Buddha At The Gas Pump

A conversation with the hosts of the Conspirituality Podcast website. As they describe it, their podcast is... A weekly study of converging right-wing conspiracy theories and faux-progressive wellness utopianism. At best, the conspirituality movement attacks public health efforts in times of crisis. At worst, it fronts and recruits for the fever-dream of QAnon. As the alt-right and New Age horseshoe toward each other in a blur of disinformation, clear discourse and good intentions get smothered. Charismatic influencers exploit their followers by co-opting conspiracy theories on a spectrum of intensity ranging from vaccines to child trafficking. In the process, spiritual beliefs that have nurtured creativity and meaning are transforming into memes of a quickly-globalizing paranoia. Conspirituality Podcast attempts to bring understanding to this landscape. A journalist, a cult researcher, and a philosophical skeptic discuss the stories, cognitive dissonances, and cultic dynamics tearing through the yoga, we

Ingrid Honkala, Ph.D., was born in Bogota, Colombia, where she grew up with her parents and three sisters. From the moment she drowned in a tank of cold water at the age of nearly three, Ingrid was aware of other dimensions of life than those most of us normally experience. She was also gifted with the wise input of “Beings of Light” who gave her invaluable insights and assistance as she faced the challenges of growing up, falling in love, and finding her professional destiny as a research scientist and oceanographer. Despite many hardships, she accomplished her dreams, becoming not just a successful marine scientist, world traveler, and mom, but also a mentor and a giver of light. Through her compelling life adventure that journeys from her native Colombia to Europe and her eventual home in the United States — and from a deadly war zone to underwater explorations and a NASA research center — Ingrid reveals how any human experience can be illumined from within. If we are willing to pay attention to subtle si

This interview was recorded on October 9, 2020, as part of an online conference on "Living and Dying" offered by the Science and Nonduality Conference. The conference has finished, but you may sign up to access all of its content. Rick Hanson, Ph.D. is a psychologist, Senior Fellow of UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, and New York Times best-selling author. His free weekly newsletter has 180,000 subscribers and his online programs have scholarships available for those with financial needs. His books have been published in 29 languages with 900,000 copies in English alone and include: Neurodharma: New Science, Ancient Wisdom, and Seven Practices of the Highest Happiness Resilient: How to Grow an Unshakable Core of Calm, Strength, and Happiness Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom Just One Thing: Developing a Buddha Brain One Simple Practice at a Time Mother Nurture: A Mo

Dean Radin, PhD, is Chief Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) and Associated Distinguished Professor of Integral and Transpersonal Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). He occasionally gives lectures in the Department of Psychology at Sonoma State University and has served on doctoral dissertation committees at Saybrook University and CIIS. His original career track as a concert violinist shifted into science after earning a BSEE degree in electrical engineering, magna cum laude with honors in physics, from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and then an MS in electrical engineering and a PhD in psychology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. For a decade he worked on advanced telecommunications R&D at AT&T Bell Laboratories and GTE Laboratories. For three decades he has been engaged in frontiers research on the nature of consciousness. Before joining the research staff at IONS in 2001, he held appointments at Princeton University, University o

Swami Sarvapriyananda has been Minister and Spiritual Leader of the Vedanta Society of New York since January 2017. He was a Nagral Fellow at Harvard Divinity School during the 2019-20 academic year. Prior to this, he served as assistant minister of the Vedanta Society of Southern California for 13 months. Swami joined the Ramakrishna Math and Mission in 1994 and received Sannyas in 2004. Before coming to serve in the US, he served as an acharya (teacher) of the monastic probationers’ training center at Belur Math in West Bengal, India (the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission founded by Swami Vivekananda, the chief disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa). He has served the Ramakrishna Math and Mission in various capacities including being the Vice Principal of the Deoghar Vidyapith Higher Secondary School, Principal of the Shikshana Mandira Teacher Education College at Belur Math, and the first Registrar of the Vivekananda University at Belur Math. This conversation hosted by the Association for Sp

Asil Toksal is an Austrian-born channel. His work includes group energy alignment sessions and the channeling of celestial guides, as well as working on the energetic alignment of sacred sites around the world. The goal of this work is to assist in the evolution of consciousness in humanity. He has traveled widely to do this work, throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. For the past eighteen years, Asil has been deeply committed to a spiritual path while also training in a variety of different energy healing modalities. He has worked with many masters and lineage holders of various traditions in South America, North America, and China. In his earlier years, he also served as a CEO and corporate executive in software, marketing, and communications. Five years ago, during a moment of deep spiritual experience, Asil connected for the first time to the channeled angelic guides and energies that he works with today. He was offered the opportunity to work closely with these guides, but he

Dr. James Cooke is a neuroscientist, writer, and speaker, whose work focuses on consciousness, with a particular interest in meditative and psychedelic states.  He studied Experimental Psychology and Neuroscience at Oxford University and is passionate about exploring the relationship between science and spirituality.  He writes for RealitySandwich.com and is the host of the podcast Living Mirrors with Dr. James Cooke, which can be found on his YouTube channel.  He splits his time between London and the mountains of Portugal where he is building a retreat centre, The Surrender Homestead, @TheSurrenderHomestead on Instagram.  Find him @DrJamesCooke on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, or at DrJamesCooke.com. Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group. Transcript of this interview. Interview recorded October 17, 2020 Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast. YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump 00:04:34 - The Paradox of Bli

Tricia Barker experienced a profound near-death experience during her senior year of college, and this experience guided her to teach overseas, in public schools, and at the college level. Her story has been featured on Life to Afterlife: Death and Back, National Geographic Magazine, Women’s World Magazine, Coast to Coast AM, and The Doctor Oz Show. Tricia’s memoir, Angels in the OR: What Dying Taught Me About Healing, Survival, and Transformation is also available through Audible. This book tells a story of her near-death experience, teaching mission, and eventual triumph over childhood trauma. The book focuses on the importance being of service to the world. A screenplay is in the works for her story. Tricia is a graduate of The University of Texas. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College. Currently, she teaches English and Creative Writing at a beautiful community college in Fort Worth, Texas. She interviews other near-death experiencers, researchers, healers, spiritual teachers, an

After earning a degree in Social Work in Germany, Gabrielle worked for several years with mentally disadvantaged children and coma patients. Her responsibilities included providing guidance as a life counselor for her clients and their families. Today, Reverend Gabrielle Orr is a certified Akashic Record Teacher and Consultant, Healing Touch Practitioner, Reiki Master, Body Talk Practitioner, EFT Practitioner, Massage Therapist, and Feng Shui Consultant. ​She has been teaching Akashic Record Classes and Retreats internationally since 2002 and focuses on inspiring and uplifting others as a motivational speaker and spiritual guide. Website: gabrielleorr.com Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group. Transcript of this interview. Interview recorded September 26, 2020. Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast. YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump 00:03:00 - The Interactive Nature of the Akashic Records 00:06:14 - The

Elizabeth Anne Hill's spiritual journey began in October 2002 with the death of her identical twin sister, Catherine Mary Hill, in an on-duty vehicle accident as a United States Border Patrol Agent along the U.S./Mexico border. Before Cathy died, she had learned about a grand spiritual awakening taking place across the planet, which she tried to share with her twin, with no success. After Cathy’s death, Elizabeth began to have contact with her in dreams and through many psychic mediums. She discovered that she and Catherine had come in as social change agents and that they had made a pact to work together to deliver this important information to the world. Catherine assisted Elizabeth in writing her first book, Twin Souls: A Message of Hope for the new Millennium. Through this process, Elizabeth developed strong intuitive gifts and a connection with the non-physical realms. In 2008, during a session with a group of spirit guides via trance channel Glenna Dietrich, Elizabeth was told about a project they wo

Paul Muller-Ortega, Ph.D., the founder of Blue Throat Yoga, is an internationally recognized meditation teacher, and one of the world’s most highly respected academic scholars in the field of Indian Religion and Hindu Tantra. In this interview, he discusses his work on the Blue Throat Yoga tradition, his views on the nature of reality, and his insights into the process of spiritual awakening. He also talks about his experiences with psychedelics, his thoughts on the role of gurus, and his advice for those who are interested in pursuing a spiritual path. Paul is passionate and devoted to teaching students how to access their truest Self, and to offer the knowledge base to understand and support that experience. He has led hundreds of meditation retreats, offered a vast array of study courses, translated and provided commentary on many of the most inspired sacred texts of the Śaiva-Śākta tradition, and has personally trained over 40 Ācāryas as Authorized Teachers of Neelakantha Meditation. Paul is uniquely

Terrence is an Australian born teacher and guide of Non-Duality. Like us all, Terrence had his own personal back ‘story’ (a ‘me’) which included sexual abuse as a child, living in a dysfunctional and broken family followed by drug addiction, divorce, depression, and anxiety with suicidal thoughts. He has also been a student and chief instructor in the art of Kung Fu for most of his life, a professional singer-songwriter-musician, and has also run several successful companies as a director. During his journey, he consulted various psychologists and therapists and pursued a variety of spiritual paths and self-help groups. Nothing seemed to relieve the deep-seated experience of separation and isolation. Then one day in 1986 he chanced to meet Sailor Bob Adamson who had settled in Melbourne following his 12 months with Nisargadatta Maharaj in Bombay. Here, Terrence gained an intellectual understanding of Non-Duality. However, it was many years later that his sense of self (me) finally collapsed. What resulted

Helen Hamilton is a spiritual teacher based in West Yorkshire, in the north of England, and is a mother of four. After struggling through her own awakening several years ago Helen was driven by the urge to simplify awakening for all beings and to share the essential pointings that allow us to overcome common challenges along the path to freedom. Helen's teaching style is direct and uncompromising in its insistence that we already are what we are searching for and yet encompasses compassion and wisdom to help us dissolve our ego with love and understanding. She teaches worldwide and holds regular Satsangs and other events. Books: Dissolving The Ego The Story of I Reality Check: A Simple Guide to Final Enlightenment Website: helenhamilton.org Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group. Transcript of this interview. Interview recorded August 29, 2020 Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast. YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction to the Interv

Dr. Iain McGilchrist is a Quondam Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, an Associate Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford, a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and former Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Director at the Bethlem Royal & Maudsley Hospital, London. He has been a Research Fellow in neuroimaging at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore. He has published original articles and research papers in a wide range of publications on topics in literature, philosophy, medicine, and psychiatry. He is the author of a number of books but is best known for The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World, and is currently working on a book of epistemology and ontology. He lives on the Isle of Skye and has two daughters and a son. Websites: iainmcgilchrist.com channelmcgilchrist.com YouTube Channel Facebook Page Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group. Transcript of this interview. Int

This interview was recorded May 15, 2020, as part of an online conference entitled "Wisdom in Times of Crisis" offered by the Science and Nonduality Conference, held May 17-23, entitled Wisdom in Times of Crisis. The conference has finished, but you may sign up to access all of its content. Scott Kiloby is an author and international speaker on mindfulness and addiction recovery. Scott is also the founder and director of the Kiloby Center for Recovery. After twenty years of addiction to drugs and alcohol, Scott began to develop Natural Rest for Addiction which has helped people all over the world confront the root of their addiction, anxiety, and depression. Scott was the COO of MyLife Recovery which held the patent on the naltrexone implant. Scott also developed an app that acts as an interface between pain management doctors and their patients to decrease the likelihood of addiction. The app also protects doctors legally from claims of negligence arising out of opiate overdoses. Originally from southern

Diana Durham is a British/American poet and writer who draws on archetype to explore our identity. She's a poet, writer, and documentary film producer who, following a degree in English Literature from University College, London, took the ‘path less traveled’ and became involved in an intentional community in England, the United States, and Canada. In the early 1990’s she was among a grouping who began to explore dialogue and collective intelligence with the late theoretical physicist David Bohm. Her most recent book Coherent Self, Coherent World: A New Synthesis Of Myth, Metaphysics & Bohm's Implicate Order explores how our thinking becomes coherent when our ‘personality self’ is in a meaningful relationship with a deeper, more intuitive quality of awareness and identity. And it also traces how, when we are disconnected from this intuitive source, our thinking becomes incoherent leading to problematic outcomes. The work grew out of her deep study of the Arthurian and Grail Myths, explored in her former no

As a contemplative practitioner and clinical psychologist, James Finley helps seekers who desire to live a contemplative, whole life. Drawing from his experience as a former monk and spiritual directee of Thomas Merton, Jim offers trustworthy guidance for the spiritual journey through his website, online courses, occasional retreats, and the Center for Action and Contemplation where he serves as a core faculty member of The Living School for Action and Contemplation with Cynthia Bourgeault and Richard Rohr. Jim is the author of several books, including: Merton's Palace of Nowhere, The Contemplative Heart, and Christian Meditation: Experiencing the Presence of God. James's podcast, Turning to the Mystics is for people searching for something more meaningful, intimate, and richly present in the divine gift of their lives. A clinical psychologist, James offers a modern take on the historical contemplative practices of Christian mystics like Teresa of Avila and Thomas Merton. Leaning into their experience

Andrew Hewson is a contemporary spiritual teacher whose focus is on the realization of the Presence of Divinity as one’s fundamental Source and Self. Emphasizing transcendence as a process that can not only be undergone in the midst of daily living but even facilitated by it, Andrew speaks from the experiential reality of having been carried by the Grace of total transformation in the context of daily life. Growing up in the Southeastern United States, Andrew’s childhood was characterized by a state of lightness, freedom, and underlying connection.  This effortless Way of Being was taken as an unspoken given until an intense qualitative shift took place in his early teens. The condition which once prevailed progressively became replaced by an acute sense of separation, limitation, and lack, leaving little room for functional participation in the common activities of human life.  With this radical drop into apparent fragmentation, Andrew began to seek relief wherever possible. This seeking eventually led to t

Louise Kay was born in Lancashire, in the northwest of The UK. After graduating from university she worked as an English teacher for 15 years, and during this time began to question the deeper meaning of life. This led her to the path of spirituality, where she found a strong resonance with the teachings of non-duality. In her early thirties, Louise felt a deep call in her heart to visit India, where she experienced a profound spiritual awakening. Shortly afterward Louise began channeling and traveled around the world sharing this gift for several years. During this time she experienced a deepening and integration of her initial spiritual awakening and as she opened more to this non-dual truth the channeling faded away and a new form of expression revealed itself from deep in her heart. Louise now holds group events and retreats around the world and offers Embodied Awareness private sessions. Her passion is to sit together in presence and hold gentle, unconditionally loving space for all emotions, all sensa

Mark Pitstick, MA, DC, has over forty-seven years’ experience and training in hospitals, pastoral counseling settings, mental health centers, and private practice. His training includes a premedical degree, graduate theology/pastoral counseling studies, master's in clinical psychology, and doctorate in chiropractic health care.  He also has provided suicide prevention counseling and education to many people. Mark became aware of clairaudient experiences at age ten and has since been blessed with numerous miracles, revelatory, and spiritually transformative experiences. After working in hospitals with many suffering and dying adults and children, he was motivated to find sensible, evidence-based answers to the questions that many people ask: “Who am I?  Why am I here?  What happens after I die?  Will I see my departed loved ones again?  Is there a God?  If so, why is there so much suffering? and How can I best live during this brief earthly experience?” His books, documentary film, CDs, and experiential wor