A rare case of E. coli bacterial meningoencephalitis put Dr. Eben Alexander III, a Harvard neurosurgeon, into a week-long coma with virtually no chance of meaningful recovery. Yet while his neocortex suffered global damage, he underwent a profound near-death experience (NDE)—an encounter with a reality that was "more real than real." This experience completely shattered his former materialist worldview. Since then, Dr. Alexander has devoted his life to integrating the insights of his NDE with cutting-edge developments in science, while also exploring contemplative practices that may open us to the same deeper reality. In this conversation, we move beyond the extraordinary story itself to explore its deepest spiritual implications. We dive into what it means to live with absolute certainty that consciousness is the primary reality and survives death, how to live knowing we are infinitely loved with nothing to fear, and the implications of the life review, reincarnation, and the purpose of suffering. Dr. Alexander also shares how he continues to access and deepen his experience of the transformative reality revealed in NDEs by using the Sacred Acoustics meditation method.

Bio: Eben Alexander, MD, was an academic neurosurgeon for over 25 years, including 15 years at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital, and Harvard Medical School in Boston. In 2008, he experienced a transcendental Near-Death Experience (NDE) during a week-long coma from an inexplicable brain infection that completely transformed his worldview. A pioneering scientist and modern thought leader in the emerging science that acknowledges the primacy of consciousness in the universe, he is the author of the New York Times #1 bestseller Proof of Heaven, The Map of Heaven and Living in a Mindful Universe. See: http://ebenalexander.com/

Other links mentioned in the interview:

iands.org

https://www.bigelowinstitute.org/

NDEs mentioned:https://www.drmaryneal.com/

https://www.anitamoorjani.com/

Division of Perceptual Studies, University of Virginia: https://med.virginia.edu/perceptual-studies/

Reincarnation case of James Leninger: https://med.virginia.edu/perceptual-studies/wp-content/uploads/sites/360/2017/04/REI42-Tucker-James-LeiningerPIIS1550830716000331.pdf

Timestamps

00:10 A Harvard Neurosurgeon has a Near-Death Experience (NDE)

03:09 Mapping the NDE: Earthworm's Eye View, Gateway Valley, and the Core Realm

04:26 Beyond Socio-Cultural Conditioning: Reincarnation, Life Reviews, & a Mysterious Guide

07:37 The Deepest Lesson is Love & Reductionist Materialism is a False Model

11:29 Memory is not stored in the brain

17:22 One Mind & Simultaneity of Time

22:25 Forms are Expressions of Ideals in Subtler Realms

25:33 Lessons from More than 700 NDE Life Reviews

33:17 "Strange" Phenomena and Other After-Effects of NDE

36:25 The More Evolved a Soul, the Less Ego-centric They Are

40:27 Some of the Greatest Gifts Come in the Form of Trials

46:32 The All is Well Perspective: The Universe Functions Like a Mirror

54:42 Meditation and Prayer are Tools for Healing and Connecting with Our Higher Selves

01:03:00 Meeting His Deceased Adoptive Father in Deep Meditation

01:05:13 Revisiting the Near-Death Experience in Meditation

01:08:02 The Continuous Presence of "The Other Side"

01:14:59 Our Intention, Thoughts, and Actions Impact Emergent Reality

01:19:06 Life is A Gift & Death is a Tremendous Adventure

01:23:38 Reincarnation, Shared Death Experiences, and Death-Bed Visions

01:33:01 Best Practices for Supporting the Dying

01:35:04 Facing Terminal Illness with Hope & Healing Our Baby Wounds

01:40:22 Near-Death Experience Book Recommendations

01:45:51 The Ongoing Journey of Discovery

A life devoted to finding peace regardless of circumstance, external or internal: sitting in a cancer center, her heart fills with gratitude; at the bedsides of the dying, her heart swells with love; even in a season of failing health, arriving at a training by wheelchair, she found wholeness and oneness; and in the depths of meditation, she settles into an infinite love beyond time and space. Geralyn Russell's journey began with the certitude of God's existence, and has carried her into deep study of the teachings of yoga, contemplative Christianity, Dr. David R. Hawkins, Attitudinal Healing, and A Course in Miracles. In this conversation, she discusses the practices of listening without judgment or advice-giving, "letting go," forgiveness, returning to coherence, and facing illness, loss, anxiety, and death with an open heart.Geralyn Russell is the founder of The Sense8 Studio, an Attitudinal Healing Facilitator and Trainer, Certified Somatic Yoga Educator, and Certified Forgiveness Facilitator. She is the co-developer of Path2Green, an award-winning emotional resilience program that has trained more than 3,000 healthcare professionals, medical students, and community members in practices for cultivating resilience and well-being.

Learn more:

Geralyn Russell's work: https://www.thesense8studio.com/

Dr. David R. Hawkins: https://veritaspub.com/

Attitudinal Healing International: https://www.ahinternational.org/

A Course in Miracles: https://acim.org/

Fred Luskin's work on forgiveness: https://learningtoforgive.com/about/

Timestamps

00:10 Attending the First Attitudinal Healing Group in a Wheelchair

05:19 "I just knew there was a God"

09:30 Centering Prayer, Yoga, and Dr. David R. Hawkins

13:41 Beyond Linear Causality

15:29 A Course in Miracles

17:53 Letting Go of Blocks to Love: Love is Listening

24:47 Attitudinal Healing Groups: Listening for Feeling,Meaning, and Value

32:45 Heart-Centered Communication: The Practice of DeepListening in Daily Life

36:54 Healing is Wholeness, Oneness, and Love

44:09 Gratitude and Wholeness at a Cancer Center

48:02 Choosing Inner Peace Amidst External Chaos

56:25 The Power of Loving Intention & Living the Life IHave

01:01:17 Giving and Receiving are the Same

01:04:56 Learning from Each Other and Forgiving Each Other

01:14:23 Geralyn's Studio and Emotional Resilience Training

01:20:09 Ways to Return to Coherence

01:22:15 Dissolving the Ego & Growing in Awareness of Our True Nature

01:27:34 My Marriage is a Prayer, My Home is a Temple

01:29:05 How You Live Is How You Die

01:36:37 Experiences Beyond Time, Space, and Duality

01:39:32 To See Through Christ's Eyes

01:43:45 Letting Go and Staying on the Crest of the Passing Moment

01:45:11 We Heal Together: One Life's Contribution to the Whole

Music for this episode by Benjamin Bigelow

A mystical experience at nineteen changed David Cassian Cole's life forever — setting him on a journey through Celtic spirituality, Christian mysticism, Eastern Orthodox hesychasm, twenty years inside a dispersed new monastic order, and now the teaching of Fr. Bede Griffiths and a recontextualization of Christianity through the Upanishads. David's is a life devoted to truth, wherever it leads.

We talk about the Cosmic Christ, panentheism and the sacredness of nature, the Jesus Prayer and Sanskrit mantra, suffering and spiritual dryness, and what it means, in his words, to "release the divine from all of our concepts."

David Cassian Cole is the founder of Waymark Ministries and author of The Celtic Year, Celtic Prayers & Practices, The Mystic Path of Meditation, and The Art of Peace: Life Lessons from Christian Mystics. Visit: www.waymarkministries.org

Chapters

00:10 The Mystical Experience: Encountering the Cosmic Christ

11:58 Living in the Mystery, Not in the Knowing

15:48 Celtic Spirituality: Seeing and Experiencing the Divine in and through Nature

21:27 Understandings of Nature: Reductionist, Pantheism, & Panentheism

27:53 New Monasticism: A Structure for Spiritual Freedom

33:29 New Monastic Vows: Simplicity, Purity, and Obedience

38:05 Rhythms of Spiritual Practice

44:15 Created to Be in Community: Individuation & Belonging

48:10 Bede Griffiths and Christianity Through an Upanishadic Lens

54:01 Devotion to Truth Over Tradition

59:29 Bede Griffiths as Guru: The Marriage of East and West

01:06:07 Shantivanam Ashram & Sanskrit Hymns and Chants

01:10:31 The Jesus Prayer and Hesychasm

01:14:39 Recontextualizing Sin as Deviation or False Belief

01:18:44 Living from Higher Consciousness

01:22:16 "God, rid me of God": Mystical Experience and Understanding of God

01:28:57 Any Experience of Love is a Divine Experience

01:31:30 Spirituality in Family Life

01:36:12 Acceptance, Compassionate Response, and Suffering as an Opportunity for Spiritual Growth

01:42:44 Dry Periods as Periods of Spiritual Transition

01:46:23 "Words Aren't Always Necessary When You Are Praying"

01:47:16 Balance between Action and Surrender

01:53:36 Waymark Ministries, Forest Church, and Community Engagement

Music for this episode by Benjamin Bigelow

Dr. David R. Hawkins | Christ | Mystical Experience | Forgiveness | Love | Death | Devotion | Meditation | Silence | Prayer | Visions

To mark the 25th episode of The Spiritual Context Podcast, I'm releasing a very special interview—one of the very first conversations I recorded when this podcast was still just an idea. My guest today is Sherry Ritley, a dear friend and someone who has deeply influenced my own spiritual journey. She is a private and ordinary person with an extraordinary inner life and a remarkable depth of devotion.

Spirituality permeates every aspect of her life. Her life has become a prayer. Whether she is speaking about mystical visions, meditation, forgiveness, death, or simply caring for a garden, everything seems to arise from the same source, a profound trust in God and an ever-deepening understanding of love.

I hope you'll enjoy this conversation as much as I did. May it bring you closer to your own True Self.

Chapters

00:00 25th Episode Gratitude

01:40 Love of Christ and Spiritual Experiences During Childhood

08:23 Journey Through the Stages of Spiritual Growth

12:16 Deep Surrender to God During Delivery

15:08 Leaving Home and Family to Meditate

19:23 Longing for God Gets Mixed Up with Approval from Other Humans

21:21 The True Teacher: Dr. David R. Hawkins (Doc)

25:54 Surrender and the Divine Visions of Jesus Christ

36:55 Being in the Presence of a True Teacher

45:58 Wandering No More: A Poem by Sherry

50:12 Coming to Know True Love

55:39 Forgiveness: Do Onto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You

01:03:44 Living Life As a Prayer

01:13:22 The Mind is Mostly Silent

01:22:08 Blissful Experiences Surrounding Death

01:27:43 Spiritual Energy: "Truth Juice"

01:31:27 Handling Health Challenges

01:35:08 The Vision of Jesus, Buddha, and Dr. David R. Hawkins Dancing Together

01:37:06Bereft of Love, We Perish

Music for this episode by Benjamin Bigelow

Is there within us a Presence that knows what we need before we do? How do we hear its guidance, and how do we trust it when it asks us to abandon what we thought we wanted?

At eight years old, Patricia McBee felt an overwhelming Divine Presence, and she has followed its leadings since. A Quaker mystic and elder, she has spent a lifetime learning to recognize its guidance in all its forms. The fully formed verbal instruction. The way opening that arrives without warning. The way closing that refuses to budge. The bait-and-switch that has taken her places she never intended to go. Even the laziness that, in hindsight, brought her exactly where she needed to be.

The Presence also communicates in visions. One showed her that she is absolutely safe even when wild beasts that could tear her limb from limb lurk in the forest. Through these leadings, her understanding of the Divine Presence has been completely transformed—from the traditional God of the Sistine Chapel with his flowing beard, through God as love, to a vision of Oneness.

She calls her life "Wooed by the Spirit." This episode is an invitation into what such a courtship with the Divine Presence within each of us.

Timestamps

00:00 Spiritual Guidance: A Voice Told Me To Change My Major

04:47 Testing Spiritual Guidance: Waiting, Journaling, and Sharing with Elders

09:04 Mystical Experience at 8: The Divine in First Communion

16:49 Finding Elders, Spiritual Companions, and QuakerMystics

19:48 Can Laziness Be a Form of Guidance? : First QuakerMeeting

26:01 Way Opening, Way Closing: Living Inside QuakerDiscernment

28:42 Cultivating and Expressing Spiritual Life

33:01 Silence, Hymns, and the Vision of Perfect Safety

37:36 Core Quaker Belief: That of God in Each Person

43:31 Silence, Sleepiness, and Being Present to Friends

48:06 Universal Truth Across Different Religions

52:10 Evolving Understanding of God: Love, All-That-Is, and Oneness

01:08:57 The Psychological Impact of Theology: Accepting All of Oneself

01:15:10 All-That-Is, Oneness, and Perceptual Appearance

01:21:23 Hard Work and Intelligence Alone Aren't Sufficient

01:36:01 Returning to Love as All-That-Is and Oneness

01:39:23 Bait-and-Switch Guidance: Life's Unexpected Turns

01:49:19 Marriage as a Spiritual Discipline

01:52:13 Death, Safety, and What Comes Next

01:58:23 Prayer After Oneness

Music for this episode by Benjamin Bigelow

Kirya Yoga | Kirtan | Samadhi | Meditation | Enlightenment | Kundalini | Yogananda | Autobiography of a Yogi | Siddhartha by Herman Hesse | Bhakti Neti Neti | Chakras

From dancing to Beatles records as a child and playing in progressive rock bands in his youth, to a distinguished academic career teaching music history and theory, John Covach achieved immense success in the material world. But his deepest satisfaction has come from a parallel, quieter path: the practice and teaching of meditation.

As a Yogacharya — authorized teacher — of Kriya Yoga, John joins The Spiritual Context Podcast to trace his fascinating evolution. In this conversation, John traces how early literary influences like Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha and Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi shaped his worldview, how he uncovered the hidden spiritual underpinnings of modern music, and what life actually looks like after reaching the highly sought-after state of Samadhi.Chapters00:00 Identity: Not this, Not that08:56 Kirtan: Krishna Das, Performance Dynamics, & Spiritual Energy16:42 The Yogas: Approaches to Enlightenment25:46 Steady Spiritual Practice, Without Expectation29:16 Skillful Means: Different Teachings in Different Stages of Life35:25 Clear the Path & Kundalini Rises By Itself37:53 Rock Music, Herman Hesse, Yogananda, and Schoenberg50:36 Reading Hesse's Siddhartha & Mapping the Spiritual Path59:56 Kriya Yoga and Stilling the Mind01:04:46 Lahiri Mahasaya and the Evolution of Kriya Techniques01:15:39 Recommendations for Those Interested in Kriya Yoga01:17:29 Parasympathetic Nervous System and the Experience of Stillness in Meditation01:24:46 Kundalini Energy and Chakras01:34:19 Enlightenment Isn't What You Think It Is01:39:02 Brain, Filtered Perception, and the Possibility of Pure Perception01:50:15 Personal Transformation: Equanimity01:54:27 Releasing the Ego & Personal Motivation01:58:48 Using Music for MeditationFor more information, check out: https://www.facebook.com/JohnCovachMusicAndMeditation @JohnCovachMusicAndMeditation ​

A 15-year-old anti-war activist arrived at the Vedanta Society in Southern California to distribute protest flyers. Upon hearing that inner peace is the prerequisite for world peace, she realized that peace requires working in a domain far deeper than politics. She was snagged by the Divine. But it wasn't until ten years later, compelled by a close encounter with death, that she finally committed to the monastic path in the Ramakrishna Order. Realizing God is easy, her guru Swami Prabhavananda told her. Now, after five decades of monastic life, Pravrajika Vrajaprana shares her own experience of the ego gradually making way for the peace of Self-Realization.

Intimate stories with spiritual luminaries — holy and hilarious. Devotion to her guru. Facing death. Embodying Kali. Life at the convent. And what it truly means to love God above all else.

Chapters

00:00 The First Encounter with Swami Prabhavananda: Tangible Holiness

06:38 Why Politics Couldn’t Satisfy the Soul

13:49 Lightning Bolt: The Day "Atman Is Brahman"Changed Everything

17:59 The Car Accident That Led to The Convent

27:35 Meditate With the Sword of Death Over Your Head

36:50 What Is a Guru? The Eternal Relationship

51:34 Vivekananda, Ramakrishna, and The Holy Mother

58:25 Humor in Spiritual Teachings

01:00:22 Are You a Bhakta or a Jnani?

01:07:02 We Have Only Ever Loved God

01:13:14 The Ego-Crushing Machine: Spiritual Life in aConvent

01:18:34 She Whose Life is Devoted to God

01:20:04 Mother Kali: The Mama Bear

01:30:10 "Realizing God is Easier than QuittingSmoking" -- Really?

01:32:17 Dry Spells & Burning Karma

01:35:04 Humor and Compassion Work Better to Train the EgoThan Fighting It

01:41:37 A Chaplain's Lessons: Seeing God in Everyone

01:48:30 Most Attuned To the Divine

01:52:50 Supporting Others on Their Spiritual Journey

How many of your beliefs have you really questioned? What if it is these same unquestioned beliefs that cause suffering? And what if questioning is all that's required for stressful thoughts to let go of you?

Grace Bell has used The Work of Byron Katie to question the thoughts underlying her eating disorder, divorce, grief, and cancer diagnosis, and found that without the filter of these thoughts, reality is far kinder than the mind insists.

A certified facilitator of The Work for over two decades, Grace walks through the four questions and the turnaround as taught by Byron Katie, weaving the method into her own healing journey to show how self-inquiry works not as philosophy but as practice — in times of crisis and in the ordinary moments of daily life.

Guest Bio: Grace Bell is a certified Byron Katie facilitator, licensed counselor, and founder of Work With Grace, dedicated to helping people find mental and emotional freedom through self-inquiry. She offers the Eating Peace process, drawing from personal experience to guide people away from food obsession toward relaxed, balanced eating. She also hosts the Peace Talk podcast and leads the Year of Inquiry, an immersive ten-month self-inquiry program.

Resources:

• The Work of Byron Katie: https://thework.com/
• Work With Grace: https://workwithgrace.com/
• Eating Peace Process: https://eatingpeaceprocess.com/
• Work With Grace YouTube:  ⁨@QuestionWithGrace⁩ 

Chapters

00:00 What does it mean to believe thoughts?

07:03 South Africa, Adolescence, and the Birth of an Eating Disorder

17:39 Eating Disorder is Really a Thinking Disorder

25:20 Questioning Our Thoughts: The Work of Byron Katie

40:21 The Work: Four Questions and Turnarounds

53:41 Two Ways of Letting Go: Using Thoughts and Using Feelings

57:49 Core Beliefs: I'm Not Safe, I Could Be Abandoned

01:12:05 Life without an Eating Disorder

01:14:58 Doing The Work on Divorce

01:22:15 "I Am Willing to Get Cancer Again"

01:28:42 "My Father Died - Is It True?": Grief Feels Like Love

01:39:27 Questioning or Holding Space?

01:45:28 Out of Suffering Arises New and Unexpected Growth

01:57:15 12-Step, A Course in Miracles, and "Negative Grandiosity"

02:06:03 "I Have What It Takes": A Practice for Finding Ground

Music for this episode  ⁨@BenBigelow3⁩ 

#byronkatie #selfinquiry #spirituality #eatingdisorderrecovery #questioningbeliefs #spiritualpodcast #grief

Waking up is not a departure from ordinary life but a deeper arrival into it. Rev. Busshō Lahn, a Zen priest and spiritual director, has spent decades practicing this arrival, responding to the infinite welcoming of reality. What he finds there, and what this conversation circles, is that turning toward suffering rather than away from it may be the most honest thing we can offer — to ourselves in meditation and one another in spiritual companionship.

Somewhere between Dogen and dogs, kittens and mortality, laughter and silence, a quality of presence slowly comes into focus — the kind that doesn't try to fix what is broken or explain what cannot be explained, but simply stays.

That quality has a name. It's what Busshō's name means: wide open wonder. If you've ever sensed that the spiritual life may be less about becoming and more about realizing what is already here, this conversation may feel strangely familiar and paradoxically new.

Rev. Busshō Lahn is the guiding teacher of Flying Cloud Zen, a hybrid community offering both in-person and virtual practice opportunities. He is a speaker, retreat leader, spiritual director, and author, and was a Senior Staff Priest at Minnesota Zen Meditation Center for over a decade. He is the author of Singing and Dancing Are the Voice of the Law: A Commentary on Hakuin's “Song of Zazen” (2023).

Flying Cloud Zen: https://www.flyingcloudzen.org/

Chapters

00:00 Zen: Rebellion, Fusion, and the Place Beyond Words

06:47 Compassion and Wisdom: How the Transcendent Shows Up in Time

15:09 Waking Up in the Dream: Nonduality, Dogen, and the Christian Encounter

23:45Origin Story: A Catholic Brother, a Borrowed Text, and a Long Dance with Zen

32:03First Books on Zen: Katagiri, Thich Nhat Hanh, and the Espresso Shot

38:50Primarily a Student: On Identity, Role, and the Danger of Believing the Label

51:00Making Meaning: Viktor Frankl, Empty Moments, and the Cat Who Just Eats

01:05:53 Wide Open Wonder: Buddha Nature, Animals, and 'You Are That Thing'

01:10:38 Zazen, Suffering, and Spiritual Direction: Buddha Shows Up

01:25:13 Embracing Suffering with Compassion

01:33:15 The Mountain Remains: Li Po, Self-Witnessing, and Part Two

Music for this episode  ⁨@BenBigelow3⁩ 

From Japanese American internment camps to a successful career in dentistry. From vision quests in the wilderness to a second calling as a Shin Buddhist (Jodo Shinshu) minister. From grief and loss to a heart filled with gratitude — Rev. Kenji Akahoshi's remarkable life has taught him that joy emerges when life is received rather than grasped.Kenji Sensei's teaching is simple but radical: a shift in orientation from please to thank you. From a life driven by lack, desire, and striving, to a life awakened to what we have already received simply by being alive.Kenji Sensei shares a form of Buddhism grounded not in spiritual perfection, but in ordinary human life. We do not need to eliminate all desire, transcend the ego, or abandon our responsibilities in search of peace. Instead, we can begin exactly where we are, embracing ourselves and others as we are, while gradually waking up to the countless visible and invisible gifts that sustain our lives.This is Shin Buddhism at its most accessible — and perhaps its most profound.What We Cover• The lasting impact of Japanese American internment camps• Vision quests and awakening to one's "song"• The shift from please to thank you• The movement from "me" to "we"• Gratitude in the midst of grief, illness, and loss• Embracing the "idiot self" with honesty and compassion• Living the life we already have• Freedom from dependence on others' opinions • A spiritual path for ordinary people• Finding joy in elderhoodKirk Akahoshi's YouTube channel documenting his journey with cancer: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5EFiTiC59p5yGBF_lx3lHCiVCeQ-AB0Z

Chapters

00:00 Early Experience of Internment and Its Influence on Life

05:16 Philosophy, Depth Psychology, and Transpersonal Psychology

11:46 The Vision Quest: Awakens to Truth and Sings its Beauty

18:34 Finding One's Place in the Interdependent Reality

24:39 Living Shin Buddhism: Lessons from Family and Culture

28:34 Amida Buddha: The Life Energy We All Receive

32:53 Interconnectedness: "Because of You, I am Fine"

40:21 Waking Up: Consciousness Leads to Gratitude

49:17 From Please to Thank You: A Shift in Mindset

53:08 Gratitude in the Face of Adversity

01:03:01 Start Now and Practice Daily

01:07:29 Receiving All Things with Gratitude

01:16:03 The Practice of No Practice: Acknowledging What WeReceive

01:20:21 "You are not an evil person, you are anidiot"

01:23:24 Trusting the Evolutionary Trajectory of Life

01:28:35 The Interconnectedness of Life

01:29:50 Addressing the Shadow Self

01:38:01 Exploring the Psyche and the Spiritual

01:46:22 Joy at 84 Years of Age

01:50:06 Advice for Young Adults on Community and Gratitude