118. Robert K. C. Forman, Ph.D.

Dr. Robert K.C. Forman is uniquely qualified, both personally and professionally, to re-imagine the spiritual goal and the path to it. Personally, Dr. Forman hasn’t missed a day of meditation in 40 years. He broke through to the first major life shift he sought during a nine-month meditation retreat, just two years after beginning Transcendental Meditation. Further developments have continued through his gaining of a Ph.D. in mystical experience from Columbia U and his 20 years as a Professor of Comparative Religions, through his lifetime of yearly solo meditation retreats, self-reflection, 18 years of psychotherapy and psychotherapeutic training, his marital work, his teaching, writing and leading of workshops, and his research into and national leadership role in the "spiritual but not religious" community. His curiosity and confusion about his early spiritual breakthroughs led him to a Ph.D in Comparative Religions (Columbia U), where he specialized in the nature of and philosophical issues around mystical experiences and the spiritual life. He has often been called “one of the leading voices in the academic debates on mysticism," because of his work in the international scholarly debate about mystical experiences, which came to be known as “The Katz-Forman debates,” the work for which he has been awarded numerous grants and, just last year, an honorary doctorate. A tenured professor of religions at Hunter College of the City University of New York and a professor at Vassar College, Union Theological Seminary and the New School for Social Research, he often taught courses on mystical experiences and spiritual goals in every tradition, and his books are used in classes around the world. Many of his insights about the spiritual path and goal came from his work as founder and Executive Director of the Forge Institute for Spirituality and Social Change and the Forge Guild of Spiritual Professionals, a non profit dedicated to helping people from any religion or spiritual path live “soul to soul.” He routinely gives lectures, trainings and workshops around the world. He was the co-founder and is executive editor of The Journal of Consciousness Studies , which has become the principle journal in the field. He is also the author of ten scholarly books on spirituality, mysticism, consciousness and world religions. Robert's site: http://enlightenmentaint.com/ Robert's book: Enlightenment Ain't What It's Cracked Up To Be: A Journey of Discovery, Snow and Jazz in the Soul Summary and Transcript of this interview Interview recorded 4/8/2012 YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - A Journey from Anxiety to Meditation 00:03:47 - The Surprising Experiences of Meditation 00:06:57 - A Shift that Began Back Then 00:10:03 - The Buzz and Letting Go 00:13:07 - A Permanent Shift and Tubes in the Head 00:16:05 - The Transformation Begins 00:18:55 - A Shift in Thought Process 00:21:35 - The Two Birds and Witnessing Consciousness 00:24:53 - The Steadiness of Consciousness without Time 00:28:38 - The Disappointment of Enlightenment 00:32:12 - The Shift in Experience 00:35:00 - The Shift in Perception of Silence 00:38:11 - The Experience of Silence 00:41:26 - Experiencing Sleep in a Different Way 00:44:11 - The Vitality of Looking 00:47:03 - Witnessing and Sensory Acuity + Spiritual Hucksters 00:49:41 - Moments of Depression and Shoplifting 00:52:25 - The Beginning of Psychotherapy Journey 00:55:37 - The Power of Truth-Telling in Relationships 00:58:24 - Integration between Silence and the Robert-ish Part 01:01:18 - Living at the Super-Fluid Level of Life 01:04:32 - Embracing our Woundedness 01:07:19 - The Openness of Emotions in Being Alive 01:09:55 - The Subtlety of Guidance 01:12:59 - True Effortlessness and Unity Consciousness 01:16:30 - Non-resistance and Connection with the World 01:19:32 - The Two-Sided Coin of a Hermit-Oriented Life 01:22:17 - Learning from the East and Living Enlightenment in the World 01:25:00 - Staying on the Spiritual Path 01:27:49 - Telling the Real Truth 01:30:29 - A Farewell and Future Plans