PART ONE: MAHA YOGA OR THE UPANISHADIC LORE IN THE LIGHT OF THE TEACHINGS OF BHAGAVAN SRI RAMANA – Audiobook In this book the author (WHO) passes the philosophical portion of Sri Ramana Maharshi’s teaching through the Advaitic acid test, and then declares the teaching to be genuine coin of the Advaitic realm.
Barclay Powers presents his research into the golden embryo of enlightenment — the lost contemplative science of inner alchemy found in Taoist, Buddhist, and yogic traditions. The work traces how ancient maps of energetic transformation anticipated questions that consciousness studies is only now beginning to ask.
Michael Pollan’s new book “How To Change Your Mind” surveys the highly controversial terrain of the renaissance of both the science and popular usage of psychedelic substances. As one of our most brilliant and clear-eyed explorers of such topics as plant intelligence and how we feed ourselves, Michael will share his luminous insights from what began as investigative reportage and became a very personal interior journey into the mystery of consciousness and the nature of spirituality.
AN IMMENSE WORLD is the delightful new book from The Atlantic staff writer Ed Yong, and he joins us on the show to talk about meeting animals on their own terms, the connection between Jane Austen and mice, peacocks and The Bee Gees; how hearing is also a kind of touch and how deer-like creatures transformed into whales; his pandemic puppy and his literary inspirations (including Mary Roach) and much more, with Poured Over’s host, Miwa Messer. And we end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Becky.
Robert S. de Ropp’s 1968 classic argues that the only game worth playing is the Master Game: the pursuit of full awakening. Drawing on Gurdjieff, yoga, and Western psychology, it maps the inner disciplines required to move beyond the lower games of wealth, fame, and power toward genuine transformation of consciousness.
The sciences are pointing toward a new sense of a living world. The cosmos is like a developing organism, and so is our planet, Gaia. The laws of Nature may be more like habits. Partly as a result of the ‘hard problem’ of finding space for human consciousness in the materialist worldview, there is a renewed interest in panpsychist philosophies, according to which some form of mind, experience or consciousness is associated with all self-organizing systems, including atoms, molecules and plants. Maybe the sun is conscious, and so are other stars, and entire galaxies. If so, what about the mind of the universe as a whole? Rupert Sheldrake will explore some of the implications of this idea.
Bernardo Kastrup is the executive director of Essentia Foundation. His work has been leading the modern renaissance of metaphysical idealism, the notion that reality is essentially mental (Bernardokastrup.com) This interview was recorded in May 2022.