Elevating Consciousness

Bruce Tift, a psychotherapist and author, discusses the relationship between psychotherapy and awakening, levels of psychological and spiritual maturity, understanding anxiety, the cycle of struggle, acceptance, codependent dynamics, and the practice of circling for intimacy and self-awareness.

Richard Bartlett is a community organizer, entrepreneur & coach who helps people grow high-trust communities & decentralized organizations. Back in 2011, he was a part of the Occupy Wall Street movement, a pivotal moment that set him on the path to becoming a key player in Enspiral - an organization that shares money, power & information to help its members do meaningful work. He went on to found Loomio, a software that helps companies seamlessly navigate the intricacies of decentralized organization. Later he founded the Hum, a non-hierarchical management consultancy that’s rewriting the rules of how we work together. His latest venture is a community-building network and movement known as Microsolidarity. In this episode, we speak about essential modalities & practices for community builders, building trust and accelerating personal growth through community, navigating the polarity of autonomy and belonging, collective intelligence, how to integrate vulnerability into the workplace, creating decentralized organizations and so much more. 🔗 [Links & resources] 🔗Rich’s personal site - https://richdecibels.com/Microsoldarity network and community building practice - https://www.microsolidarity.cc/Rich’s Consultancy The Hum - https://www.thehum.org/📝 [Show notes] 📝0:00 - Introduction 2:32 - How Rich’s upbringing led to his work with community building & team organization 6:50 - The importance of integrating traditional values 8:44 - Creating a pluralistic community with a capacity to hold many perspectives 19:16 - What is Microsolidarity?27:45 - How group size changes relational dynamics 30:35 - Essential modalities and practices for community builders36:25 - Insights from Enspiral and working in community 44:33 - Building trust and accelerating personal growth through community 47:22 - The challenges of visionary leadership54:51 - Navigating the polarity of autonomy and belonging 59:28 - Michael Levin, the superorganism, collective intelligence, and the illusion of being self-made1:08:40 - How to integrate vulnerability into the workplace1:17:20 - Creating decentralized organizations 1:26:40 - Additional resources for community builders*Join the Elevating Consciousness list and get the latest interviews with emerging thinkers in the liminal space straight to your inbox -https://artemzen.ck.page/elevatingconsciousness*Join the "Top Insights" list and get insightful links, in-depth book summaries, and transformational frameworks delivered monthly to your inbox  -  https://artemzen.ck.page/topinsights*Subscribe on Youtube to watch the podcast - youtube.com/c/ArtemZen?sub_confirmation=1*Follow me on Twitter (x) - https://twitter.com/artemzen*Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/artem.zen*For Contact, questions or ideas email me at artem@artemzen.com

North Burn is a meditation teacher and practitioner. For the past fifteen years, he has devoted himself full-time to practice, primarily in Insight Meditation and Soto Zen schools, as well as other immersive settings. Collectively, he has spent five years in monastic communities, two years in silent intensive retreats, and several years in solitude and self-directed study. Some of the teachers who have influenced him the most include Joseph Goldstein, Greg Scharf, Leslie James, and Tenshin Reb Anderson Roshi. In 2016, after the encouragement of his teachers, he began teaching meditation retreats. During the pandemic, he came up with the inspiration to start Boundless Refuge an annual 3-month silent retreat dedicated to transforming suffering into peace by practicing the middle way.  When not teaching or organizing retreats, he devotes substantial energy to meditation practice, engaging with spiritual mentors, and continuing his study of various spiritual modalities and traditions.In this episode, we speak about the benefits of long retreats & intensive meditation practice, Sutric vs Tantric perspectives on Dharma, the pros & cons of being open about spiritual attainments, integrating stories into spirituality, the relationship between psychedelics & meditation, and so much more.*Join the Elevating Consciousness list and get the latest interviews with emerging thinkers in the liminal space straight to your inbox -https://artemzen.ck.page/elevatingconsciousness*Join the "Top Insights" list and get insightful links, in-depth book summaries, and transformational frameworks delivered monthly to your inbox  -  https://artemzen.ck.page/topinsights*Subscribe on Youtube to watch the podcast - youtube.com/c/ArtemZen?sub_confirmation=1*Follow me on Twitter (x) - https://twitter.com/artemzen*Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/artem.zen*For Contact, questions or ideas email me at artem@artemzen.com

David Loy is a professor, writer, and Zen teacher in Sanbo Zen tradition. He began zen practice in 1971 and finished the formal koan curriculum in 1988. For many years he has taught as a professor of Buddhist and comparative philosophy. Although he has retired from academia he continues to lecture internationally focusing primarily on the intersection of Buddhism and modernity and what they can learn from each other.Unless he is traveling, every Friday morning he guides an online meditation followed by a brief dharma talk. He is the author of many books including Lack & Transcendence, Ecodharma, and Nonduality: In Buddhism and Beyond. In this episode, we speak about the fundamental problem of human existence through the lens of psychotherapy, existentialism & Buddhism, the limits of philosophy, integrating personal with collective transformation, addressing the meaning crisis, and so much more. *Join the Elevating Consciousness list and get the latest interviews with emerging thinkers in the liminal space straight to your inbox -https://artemzen.ck.page/elevatingconsciousness*Join the "Top Insights" list and get insightful links, in-depth book summaries, and transformational frameworks delivered monthly to your inbox  -  https://artemzen.ck.page/topinsights*Subscribe on Youtube to watch the podcast - youtube.com/c/ArtemZen?sub_confirmation=1*Follow me on Twitter (x) - https://twitter.com/artemzen*Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/artem.zen*For Contact, questions or ideas email me at artem@artemzen.com

Charlie Awbery, a meditation teacher and longtime Vajrayana practitioner, discusses the difference between sutric and tantric views in Buddhism, the challenges and benefits of meditating with eyes open, the concept of awakening and alignment in different Buddhist traditions, the distinctions between traditional and evolving Vajrayana, the practice of TREC-Chaud in Buddhism, transformative teaching and facilitation, exploring group dynamics in shared experiences, and creating contemporary Vajrayana in Buddhism.

River Kenna, an inner work practitioner and mythodynamics researcher, shares his journey from mental chatter to inner peace through somatic meditation. They discuss somatic resonance, imaginal practice & dream work, mythopoetic cognition, systematic vs. spontaneous mode, and devotional productivity.

Rosa Lewis is a spiritual teacher and inner work practitioner. During an intense journey of awakening and healing, she experienced long periods of altered states and even psychosis. Eventually, she was able to return to a functional state but her experience of reality was forever transformed. Her work is greatly influenced by Carl Jung and tantric Buddhism. Everything she teaches comes from direct insight and integrates Buddhist emptiness, shadow work, tantric embodiment, archetypal and imaginal work, mysticism, and heartfulness. She is currently working on a framework for whole being awakening that integrates theory and practice and helps humans develop in a way that is holistic, inspiring, alive, and in touch with the depths of being. In this episode, we speak about, Rosa’s experience with spiritual psychosis, inclusive & exclusive perspectives on Awakening, the whole being awakening model, hierarchy & power dynamics in spiritual communities, embodying the brahma viharas and imaginal work.  

Jonas Atlas is a scholar of religions who writes and lectures on religion, politics, and mysticism. Although rooted in the Christian tradition, he has immersed himself in learning other traditions such as Hinduism and Islam. After his studies in philosophy, anthropology, and theology at different universities, he became active in various forms of local and international peace work, often with a focus on cultural and religious diversity. He currently teaches classes on ethics and spirituality at the KDG University of Applied Sciences and Arts. He is also the author of several books including Halal Monk, Re-visioning Sufism, and most recently Religion: Reality Behind the Myths. In this episode, we speak about why misunderstanding religion is a problem, the seven myths of religion, what religion really is, the false dichotomy of secular & religious, and the real reason people have a problem with religion.  

Stephen Faller is a chaplain, educator, and author. He currently serves as a Chaplain Educator at Overlook Medical Center where he runs the Clinical pastoral education program. He is also the director and Founder of The Institute of Spiritual Midwifery which is dedicated to the development of the theory, praxis, and pedagogy of spiritual midwifery in the ministry of individuals, families, and organizations. His work in chaplaincy and his experience with cerebral palsy offer a unique and powerful perspective on the intersections of disability and spiritual caregiving. Through speaking engagements, educational initiatives, and personal interactions he educates and inspires others to approach spiritual caregiving with a more inclusive and compassionate mindset. He is the author of several books including “The Art of Spiritual Mid-Wifery” and most recently “Christianity And the Art of Wheelchair Maintenance”. In this episode we speak about dialogue in spiritual midwifery, dialectic, paradox, parables, barriers to spiritual midwifery, tools of the spiritual midwife, and living with disability.

Guro Hansen Helskog is a professor, author & researcher. Her work explores the philosophy of education, wisdom research, and how philosophical dialogue can be integrated into all levels of education. She is the author of “Philosophising the Dialogo Way Towards Wisdom in Education” - an in-depth book that analyses different approaches to philosophical practices and shows how we can integrate them in a holistic manner in order to facilitate everything from critical thinking to spiritual contemplation. In this episode we speak about knowledge vs wisdom, dialogos as an integration of philosophizing approaches, uprooting atheistic beliefs, mystical experiences, the wisdom famine, why children should philosophize, and integrating God into humanity.