Be Here Now Network

In a lecture on symbolic reality versus real reality, Alan Watts explains the importance of total sensory awareness and looking at our motivations.

You can subscribe to the Being in the Way Podcast with Alan Watts on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app! Proudly presented by the Be Here Now Network, home of official podcasts from thought leaders like Ram Dass, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, Jack Kornfield and more!

"Symbolic Reality vs. Real Reality" is part of Flow, a three-part session in the TAO for NOW series of talks that you can listen to in full over at the Alan Watts Streaming Channel: https://play.alanwatts.org/

This time on Being in the Way, Alan Watts discusses:

Being aware of all sensory inputs while meditating

Allowing oneself ‘to be’ in a non-conceptual way

Confusing the world of symbols for reality

The limits to what we can enjoy in a material sense

The uselessness of guilt

Money, tithes, and western religion versus gurus

Why our motivation and intention matters

Experiencing life naked and directly

The Taoist approach to letting go of your body-mind

Using all five of our senses to witness our surroundings

This series is brought to you by the Alan Watts Organization and Ram Dass’ Love Serve Remember Foundation. Visit Alanwatts.org for full talks from Alan Watts.

“The point is to be wide, wide awake and aware of your total sensory input without confusing it with the symbolic world of words and concepts so that you experience life naked and directly. Experience YOU naked and directly, without having in your head the concept of who you are a a role player, as a personality, as an ego.” – Alan Watts

Highlighting the intersection between love and awareness, Rhonda V. Magee joins David to discuss real change in a culture of separation.

This time on the CSM podcast, David and Rhonda converse about:

Rhonda’s background and personal definition of love

Real change through love, inspiration and a sense of connection

The inter-being of mindfulness and metta

The principle of loving everyone and telling the truth

What happens when truth is met with resistance or denial

Living in a time where we have constant reminders of fear and anger

How our culture has reduced us and objectified us

Intergenerational phenomena and walking through many phases of life

What we leave behind for the next generation and what we can learn from youth

Real and perceived differences

Deepening our own well-being so that we can be there for others

About Rhonda V. Magee:

Rhonda V. Magee is a Professor of Law at the University of San Francisco and a leading mindfulness teacher and practice innovator with a focus on applying mindfulness to the hardest challenges of our times. She is an internationally-recognized teacher, guide and mentor, focused on integrating mindfulness into higher education, law and social change work. A prolific author, she draws on law and legal history to weave storytelling, poetry, analysis and practices into inspiration for changing how we think, act and live better together in a rapidly changing world. Keep up with Rhonda on her website or on social media.

“I fully believe, for most of us, especially in the West, grounding in a quality of love and care as how we experience awareness is pretty important because we have so much healing to do. We’ve been so alienated from ourselves, each other, from the planet.” – Rhonda V. Magee

Jack and the ‘Grandfather of Gratitude,’ Brother David Steindl-Rast, delve into sacred reflections on death, where Buddha meets Jesus, the power of compassion, the positive side of grief, and beyond.

Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of free offerings by signing up for his email newsletter teachings at JackKornfield.com/newsletter

“The process of grieving that breaks this little heart, which closes itself in itself, opens us to the heart that we all share, the one heart that we all have in common.” – Brother David Steindl-Rast

In this sacred dialogue, Jack, Brother David, and Frank Ostaseski reflect on:

- How Christianity and Buddhism fit together spiritually

- The compassionate smile of Buddha meeting the sacred heart of Jesus Christ

- The positive side of grief: opening to the collective heart

- Death and grace in both traditions

- Deconditioning from a difficult mother

- Harnessing the power of your common sense

- A funny story about the Pope, and how to awaken to who we already are

- Jack’s journey to the Temple of the Coconut Monk

- How to handle pain like a Burmese Master

- How to forgive yourself and overcome remorse

- Diffusing suicidal tendencies by cultivating self-compassion

- Guided meditations and sacred chants from Jack and Brother David

“In a meditative way, one of the big pieces of being able to love, or touch, or open, or live, is really the work of forgiveness, grace, and receiving yourself in all of your complexity and loving.” – Jack Kornfield

“Compassion, loving kindness, and understanding are our true nature, our true state.” – Jack Kornfield

This conversation recorded on 6/30/1988 was originally published on DharmaSeed.

Who are you? What are you doing here? In this classic talk about identity and attachment, Ram Dass asks where you could possibly stand in a world filled with pain and suffering to ‘eat it like it is?’

Subscribe to The Here and Now Podcast with Ram Dass on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app! Proudly presented by the Be Here Now Network, home of official podcasts from thought leaders like Ram Dass, Alan Watts, Sharon Salzberg, Jack Kornfield and more!

Want to participate in the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join us for the SoulPod Meet-Up on May 7th at 8 p.m. EDT. Subscribe to the General Fellowship Group for more information.

Today's episode is also brought to you by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Use the code RAMDASS at checkout to get up to 50% off your subscription: https://magicmind.com/products/ramdass

In this talk from Austin, Texas, in the early 1990’s:

Ram Dass recalls a family saying from his youth, “Eat it like it is,” and asks how we can possibly apply it to the current world filled with pain and suffering.

Exploring the nature of identity, Ram Dass talks about how we have to become somebody in order to become nobody. He discusses his experiences with expanded states of mind and how the game shifted from how to get high to wondering why he came down.

Ram Dass talks about how the impeccable warrior is someone who exists on all planes simultaneously. He explores the nature of attachment and reads from Swami Ram Tirth, who helps us understand there is a place we can stand where we can see everything as the unfolding of law. This is the place where we can ‘eat it like it is.’

“The signs point to Armageddon. It looks like it’s really hit the fan. Where could you stand that you could ‘eat is like it is?’ Or you could love it as it is? Where could you possibly stand? Where could you allow that it is what it is? What perspective, what vector view would you need to have? Who would you be if you were seeing it that way?” – Ram Dass

Fantastic Fungi's visionary director, Louie Schwartzberg, joins Jack to explore the profound connection between psychedelics and mindfulness.

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/heartwisdom and get on your way to being your best self.

“You can’t separate psychedelics from life.” – Jack Kornfield

In this fresh conversation, Jack and Louie spelunk the depths of:

-The connection between psychedelics and spirituality

- Psychedelics as a gateway to wonder, curiosity, and the sacred

- How tripping on psychedelics informed Louie’s filmmaking

- Albert Einstein and psychedelics as the intersection between art and science

- The universe and life as a constant transformation of light energy

- Buddha’s “Flower Sermon” and Zen Master Suzuki Roshi’s “Beginner’s Mind”

- Jack “exchanging maps” with famous LSD researcher, Stanislav Grof

- Studies showing the combination of psilocybin mushrooms and Louie’s time-lapse nature imagery as a powerful therapeutic tool for helping addiction and PTSD

- The importance of “set and setting,” community, and integration

- How psychedelics actually fit into the Buddhist precepts

- Honoring biology and the feminine aspects of nature

- The gifts of sacred attention and loving awareness

- Finding beauty wherever you are, and how Louie’s films heal by sharing patterns of nature for the soul to connect with

“A lot of the work I do is to make the invisible visible. And that’s the perfect description of what a psychedelic journey is like, making the invisible visible.” – Louie Schwartzberg

“We live in a culture that’s almost defined by the absence of the sacred. And so we feel this yearning, this intuitive wish to connect—whether it’s going high in the mountains, or making love, or taking psychedelics, or meditating.” – Jack Kornfield

This conversation was originally recorded on 3/29/24 by Banyan Together – an online mindfulness community started by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. To join the community and learn more, visit BanyanTogether.com

Robert Thurman joins Dr. Svoboda once again for a vast discussion on his lineage, karma, and the chain of being.

Get a free 50-page ebook, Analyzing Karma: Fate or Free Will, by Dr. Svoboda here: https://streaklinks.com/B7BjUWWgINvM9lv2VQtcSLeh/https%3A%2F%2Fdr-robert-svoboda.ck.page%2Fa976295aa3

In this episode, Dr. Robert Svoboda and Robert Thurman converse about:

Robert Thurman’s lineage, upbringing, and young adulthood

Robert’s experience losing his eye and having a spiritual vision while in the hospital

Robert’s journey to and through India and finding home with the Tibetans

Robert’s instruction to bring Buddhism to those seeking enlightenment through psychedelics

Karma producing an effect of biological evolution

The danger of solipsism and how we have all been everything

Living in inter-tangled subjective fields

Astrology and the Zodiac

About Robert Thurman:

Robert Thurman is the Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies in the Department of Religion at Columbia University and President of the Tibet House U.S., and is the President of the American Institute of Buddhist Studies. His new book, Wisdom Is Bliss: Four Friendly Fun Facts That Can Change Your Life, is now available.

About Dr. Robert Svoboda:

Dr. Robert Svoboda is the first Westerner ever to graduate from a college of Ayurveda and be licensed to practice Ayurveda in India. During and after his formal Ayurvedic training he was tutored in Ayurveda, Yoga, Jyotish, Tantra and other forms of classical Indian lore by his mentor, the Aghori Vimalananda. He is the author of twelve books including Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution and the Aghora series, which discusses his experiences with his mentor during the years 1975 – 1983.

In the years since 1986, Dr. Svoboda has traveled extensively, spending three months per year on average in India. He often speaks on Ayurveda, Jyotish, Tantra and allied subjects in locales across the world.

About Paula Crossfield:

Paula Crossfield is Vedic astrologer and Business Coach dedicated to helping a million spirit-led entrepreneurs make more money and impact so they can bankroll the change they want to see in the world. Her insights on astrology and business strategy have helped her clients build sustainable five figure+ per month incomes while still embodying their values.

For more information on 1-on-1 opportunities and group coaching programs with Paula, go to www.weaveyourbliss.com, where you can also get the 2023 Astrology Guidebook

“I consider karma to be Buddha’s Darwinian theory.” – Robert Thurman

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The Chain of Being with Robert Thurman & Robert Svoboda – Living with Reality Ep. 49 - https://youtu.be/cDgvmeon3v0

Robert Svoboda – Living with Reality – Ep. 49 – The Chain of Being with Robert Thurman - https://beherenownetwork.com/robert-svoboda-living-with-reality-ep-49-the-chain-of-being-with-robert-thurman

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Be Here Now Network

Podcasts, Courses, and Articles to help you live a Life in Balance.

Heart-Centered wisdom from Ram Dass, Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzberg, Krishna Das + many more!

Get a Free Guided Meditation from Sharon Salzberg when you first sign up at:

https://beherenownetwork.com/

Inviting in calm, strength, and steadiness, Jack leads a guided meditation into the heart of mindful loving awareness.

This guided meditation was originally recorded on 2/19/2024 for the Spirit Rock Monday Night Dharma Talk and Meditation. Register to join Jack's next livestream at JackKornfield.com/events

"Feel the weight of your body, gravity, and how the earth completely supports you when you let go into your seat. You're met by the strength and steadiness of the earth itself. You can rest on her. – Jack Kornfield

In this fresh episode, Jack leads a guided meditation for:

- Inviting in a sense of ease and calm

- Relaxing into mindful loving awareness

- Finding a steady, grounded, rooted posture

- Keeping a natural, soft, and flowing breath

- Quieting the mind and watching experience unfold

- Noticing the arising and passing away of all phenomena

- Allowing yourself into rest, trust, and relaxation

Learn to live beautifully with Jack Kornfield and Dr. Dan Siegel in their new online journey, Living Beautifully: Transformative Science and Mindfulness Practices to Cultivate a Wise Heart. Register at https://bit.ly/JackandDan

In this exploration of suffering, death, and love, Ram Dass talks about resting in change and handling the balance and tension of inhabiting multiple planes of reality simultaneously.

Subscribe to The Here and Now Podcast with Ram Dass on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app! Proudly presented by the Be Here Now Network, home of official podcasts from thought leaders like Ram Dass, Alan Watts, Sharon Salzberg, Jack Kornfield and more!

Want to participate in the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join us for the SoulPod Meet-Up on April 23rd at 3 p.m. EDT. Subscribe to the General Fellowship Group for more information.

This episode of Here and Now is from a 1992 lecture in Edgartown, MA. and is a continuation of the talk started in Here and Now Ep. 248 – Patterns of Interdependency: https://youtu.be/h1qJM-_tXZY

Exploring his work with death and people who are dying, Ram Dass talks about how he’s learning to live simultaneously on multiple planes of reality and consciousness. To him, the art form of being human is the ability to open our hearts to suffering and acknowledge that it hurts like hell, while also appreciating the awesome nature of the mystery, which includes suffering and death.

Ram Dass addresses aging and the nature of change. He talks about resting in change and handling the balance and tension of inhabiting multiple planes of consciousness simultaneously.

Ram Dass opens up about the trouble he has keeping his heart open to certain people. He talks about the collaborative nature of creating environments where people won’t get trapped in their roles.

Ram Dass ends the talk with some reflections about love and not living out of a deprivation model. He shares his classic story about the state trooper who just might have been Krishna in drag as an example of living on more than one level at one time.

“When you are able to simultaneously live on those planes of consciousness and handle that tension and that balance, then your every act towards other human beings brings to bear with it equanimity, spaciousness, and joy.” – Ram Dass

In an enthralling discussion on the archetypes, myths, and symbols within the 12-step recovery program, Kikan Massara joins Chris Grosso.

This time on The Indie Spiritualist, Chris and Kikan dive into:

A.A. and Chris’s journey with recovery

The ways that everyone can benefit from the 12-steps of recovery

Living an accountable life filled with integrity

Kikan’s work making recovery more accessible for all

Seeing universal principles within the steps

Admitting powerlessness and recognizing this as a human experience

Reading through Kikan’s interpretation of all of the 12 steps

The beauty of having a community on a recovery journey

Turning our will over to God and learning to ask for help

How the ego can get in the way

Making emotional decisions and why people end up in addictive processes

Getting well for ourselves so we can help others

Get your copy of Kikan’s book, The 12 Steps — Symbols, Myths, and Archetypes of Recovery, HERE

About Kikan Massara:

Kikan is a psychotherapist, author, and creative. A passionate researcher of consciousness studies, meditation, and emotional health, she has long used visual arts, symbols, and myths in her practice to facilitate access to the empowering resources of the inner world. Her new book, The 12 Steps — Symbols, Myths and Archetypes of Recovery was published by TASCHEN in November 2023. Learn more about Kikan on her website.

“Admit powerlessness. Who hasn’t felt powerless over something in their lives? Who hasn’t been in despair over something they couldn’t change? Who hasn’t felt like an utter failure when they couldn’t change something by willpower alone? We’re not talking about helplessness here, which is so often learned in childhood, we’re talking about just the limits of being human.” – Kikan Massara

Nina Rao interviews Nani Ma about her deep devotion to serving her guru and her service work with Ganga Prem Hospice.

If you are interested in donating to Ganga Prem Hospice, you can do so through a donation to End of Life Care International with a memo specifying you would like it to go to Ganga Prem: https://www.endoflifecareinternational.org/

This time on the Be Here Now Network Guest Podcast, Nani Ma shares with us:

Her religious upbringing into Christianity

Being pulled to India from a young age

Seeking liberation from suffering and pain

The story of meeting her guru, Babaji

The beauty and power of the Ganges river

Her daily routine and how she meditates

How to deal with difficulties by watching our breath

Reaching one-pointedness through chanting single-worded mantras

Moving through the physical death of a guru

Forming cancer clinics in India and Ganga Prem Hospice

About Nani Ma:

Nani Ma is from the United Kingdom and sought spiritual enlightenment at a very young age. One day, she realized that serving the multitude and helping the needy is also an aspect of spiritual practice. So, she started taking care of the terminally ill cancer patients in the hospital, guiding the people who are suffering from pain and death to embark on a new journey. Together with Dr. A. K. Dewan, she established the Ganga Prem Hospice. Ganga Prem Hospice is a spiritually-orientated, non-profit hospice for terminally ill cancer patients. The Hospice has been constructed at the foot of the Himalayas on the bank of the river Ganga.

“When we watch our breath, it slows down. The breath and the mind are connected. Either the breath slows down and the mind slows down, or the mind catches hold of one thing, which is the name, and the name has its power by itself. The name has its own power.” – Nani Ma