Mary Foster was the very first guest on Buddha at the Gas Pump — appearing with her husband George on the inaugural episode in October 2009. In this solo follow-up interview, recorded in April 2010, she describes the remarkable ongoing unfoldment of her consciousness in vivid, concrete detail.
Mary’s experiences go far beyond abstract spiritual concepts. She describes:
• Hearing entire life stories in a voice: While on a phone call, a customer service representative’s full life — from birth to the present moment — suddenly flooded in through the sound of her voice alone
• Tasting the whole life of a fish: One bite of fish in Amsterdam conveyed the complete life experience of that animal through taste
• Senses filling the universe: A three-day shift where all her senses became muted — then suddenly expanded to fill all of creation — galaxies, atoms, and everything in between
• Seeing celestial beings: Waking one night to find her bedroom packed with “absolutely benevolent, wonderful, beautiful, human-like spirits” — and receiving the insight that humans and these beings are mutually dependent for the maintenance of creation
• Constant meditation: How formal practice dissolved into a state of permanent, spontaneous transcendence — eyes open or closed
• The holographic nature of reality: Every particle of existence contains the knowledge of the whole universe
• Continuous awakening: The conviction that there is always more — that each “complete” state turns inside out into a whole new experience
Mary also explores the importance of caring for the body as a “sophisticated scientific instrument,” her theory of intersecting universes proposed to physicist Max Tegmark, and the evolving nature of enlightenment itself.
Summary and Transcript of this interview
Interview recorded April 7, 2010.
Interview with George and Mary Foster
YouTube Video Chapters:
- 00:00:00 – Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump
- 00:06:09 – The Power of Hearing in Consciousness
- 00:09:44 – The Realization of Being Stuck in the Body
- 00:13:53 – The Ultimate Connection with All of Existence
- 00:18:00 – The Experience of “I” in Consciousness
- 00:21:09 – Awareness of the Self and the World
- 00:23:20 – The Natural State of Man is Seeking More
- 00:25:56 – The Persistence of Awareness Beyond the Body
- 00:28:20 – A New Sensory Experience
- 00:31:40 – The Expansion of Awareness
- 00:34:31 – The Power of Meditation and Automatic Progress
- 00:37:34 – Connecting with the Celestial Realms
- 00:40:43 – Connecting with the Celestial Realm
- 00:43:20 – The Connectedness of All Beings
- 00:45:44 – Celestial Nervous Systems and Consciousness
- 00:48:48 – The Job of Celestial Beings
- 00:51:55 – The Experience of Wholeness
- 00:55:17 – Witnessing the Birth of a Universe
- 00:57:56 – The Significance of Experiences
- 00:59:54 – The Roadmap to Enlightenment
- 01:02:04 – The Experience of Being Awake
- 01:04:11 – Unfolding the Spiritual Journey
- 01:06:23 – Differences in Physiology and Consciousness
- 01:09:09 – The Certainty of an Ongoing Journey
- 01:11:26 – Near-Death Experiences and Leaving the Physical Body
- 01:14:07 – The Connectedness of Everything
- 01:16:19 – The Universe as an Interconnected Arrangement of Beads
- 01:18:15 – Fine-tuning and Awareness
- 01:20:04 – Building Spiritual Muscles
- 01:21:57 – Engaging with batgap.com
- 01:23:34 – Conversations and Gratitude
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