Joining us for his second interview, the scholar and practitioner Yusuf al-Hurr for an exhilarating exploration of Islamic dream work, where “dreams are realms in which God communicates to us.” Dreams are 1/40th prophecy in the Muslim tradition, and the deeper you go the more real the dream becomes. Instead of the purely solipsistic (my mind only) nature of our superficial dreams, deep dreams are as ontologically real as the waking world. Yusuf talks about precognitive dreams, and how these dreams rupture our conventional understanding of space and time. Can we use dreams to enter the “internet of consciousness,” and communicate with other beings and other realms on the “net”? How do dreams relate to the “imaginal world” of the archetypes, where pure spirit first takes on form, and matter becomes spiritualized. The conversation then looks at the promise and peril of tradition, and how noble traditions turn into ignoble “dead seas” when they’re no longer fed by tributaries from other streams of wisdom. What is the importance of trans-religion, and the inner sangha? Yusuf then challenges infantile spirituality, and the Golden Cage that is created when we get lost in “feel-good” practice. What does it mean to grow from infancy to spiritual adulthood? How can psychology act as “tributary” to keep our spirituality authentic, and what role does “transhumanism” have to play? Yusuf shows us yet again how his wit, warmth, wisdom, and incisive intellect makes him one of the leading voices in spirituality today.

Join the esteemed teacher Sharon Salzberg in a pointed discussion about the place of meditation and spirituality in politics and world affairs. Coming right after the mob attack on the Capital, and right before the inauguration of Joe Biden, this interview doesn’t hold any punches. Where does Real Change (the title of Sharon’s latest book) take place, and how can we avoid the epidemic of spiritual bypassing? An authentic path is not about feeling good; it’s about getting real. And that reality includes hardship and pain. What is the role of anger in activism, and how about the fourth karma (enlightened action) of destruction? Is it possible to reconnect conspiracy theorists to reality, and to effectively communicate with those who hold wildly different beliefs? The conversation turns to an honest look at the opportunities that lie within all the current obstacles, and how crises can ignite evolution. What can I do to help the world in these difficult times, and what am I not seeing? How can we work with our blind spots, our own fear and vulnerabilities, to effect real change? In the current climate of fake news, what’s still true, and does truth stand a chance? The discussion then turns to a “State of the Union” assessment of meditation in the West. What is the promise and peril of the mindfulness revolution? Is McMindfulness, and the commodification of meditation, a real threat? You will quickly see why Sharon is one of the most popular and sought-after teachers in the world.More About Sharon:Sharon Salzberg is a meditation pioneer and industry leader, a world-renowned teacher, and New York Times bestselling author. As one of the first to bring meditation and mindfulness into mainstream American culture over 45 years ago, her relatable, demystifying approach has inspired generations of meditation teachers and wellness influencers. Sharon is co-founder of The Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, and the author of eleven books, including the New York Times bestseller, Real Happiness, now in its second edition, her seminal work, Lovingkindness, and her newest book, Real Change: Mindfulness To Heal Ourselves and the World, released in September of 2020 from Flatiron Books. Sharon’s secular, modern approach to Buddhist teachings is sought after at schools, conferences, and retreat centers worldwide. Her podcast, The Metta Hour, has amassed over 3 million downloads and features interviews with the top leaders and thinkers of the mindfulness movement and beyond. Sharon’s writing can be found on Medium, On Being, the Maria Shriver blog, and Huffington Post. Learn more at www.sharonsalzberg.com

Join neuroscientist Antoine Lutz, who belongs to the rare breed of “contemplative scientist,” in a wide-ranging tour of mind and reality. The conversation begins with a look at neurophenomenology, a term coined by the groundbreaking scientist Francisco Varela, that underlies much of the scientific exploration of meditation. How can we honor first-person (phenomenology) and third-person (neuroscience) perspectives without reducing one to the other. Antoine discusses his extensive research around pain, and the importance of functional de-coupling and deautomatization. We’re essentially automatons, running on automatic ignorance, where everything we experience is automatically referenced to self, a contraction/referencing that creates all our suffering. This unconscious process also generates the sense of duality altogether, which could be studied in the lab. Are there neurological signatures for the experience of nonduality – and why does that matter? What is the promise and peril of scientifically studying meditators? Why should a meditator care about any of this? Using science, philosophy, psychology and the wisdom traditions, this conversation ranges from the theoretical to the personal, from the abstract (intersubjective realism) to the practical (how to work with pain). Discover why Dr. Lutz is one of the pioneering researchers exploring the meditative mind, and how this work can benefit the world.More about Antoine:Dr. Antoine Lutz is currently a director of research at the French Medical Research Institute (INSERM) in the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CNRL) where he co-leads the Experiential Neuroscience and Mental Training Team (EDUWELL). After a Master degree in engineering and a BA in philosophy at the Sorbonne under the direction of Natalie Depraz, he did his PhD in cognitive neurosciences in Paris, France, with Francisco Varela where he applied for the first time his neurophenomenology program to study the neural correlates of attention and perception. Since 1998, he has studied meditation with various teachers including Mingyur Rinpoche, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Matthieu Ricard and Joseph Goldstein.During his postdoctoral work with Richard Davidson, at the University of Madison-Wisconsin, he studied using neuroimaging techniques meditation practices such as mindfulness or compassion meditations in expert meditators and in novices who learnt to meditate using the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program (MBSR). In 2008, Richard Davidson and him were awarded a NIH-NCCAM grant to fund in Madison the first American Center of Excellence on Research dedicated to neurophysiological study of meditation practices. After working for ten years in the US as a research scientist, he joined the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center in France in January 2013. His current research group focuses on the neurophenomenology of mindfulness and compassion meditations and on the impact of these practices on consciousness, attention and emotion regulations, and pain perception as measured by cognitive, affective and social neuroimaging paradigms using EEG, MEG, intra-cortical EEG, and fMRI. This research is currently funded by a European ERC consolidator grant (Brain&Mindfulness, 2014-2021).He is also currently collaborating to a European research consortium investigating the impacts of meditation practices on ageing and well-being as measured by brain imaging (PET, IRMf, DTI, EEG), biomarkers of ageing, and psycho-affective and cognitive behavioural measures (Meditageing, H2020, 2016-2021, study coordinated by Gaël Chételat, INSERM Caen, https://silversantestudy.fr). He recently started a collaboration investigating the neurocomputational principles of meditation (ANR MindMadeClear, coordinated by Hugues Mounier, CNRS).

Join the artist/scientist and elite lucid dreamer Fariba Bogzaran in a rigorous and heartwarming exploration of the wonders of the nocturnal mind. Dr. Bogzaran shares her unique clinical work with dreaming, and the importance of “unfolding” instead of interpreting our dreams. “Dreaming is the art of the mind,” she asserts, and working properly with a single dream as a dream artist can take up to a year as we examine it from multiple angles. How do we identify the “big dreams,” and which dreams can we ignore? Why is dream journaling so important? Fariba describes Integral Dreaming and the power of Integral Dream Practice. Where do synchronicities and flow states fit in, and what is the difference between reflexive and reflective approaches to dreams? Where does bodywork, and “felt sense” come into play? Can we let our body interpret/unfold our dreams? Fariba discusses why motivation is so important in lucid dreaming, and how we are each “projects in the making.” What is epistemic uncertainty, and how can we enter the “zone” of life with a deeper understanding of will and Will. Fariba shares a number of personal reflections about life, death, dreams, and everything in between. Discover why she is one of the treasured voices in the dream world, and a major contributor to the art and science of lucid dreaming.Fariba Bogzaran, Ph.D., scientist/artist, founded the first graduate dream studies certificate program at JFK University in Berkeley (1996), where she taught for over twenty years. She has taught lucid dreaming since 1984 and was part of the team at the Stanford Sleep Laboratory in late 1980’s exploring the science of lucid dreaming. She conducted the first quantitative research on the transpersonal experiences in lucid dreaming; Experiencing the Divine in Lucid Dream State (1989). Among many of her publications are two major co-authored academic books on dreams: Extraordinary Dreams and How to Work with Them (2002) and Integral Dreaming: A Holistic Approach to Dreams (2012), both published by the State University of New York Press. Among her recent art publications she addresses arts and exploration of consciousness in a book called: Gordon Onslow Ford: A Man on the Green Island (2019 ).

Join Father Francis Tiso for a mind-bending conversation on the wonders of the human body, and how it can participate in enlightenment. Central to this discussion is the role of light, so key to enlightenment and the genesis of reality itself. We are made of stardust, fed by starlight, and participate in a spiritual level of “photosynthesis” that can literally have the body dissolving into rainbow light at the time of death. Did Christ attain the rainbow body? Did going up in a flash of light create the image we know as the Shroud of Turin? What is the role of Light Mysticism in Christianity, Taoism, Sufism, and Buddhism? How do biophotons come into play, and is the world literally made of frozen light? Solar religions abound throughout the world, and now we can start to see why. The conversation turns to some of the most advanced teachings and practices of any contemplative tradition, including dark retreat, trekchö (“cutting through”), and thögal (“crossing over”). As the Hevajra Tantra proclaims, “Wisdom abides in the body.” And so does light. What is the relationship of external light to the light of the mind? Can we be blinded by this light? And is this the same light that brings about lucidity in our nocturnal practices? Fr. Francis brings a level of scholarship that is breathtaking in its scope, and shattering in its profundity. Join us in one of the deepest interviews to date, across a cascade of topics and disciplines that stretch the mind.More about Fr. Francis Tiso:A New York native, Father Francis Tiso holds the A.B. in MedievalStudies from Cornell University. He earned a Master of Divinity degree(cum laude) at Harvard University and holds a doctorate from Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary where his specialization was Buddhist studies. He translated several early biographies of the Tibetan yogi and poet, Milarepa, for his dissertation on sanctity in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. He has led research expeditions in South Asia, Tibet and the Far East, and his teaching interests include Christian theology, history of religions, spirituality, ecumenism and interreligious dialogue.Father Tiso was Associate Director of the Secretariat for Ecumenicaland Interreligious Affairs of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops from2004 to 2009, where he served as liaison to Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, the Sikhs, and the Reformed (Calvinist) Churches. Since 1988, Father Tiso is a priest of the Diocese of Isernia-Venafro, Italy, where he now serves as chaplain to the migrant communities in theProvince of Isernia. He is President and Founder of the Association“Archbishop Ettore Di Filippo”, which serves migrant and vulnerablepopulations in the Province of Isernia. He was Diocesan Delegate forEcumenical and Inter-religious Affairs from 1990 to 1998 (re-appointed in 2016) and rector of the Istituto Diocesano delle Scienze Religiose (1990-93).Father Tiso is the author of Liberation in One Lifetime (2014) andRainbow Body and Resurrection (2016), two books on Tibetan and inter-cultural studies. He is the recipient of grants from the American Academy of Religion, the American Philosophical Society, the Palmers Fund in Switzerland, and the Institute of Noetic Sciences in Petaluma, CA. He has served on the faculty of two MLE summer seminars in Germany.

Dustin DiPerna, an author and thought leader on Integral Theory, explores transformative paths in spiritual growth. He differentiates between states and structures of consciousness and discusses the ‘conveyor belt’ that catalyzes transformation. Dustin examines how experiences like travel, meditation, and psychedelics enhance consciousness. He emphasizes the importance of authentic relationships and mentions ‘trans-lineage’ and overcoming fear as significant aspects of growth. His insights provide a fresh perspective on navigating the complex journey of personal development.

Join the scholar-practitioner Yusuf al-Hurr for a discussion about the foundations of Islamic mysticism, and the role of Sufism in Islam. Yusuf points out a number of common misunderstandings about the Muslim tradition, and some of the challenges in modern academic research into Islam. Who are some of the best authors in this field, and what are some of the finest books? Islam has transmission lineages very similar to the tulku tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, and meditations (like deity yoga) analogous to tantric practice. What is the role of art in Islam, and why is it more indicative of authentic spirituality than the words of some Muslim teachers? Yusuf transitions from the esoteric to the exoteric, and poignantly discusses the human side of this tradition as well as his own personal practice. This wide-ranging conversation lays the necessary groundwork and contextual framework that will allow a deep dive into how lucid dreaming fits into Islam, and even an Islamic form of bardo yoga (a follow-up interview scheduled for next week). Join this sensitive and rigorous scholar for an eye-opening look at the heart of this elegant tradition, and its relationship to Eastern thought. The internet connection to Baghdad was spotty at times, but this fascinating presentation is worth a close listening.More about Yusuf:Dr. Francisco José Luis (Yūsuf al-Hurr al- Andalusī) was born in Luxembourg in a Portuguese working class immigrant family. He developed a deep interest for comparative religions and mysticism since his teenage years when he started practicing meditation. He completed two separate MA degrees in Indo-Iranian Studies and in French and Comparative Literature at the Sorbonne University in Paris before doing his PhD in Religious Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) on Sikhism. He taught at various universities (London, Toronto, Karachi) and his main research interests are Islamic mysticism and philosophy, Islamic art, the relations between Islamic, Christian and Indic forms of mysticism. While working on his publications he is also presently training in Arabic calligraphy and Middle Eastern music. He hates instant coffee.Intro Links:“Dreams of Light” Book Study GroupGraceful Entry: Preparing for a Good Birth [Menla] - Online Retreat with Andrew + Bob Thurman

Join author Daniel Love for a thorough look at lucid dreaming from a materialistic – but open – perspective. Daniel brings his lifelong passion for lucidity into a discussion of the Three Pillars of Lucidity, the Tetris Effect, and a look at some of the most successful induction methods, including the CAT, IMP, FATE and “Catching the Butterfly” techniques. Love shares his view on lucid dreaming supplements, electronic gadgetry, and the importance of the “mind of the detective” in lucidity. Why is the journey of lucidity more important than the goal? How can one work with discouragement, lag time, and many of the other common obstacles to lucid dreaming? Learn about Daniel’s fascinating lucid dreaming practice, and why he remains so excited about the possibilities – and future – of this nocturnal art. Here is a clear-thinking practitioner, with decades of experience, sharing some of his best tips and tricks. You’ll see why Love is one of the premier voices in this field, a sought-after teacher, and a no-nonsense practical guide.

Join Andrew and philosopher David Loy on an exhilarating ride through the nuances of nonduality, and how to apply it to daily life. What exactly is nonduality? If nonduality is the natural state, how did we get so dualistic, and how do we continue to practice duality? The conversation explores the power of language and evolution in generating a dualistic view, then turns to a close look at the role of vision and our sight-centric ways. Why did the senses even evolve if the world is nondualistic? And what is the relationship between light, mind and appearance itself? The discussion then explores the role of meditation in realizing nonduality, and the blind spots that afflict meditators. How can we use “spiritual reductionism” as a way to simplify the world’s problems into basic spiritual tenets? How does our inarticulate sense of lack drive virtually everything we do? How do the three poisons of passion, aggression, and ignorance get institutionalized? Dr. Loy’s gift is to bolt the philosophical with the practical, so the conversation shifts to current social and political unrest, and the role of the ecosattva in today’s ecological crises. What is the place of hope and fear in relating to current problems, and how can we continue to help the world in the face of so many obstacles? Does Buddhism have something to offer in terms of social activism, or is it irrelevant in this modern age? David is a rare blend of scholar-practitioner, and one of the most refined thinkers of our age. His insights have the potential to revolutionize “applied spirituality.”

Join author Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel and Andrew on a tour of “the power of an open question” and the importance of openness and inquiry altogether. The Buddha (sometimes translated as “the Opened One”) in the East, and Socrates in the West, were more interested in questioning answers than in answering questions. What are the rules for proper engagement in the process of inquiry? What are the right questions? How do we properly hold the answers, and when do we look to others or to the world altogether (symbolic guru) for confirmation? Elizabeth is an authority on the “middle way” teachings, and elegantly shows us how “everything leans,” or arises in dependence on everything else. The conversation explores how seemingly esoteric teachings have tremendous application in daily life. What are the near enemies of openness, and how does openness relate to emptiness? Where does fear fit into all this, and can we bring fear onto the path? The discussion also explores how to work with and digest unwanted experiences (like political and social unrest or COVID 19), and the principle of “authentic consumerism.” Her passion and enthusiasm are on display in this lively conversation, and reveal why Elizabeth is one of the most beloved and sought-after teachers of Buddhism in the West.-LINKS:- "Dreams of Light" Book Study Group: www.andrewholecek.com/dreams-of-ligh…k-study-group/-The Power of An Open Question by Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel: www.elizabethmattisnamgyel.com/the-power…-question