655. Victoria Ukachukwu

Victoria Ukachukwu, Ph.D.In 2014, I awakened to the realization that being aware is my true nature. The experience of just being aware without the identity of a person who is aware was at once exhilarating and disorienting. This simple but profound realization transformed my experience of life to one of effortless being. A wonderful result of this awakening is a lasting peace that transcends all experience. In this awakened sense of pure being, the physical body is experienced as an objective sense of being, and the mind is experienced as an objective sense of knowing. There is no longer the need for an individual identity as a person who ​is living life. There is only awareness and the experience of the objective sense of awareness in various forms of expressions. The illusion of a person being aware of objects dissolved and was replaced with a pervasive sense of joy and freedom.

Before 2014, my life was based on the story of a woman named Victoria Ukachukwu who is a trained scientist with a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta and is a divorced mother of two daughters. All of my experiences derived from this core identity. Over time, this identity became very limiting and questions about God and the nature of reality began to arise. Science offered no satisfactory answers nor did the Catholic religion in which I was raised. In 2010 I discovered the teachings of non-duality. In particular, the teachings of Mooji and Rupert Spira. In 2012, I went to my first ​retreat with Rupert Spira and came away with more questions. It was not until June 2014 when I went to a second retreat with Rupert Spira that all questions dissolved with the recognition of my true nature.

Subsequently, in 2019, I discovered the timeless teaching of Joel Goldsmith which further reaffirmed and expanded my burgeoning understanding of spiritual principles that illuminate the nature of being.  In his book, The Master Speaks, Joel Goldsmith reminds us that the Truth of being is eternal regardless of how many different ways it is presented. Consciousness is the creative principle of life. Consciousness is the eternal truth of being. In my experience, being aware or Awareness Itself is our true nature and our only purpose. It is Absolute.

Victoria’s email address

Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.

Transcript of this interview

Interview recorded July 16, 2022

Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.


YouTube Video Chapters:

  • 00:00:00 – Introduction and Background
  • 00:04:36 – Growing up Catholic and questioning belief in God
  • 00:09:15 – The Bookstore Encounter and Meditation Journey
  • 00:13:21 – Being More and Doing Less
  • 00:17:29 – Discovering Rupert Spira
  • 00:22:53 – Exhilaration and a sense of being aware
  • 00:28:01 – The Nature of Being and Pure Awareness
  • 00:33:17 – The simplicity of realizing true nature
  • 00:38:09 – The Secret of Harmonious Living in the Bible
  • 00:42:54 – Unity of All Beings
  • 00:47:18 – The Presence of God and Harmony
  • 00:52:13 – The Power to Overcome
  • 00:56:56 – Right Action and Restoring Peace
  • 01:00:36 – A Near-Drowning Experience
  • 01:04:19 – The Limits of Tools and Identity
  • 01:09:59 – The Personal and Universal Self
  • 01:14:19 – The Illusion of Separation
  • 01:18:00 – The Power of Clarification
  • 01:22:25 – Elevating the Level of Consciousness
  • 01:26:48 – The Release of Identity
  • 01:31:27 – Seeking the Kingdom of God
  • 01:35:43 – The Fear of Contagion and the Vaccine
  • 01:40:34 – The Eternal Nature of Being
  • 01:45:33 – Integration and Belief Systems in Psychology
  • 01:49:39 – The Master-Student Relationship
  • 01:54:25 – Freedom from Negative Emotions
  • 01:59:15 – Addressing from a Place of Power and Compassion
  • 02:03:26 – The Two I’s and the Conscious Realization of God
  • 02:08:51 – The Power of Stillness and Self-Realization
  • 02:12:51 – Rupert’s Teachings and Intellectual Rigor
  • 02:16:23 – Farewell to the Team

639. Marc Leavitt

Marc LeavittI was born 11-11-69 into a nonpracticing Jewish family where the subject of spirituality never came up. So when I discovered an intense spiritual yearning within myself at the age of nineteen, I was completely on my own. After graduating from Towson University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and Philosophy in 1994, I had become an avid practitioner of meditation and contemplation of the nature of Reality. As a solitary practitioner, I found my path to be an oscillation of understanding the Nondual view of Dzogchen and experiencing nonordinary events that expanded my understanding of the classic out-of-body experience, astral realm, and the Bardos.

The first book of the Trilogy titled “Reality Explained” centers on the peak period of my spiritual journey just after returning home from a weeklong meditation retreat at the world-renowned ‘Monroe Institute’. I had been home less than a week after attending one of their advanced programs when without warning I began to have profound Visions while living out my day-to-day life. I could be taking a walk with my wife and daughter or going about my daily routine at work when I would find myself spontaneously thrust into a vastly more expansive perspective that placed my entire world in a wholly new context. These Visions were progressive in nature as they clearly and pointedly demonstrated the Grand Design of Reality.

Some of these Visions were existentially devastating and some were downright terrifying, as they exposed the true nature of the ‘self’. Others were so blissful that they could only be tolerated for brief moments. Ultimately, they coalesced to reveal a model of Reality that is as elegant in its simplicity as it is mind-blowing in its implications. In the first book, I outline a play-by-play account of how four of these Visions shaped a new understanding regarding the true architecture of Reality and how this understanding resolves one of our greatest philosophical paradoxes, the relationship between mind and matter or God and the world. Given the universal nature of these experiences, you will be able to verify each truth for yourself.

I wrote this book to demystify the subject of Spiritual Awakening. There are already many excellent books on this subject otherwise known as ‘Nondual Wisdom’ however, what I found to be missing was a book that chronicles the day to day, month to month, and year to year unfolding of the Self in detail. This book is a very personal account of an incredibly impersonal process broken down step by step and presented almost in slow motion. The reader is invited on a journey that chronicles each step along the path to Spiritual Awakening. The details of the climactic experience itself and the final understanding that results from undergoing such a radical and permanent shift in perspective is where I intend to lead you.

It is also my hope that this book will serve to demonstrate how the experience of Spiritual Awakening is not something mythical or a fable belonging to some other time or place but an actual shift in perspective that is available right here and now to anyone that is curious enough to explore the true nature of ‘being’. I speak to you from the point of view that we are all sharing the human experience and when we explore the depths of our minds we find the same treasure awaits us all. The fact that I am a husband and a father with a full-time career stands as proof that you don’t have to choose between worldly life and Spiritual Awakening.

Books (Reality Explained Trilogy:

Website: thisawarespace.com

Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.

Transcript of this interview.

Interview recorded March 20, 2022

Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

YouTube Video Chapters:

  • 00:00:00 – Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump conversation
  • 00:04:32 – The Ordinariness of Experience
  • 00:09:07 – Awareness and Encompassing
  • 00:13:13 – The Balance of Lucidity and Dreaming
  • 00:17:10 – The Illusory Nature of the Waking State
  • 00:21:07 – Questioning the Nature of Existence
  • 00:24:50 – Exploring the Mind and Tools: Monroe Institute, Hemi-sync, OBEs, Salvia, Lucid Dreaming
  • 00:28:48 – Tibetan Buddhism and the Monroe Institute
  • 00:32:36 – Experiencing the True Self
  • 00:36:44 – The Nature of Oneness and Individuation
  • 00:40:16 – Understanding Transactional Reality
  • 00:44:01 – The Inseparability of Awareness and Space
  • 00:48:17 – The Triune of Awareness: The Emergence of a Third Thing
  • 00:52:43 – The Rainbow and the Oneness
  • 00:56:38 – Longing for God and the Void Behind
  • 01:00:51 – The Void and the Stickman
  • 01:04:51 – Recognizing the Mind in Death and the Bardos
  • 01:08:45 – The Concept of Awakening
  • 01:12:27 – The Bodhisattva Vow and Sharing Enlightenment
  • 01:15:59 – The Cycle of Desires and Fulfillment
  • 01:19:49 – The Power of Desire
  • 01:23:42 – Ruling the World or Training Our Minds
  • 01:27:14 – The Ripple Effect of Desires
  • 01:31:11 – Experiencing Everything at Once
  • 01:35:11 – The Void and Potential Energy
  • 01:39:27 – The Realness of Dzogchen and Buddhism
  • 01:43:26 – The Essence and Awakening
  • 01:47:19 – The Turmoil of Enlightenment and the Process of Purification
  • 01:51:29 – The Liberation of Recognition
  • 01:55:50 – The Importance of Seeing the Truth
  • 01:59:33 – Appreciation for Rick

638. Irma Francis

Irma FrancisAt the early age of eight, Irma Francis experienced what she now calls a soul remembrance.  In this experience, a loving presence spoke. “You have a choice to remember your connection to your true self; if you choose not to remember, you will come to believe the persona of a conditioned self and how the world will try to define you. Whatever you choose will decide your destiny in this lifetime.” She chose to remember. Even though life has continually challenged her to forget, she has remained committed to that choice.

Irma continued to have transcendent experiences that were not sought but came as spontaneously and naturally as her first awakening.

It took her a lifetime to integrate the absolute truth that she understood via her soul remembrance with the relative facts commonly experienced by humanity. Today, Irma understands there are no spiritual bypasses; we are all affected by the human condition and must find ways to merge our psychological selves with our spiritual selves. Her journey has been mystical and transformational, bringing her to a stable equanimity and wholeness of being.

Following is a short excerpt from Irma’s forthcoming book, Front Porch View: Memoir of a Young Girl’s Spiritual Awakening.

“To borrow the words of the legendary Joni Mitchell, ‘I’ve looked at life from both sides now’ and discovered a seamless existence. There are no sides. There is no separation. There is only oneness.

I am an ordinary person having spiritual experiences. I hope to inspire and encourage others to share their spiritual awakenings as we accompany each other on the road less traveled. We are all teachers and students.”

Website: irmafrancis.com

Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.

Transcript of this interview.

Interview recorded March 12, 2022.

Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

YouTube Video Chapters:

  • 00:00:00 – Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump
  • 00:04:26 – A Divine Experience on the Front Porch
  • 00:09:26 – Divine Intervention and Heavenly Presence
  • 00:13:30 – The Awakening of Consciousness
  • 00:17:43 – Fearlessness in the Midst of Violence
  • 00:22:01 – The Pied Piper and Raising Vibrations
  • 00:26:26 – Honoring the Oneness
  • 00:30:38 – An Extreme Passion for Truth
  • 00:35:08 – The Validity of Different Perspectives
  • 00:39:05 – Susceptibility to Misinformation
  • 00:43:01 – Embracing Unconditional Love
  • 00:47:09 – Following Intuition and Psychic Experiences
  • 00:51:36 – Teaching the Akashic records and feeling alone in spiritual experiences
  • 00:56:25 – The Desire for Spiritual Reunion
  • 01:00:32 – A Connection with Yogananda and Past Life Experiences
  • 01:04:47 – Reincarnation and Deep Impressions
  • 01:09:05 – The Ability to Tap into the Akashic Records
  • 01:13:23 – Navigating Life and Connecting to Your True Self
  • 01:18:14 – The Power of Unconditional Love
  • 01:22:51 – The Intersection of Science and Spirituality
  • 01:26:43 – The Importance of Unconditional Love and Connection
  • 01:30:55 – Trusting Your Intuition
  • 01:34:52 – Aligning with an Intelligence beyond our own
  • 01:39:07 – The Dependency on Teachers and Mirroring Experiences
  • 01:43:17 – Shifting into other dimensions with John
  • 01:49:00 – The Power of Group Coherence and Connection
  • 01:53:17 – Accessing Higher Consciousness
  • 01:57:27 – Imagining a Radically Different Future
  • 02:01:11 – Amplifying the Grace of God
  • 02:05:11 – Allowing Your Intuition
  • 02:08:42 – Using MailChimp for Email Lists