591. Rabbi Rami Shapiro

A Jewish practitioner of Perennial Wisdom, Rabbi Rami Shapiro is an award–winning author of over thirty-six books on religion and spirituality. He received rabbinical ordination from the Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion and holds a PH.D. in religion from Union Graduate School. A rabbinic chaplain with the USAF for 3 years, a congregational rabbi for 20, and a professor of religious studies for 10, Rabbi Rami currently co-directs the One River Foundation, is a Contributing Editor at Spirituality and Health magazine, and hosts the magazine’s bi-weekly podcast, Essential Conversations with Rabbi Rami.

Website: rabbirami.com

Books:

Recovery―The Sacred Art: The Twelve Steps as Spiritual Practice (The Art of Spiritual Living)

Holy Rascals: Advice for Spiritual Revolutionaries

Perennial Wisdom for the Spiritually Independent: Sacred Teachings―Annotated & Explained (SkyLight Illuminations)

The World Wisdom Bible: A New Testament for a Global Spirituality

Surrendered―The Sacred Art: Shattering the Illusion of Control and Falling into Grace with Twelve-Step Spirituality (The Art of Spiritual Living)

Some points discussed in this interview:

Rabbi Rami’s spiritual journey through superficial Judaism through various traditions to a deep mystical Judaism.

Humanity’s transition from matriarchy to patriarchy is the root cause of most of our problems. A collapse of norms is coming. Will it be mindful or mindless?

Widespread spiritual practice will help the best outcome to manifest.

Escape to another planet, to the transcendent, to heaven is not the answer. We need a balance between transcendence and immanence. The 10 ox herding pictures.

Social justice work without a spiritual practice can be draining and ego-driven.

Fundamentalist misinterpretations of Scripture.

Perennial wisdom is a 4-fold teaching at the heart of all religions.

As consciousness expands, personal shadows are illuminated and must be dealt with.

Non-dual Judaism is a very rich religion. Tribal Judaism is ‘craziness’.

Religions take advantage of people’s fear of death.

Emo Phillips - Golden Gate Bridge skit

Different perspectives on reincarnation.

Out-of-body experiences suggest the existence of a subtle body.

Metaphor: the brain as a radio receiver.

Body, heart, mind, soul, spirit – We need to develop practices on each of those dimensions.

Rami’s mystical experiences, including instruction from the Divine Mother.

From a relative perspective, there are separate beings, but ultimately, it’s all God.

Discussion on food addiction.

Holy Rascals introduce mystical elements not necessarily welcomed by mainstream religion. Administrators are always threatened by the mystics.

Perhaps in the coming years experiential, mystical religions rather than dead ones will predominate. The dead ones are rapidly losing membership.

Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.

Transcript of this interview.

Interview recorded March 14, 2021

Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

YouTube Video Chapters:

00:00:00 - Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump

00:03:06 - Introductions and Background

00:05:41 - Transitioning to Buddhism and Zen Rabbi

00:08:31 - The Resurrection of the Mother and the Collapse of Civilization

00:12:30 - Three Scenarios for the Future

00:16:06 - Shifting Consciousness and the Fourth Alternative

00:19:40 - The Hugging Saint, Amma

00:22:36 - Mistaken Identity

00:26:22 - The Life-Changing Power of Meditation

00:29:55 - The Delicate Balance of Humility and Spiritual Practice

00:36:09 - The Yearning for God

00:40:13 - The Four Points of Awakening in Judaism

00:44:12 - The Fallibility of Teachers and Their Teachings

00:47:28 - Spirituality and the Behavior of Spiritual Teachers

00:51:52 - The Tribal Jingoism of Judaism

00:56:16 - Facing the Fear of Death