Explore Preparing for Solar Eclipse 2024, Pisces, & the Promise of Rebirth — insights from Science & Spirituality with Vedic Astrologer and Ayurvedic physician Dhyana Bonnet

https://www.dhyanabohnet.com/about/dh...

*. Guest Bio

Dhyana Bonnet - Holistic Wellness Educator and Practitioner

Dhyana offers Ayurveda consultations and pulse assessment (Nadi Vignanam). Dhyana loves helping her clients find immediate, intermediate and long term solutions to their health and wellbeing needs. She integrates many holistic modalities, cultivated and woven, embraced and explored since the late 1970s.

https://www.dhyanabohnet.com/about/dh...

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Like us on Facebook: / / potentialparadigms
Follow us on Instagram: / / potentialparadigms
Website: / https://potentialparadigms.com/blog/f...
Learn More:

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00:00 Welcoming and Introduction

03:18 The Significance of Ayurveda and Vedic Astrology in Understanding Celestial Events

04:24 The Vedic Perspective on Experiencing Eclipses

08:18 Eclipse, Shadow Planets (Rahu & Ketu) & Karma

20:23 The Zodiac and Its Role in Astrology

20:56 What is the Zodiac?

23:32 The Auspicious Nature of the Current Eclipse in Pisces

25:27 Mercury Retrograde and Its Effects

29:33 The Mythological and Cosmic Significance of Eclipses

30:03 Exploring the Cosmic Perspective

30:22 The Engineering View on Cosmic Events

31:41 The Healing Potential of Cosmic Movements

32:09 Cosmic Events and Earthly Changes

34:54 The Spiritual Experience of Eclipses

37:08 Nature's Response to Cosmic Phenomena

39:06 Changing Times - Magnetoperception and study of UFO's

40:22 Tips for Solar Eclipse

46:01 Yogic Chakras and Planets (Nava Grahas)

48:55 Embracing the Cosmic Shift: A Time for Healing and Rebirth

55:00 Music of the Spheres and Plato - Solar Eclipse

56:00 Thank You

Chapters

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* Summary:

How are the calendar, time and cultural rituals tied to celestial cycles and patterns? Kenan and Joshua journey across philosophical traditions and ancient astronomical views to unveil surprising connections between humanity's chronology and cosmology.

A fascinating podcast conversation between Aubrey Marcus and Matias De Stefanos titled "Manifestation Not Working" sparked Kenan's curiosity into exploring how the calendar and cultural rituals connect with natural cycles and manifestation capacities.

Listening into origins of words like calendar and hour unveils how early cultures sought to map nature's tempo. But modern disconnections from organic rhythms disturb manifestation capacities. Reclaiming localized, ethical calendars tied to sun, moon and Earth may require remembering wisdoms etched into our lexicon...wisdoms that can inspire once again living joyfully within the cosmos we inhabit.

* Key Topics/Words Explored:

Calendar - calends, taxation origins, lunar/solar rhythms

Time - measuring duration, cut up eternity

Etymology - search for origins and stability

Cycles - circadian, seasons, gestation, agriculture

Resonance - consonance, harmony, fractals, holograms

Nature - baseline rhythms, sun, moon, medicine

Traditions - Islamic calls, Vedic meters, astrology

Culture - rituals, food, calendar ceremonies

Technology - printing press, science vs alchemy

Reverence - stewardship, caring beyond self

* Learn More

https://potentialparadigms.com/blog/uncategorized/playofwords/

*Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

03:00 Exploring the Etymology of Etymology

05:29 Inspiration: Calendar, Cycles, and Rituals

08:57 Humanity's Alignment with Time and Nature

13:07 Monocultures and Calendars

18:08 Etymology: Dividing or Measuring Time

23:27 Etymology: "Harmony" & Fractal Nature of Reality

33:48 Cosmos: Indra's Net and Aphrodite's Tapestry

39:23 Views, Perspectives, Discernment, "Metis"

43:17 Days of the Week

46:06 Conclusion: The Importance of Reverence and Stewardship

This episode was inspired by an episode at the Aubrey Marcus Podcast titled, ' Manifestation Not Working? Follow These Guidelines w/ Matias De Stefano ' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxY2LyFJRpA

This podcast's themes are like Aubrey Marcus Podcast, Deja Blu podcast, Andre Duqum's Know Thyself podcast, Beer Biceps Podcast by Ranveer allahbadia, Lakshman Joo Academy and Igor Kufayev.

https://www.youtube.com/@UCZFGJ12q6-Jxg7f7-ov3PUA

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC604SM0YhltEKZ5hmDs_Gqw

https://www.youtube.com/@UCOFr2M0innfMCzpMeMQ7zNw

https://www.youtube.com/@UC604SM0YhltEKZ5hmDs_Gqw

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** Description

Welcome to a Play of Words podcast series, where we explore the hidden meaning of words using the pathways of language, theology, spirituality, philosophy, culture and much more. I'm your host, Kenan, and I have a love for etymology and philosophy and science.

And for this episode I have the pleasure of having with me my dear friend, Joshua Beneventi as a co-host, for episode four of this series. Joshua has a background in anthropology and has a love of philosophy and languages. He speaks around five, if not more languages, including Arabic and Portuguese and studies Sanskrit and has even interfaced with Japanese!

** Word this week

So for this week the word that we felt inspired to explore was primarily Dharma and that led us to the word throne. We started to do some detective work on these words and we stumbled across an entire constellation of words, which was invigorating, in terms of seeing the parallels between the word throne and Dharma and other very powerful mystical,, words in various languages, such as the Arabic word ‘Arsh’ or Throne. ** Submit a word or feedback So I hope that the audience finds this enlightening and inspires them to do their own detective and homework on these. Words of common parlance - that is our goal here - that we become educated users of language, which is a spell which we use to morph our perception. So with that being said, we look forward to the comments or any words you like to explore.

* Chapters

:00 Dhāraṇā to Dharma: The Throne of Eternal Law

00:05 Introduction and Guest Introduction

01:33 Exploring the Word 'Dharma'

03:13 Dharma in Different Cultures and Languages

05:31 Dharma in the Context of Yoga and Life

07:00 Dharma in the Bhagavad Gita and Buddhism

08:16 Dharma in Zoroastrianism and Latin

09:26 The Connection Between Dharma and Throne

19:06 Exploring the Word 'Throne'

21:15 Throne in Different Cultures and Languages

25:25 The Connection Between Throne and Dharma

37:16 Conclusion: The Interplay of Dharma and Throne

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* Guest Bio and Links

Yasuhiko Genku Kimura is an expert in facilitating such a leap and transformation through the innovative use of the Zen-inspired Socratic method designed to produce breakthrough thought and insight.

Website: https://genkuworld.com/

Courses: https://genkuworld.com/genkucourses/

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/DOGENKU

Yasuhiko Genku Kimura is a philosopher, independent scholar, former ordained Zen Buddhist priest, consultant and advisor to leaders in business, science, and cultural organizations. Over a quarter century he has developed and delivered hundreds of innovative, custom-made individual and corporate transformational programs.

Mr. Kimura has been called “a philosopher of change” by his peers and acknowledged as one of the most original and visionary thinkers and theorists in the field of integral philosophy. He is recognized for his ability to integrate advanced Western scientific thought with the intuitive wisdom of Eastern philosophic traditions to bring about profound change in the way in which people be and think.

* Episode Mentions and Summary

https://potentialparadigms.com/blog/episodes/the-art-of-spiritual-imagination-a-visionarys-guide-to-humanitys-quantum-shift/

* Description

Welcome to a very special episode of Potential Paradigms. This episode is about the future of humanity and the apocalyptic crisis that we as a civilization find ourselves in today.

So for this episode, I have the honor of having with me visionary philosopher Yasuhiko Kimura who caught sense of the tremors of the transformation we find ourselves in today for over 30 years. He's also known as the philosopher of change, and rightly so, as he has been exploring the future of human spirituality and what society could look like for over three decades. Yasuhiko Has had a profound personal journey, starting with a cosmic epiphany at the age of 16 where he caught glimpses of what the future of human spirituality would look like. And this inspired him to study comparative mysticism. And since then, he has been teaching all over the world and has written books on ethics, science and consciousness

In our wide ranging conversations.

Yasuhiko we shared insights. On the coming shift in consciousness, which will shift our civilization from merely being focused on information gathering, to cultivating our spiritual gifts of intuition, imagination, and creativity. He also believes that people coming together to form local communities of governance in what he calls Synergic Panarchies, holds tremendous potential as the current systems of governance retire and dismantle.

* Chapters and Timepoints

03:38 Introduction

03:49 A cosmic epiphany of Man's Spiritual Future

19:25 Three Fold Model of Learning - Information, metaformation, and transformation

28:50 Articulation of Spiritual Epiphanys or Downloads

33:22 Poetry and Logic of the Infinite and Eternal

37:15 True Sovereignty and Guru Disciple relationship

42:39 Christ Consciousness - An Evolutionary

48:15 Levels of consciousness and encyclopedic knowledge

51:00 After Enligthenment — Liberation to Wonderment

54:34 Chaos to Cosmos — Fear and Exploration

01:02:19 Trauma, Big Government and Sleep

01:12:44 Self Sustaining Local Communities — Seeds of New Paradigms

01:22:29 Importance of becoming Transparadigmatic

01:27:25 Intuition & imagination: Unlocking Spiritual Development

01:43:04 Creating a new world through Absolute affirmation

01:51:16 Thank you

01:51:46 Connecting with Yasuhiko Kimura

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*. Introduction

Welcome friends. Today, the topic of our conversation is the nuanced subject of authenticity, which usually refers to being your own self, the word Authenticity comes from the Greek word Authentikos, which refers to principle, original, and genuine. For most of us, authenticity is a long nuanced journey of self discovery. So it gives me great pleasure today to introduce to you a dear friend of mine, Adam Bulbulia, who has written a book on this subject titled, Authenticity, the Immense Power to Be Yourself, which is now also available on Amazon. *. Guest Biography: Adam Bulbulia is an author, Board Certified Behavioral Analyst, and experienced Process Coach who has dedicated years to studying human behavior, empathy, and unconditional love. He has worked extensively with individuals, business owners, and families for over 20 years. He is a seasoned expert in the field of autism and has worked with hundreds of developmentally disabled youth and adults. Authenticity: The Immense Power To Be Yourself is his third published book. Bulbulia is the founder and owner of Bridging Worlds Behavioral Services, and the founder and president of the non-profit Heart Centered Revolutions.

* . Website

https://heartcenteredrevolutions.org/

*. Book

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Authenticity-Immense-Power-Be-Yourself/dp/B0CHLKQVPZ/ One of the things that I like about this book is how Adam approaches authenticity through multiple pathways and exploring its connections with things like creativity, nature, relationships, the workplace, livelihood, leadership, death, and even the miraculous. This book has several exercises and games for the reader, which will allow them to get in touch with their own authenticity. And there are several powerful stories that allows one to relate with what does it feel like to live an authentic life. So I hope that you'll get a hold of this book and if you do read this book then please leave us a review and let us know in the comments what you felt.

Timepoints or Chapters:

00:00 Introduction 03:37 Introduction 03:53 Authenticity and its Nuances 07:20 Origins of word, 'Authenticity' 09:08 Authority vs Authenticity 10:53 Enthusiasm and Authenticity 11:36 A world that works for everyone 13:47 Authentic Parenting & Manners 18:57 Play and Authenticity 20:56 Societal Norms, Suppression of Feelings and Authenticity 29:26 Authenticity and creativity 30:58 Cults, Cultures & Authenticity 35:56 Cancel Culture & Seeds of War 38:00 Gypsy's and Authenticity 39:29 Fear, Politeness & Counter Culture 42:23 Heros and Autheticity 48:27 The miraculous and authenticity 58:07 Death, the ultimate teacher of authenticity 01:07:46 Intuitive Intelligence in Children 01:26:57 Authentic Romance 01:33:34 Revolution of the Heart 01:36:30 Authenticity in a Company 01:37:30 Authentic Leaders 01:41:11 Thank You

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This is a recent panel discussion that potential paradigms organized with Consciousness Hacking San Diego. It's no surprise to you that artificial intelligence is a big theme right now in the collective. We are all concerned and perhaps also excited about the potentials of artificial intelligence. so there are so many discussions happening on YouTube and on the television, so why t his panel discussion and why watch it. So my simple answer would be that we didn't have any billion dollar ceo. and politicians and our investors, , in this panel. So the conversation was very grounded and conscentious, , and also very creative. So if you're still watching this, let me quickly tell you about the panel .

Panelist

Dr. Robert Twomey, Artist/Engineer, Arthur C Clarke Center, UCSD An artist and engineer who has been working , for more than a decade on the intersection of machine. And, , human perception as to how new technologies, including AI and beyond ai, when they come and cohabitate with humans, , what are the implications of that? What are the unknowns? , And so , when I heard Robert, , I was really blown away by his insights that didn't seem to be present in the mainstream. * Ted Kyi, Engineer, Organizer: Machine Learning San Diego Meetup Ted, Kyi. Ted, Is a senior vice president of a technology company and he also leads an incredible , community group known as, , San Diego Machine Learning. And, , there is no fluff about him. He really grounds the conversation with his background in this tech. So that's a panel.

Organizers

I'm one of the people who helped organize this panel together as Potential Paradigms along with my friend Zach Prager, who is a technologist and, , leads, the San Diego Consciousness Hacking Group. that. Explores, , the use of technology for human well-being. -

Questions

So some of the questions , , were, , can AI be used as a collaborator? What are the motivations behind AI and human collaboration? Is there [00:03:00] any influence of big money on ai? Of course not. , . Are we projecting our meaning and biases onto ai? Is the current AI based on technologies of plagiarism? What are the new paradigms that are going to emerge from these new technologies? Is there more value of human made art now than before , will AI eliminate jobs? what is the impact of AI on the new creator's economy ? Is there such a thing as AI literacy? Do we need regulation of ai, , and how do we summon, , the unknown both in art and also using this new medium of artificial intelligence? , why do new technologies spark a sense of terror in us? So this was a list of some of the questions. So I hope that you really, , enjoy this and learned something from this. At least that was my attempt, and I think that this was an enlightening conversation. And more important than not, I would really like to learn from the comments. , please make sure to like this video and subscribe to the channel if you can. I appreciate it and, , thank you so much.

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etymology #words #spirituality #spelling #dictionary Description:

Hello, friends. Welcome. I hope that this message finds you all so today I'm excited to share with you. A new series of videos that I'm making called a Play of Words. And this comes from my longstanding passion about looking at the meaning of words, their history, and what their true origins are. And the reason for this is often we use words that we have inherited, we learned as children, and those that we absorb from our culture and the country we live in. So more often than not, we don't really know the real meaning of the words we even use. So wouldn't it actually be nice to know the intention and the real meaning of a word that we use? I hope that you would agree. So there are many ways to look at the true origins and meanings of Word. And in this particular series, I will be exploring with my guests who study languages or speak multiple languages or study music philosophy. Et cetera, to come together and look at, the deeper roots of language.

Guest Biography

Chaise Levy is a father, husband, teacher, and storyteller in the oral tradition. He is profoundly committed to the power of image, story, and magic as great gifts for the griefs of our time. Chaise's work with story centers reckoning with ancestral legacies of both blessing and harm, nourishing the imagination as a partner for liberation, and feeding this wild-wonderful earth with eloquence. chaiselevy.com northernspirithouse.substack.com Longer Description: One way to look at the history or [00:01:00] origin of word is to look at their etymology at their history. And we might find that a word is actually connected to the ancient Greek language or to Latin or the ancient language of India called Sanskrit or Arabic for that matter. And not just that, but that these different. Historical pathways intermingle with each other and are connected. So as we look at them, we become aware of the true reasons and intents behind the creation of a word and how over time new intentions emerged, new cultural movements, propaganda and other things affect the meaning that we collectively associate with a word. So this alone is fascinating, but at the same time, there are other dimensions of language, for instance, The dimension of language mysticism or sound mysticism, what that means is that if you didn't know the language that I was speaking right now, words would just be sounds to your ears. But if you knew the language that I was speaking, then each word would create an image in your mind, [00:02:00] would trigger different thoughts and different images, and will thus create a magical reality for you. And it is no surprise that words like grammar and spelling are actually connected to words like spell, Which means to morph, to change your perception, so in fact, when we speak language, we are casting spells in a way. And when we hear languages, spells are being cast. So wouldn't it be nice that we became conscious of what was the reality that we were creating through the sounds that we're producing and through the sounds that we're hearing? Wouldn't this be very useful if you are hearing propaganda or lies that want to trigger anxiety or fear in you? So these are just some of the pathways, and I'm sure that there are many more, and I will love to hear from you. What are your comments and your thoughts on other pathways that we could explore in this series? These episodes are gonna be a little shorter, perhaps half an hour. , I look forward to being on this journey with you, and I hope that you will join me. Thank you.

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DisclaimerSo before we begin, let me put in an important disclaimer, the conversation that follows is only for entertainment and educational purposes. This is not medical advice, neither is it a recommendation to use psychedelics. Psychedelics are illegal in most countries, and even possession can carry severe penalties. It also has physical and psychological risks. It can exacerbate emotional problems, and in rare cases, even fatalities have been known to.

DescriptionLadies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of Potential Paradigms where we have conversations on emerging paradigms and our now troubled civilization. Today, the topic of our conversation is a psychedelic medicine, or should I say an amphibious medicine known as 5 MEO DMT. I called it amphibious medicine because it's actually produced in the glands of the Bufo Toad also known as the Sonoran Desert toad. 5 MEO DMT, is a close relative of DMT and has been known as an entheogen in South America for a long time. And for those of us who do not know, an entheogen is a sacrament or a substance that can induce a spiritual state. DMT, as you might know, has been coined as the spirit molecule by Dr. Rick Straussman. It is considered an intense cousin of dmt. It is considered intense because it can quickly catapult one into an intense spiritual state of unity, consciousness, non-duality, or what I like to call as God consciousness. Because it is intense. sometimes it is referred to as the Everest of psychedelics. and just like only very few people climb Mount Everest, a certain type of personality is attracted to using this sacrament. Recently, a lot of DMT sharings have been in the media such as . By podcaster, Joe Rogan, motivational coach, Tony Robbins, and former athlete Mike Tyson.

I will put some of these sharings in the show notes below if you like to check them out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYvfx...

In my own case, I've had meditative experiences and as psycho. Someone who explores the inner dimensions. I'm always curious to hear from fellow explorers of what they have learned. Particularly when the use of engen is combined with the grounded spiritual practice and meditation, then I believe that it can be very rich and can really be a place where the map meets the territory. , Even if you were to never use an entheogen I believe such sharings can bring tremendous insights into our journeys as human beings in this dimension. So today my guest is my friend, me I lg, who is an associate therapist and intense spiritual seeker and a psycho. What follows are two friends having a candid conversation and exploration, And I hope that you will enjoy it. Let me know what you think in the comments below. And if you like this video, please like the video and subscribe to the channel. And if you're hearing this podcast on Spotify, iTunes, and elsewhere, please leave us a review. So thank you. And now let's turn to the conversation.

Other 5 MEO-DMT Sharings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYvfx...

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Today is a special episode with my friend, Dr. Frank Coppieters who is a Shaman, a teacher, an energy healer and intuitive counselor and the author of several books. We begin our conversation today with an overview of shamanism. And then we talk about the resurgence of indigenous and shamanic traditions happening all over the globe, and we place it in the context of history where where indigenous traditions were disrespected and disenfranchised of their lands and rights. During the conversation. We also stumbled on the insight that the pandemic perhaps is a collective cry for a cosmic purpose for our civilization and age. A big team that emerged this conversation was inter-generational trauma that has now surfaced all over the globe. And Frank shares his insights as to how to address it. Another important theme is the role of prophecy and the next steps in evolution of both our living planet and humanity. And in this context, we look at the work of two luminaries, including Pier de Chardin and Sri Aurobindu.

Guest Biography
Dr. Frank Coppietiers, a Shaman, Energy Healer, teacher, Intuitive Counselor and writer. Frank Coppieters, Ph.D. is the director of the Living Light spiritual center which he started in 1986 in Portland, Oregon. He is a native of Belgium where he taught graduate students full time at the University of Antwerp in Theory of Literature, History of Drama and Non-Verbal Communication.

Frank's Book
Unity in all that is: Enlightened warriorship under the guidance of 13 masters. https://www.amazon.com/Unity-Everythi...

Frank's website
https://livinglight-center.com/
Frank's Meditations & Podcast
https://frankcoppieters.podbean.com/

Also this episode has a glossary of terms and a full transcript for your convenience, which you can check out in the description below.

People & Book
Pierre Teilhard: 1881-1955 Jesuit priest, paleontologist, theologian, philosopher and teacher
Vivekananda : Indian Sage, Spiritual Teacher
Sri Aurobindo: Indian Sage
Joseph Campbell:American writer. Professor of literature, comparative mythology and theology
Book: Unity in all that is: Enlightened warriorship under the guidance of 13 masters.

Glossary
Great Resignation: Also known as the Big Quit and the Great Reshuffle, is an ongoing economic trend in which employees have voluntarily resigned
Evolution: Darwinian Evolution and Lamarkian Evolution
Ramana Maharishi: Indian Sage
Divination: The practice of seeking knowledge of the future or the unknown by supernatural means
Bon Shamanism: indigenous spiritual tradition of Tibet
Psyche: Greek Goddess of the soul, Anima, Soul
Campbell's Hero's Journey: A mythic journey through the trials of becoming a hero & ending where we began but enligthened
Ayahuasca : A plant based shamanic medicine, with purpose of a inner vision quest.
1960's counterculture movement, revolution in social norms, clothing, music, drugs, sexuality, formalities, civil rights, precepts of military duty, & schooling.
Burning Man Festival: week-long experiment in temporary community, dedicated to anti-consumerism and self-expression
Prophecy: Divine knowledge of future events.
Noah's Arc: A biblical story of Prophet Noah
Noosphere: The sphere of thought encircling the earth as complexity and consciounsess increases.
Omega Point is a supposed future when everything in the universe spirals toward a final point of unification

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* Description *

In this episode, we continue our conversation from a previous episode where we looked at what defines technology and what are some of the hidden historical, cultural, and philosophical movements that have shaped our understanding of technology and how we build it. See, it's very important to understand these aspects because otherwise we keep building technologies that although are very powerful yet continue to harm our very well. If the last episode was about how to define technology in some of the darker, hidden aspects of technology. Then this episode is very much about the solutions. We look at new ways of how to develop technologies. We also look at ancient civilizations who develop technology with radically different intentions. And we also look at how to turn technology development into a creative process. And many other interesting topics.

* Previous episode *

Debashish Banerji—What's Technology? Singularity, Non duality, Tantric Tech, UFOs & Future Self's #7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMUVcvSiP4Q

* Guest Biography *

Our guest is the phenomenal philosopher and thinker, Dr. Debashish Banerjii, who is currently the Haridas Chowdry Professor at the East West Psychology department at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He's also the author of several books and one of his recent books is the Seven Quartets of becoming a transformative yoga psychology based on the diaries of Sri Aurobindo.

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We will be exploring a set of related topics, including the role of critical and rational thinking in our spiritual journeys and spiritual transmission. In the context of student teacher relationship, we explore spiritual paradoxes and dilemmas such as Autonomy versus Surrender, Self Honesty, Extra sensory perception, Transcendence versus Immanence and more. Our guest is a phenomenal thinker, a consciousness, Explorer, and spiritual seeker and finder Amir Friedman.

Guest Book
Spiritual Transmission: Paradoxes and Dilemmas On the Spiritual Path
https://www.free2quest.com/book
https://www.amazon.com/Spiritual-Transmission-Paradoxes-Dilemmas-Path/dp/1939681952/

Guest Biography :
Amir became interested in spiritual and existential questions at the age of 17. He joined the Israeli army, but became a pacifist after the 1982 Lebanon war. He studied medicine at the Hebrew university in Jerusalem, but at the end of the fifth year of his studies, He decided to devote the rest of his life towards spiritual awakening.

The next two years of his life were spent in Japan, meditating at his Zen monastery, and the next 20 years were spent doing intense spiritual practice at a community in the us called enlightened next in 2009, he had a partying with this community and returned back to Israel. Currently Amir is finalizing his PhD at the university of Haifa. His thesis is on the subject of living transcendence, phenomenological study of spiritual exemplars or teachers, which is based on multiple interviews he has done with over 36 spiritual exemplars. Amir has written a few books and his recent and insightful book is 📍 Spiritual transmission, paradoxes and dilemmas on the spiritual path.
https://www.free2quest.com/book

Which is based on his interviews that he did with over a hundred spiritual teachers and students. I was very impressed with this book and I highly recommend for both students and teachers. And let's now turn to this very enlightening conversation.

Guest Contact
https://www.free2quest.com/

Time points or Chapter
00:00 Amir Freimann—Spiritual Paradoxes & Dilemmas, Autonomy vs Surrender, Critical thinking, Self honesty, Transcendence vs Immanence & more
01:15 Spiritual Transmission: Paradoxes & Dilemmas on the Path
04:55 Does Ability to think for oneself have a place in the Spiritual Path?
11:55 Integrated modes of knowing vs Surrendering the mind
17:18 Does perception evolve? & extra-sensory perception
25:35 How to know if a spiritual teacher is right for you?
33:54 Critical Decision: Leaving school to study with Spiritual Master
42:31 Self honesty and Paradoxes on the spiritual path
48:22 Spiritual Paradox: Independence versus Surrender
54:59 Spiritual Paradox: Transcendence versus Immanence
58:21 What is ultimate expression of the divine in a human being?
01:06:41 Being true to oneself and claiming one's independence
01:21:02 Are we living in an age of integration?
01:26:02 Questions refine our process

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Full Episode
Our topic today is technology. Technology has become so prevalent that it has almost become invisible, but do we know what defines technology today? We'll be looking at several historical movements and philosophies that have shaped our current understanding of technology and its development.

Some of these movements include. Colonialism materialism, transhumanism, and post-modernism, we will also be exploring the hidden dangers of technology, the limits of human rationality. Technology in ancient civilizations and potential new understandings of technology that will restore the well-being of our planet in our now apocalyptic civilization let's now turn to the conversation.

Guest Bio
Debashish Banerji is the Haridas Chaudhuri Professor of Indian Philosophies and Cultures and the Doshi Professor of Asian Art at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He is also the Program Chair for the East-West Psychology department.

He's the author of several books. And one of his books is the seven quarters of becoming, which is his interpretation of the yoga psychology of Sri Aurobindo. He's also the editor of a recently released anthology called Critical Post Humanism and planetary futures.

00:00 Debashish Banerji—Technology & Being, Colonialism, Transhumanism, Supra Rational, Non-duality & Pessimism, Future Technologies, UFOs & our future selves & more #06

00:04 Introduction
01:46 History of Technology
04:54 Renaissance to Humanism, What is a Human?
05:21 Primacy of technology over Science: Heiddeger
08:40 Technology and theology of Deism
09:42 Modern Knowledge Acadmey And the Will to Knowledge
11:33 Will to Power and Age of Technological Divinity
16:35 Technological Divinity , Extinction & Plato's pharmacon
18:36 Technological Will to Power and Reason
27:05 Technological Colonialism, Singularity and Machine Messiah
37:18 The Knowledge Acadmey and ignoring Subjectivity
43:53 Heidegger's Essay 'Questions about Technology'
50:23 What's Technology: Will to Power & Rationality
52:12 What's technology: Limits of Rationality and Poesis
54:13 Michael Focault and types of technology
01:03:30 Apotheosis of Technology and Human extinction
01:06:06 Capacity to Handle the world versus identifying with the world
01:07:38 Non-duality and its hidden pessimism, Bodhisattva versus Arahanth
01:17:11 The Future is Open: Creative Reinterpretation of the past
01:23:41 Aliens, UFO Sightings and our Future Selves
01:28:41 Is the source both Unified and Plural?
01:29:41 Tantric Technology
01:35:13 Upcoming themes for discussion

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* Guest: Opera Singer/Teacher Rut's Performance Links
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja7zf...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeRU_...

Summary
The guest is Ruti Halvani who is a multi talented professional musician (Opera Singer) and vocal coach & mentor. In this episode Ruti shares the power of Voice and its deep connection with our healing. She shares her personal journey from becoming an Opera Singer to later becoming a healer and finally returning to music as a teacher. The conversation dovetails into themes around development of voice and related creative endeavors.

Guest Bio :
Ruti has performed as a lead opera singer and in classical concerts in Europe, US and Israel. Ruti is also a Mentor for vocal coaching teachers. She has a Bachelor of Music Education from Tel Aviv Levinsky Music College Followed by Post graduate certificate with distinction in singing and performance from Trinity College of Music London. In 2001 she received the British Millennium Award for researching and performing Jewish art songs. In her professional career she has been a Lecturer at the University of London, Founder and head of the Jewish Singing School also at the University of London She has been a vocal coach and mentor at different institutions and studios. Throughout her operatic career she participated in countless masterclasses by some of the world's best opera singers. Those inspired her to create her own masterclasses since 2008 for amateur singers called, To Know My Voice, To Know My Self. Ruti is also the Author of the recent book 'How to Choose Your Singing Teacher'

Rut's Contact
https://www.instagram.com/rutihalvani...
Ruti's Book
How to choose your singing teacher https://www.amazon.com/Ruti-Halvani/e...

00:00 Ruti Halvani - Voice, Feeling, Healing, Artist culture, Primal sounds and voice, Reflexology, & more
00:04 Introduction
02:00 Why sing? Singing as a path of healing
05:38 Singers Journey: a supportive artistic family and sense of safety
11:12 Providing a container of trust for learning
15:51 Artist Collective: Growing up in a artists village
18:28 Artisit Collective - Challenges
19:58 Power of Focus: Letting go of poetry for Opera singing
21:31 Discovering the artist within: What does it take?
27:15 Expressing creativity in multiple avenues?
33:24 The perfect pitch! Can it be developed
34:02 Style is caught not taught
34:56 Learning to Sing by attentive listening
37:52 How to listen to music to sing better?
40:37 Providing the best space for growth and feedback
44:42 Voice the Primal instrument
49:32 Animal Sounds, Cultural voice , Native American music and Singing
56:35 The singing voice across cultures
01:00:59 Combing Singing with playing an instrument - developing another channel
01:03:56 Reverse interview The student's goal & responding to our own resonance
01:11:28 How long does it take to become a singer?
01:13:54 Learning a language versus learning singing
01:16:27 Learning from performing
01:17:24 Developing voice: Artist culture and listening to music as a sacred activity
01:20:36 How musicians listen to a concert ?
01:22:55 Reinventing life: From Opera Singer to Healer and Teacher
01:36:12 Singing to Heal: The message of voice
01:41:25 Claiming one's independence

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Episode Summary
In this conversation with Therapist Associate Mihai Algiu we discuss the potential of psychedelics in bringing hidden traumas to the surface and healing them. We also talk about the potential of these modalities in spiritual development and integration and also the risks involved with their use in an inappropriate set and setting.
Guest Contact
To contact Mihai's website: https://circleofbeingshadowwork.com/
Guest Biography
Mihai was born in Romania during the communist, Soviet controlled totalitarian regime. His path drawn him to the teachings of Gurdjieff/Ouspensky (the Fourth Way) and continued to studying and applying the teachings of many spiritual teachers and traditions such as Soto Zen, Vipassana meditation, Adyashanti, Dr David Hawkins, Thich Nhat Hanh, Eckhart Tolle which led him to finding the non-dual direct path in the tradition of Francis Lucille, Laura Lucille, Rupert Spira as well as their teachers and lineages. Mihai is currently practicing somatic psychotherapy with individuals, couples, as well as groups in 1:1 sessions as well as weekly groups and intensives. He is deeply drawn to being in nature, hotsprings, archery, as well as listening and playing music especially drums…but he continues to be forever drawn and dedicated to the experiential study of consciousness, reality, subconscious deepening his self exploration and continuing to integrate and hybridize new modalities
Timepoints 00:00 Potential of psychedelics in trauma, repression, integration and spirituality
02:26 Discovering and working with MDMA
05:13 The range of psychedelics application in repression therapy
06:11 Mechanisms of repression versus supression?
09:20 Path of Meditation and Satsang versus psychedelics for working with trauma
13:59 What's the pain body ?
17:22 Further aspects of plant medicines, integration and depletion
21:36 What's integration and potential of addiction in use of psychedelics
24:02 Psychedelic experience and developmental stage of the spiritual aspirant
27:05 Guided by Love versus looking for the Shadow
31:00 Resourcefulness and grace in the spiritual path
32:46 Range of sense of control and psychedelics

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This is a conversation with associate therapist Mihai Algiu on various topics ranging from current post pandemic historical parallels with totalitarianism, the spiritual quest what it means, spiritual bypass in non duality, therapy & trauma, prison work & more. See show notes below for time points and topics discussed.

Mihai's website: https://circleofbeingshadowwork.com/

Mihai was born in Romania during the communist, Soviet controlled totalitarian regime. His path drawn him to the teachings of Gurdjieff/Ouspensky (the Fourth Way) and continued to studying and applying the teachings of many spiritual teachers and traditions such as Soto Zen, Vipassana meditation, Adyashanti, Dr David Hawkins, Thich Nhat Hanh, Eckhart Tolle which led him to finding the non-dual direct path in the tradition of Francis Lucille, Laura Lucille, Rupert Spira as well as their teachers and lineages.

Mihai is currently practicing somatic psychotherapy with individuals, couples, as well as groups in 1:1 sessions as well as weekly groups and intensives.

He is deeply drawn to being in nature, hot-springs, archery, as well as listening and playing music especially drums…but he continues to be forever drawn and dedicated to the experiential study of consciousness, reality, subconscious deepening his self exploration and continuing to integrate and hybridize new modalities

Show Notes & Time-points:00:00 Mihai Algiu-Historical parallels (totalitarianism), spirituality, therapy & trauma, prison work & more
01:47 Guest Biography
03:45 Historical Parallels: Born in Totalitarian State of Romania and current state of affairs|Mihai Algiu
08:53 Spiritual teachings and world issues totalitarian impusles to climate change
16:39 Responding from Trauma versus presence
19:59 Attacks on Joe Rogan and Freedom of speech
22:18 Spiritual Quest: What is it all about?
29:14 Spiritual Quest: Being and Becoming
41:33 Benefits of spirituality for the ego
44:23 Purifying our enthusiasm and creativity
46:01 God's versus Human creativity
47:22 What's Non Duality
52:35 Rejecting psychotherapy to becoming a therapist and integrating it with spirituality
57:59 Trauma work with prison inmates
01:01:33 Spiritual Bypass in Western Non Duality
01:15:07 Scott Kiloby's work on Trauma informed Non duality
01:18:21 Non duality and elitism

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This is episode #03 of the Potential Paradigms Show. The guest is Dr. Kyra O' Keeffe (Writer & Educator). Kyra has been passionate about mechanisms of learning. In this episode we talk about insidious presence of materialism in Science and contemporary educational institutions. We also explore the ongoing paradigm shifts of the inter-mingling of Science and Spirituality. Other themes explored are Authentic activism, true education, love & more.

Guest Bio: Dr. Kyra O'Keeffe Kyra is a writer and educator who writes and speaks about her deepest love the felt sense of our shared being. Kyra earned her master's degree in educational neuroscience at Harvard, and then went on to do her PhD in learning sciences at Stanford university.

* Discussion Timepoints *0:00 Potential paradigms introduction
0:16 Guest introduction
01:45 True Education
07:20 Neuroscience of learning
18:36 What is Love and Where to find it?
48:14 Paradigm Shift in Science and Spirituality
1:01:12 Activism
01:17:08 Authentic and practical activism
01:22:37 Words and our reactions
01:32:12 Ecstatic Dance - Dance of Surrender
01:38:18 Is Life a dream - Movie 'Waking life'

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Purpose, Ancestors, Skepticism of integrative medicine, Conspiracy Theories, Death & more This is episode #02 of the Potential Paradigms Show. In this episode our guest is acupuncturist & healer Najah Abdus-Salam. The full episode touches on themes of rediscovering our Purpose, trauma related to Ancestors, going beyond Victim-hood, Death and Loss as teachers and how to work with Stones or Crystals for healing. Najah also talks about a virtual healing modality she has developed to treat deeper trauma. We also talk about two books, Mark Wolyn's 'It didn't start with you' and 'The Four Agreements' by Don Miguel Ruiz. Guest Biography Najah Abdus-Salam [Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/najahasal...] Najah is a professional acupuncturist and crystal healing guide. In the past, she has worked in palliative care. She performs energy healing for clients suffering from emotional issues, ranging from deep depression to anxiety. Najah has been developing new methodologies for virtual healing experiences to shift our deepest beliefs and stories that continue patterns of suffering.

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Alex Banach— Near Death Experience, Primal Activation, Florida's Ecological issues, & primacy of consciousness

[00:00:00] Show Intro

[00:00:00] ken: so ladies and gentlemen, welcome to episode one of potential paradigms. And this is a show where I have deep conversations with individuals who are deeply thinking, feeling

[00:00:16]

[00:00:16] ken: and acting to answer the call of ushering in of a new age, an age of new paradigms. So I welcome today.

[00:00:24] Guest Intro

[00:00:24] ken: My guest, a dear friend of mine, Alexander bannock, who is a multidisciplinary artist and photographer. Alex speaks from a unique perspective after leaving a blossoming career in neurobiology research. And he has spent about eight years studying the nature of direct experience through meditation, psychedelics, somatic, breath, work, and creative expression.

[00:00:47] ken: . He holds nature to be sacred and embodies mindful acts of simple living. Alex currently lives in Southwest Florida and can be found on the beach, hiking [00:01:00] out in the wetlands or advocating for clean water, mental wellness and human rights and Liberty. Alex is a passionate about personal practice through the pandemic, psychedelics ecology of the ocean and the art of fishing and how to bring people together in divided times. Uh, he's also passionate about raw food diet and breaking quarantine habits. And anything else Sorry. This was the official bio.

[00:01:26] ken: So I was reading and I hope I didn't do a too bad a job at that.

[00:01:30] alex: no, thanks for having me on

[00:01:32] ken: yeah, no, thank you. Thank you for being here. As a matter of fact, it's, it's quite fitting that you are the first guest on this, podcast and we'll see how it evolves, but you know, you were the inspiration and we had this conversation about a month and a half or so ago where I was driving to Joshua tree and I had all this, expansive views from my car off the mountains.

[00:01:54] ken: And, uh, I felt, very inspired to talk to you. I don't remember what we talked about, but this [00:02:00] was definitely one of the teams, I think we talked about writing and podcasting. So here we are to thank you for, for inspiring me and my friend.

[00:02:08] alex: yeah. Thank you for manifesting.

[00:02:10] ken: Well, we'll see, we'll see how this goes. You know, I think it's going to be going to be fun. Wild last. I'm kind of excited to see how this evolves. I've just been very humbled and, energized by the response I got , from my friends and, uh, people, I, I thought it would fit well with the topic of this podcast, as to the interest of they showed.

[00:02:34] What is The pandemic zeitgeist and The Potential Paradigms Show

[00:02:34] ken: So anyways, coming back, maybe we can talk a little bit about, to begin with, the theme of this podcast and, because that goes so well with, some of the topics that, both of us are interested in, so potential paradigms, and I feel that we live in kind of an apocalyptic, world, dystopia or apocalypse.

[00:02:54] ken: And I choose the word apocalypse because it means that revelation of truth. And, uh, [00:03:00] what that means to me is that the false narratives that humanity or this current civilization has held and has used those narratives for a long time to, to create paradigms that are not sustainable, either be ecology or human wellbeing. Uh, you know, we keep hearing of global, global climate change and. Uh, polarity and so many things, war Exeter, et cetera. And now I feel like it's nothing new. It's just, the things have become much more acute. So, so the potential part, I'm just meaning as truth is being revealed, what is new that is going to come and, like many of us and I would like you to speak to it as well.

[00:03:41] alex: Yeah, I can't help, but agree about the apocalyptic nature of at least the feeling of it, all the civil unrest and pandemic and all of it combined is. Um, and well, it seems that we're experiencing. A unique kind of [00:04:00] political warfare too, with information, information warfare and, yeah, it's a , really quite difficult time, especially when, when it coincides with climate change and perhaps the denial of all these changes happening altogether.

[00:04:17] alex: It's been very, I don't know, to witness it painful, , and, disheartening at times. well, the challenges of life, you know, we, we have our practices, we have our outlooks, we have a way of living that well, life keeps going even in the face of crisis and it's a very unique time.

[00:04:37] ken: Yeah, absolutely. It is definitely, definitely a unique time. And. Probably, this is true, for everyone, at least I have not seen, , such a period before, so it's, definitely unprecedented. what I've been, uh, some of the changes or things that have been calling to you, some adjustments that you've made in the way that you, live life or, , and [00:05:00] also what you would like to be different, or, , as in terms of your actions,

[00:05:06] alex: Yeah. Well, I really, , embrace the quarantine period of early 2020. That was, , it was a unique experience and it felt that the job was to stay informed and stay safe. And, , I, I tend to do pretty well in isolation. So for me it was, I don't know, kind of a free break in a way. And I got to just simply exists in observe and, uh, maintain awareness and, , continue my own personal practices and, grow certain areas that I can grow , in isolation.

[00:05:42] alex: , and, uh, since then, I mean, there's a lot of things I've, I don't know. I, I really appreciated during this time,, a slowing down, diff at different stages. I definitely feel there's less consumerism going on. yeah, and I think that's [00:06:00] all a much needed break for the planet. I think. A slowing down of humanity is a really, really beautiful thing.

[00:06:08] ken: Yeah. Yeah, it seems like a, the more human slowed down it's, um, people have been talking about this teams that the environment, the ecology seems to be recovering. The birds are happy., you get to see the whales more often, all, all this, everybody else seems to be happy. And, , some people are seeing the sunshine for the first time in their cities and countries.

[00:06:31] The Primal activation of being in the wild nature

[00:06:31] ken: , it seems like everybody needed a break. and so, yeah. so maybe let's, I want to check with you on a theme that, that you've been involved with, and that is going out to the wetlands and nature. And, you know, as, as I've talked, this has always been very inspiring for me to see you getting more and more familiar with, , just being out in the wild.

[00:06:53] ken: And I think you were, you're a wild character yourself as well.

[00:06:56] ken: It seems like you took it to the next level during pandemic.

[00:06:59] alex: [00:07:00] oh yeah. I I've always enjoyed nature and to have just yet another reason to spend more time in nature was a bit of a dream come true for me. I mean, , um, There's a part of me that just loves exploring and just being out there and, and also being close enough with nature to understand what life is there.

[00:07:22] alex: And I mean, not just see, the landscape and see the trees, but to actually discover the wildlife there, to actually, you know, come in relatively close contact with the animals that live there. And I, , I love that. I absolutely love that. , so I'm always out there. I bring the camera and I bring a drone.

[00:07:41] alex: I, yeah. , it's to me, , that's one of my favorite things to do, right. , it's like a primal activation, you know, we have our roots here on earth. And before all this technology, before this busy way of life, this is, , it's closer to the way things used to.

[00:07:56] ken: Yeah. , nature can be quite, profound. And you know, I,[00:08:00] I've myself been, been wanting to connect more and more, not as much as, as, as you. So all this. Finally found that inspiring looking at your photos and maybe in the show notes, we can, leave some of your handy photography work of the, wetlands and some of your adventures.

[00:08:14] Close animal encounters in the wild

[00:08:14] ken: is there any particular adventure that comes to your mind? Uh, one or two that maybe you can describe. I remember you once, uh, talking to me and you told me that you, once you got chased by a wild boar,

[00:08:28] alex: yeah.

[00:08:28] ken: and one time you, you had mentioned some kind of a wild cat or some had encounter with a wild cat, is that correct?

[00:08:36] alex: yeah. , yes. Well frequently where I live, right behind the house. I see Bobcat's, fortunate enough to have preserved space nearby and they, they roam through the area. And so there's a lot of Bobcat's here and so regularly I see Bobcat's and there are Panthers as well. Their Panthers are a little bit more elusive.

[00:08:57] alex: Yeah, the wild boar, that [00:09:00] situation was a little bit nerve racking because even if you're making noise as you're hiking, uh, sometimes you can still sneak up on them. Sometimes they might be napping. They literally will fall asleep under a Bush and you can just walk right up to them in this case.

[00:09:17] alex: That's exactly what I did. And, yeah. When, when you come face to face with a very large wild boar, it's screaming. I don't know if you've ever heard of a wild boar scream from 10 feet away before, but it's, um, it's kind of a blood curdling sound in person.

[00:09:35] ken: it's a battle cry,

[00:09:37] alex: Yeah. Yeah. Luckily it ran in one direction. I ran in the other direction. Yeah.

[00:09:43] ken: I guess it was as startled as you are.

[00:09:46] alex: Yeah, no, I that's quite fortunate. Quite fortunate. , luckily I've never had to, have any encounters closer than that, but, yeah, on the flip side though, , I just, the other night I was fishing under the [00:10:00] full moon and, uh, I caught a rare species of shark and it happened to be a relatively large one.

[00:10:06] alex: It was, I dunno, maybe, maybe 40 pounds. Maybe, uh, it was almost between three, three and a half or four feet. And yeah, , the interesting thing about the encounters with the ocean is, um, everything eats everything and you never know what's going to take your bait. You just never ever know. You never ever know.

[00:10:30] alex: It might be a small little fish. It might be a huge fish, or it might be shark. And yeah, , to me, it's the lottery of, of being out there. It's, um, what what's going to happen today? Who's going to show up what character of, of the earth is going to appear today.

[00:10:47] ken: Wow. Well, yeah, I mean, not a lot of people can say to have hunted a shark and to, uh, you know, face, face a wild boar and all these things in a rather short period of [00:11:00] time. So I, I, I feel like you you're quite the shark hunter now.

[00:11:05] alex: They're there, you know, it's really fascinating. I don't think people like to, uh, understand how, how, How they're really everywhere. They're everywhere. And, uh, as the water temperature gets warmer, they're all spread out and they literally are everywhere. The small ones are everywhere. The big ones come out more at night.

[00:11:25] alex: but they're everywhere and they're all around us and it's pretty amazing. so I mean, even just fishing for normal fish there, you're, you're, you're going, you're going to catch a shark eventually if you fish a lot of salt water and, um, yeah. And they happen to be among the, the most sporting catches out there.

[00:11:49] alex: I mean, there's, there's nothing quite as thrilling as hooking up with something as powerful as a shark. I mean, there's other fish out there too. Like, like the Tarpon has a, they call it the [00:12:00] king, they silver king and, um, it's very, very powerful, very fast. And it's very aggressive and it'll leap at like six feet out of the water.

[00:12:10] alex: And, and if you don't, if you're not skilled, there's absolutely no chance of landing it. Sharks are actually a little bit easier than the Tarpon. well, quite a bit easier, but they're very strong and I don't know, it's, it's just something very, very exhilarating to have such a powerful creature. And, you know, once you hook up with one really the best thing you can do.

[00:12:37] alex: Carefully remove that hook and set it free again, you know, um, I think some people's intuition might be to just cut the line, but then you leave that hook in its mouth. And I mean, eventually it rusts out and, but it's, it's cleaner to actually bring that, that shark in and, and remove the hook and release it that way.

[00:12:59] ken: [00:13:00] Yeah. Yeah. I have a, has a much closer encounter.

[00:13:03] alex: yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's um, I don't, I don't know how to describe it unless, unless you're out there and you witnessed it yourself, I mean, especially the bigger sharks, they, you don't, you just don't hook up with them during the day it failed. They come out at night. And so to be out on the beach at night and catch something really powerful and really big.

[00:13:26] alex: And I don't, it's just, it's just something really special there's. And to me, it's not just like my personal excitement, but to me, it's like something deep in our, our roots, our ancestry, you know, the, the human brain, uh, is believed to have evolved, starting very quickly when humans began fishing off the coast of Africa 200,000 years ago. And, uh, the omega-3 fatty acids are what fueled that. So to me, fishing is like, it's something [00:14:00] built into the human experience, something fundamental,

[00:14:03] ken: Yeah. Yeah. It's definitely quite primal and I don't have much experience with that. Well, I also wanted to say that it seems like, uh, since you used the word, you know, getting, getting together with these fish, maybe it's we need an app. We didn't have these wild encounters.

[00:14:21] alex: other arson. There are some fishing apps. That's like Facebook for fishing.

[00:14:25] ken: oh, wow.

[00:14:26] alex: Yeah. There's a couple of them. One of them is called fish brain. One of them is called fish angler. yeah. They're they're gaining popularity.

[00:14:34] ken: Especially during the pandemic.

[00:14:37] alex: Yeah, no, it's true. Uh, it's especially down here in Florida, after the pandemic began and Florida never restricted fishing, there was always an acceptable, one of the acceptable things to leave your house for. And, so fishing gear was flying off the shelves. Like he couldn't find a cast net anywhere in town.

[00:14:58] alex: there was no boats left. [00:15:00] Everyone bought all the use boats available. Like it was amazing what happened and, there's just been a lot of fishing activity around here.

[00:15:08] ken: Yeah, that's a, that's a very interesting, perhaps team in itself is with the pandemic of, of changes in different things that people have gotten into. Like I was recently, for instance, hearing, here in Joshua tree, there have been a lot of people making these very unique Airbnbs and, you know, people are mostly coming from LA, a lot of the, people with a lot of wealth and making, making different things in a lot of this, um, Airbnb kind of like places as well, which the locals aren't happy about, but that is, that is one of the many teams during the, during the pandemic that, um, perhaps it was hard to predict before that.

[00:15:48] ken: So it looks like nature, nature, sports and outdoors have gotten really, uh, popular or revitalized with, with the pandemic, which, which may makes sense. Which make [00:16:00] definitely make sense.

[00:16:01] alex: Yeah, and it's a, to be a nature is very healing. So it does make sense to during, um, a health crisis, a global health crisis of people are spending time in nature.

[00:16:11] Florida's growing ecological challenges

[00:16:11] ken: Yeah. And, I just wanted to kind of highlight maybe for the, audience we didn't mention, we're not, as part of these in order to talk to you about this is because you, you're not just catching these, um, fish You're actually losing them back into the wild

[00:16:25] alex: because it's, we've had some water quality issues here that are questionable. we've had red tide blooms and, and I mean, red tide has been going on for thousands of years. We know that it's like in the fossil record and, they do seem to start off shore and it's mysterious as to why we get these blooms.

[00:16:44] alex: But one thing's clear that, we've never been dumping so much nutrient rich, fresh water from lake Okeechobee down the () Caloosahatchee river, into the Gulf. That's never, ever happened before. It's gotten [00:17:00] worse and worse over time. And the red tide has gotten worse and it seems to be linked to neurodegenerative diseases like ALS Parkinson's and Alzheimer's and yeah, there's something called bioaccumulation theory of brevity.

[00:17:17] alex: And it does seem to move up the food chain, but it's not well understood. Um, it seems that most fishermen I encounter, they seem to believe that, the fish are safe and I am not convinced of that yet. In the meantime, I've practiced catch and release. I would like to see the healthiest ecosystem possible here.

[00:17:40] alex: And I have enough food. I don't need to eat these fish. and so to me, it's, being with nature and sharpening my skills. I would like to have the skill to catch fish wherever I go, if need be. And, and saltwater once your get the swing of it. if [00:18:00] you have the skills to fish, one location, you can learn any location.

[00:18:05] Nature as a tool to transform to Presence and meditativeness

[00:18:05] ken: No, that's amazing. And I think, maybe we can touch base on two, two teams that you've been connecting on. One is perhaps the ecological, things that you've been witnessing with the red tide, but also maybe first we can, we can talk a little bit about, of course, you know, you, you, you. Mentioned the thrill of being out there in the wild and these encounters and how they're very primal.

[00:18:27] ken: And one of the things in, , both of us being kind of like contemplated and spiritual secrets in a way, using tools on how to get present and be in the moment. And, nature seems to really facilitate that. And particularly in particular, when you have these kinds of encounters, which I haven't had so many, as you, but I can, I can only imagine how they, they bring you in, in, out, out of your thought into what's happening there.

[00:18:54] ken: And then, because perhaps you have.

[00:18:56] alex: Yeah, no, it's absolutely true. I mean, it's, um, [00:19:00] I mean, I would call it like a, I mean, you're almost, there's nothing else to do, but to meditate through the experience, um, you know, when you're either in nature at, with your awareness at its absolute peak, uh, listening to every little sound around you or out on the beach and.

[00:19:23] alex: Keeping track of every single condition changing condition, the wind, the water clarity, um, just, just everything. I mean, on any given day, fish might be biting one bait or a different one, or they're feeding near the top of the water column or the bottom, or, and, it takes a great intuition to understand when the conditions are just right for certain types of anything.

[00:19:54] alex: And so to just go out there and, soak it all in and taking that [00:20:00] awareness and be there for, and wait and be patient and, to be ready, right when the fish bites, that is absolutely a practice of, of presence. Absolutely.

[00:20:12] ken: Fascinating. I mean, that's remarkable too, to have such a fun and engaging tool to, uh, to train yourself and to transform your mind into something that can stay focused and present. Uh, so yeah. Yeah. I ho hopefully I can, as I said, I talked to you all the ways and I was like, I got a head more in that direction because nature's, there's also a joy to be in nature.

[00:20:36] ken: And as you said, you know, healing and how can, and where else can you have all those elements of developing one pointedness, uh, focus presence while at the same time enjoying it and being healed by it? That's like, that's a, win-win in many ways.

[00:20:54] alex: I completely agree.

[00:20:56] More on Florida's growing ecological challenges

[00:20:56] ken: . Yeah, I was just thinking maybe we could, we could wrap up the ecological threat first, which [00:21:00] is what have you been seeing in, uh, as I know you are really passionate about what you've been seeing in the wetlands

[00:21:06] ken: and this, by the way is in Florida, maybe you could tell a little bit about the location you were seeing this.

[00:21:10] alex: Yeah. So, I'm in Fort Myers, which is right at the base of the Caloosahatchee river, where it empties into the Gulf. And from this point south, all the way down to the Everglades has been strongly affected by red tide. And we see, we see the, literally the color change in the water. It will become red. I mean, if you've taken a glass, a clear glass and, hold it up to the light, it's, it's red, it's red water literally.

[00:21:37] alex: and there's fish kills. the fish die off starting with the fish that eat algae, like mullet, mullet, eat algae, and then catfish as well because they feed off the bottom. And it seems like a lot of it appears that this allergy settles in the bottom and the catfish are consuming it along with whatever else they're eating.

[00:21:59] alex: so [00:22:00] there's some species like the canaries in the coal mine that go first. And then as the red tide persists, it begins affecting other organisms. And, um, Especially filter feeders and crabs and anything that eats crabs is going to be affected by it. A lot of fish are migratory and they come through areas and they know better than to hang out in bad water.

[00:22:22] alex: but often, I mean, when it's really bad, even the smartest, smartest sea creatures are affected. for example, a couple of years ago we saw die offs of dolphins.

[00:22:35] alex: We've S yeah. we've seen die-offs of sea turtles and, large, deep dwelling fish like grouper. we've seen now manatees manatees don't seem to be affected the same way other fish are.

[00:22:49] alex: most of the fish, basically they end up, losing oxygen and dying because they basically just aren't respirating. but the [00:23:00] manatees, what's happened with them is all this nutrient rich water and the color change of the water has killed off the sea grass at the bottom of the ocean and the bottom of the river.

[00:23:10] alex: And, there's no, there's no grass for the manatees to eat and they've gotten skinny and now we're just seeing them wash up on the shores. There's dead manatees everywhere. It's kind of hard to believe that. I just ran into a fishermen the other day, on the beach that claimed he was in Marine construction and red tide is the hoax and he doesn't believe in it.

[00:23:37] alex: And he's on the water all the time. It's not as bad as people say it is, but I don't know. I've seen all these animals dead with my own eyes. I've seen a 500 pound group grouper wash up on the beach debt. I've seen dead sea turtles. I haven't seen the dolphins firsthand, but I've seen the reports of them.

[00:23:52] alex: And I know where they came up. I know the beaches personally, I've seen the mullet and the catfish, and I've seen all the other [00:24:00] species that ended up with them in smaller numbers. in 2018, when I first got here, it was so bad that you couldn't even really breathe outside. I mean, even driving a car with your, the air set to research insulate, it was like noxious gas.

[00:24:18] alex: He recall thing, and it like will make your eyes burn and water. And, it's like one of the most toxic things you can imagine. And as far as the eye can see will be dead fish everywhere, everywhere, everywhere. And, yeah, it's, it's quite gut wrenching.

[00:24:35] ken: Yeah, I noticed it sounds, uh, quite serious. And, so as you were saying is, the root cause of that is the nutrient dense, fresh water that's being dumped or is it also

[00:24:45] alex: Yes, yes. All of these things. there's some denial going on as to what the role of, of humans has been in this, but clearly it is a manmade. Or, uh, a [00:25:00] man exaggerated problem, I should say because a long time ago, the water used to run from the lake Okeechobee area, straight south into the Everglades and over time humans the last hundred years or so, they dredged canals through all of Florida and drain all the swamp land so that they can use it for ranching.

[00:25:23] alex: Originally it was ranching, but now those ranches are being sold off and there's developments being built and other types of agriculture and it's being farmed heavily. or it's turned into golf courses where they're using a lot of fertilizers, things of that nature. the water is no longer flowing to the Everglades.

[00:25:41] alex: So it's collecting in lake Okeechobee, but, they have an old dam system and they have to manage the water level. So, come the rain season during the summer, the rain comes heavy and they have to keep discharging in order to maintain the level of the lake to [00:26:00] prevent a great disaster with the dam.

[00:26:02] alex: And they just keep dumping it into the Caloosahatchee river and they dump it in when they have to as well, they dump it east as well. but most of it comes, comes west on the Caloosahatchee river now, and it's really unfortunate. they'll dump up to 50,000 gallons per second. I mean, that's, that's a lot of water. That's a lot of water and, yeah, they have, they've begun developing some plans to correct this, starting with some other holding facilities, so they can lower the lake level and move it to another area. But it's only a partial solution and they've done nothing to improve the water quality. It's still going to grow algae and just a new location.

[00:26:44] alex: algae in the river or in another holding area is no better than algae in the ocean. yeah.

[00:26:51] ken: It doesn't actually end up eventually leading to the ocean.

[00:26:56] alex: yes, yes, it, it does. yeah, [00:27:00] so ideally a lot of that water would go back to the Everglades and there's actually been problems in the Everglades because, they've taken away so much of the water over the years. so that would be good to send that water back there. But meanwhile, we haven't seen much action on this problem because, the trigger for what actually triggers the bloom of red tide and the lifecycle of the red tide, we just don't understand yet.

[00:27:28] alex: There's the science is still young. We just, we just don't know. And so. You know, no one can really point like a finger at exactly what the cause is when the red tide arises and how long it's going to be there for and how devastating it's going to be this time. No one has any idea. it's really guessing.

[00:27:48] ken: But I think that one thing that, that is rather obvious with a lot of these problems that we're seeing today, you know, even with, with the virus, you know, coronavirus and it's very instant such being [00:28:00] associated with the, with the changes in the ecosystem and the ecology. So although the direct reasons might never be known or might be known, we do know. Kind of behaviors or stressing out the ecosystems are, very abnormal to how things are. And I think you have, you've just highlighted a number of those, from the goal golf courses to the nutrient rich water, to a number of other things that are definitely putting a lot of strain and stress on how things used to be.

[00:28:28] alex: yeah.

[00:28:29] ken: yeah.

[00:28:30] alex: Yes. I it's. It's amazing to think. I mean, as a, as a fishery, as a place where you can go fishing, Florida is an incredible place, but to imagine what it must have been like a hundred years ago is like unthinkable. It's just unthinkable. I mean, The numbers of fish have been greatly reduced, greatly reduced.

[00:28:51] alex: And, I don't know. It, it we've definitely changed. the oceans. We've definitely changed the ecology we've oh, it's it. The [00:29:00] impacts are undeniable.

[00:29:02] Resurrecting the aliveness & sacredness of Earth

[00:29:02] ken: One of the themes connecting it to our conversation and your observations of, what's happening down in Florida Is this desire that I've had or in my spiritual journey over the last five, six years becoming more and more articulate, is at some point I realized through different experiences and through my study that the world is a life. that the plants are alive. The trees that I see that they are fixed or not are not fixed.

[00:29:29] ken: And there are very many ways to study how that is not the case. of course, even at the scientific level, we know that the trees that are external lungs, solar lungs are not just in the body, they're outside. So , what we're breathing, they're giving out what we're getting out, they're reading.

[00:29:42] ken: So it's, it's, it's a perfect symbiotic relationship. Perhaps it was at the advent of colonialism it just became that you're extracting from not just the earth, but other cultures, you know, indigenous people, you just come and it is okay to. to. a takeaway, rape pillage, all those [00:30:00] things are just fine in this way, or paradigm of seeing, which is, I feel like we're just cropping up the results of that way of looking at the world as dead and inanimate. and now I think that the new paradigms are actually even our conversation is about reversing.

[00:30:16] ken: The sacredness and aliveness of everything, . So, yeah. Please say, something to that. If, you like

[00:30:22] A Transformative Near Death Experience

[00:30:22] alex: Yeah. I mean, when you and I met, we met casually through the psychedelic community and, you were hosting your own events at the time, the hacking consciousness events, and I was soaking up everything. There was, I could find in the psychedelic community and surrounding healing community, all plant medicines, all of them.

[00:30:43] alex: Meditation and all the, the yoga community and

[00:30:48] alex: I was ready to take it all in. Uh, that was generally my reaction to the experience I had when I woke up from a near death experience. yeah.

[00:30:58] ken: Perhaps, you know, maybe a little [00:31:00] bit for the listeners that the near death experiences, when you are pronounced dead because of cardiac arrest or some other reasons.

[00:31:06] ken: Uh, but yet these people, because they come back because of cardiac resuscitation or some other means to which, you know, their brainwaves are reactivated and they come out of this, uh, comatose, um, like situation, or experience, they have a very rich story to tell. And so they're having this rich experience while they're very much to the outside world or very much dead. ,

[00:31:30] alex: Yeah. It's, it's interesting. pretty much almost I kind of almost identical to what you just described me. what led up to it was, well, in hindsight, a realization that everything I'd done up to that point was purely an egoic endeavor and little by little after my near death experience. that had become revealed to me that I really needed to let go of all of those identities that [00:32:00] I had built up and was holding onto so strongly and.

[00:32:05] alex: That was just in a way, like the beginning of a new journey. but it had opened up just like you said, it was, my experience was rich and deeply meaningful to me. And, you know, in the scientific viewpoint when brain activity stops consciousness stops. But what I experienced was a continuation of consciousness through this difficult ordeal and waking back up and coming back into my body again.

[00:32:36] alex: And, literally it was just like that. I mean, literally when I woke up, I almost couldn't move my muscles and, um, I had to almost learn how to use my body again. it was really a strange experience and, very, quite powerful and

[00:32:56] ken: Not to cut you off, but, I want maybe a little bit [00:33:00] more about, uh, what happened during that period of, I don't know if you want to share how you, how you perhaps got there and while you were in that particular state, I mean, I would be very curious to hear what was there actually an experience while you were there because as you're sharing people would claim that consciousness or awareness, during this time of death is.

[00:33:25] alex: Yeah,

[00:33:26] alex: well, I got there by my own actions. It was really No.

[00:33:29] alex: one else's fault, but my own, but, yeah, I'd become very depressed and despondent with my situation in life. And I chose to check out and I took, I gave it an honest go and the results were shocking because I didn't go. I continued through this experience.

[00:33:49] alex: And, I remember seeing my world drift away from me and, I had this feeling of none of it [00:34:00] matters anymore and I felt liberated. In fact, it, it was actually quite a wonderful feeling once I had let go of my body and my earthly attachments and all the things that I was worried about and completely stressed about were immediately gone.

[00:34:16] alex: And then it went into a darker place, a place, I guess, a place in between you could call it a Bardot. I don't know what else to call it. A Bardo Bardo is the best description I can come up with. But, yeah, there were. Soulful entities there. I mean, I, again, it's a personal description of how I, what exactly that was, but the, it was almost like a meeting.

[00:34:46] alex: and then in this meeting it was agreed upon that, my time was not up yet. And then in that moment, when that message was received by me, once I was like, like a, it was a grim [00:35:00] message. Like I like, no, I don't want to go back. I came this far, but know that your time isn't up yet. And, and that's when I began to wake up from a coma and, yeah, it was, yeah, I, I, I began to regain my senses and using my hands.

[00:35:16] alex: I began pulling IVs out of my arms and pulling the ventilator out of my mouth and I had to be strapped down. And it was a few days later, that I was able to walk around and be totally coherent and functional again. But, yeah. and then, and then just a couple more days after that, they're like, yep.

[00:35:35] alex: Okay, go back to your life now. And, and I did. And, uh, but I, it wasn't my, I wasn't motivated the same way anymore. Now I had new questions about life and, uh, I had been getting shown something. Like behind the scenes, you know, something that you're not normally privy to see. And, and I mean, I was [00:36:00] working in the field of neuroscience, so this seems so central and pivotal to my world.

[00:36:05] alex: And up to that point, I had a more solid cystic viewpoint, a more agnostic viewpoint. I was always curious about all the big questions and mysteries of life, but they were always held at an, at a distance. And, you know, I was safely surrounded by other scientists who held the same views. And, but yeah, little by little, I just felt like I didn't really belong there anymore.

[00:36:32] alex: And you know, it's a tough field to be working in if your heart's not in it. And, so it kind of set me drift onto a different journey altogether. And, yeah, that's when I stumbled into art, meeting other artists and being encouraged to try art and I'm falling in love with that, the creative expression and learning about things about myself that I'd never, never tapped into before I, [00:37:00] I, and through psychedelic healing work, I really learned to love life all over again, to be.

[00:37:08] alex: Wondrously inspired and to see the magic and the beauty and the mystery and every single moment of the day, um, that was altogether quite a gift. I would have to say.

[00:37:24] ken: Yeah. Yeah, No. no, this, this is, this is like fascinating stuff and I I'm fascinated rehearing it, cause it's such a

[00:37:32] ken: powerful theme as I was perhaps almost five years ago. And uh, when we met and we had this first, conversation, so maybe I want to go a little bit back. I think you, , you were talking about, this pivotal pivotal moment.

[00:37:43] ken: So this experience for you, it lasted a little bit. I mean, usually, the near-death experiences. I don't know I have, you know, right now if you go to Pub med.com, P U B M E d.com, which is a site of collection of scientific [00:38:00] publications in the medical arena. And if you, look at type in NDE or near death experience, the last I checked a couple of years ago, there were about 4,000 publications, which is a lot on a certain team or topic because this has been a recent theme that people study.

[00:38:14] ken: So just for the, for the audience, you can go to pub med.com, which is a medical publications, and you can search this team. but why I wanted to ask is yours seems to be an unusual case in that the duration was quite a bit, actually it was a few days, right?

[00:38:31] alex: Yeah.

[00:38:31] ken: Not just somebody being resuscitated out of a cardiac arrest for 15 minutes.

[00:38:38] ken: even though people do have these pronounced profound experiences, which are also parallel with psychedelics, something that you had mentioned, where the sense of time and space and other things can either go away or can be very different than what we perceive here. Let's call it for the sake of conversation, the human realm, or the earthly realm.

[00:38:57] ken: so maybe, maybe, you can share something if you [00:39:00] have about the duration of this and how

[00:39:02] ken: you experienced. I know that you said that some of that was quite uplifting in the sense that the reasons why you had decided to check. that happiness and unhappiness,

[00:39:12] ken: uh, was lifted away. And, but then you also said that there was another part of it,

[00:39:17] ken: was not very pleasant

[00:39:18] alex: Yeah, it did become very hard. Waking up again was very hard. It was possibly, um, well really, without a doubt, the hardest thing I've ever been through and, and that's even comparing it to, uh, I've had a kidney stone before, which was very painful. I've broken bones, you know, I've, been under anesthesia, but waking up from this was definitely, definitely the hardest thing I've ever experienced.

[00:39:45] alex: Impossibly hard. yeah, so I was pronounced dead. they couldn't measure a heartbeat and I wasn't breathing and they begun forcing air into my lungs and, working to revive me, but [00:40:00] I remained in a coma for another six days. I was on a ventilator that whole time. but I, woke up on my own. when I woke up, I had taken a combination of things I had and one of them was anti-cholinergic. It was how silo mean, which is a cousin of . And, in that dose, it caused on the wake up half of it, a mild delirium state along with a disconnection from, my muscles. Nerve impulse control.

[00:40:34] alex: The muscles is just not the same. And, uh, yeah, it was very, very difficult. It felt like my body weighed a thousand pounds, you know, like you just, you know, you know how to move your arm, but it just is like, it just won't move. It's just so weak. And, yeah, that combined with

[00:40:54] alex: a hole in the, in the normal functioning memory and the mild [00:41:00] delirium. I literally didn't know if I was in the future or if I was in outer space on some kind of alien technology, the object recognition was not really there. So everything I looked at looked like, in comprehensible technology, I just did not recognize L

[00:41:17] alex: yeah, it lacked that that effect lasted.

[00:41:20] alex: I don't know, maybe between 24 hours and 48 hours.

[00:41:24] ken: You're like almost like a child. We learning.

[00:41:26] alex: yeah, it was a really, it was a really, really strange experience. very humbling, very humbling experience.

[00:41:32] ken: Right, right. No, no fascinating. Especially the, you know, um, let me ask you this. what I'm curious about is had you had any experiences before this particular pivotal moment, that

[00:41:45] ken: had ever given you a glimpse, that there was much more beyond, and maybe I'm trying to connect it with

[00:41:52] ken: you saying that, oh, I experienced this tremendous lightness, because you're a human role was so tight before this, you [00:42:00] know, rebirth, so to speak, uh, that you had and being able to take an out of it.

[00:42:04] alex: I, you know, in my mind it was well whatever's going to happen is going to happen. And I was taking a one-way ticket to go see what was going to happen. yes. Yes. And, that was, it was a terrifying leap. I mean, there's been a lot of things that are scary to do in life, but, yeah. that one, that one was, was quite the limit. I think

[00:42:27] ken: no, this is, this is fascinating for me to hear because, and maybe we're rehabbing this conversation after many years. I don't know what, how we talked about it.

[00:42:35] ken: We could go on this for a long time, but maybe we'll have to do a, you could even have a separate podcast or just,

[00:42:43] ken: but one of the things is, um,

[00:42:45] ken: I don't know, I have not studied the area.

[00:42:47] ken: Quote unquote, you know, suicide or checking out.

[00:42:51] ken: But, you know, I know a certain group of people called terrorists and, um, who build themselves up for a particular religious ideology, [00:43:00] uh, you know, because they have been promised to heaven

[00:43:02] ken: and, uh, virgins and all that kind of stuff. And, uh, the, you know, since they were, they were kids and so that all those baffles me, that they put their life at stake for a belief. Um, and I don't know how to, you know, I'm not a psychologist driving and studied this, but what you were saying is a little different, because what you were saying is you kind of had this openness,

[00:43:25] ken: uh, towards the unknown and you were taking

[00:43:29] ken: a pretty big risk to verify something that you did not know but you were essentially putting your life at stake.

[00:43:38] ken: And it was not a belief that it

[00:43:39] ken: was a kind of an openness.

[00:43:41] alex: It's true. It's true. When you say it that way. I mean, looking back on my experience and the memory of it, and I felt that I had come to a sort of dead end, because between all many circumstances that all came to a head of once I felt like there just [00:44:00] the chance for resolving all of them just was so hard and so on thinkable.

[00:44:05] alex: And I was, and so I felt so out of energy and so tired and just like I, yeah, there wasn't really another choice, but I was willing to go into a deeper aspect of life. And, um, I have, I did, I did have a couple of strong psychedelic experiences early in life when I was a teenager. and, they did give me glimpses.

[00:44:36] alex: I wasn't ready for, glimpses of something beyond and, the distorted reality so far that it became clear that the nature of this reality is in fact almost arbitrary. You know, it could be anything and the collective unconscious could just be a great echo chamber. We're all just walking around [00:45:00] repeating things like, you know, the, the nature of like what is actually original, came into my mind very, very early in life.

[00:45:09] alex: I had literally had come to the conclusion. Uh, we're all just repeating each other and we're all just sharing ideas and no one's ideas are original and I just weird ideas like that. And, but then connected to a greater reality that we just can't understand through our normal senses. Um, yeah. I, I definitely was open to something beyond, beyond, beyond the consensus reality.

[00:45:40] ken: Yeah. Yeah, no. as a Sufi say mashallah, which, means, did it in a good world. It's like how beautiful,

[00:45:49] alex: Yeah.

[00:45:49] ken: when something too beautiful happens, the Sufi is blame it on God.

[00:45:53] alex: Yeah. ,

[00:45:54] Causes and types of Near death experience

[00:45:54] ken: Yeah. and the story that we are you are sharing, that your life was transformed by [00:46:00] honoring that experience. You didn't even have a choice, perhaps because it was such a profound experience.

[00:46:04] alex: Yeah. It's true.

[00:46:06] ken: Perhaps that your openness that we touched on earlier on, I think, was a big reason that you had a certain kind of experience. in the spiritual journey in psychedelics and life in general, that if you do not have the openness, curiosity or questioning, the true nature of life stays hidden. Then it rarely does try to shock you when you weren't even asking a question.

[00:46:27] alex: Yeah. there's no, there's no denying it. Some people are just hit upside the head with a, a great surprise. But, but yeah, I think for most people, if they're not asking deep questions, they simply will not be given deep answers and everything is hidden and everything seems superficial and that's all there is to it.

[00:46:48] ken: People, have very deep reactions to this. And I think rightly so, because as you were talking about, I don't think there's any easy way to come into terms with your own [00:47:00] non-existence and the fact that you will have to think for yourself. facing the unknown. I think if you have a culture that, that honors that openness as past civilizations, indigenous cultures have done to a lot of degree, I think it can be easy, but nonetheless, this is a Warrior's path.

[00:47:16] alex: Yeah, no, I, I completely agree. I understand it's a very hard path for people, especially when it means giving up ideas that have been handed down generation after generation after generation. And I mean, how could you, I don't know. You absolutely have to have a warrior spirit in order to embrace something as big as the total mystery.

[00:47:38] ken: One of the questions I had about your NDE was your ND experience from what you have described as not seem there seem to be certain templates in categories. Again, I'm not an expert, but definitely one of the templates is very Christian.

[00:47:51] ken: A thing of seeing a light, having visitation with your ancestors was by the way is not just among Christians. it's a team that's [00:48:00] present also in, in other cultures and civilizations. but it's mostly in Christianity. I think it's mostly immediate, but anyway, so what are your thoughts on that? Do you, do you think that your ND classifies in a particular kind of template or theme that multiple people have had.

[00:48:18] alex: I've heard other NDEs and stories and I can relate to them. I definitely choose my own words based on considering my audience and that plays a role. and I would have to say that the experience overall was I mean, quite weird beyond description and in itself it requires, creativity in order to describe it.

[00:48:43] alex: But, you know, there's so many, there's so many religious traditions that are relatable to my experience. Not just Christianity, not just native culture, not just the east, not just, something more universal, [00:49:00] something fundamental to, value all of those stories now. they're really just using different words and different weaving, different ancestry songs in to make a new story of about their experience.

[00:49:17] alex: And I mean, the attempt to describe the indescribable, I mean, what, what else do you have to lean on? But the, the words that have come before us.

[00:49:26] ken: I've heard this coat, I think it comes from Andrew Valtech, who is a dream yoga, masters, spiritual teacher, and might even come from somebody where he heard it, but it's the map is not the territory

[00:49:37] alex: Yeah,

[00:49:38] ken: and all the religions.

[00:49:39] ken: And, perhaps the religion is not the best words for all spiritual traditions, mystical traditions, or maps. And, the point to the undescribable, as you say, in their own beautiful ways, from where they originated and profits and sages who, came to, pass the legacy,[00:50:00] often.

[00:50:01] Sam Harris & Rupert Spira debate primacy of consciousness

[00:50:01] ken: . So, , let's get back to. , a conversation that you and I had had maybe a little over a week ago, and we can connect this in the show notes as well. So I had a hard on the request of a friend, not so much a request, a sharing of a friend of an interview between Sam Harris and Rupert Spira And for those, a few, both of them are pretty well known, but for those of you who don't know Sam Harris, at least I remember him from five, six years ago.

[00:50:27] ken: I used to be in his kind of quote unquote camp at Sam Harris. And I want point with Richard Dawkins and the like who were atheists.

[00:50:33] ken: I'm sure he has come to transform himself as well. Like all of us and a part of his openness was because of his own interest in meditative and contemplated practices, as far as I know. And I think that he has also has, had his own touch with, uh, psychedelic experiences as well. And the other, interview quickly was Rupert ASPIRA, who, is a spiritual teacher and a student of actually one of my spiritual [00:51:00] teachers Francis Lucille, that I've studied with, um, have been very fortunate to study with.

[00:51:06] ken: And so they had this discussion to kind of sum it up, they had a very good conversation, but one of the point of difference between the two is that a Rupert. And I think that includes both of us as well from our conversation is that there is, a deeper reality and that, that reality is real. And that what Rupert was saying was that our very own ordinary awareness is very much at the foundation.

[00:51:35] ken: As we explore this, that awareness is at the foundation of. Reality as a matter of fact,

[00:51:41] alex: That's primary.

[00:51:42] ken: yeah. It's primary or to stand that reality, what is real is our awareness and everything is appearing in it. and not the other way around which in a lot of science, I think where, Sam was not agreeing with that fully.

[00:51:55] ken: And he said that maybe that's a possibility we don't know, but he was also on the camp that [00:52:00] it could be possible that a and I might be wrong because I heard this the 10 days ago that that matter itself, whatever that is. . , that something outside of our awareness can actually be primary and that it, builds it, you know, it's like these molecules that come together and H two O comes and makes water.

[00:52:20] ken: So there is like a equivalent of H2O that creates our awareness or my experience of existence. And Rupert's come back to that was, I think, was that, how do you know that? Because, you know, as I was saying was all of our instruments, all of our technology is within our awareness. I am the one who sees that.

[00:52:40] ken: So how, why should I assume the existence of something that I can never verify?

[00:52:46] alex: Yes. Yeah, no. I mean to speak to this, the first thing that comes to mind is something I believe Alan Watts said is that atheism is a form of piousness and it is [00:53:00] to be preaching. Atheistic ideas is, spiritual and ideas, anything really?

[00:53:05] ken: yeah. I just want to say, I heard someone say that recently that, I think it was Igor Kufayev a spiritual teacher. And he said that atheism is probably the most intimate relationship with God, because full on denial of your own self

[00:53:21] alex: yeah, yeah,

[00:53:23] ken: it's very intense.

[00:53:25] alex: right. No, I, I get it and I, I see it that way. I see the piousness and atheism. Yeah. W I, when the mystery runs so deep,

[00:53:36] ken: the question I had for you, Alex, was maybe you were going into this as, you had an experience of NDE when Sam Harris was talking to Rupert Spira he gave the example of anesthesia and he said that people were given anesthesia because he himself is a neurobiologist or neuro therapist, something maybe neuroscientists, that people have kind of like this blackout. they don't [00:54:00] have any recollection of what happened during that time.

[00:54:03] alex: right.

[00:54:04] ken: And so I really wanted to spend a little bit of time here, to connect with that because that's a theme that's very important to me. I think that most don't think about that. , just to kind of have this clarity that I would say it's not just anesthesia I would say deep sleep distraction. somebody knocking you with a two by four on your head, and anesthesia and near death experience, all these are actually the same experience.

[00:54:28] ken: So it's not that you have to take anesthesia or have to have an intense experience of an NDE.

[00:54:33] alex: Right.

[00:54:34] alex: Yeah. And to different intensities and different degrees. Yes. During my near-death experience, I had no sense of time whatsoever and there was no measurable brain activity whatsoever. They actually thought I might be a vegetable for the rest of my life if I were to survive. And, it was quite shocking that everything came back to normal immediately afterwards.

[00:54:56] alex: But, yeah. I did lose sense of time and, there [00:55:00] is a spottiness and memory of events coming out of it, but there was a lucidity in the experience beyond, you know, like, eh, strangely enough, it was confirmed that I had no brain activity yet. I had an experience and, that was in 2011. I actually, Sam Harris came to UCS D in, I believe it was 2010, maybe in 2009, but he came there.

[00:55:24] ken: California, San Diego, just

[00:55:26] alex: Yes. Yes, yes. UC San Diego. And, I, I heard him speak and I got introduced to him at that time. I had friends that really liked him and he had progressive ideas. They were really smart. He had written books, he was very already very popular and well-published, and, I actually found his work to be a little confusing because I listened and listened and listened and, and, and he had all these interesting things to talk about.

[00:55:54] alex: He talk about retreats and he would talk about a little bit of like [00:56:00] psychedelic stuff, not really revealing too much of his own personal experiences, but enough that you could tell that he's been immersed in it. And, um, he would really touch upon ideas, but I kind of felt that I was listening with an open heart and every time I got invested in what he had to share, I had the rug pulled out from underneath me because it was an incomplete idea.

[00:56:20] alex: Or it stopped with, an idea that he could sell books on. Or I don't know. I can't say what his motivations are. Exactly. or maybe it's the prestige of his position or his status and culture or whatever it is. I, I'm not here to judge him. and I don't mean to offend all my friends that really love his work.

[00:56:41] alex: There's I know so many people that like, they're like, oh, do you know Sam Harris? And they like want to give me his book or, and I've listened to all his, a lot of podcasts, his early podcasts when he was on other podcasts and, yeah, really interesting guy with a lot to share. But, in my [00:57:00] feeling, he, he kinda misses key points where, he doesn't fully embrace the mystery and instead he's embracing the piousness of atheism, but under the cloak of spiritual idealism, it's a kind of an interesting mix.

[00:57:17] alex: It's a huge, one of the more unique mixes out there

[00:57:22] ken: Yeah. Yeah. The thing is I find it interesting. I think he's very articulate. and that kinda even camouflages it further.

[00:57:31] ken: So you have also been in cognitive science and, we have thought about this and we've experimented. And so maybe you can actually actually say something and then I can say something is why do you Alex, think that in all these states, which we first started clarify that it's not just the, anesthesia and NDE, it is distraction and deep sleep as well.

[00:57:51] ken: So why, why do you think that, awareness is there.

[00:57:55] alex: why is this the awareness there?

[00:57:57] alex: I don't know. I mean, why is it that when [00:58:00] we listen to someone speak. That we know and understand and care about that. We, without even words, we can tell something's wrong, or we can tell how they're feeling precisely, or, you know, like some things there, there's just a, a rich subtlety of detail. That's unspoken.

[00:58:18] alex: And, I believe that's, where it all begins. And, and I think, uh, it's easy to deny subtlety when you're very strong intellectually and your whole world is founded on science and data, and it's very easy to ignore subtlety. And, but why does, why do we have awareness in the first place?

[00:58:39] ken: No, no, no, no. There's no, sorry, not that. Why do we have awareness in the first place? I was just saying that you and I have seem to take an, a position that awareness is there. When we go to sleep, when we take an as Tzo or where you choose or you're distracted, you have taken clearly taken a position, which is different than Sam Harris, more along the lines of Rupert Spira And [00:59:00] so I just wanted to kind of go for each of us, why that is the case.

[00:59:03] alex: Yeah. I mean, to me, it's been the rich subtlety and, the connections and the richness in listening to your heart and, following the openness, , following the signs and the feeling, the feeling, um, and, discovering that it's rewarding and it has a lot to offer. and if you listen, it speaks and, denying that in my experience has led to hardship and difficulty and all kinds of things going wrong.

[00:59:39] alex: It's kind of just been through my own personal folly that I've really attuned to the subtlety and listened to the inner voice within and have been guided by something other than my thoughts. And, to me that my personal experiences, that's what ultimately [01:00:00] informs me. It's not, the ideas that other people have given me or the things I've read or videos I've seen or it's my experience.

[01:00:08] alex: And, and, to me, it's, I, it's hard to explain it's it's I can't, I just can't deny my own experience. I mean, I , I just, even if it disagrees with other people, I came to that dead end in the past and I had to come face to face with all of it. And, yeah, for that, I'm grateful because I feel like it's opened up door, unthinkable doors, impossible doors have opened.

[01:00:35] alex: since that point, not that I wish the experience on anybody else and I was a very hard one.

[01:00:41] ken: Yeah,

[01:00:41] alex: yeah,

[01:00:43] ken: no, this is very beautiful. And I think, as you said, there is subtlety and, we communicate a lot of things and, uh, you saw something, and you did actually see it, and that was verified within you and you do not, it seems , Wrong to dismiss it.

[01:00:57] alex: Yes.

[01:00:58] ken: So to say that [01:01:00] consciousness or awareness is not primary, it would be to what you were shown.

[01:01:04] alex: Right. And it would be completely nihilistic. I mean, it's hard to imagine. what is this life about? Is it just like to believe nothing matters and drink yourself into a stupor every night? And I don't know, Karen don't care about your health or, what matters if.

[01:01:23] alex: Experience isn't primary. I mean, I don't,

[01:01:26] alex: I don't know.

[01:01:28] ken: exactly. It's just completely disempowering.

[01:01:30] Thank you

[01:01:30] alex: Yeah,, no, this is, this is great talking. I feel like we touched on a lot of topics that we could probably keep talking for hours about.

[01:01:38] ken: It was fitting that you are the first guest. Thank you for the honor and the pleasure

[01:01:44] alex: Oh yeah. No, the honor's mine. Thank you.

[01:01:46] ken: And thank you everybody who is going to tune in

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[00:00:00] Ladies and gentlemen, welcome. This is Kenan Azam as I would like to welcome you to the potential paradigms show.

[00:00:21] Introduction

[00:00:21] Potential paradigm is we'll produce verdict conversations with individuals who are creatively ushering in new paradigms and are now apocalyptic civilization with the vision of creating a world of harmony, not just for our citizens, but also for the descendants of this planet.

[00:00:36] Themes

[00:00:36] Themes discussed will include consciousness, civilization, culture, history, ecology, economy, relationships, psychedelics, and the list goes on.

[00:00:47] Backstory

[00:00:47] Are you still with me? If so, great. Let me begin by telling you a little bit about myself. As long as I remember, I've always been interested in the nature of freedom. Being born in a fundamentalist [00:01:00] culture.

[00:01:00] I developed resentment towards religion early on in life, and chose to discover the mystery of our existence, to the means of science and science fiction. This is what drove me to become an engineer and work in academic science for over a decade. However, later on a little. Uh, health crisis and my continued disenchantment with the predominantly materialistic dogma of science catalyzed me to embark on the spiritual journey to explore the deeper dimensions of our being in an experiential manner.

[00:01:31] The first part of my journey was transcendent. I was ready to dismiss the world and consider it. doomed, I just wanted to escape to higher, more blissful realities.

[00:01:41] The pandemic

[00:01:41] Like many of us, the pandemic heightened my concern and contemplation for the disharmony in our now apocalyptic civilization, I use the word apocalypse because apocalypse means the revelation of truth.

[00:01:54] The revelation of truth brings an end to false narratives, which we have come to experience as the many [00:02:00] facets of our civilization from war injustice, inequality, to the very destruction of the planet we call home.

[00:02:08] Infinite Potential

[00:02:08] During this time, as I was trying to make sense of the disharmony our world, I came across a book called the infinite potential by the late quantum physicist.

[00:02:16] And both are Schaeffer. Loath are pointed to the union. As an immaterial, cautious, interconnected field of infinite potential, which not only gives birth to electrons, but also to humans. And what is more VR in costume communion with this field of intelligence.

[00:02:32] So in hindsight, my desire to transcend somewhat MySQL. I now believe that the purpose of her life is to embody our transcendent infinite potential to the means of creative expression. The expression of our collective potential is what we are experiencing today as our world in which we live. Since then, I took a medical leave.

[00:02:54] Lauch of Potential Paradigms

[00:02:54] I resigned from my career and took. Across the United States, Canada, and later to [00:03:00] Costa Rica to rediscover and actualize my own potential. The launch of potential paradigms as a part of this process. .

[00:03:07] I think I have somebody for unique perspective because I've spent two years in both academic science and the study of contemplate of traditions. I say somewhat, because now there are thousands. If not more individuals who are bringing light to these potential realities, and there are millions who are hungry for these paradigm shifts.

[00:03:25] Vision

[00:03:25] My vision in potential. Is to create an authentic body of work, which explores these paradigm shifts and supports the viewer, you to discover your own potential or to refine it further. I hope you find this material, both educational and entertaining.

[00:03:40] Thank You

[00:03:40] Thank you so much for being with me on this journey.

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