Deep Transformation

Ep. 128 (Part 1 of 2) | Environmental philosopher, public health scientist, and corporate malfeasance researcher Dr. Yogi Hendlin is dedicated to understanding, communicating, and addressing the psychological, social, political, and economic barriers that keep us from treading a solid path toward sustainability. One of the areas Yogi is extremely knowledgeable about is the dynamics and drivers of corporate decision making. An underlying belief that the planet is indestructible makes it okay to prioritize profit above global health, or companies may find themselves in a double bind where they would actually prefer to be more strictly regulated but that would mean corporate suicide unless their entire industry was regulated. Interestingly, Yogi has found that learned helplessness operates at all levels of power in inverse relation to actual power and responsibility, citing how some of the most powerful people in the world are saying, “What can I do?” when Indigenous groups with very few resources find ways to thrive in a sustainable way.Yogi points out that changing the world is not an event but a process—and delves into how we can make real changes to get off the destructive path we are on, overshooting the limits of our biosphere on every metric. We can create circuit breakers for our habitual, counterproductive routines, we can cultivate skillful communication that allows our defense mechanisms to drop away, we can recognize our fundamental need for community and connection, and we can use spiritual practice and psychedelics to help us regain a sense of wonder and reverence for life. Yogi believes that decolonization and creating ecologies of discourse that reward honesty, vulnerability, admitting mistakes, and asking for help is the way forward. This is an earnest, thought provoking, heartfelt, and inspiring discussion of the way things are, the barriers to change, and hope for the future. Recorded January 11, 2024.“We live disconnected from each other because we don’t need each other.”(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1Introducing environmental philosopher, public health scientist, professor & corporate malfeasance researcher, Dr. Yogi Hendlin (01:05)Yogi has coined the term “chemical anthropocene” in reference to the indelible legacy we have created in changing the composition of the earth’s chemistry (and our bodies) (02:18)“Forever chemicals” bioaccumulate in our systems and persist up to 7 generations (04:18)Humans are already bearing a toxic load, and we’re creating a path dependency of toxicity for future generations (06:09)How can we evolve collectively to respond effectively? (07:51)All day, we are called into being in different ways, some very tension inducing, and we have erected barriers to our unmediated appreciation of the world in response to these demands (12:12)We can practice different ways of attending (i.e. fasting from media, eating, work, routine) that act as circuit breakers to our culture’s destructive habits (13:57)The age-old separation between understanding the world through analysis and understanding reality by becoming part of the mindset of the other (15:20)Being open to novelty (apophatic) while also reaffirming the knowledge we already have (cataphatic): the rise of LGBTQ, for example (17:37)Does the “arc of the moral universe bend towards justice”? (19:08)The fate of the world is not independent from our actions (23:17)Decolonization is the way forward and Yogi’s upcoming book, Industrial Pandemics (26:23)Game theory and the double bind: it would be suicide for many companies to do what is best for all (30:00)We are currently engaged in what is essentially a global arms race that is destroying and undermining the basis of life on earth (33:29)Wherein lies the hope? Shifting perspectives, ecodelics (34:53)How learned helplessness operates at all levels of power in inverse relation to actual power and responsibility (35:59)We live disconnected from each other because we don’t need each other (38:07)Meaning making is a participatory event; connecting with and serving community is the fastest way out of depression (39:56)Resources & References – Part 1Yogi Hendlin’s website: https://www.yogihendlin.com/Yogi Hendlin, Assistant Professor, Erasmus School of Philosophy; Core Faculty, Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity Initiative, Erasmus University, Rotterdam; Research Associate, Environmental Health Initiative, University of California, San FranciscoYogi Hendlin, editor-in-chief, BiosemioticsJohan Rockström et al., A Safe Operating Space for Humanity The Haber process is the main industrial procedure for the production of ammonia by converting atmospheric nitrogen into ammoniaThe debate between Erklären and Verstehen The Fusion of Horizons (Steve Thomason YouTube video, simple representation of the concept of joined horizons)Hans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method* (on the joining of horizons)Iain McGilchrist, The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World*Pauline Kleingeld, Kant and Cosmopolitanism: The Philosophical Ideal Of World Citizenship*Douglas Rushkoff, Team Human*Cory Doctorow, The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation*Gregory Bateson et al.’s double bind theoryRichard Doyle, Darwin’s Pharmacy: Sex, Plants, and the Evolution of the Noosphere*Charles Eisenstein, The Turning of the Age* As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.---Yogi Hale Hendlin is a professor in environmental philosophy and public health at Erasmus University Rotterdam and the University of California, San Francisco. Editor-in-Chief of the journal Biosemiotics, Yogi’s work explores the various ways in which industrialization has supercharged the illusion of separation and control as viable solutions, and instead harkens to the various ways traditional peoples have developed cultural practices from ecologies conducive to integral communities.---Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Ep. 127 (Part 3 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.“The metacrisis is an investigation into our relationship with life and reality; the term itself is a koan.”(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3A definition of the metacrisis: the polycrisis (the multiple interrelated crises) plus the consciousness in which the polycrisis arises and is ultimately made up (00:56)What is beyond (meta) all the elements of the polycrisis? Consciousness (02:32)We cannot engineer our way out of the metacrisis: we will have to heal, mature, and awaken ourselves individually & collectively if we are to make our way through the bottleneck we have created; furthermore, this is a permacrisis (05:11)The metacrisis is an investigation into our relationship with life and reality; the term itself is a koan (09:00)Default (inherited) purpose vs soul-level purpose (11:48)Purpose goes through a number of developmental stages—what are the characteristics of a mature, service-oriented, worldcentric purpose? (16:17)The difference between humancentric nonduality and ecocentric nonduality (20:26)The embodiment piece of nonduality is key (22:31)Updating our spiritual traditions and koans to 2024; asking, What is the metacrisis? (24:01)Jonathan’s open letter to nondual teachers inviting them to integrate the metacrisis into their teachings (33:07)Integral Conference in North America (ICON): Future Human, Denver, May 16th-19th (35:28)Resources & References – Part 3Terry 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)James Fowler, Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning*David Loy, Growing from Bodhisattva to Ecosattva: Integrating Personal Practice and Global Activism (Deep Transformation podcast)The Blue Cliff Record*, translated by Thomas Cleary & JC Cleary (compilation of 12th century koans)Lama Surya Das, The Essence of Awakening (Deep Transformation podcast on YouTube)Peter Russell’s “truth decay,” Consciousness: The Bridge Between Science & SpiritBrother David Steindl-Rast, Benedictine monk, author, lecturer committed to interfaith dialogueJonathan Rowson, Tasting the Pickle: Ten flavours of meta-crisis and the appetite for a new civilisationDaniel Schmachtenberger, Rivalrous dynamics, multiplied by exponential technology, self-terminate. Or: how not to go extinct (The Alternative, YouTube video)John Prendergast, co-author of Jonathan’s upcoming paper on the metacrisis and nondualityIntegral Conference in North America (ICON)’s Future Human Conference, Denver, May 16-19, 2024Jonathan Gustin, founder of the Purpose Guides Institute and Green Sangha, a spiritually oriented activist organizationJoin Roger Walsh at Integral Conference of North America (ICON)’s FUTURE HUMAN conference, May 16-19, 2024 in Denver!* As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.---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 MeditationHERE Intro to Purpose DiscoveryHERE Non-duality & the MetaCrisis – A group exploration---Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Ep. 126 (Part 2 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.“The metacrisis is non-separate from meditation, from spiritual awakening, from your soul purpose.”(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2Vision questing, praying for guidance, being the open space where insight can enter: “Show me the path that my people can live” (00:52)The benefits of outdoor meditation: “Throughout the universe, one body revealed” (02:58)Nonduality and forest activism (07:40)Can we be responsive to the suffering of the whole, wherever it may be? (09:59)Skillful ideals are pointers, not destinations: it’s all a journey (10:39)Developing collectively to where everything is sacred again (14:36)The consequences of the delusion of separation awaken you to wholeness: being wholeness, expressing wholeness (17:15)The shadow of nonduality: responsibility, the soul piece, activism (20:02)Why are nondual teachers not talking about the metacrisis? (24:40)Traditional spiritual teachers were practicing on deeply local levels; we are now living in a world of global crises, all interrelated, all creating exponential growth of more crises (31:45)How can we talk about the metacrisis? How can we not talk about the metacrisis? How comfortable do we need to allow people to be? (35:52)The beauty of the word “both”: can we hold two people, two perspectives, opposite aspirations at the same time? (39:19)Skillful communication: listen, ask people to explain their positions, do these conversations as a spiritual practice (41:26)Practicing karma yoga: using our work and relationships—our life—as the vehicle of awakening (43:54)It’s going to take every mature person possible to power us out of our adolescent stage (46:38)Resources & References – Part 2Wallace Black Elk, Native American shamanic teacher, Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota*Chan BuddhismAdyashanti, spiritual teacher, Open Gate SanghaRamana Maharshi, Who Am I? The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi Nonduality Round Table – Adyashanti, Rupert Spira & John Prendergast (YouTube video)Daniel Schmachtenberger, Rivalrous dynamics, multiplied by exponential technology, self-terminate. Or: how not to go extinct (The Alternative, YouTube video)Dr. Nikki Mirghafori, Bringing Ethics and Wisdom to AI (Deep Transformation podcast)Jonathan Gustin, founder of the Purpose Guides Institute and Green Sangha, a spiritually oriented activist organizationJoin 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.---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 MeditationHERE Intro to Purpose DiscoveryHERE Non-duality & the MetaCrisis – A group exploration---Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

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 1Introducing 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 1Jonathan Gustin, founder of the Purpose Guides Institute and Green Sangha, a spiritually oriented activist organizationThe Advaita Vedanta tradition (Hindu nondual tradition)John Prendergast, co-author of Jonathan’s upcoming paper on the metacrisis and nondualityCA Institute of Integral StudiesAbraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of NeedsRamana 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 CrisisJonathan 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.---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 MeditationHERE Intro to Purpose DiscoveryHERE Non-duality & the MetaCrisis – A group exploration---Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Ep. 124 | In this engaging, informative, and thought provoking conversation, artificial intelligence expert Dr. Nikki Mirghafori gives us a clear picture of where AI technology stands at this point and enlightens us as to its gifts, its potential, and its dangers. Nikki, who is also an internationally acclaimed Buddhist meditation teacher, is passionate about helping to bring equanimity to the whole issue of AI and emphasizes that the fear mongering going on around it is doing all of us a real disservice. She opens our eyes to the enormous potential of AI as applied to global issues such as cleaning up the environment, ending hunger, providing clean water, improving methods of food production—even acting as a wise mentor in supporting people to be their best selves. Nikki tells us that ethical use of AI depends on both designers and users, and that we are not powerless in the way things unfold. How can AI systems be benevolent and supportive and bring out the best in us? Will we be able to maintain our values and ethics as our use of AI continues to expand? If our perception of AI was sort of murky or limited before, this conversation effectively brings us to a much more informed understanding. Nikki explains everything from where we have been exposed to AI without knowing it, the important distinction between weak/narrow AI and strong/general AI (AGI), personal choice engineering, our natural tendency to anthropomorphize AI, and the difference between benevolent AI and compassionate AI. Nikki is a superb teacher and a pleasure to listen to; this conversation is invaluable in its timeliness and its ability to bring us all up to speed on AI. Recorded January 29, 2024.“There’s so much good that can come from this technology… the list is endless how much AI technology can be helpful.”(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)Topics & Time StampsIntroducing AI research scientist and inventor & gifted meditation teacher and practitioner, Dr. Nikki Mirghafori (01:13)What exactly is AI? (03:07)The important distinction between weak or narrow AI and strong or general AI (AGI) (05:11)AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) which is self-aware and conscious is still only theoretical: fear mongering around AGI is really a disservice to us (06:46)Where have people been exposed to AI without even knowing it? (10:28) The gifts that AI technology can bring are endless (13:33)The most exciting AI applications for Nikki: finding creative ways to clean up the environment, stop hunger, provide clean water, produce our food, and be a mentor in supporting people to be their best selves (15:07)Pattern recognition: taking input patterns and producing output patterns is the heart/brain of AI (17:35)How can AI help us to become wiser and more compassionate? The ethics of AI depend on both designer and user (20:14)Creating AI in our image and how our developmental level fits in—it’s in the data that the AI system is fed (28:16)Personal choice engineering (32:11) Kids have become ruder interacting with chatbots like Siri & Alexa: how can we keep our humanity alive and be true to our ethics as we interact with AI? (34:40)Resisting temptation and avoiding sliding down the slippery ethical slope (36:50)What is the mystery of being human? We don’t even know what consciousness is (40:43)The New York Times journalist who was told to leave his wife by a chatbot (45:11)Our natural tendency to project on and anthropomorphize artificial intelligence—many people will be fooled (46:53)Does AI have the potential for exponential growth? AI’s self-improving capacity does not exist now—and may never exist—but parameters, computational power, and storage capacity have become far greater & neural net training has become faster (48:42)Bringing equanimity to the issue of AI (52:42)Why Nikki likes the term “benevolent AI” versus “compassionate AI” (54:23)Resources & ReferencesNikki Mirghafori website: https://www.nikkimirghafori.comNikki Mirgafori teaching schedule: https://www.nikkimirghafori.com/so/0dOquYoj7?languageTag=enFei-Fei Li, co-director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial IntelligenceCarlos Casteñeda, “Death is the only wise advisor that we have.” (Journey to Ixtlan*)The Hidden Brain podcast explores the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior and questions that lie at the heart of our complex, changing worldRobert Knight and the Knight Cognitive Neuroscience Research Lab at UC BerkeleyThe 2013 movie Her (YouTube Trailer)Creepy Microsoft Bing Chatbot Urges Tech Columnist To Leave His Wife (Huffington Post)* As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.---Dr. Nikki Mirghafori is an Artificial Intelligence scientist and an internationally recognized Buddhist teacher. She serves as a Stewarding Teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, where she is also on the Board of Directors, and a Dharma Teacher at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA.  She teaches with clarity, warmth, and humor on topics ranging from mindful leadership to cultivating kindness, with a rare expertise on mindfulness of death. Dr. Mirghafori is widely published in AI, has led international research collaborations as a Berkeley academic, and advised technology startups. She is of Persian heritage, an advocate for wisdom and compassion in daily life, as well as ethical AI in our zeitgeist. More info at https://www.nikkimirghafori.com.---Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Ep. 123 (Part 3 of 3) | Joseph Goldstein, co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, brilliant spiritual teacher, and prolific author, whose books have been foundational to many people’s understanding of Buddhism, mindfulness, and insight meditation, shares rich nuggets of wisdom stemming from a lifetime of ever-deepening practice. The focus of this conversation remains very much in the present, as Joseph describes how the leading edge of his practice never stops moving forward and how his understanding of the most basic ideas becomes ever more refined and liberating. In sharing his insights, he sheds light on and smooths the path for the rest of us: about the mysterious arising of compassion, made easier the more open we are and the less self-referential, about reframing our experience in a way that frees us, about spontaneous responsiveness, and about awakening being a gradual process—until it’s sudden.Joseph’s new favorite definition of enlightenment is “lightening up” for the way it conveys a sense of making progress along a journey. And with his humor, humility, and easy, lighthearted manner, Joseph exemplifies and transmits a lighter way of being in the world. He makes it ever so clear that spiritual practice and meditation, examining and investigating our experience moment to moment, naturally leads us to compassionate responsiveness and out of the shackles of what binds us to a self that is ultimately just a construct. Recorded November 2, 2023.“Nirvana is like the peace that comes when the refrigerator stops humming.”(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)Topics & Time Stamps – Part 3An ever-deepening understanding of refuge: for Joseph, refuge feels like being held (00:56)In mindfulness, unwholesome states of mind no longer act as distorting filters—they are wholly accepted (04:12)The effects of recognizing aversion and resistance to your experience (07:03)Liberation is impossible as long as there is attachment to the pleasant, aversion to the unpleasant (08:02)Nirvana is like the peace that comes when the refrigerator stops humming; it also describes the mind free of defilements (10:09)What is unique about the experience of nirvana? What gives it the transformative power to uproot defilements? (15:17)Does the path ever end? Who knows! (19:29)It’s the quality of your interest that is key to staying on the spiritual path: “If you want to understand your mind, sit down and observe it” (22:55)Joseph: “The fact that liberation is inevitable gives me a lot of joy.” (25:18)Reflections on how Buddhist teachings apply to the crises of today: the balance of equanimity and compassion make effective response possible (27:39)Resources & References – Part 3Dogen, founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan in the 13th centuryA.H. Almaas, founder of The Diamond Approach, see also Deep Transformation episode #43, Nonduality and Beyond: The Exhilarating Adventure of Discovering the Nature of Reality (or watch on YouTube)Joseph’s article on Nirvana: Reflections on NibbanaAnagarika Munindra, Bengali Buddhist master & Vipassana meditation teacherRam Dass, Grist for the Mill*Angeles Arrien, The Four-Fold Way: Walking the Paths of the Warrior, Healer, Teacher and Visionary*Joseph Goldstein, co-founder Insight Meditation Society Joseph Goldstein, The Experience of Insight*Joseph Goldstein & Jack Kornfield, Seeking the Heart of Wisdom: The Path of Insight Meditation*Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening*Joseph Goldstein, One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism*Joseph’s article on Nirvana: Reflections on Nibbana* As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.---Joseph Goldstein is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society and the Barre Center for Buddhist studies, both in Barre, Massachusetts. He is the author of Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening, A Heart Full of Peace, One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism, Insight Meditation and The Experience of Insight. He has also co-authored books with Sharon Salzberg and Jack Kornfield. Joseph has studied and practiced meditation since 1967 under the guidance of eminent teachers from India, Burma, and Tibet, and he leads Insight Meditation retreats around the world.---Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Ep. 122 (Part 2 of 3) | Joseph Goldstein, co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, brilliant spiritual teacher, and prolific author, whose books have been foundational to many people’s understanding of Buddhism, mindfulness, and insight meditation, shares rich nuggets of wisdom stemming from a lifetime of ever-deepening practice. The focus of this conversation remains very much in the present, as Joseph describes how the leading edge of his practice never stops moving forward and how his understanding of the most basic ideas becomes ever more refined and liberating. In sharing his insights, he sheds light on and smooths the path for the rest of us: about the mysterious arising of compassion, made easier the more open we are and the less self-referential, about reframing our experience in a way that frees us, about spontaneous responsiveness, and about awakening being a gradual process—until it’s sudden.Joseph’s new favorite definition of enlightenment is “lightening up” for the way it conveys a sense of making progress along a journey. And with his humor, humility, and easy, lighthearted manner, Joseph exemplifies and transmits a lighter way of being in the world. He makes it ever so clear that spiritual practice and meditation, examining and investigating our experience moment to moment, naturally leads us to compassionate responsiveness and out of the shackles of what binds us to a self that is ultimately just a construct. Recorded November 2, 2023.“The forward edge has more to do with the attitude of exploration rather than any particular thing.“(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2The mysterious arising of compassion and what does this say about the nature of reality? (00:52)Compassion is the manifestation of emptiness; responsiveness is the activity of emptiness (03:00)Understanding bodhicitta (05:47)The near enemy of compassion is sorrow, because in sorrow is aversion (09:57)Moving out of sorrow to compassionate response transfigures sorrow into an uplifting energy: moving from self to non-self (13:52) How unwholesome mind patterns keep us bound, and uprooting the first 3 fetters/defilements in the 1st stage of enlightenment (17:36)Desire and aversion are uprooted at the third stage of enlightenment but conceit, or some manifestation of “I am-ing,” remains (19:47)The experience of the zero center: when we know unmistakably that self is a construct—still there are still deeply conditioned habits of mind, one of which is the habit pattern “I am” (21:38)The power of recognizing the particular defilement that triggers our suffering (23:50)Don’t conflate clear perception, recognition, with mindfulness—recognizing fear is different from accepting fear (29:59)Resources & References – Part 2Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche & Lama Surya Das, Natural Great Perfection*Ram Dass & Paul Gorman, How Can I Help*Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Vajrayana master, scholar, poet, teacher, “When we realize the selfless nature of phenomena, the energy to bring about the good of others dawns uncontrived and effortless.”Alan Watts, Trust Human Nature (YouTube video)Lama Surya Das, Dzogchen teacher, see also Deep Transformation podcast episode #83, The Essence of AwakeningKevin Schanilec, The 10 Fetters, SimplyTheSeen.comBhikkhu Analayo, Buddhist monk, scholar, meditation teacherJoseph Goldstein, co-founder Insight Meditation Society Joseph Goldstein, The Experience of Insight*Joseph Goldstein & Jack Kornfield, Seeking the Heart of Wisdom: The Path of Insight Meditation*Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening*Joseph Goldstein, One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism*Joseph’s article on Nirvana: Reflections on Nibbana* As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.---Joseph Goldstein is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society and the Barre Center for Buddhist studies, both in Barre, Massachusetts. He is the author of Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening, A Heart Full of Peace, One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism, Insight Meditation and The Experience of Insight. He has also co-authored books with Sharon Salzberg and Jack Kornfield. Joseph has studied and practiced meditation since 1967 under the guidance of eminent teachers from India, Burma, and Tibet, and he leads Insight Meditation retreats around the world.---Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Ep. 121 (Part 1 of 3) | Joseph Goldstein, co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, brilliant spiritual teacher, and prolific author, whose books have been foundational to many people’s understanding of Buddhism, mindfulness, and insight meditation, shares rich nuggets of wisdom stemming from a lifetime of ever-deepening practice. The focus of this conversation remains very much in the present, as Joseph describes how the leading edge of his practice never stops moving forward and how his understanding of the most basic ideas becomes ever more refined and liberating. In sharing his insights, he sheds light on and smooths the path for the rest of us: about the mysterious arising of compassion, made easier the more open we are and the less self-referential, about reframing our experience in a way that frees us, about spontaneous responsiveness, and about awakening being a gradual process—until it’s sudden.Joseph’s new favorite definition of enlightenment is “lightening up” for the way it conveys a sense of making progress along a journey. And with his humor, humility, and easy, lighthearted manner, Joseph exemplifies and transmits a lighter way of being in the world. He makes it ever so clear that spiritual practice and meditation, examining and investigating our experience moment to moment, naturally leads us to compassionate responsiveness and out of the shackles of what binds us to a self that is ultimately just a construct. Recorded November 2, 2023.“The fact that liberation is inevitable gives me a lot of joy.”(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1Introducing Joseph Goldstein, renowned Buddhist meditation teacher, co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society, and author of many spiritual books (01:05)What’s on the edge for Joseph now? The edge is always about clinging, and as what you cling to changes, the edge changes (03:45)Over time, the understanding of mindfulness becomes more and more refined (04:51)Joseph’s new favorite definition of enlightenment: lightening up (08:53)Don’t waste your suffering! Relate to it with interest (10:58)The ultimate reframe: “I” becomes “no-I” (13:44)How walking meditation can open us to a vivid experience of selflessness (15:06)Our lives are lived in relationship to our overlay on experience, going to the direct experience is itself healing and transformative (18:56)The conceptual level lends some sense of permanence but on the level of direct experience, everything changes, nothing is permanent (20:07)Clinging to things that are impermanent gives you rope burn (21:44)Awakening is always gradual…until it’s sudden: the diminishment of defilements and the uprooting of defilements (22:55)Sudden awakening, gradual cultivation, and the necessity to integrate an awakening experience (26:57)There are 4 stages of enlightenment because we are not able to open to the magnitude of suffering all at once; we have gone beyond belief in self, but there is still desire, aversion, conceit (31:53)Practice is a continual deepening (34:35)Resources & References – Part 1Joseph Goldstein, co-founder Insight Meditation Society Joseph Goldstein, The Experience of Insight*Joseph Goldstein & Jack Kornfield, Seeking the Heart of Wisdom: The Path of Insight Meditation*Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening*Joseph Goldstein, One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism*Joseph’s article on Nirvana: Reflections on NibbanaSayādaw U Pandita, one of the foremost insight meditation teachers from BurmaAnagarika Munindra, Bengali Buddhist master & Vipassana meditation teacherShunryū Suzuki Roshi, Zen monk who popularized Zen Buddhism in the West, “Everything changes.” Author of Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind* and many moreKorean Zen Master Chinul, Tracing Back the Radiance*, “Sudden awakening, gradual cultivation”* As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.---Joseph Goldstein is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society and the Barre Center for Buddhist studies, both in Barre, Massachusetts. He is the author of Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening, A Heart Full of Peace, One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism, Insight Meditation and The Experience of Insight. He has also co-authored books with Sharon Salzberg and Jack Kornfield. Joseph has studied and practiced meditation since 1967 under the guidance of eminent teachers from India, Burma, and Tibet, and he leads Insight Meditation retreats around the world.---Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Ep. 120 (Part 2 of 2) | Many time award-winning poet Jane Hirshfield has spent her life steeped in poetry and spiritual practice. Here, we feel almost as if we’ve been invited into her kitchen to talk about life, love, and especially about poems and how they offer us various answers to the abiding questions: who are we, what are we, what is our relationship to each other, what must we be grateful toward? Jane describes poems as vessels of discovery and poetry as taking your understanding and putting it into a form that is holdable, retrievable, transmissible. Poems can also be keys to unlock our despair, she explains, creating a crack in the darkness, a re-entrance to the possibility of wholeness. Jane’s sublime poetry is many-layered; the same poem might be about human love or peace between nations, about the end of love or the fact that love never dies. Jane shares that her lifetime of questioning (her most recent book of new and selected poetry is titled The Asking) has boiled down to one question: How can I serve?An awareness of our interconnectedness with all beings, all of life, permeates her work, and Jane is driven to provoke action on contemporary, pressing issues of biosphere, peace, and justice, and help us navigate the tightrope between hope and despair. The conversation also turns to early feminism and the poetry of women mystics that Jane put together in a beautiful anthology called Women in Praise of the Sacred, covering 43 centuries of spiritual poetry by women. When asked about her longtime Zen practice, Jane said, “I needed to become more of a human being, understand a different way of living inside this life I had been given” to become a good poet. She tells us that both poetry and Zen are paths of discovery, exploration, and awareness, and both paths insist that we attend to this world fully. This is a warm, personal, deeply illuminating, and thought provoking conversation, and Jane reads several of her poems, revealing their depth and beauty. Recorded November 30, 2023.“I don’t want a model of spirituality that excludes other forms of connection. Inclusion is the only path that makes sense.”(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2How can we become a magnet for creative imagination? (00:49) Artist retreats are the monastery of creativity (03:51)How Jane was drawn towards poetry, haiku, and Buddhist understanding early on (07:56)In 3-year retreat at Tassajara, writing wasn’t permitted, and how poetry returned after the monastic years (12:40)Both poetry and Zen are paths that insist you attend to this world fully (14:12)Women poets throughout history and the story of Enheduanna, earliest known poet (18:07)Protofeminist movement in the Middle Ages: the Beguines (25:08)Reading of Mechthild of Magdeburg’s poem, and how we carry a molecule of divine remembrance with us (26:56)Spiritual poems of male and female mystics, are they different? (30:12)Poems of the sacred rather than poems of suffering: dark nights of the soul come after moments of awakening as much as before (33:19)Spiritual poems often use the language of eros, and how inclusion of all forms of connection is the only path that makes sense (35:01) Women have found their voice…yet women have always written poetry (37:09)Reading of “The Poet,” a 1996 poem about poems that have never been published (39:01)“I Imagine Myself in Time” reading (44:12)Resources & References – Part 2Allen Ginsberg, American poet, Buddhist, activistTassajara Zen Mountain Center, Green Gulch Farm Zen CenterAlan Watts popularized Buddhist, Taoist & Hindu philosophy for a Western audienceJane Hirshfield, Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women*Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own*Emily Dickinson, Katherine Anne Porter, Jane AustenAncient Akkadian poet Enheduanna, The Hymn to InannaCole Porter’s song Begin the BeguineProtofeminism and the BeguinesJulian of Norwich, “All will be well, all manner of things will be well.”Mechthild of Magdeburg, Beguine, Christian medieval mystic Mirabai, Hindu mystic and poetKabir, Indian mystic, poet & saintEliza Griswold, poet and journalist of conflict zonesNobel prize winners, Louise Glück & Toni MorrisonJane Hirshfield, The Asking: New and Selected Poems* (September 2023)Jane Hirshfield, Ledger: Poems* (2021)Jane Hirshfield, Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women*About Jane Hirshfield, Poetry.org website* As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.---Jane Hirshfield, writing “some of the most important poetry in the world today” (The New York Times Magazine), is one of American poetry’s central spokespersons for concerns of the biosphere. Hirshfield’s honors include fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations and National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Center Book Award, the California Book Award, and finalist selection for the National Book Critics Circle Award. The author of two now-classic collections of essays on poetry’s infrastructure and craft, and editor and co-translator of four books presenting world poets from the deep past, Hirshfield’s work, translated into seventeen languages, appears in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, and ten editions of The Best American Poems. A former chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, she was elected in 2019 into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Her most recently published collection of poetry is The Asking: New & Selected Poems (Knopf, 2023).---Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Jane Hirshfield, an award-winning poet and Zen practitioner, shares her insights on poetry as a vessel for discovering profound truths about life and connection. She emphasizes that poems can unlock despair and foster wholeness. The discussion explores the importance of service, emotional awareness, and interconnectedness in leading a meaningful life. Hirshfield also reflects on the role of poetry in addressing contemporary issues, including ecological concerns and social justice, illustrating its potential as a source of healing и resilience.