• 752. Robert Lawrence Kuhn – Closer to Truth
    Apr 10 2026

    Robert Lawrence Kuhn is a public intellectual; he is the creator, writer, host of Closer To Truth, the long-running PBS/public television series and leading digital resource on Cosmos (cosmology/physics, philosophy of science), Life (philosophy of biology), Mind (consciousness, brain/mind, philosophy of mind), and Meaning (theism/atheism/agnosticism, global philosophy of religion, critical thinking). Peter Getzels is Closer To Truth co-creator and producer/director. Kuhn is the author of the comprehensive review article on theories of consciousness – “A Landscape of Consciousness: Toward a Taxonomy of Explanations and Implications” – and editor-in-chief of the expanded, continuously updated Landscape of Consciousness website (with more than 400 theories of consciousness in ten categories), Kuhn has written or edited over 30 books, including The Mystery of Existence: Why is there Anything At All? (with John Leslie); Closer To Truth: Challenging Current Belief; Closer To Truth: Science, Meaning and the Future; The Library of Investment Banking; How China’s Leaders Think (featuring President Xi Jinping); The Man Who Changed China: The Life and Legacy of Jiang Zemin (China’s best-selling book in 2005 and in December 2022); and “The Origin and Significance of Zero: An Interdisciplinary Perspective” (with Peter Gobets). Dr. Kuhn is chairman of The Kuhn Foundation. He has a BA in Human Biology (Johns Hopkins), PhD in Anatomy/Brain Research (UCLA), and SM (MBA) in Management (MIT).


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    2 hrs and 12 mins
  • 751. Kogen Czarnik – Endless Depths of Enlightenment
    Mar 27 2026

    From my teenage years I had an unquenchable thirst to see beyond the veils that growing up had created in my mind. I tried different avenues of exploration, and soon found my spiritual home in the Zen tradition. After graduating from college, I went straight to Japan and became a Zen monk at the Bukkoku-ji monastery. For over a dozen years I practiced in the monastic context, mostly in Japan and Korea, living a life dedicated fully to this investigation, going through an awakening process, and deepening my realization and embodiment. Later I also explored approaches of other traditions and followed several secular non-traditional teachers. I have spent about 4 years total in silent meditation retreats, and have worked directly in the retreat setting and one-on-one with teachers such as my root monastic teacher, Tangen Harada Roshi, as well as with Jakusho Kwong Roshi, Shodo Harada Roshi, Wu Bong Sunim, Adyashanti and Angelo Dilullo.

    Even though the years of meditation and the simplicity of monastic life had a powerful effect, most important on my path were three breakthroughs at age 23, 30 and 37, each stripping down a different layer of illusion and revealing bare truth, without any sense of separation, or any sense of personal nor universal “self.” I have also explored and continue to explore various approaches of somatic work to aid embodiment and the uprooting of habitual tendencies, as I consider myself, and all human beings, a work in progress.

    Following my monastic Dharma grandfather (Daiun Harada Roshi)’s example, I vowed to spend all of my twenties and thirties only on my own practice, deepening and embodiment. Now in my forties, I make myself available as a resource to those who seek support in their own process of finding freedom from self-created suffering. Despite my love of the monastic life and the Zen tradition, I have decided to share outside of the confines of those systems. I stay true, however, to the essence and marrow of Zen as defined by Bodhidharma, the Indian monk considered the founder of what we now know as Zen:

    “Transmission outside of scriptures
    Not dependent upon words and phrases
    Directly pointing to each person’s mind
    See your nature – become a buddha”

    Feel free to reach out if you feel so inclined.

    May all beings find liberation!

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    2 hrs and 2 mins
  • 750. Purnima Sinha – NDEs, After‑Death Communication, & Guidance from Beyond
    Mar 14 2026

    Purnima Sinha is a spiritual director and coach whose life has been shaped by meditation, near‑death experiences, and a deep commitment to seva (selfless service). Raised in a highly spiritual Indian family steeped in the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, she began meditating in her teens and was trained in Ultra Transcendental Meditation and Surat Shabd Yoga in India. She has now practiced meditation for over 50 years.

    After an intense emotional crisis around the year 2000, Purnima had a near‑death‑type experience in which she found herself in a tunnel, received a powerful life review and “downloads” about her future, and understood that her life’s purpose was far from complete. This, along with subsequent experiences—including warnings before a later collapse, shared‑death experiences with family members, and long‑term after‑death communication with her mother—reoriented her life around service, self‑love, and trust in inner guidance.

    Professionally, Purnima worked for many years as a graphic designer before feeling an inner compulsion to serve in a hospital setting. Guided “voices” and a series of striking coincidences led her into over 3,500 hours of volunteer work and a formal role as a patient advocate in a major hospital, where she visited patients one‑on‑one, listened to their concerns, and supported them and their families through serious illness, cancer treatments, and end‑of‑life transitions. Repeatedly, nurses and staff invited her to sit with patients who were actively dying, and she became known informally as someone who could help people cross over peacefully.

    Out of this work grew hospital meditation and wellness programs. Purnima has served as a meditation, chair‑yoga, balance and strength, and “Fit for Life” facilitator, as well as a spiritual life coach for county wellness programs and cancer support networks. She holds certificates in Lifestyle Medicine and in Meditation & Psychotherapy from Harvard Medical School. Drawing on clinical research supplied in part by her physician son, she helped establish a hospital‑based meditation initiative before the COVID‑19 pandemic.

    Purnima has been a frequent presenter at the International Association for Near‑Death Studies (IANDS), including on after‑death communication panels, and has shared many of her experiences publicly only in recent years. Her article on healing the “pain body” was published in Eckhart Tolle’s newsletter. She emphasizes practical spirituality: starting and ending the day with gratitude, cultivating stillness and prayer, listening to inner guidance, and practicing self‑love as the foundation for serving others.

    Her core messages include: no one ever dies alone; we are always guided and supported, even when we cannot see it; every experience, including painful ones, can serve the evolution of consciousness; and “Self‑Care = Self‑Love.”

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    1 hr and 49 mins
  • 563. Diana Durham
    Aug 11 2020
    Diana Durham is a British/American poet and writer who draws on archetype to explore our identity. She's a poet, writer, and documentary film producer who, following a degree in English Literature from University College, London, took the ‘path less traveled’ and became involved in an intentional community in England, the United States, and Canada. In the early 1990’s she was among a grouping who began to explore dialogue and collective intelligence with the late theoretical physicist David Bohm. Her most recent book Coherent Self, Coherent World: A New Synthesis Of Myth, Metaphysics & Bohm's Implicate Order explores how our thinking becomes coherent when our ‘personality self’ is in a meaningful relationship with a deeper, more intuitive quality of awareness and identity. And it also traces how, when we are disconnected from this intuitive source, our thinking becomes incoherent leading to problematic outcomes. The work grew out of her deep study of the Arthurian and Grail Myths, explored in her former nonfiction book, The Return of King Arthur: Finishing the Quest for Wholeness, Inner Strength, and Self-Knowledge, as well as her participation in dialogue with Bohm. Other works include the novel The Curve of the Land; and three poetry books: Sea of Glass, To The End Of The Night and Between Two Worlds a collection of sonnets (Chrysalis Poetry, UK). Her poems have also appeared in numerous magazines in the UK and USA, including Orbis, Tears in the Fence, Kindred Spirit, Mankato Review, Northern New England Review, Parabola, and Ecozone@:European Journal of Literature, Culture and Environment from Leiden University, The Netherlands, as well as in twelve anthologies, including Soul of the Earth The Awen Anthology of Eco-Spiritual Poetry edited by Jay Ramsay, published by Awen Press, UK, The 2008 Poets' Guide to New Hampshire published by the Poetry Society of New Hampshire and Diamond Cutters: Visionary Poets in America, Britain & Oceania edited by Andrew Harvey and Jay Ramsay, published by Tayen Lane. She also wrote, performed, and co-produced a dramatic retelling of the Grail Myth called Perceval & the Grail which is in CD and downloadable form as an audio play as well as a 15-part animated series on YouTube. She was a Visiting Research Associate at the Women’s Studies Research Centre, Brandeis in 2011, and gave talks and workshops using the grail myth sponsored by the NH Humanities Council (in the US), as well as national and international women’s groups and business executives leadership training courses. In addition to writing books, she collaborates with her husband as writer/producer of documentary films. Their current project is a series of short films, 'Making Sense’. For their first film, they talked to psychiatrist Dr. Iain McGilchrist, author of ‘The Master & His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of Western Culture’. Website: dianadurham.net Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group. Summary and transcript of this interview. Interview recorded August 8, 2020 YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump 00:04:05 - The Energy Within Us 00:08:17 - The Introduction of David Bohm 00:12:17 - Science and the Distrust of Science 00:15:35 - The Limitations of Scientific Understanding 00:19:21 - The Existence of Consciousness Beyond the Body 00:22:32 - Distorted Spirituality and Materialism 00:25:44 - The Vesica Piscis and the Inner Self 00:30:25 - The Vicious Cycle of Consumption and Addiction 00:34:50 - The importance of intuition in consciousness 00:39:26 - Living from Intuition and Cosmic Intelligence 00:43:58 - The Loss of Inner Juice 00:47:49 - The Expansion of Meaning through Inner and Outer Interaction 00:52:40 - Skewed Values and Negating Intuition 00:56:54 - Finding Beauty and Fulfillment in the World 01:01:35 - The Naturalness of Being Aligned 01:05:54 - Walking the Razor's Edge 01:10:17 - Recognizing Your True Nature and Self 01:14:35 - The Power of Consciousness and Myth 01:18:51 - Understanding the Dream and the World 01:23:20 - The Symbolism of the Grail 01:27:52 - The Consequences of Financial Inequality 01:32:22 - The Urgency of the Spiritual Renaissance 01:37:04 - Vision and Morality 01:40:41 - Navigating the Pitfalls of the Spiritual Community 01:43:52 - Trusting Children's Being and Minimizing Fear 01:48:10 - Psychotherapy and Enlightenment 01:52:39 - The Impact of Brain Damage on the Self 01:56:33 - Finding Bliss in Life from Appreciation 02:00:01 - The Coherence of the World 02:03:37 - Interview with Iain McGilchrist
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    Less than 1 minute
  • 662. Emilio Diez Barroso
    Sep 16 2022
    Emilio Diez Barroso perfected the art of appearing very successful. He manages two family offices, a venture investment firm, sits on the board of over a dozen companies etc... but up until recently, he was always trying to get somewhere other than where he was—seeking recognition, achievement, love, success, and finally, the ultimate carrot: enlightenment. In his pursuit of enlightenment, he was forced to face what all the seeking had been trying to avoid: his own sense of unworthiness. Defeated at the game of becoming and humbled by the realization of his true nature, he is now dedicated to alleviating suffering in the world. Emilio is a father to three incredible teachers and resides in Los Angeles. Book: The Mystery of You: Freedom is Closer Than You Think (All proceeds from the book go to contentment.org.) Website: emiliosbook.com Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group. Transcript of this interview Interview recorded September 10, 2022 YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction and Background 00:04:18 - Breaking Free from Conditioning 00:08:12 - The Influence of Religion and Self-Worth 00:11:54 - The Illusion of Wholeness and Self-transcendence 00:15:54 - The Experience of Oneness and Waves of Self 00:19:44 - Integrating Spirituality into Everyday Life 00:23:51 - Nature's Efficiency and Guiding Intelligence 00:27:41 - The Practice of Meditation and Spiritual Seeking 00:31:39 - Outrunning Jealousy and Feelings of Inadequacy 00:35:43 - An Exploration of Inner Energy and Consciousness 00:39:45 - The Spiritual Growth of Life 00:43:45 - The Inner Wound and Healing the World 00:47:53 - Surrender and Agility 00:51:43 - Being in the State of Inner Hereness 00:55:39 - Sitting in Defeat Before the Next Energy Kicks In 00:59:39 - Gradual Shifts and Bankruptcies 01:03:29 - Coping and dependence with artificial stimuli and plant medicine 01:07:22 - The Constant State of Experience 01:11:12 - The Feminine Qualities in Spiritual Teachings 01:15:30 - Learning from Women, Integrity, and Ethics in the Spiritual Path 01:19:39 - The Unregulated Nature of Spiritual Teaching 01:23:43 - The Divine Nature of the Body and the Importance of Taking Care of It 01:28:03 - Irrational Discontent and the Search for Truth 01:31:48 - Unnecessary Roughness and Judgment 01:35:43 - Parenting with Humility and Responsibility 01:39:19 - Freedom at Different Levels 01:43:12 - Rediscovering Devotion 01:47:32 - Awe and Attachment 01:51:43 - Opening the Heart and Feeling in the Body 01:55:56 - The Warrior's Impeccability 01:59:25 - Looking Ahead to the Next Conversation
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    1 hr and 42 mins
  • 457. Lynn Marie Lumiere
    Jun 4 2018
    Lynn Marie Lumiere, MFT is a nondual psychotherapist and author who is dedicated to awakening consciousness and meeting life’s challenges as doorways to greater freedom. Her work is sourced in over 40 years of dedicated spiritual and psychological exploration as well as almost 30 years of marriage and practicing psychotherapy. This experience has led her to the understanding that no matter what the problem, healing and freedom from suffering is possible when we tap into our infinite and ever-present true nature. She has been especially interested in applying this understanding to healing relationships and trauma. Lynn Marie is one of the pioneers in the exploration of nondual wisdom and psychotherapy and is a contributing author to "Sacred Mirror: Nondual Wisdom and Psychotherapy (Omega Book)" (2003). She is also the author of "Awakened Relating: A Guide to Embodying Undivided Love in Intimate Relationships" to be published July 1, 2018 by New Harbinger. Her primary spiritual teacher is Adyashanti and she has studied with many teachers from nondual, Buddhist and Hindu traditions. She lives in Grass Valley, California. Books: Awakened Relating: A Guide to Embodying Undivided Love in Intimate Relationships The Awakening West : Evidence of a Spreading Enlightenment Website: lynnmarielumiere.com Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group. Transcript of this interview Interview recorded June 2, 2018 YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump 00:03:51 - The Paradox of Awakening in Relationships 00:07:23 - The Impact of Spiritual Practice 00:10:51 - Meeting Life with Awakened Consciousness 00:14:26 - Recognition of Non-Dual Awareness 00:17:44 - Resting in Nondual Awareness 00:21:28 - The Availability of Awakening 00:24:51 - The Love We Seek from Others 00:28:36 - The Role of Relationship in Awakening 00:32:05 - The Pattern of Repeated Marriages 00:35:34 - The Advantages of a Non-Dual Understanding in Therapy 00:39:18 - Healing Trauma through Meditation 00:42:52 - The Importance of Addressing the Root Cause 00:46:40 - The Evolutionary Imperative and the Survival of the Species 00:50:15 - Evolving from Self-Absorption to Awakened Activism 00:53:53 - Moving Beyond Activism and Division 00:57:27 - Awakened Activism and the Power of Individual Expression 01:01:19 - The Solution to Harmonization 01:04:55 - The Three Rs of Awakened Relating 01:08:44 - Returning to Direct Being 01:12:20 - Mind Training for Direct Awareness 01:15:48 - The Scientific Method and Spiritual Beliefs 01:19:17 - Taking Responsibility and the Love of Truth 01:22:37 - Being Truthful in Relationships 01:26:19 - Resolving Trauma with Awakened Awareness 01:29:59 - The Inequity of Wealth and Privilege 01:33:17 - The Collapse of Empires and the Importance of Taking Care of Each Other 01:36:38 - The Possibility of Unnecessary Deaths in the Future 01:39:59 - The Paradox of Doing and Non-Doing 01:43:30 - Devoting Yourself to Awareness 01:47:08 - Engaging with the Author
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    1 hr and 44 mins
  • 208. Fred Davis
    Dec 4 2013
    Fred Davis studied and practiced Eastern wisdom for twenty-five years prior to 2006 when his seeking ended, and his true awakening commenced. He is the creator and editor of Awakening Clarity Now and the founder of The Living Method of Awakening. He is also the author of The Book of Undoing: Direct Pointing to Nondual Awareness Beyond Recovery: Nonduality and the Twelve Steps Awakening Clarity: A Spiritual Sampler The Living Method of Awakening is an extraordinarily successful process of direct pointing that encourages immediate recognition of our shared True Nature. Hundreds of people on five continents have found the door to freedom using The Living Method. His work has appeared on Advaita Vision, Nonduality Living, Meeting Truth, ONE: The Magazine, and it shows up frequently in Nondual Highlights. He is happily married, deeply loves animals, and lives as a chiefly ignored, urban hermit in Columbia, South Carolina. It has recently come to public attention that Fred was convicted in 2006 for sex offenses he committed as a teenager, in the 1960s. He addresses the issue on his blog. Transcript of this interview Interview conducted 12/1/2013 YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction to Fred Davis 00:05:43 - Awakening in the Insane Asylum 00:09:24 - My Journey with Zen Meditation and Self-Inquiry 00:13:33 - Knocking Your Head Against the Walls Spirituality 00:18:45 - Losing it All, Finding Sobriety, and Seeking True Nature 00:23:51 - Finding Freedom through Surrender 00:28:38 - The Mysterious Collapsing Flower Pots 00:32:15 - Struggles and Finding Relief 00:35:26 - The Awakening Experience 00:39:12 - The Real Deal Breaker 00:42:38 - A Unique Jail Experience 00:46:00 - The Journey of Suffering and Awakening 00:50:45 - A Shift in Perspective and Awakening 00:55:45 - The Mind Wants Either/Or 00:58:46 - The Unfolding Process of Enlightenment 01:03:26 - The Mind's Either/Or Dilemma 01:08:00 - Starting Awakening Clarity 01:10:57 - Surprise Awakening and Egoic Pleasure 01:14:42 - The Awakening Process and Sharing Insights 01:18:48 - Awakening and the Importance of Context 01:23:05 - Clarity about the I Am 01:27:43 - Discovering Oneness 01:32:05 - The possibility of anyone becoming a spiritual teacher 01:35:27 - The Drive Towards Self-Recognition 01:39:28 - The Subtleties of Non-Duality to Guide Awakening 01:42:58 - Stabilizing and Refining the Mind 01:46:29 - Beliefs, Opinions, and Positions 01:51:10 - The Difficulty of Getting Out of Bed 01:55:37 - Continuous Thinning of Conditioning 02:02:53 - Challenges of On-Camera Sessions 02:08:52 - Signing up for the iTunes podcast
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    2 hrs and 4 mins
  • 214. David Alsobrook
    Jan 22 2014
    David Alsobrook is now deceased. His father was a Nazarene pastor and David received a “new birth experience” at age 15. He devoured the Bible from cover to cover and went much deeper into exhaustive, detailed studies of Scriptures for years after that. He devoted the first 3 hours of the day in private prayer as well, hungering and seeking for more of God in his life. He began traveling and speaking in a wide assortment of churches and special events, ministering in more than 2000 speaking events in 49 states and 5 provinces in North America and in other countries. He wrote more than 40 books of varied sizes which were translated in more than 30 languages and distributed in no fewer than 50 nations. In 2005 David experienced a crushing life blow and put aside everything for a season of seeking God more intimately, desperate for healing from his own brokenness. In July 2008 his prayers were answered when he was sitting on a large rock in a nature preserve. Time stopped, mind stopped, while everything around him shone with Light and Life. His sense of “personhood” dissolved as he experienced himself as Being. Since then his life has been largely one of almost uninterrupted peace, bliss, and serenity as a result of what he now calls a “transformation”. Books: You Can Be Free from Your Self: The Grace of Soul Transformation Learning to love Transcript of this interview Interview recorded 1/18/2014 YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction of David Alsobrook 00:03:02 - The Anomaly of Spiritual Awakening 00:05:42 - Spirit and Soul Transformation 00:08:18 - Embracing Different Spiritual Expressions 00:11:04 - The Transformation and Dissolution of Ego 00:13:37 - Temporary Relief of Pain 00:16:36 - Seeking the Kingdom of God 00:19:12 - Returning to the Sermon on the Mount 00:22:01 - Contradictions within Christendom 00:24:46 - A Resonance in Nature 00:27:51 - A Life-Changing Experience 00:30:26 - The Significance of a Flat Rock 00:33:15 - Appreciating the Christian Terminology 00:36:13 - The Pain and the Ego 00:38:56 - Backsliding and Suffering on the Cross 00:41:33 - The Awakening and the Transition 00:44:15 - The Flip in the Garage 00:47:31 - Awakening to a new perspective 00:50:14 - The Eternal Christ and True Teaching 00:52:55 - Interpreting Mystical Statements 00:55:54 - Transformation and the Divine Intelligence 00:58:48 - Profound Awakening and Universal Truth 01:01:38 - The Importance of Stillness 01:04:40 - The Torment of Inner Noise 01:07:27 - The Importance of Coping Mechanisms 01:10:35 - The Noise of Emotionalism 01:13:48 - The Place of Different Practices 01:18:33 - The Experience of Stillness and Presence 01:24:19 - Observing the Mind and Finding Stillness 01:30:03 - Many Paths to Spiritual Awareness 01:33:46 - Donate Button and Upcoming Schedule
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    1 hr and 30 mins