The Sacred Speaks

19: Tibetan meditation and spiritual practice. A conversation with Alejandro Chaoul In this episode, Alejandro’s knowledge provides a guide rail down into the parts of meditation that are not just about feeling calm and blissful, but the meditation that brings the “gunk” to the surface so that one can be more present with it, work with it and transform it. He discusses how valuable it is that a me...

Rabbi Sholklapper may speak and read enough languages to make anyone jealous. This multi-lingual blessing allows him the unique gift of investigating ancient religious texts to deconstruct them and explore meaning lost over the passing of time and that has often been injected with interpretations based in ulterior motives. This fact makes him an exceptionally fun person with whom to share a coffee...

This conversation explores some of the basic foundations for depth psychology; in particular, how paying attention to the body provides a ground for any individual to come to know their intuitive center point. Dr. Nanine Ewing surveys the body and the unconscious and the various pressures on how one should view each of these concepts in today’s culture. Nanine explains “the psychology of beauty” t...

This episode of the podcast begins with Dr. Cross discussing how his history influences the work that he has been doing with families and children “from hard places” for almost 40 years. This conversation explores David’s philosophical orientation as informed by the work of philosopher Benedict De Spinoza. David cites that Spinoza served as close to a philosophical “North Star” as anyone could get...

Harvey is a psychotherapist and a teacher of Tibetan Buddhism, who received the title of Lama, Vajra Master from his teacher in 2010 and in a teaching context is known as Lama Namgyal Dorje. Dr. Aronson’s academic and spiritual path places him in an informed position to speak about the intersection of the both Buddhism and psychology; so much so that his book, Buddhist Practice On Western Ground,...

We begin our conversation with Bob joking that, as a young boy growing up in the San Francisco Bay area, he knew he was a Democrat before he knew he was Jewish. Bob was deeply influenced by Robert “Bobby” Kennedy’s position as an agent of change so much so that he began working with the Kennedy campaign early in his life; and considering that Bobby Kennedy was a hero figure for Bob, Kennedy’s deat...

Robert speaks with eloquence as he grounds his research (me-search) in his personal story, a story that has a sobering way of articulating both the academic and the particular dynamic between, hope and despair, his subject of study. Robert has emerged from the depth and is now able to support others as they make a similar journey into their own experiences of the ups of life and also the downs. Ab...

Dr. Shefali explains that her primary entry point into the world of connecting with and teaching parenting is through her desire to expand the consciousness of each person. She explains that because the beginning stages of parenting so often create a willingness to make sacrifices on behalf of the parent, she realized that people were more amenable to “great spiritual change.” She frames conscious...

The discussion begins with Rodney’s musical biography starting at the age of 9, this early interest in music then transforms into a life calling by the age of 11. Currently, he is in training as a Jungian analyst, and therefore he speaks eloquently about the integration of music and depth psychology. Rodney’s life has provided him the ground to understand how music can give an individual an invita...

Michael works as a Rolfer and therefore works with the body every day; and, he states, “we are not properly introduced to our bodies in this culture.” He designates most of the hours of each day touching people, and the underlying philosophy may surprise you. This episode reminds us all to attend to the form from which we manifest each moment. Michael’s meaning in life is born from attending to pe...

We begin by agreeing that as two “keepers of stories” we often find people sharing with us their private experiences, ones that they often do not share with others. Therefore, we are both in a confident position to make certain characterizations about aspects of the human project that many people have experienced, but few share “out loud.” Each of us identifies the core differences between what pe...

In this week's podcast, Episcopal priest James Derkits and I explore the human need for community as expressed through the way the South Texas island town, Port Aransas, responds to the destruction following Hurricane Harvey. We explore individual and collective trauma and recognize that sometimes people find psychological gold after enduring the darkest of times. We begin this conversation by Jam...

Today’s conversation begins with Dr. Corbett’s analysis of the limitations of an exclusively biological mode of treating psychological issues. Lionel reframes one’s relationship to emotional symptoms away from the traditional models of modern psychopathology into a mode in which the symptom understood to be a signal for an aspect of life that is in need of attention. He defines complex and archety...

Bill provides an autobiographical landscape of his early training and matriculation. Following his history, we begin exploring the limitations of the various therapeutic worldviews. We discuss how psychology and religion have been interwoven, specifically not the psychology of religion, but psychology and religion. Bill describes how the various psychological models illuminate religion. In particu...

Episode 5: Religion and Psychology. A conversation with Pittman McGehee In today’s episode, Pittman unpacks the definition of religion and broadens the traditional limiting assumptions many immediately experience in relationship to religion. We discuss how many of the actions that have been in the name of religion are not religious. We begin by defining religion, the philosophy of materialism, psy...

Episode 4: A life worth living. A conversation with James Hollis In this episode, Jim and I discuss how elements of his personal history positioned his interest in depth psychology specifically and learning in general. Jim defines depth psychology and discusses how a relationship to one’s inner world orients one’s self to meaning and purpose. We explore how the relationship to a vocation or callin...

Niki is an expert on the ascetic John Cassian and the French philosopher Michel Foucault. In this episode Niki and I discuss her newest book, Sites of the Ascetic Self. Niki is most interested in daily practices of discipline that can help and enable individuals to open to certain forms of self-transformation including transformation of our bodies, our emotions and our relation to other people. Sh...

Have you ever wondered if someone can help you understand ways to think about the wild and, at times, frightening fantasies that we all experience throughout our lives (and sometimes on a daily basis)? Do we have fantasies, or do they have us? In this episode, Sean Fitzpatrick and I discuss the imagination and how the way each of us interprets those images and affects that seem to emerge from plac...

In this episode, Jeff and I discuss the nature of religion and secularism. We explore the need for culture to create a more generous science that includes experiences that are currently outside of the boundaries of the modern sciences. We define terms such as religion, belief, and gnosis, all in service of gaining a deeper understanding of the narratives that fuel and drive much of the human need...