The Mystical Positivist: February 2016

Saturday, February 27, 2016

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #215 - 27FEB16

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 recording of a live talk given at Many Rivers Books & Tea on Thursday January 28, 2016 by your Mystical Positivist hosts, Stuart Goodnick and Rob Schmidt, on the topic of Choice: The Dance of Free Will. The question of Free Will has challenged the human imagination for centuries. In light of contemporary scientific findings on the neurological operation of the brain, arguments about free will have run up against some apparently stark realities. This new evidence begs a number of questions: To what extent do mechanical or deterministic factors give birth to our perceptions and actions in the material world? On what basis can we invoke choice to ensure that we avoid the slavery of unconscious perception and behavior? These questions become even more acute if we posit the existence of an underlying spiritual impulse to be free. If genuinely non-mechanical choices determine our destiny, how can we give ourselves fully to the spontaneous freedom of the moment—and what would it mean to do that? Join us for an exploration of what choice means in relation to spiritual and existential freedom.

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/

Saturday, February 20, 2016

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #214 - 20FEB16

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 by telephone with Tarini Bauliya, author of Saved From Enlightenment: The Memoir of an Unlikely Devotee. The book describes the actualization of her spiritual yearnings throughout her life, and particularly as she came to work with and learn from western spiritual master Lee Lozowick. Along the way, Tarini experienced the obstacles that most spiritual practitioners face. Her book is a funny and poignant recounting of those experiences from the perspective of a hard-won greater maturity.

More information about Tarini Bauliya's work can be found at:

Tarini Bauliya's Website: www.savedfromenlightenment.com

Saturday, February 13, 2016

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #213 - 13FEB16

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 in the studio with with Karl Young, Ph.D, on the history of the materialist perspective in scientific inquiry, and the limitations that strict material realism imposes. We discuss how a broader empirical perspective on science avoids a necessary commitment to a realist interpretation of the material entities that serve as the basis for current scientific models. Such an approach opens the doors to a genuine scientific inquiry into matters of consciousness and spirit. A native of San Francisco, Karl Young received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He worked as a research physicist at the Stanford Linear Accelerator and was an assistant adjunct professor at the University of California, San Francisco. His research focuses include the study and simulation of complex systems, applied information theory, image informatics, statistical image processing, parallel processing, and magnetic resonance physics. Karl is an accomplished jazz musician, as well as an avid student of the Shakuhachi or Japanese Bamboo Flute, and has studied intensively with such notable teachers as Kaoru Kakizakai and Riley Lee. In addition, Karl has maintained a longstanding interest and practice in Zen Buddhist Meditation.

More information about Karl Young's work can be found at:

Karl Young's Website: www.karlshak.com

Saturday, February 6, 2016

The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #212 - 06FEB16

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:

This week we present a pre-recorded interview with Rose Volckhausen, Vijaya Fedorschak and Karuna Fedorschak on the topic of spiritual lineage and how to embody lineage as disciples of a teacher no longer in his or her body. All three guests are disciples of spiritual teacher Lee Lozowick. Using the pen name Janet Rose, Rose Volckhausen is the author of Journey: From Political Activism to The Work. Vijaya Fedorschak is the author of Father & Son: The Indian Beggar King Yogi Ramsuratkumar and the American Master and Poet Lee Lozowick. Karuna Fedorschak is author of Parenting: A Sacred Task.

More information about Rose Volckhausen, Vijaya Fedorschak, and Karuna Fedorschak's work can be found at:

HOHM Press Website: www.hohmpress.com
YouTube interview with Rose Volckhausen: www.youtube.com

"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.