Seekers of Unity

How I left Conservative, Fundamentalist, Calvinist, Evangelical Christianity. The Story of Steve as told by Steve.  A Story of Self-Discovery, Mystical Experiences, Happiness in Poverty, Finding Ourselves and Jesus in a Bathroom in Miami.

What Happens when East meets West? Exploring the History of Cultural and Philosophical Exchange between Ancient Greece and Ancient India.   In last part of the series we discussed Indian and Greek Pantheism. This week we take a look at some points of historical and conceptual contact between these two great civilizations.  Key words: Buddhist influences on Pyrrhonism, Greek influence on...

What do Thales, Heraclitus, Pythagoras, Parmenides, Plato, Stoicism and Plotinus have in Common? Were they all Pantheist? Maybe.                 Pantheism Between the One and the Many.  Exploring the attempts of the Ionians (Anaximenes, Thales, Anaximander, Heraclitus and Anaxagoras), the Eleatics (Xenophanes and...

Are Eastern Religions Pantheistic? Is Eastern Pantheism even a thing? Tracing a Theological trajectory through Myth, Mantra and Metaphysics to demonstrate the presence of Pantheistic (and Panentheistic) thought, the belief that identifies God with the Universe, in Hinduism, Daoism and Buddhism.  Join us, as we seek unity, sacrality and divinity in the trembling, thunderous dance of Shiva, in...

Pantheism. Radical. Dangerous. Seductive. Born from the awe and wonder that reality itself inspires. From the experience which dissolves boundaries and egos, of union between the human, the world and God.     Kicking off this series on key concepts of mysticism, by exploring the varieties of pantheism, the ways it has been formulated and expressed. Related concepts; panentheism, pan...

Interview with Bonnie Morris, Professor. Author. Historian. On the Influence of Hasidic Mysticism on the Role of Women in the Chabad Movement. Interviewed by Dovi Seldowitz @ChabadSociologist

Are there any Female Jewish Mystics or is Jewish Mysticism just a Boys Club? Join us as we explore ten incredible women Mystics, Martyrs, Mothers, Messiahs, masters of Kabbalah, Educators, Oracles, Patrons, Prophets, Poets and Philosophers who left an unforgettable mark on Jewish History.

Jung believed God was a projection of the Collective Unconscious. Was he rejecting religion or was he in good company among religion's mystics? A case study of the motif of the Sefirot, as a symbol for the relationship between the Mind of God and Humanity, in Kabbalah and Hasidism. Also, find out why Jung said “the Hasidic rabbi.. the Great Maggid.. anticipated my entire psychology.”

“No one who is a Jew can become a human being without knowing that they are a Jew, since this is the basis from which they can reach out towards a higher humanity." – C.G. Jung   Sources and Further Reading:  Jung and Kabbalah, Steven Joseph, 2007 Jung and the Kabbalah, Sanford Drob, 1999 J ung, Kabbalah, and Gnosis, Stephan Hoeller, 2012  Jung’s Kabbalistic Visions, Sanford Drob, 2...

Jewish Mysticism in America with Dr. Arthur Green, Dr. Charles Rosen, and Rabbi Zalman Schachter. Sponsored by the Graduate Theological Union Program for the Study of New Religious Movements in America, Berkeley, California, June 7, 1978.  "We have here a unique collection of thinkers, scholars, pioneers, the cutting edge of a part of American spiritual life which most people here would like...

Not all of us wake up in the morning aspiring to create a new religion, philosophy or language. SoU introduces you to one individual who did.  Taking notes from the Sikh faith and inspired by darkness to create light (or perhaps to transcend the dichotomy) and to help ‘others’ who are struggling, the intentionally nameless founder of Rën challenges us to re-think our divided ways of living, e...

Mystics are often seen as irrational. The word ‘mystical’ is oft employed disparagingly as a synonym for the vague, dubious and enigmatic. In this convo with Dr Justin Sledge, scholar of religion and philosophy and host of Esoterica, we challenge and debate this conception.   Asking: What is Logic? How does it work? What are its Origins and History? Is it Discovered or Invented? Is there a co...

Two-hundred years ago, Baptist Missionaries spread Christianity to the indigenous tribes of Nagaland. Born to the Ao Tribe, anthropologist Tiatemsü Longkumer is studying the effects of the religious syncretism wrought by the missionaries on his own people's "worldview."  Get ready for some epic animistic, syncretistic, pantheistic, bitheistic, indigenous epicness.

What did Carl Jung say about Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism? Exploring four quotes from Jung about the significance of Kabbalah for Jungian and Freudian Psychology, the Difference between Jewish and Christian Spirituality, and the Evolution of Consciousness.    00:00 Jung and Kabbalah 01:04 First Quote "A deep plunge into the history of the Jewish mind" 03:51 Second Quote "The supreme Tri...

In 1944, on the edge of death, Carl Jung had a blissed out mystical experience, the “most tremendous” experience of his life, filed with intense Kabbalistic imagery. We’re gonna to try explain it. Exploring the relationship between Jung and Jewish Mysticism.    00:00 The Experience 01:12 The Context 03:18 The Break Down 08:25 Jung’s Sources 14:00 A Question 15:58 Upcoming Vids  &nbs...

Trailblazer in the extra-ordinary, cartographer of the unknown, Jeffery (Yehuda) Mishlove is a clinical psychologist, host and producer of Thinking Allowed and New Thinking Allowed. Jeffery studied the psychology of religious mysticism, and completed a PhD in Parapsychology, the only ever awarded by an accredited University (Berkley 1980), published later as Psi Development Systems. He is the auth...

A Muslim and a Jew walk into a Zoom… (Timestamps below)  I had the distinct privilege of interviewing my Muslim brother Ihsan Alexander, creator of Soul of Islam Radio and a luminous Sufism Youtuber. And what a pleasure it was. Ihsan shares his story, teaches us about the inner dimension of Islam, pushes us towards unity and harmony, guides us in staying true to our tradition while respecting...

Yehuda Katz, a brilliant young master of Kabbalah, shares his story, gives us a peek into his beautiful mind and a glimpse though the cosmic star-speckled spheres into the mind of God.   00:00 Introducing Yehuda Katz  04:40 Yehuda’s story, in his own words  11:10 Living an Authentic, Colorful Judaism | Beyond the Black n White      18:02 Ascending through Silence...

"In the latter part of the thirteenth century, at the time when theosophic kabbalah was flourishing, there emerged an alternative kabbalistic tradition with a different focus. The main exponent of this tradition was Abraham Abulafia." Explore one of the most important, prolific, complex and controversial figures in the history of Jewish mysticism. A self-proclaimed, Prophet and Messiah, an itinera...

Enter the Cosmic Drama of a World of Words, a Mystical Journey, the third holiest textual corpus of Judaism. The undullable Masterpiece, the Magnum Opus of Kabbalah. A Renaissance of Human Spirit, wound to Birth forth again, to have us Reborn, rediscovering our Why.            The Zohar is no book, it’s a World, an intricate, subtle and complex one...

Attempting to explain the mystery of the emergence of 12th-13th Century Kabbalah of Isaac the Blind and Nachmanides in France and Spain, by examining the merger of the mythological genre of early Jewish mysticism with the Neoplatonic philosophy of Ibn Gabirol and Plotinus. And exploring the role that their metaphysics of the 'One and the Many', Unity and Multiplicity, Great Chain of Being and Eman...

i gave an intro to Kabbalah class, here's how it went..  00:57 Class begins with Definitions   02:01 Exoteric/Revealed vs Esoteric/Secret Torah  04:44 Prerequisites for Studying Kabbalah  06:52 Necessity of Kabbalah | Body and Soul  09:39 Genius of Kabbalah | Integrated Mysticism   12:09 Historical Sketch of Jewish Mysticism   13:48 Biblical Mysticism | Ezekiel's...

Gavi Kutliroff is a writer, poet and musician and a firm believer in the necessity of an artistic Jewish renaissance. After studying East Asian Studies and Psychology at Brandeis University, he served as a madrich at Yeshivat Orayta in Jerusalem. Gavi is pioneering the comparative study of Chinese and Jewish Mysticism, particularly between the Daoist (Zhuangzi) and Hasidic traditions (Rabbi Nachma...

In this episode we’re going to be exploring some Conceptual Crossovers between Islamic and Jewish Mysticism, Mutual Metaphysics, Similar Soteriology’s and Twinned Theologies.   We’ll discuss the   2:54 Theological idea of the Unity of God,  5:03 The metaphysical concept of the Unity of Being,  10:27 The cosmological ideas of the Gradations of Being,   13:08 The process of...

In this interview with Sara Sviri, Professor Emerita of Arabic and Comparative Religions of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, we shall discuss:  03:44 Wisdom of the Heart  04:49 Definition of the Mystic 05:56 Knowing - Ma'rifa  06:32 Poetry by Gilani    10:45 Unity of Being - Waḥdat al-Wujūd   13:09 Unity and Duality   19:45 Sara’s favorite Sufis  23:29 Lo...