The Mystical Positivist: October 2012

Saturday, October 27, 2012

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #91 - 27OCT12

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 Kevin Turner, M.A., Director for Asia, a teaching faculty member, and a field research associate for The Foundation for Shamanic Studies (FSS). After years of study with yogis, monks and lamas in India, Nepal, Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Japan, Kevin met Michael Harner in 1997 and began his shamanic path. Kevin has worked with shamans in Peru, Nepal and Mexico. In 2007, in a bit of a turn around, he was invited to train a group of Mayan Elders in psychopomp work. Kevin has worked for Save the Children in a Cambodia at civil war, airlines in Taiwan, IBM in Japan, and has lectured at a dozen universities. He is also a facilitator at The Monroe Institute and a remote viewer. Though born in Arizona, USA, Kevin has lived in Asia for over 20 years and currently has a healing practice in Kyoto, Japan.

More information about Kevin Turners's work can be found at:

Kevin Turner's website: www.shamanism-asia.com
The Foundation for Shamanic Studies website: www.shamanicstudies.com
The Monroe Institute website: www.monroeinstitute.org

Saturday, October 20, 2012

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #90 - 20OCT12

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:

Part 1: A conversation with Mark Nepo. Mark Nepo is a poet and philosopher who has taught in the fields of poetry and spirituality for over thirty-five years. A New York Times #1 bestselling author, he has published thirteen books and recorded eight audio projects. Recent works include his latest book of spiritual inquiry, Seven Thousand Ways to Listen; a new book of teaching stories, As Far As the Heart Can See; Finding Inner Courage; audio books of The Book of Awakening and Finding Inner Courage, and Staying Awake and Holding Nothing Back. His most recent book of poetry is Surviving Has Made Me Crazy. As a cancer survivor, Mark devotes his writing and teaching to the journey of inner transformation and the life of relationship. Mark has appeared with Oprah Winfrey on her Super Soul Sunday program on OWN TV, and has been interviewed twice by Oprah as part of her SIRIUS XM Radio show, Soul Series. He has also been interviewed by Robin Roberts on Good Morning America about his New York Times bestseller The Book of Awakening.
Part 2: Hosts Stuart Goodnick and Rob Schmidt discuss the latest blog from Neuroscientist, Philosopher, and author, Sam Harris. His October 12th essay, entitled This Must Be Heaven, is a response to a recent Newsweek cover-story by the same title detailing the Out-of-Body experience reported by neurosurgeon Eben Alexander after he fell into a coma having contracted a bad case of bacterial meningitis.

More information about Mark Nepo's work can be found at:

Mark Nepo's website: www.marknepo.com

Links to the articles discussed in the second half of the show can be found at:

Original Newsweek article, This Must Be Heaven: This Must Be Heaven
Sam Harris' blog response: This Must Be Heaven...NOT!

Saturday, October 13, 2012

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #89 - 13OCT12

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 Luis Minero, author of the recently published book Demystifying the Out-of-Body Experience: A Practical Manual for Exploration and Personal Evolution. Demystifying the Out-of-Body Experience attempts to complement previous research on the topics of OBE's, Bioenergies, and the related field of Conscientiology in an accessible guidebook. The book offers ways to master the skills of leaving the body using logic and reason, and to improve self-understanding and achieve personal growth with over a dozen exit techniques. With well-ordered, rational explanations, Demystifying the Out-of-Body Experience describes how and why out-of-body experiences (OBEs) work. It is a groundbreaking guide for using OBEs to understand our place in the reality that exists beyond our physical life and dreams.

Luis Minero graduated with honors in Chemistry from Florida International University, and taught courses on Out-of-Body Experiences, paranormal phenomena, and spiritual growth at Miami Dade College from 1997-2002. Mr. Minero serves as Executive Director of the California branch of the International Academy of Consciousness, and as Education Director of IAC globally. Headquartered in Portugal, the International Academy of Consciousness is dedicated to research and education toward the understanding of consciousness and the multi-dimensional fabric of our reality.

More information about Luis Minero's work can be found at:

Luis Minero's website: learnOBEs.com
Internation Academy of Consciousness (IAC) website: www.IACworld.org

"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.