The New Dimensions Café

Dan Drasin is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and has been a photographer and media producer for more than six decades. He’s also the Operations Manager of New Dimensions and the announcer whose voice you hear on each program. His short 1961 documentary film titled Sunday was widely acknowledged as the first social-protest film of the 1960s and is part of the permanent film collection at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Since the early 1990s, Drasin has been actively investigating the field of afterlife communication through traditional mental and physical mediumship, as well as modern electronics as featured in his documentary film, Calling Earth. He is the author of A New Science of the Afterlife: Space, Time, and the Consciousness Code (Park Street Press 2023)Interview Date: 5/5/2023    Tags: Dan Drasin, Materialism, clocklike view of reality, wireless communication, electromagnetic waves, beyond physical reality, NDE, near-death experiences, International Association for Near Death Studies, IANDS, hypnotherapist Michael Newton, between lifetimes, Instrumental Trans-Communication, Suzanne Giesemann, Pim van Lommel M.D., death, consciousness, the problem of language, Parapsychology/Paranormal, Science, Philosophy, Intuition/Psychic

Wes “Scoop” Nisker is a Buddhist meditation teacher, journalist, and author. He is founder and co-editor of the Theravada Buddhist journal, Inquiring Mind, and an affiliate teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California. His delightful humor accompanies his philosophy and experience of Buddhist insight meditation. Prior to being a meditation teacher, he was a well-known radio announcer in the San Francisco Bay area who went by the name of "Scoop." Where he was known to say, “If you don’t like the news, go out and make some of your own.” He is the author of Buddha's Nature: A Practical Guide to Discovering Your Place in the Cosmos (Bantam 2000), Crazy Wisdom Saves the World Again! Handbook for a Spiritual Revolution (Stone Bridge Press 2008), The Essential Crazy Wisdom (Ten Speed Press 2012), The Big Bang, the Buddha, and the Baby Boom: The Spiritual Experiments of My Generation (Iro Books 2013) and Being Nature: A Down-to-Earth Guide to the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (Inner Traditions 2022)Interview Date: 10/24/2008  Tags: Wes Nisker, Scoop Nisker, Wes “Scoop” Nisker, Crazy Wisdom, Gods, Revolution, Radio, Aging, Baby Boomer, Humor, Storytelling, evolution, Philosophy, Social Change/Politics, Media, Art & Creativity, Buddhism, Community, Education, Personal Transformation, Peace/Non-Violence

Rt. Rev. Dr. Marc Andrus is the eighth Bishop of the Episcopal diocese of California, elected in 2006. Raised among the hills and lakes of East Tennessee, Bishop Marc developed an early love for the beauty of the earth and a call to protect it. His activism, grounded in contemplative prayer, has focused on key issues related to peace and justice, including immigration reform, civil rights for LBGTQ+ persons, health care, and climate change. Mark has led the Episcopal delegation to the annual UN Climate Conference. In service for Presiding Bishop Michael Bruce Curry, Bishop Marc serves as representative to the Anglican Communion Environmental Network. He is the author of Stations of the Cosmic Christ (Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox) (Unity 2018) and Brothers in the Beloved Community: The Friendship of Thich Nhat Hanh and Martin Luther King Jr.(Parallax Press 2021)Interview Date: 4/20/2023   Tags: Marc Andrus, John Lewis, The Beloved Community, world citizen, Thich Nhat Hanh, Martin Luther King Jr., Nobel Peace Prize, bodhisattva, Earth as living entity, James Lovelock, Gaia theory, Brian Swimme, Thomas Berry, gravity, desire, Beloved Community Circles, Four Nobel Truths, life is suffering, universal moral code, History, Buddhism, Social Change/Politics, Peace/Nonviolence

Rajiv Parti, M.D. is a world-renowned specialist in pain management with over thirty years as a cardiac anesthesiologist. In addition to being Chief of Anesthesiology at Bakersfield Heart Hospital for more than a decade, Dr. Parti is founder of the Pain Management Institute of California. His study in complementary and alternative medicine has led him to formulate an integrative approach to total wellness, especially pain management, stress, and depression. He is the author of Dying to Wake Up: A Doctor’s Voyage into the Afterlife and the Wisdom He Brought Back (contributor Paul Perry)(Atria books 2016)Tags: Rajiv Parti, NDE, Near Death Experience, SDE, Shared Death Experience, forgiveness, ascended masters, spirit guides, Medicine Buddha, archetypes, Raymond Moody, Health & Healing, Parapsychology, Paranormal, Intuition, Psychic, Death & Dying, Spirit Guides, Angels , Spirit, Spirituality, Parenting

Rick Hanson, Ph.D. is a psychologist, senior fellow at the University of California, Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, and a summa cum laude graduate of UCLA. He’s founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom. Also, the founder and president of the Global Compassion Coalition. He is the author of Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom (New Harbinger 2009), Just One Thing: Developing a Buddha Brain One Simple Practice at a Time (New Harbinger 2011), Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence (Harmony Books 2013), Meditations to Change Your Brain - CD Set (Sounds True 2009), Resilient: How to Grow an Unshakable Core of Calm, Strength and Happiness (Harmony Books 2018), NeuroDharma: New Science, Ancient Wisdom, and Seven Practices of the Highest Happiness (Harmony Books 2020), Making Great Relationships: Simple Practices for Solving Conflicts, Building Connections, and Fostering Love (Harmony Books 2023) and Meditations to Change Your Brain - CD Set (Sounds True 2009)Interview Date: 4/10/2023  Tags: Rick Hanson, listening, dialogue, disagreement, conflict, values, lying, Living Room Conversations, Joan Blades, arguing, no-win dialogues, progressives, compassion, kindness, bridging differences, gun violence, self-righteousness, argumentative, persuading, persuade, vote, voting, Global Compassion, Coalition, Stone Age conditions of humanity, Relationships, Psychology, Philosophy, Social Change/Politics

Deborah Zucker, ND is a naturopathic physician and transformational health coach who helps people find transform their fundamental relationship to health. She’s the founder of Vital Medicine and offers many virtual and retreat-based programs. She holds a docorate in naturopathic medicine from Bastyr University where she has also served as adjunct faculty. She is the author of The Vitality Map: A Guide to Deep Health, Joyful Self-Care, and Resilient Well-Being (LomaSerena Press 2016) Tags: Deborah Zucker, vitality, chronic fatigue, self care, resilience, stress response cascade, stress, breath, biofeedback, posture, habits, Health, Healing

Ellen Dee Davidson is an advocate for the health of forests. Besides her memoir, she’s the author of a number of children's books, also worked as an elementary, piano, and creative writing teacher and raised two daughters. She lives with her husband in the redwoods of northern California where she regularly sits with trees in a form of “forest bathing”. She is the author of Stolen Voices: In a City Ruled by Silence Can One Girl’s Voice Make a Difference? (Turtleback Books Library Binding 2005), Princess Justina Albertina (Charlesbridge 2007), Zoe the Misfit (Boulden Publishing 2008), Wind (Luminare Press 2022) and Wild Path to the Sacred Heart (A Forest Bathing Memoir) (Star Tree Press 2019)Interview Date: 3/27/2023    Tags: Ellen Dee Davidson, power spot, nature, trees, hubris, logical brain, sentience of nature, consciousness, David Milarch, ancestor tree, Diana Beresford Kroeger, living lineage, Findhorn community, Dorothy Maclean, plant entities, Ecology/Nature/Environment, Personal Transformation

Jake Eagle, LPC, is a psychotherapist, mindfulness instructor, fellow member trainer of the International Association of Neuro‑Linguistic Programming, and cofounder of Live Conscious. After thirty years in private practice, Jake now works part-time as a meta-therapist, working with people who want to go beyond the bounds of traditional therapy. Together, he and his wife, Hannah, lead life-changing small group retreats at awe-inspiring locations around the world. Michael Amster, MD, is a physician and faculty member at Touro School of Medicine. With twenty years as a pain management specialist, he is currently the founding director of the pain management department at Santa Cruz Community Health. A practitioner of meditation for over thirty years, he is also a certified yoga and meditation teacher. He splits his time between clinical work, research on awe, teaching mindfulness, and leading awe-inspiring retreats around the world. Jake Eagle & Michael Amster, M.D. are co-authors of The Power of Awe: Overcome Burnout & Anxiety, Ease Chronic Pain, Find Clarity & Purpose―In Less Than 1 Minute Per Day (Hachette Books 2023)Interview Date: 3/3/2023   Tags: Jake Eagle, Michael Amster, awe, meditation, mindfulness, Personal Transformation, Meditation, Health & Healing

Neil Theise, M.D. Is a practicing pathologist and leading stem cell researcher as well as an explorer in the nature of consciousness and its relationship to us and the cosmos as revealed in complexity theory. He is also a senior student of Zen Buddhism at the Village Zendo in New York City under the guidance of Roshi Enkyo O'Hara. He is the author of Notes On Complexity: A Scientific Theory Of Connection, Consciousness And Being. (Spiegel and Grau 2023)Interview Date: 2/25/2023  Tags: Neil Theise, physics, chaos theory, complexity theory, ant colony, biological cells, quantum level of reality, spacetime, nature of mind, consciousness is fundamental, materialistic science, Newtonian mechanics, quenched disorder, AI, artificial intelligence, panpsychism, consciousness, mind is not the brain, materiality, materialism, non-material, randomness, covid pandemic, human heart, Science, Buddhism, Personal Transformation

Matthew Fox, Ph.D. is a priest and was a member of the Dominican Order of the Catholic Church for thirty-four years. He holds a doctorate in History and Theology of Spirituality and is a scholar in residence with the Academy for the Love of Learning in Santa Fe, New Mexico, as well as founder and president of Friends of Creation Spirituality. He is the author of more than thirty booksTags: Matthew Fox, Thomas Merton, mysticism, Ted Roszak, eros, silence, New Grange, Rachel Carson, monasticism, God the Mother, Spirituality, Social Change, Politics, Philosophy