While out in California for the Science and Nonduality Conference, I had some downtime before the conference started, so I decided to tape a long panel discussion with a rather large group of friends, most of them previous guests on Batgap. Sofia University in Palo Alto (where transpersonal psychology was founded by Abraham Maslow and others), generously provided a room and video equipment. I’m especially grateful to Dr. Jeffery Martin, who conducts research there, for offering and organizing this. It was an experiment, and some were skeptical that it would work, but it did! This is part 1. The link to Part 2 is below. Main points of discussion in this part include:

• What are awakening and enlightenment? Are we on the same page? The discussion goes into direct experiencing of different states, levels, and depths of consciousness in the evolution of the progressive, dynamic process of awakening.
• What is identity and identification in different stages in the evolution of consciousness and the journey of the dissolution of self?
• What is the value of words and the use of semantics in the discussion of awakening and Self-realization?
• Is awakening lost in the experience of our brokenness? In the face of deep emotional trauma or when life shatters, what happens? Is there an abiding, unmoving stability that is unshakeable in all circumstances?
• The evolution of our humanity as an expression of the divine and the importance of continued growth and refinement in the awakening journey.

Participants in the morning session included:

*In group discussion.

Part 2 of this discussion

Transcript of this discussion

Recorded 10/22/2015

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

YouTube Video Chapters:

• 00:00:00 – Introduction to the Group Conversation
• 00:04:03 – Introducing the Panel
• 00:06:55 – What is Enlightenment or Awakening?
• 00:10:12 – Individual Experiences of Awarenesses
• 00:13:30 – Integration and Human Integration
• 00:17:55 – Direct experience and the recognition of pure emptiness
• 00:22:17 – The Sonar-ic Being and Enlightenment
• 00:25:34 – Embracing the Silence, Recognizing Mind Activity
• 00:29:44 – Embracing the Present Moment
• 00:33:29 – Awakening as an Ever-Evolving Process
• 00:36:37 – Becoming Sensing Beings 
• 00:40:09 – The Uniqueness of Being
• 00:43:13 – The Value of Words and Identity
• 00:45:51 – Awakening from Awakening
• 00:48:30 – Awakening into Divinity Plus Humanity
• 00:51:42 – The Movement of Formlessness to Form
• 00:54:38 – Exploring the Layers of Identity
• 00:57:51 – Dissolution of Self and Unity Consciousness
• 01:01:17 – Oneness in Brokenness
• 01:04:04 – The Challenges of Teaching and Compassion
• 01:06:43 – Enlightenment and Torture
• 01:09:38 – The Journey of Growth and Enlightenment
• 01:12:52 – Finding Peace in the Chaos
• 01:15:57 – Surrendering to Love
• 01:19:01 – Practical Integration and Life Decisions
• 01:21:53 – The Changing Landscape of Awakening
• 01:24:58 – The Diversity of Experiences
• 01:29:51 – The Spacious Quality of Experience
• 01:34:18 – Exploring Emotion and Persistence
• 01:38:43 – The Dance of Love and Joy
• 01:43:12 – Musical Interlude

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Jeffrey J. Kripal holds the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University, where he chaired the Department of Religious Studies for nine years and helped create the GEM Program, a doctoral concentration in the study of Gnosticism, Esotericism, and Mysticism that is the largest program of its kind in the world. Jeff is the author of seven books, including

• Comparing Religions: Coming to Terms,
• Mutants and Mystics: Science Fiction, Superhero Comics, and the Paranormal, and
• Authors of the Impossible: The Paranormal and the Sacred.

He specializes in the comparative study and analysis of extreme religious states from the ancient world to today. His full body of work can be seen at http://kripal.rice.edu/.

Dana Sawyer is a professor of religion and philosophy at the Maine College of Art and a lecturer on world religions for the Chaplaincy Institute of Maine.  His expertise is in Hindu and Buddhist systems of philosophy, and he has a professional interest in exploring the appeal of Asian religions on the Western mind.  In that regard, he has written a critically acclaimed biography of Aldous Huxley and has just finished writing the authorized biography of Huston Smith, the renowned scholar of world religions.

Books:

• Aldous Huxley: A Biography
• Huston Smith: Wisdomkeeper: Living The World’s Religions: The Authorized Biography of a 21st Century Spiritual Giant

Website

Transcript of this interview

Other BatGap interviews:

• Individual interview
• With Khen Rinpoche Tsetan
• Dana Sawyer in Panel at Sofia U. Part 1 | Part 2
• Dana Sawyer on Huston Smith

Interview recorded 2/9/2014

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

YouTube Video Chapters:

• 00:00:00 – Introduction to Jeffrey J. Kripal and his work
• 00:03:14 – Background and Interest in Religious Belief and Behavior
• 00:06:17 – Jeffrey’s Openness to Metaphysical Ideas in Academia
• 00:09:39 – Revisiting the Paranormal and Psychic Abilities
• 00:12:52 – The Dominance of Materialism in Western Science
• 00:16:23 – The Incompleteness of the Materialistic Worldview
• 00:19:32 – Psychic Experiences and Spiritual Practice
• 00:23:04 – The Noetic Potential and Deep Philosophical Implications of Psychic Functioning
• 00:26:04 – The Power of Fiction and Imagination in Paranormal Experiences
• 00:29:20 – Living in a Sliver of Reality
• 00:31:50 – Authorization as a Paranormal Ability
• 00:35:04 – The Importance of Personal Experience in Religious Understandings
• 00:37:39 – Coming to Terms with Religious Pluralism
• 00:40:46 – Mystics and cultural influence
• 00:44:31 – The Controversy of Near-Death Experiences
• 00:47:41 – The Unmappability of Our Gnostic Potential
• 00:51:06 – The Celebration of the Physical and Metaphysical
• 00:54:26 – Double Messages in Religious Symbolism
• 00:57:56 – The Power of the Imagination
• 01:01:16 – The Power of the Imagination
• 01:04:03 – The Power of Imagery and Archetypes
• 01:06:57 – Art as a Channel for Deeper Intelligence
• 01:09:52 – Whitley Strieber’s Perspective on Abduction Events
• 01:13:13 – Science fiction as a machine version of spirituality
• 01:16:16 – Prophetic Synchronicities and Divine Play
• 01:19:15 – The Intelligence of Machines and Consciousness
• 01:21:51 – Heresy and Mysticism
• 01:24:33 – Finding Meaning in Our Work
• 01:27:31 – The Importance of Diverse Perspectives and Making Up Your Own Mind
• 01:30:42 – Envisioning the Future and Societal Phase Transitions
• 01:32:53 – Music

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At the 2013 Science and Non-Duality Conference in San Jose, I moderated a panel with Igor Kufayev, Jac O’Keeffe, and Francis Bennett as participants. We decided to videotape a discussion the night before in which we could develop and refine what we would discuss in the conference presentation. We had begun doing that in a hotel meeting room, when we were informed that due to contractual agreements between conference organizers and the hotel, the room had to be vacated and locked. So we took our discussion outside where it became a much more informal dialog.

It was taped on an iPhone, with background music for the first several minutes, jets flying overhead, etc. So the audio quality isn’t ideal, but many in the audience which gathered felt it was a very useful discussion which deserved a wider audience. So I’m posting it here, in audio only. Here’s the published abstract of the panel discussion. This “pre-panel” discussion covers a lot more ground:

Is Awakening, as it’s commonly understood, merely the realization of the Absolute, non-dual reality, or is it a stage or stepping stone to a much more mature development – a larger wholeness, inclusive of both absolute and relative? Francis Bennett, Jac O’Keeffe, and Igor Kufayev will posit that the latter is the case, and discuss the necessity of integrating absolute and relative after awakening, including practical methodologies to facilitate it.

They will discuss how a more holistic path before awakening as found in Buddhist, Hindu, and Christian traditions, leads to smoother integration after awakening. These traditions include moral, meditative/contemplative, and wisdom strands designed to develop a “human vehicle” capable of skillfully and effortlessly containing the non-dual wisdom in a relative, human existence. The neglect of this insight has caused many to become stranded on the “island” of unhealthy “spiritual dissociative disorder”.

This integration does not pertain merely to being able to function in practical life. It is a critical foundation for a vast range of potential development that may unfold after the sort of awakening many mistake as final or ultimate. Perception, appreciation, emotions, and intellect can be refined far beyond what is generally regarded as “normal” or even optimal.

Recorded 10/26/2013

Other BatGap interviews with these participants:

Francis

• Francis Bennett
• Francis Bennett & Adyashanti on “Resurrecting Jesus”
• Francis Bennett, in Panel Discussion on Refined Perception
• Francis Bennett, with John Mark Stroud
• Francis Bennett in Batgap Panel at Sofia U. Part 1 | Part 2
• Francis Bennett and Adyashanti on “The Embrace of Jesus and Buddha”
• Francis Bennett in panel discussion:: “Emptiness is also Form”

Igor

• Igor Kufayev with David Loy
• Igor Kufayev, in Panel Discussion with John Hagelin and Mark McCooey
• Igor Kufayev, in Panel Discussion on Kashmir Shaivism

• A Touch of Grace – (Short Film)
• Wikipedia Page

Jac

• Jac O’Keeffe
• Panel discussions on ethics and spiritual teaching
• SAND Panel Discussion on Sexual Misconduct, Money, Power, Trauma & Ethics in Spiritual Communities

Audio below and as a Podcast. No video recording.

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