Launched February 2024, the Wise Talkers Podcast is the home of six interviews from decades past when I was conducting live radio broadcasts. In these Legacy Editions I re-purpose each original conversation with a new introduction and epilogue to provide context to the previously recorded live interview. I provide brief background on the guest and the interview, and after the interview plays, I discuss its relevance today. More information at wisetalkers.com
This 6th Legacy Edition of Wise Talkers features a 1979 radio show in which I was interviewed about meditation on KNCO in Grass Valley, California. I was teaching meditation classes at the time. It’s an interesting look back on how meditation was viewed 45 years ago, and how I taught and practiced it in a practical, ‘demystified’ way. With questions from the host, KNCO’s Mark Johnson, and four callers, we discussed: how meditation compares to day-dreaming; how it can be used for planning...
12 Jul 2024
The Serenity and Tumult of Swami Kriyananda – A Mid-Life Conversation with Yogananda’s Beloved Disciple
This 5th Legacy Edition features an interview I conducted in 1981 with Swami Kriyananda, direct disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda and founder of Ananda Village, headquartered in Nevada County, California.
Kriyananda was a controversial figure in the world of yoga gurus. He was beloved and even favored by Yogananda, but fell out of favor with the organization Yogananda founded, the Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) ten years after Yogananda’s death. Several years after being harshly renounced and ex-communicated from SRF in 1962, which was devastating to Kriyananda, he set out on his own, by founding Ananda, to fulfill what he believed to be Yogananda’s vision.
My interview with Kriyananda in 1981 proved have been conducted at a pivotal point in his journey, as just two years later he let go of his monastic vows, including celibacy, and left Ananda. He married in 1985, divorced in 1994. He took up his vows again in 1995 and spent his years thereafter teaching mostly in Europe and India to devoted audiences until his death at 86 in Assisi, Italy.
In retrospect, this 43-year-old interview provides an intriguing snapshot near the midpoint of a fascinating life and career.
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29 May 2024
From the Emerald Triangle: Marijuana and Health – My 1996 Interview with Two Humboldt County Doctors
This 4th “Legacy Edition” of the Wise Talkers podcast features an interview I conducted in 1996 on KMUD radio in southern Humboldt County, California. In conversation with two doctors from the heart of the famed Emerald Triangle, one of the world’s largest marijuana-producing regions, we discussed the long-term health effects of regular marijuana use.
There were very few research studies in the United States on marijuana in 1996, 20 years before it became legal for recreational use in California. We reviewed research conducted in Jamaica and other countries, and also the professional expertise of Dr. Marc Phelps and Dr. Bill Hunter. Four listeners called in, relating their own experience and views on the subject, addressing built-in research bias issues, sacramental used of cannabis, and how usage and health effects vary in different cultures.
Only the first half of the original one-hour interview was available, unfortunately, but it nonetheless covers a variety of views on and experiences with cannabis use. After the truncated interview plays, I close with a suggestion of doing a future live-streamed episode of Wise Talkers with listener call-ins, focusing on the use of marijuana not just for recreational or medical benefits, but as an aid in the exploration and expansion of consciousness.
(I did not create a transcript for this episode, partly because it was difficult to distinguish voices when there was cross-talk. However, Apple Podcasts features their AI-generated transcript of the episode.)
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9 May 2024
Integrating Spirituality and Psychotherapy, with Dr. Ron Mann
This third full episode of Wise Talkers features an interview with psychotherapist Dr. Ron Mann that I conducted in 1981. Dr. Mann’s life and career was greatly influenced by a workshop he took in Hawaii in 1976 with Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. The immediately preceding episode of Wise Talkers featured my 1981 interview with Kübler-Ross – and this 1981 interview with Ron Mann is a natural sequel.
In our interview, Ron relates some extraordinary mystical experiences he had during his 1976 workshop with Elisabeth, and a number of others as well, including during his therapy sessions with clients. He explains how these phenomena integrate with his spiritual worldview, and he also examines them from a scientific viewpoint.
Dr. Mann describes how he incorporates psychotherapy into his spiritual practice – and vice versa – both with his patients and in his personal life.
Finally, I share some thoughts on the view of life put forth by both Ron Mann and Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, provide a quick review of Ron’s activities since our interview, and talk about my evolving vision for this podcast.
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7 Apr 2024
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: “On Death & Dying”…and Beyond
This episode features a live radio interview I conducted in 1981 with death and dying pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. The episode begins with an overview of the remarkable life of the late Swiss-American psychiatrist, and the enormous impact her lifework has had on how the medical world and the public at large view and treat the dying process. Hospice, palliative care, end-of-life studies, dying with dignity – we owe a great debt to Kübler-Ross for what we now take for granted as the ideal model.
In our 25-minute conversation, we covered a wide range of subjects related to death and dying: what happens at the moment of death; Elisabeth’s convictions about life after death; children and death; working with parents who have lost children in violent incidents. We also talked about parenting and grandparenting, about unconditional love and child rearing.
After the interview, I offer some personal reflections on my own experience with death, and why we should take Kübler-Ross’ views seriously. I close with an invitation to join in an ongoing conversation centered around viewing the many critical problems we face today, individually and collectively, through the lens of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’ “radically enlightened” views on death and dying.
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20 Feb 2024
The Timeless Wisdom of Gary Snyder
When I got the idea last September to start the Wise Talkers podcast in search of actionable wisdom that can help us navigate today’s turbulent world, I knew just where to start: with an interview I conducted with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gary Snyder… 45 years ago!
Gary’s extensive knowledge of Indigenous cultures and ancient wisdom informs his eloquent advocacy for appropriate technology in a lower-energy future, and living a simpler, more communal lifestyle in harmony with nature.
The episode begins with a few minutes of background on Gary Snyder, and then a re-play of my 1979 interview. I close with a few brief reflections on why Gary’s wise words spoken then are still relevant today.
Finally, I read one of Gary Snyder’s poems, with a special musical background.
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12 Feb 2024
Actionable Wisdom for Turbulent Times
On Wise Talkers I engage in one-on-one conversations with guests from a diverse array of backgrounds – teachers and writers, scientists and spiritual teachers, psychologists and philosophers, activists, Indigenous leaders, social entrepreneurs – changemakers and thought leaders who have some valuable wisdom to share. Not just armchair philosophizing, but actionable wisdom that can help us understand and navigate these turbulent times we’re living through.
And that’s what Wise Talkers is all about, navigating the turbulence – both its distressing elements and its hopeful aspects – while keeping our eyes on the prize: making this world a better place for all of us.
If this idea of a wide-ranging inquiry and exploration intrigues you, I invite you to join me on the Wise Talkers journey. More information on wisetalkers.com
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