In Who’s Driving the Dreambus? filmmakers Boris and Claire Jansch go on a personal journey to unravel what it means to be alive. This radical and challenging documentary ventures into the heart of the mystery of identity, flipping the idea of spiritual endeavor on its head, revealing a message so profound and yet so simple that it might just end the search.

Who’s Driving the Dreambus? LIVE was a two-day conference held in London in August 2013.

This is a conversation with two of the speakers at that conference.

Tim Freke is the standup philosopher – a concept he developed from the ancient idea of a philosopher as a traveling ‘spiritual entertainer’ who transformed people’s consciousness. He is pioneering an accessible new way to experience a profound spiritual awakening, which fully embraces our tender, vulnerable, flawed humanity. He has spent his life exploring the awakened state he often simply calls the ‘mystery experience’ and is able to guide others directly to it. Other interviews with Tim here, here, and here.

Lisa Cairns talks worldwide with people about non-duality. Oneness. The aliveness that always is – no matter what is imagined in it – subject/object, good/bad, right/wrong, beauty/ugly, me/you. It has always been this – life undivided – with a bittersweet daydream of separation.  She points to the illusory dream of “I” which seems to give the energetic appearance of separation from life itself, and to the boundless freedom that has always been here – that never left and was never lost.

Transcript of this conversation

Interview conducted 7/21/2013

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

YouTube Video Chapters:

• 00:00:00 – Introduction to “Who’s Driving the Dream Bus?”
• 00:04:40 – Perspectives on the Film and the Illusion of Choice
• 00:10:46 – The Dreamer and the Dream
• 00:13:09 – The initiatory process and the mystical marriage
• 00:15:19 – Explorers of the Mystery
• 00:17:40 – The Illusion of Interpretation
• 00:20:06 – The Articulation of Consciousness
• 00:22:01 – The Experience of Consciousness
• 00:24:11 – Different Perspectives and Consciousness
• 00:26:16 – The Spectrum of Non-Duality
• 00:28:59 – The Nature of Reality
• 00:31:21 – The Flow of Love and the Manyness of Things
• 00:33:47 – The Paradox of Boundaries and Unboundedness
• 00:36:10 – Intrinsic Fascination with Colors and Light
• 00:38:49 – The Illusion of Separation and Oneness
• 00:40:59 – The Spontaneous Process of Recognition in Everyday Life
• 00:42:55 – The Importance of Unconscious Competence
• 00:44:55 – The Paradoxical Nature of Thought
• 00:47:19 – The Dynamic Universe
• 00:50:09 – The Mystery of Individuated Complexity
• 00:52:40 – Simplicity and Fulfillment
• 00:55:27 – The Significance of Love and Oneness
• 00:59:07 – The Practical Significance of Spirituality
• 01:02:38 – The Impersonal Nature of Love
• 01:05:06 – The Indistinguishability of Better or Worse
• 01:07:21 – The Symphony of Life
• 01:09:48 – The Illusion of Good and Bad Actions
• 01:11:50 – The Illusion of Hot and Cold
• 01:14:21 – The Revelation of Love and Personal Connection
• 01:17:30 – Conference Information on batgap.com

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PANEL: The Three Simultaneously True Levels of Nondual Reality; Don’t Mistake Understanding for Realization, Don’t Mistake Realization for Liberation.

Most humans view their situation in a conventional, non-mystical way, treating whatever happens as concretely real, and to be judged as “good” and “bad,” etc. By contrast, a growing number of non-dual teachers and students espouse the view that whatever happens is “the perfect manifestation of Divine Will,” or that “nothing is really happening or ever happened.” Yet our situation is not so one-dimensional as these positions would hold, and an expansive, truly liberated way of talking about Reality will involve more dimensions. A three-fold model of nondual Reality will be discussed which many have found quite helpful in accounting for all levels of our experience.

Reports of spiritual awakenings, once rare, have become commonplace. Modern seekers often find an intuitive understanding of the ultimate non-dual reality or the illusory nature of the world to be so liberating that they conclude they have reached the goal, and that seeking should be renounced. Ancient traditions caution that such an understanding may be merely a preliminary stage of development. Moreover, an experiential realization, beyond the merely conceptual, may feel so complete that one might conclude that “This is it”. Some insist that once the non-dual nature of the Self is realized, one has arrived, and it is meaningless to speak of further degrees of growth or levels of realization. Others hold that Self-realization is an important milestone, but that spiritual development never ends. Can we reconcile the injunction to live in the present moment with the understanding that there is much development yet to undergo? Are there criteria by which Enlightenment can be measured or certified?

John Hagelin, Ph.D., is a world-renowned quantum physicist, educator, public policy expert, and leading proponent of peace. Dr. Hagelin received his A.B. summa cum laude from Dartmouth College and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University and conducted pioneering research at CERN (the European Center for Particle Physics) and SLAC (the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center). His scientific contributions in the fields of electroweak unification, grand unification, super-symmetry, and cosmology include some of the most cited references in the physical sciences. He is also responsible for the development of a highly successful Grand Unified Field Theory based on the Superstring. But Dr. Hagelin is unique among scientists in being the first to apply this most advanced knowledge for the practical benefit of humankind. He has pioneered the use of Unified Field-based technologies proven to reduce crime, violence, terrorism, and war and to promote peace throughout society—technologies derived from the ancient Vedic science of consciousness.

• hagelin.org
• Maharishi International University
• David Lynch Foundation
• BatGap interview with Dr. Hagelin

Igor Kufayev

• Website: igorkufayev.com
• Wikipedia page

Other BatGap events with Igor Kufayev:

• Igor Kufayev with David Loy
• Igor Kufayev with Jac O’Keeffe, and Francis Bennett
• Igor Kufayev, in Panel Discussion on Kashmir Shaivism

Mark McCooey is a businessman and has been a teacher of Transcendental Meditation for over 30 years. He and his family live in Vancouver, Canada.

Recorded at the Science and Nonduality Conference, 10/28/2012, San Rafael, California.

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

Transcript of this discussion

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

YouTube Video Chapters:

• 00:00:00 – Introduction and Purpose of the Presentation
• 00:02:10 – Dr. Hagelin’s Background and Contributions
• 00:04:02 – Non-dual Being and Development
• 00:05:49 – The Physiology of Enlightenment
• 00:07:22 – The Three Components of Reality
• 00:10:09 – The Distinctive State of Experience
• 00:12:58 – The Paradox of Perfection and Addressing the World’s Problems
• 00:14:31 – Mistaking Intellectual Understanding
• 00:16:40 – The Tricky Nature of Language and Knowledge
• 00:18:55 – The Gradual Transition to Expanded Awareness
• 00:20:56 – The Three States of Consciousness
• 00:22:58 – Realizing the Nature of the Self
• 00:24:46 – The Experience of Life and Universal Consciousness
• 00:26:25 – Resonating with the Universal Being
• 00:27:43 – The State of Consciousness in Sleep and Anesthesia
• 00:29:00 – The Adventure Begins
• 00:30:38 – The Ocean’s Self-Sufficiency
• 00:31:57 – Reverence for the Fine Structure of Nature
• 00:33:26 – The Ocean Moving the Wave
• 00:35:23 – The Tricky State of Self-Realization
• 00:37:14 – The Limits of Describing Enlightenment
• 00:38:45 – The Melting of Higher States of Consciousness
• 00:40:42 – Awakening to Deeper Levels of Reality
• 00:42:35 – Expanding in Awakened Consciousness
• 00:44:46 – The Importance of Repeated Samadhi Experience
• 00:47:21 – The Essence of Pranayama and the Space between the Breath
• 00:49:11 – Dynamic Challenging Situations
• 00:51:08 – Finding the Simplest Way to Slip Into Samadhi
• 00:52:43 – The Fluctuations on the Surface of Consciousness
• 00:54:41 – Consciousness and Infinity
• 00:56:12 – Ramana Maharshi and the Power of Silence

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David Robert Loy is a professor, writer, and Zen teacher in the Sanbo Kyodan tradition of Japanese Zen Buddhism.

He is a prolific author, whose essays and books have been translated into many languages. His articles appear regularly in the pages of major journals such as Tikkun and Buddhist magazines including Tricycle, Turning Wheel, Shambhala Sun, and Buddhadharma, as well as in a variety of scholarly journals. Many of his writings, as well as audio and video talks and interviews, are available on the web. He is on the editorial or advisory boards of the journals Cultural Dynamics, Worldviews, Contemporary Buddhism, Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, and World Fellowship of Buddhists Review. He is also on the advisory boards of Buddhist Global Relief, the Clear View Project, Zen Peacemakers, and the Ernest Becker Foundation.

David lectures nationally and internationally on various topics, focusing primarily on the encounter between Buddhism and modernity: what each can learn from the other. He is especially concerned about social and ecological issues. A popular recent lecture is “Healing Ecology: A Buddhist Perspective on the Eco-crisis”, which argues that there is an important parallel between what Buddhism says about our personal predicament and our collective predicament today in relation to the rest of the biosphere. Presently he is offering workshops on “Transforming Self, Transforming Society” and on his most recent book, The World Is Made of Stories. He also leads meditation retreats. (To find out about forthcoming lectures, workshops and retreats, please see the Schedule page.)

Loy is a professor of Buddhist and comparative philosophy. His BA is from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and he studied analytic philosophy at King’s College, University of London. His MA is from the University of Hawaii in Honolulu and his PhD is from the National University of Singapore. His dissertation was published by Yale University Press as Nonduality: A Study in Comparative Philosophy. He was senior tutor in the Philosophy Department of Singapore University (later the National University of Singapore) from 1978 to 1984. From 1990 until 2005 he was a professor in the Faculty of International Studies, Bunkyo University, Chigasaki, Japan. In January 2006 he became the Besl Family Chair Professor of Ethics/Religion and Society with Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, a visiting position that ended in September 2010. In April 2007 David Loy was visiting scholar at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. From January to August 2009 he was a research scholar with the Institute for Advanced Study, the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. From September through December 2012 he was in residence at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, with a Lenz Fellowship.

David is married to Linda Goodhew, a professor of English literature and language (and co-author of The Dharma of Dragons and Daemons). They have a son, Mark Loy Goodhew.

An artist and healer by nature, Igor has been sharing his revelations into the essence of Being since 2002. His approach, in the form of intimate gatherings, silent transmissions, and private correspondence, is based on spontaneous and intuitive insight which allows him to empathize with the uniqueness of each individual conditioning.

Igor Kufayev was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. In his childhood, he had many episodes associated with awakening. At the age of thirty-six, Igor underwent a radical transformation of consciousness which subsequently blossomed into spontaneous unfoldment of Grace.

• Website: igorkufayev.com
• YouTube Channel: Flowing Wakefulness
• Wikipedia Page

Other BatGap events with Igor:

• Igor Kufayev with Jac O’Keeffe, and Francis Bennett
• Igor Kufayev, in Panel Discussion with John Hagelin and Mark McCooey
• Igor Kufayev, in Panel Discussion on Kashmir Shaivism

Interview recorded 10/28/2012.

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

YouTube Video Chapters:

• 00:00:00 – Outdoor Interview with David Loy and Igor Kufayev
• 00:02:36 – The Crisis of Climate Change and Extinction Events
• 00:04:20 – Non-duality and the Social World
• 00:05:57 – The Illusion of Separate Self
• 00:07:16 – The Compartmentalization of Awakening
• 00:08:34 – The Combination of Western and Eastern Ideals
• 00:10:14 – The Direction of Contemporary Non-Dual and Spiritual Circles
• 00:11:46 – The Power of Spiritual Action
• 00:13:11 – Waking up to Non-duality and Transforming Motivations
• 00:14:57 – Working on Both Inner Awakening and Social Activism
• 00:16:55 – Self-preoccupation on the spiritual path
• 00:18:50 – Molding Our Perception of the World
• 00:20:43 – The Reductionistic View of Objectification
• 00:22:51 – The Power of Perception
• 00:25:09 – The Impact of our Thoughts and Emotions on the Universe
• 00:26:58 – The Birth of a New Story
• 00:29:08 – The Delusion of Withdrawing from the World
• 00:31:02 – The Crisis of the Old Story
• 00:32:53 – Rationalizing Greed, Aggression, and Delusion
• 00:34:31 – Identifying with the Whole Cosmos
• 00:35:42 – The Capacity of the Human Being and its Connection to the Cosmos
• 00:36:43 – Everything is Consciousness
• 00:38:05 – Witnessing the Silent Tree
• 00:39:42 – God’s Intelligent Orchestration
• 00:41:31 – The Principle of the Fulcrum
• 00:43:08 – The World that Exists and the World that Doesn’t
• 00:44:28 – Creating a New World Through Conscious Perception
• 00:45:43 – The Delusion of Separate Self in American Life
• 00:47:20 – The Power of Controlling the Media and Collective Consciousness
• 00:48:46 – The Race Between Education and Catastrophe
• 00:49:59 – Wrapping Up the Interview

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