Conversation 4 Exploration. Laura Lee Show, Cuyamungue Institute

An 45,000 to 80,000‐year old bone artifact from a Neanderthal cave has caused some serious head‐scratching among academics. From four holes drilled in the bone, a Saskatoon musicologist demonstrated that it was a flute. Furthermore, the holes correspond to the four most basic notes on the traditional ‘diatonic scale,’ which modern composers love to revile as an arbitrary recent Western fabrication...

Groundbreaking research which proposes that the rise of alphabetic literacy reconfigured the human brain and brought about profound changes in history, religion, and gender relations. Making remarkable connections across brain function, myth, and anthropology,  Dr. Shain shows why pre-literate cultures were principally informed by holistic, right-brain modes that venerated the Goddess, images, and...

An exploration of the how and why altered states can come about and their possibilities. Here we look to what science can tell us and dispels the metaphysical haze that all too often surrounds the subject of altered states of consciousness. We discuss the research of parapsychology; the study psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, and psyc...

Looking to wisdom of the past provides a full spectrum of thought, philosophy and inspiration. Dr. Wayne Dyer has a gift to share everyday wisdom with simple analysis and hints for practical applications. Here we cut across a wide range of historical eras and cultures, yet look for universal truths about the human experience. We explore topics including spirituality, the afterlife, alternative hea...

Sacred sites in the western half of the U.S. and Mexico include goddess sites and warrior sites, centers of emergence, balance and harmony, petroglyphs, and springs and mountains that have powerful spirits of place.  Bernyce Barlow, a Californian and retired educator and abuse therapist, describes natural energy centers throughout the American West, Hawaii, and Mexico. Biofields, the physics of ma...

Why do we believe in the soul? Does it actually exist? If so, what is it? Does it differ from the self? Is it part of the material world? Fred Alan Wolf brings the most modern perspective of quantum physics to the most ancient questions of religion and philosophy. Together we explores the possible spiritual aspects in relation to quantum physics. Life, death, soul, and immortality issues. Fred Ala...

When it comes to longevity let's look to the ancient traditions of the East for some answers. A large and growing body of evidence shows that embracing Eastern strategies that have long emphasized lifestyle, diet, exercise and a core focus on consciousness as critical to health. And specifically we look at the origin and evolution of consciousness and it's age old role in the ancient pra...

There is growing evidence of possible visits to the Americas made by people from Asia, Europe and Oceania prior to Christopher Columbus in 1492.  Pretty much accepted by mainstream scientists and scholars are Maritime explorations by Norse peoples from Scandinavia during the late 10th century led to the Norse colonization of Greenland and Newfoundland[3] which preceded Columbus' arrival in th...

Throughout recorded history there are references to light emissions observed to come from the human body. For years we have known that life is an electrical fact; that all vital systems operate electrically. Recently we have found that a cell is a bioelectric wonder - with polarities and energy field effects. Relatively inert substances, like membranes, connective tissue, tendons, ligaments, and f...

“It would be arrogant to think we’re alone in the Universe,” says Harvard Professor Avi Loeb, theoretical astrophysicist. His conjecture on the anomalous, shiny, elongated space object (dubbed “Oumuamua”, Hawaiian for “scout”) that wandered through our inner solar system in 2017 fit the evidence, yet stirred up quite the controversy. It looked and behaved not like an asteroid or cement, but a sola...

"The Biblical accounts are full of trance states," says this Georgetown University scholar. When I ask him why our society trusts accounts of ASC from 2,000 years ago, but less so now, he agrees that mystical states are just as available to us now as then. "Nobody has done more than John Pilch to popularize the use of an ASC model for understanding the visions, sky journeys and othe...

"You are born to fly, and in dreams you remember the soul has wings," says Robert Moss, who  weaves tribal and shamanic wisdom with practical tips to better access your dreaming self and all it offers. The dream state can wake us up to guidance, healing and creativity beyond the reach of our everyday state of mind, as Moss illustrates with examples, and parlay with callers. In studio  in...

The author of "The Way of the Peaceful Warrior" cites universal spiritual laws as simple yet powerful truths for living wisely and well — in alignment with the universal laws that govern our lives, including balance, choice, process, expectation, presence, integrity, compassion, surrender, and unity -- a roadmap for living our best life. Dan Millman is a former world champion gymnast, co...

Andrew Newberg, a pioneer in "neurotheology" -- the neurology of religious and spiritual experiences --  cites a "God Gene" as an inherent part of our physiology tuned to a sense of the Divine, and several direct and indirect neuro-mechanisms tying mystical experiences,  spirituality, compassion, and love with improved mental and physical health and longevity.  His research inc...

"You cannot mistake the similarities between the high of athletic performance with that of religious experience" says Michael Murphy, who draws parallels between mystical moments reported by athletes and those of mystics and yogis, and cites the religious heritage of both East and West as a basis for understanding spiritual experiences arrived at through physical activity. Murphy gathere...

"The rainforests hold answers to questions we have yet to ask," says ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin, "and with each medicine man that dies, it's as if a library burned down." He has spent much of the past four decades studying the shamans and healing plants of tropical America from Mexico to Argentina, mostly focused on the Amazon.  He notes there is no mental illness among th...

Thomas Moore says "Soul is not a thing, but a quality or dimension of experiencing life and ourselves. It has to do with depth, value, relatedness, heart and personal substance.” Defining  soul as the seat of emotions and hub of our lives, he connects loss of soul with the restlessness, addiction, insecurity, and frustration of our times, and the yearning for something to nourish us on this d...

The idea that life is a cosmic, rather than a purely terrestrial phenomenon, has gained ground over the last few decades. Cometary Panspermia is astronomers Chandra Wickramasinghe and Fred Hoyle's theory that the codes of life are transferred among planets and galaxies by microbes that survive within comets and meteors. Gaining support with new discoveries in astronomy,  biology, microbial fo...

What common elements might the rituals of the diverse cultures around the world have in common? Denny Sargent is joined by his wife Rebecca, recounting their travels around the world noting common themes and archetypal symbols of higher ritual, and how archetypes play out in our own lives. Denny visited 30 countries, spent four years in Japan,  been active in a number of esoteric traditions and or...

 Olga Kharitidi was faced with integrating her work as a psychiatrist in a hospital with her induction as an apprentice to Umai, a Siberian shamaness who saw her healing potential. This  chance encounter during a trip to the remote Altai mountains of her birth prompted her to apply these newly gained insights and methods to her practice, with stunning results. She  traveled throughout Siberia, Uzb...

A medical anthropologist, Alberto Villoldo sought new approaches to illness by going back to the age-old practices. Throughout the remnants of the ancient Amazonian empire he found sages and “Earth Keepers” who still practice their ancestral ways and healing methods. Visiting their villages, he met with the medicine men and women, and shares what they have to say and how they work with the luminou...

Ipupiara, also known as Bernardo Peixoto, shares the story of his life. He is a member of the Uru-e-wau-wau tribe of the Brazilian Amazon, a shaman, and an anthropologist. He was fluent in eight indigenous dialects and served as a bridge between cultures, a consultant to the Smithsonian Institute and Museum, and an advisor to the Clinton White House. He shares stories of his early upbringing, why...

Christine VanPool, Professor of Anthropology at University of Missouri, talks about her career and deep dive into the shamanic cultures of Mesoamerica, and the breakthrough contributions of Cuyamungue Institute's founder, cultural anthropologist Dr Felicitas Goodman. Also available in Spotify   for download Laura Lee, Laura Lee Show, Conversation4Exploration. Conversation 4 Exploration, CUYA...

Modern science began as the search for “God’s handiwork" and on the long march to   materialism and rationalism lost its "unashamedly metaphysical and magic-oriented philosophy” say historians Clive Prince and Lynn Picknett. Why and how, and was this inevitable?  Where might physics meet up again with metaphysics? Their book is “The Forbidden Universe: The Occult Origins of Science and t...

We trace the roles of much-loved goddesses in our early history and their place in evolving worldviews through history, and how that impacted the status of women over time, from our deep history to the present. We can read in the archeological record the honor once bestowed to the Divine Feminine principle. There was a time when women enjoyed co-equal status. What changed that? How was this reflec...