The Mystical Positivist: August 2012

Saturday, August 25, 2012

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #82 - 25AUG12

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 Aviva Snyder. Aviva Snyder has tasted from many cups in life. Born in Boston, she became a successful business owner in Marin County, living the Marin lifestyle, practicing martial arts and living in a classic Marin house. After a divorce, she worked in the corporate world, gave that up to live in exotic Ajijic, Mexico for one year, and later dealt Black Jack at Indian casinos in California. Throughout it all, her psychic sensitivities remained a constant in her life. For years she struggled to come to terms with her psychic gifts. With help from training at the Berkeley Psychic Institute, and other help, she came to be able to use her sensitivities to assist others, by giving psychic readings, healings, and other interventions.

More information about the Psychic Schools mention in the program can be found at:

The Berkeley Psychic Institute: berkeleypsychic.com
Aesclepion: www.aesclepion.com

Saturday, August 18, 2012

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #81 - 18AUG12

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:

In the first hour of the program, hosts Stuart Goodnick and Rob Schmidt, discuss action in the world, the role of contemplation, whether one can simultaneously hold a space for both action and contemplation, and the role of silence in spiritual awakening. In the second hour of the program we listen to an audio version of a best-selling Russian book on transformation called Reality Transurfing: Vol. 1: The Space of Variations, by Vadim Zeland. In this book, the author presents a series of techniques of a mental and metaphysical nature. Zeland supports these techniques by presenting a model of the universe that combines the elements of quantum physics with the idea of parallel worlds.

More information about Tayu Meditation Center can be found at:

Many Rivers Books and Tea Website: www.manyriversbooks.com
Tayu Meditation Center Website: www.tayu.org/~tayu/
Old Many Rivers Blog: www.manyriversbooks.com/blog1/
FaceBook page for the Festival of Conscious Parenting: FOCP

More information about Reality Transurfing: Vol. 1: The Space of Variations can be found at:

Vadim Zeland's English website: Reality Transurfing

Saturday, August 11, 2012

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #80 - 11AUG12

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 Iven Lourie. Iven Lourie is editor of Gateway Books and Tapes and adjunct professor in English at Sierra College in Rocklin, California. Originally from Harrisburg, PA, Iven attended the University of Chicago for his undergraduate work, and the MFA program in English and Creative Writing at the University of Arizona. Iven is a short story writer and poet, and a practitioner of the work of spiritual polymath E.J. Gold.

More information about Iven Lourie's work can be found at:

Gateways Books and Tapes: Ivan Lourie's publications and public readings

Saturday, August 4, 2012

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #79 - 04AUG12

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 Carol E. Goodnick, RN, Nurse Clinician, University of Missouri Palliative Care Program. In her 30+ years in the nursing and medical field Carol has worked in a variety of areas including neuro-trauma and intensive care. Throughout her career she has developed an uncommon ability to hold a space for patients facing end of life choices and especially for their families. Now as part of the Palliative Care Program at MU, Carol's work is explicitly focused on providing relief and end of life care for patients and providing clarity to families about the choices available in such situations. In addition to her long career in nursing, Carol has been a long time contributor to public radio station KOPN in Columbia, MO, with a Celtic music show called Strike the Gay Harp and a Jazz show called Hepcat's Holiday. In this wide ranging conversation we discuss, among other things, the holding of a larger context for patients and family in end of life care.

More information about Carol Goodnick's work can be found at:

University of Missouri Palliative Care: Team Approach to Palliative Care at MU
Strike the Gay Harp on KOPN: Strike the Gay Harp

"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.