Apricot Jam

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, contemporary spirituality, religion and healing, and consciousness studies. Professor Barnard’s new book Liquid Light: Ayahuasca Visions and Embodying Divinity in the Santo Daime Religious Tradition, on a syncretistic, entheogenically-based new religious movement that emerged in Brazil in the mid-twentieth century, is currently in production with Columbia University Press.  Professor Barnard is also 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, issues in the psychology of religion, and most recently, entheogenic religions and spirituality.

I’m reading LSD and the Mind of the Universe by Christopher Bache.  Fascinating, intriguing text.

My most nourishing daily practice is chanting a sutra from the Radiance Sutras (a free-form “translation” of an important Hindu Tantric text, the Vijñana Bhairava); then reading various commentaries on that sutra; then meditating while aligning myself with that metaphysical/practice orientation.  I do this every night before bed, the same sutra for a week, leading up to me leading a study group on that sutra on Monday night.

Big thanks to our sponsor The Apricot Grove!

Bio:

Bonnie is an integral process philosopher and Daoist Horse Whisperer. She hosts collective insight retreats at her home/farm, Alderlore Insight Center, and teaches a Master's course in Consciousness Studies and Transpersonal Psychology at The Graduate Institute, is an associate editor of Integral Review and an associate at Perspectiva. 

What daily practice do you currently find most nourishing?

In terms of "formal practice" I do a breath practice slow and deep (3 breaths per minute)
I also do a gratitude practice when I wake up and when I go to sleep
I love to listen to the birds in the pre-dawn morning and the peepers in the evening
Watching fireflies and bats
Cooking
Feeding birds, ducks, horses, gardening...


What are you reading (other than The Brain from Inside Out)?

Oh, that's a very long list. Let's see what's around my desk currently
Chandler and Reid: Becoming Indigenous
Chandler and Reid: The Neoliberal Subject
Connolly: A World of Becoming
Cayley: Ivan Illich an Intellectual Journey
Newen, DeBrun and Gallagher: The Oxford Handbook of 4E Cognition

A stack on Buddhist ontology and perception:
(These are part of a project of translating Mipham's Beacon of Certainty from Pettit's translation)

Amar Singh: The Sautrantika Analytical Philosophy
Anne C Klein: Knowing, Meaning & Negation
Elizabeth Napper: Dependent Arising and Emptiness
David Hinton: China Root, Taoism, Ch'an and Original Zen
David Chai: Zhuangzi and the Becoming of Nothingness
Duckworth: Mipham on Budda-Nature   

For research on a paper on transformative education
The Cambridge Handbook of Motivation and Learning
The Cambridge Handbook of Cognition and Education

Contemporary Events:
Mudge: Leftism Reinvented
Bratton: The Stack
Parag Khanna: The Future is Asian

I also have this cool book by Taschen Lo-TEK Design by Radical Indigenism
and the current I-Ching Dao-de-ChingI am using is the set by Liu Ming (highly recommended)   https://www.dayuancircle.org


OK. That's a big chunk of it

Big thanks to our sponsor The Apricot Grove!

I am first and foremost a human being. Born in Northern Florida, and grown as a teenager in Southern California, I was raised with deep Jewish roots, and connectivity with the African American and Native American communities where I lived. I was also in the front wave of gender spectrum children daring to live openly, having expressed my Intersex/Intergendered nature from age four and becoming as an adult, one of the first Non-Binary Transgender rabbis of the Jewish people.

I began my training in Jewish spiritual leadership as a young child and have been learning and working in spiritual and energy healing contexts for 45 years, almost my entire conscious life, 20 years of which have been as an ordained rabbi and Jewish tribal leader.

In addition to my Jewish training, I have spent my lifetime studying and working with peoples of many backgrounds, with a special love and connection with Native American communities with whom I have grown deep Alliances. Always a student of life, firmly committed to my own path of healing and transformation, I have grown an ability to transcend a singular religious view and work always with a deep willingness to relate to all people’s and all true spiritual lineages on Earth.

One of the truly remarkable points of my life has been my encounter with Indigenous and Spiritist paths from Brazil and the intersection of these spiritual lines with my Native Jewish spirituality. All of which translates directly into my work as a spiritualist, activist and healer, making in me someone who can work with people from diverse backgrounds and faith traditions.

What daily practice do you currently find most nourishing?

My daily practice right now that is rooting my forward growth is, believe it or not, going to the YMCA every day to work out. It's so important to be grounded in our body, and also a good workout can serve in huge ways to release all that somatic stuff we were talking about

Big thanks to our sponsor The Apricot Grove!

Welcome to the Apricot Jam!

Join Chinese medicine practitioners Taran Rosenthal and Lukas Wolf as we explore interdependence and consciousness through conversational jazz.

In each episode, we chat with interesting guests, riff on ideas, and see where the changes take us.

We never know what will emerge from these long-form improvisations, but we often brush up against the intersections of art, movement, medicine, philosophy, and spirituality.

We hope you enjoy the jam sessions!

https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=59079037

Big thanks to our sponsor The Apricot Grove!