This interview was recorded on October 9, 2020, as part of an online conference on "Living and Dying" offered by the Science and Nonduality Conference.

Rick Hanson, Ph.D. is a psychologist, Senior Fellow of UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, and New York Times best-selling author. His free weekly newsletter has 180,000 subscribers and his online programs have scholarships available for those with financial needs.

His books have been published in 29 languages with 900,000 copies in English alone and include:

Neurodharma: New Science, Ancient Wisdom, and Seven Practices of the Highest Happiness

Resilient: How to Grow an Unshakable Core of Calm, Strength, and Happiness

Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence

Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom

Just One Thing: Developing a Buddha Brain One Simple Practice at a Time

Mother Nurture: A Mother's Guide to Health in Body, Mind, and Intimate Relationships

He’s lectured at NASA, Google, Oxford, and Harvard, and taught in meditation centers worldwide. An expert on positive neuroplasticity, his work has been featured on the BBC, CBS, NPR, and other major media. He began meditating in 1974 and is the founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom. He loves wilderness and taking a break from emails.

Website: rickhanson.com

Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.

Summary and transcript of this interview.

First BatGap interview with Rick Hanson.

YouTube Video Chapters:

00:00:00 - Welcome to "Dying and Living"

00:02:23 - Reflections on Equanimity and Love

00:04:06 - Visual Representation of a Message

00:05:38 - The Impermanence of Experience and the Search for Happiness

00:07:37 - Resting in Stillness with Meditation

00:09:38 - Cultivating Equanimity

00:11:24 - Understanding the Mind and Increasing Equanimity

00:13:04 - The Three Stages of Experience

00:14:51 - Managing Aversion

00:16:45 - Sensitizing to the Negative

00:18:24 - Cultivating Peaceful Abiding

00:20:03 - Dealing with the Good and the Bad

00:21:39 - The Pace of News and Events

00:23:06 - Cultivating Unbounded Awareness

00:25:03 - Shifting Perspectives: Egocentric and Allocentric Views

00:26:43 - Finding Beauty and Unboundedness

00:28:06 - Finding Joy in the Local

00:30:04 - The Importance of Living Well Locally

00:31:55 - Individual and Collective Consciousness

00:33:37 - The Connection Between Spirituality and Mental Stability

00:35:24 - Practicing Authenticity and Cutting through Spiritual Materialism

00:37:07 - The confluence of conspiracy theories and the spiritual community

00:39:04 - The Influence of Cults and the Importance of Reality

00:40:48 - Punishing Freeloaders and Promoting Truth

00:42:34 - The Difficulty of Knowing the Truth

00:44:22 - The Importance of Personal Character and Virtue

00:45:48 - The Proliferation of Craziness

00:47:18 - Supporting Institutions that Promote Truth

00:49:08 - Developing Discernment and Spiritual Enlightenment

00:51:13 - The Ephemeral Nature of Passing Phenomena

00:53:09 - Conclusion and Farewell