The Mystical Positivist: The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #197

Saturday, September 26, 2015

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #197 - 26SEP15

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:

An pre-recorded conversation with Jim Wilson, Quaker practitioner, poet, former Zen monk, abbot, and chaplain at an institution for the criminally insane. Jim is a co-founder of Many Rivers Books & Tea in Sebastopol, CA. We discuss with him the topic of becoming familiar with silence. Jim writes: “The practice of interior silence is a subtle spiritual path. Most of us have experience with exterior silence from hiking in nature or times of chosen solitude. How do we find the peace and serenity of exterior silence within, when our minds are so busy and raucous? The way of interior silence is simple and accessible to anyone: scholar and worker, monastic and layperson. It is a type of prayer that one can engage with at any time, under any circumstances.” Based on the Quaker tradition of silent prayer, and integrating other traditions' approaches to interior silence, Jim discusses his own journey into that realm of true peace.

More information about Jim Wilson's work and interests can be found at:

The Guide to True Peace - The 1815 Edition: Guide-True-Peace-1815-Edition
Shaping Words Poetry Website: shapingwords.blogspot.com
Jim Wilson on The Mystical Positivist: Episode 142
Jim Wilson on The Mystical Positivist: Episode 48
Jim Wilson on The Mystical Positivist: Episode 24

2 comments:

AnonymousOctober 5, 2015 at 4:27 PM
First time to visit... How do I listen to show # 197, or other of your archived radio Shows?
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The Mystical PositivistOctober 5, 2015 at 10:21 PM
You can click on the links: Podcast Part 1 and Podcast Part 2. If that does not immediately cause the audio to start playing, you may need to right click on the link, download the MP3 file to your desktop, and then click on the local copy to cause your media player to play the recording. Let me know if this works.
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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.