What does it mean to truly care for another, even as they are dying? How do we move from head knowledge down into the heart, where love resides? What does it mean to lead from a place of stillness?

Sister Mary Lou Mitchell has spent her life at the intersection of stillness and action. From her background in nursing and academia, to her time accompanying the elderly and those nearing death as a spiritual care provider, and now in her current role as President of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Rochester, New York, her work has always been centered on the heart.

In this conversation, she shares what she calls the contemplative stance — a way of being present to others, to uncertainty, and to life through a daily descent into stillness. She offers not only transformative stories but her practice: how to be with difficult feelings, how to discern true inner promptings from fear and ego, and how to hold life's tensions with patience until clarity comes.

A conversation about presence, listening, grief, hope, discernment, and leadership.

Learn more about the Sisters of St. Joseph: https://www.ssjrochester.org/

Chapters

00:00 The Bear: A Healing Symbol Comes from Within

08:03 A Religious Calling

13:14 A Contemplative in Action: When Knowledge Sinks into the Heart

17:50 Daily Practice of Quieting Down

22:33 Winter's Lessons: Slowing Down, Patience, and Hope

25:44 Welcoming God's Presence: Surrendering the Desire for Security, Control, and Affection

31:51 What Can We Control?

37:52 A Little Kindness Goes a Long Way

39:44 To Truly Care for Someone: Creating the Best Condition Possible for Healing

49:43 Honoring the Grief

55:50 A Contemplative Leader

01:03:15 Working in a Team with a Contemplative Stance

01:07:53 Obedience to God's Will, Not Ego's Fears

01:12:48 Discerning God's Will

01:22:10 Advice to New Leaders

01:28:05 Advice to Graduating Students

Music for this episode by Ben Bigelow

She sings about dishes being holy, shovels being prayer, and the astounding beauty of human beings in the humdrum of daily life.

This week's guest, singer, songwriter, and poet Carrie Newcomer says that when we pay attention, we can find the divine — what she calls the Great Luminous — in everything. Songwriting has been one such practice of attention for her, alongside decades of Quaker silence.

In this conversation, rich with live music and language that arrives like poetry, Carrie speaks about the risk of loving something deeply, meeting human darkness with wonder rather than judgment, and what hope actually looks like when it's gritty and daily rather than wishful. Pull up a chair. This one is worth sitting with.

About: Carrie Newcomer is a Grammy and Emmy-winning singer, songwriter, and poet with 20 nationally released albums, three collections of poetry and essays, and a devoted following on Substack where she writes weekly on music, spirituality, and the life of attention. She is co-host of The Growing Edge podcast with Parker Palmer.

Carrie’s website: https://www.carrienewcomer.com/Carrie’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@CarrieNewcomer Carrie’s Newcomer Substack “The Gathering of Spirits” https://carrienewcomer.substack.com/ The Growing Edge Podcast: https://www.newcomerpalmer.com/podcast

Timestamp

00:00 Holy As the Day is Spent

03:02 Seeing the Sacred in the Ordinary

07:25 Songwriting and Singing as Spiritual Practices

11:07 Songs, Stories, and the Universal Human Experience

16:58 Carrie's Job Description: Giving Words to that Which is Beyond Words

20:02 Vocation: Risking What You Love the Most

30:21 Vocation and Making a Living35:35 "When I am True, the Way has been True"

40:07 Unprogrammed Quaker Meeting: A Silent Gathering of Friends

44:56 Silence Underneath the Sound

47:59 Blessing Everything: Acknowledging the Holy

54:42 Gathering in the Inner Silence : "Welcome Back"

01:00:10 Finding the Quaker Community

01:03:48 The Mystical Within and Beyond Traditions

01:08:18 The Experience of the Great Luminous

01:11:46 A Shovel is a Prayer

01:17:09 The Love of Humans: What about the Dark Side?

01:28:53 The Nitty Gritty of Hope

01:32:30 How do I fit with my soul? What will the harvest of my life be?

01:36:58 Gratitude Practice and Love Lessons from Dogs

01:44:12 What is my deepest question today?

01:46:54 Creativity as a Spiritual Practice

01:51:54 Lean in Toward the Light

#carrienewcomer #spirituality #sacred #spiritualmusic #quakers #silence

Anxiety isn't an enemy to be vanquished, but a friend to be met with care and clarity. Stephanie Wagner knows this from the inside. In this episode, the Director of Learning and Development at HUMIN and meditation teacher at Tergar Institute — founded by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche — traces her path from chronic anxiety and the dead ends of compulsive shopping and emotional eating, to a life of genuine wellbeing rooted in practice.

Her story unfolds alongside a science-based model of human flourishing with four trainable pillars — awareness, connection, insight, and purpose — developed through neuroscientific research at the Center for Healthy Minds, led by Dr. Richard Davidson, and deepened by the contemplative traditions of the world. This is where ancient wisdom and modern science converge to illuminate a path to thriving.

What we explore:

• The shift from external fixes to an inner source of well-being

• Why Dr. Davidson calls well-being a trainable skill — and what the four pillars actually train

• How suffering can become a doorway to meaning, empathy, and compassion

• Why meditation isn't about silencing the mind — but befriending it

• Building a daily meditation habit — and the surprising minimum dosage required to see real benefits

• Where Buddhist awakening and the science of well-being point to the same thing

• Tibetan Buddhist practices of Ngondro and deity yoga — skillful means for recognizing the awakened nature that is already here

Learn more about Stephanie Wagner: https://www.innerfirehealthcoach.com/about

Follow her on Instagram: @stephaniewagner_meditates

HUMIN App: https://www.humin.org/wellbeing-tools/app

Center for Healthy Minds: https://centerhealthyminds.org/

Born to Flourish: How New Science and Ancient Wisdom Reveal a Simple Path to Thriving: https://a.co/d/0fQdd8Wk

Chapters:

00:00 From Anxiety to Awareness

09:18 Becoming a Coach: Health and Wellbeing to Meditation

14:08 HUMIN: Bridging Science and Well-being

16:30 Nothing is Wasted

19:27 The Four Pillars of Flourishing: Awareness, Connection, Insight, Purpose

20:44 Awareness: Being Present

33:44 Connection: Developing and Widening the Circle of Care

45:12 Insight: Be Curious

58:08 Purpose: Finding Meaning in Everyday Life

01:09:00 Meaning in Adversity and Suffering

01:12:45 Healthy Minds Program App: Science-Based Free Resource

01:15:23 "Awakening is the Essence of Well-Being"

01:19:10 Buddhist Training : The Path of Liberation

01:21:05 From Breath Awareness to Open Awareness: Journey in Meditation

01:24:54 Vajrayana Training: Nundro and Yeshe Tsogyal Sadhana

01:30:29 Developing a Habit: Inspiration, Intention, Action, and Repetition

01:38:32 Navigating Grief, Loss, and Death

01:43:22 Common Misconceptions About Meditation

01:48:32 The Most Beautiful Path to Getting to Know Yourself

01:50:42 Connect with Stephanie

What would you do if someone held a knife to you and threatened to kill you? Els Thissen did not react with fear. In fact, she ended up having dinner with this person at his home--she calls it a miracle. 

You may think her naive, but she isn't unaware of what we humans are capable of.  She has served as a police officer, facilitatied support groups in prisons, led workshops in war-torn regions, and helped people around the world who have faced traumatic events find healing. Her life is a testament to the power of  shifting from fear-based perception to seeing through the eyes of love. And when we learn to see that way, life becomes effortless.

With wit, humor, and unbelievable real-life examples, Els discusses:

• The true meaning of a miracle
• Forgiveness as the undoing of perception to reveal the one essence
• Freedom from seeking approval, making excuses, and justifying oneself
• How stories create suffering and how to question them
• How to not take anything personally
• Finding peace regardless of external circumstances

Based in the Netherlands, Els Thissen has taught and led A Course in Miracles, Attitudinal Healing, and Family Constellation groups internationally. An artist and an author, she has written multiple books in Dutch and the book Effortless Living: Attitudinal Healing and A Course in Miracles in English.

Check out her website: https://www.elsthissen.nl/els/

Els's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@EThissen

Effortless Living book on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0482a0hh

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

The 12 Principles of Attitudinal Healing: https://www.ahinternational.org/about/the-twelve-principles-of-ah/

Timestamps

00:00 Welcome

00:48 The Knife Encounter: "It's Lovely to Be NotAfraid"

05:19 Journey to Spirituality: From Police Officer to Artist

07:48 A Course in Miracles: A Love Affair with the Self

10:26 What about the ego? Let go of its stories.

16:26 It's not personal!

19:58 Healing in Prison

24:56 Forgiveness: Coming Home to the Essence

31:03 The Essence of Our Being is Love

37:54 Seeing Love, Even in a Murderer

42:38 Appreciating Your Life

45:51 Peace and Freedom Despite External Cirumstances

53:18 The Way Out of Confusion: You Don't Have to Believe theMind

57:17 No Thank Yous and No Excuses

01:03:05 The Essence of Freedom: It's Like Peeing in theMorning

01:06:09 Making Decisions: Effortless Living

01:12:54 Applying the Principles to Daily Life: Practice and Persistence

01:17:54 Keeping the World in Your Heart

01:21:47 Health is Inner Peace

01:25:45 Reflections on Death

01:30:51 Not a Single True Thought: Reality As It Is

01:38:29 Sin is an Illusion: Seeing Through Love Is SeeingTruly

Music for this episode by  ⁨@BenBigelow3⁩ 

#eencursusinwonderen #acim #acourseinmiracles #AttitudinalHealing #spirituality #forgiveness #innerpeace

Giovina Caroscio is a spiritual director at Mercy Spirituality Center, Rochester, New York, and has been steeped in Ignatian Spirituality for decades. In this conversation, she invites us to notice how God is unfailingly present in our joys, struggles, and in the ordinary moments of everyday life. She shares how we can discover our true identity as the child of an infinitely loving God, and what it means to live with that certitude.

Together we explore:

- How letting go in the midst of suffering can lead to deepening of being

- What it means to have hope when everything is lost

- How our imagination can lead us to encounter Jesus in the Gospel (Ignatian Contemplation)

- How to discern the movement of the Spirit within

- How to make decisions that lead to greater peace and wholeness

- The practice of offering each day in gratitude (the Daily Examen)

- The role of a spiritual director and prayer guide I felt an instant connection with Giovina — a sense of reverent joy in her presence. May this conversation transmit that same joy, and deepen your own walk with God.

Learn more about Giovina Caroscio and Mercy Spirituality Center: https://www.mercyspiritualitycenter.org/

Chapters

00:00 A Child of God

04:27 A Childhood Steeped in Faith

06:59 What does it mean to receive Christ in the Eucharist?

10:30 God Became Alive in a New Way: Becoming the Hands and Feet of Christ

17:02 The Meaning of Suffering: Death and Resurrection

26:57 Hope and Faith: When All Else is Lost

34:32 Prayer is Coming to Know Myself and God in a Deeper Way

44:28 From a Knight to a Saint: Ignatius of Loyola

52:00 The Spiritual Exercises : Disposition Days

56:44 A Psychological Recap of the Exercises

01:00:41 Imaginative Prayer (Ignatian Contemplation):Entering into the Gospel

01:12:24 Discernment: Understanding Consolation andDesolation in Ignatian Spirituality

01:27:06 How to Make A Decision Leading to Peace

01:39:59 Guiding People as a Spiritual Director to See HowGod is Present in Their Lives

01:46:01 Seeing in Creation the Creator

01:51:41 The Daily Examen: A Guided Meditation

02:03:06 Praying through Sticky Thoughts and Feelings

02:07:06 Death: Crossing over the Threshold into Ongoing Life

02:15:10 Misconceptions about God and Spiritual Life

02:20:47 Jesus Christ: He is the One who Holds my Hand

02:24:45 Book and Author Recommendations

02:25:40 All is Grace

Music for this episode is provided by Ben Bigelow.

The episode was recorded at Mercy Spirituality Center, Rochester, New York.

Addiction | Recovery | Sobriety | Surrender | Self-Realization | Nisargadatta Maharaj | Dr. David R. Hawkins | Devotion | Devotional Nonduality

The emptiness within. Ryan McGinty sought to fill it with academic and athletic achievement. When that failed, alcohol and drugs seemed, for a time, to offer relief. But soon he found himself in the throes of addiction, unable to manage his life.

And yet, the emptiness remained.

Nothing can truly fill it, save the Truth itself.

Now, 18 years sober, Ryan is filled with life, love, and joy. A father, husband, and guide to many young adults walking a similar path, his path of sobriety, carved through surrender, has become a path of Self-Realization. The pursuit of achievement has given way to a life of service. Drivenness has opened into devotion.

In this conversation, we explore addiction not merely as a behavioral struggle, but as a spiritual one, and sobriety as a path of awakening.

We discuss:

• Ryan’s journey through addiction, and the difference between a habit and true addiction

• The 12 Steps as a practical foundation for daily living and spiritual growth

• What it means to surrender one’s will to a Higher Power

• Zen Buddhism, the “I Am” practice of Nisargadatta Maharaj, and the pathway of Devotional Nonduality as taught by Dr. David R. Hawkins

• Shadow work, making amends, and walking through fear as gateways to inner freedom

• Marriage, fatherhood, and sports as spiritual pathways

Ryan McGinty, MS, LAC, is a therapist and Executive Director at Red Mountain Sedona, an independent living facility supporting young adults. A long-time Zen practitioner, he integrates meditation and mindfulness into his work. He is a husband, father, and CrossFit athlete.

Learn more about Ryan and Red Mountain Sedona: https://redmountainsedona.com/about-us/team-bios/ryan-mcginty/

Timestamps:

00:00 Welcome and Milestones

00:43 Step 1: Powerless, and Life is Unmanageable

02:57 Step 2: Grace, A Power Greater Than Ourselves

04:21 Was it Inevitable? Misplaced Spiritual Longing

11:13 Compulsiveness and Powerlessness are Characteristic of Addiction

14:57 Pathways to Recovery: The True Medicine of Spirituality

19:57 Step 3: Surrendering to a Higher Power

27:36 Practices for Surrender : Prayer and "I AM" Meditation

38:34 The Heart of Devotion

50:23 Mental Health and Spirituality: A Greater Paradigm of Reality

56:36 Steps 4 & 5: Making an Inventory and Making Amends

01:01:06 Step Nine: Making Amends and Discovering Inviolable Innocence

01:07:18 Telling the Truth, Not Just the Convenient Ones

01:12:33 Walking Through Fear: Listening to the Voice of Truth

01:18:02 A Sponsor's Role in Recovery

01:20:36 Effortless Connection: From Loneliness to Love

01:30:37 Marriage as a Spiritual Path

01:40:57 Why do we die?

01:47:34 Spiritual Training through Sports

01:49:49 Supporting Others: Purpose Born of Pain

Music for the episode provided by Ben Bigelow

Sprituality | Health and Healing | Consciousness | Quantum Physics | Integrative Medicine | Holistic Healing | Placebo | Science and Spirituality | Awe | Inner Silence

What are health and healing within a spiritual context rather than a materialist paradigm? How can scientific investigation and inner spiritual exploration inform each other? How can we encounter each moment of our lives, not as a problem to be solved, but as a mystery to be appreciated with wonder and awe?

In this episode, Dr. Bernard Brom, a South African physician, pioneer of integrative medicine, and lifelong explorer of consciousness, invites us into a radically expanded understanding of healing, reality, and what it means to be human. His art is medicine — the practice of medicine transformed by decades of spiritual exploration and informed by emerging insights from quantum physics. His life at 85 is a song filled with a continuous reverence for the beauty in all things and beings.

Having found within himself the depths beyond body and mind, Dr. Brom treats each person similarly — as more than time-and-space-bound physical entities. Over decades, he has explored and mapped this terrain with extraordinary clarity. The fruit of this exploration is not only the capacity to support healing in others, but a profound sense of peace, love, and presence that remains available even in moments of adversity.

We explore:

• Dr. Brom's life arc from conventional doctor to wandering artist to spiritual seeker to non-drug doctor to pioneer of integrative medicine

• Reframing illness as an invitation to listen to the body's deeper intelligence rather than merely eliminating symptoms

• The placebo as "meaning medicine" — and why intention, awareness, and coherence matter more than we realize

• Quantum perspectives on human beings as expressions of energy-information, attractors, and a living field of intelligence

• Moving from reactive patterns to experiencing emotions from a place of unconditional love

• Living a life filled with wonder and awe, even at 85

ABOUT: Dr. Bernard Brom, widely regarded as a pioneer of Integrative Medicine in South Africa, is the author of numerous scientific articles and two key books: Healthy Medicine: The Philosophy and Principles of Natural Medicine and The Heart of Healing. He is the founder of Creating Health and the Society to Investigate the Unknown and the Unknowable. To learn more about his work, access his books/courses, or follow his ongoing reflections:

• Main website: creatinghealth.co.za

• Society to Investigate the Unknown and the Unknowable: siuu.co.za — articles on depth, mystery, healing, and consciousness.

• Instagram: @bernardbrom

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drbernardbrom

•YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@healthymedicinefoundation

• Check out a recent feature on Dr. Brom by Reflections of Life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Odp6cClYjBI

Time Stamps

00:00 Welcome and Happy Birthday!

01:25 Glimmers of Mystery: Beyond What Meets the Eyes

05:33 The Silence Beyond Thinking and Emotions

11:16 Discovering Inner Space: Where Happiness Lies

16:39 God/ Quantum Potential/ Consciousness

23:09 The Illusion of the Body: It's Not What You Think

30:10 The Greater Anatomy: Healing and Inner Peace

41:33 Meditation and Movement as Pathways

44:08 Healing vs. Treatment: Practicing Medicine from a Spiritual Context

50:26 Meaning Beyond Thinking

01:01:54 Transcending the Duality of Health and Disease: Ill-health Is the Voice of Health

01:08:46 Changing the Story: Brom's Rules 1 & 2

01:17:11 No cause, No Name, and A Good Story

01:20:52 Suffering is Real: To Dismiss it is an Error

01:25:42 Dog Poo and Humility

01:28:21 Integrative Approaches to Healing: Recommendations to Patients

01:32:55 Working with Emotional Reactions: Stay with the Feeling

01:37:35 Transcendental Love is a Non-Experience

01:41:01 No Fear of Death, And Still Singing My Song of Awe and Wonder

Music: Ben Bigelow (https://www.youtube.com/@BenBigelow3)

Saints | St. Patrick | St. Therese of Lisieux | Padre Pio | Surrender | Love | Contemplative Prayer | Everyday Holiness | Catholic Spirituality | Christ

How do the saints pray? How do they face suffering? What can we learn about God by entering into their lives? And what might it mean for us to become saints?

In this episode, Lisa Lickona shares what she has discovered after years of studying and writing about the saints. Contrary to the popular image of saints as flawless spiritual heroes, their lives reveal something far more human, and far more hopeful. Holiness is not about perfection or extraordinary effort. It is about letting God enter the ordinary, and often messy, realities of our lives. It is a path of self-abandonment, trust, and surrender.

Drawing on the lives of St. Patrick, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Takashi Nagai, and Dorothy Day — and on her own journey with the saints — Lisa shows how the saints find joy even in the face of tremendous suffering, and how they become instruments of God's love and peace in the world.

What emerges is not a distant ideal of holiness, but a way of being that is at once deeply human and deeply open to God. A way that does not deny suffering, but transforms it, revealing a peace and joy at the heart of life itself. This conversation is an invitation to the way of the saints.

 About Lisa Lickona: Lisa Lickona is a nationally recognized Catholic writer, speaker, and theologian who has spent years entering deeply into the lives of the saints. Her reflections on the saints appeared daily in Magnificat for eight years. She currently writes on sanctity for Seatonshine.com and serves as a consultant on the lives of the saints for Relevant Radio. She holds a Licentiate in Sacred Theology and is an assistant professor of systematic and spiritual theology at St. Bernard’s School of Theology & Ministry in Rochester, New York. Lisa is also a spiritual director, offering monthly half-day retreats on the saints at St. Bernard’s, as well as longer retreats for women in the Finger Lakes region, where she has lived with her family for over twenty years.

Lisa Lickona: https://www.lisalickona.com/

Lisa’s articles on Sanctity: https://setonshrine.org/author/lisa-lickonasetonshrine-org/

Lisa’s faculty page at St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry: https://www.stbernards.edu/faculty/lisa-lickona-s-t-lTimestamps

00:00 Welcome to a Conversation about the Lives of Saints

00:38 The Story of Takashi Nagai: In the Heart of Devastation with Incredible Joy

10:41 Saints: Olympians in Trust, Self-Abandonment, and Surrender

15:35 God is Love

17:59 Prayer is Allowing Ourselves to Be Loved by God

23:23 The Journey of Studying Saints: Holiness is the Fullness of Humanity

34:01 Let Go of Wanting to Become a Saint to Become a Saint

39:11 Finding Joy in the midst of Suffering

54:27 Seeing Ourselves Through the Eyes of Love

01:01:39 Love is the Starting Point, Not a Reward at the End

01:05:58 Heresy: False Voices in the Mind

01:16:31 Detachment: Love and Letting Go

01:24:41 Dark Night of the Soul: When the Old has Gone and the New is Not Yet

01:36:40 The Non-Linear Path to Holiness

01:43:57 The Little Way of Everyday Life

01:48:23 Studying the Lives of the Saints and Connecting withLisa

01:54:16"Loved"

 Music: Ben Bigelow (https://www.youtube.com/@BenBigelow3)

Buddhism | Awakening | Suffering | Tibetan Buddhism | Spiritual Teacher | Inner Serenity | Compassion | Reincarnation

An ancient aspiration to teach those who have no teacher. An eternal vow to work tirelessly for the liberation of all beings. A series of mysterious dreams and unlikely events.

Born in Singapore to a Chinese family, Felix Lee was later recognized as a high Gelug Lharampa reincarnate and given the name Singha Thekchen Namdrol Rinpoche.

In this episode of The Spiritual Context Podcast, Singha Rinpoche shares profound and practical insights into the heart of Buddhism, drawn from years of training in Theravada, Chinese Mahayana, and Tibetan Buddhism, and decades of teaching globally. With warmth, humor, and disarmingly simple analogies — chickens, apple trees, salt, and multi-plugs — Rinpoche cuts straight to what Buddhism is actually asking of us.

• Why waking up means taking radical responsibility for both our suffering and our freedom

• Why chasing happiness is a trap, and why inner serenity, not happiness, is the true foundation of awakening

• Merit as the "digestive juice" that transforms intellectual understanding into genuine wisdom

• Why praying for all beings means becoming a "multi-plug": allowing everyone in, discriminating against no one

• What it means to be a "dharma detective" in daily life , and why Singha Rinpoche calls himself "the Buddha's receptionist"

• How to recognize an authentic teacher and the Buddha’s transmission through a lineage

About: Singha Thekchen Namdrol Rinpoche is the founder and spiritual director of Thekchen Choling temples and Dharma centers in Singapore, Malaysia (including Melaka and Kota Tinggi), and the United States (Syracuse, New York). Through his teaching, writing, and international travels, he is known for presenting the Buddha’s teachings with practical clarity, warmth, and humor. He is the author Timeless, a collection of reflections on Buddhist wisdom and the path to awakening.

Thekchen Choling Singapore: https://www.thekchencholing.org/

Thekchen Choling Singapore YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/@ThekchenCholing_Videos

Thekchen Choling Syracuse: https://thekchencholing.us/

Singha Rinpoche’s book Timeless: https://a.co/d/0h9URxHU

Many thanks to the staff at Thekchen Choling Syracuse for recording the video of this interview.

Timestamps

00:00 Tulku: Overcoming Oneself and Arising as a Deity

07:29 Past Lives and Ancient Aspirations

20:12 The Practice of Waking Up

25:03 I Am Responsible for My Suffering and My Freedom

31:14 Happiness Is a Big Trap! Focus on Inner Serenity Instead.

36:15 Inner Serenity to Buddha-nature

42:44 Firm Foundation of Merit

50:38 Deity Yoga: Practicing Buddhism Instead of the Practicing Yourself

01:05:55 "I am the Buddha's Receptionist"

01:09:11 Praying for All Beings Is Surrendering All Resistance: Becoming Like a Multi-Plug

01:12:49 Becoming a Dharma Detective

01:14:46 Never Losing Sight of Awakening

01:17:12 Complete Freedom from Suffering: Internal Glow of Pure Presence

01:19:14 A True Teacher to Those Who Don't Have a Teacher

01:24:15 Death Meditation

01:26:20 The Presence of Shakyamuni Buddha: Nothing Compares

Music: Ben Bigelow (https://www.youtube.com/@BenBigelow3)

From fear to compassion. From unworthiness to self-acceptance. From searching for answers to living in the question. This arc of Shinsen Troy Couillard's spiritual life is still unfolding to greater depths.After years of seeking in the Jesus Movement, existentialism, Christian mysticism, and both Rinzai and Soto Zen, Shinsen found a home in the silence of zazen. But even that home he holds loosely, not because he is searching for something else, but because he has discovered that openness itself is the Way. Beyond belief, religion, and any “ism,” he remains open to mystery in whatever form it appears in the present moment.In this conversation, Shinsen reflects on a lifetime of practice and shares hard-won insights on:• Why genuine spirituality must challenge our self-perceptions and transform us into more loving people • What "living in the question mark" looks like on the cushion and in daily life • What engaging life with our whole being, what he calls holistic living , actually means in practice • How we can encounter one another beyond our pre-conceived notions and labels • How to tell true compassion from guilt-driven caretaking, and genuine self-care from escapism • How facing death and vulnerability can open us to our shared humanityThe “monastery” is everywhere. The practice is life itself.Rev. Shinsen Troy Couillard teaches and leads retreats at Ryumonji Zen Monastery in Dorchester, Iowa. He began practicing Zen in 1991 and has been affiliated with Ryumonji since 2010. Ordained in 2014 by Taizan Verkuillen and Shoken Winecoff, he received Dharma Transmission from Shoken Winecoff in 2024. Now retired, he spent forty years in education as a classroom teacher, school administrator, and educational assessment professional. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with his wife and dog, and delights in time with his two adult children and grandson.To learn more about Ryumonji Zen Monastery: https://ryumonji.org/Contact Shinsen Troy Couillard: [email protected]Podcast Intro and Outro Music: Ben Bigelow (https://www.youtube.com/@BenBigelow3)

Timestamps

00:00 Shinsen: Deep Well

04:12 Vow To Live By

06:19 From Fear and Fragmentation to Wholeness

12:08 Zen Practice is about Opening and Allowing

15:56 The Essence of Spirituality

18:34 Spiritual Attunement

22:45 Letting go of all "isms," including Buddhism

29:08 Zazen is seeing the mind with compassion

36:32 "Sitting in the Question"

41:57 Opening to the Universe

45:46 Truly being with reality rather than just wanting tofeel better

53:04 Cultivating Awareness Throughout the Day

58:58 Integrating Practice into Daily Life: Holistic Living

01:10:40 "Do You Deserve to Be Happy?"

01:18:46 Insights into Reality : Breaking Open the Mind

01:24:35 Not Holding On To Experience, No Matter How Good

01:27:40 Connecting with People Beyond Religion

01:32:42 Listening from the Heart of the Universe

01:36:53 Death Reveals Our Common Humanity

01:42:51 Advice for Young Spiritual Seekers

01:49:49 Living in the Question Mark