Expanding Our Capacity for Joy
Summary: A conversation about awakening, the unraveling of thought-based identity, and learning to live from a deeper intelligence. It also explores suffering, past-life perspectives, and how to meet life with more joy, flexibility, and trust.
Questions This Interview Explores
- What happens when the sense of being a separate doer drops away?
- How can we tell the difference between pain itself and the mental suffering we add to it?
- What practices help return attention to the aliveness and intelligence underneath thought?
- How do spiritual insights hold up in difficult situations, from illness to tragedy to social conflict?
- What does it mean to live with more trust in inner wisdom and less attachment to personal control?
Although Lisa worked as a chemical engineer, spirituality always was the priority in her life. In 2009, at a silent retreat, her thought-based identity dropped away, and she saw only the single flow of benevolence in all that is.
When some of those thoughts returned a few weeks later (less convincing than before), there also came a deep curiosity to inquire into those thoughts. She developed many tools to return to a lived experience of the deeper knowing. Both of her books share these tools. All that is is a vibrant expression erupting from a single full emptiness.
Website: experiencingthetrueself.com
Books:
Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.
Transcript, summary, and key takeaways from this interview
Interview recorded January 26, 2025
YouTube Video Chapters:
- 00:00:00 Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump Series
- 00:04:27 Early Childhood Spiritual Insights
- 00:08:09 Exploring the Astral Body and Embodiment
- 00:11:15 Understanding the Koshas: Layers of Existence
- 00:15:16 Discovering Inner Strength Through Adversity
- 00:19:44 The Journey of Pure Intelligence and Self-Rediscovery
- 00:23:47 Understanding the Mind: A Sense Organ analogy
- 00:27:56 Discovering the Root of Aliveness in Spiritual Practice
- 00:31:05 Embracing Life’s Uncertainties and Letting Go of Control
- 00:34:18 Understanding Impermanence in Awakening
- 00:38:12 Embracing Flexibility in Life’s Demands
- 00:42:34 Understanding Life’s Impetus
- 00:47:11 Parenting Lessons from Calvin and Hobbes
- 00:51:44 Spiritual Principles in Dire Situations
- 00:55:33 The Power of Positivity and Human Kindness
- 00:58:56 Choosing Challenging Lifetimes for Wisdom
- 01:02:29 Exploring Past Life Memories
- 01:06:48 Concept of Past Lives and Dimensions
- 01:11:42 Finding Positivity in Adversity: Lessons from Prisoners
- 01:17:00 The Illusion of Shoulds and Self-Realization
- 01:20:57 The Balance of Opposing Forces and Human Nature
- 01:25:15 Experiencing Wisdom in a Different Realm
- 01:29:49 Understanding Malignant Narcissism in Leadership
- 01:33:25 Embracing Life’s Harmony and Challenges
- 01:36:44 The Role of Creativity and Connection in Environmental Action
- 01:40:16 Climate Change and Thwaites Glacier Threat
- 01:42:32 Embracing Inner Wisdom vs. Scientific Method
- 01:46:06 Integrating Science with Inner Wisdom
- 01:50:29 Embracing Personal Growth and Self-Reflection
- 01:55:24 Political Perspectives and Third Party Hopes
- 01:59:09 Embracing Open Dialogue and Challenging Ideas
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