We begin this conversation with Dr. April DeConick’s first exposure to Gnostic literature when she was a young student, without any real idea of what it is she was going to do with her life. The question for her was, “Why are these Gnostic texts not included in the New Testament?” This question sent her on the path of discovery, as she devoured literature from near-eastern and biblical studies. Dr. DeConick's particular interests include those aspects of the religious traditions that fell through the cracks of social, religious, and spiritual norms, while despite this still maintain a considerable influence on the dominant traditions of our current religious worldview. This conversation explores subjects ranging from early Christianity to Gnostic, Mystic, and Shamanic thought, ritual, and literature. These early communities were in large part quite transgressive; therefore much of the conversation is oriented towards understanding the nature of culture, power, societies, and the various ways that people throughout time have made meaning of the mysterious nature of reality. Bio: April DeConick holds the Isla Carroll and Percy E. Turner Professorship in New Testament and Early Christianity at Rice University, and is Chair of the Department of Religion. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1994 in the Department of Near Eastern Studies. Since then, she has studied, written and taught on a range of topics revolving around the silenced voices of religious people and the communities that were left behind or discarded when Christianity emerged in the first four centuries CE as a new religion. She is the co-founder and executive editor of a new academic journal called Gnosis: Journal of Gnostic Studies published by a very prestigious publishing house in Europe. She founded and chaired for years the Mysticism, Esotericism and Gnosticism group in the Society of Biblical Literature and is now Chair of the Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism group. She is most noted for her writing on the Gospel of Judas when she challenged sensationalism generated by the National Geographic Society that wrongly claimed that Judas is a gnostic hero in this text and that his heroics would rewrite our understanding of early Christianity. Instead, her work shows that Judas remains demonic in the Gospel of Judas, just as he is in the New Testament gospels. Her work on this text was so instrumental that she appeared in CNN’s documentary on the Gospel of Judas that premiered in 2015 on the TV series "Finding Jesus". Her most recent book, The Gnostic New Age, has won an award from the Figure Foundation for the best book to be published by an university press in philosophy and religion. It is tradition that the Figure Foundation composes a koan for each book to receive this award and publishes it on the front page. The koan for The Gnostic New Age reads: “that square be squared”. If you have any insight into the meaning of this koan, she would love to hear it. https://reli.rice.edu/people/faculty/april-deconick http://aprildeconick.com Theme music provided by: http://www.modernnationsmusic.com Learn more about this project at: http://www.thesacredspeaks.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesacredspeaks/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesacredspeaks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesacredspeaks/

Dr. Murray Stein discusses initiation, directed vs. nondirected thinking, and the tension of opposites. He highlights the emergence of images beyond conscious control and the disconnect from the immaterial due to the growth of rational thinking. The conversation explores the impact of blending rational and imaginative thinking, the symbolic aspect of religion in Protestantism, and the transformative power of symbolic experiences.

After struggling through depression during medical school, Dr. Joseph Tafur was introduced to peyote by a friend who was researching psychedelics as a medical intervention. He reports that he quickly realized the connection between modern medical interventions, such as anti-depressants and psychedelics. In 2007 Dr. Tafur traveled to the Amazon and began his exploration of Ayahuasca and later began his training in Shipibo shamanism. Dr. Tafur’s medical background and his training as a Shipibo shaman position him to articulately explain the Western understanding of this spiritually-based approach to healing. Dr. Tafur’s book is full of case studies, and his use of these examples provide a first-hand account of what many know to be true: that many individuals do not feel adequately understood by the traditional western medicine. We discuss epigenetics, specifically how researchers are beginning to understand how trauma can be passed down from one generation to the other. We frame depression and other psychological issues as a disorder of the imagination, wherein the individual is cut off from their sense of creativity, and which cuts the individual off from imagining other possibilities in their life, and therefore they suffer under the burden of the discomfort and belief that change is not possible. Although Dr. Tafur can use modern medical language, he prefers to speak about love and broke-heartedness as it relates to what is missing in modern medicine. Bio: Dr. Tafur has been an Integrative Medicine activist throughout his medical career, while in medical school at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, and during his Family Medicine Residency at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He has collaborated on research projects with the UCLA Center for East-West Medicine and the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine. After residency, Dr. Tafur subsequently completed a two-year Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship at the UCSD Department of Psychiatry under psychoneuroimmunology expert Dr. Paul Mills. While in San Diego, he also served on the board for the Alternative Healing Network and the Steering Committee for the UCSD Center for Integrative Medicine. Dr. Tafur is also dedicated to education. At Nihue Rao Centro Espiritual, Dr. Tafur supervised traditional training for allopathic medical students and medical student groups from the Southwestern College of Naturopathic Medicine and Bastyr College of Naturopathic Medicine. He has also worked as a professor for the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine’s online doctoral program. He is now developing new educational programs for Modern Spirit. Since 2007, Dr. Tafur, a has been traveling to Peru to work with Traditional Amazonian Plant Medicine and to study with Master Shipibo Healers. He has completed his shamanic initiation under Maestro Ricardo Amaringo and worked alongside him for years in ayahuasca healing ceremony at Nihue Rao Centro Espiritual. Here in the United States, he is working to promote the value of spiritual healing in modern healthcare and to demonstrate the intersection between traditional healing and allopathic medicine .https://drjoetafur.com https://modernspirit.org Theme music provided by: http://www.modernnationsmusic.com Band of the week: Black Tie Dynasty Music page: https://www.facebook.com/blacktiedynasty/ https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/black-tie-dynasty/41368471 Learn more about this project at: http://www.thesacredspeaks.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesacredspeaks/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesacredspeaks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesacredspeaks/

Many people make mystical claims about their worldview, but few can articulate their view in a way similar to Rabbi Jeff Roth. In this episode, Rabbi Roth explains that he views the fundamental problem of human existence as a rift between the human being and the divine. He explains that this rift created the ground of what we call evil. Rabbi Roth locates the origin point of the split between the divine and the human as the formation of the conceptual, thinking mind and language. He draws from mystical Jewish and Buddhist practice. Rabbi Roth’s understanding of the various problems with different translations of the original stories from the Torah supports his approach of deconstructing the original language used in both The Torah and The Zohar. This process of understanding and deconstructing takes an act of awareness, contemplation, and a handle on the original language systems used to communicate foundational stories in, not only the Judeo-Christian myth, but also any story that human beings have identified that reflects the origins of creation. Bio Rabbi Jeff Roth is the founder and Director of The Awakened Heart Project for Contemplative Judaism. He was the co-founder of Elat Chayyim where he served as Executive Director and Spiritual Director for 13 years. He is the co-leader of the Jewish Mindfulness Teacher Training program and has facilitated of over 190 Jewish meditation retreats. He is the author of, Jewish Meditation Practices for Everyday Life and Me, Myself and God, both from Jewish lights Publishing. https://www.awakenedheartproject.org Theme music provided by: http://www.modernnationsmusic.com Song of the week from Slaid Cleaves https://www.slaidcleaves.com Music page: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/breakfast-in-hell/380426781?i=380426816 Learn more about this project at: http://www.thesacredspeaks.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesacredspeaks/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesacredspeaks

The discussion today centers on Dr. John Beebe’s ideas about psychological types as inspired by Jung’s understanding and articulation of this theory of personality. Dr. John Beebe is the leading expert on the subject, so much so that in the forthcoming release of Jung’s collected works on Psychological Type will include an introduction by Dr. Beebe – an honor of the utmost order. Dr. Beebe and I explore how the psychological types show up in film and how viewing films through this lens may enable someone to understand the various types and the dynamics between them better. Dr. Beebe explains how our early history provides the framework for our attitudes to organize themselves in service to making sense of the world. Conflicts between each other and ourselves are usually, in part, a consequence of the different attitudes and functions of the personality misunderstanding each other given their differences between how each of these comes to experience and know what it experiences. John identifies Hamlet as a means by which we may see the personality types play out. Theme music provided by: http://www.modernnationsmusic.com Band of the week: The Chemistry Set Learn more about this project at: http://www.thesacredspeaks.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesacredspeaks/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesacredspeaks

How does a young man growing up in an “under resourced” community make sense of the mystical experiences that began at the age of 14 years old spending time with friends? By making his exploration of African American religion and theology the center point of his spiritual and academic development – and helping others through the process. This episode explores Cleve’s development and the dissertation that has provided him the container to examine his thinking as it relates to those thoughts and thinkers who have influenced him. At Princeton Theological Seminary, Cleve, began to expand his understanding of the great thinkers within Black Theology and African American Cultural studies including people such as Hortense Spillers, W.E.B. Du Bois, Cornell West, James Cone, Martin Luther King Jr, and others. Cleve provides a deeper understanding of Black critical thought, and how this intellectual tradition has influenced religion and culture. Interwoven into this rich conversation, we also discuss personal symbols for Cleve such as how N.W.A provided a means by which Cleve, as a young guy, began to understand his cultural upbringing and the basic struggle as an adolescent boy – in particular what factors shaped his understanding of himself, of his religion, and of his community. Bio: Cleve V. Tinsley IV is an ordained Baptist minister, scholar of religion and African American culture, and community social justice strategist based in Houston, TX. He is currently the Co-Managing Partner of projectCURATE—a non-profit social impact enterprise and intersectional justice collaborative—and a PhD candidate in the Department of Religion at Rice University. Cleve’s research focuses on critical understandings of the wider social scientific and historical approaches to the study of religion in general and African-American religion in particular. His current research explores the relationship between religion, black freedom struggles, and African-American formations in America and argues for more expansive sociological approaches to studying the meaning and nature of black religious identity given the complexity of religion and spirituality in the lives of African Americans today. Cleve also works as a research fellow in the Religion and Public Life Program (RPLP) at Rice and, prior to his doctoral training, earned his Master of Divinity (MDiv) at Princeton Theological Seminary. Cleve has worked in the past as a pastor and consultant for several churches and educational non-profit organizations in the US South and on the East Coast. www.projectcurate.org Theme music provided by: http://www.modernnationsmusic.com Band of the week: Abstract Rude and Tribe Unique https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/p-a-i-n-t/306865459 Learn more about this project at: http://www.thesacredspeaks.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesacredspeaks/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesacredspeaks

This conversation does not begin with any theory; it begins with racism, violence, and fear – all within the first decade of the life of today’s participant, Pastor Rudy Rasmus – to which he concludes, ultimately, the centrality of love. How he did this is the core theme of our conversation and what he has made primary in his mission of life - that he truly lives out on a daily basis. Rudy positions his early childhood trauma as a prerequisite for wisdom and his capacity to see through the masks that many people wear so that he can teach people how to love and accept themselves and others. This conversation will invite you to investigate how you love, how you are loved, and how you could express love for others. Bio: Rudy Rasmus is a pastor, author, and a humanitarian with a passion for outreach to the world’s most challenged communities. From Rudy’s previous life of owning and operating a “borderline bordello,” today he co-pastors the St. John’s Church in Downtown Houston with his wife Juanita. A church that began with 9 existing members in 1992, St. John’s has grown to thousands where every week people of every social and economic background share the same pew. He attributes the success of the church to a compassionate group of people who have embraced the vision of tearing down the walls of classism, sexism, and racism and building bridges of unconditional love, universal recovery, and unprecedented hope. Thanks to generous support from a collaboration of government agencies and a significant donation from Tina, Beyoncé, and Solange Knowles the St. John’s Downtown campus includes the Knowles-Temenos Apartments, a 43-unit Single Room Occupancy development designed to provide permanent living accommodations for formerly homeless women and men. Temenos CDC portfolio also includes an 80-unit apartment community to meet the growing need for permanent supportive housing for the previously homeless in Houston, Texas and a 15-unit apartment project for chronic inebriates and the most vulnerable homeless individuals in the Houston community. Pastors Rudy and Juanita founded the Bread of Life, Inc. (a not for profit corporation) in December of 1992 and began serving 500 meals per day to the homeless in the sanctuary at St. John’s. Years later the Bread of Life has changed the landscape of Downtown Houston providing an array of services to homeless men and women. The project also distributes over 9 tons of fresh produce weekly to hungry families. St. John’s is one of few faith communities in the U.S. providing HIV/AIDS testing to churchgoers on Sundays through the innovative “Get Tested Project.” For many years Pastor Rudy has coordinated domestic and global anti-hunger initiatives in conjunction with Beyoncé’s concert tours and travels extensively developing and supporting programs around the world for people experiencing poverty. Today, with a focus on social impact investing, the Bread of Life owns and operates Eco Life Employment LLC, a digital employment and staffing agency for men and women with troubled past lives and the Amazing KMAZ 102.5fm radio station. Rudy and Juanita have been married for 32 years and are the proud parents of two outstanding daughters, Morgan and Ryan, a phenomenal Son-in-Law, Hamilton, and an amazing grandson Website: https://www.pastorrudy.net Theme music provided by: http://www.modernnationsmusic.com Band of the week: BADBADNOTGOOD http://badbadnotgood.com https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/confessions-pt-iii-feat-colin-stetson/1327052545?i=1327052553 Learn more about this project at: http://www.thesacredspeaks.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesacredspeaks/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesacredspeaks

In today’s episode Dr. Bill Barnard and John explore some of the fundamental definitions and aspects of consciousness and the study of consciousness. Bill is a professor of religious studies and passionately studies William James and Henri Bergson – both early thinkers in the world of religion, psychology and consciousness. The conversation touches upon some of the basic overview of the study of consciousness including materialism, idealism, determinism, dual and non-dual traditions, psychedelics, and meanders through the dynamic between the materialist reductive thinking about consciousness juxtaposed with the non-dual traditions. Dr. Barnard also discusses his study of entheogens in religious contexts, primarily as sourced by the Santo Daime tradition. Bio: Dr. G. William Barnard, (B.A. Antioch University; M.A. Temple University; Ph.D. University of Chicago) is a Professor of Religious Studies, as well as a University Distinguished Teaching Professor. His primary areas of research interests are the comparative philosophy of mysticism, religion and the social sciences, contemporary spirituality, religion and healing, and consciousness studies. Professor Barnard is currently researching the Santo Daime tradition, a syncretistic, entheogenically-based new religious movement that emerged in Brazil in the mid-twentieth century. He teaches a variety of courses: Magic, Myth, and Religion; Mysticism: East and West; Understanding the Self: East and West; Introduction to Primal Religions; Wholeness and Holiness: Religion and Healing Across Cultures; Waking Up: The Philosophy of Yoga and the Practice of Meditation; Ways of Being Religious; Living from the Heart (of it All): An Exploration of Mystical/Spiritual Ethics; Plants of the Gods: Religion and Psychedelics; and a graduate core seminar: History, Theory, and Method in Religious Studies. Professor Barnard is the author of Living Consciousness: The Metaphysical Vision of Henri Bergson as well as Exploring Unseen Worlds: William James and the Philosophy of Mysticism, both published by State University of New York Press. In addition, Professor Barnard is the co-editor of Crossing Boundaries: Essays on the Ethical Status of Mysticism. Professor Barnard has also written many journal articles and book chapters on a variety of topics, such as pedagogy in religious studies, the nature of religious experience, and issues in the psychology of religion. He is a member of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers and has received the Godbey Lecture Series Authors’ Award for both Living Consciousness and Exploring Unseen Worlds. He has also received the Golden Mustang Outstanding Faculty Award for teaching and scholarship as well as the SMU Mortar Board Honor Society Award for teaching excellence. He was also awarded an American Academy of Religion Individual Research grant. Website: https://www.smu.edu/Dedman/Academics/Departments/ReligiousStudies/FacultyStaff/Barnard Music provided by: http://www.modernnationsmusic.com Learn more about this project at: http://www.thesacredspeaks.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesacredspeaks/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesacredspeaks

This episode begins with Count explaining his professional background in the music business as a musician, producer, engineer, & writer. Considering that his career spans both pre and post internet revolution, he is well placed to critique the positive aspects of the internet and also the dark side of the “internet of free.” We explore the economics of creativity on the internet and how this new economy has transformed the music industry in particular, but also how this process bleeds into arenas such as journalism and retail. Count works to debunk a number of the common misunderstandings of the freedom of the internet. Count has created part one of the three part documentary which has received critical acclaim. Those interviewed within the documentary include David Byrne, Noam Chomsky, US Congressman Jerrold Nadler, Jonathan Taplin (Bob Dylan, Martin Scorsese), Steve Knopper (Rolling Stone), Rob Levine (Billboard magazine), Matt Mason (Bit Torrent), John Perry Barlow, Lawrence Lessig, and other key voices, alongside personal stories from musicians, filmmakers, authors, and creators of all kinds. Bio: San Francisco based producer, Count [AKA Mikael Eldridge], has been involved in just about every aspect of the music business. He has worked for indie and major labels, scored films, and has worked as producer, engineer, mixer, and remixer for artists such as DJ Shadow, Frank Sinatra, Radiohead, John Cale [Velvet Underground], No Doubt, New Order, RUN DMC, Tycho, Zoe Keating, Galactic, Trombone Shorty, The Bee Gees, Thievery Corporation, and many more. With his own bands Inu and Halou, Count has toured the US and performed live at shows such as Seattle's Bumbershoot festival, The San Francisco International Film Festival, the SF Museum of Modern Art, Filter Magazine's Culture Collides Festival and more. Count is currently directing the documentary Unsound, which is about the impact that internet revolution is having on all creators. He has become a vocal advocate on artist rights issues, speaking at The Future of Music Summit, C2SV, SXSW, Grammys on the Hill, and several international summits. Count is also currently involved in the C3 (Content Creators Coalition), which is helping to organize a collective voice to deal with issues affecting creators in the Internet age. Website: https://www.unsoundthemovie.com https://www.vertebraeproductions.com Theme music provided by: http://www.modernnationsmusic.com Band of the week: Inu and Tycho Inu: https://www.vertebraeproductions.com https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/not-for-anyone/373655312 Tycho: http://www.tychomusic.com https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/epoch/1154577700 https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/awake/793928184 Learn more about this project at: http://www.thesacredspeaks.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesacredspeaks/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesacredspeaks

In this episode of The Sacred Speaks, John Price speaks with Dr. Rachel Harris about her book, Listening To Ayahuasca, and other related topics. Following her early experience in meditation and body practices at Esalen and with Suzuki Roshi, Dr. Harris formalized her interest in research focusing on the various ways that we may treat human suffering and then she experienced Ayahuasca in the rainforests of Costa Rica. Following her personal experience, she wanted to research “religious experience” as it manifests within the various reports that people provide following their own Ayahuasca journey. She explains the design of her studies and explores aspects of the biology of psychedelics, in particular, a network of the brain called the Default Mode Network, a network of brain structures “quieted” during psychedelic experience and meditation. The DMN is the “generator of our ego” it maintains the constructed world and self. Not only does Dr. Harris speak to the western approach to both the research-based use of psychedelics and the recreational use, but she also speaks to the worldview of indigenous cultures and how this metaphysical view that sees the world as alive has influenced and conflicted with the typical western worldview. While grounding her work in the Ayahuasca, her research reaches far beyond the experiences of Psychonauts and into the minds and homes of each and every one of us who seeks to transform the daily and the mundane. Bio: Psychologist Rachel Harris, Ph.D. is the author of Listening to Ayahuasca: New Hope for Depression, Addiction, PTSD and Anxiety. She was in private practice for thirty-five years working with people interested in psychospiritual development. During a decade working in research, Rachel received a National Institutes of Health New Investigator’s Award and published more than forty scientific studies in peer-reviewed journals. She has also consulted to Fortune 500 companies and the United Nations. Rachel was in the 1968 Esalen Residential Program, Big Sur, CA. This intensive six-month program focused on meditation and bodywork. In the early seventies, Rachel studied with Dorothy Nolte in the movement system, Structural Awareness, based on Dr. Ida Rolf’s Structural Integration (Rolfing). Rachel also co-edited the Journal of the American Dance Therapy Association for three years. Awareness of how people live and move in their bodies has always been an aspect of Rachel’s approach to psychotherapy. During the mid-eighties into the early aughts, Rachel led workshops at Omega Institute, NY and Esalen Institute, CA. She wrote Twenty Minute Retreats: Revive Your Spirit in Just Minutes a Day with Simple, Self-Led Practices (NY: Holt, 2000). This book describes many of the psychological, meditative and body awareness exercises she taught in her workshops. In 2005 Rachel traveled to a retreat center in Costa Rica and serendipitously found herself with the opportunity to drink ayahuasca with Ecuadorian shamans. The morning after her first ceremony, Rachel began asking questions about the therapeutic potential of this medicine. She conducted a three-year research project with Lee Gurel, Ph.D. that resulted in “A Study of Ayahuasca Use in North America,” published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs (Summer, 2012). Website: https://www.listeningtoayahuasca.com Theme music provided by: http://www.modernnationsmusic.com Band of the week: Taylor Young https://www.dallasobserver.com/music/taylor-young-of-the-os-premieres-new-single-shine-on-me-11178400 https://www.instagram.com/tayloryoungmusic/ Music page: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/shine-on-me/1436712697?i=1436712972 Learn more about this project at: http://www.thesacredspeaks.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesacredspeaks/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesacredspeaks