Portals of Perception

We’re about to get a close-up look at how a creative and successful business leader is using his remarkable experience and passion to transform the civic and business landscape. It’s the latest chapter in an accomplished life dedicated to creating positive change in diverse communities. In his 22-year career at Microsoft, Robbie Bach led the creation and development of Xbox, the highly popular and...

In many Portals conversations we explore the nature of the emerging new universal possibility not as a separate and distant change, but as a living reality — an uplifting evolutionary impulse that can transform lives, communities and our planetary ecology.  Especially in a time of political and environmental upheaval, how do we discover and more fully engage with the real potential of personal and...

In many Portals conversations we explore the nature and meaning of what some people describe as expanded or greater consciousness — experiencing directly higher levels of intelligence and creativity than are ordinarily accessible through physical senses; connecting and communing with the universal source of cosmic or divine inspiration and purpose.  The paths through history to expanded awareness...

Most of us would probably agree that our brains and minds are restless: continually consuming (unless we’re asleep) vast amounts of data and information from limitless sources, sometimes of dubious quality, a behavior that is often the direct result of how we programmed ourselves to think. They usually run on automatic pilot, craving a high-calorie diet of constant stimulation.  We know our body a...

* This conversation was recorded just a few weeks before the conversation The Emergence of Belonging took place. In several profound ways inquiries framed here are answered in the discoveries of The Emergence of Belonging . It shouldn’t be surprising that with the cultural changes born of the pandemic, and the ecological crisis of climate change, there is a new passion for, simply put, finding new...

It’s the kind of word we don’t see or hear much anymore: valiant. And its siblings valor, fortitude, gallant, and heroic. Or sayings such as “They had the courage of their convictions.” They almost sound quaint and a bit old - fashioned, like chivalry. Is th e nature of valiance even a relevant consideration in a digital age? Yes, absolutely. It’s actually easy to find people who believe that vali...

We no longer need Hollywood to create ever-bigger fictional disasters to scare us into believing our world just may be on the threshold of Armageddon or other apocalyptic scenarios that threaten the future of humanity and the planet. Real-time, real-world environmental collapse, war, and cultural chaos are brought into our awareness on any media platform we may use. Do the true origins and causing...

Isn’t it interesting that arguably the most connected, in touch and in tune generations ever, Gen Z and millennials — generally people born after 1980 — also report in some surveys feeling lonelier, with fewer close friends, than their older siblings or parents? Even in the digita l age of nonstop texts, tweets and saturation social media, technology alone won’t kindle the warmth and depth of real...

It’s familiar to hear athletes and artists talking about “being in the zone” during moments of peak performance — that feeling of total focus and attention that allows access to one’s best and often a sense of greater awareness and capability. It’s sometimes described as a feeling of somehow reaching beyond what we thought were our limits. What’s remarkable in being “in the flow,” as it is also kn...

We know from recent conversations the path out of the addiction trap and other unhealthy habitual patterns leads to a life of better balance between the head and the heart, and closer natural alignment with the ways, energies and rhythms of the planet. But it’s really just a start; the jo urney can go much deeper. Imagine a two - way conscious living exchange between the human being and the planet...

It’s hard to watch the news without also seeing and feeling the pain of toxic and self-destructive behavior influencing so many lives, such as widening and lethal addictions and extremely polarizing ideas and actions. Addiction is a persistent and intense urge to use or do something that brings unhealthy negative consequences. Why do so many people struggle with addictive behavior? Why does humani...

Perhaps the most serious predicament facing the human race may be easy to spot by its toxic and destructive effects on our life and the planet, but why is its core cause so hard to see? It’s a critical puzzle to ponder, which means it’s also an excellent topic for our special series “Current Openings — What the W orld Doesn’t Quite Get Yet.” This collaboration with David Price Francis, author, spi...

Welcome to the third conversation in a Portals series that is taking on a life of its own and leading us to deeper, more profound and sometimes surprising insights than we could have expected.  “Current Openings — What the World Doesn’t Quite Get Yet” is a new collaboration with David Price Francis , author, spiritual teacher and co - founder of Energy Worlds . David joins Aviv Shahar to explore w...

Welcome to the second conversation in the new Portals series “Current Openings — What the World Doesn’t Quite Get Yet.” It’s a different approach to exploring what’s appearing in the “current,” or flow, of new intelligence and evolutionary possibility washing across humanity and the planet. David Price Francis , author, spiritual teacher and co - founder of Energy Worlds , joins Aviv Shahar in the...

One of the most clear and compelling voices across the wide landscape of personal and collective transformation is Dr. Julie Krull , author, mentor, and radio host whose “superpowers” of consciousness and creativity bring new insight to the journey of wholeness and healing. Julie hosts the weekly radio program and podcast The Dr. Julie Show: All Things Connected . Her book Fractured Grace: How to...

At times it may seem the more troubling features of our collective cultural experience — polarization, conflict, isolation — appear so intractable they are now to be expected as almost normalized behaviors of modern community life. They’re not. Each one of us has the natural intelligence and creativity to transcend polarities with a greater perspective, transform the energy of conflict into resolu...

Welcome to the first conversation in a new Portals series: “Current Openings — What the World Doesn’t Quite Get Yet.” David Price Francis, author, spiritual teacher and co - founder of Energy Worlds , joins Aviv Shahar for this adventure. In the case of the title, “current” refers to the flow of energy that is part of the new evolutionary potential was hing through humanity and the planet. In this...

It’s remarkable in a digital age where the world is light years ahead of life in the 18th century that a fundamental cultural institution hasn’t changed its core mission substantially since the Industrial Revolution.   What we know as public education, from pre - school to college, has helpe d elevate life and the collective standard of living in astounding ways over the past 200 years. Its guidin...

At Portals we're seeing more and more that emerging and potentially world - changing ideas and perceptions are arising at points all over the planet. In this conversation we speak with Joe Lightfoot , a creative and dynamic thinker, writer ( A Collective Bloomin g ) and podcaster who is opening new pathways toward creating communities and grass roots engagement that he believes can radically trans...

This is a special Portals conversation with a diverse group of practitioners and leaders who bring their insights into consciousness, and their skills in creating transformative change, to top executives, teams and communities around the world.    We’ve asked Anne Stadler, Grace Boda, Kate Sutherland, Royce Holladay, Jeff Vander Clute and Karin Jironet to share their sense of what is emerging and...

Modern psychotherapy  is finally catching up to the shaman. It’s been a long time coming. The pursuit of mental health and a deeper understanding of the mysterious workings of the human mind can be traced back thousands of years, through cultures around the world. A new approach to treating trauma and mental health issues is finding success by combining the knowledge of modern neuroscience and the...

If we let our imagination run free, what kind of a future do we see 25 years from now? What does the world look like? Does humanity fulfill the aspirations and dreams that inspire the current generation of searchers and activists striving to create a brighter future?   There is a growing network of visionaries active today that is pooling their deep passion and expansive experience with a range of...

It’s tempting to wonder if humanity is really evolving, or devolving. Why does it appear that the expressions of higher intelligence and consciousness among individuals don’t as easily or often emerge in collective or community spaces? Humans seem to do better with the “me” space than the “we” space.   Perhaps creating a space where new intelligence and capacity can emerge and transform a collecti...

Throughout this Portals adventure, we have explored in many ways how to create the inner and outer space that would allow the next phase of universal and human evolution – the future – to appear. It’s time to embrace the bold proposition that evolution has moved forward, and is still doing so, and the future has arrived. Homo sapiens, welcome Homo Universalis, the whole person.   The evidence of i...

We’re talking today with Tucker Walsh, an Emmy Award-winning documentary director and photojournalist who has collaborated with many of the world’s leading thinkers and doers and most iconic brands. As Tucker reached the highest levels of career and personal success, he felt what he describes as an underlying sense of "there's something wrong with me." The happiness and satisfaction he expected wi...