Expanding Mind

Erik reflects on a decade of podcasting, the learning curves of the show, the work of conversation, the uncanniness of our moment.

A conversation with my wife Jennifer Dumpert about collaborative dreaming, iPad skrying, meditation, play, the problem with interpretation, and her new bookLiminal Dreaming: Exploring Consciousness at the Edges of Sleep (North Atlantic). 

A discussion with meditation teacher and author Michael Taft  about hardcore dharma, Buddhist modernism, shop talk, the soup of the sangha, and the problem of the achievement self and the blind leading the blind.

An informative chat with psychedelic researcher Dr. Alexander Belser about qualitative research, the Mystical Experience Questionnaire, queer spiritualities, and the idea of coming “out of the psychedelic closet.”

A conversation with philosopher of religion Mary-Jane Rubenstein about wonder, horror, animism, the multiverse, Heidegger, Einstein, Hawaiian telescopes, and her book Pantheologies: Gods, Worlds, Monsters (Columbia).

A talk with experience designer Ida Benedetto about transformative games, trespassing, rules for sex parties, active introversion, magic circles, funerals, and queer spirituality.

Entheogenic and community activists Larry Norris and Kufikiri talk about decriminalizing entheogenic plant medicines within Oakland: blind spots, changing the narrative, and resisting “the metronome of programming."

Science and technology researcher Rebecca Jablonsky talks about consciousness hacking, tech ethnography, information ecosystems, media fasts, and the ups and downs of outsourcing awareness.

Poet and literary scholar Stephen Yenser talks about James Merrill's poetic epic The Changing Light at Sandover (1982).