The Mystical Positivist: The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #155

Saturday, June 14, 2014

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #155 - 14JUN14

The Mystical Positivist is now a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP 107.3 FM, Occidental, CA. Listen live on Saturday evenings from 4:00 - 6:00pm, PST, via the web at KOWS Live Stream.

This week's podcast features:

A conversation with Dennis Leroy Stillwell. Dennis Leroy has been a formal devotee of Adi Da since 1977. Since 1986 he regularly lived in hermitage on Naitauba, Fiji, for extended periods during which he participated in cycles of consideration with Adi Da, served as editor, photographer, videographer, communications manager, ashram manager, and personal assistant to the Ruchira Sannyasin Order. He author of Love’s Sacrifice: Witnessing the Self-Revelation of the Divine Person - 30 Years with my Spiritual Master, Adi Da (2014) and For Those Who Call For Light - Learning How to Think about Religion (2013).

Born in 1947, an American "baby boomer," he grew up the second of three children of a career US Army officer and British “war bride,” living on military bases in Europe and the United States much of his youth. He graduated from the University of California, Irvine with degrees in Biology and French; trained as a medic and psychiatric technician in the US Army during the Vietnam era, serving in Korea; obtained a Master's degree in developmental psychology from the Université de Toulouse-Le Mirail, France; then began a professional career in human services. Over the years he has worked professionally in child and family guidance, children's protective services, programs for the blind, programs for severely developmentally disabled children, vocational counseling, and, translation, teaching, and computer technical support.

Avocationally, he has enjoyed being a soap maker, iguana breeder, and musician. In 1975, Dennis heard about Adi Da. He became a formal devotee in 1977 and first saw Adi Da that same year. In 1986 he became a resident in Adi Da's hermitage (Naitauba, Fiji), where he lived and served for much of the following twenty years. In 2006 he helped found www.adidaupclose.com, for which he is still one of the editors. Presently, he lives in Lake County, California.

More information about Dennis Leroy Stilwell's work and interests can be found at:

dlStilwell Publishing website: www.dlstilwellpublishing.com

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"The Mystical Positivist" Radio Show

The Mystical Positivist is a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP FM 107.3 Occidental, CA, and on the web at KOWS-LP Live Feed, Saturdays from 4 - 6pm PST. Coming up on The Mystical Positivist:

April 20: A pre-recorded conversation with Ken McLeod, Buddhist teacher and author of the newly released book, The Magic of Vajrayana. In this conversation, we plan to explore a compelling quote from Ian McGilchrist's The Matter with Things: If you had set out to destroy the happiness and stability of a people, it would have been hard to improve on our current formula: remove yourself as far as possible from the natural world; repudiate the continuity of your culture; believe you are wise enough to do whatever you happen to want and not only get away with it, but have a right to it—and a right to silence those who disagree; minimise the role played by a common body of belief; actively attack and dismantle every social structure as a potential source of oppression; reject the idea of a transcendent set of values.

One of the more innovative Buddhist teachers today, Ken McLeod is known for his clear explanations, poetic translations, and pragmatic approach to practice. He is one of the first generation of Western teachers in the Tibetan tradition and one of the few to be authorized to transmit the full scope of these teachings to students. In particular, his approach resonates strongly with those whose path lies outside established institutions.

After graduating with a degree in mathematics, Ken cycled across Europe to Istanbul and then continued his journey overland to India. In 1970 he met his principal teacher Kalu Rinpoche at his monastery near Darjeeling. There Ken began a study and practice in Tibetan Buddhism that lasted more than twenty years. He completed the traditional three-year retreat program two times, translated for many teachers, and helped set up Buddhist centers in Canada and the United States. After his teacher's passing, Ken moved away from the hierarchical structures of Asian Buddhism to explore new approaches.

In 1990, he founded Unfettered Mind in Los Angeles. His approach of one-on-one consultations roiled the Buddhist world in the early '90s, but was quickly recognized as a viable way to teach and guide students in the West. He made individual interviews a central feature of the many retreats he taught in California, New Mexico, and British Columbia. Through numerous small groups in Southern California, he developed the materials that became the encyclopedic meditation manual, Wake Up to Your Life.

Now retired from formal teaching, he lives in Northern California where he hikes and writes. His writings and translations include The Great Path of Awakening (1987), Wake Up to Your Life (2001), An Arrow to the Heart (2007), Reflections on Silver River (2014), A Trackless Path (2017), and The Magic of Vajrayana (2022), as well as a corpus of articles and translations in Tricycle and other Buddhist magazines.