Buddha At The Gas Pump

I was born 11-11-69 into a nonpracticing Jewish family where the subject of spirituality never came up. So when I discovered an intense spiritual yearning within myself at the age of nineteen, I was completely on my own. After graduating from Towson University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and Philosophy in 1994, I had become an avid practitioner of meditation and contemplation of the nature of Reality. As a solitary practitioner, I found my path to be an oscillation of understanding the Nondual view of Dzogchen and experiencing nonordinary events that expanded my understanding of the classic out-of-body experience, astral realm, and the Bardos. The first book of the Trilogy titled "Reality Explained" centers on the peak period of my spiritual journey just after returning home from a weeklong meditation retreat at the world-renowned ‘Monroe Institute’. I had been home less than a week after attending one of their advanced programs when without warning I began to have profound Visions while

At the early age of eight, Irma Francis experienced what she now calls a soul remembrance.  In this experience, a loving presence spoke. “You have a choice to remember your connection to your true self; if you choose not to remember, you will come to believe the persona of a conditioned self and how the world will try to define you. Whatever you choose will decide your destiny in this lifetime.” She chose to remember. Even though life has continually challenged her to forget, she has remained committed to that choice. Irma continued to have transcendent experiences that were not sought but came as spontaneously and naturally as her first awakening. It took her a lifetime to integrate the absolute truth that she understood via her soul remembrance with the relative facts commonly experienced by humanity. Today, Irma understands there are no spiritual bypasses; we are all affected by the human condition and must find ways to merge our psychological selves with our spiritual selves. Her journey has been mystic

Emma Bragdon received her Ph.D. in Transpersonal Psychology in 1987. For more than 40 years she has focused on supporting people awakening spiritually, paying special attention to those in spiritual crisis/ emergency. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Integrative Mental Health for You, IMHU.org, which offers 40+ online courses about effective alternatives to psychiatric medications. Emma has trained 80 Spiritual Emergence Coaches® from 14 countries who are now available through an international online Directory.  While intensely studying and participating in Brazilian Spiritism from 2001-2012, she wrote 3 books and co-produced two documentary films about Spiritist treatment of mental disturbance and spiritual emergency.  Emma has been recognized for her pioneering work with Spiritually Transformative Experiences as an Honoree on the Spiritual Awakenings International “Circle of Honor” and within the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology’s “Council of Sages”.  She was licensed as a Marriage, Family,

Selbie makes the complex and obscure simple and clear. He is known for creating bridges of understanding between the modern evidence-based discoveries of science and the ancient experience-based discoveries of the mystics. A dedicated meditator for nearly fifty years, he has taught yoga, meditation, and universal experiential spirituality throughout the US and Europe. He has also been an avid follower of the unfolding new paradigm of post-materialist science—with groaning bookshelves to show for it. Selbie has authored The Physics of God, a unification of science and religion, and The Yugas, a factual look at India’s tradition of cyclical history. Selbie is a founding member of Ananda—a meditation-based community and spiritual movement inspired by Paramhansa Yogananda. He lives with his wife at Ananda Village near Nevada City, California. Books: The Yugas: Keys to Understanding Our Hidden Past, Emerging Energy Age and Enlightened Future - Today's view of history cannot account for ancient anomalies, such

Selbie makes the complex and obscure simple and clear. He is known for creating bridges of understanding between the modern evidence-based discoveries of science and the ancient experience-based discoveries of the mystics. A dedicated meditator for nearly fifty years, he has taught yoga, meditation, and universal experiential spirituality throughout the US and Europe. He has also been an avid follower of the unfolding new paradigm of post-materialist science—with groaning bookshelves to show for it. Selbie has authored The Physics of God, a unification of science and religion, and The Yugas, a factual look at India’s tradition of cyclical history. Selbie is a founding member of Ananda—a meditation-based community and spiritual movement inspired by Paramhansa Yogananda. He lives with his wife at Ananda Village near Nevada City, California. Books: The Physics of God: How the Deepest Theories of Science Explain Religion and How the Deepest Truths of Religion Explain Science - "The explanations of transcenden

I came across the writings of a well-known Indian guru in my early twenties and thus began a twenty-five-year odyssey that would uproot me from my normal life and see me living in ashrams and committed spiritual communities around the world. The answers I sought were not easy to find, however, and the promises made by the teachers in whom I placed my trust were rarely kept. Exhausted and disillusioned I left my last teacher and abandoned spiritual life in 2004, and during the intense and all-consuming crisis that followed I finally realized the truth of my own unchanging nature beyond the personal identity. The questions that had haunted me for so long dissolved and I was astonished to find that all seeking had ceased. Over time the shift of identity stabilized and became normalized and permanent. Grateful and content with what I saw as a private internal matter I rarely spoke or thought about spirituality and for the next fifteen or so years focused instead on my long-neglected art career. I began to establ

William Peters, MFT, is the founder of the Shared Crossing Project whose mission is to positively transform relationships to death and dying through education and raising awareness about shared crossings and their healing benefits. As the director of the Shared Crossing Research Initiative (SCRI), William and his team collect and study extraordinary end-of-life experiences (shared crossings).  William is a global leader in shared death studies and end-of-life phenomena. He has developed methods to facilitate the shared death experience and to assist experiencers in meaningfully integrating their experiences. William is a psychotherapist at the Family Therapy Institute of Santa Barbara where he specializes in end-of-life counseling as a means toward psycho-spiritual evolution. He served as a hospice worker with Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco.  His work is informed by his two NDEs and a variety of shared crossings. William has presented at the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine’s Annual C

Lauren Robertson is a lifelong psychic medium who has conducted over 15,000 sittings and public demonstrations globally in a career spanning two decades. She is the author of The Medium in Manolos: A Life-Affirming Guide to Modern Mediumship, published by Hay House, and The Art and Science of Mediumship on Substack. Lauren graduated with honors from the University of Glasgow where she studied English Literature and Philosophy specializing in consciousness studies. Website: laurenrobertson.co.uk The Art and Science of Mediumship Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group. Transcript of this interview. Interview recorded January 29, 2022. Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast. YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump with Rick Archer 00:04:29 - Differentiating Psychic and Mediumistic Work 00:08:45 - Finding a Job as a Medium 00:12:30 - Overcoming Adversity and Pursuing Education 00:16:09 - Rethinking Selfhood a

EDWARD F. KELLY is currently a Professor in the Division of Perceptual Studies (DOPS) at the University of Virginia. He received his Ph.D. in psycholinguistics and cognitive science from Harvard in 1971, and spent the next 15-plus years working mainly in parapsychology, initially at J. B. Rhine’s Institute for Parapsychology, then for ten years through the Department of Electrical Engineering at Duke, and finally through a private research institute in Chapel Hill. Between 1988 and 2002 he worked with a large neuroscience group at UNC-Chapel Hill, mainly carrying out EEG and fMRI studies of human somatosensory cortical adaptation to natural tactile stimuli. He returned full-time to psychical research in 2002, serving as lead author of Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century (2007), Beyond Physicalism: Toward Reconciliation of Science and Spirituality (2015), and Consciousness Unbound: Liberating Mind from the Tyranny of Materialism - (2021), all published by Rowman & Littlefield. He is now

Gail Brenner, Ph.D. is a psychologist, author, speaker, and lover of the nondual teaching with a fire that burns brightly. She is an expert in healing from early trauma and brings to this work years of experience with individuals and groups. Her work lovingly illuminates our everyday humanness with the deepest spiritual truths, and she is known for creating the safe space needed for inner exploration. Gail has special expertise working with older adults and their families in the transitions of aging, death, and dying. She was an assistant clinical professor at the University of California San Francisco where she trained physicians and maintained a clinical practice. She has published numerous professional articles on coping with stress and chronic medical illness and is the author of the award-winning The End of Self-Help: Discovering Peace and Happiness Right at the Heart of Your Messy, Scary, Brilliant Life and Suffering Is Optional: A Spiritual Guide to Freedom from Self-Judgment and Feelings of Inadequac

In January 2015, my mind experienced a huge shift, where I perceived everything as God. In that experience, I had what felt like, a download of knowledge or understanding of the truth. I also felt an inner voice telling me that there was more to be revealed and understood, so I continued to give time to silence so that more could be illuminated. Over the following six months, my mind experienced many deeper understandings, and the teachings of A Course in Miracles were linked up in my mind in a way that I could express them to other students, which seemed to be helpful. From that inner illumination, I have kept vigilance to ensure that no false ideas enter my mind and distort truth to any student. I was guided to start an online group and share what was illuminated, to anyone that would like to hear.  My main teaching is that our brother is holy and innocent... and in that perception, our mind heals of its belief in sin, guilt, and fear. I teach others how to apply this "Christ Blessing" to all brothers as a

Dr. Betty J. Kovacs’ understanding of consciousness and spirituality is based on both scholarly research and symbolic, visionary experience.  In fact, she has written two books concerning these subjects.  Her first book is about her family’s profound visionary experiences surrounding multiple deaths in their family.  Her second book relates to our ancestors’ experience of a vaster consciousness, Cosmic/Christ Consciousness. Within a three-year period, Dr. Kovacs experienced the deaths of her mother, her son, and her husband in separate automobile accidents.  While she had studied shamanism before her son’s accident, she and her husband actually experienced their son’s consciousness after his death for an extended period of time.  These experiences completely changed their lives.  Her first book, The Miracle of Death: There Is Nothing But Life, is about these altered states of consciousness.  After her retirement, she began an intensified period of research into our ancestors’ experience of a vaster conscious

Father Nathan Castle graduated from Trinity University in San Antonio and entered the Dominican order in 1979. He received MA and MDiv degrees from the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, California. He was Director of the Catholic Communities at Stanford University and Arizona State University. He believes the Holy Spirit has given him a “night job” of helping souls who died suddenly and violently find afterlife peace. He is the author of: And Toto, Too:: The Wizard of Oz as a Spiritual Adventure Afterlife, Interrupted: Helping Stuck Souls Cross Over—A Catholic Priest Explores the Interrupted Death Experience Afterlife, Interrupted Book Two: Helping Souls Cross Over Website: nathan-castle.com Transcript of this interview. Interview recorded December 11, 2021 Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast. YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump Interview 00:04:32 - A Horrible Piece of Art 00:08:28 - Pre-life Planning and Pu

Nipun Mehta is the founder of ServiceSpace, a global community at the intersection of technology, volunteerism, and the gift economy. Most recently, ServiceSpace's pandemic response has showcased the unique beauty of its global ecosystem. Nipun has catalyzed a global social movement of community builders grounded in their localities and rooted in practices for cultivating love, nonviolence, selfless service, and compassion. The ecosystem has reached millions, attracted thousands of volunteers, and mushroomed into numerous community-based service projects as well as inspiring content portals. ServiceSpace harnesses the collective power of networks and our deeper interconnectedness to create a distributed social movement founded on small, local individual acts of kindness, generosity, and service that ignite shifts in individual and collective consciousness. Nipun was honored as an "unsung hero of compassion" by the Dalai Lama, not long before former U.S. President Obama appointed him to a council for addressin

Colin was born in a staunch protestant family into the war-torn east end of London in the aftermath of WWII, where austerity and food-rationing were the norms. At the age of 11 he was sent to a Methodist boarding school and from there went to Sheffield University. So, by his early twenties finding himself in Earls Court, West London, in the late 60s when the ‘hippie revolution' was in full swing he was fully ready to break out of the narrow confines that had dogged his life up until then. He discovered the power of high dose LSD to break the barrier between the subconscious and conscious allowing decades of religious (and social) conditioning to pour out, leaving him feeling totally cleansed as if his brain had been truly washed!  He also experimented with mescalin having read Aldous Huxley’s ‘The Doors of Perception’ and had many experiences which felt deeply spiritual in nature including ‘sitting’ above his body for hours and observing the world (and the body itself) from this vantage point. It was this tha

Philip Goldberg has been studying the world’s spiritual traditions for more than 50 years, as a practitioner, teacher, and author. He trained as a Transcendental Meditation teacher with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1970 and later became an ordained Interfaith Minister and spiritual counselor. As a public speaker and workshop leader, he has lectured and taught at major venues throughout the U.S. and India. As a professional writer, his articles and blogs have appeared in numerous print and online publications, and he has authored or co-authored more than 25 books, including an upcoming novel and such celebrated nonfiction as: The Intuitive Edge: Understanding Intuition and Applying it in Everyday Life; Roadsigns: On the Spiritual Path--Living at the Heart of Paradox; the award-winning American Veda: From Emerson and the Beatles to Yoga and Meditation How Indian Spirituality Changed the West; the seminal biography The Life of Yogananda: The Story of the Yogi Who Became the First Modern Guru; and his late

Babaji Bob Kindler is the Spiritual Director of the Sarada Ramakrishna Vivekananda (SRV) Associations since 1993 with teaching centers on the Big Island of Hawaii and Portland, Oregon, USA. Babaji teaches Vedanta, Yoga, Sankhya, and other philosophical systems of Truth with an emphasis on learning to live a divine life and the attainment of direct spiritual experience.  He holds a twin spiritual heritage via initiation into the Ramakrishna lineage (Vedanta) and Kagyu Tibetan Buddhism.  Editor of Nectar of Non-Dual Truth, A Journal of Universal Religious and Philosophical Teachings, he is also the author of over a dozen books on spiritual topics, including Dissolving the Mindstream A Quintessential Yoga Vasishtha Twenty-Four Aspects of Mother Kali Footfalls of the Indian Rishis: Charting the Timeless Wisdom of Mother India   Babaji’s spiritual discourses can be found on YouTube, Livestream, and on the official SRV Associations website. Online and residential retreats are listed here. Email sub

Rhonda Byrne is the creator of The Secret, a documentary film that swept the world in 2006, changing millions of lives and igniting a global movement. Her follow-up book, also entitled The Secret, became a worldwide bestseller, translated into more than 50 languages. Rhonda has since released another five bestselling books covering such topics as the power of love, gratitude, the law of attraction, and the hero’s journey to success. Her latest and most important book to date, The Greatest Secret, is a quantum leap that takes the reader beyond the material and helps them discover who they truly are. Rhonda also served as a producer on the inspirational 2020 family movie, The Secret: Dare to Dream, based on her book The Secret. The film stars Katie Holmes, Josh Lucas, and Jerry O’Connell. For more information on Rhonda and her work, visit thesecret.tv. Rhonda holds live Q&As from time to time on Facebook and Instagram. Past ones are archived here. Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Faceboo

Aging into Awakening Connie Zweig, Ph.D., is a retired therapist, co-author of Meeting the Shadow: The Hidden Power of the Dark Side of Human Nature and Romancing the Shadow: A Guide to Soul Work for a Vital, Authentic Life, author of Meeting the Shadow of Spirituality, and a novel, A Moth to the Flame: The Story of the Great Sufi Poet Rumi. Her new book, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul, 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. Website: conniezweig.com Email: conniezweig@gmail.com Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group. Transcript of this interview. Interview recorded October 22, 2021. Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast. YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - In

Stephen Wright works as a spiritual director and trustee for the Sacred Space Foundation (SSF). Before this, he had a long and distinguished nursing career in the National Health Service and academia, the Royal College of Nursing, and as a consultant to the WHO. He gathered a few glittering prizes along the way. Then his personal and professional life took an about-turn over 35 years ago through a series of life-changing spiritual experiences. Consequently, he developed an interest in spiritual matters and the connection with wellbeing, and cofounded the SSF, to support those in spiritual crisis. He was made an Honorary Fellow of the University of Cumbria in 2013 for his work connecting spirituality and health. Three books explore the nature of healing relationships: Therapeutic Touch: Theory and Practice; Sacred Space: Right Relationship and Spirituality in Healthcare; and Reflections on Spirituality and Health. Coming Home: Notes for the Journey is a personal and scholarly account of spiritual awak