The Mystical Positivist: May 2013

Saturday, May 18, 2013

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #118 - 18MAY13

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 Rick Lewis, self-proclaimed Professional Misbehaver - an entertainer, speaker, author, and the founder of Break a Rule Presentations and Trainings. Thirty-five years of interacting with thousands of people from diverse backgrounds and industries led Rick to discover the hidden cultural threads that define the way people pursue fulfillment and success in their lives. Rick shares these ideas through a presentation titled 7 Rules You Were Born to Break, which uses comedy and theater to playfully expose where organizations and individuals get stuck when pursuing a vision. His performances and his book by the same name skillfully reveal the unspoken cultural rules that block personal and professional growth and demonstrate a joyful and profitable alternative.

We originally interviewed Rick on The Mystical Positivist on March 19, 2011, so it is our great pleasure to welcome him back to the show!

More information about Rick Lewis' work and interests can be found at:

Break a Rule: Discover the Power of Intelligent Misbehavior: www.breakarule.com
Rick Lewis on The Mystical Positivist: The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #14 - 19MAR11

Saturday, May 11, 2013

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #117 - 11MAY13

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:

Host Dr. Robert Schmidt interviews Stuart Goodnick, the Mystical Positivist. Stuart has been a practitioner of Tayu Meditation since 1985 and a Tayu Meditation instructor since 1993. He holds degrees in Physics from Caltech and UCSC, and has been an engineering manager in the electronics and software security industries since 1989. Stuart has also been a student of the shakuhachi (Japanese Bamboo flute) under Master Masayuki Koga since 1996. In recent years Stuart has been applying the principles of spiritual practice and transformation in daily life as a senior executive in both Silicon Valley start-ups and global industrial manufacturers. He co-founded Many Rivers Books & Tea with Robert Schmidt and Jim Wilson in Sebastopol in 2002. A frequent writer and speaker on spiritual topics, Stuart maintains that rationality is no way the antithesis of deep mystical experience, but is in fact a necessary ally. He is currently working on a compilation of some of his essays and transcriptions of talks to be released early in 2014.

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

Saturday, May 4, 2013

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #116 - 04MAY13

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:

Hosts Stuart Goodnick and Dr. Robert Schmidt look back at, and reflect upon recent Mystical Positivist shows. Their discussion is an opportunity to compare and contrast themes and ideas that have arisen during interviews conducted over the last seven months and more. In the shear breadth of the rich discussions that they had with a variety of guests from many differing spiritual backgrounds, Stuart and Rob have been exposed to new ideas, novel practices, and unfamiliar ways of thinking about spiritual practices, and the place of spiritual practice in human life. In one sense, this discussion is an opportunity to reflect upon the broad state of spiritual practice in 21st century America.

Stuart Goodnick and Rob Schmidt helped found and run Many Rivers Books & Tea in Sebastopol, CA. The store is a project of Tayu Meditation Center, where both Stuart and Rob were trained in the fiery alchemy of transformation over decades by Tayu founder Robert Daniel Ennis.

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

"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.