Deconstructing Yourself

Host Michael Taft talks with teacher Shinzen Young about Shinzen's decades-long dream of computer-based meditation instruction, his current creation of a rule-based, expert system based on Artificial Intelligence, the upcoming major upheavals in science and culture that AI will bring, the problems inherent in AI, and Shinzen's most positive vision for the future. Shinzen Young is an American mindf...

Host Michael Taft speaks with author and professor Jeffrey Kripal about his early aspiration to be a Benedictine monk, the prophetic dimensions of the humanities, the sudden conversion, or "flip," into a weirder worldview experienced by some materialist scientists, the phenomena of UFOs, alien abduction, altered states, Philip K. Dick, and how most breakthroughs into mysticism occur through trauma...

Host Michael Taft speaks with author and journalist Erik Davis about the power of partaking in the forbidden and the loss when formerly forbidden things become normalized, particularly in the case of psychedelics; Tantric and Christian modes of transgression, power relationships and the guru, hedonism, rule-breaking, the desire for having safe spiritual practice environments, and the role of risk...

Host Michael Taft speaks with author, philosopher, and neuroscientist Sam Harris about the fusion of vipassana and nondual practice as the “gold standard” for practitioners, insights into selflessness through mindfulness and concentration, the distinction between moment-to-moment experiences and peak experiences, personal experiences with MDMA and psilocybin, the role of psychedelics in initiating...

Host Michael Taft talks with “Boss Jungian of Planet Earth” Stephen Aizenstat about diving into the depths of our authentic creativity, finding purpose in the imaginal, engaging "an imagination that opens from the inside out," the perils and promise of AI with regards to the human imagination, and asks the question: is working with the imagination simply a narcissistic bourgeois indulgence in this...

Host Michael Taft speaks with teacher, author, and founder of the Diamond Approach to Self-Realization A. H. Almaas on the topic of Nondual Love, the qualities of awareness itself, the five dimensions of our fundamental nature, the differences between individual love and nondual love, the importance of being human, and how to know yourself as a “boundless ocean of nectar.”  A. Hameed Ali, who...

Host Michael W. Taft speaks with Tantra scholar and teacher Christopher Wallis about the word “enlightenment” in English and the words in Sanskrit it is typically the translation for; the differences between awakening and liberation; karma, samskara, and the deep unconscious; Shiva-oriented practice and the importance of including Shakti, the teachings of Abhinavagupta, and the centrality of embod...

Join host Michael Taft as he speaks with meditation teacher and author Andrew Holecek about “reverse meditation,” the Mahamudra-based practice of using difficult experiences as the focus of our meditation, how this moves us through our perceived limits and allows us to recognize the perfection of the moment, and allows us to make any situation a profound and excellent meditation. Andrew Holecek ha...

Host Michael Taft talks with neuroscientist and Executive Director of the Alembic, Kati Devaney about meditation, the neuroscience of meditation, predictive processing, the wonder of travel, psychedelics, and more. Kathryn Devaney, Ph. D. is a neuroscientist and meditation practitioner, with over 20 years of meditation experience. Kati earned her PhD in 2018, using fMRI to examine attention and de...

Your host Michael Taft is interviewed by Jake Orthwein about the various kinds of nonduality, the difference between monoism and nondualism, fundamental confusions about nondual practice, the major contrast between the transcendence-orientation of dualistic religions and the world-engagement of nondual religions, as well as the crucial distinction between the two main types of nonduality. Jake Ort...

Join host Michael Taft as he talks with Tantrik scholar and practitioner Christopher Wallis about the tradition of Nondual Shaiva Tantra, the full void pregnant with possibilities, savoring the transcendent in every sensual experience, the differences between Nondual Shaiva Tantra and Advaita Vedanta, the origins of Tantra and Vajrayana, sublime beauty, aesthetic rapture, and much more. Christophe...

Join host Michael Taft as he continues his talk with translator, author, and teacher Ken McLeod about Ken’s new book: The Magic of Vajrayana , and issues around receiving initiations and empowerments, the experiential component, aspects of White Tara and Mahakala practices, the power of mystical poetry, and the future of Vajrayana in the West. Ken McLeod began his study and practice of Buddhism in...

Join host Michael Taft as he talks with translator, author, and teacher Ken McLeod about Ken's new book: The Magic of Vajrayana , particularly the tripartite practice structure of guru, deity, and protector in Tibetan Buddhism. Ken McLeod began his study and practice of Buddhism in 1970 under the eminent Tibetan master Kalu Rinpoche. After completing two three-year retreats, he was appointed as re...

Host Michael Taft talks with philanthropist, serial entrepreneur, technologist, and meditator Dr. Shamil Chandaria about predictive processing as it relates to meditation, our phenomenal self model, recognizing our own fabrication hierarchy, replacing our top level priors as a way to understand nondual enlightenment, and much more. Dr Shamil Chandaria OBE is a philanthropist, serial entrepreneur,...

Host Michael Taft speaks with professor John Vervaeke about relevance realization—the process by which we decide what matters in any given situation—and its application to meditation, how we gain an increased sense of meaning in life, and why there is no panacea in practice. John also answers the question: what is a wise person? John Vervaeke is an award-winning lecturer at the University of Toron...

In this episode, host Michael Taft talks with Rosa Lewis about spirituality, creativity, working with trauma, embracing the darkness, the inner critic, the power of meditation, and more. Rosa Lewis is a mystic and a meditation teacher. Her teaching combines Buddhist emptiness, shadow work, tantric embodiment, the archetypal realm, mysticism and a radically new way of relating to heartfulness. Her...

Host Michael Taft speaks with author, science journalist, and psychology nerd David McRaney about what sorts of conversations actually cause human beings to change their minds; the fascinating on-the-ground research of groups like Street Epistemology and Deep Canvassers, the stories of people deciding to leave insular in-groups such as the Westboro Baptist church and 9-11 Truthers, the deep neuros...

Host Michael Taft speaks with artist, bodyworker, and philosopher Guy Sengstock about the origin and creation of Circling practice, how the asynchronous qualities of new technologies have created a deeper hunger for basic human contact, the crucial importance of embodiment in communication, mindfulness of presence, as well as the new practice he’s creating with Jon Vervaeke, known as Dia-Logos. Gu...

Host Michael Taft speaks with meditation teacher and author Kelly Boys on the practice of non-sleep, deep rest—a modern name for the ancient practice of yoga nidra, using liminal states as gateways to profound meditative experiences, finding ways to let go more completely, how this practice relates to nonduality, and the transformative power of embodied practice.  Kelly Boys is a mindfulness...

Host Michael Taft iterviews Tibetan Buddhist meditation teacher and author Andrew Holecek on nondual practice and theory, finding your way back to the true nature of mind, the dangers of getting dropped off in the deep end too soon, challenging to notion of path, the art of doing nothing (and doing it well); Andrew also offers listeners a dream-based nondual guided practice. Andrew Holecek has com...

Host Michael Taft speaks with meditation master and neuroscience consultant Shinzen Young on the background and history of Zen Master LinJi (aka Rinzai, in Japanese), the meaning of his famous phrase "the authentic person," various aspects of nonduality, an unpacking of LinJi's Four-fold Analysis, as well as cessations, the current state of Shinzen's research, using ultrasound to change the brain,...

Host Michael Taft talks with meditation teacher and author Tina Rasmussen about how psychology and meditation practice can work together to help people heal, working with trauma, the importance of heart-based practices such as metta, spiritual bypassing, using shamatha to build new brain networks, and Tina’s own story of her birth trauma and her path to healing. Tina Rasmussen, Ph. D., began medit...

Host Michael Taft talks with neuroscientist and meditator Ruben Laukkonen about the phenomenology of the insight experience, how the sequence of deepening meditative practices maps onto the model of predictive processing in the human brain, the Eureka heuristic, what neuroscience can tell us about the deconstructive model of meditation, the science of cessations, and much more. Ruben Laukkonen is...

What can ancient Sanskrit poetry of love and longing teach us about our own deepest spirituality? Join host Michael Taft as he explores this question with professor, author, and teacher Rick Jarow. Further topics include the tantric aspect of poetry, how landscape and nature informs and embodies our spirituality, the role of the word in transcendence, sacred passion for the divine as expressed in...

Host Michael Taft speaks with Dorje Lopön Chandra Easton about her recent work with the 21 manifestations of the Goddess Tara, some aspects of Green Tara, and especially the role of vision and visualization in Vajrayana, and Buddhism more generally. Beginning with the somewhat negative role of the eyes in early Buddhist practice, moving through the Mahayana sutras talking about "enlightened eyes,"...