The Sacred Speaks

A week or so before recording this episode I asked Justin if he would lead a poetry workshop during the conversation. In a few words, what came out was raw and real. Justin is one of the better songwriters I know, not only because of his gift with language, but also because he approaches the craft with reverence and respect. He seeks to deepen his practice with each pass and he has a gift of a sha...

Dr. Ferrari, one of the trailblazers of nanotechnology, the current President Designate of the European Research Council of the E.U., and the recently retired President and CEO of Houston Methodist Research Institute begins by explaining how he views math as a creative art. He maps theorem and proof onto the creative endeavor and posits that in the same way that the artist envisions the work, a ma...

Dr. Kauffman, theoretical biologist, complex systems researcher, author of six books and numerous papers, begins the conversation recalling the ancient world and how the original split between the religions and the sciences influences the struggles and projections between the sciences and the arts/humanities today. Stuart begins this by providing scientific reasons why the possibilities of the wor...

In this episode, Episcopal priest, Barbara Brown Taylor, and John explore the ideas that she has been working through in her books Learning to Walk in the Dark (2015) and Holy Envy (2019). She eloquently guides the listener through many of the hurdles that one encounters when grounding one’s self in a particular religious tradition. She encourages all of us to not only look on the other side of th...

Pastor Juanita Rasmus recounts a life of service to others and then the reality that no one is free from being drawn into a fight for their life. This fight felt more like a decent which landed in a depressive episode that she describes in great detail. Juanita recounts how she was able to both emerge from the depths and work to make sense of how her mind and body could have been so completely tak...

This podcast episode explores how one mystical experience can bring an individual to question the nature of reality enough so that they devote their life to answering questions that often time seem unanswerable: What is the nature of reality? What is a self? What is identity? Also, how do people approach their lives after they have an experience that challenges the way they see the world; yet beca...

This podcast episode explores the stories that help us understand our reality, our place in that reality, and how humans both cling to and challenge these same stories. Jeffrey Kripal has been a keeper of many extraordinary stories, and as a professor of religion, he is positioned to question the stories that we believe serve us, but the reality is that we often serve the story. This conversation...

The title of the John Horgan’s book, The Mind-Body Problems, with the addition of the “s”articulates the core of the mind-body problem – that it is plural. John Horgan is not content with one story that solves for the myriad problems we humans encounter when we explore reality and hunt to discover who we are and what matters most. John has been a scientific journalist for over 35 years and as some...

We begin this conversation with Dr. April DeConick’s first exposure to Gnostic literature when she was a young student, without any real idea of what it is she was going to do with her life. The question for her was, “Why are these Gnostic texts not included in the New Testament?” This question sent her on the path of discovery, as she devoured literature from near-eastern and biblical studies. Dr...

We begin our conversation with Dr. Stein explaining initiation and “The Spirit of the Depths,” as the dance between reason and the inevitable call that each of us hears from our soul – that unique part of us that is outside of culture. Dr. Stein differentiates between directed thinking and nondirected thinking – causality-based, rational thinking and the spontaneous emergence of images that seem t...

After struggling through depression during medical school, Dr. Joseph Tafur was introduced to peyote by a friend who was researching psychedelics as a medical intervention. He reports that he quickly realized the connection between modern medical interventions, such as anti-depressants and psychedelics. In 2007 Dr. Tafur traveled to the Amazon and began his exploration of Ayahuasca and later began...

Many people make mystical claims about their worldview, but few can articulate their view in a way similar to Rabbi Jeff Roth. In this episode, Rabbi Roth explains that he views the fundamental problem of human existence as a rift between the human being and the divine. He explains that this rift created the ground of what we call evil. Rabbi Roth locates the origin point of the split between the...

The discussion today centers on Dr. John Beebe’s ideas about psychological types as inspired by Jung’s understanding and articulation of this theory of personality. Dr. John Beebe is the leading expert on the subject, so much so that in the forthcoming release of Jung’s collected works on Psychological Type will include an introduction by Dr. Beebe – an honor of the utmost order. Dr. Beebe and I e...

How does a young man growing up in an “under resourced” community make sense of the mystical experiences that began at the age of 14 years old spending time with friends? By making his exploration of African American religion and theology the center point of his spiritual and academic development – and helping others through the process. This episode explores Cleve’s development and the dissertati...

This conversation does not begin with any theory; it begins with racism, violence, and fear – all within the first decade of the life of today’s participant, Pastor Rudy Rasmus – to which he concludes, ultimately, the centrality of love. How he did this is the core theme of our conversation and what he has made primary in his mission of life - that he truly lives out on a daily basis. Rudy positio...

In today’s episode Dr. Bill Barnard and John explore some of the fundamental definitions and aspects of consciousness and the study of consciousness. Bill is a professor of religious studies and passionately studies William James and Henri Bergson – both early thinkers in the world of religion, psychology and consciousness. The conversation touches upon some of the basic overview of the study of c...

This episode begins with Count explaining his professional background in the music business as a musician, producer, engineer, & writer. Considering that his career spans both pre and post internet revolution, he is well placed to critique the positive aspects of the internet and also the dark side of the “internet of free.” We explore the economics of creativity on the internet and how this new e...

In this episode of The Sacred Speaks, John Price speaks with Dr. Rachel Harris about her book, Listening To Ayahuasca, and other related topics. Following her early experience in meditation and body practices at Esalen and with Suzuki Roshi, Dr. Harris formalized her interest in research focusing on the various ways that we may treat human suffering and then she experienced Ayahuasca in the rainfo...

In this episode, John Price speaks with music therapist, Jennifer Townsend, about music and music therapy. We discuss the definition of music therapy, the biological aspects of performing and listening to music, how concepts from physics have informed the connecting and healing processes of music therapy, the uses of music therapy as an aid in brain development following a trauma, relationship bon...

This episode begins with Matthew and I exploring his history growing up with the fundamentalist wing of religion in Christianity. Matt’s story is one of coming to terms and wrestling with the religion of his youth and through that process asking challenging to grapple with questions. We discuss power structures within and between groups ranging from economically bound systems to geographically con...

This conversation explores the research into religion. Ken began his academic search when he started to ask deeper question about the nature of human experience such as morality, values, how people can live better lives, and he is a skeptic and seeking to ground his work in empirical research. Dr. Pargament discusses the relationship between attachment and religion - how one’s developmental histor...

In this episode, Henry Richardson, owner, and CEO of DEFINE body and mind, and I sit down to explore how to run what he refers to as a “spiritual business.” He uses terms such as “appreciative inquiry” and speaks of breathing life into not only a bottom line but also the inner and outer community of the business. He states that how the model of the business is structured will influence how each em...

This conversation favors the irrational over the rational. Kate has made it her mission, both in her professional life and personal life to study the pathways on which people travel through their lives. She states, “The paths that people are called to are often socially unacceptable.” She is referencing how often each of us has to sacrifice either a part of ourselves for the security of the outer...

As a scientist, Tom’s insight into religion and psychology balances his worldview given that he matriculated through both the sciences and philosophy. He says, that as soon as he began to see the world through a hand-lens, he was sold on physics, biology, entomology, evolution and ecology, and vertebrate zoology, but landed squarely in biology. Tom’s primary area of interest began in complex syste...

The discussion begins with a question about duality in the structure of human consciousness (up/down, sacred/profane, subject/object, yin/yang, psyche/soma). Gary maintains a longstanding interest in explorations of matter and psyche. His book borrows from the conversations and ideas exchanged between Carl Jung and Wolfgang Pauli, one of the men responsible for the discovery of quantum physics. Fo...