Buddha At The Gas Pump

Born in Wales, I emigrated with my parents and 4 siblings to NZ in 1962. Educated in Wellington completing an honours degree in philosophy and teacher training. Taught in a variety of special education positions until retiring. Politically active in teachers' union, Labour Party, and the Greens. My wife is Sue Middleton (Emeritus Prof Education), our only child daughter Kate is married with 3 sons. She founded the Reading Revolution charity in NZ. I worked with Men's groups, used various psychotherapy modalities, including doing a year of Primal Therapy in Los Angeles which led to more formal trading in Gestalt Therapy that precipitated ongoing profound experiences and transformations that ignited pilgrimage journeys to India and Bhutan. Also, involvement in Vipassana and other meditation methods confirmed the nature of the processes that have overtaken me and delivered me into the sacred world. Concepts such as Karma, transcendence, synchronicity, reincarnation, rebirth, pure consciousness energy, and indi

Robin Aisha Landsong is a Transformational Speaker, Visual Artist, Medicine Singer, and Medical/Health Intuitive. She had two Near-Death Experiences during the Rhodesian War in 1977 when she was eight years old. When she was called back to life by the Medicine Song of a rural Zimbabwean woman it opened her intuition and her own Medicine Songs. She has had the privilege to give Singing Medicine to over 14,000 people. Her specialty areas as Shamanic Craniosacral Therapist are trauma resolution, understanding illness, and healing injury. She sees inside each person their gifts and strengths as well as the underlying cause of their physical, emotional, or spiritual distress. She helps people restore the natural rhythms in their bodies for their greatest health. She loves to help people integrate their own Near-Death Experiences. She has helped thousands of people regain their sense of wholeness, creativity, intuition, embodiment, self-confidence, and mindfulness in the present moment. Website: robinlandsong.com

Sally Kempton is a deeply practiced teacher of meditation and spiritual philosophy, and the author of the books Meditation for the Love of It and Awakening Shakti: as well as the audio course Doorways to the Infinite, recently put out by Sounds True. A former swami in the Saraswati order of India, she has been practicing and teaching devotional contemplative tantra for more than 40 years. Her teaching is powerfully sourced in the eastern meditative traditions of yoga and Kashmir Shaivism, yet highly contemporary in her focus on evolutionary practice. She offers a powerful transmission of meditative experience. Books: Meditation for the Love of It Beginning Meditation Awakening Shakti: The Transformative Power of the Goddesses of Yoga Shakti Meditations Doorways to the Infinite: The Art and Practice of Tantric Meditation (audio program) Website: sallykempton.com First BatGap interview with Sally Sally Kempton in panel discussion on Kashmir Shaivism Discussion of this interview in the BatGap

Dorothy Hunt serves as Spiritual Director of Moon Mountain Sangha, teaching at the request of Adyashanti.  She is the founder of the San Francisco Center for Meditation and Psychotherapy and has practiced psychotherapy since 1967. She is the author of Leaves from Moon Mountain, Only This!, and Ending the Search: From Spiritual Ambition to the Heart of Awareness. A contributing author to The Sacred Mirror, and Listening from the Heart of Silence: Nondual Wisdom and Psychotherapy, Dorothy is also a featured spiritual teacher in the book, Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Wisdom: The Feminine Face of Awakening. Dorothy has a long and deep connection to the teachings of Ramana Maharshi and the path of Self-Inquiry, as well as the nondual teachings of Zen, Advaita, and the Christian mystics.  In meeting Adyashanti, she was invited beyond identification with either the absolute or relative, finding freedom in what is awake in each of us regardless of the changing faces of experience. Dorothy offers satsang, retreats,

Lars Muhl is a Danish author, mystic, and musician, born in Aarhus, Denmark in 1950. Already as a 10-year-old, Lars Muhl had experienced glimpses of another reality. The shock following the sudden death of his younger sister, caused painful kundalini-like experiences, giving access to the ethereal worlds and a hypersensitive insight into other people’s pain. This lasted for three years. A turning point came when Lars was 15 and received a book anonymously in the post. Hazrat Inayat Khan’s ‘Gayan Vadan Nirtan’ became the start of a lifelong esoteric study. Like Paulo Coelho, Lars was for many years a successful singer/songwriter who, concurrently with his music, studied the world’s religions and esoteric knowledge. Then in 1996, he was struck down by an unexplained illness, which neither doctors nor alternative therapists could diagnose. For three years he lay in bed without being able to move or think straight. Through a close friend’s intervention, Lars was put in touch with a seer who, via the telephone

Chris Beal discovered Buddhism as an exchange student in Japan in the 1960s. Given her determination, she was sure she would succeed in getting enlightened. But enthusiasm doesn't always guarantee success, and she went home disappointed, depressed and demoralized. Thirteen years later, after a spontaneous awakening, she contacted the priest who had been her main teacher in Japan and began a six-year connection which deepened her understanding of what she had realized. Meanwhile, she sought a spiritual path in the States but found nothing that spoke to her as deeply as her first teacher had until she met Adyashanti twenty years ago. After almost a decade of absorbing his teachings, she found the realization gradually deepening on its own. Chris enjoys writing about spirituality and spiritual awakening. Her writing includes numerous published book reviews, author interviews, and articles, She is currently seeking publication of her novel, ENLIGHTENMENT OF THE FLESH, in which the main character's dilemma refl

Donald Hoffman received a Ph.D. from MIT and is a Professor of Cognitive Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. He is an author of over 120 scientific papers and three books, including The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes. He received a Distinguished Scientific Award of the American Psychological Association for early career research, the Rustum Roy Award of The Chopra Foundation, and the Troland Research Award of the US National Academy of Sciences. His writing has appeared in Scientific American, New Scientist, LA Review of Books, and Edge, and his work has been featured in Wired, Quanta, The Atlantic, Ars Technica, National Public Radio, Discover Magazine, and Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman. He has a TED Talk titled “Do we see reality as it is?” Website Other book: Visual Intelligence: How We Create What We See Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group. Transcript of this interview. Interview recorded May 9, 2020 Video

Proud to be born in India as a Hindu, I will be sad if I die merely a Hindu. Convinced very early in life that all boundaries are artificially created and tend to hinder the growth of the spirit, I ended up studying at post-doctoral level Physics, Philosophy, and Religion at various universities and later teaching as a professor in these fields. Wishing to correspond to the transformational teachings of several great spiritual luminaries, especially of Krishna, Buddha, Christ, and Patañjali and of present-day masters Krishnamurti and Gurdjieff, I am interested in the actual journey of self-transformation and experiencing the inevitable shifts of focus of energy along the way. Website: ravindra.ca Books: The Gospel of John in the Light of Indian Mysticism The Bhagavad Gita: A Guide to Navigating the Battle of Life The Pilgrim Soul: A Path to the Sacred Transcending World Religions Heart Without Measure: Gurdjieff Work with Madame de Salzmann The Wisdom of Patañjali's Yoga Sutras: A New Translation

Bayo Akomolafe (Ph.D.) considers his most sacred work to be learning how to be with his daughter and son, Alethea Aanya, and Kyah Jayden - and their mother, his wife, and "life-nectar", Ijeoma. "To learn the importance of insignificance" is the way he frames a desire to reacquaint himself with a world that is irretrievably entangled, preposterously alive, and completely partial. Bayo was born in 1983 into a Christian home, and to Yoruba parents in western Nigeria. Losing his diplomat father to a sudden heart complication, Bayo became a reclusive teenager, seeking to get to the "heart of the matter" as a response to his painful loss. He sought to apply himself to the extremes of his social conditioning, his faith, and his eventual training as a clinical psychologist - only to find that something else beyond articulation was tugging at his sleeves, wanting to be noticed. After meeting with traditional healers as part of his quest to understand trauma, mental wellbeing, and healing in new ways, his deep questio

An opinion leader and public speaker, Stephen G. Post, Ph.D. (University of Chicago, 1983) is the best-selling lead author of Why Good Things Happen to Good People: How to Live a Longer, Healthier, Happier Life by the Simple Act of Giving. He has been quoted in more than 4,000 newspapers and magazines and featured on numerous television shows including The Daily Show. Described by Martin E.P. Seligman in Flourish as one of “the stars of positive psychology,” Post is a leader in research on the benefits of giving and on compassionate care in relation to improved patient outcomes and clinician well-being. He addressed the U.S. Congress on volunteerism and health, receiving the Congressional Certificate of Special Recognition for Outstanding Achievement. Post was co-recipient (2012) with Edmund D. Pellegrino MD of the Pioneer Medal for Outstanding Leadership in HealthCare from the HealthCare Chaplaincy Network, and the Kama Book Award in Medical Humanities from World Literacy Canada (2008). His book The Moral C

HeatherAsh Amara is the Warrior Goddess Mama and creatrix of The Warrior Heart practice. She is dedicated to inspiring depth, creativity, and joy by sharing the most potent tools from a variety of world traditions. Raised in Southeast Asia, HeatherAsh has traveled the world from childhood and is continually inspired by the diversity and beauty of human expression and experience. She brings this open-hearted, inclusive worldview to her writings and teachings. HeatherAsh is the author of numerous books, including the bestselling: Warrior Goddess Training: Become the Woman You Are Meant to Be, Warrior Goddess Wisdom: Daily Inspiration for Women (Warrior Goddess Training), The Seven Secrets to Healthy, Happy Relationships (with don Miguel Ruiz Jr.), and Warrior Heart Practice Website: warriorgoddess.com Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group. Transcript of this interview Interview recorded April 10, 2020. Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast. YouTu

Meditation asks, “Who am I?” Therapy asks, “How do I heal and become happier?” Purpose work addresses the question, “Where do I belong in the ecology of life?” Purpose guiding breaks the spell of our default purposes of safety, security, comfort and outward success, and orients us towards our true purpose, which is to embody our unique calling within. When we all have the opportunity to live our calling, we can support our collective true purpose: to become co-creators of our species’ evolution. We may, thus, give birth to more beauty, truth, and goodness into the world. Jonathan Gustin, M.A, MFT, is the founder of Purpose Guides Institute. He guides people to find and embody their life’s purpose, as well as trains those who want to become Purpose Guides themselves. Jonathan has been a psychotherapist, meditation teacher, and Purpose Guide for over 20 years. He is an adjunct professor at JFK University and co-author of Purpose Rising: A Global Movement of Transformation and Meaning with Ken Wilber, Erwin

Cynthia Jurs is a Tibetan Buddhist lama and a Dharmacharya in the Order of Interbeing of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh whose source of refuge and spiritual inspiration is Mother Earth; Gaia. In 1990, she made a life-changing pilgrimage to meet the hermit and meditation master, Kushok Mangden Charok Rinpoche, a 106-year-old lama living in a remote cave in Nepal from whom she received the practice of the Earth Treasure Vases when she asked him, “What can we do to bring healing and protection to the Earth?” For thirty years, Cynthia has been building a global community committed to planetary healing and collective awakening in partnership with elders and activists around the world. Cynthia teaches an innovative blend of engaged Buddhism and sacred activism through the Earth Treasure Vase Global Healing Project, the Open Way Sangha in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the international Gaia Mandala Community. Through her nonprofit, Alliance for the Earth, Cynthia has worked with former combatants and the women who stopped

Peter journeyed to India in 1970 and spent time with Ram Dass and his guru, Neem Karoli Baba, eventually traveling to the Himalayan foothills to live briefly with Gangotri Baba, a disciple of Babaji. He also had transcendent experiences with Anandamayi Ma and other saints. Later he traveled to Tibet and Egypt but did not find his true path until Sathya Sai Baba instructed him to meditate on the I AM—which leads to the True Self. Returning from the East, the Ascended Master Saint Germain materialized before him in Muir Woods near San Francisco and told him to go to Mount Shasta, where he would meet the teacher who would prepare him to work with the Masters in their quest to help humanity. This teacher was Pearl Dorris, a former assistant to Godfre Ray King, author of "Unveiled Mysteries". Vowing to accomplish the training that was offered, he went through years of instruction, initiation, and adventures at the hands of the Masters, who occasionally appeared in physical form. These adventures are described in

Clare Dubois is the founder and CEO of TreeSisters.org, a global women's movement spanning over 200 countries, that has collectively funded the planting of over 25 million trees. TreeSisters is a social change movement and a tropical reforestation organization working towards normalizing cultural reciprocity with nature. The aim of both Clare and TreeSisters is to make it as normal to give back to nature as it currently is to take nature for granted while supporting humanity in its transition from a consumer species to a restorer species. Before founding TreeSisters, Clare worked internationally for over two decades, coaching business leaders and facilitating group behavior change processes in multiple sectors. Known for her direct, catalytic energy, her inspirational speaking and her holistic approach to collective transformation, Clare is a walking invitation to anyone ready to step up and step in on behalf of the planet. Short, informative videos: "Waking Up" (mentioned by Clare in the interview) How

Zaya Benazzo is a filmmaker from Bulgaria with degrees in engineering, environmental science, and film. For many years, she worked as an environmental activist in Holland and Bulgaria, and later produced and directed several award-winning documentaries in Europe and the United States. Maurizio Benazzo grew up in Italy, and in 1984 came to the United States on a ninety-eight-year-old sailing boat. He started working as an actor, model, and filmmaker, but his thirst for knowledge was only satisfied in 2001 upon encountering I Am That, the seminal work by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, while he was in India shooting the award-winning documentary Short Cut To Nirvana. Maurizio and Zaya 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: Science and Nonduality (SAND)—a global community i

ON A MISSION: TEACHING THE POWER OF LOVE & FORGIVENESS Rev. Bill’s life has been a spiritual journey, spanning slightly over 7 decades. His whole life has been a mystical trip in search of gurus, the paranormal, and self-discovery. He has written about his many spiritually transformative experiences and “near-death-experiences” including supernatural events during his combat tour of duty in the Vietnam War. In his books, he has shared some incredible spiritual events that are beyond both common understanding or explanation. His autobiography “Warrior: A Spiritual Odyssey” takes us on a life quest for love, understanding, forgiveness, and enlightenment. His follow-up book “Alchemy of a Warrior's Heart" continues that mystical journey including four trips to India for even more profound experiences with holy men, miracles and his personal relationship with the Divine. What he knows for sure after all these years is that the only thing that is truly real is LOVE. He is an author, an award-winning poet, intern

Roger Walsh MD., Ph.D. DHL graduated from Queensland University with degrees in psychology, physiology, neuroscience, and medicine, came to the United States as a Fulbright scholar, and is currently a professor of psychiatry, philosophy, anthropology, and religious studies at the University of California. His research interests include psychological health and wellbeing, virtues such as love and wisdom, practices such as meditation that foster them, and the psychological roots of our current social and global challenges. Roger’s books include Paths Beyond Ego, The World of Shamanism, and Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind, and he recently edited the modestly titled volume, The World's Great Wisdom. His research and writings have received over twenty national and international awards. He was formerly a circus acrobat, held world records in trampolining and high diving, and recently graduated from the San Francisco Comedy College and had an extremely brief and unsuccessful

Isira brings a deep understanding of Indigenous, ancient and universal wisdom. She bridges the gap between the overwhelming challenges we face in the world today and our spiritual journey. As a powerful advocate for conscious change, Isira is highly engaged in today's social issues. Her enlightened commentary assists us to navigate the divisive worlds of politics, climate change, mental health and beyond. Books: Awakening You: Embodying Peace, Love and Freedom on Earth Buddha on the Dance Floor Website: isira.com Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group. Transcript of this interview Second interview with Isira Interview recorded February 7, 2020. Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast. YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction and Welcome 00:04:06 - Perception of the World 00:08:22 - Indigenous Mindset and Modern Human Mindset 00:12:31 - The Interconnection of All Things and the Dance of Life 00:17:32 - A Traumatic Experience o

Diane Hennacy Powell, M.D. is a Johns Hopkins-trained psychiatrist, therapist, neuroscientist, and public speaker. She develops multidisciplinary theories towards understanding psychological anomalies, such as savant skills and verified accounts of spacetime navigation. Her current research focuses on controlled testing of autistic savants and children reported to be telepathic and/or precognitive by their caregivers. Dr. Powell has been on the faculty at Harvard Medical School, a member of a think tank on human consciousness at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, and Director of Research for the John E. Mack Institute. Her investigation into the neurocorrelates of ESP is discussed in her 2008 book The ESP Enigma: The Scientific Case for Psychic Phenomena, and in Seriously Strange: Thinking Anew about Psychical Experiences. Dr. Powell is also an expert on PTSD and created the psychiatry program for Survivors of Torture, International in San Diego, California. She was the principal author of IONS The