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This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.

Does this podcast accept guests?

Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.

The Gospel of Direct Experience

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by Jeff Mansfield & Michael Ellick

5.0(21 reviews)

34 episodes

Updated Daily

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Podcast Overview

In a world of failing traditions and crumbling institutions, the Gospel of Direct Experience is the living Spirit of Truth revealed through our senses, our intuitions, our dreams, and our visions. Where orthodoxy meets heresy, religion meets the paranormal, and the physical meets the psychic… the Spirit calls us to transcend our inherited dogmas and second-hand stories, waking up to the power, the meaning, and the mystery that are alive and vibrant within us and beyond us. Join hosts Jeff Mansfield and Michael Ellick for a conversation transcending the boundaries of the conventional world.

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Publishing Since

10/23/2024

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Recent Episodes

May 13, 2026

Trust the Soul: Lucille Tures on Christian Mysticism After Spiritual Abuse

<p id="831lk1339" class="l01qt HC7id" data-pm-slice="1 1 []">We welcome Dr. Lucille Tures, psychologist, spiritual director, teacher, and founder of <a class="kM0kS h4ndd" href= "https://www.theamainst.org/" target="_blank" rel= "noreferrer noopener" data-hook="web-link"><u>Theama Institute</u></a>, for a conversation about Christian mysticism, spiritual abuse, and the life-long work of integration.</p> <p id="am6b6443" class="l01qt HC7id"></p> <p id="fsupz444" class="l01qt HC7id">Lucille shares her experience growing up in a Christian mystical environment, her later involvement in a coercive spiritual community with a narcissistic mentor, and the painful but generative process of helping rebuild that community around trust rather than control. We explore why beautifully "correct" theology and powerful mystical experiences can become entangled with subtle forms of authority, performance, and manipulation—and why Lucille came to believe that spiritual communities must learn to trust the soul rather than override it.</p> <p id="g3n6s446" class="l01qt HC7id"></p> <p id="ya6j0447" class="l01qt HC7id">The conversation also turns toward Lucille's writing in <a class="kM0kS h4ndd" href= "https://lucilleisadoratures.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel= "noreferrer noopener" data-hook="web-link"><u>The Whole and the Holy</u></a>, her understanding of mysticism as the ongoing tension between gnosis and mystery, and her vision of integration as central to theosis: the reconciliation of the divine and human through the messy, sacred reality of being fully ourselves.</p> <p id="24jre1073" class="l01qt HC7id"></p> <h2 id="cbdo71081" class="_4w0MJ yznV8">Episode Highlights</h2> <h3 id="c8rpy1485" class="rL-Fd yznV8">[00:00] Introduction</h3> <p id="x0du91487" class="l01qt HC7id">Jeff and Michael introduce Dr. Lucille Tures, her work with Theoma Institute, and her writing on psychology, theology, mysticism, and integration.</p> <h3 id="e83a91490" class="rL-Fd yznV8">[03:11] Mystical Beginnings</h3> <p id="l4bgo1492" class="l01qt HC7id">Lucille describes growing up in a Christian mystical household where angels, altars, and spiritual experience were treated as natural rather than strange.</p> <h3 id="qhsjw1495" class="rL-Fd yznV8">[06:28] What Is Mysticism?</h3> <p id="opmcm1497" class="l01qt HC7id">Lucille offers a working definition of mysticism involving experiential relationship, a unitive goal, and a non-dogmatic openness to mystery.</p> <h3 id="4cbo51500" class="rL-Fd yznV8">[14:48] Inside a High-Control Spiritual Organization</h3> <p id="ntc5y1502" class="l01qt HC7id">Lucille reflects on her experience in a coercive mystical community and how beautiful theology can still become entangled with control, performance, and spiritual abuse.</p> <h3 id="aypxd1505" class="rL-Fd yznV8">[23:16] Trust the Soul</h3> <p id="kt0qs1507" class="l01qt HC7id">After a painful communal reckoning, Lucille describes rebuilding spiritual community around the radical principle that each person's soul contains its own deepest guidance.</p> <h3 id="v76di1510" class="rL-Fd yznV8">[28:37] Integration as Theosis</h3> <p id="rhgwh1512" class="l01qt HC7id">Lucille explains why psychology and spirituality cannot finally be separated, and how the work of becoming fully human is also the work of divine transformation.</p> <h3 id="ux3oo1515" class="rL-Fd yznV8">[31:02] Gnosticism, Eden, and the Fall</h3> <p id="ulrv81517" class="l01qt HC7id">The conversation turns to Gnostic readings of scripture, the story of Eden, and Lucille's understanding of the Fall as an inner experience of separation rather than a literal divine punishment.</p> <h3 id="h9qoy1520" class="rL-Fd yznV8">[36:23] The Problem of Evil</h3> <p id="x73vx1522" class="l01qt HC7id">Lucille discusses evil, harm, misperception, and the need to name destructive patterns without projecting them only onto other people or opposing groups.</p> <h3 id="fsdu81525" class="rL-Fd yznV8">[45:45] Hope and Shadow</h3> <p id="ukke21527" class="l01qt HC7id">Lucille closes by reflecting on what gives her hope: the shadow coming into the light, the possibility of shared values, and the beauty of people learning to know and love themselves well.</p> <p><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Continue the Conversation</span></strong></p> <p>What did you think about this conversation? Tell us at gospelofdirectexperience@gmail.com or reach out at: https://www.gospelofdirectexperience.com/#contact.</p> <p id="fuqor2015" class="l01qt HC7id"></p>

April 29, 2026

Real Good Drugs: Molly Baskette on Psychedelics, Calling, and Leaving Church Well

<p id="izlb9879" class="g45-v AbIRl" data-pm-slice="1 1 []">Molly Baskette has spent decades helping progressive churches come alive. A longtime UCC minister, preacher, author of Real Good Church, and self-described transformation junkie, Molly has recently made a major vocational turn: leaving parish ministry and stepping into work as a psychedelically assisted spiritual care provider.</p> <p id="baw1x889" class="g45-v AbIRl"></p> <p id="kvnau441" class="g45-v AbIRl">That's plenty to talk about right there! But we also discuss calling, burn out, and leaving church well: not in bitterness or collapse, but with loads of gratitude, honesty, grief work, and devotion. We also reflect on the gifts and limits of the church, the pastoral persona, depression as a spiritual signal, and why direct encounters with God, with the body, with nature, and with non-ordinary states of consciousness may be exactly what many Christians are hungry for.</p> <p id="squdb9279" class="g45-v AbIRl"></p> <h2 id="bxdq19573" class="XXlg9 TVJSs">Find Molly:</h2> <p id="7bmkr9343" class="g45-v AbIRl"><a class="EvN12 imYof" href= "https://www.mollybaskette.com/" target="_blank" rel= "noreferrer noopener" data-hook= "web-link"><u>https://www.mollybaskette.com/</u></a></p> <p id="r8w6r9474" class="g45-v AbIRl"><a class="EvN12 imYof" href= "https://mollybaskette.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel= "noreferrer noopener" data-hook= "web-link"><u>https://mollybaskette.substack.com/</u></a></p> <p id="6qwtw3560" class="g45-v AbIRl"></p> <h2 id="x8hwz3566" class="XXlg9 TVJSs">Episode Highlights</h2> <h2 id="g0cbo6197" class="XXlg9 TVJSs">[00:00] PART 1: Introducing Molly</h2> <p id="eci1m6329" class="g45-v AbIRl"></p> <h2 id="d11cp6834" class="XXlg9 TVJSs">PART 2: Psychedelics</h2> <h3 id="pkkua3738" class="_0mdw3 TVJSs">[03:39] Outside Approved Channels</h3> <div> <ul id="z9g879019" class="_8rVjB"> <li id="nx9rk9020" class="_0ublS" dir="auto"> <p id="rcg3l3741" class="g45-v AbIRl">Molly and Michael discuss why psychedelics and other mystical experiences often feel off-limits in church culture. Molly traces her psychedlic path from its vanilla origins to her most recent powerful encounter.</p> </li> </ul> </div> <h3 id="vh26h5922" class="_0mdw3 TVJSs">[14:20] Real Good Drugs</h3> <div> <ul id="v6xiv9054" class="_8rVjB"> <li id="nr5w39055" class="_0ublS" dir="auto"> <p id="m0p3d5925" class="g45-v AbIRl">Molly describes her call to support psychedelic journeys as a form of spiritual midwifery.</p> </li> </ul> </div> <h3 id="3q57v6305" class="_0mdw3 TVJSs">[17:08] Here's the Next Call</h3> <div> <ul id="p1vhc9089" class="_8rVjB"> <li id="8lvt09090" class="_0ublS" dir="auto"> <p id="dr5526308" class="g45-v AbIRl">Molly reflects on depression, microdosing, and the slow unfolding of a new call beyond parish ministry.</p> </li> </ul> </div> <p id="x3qmk6884" class="g45-v AbIRl"></p> <h2 id="a8g7s6899" class="XXlg9 TVJSs">PART 3: An Exit Interview for the Christian Church</h2> <h3 id="y3bog7801" class="_0mdw3 TVJSs">[21:00] Gratitude</h3> <div> <ul id="3cysg9125" class="_8rVjB"> <li id="6urli9126" class="_0ublS" dir="auto"> <p id="sr9y17804" class="g45-v AbIRl">Molly reflects on leaving church well—with gratitude and a desire to end before burnout became collapse.</p> </li> </ul> </div> <h3 id="i2zwi8215" class="_0mdw3 TVJSs">[26:40] The Pastoral Persona</h3> <div> <ul id="519059160" class="_8rVjB"> <li id="2ccf99161" class="_0ublS" dir="auto"> <p id="smkvq8217" class="g45-v AbIRl">Jeff, Molly, and Michael reflect on the pastoral persona: the useful, powerful self ministers create to serve others, and the inner work of recognizing it without letting it consume the whole soul.</p> </li> </ul> </div> <h3 id="pwlsr8258" class="_0mdw3 TVJSs">[36:01] Smallatics and the Cutting Edge</h3> <div> <ul id="qimje9195" class="_8rVjB"> <li id="2ou589196" class="_0ublS" dir="auto"> <p id="hc1av8261" class="g45-v AbIRl">Molly names the exhaustion of church administration and the relief of moving toward work where more energy goes directly to liberation, transformation, and helping people come alive.</p> </li> </ul> </div> <h3 id="2t8bx8402" class="_0mdw3 TVJSs">[39:05] Contact with Spirit</h3> <div> <ul id="r56l69230" class="_8rVjB"> <li id="0b0fg9231" class="_0ublS" dir="auto"> <p id="lggtu8405" class="g45-v AbIRl">Jeff, Michael, and Molly wonder whether the church's hunger for justice also needs a deeper hunger for direct contact with Spirit.</p> </li> </ul> </div> <h3 id="0h13p8525" class="_0mdw3 TVJSs">[47:58] Devotional Revolution?</h3> <div> <ul id="2zrip9265" class="_8rVjB"> <li id="b2tkl9266" class="_0ublS" dir="auto"> <p id="8w16v8528" class="g45-v AbIRl">Molly reflects on the shift from discipline to devotion, and Michael wonders what it would mean for a whole culture to be broken open and reassembled by love.</p> </li> </ul> </div> <p id="u803h8580" class="g45-v AbIRl"></p> <h2 id= "viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-1qyow13152" class="XXlg9 TVJSs"><span data-hook="background-color">Continue the Conversation</span></h2> <p id= "viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-detlz13009" class="g45-v AbIRl"><span data-hook="background-color">What did you think about this conversation? Tell us at</span> <a class= "EvN12 imYof" href="mailto:gospelofdirectexperience@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" data-hook= "web-link"><u><span data-hook= "background-color">gospelofdirectexperience@gmail.com</span></u></a><span data-hook="background-color"> or reach out at:</span> <a class="EvN12 imYof" href= "https://www.gospelofdirectexperience.com/#contact" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" data-hook="web-link"><u><span data-hook= "background-color">https://www.gospelofdirectexperience.com/#contact</span></u></a><span data-hook="background-color">.</span></p>

April 15, 2026

Robert Bly and the Alchemy of Poetry with Haydn Reiss

<p id="v3sb9488" class="_3fuGK LG40Y" data-pm-slice="1 1 []"> Documentary filmmaker Haydn Reiss joins us to talk about Robert Bly, poetry, translation, longing, grief, and the mysterious art of finding the right words for what the soul knows. We explore Bly's cultural impact, his gift for speaking to the hunger of men, the strange alchemy poetry can work in a life, and what it means to preserve voices that still have the power to change us. Along the way, we also discuss William Stafford, Rumi, Coleman Barks, and why poetry may matter even more in dark and distracted times.</p> <p id="jzekj3442" class="_3fuGK LG40Y"></p> <h2 id="yprid3466" class="S8oyO QM-xp">Watch the Films</h2> <p id="ond6y11389" class="_3fuGK LG40Y">Visit Haydn's <a class= "GuNQY XUB13" href="https://www.youtube.com/@PoetryDocs/videos" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" data-hook= "web-link"><u>Poetry Docs YouTube channel</u></a> to watch his outstanding documentaries on Robert Bly, Rumi, William Stafford, and others for free in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Robert Bly's birth.</p> <p id="r0sgp494" class="_3fuGK LG40Y"></p> <h2 id="s2xkr497" class="S8oyO QM-xp">Episode Highlights</h2> <h3 id="8o36r583" class="W4bDO QM-xp">[00:51] Introduction to Haydn Reiss</h3> <h3 id="9yz4k690" class="W4bDO QM-xp">[02:16] the Alchemy of Robert Bly</h3> <div> <ul id="9fk9v2547" class="g8p7q"> <li id="92uyz2548" class="hz4Ey" dir="auto"> <p id="fv9ms11933" class="_3fuGK LG40Y">Haydn reflects on first encountering Robert Bly in the early 1990s and describes the strange, clarifying alchemy Bly could work simply by reading the right poem at the right moment. The conversation explores Bly's spiritual depth; his impact on men hungry for grief, vulnerability, and meaning; and the way his poetry reaches past analysis and straight into the heart.</p> </li> </ul> </div> <h3 id="i8g7v828" class="W4bDO QM-xp">[14:37] "Good Ingredients"</h3> <div> <ul id="ukdw62577" class="g8p7q"> <li id="9d1s32578" class="hz4Ey" dir="auto"> <p id="dr53d2579" class="_3fuGK LG40Y">Haydn reflects on his path from Hollywood into documentary filmmaking, his nerve-racking decision to approach Robert Bly before he had ever made a film, and the devotion that eventually shaped Robert Bly: A Thousand Years of Joy. Along the way, he shares his creative philosophy (start with "good ingredients.")</p> </li> </ul> </div> <h3 id="1wwah1005" class="W4bDO QM-xp">[21:11] Rumi and Coleman Barks</h3> <div> <ul id="w7sun2609" class="g8p7q"> <li id="ezqok2610" class="hz4Ey" dir="auto"> <p id="gw20t2611" class="_3fuGK LG40Y">Haydn tells the story of how Coleman Barks drew him into making a film about Rumi, and how marriage unexpectedly gave him the key he needed to approach that world: love. The conversation explores Rumi's arrival in the West, the challenge of translation, Coleman's singular voice and presence, and how some translators convey not just the language of a poet, but the experience itself.</p> </li> </ul> </div> <h3 id="8mwnt1260" class="W4bDO QM-xp">[32:23] Singing in the Dark Times</h3> <div> <ul id="pr65w2643" class="g8p7q"> <li id="pzb8l2644" class="hz4Ey" dir="auto"> <p id="l0ns814173" class="_3fuGK LG40Y">Drawing on Bly's The Sibling Society, Haydn reflects on the pressure to conform, the loss of depth and originality, and the uneasy fact that there may be no grand solution—only the difficult work of trying to live truthfully and keep singing in the dark.</p> </li> </ul> </div> <h3 id="z2zi01583" class="W4bDO QM-xp">[40:17] William Stafford and Just War</h3> <div> <ul id="wvykj2679" class="g8p7q"> <li id="nja2o2680" class="hz4Ey" dir="auto"> <p id="w4b1o14236" class="_3fuGK LG40Y">Haydn reflects on making his film about William Stafford's conscientious objection during World War II and on the hard questions Stafford's witness still raises about war and determining the "right thing to do." This is not a simple anti-war argument, but a deeper exchange about just war, opposing views, political simplification, and the need for a moral imagination willing to slow down and wrestle with what is actually right.</p> </li> </ul> </div> <h3 id="kryyd2090" class="W4bDO QM-xp">[48:10] People Like Us</h3> <div> <ul id="3gfx92717" class="g8p7q"> <li id="xyt0s2718" class="hz4Ey" dir="auto"> <p id="wa41d16221" class="_3fuGK LG40Y">As the conversation comes to a close, Haydn reads Robert Bly's poem "People Like Us."</p> </li> </ul> </div> <p id="wsa7u2875" class="_3fuGK LG40Y"></p> <h2 id= "viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-1qyow13152" class="S8oyO QM-xp"><span data-hook="background-color">Continue the Conversation</span></h2> <p id= "viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-viewer-detlz13009" class="_3fuGK LG40Y"><span data-hook="background-color">What did you think about this conversation? Tell us at</span> <a class= "GuNQY XUB13" href="mailto:gospelofdirectexperience@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" data-hook= "web-link"><u><span data-hook= "background-color">gospelofdirectexperience@gmail.com</span></u></a><span data-hook="background-color"> or reach out at:</span> <a class="GuNQY XUB13" href= "https://www.gospelofdirectexperience.com/#contact" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" data-hook="web-link"><u><span data-hook= "background-color">https://www.gospelofdirectexperience.com/#contact</span></u></a><span data-hook="background-color">.</span></p>

34 total episodes available

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Frequently asked questions

Have a different question and can't find the answer you're looking for? Reach out to our support team by sending us an email and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

What is The Gospel of Direct Experience?: In a world of failing traditions and crumbling institutions, the Gospel of Direct Experience is the living Spirit of Truth revealed through our senses, our intuitions, our dreams, and our visions.

Where orthodoxy meets heresy, religion meets the paranormal, and the physical meets the psychic… the Spirit calls us to transcend our inherited dogmas and second-hand stories, waking up to the power, the meaning, and the mystery that are alive and vibrant within us and beyond us.

Join hosts Jeff Mansfield and Michael Ellick for a conversation transcending the boundaries of the conventional world.
How often does this podcast release new episodes?: This podcast updates daily.
Where can I listen to this podcast?: This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
Does this podcast accept guests?: Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.

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