Australia; the similarity between Indigenous knowledge and the scientific method; the sacredness of magic and how this cannot be scaled. Tyson is a window into Aboriginal Indigenous knowledge and a brilliant translator of that wisdom for the rest of us. Recorded September 21, 2023.

                  “Everything you are is a web of relations – you are a relational net.”

                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                  • Introducing artist, academic, author, podcast host, and founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab, Tyson Yunkaporta (01:21)
                  • Aboriginal & white Australia is really just one world, with Australia squatting on top: living in the overlap space of the Venn diagram (02:50)
                  • How we survive: Aboriginal culture has amazing psychotechnologies of mourning and excels at cultivating humor to effectively heal the grief from facing death so often (05:45) 
                  • How the Aboriginals were indirectly responsible for the first corporation after spearing Dutchmen 500 years ago (06:57)
                  • Tyson’s new book, Right Story, Wrong Story spends a lot of time refuting his first book, Sand Talk (09:20)
                  • Sand Talk was written in a bipolar/manic episode in 2 weeks flat—it includes a lot of solid Indigenous wisdom as well as propaganda about Western institutions (09:51)
                  • Right Story/Wrong Story was written in a state of suicidal depression modeled on Dante’s Inferno (13:14)
                  • The effects of COVID and the harshest lockdowns on the planet on Aboriginal Australia & on Tyson (14:11)
                  • Right Story/Wrong Story looks at disinformation: how can we collectively get to the right story? (16:10)
                  • Tyson explains his mental health challenges and the paradox of being dependent on Western medicine and other Western institutions (17:55)
                  • The capacity to laugh is what gets you through (22:16)
                  • The neurological capacity of an echidna (22:58)
                  • How secular gurus, influencers, are nudging people in horrible directions like fascism, autocracy, exclusionary politics (24:31) 
                  • People get very depressed reading Sand Talk to where Tyson has to talk them off the ledge, similar to the effects of Post-Avatar Depression Syndrome (26:43)
                  • Tyson is a prototypical person, embodying the challenges of this metacrisis era: what if we all lean into the pain together? (28:45) 
                  • Where did the mania go during the 2 years of COVID lockdowns? And the descent into hell with Virgil (30:45)
                  • Sacred altered states are supposed to happen in ceremony only; mental illness is seen as something that impairs your hearing in Aboriginal society (32:20)
                  • Magic is not meant to scale; it’s supposed to be part of your custodial role in caring for the landscape (34:25) 
                  • Our hunger for Indigenous wisdom, for ancient wisdom, for nature’s wisdom (36:03)
                  
                  

                  Resources & References – Part 1

                  • Tyson Yunkaporta, Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World*
                  • Tyson Yunkaporta, Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking*
                  • John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men*
                  • President Obama’s autobiography, A Promised Land*
                  • Ram Dass, spiritual teacher, master of acknowledging his mistakes
                  • Dante Alighieri, Inferno*
                  • Tyson Yunkaporta, founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab
                  • What is Deacon’s Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab? (YouTube video)
                  • Tyson’s podcast, The Other Others
                  
                  

                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                  ---

                  Tyson Yunkaporta is an Aboriginal scholar, founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab at Deakin University in Melbourne, and author of Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World, and more recently, Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking. His work focuses on applying Indigenous methods of inquiry to resolve complex issues and explore global crises. He is also an educator, traditional wood carver, arts critic, researcher, podcast host, and poet.

                  ---

                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                  ]]>a3345263-19e8-4374-bbc8-32b05d369ac3Thu, 09 Nov 2023 05:00:00 -040036:58truefull103103Indigenous Knowledge & the Web of Life: Living & Learning in Times of Crisis, Recognizing our Relatedness, Healing Grief & Mental Illness, Sharing Healing Stories & Sustaining Hope with Tyson YunkaportaEp. 102 (Part 1 of 2) | “What if I lean into the pain and come out the other side and survive it—and what if I take you with me, as the reader, and together we deal with our pain?” asks Tyson Yunkaporta, author, senior research fellow, founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab. Tyson embodies this era of metacrisis, actively working with the global issues of our time in his work and in his personal life. His books are paradigm rattling and his whole life is a contribution—bringing forth ways in which Aboriginal Indigenous knowledge can help us, stating the need to find a collective narrative we can all agree on in order to survive, expressing himself with utter authenticity, and pointing out emphatically that each one of us is a web of relations, and that’s what matters most.

                  In his own uniquely raw, unguarded, authentic (and funny) way, Tyson describes his personal challenges with mental health and bipolar disorder and the states of mind he was in when he wrote his two books. Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World, was written in just weeks while manic. In dramatic contrast, Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking was written while wrestling with depression. Tyson talks about disinformation and how we collectively need to get to the “right story;” about Aboriginal culture and what it means to be living in a colony; the amazing psycho-technologies Aboriginals have to deal with grief; the radicalization and polarization exacerbated by COVID lockdowns in Australia; the similarity between Indigenous knowledge and the scientific method; the sacredness of magic and how this cannot be scaled. Tyson is a window into Aboriginal Indigenous knowledge and a brilliant translator of that wisdom for the rest of us. Recorded September 21, 2023.

                  “If you can get a fellow like me to line up and share a narrative with everybody else and an agreement on what is real and what is not in the world, then I guess there’s going to be hope for everybody.”

                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                  • Introducing artist, academic, author, podcast host, and founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab, Tyson Yunkaporta (01:21)
                  • Aboriginal & white Australia is really just one world, with Australia squatting on top: living in the overlap space of the Venn diagram (02:50)
                  • How we survive: Aboriginal culture has amazing psychotechnologies of mourning and excels at cultivating humor to effectively heal the grief from facing death so often (05:45) 
                  • How the Aboriginals were indirectly responsible for the first corporation after spearing Dutchmen 500 years ago (06:57)
                  • Tyson’s new book, Right Story, Wrong Story spends a lot of time refuting his first book, Sand Talk (09:20)
                  • Sand Talk was written in a bipolar/manic episode in 2 weeks flat—it includes a lot of solid Indigenous wisdom as well as propaganda about Western institutions (09:51)
                  • Right Story/Wrong Story was written in a state of suicidal depression modeled on Dante’s Inferno (13:14)
                  • The effects of COVID and the harshest lockdowns on the planet on Aboriginal Australia & on Tyson (14:11)
                  • Right Story/Wrong Story looks at disinformation: how can we collectively get to the right story? (16:10)
                  • Tyson explains his mental health challenges and the paradox of being dependent on Western medicine and other Western institutions (17:55)
                  • The capacity to laugh is what gets you through (22:16)
                  • The neurological capacity of an echidna (22:58)
                  • How secular gurus, influencers, are nudging people in horrible directions like fascism, autocracy, exclusionary politics (24:31) 
                  • People get very depressed reading Sand Talk to where Tyson has to talk them off the ledge, similar to the effects of Post-Avatar Depression Syndrome (26:43)
                  • Tyson is a prototypical person, embodying the challenges of this metacrisis era: what if we all lean into the pain together? (28:45) 
                  • Where did the mania go during the 2 years of COVID lockdowns? And the descent into hell with Virgil (30:45)
                  • Sacred altered states are supposed to happen in ceremony only; mental illness is seen as something that impairs your hearing in Aboriginal society (32:20)
                  • Magic is not meant to scale; it’s supposed to be part of your custodial role in caring for the landscape (34:25) 
                  • Our hunger for Indigenous wisdom, for ancient wisdom, for nature’s wisdom (36:03)
                  
                  

                  Resources & References – Part 1

                  • Tyson Yunkaporta, Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World*
                  • Tyson Yunkaporta, Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking*
                  • Tyson Yunkaporta, founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab
                  • What is Deacon’s Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab? (YouTube video)
                  • Tyson’s podcast, The Other Others 
                  • Venn diagram
                  • Dante Alighieri, Inferno*
                  • Echidnas, sometimes known as spiny anteaters
                  • Jordan Peterson’s YouTube channel: The Dr. Jordan B. Peterson Podcast
                  • The movie Avatar and Post-Avatar Depression Syndrome
                  • Beat poet John Kerouac, On the Road*
                  • Argumentum ad antiquitatem: Appeal to tradition
                  • Argumentum ad naturam: Appeal to nature
                  
                  

                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                  ---

                  Tyson Yunkaporta is an Aboriginal scholar, founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab at Deakin University in Melbourne, and author of Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World, and more recently, Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking. His work focuses on applying Indigenous methods of inquiry to resolve complex issues and explore global crises. He is also an educator, traditional wood carver, arts critic, researcher, podcast host, and poet.

                  ---

                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                  ]]>Ep. 102 (Part 1 of 2) | “What if I lean into the pain and come out the other side and survive it—and what if I take you with me, as the reader, and together we deal with our pain?” asks Tyson Yunkaporta, author, senior research fellow, founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab. Tyson embodies this era of metacrisis, actively working with the global issues of our time in his work and in his personal life. His books are paradigm rattling and his whole life is a contribution—bringing forth ways in which Aboriginal Indigenous knowledge can help us, stating the need to find a collective narrative we can all agree on in order to survive, expressing himself with utter authenticity, and pointing out emphatically that each one of us is a web of relations, and that’s what matters most.

                  In his own uniquely raw, unguarded, authentic (and funny) way, Tyson describes his personal challenges with mental health and bipolar disorder and the states of mind he was in when he wrote his two books. Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World, was written in just weeks while manic. In dramatic contrast, Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking was written while wrestling with depression. Tyson talks about disinformation and how we collectively need to get to the “right story;” about Aboriginal culture and what it means to be living in a colony; the amazing psycho-technologies Aboriginals have to deal with grief; the radicalization and polarization exacerbated by COVID lockdowns in Australia; the similarity between Indigenous knowledge and the scientific method; the sacredness of magic and how this cannot be scaled. Tyson is a window into Aboriginal Indigenous knowledge and a brilliant translator of that wisdom for the rest of us. Recorded September 21, 2023.

                  “If you can get a fellow like me to line up and share a narrative with everybody else and an agreement on what is real and what is not in the world, then I guess there’s going to be hope for everybody.”

                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                  • Introducing artist, academic, author, podcast host, and founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab, Tyson Yunkaporta (01:21)
                  • Aboriginal & white Australia is really just one world, with Australia squatting on top: living in the overlap space of the Venn diagram (02:50)
                  • How we survive: Aboriginal culture has amazing psychotechnologies of mourning and excels at cultivating humor to effectively heal the grief from facing death so often (05:45) 
                  • How the Aboriginals were indirectly responsible for the first corporation after spearing Dutchmen 500 years ago (06:57)
                  • Tyson’s new book, Right Story, Wrong Story spends a lot of time refuting his first book, Sand Talk (09:20)
                  • Sand Talk was written in a bipolar/manic episode in 2 weeks flat—it includes a lot of solid Indigenous wisdom as well as propaganda about Western institutions (09:51)
                  • Right Story/Wrong Story was written in a state of suicidal depression modeled on Dante’s Inferno (13:14)
                  • The effects of COVID and the harshest lockdowns on the planet on Aboriginal Australia & on Tyson (14:11)
                  • Right Story/Wrong Story looks at disinformation: how can we collectively get to the right story? (16:10)
                  • Tyson explains his mental health challenges and the paradox of being dependent on Western medicine and other Western institutions (17:55)
                  • The capacity to laugh is what gets you through (22:16)
                  • The neurological capacity of an echidna (22:58)
                  • How secular gurus, influencers, are nudging people in horrible directions like fascism, autocracy, exclusionary politics (24:31) 
                  • People get very depressed reading Sand Talk to where Tyson has to talk them off the ledge, similar to the effects of Post-Avatar Depression Syndrome (26:43)
                  • Tyson is a prototypical person, embodying the challenges of this metacrisis era: what if we all lean into the pain together? (28:45) 
                  • Where did the mania go during the 2 years of COVID lockdowns? And the descent into hell with Virgil (30:45)
                  • Sacred altered states are supposed to happen in ceremony only; mental illness is seen as something that impairs your hearing in Aboriginal society (32:20)
                  • Magic is not meant to scale; it’s supposed to be part of your custodial role in caring for the landscape (34:25) 
                  • Our hunger for Indigenous wisdom, for ancient wisdom, for nature’s wisdom (36:03)
                  
                  

                  Resources & References – Part 1

                  • Tyson Yunkaporta, Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World*
                  • Tyson Yunkaporta, Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking*
                  • Tyson Yunkaporta, founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab
                  • What is Deacon’s Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab? (YouTube video)
                  • Tyson’s podcast, The Other Others 
                  • Venn diagram
                  • Dante Alighieri, Inferno*
                  • Echidnas, sometimes known as spiny anteaters
                  • Jordan Peterson’s YouTube channel: The Dr. Jordan B. Peterson Podcast
                  • The movie Avatar and Post-Avatar Depression Syndrome
                  • Beat poet John Kerouac, On the Road*
                  • Argumentum ad antiquitatem: Appeal to tradition
                  • Argumentum ad naturam: Appeal to nature
                  
                  

                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                  ---

                  Tyson Yunkaporta is an Aboriginal scholar, founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab at Deakin University in Melbourne, and author of Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World, and more recently, Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking. His work focuses on applying Indigenous methods of inquiry to resolve complex issues and explore global crises. He is also an educator, traditional wood carver, arts critic, researcher, podcast host, and poet.

                  ---

                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                  ]]>b78fb195-1972-44e1-9bef-67ec91c520b0Thu, 02 Nov 2023 05:00:00 -040040:41truefull102102Everything is Sacred: Native American Wisdom on Following Your Destiny, Living Joyously, Dying Fearlessly & Dancing in a World Beyond Everyday Consciousness (Part 2)Ep. 101 (Part 2 of 2) | With extraordinary joyfulness and verve, Native American shaman Charles Lawrence tells the inspiring and fascinating tale of how as a young man, he left psychology, religion, and the white man’s domesticated world in the dust when he became initiated on his journey by mythologist Joseph Campbell, and a paranormal world opened its doors. “If you have a destiny, you better go gracefully, or you’ll get dragged by your heels,” Campbell told him. Indeed, to this day, now in his late 80s, Charles follows the call to ceremonies and Elder Councils all over the world, sharing his sacred shamanic energy and wisdom in blessing and benefit for all. Part Blackfoot by origin, Charles was baptized by traditional Hopi Elders, adopted by elders of Lakota and Coast Salish (Musqueam band), and acknowledged and accepted by Native American tribes and Indigenous Peoples near and far. Here, Charles transmits his love of life, his fearlessness around death, and his easy familiarity with the multidimensionality of existence, the limitlessness in every moment. “Is there joy in this moment in time?” he asks. “If not, why not?”

                  In regard to our collective future, Charles tells us that solutions await us beyond our normal consciousness; in relation to our personal yearning, he describes the transformative power of being seen, being witnessed for who we are at the deepest level, to free our souls and break out of the box. He urges us to sing, to dance, and to “cry our own cry.” (“Nobody has your cry, your experience. You’ve got to cry your own cry.”) Charles also shares his liberating approach to death (“Dying is simple, just pull out the clutch and go into neutral!”), about how he acquired “death medicine,” a wonderful ability to help people make the transition, and his own death medicine practice. One cannot help but be thoroughly inspired and reinvigorated listening to Charles—as Roger wrote him afterwards, “You left a legacy of joy in all of us. I will sing and laugh more and open the door wider to Mystery because of it. And try to practice my last 10 breaths.” Recorded June 1, 2023.

                  “I live by deliberate intent, my default place is joy, my ultimate place is ecstasy.”

                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                  • Solutions are already waiting for us beyond the average consciousness (01:17)
                  • Being a hollow bone and how opening to the Mystery is an ongoing practice (03:42)
                  • Stepping over the threshold, you are not the same person coming out: how are you different now? (04:56)
                  • Once you have been witnessed, you are forever changed (07:10)
                  • Raisa Gorbachev, Grandmother Carolyn, a trip to Russia in 2001, and on to South Africa with the Bush people (11:18)
                  • Why buy death by default? Die individually and make it a glorious journey, take your last 10 breaths as a practice (14:30)
                  • What is death medicine? (17:05)
                  • Everything about the journey is sacred, everything is wakan, and some of us are wake-makers (18:47)
                  • Grief is one of our biggest teachers (20:14)
                  • What is it that’s just waiting at any moment to burst out of us in joy? (22:29)
                  • Singing and dancing: your joy is essential to the emotional well-being of the village (25:31)
                  • The multidimensionality of existence and the shadow issues of Western culture—but it can be win-win-win, a benefit for all beings (32:11)
                  • I live by deliberate intent, my default place is joy, my ultimate place is ecstasy (34:21)
                  • Charles sings a Wallace Black Elk song (36:18)
                  • Transpersonal spontaneity (37:56)
                  
                  

                  Resources & References – Part 2

                  • Albert Einstein, “You can’t solve a problem on the same level that it was created. You have to rise above it to the next level.”
                  • Rumi, “Out beyond ideas of rightdoing and wrongdoing, there is a field…”
                  • Oliver Sacks, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat*
                  • Raisa Gorbacheva, Soviet-Russian activist & philanthropist, wife of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
                  • Katherine MacLean, neuroscientist & psychedelic researcher at Johns Hopkins, author of Midnight Water: A Psychedelic Memoir*
                  • Islam-Judeo-Christian (IJC), religions centered around the worship of the God of Abraham
                  • Adyashanti, American-born spiritual teacher
                  • Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World (YouTube video)
                  • Bruce Lipton, On the Future of Human Civilization (YouTube video)
                  • Carl Hammerschlag, The Dancing Healers: A Doctor’s Journey of Healing with Native Americans*
                  • Books by Roger Walsh: https://deeptransformation.io/books/#roger-walsh
                  • Grandmother Carolyn (Carolyn Tawangyama) worked all over the world to promote world peace and spiritual growth. In her words: “A small group of people who overcome themselves will unite the prophecies and bring back unity for all people.”
                  
                  

                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                  ---

                  The Personal Reality of Charles H. Lawrence

                  With a flash or two of lightning, a personal reality is shattered! Synchronously, the doors of perception open wide enough for a “guardian at the gate”—Joseph Campbell—to introduce Charles H. Lawrence to having a destiny that MUST be followed, or be dragged to: From rejected to chosen, from the very limited (Western) perspective of life to the astonishing expansive spectrum of Indigenous Intelligence and intimate personal—far outside the box/cage relationship with all Existence. From prescribed, programmed, “follow-the-leader Western societies’ rules to discovering the command to “find one’s own way through the darkest part of the forest” (The Hero’s Journey). The endless, constantly evolving, transforming experience of being but a small yet significant part of a greater story, and assisting the unfolding of New Myths that are waiting to happen.

                  Discovering that one had been predicted to show up—at least a hundred years previously (Coast Salish/ Musqueam). Learning the difference between being a “seeker” and “one who was sent.” Being a deliverer of long-cried-for assistance in far off reaches of the Earth (South Africa). Seen by a Peruvian Shaman as the one to assist in creating a Healing Center deep in the Amazon jungle. Being acknowledged as a visionary (Alta messiah) by the Quero of the Altiplano of South America. Recipient of a glimmering (NW Indigenous term) that created, decades ago, a Ceremonial Community that continues to evolve and transform into “Circles/ Communities” that serve the “Cries” of today. This, and much more!

                  ---

                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                  ]]>Ep. 101 (Part 2 of 2) | With extraordinary joyfulness and verve, Native American shaman Charles Lawrence tells the inspiring and fascinating tale of how as a young man, he left psychology, religion, and the white man’s domesticated world in the dust when he became initiated on his journey by mythologist Joseph Campbell, and a paranormal world opened its doors. “If you have a destiny, you better go gracefully, or you’ll get dragged by your heels,” Campbell told him. Indeed, to this day, now in his late 80s, Charles follows the call to ceremonies and Elder Councils all over the world, sharing his sacred shamanic energy and wisdom in blessing and benefit for all. Part Blackfoot by origin, Charles was baptized by traditional Hopi Elders, adopted by elders of Lakota and Coast Salish (Musqueam band), and acknowledged and accepted by Native American tribes and Indigenous Peoples near and far. Here, Charles transmits his love of life, his fearlessness around death, and his easy familiarity with the multidimensionality of existence, the limitlessness in every moment. “Is there joy in this moment in time?” he asks. “If not, why not?”

                  In regard to our collective future, Charles tells us that solutions await us beyond our normal consciousness; in relation to our personal yearning, he describes the transformative power of being seen, being witnessed for who we are at the deepest level, to free our souls and break out of the box. He urges us to sing, to dance, and to “cry our own cry.” (“Nobody has your cry, your experience. You’ve got to cry your own cry.”) Charles also shares his liberating approach to death (“Dying is simple, just pull out the clutch and go into neutral!”), about how he acquired “death medicine,” a wonderful ability to help people make the transition, and his own death medicine practice. One cannot help but be thoroughly inspired and reinvigorated listening to Charles—as Roger wrote him afterwards, “You left a legacy of joy in all of us. I will sing and laugh more and open the door wider to Mystery because of it. And try to practice my last 10 breaths.” Recorded June 1, 2023.

                  “I live by deliberate intent, my default place is joy, my ultimate place is ecstasy.”

                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                  • Solutions are already waiting for us beyond the average consciousness (01:17)
                  • Being a hollow bone and how opening to the Mystery is an ongoing practice (03:42)
                  • Stepping over the threshold, you are not the same person coming out: how are you different now? (04:56)
                  • Once you have been witnessed, you are forever changed (07:10)
                  • Raisa Gorbachev, Grandmother Carolyn, a trip to Russia in 2001, and on to South Africa with the Bush people (11:18)
                  • Why buy death by default? Die individually and make it a glorious journey, take your last 10 breaths as a practice (14:30)
                  • What is death medicine? (17:05)
                  • Everything about the journey is sacred, everything is wakan, and some of us are wake-makers (18:47)
                  • Grief is one of our biggest teachers (20:14)
                  • What is it that’s just waiting at any moment to burst out of us in joy? (22:29)
                  • Singing and dancing: your joy is essential to the emotional well-being of the village (25:31)
                  • The multidimensionality of existence and the shadow issues of Western culture—but it can be win-win-win, a benefit for all beings (32:11)
                  • I live by deliberate intent, my default place is joy, my ultimate place is ecstasy (34:21)
                  • Charles sings a Wallace Black Elk song (36:18)
                  • Transpersonal spontaneity (37:56)
                  
                  

                  Resources & References – Part 2

                  • Albert Einstein, “You can’t solve a problem on the same level that it was created. You have to rise above it to the next level.”
                  • Rumi, “Out beyond ideas of rightdoing and wrongdoing, there is a field…”
                  • Oliver Sacks, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat*
                  • Raisa Gorbacheva, Soviet-Russian activist & philanthropist, wife of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
                  • Katherine MacLean, neuroscientist & psychedelic researcher at Johns Hopkins, author of Midnight Water: A Psychedelic Memoir*
                  • Islam-Judeo-Christian (IJC), religions centered around the worship of the God of Abraham
                  • Adyashanti, American-born spiritual teacher
                  • Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World (YouTube video)
                  • Bruce Lipton, On the Future of Human Civilization (YouTube video)
                  • Carl Hammerschlag, The Dancing Healers: A Doctor’s Journey of Healing with Native Americans*
                  • Books by Roger Walsh: https://deeptransformation.io/books/#roger-walsh
                  • Grandmother Carolyn (Carolyn Tawangyama) worked all over the world to promote world peace and spiritual growth. In her words: “A small group of people who overcome themselves will unite the prophecies and bring back unity for all people.”
                  
                  

                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                  ---

                  The Personal Reality of Charles H. Lawrence

                  With a flash or two of lightning, a personal reality is shattered! Synchronously, the doors of perception open wide enough for a “guardian at the gate”—Joseph Campbell—to introduce Charles H. Lawrence to having a destiny that MUST be followed, or be dragged to: From rejected to chosen, from the very limited (Western) perspective of life to the astonishing expansive spectrum of Indigenous Intelligence and intimate personal—far outside the box/cage relationship with all Existence. From prescribed, programmed, “follow-the-leader Western societies’ rules to discovering the command to “find one’s own way through the darkest part of the forest” (The Hero’s Journey). The endless, constantly evolving, transforming experience of being but a small yet significant part of a greater story, and assisting the unfolding of New Myths that are waiting to happen.

                  Discovering that one had been predicted to show up—at least a hundred years previously (Coast Salish/ Musqueam). Learning the difference between being a “seeker” and “one who was sent.” Being a deliverer of long-cried-for assistance in far off reaches of the Earth (South Africa). Seen by a Peruvian Shaman as the one to assist in creating a Healing Center deep in the Amazon jungle. Being acknowledged as a visionary (Alta messiah) by the Quero of the Altiplano of South America. Recipient of a glimmering (NW Indigenous term) that created, decades ago, a Ceremonial Community that continues to evolve and transform into “Circles/ Communities” that serve the “Cries” of today. This, and much more!

                  ---

                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                  ]]>0e439ae1-9443-45ec-bd80-3a80bf17dec6Thu, 26 Oct 2023 05:00:00 -040039:52truefull101101Everything is Sacred: Native American Wisdom on Following Your Destiny, Living Joyously, Dying Fearlessly & Dancing in a World Beyond Everyday ConsciousnessEp. 100 (Part 1 of 2) | With extraordinary joyfulness and verve, Native American shaman Charles Lawrence tells the inspiring and fascinating tale of how as a young man, he left psychology, religion, and the white man’s domesticated world in the dust when he became initiated on his journey by mythologist Joseph Campbell, and a paranormal world opened its doors. “If you have a destiny, you better go gracefully, or you’ll get dragged by your heels,” Campbell told him. Indeed, to this day, now in his late 80s, Charles follows the call to ceremonies and Elder Councils all over the world, sharing his sacred shamanic energy and wisdom in blessing and benefit for all. Part Blackfoot by origin, Charles was baptized by traditional Hopi Elders, adopted by elders of Lakota and Coast Salish (Musqueam band), and acknowledged and accepted by Native American tribes and Indigenous Peoples near and far. Here, Charles transmits his love of life, his fearlessness around death, and his easy familiarity with the multidimensionality of existence, the limitlessness in every moment. “Is there joy in this moment in time?” he asks. “If not, why not?”

                  In regard to our collective future, Charles tells us that solutions await us beyond our normal consciousness; in relation to our personal yearning, he describes the transformative power of being seen, being witnessed for who we are at the deepest level, to free our souls and break out of the box. He urges us to sing, to dance, and to “cry our own cry.” (“Nobody has your cry, your experience. You’ve got to cry your own cry.”) Charles also shares his liberating approach to death (“Dying is simple, just pull out the clutch and go into neutral!”), about how he acquired “death medicine,” a wonderful ability to help people make the transition, and his own death medicine practice. One cannot help but be thoroughly inspired and reinvigorated listening to Charles—as Roger wrote him afterwards, “You left a legacy of joy in all of us. I will sing and laugh more and open the door wider to Mystery because of it. And try to practice my last 10 breaths.” Recorded June 1, 2023.

                  “What is it that’s just waiting at any moment to burst out of us in joy?“

                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                  • Introducing psychologist and Native American shaman Charles Lawrence (01:04)
                  • How Charles left Western psychology & religion behind in the dust, beginning with his meeting mythologist Joseph Campbell and the opening of several paranormal doors (02:33)
                  • Living your destiny: follow the guidance, the intuition, whatever shows up (06:42)
                  • Native American wisdom has much medicine for us today; the knowing that everything is sacred (08:02)
                  • The Native American attunement to nature, sense of interconnection, and knowing that elders are to be revered contrasts sadly with our present culture (10:11)
                  • Charles’ call to meet Wallace Black Elk and his wife, Grace Spotted Eagle (12:17)
                  • Indigenous people’s special lens on reality and the death medicine tradition of the Ojibwe (14:23)
                  • Charles’ first Vision Quest in the Rockies while still a newbie (16:51)
                  • The Ghost Dance, the legend of the Broken Hoop, and inquiring into what would happen if we started gathering together again: weaving the basket of connection (19:10)
                  • How John came to travel with Wallace Black Elk, a man of connection and love with all beings (24:18)
                  • It still is the age of miracles! They don’t just happen in the Bible (27:14)
                  • How elders witness people, see people, and wake people up (28:06)
                  • Death medicine (helping people die): dying is simple, just push in the clutch and go into neutral (30:08)
                  • There is a difference between someone who is seeking something and someone who is sent (34:32)
                  • How Charles learned to talk to groups of hundreds of people with no microphone and fulfill the legacy, the prophecy, the path of destiny (36:20)
                  • Having a mission & being guided by something greater than you is an antidote to today’s cultural vacuum (37:10)
                  • What happened with John when Wallace Black Elk passed away (37:56)
                  
                  

                  Resources & References – Part 1

                  • Joseph Campbell, professor, mythologist, author, The Hero with a Thousand Faces*
                  • Jean Houston, scholar, prolific author, visionary thinker, one of the principal founders of the Human Potential Movement  
                  • Robert Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land*
                  • Swami Muktananda, founder of Siddha Yoga
                  • Jean Erdman, modern dance dancer and choreographer, avant-garde theater director (Joseph Cambell’s wife), co-founder of The Open Eye Theater
                  • Joseph Campbell, Myths to Live By*
                  • Joseph Epes Brown, The Spiritual Legacy of the American Indian*
                  • Margaret Mead, Continuities in Cultural Evolution*, Culture and Commitment*
                  • Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, Life is a Pilgrimage*
                  • Wallace Black Elk, Native American shamanic teacher, Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota
                  • Grace Spotted Eagle: Thunder’s Grace: Walking the Road of Visions with my Lakota Grandmother* by Mary Elizabeth Thunder
                  • Bates Wilson, beloved superintendent of Arches National Park & Natural Bridges, the “Father of Canyonlands National Park”
                  • Malidoma Somé, Of Water and the Spirit: Ritual, Magic, and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman*
                  • Stanislav Grof, Books of the Dead: Manuals for Living and Dying*
                  • George Soros, investor hedge fund manager, author, philanthropist
                  
                  

                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                  ---

                  The Personal Reality of Charles H. Lawrence

                  With a flash or two of lightning, a personal reality is shattered! Synchronously, the doors of perception open wide enough for a “guardian at the gate”—Joseph Campbell—to introduce Charles H. Lawrence to having a destiny that MUST be followed, or be dragged to: From rejected to chosen, from the very limited (Western) perspective of life to the astonishing expansive spectrum of Indigenous Intelligence and intimate...]]>Ep. 100 (Part 1 of 2) | With extraordinary joyfulness and verve, Native American shaman Charles Lawrence tells the inspiring and fascinating tale of how as a young man, he left psychology, religion, and the white man’s domesticated world in the dust when he became initiated on his journey by mythologist Joseph Campbell, and a paranormal world opened its doors. “If you have a destiny, you better go gracefully, or you’ll get dragged by your heels,” Campbell told him. Indeed, to this day, now in his late 80s, Charles follows the call to ceremonies and Elder Councils all over the world, sharing his sacred shamanic energy and wisdom in blessing and benefit for all. Part Blackfoot by origin, Charles was baptized by traditional Hopi Elders, adopted by elders of Lakota and Coast Salish (Musqueam band), and acknowledged and accepted by Native American tribes and Indigenous Peoples near and far. Here, Charles transmits his love of life, his fearlessness around death, and his easy familiarity with the multidimensionality of existence, the limitlessness in every moment. “Is there joy in this moment in time?” he asks. “If not, why not?”

                  In regard to our collective future, Charles tells us that solutions await us beyond our normal consciousness; in relation to our personal yearning, he describes the transformative power of being seen, being witnessed for who we are at the deepest level, to free our souls and break out of the box. He urges us to sing, to dance, and to “cry our own cry.” (“Nobody has your cry, your experience. You’ve got to cry your own cry.”) Charles also shares his liberating approach to death (“Dying is simple, just pull out the clutch and go into neutral!”), about how he acquired “death medicine,” a wonderful ability to help people make the transition, and his own death medicine practice. One cannot help but be thoroughly inspired and reinvigorated listening to Charles—as Roger wrote him afterwards, “You left a legacy of joy in all of us. I will sing and laugh more and open the door wider to Mystery because of it. And try to practice my last 10 breaths.” Recorded June 1, 2023.

                  “What is it that’s just waiting at any moment to burst out of us in joy?“

                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                  • Introducing psychologist and Native American shaman Charles Lawrence (01:04)
                  • How Charles left Western psychology & religion behind in the dust, beginning with his meeting mythologist Joseph Campbell and the opening of several paranormal doors (02:33)
                  • Living your destiny: follow the guidance, the intuition, whatever shows up (06:42)
                  • Native American wisdom has much medicine for us today; the knowing that everything is sacred (08:02)
                  • The Native American attunement to nature, sense of interconnection, and knowing that elders are to be revered contrasts sadly with our present culture (10:11)
                  • Charles’ call to meet Wallace Black Elk and his wife, Grace Spotted Eagle (12:17)
                  • Indigenous people’s special lens on reality and the death medicine tradition of the Ojibwe (14:23)
                  • Charles’ first Vision Quest in the Rockies while still a newbie (16:51)
                  • The Ghost Dance, the legend of the Broken Hoop, and inquiring into what would happen if we started gathering together again: weaving the basket of connection (19:10)
                  • How John came to travel with Wallace Black Elk, a man of connection and love with all beings (24:18)
                  • It still is the age of miracles! They don’t just happen in the Bible (27:14)
                  • How elders witness people, see people, and wake people up (28:06)
                  • Death medicine (helping people die): dying is simple, just push in the clutch and go into neutral (30:08)
                  • There is a difference between someone who is seeking something and someone who is sent (34:32)
                  • How Charles learned to talk to groups of hundreds of people with no microphone and fulfill the legacy, the prophecy, the path of destiny (36:20)
                  • Having a mission & being guided by something greater than you is an antidote to today’s cultural vacuum (37:10)
                  • What happened with John when Wallace Black Elk passed away (37:56)
                  
                  

                  Resources & References – Part 1

                  • Joseph Campbell, professor, mythologist, author, The Hero with a Thousand Faces*
                  • Jean Houston, scholar, prolific author, visionary thinker, one of the principal founders of the Human Potential Movement  
                  • Robert Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land*
                  • Swami Muktananda, founder of Siddha Yoga
                  • Jean Erdman, modern dance dancer and choreographer, avant-garde theater director (Joseph Cambell’s wife), co-founder of The Open Eye Theater
                  • Joseph Campbell, Myths to Live By*
                  • Joseph Epes Brown, The Spiritual Legacy of the American Indian*
                  • Margaret Mead, Continuities in Cultural Evolution*, Culture and Commitment*
                  • Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, Life is a Pilgrimage*
                  • Wallace Black Elk, Native American shamanic teacher, Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota
                  • Grace Spotted Eagle: Thunder’s Grace: Walking the Road of Visions with my Lakota Grandmother* by Mary Elizabeth Thunder
                  • Bates Wilson, beloved superintendent of Arches National Park & Natural Bridges, the “Father of Canyonlands National Park”
                  • Malidoma Somé, Of Water and the Spirit: Ritual, Magic, and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman*
                  • Stanislav Grof, Books of the Dead: Manuals for Living and Dying*
                  • George Soros, investor hedge fund manager, author, philanthropist
                  
                  

                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                  ---

                  The Personal Reality of Charles H. Lawrence

                  With a flash or two of lightning, a personal reality is shattered! Synchronously, the doors of perception open wide enough for a “guardian at the gate”—Joseph Campbell—to introduce Charles H. Lawrence to having a destiny that MUST be followed, or be dragged to: From rejected to chosen, from the very limited (Western) perspective of life to the astonishing expansive spectrum of Indigenous Intelligence and intimate personal—far outside the box/cage relationship with all Existence. From prescribed, programmed, “follow-the-leader Western societies’ rules to discovering the command to “find one’s own way through the darkest part of the forest” (The Hero’s Journey). The endless, constantly evolving, transforming experience of being but a small yet significant part of a greater story, and assisting the unfolding of New Myths that are waiting to happen.

                  Discovering that one had been predicted to show up—at least a hundred years previously (Coast Salish/ Musqueam). Learning the difference between being a “seeker” and “one who was sent.” Being a deliverer of long-cried-for assistance in far off reaches of the Earth (South Africa). Seen by a Peruvian Shaman as the one to assist in creating a Healing Center deep in the Amazon jungle. Being acknowledged as a visionary (Alta messiah) by the Quero of the Altiplano of South America. Recipient of a glimmering (NW Indigenous term) that created, decades ago, a Ceremonial Community that continues to evolve and transform into “Circles/ Communities” that serve the “Cries” of today. This, and much more!

                  ---

                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                  ]]>12df8695-d897-469c-b2ee-c1d6071781b3Thu, 19 Oct 2023 05:00:00 -040040:46truefull100100The Future of Addiction & Recovery: Wherein Lies the Hope? Integral Responses, Skillful Social Strategies & Exploring What Leads to Real Happiness with Dr. Bob Weathers (Part 2)Ep. 99 (Part 2 of 2) | In this riveting, disturbing, and hopeful conversation, addiction expert and recovery coach Dr. Bob Weathers explains the enormous difference it makes when we apply the Integral Model to addiction and recovery. It helps us cover all the bases in our understanding of addiction, from the neuroscientific to the spiritual, and offers a map for recovery in the form of integrated practices that target our physical, emotional, spiritual, relational, and system-coping needs. Bob’s mission in life is to educate—his clients, treatment professionals, policy makers—everyone who is affected by addiction one way or another (which is pretty much everyone) about this set of perspectives that is comprehensive enough to address something as complex as addiction. Bob is deeply familiar with addiction and the suffering it causes on a firsthand basis, and he shares his own experience with an open heart. He is also well informed about the big picture of addiction and shares the latest statistics: 46.3 million Americans are currently clinically addicted—only 6% received treatment last year.

                  What about the future of addiction? Technology is becoming increasingly capable of creating powerful “super stimuli,” making it ever more difficult for people to exercise self-restraint, and internet addiction and internet porn are through the roof. What can we do to influence the powers that be on a social/systemic level to guide us on a new path? One that recognizes that happiness correlates with connection, contribution, and flow rather than the never-ending quest for more acquisitions? Listening to this honest, heartfelt, and impassioned conversation, you will not be in the least surprised to find out Bob is the 2022 winner of the Most Dedicated Substance Abuse Education & Recovery Coach award. “Living a life of value, meaning, and purpose? If you want to talk about happiness, let’s talk about that.” Recorded May 15, 2023.

                  “We have got to begin to find creative ways to endorse restraint at all levels of our society.”

                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                  • Making the turn towards recovery from addiction is like an “incredible lightness of liberation” (01:23)
                  • Transformative lifestyle changes (TLCs) and daily practice invite the grace to change (04:28)
                  • The crucial element of giving something up: surrendering self (06:50)
                  • Cultivating a daily practice of acceptance: How surrendered am I in this moment? (09:01)
                  • Addiction is a progressive disease—and it’s devolutionary (11:33)
                  • The changing face of addiction: internet addiction, internet porn, super stimuli, evolutionary traps, globesity (15:36)
                  • Is the plague of addiction going to get even worse? What happens when virtual reality goes online? (18:05)
                  • The importance of a soul-centric approach: finding your higher power and higher purpose (20:08)
                  • Richard Rawson’s research on the effect of drugs on the dopaminergic system in the body and the brain (23:44)
                  • 46.3 million Americans are currently clinically addicted—only 6% received treatment last year (25:36)
                  • To be human is to be enslaved: acknowledge there is no way we can compete with the stimuli we’re evolving, and the importance of restraint (26:06)
                  • What can we do as educators? Educate towards shifting public policy to something better than incarceration; harm reduction as opposed to a zero tolerance policy (27:38)
                  • What correlates with happiness? The illusion of acquisitiveness and how the happiest people are the ones who give back (29:43)
                  • The cultural roots of addiction (30:44)
                  • What makes Integral Recovery integral? (32:17)
                  • How would you define addiction and why can’t we be inclusive? (34:21)
                  
                  

                  Resources & References – Part 2

                  • Roger Walsh, Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLCs) Can Be Powerful Medicines
                  • Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self Reliance*
                  • Tish Warren, thought leader on internet addiction,  Managing Screen Time is a Family Matter (New York Times opinion)
                  • Carl Jung, “individuation is an opus contra naturam”
                  • Richard Rawson, Associate Director of UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs, Current research on the epidemiology, medical and psychiatric effects, and treatment of methamphetamine use (National Library of Medicine)
                  • Gary Snyder, “the man who has the soul of the wolf knows the self-restraint of the wolf,” from Turtle Island*
                  • Martin Seligman, Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment*
                  • David Courtwright, Forces of Habit: Drugs and the Making of the Modern World*
                  • What are the Four Quadrants? (Integral Life website)
                  • John Dupuy, Integral Recovery: A Revolutionary Approach to the Treatment of Alcoholism & Addiction*
                  • The Journey of Integral Recovery podcast with John Dupuy and Douglas Prater
                  • Dr. Bob Weathers, recovery coach: https://www.drbobweathers.com
                  
                  

                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                  ---

                  Dr. Bob has created two powerfully healing and transformative guided meditations to which iAwake added brainwave entrainment technology. You can check them out here:

                  The Freedom of Forgiveness & The Gift of Gratitude

                  “It was a marvelous therapy for me. I’ve never been so candid and honest about myself and my past actions…it’s like months of therapy.”  ~ Nina

                  ---

                  Dr. Bob Weathers is a highly regarded addiction educator, recovery coach, author, and public speaker. Over the course of his professional career, “Dr. Bob” has provided tens of thousands of hours of therapeutic counseling and recovery coaching to satisfied clients. He has also committed over four decades to teaching, training, and inspiring graduate-level mental health providers at several southern California universities, including helping to develop their nationally accredited addiction studies certificate and mindfulness-based clinical training coursework. His two most recent books on addiction recovery are currently in press with Cambridge University Press.

                  ---

                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                  ]]>Ep. 99 (Part 2 of 2) | In this riveting, disturbing, and hopeful conversation, addiction expert and recovery coach Dr. Bob Weathers explains the enormous difference it makes when we apply the Integral Model to addiction and recovery. It helps us cover all the bases in our understanding of addiction, from the neuroscientific to the spiritual, and offers a map for recovery in the form of integrated practices that target our physical, emotional, spiritual, relational, and system-coping needs. Bob’s mission in life is to educate—his clients, treatment professionals, policy makers—everyone who is affected by addiction one way or another (which is pretty much everyone) about this set of perspectives that is comprehensive enough to address something as complex as addiction. Bob is deeply familiar with addiction and the suffering it causes on a firsthand basis, and he shares his own experience with an open heart. He is also well informed about the big picture of addiction and shares the latest statistics: 46.3 million Americans are currently clinically addicted—only 6% received treatment last year.

                  What about the future of addiction? Technology is becoming increasingly capable of creating powerful “super stimuli,” making it ever more difficult for people to exercise self-restraint, and internet addiction and internet porn are through the roof. What can we do to influence the powers that be on a social/systemic level to guide us on a new path? One that recognizes that happiness correlates with connection, contribution, and flow rather than the never-ending quest for more acquisitions? Listening to this honest, heartfelt, and impassioned conversation, you will not be in the least surprised to find out Bob is the 2022 winner of the Most Dedicated Substance Abuse Education & Recovery Coach award. “Living a life of value, meaning, and purpose? If you want to talk about happiness, let’s talk about that.” Recorded May 15, 2023.

                  “We have got to begin to find creative ways to endorse restraint at all levels of our society.”

                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                  • Making the turn towards recovery from addiction is like an “incredible lightness of liberation” (01:23)
                  • Transformative lifestyle changes (TLCs) and daily practice invite the grace to change (04:28)
                  • The crucial element of giving something up: surrendering self (06:50)
                  • Cultivating a daily practice of acceptance: How surrendered am I in this moment? (09:01)
                  • Addiction is a progressive disease—and it’s devolutionary (11:33)
                  • The changing face of addiction: internet addiction, internet porn, super stimuli, evolutionary traps, globesity (15:36)
                  • Is the plague of addiction going to get even worse? What happens when virtual reality goes online? (18:05)
                  • The importance of a soul-centric approach: finding your higher power and higher purpose (20:08)
                  • Richard Rawson’s research on the effect of drugs on the dopaminergic system in the body and the brain (23:44)
                  • 46.3 million Americans are currently clinically addicted—only 6% received treatment last year (25:36)
                  • To be human is to be enslaved: acknowledge there is no way we can compete with the stimuli we’re evolving, and the importance of restraint (26:06)
                  • What can we do as educators? Educate towards shifting public policy to something better than incarceration; harm reduction as opposed to a zero tolerance policy (27:38)
                  • What correlates with happiness? The illusion of acquisitiveness and how the happiest people are the ones who give back (29:43)
                  • The cultural roots of addiction (30:44)
                  • What makes Integral Recovery integral? (32:17)
                  • How would you define addiction and why can’t we be inclusive? (34:21)
                  
                  

                  Resources & References – Part 2

                  • Roger Walsh, Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLCs) Can Be Powerful Medicines
                  • Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self Reliance*
                  • Tish Warren, thought leader on internet addiction,  Managing Screen Time is a Family Matter (New York Times opinion)
                  • Carl Jung, “individuation is an opus contra naturam”
                  • Richard Rawson, Associate Director of UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs, Current research on the epidemiology, medical and psychiatric effects, and treatment of methamphetamine use (National Library of Medicine)
                  • Gary Snyder, “the man who has the soul of the wolf knows the self-restraint of the wolf,” from Turtle Island*
                  • Martin Seligman, Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment*
                  • David Courtwright, Forces of Habit: Drugs and the Making of the Modern World*
                  • What are the Four Quadrants? (Integral Life website)
                  • John Dupuy, Integral Recovery: A Revolutionary Approach to the Treatment of Alcoholism & Addiction*
                  • The Journey of Integral Recovery podcast with John Dupuy and Douglas Prater
                  • Dr. Bob Weathers, recovery coach: https://www.drbobweathers.com
                  
                  

                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                  ---

                  Dr. Bob has created two powerfully healing and transformative guided meditations to which iAwake added brainwave entrainment technology. You can check them out here:

                  The Freedom of Forgiveness & The Gift of Gratitude

                  “It was a marvelous therapy for me. I’ve never been so candid and honest about myself and my past actions…it’s like months of therapy.”  ~ Nina

                  ---

                  Dr. Bob Weathers is a highly regarded addiction educator, recovery coach, author, and public speaker. Over the course of his professional career, “Dr. Bob” has provided tens of thousands of hours of therapeutic counseling and recovery coaching to satisfied clients. He has also committed over four decades to teaching, training, and inspiring graduate-level mental health providers at several southern California universities, including helping to develop their nationally accredited addiction studies certificate and mindfulness-based clinical training coursework. His two most recent books on addiction recovery are currently in press with Cambridge University Press.

                  ---

                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                  ]]>2feaa006-bfb2-4604-8c27-df61fa5622b1Thu, 12 Oct 2023 05:00:00 -040038:52truefull9999The Future of Addiction & Recovery: Wherein Lies the Hope? Integral Responses, Skillful Social Strategies & Exploring What Leads to Real Happiness with Dr. Bob WeathersEp. 98 (Part 1 of 2) | In this riveting, disturbing, and hopeful conversation, addiction expert and recovery coach Dr. Bob Weathers explains the enormous difference it makes when we apply the Integral Model to addiction and recovery. It helps us cover all the bases in our understanding of addiction, from the neuroscientific to the spiritual, and offers a map for recovery in the form of integrated practices that target our physical, emotional, spiritual, relational, and system-coping needs. Bob’s mission in life is to educate—his clients, treatment professionals, policy makers—everyone who is affected by addiction one way or another (which is pretty much everyone) about this set of perspectives that is comprehensive enough to address something as complex as addiction. Bob is deeply familiar with addiction and the suffering it causes on a firsthand basis, and he shares his own experience with an open heart. He is also well informed about the big picture of addiction and shares the latest statistics: 46.3 million Americans are currently clinically addicted—only 6% received treatment last year.

                  What about the future of addiction? Technology is becoming increasingly capable of creating powerful “super stimuli,” making it ever more difficult for people to exercise self-restraint, and internet addiction and internet porn are through the roof. What can we do to influence the powers that be on a social/systemic level to guide us on a new path? One that recognizes that happiness correlates with connection, contribution, and flow rather than the never-ending quest for more acquisitions? Listening to this honest, heartfelt, and impassioned conversation, you will not be in the least surprised to find out Bob is the 2022 winner of the Most Dedicated Substance Abuse Education & Recovery Coach award. “Living a life of value, meaning, and purpose? If you want to talk about happiness, let’s talk about that.” Recorded May 15, 2023.

                  “I’ll trade off the burdensomeness of addiction, of enslavement, any day for the freedom of transformative life practices.”

                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                  • Introducing addiction expert, recovery coach, psychologist & author Dr. Bob Weathers (00:52)
                  • There are so many different perspectives on addiction and they often tend to be reductionistic (03:30)
                  • Fifty percent of people who see a therapist are clinically addicted (04:33)
                  • Bob’s own history with addiction and how he encountered 12-step meetings, Refuge Recovery, and eventually Integral Theory in the process of recovery (06:10)
                  • The neuroscience of addiction is often the missing piece in recovery and how incredibly important that piece is (11:39)
                  • The War on Drugs and the deinstitutionalization of mental hospitals in CA in the 70s resulted in drug related offenses accounting for 80% of those incarcerated (13:37)
                  • Providing conventional religious/spiritual responses to addiction doesn’t work for all (16:10)
                  • The road to recovery involves service (19:22)
                  • Do you need to have firsthand experience with addiction in order to understand and help addicts? And, the importance of knowing suffering (19:53)
                  • John’s portrait of addiction and the unspeakable hell of suffering it involves (23:15)
                  • John’s groundbreaking book, Integral Recovery, which applies the Integral Map to recovery (30:22)
                  • Where are we now with Integral Recovery and recovery in general? (34:15)
                  • How our understanding of the causes of addiction went from demonic possession to moral failure, from psychological to spiritual—and now is often a reductionistic neurological approach (36:10)
                  • One size does not fit all and the challenge of matching the treatment approach to the needs of each individual (38:28)
                  • It’s going to get worse as the technology to create & distribute drugs keeps getting more sophisticated (40:02)
                  • Integral practice is key: an integration of physical body practices, intellectual practices, interior/psychological practices, and spiritual practices (40:51)
                  • John’s song: A Drunk’s Prayer (45:32)
                  
                  

                  Resources & References – Part 1

                  • Dr. Bob Weathers, recovery coach: https://www.drbobweathers.com
                  • Deane Shapiro & Roger Walsh, Meditation: Classic and Contemporary Perspectives*
                  • Noah Levine, Refuge Recovery: A Buddhist Path to Recovering from Addiction*
                  • Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory: What is the Integral Approach? (Integral Life website)
                  • Ken Wilber, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution*
                  • John Dupuy, Integral Recovery: A Revolutionary Approach to the Treatment of Alcoholism & Addiction*
                  • Guy du Plessis, An Integral Guide to Recovery: Twelve Steps and Beyond*
                  • Trauma-Informed Approach and Trauma Specific Interventions (MentalHealth.org)
                  • Attachment theory
                  • Interpersonal neurobiology (IPNB) or relational neurobiology
                  • Ken Wilber’s Four Quadrants: What are the Four Quadrants? (Integral Life website)
                  • William Butler Yeats, “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold” from The Second Coming (poem)
                  • Rumi, “In this life many demolitions are actually renovations.”
                  • Allen Ginsberg, Howl (poem)
                  • iAwake’s audio recovery tool, Deep Recovery (guided meditation with brainwave entrainment music)
                  • Ken Wilber, Introduction to Integral Theory & Practice, AQAL, 2005 (RedFrogCoaching.com)
                  • Marco Morelli, co-author of Integral Life Practice: A 21st-Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity, and Spiritual Awakening*, with Ken Wilber, Terry Patten & Adam Leonard
                  • The Journey of Integral Recovery podcast with John Dupuy and Douglas Prater
                  • Michael Murphy & George Leonard, Integral Transformative Practice, see also Deep Transformation episode #58 with Michael Murphy, The Human...]]>Ep. 98 (Part 1 of 2) | In this riveting, disturbing, and hopeful conversation, addiction expert and recovery coach Dr. Bob Weathers explains the enormous difference it makes when we apply the Integral Model to addiction and recovery. It helps us cover all the bases in our understanding of addiction, from the neuroscientific to the spiritual, and offers a map for recovery in the form of integrated practices that target our physical, emotional, spiritual, relational, and system-coping needs. Bob’s mission in life is to educate—his clients, treatment professionals, policy makers—everyone who is affected by addiction one way or another (which is pretty much everyone) about this set of perspectives that is comprehensive enough to address something as complex as addiction. Bob is deeply familiar with addiction and the suffering it causes on a firsthand basis, and he shares his own experience with an open heart. He is also well informed about the big picture of addiction and shares the latest statistics: 46.3 million Americans are currently clinically addicted—only 6% received treatment last year.

                    What about the future of addiction? Technology is becoming increasingly capable of creating powerful “super stimuli,” making it ever more difficult for people to exercise self-restraint, and internet addiction and internet porn are through the roof. What can we do to influence the powers that be on a social/systemic level to guide us on a new path? One that recognizes that happiness correlates with connection, contribution, and flow rather than the never-ending quest for more acquisitions? Listening to this honest, heartfelt, and impassioned conversation, you will not be in the least surprised to find out Bob is the 2022 winner of the Most Dedicated Substance Abuse Education & Recovery Coach award. “Living a life of value, meaning, and purpose? If you want to talk about happiness, let’s talk about that.” Recorded May 15, 2023.

                    “I’ll trade off the burdensomeness of addiction, of enslavement, any day for the freedom of transformative life practices.”

                    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                    • Introducing addiction expert, recovery coach, psychologist & author Dr. Bob Weathers (00:52)
                    • There are so many different perspectives on addiction and they often tend to be reductionistic (03:30)
                    • Fifty percent of people who see a therapist are clinically addicted (04:33)
                    • Bob’s own history with addiction and how he encountered 12-step meetings, Refuge Recovery, and eventually Integral Theory in the process of recovery (06:10)
                    • The neuroscience of addiction is often the missing piece in recovery and how incredibly important that piece is (11:39)
                    • The War on Drugs and the deinstitutionalization of mental hospitals in CA in the 70s resulted in drug related offenses accounting for 80% of those incarcerated (13:37)
                    • Providing conventional religious/spiritual responses to addiction doesn’t work for all (16:10)
                    • The road to recovery involves service (19:22)
                    • Do you need to have firsthand experience with addiction in order to understand and help addicts? And, the importance of knowing suffering (19:53)
                    • John’s portrait of addiction and the unspeakable hell of suffering it involves (23:15)
                    • John’s groundbreaking book, Integral Recovery, which applies the Integral Map to recovery (30:22)
                    • Where are we now with Integral Recovery and recovery in general? (34:15)
                    • How our understanding of the causes of addiction went from demonic possession to moral failure, from psychological to spiritual—and now is often a reductionistic neurological approach (36:10)
                    • One size does not fit all and the challenge of matching the treatment approach to the needs of each individual (38:28)
                    • It’s going to get worse as the technology to create & distribute drugs keeps getting more sophisticated (40:02)
                    • Integral practice is key: an integration of physical body practices, intellectual practices, interior/psychological practices, and spiritual practices (40:51)
                    • John’s song: A Drunk’s Prayer (45:32)
                    
                    

                    Resources & References – Part 1

                    • Dr. Bob Weathers, recovery coach: https://www.drbobweathers.com
                    • Deane Shapiro & Roger Walsh, Meditation: Classic and Contemporary Perspectives*
                    • Noah Levine, Refuge Recovery: A Buddhist Path to Recovering from Addiction*
                    • Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory: What is the Integral Approach? (Integral Life website)
                    • Ken Wilber, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution*
                    • John Dupuy, Integral Recovery: A Revolutionary Approach to the Treatment of Alcoholism & Addiction*
                    • Guy du Plessis, An Integral Guide to Recovery: Twelve Steps and Beyond*
                    • Trauma-Informed Approach and Trauma Specific Interventions (MentalHealth.org)
                    • Attachment theory
                    • Interpersonal neurobiology (IPNB) or relational neurobiology
                    • Ken Wilber’s Four Quadrants: What are the Four Quadrants? (Integral Life website)
                    • William Butler Yeats, “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold” from The Second Coming (poem)
                    • Rumi, “In this life many demolitions are actually renovations.”
                    • Allen Ginsberg, Howl (poem)
                    • iAwake’s audio recovery tool, Deep Recovery (guided meditation with brainwave entrainment music)
                    • Ken Wilber, Introduction to Integral Theory & Practice, AQAL, 2005 (RedFrogCoaching.com)
                    • Marco Morelli, co-author of Integral Life Practice: A 21st-Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity, and Spiritual Awakening*, with Ken Wilber, Terry Patten & Adam Leonard
                    • The Journey of Integral Recovery podcast with John Dupuy and Douglas Prater
                    • Michael Murphy & George Leonard, Integral Transformative Practice, see also Deep Transformation episode #58 with Michael Murphy, The Human Potential Movement Then & Now: 60 Years at the Leading Edge of Transformative Practice, Research & Action
                    • John’s song, A Drunk’s Prayer (on YouTube)
                    
                    

                    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                    ---

                    Dr. Bob has created two powerfully healing and transformative guided meditations to which iAwake added brainwave entrainment technology. You can check them out here:

                    The Freedom of Forgiveness & The Gift of Gratitude

                    “It was a marvelous therapy for me. I’ve never been so candid and honest about myself and my past actions…it’s like months of therapy.”  ~ Nina

                    ---

                    Dr. Bob Weathers is a highly regarded addiction educator, recovery coach, author, and public speaker. Over the course of his professional career, “Dr. Bob” has provided tens of thousands of hours of therapeutic counseling and recovery coaching to satisfied clients. He has also committed over four decades to teaching, training, and inspiring graduate-level mental health providers at several southern California universities, including helping to develop their nationally accredited addiction studies certificate and mindfulness-based clinical training coursework. His two most recent books on addiction recovery are currently in press with Cambridge University Press.

                    ---

                    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                    ]]>9f6a7d7d-cc41-494e-9809-a60c62f9e317Thu, 05 Oct 2023 05:00:00 -040052:40truefull9898Buddhas in Blue: Enlightened Ways to Make Policing Work For Everyone (Part 2)Ep. 97 (Part 2 of 2) | In this moving, illuminating, and impassioned discussion, retired Police Lt. Chris Orrey and San Bruno Police Chief Ryan Johansen open our eyes as to the realities of policing in today’s world and offer solutions as to how the entire institution of police work could be transformed to become more effective and sustainable, both for police officers and for the communities they serve. Ryan and Chris explain that applying an Integral approach to police work—which BTW encompasses a lot more than simply law enforcement, to include the roles of social worker, mental health counselor, EMT, and more, in crisis situations—is exactly what is needed to turn around an institution that is controversial and flailing at this point. They point out that it is essential to prioritize officer wellness—not just physical wellness but interior wellness as well—and give officers the coping mechanisms and support they need to integrate the inevitable trauma of the job and role model resilience for the victims and survivors they interact with. An Integral understanding also paves the way for police leadership to become servant-based; where leadership puts the welfare of the officers first and foremost, and in turn, officers are in peak condition, mentally, physically, emotionally, to serve and protect their communities with compassion and skill.

                    Nationwide, it is a time of catastrophic crisis in police recruitment and retention. Most departments are severely understaffed and morale is at a dangerous low. Chief Ryan’s San Bruno police department, however, is fully staffed and the officers have high morale. By applying the principles of the Integral Model and practicing a heartfelt, servant-based leadership style, Ryan has turned this national trend around. Whether policing impacts you directly or not, there is much to be gained by listening to this stirring conversation, which reveals so much about the realities of our society and the incredible courage, compassion, and outright nobility it takes to be a police officer—putting your life on the line to protect and serve others every single day. Recorded July 6, 2023.

                    “I think that most police officers are exceptional human beings in that they are willing to endure tremendous suffering on behalf of others, most of whom they don’t know and will never actually get to know, and many of whom a lot of society has simply decided to bypass and would prefer to not even see.”

                    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                    • The pendulum swing of society’s opinions about cops and the story of Isaac Woodard (01:26)
                    • We can’t ignore what communities have suffered at the hands of police officers—historically and currently (04:58)
                    • What would Ryan do to make things better for officers? Focus on legitimately taking better care of cops (06:24)
                    • What the pendulum swing is doing today: the middle way is the right way (07:44)
                    • The developmental levels aspect of the Integral model holds great promise for policing (09:22)
                    • The expectation of officers to check their whole identity/personality at the door and California’s allowance of tattoos and other physical details (15:45)
                    • How do we help a community see cops as people like them? Overcoming the us vs. them mentality (17:45)
                    • How to develop officers as exceptional people who will show up? (19:42)
                    • If cops internalize the idea that their paramount purpose is to defend and protect human life, it will help them make the right split-second decision (22:13)
                    • We as individuals project everything from our personal traumas, relationship to authority figures, etc. onto police officers (26:52)
                    • Conveying to cops that their fundamental role is to protect people at all developmental levels— that’s what makes being a cop so noble (29:23)
                    • Bringing the Integral understanding to cops can make an enormous difference to both police officers and communities (31:13)
                    • The current catastrophic recruitment & retention crisis is pushing cops we do have out and deterring new officers (33:37)
                    • How do Chris and Ryan nurture themselves in this process? (36:24)
                    • Setting the example and prioritizing wellness practices—they are part of cops’ service (38:40)
                    • The importance and effectiveness of Integral Life Practice: practicing with iAwake Technologies’ brainwave entraining audio tracks, biofeedback & HRV regulation (41:04)
                    
                    

                    Resources & References – Part 2

                    • Police Executive Research Forum
                    • George Floyd’s murder by a police officer in May 2020 had global impact on the issue of police brutality and reignited the Black Lives Matter movement
                    • Isaac Woodard, African-American WWII veteran beaten by police hours after he was honorably discharged and still in uniform for nothing more than standing up for his dignity on a bus—an event that galvanized the Civil Rights movement
                    • Orson Welles Radio Programs
                    • Brown v. Board of Education ruled that racial segregation in schools is unconstitutional
                    • Spiral Dynamics, Don Beck & Christopher Cowan, Spiral Dynamics*
                    • Steve McIntosh, Developmental Politics: How America Can Grow Into a Better Version of Itself*, see also Deep Transformation episode #20, Consciousness Evolves, Politics Can Too: Beyond the Culture War
                    • Jeff Salzman’s The Daily Evolver: A Developmental Take on the News, see also Deep Transformation episode #1, Polarization, Being Woke, the Universal Agenda, Mindfulness Going Bad, and the Integral Vision
                    • Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory & the Integral Life website
                    • Build Your Integral Life (Integral Life course)
                    • Integral Life’s cinematic course: What Are the Stages of Development?
                    • Roger Walsh, The World of Shamanism: New Views of an Ancient Tradition*
                    • Institute of Applied Metatheory: Integral Policing Transformation Initiative
                    • Integrative Policing: Bringing vulnerable communities and law enforcement together for good
                    • Foundation for Inner Peace’s A Course in Miracles* 
                    • Ken Wilber,...]]>Ep. 97 (Part 2 of 2) | In this moving, illuminating, and impassioned discussion, retired Police Lt. Chris Orrey and San Bruno Police Chief Ryan Johansen open our eyes as to the realities of policing in today’s world and offer solutions as to how the entire institution of police work could be transformed to become more effective and sustainable, both for police officers and for the communities they serve. Ryan and Chris explain that applying an Integral approach to police work—which BTW encompasses a lot more than simply law enforcement, to include the roles of social worker, mental health counselor, EMT, and more, in crisis situations—is exactly what is needed to turn around an institution that is controversial and flailing at this point. They point out that it is essential to prioritize officer wellness—not just physical wellness but interior wellness as well—and give officers the coping mechanisms and support they need to integrate the inevitable trauma of the job and role model resilience for the victims and survivors they interact with. An Integral understanding also paves the way for police leadership to become servant-based; where leadership puts the welfare of the officers first and foremost, and in turn, officers are in peak condition, mentally, physically, emotionally, to serve and protect their communities with compassion and skill.

                      Nationwide, it is a time of catastrophic crisis in police recruitment and retention. Most departments are severely understaffed and morale is at a dangerous low. Chief Ryan’s San Bruno police department, however, is fully staffed and the officers have high morale. By applying the principles of the Integral Model and practicing a heartfelt, servant-based leadership style, Ryan has turned this national trend around. Whether policing impacts you directly or not, there is much to be gained by listening to this stirring conversation, which reveals so much about the realities of our society and the incredible courage, compassion, and outright nobility it takes to be a police officer—putting your life on the line to protect and serve others every single day. Recorded July 6, 2023.

                      “I think that most police officers are exceptional human beings in that they are willing to endure tremendous suffering on behalf of others, most of whom they don’t know and will never actually get to know, and many of whom a lot of society has simply decided to bypass and would prefer to not even see.”

                      (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                      Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                      • The pendulum swing of society’s opinions about cops and the story of Isaac Woodard (01:26)
                      • We can’t ignore what communities have suffered at the hands of police officers—historically and currently (04:58)
                      • What would Ryan do to make things better for officers? Focus on legitimately taking better care of cops (06:24)
                      • What the pendulum swing is doing today: the middle way is the right way (07:44)
                      • The developmental levels aspect of the Integral model holds great promise for policing (09:22)
                      • The expectation of officers to check their whole identity/personality at the door and California’s allowance of tattoos and other physical details (15:45)
                      • How do we help a community see cops as people like them? Overcoming the us vs. them mentality (17:45)
                      • How to develop officers as exceptional people who will show up? (19:42)
                      • If cops internalize the idea that their paramount purpose is to defend and protect human life, it will help them make the right split-second decision (22:13)
                      • We as individuals project everything from our personal traumas, relationship to authority figures, etc. onto police officers (26:52)
                      • Conveying to cops that their fundamental role is to protect people at all developmental levels— that’s what makes being a cop so noble (29:23)
                      • Bringing the Integral understanding to cops can make an enormous difference to both police officers and communities (31:13)
                      • The current catastrophic recruitment & retention crisis is pushing cops we do have out and deterring new officers (33:37)
                      • How do Chris and Ryan nurture themselves in this process? (36:24)
                      • Setting the example and prioritizing wellness practices—they are part of cops’ service (38:40)
                      • The importance and effectiveness of Integral Life Practice: practicing with iAwake Technologies’ brainwave entraining audio tracks, biofeedback & HRV regulation (41:04)
                      
                      

                      Resources & References – Part 2

                      • Police Executive Research Forum
                      • George Floyd’s murder by a police officer in May 2020 had global impact on the issue of police brutality and reignited the Black Lives Matter movement
                      • Isaac Woodard, African-American WWII veteran beaten by police hours after he was honorably discharged and still in uniform for nothing more than standing up for his dignity on a bus—an event that galvanized the Civil Rights movement
                      • Orson Welles Radio Programs
                      • Brown v. Board of Education ruled that racial segregation in schools is unconstitutional
                      • Spiral Dynamics, Don Beck & Christopher Cowan, Spiral Dynamics*
                      • Steve McIntosh, Developmental Politics: How America Can Grow Into a Better Version of Itself*, see also Deep Transformation episode #20, Consciousness Evolves, Politics Can Too: Beyond the Culture War
                      • Jeff Salzman’s The Daily Evolver: A Developmental Take on the News, see also Deep Transformation episode #1, Polarization, Being Woke, the Universal Agenda, Mindfulness Going Bad, and the Integral Vision
                      • Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory & the Integral Life website
                      • Build Your Integral Life (Integral Life course)
                      • Integral Life’s cinematic course: What Are the Stages of Development?
                      • Roger Walsh, The World of Shamanism: New Views of an Ancient Tradition*
                      • Institute of Applied Metatheory: Integral Policing Transformation Initiative
                      • Integrative Policing: Bringing vulnerable communities and law enforcement together for good
                      • Foundation for Inner Peace’s A Course in Miracles* 
                      • Ken Wilber, Terry Patten, Adam Leonard & Marco Morelli, Integral Life Practice: A 21st-Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity, and Spiritual Awakening*
                      • iAwake Technologies: Transformative Brainwave Entrainment Technology to Deepen Meditation & Spiritual Life, Relieve Stress, Release Trauma
                      
                      

                      * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                      ---

                      Ryan Johansen currently serves as the Chief of Police for the City of San Bruno, California, a diverse community of approximately 50,000 residents located amid the urban sprawl of the San Francisco Bay Area. Ryan has been a policing professional for approximately 20 years, beginning his career as a patrol officer with the Southeastern Division of the San Diego Police Department. Ryan transferred to the San Bruno Police Department in 2006, and in the years that followed, he has served in a variety of positions and assignments, including: Police Chief, Incident Commander, Tactical Commander, Field Services Division Lieutenant, Administrative Division Lieutenant, Watch Commander, Public Information Officer, Traffic Sergeant, Patrol Sergeant, Detective Corporal, Gang Unit Supervisor, Patrol Corporal, and Patrol Officer. Ryan served as the Investigations Commander for the San Bruno Gas Pipeline Explosion in 2008, the Incident Commander for the YouTube Active Shooter Incident in 2018, and the Tactical Commander for the Tanforan Mall Active Shooter Incident in 2019. 

                      Ryan has a longstanding meditation and contemplative practice and is a certified mindfulness meditation instructor. He serves as Vice President of the San Mateo County Police Chiefs and Sheriffs Association and is on the Board of the CA Police Chiefs Association. He has provided training in officer wellness, police culture, active assailant prevention and response, and public/private partnership in critical incident response all over the United States. Ryan possesses a Bachelor of Applied Sciences Degree in Law Enforcement Management, and he is currently enrolled in the Masters of Homeland Defense and Security Program at the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security.

                      ---

                      Chris Orrey is a retired police lieutenant with over 30 years of service with the Hayward, California Police Department. She is a graduate of California’s Command College, an 18-month program designed to prepare law enforcement leaders for the challenges of the future, and the LAPD Leadership Training Program, which is based on the West Point Leadership Program. In true Integral fashion, she will soon have a Master’s Degree in Comparative Religion and Philosophy and will be continuing her education at the California Institute for Human Science, pursuing a doctorate degree in Integral Noetic Sciences with an emphasis on Wisdom Design. Her Master’s thesis is on the application of Wilberian Integral Theory to U.S. policing and is titled “Integral Policing: Transforming U.S. Policing via the AQAL Map.”

                      Chris is also a blackbelt in kajukenbo-style karate and an ordained minister of A Course in Miracles. She lives in San Francisco, California.

                      ---

                      Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                      ]]>c4a5b03b-9c48-474f-8861-1440c1d40264Thu, 28 Sep 2023 05:00:00 -040046:15falsefull9797Buddhas in Blue: Enlightened Ways to Make Policing Work For EveryoneEp. 96 (Part 1 of 2) | In this moving, illuminating, and impassioned discussion, retired Police Lt. Chris Orrey and San Bruno Police Chief Ryan Johansen open our eyes as to the realities of policing in today’s world and offer solutions as to how the entire institution of police work could be transformed to become more effective and sustainable, both for police officers and for the communities they serve. Ryan and Chris explain that applying an Integral approach to police work—which BTW encompasses a lot more than simply law enforcement, to include the roles of social worker, mental health counselor, EMT, and more, in crisis situations—is exactly what is needed to turn around an institution that is controversial and flailing at this point. They point out that it is essential to prioritize officer wellness—not just physical wellness but interior wellness as well—and give officers the coping mechanisms and support they need to integrate the inevitable trauma of the job and role model resilience for the victims and survivors they interact with. An Integral understanding also paves the way for police leadership to become servant-based; where leadership puts the welfare of the officers first and foremost, and in turn, officers are in peak condition, mentally, physically, emotionally, to serve and protect their communities with compassion and skill.

                      Nationwide, it is a time of catastrophic crisis in police recruitment and retention. Most departments are severely understaffed and morale is at a dangerous low. Chief Ryan’s San Bruno police department, however, is fully staffed and the officers have high morale. By applying the principles of the Integral Model and practicing a heartfelt, servant-based leadership style, Ryan has turned this national trend around. Whether policing impacts you directly or not, there is much to be gained by listening to this stirring conversation, which reveals so much about the realities of our society and the incredible courage, compassion, and outright nobility it takes to be a police officer—putting your life on the line to protect and serve others every single day. Recorded July 6, 2023.

                      “The only way to meet the community demands of modern day policing Is to deploy officers who are healthy, happy, and well adjusted human beings, with a deep commitment to a well articulated purpose.”

                      (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                      Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                      • Introducing San Bruno Police Chief Ryan Johansen and retired police Lt. Chris Orrey (01:00)
                      • What does it mean to be integrally informed? (04:46)
                      • Law enforcement is possibly the smallest component of what police do: the larger picture includes the roles of social worker, mental health counselor, big sister/big brother, emergency medical personnel, and more (05:49)
                      • Good cops embrace the role of societal “backstop” and excel at working with other agencies who carry on after the initial emergency (09:59)
                      • Is the training for cops enough? It’s gone from 3 months to 6 months (in CA), but it could really benefit from an Integral perspective (13:53)
                      • Training is often used as a scapegoat: every time there is a problem in policing people say this is a training issue, but whose fault is it really? (17:20)
                      • Integral leadership is essential in modern day policing (19:59)
                      • The four quadrants explained and how they apply to police reform (22:32)
                      • Healthy & toxic cultures in a police department are just like any other organization; they stem from how cops are taught to cope with the job and how they identify as a group (24:31)
                      • The goal is resilience: cops need to embrace the trauma of the job and integrate it; trauma + integration = resilience (25:59)
                      • A good integration requires a deep rooted peer support program, confidential counseling, a full paid hour of physically working out the stress of the job, wellness time, mindfulness training (27:53)
                      • Reframing trauma as not just a horror to be repressed but as an inevitable part of the profession that needs to be honored (31:04)
                      • Reframing trauma can also help cops better identify with victims and survivors and model that we can emerge stronger for going through the trauma (31:49)
                      • The top sources of stress for a police officer are 1) watching what humans are capable of doing to others, especially children, and 2) their own police administration (34:30)
                      • The double standard of expecting officers to practice procedural justice on the street when leadership is not practicing organizational justice to the cops (38:24)
                      • The critical importance of servant-based leadership (39:15)
                      
                      

                      Resources & References – Part 1

                      • U.S. Dept of Justice’s FTO (Field Training Officer) Training Guide
                      • Institute of Applied Metatheory: Integral Policing Transformation Initiative
                      • Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory & the Integral Life website
                      • Build Your Integral Life (Integral Life course)
                      • Ken Wilber, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution*
                      • What Are the Four Quadrants? (Integral Life website)
                      • This links to an article that touches on several studies on police stressors, with the O’Toole 2014 work being perhaps the most relevant: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261440806_Introduction_to_special_issue_police_stress_and_trauma_recent_perspectives
                      
                      

                      * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                      ---

                      Ryan Johansen currently serves as the Chief of Police for the City of San Bruno, California, a diverse community of approximately 50,000 residents located amid the urban sprawl of the San Francisco Bay Area. Ryan has been a policing professional for approximately 20 years, beginning his career as a patrol officer with the Southeastern Division of the San Diego Police Department. Ryan transferred to the San Bruno Police Department in 2006, and in the years that followed, he has served in a variety of positions and assignments, including: Police Chief, Incident Commander, Tactical Commander, Field Services Division Lieutenant, Administrative Division Lieutenant, Watch Commander, Public Information Officer, Traffic Sergeant, Patrol Sergeant, Detective Corporal, Gang Unit Supervisor, Patrol Corporal, and Patrol Officer. Ryan served as the Investigations Commander for the San Bruno Gas Pipeline Explosion in 2008, the Incident Commander for the YouTube Active Shooter Incident in 2018, and the Tactical Commander for the Tanforan Mall Active Shooter Incident in 2019. 

                      Ryan has a longstanding meditation and contemplative practice and is a certified mindfulness meditation instructor. He serves as Vice President of the San Mateo County Police Chiefs and Sheriffs Association and is on the Board of the CA Police Chiefs Association. He has provided training in officer wellness, police culture, active assailant prevention and response, and public/private partnership in critical incident response all over the United States. Ryan possesses a Bachelor of Applied Sciences Degree in Law Enforcement Management, and he is currently enrolled in the Masters of Homeland Defense and Security Program at the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security.

                      ---

                      Chris Orrey is a retired police lieutenant with over 30 years of service with the Hayward, California Police Department. She is a graduate of California’s Command College, an 18-month program designed to prepare law enforcement leaders for the challenges of the future, and the LAPD Leadership Training Program, which is based on the West Point Leadership Program. In true Integral...]]>Ep. 96 (Part 1 of 2) | In this moving, illuminating, and impassioned discussion, retired Police Lt. Chris Orrey and San Bruno Police Chief Ryan Johansen open our eyes as to the realities of policing in today’s world and offer solutions as to how the entire institution of police work could be transformed to become more effective and sustainable, both for police officers and for the communities they serve. Ryan and Chris explain that applying an Integral approach to police work—which BTW encompasses a lot more than simply law enforcement, to include the roles of social worker, mental health counselor, EMT, and more, in crisis situations—is exactly what is needed to turn around an institution that is controversial and flailing at this point. They point out that it is essential to prioritize officer wellness—not just physical wellness but interior wellness as well—and give officers the coping mechanisms and support they need to integrate the inevitable trauma of the job and role model resilience for the victims and survivors they interact with. An Integral understanding also paves the way for police leadership to become servant-based; where leadership puts the welfare of the officers first and foremost, and in turn, officers are in peak condition, mentally, physically, emotionally, to serve and protect their communities with compassion and skill.

                      Nationwide, it is a time of catastrophic crisis in police recruitment and retention. Most departments are severely understaffed and morale is at a dangerous low. Chief Ryan’s San Bruno police department, however, is fully staffed and the officers have high morale. By applying the principles of the Integral Model and practicing a heartfelt, servant-based leadership style, Ryan has turned this national trend around. Whether policing impacts you directly or not, there is much to be gained by listening to this stirring conversation, which reveals so much about the realities of our society and the incredible courage, compassion, and outright nobility it takes to be a police officer—putting your life on the line to protect and serve others every single day. Recorded July 6, 2023.

                      “The only way to meet the community demands of modern day policing Is to deploy officers who are healthy, happy, and well adjusted human beings, with a deep commitment to a well articulated purpose.”

                      (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                      Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                      • Introducing San Bruno Police Chief Ryan Johansen and retired police Lt. Chris Orrey (01:00)
                      • What does it mean to be integrally informed? (04:46)
                      • Law enforcement is possibly the smallest component of what police do: the larger picture includes the roles of social worker, mental health counselor, big sister/big brother, emergency medical personnel, and more (05:49)
                      • Good cops embrace the role of societal “backstop” and excel at working with other agencies who carry on after the initial emergency (09:59)
                      • Is the training for cops enough? It’s gone from 3 months to 6 months (in CA), but it could really benefit from an Integral perspective (13:53)
                      • Training is often used as a scapegoat: every time there is a problem in policing people say this is a training issue, but whose fault is it really? (17:20)
                      • Integral leadership is essential in modern day policing (19:59)
                      • The four quadrants explained and how they apply to police reform (22:32)
                      • Healthy & toxic cultures in a police department are just like any other organization; they stem from how cops are taught to cope with the job and how they identify as a group (24:31)
                      • The goal is resilience: cops need to embrace the trauma of the job and integrate it; trauma + integration = resilience (25:59)
                      • A good integration requires a deep rooted peer support program, confidential counseling, a full paid hour of physically working out the stress of the job, wellness time, mindfulness training (27:53)
                      • Reframing trauma as not just a horror to be repressed but as an inevitable part of the profession that needs to be honored (31:04)
                      • Reframing trauma can also help cops better identify with victims and survivors and model that we can emerge stronger for going through the trauma (31:49)
                      • The top sources of stress for a police officer are 1) watching what humans are capable of doing to others, especially children, and 2) their own police administration (34:30)
                      • The double standard of expecting officers to practice procedural justice on the street when leadership is not practicing organizational justice to the cops (38:24)
                      • The critical importance of servant-based leadership (39:15)
                      
                      

                      Resources & References – Part 1

                      • U.S. Dept of Justice’s FTO (Field Training Officer) Training Guide
                      • Institute of Applied Metatheory: Integral Policing Transformation Initiative
                      • Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory & the Integral Life website
                      • Build Your Integral Life (Integral Life course)
                      • Ken Wilber, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution*
                      • What Are the Four Quadrants? (Integral Life website)
                      • This links to an article that touches on several studies on police stressors, with the O’Toole 2014 work being perhaps the most relevant: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261440806_Introduction_to_special_issue_police_stress_and_trauma_recent_perspectives
                      
                      

                      * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                      ---

                      Ryan Johansen currently serves as the Chief of Police for the City of San Bruno, California, a diverse community of approximately 50,000 residents located amid the urban sprawl of the San Francisco Bay Area. Ryan has been a policing professional for approximately 20 years, beginning his career as a patrol officer with the Southeastern Division of the San Diego Police Department. Ryan transferred to the San Bruno Police Department in 2006, and in the years that followed, he has served in a variety of positions and assignments, including: Police Chief, Incident Commander, Tactical Commander, Field Services Division Lieutenant, Administrative Division Lieutenant, Watch Commander, Public Information Officer, Traffic Sergeant, Patrol Sergeant, Detective Corporal, Gang Unit Supervisor, Patrol Corporal, and Patrol Officer. Ryan served as the Investigations Commander for the San Bruno Gas Pipeline Explosion in 2008, the Incident Commander for the YouTube Active Shooter Incident in 2018, and the Tactical Commander for the Tanforan Mall Active Shooter Incident in 2019. 

                      Ryan has a longstanding meditation and contemplative practice and is a certified mindfulness meditation instructor. He serves as Vice President of the San Mateo County Police Chiefs and Sheriffs Association and is on the Board of the CA Police Chiefs Association. He has provided training in officer wellness, police culture, active assailant prevention and response, and public/private partnership in critical incident response all over the United States. Ryan possesses a Bachelor of Applied Sciences Degree in Law Enforcement Management, and he is currently enrolled in the Masters of Homeland Defense and Security Program at the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security.

                      ---

                      Chris Orrey is a retired police lieutenant with over 30 years of service with the Hayward, California Police Department. She is a graduate of California’s Command College, an 18-month program designed to prepare law enforcement leaders for the challenges of the future, and the LAPD Leadership Training Program, which is based on the West Point Leadership Program. In true Integral fashion, she will soon have a Master’s Degree in Comparative Religion and Philosophy and will be continuing her education at the California Institute for Human Science, pursuing a doctorate degree in Integral Noetic Sciences with an emphasis on Wisdom Design. Her Master’s thesis is on the application of Wilberian Integral Theory to U.S. policing and is titled “Integral Policing: Transforming U.S. Policing via the AQAL Map.”

                      Chris is also a blackbelt in kajukenbo-style karate and an ordained minister of A Course in Miracles. She lives in San Francisco, California.

                      ---

                      Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                      ]]>33953c1d-4b16-4b3c-96d5-4d603f98dc22Thu, 21 Sep 2023 05:00:00 -040043:00falsefull9696Swami Beyondananda / Steve Bhaerman – Laugh Yourself Sane, Enlighten Up & Awaken to Cosmic Comic Consciousness with the Wit & Wisdom of This Hilarious Duo (Part 2)Ep. 95 (Part 2 of 2) | Author, activist, and humorist Steve Bhaerman (aka Swami Beyondananda) realized the power of humor as well as his talent for making people laugh early on, when his schoolmates would laugh so hard, milk would come out of their nose. Steve’s spiritual and psychological wisdom, his deep love and concern for humanity, and his clever, refreshing humor come together in a perfect triad to create the wise, inspired, and funny political and spiritual commentary that have delighted so many for so long. Steve’s mission is to bring people together to work for the things everybody wants—rather than a tug of war, his vision is of a tug of peace, all pulling in the same direction. He has seen over and over how effective comic relief is at bridging people’s differences; it can even disrupt dualistic thinking to where oneness becomes real and unity is achieved.

                      Steve’s sidekick, Swami Beyondananda, will make you laugh and his humorous perspective on the great issues of our time (like truth decay) and insights about how we can create a more positive future for ourselves (like self-facing laughter and tantrum yoga) really help to lighten the load. Hope is transmitted through levity and we find we can all laugh at human behavior together. Steve explains that with laughter we release emotions, trauma, and mental structures because truth is being liberated, and that comedy’s role is to deconstruct toxic narratives yet leave people standing. In this conversation, you will experience the power of humor to make even the dire circumstances of today’s world feel a bit lighter—Steve/Swami’s inspired comedy is not only politically astute but palpably heartwarming. Recorded August 10, 2023.

                      “We need to create a sane and sacred center that transcends both religion and non-religion…bring left, right, front and center to face the music and dance together.”

                      (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                      Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                      • Swami’s take on Donald Trump (01:36)
                      • The shadow side of well meaning liberal progressives (02:20)
                      • The trans-humanist movement: don’t neglect real intelligence (04:37)
                      • Believing in the primacy of the human mind is as dangerous as right-wing totalitarianism (05:17)
                      • Steve never does comedy to hurt anyone, but Swami knows how to insult people when necessary (05:32)
                      • How the progressive movement has heightened sensitivities to the point where comedians won’t perform on college campuses (09:55)
                      • Breaking the trance of people believing insane things (11:42)
                      • Humor disrupts dualistic thinking and puts things together in a new way—we like it when our mind is tricked (13:27)
                      • Steve’s podcast, Front and Center: From Political Battlefields to Cooperative Playing Fields (16:26)
                      • Lesser evil politics always empowers evil (17:08)
                      • As spirituality evolves, it recognizes everyone has to have a relationship with the transcendent (17:59)
                      • Reuniting the cosmos in love and practicing virtues can bring heaven to Earth (20:21)
                      • The future of spirituality combines walking the talk, being the love that you are, and releasing the grip of the ego with all of its insecurities and paranoias (21:49)
                      • How humor evolves in 4 stages: what we laugh at as we develop (23:31)
                      • With laughter we can release emotions, trauma, and mental structures because truth is being liberated (24:20)
                      • Comedy has always been anti-authoritarian and why there are no humorous right-wingers (29:26)
                      • People don’t want to be canceled by their tribe, and the casualty of nuance (32:48)
                      • The high level of public intimidation going on, transgenderism, and how the left is the new corporate party (35:39)
                      • Steve’s mission is to bring people together to work for what everybody wants (38:04)
                      
                      

                      Resources & References – Part 2

                      • Voltaire, “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”
                      • Henny Youngman, comedian and musician, master of one-liners and famous for his “wife” jokes
                      • Swami Satchidananda, “Nothing will make you enlightened.”
                      • Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Giggling Guru
                      • St. Maximus the Confessor, Christian monk, theologian, and scholar who coined the phrase cosmic love in the 8th century
                      • Elaine Park, The Habits of Unity: Twelve Months to a Stronger America… One Citizen at a Time
                      • Mel Brooks & Carl Reiner, The 2000 Year Old Man (YouTube video)
                      • Bill Maher, comedian and political satirist
                      • Jimmy Dore, comedian, political commentator, conspiracy theorist, host of The Jimmy Dore Show
                      • Stephen Colbert, comedian, producer, political commentator, TV host
                      • Charlie Chaplin, The Great Dictator (1941 trailer on YouTube)
                      • Groucho Marx, Duck Soup (1933 trailer on YouTube)
                      • George Carlin, comedian, actor, author, social critic
                      • Martine Rothblatt, From Transgender to Transhuman: A Manifesto On the Freedom Of Form*
                      • 12Habits4AllofUs.org: The 12 Practices of Unity
                      • Richard Flyer, created the conscious community network in Reno, Connecting the Good, a radically inclusive group
                      • Martin Luther King, Jr., “Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war.”
                      • Swami and Steve’s website: Wake Up Laughing.com
                      • Steve’s podcast, Front and Center with Steve and Michael: From Political Battlefields to Cooperative Playing Fields
                      • Steve’s Ep. 95 (Part 2 of 2) | Author, activist, and humorist Steve Bhaerman (aka Swami Beyondananda) realized the power of humor as well as his talent for making people laugh early on, when his schoolmates would laugh so hard, milk would come out of their nose. Steve’s spiritual and psychological wisdom, his deep love and concern for humanity, and his clever, refreshing humor come together in a perfect triad to create the wise, inspired, and funny political and spiritual commentary that have delighted so many for so long. Steve’s mission is to bring people together to work for the things everybody wants—rather than a tug of war, his vision is of a tug of peace, all pulling in the same direction. He has seen over and over how effective comic relief is at bridging people’s differences; it can even disrupt dualistic thinking to where oneness becomes real and unity is achieved.

                        Steve’s sidekick, Swami Beyondananda, will make you laugh and his humorous perspective on the great issues of our time (like truth decay) and insights about how we can create a more positive future for ourselves (like self-facing laughter and tantrum yoga) really help to lighten the load. Hope is transmitted through levity and we find we can all laugh at human behavior together. Steve explains that with laughter we release emotions, trauma, and mental structures because truth is being liberated, and that comedy’s role is to deconstruct toxic narratives yet leave people standing. In this conversation, you will experience the power of humor to make even the dire circumstances of today’s world feel a bit lighter—Steve/Swami’s inspired comedy is not only politically astute but palpably heartwarming. Recorded August 10, 2023.

                        “We need to create a sane and sacred center that transcends both religion and non-religion…bring left, right, front and center to face the music and dance together.”

                        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                        • Swami’s take on Donald Trump (01:36)
                        • The shadow side of well meaning liberal progressives (02:20)
                        • The trans-humanist movement: don’t neglect real intelligence (04:37)
                        • Believing in the primacy of the human mind is as dangerous as right-wing totalitarianism (05:17)
                        • Steve never does comedy to hurt anyone, but Swami knows how to insult people when necessary (05:32)
                        • How the progressive movement has heightened sensitivities to the point where comedians won’t perform on college campuses (09:55)
                        • Breaking the trance of people believing insane things (11:42)
                        • Humor disrupts dualistic thinking and puts things together in a new way—we like it when our mind is tricked (13:27)
                        • Steve’s podcast, Front and Center: From Political Battlefields to Cooperative Playing Fields (16:26)
                        • Lesser evil politics always empowers evil (17:08)
                        • As spirituality evolves, it recognizes everyone has to have a relationship with the transcendent (17:59)
                        • Reuniting the cosmos in love and practicing virtues can bring heaven to Earth (20:21)
                        • The future of spirituality combines walking the talk, being the love that you are, and releasing the grip of the ego with all of its insecurities and paranoias (21:49)
                        • How humor evolves in 4 stages: what we laugh at as we develop (23:31)
                        • With laughter we can release emotions, trauma, and mental structures because truth is being liberated (24:20)
                        • Comedy has always been anti-authoritarian and why there are no humorous right-wingers (29:26)
                        • People don’t want to be canceled by their tribe, and the casualty of nuance (32:48)
                        • The high level of public intimidation going on, transgenderism, and how the left is the new corporate party (35:39)
                        • Steve’s mission is to bring people together to work for what everybody wants (38:04)
                        
                        

                        Resources & References – Part 2

                        • Voltaire, “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”
                        • Henny Youngman, comedian and musician, master of one-liners and famous for his “wife” jokes
                        • Swami Satchidananda, “Nothing will make you enlightened.”
                        • Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Giggling Guru
                        • St. Maximus the Confessor, Christian monk, theologian, and scholar who coined the phrase cosmic love in the 8th century
                        • Elaine Park, The Habits of Unity: Twelve Months to a Stronger America… One Citizen at a Time
                        • Mel Brooks & Carl Reiner, The 2000 Year Old Man (YouTube video)
                        • Bill Maher, comedian and political satirist
                        • Jimmy Dore, comedian, political commentator, conspiracy theorist, host of The Jimmy Dore Show
                        • Stephen Colbert, comedian, producer, political commentator, TV host
                        • Charlie Chaplin, The Great Dictator (1941 trailer on YouTube)
                        • Groucho Marx, Duck Soup (1933 trailer on YouTube)
                        • George Carlin, comedian, actor, author, social critic
                        • Martine Rothblatt, From Transgender to Transhuman: A Manifesto On the Freedom Of Form*
                        • 12Habits4AllofUs.org: The 12 Practices of Unity
                        • Richard Flyer, created the conscious community network in Reno, Connecting the Good, a radically inclusive group
                        • Martin Luther King, Jr., “Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war.”
                        • Swami and Steve’s website: Wake Up Laughing.com
                        • Steve’s podcast, Front and Center with Steve and Michael: From Political Battlefields to Cooperative Playing Fields
                        • Steve’s Wiki Politiki Radio Show
                        • Bruce Lipton & Steve Bhaerman, Spontaneous Evolution: Our Positive Future (and a Way to Get There From Here)*
                        
                        

                        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                        ---

                        Steve Bhaerman is an internationally known author, humorist, and workshop leader. For the past 36 years, he has written and performed as Swami Beyondananda, the “Cosmic Comic.” Swami’s comedy has been called “irreverently uplifting” and has been described both as “comedy disguised as wisdom” and “wisdom disguised as comedy.” Author Marianne Williamson has called him “the Mark Twain of our generation.”

                        As the Swami, Steve is the author of Driving Your Own Karma (1989), When You See a Sacred Cow, Milk It For All It’s Worth (1993), Duck Soup for the Soul (1999), and Swami for Precedent: A 7-Step Plan to Heal the Body Politic and Cure Electile Dysfunction (2004). On the more serious side, he co-authored with cellular biologist Bruce H. Lipton, PhD, Spontaneous Evolution: Our Positive Future and a Way to Get There from Here (Hay House, 2009). Steve is co-host of the Front and Center podcast (“from political battlefields to cooperative playing fields”), and is working with All of Us, Inc. to present and promote the 12 Habits of Unity). He can be found online at Wake Up Laughing.

                        ---

                        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                        ]]>e7d52e02-b039-46e6-800b-f0a0df594ce4Thu, 14 Sep 2023 05:00:00 -040044:52falsefull9595Swami Beyondananda / Steve Bhaerman – Laugh Yourself Sane, Enlighten Up & Awaken to Cosmic Comic Consciousness with the Wit & Wisdom of This Hilarious DuoEp. 94 (Part 1 of 2) | Author, activist, and humorist Steve Bhaerman (aka Swami Beyondananda) realized the power of humor as well as his talent for making people laugh early on, when his schoolmates would laugh so hard, milk would come out of their nose. Steve’s spiritual and psychological wisdom, his deep love and concern for humanity, and his clever, refreshing humor come together in a perfect triad to create the wise, inspired, and funny political and spiritual commentary that have delighted so many for so long. Steve’s mission is to bring people together to work for the things everybody wants—rather than a tug of war, his vision is of a tug of peace, all pulling in the same direction. He has seen over and over how effective comic relief is at bridging people’s differences; it can even disrupt dualistic thinking to where oneness becomes real and unity is achieved.

                        Steve’s sidekick, Swami Beyondananda, will make you laugh and his humorous perspective on the great issues of our time (like truth decay) and insights about how we can create a more positive future for ourselves (like self-facing laughter and tantrum yoga) really help to lighten the load. Hope is transmitted through levity and we find we can all laugh at human behavior together. Steve explains that with laughter we release emotions, trauma, and mental structures because truth is being liberated, and that comedy’s role is to deconstruct toxic narratives yet leave people standing. In this conversation, you will experience the power of humor to make even the dire circumstances of today’s world feel a bit lighter—Steve/Swami’s inspired comedy is not only politically astute but palpably heartwarming. Recorded August 10, 2023.

                        “The creator is watching the comedy channel and we decide what’s on.”

                        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                        • Introducing Swami Beyondananda (the comedian Roger wanted to be when he grew up) who integrates humor, wisdom & spirituality (01:15)
                        • What is Swami’s spiritual orientation? FUNdamentalism (05:27)
                        • The Great Up-wising: wake up, wise up, grow up, show up (06:33)
                        • Levity vs gravity: laughing creates endorphins, lowers blood pressure, and strengthens our immune system (08:23)
                        • Crisis precipitates evolution: the challenge of our times (10:32)
                        • Why is mindfulness so important? Because so many people are suffering from mindFULLness! (13:03)
                        • How do you know if you are enlightened? (14:42)
                        • How do you release the grip of the ego? (16:17)
                        • Roger represents emptiness and John is full of it (16:55)
                        • Whatever your problem is, nothing will help (17:45) 
                        • How to get beyond political polarization: leave the identity issues, focus on the identical issues that everybody faces (19:20)
                        • Creating a sane asylum: developing cosmic comic consciousness and practicing tantrum yoga (22:58)
                        • A story about praying for peace in the Middle East (24:59)
                        • Instead of a tug of war, let’s have a tug of peace, where we all pull together (29:19)
                        • What is Swami’s take on the climate issue? We need warmer hearts, cooler heads, and to restore balance on Earth (30:05)
                        • What is the secret for human happiness? (32:09)
                        • Introducing Steve Bhaerman, author, political humorist, and the story of how his character Swami Beyondananda came to be (34:05)
                        • Pumping ironies and laughing together at human behavior (38:43)
                        
                        

                        Resources & References – Part 1

                        • Swami and Steve’s website: Wake Up Laughing.com
                        • Steve’s podcast, Front and Center with Steve and Michael: From Political Battlefields to Cooperative Playing Fields
                        • Steve’s Wiki Politiki Radio Show
                        • Bruce Lipton & Steve Bhaerman, Spontaneous Evolution: Our Positive Future and a Way to Get There From Here*
                        • Norman Cousins, Anatomy of an Illness*
                        • Arthur Deikman’s test of enlightenment: Ask the spouse
                        • Common Ground was the San Francisco Bay Area’s Magazine for Conscious Community since 1974 (no longer in publication)
                        • Yuval Harari, author of science bestsellers: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind*, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow*, and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century*
                        • 12Habits4AllofUs.org: The 12 Practices of Unity
                        
                        

                        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                        ---

                        Steve Bhaerman is an internationally known author, humorist, and workshop leader. For the past 36 years, he has written and performed as Swami Beyondananda, the “Cosmic Comic.” Swami’s comedy has been called “irreverently uplifting” and has been described both as “comedy disguised as wisdom” and “wisdom disguised as comedy.” Author Marianne Williamson has called him “the Mark Twain of our generation.”

                        As the Swami, Steve is the author of Driving Your Own Karma (1989), When You See a Sacred Cow, Milk It For All It’s Worth (1993), Duck Soup for the Soul (1999), and Swami for Precedent: A 7-Step Plan to Heal the Body Politic and Cure Electile Dysfunction (2004). On the more serious side, he co-authored with cellular biologist Bruce H. Lipton, PhD, Spontaneous Evolution: Our Positive Future and a Way to Get There from Here (Hay House, 2009). Steve is co-host of the Front and Center podcast (“from political battlefields to cooperative playing fields”), and is working with All of Us, Inc. to present and promote the 12 Habits of Unity). He can be found online at Wake Up Laughing.

                        ---

                        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                        ]]>Ep. 94 (Part 1 of 2) | Author, activist, and humorist Steve Bhaerman (aka Swami Beyondananda) realized the power of humor as well as his talent for making people laugh early on, when his schoolmates would laugh so hard, milk would come out of their nose. Steve’s spiritual and psychological wisdom, his deep love and concern for humanity, and his clever, refreshing humor come together in a perfect triad to create the wise, inspired, and funny political and spiritual commentary that have delighted so many for so long. Steve’s mission is to bring people together to work for the things everybody wants—rather than a tug of war, his vision is of a tug of peace, all pulling in the same direction. He has seen over and over how effective comic relief is at bridging people’s differences; it can even disrupt dualistic thinking to where oneness becomes real and unity is achieved.

                        Steve’s sidekick, Swami Beyondananda, will make you laugh and his humorous perspective on the great issues of our time (like truth decay) and insights about how we can create a more positive future for ourselves (like self-facing laughter and tantrum yoga) really help to lighten the load. Hope is transmitted through levity and we find we can all laugh at human behavior together. Steve explains that with laughter we release emotions, trauma, and mental structures because truth is being liberated, and that comedy’s role is to deconstruct toxic narratives yet leave people standing. In this conversation, you will experience the power of humor to make even the dire circumstances of today’s world feel a bit lighter—Steve/Swami’s inspired comedy is not only politically astute but palpably heartwarming. Recorded August 10, 2023.

                        “The creator is watching the comedy channel and we decide what’s on.”

                        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                        • Introducing Swami Beyondananda (the comedian Roger wanted to be when he grew up) who integrates humor, wisdom & spirituality (01:15)
                        • What is Swami’s spiritual orientation? FUNdamentalism (05:27)
                        • The Great Up-wising: wake up, wise up, grow up, show up (06:33)
                        • Levity vs gravity: laughing creates endorphins, lowers blood pressure, and strengthens our immune system (08:23)
                        • Crisis precipitates evolution: the challenge of our times (10:32)
                        • Why is mindfulness so important? Because so many people are suffering from mindFULLness! (13:03)
                        • How do you know if you are enlightened? (14:42)
                        • How do you release the grip of the ego? (16:17)
                        • Roger represents emptiness and John is full of it (16:55)
                        • Whatever your problem is, nothing will help (17:45) 
                        • How to get beyond political polarization: leave the identity issues, focus on the identical issues that everybody faces (19:20)
                        • Creating a sane asylum: developing cosmic comic consciousness and practicing tantrum yoga (22:58)
                        • A story about praying for peace in the Middle East (24:59)
                        • Instead of a tug of war, let’s have a tug of peace, where we all pull together (29:19)
                        • What is Swami’s take on the climate issue? We need warmer hearts, cooler heads, and to restore balance on Earth (30:05)
                        • What is the secret for human happiness? (32:09)
                        • Introducing Steve Bhaerman, author, political humorist, and the story of how his character Swami Beyondananda came to be (34:05)
                        • Pumping ironies and laughing together at human behavior (38:43)
                        
                        

                        Resources & References – Part 1

                        • Swami and Steve’s website: Wake Up Laughing.com
                        • Steve’s podcast, Front and Center with Steve and Michael: From Political Battlefields to Cooperative Playing Fields
                        • Steve’s Wiki Politiki Radio Show
                        • Bruce Lipton & Steve Bhaerman, Spontaneous Evolution: Our Positive Future and a Way to Get There From Here*
                        • Norman Cousins, Anatomy of an Illness*
                        • Arthur Deikman’s test of enlightenment: Ask the spouse
                        • Common Ground was the San Francisco Bay Area’s Magazine for Conscious Community since 1974 (no longer in publication)
                        • Yuval Harari, author of science bestsellers: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind*, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow*, and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century*
                        • 12Habits4AllofUs.org: The 12 Practices of Unity
                        
                        

                        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                        ---

                        Steve Bhaerman is an internationally known author, humorist, and workshop leader. For the past 36 years, he has written and performed as Swami Beyondananda, the “Cosmic Comic.” Swami’s comedy has been called “irreverently uplifting” and has been described both as “comedy disguised as wisdom” and “wisdom disguised as comedy.” Author Marianne Williamson has called him “the Mark Twain of our generation.”

                        As the Swami, Steve is the author of Driving Your Own Karma (1989), When You See a Sacred Cow, Milk It For All It’s Worth (1993), Duck Soup for the Soul (1999), and Swami for Precedent: A 7-Step Plan to Heal the Body Politic and Cure Electile Dysfunction (2004). On the more serious side, he co-authored with cellular biologist Bruce H. Lipton, PhD, Spontaneous Evolution: Our Positive Future and a Way to Get There from Here (Hay House, 2009). Steve is co-host of the Front and Center podcast (“from political battlefields to cooperative playing fields”), and is working with All of Us, Inc. to present and promote the 12 Habits of Unity). He can be found online at Wake Up Laughing.

                        ---

                        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                        ]]>eca0b54a-c697-48bd-8d2f-201776a65216Thu, 07 Sep 2023 05:00:00 -040042:17truefull9494Hot Button Issues in Mental Health & Psychotherapy: Trauma, Transgender, Psychedelics & SuperShrinks (Part 2)Ep. 92 (Part 2 of 2) | Integral psychotherapist Mark Forman, author of the seminal work A Guide to Integral Psychotherapy, doesn’t mince words when it comes to the field he is passionate about: helping people out of their mental pain and dysphoria. Mark’s Integral perspective and longtime work in the trenches—with clients from all income levels, political persuasions, and levels of development—put him in a unique position to illuminate us as to the nuances of the hot button issues new to psychotherapy or ones that have suddenly exploded in numbers: misuse of the term trauma and its diagnostic creep, what the research says about the effectiveness of psychedelics to treat mental health disorders and what that portends for the future, the exponentially growing trend of teenage girls deciding they are transgender and the crying need for more data to help with counseling transgender and trans-curious youth, what is causing the loneliness epidemic, the pressing need to reimagine the male role to balance how feminism has changed the female role, and more.

                        Mark describes the “therapeutic zone” that can happen in therapy when inspiration strikes, and shares the latest research on what makes therapists into “super-shrinks” who have client outcomes ten times better than average. He also relates how living in our psychologized culture affects therapy, and how it can get tricky when therapist and client are at different levels of development. Mark’s vast knowledge and big heart shine through the many topics he delves into and his tales of actual therapeutic encounters are eye opening and moving. This is an impassioned, courageous conversation on the front lines of mental health and psychotherapy. Recorded May 4, 2023.

                        “Reflective listening is the beating heart of all therapy.”

                        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                        1. Trauma is less severe where there is a sense of purpose & meaning (00:50)
                        2. The “gifts” trauma can offer: post traumatic growth, a resiliency generating idea that you can give back, take part, reduce someone else’s suffering (04:19)
                        3. What makes psychotherapy so effective? Research suggests it’s an individual thing rather than which psychological school the therapist follows (07:07)
                        4. The matrix problem: it’s almost impossible to define outcome measures (09:38)
                        5. What does research show makes the biggest difference in outcomes? Super-shrinks make a lot of room for negative feedback (11:34)
                        6. The therapeutic zone: conceptual curiosity, receptive listening, and dropping into the witness or pure awareness (23:08)
                        7. The developmental stage of the therapist’s effect on the client: where it gets tricky is if the client is in a later stage of development than the therapist (27:40)
                        8. Reflective listening is the beating heart of all therapy (36:59)
                        9. Recent research on psychedelic therapy is showing it is amazingly effective: psilocybin for depression and MDMA for PTSD (38:06)
                        10. Will the psychedelic therapy bubble burst when the risks become more apparent? (44:46)
                        11. What about ketamine? (47:57)
                        12. Trans issues in psychotherapy: the controversy is really over what is the appropriate age to socially transition versus the various steps of medical transition (51:28)
                        13. Trending upwards exponentially: teenage girls suddenly deciding they are transgender—is this a “social contagion”? What is the right pace of care? (56:39)
                        14. Are there inherent dangers with surgery? What happens with puberty blockers? (01:00:24)
                        15. Trans-curious youth, are we treating youth in the most cautious way? And the big need for research and data (01:02:42)
                        
                        

                        Resources & References – Part 2

                        1. Victor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning*
                        2. Michael Lambert, Benjamin Ogles, Scott Fields, Essentials of Outcome Assessment*
                        3. Scott Miller, Mark Hubble, Daryl Chow, Better Results: Using Deliberate Practice to Improve Therapeutic Effectiveness*
                        4. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, guru of nondualism, author of I Am That*
                        5. Carl Rogers, one of the founders of humanistic psychology, master of reflective listening
                        6. Roland Griffiths, director, Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins University, Johns Hopkins press release on Griffiths’ 2006 psilocybin study
                        7. Stanislav Grof, LSD: Doorway to the Numinous: The Groundbreaking Psychedelic Research into Realms of the Human Unconscious*
                        8. Don Lattin, Changing Our Minds: Psychedelic Sacraments and the New Psychotherapy*
                        9. Transgender health care and gender-affirming care
                        10. American Psychological Association (APA)
                        11. Mark Forman, A Guide to Integral Psychotherapy: Complexity, Integration, and Spirituality in Practice*
                        12. Mark Forman, The Monster’s Journey: From Trauma to Connection*
                        13. Mark Forman’s website: http://www.drmarkforman.com/
                        
                        

                        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                        ---

                        Mark Forman, PhD is a licensed...]]>Ep. 92 (Part 2 of 2) | Integral psychotherapist Mark Forman, author of the seminal work A Guide to Integral Psychotherapy, doesn’t mince words when it comes to the field he is passionate about: helping people out of their mental pain and dysphoria. Mark’s Integral perspective and longtime work in the trenches—with clients from all income levels, political persuasions, and levels of development—put him in a unique position to illuminate us as to the nuances of the hot button issues new to psychotherapy or ones that have suddenly exploded in numbers: misuse of the term trauma and its diagnostic creep, what the research says about the effectiveness of psychedelics to treat mental health disorders and what that portends for the future, the exponentially growing trend of teenage girls deciding they are transgender and the crying need for more data to help with counseling transgender and trans-curious youth, what is causing the loneliness epidemic, the pressing need to reimagine the male role to balance how feminism has changed the female role, and more.

                        Mark describes the “therapeutic zone” that can happen in therapy when inspiration strikes, and shares the latest research on what makes therapists into “super-shrinks” who have client outcomes ten times better than average. He also relates how living in our psychologized culture affects therapy, and how it can get tricky when therapist and client are at different levels of development. Mark’s vast knowledge and big heart shine through the many topics he delves into and his tales of actual therapeutic encounters are eye opening and moving. This is an impassioned, courageous conversation on the front lines of mental health and psychotherapy. Recorded May 4, 2023.

                        “Reflective listening is the beating heart of all therapy.”

                        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                        1. Trauma is less severe where there is a sense of purpose & meaning (00:50)
                        2. The “gifts” trauma can offer: post traumatic growth, a resiliency generating idea that you can give back, take part, reduce someone else’s suffering (04:19)
                        3. What makes psychotherapy so effective? Research suggests it’s an individual thing rather than which psychological school the therapist follows (07:07)
                        4. The matrix problem: it’s almost impossible to define outcome measures (09:38)
                        5. What does research show makes the biggest difference in outcomes? Super-shrinks make a lot of room for negative feedback (11:34)
                        6. The therapeutic zone: conceptual curiosity, receptive listening, and dropping into the witness or pure awareness (23:08)
                        7. The developmental stage of the therapist’s effect on the client: where it gets tricky is if the client is in a later stage of development than the therapist (27:40)
                        8. Reflective listening is the beating heart of all therapy (36:59)
                        9. Recent research on psychedelic therapy is showing it is amazingly effective: psilocybin for depression and MDMA for PTSD (38:06)
                        10. Will the psychedelic therapy bubble burst when the risks become more apparent? (44:46)
                        11. What about ketamine? (47:57)
                        12. Trans issues in psychotherapy: the controversy is really over what is the appropriate age to socially transition versus the various steps of medical transition (51:28)
                        13. Trending upwards exponentially: teenage girls suddenly deciding they are transgender—is this a “social contagion”? What is the right pace of care? (56:39)
                        14. Are there inherent dangers with surgery? What happens with puberty blockers? (01:00:24)
                        15. Trans-curious youth, are we treating youth in the most cautious way? And the big need for research and data (01:02:42)
                        
                        

                        Resources & References – Part 2

                        1. Victor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning*
                        2. Michael Lambert, Benjamin Ogles, Scott Fields, Essentials of Outcome Assessment*
                        3. Scott Miller, Mark Hubble, Daryl Chow, Better Results: Using Deliberate Practice to Improve Therapeutic Effectiveness*
                        4. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, guru of nondualism, author of I Am That*
                        5. Carl Rogers, one of the founders of humanistic psychology, master of reflective listening
                        6. Roland Griffiths, director, Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins University, Johns Hopkins press release on Griffiths’ 2006 psilocybin study
                        7. Stanislav Grof, LSD: Doorway to the Numinous: The Groundbreaking Psychedelic Research into Realms of the Human Unconscious*
                        8. Don Lattin, Changing Our Minds: Psychedelic Sacraments and the New Psychotherapy*
                        9. Transgender health care and gender-affirming care
                        10. American Psychological Association (APA)
                        11. Mark Forman, A Guide to Integral Psychotherapy: Complexity, Integration, and Spirituality in Practice*
                        12. Mark Forman, The Monster’s Journey: From Trauma to Connection*
                        13. Mark Forman’s website: http://www.drmarkforman.com/
                        
                        

                        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                        ---

                        Mark Forman, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist with over twenty years experience working with individuals, couples, children, teens, and families. His text – A Guide to Integral Psychotherapy: Complexity, Integration, and Spirituality in Practice – is one of the seminal works in the field of Integral Psychotherapy. Dr. Forman is more recently the author of The Monster’s Journey: From Trauma to Connection, which is a reimagining of the The Hero’s Journey archetype for those who have suffered early childhood trauma. Dr. Forman has an academic background in philosophy and religion and is a long-term practitioner of yoga, reiki, martial arts, and meditation.

                        ---

                        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                        ]]>8e0829b2-c790-4960-bc86-dd1c0e388469Thu, 24 Aug 2023 05:00:00 -040001:09:27falsefull9292Hot Button Issues in Mental Health & Psychotherapy: Trauma, Transgender, Psychedelics & SuperShrinksEp. 91 (Part 1 of 2) | Integral psychotherapist Mark Forman, author of the seminal work A Guide to Integral Psychotherapy, doesn’t mince words when it comes to the field he is passionate about: helping people out of their mental pain and dysphoria. Mark’s Integral perspective and longtime work in the trenches—with clients from all income levels, political persuasions, and levels of development—put him in a unique position to illuminate us as to the nuances of the hot button issues new to psychotherapy or ones that have suddenly exploded in numbers: misuse of the term trauma and its diagnostic creep, what the research says about the effectiveness of psychedelics to treat mental health disorders and what that portends for the future, the exponentially growing trend of teenage girls deciding they are transgender and the crying need for more data to help with counseling transgender and trans-curious youth, what is causing the loneliness epidemic, the pressing need to reimagine the male role to balance how feminism has changed the female role, and more.

                        Mark describes the “therapeutic zone” that can happen in therapy when inspiration strikes, and shares the latest research on what makes therapists into “super-shrinks” who have client outcomes ten times better than average. He also relates how living in our psychologized culture affects therapy, and how it can get tricky when therapist and client are at different levels of development. Mark’s vast knowledge and big heart shine through the many topics he delves into and his tales of actual therapeutic encounters are eye opening and moving. This is an impassioned, courageous conversation on the front lines of mental health and psychotherapy. Recorded May 4, 2023.

                        “The therapist is the priest of our times…imbued with a certain amount of metaphysical responsibility. So when the therapeutic field gets out of balance, it makes a difference.”

                        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                        1. Introducing Integral psychotherapist Mark Forman, author of A Guide to Integral Psychotherapy and The Monster’s Journey: From Trauma to Connection (00:52)
                        2. How we have moved from the animistic to the religious to the scientific worldview, and now look at the world through a predominantly psychological perspective (02:25)
                        3. 42 million people in the U.S. interacted with therapy or counseling, which is up 20 million people from the year 2000 (03:41)
                        4. The therapist is the priest of our times…imbued with a certain amount of metaphysical responsibility. So when the therapeutic field gets out of balance, it makes a difference (06:41)
                        5. Has there been a shift in what clients are bringing up? It’s still often about love or work, as Freud said; diagnoses are depression, anxiety, panic disorder, bipolar, eating disorders, substance abuse (09:20)
                        6. What might be new is people venting their political worries, gender dynamics, and how informed people are about psychology, largely via the internet (10:45)
                        7. Positive effects of people being more informed about their own condition (13:35)
                        8. What are the negative effects of the psychologization of our culture? Falsely self-labeling disorders (15:25)
                        9. The paradoxical nature of labels and the skillful use of labels (20:15)
                        10. The phenomenon of diagnostic creep in recent decades, especially in regard to trauma (24:53)
                        11. Kaiser’s study of 17,000 members provided a watershed moment correlating cause and outcome: 65% of adults had a traumatic event in childhood (abandonment, abuse), and the more boxes people checked, the worse their mental & physical outcomes were (27:40)
                        12. Mark has found the hero’s journey motif doesn’t apply with people who suffered early childhood trauma (31:11)
                        13. The magic quality of resilience (33:23)
                        14. The widespread mistake of inflating upsets to trauma status and its effect of negating the research (33:54)
                        15. The concept of “self as instrument” (40:48)
                        16. Differentiating between real trauma and upsetting events (43:10)
                        17. What are the forces making trauma labeling so popular: absolving ourselves of responsibility and playing the victim role (45:24)
                        18. The role of the therapist is validating people’s pain, while offering a more practical, moderated narrative that is not so fire & brimstone: trauma means there is a lasting imprint on brain, body, nervous system, psyche (49:16)
                        19. The supershrink literature: what constitutes the most effective therapist? (52:08)
                        
                        

                        Resources & References – Part 1

                        1. Mark Forman, A Guide to Integral Psychotherapy: Complexity, Integration, and Spirituality in Practice*
                        2. Mark Forman, The Monster’s Journey: From Trauma to Connection*
                        3. Mark Forman’s website: http://www.drmarkforman.com/
                        4. Sigmund Freud: “Love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness.”
                        5. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)
                        6. The World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD)
                        7. The Rumpelstiltskin Principle
                        8. Diagnosis creep, expanding disease definitions
                        9. The original Kaiser Permanente/CDC Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study
                        10. Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma*
                        11. Gabor Mate, The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture*
                        12. Ep. 91 (Part 1 of 2) | Integral psychotherapist Mark Forman, author of the seminal work A Guide to Integral Psychotherapy, doesn’t mince words when it comes to the field he is passionate about: helping people out of their mental pain and dysphoria. Mark’s Integral perspective and longtime work in the trenches—with clients from all income levels, political persuasions, and levels of development—put him in a unique position to illuminate us as to the nuances of the hot button issues new to psychotherapy or ones that have suddenly exploded in numbers: misuse of the term trauma and its diagnostic creep, what the research says about the effectiveness of psychedelics to treat mental health disorders and what that portends for the future, the exponentially growing trend of teenage girls deciding they are transgender and the crying need for more data to help with counseling transgender and trans-curious youth, what is causing the loneliness epidemic, the pressing need to reimagine the male role to balance how feminism has changed the female role, and more.

                            Mark describes the “therapeutic zone” that can happen in therapy when inspiration strikes, and shares the latest research on what makes therapists into “super-shrinks” who have client outcomes ten times better than average. He also relates how living in our psychologized culture affects therapy, and how it can get tricky when therapist and client are at different levels of development. Mark’s vast knowledge and big heart shine through the many topics he delves into and his tales of actual therapeutic encounters are eye opening and moving. This is an impassioned, courageous conversation on the front lines of mental health and psychotherapy. Recorded May 4, 2023.

                            “The therapist is the priest of our times…imbued with a certain amount of metaphysical responsibility. So when the therapeutic field gets out of balance, it makes a difference.”

                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                            1. Introducing Integral psychotherapist Mark Forman, author of A Guide to Integral Psychotherapy and The Monster’s Journey: From Trauma to Connection (00:52)
                            2. How we have moved from the animistic to the religious to the scientific worldview, and now look at the world through a predominantly psychological perspective (02:25)
                            3. 42 million people in the U.S. interacted with therapy or counseling, which is up 20 million people from the year 2000 (03:41)
                            4. The therapist is the priest of our times…imbued with a certain amount of metaphysical responsibility. So when the therapeutic field gets out of balance, it makes a difference (06:41)
                            5. Has there been a shift in what clients are bringing up? It’s still often about love or work, as Freud said; diagnoses are depression, anxiety, panic disorder, bipolar, eating disorders, substance abuse (09:20)
                            6. What might be new is people venting their political worries, gender dynamics, and how informed people are about psychology, largely via the internet (10:45)
                            7. Positive effects of people being more informed about their own condition (13:35)
                            8. What are the negative effects of the psychologization of our culture? Falsely self-labeling disorders (15:25)
                            9. The paradoxical nature of labels and the skillful use of labels (20:15)
                            10. The phenomenon of diagnostic creep in recent decades, especially in regard to trauma (24:53)
                            11. Kaiser’s study of 17,000 members provided a watershed moment correlating cause and outcome: 65% of adults had a traumatic event in childhood (abandonment, abuse), and the more boxes people checked, the worse their mental & physical outcomes were (27:40)
                            12. Mark has found the hero’s journey motif doesn’t apply with people who suffered early childhood trauma (31:11)
                            13. The magic quality of resilience (33:23)
                            14. The widespread mistake of inflating upsets to trauma status and its effect of negating the research (33:54)
                            15. The concept of “self as instrument” (40:48)
                            16. Differentiating between real trauma and upsetting events (43:10)
                            17. What are the forces making trauma labeling so popular: absolving ourselves of responsibility and playing the victim role (45:24)
                            18. The role of the therapist is validating people’s pain, while offering a more practical, moderated narrative that is not so fire & brimstone: trauma means there is a lasting imprint on brain, body, nervous system, psyche (49:16)
                            19. The supershrink literature: what constitutes the most effective therapist? (52:08)
                            
                            

                            Resources & References – Part 1

                            1. Mark Forman, A Guide to Integral Psychotherapy: Complexity, Integration, and Spirituality in Practice*
                            2. Mark Forman, The Monster’s Journey: From Trauma to Connection*
                            3. Mark Forman’s website: http://www.drmarkforman.com/
                            4. Sigmund Freud: “Love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness.”
                            5. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)
                            6. The World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD)
                            7. The Rumpelstiltskin Principle
                            8. Diagnosis creep, expanding disease definitions
                            9. The original Kaiser Permanente/CDC Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study
                            10. Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma*
                            11. Gabor Mate, The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture*
                            12. Janina Fisher, psychoeducator, Transforming The Living Legacy of Trauma: A Workbook for Survivors and Therapists*
                            
                            

                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                            ---

                            Mark Forman, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist with over twenty years experience working with individuals, couples, children, teens, and families. His text – A Guide to Integral Psychotherapy: Complexity, Integration, and Spirituality in Practice – is one of the seminal works in the field of Integral Psychotherapy. Dr. Forman is more recently the author of The Monster’s Journey: From Trauma to Connection, which is a reimagining of the The Hero’s Journey archetype for those who have suffered early childhood trauma. Dr. Forman has an academic background in philosophy and religion and is a long-term practitioner of yoga, reiki, martial arts, and meditation.

                            ---

                            Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                            ]]>5969f5ac-f4e4-4b9b-93ff-ff02fb9efcc0Thu, 17 Aug 2023 05:00:00 -040056:38falsefull9191Deep Diversity: Integrating Psychological, Scientific & Spiritual Contributions for Healing Injustice and Inequity (Part 2)Ep. 90 (Part 2 of 2) | Award-winning educator and activist Shakil Choudhury is the author of the outstanding book Deep Diversity: A Compassionate, Scientific Approach to Achieving Racial Justice, and in this potent conversation we learn a lot we perhaps didn’t know about the psychological, emotional, and neurobiological reasons for our ingrained biases, and the systemic bias in the culture at large. How and why do we discriminate? Many of our biases are hidden in the unconscious, which makes it that much harder to bring them into the light so we can begin to understand what’s going on and find ways to move ourselves and society toward justice and equity. Shakil explains that changing societal norms is at the heart of the battle for racial and social justice, as our habitual cultural behaviors tend to be viewed as legitimate, normal, and natural, when actually they may be outdated, off base, offensive, and unjust. Shakil deftly lines us out with specific steps we can take to recognize and change our own behaviors, as well as actions organizational leaders can take to effect change on a broader level.

                            Shakil contends that educating people to become diversity and equity literate is the first essential step, and the 360-hour program he has designed to this end has proven very effective. Once people see the data, they cannot help understanding the drivers of racial and social injustice more clearly, which leads to the place where real transformation can happen. Shakil’s extraordinarily insightful and illuminating approach is fueled by many years of contemplative practice, and he leaves us with a vision of what we are fighting for—not just what we are fighting against—based on Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream of Beloved Community. Small groups of dedicated people have managed to successfully nudge societal norms in the direction of justice in the past, and this conversation and Shakil’s book, Deep Diversity, most certainly contribute a compassionate nudge in the right direction. Bit by bit, recognizing that this is a journey, Shakil conveys both the means and the hope that justice will prevail. Recorded April 26, 2023.

                            “Can we hold the tension between our common humanity and our differences simultaneously?”

                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                            • How classism and racism come together, and the importance of asking the right questions about the variables that affect equality and diversity in our culture (01:43)
                            • Culture wide hypnosis and cultural hegemony (05:03)
                            • Where are we now as a species? We have made progress…but this doesn’t mean people are happy about the changes (07:03)
                            • System justification theory: we justify the system no matter what because we’re herd people (08:29)
                            • Changing the norms of society is the whole battle: small groups on the right side of justice can create a culture change (09:20)
                            • People coming together for shared purpose is deeply meaningful; contact activates empathy (11:17)
                            • The more we can see this as a literacy project, the more clearly we’re able to see the problems, the behavioral patterns (15:10)
                            • The data does not validate the fear that is being expressed about women and people of color getting preferential treatment (19:24)
                            • The empathy response to people who are like us and the threat response with people unlike us are biological responses (25:51)
                            • Does being on the right side of justice require a postconventional stage of development? (27:14) 
                            • What can organizational leaders aspire to? Moving from a reactive form of leadership to a pro-active, responsive form of leadership (28:26)
                            • Listening, doing the pre-work, building relationships, and asking the right questions (36:21)
                            • Racial justice & equity, diversity and inclusion—what are we fighting for? Dr. Martin Luther King’s concept of Beloved Community (39:21)
                            • Can we hold the tension between our common humanity and our differences simultaneously? (42:06)
                            
                            

                            Resources & References – Part 2

                            • Shakil Choudhury, Deep Diversity: A Compassionate, Scientific Approach to Achieving Racial Justice*
                            • References for the research studies mentioned in this podcast can be found in Shakil’s book, Deep Diversity*
                            • Ayn Rand, creator of the philosophy Objectivism, and author of the bestselling novel Atlas Shrugged*, The Fountainhead*, et. al.
                            • Cultural hegemony
                            • The Anglican hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful (“The rich man in his castle, the poor man at his gate…” This verse is now often omitted from the song.)
                            • System justification theory
                            • Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision of The Beloved Community
                            • Shakil Choudhury, co-founder & Chief Visionary Officer, Anima Institute: A Compassionate Approach to Racial Justice, offering innovative organizational change and training solutions to nurture inclusive, productive workplaces and communities
                            
                            

                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                            ---

                            Shakil Choudhury, M.E.S., B.Ed., B.P.E., co-founder & Chief Visionary Officer of Anima Institute, is an award-winning educator, consultant, and author with over 25 years of experience in the field of racial justice, diversity, and inclusion. He coaches executive teams and has worked with thousands of leaders across sectors in Canada and the United States to help improve their equity outcomes. Shakil also facilitates dialogue processes to resolve inter-group conflict, having led projects internationally as well as with organizations locally. 

                            Shakil is the author of Deep Diversity: A Compassionate, Scientific Approach to Achieving Racial Justice. Written in an accessible, storytelling manner, many have called it a “breakthrough” book on issues of systemic racial discrimination due to its non-judgmental approach that integrates human psychology with critical race perspectives. Shakil’s most challenging and rewarding management experience, however, involves his two high-spirited children repeatedly teaching him the humble lessons of fatherhood. To clear his head during the week, Shakil loves to run the beautiful ravine trails near his home in Toronto.

                            ---

                            Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                            ]]>Ep. 90 (Part 2 of 2) | Award-winning educator and activist Shakil Choudhury is the author of the outstanding book Deep Diversity: A Compassionate, Scientific Approach to Achieving Racial Justice, and in this potent conversation we learn a lot we perhaps didn’t know about the psychological, emotional, and neurobiological reasons for our ingrained biases, and the systemic bias in the culture at large. How and why do we discriminate? Many of our biases are hidden in the unconscious, which makes it that much harder to bring them into the light so we can begin to understand what’s going on and find ways to move ourselves and society toward justice and equity. Shakil explains that changing societal norms is at the heart of the battle for racial and social justice, as our habitual cultural behaviors tend to be viewed as legitimate, normal, and natural, when actually they may be outdated, off base, offensive, and unjust. Shakil deftly lines us out with specific steps we can take to recognize and change our own behaviors, as well as actions organizational leaders can take to effect change on a broader level.

                            Shakil contends that educating people to become diversity and equity literate is the first essential step, and the 360-hour program he has designed to this end has proven very effective. Once people see the data, they cannot help understanding the drivers of racial and social injustice more clearly, which leads to the place where real transformation can happen. Shakil’s extraordinarily insightful and illuminating approach is fueled by many years of contemplative practice, and he leaves us with a vision of what we are fighting for—not just what we are fighting against—based on Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream of Beloved Community. Small groups of dedicated people have managed to successfully nudge societal norms in the direction of justice in the past, and this conversation and Shakil’s book, Deep Diversity, most certainly contribute a compassionate nudge in the right direction. Bit by bit, recognizing that this is a journey, Shakil conveys both the means and the hope that justice will prevail. Recorded April 26, 2023.

                            “Can we hold the tension between our common humanity and our differences simultaneously?”

                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                            • How classism and racism come together, and the importance of asking the right questions about the variables that affect equality and diversity in our culture (01:43)
                            • Culture wide hypnosis and cultural hegemony (05:03)
                            • Where are we now as a species? We have made progress…but this doesn’t mean people are happy about the changes (07:03)
                            • System justification theory: we justify the system no matter what because we’re herd people (08:29)
                            • Changing the norms of society is the whole battle: small groups on the right side of justice can create a culture change (09:20)
                            • People coming together for shared purpose is deeply meaningful; contact activates empathy (11:17)
                            • The more we can see this as a literacy project, the more clearly we’re able to see the problems, the behavioral patterns (15:10)
                            • The data does not validate the fear that is being expressed about women and people of color getting preferential treatment (19:24)
                            • The empathy response to people who are like us and the threat response with people unlike us are biological responses (25:51)
                            • Does being on the right side of justice require a postconventional stage of development? (27:14) 
                            • What can organizational leaders aspire to? Moving from a reactive form of leadership to a pro-active, responsive form of leadership (28:26)
                            • Listening, doing the pre-work, building relationships, and asking the right questions (36:21)
                            • Racial justice & equity, diversity and inclusion—what are we fighting for? Dr. Martin Luther King’s concept of Beloved Community (39:21)
                            • Can we hold the tension between our common humanity and our differences simultaneously? (42:06)
                            
                            

                            Resources & References – Part 2

                            • Shakil Choudhury, Deep Diversity: A Compassionate, Scientific Approach to Achieving Racial Justice*
                            • References for the research studies mentioned in this podcast can be found in Shakil’s book, Deep Diversity*
                            • Ayn Rand, creator of the philosophy Objectivism, and author of the bestselling novel Atlas Shrugged*, The Fountainhead*, et. al.
                            • Cultural hegemony
                            • The Anglican hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful (“The rich man in his castle, the poor man at his gate…” This verse is now often omitted from the song.)
                            • System justification theory
                            • Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision of The Beloved Community
                            • Shakil Choudhury, co-founder & Chief Visionary Officer, Anima Institute: A Compassionate Approach to Racial Justice, offering innovative organizational change and training solutions to nurture inclusive, productive workplaces and communities
                            
                            

                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                            ---

                            Shakil Choudhury, M.E.S., B.Ed., B.P.E., co-founder & Chief Visionary Officer of Anima Institute, is an award-winning educator, consultant, and author with over 25 years of experience in the field of racial justice, diversity, and inclusion. He coaches executive teams and has worked with thousands of leaders across sectors in Canada and the United States to help improve their equity outcomes. Shakil also facilitates dialogue processes to resolve inter-group conflict, having led projects internationally as well as with organizations locally. 

                            Shakil is the author of Deep Diversity: A Compassionate, Scientific Approach to Achieving Racial Justice. Written in an accessible, storytelling manner, many have called it a “breakthrough” book on issues of systemic racial discrimination due to its non-judgmental approach that integrates human psychology with critical race perspectives. Shakil’s most challenging and rewarding management experience, however, involves his two high-spirited children repeatedly teaching him the humble lessons of fatherhood. To clear his head during the week, Shakil loves to run the beautiful ravine trails near his home in Toronto.

                            ---

                            Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                            ]]>e9e8554f-4825-4ae7-aa54-b95818b2dc80Thu, 10 Aug 2023 05:00:00 -040045:28truefull9090Deep Diversity: Integrating Psychological, Scientific & Spiritual Contributions for Healing Injustice and InequityEp. 89 (Part 1 of 2) | Award-winning educator and activist Shakil Choudhury is the author of the outstanding book Deep Diversity: A Compassionate, Scientific Approach to Achieving Racial Justice, and in this potent conversation we learn a lot we perhaps didn’t know about the psychological, emotional, and neurobiological reasons for our ingrained biases, and the systemic bias in the culture at large. How and why do we discriminate? Many of our biases are hidden in the unconscious, which makes it that much harder to bring them into the light so we can begin to understand what’s going on and find ways to move ourselves and society toward justice and equity. Shakil explains that changing societal norms is at the heart of the battle for racial and social justice, as our habitual cultural behaviors tend to be viewed as legitimate, normal, and natural, when actually they may be outdated, off base, offensive, and unjust. Shakil deftly lines us out with specific steps we can take to recognize and change our own behaviors, as well as actions organizational leaders can take to effect change on a broader level.

                            Shakil contends that educating people to become diversity and equity literate is the first essential step, and the 360-hour program he has designed to this end has proven very effective. Once people see the data, they cannot help understanding the drivers of racial and social injustice more clearly, which leads to the place where real transformation can happen. Shakil’s extraordinarily insightful and illuminating approach is fueled by many years of contemplative practice, and he leaves us with a vision of what we are fighting for—not just what we are fighting against—based on Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream of Beloved Community. Small groups of dedicated people have managed to successfully nudge societal norms in the direction of justice in the past, and this conversation and Shakil’s book, Deep Diversity, most certainly contribute a compassionate nudge in the right direction. Bit by bit, recognizing that this is a journey, Shakil conveys both the means and the hope that justice will prevail. Recorded April 26, 2023.

                            “Can we hold the tension between our common humanity and our differences simultaneously?”

                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                            • Introducing Shakil Choudhury, award-winning educator, racial justice & equity activist, author of Deep Diversity (01:17)
                            • How did Shakil come to create this “deep diversity” approach to racial justice and equity work? (02:15)
                            • Shakil’s healing journey: finding inner freedom, the world began to look different (03:16)
                            • The historical and sociological perspectives help us understand how we got here but it’s the emotional and psychological perspectives that can help us understand why we do what we do (05:38)
                            • The unconscious role of emotions, bias, identity, and power (08:11)
                            • Cultural diversity, wokeism, ethnocentricity, and how to talk with people at a traditional level of development about racism (10:54)
                            • How to get the most people on the side of justice? Let’s make it as easy as possible for people: agnosticizing racial justice and equity work (14:37) 
                            • Racism is a systemic problem: it’s more than hate crimes, the KKK, and neo-Nazis, more than “spot the bigot” (16:27) 
                            • We have to help people become systems thinkers: the key is pattern recognition (18:48)
                            • Moving racial justice work from an urgency project to a literacy project: changing behavioral patterns is like developing literacy, once you can read, you never stop (19:14) 
                            • We need to bring forward a framework to make it easier for people to accept that becoming educated about diversity is a journey (22:55)
                            • What are effective interventions to begin to change specific behaviors? (26:33)
                            • Countering stereotypes: training ourselves to catch our biases when they show up (28:00)
                            • Shakil was socialized with a pro-white bias like the rest of society—our biases are not individual problems but a systems problem (31:41)
                            • What can we do on an individual level? (33:08)
                            • Internalized racism, sexism, and the unconscious nature of our biases (39:31)
                            • The ways in which the privileged are unaware of the realities of their own privilege and power: privilege is like a tailwind at your back (41:00)
                            
                            

                            Resources & References – Part 1

                            • Shakil Choudhury, Deep Diversity: A Compassionate, Scientific Approach to Achieving Racial Justice* (Research and data references can be accessed in Deep Diversity*)
                            • Shakil Choudhury, co-founder & Chief Visionary Officer, Anima Institute: A Compassionate Approach to Racial Justice, offering innovative organizational change and training solutions to nurture inclusive, productive workplaces and communities
                            
                            

                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                            ---

                            Shakil Choudhury, M.E.S., B.Ed., B.P.E., co-founder & Chief Visionary Officer of Anima Institute, is an award-winning educator, consultant, and author with over 25 years of experience in the field of racial justice, diversity, and inclusion. He coaches executive teams and has worked with thousands of leaders across sectors in Canada and the United States to help improve their equity outcomes. Shakil also facilitates dialogue processes to resolve inter-group conflict, having led projects internationally as well as with organizations locally. 

                            Shakil is the author of Deep Diversity: A Compassionate, Scientific Approach to Achieving Racial Justice. Written in an accessible, storytelling manner, many have called it a “breakthrough” book on issues of systemic racial discrimination due to its non-judgmental approach that integrates human psychology with critical race perspectives. Shakil’s most challenging and rewarding management experience, however, involves his two high-spirited children repeatedly teaching him the humble lessons of fatherhood. To clear his head during the week, Shakil loves to run the beautiful ravine trails near his home in Toronto.

                            ---

                            Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                            ]]>Ep. 89 (Part 1 of 2) | Award-winning educator and activist Shakil Choudhury is the author of the outstanding book Deep Diversity: A Compassionate, Scientific Approach to Achieving Racial Justice, and in this potent conversation we learn a lot we perhaps didn’t know about the psychological, emotional, and neurobiological reasons for our ingrained biases, and the systemic bias in the culture at large. How and why do we discriminate? Many of our biases are hidden in the unconscious, which makes it that much harder to bring them into the light so we can begin to understand what’s going on and find ways to move ourselves and society toward justice and equity. Shakil explains that changing societal norms is at the heart of the battle for racial and social justice, as our habitual cultural behaviors tend to be viewed as legitimate, normal, and natural, when actually they may be outdated, off base, offensive, and unjust. Shakil deftly lines us out with specific steps we can take to recognize and change our own behaviors, as well as actions organizational leaders can take to effect change on a broader level.

                            Shakil contends that educating people to become diversity and equity literate is the first essential step, and the 360-hour program he has designed to this end has proven very effective. Once people see the data, they cannot help understanding the drivers of racial and social injustice more clearly, which leads to the place where real transformation can happen. Shakil’s extraordinarily insightful and illuminating approach is fueled by many years of contemplative practice, and he leaves us with a vision of what we are fighting for—not just what we are fighting against—based on Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream of Beloved Community. Small groups of dedicated people have managed to successfully nudge societal norms in the direction of justice in the past, and this conversation and Shakil’s book, Deep Diversity, most certainly contribute a compassionate nudge in the right direction. Bit by bit, recognizing that this is a journey, Shakil conveys both the means and the hope that justice will prevail. Recorded April 26, 2023.

                            “Can we hold the tension between our common humanity and our differences simultaneously?”

                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                            • Introducing Shakil Choudhury, award-winning educator, racial justice & equity activist, author of Deep Diversity (01:17)
                            • How did Shakil come to create this “deep diversity” approach to racial justice and equity work? (02:15)
                            • Shakil’s healing journey: finding inner freedom, the world began to look different (03:16)
                            • The historical and sociological perspectives help us understand how we got here but it’s the emotional and psychological perspectives that can help us understand why we do what we do (05:38)
                            • The unconscious role of emotions, bias, identity, and power (08:11)
                            • Cultural diversity, wokeism, ethnocentricity, and how to talk with people at a traditional level of development about racism (10:54)
                            • How to get the most people on the side of justice? Let’s make it as easy as possible for people: agnosticizing racial justice and equity work (14:37) 
                            • Racism is a systemic problem: it’s more than hate crimes, the KKK, and neo-Nazis, more than “spot the bigot” (16:27) 
                            • We have to help people become systems thinkers: the key is pattern recognition (18:48)
                            • Moving racial justice work from an urgency project to a literacy project: changing behavioral patterns is like developing literacy, once you can read, you never stop (19:14) 
                            • We need to bring forward a framework to make it easier for people to accept that becoming educated about diversity is a journey (22:55)
                            • What are effective interventions to begin to change specific behaviors? (26:33)
                            • Countering stereotypes: training ourselves to catch our biases when they show up (28:00)
                            • Shakil was socialized with a pro-white bias like the rest of society—our biases are not individual problems but a systems problem (31:41)
                            • What can we do on an individual level? (33:08)
                            • Internalized racism, sexism, and the unconscious nature of our biases (39:31)
                            • The ways in which the privileged are unaware of the realities of their own privilege and power: privilege is like a tailwind at your back (41:00)
                            
                            

                            Resources & References – Part 1

                            • Shakil Choudhury, Deep Diversity: A Compassionate, Scientific Approach to Achieving Racial Justice* (Research and data references can be accessed in Deep Diversity*)
                            • Shakil Choudhury, co-founder & Chief Visionary Officer, Anima Institute: A Compassionate Approach to Racial Justice, offering innovative organizational change and training solutions to nurture inclusive, productive workplaces and communities
                            
                            

                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                            ---

                            Shakil Choudhury, M.E.S., B.Ed., B.P.E., co-founder & Chief Visionary Officer of Anima Institute, is an award-winning educator, consultant, and author with over 25 years of experience in the field of racial justice, diversity, and inclusion. He coaches executive teams and has worked with thousands of leaders across sectors in Canada and the United States to help improve their equity outcomes. Shakil also facilitates dialogue processes to resolve inter-group conflict, having led projects internationally as well as with organizations locally. 

                            Shakil is the author of Deep Diversity: A Compassionate, Scientific Approach to Achieving Racial Justice. Written in an accessible, storytelling manner, many have called it a “breakthrough” book on issues of systemic racial discrimination due to its non-judgmental approach that integrates human psychology with critical race perspectives. Shakil’s most challenging and rewarding management experience, however, involves his two high-spirited children repeatedly teaching him the humble lessons of fatherhood. To clear his head during the week, Shakil loves to run the beautiful ravine trails near his home in Toronto.

                            ---

                            Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                            ]]>14420b5e-8eed-46d3-a0b0-3e8e54551ecdThu, 03 Aug 2023 05:00:00 -040047:19falsefull8989The Psychology of Climate Change: Understanding the Causes & Finding Solutions to the Great Challenge of Our Time (Part 2)Ep. 88 (Part 2 of 2) | Climate change researcher, sustainable development expert, and activist Gail Hochachka works on the front lines of climate change research, asking—and answering—questions like: How does the way we make meaning, at all our different stages of development, relate to the ways we act on climate change? How can we foster more engagement with climate change? Is climate action scalable? And how are we going to show up for the people who are facing the greatest impacts? So far, in searching for solutions, we have largely neglected tapping into the human dimensions of the problem—the ways we understand climate change, the ways we respond, and the ways we can communicate together and make decisions about how to act. Herein lies the potential to come up with more viable solutions than we have so far, and this is the focus of Gail’s current research.

                            Climate change is such a hugely complex and also emotional issue, it is understandably hard for anyone to wrap their head around it, Gail tells us, but the good news is that research is showing that taking action—in whatever way seems most appropriate and meaningful to each individual—is scalable, and that there are ways, which Gail outlines, of creating meaningful communication between people who have very different understandings, to where people can actually come to a place of agreement on how to move forward. Gail’s deep understanding of integral theory and stages of psychological development, combined with her extensive experience in sustainable development, gives her a uniquely insightful perspective on ways of confronting the climate challenge. Gail relates that, surprisingly, a positive way to look at climate change has come to light, which is that climate change is actually presenting us with an opportunity—an opportunity to become more conscious about the way we live, to the great benefit of people and planet. Recorded January 18, 2023.

                            “We know that individuals collectively created the problem of climate change…but when it comes to solutions, we don’t honor that we individuals count.”

                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                            • Research shows that a sense of the spiritual arises in later stage development (01:40)
                            • At later stage development, climate change presents us with an opportunity to be more conscious as to how we live our lives (03:06)
                            • Climate change scientists only represent a narrow bandwidth of psychological development (05:43)
                            • Research shows, even if we come from different understandings, we can have conversations and find ways to act that we agree upon (07:41)
                            • Psychic benefits and how later stage individuals show up in every group (09:26)
                            • What brought Gail into this field of study and research? (13:08)
                            • Is how women approach climate change different than how men do? (18:30)
                            • Social holons and sub holons: the group’s center of gravity will either grow you or limit you (20:53)
                            • Mentors and the paradox of success (23:06)
                            • How predictable are the outcomes of our changing environment? (25:26)
                            • We have the physio sphere, the biosphere & the noosphere—it is the noosphere that would be the first to go (27:28)
                            • How are we going to show up for people who are feeling the greatest impacts? (31:55)
                            • Double exposure, overlays, looking at communities facing multiple issues: which part of this ball of yarn are we going to pull? (33:12)
                            • How to avoid the single issue fallacy, single cause fallacy, and single solution fallacy, in order to maintain civilization (35:27)
                            • The extent to which you cross your own value action gap, sustainability does scale—there is an enactment in this moment that has ripple effects (36:36)
                            
                            

                            Resources & References – Part 2

                            • The STAGES model of ego development
                            • Tom Murray, Emerge podcast on Wisdom Skills
                            • See also Deep Transformation podcast with Beena Sharma, Vertical Development’s Many Gifts (on YouTube)
                            • Robert Kegan, The Evolving Self*
                            • Venn diagram
                            • Ken Wilber, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution*
                            • Corey deVos, Holons: The Building Blocks of the Universe (on Integral Life)
                            • John O’Neil, The Paradox of Success*
                            • David Christian, Maps of Time*
                            • Morphogenetic fields
                            • Andrew Harvey’s Institute for Sacred Activism
                            • Gail Hochachka’s website: https://www.gailhochachka.com
                            • Gail’s recent publications: https://www.gailhochachka.com/publications
                            
                            

                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                            ---

                            Finding One’s Own Soul-Centric Climate Action [Live Online Course]

                            with Gail Hochachka & Lisa Gibson, August 16th & 23rd, 12 pm Mountain Time

                            ---

                            Gail Hochachka, B.Sc., M.A., Ph.D. works with the human dimensions of climate change using a transdisciplinary, integral approach. Her work focuses on understanding how people make meaning of climate change and how to engage with diverse groups towards a shared sense of the climate challenge. Her research has been published in various academic journals and has been used to support non-profit, private, and city actors in advancing climate action. Prior to this, Gail did her PhD at the University of Oslo on how climate change adaptation can account for meaning-making stages in diverse social groups and be carried out in a transformative manner, with fieldwork in Guatemala. Gail also has substantial previous NGO experience working in sustainable development in Latin America and Africa, and co-founded Integral Without Borders Institute. She is based in Vancouver, Canada, www.gailhochachka.com, and on her Recent Publications webpage, you can find a number of articles she drew from in this podcast: https://www.gailhochachka.com/publications/.

                            ---

                            Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                            ]]>Ep. 88 (Part 2 of 2) | Climate change researcher, sustainable development expert, and activist Gail Hochachka works on the front lines of climate change research, asking—and answering—questions like: How does the way we make meaning, at all our different stages of development, relate to the ways we act on climate change? How can we foster more engagement with climate change? Is climate action scalable? And how are we going to show up for the people who are facing the greatest impacts? So far, in searching for solutions, we have largely neglected tapping into the human dimensions of the problem—the ways we understand climate change, the ways we respond, and the ways we can communicate together and make decisions about how to act. Herein lies the potential to come up with more viable solutions than we have so far, and this is the focus of Gail’s current research.

                            Climate change is such a hugely complex and also emotional issue, it is understandably hard for anyone to wrap their head around it, Gail tells us, but the good news is that research is showing that taking action—in whatever way seems most appropriate and meaningful to each individual—is scalable, and that there are ways, which Gail outlines, of creating meaningful communication between people who have very different understandings, to where people can actually come to a place of agreement on how to move forward. Gail’s deep understanding of integral theory and stages of psychological development, combined with her extensive experience in sustainable development, gives her a uniquely insightful perspective on ways of confronting the climate challenge. Gail relates that, surprisingly, a positive way to look at climate change has come to light, which is that climate change is actually presenting us with an opportunity—an opportunity to become more conscious about the way we live, to the great benefit of people and planet. Recorded January 18, 2023.

                            “We know that individuals collectively created the problem of climate change…but when it comes to solutions, we don’t honor that we individuals count.”

                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                            • Research shows that a sense of the spiritual arises in later stage development (01:40)
                            • At later stage development, climate change presents us with an opportunity to be more conscious as to how we live our lives (03:06)
                            • Climate change scientists only represent a narrow bandwidth of psychological development (05:43)
                            • Research shows, even if we come from different understandings, we can have conversations and find ways to act that we agree upon (07:41)
                            • Psychic benefits and how later stage individuals show up in every group (09:26)
                            • What brought Gail into this field of study and research? (13:08)
                            • Is how women approach climate change different than how men do? (18:30)
                            • Social holons and sub holons: the group’s center of gravity will either grow you or limit you (20:53)
                            • Mentors and the paradox of success (23:06)
                            • How predictable are the outcomes of our changing environment? (25:26)
                            • We have the physio sphere, the biosphere & the noosphere—it is the noosphere that would be the first to go (27:28)
                            • How are we going to show up for people who are feeling the greatest impacts? (31:55)
                            • Double exposure, overlays, looking at communities facing multiple issues: which part of this ball of yarn are we going to pull? (33:12)
                            • How to avoid the single issue fallacy, single cause fallacy, and single solution fallacy, in order to maintain civilization (35:27)
                            • The extent to which you cross your own value action gap, sustainability does scale—there is an enactment in this moment that has ripple effects (36:36)
                            
                            

                            Resources & References – Part 2

                            • The STAGES model of ego development
                            • Tom Murray, Emerge podcast on Wisdom Skills
                            • See also Deep Transformation podcast with Beena Sharma, Vertical Development’s Many Gifts (on YouTube)
                            • Robert Kegan, The Evolving Self*
                            • Venn diagram
                            • Ken Wilber, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution*
                            • Corey deVos, Holons: The Building Blocks of the Universe (on Integral Life)
                            • John O’Neil, The Paradox of Success*
                            • David Christian, Maps of Time*
                            • Morphogenetic fields
                            • Andrew Harvey’s Institute for Sacred Activism
                            • Gail Hochachka’s website: https://www.gailhochachka.com
                            • Gail’s recent publications: https://www.gailhochachka.com/publications
                            
                            

                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                            ---

                            Finding One’s Own Soul-Centric Climate Action [Live Online Course]

                            with Gail Hochachka & Lisa Gibson, August 16th & 23rd, 12 pm Mountain Time

                            ---

                            Gail Hochachka, B.Sc., M.A., Ph.D. works with the human dimensions of climate change using a transdisciplinary, integral approach. Her work focuses on understanding how people make meaning of climate change and how to engage with diverse groups towards a shared sense of the climate challenge. Her research has been published in various academic journals and has been used to support non-profit, private, and city actors in advancing climate action. Prior to this, Gail did her PhD at the University of Oslo on how climate change adaptation can account for meaning-making stages in diverse social groups and be carried out in a transformative manner, with fieldwork in Guatemala. Gail also has substantial previous NGO experience working in sustainable development in Latin America and Africa, and co-founded Integral Without Borders Institute. She is based in Vancouver, Canada, www.gailhochachka.com, and on her Recent Publications webpage, you can find a number of articles she drew from in this podcast: https://www.gailhochachka.com/publications/.

                            ---

                            Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                            ]]>8877c1b5-84e0-40e3-9ea1-f38e0cb58898Thu, 27 Jul 2023 05:00:00 -040042:23falsefull8888The Psychology of Climate Change: Understanding the Causes & Finding Solutions to the Great Challenge of Our TimeEp. 87 (Part 1 of 2) | Climate change researcher, sustainable development expert, and activist Gail Hochachka works on the front lines of climate change research, asking—and answering—questions like: How does the way we make meaning, at all our different stages of development, relate to the ways we act on climate change? How can we foster more engagement with climate change? Is climate action scalable? And how are we going to show up for the people who are facing the greatest impacts? So far, in searching for solutions, we have largely neglected tapping into the human dimensions of the problem—the ways we understand climate change, the ways we respond, and the ways we can communicate together and make decisions about how to act. Herein lies the potential to come up with more viable solutions than we have so far, and this is the focus of Gail’s current research.

                            Climate change is such a hugely complex and also emotional issue, it is understandably hard for anyone to wrap their head around it, Gail tells us, but the good news is that research is showing that taking action—in whatever way seems most appropriate and meaningful to each individual—is scalable, and that there are ways, which Gail outlines, of creating meaningful communication between people who have very different understandings, to where people can actually come to a place of agreement on how to move forward. Gail’s deep understanding of integral theory and stages of psychological development, combined with her extensive experience in sustainable development, gives her a uniquely insightful perspective on ways of confronting the climate challenge. Gail relates that, surprisingly, a positive way to look at climate change has come to light, which is that climate change is actually presenting us with an opportunity—an opportunity to become more conscious about the way we live, to the great benefit of people and planet. Recorded January 18, 2023.

                            “We know that individuals collectively created the problem of climate change…but when it comes to solutions, we don’t honor that we individuals count.”

                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                            • Introducing Gail Hochachka, climate change expert & researcher at the University of British Columbia, who brings a profound integral understanding to the way we look at climate change (01:05)
                            • What are the most exciting research findings? Global problems are actually global symptoms, and we need to look at what shaped the actual problems to come up with effective solutions (02:24)
                            • When we integrate the human dimensions into the global environmental problems, solutions become more apparent (03:47)
                            • How much of climate change can we actually make meaning of? We make a whole mental model based on only a fragment of the problem (04:32)
                            • The knowledge deficit model: do we do the right thing and respond skillfully if we have all the knowledge we need? No. (06:15)
                            • The value action gap in climate change: when it comes to making changes in our lifestyle, we don’t (08:24)
                            • The need to foster worldcentric awareness in order to foster climate action (10:08)
                            • Gnostic intermediaries: speaking across different cultures, translating concepts across space & time, translating meaning across developmental stages (13:14) 
                            • How to approach engagement on environmental issues and the 5 why’s of what is most important to people (15:16)
                            • How to get people together and discuss climate change (18:54)
                            • Considering supply chains and the individuals who add value at each stage of the chain allows people to realize both common ground and that these are problems we all share (23:20)
                            • Interdependence reflection: reflecting on Indra’s net ends up as a meditation on boundless gratitude (27:10) 
                            • We’re all talking from our fragments (29:47)
                            • Later stages of development and of meaning making make for more flexibility around your attachment to yourself, greater self-responsibility (30:32)
                            • Recommended climate change adaptations and indigenous cosmologies: given sovereignty of their own meaning making, the solutions are better connected to reality—and more likely to be implemented (36:03)
                            • Re-owning your sovereignty in relation to the issue is very empowering (38:43)
                            • The process of “photovoice:” taking photos in response to the question, what does climate change mean to me? (39:57)
                            • How does meaning making change as we mature developmentally? The object of awareness becomes more subtle, the complexity of thought changes, and the future comes more online (41:53)
                            
                            

                            Resources & References – Part 1

                            • Gail Hochachka’s website: https://www.gailhochachka.com
                            • Gail’s recent publications: https://www.gailhochachka.com/publications/
                            • Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory, Who Is Ken Wilber? (Integral Life), The Integral Vision*
                            • Tomas Björkman podcast, Cultivating Psychological Maturity in Both Individuals and Societies: The Race Between Maturity and Catastrophe, on Deep Transformation
                            • What Are the Stages of Development?, in cinematic form on Integral Life 
                            • St. Paul, Romans 7:19-25, “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.” 
                            • Roger Walsh, The Transmission of Wisdom: The Task of Gnostic Intermediaries
                            • The Deconstruction of the World Trade Center (Integral Life pdf), where Ken Wilber explores the many reactions people had to 9/11 as a way of explaining stages of development
                            • The net of Indra
                            • The STAGES model of ego development
                            • Tom Murray, Emerge podcast on Wisdom Skills
                            • See also Deep Transformation podcast with Beena Sharma, Vertical Development’s Many Gifts (on YouTube)
                            
                            

                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                            ---

                            Finding One’s Own Soul-Centric Climate Action [Live Online Course]

                            with Gail Hochachka & Lisa Gibson, August 16th & 23rd, 12 pm Mountain Time

                            ---

                            Gail Hochachka, B.Sc., M.A., Ph.D. works with the human dimensions of climate change using a transdisciplinary, integral approach. Her work focuses on understanding how people make meaning of climate change and how to engage with diverse groups towards a shared sense of the climate challenge. Her research has been published in various academic journals and has been used to support non-profit, private, and city actors in advancing climate action. Prior to this, Gail did her PhD at the University of Oslo on how climate change adaptation can account for meaning-making stages in diverse social...]]>Ep. 87 (Part 1 of 2) | Climate change researcher, sustainable development expert, and activist Gail Hochachka works on the front lines of climate change research, asking—and answering—questions like: How does the way we make meaning, at all our different stages of development, relate to the ways we act on climate change? How can we foster more engagement with climate change? Is climate action scalable? And how are we going to show up for the people who are facing the greatest impacts? So far, in searching for solutions, we have largely neglected tapping into the human dimensions of the problem—the ways we understand climate change, the ways we respond, and the ways we can communicate together and make decisions about how to act. Herein lies the potential to come up with more viable solutions than we have so far, and this is the focus of Gail’s current research.

                            Climate change is such a hugely complex and also emotional issue, it is understandably hard for anyone to wrap their head around it, Gail tells us, but the good news is that research is showing that taking action—in whatever way seems most appropriate and meaningful to each individual—is scalable, and that there are ways, which Gail outlines, of creating meaningful communication between people who have very different understandings, to where people can actually come to a place of agreement on how to move forward. Gail’s deep understanding of integral theory and stages of psychological development, combined with her extensive experience in sustainable development, gives her a uniquely insightful perspective on ways of confronting the climate challenge. Gail relates that, surprisingly, a positive way to look at climate change has come to light, which is that climate change is actually presenting us with an opportunity—an opportunity to become more conscious about the way we live, to the great benefit of people and planet. Recorded January 18, 2023.

                            “We know that individuals collectively created the problem of climate change…but when it comes to solutions, we don’t honor that we individuals count.”

                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                            • Introducing Gail Hochachka, climate change expert & researcher at the University of British Columbia, who brings a profound integral understanding to the way we look at climate change (01:05)
                            • What are the most exciting research findings? Global problems are actually global symptoms, and we need to look at what shaped the actual problems to come up with effective solutions (02:24)
                            • When we integrate the human dimensions into the global environmental problems, solutions become more apparent (03:47)
                            • How much of climate change can we actually make meaning of? We make a whole mental model based on only a fragment of the problem (04:32)
                            • The knowledge deficit model: do we do the right thing and respond skillfully if we have all the knowledge we need? No. (06:15)
                            • The value action gap in climate change: when it comes to making changes in our lifestyle, we don’t (08:24)
                            • The need to foster worldcentric awareness in order to foster climate action (10:08)
                            • Gnostic intermediaries: speaking across different cultures, translating concepts across space & time, translating meaning across developmental stages (13:14) 
                            • How to approach engagement on environmental issues and the 5 why’s of what is most important to people (15:16)
                            • How to get people together and discuss climate change (18:54)
                            • Considering supply chains and the individuals who add value at each stage of the chain allows people to realize both common ground and that these are problems we all share (23:20)
                            • Interdependence reflection: reflecting on Indra’s net ends up as a meditation on boundless gratitude (27:10) 
                            • We’re all talking from our fragments (29:47)
                            • Later stages of development and of meaning making make for more flexibility around your attachment to yourself, greater self-responsibility (30:32)
                            • Recommended climate change adaptations and indigenous cosmologies: given sovereignty of their own meaning making, the solutions are better connected to reality—and more likely to be implemented (36:03)
                            • Re-owning your sovereignty in relation to the issue is very empowering (38:43)
                            • The process of “photovoice:” taking photos in response to the question, what does climate change mean to me? (39:57)
                            • How does meaning making change as we mature developmentally? The object of awareness becomes more subtle, the complexity of thought changes, and the future comes more online (41:53)
                            
                            

                            Resources & References – Part 1

                            • Gail Hochachka’s website: https://www.gailhochachka.com
                            • Gail’s recent publications: https://www.gailhochachka.com/publications/
                            • Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory, Who Is Ken Wilber? (Integral Life), The Integral Vision*
                            • Tomas Björkman podcast, Cultivating Psychological Maturity in Both Individuals and Societies: The Race Between Maturity and Catastrophe, on Deep Transformation
                            • What Are the Stages of Development?, in cinematic form on Integral Life 
                            • St. Paul, Romans 7:19-25, “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.” 
                            • Roger Walsh, The Transmission of Wisdom: The Task of Gnostic Intermediaries
                            • The Deconstruction of the World Trade Center (Integral Life pdf), where Ken Wilber explores the many reactions people had to 9/11 as a way of explaining stages of development
                            • The net of Indra
                            • The STAGES model of ego development
                            • Tom Murray, Emerge podcast on Wisdom Skills
                            • See also Deep Transformation podcast with Beena Sharma, Vertical Development’s Many Gifts (on YouTube)
                            
                            

                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                            ---

                            Finding One’s Own Soul-Centric Climate Action [Live Online Course]

                            with Gail Hochachka & Lisa Gibson, August 16th & 23rd, 12 pm Mountain Time

                            ---

                            Gail Hochachka, B.Sc., M.A., Ph.D. works with the human dimensions of climate change using a transdisciplinary, integral approach. Her work focuses on understanding how people make meaning of climate change and how to engage with diverse groups towards a shared sense of the climate challenge. Her research has been published in various academic journals and has been used to support non-profit, private, and city actors in advancing climate action. Prior to this, Gail did her PhD at the University of Oslo on how climate change adaptation can account for meaning-making stages in diverse social groups and be carried out in a transformative manner, with fieldwork in Guatemala. Gail also has substantial previous NGO experience working in sustainable development in Latin America and Africa, and co-founded Integral Without Borders Institute. She is based in Vancouver, Canada, www.gailhochachka.com, and on her Recent Publications webpage, you can find a number of articles she drew from in this podcast: https://www.gailhochachka.com/publications/.

                            ---

                            Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                            ]]>9c2f103d-6a46-438e-a4a9-e66a7779c3c7Thu, 20 Jul 2023 05:00:00 -040050:12falsefull8787Nondual Love: Awakening to the Fundamental Benevolence of Reality with A. H. Almaas (Part 2)Ep. 86 (Part 2 of 2) | Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas), founder of the contemporary spiritual path the Diamond Approach, beloved teacher, and author of many outstanding spiritual classics, has written a trilogy on the subject of love, and in this conversation the focus is on the recently published second book, Nondual Love. Hameed explains that most wisdom traditions target various ultimates: pure emptiness, pure consciousness, nondual awareness, being, non-being—each of which is sufficient for liberation, but fails to include the qualities of nondual love: goodness, sweetness, abundance, benevolence. Hameed brings these dimensions of love to the table, asking what does divine love feel like, look like, what is it made of? 

                            Listening to Hameed is a beautiful, rich experience, due to his extraordinary lucidity, gentle humor, and the profound understanding and assurance that pervade his words from his long experience swimming in the waters of which he speaks. He tells us we all have the potential to experience nondual love, although there are significant obstacles along the path that are inherent to being human. Hameed describes the different stages of opening to nondual love, from the first glimmerings of “unearthly sweetness” to the realization that we ourselves are love. And he outlines the nature of the barriers we face, like the beast of anger and hatred that arises in us when we perceive that reality has abandoned us. Hameed explains that by re-establishing basic trust, and feeling the presence of benevolent love, we can regain the sense that things will be okay and unfold ultimately for the good. Recorded April 12, 2023.

                            “Our true nature has infinite potential of how it can be.”

                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                            • The personal nature of God is responsive; the closer you are, the happier you are (01:24)
                            • The personal is a spiritual quality of presence that comes from pure being or source, as an expression of it (03:59)
                            • Practicing surrender and recognizing our true helplessness completely (06:01)
                            • The practice of awakening: how do we put practice (doing) together with the importance of non doing? (08:58)
                            • In a dualistic way, we have responsibility, free will, intention, and effort and we have to apply these to awaken; in time this shows us we are helpless: when we truly give up doing, then things can open up (11:35)
                            • It is inherent to the ego consciousness that we can’t do it—it’s an objective helplessness, not the fault of any one individual (13:31)
                            • Obstacles on the way to divine love: settling for substitute gratifications, the separate ego self (14:32) 
                            • The beast arises when people have suffered and reality has left them hurt and feeling abandoned—then you hate God, you hate good (17:43) 
                            • Transformation is through understanding; we have to be nonjudgmental about everything that arises in our experience (23:28)
                            • Jabba the Hutt, archetypal symbol of attachment, desire, greed, is disconnected from abundance, from divine love—to heal this in yourself, you welcome it (29:56)
                            • The main barrier to all nondual experience is believing we are separate entities—we feel the shape of our bodies, and we have to work through this central construct of our ego (33:51)
                            • Ego is a stage the soul goes through; to believe this stage is the only and final stage, that is the error (37:24)
                            • How does Hameed experience himself? Nobody, nothing here. Basic trust is second nature (38:27)
                            • How does Hameed teach others basic trust? By exploring and working through the limitations that came about in people’s lives where basic trust was lost (40:14)
                            • The more basic trust, the more people can open up, relax, let things happen—how Hameed discovered the importance of basic trust in teaching his students (42:44)
                            • Volume III of Hameed’s trilogy will be The Beloved and a brief blessing (45:19)
                            
                            

                            Resources & References – Part 2

                            • Rigpa, the true nature of our mind, pure awareness, a central concept of Dzogchen
                            • Dharmakāya, the “body” or sum of Buddha’s teachings
                            • Ramesh Balsekar, one of Sri Nisargadatta’s disciples
                            • The Ājīvika school of Indian philosophy taught there is nothing you can do to awaken
                            • Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Vajrayana master, scholar, poet, Dzogchen teacher, and recognized by Buddhists as one of the greatest realized masters; The Collected Works of Dilgo Khyentse, Vol. 1: Journey to Enlightenment; Enlightened Courage; The Heart of Compassion*
                            • Padmasambhāva, a central figure in the transmission of Buddhism to Tibet, renowned for taming the spirits and demons of Tibet and turning them into guardians for the Buddha’s Dharma
                            • Neti, neti (not this, not that)
                            • Freud’s concept of the unconscious: What is the Unconscious? (Freud Museum London)
                            • Jabba the Hutt, an expression of desire, greed, insatiability from the Star Wars movie
                            • A. H. Almaas, Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality*
                            • A. H. Almaas, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart*
                            • A. H. Almaas, The Beloved, the third book in the trilogy, is in the process of being edited
                            • Hameed Ali, founder of The Ridhwan School, home to the Diamond Approach
                            • Hameed Ali’s book page on the Deep Transformation website
                            • See also Deep Transformation podcast #43 with Hameed Ali, Nonduality and Beyond: The Exhilarating Adventure of Discovering the Nature of Reality and How Awakenings Can Unfold Endlessly (YouTube video)
                            
                            

                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                            ---

                            A. Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

                            Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his...]]>Ep. 86 (Part 2 of 2) | Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas), founder of the contemporary spiritual path the Diamond Approach, beloved teacher, and author of many outstanding spiritual classics, has written a trilogy on the subject of love, and in this conversation the focus is on the recently published second book, Nondual Love. Hameed explains that most wisdom traditions target various ultimates: pure emptiness, pure consciousness, nondual awareness, being, non-being—each of which is sufficient for liberation, but fails to include the qualities of nondual love: goodness, sweetness, abundance, benevolence. Hameed brings these dimensions of love to the table, asking what does divine love feel like, look like, what is it made of? 

                            Listening to Hameed is a beautiful, rich experience, due to his extraordinary lucidity, gentle humor, and the profound understanding and assurance that pervade his words from his long experience swimming in the waters of which he speaks. He tells us we all have the potential to experience nondual love, although there are significant obstacles along the path that are inherent to being human. Hameed describes the different stages of opening to nondual love, from the first glimmerings of “unearthly sweetness” to the realization that we ourselves are love. And he outlines the nature of the barriers we face, like the beast of anger and hatred that arises in us when we perceive that reality has abandoned us. Hameed explains that by re-establishing basic trust, and feeling the presence of benevolent love, we can regain the sense that things will be okay and unfold ultimately for the good. Recorded April 12, 2023.

                            “Our true nature has infinite potential of how it can be.”

                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                            • The personal nature of God is responsive; the closer you are, the happier you are (01:24)
                            • The personal is a spiritual quality of presence that comes from pure being or source, as an expression of it (03:59)
                            • Practicing surrender and recognizing our true helplessness completely (06:01)
                            • The practice of awakening: how do we put practice (doing) together with the importance of non doing? (08:58)
                            • In a dualistic way, we have responsibility, free will, intention, and effort and we have to apply these to awaken; in time this shows us we are helpless: when we truly give up doing, then things can open up (11:35)
                            • It is inherent to the ego consciousness that we can’t do it—it’s an objective helplessness, not the fault of any one individual (13:31)
                            • Obstacles on the way to divine love: settling for substitute gratifications, the separate ego self (14:32) 
                            • The beast arises when people have suffered and reality has left them hurt and feeling abandoned—then you hate God, you hate good (17:43) 
                            • Transformation is through understanding; we have to be nonjudgmental about everything that arises in our experience (23:28)
                            • Jabba the Hutt, archetypal symbol of attachment, desire, greed, is disconnected from abundance, from divine love—to heal this in yourself, you welcome it (29:56)
                            • The main barrier to all nondual experience is believing we are separate entities—we feel the shape of our bodies, and we have to work through this central construct of our ego (33:51)
                            • Ego is a stage the soul goes through; to believe this stage is the only and final stage, that is the error (37:24)
                            • How does Hameed experience himself? Nobody, nothing here. Basic trust is second nature (38:27)
                            • How does Hameed teach others basic trust? By exploring and working through the limitations that came about in people’s lives where basic trust was lost (40:14)
                            • The more basic trust, the more people can open up, relax, let things happen—how Hameed discovered the importance of basic trust in teaching his students (42:44)
                            • Volume III of Hameed’s trilogy will be The Beloved and a brief blessing (45:19)
                            
                            

                            Resources & References – Part 2

                            • Rigpa, the true nature of our mind, pure awareness, a central concept of Dzogchen
                            • Dharmakāya, the “body” or sum of Buddha’s teachings
                            • Ramesh Balsekar, one of Sri Nisargadatta’s disciples
                            • The Ājīvika school of Indian philosophy taught there is nothing you can do to awaken
                            • Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Vajrayana master, scholar, poet, Dzogchen teacher, and recognized by Buddhists as one of the greatest realized masters; The Collected Works of Dilgo Khyentse, Vol. 1: Journey to Enlightenment; Enlightened Courage; The Heart of Compassion*
                            • Padmasambhāva, a central figure in the transmission of Buddhism to Tibet, renowned for taming the spirits and demons of Tibet and turning them into guardians for the Buddha’s Dharma
                            • Neti, neti (not this, not that)
                            • Freud’s concept of the unconscious: What is the Unconscious? (Freud Museum London)
                            • Jabba the Hutt, an expression of desire, greed, insatiability from the Star Wars movie
                            • A. H. Almaas, Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality*
                            • A. H. Almaas, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart*
                            • A. H. Almaas, The Beloved, the third book in the trilogy, is in the process of being edited
                            • Hameed Ali, founder of The Ridhwan School, home to the Diamond Approach
                            • Hameed Ali’s book page on the Deep Transformation website
                            • See also Deep Transformation podcast #43 with Hameed Ali, Nonduality and Beyond: The Exhilarating Adventure of Discovering the Nature of Reality and How Awakenings Can Unfold Endlessly (YouTube video)
                            
                            

                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                            ---

                            A. Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

                            Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

                            ---

                            Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                            ]]>d13f6bb4-e192-47ec-b31f-4901373e7edfThu, 13 Jul 2023 05:00:00 -040047:08falsefull8686Nondual Love: Awakening to the Fundamental Benevolence of Reality with A. H. AlmaasEp. 85 (Part 1 of 2) | Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas), founder of the contemporary spiritual path the Diamond Approach, and author of many outstanding spiritual classics, is writing a trilogy on the subject of love, and in this conversation the focus is on the second book, Nondual Love. Hameed explains that most wisdom traditions target various ultimates: pure emptiness, pure consciousness, nondual awareness, being, non-being—each of which is sufficient for liberation, but fails to include the qualities of nondual love: goodness, sweetness, abundance, benevolence. Hameed brings these dimensions of love to the table, asking what does divine love feel like, look like, what is it made of? 

                            Listening to Hameed is a beautiful, rich experience, due to his extraordinary lucidity, gentle humor, and the profound understanding and assurance that pervade his words from his long experience swimming in the waters of which he speaks. He tells us we all have the potential to experience nondual love, although there are significant obstacles along the path that are inherent to being human. Hameed describes the different stages of opening to nondual love, from the first glimmerings of “unearthly sweetness” to the realization that we ourselves are love. And he outlines the nature of the barriers we face, like the beast of anger and hatred that arises in us when we perceive that reality has abandoned us. Hameed explains that re-establishing basic trust, feeling the presence of benevolent love, we can regain the sense that things will be okay and unfold ultimately for the good. Recorded April 12, 2023.

                            “Without love there would be no reason for the universe to exist.”

                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                            • Introducing Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas), spiritual master, creator of the Ridhwan School & Diamond Approach, and Hameed’s new book Nondual Love (01:07)
                            • What does Hameed mean by nondual love? It’s similar to nondual awareness but it includes the goodness, the sweetness, the heart that is inherent in our spiritual nature (03:00)
                            • In Plato, the main idea is the good, which is almost synonymous with love (06:05)
                            • What does divine love feel like? Does it have a color, a texture? (07:57)
                            • The fundamental benevolence of reality—without love there would be no reason for the universe to exist (09:10)
                            • The Sufis say, God created the universe out of love so God would be known—known through the human being (10:59)
                            • Rumi writes all the time about how love and God are inseparable: most poetry, most songs, most literature are about love, but we rarely hear about the very beingness of it (12:30)
                            • Beyond gratification: for someone who is awakened, the practice of sexual encounter is to bring out more love, the goodness of love (14:24)
                            • Stages of opening to divine love: our usual understanding of love is limited, but then comes a fullness in our hearts, a softness, an unearthly sweetness (16:47)
                            • The next stage is recognizing your full heart as just one wave of the ocean of love that comes through your individual heart (20:07)
                            • The next level is recognizing yourself as the ocean of love: I am love; this is the self-realization of nondual love (20:49)
                            • Basic trust: feeling the presence of benevolent love tends to evoke trust, a sense that things will be okay and unfold ultimately for the good (21:19)
                            • We are born trusting, but what happens in childhood determines if we will expand or be limited; our basic trust may go underground, but love and basic trust are inherent to people (24:24)
                            • Hameed teaches how to regain basic trust by dissolving the history that limits it (26:04)
                            • How many ultimates are there? Each teaching talks about a different ultimate—pure emptiness, consciousness, being, non-being—each of which is sufficient for liberation, but love includes also abundance (26:30) 
                            • Spiritual teachers tend to think their teachings and practices are it, and even though they may experience and radiate love, they don’t speak about love (32:09)
                            • 5 fundamental dimensions of our true nature: divine love, presence, emptiness, awareness, and change/dynamism; what is the difference between presence and awareness? (34:38)
                            • Creative dynamism is the dimension that shows how things change, because saying everything is one doesn’t explain movement and change (38:57)
                            • There is a reality that is truly unmanifest (40:25)
                            • True nature is a potential and will manifest to whoever is open to it (42:48)
                            • The truly unmanifest is unexperienceable: I don’t know what I am, but I am That (47:09)
                            
                            

                            Resources & References – Part 1

                            • A. H. Almaas, Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality*
                            • A. H. Almaas, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart*
                            • A. H. Almaas, The Beloved, the third book in the trilogy, is in the process of being edited
                            • Hameed Ali, founder of The Ridhwan School, home to the Diamond Approach
                            • Hameed Ali’s book page on the Deep Transformation website
                            • See also Deep Transformation podcast #43 with Hameed Ali, Nonduality and Beyond: The Exhilarating Adventure of Discovering the Nature of Reality and How Awakenings Can Unfold Endlessly (YouTube video)
                            • Plato on “the good”
                            • Sufi philosophy says God created the universe out of love, so God could be known through us
                            • Rumi, “The Meaning of Love”
                            • The school of object relations, a school of thought in psychoanalytic theory centered around theories of stages of ego development
                            • Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Vajrayana master, scholar, poet, Dzogchen teacher, and recognized by Buddhists as one of the greatest realized masters; The Collected Works of Dilgo Khyentse, Vol. 1: Journey to Enlightenment; Enlightened Courage; The Heart of Compassion*
                            • Vedanta, Hindu philosophical tradition that encompasses the ideas contained in the Upanishads, with a focus on knowledge and liberation
                            • Heraclitus, pre-Socratic philosopher in ancient Greece, The only constant is change” 
                            • Satcitananda, the subjective experience of the ultimate unchanging reality, Brahman
                            • Ramana Maharshi, likely the most famous Hindu sage of the 20th century, renowned for his saintly life
                            • Dōgen Zenji,...]]>Ep. 85 (Part 1 of 2) | Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas), founder of the contemporary spiritual path the Diamond Approach, and author of many outstanding spiritual classics, is writing a trilogy on the subject of love, and in this conversation the focus is on the second book, Nondual Love. Hameed explains that most wisdom traditions target various ultimates: pure emptiness, pure consciousness, nondual awareness, being, non-being—each of which is sufficient for liberation, but fails to include the qualities of nondual love: goodness, sweetness, abundance, benevolence. Hameed brings these dimensions of love to the table, asking what does divine love feel like, look like, what is it made of? 

                              Listening to Hameed is a beautiful, rich experience, due to his extraordinary lucidity, gentle humor, and the profound understanding and assurance that pervade his words from his long experience swimming in the waters of which he speaks. He tells us we all have the potential to experience nondual love, although there are significant obstacles along the path that are inherent to being human. Hameed describes the different stages of opening to nondual love, from the first glimmerings of “unearthly sweetness” to the realization that we ourselves are love. And he outlines the nature of the barriers we face, like the beast of anger and hatred that arises in us when we perceive that reality has abandoned us. Hameed explains that re-establishing basic trust, feeling the presence of benevolent love, we can regain the sense that things will be okay and unfold ultimately for the good. Recorded April 12, 2023.

                              “Without love there would be no reason for the universe to exist.”

                              (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                              Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                              • Introducing Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas), spiritual master, creator of the Ridhwan School & Diamond Approach, and Hameed’s new book Nondual Love (01:07)
                              • What does Hameed mean by nondual love? It’s similar to nondual awareness but it includes the goodness, the sweetness, the heart that is inherent in our spiritual nature (03:00)
                              • In Plato, the main idea is the good, which is almost synonymous with love (06:05)
                              • What does divine love feel like? Does it have a color, a texture? (07:57)
                              • The fundamental benevolence of reality—without love there would be no reason for the universe to exist (09:10)
                              • The Sufis say, God created the universe out of love so God would be known—known through the human being (10:59)
                              • Rumi writes all the time about how love and God are inseparable: most poetry, most songs, most literature are about love, but we rarely hear about the very beingness of it (12:30)
                              • Beyond gratification: for someone who is awakened, the practice of sexual encounter is to bring out more love, the goodness of love (14:24)
                              • Stages of opening to divine love: our usual understanding of love is limited, but then comes a fullness in our hearts, a softness, an unearthly sweetness (16:47)
                              • The next stage is recognizing your full heart as just one wave of the ocean of love that comes through your individual heart (20:07)
                              • The next level is recognizing yourself as the ocean of love: I am love; this is the self-realization of nondual love (20:49)
                              • Basic trust: feeling the presence of benevolent love tends to evoke trust, a sense that things will be okay and unfold ultimately for the good (21:19)
                              • We are born trusting, but what happens in childhood determines if we will expand or be limited; our basic trust may go underground, but love and basic trust are inherent to people (24:24)
                              • Hameed teaches how to regain basic trust by dissolving the history that limits it (26:04)
                              • How many ultimates are there? Each teaching talks about a different ultimate—pure emptiness, consciousness, being, non-being—each of which is sufficient for liberation, but love includes also abundance (26:30) 
                              • Spiritual teachers tend to think their teachings and practices are it, and even though they may experience and radiate love, they don’t speak about love (32:09)
                              • 5 fundamental dimensions of our true nature: divine love, presence, emptiness, awareness, and change/dynamism; what is the difference between presence and awareness? (34:38)
                              • Creative dynamism is the dimension that shows how things change, because saying everything is one doesn’t explain movement and change (38:57)
                              • There is a reality that is truly unmanifest (40:25)
                              • True nature is a potential and will manifest to whoever is open to it (42:48)
                              • The truly unmanifest is unexperienceable: I don’t know what I am, but I am That (47:09)
                              
                              

                              Resources & References – Part 1

                              • A. H. Almaas, Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality*
                              • A. H. Almaas, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart*
                              • A. H. Almaas, The Beloved, the third book in the trilogy, is in the process of being edited
                              • Hameed Ali, founder of The Ridhwan School, home to the Diamond Approach
                              • Hameed Ali’s book page on the Deep Transformation website
                              • See also Deep Transformation podcast #43 with Hameed Ali, Nonduality and Beyond: The Exhilarating Adventure of Discovering the Nature of Reality and How Awakenings Can Unfold Endlessly (YouTube video)
                              • Plato on “the good”
                              • Sufi philosophy says God created the universe out of love, so God could be known through us
                              • Rumi, “The Meaning of Love”
                              • The school of object relations, a school of thought in psychoanalytic theory centered around theories of stages of ego development
                              • Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Vajrayana master, scholar, poet, Dzogchen teacher, and recognized by Buddhists as one of the greatest realized masters; The Collected Works of Dilgo Khyentse, Vol. 1: Journey to Enlightenment; Enlightened Courage; The Heart of Compassion*
                              • Vedanta, Hindu philosophical tradition that encompasses the ideas contained in the Upanishads, with a focus on knowledge and liberation
                              • Heraclitus, pre-Socratic philosopher in ancient Greece, The only constant is change” 
                              • Satcitananda, the subjective experience of the ultimate unchanging reality, Brahman
                              • Ramana Maharshi, likely the most famous Hindu sage of the 20th century, renowned for his saintly life
                              • Dōgen Zenji, writer, poet, philosopher, and founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan, “Buddha-nature is present at the time of becoming a buddha…”
                              • Rigpa, the true nature of our mind, pure awareness, a central concept of Dzogchen
                              • Advaita Vedanta, a path of spiritual discipline; advaita is usually translated as nondualism
                              • Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, Indian guru of nondualism, author of I Am That*
                              
                              

                              * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                              ---

                              A. Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

                              Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

                              ---

                              Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                              ]]>2ab65c3c-65e6-43b9-b0a2-9884e6421c80Thu, 06 Jul 2023 05:00:00 -040051:09falsefull8585Lama Surya Das – The Essence of Awakening: Who Are We Really—and How Can We Find Out? (Part 2)Ep. 84 (Part 2 of 2) | Lama Surya Das, beloved meditation teacher, scholar, pioneer of bringing Tibetan Buddhism to the West, and author of the bestseller Awakening the Buddha Within among many more, shares bright gems of wisdom from his extensive experience practicing Dzogchen, his long immersion in meditation retreats, and studying in person with the great spiritual teachers of Asia. Lama Surya is dedicated to getting the word out, and to young people especially, that the timeless teachings of the great masters are every bit as important and transformative in today’s modern world as they ever were. One doesn’t need to go on retreat to come to a place of wonder, understanding, and appreciation for life; Lama Surya assures us that daily practice of attentive awareness on the path of “awakefulness” is doable and effective in today’s world. This is the path that leads to self-knowledge, and we just need to explore and investigate to discover for ourselves that realization of the Great Perfection, of oneness, is never far away.

                              Lama Surya embellishes his teachings with humorous tales of his early explorations with psychedelics, his spiritual adventures in India, how he came to undertaking not one but two 3-year silent retreats in the great Tibetan Buddhist tradition of Dzogchen, and coming home afterwards with a mission for transmission. He talks about divine love and how amazing and influential it was to hang out with spiritual teachers who actually practice unconditional love, here and now. Lama Surya Das’ own deep caring and compassion shine through his words, and his well-known “jolly lama” humor often elicits laughter from Roger and John. “There are a lot of lanes on the highway of awakening, you just want to watch you don’t go off into the ditch.” His authentic, endearing humility shines through as well. He is certain that “if I can do it, you can do it, anyone can do it.” Recorded September 7, 2022.

                              “Spiritual elixir is the greatest panacea for our inner world: mind, body, heart & soul.”

                              (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                              Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                              • Going to India, discovering the practice of of Vipassana and the cave retreat yogi tradition of Tibet (01:31)
                              • What timeless teachings did Lama Surya Das discover in his 3-year Dzogchen retreat? Love is not the same thing as light (05:21)
                              • Mother Teresa on loneliness and love, and meeting spiritual teachers who really lived the talk (07:44)
                              • Living, practicing, surrendering: learning that love is greater than any dichotomy of like or dislike (08:36)
                              • Teaching of Pema Wangyal Rinpoche: “Don’t expect the struggle to end.” (10:45)
                              • Coming back after the long retreat (11:47)
                              • We need an applied dharma that works for the postmodern world today (13:08)
                              • Continuing the practice with a second 3-year Dzogchen retreat (14:04)
                              • How Lama Surya Das became a Dzogchen teacher and started the Dzogchen centers (16:57)
                              • The importance of spending more time with daily practice and integrating it into your life: retreats are not for everyone (18:21)
                              • How long does it take to awaken? Awakening is very personal (21:08)
                              • Pointing towards awakening: absolute truth and relative truth, the middle way (23:44)
                              • What’s next for Lama Surya Das? The 3 H’s: healthy, harmonious & helpful—teaching young people, spiritual activism (26:46)
                              • Epistemological or logical debate: clarifying the meaning of how we know what we know (28:30)
                              • Cherishing life: cockroaches in the monastery (30:40)
                              • The timeless question: How should we live? (33:01)
                              • We have to accept the implications of our actions and the law of karma (35:32)
                              • Moving towards interdependence, interconnectedness (37:00)
                              • What are Lama Surya Das’ practices today? The joy of meditation: catching the updrift (38:51) 
                              • A poem and a prayer (42:54)
                              
                              

                              Resources & References – Part 2

                              • Roshi Philip Kaplan, beloved Zen teacher, founder of the Rochester Zen Center, author of The Three Pillars of Zen*
                              • Mirabai Bush, founder, Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, co-founder of the Seva Foundation, co-author with Ram Dass, Walking Each Other Home: Conversations on Loving and Dying*
                              • S. N. Goenka, teacher of Vipassana meditation, who started the first Vipassana Center in 1969, Meditation Now: Inner Peace through Inner Wisdom*
                              • Milarepa, renowned Tibetan yogi and spiritual poet
                              • Kalu Rinpoche, Dzogchen master and Mahamudra teacher, Luminous Mind: The Way of the Buddha*, Foundations of Tibetan Buddhism*
                              • Andrew Holecek, lucid dreaming expert & author, see also Deep Transformation podcast episode #37, The Remarkable Practice of Dream Yoga
                              • Mother Teresa, founder of the MIssionaries of Charity, canonized as Saint Teresa of Calcutta in 2016
                              • Tulku Pema Wangyal Rinpoche on developing heart and love (YouTube video), Awakening Wisdom: Heart Advice on the Fundamental Practices of Vajrayana Buddhism*
                              • Padmakara Translation Group, established to preserve and make available Western translations of Tibetan Buddhist classics
                              • Dudjom Rinpoche, The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: Its Fundamentals and History*, A Torch Lighting the Way to Freedom*
                              • Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzburg, Jack Kornfield, Insight Meditation Center, Spirit Rock Meditation Center
                              • Nyoshul Kenpo Rinpoche & Lama Surya Das, Natural Great Perfection: Dzogchen Teachings and Vajra Songs*
                              • Stephen Mitchell’s translation of Ep. 84 (Part 2 of 2) | Lama Surya Das, beloved meditation teacher, scholar, pioneer of bringing Tibetan Buddhism to the West, and author of the bestseller Awakening the Buddha Within among many more, shares bright gems of wisdom from his extensive experience practicing Dzogchen, his long immersion in meditation retreats, and studying in person with the great spiritual teachers of Asia. Lama Surya is dedicated to getting the word out, and to young people especially, that the timeless teachings of the great masters are every bit as important and transformative in today’s modern world as they ever were. One doesn’t need to go on retreat to come to a place of wonder, understanding, and appreciation for life; Lama Surya assures us that daily practice of attentive awareness on the path of “awakefulness” is doable and effective in today’s world. This is the path that leads to self-knowledge, and we just need to explore and investigate to discover for ourselves that realization of the Great Perfection, of oneness, is never far away.

                                Lama Surya embellishes his teachings with humorous tales of his early explorations with psychedelics, his spiritual adventures in India, how he came to undertaking not one but two 3-year silent retreats in the great Tibetan Buddhist tradition of Dzogchen, and coming home afterwards with a mission for transmission. He talks about divine love and how amazing and influential it was to hang out with spiritual teachers who actually practice unconditional love, here and now. Lama Surya Das’ own deep caring and compassion shine through his words, and his well-known “jolly lama” humor often elicits laughter from Roger and John. “There are a lot of lanes on the highway of awakening, you just want to watch you don’t go off into the ditch.” His authentic, endearing humility shines through as well. He is certain that “if I can do it, you can do it, anyone can do it.” Recorded September 7, 2022.

                                “Spiritual elixir is the greatest panacea for our inner world: mind, body, heart & soul.”

                                (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                • Going to India, discovering the practice of of Vipassana and the cave retreat yogi tradition of Tibet (01:31)
                                • What timeless teachings did Lama Surya Das discover in his 3-year Dzogchen retreat? Love is not the same thing as light (05:21)
                                • Mother Teresa on loneliness and love, and meeting spiritual teachers who really lived the talk (07:44)
                                • Living, practicing, surrendering: learning that love is greater than any dichotomy of like or dislike (08:36)
                                • Teaching of Pema Wangyal Rinpoche: “Don’t expect the struggle to end.” (10:45)
                                • Coming back after the long retreat (11:47)
                                • We need an applied dharma that works for the postmodern world today (13:08)
                                • Continuing the practice with a second 3-year Dzogchen retreat (14:04)
                                • How Lama Surya Das became a Dzogchen teacher and started the Dzogchen centers (16:57)
                                • The importance of spending more time with daily practice and integrating it into your life: retreats are not for everyone (18:21)
                                • How long does it take to awaken? Awakening is very personal (21:08)
                                • Pointing towards awakening: absolute truth and relative truth, the middle way (23:44)
                                • What’s next for Lama Surya Das? The 3 H’s: healthy, harmonious & helpful—teaching young people, spiritual activism (26:46)
                                • Epistemological or logical debate: clarifying the meaning of how we know what we know (28:30)
                                • Cherishing life: cockroaches in the monastery (30:40)
                                • The timeless question: How should we live? (33:01)
                                • We have to accept the implications of our actions and the law of karma (35:32)
                                • Moving towards interdependence, interconnectedness (37:00)
                                • What are Lama Surya Das’ practices today? The joy of meditation: catching the updrift (38:51) 
                                • A poem and a prayer (42:54)
                                
                                

                                Resources & References – Part 2

                                • Roshi Philip Kaplan, beloved Zen teacher, founder of the Rochester Zen Center, author of The Three Pillars of Zen*
                                • Mirabai Bush, founder, Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, co-founder of the Seva Foundation, co-author with Ram Dass, Walking Each Other Home: Conversations on Loving and Dying*
                                • S. N. Goenka, teacher of Vipassana meditation, who started the first Vipassana Center in 1969, Meditation Now: Inner Peace through Inner Wisdom*
                                • Milarepa, renowned Tibetan yogi and spiritual poet
                                • Kalu Rinpoche, Dzogchen master and Mahamudra teacher, Luminous Mind: The Way of the Buddha*, Foundations of Tibetan Buddhism*
                                • Andrew Holecek, lucid dreaming expert & author, see also Deep Transformation podcast episode #37, The Remarkable Practice of Dream Yoga
                                • Mother Teresa, founder of the MIssionaries of Charity, canonized as Saint Teresa of Calcutta in 2016
                                • Tulku Pema Wangyal Rinpoche on developing heart and love (YouTube video), Awakening Wisdom: Heart Advice on the Fundamental Practices of Vajrayana Buddhism*
                                • Padmakara Translation Group, established to preserve and make available Western translations of Tibetan Buddhist classics
                                • Dudjom Rinpoche, The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: Its Fundamentals and History*, A Torch Lighting the Way to Freedom*
                                • Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzburg, Jack Kornfield, Insight Meditation Center, Spirit Rock Meditation Center
                                • Nyoshul Kenpo Rinpoche & Lama Surya Das, Natural Great Perfection: Dzogchen Teachings and Vajra Songs*
                                • Stephen Mitchell’s translation of Tao Te Ching*
                                • Karma Triyana Dharmachakra (KTD) monastery, Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Woodstock, New York
                                • Buckminster Fuller, Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth*
                                • Basho’s haiku The Old Pond
                                • Emily Dickinson, from the poem I’m Nobody (…to an admiring bog)
                                • Lama Surya Das’ website: https://surya.org
                                • Lama Surya Das, Awakening the Buddha Within: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World*
                                • Lama Surya Das, Awakening to the Sacred: Creating a Personal Spiritual Life*
                                • Lama Surya Das, Awakening the Buddhist Heart: Integrating Love, Meaning, and Connection into Every Part of Your Life*
                                • Lama Surya Das, Buddha Standard Time: Awakening to the Infinite Possibilities of Now*
                                • Lama Surya Das and Sounds True, Dzögchen Meditation Training: A Direct Path for Awakening to the Radiant Buddha Within* (audiobook)
                                • Lama Surya Das, The Yeti and the Jolly Lama: A Tale of Friendship*
                                • Lama Surya Das, The Mind Is Mightier Than the Sword: Enlightening the Mind, Opening the Heart*
                                
                                

                                * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                ---

                                Lama Surya Das is one of the foremost Western Buddhist meditation teachers and scholars. The Dalai Lama affectionately calls him “the American Lama.” Lama Surya has spent over forty-five years studying Zen, Vipassana, Yoga, and Tibetan Buddhism with many of the great old masters of Asia, including some of the Dalai Lama’s own teachers. He is an authorized lama in the Tibetan Buddhist order, a leading spokesperson for Buddhism and contemporary spirituality, a translator, poet, meditation master, chant master, and social-spiritual activist.

                                Lama Surya Das is the author of the international bestselling Awakening trilogy: Awakening the Buddha Within, Awakening to the Sacred, and Awakening the Buddhist Heart, as well as his latest release and first children’s book, The Yeti & the Jolly Lama: A Tale of Friendship, and eleven other books. In 1991, he established the Dzogchen Centers and Dzogchen Retreats, and in 1993, with the Dalai Lama, he founded the Western Buddhist Teachers Network and regularly organizes its International Buddhist Teachers’ Conferences. Today, Lama Surya Das teaches and lectures around the world, conducting dozens of meditation retreats and workshops each year. Lama Surya can be followed on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; his own podcast Awakening Now can be found on the Be Here Now Network. For more information on Surya, as well as his lecture and retreat schedule, go to www.surya.org. Lama Surya Das resides in Lexington, Massachusetts.

                                ---

                                Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                ]]>78d9905c-3321-4960-81cc-eb39e485b268Thu, 29 Jun 2023 05:00:00 -040048:13falsefull8484Lama Surya Das – The Essence of Awakening: Who Are We Really—and How Can We Find Out?Ep. 83 (Part 1 of 2) | Lama Surya Das, beloved meditation teacher, scholar, pioneer of bringing Tibetan Buddhism to the West, and author of the bestseller Awakening the Buddha Within among many more, shares bright gems of wisdom from his extensive experience practicing Dzogchen, his long immersion in meditation retreats, and studying in person with the great spiritual teachers of Asia. Lama Surya is dedicated to getting the word out, and to young people especially, that the timeless teachings of the great masters are every bit as important and transformative in today’s modern world as they ever were. One doesn’t need to go on retreat to come to a place of wonder, understanding, and appreciation for life; Lama Surya assures us that daily practice of attentive awareness on the path of “awakefulness” is doable and effective in today’s world. This is the path that leads to self-knowledge, and we just need to explore and investigate to discover for ourselves that realization of the Great Perfection, of oneness, is never far away.

                                Lama Surya embellishes his teachings with humorous tales of his early explorations with psychedelics, his spiritual adventures in India, how he came to undertaking not one but two 3-year silent retreats in the great Tibetan Buddhist tradition of Dzogchen, and coming home afterwards with a mission for transmission. He talks about divine love and how amazing and influential it was to hang out with spiritual teachers who actually practice unconditional love, here and now. Lama Surya Das’ own deep caring and compassion shine through his words, and his well-known “jolly lama” humor often elicits laughter from Roger and John. “There are a lot of lanes on the highway of awakening, you just want to watch you don’t go off into the ditch.” His authentic, endearing humility shines through as well. He is certain that “if I can do it, you can do it, anyone can do it.” Recorded September 7, 2022.

                                “Timeless wisdom is an endangered natural resource.”

                                (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                • Introducing Lama Surya Das, dedicated practitioner, spiritual teacher, pioneer of bringing the wisdom of Tibetan Buddhism to the West (01:09)
                                • How Lama Surya Das got to where he is now: his humor, his education, going to India and meeting his guru (03:57)
                                • Spiritual elixir is the greatest panacea for our mind, body, heart & soul (07:32)
                                • A core theme of Buddhist teaching: check it out for yourself (09:16)
                                • Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, the height of Tibetan Buddhism: awakefulness is the way (10:32) 
                                • Mahamudra evergreen teachings of nondual awareness: we’re all buddhas by nature (15:52)
                                • If everything is perfect as it is, how come we feel like crap? (18:08) 
                                • Self-knowledge is the way to wisdom: growing up to be a true mensch (18:45)
                                • The five wisdoms (gnoses), mirror-like wisdom, discriminating wisdom, and how they apply to now (21:20)
                                • Lucid faith, unshakeable realization (22:57)
                                • Lama Surya Das’ first vision of God, “beyond oneness or noneness” (24:28)
                                • Who are we really? Are we consciousness? What about the unconscious, the subconscious? (32:22)
                                • Replicating ego death in meditation, sensing Presence, experiencing beingness (33:33)
                                • “If I can do it, you can do it, anyone can do it.” (34:49)
                                • The middle way, moderation in moderation: there are a lot of lanes on the highway of awakening (36:50)
                                • Questioning and investigation are an important part of the spiritual path (37:57)
                                • Timeless wisdom is an endangered natural resource (39:10)
                                • A story of Lama Surya Das’ first 3-year Tibetan retreat, as told by Roger (40:06)
                                
                                

                                Resources & References – Part 1

                                • Lama Surya Das’ website (which includes his lecture and retreat schedule): https://surya.org
                                • Lama Surya Das, Awakening the Buddha Within: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World*
                                • Lama Surya Das, Awakening to the Sacred: Creating a Personal Spiritual Life*
                                • Lama Surya Das, Awakening the Buddhist Heart: Integrating Love, Meaning, and Connection into Every Part of Your Life*
                                • Lama Surya Das, Buddha Standard Time: Awakening to the Infinite Possibilities of Now*
                                • Lama Surya Das and Sounds True, Dzögchen Meditation Training: A Direct Path for Awakening to the Radiant Buddha Within* (audiobook)
                                • Lama Surya Das, The Yeti and the Jolly Lama: A Tale of Friendship*
                                • Lama Surya Das, The Mind Is Mightier Than the Sword: Enlightening the Mind, Opening the Heart,* contains the Meister Eckhart quote, “The eye through which I see God is the eye through which He sees me.”
                                • Kalu Rinpoche, Dzogchen master and Mahamudra teacher, Luminous Mind: The Way of the Buddha*, Foundations of Tibetan Buddhism*
                                • The laughing diamond sutra or Hevajra
                                • Socrates, “To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom.”
                                • The five wisdoms (gnoses), mirror-like wisdom, discerning, discriminating wisdom, and more
                                • Rabindranath Tagore, Bengali poet, playwright, and composer, the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, “To know your Self is to know God.”
                                • Sharon Salzburg, co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society, longtime teacher of Vipassana meditation, author, LovingKindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness*, et. al.
                                • Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason*, ens realissimum, the philosophical origin of the idea of God
                                • Encounter groups at Esalen Institute
                                • Henry David Thoreau, “Read not the Times. Read the Eternities.” “Ep. 83 (Part 1 of 2) | Lama Surya Das, beloved meditation teacher, scholar, pioneer of bringing Tibetan Buddhism to the West, and author of the bestseller Awakening the Buddha Within among many more, shares bright gems of wisdom from his extensive experience practicing Dzogchen, his long immersion in meditation retreats, and studying in person with the great spiritual teachers of Asia. Lama Surya is dedicated to getting the word out, and to young people especially, that the timeless teachings of the great masters are every bit as important and transformative in today’s modern world as they ever were. One doesn’t need to go on retreat to come to a place of wonder, understanding, and appreciation for life; Lama Surya assures us that daily practice of attentive awareness on the path of “awakefulness” is doable and effective in today’s world. This is the path that leads to self-knowledge, and we just need to explore and investigate to discover for ourselves that realization of the Great Perfection, of oneness, is never far away.

                                  Lama Surya embellishes his teachings with humorous tales of his early explorations with psychedelics, his spiritual adventures in India, how he came to undertaking not one but two 3-year silent retreats in the great Tibetan Buddhist tradition of Dzogchen, and coming home afterwards with a mission for transmission. He talks about divine love and how amazing and influential it was to hang out with spiritual teachers who actually practice unconditional love, here and now. Lama Surya Das’ own deep caring and compassion shine through his words, and his well-known “jolly lama” humor often elicits laughter from Roger and John. “There are a lot of lanes on the highway of awakening, you just want to watch you don’t go off into the ditch.” His authentic, endearing humility shines through as well. He is certain that “if I can do it, you can do it, anyone can do it.” Recorded September 7, 2022.

                                  “Timeless wisdom is an endangered natural resource.”

                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                  • Introducing Lama Surya Das, dedicated practitioner, spiritual teacher, pioneer of bringing the wisdom of Tibetan Buddhism to the West (01:09)
                                  • How Lama Surya Das got to where he is now: his humor, his education, going to India and meeting his guru (03:57)
                                  • Spiritual elixir is the greatest panacea for our mind, body, heart & soul (07:32)
                                  • A core theme of Buddhist teaching: check it out for yourself (09:16)
                                  • Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, the height of Tibetan Buddhism: awakefulness is the way (10:32) 
                                  • Mahamudra evergreen teachings of nondual awareness: we’re all buddhas by nature (15:52)
                                  • If everything is perfect as it is, how come we feel like crap? (18:08) 
                                  • Self-knowledge is the way to wisdom: growing up to be a true mensch (18:45)
                                  • The five wisdoms (gnoses), mirror-like wisdom, discriminating wisdom, and how they apply to now (21:20)
                                  • Lucid faith, unshakeable realization (22:57)
                                  • Lama Surya Das’ first vision of God, “beyond oneness or noneness” (24:28)
                                  • Who are we really? Are we consciousness? What about the unconscious, the subconscious? (32:22)
                                  • Replicating ego death in meditation, sensing Presence, experiencing beingness (33:33)
                                  • “If I can do it, you can do it, anyone can do it.” (34:49)
                                  • The middle way, moderation in moderation: there are a lot of lanes on the highway of awakening (36:50)
                                  • Questioning and investigation are an important part of the spiritual path (37:57)
                                  • Timeless wisdom is an endangered natural resource (39:10)
                                  • A story of Lama Surya Das’ first 3-year Tibetan retreat, as told by Roger (40:06)
                                  
                                  

                                  Resources & References – Part 1

                                  • Lama Surya Das’ website (which includes his lecture and retreat schedule): https://surya.org
                                  • Lama Surya Das, Awakening the Buddha Within: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World*
                                  • Lama Surya Das, Awakening to the Sacred: Creating a Personal Spiritual Life*
                                  • Lama Surya Das, Awakening the Buddhist Heart: Integrating Love, Meaning, and Connection into Every Part of Your Life*
                                  • Lama Surya Das, Buddha Standard Time: Awakening to the Infinite Possibilities of Now*
                                  • Lama Surya Das and Sounds True, Dzögchen Meditation Training: A Direct Path for Awakening to the Radiant Buddha Within* (audiobook)
                                  • Lama Surya Das, The Yeti and the Jolly Lama: A Tale of Friendship*
                                  • Lama Surya Das, The Mind Is Mightier Than the Sword: Enlightening the Mind, Opening the Heart,* contains the Meister Eckhart quote, “The eye through which I see God is the eye through which He sees me.”
                                  • Kalu Rinpoche, Dzogchen master and Mahamudra teacher, Luminous Mind: The Way of the Buddha*, Foundations of Tibetan Buddhism*
                                  • The laughing diamond sutra or Hevajra
                                  • Socrates, “To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom.”
                                  • The five wisdoms (gnoses), mirror-like wisdom, discerning, discriminating wisdom, and more
                                  • Rabindranath Tagore, Bengali poet, playwright, and composer, the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, “To know your Self is to know God.”
                                  • Sharon Salzburg, co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society, longtime teacher of Vipassana meditation, author, LovingKindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness*, et. al.
                                  • Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason*, ens realissimum, the philosophical origin of the idea of God
                                  • Encounter groups at Esalen Institute
                                  • Henry David Thoreau, “Read not the Times. Read the Eternities.” “I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.“
                                  • Roshi Philip Kaplan, The Three Pillars of Zen: Teaching, Practice, and Enlightenment*
                                  
                                  

                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                  ---

                                  Lama Surya Das is one of the foremost Western Buddhist meditation teachers and scholars. The Dalai Lama affectionately calls him “the American Lama.” Lama Surya has spent over forty-five years studying Zen, Vipassana, Yoga, and Tibetan Buddhism with many of the great old masters of Asia, including some of the Dalai Lama’s own teachers. He is an authorized lama in the Tibetan Buddhist order, a leading spokesperson for Buddhism and contemporary spirituality, a translator, poet, meditation master, chant master, and social-spiritual activist.

                                  Lama Surya Das is the author of the international bestselling Awakening trilogy: Awakening the Buddha Within, Awakening to the Sacred, and Awakening the Buddhist Heart, as well as his latest release and first children’s book, The Yeti & the Jolly Lama: A Tale of Friendship, and eleven other books. In 1991, he established the Dzogchen Centers and Dzogchen Retreats, and in 1993, with the Dalai Lama, he founded the Western Buddhist Teachers Network and regularly organizes its International Buddhist Teachers’ Conferences. Today, Lama Surya Das teaches and lectures around the world, conducting dozens of meditation retreats and workshops each year. Lama Surya can be followed on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; his own podcast Awakening Now can be found on the Be Here Now Network. For more information on Surya, as well as his lecture and retreat schedule, go to www.surya.org. Lama Surya Das resides in Lexington, Massachusetts.

                                  ---

                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                  ]]>9810ba94-11ea-4bd7-9707-50364650c51eThu, 22 Jun 2023 05:00:00 -040043:35truefull8383Building a Just World: How Our Laws Express Our Collective Values & the Challenge of Uplifting Our Values, Law, and Society (Part 2)Ep. 82 (Part 2 of 2) | Constitutional law expert and criminal justice professor Mark Fischler has a thirst for justice and a gift for teaching. With cogency and passion, Mark explains that law is not the absolute that we perhaps thought, but an ever changing reflection of the values we hold as a society. Law is a developmental process, and will benefit from our own dedication to inner moral development. Mark shows how the law can (and has) become ever more inclusive, with the potential to serve and uphold the dignity of all peoples, all beings. Because of its abstract clauses, there is room in the Constitution to interpret the law in ways that are attuned with our pluralistic society. Mark calls on us to come together and decide what we value as a people—there is no mandate in democracy that all decision making power must reside in the hands of the Supreme Court, which has only had the sort of unilateral power it enjoys today since the 1950s.

                                  This is no dry, legalistic conversation, but a truly illuminating vision of the potential of the law to embody justice, inclusivity, compassion. It is also a solid overview of where we have come from and where we are now, referencing many landmark rulings of the Supreme Court. Finally, this is spiritually inspiring as well—Mark tells the story of the transformational epiphany he had as a young man that led to his career as a public defender, onto the spiritual path, and eventually to become a well-respected, award-winning professor of criminal justice. Mark’s perspective on the law is far ranging, embracing human rights, animal rights, the rights of all beings. It comes from a place of deep care and compassion: “What is the happiness that the Declaration of Independence talks about, what is suffering?” Be inspired by Mark’s wise and knowledgeable teachings and the potential of the law to create a just society for all. Recorded January 4, 2023.

                                  “Law is our collective coming together and deciding what we value as a people.”

                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                  • The 4th branch of government: administrative agencies like the EPA that implement policies are now under very specific guidelines from the legislature (01:40)
                                  • Abstract language in the Constitution requires interpretation and the challenge of finding balance between restrictively specific guidelines and abstract directives (06:45)
                                  • The history of the Supreme Court and how the Court is 10–20 years behind the rest of the culture’s center of gravity (09:44)
                                  • The doctrine of originalism: is the Constitution a fixed document? (12:36)
                                  • Ronald Dworkin, primary legal philosopher of his generation: “The law is absolutely an act of interpretation.” (15:55)
                                  • Originalism’s effect on Brown v. Board of Education, the Equal Protection Clause, and Plessis v. Ferguson (16:35)
                                  • Abraham Lincoln was competing with the courts on slavery—his point of view was far more holistic, respecting the equal dignity of all people (20:47)
                                  • We all need to be involved in the determination of fundamental human rights and not leave it up to the Supreme Court (24:24)
                                  • Our Constitution, because of the abstract clauses, allows us ways to start to relate differently to our environment and all beings (26:00)
                                  • The law is a social institution embodying the ways we agree to relate to each other as a society (28:09)
                                  • We need to become conscious that law is a developmental process, becoming more and more inclusive over time (29:18)
                                  • Theories of justice and how to build a just society: integrating Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative, universalizability, Aristotle’s virtue-based right action, Steve McIntosh’s observable piece, the utilitarian what’s the greatest good for the greatest number, and John Rawls’ justice as fairness (31:59)
                                  • Using Integral to help us apply inclusivity to the law (35:32)
                                  • Animal rights and our relationship to property, to the Earth (37:39)
                                  • Is there a legal way to support people in the pursuit of self-actualization? (43:17)
                                  • What is the happiness that the Declaration of Independence talks about, what is suffering? (46:15)
                                  • Law is our collective coming together and deciding what we value as a people and this requires inner moral development (47:40)
                                  • Peacemaking ethics: care, connection, mindfulness (53:22)
                                  • The collective trance we live in (55:51)
                                  • A call to participate in our democratic process: we can influence our laws, our communities, and make this world a better place (58:34)
                                  
                                  

                                  Resources & References – Part 2

                                  • Obergefell v. Hodges, 2015 decision to guarantee the fundamental right to marry to same-sex couples
                                  • The Federalist Society, a group of conservatives and libertarians dedicated to reforming the current legal order
                                  • Frederick Douglass, social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, statesman
                                  • The theory of originalism is that all statements in the Constitution be interpreted according to the understanding at the time the statements were adopted 
                                  • Ronald Dworkin, primary legal philosopher of his generation, advocate of a moral reading of the U.S. Constitution
                                  • Brown v. Board of Education, the Equal Protection Clause
                                  • Plessis v. Ferguson ruling that racial segregation does not violate the Constitution
                                  • Hammurabi’s Code, Babylonian legal text
                                  • Hanzi Freinacht, The Listening Society*, Nordic Ideology*
                                  • Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative
                                  • Steve McIntosh, co-founder Institute for Cultural Evolution, author, Developmental Politics: How America Can Grow into a Better Version of Itself*, see also Deep Transformation episode #20, Consciousness Evolves, Politics Can Too
                                  • Justice as Fairness, John Rawls and His Theory of Justice (Constitutional Rights Foundation)
                                  • John Alexander, Capabilities and Social Justice: The Political Philosophy of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum*
                                  • Jonathan Rowson, anthology Dispatches from a Time Between Worlds: Crisis and Emergence in Metamodernity*, for more on metamodernism, see also Deep Transformation episode #17, Jonathan Rowson – Making Friends with Conflict, Metamodernity, Construct Awareness, and Other Ways of Facing the Current Metacrisis
                                  • Ep. 82 (Part 2 of 2) | Constitutional law expert and criminal justice professor Mark Fischler has a thirst for justice and a gift for teaching. With cogency and passion, Mark explains that law is not the absolute that we perhaps thought, but an ever changing reflection of the values we hold as a society. Law is a developmental process, and will benefit from our own dedication to inner moral development. Mark shows how the law can (and has) become ever more inclusive, with the potential to serve and uphold the dignity of all peoples, all beings. Because of its abstract clauses, there is room in the Constitution to interpret the law in ways that are attuned with our pluralistic society. Mark calls on us to come together and decide what we value as a people—there is no mandate in democracy that all decision making power must reside in the hands of the Supreme Court, which has only had the sort of unilateral power it enjoys today since the 1950s.

                                    This is no dry, legalistic conversation, but a truly illuminating vision of the potential of the law to embody justice, inclusivity, compassion. It is also a solid overview of where we have come from and where we are now, referencing many landmark rulings of the Supreme Court. Finally, this is spiritually inspiring as well—Mark tells the story of the transformational epiphany he had as a young man that led to his career as a public defender, onto the spiritual path, and eventually to become a well-respected, award-winning professor of criminal justice. Mark’s perspective on the law is far ranging, embracing human rights, animal rights, the rights of all beings. It comes from a place of deep care and compassion: “What is the happiness that the Declaration of Independence talks about, what is suffering?” Be inspired by Mark’s wise and knowledgeable teachings and the potential of the law to create a just society for all. Recorded January 4, 2023.

                                    “Law is our collective coming together and deciding what we value as a people.”

                                    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                    • The 4th branch of government: administrative agencies like the EPA that implement policies are now under very specific guidelines from the legislature (01:40)
                                    • Abstract language in the Constitution requires interpretation and the challenge of finding balance between restrictively specific guidelines and abstract directives (06:45)
                                    • The history of the Supreme Court and how the Court is 10–20 years behind the rest of the culture’s center of gravity (09:44)
                                    • The doctrine of originalism: is the Constitution a fixed document? (12:36)
                                    • Ronald Dworkin, primary legal philosopher of his generation: “The law is absolutely an act of interpretation.” (15:55)
                                    • Originalism’s effect on Brown v. Board of Education, the Equal Protection Clause, and Plessis v. Ferguson (16:35)
                                    • Abraham Lincoln was competing with the courts on slavery—his point of view was far more holistic, respecting the equal dignity of all people (20:47)
                                    • We all need to be involved in the determination of fundamental human rights and not leave it up to the Supreme Court (24:24)
                                    • Our Constitution, because of the abstract clauses, allows us ways to start to relate differently to our environment and all beings (26:00)
                                    • The law is a social institution embodying the ways we agree to relate to each other as a society (28:09)
                                    • We need to become conscious that law is a developmental process, becoming more and more inclusive over time (29:18)
                                    • Theories of justice and how to build a just society: integrating Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative, universalizability, Aristotle’s virtue-based right action, Steve McIntosh’s observable piece, the utilitarian what’s the greatest good for the greatest number, and John Rawls’ justice as fairness (31:59)
                                    • Using Integral to help us apply inclusivity to the law (35:32)
                                    • Animal rights and our relationship to property, to the Earth (37:39)
                                    • Is there a legal way to support people in the pursuit of self-actualization? (43:17)
                                    • What is the happiness that the Declaration of Independence talks about, what is suffering? (46:15)
                                    • Law is our collective coming together and deciding what we value as a people and this requires inner moral development (47:40)
                                    • Peacemaking ethics: care, connection, mindfulness (53:22)
                                    • The collective trance we live in (55:51)
                                    • A call to participate in our democratic process: we can influence our laws, our communities, and make this world a better place (58:34)
                                    
                                    

                                    Resources & References – Part 2

                                    • Obergefell v. Hodges, 2015 decision to guarantee the fundamental right to marry to same-sex couples
                                    • The Federalist Society, a group of conservatives and libertarians dedicated to reforming the current legal order
                                    • Frederick Douglass, social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, statesman
                                    • The theory of originalism is that all statements in the Constitution be interpreted according to the understanding at the time the statements were adopted 
                                    • Ronald Dworkin, primary legal philosopher of his generation, advocate of a moral reading of the U.S. Constitution
                                    • Brown v. Board of Education, the Equal Protection Clause
                                    • Plessis v. Ferguson ruling that racial segregation does not violate the Constitution
                                    • Hammurabi’s Code, Babylonian legal text
                                    • Hanzi Freinacht, The Listening Society*, Nordic Ideology*
                                    • Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative
                                    • Steve McIntosh, co-founder Institute for Cultural Evolution, author, Developmental Politics: How America Can Grow into a Better Version of Itself*, see also Deep Transformation episode #20, Consciousness Evolves, Politics Can Too
                                    • Justice as Fairness, John Rawls and His Theory of Justice (Constitutional Rights Foundation)
                                    • John Alexander, Capabilities and Social Justice: The Political Philosophy of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum*
                                    • Jonathan Rowson, anthology Dispatches from a Time Between Worlds: Crisis and Emergence in Metamodernity*, for more on metamodernism, see also Deep Transformation episode #17, Jonathan Rowson – Making Friends with Conflict, Metamodernity, Construct Awareness, and Other Ways of Facing the Current Metacrisis
                                    • Eudaimonia translates to the state or condition of ‘good spirit,’ commonly understood as happiness, welfare 
                                    • Tao Te Ching*, when the Tao declines, morality appears, when morality declines, the law appears
                                    • Michael Braswell, Belinda McCarthy, Bernard McCarthy, Justice, Crime, and Ethics, textbook with chapter on peacemaking
                                    • Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s quote about the “fierce urgency of now”
                                    
                                    

                                    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                    ---

                                    Mark Fischler is a Professor of Criminal Justice and current program coordinator for the criminal justice and criminology programs at Plymouth State University. Prior to joining the Plymouth State faculty, he practiced law, representing poor criminal defendants for the New Hampshire Public Defender’s Office. Mark left the law after being guided by the Universe to focus on his Spiritual Awareness for almost two years. Upon his return, he was called to become a teacher and accepted a job at Plymouth State in 2003.

                                    Since then, Mark has worked extensively with alternative theoretical models in law, constitutional law, and higher education, and has published on integral applications to teaching, being a lawyer, and legal theory. In his time at the university, he’s been a chair, Dean, and Interim VP. His focus in the classroom is ethics and criminal procedure and constitutional law. He is well respected for a teaching philosophy that emphasizes recognizing the humanity and dignity of each student. Professor Fischler was awarded the outstanding teaching award at his university in 2014. He currently offers a weekly Spiritual Inquiry class for college students.

                                    ---

                                    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                    ]]>4ae8100b-5743-4da5-b3d2-27cb023ec353Thu, 15 Jun 2023 05:00:00 -040001:01:53falsefull8282Building a Just World: How Our Laws Express Our Collective Values, and the Challenge of Uplifting Our Values, Law, and SocietyEp. 81 (Part 1 of 2) | Constitutional law expert and criminal justice professor Mark Fischler has a thirst for justice and a gift for teaching. With cogency and passion, Mark explains that law is not the absolute that we perhaps thought, but an ever changing reflection of the values we hold as a society. Law is a developmental process, and will benefit from our own dedication to inner moral development. Mark shows how the law can (and has) become ever more inclusive, with the potential to serve and uphold the dignity of all peoples, all beings. Because of its abstract clauses, there is room in the Constitution to interpret the law in ways that are attuned with our pluralistic society. Mark calls on us to come together and decide what we value as a people—there is no mandate in democracy that all decision making power must reside in the hands of the Supreme Court, which has only had the sort of unilateral power it enjoys today since the 1950s.

                                    This is no dry, legalistic conversation, but a truly illuminating vision of the potential of the law to embody justice, inclusivity, compassion. It is also a solid overview of where we have come from and where we are now, referencing many landmark rulings of the Supreme Court. Finally, this is spiritually inspiring as well—Mark tells the story of the transformational epiphany he had as a young man that led to his career as a public defender, onto the spiritual path, and eventually to become a well-respected, award-winning professor of criminal justice. Mark’s perspective on the law is far ranging, embracing human rights, animal rights, the rights of all beings. It comes from a place of deep care and compassion: “What is the happiness that the Declaration of Independence talks about, what is suffering?” Be inspired by Mark’s wise and knowledgeable teachings and the potential of the law to create a just society for all. Recorded January 4, 2023.

                                    “Law is our collective coming together and deciding what we value as a people.”

                                    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                    • Introducing professor of criminal justice and constitutional law expert Mark Fischler (01:31)
                                    • How did Mark get into constitutional law? (03:45)
                                    • At the foundation of legal theory is the question: natural law or positive law? How Ken Wilber reduced the cognitive dissonance going on around this for Mark (06:44)
                                    • Law is a lawyer-driven process and the action is in the criminal courts (07:52)
                                    • Mark’s 1996 transformational epiphany of self-knowledge around the judgmental character of his mind (09:16)
                                    • How psychotherapy relates to Mark’s practice as a public defender and taking a bodhisattva approach to being there for all beings (13:59)
                                    • The deepening of Mark’s spiritual practice: Am I supposed to leave everything behind, give it all up? (21:08)
                                    • “The demon spoke” (Socrates): leaving public defender hood and the beginning of Mark’s spiritual journey (25:03)
                                    • Miguel Luiz’ Four Agreements: principles upon which to life your life (29:35)
                                    • Being of service to others is the foundational piece driving Mark to deepen his understanding of the law and in his role as professor (35:08)
                                    • “We’re in a stage of pluralism, but we sure don’t act that way;”Justice Alito’s decision in the Dobbs case, overturning Roe v. Wade (37:02)
                                    • Can we start to have a conversation about the law, from a 30,000’ point of view, transcending and including perspectives, even the Integral one? (38:20)
                                    • Giving the Supreme Court so much power to make legal decisions is only as old as the 1950s (39:46) 
                                    • Was Roe v. Wade the best way to go? We needed to have a more honest conversation from the start (43:37)
                                    • Human rights and how developmental stages play out in the justice system (46:35)
                                    • Roger highlights the points Mark has brought up and their antidotes: absolutism, pluralism, the need for honest conversations, integrating different points of view (48:12)
                                    • Teaching civil liberties to a class of diverse first generation students so that they feel heard and valued (51:47)
                                    • Understanding Alito’s point of view, emotional contagion, and how Alito and other Supreme Court justices do not feel respected or heard (55:18)
                                    • Black nationalism: being completely independent of the system (58:40)
                                    
                                    

                                    Resources & References – Part 1

                                    • What’s the Future (WTF) and What Can We Do About It? Integral Conference, Sedona 2022
                                    • John Kaiser, professor whose teachings stand at the crossroads between social & political philosophy, human rights, and ethics
                                    • Plato, The Republic*
                                    • Ken Wilber’s Four Quadrants (Integral Life)
                                    • Melvyn Zarr, professor who represented Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
                                    • Hayden Valley, Yosemite
                                    • Roshi Philip Kapleau, The Three Pillars of Zen*
                                    • The Third Patriarch of Zen, “…and the burdensome practice of judging brings annoyance and weariness” 
                                    • Gerry Spence, founder of the Trial Lawyer’s College, who tried and won many nationally known cases, including the Karen Silkwood case
                                    • Carl Rogers, On Becoming a Person*
                                    • The practice of tonglen
                                    • Pema Chodron, Reggie Ray, Ram Dass, Shunryu Suzuki
                                    • Bob Fogelnest, former president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
                                    • Plato’s Apology
                                    • Bo Lozoff, We’re All Doing Time: A Guide to Getting Free (foreword by The Dalai Lama)
                                    • Miguel Luiz, The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom*
                                    • Gini Gentry, ​​spiritual leader of the Toltec Eagle Knight Lineage 
                                    • Don Miguel Luiz: Events, Workshops, Retreats
                                    • Dobbs v. Jackson, where Justice Alito’s decision overturned Roe v. Wade 
                                    • Jeff Salzman, beloved Integral pundit, The Daily Evolver podcast
                                    • Ep. 81 (Part 1 of 2) | Constitutional law expert and criminal justice professor Mark Fischler has a thirst for justice and a gift for teaching. With cogency and passion, Mark explains that law is not the absolute that we perhaps thought, but an ever changing reflection of the values we hold as a society. Law is a developmental process, and will benefit from our own dedication to inner moral development. Mark shows how the law can (and has) become ever more inclusive, with the potential to serve and uphold the dignity of all peoples, all beings. Because of its abstract clauses, there is room in the Constitution to interpret the law in ways that are attuned with our pluralistic society. Mark calls on us to come together and decide what we value as a people—there is no mandate in democracy that all decision making power must reside in the hands of the Supreme Court, which has only had the sort of unilateral power it enjoys today since the 1950s.

                                      This is no dry, legalistic conversation, but a truly illuminating vision of the potential of the law to embody justice, inclusivity, compassion. It is also a solid overview of where we have come from and where we are now, referencing many landmark rulings of the Supreme Court. Finally, this is spiritually inspiring as well—Mark tells the story of the transformational epiphany he had as a young man that led to his career as a public defender, onto the spiritual path, and eventually to become a well-respected, award-winning professor of criminal justice. Mark’s perspective on the law is far ranging, embracing human rights, animal rights, the rights of all beings. It comes from a place of deep care and compassion: “What is the happiness that the Declaration of Independence talks about, what is suffering?” Be inspired by Mark’s wise and knowledgeable teachings and the potential of the law to create a just society for all. Recorded January 4, 2023.

                                      “Law is our collective coming together and deciding what we value as a people.”

                                      (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                      Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                      • Introducing professor of criminal justice and constitutional law expert Mark Fischler (01:31)
                                      • How did Mark get into constitutional law? (03:45)
                                      • At the foundation of legal theory is the question: natural law or positive law? How Ken Wilber reduced the cognitive dissonance going on around this for Mark (06:44)
                                      • Law is a lawyer-driven process and the action is in the criminal courts (07:52)
                                      • Mark’s 1996 transformational epiphany of self-knowledge around the judgmental character of his mind (09:16)
                                      • How psychotherapy relates to Mark’s practice as a public defender and taking a bodhisattva approach to being there for all beings (13:59)
                                      • The deepening of Mark’s spiritual practice: Am I supposed to leave everything behind, give it all up? (21:08)
                                      • “The demon spoke” (Socrates): leaving public defender hood and the beginning of Mark’s spiritual journey (25:03)
                                      • Miguel Luiz’ Four Agreements: principles upon which to life your life (29:35)
                                      • Being of service to others is the foundational piece driving Mark to deepen his understanding of the law and in his role as professor (35:08)
                                      • “We’re in a stage of pluralism, but we sure don’t act that way;”Justice Alito’s decision in the Dobbs case, overturning Roe v. Wade (37:02)
                                      • Can we start to have a conversation about the law, from a 30,000’ point of view, transcending and including perspectives, even the Integral one? (38:20)
                                      • Giving the Supreme Court so much power to make legal decisions is only as old as the 1950s (39:46) 
                                      • Was Roe v. Wade the best way to go? We needed to have a more honest conversation from the start (43:37)
                                      • Human rights and how developmental stages play out in the justice system (46:35)
                                      • Roger highlights the points Mark has brought up and their antidotes: absolutism, pluralism, the need for honest conversations, integrating different points of view (48:12)
                                      • Teaching civil liberties to a class of diverse first generation students so that they feel heard and valued (51:47)
                                      • Understanding Alito’s point of view, emotional contagion, and how Alito and other Supreme Court justices do not feel respected or heard (55:18)
                                      • Black nationalism: being completely independent of the system (58:40)
                                      
                                      

                                      Resources & References – Part 1

                                      • What’s the Future (WTF) and What Can We Do About It? Integral Conference, Sedona 2022
                                      • John Kaiser, professor whose teachings stand at the crossroads between social & political philosophy, human rights, and ethics
                                      • Plato, The Republic*
                                      • Ken Wilber’s Four Quadrants (Integral Life)
                                      • Melvyn Zarr, professor who represented Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
                                      • Hayden Valley, Yosemite
                                      • Roshi Philip Kapleau, The Three Pillars of Zen*
                                      • The Third Patriarch of Zen, “…and the burdensome practice of judging brings annoyance and weariness” 
                                      • Gerry Spence, founder of the Trial Lawyer’s College, who tried and won many nationally known cases, including the Karen Silkwood case
                                      • Carl Rogers, On Becoming a Person*
                                      • The practice of tonglen
                                      • Pema Chodron, Reggie Ray, Ram Dass, Shunryu Suzuki
                                      • Bob Fogelnest, former president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
                                      • Plato’s Apology
                                      • Bo Lozoff, We’re All Doing Time: A Guide to Getting Free (foreword by The Dalai Lama)
                                      • Miguel Luiz, The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom*
                                      • Gini Gentry, ​​spiritual leader of the Toltec Eagle Knight Lineage 
                                      • Don Miguel Luiz: Events, Workshops, Retreats
                                      • Dobbs v. Jackson, where Justice Alito’s decision overturned Roe v. Wade 
                                      • Jeff Salzman, beloved Integral pundit, The Daily Evolver podcast
                                      • Marbury v. Madison, Supreme Court case that established the principle of judicial review in the United States
                                      • The Warren Court and Brown v. Board of Education
                                      • Corey Robin, The Enigma of Clarence Thomas*
                                      • Stokely Carmichael, Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad
                                      • Thomas Sowell, author, philosopher, economist, Discrimination and Disparities*
                                      
                                      

                                      * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                      ---

                                      Mark Fischler is a Professor of Criminal Justice and current program coordinator for the criminal justice and criminology programs at Plymouth State University. Prior to joining the Plymouth State faculty, he practiced law, representing poor criminal defendants for the New Hampshire Public Defender’s Office. Mark left the law after being guided by the Universe to focus on his Spiritual Awareness for almost two years. Upon his return, he was called to become a teacher and accepted a job at Plymouth State in 2003.

                                       Since then, Mark has worked extensively with alternative theoretical models in law, constitutional law, and higher education, and has published on integral applications to teaching, being a lawyer, and legal theory. In his time at the university, he’s been a chair, Dean, and Interim VP. His focus in the classroom is ethics and criminal procedure and constitutional law. He is well respected for a teaching philosophy that emphasizes recognizing the humanity and dignity of each student. Professor Fischler was awarded the outstanding teaching award at his university in 2014. He currently offers a weekly Spiritual Inquiry class for college students.

                                      ---

                                      Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                      ]]>b58cd760-481f-4b54-ad3e-5d028d81b13aThu, 08 Jun 2023 05:00:00 -040001:02:30falsefull8181Meeting & Healing the Shadow on the Spiritual Path: An Essential Practice for Awakening, Growth & Healing (Part 2)Ep. 80 (Part 2 of 2) | Connie Zweig, award-winning author, depth psychologist, master shadow guide, and longtime contemplative practitioner asks some good questions—and answers them too, with unusual clarity and deep insight born of long experience and a cutting-edge mind. Why is it that we meet darkness on the spiritual path? What do we banish into the shadow? How do we reclaim what we project onto charismatic leaders? Learning to recognize and resolve the shadow is a powerful practice, and one that is all too often overlooked in a time when psychology is focused on objective approaches, neglecting the fact and force of the unconscious. Cultivating shadow awareness, we can begin to look beyond projections and stereotypes, recognize the risks of black and white thinking, and learn how to reclaim what Carl Jung called the “unlived life.” Connie discusses the psychodynamics between spiritual student and spiritual teacher, and other situations where people have disproportionate power over others, shining a bright light of illumination on the nuances and complexities of these relationships.

                                      This is an intimate look into the challenges of the spiritual path, where we need both psychological practice and spiritual practice to advance our awakening, and a very relevant, timely conversation with shadow currently erupting in our culture in epidemic proportions. Connie’s dedication to helping people find their way through the dark nights we inevitably experience on our spiritual journey comes through strong and clear. Her authenticity, caring, and wisdom is palpable, inspiring us as to how the lights really go on when we start to see the dynamics of our inner world and relationships with more nuance, deeper insight, and shadow awareness. Recorded April 5, 2023.

                                      “When you meet the shadow, it means something else is required of you.”

                                      (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                      Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                      • Let’s talk about awakening: it’s not just about meeting the shadow (01:25)
                                      • Connie’s intention is to help people move through and past the inevitable challenges on the path of spiritual growth (03:30)
                                      • Spiritual shadow work: how do we reclaim our projections & gifts that we tend to give away to charismatic leaders? (04:44) 
                                      • How do we uncover what we banished into the shadow? Bringing forth our “unlived life” (06:11)
                                      • Connie’s distress about the state of the field of psychology today: medicalization, the cognitive/behavioral/neuroscience approach, and a complete discounting of the role of the unconscious (09:12)
                                      • Ken Wilber’s work (and the work of A. H. Almaas) provides a bridge for integrating depth psychology and spiritual practice (12:02)
                                      • Importance of your own inner guidance: what feels right? (13:22)
                                      • Taking up a practice without taking on the whole enchilada (15:14)
                                      • What would an integrated spiritual regime look like? Contemplative practice, reflective practices, depth psychotherapy, group practice & relationships, study, and bodywork (17:23)
                                      • Lifestyle is another crucial element of a well-rounded practice (22:25)
                                      • Trump’s malignant narcissism is in some ways analogous to how spiritual leaders attract followers: appealing to our pre-rational selves (23:17)
                                      • How many teachers empower their students to leave the community and go teach? (28:20)
                                      • Cultural shadows: e.g., independent America’s shadow is dependence (30:32)
                                      • The concept of salvation in our spiritual sub-cultures (31:38) 
                                      • The #MeToo movement wasn’t extended into the spiritual arena; the complexity of the issue of consent (34:19)
                                      • Sexual relations with a spiritual leader trigger an identity crisis: Who am I? Victim, consort, special one? (40:50)
                                      • What is the shadow side of the #MeToo movement? (41:49)
                                      • Lonely spiritual teachers and systemic causes of abuse (43:07)
                                      • Roger’s summary of Connie’s new book, Meeting the Shadow on the Spiritual Path (45:39)
                                      
                                      

                                      Resources & References – Part 2

                                      • Buddha at the Gas Pump podcast
                                      • Ken Wilber’s Lines of Development (Integral Academy website)
                                      • Carl Jung quote about The Unlived Life, Robert A. Johnson, Living Your Unlived Life: Coping with Unrealized Dreams and Fulfilling Your Purpose in the Second Half of Life*
                                      • A.H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), creator of The Diamond Approach, see also Deep Transformation episode #43, Nonduality and Beyond: The Exhilarating Adventure of Discovering the Nature of Reality (or watch on YouTube)
                                      • Arthur Deikman’s test of enlightenment: ask the spouse
                                      • Erich Fromm, Escape from Freedom*
                                      • Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death*
                                      • Association for Spiritual Integrity
                                      • The #MeToo movement
                                      • Connie Zweig, Meeting the Shadow on the Spiritual Path: The Dance of Darkness and Light in Our Search for Awakening*
                                      • Connie Zweig, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul*
                                      • Connie Zweig, The Holy Longing: The Hidden Power of Spiritual Yearning*
                                      • Connie Zweig, Romancing the Shadow: A Guide to Soul Work for a Vital, Authentic Life*
                                      • Connie Zweig & Jeremiah Abrams, editors, Meeting the Shadow: The Hidden Power of the Dark Side of Human Nature*
                                      • Connie Zweig, A Moth to the Flame: The Story of the Great Sufi Poet Rumi*
                                      • See also Deep Transformation episode #19, Connie Zweig –The World Needs Elders: How Inner Work Transforms Aging into a Developmental Process, a Life Culmination, and a Gift*
                                      • Connie’s blogs on Medium: https://medium.com/@conniezweig
                                      • Connie’s website: conniezweig.com, Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drconniezweig/, Twitter: Ep. 80 (Part 2 of 2) | Connie Zweig, award-winning author, depth psychologist, master shadow guide, and longtime contemplative practitioner asks some good questions—and answers them too, with unusual clarity and deep insight born of long experience and a cutting-edge mind. Why is it that we meet darkness on the spiritual path? What do we banish into the shadow? How do we reclaim what we project onto charismatic leaders? Learning to recognize and resolve the shadow is a powerful practice, and one that is all too often overlooked in a time when psychology is focused on objective approaches, neglecting the fact and force of the unconscious. Cultivating shadow awareness, we can begin to look beyond projections and stereotypes, recognize the risks of black and white thinking, and learn how to reclaim what Carl Jung called the “unlived life.” Connie discusses the psychodynamics between spiritual student and spiritual teacher, and other situations where people have disproportionate power over others, shining a bright light of illumination on the nuances and complexities of these relationships.

                                        This is an intimate look into the challenges of the spiritual path, where we need both psychological practice and spiritual practice to advance our awakening, and a very relevant, timely conversation with shadow currently erupting in our culture in epidemic proportions. Connie’s dedication to helping people find their way through the dark nights we inevitably experience on our spiritual journey comes through strong and clear. Her authenticity, caring, and wisdom is palpable, inspiring us as to how the lights really go on when we start to see the dynamics of our inner world and relationships with more nuance, deeper insight, and shadow awareness. Recorded April 5, 2023.

                                        “When you meet the shadow, it means something else is required of you.”

                                        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                        • Let’s talk about awakening: it’s not just about meeting the shadow (01:25)
                                        • Connie’s intention is to help people move through and past the inevitable challenges on the path of spiritual growth (03:30)
                                        • Spiritual shadow work: how do we reclaim our projections & gifts that we tend to give away to charismatic leaders? (04:44) 
                                        • How do we uncover what we banished into the shadow? Bringing forth our “unlived life” (06:11)
                                        • Connie’s distress about the state of the field of psychology today: medicalization, the cognitive/behavioral/neuroscience approach, and a complete discounting of the role of the unconscious (09:12)
                                        • Ken Wilber’s work (and the work of A. H. Almaas) provides a bridge for integrating depth psychology and spiritual practice (12:02)
                                        • Importance of your own inner guidance: what feels right? (13:22)
                                        • Taking up a practice without taking on the whole enchilada (15:14)
                                        • What would an integrated spiritual regime look like? Contemplative practice, reflective practices, depth psychotherapy, group practice & relationships, study, and bodywork (17:23)
                                        • Lifestyle is another crucial element of a well-rounded practice (22:25)
                                        • Trump’s malignant narcissism is in some ways analogous to how spiritual leaders attract followers: appealing to our pre-rational selves (23:17)
                                        • How many teachers empower their students to leave the community and go teach? (28:20)
                                        • Cultural shadows: e.g., independent America’s shadow is dependence (30:32)
                                        • The concept of salvation in our spiritual sub-cultures (31:38) 
                                        • The #MeToo movement wasn’t extended into the spiritual arena; the complexity of the issue of consent (34:19)
                                        • Sexual relations with a spiritual leader trigger an identity crisis: Who am I? Victim, consort, special one? (40:50)
                                        • What is the shadow side of the #MeToo movement? (41:49)
                                        • Lonely spiritual teachers and systemic causes of abuse (43:07)
                                        • Roger’s summary of Connie’s new book, Meeting the Shadow on the Spiritual Path (45:39)
                                        
                                        

                                        Resources & References – Part 2

                                        • Buddha at the Gas Pump podcast
                                        • Ken Wilber’s Lines of Development (Integral Academy website)
                                        • Carl Jung quote about The Unlived Life, Robert A. Johnson, Living Your Unlived Life: Coping with Unrealized Dreams and Fulfilling Your Purpose in the Second Half of Life*
                                        • A.H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), creator of The Diamond Approach, see also Deep Transformation episode #43, Nonduality and Beyond: The Exhilarating Adventure of Discovering the Nature of Reality (or watch on YouTube)
                                        • Arthur Deikman’s test of enlightenment: ask the spouse
                                        • Erich Fromm, Escape from Freedom*
                                        • Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death*
                                        • Association for Spiritual Integrity
                                        • The #MeToo movement
                                        • Connie Zweig, Meeting the Shadow on the Spiritual Path: The Dance of Darkness and Light in Our Search for Awakening*
                                        • Connie Zweig, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul*
                                        • Connie Zweig, The Holy Longing: The Hidden Power of Spiritual Yearning*
                                        • Connie Zweig, Romancing the Shadow: A Guide to Soul Work for a Vital, Authentic Life*
                                        • Connie Zweig & Jeremiah Abrams, editors, Meeting the Shadow: The Hidden Power of the Dark Side of Human Nature*
                                        • Connie Zweig, A Moth to the Flame: The Story of the Great Sufi Poet Rumi*
                                        • See also Deep Transformation episode #19, Connie Zweig –The World Needs Elders: How Inner Work Transforms Aging into a Developmental Process, a Life Culmination, and a Gift*
                                        • Connie’s blogs on Medium: https://medium.com/@conniezweig
                                        • Connie’s website: conniezweig.com, Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drconniezweig/, Twitter: https://twitter.com/ReinventingAge, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dr.ConnieZweig/, YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdvX4rtyOC4SA75JU98qaA?view_as=subscriber
                                        
                                        

                                        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                        ---

                                        Connie Zweig, Ph.D. is a retired therapist and co-author of Meeting the Shadow and Romancing the Shadow. Her award-winning book, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul, extends her work on the Shadow into midlife and beyond and explores aging as a spiritual practice. It won the 2022 Gold COVR Award, the 2022 Gold Nautilus Award, the 2021 American Book Fest Award, and the 2021 Best Indie Book Award for best inspirational non-fiction. Her new book, Meeting the Shadow on the Spiritual Path: The Dance of Darkness and Light in Our Search for Awakening, will be available in May 2023. Connie has been doing contemplative practices for more than 50 years. She is a wife, stepmother, and grandmother. After all these roles, she’s practicing the shift from role to soul.

                                        ---

                                        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                        ]]>77c8b998-5d09-4fc8-9024-ace7edd054e4Thu, 01 Jun 2023 05:00:00 -040048:03falsefull8080Meeting & Healing the Shadow on the Spiritual Path: An Essential Practice for Awakening, Growth & HealingEp. 79 (Part 1 of 2) | Connie Zweig, award-winning author, depth psychologist, master shadow guide, and longtime contemplative practitioner asks some good questions—and answers them too, with unusual clarity and deep insight born of long experience and a cutting-edge mind. Why is it that we meet darkness on the spiritual path? What do we banish into the shadow? How do we reclaim what we project onto charismatic leaders? Learning to recognize and resolve the shadow is a powerful practice, and one that is all too often overlooked in a time when psychology is focused on objective approaches, neglecting the fact and force of the unconscious. Cultivating shadow awareness, we can begin to look beyond projections and stereotypes, recognize the risks of black and white thinking, and learn how to reclaim what Carl Jung called the “unlived life.” Connie discusses the psychodynamics between spiritual student and spiritual teacher, and other situations where people have disproportionate power over others, shining a bright light of illumination on the nuances and complexities of these relationships.

                                        This is an intimate look into the challenges of the spiritual path, where we need both psychological practice and spiritual practice to advance our awakening, and a very relevant, timely conversation with shadow currently erupting in our culture in epidemic proportions. Connie’s dedication to helping people find their way through the dark nights we inevitably experience on our spiritual journey comes through strong and clear. Her authenticity, caring, and wisdom is palpable, inspiring us as to how the lights really go on when we start to see the dynamics of our inner world and relationships with more nuance, deeper insight, and shadow awareness. Recorded April 5, 2023.

                                        “When you meet the shadow, it means something else is required of you.”

                                        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                        • Introducing depth psychologist, illuminator of the shadow, and award-winning author Connie Zweig (01:17)
                                        • What brought Connie to the subject of shadow: exploring the psychology of spiritual yearning (02:10)
                                        • Why is it that we meet darkness on the spiritual path? (05:18)
                                        • What Carl Jung meant when he used the term shadow (06:45)
                                        • The negative traits (and our unlived gifts) that are in the shadow are always in relation to the ego (08:02)
                                        • Why don’t we recognize the shadow? By definition, the shadow is hidden, unacceptable—locked in both body & mind (10:03)
                                        • The shadow has erupted in our culture, but it’s not so apparent in the spiritual arena (12:43)
                                        • Psychodynamics & psychological defense mechanisms: projection, repression & denial are not recognized in the wisdom traditions (16:44)
                                        • Dreamwork is a way to begin exploring the unconscious (19:19)
                                        • How does developmental psychology fit in? Self-observation is the beginning, turning inward (20:13)
                                        • Connie’s book is a call for spiritual awakening, deepening practice, and also shadow awareness (22:45)
                                        • Shadow awareness includes recognizing our projections—both negative and spiritually bright (24:37)
                                        • What is it in us that wants to make the human divine? Projection and the psychodynamics of our relationship to spiritual leaders (26:08)
                                        • Archetypal projection: attributing godlike power to leaders (28:36)
                                        • How does it feel to have large numbers of people projecting perfection on you? (29:21)
                                        • Narcissism, secrecy, and spiritual bypassing in spiritual communities (32:03)
                                        • What leads a spiritual community to become cult-like, where people lose their critical thinking? (37:48)
                                        • The practice of guru worship, idealization, or visualizing inner gods and goddesses (43:00)
                                        • Cultivating shadow awareness in spiritual contexts (45:56)
                                        • Taking the risk of stepping into liminality and uncertainty, trusting life (50:06)
                                        • Follow the yearning beyond the ego self while also remembering to be aware there will be dark nights on the journey: when you meet the shadow, it means something else is required of you (52:58)
                                        
                                        

                                        Resources & References – Part 1

                                        • Connie Zweig, Meeting the Shadow on the Spiritual Path: The Dance of Darkness and Light in Our Search for Awakening*
                                        • Connie Zweig, A Moth to the Flame: The Story of the Great Sufi Poet Rumi*
                                        • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s poem The Holy Longing (translated by Robert Bly)
                                        • Connie Zweig, The Holy Longing: The Hidden Power of Spiritual Yearning*
                                        • Connie Zweig, Romancing the Shadow: A Guide to Soul Work for a Vital, Authentic Life*
                                        • Connie Zweig, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul*
                                        • See also Deep Transformation episode #19, Connie Zweig –The World Needs Elders: How Inner Work Transforms Aging into a Developmental Process, a Life Culmination, and a Gift*
                                        • Connie Zweig & Jeremiah Abrams, editors, Meeting the Shadow: The Hidden Power of the Dark Side of Human Nature*
                                        • Carl Jung, “The Relationship Between the Ego and Unconscious” in The Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious (Collected Works of C.G. Jung Vol. 9 Part 1)*, Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self (Collected Works of C.G. Jung Vol. 9 Part 2)*
                                        • Sigmund Freud, On Murder, Mourning, and Melancholia*
                                        • The #MeToo movement
                                        • Defense Mechanisms in Psychology Explained (+ Examples) (Positive Psychology.org)
                                        • Ken Wilber, “shadow material in every chakra,” The Religion of Tomorrow: A Vision for the Future of the Great Traditions*
                                        • Dick Anthony, Bruce Ecker & Ken Wilber, Spiritual Choices: The Problem of Recognizing Paths to Inner Transformation*
                                        • A.H. Almaas, creator of The Diamond Approach, see also Deep Transformation episode #43, Nonduality and Beyond: The Exhilarating Adventure of Discovering the Nature of Reality (or watch on YouTube)
                                        • Keith Raniere, the NXIVM guy
                                        • Marilyn...]]>Ep. 79 (Part 1 of 2) | Connie Zweig, award-winning author, depth psychologist, master shadow guide, and longtime contemplative practitioner asks some good questions—and answers them too, with unusual clarity and deep insight born of long experience and a cutting-edge mind. Why is it that we meet darkness on the spiritual path? What do we banish into the shadow? How do we reclaim what we project onto charismatic leaders? Learning to recognize and resolve the shadow is a powerful practice, and one that is all too often overlooked in a time when psychology is focused on objective approaches, neglecting the fact and force of the unconscious. Cultivating shadow awareness, we can begin to look beyond projections and stereotypes, recognize the risks of black and white thinking, and learn how to reclaim what Carl Jung called the “unlived life.” Connie discusses the psychodynamics between spiritual student and spiritual teacher, and other situations where people have disproportionate power over others, shining a bright light of illumination on the nuances and complexities of these relationships.

                                          This is an intimate look into the challenges of the spiritual path, where we need both psychological practice and spiritual practice to advance our awakening, and a very relevant, timely conversation with shadow currently erupting in our culture in epidemic proportions. Connie’s dedication to helping people find their way through the dark nights we inevitably experience on our spiritual journey comes through strong and clear. Her authenticity, caring, and wisdom is palpable, inspiring us as to how the lights really go on when we start to see the dynamics of our inner world and relationships with more nuance, deeper insight, and shadow awareness. Recorded April 5, 2023.

                                          “When you meet the shadow, it means something else is required of you.”

                                          (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                          Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                          • Introducing depth psychologist, illuminator of the shadow, and award-winning author Connie Zweig (01:17)
                                          • What brought Connie to the subject of shadow: exploring the psychology of spiritual yearning (02:10)
                                          • Why is it that we meet darkness on the spiritual path? (05:18)
                                          • What Carl Jung meant when he used the term shadow (06:45)
                                          • The negative traits (and our unlived gifts) that are in the shadow are always in relation to the ego (08:02)
                                          • Why don’t we recognize the shadow? By definition, the shadow is hidden, unacceptable—locked in both body & mind (10:03)
                                          • The shadow has erupted in our culture, but it’s not so apparent in the spiritual arena (12:43)
                                          • Psychodynamics & psychological defense mechanisms: projection, repression & denial are not recognized in the wisdom traditions (16:44)
                                          • Dreamwork is a way to begin exploring the unconscious (19:19)
                                          • How does developmental psychology fit in? Self-observation is the beginning, turning inward (20:13)
                                          • Connie’s book is a call for spiritual awakening, deepening practice, and also shadow awareness (22:45)
                                          • Shadow awareness includes recognizing our projections—both negative and spiritually bright (24:37)
                                          • What is it in us that wants to make the human divine? Projection and the psychodynamics of our relationship to spiritual leaders (26:08)
                                          • Archetypal projection: attributing godlike power to leaders (28:36)
                                          • How does it feel to have large numbers of people projecting perfection on you? (29:21)
                                          • Narcissism, secrecy, and spiritual bypassing in spiritual communities (32:03)
                                          • What leads a spiritual community to become cult-like, where people lose their critical thinking? (37:48)
                                          • The practice of guru worship, idealization, or visualizing inner gods and goddesses (43:00)
                                          • Cultivating shadow awareness in spiritual contexts (45:56)
                                          • Taking the risk of stepping into liminality and uncertainty, trusting life (50:06)
                                          • Follow the yearning beyond the ego self while also remembering to be aware there will be dark nights on the journey: when you meet the shadow, it means something else is required of you (52:58)
                                          
                                          

                                          Resources & References – Part 1

                                          • Connie Zweig, Meeting the Shadow on the Spiritual Path: The Dance of Darkness and Light in Our Search for Awakening*
                                          • Connie Zweig, A Moth to the Flame: The Story of the Great Sufi Poet Rumi*
                                          • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s poem The Holy Longing (translated by Robert Bly)
                                          • Connie Zweig, The Holy Longing: The Hidden Power of Spiritual Yearning*
                                          • Connie Zweig, Romancing the Shadow: A Guide to Soul Work for a Vital, Authentic Life*
                                          • Connie Zweig, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul*
                                          • See also Deep Transformation episode #19, Connie Zweig –The World Needs Elders: How Inner Work Transforms Aging into a Developmental Process, a Life Culmination, and a Gift*
                                          • Connie Zweig & Jeremiah Abrams, editors, Meeting the Shadow: The Hidden Power of the Dark Side of Human Nature*
                                          • Carl Jung, “The Relationship Between the Ego and Unconscious” in The Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious (Collected Works of C.G. Jung Vol. 9 Part 1)*, Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self (Collected Works of C.G. Jung Vol. 9 Part 2)*
                                          • Sigmund Freud, On Murder, Mourning, and Melancholia*
                                          • The #MeToo movement
                                          • Defense Mechanisms in Psychology Explained (+ Examples) (Positive Psychology.org)
                                          • Ken Wilber, “shadow material in every chakra,” The Religion of Tomorrow: A Vision for the Future of the Great Traditions*
                                          • Dick Anthony, Bruce Ecker & Ken Wilber, Spiritual Choices: The Problem of Recognizing Paths to Inner Transformation*
                                          • A.H. Almaas, creator of The Diamond Approach, see also Deep Transformation episode #43, Nonduality and Beyond: The Exhilarating Adventure of Discovering the Nature of Reality (or watch on YouTube)
                                          • Keith Raniere, the NXIVM guy
                                          • Marilyn Ferguson, The Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal and Social Transformation in Our Time*
                                          • Connie’s blogs on Medium: https://medium.com/@conniezweig
                                          • Connie’s website: conniezweig.com, Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drconniezweig/, Twitter: https://twitter.com/ReinventingAge, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dr.ConnieZweig/, YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdvX4rtyOC4SA75JU98qaA?view_as=subscriber
                                          
                                          

                                          * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                          ---

                                          Connie Zweig, Ph.D. is a retired therapist and co-author of Meeting the Shadow and Romancing the Shadow. Her award-winning book, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul, extends her work on the Shadow into midlife and beyond and explores aging as a spiritual practice. It won the 2022 Gold COVR Award, the 2022 Gold Nautilus Award, the 2021 American Book Fest Award, and the 2021 Best Indie Book Award for best inspirational non-fiction. Her new book, Meeting the Shadow on the Spiritual Path: The Dance of Darkness and Light in Our Search for Awakening, will be available in May 2023. Connie has been doing contemplative practices for more than 50 years. She is a wife, stepmother, and grandmother. After all these roles, she’s practicing the shift from role to soul.

                                          ---

                                          Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                          ]]>d2a5ca6c-c0c0-4e1b-9142-f753fc3cf2b2Thu, 25 May 2023 05:00:00 -040057:22falsefull7979From Race to Culture to Cosmos: Using the Dance of Our Differences to Wise Up, Harmonize & Actualize (Part 2)Ep. 78 (Part 2 of 2) | Greg Thomas, brilliant cultural analyst, educator, musician, speaker, and co-founder of the Jazz Leadership Project, is passionate about the power of culture to transform us as individuals and collectively. Where race is concerned, Greg presents an illuminating, multiperspectival view of the many layered issues around racism in this country. Early on, Greg developed a systemic perspective on how everything fits together, and realized that the issues that plague us are not just about race or racism, but the overarching systemic racial worldview. Greg offers that the way out of this morass lies in adopting a cultural lens to replace the racial lens. And Greg points out that when we further embrace a cultural worldview in a participatory way, it opens up all the doors and windows: creating room for individuals to shine, for groups to experience group flow, for all of us to enjoy beauty and appreciation—the way soloist, band, and audience come together in a shared musical experience. 

                                          When Greg talks about the power of culture, sharing illustrative anecdotes about blues masters, blues philosophy, and great moments in jazz history, it becomes clear just how effective culture is at dissolving boundaries and heightening connection, and how music (in this case) allows us to transcend our differences, our daily burdens, and experience unbounded joy. This is a lively, impactful, and poignant dialogue, with wisdom ranging from the deeply spiritual, the psychological/developmental, to the political and universal. Recorded January 25, 2023.

                                          “Out of the many…one: this is the challenge, the spiritual challenge, for Americans and for humanity.”

                                          (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                          Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                          • Antagonistic cooperation: competition is part of the American, democratic experience, but there are ways it can be a cooperative competition, e.g. cutting contests in jazz, cypher in hip hop (01:30)
                                          • Where individuality and the group flow dynamic come together: jazz and the ring shout tradition (04:34)
                                          • Entropy, consciousness, and culture: the tragic dimension and the comic perspective (05:33)
                                          • The power of culture: pushing people towards excellence, orienting towards self-actualization, and the Greek notion of arete (06:57)
                                          • How do we get to arete? The importance of striving for and developing both mastery and wisdom (11:11)
                                          • The tension between virtues like liberty and equality (15:27)
                                          • The healing power of music: Art Pepper & Sonny Stitt’s cutting contest (18:00)
                                          • Stomping the blues and how music merges secular & sacred, reminds us of our range of human feelings, gives resonance to memory, and brings healing and transcendence (21:11)
                                          • Music affirms the gift of life: moments of utopia allow us to transcend our everyday cares (25:00)
                                          • The role of creativity, the arts & humanities, is crucial in getting through the meaning crisis and the metacrisis (28:53)
                                          • Cultural forms and ideas can be picked up at any time and reinvigorated: bringing back the wisdom (29:52)
                                          • If there are enough of us who can model what it takes to be in flow together, despite our differences, we could tap into higher dimensions of human possibility (32:52)
                                          • The blues idiom wisdom tradition, great orators Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. & Frederick Douglass, and the embodiment of American democratic ideals (33:36)
                                          • Striving to achieve the realization of democratic ideals in a multiracial democracy—it’s never been done before (38:34)
                                          • The fundamental contradiction of being a slave owner in a country based on the principle of liberty (41:30)
                                          • Ultimately neither slave owner or slave is psychologically and spiritually free in a slave society (42:20)
                                          
                                          

                                          Resources & References – Part 2

                                          • Joseph Campbell, The Hero’s Journey*
                                          • Sterling Stuckey, Slave Culture*
                                          • Albert Murray, blues philosopher, Reading Albert Murray in the Age of Uncertainty (Tune in to Leadership blog)
                                          • Ring shout, an ecstatic, transcendent religious ritual, first practiced by African slaves 
                                          • Institute for Cultural Evolution, think tank with the mission of advancing the evolution of consciousness & culture in America
                                          • Greg Thomas’ Omni-American Future Project
                                          • Arete, Greek expression for the notion of excellence, ultimately bound up with the notion of the fulfillment of purpose, the act of living up to one’s full potential
                                          • Robert Greene, Mastery*
                                          • John Vervaeke, Awakening from the Meaning Crisis (YouTube video)
                                          • Duke Ellington, one of the greatest jazz composers of all time, who viewed music as a form of activism
                                          • Steve McIntosh, Developmental Politics*
                                          • Jimi Hendrix, master of the blues, master guitar player, singer/songwriter
                                          • Art Pepper & Sonny Stitt, West Coast Sessions! Volume 1*
                                          • Charlie Parker, one of the top jazz improvisers in American history, Ko-Ko [1945]
                                          • Albert Murray, Stomping the Blues*
                                          • Christopher Small, Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening*
                                          • John Vervaeke, After Socrates (YouTube video)
                                          • James Carse, Finite and Infinite Games*
                                          • Plato, The Dialogues of Socrates*
                                          • Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., beloved Nobel Peace...]]>Ep. 78 (Part 2 of 2) | Greg Thomas, brilliant cultural analyst, educator, musician, speaker, and co-founder of the Jazz Leadership Project, is passionate about the power of culture to transform us as individuals and collectively. Where race is concerned, Greg presents an illuminating, multiperspectival view of the many layered issues around racism in this country. Early on, Greg developed a systemic perspective on how everything fits together, and realized that the issues that plague us are not just about race or racism, but the overarching systemic racial worldview. Greg offers that the way out of this morass lies in adopting a cultural lens to replace the racial lens. And Greg points out that when we further embrace a cultural worldview in a participatory way, it opens up all the doors and windows: creating room for individuals to shine, for groups to experience group flow, for all of us to enjoy beauty and appreciation—the way soloist, band, and audience come together in a shared musical experience. 

                                            When Greg talks about the power of culture, sharing illustrative anecdotes about blues masters, blues philosophy, and great moments in jazz history, it becomes clear just how effective culture is at dissolving boundaries and heightening connection, and how music (in this case) allows us to transcend our differences, our daily burdens, and experience unbounded joy. This is a lively, impactful, and poignant dialogue, with wisdom ranging from the deeply spiritual, the psychological/developmental, to the political and universal. Recorded January 25, 2023.

                                            “Out of the many…one: this is the challenge, the spiritual challenge, for Americans and for humanity.”

                                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                            • Antagonistic cooperation: competition is part of the American, democratic experience, but there are ways it can be a cooperative competition, e.g. cutting contests in jazz, cypher in hip hop (01:30)
                                            • Where individuality and the group flow dynamic come together: jazz and the ring shout tradition (04:34)
                                            • Entropy, consciousness, and culture: the tragic dimension and the comic perspective (05:33)
                                            • The power of culture: pushing people towards excellence, orienting towards self-actualization, and the Greek notion of arete (06:57)
                                            • How do we get to arete? The importance of striving for and developing both mastery and wisdom (11:11)
                                            • The tension between virtues like liberty and equality (15:27)
                                            • The healing power of music: Art Pepper & Sonny Stitt’s cutting contest (18:00)
                                            • Stomping the blues and how music merges secular & sacred, reminds us of our range of human feelings, gives resonance to memory, and brings healing and transcendence (21:11)
                                            • Music affirms the gift of life: moments of utopia allow us to transcend our everyday cares (25:00)
                                            • The role of creativity, the arts & humanities, is crucial in getting through the meaning crisis and the metacrisis (28:53)
                                            • Cultural forms and ideas can be picked up at any time and reinvigorated: bringing back the wisdom (29:52)
                                            • If there are enough of us who can model what it takes to be in flow together, despite our differences, we could tap into higher dimensions of human possibility (32:52)
                                            • The blues idiom wisdom tradition, great orators Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. & Frederick Douglass, and the embodiment of American democratic ideals (33:36)
                                            • Striving to achieve the realization of democratic ideals in a multiracial democracy—it’s never been done before (38:34)
                                            • The fundamental contradiction of being a slave owner in a country based on the principle of liberty (41:30)
                                            • Ultimately neither slave owner or slave is psychologically and spiritually free in a slave society (42:20)
                                            
                                            

                                            Resources & References – Part 2

                                            • Joseph Campbell, The Hero’s Journey*
                                            • Sterling Stuckey, Slave Culture*
                                            • Albert Murray, blues philosopher, Reading Albert Murray in the Age of Uncertainty (Tune in to Leadership blog)
                                            • Ring shout, an ecstatic, transcendent religious ritual, first practiced by African slaves 
                                            • Institute for Cultural Evolution, think tank with the mission of advancing the evolution of consciousness & culture in America
                                            • Greg Thomas’ Omni-American Future Project
                                            • Arete, Greek expression for the notion of excellence, ultimately bound up with the notion of the fulfillment of purpose, the act of living up to one’s full potential
                                            • Robert Greene, Mastery*
                                            • John Vervaeke, Awakening from the Meaning Crisis (YouTube video)
                                            • Duke Ellington, one of the greatest jazz composers of all time, who viewed music as a form of activism
                                            • Steve McIntosh, Developmental Politics*
                                            • Jimi Hendrix, master of the blues, master guitar player, singer/songwriter
                                            • Art Pepper & Sonny Stitt, West Coast Sessions! Volume 1*
                                            • Charlie Parker, one of the top jazz improvisers in American history, Ko-Ko [1945]
                                            • Albert Murray, Stomping the Blues*
                                            • Christopher Small, Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening*
                                            • John Vervaeke, After Socrates (YouTube video)
                                            • James Carse, Finite and Infinite Games*
                                            • Plato, The Dialogues of Socrates*
                                            • Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., beloved Nobel Peace Prize-winning orator and leader of the Civil Rights Movement
                                            • Frederick Douglass, one of the greatest orators and statesmen of the 19th century
                                            • Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, founding fathers and signers of the Declaration of Independence
                                            • Danielle Allen, Justice by Means of Democracy*
                                            • Greg Thomas, CEO of the Jazz Leadership Project, a private company that uses jazz music as a model to enhance leadership success and team excellence
                                            • Tune in to Leadership blog (powered by the Jazz Leadership Project)
                                            • The Omni-American Future Project, fighting against bigotry and anti-semitism through cultural, moral, spiritual excellence
                                            
                                            

                                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                            ---

                                            Greg Thomas is CEO of the Jazz Leadership Project, a private company that uses jazz music as a model to enhance leadership success and team excellence. Along with his wife and partner Jewel, the Jazz Leadership Project works with notable firms such as JPMorgan Chase, Verizon, TD Bank, and Google. The leadership blog TuneIntoLeadership.com features their writings. Greg has been a professional journalist for over 25 years. He is currently a Senior Fellow of the Institute for Cultural Evolution. As an educator, Greg recently taught a course, “Cultural Intelligence: Transcending Race, Embracing Cosmos,” and co-facilitated a six-month class in 2022, titled “Stepping Up: Wrestling with America’s Past, Reimagining Its Future, Healing Together.”

                                            As Co-Director of the Omni-American Future Project, Greg co-produced a two-day broadcast and awards ceremony, “Combating Racism and Antisemitism Together: Shaping an Omni-American Future” in October 2021 and the second annual event in November 2022, “Straight Ahead: An Omni-American Future, Fighting Bigotry Together.” In September 2022, Greg co-facilitated a one-day conference, “Resolving the Race-ism Dilemma.” He also serves on the advisory boards of The Consilience Project, and FAIR, the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism. 

                                            ---

                                            Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                            ]]>37ddccdc-f712-4ea1-b4c2-e1a1ac9fe7dbThu, 18 May 2023 05:00:00 -040046:01truefull7878From Race to Culture to Cosmos: Using the Dance of Our Differences to Wise Up, Harmonize & ActualizeEp. 77 (Part 1 of 2) | Greg Thomas, brilliant cultural analyst, educator, musician, speaker, and co-founder of the Jazz Leadership Project, is passionate about the power of culture to transform us as individuals and collectively. Where race is concerned, Greg presents an illuminating, multiperspectival view of the many layered issues around racism in this country. Early on, Greg developed a systemic perspective on how everything fits together, and realized that the issues that plague us are not just about race or racism, but the overarching systemic racial worldview. Greg offers that the way out of this morass lies in adopting a cultural lens to replace the racial lens. And Greg points out that when we further embrace a cultural worldview in a participatory way, it opens up all the doors and windows: creating room for individuals to shine, for groups to experience group flow, for all of us to enjoy beauty and appreciation—the way soloist, band, and audience come together in a shared musical experience. 

                                            When Greg talks about the power of culture, sharing anecdotes about blues masters, blues philosophy, and great moments in jazz history, it becomes clear just how effective culture is at dissolving boundaries and heightening connection, and how music (in this case) allows us to transcend our differences, our daily burdens, and experience unbounded joy. This is a lively, impactful, and poignant dialogue, with wisdom ranging from the deeply spiritual, the psychological/developmental, to the political and universal. Recorded January 25, 2023.

                                            “Out of the many…one: this is the challenge, the spiritual challenge, for Americans and for humanity.”

                                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                            • Introducing Greg Thomas, jazz & blues scholar, musician, educator, and cultural sage (01:02)
                                            • The blues speaks to everyone: as the Buddha said, life is suffering (03:04)
                                            • The experience of Black Americans and their relationship with absurdity (05:07)
                                            • Cultural appropriation is a misunderstanding of the way culture works: the difference between plagiarism and cultural appropriation (06:42)
                                            • Flourishing happens when different ideas and cultures come together (09:05)
                                            • Recognizing the fundamental tributary that the Black American experience and culture is to American history and American culture: using a cultural lens instead of a racial one (13:46)
                                            • Greg Thomas’ spiritual journey: integrating traditionalism, modernism, postmodernism, Integral Theory, a pre-traditional experience, and studying African syncretism, Taoism, Kabbalah, and more (17:38)
                                            • How Greg developed a systemic perspective on how everything fits together, the blues wisdom tradition, and the 4th zone of the Integral Map (22:21)
                                            • Dealing with the range and depth of the wicked problems we have today is ultimately going to take wisdom (25:37)
                                            • How indigenous wisdom was lost during the Age of Enlightenment and the challenge of the Integral movement to provide a framework for integration (26:08)
                                            • One of our fundamental problems stems from the notion that we are separate from nature, separate from the divine (29:24)
                                            • Out of the many…one: this is the challenge, the spiritual challenge, for Americans and for humanity (32:22)
                                            • Is ethnocentricity (and therefore racism) a natural part of the evolutionary ladder? (35:54)
                                            • The concept of rooted cosmopolitanism (40:15)
                                            • Ken Wilber’s “dignities and disasters” of modernity (45:20)
                                            • Beyond ethnocentrism and how each stage has its traps: one trap is the denial of any differences between races, which isn’t right either (47:21)
                                            • Deracialization and the fundamental concept of our identity: making sense of the complex terms race and identity (50:06)
                                            • It’s not just about race or racism, but the overarching systemic racial worldview (53:57)
                                            • Perspectival and participatory knowing are crucial, so we can engage with one another and develop skills of interaction (56:09)
                                            • The swing era of the 1930s, stomping the blues, and group flow (58:29)
                                            
                                            

                                            Resources & References – Part 1

                                            • Greg Thomas, CEO of the Jazz Leadership Project, a private company that uses jazz music as a model to enhance leadership success and team excellence
                                            • Tune in to Leadership blog (powered by the Jazz Leadership Project)
                                            • The Omni-American Future Project, fighting against bigotry and anti-semitism through cultural, moral, spiritual excellence
                                            • Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man*, The Collected Essays of Ralph Ellison*
                                            • Albert Murray, blues philosopher, Murray Talks Music*, The Hero and the Blues*, Stomping the Blues*, The Omni-Americans: Some Alternatives to the Folklore of White Supremacy*
                                            • Ralph Ellison & Albert Murray, Trading Twelves: The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison and Albert Murray*
                                            • The Glenn Show (Glenn Loury), Debating Deracialization with Glenn Loury, Greg Thomas and John McWhorter
                                            • What’s the Future (WTF) and What Can We Do About It? Integral Conference
                                            • Ken Wilber’s Four Quadrants (Integral Life’s What Are the Four Quadrants?)
                                            • Ken Wilber, A Brief History of Everything*
                                            • Religion in Africa, Syncretism 
                                            • Kabbalah’s Tree of Life
                                            • The 8 zones of the Integral Map (Integral Life’s The 8 Perspectival Zones of Emergence)
                                            • The Age of Enlightenment
                                            • Ken Wilber on The Pre/Trans Fallacy (Integral Life)
                                            • John Vervaeke, award-winning lecturer on subjects like Awakening from the Meaning Crisis
                                            • Rick Tarnas, The Passion of the Western Mind*
                                            • Aesop’s fable Ep. 77 (Part 1 of 2) | Greg Thomas, brilliant cultural analyst, educator, musician, speaker, and co-founder of the Jazz Leadership Project, is passionate about the power of culture to transform us as individuals and collectively. Where race is concerned, Greg presents an illuminating, multiperspectival view of the many layered issues around racism in this country. Early on, Greg developed a systemic perspective on how everything fits together, and realized that the issues that plague us are not just about race or racism, but the overarching systemic racial worldview. Greg offers that the way out of this morass lies in adopting a cultural lens to replace the racial lens. And Greg points out that when we further embrace a cultural worldview in a participatory way, it opens up all the doors and windows: creating room for individuals to shine, for groups to experience group flow, for all of us to enjoy beauty and appreciation—the way soloist, band, and audience come together in a shared musical experience. 

                                              When Greg talks about the power of culture, sharing anecdotes about blues masters, blues philosophy, and great moments in jazz history, it becomes clear just how effective culture is at dissolving boundaries and heightening connection, and how music (in this case) allows us to transcend our differences, our daily burdens, and experience unbounded joy. This is a lively, impactful, and poignant dialogue, with wisdom ranging from the deeply spiritual, the psychological/developmental, to the political and universal. Recorded January 25, 2023.

                                              “Out of the many…one: this is the challenge, the spiritual challenge, for Americans and for humanity.”

                                              (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                              Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                              • Introducing Greg Thomas, jazz & blues scholar, musician, educator, and cultural sage (01:02)
                                              • The blues speaks to everyone: as the Buddha said, life is suffering (03:04)
                                              • The experience of Black Americans and their relationship with absurdity (05:07)
                                              • Cultural appropriation is a misunderstanding of the way culture works: the difference between plagiarism and cultural appropriation (06:42)
                                              • Flourishing happens when different ideas and cultures come together (09:05)
                                              • Recognizing the fundamental tributary that the Black American experience and culture is to American history and American culture: using a cultural lens instead of a racial one (13:46)
                                              • Greg Thomas’ spiritual journey: integrating traditionalism, modernism, postmodernism, Integral Theory, a pre-traditional experience, and studying African syncretism, Taoism, Kabbalah, and more (17:38)
                                              • How Greg developed a systemic perspective on how everything fits together, the blues wisdom tradition, and the 4th zone of the Integral Map (22:21)
                                              • Dealing with the range and depth of the wicked problems we have today is ultimately going to take wisdom (25:37)
                                              • How indigenous wisdom was lost during the Age of Enlightenment and the challenge of the Integral movement to provide a framework for integration (26:08)
                                              • One of our fundamental problems stems from the notion that we are separate from nature, separate from the divine (29:24)
                                              • Out of the many…one: this is the challenge, the spiritual challenge, for Americans and for humanity (32:22)
                                              • Is ethnocentricity (and therefore racism) a natural part of the evolutionary ladder? (35:54)
                                              • The concept of rooted cosmopolitanism (40:15)
                                              • Ken Wilber’s “dignities and disasters” of modernity (45:20)
                                              • Beyond ethnocentrism and how each stage has its traps: one trap is the denial of any differences between races, which isn’t right either (47:21)
                                              • Deracialization and the fundamental concept of our identity: making sense of the complex terms race and identity (50:06)
                                              • It’s not just about race or racism, but the overarching systemic racial worldview (53:57)
                                              • Perspectival and participatory knowing are crucial, so we can engage with one another and develop skills of interaction (56:09)
                                              • The swing era of the 1930s, stomping the blues, and group flow (58:29)
                                              
                                              

                                              Resources & References – Part 1

                                              • Greg Thomas, CEO of the Jazz Leadership Project, a private company that uses jazz music as a model to enhance leadership success and team excellence
                                              • Tune in to Leadership blog (powered by the Jazz Leadership Project)
                                              • The Omni-American Future Project, fighting against bigotry and anti-semitism through cultural, moral, spiritual excellence
                                              • Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man*, The Collected Essays of Ralph Ellison*
                                              • Albert Murray, blues philosopher, Murray Talks Music*, The Hero and the Blues*, Stomping the Blues*, The Omni-Americans: Some Alternatives to the Folklore of White Supremacy*
                                              • Ralph Ellison & Albert Murray, Trading Twelves: The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison and Albert Murray*
                                              • The Glenn Show (Glenn Loury), Debating Deracialization with Glenn Loury, Greg Thomas and John McWhorter
                                              • What’s the Future (WTF) and What Can We Do About It? Integral Conference
                                              • Ken Wilber’s Four Quadrants (Integral Life’s What Are the Four Quadrants?)
                                              • Ken Wilber, A Brief History of Everything*
                                              • Religion in Africa, Syncretism 
                                              • Kabbalah’s Tree of Life
                                              • The 8 zones of the Integral Map (Integral Life’s The 8 Perspectival Zones of Emergence)
                                              • The Age of Enlightenment
                                              • Ken Wilber on The Pre/Trans Fallacy (Integral Life)
                                              • John Vervaeke, award-winning lecturer on subjects like Awakening from the Meaning Crisis
                                              • Rick Tarnas, The Passion of the Western Mind*
                                              • Aesop’s fable The North Wind and the Sun
                                              • Integral Spirituality series course A Deeper Cut
                                              • Spiral Dynamics, a model of evolutionary development
                                              • Kwame Anthony Appiah, Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers*, The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity*
                                              • Danielle Allen, Justice by Means of Democracy*
                                              • Henry Murray’s system of needs
                                              • Confucious’ rectification of names
                                              • Greg Thomas, Considering Deracialization, first published in the Institute for Cultural Evolution’s journal The Developmentalist 
                                              • Steve McIntosh, director & co-founder, Institute for Cultural Evolution, author, Developmental Politics* (see also Deep Transformation podcast episode 20, Consciousness Evolves, Politics Can Too)
                                              • Greg Thomas, Deracialization Now: A Response to Glenn Loury & Clifton Roscoe, published at Tune into Leadership.com, Greg’s Jazz Leadership Project blog, and also at Free Black Thought
                                              • John Vervaeke, cognitive scientist, philosopher, psychologist, new YouTube series After Socrates
                                              • Jack Kerouac, On the Road*
                                              
                                              

                                              * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                              ---

                                              Greg Thomas is CEO of the Jazz Leadership Project, a private company that uses jazz music as a model to enhance leadership success and team excellence. Along with his wife and partner Jewel, the Jazz Leadership Project works with notable firms such as JPMorgan Chase, Verizon, TD Bank, and Google. The leadership blog TuneIntoLeadership.com features their writings. Greg has been a professional journalist for over 25 years. He is currently a Senior Fellow of the Institute for Cultural Evolution. As an educator, Greg recently taught a course, “Cultural Intelligence: Transcending Race, Embracing Cosmos,” and co-facilitated a six-month class in 2022, titled “Stepping Up: Wrestling with America’s Past, Reimagining Its Future, Healing Together.”

                                              As Co-Director of the Omni-American Future Project, Greg co-produced a two-day broadcast and awards ceremony, “Combating Racism and Antisemitism Together: Shaping an Omni-American Future” in October 2021 and the second annual event in November 2022, “Straight Ahead: An Omni-American Future, Fighting Bigotry Together.” In September 2022, Greg co-facilitated a one-day conference, “Resolving the Race-ism Dilemma.” He also serves on the advisory boards of The Consilience Project, and FAIR, the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism. 

                                              ---

                                              Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                              ]]>89dcaf2e-25d1-4c49-88da-965f2bd48505Thu, 11 May 2023 05:00:00 -040001:01:27truefull7777Ep. 77 (Part 1 of 2) | Greg Thomas, brilliant cultural analyst, educator, musician, speaker, and co-founder of the Jazz Leadership Project, presents a beautifully illuminating, multiperspectival view of the many layered issues around racism in this country that goes way beyond conventional ideas around racism. Early on, Greg developed a systemic perspective on how everything fits together, realizing that the issues that plague us are not just about race or racism, but the overarching systemic racial worldview. Greg offers that the way out of this morass lies in adopting a cultural lens to replace the racial lens, and Greg points out that when we embrace a cultural worldview in a participatory way, it opens up all the doors and windows: creating room for individuals to shine, for groups to experience group flow, for all of us to enjoy beauty and appreciation—the way a soloist, the band, and the audience come together in a shared musical experience. When Greg talks about the power of culture, sharing anecdotes about blues masters, blues philosophy, and great moments in jazz history, it becomes clear just how effective culture is at dissolving boundaries and heightening connection, and how music (in this case) allows us to transcend our differences, our daily burdens, and experience unbounded joy. This is a lively, impactful, and poignant dialogue, with wisdom ranging from the deeply spiritual, the psychological/developmental, to the political and universal. Recorded January 25, 2023.The Enneagram as Spiritual Tool: A Map for Deeper Self-Understanding & More Effective Contemplative Practice with Leslie Hershberger (Part 2)Ep. 76 (Part 2 of 2) | Enneagram expert, teacher, master facilitator, and transformational coach Leslie Hershberger leads us into the world of the Enneagram, not typology point by point—here Leslie paints a broader, deeper picture of the Enneagram and its uses as a psycho-spiritual tool than is commonly understood. Leslie explains how the Enneagram provides the psychological foundation for each individual to navigate their inner world more skillfully. A wealth of knowledge comes with recognizing the center you orient from—head, heart, or body—and your type’s tendencies, freeing up energy within us to move out of negative patterns into virtuous ones. With the insights the Enneagram provides, we can develop practices tailored to our specific personality structure that help with everyday challenges and vicissitudes, with being more present in our relationships, and with opening to spiritual presence.

                                              Listening to Leslie, one feels the energy of rising awareness as her anecdotes about various different Enneagram types’ ways of relating to themselves, others, and the world ring decisively true, matching our own experience. Leslie’s passion for guiding people who are ready to make “the inward turn” in using the Enneagram as a map is clearly palpable. And though she is a longtime contemplative, Leslie is all about boots-on-the-ground action: meeting people where they are at, providing support and guidance, and reflecting back to all whom she encounters a truly awe-inspiring, Enneagram-informed, and integral understanding. Recorded January 9, 2023.

                                              Please enjoy a 20-minute guided meditation, led by Leslie, at the end of part 2 of this podcast. Leslie originally led this meditation for Roger, John, and the Deep Transformation team right before the podcast was recorded, so they could experience her Enneagram-informed techniques that help us ground, center, and connect with our inner being, somatically and emotionally.

                                              “The Enneagram is a vehicle for spiritual presence—for spiritual experience.”

                                              (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                              Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                              • Truth decay: when insights decay into dogma, practices devolve into ritual (01:34)
                                              • Leslie’s disappointment with the dilution of the value of the Enneagram in popular culture and the common tendency to over identify with one’s type (05:39)
                                              • Building in practices for making the inward turn when our type gets triggered (07:34)
                                              • How everyone interprets the Enneagram according to their stage of development: language matters (09:58)
                                              • How knowledge of the 3 centers (head, heart, body) enables us to understand different perspectives and be more present with others (13:23)
                                              • Recommended books for people new to the Enneagram: The Complete Enneagram by Dr. Beatrice Chestnut, The Essential Enneagram by Dr. David Daniels, and more (see resources below) (16:39)
                                              • Is there any research on the Enneagram? (18:06)
                                              • Looking at the Enneagram from the centers perspective is a good portal of entry, and the differences between heart, head, and body types (19:23)
                                              • Back to research: more research could refine the value of the Enneagram (25:00)
                                              • Working with your core vice within a contemplative practice is when things really start to cook (33:48)
                                              • How does your type change over time with an ongoing contemplative practice? The challenge of embodying a healthy type structure 24/7 (36:02)
                                              • The reality is we all have limits (38:27)
                                              • The importance of understanding the centers approach to the Enneagram and understanding that our psychological structure is housed in the body (47:12)
                                              • What do women want from men? A heart connection and kindness (49:21)
                                              • 20-minute guided meditation led by Leslie to help us ground, center, and connect with our inner being, somatically and emotionally (55:56)
                                              
                                              

                                              Resources & References – Part 2

                                              • Spotlight, 2015 film following the Boston Globe’s investigation into the pedophilia crisis in the Catholic church
                                              • Ken Wilber’s Altitudes of Development on the Daily Evolver website
                                              • Muhammad: “Speak to people only according to their level of knowledge…”
                                              • Beatrice Chestnut, The Complete Enneagram* (Leslie’s recommendation for a good comprehensive overview of the Enneagram, looking at the Enneagram through an archetypal lens)
                                              • David Daniels, The Essential Enneagram* (Leslie’s recommended book for understanding the structure of the types)
                                              • Ginger Lapid-Bogda, Bringing Out the Best in Yourself at Work* (Leslie’s recommendation for applying the Enneagram’s wisdom in the workplace) 
                                              • David Daniels, Terry Saracino, Meghan Fraley, Jennifer Christian & Seth Pardo, “Advancing Ego Development in Adulthood through Study of the Enneagram System of Personality”
                                              • Ginger Lapid-Bogda, PhD, Enneagram author, teacher, keynote speaker, and organization development consultant, trainer, and coach
                                              • Sandra Maitri, The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram: Nine Faces of the Soul* (Leslie’s recommendation around the spiritual dimension of the Enneagram)
                                              • Helen Palmer, The Enneagram: Understanding Yourself and the Others in Your Life*
                                              • Scared straight! therapy and the Barnum effect 
                                              • Michel (Roland) Gauquelin,  A Killer Horoscope
                                              • Dr. David Daniels, co-founder of The Narrative Enneagram training school 
                                              • Ken Wilber, The Marriage of Sense and Soul*
                                              • Jack Killen, David Daniels & Kristin Arthur, “Biology and Personal Transformation: Bridging Science and the Enneagram” (informed also by the work of Dan Siegel)
                                              • Jack Killen, Toward the Neurobiology of the Enneagram
                                              • The International Enneagram Association 
                                              • Benedictine nun Suzanne Zuercher, Enneagram Spirituality: From Compulsion to Contemplation*
                                              • Rachel Naomi Remen, Ep. 76 (Part 2 of 2) | Enneagram expert, teacher, master facilitator, and transformational coach Leslie Hershberger leads us into the world of the Enneagram, not typology point by point—here Leslie paints a broader, deeper picture of the Enneagram and its uses as a psycho-spiritual tool than is commonly understood. Leslie explains how the Enneagram provides the psychological foundation for each individual to navigate their inner world more skillfully. A wealth of knowledge comes with recognizing the center you orient from—head, heart, or body—and your type’s tendencies, freeing up energy within us to move out of negative patterns into virtuous ones. With the insights the Enneagram provides, we can develop practices tailored to our specific personality structure that help with everyday challenges and vicissitudes, with being more present in our relationships, and with opening to spiritual presence.

                                                Listening to Leslie, one feels the energy of rising awareness as her anecdotes about various different Enneagram types’ ways of relating to themselves, others, and the world ring decisively true, matching our own experience. Leslie’s passion for guiding people who are ready to make “the inward turn” in using the Enneagram as a map is clearly palpable. And though she is a longtime contemplative, Leslie is all about boots-on-the-ground action: meeting people where they are at, providing support and guidance, and reflecting back to all whom she encounters a truly awe-inspiring, Enneagram-informed, and integral understanding. Recorded January 9, 2023.

                                                Please enjoy a 20-minute guided meditation, led by Leslie, at the end of part 2 of this podcast. Leslie originally led this meditation for Roger, John, and the Deep Transformation team right before the podcast was recorded, so they could experience her Enneagram-informed techniques that help us ground, center, and connect with our inner being, somatically and emotionally.

                                                “The Enneagram is a vehicle for spiritual presence—for spiritual experience.”

                                                (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                                • Truth decay: when insights decay into dogma, practices devolve into ritual (01:34)
                                                • Leslie’s disappointment with the dilution of the value of the Enneagram in popular culture and the common tendency to over identify with one’s type (05:39)
                                                • Building in practices for making the inward turn when our type gets triggered (07:34)
                                                • How everyone interprets the Enneagram according to their stage of development: language matters (09:58)
                                                • How knowledge of the 3 centers (head, heart, body) enables us to understand different perspectives and be more present with others (13:23)
                                                • Recommended books for people new to the Enneagram: The Complete Enneagram by Dr. Beatrice Chestnut, The Essential Enneagram by Dr. David Daniels, and more (see resources below) (16:39)
                                                • Is there any research on the Enneagram? (18:06)
                                                • Looking at the Enneagram from the centers perspective is a good portal of entry, and the differences between heart, head, and body types (19:23)
                                                • Back to research: more research could refine the value of the Enneagram (25:00)
                                                • Working with your core vice within a contemplative practice is when things really start to cook (33:48)
                                                • How does your type change over time with an ongoing contemplative practice? The challenge of embodying a healthy type structure 24/7 (36:02)
                                                • The reality is we all have limits (38:27)
                                                • The importance of understanding the centers approach to the Enneagram and understanding that our psychological structure is housed in the body (47:12)
                                                • What do women want from men? A heart connection and kindness (49:21)
                                                • 20-minute guided meditation led by Leslie to help us ground, center, and connect with our inner being, somatically and emotionally (55:56)
                                                
                                                

                                                Resources & References – Part 2

                                                • Spotlight, 2015 film following the Boston Globe’s investigation into the pedophilia crisis in the Catholic church
                                                • Ken Wilber’s Altitudes of Development on the Daily Evolver website
                                                • Muhammad: “Speak to people only according to their level of knowledge…”
                                                • Beatrice Chestnut, The Complete Enneagram* (Leslie’s recommendation for a good comprehensive overview of the Enneagram, looking at the Enneagram through an archetypal lens)
                                                • David Daniels, The Essential Enneagram* (Leslie’s recommended book for understanding the structure of the types)
                                                • Ginger Lapid-Bogda, Bringing Out the Best in Yourself at Work* (Leslie’s recommendation for applying the Enneagram’s wisdom in the workplace) 
                                                • David Daniels, Terry Saracino, Meghan Fraley, Jennifer Christian & Seth Pardo, “Advancing Ego Development in Adulthood through Study of the Enneagram System of Personality”
                                                • Ginger Lapid-Bogda, PhD, Enneagram author, teacher, keynote speaker, and organization development consultant, trainer, and coach
                                                • Sandra Maitri, The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram: Nine Faces of the Soul* (Leslie’s recommendation around the spiritual dimension of the Enneagram)
                                                • Helen Palmer, The Enneagram: Understanding Yourself and the Others in Your Life*
                                                • Scared straight! therapy and the Barnum effect 
                                                • Michel (Roland) Gauquelin,  A Killer Horoscope
                                                • Dr. David Daniels, co-founder of The Narrative Enneagram training school 
                                                • Ken Wilber, The Marriage of Sense and Soul*
                                                • Jack Killen, David Daniels & Kristin Arthur, “Biology and Personal Transformation: Bridging Science and the Enneagram” (informed also by the work of Dan Siegel)
                                                • Jack Killen, Toward the Neurobiology of the Enneagram
                                                • The International Enneagram Association 
                                                • Benedictine nun Suzanne Zuercher, Enneagram Spirituality: From Compulsion to Contemplation*
                                                • Rachel Naomi Remen, My Grandfather’s Blessings: Stories of Strength, Refuge, and Belonging*
                                                • Aldous Huxley, Island* and The Perennial Philosophy*
                                                • Leslie Hershberger.com: Transformational Consulting, Facilitation, Coaching
                                                • Leslie’s course Foundations of the Enneagram: The Centers Approach, a self-paced course and online space to learn the Enneagram in all 3 centers: head, heart, body
                                                • Leslie’s YouTube channel
                                                • Recommended typing test: https://www.narrativeenneagram.org/enneagram-test/#test-section
                                                
                                                

                                                * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                ---

                                                Teacher, theologian, spiritual guide, and master facilitator, Leslie Hershberger is the founder of The Three-Centered Enneagram, and offers both corporate and contemplative workshops, retreats, and keynotes throughout the U.S. and in Europe. She designed the online course The Foundations of the Enneagram: The Centers Approach, which is both a deep and a practical way of developing embodied emotional and social intelligence. Leslie integrates the Enneagram, three-centered contemplative practice, and Integral Theory in her work.

                                                Leslie’s core mission is facilitating practice based in all 3 centers: head, heart, and body. She supports others in integrating psychological awareness and opening to wise, embodied spiritual Presence, especially during times of significant transition: social change, religious transition, second half of life, changing bodies, illness, grief, loss and the inevitable relationship challenges with those we care about most. She also supports many “post-church” pastors and people who have experienced a religious deconstruction and are looking for a way forward. Leslie was recently honored by Xavier University with the William and Anna Madges award for distinguished contribution to society.

                                                ---

                                                Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                ]]>709caaf3-6957-49d6-ab49-f1788e2eab85Thu, 04 May 2023 05:00:00 -040001:16:34falsefull7676Ep. 76 (Part 2 of 2) | Enneagram expert, teacher, master facilitator, and transformational coach Leslie Hershberger leads us into the world of the Enneagram, not typology point by point—here Leslie paints a broader, deeper picture of the Enneagram and its uses as a psycho-spiritual tool than is commonly understood. Leslie explains how the Enneagram provides the psychological foundation for each individual to navigate their inner world more skillfully. A wealth of knowledge comes with recognizing the center you orient from—head, heart, or body—and your type’s tendencies, freeing up energy within us to move out of negative patterns into virtuous ones. With the insights the Enneagram provides, we can develop practices tailored to our specific personality structure that help with everyday challenges and vicissitudes, with being more present in our relationships, and with opening to spiritual presence. Listening to Leslie, one feels the energy of rising awareness as her anecdotes about various different Enneagram types’ ways of relating to themselves, others, and the world ring decisively true, matching our own experience. Leslie’s passion for guiding people who are ready to make “the inward turn” in using the Enneagram as a map is clearly palpable. And though she is a longtime contemplative, Leslie is all about boots-on-the-ground action: meeting people where they are at, providing support and guidance, and reflecting back to all whom she encounters a truly awe-inspiring, Enneagram-informed, and integral understanding. Recorded January 9, 2023. Please enjoy a 20-minute guided meditation, led by Leslie, at the end of part 2 of this podcast. Leslie originally led this meditation for Roger, John, and the Deep Transformation team right before the podcast was recorded, so they could experience her Enneagram-informed techniques that help us ground, center, and connect with our inner being, somatically and emotionally.The Enneagram as Spiritual Tool: A Map for Deeper Self-Understanding & More Effective Contemplative Practice with Leslie HershbergerEp. 75 (Part 1 of 2) | Enneagram expert, teacher, master facilitator, and transformational coach Leslie Hershberger leads us into the world of the Enneagram, not typology point by point—here Leslie paints a broader, deeper picture of the Enneagram and its uses as a psycho-spiritual tool than is commonly understood. Leslie explains how the Enneagram provides the psychological foundation for each individual to navigate their inner world more skillfully. A wealth of knowledge comes with recognizing the center you orient from—head, heart, or body—and your type’s tendencies, freeing up energy within us to move out of negative patterns into virtuous ones. With the insights the Enneagram provides, we can develop practices tailored to our specific personality structure that help with everyday challenges and vicissitudes, with being more present in our relationships, and with opening to spiritual presence.

                                                Listening to Leslie, one feels the energy of rising awareness as her anecdotes about various different Enneagram types’ ways of relating to themselves, others, and the world ring decisively true, matching our own experience. Leslie’s passion for guiding people who are ready to make “the inward turn” in using the Enneagram as a map is clearly palpable. And though she is a longtime contemplative, Leslie is all about boots-on-the-ground action: meeting people where they are at, providing support and guidance, and reflecting back to all whom she encounters a truly awe-inspiring, Enneagram-informed, and integral understanding. Recorded January 9, 2023.

                                                Please enjoy a 20-minute guided meditation, led by Leslie, at the end of part 2 of this podcast. Leslie originally led this meditation for Roger, John, and the Deep Transformation team right before the podcast was recorded, so they could experience her Enneagram-informed techniques that help us ground, center, and connect with our inner being, somatically and emotionally.

                                                “The Enneagram is a vehicle for spiritual presence—for spiritual experience.”

                                                (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                                • Introducing gifted Enneagram teacher, contemplative practitioner, and transformational coach Leslie Hershberger (01:10)
                                                • How 1’s are driven by the inner critic and the desire to perfect themselves and others (04:11)
                                                • Given our Enneagram type, we tend to contract in a certain sector of reality—this is a literal, physical contraction (05:15)
                                                • The Enneagram provides a map of the 9 different tendencies of contracting against life force, against spiritual presence (08:56)
                                                • Each type has a cognitive habit that sits upon the energy of an emotional habit; this energy is there for spiritual conversion (09:59)
                                                • The skillful response is inherent in the awareness of the contraction (13:12)
                                                • Each type has a particular defense mechanism which is the glue that holds our structure together (15:13)
                                                • Anger, fear, and sadness (the 3 afflictions) are in everyone, but each of us is driven by one of these predominantly, according to our type (19:19)
                                                • Where the Enneagram fits in the larger field of personality typing and how it shows up in early contemplative traditions (24:44)
                                                • The Enneagram is a useful, practical, psychological typology—but it’s also a spiritual tool (26:38)
                                                • The Enneagram types you from your blind spots and the places that are hard to see (28:47)
                                                • The 3 instinctual subtypes: social, sexual, and self-preservation (29:52)
                                                • On 6’s: doubt, projection, and amplified hazards (30:56)
                                                • Teaching people their ego structure using panels of types in the narrative tradition (34:33)
                                                • The importance of meditation and somatic experiencing and how the type structures are housed in the body (36:29)
                                                • The vice to virtue conversion for each type: each type has a predominant vice and a predominant virtue (37:00)
                                                • Our fundamental root dysfunctions give birth to wisdom—our vices contain the energy for us to transform (42:14)
                                                • How Integral Theory’s teachings on higher states of consciousness and the difference between stages and states complement the teachings of the Enneagram (48:29)
                                                • Illuminating the essential elements of the psychological structure: “Mysticism and spirituality are not enough…Social action and therapeutic caring are not enough…” Jacob Needleman’s teaching is foundational to Leslie’s integral approach (50:02)
                                                • Finding one’s core piece of suffering, relaxing into it and giving it some space, then tasting the virtue (52:09)
                                                • How Leslie discovered Buddhist meditation, the contemplative (well-hidden) arm of Catholicism, and Centering Prayer (53:15)
                                                • What’s a portal for people with a real allergy to religion? The Enneagream provides a bridge for the inward turn (55:42)
                                                
                                                

                                                Resources & References – Part 1

                                                • Leslie Hershberger.com: Transformational Consulting, Facilitation, Coaching
                                                • Leslie’s course Foundations of the Enneagram: The Centers Approach, a self-paced course and online space to learn the Enneagram in all 3 centers: head, heart, body
                                                • Leslie’s YouTube channel
                                                • Leslie’s courses Coming Home: An Integral Christian Practicum and Between You and Love: An Enneagram Course, hosted on Integral Life
                                                • Integral Enneagram web course Patterns of Being, co-facilitated with Helen Palmer, also hosted on Integral Life
                                                • The Narrative Enneagram Lifelong Learning programs, co-facilitated by Leslie Hershberger
                                                • Helen Palmer, The Enneagram: Understanding Yourself and the Others in Your Life*
                                                • Henri Nouwen, The Way of the Heart: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers*
                                                • Evagrius Ponticus (Evagrius the Solitary), Christian monk and ascetic
                                                • Virgina Wiltse, PhD & Helen Palmer, Hidden in Plain Sight: Observations on the Origins of the Enneagram
                                                • St. John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul*
                                                • Meyers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
                                                • Jacob Needleman, Lost Christianity*
                                                • Jack Kornfield’s audio The Inner Art of Meditation*
                                                • Thomas Keating, Centering Prayer, Intimacy with God: An Introduction to Centering Prayer*
                                                • Cynthia Bourgeault, Christian contemplative, internationally acclaimed retreat leader, and author of Ep. 75 (Part 1 of 2) | Enneagram expert, teacher, master facilitator, and transformational coach Leslie Hershberger leads us into the world of the Enneagram, not typology point by point—here Leslie paints a broader, deeper picture of the Enneagram and its uses as a psycho-spiritual tool than is commonly understood. Leslie explains how the Enneagram provides the psychological foundation for each individual to navigate their inner world more skillfully. A wealth of knowledge comes with recognizing the center you orient from—head, heart, or body—and your type’s tendencies, freeing up energy within us to move out of negative patterns into virtuous ones. With the insights the Enneagram provides, we can develop practices tailored to our specific personality structure that help with everyday challenges and vicissitudes, with being more present in our relationships, and with opening to spiritual presence.

                                                  Listening to Leslie, one feels the energy of rising awareness as her anecdotes about various different Enneagram types’ ways of relating to themselves, others, and the world ring decisively true, matching our own experience. Leslie’s passion for guiding people who are ready to make “the inward turn” in using the Enneagram as a map is clearly palpable. And though she is a longtime contemplative, Leslie is all about boots-on-the-ground action: meeting people where they are at, providing support and guidance, and reflecting back to all whom she encounters a truly awe-inspiring, Enneagram-informed, and integral understanding. Recorded January 9, 2023.

                                                  Please enjoy a 20-minute guided meditation, led by Leslie, at the end of part 2 of this podcast. Leslie originally led this meditation for Roger, John, and the Deep Transformation team right before the podcast was recorded, so they could experience her Enneagram-informed techniques that help us ground, center, and connect with our inner being, somatically and emotionally.

                                                  “The Enneagram is a vehicle for spiritual presence—for spiritual experience.”

                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                                  • Introducing gifted Enneagram teacher, contemplative practitioner, and transformational coach Leslie Hershberger (01:10)
                                                  • How 1’s are driven by the inner critic and the desire to perfect themselves and others (04:11)
                                                  • Given our Enneagram type, we tend to contract in a certain sector of reality—this is a literal, physical contraction (05:15)
                                                  • The Enneagram provides a map of the 9 different tendencies of contracting against life force, against spiritual presence (08:56)
                                                  • Each type has a cognitive habit that sits upon the energy of an emotional habit; this energy is there for spiritual conversion (09:59)
                                                  • The skillful response is inherent in the awareness of the contraction (13:12)
                                                  • Each type has a particular defense mechanism which is the glue that holds our structure together (15:13)
                                                  • Anger, fear, and sadness (the 3 afflictions) are in everyone, but each of us is driven by one of these predominantly, according to our type (19:19)
                                                  • Where the Enneagram fits in the larger field of personality typing and how it shows up in early contemplative traditions (24:44)
                                                  • The Enneagram is a useful, practical, psychological typology—but it’s also a spiritual tool (26:38)
                                                  • The Enneagram types you from your blind spots and the places that are hard to see (28:47)
                                                  • The 3 instinctual subtypes: social, sexual, and self-preservation (29:52)
                                                  • On 6’s: doubt, projection, and amplified hazards (30:56)
                                                  • Teaching people their ego structure using panels of types in the narrative tradition (34:33)
                                                  • The importance of meditation and somatic experiencing and how the type structures are housed in the body (36:29)
                                                  • The vice to virtue conversion for each type: each type has a predominant vice and a predominant virtue (37:00)
                                                  • Our fundamental root dysfunctions give birth to wisdom—our vices contain the energy for us to transform (42:14)
                                                  • How Integral Theory’s teachings on higher states of consciousness and the difference between stages and states complement the teachings of the Enneagram (48:29)
                                                  • Illuminating the essential elements of the psychological structure: “Mysticism and spirituality are not enough…Social action and therapeutic caring are not enough…” Jacob Needleman’s teaching is foundational to Leslie’s integral approach (50:02)
                                                  • Finding one’s core piece of suffering, relaxing into it and giving it some space, then tasting the virtue (52:09)
                                                  • How Leslie discovered Buddhist meditation, the contemplative (well-hidden) arm of Catholicism, and Centering Prayer (53:15)
                                                  • What’s a portal for people with a real allergy to religion? The Enneagream provides a bridge for the inward turn (55:42)
                                                  
                                                  

                                                  Resources & References – Part 1

                                                  • Leslie Hershberger.com: Transformational Consulting, Facilitation, Coaching
                                                  • Leslie’s course Foundations of the Enneagram: The Centers Approach, a self-paced course and online space to learn the Enneagram in all 3 centers: head, heart, body
                                                  • Leslie’s YouTube channel
                                                  • Leslie’s courses Coming Home: An Integral Christian Practicum and Between You and Love: An Enneagram Course, hosted on Integral Life
                                                  • Integral Enneagram web course Patterns of Being, co-facilitated with Helen Palmer, also hosted on Integral Life
                                                  • The Narrative Enneagram Lifelong Learning programs, co-facilitated by Leslie Hershberger
                                                  • Helen Palmer, The Enneagram: Understanding Yourself and the Others in Your Life*
                                                  • Henri Nouwen, The Way of the Heart: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers*
                                                  • Evagrius Ponticus (Evagrius the Solitary), Christian monk and ascetic
                                                  • Virgina Wiltse, PhD & Helen Palmer, Hidden in Plain Sight: Observations on the Origins of the Enneagram
                                                  • St. John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul*
                                                  • Meyers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
                                                  • Jacob Needleman, Lost Christianity*
                                                  • Jack Kornfield’s audio The Inner Art of Meditation*
                                                  • Thomas Keating, Centering Prayer, Intimacy with God: An Introduction to Centering Prayer*
                                                  • Cynthia Bourgeault, Christian contemplative, internationally acclaimed retreat leader, and author of The Corner of Fourth and Nondual* et al.
                                                  • Ian Cron & Suzanne Stabile, The Road Back to You*
                                                  • Richard Rohr, Franciscan priest and writer, Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer*
                                                  • Beatrice Chestnut, The Complete Enneagram* (Leslie’s recommendation for a good comprehensive overview of the Enneagram, looking at the Enneagram through an archetypal lens)
                                                  • David Daniels, The Essential Enneagram* (Leslie’s recommended book for understanding the structure of the types)
                                                  • Ginger Lapid-Bogda, Bringing Out the Best in Yourself at Work* (Leslie’s recommendation for applying the Enneagram’s wisdom in the workplace) 
                                                  • Sandra Maitri, The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram: Nine Faces of the Soul* (Leslie’s recommendation around the spiritual dimension of the Enneagram)
                                                  • Recommended typing test: https://www.narrativeenneagram.org/enneagram-test/#test-section
                                                  
                                                  

                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                  ---

                                                  Teacher, theologian, spiritual guide, and master facilitator, Leslie Hershberger is the founder of The Three-Centered Enneagram, and offers both corporate and contemplative workshops, retreats, and keynotes throughout the U.S. and in Europe. She designed the online course The Foundations of the Enneagram: The Centers Approach, which is both a deep and a practical way of developing embodied emotional and social intelligence. Leslie integrates the Enneagram, three-centered contemplative practice, and Integral Theory in her work.

                                                  Leslie’s core mission is facilitating practice based in all 3 centers: head, heart, and body. She supports others in integrating psychological awareness and opening to wise, embodied spiritual Presence, especially during times of significant transition: social change, religious transition, second half of life, changing bodies, illness, grief, loss and the inevitable relationship challenges with those we care about most. She also supports many “post-church” pastors and people who have experienced a religious deconstruction and are looking for a way forward. Leslie was recently honored by Xavier University with the William and Anna Madges award for distinguished contribution to society.

                                                  ---

                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                  ]]>979ee650-7006-4efd-8430-c7d7e06d1340Thu, 27 Apr 2023 05:00:00 -040059:45truefull7575Ep. 75 (Part 1 of 2) | Enneagram expert, teacher, master facilitator, and transformational coach Leslie Hershberger leads us into the world of the Enneagram, not typology point by point—here Leslie paints a broader, deeper picture of the Enneagram and its uses as a psycho-spiritual tool than is commonly understood. Leslie explains how the Enneagram provides the psychological foundation for each individual to navigate their inner world more skillfully. A wealth of knowledge comes with recognizing the center you orient from—head, heart, or body—and your type’s tendencies, freeing up energy within us to move out of negative patterns into virtuous ones. With the insights the Enneagram provides, we can develop practices tailored to our specific personality structure that help with everyday challenges and vicissitudes, with being more present in our relationships, and with opening to spiritual presence. Listening to Leslie, one feels the energy of rising awareness as her anecdotes about various different Enneagram types’ ways of relating to themselves, others, and the world ring decisively true, matching our own experience. Leslie’s passion for guiding people who are ready to make “the inward turn” in using the Enneagram as a map is clearly palpable. And though she is a longtime contemplative, Leslie is all about boots-on-the-ground action: meeting people where they are at, providing support and guidance, and reflecting back to all whom she encounters a truly awe-inspiring, Enneagram-informed, and integral understanding. Recorded January 9, 2023. Please enjoy a 20-minute guided meditation, led by Leslie, at the end of part 2 of this podcast. Leslie originally led this meditation for Roger, John, and the Deep Transformation team right before the podcast was recorded, so they could experience her Enneagram-informed techniques that help us ground, center, and connect with our inner being, somatically and emotionally.Daniel Schmachtenberger – Developing a Deeper Understanding of Life: Opening to the Complexity, Wholeness, and Beauty of Reality (Part 2)Ep. 74 (Part 2 of 2) | Daniel Schmachtenberger, one of the most brilliant and integrative thinkers of our time, expresses here his deep love and appreciation for reality itself. Daniel’s inquiries have led him to perceive the intrinsic beauty of the wholeness of reality and to the realization that everything is interesting—just like when you love someone, everything about them becomes fascinating. Along with this deep appreciation comes the desire to serve and protect, and Daniel is focused on investigating the drivers of the metacrisis and how best to meet the difficult challenges it presents, a subject interwoven in this conversation with Daniel’s findings and ideas about reality, human psychology, education, and the future of the planet.

                                                  Daniel is a wonderful testament to the far reaching effects of the right kind of education. He relates how he was homeschooled by parents who set him on the path towards goodness, meaning, and beauty right from the start, and who were dedicated to facilitating his interest wherever it led, to include systems theory and how to create a better world. This is a beautiful, rich conversation filled with gems of knowledge and insight—about our human family (actually, the lack of one), the horrible deficit of fathering in modern culture, how we can orient to the sacred and the meaningful, the fact that we actually didn’t evolve to deal with the crises we face now but to negotiate successfully as members of a tribe of around 150 people, and much more. Recorded January 10, 2023.

                                                   “I cannot imagine a context in which one’s choices matter more.”

                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                                  • Does Daniel believe in God? (01:48)
                                                  • In Daniel’s “The Dance of the Tao and the 10,000 Things,” he asks, “Do atoms exist? Kind of! (08:23)
                                                  • The traps of reductionism in facing the metacrisis and how Daniel transcends them (10:49)
                                                  • The relation of physical crises to crises of consciousness: co-informing and co-arising facets of an integrative reality (13:11)
                                                  • Omni determinism, omni influence (16:31)
                                                  • Marvin Harris’ framework for understanding civilization: infrastructure, social structure, and superstructure (17:19)
                                                  • What in the interiority of human psyches, experiences & cultures are key drivers of the problems of the world? And how does our changed human genome, microbiome, and neurochemistry fit in? (19:00)
                                                  • We evolved to have attachments to 150 people—our tribe—so everything about bonding, attachment theory, the ideas of co-dependence & interdependence evolved in a tribal setting, in fact, we did not evolve to deal with what is going on now (21:22)
                                                  • The psychological generator function of the metacrisis results from perceiving the world as fragmented or made up of parts: conflict theory & mistake theory (23:34)
                                                  • The Realpolitik assessment of humans: we are dumb and nasty (25:54)
                                                  • It’s all based on a trade-off—we’re either trying to benefit ourselves now at the expense of our future selves, individually or collectively, or we just don’t realize the harm that is caused by what we do (27:26)
                                                  • Can we survive the current unprecedented metacrisis? No chance can we make it through without the catastrophes intensifying (30:08)
                                                  • The human family is not a real thing right now: there is no “we” (34:59)
                                                  • How to live a meaningful life? Deeply appreciate and honor the beauty of life, be in service to the beauty of reality, and deepen the capacity for both (37:33)
                                                  • Dharma inquiry and the vow of the bodhisattva (41:47) 
                                                  • Where is the vow of the bodhisattva missing something? (44:09)
                                                  • It’s not just what is my unique calling but also what needs doing that no one else wants to do? (46:19)
                                                  • One beautiful peak experience is worth all the pain (50:00)
                                                  
                                                  

                                                  Resources & References – Part 2

                                                  • Learning theory describes how people receive, process, and retain information
                                                  • Tao Te Ching* (new English version translated by Stephen Mitchell)
                                                  • Daniel Schmachtenberger, The Dance of the Tao and the 10,000 Things
                                                  • Werner Heisenberg, theoretical physicist and one of the main pioneers of the theory of quantum mechanics
                                                  • Erwin Schrödinger, Nobel Prize-winning physicist who developed a number of fundamental results in quantum theory, including the Schrödinger equation
                                                  • Buddhist Śūnyatā and Huayan philosophies
                                                  • “Technology is Not Values Neutral: Ending the Reign of Nihilistic Design,” overview of the work of Marvin Harris, Marshall McLuhan (on Consilience Project website) et al.
                                                  • Marvin Harris, anthropologist and writer, highly influential on the subjects of cultural materialism and environmental determinism
                                                  • Marshall McLuhan, philosopher who focused on the relationship between media and culture and developed the concept of technological determinism 
                                                  • Nate Hagens’ 5-part podcast with Daniel Schmachtenberger on the environment, energy, and how does one deal with the reality of the metacrisis? (YouTube)
                                                  • David Bohm on Wholeness & Fragmentation (YouTube)
                                                  • R. Buckminster Fuller, Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth*
                                                  • Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space*
                                                  • Daniel Schmachtenberger, How to Live a Meaningful Life?
                                                  • Daniel Schmachtenberger, Dharma Inquiry
                                                  • The vow of the bodhisattva
                                                  • Alex Grey, Sacred Mirrors*
                                                  • Poets Hafiz and Rumi
                                                  • Daniel Schmachtenberger’s website Explorations on the Future of Civilization
                                                  • Daniel Schmachtenberger, founding member of The Consilience Project, aimed at improving public sensemaking and dialogue 
                                                  
                                                  

                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                  Ep. 74 (Part 2 of 2) | Daniel Schmachtenberger, one of the most brilliant and integrative thinkers of our time, expresses here his deep love and appreciation for reality itself. Daniel’s inquiries have led him to perceive the intrinsic beauty of the wholeness of reality and to the realization that everything is interesting—just like when you love someone, everything about them becomes fascinating. Along with this deep appreciation comes the desire to serve and protect, and Daniel is focused on investigating the drivers of the metacrisis and how best to meet the difficult challenges it presents, a subject interwoven in this conversation with Daniel’s findings and ideas about reality, human psychology, education, and the future of the planet.

                                                  Daniel is a wonderful testament to the far reaching effects of the right kind of education. He relates how he was homeschooled by parents who set him on the path towards goodness, meaning, and beauty right from the start, and who were dedicated to facilitating his interest wherever it led, to include systems theory and how to create a better world. This is a beautiful, rich conversation filled with gems of knowledge and insight—about our human family (actually, the lack of one), the horrible deficit of fathering in modern culture, how we can orient to the sacred and the meaningful, the fact that we actually didn’t evolve to deal with the crises we face now but to negotiate successfully as members of a tribe of around 150 people, and much more. Recorded January 10, 2023.

                                                   “I cannot imagine a context in which one’s choices matter more.”

                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                                  • Does Daniel believe in God? (01:48)
                                                  • In Daniel’s “The Dance of the Tao and the 10,000 Things,” he asks, “Do atoms exist? Kind of! (08:23)
                                                  • The traps of reductionism in facing the metacrisis and how Daniel transcends them (10:49)
                                                  • The relation of physical crises to crises of consciousness: co-informing and co-arising facets of an integrative reality (13:11)
                                                  • Omni determinism, omni influence (16:31)
                                                  • Marvin Harris’ framework for understanding civilization: infrastructure, social structure, and superstructure (17:19)
                                                  • What in the interiority of human psyches, experiences & cultures are key drivers of the problems of the world? And how does our changed human genome, microbiome, and neurochemistry fit in? (19:00)
                                                  • We evolved to have attachments to 150 people—our tribe—so everything about bonding, attachment theory, the ideas of co-dependence & interdependence evolved in a tribal setting, in fact, we did not evolve to deal with what is going on now (21:22)
                                                  • The psychological generator function of the metacrisis results from perceiving the world as fragmented or made up of parts: conflict theory & mistake theory (23:34)
                                                  • The Realpolitik assessment of humans: we are dumb and nasty (25:54)
                                                  • It’s all based on a trade-off—we’re either trying to benefit ourselves now at the expense of our future selves, individually or collectively, or we just don’t realize the harm that is caused by what we do (27:26)
                                                  • Can we survive the current unprecedented metacrisis? No chance can we make it through without the catastrophes intensifying (30:08)
                                                  • The human family is not a real thing right now: there is no “we” (34:59)
                                                  • How to live a meaningful life? Deeply appreciate and honor the beauty of life, be in service to the beauty of reality, and deepen the capacity for both (37:33)
                                                  • Dharma inquiry and the vow of the bodhisattva (41:47) 
                                                  • Where is the vow of the bodhisattva missing something? (44:09)
                                                  • It’s not just what is my unique calling but also what needs doing that no one else wants to do? (46:19)
                                                  • One beautiful peak experience is worth all the pain (50:00)
                                                  
                                                  

                                                  Resources & References – Part 2

                                                  • Learning theory describes how people receive, process, and retain information
                                                  • Tao Te Ching* (new English version translated by Stephen Mitchell)
                                                  • Daniel Schmachtenberger, The Dance of the Tao and the 10,000 Things
                                                  • Werner Heisenberg, theoretical physicist and one of the main pioneers of the theory of quantum mechanics
                                                  • Erwin Schrödinger, Nobel Prize-winning physicist who developed a number of fundamental results in quantum theory, including the Schrödinger equation
                                                  • Buddhist Śūnyatā and Huayan philosophies
                                                  • “Technology is Not Values Neutral: Ending the Reign of Nihilistic Design,” overview of the work of Marvin Harris, Marshall McLuhan (on Consilience Project website) et al.
                                                  • Marvin Harris, anthropologist and writer, highly influential on the subjects of cultural materialism and environmental determinism
                                                  • Marshall McLuhan, philosopher who focused on the relationship between media and culture and developed the concept of technological determinism 
                                                  • Nate Hagens’ 5-part podcast with Daniel Schmachtenberger on the environment, energy, and how does one deal with the reality of the metacrisis? (YouTube)
                                                  • David Bohm on Wholeness & Fragmentation (YouTube)
                                                  • R. Buckminster Fuller, Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth*
                                                  • Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space*
                                                  • Daniel Schmachtenberger, How to Live a Meaningful Life?
                                                  • Daniel Schmachtenberger, Dharma Inquiry
                                                  • The vow of the bodhisattva
                                                  • Alex Grey, Sacred Mirrors*
                                                  • Poets Hafiz and Rumi
                                                  • Daniel Schmachtenberger’s website Explorations on the Future of Civilization
                                                  • Daniel Schmachtenberger, founding member of The Consilience Project, aimed at improving public sensemaking and dialogue 
                                                  
                                                  

                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                  ---

                                                  Daniel Schmachtenberger is a founding member of The Consilience Project, aimed at improving public sensemaking and dialogue. The throughline of his interests has to do with ways of improving the health and development of individuals and society, with a virtuous relationship between the two as a goal. Towards these ends, he’s had particular interest in the topics of catastrophic and existential risk, civilization and institutional decay and collapse, as well as progress, collective action problems, social organization theories, and the relevant domains in philosophy and science.

                                                  Motivated by the belief that advancing collective intelligence and capacity is foundational to the integrity of any civilization, and necessary to address the unique risks we currently face given the intersection of globalization and exponential technology, he has spoken publicly on many of these topics, hoping to popularize and deepen important conversations and engage more people in working towards their solutions. Many of these can be found at http://civilizationemerging.com/media/. You can find more information about The Consilience Project at https://consilienceproject.org/.

                                                  ---

                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                  ]]>8badf267-fbb6-463b-990d-c30397508d8bThu, 20 Apr 2023 05:00:00 -040058:56truefull7474Ep. 74 (Part 2 of 2) | Daniel Schmachtenberger, one of the most brilliant and integrative thinkers of our time, expresses here his deep love and appreciation for reality itself. Daniel’s inquiries have led him to perceive the intrinsic beauty of the wholeness of reality and to the realization that everything is interesting—just like when you love someone, everything about them becomes fascinating. Along with this deep appreciation comes the desire to serve and protect, and Daniel is focused on investigating the drivers of the metacrisis and how best to meet the difficult challenges it presents, a subject interwoven in this conversation with Daniel’s findings and ideas about reality, human psychology, education, and the future of the planet. Daniel is a wonderful testament to the far reaching effects of the right kind of education. He relates how he was homeschooled by parents who set him on the path towards goodness, meaning, and beauty right from the start, and who were dedicated to facilitating his interest wherever it led, to include systems theory and how to create a better world. This is a beautiful, rich conversation filled with gems of knowledge and insight—about our human family (actually, the lack of one), the horrible deficit of fathering in modern culture, how we can orient to the sacred and the meaningful, the fact that we actually didn’t evolve to deal with the crises we face now but to negotiate successfully as members of a tribe of around 150 people, and much more. Recorded January 10, 2023.Daniel Schmachtenberger – Developing a Deeper Understanding of Life: Opening to the Complexity, Wholeness, and Beauty of RealityEp. 73 (Part 1 of 2) | Daniel Schmachtenberger, one of the most brilliant and integrative thinkers of our time, expresses here his deep love and appreciation for reality itself. Daniel’s inquiries have led him to perceive the intrinsic beauty of the wholeness of reality and to the realization that everything is interesting—just like when you love someone, everything about them becomes fascinating. Along with this deep appreciation comes the desire to serve and protect, and Daniel is focused on investigating the drivers of the metacrisis and how best to meet the difficult challenges it presents, a subject interwoven in this conversation with Daniel’s findings and ideas about reality, human psychology, education, and the future of the planet.

                                                  Daniel is a wonderful testament to the far reaching effects of the right kind of education. He relates how he was homeschooled by parents who set him on the path towards goodness, meaning, and beauty right from the start, and who were dedicated to facilitating his interest wherever it led, to include systems theory and how to create a better world. This is a beautiful, rich conversation filled with gems of knowledge and insight—about our human family (actually, the lack of one), the horrible deficit of fathering in modern culture, how we can orient to the sacred and the meaningful, the fact that we actually didn’t evolve to deal with the crises we face now but to negotiate successfully as members of a tribe of around 150 people, and much more. Recorded January 10, 2023.

                                                   “I cannot imagine a context in which one’s choices matter more.”

                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                                  • Introducing brilliant integrative thinker Daniel Schmachtenberger (01:32)
                                                  • Finding meaning in the sacred dimensions of our world and the integrated wholeness of reality (03:52)
                                                  • Part of love is the desire to know everything about your partner—when loving reality, everything becomes interesting (05:47)
                                                  • The fractal nature of reality, looking at it through different lenses and receiving different insights, and how the more perspectives you take, the more depth and richness you perceive (07:13)
                                                  • Is there something about the nature of the effort to solve world problems that is at fault in their getting worse? (08:36)
                                                  • Daniel’s homeschooling parents set him on the path to following what is good, meaningful, and beautiful right from the start (10:22)
                                                  • If you facilitate children’s interest, they end up deep learning in many subjects (12:24)
                                                  • Daniel’s early education included systems theory and how to make a better world (14:46)
                                                  • How did Daniel come to be such an integrative thinker? Compartmentalized education vs integrated education (16:32)
                                                  • The decline of quality aristocratic tutoring has led to the decline of super geniuses (19:58)
                                                  • Are we all the result of our education? Tutors and mentors (28:11)
                                                  • Integrating across ontology and epistemology, and asking what is the generator function of novel insight? (29:07) 
                                                  • Man’s greatest purpose is to serve the family of man: women, nature, children (33:07)
                                                  • The gruesome deficit of fathering in the world and what Daniel learned about being a man from his dad (35:19)
                                                  • On forgiveness, therapy, healing, catalyzing gifts (43:22)
                                                  • How do spiritual depths inform our contemporary crises? Needing to ask why we should protect nature shows a real pathological deficit (49:37)
                                                  • Orientation to the sacred and the meaningfulness of life forms through a deep bandwidth of connection and sensing (52:39)
                                                  • Learning more about the field of conceptuality can both interfere with one’s connection to the Tao and enhance it (55:39)
                                                  
                                                  

                                                  Resources & References – Part 1

                                                  • Daniel Schmachtenberger’s website Explorations on the Future of Civilization
                                                  • Daniel Schmachtenberger, founding member of The Consilience Project, aimed at improving public sensemaking and dialogue 
                                                  • Kahlil Gibran, writer, poet, author of The Prophet*, one of the best-selling books of all time
                                                  • Complexity theory uses the study of complexity systems in the field of strategic management and organizational studies, drawing from research in the natural sciences
                                                  • David Bohm, one of the most significant theoretical physicists of the 20th century
                                                  • John Dewey, philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer with a profound belief in democracy
                                                  • Maria Montessori, physician, educator, founder of the Montessori method of education
                                                  • Rudolf Steiner, philosopher, social reformer, founder of the esoteric spiritual movement anthroposophy
                                                  • Buckminster Fuller, 20th century inventor & visionary, who coined the term design science, author of Synergetics: Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking*
                                                  • Krishnamurti, philosopher, speaker, writer, interested in psychological revolution and radical social change
                                                  • Fritjof Kapra, author of The Tao of Physics* and The Systems View of Life*, applies complexity theory to large-scale social interaction in The Hidden Connections: A Science for Sustainable Living*
                                                  • Zachary Stein, educator, futurist, philosopher, author of Education in a Time Between Worlds*, see also Deep Transformation episode 61, The Future of Education and Civilization
                                                  • Erik Hoel, “Why We Stopped Making Einsteins”
                                                  • Marcus Aurelius, philosopher and Emperor of Rome, author of Meditations*
                                                  • Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich*
                                                  • Daniel Schmachtenberger, What I learned about being a man from my Dad
                                                  • Artists Dali & Ep. 73 (Part 1 of 2) | Daniel Schmachtenberger, one of the most brilliant and integrative thinkers of our time, expresses here his deep love and appreciation for reality itself. Daniel’s inquiries have led him to perceive the intrinsic beauty of the wholeness of reality and to the realization that everything is interesting—just like when you love someone, everything about them becomes fascinating. Along with this deep appreciation comes the desire to serve and protect, and Daniel is focused on investigating the drivers of the metacrisis and how best to meet the difficult challenges it presents, a subject interwoven in this conversation with Daniel’s findings and ideas about reality, human psychology, education, and the future of the planet.

                                                    Daniel is a wonderful testament to the far reaching effects of the right kind of education. He relates how he was homeschooled by parents who set him on the path towards goodness, meaning, and beauty right from the start, and who were dedicated to facilitating his interest wherever it led, to include systems theory and how to create a better world. This is a beautiful, rich conversation filled with gems of knowledge and insight—about our human family (actually, the lack of one), the horrible deficit of fathering in modern culture, how we can orient to the sacred and the meaningful, the fact that we actually didn’t evolve to deal with the crises we face now but to negotiate successfully as members of a tribe of around 150 people, and much more. Recorded January 10, 2023.

                                                     “I cannot imagine a context in which one’s choices matter more.”

                                                    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                                    • Introducing brilliant integrative thinker Daniel Schmachtenberger (01:32)
                                                    • Finding meaning in the sacred dimensions of our world and the integrated wholeness of reality (03:52)
                                                    • Part of love is the desire to know everything about your partner—when loving reality, everything becomes interesting (05:47)
                                                    • The fractal nature of reality, looking at it through different lenses and receiving different insights, and how the more perspectives you take, the more depth and richness you perceive (07:13)
                                                    • Is there something about the nature of the effort to solve world problems that is at fault in their getting worse? (08:36)
                                                    • Daniel’s homeschooling parents set him on the path to following what is good, meaningful, and beautiful right from the start (10:22)
                                                    • If you facilitate children’s interest, they end up deep learning in many subjects (12:24)
                                                    • Daniel’s early education included systems theory and how to make a better world (14:46)
                                                    • How did Daniel come to be such an integrative thinker? Compartmentalized education vs integrated education (16:32)
                                                    • The decline of quality aristocratic tutoring has led to the decline of super geniuses (19:58)
                                                    • Are we all the result of our education? Tutors and mentors (28:11)
                                                    • Integrating across ontology and epistemology, and asking what is the generator function of novel insight? (29:07) 
                                                    • Man’s greatest purpose is to serve the family of man: women, nature, children (33:07)
                                                    • The gruesome deficit of fathering in the world and what Daniel learned about being a man from his dad (35:19)
                                                    • On forgiveness, therapy, healing, catalyzing gifts (43:22)
                                                    • How do spiritual depths inform our contemporary crises? Needing to ask why we should protect nature shows a real pathological deficit (49:37)
                                                    • Orientation to the sacred and the meaningfulness of life forms through a deep bandwidth of connection and sensing (52:39)
                                                    • Learning more about the field of conceptuality can both interfere with one’s connection to the Tao and enhance it (55:39)
                                                    
                                                    

                                                    Resources & References – Part 1

                                                    • Daniel Schmachtenberger’s website Explorations on the Future of Civilization
                                                    • Daniel Schmachtenberger, founding member of The Consilience Project, aimed at improving public sensemaking and dialogue 
                                                    • Kahlil Gibran, writer, poet, author of The Prophet*, one of the best-selling books of all time
                                                    • Complexity theory uses the study of complexity systems in the field of strategic management and organizational studies, drawing from research in the natural sciences
                                                    • David Bohm, one of the most significant theoretical physicists of the 20th century
                                                    • John Dewey, philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer with a profound belief in democracy
                                                    • Maria Montessori, physician, educator, founder of the Montessori method of education
                                                    • Rudolf Steiner, philosopher, social reformer, founder of the esoteric spiritual movement anthroposophy
                                                    • Buckminster Fuller, 20th century inventor & visionary, who coined the term design science, author of Synergetics: Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking*
                                                    • Krishnamurti, philosopher, speaker, writer, interested in psychological revolution and radical social change
                                                    • Fritjof Kapra, author of The Tao of Physics* and The Systems View of Life*, applies complexity theory to large-scale social interaction in The Hidden Connections: A Science for Sustainable Living*
                                                    • Zachary Stein, educator, futurist, philosopher, author of Education in a Time Between Worlds*, see also Deep Transformation episode 61, The Future of Education and Civilization
                                                    • Erik Hoel, “Why We Stopped Making Einsteins”
                                                    • Marcus Aurelius, philosopher and Emperor of Rome, author of Meditations*
                                                    • Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich*
                                                    • Daniel Schmachtenberger, What I learned about being a man from my Dad
                                                    • Artists Dali & Picasso, poets Gibran & Blake
                                                    • Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth*
                                                    • Daniel Schmachtenberger, The Dance of the Tao and the 10,000 Things
                                                    • Samantha Sweetwater, soul mentor, wisdom teacher
                                                    
                                                    

                                                    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                    ---

                                                    Daniel Schmachtenberger is a founding member of The Consilience Project, aimed at improving public sensemaking and dialogue. The throughline of his interests has to do with ways of improving the health and development of individuals and society, with a virtuous relationship between the two as a goal. Towards these ends, he’s had particular interest in the topics of catastrophic and existential risk, civilization and institutional decay and collapse, as well as progress, collective action problems, social organization theories, and the relevant domains in philosophy and science.

                                                    Motivated by the belief that advancing collective intelligence and capacity is foundational to the integrity of any civilization, and necessary to address the unique risks we currently face given the intersection of globalization and exponential technology, he has spoken publicly on many of these topics, hoping to popularize and deepen important conversations and engage more people in working towards their solutions. Many of these can be found at http://civilizationemerging.com/media/. You can find more information about The Consilience Project at https://consilienceproject.org/.

                                                    ---

                                                    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                    ]]>8d7be592-dbc6-46c9-9bdf-b3551d4753bcThu, 13 Apr 2023 05:00:00 -040059:48truefull7373Ep. 73 (Part 1 of 2) | Daniel Schmachtenberger, one of the most brilliant and integrative thinkers of our time, expresses here his deep love and appreciation for reality itself. Daniel’s inquiries have led him to perceive the intrinsic beauty of the wholeness of reality and to the realization that everything is interesting—just like when you love someone, everything about them becomes fascinating. Along with this deep appreciation comes the desire to serve and protect, and Daniel is focused on investigating the drivers of the metacrisis and how best to meet the difficult challenges it presents, a subject interwoven in this conversation with Daniel’s findings and ideas about reality, human psychology, education, and the future of the planet. Daniel is a wonderful testament to the far reaching effects of the right kind of education. He was homeschooled by parents who set him on the path towards goodness, meaning, and beauty right from the start, and who were dedicated to facilitating his interest wherever it led, to include systems theory and how to create a better world. This is a beautiful, rich conversation filled with gems of knowledge and insight—about our human family (actually, the lack of one), the horrible deficit of fathering in modern culture, how we can orient to the sacred and the meaningful, the fact that we actually didn’t evolve to deal with the crises we face now but to negotiate successfully as members of a tribe of around 150 people, and much more. Recorded January 10, 2023.Grappling with the Metacrisis: Understanding & Responding Effectively to the Great Challenges of Our Time (Part 3)Ep. 72 (Part 3 of 3) | Nicholas Hedlund & Sean Esbjörn-Hargens are big picture philosophers with extraordinary big hearts as well as big minds, dedicated to understanding how consciousness, culture, and nature relate to each other, and to forging a path for the Earth and civilization to flourish rather than fall apart. In this dialogue, the world of metatheories comes alive with urgent, purposeful meaning, because as Sean and Nick point out, integrative metatheories like Ken Wilber’s integral theory and Roy Bhaskar’s critical realism are the only tools that provide a useful framework for us to talk about and confront the vast web of interrelated and wicked problems we face on every level at this time. Now, we are only just beginning to understand the nature of the metacrisis—how the external crises are driven by interior crises of sensemaking and meaning making—but how do we bring everyone to the table to find solutions? How do we get the wisdom of these approaches to bear upon the crises we face? 

                                                    It turns out that heart connection—love, caring, and being willing to listen and to change—is a crucial, key ingredient for us to move forward in a positive way. Nick and Sean express both heartbreak and wild enthusiasm—heartbreak that our entire planetary community is so threatened and we have only a small window of time (till 2030) to transform our consciousness and culture into taking a cooperative and reverent approach to life, and enthusiasm to be alive at this pivotal time where everything hangs in the balance. Recorded December 7, 2022.

                                                    “We really need both—we need big Heart to connect and be friends with each other and love each other and we need that in equal measure to big Mind.”

                                                    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3

                                                    • What metatheory is and what it is not: integrative metatheories explore how consciousness, culture, and nature relate to each other (01:35)
                                                    • Big picture models are antidotes to the single focus fallacies, single issue fallacies, single cause fallacies, and single solution fallacies (04:07)
                                                    • Developmentally, the majority of people are at a stage of “advanced linear thinking” and the metacrisis requires “advanced systems thinking” (05:21)
                                                    • People need 3 things to grow under stress instead of regress: context, pointing a way out, and being told what we can do individually (06:46)
                                                    • How do we communicate the urgency without invoking the psychology of fear? (09:08)
                                                    • The crucial window to transform the very foundations of our civilization is between now and 2030 (10:18)
                                                    • What can we do? We’re still working on the context but we need to have a collective conversation to figure out what is the path out, or the possible paths out (11:20)
                                                    • A core developmental practice we can actually do is perspective taking, perspective seeking, and perspective coordinating (14:28)
                                                    • Ego death is all along the path; we need to keep opening up to a bigger version of ourselves (16:15)
                                                    • Taking perspectives is not enough (18:37)
                                                    • Business as usual is not going to happen—how do we create new educational systems to transform the world in the ways that are needed? (21:10)
                                                    • The importance of sounding our note, sitting in prayer in humility, and asking, what can I do? (25:10)
                                                    • Pessimism and optimism are both ego strategies to deal with uncertainty; we need to learn to rest in uncertainty individually and collectively because no one knows what will happen (27:20)
                                                    • How has grappling with the problems of the metacrisis changed Nick and Sean? (31:16)
                                                    • Where is the hope? (36:44)
                                                    
                                                    

                                                    Resources & References – Part 3

                                                    • Hanzi Freinacht, The Listening Society*
                                                    • Bildung links philosophy and education for both personal and cultural maturation
                                                    • Jonathan Rowson, “Bildung in the 21st Century: Why Sustainable Prosperity Depends on Reimagining Education”
                                                    • Joanna Macy & Chris Johnstone, Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re In Without Going Crazy*
                                                    • A.H. Almaas, creator of The Diamond Approach, see also Diamond Approach YouTube videos with A. H. Almaas, and Deep Transformation episode 43, Nonduality and Beyond: The Exhilarating Adventure of Discovering the Nature of Reality and How Awakenings Can Unfold Endlessly (also available on YouTube)
                                                    • Nicholas Hedlund & Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Big Picture Perspectives on Planetary Flourishing*
                                                    • Roy Bhaskar, Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Nicholas Hedlund, Mervyn Hartwig, Metatheory for the Twenty-First Century: Critical Realism and Integral Theory in Dialogue*
                                                    • Sean Esbjörn-Hargens & Michael Zimmerman, Integral Ecology*
                                                    • Nicholas Hedlund’s Academia.edu page with his PhD thesis and a number of articles, book chapters, etc. 
                                                    • Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, founder of MetaIntegral, a global transdisciplinary social impact organization
                                                    • Nick Hedlund, founding director of the Eudaimonia Institute, dedicated to human flourishing
                                                    
                                                    

                                                    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                    ---

                                                    Sean Esbjörn-Hargens is a global leader in the application of integrative thinking to leader development, organizational design, and mixed-methods design. In 2011 he founded MetaIntegral, a social impact network that supports change leaders around the world in applying integrative principles. Sean’s passion lies at the intersection of design, integral theory, and embodiment. He has published and edited numerous articles, chapters, and books. His most recent book is Big Picture Perspectives on Planetary Flourishing. He also is the Program Director of the MA/PhD program Integral Noetic Sciences at the California Institute for Human Sciences.

                                                    Nicholas Hedlund, PhD, is a visionary philosopher working at the nexus of philosophy of science, worldviews, and socioecological transformation. He received his PhD in philosophy and social sciences from University College London, studying under the philosopher Roy Bhaskar. Nicholas also holds a master’s degree in philosophy & religion, as well as one in psychology. He is director of Eudaimonia Institute, an emerging social innovations lab for planetary flourishing. His work has appeared in numerous anthologies and peer-reviewed journals. He is co-editor of Metatheory for the Twenty-First Century: Critical Realism and Integral Theory in Dialogue and Big Picture Perspectives for Planetary Flourishing: Metatheory for the Anthropocene, Vol I. He currently teaches at the California Institute of Human Science.

                                                    ---

                                                    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                    ]]>Ep. 72 (Part 3 of 3) | Nicholas Hedlund & Sean Esbjörn-Hargens are big picture philosophers with extraordinary big hearts as well as big minds, dedicated to understanding how consciousness, culture, and nature relate to each other, and to forging a path for the Earth and civilization to flourish rather than fall apart. In this dialogue, the world of metatheories comes alive with urgent, purposeful meaning, because as Sean and Nick point out, integrative metatheories like Ken Wilber’s integral theory and Roy Bhaskar’s critical realism are the only tools that provide a useful framework for us to talk about and confront the vast web of interrelated and wicked problems we face on every level at this time. Now, we are only just beginning to understand the nature of the metacrisis—how the external crises are driven by interior crises of sensemaking and meaning making—but how do we bring everyone to the table to find solutions? How do we get the wisdom of these approaches to bear upon the crises we face? 

                                                    It turns out that heart connection—love, caring, and being willing to listen and to change—is a crucial, key ingredient for us to move forward in a positive way. Nick and Sean express both heartbreak and wild enthusiasm—heartbreak that our entire planetary community is so threatened and we have only a small window of time (till 2030) to transform our consciousness and culture into taking a cooperative and reverent approach to life, and enthusiasm to be alive at this pivotal time where everything hangs in the balance. Recorded December 7, 2022.

                                                    “We really need both—we need big Heart to connect and be friends with each other and love each other and we need that in equal measure to big Mind.”

                                                    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3

                                                    • What metatheory is and what it is not: integrative metatheories explore how consciousness, culture, and nature relate to each other (01:35)
                                                    • Big picture models are antidotes to the single focus fallacies, single issue fallacies, single cause fallacies, and single solution fallacies (04:07)
                                                    • Developmentally, the majority of people are at a stage of “advanced linear thinking” and the metacrisis requires “advanced systems thinking” (05:21)
                                                    • People need 3 things to grow under stress instead of regress: context, pointing a way out, and being told what we can do individually (06:46)
                                                    • How do we communicate the urgency without invoking the psychology of fear? (09:08)
                                                    • The crucial window to transform the very foundations of our civilization is between now and 2030 (10:18)
                                                    • What can we do? We’re still working on the context but we need to have a collective conversation to figure out what is the path out, or the possible paths out (11:20)
                                                    • A core developmental practice we can actually do is perspective taking, perspective seeking, and perspective coordinating (14:28)
                                                    • Ego death is all along the path; we need to keep opening up to a bigger version of ourselves (16:15)
                                                    • Taking perspectives is not enough (18:37)
                                                    • Business as usual is not going to happen—how do we create new educational systems to transform the world in the ways that are needed? (21:10)
                                                    • The importance of sounding our note, sitting in prayer in humility, and asking, what can I do? (25:10)
                                                    • Pessimism and optimism are both ego strategies to deal with uncertainty; we need to learn to rest in uncertainty individually and collectively because no one knows what will happen (27:20)
                                                    • How has grappling with the problems of the metacrisis changed Nick and Sean? (31:16)
                                                    • Where is the hope? (36:44)
                                                    
                                                    

                                                    Resources & References – Part 3

                                                    • Hanzi Freinacht, The Listening Society*
                                                    • Bildung links philosophy and education for both personal and cultural maturation
                                                    • Jonathan Rowson, “Bildung in the 21st Century: Why Sustainable Prosperity Depends on Reimagining Education”
                                                    • Joanna Macy & Chris Johnstone, Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re In Without Going Crazy*
                                                    • A.H. Almaas, creator of The Diamond Approach, see also Diamond Approach YouTube videos with A. H. Almaas, and Deep Transformation episode 43, Nonduality and Beyond: The Exhilarating Adventure of Discovering the Nature of Reality and How Awakenings Can Unfold Endlessly (also available on YouTube)
                                                    • Nicholas Hedlund & Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Big Picture Perspectives on Planetary Flourishing*
                                                    • Roy Bhaskar, Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Nicholas Hedlund, Mervyn Hartwig, Metatheory for the Twenty-First Century: Critical Realism and Integral Theory in Dialogue*
                                                    • Sean Esbjörn-Hargens & Michael Zimmerman, Integral Ecology*
                                                    • Nicholas Hedlund’s Academia.edu page with his PhD thesis and a number of articles, book chapters, etc. 
                                                    • Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, founder of MetaIntegral, a global transdisciplinary social impact organization
                                                    • Nick Hedlund, founding director of the Eudaimonia Institute, dedicated to human flourishing
                                                    
                                                    

                                                    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                    ---

                                                    Sean Esbjörn-Hargens is a global leader in the application of integrative thinking to leader development, organizational design, and mixed-methods design. In 2011 he founded MetaIntegral, a social impact network that supports change leaders around the world in applying integrative principles. Sean’s passion lies at the intersection of design, integral theory, and embodiment. He has published and edited numerous articles, chapters, and books. His most recent book is Big Picture Perspectives on Planetary Flourishing. He also is the Program Director of the MA/PhD program Integral Noetic Sciences at the California Institute for Human Sciences.

                                                    Nicholas Hedlund, PhD, is a visionary philosopher working at the nexus of philosophy of science, worldviews, and socioecological transformation. He received his PhD in philosophy and social sciences from University College London, studying under the philosopher Roy Bhaskar. Nicholas also holds a master’s degree in philosophy & religion, as well as one in psychology. He is director of Eudaimonia Institute, an emerging social innovations lab for planetary flourishing. His work has appeared in numerous anthologies and peer-reviewed journals. He is co-editor of Metatheory for the Twenty-First Century: Critical Realism and Integral Theory in Dialogue and Big Picture Perspectives for Planetary Flourishing: Metatheory for the Anthropocene, Vol I. He currently teaches at the California Institute of Human Science.

                                                    ---

                                                    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                    ]]>444e9eb1-c228-4166-9fc2-f47c112205d2Thu, 06 Apr 2023 05:00:00 -040042:59falsefull7272Ep. 72 (Part 3 of 3) | Nicholas Hedlund & Sean Esbjörn-Hargens are big picture philosophers with extraordinary big hearts as well as big minds, dedicated to understanding how consciousness, culture, and nature relate to each other, and to forging a path for the Earth and civilization to flourish rather than fall apart. In this dialogue, the world of metatheories comes alive with urgent, purposeful meaning, because as Sean and Nick point out, integrative metatheories like Ken Wilber’s integral theory and Roy Bhaskar’s critical realism are the only tools that provide a useful framework for us to talk about and confront the vast web of interrelated and wicked problems we face on every level at this time. Now, we are only just beginning to understand the nature of the metacrisis—how the external crises are driven by interior crises of sensemaking and meaning making—but how do we bring everyone to the table to find solutions? How do we get the wisdom of these approaches to bear upon the crises we face? It turns out that heart connection—love, caring, and being willing to listen and to change—is a crucial, key ingredient for us to move forward in a positive way. Nick and Sean express both heartbreak and wild enthusiasm—heartbreak that our entire planetary community is so threatened and we have only a small window of time (till 2030) to transform our consciousness and culture into taking a cooperative and reverent approach to life, and enthusiasm to be alive at this pivotal time where everything hangs in the balance. Recorded December 7, 2022.Grappling with the Metacrisis: Understanding & Responding Effectively to the Great Challenges of Our Time (Part 2)Ep. 71 (Part 2 of 3) | Nicholas Hedlund & Sean Esbjörn-Hargens are big picture philosophers with extraordinary big hearts as well as big minds, dedicated to understanding how consciousness, culture, and nature relate to each other, and to forging a path for the Earth and civilization to flourish rather than fall apart. In this dialogue, the world of metatheories comes alive with urgent, purposeful meaning, because as Sean and Nick point out, integrative metatheories like Ken Wilber’s integral theory and Roy Bhaskar’s critical realism are the only tools that provide a useful framework for us to talk about and confront the vast web of interrelated and wicked problems we face on every level at this time. Now, we are only just beginning to understand the nature of the metacrisis—how the external crises are driven by interior crises of sensemaking and meaning making—but how do we bring everyone to the table to find solutions? How do we get the wisdom of these approaches to bear upon the crises we face? 

                                                    It turns out that heart connection—love, caring, and being willing to listen and to change—is a crucial, key ingredient for us to move forward in a positive way. Nick and Sean express both heartbreak and wild enthusiasm—heartbreak that our entire planetary community is so threatened and we have only a small window of time (till 2030) to transform our consciousness and culture into taking a cooperative and reverent approach to life, and enthusiasm to be alive at this pivotal time where everything hangs in the balance. Recorded December 7, 2022.

                                                    “We really need both—we need big Heart to connect and be friends with each other and love each other and we need that in equal measure to big Mind.”

                                                    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                                    • The difference between dialogue and debate: being willing to have one’s mind changed and opening up the opportunity for real dialogue (01:23)
                                                    • The critical reality principle/truth that we all share one world (03:07)
                                                    • The call to evolve together and mature spiritually (05:14)
                                                    • Reasons to be optimistic and reasons to be concerned about what lies ahead: the metacrisis will be a developmental catalyst for some but not all (07:33)
                                                    • The integral ecology mantra: things are getting better, things are also getting worse, and the eternal nature of perfection (09:33) 
                                                    • How can we speak to the fears of the people? The failure of liberal globalism, the rise of conservatism, and the search for higher political ground (12:01)
                                                    • Learning to listen to reality itself and what is being communicated by the profound intelligence of nature (15:03)
                                                    • What steps can we take to contribute to the full system reboot that is needed now? Cultivating the reverent heart sensibility (21:15)
                                                    • Applying big picture maps to addressing aspects of the metacrisis: six qualities pointing to the ways in which we need to be connected in order to make any progress (22:56) 
                                                    • How can we all be friends? Cultivating filia, connecting heart to heart, is the secret ingredient to the success of long term collaboration (28:11)
                                                    • How do we scale heart connection among humans? (35:43)
                                                    • We need more expressive capacity as a humanity, which metatheories can help us with (37:47)
                                                    
                                                    

                                                    Resources & References – Part 2

                                                    • Daniel Schmachtenberger, founding member of The Consilience Project, aimed at improving public sensemaking and dialogue
                                                    • Carl Rogers, great American psychologist, Journal of Humanistic Psychology: The Rust Workshop (The Central American Challenge)
                                                    • Robert Kegan’s story about how people with irreconcilable views about abortion discovered their common humanity and came to care about each other, as retold by author, educator & scientist James Conklin
                                                    • Carl Rogers, “When I look at the world I am pessimistic…”
                                                    • John Dupuy, Integral Recovery: A Revolutionary Approach to the Treatment of Alcoholism and Addiction*
                                                    • Nicholas Hedlund & Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Big Picture Perspectives on Planetary Flourishing*
                                                    • Roy Bhaskar, Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Nicholas Hedlund, Mervyn Hartwig, Metatheory for the Twenty-First Century: Critical Realism and Integral Theory in Dialogue*
                                                    • Nicholas Hedlund’s Academia.edu page with his PhD thesis and a number of articles, book chapters, etc. 
                                                    • Sean Esbjörn-Hargens & Michael Zimmerman, Integral Ecology*
                                                    • Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, founder of MetaIntegral, a global transdisciplinary social impact organization
                                                    • Nick Hedlund, founder director of the Eudaimonia Institute, dedicated to human flourishing
                                                    
                                                    

                                                    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                    ---

                                                    Sean Esbjörn-Hargens is a global leader in the application of integrative thinking to leader development, organizational design, and mixed-methods design. In 2011 he founded MetaIntegral, a social impact network that supports change leaders around the world in applying integrative principles. Sean’s passion lies at the intersection of design, integral theory, and embodiment. He has published and edited numerous articles, chapters, and books. His most recent book is Big Picture Perspectives on Planetary Flourishing. He also is the Program Director of the MA/PhD program Integral Noetic Sciences at the California Institute for Human Sciences.

                                                    Nicholas Hedlund, PhD, is a visionary philosopher working at the nexus of philosophy of science, worldviews, and socioecological transformation. He received his PhD in philosophy and social sciences from University College London, studying under the philosopher Roy Bhaskar. Nicholas also holds a master’s degree in philosophy & religion, as well as one in psychology. He is director of Eudaimonia Institute, an emerging social innovations lab for planetary flourishing. His work has appeared in numerous anthologies and peer-reviewed journals. He is co-editor of Metatheory for the Twenty-First Century: Critical Realism and Integral Theory in Dialogue and Big Picture Perspectives for Planetary Flourishing: Metatheory for the Anthropocene, Vol I. He currently teaches at the California Institute of Human Science.

                                                    ---

                                                    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                    ]]>Ep. 71 (Part 2 of 3) | Nicholas Hedlund & Sean Esbjörn-Hargens are big picture philosophers with extraordinary big hearts as well as big minds, dedicated to understanding how consciousness, culture, and nature relate to each other, and to forging a path for the Earth and civilization to flourish rather than fall apart. In this dialogue, the world of metatheories comes alive with urgent, purposeful meaning, because as Sean and Nick point out, integrative metatheories like Ken Wilber’s integral theory and Roy Bhaskar’s critical realism are the only tools that provide a useful framework for us to talk about and confront the vast web of interrelated and wicked problems we face on every level at this time. Now, we are only just beginning to understand the nature of the metacrisis—how the external crises are driven by interior crises of sensemaking and meaning making—but how do we bring everyone to the table to find solutions? How do we get the wisdom of these approaches to bear upon the crises we face? 

                                                    It turns out that heart connection—love, caring, and being willing to listen and to change—is a crucial, key ingredient for us to move forward in a positive way. Nick and Sean express both heartbreak and wild enthusiasm—heartbreak that our entire planetary community is so threatened and we have only a small window of time (till 2030) to transform our consciousness and culture into taking a cooperative and reverent approach to life, and enthusiasm to be alive at this pivotal time where everything hangs in the balance. Recorded December 7, 2022.

                                                    “We really need both—we need big Heart to connect and be friends with each other and love each other and we need that in equal measure to big Mind.”

                                                    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                                    • The difference between dialogue and debate: being willing to have one’s mind changed and opening up the opportunity for real dialogue (01:23)
                                                    • The critical reality principle/truth that we all share one world (03:07)
                                                    • The call to evolve together and mature spiritually (05:14)
                                                    • Reasons to be optimistic and reasons to be concerned about what lies ahead: the metacrisis will be a developmental catalyst for some but not all (07:33)
                                                    • The integral ecology mantra: things are getting better, things are also getting worse, and the eternal nature of perfection (09:33) 
                                                    • How can we speak to the fears of the people? The failure of liberal globalism, the rise of conservatism, and the search for higher political ground (12:01)
                                                    • Learning to listen to reality itself and what is being communicated by the profound intelligence of nature (15:03)
                                                    • What steps can we take to contribute to the full system reboot that is needed now? Cultivating the reverent heart sensibility (21:15)
                                                    • Applying big picture maps to addressing aspects of the metacrisis: six qualities pointing to the ways in which we need to be connected in order to make any progress (22:56) 
                                                    • How can we all be friends? Cultivating filia, connecting heart to heart, is the secret ingredient to the success of long term collaboration (28:11)
                                                    • How do we scale heart connection among humans? (35:43)
                                                    • We need more expressive capacity as a humanity, which metatheories can help us with (37:47)
                                                    
                                                    

                                                    Resources & References – Part 2

                                                    • Daniel Schmachtenberger, founding member of The Consilience Project, aimed at improving public sensemaking and dialogue
                                                    • Carl Rogers, great American psychologist, Journal of Humanistic Psychology: The Rust Workshop (The Central American Challenge)
                                                    • Robert Kegan’s story about how people with irreconcilable views about abortion discovered their common humanity and came to care about each other, as retold by author, educator & scientist James Conklin
                                                    • Carl Rogers, “When I look at the world I am pessimistic…”
                                                    • John Dupuy, Integral Recovery: A Revolutionary Approach to the Treatment of Alcoholism and Addiction*
                                                    • Nicholas Hedlund & Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Big Picture Perspectives on Planetary Flourishing*
                                                    • Roy Bhaskar, Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Nicholas Hedlund, Mervyn Hartwig, Metatheory for the Twenty-First Century: Critical Realism and Integral Theory in Dialogue*
                                                    • Nicholas Hedlund’s Academia.edu page with his PhD thesis and a number of articles, book chapters, etc. 
                                                    • Sean Esbjörn-Hargens & Michael Zimmerman, Integral Ecology*
                                                    • Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, founder of MetaIntegral, a global transdisciplinary social impact organization
                                                    • Nick Hedlund, founder director of the Eudaimonia Institute, dedicated to human flourishing
                                                    
                                                    

                                                    * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                    ---

                                                    Sean Esbjörn-Hargens is a global leader in the application of integrative thinking to leader development, organizational design, and mixed-methods design. In 2011 he founded MetaIntegral, a social impact network that supports change leaders around the world in applying integrative principles. Sean’s passion lies at the intersection of design, integral theory, and embodiment. He has published and edited numerous articles, chapters, and books. His most recent book is Big Picture Perspectives on Planetary Flourishing. He also is the Program Director of the MA/PhD program Integral Noetic Sciences at the California Institute for Human Sciences.

                                                    Nicholas Hedlund, PhD, is a visionary philosopher working at the nexus of philosophy of science, worldviews, and socioecological transformation. He received his PhD in philosophy and social sciences from University College London, studying under the philosopher Roy Bhaskar. Nicholas also holds a master’s degree in philosophy & religion, as well as one in psychology. He is director of Eudaimonia Institute, an emerging social innovations lab for planetary flourishing. His work has appeared in numerous anthologies and peer-reviewed journals. He is co-editor of Metatheory for the Twenty-First Century: Critical Realism and Integral Theory in Dialogue and Big Picture Perspectives for Planetary Flourishing: Metatheory for the Anthropocene, Vol I. He currently teaches at the California Institute of Human Science.

                                                    ---

                                                    Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                    ]]>12fe70af-8606-4664-9841-425a8f53370bThu, 30 Mar 2023 05:00:00 -040041:19falsefull7171Ep. 71 (Part 2 of 3) | Nicholas Hedlund & Sean Esbjörn-Hargens are big picture philosophers with extraordinary big hearts as well as big minds, dedicated to understanding how consciousness, culture, and nature relate to each other, and to forging a path for the Earth and civilization to flourish rather than fall apart. In this dialogue, the world of metatheories comes alive with urgent, purposeful meaning, because as Sean and Nick point out, integrative metatheories like Ken Wilber’s integral theory and Roy Bhaskar’s critical realism are the only tools that provide a useful framework for us to talk about and confront the vast web of interrelated and wicked problems we face on every level at this time. Now, we are only just beginning to understand the nature of the metacrisis—how the external crises are driven by interior crises of sensemaking and meaning making—but how do we bring everyone to the table to find solutions? How do we get the wisdom of these approaches to bear upon the crises we face? It turns out that heart connection—love, caring, and being willing to listen and to change—is a crucial, key ingredient for us to move forward in a positive way. Nick and Sean express both heartbreak and wild enthusiasm—heartbreak that our entire planetary community is so threatened and we have only a small window of time (till 2030) to transform our consciousness and culture into taking a cooperative and reverent approach to life, and enthusiasm to be alive at this pivotal time where everything hangs in the balance. Recorded December 7, 2022.Grappling with the Metacrisis: Understanding & Responding Effectively to the Great Challenges of Our TimeEp. 70 (Part 1 of 3) | Nicholas Hedlund & Sean Esbjörn-Hargens are big picture philosophers with extraordinary big hearts as well as big minds, dedicated to understanding how consciousness, culture, and nature relate to each other, and to forging a path for the Earth and civilization to flourish rather than fall apart. In this dialogue, the world of metatheories comes alive with urgent, purposeful meaning, because as Sean and Nick point out, integrative metatheories like Ken Wilber’s integral theory and Roy Bhaskar’s critical realism are the only tools that provide a useful framework for us to talk about and confront the vast web of interrelated and wicked problems we face on every level at this time. Now, we are only just beginning to understand the nature of the metacrisis—how the external crises are driven by interior crises of sensemaking and meaning making—but how do we bring everyone to the table to find solutions? How do we get the wisdom of these approaches to bear upon the crises we face? 

                                                    It turns out that heart connection—love, caring, and being willing to listen and to change—is a crucial, key ingredient for us to move forward in a positive way. Nick and Sean express both heartbreak and wild enthusiasm—heartbreak that our entire planetary community is so threatened and we have only a small window of time (till 2030) to transform our consciousness and culture into taking a cooperative and reverent approach to life, and enthusiasm to be alive at this pivotal time where everything hangs in the balance. Recorded December 7, 2022.

                                                    “We really need both—we need big Heart to connect and be friends with each other and love each other and we need that in equal measure to big Mind.”

                                                    (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                    Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                                    • Introducing philosophers Nicholas Hedlund & Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, who coined the term metacrisis (01:30)
                                                    • Nick’s mystical experiences early on and awareness of the crisis the Earth is facing led him to find a way to study the big picture beyond the partial perspectives offered in different university departments (02:57)
                                                    • For Nick, the metacrisis is connected with his own spiritual path and the questions “Who am I?” “Why am I here?” and “What does it mean to be human at this time?” (06:34)
                                                    • Sean started with studying animal consciousness, then added philosophy, psychology, and biology for an interdisciplinary understanding, focusing on ways of relating to the natural world—environmental philosophy (07:10)
                                                    • Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory brought Sean into deeper contact with nature, culture, and consciousness, and opened his heart (10:45)
                                                    • Nick & Sean coined the term “metacrisis” to illuminate more than simply the sum of all the crises, but also how they overlap and intertwine: the holistic complexity (13:01)
                                                    • Wicked problems: if we solve any of the crises, the solution grows more problems (14:45)
                                                    • All the crises share a network of root causes, deeper causal structures that underlie the symptoms we are experiencing—crises of interiority & spirituality, sensemaking & meaning making, are drivers of the rest (15:17)
                                                    • Our global problems are actually global symptoms (16:55)
                                                    • Nick & Sean created a big picture symposium series where scholars/practitioners familiar with Roy Bashkar’s critical realism and Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory (and familiar with the work of Edgar Morin, who uses the term “polycrisis”) came together to dialogue (17:45)
                                                    • The value of integrative metatheory: bringing the metacrisis into view, exploring the relationship between culture, consciousness, and nature, allowing us to actually talk about the situation and coordinate ourselves into action (19:18)
                                                    • Why is having a good theory of ontology (Bashkar’s critical realism) and of consciousness (Wilber’s Integral Theory) necessary? (21:54)
                                                    • Ontology = the study of reality, the study of being, the truth of things beyond our knowledge about them vs. epistemology which is our knowledge—how we know the world and gain knowledge about reality (22:48)
                                                    • Critical realism: there is something real, a deep strata, beyond what we see or observe (24:44)
                                                    • What are some of the great challenges and the core elements of the metacrisis? (26:05)
                                                    • The ecological crisis and sense of urgency because we have crossed many of the planetary boundaries, e.g. with CO2 (28:40)
                                                    • The ecosocial crisis, the ethical crisis, the existential crisis form the (external) polycrisis (30:17)
                                                    • The epistemic crisis of sensemaking is an internal crisis (31:29)
                                                    • Worldview clashes and an Integral forestry story of successfully building communication: taking perspectives, seeking perspectives, and coordinating perspectives (32:50)
                                                    
                                                    

                                                    Resources & References – Part 1

                                                    • Nicholas Hedlund & Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Big Picture Perspectives on Planetary Flourishing*
                                                    • Roy Bhaskar, Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Nicholas Hedlund, Mervyn Hartwig, Metatheory for the Twenty-First Century: Critical Realism and Integral Theory in Dialogue*
                                                    • Sean Esbjörn-Hargens & Michael Zimmerman, Integral Ecology*
                                                    • Nicholas Hedlund's Academia.edu page with his PhD thesis and a number of articles, book chapters, etc. 
                                                    • Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, founder of MetaIntegral, a global transdisciplinary social impact organization
                                                    • Nick Hedlund, founding director of the Eudaimonia Institute, dedicated to human flourishing
                                                    • Ken Wilber, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality*
                                                    • Ken Wilber, A Brief History of Everything*
                                                    • Edgar Morin, French philosopher and sociologist who uses the term polycrisis
                                                    • California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS)
                                                    • Roy Bhaskar, English philosopher of science who initiated the philosophical movement of critical realism
                                                    • Andrew Collier, Critical Realism: An Introduction to Roy Bhaskar’s Philosophy*
                                                    • Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory: Integral Life’s What is the Integral Approach?, The Integral Vision: A Very Short Introduction to the Revolutionary Integral Approach to Life, God, the Universe, and Everything*
                                                    • Zachary Stein, author of Education in a Time Between Worlds: Essays on the Future of Schools, Technology & Society*, co-founder of The Consilience Project, see also Deep Transformation episode #61, The Future of Education & Civilization
                                                    • Daniel Schmachtenberger, founding member of The Consilience Project, aimed at improving public sensemaking and...]]>Ep. 70 (Part 1 of 3) | Nicholas Hedlund & Sean Esbjörn-Hargens are big picture philosophers with extraordinary big hearts as well as big minds, dedicated to understanding how consciousness, culture, and nature relate to each other, and to forging a path for the Earth and civilization to flourish rather than fall apart. In this dialogue, the world of metatheories comes alive with urgent, purposeful meaning, because as Sean and Nick point out, integrative metatheories like Ken Wilber’s integral theory and Roy Bhaskar’s critical realism are the only tools that provide a useful framework for us to talk about and confront the vast web of interrelated and wicked problems we face on every level at this time. Now, we are only just beginning to understand the nature of the metacrisis—how the external crises are driven by interior crises of sensemaking and meaning making—but how do we bring everyone to the table to find solutions? How do we get the wisdom of these approaches to bear upon the crises we face? 

                                                      It turns out that heart connection—love, caring, and being willing to listen and to change—is a crucial, key ingredient for us to move forward in a positive way. Nick and Sean express both heartbreak and wild enthusiasm—heartbreak that our entire planetary community is so threatened and we have only a small window of time (till 2030) to transform our consciousness and culture into taking a cooperative and reverent approach to life, and enthusiasm to be alive at this pivotal time where everything hangs in the balance. Recorded December 7, 2022.

                                                      “We really need both—we need big Heart to connect and be friends with each other and love each other and we need that in equal measure to big Mind.”

                                                      (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                      Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                                      • Introducing philosophers Nicholas Hedlund & Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, who coined the term metacrisis (01:30)
                                                      • Nick’s mystical experiences early on and awareness of the crisis the Earth is facing led him to find a way to study the big picture beyond the partial perspectives offered in different university departments (02:57)
                                                      • For Nick, the metacrisis is connected with his own spiritual path and the questions “Who am I?” “Why am I here?” and “What does it mean to be human at this time?” (06:34)
                                                      • Sean started with studying animal consciousness, then added philosophy, psychology, and biology for an interdisciplinary understanding, focusing on ways of relating to the natural world—environmental philosophy (07:10)
                                                      • Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory brought Sean into deeper contact with nature, culture, and consciousness, and opened his heart (10:45)
                                                      • Nick & Sean coined the term “metacrisis” to illuminate more than simply the sum of all the crises, but also how they overlap and intertwine: the holistic complexity (13:01)
                                                      • Wicked problems: if we solve any of the crises, the solution grows more problems (14:45)
                                                      • All the crises share a network of root causes, deeper causal structures that underlie the symptoms we are experiencing—crises of interiority & spirituality, sensemaking & meaning making, are drivers of the rest (15:17)
                                                      • Our global problems are actually global symptoms (16:55)
                                                      • Nick & Sean created a big picture symposium series where scholars/practitioners familiar with Roy Bashkar’s critical realism and Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory (and familiar with the work of Edgar Morin, who uses the term “polycrisis”) came together to dialogue (17:45)
                                                      • The value of integrative metatheory: bringing the metacrisis into view, exploring the relationship between culture, consciousness, and nature, allowing us to actually talk about the situation and coordinate ourselves into action (19:18)
                                                      • Why is having a good theory of ontology (Bashkar’s critical realism) and of consciousness (Wilber’s Integral Theory) necessary? (21:54)
                                                      • Ontology = the study of reality, the study of being, the truth of things beyond our knowledge about them vs. epistemology which is our knowledge—how we know the world and gain knowledge about reality (22:48)
                                                      • Critical realism: there is something real, a deep strata, beyond what we see or observe (24:44)
                                                      • What are some of the great challenges and the core elements of the metacrisis? (26:05)
                                                      • The ecological crisis and sense of urgency because we have crossed many of the planetary boundaries, e.g. with CO2 (28:40)
                                                      • The ecosocial crisis, the ethical crisis, the existential crisis form the (external) polycrisis (30:17)
                                                      • The epistemic crisis of sensemaking is an internal crisis (31:29)
                                                      • Worldview clashes and an Integral forestry story of successfully building communication: taking perspectives, seeking perspectives, and coordinating perspectives (32:50)
                                                      
                                                      

                                                      Resources & References – Part 1

                                                      • Nicholas Hedlund & Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Big Picture Perspectives on Planetary Flourishing*
                                                      • Roy Bhaskar, Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Nicholas Hedlund, Mervyn Hartwig, Metatheory for the Twenty-First Century: Critical Realism and Integral Theory in Dialogue*
                                                      • Sean Esbjörn-Hargens & Michael Zimmerman, Integral Ecology*
                                                      • Nicholas Hedlund's Academia.edu page with his PhD thesis and a number of articles, book chapters, etc. 
                                                      • Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, founder of MetaIntegral, a global transdisciplinary social impact organization
                                                      • Nick Hedlund, founding director of the Eudaimonia Institute, dedicated to human flourishing
                                                      • Ken Wilber, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality*
                                                      • Ken Wilber, A Brief History of Everything*
                                                      • Edgar Morin, French philosopher and sociologist who uses the term polycrisis
                                                      • California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS)
                                                      • Roy Bhaskar, English philosopher of science who initiated the philosophical movement of critical realism
                                                      • Andrew Collier, Critical Realism: An Introduction to Roy Bhaskar’s Philosophy*
                                                      • Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory: Integral Life’s What is the Integral Approach?, The Integral Vision: A Very Short Introduction to the Revolutionary Integral Approach to Life, God, the Universe, and Everything*
                                                      • Zachary Stein, author of Education in a Time Between Worlds: Essays on the Future of Schools, Technology & Society*, co-founder of The Consilience Project, see also Deep Transformation episode #61, The Future of Education & Civilization
                                                      • Daniel Schmachtenberger, founding member of The Consilience Project, aimed at improving public sensemaking and dialogue 
                                                      • Jonathan Rowson, co-founder and director of Perspectiva, systems-soul-society.com, anthology Dispatches from a Time Between Worlds: Crisis and Emergence in Metamodernity*, see also Deep Transformation episode #17, Making Friends with Conflict, Metamodernity, Construct Awareness, and Other Ways of Facing the Current Metacrisis
                                                      • Jane Loevinger’s Stages of Ego Development, Ego Development,* Paradigms of Personality*
                                                      
                                                      

                                                      * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                      ---

                                                      Sean Esbjörn-Hargens is a global leader in the application of integrative thinking to leader development, organizational design, and mixed-methods design. In 2011 he founded MetaIntegral, a social impact network that supports change leaders around the world in applying integrative principles. Sean’s passion lies at the intersection of design, integral theory, and embodiment. He has published and edited numerous articles, chapters, and books. His most recent book is Big Picture Perspectives on Planetary Flourishing. He also is the Program Director of the MA/PhD program Integral Noetic Sciences at the California Institute for Human Sciences.

                                                      Nicholas Hedlund, PhD, is a visionary philosopher working at the nexus of philosophy of science, worldviews, and socioecological transformation. He received his PhD in philosophy and social sciences from University College London, studying under the philosopher Roy Bhaskar. Nicholas also holds a master’s degree in philosophy & religion, as well as one in psychology. He is director of Eudaimonia Institute, an emerging social innovations lab for planetary flourishing. His work has appeared in numerous anthologies and peer-reviewed journals. He is co-editor of Metatheory for the Twenty-First Century: Critical Realism and Integral Theory in Dialogue and Big Picture Perspectives for Planetary Flourishing: Metatheory for the Anthropocene, Vol I. He currently teaches at the California Institute of Human Science.

                                                      ---

                                                      Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                      ]]>2b7a66b0-40b6-4ba2-b978-d83a8974cea5Thu, 23 Mar 2023 05:00:00 -040042:21falsefull7070Ep. 70 (Part 1 of 3) | Nicholas Hedlund & Sean Esbjörn-Hargens are big picture philosophers with extraordinary big hearts as well as big minds, dedicated to understanding how consciousness, culture, and nature relate to each other, and to forging a path for the Earth and civilization to flourish rather than fall apart. In this dialogue, the world of metatheories comes alive with urgent, purposeful meaning, because as Sean and Nick point out, integrative metatheories like Ken Wilber’s integral theory and Roy Bhaskar’s critical realism are the only tools that provide a useful framework for us to talk about and confront the vast web of interrelated and wicked problems we face on every level at this time. Now, we are only just beginning to understand the nature of the metacrisis—how the external crises are driven by interior crises of sensemaking and meaning making—but how do we bring everyone to the table to find solutions? How do we get the wisdom of these approaches to bear upon the crises we face? It turns out that heart connection—love, caring, and being willing to listen and to change—is a crucial, key ingredient for us to move forward in a positive way. Nick and Sean express both heartbreak and wild enthusiasm—heartbreak that our entire planetary community is so threatened and we have only a small window of time (till 2030) to transform our consciousness and culture into taking a cooperative and reverent approach to life, and enthusiasm to be alive at this pivotal time where everything hangs in the balance. Recorded December 7, 2022.Illuminating the Integral Vision: A Metatheory for Understanding Our Self, Life, and the World (Part 3)Ep. 69 (Part 3 of 3) | Corey deVos is the heart and center of Integral Life, the organization that revolves around the work of Ken Wilber. Corey became passionate about Integral Theory at the age of 19, and in this lively conversation, he is clearly every bit as passionate about the actuality and the promise of Integral today. Here, Corey gives a terrifically lucid explanation of what the term Integral encompasses: a stage of psychological development, a description of Ken Wilber’s life’s work, and a comprehensive map that comes alive for people, guiding their way and making sense out of enormously complex issues. Corey also describes Integral as a gateway between two massive phases in human history—the “adolescent” phase of collective development now starting to fall behind us and an integrated phase quite possibly ahead.

                                                      Corey infuses the complex topics under discussion—the Integral metatheory, social issues that never seem to get resolved, human evolution itself—with optimism and enthusiasm, clarity and light, a testament to his own embodiment of Integral consciousness. At Integral Life, Corey co-hosts The Ken Show (with Ken Wilber), applies Integral to social issues like racism and justice in his podcast series, and excels at finding creative ways of translating the complexities of Integral Theory into easy-to-understand nuggets of information. This conversation is a brilliant, beautiful illumination of the Integral vision, covering how Integral has evolved and describing what it can do for our future. Recorded on November 10, 2022.

                                                      “The more we can make room for each other’s perspective…that’s how you go about solving the kind of political tribalization and polarization that is so prominent today.”

                                                      (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                      Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3

                                                      • The early days of Integral after the end of its “dark ages” (01:50)
                                                      • What was Integral Naked exactly? (03:18)
                                                      • Robb Smith takes over the leadership of Integral Life (06:16)
                                                      • The early days conversations are as relevant today as when they were recorded (08:57)
                                                      • The evolution of Integral Life, what’s going on now: political sensemaking, intra personal development, live community practice groups, and much more (10:08)
                                                      • Corey’s development of trust and confidence doing the work: from instrument to symphony (15:50)
                                                      • Carrying on the flame that was ignited by Ken Wilber (20:30)
                                                      • The curse of Ken Wilber is being born ahead of his time (22:04)
                                                      • What is most exciting to Corey right now? Taking Integral ideas and expressing them artistically with woodwork (24:41)
                                                      • Where is Integral headed? As the framework is applied in the world, it’s going to start generating real impact (28:25)
                                                      • Integralists are growing up, cleaning up, and now is the time for a collective “showing up” (30:51)
                                                      
                                                      

                                                      Resources & References – Part 3

                                                      • Alex Gray, visual artist known for creating spiritual & psychedelic paintings
                                                      • Robert Kegan, developmental psychologist, author of The Evolving Self*
                                                      • Billy Corgan, the Smashing Pumpkins’ lead singer, primary songwriter, and guitarist
                                                      • Stone Gossard, guitarist and songwriter for Pearl Jam
                                                      • Saul Williams, rapper, singer/songwriter, poet, actor
                                                      • Serj Tankian, songwriter, political activist, lead singer in System of a Down
                                                      • Robb Smith, founder and CEO of Integral Life
                                                      • James Turner, D.C. lawyer and author of The Chemical Feast: Ralph Nader’s Study Group Report on the Food and Drug Administration*
                                                      • Jim Garrison, founder and president of Ubiquity University
                                                      • Mark Fischler, co-host of The Integral Justice Warrior series with Corey deVos
                                                      • Dr. Keith Witt, clinical psychologist and frequent guest on Integral Life podcasts
                                                      • Jeff Salzman, host of The Daily Evolver podcast
                                                      • Integral Life Practice community
                                                      • Ryan Oelke, meditation, mindfulness, and dharma teacher
                                                      • The Joe Rogan Experience podcast
                                                      • Gail Hochachka, co-founder of Integral Without Borders and author of Developing Sustainability, Developing the Self*
                                                      • Roger Walsh, The State of the Integral Enterprise (article in the Journal of Integral Theory and Practice)
                                                      • Bence Ganti, founder of the IEC global integral conferences: Integral European Conference 2023, Planetary Awakening 2.0
                                                      • Ken Wilber, One Taste* 
                                                      • Corey deVos, Executive Producer at IntegralLife.com
                                                      • Corey deVos’ intro to Integral video: Holons: The Building Blocks of the Universe (YouTube)
                                                      • Build Your Integral Life, free Integral Life course for beginners
                                                      • Corey’s art website, Vision Logix Woodworking
                                                      
                                                      

                                                      * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                      ---

                                                      Corey deVos is the Executive Producer of Integral Life, an online media platform that focuses on the application of Integral Theory to personal and social transformation. Integral Theory is a comprehensive framework that seeks to integrate multiple perspectives, including the subjective, objective, inter-subjective, and inter-objective dimensions of human experience.

                                                      Corey deVos is also a writer, woodworker,...]]>Ep. 69 (Part 3 of 3) | Corey deVos is the heart and center of Integral Life, the organization that revolves around the work of Ken Wilber. Corey became passionate about Integral Theory at the age of 19, and in this lively conversation, he is clearly every bit as passionate about the actuality and the promise of Integral today. Here, Corey gives a terrifically lucid explanation of what the term Integral encompasses: a stage of psychological development, a description of Ken Wilber’s life’s work, and a comprehensive map that comes alive for people, guiding their way and making sense out of enormously complex issues. Corey also describes Integral as a gateway between two massive phases in human history—the “adolescent” phase of collective development now starting to fall behind us and an integrated phase quite possibly ahead.

                                                      Corey infuses the complex topics under discussion—the Integral metatheory, social issues that never seem to get resolved, human evolution itself—with optimism and enthusiasm, clarity and light, a testament to his own embodiment of Integral consciousness. At Integral Life, Corey co-hosts The Ken Show (with Ken Wilber), applies Integral to social issues like racism and justice in his podcast series, and excels at finding creative ways of translating the complexities of Integral Theory into easy-to-understand nuggets of information. This conversation is a brilliant, beautiful illumination of the Integral vision, covering how Integral has evolved and describing what it can do for our future. Recorded on November 10, 2022.

                                                      “The more we can make room for each other’s perspective…that’s how you go about solving the kind of political tribalization and polarization that is so prominent today.”

                                                      (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                      Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3

                                                      • The early days of Integral after the end of its “dark ages” (01:50)
                                                      • What was Integral Naked exactly? (03:18)
                                                      • Robb Smith takes over the leadership of Integral Life (06:16)
                                                      • The early days conversations are as relevant today as when they were recorded (08:57)
                                                      • The evolution of Integral Life, what’s going on now: political sensemaking, intra personal development, live community practice groups, and much more (10:08)
                                                      • Corey’s development of trust and confidence doing the work: from instrument to symphony (15:50)
                                                      • Carrying on the flame that was ignited by Ken Wilber (20:30)
                                                      • The curse of Ken Wilber is being born ahead of his time (22:04)
                                                      • What is most exciting to Corey right now? Taking Integral ideas and expressing them artistically with woodwork (24:41)
                                                      • Where is Integral headed? As the framework is applied in the world, it’s going to start generating real impact (28:25)
                                                      • Integralists are growing up, cleaning up, and now is the time for a collective “showing up” (30:51)
                                                      
                                                      

                                                      Resources & References – Part 3

                                                      • Alex Gray, visual artist known for creating spiritual & psychedelic paintings
                                                      • Robert Kegan, developmental psychologist, author of The Evolving Self*
                                                      • Billy Corgan, the Smashing Pumpkins’ lead singer, primary songwriter, and guitarist
                                                      • Stone Gossard, guitarist and songwriter for Pearl Jam
                                                      • Saul Williams, rapper, singer/songwriter, poet, actor
                                                      • Serj Tankian, songwriter, political activist, lead singer in System of a Down
                                                      • Robb Smith, founder and CEO of Integral Life
                                                      • James Turner, D.C. lawyer and author of The Chemical Feast: Ralph Nader’s Study Group Report on the Food and Drug Administration*
                                                      • Jim Garrison, founder and president of Ubiquity University
                                                      • Mark Fischler, co-host of The Integral Justice Warrior series with Corey deVos
                                                      • Dr. Keith Witt, clinical psychologist and frequent guest on Integral Life podcasts
                                                      • Jeff Salzman, host of The Daily Evolver podcast
                                                      • Integral Life Practice community
                                                      • Ryan Oelke, meditation, mindfulness, and dharma teacher
                                                      • The Joe Rogan Experience podcast
                                                      • Gail Hochachka, co-founder of Integral Without Borders and author of Developing Sustainability, Developing the Self*
                                                      • Roger Walsh, The State of the Integral Enterprise (article in the Journal of Integral Theory and Practice)
                                                      • Bence Ganti, founder of the IEC global integral conferences: Integral European Conference 2023, Planetary Awakening 2.0
                                                      • Ken Wilber, One Taste* 
                                                      • Corey deVos, Executive Producer at IntegralLife.com
                                                      • Corey deVos’ intro to Integral video: Holons: The Building Blocks of the Universe (YouTube)
                                                      • Build Your Integral Life, free Integral Life course for beginners
                                                      • Corey’s art website, Vision Logix Woodworking
                                                      
                                                      

                                                      * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                      ---

                                                      Corey deVos is the Executive Producer of Integral Life, an online media platform that focuses on the application of Integral Theory to personal and social transformation. Integral Theory is a comprehensive framework that seeks to integrate multiple perspectives, including the subjective, objective, inter-subjective, and inter-objective dimensions of human experience.

                                                      Corey deVos is also a writer, woodworker, musician, and teacher, who has been involved in the integral community for many years. He is a frequent host and guest on Integral Life’s podcast, where he engages in deep conversations with leading thinkers, artists, and practitioners in the integral world. He is known for his ability to articulate complex ideas in a clear and accessible manner, and for his commitment to fostering a more inclusive and integrated worldview. Corey is a devoted father and husband, and lives with his family in Longmont, Colorado.

                                                      ---

                                                      Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                      ]]>1119b623-9cc8-42e5-8818-b4d6ca305329Thu, 16 Mar 2023 05:00:00 -040040:24falsefull6969Ep. 69 (Part 3 of 3) | Corey deVos is the heart and center of Integral Life, the organization that revolves around the work of Ken Wilber. Corey became passionate about Integral Theory at the age of 19, and in this lively conversation, he is clearly every bit as passionate about the actuality and the promise of Integral today. Here, Corey gives a terrifically lucid explanation of what the term Integral encompasses: a stage of psychological development, a description of Ken Wilber’s life’s work, and a comprehensive map that comes alive for people, guiding their way and making sense out of enormously complex issues. Corey also describes Integral as a gateway between two massive phases in human history—the “adolescent” phase of collective development now starting to fall behind us and an integrated phase quite possibly ahead. Corey infuses the complex topics under discussion—the Integral metatheory, social issues that never seem to get resolved, human evolution itself—with optimism and enthusiasm, clarity and light, a testament to his own embodiment of Integral consciousness. At Integral Life, Corey co-hosts The Ken Show (with Ken Wilber), applies Integral to social issues like racism and justice in his podcast series, and excels at finding creative ways of translating the complexities of Integral Theory into easy-to-understand nuggets of information. This conversation is a brilliant, beautiful illumination of the Integral vision, covering how Integral has evolved and describing what it can do for our future. Recorded on November 10, 2022.Illuminating the Integral Vision: A Metatheory for Understanding Our Self, Life, and the World (Part 2)Ep. 68 (Part 2 of 3) | Corey deVos is the heart and center of Integral Life, the organization that revolves around the work of Ken Wilber. Corey became passionate about Integral Theory at the age of 19, and in this lively conversation, he is clearly every bit as passionate about the actuality and the promise of Integral today. Here, Corey gives a terrifically lucid explanation of what the term Integral encompasses: a stage of psychological development, a description of Ken Wilber’s life’s work, and a comprehensive map that comes alive for people, guiding their way and making sense out of enormously complex issues. Corey also describes Integral as a gateway between two massive phases in human history—the “adolescent” phase of collective development now starting to fall behind us and an integrated phase quite possibly ahead.

                                                      Corey infuses the complex topics under discussion—the Integral metatheory, social issues that never seem to get resolved, human evolution itself—with optimism and enthusiasm, clarity and light, a testament to his own embodiment of Integral consciousness. At Integral Life, Corey co-hosts The Ken Show (with Ken Wilber), applies Integral to social issues like racism and justice in his podcast series, and excels at finding creative ways of translating the complexities of Integral Theory into easy-to-understand nuggets of information. This conversation is a brilliant, beautiful illumination of the Integral vision, covering how Integral has evolved and describing what it can do for our future. Recorded on November 10, 2022.

                                                      “The more we can make room for each other’s perspective…that’s how you go about solving the kind of political tribalization and polarization that is so prominent today.”

                                                      (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                      Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                                      • In appreciation of Ken Wilber’s kindness and generosity (00:48)
                                                      • The Integral vision, the concept of “vision-logic,” and the geometry of consciousness (02:23)
                                                      • Corey’s creativity using mainstream movie clips to communicate the complexity of each Integral stage of development in a nutshell (05:18)
                                                      • How Corey applies Integral to the major social issues of our time (09:21)
                                                      • The Integral Justice Warrior series, co-hosted by Mark Fischler and Corey deVos (10:38)
                                                      • The Ken Show with Ken Wilber and Corey deVos (13:18)
                                                      • The Integral map’s four quadrants explained (14:47)
                                                      • The Integral heart is an empathetic heart (18:14) 
                                                      • The 8 zones of racism: can we create a frame in which both a “woke” person and a traditional person can find themselves? (20:28)
                                                      • How can we talk about systemic racism (or any other issue) from different developmental perspectives and find common ground? (23:22)
                                                      • Stumbling our way towards Integral and finding out that the territory is actually real (26:21)
                                                      • The evolution of Integral, symbol of wholeness (32:47)
                                                      • How Corey came to be knocking on Ken’s door and his intention to create a way for people to become transformed by Integral yet not feel alone in this (34:41)
                                                      
                                                      

                                                      Resources & References – Part 2

                                                      • John Dupuy, Integral Recovery: A Revolutionary Approach to the Treatment of Alcoholism and Addiction*
                                                      • Ken Wilber, The Spectrum of Consciousness*
                                                      • Corey’s art website, Vision Logix Woodworking
                                                      • Ken Wilber, The Integral Vision*
                                                      • The Integral Justice Warrior series, co-hosted by Mark Fischler and Corey deVos
                                                      • The Ken Show: Putting the “Art” in Artificial Intelligence
                                                      • The Ken Show: Wicked Problems, Gun Violence
                                                      • Jeff Salzman, host of The Daily Evolver podcast
                                                      • Corey deVos, Executive Producer at IntegralLife.com
                                                      • Corey deVos’ intro to Integral video: Holons: The Building Blocks of the Universe (YouTube)
                                                      • Build Your Integral Life, free Integral Life course for beginners
                                                      
                                                      

                                                      * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                      ---

                                                      Corey deVos is the Executive Producer of Integral Life, an online media platform that focuses on the application of Integral Theory to personal and social transformation. Integral Theory is a comprehensive framework that seeks to integrate multiple perspectives, including the subjective, objective, inter-subjective, and inter-objective dimensions of human experience.

                                                      Corey deVos is also a writer, woodworker, musician, and teacher, who has been involved in the integral community for many years. He is a frequent host and guest on Integral Life’s podcast, where he engages in deep conversations with leading thinkers, artists, and practitioners in the integral world. He is known for his ability to articulate complex ideas in a clear and accessible manner, and for his commitment to fostering a more inclusive and integrated worldview. Corey is a devoted father and husband, and lives with his family in Longmont, Colorado.

                                                      ---

                                                      Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                      ]]>Ep. 68 (Part 2 of 3) | Corey deVos is the heart and center of Integral Life, the organization that revolves around the work of Ken Wilber. Corey became passionate about Integral Theory at the age of 19, and in this lively conversation, he is clearly every bit as passionate about the actuality and the promise of Integral today. Here, Corey gives a terrifically lucid explanation of what the term Integral encompasses: a stage of psychological development, a description of Ken Wilber’s life’s work, and a comprehensive map that comes alive for people, guiding their way and making sense out of enormously complex issues. Corey also describes Integral as a gateway between two massive phases in human history—the “adolescent” phase of collective development now starting to fall behind us and an integrated phase quite possibly ahead.

                                                      Corey infuses the complex topics under discussion—the Integral metatheory, social issues that never seem to get resolved, human evolution itself—with optimism and enthusiasm, clarity and light, a testament to his own embodiment of Integral consciousness. At Integral Life, Corey co-hosts The Ken Show (with Ken Wilber), applies Integral to social issues like racism and justice in his podcast series, and excels at finding creative ways of translating the complexities of Integral Theory into easy-to-understand nuggets of information. This conversation is a brilliant, beautiful illumination of the Integral vision, covering how Integral has evolved and describing what it can do for our future. Recorded on November 10, 2022.

                                                      “The more we can make room for each other’s perspective…that’s how you go about solving the kind of political tribalization and polarization that is so prominent today.”

                                                      (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                      Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                                      • In appreciation of Ken Wilber’s kindness and generosity (00:48)
                                                      • The Integral vision, the concept of “vision-logic,” and the geometry of consciousness (02:23)
                                                      • Corey’s creativity using mainstream movie clips to communicate the complexity of each Integral stage of development in a nutshell (05:18)
                                                      • How Corey applies Integral to the major social issues of our time (09:21)
                                                      • The Integral Justice Warrior series, co-hosted by Mark Fischler and Corey deVos (10:38)
                                                      • The Ken Show with Ken Wilber and Corey deVos (13:18)
                                                      • The Integral map’s four quadrants explained (14:47)
                                                      • The Integral heart is an empathetic heart (18:14) 
                                                      • The 8 zones of racism: can we create a frame in which both a “woke” person and a traditional person can find themselves? (20:28)
                                                      • How can we talk about systemic racism (or any other issue) from different developmental perspectives and find common ground? (23:22)
                                                      • Stumbling our way towards Integral and finding out that the territory is actually real (26:21)
                                                      • The evolution of Integral, symbol of wholeness (32:47)
                                                      • How Corey came to be knocking on Ken’s door and his intention to create a way for people to become transformed by Integral yet not feel alone in this (34:41)
                                                      
                                                      

                                                      Resources & References – Part 2

                                                      • John Dupuy, Integral Recovery: A Revolutionary Approach to the Treatment of Alcoholism and Addiction*
                                                      • Ken Wilber, The Spectrum of Consciousness*
                                                      • Corey’s art website, Vision Logix Woodworking
                                                      • Ken Wilber, The Integral Vision*
                                                      • The Integral Justice Warrior series, co-hosted by Mark Fischler and Corey deVos
                                                      • The Ken Show: Putting the “Art” in Artificial Intelligence
                                                      • The Ken Show: Wicked Problems, Gun Violence
                                                      • Jeff Salzman, host of The Daily Evolver podcast
                                                      • Corey deVos, Executive Producer at IntegralLife.com
                                                      • Corey deVos’ intro to Integral video: Holons: The Building Blocks of the Universe (YouTube)
                                                      • Build Your Integral Life, free Integral Life course for beginners
                                                      
                                                      

                                                      * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                      ---

                                                      Corey deVos is the Executive Producer of Integral Life, an online media platform that focuses on the application of Integral Theory to personal and social transformation. Integral Theory is a comprehensive framework that seeks to integrate multiple perspectives, including the subjective, objective, inter-subjective, and inter-objective dimensions of human experience.

                                                      Corey deVos is also a writer, woodworker, musician, and teacher, who has been involved in the integral community for many years. He is a frequent host and guest on Integral Life’s podcast, where he engages in deep conversations with leading thinkers, artists, and practitioners in the integral world. He is known for his ability to articulate complex ideas in a clear and accessible manner, and for his commitment to fostering a more inclusive and integrated worldview. Corey is a devoted father and husband, and lives with his family in Longmont, Colorado.

                                                      ---

                                                      Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                      ]]>2267d76a-7b9f-46aa-b570-2b4f9f385e6fThu, 09 Mar 2023 05:00:00 -040038:25falsefull6868Ep. 68 (Part 2 of 3) | Corey deVos is the heart and center of Integral Life, the organization that revolves around the work of Ken Wilber. Corey became passionate about Integral Theory at the age of 19, and in this lively conversation, he is clearly every bit as passionate about the actuality and the promise of Integral today. Here, Corey gives a terrifically lucid explanation of what the term Integral encompasses: a stage of psychological development, a description of Ken Wilber’s life’s work, and a comprehensive map that comes alive for people, guiding their way and making sense out of enormously complex issues. Corey also describes Integral as a gateway between two massive phases in human history—the “adolescent” phase of collective development now starting to fall behind us and an integrated phase quite possibly ahead. Corey infuses the complex topics under discussion—the Integral metatheory, social issues that never seem to get resolved, human evolution itself—with optimism and enthusiasm, clarity and light, a testament to his own embodiment of Integral consciousness. At Integral Life, Corey co-hosts The Ken Show (with Ken Wilber), applies Integral to social issues like racism and justice in his podcast series, and excels at finding creative ways of translating the complexities of Integral Theory into easy-to-understand nuggets of information. This conversation is a brilliant, beautiful illumination of the Integral vision, covering how Integral has evolved and describing what it can do for our future. Recorded on November 10, 2022.Illuminating the Integral Vision: A Metatheory for Understanding Our Self, Life, and the WorldEp. 67 (Part 1 of 3) | Corey deVos is the heart and center of Integral Life, the organization that revolves around the work of Ken Wilber. Corey became passionate about Integral Theory at the age of 19, and in this lively conversation, he is clearly every bit as passionate about the actuality and the promise of Integral today. Here, Corey gives a terrifically lucid explanation of what the term Integral encompasses: a stage of psychological development, a description of Ken Wilber’s life’s work, and a comprehensive map that comes alive for people, guiding their way and making sense out of enormously complex issues. Corey also describes Integral as a gateway between two massive phases in human history—the “adolescent” phase of collective development now starting to fall behind us and an integrated phase quite possibly ahead.

                                                      Corey infuses the complex topics under discussion—the Integral metatheory, social issues that never seem to get resolved, human evolution itself—with optimism and enthusiasm, clarity and light, a testament to his own embodiment of Integral consciousness. At Integral Life, Corey co-hosts The Ken Show (with Ken Wilber), applies Integral to social issues like racism and justice in his podcast series, and excels at finding creative ways of translating the complexities of Integral Theory into easy-to-understand nuggets of information. This conversation is a brilliant, beautiful illumination of the Integral vision, covering how Integral has evolved and describing what it can do for our future. Recorded on November 10, 2022.

                                                      “The more we can make room for each other’s perspective…that’s how you go about solving the kind of political tribalization and polarization that is so prominent today.”

                                                      (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                      Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                                      • Introducing Corey deVos, Executive Producer of Integral Life, the organization that revolves around Ken Wilber and his work (00:57)
                                                      • The ordinary and the extraordinary about Integral: Corey gives a superb explanation of just what is meant by the term “Integral” (02:41)
                                                      • Global challenges now are so huge, complicated, and urgent, they are forcing developmental movement—a new evolution—and necessitating the kind of comprehensive solutions that Integral offers (07:14)
                                                      • How the spiral of development is now at war with itself—like a global auto-immune disease, we are attacking ourself; Integral can supply the “medicine” (08:27)
                                                      • What distinguishes the Integral stage from all the previous stages and how does Integral fit into history? (11:08)
                                                      • The fragmentation of knowledge and how Integral is able to hold it all in a meaningful framework (14:46)
                                                      • Integral is also a call to transform (18:39)
                                                      • Every new stage coming into being involves a revolution; Integral’s revolution is from the inside out rather than the outside in, and it demands we do our inner work (19:53)
                                                      • The problem with reductionism and how Integral holds our basic polarities: interior/exterior, subjective/objective, individual/collective, offering a way out of our conflicts (22:34)
                                                      • How can people start to get involved with the Integral project? (27:29)
                                                      • Corey’s catastrophic first spiritual experience and love at first read of Ken Wilber’s A Brief History of Everything (30:38) 
                                                      
                                                      

                                                      Resources & References – Part 1

                                                      • Corey deVos, Executive Producer at IntegralLife.com
                                                      • Corey deVos’ intro to Integral video: Holons: The Building Blocks of the Universe (YouTube)
                                                      • What’s the Future Integral conference in Sedona, hosted by Transformation Teaching (November 2022)
                                                      • Ken Wilber, Integral Theory, and Ken Wilber’s books*
                                                      • Everybody is right, YouTube video with Ken Wilber
                                                      • What Are the Stages of Development? (Integral Life)
                                                      • Build Your Integral Life, free Integral Life course for beginners
                                                      • Ken Wilber, Sex, Ecology, and Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution*
                                                      • The Integral Justice Warrior series, co-hosted by Mark Fischler and Corey deVos
                                                      • Abraham Maslow, American psychologist, creator of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
                                                      • Clare Graves, adult developmental stages psychologist foundational to Spiral Dynamics
                                                      • Ken Wilber, A Brief History of Everything*
                                                      • Marcia Walters (Ken’s ex-wife) & musician Stuart Davis
                                                      • Corey’s website, Vision Logix Woodworking
                                                      
                                                      

                                                      * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                      ---

                                                      Corey deVos is the Executive Producer of Integral Life, an online media platform that focuses on the application of Integral Theory to personal and social transformation. Integral Theory is a comprehensive framework that seeks to integrate multiple perspectives, including the subjective, objective, inter-subjective, and inter-objective dimensions of human experience.

                                                      Corey deVos is also a writer, woodworker, musician, and teacher, who has been involved in the integral community for many years. He is a frequent host and guest on Integral Life’s podcast, where he engages in deep conversations with leading thinkers, artists, and practitioners in the integral world. He is known for his ability to articulate complex ideas in a clear and accessible manner, and for his commitment to fostering a more inclusive and integrated worldview. Corey is a devoted father and husband, and lives with his family in Longmont, Colorado.

                                                      ---

                                                      Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                      ]]>Ep. 67 (Part 1 of 3) | Corey deVos is the heart and center of Integral Life, the organization that revolves around the work of Ken Wilber. Corey became passionate about Integral Theory at the age of 19, and in this lively conversation, he is clearly every bit as passionate about the actuality and the promise of Integral today. Here, Corey gives a terrifically lucid explanation of what the term Integral encompasses: a stage of psychological development, a description of Ken Wilber’s life’s work, and a comprehensive map that comes alive for people, guiding their way and making sense out of enormously complex issues. Corey also describes Integral as a gateway between two massive phases in human history—the “adolescent” phase of collective development now starting to fall behind us and an integrated phase quite possibly ahead.

                                                      Corey infuses the complex topics under discussion—the Integral metatheory, social issues that never seem to get resolved, human evolution itself—with optimism and enthusiasm, clarity and light, a testament to his own embodiment of Integral consciousness. At Integral Life, Corey co-hosts The Ken Show (with Ken Wilber), applies Integral to social issues like racism and justice in his podcast series, and excels at finding creative ways of translating the complexities of Integral Theory into easy-to-understand nuggets of information. This conversation is a brilliant, beautiful illumination of the Integral vision, covering how Integral has evolved and describing what it can do for our future. Recorded on November 10, 2022.

                                                      “The more we can make room for each other’s perspective…that’s how you go about solving the kind of political tribalization and polarization that is so prominent today.”

                                                      (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                      Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                                      • Introducing Corey deVos, Executive Producer of Integral Life, the organization that revolves around Ken Wilber and his work (00:57)
                                                      • The ordinary and the extraordinary about Integral: Corey gives a superb explanation of just what is meant by the term “Integral” (02:41)
                                                      • Global challenges now are so huge, complicated, and urgent, they are forcing developmental movement—a new evolution—and necessitating the kind of comprehensive solutions that Integral offers (07:14)
                                                      • How the spiral of development is now at war with itself—like a global auto-immune disease, we are attacking ourself; Integral can supply the “medicine” (08:27)
                                                      • What distinguishes the Integral stage from all the previous stages and how does Integral fit into history? (11:08)
                                                      • The fragmentation of knowledge and how Integral is able to hold it all in a meaningful framework (14:46)
                                                      • Integral is also a call to transform (18:39)
                                                      • Every new stage coming into being involves a revolution; Integral’s revolution is from the inside out rather than the outside in, and it demands we do our inner work (19:53)
                                                      • The problem with reductionism and how Integral holds our basic polarities: interior/exterior, subjective/objective, individual/collective, offering a way out of our conflicts (22:34)
                                                      • How can people start to get involved with the Integral project? (27:29)
                                                      • Corey’s catastrophic first spiritual experience and love at first read of Ken Wilber’s A Brief History of Everything (30:38) 
                                                      
                                                      

                                                      Resources & References – Part 1

                                                      • Corey deVos, Executive Producer at IntegralLife.com
                                                      • Corey deVos’ intro to Integral video: Holons: The Building Blocks of the Universe (YouTube)
                                                      • What’s the Future Integral conference in Sedona, hosted by Transformation Teaching (November 2022)
                                                      • Ken Wilber, Integral Theory, and Ken Wilber’s books*
                                                      • Everybody is right, YouTube video with Ken Wilber
                                                      • What Are the Stages of Development? (Integral Life)
                                                      • Build Your Integral Life, free Integral Life course for beginners
                                                      • Ken Wilber, Sex, Ecology, and Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution*
                                                      • The Integral Justice Warrior series, co-hosted by Mark Fischler and Corey deVos
                                                      • Abraham Maslow, American psychologist, creator of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
                                                      • Clare Graves, adult developmental stages psychologist foundational to Spiral Dynamics
                                                      • Ken Wilber, A Brief History of Everything*
                                                      • Marcia Walters (Ken’s ex-wife) & musician Stuart Davis
                                                      • Corey’s website, Vision Logix Woodworking
                                                      
                                                      

                                                      * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                      ---

                                                      Corey deVos is the Executive Producer of Integral Life, an online media platform that focuses on the application of Integral Theory to personal and social transformation. Integral Theory is a comprehensive framework that seeks to integrate multiple perspectives, including the subjective, objective, inter-subjective, and inter-objective dimensions of human experience.

                                                      Corey deVos is also a writer, woodworker, musician, and teacher, who has been involved in the integral community for many years. He is a frequent host and guest on Integral Life’s podcast, where he engages in deep conversations with leading thinkers, artists, and practitioners in the integral world. He is known for his ability to articulate complex ideas in a clear and accessible manner, and for his commitment to fostering a more inclusive and integrated worldview. Corey is a devoted father and husband, and lives with his family in Longmont, Colorado.

                                                      ---

                                                      Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                      ]]>d92564a3-4951-4dd4-8962-00d3feafbc65Thu, 02 Mar 2023 05:00:00 -040039:16falsefull6767Ep. 67 (Part 1 of 3) | Corey deVos is the heart and center of Integral Life, the organization that revolves around the work of Ken Wilber. Corey became passionate about Integral Theory at the age of 19, and in this lively conversation, he is clearly every bit as passionate about the actuality and the promise of Integral today. Here, Corey gives a terrifically lucid explanation of what the term Integral encompasses: a stage of psychological development, a description of Ken Wilber’s life’s work, and a comprehensive map that comes alive for people, guiding their way and making sense out of enormously complex issues. Corey also describes Integral as a gateway between two massive phases in human history—the “adolescent” phase of collective development now starting to fall behind us and an integrated phase quite possibly ahead. Corey infuses the complex topics under discussion—the Integral metatheory, social issues that never seem to get resolved, human evolution itself, with optimism and enthusiasm, clarity and light—a testament to his own embodiment of Integral consciousness. At Integral Life, Corey co-hosts The Ken Show (with Ken Wilber), applies Integral to social issues like racism and justice in his podcast series, and excels at finding creative ways of translating the complexities of Integral Theory into easy-to-understand nuggets of information. This conversation is a brilliant, beautiful illumination of the Integral vision, covering how Integral has evolved and describing what it can do for our future. Recorded on November 10, 2022.Ukraine, One Year Later: Finding Meaning, Purpose & Ways to Contribute Amidst the Hell of WarEp. 66 | Ukrainian psychologist Kateryna Yasko and integral leadership development expert Vytautas Bučiūnas share their first-hand experiences of the war in Kyiv now, one year after the invasion by Russia, as well as their penetrating perspectives on Russian imperialism (“Russia needs to lose this war so they can reinvent themselves”), on why there is comparably less PTSD among Ukrainian soldiers, and the implications for the world if Russia were to win or if it were to disintegrate. They acknowledge the relatively recent “awakening of Europe” to the fact that Putin won’t stop with Ukraine if he wins, and warn that “democracy needs to be fully ready for a possibly long-term battle for its values.”

                                                      Kateryna and Vytautas have witnessed how having an overriding mission and purpose has changed Ukrainians, and describe perceiving an unmistakable shift in energy upon crossing the border into Ukraine, where the heightened appreciation for life and the strength and solidarity of common purpose are palpable. What does the struggle for democracy, freedom, and dignity actually feel like? Find out on a planned pilgrimage to Ukraine this fall—both a spiritual journey of awakening and an opportunity to embody the experience of being invaded by Russia. This podcast is also a call for help—if you feel inspired to support the efforts in Ukraine, below are links to three trustworthy organizations working hard on Ukraine’s behalf. Recorded February 13, 2023.

                                                      “Democracies need to have guts. Who knows how many battles between democracy and autocracy lie ahead?”

                                                      (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                      Topics & Time Stamps

                                                      • Introducing Ukrainian psychologist Dr. Kateryna Yasko and leadership development expert Vytautus Bučiūnas (01:51) 
                                                      • Thank you to people who gave via iAwake in support of Ukraine (04:23)
                                                      • Update on what’s happening on the front lines thanks to the support of Western countries and especially the U.S. (06:01)
                                                      • President Zelensky, his speech to the United States Congress, and the qualities that make him a great wartime president (06:58)
                                                      • The metamodern cultural code and using force to protect ethical values (10:06)
                                                      • The awakening of Europe: democracy needs to be ready for a possibly long-term battle for its values (11:42)
                                                      • Ukraine has integrated the extremely important polarities: love and power, and the Battle of Antonov Airport (13:01)
                                                      • This is an existential war; there is no choice for Ukrainians (17:40)
                                                      • Things are getting a lot worse in Russia socially, economically, and among the elite (20:01)
                                                      • Russian imperialism needs to die for the benefit of all, including Russians (21:09)
                                                      • Because the defensive war in Ukraine is a just war, levels of PTSD among soldiers are much less (25:04)
                                                      • There are more than 100 small nations under Russian control who seek autonomy, independence, dignity, and respect (25:55)
                                                      • What will happen if/when Russia disintegrates? (26:34)
                                                      • Every country has its Nazis (30:25)
                                                      • The spirit in Kyiv now: solidarity, purpose, meaning & an extraordinary appreciation of life (32:30)
                                                      • You are invited on a pilgrimage to Ukraine in Oct 2023 to experience the vital spirit of the struggle for democracy firsthand (37:33)
                                                      • Co-host John Dupuy’s riveting song: Ukraine! (45:59)
                                                      • How to get involved and support Ukraine (see links below) (51:39)
                                                      • A call to be with Ukraine in spirit (52:57)
                                                      • In gratitude for the support of the United States and a heads up to Americans: the outcome of this war will affect each and every one of us (54:09)
                                                      
                                                      

                                                      Resources & References

                                                      • Servant of the People, political satire TV series created by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in which he stars as a teacher unexpectedly elected President of Ukraine (before his real life election as President of Ukraine)
                                                      • Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, There is a time for everything
                                                      • Battle of Antonov Airport, February 24-25, 2022
                                                      • 1420, street interviews with Russians & Belarusians by Daniil Orain on YouTube
                                                      • The Emerge community is premised on the hypothesis that the future will be either a discrete phrase-shift towards further entropy and collapse, or the emergence of a higher-order system that is more complex and elegant than current global system dynamics. The question is how we get there.
                                                      • John Dupuy’s Ukraine! song on YouTube
                                                      • The Moral Imperative to Help Ukraine: Integral Perspectives on the War, Its Global Implications, and the Role of Warrior Consciousness, Deep Transformation podcast with Kateryna Yasko, Vytautas Bučiūnas, and Bence Gánti, recorded April 15, 2022
                                                      • Ukrainian Integral Perspectives on the Ongoing Invasion of Ukraine, Deep Transformation podcast with Kateryna Yasko & Vytautas Bučiūnas recorded March 5, 2022
                                                      
                                                      

                                                      Additional resources recommended by Kateryna Yasko

                                                      •  An astute, in-depth profile of Vladimir Putin, with Russian-born American journalist Julia Ioffe: Putin and the Presidents: Julia Ioffe (interview) | FRONTLINE
                                                      • Timothy Snyder, expert on the modern history of Central and Eastern Europe and history professor at Yale, on Why the world needs Ukrainian victory 
                                                      • Timothy Snyder on Nuclear war! Why it isn’t happening
                                                      
                                                      

                                                      How you can help – Trustable charities working hard in support of Ukraine:

                                                      • United24, the official fundraising platform of Ukraine, initiated by President Zelenskyy, founded to protect, save, and rebuild Ukraine: https://u24.gov.ua/
                                                      • The Foundation for Competent Assistance to the Army, “Come Back Alive,” has launched a fundraiser to purchase equipment that will help the Ukrainian military defeat the occupiers in cyberspace: https://savelife.in.ua/en/
                                                      • Serhiy Prytula’s Foundation is a charitable organization with a military headquarters focused on providing the Ukrainian army with means of communication, optical devices, drones, UAVs, transport, and means of tactical medicine for the military, and a humanitarian headquarters, providing assistance to civilians in the occupied territories and within a radius of 70 kilometers from the front line, including the “NEST” project, with the mission of bringing life back to de-occupied towns and villages by providing people with free mobile homes on their land: Ep. 66 | Ukrainian psychologist Kateryna Yasko and integral leadership development expert Vytautas Bučiūnas share their first-hand experiences of the war in Kyiv now, one year after the invasion by Russia, as well as their penetrating perspectives on Russian imperialism (“Russia needs to lose this war so they can reinvent themselves”), on why there is comparably less PTSD among Ukrainian soldiers, and the implications for the world if Russia were to win or if it were to disintegrate. They acknowledge the relatively recent “awakening of Europe” to the fact that Putin won’t stop with Ukraine if he wins, and warn that “democracy needs to be fully ready for a possibly long-term battle for its values.”

                                                        Kateryna and Vytautas have witnessed how having an overriding mission and purpose has changed Ukrainians, and describe perceiving an unmistakable shift in energy upon crossing the border into Ukraine, where the heightened appreciation for life and the strength and solidarity of common purpose are palpable. What does the struggle for democracy, freedom, and dignity actually feel like? Find out on a planned pilgrimage to Ukraine this fall—both a spiritual journey of awakening and an opportunity to embody the experience of being invaded by Russia. This podcast is also a call for help—if you feel inspired to support the efforts in Ukraine, below are links to three trustworthy organizations working hard on Ukraine’s behalf. Recorded February 13, 2023.

                                                        “Democracies need to have guts. Who knows how many battles between democracy and autocracy lie ahead?”

                                                        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                        Topics & Time Stamps

                                                        • Introducing Ukrainian psychologist Dr. Kateryna Yasko and leadership development expert Vytautus Bučiūnas (01:51) 
                                                        • Thank you to people who gave via iAwake in support of Ukraine (04:23)
                                                        • Update on what’s happening on the front lines thanks to the support of Western countries and especially the U.S. (06:01)
                                                        • President Zelensky, his speech to the United States Congress, and the qualities that make him a great wartime president (06:58)
                                                        • The metamodern cultural code and using force to protect ethical values (10:06)
                                                        • The awakening of Europe: democracy needs to be ready for a possibly long-term battle for its values (11:42)
                                                        • Ukraine has integrated the extremely important polarities: love and power, and the Battle of Antonov Airport (13:01)
                                                        • This is an existential war; there is no choice for Ukrainians (17:40)
                                                        • Things are getting a lot worse in Russia socially, economically, and among the elite (20:01)
                                                        • Russian imperialism needs to die for the benefit of all, including Russians (21:09)
                                                        • Because the defensive war in Ukraine is a just war, levels of PTSD among soldiers are much less (25:04)
                                                        • There are more than 100 small nations under Russian control who seek autonomy, independence, dignity, and respect (25:55)
                                                        • What will happen if/when Russia disintegrates? (26:34)
                                                        • Every country has its Nazis (30:25)
                                                        • The spirit in Kyiv now: solidarity, purpose, meaning & an extraordinary appreciation of life (32:30)
                                                        • You are invited on a pilgrimage to Ukraine in Oct 2023 to experience the vital spirit of the struggle for democracy firsthand (37:33)
                                                        • Co-host John Dupuy’s riveting song: Ukraine! (45:59)
                                                        • How to get involved and support Ukraine (see links below) (51:39)
                                                        • A call to be with Ukraine in spirit (52:57)
                                                        • In gratitude for the support of the United States and a heads up to Americans: the outcome of this war will affect each and every one of us (54:09)
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        Resources & References

                                                        • Servant of the People, political satire TV series created by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in which he stars as a teacher unexpectedly elected President of Ukraine (before his real life election as President of Ukraine)
                                                        • Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, There is a time for everything
                                                        • Battle of Antonov Airport, February 24-25, 2022
                                                        • 1420, street interviews with Russians & Belarusians by Daniil Orain on YouTube
                                                        • The Emerge community is premised on the hypothesis that the future will be either a discrete phrase-shift towards further entropy and collapse, or the emergence of a higher-order system that is more complex and elegant than current global system dynamics. The question is how we get there.
                                                        • John Dupuy’s Ukraine! song on YouTube
                                                        • The Moral Imperative to Help Ukraine: Integral Perspectives on the War, Its Global Implications, and the Role of Warrior Consciousness, Deep Transformation podcast with Kateryna Yasko, Vytautas Bučiūnas, and Bence Gánti, recorded April 15, 2022
                                                        • Ukrainian Integral Perspectives on the Ongoing Invasion of Ukraine, Deep Transformation podcast with Kateryna Yasko & Vytautas Bučiūnas recorded March 5, 2022
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        Additional resources recommended by Kateryna Yasko

                                                        •  An astute, in-depth profile of Vladimir Putin, with Russian-born American journalist Julia Ioffe: Putin and the Presidents: Julia Ioffe (interview) | FRONTLINE
                                                        • Timothy Snyder, expert on the modern history of Central and Eastern Europe and history professor at Yale, on Why the world needs Ukrainian victory 
                                                        • Timothy Snyder on Nuclear war! Why it isn’t happening
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        How you can help – Trustable charities working hard in support of Ukraine:

                                                        • United24, the official fundraising platform of Ukraine, initiated by President Zelenskyy, founded to protect, save, and rebuild Ukraine: https://u24.gov.ua/
                                                        • The Foundation for Competent Assistance to the Army, “Come Back Alive,” has launched a fundraiser to purchase equipment that will help the Ukrainian military defeat the occupiers in cyberspace: https://savelife.in.ua/en/
                                                        • Serhiy Prytula’s Foundation is a charitable organization with a military headquarters focused on providing the Ukrainian army with means of communication, optical devices, drones, UAVs, transport, and means of tactical medicine for the military, and a humanitarian headquarters, providing assistance to civilians in the occupied territories and within a radius of 70 kilometers from the front line, including the “NEST” project, with the mission of bringing life back to de-occupied towns and villages by providing people with free mobile homes on their land: https://prytulafoundation.org/en
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        ---

                                                        Kateryna Yasko (Ukraine) is an organizational psychologist, a trainer for the development of emotional intelligence, trust, cooperation, effective communication, and peaceful conflict resolution, and co-founder of the consulting company U-Integral. Her academic background is in the area of international relations and law (MSc), business (MBA), and psychology (MSc). She bases her programs on the principles of Ken Wilber’s Integral approach and Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication, and is certified in Spiral Dynamics Integral and in Susanne Cook-Greuter’s Maturity Assessment Profile. Kateryna is also head of the public association “International Institute for Integral Development” and a founder of the educational initiative EMPATIA.PRO, specializing in bringing holistic approaches into educational leadership and learning cultures. 

                                                        Vytautas Bučiūnas (Lithuania–Ukraine) is a co-founder and managing partner of U-Integral, an integral leadership development company. Vytautas also has vast experience as a top manager in the banking sector including working as the Head of Resident Office, Senior Banker, Associate Director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (Russia, Ukraine). Vytautas’ professional profile includes building organizational units from scratch, carrying out large-scale transformations, and managing crises. Vytautas is a certified Integral Master Coach™ (Integral Coaching Canada), an ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC)™, and the only business consultant in Ukraine certified in Leadership Maturity Framework – Maturity Assessment for Professionals (LMF-MAP) and Global Leadership Profile (GLP). Vytautas explores the development of human consciousness and complex social systemsfrom a holistic perspective. He considers the growth of a critical mass of mature leaders with systemic thinking and transformational capabilities to be the key to society’s healthy development.

                                                        ---

                                                        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                        ]]>2da85d84-a2db-4ee2-99cf-e0e6e8947fcbThu, 23 Feb 2023 05:00:00 -040057:31falsefull6666Ep. 66 | Ukrainian psychologist Kateryna Yasko and integral leadership development expert Vytautas Bučiūnas share their first-hand experiences of the war in Kyiv now, one year after the invasion by Russia, as well as their penetrating perspectives on Russian imperialism (“Russia needs to lose this war so they can reinvent themselves”), on why there is comparably less PTSD among Ukrainian soldiers, and the implications for the world if Russia were to win or if it were to disintegrate. They acknowledge the relatively recent “awakening of Europe” to the fact that Putin won’t stop with Ukraine if he wins, and warn that “democracy needs to be fully ready for a possibly long-term battle for its values.” Kateryna and Vytautas have witnessed how having an overriding mission and purpose has changed Ukrainians, and describe perceiving an unmistakable shift in energy upon crossing the border into Ukraine, where the heightened appreciation for life and the strength and solidarity of common purpose are palpable. What does the struggle for democracy, freedom, and dignity actually feel like? Find out on a planned pilgrimage to Ukraine this fall—both a spiritual journey of awakening and an opportunity to embody the experience of being invaded by Russia. This podcast is also a call for help—if you feel inspired to support the efforts in Ukraine, below are links to three trustworthy organizations working hard on Ukraine’s behalf. Recorded February 13, 2023.Reawakening the Heart of Religion: Returning Living Spirit to the Center of Religious TraditionEp. 65 | Rev. Dr. Michael Clarke, principal of the Anglican seminary Codrington College in Barbados, beautifully articulates how embodied spirituality can change us and the importance of personal encounters with living Spirit to further us along our evolutionary path. He enlightens us as to the shortcomings of the Church and religion as it is largely practiced in the West in a way many of us may not have heard before, pointing out that the Church fails to take into account that the magnitude of our understanding of divine experience is ever expanding, in parallel with Ken Wilber’s Integral teaching on the ever expanding nature of consciousness, and mentioning that Jesus’ experience as divine man was not intended to be the end all religious experience for all time. As Michael says, “We need to understand the Oneness—we’ve done religion from the duality perspective, from a separatist perspective…missing the whole point!”

                                                        Michael is passionate about creating opportunities for people to have personal encounters with living Spirit since having his own earth-shattering experience with the divine. He tells us that when spirituality comes into play, it offers a step upward, a higher place to stand to view the world that allows for Oneness, and describes the separation inherent in our world of duality today as a “wonderful avenue towards unification, appreciation, and understanding.” So, “How do you lift up this thing called spirituality and cause it to be a central part of religious response? Can the Church grow with what needs to happen?” Michael imbues this conversation with a bright, shining light of deep spiritual understanding and invites us all to be open to the “call to be more.” Recorded September 6, 2021.

                                                        “This human experience causes us to fall asleep… thus the journey of awakening.”

                                                        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                        Topics & Time Stamps

                                                        • How John met Michael Clarke at an Integral Christianity conference (01:25)
                                                        • Michael’s journey from cradle Anglican to hearing the call to ministry and becoming an ordained priest in 1984 (04:33)
                                                        • Speaking from the perspective of a Black priest rather than an Anglican priest for the first time (05:55)
                                                        • Michael’s spiritual turning point experience and consciousness shift (08:19)
                                                        • Climbing up the Jesus experience as a platform to go higher didn’t end up happening; the Jesus experience was made out to be the highest possible experience (09:16)
                                                        • Michael’s spiritual experience in more detail: finding himself on the floor of the Church and recognizing that there is another dimension of religious experience outside of dogma (10:40)
                                                        • Discovering a path parallel to the theoretical and philosophical with access to divine authority and power—direct experience of the living spirit—has been pushed aside, especially in the West, to focus on the objective (14:51)
                                                        • Our world (and the Church) tends to seek control, but no one can control the direct divine experience of an individual (18:00)
                                                        • How do you lift up this thing called spirituality and cause it to be the core of religious response? (19:38)
                                                        • Looking for a system that would transcend and include Michael’s experience—practices to induce religious response (21:12)
                                                        • Opening to the “more,” the luminous, capturing a sense that everything is expanding (27:13) 
                                                        • Understanding that divine experience is an evolutionary process, forever changing; none of us have it all nailed down (29:14)
                                                        • The difficult of talking about this with people who haven’t had a divine experience (31:26)
                                                        • There is a growing sensitivity to the spiritual but the focus remains on the external journey rather than the inner, contemplative journey (34:49)
                                                        • Speaking as a Black priest from the West Indies: it’s no longer about religion but about the experience of coming into this white culture (36:14)
                                                        • The separation inherent In a world of duality provides a wonderful avenue for unification—for us to move higher and experience the oneness (40:31)
                                                        • We need to understand the oneness—we’ve done religion from the duality perspective, from a separatist perspective, missing the whole point (41:28)
                                                        • Re-examining Jesus as a spiritual being having a physical experience, focusing on the the incarnational aspect of Jesus as human and divine, allows us to look through a different lens and see the possibilities for all of us—we all can go higher (44:37)
                                                        • Individuals are open to the spiritual—the Church just needs to pick it up! Bring it back to the center, invite people to do the work and make the shift (51:56)
                                                        • Culturally, the Caribbean perspective is changing now, loosening the connection with established religion that endorsed slavery, and taking ownership for one’s life journey, asking, what does it mean to be me as a person, as an individual? (55:37)
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        Resources & References

                                                        • Rev. Dr. Michael Clarke, principal of Codrington College in Barbados, one of the oldest theological colleges in the Western hemisphere
                                                        • Michael’s radio program, Food for the Soul, aired on CBC 100.7FM at 1:00 pm EST on Sundays, https://liveonlineradio.net/q-100-7-fm
                                                        • Michael’s morning devotion on Contemplative Life Foundation’s Facebook and YouTube channels, Monday through Friday, 5:30 am EST
                                                        • Toronto School of Theology, one of the largest ecumenical centers for theological education in the English-speaking world
                                                        • The Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer*
                                                        • iAwake Technologies, transformative sound technology for an evolving world
                                                        • Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory (a quick intro on the Daily Evolver website)
                                                        • Paul Smith, Integral Spirituality: The Spirit’s Call to Evolve*
                                                        • James Finley, faculty member at the Center for Action and Contemplation, author of Merton’s Palace of Nowhere* and The Contemplative Heart*, and host of CAC’s podcast Turning to the Mystics
                                                        • Cynthia Bourgeault, mystic, writer, teacher within the worldwide Wisdom community, author of the Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening* and more
                                                        • Albert Einstein, “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”
                                                        • Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels*, Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas*
                                                        • Thomas Keating, one of the principal developers of Centering Prayer, author of Open Mind, Open Heart* and many more 
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                        Ep. 65 | Rev. Dr. Michael Clarke, principal of the Anglican seminary Codrington College in Barbados, beautifully articulates how embodied spirituality can change us and the importance of personal encounters with living Spirit to further us along our evolutionary path. He enlightens us as to the shortcomings of the Church and religion as it is largely practiced in the West in a way many of us may not have heard before, pointing out that the Church fails to take into account that the magnitude of our understanding of divine experience is ever expanding, in parallel with Ken Wilber’s Integral teaching on the ever expanding nature of consciousness, and mentioning that Jesus’ experience as divine man was not intended to be the end all religious experience for all time. As Michael says, “We need to understand the Oneness—we’ve done religion from the duality perspective, from a separatist perspective…missing the whole point!”

                                                        Michael is passionate about creating opportunities for people to have personal encounters with living Spirit since having his own earth-shattering experience with the divine. He tells us that when spirituality comes into play, it offers a step upward, a higher place to stand to view the world that allows for Oneness, and describes the separation inherent in our world of duality today as a “wonderful avenue towards unification, appreciation, and understanding.” So, “How do you lift up this thing called spirituality and cause it to be a central part of religious response? Can the Church grow with what needs to happen?” Michael imbues this conversation with a bright, shining light of deep spiritual understanding and invites us all to be open to the “call to be more.” Recorded September 6, 2021.

                                                        “This human experience causes us to fall asleep… thus the journey of awakening.”

                                                        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                        Topics & Time Stamps

                                                        • How John met Michael Clarke at an Integral Christianity conference (01:25)
                                                        • Michael’s journey from cradle Anglican to hearing the call to ministry and becoming an ordained priest in 1984 (04:33)
                                                        • Speaking from the perspective of a Black priest rather than an Anglican priest for the first time (05:55)
                                                        • Michael’s spiritual turning point experience and consciousness shift (08:19)
                                                        • Climbing up the Jesus experience as a platform to go higher didn’t end up happening; the Jesus experience was made out to be the highest possible experience (09:16)
                                                        • Michael’s spiritual experience in more detail: finding himself on the floor of the Church and recognizing that there is another dimension of religious experience outside of dogma (10:40)
                                                        • Discovering a path parallel to the theoretical and philosophical with access to divine authority and power—direct experience of the living spirit—has been pushed aside, especially in the West, to focus on the objective (14:51)
                                                        • Our world (and the Church) tends to seek control, but no one can control the direct divine experience of an individual (18:00)
                                                        • How do you lift up this thing called spirituality and cause it to be the core of religious response? (19:38)
                                                        • Looking for a system that would transcend and include Michael’s experience—practices to induce religious response (21:12)
                                                        • Opening to the “more,” the luminous, capturing a sense that everything is expanding (27:13) 
                                                        • Understanding that divine experience is an evolutionary process, forever changing; none of us have it all nailed down (29:14)
                                                        • The difficult of talking about this with people who haven’t had a divine experience (31:26)
                                                        • There is a growing sensitivity to the spiritual but the focus remains on the external journey rather than the inner, contemplative journey (34:49)
                                                        • Speaking as a Black priest from the West Indies: it’s no longer about religion but about the experience of coming into this white culture (36:14)
                                                        • The separation inherent In a world of duality provides a wonderful avenue for unification—for us to move higher and experience the oneness (40:31)
                                                        • We need to understand the oneness—we’ve done religion from the duality perspective, from a separatist perspective, missing the whole point (41:28)
                                                        • Re-examining Jesus as a spiritual being having a physical experience, focusing on the the incarnational aspect of Jesus as human and divine, allows us to look through a different lens and see the possibilities for all of us—we all can go higher (44:37)
                                                        • Individuals are open to the spiritual—the Church just needs to pick it up! Bring it back to the center, invite people to do the work and make the shift (51:56)
                                                        • Culturally, the Caribbean perspective is changing now, loosening the connection with established religion that endorsed slavery, and taking ownership for one’s life journey, asking, what does it mean to be me as a person, as an individual? (55:37)
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        Resources & References

                                                        • Rev. Dr. Michael Clarke, principal of Codrington College in Barbados, one of the oldest theological colleges in the Western hemisphere
                                                        • Michael’s radio program, Food for the Soul, aired on CBC 100.7FM at 1:00 pm EST on Sundays, https://liveonlineradio.net/q-100-7-fm
                                                        • Michael’s morning devotion on Contemplative Life Foundation’s Facebook and YouTube channels, Monday through Friday, 5:30 am EST
                                                        • Toronto School of Theology, one of the largest ecumenical centers for theological education in the English-speaking world
                                                        • The Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer*
                                                        • iAwake Technologies, transformative sound technology for an evolving world
                                                        • Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory (a quick intro on the Daily Evolver website)
                                                        • Paul Smith, Integral Spirituality: The Spirit’s Call to Evolve*
                                                        • James Finley, faculty member at the Center for Action and Contemplation, author of Merton’s Palace of Nowhere* and The Contemplative Heart*, and host of CAC’s podcast Turning to the Mystics
                                                        • Cynthia Bourgeault, mystic, writer, teacher within the worldwide Wisdom community, author of the Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening* and more
                                                        • Albert Einstein, “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”
                                                        • Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels*, Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas*
                                                        • Thomas Keating, one of the principal developers of Centering Prayer, author of Open Mind, Open Heart* and many more 
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                        ---

                                                        The Rev. Dr. Michael A. Clarke, D. Min, graduated from Harrison College in 1978 and matriculated at the University of the West Indies in the same year. Upon graduating from UWI, he offered himself to test his vocation at Codrington College, the Anglican Seminary of the Church of the Province of the West Indies, and upon successfully completing his time there, he was accepted into Holy Orders, ordained deacon, and priested on the Eve of the Ascension in 1985. Dr. Clarke pursued a career in the full time ministry of the Church until 1990, when he left the diocese to study and work in the diocese of Toronto at St. Peter’s Church and St. Paul’s the Apostle Church, while pursuing his Doctor of MInistry degree studies at the Toronto School of Theology, Trinity College, University of Toronto.

                                                        Dr. Clarke was instrumental in creating the Anglican Youth Ministry Service, an agency of the diocese of Barbados, which was set up to provide a service to parishes enabling those in Youth MInistry with the opportunity to develop their skills and allow for a greater engagement of young people within the Church in the several parishes. He served in this capacity from 1994 – 2001. In 2015, Dr. Clarke was invited to serve the Province as principal of Codrington College, ex-officio to the Provincial Commission on Doctrine and the Provincial Commission on Ministry.

                                                        ---

                                                        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                        ]]>68f333ac-513c-4bc7-a1a7-d028267ac1f3Thu, 16 Feb 2023 05:00:00 -040001:04:49falsefull6565Ep. 65 | Rev. Dr. Michael Clarke, principal of the Anglican seminary Codrington College in Barbados, beautifully articulates how embodied spirituality can change us and the importance of personal encounters with living Spirit to further us along our evolutionary path. He enlightens us as to the shortcomings of the Church and religion as it is largely practiced in the West in a way many of us may not have heard before, pointing out that the Church fails to take into account that the magnitude of our understanding of divine experience is ever expanding, in parallel with Ken Wilber’s Integral teaching on the ever expanding nature of consciousness, and mentioning that Jesus’ experience as divine man was not intended to be the end all religious experience for all time. As Michael says, “We need to understand the Oneness—we’ve done religion from the duality perspective, from a separatist perspective…missing the whole point!” Michael is passionate about creating opportunities for people to have personal encounters with living Spirit since having his own earth-shattering experience with the divine. He tells us that when spirituality comes into play, it offers a step upward, a higher place to stand to view the world that allows for Oneness, and describes the separation inherent in our world of duality today as a “wonderful avenue towards unification, appreciation, and understanding.” So, “How do you lift up this thing called spirituality and cause it to be a central part of religious response? Can the Church grow with what needs to happen?” Michael imbues this conversation with a bright, shining light of deep spiritual understanding and invites us all to be open to the “call to be more.” Recorded September 6, 2021.The Challenge of Chronic Illness: Existential Questions & Spiritual Perspectives for Patients, Caregivers, Family & Friends (Part 2)Ep. 64 (Part 2 of 2) | Lynn Fuentes, Ph.D., author of The Koan of Chronic Illness and teacher of a series of courses on managing chronic illness, shines a bright light of understanding on chronic illness with all of its far-reaching ramifications in this very moving and important conversation. Lynn not only illuminates what chronic illness involves physically, emotionally, and relationally, but delves also into the existential questions it engenders: How should we live? How can we love each other? How can we embrace our suffering and allow it to be our path to greater connection with spirit? Lynn speaks from personal experience, having spent many years caring for a family member with a debilitating illness, and explains how she used the Integral Map in her own struggle to help make sense of the huge, all-consuming project that inevitably follows a diagnosis. Now she teaches others what she has learned about coping with the overwhelming logistics, healing the trauma, and also about transforming illness into a spiritual practice.

                                                        This conversation really pertains to all of us, whether we are very ill or not, as aging towards death is something we all face. Can we learn to prepare ourselves? Can we reflect deeply on what is truly meaningful and important about life itself and live accordingly? Can we open to the wholeness of life, the pain and the bliss, the suffering that our cultural narrative would just as soon ignore? Chronic illness is a heartrending subject, but Lynn’s warm, wise, skillful, Integral approach allows us to see it in an expanded way, more profound, more transformative, than we may have seen it before. Recorded December 15, 2022.

                                                        “We cannot separate suffering from life, they are intimately interconnected. Illness really shows us that.”

                                                        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                                        • What are the essential things in life? Self-knowledge, the need for community, a spiritual connection, appreciating the small things (01:27)
                                                        • Transforming illness into a spiritual practice and the practice of surrender—in surrendering we can become larger; it’s not giving up, not defeat, it’s acceptance (05:20) 
                                                        • Elizabeth Kübler-Ross’ stages of grief end in acceptance (08:22)
                                                        • Respecting people’s journey: people are too ready to make assumptions about what is needed, when we actually need to listen and ask, “What do you need?” (09:00)
                                                        • It’s very scary letting it in: this could happen to anyone at any moment (11:32)
                                                        • I thought life was about doing something! But now I can’t do. (12:53)
                                                        • How to take sick people’s grumpiness and irritability (13:27)
                                                        • How do we navigate the relationship part and allow each party, sick person and caregiver, to have their feelings; where is the place for sacrifice while still taking care of yourself? (14:50)
                                                        • We need to teach people how to be with a person who is suffering (18:13)
                                                        • Do most of us grow wiser as we age? (20:32)
                                                        • The importance of reflection and taking responsibility for one’s life (23:08)
                                                        • How is God here with me—as caregiver, as provider, as patient? (24:19)
                                                        • Philosophy—the love of wisdom—and the importance of spiritual practice in preparation for illness and dying (27:26)
                                                        • We cannot separate suffering from life—they are intimately interconnected (29:46)
                                                        • Opening to the wholeness of life goes against our cultural narrative that we have managed to eradicate suffering (32:43) 
                                                        • The dialectic of progress: every social advance cures some problems but also introduces new ones (33:55)
                                                        • The important part is how you hold your suffering, how you relate to your illness or your suffering (37:03)
                                                        • The realization of love and its redemptive power as an answer to the koan (37:59)
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        Resources & References – Part 2

                                                        • Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind*
                                                        • Ram Dass, Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing, and Dying*
                                                        • Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’ stages of grief
                                                        • Lady of the Camelias film starring Isabelle Huppert, based on the novel La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas
                                                        • Terry Patten, A New Republic of the Heart*, Deep Transformation episode 8, Facing Death: A Call to “Get Real”
                                                        • iAwake Technologies, sound tech infused audio tracks to help deepen our spiritual lives, enhance creativity, heal emotional trauma, and become more compassionate (iAwake sponsors the Deep Transformation podcast)
                                                        • Bob Dylan, It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
                                                        • Lama Surya Das, one of our foremost Western Tibetan Buddhist teachers and scholars
                                                        • Lynn Fuentes, The Koan of Chronic Illness: An Integral Approach*
                                                        • Lynn Fuentes, It’s Not Too Late: You Can Grow a Bright Future Starting Right Now*
                                                        • Lynn Fuentes, CEO, Transformation Teaching, offering personal and spiritual growth coaching, and courses in adult development, life planning, and chronic illness management, based on the integral theory of Ken Wilber
                                                        • Transformation Teaching courses including Koan of Illness courses
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                        ---

                                                        Lynn Fuentes, Ph.D., is CEO of Transformation Teaching, which offers personal and spiritual growth coaching and courses in adult development, life planning, and chronic illness management, based on the integral theory of Ken Wilber. Lynn is also the author of the 2022 book The Koan of Chronic Illness: An Integral Approach and It’s Not Too Late. She has taught in the areas of conflict management, chronic illness, writing, and adult psychology at Prescott College and DePaul University, where she also founded and directed the Chronic Illness Initiative, a unique program to help chronically ill students obtain a college education. She also served for many years on the board of the Solve ME/CFS Initiative.  

                                                        Lynn’s primary focus is The Koan of Illness, a program dedicated to helping people with chronic illness using integral principles. Lynn has been a caregiver for the past 36 years for family members with serious chronic illnesses and was recently diagnosed herself with a chronic condition.

                                                        ---

                                                        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                        ]]>Ep. 64 (Part 2 of 2) | Lynn Fuentes, Ph.D., author of The Koan of Chronic Illness and teacher of a series of courses on managing chronic illness, shines a bright light of understanding on chronic illness with all of its far-reaching ramifications in this very moving and important conversation. Lynn not only illuminates what chronic illness involves physically, emotionally, and relationally, but delves also into the existential questions it engenders: How should we live? How can we love each other? How can we embrace our suffering and allow it to be our path to greater connection with spirit? Lynn speaks from personal experience, having spent many years caring for a family member with a debilitating illness, and explains how she used the Integral Map in her own struggle to help make sense of the huge, all-consuming project that inevitably follows a diagnosis. Now she teaches others what she has learned about coping with the overwhelming logistics, healing the trauma, and also about transforming illness into a spiritual practice.

                                                        This conversation really pertains to all of us, whether we are very ill or not, as aging towards death is something we all face. Can we learn to prepare ourselves? Can we reflect deeply on what is truly meaningful and important about life itself and live accordingly? Can we open to the wholeness of life, the pain and the bliss, the suffering that our cultural narrative would just as soon ignore? Chronic illness is a heartrending subject, but Lynn’s warm, wise, skillful, Integral approach allows us to see it in an expanded way, more profound, more transformative, than we may have seen it before. Recorded December 15, 2022.

                                                        “We cannot separate suffering from life, they are intimately interconnected. Illness really shows us that.”

                                                        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                                        • What are the essential things in life? Self-knowledge, the need for community, a spiritual connection, appreciating the small things (01:27)
                                                        • Transforming illness into a spiritual practice and the practice of surrender—in surrendering we can become larger; it’s not giving up, not defeat, it’s acceptance (05:20) 
                                                        • Elizabeth Kübler-Ross’ stages of grief end in acceptance (08:22)
                                                        • Respecting people’s journey: people are too ready to make assumptions about what is needed, when we actually need to listen and ask, “What do you need?” (09:00)
                                                        • It’s very scary letting it in: this could happen to anyone at any moment (11:32)
                                                        • I thought life was about doing something! But now I can’t do. (12:53)
                                                        • How to take sick people’s grumpiness and irritability (13:27)
                                                        • How do we navigate the relationship part and allow each party, sick person and caregiver, to have their feelings; where is the place for sacrifice while still taking care of yourself? (14:50)
                                                        • We need to teach people how to be with a person who is suffering (18:13)
                                                        • Do most of us grow wiser as we age? (20:32)
                                                        • The importance of reflection and taking responsibility for one’s life (23:08)
                                                        • How is God here with me—as caregiver, as provider, as patient? (24:19)
                                                        • Philosophy—the love of wisdom—and the importance of spiritual practice in preparation for illness and dying (27:26)
                                                        • We cannot separate suffering from life—they are intimately interconnected (29:46)
                                                        • Opening to the wholeness of life goes against our cultural narrative that we have managed to eradicate suffering (32:43) 
                                                        • The dialectic of progress: every social advance cures some problems but also introduces new ones (33:55)
                                                        • The important part is how you hold your suffering, how you relate to your illness or your suffering (37:03)
                                                        • The realization of love and its redemptive power as an answer to the koan (37:59)
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        Resources & References – Part 2

                                                        • Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind*
                                                        • Ram Dass, Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing, and Dying*
                                                        • Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’ stages of grief
                                                        • Lady of the Camelias film starring Isabelle Huppert, based on the novel La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas
                                                        • Terry Patten, A New Republic of the Heart*, Deep Transformation episode 8, Facing Death: A Call to “Get Real”
                                                        • iAwake Technologies, sound tech infused audio tracks to help deepen our spiritual lives, enhance creativity, heal emotional trauma, and become more compassionate (iAwake sponsors the Deep Transformation podcast)
                                                        • Bob Dylan, It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
                                                        • Lama Surya Das, one of our foremost Western Tibetan Buddhist teachers and scholars
                                                        • Lynn Fuentes, The Koan of Chronic Illness: An Integral Approach*
                                                        • Lynn Fuentes, It’s Not Too Late: You Can Grow a Bright Future Starting Right Now*
                                                        • Lynn Fuentes, CEO, Transformation Teaching, offering personal and spiritual growth coaching, and courses in adult development, life planning, and chronic illness management, based on the integral theory of Ken Wilber
                                                        • Transformation Teaching courses including Koan of Illness courses
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                        ---

                                                        Lynn Fuentes, Ph.D., is CEO of Transformation Teaching, which offers personal and spiritual growth coaching and courses in adult development, life planning, and chronic illness management, based on the integral theory of Ken Wilber. Lynn is also the author of the 2022 book The Koan of Chronic Illness: An Integral Approach and It’s Not Too Late. She has taught in the areas of conflict management, chronic illness, writing, and adult psychology at Prescott College and DePaul University, where she also founded and directed the Chronic Illness Initiative, a unique program to help chronically ill students obtain a college education. She also served for many years on the board of the Solve ME/CFS Initiative.  

                                                        Lynn’s primary focus is The Koan of Illness, a program dedicated to helping people with chronic illness using integral principles. Lynn has been a caregiver for the past 36 years for family members with serious chronic illnesses and was recently diagnosed herself with a chronic condition.

                                                        ---

                                                        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                        ]]>4ccd6dd2-415c-467c-b352-1b4aeb98254fThu, 09 Feb 2023 05:00:00 -040045:14truefull6464Ep. 64 (Part 2 of 2) | Lynn Fuentes, Ph.D., author of The Koan of Chronic Illness and teacher of a series of courses on managing chronic illness, shines a bright light of understanding on chronic illness with all of its far-reaching ramifications in this very moving and important conversation. Lynn not only illuminates what chronic illness involves physically, emotionally, and relationally, but delves also into the existential questions it engenders: How should we live? How can we love each other? How can we embrace our suffering and allow it to be our path to greater connection with spirit? Lynn speaks from personal experience, having spent many years caring for a family member with a debilitating illness, and explains how she used the Integral Map in her own struggle to help make sense of the huge, all-consuming project that inevitably follows a diagnosis. Now she teaches others what she has learned about coping with the overwhelming logistics, healing the trauma, and also about transforming illness into a spiritual practice. This conversation really pertains to all of us, whether we are very ill or not, as aging towards death is something we all face. Can we learn to prepare ourselves? Can we reflect deeply on what is truly meaningful and important about life itself and live accordingly? Can we open to the wholeness of life, the pain and the bliss, the suffering that our cultural narrative would just as soon ignore? Chronic illness is a heartrending subject, but Lynn’s warm, wise, skillful, Integral approach allows us to see it in an expanded way, more profound, more transformative, than we may have seen it before. Recorded December 15, 2022.The Challenge of Chronic Illness: Existential Questions & Spiritual Perspectives for Patients, Caregivers, Family & FriendsEp. 63 (Part 1 of 2) | Lynn Fuentes, Ph.D., author of The Koan of Chronic Illness and teacher of a series of courses on managing chronic illness, shines a bright light of understanding on chronic illness with all of its far-reaching ramifications in this very moving and important conversation. Lynn not only illuminates what chronic illness involves physically, emotionally, and relationally, but delves also into the existential questions it engenders: How should we live? How can we love each other? How can we embrace our suffering and allow it to be our path to greater connection with spirit? Lynn speaks from personal experience, having spent many years caring for a family member with a debilitating illness, and explains how she used the Integral Map in her own struggle to help make sense of the huge, all-consuming project that inevitably follows a diagnosis. Now she teaches others what she has learned about coping with the overwhelming logistics, healing the trauma, and also about transforming illness into a spiritual practice.

                                                        This conversation really pertains to all of us, whether we are very ill or not, as aging towards death is something we all face. Can we learn to prepare ourselves? Can we reflect deeply on what is truly meaningful and important about life itself and live accordingly? Can we open to the wholeness of life, the pain and the bliss, the suffering that our cultural narrative would just as soon ignore? Chronic illness is a heartrending subject, but Lynn’s warm, wise, skillful, Integral approach allows us to see it in an expanded way, more profound, more transformative, than we may have seen it before. Recorded December 15, 2022.

                                                        “We cannot separate suffering from life, they are intimately interconnected. Illness really shows us that.”

                                                        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                                        • Introducing Lynn Fuentes, founder of Transformation Teaching and author of The Koan of Chronic Illness: An Integral Approach (01:01)
                                                        • How Lynn came to focus on chronic illness—because of her son (01:52)
                                                        • Why say the “koan” of chronic illness? And the spiritually oriented questions that come up when facing such an illness, like “why me?” “Why my son?” (05:24)
                                                        • How to handle this as a parent and making lemonade from lemons (08:40)
                                                        • Genji-kōans arise out of life itself and the difference between knowledge questions and wisdom questions (11:02)
                                                        • The all-consuming challenge of chronic illness: getting an illness is both a trauma and a HUGE project, like taking several college causes when all you should be doing is resting (15:30)
                                                        • Be kind to yourself: this is not easy (20:22)
                                                        • Using Integral Theory’s four-quadrant model really helps get a handle on this (20:40)
                                                        • You need a village (22:52)
                                                        • The medical system needs to be completely revamped (24:03)
                                                        • Physicians’ burnout and moral injury (26:14)
                                                        • Support groups can be even more effective than the doctors (28:51)
                                                        • Chronic illness is not like acute illness: doctors want to be successful and patients feel guilty seeing their doctors when they’re not getting better (29:50)
                                                        • The heartless attitude that it’s all in your head (30:44) 
                                                        • A longstanding UK study’s medical recommendations for exercise and cognitive behavioral therapy were just plain wrong (34:05)
                                                        • Chronic ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome) and Long Covid are so widespread, they’re forcing more research (34:57)
                                                        • Illness is actually one of the most profound experiences we can have: it’s a path for growth (37:19)
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        Resources & References – Part 1

                                                        • Lynn Fuentes, The Koan of Chronic Illness: An Integral Approach*
                                                        • Lynn Fuentes, It’s Not Too Late: You Can Grow a Bright Future Starting Right Now*
                                                        • Lynn Fuentes, CEO, Transformation Teaching, offering personal and spiritual growth coaching, and courses in adult development, life planning, and chronic illness management, based on the integral theory of Ken Wilber
                                                        • Transformation Teaching courses including Koan of Illness courses
                                                        • The Life and Work of Francis (Fran) Bennett, chaplain
                                                        • Integral Life’s Who is Ken Wilber?
                                                        • Integral Life’s What are the Four Quadrants?
                                                        • Terry Patten, A New Republic of the Heart*, Deep Transformation episode 8, Facing Death: A Call to “Get Real”
                                                        • Bill Epperly, Integral, mindfulness-based coach
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                        ---

                                                        Lynn Fuentes, Ph.D., is CEO of Transformation Teaching, which offers personal and spiritual growth coaching and courses in adult development, life planning, and chronic illness management, based on the integral theory of Ken Wilber. Lynn is also the author of the 2022 book The Koan of Chronic Illness: An Integral Approach and It’s Not Too Late. She has taught in the areas of conflict management, chronic illness, writing, and adult psychology at Prescott College and DePaul University, where she also founded and directed the Chronic Illness Initiative, a unique program to help chronically ill students obtain a college education. She also served for many years on the board of the Solve ME/CFS Initiative.  

                                                        Lynn’s primary focus is The Koan of Illness, a program dedicated to helping people with chronic illness using integral principles. Lynn has been a caregiver for the past 36 years for family members with serious chronic illnesses and was recently diagnosed herself with a chronic condition.

                                                        ---

                                                        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                        ]]>Ep. 63 (Part 1 of 2) | Lynn Fuentes, Ph.D., author of The Koan of Chronic Illness and teacher of a series of courses on managing chronic illness, shines a bright light of understanding on chronic illness with all of its far-reaching ramifications in this very moving and important conversation. Lynn not only illuminates what chronic illness involves physically, emotionally, and relationally, but delves also into the existential questions it engenders: How should we live? How can we love each other? How can we embrace our suffering and allow it to be our path to greater connection with spirit? Lynn speaks from personal experience, having spent many years caring for a family member with a debilitating illness, and explains how she used the Integral Map in her own struggle to help make sense of the huge, all-consuming project that inevitably follows a diagnosis. Now she teaches others what she has learned about coping with the overwhelming logistics, healing the trauma, and also about transforming illness into a spiritual practice.

                                                        This conversation really pertains to all of us, whether we are very ill or not, as aging towards death is something we all face. Can we learn to prepare ourselves? Can we reflect deeply on what is truly meaningful and important about life itself and live accordingly? Can we open to the wholeness of life, the pain and the bliss, the suffering that our cultural narrative would just as soon ignore? Chronic illness is a heartrending subject, but Lynn’s warm, wise, skillful, Integral approach allows us to see it in an expanded way, more profound, more transformative, than we may have seen it before. Recorded December 15, 2022.

                                                        “We cannot separate suffering from life, they are intimately interconnected. Illness really shows us that.”

                                                        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                                        • Introducing Lynn Fuentes, founder of Transformation Teaching and author of The Koan of Chronic Illness: An Integral Approach (01:01)
                                                        • How Lynn came to focus on chronic illness—because of her son (01:52)
                                                        • Why say the “koan” of chronic illness? And the spiritually oriented questions that come up when facing such an illness, like “why me?” “Why my son?” (05:24)
                                                        • How to handle this as a parent and making lemonade from lemons (08:40)
                                                        • Genji-kōans arise out of life itself and the difference between knowledge questions and wisdom questions (11:02)
                                                        • The all-consuming challenge of chronic illness: getting an illness is both a trauma and a HUGE project, like taking several college causes when all you should be doing is resting (15:30)
                                                        • Be kind to yourself: this is not easy (20:22)
                                                        • Using Integral Theory’s four-quadrant model really helps get a handle on this (20:40)
                                                        • You need a village (22:52)
                                                        • The medical system needs to be completely revamped (24:03)
                                                        • Physicians’ burnout and moral injury (26:14)
                                                        • Support groups can be even more effective than the doctors (28:51)
                                                        • Chronic illness is not like acute illness: doctors want to be successful and patients feel guilty seeing their doctors when they’re not getting better (29:50)
                                                        • The heartless attitude that it’s all in your head (30:44) 
                                                        • A longstanding UK study’s medical recommendations for exercise and cognitive behavioral therapy were just plain wrong (34:05)
                                                        • Chronic ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome) and Long Covid are so widespread, they’re forcing more research (34:57)
                                                        • Illness is actually one of the most profound experiences we can have: it’s a path for growth (37:19)
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        Resources & References – Part 1

                                                        • Lynn Fuentes, The Koan of Chronic Illness: An Integral Approach*
                                                        • Lynn Fuentes, It’s Not Too Late: You Can Grow a Bright Future Starting Right Now*
                                                        • Lynn Fuentes, CEO, Transformation Teaching, offering personal and spiritual growth coaching, and courses in adult development, life planning, and chronic illness management, based on the integral theory of Ken Wilber
                                                        • Transformation Teaching courses including Koan of Illness courses
                                                        • The Life and Work of Francis (Fran) Bennett, chaplain
                                                        • Integral Life’s Who is Ken Wilber?
                                                        • Integral Life’s What are the Four Quadrants?
                                                        • Terry Patten, A New Republic of the Heart*, Deep Transformation episode 8, Facing Death: A Call to “Get Real”
                                                        • Bill Epperly, Integral, mindfulness-based coach
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                        ---

                                                        Lynn Fuentes, Ph.D., is CEO of Transformation Teaching, which offers personal and spiritual growth coaching and courses in adult development, life planning, and chronic illness management, based on the integral theory of Ken Wilber. Lynn is also the author of the 2022 book The Koan of Chronic Illness: An Integral Approach and It’s Not Too Late. She has taught in the areas of conflict management, chronic illness, writing, and adult psychology at Prescott College and DePaul University, where she also founded and directed the Chronic Illness Initiative, a unique program to help chronically ill students obtain a college education. She also served for many years on the board of the Solve ME/CFS Initiative.  

                                                        Lynn’s primary focus is The Koan of Illness, a program dedicated to helping people with chronic illness using integral principles. Lynn has been a caregiver for the past 36 years for family members with serious chronic illnesses and was recently diagnosed herself with a chronic condition.

                                                        ---

                                                        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                        ]]>650c1f19-5c88-4cf2-8bb0-8bd166d68054Thu, 02 Feb 2023 05:00:00 -040043:18falsefull6363Ep. 63 (Part 1 of 2) | Lynn Fuentes, Ph.D., author of The Koan of Chronic Illness and teacher of a series of courses on managing chronic illness, shines a bright light of understanding on chronic illness with all of its far-reaching ramifications in this very moving and important conversation. Lynn not only illuminates what chronic illness involves physically, emotionally, and relationally, but delves also into the existential questions it engenders: How should we live? How can we love each other? How can we embrace our suffering and allow it to be our path to greater connection with spirit? Lynn speaks from personal experience, having spent many years caring for a family member with a debilitating illness, and explains how she used the Integral Map in her own struggle to help make sense of the huge, all-consuming project that inevitably follows a diagnosis. Now she teaches others what she has learned about coping with the overwhelming logistics, healing the trauma, and also about transforming illness into a spiritual practice. This conversation really pertains to all of us, whether we are very ill or not, as aging towards death is something we all face. Can we learn to prepare ourselves? Can we reflect deeply on what is truly meaningful and important about life itself and live accordingly? Can we open to the wholeness of life, the pain and the bliss, the suffering that our cultural narrative would just as soon ignore? Chronic illness is a heartrending subject, but Lynn’s warm, wise, skillful, Integral approach allows us to see it in an expanded way, more profound, more transformative, than we may have seen it before. Recorded December 15, 2022.The Future of Education & Civilization: Navigating the Potentials & Perils of New Media, AI, Pervasive Propaganda & the Looming Metacrisis (Part 2)Ep. 62 (Part 2 of 2) | Educator, author, philosopher, and futurist Zak Stein gives a startling account of the effects the digital age already has on education and where this is headed. Think AI tutors and students talking in 3D with Socrates. Zak sees education in a deeply philosophical sense as fundamental to the sustainability of our civilization, with implications for each component of the metacrisis. Who will be driving the technology stack that actually leads to a viable civilization? Can we maintain our psychological sovereignty in a sea of digital propaganda and know the truth?

                                                        Zak describes the metacrisis as a gestalt shift that allows us to orient toward the whole in an intuitive way and how this can give us traction in finding solutions. He finds hope for our future in the untapped potential of our collective human family and especially in the untapped potential of our youth, given the opportunity to make their lives meaningful and connected, working together to resolve the pressing challenges of our time. If you have a slightly outdated perception of the present, this impactful, far-reaching conversation may rock it squarely to the edge of present and future. Recorded November 30, 2022.

                                                        “A crisis at the root of the way we make choices about civilization itself—the metacrisis is a crisis of the mind.”

                                                        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                                        • How we ourselves are weaponized to spread propaganda (01:52)
                                                        • Meditation as an antidote: coming back to our own fundamental present moment experience (02:58)
                                                        • Algorithmic radicalization and how to stop the limbic hijacking that happens via the screen (04:20)
                                                        • The future of education: AI tutoring, virtual reality, and talking with Socrates (07:50)
                                                        • For the first time a generation could be raised by a non-human entity, creating a trans-human generation and fundamentally changing the dynamic of what a human is (12:31)
                                                        • The “return of the human” and the bicycle analogy (16:51)
                                                        • Who will be driving the technology stack that actually leads to a viable democracy in America and a viable civilization altogether? (19:06)
                                                        • Education broadly defined is social autopoiesis—the way the social system identifies, reproduces, evolves (21:06)
                                                        • Self-conscious evolution occurs through human education; our capacity for education makes us unique as a species (23:55)
                                                        • The future of education involves the end of schools and learning to socialize doing collaborative work (26:50)
                                                        • The adolescent mental health crisis: everyone senses schools are irrelevant (28:04)
                                                        • Making the lives of adolescents meaningful and reviving the guild structure (30:30)
                                                        • How do we foster virtue and maturity, and intelligence rather than only intelligence? (32:40)
                                                        • The de-spiritualization of society and the need to reintroduce religious meaning making (35:00)
                                                        • What gives Zachary hope: how much we underestimate human potential, and all the untapped collective intelligence that could come out of a cooperative approach vs a competitive one (39:31)
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        Resources & References – Part 2

                                                        • Consilience Project propaganda series (#1)
                                                        • Consilience Project article, Social media enables undue influence
                                                        • Jonathan Rowson, anthology Dispatches from a Time Between Worlds: Crisis and Emergence in Metamodernity*
                                                        • Marshall McLuhan, Canadian philosopher whose work is among the cornerstones of the study of media theory, The Gutenberg Galaxy*
                                                        • John Dewey, philosopher, psychologist, educational reformer
                                                        • Alfred North Whitehead, developed a comprehensive metaphysical system which radically departed from most of Western philosophy, arguing that reality consists of process (process philosophy) 
                                                        • What is a Tech Stack?
                                                        • Santiago theory of cognition
                                                        • Jean Piaget, psychologist whose work led to the study of development becoming a major sub-discipline of psychology
                                                        • Michael Tomasello, comparative psychology researcher, Becoming Human*, The Evolution of Agency*
                                                        • Civilian Conservation Corps
                                                        • David Graeber, Bullshit Jobs*
                                                        • Zachary Stein, Social Justice and Educational Measurement*
                                                        • Zachary Stein, Education in a Time Between Worlds: Essays on the Future of Schools, Technology & Society*
                                                        • Zak’s website: http://www.zakstein.org
                                                        • Zachary Stein, co-founder, The Consilience Project, aimed at improving public sensemaking and dialogue
                                                        • Zachary Stein, co-founder, Center for World Philosophy and Religion
                                                        • Zachary Stein, co-founder, Lectica
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                        ---

                                                        Dr. Zak Stein is a philosopher of education, trained at Harvard, co-founder of Lectica, Consilience Project, and Center for World Philosophy and Religion (formerly Center for Integral Wisdom). He is the author of dozens of published papers and two books, including Education in a Time Between Worlds.

                                                        ---

                                                        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                        ]]>Ep. 62 (Part 2 of 2) | Educator, author, philosopher, and futurist Zak Stein gives a startling account of the effects the digital age already has on education and where this is headed. Think AI tutors and students talking in 3D with Socrates. Zak sees education in a deeply philosophical sense as fundamental to the sustainability of our civilization, with implications for each component of the metacrisis. Who will be driving the technology stack that actually leads to a viable civilization? Can we maintain our psychological sovereignty in a sea of digital propaganda and know the truth?

                                                        Zak describes the metacrisis as a gestalt shift that allows us to orient toward the whole in an intuitive way and how this can give us traction in finding solutions. He finds hope for our future in the untapped potential of our collective human family and especially in the untapped potential of our youth, given the opportunity to make their lives meaningful and connected, working together to resolve the pressing challenges of our time. If you have a slightly outdated perception of the present, this impactful, far-reaching conversation may rock it squarely to the edge of present and future. Recorded November 30, 2022.

                                                        “A crisis at the root of the way we make choices about civilization itself—the metacrisis is a crisis of the mind.”

                                                        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                                        • How we ourselves are weaponized to spread propaganda (01:52)
                                                        • Meditation as an antidote: coming back to our own fundamental present moment experience (02:58)
                                                        • Algorithmic radicalization and how to stop the limbic hijacking that happens via the screen (04:20)
                                                        • The future of education: AI tutoring, virtual reality, and talking with Socrates (07:50)
                                                        • For the first time a generation could be raised by a non-human entity, creating a trans-human generation and fundamentally changing the dynamic of what a human is (12:31)
                                                        • The “return of the human” and the bicycle analogy (16:51)
                                                        • Who will be driving the technology stack that actually leads to a viable democracy in America and a viable civilization altogether? (19:06)
                                                        • Education broadly defined is social autopoiesis—the way the social system identifies, reproduces, evolves (21:06)
                                                        • Self-conscious evolution occurs through human education; our capacity for education makes us unique as a species (23:55)
                                                        • The future of education involves the end of schools and learning to socialize doing collaborative work (26:50)
                                                        • The adolescent mental health crisis: everyone senses schools are irrelevant (28:04)
                                                        • Making the lives of adolescents meaningful and reviving the guild structure (30:30)
                                                        • How do we foster virtue and maturity, and intelligence rather than only intelligence? (32:40)
                                                        • The de-spiritualization of society and the need to reintroduce religious meaning making (35:00)
                                                        • What gives Zachary hope: how much we underestimate human potential, and all the untapped collective intelligence that could come out of a cooperative approach vs a competitive one (39:31)
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        Resources & References – Part 2

                                                        • Consilience Project propaganda series (#1)
                                                        • Consilience Project article, Social media enables undue influence
                                                        • Jonathan Rowson, anthology Dispatches from a Time Between Worlds: Crisis and Emergence in Metamodernity*
                                                        • Marshall McLuhan, Canadian philosopher whose work is among the cornerstones of the study of media theory, The Gutenberg Galaxy*
                                                        • John Dewey, philosopher, psychologist, educational reformer
                                                        • Alfred North Whitehead, developed a comprehensive metaphysical system which radically departed from most of Western philosophy, arguing that reality consists of process (process philosophy) 
                                                        • What is a Tech Stack?
                                                        • Santiago theory of cognition
                                                        • Jean Piaget, psychologist whose work led to the study of development becoming a major sub-discipline of psychology
                                                        • Michael Tomasello, comparative psychology researcher, Becoming Human*, The Evolution of Agency*
                                                        • Civilian Conservation Corps
                                                        • David Graeber, Bullshit Jobs*
                                                        • Zachary Stein, Social Justice and Educational Measurement*
                                                        • Zachary Stein, Education in a Time Between Worlds: Essays on the Future of Schools, Technology & Society*
                                                        • Zak’s website: http://www.zakstein.org
                                                        • Zachary Stein, co-founder, The Consilience Project, aimed at improving public sensemaking and dialogue
                                                        • Zachary Stein, co-founder, Center for World Philosophy and Religion
                                                        • Zachary Stein, co-founder, Lectica
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                        ---

                                                        Dr. Zak Stein is a philosopher of education, trained at Harvard, co-founder of Lectica, Consilience Project, and Center for World Philosophy and Religion (formerly Center for Integral Wisdom). He is the author of dozens of published papers and two books, including Education in a Time Between Worlds.

                                                        ---

                                                        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                        ]]>693b4b03-7a74-4f67-bc99-8632d4eb7099Thu, 26 Jan 2023 05:00:00 -040046:04truefull6262The Future of Education & Civilization: Navigating the Potentials & Perils of New Media, AI, Pervasive Propaganda & the Looming MetacrisisEp. 61 (Part 1 of 2) | Educator, author, philosopher, and futurist Zak Stein gives a startling account of the effects the digital age already has on education and where this is headed. Think AI tutors and students talking in 3D with Socrates. Zak sees education in a deeply philosophical sense as fundamental to the sustainability of our civilization, with implications for each component of the metacrisis. Who will be driving the technology stack that actually leads to a viable civilization? Can we maintain our psychological sovereignty in a sea of digital propaganda and know the truth?

                                                        Zak describes the metacrisis as a gestalt shift that allows us to orient toward the whole in an intuitive way and how this can give us traction in finding solutions. He finds hope for our future in the untapped potential of our collective human family and especially in the untapped potential of our youth, given the opportunity to make their lives meaningful and connected, working together to resolve the pressing challenges of our time. If you have a slightly outdated perception of the present, this impactful, far-reaching conversation may rock it squarely to the edge of present and future. Recorded November 30, 2022.

                                                        “A crisis at the root of the way we make choices about civilization itself—the metacrisis is a crisis of the mind.”

                                                        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                                        • Introducing Dr. Zachary Stein, educator, author, philosopher, futurist (01:12)
                                                        • What exactly is the metacrisis? (03:30) 
                                                        • The main risk to the planet is our inability to make the right decisions (06:06)
                                                        • Creating a world philosophy that would be adequate for sustaining civilization, and shifting to an intuitive gestalt of the planetary whole rather than addressing only the parts or individual crises (07:10)
                                                        • The metacrisis is also about existential risk and catastrophic risk: the near-term future is precipitous (09:07)
                                                        • Where is the hope? What can we do as individuals? (10:14)
                                                        • The metacrisis does not imply anything faulty about humans (11:09)
                                                        • It’s as a result of our successes that we need to rebalance the domains that need attention
                                                        • The metacrisis hyperspace is so complex, it forces you to look at it intuitively—consulting the analytical and then returning to the whole gestalt (16:05)
                                                        • The sensemaking crisis and the booby trapping of the ecosystem of information (17:54)
                                                        • Public sensemaking, propaganda wars, the issue of trust with the news and politicians, cyber troops, and social media (20:03)
                                                        • The behavior manipulation machine, the thought terminating cliché, and how propaganda targets the intuition (24:05)
                                                        • Propaganda is the evil twin of education (32:28)
                                                        • How do we find our way through? Psychological sovereignty says a human being can know the truth (37:47)
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        Resources & References – Part 1

                                                        • Books by Zachary Stein
                                                        • Zak’s website: http://www.zakstein.org
                                                        • 2015 Integral Theory Conference
                                                        • Hans Despain, Roy Pascar, Sean Esbjörn-Hargens
                                                        • Daniel Schmachtenberger, founding member of The Consilience Project, aimed at improving public sensemaking and dialogue (Zak Stein, co-founder)
                                                        • Ken Wilber, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality*
                                                        • Zachary Stein, co-founder Center for World Philosophy and Religion with Marc Gafni
                                                        • Max Horkheimer & Theodor Adorno, Dialectic of Enlightenment*
                                                        • Habermas’ Critique of the Frankfurt School
                                                        • Jean Piaget, psychologist whose work led to the study of development becoming a major sub-discipline of psychology
                                                        • Ashley Rindsberg, The Gray Lady Winked: How the New York Times’s Misreporting, Distortions and Fabrications Radically Alter History*
                                                        • Consilience Project propaganda series (#1)
                                                        • Louis Menand, The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War*
                                                        • Fukushima, ongoing nuclear disaster
                                                        • OAN, One America News Network
                                                        • Zachary Stein, co-founder, Lectica
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                        ---

                                                        Dr. Zak Stein is a philosopher of education, trained at Harvard, co-founder of Lectica, Consilience Project, and Center for World Philosophy and Religion (formerly Center for Integral Wisdom). He is the author of dozens of published papers and two books, including Education in a Time Between Worlds.

                                                        ---

                                                        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                        ]]>Ep. 61 (Part 1 of 2) | Educator, author, philosopher, and futurist Zak Stein gives a startling account of the effects the digital age already has on education and where this is headed. Think AI tutors and students talking in 3D with Socrates. Zak sees education in a deeply philosophical sense as fundamental to the sustainability of our civilization, with implications for each component of the metacrisis. Who will be driving the technology stack that actually leads to a viable civilization? Can we maintain our psychological sovereignty in a sea of digital propaganda and know the truth?

                                                        Zak describes the metacrisis as a gestalt shift that allows us to orient toward the whole in an intuitive way and how this can give us traction in finding solutions. He finds hope for our future in the untapped potential of our collective human family and especially in the untapped potential of our youth, given the opportunity to make their lives meaningful and connected, working together to resolve the pressing challenges of our time. If you have a slightly outdated perception of the present, this impactful, far-reaching conversation may rock it squarely to the edge of present and future. Recorded November 30, 2022.

                                                        “A crisis at the root of the way we make choices about civilization itself—the metacrisis is a crisis of the mind.”

                                                        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                                        • Introducing Dr. Zachary Stein, educator, author, philosopher, futurist (01:12)
                                                        • What exactly is the metacrisis? (03:30) 
                                                        • The main risk to the planet is our inability to make the right decisions (06:06)
                                                        • Creating a world philosophy that would be adequate for sustaining civilization, and shifting to an intuitive gestalt of the planetary whole rather than addressing only the parts or individual crises (07:10)
                                                        • The metacrisis is also about existential risk and catastrophic risk: the near-term future is precipitous (09:07)
                                                        • Where is the hope? What can we do as individuals? (10:14)
                                                        • The metacrisis does not imply anything faulty about humans (11:09)
                                                        • It’s as a result of our successes that we need to rebalance the domains that need attention
                                                        • The metacrisis hyperspace is so complex, it forces you to look at it intuitively—consulting the analytical and then returning to the whole gestalt (16:05)
                                                        • The sensemaking crisis and the booby trapping of the ecosystem of information (17:54)
                                                        • Public sensemaking, propaganda wars, the issue of trust with the news and politicians, cyber troops, and social media (20:03)
                                                        • The behavior manipulation machine, the thought terminating cliché, and how propaganda targets the intuition (24:05)
                                                        • Propaganda is the evil twin of education (32:28)
                                                        • How do we find our way through? Psychological sovereignty says a human being can know the truth (37:47)
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        Resources & References – Part 1

                                                        • Books by Zachary Stein
                                                        • Zak’s website: http://www.zakstein.org
                                                        • 2015 Integral Theory Conference
                                                        • Hans Despain, Roy Pascar, Sean Esbjörn-Hargens
                                                        • Daniel Schmachtenberger, founding member of The Consilience Project, aimed at improving public sensemaking and dialogue (Zak Stein, co-founder)
                                                        • Ken Wilber, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality*
                                                        • Zachary Stein, co-founder Center for World Philosophy and Religion with Marc Gafni
                                                        • Max Horkheimer & Theodor Adorno, Dialectic of Enlightenment*
                                                        • Habermas’ Critique of the Frankfurt School
                                                        • Jean Piaget, psychologist whose work led to the study of development becoming a major sub-discipline of psychology
                                                        • Ashley Rindsberg, The Gray Lady Winked: How the New York Times’s Misreporting, Distortions and Fabrications Radically Alter History*
                                                        • Consilience Project propaganda series (#1)
                                                        • Louis Menand, The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War*
                                                        • Fukushima, ongoing nuclear disaster
                                                        • OAN, One America News Network
                                                        • Zachary Stein, co-founder, Lectica
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                        ---

                                                        Dr. Zak Stein is a philosopher of education, trained at Harvard, co-founder of Lectica, Consilience Project, and Center for World Philosophy and Religion (formerly Center for Integral Wisdom). He is the author of dozens of published papers and two books, including Education in a Time Between Worlds.

                                                        ---

                                                        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                        ]]>98aecc80-5063-4431-ba7d-97300559c712Thu, 19 Jan 2023 05:00:00 -040048:08falsefull6161Ep. 61 (Part 1 of 2) | Educator, author, philosopher, and futurist Zachary Stein gives a startling account of the effects the digital age already has on education and where this is headed. Think AI tutors and students talking in 3D with Socrates. Zak sees education in a deeply philosophical sense as fundamental to the sustainability of our civilization, with implications for each component of the metacrisis. Who will be driving the technology stack that actually leads to a viable civilization? Can we maintain our psychological sovereignty in a sea of digital propaganda and know the truth? Zak describes the metacrisis as a gestalt shift that allows us to orient toward the whole in an intuitive way and how this can give us traction in finding solutions. He finds hope for our future in the untapped potential of our collective human family and especially in the untapped potential of our youth, given the opportunity to make their lives meaningful and connected, working together to resolve the pressing challenges of our time. If you have a slightly outdated perception of the present, this impactful, far-reaching conversation may rock it squarely to the edge of present and future. Recorded November 30, 2022.Michael Murphy - The Human Potential Movement Then & Now: 60 Years at the Leading Edge of Transformative Practice, Research & Action (Part 3)Ep. 60 (Part 3 of 3) | Michael Murphy, author, co-founder of the world-famous Esalen Institute, and pioneer of the Human Potential Movement starting in the 60s, relates a wealth of intimate experience, knowledge, and wisdom covering his decades of living at the leading edge of transformative practice and the realization of human potential. Mike talks about Esalen’s latest research, our current crisis of belief, and the anchoring question that has guided Esalen (and Mike) all along: how best to serve? Mike has watched the developmental process of transformative practices themselves, such as somatics and psychedelics, now circling around after a period of purgation, and talks about current efforts to add research on the mystical and the ecstatic to meditation and mindfulness research in order to better understand what's going on. 

                                                        This podcast is a wonderful mix of tales from the past—including Mike and his wife Dulce’s achievements and adventures with Soviet-American citizen diplomacy towards the end of the Cold War—the present, and what’s coming up at the Esalen research center now, e.g., asking what is happening on "the other side," and discovering the truth about subtle body phenomena. On a personal note, Mike shares about practicing agnosticism, his respect and admiration for the quality of wonder, and about the magic of reading subtle cues and being increasingly in tune with “the algorithms of his heart.” Friendly, relaxed, and humorous, Mike is one of the world’s leading lights on self-transformation. Recorded on February 16, 2022.

                                                        “With Esalen, life has given me this marvelous laboratory.”

                                                        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3

                                                        • The magic of reading subtle cues and developing increasing discernment to the subtleties of one’s own internal psychic mechanism (02:26)
                                                        • Paul Ekman’s nonverbal cue study and how aging correlates with greater capacity to discern subtle social cues (06:03)
                                                        • The capacity for childlike wonder is one of the things Mike admires most (08:15)
                                                        • The human potential movement and the complexity of human beings (16:09)
                                                        • Spies, innocence, and transparency (19:08)
                                                        • Mike’s suspicions about developmental maps and schemes, especially in the spiritual world (23:37)
                                                        • There is no such thing as a single virtue: for example, you can’t have courage without prudence (28:38)
                                                        • Integral Transformative Practice: does it really work? Does it help us grow in virtue and character? (30:18)
                                                        • Mike’s calling to continue the inquiry: What’s going on on the other side? What is the truth about the subtle body phenomena? (32:33)
                                                        • Mike’s general advice: enough good habits, meditation, and tailoring your practice to who you are (33:59)
                                                        • The problem of suffering in this world is only going to be answered with an adventurous, experimentative embrace exploring what’s going on here (40:00)
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        Resources & References – Part 3

                                                        • Fritz Perls, well renowned German psychotherapist and psychiatrist known for his notable works on Gestalt therapy
                                                        • Howard Gardner, Multiple Intelligences*
                                                        • Frances Vaughan, one of the great pioneers of transpersonal psychology, psychotherapist, teacher, author
                                                        • Dr. Paul Ekman, Nonverbal Messages: Cracking the Code*
                                                        • Solomon Asch conformity experiments
                                                        • Bill Walsh, 49ers football coach
                                                        • Abraham Maslow, psychologist who created a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs in priority and culminating in self-actualization (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs)
                                                        • Will Schutz, author and creator of FIRO Theory (Fundamental interpersonal relations orientation)
                                                        • Gordon Wheeler, clinical psychologist who pioneered Gestalt Relational Constellations, integrating Systems Constellations work with Gestalt-based client experiments
                                                        • Tanya Luhrmann, studying people who attend Esalen for unique characteristics
                                                        • Integral Transformative Practice: ITP-International, founded by Michael Murphy & George Leonard
                                                        • Thomas Merton, monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist, and scholar of comparative religion
                                                        • Oscar Wilde, Irish poet and playwright
                                                        • Meister Eckhart, theologian, philosopher, and mystic born circa 1260
                                                        • Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov*
                                                        • Esalen Institute, a leading center for exploring and realizing human potential through experience, education, and research, Esalen’s Center for Theory & Research
                                                        • James Redfield, Michael Murphy & Sylvia Timbers, God and the Evolving Universe: The Next Step in Personal Evolution*
                                                        • Michael Murphy, The Future of the Body: Explorations into the Further Evolution of Human Nature*
                                                        • Michael Murphy & George Leonard, The Life We Are Given*
                                                        • Michael Murphy & Steve Donovan, The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation*
                                                        • Michael Murphy, Golf in the Kingdom*
                                                        • Michael Murphy & Rhea White, In the Zone: Transcendent Experience in Sports*
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                        ---

                                                        Michael Murphy is a graduate of Stanford University, co-founder of Esalen Institute, founder of Esalen’s Center for Theory and Research, and author of numerous books. His novels include The Kingdom of Shivas Irons, Golf in the Kingdom, Jacob Atabet, and An End to Ordinary History. His latest nonfiction work is God and the Evolving Universe, co-authored with James Redfield and Sylvia Timbers. Other nonfiction work includes: In the Zone, an anthology of extraordinary sports experiences, co-authored with Rhea White; The Life We Are Given, a book about transformative practice, co-authored with George...]]>Ep. 60 (Part 3 of 3) | Michael Murphy, author, co-founder of the world-famous Esalen Institute, and pioneer of the Human Potential Movement starting in the 60s, relates a wealth of intimate experience, knowledge, and wisdom covering his decades of living at the leading edge of transformative practice and the realization of human potential. Mike talks about Esalen’s latest research, our current crisis of belief, and the anchoring question that has guided Esalen (and Mike) all along: how best to serve? Mike has watched the developmental process of transformative practices themselves, such as somatics and psychedelics, now circling around after a period of purgation, and talks about current efforts to add research on the mystical and the ecstatic to meditation and mindfulness research in order to better understand what's going on. 

                                                        This podcast is a wonderful mix of tales from the past—including Mike and his wife Dulce’s achievements and adventures with Soviet-American citizen diplomacy towards the end of the Cold War—the present, and what’s coming up at the Esalen research center now, e.g., asking what is happening on "the other side," and discovering the truth about subtle body phenomena. On a personal note, Mike shares about practicing agnosticism, his respect and admiration for the quality of wonder, and about the magic of reading subtle cues and being increasingly in tune with “the algorithms of his heart.” Friendly, relaxed, and humorous, Mike is one of the world’s leading lights on self-transformation. Recorded on February 16, 2022.

                                                        “With Esalen, life has given me this marvelous laboratory.”

                                                        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3

                                                        • The magic of reading subtle cues and developing increasing discernment to the subtleties of one’s own internal psychic mechanism (02:26)
                                                        • Paul Ekman’s nonverbal cue study and how aging correlates with greater capacity to discern subtle social cues (06:03)
                                                        • The capacity for childlike wonder is one of the things Mike admires most (08:15)
                                                        • The human potential movement and the complexity of human beings (16:09)
                                                        • Spies, innocence, and transparency (19:08)
                                                        • Mike’s suspicions about developmental maps and schemes, especially in the spiritual world (23:37)
                                                        • There is no such thing as a single virtue: for example, you can’t have courage without prudence (28:38)
                                                        • Integral Transformative Practice: does it really work? Does it help us grow in virtue and character? (30:18)
                                                        • Mike’s calling to continue the inquiry: What’s going on on the other side? What is the truth about the subtle body phenomena? (32:33)
                                                        • Mike’s general advice: enough good habits, meditation, and tailoring your practice to who you are (33:59)
                                                        • The problem of suffering in this world is only going to be answered with an adventurous, experimentative embrace exploring what’s going on here (40:00)
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        Resources & References – Part 3

                                                        • Fritz Perls, well renowned German psychotherapist and psychiatrist known for his notable works on Gestalt therapy
                                                        • Howard Gardner, Multiple Intelligences*
                                                        • Frances Vaughan, one of the great pioneers of transpersonal psychology, psychotherapist, teacher, author
                                                        • Dr. Paul Ekman, Nonverbal Messages: Cracking the Code*
                                                        • Solomon Asch conformity experiments
                                                        • Bill Walsh, 49ers football coach
                                                        • Abraham Maslow, psychologist who created a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs in priority and culminating in self-actualization (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs)
                                                        • Will Schutz, author and creator of FIRO Theory (Fundamental interpersonal relations orientation)
                                                        • Gordon Wheeler, clinical psychologist who pioneered Gestalt Relational Constellations, integrating Systems Constellations work with Gestalt-based client experiments
                                                        • Tanya Luhrmann, studying people who attend Esalen for unique characteristics
                                                        • Integral Transformative Practice: ITP-International, founded by Michael Murphy & George Leonard
                                                        • Thomas Merton, monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist, and scholar of comparative religion
                                                        • Oscar Wilde, Irish poet and playwright
                                                        • Meister Eckhart, theologian, philosopher, and mystic born circa 1260
                                                        • Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov*
                                                        • Esalen Institute, a leading center for exploring and realizing human potential through experience, education, and research, Esalen’s Center for Theory & Research
                                                        • James Redfield, Michael Murphy & Sylvia Timbers, God and the Evolving Universe: The Next Step in Personal Evolution*
                                                        • Michael Murphy, The Future of the Body: Explorations into the Further Evolution of Human Nature*
                                                        • Michael Murphy & George Leonard, The Life We Are Given*
                                                        • Michael Murphy & Steve Donovan, The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation*
                                                        • Michael Murphy, Golf in the Kingdom*
                                                        • Michael Murphy & Rhea White, In the Zone: Transcendent Experience in Sports*
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                        ---

                                                        Michael Murphy is a graduate of Stanford University, co-founder of Esalen Institute, founder of Esalen’s Center for Theory and Research, and author of numerous books. His novels include The Kingdom of Shivas Irons, Golf in the Kingdom, Jacob Atabet, and An End to Ordinary History. His latest nonfiction work is God and the Evolving Universe, co-authored with James Redfield and Sylvia Timbers. Other nonfiction work includes: In the Zone, an anthology of extraordinary sports experiences, co-authored with Rhea White; The Life We Are Given, a book about transformative practice, co-authored with George Leonard; The Future of the Body, and The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation, co-authored with Steve Donovan.

                                                        ---

                                                        Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                        ]]>3177c01d-7ddb-4987-beda-0c4c05ebec59Thu, 12 Jan 2023 05:00:00 -040046:21truefull6060Ep. 60 (Part 3 of 3) | Michael Murphy, author, co-founder of the world-famous Esalen Institute, and pioneer of the Human Potential Movement starting in the 60s, relates a wealth of intimate experience, knowledge, and wisdom covering his decades of living at the leading edge of transformative practice and the realization of human potential. Mike talks about Esalen’s latest research, our current crisis of belief, and the anchoring question that has guided Esalen (and Mike) all along: how best to serve? Mike has watched the developmental process of transformative practices themselves, such as somatics and psychedelics, now circling around after a period of purgation, and talks about current efforts to add research on the mystical and the ecstatic to meditation and mindfulness research in order to better understand what's going on. This podcast is a wonderful mix of tales from the past—including Mike and his wife Dulce’s achievements and adventures with Soviet-American citizen diplomacy towards the end of the Cold War—the present, and what’s coming up at the Esalen research center now, e.g., asking what is happening on "the other side," and discovering the truth about subtle body phenomena. On a personal note, Mike shares about practicing agnosticism, his respect and admiration for the quality of wonder, and about the magic of reading subtle cues and being increasingly in tune with “the algorithms of his heart.” Friendly, relaxed, and humorous, Mike is one of the world’s leading lights on self-transformation. Recorded on February 16, 2022.Michael Murphy - The Human Potential Movement Then & Now: 60 Years at the Leading Edge of Transformative Practice, Research & Action (Part 2)Ep. 59 (Part 2 of 3) | Michael Murphy, author, co-founder of the world-famous Esalen Institute, and pioneer of the Human Potential Movement starting in the 60s, relates a wealth of intimate experience, knowledge, and wisdom covering his decades of living at the leading edge of transformative practice and the realization of human potential. Mike talks about Esalen’s latest research, our current crisis of belief, and the anchoring question that has guided Esalen (and Mike) all along: how best to serve? Mike has watched the developmental process of transformative practices themselves, such as somatics and psychedelics, now circling around after a period of purgation, and talks about current efforts to add research on the mystical and the ecstatic to meditation and mindfulness research in order to better understand what's going on. 

                                                        This podcast is a wonderful mix of tales from the past—including Mike and his wife Dulce’s achievements and adventures with Soviet-American citizen diplomacy towards the end of the Cold War—the present, and what’s coming up at the Esalen research center now, e.g., asking what is happening on "the other side," and discovering the truth about subtle body phenomena. On a personal note, Mike shares about practicing agnosticism, his respect and admiration for the quality of wonder, and about the magic of reading subtle cues and being increasingly in tune with “the algorithms of his heart.” Friendly, relaxed, and humorous, Mike is one of the world’s leading lights on self-transformation. Recorded on February 16, 2022.

                                                        “With Esalen, life has given me this marvelous laboratory.”

                                                        (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                        Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                                        • What are the practices that are the most important to Mike? (01:07)
                                                        • Exploring what happens after we die and the richness of the subliminal mind (02:57)
                                                        • The nature of thoughts, their texture, their capacity to take over (06:28)
                                                        • Mike’s crap detector, his favorite skeptics, and his skepticism about reincarnation (09:29)
                                                        • Reincarnation studies at Esalen (15:39)
                                                        • Tacit knowing: Mike reads the “algorithms of his heart” (18:16)
                                                        • Agnosticism is a practice in the face of empiricism (20:38)
                                                        • The nature of the subtle body and building fellowships around this at Esalen (24:40)
                                                        • Central to what goes on on the other side is “degree of agency” (29:59)
                                                        • Merging the gnostic and agnostic at the same time (32:31)
                                                        • We need more language describing particular aspects of mystical to understand what’s going on (33:00)
                                                        • Back to reincarnation: yes—but it can be scary (34:03)
                                                        • The most surprising things that have happened to Mike over the years: people’s need to play the Game of Thrones (40:50)
                                                        • The Russian front, American hypocrisy, and Yeltsin’s conversion in 1989 (45:04)
                                                        
                                                        

                                                        Resources & References – Part 2

                                                        • Esalen Institute, a leading center for exploring and realizing human potential through experience, education, and research, Esalen’s Center for Theory & Research
                                                        • M. de Voltaire, French Enlightenment writer and philosopher
                                                        • Frederic Myers’s Service to Psychology by William James
                                                        • R2-D2, character in the epic space saga Star Wars
                                                        • Ernest Jones, The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud* 
                                                        • Timothy Leary & Dick Alpert (Ram Dass), Dying to Know trailer (documentary about Ram Dass & Tim Leary)
                                                        • Willis Harman & Howard Rheingold, Higher Creativity: Liberating the Unconscious for Breakthrough Insights*
                                                        • James Fadiman, The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide*
                                                        • Edward Kelly & Emily Kelly, Irreducible Mind* 
                                                        • Bruce Greyson, Journal of Near-Death Studies, After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal about Life and Beyond*
                                                        • Sri Aurobindo, deeply realized contemplative & mystic, led the most radical wing of the Indian independence movement
                                                        • William James, Radical empiricism
                                                        • Michael Polanyi, Personal Knowledge*
                                                        • Taittiriya Upanishad
                                                        • Simon Cox, The Subtle Body: A Genealogy*
                                                        • Jeffrey Kripal, Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University, Kali’s Child*
                                                        • Charlie Stang, Harvard School of Divinity and Esalen Board Member, author of Our Divine Double*
                                                        • The “undiscovered country” from Act 3, Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s Hamlet*
                                                        • Words of the Mother: Death and Rebirth (Sri Aurobindo Ashram)
                                                        • Rudolf Otto, German philosopher, theologian, and comparative religionist
                                                        • Fritz Perls, a well renowned German psychotherapist and psychiatrist known for his notable works on Gestalt therapy
                                                        • Peter Berger & Thomas Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality*
                                                        • Michael Murphy, Golf in the Kingdom*
                                                        • Ep. 59 (Part 2 of 3) | Michael Murphy, author, co-founder of the world-famous Esalen Institute, and pioneer of the Human Potential Movement starting in the 60s, relates a wealth of intimate experience, knowledge, and wisdom covering his decades of living at the leading edge of transformative practice and the realization of human potential. Mike talks about Esalen’s latest research, our current crisis of belief, and the anchoring question that has guided Esalen (and Mike) all along: how best to serve? Mike has watched the developmental process of transformative practices themselves, such as somatics and psychedelics, now circling around after a period of purgation, and talks about current efforts to add research on the mystical and the ecstatic to meditation and mindfulness research in order to better understand what's going on. 

                                                          This podcast is a wonderful mix of tales from the past—including Mike and his wife Dulce’s achievements and adventures with Soviet-American citizen diplomacy towards the end of the Cold War—the present, and what’s coming up at the Esalen research center now, e.g., asking what is happening on "the other side," and discovering the truth about subtle body phenomena. On a personal note, Mike shares about practicing agnosticism, his respect and admiration for the quality of wonder, and about the magic of reading subtle cues and being increasingly in tune with “the algorithms of his heart.” Friendly, relaxed, and humorous, Mike is one of the world’s leading lights on self-transformation. Recorded on February 16, 2022.

                                                          “With Esalen, life has given me this marvelous laboratory.”

                                                          (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                          Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                                          • What are the practices that are the most important to Mike? (01:07)
                                                          • Exploring what happens after we die and the richness of the subliminal mind (02:57)
                                                          • The nature of thoughts, their texture, their capacity to take over (06:28)
                                                          • Mike’s crap detector, his favorite skeptics, and his skepticism about reincarnation (09:29)
                                                          • Reincarnation studies at Esalen (15:39)
                                                          • Tacit knowing: Mike reads the “algorithms of his heart” (18:16)
                                                          • Agnosticism is a practice in the face of empiricism (20:38)
                                                          • The nature of the subtle body and building fellowships around this at Esalen (24:40)
                                                          • Central to what goes on on the other side is “degree of agency” (29:59)
                                                          • Merging the gnostic and agnostic at the same time (32:31)
                                                          • We need more language describing particular aspects of mystical to understand what’s going on (33:00)
                                                          • Back to reincarnation: yes—but it can be scary (34:03)
                                                          • The most surprising things that have happened to Mike over the years: people’s need to play the Game of Thrones (40:50)
                                                          • The Russian front, American hypocrisy, and Yeltsin’s conversion in 1989 (45:04)
                                                          
                                                          

                                                          Resources & References – Part 2

                                                          • Esalen Institute, a leading center for exploring and realizing human potential through experience, education, and research, Esalen’s Center for Theory & Research
                                                          • M. de Voltaire, French Enlightenment writer and philosopher
                                                          • Frederic Myers’s Service to Psychology by William James
                                                          • R2-D2, character in the epic space saga Star Wars
                                                          • Ernest Jones, The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud* 
                                                          • Timothy Leary & Dick Alpert (Ram Dass), Dying to Know trailer (documentary about Ram Dass & Tim Leary)
                                                          • Willis Harman & Howard Rheingold, Higher Creativity: Liberating the Unconscious for Breakthrough Insights*
                                                          • James Fadiman, The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide*
                                                          • Edward Kelly & Emily Kelly, Irreducible Mind* 
                                                          • Bruce Greyson, Journal of Near-Death Studies, After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal about Life and Beyond*
                                                          • Sri Aurobindo, deeply realized contemplative & mystic, led the most radical wing of the Indian independence movement
                                                          • William James, Radical empiricism
                                                          • Michael Polanyi, Personal Knowledge*
                                                          • Taittiriya Upanishad
                                                          • Simon Cox, The Subtle Body: A Genealogy*
                                                          • Jeffrey Kripal, Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University, Kali’s Child*
                                                          • Charlie Stang, Harvard School of Divinity and Esalen Board Member, author of Our Divine Double*
                                                          • The “undiscovered country” from Act 3, Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s Hamlet*
                                                          • Words of the Mother: Death and Rebirth (Sri Aurobindo Ashram)
                                                          • Rudolf Otto, German philosopher, theologian, and comparative religionist
                                                          • Fritz Perls, a well renowned German psychotherapist and psychiatrist known for his notable works on Gestalt therapy
                                                          • Peter Berger & Thomas Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality*
                                                          • Michael Murphy, Golf in the Kingdom*
                                                          • John le Carré, author of best selling international espionage novels
                                                          • Track II: An Institute for Citizen Diplomacy, host organization for the Russian-American Program
                                                          • James Redfield, Michael Murphy & Sylvia Timbers, God and the Evolving Universe: The Next Step in Personal Evolution*
                                                          • Michael Murphy, The Future of the Body: Explorations into the Further Evolution of Human Nature*
                                                          • Michael Murphy & George Leonard, The Life We Are Given*
                                                          • Michael Murphy & Steve Donovan, The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation*
                                                          • Michael Murphy & Rhea White, In the Zone: Transcendent Experience in Sports*
                                                          
                                                          

                                                          * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                          ---

                                                          Michael Murphy is a graduate of Stanford University, co-founder of Esalen Institute, founder of Esalen’s Center for Theory and Research, and author of numerous books. His novels include The Kingdom of Shivas Irons, Golf in the Kingdom, Jacob Atabet, and An End to Ordinary History. His latest nonfiction work is God and the Evolving Universe, co-authored with James Redfield and Sylvia Timbers. Other nonfiction work includes: In the Zone, an anthology of extraordinary sports experiences, co-authored with Rhea White; The Life We Are Given, a book about transformative practice, co-authored with George Leonard; The Future of the Body, and The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation, co-authored with Steve Donovan.

                                                          ---

                                                          Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                          ]]>a3ebf70a-e6c9-405e-be1f-5dcd8e95e43aThu, 05 Jan 2023 05:00:00 -040049:35truefull5959Ep. 59 (Part 2 of 3) | Michael Murphy, author, co-founder of the world-famous Esalen Institute, and pioneer of the Human Potential Movement starting in the 60s, relates a wealth of intimate experience, knowledge, and wisdom covering his decades of living at the leading edge of transformative practice and the realization of human potential. Mike talks about Esalen’s latest research, our current crisis of belief, and the anchoring question that has guided Esalen (and Mike) all along: how best to serve? Mike has watched the developmental process of transformative practices themselves, such as somatics and psychedelics, now circling around after a period of purgation, and talks about current efforts to add research on the mystical and the ecstatic to meditation and mindfulness research in order to better understand what's going on. This podcast is a wonderful mix of tales from the past—including Mike and his wife Dulce’s achievements and adventures with Soviet-American citizen diplomacy towards the end of the Cold War—the present, and what’s coming up at the Esalen research center now, e.g., asking what is happening on "the other side," and discovering the truth about subtle body phenomena. On a personal note, Mike shares about practicing agnosticism, his respect and admiration for the quality of wonder, and about the magic of reading subtle cues and being increasingly in tune with “the algorithms of his heart.” Friendly, relaxed, and humorous, Mike is one of the world’s leading lights on self-transformation. Recorded on February 16, 2022.Michael Murphy - The Human Potential Movement Then & Now: 60 Years at the Leading Edge of Transformative Practice, Research & ActionEp. 58 (Part 1 of 3) | Michael Murphy, author, co-founder of the world-famous Esalen Institute, and pioneer of the Human Potential Movement starting in the 60s, relates a wealth of intimate experience, knowledge, and wisdom covering his decades of living at the leading edge of transformative practice and the realization of human potential. Mike talks about Esalen’s latest research, our current crisis of belief, and the anchoring question that has guided Esalen (and Mike) all along: how best to serve? Mike has watched the developmental process of transformative practices themselves, such as somatics and psychedelics, now circling around after a period of purgation, and talks about current efforts to add research on the mystical and the ecstatic to meditation and mindfulness research in order to better understand what's going on. 

                                                          This podcast is a wonderful mix of tales from the past—including Mike and his wife Dulce’s achievements and adventures with Soviet-American citizen diplomacy towards the end of the Cold War—the present, and what’s coming up at the Esalen research center now, e.g., asking what is happening on "the other side," and discovering the truth about subtle body phenomena. On a personal note, Mike shares about practicing agnosticism, his respect and admiration for the quality of wonder, and about the magic of reading subtle cues and being increasingly in tune with “the algorithms of his heart.” Friendly, relaxed, and humorous, Mike is one of the world’s leading lights on self-transformation. Recorded on February 16, 2022.

                                                          “With Esalen, life has given me this marvelous laboratory.”

                                                          (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                          Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                                          • Introducing Michael Murphy, Human Potential Movement pioneer, author, co-founder and director of Esalen Institute, co-creator of Integral Transformative Practice (01:20)
                                                          • Esalen’s “scouring of the Shire” (05:51)
                                                          • Forging a deeper marriage of the two parts of Esalen: public programming & the Center for Theory & Research (07:19)
                                                          • The realization that atman = Brahman and how Michael came to be a yogi (08:29)
                                                          • The anchoring vision and worldview of Esalen: evolutionary panentheism, embracing the whole in an evolving world (11:33) 
                                                          • Our current crisis of belief: living between the death of the old gods and the birth of new gods has prompted more conflict, more divergences than ever before (16:37)
                                                          • How best to serve? Should Esalen continue? Most transformative practices (like somatics and psychedelics) have had to go through a period of purgation and are now coming back into play (21:34)
                                                          • The explosion of psychedelics in the 1960s through the psychedelic renaissance today and owning the immensity of its shadow side (27:47)
                                                          • Tanya Luhrmann, critical of the unwarranted hegemony of modern Buddhist influence on meditation research, researches contemplative, transformative, yogic, shamanic practices, including the evangelical Vineyard Movement (33:14)
                                                          • Tanya is now studying the uniqueness of people who have attended Esalen (37:28)
                                                          • On absorption capacity, its differentiating effects on our evolutionary capacities, and the concept of porosity, an attribute involving both the sensory and the extrasensory domain (38:29)  
                                                          
                                                          

                                                          Resources & References – Part 1

                                                          • Esalen Institute, a leading center for exploring and realizing human potential through experience, education, and research
                                                          • Track II: An Institute for Citizen Diplomacy, host organization for the Russian-American Program
                                                          • James Redfield, Michael Murphy & Sylvia Timbers, God and the Evolving Universe: The Next Step in Personal Evolution*
                                                          • Michael Murphy & George Leonard, The Life We Are Given*
                                                          • Michael Murphy & Steve Donovan, The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation*
                                                          • George Leonard, “taking the hit as a gift,” The Way of Aikido*
                                                          • Dick Price, ran Esalen in Big Sur for many years
                                                          • Esalen’s Center for Theory & Research
                                                          • Frederic Spiegelberg, professor at Stanford University, developed and theorized a mystical humanism
                                                          • John Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath*
                                                          • Sri Aurobindo, deeply realized contemplative & mystic, led the most radical wing of the Indian independence movement
                                                          • Evolutionary panentheism, guiding vision and worldview for Esalen
                                                          • Integral Transformative Practice: ITP-International, founded by Michael Murphy & George Leonard
                                                          • Michael Murphy, Golf in the Kingdom*
                                                          • Michael Murphy & Rhea White, In the Zone: Transcendent Experience in Sports*
                                                          • Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, scientist, theologian, philosopher
                                                          • Alfred North Whitehead, developed a comprehensive metaphysical system which radically departed from most of Western philosophy
                                                          • Henri Bergson, Creative Evolution*
                                                          • Martin Heidegger, one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century
                                                          • Don Johnson, Diverse Bodies, Diverse Practices: Toward an Inclusive Somatics*
                                                          • Thomas Hanna, philosopher who gave the field of somatics its name
                                                          • Somatic psychology, a form of psychotherapy that seeks to bridge the mind-body dichotomy
                                                          • Ida Rolf, Structure, Function, Integration*, Dr. Ida Rolf Institute
                                                          • Aldous Huxley, provided a mediating language between metaphysics, the language of human potentialities, and the non-verbal humanities, The Doors of Perception*
                                                          • Georg W. F. Hegel, a founding figure of modern Western...]]>Ep. 58 (Part 1 of 3) | Michael Murphy, author, co-founder of the world-famous Esalen Institute, and pioneer of the Human Potential Movement starting in the 60s, relates a wealth of intimate experience, knowledge, and wisdom covering his decades of living at the leading edge of transformative practice and the realization of human potential. Mike talks about Esalen’s latest research, our current crisis of belief, and the anchoring question that has guided Esalen (and Mike) all along: how best to serve? Mike has watched the developmental process of transformative practices themselves, such as somatics and psychedelics, now circling around after a period of purgation, and talks about current efforts to add research on the mystical and the ecstatic to meditation and mindfulness research in order to better understand what's going on. 

                                                            This podcast is a wonderful mix of tales from the past—including Mike and his wife Dulce’s achievements and adventures with Soviet-American citizen diplomacy towards the end of the Cold War—the present, and what’s coming up at the Esalen research center now, e.g., asking what is happening on "the other side," and discovering the truth about subtle body phenomena. On a personal note, Mike shares about practicing agnosticism, his respect and admiration for the quality of wonder, and about the magic of reading subtle cues and being increasingly in tune with “the algorithms of his heart.” Friendly, relaxed, and humorous, Mike is one of the world’s leading lights on self-transformation. Recorded on February 16, 2022.

                                                            “With Esalen, life has given me this marvelous laboratory.”

                                                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                                            • Introducing Michael Murphy, Human Potential Movement pioneer, author, co-founder and director of Esalen Institute, co-creator of Integral Transformative Practice (01:20)
                                                            • Esalen’s “scouring of the Shire” (05:51)
                                                            • Forging a deeper marriage of the two parts of Esalen: public programming & the Center for Theory & Research (07:19)
                                                            • The realization that atman = Brahman and how Michael came to be a yogi (08:29)
                                                            • The anchoring vision and worldview of Esalen: evolutionary panentheism, embracing the whole in an evolving world (11:33) 
                                                            • Our current crisis of belief: living between the death of the old gods and the birth of new gods has prompted more conflict, more divergences than ever before (16:37)
                                                            • How best to serve? Should Esalen continue? Most transformative practices (like somatics and psychedelics) have had to go through a period of purgation and are now coming back into play (21:34)
                                                            • The explosion of psychedelics in the 1960s through the psychedelic renaissance today and owning the immensity of its shadow side (27:47)
                                                            • Tanya Luhrmann, critical of the unwarranted hegemony of modern Buddhist influence on meditation research, researches contemplative, transformative, yogic, shamanic practices, including the evangelical Vineyard Movement (33:14)
                                                            • Tanya is now studying the uniqueness of people who have attended Esalen (37:28)
                                                            • On absorption capacity, its differentiating effects on our evolutionary capacities, and the concept of porosity, an attribute involving both the sensory and the extrasensory domain (38:29)  
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            Resources & References – Part 1

                                                            • Esalen Institute, a leading center for exploring and realizing human potential through experience, education, and research
                                                            • Track II: An Institute for Citizen Diplomacy, host organization for the Russian-American Program
                                                            • James Redfield, Michael Murphy & Sylvia Timbers, God and the Evolving Universe: The Next Step in Personal Evolution*
                                                            • Michael Murphy & George Leonard, The Life We Are Given*
                                                            • Michael Murphy & Steve Donovan, The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation*
                                                            • George Leonard, “taking the hit as a gift,” The Way of Aikido*
                                                            • Dick Price, ran Esalen in Big Sur for many years
                                                            • Esalen’s Center for Theory & Research
                                                            • Frederic Spiegelberg, professor at Stanford University, developed and theorized a mystical humanism
                                                            • John Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath*
                                                            • Sri Aurobindo, deeply realized contemplative & mystic, led the most radical wing of the Indian independence movement
                                                            • Evolutionary panentheism, guiding vision and worldview for Esalen
                                                            • Integral Transformative Practice: ITP-International, founded by Michael Murphy & George Leonard
                                                            • Michael Murphy, Golf in the Kingdom*
                                                            • Michael Murphy & Rhea White, In the Zone: Transcendent Experience in Sports*
                                                            • Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, scientist, theologian, philosopher
                                                            • Alfred North Whitehead, developed a comprehensive metaphysical system which radically departed from most of Western philosophy
                                                            • Henri Bergson, Creative Evolution*
                                                            • Martin Heidegger, one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century
                                                            • Don Johnson, Diverse Bodies, Diverse Practices: Toward an Inclusive Somatics*
                                                            • Thomas Hanna, philosopher who gave the field of somatics its name
                                                            • Somatic psychology, a form of psychotherapy that seeks to bridge the mind-body dichotomy
                                                            • Ida Rolf, Structure, Function, Integration*, Dr. Ida Rolf Institute
                                                            • Aldous Huxley, provided a mediating language between metaphysics, the language of human potentialities, and the non-verbal humanities, The Doors of Perception*
                                                            • Georg W. F. Hegel, a founding figure of modern Western philosophy
                                                            • George Brown, director for the Ford-Esalen project, Human Teaching for Human Learning: An Introduction to Confluent Education*
                                                            • Timothy Leary, clinical psychologist who developed a philosophy of mind expansion and personal truth through LSD, Exo-psychology: A Manual on the Use of the Human Nervous System According to the Instructions of the Manufacturers*
                                                            • Charlie Stang, Esalen board member & director of the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School 
                                                            • Tanya Luhrmann, professor of anthropology at Stanford, When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God*, Our Most Troubling Madness*, How God Becomes Real*
                                                            • Richard Davidson, Mind & Life Institute, co-author with Daniel Goleman, Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body*
                                                            • William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature*
                                                            • Abraham Maslow, American psychologist, creator of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
                                                            • Pam Kramer, President of ITP International, a non-profit organization that stewards the work of Michael Murphy and George Leonard and their creation of Integral Transformative Practice®
                                                            • MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory), a standardized psychometric test of adult personality and psychopathology
                                                            • Auke Tellegen and the Tellegen Absorption Scale (TAS)
                                                            • Michael Murphy, The Future of the Body: Explorations into the Further Evolution of Human Nature*
                                                            • The Sandpiper with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton (filmed at Esalen)
                                                            • Fritz Perls, a well renowned German psychotherapist and psychiatrist known for his notable works on Gestalt therapy
                                                            • Jane Austen, English novelist still popular though her novels were published 200 years ago
                                                            • Stuart Symington, Secretary of the Air Force in the 1950s
                                                            • A Beautiful Mind, 2001 movie based on the life of the American mathematician John Nash
                                                            • Agnews Developmental Center (originally “The Great Asylum for the Insane”)
                                                            • Ramakrishna, Hindu mystic who experienced spiritual ecstasies from an early age
                                                            • Charles Taylor, Canadian philosopher
                                                            • Vineyard Movement (Association of Evangelical Vineyard Churches)
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                            ---

                                                            Michael Murphy is a graduate of Stanford University, co-founder of Esalen Institute, founder of Esalen’s Center for Theory and Research, and author of numerous books. His novels include The Kingdom of Shivas Irons, Golf in the Kingdom, Jacob Atabet, and An End to Ordinary History. His latest nonfiction work is God and the Evolving Universe, co-authored with James Redfield and Sylvia Timbers. Other nonfiction work includes: In the Zone, an anthology of extraordinary sports experiences, co-authored with Rhea White; The Life We Are Given, a book about transformative practice, co-authored with George Leonard; The Future of the Body, and The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation, co-authored with Steve Donovan.

                                                            ---

                                                            Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                            ]]>10f69fe6-d0ca-4209-8a19-32c1ebaeda9bThu, 29 Dec 2022 05:00:00 -040049:15truefull5858Ep. 58 (Part 1 of 3) | Michael Murphy, author, co-founder of the world-famous Esalen Institute, and pioneer of the Human Potential Movement starting in the 60s, talks about Esalen’s latest adventures in research, our current crisis of belief, and the anchoring question that has guided Esalen (and Mike) all along: how best to serve? Mike relates a wealth of intimate experience, knowledge, and wisdom covering his decades of living at the leading edge of transformative practice and the realization of human potential. He describes the developmental process of transformative practices such as somatics and psychedelics, now circling around after a period of purgation, and the need to include the mystical and ecstatic in meditation and mindfulness research in order to better understand what’s going on. On a personal note, Mike shares about practicing agnosticism, his respect and admiration for the quality of wonder, and about the magic of reading subtle cues and being increasingly in tune with “the algorithms of his heart.” Friendly, relaxed, and humorous, Mike is one of the world’s leading lights on self-transformation. Recorded on February 16, 2022.Susanne Cook-Greuter – Nature as Teacher: Finding Beauty, Wisdom, and Self in EverythingEp. 57 | Adult psychology pioneer and ego development expert Susanne Cook-Greuter introduces us to her favorite wisdom teacher: Nature. Susanne explains how Integral Theory’s 3-2-1 Process can be practiced with elements in nature to gain greater insight into the teachings of nature—evolution, cycles of life and death, the transience of life, the beauty that is everywhere—and to experience oneness with all. She notes that indigenous wisdom is based on deep connection with nature, and speaks of ubuntu, the concept of a shared humanity that reveals an entirely different understanding of self than what we have in the West.

                                                            Susanne’s is a uniquely valuable perspective, informed and inspired by her many years at the cutting edge of what we know about adult psychological growth and development, and from being an integralist from the beginning of Ken Wilber's Integral Theory project and a beloved elder in the worldwide Integral community today. Susanne explains that people at every stage of development have gifts to give that we need to pay attention to, and that individuals at later stages of development are not necessarily more virtuous because of it. Recorded November 15, 2021.

                                                            "It is not a separation. I am because you are, and you are because I am."

                                                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                            Topics & Time Stamps

                                                            • Introducing adult development pioneer Susanne Cook-Greuter, who integrated her cutting-edge psychological development research with the wisdom of the great traditions and Integral Theory (01:31)
                                                            • Why nature is a better teacher than our human teachers (06:47)
                                                            • The teachings of nature: the transience of life, evolution, cycles of life and death, and how indigenous knowledge is based on a real connection with nature (09:12)
                                                            • Susanne introduces the 3-2-1 Nature Process, an Integral practice to gain wisdom and experience oneness (11:37)
                                                            • The feeling of belonging to nature leads to acting ethically (18:40)
                                                            • The need to re-own our fundamental connection with nature (21:51)
                                                            • Finding beauty in everything (22:38)
                                                            • Zen, developmental theory, humility, and ordinariness (27:29)
                                                            • Paying attention to what people at all levels have to give (29:04)
                                                            • Being at higher levels of development allows you to talk authentically with people at all levels and not get lost in abstraction (32:58)
                                                            • The healing capacity of nature and the acquisition mindset that has brain-washed so many (36:10)
                                                            • The deplorable state of children’s Christmas toys (40:53)
                                                            • The miracle of our body (42:21)
                                                            • What are some practical ways we can cultivate virtues? (43:30)
                                                            • Ubuntu and indigenous wisdom’s completely different understanding of self (49:17)
                                                            • The huge importance of role models to stimulate developmental growth, especially for children (50:55) 
                                                            • Later stage people aren’t necessarily more virtuous (53:14)
                                                            • How did we get into this mess? (58:22)
                                                            • Let’s start with re-educating children and foster real play and imagination (01:00:20)
                                                            • Susanne’s mission now: to describe the developmental model for lay people using a fable situated at Walden Pond (01:05:21)
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            Resources & References

                                                            • Susanne Cook-Greuter, Vertical Development Academy (VeDA)
                                                            • Susanne Cook-Greuter, Postautonomous ego development: A study of its nature and measurement *
                                                            • Susanne Cook-Greuter, “Making the case for a developmental perspective” 
                                                            • Sadhguru, spiritual guru, yoga teacher, founder of the Isha Foundation, author of Inner Engineering, A Yogi’s Guide to Joy*, Karma: A Yogi’s Guide to Crafting Your Destiny*, and Death, An Inside Story: A Book for All Those Who Shall Die*
                                                            • Integral Theory’s 3-2-1 Process: Face it, Talk to it, Be it, and The 1-2-3 of God
                                                            • Wallace Black Elk, Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota*
                                                            • Wakȟáŋ Tȟáŋka, Lakota term for Great Spirit or the divine
                                                            • The Ten Ox Herding Pictures from the Zen tradition
                                                            • Jane Loevinger, Ego Development: Conceptions and Theories*
                                                            • William Wordsworth’s poem “The World is Too Much With Us” 
                                                            • Hanzi Freinacht, Nordic Ideology*
                                                            • Confucius, “Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three universally recognized moral qualities of men.”
                                                            • Templeton Foundation funds research on character virtue development
                                                            • Integral Africa Conference brings people from all over the world together with the African Integral community to support each other and craft an awakened community motivated by the highest good 
                                                            • Ubuntu philosophy, the bond that all of humanity shares
                                                            • WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, democratic)
                                                            • Robert Kegan, In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life*
                                                            • Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
                                                            • The Street University, helping young people find exciting new futures
                                                            • Urban Hub 23 – Integral Africa: Thriveable Cities* by Paddy Pampallis D.Prof, Paul van Schaik, et al., (Susanne Cook-Greuter contributed an essay on WEIRD in this volume)
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                            ---

                                                            Susanne Cook-Greuter is one of the world’s leading experts in adult psychology and ego development theory. Her Harvard dissertation (1999) “Post-Autonomous Ego Development” addresses the farther reaches of human development. Susanne is a founding member of Ken Wilber’s Integral Institute and an elder in its community. She developed the...]]>Ep. 57 | Adult psychology pioneer and ego development expert Susanne Cook-Greuter introduces us to her favorite wisdom teacher: Nature. Susanne explains how Integral Theory’s 3-2-1 Process can be practiced with elements in nature to gain greater insight into the teachings of nature—evolution, cycles of life and death, the transience of life, the beauty that is everywhere—and to experience oneness with all. She notes that indigenous wisdom is based on deep connection with nature, and speaks of ubuntu, the concept of a shared humanity that reveals an entirely different understanding of self than what we have in the West.

                                                            Susanne’s is a uniquely valuable perspective, informed and inspired by her many years at the cutting edge of what we know about adult psychological growth and development, and from being an integralist from the beginning of Ken Wilber's Integral Theory project and a beloved elder in the worldwide Integral community today. Susanne explains that people at every stage of development have gifts to give that we need to pay attention to, and that individuals at later stages of development are not necessarily more virtuous because of it. Recorded November 15, 2021.

                                                            "It is not a separation. I am because you are, and you are because I am."

                                                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                            Topics & Time Stamps

                                                            • Introducing adult development pioneer Susanne Cook-Greuter, who integrated her cutting-edge psychological development research with the wisdom of the great traditions and Integral Theory (01:31)
                                                            • Why nature is a better teacher than our human teachers (06:47)
                                                            • The teachings of nature: the transience of life, evolution, cycles of life and death, and how indigenous knowledge is based on a real connection with nature (09:12)
                                                            • Susanne introduces the 3-2-1 Nature Process, an Integral practice to gain wisdom and experience oneness (11:37)
                                                            • The feeling of belonging to nature leads to acting ethically (18:40)
                                                            • The need to re-own our fundamental connection with nature (21:51)
                                                            • Finding beauty in everything (22:38)
                                                            • Zen, developmental theory, humility, and ordinariness (27:29)
                                                            • Paying attention to what people at all levels have to give (29:04)
                                                            • Being at higher levels of development allows you to talk authentically with people at all levels and not get lost in abstraction (32:58)
                                                            • The healing capacity of nature and the acquisition mindset that has brain-washed so many (36:10)
                                                            • The deplorable state of children’s Christmas toys (40:53)
                                                            • The miracle of our body (42:21)
                                                            • What are some practical ways we can cultivate virtues? (43:30)
                                                            • Ubuntu and indigenous wisdom’s completely different understanding of self (49:17)
                                                            • The huge importance of role models to stimulate developmental growth, especially for children (50:55) 
                                                            • Later stage people aren’t necessarily more virtuous (53:14)
                                                            • How did we get into this mess? (58:22)
                                                            • Let’s start with re-educating children and foster real play and imagination (01:00:20)
                                                            • Susanne’s mission now: to describe the developmental model for lay people using a fable situated at Walden Pond (01:05:21)
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            Resources & References

                                                            • Susanne Cook-Greuter, Vertical Development Academy (VeDA)
                                                            • Susanne Cook-Greuter, Postautonomous ego development: A study of its nature and measurement *
                                                            • Susanne Cook-Greuter, “Making the case for a developmental perspective” 
                                                            • Sadhguru, spiritual guru, yoga teacher, founder of the Isha Foundation, author of Inner Engineering, A Yogi’s Guide to Joy*, Karma: A Yogi’s Guide to Crafting Your Destiny*, and Death, An Inside Story: A Book for All Those Who Shall Die*
                                                            • Integral Theory’s 3-2-1 Process: Face it, Talk to it, Be it, and The 1-2-3 of God
                                                            • Wallace Black Elk, Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota*
                                                            • Wakȟáŋ Tȟáŋka, Lakota term for Great Spirit or the divine
                                                            • The Ten Ox Herding Pictures from the Zen tradition
                                                            • Jane Loevinger, Ego Development: Conceptions and Theories*
                                                            • William Wordsworth’s poem “The World is Too Much With Us” 
                                                            • Hanzi Freinacht, Nordic Ideology*
                                                            • Confucius, “Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three universally recognized moral qualities of men.”
                                                            • Templeton Foundation funds research on character virtue development
                                                            • Integral Africa Conference brings people from all over the world together with the African Integral community to support each other and craft an awakened community motivated by the highest good 
                                                            • Ubuntu philosophy, the bond that all of humanity shares
                                                            • WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, democratic)
                                                            • Robert Kegan, In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life*
                                                            • Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
                                                            • The Street University, helping young people find exciting new futures
                                                            • Urban Hub 23 – Integral Africa: Thriveable Cities* by Paddy Pampallis D.Prof, Paul van Schaik, et al., (Susanne Cook-Greuter contributed an essay on WEIRD in this volume)
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                            ---

                                                            Susanne Cook-Greuter is one of the world’s leading experts in adult psychology and ego development theory. Her Harvard dissertation (1999) “Post-Autonomous Ego Development” addresses the farther reaches of human development. Susanne is a founding member of Ken Wilber’s Integral Institute and an elder in its community. She developed the MAP, a sentence completion assessment of vertical development and acts as the chief research and knowledge officer at VeDA (Vertical Development Academy). Together with Beena Sharma, she trains and supervises coaches in tailoring coaching to the stage of the client. 

                                                            Currently Susanne is focusing on writing a book on ego development. She also enjoys co-writing a fable with a colleague from Australia. It takes place around Walden Pond near her home, and uses local animals and her love of nature to share the idea of adult development with lay readers. Susanne loves life, all creatures (2-leggeds and others), grand-mothering, world-wide travel and good questions.

                                                            ---

                                                            Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                            ]]>bc49c7fa-9802-4440-9570-bad04a33e99bThu, 22 Dec 2022 05:00:00 -040001:16:05falsefull5757Ep. 57 | Adult psychology pioneer and ego development expert Susanne Cook-Greuter introduces us to her favorite wisdom teacher: Nature. Susanne explains how Integral Theory’s 3-2-1 Process can be practiced with elements in nature to gain greater insight into the teachings of nature—evolution, cycles of life and death, the transience of life, the beauty that is everywhere—and to experience oneness with all. She notes that indigenous wisdom is based on deep connection with nature, and speaks of ubuntu, the concept of a shared humanity that reveals an entirely different understanding of self than what we have in the West. Susanne’s is a uniquely valuable perspective, informed and inspired by her many years at the cutting edge of what we know about adult psychological growth and development, and from being an integralist from the beginning of Ken Wilber's Integral Theory project and a beloved elder in the worldwide Integral community today. Susanne explains that people at every stage of development have gifts to give that we need to pay attention to, and that individuals at later stages of development are not necessarily more virtuous because of it. Recorded November 15, 2021.American Democracy Under Threat: A Data-driven Exploration of Our Political Culture & the Underlying Stories That Create It and Shape Our Future (Part 3)Ep. 56 (Part 3 of 3) | A frank, hard-hitting conversation with TV producer David Riordan about the dangers democracy faces in this country, the fact that we are in a state of transition whether we like it or not, and the power of shifting our narratives to create change and a sustainable future. David has long been fascinated by the power of story, and has set up Vital Signs of Democracy, a platform that tracks and analyzes the narratives told and reported in the U.S. today—narratives that are foundational to our culture, our culture wars, our politics, and our future. 

                                                            Is there hope for American democracy? The good news is that studies show 65-70% of the population actually agree on and support the core principles of democracy—so if we could shift our narrative to reflect the majority view, we might be okay. The other news is that neither democrats or republicans, MAGA conservatives or progressives, have stepped up to represent this majority. David explains that we urgently need an alternative narrative from what we have to move forward—and we all need to ask what kind of country we want America to be. Recorded November 16, 2022 (on the heels of the 2022 midterm elections).

                                                            “If you don’t like the story that’s driving you, you can change it.”

                                                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3

                                                            • Mediation: asking both sides, what are you willing to live with? (01:18)
                                                            • Why do democracies fail? (03:15)
                                                            • The frailties of democracies and the susceptibility to demagogues (04:57)
                                                            • Can post post-progressives sort out the conversation? (05:51)
                                                            • Capitalism has blown through its own guardrails: historically when wealth is in the hands of as little as 0.5% of the people, violent change is coming (10:23)
                                                            • The US is transitioning from a white-dominated culture to a multicultural population: can that kind of cultural transition happen peacefully? (13:42)
                                                            • We need an alternative narrative, a stakeholder economy rather than capitalism’s winner-take-all approach that has 99.5% of the wealth consolidated in the hands of the very few (17:02) 
                                                            • Creating a more generative approach to the distribution of wealth requires re-thinking the meaning of success (25:49) 
                                                            • Rewarding people for putting money back into the system instead of for keeping it all to themselves (27:59)
                                                            • What can one person do? Can the way we talk and the way we listen change things? (31:49)
                                                            • We can vote, support candidates financially, and volunteer for a campaign: is this enough at this point in time? (36:09)
                                                            • Vital Signs of Democracy is designed to answer the question, “Am I crazy to think our democracy is in extreme danger?” (41:56)
                                                            • Do the 2022 midterm election results mean democracy is safe? (43:51)
                                                            • What Vital Signs of Democracy can do for you (46:09)
                                                            • Are you willing to move outside of your comfort zone and address the serious problems democracy faces? (49:54)
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            Resources & References – Part 3

                                                            • Diane Musho Hamilton, award-winning mediator, author, Zen teacher, Everything is Workable: A Zen Approach to Conflict Resolution*, see also Deep Transformation episode #14, The Essence of Zen: One Heart One Mind, Waking Up, Working Through Grief, and What Women Want From Men
                                                            • Diane Musho Hamilton, Gabriel Wilson & Kimberly Loh, Compassionate Conversations: How to Speak and Listen from the Heart*
                                                            • John Montgomery & Mark Van Clieaf, Net Zero Business Models: Winning in the Global Net Zero Economies*
                                                            • Jeff Bezos gives Dolly Parton $100 million to spend on charity (NPR News)
                                                            • Jeff Salzman, The Daily Evolver podcast, “a developmental take on the news,” see also Deep Transformation episode #1, Polarization, Being Woke, the Universal Agenda, Mindfulness Going Bad, and the Integral Vision
                                                            • Integral Life.com, digital media community that supports the growth, education, and application of Integral Philosophy and integrative metatheory to complex issues in the 21st century
                                                            • Ken Wilber, visionary thinker and the developer of an Integral “theory of everything”
                                                            • What Are the Four quadrants? (from Integral Life’s Ken Wilber Biography Series)
                                                            • David Riordan’s website: The Evolution of Intelligence: Storycatching the Now and Future
                                                            • Vital Signs of Democracy analyzes our cultural condition, providing biweekly reports on the formative narratives being told in the United States
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                            ---

                                                            David Riordan is a transmedia producer who has years of experience creating and producing documentary television series, interactive entertainment, and participatory AR/VR experiences. Before founding Story Studio, David was the Vice President of Media for Ken Wilber’s Integral Life, where he was responsible for strategic planning, talent development, and content and conference development. He was also the producer for Random 1, a documentary television series on A&E Networks and the Executive Producer for the award-winning documentary film Lost in Woonsocket.

                                                            Previously, David was the VP of Production at Time Warner Interactive, Disney Interactive, and Philips Media. He has won numerous awards from major interactive societies including seven Interactive Academy Awards. David also directed the documentary film The Future of Christianity, co-created Google Ocean on Google Earth, and directed the Ken Wilber Biography Project. David Riordan, Wikipedia. The Evolution of Intelligence: Storycatching the Now and Future.

                                                            ---

                                                            Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                            ]]>Ep. 56 (Part 3 of 3) | A frank, hard-hitting conversation with TV producer David Riordan about the dangers democracy faces in this country, the fact that we are in a state of transition whether we like it or not, and the power of shifting our narratives to create change and a sustainable future. David has long been fascinated by the power of story, and has set up Vital Signs of Democracy, a platform that tracks and analyzes the narratives told and reported in the U.S. today—narratives that are foundational to our culture, our culture wars, our politics, and our future. 

                                                            Is there hope for American democracy? The good news is that studies show 65-70% of the population actually agree on and support the core principles of democracy—so if we could shift our narrative to reflect the majority view, we might be okay. The other news is that neither democrats or republicans, MAGA conservatives or progressives, have stepped up to represent this majority. David explains that we urgently need an alternative narrative from what we have to move forward—and we all need to ask what kind of country we want America to be. Recorded November 16, 2022 (on the heels of the 2022 midterm elections).

                                                            “If you don’t like the story that’s driving you, you can change it.”

                                                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3

                                                            • Mediation: asking both sides, what are you willing to live with? (01:18)
                                                            • Why do democracies fail? (03:15)
                                                            • The frailties of democracies and the susceptibility to demagogues (04:57)
                                                            • Can post post-progressives sort out the conversation? (05:51)
                                                            • Capitalism has blown through its own guardrails: historically when wealth is in the hands of as little as 0.5% of the people, violent change is coming (10:23)
                                                            • The US is transitioning from a white-dominated culture to a multicultural population: can that kind of cultural transition happen peacefully? (13:42)
                                                            • We need an alternative narrative, a stakeholder economy rather than capitalism’s winner-take-all approach that has 99.5% of the wealth consolidated in the hands of the very few (17:02) 
                                                            • Creating a more generative approach to the distribution of wealth requires re-thinking the meaning of success (25:49) 
                                                            • Rewarding people for putting money back into the system instead of for keeping it all to themselves (27:59)
                                                            • What can one person do? Can the way we talk and the way we listen change things? (31:49)
                                                            • We can vote, support candidates financially, and volunteer for a campaign: is this enough at this point in time? (36:09)
                                                            • Vital Signs of Democracy is designed to answer the question, “Am I crazy to think our democracy is in extreme danger?” (41:56)
                                                            • Do the 2022 midterm election results mean democracy is safe? (43:51)
                                                            • What Vital Signs of Democracy can do for you (46:09)
                                                            • Are you willing to move outside of your comfort zone and address the serious problems democracy faces? (49:54)
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            Resources & References – Part 3

                                                            • Diane Musho Hamilton, award-winning mediator, author, Zen teacher, Everything is Workable: A Zen Approach to Conflict Resolution*, see also Deep Transformation episode #14, The Essence of Zen: One Heart One Mind, Waking Up, Working Through Grief, and What Women Want From Men
                                                            • Diane Musho Hamilton, Gabriel Wilson & Kimberly Loh, Compassionate Conversations: How to Speak and Listen from the Heart*
                                                            • John Montgomery & Mark Van Clieaf, Net Zero Business Models: Winning in the Global Net Zero Economies*
                                                            • Jeff Bezos gives Dolly Parton $100 million to spend on charity (NPR News)
                                                            • Jeff Salzman, The Daily Evolver podcast, “a developmental take on the news,” see also Deep Transformation episode #1, Polarization, Being Woke, the Universal Agenda, Mindfulness Going Bad, and the Integral Vision
                                                            • Integral Life.com, digital media community that supports the growth, education, and application of Integral Philosophy and integrative metatheory to complex issues in the 21st century
                                                            • Ken Wilber, visionary thinker and the developer of an Integral “theory of everything”
                                                            • What Are the Four quadrants? (from Integral Life’s Ken Wilber Biography Series)
                                                            • David Riordan’s website: The Evolution of Intelligence: Storycatching the Now and Future
                                                            • Vital Signs of Democracy analyzes our cultural condition, providing biweekly reports on the formative narratives being told in the United States
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                            ---

                                                            David Riordan is a transmedia producer who has years of experience creating and producing documentary television series, interactive entertainment, and participatory AR/VR experiences. Before founding Story Studio, David was the Vice President of Media for Ken Wilber’s Integral Life, where he was responsible for strategic planning, talent development, and content and conference development. He was also the producer for Random 1, a documentary television series on A&E Networks and the Executive Producer for the award-winning documentary film Lost in Woonsocket.

                                                            Previously, David was the VP of Production at Time Warner Interactive, Disney Interactive, and Philips Media. He has won numerous awards from major interactive societies including seven Interactive Academy Awards. David also directed the documentary film The Future of Christianity, co-created Google Ocean on Google Earth, and directed the Ken Wilber Biography Project. David Riordan, Wikipedia. The Evolution of Intelligence: Storycatching the Now and Future.

                                                            ---

                                                            Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                            ]]>1aba6a26-55fa-418b-81f2-a1713f7d103aThu, 15 Dec 2022 05:00:00 -040052:55truefull5656Ep. 56 (Part 3 of 3) | A frank, hard-hitting conversation with TV producer David Riordan about the dangers democracy faces in this country, the fact that we are in a state of transition whether we like it or not, and the power of shifting our narratives to create change and a sustainable future. David has long been fascinated by the power of story, and has set up Vital Signs of Democracy, a platform that tracks and analyzes the narratives told and reported in the U.S. today—narratives that are foundational to our culture, our culture wars, our politics, and our future. Is there hope for American democracy? The good news is that studies show 65-70% of the population actually agree on and support the core principles of democracy—so if we could shift our narrative to reflect the majority view, we might be okay. The other news is that neither democrats or republicans, MAGA conservatives or progressives, have stepped up to represent this majority. David explains that we urgently need an alternative narrative from what we have to move forward—and we all need to ask what kind of country we want America to be. Recorded November 16, 2022 (on the heels of the 2022 midterm elections).American Democracy Under Threat: A Data-driven Exploration of Our Political Culture & the Underlying Stories That Create It and Shape Our Future (Part 2)Ep. 55 (Part 2 of 3) | A frank, hard-hitting conversation with TV producer David Riordan about the dangers democracy faces in this country, the fact that we are in a state of transition whether we like it or not, and the power of shifting our narratives to create change and a sustainable future. David has long been fascinated by the power of story, and has set up Vital Signs of Democracy, a platform that tracks and analyzes the narratives told and reported in the U.S. today—narratives that are foundational to our culture, our culture wars, our politics, and our future. 

                                                            Is there hope for American democracy? The good news is that studies show 65-70% of the population actually agree on and support the core principles of democracy—so if we could shift our narrative to reflect the majority view, we might be okay. The other news is that neither democrats or republicans, MAGA conservatives or progressives, have stepped up to represent this majority. David explains that we urgently need an alternative narrative from what we have to move forward—and we all need to ask what kind of country we want America to be. Recorded November 16, 2022 (on the heels of the 2022 midterm elections).

                                                            “If you don’t like the story that’s driving you, you can change it.”

                                                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                                            • Is our democracy under threat? We seem to be in love with the story that we are heading into dystopia (00:50)
                                                            • Since the Civil War, we’ve believed in our democratic political system (02:45)
                                                            • It used to ebb and flow, back and forth; liberals would be elected, then conservatives, in both Congress and the Supreme Court (05:14)
                                                            • What is happening, different from political turbulence in the past, that is putting our democracy under threat now? (07:05)
                                                            • Are the guardrails of the political system still working? Did the 2022 midterms bring us back on course? (9:30)
                                                            • Beginning to work in a healthy perspective is going to depend on what both parties learn from this last election (10:59)
                                                            • The Overton window, a range of ideas and values that are acceptable to discuss (14:17)
                                                            • What are the two parties going to learn from this midterm election? (15:29)
                                                            • The quality of the candidates matters: what the voters have said is we want more reasonable candidates (16:36)
                                                            • What part of America is Make America Great Again referring to? (18:53)
                                                            • Trump, the white, nationalist, Christian-driven narrative, and the fact that we are now a multicultural society (21:32)
                                                            • David’s adventure through red states with progressive Evangelicals, “We cannot imagine living in your progressive narrative as much as you can’t imagine living in our America.” (23:42)
                                                            • What is it we’re doing as progressives that so frightens people? Could we change the narrative to where people feel included rather than excluded? (27:00)
                                                            • The “unify message”: can we find common ground so each side can talk to each other? (28:27)
                                                            • What can be done to stop the polarization? (31:43)
                                                            • The abortion conversation, Roe vs Wade, and the part it played in the last two elections (32:16)
                                                            • We have to decide, as a country, what America we want to be going forward, and establish a template to work with without getting into the weeds of logistics (37:39)
                                                            • Trump is selling the story that a minority view should dictate what the country will do instead of the majority view that democracy is based on (42:11)
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            Resources & References – Part 2

                                                            • The Overton window, a range of ideas and values that are acceptable to discuss
                                                            • Vote Common Good, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to mobilize people of faith to make the common good their voting criteria
                                                            • Indra Idnan, founder of The Alternative Global, a socio-political platform serving systemic transformation, author of The Politics of Waking Up: Power and Possibility in the Fractal Age*, and Deep Transformation podcast guest, Reimagining Power, Politics, and Possibilities
                                                            • David Riordan’s website: The Evolution of Intelligence: Storycatching the Now and Future
                                                            • Vital Signs of Democracy analyzes our cultural condition, providing biweekly reports on the formative narratives being told in the United States
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                            ---

                                                            David Riordan is a transmedia producer who has years of experience creating and producing documentary television series, interactive entertainment, and participatory AR/VR experiences. Before founding Story Studio, David was the Vice President of Media for Ken Wilber’s Integral Life, where he was responsible for strategic planning, talent development, and content and conference development. He was also the producer for Random 1, a documentary television series on A&E Networks and the Executive Producer for the award-winning documentary film Lost in Woonsocket.

                                                            Previously, David was the VP of Production at Time Warner Interactive, Disney Interactive, and Philips Media. He has won numerous awards from major interactive societies including seven Interactive Academy Awards. David also directed the documentary film The Future of Christianity, co-created Google Ocean on Google Earth, and directed the Ken Wilber Biography Project. David Riordan, Wikipedia. The Evolution of Intelligence: Storycatching the Now and Future.

                                                            ---

                                                            Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                            ]]>Ep. 55 (Part 2 of 3) | A frank, hard-hitting conversation with TV producer David Riordan about the dangers democracy faces in this country, the fact that we are in a state of transition whether we like it or not, and the power of shifting our narratives to create change and a sustainable future. David has long been fascinated by the power of story, and has set up Vital Signs of Democracy, a platform that tracks and analyzes the narratives told and reported in the U.S. today—narratives that are foundational to our culture, our culture wars, our politics, and our future. 

                                                            Is there hope for American democracy? The good news is that studies show 65-70% of the population actually agree on and support the core principles of democracy—so if we could shift our narrative to reflect the majority view, we might be okay. The other news is that neither democrats or republicans, MAGA conservatives or progressives, have stepped up to represent this majority. David explains that we urgently need an alternative narrative from what we have to move forward—and we all need to ask what kind of country we want America to be. Recorded November 16, 2022 (on the heels of the 2022 midterm elections).

                                                            “If you don’t like the story that’s driving you, you can change it.”

                                                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                                            • Is our democracy under threat? We seem to be in love with the story that we are heading into dystopia (00:50)
                                                            • Since the Civil War, we’ve believed in our democratic political system (02:45)
                                                            • It used to ebb and flow, back and forth; liberals would be elected, then conservatives, in both Congress and the Supreme Court (05:14)
                                                            • What is happening, different from political turbulence in the past, that is putting our democracy under threat now? (07:05)
                                                            • Are the guardrails of the political system still working? Did the 2022 midterms bring us back on course? (9:30)
                                                            • Beginning to work in a healthy perspective is going to depend on what both parties learn from this last election (10:59)
                                                            • The Overton window, a range of ideas and values that are acceptable to discuss (14:17)
                                                            • What are the two parties going to learn from this midterm election? (15:29)
                                                            • The quality of the candidates matters: what the voters have said is we want more reasonable candidates (16:36)
                                                            • What part of America is Make America Great Again referring to? (18:53)
                                                            • Trump, the white, nationalist, Christian-driven narrative, and the fact that we are now a multicultural society (21:32)
                                                            • David’s adventure through red states with progressive Evangelicals, “We cannot imagine living in your progressive narrative as much as you can’t imagine living in our America.” (23:42)
                                                            • What is it we’re doing as progressives that so frightens people? Could we change the narrative to where people feel included rather than excluded? (27:00)
                                                            • The “unify message”: can we find common ground so each side can talk to each other? (28:27)
                                                            • What can be done to stop the polarization? (31:43)
                                                            • The abortion conversation, Roe vs Wade, and the part it played in the last two elections (32:16)
                                                            • We have to decide, as a country, what America we want to be going forward, and establish a template to work with without getting into the weeds of logistics (37:39)
                                                            • Trump is selling the story that a minority view should dictate what the country will do instead of the majority view that democracy is based on (42:11)
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            Resources & References – Part 2

                                                            • The Overton window, a range of ideas and values that are acceptable to discuss
                                                            • Vote Common Good, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to mobilize people of faith to make the common good their voting criteria
                                                            • Indra Idnan, founder of The Alternative Global, a socio-political platform serving systemic transformation, author of The Politics of Waking Up: Power and Possibility in the Fractal Age*, and Deep Transformation podcast guest, Reimagining Power, Politics, and Possibilities
                                                            • David Riordan’s website: The Evolution of Intelligence: Storycatching the Now and Future
                                                            • Vital Signs of Democracy analyzes our cultural condition, providing biweekly reports on the formative narratives being told in the United States
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                            ---

                                                            David Riordan is a transmedia producer who has years of experience creating and producing documentary television series, interactive entertainment, and participatory AR/VR experiences. Before founding Story Studio, David was the Vice President of Media for Ken Wilber’s Integral Life, where he was responsible for strategic planning, talent development, and content and conference development. He was also the producer for Random 1, a documentary television series on A&E Networks and the Executive Producer for the award-winning documentary film Lost in Woonsocket.

                                                            Previously, David was the VP of Production at Time Warner Interactive, Disney Interactive, and Philips Media. He has won numerous awards from major interactive societies including seven Interactive Academy Awards. David also directed the documentary film The Future of Christianity, co-created Google Ocean on Google Earth, and directed the Ken Wilber Biography Project. David Riordan, Wikipedia. The Evolution of Intelligence: Storycatching the Now and Future.

                                                            ---

                                                            Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                            ]]>47285595-9139-4ad1-adb0-1fd02e4c1ee7Thu, 08 Dec 2022 05:00:00 -040045:32truefull5555Ep. 55 (Part 2 of 3) | A frank, hard-hitting conversation with TV producer David Riordan about the dangers democracy faces in this country, the fact that we are in a state of transition whether we like it or not, and the power of shifting our narratives to create change and a sustainable future. David has long been fascinated by the power of story, and has set up Vital Signs of Democracy, a platform that tracks and analyzes the narratives told and reported in the U.S. today—narratives that are foundational to our culture, our culture wars, our politics, and our future. Is there hope for American democracy? The good news is that studies show 65-70% of the population actually agree on and support the core principles of democracy—so if we could shift our narrative to reflect the majority view, we might be okay. The other news is that neither democrats or republicans, MAGA conservatives or progressives, have stepped up to represent this majority. David explains that we urgently need an alternative narrative from what we have to move forward—and we all need to ask what kind of country we want America to be. Recorded November 16, 2022 (on the heels of the 2022 midterm elections).American Democracy Under Threat: A Data-driven Exploration of Our Political Culture & the Underlying Stories That Create It and Shape Our FutureEp. 54 (Part 1 of 3) | A frank, hard-hitting conversation with TV producer David Riordan about the dangers democracy faces in this country, the fact that we are in a state of transition whether we like it or not, and the power of shifting our narratives to create change and a sustainable future. David has long been fascinated by the power of story, and has set up Vital Signs of Democracy, a platform that tracks and analyzes the narratives told and reported in the U.S. today—narratives that are foundational to our culture, our culture wars, our politics, and our future. 

                                                            Is there hope for American democracy? The good news is that studies show 65-70% of the population actually agree on and support the core principles of democracy—so if we could shift our narrative to reflect the majority view, we might be okay. The other news is that neither democrats or republicans, MAGA conservatives or progressives, have stepped up to represent this majority. David explains that we urgently need an alternative narrative from what we have to move forward—and we all need to ask what kind of country we want America to be. Recorded November 16, 2022 (on the heels of the 2022 midterm elections).

                                                            “If you don’t like the story that’s driving you, you can change it.”

                                                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                                            • Introducing David Riordan, Integral documentarian & storyteller (01:05)
                                                            • David Riordan, Story Studio, and discovering the power of stories (02:22)
                                                            • Asking, “What are the stories we are telling about the now and the future?” (06:02) 
                                                            • The surfacing of the “democracy story” and taking the independent political perspective (07:07)
                                                            • From conventional up to postconventional developmental stages, our stories usually aren’t even examined (09:54)
                                                            • Our stories are what drive us, and we are usually driven by a sense of uncomfortableness (11:34)
                                                            • Taking our power back: if we don’t like the story that’s driving us, we can change it (13:09)
                                                            • How does David identify the stories? (14:10)
                                                            • How the news is reported is a focal point for identifying cultural stories (15:25)
                                                            • Did the news used to honor the truth? (16:20)
                                                            • How Dan Rather was set up to report a false story (18:54)
                                                            • Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN: each tell a different story (20:01) 
                                                            • Looking for an ethical higher ground or synthesis of the progressive narrative and the MAGA conservative narrative (23:01)
                                                            • How each developmental stage of the Integral map has a different narrative (25:27)
                                                            • MAGA: Who are we making America great for? (26:18)
                                                            • The old stories are falling away and new stories have yet to stabilize: the very definition of transition (27:45)
                                                            • The polarization story in the polls seems hopeless – where is the hope? 65-70% of Americans are in general agreement about the principles of democracy this country needs to represent (28:31)
                                                            • There is agreement about the principles of democracy in this country but neither party is addressing the majority view (33:03)
                                                            • The 65-70% needs to exercise itself and get our political structures to support and reflect their preferences (36:48)
                                                            • What are the characteristics of healthy, healing stories vs divisive stories? (38:11)
                                                            • David’s AI-driven platform that reads and records news over time, helping to identify what spikes a story (39:13)
                                                            • Roe vs Wade, the unfolding story of a woman’s right to choose, and its effect on the 2022 midterm elections (41:09) 
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            Resources & References – Part 1

                                                            • David Riordan’s website: The Evolution of Intelligence: Storycatching the Now and Future
                                                            • Vital Signs of Democracy analyzes our cultural condition, providing biweekly reports on the formative narratives being told in the United States
                                                            • Ken Wilber, Integral Theory, Ken Wilber’s books* 
                                                            • IntegralLife.com supports the growth, education, and application of Integral Philosophy and integrative metatheory to complex issues in the 21st century (a great place to learn the Integral Map and much more)
                                                            • Walter Conkrite, beloved CBS Evening News anchorman from 1962 to 1981
                                                            • Dan Rather, anchorman for CBS Evening News for the 24 years following Walter Cronkite up until the Killian documents controversy
                                                            • Elon Musk, business magnate, investor, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                            ---

                                                            David Riordan is a transmedia producer who has years of experience creating and producing documentary television series, interactive entertainment, and participatory AR/VR experiences. Before founding Story Studio, David was the Vice President of Media for Ken Wilber’s Integral Life, where he was responsible for strategic planning, talent development, and content and conference development. He was also the producer for Random 1, a documentary television series on A&E Networks and the Executive Producer for the award-winning documentary film Lost in Woonsocket.

                                                            Previously, David was the VP of Production at Time Warner Interactive, Disney Interactive, and Philips Media. He has won numerous awards from major interactive societies including seven Interactive Academy Awards. David also directed the documentary film The Future of Christianity, co-created Google Ocean on Google Earth, and directed the Ken Wilber Biography Project. David Riordan, Wikipedia. The Evolution of Intelligence: Storycatching the Now and Future.

                                                            ---

                                                            Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                            ]]>Ep. 54 (Part 1 of 3) | A frank, hard-hitting conversation with TV producer David Riordan about the dangers democracy faces in this country, the fact that we are in a state of transition whether we like it or not, and the power of shifting our narratives to create change and a sustainable future. David has long been fascinated by the power of story, and has set up Vital Signs of Democracy, a platform that tracks and analyzes the narratives told and reported in the U.S. today—narratives that are foundational to our culture, our culture wars, our politics, and our future. 

                                                            Is there hope for American democracy? The good news is that studies show 65-70% of the population actually agree on and support the core principles of democracy—so if we could shift our narrative to reflect the majority view, we might be okay. The other news is that neither democrats or republicans, MAGA conservatives or progressives, have stepped up to represent this majority. David explains that we urgently need an alternative narrative from what we have to move forward—and we all need to ask what kind of country we want America to be. Recorded November 16, 2022 (on the heels of the 2022 midterm elections).

                                                            “If you don’t like the story that’s driving you, you can change it.”

                                                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                                            • Introducing David Riordan, Integral documentarian & storyteller (01:05)
                                                            • David Riordan, Story Studio, and discovering the power of stories (02:22)
                                                            • Asking, “What are the stories we are telling about the now and the future?” (06:02) 
                                                            • The surfacing of the “democracy story” and taking the independent political perspective (07:07)
                                                            • From conventional up to postconventional developmental stages, our stories usually aren’t even examined (09:54)
                                                            • Our stories are what drive us, and we are usually driven by a sense of uncomfortableness (11:34)
                                                            • Taking our power back: if we don’t like the story that’s driving us, we can change it (13:09)
                                                            • How does David identify the stories? (14:10)
                                                            • How the news is reported is a focal point for identifying cultural stories (15:25)
                                                            • Did the news used to honor the truth? (16:20)
                                                            • How Dan Rather was set up to report a false story (18:54)
                                                            • Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN: each tell a different story (20:01) 
                                                            • Looking for an ethical higher ground or synthesis of the progressive narrative and the MAGA conservative narrative (23:01)
                                                            • How each developmental stage of the Integral map has a different narrative (25:27)
                                                            • MAGA: Who are we making America great for? (26:18)
                                                            • The old stories are falling away and new stories have yet to stabilize: the very definition of transition (27:45)
                                                            • The polarization story in the polls seems hopeless – where is the hope? 65-70% of Americans are in general agreement about the principles of democracy this country needs to represent (28:31)
                                                            • There is agreement about the principles of democracy in this country but neither party is addressing the majority view (33:03)
                                                            • The 65-70% needs to exercise itself and get our political structures to support and reflect their preferences (36:48)
                                                            • What are the characteristics of healthy, healing stories vs divisive stories? (38:11)
                                                            • David’s AI-driven platform that reads and records news over time, helping to identify what spikes a story (39:13)
                                                            • Roe vs Wade, the unfolding story of a woman’s right to choose, and its effect on the 2022 midterm elections (41:09) 
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            Resources & References – Part 1

                                                            • David Riordan’s website: The Evolution of Intelligence: Storycatching the Now and Future
                                                            • Vital Signs of Democracy analyzes our cultural condition, providing biweekly reports on the formative narratives being told in the United States
                                                            • Ken Wilber, Integral Theory, Ken Wilber’s books* 
                                                            • IntegralLife.com supports the growth, education, and application of Integral Philosophy and integrative metatheory to complex issues in the 21st century (a great place to learn the Integral Map and much more)
                                                            • Walter Conkrite, beloved CBS Evening News anchorman from 1962 to 1981
                                                            • Dan Rather, anchorman for CBS Evening News for the 24 years following Walter Cronkite up until the Killian documents controversy
                                                            • Elon Musk, business magnate, investor, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                            ---

                                                            David Riordan is a transmedia producer who has years of experience creating and producing documentary television series, interactive entertainment, and participatory AR/VR experiences. Before founding Story Studio, David was the Vice President of Media for Ken Wilber’s Integral Life, where he was responsible for strategic planning, talent development, and content and conference development. He was also the producer for Random 1, a documentary television series on A&E Networks and the Executive Producer for the award-winning documentary film Lost in Woonsocket.

                                                            Previously, David was the VP of Production at Time Warner Interactive, Disney Interactive, and Philips Media. He has won numerous awards from major interactive societies including seven Interactive Academy Awards. David also directed the documentary film The Future of Christianity, co-created Google Ocean on Google Earth, and directed the Ken Wilber Biography Project. David Riordan, Wikipedia. The Evolution of Intelligence: Storycatching the Now and Future.

                                                            ---

                                                            Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                            ]]>71041467-4c64-40ab-943e-902cc72ea2fcThu, 01 Dec 2022 05:00:00 -040046:05truefull5454Waking Up to Spirit, Waking Down to Life: Navigating the Curious Challenges of Awakening & Post-Awakening (Part 2)Ep. 53 (Part 2 of 2) | Saniel Bonder and Linda Groves-Bonder live and guide others along the path of embodied awakening, using the tools of transmission, mutuality, self-inquiry, evocation, and more. They have named their process of spiritual embodiment “waking down,” to distinguish working the nuts and bolts of an individual’s unique path of spiritual development from the more general transcendent state described by the term “waking up.” Saniel and Linda not only mentor people on the road to awakening, but also through the challenges and never-ending process of purification that characterize post-awakening stages.

                                                            How do we speak to our present state of divinity? What really leads to the stabilization of awakening? In this heartfelt, open conversation, Linda and Saniel share practical wisdom about nonduality, self-sense, and radical transcendence; the importance of fostering communion and appreciation; using “HEART” to point to ultimate reality; and also describe their own unique and beautiful ways of sanctifying and ritualizing everyday life. Saniel and Linda's system of opening people up to an awakened life, is very much an individuated one; their 10-year vision is one million hearts illumined. Recorded October 27, 2022.

                                                            “Practicing one’s identification as the Great Mystery.”

                                                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                                            • The importance of self-acceptance while also understanding change is possible (00:56)
                                                            • The post-awakening process and Daniel Brown’s map of maps (06:39)
                                                            • The stages of awakening: the unawakened persona, awakened personhood, and personification of the awakening cosmos (12:39)
                                                            • Post-awakening opens us up to new challenges: wake down, shake down (16:18)
                                                            • The inquiry process in post-awakening stages (20:44)
                                                            • Bringing people to confidence in awakened stages (23:57)
                                                            • Contributing not only by what you do but by your very being (25:53)
                                                            • Becoming a HEART activator and managing the other side of the transmission process (28:49)
                                                            • Evocation: how to speak to your present state of divinity (30:15)
                                                            • The need to foster individuation, communion, and appreciation and living in gratitude (31:20)
                                                            • Sanctifying and ritualizing everyday life (34:40)
                                                            • The feminine aspect Linda brings to the teaching: empathetic, motherly, a whole-being welcoming (37:28)
                                                            • What are Linda and Saniel’s daily practices? (40:02)
                                                            • Saniel & Linda’s 10-year vision: 1 million hearts illumined (51:00)
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            Resources & References – Part 2

                                                            • Six Step Recognition Yoga (YouTube video)
                                                            • Samjama, one-pointed absorption in the object of meditation
                                                            • Dr. Daniel Brown, meditation teacher who mapped the process of awakening and beyond: a map of maps
                                                            • Saniel Bonder, Great Relief*
                                                            • Christopher Bache,  LSD and the Mind of the Universe*, and the Deep Transformation podcast episode The Evolution of Collective Consciousness
                                                            • Gospel of John 3:3, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”
                                                            • Brother David Steindl-Rast, Gratefulness.org
                                                            • Sufism’s seven stages of awakening
                                                            • Saniel & Linda’s website: Waking Down and the Human Sun Institute
                                                            • Saniel Bonder, Waking Down
                                                            • Saniel Bonder, The White-Hot Yoga of the Heart*
                                                            • Saniel Bonder, Great Relief: Nine Sacred Secrets Your Body Wants You to Know About Freedom, Love, Trust, and the Core Wound of Your Life*
                                                            • Waking Down in Mutuality
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                            ---

                                                            Saniel Bonder is a pioneer of embodied, integrative, non-dual realization. An Honorary National Scholar at Harvard with a B.A. in Social Relations, he devoted himself to a long spiritual quest and, for the last thirty years, to “democratizing awakening.” He and his wife and full partner Linda’s breakthrough, HEART-transmission based work is best known as Waking Down in Mutuality®. Coaching in a spirit of peership, they present their full suite of offerings, the Human Sun HEART Work, through Human Sun Institute. Saniel has authored Waking Down, Healing the Spirit/Matter Split, The White-Hot Yoga of the Heart, Great Relief, and two novels. He plays indigenous flutes and “would like to play more — and better! — golf.” 

                                                            Ken Wilber praises Linda Groves-Bonder as “a brilliant teacher in her own right.” Since the 1990s she has created key expressions of her and Saniel’s teachings and personally assisted many people into awakened living. A multi-talented artist, she holds a B.S. in Art Education from Ball State University. She has sung internationally and recorded two albums, I’m Here, jazz standards and her original songs, and Joy of Being, her non-verbal vocal toning. Among those who know her, Linda is cherished for both her heart of immense love and her discerning, simply stated wisdom. 

                                                            Saniel and Linda are Founding Members of Integral Institute, Charter Members of the Integral Spiritual Center, faculty for The Shift Network, conference speakers, and sought-after podcast guests. They’ve helped hundreds achieve unshakable realizations of boundless Spirit in natural unity with their everyday lives, lightened and brightened the souls of thousands, and mentored dozens who’ve become effective mentor-transmitters, inspired artists, and wise leaders. They both feel their greatest contribution is only now beginning, through their “Million Hearts Illumined” 10 Year Vision. As improvisational artists of liberating empowerment, they are co-manifestors with many others of the global “Deep Transformation” now emerging. Their message to all: “The Sun in your Heart is rising!”

                                                            ---

                                                            Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                            ]]>Ep. 53 (Part 2 of 2) | Saniel Bonder and Linda Groves-Bonder live and guide others along the path of embodied awakening, using the tools of transmission, mutuality, self-inquiry, evocation, and more. They have named their process of spiritual embodiment “waking down,” to distinguish working the nuts and bolts of an individual’s unique path of spiritual development from the more general transcendent state described by the term “waking up.” Saniel and Linda not only mentor people on the road to awakening, but also through the challenges and never-ending process of purification that characterize post-awakening stages.

                                                            How do we speak to our present state of divinity? What really leads to the stabilization of awakening? In this heartfelt, open conversation, Linda and Saniel share practical wisdom about nonduality, self-sense, and radical transcendence; the importance of fostering communion and appreciation; using “HEART” to point to ultimate reality; and also describe their own unique and beautiful ways of sanctifying and ritualizing everyday life. Saniel and Linda's system of opening people up to an awakened life, is very much an individuated one; their 10-year vision is one million hearts illumined. Recorded October 27, 2022.

                                                            “Practicing one’s identification as the Great Mystery.”

                                                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                                            • The importance of self-acceptance while also understanding change is possible (00:56)
                                                            • The post-awakening process and Daniel Brown’s map of maps (06:39)
                                                            • The stages of awakening: the unawakened persona, awakened personhood, and personification of the awakening cosmos (12:39)
                                                            • Post-awakening opens us up to new challenges: wake down, shake down (16:18)
                                                            • The inquiry process in post-awakening stages (20:44)
                                                            • Bringing people to confidence in awakened stages (23:57)
                                                            • Contributing not only by what you do but by your very being (25:53)
                                                            • Becoming a HEART activator and managing the other side of the transmission process (28:49)
                                                            • Evocation: how to speak to your present state of divinity (30:15)
                                                            • The need to foster individuation, communion, and appreciation and living in gratitude (31:20)
                                                            • Sanctifying and ritualizing everyday life (34:40)
                                                            • The feminine aspect Linda brings to the teaching: empathetic, motherly, a whole-being welcoming (37:28)
                                                            • What are Linda and Saniel’s daily practices? (40:02)
                                                            • Saniel & Linda’s 10-year vision: 1 million hearts illumined (51:00)
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            Resources & References – Part 2

                                                            • Six Step Recognition Yoga (YouTube video)
                                                            • Samjama, one-pointed absorption in the object of meditation
                                                            • Dr. Daniel Brown, meditation teacher who mapped the process of awakening and beyond: a map of maps
                                                            • Saniel Bonder, Great Relief*
                                                            • Christopher Bache,  LSD and the Mind of the Universe*, and the Deep Transformation podcast episode The Evolution of Collective Consciousness
                                                            • Gospel of John 3:3, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”
                                                            • Brother David Steindl-Rast, Gratefulness.org
                                                            • Sufism’s seven stages of awakening
                                                            • Saniel & Linda’s website: Waking Down and the Human Sun Institute
                                                            • Saniel Bonder, Waking Down
                                                            • Saniel Bonder, The White-Hot Yoga of the Heart*
                                                            • Saniel Bonder, Great Relief: Nine Sacred Secrets Your Body Wants You to Know About Freedom, Love, Trust, and the Core Wound of Your Life*
                                                            • Waking Down in Mutuality
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                            ---

                                                            Saniel Bonder is a pioneer of embodied, integrative, non-dual realization. An Honorary National Scholar at Harvard with a B.A. in Social Relations, he devoted himself to a long spiritual quest and, for the last thirty years, to “democratizing awakening.” He and his wife and full partner Linda’s breakthrough, HEART-transmission based work is best known as Waking Down in Mutuality®. Coaching in a spirit of peership, they present their full suite of offerings, the Human Sun HEART Work, through Human Sun Institute. Saniel has authored Waking Down, Healing the Spirit/Matter Split, The White-Hot Yoga of the Heart, Great Relief, and two novels. He plays indigenous flutes and “would like to play more — and better! — golf.” 

                                                            Ken Wilber praises Linda Groves-Bonder as “a brilliant teacher in her own right.” Since the 1990s she has created key expressions of her and Saniel’s teachings and personally assisted many people into awakened living. A multi-talented artist, she holds a B.S. in Art Education from Ball State University. She has sung internationally and recorded two albums, I’m Here, jazz standards and her original songs, and Joy of Being, her non-verbal vocal toning. Among those who know her, Linda is cherished for both her heart of immense love and her discerning, simply stated wisdom. 

                                                            Saniel and Linda are Founding Members of Integral Institute, Charter Members of the Integral Spiritual Center, faculty for The Shift Network, conference speakers, and sought-after podcast guests. They’ve helped hundreds achieve unshakable realizations of boundless Spirit in natural unity with their everyday lives, lightened and brightened the souls of thousands, and mentored dozens who’ve become effective mentor-transmitters, inspired artists, and wise leaders. They both feel their greatest contribution is only now beginning, through their “Million Hearts Illumined” 10 Year Vision. As improvisational artists of liberating empowerment, they are co-manifestors with many others of the global “Deep Transformation” now emerging. Their message to all: “The Sun in your Heart is rising!”

                                                            ---

                                                            Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                            ]]>3fa99f98-dadc-4df3-9946-ba568f1bfa5bThu, 24 Nov 2022 05:00:00 -040054:09truefull5353Ep. 53 (Part 2 of 2) | Saniel Bonder and Linda Groves-Bonder live and guide others along the path of embodied awakening, using the tools of transmission, mutuality, self-inquiry, evocation, and more. They have named their process of spiritual embodiment “waking down,” to distinguish working the nuts and bolts of an individual’s unique path of spiritual development from the more general transcendent state described by the term “waking up.” Saniel and Linda not only mentor people on the road to awakening, but also through the challenges and never-ending process of purification that characterize post-awakening stages. How do we speak to our present state of divinity? What really leads to the stabilization of awakening? In this heartfelt, open conversation, Linda and Saniel share practical wisdom about nonduality, self-sense, and radical transcendence; the importance of fostering communion and appreciation; using “HEART” to point to ultimate reality; and also describe their own unique and beautiful ways of sanctifying and ritualizing everyday life. Saniel and Linda's system of opening people up to an awakened life, is very much an individuated one; their 10-year vision is one million hearts illumined. Recorded October 27, 2022.Waking Up to Spirit, Waking Down to Life: Navigating the Curious Challenges of Awakening & Post-AwakeningEp. 52 (Part 1 of 2) | Saniel Bonder and Linda Groves-Bonder live and guide others along the path of embodied awakening, using the tools of transmission, mutuality, self-inquiry, evocation, and more. They have named their process of spiritual embodiment “waking down,” to distinguish working the nuts and bolts of an individual’s unique path of spiritual development from the more general transcendent state described by the term “waking up.” Saniel and Linda not only mentor people on the road to awakening, but also through the challenges and never-ending process of purification that characterize post-awakening stages.

                                                            How do we speak to our present state of divinity? What really leads to the stabilization of awakening? In this heartfelt, open conversation, Linda and Saniel share practical wisdom about nonduality, self-sense, and radical transcendence; the importance of fostering communion and appreciation; using “HEART” to point to ultimate reality; and also describe their own unique and beautiful ways of sanctifying and ritualizing everyday life. Saniel and Linda's system of opening people up to an awakened life, is very much an individuated one; their 10-year vision is one million hearts illumined. Recorded October 27, 2022.

                                                            “Practicing one’s identification as the Great Mystery.”

                                                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                                            • John talks about his early experience with cults, shadow, Integral (01:01)
                                                            • What does it mean to be enlightened/awakened? Saniel’s capacity for transmission and mutuality (06:20)
                                                            • Cult leaders and what really leads to the stabilization of awakening (10:29)
                                                            • What is waking down (versus waking up)? (15:43)
                                                            • “Onlyness” and the down aspect of waking down: embodiment (19:09)
                                                            • Nonduality, the self-sense, and radical transcendence: the simultaneity of being here as a divinely human being (20:04)
                                                            • Sahaj samadhi: living in a transcendental condition while also participating in everyday life (24:30)
                                                            • Using “HEART” to point to ultimate reality (25:28)
                                                            • The nature of human evolution is not human seeking God, but God seeking human (26:11)
                                                            • The unique ways individuals find to open up to the greater reality are often a surprise (31:36)
                                                            • What are the specific elements of Saniel & Linda’s process? (33:20) 
                                                            • Tanking up on the transmission aspect: meeting in mutuality together, and exploring the precepts and practices that have emerged for Saniel over the last 3 decades (35:43)
                                                            • Individuating the system (38:42)
                                                            • Self-inquiry and Saniel & Linda’s own working kōans (40:22)
                                                            • 12 gateways to realizing yourself as a divine human being, 6-step recognition yoga, and active conscious dreaming (43:08)
                                                            • Ethics, emotional work, shadow, community, and waking down in mutuality are all part of the “down” aspect of the work (45:58)
                                                            • Broken-off zones in relationships can be a chokehold on the transformational process (53:27)
                                                            • Crystalizing a deeper identity as the “all”: recognizing each person’s uniqueness and appreciating the other (55:40)
                                                            • The effectiveness of Six Step Recognition Yoga: see it, feel it, live it, be it, transcend in place, and speak it all along the way (59:10)
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            Resources & References – Part 1

                                                            • Saniel & Linda’s website: Waking Down and the Human Sun Institute
                                                            • Saniel Bonder, Waking Down
                                                            • Saniel Bonder, The White-Hot Yoga of the Heart*
                                                            • Saniel Bonder, Great Relief: Nine Sacred Secrets Your Body Wants You to Know About Freedom, Love, Trust, and the Core Wound of Your Life*
                                                            • Waking Down in Mutuality
                                                            • Six Step Recognition Yoga (YouTube video)
                                                            • Adi Da (aka Da Free John), controversial American spiritual teacher
                                                            • John Gebser, Swiss philosopher focused on the structures of human consciousness
                                                            • Sahaj samadhi, deep spiritual bliss arising spontaneously
                                                            • Carl Jung, The Answer to Job*
                                                            • Roger Walsh, The Transpersonal Movement: A History and State of the Art
                                                            • Saniel Bonder, The Conscious Principle (ebook), The Conscious Principle (printout)
                                                            • Pointing-out instructions
                                                            • Martin Buber, philosopher and prodigious mystic, I and Thou*, Tales of the Hasidim*
                                                            • Thich Nhat Hanh, Interbeing*
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                            ---

                                                            Saniel Bonder is a pioneer of embodied, integrative, non-dual realization. An Honorary National Scholar at Harvard with a B.A. in Social Relations, he devoted himself to a long spiritual quest and, for the last thirty years, to “democratizing awakening.” He and his wife and full partner Linda’s breakthrough, HEART-transmission based work is best known as Waking Down in Mutuality®. Coaching in a spirit of peership, they present their full suite of offerings, the Human Sun HEART Work, through Human Sun Institute. Saniel has authored Waking Down, Healing the Spirit/Matter Split, The White-Hot Yoga of the Heart, Great Relief, and two novels. He plays indigenous flutes and “would like to play more — and better! — golf.” 

                                                            Ken Wilber praises Linda Groves-Bonder as “a brilliant teacher in her own right.” Since the 1990s she has created key expressions of her and Saniel’s teachings and personally assisted many people into awakened living. A multi-talented artist, she holds a B.S. in Art Education from Ball State University. She has sung internationally and recorded two albums, I’m Here, jazz standards and her original songs, and Joy of Being, her non-verbal vocal toning. Among those who know her, Linda is cherished for both her heart of immense love and her discerning, simply stated wisdom. 

                                                            Saniel and Linda are Founding Members of Integral Institute, Charter Members of the Integral Spiritual Center, faculty for The Shift Network, conference speakers, and sought-after podcast guests. They’ve helped hundreds achieve unshakable realizations of boundless Spirit in natural unity with their everyday lives, lightened and brightened the souls of thousands, and mentored dozens who’ve become effective mentor-transmitters, inspired artists, and wise leaders. They both feel their greatest contribution is only now beginning, through their “Million Hearts Illumined” 10 Year Vision. As improvisational artists of liberating empowerment, they are co-manifestors with many others of the global “Deep Transformation” now emerging....]]>Ep. 52 (Part 1 of 2) | Saniel Bonder and Linda Groves-Bonder live and guide others along the path of embodied awakening, using the tools of transmission, mutuality, self-inquiry, evocation, and more. They have named their process of spiritual embodiment “waking down,” to distinguish working the nuts and bolts of an individual’s unique path of spiritual development from the more general transcendent state described by the term “waking up.” Saniel and Linda not only mentor people on the road to awakening, but also through the challenges and never-ending process of purification that characterize post-awakening stages.

                                                            How do we speak to our present state of divinity? What really leads to the stabilization of awakening? In this heartfelt, open conversation, Linda and Saniel share practical wisdom about nonduality, self-sense, and radical transcendence; the importance of fostering communion and appreciation; using “HEART” to point to ultimate reality; and also describe their own unique and beautiful ways of sanctifying and ritualizing everyday life. Saniel and Linda's system of opening people up to an awakened life, is very much an individuated one; their 10-year vision is one million hearts illumined. Recorded October 27, 2022.

                                                            “Practicing one’s identification as the Great Mystery.”

                                                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                            Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                                            • John talks about his early experience with cults, shadow, Integral (01:01)
                                                            • What does it mean to be enlightened/awakened? Saniel’s capacity for transmission and mutuality (06:20)
                                                            • Cult leaders and what really leads to the stabilization of awakening (10:29)
                                                            • What is waking down (versus waking up)? (15:43)
                                                            • “Onlyness” and the down aspect of waking down: embodiment (19:09)
                                                            • Nonduality, the self-sense, and radical transcendence: the simultaneity of being here as a divinely human being (20:04)
                                                            • Sahaj samadhi: living in a transcendental condition while also participating in everyday life (24:30)
                                                            • Using “HEART” to point to ultimate reality (25:28)
                                                            • The nature of human evolution is not human seeking God, but God seeking human (26:11)
                                                            • The unique ways individuals find to open up to the greater reality are often a surprise (31:36)
                                                            • What are the specific elements of Saniel & Linda’s process? (33:20) 
                                                            • Tanking up on the transmission aspect: meeting in mutuality together, and exploring the precepts and practices that have emerged for Saniel over the last 3 decades (35:43)
                                                            • Individuating the system (38:42)
                                                            • Self-inquiry and Saniel & Linda’s own working kōans (40:22)
                                                            • 12 gateways to realizing yourself as a divine human being, 6-step recognition yoga, and active conscious dreaming (43:08)
                                                            • Ethics, emotional work, shadow, community, and waking down in mutuality are all part of the “down” aspect of the work (45:58)
                                                            • Broken-off zones in relationships can be a chokehold on the transformational process (53:27)
                                                            • Crystalizing a deeper identity as the “all”: recognizing each person’s uniqueness and appreciating the other (55:40)
                                                            • The effectiveness of Six Step Recognition Yoga: see it, feel it, live it, be it, transcend in place, and speak it all along the way (59:10)
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            Resources & References – Part 1

                                                            • Saniel & Linda’s website: Waking Down and the Human Sun Institute
                                                            • Saniel Bonder, Waking Down
                                                            • Saniel Bonder, The White-Hot Yoga of the Heart*
                                                            • Saniel Bonder, Great Relief: Nine Sacred Secrets Your Body Wants You to Know About Freedom, Love, Trust, and the Core Wound of Your Life*
                                                            • Waking Down in Mutuality
                                                            • Six Step Recognition Yoga (YouTube video)
                                                            • Adi Da (aka Da Free John), controversial American spiritual teacher
                                                            • John Gebser, Swiss philosopher focused on the structures of human consciousness
                                                            • Sahaj samadhi, deep spiritual bliss arising spontaneously
                                                            • Carl Jung, The Answer to Job*
                                                            • Roger Walsh, The Transpersonal Movement: A History and State of the Art
                                                            • Saniel Bonder, The Conscious Principle (ebook), The Conscious Principle (printout)
                                                            • Pointing-out instructions
                                                            • Martin Buber, philosopher and prodigious mystic, I and Thou*, Tales of the Hasidim*
                                                            • Thich Nhat Hanh, Interbeing*
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                            ---

                                                            Saniel Bonder is a pioneer of embodied, integrative, non-dual realization. An Honorary National Scholar at Harvard with a B.A. in Social Relations, he devoted himself to a long spiritual quest and, for the last thirty years, to “democratizing awakening.” He and his wife and full partner Linda’s breakthrough, HEART-transmission based work is best known as Waking Down in Mutuality®. Coaching in a spirit of peership, they present their full suite of offerings, the Human Sun HEART Work, through Human Sun Institute. Saniel has authored Waking Down, Healing the Spirit/Matter Split, The White-Hot Yoga of the Heart, Great Relief, and two novels. He plays indigenous flutes and “would like to play more — and better! — golf.” 

                                                            Ken Wilber praises Linda Groves-Bonder as “a brilliant teacher in her own right.” Since the 1990s she has created key expressions of her and Saniel’s teachings and personally assisted many people into awakened living. A multi-talented artist, she holds a B.S. in Art Education from Ball State University. She has sung internationally and recorded two albums, I’m Here, jazz standards and her original songs, and Joy of Being, her non-verbal vocal toning. Among those who know her, Linda is cherished for both her heart of immense love and her discerning, simply stated wisdom. 

                                                            Saniel and Linda are Founding Members of Integral Institute, Charter Members of the Integral Spiritual Center, faculty for The Shift Network, conference speakers, and sought-after podcast guests. They’ve helped hundreds achieve unshakable realizations of boundless Spirit in natural unity with their everyday lives, lightened and brightened the souls of thousands, and mentored dozens who’ve become effective mentor-transmitters, inspired artists, and wise leaders. They both feel their greatest contribution is only now beginning, through their “Million Hearts Illumined” 10 Year Vision. As improvisational artists of liberating empowerment, they are co-manifestors with many others of the global “Deep Transformation” now emerging. Their message to all: “The Sun in your Heart is rising!”

                                                            ---

                                                            Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                            ]]>e9412f71-e2bc-4da3-95db-633c28c90f13Thu, 17 Nov 2022 05:00:00 -040001:02:18truefull5252Ep. 52 (Part 1 of 2) | Saniel Bonder and Linda Groves-Bonder live and guide others along the path of embodied awakening, using the tools of transmission, mutuality, self-inquiry, evocation, and more. They have named their process of spiritual embodiment “waking down,” to distinguish working the nuts and bolts of an individual’s unique path of spiritual development from the more general transcendent state described by the term “waking up.” Saniel and Linda not only mentor people on the road to awakening, but also through the challenges and never-ending process of purification that characterize post-awakening stages. How do we speak to our present state of divinity? What really leads to the stabilization of awakening? In this heartfelt, open conversation, Linda and Saniel share practical wisdom about nonduality, self-sense, and radical transcendence; the importance of fostering communion and appreciation; using “heart” to point to ultimate reality; and also describe their own unique and beautiful ways of sanctifying and ritualizing everyday life. Saniel and Linda's system of opening people up to an awakened life, is very much an individuated one; their 10-year vision is one million hearts illumined. Recorded October 27, 2022.Becoming Intimate with All That Is: A Terrifying Psychedelic Experience & the Transformative Power of Opening to Fear, Grief & Vulnerability (Part 2)Ep. 51 (Part 2 of 2) | Robert Masters, psychospiritual guide, shadow work expert, and author of Spiritual Bypassing and To Be A Man, tells the story of his life-shattering psychedelic experience with DMT, from which it took 9 months to recover. Following this experience, Robert found himself transformed in many ways, heart broken (not just open but broken), embracing ordinariness instead of the limelight, attuned to his own mortality, and intimate with all that is. Here, Robert shares about how to learn from such an experience, how to unseat fear from its place of power, recognize grief’s wisdom, and the always-important need to turn into our pain—under all conditions at all times.

                                                            Robert Masters also talks about men’s work: the need for men to reclaim their integrity as well as be vulnerable in relationship; include heart in their anger; and sexuality, shame, and how to outgrow porn habits. And our existential metacrisis. Can we become a species reborn in a good way as we confront our current challenges? This conversation blends psychotherapeutic brass tacks with transcendent insights into the nature of reality and opening to the divine mystery. As Robert says, “If there was a time for waking up, this is it.” Recorded August 17, 2022. 

                                                            “My path is becoming intimate with all that I am.”

                                                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                            Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                            • What are some of the unique challenges facing men at this time? (00:59)
                                                            • On men (and women) reclaiming their integrity of being: it’s all about embodied awakening and the stakes are very high (05:21)
                                                            • We are all on a journey of endless discovery (10:20)
                                                            • How nonduality tends to favor the nondual aspect rather than the unique aspect (11:24)
                                                            • What is the anatomy of choice? Who is doing the choosing? (14:34)
                                                            • More on men reclaiming integrity, becoming more mature, entering deeply into relationship, and embracing vulnerability in relationship (14:58)
                                                            • Promoting intimate relationship as a path of awakening (16:12)
                                                            • Communicating about mortality in intimate relationship (20:56)
                                                            • The problem of denial of our existential crisis (22:36)
                                                            • Unresolved shadow elements run us until we are aware of them (25:06)
                                                            • How to work with nightmares; turning towards the pain (26:10)
                                                            • Out of the existential crisis and mounting challenges, can we become a species that is reborn in a good way? (28:10)
                                                            • Why some people are interested in spiritual and psychological development and others not (31:52)
                                                            • What is Robert’s current transformational practice? (34:58)
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            Resources & References - Part 2

                                                            • A.H. Almaas, founder of the Diamond Approach 
                                                            • A. H. Almaas, Runaway Realization*, The Alchemy of Freedom*, 
                                                            • A.H. Almaas: Nonduality and Beyond: The Exhilarating Adventure of Discovering the Nature of Reality and How Awakenings Can Unfold Endlessly (Deep Transformation Podcast episode 43)
                                                            • Frances Vaughan, one of the great pioneers of transpersonal psychology, psychotherapist, teacher, author 
                                                            • Rajneesh, controversial Indian mystic guru
                                                            • Vipassana courses
                                                            • Robert Masters’ website: https://www.robertmasters.com
                                                            • Robert Masters, Spiritual Bypassing*
                                                            • Robert Masters, To Be a Man, A Guide to True Masculine Power*
                                                            • Robert Masters, Darkness Shining Wild: An Odyssey to the Heart of Hell & Beyond: Meditations on Sanity, Suffering, Spirituality, and Liberation*
                                                            • Robert Masters, Bringing Your Shadow Out of the Dark: Breaking Free from the Hidden Forces That Drive You*
                                                            • Robert Masters, Emotional Intimacy: A Comprehensive Guide for Connecting with the Power of Your Emotions*
                                                            • Robert Masters, Transformation through Intimacy, Revised Edition: The Journey toward Awakened Monogamy*
                                                            • Robert Masters, Knowing Your Shadow: Becoming Intimate with All That You Are* (audiobook)
                                                            • Robert Masters, Shadow Work: Turning Towards Our Pain (Integral Recovery podcast YouTube video)
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                            ---

                                                            Robert Masters, PhD, is a psychospiritual guide and trainer, with a doctorate in psychology.  He’s also the author of many books — including Transformation Through Intimacy, Spiritual Bypassing, Emotional Intimacy, To Be a Man, and Bringing Your Shadow out of the Dark — and the audio program Knowing Your Shadow. His intuitive, uniquely integral work blends the psychological and physical with the emotional and spiritual, with an emphasis on full-blooded awakening, emotional authenticity and literacy, deep shadow work, and the develop­ment of relational maturity. At essence, his work is about becoming more intimate with all that we are, in the service of the deepest possible healing, awakening, and integration. His website is robertmasters.com.

                                                            ---

                                                            Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                            ]]>Ep. 51 (Part 2 of 2) | Robert Masters, psychospiritual guide, shadow work expert, and author of Spiritual Bypassing and To Be A Man, tells the story of his life-shattering psychedelic experience with DMT, from which it took 9 months to recover. Following this experience, Robert found himself transformed in many ways, heart broken (not just open but broken), embracing ordinariness instead of the limelight, attuned to his own mortality, and intimate with all that is. Here, Robert shares about how to learn from such an experience, how to unseat fear from its place of power, recognize grief’s wisdom, and the always-important need to turn into our pain—under all conditions at all times.

                                                            Robert Masters also talks about men’s work: the need for men to reclaim their integrity as well as be vulnerable in relationship; include heart in their anger; and sexuality, shame, and how to outgrow porn habits. And our existential metacrisis. Can we become a species reborn in a good way as we confront our current challenges? This conversation blends psychotherapeutic brass tacks with transcendent insights into the nature of reality and opening to the divine mystery. As Robert says, “If there was a time for waking up, this is it.” Recorded August 17, 2022. 

                                                            “My path is becoming intimate with all that I am.”

                                                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                            Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                            • What are some of the unique challenges facing men at this time? (00:59)
                                                            • On men (and women) reclaiming their integrity of being: it’s all about embodied awakening and the stakes are very high (05:21)
                                                            • We are all on a journey of endless discovery (10:20)
                                                            • How nonduality tends to favor the nondual aspect rather than the unique aspect (11:24)
                                                            • What is the anatomy of choice? Who is doing the choosing? (14:34)
                                                            • More on men reclaiming integrity, becoming more mature, entering deeply into relationship, and embracing vulnerability in relationship (14:58)
                                                            • Promoting intimate relationship as a path of awakening (16:12)
                                                            • Communicating about mortality in intimate relationship (20:56)
                                                            • The problem of denial of our existential crisis (22:36)
                                                            • Unresolved shadow elements run us until we are aware of them (25:06)
                                                            • How to work with nightmares; turning towards the pain (26:10)
                                                            • Out of the existential crisis and mounting challenges, can we become a species that is reborn in a good way? (28:10)
                                                            • Why some people are interested in spiritual and psychological development and others not (31:52)
                                                            • What is Robert’s current transformational practice? (34:58)
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            Resources & References - Part 2

                                                            • A.H. Almaas, founder of the Diamond Approach 
                                                            • A. H. Almaas, Runaway Realization*, The Alchemy of Freedom*, 
                                                            • A.H. Almaas: Nonduality and Beyond: The Exhilarating Adventure of Discovering the Nature of Reality and How Awakenings Can Unfold Endlessly (Deep Transformation Podcast episode 43)
                                                            • Frances Vaughan, one of the great pioneers of transpersonal psychology, psychotherapist, teacher, author 
                                                            • Rajneesh, controversial Indian mystic guru
                                                            • Vipassana courses
                                                            • Robert Masters’ website: https://www.robertmasters.com
                                                            • Robert Masters, Spiritual Bypassing*
                                                            • Robert Masters, To Be a Man, A Guide to True Masculine Power*
                                                            • Robert Masters, Darkness Shining Wild: An Odyssey to the Heart of Hell & Beyond: Meditations on Sanity, Suffering, Spirituality, and Liberation*
                                                            • Robert Masters, Bringing Your Shadow Out of the Dark: Breaking Free from the Hidden Forces That Drive You*
                                                            • Robert Masters, Emotional Intimacy: A Comprehensive Guide for Connecting with the Power of Your Emotions*
                                                            • Robert Masters, Transformation through Intimacy, Revised Edition: The Journey toward Awakened Monogamy*
                                                            • Robert Masters, Knowing Your Shadow: Becoming Intimate with All That You Are* (audiobook)
                                                            • Robert Masters, Shadow Work: Turning Towards Our Pain (Integral Recovery podcast YouTube video)
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                            ---

                                                            Robert Masters, PhD, is a psychospiritual guide and trainer, with a doctorate in psychology.  He’s also the author of many books — including Transformation Through Intimacy, Spiritual Bypassing, Emotional Intimacy, To Be a Man, and Bringing Your Shadow out of the Dark — and the audio program Knowing Your Shadow. His intuitive, uniquely integral work blends the psychological and physical with the emotional and spiritual, with an emphasis on full-blooded awakening, emotional authenticity and literacy, deep shadow work, and the develop­ment of relational maturity. At essence, his work is about becoming more intimate with all that we are, in the service of the deepest possible healing, awakening, and integration. His website is robertmasters.com.

                                                            ---

                                                            Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                            ]]>c92010ea-4655-4bdf-b6ab-02da05dcfb61Thu, 10 Nov 2022 05:00:00 -040041:38truefull5151Ep. 51 (Part 2 of 2) | Robert Masters, psychospiritual guide, shadow work expert, and author of Spiritual Bypassing and To Be A Man, tells the story of his life-shattering psychedelic experience with DMT, from which it took 9 months to recover. Following this experience, Robert found himself transformed in many ways, heart broken (not just open but broken), embracing ordinariness instead of the limelight, attuned to his own mortality, and intimate with all that is. Here, Robert shares about how to learn from such an experience, how to unseat fear from its place of power, recognize grief’s wisdom, and the always-important need to turn into our pain—under all conditions at all times. Robert Masters also talks about men’s work: the need for men to reclaim their integrity as well as be vulnerable in relationship; include heart in their anger; and sexuality, shame, and how to outgrow porn habits. And our existential metacrisis. Can we become a species reborn in a good way as we confront our current challenges? This conversation blends psychotherapeutic brass tacks with transcendent insights into the nature of reality and opening to the divine mystery. As Robert says, “If there was a time for waking up, this is it.” Recorded August 17, 2022.Becoming Intimate with All That Is: A Terrifying Psychedelic Experience & the Transformative Power of Opening to Fear, Grief & VulnerabilityEp. 50 (Part 1 of 2) | Robert Masters, psychospiritual guide, shadow work expert, and author of Spiritual Bypassing and To Be A Man, tells the story of his life-shattering psychedelic experience with DMT, from which it took 9 months to recover. Following this experience, Robert found himself transformed in many ways, heart broken (not just open but broken), embracing ordinariness instead of the limelight, attuned to his own mortality, and intimate with all that is. Here, Robert shares about how to learn from such an experience, how to unseat fear from its place of power, recognize grief’s wisdom, and the always-important need to turn into our pain—under all conditions at all times.

                                                            Robert Masters also talks about men’s work: the need for men to reclaim their integrity as well as be vulnerable in relationship; include heart in their anger; and sexuality, shame, and how to outgrow porn habits. And our existential metacrisis. Can we become a species reborn in a good way as we confront our current challenges? This conversation blends psychotherapeutic brass tacks with transcendent insights into the nature of reality and opening to the divine mystery. As Robert says, “If there was a time for waking up, this is it.” Recorded August 17, 2022. 

                                                            “My path is becoming intimate with all that I am.”

                                                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                            Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                            • Introducing Robert Augustus Masters, author, shadow work expert, psychospiritual guide (01:15)
                                                            • Robert’s terrifying and transformative psychedelic experience with 5-methoxy-N (5-MeO-DMT) (03:19)
                                                            • Working with deep fear states (09:32)
                                                            • Who should use psychedelics (DMT) and who shouldn’t? (10:45)
                                                            • How to learn from the experience: embracing ordinariness, compassion and gratitude (16:55)
                                                            • Fear: loving and protecting the fearful part (21:38)
                                                            • The importance of attuning to mortality: becoming intimate with death (22:51)
                                                            • Turning into the pain under all conditions at all times (27:43)
                                                            • Individual grief, collective grief—grief is a very beautiful emotion. It has its own wisdom (29:07)
                                                            • Working with men: transforming emotional emptiness and including heart in anger (33:34)
                                                            • Sexuality, shame, and how to outgrow porn habits (35:44)
                                                            • Women’s groups are about getting their voice back, establishing firm boundaries (36:21)
                                                            • Internet porn is an epidemic: recognizing loneliness, sadness, frustration (36:50)
                                                            • The clarifying capacity of intimacy and the importance of curiosity (42:42)
                                                            • Awakened innocence, plugging into the divine, opening to the mystery (46:46)
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            Resources & References - Part 1

                                                            • Robert Masters’ website: https://www.robertmasters.com
                                                            • Robert Masters, Spiritual Bypassing*
                                                            • Robert Masters, To Be a Man, A Guide to True Masculine Power*
                                                            • Robert Masters, Darkness Shining Wild: An Odyssey to the Heart of Hell & Beyond: Meditations on Sanity, Suffering, Spirituality, and Liberation*
                                                            • Robert Masters, Bringing Your Shadow Out of the Dark: Breaking Free from the Hidden Forces That Drive You*
                                                            • Robert Masters, Emotional Intimacy: A Comprehensive Guide for Connecting with the Power of Your Emotions*
                                                            • Robert Masters, Transformation through Intimacy, Revised Edition: The Journey toward Awakened Monogamy*
                                                            • Robert Masters, Knowing Your Shadow: Becoming Intimate with All That You Are* (audiobook)
                                                            • Robert Masters, Shadow Work: Turning Towards Our Pain (Integral Recovery podcast YouTube video)
                                                            • 5-MeO-DMT, psychedelic 
                                                            • DMT Facts: 10 Must Know Facts About Dimethyltryptamine
                                                            • Stanislov Grof, The Way of the Psychonaut Vol. 1: Encyclopedia for Inner Journeys*
                                                            • Alcoholics Anonymous, Using HALT to prevent relapse
                                                            • Ram Dass: Living the Mystery (“Death is the ultimate mystery”)
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                            ---

                                                            Robert Masters, PhD, is a psychospiritual guide and trainer, with a doctorate in psychology.  He’s also the author of many books — including Transformation Through Intimacy, Spiritual Bypassing, Emotional Intimacy, To Be a Man, and Bringing Your Shadow out of the Dark — and the audio program Knowing Your Shadow. His intuitive, uniquely integral work blends the psychological and physical with the emotional and spiritual, with an emphasis on full-blooded awakening, emotional authenticity and literacy, deep shadow work, and the develop­ment of relational maturity. At essence, his work is about becoming more intimate with all that we are, in the service of the deepest possible healing, awakening, and integration. His website is robertmasters.com.

                                                            ---

                                                            Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                            ]]>Ep. 50 (Part 1 of 2) | Robert Masters, psychospiritual guide, shadow work expert, and author of Spiritual Bypassing and To Be A Man, tells the story of his life-shattering psychedelic experience with DMT, from which it took 9 months to recover. Following this experience, Robert found himself transformed in many ways, heart broken (not just open but broken), embracing ordinariness instead of the limelight, attuned to his own mortality, and intimate with all that is. Here, Robert shares about how to learn from such an experience, how to unseat fear from its place of power, recognize grief’s wisdom, and the always-important need to turn into our pain—under all conditions at all times.

                                                            Robert Masters also talks about men’s work: the need for men to reclaim their integrity as well as be vulnerable in relationship; include heart in their anger; and sexuality, shame, and how to outgrow porn habits. And our existential metacrisis. Can we become a species reborn in a good way as we confront our current challenges? This conversation blends psychotherapeutic brass tacks with transcendent insights into the nature of reality and opening to the divine mystery. As Robert says, “If there was a time for waking up, this is it.” Recorded August 17, 2022. 

                                                            “My path is becoming intimate with all that I am.”

                                                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                            Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                            • Introducing Robert Augustus Masters, author, shadow work expert, psychospiritual guide (01:15)
                                                            • Robert’s terrifying and transformative psychedelic experience with 5-methoxy-N (5-MeO-DMT) (03:19)
                                                            • Working with deep fear states (09:32)
                                                            • Who should use psychedelics (DMT) and who shouldn’t? (10:45)
                                                            • How to learn from the experience: embracing ordinariness, compassion and gratitude (16:55)
                                                            • Fear: loving and protecting the fearful part (21:38)
                                                            • The importance of attuning to mortality: becoming intimate with death (22:51)
                                                            • Turning into the pain under all conditions at all times (27:43)
                                                            • Individual grief, collective grief—grief is a very beautiful emotion. It has its own wisdom (29:07)
                                                            • Working with men: transforming emotional emptiness and including heart in anger (33:34)
                                                            • Sexuality, shame, and how to outgrow porn habits (35:44)
                                                            • Women’s groups are about getting their voice back, establishing firm boundaries (36:21)
                                                            • Internet porn is an epidemic: recognizing loneliness, sadness, frustration (36:50)
                                                            • The clarifying capacity of intimacy and the importance of curiosity (42:42)
                                                            • Awakened innocence, plugging into the divine, opening to the mystery (46:46)
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            Resources & References - Part 1

                                                            • Robert Masters’ website: https://www.robertmasters.com
                                                            • Robert Masters, Spiritual Bypassing*
                                                            • Robert Masters, To Be a Man, A Guide to True Masculine Power*
                                                            • Robert Masters, Darkness Shining Wild: An Odyssey to the Heart of Hell & Beyond: Meditations on Sanity, Suffering, Spirituality, and Liberation*
                                                            • Robert Masters, Bringing Your Shadow Out of the Dark: Breaking Free from the Hidden Forces That Drive You*
                                                            • Robert Masters, Emotional Intimacy: A Comprehensive Guide for Connecting with the Power of Your Emotions*
                                                            • Robert Masters, Transformation through Intimacy, Revised Edition: The Journey toward Awakened Monogamy*
                                                            • Robert Masters, Knowing Your Shadow: Becoming Intimate with All That You Are* (audiobook)
                                                            • Robert Masters, Shadow Work: Turning Towards Our Pain (Integral Recovery podcast YouTube video)
                                                            • 5-MeO-DMT, psychedelic 
                                                            • DMT Facts: 10 Must Know Facts About Dimethyltryptamine
                                                            • Stanislov Grof, The Way of the Psychonaut Vol. 1: Encyclopedia for Inner Journeys*
                                                            • Alcoholics Anonymous, Using HALT to prevent relapse
                                                            • Ram Dass: Living the Mystery (“Death is the ultimate mystery”)
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                            ---

                                                            Robert Masters, PhD, is a psychospiritual guide and trainer, with a doctorate in psychology.  He’s also the author of many books — including Transformation Through Intimacy, Spiritual Bypassing, Emotional Intimacy, To Be a Man, and Bringing Your Shadow out of the Dark — and the audio program Knowing Your Shadow. His intuitive, uniquely integral work blends the psychological and physical with the emotional and spiritual, with an emphasis on full-blooded awakening, emotional authenticity and literacy, deep shadow work, and the develop­ment of relational maturity. At essence, his work is about becoming more intimate with all that we are, in the service of the deepest possible healing, awakening, and integration. His website is robertmasters.com.

                                                            ---

                                                            Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                            ]]>de3262b6-37f4-4ad3-a5a4-e8481abcf4f0Thu, 03 Nov 2022 05:00:00 -040050:13truefull5050Ep. 50 (Part 1 of 2) | Robert Masters, psychospiritual guide, shadow work expert, and author of Spiritual Bypassing and To Be A Man, tells the story of his life-shattering psychedelic experience with DMT, from which it took 9 months to recover. Following this experience, Robert found himself transformed in many ways, heart broken (not just open but broken), embracing ordinariness instead of the limelight, attuned to his own mortality, and intimate with all that is. Here, Robert shares about how to learn from such an experience, how to unseat fear from its place of power, recognize grief’s wisdom, and the always-important need to turn into our pain—under all conditions at all times. Robert Masters also talks about men’s work: the need for men to reclaim their integrity as well as be vulnerable in relationship; include heart in their anger; and sexuality, shame, and how to outgrow porn habits. And our existential metacrisis. Can we become a species reborn in a good way as we confront our current challenges? This conversation blends psychotherapeutic brass tacks with transcendent insights into the nature of reality and opening to the divine mystery. As Robert says, “If there was a time for waking up, this is it.” Recorded August 17, 2022.Dawson Church - Healing Psychological Trauma & Catalyzing Emotional Growth with Energy Psychology, Meridian Tapping, Exposure Therapy & Unconditional Self-LoveEp. 49 | In this fast-paced dialogue, Dr. Dawson Church, best-selling author, scientist, EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) coach, and Energy Psychology Journal editor, explains what an incredibly effective treatment meridian tapping is in the healing of veterans and others suffering from PTSD. “Tapping while remembering” creates a cognitive shift to where something intensely traumatic can be transformed into something positive. And EFT is not only for individuals suffering from trauma. Dawson reveals how unconditional self-love is crucial in creating space for personal growth and together with exposure therapy—all part of energy psychology and emotional freedom techniques—is an amazing tool for transforming our lives so we can experience the sheer joy of living to our full potential. “Why do we shut down our laughter, our joy, our creativity, and tell ourselves all these stories about our limitations? They’re lies! Self-perpetuating loops in our head. It’s time to dump them,” says Dawson. 

                                                            Dawson packs the conversation with fascinating research statistics that are very convincing as to the enormous healing and transformative potential of EFT and other body based therapies. His passion for making these new energetic, psychotherapeutic, and contemplative tools known and available to people is palpable, and he is a vibrant example of someone who has indeed transformed his life into one of positive energy, service, and joy. Recorded on August 31, 2022.

                                                            “Meditate, tap, shift yourself—love yourself enough to apply these techniques in your life.”

                                                            (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                            Topics & Time Stamps

                                                            • Introducing Dawson Church and Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) (01:37)
                                                            • Our quest for answers and the intersection of science, Western psychotherapeutic techniques, and contemplative spirituality (03:51)
                                                            • The old Vedanta theory that we can clean our “dirty cistern” (mind/body/trauma) with infusions of “pure water” and transcend our trauma is not true (06:57)
                                                            • A quarter of the soldiers fighting the war in Iraq developed PTSD – what was different about them? (08:47)
                                                            • Unresolved childhood trauma is the key reason some develop PTSD and others do not (09:39)
                                                            • Why we need EFT and other body-based therapies (10:29) 
                                                            • What is EFT exactly? Stimulation of acupressure meridians to shift consciousness, awareness, and PTSD symptoms in 10 individual sessions (11:39)
                                                            • Working in groups, the importance of social support, and “borrowing benefits” (12:14)
                                                            • The surprising emergence of techniques/therapies that can effectively treat PTSD (14:06)
                                                            • Positive emotional contagion, transferred or acquired PTSD, and the amazing effectiveness of group work with veterans and their spouses (15:43)
                                                            • EFT is not a magic wand: the work is done with people “memory by memory” (17:24)
                                                            • EFT removes the emotional tags: in one study, the gene expression of veterans changed over the course of 10 sessions to where microRNA molecules associated with traumatic stress literally popped off the genome (19:49)
                                                            • EFT borrows from exposure therapy: reliving the experience intensely and lighting up and de-conditioning the neuro-bundles in the brain (20:30), and
                                                            • Cognitive acceptance, or self-acceptance, learning to love yourself unconditionally—with all of your problems—just the way you are (22:46)
                                                            • With tapping, signals travel through connective tissue and the physical symptoms of stress decrease amazingly quickly—in a couple of minutes, the limbic system quiets right down (24:05)
                                                            • How EFT frees up energy for creativity, productivity, and flow states (29:10)
                                                            • Dawson’s personal practice: meditation, hanging out in nonlocal space (32:15)
                                                            • Why meditation has such radical effects on your creativity: flow states double and problem solving goes up 490% (33:51)
                                                            • Binding—making unexpected mental connections—occurs in the brainwave state of gamma (38:15)
                                                            • Growing up in quiet desperation (42:39)
                                                            • When Dawson’s house burned down, all his practices are put to the test (44:00)
                                                            • Post traumatic growth: two thirds of people end up stable or moving to higher levels of psychological development following a trauma (49:40)
                                                            • What really bugs Dawson: we have this gift of a lifetime but so many people live only a tiny fraction of their potential (51:35)
                                                            • Don’t live anything less than your grandest life: laugh like a baby! (54:23)
                                                            
                                                            

                                                            Resources & References

                                                            • Dawson Church, 21-day Tapping Challenge (free)
                                                            • Dawson’s website EFT Universe.com
                                                            • Tapping and Transformational Workshops
                                                            • Dawson Church, Bliss Brain: The Neuroscience of Remodeling Your Brain for Resilience, Creativity, and Joy*
                                                            • Dawson Church, The Genie in Your Genes*
                                                            • Dawson Church, Mind to Matter*
                                                            • Dawson Church, editor, Energy Psychology Journal: Theory, Research & Treatment
                                                            • Dawson Church, founder, National Institute for Integrative Healthcare
                                                            • Dr. Paul Brunton, A Search in Secret India*
                                                            • Ramana Maharshi, Indian sage who introduced the idea of nondualism to the West
                                                            • Alan Watts, writer and speaker who popularized Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindu philosophy in the West, The Way of Zen*, The Wisdom of Insecurity*, The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are*
                                                            • Aldous Huxley, author, poet, and pacifist interested in philosophical mysticism, The Doors of Perception*, The Perennial Philosophy*, Brave New World*
                                                            • Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score*
                                                            • EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques), EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), Yoga Therapy
                                                            • Guidelines for the Treatment of Clinical PTSD Using EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques), published by NIH National Library of Medicine online]]>Ep. 49 | In this fast-paced dialogue, Dr. Dawson Church, best-selling author, scientist, EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) coach, and Energy Psychology Journal editor, explains what an incredibly effective treatment meridian tapping is in the healing of veterans and others suffering from PTSD. “Tapping while remembering” creates a cognitive shift to where something intensely traumatic can be transformed into something positive. And EFT is not only for individuals suffering from trauma. Dawson reveals how unconditional self-love is crucial in creating space for personal growth and together with exposure therapy—all part of energy psychology and emotional freedom techniques—is an amazing tool for transforming our lives so we can experience the sheer joy of living to our full potential. “Why do we shut down our laughter, our joy, our creativity, and tell ourselves all these stories about our limitations? They’re lies! Self-perpetuating loops in our head. It’s time to dump them,” says Dawson. 

                                                              Dawson packs the conversation with fascinating research statistics that are very convincing as to the enormous healing and transformative potential of EFT and other body based therapies. His passion for making these new energetic, psychotherapeutic, and contemplative tools known and available to people is palpable, and he is a vibrant example of someone who has indeed transformed his life into one of positive energy, service, and joy. Recorded on August 31, 2022.

                                                              “Meditate, tap, shift yourself—love yourself enough to apply these techniques in your life.”

                                                              (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                              Topics & Time Stamps

                                                              • Introducing Dawson Church and Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) (01:37)
                                                              • Our quest for answers and the intersection of science, Western psychotherapeutic techniques, and contemplative spirituality (03:51)
                                                              • The old Vedanta theory that we can clean our “dirty cistern” (mind/body/trauma) with infusions of “pure water” and transcend our trauma is not true (06:57)
                                                              • A quarter of the soldiers fighting the war in Iraq developed PTSD – what was different about them? (08:47)
                                                              • Unresolved childhood trauma is the key reason some develop PTSD and others do not (09:39)
                                                              • Why we need EFT and other body-based therapies (10:29) 
                                                              • What is EFT exactly? Stimulation of acupressure meridians to shift consciousness, awareness, and PTSD symptoms in 10 individual sessions (11:39)
                                                              • Working in groups, the importance of social support, and “borrowing benefits” (12:14)
                                                              • The surprising emergence of techniques/therapies that can effectively treat PTSD (14:06)
                                                              • Positive emotional contagion, transferred or acquired PTSD, and the amazing effectiveness of group work with veterans and their spouses (15:43)
                                                              • EFT is not a magic wand: the work is done with people “memory by memory” (17:24)
                                                              • EFT removes the emotional tags: in one study, the gene expression of veterans changed over the course of 10 sessions to where microRNA molecules associated with traumatic stress literally popped off the genome (19:49)
                                                              • EFT borrows from exposure therapy: reliving the experience intensely and lighting up and de-conditioning the neuro-bundles in the brain (20:30), and
                                                              • Cognitive acceptance, or self-acceptance, learning to love yourself unconditionally—with all of your problems—just the way you are (22:46)
                                                              • With tapping, signals travel through connective tissue and the physical symptoms of stress decrease amazingly quickly—in a couple of minutes, the limbic system quiets right down (24:05)
                                                              • How EFT frees up energy for creativity, productivity, and flow states (29:10)
                                                              • Dawson’s personal practice: meditation, hanging out in nonlocal space (32:15)
                                                              • Why meditation has such radical effects on your creativity: flow states double and problem solving goes up 490% (33:51)
                                                              • Binding—making unexpected mental connections—occurs in the brainwave state of gamma (38:15)
                                                              • Growing up in quiet desperation (42:39)
                                                              • When Dawson’s house burned down, all his practices are put to the test (44:00)
                                                              • Post traumatic growth: two thirds of people end up stable or moving to higher levels of psychological development following a trauma (49:40)
                                                              • What really bugs Dawson: we have this gift of a lifetime but so many people live only a tiny fraction of their potential (51:35)
                                                              • Don’t live anything less than your grandest life: laugh like a baby! (54:23)
                                                              
                                                              

                                                              Resources & References

                                                              • Dawson Church, 21-day Tapping Challenge (free)
                                                              • Dawson’s website EFT Universe.com
                                                              • Tapping and Transformational Workshops
                                                              • Dawson Church, Bliss Brain: The Neuroscience of Remodeling Your Brain for Resilience, Creativity, and Joy*
                                                              • Dawson Church, The Genie in Your Genes*
                                                              • Dawson Church, Mind to Matter*
                                                              • Dawson Church, editor, Energy Psychology Journal: Theory, Research & Treatment
                                                              • Dawson Church, founder, National Institute for Integrative Healthcare
                                                              • Dr. Paul Brunton, A Search in Secret India*
                                                              • Ramana Maharshi, Indian sage who introduced the idea of nondualism to the West
                                                              • Alan Watts, writer and speaker who popularized Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindu philosophy in the West, The Way of Zen*, The Wisdom of Insecurity*, The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are*
                                                              • Aldous Huxley, author, poet, and pacifist interested in philosophical mysticism, The Doors of Perception*, The Perennial Philosophy*, Brave New World*
                                                              • Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score*
                                                              • EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques), EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), Yoga Therapy
                                                              • Guidelines for the Treatment of Clinical PTSD Using EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques), published by NIH National Library of Medicine online at PubMed.gov (by Dawson Church, Peta Stapleton, Phil Mollon, David Feinstein, Elizabeth Boath, David Mackay, Rebecca Sims)
                                                              • Emotional Freedom Techniques to Treat Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Veterans: Review of the Evidence, Survey of Practitioners, and Proposed Clinical Guidelines, published by NIH National Library of Medicine online at PubMed.gov (by Dawson Church, Sheri Stern, Elizabeth Boath, Antony Steward, David Feinstein, Morgan Clond
                                                              • Carl Rogers, On Becoming A Person: A Therapist's View of Psychotherapy*
                                                              • Deborah Miller, EFT for Cancer*
                                                              • Carl Jung, “Self acceptance is the acid test of one’s whole outlook on life,” Psychology and Religion: West and East, Vol II*
                                                              • Larry Dossey, physician and author, Healing Words: The Power of Prayer and the Practice of Medicine*
                                                              • Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
                                                              • Albert Einstein, one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time
                                                              • Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich*
                                                              • Louis Pasteur, “Chance favors the prepared mind”
                                                              • iAwake Technologies filtered for products to enhance focus & flow using gamma brainwave entrainment technology
                                                              • Henry David Thoreau, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Walden*
                                                              • Winston Churchill, “Men occasionally stumble over truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.”
                                                              
                                                              

                                                              * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                              ---

                                                              Dawson Church, PhD, is an award-winning science writer with three best-selling books to his credit. The Genie in Your Genes was the first book to demonstrate that emotions drive gene expression. Mind to Matter showed that the brain creates much of what we think of as “objective reality.” Bliss Brain demonstrates that peak mental states rapidly remodel the brain for happiness. Dr. Church has conducted dozens of clinical trials and founded the National Institute for Integrative Healthcare to study and implement promising evidence-based psychological and medical techniques. Its largest program, the Veterans Stress Project, has offered free treatment to over 20,000 veterans with PTSD over the past decade.

                                                              Dr. Church’s groundbreaking research has been published in many prestigious scientific journals. He is the editor of Energy Psychology: Theory, Research, & Treatment, a peer-reviewed professional journal, and Dawson shares how to apply these breakthroughs to health and athletic performance through EFTUniverse.com, one of the most-visited alternative healing sites on the web. View Dr. Church’s full Curriculum Vitae, list of scientific papers, and visit the Events page to register for Dr. Church’s upcoming workshops.

                                                              ---

                                                              Free 21-day Tapping Challenge

                                                              A series of 21 tapping meditations to guide you toward mastery in the 5 key areas of your life: Health-Money-Love-Work-Spirituality. Designed by Dawson Church, each one is only 7 minutes long, yet they’re a powerful combination of tapping, meditation, and affirmations. Find out more here: https://eftuniverse.com/21-day-tapping-challenge-free/.

                                                              ---

                                                              Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                              ]]>e8686ef3-a223-4291-a799-30bc794b2567Thu, 27 Oct 2022 05:00:00 -040057:03falsefull4949Ep. 49 | In this fast-paced dialogue, Dr. Dawson Church, best-selling author, scientist, EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) coach, and Energy Psychology Journal editor, explains what an incredibly effective treatment meridian tapping is in the healing of veterans and others suffering from PTSD. “Tapping while remembering” creates a cognitive shift to where something intensely traumatic can be transformed into something positive. And EFT is not only for individuals suffering from trauma. Dawson reveals how unconditional self-love is crucial in creating space for personal growth and together with exposure therapy—all part of energy psychology and emotional freedom techniques—is an amazing tool for transforming our lives so we can experience the sheer joy of living to our full potential. “Why do we shut down our laughter, our joy, our creativity, and tell ourselves all these stories about our limitations? They’re lies! Self-perpetuating loops in our head. It’s time to dump them,” says Dawson. Dawson packs the conversation with fascinating research statistics that are very convincing as to the enormous healing and transformative potential of EFT and other body based therapies. His passion for making these new energetic, psychotherapeutic, and contemplative tools known and available to people is palpable, and he is a vibrant example of someone who has indeed transformed his life into one of positive energy, service, and joy. Recorded on August 31, 2022.Awakening Joy: Life Skills for Living, Loving, Enjoying & Serving Life (Part 3)Ep. 48 (Part 3 of 3) | “Don’t miss it!” says James Baraz, author of Awakening Joy and creator of the very intriguing 5-month Awakening Joy course. “Don't miss it'' refers to the present moment—the gladness, the beauty, the uniqueness. James explains that in order to awaken our joy, we need to savor the wholesome moments and not turn away distracted, slipping back into our habitual mental ruts. James’ teachings take us deeply into states like gratitude and compassionate presence, to where we can focus our attention on how it feels to feel good somatically, thereby creating new neural pathways that strengthen awareness and aliveness. James has witnessed a lot of people learn to love themselves and turn their lives around as a result of this teaching. Why are we the last ones to see the goodness inside ourselves? he wonders. How can we so radically underestimate ourselves? 

                                                              Rest in the landscape of gratitude when James guides a short meditation in part 2, and be inspired that transformational change is indeed possible for all of us—to where we can know the joy of loving ourselves, of connecting with others, the joy of letting go, of service, and the joy of simply being—as we undertake the fundamental experiment of discovering who we really are. Recorded September 14, 2022.

                                                              “A simple shift of perspective is transformative.”

                                                              (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                              Topics & Time Stamps - Part 3

                                                              • Joy and awakening take a lot of courage; fear is really saying, “About to grow!” – Jack Kornfield (00:51)
                                                              • Reaching out for support is a reflection of health, not weakness (05:25)
                                                              • We are all transmitters of the energy of life: the ripple effects of joy (08:34)
                                                              • Why doesn’t everyone see the power in seeing the good? (14:00)
                                                              • What are the most life-changing discoveries that people make in the Awakening Joy course? (15:57)
                                                              • What are James’ practices today? Showing up for the world: joy and activism, opening to the pain in the world (19:32)
                                                              • Looking through 3 lenses: gratitude, compassion, and equanimity—to avoid denial, overwhelm, and disengagement (21:02)
                                                              • How can we be agents of healing, agents of consciousness? (25:47)
                                                              • This is the moment we were born for (27:41)
                                                              • We have made the face of the world into a reflection of the state of our minds (30:17)
                                                              • The wealth of giving to life, serving life (32:41)
                                                              • One Earth Sangha, virtual ecodharma center (34:59)
                                                              
                                                              

                                                              Resources & References - Part 3

                                                              • Gerald Jampolsky, Love is Letting Go of Fear*
                                                              • Jack Kornfield, meditation teacher, author, founding teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation Center, A Path with Heart*
                                                              • The Buddha, “Good friends…are the whole of the spiritual life.”
                                                              • Leonard Orr, Rebirthing Breathwork 
                                                              • Kuan Yin, the Bodhisattva of great compassion
                                                              • The 4 brahmavihārās: loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, equanimity
                                                              • Angeles Arrien, Living in Gratitude*
                                                              • Terry Patten, A Republic of the Heart*
                                                              • Belvie Rooks, co-founder of Growing a Global Heart
                                                              • Duane Elgin, Choosing Earth*
                                                              • The Buddha, “With our thoughts, we make the world.”
                                                              • Shantideva, Miracle of Awakening
                                                              • One Earth Sangha, virtual EcoDharma center devoted to Buddhist responses to climate change
                                                              • James Baraz’ Awakening Joy 5-month Course: 10 Steps to a Happier Life
                                                              • James Baraz & Shoshana Alexander, Awakening Joy: 10 Steps to Happiness*
                                                              • James Baraz & Michele Lilyanna, Awakening Joy for Kids*
                                                              
                                                              

                                                              * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                              ---

                                                              Being Here Now: A 2-Day Online Celebration of Ram Dass, November 5-6, 2022

                                                              With Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, Krishna Das, Sharon Salzberg, Trudy Goodman, Mirabai Bush, Jai Uttal, East Forest, Debra Chamberlin-Taylor, James Baraz, and others. For more information and to register, click here:

                                                              https://spirit-rock.secure.retreat.guru/program/being-here-now-a-celebration-of-ram-dass-dc1b22/?_ga=2.188608556.529866604.1664737501-1907087178.1632963128&lang=en.

                                                              ---

                                                              Brahma Vihara 4-week Online Course, Tuesdays, November 1-22, 2022 6:30-8:30pm PT

                                                              Four Buddhist Heart Practices (Brahma Viharas): Loving-kindness, Compassion, Joy, and Equanimity, taught by James Baraz. Formal meditation instructions for developing each of these qualities along with talks on how to apply them in our lives. For more information and to register, click here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-four-buddhist-heart-practices-brahma-viharas-tickets-310766409697.

                                                              ---

                                                              5-Month Awakening Joy Course, January 31-June 6, 2023

                                                              For information about the 5-month course and James Baraz’ teaching schedule, click here: www.awakeningjoy.info.

                                                              ---

                                                              James Baraz has been teaching mindfulness meditation for over 40 years in the U.S. and internationally, and is a founding teacher of the Spirit Rock Meditation Center. James has been leading the online course Awakening Joy since 2003 and is co-author of Awakening Joy: 10 Steps to Happiness and Awakening Joy for Kids. He also serves as a guiding teacher to One Earth Sangha, a Virtual EcoDharma Center devoted to Buddhist responses to Climate Change.

                                                              Mind Our Democracy is a new project/movement to help meditation, yoga, and other spiritual students navigate these perilous and fraught times with engagement, wisdom, and heart. It's completely non-partisan, encouraging folks to vote for compassion, kindness, and inclusivity in this Ep. 48 (Part 3 of 3) | “Don’t miss it!” says James Baraz, author of Awakening Joy and creator of the very intriguing 5-month Awakening Joy course. “Don't miss it'' refers to the present moment—the gladness, the beauty, the uniqueness. James explains that in order to awaken our joy, we need to savor the wholesome moments and not turn away distracted, slipping back into our habitual mental ruts. James’ teachings take us deeply into states like gratitude and compassionate presence, to where we can focus our attention on how it feels to feel good somatically, thereby creating new neural pathways that strengthen awareness and aliveness. James has witnessed a lot of people learn to love themselves and turn their lives around as a result of this teaching. Why are we the last ones to see the goodness inside ourselves? he wonders. How can we so radically underestimate ourselves? 

                                                              Rest in the landscape of gratitude when James guides a short meditation in part 2, and be inspired that transformational change is indeed possible for all of us—to where we can know the joy of loving ourselves, of connecting with others, the joy of letting go, of service, and the joy of simply being—as we undertake the fundamental experiment of discovering who we really are. Recorded September 14, 2022.

                                                              “A simple shift of perspective is transformative.”

                                                              (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                              Topics & Time Stamps - Part 3

                                                              • Joy and awakening take a lot of courage; fear is really saying, “About to grow!” – Jack Kornfield (00:51)
                                                              • Reaching out for support is a reflection of health, not weakness (05:25)
                                                              • We are all transmitters of the energy of life: the ripple effects of joy (08:34)
                                                              • Why doesn’t everyone see the power in seeing the good? (14:00)
                                                              • What are the most life-changing discoveries that people make in the Awakening Joy course? (15:57)
                                                              • What are James’ practices today? Showing up for the world: joy and activism, opening to the pain in the world (19:32)
                                                              • Looking through 3 lenses: gratitude, compassion, and equanimity—to avoid denial, overwhelm, and disengagement (21:02)
                                                              • How can we be agents of healing, agents of consciousness? (25:47)
                                                              • This is the moment we were born for (27:41)
                                                              • We have made the face of the world into a reflection of the state of our minds (30:17)
                                                              • The wealth of giving to life, serving life (32:41)
                                                              • One Earth Sangha, virtual ecodharma center (34:59)
                                                              
                                                              

                                                              Resources & References - Part 3

                                                              • Gerald Jampolsky, Love is Letting Go of Fear*
                                                              • Jack Kornfield, meditation teacher, author, founding teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation Center, A Path with Heart*
                                                              • The Buddha, “Good friends…are the whole of the spiritual life.”
                                                              • Leonard Orr, Rebirthing Breathwork 
                                                              • Kuan Yin, the Bodhisattva of great compassion
                                                              • The 4 brahmavihārās: loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, equanimity
                                                              • Angeles Arrien, Living in Gratitude*
                                                              • Terry Patten, A Republic of the Heart*
                                                              • Belvie Rooks, co-founder of Growing a Global Heart
                                                              • Duane Elgin, Choosing Earth*
                                                              • The Buddha, “With our thoughts, we make the world.”
                                                              • Shantideva, Miracle of Awakening
                                                              • One Earth Sangha, virtual EcoDharma center devoted to Buddhist responses to climate change
                                                              • James Baraz’ Awakening Joy 5-month Course: 10 Steps to a Happier Life
                                                              • James Baraz & Shoshana Alexander, Awakening Joy: 10 Steps to Happiness*
                                                              • James Baraz & Michele Lilyanna, Awakening Joy for Kids*
                                                              
                                                              

                                                              * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                              ---

                                                              Being Here Now: A 2-Day Online Celebration of Ram Dass, November 5-6, 2022

                                                              With Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, Krishna Das, Sharon Salzberg, Trudy Goodman, Mirabai Bush, Jai Uttal, East Forest, Debra Chamberlin-Taylor, James Baraz, and others. For more information and to register, click here:

                                                              https://spirit-rock.secure.retreat.guru/program/being-here-now-a-celebration-of-ram-dass-dc1b22/?_ga=2.188608556.529866604.1664737501-1907087178.1632963128&lang=en.

                                                              ---

                                                              Brahma Vihara 4-week Online Course, Tuesdays, November 1-22, 2022 6:30-8:30pm PT

                                                              Four Buddhist Heart Practices (Brahma Viharas): Loving-kindness, Compassion, Joy, and Equanimity, taught by James Baraz. Formal meditation instructions for developing each of these qualities along with talks on how to apply them in our lives. For more information and to register, click here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-four-buddhist-heart-practices-brahma-viharas-tickets-310766409697.

                                                              ---

                                                              5-Month Awakening Joy Course, January 31-June 6, 2023

                                                              For information about the 5-month course and James Baraz’ teaching schedule, click here: www.awakeningjoy.info.

                                                              ---

                                                              James Baraz has been teaching mindfulness meditation for over 40 years in the U.S. and internationally, and is a founding teacher of the Spirit Rock Meditation Center. James has been leading the online course Awakening Joy since 2003 and is co-author of Awakening Joy: 10 Steps to Happiness and Awakening Joy for Kids. He also serves as a guiding teacher to One Earth Sangha, a Virtual EcoDharma Center devoted to Buddhist responses to Climate Change.

                                                              Mind Our Democracy is a new project/movement to help meditation, yoga, and other spiritual students navigate these perilous and fraught times with engagement, wisdom, and heart. It's completely non-partisan, encouraging folks to vote for compassion, kindness, and inclusivity in this pivotal moment. Visit the mindourdemocracy.com website to see the inspiring video with Jack Kornfield, Tara Brach, Seane Corn, and other leaders, as well as a set of resources to inspire civic engagement within contemplative communities like yours. Then join our movement and share it with others.

                                                              ---

                                                              Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                              ]]>3cf70418-80ae-4c84-8b26-c28542191565Thu, 20 Oct 2022 05:00:00 -040038:21falsefull4848Ep. 48 (Part 3 of 3) | “Don’t miss it!” says James Baraz, author of Awakening Joy and creator of the very intriguing 5-month Awakening Joy course. “Don't miss it'' refers to the present moment—the gladness, the beauty, the uniqueness. James explains that in order to awaken our joy, we need to savor the wholesome moments and not turn away distracted, slipping back into our habitual mental ruts. James’ teachings take us deeply into states like gratitude and compassionate presence, to where we can focus our attention on how it feels to feel good somatically, thereby creating new neural pathways that strengthen awareness and aliveness. James has witnessed a lot of people learn to love themselves and turn their lives around as a result of this teaching. Why are we the last ones to see the goodness inside ourselves? he wonders. How can we so radically underestimate ourselves? Rest in the landscape of gratitude when James guides a short meditation in part 2, and be inspired that transformational change is indeed possible for all of us—to where we can know the joy of loving ourselves, of connecting with others, the joy of letting go, of service, and the joy of simply being—as we undertake the fundamental experiment of discovering who we really are. Recorded September 14, 2022.Awakening Joy: Life Skills for Living, Loving, Enjoying & Serving Life (Part 2)Ep. 47 (Part 2 of 3) | “Don’t miss it!” says James Baraz, author of Awakening Joy and creator of the very intriguing 5-month Awakening Joy course. “Don't miss it'' refers to the present moment—the gladness, the beauty, the uniqueness. James explains that in order to awaken our joy, we need to savor the wholesome moments and not turn away distracted, slipping back into our habitual mental ruts. James’ teachings take us deeply into states like gratitude and compassionate presence, to where we can focus our attention on how it feels to feel good somatically, thereby creating new neural pathways that strengthen awareness and aliveness. James has witnessed a lot of people learn to love themselves and turn their lives around as a result of this teaching. Why are we the last ones to see the goodness inside ourselves? he wonders. How can we so radically underestimate ourselves? 

                                                              Rest in the landscape of gratitude when James guides a short meditation in part 2, and be inspired that transformational change is indeed possible for all of us—to where we can know the joy of loving ourselves, of connecting with others, the joy of letting go, of service, and the joy of simply being—as we undertake the fundamental experiment of discovering who we really are. Recorded September 14, 2022.

                                                              “A simple shift of perspective is transformative.”

                                                              (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                              Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                              • Train your mind to be on the lookout for the good and notice how it feels to feel good somatically; this will deepen the neural pathways (00:59)
                                                              • James guides a short experiential gratitude practice, where we deepen into feeling how gratitude itself actually feels (05:14)
                                                              • When James lost his joy: how unwholesome states lead to more suffering (11:27)
                                                              • Cultivating wholesome states: maintain and increase wholesome states, but don’t hold onto them (16:06)
                                                              • Awakening Joy’s 10 steps to happiness relate to the 10 states we want to cultivate (18:52) 
                                                              • Intention is the beginning; choosing how to process what’s happening (19:49)
                                                              • Mindfulness: presence deepens the healthy states (21:44)
                                                              • Gratitude “opens our satellite dish to all the blessings in life”(23:00)
                                                              • Opening to the hard stuff, all the suffering in life (23:13) 
                                                              • Integrity, the foundation of well-being (23:31)
                                                              • The joy of letting go: of stuff, of busyness, of our stories (24:52)
                                                              • The joy of loving ourselves and learning to see who we really are (26:47)
                                                              • The difference between narcissism and loving yourself, and the Judeo-Christian myth of needing redemption (27:41) 
                                                              • The joy of connection with others, includes forgiveness (31:07)
                                                              • Compassion, the caring heart that wants to relieve suffering (31:34)
                                                              • The joy of simply being and the underlying nature of reality (32:13)
                                                              • States of contraction vs states of expansion: Sat Chit Ananda (34:39)
                                                              
                                                              

                                                              Resources & References - Part 2

                                                              • C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life*
                                                              • Rick Hanson, Neurodharma*, see also Deep Transformation episode How We Can Hack Our Brain Using Neuroscience to Become Happier, Healthier, More Transcendent, and Turn Altered States to Enduring Traits
                                                              • Ram Dass, one of James’ main teachers, Be Here Now*
                                                              • Ram Dass, Miracle of Love: Stories About Neem Karoli Baba*
                                                              • His Holiness the Dalai Lama, The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living*
                                                              • The 4 Noble Truths of Buddhism
                                                              • Meher Baba, Indian spiritual master, Meyer Baba’s Life & Message (YouTube video)
                                                              • His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama: Compassion and the Individual (on selfish altruism)
                                                              • The Gospel of Thomas, “The kingdom of heaven is within you!”
                                                              • Satcitananda, the nature of ultimate reality 
                                                              • James Baraz’ Awakening Joy 5-month Course: 10 Steps to a Happier Life
                                                              • James Baraz & Shoshana Alexander, Awakening Joy: 10 Steps to Happiness*
                                                              • James Baraz & Michele Lilyanna, Awakening Joy for Kids*
                                                              • One Earth Sangha, virtual EcoDharma center devoted to Buddhist responses to climate change
                                                              
                                                              

                                                              * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                              ---

                                                              Being Here Now: A 2-Day Online Celebration of Ram Dass, November 5-6, 2022

                                                              With Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, Krishna Das, Sharon Salzberg, Trudy Goodman, Mirabai Bush, Jai Uttal, East Forest, Debra Chamberlin-Taylor, James Baraz, and others. For more information and to register, click here:

                                                              https://spirit-rock.secure.retreat.guru/program/being-here-now-a-celebration-of-ram-dass-dc1b22/?_ga=2.188608556.529866604.1664737501-1907087178.1632963128&lang=en.

                                                              ---

                                                              Brahma Vihara 4-week Online Course, Tuesdays, November 1-22, 2022 6:30-8:30pm PT

                                                              Four Buddhist Heart Practices (Brahma Viharas): Loving-kindness, Compassion, Joy, and Equanimity, taught by James Baraz. Formal meditation instructions for developing each of these qualities along with talks on how to apply them in our lives. For more information and to register, click here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-four-buddhist-heart-practices-brahma-viharas-tickets-310766409697.

                                                              ---

                                                              5-Month Awakening Joy Course, January 31-June 6, 2023

                                                              For information about the 5-month course and James Baraz’ teaching schedule, click here: www.awakeningjoy.info.

                                                              ---

                                                              James Baraz has been teaching mindfulness meditation for over 40 years in the U.S. and internationally, and is a founding teacher of the Spirit Rock Meditation Center. James has been leading the online course Awakening Joy since 2003 and is co-author of Awakening Joy: 10 Steps to Happiness and Awakening Joy for Kids. He also serves as a guiding teacher to One Earth Sangha, a Virtual EcoDharma Center devoted to Buddhist responses to Climate Change.

                                                              Mind Our Democracy is a new project/movement to help meditation, yoga, and...]]>Ep. 47 (Part 2 of 3) | “Don’t miss it!” says James Baraz, author of Awakening Joy and creator of the very intriguing 5-month Awakening Joy course. “Don't miss it'' refers to the present moment—the gladness, the beauty, the uniqueness. James explains that in order to awaken our joy, we need to savor the wholesome moments and not turn away distracted, slipping back into our habitual mental ruts. James’ teachings take us deeply into states like gratitude and compassionate presence, to where we can focus our attention on how it feels to feel good somatically, thereby creating new neural pathways that strengthen awareness and aliveness. James has witnessed a lot of people learn to love themselves and turn their lives around as a result of this teaching. Why are we the last ones to see the goodness inside ourselves? he wonders. How can we so radically underestimate ourselves? 

                                                              Rest in the landscape of gratitude when James guides a short meditation in part 2, and be inspired that transformational change is indeed possible for all of us—to where we can know the joy of loving ourselves, of connecting with others, the joy of letting go, of service, and the joy of simply being—as we undertake the fundamental experiment of discovering who we really are. Recorded September 14, 2022.

                                                              “A simple shift of perspective is transformative.”

                                                              (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                              Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                              • Train your mind to be on the lookout for the good and notice how it feels to feel good somatically; this will deepen the neural pathways (00:59)
                                                              • James guides a short experiential gratitude practice, where we deepen into feeling how gratitude itself actually feels (05:14)
                                                              • When James lost his joy: how unwholesome states lead to more suffering (11:27)
                                                              • Cultivating wholesome states: maintain and increase wholesome states, but don’t hold onto them (16:06)
                                                              • Awakening Joy’s 10 steps to happiness relate to the 10 states we want to cultivate (18:52) 
                                                              • Intention is the beginning; choosing how to process what’s happening (19:49)
                                                              • Mindfulness: presence deepens the healthy states (21:44)
                                                              • Gratitude “opens our satellite dish to all the blessings in life”(23:00)
                                                              • Opening to the hard stuff, all the suffering in life (23:13) 
                                                              • Integrity, the foundation of well-being (23:31)
                                                              • The joy of letting go: of stuff, of busyness, of our stories (24:52)
                                                              • The joy of loving ourselves and learning to see who we really are (26:47)
                                                              • The difference between narcissism and loving yourself, and the Judeo-Christian myth of needing redemption (27:41) 
                                                              • The joy of connection with others, includes forgiveness (31:07)
                                                              • Compassion, the caring heart that wants to relieve suffering (31:34)
                                                              • The joy of simply being and the underlying nature of reality (32:13)
                                                              • States of contraction vs states of expansion: Sat Chit Ananda (34:39)
                                                              
                                                              

                                                              Resources & References - Part 2

                                                              • C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life*
                                                              • Rick Hanson, Neurodharma*, see also Deep Transformation episode How We Can Hack Our Brain Using Neuroscience to Become Happier, Healthier, More Transcendent, and Turn Altered States to Enduring Traits
                                                              • Ram Dass, one of James’ main teachers, Be Here Now*
                                                              • Ram Dass, Miracle of Love: Stories About Neem Karoli Baba*
                                                              • His Holiness the Dalai Lama, The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living*
                                                              • The 4 Noble Truths of Buddhism
                                                              • Meher Baba, Indian spiritual master, Meyer Baba’s Life & Message (YouTube video)
                                                              • His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama: Compassion and the Individual (on selfish altruism)
                                                              • The Gospel of Thomas, “The kingdom of heaven is within you!”
                                                              • Satcitananda, the nature of ultimate reality 
                                                              • James Baraz’ Awakening Joy 5-month Course: 10 Steps to a Happier Life
                                                              • James Baraz & Shoshana Alexander, Awakening Joy: 10 Steps to Happiness*
                                                              • James Baraz & Michele Lilyanna, Awakening Joy for Kids*
                                                              • One Earth Sangha, virtual EcoDharma center devoted to Buddhist responses to climate change
                                                              
                                                              

                                                              * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                              ---

                                                              Being Here Now: A 2-Day Online Celebration of Ram Dass, November 5-6, 2022

                                                              With Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, Krishna Das, Sharon Salzberg, Trudy Goodman, Mirabai Bush, Jai Uttal, East Forest, Debra Chamberlin-Taylor, James Baraz, and others. For more information and to register, click here:

                                                              https://spirit-rock.secure.retreat.guru/program/being-here-now-a-celebration-of-ram-dass-dc1b22/?_ga=2.188608556.529866604.1664737501-1907087178.1632963128&lang=en.

                                                              ---

                                                              Brahma Vihara 4-week Online Course, Tuesdays, November 1-22, 2022 6:30-8:30pm PT

                                                              Four Buddhist Heart Practices (Brahma Viharas): Loving-kindness, Compassion, Joy, and Equanimity, taught by James Baraz. Formal meditation instructions for developing each of these qualities along with talks on how to apply them in our lives. For more information and to register, click here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-four-buddhist-heart-practices-brahma-viharas-tickets-310766409697.

                                                              ---

                                                              5-Month Awakening Joy Course, January 31-June 6, 2023

                                                              For information about the 5-month course and James Baraz’ teaching schedule, click here: www.awakeningjoy.info.

                                                              ---

                                                              James Baraz has been teaching mindfulness meditation for over 40 years in the U.S. and internationally, and is a founding teacher of the Spirit Rock Meditation Center. James has been leading the online course Awakening Joy since 2003 and is co-author of Awakening Joy: 10 Steps to Happiness and Awakening Joy for Kids. He also serves as a guiding teacher to One Earth Sangha, a Virtual EcoDharma Center devoted to Buddhist responses to Climate Change.

                                                              Mind Our Democracy is a new project/movement to help meditation, yoga, and other spiritual students navigate these perilous and fraught times with engagement, wisdom, and heart. It's completely non-partisan, encouraging folks to vote for compassion, kindness, and inclusivity in this pivotal moment. Visit the mindourdemocracy.com website to see the inspiring video with Jack Kornfield, Tara Brach, Seane Corn, and other leaders, as well as a set of resources to inspire civic engagement within contemplative communities like yours. Then join our movement and share it with others.

                                                              ---

                                                              Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                              ]]>aafa9bf9-847d-45b6-84cb-f6b95c504727Thu, 13 Oct 2022 05:00:00 -040038:38falsefull4747Ep. 47 (Part 2 of 3) | “Don’t miss it!” says James Baraz, author of Awakening Joy and creator of the very intriguing 5-month Awakening Joy course. “Don't miss it'' refers to the present moment—the gladness, the beauty, the uniqueness. James explains that in order to awaken our joy, we need to savor the wholesome moments and not turn away distracted, slipping back into our habitual mental ruts. James’ teachings take us deeply into states like gratitude and compassionate presence, to where we can focus our attention on how it feels to feel good somatically, thereby creating new neural pathways that strengthen awareness and aliveness. James has witnessed a lot of people learn to love themselves and turn their lives around as a result of this teaching. Why are we the last ones to see the goodness inside ourselves? he wonders. How can we so radically underestimate ourselves? Rest in the landscape of gratitude when James guides a short meditation in part 2, and be inspired that transformational change is indeed possible for all of us—to where we can know the joy of loving ourselves, of connecting with others, the joy of letting go, of service, and the joy of simply being—as we undertake the fundamental experiment of discovering who we really are. Recorded September 14, 2022.Awakening Joy: Life Skills for Living, Loving, Enjoying & Serving LifeEp. 46 (Part 1 of 3) | “Don’t miss it!” says James Baraz, author of Awakening Joy and creator of the very intriguing 5-month Awakening Joy course. “Don't miss it'' refers to the present moment—the gladness, the beauty, the uniqueness. James explains that in order to awaken our joy, we need to savor the wholesome moments and not turn away distracted, slipping back into our habitual mental ruts. James’ teachings take us deeply into states like gratitude and compassionate presence, to where we can focus our attention on how it feels to feel good somatically, thereby creating new neural pathways that strengthen awareness and aliveness. James has witnessed a lot of people learn to love themselves and turn their lives around as a result of this teaching. Why are we the last ones to see the goodness inside ourselves? he wonders. How can we so radically underestimate ourselves? 

                                                              Rest in the landscape of gratitude when James guides a short meditation in part 2, and be inspired that transformational change is indeed possible for all of us—to where we can know the joy of loving ourselves, of connecting with others, the joy of letting go, of service, and the joy of simply being—as we undertake the fundamental experiment of discovering who we really are. Recorded September 14, 2022.

                                                              “A simple shift of perspective is transformative.”

                                                              (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                              Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                              • Roger introduces James Baraz, creator of the Awakening Joy course and dedicated Vipassana meditation teacher (01:31)
                                                              • What is it like witnessing so many people in the midst of their transformation? To James, all are bodhisattvas in training and there’s nothing quite like seeing people transforming their pain (04:27)
                                                              • We are the last ones to see the goodness inside us, to see who we really are, we need to see ourselves through our friends’ eyes! (09:04)
                                                              • How can we avoid feeling righteous anger towards people we see as ignorant, who seem to be living in a world of alternate facts? (11:20)
                                                              • Anyone can change and learn how much better it is to love than to hate—though the intention to change is key (22:02)
                                                              • Recognizing we are divine expressions of life with an innate inner goodness (24:50)
                                                              • How can we be the one mistake? How can we so radically underestimate ourselves? (29:14)
                                                              • Look in the mirror, look deeply, and see who you really are (30:30)
                                                              • Opening to pain, metabolizing grief: Awakening Joy is not a feel-good program, it’s a feel-everything program (33:52)
                                                              • With the right tools, we can integrate our pain and the pain of the world; we need to practice grief together as a sacred act (36:51) 
                                                              • Awareness heals; whatever part of you you’re not willing to embrace will run your life (39:49)
                                                              
                                                              

                                                              Resources & References - Part 1

                                                              • James Baraz’ Awakening Joy 5-month Course: 10 Steps to a Happier Life
                                                              • James Baraz & Shoshana Alexander, Awakening Joy: 10 Steps to Happiness*
                                                              • James Baraz & Michele Lilyanna, Awakening Joy for Kids*
                                                              • One Earth Sangha, virtual EcoDharma center devoted to Buddhist responses to climate change where James is a guiding teacher
                                                              • Ram Dass, one of James’ main teachers, Be Here Now*
                                                              • The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC
                                                              • Bob Dylan, “You’ve got a lot of nerve…” (Positively 4th Street) on YouTube
                                                              • Luke 23:34, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”
                                                              • Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, “If only it were all so simple!” The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956*
                                                              • Mary Trump, The Biography of Mary Trump*
                                                              • “Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it” (often attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe from a translation of Faust* by John Anster, but exact quote is by William Hutchison Murray)
                                                              • A Course in Miracles*, “Your grandeur is God's answer to the ego, because it is true. Littleness and grandeur cannot coexist, nor is it possible for them to alternate.”
                                                              • Zen Master Dogen, “To study the Way is to study the Self…”
                                                              • SUN article by Tim McKee, The Geography of Sorrow: Francis Weller on Navigating our Losses and Francis Weller, The Wild Edge of Sorrow*
                                                              • Thomas Hardy, “If a way to the Better there be…”
                                                              • Robert Bly, Iron John: A Book About Men*
                                                              
                                                              

                                                              * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                              ---

                                                              Being Here Now: A 2-Day Online Celebration of Ram Dass, November 5-6, 2022

                                                              With Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, Krishna Das, Sharon Salzberg, Trudy Goodman, Mirabai Bush, Jai Uttal, East Forest, Debra Chamberlin-Taylor, James Baraz, and others. For more information and to register, click here:

                                                              https://spirit-rock.secure.retreat.guru/program/being-here-now-a-celebration-of-ram-dass-dc1b22/?_ga=2.188608556.529866604.1664737501-1907087178.1632963128&lang=en.

                                                              ---

                                                              Brahma Vihara 4-week Online Course, Tuesdays, November 1-22, 2022 6:30-8:30pm PT

                                                              Four Buddhist Heart Practices (Brahma Viharas): Loving-kindness, Compassion, Joy, and Equanimity, taught by James Baraz. Formal meditation instructions for developing each of these qualities along with talks on how to apply them in our lives. For more information and to register, click here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-four-buddhist-heart-practices-brahma-viharas-tickets-310766409697.

                                                              ---

                                                              5-Month Awakening Joy Course, January 31-June 6, 2023

                                                              For information about the 5-month course and James Baraz’ teaching schedule, click...]]>Ep. 46 (Part 1 of 3) | “Don’t miss it!” says James Baraz, author of Awakening Joy and creator of the very intriguing 5-month Awakening Joy course. “Don't miss it'' refers to the present moment—the gladness, the beauty, the uniqueness. James explains that in order to awaken our joy, we need to savor the wholesome moments and not turn away distracted, slipping back into our habitual mental ruts. James’ teachings take us deeply into states like gratitude and compassionate presence, to where we can focus our attention on how it feels to feel good somatically, thereby creating new neural pathways that strengthen awareness and aliveness. James has witnessed a lot of people learn to love themselves and turn their lives around as a result of this teaching. Why are we the last ones to see the goodness inside ourselves? he wonders. How can we so radically underestimate ourselves? 

                                                              Rest in the landscape of gratitude when James guides a short meditation in part 2, and be inspired that transformational change is indeed possible for all of us—to where we can know the joy of loving ourselves, of connecting with others, the joy of letting go, of service, and the joy of simply being—as we undertake the fundamental experiment of discovering who we really are. Recorded September 14, 2022.

                                                              “A simple shift of perspective is transformative.”

                                                              (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                              Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                              • Roger introduces James Baraz, creator of the Awakening Joy course and dedicated Vipassana meditation teacher (01:31)
                                                              • What is it like witnessing so many people in the midst of their transformation? To James, all are bodhisattvas in training and there’s nothing quite like seeing people transforming their pain (04:27)
                                                              • We are the last ones to see the goodness inside us, to see who we really are, we need to see ourselves through our friends’ eyes! (09:04)
                                                              • How can we avoid feeling righteous anger towards people we see as ignorant, who seem to be living in a world of alternate facts? (11:20)
                                                              • Anyone can change and learn how much better it is to love than to hate—though the intention to change is key (22:02)
                                                              • Recognizing we are divine expressions of life with an innate inner goodness (24:50)
                                                              • How can we be the one mistake? How can we so radically underestimate ourselves? (29:14)
                                                              • Look in the mirror, look deeply, and see who you really are (30:30)
                                                              • Opening to pain, metabolizing grief: Awakening Joy is not a feel-good program, it’s a feel-everything program (33:52)
                                                              • With the right tools, we can integrate our pain and the pain of the world; we need to practice grief together as a sacred act (36:51) 
                                                              • Awareness heals; whatever part of you you’re not willing to embrace will run your life (39:49)
                                                              
                                                              

                                                              Resources & References - Part 1

                                                              • James Baraz’ Awakening Joy 5-month Course: 10 Steps to a Happier Life
                                                              • James Baraz & Shoshana Alexander, Awakening Joy: 10 Steps to Happiness*
                                                              • James Baraz & Michele Lilyanna, Awakening Joy for Kids*
                                                              • One Earth Sangha, virtual EcoDharma center devoted to Buddhist responses to climate change where James is a guiding teacher
                                                              • Ram Dass, one of James’ main teachers, Be Here Now*
                                                              • The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC
                                                              • Bob Dylan, “You’ve got a lot of nerve…” (Positively 4th Street) on YouTube
                                                              • Luke 23:34, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”
                                                              • Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, “If only it were all so simple!” The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956*
                                                              • Mary Trump, The Biography of Mary Trump*
                                                              • “Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it” (often attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe from a translation of Faust* by John Anster, but exact quote is by William Hutchison Murray)
                                                              • A Course in Miracles*, “Your grandeur is God's answer to the ego, because it is true. Littleness and grandeur cannot coexist, nor is it possible for them to alternate.”
                                                              • Zen Master Dogen, “To study the Way is to study the Self…”
                                                              • SUN article by Tim McKee, The Geography of Sorrow: Francis Weller on Navigating our Losses and Francis Weller, The Wild Edge of Sorrow*
                                                              • Thomas Hardy, “If a way to the Better there be…”
                                                              • Robert Bly, Iron John: A Book About Men*
                                                              
                                                              

                                                              * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                              ---

                                                              Being Here Now: A 2-Day Online Celebration of Ram Dass, November 5-6, 2022

                                                              With Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, Krishna Das, Sharon Salzberg, Trudy Goodman, Mirabai Bush, Jai Uttal, East Forest, Debra Chamberlin-Taylor, James Baraz, and others. For more information and to register, click here:

                                                              https://spirit-rock.secure.retreat.guru/program/being-here-now-a-celebration-of-ram-dass-dc1b22/?_ga=2.188608556.529866604.1664737501-1907087178.1632963128&lang=en.

                                                              ---

                                                              Brahma Vihara 4-week Online Course, Tuesdays, November 1-22, 2022 6:30-8:30pm PT

                                                              Four Buddhist Heart Practices (Brahma Viharas): Loving-kindness, Compassion, Joy, and Equanimity, taught by James Baraz. Formal meditation instructions for developing each of these qualities along with talks on how to apply them in our lives. For more information and to register, click here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-four-buddhist-heart-practices-brahma-viharas-tickets-310766409697.

                                                              ---

                                                              5-Month Awakening Joy Course, January 31-June 6, 2023

                                                              For information about the 5-month course and James Baraz’ teaching schedule, click here: www.awakeningjoy.info.

                                                              ---

                                                              James Baraz has been teaching mindfulness meditation for over 40 years in the U.S. and internationally, and is a founding teacher of the Spirit Rock Meditation Center. James has been leading the online course Awakening Joy since 2003 and is co-author of Awakening Joy: 10 Steps to Happiness and Awakening Joy for Kids. He also serves as a guiding teacher to One Earth Sangha, a Virtual EcoDharma Center devoted to Buddhist responses to Climate Change.

                                                              Mind Our Democracy is a new project/movement to help meditation, yoga, and other spiritual students navigate these perilous and fraught times with engagement, wisdom, and heart. It's completely non-partisan, encouraging folks to vote for compassion, kindness, and inclusivity in this pivotal moment. Visit the mindourdemocracy.com website to see the inspiring video with Jack Kornfield, Tara Brach, Seane Corn, and other leaders, as well as a set of resources to inspire civic engagement within contemplative communities like yours. Then join our movement and share it with others.

                                                              ---

                                                              Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                              ]]>d67186e8-7e7a-4538-80b0-c154bee2d397Thu, 06 Oct 2022 05:00:00 -040045:08falsefull4646Ep. 46 (Part 1 of 3) | “Don’t miss it!” says James Baraz, author of Awakening Joy and creator of a very intriguing 5-month Awakening Joy course. “Don't miss it'' refers to the present moment—the gladness, the beauty, the uniqueness. James explains that in order to awaken our joy, we need to savor the wholesome moments and not turn away distracted, slipping back into our habitual mental ruts. James’ teachings take us deeply into states like gratitude and compassionate presence, to where we can focus our attention on how it feels to feel good somatically, thereby creating new neural pathways that strengthen awareness and aliveness. James has witnessed a lot of people learn to love themselves and turn their lives around as a result of this teaching. Why are we the last ones to see the goodness inside ourselves? he wonders. How can we so radically underestimate ourselves? Rest in the landscape of gratitude when James guides a short meditation in part 2, and be inspired that transformational change is indeed possible for all of us—to where we can know the joy of loving ourselves, of connecting with others, the joy of letting go, of service, and the joy of simply being—as we undertake the fundamental experiment of discovering who we really are. Recorded September 14, 2022.Opening to Grace: Welcoming the Gifts of Inspiration & TransformationEp. 45 | Miranda Macpherson, spiritual teacher, author, and leader of the Living Grace Global Sangha, received a life changing transmission of divine grace while meditating in a cave in India in 2005. Subsequently, she developed the practice of Ego Relaxation to guide others in becoming receptive to subtle forms of grace that bring the clarity we need to live the most noble and healing of lives. In this conversation, Miranda discusses questions such as “What is the cause of our being and all being? How do we recognize that grace is already our primordial ground? What limits our capacity to be here, as we are, in this moment?” And she describes how using inquiry aids us in forming a relationship with grace.

                                                              Miranda is a spirited, nondual, unabashedly feminine teacher who dares to use the word God. Hers is an inspirational path and teaching leading to the development of profound trust. Miranda describes how her own total trust developed through periods of undoing, sorting out, a period of relinquishment, and finally allowing the dissembling of all that was familiar. Not leading with our intellect is what we need to learn. As Miranda says, “What the world needs is more graceful human beings.” Recorded at the Science and Nonduality Conference, October 2019, with Dr. Roger Walsh, John Dupuy, and Douglas Prater. 

                                                              “Be nothing, do nothing. Get nothing, become nothing. Seek for nothing. Relinquish nothing. Be as you are. Rest in God.”

                                                              Note: This podcast was recorded live and includes, at times, some extraneous noises in the background. Please excuse them -- we felt the conversation was very valuable and well worth sharing with our audience. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

                                                              (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                              Topics & Time Stamps

                                                              • What is grace? The agency of our transformation (01:50)
                                                              • The path of “gentle effort” vs ego effort (05:11)
                                                              • Humbling our sense of being the “doer” and recognizing the cause of our being—and all being (06:05)
                                                              • Using inquiry to form a relationship with grace: what is holding you now? (08:50)
                                                              • The ground of being is more than emptiness; it’s full of life, nourishing and healing (10:42)
                                                              • Recognizing the ground of grace is the beginning of ego relaxation (12:28)
                                                              • Miranda’s ego relaxation teaching practices: holistic inquiry and meditation (13:06)
                                                              • The value of human relationship for awakening (16:24)
                                                              • Fear is a force we need to address if we want to deepen—both individual and cultural fear (17:55)
                                                              • In the practice of ego relaxation, do nothing to fix or change yourself, but allow the mystical power of grace to do the transforming; all you need to do is stop concealing yourself (21:52)
                                                              • Simply letting things be is effective because it brings to light that you are not the doer (24:32)
                                                              • How to overcome the deeply ingrained message “life is not meant to be easy” (27:31)
                                                              • Miranda’s transmission of ego relaxation in a cave in India and her following “period of undoing” (28:58)
                                                              • Our egos are driven by an experience of lack—let’s relax into self-forgiveness and compassion (34:03)
                                                              • What happened with Miranda when more ordinary awareness returned? (38:09)
                                                              • The importance of including our animal humanity—the emotional, the frightened, the irrational and non-linear (42:55)
                                                              • The integration stage and the call to service (44:59)
                                                              • How does the practice of ego relaxation contribute to helping our civilization at this time of crisis? (47:19)
                                                              • Becoming open to the most subtle forms of grace (49:15)
                                                              
                                                              

                                                              Resources & References

                                                              • Miranda Macpherson, The Way of Grace: The Transforming Power of Ego Relaxation* 
                                                              • Miranda Macpherson, Boundless Love: Transforming Your Life with Grace and Inspiration
                                                              • Miranda Macpherson, Meditations on Boundless Love* (Sounds True audiobook)
                                                              • Miranda Macpherson, Streams of Grace (kirtan/mantra album)
                                                              • Miranda Macpherson, The Heart of Being: Mantras for Awakening (kirtan/mantra album)
                                                              • Miranda’s website: MirandaMacpherson.com
                                                              • The Living Grace Global Sangha
                                                              • Ramana Maharshi, Indian sage and liberated being, 1879-1950
                                                              • Eknath Easwaran, The Bhagavad Gita* (2nd edition)
                                                              • A Course in Miracles*, Helen Schucman and the Foundation for Inner Peace
                                                              • Malcolm Fraser, prime minister of Australia 1995-1983
                                                              • St. John of the Cross, Spanish Catholic priest, mystic, and Carmelite friar
                                                              • SengTs’an, Third Chinese Patriarch of Zen, “The Mind of Absolute Trust” from The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry* (edited by Stephen Mitchell)
                                                              
                                                              

                                                              * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                              ---

                                                              Miranda Macpherson is known for her depth of presence and gift for guiding others into direct experience of the Sacred. She shares a holistic approach to spiritual surrender and non-dual realization based on the practice of Ego Relaxation, inspired by Sri Ramana Maharshi, A Course in Miracles, extensive study of the world’s wisdom traditions, and more recently the Diamond Approach. Miranda’s books include The Way of Grace: The Transforming Power of Ego Relaxation, Boundless Love, and Meditations on Boundless Love. She is also a kirtan musician with two mantra albums, Streams of Grace and The Heart of Being. 

                                                              Miranda brings three decades of teaching experience in what truly works to liberate unnecessary suffering and gain traction on the path of awakening. Founder of OneSpirit Interfaith Foundation in London, where she trained and ordained over 600 ministers and spiritual counselors, today Miranda leads the Living Grace Global Sangha and offers retreats internationally and online programs through the Shift Network.

                                                              ---

                                                              Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                              ]]>Ep. 45 | Miranda Macpherson, spiritual teacher, author, and leader of the Living Grace Global Sangha, received a life changing transmission of divine grace while meditating in a cave in India in 2005. Subsequently, she developed the practice of Ego Relaxation to guide others in becoming receptive to subtle forms of grace that bring the clarity we need to live the most noble and healing of lives. In this conversation, Miranda discusses questions such as “What is the cause of our being and all being? How do we recognize that grace is already our primordial ground? What limits our capacity to be here, as we are, in this moment?” And she describes how using inquiry aids us in forming a relationship with grace.

                                                              Miranda is a spirited, nondual, unabashedly feminine teacher who dares to use the word God. Hers is an inspirational path and teaching leading to the development of profound trust. Miranda describes how her own total trust developed through periods of undoing, sorting out, a period of relinquishment, and finally allowing the dissembling of all that was familiar. Not leading with our intellect is what we need to learn. As Miranda says, “What the world needs is more graceful human beings.” Recorded at the Science and Nonduality Conference, October 2019, with Dr. Roger Walsh, John Dupuy, and Douglas Prater. 

                                                              “Be nothing, do nothing. Get nothing, become nothing. Seek for nothing. Relinquish nothing. Be as you are. Rest in God.”

                                                              Note: This podcast was recorded live and includes, at times, some extraneous noises in the background. Please excuse them -- we felt the conversation was very valuable and well worth sharing with our audience. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

                                                              (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                              Topics & Time Stamps

                                                              • What is grace? The agency of our transformation (01:50)
                                                              • The path of “gentle effort” vs ego effort (05:11)
                                                              • Humbling our sense of being the “doer” and recognizing the cause of our being—and all being (06:05)
                                                              • Using inquiry to form a relationship with grace: what is holding you now? (08:50)
                                                              • The ground of being is more than emptiness; it’s full of life, nourishing and healing (10:42)
                                                              • Recognizing the ground of grace is the beginning of ego relaxation (12:28)
                                                              • Miranda’s ego relaxation teaching practices: holistic inquiry and meditation (13:06)
                                                              • The value of human relationship for awakening (16:24)
                                                              • Fear is a force we need to address if we want to deepen—both individual and cultural fear (17:55)
                                                              • In the practice of ego relaxation, do nothing to fix or change yourself, but allow the mystical power of grace to do the transforming; all you need to do is stop concealing yourself (21:52)
                                                              • Simply letting things be is effective because it brings to light that you are not the doer (24:32)
                                                              • How to overcome the deeply ingrained message “life is not meant to be easy” (27:31)
                                                              • Miranda’s transmission of ego relaxation in a cave in India and her following “period of undoing” (28:58)
                                                              • Our egos are driven by an experience of lack—let’s relax into self-forgiveness and compassion (34:03)
                                                              • What happened with Miranda when more ordinary awareness returned? (38:09)
                                                              • The importance of including our animal humanity—the emotional, the frightened, the irrational and non-linear (42:55)
                                                              • The integration stage and the call to service (44:59)
                                                              • How does the practice of ego relaxation contribute to helping our civilization at this time of crisis? (47:19)
                                                              • Becoming open to the most subtle forms of grace (49:15)
                                                              
                                                              

                                                              Resources & References

                                                              • Miranda Macpherson, The Way of Grace: The Transforming Power of Ego Relaxation* 
                                                              • Miranda Macpherson, Boundless Love: Transforming Your Life with Grace and Inspiration
                                                              • Miranda Macpherson, Meditations on Boundless Love* (Sounds True audiobook)
                                                              • Miranda Macpherson, Streams of Grace (kirtan/mantra album)
                                                              • Miranda Macpherson, The Heart of Being: Mantras for Awakening (kirtan/mantra album)
                                                              • Miranda’s website: MirandaMacpherson.com
                                                              • The Living Grace Global Sangha
                                                              • Ramana Maharshi, Indian sage and liberated being, 1879-1950
                                                              • Eknath Easwaran, The Bhagavad Gita* (2nd edition)
                                                              • A Course in Miracles*, Helen Schucman and the Foundation for Inner Peace
                                                              • Malcolm Fraser, prime minister of Australia 1995-1983
                                                              • St. John of the Cross, Spanish Catholic priest, mystic, and Carmelite friar
                                                              • SengTs’an, Third Chinese Patriarch of Zen, “The Mind of Absolute Trust” from The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry* (edited by Stephen Mitchell)
                                                              
                                                              

                                                              * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                              ---

                                                              Miranda Macpherson is known for her depth of presence and gift for guiding others into direct experience of the Sacred. She shares a holistic approach to spiritual surrender and non-dual realization based on the practice of Ego Relaxation, inspired by Sri Ramana Maharshi, A Course in Miracles, extensive study of the world’s wisdom traditions, and more recently the Diamond Approach. Miranda’s books include The Way of Grace: The Transforming Power of Ego Relaxation, Boundless Love, and Meditations on Boundless Love. She is also a kirtan musician with two mantra albums, Streams of Grace and The Heart of Being. 

                                                              Miranda brings three decades of teaching experience in what truly works to liberate unnecessary suffering and gain traction on the path of awakening. Founder of OneSpirit Interfaith Foundation in London, where she trained and ordained over 600 ministers and spiritual counselors, today Miranda leads the Living Grace Global Sangha and offers retreats internationally and online programs through the Shift Network.

                                                              ---

                                                              Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                              ]]>9d060b97-c5e5-442d-92fc-bd67779f8b84Thu, 29 Sep 2022 05:00:00 -040055:55falsefull4545Ep. 45 | Miranda Macpherson, spiritual teacher, author, and leader of the Living Grace Global Sangha, received a life changing transmission of divine grace while meditating in a cave in India in 2005. Subsequently, she developed the practice of Ego Relaxation to guide others in becoming receptive to subtle forms of grace that bring the clarity we need to live the most noble and healing of lives. In this conversation, Miranda discusses questions such as “What is the cause of our being and all being? How do we recognize that grace is already our primordial ground? What limits our capacity to be here, as we are, in this moment?” And she describes how using inquiry aids us in forming a relationship with grace. Miranda is a spirited, nondual, unabashedly feminine teacher who dares to use the word God. Hers is an inspirational path and teaching leading to the development of profound trust. Miranda describes how her own total trust developed through periods of undoing, sorting out, a period of relinquishment, and finally allowing the dissembling of all that was familiar. Not leading with our intellect is what we need to learn. As Miranda says, “What the world needs is more graceful human beings.” Recorded at the Science and Nonduality Conference, October 2019, with Dr. Roger Walsh, John Dupuy, and Douglas Prater.Nonduality and Beyond: The Exhilarating Adventure of Discovering the Nature of Reality & How Awakenings Can Unfold Endlessly with A. H. Almaas (Part 2)Ep. 44 (Part 2 of 2) | A.H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), renowned author and co-creator of the Diamond Approach, a complete spiritual path that flows out of his direct personal experience and realization, informed by the great wisdom traditions and practices, describes here his own process of inquiry and some of what he has come to discover in his lifelong pursuit to understand the nature of reality and know the truth. 

                                                              Hameed tells us answers come in the form of experiences rather than words and that there is no end to what we can realize about our true nature and reality itself. He talks about experiencing the authentic presence of being; the dynamics of realization; the paradox of practice; the importance of curiosity; and the joy of discovery. What makes time possible and what makes timelessness possible? What happens when we die? Throughout the conversation, Hameed transmits a quiet exuberance, humor, profound wisdom, and deep peace. This is a remarkable, inspiring, sometimes astonishing dialogue that will illuminate and exhilarate your understanding of the nature of reality and our potential as human beings. Recorded August 10, 2022.

                                                              “Reality really has much more up its sleeve than any human being can imagine.”

                                                              (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                              Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                              • On death: each of us has a particular consciousness that is undying; death is not the end, but how we live our life will influence how we die and afterwards (00:53)
                                                              • Is an initial activation—a “close encounter of the third kind with true nature”—a requirement to enter the Ridhwan School? (07:49)
                                                              • What is “runaway realization''? There’s no end to what you can realize about reality or yourself (09:18)
                                                              • The importance of true curiosity (12:30)
                                                              • The experience of pure, absolute time: what makes time possible and timelessness possible? An example of Hameed’s own inquiry process (13:29) 
                                                              • Spiritual discourse and non-standard realization (15:57)
                                                              • Becoming alive to the zen of ordinariness (20:02)
                                                              • Hameed’s practice: continual inquiry and meditation (22:31)
                                                              • Most of Hameed’s awakenings don’t happen in meditation (24:47)
                                                              • The dynamic of realization: practice opens us to grace (25:56)
                                                              • Opening to transmission (31:59)
                                                              • A new kind of presence: non-standard presence is very important to opening to runaway realization (33:12)
                                                              • In the depths of nondual realization something arises (36:51)
                                                              
                                                              

                                                              Resources & References - Part 2

                                                              • The Ten Ox Herding Pictures from the Zen tradition 
                                                              • Vajra Body, symbol of highest spiritual power
                                                              • Hameed Ali, creator of The Ridhwan School and The Diamond Path
                                                              • A. H. Almaas, Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery*
                                                              • A. H. Almaas,The Alchemy of Freedom: The Philosophers’ Stone and the Secrets of Existence*
                                                              • A. H. Almaas, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type*
                                                              • A. H. Almaas, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart*
                                                              • A. H. Almaas, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence*
                                                              • A. H. Almaas books page on Amazon*
                                                              • Diamond Approach YouTube videos with A. H. Almaas
                                                              
                                                              

                                                              * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                              ---

                                                              A. Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. 

                                                              He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general. Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach.

                                                              ---

                                                              Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                              ]]>Ep. 44 (Part 2 of 2) | A.H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), renowned author and co-creator of the Diamond Approach, a complete spiritual path that flows out of his direct personal experience and realization, informed by the great wisdom traditions and practices, describes here his own process of inquiry and some of what he has come to discover in his lifelong pursuit to understand the nature of reality and know the truth. 

                                                              Hameed tells us answers come in the form of experiences rather than words and that there is no end to what we can realize about our true nature and reality itself. He talks about experiencing the authentic presence of being; the dynamics of realization; the paradox of practice; the importance of curiosity; and the joy of discovery. What makes time possible and what makes timelessness possible? What happens when we die? Throughout the conversation, Hameed transmits a quiet exuberance, humor, profound wisdom, and deep peace. This is a remarkable, inspiring, sometimes astonishing dialogue that will illuminate and exhilarate your understanding of the nature of reality and our potential as human beings. Recorded August 10, 2022.

                                                              “Reality really has much more up its sleeve than any human being can imagine.”

                                                              (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                              Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                              • On death: each of us has a particular consciousness that is undying; death is not the end, but how we live our life will influence how we die and afterwards (00:53)
                                                              • Is an initial activation—a “close encounter of the third kind with true nature”—a requirement to enter the Ridhwan School? (07:49)
                                                              • What is “runaway realization''? There’s no end to what you can realize about reality or yourself (09:18)
                                                              • The importance of true curiosity (12:30)
                                                              • The experience of pure, absolute time: what makes time possible and timelessness possible? An example of Hameed’s own inquiry process (13:29) 
                                                              • Spiritual discourse and non-standard realization (15:57)
                                                              • Becoming alive to the zen of ordinariness (20:02)
                                                              • Hameed’s practice: continual inquiry and meditation (22:31)
                                                              • Most of Hameed’s awakenings don’t happen in meditation (24:47)
                                                              • The dynamic of realization: practice opens us to grace (25:56)
                                                              • Opening to transmission (31:59)
                                                              • A new kind of presence: non-standard presence is very important to opening to runaway realization (33:12)
                                                              • In the depths of nondual realization something arises (36:51)
                                                              
                                                              

                                                              Resources & References - Part 2

                                                              • The Ten Ox Herding Pictures from the Zen tradition 
                                                              • Vajra Body, symbol of highest spiritual power
                                                              • Hameed Ali, creator of The Ridhwan School and The Diamond Path
                                                              • A. H. Almaas, Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery*
                                                              • A. H. Almaas,The Alchemy of Freedom: The Philosophers’ Stone and the Secrets of Existence*
                                                              • A. H. Almaas, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type*
                                                              • A. H. Almaas, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart*
                                                              • A. H. Almaas, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence*
                                                              • A. H. Almaas books page on Amazon*
                                                              • Diamond Approach YouTube videos with A. H. Almaas
                                                              
                                                              

                                                              * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                              ---

                                                              A. Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. 

                                                              He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general. Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach.

                                                              ---

                                                              Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                              ]]>5fc8d82f-193e-4a28-a9ae-370d9a8eff6aThu, 22 Sep 2022 05:00:00 -040043:31falsefull4444Ep. 44 (Part 2 of 2) | A.H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), renowned author and co-creator of the Diamond Approach, a complete spiritual path that flows out of his direct personal experience and realization, informed by the great wisdom traditions and practices, describes here his own process of inquiry and some of what he has come to discover in his lifelong pursuit to understand the nature of reality and know the truth. Hameed tells us answers come in the form of experiences rather than words and that there is no end to what we can realize about our true nature and reality itself. He talks about experiencing the authentic presence of being; the dynamics of realization; the paradox of practice; the importance of curiosity; and the joy of discovery. What makes time possible and what makes timelessness possible? What happens when we die? Throughout the conversation, Hameed transmits a quiet exuberance, humor, profound wisdom, and deep peace. This is a remarkable, inspiring, sometimes astonishing dialogue that will illuminate and exhilarate your understanding of the nature of reality and our potential as human beings. Recorded August 10, 2022.Nonduality and Beyond: The Exhilarating Adventure of Discovering the Nature of Reality & How Awakenings Can Unfold Endlessly with A. H. AlmaasEp. 43 (Part 1 of 2) | A.H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), renowned author and co-creator of the Diamond Approach, a complete spiritual path that flows out of his direct personal experience and realization, informed by the great wisdom traditions and practices, describes here his own process of inquiry and some of what he has come to discover in his lifelong pursuit to understand the nature of reality and know the truth. 

                                                              Hameed tells us answers come in the form of experiences rather than words and that there is no end to what we can realize about our true nature and reality itself. He talks about experiencing the authentic presence of being; the dynamics of realization; the paradox of practice; the importance of curiosity; and the joy of discovery. What makes time possible and what makes timelessness possible? What happens when we die? Throughout the conversation, Hameed transmits a quiet exuberance, humor, profound wisdom, and deep peace. This is a remarkable, inspiring, sometimes astonishing dialogue that will illuminate and exhilarate your understanding of the nature of reality and our potential as human beings. Recorded August 10, 2022.

                                                              “Reality really has much more up its sleeve than any human being can imagine.”

                                                              (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                              Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                              • Roger introduces Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) and the Diamond Approach (01:09)
                                                              • The practice of direct inquiry into the fundamental nature of reality: the answers come in experiences rather than words (05:10)
                                                              • Trusting reality to take us to what is good for us; reality is self revealing (08:14)
                                                              • The “paradox of practice”: recognizing our inherent helplessness and hopelessness (10:19) 
                                                              • Hameed’s initial opening: recognizing the authentic presence of being (13:06)
                                                              • Each awakening has a particular view: nonduality and beyond (15:09)
                                                              • Holding on to a view becomes a delusion, regardless of the realization (18:51)
                                                              • The “view of totality”: a metaperspective allowing for endless realizations and openings and appreciation of the boundless creativity of the universe (21:37)
                                                              • Many teachings are working towards liberation and freedom from suffering, but Hameed “wanted to understand reality and to know the truth” (25:22)
                                                              • Enlightenment itself evolves, it keeps moving (28:33)
                                                              • The dichotomy between spiritual and material is a construct (35:10)
                                                              • Discovery is part of life, part of realization (37:18)
                                                              • The completion of realization is going out in the world, learning how to live it (39:04)
                                                              
                                                              

                                                              Resources & References - Part 1

                                                              • Hameed Ali (A.H. Almaas), creator of The Ridhwan School and The Diamond Approach
                                                              • A. H. Almaas, Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery*
                                                              • A. H. Almaas,The Alchemy of Freedom: The Philosophers’ Stone and the Secrets of Existence*
                                                              • A. H. Almaas, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type*
                                                              • A. H. Almaas, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart*
                                                              • A. H. Almaas, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence*
                                                              • A. H. Almaas books page on Amazon*
                                                              • Diamond Approach YouTube videos with A. H. Almaas
                                                              • Ken Wilber, philosopher, author, creator of Integral Theory, The Integral Vision*
                                                              • Sri Aurobindo, Indian philosopher, poet, yoga guru
                                                              • Dzogchen, a tradition of teachings in Tibetan Buddhism
                                                              • Vedanta, one of six schools of Hindu philosophy
                                                              • Huayan Buddhism, a school of Buddhism that includes the Round Teaching, an understanding of the other-dependent nature of ultimate reality, a unilocal view
                                                              • Dogen, founder of the Sōtō School of Zen
                                                              
                                                              

                                                              * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                              ---

                                                              A. Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. 

                                                              He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general. Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach.

                                                              ---

                                                              Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                              ]]>Ep. 43 (Part 1 of 2) | A.H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), renowned author and co-creator of the Diamond Approach, a complete spiritual path that flows out of his direct personal experience and realization, informed by the great wisdom traditions and practices, describes here his own process of inquiry and some of what he has come to discover in his lifelong pursuit to understand the nature of reality and know the truth. 

                                                              Hameed tells us answers come in the form of experiences rather than words and that there is no end to what we can realize about our true nature and reality itself. He talks about experiencing the authentic presence of being; the dynamics of realization; the paradox of practice; the importance of curiosity; and the joy of discovery. What makes time possible and what makes timelessness possible? What happens when we die? Throughout the conversation, Hameed transmits a quiet exuberance, humor, profound wisdom, and deep peace. This is a remarkable, inspiring, sometimes astonishing dialogue that will illuminate and exhilarate your understanding of the nature of reality and our potential as human beings. Recorded August 10, 2022.

                                                              “Reality really has much more up its sleeve than any human being can imagine.”

                                                              (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                              Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                              • Roger introduces Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) and the Diamond Approach (01:09)
                                                              • The practice of direct inquiry into the fundamental nature of reality: the answers come in experiences rather than words (05:10)
                                                              • Trusting reality to take us to what is good for us; reality is self revealing (08:14)
                                                              • The “paradox of practice”: recognizing our inherent helplessness and hopelessness (10:19) 
                                                              • Hameed’s initial opening: recognizing the authentic presence of being (13:06)
                                                              • Each awakening has a particular view: nonduality and beyond (15:09)
                                                              • Holding on to a view becomes a delusion, regardless of the realization (18:51)
                                                              • The “view of totality”: a metaperspective allowing for endless realizations and openings and appreciation of the boundless creativity of the universe (21:37)
                                                              • Many teachings are working towards liberation and freedom from suffering, but Hameed “wanted to understand reality and to know the truth” (25:22)
                                                              • Enlightenment itself evolves, it keeps moving (28:33)
                                                              • The dichotomy between spiritual and material is a construct (35:10)
                                                              • Discovery is part of life, part of realization (37:18)
                                                              • The completion of realization is going out in the world, learning how to live it (39:04)
                                                              
                                                              

                                                              Resources & References - Part 1

                                                              • Hameed Ali (A.H. Almaas), creator of The Ridhwan School and The Diamond Approach
                                                              • A. H. Almaas, Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery*
                                                              • A. H. Almaas,The Alchemy of Freedom: The Philosophers’ Stone and the Secrets of Existence*
                                                              • A. H. Almaas, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type*
                                                              • A. H. Almaas, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart*
                                                              • A. H. Almaas, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence*
                                                              • A. H. Almaas books page on Amazon*
                                                              • Diamond Approach YouTube videos with A. H. Almaas
                                                              • Ken Wilber, philosopher, author, creator of Integral Theory, The Integral Vision*
                                                              • Sri Aurobindo, Indian philosopher, poet, yoga guru
                                                              • Dzogchen, a tradition of teachings in Tibetan Buddhism
                                                              • Vedanta, one of six schools of Hindu philosophy
                                                              • Huayan Buddhism, a school of Buddhism that includes the Round Teaching, an understanding of the other-dependent nature of ultimate reality, a unilocal view
                                                              • Dogen, founder of the Sōtō School of Zen
                                                              
                                                              

                                                              * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                              ---

                                                              A. Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. 

                                                              He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general. Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach.

                                                              ---

                                                              Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                              ]]>24c961f1-56f2-4d17-9ab9-c127eba6bdf0Thu, 15 Sep 2022 05:00:00 -040042:03falsefull4343Ep. 43 (Part 1 of 2) | A.H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), renowned author and co-creator of the Diamond Approach, a complete spiritual path that flows out of his direct personal experience and realization, informed by the great wisdom traditions and practices, describes here his own process of inquiry and some of what he has come to discover in his lifelong pursuit to understand the nature of reality and know the truth. Hameed tells us answers come in the form of experiences rather than words and that there is no end to what we can realize about our true nature and reality itself. He talks about experiencing the authentic presence of being; the dynamics of realization; the paradox of practice; the importance of curiosity; and the joy of discovery. What makes time possible and what makes timelessness possible? What happens when we die? Throughout the conversation, Hameed transmits a quiet exuberance, humor, profound wisdom, and deep peace. This is a remarkable, inspiring, sometimes astonishing dialogue that will illuminate and exhilarate your understanding of the nature of reality and our potential as human beings. Recorded August 11, 2022.Vertical Development's Many Gifts: How Continuous Adult Development Becomes Possible, the Potentials It Unlocks & How Understanding It Makes New Sense of Our World and Our Selves with Beena Sharma (Part 3)Ep. 43 (Part 3 of 3) | Beena Sharma, president of the Vertical Development Academy (VeDA), gives a beautifully cogent explanation of the 8-stage, full spectrum model of adult psychological development, Vertical Development, illuminating us not only to the characteristics of each stage of development, but the implications and ramifications of each stage, the process of human development as a whole, and how this model can help us face our current metacrisis. Beena describes how “each stage is a way of seeing the world and oneself, a constellation of our beliefs and assumptions,” and we discover that our development takes form in patterns of evolving worldviews, a progression of capacities with which we make sense of the world.

                                                              On an individual level, Beena asks, “Where is your foot nailed to the floor? Where are parts of you still ahead of you? How can this framework help you make a shift?” And collectively, “What does it mean for the human being to evolve? What makes us think humans at this time are at the end of the evolutionary ladder?” Vertical development focuses on the evolving ego, and interestingly, takes us to the stage where we realize the ego itself is only a construct—and beyond. As well as a brilliant unpacking of the vertical development model, this is a profound, warm-hearted conversation, about human evolution and possibility, the dance of the dual and the nondual, the infinitude of the psyche, and what it means to come home to oneself. Recorded July 13, 2022.

                                                              "Everything is a dance of the dual and the nondual."

                                                              (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                              Topics & Time Stamps - Part 3

                                                              • Keeping the question in mind: “Is this framework getting in the way of me connecting with the person in front of me? (02:54)
                                                              • What light does this model of adult development shed on religions and spiritual leaders? (04:33)
                                                              • The core of Integral yoga—integrating the spiritual and the material (09:00)
                                                              • Everything is a dance of the dual and the nondual; either/or thinking manifests all the way up (09:59)
                                                              • What are Beena’s personal practices to stay sane in our confounding world today? (11:08)
                                                              • Implications for our metacrisis: who are the players who have power? (14:50)
                                                              • Solutions come from within small groups who can collaborate (17:17)
                                                              • Paul Hawken, climate change, and the philosophy of regeneration (18:38)
                                                              • What does it mean to be “life minded?” (19:49)
                                                              • How the state of the world, the current metacrisis, is a direct reflection of our individual and collective consciousness (20:16)
                                                              • Corporate investment in leadership is a $161 billion dollar annual industry; leadership design is key (23:48)
                                                              • Central polarity in Beena’s life: Am I doing? Or am I being done? (31:16)
                                                              • How can transformative practices be scaled? Cultivating people who are both wise and politically involved (32:34)
                                                              • The deliberately developmental organization—and the deliberately developmental civilization (34:42)
                                                              • How do we make developmental programs more effective? (35:30)
                                                              • Harvesting technology for good: a design issue and an issue of expanding the designers’ abilities (36:46)
                                                              • Encouraging people to grow; 50-70% of people are at the conventional stages (37:32)
                                                              • Recognizing the war within (42:12)
                                                              
                                                              

                                                              Resources & References - Part 3

                                                              • Brian Daizen Victoria, Zen at War*
                                                              • Sri Aurobindo, sage of modern India
                                                              • Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That*
                                                              • Jean Klein, The Book of Listening*, The Ease of Being*, I Am*
                                                              • Susanne Cook-Greuter, international authority on adult ego development and creator of the Maturity Assessment Profile (MAP)
                                                              • Tomas Björkman, social entrepreneur, author, philosopher, The World We Create*, Cultivating Psychological Maturity (Deep Transformation Podcast Episode 36)
                                                              • Paul Hawken, Project Drawdown, Drawdown: The Most Extensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming*
                                                              • Paul Hawken, Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation*
                                                              • Duane Elgin, The Living Universe*
                                                              • Daniel Schmachtenberger, founding member of The Consilience Project aimed at improving public sensemaking and dialogue
                                                              • The anthropocene age, Age of Man: Enter the Anthropocene
                                                              • Aldous Huxley, Island*
                                                              • Chaos Theory
                                                              • The Third Patriarch of Zen, Hsin Hsin Ming by Seng T’san
                                                              • Neo-Confucianism
                                                              • Tomas Björkman & Lene Andersen, The Nordic Secret*, Cultivating Psychological Maturity (Deep Transformation Podcast Episode 36)
                                                              • Bildung, linking philosophy and education for both personal and cultural maturation
                                                              • Robert Kegan & Lisa Lahey, An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization*
                                                              • Ken Wilber & Dustin diPerna, Toward a Deliberately Developmental Civilization (free download)
                                                              • Beena Sharma, founder Vertical Development Academy (VeDA): facilitating leadership...]]>Ep. 43 (Part 3 of 3) | Beena Sharma, president of the Vertical Development Academy (VeDA), gives a beautifully cogent explanation of the 8-stage, full spectrum model of adult psychological development, Vertical Development, illuminating us not only to the characteristics of each stage of development, but the implications and ramifications of each stage, the process of human development as a whole, and how this model can help us face our current metacrisis. Beena describes how “each stage is a way of seeing the world and oneself, a constellation of our beliefs and assumptions,” and we discover that our development takes form in patterns of evolving worldviews, a progression of capacities with which we make sense of the world.

                                                                On an individual level, Beena asks, “Where is your foot nailed to the floor? Where are parts of you still ahead of you? How can this framework help you make a shift?” And collectively, “What does it mean for the human being to evolve? What makes us think humans at this time are at the end of the evolutionary ladder?” Vertical development focuses on the evolving ego, and interestingly, takes us to the stage where we realize the ego itself is only a construct—and beyond. As well as a brilliant unpacking of the vertical development model, this is a profound, warm-hearted conversation, about human evolution and possibility, the dance of the dual and the nondual, the infinitude of the psyche, and what it means to come home to oneself. Recorded July 13, 2022.

                                                                "Everything is a dance of the dual and the nondual."

                                                                (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                Topics & Time Stamps - Part 3

                                                                • Keeping the question in mind: “Is this framework getting in the way of me connecting with the person in front of me? (02:54)
                                                                • What light does this model of adult development shed on religions and spiritual leaders? (04:33)
                                                                • The core of Integral yoga—integrating the spiritual and the material (09:00)
                                                                • Everything is a dance of the dual and the nondual; either/or thinking manifests all the way up (09:59)
                                                                • What are Beena’s personal practices to stay sane in our confounding world today? (11:08)
                                                                • Implications for our metacrisis: who are the players who have power? (14:50)
                                                                • Solutions come from within small groups who can collaborate (17:17)
                                                                • Paul Hawken, climate change, and the philosophy of regeneration (18:38)
                                                                • What does it mean to be “life minded?” (19:49)
                                                                • How the state of the world, the current metacrisis, is a direct reflection of our individual and collective consciousness (20:16)
                                                                • Corporate investment in leadership is a $161 billion dollar annual industry; leadership design is key (23:48)
                                                                • Central polarity in Beena’s life: Am I doing? Or am I being done? (31:16)
                                                                • How can transformative practices be scaled? Cultivating people who are both wise and politically involved (32:34)
                                                                • The deliberately developmental organization—and the deliberately developmental civilization (34:42)
                                                                • How do we make developmental programs more effective? (35:30)
                                                                • Harvesting technology for good: a design issue and an issue of expanding the designers’ abilities (36:46)
                                                                • Encouraging people to grow; 50-70% of people are at the conventional stages (37:32)
                                                                • Recognizing the war within (42:12)
                                                                
                                                                

                                                                Resources & References - Part 3

                                                                • Brian Daizen Victoria, Zen at War*
                                                                • Sri Aurobindo, sage of modern India
                                                                • Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That*
                                                                • Jean Klein, The Book of Listening*, The Ease of Being*, I Am*
                                                                • Susanne Cook-Greuter, international authority on adult ego development and creator of the Maturity Assessment Profile (MAP)
                                                                • Tomas Björkman, social entrepreneur, author, philosopher, The World We Create*, Cultivating Psychological Maturity (Deep Transformation Podcast Episode 36)
                                                                • Paul Hawken, Project Drawdown, Drawdown: The Most Extensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming*
                                                                • Paul Hawken, Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation*
                                                                • Duane Elgin, The Living Universe*
                                                                • Daniel Schmachtenberger, founding member of The Consilience Project aimed at improving public sensemaking and dialogue
                                                                • The anthropocene age, Age of Man: Enter the Anthropocene
                                                                • Aldous Huxley, Island*
                                                                • Chaos Theory
                                                                • The Third Patriarch of Zen, Hsin Hsin Ming by Seng T’san
                                                                • Neo-Confucianism
                                                                • Tomas Björkman & Lene Andersen, The Nordic Secret*, Cultivating Psychological Maturity (Deep Transformation Podcast Episode 36)
                                                                • Bildung, linking philosophy and education for both personal and cultural maturation
                                                                • Robert Kegan & Lisa Lahey, An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization*
                                                                • Ken Wilber & Dustin diPerna, Toward a Deliberately Developmental Civilization (free download)
                                                                • Beena Sharma, founder Vertical Development Academy (VeDA): facilitating leadership maturity
                                                                
                                                                

                                                                * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                ---

                                                                Beena Sharma currently stewards Vertical Development Academy (VeDA) as its founding president, with a vision to enhance the practice of human development. Beena has a passion around helping individuals and organizations orient themselves to the path of the evolving human being across the various stages of maturity as revealed through empirical research and sound theory. She sees the progressive unfolding of maturity in adults as a process where the narrow, the limited, and the conflicting open to a more comprehensive, a more real, a more complete intuition and perspective—each stage of human maturity a temporary station of a more adequate understanding of the human condition.

                                                                Beena is a gifted master coach, consultant, teacher, and thought leader. She has been recognized nationally and internationally for her achievements in successfully conceptualizing, developing, and delivering systemic leadership development initiatives. Beena has led efforts as an executive and consultant for various agencies of the U.S. government and leading private-sector companies in healthcare and other industries in the U.S., U.K., Europe, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, and India. Beena is committed to designing and delivering exceptional learning experiences to build deep capability in individuals and organizations in service of creating a sustainable future for our civilization.

                                                                ---

                                                                Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                ]]>c3be5846-a414-42d0-ad40-01e5bd2a78ddThu, 08 Sep 2022 05:00:00 -040046:44falsefull4242Ep. 43 (Part 3 of 3) | Beena Sharma, president of the Vertical Development Academy (VeDA), gives a beautifully cogent explanation of the 8-stage, full spectrum model of adult psychological development, Vertical Development, illuminating us not only to the characteristics of each stage of development, but the implications and ramifications of each stage, the process of human development as a whole, and how this model can help us face our current metacrisis. Beena describes how “each stage is a way of seeing the world and oneself, a constellation of our beliefs and assumptions,” and we discover that our development takes form in patterns of evolving worldviews, a progression of capacities with which we make sense of the world. On an individual level, Beena asks, “Where is your foot nailed to the floor? Where are parts of you still ahead of you? How can this framework help you make a shift?” And collectively, “What does it mean for the human being to evolve? What makes us think humans at this time are at the end of the evolutionary ladder?” Vertical development focuses on the evolving ego, and interestingly, takes us to the stage where we realize the ego itself is only a construct—and beyond. As well as a brilliant unpacking of the vertical development model, this is a profound, warm-hearted conversation, about human evolution and possibility, the dance of the dual and the nondual, the infinitude of the psyche, and what it means to come home to oneself. Recorded July 13, 2022.Vertical Development's Many Gifts: How Continuous Adult Development Becomes Possible, the Potentials It Unlocks & How Understanding It Makes New Sense of Our World and Our Selves with Beena Sharma (Part 2)Ep. 41 (Part 2 of 3) | Beena Sharma, president of the Vertical Development Academy (VeDA), gives a beautifully cogent explanation of the 8-stage, full spectrum model of adult psychological development, Vertical Development, illuminating us not only to the characteristics of each stage of development, but the implications and ramifications of each stage, the process of human development as a whole, and how this model can help us face our current metacrisis. Beena describes how “each stage is a way of seeing the world and oneself, a constellation of our beliefs and assumptions,” and we discover that our development takes form in patterns of evolving worldviews, a progression of capacities with which we make sense of the world.

                                                                On an individual level, Beena asks, “Where is your foot nailed to the floor? Where are parts of you still ahead of you? How can this framework help you make a shift?” And collectively, “What does it mean for the human being to evolve? What makes us think humans at this time are at the end of the evolutionary ladder?” Vertical development focuses on the evolving ego, and interestingly, takes us to the stage where we realize the ego itself is only a construct—and beyond. As well as a brilliant unpacking of the vertical development model, this is a profound, warm-hearted conversation, about human evolution and possibility, the dance of the dual and the nondual, the infinitude of the psyche, and what it means to come home to oneself. Recorded July 13, 2022.

                                                                “The earlier the stage, the greater the gift; the later the stage, the greater the promise.”

                                                                (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                                • In this framework, an arc represents the ego’s process of development, with the self-determining stage being the top of the arc (01:38)
                                                                • Self-questioning stage: you realize you are not as independent as you thought—you are conditioned, shaped, and molded by your context (02:30)
                                                                • Resolution of the problems in the previous stage come in the new stage (06:41)
                                                                • The biggest shift is between the self-determining self and the self-authoring self—and Integral Theory’s mean green meme (07:14)
                                                                • Self-actualizing stage, where you realize it’s both all relative and there are also some absolutes, and systems thinking comes online internally and externally (10:37)
                                                                • Complexity thinking skills can be taught and learned (13:56)
                                                                • Self-actualizing stage continued: looking for and integrating higher wisdom, for “and” as well as either/or thinking (18:45)
                                                                • The shadow of the self-actualizing stage (22:11)
                                                                • Construct-aware stage: seeing that all the ideas you have are only constructs, abstractions, there is no reality “out there;” the ego itself begins to see it’s only a construct (23:41)
                                                                • This stage illuminates 3 things: existentialism, the wisdom traditions’ concept of emptiness and liberation, and the postmodern stage of deconstructionism (28:47)
                                                                • The Hindu god Shiva, half masculine/half feminine, is personified yin/yang, where all opposites are integrated, the potential of our human form to be in harmony with both emptiness and form (37:33)
                                                                • Transcendent or unitive stage: falling into no boundaries, falling into the now, recognizing we are all one (39:04)
                                                                • This particular adult development framework bridges psychological development with spiritual development, where other frameworks do not (40:58)
                                                                • This is a “full spectrum perspective” on human development and possibility, as Ken Wilber described (42:09)
                                                                • Translation: how do we bring this framework into service? (44:20)
                                                                • The psyche is infinite; the fundamental humility of unknowability (46:50)
                                                                • Developmental movement within stages and across the arc—people are either entering, consolidating, or transitioning (48:54)
                                                                • What does it mean to come home to oneself? (50:29)
                                                                • How Byron Katie’s The Work helps us access the construct-aware stage (52:28)
                                                                
                                                                

                                                                Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                • Robert Kegan, The Evolving Self*
                                                                • Don Beck & Christopher Cowan, Spiral Dynamics*
                                                                • Spiral Dynamics’ Second Tier
                                                                • Who Are the 2nd Tier Thinkers with Ken Wilber
                                                                • Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That*
                                                                • T.R.V. Murti, Central Philosophy of Buddhism: A Study of the Madhyamika System*
                                                                • Kashmiri Saivism, "Fullness pours into Emptiness; Emptiness pervades Fullness"
                                                                • Kabir, a 15th-century Indian mystic poet, composed poetry that evoked a space called nirgun or shunya—something without qualities or boundaries, empty—which challenged listeners to know it and to know themselves
                                                                • Ken Wilber, The Religion of Tomorrow*
                                                                • Sri Aurobindo, sage of modern India
                                                                • Byron Katie’s The Work, Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life*
                                                                • Beena Sharma, founder Vertical Development Academy (VeDA): facilitating leadership maturity
                                                                
                                                                

                                                                * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                ---

                                                                Beena Sharma currently stewards Vertical Development Academy (VeDA) as its founding president, with a vision to enhance the practice of human development. Beena has a passion around helping individuals and organizations orient themselves to the path of the evolving human being across the various stages of maturity as revealed through empirical research and sound theory. She sees the progressive unfolding of maturity in adults as a process where the narrow, the limited, and the conflicting open to a more comprehensive, a more real, a more complete intuition and perspective—each stage of human maturity a temporary station of a more adequate understanding of the human condition.

                                                                Beena is a gifted master coach, consultant, teacher, and thought leader. She has been recognized nationally and internationally for her achievements in successfully conceptualizing, developing, and delivering systemic leadership development initiatives. Beena has led efforts as an executive and consultant for various agencies of the U.S. government and leading private-sector companies in healthcare and other industries in the U.S., U.K., Europe, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, and India. Beena is committed to designing and delivering exceptional learning experiences to build deep capability in individuals and organizations in service of creating a sustainable future for our civilization.

                                                                ---

                                                                Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                ]]>Ep. 41 (Part 2 of 3) | Beena Sharma, president of the Vertical Development Academy (VeDA), gives a beautifully cogent explanation of the 8-stage, full spectrum model of adult psychological development, Vertical Development, illuminating us not only to the characteristics of each stage of development, but the implications and ramifications of each stage, the process of human development as a whole, and how this model can help us face our current metacrisis. Beena describes how “each stage is a way of seeing the world and oneself, a constellation of our beliefs and assumptions,” and we discover that our development takes form in patterns of evolving worldviews, a progression of capacities with which we make sense of the world.

                                                                On an individual level, Beena asks, “Where is your foot nailed to the floor? Where are parts of you still ahead of you? How can this framework help you make a shift?” And collectively, “What does it mean for the human being to evolve? What makes us think humans at this time are at the end of the evolutionary ladder?” Vertical development focuses on the evolving ego, and interestingly, takes us to the stage where we realize the ego itself is only a construct—and beyond. As well as a brilliant unpacking of the vertical development model, this is a profound, warm-hearted conversation, about human evolution and possibility, the dance of the dual and the nondual, the infinitude of the psyche, and what it means to come home to oneself. Recorded July 13, 2022.

                                                                “The earlier the stage, the greater the gift; the later the stage, the greater the promise.”

                                                                (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                                • In this framework, an arc represents the ego’s process of development, with the self-determining stage being the top of the arc (01:38)
                                                                • Self-questioning stage: you realize you are not as independent as you thought—you are conditioned, shaped, and molded by your context (02:30)
                                                                • Resolution of the problems in the previous stage come in the new stage (06:41)
                                                                • The biggest shift is between the self-determining self and the self-authoring self—and Integral Theory’s mean green meme (07:14)
                                                                • Self-actualizing stage, where you realize it’s both all relative and there are also some absolutes, and systems thinking comes online internally and externally (10:37)
                                                                • Complexity thinking skills can be taught and learned (13:56)
                                                                • Self-actualizing stage continued: looking for and integrating higher wisdom, for “and” as well as either/or thinking (18:45)
                                                                • The shadow of the self-actualizing stage (22:11)
                                                                • Construct-aware stage: seeing that all the ideas you have are only constructs, abstractions, there is no reality “out there;” the ego itself begins to see it’s only a construct (23:41)
                                                                • This stage illuminates 3 things: existentialism, the wisdom traditions’ concept of emptiness and liberation, and the postmodern stage of deconstructionism (28:47)
                                                                • The Hindu god Shiva, half masculine/half feminine, is personified yin/yang, where all opposites are integrated, the potential of our human form to be in harmony with both emptiness and form (37:33)
                                                                • Transcendent or unitive stage: falling into no boundaries, falling into the now, recognizing we are all one (39:04)
                                                                • This particular adult development framework bridges psychological development with spiritual development, where other frameworks do not (40:58)
                                                                • This is a “full spectrum perspective” on human development and possibility, as Ken Wilber described (42:09)
                                                                • Translation: how do we bring this framework into service? (44:20)
                                                                • The psyche is infinite; the fundamental humility of unknowability (46:50)
                                                                • Developmental movement within stages and across the arc—people are either entering, consolidating, or transitioning (48:54)
                                                                • What does it mean to come home to oneself? (50:29)
                                                                • How Byron Katie’s The Work helps us access the construct-aware stage (52:28)
                                                                
                                                                

                                                                Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                • Robert Kegan, The Evolving Self*
                                                                • Don Beck & Christopher Cowan, Spiral Dynamics*
                                                                • Spiral Dynamics’ Second Tier
                                                                • Who Are the 2nd Tier Thinkers with Ken Wilber
                                                                • Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That*
                                                                • T.R.V. Murti, Central Philosophy of Buddhism: A Study of the Madhyamika System*
                                                                • Kashmiri Saivism, "Fullness pours into Emptiness; Emptiness pervades Fullness"
                                                                • Kabir, a 15th-century Indian mystic poet, composed poetry that evoked a space called nirgun or shunya—something without qualities or boundaries, empty—which challenged listeners to know it and to know themselves
                                                                • Ken Wilber, The Religion of Tomorrow*
                                                                • Sri Aurobindo, sage of modern India
                                                                • Byron Katie’s The Work, Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life*
                                                                • Beena Sharma, founder Vertical Development Academy (VeDA): facilitating leadership maturity
                                                                
                                                                

                                                                * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                ---

                                                                Beena Sharma currently stewards Vertical Development Academy (VeDA) as its founding president, with a vision to enhance the practice of human development. Beena has a passion around helping individuals and organizations orient themselves to the path of the evolving human being across the various stages of maturity as revealed through empirical research and sound theory. She sees the progressive unfolding of maturity in adults as a process where the narrow, the limited, and the conflicting open to a more comprehensive, a more real, a more complete intuition and perspective—each stage of human maturity a temporary station of a more adequate understanding of the human condition.

                                                                Beena is a gifted master coach, consultant, teacher, and thought leader. She has been recognized nationally and internationally for her achievements in successfully conceptualizing, developing, and delivering systemic leadership development initiatives. Beena has led efforts as an executive and consultant for various agencies of the U.S. government and leading private-sector companies in healthcare and other industries in the U.S., U.K., Europe, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, and India. Beena is committed to designing and delivering exceptional learning experiences to build deep capability in individuals and organizations in service of creating a sustainable future for our civilization.

                                                                ---

                                                                Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                ]]>90cc0593-4bdf-4a90-bf1f-f582155c85fdThu, 01 Sep 2022 05:00:00 -040055:11falsefull4141Ep. 41 (Part 2 of 3) | Beena Sharma, president of the Vertical Development Academy (VeDA), gives a beautifully cogent explanation of the 8-stage, full spectrum model of adult psychological development, Vertical Development, illuminating us not only to the characteristics of each stage of development, but the implications and ramifications of each stage, the process of human development as a whole, and how this model can help us face our current metacrisis. Beena describes how “each stage is a way of seeing the world and oneself, a constellation of our beliefs and assumptions,” and we discover that our development takes form in patterns of evolving worldviews, a progression of capacities with which we make sense of the world. On an individual level, Beena asks, “Where is your foot nailed to the floor? Where are parts of you still ahead of you? How can this framework help you make a shift?” And collectively, “What does it mean for the human being to evolve? What makes us think humans at this time are at the end of the evolutionary ladder?” Vertical development focuses on the evolving ego, and interestingly, takes us to the stage where we realize the ego itself is only a construct—and beyond. As well as a brilliant unpacking of the vertical development model, this is a profound, warm-hearted conversation, about human evolution and possibility, the dance of the dual and the nondual, the infinitude of the psyche, and what it means to come home to oneself. Recorded July 13, 2022.Vertical Development's Many Gifts: How Continuous Adult Development Becomes Possible, the Potentials It Unlocks & How Understanding It Makes New Sense of Our World and Our Selves with Beena SharmaEp. 40 (Part 1 of 3) | Beena Sharma, president of the Vertical Development Academy (VeDA), gives a beautifully cogent explanation of the 8-stage, full spectrum model of adult psychological development, Vertical Development, illuminating us not only to the characteristics of each stage of development, but the implications and ramifications of each stage, the process of human development as a whole, and how this model can help us face our current metacrisis. Beena describes how “each stage is a way of seeing the world and oneself, a constellation of our beliefs and assumptions,” and we discover that our development takes form in patterns of evolving worldviews, a progression of capacities with which we make sense of the world.

                                                                On an individual level, Beena asks, “Where is your foot nailed to the floor? Where are parts of you still ahead of you? How can this framework help you make a shift?” And collectively, “What does it mean for the human being to evolve? What makes us think humans at this time are at the end of the evolutionary ladder?” Vertical development focuses on the evolving ego, and interestingly, takes us to the stage where we realize the ego itself is only a construct—and beyond. As well as a brilliant unpacking of the vertical development model, this is a profound, warm-hearted conversation, about human evolution and possibility, the dance of the dual and the nondual, the infinitude of the psyche, and what it means to come home to oneself. Recorded July 13, 2022.

                                                                “The earlier the stage, the greater the gift; the later the stage, the greater the promise.”

                                                                (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                                • Introducing teacher and developmental coach Beena Sharma (01:45)
                                                                • The most exciting discovery in psychology is that psychological development and maturity can continue far beyond our 20s, and beyond our conception of “normality” (02:51)
                                                                • We are being evolved; we are transitional beings. Nature’s secret is the evolutionary process (05:15)
                                                                • Exploring human development and the farther reaches of human possibilities: what does it mean for adults to mature? (06:52)
                                                                • Jane Loevinger’s research showed patterns of evolving worldviews, a progression of capacities to make sense of the world, the trajectory revealed through the stories people tell (11:12)
                                                                • Creating space for the process of development, i.e. not using words like higher and lower, saying instead earlier and later (15:26)
                                                                • Maturity is coming to new understandings about what is real, giving up our assumptions, subject becomes object (18:58)
                                                                • Stages of development is a psychoactive model: just understanding that further development is possible helps us grow into our potentials (21:00)
                                                                • Using this framework in an ethical way: be careful not to use it in a reductionist way and label people as inferior; hold it lightly, the stages are idealizations (23:35)
                                                                • What happens over the course of development? How do we get there? Vertical development is an outcome rather than a goal (27:29)
                                                                • Self-centric stage: self-preservation and survival (29:32)
                                                                • Group-centric: the “socialized” stage, where you want to fit in and belong (32:22)
                                                                • Skill-centric stage: my identity is defined by what I do, not what I am (35:25)
                                                                • The triumph of stepping into the next worldview, the next stage (35:55)
                                                                • Loving people at whatever level they are at: “the earlier the stage, the greater the gift; the later the stage, the greater the promise.” (39:08)
                                                                • Earlier stages are not negative, but they are more limited in capacity (40:45)
                                                                • The crisis in parenting, in grandparenting, in ancestoring (44:29)
                                                                • Self-determining stage: now I am an independent agent, the master of my destiny, capable of choice and a healing objectivity (46:15)
                                                                • Preconventional, conventional, postconventional stages (52:04)
                                                                • This developmental process is the ego’s process of evolution, the ego’s process of creating a more complex, nuanced map of how to make sense of the world (53:22)
                                                                
                                                                

                                                                Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                • Beena Sharma, founder of the Vertical Development Academy (VeDA): facilitating leadership maturity
                                                                • Sri Aurobindo, sage of modern India
                                                                • Jane Loevinger’s Stages of Ego Development, Ego Development,* Paradigms of Personality*
                                                                • Susanne Cook-Greuter, Postautonomous Ego Development: A Study of Its Nature and Measurement*
                                                                • Rorschach test
                                                                • Gordon Allport, a pioneer in the study of personality
                                                                • Robert Kegan, The Evolving Self*
                                                                • Enneagram of Personality and the Meyers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
                                                                • Depth psychology and evolutionary psychology
                                                                
                                                                

                                                                * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                ---

                                                                Beena Sharma currently stewards Vertical Development Academy (VeDA) as its founding president, with a vision to enhance the practice of human development. Beena has a passion around helping individuals and organizations orient themselves to the path of the evolving human being across the various stages of maturity as revealed through empirical research and sound theory. She sees the progressive unfolding of maturity in adults as a process where the narrow, the limited, and the conflicting open to a more comprehensive, a more real, a more complete intuition and perspective—each stage of human maturity a temporary station of a more adequate understanding of the human condition.

                                                                Beena is a gifted master coach, consultant, teacher, and thought leader. She has been recognized nationally and internationally for her achievements in successfully conceptualizing, developing, and delivering systemic leadership development initiatives. Beena has led efforts as an executive and consultant for various agencies of the U.S. government and leading private-sector companies in healthcare and other industries in the U.S., U.K., Europe, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, and India. Beena is committed to designing and delivering exceptional learning experiences to build deep capability in individuals and organizations in service of creating a sustainable future for our civilization.

                                                                ---

                                                                Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                ]]>Ep. 40 (Part 1 of 3) | Beena Sharma, president of the Vertical Development Academy (VeDA), gives a beautifully cogent explanation of the 8-stage, full spectrum model of adult psychological development, Vertical Development, illuminating us not only to the characteristics of each stage of development, but the implications and ramifications of each stage, the process of human development as a whole, and how this model can help us face our current metacrisis. Beena describes how “each stage is a way of seeing the world and oneself, a constellation of our beliefs and assumptions,” and we discover that our development takes form in patterns of evolving worldviews, a progression of capacities with which we make sense of the world.

                                                                On an individual level, Beena asks, “Where is your foot nailed to the floor? Where are parts of you still ahead of you? How can this framework help you make a shift?” And collectively, “What does it mean for the human being to evolve? What makes us think humans at this time are at the end of the evolutionary ladder?” Vertical development focuses on the evolving ego, and interestingly, takes us to the stage where we realize the ego itself is only a construct—and beyond. As well as a brilliant unpacking of the vertical development model, this is a profound, warm-hearted conversation, about human evolution and possibility, the dance of the dual and the nondual, the infinitude of the psyche, and what it means to come home to oneself. Recorded July 13, 2022.

                                                                “The earlier the stage, the greater the gift; the later the stage, the greater the promise.”

                                                                (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                                • Introducing teacher and developmental coach Beena Sharma (01:45)
                                                                • The most exciting discovery in psychology is that psychological development and maturity can continue far beyond our 20s, and beyond our conception of “normality” (02:51)
                                                                • We are being evolved; we are transitional beings. Nature’s secret is the evolutionary process (05:15)
                                                                • Exploring human development and the farther reaches of human possibilities: what does it mean for adults to mature? (06:52)
                                                                • Jane Loevinger’s research showed patterns of evolving worldviews, a progression of capacities to make sense of the world, the trajectory revealed through the stories people tell (11:12)
                                                                • Creating space for the process of development, i.e. not using words like higher and lower, saying instead earlier and later (15:26)
                                                                • Maturity is coming to new understandings about what is real, giving up our assumptions, subject becomes object (18:58)
                                                                • Stages of development is a psychoactive model: just understanding that further development is possible helps us grow into our potentials (21:00)
                                                                • Using this framework in an ethical way: be careful not to use it in a reductionist way and label people as inferior; hold it lightly, the stages are idealizations (23:35)
                                                                • What happens over the course of development? How do we get there? Vertical development is an outcome rather than a goal (27:29)
                                                                • Self-centric stage: self-preservation and survival (29:32)
                                                                • Group-centric: the “socialized” stage, where you want to fit in and belong (32:22)
                                                                • Skill-centric stage: my identity is defined by what I do, not what I am (35:25)
                                                                • The triumph of stepping into the next worldview, the next stage (35:55)
                                                                • Loving people at whatever level they are at: “the earlier the stage, the greater the gift; the later the stage, the greater the promise.” (39:08)
                                                                • Earlier stages are not negative, but they are more limited in capacity (40:45)
                                                                • The crisis in parenting, in grandparenting, in ancestoring (44:29)
                                                                • Self-determining stage: now I am an independent agent, the master of my destiny, capable of choice and a healing objectivity (46:15)
                                                                • Preconventional, conventional, postconventional stages (52:04)
                                                                • This developmental process is the ego’s process of evolution, the ego’s process of creating a more complex, nuanced map of how to make sense of the world (53:22)
                                                                
                                                                

                                                                Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                • Beena Sharma, founder of the Vertical Development Academy (VeDA): facilitating leadership maturity
                                                                • Sri Aurobindo, sage of modern India
                                                                • Jane Loevinger’s Stages of Ego Development, Ego Development,* Paradigms of Personality*
                                                                • Susanne Cook-Greuter, Postautonomous Ego Development: A Study of Its Nature and Measurement*
                                                                • Rorschach test
                                                                • Gordon Allport, a pioneer in the study of personality
                                                                • Robert Kegan, The Evolving Self*
                                                                • Enneagram of Personality and the Meyers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
                                                                • Depth psychology and evolutionary psychology
                                                                
                                                                

                                                                * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                ---

                                                                Beena Sharma currently stewards Vertical Development Academy (VeDA) as its founding president, with a vision to enhance the practice of human development. Beena has a passion around helping individuals and organizations orient themselves to the path of the evolving human being across the various stages of maturity as revealed through empirical research and sound theory. She sees the progressive unfolding of maturity in adults as a process where the narrow, the limited, and the conflicting open to a more comprehensive, a more real, a more complete intuition and perspective—each stage of human maturity a temporary station of a more adequate understanding of the human condition.

                                                                Beena is a gifted master coach, consultant, teacher, and thought leader. She has been recognized nationally and internationally for her achievements in successfully conceptualizing, developing, and delivering systemic leadership development initiatives. Beena has led efforts as an executive and consultant for various agencies of the U.S. government and leading private-sector companies in healthcare and other industries in the U.S., U.K., Europe, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, and India. Beena is committed to designing and delivering exceptional learning experiences to build deep capability in individuals and organizations in service of creating a sustainable future for our civilization.

                                                                ---

                                                                Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                ]]>a03bb881-dc3a-4cd3-a803-6826db484913Thu, 25 Aug 2022 05:00:00 -040057:52falsefull4040Ep. 40 (Part 1 of 3) | Beena Sharma, president of the Vertical Development Academy (VeDA), gives a beautifully cogent explanation of the 8-stage, full spectrum model of adult psychological development, Vertical Development, illuminating us not only to the characteristics of each stage of development, but the implications and ramifications of each stage, the process of human development as a whole, and how this model can help us face our current metacrisis. Beena describes how “each stage is a way of seeing the world and oneself, a constellation of our beliefs and assumptions,” and we discover that our development takes form in patterns of evolving worldviews, a progression of capacities with which we make sense of the world. On an individual level, Beena asks, “Where is your foot nailed to the floor? Where are parts of you still ahead of you? How can this framework help you make a shift?” And collectively, “What does it mean for the human being to evolve? What makes us think humans at this time are at the end of the evolutionary ladder?” Vertical development focuses on the evolving ego, and interestingly, takes us to the stage where we realize the ego itself is only a construct—and beyond. As well as a brilliant unpacking of the vertical development model, this is a profound, warm-hearted conversation, about human evolution and possibility, the dance of the dual and the nondual, the infinitude of the psyche, and what it means to come home to oneself. Recorded July 13, 2022.The Remarkable Practice of Dream Yoga: How Lucid Dreaming Makes Sleep Endlessly Fascinating & Leads to Lucid Living (and Lucid Dying) with Andrew Holecek (Part 3)Ep. 39 (Part 3 of 3) | Lucid dreaming expert, author, “curiouist,” and integralist Andrew Holecek explains how lucid dreaming opens the door to a greatly expanded understanding of our minds, our perception of reality, and human potential altogether. If we consciously explore our night lives practicing dream yoga, we can learn how to discard our habits, purify our karma, and discover beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are co-creators of our experience. What we do in dream yoga is not limited to nighttime action; it weaves back into our daytime lives, and ultimately our experience of dying.

                                                                Andrew describes how dreams are a powerful way to discover emptiness and openness, and fall into reality—like falling into love—our primordial contraction cast away. Besides being a life-changing discourse on the incredible potential of dream yoga, Andrew Holecek’s cheerful, well-informed, easy way of talking and teaching about lucid dreaming—relating it also to the wisdom traditions, our sense of identity, and human evolution—makes this a real pleasure to listen to. Recorded on April 13, 2022.

                                                                “Lucid dreaming is metacognitive dreaming: the next iteration of human evolution.”

                                                                (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                Topics & Time Stamps - Part 3

                                                                • How can one begin? First, realize the potentiality of lucid dreaming and become an oneironaut (01:40)
                                                                • The importance of intentionality, and, installing pop-ups in your unconscious mind (04:19)
                                                                • Meditation practice is a super technique to help attain lucidity at night (and in the daytime) (07:18)
                                                                • How you can purify your karma and habits in your dreams (09:51)
                                                                • Transforming the mother of all our habits: reification (12:40)
                                                                • Purifying habits by night purifies habits by day (14:44)
                                                                • His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teaching on dream yoga (19:09)
                                                                • Dream yoga is a powerful way to discover emptiness, emptiness = openness = love; meditation habituates us to openness, and when falling into reality, the primordial contraction is removed (22:00)
                                                                • How the self sense comes undone when we fall asleep, a concordant experience with dying (26:11)
                                                                • Andrew leads a short (game changing) dream yoga practice: 3-fold impurity—and, where is the dreamer? (29:55)
                                                                
                                                                

                                                                Resources & References - Part 3

                                                                • Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Tibetan Buddhist meditation master
                                                                • Milarepa, “phenomena are all the books one needs”
                                                                • Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, 2nd president of India, “Reality overflows our miserable concepts”
                                                                • Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell*
                                                                • Andrew Holecek, Dreams of Light: The Profound Daytime Practice of Lucid Dreaming*
                                                                • Andrew Holecek, Dream Yoga: Illuminating Your Life Through Lucid Dreaming and the Tibetan Yogas of Sleep*
                                                                • Andrew Holecek, The Power and the Pain: Transforming Spiritual Hardship into Joy
                                                                • Andrew Holecek, Preparing to Die: Practical Advice and Spiritual Wisdom from the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition*
                                                                • Andrew Holecek, The Lucid Dreaming Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Mastering Your Dream Life*
                                                                • Dream Yoga: The Tibetan Path of Awakening Through Lucid Dreaming (Sounds True audio learning course)
                                                                • Night Club: Where Meditators and Lucid Dreamers Meet, Andrew Holecek community
                                                                
                                                                

                                                                * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                ---

                                                                Andrew Holecek has completed the traditional three-year Buddhist meditation retreat and offers seminars internationally on lucid dreaming, the art of dying, and meditation. He is the author of many books, including The Lucid Dreaming Workbook, Preparing to Die,  Dream Yoga: Illuminating Your Life Through Lucid Dreaming and the Tibetan Yogas of Sleep; Dreams of Light: The Profound Daytime Practice of Lucid Dreaming, and The Power and the Pain: Transforming Spiritual Hardship into Joy. Dr. Holecek is a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the author of scientific papers on lucid dreaming. His work has appeared in Parabola, Lion’s Roar, Tricycle, Utne Reader, Buddhadharma Magazine, Light of Consciousness, and many other periodicals. He holds degrees in classical music, biology, and a doctorate in dental surgery. 

                                                                ---

                                                                Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                ]]>Ep. 39 (Part 3 of 3) | Lucid dreaming expert, author, “curiouist,” and integralist Andrew Holecek explains how lucid dreaming opens the door to a greatly expanded understanding of our minds, our perception of reality, and human potential altogether. If we consciously explore our night lives practicing dream yoga, we can learn how to discard our habits, purify our karma, and discover beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are co-creators of our experience. What we do in dream yoga is not limited to nighttime action; it weaves back into our daytime lives, and ultimately our experience of dying.

                                                                Andrew describes how dreams are a powerful way to discover emptiness and openness, and fall into reality—like falling into love—our primordial contraction cast away. Besides being a life-changing discourse on the incredible potential of dream yoga, Andrew Holecek’s cheerful, well-informed, easy way of talking and teaching about lucid dreaming—relating it also to the wisdom traditions, our sense of identity, and human evolution—makes this a real pleasure to listen to. Recorded on April 13, 2022.

                                                                “Lucid dreaming is metacognitive dreaming: the next iteration of human evolution.”

                                                                (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                Topics & Time Stamps - Part 3

                                                                • How can one begin? First, realize the potentiality of lucid dreaming and become an oneironaut (01:40)
                                                                • The importance of intentionality, and, installing pop-ups in your unconscious mind (04:19)
                                                                • Meditation practice is a super technique to help attain lucidity at night (and in the daytime) (07:18)
                                                                • How you can purify your karma and habits in your dreams (09:51)
                                                                • Transforming the mother of all our habits: reification (12:40)
                                                                • Purifying habits by night purifies habits by day (14:44)
                                                                • His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teaching on dream yoga (19:09)
                                                                • Dream yoga is a powerful way to discover emptiness, emptiness = openness = love; meditation habituates us to openness, and when falling into reality, the primordial contraction is removed (22:00)
                                                                • How the self sense comes undone when we fall asleep, a concordant experience with dying (26:11)
                                                                • Andrew leads a short (game changing) dream yoga practice: 3-fold impurity—and, where is the dreamer? (29:55)
                                                                
                                                                

                                                                Resources & References - Part 3

                                                                • Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Tibetan Buddhist meditation master
                                                                • Milarepa, “phenomena are all the books one needs”
                                                                • Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, 2nd president of India, “Reality overflows our miserable concepts”
                                                                • Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell*
                                                                • Andrew Holecek, Dreams of Light: The Profound Daytime Practice of Lucid Dreaming*
                                                                • Andrew Holecek, Dream Yoga: Illuminating Your Life Through Lucid Dreaming and the Tibetan Yogas of Sleep*
                                                                • Andrew Holecek, The Power and the Pain: Transforming Spiritual Hardship into Joy
                                                                • Andrew Holecek, Preparing to Die: Practical Advice and Spiritual Wisdom from the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition*
                                                                • Andrew Holecek, The Lucid Dreaming Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Mastering Your Dream Life*
                                                                • Dream Yoga: The Tibetan Path of Awakening Through Lucid Dreaming (Sounds True audio learning course)
                                                                • Night Club: Where Meditators and Lucid Dreamers Meet, Andrew Holecek community
                                                                
                                                                

                                                                * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                ---

                                                                Andrew Holecek has completed the traditional three-year Buddhist meditation retreat and offers seminars internationally on lucid dreaming, the art of dying, and meditation. He is the author of many books, including The Lucid Dreaming Workbook, Preparing to Die,  Dream Yoga: Illuminating Your Life Through Lucid Dreaming and the Tibetan Yogas of Sleep; Dreams of Light: The Profound Daytime Practice of Lucid Dreaming, and The Power and the Pain: Transforming Spiritual Hardship into Joy. Dr. Holecek is a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the author of scientific papers on lucid dreaming. His work has appeared in Parabola, Lion’s Roar, Tricycle, Utne Reader, Buddhadharma Magazine, Light of Consciousness, and many other periodicals. He holds degrees in classical music, biology, and a doctorate in dental surgery. 

                                                                ---

                                                                Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                ]]>96b29aa6-b729-4ebc-86ec-8ad0073f510aThu, 18 Aug 2022 05:00:00 -040046:13falsefull3939Ep. 39 (Part 3 of 3) | Lucid dreaming expert, author, “curiouist,” and integralist Andrew Holecek explains how lucid dreaming opens the door to a greatly expanded understanding of our minds, our perception of reality, and human potential altogether. If we consciously explore our night lives practicing dream yoga, we can learn how to discard our habits, purify our karma, and discover beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are co-creators of our experience. What we do in dream yoga is not limited to nighttime action; it weaves back into our daytime lives, and ultimately our experience of dying. Andrew describes how dreams are a powerful way to discover emptiness and openness, and fall into reality—like falling into love—our primordial contraction cast away. Besides being a life-changing discourse on the incredible potential of dream yoga, Andrew Holecek’s cheerful, well-informed, easy way of talking and teaching about lucid dreaming—relating it also to the wisdom traditions, our sense of identity, and human evolution—makes this a real pleasure to listen to. Recorded on April 13, 2022.The Remarkable Practice of Dream Yoga: How Lucid Dreaming Makes Sleep Endlessly Fascinating & Leads to Lucid Living (and Lucid Dying) with Andrew Holecek (Part 2)Ep. 38 (Part 2 of 3) | Lucid dreaming expert, author, “curiouist,” and integralist Andrew Holecek explains how lucid dreaming opens the door to a greatly expanded understanding of our minds, our perception of reality, and human potential altogether. If we consciously explore our night lives practicing dream yoga, we can learn how to discard our habits, purify our karma, and discover beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are co-creators of our experience. What we do in dream yoga is not limited to nighttime action; it weaves back into our daytime lives, and ultimately our experience of dying.

                                                                Andrew describes how dreams are a powerful way to discover emptiness and openness, and fall into reality—like falling into love—our primordial contraction cast away. Besides being a life-changing discourse on the incredible potential of dream yoga, Andrew Holecek’s cheerful, well-informed, easy way of talking and teaching about lucid dreaming—relating it also to the wisdom traditions, our sense of identity, and human evolution—makes this a real pleasure to listen to. Recorded on April 13, 2022.

                                                                “Lucid dreaming is metacognitive dreaming: the next iteration of human evolution.”

                                                                (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                                • How can one begin? First, realize the potentiality of lucid dreaming and become an oneironaut (01:40)
                                                                • The importance of intentionality, and, installing pop-ups in your unconscious mind (04:19)
                                                                • Meditation practice is a super technique to help attain lucidity at night (and in the daytime) (07:18)
                                                                • How you can purify your karma and habits in your dreams (09:51)
                                                                • Transforming the mother of all our habits: reification (12:40)
                                                                • Purifying habits by night purifies habits by day (14:44)
                                                                • His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teaching on dream yoga (19:09)
                                                                • Dream yoga is a powerful way to discover emptiness, emptiness = openness = love; meditation habituates us to openness, and when falling into reality, the primordial contraction is removed (22:00)
                                                                • How the self sense comes undone when we fall asleep, a concordant experience with dying (26:11)
                                                                • Andrew leads a short (game changing) dream yoga practice: 3-fold impurity—and, where is the dreamer? (29:55)
                                                                
                                                                

                                                                Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                • Andrew Holecek, Dream Yoga: Illuminating Your Life Through Lucid Dreaming and the Tibetan Yogas of Sleep*
                                                                • Andrew Holecek, The Lucid Dreaming Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Mastering Your Dream Life*
                                                                • Stephen LaBerge, Lucid Dreaming: A Concise Guide to Awakening in Your Dreams and in Your Life*
                                                                • His Holiness the 17th Karmapa website, His Holiness the 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje: A Biography*
                                                                • Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, “This is a dream. I am free. I can change.”
                                                                • Mingjur Rinpoche, dream yoga master, the nighttime mind is the best classroom for understanding emptiness
                                                                • Andrew Holecek, Dreams of Light: The Profound Daytime Practice of Lucid Dreaming*
                                                                • International Transpersonal Association
                                                                • Sleeping, Dreaming, and Dying: An Exploration of Consciousness with the Dalai Lama*
                                                                • Socrates, “The unexamined life is not worth living,” recorded in Plato’s Apology 
                                                                • Ken Wilber, “the myth of the given,” Integral Spirituality*
                                                                • Andrew Holecek, The Power and the Pain: Transforming Spiritual Hardship into Joy
                                                                • Andrew Holecek, Preparing to Die: Practical Advice and Spiritual Wisdom from the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition*
                                                                • Dream Yoga: The Tibetan Path of Awakening Through Lucid Dreaming (Sounds True audio learning course)
                                                                • Night Club: Where Meditators and Lucid Dreamers Meet, Andrew Holecek community
                                                                • American Academy of Sleep Medicine, sets standards and promotes excellence in sleep medicine health care, education, and research
                                                                
                                                                

                                                                * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                ---

                                                                Andrew Holecek has completed the traditional three-year Buddhist meditation retreat and offers seminars internationally on lucid dreaming, the art of dying, and meditation. He is the author of many books, including The Lucid Dreaming Workbook, Preparing to Die,  Dream Yoga: Illuminating Your Life Through Lucid Dreaming and the Tibetan Yogas of Sleep; Dreams of Light: The Profound Daytime Practice of Lucid Dreaming, and The Power and the Pain: Transforming Spiritual Hardship into Joy. Dr. Holecek is a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the author of scientific papers on lucid dreaming. His work has appeared in Parabola, Lion’s Roar, Tricycle, Utne Reader, Buddhadharma Magazine, Light of Consciousness, and many other periodicals. He holds degrees in classical music, biology, and a doctorate in dental surgery. 

                                                                ---

                                                                Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                ]]>Ep. 38 (Part 2 of 3) | Lucid dreaming expert, author, “curiouist,” and integralist Andrew Holecek explains how lucid dreaming opens the door to a greatly expanded understanding of our minds, our perception of reality, and human potential altogether. If we consciously explore our night lives practicing dream yoga, we can learn how to discard our habits, purify our karma, and discover beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are co-creators of our experience. What we do in dream yoga is not limited to nighttime action; it weaves back into our daytime lives, and ultimately our experience of dying.

                                                                Andrew describes how dreams are a powerful way to discover emptiness and openness, and fall into reality—like falling into love—our primordial contraction cast away. Besides being a life-changing discourse on the incredible potential of dream yoga, Andrew Holecek’s cheerful, well-informed, easy way of talking and teaching about lucid dreaming—relating it also to the wisdom traditions, our sense of identity, and human evolution—makes this a real pleasure to listen to. Recorded on April 13, 2022.

                                                                “Lucid dreaming is metacognitive dreaming: the next iteration of human evolution.”

                                                                (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                                • How can one begin? First, realize the potentiality of lucid dreaming and become an oneironaut (01:40)
                                                                • The importance of intentionality, and, installing pop-ups in your unconscious mind (04:19)
                                                                • Meditation practice is a super technique to help attain lucidity at night (and in the daytime) (07:18)
                                                                • How you can purify your karma and habits in your dreams (09:51)
                                                                • Transforming the mother of all our habits: reification (12:40)
                                                                • Purifying habits by night purifies habits by day (14:44)
                                                                • His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teaching on dream yoga (19:09)
                                                                • Dream yoga is a powerful way to discover emptiness, emptiness = openness = love; meditation habituates us to openness, and when falling into reality, the primordial contraction is removed (22:00)
                                                                • How the self sense comes undone when we fall asleep, a concordant experience with dying (26:11)
                                                                • Andrew leads a short (game changing) dream yoga practice: 3-fold impurity—and, where is the dreamer? (29:55)
                                                                
                                                                

                                                                Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                • Andrew Holecek, Dream Yoga: Illuminating Your Life Through Lucid Dreaming and the Tibetan Yogas of Sleep*
                                                                • Andrew Holecek, The Lucid Dreaming Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Mastering Your Dream Life*
                                                                • Stephen LaBerge, Lucid Dreaming: A Concise Guide to Awakening in Your Dreams and in Your Life*
                                                                • His Holiness the 17th Karmapa website, His Holiness the 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje: A Biography*
                                                                • Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, “This is a dream. I am free. I can change.”
                                                                • Mingjur Rinpoche, dream yoga master, the nighttime mind is the best classroom for understanding emptiness
                                                                • Andrew Holecek, Dreams of Light: The Profound Daytime Practice of Lucid Dreaming*
                                                                • International Transpersonal Association
                                                                • Sleeping, Dreaming, and Dying: An Exploration of Consciousness with the Dalai Lama*
                                                                • Socrates, “The unexamined life is not worth living,” recorded in Plato’s Apology 
                                                                • Ken Wilber, “the myth of the given,” Integral Spirituality*
                                                                • Andrew Holecek, The Power and the Pain: Transforming Spiritual Hardship into Joy
                                                                • Andrew Holecek, Preparing to Die: Practical Advice and Spiritual Wisdom from the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition*
                                                                • Dream Yoga: The Tibetan Path of Awakening Through Lucid Dreaming (Sounds True audio learning course)
                                                                • Night Club: Where Meditators and Lucid Dreamers Meet, Andrew Holecek community
                                                                • American Academy of Sleep Medicine, sets standards and promotes excellence in sleep medicine health care, education, and research
                                                                
                                                                

                                                                * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                ---

                                                                Andrew Holecek has completed the traditional three-year Buddhist meditation retreat and offers seminars internationally on lucid dreaming, the art of dying, and meditation. He is the author of many books, including The Lucid Dreaming Workbook, Preparing to Die,  Dream Yoga: Illuminating Your Life Through Lucid Dreaming and the Tibetan Yogas of Sleep; Dreams of Light: The Profound Daytime Practice of Lucid Dreaming, and The Power and the Pain: Transforming Spiritual Hardship into Joy. Dr. Holecek is a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the author of scientific papers on lucid dreaming. His work has appeared in Parabola, Lion’s Roar, Tricycle, Utne Reader, Buddhadharma Magazine, Light of Consciousness, and many other periodicals. He holds degrees in classical music, biology, and a doctorate in dental surgery. 

                                                                ---

                                                                Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                ]]>63f7dbb9-82de-40aa-8c76-0e4b32138296Thu, 11 Aug 2022 05:00:00 -040042:22falsefull3838Ep. 38 (Part 2 of 3) | Lucid dreaming expert, author, “curiouist,” and integralist Andrew Holecek explains how lucid dreaming opens the door to a greatly expanded understanding of our minds, our perception of reality, and human potential altogether. If we consciously explore our night lives practicing dream yoga, we can learn how to discard our habits, purify our karma, and discover beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are co-creators of our experience. What we do in dream yoga is not limited to nighttime action; it weaves back into our daytime lives, and ultimately our experience of dying. Andrew describes how dreams are a powerful way to discover emptiness and openness, and fall into reality—like falling into love—our primordial contraction cast away. Besides being a life-changing discourse on the incredible potential of dream yoga, Andrew Holecek’s cheerful, well-informed, easy way of talking and teaching about lucid dreaming—relating it also to the wisdom traditions, our sense of identity, and human evolution—makes this a real pleasure to listen to. Recorded on April 13, 2022.The Remarkable Practice of Dream Yoga: How Lucid Dreaming Makes Sleep Endlessly Fascinating & Leads to Lucid Living (and Lucid Dying) with Andrew HolecekEp. 37 (Part 1 of 3) | Lucid dreaming expert, author, “curiouist,” and integralist Andrew Holecek explains how lucid dreaming opens the door to a greatly expanded understanding of our minds, our perception of reality, and human potential altogether. If we consciously explore our night lives practicing dream yoga, we can learn how to discard our habits, purify our karma, and discover beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are co-creators of our experience. What we do in dream yoga is not limited to nighttime action; it weaves back into our daytime lives, and ultimately our experience of dying.

                                                                Andrew describes how dreams are a powerful way to discover emptiness and openness, and fall into reality—like falling into love—our primordial contraction cast away. Besides being a life-changing discourse on the incredible potential of dream yoga, Andrew Holecek’s cheerful, well-informed, easy way of talking and teaching about lucid dreaming—relating it also to the wisdom traditions, our sense of identity, and human evolution—makes this a real pleasure to listen to. Recorded on April 13, 2022.

                                                                “Lucidity is a code word for awareness.”

                                                                (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                                • Introducing Andrew Holecek, master of Dream Yoga (01:44)
                                                                • Andrew’s profound experience with lucid dreaming as a young man, with dreamtime becoming more real and daytime experience less real (04:08)
                                                                • Retrofitting his understanding over time to make sense of his experience landed Andrew in Buddhism (06:25)
                                                                • Buddha is literally the Awakened One in Sanskrit—awakened in relationship to what? (08:23)
                                                                • Nocturnal practices became a real practice, a unique form of night school and a pedagogy of the future (09:24)
                                                                • Overview of the 5 nocturnal meditations (10:55)
                                                                • Liminal dreaming: getting into the witnessing perspective and watching how the mind goes offline, the ego structure comes undone (11:25)
                                                                • Lucid dreaming: awakening to the fact that you are dreaming—used largely for self-fulfillment (12:44)
                                                                • Dream yoga is where it transitions to self-transcendence (13:42)
                                                                • Sleep yoga, or luminosity yoga, a primary practice of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism (14:30)
                                                                • Bardo yoga, the “dream at the end of time,” working with the mind to prepare for death (16:03)
                                                                • Where do you go when you die? You transition from one dream to the next: lucid dreaming leads to lucid living and lucid dying (17:52)
                                                                • If you don’t wake up and take control of your dream and finally your mind, your unconscious, your habits, will control your mind (19:17)
                                                                • Awake-centricity: in the West our understanding of mind and reality is derived solely from our experience in the waking state, versus the East’s more integral understanding derived from all 3 states, waking, dreaming, deep sleep (22:30)
                                                                • The “awakened mind” is a mind that is lucid under all conditions (26:25)
                                                                • The West has a single stage worldview—but multi stage cultures have a vastly larger understanding of ourselves and our reality; 90% of the world’s cultures are polyphasic (28:06)
                                                                • Mullah Nasruddin, the Sufi story of the lost key (30:12)
                                                                • Ignoring our circadian rhythms, we miss the opportunity the night offers to further our brain’s evolution (31:14)
                                                                • Dreams manifest along a spectrum, from meaningless neurological noise to ones that shed light on our lives, transcending our sense of self (34:09)
                                                                • Dream incubation practices: supplicating for guidance, for help (38:14)
                                                                
                                                                

                                                                Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                • Andrew Holecek, Dreams of Light: The Profound Daytime Practice of Lucid Dreaming*
                                                                • Andrew Holecek, Dream Yoga: Illuminating Your Life Through Lucid Dreaming and the Tibetan Yogas of Sleep*
                                                                • Andrew Holecek, The Power and the Pain: Transforming Spiritual Hardship into Joy*
                                                                • Andrew Holecek, Preparing to Die: Practical Advice and Spiritual Wisdom from the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition*
                                                                • Andrew Holecek, The Lucid Dreaming Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Mastering Your Dream Life*
                                                                • Dream Yoga: The Tibetan Path of Awakening Through Lucid Dreaming (Sounds True audio learning course)
                                                                • Night Club: Where Meditators and Lucid Dreamers Meet, Andrew Holecek community
                                                                • Jane Roberts, The "Unknown" Reality, Vol. 1: A Seth Book*
                                                                • R. D. Laing, The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness*
                                                                • Joseph Campbell, “The psychotic drowns in the same waters in which the mystic swims with delight.”
                                                                • Matthew Walker, neuroscientist, Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams*
                                                                • Yoga nidra is in the liminal dreaming bandwidth
                                                                • Thomas Metzinger, German philosopher and professor of theoretical philosophy
                                                                • Nyingma, the oldest of the 4 schools of Tibetan Buddhism
                                                                • Mullah Nasruddin, The story of the lost key
                                                                • Pierre Teilhard de Chardin quotes, “Evolution hasn’t stopped, it only moved indoors.” 
                                                                • The healing temples of Asclepion 
                                                                • His Holiness the 17th Karmapa website, His Holiness the 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje: A Biography*
                                                                
                                                                

                                                                * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                ---

                                                                Andrew Holecek has completed the traditional three-year Buddhist meditation retreat and offers seminars internationally on lucid dreaming, the art of dying, and meditation. He is the author of many books, including The Lucid Dreaming Workbook, Preparing to Die,  Dream Yoga: Illuminating Your Life Through Lucid Dreaming and the Tibetan Yogas of Sleep; Dreams of Light: The Profound Daytime Practice of Lucid Dreaming, and The Power and the Pain: Transforming Spiritual Hardship into Joy. Dr. Holecek is a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the author of scientific papers on lucid dreaming. His work has appeared in Parabola, Lion’s Roar, Tricycle, Utne Reader, Buddhadharma Magazine, Light of Consciousness, and many other periodicals. He holds degrees in classical music, biology, and a doctorate in dental surgery. 

                                                                ---

                                                                Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                ]]>Ep. 37 (Part 1 of 3) | Lucid dreaming expert, author, “curiouist,” and integralist Andrew Holecek explains how lucid dreaming opens the door to a greatly expanded understanding of our minds, our perception of reality, and human potential altogether. If we consciously explore our night lives practicing dream yoga, we can learn how to discard our habits, purify our karma, and discover beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are co-creators of our experience. What we do in dream yoga is not limited to nighttime action; it weaves back into our daytime lives, and ultimately our experience of dying.

                                                                Andrew describes how dreams are a powerful way to discover emptiness and openness, and fall into reality—like falling into love—our primordial contraction cast away. Besides being a life-changing discourse on the incredible potential of dream yoga, Andrew Holecek’s cheerful, well-informed, easy way of talking and teaching about lucid dreaming—relating it also to the wisdom traditions, our sense of identity, and human evolution—makes this a real pleasure to listen to. Recorded on April 13, 2022.

                                                                “Lucidity is a code word for awareness.”

                                                                (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                                • Introducing Andrew Holecek, master of Dream Yoga (01:44)
                                                                • Andrew’s profound experience with lucid dreaming as a young man, with dreamtime becoming more real and daytime experience less real (04:08)
                                                                • Retrofitting his understanding over time to make sense of his experience landed Andrew in Buddhism (06:25)
                                                                • Buddha is literally the Awakened One in Sanskrit—awakened in relationship to what? (08:23)
                                                                • Nocturnal practices became a real practice, a unique form of night school and a pedagogy of the future (09:24)
                                                                • Overview of the 5 nocturnal meditations (10:55)
                                                                • Liminal dreaming: getting into the witnessing perspective and watching how the mind goes offline, the ego structure comes undone (11:25)
                                                                • Lucid dreaming: awakening to the fact that you are dreaming—used largely for self-fulfillment (12:44)
                                                                • Dream yoga is where it transitions to self-transcendence (13:42)
                                                                • Sleep yoga, or luminosity yoga, a primary practice of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism (14:30)
                                                                • Bardo yoga, the “dream at the end of time,” working with the mind to prepare for death (16:03)
                                                                • Where do you go when you die? You transition from one dream to the next: lucid dreaming leads to lucid living and lucid dying (17:52)
                                                                • If you don’t wake up and take control of your dream and finally your mind, your unconscious, your habits, will control your mind (19:17)
                                                                • Awake-centricity: in the West our understanding of mind and reality is derived solely from our experience in the waking state, versus the East’s more integral understanding derived from all 3 states, waking, dreaming, deep sleep (22:30)
                                                                • The “awakened mind” is a mind that is lucid under all conditions (26:25)
                                                                • The West has a single stage worldview—but multi stage cultures have a vastly larger understanding of ourselves and our reality; 90% of the world’s cultures are polyphasic (28:06)
                                                                • Mullah Nasruddin, the Sufi story of the lost key (30:12)
                                                                • Ignoring our circadian rhythms, we miss the opportunity the night offers to further our brain’s evolution (31:14)
                                                                • Dreams manifest along a spectrum, from meaningless neurological noise to ones that shed light on our lives, transcending our sense of self (34:09)
                                                                • Dream incubation practices: supplicating for guidance, for help (38:14)
                                                                
                                                                

                                                                Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                • Andrew Holecek, Dreams of Light: The Profound Daytime Practice of Lucid Dreaming*
                                                                • Andrew Holecek, Dream Yoga: Illuminating Your Life Through Lucid Dreaming and the Tibetan Yogas of Sleep*
                                                                • Andrew Holecek, The Power and the Pain: Transforming Spiritual Hardship into Joy*
                                                                • Andrew Holecek, Preparing to Die: Practical Advice and Spiritual Wisdom from the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition*
                                                                • Andrew Holecek, The Lucid Dreaming Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Mastering Your Dream Life*
                                                                • Dream Yoga: The Tibetan Path of Awakening Through Lucid Dreaming (Sounds True audio learning course)
                                                                • Night Club: Where Meditators and Lucid Dreamers Meet, Andrew Holecek community
                                                                • Jane Roberts, The "Unknown" Reality, Vol. 1: A Seth Book*
                                                                • R. D. Laing, The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness*
                                                                • Joseph Campbell, “The psychotic drowns in the same waters in which the mystic swims with delight.”
                                                                • Matthew Walker, neuroscientist, Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams*
                                                                • Yoga nidra is in the liminal dreaming bandwidth
                                                                • Thomas Metzinger, German philosopher and professor of theoretical philosophy
                                                                • Nyingma, the oldest of the 4 schools of Tibetan Buddhism
                                                                • Mullah Nasruddin, The story of the lost key
                                                                • Pierre Teilhard de Chardin quotes, “Evolution hasn’t stopped, it only moved indoors.” 
                                                                • The healing temples of Asclepion 
                                                                • His Holiness the 17th Karmapa website, His Holiness the 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje: A Biography*
                                                                
                                                                

                                                                * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                ---

                                                                Andrew Holecek has completed the traditional three-year Buddhist meditation retreat and offers seminars internationally on lucid dreaming, the art of dying, and meditation. He is the author of many books, including The Lucid Dreaming Workbook, Preparing to Die,  Dream Yoga: Illuminating Your Life Through Lucid Dreaming and the Tibetan Yogas of Sleep; Dreams of Light: The Profound Daytime Practice of Lucid Dreaming, and The Power and the Pain: Transforming Spiritual Hardship into Joy. Dr. Holecek is a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the author of scientific papers on lucid dreaming. His work has appeared in Parabola, Lion’s Roar, Tricycle, Utne Reader, Buddhadharma Magazine, Light of Consciousness, and many other periodicals. He holds degrees in classical music, biology, and a doctorate in dental surgery. 

                                                                ---

                                                                Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                ]]>9d46c9bd-d51f-45b8-bfc2-5f4cd72f2094Thu, 04 Aug 2022 05:00:00 -040045:47falsefull3737Ep. 37 (Part 1 of 3) | Lucid dreaming expert, author, “curiouist,” and integralist Andrew Holecek explains how lucid dreaming opens the door to a greatly expanded understanding of our minds, our perception of reality, and human potential altogether. If we consciously explore our night lives practicing dream yoga, we can learn how to discard our habits, purify our karma, and discover beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are co-creators of our experience. What we do in dream yoga is not limited to nighttime action; it weaves back into our daytime lives, and ultimately our experience of dying. Andrew describes how dreams are a powerful way to discover emptiness and openness, and fall into reality—like falling into love—our primordial contraction cast away. Besides being a life-changing discourse on the incredible potential of dream yoga, Andrew Holecek’s cheerful, well-informed, easy way of talking and teaching about lucid dreaming—relating it also to the wisdom traditions, our sense of identity, and human evolution—makes this a real pleasure to listen to. Recorded on April 13, 2022.Cultivating Psychological Maturity in Both Individuals & Societies: The Race Between Maturity and CatastropheEp. 36 | Philosopher, author, and social entrepreneur Tomas Björkman’s claims are convincing: our culture needs to go through a new developmental paradigm shift. Either it will grow more complex—or crumble, as empires have crumbled in the past. The collective worldview needs to change, and to that end Tomas’ focus is on the relationship between growing our personal psychological maturity and societal change, a relationship Nordic countries recognized to their great advantage towards the end of the nineteenth century.

                                                                Extrapolating from his vast experience with business leadership, where inner psychological maturity turns out to be a foremost aspect of success, Tomas extends this knowledge, applying it to all of society, and emphasizes the importance of supporting a lifelong inner process of development for every individual. The only hope for our shared future seems to lie in wiser decision making by individuals who have expanded both mind and heart to encompass the greater complexities of our time. Recorded on December 2019, with Dr. Roger Walsh, John Dupuy, and Douglas Prater.

                                                                “Conscious effort on large-scale consciousness development actually worked.”

                                                                (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                Note: This podcast was recorded live and includes, at times, some extraneous noises in the background. Please excuse them -- we felt the conversation was very valuable and well worth sharing with our audience. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

                                                                Topics & Time Stamps

                                                                • Introducing Tomas Björkman: philosopher, author, entrepreneur (02:28)
                                                                • Tomas’ unique contribution: cultivating psychological maturity individually and collectively, in order to co-create a new culture and survive as a species (03:39)
                                                                • Inner psychological maturation is one of the most important aspects of a good businessman, a good leader; this knowledge needs to be applied to all of us and society as a whole (05:12)
                                                                • The importance of getting the corporate culture right, societal culture right, and support inner psychological development (06:37)
                                                                • Our worldview in the West hasn’t changed since the Enlightenment, the Age of Reason: it’s time for another deep shift to encompass greater complexity (09:49)
                                                                • Looking at culture (and consciousness) as a complex, self-organizing, evolving system: we have reached the bifurcation point (14:47)
                                                                • The Nordic secret: Scandinavian countries realized the connection between the maturity of our inner world and our society at the end of the 1800s, becoming the happiest, richest, most stable countries in the world (24:24)
                                                                • The establishment of retreat centers for young people to find their inner compass and creating a critical mass of self-authoring people (28:20)
                                                                • Maturing from the socialized mind to the self-authoring mind, from conventional to postconventional (30:15)
                                                                • Consciously navigating psychological transformation and the self-transforming mind (34:24)
                                                                • The corporate realization that to succeed in business, you need your employees to mature to the level of self-authoring mind: Deliberately Developmental Organizations (37:54)
                                                                • The German idealistic philosophers’ reaction against Enlightenment philosophy and the evolution of mind and heart: Bildung (39:30)
                                                                • What constitutes depth of relationship? Inner development, deepening of relationship, and a multicultural society created by conscious effort (48:24)
                                                                • Growing together: how to hold and scaffold the building of a multicultural society (54:34)
                                                                • Changing our collective worldview will have to be a collective movement (59:01)
                                                                • The effects of the popularization of contemplative practice on the development of psychological maturity (01:04:31)
                                                                
                                                                

                                                                Resources & References

                                                                • Tomas Björkman, The World We Create*
                                                                • Tomas Björkman & Lene Andersen, The Nordic Secret*
                                                                • Tomas Björkman, The Market Myth*
                                                                • Oak Island (Ekskäret) Foundation in Sweden: http://ekskaret.se, “giving momentum to the right kind of changes”
                                                                • Tomas’ website: http://www.tomas-bjorkman.com
                                                                • Co-founder (with Jonathan Rowson) of Perspectiva, systems-soul-society.com, an interdisciplinary nonprofit organization based in London, developing responses to our epistemic metacrisis
                                                                • Co-founder, CoCreation.Loft, making space for conscious development of individuals and society
                                                                • Co-initiator of the Emerge network (with Jonathan Rowson), responding to the most urgent challenges of our time, connecting pioneers, seekers, innovators and their initiatives, sowing the seeds of a new civilization
                                                                • 29k, a Swedish open-source, non-profit tech platform making mental health treatment and personal development free and accessible to everyone
                                                                • Bifurcation theory
                                                                • Hanzi Freinacht, The Listening Society*, https://metamoderna.org
                                                                • Hanzi Freinacht, Nordic Ideology*, https://metamoderna.org
                                                                • Daniel Görtz, https://newrepublicoftheheart.org/person/daniel-gortz/
                                                                • Emile Fries, https://www.linkedin.com/in/emil-ejner-friis-56948585/
                                                                • Robert Kegan, developmental psychologist, The Evolving Self*
                                                                • Ken Wilber, The Integral Vision*
                                                                • Don Beck & Christopher Cowan, Spiral Dynamics*
                                                                • Deliberately Developmental Organizations: Making Business Personal by Robert Kegan, Lisa Lahey, Andy Fleming & Matthew Miller
                                                                • Robert Kegan & Lisa Lahey, An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization*
                                                                • Ep. 36 | Philosopher, author, and social entrepreneur Tomas Björkman’s claims are convincing: our culture needs to go through a new developmental paradigm shift. Either it will grow more complex—or crumble, as empires have crumbled in the past. The collective worldview needs to change, and to that end Tomas’ focus is on the relationship between growing our personal psychological maturity and societal change, a relationship Nordic countries recognized to their great advantage towards the end of the nineteenth century.

                                                                  Extrapolating from his vast experience with business leadership, where inner psychological maturity turns out to be a foremost aspect of success, Tomas extends this knowledge, applying it to all of society, and emphasizes the importance of supporting a lifelong inner process of development for every individual. The only hope for our shared future seems to lie in wiser decision making by individuals who have expanded both mind and heart to encompass the greater complexities of our time. Recorded on December 2019, with Dr. Roger Walsh, John Dupuy, and Douglas Prater.

                                                                  “Conscious effort on large-scale consciousness development actually worked.”

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Note: This podcast was recorded live and includes, at times, some extraneous noises in the background. Please excuse them -- we felt the conversation was very valuable and well worth sharing with our audience. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps

                                                                  • Introducing Tomas Björkman: philosopher, author, entrepreneur (02:28)
                                                                  • Tomas’ unique contribution: cultivating psychological maturity individually and collectively, in order to co-create a new culture and survive as a species (03:39)
                                                                  • Inner psychological maturation is one of the most important aspects of a good businessman, a good leader; this knowledge needs to be applied to all of us and society as a whole (05:12)
                                                                  • The importance of getting the corporate culture right, societal culture right, and support inner psychological development (06:37)
                                                                  • Our worldview in the West hasn’t changed since the Enlightenment, the Age of Reason: it’s time for another deep shift to encompass greater complexity (09:49)
                                                                  • Looking at culture (and consciousness) as a complex, self-organizing, evolving system: we have reached the bifurcation point (14:47)
                                                                  • The Nordic secret: Scandinavian countries realized the connection between the maturity of our inner world and our society at the end of the 1800s, becoming the happiest, richest, most stable countries in the world (24:24)
                                                                  • The establishment of retreat centers for young people to find their inner compass and creating a critical mass of self-authoring people (28:20)
                                                                  • Maturing from the socialized mind to the self-authoring mind, from conventional to postconventional (30:15)
                                                                  • Consciously navigating psychological transformation and the self-transforming mind (34:24)
                                                                  • The corporate realization that to succeed in business, you need your employees to mature to the level of self-authoring mind: Deliberately Developmental Organizations (37:54)
                                                                  • The German idealistic philosophers’ reaction against Enlightenment philosophy and the evolution of mind and heart: Bildung (39:30)
                                                                  • What constitutes depth of relationship? Inner development, deepening of relationship, and a multicultural society created by conscious effort (48:24)
                                                                  • Growing together: how to hold and scaffold the building of a multicultural society (54:34)
                                                                  • Changing our collective worldview will have to be a collective movement (59:01)
                                                                  • The effects of the popularization of contemplative practice on the development of psychological maturity (01:04:31)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References

                                                                  • Tomas Björkman, The World We Create*
                                                                  • Tomas Björkman & Lene Andersen, The Nordic Secret*
                                                                  • Tomas Björkman, The Market Myth*
                                                                  • Oak Island (Ekskäret) Foundation in Sweden: http://ekskaret.se, “giving momentum to the right kind of changes”
                                                                  • Tomas’ website: http://www.tomas-bjorkman.com
                                                                  • Co-founder (with Jonathan Rowson) of Perspectiva, systems-soul-society.com, an interdisciplinary nonprofit organization based in London, developing responses to our epistemic metacrisis
                                                                  • Co-founder, CoCreation.Loft, making space for conscious development of individuals and society
                                                                  • Co-initiator of the Emerge network (with Jonathan Rowson), responding to the most urgent challenges of our time, connecting pioneers, seekers, innovators and their initiatives, sowing the seeds of a new civilization
                                                                  • 29k, a Swedish open-source, non-profit tech platform making mental health treatment and personal development free and accessible to everyone
                                                                  • Bifurcation theory
                                                                  • Hanzi Freinacht, The Listening Society*, https://metamoderna.org
                                                                  • Hanzi Freinacht, Nordic Ideology*, https://metamoderna.org
                                                                  • Daniel Görtz, https://newrepublicoftheheart.org/person/daniel-gortz/
                                                                  • Emile Fries, https://www.linkedin.com/in/emil-ejner-friis-56948585/
                                                                  • Robert Kegan, developmental psychologist, The Evolving Self*
                                                                  • Ken Wilber, The Integral Vision*
                                                                  • Don Beck & Christopher Cowan, Spiral Dynamics*
                                                                  • Deliberately Developmental Organizations: Making Business Personal by Robert Kegan, Lisa Lahey, Andy Fleming & Matthew Miller
                                                                  • Robert Kegan & Lisa Lahey, An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization*
                                                                  • Ellen Key, feminist and inner development advocate, author of the Swedish book Bildning
                                                                  • Aldous Huxley, Island*
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Tomas Björkman is an author, social entrepreneur, and the founder of Ekskäret Foundation in Stockholm. He is also the co-founder of the research institute Perspectiva in London, of the Co-creation Loft, the media platform Emerge in Berlin and the 29k.org personal development platform. He is a member of the Club of Rome and a fellow of the Royals Swedish Academy of Engineering Science. He is the author of three books: The Market Myth (2016), The Nordic Secret (together with Lene Rachel Andersen, 2017), and The World We Create (2019). He divides his time between London, Stockholm, and Berlin.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>5cfae800-4ec4-4beb-b249-c409850dfa23Thu, 28 Jul 2022 05:00:00 -040001:07:14falsefull3636Ep. 36 | Philosopher, author, and social entrepreneur Tomas Björkman’s claims are convincing: our culture needs to go through a new developmental paradigm shift. Either it will grow more complex—or crumble, as empires have crumbled in the past. The collective worldview needs to change, and to that end Tomas’ focus is on the relationship between growing our personal psychological maturity and societal change, a relationship Nordic countries recognized to their great advantage towards the end of the nineteenth century. Extrapolating from his vast experience with business leadership, where inner psychological maturity turns out to be a foremost aspect of success, Tomas extends this knowledge, applying it to all of society, and emphasizes the importance of supporting a lifelong inner process of development for every individual. The only hope for our shared future seems to lie in wiser decision making by individuals who have expanded both mind and heart to encompass the greater complexities of our time. Recorded on December 2019, with Dr. Roger Walsh, John Dupuy, and Douglas Prater.EU Diplomat Shares His Personal Thoughts About Russia & Ukraine: Holding Multiple Perspectives for a Sustainable Peace in the Face of War, Reactivity & Rage (Part 2)Ep. 35 (Part 2 of 2) | Frederik Coene, a European Union diplomat stationed in Kyiv and world authority on Russia and Eastern Europe, describes the current situation in Ukraine—"a cocktail of emotions"—and outlines what it would take for us to find a true solution to the conflict and create sustainable peace. Frederik brings the multiple perspectives of Integral theory to bear: he discusses how developmental stages play into the ways Russians and Ukrainians are thinking, acting, and reacting, and emphasizes the need to get beyond black and white thinking, foster compassion, and take responsibility for our thoughts and our actions. How do we cultivate the willingness to understand each other, to have a dialogue? Because as Frederik says, “the war may be fought on the battlefield, but peace is only going to come through dialogue.”

                                                                  The fruits of Frederik’s own personal transformative practice and understanding of the Enneagram and Spiral Dynamics flow into his work as a diplomat/bureaucrat, pointing the way towards change. Besides effectively deepening our understanding of what’s going on in Ukraine and Russia now, this talk is a real inspiration for those interested in weaving together personal growth, professional responsibility, and dedication to service. A humble, open, and wise transmission. Recorded on June 29, 2022.

                                                                  “If we want to find a true solution, sustainable and lasting peace…we can no longer be guided by our heads alone. We have to include the heart.”

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                                  • How the Enneagram fosters self-transformation, awareness of your own reactivity, and gets you out of black and white thinking (01:02)
                                                                  • If we are skilled at taking multiple perspectives into account, how do we narrow it down and make a good judgment? (05:50)
                                                                  • Practical wisdom: how do we skillfully and benevolently respond in the world? (07:14)
                                                                  • And how this works in Ukraine now; when to take responsibility for actions and break the rules (09:01)
                                                                  • Bureaucracy and its purpose; and the purpose of the Enneagram (12:28)
                                                                  • Back to the situation in Ukraine now: a cocktail of emotions (16:20)
                                                                  • Frederik’s personal self-transformation in the last 7 years with Ukraine as a catalyst (24:51)
                                                                  • We need to merge head and heart if we want to find a sustainable peace (27:16)
                                                                  • How do we cultivate the willingness to understand each other, to have a dialogue? (29:47) 
                                                                  • Roger reads aloud excerpts from Frederik’s Facebook postings addressed to Russians and to Ukrainians (32:59)
                                                                  • The deep wisdom questions: what am I called to do? How can I make myself a more effective instrument of service? (36:10)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                  • Frederik Coene, The Caucasus - An Introduction*
                                                                  • Frederik Coene, Euro-Atlantic Discourse in Georgia*
                                                                  • YouTube 1420, live street interviews
                                                                  • Clare Graves, adult developmental stages psychologist foundational to Spiral Dynamics
                                                                  • Don Beck & Christopher Cowan, Spiral Dynamics*
                                                                  • Enneagram, a model of the human psyche taught as a typology of nine interconnected personality types
                                                                  • Don Riso & Russ Hudson, The Wisdom of the Enneagram*
                                                                  • Richard Rohr & Andreas Ebert, The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective*
                                                                  • iAwake’s Funnel to Help, Heal, and Support the Ukrainian People
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Dr. Frederik Coene is an EU diplomat based in Ukraine and heads the team in charge of all EU-funded development programmes in the country. His previous assignments were in Tajikistan, Georgia, and Belarus, and prior to that he worked for humanitarian NGOs in Chechnya and Abkhazia. He holds an MA in economics, an MA in Caucasian and Central Asian Studies, and a PhD in Political Science. In his free time, he works on integrating stages of development with the Enneagram and Spiral Dynamics into a single framework using ancient Vedic wisdom on transpersonal development. He also conducts research and lectures on the topic of human sexuality and the Enneagram/Spiral Dynamics.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 35 (Part 2 of 2) | Frederik Coene, a European Union diplomat stationed in Kyiv and world authority on Russia and Eastern Europe, describes the current situation in Ukraine—"a cocktail of emotions"—and outlines what it would take for us to find a true solution to the conflict and create sustainable peace. Frederik brings the multiple perspectives of Integral theory to bear: he discusses how developmental stages play into the ways Russians and Ukrainians are thinking, acting, and reacting, and emphasizes the need to get beyond black and white thinking, foster compassion, and take responsibility for our thoughts and our actions. How do we cultivate the willingness to understand each other, to have a dialogue? Because as Frederik says, “the war may be fought on the battlefield, but peace is only going to come through dialogue.”

                                                                  The fruits of Frederik’s own personal transformative practice and understanding of the Enneagram and Spiral Dynamics flow into his work as a diplomat/bureaucrat, pointing the way towards change. Besides effectively deepening our understanding of what’s going on in Ukraine and Russia now, this talk is a real inspiration for those interested in weaving together personal growth, professional responsibility, and dedication to service. A humble, open, and wise transmission. Recorded on June 29, 2022.

                                                                  “If we want to find a true solution, sustainable and lasting peace…we can no longer be guided by our heads alone. We have to include the heart.”

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                                  • How the Enneagram fosters self-transformation, awareness of your own reactivity, and gets you out of black and white thinking (01:02)
                                                                  • If we are skilled at taking multiple perspectives into account, how do we narrow it down and make a good judgment? (05:50)
                                                                  • Practical wisdom: how do we skillfully and benevolently respond in the world? (07:14)
                                                                  • And how this works in Ukraine now; when to take responsibility for actions and break the rules (09:01)
                                                                  • Bureaucracy and its purpose; and the purpose of the Enneagram (12:28)
                                                                  • Back to the situation in Ukraine now: a cocktail of emotions (16:20)
                                                                  • Frederik’s personal self-transformation in the last 7 years with Ukraine as a catalyst (24:51)
                                                                  • We need to merge head and heart if we want to find a sustainable peace (27:16)
                                                                  • How do we cultivate the willingness to understand each other, to have a dialogue? (29:47) 
                                                                  • Roger reads aloud excerpts from Frederik’s Facebook postings addressed to Russians and to Ukrainians (32:59)
                                                                  • The deep wisdom questions: what am I called to do? How can I make myself a more effective instrument of service? (36:10)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                  • Frederik Coene, The Caucasus - An Introduction*
                                                                  • Frederik Coene, Euro-Atlantic Discourse in Georgia*
                                                                  • YouTube 1420, live street interviews
                                                                  • Clare Graves, adult developmental stages psychologist foundational to Spiral Dynamics
                                                                  • Don Beck & Christopher Cowan, Spiral Dynamics*
                                                                  • Enneagram, a model of the human psyche taught as a typology of nine interconnected personality types
                                                                  • Don Riso & Russ Hudson, The Wisdom of the Enneagram*
                                                                  • Richard Rohr & Andreas Ebert, The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective*
                                                                  • iAwake’s Funnel to Help, Heal, and Support the Ukrainian People
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Dr. Frederik Coene is an EU diplomat based in Ukraine and heads the team in charge of all EU-funded development programmes in the country. His previous assignments were in Tajikistan, Georgia, and Belarus, and prior to that he worked for humanitarian NGOs in Chechnya and Abkhazia. He holds an MA in economics, an MA in Caucasian and Central Asian Studies, and a PhD in Political Science. In his free time, he works on integrating stages of development with the Enneagram and Spiral Dynamics into a single framework using ancient Vedic wisdom on transpersonal development. He also conducts research and lectures on the topic of human sexuality and the Enneagram/Spiral Dynamics.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>67fa9614-5043-404c-9f19-775562a007e4Thu, 21 Jul 2022 05:00:00 -040040:07falsefull3535Ep. 35 (Part 2 of 2) | Frederik Coene, a European Union diplomat stationed in Kyiv and world authority on Russia and Eastern Europe, describes the current situation in Ukraine—"a cocktail of emotions"—and outlines what it would take for us to find a true solution to the conflict and create sustainable peace. Frederik brings the multiple perspectives of Integral theory to bear: he discusses how developmental stages play into the ways Russians and Ukrainians are thinking, acting, and reacting, and emphasizes the need to get beyond black and white thinking, foster compassion, and take responsibility for our thoughts and our actions. How do we cultivate the willingness to understand each other, to have a dialogue? Because as Frederik says, “the war may be fought on the battlefield, but peace is only going to come through dialogue.” The fruits of Frederik’s own personal transformative practice and understanding of the Enneagram and Spiral Dynamics flow into his work as a diplomat/bureaucrat, pointing the way towards change. Besides effectively deepening our understanding of what’s going on in Ukraine and Russia now, this talk is a real inspiration for those interested in weaving together personal growth, professional responsibility, and dedication to service. A humble, open, and wise transmission. Recorded on June 29, 2022.EU Diplomat Shares His Personal Thoughts About Russia & Ukraine: Holding Multiple Perspectives for a Sustainable Peace in the Face of War, Reactivity & RageEp. 34 (Part 1 of 2) | Frederik Coene, a European Union diplomat stationed in Kyiv and world authority on Russia and Eastern Europe, describes the current situation in Ukraine—"a cocktail of emotions"—and outlines what it would take for us to find a true solution to the conflict and create sustainable peace. Frederik brings the multiple perspectives of Integral theory to bear: he discusses how developmental stages play into the ways Russians and Ukrainians are thinking, acting, and reacting, and emphasizes the need to get beyond black and white thinking, foster compassion, and take responsibility for our thoughts and our actions. How do we cultivate the willingness to understand each other, to have a dialogue? Because as Frederik says, “the war may be fought on the battlefield, but peace is only going to come through dialogue.”

                                                                  The fruits of Frederik’s own personal transformative practice and understanding of the Enneagram and Spiral Dynamics flow into his work as a diplomat/bureaucrat, pointing the way towards change. Besides effectively deepening our understanding of what’s going on in Ukraine and Russia now, this talk is a real inspiration for those interested in weaving together personal growth, professional responsibility, and dedication to service. A humble, open, and wise transmission. Recorded on June 29, 2022.

                                                                  “If we want to find a true solution, sustainable and lasting peace…we can no longer be guided by our heads alone. We have to include the heart.”

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                                  • Introducing Dr. Frederik Coene, world authority with multiple perspectives on Russia and Eastern Europe (01:52)
                                                                  • Life in Ukraine right now: no safe place, where violence might occur is completely unpredictable (04:20)
                                                                  • How the Russians use fear to control people (07:34)
                                                                  • Living in survival mode we fall into black and white thinking and how that affects our decision making (08:28)
                                                                  • What makes the war in Ukraine distinctive is that it affects people around the globe: inflation, food scarcity, resources (12:19)
                                                                  • What is not being seen? Both the complexity of the Ukrainian side and the complexity of the Russian side (14:16)
                                                                  • Looking at the Russian perspective with a degree of empathy is necessary for a lasting, sustainable solution (16:47)
                                                                  • What are they thinking in Russia? (20:00)
                                                                  • The spiritual perspective: everyone has a soul, even Putin. Can we hold compassion for everyone (even Putin)? (26:53)
                                                                  • Gaining inner strength from a daily gratitude practice; no matter how horrible the war and how great the suffering (33:19)
                                                                  • Bureaucracy and Spiral Dynamics’ levels of development (37:45)
                                                                  • Raising consciousness in the blue bureaucracy and the experience of teaching the Enneagram to bureaucrat colleagues (39:36)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                  • Frederik Coene, The Caucasus - An Introduction*
                                                                  • Frederik Coene, Euro-Atlantic Discourse in Georgia*
                                                                  • YouTube 1420, live street interviews
                                                                  • Clare Graves, adult developmental stages psychologist foundational to Spiral Dynamics
                                                                  • Don Beck & Christopher Cowan, Spiral Dynamics*
                                                                  • Enneagram, a model of the human psyche taught as a typology of nine interconnected personality types
                                                                  • Don Riso & Russ Hudson, The Wisdom of the Enneagram*
                                                                  • Richard Rohr & Andreas Ebert, The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective*
                                                                  • iAwake’s Funnel to Help, Heal, and Support the Ukrainian People
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Dr. Frederik Coene is an EU diplomat based in Ukraine and heads the team in charge of all EU-funded development programmes in the country. His previous assignments were in Tajikistan, Georgia, and Belarus, and prior to that he worked for humanitarian NGOs in Chechnya and Abkhazia. He holds an MA in economics, an MA in Caucasian and Central Asian Studies, and a PhD in Political Science. In his free time, he works on integrating stages of development with the Enneagram and Spiral Dynamics into a single framework using ancient Vedic wisdom on transpersonal development. He also conducts research and lectures on the topic of human sexuality and the Enneagram/Spiral Dynamics.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 34 (Part 1 of 2) | Frederik Coene, a European Union diplomat stationed in Kyiv and world authority on Russia and Eastern Europe, describes the current situation in Ukraine—"a cocktail of emotions"—and outlines what it would take for us to find a true solution to the conflict and create sustainable peace. Frederik brings the multiple perspectives of Integral theory to bear: he discusses how developmental stages play into the ways Russians and Ukrainians are thinking, acting, and reacting, and emphasizes the need to get beyond black and white thinking, foster compassion, and take responsibility for our thoughts and our actions. How do we cultivate the willingness to understand each other, to have a dialogue? Because as Frederik says, “the war may be fought on the battlefield, but peace is only going to come through dialogue.”

                                                                  The fruits of Frederik’s own personal transformative practice and understanding of the Enneagram and Spiral Dynamics flow into his work as a diplomat/bureaucrat, pointing the way towards change. Besides effectively deepening our understanding of what’s going on in Ukraine and Russia now, this talk is a real inspiration for those interested in weaving together personal growth, professional responsibility, and dedication to service. A humble, open, and wise transmission. Recorded on June 29, 2022.

                                                                  “If we want to find a true solution, sustainable and lasting peace…we can no longer be guided by our heads alone. We have to include the heart.”

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                                  • Introducing Dr. Frederik Coene, world authority with multiple perspectives on Russia and Eastern Europe (01:52)
                                                                  • Life in Ukraine right now: no safe place, where violence might occur is completely unpredictable (04:20)
                                                                  • How the Russians use fear to control people (07:34)
                                                                  • Living in survival mode we fall into black and white thinking and how that affects our decision making (08:28)
                                                                  • What makes the war in Ukraine distinctive is that it affects people around the globe: inflation, food scarcity, resources (12:19)
                                                                  • What is not being seen? Both the complexity of the Ukrainian side and the complexity of the Russian side (14:16)
                                                                  • Looking at the Russian perspective with a degree of empathy is necessary for a lasting, sustainable solution (16:47)
                                                                  • What are they thinking in Russia? (20:00)
                                                                  • The spiritual perspective: everyone has a soul, even Putin. Can we hold compassion for everyone (even Putin)? (26:53)
                                                                  • Gaining inner strength from a daily gratitude practice; no matter how horrible the war and how great the suffering (33:19)
                                                                  • Bureaucracy and Spiral Dynamics’ levels of development (37:45)
                                                                  • Raising consciousness in the blue bureaucracy and the experience of teaching the Enneagram to bureaucrat colleagues (39:36)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                  • Frederik Coene, The Caucasus - An Introduction*
                                                                  • Frederik Coene, Euro-Atlantic Discourse in Georgia*
                                                                  • YouTube 1420, live street interviews
                                                                  • Clare Graves, adult developmental stages psychologist foundational to Spiral Dynamics
                                                                  • Don Beck & Christopher Cowan, Spiral Dynamics*
                                                                  • Enneagram, a model of the human psyche taught as a typology of nine interconnected personality types
                                                                  • Don Riso & Russ Hudson, The Wisdom of the Enneagram*
                                                                  • Richard Rohr & Andreas Ebert, The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective*
                                                                  • iAwake’s Funnel to Help, Heal, and Support the Ukrainian People
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Dr. Frederik Coene is an EU diplomat based in Ukraine and heads the team in charge of all EU-funded development programmes in the country. His previous assignments were in Tajikistan, Georgia, and Belarus, and prior to that he worked for humanitarian NGOs in Chechnya and Abkhazia. He holds an MA in economics, an MA in Caucasian and Central Asian Studies, and a PhD in Political Science. In his free time, he works on integrating stages of development with the Enneagram and Spiral Dynamics into a single framework using ancient Vedic wisdom on transpersonal development. He also conducts research and lectures on the topic of human sexuality and the Enneagram/Spiral Dynamics.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>c96b4a05-fb55-4578-80e5-d47cc19aded7Thu, 14 Jul 2022 05:00:00 -040046:24falsefull3434Ep. 34 (Part 1 of 2) | Frederik Coene, a European Union diplomat stationed in Kyiv and world authority on Russia and Eastern Europe, describes the current situation in Ukraine—"a cocktail of emotions"—and outlines what it would take for us to find a true solution to the conflict and create sustainable peace. Frederik brings the multiple perspectives of Integral theory to bear: he discusses how developmental stages play into the ways Russians and Ukrainians are thinking, acting, and reacting, and emphasizes the need to get beyond black and white thinking, foster compassion, and take responsibility for our thoughts and our actions. How do we cultivate the willingness to understand each other, to have a dialogue? Because as Frederik says, “the war may be fought on the battlefield, but peace is only going to come through dialogue.” The fruits of Frederik’s own personal transformative practice and understanding of the Enneagram and Spiral Dynamics flow into his work as a diplomat/bureaucrat, pointing the way towards change. Besides effectively deepening our understanding of what’s going on in Ukraine and Russia now, this talk is a real inspiration for those interested in weaving together personal growth, professional responsibility, and dedication to service. A humble, open, and wise transmission. Recorded on June 29, 2022.Mystical Experience, Primordial Wisdom: The Source & Heart of Judaism & the Great Religions with Zvi Ish-ShalomEp. 33 | Zvi Ish-Shalom is a professor of Jewish mysticism, an author, an ordained rabbi, and the guiding light of Kedumah, a teaching out of time and space, whose primary calling is to translate wisdom from the primordial ground of being into a discernible wisdom stream. In this remarkable conversation, Zvi describes how he found ways to map and interpret his own profound mystical experiences, how the teachings arise from the ground of being, about how they might become accessible to us all, regardless of religion or spiritual tradition, and how they are especially relevant for young people today, seeking to find a structure for their spiritual journey. His familiarity with the realm of mystical experience is extremely engaging—he tells of discovering the vow taken by our soul before we were born and dropping the barriers between us and God, surrendering to the divine. Roger Walsh found Zvi’s book The Kedumah Experience “the most profound spiritual text he’s ever read in the Jewish tradition,” and listeners will almost certainly be excited to read Zvi’s latest book, published since the recording of this podcast, The Path of Primordial Light: Ancient Wisdom for the Here and Now.  Recorded at the Science & Nonduality Conference, October 2019, with Dr. Roger Walsh, John Dupuy, and Douglas Prater.

                                                                  “Being willing to lose everything for truth...when we orient that way, the most profound revelations and depths occur.”

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Note: This podcast was recorded live and includes, at times, some extraneous noises in the background. Please excuse them -- we felt the conversation was very valuable and well worth sharing with our audience. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps

                                                                  • Roger’s discovery of Zvi Ish-Shalom’s book while touring Israel: the most profound spiritual text he’d ever read in the Jewish tradition (02:00)
                                                                  • The gnostic intermediary: how Zvi revives the culture, infusing a fresh understanding of the Jewish mystical tradition (04:43)
                                                                  • Zvi’s personal story, starting with deep states of connection praying in the synagogue in Brooklyn (07:40)
                                                                  • How Zvi found ways to map and interpret his profound mystical experiences, establishing cause and effect (13:45)
                                                                  • Remembering one’s life purpose, the vow taken by your soul before embodiment (17:47)
                                                                  • Zvi’s Kedumah experience: the concept of primordial Torah, or the ground of our being, and how the teaching arises (19:57)
                                                                  • How to transmit the Kedumah teachings to the secular world? (22:32)
                                                                  • The radical experiential perspective in which the Kedumah is rooted is what makes it so timely for us today (28:17)
                                                                  • Revivifying the Jewish lineage wisdom stream through the lens of Kedumah: bringing in living expressions of the mystery (31:26)
                                                                  • The way in which a profound analytical study of the texts creates an opening and becomes a process of illumination, deepening, and distilling truth in an ever more discriminating way (37:35) 
                                                                  • What the new Kedumah paradigm offers young people who are searching for structure for their spiritual journey  (43:27)
                                                                  • The practice of dialectical inquiry (havruta) to discover the truth of reality embedded inside the texts and how to reveal it (48:20)
                                                                  • Comparing the Torah scroll to the human being: working to unpack the truth of the human experience (51:06)
                                                                  • Greek philosophy was used as a practice to investigate human life, metaphysics, and open to the transcendent as well (53:15)
                                                                  • Socrates and the fundamental wisdom of seeking truth for its own sake (56:37)
                                                                  • How does Zvi teach contemplative prayer and meditation? Building the embodied capacity for integration and allowing ourselves to surrender to the divine (59:07)
                                                                  • Zvi’s “journey of silence” (01:03:03)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References

                                                                  • Zvi’s website: Primordialight (formerly Kedumah.org)
                                                                  • Zvi Ish-Shalom, The Path of Primordial Light: Ancient Wisdom for the Here and Now*
                                                                  • Zvi Ish-Shalom, The Kedumah Experience: The Primordial Torah*
                                                                  • Zvi Ish-Shalom, Sleep, Death, and Rebirth: Mystical Practices of Lurianic Kabbalah*
                                                                  • Roger Walsh, The Transmission of Wisdom: The Task of Gnostic Intermediaries
                                                                  • Hasidic philosophy: Jewish law + Jewish legend + the Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) 
                                                                  • The Talmud, central text of Rabbinic Judaism
                                                                  • Torah study, the study of Judaism’s religious texts
                                                                  • Kabbalistic texts, originally part of an ancient, mystical, oral tradition
                                                                  • Havruta, traditional Rabbinic approach to Talmudic study
                                                                  • The Apology of Socrates by Plato, Socrates, Who Was Socrates Really?
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Zvi Ish-Shalom, Ph.D., is core faculty at Naropa University, and is the guiding teacher of Kedumah, the Primordial Transmissions, and the Soulship. Zvi is the author of The Kedumah Experience: The Primordial Torah; Sleep, Death, and Rebirth: Mystical Practices of Lurianic Kabbalah; and most recently The Path of Primordial Light: Ancient Wisdom for the Here and Now.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 33 | Zvi Ish-Shalom is a professor of Jewish mysticism, an author, an ordained rabbi, and the guiding light of Kedumah, a teaching out of time and space, whose primary calling is to translate wisdom from the primordial ground of being into a discernible wisdom stream. In this remarkable conversation, Zvi describes how he found ways to map and interpret his own profound mystical experiences, how the teachings arise from the ground of being, about how they might become accessible to us all, regardless of religion or spiritual tradition, and how they are especially relevant for young people today, seeking to find a structure for their spiritual journey. His familiarity with the realm of mystical experience is extremely engaging—he tells of discovering the vow taken by our soul before we were born and dropping the barriers between us and God, surrendering to the divine. Roger Walsh found Zvi’s book The Kedumah Experience “the most profound spiritual text he’s ever read in the Jewish tradition,” and listeners will almost certainly be excited to read Zvi’s latest book, published since the recording of this podcast, The Path of Primordial Light: Ancient Wisdom for the Here and Now.  Recorded at the Science & Nonduality Conference, October 2019, with Dr. Roger Walsh, John Dupuy, and Douglas Prater.

                                                                  “Being willing to lose everything for truth...when we orient that way, the most profound revelations and depths occur.”

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Note: This podcast was recorded live and includes, at times, some extraneous noises in the background. Please excuse them -- we felt the conversation was very valuable and well worth sharing with our audience. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps

                                                                  • Roger’s discovery of Zvi Ish-Shalom’s book while touring Israel: the most profound spiritual text he’d ever read in the Jewish tradition (02:00)
                                                                  • The gnostic intermediary: how Zvi revives the culture, infusing a fresh understanding of the Jewish mystical tradition (04:43)
                                                                  • Zvi’s personal story, starting with deep states of connection praying in the synagogue in Brooklyn (07:40)
                                                                  • How Zvi found ways to map and interpret his profound mystical experiences, establishing cause and effect (13:45)
                                                                  • Remembering one’s life purpose, the vow taken by your soul before embodiment (17:47)
                                                                  • Zvi’s Kedumah experience: the concept of primordial Torah, or the ground of our being, and how the teaching arises (19:57)
                                                                  • How to transmit the Kedumah teachings to the secular world? (22:32)
                                                                  • The radical experiential perspective in which the Kedumah is rooted is what makes it so timely for us today (28:17)
                                                                  • Revivifying the Jewish lineage wisdom stream through the lens of Kedumah: bringing in living expressions of the mystery (31:26)
                                                                  • The way in which a profound analytical study of the texts creates an opening and becomes a process of illumination, deepening, and distilling truth in an ever more discriminating way (37:35) 
                                                                  • What the new Kedumah paradigm offers young people who are searching for structure for their spiritual journey  (43:27)
                                                                  • The practice of dialectical inquiry (havruta) to discover the truth of reality embedded inside the texts and how to reveal it (48:20)
                                                                  • Comparing the Torah scroll to the human being: working to unpack the truth of the human experience (51:06)
                                                                  • Greek philosophy was used as a practice to investigate human life, metaphysics, and open to the transcendent as well (53:15)
                                                                  • Socrates and the fundamental wisdom of seeking truth for its own sake (56:37)
                                                                  • How does Zvi teach contemplative prayer and meditation? Building the embodied capacity for integration and allowing ourselves to surrender to the divine (59:07)
                                                                  • Zvi’s “journey of silence” (01:03:03)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References

                                                                  • Zvi’s website: Primordialight (formerly Kedumah.org)
                                                                  • Zvi Ish-Shalom, The Path of Primordial Light: Ancient Wisdom for the Here and Now*
                                                                  • Zvi Ish-Shalom, The Kedumah Experience: The Primordial Torah*
                                                                  • Zvi Ish-Shalom, Sleep, Death, and Rebirth: Mystical Practices of Lurianic Kabbalah*
                                                                  • Roger Walsh, The Transmission of Wisdom: The Task of Gnostic Intermediaries
                                                                  • Hasidic philosophy: Jewish law + Jewish legend + the Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) 
                                                                  • The Talmud, central text of Rabbinic Judaism
                                                                  • Torah study, the study of Judaism’s religious texts
                                                                  • Kabbalistic texts, originally part of an ancient, mystical, oral tradition
                                                                  • Havruta, traditional Rabbinic approach to Talmudic study
                                                                  • The Apology of Socrates by Plato, Socrates, Who Was Socrates Really?
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Zvi Ish-Shalom, Ph.D., is core faculty at Naropa University, and is the guiding teacher of Kedumah, the Primordial Transmissions, and the Soulship. Zvi is the author of The Kedumah Experience: The Primordial Torah; Sleep, Death, and Rebirth: Mystical Practices of Lurianic Kabbalah; and most recently The Path of Primordial Light: Ancient Wisdom for the Here and Now.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>5f12d89f-ab0b-49ce-88bb-dbda1ddbb884Thu, 07 Jul 2022 05:00:00 -040001:07:21falsefull3333Ep. 33 | Zvi Ish-Shalom is a professor of Jewish mysticism, an author, an ordained rabbi, and the guiding light of Kedumah, a teaching out of time and space, whose primary calling is to translate wisdom from the primordial ground of being into a discernible wisdom stream. In this remarkable conversation, Zvi describes how he found ways to map and interpret his own profound mystical experiences, how the teachings arise from the ground of being, about how they might become accessible to us all, regardless of religion or spiritual tradition, and how they are especially relevant for young people today, seeking to find a structure for their spiritual journey. His familiarity with the realm of mystical experience is extremely engaging—he tells of discovering the vow taken by our soul before we were born and dropping the barriers between us and God, surrendering to the divine. Roger Walsh found Zvi’s book The Kedumah Experience “the most profound spiritual text he’s ever read in the Jewish tradition,” and listeners will almost certainly be excited to read Zvi’s latest book, published since the recording of this podcast, The Path of Primordial Light: Ancient Wisdom for the Here and Now. Recorded at the Science & Nonduality Conference, October 2019, with Dr. Roger Walsh, John Dupuy, and Douglas Prater.Reimagining Power, Politics, & Possibilities: An Alternative Vision (Part 2)Ep. 32 (Part 2 of 2) | Socio-psychotherapist and political consultant Indra Adnan brings forth a compelling, fresh, and powerfully practical alternative vision for our politics and our world, based on bringing people and communities together in relationship to effect real planetary transformation. Indra states that the solutions to our problems exist; we just need to be able to access them, and it is at the cosmo-local community agency networks (CANs) level that we can develop responses to current crises like climate and social justice most effectively. Indra discusses how the internet has dissolved the line between the private and the public space, especially for women and the underprivileged, and asks us to imagine what the public space would look like if all our voices were heard. Rather than focusing on our disconnectedness, Indra suggests we focus on the miracle of our connectedness in this moment and drop the dividing lines that keep us stuck in disadvantageous, unempowered lives. In this conversation, the possibilities of putting Indra’s alternative vision into effect are palpable—this is a remarkable reimagining of how things could be where political agency works from the bottom up to effect systemic transformation for the benefit of all. Recorded May 18, 2022.

                                                                  “Let’s drop the boundaries that we have created for ourselves! Let’s drop the things that divide us from others.”

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                                  • Women going into politics have been obliged to be better men than men (01:15)
                                                                  • Indra most inspired by social workers’ (mostly women) intuitive understanding of people’s real needs and how they unreservedly give themselves to the task of problem solving (02:35)
                                                                  • The Big Society (community focused) program in British politics (04:10)
                                                                  • What is soft power? The power of narrative or storytelling to generate attraction and therefore relationship, as in the power of the American dream to attract relationship from all over the world (05:58)
                                                                  • What is the story we’re telling about our reality? (10:60)
                                                                  • The ladder nature of Integral stages of development may be trapping us in old language about what development looks like (11:40)
                                                                  • When the women in the London Integral circle walked away, and the need to apply the Integral model rather than simply study it and talk about it (12:12)
                                                                  • The radical equality of everyone and formative agency: different agencies need to be held in a fluid state rather than in ladder format (16:57)
                                                                  • Does Integral need to evolve to serve a wider landscape? (19:47)
                                                                  • What is the design of the public space that could honor the full human being, where all the different voices would be heard? (24:22)
                                                                  • The axis of a new politics: back to the I, the we, the world; at the heart of the vision is a new way of looking at who we are (26:34)
                                                                  • The internet, the fractal emergence of a new vision holding our creative potential and political agency, and  the soft power of how we tell the story (29:52)
                                                                  • What gives Indra hope? The miracle of connectedness in this moment (32:37)
                                                                  • The power of paying attention to the interaction in this particular moment: that is the life changing, world changing energy that we are looking for and that we need (36:15)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                  • Indra Adnan and Pat Kane, Re-imagining Social Work
                                                                  • British politician David Cameron, author of For the Record, and political agency in the Big Society program
                                                                  • Joseph Nye, Head of Kennedy School of Government, advisor to Bill Clinton, Understanding Soft Power
                                                                  • Robert Kegan, The Discerning Heart: The Developmental Psychology of Robert Kegan*
                                                                  • Ken Wilber’s stages of development
                                                                  • Terry Patten, A New Republic of the Heart: An Ethos for Revolutionaries*
                                                                  • Integral European Conference
                                                                  • Integral leaders Diane Hamilton, Terry Patten, Steve McIntosh 
                                                                  • Indra Adnan, The Politics of Waking Up: Power and Possibility in the Fractal Age*
                                                                  • Indra Adnan, founder of The Alternative Global, a socio-political platform serving systemic transformation
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Indra Adnan is founder and co-initiator of The Alternative Global, a socio-political platform serving systemic transformation. AltGlobal publishes a Daily Alternative news blog, develops cosmo-local agency networks (CANs) and connects planetary regeneration projects. Indra is concurrently a socio-psychotherapist, writer, and consultant on soft power. Clients have included the Danish and Brazilian governments, World Economic Forum, and NATO. Her book The Politics of Waking Up: Power and Possibility in the Fractal Age was a Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year in 2021.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 32 (Part 2 of 2) | Socio-psychotherapist and political consultant Indra Adnan brings forth a compelling, fresh, and powerfully practical alternative vision for our politics and our world, based on bringing people and communities together in relationship to effect real planetary transformation. Indra states that the solutions to our problems exist; we just need to be able to access them, and it is at the cosmo-local community agency networks (CANs) level that we can develop responses to current crises like climate and social justice most effectively. Indra discusses how the internet has dissolved the line between the private and the public space, especially for women and the underprivileged, and asks us to imagine what the public space would look like if all our voices were heard. Rather than focusing on our disconnectedness, Indra suggests we focus on the miracle of our connectedness in this moment and drop the dividing lines that keep us stuck in disadvantageous, unempowered lives. In this conversation, the possibilities of putting Indra’s alternative vision into effect are palpable—this is a remarkable reimagining of how things could be where political agency works from the bottom up to effect systemic transformation for the benefit of all. Recorded May 18, 2022.

                                                                  “Let’s drop the boundaries that we have created for ourselves! Let’s drop the things that divide us from others.”

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                                  • Women going into politics have been obliged to be better men than men (01:15)
                                                                  • Indra most inspired by social workers’ (mostly women) intuitive understanding of people’s real needs and how they unreservedly give themselves to the task of problem solving (02:35)
                                                                  • The Big Society (community focused) program in British politics (04:10)
                                                                  • What is soft power? The power of narrative or storytelling to generate attraction and therefore relationship, as in the power of the American dream to attract relationship from all over the world (05:58)
                                                                  • What is the story we’re telling about our reality? (10:60)
                                                                  • The ladder nature of Integral stages of development may be trapping us in old language about what development looks like (11:40)
                                                                  • When the women in the London Integral circle walked away, and the need to apply the Integral model rather than simply study it and talk about it (12:12)
                                                                  • The radical equality of everyone and formative agency: different agencies need to be held in a fluid state rather than in ladder format (16:57)
                                                                  • Does Integral need to evolve to serve a wider landscape? (19:47)
                                                                  • What is the design of the public space that could honor the full human being, where all the different voices would be heard? (24:22)
                                                                  • The axis of a new politics: back to the I, the we, the world; at the heart of the vision is a new way of looking at who we are (26:34)
                                                                  • The internet, the fractal emergence of a new vision holding our creative potential and political agency, and  the soft power of how we tell the story (29:52)
                                                                  • What gives Indra hope? The miracle of connectedness in this moment (32:37)
                                                                  • The power of paying attention to the interaction in this particular moment: that is the life changing, world changing energy that we are looking for and that we need (36:15)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                  • Indra Adnan and Pat Kane, Re-imagining Social Work
                                                                  • British politician David Cameron, author of For the Record, and political agency in the Big Society program
                                                                  • Joseph Nye, Head of Kennedy School of Government, advisor to Bill Clinton, Understanding Soft Power
                                                                  • Robert Kegan, The Discerning Heart: The Developmental Psychology of Robert Kegan*
                                                                  • Ken Wilber’s stages of development
                                                                  • Terry Patten, A New Republic of the Heart: An Ethos for Revolutionaries*
                                                                  • Integral European Conference
                                                                  • Integral leaders Diane Hamilton, Terry Patten, Steve McIntosh 
                                                                  • Indra Adnan, The Politics of Waking Up: Power and Possibility in the Fractal Age*
                                                                  • Indra Adnan, founder of The Alternative Global, a socio-political platform serving systemic transformation
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Indra Adnan is founder and co-initiator of The Alternative Global, a socio-political platform serving systemic transformation. AltGlobal publishes a Daily Alternative news blog, develops cosmo-local agency networks (CANs) and connects planetary regeneration projects. Indra is concurrently a socio-psychotherapist, writer, and consultant on soft power. Clients have included the Danish and Brazilian governments, World Economic Forum, and NATO. Her book The Politics of Waking Up: Power and Possibility in the Fractal Age was a Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year in 2021.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>b3d20c0e-0eee-451e-b990-a834875028cfThu, 30 Jun 2022 05:00:00 -040040:06falsefull3232Ep. 32 (Part 2 of 2) | Socio-psychotherapist and political consultant Indra Adnan brings forth a compelling, fresh, and powerfully practical alternative vision for our politics and our world, based on bringing people and communities together in relationship to effect real planetary transformation. Indra states that the solutions to our problems exist; we just need to be able to access them, and it is at the cosmo-local community agency networks (CANs) level that we can develop responses to current crises like climate and social justice most effectively. Indra discusses how the internet has dissolved the line between the private and the public space, especially for women and the underprivileged, and asks us to imagine what the public space would look like if all our voices were heard. Rather than focusing on our disconnectedness, Indra suggests we focus on the miracle of our connectedness in this moment and drop the dividing lines that keep us stuck in disadvantageous, unempowered lives. In this conversation, the possibilities of putting Indra’s alternative vision into effect are palpable—this is a remarkable reimagining of how things could be where political agency works from the bottom up to effect systemic transformation for the benefit of all. “Let’s drop the boundaries that we have created for ourselves! Let’s drop the things that divide us from others.”Reimagining Power, Politics & Possibilities: An Alternative VisionEp. 31 (Part 1 of 2) | Socio-psychotherapist and political consultant Indra Adnan brings forth a compelling, fresh, and powerfully practical alternative vision for our politics and our world, based on bringing people and communities together in relationship to effect real planetary transformation. Indra states that the solutions to our problems exist; we just need to be able to access them, and it is at the cosmo-local community agency networks (CANs) level that we can develop responses to current crises like climate and social justice most effectively. Indra discusses how the internet has dissolved the line between the private and the public space, especially for women and the underprivileged, and asks us to imagine what the public space would look like if all our voices were heard. Rather than focusing on our disconnectedness, Indra suggests we focus on the miracle of our connectedness in this moment and drop the dividing lines that keep us stuck in disadvantageous, unempowered lives. In this conversation, the possibilities of putting Indra’s alternative vision into effect are palpable—this is a remarkable reimagining of how things could be where political agency works from the bottom up to effect systemic transformation for the benefit of all. Recorded May 18, 2022.

                                                                  “Let’s drop the boundaries that we have created for ourselves! Let’s drop the things that divide us from others.”

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                                  • Introducing Indra Adnan: political innovator, socio-psychotherapist, writer, and consultant on “soft power” to clients such as NATO, the World Economic Forum, and the Brazilian and Danish governments, initiator of an alternative vision for creating systemic transformation (01:16)
                                                                  • How Indra’s contemplative practice began, creating her own spiritual beliefs, and asking, Where is my power? What control do I have over my life? (4:11)
                                                                  • Meeting Nichiren Buddhism in Indonesia (06:49)
                                                                  • The phenomenon of empowerment in action: Look again. Re-imagine. Something else is possible. (07:57)
                                                                  • What is it we are settling for now? Crises on every side and dependency on politicians in a two-party, competitive system, where the two parties are invested in each other’s failure (11:45)
                                                                  • The solutions to our problems are already available (so why do we not have access to them?), and how community agency networks (CANs) are taking shape as responses to climate and social justice crises (13:38)
                                                                  • Cosmo-local CANs can be the new system, providing a new way for the people’s voice to hear itself and be heard (15:20)
                                                                  • Concept of the 3 realms: the I, the We, and the World—we can all be all 3 of these things, which is essential to understanding how we can have political agency by taking down the barriers between these 3 ways of being (16:13)
                                                                  • The politics of waking up: there is waking up to the oneness, to engi, but in her book, Indra is talking about a different waking up: waking up to our capacity for connecting, for mobilizing, #softpower (18:33)
                                                                  • The new space created by the internet and modern technology has created a radical shift of agency, the woke phenomenon (21:42)
                                                                  • The way women see the possibilities and the future is becoming more and more distinct, i.e. the relational way of being women have always depended on is finding its way into the public space, into community, into politics (23:34)
                                                                  • How Roger sees the possibilities of this age: a collaborative birthing that will turn out as a function of how we approach it (31:56)
                                                                  • What can men do? Men have to make space for women to show up. This can mean giving up their place, their seat, their moment in the spotlight (34:06)
                                                                  • It may be time for men to step into the yin and look at themselves and their relations (37:18)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                  • Indra Adnan, The Politics of Waking Up: Power and Possibility in the Fractal Age*
                                                                  • Indra Adnan, founder of The Alternative Global, a socio-political platform serving systemic transformation
                                                                  • Nichiren Buddhism
                                                                  • What is cosmo-localism?
                                                                  • Engi, or Pratītyasamutpāda in Sanskrit
                                                                  • Karen O’Brien, You Matter More Than You Think: Quantum Social Change for a Thriving World*
                                                                  • Marilyn French, Beyond Power: On Women, Men and Morals*
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Indra Adnan is founder and co-initiator of The Alternative Global, a socio-political platform serving systemic transformation. AltGlobal publishes a Daily Alternative news blog, develops cosmo-local agency networks (CANs) and connects planetary regeneration projects. Indra is concurrently a socio-psychotherapist, writer, and consultant on soft power. Clients have included the Danish and Brazilian governments, World Economic Forum, and NATO. Her book The Politics of Waking Up: Power and Possibility in the Fractal Age was a Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year in 2021.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 31 (Part 1 of 2) | Socio-psychotherapist and political consultant Indra Adnan brings forth a compelling, fresh, and powerfully practical alternative vision for our politics and our world, based on bringing people and communities together in relationship to effect real planetary transformation. Indra states that the solutions to our problems exist; we just need to be able to access them, and it is at the cosmo-local community agency networks (CANs) level that we can develop responses to current crises like climate and social justice most effectively. Indra discusses how the internet has dissolved the line between the private and the public space, especially for women and the underprivileged, and asks us to imagine what the public space would look like if all our voices were heard. Rather than focusing on our disconnectedness, Indra suggests we focus on the miracle of our connectedness in this moment and drop the dividing lines that keep us stuck in disadvantageous, unempowered lives. In this conversation, the possibilities of putting Indra’s alternative vision into effect are palpable—this is a remarkable reimagining of how things could be where political agency works from the bottom up to effect systemic transformation for the benefit of all. Recorded May 18, 2022.

                                                                  “Let’s drop the boundaries that we have created for ourselves! Let’s drop the things that divide us from others.”

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                                  • Introducing Indra Adnan: political innovator, socio-psychotherapist, writer, and consultant on “soft power” to clients such as NATO, the World Economic Forum, and the Brazilian and Danish governments, initiator of an alternative vision for creating systemic transformation (01:16)
                                                                  • How Indra’s contemplative practice began, creating her own spiritual beliefs, and asking, Where is my power? What control do I have over my life? (4:11)
                                                                  • Meeting Nichiren Buddhism in Indonesia (06:49)
                                                                  • The phenomenon of empowerment in action: Look again. Re-imagine. Something else is possible. (07:57)
                                                                  • What is it we are settling for now? Crises on every side and dependency on politicians in a two-party, competitive system, where the two parties are invested in each other’s failure (11:45)
                                                                  • The solutions to our problems are already available (so why do we not have access to them?), and how community agency networks (CANs) are taking shape as responses to climate and social justice crises (13:38)
                                                                  • Cosmo-local CANs can be the new system, providing a new way for the people’s voice to hear itself and be heard (15:20)
                                                                  • Concept of the 3 realms: the I, the We, and the World—we can all be all 3 of these things, which is essential to understanding how we can have political agency by taking down the barriers between these 3 ways of being (16:13)
                                                                  • The politics of waking up: there is waking up to the oneness, to engi, but in her book, Indra is talking about a different waking up: waking up to our capacity for connecting, for mobilizing, #softpower (18:33)
                                                                  • The new space created by the internet and modern technology has created a radical shift of agency, the woke phenomenon (21:42)
                                                                  • The way women see the possibilities and the future is becoming more and more distinct, i.e. the relational way of being women have always depended on is finding its way into the public space, into community, into politics (23:34)
                                                                  • How Roger sees the possibilities of this age: a collaborative birthing that will turn out as a function of how we approach it (31:56)
                                                                  • What can men do? Men have to make space for women to show up. This can mean giving up their place, their seat, their moment in the spotlight (34:06)
                                                                  • It may be time for men to step into the yin and look at themselves and their relations (37:18)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                  • Indra Adnan, The Politics of Waking Up: Power and Possibility in the Fractal Age*
                                                                  • Indra Adnan, founder of The Alternative Global, a socio-political platform serving systemic transformation
                                                                  • Nichiren Buddhism
                                                                  • What is cosmo-localism?
                                                                  • Engi, or Pratītyasamutpāda in Sanskrit
                                                                  • Karen O’Brien, You Matter More Than You Think: Quantum Social Change for a Thriving World*
                                                                  • Marilyn French, Beyond Power: On Women, Men and Morals*
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Indra Adnan is founder and co-initiator of The Alternative Global, a socio-political platform serving systemic transformation. AltGlobal publishes a Daily Alternative news blog, develops cosmo-local agency networks (CANs) and connects planetary regeneration projects. Indra is concurrently a socio-psychotherapist, writer, and consultant on soft power. Clients have included the Danish and Brazilian governments, World Economic Forum, and NATO. Her book The Politics of Waking Up: Power and Possibility in the Fractal Age was a Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year in 2021.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>aa90802b-e8c9-4e48-b4d6-9576f05e84ddThu, 23 Jun 2022 05:00:00 -040041:10falsefull3131Ep. 31 (Part 1 of 2) | Socio-psychotherapist and political consultant Indra Adnan brings forth a compelling, fresh, and powerfully practical alternative vision for our politics and our world, based on bringing people and communities together in relationship to effect real planetary transformation. Indra states that the solutions to our problems exist; we just need to be able to access them, and it is at the cosmo-local community agency networks (CANs) level that we can develop responses to current crises like climate and social justice most effectively. Indra discusses how the internet has dissolved the line between the private and the public space, especially for women and the underprivileged, and asks us to imagine what the public space would look like if all our voices were heard. Rather than focusing on our disconnectedness, Indra suggests we focus on the miracle of our connectedness in this moment and drop the dividing lines that keep us stuck in disadvantageous, unempowered lives. In this conversation, the possibilities of putting Indra’s alternative vision into effect are palpable—this is a remarkable reimagining of how things could be where political agency works from the bottom up to effect systemic transformation for the benefit of all.Truthfinding, Sensemaking, the Psychedelic Renaissance & How to Heal a Culture That Has Lost Its Soul (Part 2)Ep. 30 (Part 2 of 2) | Rebel Wisdom co-founder Alexander Beiner has his finger on the cultural pulse of our times. Here he explores key challenges we face as a global community: sensemaking and truth finding in a culture that has lost its coherence as well as its sense of the divine, and what role psychedelics might play both therapeutically and spiritually in healing our culture. He discusses the need to go beyond the intellectual to find clarity and coherence, using embodied practices like meditation and inquiry, and explains how modalities such as these are an essential container for therapeutic psychedelic experiences. What if deep, spiritual, psychotherapeutic group processes were to inform political decision making? Are commodification and economics going to subvert the benefits of the psychedelic renaissance? Let’s start asking, what do we want these substances to bring to the culture, and who has the authority to decide what psychedelics are used for? Ali brings keen insight and the wisdom of a dedicated contemplative to asking the important questions and offering up some answers as well. Recorded September 27, 2021.

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                                  • The developmental process involved with engaging with the contemplative world (01:30)
                                                                  • The psychedelic renaissance and learning how best to use psychedelic substances as part of our spiritual practices (02:24)
                                                                  • Legalizing MDMA (03:46)
                                                                  • Bringing psychedelics into mainstream culture: the biomedical route (04:23) 
                                                                  • The need to consciously build a psychedelic metaculture and Ali’s Psychedelic Value Survey (05:52)
                                                                  • Are economics going to subvert the benefits of the psychedelic reemergence? (07:59) 
                                                                  • We need to start asking, what do we want these substances to bring to the culture and who has the authority to decide what psychedelics are for? (10:59) 
                                                                  • Are churches embracing the use of psychedelics? (13:15)
                                                                  • Religious, spiritual, and therapeutic uses (14:50) 
                                                                  • Karma yoga: the interface between the contemplative and the cultural, the spiritual and the political (16:25)
                                                                  • The current meaning crisis, the lack of cultural coherence, and the need to commit to something higher (19:12)
                                                                  • What’s missing culturally right now is a sense of divinity and the ability to surrender (20:34)
                                                                  • The global coordination issue (24:14)
                                                                  • The crucial motive of self-transcendence (Abraham Maslow), meta motives and meta pathologies (25:02)
                                                                  • The crisis of sense making and understanding that making sense doesn’t happen only through thought, it’s an embodied process (29:09)
                                                                  • Fostering complexity tolerance and resilience in not knowing (32:02)
                                                                  • What gives Alexander hope? The idea that humanity is at its best under pressure (34:11)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                  • Ram Dass, Be Here Now
                                                                  • Rick Doblin, Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
                                                                  • Santo Daime tradition
                                                                  • Burning Man annual event in Black Rock City, Nevada
                                                                  • Alexander Beiner/Rebel Wisdom film, The Rise of Psychedelic Capitalism 
                                                                  • Norman Spinrad, 1970s science fiction writer, The Last Hurrah of the Golden Horde*, review
                                                                  • North Star Ethics Pledge, a first step in the demanding work of shaping the psychedelic industry around psychedelic wisdom
                                                                  • Karma yoga, one of 4 classic spiritual paths in Hinduism
                                                                  • Ranulph Fiennes, British explorer, writer, and poet, the world’s greatest living explorer according to the 1984 Guinness Book of World Records
                                                                  • Ken Wilber, How Postmodernism Defies its Own Goals
                                                                  • Daniel Schmachtenberger, founding member of The Consilience Project, which publishes novel research at the leading edges of global risk mitigation, governance design, and culture
                                                                  • John Vervaeke, award-winning lecturer at the University of Toronto and creator of the cult hit YouTube series Awakening from the Meaning Crisis
                                                                  • Maslow’s forgotten pinnacle: Self-transcendence
                                                                  • Naryan Wong, founder of ThinkBetter, a training organization that helps people apply evidence-based approaches to their development, and an active member of the Rationalist community
                                                                  • Developing Complexity Tolerance with David Treleaven on Rebel Wisdom
                                                                  • Terence McKenna, ethnobotanist, author, and advocate of using psychedelic plants, Chaos, Creativity, and Cosmic Consciousness* with Rupert Sheldrake & Ralph Abraham
                                                                  • Doshin Roshi, founder and abbot of Integral Zen
                                                                  • Rebel Wisdom podcast website
                                                                  • Rebel Wisdom’s Sensemaking 101 (8-week process begins June 18th)
                                                                  • Alexander Beiner on Medium.com
                                                                  • Alexander Beiner on Substack.com
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Alexander Beiner is a writer, facilitator, cultural commentator, and co-founder of the popular podcast and retreats organization Rebel Wisdom. Alexander regularly discusses psychedelics and interviews key figures in the psychedelic community on Rebel Wisdom, and is currently exploring the role psychedelics can play in an increasingly polarized culture. His articles appear frequently in Medium.com (and now Substack). He is one of the directors of Breaking Convention, Europe’s largest conference on psychedelic science and culture, and his work on psychedelic culture has been published in the 2016 book Neurotransmissions, as well as in The Guardian. In 2012, he co-founded a meditation school, Open Meditation. Alexander also writes fiction and plays...]]>Ep. 30 (Part 2 of 2) | Rebel Wisdom co-founder Alexander Beiner has his finger on the cultural pulse of our times. Here he explores key challenges we face as a global community: sensemaking and truth finding in a culture that has lost its coherence as well as its sense of the divine, and what role psychedelics might play both therapeutically and spiritually in healing our culture. He discusses the need to go beyond the intellectual to find clarity and coherence, using embodied practices like meditation and inquiry, and explains how modalities such as these are an essential container for therapeutic psychedelic experiences. What if deep, spiritual, psychotherapeutic group processes were to inform political decision making? Are commodification and economics going to subvert the benefits of the psychedelic renaissance? Let’s start asking, what do we want these substances to bring to the culture, and who has the authority to decide what psychedelics are used for? Ali brings keen insight and the wisdom of a dedicated contemplative to asking the important questions and offering up some answers as well. Recorded September 27, 2021.

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                                  • The developmental process involved with engaging with the contemplative world (01:30)
                                                                  • The psychedelic renaissance and learning how best to use psychedelic substances as part of our spiritual practices (02:24)
                                                                  • Legalizing MDMA (03:46)
                                                                  • Bringing psychedelics into mainstream culture: the biomedical route (04:23) 
                                                                  • The need to consciously build a psychedelic metaculture and Ali’s Psychedelic Value Survey (05:52)
                                                                  • Are economics going to subvert the benefits of the psychedelic reemergence? (07:59) 
                                                                  • We need to start asking, what do we want these substances to bring to the culture and who has the authority to decide what psychedelics are for? (10:59) 
                                                                  • Are churches embracing the use of psychedelics? (13:15)
                                                                  • Religious, spiritual, and therapeutic uses (14:50) 
                                                                  • Karma yoga: the interface between the contemplative and the cultural, the spiritual and the political (16:25)
                                                                  • The current meaning crisis, the lack of cultural coherence, and the need to commit to something higher (19:12)
                                                                  • What’s missing culturally right now is a sense of divinity and the ability to surrender (20:34)
                                                                  • The global coordination issue (24:14)
                                                                  • The crucial motive of self-transcendence (Abraham Maslow), meta motives and meta pathologies (25:02)
                                                                  • The crisis of sense making and understanding that making sense doesn’t happen only through thought, it’s an embodied process (29:09)
                                                                  • Fostering complexity tolerance and resilience in not knowing (32:02)
                                                                  • What gives Alexander hope? The idea that humanity is at its best under pressure (34:11)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                  • Ram Dass, Be Here Now
                                                                  • Rick Doblin, Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
                                                                  • Santo Daime tradition
                                                                  • Burning Man annual event in Black Rock City, Nevada
                                                                  • Alexander Beiner/Rebel Wisdom film, The Rise of Psychedelic Capitalism 
                                                                  • Norman Spinrad, 1970s science fiction writer, The Last Hurrah of the Golden Horde*, review
                                                                  • North Star Ethics Pledge, a first step in the demanding work of shaping the psychedelic industry around psychedelic wisdom
                                                                  • Karma yoga, one of 4 classic spiritual paths in Hinduism
                                                                  • Ranulph Fiennes, British explorer, writer, and poet, the world’s greatest living explorer according to the 1984 Guinness Book of World Records
                                                                  • Ken Wilber, How Postmodernism Defies its Own Goals
                                                                  • Daniel Schmachtenberger, founding member of The Consilience Project, which publishes novel research at the leading edges of global risk mitigation, governance design, and culture
                                                                  • John Vervaeke, award-winning lecturer at the University of Toronto and creator of the cult hit YouTube series Awakening from the Meaning Crisis
                                                                  • Maslow’s forgotten pinnacle: Self-transcendence
                                                                  • Naryan Wong, founder of ThinkBetter, a training organization that helps people apply evidence-based approaches to their development, and an active member of the Rationalist community
                                                                  • Developing Complexity Tolerance with David Treleaven on Rebel Wisdom
                                                                  • Terence McKenna, ethnobotanist, author, and advocate of using psychedelic plants, Chaos, Creativity, and Cosmic Consciousness* with Rupert Sheldrake & Ralph Abraham
                                                                  • Doshin Roshi, founder and abbot of Integral Zen
                                                                  • Rebel Wisdom podcast website
                                                                  • Rebel Wisdom’s Sensemaking 101 (8-week process begins June 18th)
                                                                  • Alexander Beiner on Medium.com
                                                                  • Alexander Beiner on Substack.com
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Alexander Beiner is a writer, facilitator, cultural commentator, and co-founder of the popular podcast and retreats organization Rebel Wisdom. Alexander regularly discusses psychedelics and interviews key figures in the psychedelic community on Rebel Wisdom, and is currently exploring the role psychedelics can play in an increasingly polarized culture. His articles appear frequently in Medium.com (and now Substack). He is one of the directors of Breaking Convention, Europe’s largest conference on psychedelic science and culture, and his work on psychedelic culture has been published in the 2016 book Neurotransmissions, as well as in The Guardian. In 2012, he co-founded a meditation school, Open Meditation. Alexander also writes fiction and plays traditional Irish music.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>32cbe610-67a7-4454-b00e-b78cf7e5cc2dThu, 16 Jun 2022 05:00:00 -040037:10falsefull3030Ep. 30 (Part 2 of 2) | Rebel Wisdom co-founder Alexander Beiner has his finger on the cultural pulse of our times. Here he explores key challenges we face as a global community: sensemaking and truth finding in a culture that has lost its coherence as well as its sense of the divine, and what role psychedelics might play both therapeutically and spiritually in healing our culture. He discusses the need to go beyond the intellectual to find clarity and coherence, using embodied practices like meditation and inquiry, and explains how modalities such as these are an essential container for therapeutic psychedelic experiences. What if deep, spiritual, psychotherapeutic group processes were to inform political decision making? Are commodification and economics going to subvert the benefits of the psychedelic renaissance? Let’s start asking, what do we want these substances to bring to the culture, and who has the authority to decide what psychedelics are used for? Ali brings keen insight and the wisdom of a dedicated contemplative to asking the important questions and offering up some answers as well. Recorded September 27, 2021.Truthfinding, Sensemaking, the Psychedelic Renaissance & How to Heal a Culture That Has Lost Its SoulEp. 29 (Part 1 of 2) | Rebel Wisdom co-founder Alexander Beiner has his finger on the cultural pulse of our times. Here he explores key challenges we face as a global community: sensemaking and truth finding in a culture that has lost its coherence as well as its sense of the divine, and what role psychedelics might play both therapeutically and spiritually in healing our culture. He discusses the need to go beyond the intellectual to find clarity and coherence, using embodied practices like meditation and inquiry, and explains how modalities such as these are an essential container for therapeutic psychedelic experiences. What if deep, spiritual, psychotherapeutic group processes were to inform political decision making? Are commodification and economics going to subvert the benefits of the psychedelic renaissance? Let’s start asking, what do we want these substances to bring to the culture, and who has the authority to decide what psychedelics are used for? Ali brings keen insight and the wisdom of a dedicated contemplative to asking the important questions and offering up some answers as well. Recorded September 27, 2021.

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                                  • The evolution of the internet—from optimistic to dark and addictive—and its effect on culture (03:50)
                                                                  • The crisis of trust in institutions creates a Wild West of narratives: Where do we get truth from? (07:03)
                                                                  • Rebel Wisdom asks, how can we use the attitudes of the personal growth world and ancient wisdom to help us get into a new dialogue with each other? (08:50)
                                                                  • The necessity to go beyond the intellectual to find clarity and certainty: that’s where practices come in (like meditation and inquiry) (13:35)
                                                                  • Rebel Wisdom’s online course Sensemaking 101 moves from the inside out, creating a state of presence before tackling making sense of the news (15:55)
                                                                  • The value of contemplative practices: they help you zoom out to a metaperspective and cultivate perspectival fluidity (17:07)
                                                                  • The importance of bringing the spiritual worlds and political worlds together (people in the spiritual worlds are reluctant to go too far into the political and vice versa) (20:02)
                                                                  • Danger of using meta as a “bypass”: focusing on how to make a better world rather than focusing on the realities of what is happening right now (20:57)
                                                                  • The cycle of withdrawal and return: going within to come back to the world with more wisdom to give and going without to connect more deeply with ourselves (22:20)
                                                                  • On allowing deep, spiritual, psychotherapeutic group processes to inform political decision making (23:52)
                                                                  • What would an effective meta practice for people entail at this point? An ecology of practices (27:26)
                                                                  • The therapeutic potential of the psychedelic experience combined with different modalities, i.e. inquiry + psychedelic experience (30:58)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                  • Rebel Wisdom podcast website
                                                                  • Rebel Wisdom’s Sensemaking 101 (8-week process begins June 18th)
                                                                  • Alexander Beiner on Medium.com
                                                                  • Alexander Beiner on Substack.com
                                                                  • Terence McKenna, ethnobotanist, author, and advocate of using psychedelic plants, Chaos, Creativity, and Cosmic Consciousness* with Rupert Sheldrake & Ralph Abraham
                                                                  • Timothy Leary, Harvard psychologist and LSD advocate, Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out*
                                                                  • Tristan Harris, “Persuasive Technology and the Race to the Bottom of the Brain Stem”
                                                                  • Venkatesh Rao, “The Internet of Beefs,” Tempo: Timing, Tactics and Strategy in Narrative-driven Decision-making*
                                                                  • Howard Bloom, Global Brain*
                                                                  • Peter Russell, The Brain Book*
                                                                  • Bret Weinstein Talks About His Brother Eric Weinstein
                                                                  • John Vervaeke, award-winning lecturer at the University of Toronto and creator of the cult hit YouTube series Awakening from the Meaning Crisis, author, Zombies in Western Culture: A Twenty-first Century Crisis,* Four Kinds of Knowing video
                                                                  • The Ridhwan Tradition: The Diamond Approach
                                                                  • Jamie Bristow, director of The Mindfulness Initiative, a policy institute teaching mindfulness and compassion to politicians 
                                                                  • Daniel Schmachtenberger, founding member of The Consilience Project aimed at improving public sensemaking and dialogue
                                                                  • Jordan Hall, futurist and culture hacker
                                                                  • Arnold Toynbee, historian, A Study of History*
                                                                  • Living the Path of Love, course taught by Turiya Hanover and Rafia Morgan, co-founders of the Path of Love
                                                                  • Carl Rogers, great American psychologist, Journal of Humanistic Psychology: The Rust Workshop (The Central American Challenge)
                                                                  • Wim Hof Breathwork
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Alexander Beiner is a writer, facilitator, cultural commentator, and co-founder of the popular podcast and retreats organization Rebel Wisdom. Alexander regularly discusses psychedelics and interviews key figures in the psychedelic community on Rebel Wisdom, and is currently exploring the role psychedelics can play in an increasingly polarized culture. His articles appear frequently in Medium.com (and now Substack). He is one of the directors of Breaking Convention, Europe’s largest conference on psychedelic science...]]>Ep. 29 (Part 1 of 2) | Rebel Wisdom co-founder Alexander Beiner has his finger on the cultural pulse of our times. Here he explores key challenges we face as a global community: sensemaking and truth finding in a culture that has lost its coherence as well as its sense of the divine, and what role psychedelics might play both therapeutically and spiritually in healing our culture. He discusses the need to go beyond the intellectual to find clarity and coherence, using embodied practices like meditation and inquiry, and explains how modalities such as these are an essential container for therapeutic psychedelic experiences. What if deep, spiritual, psychotherapeutic group processes were to inform political decision making? Are commodification and economics going to subvert the benefits of the psychedelic renaissance? Let’s start asking, what do we want these substances to bring to the culture, and who has the authority to decide what psychedelics are used for? Ali brings keen insight and the wisdom of a dedicated contemplative to asking the important questions and offering up some answers as well. Recorded September 27, 2021.

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                                  • The evolution of the internet—from optimistic to dark and addictive—and its effect on culture (03:50)
                                                                  • The crisis of trust in institutions creates a Wild West of narratives: Where do we get truth from? (07:03)
                                                                  • Rebel Wisdom asks, how can we use the attitudes of the personal growth world and ancient wisdom to help us get into a new dialogue with each other? (08:50)
                                                                  • The necessity to go beyond the intellectual to find clarity and certainty: that’s where practices come in (like meditation and inquiry) (13:35)
                                                                  • Rebel Wisdom’s online course Sensemaking 101 moves from the inside out, creating a state of presence before tackling making sense of the news (15:55)
                                                                  • The value of contemplative practices: they help you zoom out to a metaperspective and cultivate perspectival fluidity (17:07)
                                                                  • The importance of bringing the spiritual worlds and political worlds together (people in the spiritual worlds are reluctant to go too far into the political and vice versa) (20:02)
                                                                  • Danger of using meta as a “bypass”: focusing on how to make a better world rather than focusing on the realities of what is happening right now (20:57)
                                                                  • The cycle of withdrawal and return: going within to come back to the world with more wisdom to give and going without to connect more deeply with ourselves (22:20)
                                                                  • On allowing deep, spiritual, psychotherapeutic group processes to inform political decision making (23:52)
                                                                  • What would an effective meta practice for people entail at this point? An ecology of practices (27:26)
                                                                  • The therapeutic potential of the psychedelic experience combined with different modalities, i.e. inquiry + psychedelic experience (30:58)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                  • Rebel Wisdom podcast website
                                                                  • Rebel Wisdom’s Sensemaking 101 (8-week process begins June 18th)
                                                                  • Alexander Beiner on Medium.com
                                                                  • Alexander Beiner on Substack.com
                                                                  • Terence McKenna, ethnobotanist, author, and advocate of using psychedelic plants, Chaos, Creativity, and Cosmic Consciousness* with Rupert Sheldrake & Ralph Abraham
                                                                  • Timothy Leary, Harvard psychologist and LSD advocate, Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out*
                                                                  • Tristan Harris, “Persuasive Technology and the Race to the Bottom of the Brain Stem”
                                                                  • Venkatesh Rao, “The Internet of Beefs,” Tempo: Timing, Tactics and Strategy in Narrative-driven Decision-making*
                                                                  • Howard Bloom, Global Brain*
                                                                  • Peter Russell, The Brain Book*
                                                                  • Bret Weinstein Talks About His Brother Eric Weinstein
                                                                  • John Vervaeke, award-winning lecturer at the University of Toronto and creator of the cult hit YouTube series Awakening from the Meaning Crisis, author, Zombies in Western Culture: A Twenty-first Century Crisis,* Four Kinds of Knowing video
                                                                  • The Ridhwan Tradition: The Diamond Approach
                                                                  • Jamie Bristow, director of The Mindfulness Initiative, a policy institute teaching mindfulness and compassion to politicians 
                                                                  • Daniel Schmachtenberger, founding member of The Consilience Project aimed at improving public sensemaking and dialogue
                                                                  • Jordan Hall, futurist and culture hacker
                                                                  • Arnold Toynbee, historian, A Study of History*
                                                                  • Living the Path of Love, course taught by Turiya Hanover and Rafia Morgan, co-founders of the Path of Love
                                                                  • Carl Rogers, great American psychologist, Journal of Humanistic Psychology: The Rust Workshop (The Central American Challenge)
                                                                  • Wim Hof Breathwork
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Alexander Beiner is a writer, facilitator, cultural commentator, and co-founder of the popular podcast and retreats organization Rebel Wisdom. Alexander regularly discusses psychedelics and interviews key figures in the psychedelic community on Rebel Wisdom, and is currently exploring the role psychedelics can play in an increasingly polarized culture. His articles appear frequently in Medium.com (and now Substack). He is one of the directors of Breaking Convention, Europe’s largest conference on psychedelic science and culture, and his work on psychedelic culture has been published in the 2016 book Neurotransmissions, as well as in The Guardian. In 2012, he co-founded a meditation school, Open Meditation. Alexander also writes fiction and plays traditional Irish music.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>acbd0c31-1e7d-45f9-b34f-803be3f0415fThu, 09 Jun 2022 05:00:00 -040036:01falsefull2929Ep. 29 (Part 1 of 2) | Rebel Wisdom co-founder Alexander Beiner has his finger on the cultural pulse of our times. Here he explores key challenges we face as a global community: sensemaking and truth finding in a culture that has lost its coherence as well as its sense of the divine, and what role psychedelics might play both therapeutically and spiritually in healing our culture. He discusses the need to go beyond the intellectual to find clarity and coherence, using embodied practices like meditation and inquiry, and explains how modalities such as these are an essential container for therapeutic psychedelic experiences. What if deep, spiritual, psychotherapeutic group processes were to inform political decision making? Are commodification and economics going to subvert the benefits of the psychedelic renaissance? Let’s start asking, what do we want these substances to bring to the culture, and who has the authority to decide what psychedelics are used for? Ali brings keen insight and the wisdom of a dedicated contemplative to asking the important questions and offering up some answers as well. Recorded September 27, 2021.From Bodhisattva to Ecosattva: Integrating Personal Practice & Global Activism with David Loy (Part 2)Ep. 28 (Part 2 of 2) | David Loy, Zen teacher, scholar, and prolific author, reveals his acute understanding of the crises we face today, the psychology at the root of the problems, and how we can make our way forward in this in-depth discussion. He has adopted the term ecodharma to focus attention on the challenge Buddhism faces now: integrating personal transformation with global activism and social transformation. As David points out, the focus needs to be on this world, with transcendence being a metaphorical understanding but not an excuse to abandon the problems we and our planet face today. 

                                                                  Besides gaining great depth of knowledge from being a scholar and student of koans, David’s insights come from a plethora of nondual experiences, which led David on a path of eco-action. Ecodharma asks: How does Buddhism need to change? How much is dwelling in emptiness becoming problematical in these challenging times? What’s best for the Earth? Everyone says practice, practice, practice…when is the performance? Is evolutionary pressure going to create a new way of living sustainably? Recorded February 22, 2020. 

                                                                  “When your sense of separation dissipates, it becomes not what’s in it for me, but what can I do to help make this a better world for everybody?”

                                                                  Note: Regrettably 4 minutes of the recording were irretrievably lost at minute 21:26, but thankfully, the recording resumes just as Roger succinctly sums up the previous minutes of conversation. Also, this podcast was recorded live and includes, at times, some extraneous noises in the background. Please excuse them -- we felt the conversation was very valuable and well worth sharing with our audience. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                                  • The role of technology, moving into an age of virtual reality, and the creation of supernormal stimuli (01:41)
                                                                  • Ecodharma: addressing the need for a new understanding of practice and walking the bodhisattva/ecosattva path (04:37) 
                                                                  • Keeping “don’t know” mind in the face of the eco-crisis (09:57)
                                                                  • How can Buddhism contribute to facing the critical issues of our time? (10:54)
                                                                  • The Extinction Rebellion, a grassroots direct action movement (11:49)
                                                                  • The election of Trump has highlighted our problems in making them worse (15:16)
                                                                  • The problem of complacency (17:24)
                                                                  • What signifies that one has started to walk the bodhisattva path? (19:42)
                                                                  • Desire versus craving (21:26)
                                                                  • Karma yoga and not being attached to the outcome (22:14)
                                                                  • The cycle of withdrawal and return common to those people who have contributed the most to humankind (23:45)
                                                                  • The deepest challenge of our practice is integrating the knowledge that everything is perfect, but also knowing action is needed to improve things (26:36)
                                                                  • Evolutionary psychology, the evolution of religion, and what we need to do today (28:18)
                                                                  • What socially engaged Buddhism has to contribute (34:02)
                                                                  • The challenge of the gnostic intermediary to transmit a wisdom tradition across cultures and across time (34:59)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                  • Edward O. Wilson, aka the Darwin of the 21st century
                                                                  • Guhyapati, founder of the Eco-Dharma Centre in northeast Spain
                                                                  • David Loy and Guhyapati, Remaking Our Dharma: Expanding the Scope of Ecodharma
                                                                  • David Loy, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center
                                                                  • David Loy, "The Bodhisattva Path in the Trump Era" 
                                                                  • Greta Thunberg and the School Strike for Climate
                                                                  • Extinction Rebellion: Grassroots movement engaging in direct action focused on climate, species extinction, population, toxins, plastic and more
                                                                  • The Bhagavad Gita 
                                                                  • Arnold Toynbee, A Study of World History* (abridgement by D.C. Somervell)
                                                                  • Robert Thurman, first Westerner Tibetan Buddhist monk ordained by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
                                                                  • Shunryu Suzuki, author of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind 
                                                                  • Paul Hawkins, Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History is Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beauty to the World*
                                                                  • Wes Nisker, You Are Not Your Fault and Other Revelations*
                                                                  • Roger Walsh, The Transmission of Wisdom: The Task of Gnostic Intermediaries
                                                                  • David Loy, "How to Be an EcoSattva" 
                                                                  • David Loy, EcoDharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis*
                                                                  • David Loy, co-editor, A Buddhist Response to the Climate Emergency*
                                                                  • Full list of David’s writings: https://www.davidloy.org/writing.html
                                                                  • David Loy’s website
                                                                  • David Loy, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Early on, David Loy studied koans under Yamada Kōun Roshi while teaching Eastern and Western philosophy in Japan. He began to have direct experiences of nonduality, and the recognition of unity, or connection with others, led to his activism in the spheres of social justice and the eco-crisis. A scholar, professor, and Zen teacher in the Sanbo Zen tradition, David brings a Buddhist perspective to the ecological crisis we face today. He points out there is an important parallel between what Buddhism says about our personal predicament and about our collective predicament in relation to the rest of the biosphere. David is also a prolific author; his latest book is Ecodharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis; and he is co-editor of A Buddhist Response to the Climate Emergency.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 28 (Part 2 of 2) | David Loy, Zen teacher, scholar, and prolific author, reveals his acute understanding of the crises we face today, the psychology at the root of the problems, and how we can make our way forward in this in-depth discussion. He has adopted the term ecodharma to focus attention on the challenge Buddhism faces now: integrating personal transformation with global activism and social transformation. As David points out, the focus needs to be on this world, with transcendence being a metaphorical understanding but not an excuse to abandon the problems we and our planet face today. 

                                                                  Besides gaining great depth of knowledge from being a scholar and student of koans, David’s insights come from a plethora of nondual experiences, which led David on a path of eco-action. Ecodharma asks: How does Buddhism need to change? How much is dwelling in emptiness becoming problematical in these challenging times? What’s best for the Earth? Everyone says practice, practice, practice…when is the performance? Is evolutionary pressure going to create a new way of living sustainably? Recorded February 22, 2020. 

                                                                  “When your sense of separation dissipates, it becomes not what’s in it for me, but what can I do to help make this a better world for everybody?”

                                                                  Note: Regrettably 4 minutes of the recording were irretrievably lost at minute 21:26, but thankfully, the recording resumes just as Roger succinctly sums up the previous minutes of conversation. Also, this podcast was recorded live and includes, at times, some extraneous noises in the background. Please excuse them -- we felt the conversation was very valuable and well worth sharing with our audience. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                                  • The role of technology, moving into an age of virtual reality, and the creation of supernormal stimuli (01:41)
                                                                  • Ecodharma: addressing the need for a new understanding of practice and walking the bodhisattva/ecosattva path (04:37) 
                                                                  • Keeping “don’t know” mind in the face of the eco-crisis (09:57)
                                                                  • How can Buddhism contribute to facing the critical issues of our time? (10:54)
                                                                  • The Extinction Rebellion, a grassroots direct action movement (11:49)
                                                                  • The election of Trump has highlighted our problems in making them worse (15:16)
                                                                  • The problem of complacency (17:24)
                                                                  • What signifies that one has started to walk the bodhisattva path? (19:42)
                                                                  • Desire versus craving (21:26)
                                                                  • Karma yoga and not being attached to the outcome (22:14)
                                                                  • The cycle of withdrawal and return common to those people who have contributed the most to humankind (23:45)
                                                                  • The deepest challenge of our practice is integrating the knowledge that everything is perfect, but also knowing action is needed to improve things (26:36)
                                                                  • Evolutionary psychology, the evolution of religion, and what we need to do today (28:18)
                                                                  • What socially engaged Buddhism has to contribute (34:02)
                                                                  • The challenge of the gnostic intermediary to transmit a wisdom tradition across cultures and across time (34:59)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                  • Edward O. Wilson, aka the Darwin of the 21st century
                                                                  • Guhyapati, founder of the Eco-Dharma Centre in northeast Spain
                                                                  • David Loy and Guhyapati, Remaking Our Dharma: Expanding the Scope of Ecodharma
                                                                  • David Loy, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center
                                                                  • David Loy, "The Bodhisattva Path in the Trump Era" 
                                                                  • Greta Thunberg and the School Strike for Climate
                                                                  • Extinction Rebellion: Grassroots movement engaging in direct action focused on climate, species extinction, population, toxins, plastic and more
                                                                  • The Bhagavad Gita 
                                                                  • Arnold Toynbee, A Study of World History* (abridgement by D.C. Somervell)
                                                                  • Robert Thurman, first Westerner Tibetan Buddhist monk ordained by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
                                                                  • Shunryu Suzuki, author of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind 
                                                                  • Paul Hawkins, Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History is Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beauty to the World*
                                                                  • Wes Nisker, You Are Not Your Fault and Other Revelations*
                                                                  • Roger Walsh, The Transmission of Wisdom: The Task of Gnostic Intermediaries
                                                                  • David Loy, "How to Be an EcoSattva" 
                                                                  • David Loy, EcoDharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis*
                                                                  • David Loy, co-editor, A Buddhist Response to the Climate Emergency*
                                                                  • Full list of David’s writings: https://www.davidloy.org/writing.html
                                                                  • David Loy’s website
                                                                  • David Loy, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Early on, David Loy studied koans under Yamada Kōun Roshi while teaching Eastern and Western philosophy in Japan. He began to have direct experiences of nonduality, and the recognition of unity, or connection with others, led to his activism in the spheres of social justice and the eco-crisis. A scholar, professor, and Zen teacher in the Sanbo Zen tradition, David brings a Buddhist perspective to the ecological crisis we face today. He points out there is an important parallel between what Buddhism says about our personal predicament and about our collective predicament in relation to the rest of the biosphere. David is also a prolific author; his latest book is Ecodharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis; and he is co-editor of A Buddhist Response to the Climate Emergency.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>7d87f9eb-664e-4f82-a9b0-e76c9a506587Thu, 02 Jun 2022 05:00:00 -040038:20truefull2828Ep. 28 (Part 2 of 2) | David Loy, Zen teacher, scholar, and prolific author, reveals his acute understanding of the crises we face today, the psychology at the root of the problems, and how we can make our way forward in this in-depth discussion. He has adopted the term ecodharma to focus attention on the challenge Buddhism faces now: integrating personal transformation with global activism and social transformation. As David points out, the focus needs to be on this world, with transcendence being a metaphorical understanding but not an excuse to abandon the problems we and our planet face today. Besides gaining great depth of knowledge from being a scholar and student of koans, David’s insights come from a plethora of nondual experiences, which led David on a path of eco-action. Ecodharma asks: How does Buddhism need to change? How much is dwelling in emptiness becoming problematical in these challenging times? What’s best for the Earth? Everyone says practice, practice, practice…when is the performance? Is evolutionary pressure going to create a new way of living sustainably? Recorded February 22, 2020.From Bodhisattva to Ecosattva: Integrating Personal Practice & Global Activism with David LoyEp. 27 (Part 1 of 2) | David Loy, Zen teacher, scholar, and prolific author, reveals his acute understanding of the crises we face today, the psychology at the root of the problems, and how we can make our way forward in this in-depth discussion. He has adopted the term ecodharma to focus attention on the challenge Buddhism faces now: integrating personal transformation with global activism and social transformation. As David points out, the focus needs to be on this world, with transcendence being a metaphorical understanding but not an excuse to abandon the problems we and our planet face today.

                                                                  Besides gaining great depth of knowledge from being a scholar and student of koans, David’s insights come from a plethora of nondual experiences, which led David on a path of eco-action. Ecodharma asks: How does Buddhism need to change? How much is dwelling in emptiness becoming problematical in these challenging times? What’s best for the Earth? Everyone says practice, practice, practice…when is the performance? Is evolutionary pressure going to create a new way of living sustainably? Recorded February 22, 2020.

                                                                  “When your sense of separation dissipates, it becomes not what’s in it for me, but what can I do to help make this a better world for everybody?”

                                                                  Note: This podcast was recorded live and includes, at times, some extraneous noises in the background. Please excuse them -- we felt the conversation was very valuable and well worth sharing with our audience. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                                  • Social activism, Zen practice, philosophy, koan study: how it all started (03:52)
                                                                  • How does David’s Zen practice inform his activism? It was the experiences of nondual reality (05:48)
                                                                  • The emergence of compassion: when your sense of separation dissipates, it becomes not what’s in it for me, but what can I do to help make this a better world for everybody (09:14)
                                                                  • The cold civil war in the U.S. and the need to find a way to talk with each other and understand conflicting points of view (12:03)
                                                                  • Our fundamental problem is that we don’t feel real, because the separate self is a construct, inherently insecure, inherently uncomfortable, and we experience this as a sense of fundamental lack (14:03)
                                                                  • The psychological and sociological implications of this sense of lack and how society is constructed to take advantage of it: the contemporary world religion is consumerism (17:31)
                                                                  • The positive and negative sides of individualism (22:23)
                                                                  • The heart of the bodhisattva path: personal transformation and social transformation (24:57)
                                                                  • The challenge of integrating nondual experiences (27:31)
                                                                  • 3 elements of the Pali Canon’s Motivation for Awakening (28:31)
                                                                  • Dukkha (suffering) is structural not just individual (30:09)
                                                                  • Awakenings: transcendent, imminent, and the decline of Axial religions that devalue this world (36:26) 
                                                                  • The problem with mindfulness and the 3 poisons: greed, ill will, delusion (40:51)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                  • David Loy, EcoDharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis*
                                                                  • David Loy, NonDuality: In Buddhism and Beyond*
                                                                  • David Loy, co-editor, A Buddhist Response to the Climate Emergency*
                                                                  • Full list of David’s writings: https://www.davidloy.org/writing.html
                                                                  • David Loy’s website
                                                                  • David Loy, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center
                                                                  • Yamada Kōun Roshi, David's teacher and author of The Gateless Gate : The Classic Book of Zen Koans* (2004)
                                                                  • Robert Aiken, one of the original founders of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship
                                                                  • Dōgen, Japanese Buddhist priest, poet, philosopher, and founder of the Sōtō school of Zen
                                                                  • William Blake, poet, painter, mystic
                                                                  • Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death*
                                                                  • Mahatma Gandhi, “The world has enough for everyone’s need…”
                                                                  • Theravada sutras, the Pali Canon, Bodhipakkhiya Dhamma
                                                                  • Aldous Huxley, Island*
                                                                  • Dogen’s Genjokoan, Actualizing the Fundamental Point
                                                                  • Loyal Rue, Everybody’s Story: Wising up to the Epic of Evolution*
                                                                  • Naomi Klein, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate*
                                                                  • Stockholm Institute’s 9 markers of ecological sustainability
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Early on, David Loy studied koans under Yamada Kōun Roshi while teaching Eastern and Western philosophy in Japan. He began to have direct experiences of nonduality, and the recognition of unity, or connection with others, led to his activism in the spheres of social justice and the eco-crisis. A scholar, professor, and Zen teacher in the Sanbo Zen tradition, David brings a Buddhist perspective to the ecological crisis we face today. He points out there is an important parallel between what Buddhism says about our personal predicament and about our collective predicament in relation to the rest of the biosphere. David is also a prolific author; his latest book is Ecodharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis; and he is co-editor of A Buddhist Response to the Climate Emergency.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 27 (Part 1 of 2) | David Loy, Zen teacher, scholar, and prolific author, reveals his acute understanding of the crises we face today, the psychology at the root of the problems, and how we can make our way forward in this in-depth discussion. He has adopted the term ecodharma to focus attention on the challenge Buddhism faces now: integrating personal transformation with global activism and social transformation. As David points out, the focus needs to be on this world, with transcendence being a metaphorical understanding but not an excuse to abandon the problems we and our planet face today.

                                                                  Besides gaining great depth of knowledge from being a scholar and student of koans, David’s insights come from a plethora of nondual experiences, which led David on a path of eco-action. Ecodharma asks: How does Buddhism need to change? How much is dwelling in emptiness becoming problematical in these challenging times? What’s best for the Earth? Everyone says practice, practice, practice…when is the performance? Is evolutionary pressure going to create a new way of living sustainably? Recorded February 22, 2020.

                                                                  “When your sense of separation dissipates, it becomes not what’s in it for me, but what can I do to help make this a better world for everybody?”

                                                                  Note: This podcast was recorded live and includes, at times, some extraneous noises in the background. Please excuse them -- we felt the conversation was very valuable and well worth sharing with our audience. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                                  • Social activism, Zen practice, philosophy, koan study: how it all started (03:52)
                                                                  • How does David’s Zen practice inform his activism? It was the experiences of nondual reality (05:48)
                                                                  • The emergence of compassion: when your sense of separation dissipates, it becomes not what’s in it for me, but what can I do to help make this a better world for everybody (09:14)
                                                                  • The cold civil war in the U.S. and the need to find a way to talk with each other and understand conflicting points of view (12:03)
                                                                  • Our fundamental problem is that we don’t feel real, because the separate self is a construct, inherently insecure, inherently uncomfortable, and we experience this as a sense of fundamental lack (14:03)
                                                                  • The psychological and sociological implications of this sense of lack and how society is constructed to take advantage of it: the contemporary world religion is consumerism (17:31)
                                                                  • The positive and negative sides of individualism (22:23)
                                                                  • The heart of the bodhisattva path: personal transformation and social transformation (24:57)
                                                                  • The challenge of integrating nondual experiences (27:31)
                                                                  • 3 elements of the Pali Canon’s Motivation for Awakening (28:31)
                                                                  • Dukkha (suffering) is structural not just individual (30:09)
                                                                  • Awakenings: transcendent, imminent, and the decline of Axial religions that devalue this world (36:26) 
                                                                  • The problem with mindfulness and the 3 poisons: greed, ill will, delusion (40:51)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                  • David Loy, EcoDharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis*
                                                                  • David Loy, NonDuality: In Buddhism and Beyond*
                                                                  • David Loy, co-editor, A Buddhist Response to the Climate Emergency*
                                                                  • Full list of David’s writings: https://www.davidloy.org/writing.html
                                                                  • David Loy’s website
                                                                  • David Loy, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center
                                                                  • Yamada Kōun Roshi, David's teacher and author of The Gateless Gate : The Classic Book of Zen Koans* (2004)
                                                                  • Robert Aiken, one of the original founders of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship
                                                                  • Dōgen, Japanese Buddhist priest, poet, philosopher, and founder of the Sōtō school of Zen
                                                                  • William Blake, poet, painter, mystic
                                                                  • Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death*
                                                                  • Mahatma Gandhi, “The world has enough for everyone’s need…”
                                                                  • Theravada sutras, the Pali Canon, Bodhipakkhiya Dhamma
                                                                  • Aldous Huxley, Island*
                                                                  • Dogen’s Genjokoan, Actualizing the Fundamental Point
                                                                  • Loyal Rue, Everybody’s Story: Wising up to the Epic of Evolution*
                                                                  • Naomi Klein, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate*
                                                                  • Stockholm Institute’s 9 markers of ecological sustainability
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Early on, David Loy studied koans under Yamada Kōun Roshi while teaching Eastern and Western philosophy in Japan. He began to have direct experiences of nonduality, and the recognition of unity, or connection with others, led to his activism in the spheres of social justice and the eco-crisis. A scholar, professor, and Zen teacher in the Sanbo Zen tradition, David brings a Buddhist perspective to the ecological crisis we face today. He points out there is an important parallel between what Buddhism says about our personal predicament and about our collective predicament in relation to the rest of the biosphere. David is also a prolific author; his latest book is Ecodharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis; and he is co-editor of A Buddhist Response to the Climate Emergency.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>6e99a77b-2459-415c-bcfd-63e74781263dThu, 26 May 2022 05:00:00 -040045:35falsefull2727Ep. 27 (Part 1 of 2) | David Loy, Zen teacher, scholar, and prolific author, reveals his acute understanding of the crises we face today, the psychology at the root of the problems, and how we can make our way forward in this in-depth discussion. He has adopted the term ecodharma to focus attention on the challenge Buddhism faces now: integrating personal transformation with global activism and social transformation. As David points out, the focus needs to be on this world, with transcendence being a metaphorical understanding but not an excuse to abandon the problems we and our planet face today. Besides gaining great depth of knowledge from being a scholar and student of koans, David’s insights come from a plethora of nondual experiences, which led David on a path of eco-action. Ecodharma asks: How does Buddhism need to change? How much is dwelling in emptiness becoming problematical in these challenging times? What’s best for the Earth? Everyone says practice, practice, practice…when is the performance? Is evolutionary pressure going to create a new way of living sustainably? Recorded February 22, 2020.Samaneri Jayasara - Creating Priceless Gifts of Wisdom: Making the World's Great Spiritual Texts Freely Available for All to Listen toEp. 26 | Samaneri Jayasara, a Theravādin renunciate in the Thai Forest tradition, became inspired to record readings of profound wisdom texts written by the great spiritual masters of all time and traditions, put them to music (in most cases), and post them on YouTube. Intending simply to share the gift of wisdom, Jayasara didn’t expect much in the way of listeners, maybe 100 or so. But with her sublime understanding and exquisite voice, accompanied by beautiful music tailored to the individual texts, Jayasara has turned mere readings into transmissions of wisdom and healing that are helping and inspiring people around the globe, and she now has upward of 70,000 followers. In this conversation, Jayasara talks about the power of the spoken word to bypass intellectual filters and enter straight into your heart, how listening can result in unexpected awakenings, how contemplating death can shift our illusions and wake us up, and the story of how she came to be a contemplative. In this episode, she also treats listeners to two lovely samples of her readings, from St. John of the Cross and Chuang Tzu. Recorded October 14, 2021.

                                                                  “Silence is God’s first language.” – St. John of the Cross

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps

                                                                  • The inspiration behind reading wisdom texts on YouTube: the advantage of absorbing dharma wisdom through listening (03:11)
                                                                  • The power of the spoken word to go straight to the heart (06:12)
                                                                  • Samaneri Jayasara, a rare Theravadin to have studied such a broad variety of religious traditions (13:38)
                                                                  • Theravada: The Teaching of the Elders based on the Pali Sutras (15:37)
                                                                  • The Thai Forest tradition focuses on practice (16:44)
                                                                  • St. John of the Cross reading (17:49)
                                                                  • The intention: a heartfelt sharing of the dharma; as the Buddha said, “The greatest gift you can give is the gift of the dharma.” (22:34)
                                                                  • How Jayasara came to be a contemplative: suffering, dissatisfaction, and the teachings of Buddha and Krishnamurti (24:44)
                                                                  • How one can support Jayasara’s practice and the Viveka Hermitage (33:15)
                                                                  • Hearing teachings expressed in different ways, different conceptualizations with different traditions, can enliven your practice, make the wisdom go deeper, and help you not get stuck (33:48)
                                                                  • The “flow and rhythm” of the spiritual life and the poetry of Ram Dass (35:28)
                                                                  • How does Jayasara choose which text to read? (37:58) 
                                                                  • On the transmission of wisdom (40:44)
                                                                  • Chuang Tzu reading (46:24)
                                                                  • When striving in our practice turns to opening to what is latent within us (51:35)
                                                                  • Sudden awakening versus gradual awakening (54:44)
                                                                  • How death contemplations can shift the illusion and wake us up (56:46)
                                                                  • The story of Ramana: pure awareness and the deathless realm (01:02:26)
                                                                  • The tendency to pick up a new identity after an ego death (01:04:24)
                                                                  • What’s next? Mother Mountain Gulaga retreat (01:07:16)
                                                                  • Choosing the music that goes with the readings (01:11:23)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References

                                                                  • Samaneri Jayasara, Wisdom of the Masters podcast
                                                                  • Jayasara’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/SamaneriJayasara/featured
                                                                  • Samaneri Jayasara’s hermitage: Viveka Hermitage
                                                                  • Donations to the hermitage can be made via PayPal using the link: https://paypal.me/VivekaHermitage
                                                                  • Or become a Jayasara patron: https://www.patreon.com/jayasara
                                                                  • Padmasambhava’s Self-Liberation Through Seeing Through Naked Awareness*
                                                                  • Ramana Maharshi, Indian sage and liberated being, 1879-1950
                                                                  • Lectio Divina (divine reading)
                                                                  • Ajahn Sumedho, longtime abbot and one of the senior Western representatives of the Thai Forest tradition of Theravada Buddhism
                                                                  • Theravada sutras, the Pali Canon
                                                                  • Ajahn Mun, co-founder of the Thai Forest tradition
                                                                  • St. John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul*
                                                                  • Krishnamurti, philosopher, speaker, author focused on psychological revolution, inquiry, human relationships, and bringing about radical change in society
                                                                  • Vipassana retreats
                                                                  • St. John of the Cross, Spanish Catholic priest, mystic, and Carmelite friar
                                                                  • Ram Dass, Love, Service, Devotion
                                                                  • Chuang Tzu, Taoist sage, influential 4th century BC philosopher in China credited with writing Zhuangzi,* one of the two foundational texts of Taoism (along with the Tao Te Ching*).
                                                                  • Thomas Merton, The Way of Chuang Tzu*
                                                                  • Kamalashila Tibetan Buddhist Centre at the foot of Mother Mountain Gulaga
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Samaneri Jayasara is a Buddhist nun in the Theravadin Forest tradition. She has studied and practiced Buddhism and meditation in various capacities for over 35 years. Jayasara has a Ph.D. and Master's Degree in education, focusing on comparative spiritual traditions, Buddhism, and psychotherapy. She has taught at secondary, undergraduate, and postgraduate levels in psychology and counseling; and also worked as a trainer in mental health and crisis intervention in the welfare sector. 

                                                                  Jayasara initially ordained as an Anagarika in 2003 living at both Dhammasara nun’s monastery, Western Australia, and Amaravati, UK. She re-entered the robes as a Samaneri in 2018 at Santi Forest Monastery where she lived and practiced for four years.  Jayasara now resides in a quiet hermitage (Viveka Hermitage) with another Dhamma sister in rural New South Wales.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by “Silence is God’s first language.” – St. John of the Cross

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps

                                                                  • The inspiration behind reading wisdom texts on YouTube: the advantage of absorbing dharma wisdom through listening (03:11)
                                                                  • The power of the spoken word to go straight to the heart (06:12)
                                                                  • Samaneri Jayasara, a rare Theravadin to have studied such a broad variety of religious traditions (13:38)
                                                                  • Theravada: The Teaching of the Elders based on the Pali Sutras (15:37)
                                                                  • The Thai Forest tradition focuses on practice (16:44)
                                                                  • St. John of the Cross reading (17:49)
                                                                  • The intention: a heartfelt sharing of the dharma; as the Buddha said, “The greatest gift you can give is the gift of the dharma.” (22:34)
                                                                  • How Jayasara came to be a contemplative: suffering, dissatisfaction, and the teachings of Buddha and Krishnamurti (24:44)
                                                                  • How one can support Jayasara’s practice and the Viveka Hermitage (33:15)
                                                                  • Hearing teachings expressed in different ways, different conceptualizations with different traditions, can enliven your practice, make the wisdom go deeper, and help you not get stuck (33:48)
                                                                  • The “flow and rhythm” of the spiritual life and the poetry of Ram Dass (35:28)
                                                                  • How does Jayasara choose which text to read? (37:58) 
                                                                  • On the transmission of wisdom (40:44)
                                                                  • Chuang Tzu reading (46:24)
                                                                  • When striving in our practice turns to opening to what is latent within us (51:35)
                                                                  • Sudden awakening versus gradual awakening (54:44)
                                                                  • How death contemplations can shift the illusion and wake us up (56:46)
                                                                  • The story of Ramana: pure awareness and the deathless realm (01:02:26)
                                                                  • The tendency to pick up a new identity after an ego death (01:04:24)
                                                                  • What’s next? Mother Mountain Gulaga retreat (01:07:16)
                                                                  • Choosing the music that goes with the readings (01:11:23)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References

                                                                  • Samaneri Jayasara, Wisdom of the Masters podcast
                                                                  • Jayasara’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/SamaneriJayasara/featured
                                                                  • Samaneri Jayasara’s hermitage: Viveka Hermitage
                                                                  • Donations to the hermitage can be made via PayPal using the link: https://paypal.me/VivekaHermitage
                                                                  • Or become a Jayasara patron: https://www.patreon.com/jayasara
                                                                  • Padmasambhava’s Self-Liberation Through Seeing Through Naked Awareness*
                                                                  • Ramana Maharshi, Indian sage and liberated being, 1879-1950
                                                                  • Lectio Divina (divine reading)
                                                                  • Ajahn Sumedho, longtime abbot and one of the senior Western representatives of the Thai Forest tradition of Theravada Buddhism
                                                                  • Theravada sutras, the Pali Canon
                                                                  • Ajahn Mun, co-founder of the Thai Forest tradition
                                                                  • St. John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul*
                                                                  • Krishnamurti, philosopher, speaker, author focused on psychological revolution, inquiry, human relationships, and bringing about radical change in society
                                                                  • Vipassana retreats
                                                                  • St. John of the Cross, Spanish Catholic priest, mystic, and Carmelite friar
                                                                  • Ram Dass, Love, Service, Devotion
                                                                  • Chuang Tzu, Taoist sage, influential 4th century BC philosopher in China credited with writing Zhuangzi,* one of the two foundational texts of Taoism (along with the Tao Te Ching*).
                                                                  • Thomas Merton, The Way of Chuang Tzu*
                                                                  • Kamalashila Tibetan Buddhist Centre at the foot of Mother Mountain Gulaga
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Samaneri Jayasara is a Buddhist nun in the Theravadin Forest tradition. She has studied and practiced Buddhism and meditation in various capacities for over 35 years. Jayasara has a Ph.D. and Master's Degree in education, focusing on comparative spiritual traditions, Buddhism, and psychotherapy. She has taught at secondary, undergraduate, and postgraduate levels in psychology and counseling; and also worked as a trainer in mental health and crisis intervention in the welfare sector. 

                                                                  Jayasara initially ordained as an Anagarika in 2003 living at both Dhammasara nun’s monastery, Western Australia, and Amaravati, UK. She re-entered the robes as a Samaneri in 2018 at Santi Forest Monastery where she lived and practiced for four years.  Jayasara now resides in a quiet hermitage (Viveka Hermitage) with another Dhamma sister in rural New South Wales.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>c68d9532-1263-40a5-af31-2a34102fce93Thu, 19 May 2022 05:00:00 -040001:17:32falsefull2626Ep. 26 | Samaneri Jayasara, a Theravādin renunciate in the Thai Forest tradition, became inspired to record readings of profound wisdom texts written by the great spiritual masters of all time and traditions, put them to music (in most cases), and post them on YouTube. Intending simply to share the gift of wisdom, Jayasara didn’t expect much in the way of listeners, maybe 100 or so. But with her sublime understanding and exquisite voice, accompanied by beautiful music tailored to the individual texts, Jayasara has turned mere readings into transmissions of wisdom and healing that are helping and inspiring people around the globe, and she now has upward of 50,000 followers. In this conversation, Jayasara talks about the power of the spoken word to bypass intellectual filters and enter straight into your heart, how listening can result in unexpected awakenings, how contemplating death can shift our illusions and wake us up, and the story of how she came to be a contemplative. In this episode, she also treats listeners to two lovely samples of her readings, from St. John of the Cross and Chuang Tzu. Recorded October 14, 2021.Healing Collective Trauma: We Are All Shareholders in a Traumatized World with Thomas Hübl (Part 2)Ep. 25 (Part 2 of 2) | Thomas Hübl, renowned spiritual teacher, author, expert on collective trauma, and creator and facilitator of The Collective Trauma Integration Process, shares fascinating, life changing information about the dynamics of collective trauma—how it is embodied and perpetuated in the language we use, and how we are bound together in a sort of “mutual collusion” that predisposes us to repeat our past, and to repeat over and over the things we would much rather leave behind. With remarkable insight and wisdom garnered from years of study, exploration, and effectively working with large groups to integrate collective shadow, Thomas also explains how we can create space for a new future by metabolizing the suffering held in both our personal and collective unconscious and making awakening and spiritual clarity the indubitable priority of our lives. Recorded at the Science and Nonduality Conference, October 2019, with Dr. Roger Walsh, John Dupuy, and Douglas Prater.

                                                                  “Healing the broken glass of reality.”

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                                  • The work of purification is more than only shadow work (00:48)
                                                                  • Shadow, encoded trauma, and the “it-ification” of processes: how language embodies and perpetuates shadow (02:40)
                                                                  • We are in mutual collusion in perpetuating shadow in this collectively traumatized world (06:22)
                                                                  • Language keeps the past in place and the destiny of humanity fixated (08:50)
                                                                  • Our relational network is an extension of our immune system (10:43)
                                                                  • The word is creation and the art of truth telling is a practice (11:10)
                                                                  • Climate change is an externalization of the pollution in our interiors (15:44)
                                                                  • The need for us (and our leaders) to say I’m sorry to each other publicly (16:52)
                                                                  • Letting go of the need for comfort (20:01)
                                                                  • We are all writing or composing our experience moment by moment (22:07)
                                                                  • We find God in the deepest expression of our own purpose (23:42)
                                                                  • Our energy needs to be consciously integrated to clear a space for a new future (27:37)
                                                                  • It is essential to adjust our practice over time (31:11)
                                                                  • Spiritual clarity = knowing what we see and also what we don’t see is God’s will (35:05)
                                                                  • Opening to the bottomless mystery (37:45)
                                                                  • Walking the path of karma yoga (39:36)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                  • Collective Trauma Summit 2021: Collective Healing in Action
                                                                  • William Ury, leading expert on negotiation and mediation and best selling author of Getting to Yes* (with Roger Fisher and Bruce Patton), Getting Past No,* and Getting to Yes with Yourself*
                                                                  • Carlos Castaneda, The Teachings of Don Juan* 
                                                                  • Thomas Hübl & Julie Jordan Avritt, Healing Collective Trauma: A Process for Integrating Our Intergenerational and Cultural Wounds*
                                                                  • Thomas Hübl's Academy of Inner Science
                                                                  • Thomas Hübl’s website: https://thomashuebl.com
                                                                  • Thomas Hübl’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/thomashuebl
                                                                  • Thomas Hübl, Modern Mystic - Principles for Living Consciously: Thomas Hübl in Conversation with Stephan Breidenbach*
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Thomas Hübl is a renowned teacher, author, and international facilitator whose lifelong work integrates the core insights of the great wisdom traditions and mysticism with the discoveries of science. Over the last two decades, Hübl has taught and facilitated programs with more than 100,000 people worldwide. His events have focused on processing the collective trauma of racism, oppression, colonialism, genocides, and the complexities of those regions and groups which experience multiple historic and current challenges. He is the author of the book Healing Collective Trauma: A Process for Integrating Our Intergenerational and Cultural Wounds, which outlines his methodology called the “Collective Trauma Integration Process” as a safe framework for guiding groups through collective trauma. His non-profit organization, the Pocket Project, works to support the healing of collective trauma throughout the world. Hübl’s educational organization, the Academy of Inner Science, offers a master’s and doctoral studies program in cooperation with universities in Europe and the US. In 2020, Hübl received an honorary doctorate from Ubiquity University in California for “his pioneering work in the field of trauma.” He has been teaching workshops and presenting trainings for Harvard Medical School since 2019.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 25 (Part 2 of 2) | Thomas Hübl, renowned spiritual teacher, author, expert on collective trauma, and creator and facilitator of The Collective Trauma Integration Process, shares fascinating, life changing information about the dynamics of collective trauma—how it is embodied and perpetuated in the language we use, and how we are bound together in a sort of “mutual collusion” that predisposes us to repeat our past, and to repeat over and over the things we would much rather leave behind. With remarkable insight and wisdom garnered from years of study, exploration, and effectively working with large groups to integrate collective shadow, Thomas also explains how we can create space for a new future by metabolizing the suffering held in both our personal and collective unconscious and making awakening and spiritual clarity the indubitable priority of our lives. Recorded at the Science and Nonduality Conference, October 2019, with Dr. Roger Walsh, John Dupuy, and Douglas Prater.

                                                                  “Healing the broken glass of reality.”

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                                  • The work of purification is more than only shadow work (00:48)
                                                                  • Shadow, encoded trauma, and the “it-ification” of processes: how language embodies and perpetuates shadow (02:40)
                                                                  • We are in mutual collusion in perpetuating shadow in this collectively traumatized world (06:22)
                                                                  • Language keeps the past in place and the destiny of humanity fixated (08:50)
                                                                  • Our relational network is an extension of our immune system (10:43)
                                                                  • The word is creation and the art of truth telling is a practice (11:10)
                                                                  • Climate change is an externalization of the pollution in our interiors (15:44)
                                                                  • The need for us (and our leaders) to say I’m sorry to each other publicly (16:52)
                                                                  • Letting go of the need for comfort (20:01)
                                                                  • We are all writing or composing our experience moment by moment (22:07)
                                                                  • We find God in the deepest expression of our own purpose (23:42)
                                                                  • Our energy needs to be consciously integrated to clear a space for a new future (27:37)
                                                                  • It is essential to adjust our practice over time (31:11)
                                                                  • Spiritual clarity = knowing what we see and also what we don’t see is God’s will (35:05)
                                                                  • Opening to the bottomless mystery (37:45)
                                                                  • Walking the path of karma yoga (39:36)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                  • Collective Trauma Summit 2021: Collective Healing in Action
                                                                  • William Ury, leading expert on negotiation and mediation and best selling author of Getting to Yes* (with Roger Fisher and Bruce Patton), Getting Past No,* and Getting to Yes with Yourself*
                                                                  • Carlos Castaneda, The Teachings of Don Juan* 
                                                                  • Thomas Hübl & Julie Jordan Avritt, Healing Collective Trauma: A Process for Integrating Our Intergenerational and Cultural Wounds*
                                                                  • Thomas Hübl's Academy of Inner Science
                                                                  • Thomas Hübl’s website: https://thomashuebl.com
                                                                  • Thomas Hübl’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/thomashuebl
                                                                  • Thomas Hübl, Modern Mystic - Principles for Living Consciously: Thomas Hübl in Conversation with Stephan Breidenbach*
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Thomas Hübl is a renowned teacher, author, and international facilitator whose lifelong work integrates the core insights of the great wisdom traditions and mysticism with the discoveries of science. Over the last two decades, Hübl has taught and facilitated programs with more than 100,000 people worldwide. His events have focused on processing the collective trauma of racism, oppression, colonialism, genocides, and the complexities of those regions and groups which experience multiple historic and current challenges. He is the author of the book Healing Collective Trauma: A Process for Integrating Our Intergenerational and Cultural Wounds, which outlines his methodology called the “Collective Trauma Integration Process” as a safe framework for guiding groups through collective trauma. His non-profit organization, the Pocket Project, works to support the healing of collective trauma throughout the world. Hübl’s educational organization, the Academy of Inner Science, offers a master’s and doctoral studies program in cooperation with universities in Europe and the US. In 2020, Hübl received an honorary doctorate from Ubiquity University in California for “his pioneering work in the field of trauma.” He has been teaching workshops and presenting trainings for Harvard Medical School since 2019.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>ab9cf4fe-f391-4375-973c-69447d051eaaThu, 12 May 2022 05:00:00 -040043:37truefull2525Ep. 25 (Part 2 of 2) | Thomas Hübl, renowned spiritual teacher, author, expert on collective trauma, and creator and facilitator of The Collective Trauma Integration Process, shares fascinating, life changing information about the dynamics of collective trauma—how it is embodied and perpetuated in the language we use, and how we are bound together in a sort of “mutual collusion” that predisposes us to repeat our past, and to repeat over and over the things we would much rather leave behind. With remarkable insight and wisdom garnered from years of study, exploration, and effectively working with large groups to integrate collective shadow, Thomas also explains how we can create space for a new future by metabolizing the suffering held in both our personal and collective unconscious and making awakening and spiritual clarity the indubitable priority of our lives. Recorded at the Science and Nonduality Conference, October 2019, with Dr. Roger Walsh, John Dupuy, and Douglas Prater.Healing Collective Trauma: We Are All Shareholders in a Traumatized World with Thomas HüblEp. 24 (Part 1 of 2) | Thomas Hübl, renowned spiritual teacher, author, expert on collective trauma, and creator and facilitator of The Collective Trauma Integration Process, shares fascinating, life changing information about the dynamics of collective trauma—how it is embodied and perpetuated in the language we use, and how we are bound together in a sort of “mutual collusion” that predisposes us to repeat our past, and to repeat over and over the things we would much rather leave behind. With remarkable insight and wisdom garnered from years of study, exploration, and effectively working with large groups to integrate collective shadow, Thomas also explains how we can create space for a new future by metabolizing the suffering held in both our personal and collective unconscious and making awakening and spiritual clarity the indubitable priority of our lives. Recorded at the Science and Nonduality Conference, October 2019, with Dr. Roger Walsh, John Dupuy, and Douglas Prater.

                                                                  “Healing the broken glass of reality.”

                                                                  Note: This podcast was recorded live and includes, at times, some extraneous noises in the background. Please excuse them -- we felt the conversation was very valuable and well worth sharing with our audience. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                                  • Introducing Thomas Hübl (01:03)
                                                                  • By definition, awakenings are not nondual if people haven’t dealt with their shadow: nondual needs to be the talk and the walk (3:03)
                                                                  • The body is a sophisticated energy pipe system; mystics are like plumbers or electricians who free up the pipes (05:50)
                                                                  • On stabilizing, generalizing, integrating insights: state practices versus process awareness (07:10)
                                                                  • Tibetan Buddhism’s three developmental maps: 1) turning towards contemplative practice, 2) the stabilization of realized states, 3) ongoing purification (08:56) 
                                                                  • We need to commit to a spiritual path, to cleaning up, and make space to clear things or the same difficulties will repeat again and again (10:12)
                                                                  • Trauma is the collapse of time/space (11:46)
                                                                  • Making divine awakening your highest priority is what constitutes a serious practitioner (14:06) 
                                                                  • All serious shadow and trauma work is relational (15:24) 
                                                                  • How can we stay committed to the path? Community, an externalization of our intention (18:22)
                                                                  • Two challenges: We are tempted to abandon our practice both when it gets very dark—and when life gets very good (20:35) 
                                                                  • Consciousness is catching: the way to develop desired qualities is to hang out with people who embody the qualities we want (22:14)
                                                                  • Our cultural relationship to hierarchy: we’ve thrown it out, but there are hierarchies of development, maturity, wisdom, insight, and compassion that should be honored
                                                                  • What are the most valuable ways to engage with what is inside us and integrate what we discover? (25:18) 
                                                                  • Paying attention to congruence and coherence in our mental, physical, and emotional expression (28:21)
                                                                  • Collective trauma: all of us have been born into a traumatized world (29:10) 
                                                                  • Healing the broken reality: every trauma healing needs to result in an ethical upgrade; we have to become better people (31:54) 
                                                                  • Thomas’ collective trauma group work where the field in the room is able to mirror the unseen dimension stored in the cultural unconscious  (32:31)
                                                                  • We are all sculptures in a transpersonal nervous system, called to metabolize the suffering held in both our personal and collective unconscious (38:14)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                  • Thomas Hübl & Julie Jordan Avritt, Healing Collective Trauma: A Process for Integrating Our Intergenerational and Cultural Wounds*
                                                                  • Thomas Hübl's Academy of Inner Science
                                                                  • Thomas Hübl’s website: https://thomashuebl.com
                                                                  • Thomas Hübl’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/thomashuebl
                                                                  • Thomas Hübl, Modern Mystic - Principles for Living Consciously: Thomas Hübl in Conversation with Stephan Breidenbach*
                                                                  • Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind*
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Thomas Hübl is a renowned teacher, author, and international facilitator whose lifelong work integrates the core insights of the great wisdom traditions and mysticism with the discoveries of science. Over the last two decades, Hübl has taught and facilitated programs with more than 100,000 people worldwide. His events have focused on processing the collective trauma of racism, oppression, colonialism, genocides, and the complexities of those regions and groups which experience multiple historic and current challenges. He is the author of the book Healing Collective Trauma: A Process for Integrating Our Intergenerational and Cultural Wounds, which outlines his methodology called the “Collective Trauma Integration Process” as a safe framework for guiding groups through collective trauma. His non-profit organization, the Pocket Project, works to support the healing of collective trauma throughout the world. Hübl’s educational organization, the Academy of Inner Science, offers a master’s and doctoral studies program in cooperation with universities in Europe and the US. In 2020, Hübl received an honorary doctorate from Ubiquity University in California for “his pioneering work in the field of trauma.” He has been teaching workshops and presenting trainings for Harvard Medical School since 2019.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 24 (Part 1 of 2) | Thomas Hübl, renowned spiritual teacher, author, expert on collective trauma, and creator and facilitator of The Collective Trauma Integration Process, shares fascinating, life changing information about the dynamics of collective trauma—how it is embodied and perpetuated in the language we use, and how we are bound together in a sort of “mutual collusion” that predisposes us to repeat our past, and to repeat over and over the things we would much rather leave behind. With remarkable insight and wisdom garnered from years of study, exploration, and effectively working with large groups to integrate collective shadow, Thomas also explains how we can create space for a new future by metabolizing the suffering held in both our personal and collective unconscious and making awakening and spiritual clarity the indubitable priority of our lives. Recorded at the Science and Nonduality Conference, October 2019, with Dr. Roger Walsh, John Dupuy, and Douglas Prater.

                                                                  “Healing the broken glass of reality.”

                                                                  Note: This podcast was recorded live and includes, at times, some extraneous noises in the background. Please excuse them -- we felt the conversation was very valuable and well worth sharing with our audience. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                                  • Introducing Thomas Hübl (01:03)
                                                                  • By definition, awakenings are not nondual if people haven’t dealt with their shadow: nondual needs to be the talk and the walk (3:03)
                                                                  • The body is a sophisticated energy pipe system; mystics are like plumbers or electricians who free up the pipes (05:50)
                                                                  • On stabilizing, generalizing, integrating insights: state practices versus process awareness (07:10)
                                                                  • Tibetan Buddhism’s three developmental maps: 1) turning towards contemplative practice, 2) the stabilization of realized states, 3) ongoing purification (08:56) 
                                                                  • We need to commit to a spiritual path, to cleaning up, and make space to clear things or the same difficulties will repeat again and again (10:12)
                                                                  • Trauma is the collapse of time/space (11:46)
                                                                  • Making divine awakening your highest priority is what constitutes a serious practitioner (14:06) 
                                                                  • All serious shadow and trauma work is relational (15:24) 
                                                                  • How can we stay committed to the path? Community, an externalization of our intention (18:22)
                                                                  • Two challenges: We are tempted to abandon our practice both when it gets very dark—and when life gets very good (20:35) 
                                                                  • Consciousness is catching: the way to develop desired qualities is to hang out with people who embody the qualities we want (22:14)
                                                                  • Our cultural relationship to hierarchy: we’ve thrown it out, but there are hierarchies of development, maturity, wisdom, insight, and compassion that should be honored
                                                                  • What are the most valuable ways to engage with what is inside us and integrate what we discover? (25:18) 
                                                                  • Paying attention to congruence and coherence in our mental, physical, and emotional expression (28:21)
                                                                  • Collective trauma: all of us have been born into a traumatized world (29:10) 
                                                                  • Healing the broken reality: every trauma healing needs to result in an ethical upgrade; we have to become better people (31:54) 
                                                                  • Thomas’ collective trauma group work where the field in the room is able to mirror the unseen dimension stored in the cultural unconscious  (32:31)
                                                                  • We are all sculptures in a transpersonal nervous system, called to metabolize the suffering held in both our personal and collective unconscious (38:14)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                  • Thomas Hübl & Julie Jordan Avritt, Healing Collective Trauma: A Process for Integrating Our Intergenerational and Cultural Wounds*
                                                                  • Thomas Hübl's Academy of Inner Science
                                                                  • Thomas Hübl’s website: https://thomashuebl.com
                                                                  • Thomas Hübl’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/thomashuebl
                                                                  • Thomas Hübl, Modern Mystic - Principles for Living Consciously: Thomas Hübl in Conversation with Stephan Breidenbach*
                                                                  • Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind*
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Thomas Hübl is a renowned teacher, author, and international facilitator whose lifelong work integrates the core insights of the great wisdom traditions and mysticism with the discoveries of science. Over the last two decades, Hübl has taught and facilitated programs with more than 100,000 people worldwide. His events have focused on processing the collective trauma of racism, oppression, colonialism, genocides, and the complexities of those regions and groups which experience multiple historic and current challenges. He is the author of the book Healing Collective Trauma: A Process for Integrating Our Intergenerational and Cultural Wounds, which outlines his methodology called the “Collective Trauma Integration Process” as a safe framework for guiding groups through collective trauma. His non-profit organization, the Pocket Project, works to support the healing of collective trauma throughout the world. Hübl’s educational organization, the Academy of Inner Science, offers a master’s and doctoral studies program in cooperation with universities in Europe and the US. In 2020, Hübl received an honorary doctorate from Ubiquity University in California for “his pioneering work in the field of trauma.” He has been teaching workshops and presenting trainings for Harvard Medical School since 2019.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>63340d84-6b9c-4d35-94f9-6ff326c09499Thu, 05 May 2022 05:00:00 -040042:46truefull2424Ep. 24 (Part 1 of 2) | Thomas Hübl, renowned spiritual teacher, author, expert on collective trauma, and creator and facilitator of The Collective Trauma Integration Process, shares fascinating, life changing information about the dynamics of collective trauma—how it is embodied and perpetuated in the language we use, and how we are bound together in a sort of “mutual collusion” that predisposes us to repeat our past, and to repeat over and over the things we would much rather leave behind. With remarkable insight and wisdom garnered from years of study, exploration, and effectively working with large groups to integrate collective shadow, Thomas also explains how we can create space for a new future by metabolizing the suffering held in both our personal and collective unconscious and making awakening and spiritual clarity the indubitable priority of our lives. Recorded at the Science and Nonduality Conference, October 2019, with Dr. Roger Walsh, John Dupuy, and Douglas Prater.The Moral Imperative to Help Ukraine: Integral Perspectives on the War, Its Global Implications & the Role of Warrior Consciousness (Part 2)Ep. 23 (Part 2 of 2) | Integral leaders Kateryna Yasko, Vytautas Bučiūnas, and Bence Gánti illuminate many of the most poignant and pressing questions of our time, brought to the fore by the ongoing war in Ukraine: Can postmodern people embrace a warrior consciousness when necessary? Are Russians, brainwashed by propaganda, who explicitly support the war worthy of compassion? Can people remain sane and humane while at the same time taking up arms? How can we handle the effects of the psychological trauma that will cascade over generations? And how do we prevent the mass delusion and psychosis that is so easily propagated via modern media technology?

                                                                  What are the global consequences of the Russian war on Ukraine? The trillions of dollars now being diverted to defense and military weaponry in the West are trillions of dollars that will not be spent on social programs, global health, education, climate change, and food—many people in Africa will starve as a result of this war on the breadbasket, wheat-producing Ukraine. What is wrong with democracy if its leaders can’t step up to the plate, be authentic, strong, and stand up for what is right, while autocrats do whatever they please? A powerful, heart wrenching conversation asking the right questions, pointing towards the answers. Recorded April 15, 2022.

                                                                  For more wrestling with the questions, and to share wisdom, ideas, support, and inspiration, there is IEC 2022 (Integral European Conference) this May online and in Budapest. And to donate directly to help the Ukrainian people via Kateryna and Vytautas using iAwake's Funnel to Help, Heal, and Support the Ukrainian People, see below.

                                                                  The reality is: “If Russia stops fighting, there will be no war. If Ukraine stops fighting, there will be no Ukraine.”

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                                                  • The difference between Ukrainians and Russians is Ukrainians long to be and remain human and humane; but Russians have been through a long dehumanization process (01:00)
                                                                  • How can we stick to the Geneva Conventions and not become what we’re fighting against? (01:59)
                                                                  • Around 60% of Russians on the street honestly believe they are liberating Ukraine (04:59) 
                                                                  • The power of today’s information and communication technology, coupled with our awful vulnerability to delusional thinking, is a recipe for inducing culture-wide psychosis (07:05)
                                                                  • The analogy with Nazi Germany and Putin’s Russia is right on (10:30)
                                                                  • Are Russians who are brainwashed and explicitly supporting warfare worthy of our compassion? (11:30)
                                                                  • What are the global ramifications, the psychological and cultural implications, of this great tragedy that will affect global health, social welfare, even the survival of the human species? (16:20) 
                                                                  • The systems we have been trusting to maintain global order were not good enough to save us from this challenge (20:34)
                                                                  • How to come up with more Integral, inclusive solutions and systems of sensemaking? (21:22)
                                                                  • The leadership factor in the West over the last 20+ years has been reactive, compliant, generally avoiding facing reality – until Zelensky (Vytautas’ keynote at IEC will be about this) (21:52)
                                                                  • Working on solutions at the Integral European Conference (IEC) May 2022 online and in Budapest (25:05)
                                                                  • How this invasion has opened hearts, created an explosion of trust, people are really “showing up” (Kateryna’s keynote at IEC will be about this) (26:57)
                                                                  • Showing up – what will you do when it’s time to act? There is a way to contribute for everyone (28:09)
                                                                  • iAwake’s Funnel to Help, Heal, and Support the Ukrainian People (30:15)
                                                                  • IEC will be an opportunity to involve people from Latin America in the fight for democracy and freedom in Ukraine, and hear about their ongoing wars as well (32:35) 
                                                                  • IEC will sponsor a global discussion on war and peace everywhere; there are more than 100 wars going on at any given time on the planet (35:06)
                                                                  • Are only autocratic leaders allowed to be bold, decisive, real, and authentic? (37:31)
                                                                  • Zelensky is the role model for other democratic leaders (38:50)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References – Part 2

                                                                  • Integral European Conference 2022: World Peace with the Integral Approach, online and in Budapest
                                                                  • Vytautas Bučiūnas’ website: Upgrade of Leader’s Operating SystemTM
                                                                  • The Annexation of Crimea
                                                                  • The Budapest Memorandum
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  How can I help? iAwake's Funnel to Help, Heal, and Support the Ukrainian People

                                                                  Deep Transformation sponsor, iAwake Technologies, sends all funds raised on behalf of the Ukrainian people directly to Kateryna Yasko and Vytautas Bučiūnas, who are giving on-the-ground support to Ukrainian refugees in the bordering countries, and sending life-saving medicines and emergency first aid kits into Ukraine via trusted drivers. Sending money directly to the people who are doing the work is much more effective at this stage than sending money to an established NGO or other aid organization, as there is a lot of paperwork and bureaucratic red tape that greatly delays the money from reaching the people who need it the most.

                                                                  → Donate here

                                                                  Please know that 100% of your donation (after PayPal fees) will go directly to Kateryna and Vytautas to be used at their discretion to address the greatest needs as this terrible situation unfolds hour to hour, day to day. This couple has our absolute trust and confidence that they will use the funds we send them in the best and most compassionate and effective way possible.

                                                                  #StandWithUkraine

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Kateryna Yasko (Ukraine) is an organizational psychologist, a trainer for the development of emotional intelligence, trust, cooperation, effective communication, and peaceful conflict resolution, and co-founder of the consulting company U-Integral. Her academic background is in the area of international relations and law (MSc), business (MBA), and psychology (MSc). She bases her programs on the principles of Ken Wilber’s Integral approach and Marshall Rosenberg's Nonviolent Communication, and is certified in Spiral Dynamics Integral and in Susanne Cook-Greuter’s Maturity Assessment Profile. Kateryna is also head of the public association "International Institute for Integral Development" and a founder of the educational initiative EMPATIA.PRO, specializing in bringing  holistic approaches into educational leadership and learning cultures.

                                                                  Vytautas Bučiūnas (Lithuania–Ukraine) is a co-founder and managing partner of U-Integral, an integral leadership development company. Vytautas also has vast experience as a top manager in the banking sector including working as the Head of Resident Office, Senior Banker, Associate Director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (Russia, Ukraine). Vytautas' professional profile includes building organizational units from scratch, carrying out large-scale transformations, and managing crises. Vytautas is a certified Integral Master Coach™ (Integral Coaching Canada), an ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC)™, and the only business consultant in Ukraine certified in Leadership Maturity Framework – Maturity Assessment for Professionals (LMF-MAP) and Global Leadership Profile (GLP). Vytautas explores the development of human consciousness and complex social systemsfrom a holistic perspective. He considers the growth of a critical mass of mature leaders with systemic thinking and transformational capabilities to be the key to society's healthy development.

                                                                  Bence Ganti, MA, is the main organizer, co-founder, and director of the Integral European Conferences (since 2014) and the co-founder of Integral Europe team (since 2012). He also created the Integral Academy in Budapest, a 3-year adult education program on integral psychology in 2006. Bence is an integrally oriented clinical psychologist, vipassana meditator, and international...]]>Ep. 23 (Part 2 of 2) | Integral leaders Kateryna Yasko, Vytautas Bučiūnas, and Bence Gánti illuminate many of the most poignant and pressing questions of our time, brought to the fore by the ongoing war in Ukraine: Can postmodern people embrace a warrior consciousness when necessary? Are Russians, brainwashed by propaganda, who explicitly support the war worthy of compassion? Can people remain sane and humane while at the same time taking up arms? How can we handle the effects of the psychological trauma that will cascade over generations? And how do we prevent the mass delusion and psychosis that is so easily propagated via modern media technology?

                                                                  What are the global consequences of the Russian war on Ukraine? The trillions of dollars now being diverted to defense and military weaponry in the West are trillions of dollars that will not be spent on social programs, global health, education, climate change, and food—many people in Africa will starve as a result of this war on the breadbasket, wheat-producing Ukraine. What is wrong with democracy if its leaders can’t step up to the plate, be authentic, strong, and stand up for what is right, while autocrats do whatever they please? A powerful, heart wrenching conversation asking the right questions, pointing towards the answers. Recorded April 15, 2022.

                                                                  For more wrestling with the questions, and to share wisdom, ideas, support, and inspiration, there is IEC 2022 (Integral European Conference) this May online and in Budapest. And to donate directly to help the Ukrainian people via Kateryna and Vytautas using iAwake's Funnel to Help, Heal, and Support the Ukrainian People, see below.

                                                                  The reality is: “If Russia stops fighting, there will be no war. If Ukraine stops fighting, there will be no Ukraine.”

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                                                  • The difference between Ukrainians and Russians is Ukrainians long to be and remain human and humane; but Russians have been through a long dehumanization process (01:00)
                                                                  • How can we stick to the Geneva Conventions and not become what we’re fighting against? (01:59)
                                                                  • Around 60% of Russians on the street honestly believe they are liberating Ukraine (04:59) 
                                                                  • The power of today’s information and communication technology, coupled with our awful vulnerability to delusional thinking, is a recipe for inducing culture-wide psychosis (07:05)
                                                                  • The analogy with Nazi Germany and Putin’s Russia is right on (10:30)
                                                                  • Are Russians who are brainwashed and explicitly supporting warfare worthy of our compassion? (11:30)
                                                                  • What are the global ramifications, the psychological and cultural implications, of this great tragedy that will affect global health, social welfare, even the survival of the human species? (16:20) 
                                                                  • The systems we have been trusting to maintain global order were not good enough to save us from this challenge (20:34)
                                                                  • How to come up with more Integral, inclusive solutions and systems of sensemaking? (21:22)
                                                                  • The leadership factor in the West over the last 20+ years has been reactive, compliant, generally avoiding facing reality – until Zelensky (Vytautas’ keynote at IEC will be about this) (21:52)
                                                                  • Working on solutions at the Integral European Conference (IEC) May 2022 online and in Budapest (25:05)
                                                                  • How this invasion has opened hearts, created an explosion of trust, people are really “showing up” (Kateryna’s keynote at IEC will be about this) (26:57)
                                                                  • Showing up – what will you do when it’s time to act? There is a way to contribute for everyone (28:09)
                                                                  • iAwake’s Funnel to Help, Heal, and Support the Ukrainian People (30:15)
                                                                  • IEC will be an opportunity to involve people from Latin America in the fight for democracy and freedom in Ukraine, and hear about their ongoing wars as well (32:35) 
                                                                  • IEC will sponsor a global discussion on war and peace everywhere; there are more than 100 wars going on at any given time on the planet (35:06)
                                                                  • Are only autocratic leaders allowed to be bold, decisive, real, and authentic? (37:31)
                                                                  • Zelensky is the role model for other democratic leaders (38:50)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References – Part 2

                                                                  • Integral European Conference 2022: World Peace with the Integral Approach, online and in Budapest
                                                                  • Vytautas Bučiūnas’ website: Upgrade of Leader’s Operating SystemTM
                                                                  • The Annexation of Crimea
                                                                  • The Budapest Memorandum
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  How can I help? iAwake's Funnel to Help, Heal, and Support the Ukrainian People

                                                                  Deep Transformation sponsor, iAwake Technologies, sends all funds raised on behalf of the Ukrainian people directly to Kateryna Yasko and Vytautas Bučiūnas, who are giving on-the-ground support to Ukrainian refugees in the bordering countries, and sending life-saving medicines and emergency first aid kits into Ukraine via trusted drivers. Sending money directly to the people who are doing the work is much more effective at this stage than sending money to an established NGO or other aid organization, as there is a lot of paperwork and bureaucratic red tape that greatly delays the money from reaching the people who need it the most.

                                                                  → Donate here

                                                                  Please know that 100% of your donation (after PayPal fees) will go directly to Kateryna and Vytautas to be used at their discretion to address the greatest needs as this terrible situation unfolds hour to hour, day to day. This couple has our absolute trust and confidence that they will use the funds we send them in the best and most compassionate and effective way possible.

                                                                  #StandWithUkraine

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Kateryna Yasko (Ukraine) is an organizational psychologist, a trainer for the development of emotional intelligence, trust, cooperation, effective communication, and peaceful conflict resolution, and co-founder of the consulting company U-Integral. Her academic background is in the area of international relations and law (MSc), business (MBA), and psychology (MSc). She bases her programs on the principles of Ken Wilber’s Integral approach and Marshall Rosenberg's Nonviolent Communication, and is certified in Spiral Dynamics Integral and in Susanne Cook-Greuter’s Maturity Assessment Profile. Kateryna is also head of the public association "International Institute for Integral Development" and a founder of the educational initiative EMPATIA.PRO, specializing in bringing  holistic approaches into educational leadership and learning cultures.

                                                                  Vytautas Bučiūnas (Lithuania–Ukraine) is a co-founder and managing partner of U-Integral, an integral leadership development company. Vytautas also has vast experience as a top manager in the banking sector including working as the Head of Resident Office, Senior Banker, Associate Director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (Russia, Ukraine). Vytautas' professional profile includes building organizational units from scratch, carrying out large-scale transformations, and managing crises. Vytautas is a certified Integral Master Coach™ (Integral Coaching Canada), an ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC)™, and the only business consultant in Ukraine certified in Leadership Maturity Framework – Maturity Assessment for Professionals (LMF-MAP) and Global Leadership Profile (GLP). Vytautas explores the development of human consciousness and complex social systemsfrom a holistic perspective. He considers the growth of a critical mass of mature leaders with systemic thinking and transformational capabilities to be the key to society's healthy development.

                                                                  Bence Ganti, MA, is the main organizer, co-founder, and director of the Integral European Conferences (since 2014) and the co-founder of Integral Europe team (since 2012). He also created the Integral Academy in Budapest, a 3-year adult education program on integral psychology in 2006. Bence is an integrally oriented clinical psychologist, vipassana meditator, and international teacher of integral psychology. Being a dual citizen of the USA and Hungary, Bence bridges cultures delivering keynote addresses, making presentations, and leading experiential workshops worldwide, including his version of a cutting-edge we-space practice called Integral Flow Experience. In the US, he has taught integral psychology at Meridian University and San Francisco State University and at integral events at  Bay Area Integral, Integral Center in Boulder, and the Integral Theory Conferences. He also represented integral consciousness during the World Economic Forum week in Davos, Switzerland, in 2019.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>c6170c35-813d-4a44-be53-ccd1a62cc358Thu, 28 Apr 2022 05:00:00 -040041:06truefull2323Ep. 23 (Part 2 of 2) | Integral leaders Kateryna Yasko, Vytautas Bučiūnas, and Bence Gánti illuminate many of the most poignant and pressing questions of our time, brought to the fore by the ongoing war in Ukraine: Can postmodern people embrace a warrior consciousness when necessary? Are Russians, brainwashed by propaganda, who explicitly support the war worthy of compassion? Can people remain sane and humane while at the same time taking up arms? How can we handle the effects of the psychological trauma that will cascade over generations? And how do we prevent the mass delusion and psychosis that is so easily propagated via modern media technology? What are the global consequences of the Russian war on Ukraine? The trillions of dollars now being diverted to defense and military weaponry in the West are trillions of dollars that will not be spent on social programs, global health, education, climate change, and food—many people in Africa will starve as a result of this war on the breadbasket, wheat-producing Ukraine. What is wrong with democracy if its leaders can’t step up to the plate, be authentic, strong, and stand up for what is right, while autocrats do whatever they please? A powerful, heart wrenching conversation asking the right questions, pointing towards the answers. Recorded April 15, 2022.The Moral Imperative to Help Ukraine: Integral Perspectives on the War, Its Global Implications & the Role of Warrior ConsciousnessEp. 22 (Part 1 of 2) | Integral leaders Kateryna Yasko, Vytautas Bučiūnas, and Bence Ganti illuminate many of the most poignant and pressing questions of our time, brought to the fore by the ongoing war in Ukraine: Can postmodern people embrace a warrior consciousness when necessary? Are Russians, brainwashed by propaganda, who explicitly support the war worthy of compassion? Can people remain sane and humane while at the same time taking up arms? How can we handle the effects of the psychological trauma that will cascade over generations? And how do we prevent the mass delusion and psychosis that is so easily propagated via modern media technology?

                                                                  What are the global consequences of the Russian war on Ukraine? The trillions of dollars now being diverted to defense and military weaponry in the West are trillions of dollars that will not be spent on social programs, global health, education, climate change, and food—many people in Africa will starve as a result of this war on the breadbasket, wheat-producing Ukraine. What is wrong with democracy if its leaders can’t step up to the plate, be authentic, strong, and stand up for what is right, while autocrats do whatever they please? A powerful, heart wrenching conversation asking the right questions, pointing towards the answers. Recorded April 15, 2022. 

                                                                  For more wrestling with the questions, and to share wisdom, ideas, support, and inspiration, there is IEC 2022 (Integral European Conference) this May online and in Budapest. And to donate directly to help the Ukrainian people via Kateryna and Vytautas using iAwake's Funnel to Help, Heal, and Support the Ukrainian People, see below.

                                                                  The reality is: “If Russia stops fighting, there will be no war. If Ukraine stops fighting, there will be no more Ukraine.”

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                                  • Ukraine update: the level of trauma has grown very high in the last month, both inside and outside Ukraine, with the discoveries in Bucha and elsewhere (03:18)
                                                                  • Everyone feels guilty: the people who have fled, the people in the cities, the people in territorial defense: everyone feels a strong need to contribute more (05:03)
                                                                  • The West is consolidating; there’s less naivete about Russia (07:45)
                                                                  • People around the world can and need to contribute (09:34)
                                                                  • True heroism is coming to the fore; this could be a wake up call for a lot of us (11:35)
                                                                  • Bence Ganti, Integral leader and director of the Integral European Conference, talks about the situation in Hungary and the coming IEC in May 2022 (12:32)
                                                                  • Kateryna’s perspective on recent weeks: facing an overwhelming, multi-fronted battle on all levels, it’s impossible to give yourself space to take care of yourself (15:40) 
                                                                  • In Russia, children in school are taught only propaganda; refugee children are traumatized and don’t speak the language of their host countries (18:28)
                                                                  • Disappointment and frustration with opinion leaders, prominent intellectuals in the West, writing articles totally disconnected from the realities of the Ukrainian situation (19:55)
                                                                  • Ukraine is slowing gaining agency on several fronts (21:35)
                                                                  • This is a meta historic conflict; the West saying this conflict is their fault or the US’ fault is going too far; Russia has been threatening Ukraine since before the US existed (24:40)
                                                                  • Otto Scharmer’s article about collaborative diplomacy is not good enough; it’s abstract and divorced from the physical realities of the situation (27:52)
                                                                  • The reality is: “If Russia stops fighting, there will be no war. If Ukraine stops fighting, there will be no more Ukraine.” (30:38)
                                                                  • What is the most strategic response we can make in this situation to directly address this tragedy and its needs? (32:38)
                                                                  • Children in primary school are very tuned in to the collective: smart teachers are using military analogies when teaching (35:12)
                                                                  • We have to integrate the “red” stage of development in the educational system…we have to let boys play with guns and speak about it (37:40)
                                                                  • We need an Integral stage to understand when to act with which stages (38:57) 
                                                                  • Green = a postmodern stage where we strive for harmony, unity, authenticity, connectedness and believe only with love we will solve all conflicts; red = the warrior stage; Integral = a yogi with a rifle (40:35) 
                                                                  • Ukrainians fighting from a place of love, somehow they are integrated (43:17)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                  • Integral European Conference 2022: World Peace with the Integral Approach, online and in Budapest
                                                                  • Vytautas Bučiūnas' website: Upgrade of Leader’s Operating SystemTM
                                                                  • Presencing Institute, founded in 2006 by MIT Sloan School of Management Senior Lecturer Otto Scharmer and colleagues to create an “action research platform at the intersection of science, consciousness, and profound social and organizational change.”
                                                                  • Otto Scharmer, “Putin and the Power of Collective Action from Shared Awareness”
                                                                  • Robb Smith, “Russia is Catalyzing the Transformation Age”
                                                                  • Michael McFaul, columnist and former ambassador to Russia, “Ukraine is Putin’s Afghanistan,”
                                                                  • Michael McFaul, “Why the West Must Boost Military Assistance to Ukraine”
                                                                  • Robert Person & Michael McFaul, “What Putin Fears Most”
                                                                  • Otto Scharmer, Theory U*
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  How can I help? iAwake's Funnel to Help, Heal, and Support the Ukrainian People

                                                                  Deep Transformation sponsor, iAwake Technologies, sends all funds raised on behalf of the Ukrainian people directly to Kateryna Yasko and Vytautas Bučiūnas, who are giving on-the-ground support to Ukrainian refugees in the bordering countries, and sending life-saving medicines and emergency first aid kits into Ukraine via trusted drivers. Sending money directly to the people who are doing the work is much more effective at this stage than sending money to an established NGO or other aid organization, as there is a lot of paperwork and bureaucratic red tape that greatly delays the money from reaching the people who need it the most.

                                                                  → Donate here

                                                                  Please know that 100% of your donation (after PayPal fees) will go directly to Kateryna and Vytautas to be used at their discretion to address the greatest needs as this terrible situation unfolds hour to hour, day to day. This couple has our absolute trust and confidence that they will use the funds we send them in the best and most compassionate and effective way possible.

                                                                  #StandWithUkraine

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Kateryna Yasko (Ukraine) is an organizational psychologist, a trainer for the development of emotional intelligence, trust, cooperation, effective communication, and peaceful conflict...]]>Ep. 22 (Part 1 of 2) | Integral leaders Kateryna Yasko, Vytautas Bučiūnas, and Bence Ganti illuminate many of the most poignant and pressing questions of our time, brought to the fore by the ongoing war in Ukraine: Can postmodern people embrace a warrior consciousness when necessary? Are Russians, brainwashed by propaganda, who explicitly support the war worthy of compassion? Can people remain sane and humane while at the same time taking up arms? How can we handle the effects of the psychological trauma that will cascade over generations? And how do we prevent the mass delusion and psychosis that is so easily propagated via modern media technology?

                                                                  What are the global consequences of the Russian war on Ukraine? The trillions of dollars now being diverted to defense and military weaponry in the West are trillions of dollars that will not be spent on social programs, global health, education, climate change, and food—many people in Africa will starve as a result of this war on the breadbasket, wheat-producing Ukraine. What is wrong with democracy if its leaders can’t step up to the plate, be authentic, strong, and stand up for what is right, while autocrats do whatever they please? A powerful, heart wrenching conversation asking the right questions, pointing towards the answers. Recorded April 15, 2022. 

                                                                  For more wrestling with the questions, and to share wisdom, ideas, support, and inspiration, there is IEC 2022 (Integral European Conference) this May online and in Budapest. And to donate directly to help the Ukrainian people via Kateryna and Vytautas using iAwake's Funnel to Help, Heal, and Support the Ukrainian People, see below.

                                                                  The reality is: “If Russia stops fighting, there will be no war. If Ukraine stops fighting, there will be no more Ukraine.”

                                                                  (For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                                  • Ukraine update: the level of trauma has grown very high in the last month, both inside and outside Ukraine, with the discoveries in Bucha and elsewhere (03:18)
                                                                  • Everyone feels guilty: the people who have fled, the people in the cities, the people in territorial defense: everyone feels a strong need to contribute more (05:03)
                                                                  • The West is consolidating; there’s less naivete about Russia (07:45)
                                                                  • People around the world can and need to contribute (09:34)
                                                                  • True heroism is coming to the fore; this could be a wake up call for a lot of us (11:35)
                                                                  • Bence Ganti, Integral leader and director of the Integral European Conference, talks about the situation in Hungary and the coming IEC in May 2022 (12:32)
                                                                  • Kateryna’s perspective on recent weeks: facing an overwhelming, multi-fronted battle on all levels, it’s impossible to give yourself space to take care of yourself (15:40) 
                                                                  • In Russia, children in school are taught only propaganda; refugee children are traumatized and don’t speak the language of their host countries (18:28)
                                                                  • Disappointment and frustration with opinion leaders, prominent intellectuals in the West, writing articles totally disconnected from the realities of the Ukrainian situation (19:55)
                                                                  • Ukraine is slowing gaining agency on several fronts (21:35)
                                                                  • This is a meta historic conflict; the West saying this conflict is their fault or the US’ fault is going too far; Russia has been threatening Ukraine since before the US existed (24:40)
                                                                  • Otto Scharmer’s article about collaborative diplomacy is not good enough; it’s abstract and divorced from the physical realities of the situation (27:52)
                                                                  • The reality is: “If Russia stops fighting, there will be no war. If Ukraine stops fighting, there will be no more Ukraine.” (30:38)
                                                                  • What is the most strategic response we can make in this situation to directly address this tragedy and its needs? (32:38)
                                                                  • Children in primary school are very tuned in to the collective: smart teachers are using military analogies when teaching (35:12)
                                                                  • We have to integrate the “red” stage of development in the educational system…we have to let boys play with guns and speak about it (37:40)
                                                                  • We need an Integral stage to understand when to act with which stages (38:57) 
                                                                  • Green = a postmodern stage where we strive for harmony, unity, authenticity, connectedness and believe only with love we will solve all conflicts; red = the warrior stage; Integral = a yogi with a rifle (40:35) 
                                                                  • Ukrainians fighting from a place of love, somehow they are integrated (43:17)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                  • Integral European Conference 2022: World Peace with the Integral Approach, online and in Budapest
                                                                  • Vytautas Bučiūnas' website: Upgrade of Leader’s Operating SystemTM
                                                                  • Presencing Institute, founded in 2006 by MIT Sloan School of Management Senior Lecturer Otto Scharmer and colleagues to create an “action research platform at the intersection of science, consciousness, and profound social and organizational change.”
                                                                  • Otto Scharmer, “Putin and the Power of Collective Action from Shared Awareness”
                                                                  • Robb Smith, “Russia is Catalyzing the Transformation Age”
                                                                  • Michael McFaul, columnist and former ambassador to Russia, “Ukraine is Putin’s Afghanistan,”
                                                                  • Michael McFaul, “Why the West Must Boost Military Assistance to Ukraine”
                                                                  • Robert Person & Michael McFaul, “What Putin Fears Most”
                                                                  • Otto Scharmer, Theory U*
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  How can I help? iAwake's Funnel to Help, Heal, and Support the Ukrainian People

                                                                  Deep Transformation sponsor, iAwake Technologies, sends all funds raised on behalf of the Ukrainian people directly to Kateryna Yasko and Vytautas Bučiūnas, who are giving on-the-ground support to Ukrainian refugees in the bordering countries, and sending life-saving medicines and emergency first aid kits into Ukraine via trusted drivers. Sending money directly to the people who are doing the work is much more effective at this stage than sending money to an established NGO or other aid organization, as there is a lot of paperwork and bureaucratic red tape that greatly delays the money from reaching the people who need it the most.

                                                                  → Donate here

                                                                  Please know that 100% of your donation (after PayPal fees) will go directly to Kateryna and Vytautas to be used at their discretion to address the greatest needs as this terrible situation unfolds hour to hour, day to day. This couple has our absolute trust and confidence that they will use the funds we send them in the best and most compassionate and effective way possible.

                                                                  #StandWithUkraine

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Kateryna Yasko (Ukraine) is an organizational psychologist, a trainer for the development of emotional intelligence, trust, cooperation, effective communication, and peaceful conflict resolution, and co-founder of the consulting company U-Integral. Her academic background is in the area of international relations and law (MSc), business (MBA), and psychology (MSc). She bases her programs on the principles of Ken Wilber’s Integral approach and Marshall Rosenberg's Nonviolent Communication, and is certified in Spiral Dynamics Integral and in Susanne Cook-Greuter’s Maturity Assessment Profile. Kateryna is also head of the public association "International Institute for Integral Development" and a founder of the educational initiative EMPATIA.PRO, specializing in bringing  holistic approaches into educational leadership and learning cultures.

                                                                  Vytautas Bučiūnas (Lithuania–Ukraine) is a co-founder and managing partner of U-Integral, an integral leadership development company. Vytautas also has vast experience as a top manager in the banking sector including working as the Head of Resident Office, Senior Banker, Associate Director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (Russia, Ukraine). Vytautas' professional profile includes building organizational units from scratch, carrying out large-scale transformations, and managing crises. Vytautas is a certified Integral Master Coach™ (Integral Coaching Canada), an ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC)™, and the only business consultant in Ukraine certified in Leadership Maturity Framework – Maturity Assessment for Professionals (LMF-MAP) and Global Leadership Profile (GLP). Vytautas explores the development of human consciousness and complex social systemsfrom a holistic perspective. He considers the growth of a critical mass of mature leaders with systemic thinking and transformational capabilities to be the key to society's healthy development.

                                                                  Bence Ganti, MA, is the main organizer, co-founder, and director of the Integral European Conferences (since 2014) and the co-founder of Integral Europe team (since 2012). He also created the Integral Academy in Budapest, a 3-year adult education program on integral psychology in 2006. Bence is an integrally oriented clinical psychologist, vipassana meditator, and international teacher of integral psychology. Being a dual citizen of the USA and Hungary, Bence bridges cultures delivering keynote addresses, making presentations, and leading experiential workshops worldwide, including his version of a cutting-edge we-space practice called Integral Flow Experience. In the US, he has taught integral psychology at Meridian University and San Francisco State University and at integral events at  Bay Area Integral, Integral Center in Boulder, and the Integral Theory Conferences. He also represented integral consciousness during the World Economic Forum week in Davos, Switzerland, in 2019.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>c5832d06-3318-40f6-adee-d82677d95765Thu, 21 Apr 2022 05:00:00 -040045:41truefull2222Ep. 22 (Part 1 of 2) | Integral leaders Kateryna Yasko, Vytautas Bučiūnas, and Bence Ganti illuminate many of the most poignant and pressing questions of our time, brought to the fore by the ongoing war in Ukraine: Can postmodern people embrace a warrior consciousness when necessary? Are Russians, brainwashed by propaganda, who explicitly support the war worthy of compassion? Can people remain sane and humane while at the same time taking up arms? How can we handle the effects of the psychological trauma that will cascade over generations? And how do we prevent the mass delusion and psychosis that is so easily propagated via modern media technology? What are the global consequences of the Russian war on Ukraine? The trillions of dollars now being diverted to defense and military weaponry in the West are trillions of dollars that will not be spent on social programs, global health, education, climate change, and food—many people in Africa will starve as a result of this war on the breadbasket, wheat-producing Ukraine. What is wrong with democracy if its leaders can’t step up to the plate, be authentic, strong, and stand up for what is right, while autocrats do whatever they please? A powerful, heart wrenching conversation asking the right questions, pointing towards the answers. Recorded April 15, 2022.Consciousness Evolves, Politics Can Too: Beyond the Culture War with Steve McIntosh (Part 2)Ep. 21 (Part 2 of 2) | Steve McIntosh, philosopher, author of the groundbreaking book Developmental Politics, and co-founder of the Institute for Cultural Evolution, outlines an extraordinary framework to make sense of our political conflicts—extraordinary in that it points to ways through and out of our persistent polarity consciousness. Steve convincingly argues our opportunity is right now: to create a synthesis, a cooperative agreement space, that transcends and includes thesis and antithesis, left and right, individual and community. Steve’s is a passionate and prophetic voice; there is hope for politics. With vertical development we can recover a common sense of truth, a common sense of goodness—transcendent ideals could become social norms. Steve ends with an invitation to listeners to investigate this new concept of cultural intelligence and the implications of the new truth: consciousness and culture co-evolve. Recorded on September 8, 2021.

                                                                  “An Invitation to Creating a World That Works for Everybody”

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                                  • The practice of virtues: character development is an important psychological technology (01:34)
                                                                  • Deep happiness, Aristotle’s eudaimonia (05:07)
                                                                  • Reestablishing cultural agreements around transcendent character development: an “upward current of the good” (06:48)
                                                                  • How do you practice courage? (11:26)
                                                                  • The magnetism towards being better: towards the good, the true, the beautiful (12:12)
                                                                  • The evolutionary power of value polarities (13:05) 
                                                                  • Understanding the new inter-subjective We Space: a social medicine that can help heal the wounds of history (20:11)
                                                                  • How do we begin to walk this path of cultural emergence and post-progressivism as a practice? This new truth that consciousness and culture co-evolve? (21:43)
                                                                  • The need to build a political movement, break through into mainstream culture with the new truth of the vertical dimension of development (25:27)
                                                                  • Truth is one of the casualties of the current culture wars (28:25)
                                                                  • How does technology come into it? (35:05)
                                                                  • The Black Death plague and the impact of COVID-19 (38:14)
                                                                  • With post-progressivism, we’re trying to negate the negations of progressivism (40:18)
                                                                  • The role of contemplative practices and spiritual development in fostering psychological development and helping transcendent ideals become social norms (43:10)
                                                                  • An invitation to listeners to participate and investigate this new cultural intelligence (48:41)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                  • Aristotle’s eudaimonia, the highest human good
                                                                  • Create your personal Portrait of the Good, online character development exercise at Institute for Cultural Evolution
                                                                  • Lao Tzu, Heraclitus, Nicholas of Cusa
                                                                  • The Post-Progressive Post (now The Developmentalist)
                                                                  • The Worldview Questionnaire at The Developmentalist
                                                                  • Aldous Huxley, Island*
                                                                  • Al Gore’s movie, An Inconvenient Truth
                                                                  • Winston Churchill, “...truth should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies”
                                                                  • Jesus, “...the truth will set you free”
                                                                  • Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, The Phenomenology of Spirit*
                                                                  • Steve McIntosh, Developmental Politics: How America Can Grow Into a Better Version of Itself*
                                                                  • Institute for Cultural Evolution, co-founded by Steve McIntosh
                                                                  • Post-progressive.org is now The Developmentalist.org
                                                                  • Steve McIntosh's author website is stevemcintosh.com.
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Steve McIntosh, J.D. is author of Developmental Politics—How America Can Grow Into a Better Version of Itself (Paragon House 2020), and co-author of Conscious Leadership—Elevating Humanity Through Business (Penguin 2020), with John Mackey and Carter Phipps. McIntosh is president of the Institute for Cultural Evolution think tank, which focuses on the cultural roots of America’s political problems. His work has appeared in USA Today, Real Clear Politics, The Daily Beast, The Hill, Areo Magazine, and The Developmentalist. He has been interviewed on NPR, Oxford Review, Rebel Wisdom, and many other podcasts. His author website is: stevemcintosh.com.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 21 (Part 2 of 2) | Steve McIntosh, philosopher, author of the groundbreaking book Developmental Politics, and co-founder of the Institute for Cultural Evolution, outlines an extraordinary framework to make sense of our political conflicts—extraordinary in that it points to ways through and out of our persistent polarity consciousness. Steve convincingly argues our opportunity is right now: to create a synthesis, a cooperative agreement space, that transcends and includes thesis and antithesis, left and right, individual and community. Steve’s is a passionate and prophetic voice; there is hope for politics. With vertical development we can recover a common sense of truth, a common sense of goodness—transcendent ideals could become social norms. Steve ends with an invitation to listeners to investigate this new concept of cultural intelligence and the implications of the new truth: consciousness and culture co-evolve. Recorded on September 8, 2021.

                                                                  “An Invitation to Creating a World That Works for Everybody”

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                                  • The practice of virtues: character development is an important psychological technology (01:34)
                                                                  • Deep happiness, Aristotle’s eudaimonia (05:07)
                                                                  • Reestablishing cultural agreements around transcendent character development: an “upward current of the good” (06:48)
                                                                  • How do you practice courage? (11:26)
                                                                  • The magnetism towards being better: towards the good, the true, the beautiful (12:12)
                                                                  • The evolutionary power of value polarities (13:05) 
                                                                  • Understanding the new inter-subjective We Space: a social medicine that can help heal the wounds of history (20:11)
                                                                  • How do we begin to walk this path of cultural emergence and post-progressivism as a practice? This new truth that consciousness and culture co-evolve? (21:43)
                                                                  • The need to build a political movement, break through into mainstream culture with the new truth of the vertical dimension of development (25:27)
                                                                  • Truth is one of the casualties of the current culture wars (28:25)
                                                                  • How does technology come into it? (35:05)
                                                                  • The Black Death plague and the impact of COVID-19 (38:14)
                                                                  • With post-progressivism, we’re trying to negate the negations of progressivism (40:18)
                                                                  • The role of contemplative practices and spiritual development in fostering psychological development and helping transcendent ideals become social norms (43:10)
                                                                  • An invitation to listeners to participate and investigate this new cultural intelligence (48:41)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                  • Aristotle’s eudaimonia, the highest human good
                                                                  • Create your personal Portrait of the Good, online character development exercise at Institute for Cultural Evolution
                                                                  • Lao Tzu, Heraclitus, Nicholas of Cusa
                                                                  • The Post-Progressive Post (now The Developmentalist)
                                                                  • The Worldview Questionnaire at The Developmentalist
                                                                  • Aldous Huxley, Island*
                                                                  • Al Gore’s movie, An Inconvenient Truth
                                                                  • Winston Churchill, “...truth should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies”
                                                                  • Jesus, “...the truth will set you free”
                                                                  • Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, The Phenomenology of Spirit*
                                                                  • Steve McIntosh, Developmental Politics: How America Can Grow Into a Better Version of Itself*
                                                                  • Institute for Cultural Evolution, co-founded by Steve McIntosh
                                                                  • Post-progressive.org is now The Developmentalist.org
                                                                  • Steve McIntosh's author website is stevemcintosh.com.
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Steve McIntosh, J.D. is author of Developmental Politics—How America Can Grow Into a Better Version of Itself (Paragon House 2020), and co-author of Conscious Leadership—Elevating Humanity Through Business (Penguin 2020), with John Mackey and Carter Phipps. McIntosh is president of the Institute for Cultural Evolution think tank, which focuses on the cultural roots of America’s political problems. His work has appeared in USA Today, Real Clear Politics, The Daily Beast, The Hill, Areo Magazine, and The Developmentalist. He has been interviewed on NPR, Oxford Review, Rebel Wisdom, and many other podcasts. His author website is: stevemcintosh.com.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>52f22d2b-a0f7-4a7f-a5de-2700602f1151Thu, 14 Apr 2022 05:00:00 -040054:17falsefull2121Ep. 21 (Part 2 of 2) | Steve McIntosh, philosopher, author of the groundbreaking book Developmental Politics, and co-founder of the Institute for Cultural Evolution, outlines an extraordinary framework to make sense of our political conflicts—extraordinary in that it points to ways through and out of our persistent polarity consciousness. Steve convincingly argues our opportunity is right now: to create a synthesis, a cooperative agreement space, that transcends and includes thesis and antithesis, left and right, individual and community. Steve’s is a passionate and prophetic voice; there is hope for politics. With vertical development we can recover a common sense of truth, a common sense of goodness—transcendent ideals could become social norms. Steve ends with an invitation to listeners to investigate this new concept of cultural intelligence and the implications of the new truth: consciousness and culture co-evolve. Recorded on September 8, 2021.Consciousness Evolves, Politics Can Too: Beyond the Culture War with Steve McIntoshEp. 20 (Part 1 of 2) | Steve McIntosh, philosopher, author of the groundbreaking book Developmental Politics, and co-founder of the Institute for Cultural Evolution, outlines an extraordinary framework to make sense of our political conflicts—extraordinary in that it points to ways through and out of our persistent polarity consciousness. Steve convincingly argues our opportunity is right now: to create a synthesis, a cooperative agreement space, that transcends and includes thesis and antithesis, left and right, individual and community. Steve’s is a passionate and prophetic voice; there is hope for politics. With vertical development we can recover a common sense of truth, a common sense of goodness—transcendent ideals could become social norms. Steve ends with an invitation to listeners to investigate this new concept of cultural intelligence and the implications of the new truth: consciousness and culture co-evolve. Recorded on September 8, 2021.

                                                                  “Almost every problem is a problem of consciousness.”

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                                  • Introducing Steve McIntosh and Developmental Politics (02:08)
                                                                  • Normality is not the ceiling of development—more like a collective form of developmental arrest (04:04)
                                                                  • We can keep growing, not only personally but politically and culturally; right now we have the perfect conditions for the next phase to emerge: a cultural renaissance (06:22)
                                                                  • Progressive spirituality: the intersection of science and spirituality (08:08)
                                                                  • Spiral Dynamics, the Cultural Creatives, and Integral consciousness (10:51)
                                                                  • The emergence of the post-progressive worldview and the profound truth that consciousness evolves (13:02)
                                                                  • A calling to apply the new worldview to politics, climate change: founding the Institute of Cultural Evolution (15:17)
                                                                  • Making the ideas and political philosophy of developmental politics accessible to people, so people can recognize their worldview and the positive and negative of other worldviews too (20:23)
                                                                  • The structure of emergence in the noosphere: America’s trajectory in the world is not done yet—we can grow our way out of this and give birth to a new worldview (25:10)
                                                                  • Breaking out of modernity: progressive postmodernism breaks the spell of the old establishment (29:04)
                                                                  • Our bedrock values have energetic properties like magnets, attracting and repelling. How can we create new forms of agreement so we can all work together in a new type of culture? Cultural intelligence (32:19)
                                                                  • Recognizing how the hinges of history continue to animate our political climate and that the dialectical pattern of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis is in the structure of emergence itself (34:58)
                                                                  • Worldviews oscillate between focusing on the whole/community and focusing on the part/individual (36:33)
                                                                  • Tug of war between moral systems on either side of modernity with traditionalism pulling on one side and progressivism pulling from the other (37:49)
                                                                  • Our current opportunity is to create a synthesis, a new cultural agreement space, that includes traditionalism, modernity, and progressivism, characterized by interdependence (39:07)
                                                                  • How can we overcome hyperpolarization if people have their own facts? (42:49)
                                                                  • Transcendence is the key to reclaiming a sense of common good and restoring sufficient unity for a functioning democracy (44:37) 
                                                                  • Higher ground rather than common ground: a new political agreement space, where people can begin to appreciate that the existential polarity in politics is permanent and interdependent, where people can embody the left and the right in themselves, preserving what’s right and fixing what’s wrong (47:07)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                  • Steve McIntosh, Developmental Politics: How America Can Grow into a Better Version of Itself*
                                                                  • Steve McIntosh, Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution*
                                                                  • Steve McIntosh, Evolution’s Purpose*
                                                                  • Institute for Cultural Evolution, think tank co-founded by Steve McIntosh with Carter Phipps
                                                                  • Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man*
                                                                  • Paul Ray, The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World*
                                                                  • Clare Graves, adult developmental stages psychologist foundational to Spiral Dynamics
                                                                  • Don Beck & Christopher Cowan, Spiral Dynamics*
                                                                  • Integral Institute and Ken Wilber
                                                                  • Al Gore’s movie, An Inconvenient Truth
                                                                  • Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion
                                                                  • Esalen Institute, leading center for exploring human potential
                                                                  • John Mackey, Carter Phipps, and Steve McIntosh, Conscious Leadership*
                                                                  • John Mackey and Raj Sisodia, Conscious Capitalism*
                                                                  • Brandon Goleman, Emotional Intelligence*
                                                                  • Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
                                                                  • Herbert Spencer’s Theory of Social Evolution
                                                                  • Charles Taylor, A Secular Age*
                                                                  • Steve McIntosh’s author website: stevemcintosh.com
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Steve McIntosh, J.D. is author of Developmental Politics—How America Can Grow Into a Better Version of Itself (Paragon House 2020), and co-author of Conscious Leadership—Elevating Humanity Through Business (Penguin 2020), with John Mackey and Carter Phipps. McIntosh is president of the Institute for Cultural Evolution think tank, which focuses on the cultural roots of America’s political problems. His work has appeared in USA Today, Real Clear Politics, The Daily Beast, The Hill, Ep. 20 (Part 1 of 2) | Steve McIntosh, philosopher, author of the groundbreaking book Developmental Politics, and co-founder of the Institute for Cultural Evolution, outlines an extraordinary framework to make sense of our political conflicts—extraordinary in that it points to ways through and out of our persistent polarity consciousness. Steve convincingly argues our opportunity is right now: to create a synthesis, a cooperative agreement space, that transcends and includes thesis and antithesis, left and right, individual and community. Steve’s is a passionate and prophetic voice; there is hope for politics. With vertical development we can recover a common sense of truth, a common sense of goodness—transcendent ideals could become social norms. Steve ends with an invitation to listeners to investigate this new concept of cultural intelligence and the implications of the new truth: consciousness and culture co-evolve. Recorded on September 8, 2021.

                                                                  “Almost every problem is a problem of consciousness.”

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                                  • Introducing Steve McIntosh and Developmental Politics (02:08)
                                                                  • Normality is not the ceiling of development—more like a collective form of developmental arrest (04:04)
                                                                  • We can keep growing, not only personally but politically and culturally; right now we have the perfect conditions for the next phase to emerge: a cultural renaissance (06:22)
                                                                  • Progressive spirituality: the intersection of science and spirituality (08:08)
                                                                  • Spiral Dynamics, the Cultural Creatives, and Integral consciousness (10:51)
                                                                  • The emergence of the post-progressive worldview and the profound truth that consciousness evolves (13:02)
                                                                  • A calling to apply the new worldview to politics, climate change: founding the Institute of Cultural Evolution (15:17)
                                                                  • Making the ideas and political philosophy of developmental politics accessible to people, so people can recognize their worldview and the positive and negative of other worldviews too (20:23)
                                                                  • The structure of emergence in the noosphere: America’s trajectory in the world is not done yet—we can grow our way out of this and give birth to a new worldview (25:10)
                                                                  • Breaking out of modernity: progressive postmodernism breaks the spell of the old establishment (29:04)
                                                                  • Our bedrock values have energetic properties like magnets, attracting and repelling. How can we create new forms of agreement so we can all work together in a new type of culture? Cultural intelligence (32:19)
                                                                  • Recognizing how the hinges of history continue to animate our political climate and that the dialectical pattern of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis is in the structure of emergence itself (34:58)
                                                                  • Worldviews oscillate between focusing on the whole/community and focusing on the part/individual (36:33)
                                                                  • Tug of war between moral systems on either side of modernity with traditionalism pulling on one side and progressivism pulling from the other (37:49)
                                                                  • Our current opportunity is to create a synthesis, a new cultural agreement space, that includes traditionalism, modernity, and progressivism, characterized by interdependence (39:07)
                                                                  • How can we overcome hyperpolarization if people have their own facts? (42:49)
                                                                  • Transcendence is the key to reclaiming a sense of common good and restoring sufficient unity for a functioning democracy (44:37) 
                                                                  • Higher ground rather than common ground: a new political agreement space, where people can begin to appreciate that the existential polarity in politics is permanent and interdependent, where people can embody the left and the right in themselves, preserving what’s right and fixing what’s wrong (47:07)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                  • Steve McIntosh, Developmental Politics: How America Can Grow into a Better Version of Itself*
                                                                  • Steve McIntosh, Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution*
                                                                  • Steve McIntosh, Evolution’s Purpose*
                                                                  • Institute for Cultural Evolution, think tank co-founded by Steve McIntosh with Carter Phipps
                                                                  • Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man*
                                                                  • Paul Ray, The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World*
                                                                  • Clare Graves, adult developmental stages psychologist foundational to Spiral Dynamics
                                                                  • Don Beck & Christopher Cowan, Spiral Dynamics*
                                                                  • Integral Institute and Ken Wilber
                                                                  • Al Gore’s movie, An Inconvenient Truth
                                                                  • Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion
                                                                  • Esalen Institute, leading center for exploring human potential
                                                                  • John Mackey, Carter Phipps, and Steve McIntosh, Conscious Leadership*
                                                                  • John Mackey and Raj Sisodia, Conscious Capitalism*
                                                                  • Brandon Goleman, Emotional Intelligence*
                                                                  • Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
                                                                  • Herbert Spencer’s Theory of Social Evolution
                                                                  • Charles Taylor, A Secular Age*
                                                                  • Steve McIntosh’s author website: stevemcintosh.com
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Steve McIntosh, J.D. is author of Developmental Politics—How America Can Grow Into a Better Version of Itself (Paragon House 2020), and co-author of Conscious Leadership—Elevating Humanity Through Business (Penguin 2020), with John Mackey and Carter Phipps. McIntosh is president of the Institute for Cultural Evolution think tank, which focuses on the cultural roots of America’s political problems. His work has appeared in USA Today, Real Clear Politics, The Daily Beast, The Hill, Areo Magazine, and The Developmentalist. He has been interviewed on NPR, Oxford Review, Rebel Wisdom, and many other podcasts. His author website is: stevemcintosh.com.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>aa9a0d0e-4614-4106-8a96-5455473c7bb2Thu, 07 Apr 2022 05:00:00 -040051:32falsefull2020Ep. 20 (Part 1 of 2) | Steve McIntosh on how cultural evolution and consciousness evolution translate into the evolution of a politics that transcends polarization.The World Needs Elders: How Inner Work Transforms Aging into a Developmental Process, a Life Culmination, and a GiftEp. 19 | Connie Zweig, Ph.D., Elder, award-winning author, and Shadow expert, has provided us with a rare gift in her recent book, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul. Upon discovering there was a surprising lack of any information, resources, or even language with which to contextualize the inner work of aging and the crucial rite of passage to elderhood, Connie has given us just that. In this conversation, we come face to face with our own inner ageist shadow character and we learn that if we do the inner work, we can make the all-important shift from doing to being, let go of our roles, begin to identify with our spiritual nature, and open the door of our awareness to further developmental stages. Rather than becoming seniors in decline, Connie illuminates who we can become as elders. “The world needs elders now: for their compassion, their gratitude, their generosity, their skills, their shadow awareness, and their spiritual development. The world is starved for this nourishment.” Recorded on October 6, 2021.

                                                                  “There is a whisper, a restless longing, inside of people for something more.”

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps

                                                                  • The surprising lack of information, language, and context for inner soul work for those of us living beyond midlife (03:44)
                                                                  • Connie realizing her own “ageist” bias, and how ageism is internalized from our culture (08:08)
                                                                  • The first inner obstacle to overcome on our way to elderhood is the Inner Ageist shadow character (10:06) 
                                                                  • Internalized ageism affects our health, cognitive and physical, quality of life, and longevity and becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy (10:44)
                                                                  • Challenges that elders face specific to our time (12:15)
                                                                  • Aging from the inside out, from “role to soul,” doing contemplative practice and inner work, turning in, is available to all regardless of circumstance (15:32)
                                                                  • What practices and spiritual experiences have led Connie on the wisdom path? (19:49)
                                                                  • Connie’s primary practice now: gratitude (23:07)
                                                                  • What can we become, as elders? (24:39)
                                                                  • Aging is a crucial rite of passage; it becomes a developmental process if we’re open to doing the inner work (28:38)
                                                                  • A door opens for us to ask again, Who am I? Who am I now? (31:26)
                                                                  • From role to soul: what is the soul? And letting go of our roles (33:07)
                                                                  • Differences in the ways masculine and feminine types tend to struggle with letting go of roles (35:58)
                                                                  • Holy longing: the calling to be something more and the suffering that is caused when we don’t fulfill our higher needs (38:12)
                                                                  • Gerotranscendence: a spontaneous movement towards a transcendent perspective as people age (43:31)
                                                                  • The shadow defined and the shadow of spirituality (45:32)
                                                                  • How can we improve our capacity to work with the shadow? (49:14)
                                                                  • The world needs elders now (51:12)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References

                                                                  • Roger Walsh & Frances Vaughan, Paths Beyond Ego*
                                                                  • Connie Zweig & Jeremiah Abrams, Meeting the Shadow*
                                                                  • Connie Zweig & Steve Wolf, Romancing the Shadow*
                                                                  • Connie Zweig, Meeting the Shadow of Spirituality*
                                                                  • Connie Zweig, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul*
                                                                  • Father Thomas Keating
                                                                  • Becca Levy, PhD studied ageism at Yale and how it affects our health, quality of life, and longevity
                                                                  • Margaret Mead, Culture and Commitment: A Study of the Generation Gap*
                                                                  • Turning Inward with Ram Dass (shifting from roles to souls)
                                                                  • Depth Psychology
                                                                  • Vedanta, one of the 6 schools of Hindu philosophy
                                                                  • Abraham Maslow, A Theory of Human Motivation*
                                                                  • “The Holy Longing,” a poem by Goethe (this version translated by Robert Bly)
                                                                  • Marion Woodman, The Owl Was a Baker’s Daughter: Obesity, Anorexia Nervosa, and the Repressed Feminine*
                                                                  • Lars Tornstam, Gerotranscendence: A Developmental Theory of Positive Aging*
                                                                  • Ken Wilber, The Religion of Tomorrow*
                                                                  • The “shadow,” a term coined by Carl Jung to represent the personal unconscious
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Connie Zweig, Ph.D., is a retired therapist, co-author of Meeting the Shadow and Romancing the Shadow, author of Meeting the Shadow of Spirituality and a novel, A Moth to the Flame: The Life of Sufi Poet Rumi. Her new book, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul (Sept. 2021), extends shadow-work into late life and teaches aging as a spiritual practice. Connie has been doing contemplative practices for 50 years. She is a wife and grandmother and was initiated as an Elder by Sage-ing International in 2017. After investing in all these roles, she is practicing the shift from role to soul.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 19 | Connie Zweig, Ph.D., Elder, award-winning author, and Shadow expert, has provided us with a rare gift in her recent book, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul. Upon discovering there was a surprising lack of any information, resources, or even language with which to contextualize the inner work of aging and the crucial rite of passage to elderhood, Connie has given us just that. In this conversation, we come face to face with our own inner ageist shadow character and we learn that if we do the inner work, we can make the all-important shift from doing to being, let go of our roles, begin to identify with our spiritual nature, and open the door of our awareness to further developmental stages. Rather than becoming seniors in decline, Connie illuminates who we can become as elders. “The world needs elders now: for their compassion, their gratitude, their generosity, their skills, their shadow awareness, and their spiritual development. The world is starved for this nourishment.” Recorded on October 6, 2021.

                                                                  “There is a whisper, a restless longing, inside of people for something more.”

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps

                                                                  • The surprising lack of information, language, and context for inner soul work for those of us living beyond midlife (03:44)
                                                                  • Connie realizing her own “ageist” bias, and how ageism is internalized from our culture (08:08)
                                                                  • The first inner obstacle to overcome on our way to elderhood is the Inner Ageist shadow character (10:06) 
                                                                  • Internalized ageism affects our health, cognitive and physical, quality of life, and longevity and becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy (10:44)
                                                                  • Challenges that elders face specific to our time (12:15)
                                                                  • Aging from the inside out, from “role to soul,” doing contemplative practice and inner work, turning in, is available to all regardless of circumstance (15:32)
                                                                  • What practices and spiritual experiences have led Connie on the wisdom path? (19:49)
                                                                  • Connie’s primary practice now: gratitude (23:07)
                                                                  • What can we become, as elders? (24:39)
                                                                  • Aging is a crucial rite of passage; it becomes a developmental process if we’re open to doing the inner work (28:38)
                                                                  • A door opens for us to ask again, Who am I? Who am I now? (31:26)
                                                                  • From role to soul: what is the soul? And letting go of our roles (33:07)
                                                                  • Differences in the ways masculine and feminine types tend to struggle with letting go of roles (35:58)
                                                                  • Holy longing: the calling to be something more and the suffering that is caused when we don’t fulfill our higher needs (38:12)
                                                                  • Gerotranscendence: a spontaneous movement towards a transcendent perspective as people age (43:31)
                                                                  • The shadow defined and the shadow of spirituality (45:32)
                                                                  • How can we improve our capacity to work with the shadow? (49:14)
                                                                  • The world needs elders now (51:12)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References

                                                                  • Roger Walsh & Frances Vaughan, Paths Beyond Ego*
                                                                  • Connie Zweig & Jeremiah Abrams, Meeting the Shadow*
                                                                  • Connie Zweig & Steve Wolf, Romancing the Shadow*
                                                                  • Connie Zweig, Meeting the Shadow of Spirituality*
                                                                  • Connie Zweig, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul*
                                                                  • Father Thomas Keating
                                                                  • Becca Levy, PhD studied ageism at Yale and how it affects our health, quality of life, and longevity
                                                                  • Margaret Mead, Culture and Commitment: A Study of the Generation Gap*
                                                                  • Turning Inward with Ram Dass (shifting from roles to souls)
                                                                  • Depth Psychology
                                                                  • Vedanta, one of the 6 schools of Hindu philosophy
                                                                  • Abraham Maslow, A Theory of Human Motivation*
                                                                  • “The Holy Longing,” a poem by Goethe (this version translated by Robert Bly)
                                                                  • Marion Woodman, The Owl Was a Baker’s Daughter: Obesity, Anorexia Nervosa, and the Repressed Feminine*
                                                                  • Lars Tornstam, Gerotranscendence: A Developmental Theory of Positive Aging*
                                                                  • Ken Wilber, The Religion of Tomorrow*
                                                                  • The “shadow,” a term coined by Carl Jung to represent the personal unconscious
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Connie Zweig, Ph.D., is a retired therapist, co-author of Meeting the Shadow and Romancing the Shadow, author of Meeting the Shadow of Spirituality and a novel, A Moth to the Flame: The Life of Sufi Poet Rumi. Her new book, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul (Sept. 2021), extends shadow-work into late life and teaches aging as a spiritual practice. Connie has been doing contemplative practices for 50 years. She is a wife and grandmother and was initiated as an Elder by Sage-ing International in 2017. After investing in all these roles, she is practicing the shift from role to soul.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>a83c7ddb-da61-4d56-a624-c0f862f06cd2Thu, 31 Mar 2022 05:00:00 -040053:40falsefull1919Ep. 19 | Connie Zweig, Ph.D. on transforming the aging process into a crucial rite of passage that opens the door to higher stages of development.Making Friends with Conflict, Metamodernity, Construct Awareness & Other Ways of Facing the Current Metacrisis (Part 2)Ep. 18 (Part 2 of 2) | Jonathan Rowson, brilliant, driven, articulate, shines a bright light of understanding on the metacrisis we face today, what feeds it, and what could help us find our way through. What is metamodernity and what does it have to offer? Is the ecological crisis fundamentally an educational crisis? Can we grow into our problem rather than thinking of ourselves as “failing beings” as the climate collapses around us? From the metaperspective to the deeply personal, Rowson shares his wisdom, including life lessons he gleaned from being a chess Grandmaster, before becoming a philosopher, research fellow, nonprofit director, and author. Recorded on November 17, 2021.

                                                                  “Let’s be careful what we’re talking about because we’re creating a world…”

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                                  • What is metamodernity and what does it have to offer us? (01:04)
                                                                  • The “cultural between”: serious about the meaning of life (04:48)
                                                                  • The political “after”: an antidote to hyper modernity, returning to basic human sensibilities and a time-rich relationship with life (06:22)
                                                                  • The mystic beyond: a return to metaphysics (08:28)
                                                                  • What does “a time between worlds” mean? (09:32)
                                                                  • We’ve got to perceive the context clearly in order to orient ourselves: our interiors, our capacity for growth, bio precarity, technology innovation, and more (12:50)
                                                                  • On the nuances of confusion (14:27) 
                                                                  • Can we grow into our climate collapse problem rather than thinking of ourselves as “failing beings”? (17:07)
                                                                  • The importance of Bildung = transformative, civic, and aesthetic education (18:17)
                                                                  • Is the ecological crisis fundamentally an educational crisis? (20:18)
                                                                  • What chess taught Jonathan about life: jewels of wisdom from The Moves That Matter (23:42)
                                                                  • Concentration = freedom (25:31)
                                                                  • Making peace with our struggles: we’re always going to be a work in progress (30:38)
                                                                  • Successful underachievement and living with regret (35:42)
                                                                  • Living in an algorithm-driven culture (40:52)
                                                                  • Longing for a clearer sense of relationship with the divine, the cosmopoetics of life (43:59)
                                                                  • Our unbidden tears are the best of us (46:03)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                  • Hanzi Freinacht, The Listening Society: A Metamodern Guide to Politics (Vol 1)*
                                                                  • Hanzi Freinacht, Nordic Ideology: A Metamodern Guide to Politics (Vol 2)*
                                                                  • Jonathan Rowson, Metamodernism and the Perception of Context: The Cultural Between, the Political After and the Mystic Beyond
                                                                  • David Foster Wallace, David Foster Wallace-Books
                                                                  • Cobra Khai, martial arts comedy-drama
                                                                  • Stranger Things, movie
                                                                  • John Vervaeke, award-winning lecturer on subjects like Awakening from the Meaning Crisis
                                                                  • Jürgen Habermas, German philosopher
                                                                  • Jonathan Rowson, essay, Metamodernism and the Perception of Context: The Cultural Between, the Political After and the Mystic Beyond
                                                                  • Confucius’ Rectification of Names
                                                                  • Thomas Metzinger, German philosopher
                                                                  • Bildung, linking philosophy and education for both personal and cultural maturation
                                                                  • Jonathan Rowson, “Bildung in the 21st Century: Why Sustainable Prosperity Depends on Reimagining Education”
                                                                  • Zachary Stein, Education in a Time Between Worlds: Essays on the Future of Schools, Technology, and Society*
                                                                  • Jonathan Rowson, The Moves That Matter: A Chess Grandmaster on the Game of Life*
                                                                  • Jonathan Rowson, Aeon magazine article Concentrate!
                                                                  • The Bhagavad Gita
                                                                  • Jonathan Rowson, Spiritualise: Revitalising Spirituality to Address 21st Century Challenges
                                                                  • Jonathan Rowson, anthology Metamodernity: Dispatches from a Time Between Worlds: Crisis and Emergence in Metamodernity*
                                                                  • Perspectiva, systems-soul-society.com, interdisciplinary nonprofit organization developing responses to our epistemic metacrisis; Jonathan is co-founder and director.
                                                                  • Jonathanrowson.me
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Jonathan Rowson, Ph.D. is co-founder and director of Perspectiva, an organization committed to understanding the relationship between systems, souls, and society in theory and practice, with a view to help overcome collective immunity to transformation in a time between worlds. He is also an open society fellow and a research fellow at the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity at the University of Surrey. He  was previously Director of the Social Brain Centre at the RSA, where he authored a range of influential research reports on behaviour change, climate change, and spirituality, and curated and chaired a range of related events. By background, Jonathan is an applied philosopher with degrees from Oxford, Harvard, and Bristol Universities. In a former life he was a chess Grandmaster and British Champion and views the game as a continuing source of insight and inspiration. His book, The Moves that Matter: A Grandmaster on the Game of Life, was published in 2019.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 18 (Part 2 of 2) | Jonathan Rowson, brilliant, driven, articulate, shines a bright light of understanding on the metacrisis we face today, what feeds it, and what could help us find our way through. What is metamodernity and what does it have to offer? Is the ecological crisis fundamentally an educational crisis? Can we grow into our problem rather than thinking of ourselves as “failing beings” as the climate collapses around us? From the metaperspective to the deeply personal, Rowson shares his wisdom, including life lessons he gleaned from being a chess Grandmaster, before becoming a philosopher, research fellow, nonprofit director, and author. Recorded on November 17, 2021.

                                                                  “Let’s be careful what we’re talking about because we’re creating a world…”

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                                  • What is metamodernity and what does it have to offer us? (01:04)
                                                                  • The “cultural between”: serious about the meaning of life (04:48)
                                                                  • The political “after”: an antidote to hyper modernity, returning to basic human sensibilities and a time-rich relationship with life (06:22)
                                                                  • The mystic beyond: a return to metaphysics (08:28)
                                                                  • What does “a time between worlds” mean? (09:32)
                                                                  • We’ve got to perceive the context clearly in order to orient ourselves: our interiors, our capacity for growth, bio precarity, technology innovation, and more (12:50)
                                                                  • On the nuances of confusion (14:27) 
                                                                  • Can we grow into our climate collapse problem rather than thinking of ourselves as “failing beings”? (17:07)
                                                                  • The importance of Bildung = transformative, civic, and aesthetic education (18:17)
                                                                  • Is the ecological crisis fundamentally an educational crisis? (20:18)
                                                                  • What chess taught Jonathan about life: jewels of wisdom from The Moves That Matter (23:42)
                                                                  • Concentration = freedom (25:31)
                                                                  • Making peace with our struggles: we’re always going to be a work in progress (30:38)
                                                                  • Successful underachievement and living with regret (35:42)
                                                                  • Living in an algorithm-driven culture (40:52)
                                                                  • Longing for a clearer sense of relationship with the divine, the cosmopoetics of life (43:59)
                                                                  • Our unbidden tears are the best of us (46:03)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                  • Hanzi Freinacht, The Listening Society: A Metamodern Guide to Politics (Vol 1)*
                                                                  • Hanzi Freinacht, Nordic Ideology: A Metamodern Guide to Politics (Vol 2)*
                                                                  • Jonathan Rowson, Metamodernism and the Perception of Context: The Cultural Between, the Political After and the Mystic Beyond
                                                                  • David Foster Wallace, David Foster Wallace-Books
                                                                  • Cobra Khai, martial arts comedy-drama
                                                                  • Stranger Things, movie
                                                                  • John Vervaeke, award-winning lecturer on subjects like Awakening from the Meaning Crisis
                                                                  • Jürgen Habermas, German philosopher
                                                                  • Jonathan Rowson, essay, Metamodernism and the Perception of Context: The Cultural Between, the Political After and the Mystic Beyond
                                                                  • Confucius’ Rectification of Names
                                                                  • Thomas Metzinger, German philosopher
                                                                  • Bildung, linking philosophy and education for both personal and cultural maturation
                                                                  • Jonathan Rowson, “Bildung in the 21st Century: Why Sustainable Prosperity Depends on Reimagining Education”
                                                                  • Zachary Stein, Education in a Time Between Worlds: Essays on the Future of Schools, Technology, and Society*
                                                                  • Jonathan Rowson, The Moves That Matter: A Chess Grandmaster on the Game of Life*
                                                                  • Jonathan Rowson, Aeon magazine article Concentrate!
                                                                  • The Bhagavad Gita
                                                                  • Jonathan Rowson, Spiritualise: Revitalising Spirituality to Address 21st Century Challenges
                                                                  • Jonathan Rowson, anthology Metamodernity: Dispatches from a Time Between Worlds: Crisis and Emergence in Metamodernity*
                                                                  • Perspectiva, systems-soul-society.com, interdisciplinary nonprofit organization developing responses to our epistemic metacrisis; Jonathan is co-founder and director.
                                                                  • Jonathanrowson.me
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Jonathan Rowson, Ph.D. is co-founder and director of Perspectiva, an organization committed to understanding the relationship between systems, souls, and society in theory and practice, with a view to help overcome collective immunity to transformation in a time between worlds. He is also an open society fellow and a research fellow at the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity at the University of Surrey. He  was previously Director of the Social Brain Centre at the RSA, where he authored a range of influential research reports on behaviour change, climate change, and spirituality, and curated and chaired a range of related events. By background, Jonathan is an applied philosopher with degrees from Oxford, Harvard, and Bristol Universities. In a former life he was a chess Grandmaster and British Champion and views the game as a continuing source of insight and inspiration. His book, The Moves that Matter: A Grandmaster on the Game of Life, was published in 2019.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>92b202b8-8a97-4c98-824c-1ef6df816ad4Thu, 24 Mar 2022 05:00:00 -040051:12falsefull1818Ep. 18 (Part 2 of 2) | Jonathan Rowson, brilliant, driven, articulate, shines a bright light of understanding on the metacrisis we face today, what feeds it, and what could help us find our way through. What is metamodernity and what does it have to offer? Is the ecological crisis fundamentally an educational crisis? Can we grow into our problem rather than thinking of ourselves as “failing beings” as the climate collapses around us? From the metaperspective to the deeply personal, Rowson shares his wisdom, including life lessons he gleaned from being a chess Grandmaster, before becoming a philosopher, research fellow, nonprofit director, and author. Recorded on November 17, 2021.Making Friends with Conflict, Metamodernity, Construct Awareness & Other Ways of Facing the Current MetacrisisEp. 17 (Part 1 of 2) | Jonathan Rowson, brilliant, driven, articulate, shines a bright light of understanding on the metacrisis we face today, what feeds it, and what could help us find our way through. What is metamodernity and what does it have to offer? Is the ecological crisis fundamentally an educational crisis? Can we grow into our problem rather than thinking of ourselves as “failing beings” as the climate collapses around us? From the metaperspective to the deeply personal, Rowson shares his wisdom, including life lessons he gleaned from being a chess Grandmaster, before becoming a philosopher, research fellow, nonprofit director, and author. Recorded on November 17, 2021.

                                                                  “Let’s be careful what we’re talking about because we’re creating a world…”

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                                                  • What are Jonathan’s daily practices (while also being very much “in the world” these days)? (05:37)
                                                                  • Being a cartological hedonist: intellectual mapmaking (10:27)
                                                                  • What does Christianity have to offer that we should be paying attention to? (11:58)
                                                                  • Becoming “construct aware” in the political spectrum and elsewhere: cultural progress depends on it (14:29)
                                                                  • The UK Brexit quagmire: what are we talking about when we say democracy? (18:32)
                                                                  • Why developmental psychology may not be the best lens to look at our culture and politics (20:15)
                                                                  • What is the most strategic contribution you can make? (29:45)
                                                                  • Progressive imperialism: assuming everyone is or could be on the same page—but conflict and opposition will always be a feature of the world (32:04)
                                                                  • Who is included in the word “we,” getting people to face up to the fallen nature of the world, and the Manichaean worldview (34:51)
                                                                  • The contemplative perspective and our fundamental state of delusion (36:30)
                                                                  • Underlying delusion in the progressive community that there is a fundamental “right” way or that we will come to a common agreement on issues like climate (38:28)
                                                                  • The imperative to mobilize to face the epistemic crisis as well as the environmental crisis (40:23)
                                                                  • How do we work together in a context where we may disagree and dislike each other: making friends with conflict (42:05)
                                                                  • The metacrisis, confusion, and the bottomless mystery: a time between worlds (45:08)
                                                                  • Carlos Castenada’s 4 traps for the person of knowledge: fear, power, clarity, old age (47:57)
                                                                  • Confusion is not necessarily a bad thing (48:35)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References – Part 1

                                                                  • Jonathan Rowson, The Moves That Matter: A Chess Grandmaster on the Game of Life*
                                                                  • Perspectiva, systems-soul-society.com, interdisciplinary nonprofit organization based in London, developing responses to our epistemic metacrisis; Jonathan is co-founder and director
                                                                  • Jonathan Rowson, essay Tasting the Pickle: Ten Flavours of Meta-Crisis and the Appetite for a New Civilisation
                                                                  • Jonathan Rowson, Spiritualise: Revitalising Spirituality to Address 21st Century Challenges
                                                                  • Jonathan Rowson, anthology Metamodernity: Dispatches from a Time Between Worlds: Crisis and Emergence in Metamodernity*
                                                                  • Jonathan Rowson, essay, Metamodernism and the Perception of Context: The Cultural Between, the Political After and the Mystic Beyond
                                                                  • Vedantic philosophy
                                                                  • Confucius’ Rectification of Names
                                                                  • Robert Kegan, The Evolving Self (first chapter “The Unrecognized Genius of Jean Piaget”)*
                                                                  • Alistair McIntosh, Hell and High Water: Climate Change, Hope and the Human Condition*
                                                                  • Aldous Huxley, Island*
                                                                  • The Manichaean worldview
                                                                  • Daniel Schmachtenberger, founding member of The Consilience Project, aimed at improving public sensemaking and dialogue 
                                                                  • Carlos Castaneda, The Teachings of Don Juan*
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Jonathan Rowson, Ph.D. is co-founder and director of Perspectiva, an organization committed to understanding the relationship between systems, souls, and society in theory and practice, with a view to help overcome collective immunity to transformation in a time between worlds. He is also an open society fellow and a research fellow at the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity at the University of Surrey. He  was previously Director of the Social Brain Centre at the RSA, where he authored a range of influential research reports on behaviour change, climate change, and spirituality, and curated and chaired a range of related events. By background, Jonathan is an applied philosopher with degrees from Oxford, Harvard, and Bristol Universities. In a former life he was a chess Grandmaster and British Champion and views the game as a continuing source of insight and inspiration. His book, The Moves that Matter: A Grandmaster on the Game of Life, was published in 2019.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 17 (Part 1 of 2) | Jonathan Rowson, brilliant, driven, articulate, shines a bright light of understanding on the metacrisis we face today, what feeds it, and what could help us find our way through. What is metamodernity and what does it have to offer? Is the ecological crisis fundamentally an educational crisis? Can we grow into our problem rather than thinking of ourselves as “failing beings” as the climate collapses around us? From the metaperspective to the deeply personal, Rowson shares his wisdom, including life lessons he gleaned from being a chess Grandmaster, before becoming a philosopher, research fellow, nonprofit director, and author. Recorded on November 17, 2021.

                                                                  “Let’s be careful what we’re talking about because we’re creating a world…”

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

                                                                  • What are Jonathan’s daily practices (while also being very much “in the world” these days)? (05:37)
                                                                  • Being a cartological hedonist: intellectual mapmaking (10:27)
                                                                  • What does Christianity have to offer that we should be paying attention to? (11:58)
                                                                  • Becoming “construct aware” in the political spectrum and elsewhere: cultural progress depends on it (14:29)
                                                                  • The UK Brexit quagmire: what are we talking about when we say democracy? (18:32)
                                                                  • Why developmental psychology may not be the best lens to look at our culture and politics (20:15)
                                                                  • What is the most strategic contribution you can make? (29:45)
                                                                  • Progressive imperialism: assuming everyone is or could be on the same page—but conflict and opposition will always be a feature of the world (32:04)
                                                                  • Who is included in the word “we,” getting people to face up to the fallen nature of the world, and the Manichaean worldview (34:51)
                                                                  • The contemplative perspective and our fundamental state of delusion (36:30)
                                                                  • Underlying delusion in the progressive community that there is a fundamental “right” way or that we will come to a common agreement on issues like climate (38:28)
                                                                  • The imperative to mobilize to face the epistemic crisis as well as the environmental crisis (40:23)
                                                                  • How do we work together in a context where we may disagree and dislike each other: making friends with conflict (42:05)
                                                                  • The metacrisis, confusion, and the bottomless mystery: a time between worlds (45:08)
                                                                  • Carlos Castenada’s 4 traps for the person of knowledge: fear, power, clarity, old age (47:57)
                                                                  • Confusion is not necessarily a bad thing (48:35)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References – Part 1

                                                                  • Jonathan Rowson, The Moves That Matter: A Chess Grandmaster on the Game of Life*
                                                                  • Perspectiva, systems-soul-society.com, interdisciplinary nonprofit organization based in London, developing responses to our epistemic metacrisis; Jonathan is co-founder and director
                                                                  • Jonathan Rowson, essay Tasting the Pickle: Ten Flavours of Meta-Crisis and the Appetite for a New Civilisation
                                                                  • Jonathan Rowson, Spiritualise: Revitalising Spirituality to Address 21st Century Challenges
                                                                  • Jonathan Rowson, anthology Metamodernity: Dispatches from a Time Between Worlds: Crisis and Emergence in Metamodernity*
                                                                  • Jonathan Rowson, essay, Metamodernism and the Perception of Context: The Cultural Between, the Political After and the Mystic Beyond
                                                                  • Vedantic philosophy
                                                                  • Confucius’ Rectification of Names
                                                                  • Robert Kegan, The Evolving Self (first chapter “The Unrecognized Genius of Jean Piaget”)*
                                                                  • Alistair McIntosh, Hell and High Water: Climate Change, Hope and the Human Condition*
                                                                  • Aldous Huxley, Island*
                                                                  • The Manichaean worldview
                                                                  • Daniel Schmachtenberger, founding member of The Consilience Project, aimed at improving public sensemaking and dialogue 
                                                                  • Carlos Castaneda, The Teachings of Don Juan*
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Jonathan Rowson, Ph.D. is co-founder and director of Perspectiva, an organization committed to understanding the relationship between systems, souls, and society in theory and practice, with a view to help overcome collective immunity to transformation in a time between worlds. He is also an open society fellow and a research fellow at the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity at the University of Surrey. He  was previously Director of the Social Brain Centre at the RSA, where he authored a range of influential research reports on behaviour change, climate change, and spirituality, and curated and chaired a range of related events. By background, Jonathan is an applied philosopher with degrees from Oxford, Harvard, and Bristol Universities. In a former life he was a chess Grandmaster and British Champion and views the game as a continuing source of insight and inspiration. His book, The Moves that Matter: A Grandmaster on the Game of Life, was published in 2019.

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>ac584a3b-d64f-43ab-b6c8-63a29ee128c0Thu, 17 Mar 2022 05:00:00 -040052:16falsefull1717Ep. 17 (Part 1 of 2) | Jonathan Rowson, brilliant, driven, articulate, shines a bright light of understanding on the metacrisis we face today, what feeds it, and what could help us find our way through. What is metamodernity and what does it have to offer? Is the ecological crisis fundamentally an educational crisis? Can we grow into our problem rather than thinking of ourselves as “failing beings” as the climate collapses around us? From the metaperspective to the deeply personal, Rowson shares his wisdom, including life lessons he gleaned from being a chess Grandmaster, before becoming a philosopher, research fellow, nonprofit director, and author. Recorded on November 17, 2021.Ukrainian Integral Perspectives on the Ongoing Invasion of Ukraine with Kateryna Yasko & Vytautas BučiūnasEp. 16 | Kateryna Yasko and Vytautas Bučiūnas crossed the border into Lithuania three days before this conversation took place, after a five-day exodus from Kyiv, following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. This conversation is a call for action and support of the incredibly brave Ukrainian people, and illuminates their willingness to fight to the death to throw out the invaders who are there to crush their freedom and make Ukraine a colony of Putin’s Russia. This is an informative, inspirational, and heartbreaking dialogue with two exceptionally insightful Integral leaders from the Ukraine—about propaganda and myth-making in our post-truth world, about integrating power, force, and love, about a new worldwide unity, and how the Integral perspective might pave the way towards world peace. Recorded March 5, 2022.

                                                                  “One nation has opened the hearts of the whole world. What kind of conversations should we have now to foster this care and compassion, and move it in a constructive direction?”

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps

                                                                  • Witnessing the beginning of this phase of Putin’s aggression: the Revolution of Dignity and the Annexation of Crimea in 2013 and 2014 (04:29)
                                                                  • The Russian propaganda machine: painting Ukraine as a fascist country of Nazis (06:32)
                                                                  • Putin’s masterful creation of a myth in this post-truth world (10:05)
                                                                  • This is a fight for truth (17:40)
                                                                  • Is there anything good about Putin? (23:51)
                                                                  • Kateryna & Vytautas’ experience: the beginning of the invasion and the exodus to Lithuania (26:31)
                                                                  • Sirens and bomb shelters are becoming routine; fear has turned to anger (39:55)
                                                                  • Europe is united, NATO is united, Ukraine is united (42:15)
                                                                  • How this invasion has reinforced Second Tier consciousness in the West (44:49)
                                                                  • How long can Ukraine hold out? Are the sanctions enough? What about a Russian oil embargo? (46:58)
                                                                  • What can Western countries do, what are they not doing, and why sanctions are so useful (50:58)
                                                                  • Russian oligarchs and Putin in his bunker (54:50)
                                                                  • Do we need to allow Putin to save face or just fight to the bitter end? (58:21)
                                                                  • Denazification, demilitarization…dePutinification and other parallels (01:01:41)
                                                                  • Putin’s narrative and the Russian Orthodox Church (01:03:01)
                                                                  • Europa = Gayropa, Putin has assumed the role of protector of traditional values (1:06:18)
                                                                  • How can we use the Integral metaperspective to heal what’s happening? (1:10:43)
                                                                  • Why what Ukraine is doing is so inspiring: fighting out of love, not fear (01:12:05)
                                                                  • Ukraine and others’ “showing up” is very Second Tier (01:13:06)
                                                                  • One nation has opened the hearts of the whole world. How shall we integrate this and foster the care and compassion to steer it in a constructive direction? (01:14:18)
                                                                  • Integrating power and love: facing our need to engage power with force (01:15:30)
                                                                  • A new focus on World Peace from a Second Tier perspective (01:19:21)
                                                                  • Glory to Ukraine, glory to heroes (01:22:15)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References

                                                                  • Vytautas Bučiūnas' website: Upgrade of Leader’s Operating System
                                                                  • The Revolution of Dignity
                                                                  • The Annexation of Crimea
                                                                  • Brave New World of Putin, propaganda article waiting to be published after the occupation of Ukraine
                                                                  • Philosopher Alexander Filonenko, Ph.D., “We Need Holiness”
                                                                  • Spiral Dynamics’ Second Tier of consciousness
                                                                  • The Russian Orthodox Church
                                                                  • Russian Ministry of Culture website
                                                                  • Adam Kahane, Power and Love: A Theory and Practice of Social Change*
                                                                  • Martin Luther King, Jr.’s quote, “Power without love…”
                                                                  • World Peace with the Integral Approach, Integral European Conference 2022
                                                                  • Gravitas Plus, "Why Putin wants Ukraine,'' an overview of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  How can I help? List of resources curated by RazomForUkraine.org

                                                                  #StandWithUkraine

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Kateryna Yasko (Ukraine) is an organizational psychologist, a trainer for the development of emotional intelligence, trust, cooperation, effective communication, and peaceful conflict resolution, and co-founder of the consulting company U-Integral. Her academic background is in the area of international relations and law (MSc), business (MBA), and psychology (MSc). She bases her programs on the principles of Ken Wilber’s Integral approach and Marshall Rosenberg's Nonviolent Communication, and is certified in Spiral Dynamics Integral and in Susanne Cook-Greuter’s Maturity Assessment Profile. Kateryna is also head of the public association "International Institute for Integral Development" and a founder of the educational initiative EMPATIA.PRO, specializing in bringing  holistic approaches into educational leadership and learning cultures. 

                                                                  Vytautas Bučiūnas (Lithuania–Ukraine) is a co-founder and managing partner of U-Integral, an integral leadership development company. Vytautas also has vast experience as a top manager in the banking sector including working as the Head of Resident Office, Senior Banker, Associate Director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (Russia, Ukraine). Vytautas' professional profile includes building organizational units from scratch, carrying out large-scale transformations, and managing crises. Vytautas is a certified Integral Master Coach™ (Integral Coaching Canada), an ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC)™, and the only business consultant in Ukraine certified in Leadership Maturity Framework – Maturity Assessment for Professionals (LMF-MAP) and Global Leadership Profile (GLP). Vytautas explores the development of human consciousness and complex social systemsfrom a holistic perspective. He considers the growth of a critical mass of mature leaders with systemic thinking and transformational capabilities to be the key to society's healthy development. 

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 16 | Kateryna Yasko and Vytautas Bučiūnas crossed the border into Lithuania three days before this conversation took place, after a five-day exodus from Kyiv, following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. This conversation is a call for action and support of the incredibly brave Ukrainian people, and illuminates their willingness to fight to the death to throw out the invaders who are there to crush their freedom and make Ukraine a colony of Putin’s Russia. This is an informative, inspirational, and heartbreaking dialogue with two exceptionally insightful Integral leaders from the Ukraine—about propaganda and myth-making in our post-truth world, about integrating power, force, and love, about a new worldwide unity, and how the Integral perspective might pave the way towards world peace. Recorded March 5, 2022.

                                                                  “One nation has opened the hearts of the whole world. What kind of conversations should we have now to foster this care and compassion, and move it in a constructive direction?”

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps

                                                                  • Witnessing the beginning of this phase of Putin’s aggression: the Revolution of Dignity and the Annexation of Crimea in 2013 and 2014 (04:29)
                                                                  • The Russian propaganda machine: painting Ukraine as a fascist country of Nazis (06:32)
                                                                  • Putin’s masterful creation of a myth in this post-truth world (10:05)
                                                                  • This is a fight for truth (17:40)
                                                                  • Is there anything good about Putin? (23:51)
                                                                  • Kateryna & Vytautas’ experience: the beginning of the invasion and the exodus to Lithuania (26:31)
                                                                  • Sirens and bomb shelters are becoming routine; fear has turned to anger (39:55)
                                                                  • Europe is united, NATO is united, Ukraine is united (42:15)
                                                                  • How this invasion has reinforced Second Tier consciousness in the West (44:49)
                                                                  • How long can Ukraine hold out? Are the sanctions enough? What about a Russian oil embargo? (46:58)
                                                                  • What can Western countries do, what are they not doing, and why sanctions are so useful (50:58)
                                                                  • Russian oligarchs and Putin in his bunker (54:50)
                                                                  • Do we need to allow Putin to save face or just fight to the bitter end? (58:21)
                                                                  • Denazification, demilitarization…dePutinification and other parallels (01:01:41)
                                                                  • Putin’s narrative and the Russian Orthodox Church (01:03:01)
                                                                  • Europa = Gayropa, Putin has assumed the role of protector of traditional values (1:06:18)
                                                                  • How can we use the Integral metaperspective to heal what’s happening? (1:10:43)
                                                                  • Why what Ukraine is doing is so inspiring: fighting out of love, not fear (01:12:05)
                                                                  • Ukraine and others’ “showing up” is very Second Tier (01:13:06)
                                                                  • One nation has opened the hearts of the whole world. How shall we integrate this and foster the care and compassion to steer it in a constructive direction? (01:14:18)
                                                                  • Integrating power and love: facing our need to engage power with force (01:15:30)
                                                                  • A new focus on World Peace from a Second Tier perspective (01:19:21)
                                                                  • Glory to Ukraine, glory to heroes (01:22:15)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References

                                                                  • Vytautas Bučiūnas' website: Upgrade of Leader’s Operating System
                                                                  • The Revolution of Dignity
                                                                  • The Annexation of Crimea
                                                                  • Brave New World of Putin, propaganda article waiting to be published after the occupation of Ukraine
                                                                  • Philosopher Alexander Filonenko, Ph.D., “We Need Holiness”
                                                                  • Spiral Dynamics’ Second Tier of consciousness
                                                                  • The Russian Orthodox Church
                                                                  • Russian Ministry of Culture website
                                                                  • Adam Kahane, Power and Love: A Theory and Practice of Social Change*
                                                                  • Martin Luther King, Jr.’s quote, “Power without love…”
                                                                  • World Peace with the Integral Approach, Integral European Conference 2022
                                                                  • Gravitas Plus, "Why Putin wants Ukraine,'' an overview of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  How can I help? List of resources curated by RazomForUkraine.org

                                                                  #StandWithUkraine

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ---

                                                                  Kateryna Yasko (Ukraine) is an organizational psychologist, a trainer for the development of emotional intelligence, trust, cooperation, effective communication, and peaceful conflict resolution, and co-founder of the consulting company U-Integral. Her academic background is in the area of international relations and law (MSc), business (MBA), and psychology (MSc). She bases her programs on the principles of Ken Wilber’s Integral approach and Marshall Rosenberg's Nonviolent Communication, and is certified in Spiral Dynamics Integral and in Susanne Cook-Greuter’s Maturity Assessment Profile. Kateryna is also head of the public association "International Institute for Integral Development" and a founder of the educational initiative EMPATIA.PRO, specializing in bringing  holistic approaches into educational leadership and learning cultures. 

                                                                  Vytautas Bučiūnas (Lithuania–Ukraine) is a co-founder and managing partner of U-Integral, an integral leadership development company. Vytautas also has vast experience as a top manager in the banking sector including working as the Head of Resident Office, Senior Banker, Associate Director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (Russia, Ukraine). Vytautas' professional profile includes building organizational units from scratch, carrying out large-scale transformations, and managing crises. Vytautas is a certified Integral Master Coach™ (Integral Coaching Canada), an ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC)™, and the only business consultant in Ukraine certified in Leadership Maturity Framework – Maturity Assessment for Professionals (LMF-MAP) and Global Leadership Profile (GLP). Vytautas explores the development of human consciousness and complex social systemsfrom a holistic perspective. He considers the growth of a critical mass of mature leaders with systemic thinking and transformational capabilities to be the key to society's healthy development. 

                                                                  ]]>dad78591-48da-46e1-86be-8d755059c54eThu, 10 Mar 2022 05:00:00 -040001:25:40truefull1616Ep. 16 | Ukrainian Integral leaders talk about the invasion of Ukraine, Putin's propaganda machine, integrating power and love, world unity, and their hopes for the future.The Essence of Zen: One Heart One Mind, Waking Up, Working Through Grief & What Women Want From Men with Diane Hamilton (Part 2)Ep. 15 (Part 2 of 2) | Zen teacher Diane Musho Hamilton brings us home to the simple essence of Zen: to practice as one, without reference to past or future. This heartfelt conversation covers many topics: waking up to our true nature, grief and practices that help us work through it, the tension of “difference,” healing the rift between female and male, the role of ayahuasca and peyote, the ever more subtle process of purification, and a beautiful recitation of 14th century Sufi poet Hafiz’s poem, “I Have Learned So Much.” Allow yourself to be reminded how simple things can get if you let them and how, as Diane says, “We’re all just growing up together.” Recorded on September 13, 2021.

                                                                  Diane Musho Hamilton is an award-winning professional mediator, author, and teacher of Zen meditation. She has been a practitioner of meditation for more than 30 years and is a lineage holder in the Soto Zen tradition. As the first Director of the Office of Alternative Dispute Resolution for the Utah Judiciary, Diane established mediation programs throughout the court system and won several prestigious awards for her work in this area. She is the Executive Director of Two Arrows Zen, a practice in Utah, and offers training programs oriented to personal development and advanced facilitator skills. Diane is the author of Everything Is Workable and The Zen of You and Me. Her latest book is Compassionate Conversations: How to Speak and Listen from the Heart, co-authored with Gabriel Wilson and Kimberly Loh.

                                                                  “What does it mean to be human?”

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                                                  • Grief: being present with it and practicing with it (01:01)
                                                                  • How shamanic practice can let us see pure radiance in others (07:46)
                                                                  • The power of ritual in times of grief (08:48)
                                                                  • Grief and integral practice (12:20)
                                                                  • What is the role of a specifically female contemplative teacher? (19:03)
                                                                  • Confronting the feminine shadow (22:59)
                                                                  • The neverending, ever more subtle practice of purification (aka Ken Wilber’s “cleaning up”) (25:32)
                                                                  • What do women want from men? (30:11)
                                                                  • And what do men want from women? (34:40)
                                                                  • Peyote, forgiveness, and healing the rift (38:04)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References – Part 2

                                                                  • Roger Walsh, The World of Shamanism*
                                                                  • Hafiz, The Gift, translated by Daniel Landinsky*
                                                                  • Dan Brown, meditation master and teacher 
                                                                  • Dogen Zenji, One Continuous Mistake (Shoshaku Jushaku) in Dōgen
                                                                  • Ram Dass quotes
                                                                  • Don Quixote
                                                                  • W.E.B. Du Bois, sociologist, author, activist
                                                                  • Carlos Castaneda, A Separate Reality: Further Conversations with Don Juan*
                                                                  • Diane Hamilton, Compassionate Conversations: How to Speak and Listen from the Heart*
                                                                  • Diane Hamilton, Everything is Workable*
                                                                  • Diane Hamilton, The Zen of You and Me*
                                                                  • Two Arrows Zen, Salt Lake City Artspace Zendo
                                                                  • Two Arrows Zen, Torrey, Utah
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 15 (Part 2 of 2) | Zen teacher Diane Musho Hamilton brings us home to the simple essence of Zen: to practice as one, without reference to past or future. This heartfelt conversation covers many topics: waking up to our true nature, grief and practices that help us work through it, the tension of “difference,” healing the rift between female and male, the role of ayahuasca and peyote, the ever more subtle process of purification, and a beautiful recitation of 14th century Sufi poet Hafiz’s poem, “I Have Learned So Much.” Allow yourself to be reminded how simple things can get if you let them and how, as Diane says, “We’re all just growing up together.” Recorded on September 13, 2021.

                                                                  Diane Musho Hamilton is an award-winning professional mediator, author, and teacher of Zen meditation. She has been a practitioner of meditation for more than 30 years and is a lineage holder in the Soto Zen tradition. As the first Director of the Office of Alternative Dispute Resolution for the Utah Judiciary, Diane established mediation programs throughout the court system and won several prestigious awards for her work in this area. She is the Executive Director of Two Arrows Zen, a practice in Utah, and offers training programs oriented to personal development and advanced facilitator skills. Diane is the author of Everything Is Workable and The Zen of You and Me. Her latest book is Compassionate Conversations: How to Speak and Listen from the Heart, co-authored with Gabriel Wilson and Kimberly Loh.

                                                                  “What does it mean to be human?”

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

                                                                  • Grief: being present with it and practicing with it (01:01)
                                                                  • How shamanic practice can let us see pure radiance in others (07:46)
                                                                  • The power of ritual in times of grief (08:48)
                                                                  • Grief and integral practice (12:20)
                                                                  • What is the role of a specifically female contemplative teacher? (19:03)
                                                                  • Confronting the feminine shadow (22:59)
                                                                  • The neverending, ever more subtle practice of purification (aka Ken Wilber’s “cleaning up”) (25:32)
                                                                  • What do women want from men? (30:11)
                                                                  • And what do men want from women? (34:40)
                                                                  • Peyote, forgiveness, and healing the rift (38:04)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References – Part 2

                                                                  • Roger Walsh, The World of Shamanism*
                                                                  • Hafiz, The Gift, translated by Daniel Landinsky*
                                                                  • Dan Brown, meditation master and teacher 
                                                                  • Dogen Zenji, One Continuous Mistake (Shoshaku Jushaku) in Dōgen
                                                                  • Ram Dass quotes
                                                                  • Don Quixote
                                                                  • W.E.B. Du Bois, sociologist, author, activist
                                                                  • Carlos Castaneda, A Separate Reality: Further Conversations with Don Juan*
                                                                  • Diane Hamilton, Compassionate Conversations: How to Speak and Listen from the Heart*
                                                                  • Diane Hamilton, Everything is Workable*
                                                                  • Diane Hamilton, The Zen of You and Me*
                                                                  • Two Arrows Zen, Salt Lake City Artspace Zendo
                                                                  • Two Arrows Zen, Torrey, Utah
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>c11654dd-5c11-45c0-a7b4-d4ef8ae0af04Thu, 03 Mar 2022 05:00:00 -040045:01truefull1515Ep. 14 (Part 1 of 2) | Zen teacher Diane Musho Hamilton on waking up to our true nature, working with grief, psychedelics, and male vs female communication.The Essence of Zen: One Heart One Mind, Waking Up, Working Through Grief & What Women Want From Men with Diane HamiltonEp. 14 (Part 1 of 2) | Zen teacher Diane Musho Hamilton brings us home to the simple essence of Zen: to practice as one, without reference to past or future. This heartfelt conversation covers many topics: waking up to our true nature, grief and practices that help us work through it, the tension of “difference,” healing the rift between female and male, the role of ayahuasca and peyote, the ever more subtle process of purification, and a beautiful recitation of 14th century Sufi poet Hafiz’s poem, “I Have Learned So Much.” Allow yourself to be reminded how simple things can get if you let them and how, as Diane says, “We’re all just growing up together.” Recorded on September 13, 2021.

                                                                  Diane Musho Hamilton is an award-winning professional mediator, author, and teacher of Zen meditation. She has been a practitioner of meditation for more than 30 years and is a lineage holder in the Soto Zen tradition. As the first Director of the Office of Alternative Dispute Resolution for the Utah Judiciary, Diane established mediation programs throughout the court system and won several prestigious awards for her work in this area. She is the Executive Director of Two Arrows Zen, a practice in Utah, and offers training programs oriented to personal development and advanced facilitator skills. Diane is the author of Everything Is Workable and The Zen of You and Me. Her latest book is Compassionate Conversations: How to Speak and Listen from the Heart, co-authored with Gabriel Wilson and Kimberly Loh.

                                                                  “What does it mean to be human?”

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                                  • Diane’s opening at seventeen to “what does it mean to be human?” (02:43)
                                                                  • Buddhadharma, Integral, and Big Mind (05:10)
                                                                  • The urgent need for us to wake up to our fundamental unity (10:37)
                                                                  • How Ken Wilber’s developmental stages and states fit in (15:20)
                                                                  • The heart of Zen Buddhism: an utterly coherent reality, free of separation (19:37)
                                                                  • Differences between Diane’s teachings & practice and traditional Zen: creating space for ego development (20:51) 
                                                                  • Zen’s contribution to conflict resolution: radical first person, sitting together as one (24:11)
                                                                  • Looking at climate change in an Integral way, from 1st-person, 2nd-person, and 3rd-person perspectives (26:21)
                                                                  • Zen teaches peace is in the present without reference to past or future (29:33)
                                                                  • The difference between meditation and flow states, and manifesting from the place of Big Mind (33:57)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                  • Diane Hamilton, Compassionate Conversations: How to Speak and Listen from the Heart*
                                                                  • Gabriel Wilson, Kimberly Loh
                                                                  • Diane Hamilton, Everything is Workable*
                                                                  • Diane Hamilton, The Zen of You and Me*
                                                                  • Two Arrows Zen, Salt Lake City Artspace Zendo
                                                                  • Two Arrows Zen, Torrey, Utah
                                                                  • Chögyam Trungpa
                                                                  • Gail Hochachka, “Finding Shared Meaning in the Anthropocene: Engaging Diverse Perspectives on Climate Change”
                                                                  • Dennis Genpo Merzel, Big Mind Big Heart*
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 14 (Part 1 of 2) | Zen teacher Diane Musho Hamilton brings us home to the simple essence of Zen: to practice as one, without reference to past or future. This heartfelt conversation covers many topics: waking up to our true nature, grief and practices that help us work through it, the tension of “difference,” healing the rift between female and male, the role of ayahuasca and peyote, the ever more subtle process of purification, and a beautiful recitation of 14th century Sufi poet Hafiz’s poem, “I Have Learned So Much.” Allow yourself to be reminded how simple things can get if you let them and how, as Diane says, “We’re all just growing up together.” Recorded on September 13, 2021.

                                                                  Diane Musho Hamilton is an award-winning professional mediator, author, and teacher of Zen meditation. She has been a practitioner of meditation for more than 30 years and is a lineage holder in the Soto Zen tradition. As the first Director of the Office of Alternative Dispute Resolution for the Utah Judiciary, Diane established mediation programs throughout the court system and won several prestigious awards for her work in this area. She is the Executive Director of Two Arrows Zen, a practice in Utah, and offers training programs oriented to personal development and advanced facilitator skills. Diane is the author of Everything Is Workable and The Zen of You and Me. Her latest book is Compassionate Conversations: How to Speak and Listen from the Heart, co-authored with Gabriel Wilson and Kimberly Loh.

                                                                  “What does it mean to be human?”

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                                  • Diane’s opening at seventeen to “what does it mean to be human?” (02:43)
                                                                  • Buddhadharma, Integral, and Big Mind (05:10)
                                                                  • The urgent need for us to wake up to our fundamental unity (10:37)
                                                                  • How Ken Wilber’s developmental stages and states fit in (15:20)
                                                                  • The heart of Zen Buddhism: an utterly coherent reality, free of separation (19:37)
                                                                  • Differences between Diane’s teachings & practice and traditional Zen: creating space for ego development (20:51) 
                                                                  • Zen’s contribution to conflict resolution: radical first person, sitting together as one (24:11)
                                                                  • Looking at climate change in an Integral way, from 1st-person, 2nd-person, and 3rd-person perspectives (26:21)
                                                                  • Zen teaches peace is in the present without reference to past or future (29:33)
                                                                  • The difference between meditation and flow states, and manifesting from the place of Big Mind (33:57)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                  • Diane Hamilton, Compassionate Conversations: How to Speak and Listen from the Heart*
                                                                  • Gabriel Wilson, Kimberly Loh
                                                                  • Diane Hamilton, Everything is Workable*
                                                                  • Diane Hamilton, The Zen of You and Me*
                                                                  • Two Arrows Zen, Salt Lake City Artspace Zendo
                                                                  • Two Arrows Zen, Torrey, Utah
                                                                  • Chögyam Trungpa
                                                                  • Gail Hochachka, “Finding Shared Meaning in the Anthropocene: Engaging Diverse Perspectives on Climate Change”
                                                                  • Dennis Genpo Merzel, Big Mind Big Heart*
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>e7f5266d-9c4c-4ec2-980a-bb07e8fd930fThu, 24 Feb 2022 05:00:00 -040045:31falsefull1414Ep. 14 (Part 1 of 2) | Zen teacher Diane Musho Hamilton on waking up to our true nature, working with grief, psychedelics, and male vs female communication.Dan Millman: Self-Mastery, Service & the Peaceful Warrior Spirit (Part 2)Ep. 13 (Part 2 of 2) | Dan Millman has shown us how to live with both a peaceful heart and a warrior’s spirit for forty years. His new book Peaceful Heart, Warrior Spirit shares his reflections on the extraordinary experiences that shaped his evolution from youthful dreamer to spiritual teacher. Dan’s first book, Way of the Peaceful Warrior, was a bestseller and adapted into a feature film. Dan is a former world trampoline champion, Stanford University gymnastics coach, martial arts instructor, and Oberlin college professor. His 18 books are published in 29 languages. Dan has traveled widely, teaching in over thirty countries. To learn more about his books, events, online courses, and free life-purpose calculator, visit www.PeacefulWarrior.com.

                                                                  Dan Millman, a man who has devoted his life to mastery—in sports and in the arena of life itself—and author of the book that opened doors for so many, Way of the Peaceful Warrior, published in the 80s, talks about inspiration, talent, discipline, mastery, ordinary life, and his own path, practices, teachers, and new book, Peaceful Heart, Warrior Spirit: The True Story of My Spiritual Quest. Humorous and humble, Dan embodies the peaceful warrior way, centering his life around service, sharing his wisdom, and living the question, “What needs doing right now?” Recorded on October 20, 2021.

                                                                  “There are no ordinary moments.”

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                                  • Dan’s teachers: the professor, the guru, and spiritual technology (01:37)
                                                                  • On cults (07:52)
                                                                  • The first 5 levels of consciousness: blind belief, conventional reality, St. Ego, the philosopher, disillusion (13:22)
                                                                  • Dan’s daily practices and the 4-minute meditation on the process of dying (22:46)
                                                                  • The fundamental foundation of the peaceful warrior’s way (25:17)
                                                                  • The Zen of ordinariness (27:07)
                                                                  • Dan’s teachers: the warrior-priest, David Reynolds (29:13)
                                                                  • On gratitude (33:41)
                                                                  • Approaching life as an experiment and action inquiry (39:04)
                                                                  • Carlos Castaneda’s four natural enemies of man: fear, clarity, power, and old age (41:02)
                                                                  • Dan’s guiding question (45:26)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                  • Adi Da, American spiritual teacher
                                                                  • Carl Jung, “...making the darkness conscious.”
                                                                  • Arthur Deikman, pioneering psychiatrist*
                                                                  • The 4-minute Peaceful Warrior Meditation
                                                                  • The Ten Ox Herding Pictures from the Zen tradition
                                                                  • Dan Millman, The Life You Were Born to Live*
                                                                  • David Reynolds, Constructive Living*
                                                                  • Bill Torbert, Action Inquiry*
                                                                  • Carlos Castaneda’s the 4 enemies, The Teachings of Don Juan*
                                                                  • Alan Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity*
                                                                  • Dan Millman, Peaceful Heart, Warrior Spirit*
                                                                  • Dan Millman, Way of the Peaceful Warrior*
                                                                  • PeacefulWarrior.com
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 13 (Part 2 of 2) | Dan Millman has shown us how to live with both a peaceful heart and a warrior’s spirit for forty years. His new book Peaceful Heart, Warrior Spirit shares his reflections on the extraordinary experiences that shaped his evolution from youthful dreamer to spiritual teacher. Dan’s first book, Way of the Peaceful Warrior, was a bestseller and adapted into a feature film. Dan is a former world trampoline champion, Stanford University gymnastics coach, martial arts instructor, and Oberlin college professor. His 18 books are published in 29 languages. Dan has traveled widely, teaching in over thirty countries. To learn more about his books, events, online courses, and free life-purpose calculator, visit www.PeacefulWarrior.com.

                                                                  Dan Millman, a man who has devoted his life to mastery—in sports and in the arena of life itself—and author of the book that opened doors for so many, Way of the Peaceful Warrior, published in the 80s, talks about inspiration, talent, discipline, mastery, ordinary life, and his own path, practices, teachers, and new book, Peaceful Heart, Warrior Spirit: The True Story of My Spiritual Quest. Humorous and humble, Dan embodies the peaceful warrior way, centering his life around service, sharing his wisdom, and living the question, “What needs doing right now?” Recorded on October 20, 2021.

                                                                  “There are no ordinary moments.”

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                                  • Dan’s teachers: the professor, the guru, and spiritual technology (01:37)
                                                                  • On cults (07:52)
                                                                  • The first 5 levels of consciousness: blind belief, conventional reality, St. Ego, the philosopher, disillusion (13:22)
                                                                  • Dan’s daily practices and the 4-minute meditation on the process of dying (22:46)
                                                                  • The fundamental foundation of the peaceful warrior’s way (25:17)
                                                                  • The Zen of ordinariness (27:07)
                                                                  • Dan’s teachers: the warrior-priest, David Reynolds (29:13)
                                                                  • On gratitude (33:41)
                                                                  • Approaching life as an experiment and action inquiry (39:04)
                                                                  • Carlos Castaneda’s four natural enemies of man: fear, clarity, power, and old age (41:02)
                                                                  • Dan’s guiding question (45:26)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                  • Adi Da, American spiritual teacher
                                                                  • Carl Jung, “...making the darkness conscious.”
                                                                  • Arthur Deikman, pioneering psychiatrist*
                                                                  • The 4-minute Peaceful Warrior Meditation
                                                                  • The Ten Ox Herding Pictures from the Zen tradition
                                                                  • Dan Millman, The Life You Were Born to Live*
                                                                  • David Reynolds, Constructive Living*
                                                                  • Bill Torbert, Action Inquiry*
                                                                  • Carlos Castaneda’s the 4 enemies, The Teachings of Don Juan*
                                                                  • Alan Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity*
                                                                  • Dan Millman, Peaceful Heart, Warrior Spirit*
                                                                  • Dan Millman, Way of the Peaceful Warrior*
                                                                  • PeacefulWarrior.com
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>610fa2cf-8c56-4dc2-b427-d4502bf3ac3bThu, 17 Feb 2022 05:00:00 -040047:59falsefull1313Ep. 13 (Part 2 of 2) | Dan Millman, a man who has devoted his life to mastery—in sports and in the arena of life itself—and author of the book that opened doors for so many, Way of the Peaceful Warrior, published in the 80s, talks about inspiration, talent, discipline, mastery, ordinary life, and his own path, practices, teachers, and new book, Peaceful Heart, Warrior Spirit: The True Story of My Spiritual Quest. Humorous and humble, Dan embodies the peaceful warrior way, centering his life around service, sharing his wisdom, and living the question, “What needs doing right now?” Recorded on October 20, 2021.Dan Millman: Self-Mastery, Service & the Peaceful Warrior SpiritEp. 12 (Part 1 of 2) | Dan Millman, a man who has devoted his life to mastery—in sports and in the arena of life itself—and author of the book that opened doors for so many, Way of the Peaceful Warrior, published in the 80s, talks about inspiration, talent, discipline, mastery, ordinary life, and his own path, practices, teachers, and new book, Peaceful Heart, Warrior Spirit: The True Story of My Spiritual Quest. Humorous and humble, Dan embodies the peaceful warrior way, centering his life around service, sharing his wisdom, and living the question, “What needs doing right now?” Recorded on October 20, 2021.

                                                                  Dan Millman has shown us how to live with both a peaceful heart and a warrior’s spirit for forty years. His new book Peaceful Heart, Warrior Spirit shares his reflections on the extraordinary experiences that shaped his evolution from youthful dreamer to spiritual teacher. Dan’s first book, Way of the Peaceful Warrior, was a bestseller and adapted into a feature film. Dan is a former world trampoline champion, Stanford University gymnastics coach, martial arts instructor, and Oberlin college professor. His 18 books are published in 29 languages. Dan has traveled widely, teaching in over thirty countries. To learn more about his books, events, online courses, and free life-purpose calculator, visit www.PeacefulWarrior.com.

                                                                  “There are no ordinary moments.”

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                                  • The deepest source of Dan’s inspiration (05:32) 
                                                                  • How do we develop talent? In sports—and in life (06:46)
                                                                  • The heart of Dan’s motivation: What’s the bigger picture? Asking “What do I do?” instead of “Who am I?” (11:25)
                                                                  • The importance of gaining self-knowledge (Know thyself): otherwise we make the right choice for the wrong person! (12:51)
                                                                  • On discipline, the Marshmallow Experiment, and using failure as a stepping stone (15:15) 
                                                                  • The learning curve of mastering...anything (18:18)
                                                                  • There are no ordinary moments: practice everything (24:21)
                                                                  • How self-mastery leads to a path of service (27:37) 
                                                                  • Practicing happiness (33:05)
                                                                  • Helping others, helping ourselves: connecting heaven and earth (36:08)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                  • Dan Millman, Peaceful Heart, Warrior Spirit*
                                                                  • Dan Millman, Way of the Peaceful Warrior*
                                                                  • PeacefulWarrior.com
                                                                  • Dan Millman, The Hidden School*
                                                                  • Dan Millman, No Ordinary Moments*
                                                                  • The Stanford Marshmallow Experiment on delayed gratification
                                                                  • Picasso, “It took me...a lifetime to paint like a child.”
                                                                  • Roger Walsh’s essay, Contributing Effectively in Times of Crisis
                                                                  • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow*
                                                                  • Groundhog Day movie
                                                                  • Ramana Maharshi, I want to give people what they want...eventually they may want what I want to give them.
                                                                  • Sri Nisargadatta, Not this, not this, not this.
                                                                  • Joseph Campbell, “Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world.”
                                                                  • Adyashanti, spiritual teacher and author
                                                                  • Golda Meir, “Don’t be so humble, you’re not that great.”
                                                                  • Ram Dass, from Be Here Now: “Just because you are...experiencing waves of bliss...is no reason to not know your zip code.”*
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 12 (Part 1 of 2) | Dan Millman, a man who has devoted his life to mastery—in sports and in the arena of life itself—and author of the book that opened doors for so many, Way of the Peaceful Warrior, published in the 80s, talks about inspiration, talent, discipline, mastery, ordinary life, and his own path, practices, teachers, and new book, Peaceful Heart, Warrior Spirit: The True Story of My Spiritual Quest. Humorous and humble, Dan embodies the peaceful warrior way, centering his life around service, sharing his wisdom, and living the question, “What needs doing right now?” Recorded on October 20, 2021.

                                                                  Dan Millman has shown us how to live with both a peaceful heart and a warrior’s spirit for forty years. His new book Peaceful Heart, Warrior Spirit shares his reflections on the extraordinary experiences that shaped his evolution from youthful dreamer to spiritual teacher. Dan’s first book, Way of the Peaceful Warrior, was a bestseller and adapted into a feature film. Dan is a former world trampoline champion, Stanford University gymnastics coach, martial arts instructor, and Oberlin college professor. His 18 books are published in 29 languages. Dan has traveled widely, teaching in over thirty countries. To learn more about his books, events, online courses, and free life-purpose calculator, visit www.PeacefulWarrior.com.

                                                                  “There are no ordinary moments.”

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                                  • The deepest source of Dan’s inspiration (05:32) 
                                                                  • How do we develop talent? In sports—and in life (06:46)
                                                                  • The heart of Dan’s motivation: What’s the bigger picture? Asking “What do I do?” instead of “Who am I?” (11:25)
                                                                  • The importance of gaining self-knowledge (Know thyself): otherwise we make the right choice for the wrong person! (12:51)
                                                                  • On discipline, the Marshmallow Experiment, and using failure as a stepping stone (15:15) 
                                                                  • The learning curve of mastering...anything (18:18)
                                                                  • There are no ordinary moments: practice everything (24:21)
                                                                  • How self-mastery leads to a path of service (27:37) 
                                                                  • Practicing happiness (33:05)
                                                                  • Helping others, helping ourselves: connecting heaven and earth (36:08)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                  • Dan Millman, Peaceful Heart, Warrior Spirit*
                                                                  • Dan Millman, Way of the Peaceful Warrior*
                                                                  • PeacefulWarrior.com
                                                                  • Dan Millman, The Hidden School*
                                                                  • Dan Millman, No Ordinary Moments*
                                                                  • The Stanford Marshmallow Experiment on delayed gratification
                                                                  • Picasso, “It took me...a lifetime to paint like a child.”
                                                                  • Roger Walsh’s essay, Contributing Effectively in Times of Crisis
                                                                  • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow*
                                                                  • Groundhog Day movie
                                                                  • Ramana Maharshi, I want to give people what they want...eventually they may want what I want to give them.
                                                                  • Sri Nisargadatta, Not this, not this, not this.
                                                                  • Joseph Campbell, “Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world.”
                                                                  • Adyashanti, spiritual teacher and author
                                                                  • Golda Meir, “Don’t be so humble, you’re not that great.”
                                                                  • Ram Dass, from Be Here Now: “Just because you are...experiencing waves of bliss...is no reason to not know your zip code.”*
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>67795db8-a5dd-44b9-8986-92ab12bb7879Thu, 10 Feb 2022 05:00:00 -040046:09falsefull1212Ep. 12 (Part 1 of 2) | Dan Millman, a man who has devoted his life to mastery—in sports and in the arena of life itself—and author of the book that opened doors for so many, Way of the Peaceful Warrior, published in the 80s, talks about inspiration, talent, discipline, mastery, ordinary life, and his own path, practices, teachers, and new book, Peaceful Heart, Warrior Spirit: The True Story of My Spiritual Quest. Humorous and humble, Dan embodies the peaceful warrior way, centering his life around service, sharing his wisdom, and living the question, “What needs doing right now?” Recorded on October 20, 2021.Chris Bache - The Evolution of Collective Consciousness, Purification & Ecstasy of Insight & the Profound Genius, Love & Purpose of the Universe (Part 3)Ep. 11 (Part 3 of 3) | Cosmological explorer Chris Bache tells what he discovered on his extraordinary journey, doing 73 high-dose LSD sessions over a period of twenty years. Motivated by a passion to find out more about the universe, Chris became intimate with the ocean of suffering in our collective psyche, the death/rebirth cycle, the preciousness of individuality, integrating consciousness at very high levels of energy, and the future of humanity. Chris explains a universal intelligence met him every step of the way. A modern-day Odysseus, who has explored realms far beyond our normal perceptions of reality, Chris’ presence is profoundly compassionate, grounded in a uniquely deep trust in the love and intelligence of the universe. Recorded on October 25, 2021.

                                                                  Chris Bache, Ph.D. is professor emeritus in the department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Youngstown State University where he taught for 33 years. He is also adjunct faculty at the California Institute of Integral Studies, Emeritus Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and on the Advisory Board of Grof Legacy Training. Chris’ passion has been the study of the philosophical implications of non ordinary states of consciousness, especially psychedelic states. An award-winning teacher and international speaker, Chris has written four books: Lifecycles, a study of reincarnation in light of contemporary consciousness research; Dark Night, Early Dawn, a pioneering work in psychedelic philosophy and collective consciousness; The Living Classroom, an exploration of collective fields of consciousness in teaching; and LSD and the Mind of the Universe, the story of his 20-year journey with LSD.

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 3

                                                                  • Pitfalls on the path and how to keep grounded (01:22)
                                                                  • The sickness of silence: doing psychedelic research in a psychedelic-phobic society (07:09) 
                                                                  • Is there an end state? Every opening is a portal to another opening (09:00) 
                                                                  • Dissolving into pure luminosity, an endless progression (12:00)
                                                                  • “Diamond vision” outside of time/space and the Bardo reality: seeing through the eyes of the future human (14:20)
                                                                  • The diamond luminosity condition (18:07)
                                                                  • Words from the Great Mother (24:29)
                                                                  • The creative intelligence and the evolution of the collective psyche (27:31)
                                                                  • The profound genius, the depth of love, and the purposeful intent of the universe (29:40)
                                                                  • Discovering we can trust ourselves profoundly—our individual minds as well as the greater reality (37:26)
                                                                  • Letting go of the fear of death: death is the great liberation (43:23)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 3

                                                                  • A.H. Almaas, Runaway Realization, The Alchemy of Freedom*
                                                                  • Dharmakaya: the clear light of absolute reality
                                                                  • Pure Land Buddhism
                                                                  • Stanislav Grof, The Cosmic Game*
                                                                  • Vajrayana practice
                                                                  • Chris Bache, LSD and Mind of the Universe: Diamonds from Heaven*
                                                                  • Chris Bache, The Living Classroom*
                                                                  • 7-week online course on Chris’ book: Exploring the Cosmic Mind Through Psychedelics (Shift Network)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 11 (Part 3 of 3) | Cosmological explorer Chris Bache tells what he discovered on his extraordinary journey, doing 73 high-dose LSD sessions over a period of twenty years. Motivated by a passion to find out more about the universe, Chris became intimate with the ocean of suffering in our collective psyche, the death/rebirth cycle, the preciousness of individuality, integrating consciousness at very high levels of energy, and the future of humanity. Chris explains a universal intelligence met him every step of the way. A modern-day Odysseus, who has explored realms far beyond our normal perceptions of reality, Chris’ presence is profoundly compassionate, grounded in a uniquely deep trust in the love and intelligence of the universe. Recorded on October 25, 2021.

                                                                  Chris Bache, Ph.D. is professor emeritus in the department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Youngstown State University where he taught for 33 years. He is also adjunct faculty at the California Institute of Integral Studies, Emeritus Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and on the Advisory Board of Grof Legacy Training. Chris’ passion has been the study of the philosophical implications of non ordinary states of consciousness, especially psychedelic states. An award-winning teacher and international speaker, Chris has written four books: Lifecycles, a study of reincarnation in light of contemporary consciousness research; Dark Night, Early Dawn, a pioneering work in psychedelic philosophy and collective consciousness; The Living Classroom, an exploration of collective fields of consciousness in teaching; and LSD and the Mind of the Universe, the story of his 20-year journey with LSD.

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 3

                                                                  • Pitfalls on the path and how to keep grounded (01:22)
                                                                  • The sickness of silence: doing psychedelic research in a psychedelic-phobic society (07:09) 
                                                                  • Is there an end state? Every opening is a portal to another opening (09:00) 
                                                                  • Dissolving into pure luminosity, an endless progression (12:00)
                                                                  • “Diamond vision” outside of time/space and the Bardo reality: seeing through the eyes of the future human (14:20)
                                                                  • The diamond luminosity condition (18:07)
                                                                  • Words from the Great Mother (24:29)
                                                                  • The creative intelligence and the evolution of the collective psyche (27:31)
                                                                  • The profound genius, the depth of love, and the purposeful intent of the universe (29:40)
                                                                  • Discovering we can trust ourselves profoundly—our individual minds as well as the greater reality (37:26)
                                                                  • Letting go of the fear of death: death is the great liberation (43:23)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 3

                                                                  • A.H. Almaas, Runaway Realization, The Alchemy of Freedom*
                                                                  • Dharmakaya: the clear light of absolute reality
                                                                  • Pure Land Buddhism
                                                                  • Stanislav Grof, The Cosmic Game*
                                                                  • Vajrayana practice
                                                                  • Chris Bache, LSD and Mind of the Universe: Diamonds from Heaven*
                                                                  • Chris Bache, The Living Classroom*
                                                                  • 7-week online course on Chris’ book: Exploring the Cosmic Mind Through Psychedelics (Shift Network)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>c64fe504-ea05-49f1-b186-6612891b5a40Thu, 03 Feb 2022 05:00:00 -040046:15falsefull1111Ep. 11 (Part 3 of 3) | Chris Bache tells what he discovered on his extraordinary cosmological journey, doing 73 high-dose LSD sessions over a period of twenty years. Motivated by a passion to find out more about the universe, Chris became intimate with the ocean of suffering in our collective psyche, the death/rebirth cycle, the preciousness of individuality, integrating consciousness at very high levels of energy, and the future of humanity. Chris explains a universal intelligence met him every step of the way. A modern-day Odysseus, who has explored realms far beyond our normal perceptions of reality, Chris’ presence is profoundly compassionate, grounded in a uniquely deep trust in the love and intelligence of the universe. Recorded on October 25, 2021.Chris Bache - The Evolution of Collective Consciousness, Purification & Ecstasy of Insight & the Profound Genius, Love & Purpose of the Universe (Part 2)Ep. 10 (Part 2 of 3) | Cosmological explorer Chris Bache tells what he discovered on his extraordinary journey, doing 73 high-dose LSD sessions over a period of twenty years. Motivated by a passion to find out more about the universe, Chris became intimate with the ocean of suffering in our collective psyche, the death/rebirth cycle, the preciousness of individuality, integrating consciousness at very high levels of energy, and the future of humanity. Chris explains a universal intelligence met him every step of the way. A modern-day Odysseus, who has explored realms far beyond our normal perceptions of reality, Chris’ presence is profoundly compassionate, grounded in a uniquely deep trust in the love and intelligence of the universe. Recorded on October 25, 2021.

                                                                  Chris Bache, Ph.D. is professor emeritus in the department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Youngstown State University where he taught for 33 years. He is also adjunct faculty at the California Institute of Integral Studies, Emeritus Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and on the Advisory Board of Grof Legacy Training. Chris’ passion has been the study of the philosophical implications of non ordinary states of consciousness, especially psychedelic states. An award-winning teacher and international speaker, Chris has written four books: Lifecycles, a study of reincarnation in light of contemporary consciousness research; Dark Night, Early Dawn, a pioneering work in psychedelic philosophy and collective consciousness; The Living Classroom, an exploration of collective fields of consciousness in teaching; and LSD and the Mind of the Universe, the story of his 20-year journey with LSD.

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                                  • Individuality is the great beauty. One of the great gifts of the universe. (01:11)
                                                                  • Awakening to your bond with the universe (06:53)
                                                                  • Using psychedelics for healing, spiritual awakening, cosmological exploration: You don’t need to shatter time to spiritually awaken (10:21)
                                                                  • Stabilizing states of consciousness and Chris’ practices today: meditation, the being of practice, grounding (13:51)
                                                                  • The shift taking place at the collective archetypal level (17:10)
                                                                  • The death and rebirth of humanity and the emergence of a changed humanity (17:57)
                                                                  • The global crisis is a crisis of consciousness: growing into our full soul being (19:15) 
                                                                  • The birth of the future human and the awakening of the soul (25:59)
                                                                  • Seeing the human transition to come from the place of Deep Time (31:50)
                                                                  • The sacred question: How can I serve other people and make this knowledge useful to other people? (33:17)
                                                                  • The transmission and healing that come from deep practice (36:54)
                                                                  • 7-week online course on Chris’ book: Exploring the Cosmic Mind Through Psychedelics (38:44)
                                                                  • What has been the reaction to Chris’ book? (39:43)
                                                                  • Psychedelic therapy (42:02)
                                                                  • The essential work of integration (43:24)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                  • Ramakrishna, the longing to be separate in order to worship the Mother
                                                                  • Vedanta, one of six schools of Hindu philosophy, the end of the Vedas
                                                                  • Chris Bache, Dark Night, Early Dawn*
                                                                  • Chris Bache, LSD and Mind of the Universe: Diamonds from Heaven*
                                                                  • Duane Elgin, Choosing Earth. In 2006, Duane received the international Goi Peace Award in recognition of his contribution to a “global vision, consciousness, and lifestyle.*
                                                                  • Ian Stevenson, Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect*
                                                                  • Chris Bache, Lifecycles*
                                                                  • Kenneth Ring, Heading Toward Omega*
                                                                  • Chris Bache, The Living Classroom*
                                                                  • 7-week online course on Chris’ book: Exploring the Cosmic Mind Through Psychedelics (Shift Network)
                                                                  • Roger Walsh, Higher Wisdom: Eminent Elders Explore the Continuing Impact of Psychedelics*
                                                                  • Tim Read & Maria Papaspyrou, Psychedelics and Psychotherapy*
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 10 (Part 2 of 3) | Cosmological explorer Chris Bache tells what he discovered on his extraordinary journey, doing 73 high-dose LSD sessions over a period of twenty years. Motivated by a passion to find out more about the universe, Chris became intimate with the ocean of suffering in our collective psyche, the death/rebirth cycle, the preciousness of individuality, integrating consciousness at very high levels of energy, and the future of humanity. Chris explains a universal intelligence met him every step of the way. A modern-day Odysseus, who has explored realms far beyond our normal perceptions of reality, Chris’ presence is profoundly compassionate, grounded in a uniquely deep trust in the love and intelligence of the universe. Recorded on October 25, 2021.

                                                                  Chris Bache, Ph.D. is professor emeritus in the department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Youngstown State University where he taught for 33 years. He is also adjunct faculty at the California Institute of Integral Studies, Emeritus Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and on the Advisory Board of Grof Legacy Training. Chris’ passion has been the study of the philosophical implications of non ordinary states of consciousness, especially psychedelic states. An award-winning teacher and international speaker, Chris has written four books: Lifecycles, a study of reincarnation in light of contemporary consciousness research; Dark Night, Early Dawn, a pioneering work in psychedelic philosophy and collective consciousness; The Living Classroom, an exploration of collective fields of consciousness in teaching; and LSD and the Mind of the Universe, the story of his 20-year journey with LSD.

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

                                                                  • Individuality is the great beauty. One of the great gifts of the universe. (01:11)
                                                                  • Awakening to your bond with the universe (06:53)
                                                                  • Using psychedelics for healing, spiritual awakening, cosmological exploration: You don’t need to shatter time to spiritually awaken (10:21)
                                                                  • Stabilizing states of consciousness and Chris’ practices today: meditation, the being of practice, grounding (13:51)
                                                                  • The shift taking place at the collective archetypal level (17:10)
                                                                  • The death and rebirth of humanity and the emergence of a changed humanity (17:57)
                                                                  • The global crisis is a crisis of consciousness: growing into our full soul being (19:15) 
                                                                  • The birth of the future human and the awakening of the soul (25:59)
                                                                  • Seeing the human transition to come from the place of Deep Time (31:50)
                                                                  • The sacred question: How can I serve other people and make this knowledge useful to other people? (33:17)
                                                                  • The transmission and healing that come from deep practice (36:54)
                                                                  • 7-week online course on Chris’ book: Exploring the Cosmic Mind Through Psychedelics (38:44)
                                                                  • What has been the reaction to Chris’ book? (39:43)
                                                                  • Psychedelic therapy (42:02)
                                                                  • The essential work of integration (43:24)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                  • Ramakrishna, the longing to be separate in order to worship the Mother
                                                                  • Vedanta, one of six schools of Hindu philosophy, the end of the Vedas
                                                                  • Chris Bache, Dark Night, Early Dawn*
                                                                  • Chris Bache, LSD and Mind of the Universe: Diamonds from Heaven*
                                                                  • Duane Elgin, Choosing Earth. In 2006, Duane received the international Goi Peace Award in recognition of his contribution to a “global vision, consciousness, and lifestyle.*
                                                                  • Ian Stevenson, Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect*
                                                                  • Chris Bache, Lifecycles*
                                                                  • Kenneth Ring, Heading Toward Omega*
                                                                  • Chris Bache, The Living Classroom*
                                                                  • 7-week online course on Chris’ book: Exploring the Cosmic Mind Through Psychedelics (Shift Network)
                                                                  • Roger Walsh, Higher Wisdom: Eminent Elders Explore the Continuing Impact of Psychedelics*
                                                                  • Tim Read & Maria Papaspyrou, Psychedelics and Psychotherapy*
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>1e7fcd10-3975-42c5-b2bf-4d9e65133d20Thu, 27 Jan 2022 05:00:00 -040051:11falsefull1010Ep. 10 (Part 2 of 3) | Chris Bache tells what he discovered on his extraordinary cosmological journey, doing 73 high-dose LSD sessions over a period of twenty years. Motivated by a passion to find out more about the universe, Chris became intimate with the ocean of suffering in our collective psyche, the death/rebirth cycle, the preciousness of individuality, integrating consciousness at very high levels of energy, and the future of humanity. Chris explains a universal intelligence met him every step of the way. A modern-day Odysseus, who has explored realms far beyond our normal perceptions of reality, Chris’ presence is profoundly compassionate, grounded in a uniquely deep trust in the love and intelligence of the universe. Recorded on October 25, 2021.Chris Bache - The Evolution of Collective Consciousness, Purification & Ecstasy of Insight & the Profound Genius, Love & Purpose of the UniverseEp. 9 (Part 1 of 3) | Cosmological explorer Chris Bache tells what he discovered on his extraordinary journey, doing 73 high-dose LSD sessions over a period of twenty years. Motivated by a passion to find out more about the universe, Chris became intimate with the ocean of suffering in our collective psyche, the death/rebirth cycle, the preciousness of individuality, integrating consciousness at very high levels of energy, and the future of humanity. Chris explains a universal intelligence met him every step of the way. A modern-day Odysseus, who has explored realms far beyond our normal perceptions of reality, Chris’ presence is profoundly compassionate, grounded in a uniquely deep trust in the love and intelligence of the universe. Recorded on October 25, 2021.

                                                                  Chris Bache, Ph.D. is professor emeritus in the department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Youngstown State University where he taught for 33 years. He is also adjunct faculty at the California Institute of Integral Studies, Emeritus Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and on the Advisory Board of Grof Legacy Training. Chris’ passion has been the study of the philosophical implications of non ordinary states of consciousness, especially psychedelic states. An award-winning teacher and international speaker, Chris has written four books: Lifecycles, a study of reincarnation in light of contemporary consciousness research; Dark Night, Early Dawn, a pioneering work in psychedelic philosophy and collective consciousness; The Living Classroom, an exploration of collective fields of consciousness in teaching; and LSD and the Mind of the Universe, the story of his 20-year journey with LSD.

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                                  • How WEIRD cultures looked at reality through a monophasic lens clear up till the 1960s—only taking waking reality seriously—whereas other cultures have a polyphasic perception that includes induced altered states, from dreams, meditation, plant medicine, etc. (01:39)
                                                                  • Psychedelics, a most potent way to induce altered states with profound spiritual applications, and introducing Chris Bache, cosmological explorer (04:42)
                                                                  • What motivated Chris to begin his quest? The passion to understand our universe and not only the personal unconscious but the collective unconscious (11:19)
                                                                  • 20-year journey following Stan Grof’s protocol, 73 high dose LSD sessions (13:21) 
                                                                  • The model of individual awakening and accelerating personal development led to a much broader, collective field of healing and transformation (14:16)
                                                                  • Intimate relationship with the divine said the book (LSD and the MInd of the Universe) needed to come forward now, even though it exposes so much (16:22)
                                                                  • The value Chris found in the experience of personal and collective suffering: a cycle of suffering, breakthrough, purification, and ecstasy of insight (17:09)
                                                                  • Consciousness was waiting every step of the way on this journey to bring ecstasy back into time/space consciousness (21:18)
                                                                  • The ocean of suffering in our collective psyche (23:53)
                                                                  • From transpersonal to being an instrument for the transformation of collective consciousness (28:37)
                                                                  • Using psilocybin would be wiser, gentler—less explosive, less shattering (32:42)
                                                                  • In Chris’ death/rebirth experiences: what actually dies? (34:36)
                                                                  • Each different substance has a different range in opening us up (37:39)
                                                                  • The shamanic persona (39:36)
                                                                  • Every step deeper into the universe is a step into a higher level of energy: stabilizing consciousness at extremely high levels of energy (41:39)
                                                                  • Death and rebirth is stage specific: at each gate there is a sacrifice asked (42:13)
                                                                  • The concept of death yields to the concept of purification (42:54)
                                                                  • What doesn’t die? (43:34)
                                                                  • The birth of the diamond soul (45:54)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                  • Chris Bache, Dark Night, Early Dawn*
                                                                  • Chris Bache, The Living Classroom*
                                                                  • Chris Bache, Lifecycles*
                                                                  • Chris Bache, LSD and Mind of the Universe (Diamonds from Heaven)*
                                                                  • Grof Legacy Training
                                                                  • Erika Bourguignon, a founder of the field Anthropology of Consciousness, and a premier anthropological authority on trance, possession, and altered states of consciousness
                                                                  • Stanislav Grof, Realms of the Human Unconscious*
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 9 (Part 1 of 3) | Cosmological explorer Chris Bache tells what he discovered on his extraordinary journey, doing 73 high-dose LSD sessions over a period of twenty years. Motivated by a passion to find out more about the universe, Chris became intimate with the ocean of suffering in our collective psyche, the death/rebirth cycle, the preciousness of individuality, integrating consciousness at very high levels of energy, and the future of humanity. Chris explains a universal intelligence met him every step of the way. A modern-day Odysseus, who has explored realms far beyond our normal perceptions of reality, Chris’ presence is profoundly compassionate, grounded in a uniquely deep trust in the love and intelligence of the universe. Recorded on October 25, 2021.

                                                                  Chris Bache, Ph.D. is professor emeritus in the department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Youngstown State University where he taught for 33 years. He is also adjunct faculty at the California Institute of Integral Studies, Emeritus Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and on the Advisory Board of Grof Legacy Training. Chris’ passion has been the study of the philosophical implications of non ordinary states of consciousness, especially psychedelic states. An award-winning teacher and international speaker, Chris has written four books: Lifecycles, a study of reincarnation in light of contemporary consciousness research; Dark Night, Early Dawn, a pioneering work in psychedelic philosophy and collective consciousness; The Living Classroom, an exploration of collective fields of consciousness in teaching; and LSD and the Mind of the Universe, the story of his 20-year journey with LSD.

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

                                                                  • How WEIRD cultures looked at reality through a monophasic lens clear up till the 1960s—only taking waking reality seriously—whereas other cultures have a polyphasic perception that includes induced altered states, from dreams, meditation, plant medicine, etc. (01:39)
                                                                  • Psychedelics, a most potent way to induce altered states with profound spiritual applications, and introducing Chris Bache, cosmological explorer (04:42)
                                                                  • What motivated Chris to begin his quest? The passion to understand our universe and not only the personal unconscious but the collective unconscious (11:19)
                                                                  • 20-year journey following Stan Grof’s protocol, 73 high dose LSD sessions (13:21) 
                                                                  • The model of individual awakening and accelerating personal development led to a much broader, collective field of healing and transformation (14:16)
                                                                  • Intimate relationship with the divine said the book (LSD and the MInd of the Universe) needed to come forward now, even though it exposes so much (16:22)
                                                                  • The value Chris found in the experience of personal and collective suffering: a cycle of suffering, breakthrough, purification, and ecstasy of insight (17:09)
                                                                  • Consciousness was waiting every step of the way on this journey to bring ecstasy back into time/space consciousness (21:18)
                                                                  • The ocean of suffering in our collective psyche (23:53)
                                                                  • From transpersonal to being an instrument for the transformation of collective consciousness (28:37)
                                                                  • Using psilocybin would be wiser, gentler—less explosive, less shattering (32:42)
                                                                  • In Chris’ death/rebirth experiences: what actually dies? (34:36)
                                                                  • Each different substance has a different range in opening us up (37:39)
                                                                  • The shamanic persona (39:36)
                                                                  • Every step deeper into the universe is a step into a higher level of energy: stabilizing consciousness at extremely high levels of energy (41:39)
                                                                  • Death and rebirth is stage specific: at each gate there is a sacrifice asked (42:13)
                                                                  • The concept of death yields to the concept of purification (42:54)
                                                                  • What doesn’t die? (43:34)
                                                                  • The birth of the diamond soul (45:54)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                  • Chris Bache, Dark Night, Early Dawn*
                                                                  • Chris Bache, The Living Classroom*
                                                                  • Chris Bache, Lifecycles*
                                                                  • Chris Bache, LSD and Mind of the Universe (Diamonds from Heaven)*
                                                                  • Grof Legacy Training
                                                                  • Erika Bourguignon, a founder of the field Anthropology of Consciousness, and a premier anthropological authority on trance, possession, and altered states of consciousness
                                                                  • Stanislav Grof, Realms of the Human Unconscious*
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>731be9ee-9b2b-4065-b2f9-9109e5b88c02Thu, 20 Jan 2022 00:40:00 -040048:45falsefull99Ep. 9 (Part 1 of 3) | Chris Bache tells what he discovered on his extraordinary cosmological journey, doing 73 high-dose LSD sessions over a period of twenty years. Motivated by a passion to find out more about the universe, Chris became intimate with the ocean of suffering in our collective psyche, the death/rebirth cycle, the preciousness of individuality, integrating consciousness at very high levels of energy, and the future of humanity. Chris explains a universal intelligence met him every step of the way. A modern-day Odysseus, who has explored realms far beyond our normal perceptions of reality, Chris’ presence is profoundly compassionate, grounded in a uniquely deep trust in the love and intelligence of the universe. Recorded on October 25, 2021.Terry Patten - Facing Death: A Call to "Get Real," the Importance of Being Kind, and Waking Up to the Miracle of Existence (Terry's Message to Us 3 Weeks Before His Own Passing)Ep. 8 | An extraordinary, heartfelt conversation with spiritual practitioner, teacher, activist, Integralist, and author Terry Patten, who was at the time facing his own mortality following a recent diagnosis of a rare and aggressive cancer. An inner radiance shines forth as Terry, with much graciousness and candor, discusses the call to “get real”—not only personally but also collectively; his deepened perception of the “amazing grace of existence;” the directionality that has guided much of his life; and action inquiry: working on becoming next-stage human beings by experimenting with being the best people we can be. A touching and transformative talk, Terry conveys the deepening understanding coming from living on the edge and transmits a “radical okayness” with everything. Recorded September 21, 2021.

                                                                  Terry Patten was a philosopher-activist, author, teacher and coach, community organizer, consultant, and social entrepreneur. Most recently Terry published A New Republic of the Heart: An Ethos for Revolutionaries—a book summarizing his life’s work and offering an approach to facing the problems of our time. Over the last fifteen years, Terry devoted his efforts to the evolution of consciousness: facing, examining, and healing our global crisis through the marriage of spirit and activism. Terry co-wrote the book Integral Life Practice with Ken Wilber and a core team at the Integral Institute in 2008.

                                                                  “I want us to recognize our tremendously strong impulse to draw a conclusion, to think we know. But it’s in the NOT knowing—the inquiry, the curiosity, the humility, the beginner’s mind—that we create a real opening.”

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps

                                                                  • The call to “get real,” personally and collectively; waking up to the miracle of existence (04:17)
                                                                  • With the diagnosis, the burden fell away (21:44)
                                                                  • Mortality versus morbidity: many sufferings are worse than death (31:02)
                                                                  • The directionality that guided Terry’s life and wanting to be “good” (41:11)
                                                                  • Encountering his root guru, Adi Da (44:50)
                                                                  • The importance of being kind (46:54)
                                                                  • Let’s bend a knee to something greater than ourselves and LISTEN (53:43)
                                                                  • The radical okayness of it all (55:52)
                                                                  • Action inquiry and evolving into a new stage of human development (56:27)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References

                                                                  • Terry Patten, A New Republic of the Heart: An Ethos for Revolutionaries*
                                                                  • The nonprofit organization A New Republic of the Heart invites spiritual practitioners and change agents to learn, practice, and collaborate in becoming the next-stage human beings who can rise to our collective moment.
                                                                  • Terry Patten.com
                                                                  • Rumi, “The Beloved,” The Way of the Sufi*
                                                                  • Stephen Jenkinson, Die Wise*
                                                                  • Adi Da, American spiritual teacher
                                                                  • Aldous Huxley, “Try to be a little kinder.”
                                                                  • His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Compassion and the Individual
                                                                  • Joanna Macy, The Great Turning or the Great Unraveling: It’s Our Choice
                                                                  • Brightening Every Darkness, 4-part webinar offered in the last weeks of Terry’s life, with Terry, Diane Hamilton, Indra Adnan, and Craig Hamilton
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 8 | An extraordinary, heartfelt conversation with spiritual practitioner, teacher, activist, Integralist, and author Terry Patten, who was at the time facing his own mortality following a recent diagnosis of a rare and aggressive cancer. An inner radiance shines forth as Terry, with much graciousness and candor, discusses the call to “get real”—not only personally but also collectively; his deepened perception of the “amazing grace of existence;” the directionality that has guided much of his life; and action inquiry: working on becoming next-stage human beings by experimenting with being the best people we can be. A touching and transformative talk, Terry conveys the deepening understanding coming from living on the edge and transmits a “radical okayness” with everything. Recorded September 21, 2021.

                                                                  Terry Patten was a philosopher-activist, author, teacher and coach, community organizer, consultant, and social entrepreneur. Most recently Terry published A New Republic of the Heart: An Ethos for Revolutionaries—a book summarizing his life’s work and offering an approach to facing the problems of our time. Over the last fifteen years, Terry devoted his efforts to the evolution of consciousness: facing, examining, and healing our global crisis through the marriage of spirit and activism. Terry co-wrote the book Integral Life Practice with Ken Wilber and a core team at the Integral Institute in 2008.

                                                                  “I want us to recognize our tremendously strong impulse to draw a conclusion, to think we know. But it’s in the NOT knowing—the inquiry, the curiosity, the humility, the beginner’s mind—that we create a real opening.”

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps

                                                                  • The call to “get real,” personally and collectively; waking up to the miracle of existence (04:17)
                                                                  • With the diagnosis, the burden fell away (21:44)
                                                                  • Mortality versus morbidity: many sufferings are worse than death (31:02)
                                                                  • The directionality that guided Terry’s life and wanting to be “good” (41:11)
                                                                  • Encountering his root guru, Adi Da (44:50)
                                                                  • The importance of being kind (46:54)
                                                                  • Let’s bend a knee to something greater than ourselves and LISTEN (53:43)
                                                                  • The radical okayness of it all (55:52)
                                                                  • Action inquiry and evolving into a new stage of human development (56:27)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References

                                                                  • Terry Patten, A New Republic of the Heart: An Ethos for Revolutionaries*
                                                                  • The nonprofit organization A New Republic of the Heart invites spiritual practitioners and change agents to learn, practice, and collaborate in becoming the next-stage human beings who can rise to our collective moment.
                                                                  • Terry Patten.com
                                                                  • Rumi, “The Beloved,” The Way of the Sufi*
                                                                  • Stephen Jenkinson, Die Wise*
                                                                  • Adi Da, American spiritual teacher
                                                                  • Aldous Huxley, “Try to be a little kinder.”
                                                                  • His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Compassion and the Individual
                                                                  • Joanna Macy, The Great Turning or the Great Unraveling: It’s Our Choice
                                                                  • Brightening Every Darkness, 4-part webinar offered in the last weeks of Terry’s life, with Terry, Diane Hamilton, Indra Adnan, and Craig Hamilton
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>511dc4cc-a3aa-4b59-9d55-8ba0bb0a231fThu, 20 Jan 2022 00:35:00 -040001:04:25truefull88Ep. 8 | An extraordinary, heartfelt conversation with spiritual practitioner, teacher, activist, Integralist, and author Terry Patten, who was at the time facing his own mortality following a recent diagnosis of a rare and aggressive cancer. An inner radiance shines forth as Terry, with much graciousness and candor, discusses the call to “get real”—not only personally but also collectively; his deepened perception of the “amazing grace of existence;” the directionality that has guided much of his life; and action inquiry: working on becoming next-stage human beings by experimenting with being the best people we can be. A touching and transformative talk, Terry conveys the deepening understanding coming from living on the edge and transmits a “radical okayness” with everything. Recorded September 21, 2021.Colette Baron-Reid - What is Intuition? Curiosity is a Superpower, Our Evolutionary Gift is in the Shadow, Radical Acceptance, and Living in Partnership with the UniverseEp. 7 | In this lively, eye-opening conversation, intuitive and oracle Colette Baron-Reid talks about how intuition is available to each one of us and how we can use it to navigate our lives, about why we need to practice radical acceptance now more than ever, about facing our shadow to find our biggest gifts and liberate our lives, about what it takes to cultivate hope and override fear, and about the transformative power of the Twelve Steps. Colette’s deep, practical, psychological wisdom comes like a transmission: “I am not a mistake. Nobody is broken. I trust in my partnership with the Universe. Who can I impact in a positive way?” Colette also tells stories from her past with verve and humor, and we discover how she came to be the wise and popular teacher, guide, and healer she is today. Recorded on November 22, 2021.

                                                                  Colette Baron-Reid is an internationally acclaimed Oracle expert, thought leader, and speaker in the personal transformation space. With over 30 years of experience as an Oracle & intuition expert, Colette’s greatest joy is teaching people they can have a direct and personal dialogue with the Universe to help them create their best lives. Colette is a best-selling author of multiple life-changing books including The Map, published in 27 languages. Her popular meditation apps and Oracle Card decks are worldwide hits, and she was the star of the hit TV series, “Messages from Spirit” and highly popular Hay House call-in radio show, “Ask the Oracle.” Colette is also the founder and creator of Oracle School—where people learn to transform their lives using Oracle Cards as a guidance system.

                                                                  “We are in co-creative relationship with a conscious Universe.”

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps

                                                                  • What is intuition? (07:42)
                                                                  • Colette’s early years: finding out she was Jewish, her psychic Scottish nanny, and all the confusing things that led to addiction (10:59)
                                                                  • Tasseomancy, Spirit and symbolism, ancient practices of divination, and how nature speaks to us (18:40)
                                                                  • An inherited sense of lack of safety and Colette’s book The Map (20:26)
                                                                  • The evolutionary gift is in the shadow (21:07)
                                                                  • Our invitation right now in these times of pandemic is to be present to all of it and not judge any of it: radical acceptance (23:24)
                                                                  • What do we do with our anger and how do we make it work for us? (28:28)
                                                                  • Filling our minds with what is important: who can I impact in a positive way? (30:29)
                                                                  • Compassion and kindness...micro steps are the way to change (31:50)
                                                                  • Make curiosity your superpower (34:43)
                                                                  • Hold life as an experiment: we’re not always going to get things right (35:12)
                                                                  • How we weaponize our emotions, project feelings, and create polarization (36:59)
                                                                  • Respons-a-bility plus trusting in our partnership with the Universe is where hope lies (39:54)
                                                                  • Colette’s spiritual awakening: I am not a mistake. Nobody is broken. And the fundamental flaw fallacy (41:12)
                                                                  • Being hopeful is harder than being fearful (47:31)
                                                                  • How Colette found her path as a healer: “it chose me” (49:54)
                                                                  • Following the crumbs is the evolution of Colette’s world (54:04)
                                                                  • The power of the Twelve Steps could change the world (56:46)
                                                                  • Today’s problems are yesterday’s solutions (1:00:40)
                                                                  • The need for nuance and innovation in our conversations (1:02:28)
                                                                  • Step 3 and Step 11: Surrendering to the will of the divine (1:05:15)
                                                                  • Service is enlightened self-interest (1:08:08)
                                                                  • Colette’s daily practices to help her stay in touch with Source (1:10:01)
                                                                  • The underestimated effects of practicing gratitude (1:12:03)
                                                                  • The Twelve Steps in a nutshell (1:13:03)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References

                                                                  • Colette Baron-Reid.com, Colette’s books, The Oracle School
                                                                  • Helen Palmer, Enneagram expert
                                                                  • Ryan Goldman’s Enneagram*
                                                                  • Wayne Dyer, author and speaker in the fields of self-development and spiritual growth
                                                                  • Princeton University, The Global Consciousness Project
                                                                  • Colette Baron-Reid, The Map: Finding the Magic and Meaning in the Story of Your Life*
                                                                  • Jungian psychology, and the concept of active imagination
                                                                  • Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces*
                                                                  • Bruce Lipton, The Wisdom of Your Cells, The Biology of Belief*
                                                                  • Ruth King, Mindful of Race: Transforming Racism from the Inside Out*
                                                                  • The fundamental flaw fallacy
                                                                  • Colette’s Oracle School of transformation
                                                                  • Thomas Hubl, Gabor Mate on collective trauma
                                                                  • Eco-psychology
                                                                  • The Haindl Tarot
                                                                  • Leigh Spusta and iAwake Technologies’ Alpha Arising
                                                                  • Brother David Steindl-Rast, Gratefulness.org
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 7 | In this lively, eye-opening conversation, intuitive and oracle Colette Baron-Reid talks about how intuition is available to each one of us and how we can use it to navigate our lives, about why we need to practice radical acceptance now more than ever, about facing our shadow to find our biggest gifts and liberate our lives, about what it takes to cultivate hope and override fear, and about the transformative power of the Twelve Steps. Colette’s deep, practical, psychological wisdom comes like a transmission: “I am not a mistake. Nobody is broken. I trust in my partnership with the Universe. Who can I impact in a positive way?” Colette also tells stories from her past with verve and humor, and we discover how she came to be the wise and popular teacher, guide, and healer she is today. Recorded on November 22, 2021.

                                                                  Colette Baron-Reid is an internationally acclaimed Oracle expert, thought leader, and speaker in the personal transformation space. With over 30 years of experience as an Oracle & intuition expert, Colette’s greatest joy is teaching people they can have a direct and personal dialogue with the Universe to help them create their best lives. Colette is a best-selling author of multiple life-changing books including The Map, published in 27 languages. Her popular meditation apps and Oracle Card decks are worldwide hits, and she was the star of the hit TV series, “Messages from Spirit” and highly popular Hay House call-in radio show, “Ask the Oracle.” Colette is also the founder and creator of Oracle School—where people learn to transform their lives using Oracle Cards as a guidance system.

                                                                  “We are in co-creative relationship with a conscious Universe.”

                                                                  Topics & Time Stamps

                                                                  • What is intuition? (07:42)
                                                                  • Colette’s early years: finding out she was Jewish, her psychic Scottish nanny, and all the confusing things that led to addiction (10:59)
                                                                  • Tasseomancy, Spirit and symbolism, ancient practices of divination, and how nature speaks to us (18:40)
                                                                  • An inherited sense of lack of safety and Colette’s book The Map (20:26)
                                                                  • The evolutionary gift is in the shadow (21:07)
                                                                  • Our invitation right now in these times of pandemic is to be present to all of it and not judge any of it: radical acceptance (23:24)
                                                                  • What do we do with our anger and how do we make it work for us? (28:28)
                                                                  • Filling our minds with what is important: who can I impact in a positive way? (30:29)
                                                                  • Compassion and kindness...micro steps are the way to change (31:50)
                                                                  • Make curiosity your superpower (34:43)
                                                                  • Hold life as an experiment: we’re not always going to get things right (35:12)
                                                                  • How we weaponize our emotions, project feelings, and create polarization (36:59)
                                                                  • Respons-a-bility plus trusting in our partnership with the Universe is where hope lies (39:54)
                                                                  • Colette’s spiritual awakening: I am not a mistake. Nobody is broken. And the fundamental flaw fallacy (41:12)
                                                                  • Being hopeful is harder than being fearful (47:31)
                                                                  • How Colette found her path as a healer: “it chose me” (49:54)
                                                                  • Following the crumbs is the evolution of Colette’s world (54:04)
                                                                  • The power of the Twelve Steps could change the world (56:46)
                                                                  • Today’s problems are yesterday’s solutions (1:00:40)
                                                                  • The need for nuance and innovation in our conversations (1:02:28)
                                                                  • Step 3 and Step 11: Surrendering to the will of the divine (1:05:15)
                                                                  • Service is enlightened self-interest (1:08:08)
                                                                  • Colette’s daily practices to help her stay in touch with Source (1:10:01)
                                                                  • The underestimated effects of practicing gratitude (1:12:03)
                                                                  • The Twelve Steps in a nutshell (1:13:03)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References

                                                                  • Colette Baron-Reid.com, Colette’s books, The Oracle School
                                                                  • Helen Palmer, Enneagram expert
                                                                  • Ryan Goldman’s Enneagram*
                                                                  • Wayne Dyer, author and speaker in the fields of self-development and spiritual growth
                                                                  • Princeton University, The Global Consciousness Project
                                                                  • Colette Baron-Reid, The Map: Finding the Magic and Meaning in the Story of Your Life*
                                                                  • Jungian psychology, and the concept of active imagination
                                                                  • Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces*
                                                                  • Bruce Lipton, The Wisdom of Your Cells, The Biology of Belief*
                                                                  • Ruth King, Mindful of Race: Transforming Racism from the Inside Out*
                                                                  • The fundamental flaw fallacy
                                                                  • Colette’s Oracle School of transformation
                                                                  • Thomas Hubl, Gabor Mate on collective trauma
                                                                  • Eco-psychology
                                                                  • The Haindl Tarot
                                                                  • Leigh Spusta and iAwake Technologies’ Alpha Arising
                                                                  • Brother David Steindl-Rast, Gratefulness.org
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>be28e028-0ac5-4407-9369-76a9c6070d35Thu, 20 Jan 2022 00:30:00 -040001:17:09falsefull77Ep. 7 | In this lively, eye-opening conversation, intuitive and oracle Colette Baron-Reid talks about how intuition is available to each one of us and how we can use it to navigate our lives, about why we need to practice radical acceptance now more than ever, about facing our shadow to find our biggest gifts and liberate our lives, about what it takes to cultivate hope and override fear, and about the transformative power of the Twelve Steps. Colette’s deep, practical, psychological wisdom comes like a transmission: “I am not a mistake. Nobody is broken. I trust in my partnership with the Universe. Who can I impact in a positive way?” Colette also tells stories from her past with verve and humor, and we discover how she came to be the wise and popular teacher, guide, and healer she is today.Rick Hanson - How We Can Hack Our Brain Using Neuroscience to Become Happier, Healthier, More Transcendent & Turn Altered States to Enduring Traits (Part 2)Ep. 6 (Part 2 of 2) | In this inspiring and empowering conversation, Rick Hanson spells out how we can use positive, self-directed neuroplasticity to hardwire our brains in order to become happier, cultivate virtues, deal with cravings, become deeply grounded, turn our desired states into stable traits, and more. Neurodharma is Rick’s conceptual creation: a marriage of neuroscience, psychology, and contemporary wisdom that offers individuals who are out to make a change for the better an impressive and effective brain hacking toolkit. Rick’s own gentle wisdom, compassion, clarity, kindness, and humor shine in this truly groundbreaking (for most of us) dialogue, making him a wonderful exemplar of the peaceful, loving, altruistic, and effective person practicing neurodharma can help us to become. Recorded September 20, 2021.

                                                                  Rick Hanson, Ph.D., is an expert on positive neuroplasticity, a clinical psychologist, a New York Times best-selling author, and a Senior Fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley. His books include Neurodharma, Resilient, Hardwiring Happiness, Buddha’s Brain, Just One Thing, and Mother Nurture, and have been published in 30 languages. He has lectured at NASA, Google, Oxford, and Harvard, and taught in meditation centers worldwide. Rick's work has been featured on the BBC, CBS, NPR, and other major media. He began meditating in 1974 and is the founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom. Rick loves wilderness and taking a break from emails.

                                                                  “We need to actively work with the mind to pull weeds and plant flowers.”

                                                                  Topics & Timestamps - Part 2

                                                                  • 2 major obstructions to speeding our growth (01:04)
                                                                  • Gradual cultivation, sudden awakening, gradual cultivation (06:08)
                                                                  • Bodhidhamma: practice is like a wagon with 2 wheels (06:39)
                                                                  • What are the crucial qualities of heart and mind that are essential to cultivate? (10:32)
                                                                  • Who has lit the fire in Rick’s heart? (12:48)
                                                                  • Truly wise person: Peaceable, friendly, fearless (15:31)
                                                                  • The importance of trusting our own minds (19:09)
                                                                  • What are Rick’s daily practices? (22:26)
                                                                  • Paying attention to the subtleties of craving (23:55)
                                                                  • Focusing on a sustained felt sense of the ground of all; recognizing the extraordinary generosity of the arising moment (27:40)
                                                                  • How does Rick understand the act of transmission? 29:16
                                                                  • Reverse engineering desired qualities to yourself (31:39)
                                                                  • What are Rick’s priorities for the future? (35:21)
                                                                  • Self-directed neuroplasticity: 3 foundational practices (36:59)
                                                                  • Re-establishing the 3 enabling conditions of healthy human politics (38:09)
                                                                  • Playfulness, to include curiosity, makes us receptive to lasting change (41:08)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                  • Shunryu Suzuki-roshi, Zen monk and teacher who founded the first Zen Buddhist monastery outside of Asia
                                                                  • Bodhidharma, Buddhist monk credited with bringing Buddhism to China
                                                                  • Ram Dass, Life in Balance: A Path to Equanimity and Peace
                                                                  • Joseph Goldstein, American mindfulness teacher
                                                                  • Thich Nhat Han, Vietnamese monk, exemplar of embodied wisdom, peace activist
                                                                  • Christina Feldman, Boundless Heart*
                                                                  • Tara Brach, Trusting the Gold*
                                                                  • Carl Rogers, pioneering humanist psychologist
                                                                  • Rick Hanson, author of Neurodharma, Resilient, Hardwiring Happiness, Buddha’s Brain, Just One Thing, and Mother Nurture*
                                                                  • Founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, whose mission is to offer skillful means for changing the brain to benefit the whole person and all beings in a world too full of war.
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 6 (Part 2 of 2) | In this inspiring and empowering conversation, Rick Hanson spells out how we can use positive, self-directed neuroplasticity to hardwire our brains in order to become happier, cultivate virtues, deal with cravings, become deeply grounded, turn our desired states into stable traits, and more. Neurodharma is Rick’s conceptual creation: a marriage of neuroscience, psychology, and contemporary wisdom that offers individuals who are out to make a change for the better an impressive and effective brain hacking toolkit. Rick’s own gentle wisdom, compassion, clarity, kindness, and humor shine in this truly groundbreaking (for most of us) dialogue, making him a wonderful exemplar of the peaceful, loving, altruistic, and effective person practicing neurodharma can help us to become. Recorded September 20, 2021.

                                                                  Rick Hanson, Ph.D., is an expert on positive neuroplasticity, a clinical psychologist, a New York Times best-selling author, and a Senior Fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley. His books include Neurodharma, Resilient, Hardwiring Happiness, Buddha’s Brain, Just One Thing, and Mother Nurture, and have been published in 30 languages. He has lectured at NASA, Google, Oxford, and Harvard, and taught in meditation centers worldwide. Rick's work has been featured on the BBC, CBS, NPR, and other major media. He began meditating in 1974 and is the founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom. Rick loves wilderness and taking a break from emails.

                                                                  “We need to actively work with the mind to pull weeds and plant flowers.”

                                                                  Topics & Timestamps - Part 2

                                                                  • 2 major obstructions to speeding our growth (01:04)
                                                                  • Gradual cultivation, sudden awakening, gradual cultivation (06:08)
                                                                  • Bodhidhamma: practice is like a wagon with 2 wheels (06:39)
                                                                  • What are the crucial qualities of heart and mind that are essential to cultivate? (10:32)
                                                                  • Who has lit the fire in Rick’s heart? (12:48)
                                                                  • Truly wise person: Peaceable, friendly, fearless (15:31)
                                                                  • The importance of trusting our own minds (19:09)
                                                                  • What are Rick’s daily practices? (22:26)
                                                                  • Paying attention to the subtleties of craving (23:55)
                                                                  • Focusing on a sustained felt sense of the ground of all; recognizing the extraordinary generosity of the arising moment (27:40)
                                                                  • How does Rick understand the act of transmission? 29:16
                                                                  • Reverse engineering desired qualities to yourself (31:39)
                                                                  • What are Rick’s priorities for the future? (35:21)
                                                                  • Self-directed neuroplasticity: 3 foundational practices (36:59)
                                                                  • Re-establishing the 3 enabling conditions of healthy human politics (38:09)
                                                                  • Playfulness, to include curiosity, makes us receptive to lasting change (41:08)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                  • Shunryu Suzuki-roshi, Zen monk and teacher who founded the first Zen Buddhist monastery outside of Asia
                                                                  • Bodhidharma, Buddhist monk credited with bringing Buddhism to China
                                                                  • Ram Dass, Life in Balance: A Path to Equanimity and Peace
                                                                  • Joseph Goldstein, American mindfulness teacher
                                                                  • Thich Nhat Han, Vietnamese monk, exemplar of embodied wisdom, peace activist
                                                                  • Christina Feldman, Boundless Heart*
                                                                  • Tara Brach, Trusting the Gold*
                                                                  • Carl Rogers, pioneering humanist psychologist
                                                                  • Rick Hanson, author of Neurodharma, Resilient, Hardwiring Happiness, Buddha’s Brain, Just One Thing, and Mother Nurture*
                                                                  • Founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, whose mission is to offer skillful means for changing the brain to benefit the whole person and all beings in a world too full of war.
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>c035d0d6-1dc8-43b2-b55b-8235ab583195Thu, 20 Jan 2022 00:25:00 -040045:15falsefull66Ep. 6 (Part 2 of 2) | In this inspiring and empowering conversation, Rick Hanson spells out how we can use positive, self-directed neuroplasticity to hardwire our brains in order to become happier, cultivate virtues, deal with cravings, become deeply grounded, turn our desired states into stable traits, and more. Neurodharma is Rick’s conceptual creation: a marriage of neuroscience, psychology, and contemporary wisdom that offers individuals who are out to make a change for the better an impressive and effective brain hacking toolkit. Rick’s own gentle wisdom, compassion, clarity, kindness, and humor shine in this truly groundbreaking (for most of us) dialogue, making him a wonderful exemplar of the peaceful, loving, altruistic, and effective person practicing neurodharma can help us to become. Recorded September 20, 2021.Rick Hanson - How We Can Hack Our Brain Using Neuroscience to Become Happier, Healthier, More Transcendent & Turn Altered States to Enduring TraitsEp. 5 (Part 1 of 2) | In this inspiring and empowering conversation, Rick Hanson spells out how we can use positive, self-directed neuroplasticity to hardwire our brains in order to become happier, cultivate virtues, deal with cravings, become deeply grounded, turn our desired states into stable traits, and more. Neurodharma is Rick’s conceptual creation: a marriage of neuroscience, psychology, and contemporary wisdom that offers individuals who are out to make a change for the better an impressive and effective brain hacking toolkit. Rick’s own gentle wisdom, compassion, clarity, kindness, and humor shine in this truly groundbreaking (for most of us) dialogue, making him a wonderful exemplar of the peaceful, loving, altruistic, and effective person practicing neurodharma can help us to become. Recorded September 20, 2021.

                                                                  Rick Hanson, Ph.D., is an expert on positive neuroplasticity, a clinical psychologist, a New York Times best-selling author, and a Senior Fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley. His books include Neurodharma, Resilient, Hardwiring Happiness, Buddha’s Brain, Just One Thing, and Mother Nurture, and have been published in 30 languages. He has lectured at NASA, Google, Oxford, and Harvard, and taught in meditation centers worldwide. Rick's work has been featured on the BBC, CBS, NPR, and other major media. He began meditating in 1974 and is the founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom. Rick loves wilderness and taking a break from emails.

                                                                  Topics & Timestamps - Part 1

                                                                  • Introducing Rick Hanson: kindness, books, philanthropy, forging the discipline of neurodharma (01:50)
                                                                  • What are Rick’s most important takeaways from his life’s work? (05:35)
                                                                  • Frictionless contentment: grounding unshakeable happiness in the body (05:52) 
                                                                  • We have the power to use our mind (direct our mental activity) to sustain lasting changes in the brain and we cannot escape the responsibility for using (or not using) this (08:41)
                                                                  • Why do we need neuroscience when meditation does this anyway? (11:34)
                                                                  • 3 benefits of grounding our practice in neuroscience (13:08)
                                                                  • To provide sustained motivation (13:17)
                                                                  • Gives us a common framework of enquiry that helps us operationalize when we’re doing our practices (13:56)
                                                                  • Highlights the tools that correlate to each individual’s highest priority so they can zero in on what matters the most (15:05)
                                                                  • Our brain’s negativity bias (16:26) 
                                                                  • How tuning into internal sensations helps steady our mind, stabilize attention, and pull us into the present (17:20)
                                                                  • Helps identify new methods like neurofeedback (21:10)
                                                                  • Knowing we are hard-wired to focus on negative experiences helps our own inner work, reducing guilt and extending our compassion (23:08)
                                                                  • The challenge of stabilizing altered states into enduring traits (24:54)
                                                                  • How to address craving: building the enduring trait of open-heartedness in the present using neuroplastic change (27:41)
                                                                  • How do we anchor this? Rick leads a micro samadhi concentration practice (34:32)
                                                                  • Deliberately resting in the felt sense of nothing wrong steepens your growth curve (41:31)
                                                                  • Many of the beneficial traits we want to grow in ourselves involve states that aren’t actually that enjoyable. (44:55)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                  • Rick Hanson, author of Neurodharma, Resilient, Hardwiring Happiness, Buddha’s Brain, Just One Thing, and Mother Nurture*
                                                                  • Founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, whose mission is to offer skillful means for changing the brain to benefit the whole person and all beings in a world too full of war.
                                                                  • Senior Fellow, the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley
                                                                  • Spirit Rock meditation center board member
                                                                  • Joseph Goldstein, American mindfulness teacher, co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society, author
                                                                  • Evan Thompson, professor of philosophy, author of Why I Am Not a Buddhist, Mind in Life, and Waking, Dreaming, Being*
                                                                  • T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding (poem)
                                                                  • Huston Smith, religious scholar, The World’s Religions, quotes*
                                                                  • Journal of Positive Psychology
                                                                  • Milarepa, Tibetan sage and poet
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 5 (Part 1 of 2) | In this inspiring and empowering conversation, Rick Hanson spells out how we can use positive, self-directed neuroplasticity to hardwire our brains in order to become happier, cultivate virtues, deal with cravings, become deeply grounded, turn our desired states into stable traits, and more. Neurodharma is Rick’s conceptual creation: a marriage of neuroscience, psychology, and contemporary wisdom that offers individuals who are out to make a change for the better an impressive and effective brain hacking toolkit. Rick’s own gentle wisdom, compassion, clarity, kindness, and humor shine in this truly groundbreaking (for most of us) dialogue, making him a wonderful exemplar of the peaceful, loving, altruistic, and effective person practicing neurodharma can help us to become. Recorded September 20, 2021.

                                                                  Rick Hanson, Ph.D., is an expert on positive neuroplasticity, a clinical psychologist, a New York Times best-selling author, and a Senior Fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley. His books include Neurodharma, Resilient, Hardwiring Happiness, Buddha’s Brain, Just One Thing, and Mother Nurture, and have been published in 30 languages. He has lectured at NASA, Google, Oxford, and Harvard, and taught in meditation centers worldwide. Rick's work has been featured on the BBC, CBS, NPR, and other major media. He began meditating in 1974 and is the founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom. Rick loves wilderness and taking a break from emails.

                                                                  Topics & Timestamps - Part 1

                                                                  • Introducing Rick Hanson: kindness, books, philanthropy, forging the discipline of neurodharma (01:50)
                                                                  • What are Rick’s most important takeaways from his life’s work? (05:35)
                                                                  • Frictionless contentment: grounding unshakeable happiness in the body (05:52) 
                                                                  • We have the power to use our mind (direct our mental activity) to sustain lasting changes in the brain and we cannot escape the responsibility for using (or not using) this (08:41)
                                                                  • Why do we need neuroscience when meditation does this anyway? (11:34)
                                                                  • 3 benefits of grounding our practice in neuroscience (13:08)
                                                                  • To provide sustained motivation (13:17)
                                                                  • Gives us a common framework of enquiry that helps us operationalize when we’re doing our practices (13:56)
                                                                  • Highlights the tools that correlate to each individual’s highest priority so they can zero in on what matters the most (15:05)
                                                                  • Our brain’s negativity bias (16:26) 
                                                                  • How tuning into internal sensations helps steady our mind, stabilize attention, and pull us into the present (17:20)
                                                                  • Helps identify new methods like neurofeedback (21:10)
                                                                  • Knowing we are hard-wired to focus on negative experiences helps our own inner work, reducing guilt and extending our compassion (23:08)
                                                                  • The challenge of stabilizing altered states into enduring traits (24:54)
                                                                  • How to address craving: building the enduring trait of open-heartedness in the present using neuroplastic change (27:41)
                                                                  • How do we anchor this? Rick leads a micro samadhi concentration practice (34:32)
                                                                  • Deliberately resting in the felt sense of nothing wrong steepens your growth curve (41:31)
                                                                  • Many of the beneficial traits we want to grow in ourselves involve states that aren’t actually that enjoyable. (44:55)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                  • Rick Hanson, author of Neurodharma, Resilient, Hardwiring Happiness, Buddha’s Brain, Just One Thing, and Mother Nurture*
                                                                  • Founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, whose mission is to offer skillful means for changing the brain to benefit the whole person and all beings in a world too full of war.
                                                                  • Senior Fellow, the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley
                                                                  • Spirit Rock meditation center board member
                                                                  • Joseph Goldstein, American mindfulness teacher, co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society, author
                                                                  • Evan Thompson, professor of philosophy, author of Why I Am Not a Buddhist, Mind in Life, and Waking, Dreaming, Being*
                                                                  • T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding (poem)
                                                                  • Huston Smith, religious scholar, The World’s Religions, quotes*
                                                                  • Journal of Positive Psychology
                                                                  • Milarepa, Tibetan sage and poet
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>17eaa3b1-94d2-4942-9da1-07772a442aeaThu, 20 Jan 2022 00:20:00 -040047:15falsefull55Ep. 5 (Part 1 of 2) | “We need to actively work with the mind to pull weeds and plant flowers.” In this inspiring and empowering conversation, Rick Hanson spells out how we can use positive, self-directed neuroplasticity to hardwire our brains in order to become happier, cultivate virtues, deal with cravings, become deeply grounded, turn our desired states into stable traits, and more. Neurodharma is Rick’s conceptual creation: a marriage of neuroscience, psychology, and contemporary wisdom that offers individuals who are out to make a change for the better an impressive and effective brain hacking toolkit. Rick’s own gentle wisdom, compassion, clarity, kindness, and humor shine in this truly groundbreaking (for most of us) dialogue, making him a wonderful exemplar of the peaceful, loving, altruistic, and effective person practicing neurodharma can help us to become. Recorded September 20, 2021.The Psychedelic Renaissance, Hedonic Engineering, Group Coherence, Soul Force & Radical Hope: Ramping Up Human Evolution in Time to Avert Disaster (Part 2)Ep. 4 (Part 2 of 2) | In this riveting, mind opening (and bending) conversation, philosopher and peak performance expert Jamie Wheal takes our existential metacrisis head on, asking and often answering the biggest questions we, the human race, face today. “How do we do this human thing with our heads up and our hearts open and not get crushed by the tragedies and absurdities of it all?” “How can we tune into the wisdom, the transpersonal heights?” More than inspirational, this conversation is like an infusion of the energetic, coherent, transpersonal potential of human beings. Guaranteed, you won’t see things the same way after listening. Recorded on September 15, 2021.

                                                                  Jamie Wheal is the author of Recapture the Rapture: Rethinking God, Sex and Death In a World That's Lost Its Mind and the global bestseller Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work. He’s also the founder of the Flow Genome Project, an international organization dedicated to the research and training of human performance. Jamie’s work and ideas have been covered in The New York Times, Financial Times, Wired, Entrepreneur, Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Inc., and TED. Jamie has spoken at Stanford University, MIT, the Harvard Club, Imperial College, Singularity University, the U.S. Naval War College and Special Operations Command, Sandhurst Royal Military Academy, the Bohemian Club, and the United Nations.

                                                                  Topics & Timestamps - Part 2

                                                                  • Die before you die and come back open-hearted with a hell, yes! (03:52)
                                                                  • A plug for good, old-fashioned human love and rootsy wisdom (06:05)
                                                                  • How do we come together in “healthy” (ethical) cults/communitas? Collective coherence (08:02)
                                                                  • The Lucifer effect in “culty” cults and the golden shadow (17:12) 
                                                                  • Jerry Garcia channeling quicksilver starlight: what was that? (25:21) 
                                                                  • Peak experience technologies need to be scalable and open source (26:43)
                                                                  • The Quaker influence (27:47)
                                                                  • What is group coherence? Something happens when we sync humans together. (30:23)
                                                                  • What is the non-corporeal information and inspiration layer that people access in their breakthroughs and how do we get there? (31:25)
                                                                  • What’s next for humanity? A new operating level: a transrational space (33:00)
                                                                  • Letting the mystery stay the mystery and premature cognitive commitment (41:23)
                                                                  • Radical hope and the courage of mice (and men) (43:01)
                                                                  • The future of humanity: soul force or bust (45:01)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                  • Jamie Wheal, Recapture the Rapture*
                                                                  • Huston Smith, religious scholar, Cleansing the Doors of Perception*
                                                                  • The Ten Ox Herding Pictures from the Zen tradition
                                                                  • Hafiz, “A Hole in a Flute,” The Gift*
                                                                  • JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings*
                                                                  • Anthropos, Greek word for human. Mystical sense of perfected, integrated, balanced human
                                                                  • David Foster Wallace, postmodern author and professor
                                                                  • Zachary Stein, Education in a Time Between Worlds*
                                                                  • Genpo Roshi and Diane Hamilton, the Big Mind process
                                                                  • Jerry Garcia and the The Grateful Dead
                                                                  • Elton Trueblood, Quaker author and theologian
                                                                  • Hameed Almaas, founder of the Diamond Approach*
                                                                  • Andrew Huberman & Stanford University School of Medicine colleagues’ study what switches on courage in the brains of mice
                                                                  • Ramakrishna, Hindu mystic and religious leader
                                                                  • Jamie Wheal, Stealing Fire*
                                                                  • Jamie Wheal, Recapture the Rapture*
                                                                  • Jamie Wheal’s The Flow Genome Project
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 4 (Part 2 of 2) | In this riveting, mind opening (and bending) conversation, philosopher and peak performance expert Jamie Wheal takes our existential metacrisis head on, asking and often answering the biggest questions we, the human race, face today. “How do we do this human thing with our heads up and our hearts open and not get crushed by the tragedies and absurdities of it all?” “How can we tune into the wisdom, the transpersonal heights?” More than inspirational, this conversation is like an infusion of the energetic, coherent, transpersonal potential of human beings. Guaranteed, you won’t see things the same way after listening. Recorded on September 15, 2021.

                                                                  Jamie Wheal is the author of Recapture the Rapture: Rethinking God, Sex and Death In a World That's Lost Its Mind and the global bestseller Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work. He’s also the founder of the Flow Genome Project, an international organization dedicated to the research and training of human performance. Jamie’s work and ideas have been covered in The New York Times, Financial Times, Wired, Entrepreneur, Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Inc., and TED. Jamie has spoken at Stanford University, MIT, the Harvard Club, Imperial College, Singularity University, the U.S. Naval War College and Special Operations Command, Sandhurst Royal Military Academy, the Bohemian Club, and the United Nations.

                                                                  Topics & Timestamps - Part 2

                                                                  • Die before you die and come back open-hearted with a hell, yes! (03:52)
                                                                  • A plug for good, old-fashioned human love and rootsy wisdom (06:05)
                                                                  • How do we come together in “healthy” (ethical) cults/communitas? Collective coherence (08:02)
                                                                  • The Lucifer effect in “culty” cults and the golden shadow (17:12) 
                                                                  • Jerry Garcia channeling quicksilver starlight: what was that? (25:21) 
                                                                  • Peak experience technologies need to be scalable and open source (26:43)
                                                                  • The Quaker influence (27:47)
                                                                  • What is group coherence? Something happens when we sync humans together. (30:23)
                                                                  • What is the non-corporeal information and inspiration layer that people access in their breakthroughs and how do we get there? (31:25)
                                                                  • What’s next for humanity? A new operating level: a transrational space (33:00)
                                                                  • Letting the mystery stay the mystery and premature cognitive commitment (41:23)
                                                                  • Radical hope and the courage of mice (and men) (43:01)
                                                                  • The future of humanity: soul force or bust (45:01)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                  • Jamie Wheal, Recapture the Rapture*
                                                                  • Huston Smith, religious scholar, Cleansing the Doors of Perception*
                                                                  • The Ten Ox Herding Pictures from the Zen tradition
                                                                  • Hafiz, “A Hole in a Flute,” The Gift*
                                                                  • JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings*
                                                                  • Anthropos, Greek word for human. Mystical sense of perfected, integrated, balanced human
                                                                  • David Foster Wallace, postmodern author and professor
                                                                  • Zachary Stein, Education in a Time Between Worlds*
                                                                  • Genpo Roshi and Diane Hamilton, the Big Mind process
                                                                  • Jerry Garcia and the The Grateful Dead
                                                                  • Elton Trueblood, Quaker author and theologian
                                                                  • Hameed Almaas, founder of the Diamond Approach*
                                                                  • Andrew Huberman & Stanford University School of Medicine colleagues’ study what switches on courage in the brains of mice
                                                                  • Ramakrishna, Hindu mystic and religious leader
                                                                  • Jamie Wheal, Stealing Fire*
                                                                  • Jamie Wheal, Recapture the Rapture*
                                                                  • Jamie Wheal’s The Flow Genome Project
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>10ca3c1e-4560-472f-81ef-ea3f2ce12b17Thu, 20 Jan 2022 00:15:00 -040050:19truefull44Ep. 4 (Part 2 of 2) | “How do we do this human thing with our heads up and our hearts open and not get crushed by the tragedies and absurdities of it all?” “How can we tune into the wisdom, the transpersonal heights?” In this riveting, mind opening (and bending) conversation, philosopher and peak performance expert Jamie Wheal takes our existential metacrisis head on, asking and often answering the biggest questions we, the human race, face today. More than inspirational, this conversation is like an infusion of the energetic, coherent, transpersonal potential of human beings. Guaranteed, you won’t see things the same way after listening. Recorded on September 15, 2021.The Psychedelic Renaissance, Hedonic Engineering, Group Coherence, Soul Force & Radical Hope: Ramping Up Human Evolution in Time to Avert DisasterEp. 3 (Part 1 of 2) | In this riveting, mind opening (and bending) conversation, philosopher and peak performance expert Jamie Wheal takes our existential metacrisis head on, asking and often answering the biggest questions we, the human race, face today. “How do we do this human thing with our heads up and our hearts open and not get crushed by the tragedies and absurdities of it all?” “How can we tune into the wisdom, the transpersonal heights?” More than inspirational, this conversation is like an infusion of the energetic, coherent, transpersonal potential of human beings. Guaranteed, you won’t see things the same way after listening. Recorded on September 15, 2021.

                                                                  Jamie Wheal is the author of Recapture the Rapture: Rethinking God, Sex and Death In a World That's Lost Its Mind and the global bestseller Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work. He’s also the founder of the Flow Genome Project, an international organization dedicated to the research and training of human performance. Jamie’s work and ideas have been covered in The New York Times, Financial Times, Wired, Entrepreneur, Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Inc., and TED. Jamie has spoken at Stanford University, MIT, the Harvard Club, Imperial College, Singularity University, the U.S. Naval War College and Special Operations Command, Sandhurst Royal Military Academy, the Bohemian Club, and the United Nations.

                                                                  Topics & Timestamps - Part 1

                                                                  • Getting off the grid not to survive but to thrive (01:52)
                                                                  • Facing the challenges of our time is a cycle: remaining open, learning to fall gracefully, maintaining center (03:25)
                                                                  • Jamie’s practices, the 4 M’s: Music, Mountains, Mushrooms, Marriage (09:02)
                                                                  • The beautiful American, antinomian, mystical tradition (10:32)
                                                                  • Who throughout history really got “into the pudding”? (13:55)
                                                                  • Jamie’s dark night of the soul (16:52) 
                                                                  • The psychedelic renaissance, reconciling repeat transformations, and the question “How much do we change, really?” (20:20)
                                                                  • Our mythic lives vs our biographic lives (22:24) 
                                                                  • The universal agenda and Chris Bache’s LSD and the Mind of the Universe (24:06)
                                                                  • The “information layer” that comes from Source; baffling precision along with evidence of the trickster (27:25) 
                                                                  • Wrestling with the existential situation using the mountaineer’s “risk triangle” (30:30) 
                                                                  • The only question we should be addressing: Can we get onto an S curve of a renewable, sustainable, and equitable economy? (32:05) 
                                                                  • How can we use peak experiences? How can we tune into our highest, best life? Hedonic engineering (36:48)
                                                                  • How to create a flywheel effect: practice daily, weekly, monthly, seasonally, annually (40:36) 
                                                                  • The Ten Suggestions (vs The Ten Commandments): An update (43:15)
                                                                  • The false certainty of the newly converted (46:46)
                                                                  • Recultivating the elements of mystery and the trickster of the divine (47:41)
                                                                  • The weak link: after opening consistently to mystical states...what do you do Monday morning? (Stabilization of states to traits) (48:19)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                  • Jamie Wheal, Stealing Fire*
                                                                  • Jamie Wheal, Recapture the Rapture*
                                                                  • George Leonard, Mastery, The Way of Aikido*
                                                                  • Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now*
                                                                  • Jamie Wheal’s The Flow Genome Project
                                                                  • Howard Thurman, The Living Wisdom of Howard Thurman*
                                                                  • Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter, The Merry Pranksters, Tom Wolfe
                                                                  • Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedish theologian, scientist, philosopher & mystic
                                                                  • William Blake, poet, painter, mystic
                                                                  • The Book of Enoch, ancient Hebrew text
                                                                  • The angel Metatron
                                                                  • Kurt Fisher, author, neuroscience and education researcher at Harvard
                                                                  • The Constructive Developmental approach, Kegan and Kohlberg
                                                                  • Chris Bache, LSD and the Mind of the Universe*
                                                                  • Ed Viesturs, No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World’s 14 Highest Peaks*
                                                                  • The Bhagavad Gita
                                                                  • Rober Anton Wilson, hedonic engineering
                                                                  • Suzuki Roshi, “Each of you is perfect the way you are…”
                                                                  • Mircea Eliade, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy*
                                                                  • Susanne Cook-Greuter’s ego development stages*
                                                                  • Ramakrishna, Hindu mystic and spiritual leader
                                                                  • John Lilly, neuroscientist, psychoanalyst, psychonaut, philosopher, writer, and inventor
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 3 (Part 1 of 2) | In this riveting, mind opening (and bending) conversation, philosopher and peak performance expert Jamie Wheal takes our existential metacrisis head on, asking and often answering the biggest questions we, the human race, face today. “How do we do this human thing with our heads up and our hearts open and not get crushed by the tragedies and absurdities of it all?” “How can we tune into the wisdom, the transpersonal heights?” More than inspirational, this conversation is like an infusion of the energetic, coherent, transpersonal potential of human beings. Guaranteed, you won’t see things the same way after listening. Recorded on September 15, 2021.

                                                                  Jamie Wheal is the author of Recapture the Rapture: Rethinking God, Sex and Death In a World That's Lost Its Mind and the global bestseller Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work. He’s also the founder of the Flow Genome Project, an international organization dedicated to the research and training of human performance. Jamie’s work and ideas have been covered in The New York Times, Financial Times, Wired, Entrepreneur, Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Inc., and TED. Jamie has spoken at Stanford University, MIT, the Harvard Club, Imperial College, Singularity University, the U.S. Naval War College and Special Operations Command, Sandhurst Royal Military Academy, the Bohemian Club, and the United Nations.

                                                                  Topics & Timestamps - Part 1

                                                                  • Getting off the grid not to survive but to thrive (01:52)
                                                                  • Facing the challenges of our time is a cycle: remaining open, learning to fall gracefully, maintaining center (03:25)
                                                                  • Jamie’s practices, the 4 M’s: Music, Mountains, Mushrooms, Marriage (09:02)
                                                                  • The beautiful American, antinomian, mystical tradition (10:32)
                                                                  • Who throughout history really got “into the pudding”? (13:55)
                                                                  • Jamie’s dark night of the soul (16:52) 
                                                                  • The psychedelic renaissance, reconciling repeat transformations, and the question “How much do we change, really?” (20:20)
                                                                  • Our mythic lives vs our biographic lives (22:24) 
                                                                  • The universal agenda and Chris Bache’s LSD and the Mind of the Universe (24:06)
                                                                  • The “information layer” that comes from Source; baffling precision along with evidence of the trickster (27:25) 
                                                                  • Wrestling with the existential situation using the mountaineer’s “risk triangle” (30:30) 
                                                                  • The only question we should be addressing: Can we get onto an S curve of a renewable, sustainable, and equitable economy? (32:05) 
                                                                  • How can we use peak experiences? How can we tune into our highest, best life? Hedonic engineering (36:48)
                                                                  • How to create a flywheel effect: practice daily, weekly, monthly, seasonally, annually (40:36) 
                                                                  • The Ten Suggestions (vs The Ten Commandments): An update (43:15)
                                                                  • The false certainty of the newly converted (46:46)
                                                                  • Recultivating the elements of mystery and the trickster of the divine (47:41)
                                                                  • The weak link: after opening consistently to mystical states...what do you do Monday morning? (Stabilization of states to traits) (48:19)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                  • Jamie Wheal, Stealing Fire*
                                                                  • Jamie Wheal, Recapture the Rapture*
                                                                  • George Leonard, Mastery, The Way of Aikido*
                                                                  • Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now*
                                                                  • Jamie Wheal’s The Flow Genome Project
                                                                  • Howard Thurman, The Living Wisdom of Howard Thurman*
                                                                  • Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter, The Merry Pranksters, Tom Wolfe
                                                                  • Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedish theologian, scientist, philosopher & mystic
                                                                  • William Blake, poet, painter, mystic
                                                                  • The Book of Enoch, ancient Hebrew text
                                                                  • The angel Metatron
                                                                  • Kurt Fisher, author, neuroscience and education researcher at Harvard
                                                                  • The Constructive Developmental approach, Kegan and Kohlberg
                                                                  • Chris Bache, LSD and the Mind of the Universe*
                                                                  • Ed Viesturs, No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World’s 14 Highest Peaks*
                                                                  • The Bhagavad Gita
                                                                  • Rober Anton Wilson, hedonic engineering
                                                                  • Suzuki Roshi, “Each of you is perfect the way you are…”
                                                                  • Mircea Eliade, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy*
                                                                  • Susanne Cook-Greuter’s ego development stages*
                                                                  • Ramakrishna, Hindu mystic and spiritual leader
                                                                  • John Lilly, neuroscientist, psychoanalyst, psychonaut, philosopher, writer, and inventor
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>55e61e08-57ca-4afb-9f11-2f690d55e6f0Thu, 20 Jan 2022 00:10:00 -040053:17truefull33Ep. 3 (Part 1 of 2) | “How do we do this human thing with our heads up and our hearts open and not get crushed by the tragedies and absurdities of it all?” “How can we tune into the wisdom, the transpersonal heights?” In this riveting, mind opening (and bending) conversation, philosopher and peak performance expert Jamie Wheal takes our existential metacrisis head on, asking and often answering the biggest questions we, the human race, face today. More than inspirational, this conversation is like an infusion of the energetic, coherent, transpersonal potential of human beings. Guaranteed, you won’t see things the same way after listening. Recorded on September 15, 2021.Jeff Salzman: Polarization, Being Woke, the Universal Agenda, Mindfulness Going Bad & the Integral Vision (Part 2)Ep. 2 (Part 2 of 2) | A candid conversation with endearing, brilliant, and optimistic Integral pundit Jeff Salzman of The Daily Evolver podcast, ranging from global current events to personal spiritual turning points. This talk delves into culture wars, polarization, discernment versus condemnation, how our psychological development determines political attitudes and values, and how Integral perspectives help us understand them all.

                                                                  Jeff Salzman is a current events junkie who delights in interpreting emerging politics and culture through a lens of consciousness evolution, presented in his lively and informative podcast, The Daily Evolver. For three years, Jeff worked with Ken Wilber in developing the Integral Institute and their historic seminars on integral application in business, psychology, and spirituality. Jeff is also on the board of philosopher Steve McIntosh’s think tank, The Institute for Cultural Evolution, and co-founder of CareerTrack Training, an adult education company. A long-time practitioner in several spiritual traditions, Jeff has taught meditation and led many retreats. He has a master’s degree in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism from Naropa University.

                                                                  Topics & Timestamps - Part 2

                                                                  • Afghanistan best case scenario and Integral fundamentalism (00:52)
                                                                  • All fear drops in the new developmental tier (03:38)
                                                                  • On integrating multiple perspectives; cultivating discernment and fostering acceptance simultaneously (05:32)
                                                                  • How mindfulness practice can go bad (10:52)
                                                                  • Peter Levine and somatic releasing: spiritual practice alone doesn’t do it (13:04)
                                                                  • Finding God, faith, a don’t know space, 2nd person practice (13:47)
                                                                  • On being in the zone and Ken Wilber’s early flow days (24:21)
                                                                  • The practice of remembering God (27:12)
                                                                  • Making friends with death (31:36)
                                                                  • How Ken Wilber’s Integral illuminates reality (33:17)
                                                                  • Current metatheories and the developmental lens (39:08)
                                                                  • One’s own suffering becomes a portal into the suffering of others: the Bodhisattva aspiration (46:51)
                                                                  • Physical body, energetic body, spiritual body (51:11)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                  • Carl Jung, Psychology and Religion: West and East, Vol II*
                                                                  • Dan Lawton, When Buddhism Goes Bad
                                                                  • Peter Levine, Waking the Tiger*
                                                                  • Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled*
                                                                  • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow*
                                                                  • Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass*
                                                                  • Rabbi Meshulam Zusha of Anapoli
                                                                  • Critical realism
                                                                  • Edgar Morin, Complexity Theory*
                                                                  • Jeff Salzman’s The Daily Evolver podcast
                                                                  • Jeff Salzman’s The Post-Progressive Post podcast
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 2 (Part 2 of 2) | A candid conversation with endearing, brilliant, and optimistic Integral pundit Jeff Salzman of The Daily Evolver podcast, ranging from global current events to personal spiritual turning points. This talk delves into culture wars, polarization, discernment versus condemnation, how our psychological development determines political attitudes and values, and how Integral perspectives help us understand them all.

                                                                  Jeff Salzman is a current events junkie who delights in interpreting emerging politics and culture through a lens of consciousness evolution, presented in his lively and informative podcast, The Daily Evolver. For three years, Jeff worked with Ken Wilber in developing the Integral Institute and their historic seminars on integral application in business, psychology, and spirituality. Jeff is also on the board of philosopher Steve McIntosh’s think tank, The Institute for Cultural Evolution, and co-founder of CareerTrack Training, an adult education company. A long-time practitioner in several spiritual traditions, Jeff has taught meditation and led many retreats. He has a master’s degree in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism from Naropa University.

                                                                  Topics & Timestamps - Part 2

                                                                  • Afghanistan best case scenario and Integral fundamentalism (00:52)
                                                                  • All fear drops in the new developmental tier (03:38)
                                                                  • On integrating multiple perspectives; cultivating discernment and fostering acceptance simultaneously (05:32)
                                                                  • How mindfulness practice can go bad (10:52)
                                                                  • Peter Levine and somatic releasing: spiritual practice alone doesn’t do it (13:04)
                                                                  • Finding God, faith, a don’t know space, 2nd person practice (13:47)
                                                                  • On being in the zone and Ken Wilber’s early flow days (24:21)
                                                                  • The practice of remembering God (27:12)
                                                                  • Making friends with death (31:36)
                                                                  • How Ken Wilber’s Integral illuminates reality (33:17)
                                                                  • Current metatheories and the developmental lens (39:08)
                                                                  • One’s own suffering becomes a portal into the suffering of others: the Bodhisattva aspiration (46:51)
                                                                  • Physical body, energetic body, spiritual body (51:11)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 2

                                                                  • Carl Jung, Psychology and Religion: West and East, Vol II*
                                                                  • Dan Lawton, When Buddhism Goes Bad
                                                                  • Peter Levine, Waking the Tiger*
                                                                  • Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled*
                                                                  • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow*
                                                                  • Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass*
                                                                  • Rabbi Meshulam Zusha of Anapoli
                                                                  • Critical realism
                                                                  • Edgar Morin, Complexity Theory*
                                                                  • Jeff Salzman’s The Daily Evolver podcast
                                                                  • Jeff Salzman’s The Post-Progressive Post podcast
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>1be8c994-2757-4897-bef6-c957aed34040Thu, 20 Jan 2022 00:05:00 -040057:15truefull22Ep. 2 (Part 2 of 2) | Culture wars, polarization, discernment versus condemnation, how our psychological development determines political attitudes and values, and how Integral perspectives help us understand them all. A candid conversation, ranging from global current events to personal spiritual turning points, with endearing, brilliant, and optimistic Integral pundit Jeff Salzman. Recorded on September 2, 2021.Jeff Salzman: Polarization, Being Woke, the Universal Agenda, Mindfulness Going Bad & the Integral VisionEp. 1 (Part 1 of 2) | A candid conversation with endearing, brilliant, and optimistic Integral pundit Jeff Salzman of The Daily Evolver podcast, ranging from global current events to personal spiritual turning points. This talk delves into culture wars, polarization, discernment versus condemnation, how our psychological development determines political attitudes and values, and how Integral perspectives help us understand them all.

                                                                  Jeff Salzman is a current events junkie who delights in interpreting emerging politics and culture through a lens of consciousness evolution, presented in his lively and informative podcast, The Daily Evolver. For three years, Jeff worked with Ken Wilber in developing the Integral Institute and their historic seminars on integral application in business, psychology, and spirituality. Jeff is also on the board of philosopher Steve McIntosh’s think tank, The Institute for Cultural Evolution, and co-founder of CareerTrack Training, an adult education company. A long-time practitioner in several spiritual traditions, Jeff has taught meditation and led many retreats. He has a master’s degree in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism from Naropa University.

                                                                  Topics & Timestamps - Part 1

                                                                  • Bringing Integral theory, big-picture, deep-picture, multiple perspectives to current events: that’s Jeff! (03:59)
                                                                  • Stages of development and how culture wars & our current polarization is necessary for our evolution (09:00)
                                                                  • Our individual cosmic address, integrating stages of consciousness, the mythic self, and the new tier emerging from post-modernity (10:55)
                                                                  • Jeff’s own life stages — the tribal stage, the red f*** you phase, modern Jeff vs. traditional Jeff vs. postmodern Jeff and how Integral can make all of it work for all of us (13:58)
                                                                  • MAGAstan vs. Woke-astan (21:39)
                                                                  • Traditionalists, modernists, and postmodernists dysfunctional sides: welcome to evolution (28:35)
                                                                  • The agenda of the universe (40:55)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                  • Jeff Salzman’s The Daily Evolver podcast
                                                                  • Jeff Salzman’s The Post-Progressive Post podcast
                                                                  • Ken Wilber, One Taste*
                                                                  • Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead*
                                                                  • Fifth studio album by English rock band Yes, Close to the Edge*
                                                                  • Ken Wilber, Up from Eden*
                                                                  • Joseph Campbell, The Hero’s Journey*
                                                                  • Clare Graves, the Sensitive Self, adult developmental stages psychologist foundational to Spiral Dynamics
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>Ep. 1 (Part 1 of 2) | A candid conversation with endearing, brilliant, and optimistic Integral pundit Jeff Salzman of The Daily Evolver podcast, ranging from global current events to personal spiritual turning points. This talk delves into culture wars, polarization, discernment versus condemnation, how our psychological development determines political attitudes and values, and how Integral perspectives help us understand them all.

                                                                  Jeff Salzman is a current events junkie who delights in interpreting emerging politics and culture through a lens of consciousness evolution, presented in his lively and informative podcast, The Daily Evolver. For three years, Jeff worked with Ken Wilber in developing the Integral Institute and their historic seminars on integral application in business, psychology, and spirituality. Jeff is also on the board of philosopher Steve McIntosh’s think tank, The Institute for Cultural Evolution, and co-founder of CareerTrack Training, an adult education company. A long-time practitioner in several spiritual traditions, Jeff has taught meditation and led many retreats. He has a master’s degree in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism from Naropa University.

                                                                  Topics & Timestamps - Part 1

                                                                  • Bringing Integral theory, big-picture, deep-picture, multiple perspectives to current events: that’s Jeff! (03:59)
                                                                  • Stages of development and how culture wars & our current polarization is necessary for our evolution (09:00)
                                                                  • Our individual cosmic address, integrating stages of consciousness, the mythic self, and the new tier emerging from post-modernity (10:55)
                                                                  • Jeff’s own life stages — the tribal stage, the red f*** you phase, modern Jeff vs. traditional Jeff vs. postmodern Jeff and how Integral can make all of it work for all of us (13:58)
                                                                  • MAGAstan vs. Woke-astan (21:39)
                                                                  • Traditionalists, modernists, and postmodernists dysfunctional sides: welcome to evolution (28:35)
                                                                  • The agenda of the universe (40:55)
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  Resources & References - Part 1

                                                                  • Jeff Salzman’s The Daily Evolver podcast
                                                                  • Jeff Salzman’s The Post-Progressive Post podcast
                                                                  • Ken Wilber, One Taste*
                                                                  • Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead*
                                                                  • Fifth studio album by English rock band Yes, Close to the Edge*
                                                                  • Ken Wilber, Up from Eden*
                                                                  • Joseph Campbell, The Hero’s Journey*
                                                                  • Clare Graves, the Sensitive Self, adult developmental stages psychologist foundational to Spiral Dynamics
                                                                  
                                                                  

                                                                  * As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

                                                                  Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

                                                                  Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

                                                                  ]]>aea19de0-7d55-4e30-847a-faf920396a5dThu, 20 Jan 2022 00:00:00 -040042:14truefull11Ep. 1 (Part 1 of 2) | Culture wars, polarization, discernment versus condemnation, how our psychological development determines political attitudes and values, and how Integral perspectives help us understand them all. A candid conversation, ranging from global current events to personal spiritual turning points, with endearing, brilliant, and optimistic Integral pundit Jeff Salzman.Welcome to the Deep Transformation Podcast!Visit our website deeptransformation.io to learn more.
                                                                  ]]>Visit our website deeptransformation.io to learn more.
                                                                  ]]>84684e0a-2feb-4af0-8b16-400bca75964aThu, 30 Dec 2021 05:00:00 -040001:30falsetrailer