Integrating Activism & Spiritual Practice: Nonduality and the Metacrisis

Ep. 125 (Part 1 of 3) | Purpose guide, activist, nonduality student/teacher, and meditation teacher Jonathan Gustin is passionate about bringing the subject of the metacrisis into spiritual practice, essentially updating spiritual traditions that originated on deeply local levels to reflect the world of interrelated global crises we live in today. Jonathan proposes we delve into the relationship between nondual awakening and the metacrisis, using the metacrisis as our spiritual koan, and fostering within our contemplative practice a sense of responsibility for life that manifests in activism. Jonathan’s focus is also on guiding individuals to explore the notion of soul-level purpose—not only to discover our true purpose but embody a purpose that is consistent with love without boundaries. 

This is a warm, lively, far reaching, and enlightening discussion, tying many intriguing subjects to the overarching theme of nonduality, metacrisis, and soul-level purpose: Native American vision questing, karma yoga, skillful communication, the developmental stages of purpose, the consequences of the delusion of separateness, the difference between humancentric nonduality and ecocentric nonduality, and much more. It is deeply inspirational to approach the metacrisis (which Jonathan provides a wonderful definition of) as an investigation into our relationship with life and reality. Recorded April 4, 2024.

“When we wake up, we wake up to a love and a responsibility for all things.”

(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

• Introducing meditation teacher, activist, nondual student/teacher, and founder of the Purpose Guides Institute & the Green Sangha organization, Jonathan Gustin (00:51)
• What inspired Jonathan to adopt climate change as a spiritual practice: Jonathan’s vision of whole person midwifery (02:20)
• A passion for bringing spiritual practice and activism together (04:20)
• How can the metacrisis inform nonduality? How can nonduality inform the metacrisis? (05:27)
• Why does a nondual experience not effect more change in people? (07:43)
• Nonduality defined: “not two;” the difference between separate and individual, and the underlying unity of reality (09:42)
• The responsibility aspect: expanding our circle of care, the realization that we are responsible to life brings us to our purpose (12:50) 
• Marrying liberation (moksha) and service (dharma) into one: liberation/service (15:03)
• Purpose discovery falls between self-actualization and self-transcendence (17:04)
• Native American nondual wisdom and Jonathan’s daily practice (19:45)
• “What is this?” Seung Sahn and Kalu Rinpoche (23:16)
• For the first time in history we can access all the world’s wisdom: YouTube is the new Alexandria (24:12)
• Privilege, the top 1%, and the option of service (26:11)
• Handling the overwhelm of the world’s suffering (29:10)
• Awakening soul-level purpose and mythopoetic identity (31:09)
• Understanding and implementing whole person midwifery: Who are you at a soul level? Who are your people? What are you good at? (34:27)
• “Find the place where your deepest gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet” – Frederick Buechner (37:51)

Resources & References – Part 1

• Jonathan Gustin, founder of the Purpose Guides Institute and Green Sangha, a spiritually oriented activist organization
• The Advaita Vedanta tradition (Hindu nondual tradition)
• John Prendergast, co-author of Jonathan’s upcoming paper on the metacrisis and nonduality
• CA Institute of Integral Studies
• Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Ramana Maharshi, Who Am I? The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi 
• Thomas Berry, The Dream of the Earth*, The Great Work: Our Way into the Future*
• A.H. Almaas, creator of The Diamond Approach, Nonduality and Beyond (Deep Transformation podcast)
• Wallace Black Elk, Native American shamanic teacher, Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota*
• What is This? Zen master Seung Sahn, Kalu Rinpoche, and an orange (The Zennist)
• John Vervaeke, award-winning lecturer on subjects like Awakening from the Meaning Crisis
• Jonathan Rowson, director of Perspectiva, Making Friends with Conflict, Metamodernity, Construct Awareness, and Other Ways of Facing the Current Metacrisis (Deep Transformation podcast)
• Daniel Schmachtenberger, founding member of The Consilience Project, Developing a Deeper Understanding of Life: Opening to the Complexity, Wholeness, and Beauty of Reality (Deep Transformation podcast YouTube video)
• Terry Patten, founder of A New Republic of the Heart, Facing Death: A Call to “Get Real,” the Importance of Being Kind, and Waking Up to the Miracle of Existence (Terry’s Message to Us 3 Weeks Before His Own Passing) (Deep Transformation podcast)
• Climate Change as Spiritual Practice with Joanna Macy, David Schenk, Larry Churchill (Purpose Guides YouTube video hosted by Jonathan Gustin)
• Climate Change as Spiritual Teacher with Adyashanti & Jonathan Gustin (YouTube video)
• Frederick Buechner, “Find the place where your deepest gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet”
• Joseph Campbell’s Follow Your Bliss (YouTube video)

Join Roger Walsh at Integral Conference of North America (ICON)’s FUTURE HUMAN conference, May 16-19th, 2024 in Denver!

* As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

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Jonathan Gustin, MA, MFT, is the founder of Purpose Guides Institute. He helps people to find and embody their life’s purpose, and offers training for those who want to become Purpose Guides themselves. He is also a meditation teacher, facilitating meditation gatherings remotely as well as in-person in his hometown of Victoria, BC, Canada.  

Jonathan has been a psychotherapist and spiritual mentor for over 25 years. He is a retired adjunct professor at JFK University and co-author of Purpose Rising with Ken Wilber, Erwin Laszlo, and Bill Plotkin. He has had the pleasure of co-teaching programs with such luminaries as Human Potential pioneer George Leonard, eco-activist Joanna Macy, eco-psychologist Bill Plotkin, and Non-Duality pioneer Adyashanti. Jonathan looks forward to igniting a global conversation on Non-Duality & The Metacrisis (with a forthcoming paper in Summer 2024). Jonathan’s Institute welcomes a new cohort each September for Purpose Discovery and Purpose Guide Training. You can join him here:

HERE Zoom Meditation

HERE Intro to Purpose Discovery

HERE Non-duality & the MetaCrisis – A group exploration

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Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell