Consciousness - Transformations (loaded 14 July 2017)

Arthur Brown 'Part 3 - 'The Core Of Stillness' - Interview by Iain McNay

Arthur has recorded many albums over a 50 year period and is best known for his No 1 Worldwide hit 'Fire.' He has been a major influence on many successful artists including Alice Cooper, Kiss, Ozzy Osbourne, Peter Gabriel, Iggy Pop and the New York Dolls. His music has always been driven by his spiritual realisations. In Part 3 Arthur talks about his time spent studying and teaching the Beshara tradition. He then moved to Austin, Texas where he forged links with Gurdjieff groups while running a painting and decorating business with the Mothers of Invention drummer, Jimmy Carl Black. He tells an amusing story about being with Da Free John and talks about three people that had significant influence on this spiritual development, Mooji, Satyananda and Ganga. He formed a 'Healing Songs Therapy' group with counsellor Jim Maxwell where a song was created for each of their clients to help them heal. He toured with Robert Plant and in 2013 recorded an album 'based on the Cosmos' called 'Zim Zam Zim.' His spiritual journey was always in the foreground, 'Who Am I? Not my body, Not my thoughts. My mind is at peace. I can bear without the slightest restlessness all manifestations - all thoughts and images that arise - both pleasant and painful. Suddenly I know that this awareness of all and everything is itself a limitation. Subjects, object and consciousness are one and the same'

Loch Kelly - 'Falling Into Awake Awareness' - Interview by Iain McNay

Author of 'Shift Into Freedom.' Loch was a keen sportsman when young. After one ice hockey game when he played in goal and made several amazing saves someone asked him how he did it. He explained, 'time slows down, I feel open and connected, I get really quiet inside and it seems it is strangely quiet on the outside too.' Someone gave him the 'Zen and the Art of Archery' book and he realised that others had had this experience too. At times he could feel exactly what was going on but wasn't thinking. He then started to investigate meditation. And then one night when walking home from college and feeling an overwhelming grief as a result of some recent losses his thoughts quietened, his heart broke open and the weight of despair lifted. He looked up at the stars and noticed that his usual sense of self had gone, yet he felt fully embodied and alive. A new process had begun. Experience showed him that consciousness can shift intelligently but he didn't know yet how to shift it intentionally. He went to Sri Lanka where he did long retreats and then India where he saw the Dalia Lama who recommended he study with Tulka Rinpoche where he learnt Awake Awareness. Over the next few years he embodied this teaching. He worked for many years with people in homeless shelters in NY and sees his life as a continual series of shifts. 'There is no end to the mystery of Life - most of it is beyond human understanding'

Arthur Brown 'Part 1 - The God Of Hellfire' - Interview by Iain McNay

Arthur has recorded many albums over a 50 year period and is best known for his No 1 Worldwide hit 'Fire.' He has been a major influence on many successful artists including Alice Cooper, Kiss, Ozzy Osbourne, Peter Gabriel, Iggy Pop and the New York Dolls. His music has always been driven by his spiritual realisations, 'So many times I have come away from a gig, head full of stars, ears full of hissing, my throat sore with cinders. My body tired but my heart satisfied with song. What I lived I lived in the moment of performing. I didn't know how to receive the applause, that was not what I was there for, it was the moment when I was not there... my voice was singing but I was in bliss.' From an early age he roamed the hills near where he lived singing, talking in rhyme and making up poetry. His spiritual path led him to practice TM; Shivapuir Baba's 'decision exercise;' spend time living in a Gurdjieff community with JG Bennett and visiting Israel and singing for injured soldiers of both sides, as well as many other adventures. During this time he had many realisations: ''suddenly I was consciousness listening to me. I heard the beginning of everything, it sounded like a huge bell. Just before that I heard voices, sounding like Ohm. I knew that everyone heard it differently and that on different levels of consciousness the sound was different. I had in this meditation entered into the bliss body. It had in the contemplation of the sound become apparent that the bliss body was the balance of yin and yang. The movement of these two, from the original hum sound produced all subsequent sounds.'

Arthur Brown 'Part 2 - The Outer And The Inner become One' - Interview by Iain McNay

Arthur has recorded many albums over a 50 year period and is best known for his No 1 Worldwide hit 'Fire.' He has been a major influence on many successful artists including Alice Cooper, Kiss, Ozzy Osbourne, Peter Gabriel, Iggy Pop and the New York Dolls. His music has always been driven by his spiritual realisations, 'So many times I have come away from a gig, head full of stars, ears full of hissing, my throat sore with cinders. My body tired but my heart satisfied with song. What I lived I lived in the moment of performing. I didn't know how to receive the applause, that was not what I was there for, it was the moment when I was not there... my voice was singing but I was in bliss.' From an early age he roamed the hills near where he lived singing, talking in rhyme and making up poetry. His spiritual path led him to practice TM; Shivapuir Baba's 'decision exercise;' spend time living in a Gurdjieff community with JG Bennett and visiting Israel and singing for injured soldiers of both sides, as well as many other adventures. During this time he had many realisations: ''suddenly I was consciousness listening to me. I heard the beginning of everything, it sounded like a huge bell. Just before that I heard voices, sounding like Ohm. I knew that everyone heard it differently and that on different levels of consciousness the sound was different. I had in this meditation entered into the bliss body. It had in the contemplation of the sound become apparent that the bliss body was the balance of yin and yang. The movement of these two, from the original hum sound produced all subsequent sounds.'

Jon Bernie- ''Ordinary Freedom' - Interview by Iain McNay

Author of 'Ordinary Freedom' and 'The Unbelievable Happiness Of What Is.' When he was 4 years old Jon looking up at the stars and asked "what is going on here? Where are we? What is this?" At 6 he started to learn the violin and practiced 2 to 4 hours a day. At 16 he decided to sit in a chair indefinitely to see if he could find what he was looking for. 'Suddenly there was no more room, and there was no more me. It was like I had merged into the sun - like I had become the sun. It was like a kind of universal orgasm, as if every cell in my body had had its own nuclear explosion.' Later he became a monk meditating for 8 hours a day. After leaving the monastery he met Jean Klein who he describes as his 'root guru.' He also spent time with Robert Adams and Adyashanti. 'There was a deep letting go that I realized I had been waiting for a long, long time, and now here it was. In the past there had always been some remaining fear that kept me from fully letting go, but now it was time, and finally I just let it happen - was like a complete annihilation - would later refer to this experience as the end of fear.'

Jrgen Ziewe - 'Vistas Of Infinity' - Interview by Renate McNay

Author of 'The Ten Minute Moment,' 'Multi-Dimensional Man,' and 'Vistas of Infinity.' Jrgen started to meditate at an early age and at one point suddenly discovered himself out of his body. At first he didn't realise what had happened but found confirmation in the books of Carlos Casteneda. He found that there is a wormhole right in the centre of our brains which can catapult us into a parallel world. In this interview he talks us through his many dramatic adventures over 40 years into higher dimensional realities from the darkest places to the most illuminated regions of cosmic Consciousness and realms. He also found out what happens to us after death. He says: "The moment we leave our physical body behind our unconscious becomes our new external walking reality." "Every day I wake up it is the first day of an infinite future."

Jrgen Ziewe - The Ten Minute Moment' - Interview by Iain McNay

Author of 'The Ten Minute Moment,' 'Multi-Dimensional Man,' and 'Vistas of Infinity.' After 40 years of meditation which had gradually taken him to deeper and deeper places Jrgen went on a 7 day personal retreat in as remote cabin in Scotland. He meditated most of the day and experienced a profound awakening. 'After a meditation I slowly opened my eyes and sized up my surroundings - my body had become part of the furniture. I could still perceive the external world through my eyes but my body had turned into a shell - a cardboard cutout - reality was being stripped away before my eyes. I could no longer be sure of what was happening - it was beyond and outside anything I had come to know. The stillness was too vast in its scope to be grasped. There was no reality as I knew it. The thing is it has always been different but I hadn't noticed. It was reality stripped of any familiarity. I could almost not bear it. For a moment I wanted to go back. In an instant I recognised that I was just a thought; an imagination without no substance. This was the death of all deaths. I had arrived at zero point. I was about to be surrendered and reabsorbed into the source. One more step and there would be no return - I was staring into the merciless face of God.' He also talks us through his life, how he refused to accept that the 5 senses was all there is to reality and how that led to a life long quest to find out who or what this consciousness was conscious of.

Paul Harris - 'Postcards From Beyond' - Interview by Iain McNay

Paul suffered from depression and was full of fear and self-doubt when he was younger. His saviour at that time was Indie music and his guitar. He then spent time in India and at one time just 'gave up.' 'The release was truly remarkable. It was like I was freed from my body completely. From the root of my being all the way above my head I just opened up completely. I was no longer 'Paul' or even human.' But his depression came back again in time and he was again miserable and unfulfilled. He found the Aukana Buddhist Monastery in Wiltshire in the UK and moved in for full time training. He meditated for 4 or 5 hours a day and developing mindfulness. For 9 years he pretty much lived on an acre of land. He now leads the monastery. 'I teach the way I have travelled so I know it works. The enlightened mind does not crave for life to be different.'

Sheikh Burhanuddin - 'The Journey Of A Modern Sufi Mystic'' - Interview by Iain McNay

Sheikh Burhanuddin talks about his fascinating journey and experiences along his way to become a Sheikh under the guidance of his master, Sheikh Nazim. From an early age when he was very drawn to be in nature he soon committed his life to finding a master who could guide him on his path. His spent time on different 'seclusions' which were very influential and helpful him with many realizations. He also had a session with spiritual healer Stephen Turoff which triggered a very deep state which lasted for nearly 3 years. He goes on to explain the Uwaysi System which is now an integral part of his teaching.

Paul disappears into the ocean (and Messi is God!) - Interview by Iain McNay

Something happened out of the blue to Paul when he was 15 playing football which was his passion. (he was signed as an apprentice to Cardiff City FC and wanted to become a professional footballer.) He had a strong sense to sit quietly and was overwhelming by a deep brilliant sense of beauty and peace. This went on for 18 months. He felt his sense of free will and choice was dropping away and that he was 'losing the story of Paul.' Life was becoming like a boundless football game. He felt like a kid on beach playing in an ocean of energy with no control over his experiences. He went on to stay in a monastery for 5 years and then lived as a hermit for a year in a caravan. He later married and had two children and now travels and talks with people. He says, 'My character just fell into the ocean.'

Mary Reed - 'The Journey Of An Unwitting Mystic' - Interview by Iain McNay

Mary is author of the book, 'Unwitting Mystic - Evolution Of The Message Of Love.' In the Summer of 2000 she heard a voice deep inside her saying 'You are supposed to be doing something very important.' It didn't leave her alone; the more she tried to ignore it the more persistent it became. She then started to have visions of Christ, Buddha, the Dalai Lama and others. She had no religious or spiritual background and tried to find help to understand and integrate them. Everything failed to make sense to her. Her life fell apart and she attempted suicide by taking 97 pills, but woke up 2 days later. She felt remorse and supreme surrender. Eventually she found help which led her to India where she is now based in a Nunnery. She tells her fascinating story and talks about the realisations life has led her to.

Michael A. Rodriguez -'The Uncreated Light Of Awareness' - Interview by Renate McNay

Michael A. Rodriguez is a spiritual Teacher and Author of the book "The Uncreated Light of Awareness" In this interview Michael tells us about his spiritual yearning as a child and his voracious thirst for Truth, how he became disenchanted with academia and entering a monastic life. He ate, drank, breathed, lived and slept Non-Duality and went through a 5 year purification and alchemical transformation called "Poverty" by Meister Eckhart. He says: "If you think the Universe came first, you are it's prisoner, when you know that you came first, you are free".

Cynthia Bourgeault - 'Seeing With The Eyes Of The Heart' - Interview by Renate McNay

The Reverend Cynthia Bourgeault is a modern day mystic, Episcopal priest and writer. She divides her time between solitude and traveling globally to teach and spread the recovery of the Christian Contemplative and Wisdom Path. Author of several books including, "Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening", "Wisdom Jesus", "The Meaning of Mary Magdalene", "Love is Stronger than Death". In this Interview Cynthia tells us how her Christian Life began encountering the presence of Jesus when she received her first communion and then how she started searching for the missing message in the Church. Very important teachers were Gurdjieff and Ouspensky. She studied the Sacred Dances and Movements which threw her at times into a Rabbit Hole. She also talks about Freedom and the willingness to bare our suffering, GOD's Love, Solitude and Silence.

John Butler - 'Discovering Stillness - Part 1' - Interview by Iain McNay

Author of 'Wonders Of Spiritual Unfoldment' and Mystic Approaches.' His loves were farming and meditation. Tells his story of spiritual unfoldment and how he discovered stillness. It was not always an easy path for him and he went through periods of depressions and hopelessness. 'Realisation is not a personal attainment - it usually comes at times of deep prayer or quietness when the mind is clear of personal me.' 'I'm just a quiet old man of regular habits going up and down the hill to church each day, sitting on a bench when the weather is warm. I don't speak much. Adventures are inside.' 'From worldliness the absolute completion of Pure Being can seem out of touch, more theoretical than real. How can it be relevant to need? Once known however any return to ordinary worldly ways only seem to emphasise its loss. Total longing brings its own reward but all feelings of achievement disappear. Incomparable gifts of Heavenly Grace instruct, inspire, save us from drowning in the world'.

John Butler - 'Discovering Stillness - Part 2' - Interview by Iain McNay

Author of 'Wonders Of Spiritual Unfoldment' and Mystic Approaches.' His loves were farming and meditation. Tells his story of spiritual unfoldment and how he discovered stillness. It was not always an easy path for him and he went through periods of depressions and hopelessness. 'Realisation is not a personal attainment - it usually comes at times of deep prayer or quietness when the mind is clear of personal me.' 'I'm just a quiet old man of regular habits going up and down the hill to church each day, sitting on a bench when the weather is warm. I don't speak much. Adventures are inside.' 'From worldliness the absolute completion of Pure Being can seem out of touch, more theoretical than real. How can it be relevant to need? Once known however any return to ordinary worldly ways only seem to emphasise its loss. Total longing brings its own reward but all feelings of achievement disappear. Incomparable gifts of Heavenly Grace instruct, inspire, save us from drowning in the world'.

Ginger Gilmour - 'Bright Side Of The Moon' - Interview by Iain McNay

Author of 'Bright Side Of The Moon' Met and married Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour with whom she had 4 children. Started her spiritual journey when she became very ill and discovered meditation. Worked and trained with Irena Tweedie, Cecil Collins, Dr Wenger Engel and Gerhard Adler on her processes over the years. 'I discovered the answer to the shadow Collective Unconscious including Anima and Animus. I realised I had always placed a shield between myself and my shadow - I only wanted to focus on Love light and Beauty - I discovered the shadow was marked - 'do not enter broken dreams' I was a puppet controlled by the darkness.' In this interview she talks about her life, her passions, her struggles and breakthroughs and her realizations. Ginger now works as a painter and sculptor.

Mick Collins - 'My Crisis And Transformation' - Interview by Iain McNay

Author of 'The Unselfish Spirit.' Mick left school at 15, working as a manual labourer before joining the army. Visited a Tibetan Monastery intending to stay 2 days and ended up living there for 3 years. 'I started contemplating various attachments and aversions in my conventional existence' and began reflecting on the significance on what a more intimate perspective could mean in the way he lived; began to observe and question how duality was embedded in my thoughts and behaviour.' He was also fascinated by the interplay between form and emptiness. But on a long train journey had an extraordinary experience where he had a heightened sense of compassion and profound feelings of love followed two days later by a slide into a diametrically opposed state. Was flooded by intense emotions; felt he was caught in a conflict between good and evil compounded by feelings of fear and terror. Left monastery and slowly started to find balance again with the help of Jungian work. Felt he had taken a journey into the unknown without a map. Eventually integrated the spiritual crisis and started to learn the interplay between doing and being which is now his passion.

Chloe Goodchild - The Voice Of Silence

Chloe is the founder of The Naked Voice and the heart of her work is the practice of the spoken and sung voice as a Gateway to discover our Non Dual Awareness. Deafness in childhood catalyzed Chloe's discovery of inner sound and silence. This deep encounter with her inner self, catalyzed questions like: " Who Am I", "Who is Singing", " How can I transform my sadness". Chloe had many encounters with indigenous wisdom teachers, spiritual and classical Indian music masters, ultimately leading to a transformative 'no-mind' experience in Northern India, inspired by the great luminary and saint, Anandamayi Ma. This gave birth to the unique method of sound and voice, which Chloe eventually named, The Naked Voice. Her autobiography, The Naked Voice - Journey to the Spirit of Sound tells the story of these formative early years. In this in-depth interview with Renate she talks about her life and her work http://www.thenakedvoice.com

Andrew Rawlinson - 'THE HIT' - Interview by Iain McNay

Author of 'The Hit - Into The Rock'N'Roll Universe And Beyond' and 'The Book Of Enlightened Masters - Western Teachers in Eastern Traditions.' . Andrew Talks about his life and how he was aware that he was continually 'hit' by realisations, small and large, that enabled him to see through his conditioning. 'The HIT is both a grace and a disturbance. All worlds are a show.. Reality is open It is constantly transforming itself It goes beyond itself It is where illusion begins. All derangements are connected. Like sub atomic particles they just keep reflecting each other jumping between each other and turning into each other. Just like a magic trick where certainty and deception change places. It's a jungle, as soon as you find a path you loose it. Everybody is looking for who they are ------- but they are nobody Not only is the world stranger than you imagine - it is stranger than you can imagine. And we are all collaborators in creation. And what is it to collaborate? To know that we are the mirror as well as the face in it, pain and what cures pain. This is the expanse of spirit: rich and dark. Yes, it's the Gods who are rocking us, who are looking for someone to receive them. There is really no reality without identity, and identity is a show.'

Stephen Fulder - 'Awakening Arrives By Itself' - Interview by Iain McNay

'The spacious groundless sense of being needs to become part of our nature, to be familiar territory and then awakening arrives by itself. The ultimate cannot belong to anyone nor can there be someone who is awakened.' Stephen talks us through his spiritual journey and realisations. From realising that there was no fixed reality when he was a child to having his earlier insights confirmed when he took LSD in his 20s. He was drawn to India and the 'Mother Ganges' where he discovered the teachings of S.N. Goenka. Spent time on many retreats with Sayama and other Buddhist teachers such as Stephen Batchelor and Christopher Titmuss. Formed the Israel Insight Society; distanced himself from Buddhism but fully embraced the teachings of the Buddha and still teaches around 15 retreats a year. Also works in the area of Palestinian/Israeli reconciliation. 'There is no way to peace, Peace is the way.' Can describe his lived experience with great precision and clarity; took part on a study which explored 3 stages: Stage 1 - ordinary sense of self and boundary Stage 2 - sense of dropping boundary to some extent Stage 3 - dissolution In this interview he explains these stages in detail.

Gabor Harsanyi - 'The Master Of Silence' - Interview by Iain McNay

Gabor was born in Communist Hungary but escaped after the failed 1956 uprising. Travelled on foot to Italy and then lived in a refugee camp for a time in Italy before reaching Canada. Became a multi-millionaire very quickly but then found he was miserable and depressed when he realised this outer success didn't bring him any real happiness.'I had achieved outer freedom but was far, far away from inner, real freedom.' The market crashed and he lost almost everything. Lived in a forest for a time, 'I wanted to say NO to civilisation.' Moved to Mexico and then started to experience, real, deep, suicidal depression. Moved in with an Indian tribe in Ecuador, 'it was there I found that I could not just sit and BE like the Indians.' 'This suicidal depression became my greatest teacher.' He discovered the secret to finding real freedom was going inside his body, 'Whenever I was able to do it I became calm and my mind would stop. I spent much time sitting by the water and experimenting with grounding my body to the beach. There were moments when all of a sudden the sound of the waves became different and the mind was so still that there were hardly any remnants of the depression. I would get up and start walking and the sand and the water on my feet felt unlike it had ever felt before. This marked the beginning of the end of depression'. After a time he was able to surrender to his ultimate love - presence - the silence of nothing where the mind takes a back seat and becomes the servant and the original being is once again on the throne. He now helps people free themselves from thought addiction.

Georgi Y Johnson and Bart Ten Berge - 'Anxiety And Awakening' - Moderated by Renate and Iain McNay

In this interview Georgi Y Johnson, Author of "I AM HERE" and her Partner Bart Ten Berge, Author of "THE GIFT" 7 STEPS to a Happy and Fulfilled Life", discuss the meaning of anxiety and depression in the process of Awakening. Fear is a natural part of physical life but we need to unhook our fears as the authority on our thoughts, feelings and choices. The way to do this is not to repress fear but give it space. Liberated fear is alive and appropriate to the moment. For many, severe Anxiety or Panic attacks can be the turning point in finding themselves. Georgi is telling us her own story of a period of Deep Depression, Panic Attacks and Anxiety; looking for help she met Bart who is a Healer and the co-founder of the International School of Spiritual Psychology (ISSP) based in Holland.

Martyn Wilson - 'The State Of No Thought' - Interview by Iain McNay

Author of 'Enlightenment - The Keys To Consciousness.' Martyn only talks from his own experience. He was an ordinary guy with a normal life; family, work and all the usual stresses. He met Maria who was interested in spiritual enlightenment and at first he was very sceptical of her interest. He set out to disprove that such a thing existed and worked hard to find faults in her arguments. But then 'the impossible happened' and he actually started to wake up himself. He found a method that stilled his mind, and his thoughts would stop for few seconds. He persevered and in time those few seconds became a few minutes. He then found he could stop all uncontrolled thoughts and was in control of his mind. What had been his master became his servant. He talks us through his story and shares the method that he found worked for him as a meditation.

Nurit Oren - 'The Blonde On The Rocky Road to Freedom' - Interview by Iain McNay

Author of 'The Blind Leading The Blonde On The Road To Freedom.' Nurit was born in Israel, her parents were atheist Jewish pioneers - in a Kibbutz where the kids lived separately - there was no family unit to relate to - was allowed to be wild/play naked. But all changed when family moved to Canada. In her late teens served in the Israeli army for two years where she was stationed in Gaza where it was very dangerous. One day she hitchhiked to the wailing wall in Jerusalem and stuck a piece of paper between the cracks saying ' I want to find true love, divine love, the love of God that is pure, unchanging and everlasting.' Found books by Muktananda and went to live in his ashram in India where she was a dedicated disciple. There she got up at 3am every day - then meditation then chanting then work no breakfast, then chanting then lunch then work then more chanting then work, then dinner. There was no socialising at all. She had a kundalini awakening then decided to stay indefinitely. But Muktananda died. Moved to Toronto, found a teacher called Dr Mills and stayed with him for 15 years. She had then been on a spiritual path for 40 years and still didn't feel free. Met Gabor Harsanyi, 'It's very simple. Look at me and feel your hand without looking at it. Notice that your mind will stop.' When she did this something shifted inside her She felt a very subtle sensation of wellness and peace. 'Now I get it' she realised 'This is it.. this is what I have been searching for.'

Georgi Y Johnson - 'I AM HERE' - Interview by Renate McNay

Georgi is the Author of "I AM HERE - Opening the windows of life and beauty". In this interview she talks about her process of Awakening which led her into writing this book and the teaching of I AM HERE. Her first conscious awakening was when she was 2 years old, lying on the bed and calling her own name, like a Mantra, Georgi, Georgi, Georgi, when suddenly she became strange to herself."I was not me, not this name.so who was I"? Sporadic awakenings continued and she realised later that it was her conviction to understand the meaning of Life which she beautifully played out in her book "I AM HERE". She talks about the three stages of her awakening which started from the head up, the heart was still held prisoner, later the heart was open to unconditional love yet the body was still held prisoner. She also explains the difference between Consciousness, Awareness and Emptiness..'Enlightenment comes with the liberation of Awareness.'

Russel Williams - 'Looking Through The Horse's Eyes' - Interview by Iain McNay.

Russel was born in 1921 in a very poor family. He was orphaned at 11 and came close to death many times. In the second world war he took part in the Dunkirk evacuation and lived through the Blitz. He was never afraid. He joined a circus after the war and worked with the animals. It was here that he suddenly became aware that, 'I am the horses, dogs, the lion, the trees - everything is true nature.' He hasn't had any unwanted thoughts since he was 29 years old. 'The only way to attain experience is to come to complete emptiness; that is to come to the end of the thought mind. But you will find that the emptiness was never empty because it is a potential for all that may come to be. We enter into an area of extremely fine aspects of consciousness that dissolves into itself and loses duality. And then there is only 'that.' Everything leads back to this emptiness. No form of understanding can connect you to this. It has to be seen within itself. The peace that passes all understanding that is emptiness. It is completely fulfilling in itself. You can just BE instead of think.'Russel has a book available written with Steve Taylor, 'Not I, Not Other Than I: The Life and Teachings of Russel Williams'.

Ravi Ravindra - 'A Voice Without A Form' - Interview by Iain McNay

Author of many books including 'Science and the Sacred,' 'Krishnamurti - Two Birds On One Three' and 'Heart Without Measure. - Gurdjieff work with Madam de Salzmann.' Ravi was born in India in 1939. As a teenager he found himself reading the works of Swami Vivekananda and being 'pulled by a longing to understand the mystery and significance of life. He was struck by one particular statement: 'I am a voice without a form.' It opened a door to a new dimension for him. He talks about his time with Krishnamurti, 'Silence was a special delight to both of us, it was easy to understand each other's thoughts and feelings.' And then his 10 years with Madame De Salzmann who was head of the Gurdjieff work since the latter's death in 1949. She stressed, 'attention is all that we have, that is to say, attention is all that we can bring. The rest is out of our control. A higher energy is there. The purpose of man's existence on Earth is to allow the exchange of energy between the earth and higher levels of existence.'

Arjuna Ardagh - 'Waking Up and Changing the World' - Interview by Iain McNay

Author of 'The Translucent Revolution - How People Just Like you are waking up and changing the world,' Better Than Sex - The Ecstatic Art of Awakening Coaching' and 'How About Now' talks about his life and work. In 1991, after returning to India for a prolonged period of meditation, Arjuna met H.W.L. Poonja, a direct student of Ramana Maharshi. With Poonja's help, Ardagh went through a radical shift of perspective. Rather than attaining what he had imagined, he had the profound realization that what he had been seeking for was what he already was, and always had been. He realized that it was in the abandonment of all seeking and wanting that the heart found its fulfillment. In 1992 Ardagh to return to the West to "share this secret with his friends." He returned to Seattle and began to work with people one-on-one and in groups, facilitating a dramatic shift in awareness with thousands of people throughout the United States and Europe. He quickly discovered that this same realization was easily accessible to anyone who was willing to look in the right place, and that this had a profound effect on simple day-to-day life.

Reggie Ray - 'Finding Realization In The Body' - Interview by Renate McNay

Dr. Reginald "Reggie" Ray is the Founder and Spiritual Director of the Dharma Ocean Foundation. He met Chgyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1970, a few weeks after his arrival in the US, and became one of his first American students. After spending time in India he moved to Colorado where he became the first full-time faculty member and chair of the Buddhist Studies. From the beginning of his study with Trungpa Rinpoche, Reggie held many roles in Rinpoche's lineage - student, scholar, meditation instructor, and teacher. Reggie has always combined his study and teaching with a strong meditation practice, including daily practice and annual solitary retreats of 1-3 months each year. He has accumulated some 6-7 years in solitary retreat, in which he has explored all of Trungpa Rinpoche's practice teachings. He has also explored somatic teachings east and west, traditional and modern, such as Yoga and Qi Gung (which he practices today) and traditions such as the work of Gerda Alexander, Rolfing, and Hakomi therapy and therapeutic techniques. He now incorporates much of the wisdom of these earth-based lineages and traditions into his teaching, because, as he says, Vajrayana is essentially an earth-based tradition already. Reggie has written extensively and is the author of several books including "Indestructible Truth", "Secret of the Vajra World" and "Touching Enlightenment - Finding Realization in the Body." "To be awake, to be enlightened, is to be fully and completely embodied. To be fully embodied means to be at one with who we are, in every respect, including our physical being, our emotions, and the totality of our karmic situation."

Rory O'Connor - 'I Can't Do This Anymore' - Interview by Iain McNay

Rory was the youngest of 8 children and raised in the Catholic tradition. 'I remember looking at my parent's life and thinking that it seemed like a kind of hell, a trap that they 'believed' they could not get out of. From where I stood, frustration seemed to dog their lives.' He became a drummer in a heavy metal band but became very depressed and stopped playing music. But he kept searching, reading, started TM, and openings started to appear. 'At some point in my late thirties I had a real moment of clarity, a paradigm shift. I realised that what I understood of quantum science and the eastern traditions was essentially describing the same thing ie. the concept of everything appearing out of nothing through the observer. From then on 'reality' seemed a lot less 'solid'. 'Concurrent events in my personal life had also conspired to create an actual 'breakdown' moment where the pain of trying to keep everything 'together' caused me to smash the kitchen table to pieces with my bare hands only to find myself sitting in the rubble saying repeatedly "I can't do this anymore". It may not sound like it but this 'moment of surrender' was the best thing that ever happened to me.' 'When you know that you know nothing then you are free to consider anything and believe nothing. It doesn't matter how you describe it or label it life simply is what it is and the description/label is meaningless'

Heath Thompson - 'Returning To The Source Is Stillness' - Interview by Iain McNay

Heath's spirituality began by joining a Buddhist practice under the teachings of the Vietnamese Zen monk Thich Nhat Hahn. He joined a two-year distance learning course called Foundation of Buddhism but quit believing that if there is an Absolute Truth it would be simple and not require academic discussion to find it. His Realisation occurred over two, perhaps three 'moments'; the first happened the day he quit the course, 'I was sitting in the garden absent-mindedly watching bees and insects flying around while drinking tea and I suddenly noticed a feeling appear in my stomach that vanished the moment I witnessed it, and an inner voice said to me "you will never feel that again." So he decided to simply sit without a real reason and just be silent and see if it returns - and it did, long enough for him to realise what was being expressed; an endless pool of stillness. 'My life totally changed a month later when getting out of bed I glanced through the window at the sky and saw, felt, heard the same Presence I had felt on the inside and I knew at once all is One, there is no inside or outside, no here or there, no birth or death, nowhere to go, nothing to do - all is as it is. I laughed at myself for even though I suspected the Truth to be simple I had not expected it to be ablaze wherever I looked. This happened in October 2009 and I spent until February 2011 feeling unable to express what I knew as my sangha had people with over 20 years experience of practice who didn't like my attempts to question some of the teachings. In the end I decided to leave and spend my time learning from nature.'

Debra Wilkinson - 'Awake And Ready' - Interview by Iain McNay

Debra was the child of an alcoholic Mother who started seeking because she could not live with her mind's conditioning anymore. She was a mass of anxiety, hurt and plagued by the past and terrified by the future. She started to meditate which helped to lift the heavy energies she had acquired. She developed a very painful nerve condition and learnt to be with the pain. Found that a dreadful curse became a true blessing. She would spend 5 hours a day in meditation and got to the point where, 'I was done.' 'I thought I knew who I was but suddenly I wasn't that anymore. So I sat with it and asked 'Who Am I?' 'Who or what is that?' And the answer came 'I am God!' I realised in that moment I am God in expression and now my mind was free. Now there is just me and God and me knowing that I am God.'

Linda Clair - 'I Am Enlightened' - Interview by Renate McNay

Linda was born in Sydney in 1958. She had virtually no interest in meditation or spiritual matters until the age of 37, when she was introduced to Peter Jones, who became her first teacher. This meeting was an intense experience for her. There was a depth to the communication she had never experienced before, and it triggered a search for freedom, which was soon the major focus of her life. At this time she had two teenage children and was running a small business, but she managed to make time for intensive meditation. In 1997 she had a profound awakening during a ten-day retreat in northern New South Wales. She later described the experience as 'deeper than bliss'.There was a marked change in her after the awakening, which was really a very strong glimpse of enlightenment. She knew now what was possible, and she also knew that she would not be satisfied until that state became permanent. She maintained the humble attitude of a student and continued to practice.During this time she met the Japanese Zen Master, Hogen Yamahata, who also impressed her with his deeply enlightened presence and humility.In 2004 she travelled to Japan and spent six weeks at a Zen monastery with Hogen-san's Master, Harada Tangen Roshi, known as Roshi Sama. Her time with him was intense. She sensed she was close to the culmination of her journey. She returned to Australia in a deeply detached, peaceful state. Roshi Sama gave her the name Dai'an Jishin, which translates as 'deep peace, compassionate heart/mind'. Her search ended during a ten-day retreat with Hogen-san at Springbrook, in the mountains behind the Gold Coast in Queensland.'Everything changed. All fear disappeared. I was left with nothing and nothing to lose. The depth of peace and satisfaction overwhelmed me, and it continues to deepen every day. Life is immediate. There is no desire for anything more or different. This is enough.'

Francis Bennett - 'The Key To Happiness' - Interview by Iain McNay

Francis Bennett was a Roman Catholic, Trappist monk for a number of years. He lived in two monasteries of the Trappist Order in the US and was also a member of an urban, contemplative monastic community originally founded in Paris, France in 1975. He has lived in France at several monasteries, and in Canada at a small monastic community in Montreal Quebec. He received a five and a half year monastic/spiritual formation with the Trappists before he made his vows as a monk at Gethsemani Abbey in 1983. He has worked in ministry in the area of spiritual Care in the hospice movement, as a hospital chaplain and in spiritual care of the sick and dying in parish settings. In 2010, while in the middle of a Church Service in his monastery in Montreal, Francis suddenly experienced what he has come to call, "a radical perceptual shift in consciousness", in which he discovered the ever present presence of spacious, pure awareness. He came to see that this awareness is actually the unchanging essence of who he really is and always has been; the Supreme Self. He also came to see simultaneously, that this vast, infinite sense of presence at the center of his being (and at the center of the being of everyone else on the planet) is actually not at all separate from the presence of God, which he had been looking for during his many years as a monk and spiritual seeker.

Jah Wobble - 'Riding The Sonic Boom To Heaven' - Interview by Iain McNay

Jah Wobble was the original bass player in the band, Public Image Limited (PIL), which was formed by former Sex-pistols singer John Lydon (Rotten). He was 17 when he joined the band. He came from a tough and at times violent East London background. When he was young he developed a taste for short wave radio oscillations; they put him into a stat...e of trance and he could sleep better. 'It felt like listening to infinity.' From an early age he had strong spiritual bent, he discovered the Upanishads and was captivated by ancient teachings. Music, especially the bass guitar and his spiritual life became indelibly intertwined. 'When you truly accept the bass as an emanation of God as the ground of existence you make a friend of impermanence, a state of flux, therefore the fear of losing what you have diminishes.you truly ride the rhythm - you will reside in the residence of 'OM' you can ride the sonic boom to heaven.' 'My bass playing relies first and foremost on intuition - it is necessary to remain innocent - intuition is directed from the solar plexus - the knowing sun in the guts.' After years on the road with bands he became an alcoholic, 'Whenever I drank all the fear disappeared and the tension left my body' but he couldn't go on like that and became completely burnt out. His Marriage broke up and he was left with crushing sense of failure. After joining AA and finding a real depth in his spiritual path life, 'I found I was grateful for every drink and drug I had taken because it was because of them I now had a beautiful and stable life which in turn led to a great productivity. I felt really alive and sensitised, I had simply grasped what it is to be human. Everything in life was sort of emptying out and becoming simpler. I was now at the stage of developing a meditative mind. There came a point where there was no difference between making music and spirituality - the world might have been getting crazier but I was getting better.'

Jenny Boyd - 'Staring Into The Face Of God' - Interview by Iain McNay

Jenny Boyd is the author of 'It's Not only Rock 'n' Roll' a book where she presents interviews with 75 musicians about how their creativity functions. Jenny works as a psychologist and addictions consultant in London. She wanted to understand how the minds and souls of these artist could create such great music. Her own spiritual awakening first started when she was 18. 'A tingling sensation rippled through my body, everything appearing crystal clear. I felt like a channel for the deeper parts of myself, as if I was watching myself from above. There was also a feeling of unity. My search for enlightenment had begun, I was now on a path from which I would often swerve but never leave.' In 1967 she travelled with the Beatles to India to spend time with Maharishi Maheshi Yogi (her sister Pattie was going out with - and later married - George Harrison at the time)

Here she learnt to meditate. She became a successful model in London, and later married Mick Fleetwood the drummer in Fleetwood Mac. 'After many years of being involved with everything that went along with rock 'n' roll I decided to go to college and study psychology.' She talks about her own journey as well as the fascinating process she discovered about musicians creativity. 'Peak experience can happen when the artist is totally in the here and now. A time of complete concentration that overtakes the mundane - the experience of eternity right here and now - by completely concentrating on the music they are able to open themselves up - the result can be songs that come from nowhere.'

Nicholas Hagger - '+A+-A = The Great Nothing' - Interview by Iain McNay

Nicholas Hagger is a poet, cultural historian and philosopher and is the author of more than 35 books including his two latest just released, 'My Double life 1 - This Dark Wood' and 'My Double Life 2 - A Rainbow Over the Hills.' In this interview he talks about his life, his spiritual awakenings and how they have changed the way he sees reality. 'I asked Japanese poet Junzabuto Nishwaki in 1965 for a distillation of the wisdom of the East - he wrote on a business card +A+-A=0. The Great Nothing. He explained that the Universe is a unity that reconciles all contradictions, that the One combines day and night, life or death.'

'Libya accelerated my drastic purgation and remaking of myself. I was on the universal mystic way without realising it - I didn't know that my dark night of the senses would help me back onto the right path of detachments, illumination and transformations - I would have to traverse hell before I could reach inner serenity - I now felt more intensely than ever that I had lost my way in a dark wood and was I still searching for my right path.' 'This was my first glimpse of the celebrated golden flower, the centre and the source of my being. White light flowing upwards... a spring opened up inside me... visions wobbled inside me... I saw a fountain of light .Finally I said to myself , 'I surrender' and I was drunk with flowing light.'

Giles Hutchins - The Illusion Of Separation - Interview by Iain McNay

Giles has written two books, The Illusion of Separation and The Nature of Business. He says, "Our patterns of thinking and learning are all based on a world of things which we are encouraged to think of as separate building. The dominant world view allows us to count and measure objects without their having any relational value for us.... It provides for neat definitions and a sense of control over life yet projects a logic that sets humans apart from each other and from Nature itself. Yet the deeper we look into nature the more we realise that nothing in life is separate; everything is a dynamic interplay. Life is essentially co-creative, fluid and connective. Separateness is an illusion we have created which has fast become a dangerous delusion infecting how we think and relate in business politics and beyond. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the critical problem facing our planet cannot be resolved with the same thinking that created the problems in the first place. In Devon, my daily meditations and yoga were supplemented with sitting against trees I got to know intimately. I learnt a Druidic tree meditation and healing practice which I practiced daily with the trees. I also started writing short articles while sitting next to trees, blogs for a personal website. Then the Guardian newspaper offered to pay for me to write blogs for them and soon after that a publisher approached me about writing a book on business inspired by nature. 'Leaving corporate life was all contrary to my conditioning of security, career, status, financial income, etc. and while my earnings have been pathetic in comparison since, it is with no regrets. I gave myself the vital space and time to deepen my inner psychic connection to Nature and also to recover from years of shell-shocking global travel, stress, burning the candle at both ends. I underwent something of a metamorphosis from 2012 to 2014, gradually healing while letting go of old mentalities, going through a 'dark night of the soul', embracing the unconscious depths of my imaginal realm and making friends once again with the stillness within."

Kristiina Helin - Seeing Is Seeing Itself - Interview by Renate McNay

Kristiina is a Finnish Music Stage Director and a mother. As a child she had strong energy and Out of Body experiences which left her terrified. Having also had a violent upbringing she realized the need for relaxing and releasing emotional stress was essential. In her twenties she entered an Acting School in London where she explored her senses and radically questioned her perception and reality. Coincidentally she found out about Japanese Butoh Dance and travelled to Japan to study its philosophy. The most important exercise was Bisoku movement which is extremely slow. Dancing for example to the smell of a flower or to different images, becoming one with whatever caught her attention; a blade of grass, a tree. Back in Holland she entered a long period of silence where she took action to the zero and fell into a deep depression. At a gathering with Rupert Spira in Amsterdam she had a profound shift in her perception, looking into a mirror she was neither in her body nor in the mirror, she had disappeared.

Adrian Rides and John Flaherty - 'Addiction and Awakening' - Interview by Iain McNay

John is author of the book, 'Addiction Unplugged - How To Be Free and has worked in the field of addiction for 25 years. He was previously a Catholic Priest but left when he was 35 having felt he had handed his life over to the Church. At this point he felt physically, mentally and emotionally drained and he knew it was time to move on. Adrian started drinking heavily at an early age to avoid feelings of intense anxiety and reached the point where his marriage had broken down and he was in a deep depression. He discovered meditation and his life started to change. Shortly afterwards he had an experience, 'I realised that now is all that there is and that the past and future were simply torments of my mind. I realised that I was alive, that my aliveness was not separate from the aliveness in everything, I realised that I was life itself and that I had found myself.' He also works in the field of addiction and teaches mindfulness in London. Adrian's website is:www.lovelifelivenow.com and John's is http://www.beawarebealive.com

Eimear Moran - 'A Feather On The Breath Of God' - Interview by Renate McNay

Eimear Moran is the Author of the book, 'The Garden Path Home to Eden - A new Way of seeing Love, Self and the Garden.' Eimear could always see the Divine in Nature and when her life seemed to fall apart she could only allow this total "free Fall" in the safe place of her Garden where she would sit with all her pain and loneliness. One day she sat in her Garden looking at a Hawthorn Tree; it was a grey, cold day and miserable. The tree looked poor and barren and she thought: "I must look as barren to this tree as he to me." In this moment she woke up and realized her true Nature. An amazing feeling of love came over her, it was a reality of heavenly perfection and she knew she had met God. Eimear can be contacted at:eimearmoran@eircom.net

Prajna Ginty - 'The Edge Of Grace' - Interview by Renate McNay

Prajna is a Mother, Spiritual Teacher and Author of the book, 'Edge of Grace - A Seeker's Path to the Heart of Liberation.' She was on top of the 'Enlightenment Mountain' and spent 7 years in Samadhi when she was thrown by spirit into a cauldron of transmuting fire. A long walk in the dark night began where she felt she cannot live this life anymore. One night she went close to the Cliff and began jumping when something picked her up saying, 'this is your purpose and the life to live,.you're staying, go home.' Prajna explains: 'I want everyone to know that regardless of their circumstances they can directly experience wholeness, return to the deepest peace and live in freedom'.

Bart Marshall - 'Only This Emptiness' - Interview by Iain McNay

In the Vietnam War a mortar landed nearby that blew Bart into a clear and brilliant blackness that, "Felt like home. I would have gladly stayed in that blackness, but instead I was brought back into a world I could no longer view in the same way." When he returned in 1968 he experimented with LSD, read everything he could find that might offer clues to what had happened to him, studied meditation and attended workshops. After 20 years he hit a wall as a seeker and then met the teacher Richard Rose whom he studied with for 5 years. It was after a weekend with Douglas Harding that a breakthrough finally happened. "Being the source of everything that is nothing - everything and nothing, only this emptiness."

Deborah Westmoreland - 'Being Knowing Being' - Interview by Renate McNay

Deborah Westmoreland is a poet, a spiritual teacher and the author of Being Knowing Being, which is an upcoming book of spiritual essays. After several tragedies her big question was, "How can I end suffering?" She was sick and tired of Deborah. Her mind was too busy to sit in meditation so she started doing running meditations finding the moment. Never got ahead of her breath, nor behind. She disconnected from all her belief structures and attachments till she awakened one day, and realized that she had always been in Heaven. She says, "You have to become disinterested in the character, not interested in the story. Suffering is optional it's self-imposed." She never had a spiritual teacher, nor followed any teaching.

Ocke de Boer - 'Higher Being Bodies' - Interview by Iain McNay

Ocke is the author of the book, Higher being Bodies, which is based on a non-dualistic approach to the Fourth Way. Ever since hearing the song, 'Why Are We Sleeping' by Kevin Ayers when he was a teenager, Ocke realized that reality was different to what he had learnt and wanted to wake up. He became a sailor when he was 16, worked in a youth prison when he was 20, and then started to read Ouspensky and Gurdjieff. "This was like coming home," he says. In this interview, he talks about applying sacred ideas and explains 'coating,' the dual-nature of human beings. We have a physical body composed of material from the Earth and a Kesdjan body which is composed of matter from the solar system. "I am the absence of my presence and I am the absence of the presence of my presence."

Thomas Mueller - 'The Matrix Of Silence' - Interview by Renate McNay

Thomas Mueller is the author of The Natural Health Matrix: Eastern Wisdom for Western Minds. He is an Ayurvedic Practitioner, Meditation and Yoga Teacher and the Founder of AYUWAVE. In this interview he tells us his journey for health and peace and his path to waking up. He spent 10 years in the Ashram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at the Vedic University in Holland and taught hundreds of students around the globe Ayurvedic therapies, meditation and yoga. The biggest thing he learnt was TRUST, and listening to the Song of Silence became the Matrix leading him to an incredible source of energy and peace.

Christine Jensen - 'Trauma and Awakening' - Interview by Renate McNay

Christine specializes in 'Trauma Resolution Work' which was originally pioneered by American psychologist, Peter Levine. She was brought up in the outbacks of Australia very connected to nature, the stars and the earth and sees today the importance of it for regulation and harmony of our nervous system. She talks about trauma in spirituality and why trauma is in the way to fully Awaken. "Everything we experience is registered in the body and it has to be felt there so that the nervous system can release the blocked energy of the trauma, shock and stress, and heal. Our whole human system from psyche to cell wants to heal and move towards greater wholeness."

Faisal Muqaddam - 'The Essential Enneagram as a Spiritual Path to Awakening' - Interview by Eleonora Gilbert

Faisal Muqaddam is the originator of the Diamond Logos teachings. He is a psycho-spiritual teacher and a trained Reichan and bioenergetics therapist. He has been teaching for the last 35 years in the USA, Middle East and Europe. In this interview we explore the concept of 'the family hole' and how the child develops his personality structure based on what's psychologically 'missing' in the family. Also we explore the essential states of each type and which organs in our body are related to its ennea-type.

Faisal Muqaddam - 'The Glory Of The Human Being.' - Interview by Renate McNay

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