This video contains my Question and Answer session at the 2018 Science and Nonduality conference. and also an interview of me by Shakti Caterina Maggi, an Italian spiritual teacher who used to be a journalist. My SAND Q&A includes the following points:
- How BatGap started.
- Which guests have been the most interesting, provocative, intriguing, brilliant, mysterious, surprising, etc.?
- What insights have I gained? How has this process influenced my spiritual path? What do I experience while I’m interviewing people? What do I foresee for BatGap in the next few years?
- How to deal with family and friends who don’t understand your awakening or interest in spirituality?
- A consideration of sudden vs. gradual awakenings.
- How do I regard the urgency of humanity’s need to take a spiritual/cultural leap in response to the dire predicament facing us?
- The joy and challenge of speaking with people from such a broad range of spiritual backgrounds.
- Why science and spirituality need and can benefit one another.
- The importance of understanding consciousness to be the fundamental to the universe rather than merely a product of brain functioning.
Shakti’s interview includes the following points:
- In which direction are we as consciousness moving? How might the growing awakening of consciousness help humanity avert disaster?
- Embodied spirituality vs. avoidance of life through transcendence. Consciousness is relevant to every field of human endeavor.
- Consciousness is fundamental to matter.
- Finding the foundation of our being and dealing with individual planetary problems from that foundation.
- Ethical standards for spiritual teachers.
- The quality of awakening will vary according to one’s constitution.
- Awakening enhances individual differences while establishing our fundamental unity.
- Sticking with one teacher vs. working with many.
- The importance of sincerity. The principle of “the highest first”.
Recorded October 27th and 28th, 2018, in San Jose, California.
Discussion of this talk and interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.
Transcript of this talk and interview
Other talks by Rick on BatGap:
SAND 2019 – Knowledge/Reality is Different in Different States of Consciousness
YouTube Video Chapters:
- 00:00:00 – The Birth of Buddha at the Gas Pump
- 00:04:10 – The Enlivening Effect of the Industry Update
- 00:07:12 – The Power of Ordinary People
- 00:09:47 – Hidden Gems in Interviews
- 00:12:14 – Creating New Categories of Interesting Content
- 00:14:24 – The Transformative Power of Immersion in the Interview Process
- 00:16:44 – The Evolutionary Impact of Service
- 00:18:38 – Dealing with Family in the Awakening Process
- 00:20:04 – Cultivating Patience and Compassion in Relationships
- 00:22:16 – A Remarkable Awakening
- 00:24:14 – The Incremental Process of Spiritual Development
- 00:25:57 – A Tipping Point
- 00:28:44 – The Spiritual Awakening in Response to Crisis
- 00:31:40 – Awakening Within Everyone’s Physiology
- 00:33:49 – Revival of Extinct Cultures and Convergence of Technologies
- 00:36:24 – Science, Spirituality, and the Balance of Evolution
- 00:38:37 – The Role of Science in Spirituality
- 00:41:02 – The Fundamental Nature of Consciousness
- 00:43:35 – Interview with Shakti Caterina Maggi
- 00:46:33 – The Earth’s Immune System
- 00:49:56 – The Evolution of the Non-Duality Conference
- 00:53:59 – The Extension of Human Quest to Know the Universe
- 00:57:48 – The Dark Side of Spiritual Teachers
- 01:01:30 – Remaining a Student Forever
- 01:04:30 – Cultivating Discernment and Questioning in Spiritual Development
- 01:07:56 – The Boundaries of a Behavioral Teacher
- 01:11:28 – The Boundaries of Ethics and Honesty in Teacher-Student Relationships
- 01:14:46 – Transparency and Ethical Guidelines in Spiritual Teaching
- 01:17:15 – The Cognition and Integration of Awakening
- 01:20:27 – Different Perspectives in Spirituality
- 01:23:41 – Sincerity and Highest Priorities
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