The New Dimensions Café

Lauren J Oliver, Ph.D. received her baccalaureate degree from Harvard University and her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from UCLA. She currently provides coaching and organization development consultations for leaders, businesses, organizations, families, and individuals. She was co-founder with Dr. Robert Harrison Simmons of the California nonprofit Support Group Network. She is the author of Circle Culture: Tools for Cooperative Work (Bonnie Burstein) (Circle Culture 2023)Interview Date: 9/21/2023      Tags: Lauren J Oliver, circles, opening a circle, centering a circle, inclusivity in a circle, leadership, timekeeping in circles, empowerment in circles, courage to be in circle, giving appreciation in circle, Personal Transformation, Social Change/Politics, Circles

Hersch Wilson is an organizational consultant, pilot, former professional dancer, newspaper columnist, and volunteer firefighter. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico with his wife Laurie, a daughter, and two ga, and two dogs, a great Pyrenees and a Chihuahua terrier mix. He is a former ballet dancer (along with his wife Laurie) and is now a 30-year veteran volunteer firefighter–EMT with the Hondo Fire Department in Santa Fe County, New Mexico. He is also a writer, speaker, and consultant who has worked extensively with leadership teams from a variety of organizations including IBM Japan, the US Postal Service, and the CIA, to name a few. He also writes a monthly column on dogs for the Santa Fe New Mexican. He is the author of: Play to Win!: Choosing Growth Over Fear In Work And Life (coauthor with his late father, Larry Wilson)(Bard Press; Revised Edition 2004), Firefighter Zen: A Field Guide To Thriving In Tough Times (New World Library 2020) and Dog Lessons: Learning the Important Stuff from Our Best Friends (New World Library 2023) Interview Date: 9/11/2023     Tags: Hersch Wilson, dogs, humans evolved with dogs, dogs change our lives, don’t leave dogs alone for too long, rewards of dogs in household, walking dogs is profound experience, dogs and cats of Ukraine. Animals

Anton Schwartz is a Jazz musician and son of the late Tony Schwartz who was a pioneer of the communications revolution of the 20th Century. He is the editor of the second edition of seminal book on media: The Responsive Chord: How Media Manipulates You: What You Buy, Who You Vote for, and How You Think (Mango Publication 1973-2017)Tags: Anton Schwartz, Tony Schwartz, media, communications, hard sell, soft sell, advertising, marketing, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, jingles, indoor media, outdoor media, Folkways Records, Media, History, Social Change, Politics

Jane Hirshfield is an award-winning poet, essayist and translator. She's the author of ten books of poetry and two collections of essays. She has edited and co-translated four books presenting the work of world poets from the past. Her books have received the Poetry Center Book Award, the California Book Award, and the Donald Hall-Jane Kenyon Prize in American Poetry. Her poems appear in a wide range of prestigious outlets. A resident of Northern California, she is a chancellor emerita of the Academy of American Poets. She presents her work at literary and interdisciplinary events worldwide. In 2017, in conjunction with the March for Science in Washington DC, she founded Poets for Science, an interactive exhibit of science poems and writing invitation housed at Kent State’s Wick Poetry Center, which has traveled to venues across the country.Jane Hirshfield has authored many books including The October Palace (HarperCollins 1994), The Lives of the Heart (Harper Collins 1997), Women in Praise of the Sacred (HarperCollins 1994), Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry (Perennial 1998), After (Harper Collins 2006), Given Sugar, Given Salt (Harper Collins 2001), Come, Thief (Knopf 2011), Ten Windows: How Great Poems Transform the World (Alfred A. Knopf 2015), The Beauty: Poems (Alfred A. Knopf 2015), Ledger (Alfred A. Knopf 2020) and The Asking: New and Selected Poems (Alfred A. Knopf 2023)Interview Date: 9/1/2023   Tags: Jane Hirshfield, Poetry, being present, pockets in a vest, writing poetry, appreciating every moment, kindness, kinship, Poetry, travel, Art & Creativity

Rizwan Virk (known as Riz) is a successful entrepreneur, video game pioneer, venture capitalist, and founder of the start-up accelerator Play Labs @ MIT. His interest and expertise ranges from video games, the metaverse, simulation theory, meditation, consciousness, and the intersection of science, science fiction, religion, and philosophy. He’s a graduate of MIT and Stanford and is currently a faculty associate at Arizona State University. He is the author of Zen Entrepreneurship: Walking the Path of the Career Warrior (BayView Labs 2013), Startup Myths and Models: What You Won't Learn in Business School (Columbia Business School Publishing 2020), Treasure Hunt: Follow Your Inner Clues to Find True Success (Watkins Publishing 2017), The Simulation Hypothesis: An MIT Computer Scientist Shows Why AI, Quantum Physics and Eastern Mystics Agree We Are in a Video Game. (Bayview books 2019), Wisdom of a Yogi: Lessons for Modern Seekers from Autobiography of a Yogi (Bayview Books 2023), The Zen Entrepreneur & the Dream: An MIT Grad’s Quest for Success & Enlightenment in Silicon Valley (2023)Interview Date: 7/14/2023.  Tags: Rizwan Virk, video games, virtual reality ping pong, Nick Brostrom, virtual simulations, Second Life computer platform, quantum physics, The Matrix movie, AI Technology, ChatGPt, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Stephen Hawking, hard problem of consciousness, brain-computer interface, stroke victims, Elon Musk, Neuralink, simulation point, supercomputing, mysticism, Sanskrit Maya, Science, Philosophy, Technology, spirituality

Mary Mackey, Ph.D. is a novelist, screenwriter, and poet. She is Professor Emeritus of English and former Writer-in-Residence at California State University, Sacramento. During her twenties she lived in the rain forests of Costa Rica. Recently she’s been traveling to Brazil incorporating her experiences in the tropical rainforests into her fiction and poetry. Her historical novels include Earthsong Series - covering the lives of the people of Neolithic Europe and Immersion (iUniverse 2013), Her books of poetry include Travelers with No Ticket Home (Marsh Hawk Press 2014), Sugar Zone, winner of the 2012 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award for Literary Excellence, Breaking The Fever (Marsh Hawk Press 2006), The Jaguars That Prowl Our Dreams: New and Selected Poems 1974 through 2018 (winner of Eric Hoffer Book Award 2019).Interview Date: 11/27/2019    Tags: Mary Mackey, poetry, adventure, rain forest, army ants, jungle, rural Kentucky, regional microknowledge, ecosystem, Gees Bend quilts, Portuguese, ancestral quilts, fevered dreams, Earthsong Series of novels, Elizabeth Bishop, Art & Creativity, Women’s Studies, writing, Ecology/Nature/Environment

Vasavi Kumar a first generation Indian American and is a life coach and licensed therapist who holds degrees in social work and special education from Hofstra and Columbia Universities.. She runs the Say It out Loud Safe Haven community for coaches, creatives, and entrepreneurs. She is the author of Say It out Loud: Using the Power of Your Voice to Listen to Your Deepest Thoughts and Courageously Pursue Your Dreams. (New World Library 2023)Interview Date: 7/7/2023    Tags: Vasavi Kumar, walk our talk, integrity, internalized conflict, disembodied, fragmented self, using others as our saviors, internal resources, motivation, energy inventory, personal inventory, joy is a renewable energy, play, weekly voice notes, Personal Transformation

Margaret Renkl is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, where her essays appear weekly. She has been recognized with numerous prestigious awards for her writing. She is the founding editor of Chapter 16, a daily literary publication of Humanities Tennessee. A graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Carolina, she now lives in Nashville. She is the author of Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss (Milkweed Editions 2019), Graceland, At Last: Notes on Hope and Heartache from the American South (Milkweed Editions 2021) and The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year (Spiegel and Grau 2023)Interview Date: 6/19/2023 Tags: Margaret Renkl, untidy gardens, soil, serotonin, gardening, bumblebees, grasshoppers, bird watching, sheltering in place, mountain lions, rattlesnakes, coyote in the bathroom, spiders, Ecology/Nature/Environment

Mark Nepo is a poet and philosopher and a most eloquent spiritual teacher. In 2015, he was given a Life-Achievement Award by AgeNation and in 2016 was named by Watkins: Mind Body Spirit as one of the Most Spiritually Influential Living People. He was part of Oprah Winfrey’s The Life You Want Tour in 2014 and has appeared several times with Oprah on her Super Soul Sunday program on OWN TV. As a cancer survivor, Mark devotes his writing and teaching to the journey of inner transformation and the life of relationship.Mark Nepo is the author of many audio learning projects and over 20 books including Reduced To Joy (Cleis Press 2013), Seven Thousand Ways to Listen: Staying Close To What Is Sacred (Free Press 2012), The One Life We’re Given: Finding the Wisdom That Waits in Your heart (Atria Books 2016), More Together Than Alone: Discovering the Power and Spirit of Community in Our Lives and in the World (Atria Books 2018), Drinking from the River of Light: The Life of Expression (Sounds True 2019), The Book of Soul: 52 Paths to Living What Matters (St. Martin’s Essentials 2020), Surviving Storms: Finding the Strength to Meet Adversity (St. Martins’ Essentials 2022) and Falling Down and Getting Up: Discovering Your Inner Resilience and Strength (St. Martins’ Essentials 2023). His many audio learning courses include Staying Awake (Sounds True 2012) and Holding Nothing Back (Sounds True 2012Interview Date: 6/30/2023   Tags: Mark Nepo, inner truth, integrity, Rabbi Omer-Man, noise, guiding center point, inner voice, enlivening, friendship, disheartening, discernment, Kalevala, isolation, Joseph Bruchac, original instructions, Philosophy, Personal Transformation, Relationship

Daniel Pinchbeck has been described as a radical futurist. He’s a philosopher and keen cultural observer. He was featured in the 2010 documentary, 2012: Time for Change and host of the talk show, MindShift, on Gaiam TV. He directed the think tank Center for Planetary Culture. His essays and articles have appeared in a vast range of publications, including the New York Times, Esq., Rolling Stone, ArtForum, Dazed and Confused, The Village Voice and many other publications. In 2007, Daniel launched the web magazine Reality Sandwich and co-foundedEvolver.net. Evolver currently includes Evolver Learning Labs, a webinar platform, and The Evolver Network, a nonprofit initiative. Daniel also edited the publishing imprint, Evolver Editions with North Atlantic Books. He is the author of Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism(Broadway Books 2003), 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl (Tarcher/Perigee 2007), and How Soon is Now: From Personal Initiation to Global Transformation (Watkins Publishing 2017).Tags: Daniel Pinchbeck, imagination, creativity, Wright Brothers, financial capitalism, Rebecca Solnit, Burning Man, sacrifice, collective intention, technology, ecological constraints, CO2, climate change, cheap energy, regenerative society, consumer society, competition, collaboration, space exploration, inner dimensions, psychedelics, Ayahuasca, LSD, DMT, Community, Ecology, Nature, Environment, Philosophy, Social Change, Politics