The Sacred Speaks

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

In this episode, John Price speaks with music therapist, Jennifer Townsend, about music and music therapy. We discuss the definition of music therapy, the biological aspects of performing and listening to music, how concepts from physics have informed the connecting and healing processes of music therapy, the uses of music therapy as an aid in brain development following a trauma, relationship bonding when coming together on the “beat”, and other topics. Jennifer offers the listener stories of the healing aspects of music within populations ranging from those affected by acute psychosis, and non-responsiveness, she explains the rapport building dimensions of music in relationship and notes how music can reduce anxiety amongst those who have been traumatized. While listening to this episode, one thing becomes clear: that there are profound reasons why many of us will spend more of our time and money on music than sex and drugs (medical and otherwise). Bio: Jennifer Townsend, MMT, MT-BC, is the Program Manager for Music Therapy at Houston Methodist. In this capacity, she has overseen the growth of music therapy across the system of Houston Methodist hospitals, led research initiatives in music therapy and music medicine, and provides clinical supervision to the Houston Methodist creative arts therapy team of eight. She has published articles on technology in music therapy, music therapy in epilepsy treatment, music therapy in NICU, and published a chapter on Medically Fragile Children in Guidelines for Music Therapy Practice in Pediatrics. Website: https://www.musictherapy.org http://www.cbmt.org Theme music provided by: http://www.modernnationsmusic.com Band of the week: Grace Kali https://gracekali.com https://twitter.com/thegracekali Music page: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/grace-kali/1396993208 https://soundcloud.com/gracekali https://www.amazon.com/Sign-Times-Grace-Kali/dp/B07DMGDTY7 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 Matthew and I exploring his history growing up with the fundamentalist wing of religion in Christianity. Matt’s story is one of coming to terms and wrestling with the religion of his youth and through that process asking challenging to grapple with questions. We discuss power structures within and between groups ranging from economically bound systems to geographically connected and disconnected networks. Matt’s dissertation looked at trauma and the narrative that five women maintained about their religious and philosophical worldview following overwhelming trauma. Matt offers a perspective on religion that is often not included in many religious and academic circles, atheist or theist alike. Bio: Matt is currently on staff at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Houston Texas as the Senior Associate Pastor, is the Co-Managing Director of projectCURATE, a social action and racial equity non-profit, Executive Director of Iconoclast Artists, a creative arts program in Houston and Galveston’s urban schools that has over 600 weekly participants and is Assistant Professor of Recovery Ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary. Prior to this he was on faculty at Duke Divinity School as professor of Practical Theology and Community Development. In 2013, he completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Cambridge’s Psychology and Religion Research Group (PRRG) where he explored redemptive narratives and models of social justice movements rooted in religious communities. He received his Masters of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary and completed his PhD at Texas Tech University in 2010. His dissertation explored how women construct alternative narratives of redemption from years of sustained trauma and abuse. While at Texas Tech he was the Associate Director at The Center for the Study of Addiction, responsible for the replication model helping to establish collegiate recovery communities in campuses across the United States. From 1996-2008 he was Associate Pastor of Houston’s Chapelwood United Methodist Church and founding pastor of Mercy Street. Matt is married to his best friend Michele and they have 3 crazy boys: Miguel (15), Lucas (14) and Gabriel (11). Website: https://www.projectcurate.org http://www.stpaulshouston.org/staff/ Theme music provided by: http://www.modernnationsmusic.com Band of the week: Ghostface Killah and BADBADNOTGOOD https://www.facebook.com/GhostfaceKillahOfficial/ http://badbadnotgood.com Music page: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/sour-soul/952769969 Learn more about this project at: http://www.thesacredspeaks.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesacredspeaks/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesacredspeaks

This conversation explores the research into religion. Ken began his academic search when he started to ask deeper question about the nature of human experience such as morality, values, how people can live better lives, and he is a skeptic and seeking to ground his work in empirical research. Dr. Pargament discusses the relationship between attachment and religion - how one’s developmental history and environment interrelate and often informs one’s relationship with “God.” Dr. Parament’s work involves looking at each person’s religious experience and asking them questions about the nature of that relationship to the sacred in their lives. How have they come to relate to the divine – theist and atheist alike? His research helps us understand not only the nature of the relationship but also the outcome of the relationship. One question he asks is: How has one's relationship to the divine impacted how that individual copes with suffering? “From a talk presented at Harvard: Empirical studies indicate that people attribute sacred qualities to many aspects of life, such as relationships, nature, work, virtues, and the body. Perceptions of sacredness have important implications for health and well-being. A growing body of research indicates that people are more likely to: (a) organize their lives around sacred goals and values; (b) preserve and protect aspects of life they hold sacred; and (c) invest more of their resources into and derive greater satisfaction and meaning from sanctified objects. However, perceptions of sacredness can be problematic when: (a) people experience the loss or violation of what they hold sacred; (b) when they imbue inappropriate objects (e.g., drugs, violence, despots) with sacred qualities; and (c) when people are intolerant of divergent views of the sacred.” (https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/rshm/event/dr-kenneth-pargament-sacred-matters-spirituality-vital-aspect-health-and-well-being). Bio: Dr. Pargament's nationally and internationally known research addresses religious beliefs and health. His current research program addresses how elderly people who struggle with their religious beliefs and hold negative perceptions about their relationships with God and life meaning have an increased risk of death, even after controlling for physical and mental health and demographic characteristics. He also studies the process by which people create perceptions about the sanctity of aspects of their life activities and the beneficial effects of "sanctification" for individual and interpersonal well-being. A strong emphasis on this work is how individuals and couples "sanctify" their marriage and how that sanctification is a strong predictor of marital quality and stability. Dr. Pargament won the 2000 Virginia Staudt Sexton Mentoring Award from the American Psychological Association for his generous work in encouraging both faculty, undergraduate, and graduate research in the psychology of religion. Website: https://www.bgsu.edu/arts-and-sciences/center-for-family-demographic-research/about-cfdr/research-affiliates/kenneth-i-pargament.html Theme music provided by: http://www.modernnationsmusic.com Band of the week: The Hundred Inevitables https://www.facebook.com/thehundredinevitables/ Music page: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/decade-of-downtime/1017437376 Learn more about this project at: http://www.thesacredspeaks.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesacredspeaks/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesacredspeaks

In this episode, Henry Richardson, owner, and CEO of DEFINE body and mind, and I sit down to explore how to run what he refers to as a “spiritual business.” He uses terms such as “appreciative inquiry” and speaks of breathing life into not only a bottom line but also the inner and outer community of the business. He states that how the model of the business is structured will influence how each employee views their presence at the business, which then impacts how the customer and the community the business serves, feels about themselves and their interactions with the business. Henry outlines how to make this possible, and with a successful and growing business of 23 facilities in the U.S. and one open in Dubai, along with two graduate degrees, one MBA from Rice University and another master's degree from University of Pennsylvania in positive psychology, he can speak to both how he manages the business and how his story informs his higher purpose. Website: https://definebody.com Theme music provided by: http://www.modernnationsmusic.com Band of the week: John Evans https://johnevansband.com Music page: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/polyester/1103330346 Learn more about this project at: http://www.thesacredspeaks.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesacredspeaks/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesacredspeaks

This conversation favors the irrational over the rational. Kate has made it her mission, both in her professional life and personal life to study the pathways on which people travel through their lives. She states, “The paths that people are called to are often socially unacceptable.” She is referencing how often each of us has to sacrifice either a part of ourselves for the security of the outer world, or the security of the outer world so that one can “live on the edge” and discover who they are and what really matters to that individual. When Kate was 4 years old, a poisonous snake bit her, a story that had not entered into her awareness until she was much older and in analysis herself. Once she recalled the event she began to have dreams that included snake motifs and she began to study rites of passage, initiation, and rituals that people had been writing about throughout human history. We discuss the seven aspects she identifies and articulates through her book. Kate has made it her mission to help people place their struggles and conflicts into meaningful narratives. And, how is one to know the direction that the narrative is providing? Bio: Kate Burns is a Jungian analyst with a private practice in Houston, Texas. She earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, she worked as a geophysicist until a downturn in the oil industry sent her back to school for an MBA from Rice University. A desire to explore spiritual issues led her to pursue a master’s degree in counseling, followed by studies at the International School of Analytical Psychology, Zurich. She has taught classes at the Jung Center in Houston since 2005 and has devoted herself to the practice of yoga since 2000. She serves on the board of directors for Jungians in Training Zurich, an organization raising awareness about C.G. Jung, his life and work. Kate is the author of "Paths to Transformation: From Initiation to Liberation and "Soul's Desire to Become New" in Jung's Red Book for Our Time, volume 2. Website: Theme music provided by: http://www.modernnationsmusic.com Band of the week: Lauren Fine Music page: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/lauren-fine/30889026 Learn more about this project at: http://www.thesacredspeaks.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesacredspeaks/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesacredspeaks

As a scientist, Tom’s insight into religion and psychology balances his worldview given that he matriculated through both the sciences and philosophy. He says, that as soon as he began to see the world through a hand-lens, he was sold on physics, biology, entomology, evolution and ecology, and vertebrate zoology, but landed squarely in biology. Tom’s primary area of interest began in complex systems. Access to an electron microscope in the biochemistry lab opened up Tom’s understanding of the microscopic world that is within, around, and through us. He defines “complex systems” and uses this interest to look at religion and psychology. Tom asks why no one can predict what the Dow Jones is going to do tomorrow?” Because the economy is a complex system. Tom’s “naïve love of biology” was the attitude that bade him to leave the early movement in bioengineering, which he deemed as morally repugnant, and sent him onto a path of recollecting his interests in philosophy and religion primarily to the work of Carl Jung, James Hillman, and Henry Corbin. Tom’s love for Hillman is expressed from his seeking psychological diversity and Corbin for his grounding in the imagination. Tom departed from reductive science because his brain began to feel like a machine, cranking out facts, and this landed him in the exploration of the imagination. With this in mind, Tom recognizes the battle within him between the “humanist” and the “scientist.” He believes on some level that adopting an easy pluralism as a means for us each to deal with our tendency toward fundamentalist thinking and behaving. He has been actively undermining the tendency for any human to be motivated by any fundamentalism – which both Henry Corbin and James Hillman do. Good on you, Tom! Bio: Tom graduated from Connecticut College in 1974 with a B.A. in philosophy, magna cum laude, with coursework in history and the history of art, and received the Susanne Langer Award for Achievement in Philosophy. Among the most long-lasting influences were my reading of Hegel, Heidegger, Ernst Cassirer and Erwin Panofsky, as well as the ideas and the teaching of historian F. Edward Cranz. In 1997 Tom resigned from my teaching position and my family moved to Maine. He then began writing in earnest. Tom's first essay on Corbin was among those selected to receive a John Templeton Foundation Exemplary Essay Award in the “Expanding Humanity’s Vision of God” Program in 2000. The following year he was one of six invited speakers at the Eranos Conference in Ascona, Switzerland, where Corbin had been a leading figure for many years. Tom's first book on Corbin, the imagination and related themes was published in 2003, and others followed in 2005, 2007, 2012 and 2015. In 2004 he was invited for the first of a series of lectures for the Temenos Academy in London. In the summer of 2007 Tom was honored to be elected a Fellow of the Temenos Academy. Website: https://sites.google.com/view/tom-cheetham/home?authuser=0 Theme music provided by: http://www.modernnationsmusic.com Band of the week: Centro-matic Music page: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/centro-matic/6557444 Will Johnson: http://www.will-johnson.com Learn more about this project at: http://www.thesacredspeaks.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesacredspeaks/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesacredspeaks