353. Tree

Posted on July 14, 2016 by Rick Archer

“The spiritual journey does not consist in gaining what a person does not have, but in dissipation of ignorance concerning himself and life, and the growth of understanding which begins with spiritual awakening. To find God is to come to one’s own self.” – Avatar Meher Baba.

No longer the person with its conditioning and history, here now there is only this and the overall feeling is “I don’t mind.” No fear, no push, a great emptiness that is also a rich and all-pervading fullness. Here there is silence, peace and an exquisite sense of joy. Here it feels so light there is no distance, ‘marinating in the self.’ It is as if nothing is happening here yet happening graciously unfolds.

To look back at the dream, the necessary mistaken identity, it seemed like so much happened. Personhood was such psychological suffering. Separation, a feverish, fearful struggle, always restless, dissatisfied, looking outside for love and fulfillment. Now peace, and love reside here.

I have spent thirty years with Avatar Meher Baba in deep devotion. Baba has administered his kiss and his kick, expertly unraveling the ego identity. Longing for the truth and with nothing more to express in this life, I knew I was going to die, not sure if it was the body or the ego, I completely surrendered.

Shortly after, whilst watching Mooji on the net, he pointed, and I said with total conviction, “I am That”. In that recognition I hysterically and uncontrollably laughed for hours. When I could hardly breathe from the laughter and I asked God to help me, the laughter only escalated. The funniest thing, the divine joke was that I knew I had always been that.

I love Meher Baba and Mooji – the brightest reflections of the true self I know. It is quiet here as I experience the bliss and love of the self.

Book: Hot Flush Dark Cave: One Woman’s Spiritual Transformation Through Menopause

Website: awakeningthroughthebody.com.au
Facebook page: Awakening Through the Body

Transcript of this interview

Interview recorded 7/9/2016

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

YouTube Video Chapters:

00:00:00 – Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump
00:03:34 – Surrendering to the Truth
00:06:44 – The Sentience of the Universe and Implore for a Response
00:10:03 – Nature as a Religion
00:13:38 – Discovering Meher Baba, Marriage, and Spiritual Seeking
00:16:34 – Falling in Love and Visiting Meher Baba
00:19:28 – Overwhelming Love in Baba’s Tomb
00:23:19 – The Strange Experience at Baba’s Tomb
00:26:18 – The Accumulation of Suffering
00:29:37 – The Desperate Longing for Change
00:33:42 – The Development of the Heart
00:37:32 – Appreciating the Beauty of Life
00:40:49 – Maharishi’s Example of Appreciating God’s Creation
00:44:08 – Initiation and Transformation
00:47:50 – Revisiting Past Lives
00:51:21 – The Liberation of Guilt and Baggage
00:54:37 – The Transmission of Energy and Awareness
00:58:01 – Divine Encounters and Spirit Guides
01:01:10 – Healing Experiences and Subtle Spheres
01:04:03 – Passing Messages
01:06:32 – The Chariot of Our Life
01:10:00 – Healing Traumatic Experiences
01:13:39 – The Deep Release
01:17:10 – The Experience of Chronic Fatigue and Pain
01:20:44 – Releasing Fear through Shaking
01:24:05 – The Self in All Beings and Nature
01:27:53 – The Paradox of Devotion and Non-Duality
01:31:39 – The Beginning of the Involution
01:35:07 – Final Words and the TRE Practice
01:38:04 – Setting up a Nature Retreat
01:40:24 – Conclusion and Next week’s episode

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150. Tom Crockett

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Rick Archer

Tom Crockett is an ordained minister and spiritual counselor. He is a teacher, lecturer, and student in the Pachakuti Mesa Shamanic tradition, as well as in Buddhism, Advaita Vedanta, and Depth Psychology. He has worked as a spiritual counselor for over fifteen years.

Tom has worked with indigenous healers in Mexico and North America and studied core shamanism through the Foundation for Shamanic Studies. He is a Reiki practitioner and has studied bioenergetic healing with Mietek Wirkus. In 2001, he completed an apprenticeship in Paqo Wachu (Peruvian Shamanism) under the guidance of shaman and ceremonialist, Don Oscar Miro-Quesada. Tom has led and cofacilitated retreats in Oaxaca and Mexico City, Mexico, under the auspices of the Institute for Depth Psychology.

Tom has made an intensive study of dreamwork, especially as a tool for spiritual growth. He has been a featured presenter at the Association for the Study of Dreams International Conferences since 1998 and was an invited presenter to the Conference on Indigenous Healing Traditions of the Americas cosponsored by the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C. in 2002. Tom has presented at the Science and Nonduality Conference (SAND) with co-panelists Scott Kiloby and Jeff Foster, and been a regular presenter at the Paradoxica Conference on Nonduality.

Tom currently serves as Executive Director of Together We Can Foundation, a non-profit organization serving at-risk teens in Southeastern Virginia. He has undergraduate and graduate degrees in fine arts from Old Dominion University (summa cum laude) in Norfolk, Virginia, and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, respectively. He lives in Newport News, Virginia with his wife, Kelly and is stepfather to three amazing children: Holly, Kasey, and Dylan.

Tom’s books:

Tom’s website: coyoteenlightenment.com

Interview recorded 11/25/2012

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

YouTube Video Chapters:

00:00:00 – Introduction with Rick Archer and Tom Crockett
00:02:55 – A Journey of Spiritual Exploration
00:06:28 – The Journey into Indigenous Wisdom and Plant Medicine
00:10:04 – Profound Emotional Experience with Mushrooms
00:13:18 – The Preparation and Purpose of Taking Mushrooms
00:16:15 – The Profound Experience
00:19:29 – The Phenomenon of Dreaming and Waking Up
00:22:43 – The Interpretation of Dreams and Suffering
00:26:41 – The Relationship Between Pain and Suffering
00:31:11 – Finding Balance and Intentionality
00:35:07 – The Lack of Consensus on Enlightenment
00:37:58 – The Problem with Seeking and the Notion of “Do Nothing”
00:42:13 – The Habit of Doing Nothing and its Ineffectiveness
00:45:44 – Instantaneous Enlightenment
00:49:48 – The Mistake of Mistaking Understanding for Enlightenment
00:54:14 – Behavior and Enlightenment
00:58:36 – The Influence of Eastern Lineage Traditions in the West
01:03:01 – Getting Close to Spiritual Teachers
01:06:48 – The Value of Honesty in Teaching
01:10:08 – The Parallels between Spiritual and Physical Laws
01:14:08 – The Bliss of Emptiness and Fullness
01:18:17 – The Danger of Fundamentalism and the Diversity of Enlightenment
01:22:02 – Grades of Ignorance and the Importance of Inquiry
01:25:47 – Different Experiences of Enlightenment
01:29:42 – Physiological Transformation in Enlightenment
01:33:21 – States vs Stages of Consciousness
01:36:52 – Adjusting to a New Center of Gravity
01:40:36 – Improvisation and Letting Go of Scripts
01:44:29 – The Lesson of Humility in Improvisation
01:48:30 – The Ultimate Unreality of the World
01:51:20 – Conclusion and Farewell

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032. Cynthia Lane

Posted on August 7, 2010 by Rick Archer

Until I was nine, I lived in one of New York City’s “melting pot” neighborhoods, where a wonderful mix of freely-mingling cultures, languages and races welcomed me into life on Earth. God, or my conception of God, was always at the center of my life and I conversed freely with the being I had inwardly invented to right wrongs, heal whatever hurt and generally keep the world just and flowing.

Facing East

I attended college on the West Coast (Portland and San Francisco) in the late sixties, where I discovered many kindred souls seeking deeper meaning and expanded purpose in their lives. Some of these friends turned my attention to teachings from the East—first Zen, and then masters from India. After a focused exploration of some of the life-enhancing modalities available at the time—and there were lots—I learned the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique offered by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Berkeley in 1967.

TM’s gifts were unmistakable and I started a thirty-year career of devoted service to the Vedic tradition. For many of these years, I taught the TM technique. This work was indescribably rewarding—an act of pure love that took me all around the U.S. and to many parts of Europe and Asia. I also spent a lot of time simply meditating, including seven years in a non-denominational, convent-style setting. This whole period precipitated vast spiritual and personal growth which remains fully integrated into my life, a gift that keeps on giving.

Facing West

After spending most of my adult life looking East, in about 1996, I began to discover the indigenous traditions of the West, or the Americas. I spent several challenging years working with Chanté Ishta, a Ho-Chunk teacher, who helped me clear many deeply-rooted spiritual and personal belief systems. During that period, I also opened to a profound and intimate relationship with the Earth: her wondrous creative nature, her healing and nourishing gifts and her deep wisdom. I felt like every cell in my body turned around 180 degrees as I learned to embrace life on Earth with a grounded kind of joy and openness that I had never before known.

I have also been privileged to know a great Lakota wisdom keeper, Sun Dance leader, healer and teacher, Naça Wa’Anata. Through him, I received a personal pipe, a precious and powerful source of blessing, inspiration, and transformation. Both Wa’Anata’s teaching and my personal experience with the pipe and other Lakota sacred ceremonies, especially the Sundance, have saturated every material and non-material aspect of my life with divine light.

Eternal Silence

I spent five years (2002-2007) living largely in silence in beautiful northern New Mexico, merging with the Earth and ultimately with the infinite Silence that is the reality of creation. Through this process and many others, I was blessed by the unconditional love, wisdom, mentoring, humor and eternal friendship of Bill Bauman, an indescribably special gift from the Infinite in my life and the life of many friends. It is beautiful beyond all words to live in eternal freedom.

Website: First Light Transformations

Transcript of this interview

Second BatGap interview with Cynthia.

Interview recorded 8/4/2010.

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