Cathy’s very multi-faceted career and continuing activities include earning a doctorate in East-West Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). At CIIS, she worked in a variety of administrative, leadership roles for 20 years and for the past six years she has worked with the CIIS Center for Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research. She has served as president of Kepler College, (a state-approved college of astrological studies in Washington state) and as Director of IONS’ (Institute of Noetic Sciences) EarthRise Retreat Center. As a very respected astrologer, she works in private practice, as a coach, and lectures nationally and internationally on Western and Eastern (Jyotish) astrology.
She is a devoted mother, grandmother and author of the just released book, Ralph Metzner, Explorer of Consciousness – The Life and Legacy of a Psychedelic Pioneer published by Inner Traditions. We talk about the book, which contains dozens of tributes and illuminating stories from people whose lives were touched and deeply influenced by Ralph as friends, colleagues, students and family. It reveals a good deal about his life, his wide ranging interests and contributions to the fields of psychology, shamanism, eco-psychology, mythology, Western and Eastern mysticism, and of course, psychedelics, a field in which he was a pioneer and innovator starting with his association with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) at Harvard.
In our conversation, we talk about Cathy’s early years growing up in a conservative, small town in Missouri, her opening to astrology, her move to California and the California Institute of Integral Studies, and her in thirty year marriage with Ralph Metzner. Cathy talks with openness about what it was like living with him, working alongside him, being with him through his dying, and now communing with him in the after-life.
Cathy co-founded the Green Earth Foundation with Ralph that was a vehicle for Ralph’s teachings and books and through which Cathy continues to pass on his rich legacy (www.greenearthfound.org).
My recent conversation with John Malkin opened my eyes to a genre of music which I’d previously kept at a great distance – Punk Rock music. John, a very accomplished and recognized pianist himself, has a wide range of interests: writing, photography, non-violent communication, activism, music of several genres, and interviewing and writing about people involved with music, social justice and spirituality. Regarding music, he’s given a good deal of focus to punk rock, especially the punk music that has radical and revolutionary social and political content.
John’s most recent book, Punk Revolution! – An Oral History of Punk Rock, Politics and Activism, came out of over 250 interviews with punk musicians. In it, he explores in-depth, the very powerful and provocative messages and influence of the punk music scene. Coming from an older, hippie, rock and roll generation, I had pretty much bought into the disparaging view of punk as simply violent ranting (John acknowledges it has that element). But I now see it in a different light, that it took on the early anti-authoritarian role of rock-and-roll which had become pretty commercial as punk came on the scene. And embedded in the intense beat and thrashing guitars are messages related to political and social issues. I learned just how much punk is international in scope and includes Buddhist, indigenous, Hindu, vegan, even Orthodox Jewish versions. In John’s forthcoming book, Punk Spirit, he plans to focus on the spiritual aspects of punk.
Malkin has been working through radio for over 25 years. Starting with a tiny “pirate radio” station in Santa Cruz, he now has a regular program, “Transformation Highway,” on KZSC 88.1 radio through UC Santa Cruz. John’s interviewed musicians of all genres, political activists, spiritual teachers as well as community and labor organizers. The list includes, Thich Nhat Hanh, spiritual guru Amma, Noam Chomsky, John Trudell, Amy Goodman, Yolanda King (MLK’s daughter).
Malkin considers himself a student of Thich Nhat Hanh and Gandhi, and is committed to non-violence with an anarchist bent towards authoritarian powers. Our conversation includes a good look into the political questions of our time, the upcoming election, and Israel’s war on Gaza as it relates to Jewish identity.
Malkin’s interviews and writings have been published internationally in Adbusters, Punk Planet, Razorcake, Spirituality & Health, Z Magazine, Ode, In These Times, Sojourners, The Sun, Film International, Shambhala Sun, Tricycle, Friends Journal, The Santa Cruz Sentinel, The Monterey Herald and other publications. As a pianist / percussionist he has collaborated with a variety of ensembles, dancers and choreographers for 30 years including Tandy Beal, Mel Wong, Connie Kreemer, Frey Faust, Nita Little, Joe Goode, Miranda Janeschild and Rita Rivera. He’s played solo piano concerts internationally and has performed with West African Kora master Foday Musa Suso, German vocalist Christian Kesten, cellist Elaine Kreston and blues guitarist Paul Sprawl. Malkin has traveled internationally and has lived in West Berlin and Australia. He is now writing his first novel about hitchhiking across the Sahara Desert.
A very interesting man! Please watch or listen to my conversation with him and check out the information at the links below for more about John and for some his recommendations of punk music.
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May we all be the peace that brings justice to the world,
“There is a coming home. A home base. Psychedelics help you reconnect with home.” — Ann Shulgin “After centuries of patriarchal dominance, humanity has lost its innate balance. By invoking the divine feminine energies we restore equilibrium. That’s why we chose the word Divas — the Latin for goddesses or the feminine divine — to honor the highest aspect of the feminine.” –from Psychedelic Divas website
“I want to unfold. Let no place in me hold itself closed, for where I am closed, I am false.“
–Rainer Maria Rilke
It’s been noted that the discovery of LSD in 1943 by the Swiss chemist, Albert Hoffman, occurred while scientists at the Manhattan Project were developing the first atom bomb, detonated in 1945. The most powerful agent of consciousness change and the most destructive weapon mankind had ever created came to us very close in time. Is it a coincidence, or synchronicity. A similar synchronicity seems apparent in the present moment, where a wide range of intersecting destructive trends, possibly crippling or fatal to humanity and other life on Earth – the mega, meta, or polycrisis – is happening at the same time as what has been called the psychedelic renaissance.
Can psychedelics help humanity develop a more eco-conscious mindset and find the motivation and wisdom to create a just and sustainable world? It seems clear that psychedelics alone do not accomplish that. But combined with appropriate intention, proper preparation, and mindful integration, there are signs that they do support and accelerate the transformation of people’s perception, thinking and activity towards more cooperation and empathy and greater appreciation and respect for nature.
One of the oldest and key features of the old paradigm is male domination, patriarchy. It’s fair to ask whether this way of being itself is a primary cause of our crises, subjugating the nurturing, holding and being qualities of the feminine and women, to the assertive, active, goal-oriented male energies, and men.
As we try to emerge from millennia of patriarchy, we can draw from the many wisdom and spiritual traditions of the world which contain teachings that can help free of us from the mindsets of male dominance. We can learn that giving attention to the Divine Feminine, the Goddess and Goddesses of old, and to Nature and Mother Earth is essential for both men and women. We can face the deeply ingrained destructive bias that places male attributes and energy, and men, above and more important than the feminine and women.
There are many ways to unlearn the conditioned patterns of male dominance and expand our consciousness to embrace the fuller realizations of the feminine. One way is the carefully guided, ceremonial use of plant medicines, entheogens, psychedelics. On such journeys, it’s possible to heal the wounded aspects of one’s inner woman (what Carl Jung called the anima) and open to the divine feminine available to both men and women. Carla Detchon has been exploring this for nearly forty years and recently launched “Psychedelic Divas”, a podcast devoted to this subject. I interviewed Carla for my Crossing the Boundary podcast. I hope you can take the time to listen to our conversation.
Carla and I were in ceremonial spaces together many times with the masterful guide, Ralph Metzner. Metzner’s approach to psychedelic ceremonies included what he called “divinations,” purposeful inner journeys for opening to divine guidance and healing. He would take us through mythic realms and lead us through spiritual practices, some of which aimed to heal wounded parts of ourselves and explore our relationship to the physical, psychological and spiritual aspects of male and female consciousness.
Through her work as an integrative coach and through her podcast series, Carla supports people in the preparation and integration of psychedelic journeys. She is passing along the legacy of Metzner’s wisdom teachings. Her emphasis, as the podcast name makes clear, is on the feminine. While ultimately, we all need to balance the male/female within, the long suppression of the feminine in humanity calls for us to highlight that aspect of our nature. We need an affirmative action focus of our attention on HER for our personal benefit, and for the much needed transformation of the collective human consciousness.
As it says on the Psychedelic Divas website:
“We are calling on people of all genders to lean into their natural divine feminine traits—intuition, receptivity, creativity, compassion, healing, communal connection, softness, nurturing, and flow—in order to help bring balance back to our individual selves as well as the world.“
At a very practical level, Carla offers a free guide on her website and podcast site called: “PSYCHEDELIC SAFETY TIPS INCLUDING WHAT TO DO WHEN THINGS GO WRONG”
Eva was born in Israel in a Muslim family and as a child, learned to think of herself as an Arab-Israeli. She moved to France to study and received a double Masters degree in International Relations and International Administration from the Sorbonne. Her skills, and the fact that she speaks five languages fluently, led her to Brussels to work with an NGO and also as a consultant to the European Union. Living there for 10 years, she took on Belgian nationality. Her work included extensive conflict resolution projects in Africa and later New York.
Eventually, she came to the U.S. and began looking more deeply into the psychological and spiritual roots of conflict and realized she needed to do the work within herself before she could help others. She now likes to use the term “peace activator” to describe what she does, rather than peace activist, noting that it is the peace within that needs to be activated and brought out into the world.
Her self exploration and truth seeking led her to embrace her identity as a Palestinian. Especially now, she devotes herself to working with both Jewish Israelis and Palestinians. In her work with them as individuals and in groups, people find the common humanity they share with the people they had come to see as “others.” She sees this as getting to the roots of the conflict and a necessary part of finding solutions that will bring about justice and peace.
I found the work she does through PeaceActivation of great interest. As well, her life journey, crossing boundaries of different national or ethnic identities, seems to give her a clear vision of the role identity plays in all of us. I have found that when we recognize and accept our personal and collective identifications, we can more genuinely transcend the separative aspects of those identities and experience ourselves as fundamentally spiritual beings living in a human family. Eva Dalak seems to me to be someone who has done the work and is helping others find the way.
Eva and her partner live in Costa Rica and have a healing retreat center where they have “PeaceActivation” workshops and trainings.
Please see the links below to find out more about her work and ways to take part:
What am I? How many of us take time to ask that question in a serious vein and take time, lots of time, to investigate what we experience when we ask that question of ourselves?
Zen practitioners will sit quietly for hours and days and weeks doing just that. According to Zen Master Bon Soeng, they do that to be ALIVE in the fullest sense of what that means, vibrantly awake to the present moment. “What am I?” is not the only question, but it is at the core of many questions that have no rational answer that foster deep shifts in consciousness through meditation.
Born into a Jewish family, Jeff Kitzes, found himself alienated from the culture in which he grew up and was drawn to meditation at an early age. On a journey in search of Don Juan (the hero of the fiction/non-fiction books of Carlos Castaneda), he found himself at a zen monastery in Mendocino, California and then at a retreat with Korean Zen Master, Seung Sahn of the Kwan Um school of Zen. He says that when he first saw Seung Sahn, he saw someone alive in a way he had never experienced; he became his student for life.
After years of practice, Jeff was initiated as a Zen Master and given the name Bon Soeng. He has been the leader and primary teacher of Empty Gate Zen Center. Empty Gate has a home in Berkeley, CA, a center in Boise, ID and offers teachings online. See https://www.emptygatezen.com/. Many of Bon Soeng’s dharma talks (Buddhist teachings) are posted on YouTube and can be found through Empty Gate website.
In my conversation with Bon Soeng, he reveals a very open attitude as to the activities of his students. Aware that many spiritual teachers have abused their power, he is very much committed to individuals having free choice over their own lives,. This includes the use of psychedelics and cannabis which he feels is an individual choice and, in fact, may be of benefit to their lives and Zen practice.
Bon Soeng says that his lineage is committed to the Bodhisattva path, committing ones life to the benefit of all sentient beings. His students find their own way of understanding that and taking actions as they find themselves directed from within through their practice.
I just posted my YouTube and Podcast conversation with Bon Soeng. Please check either out here to hear the inspiring journey to the Zen path of awakening.
After our zoom conversation, it occurred to me that I hadn’t asked a very important question. Essentially it is “how does meditating, Zen or otherwise, develop a person who behaves ethically?” Do we just assume that “being more alive or awake” would lead people to behave with each other and the Earth in a healthy or “good” way?
I ran the question by Bon Soeng and this was his response. Being that we are friends, this will lead to many more conversations.
“Interesting questions.
Ethics have obviously changed over the Millenia. Zen arose in China between 500-700 AD. Indian meditation was practiced well before the Buddha ever appeared and Taoist meditation predates Buddhism in China. The ethics of those places in those times were very different than ours. One of Trump’s main nuclear arms advisors was a Buddhist chaplain. During WWII the Japanese Zen establishment sided with the government in their war effort. Many monks in Burma rose up to exile the Rohingya from their territory. And, many monks in Burma rose up to join the democracy movement.
So, I can’t really say that meditation and practice will lead to a particular standard of ethics. Rather, I think culture drives the particular standard of ethics for a society. In modern America it is mostly white left wing types who seem to be drawn to Buddhism and Zen. I suspect the “left-wing” values are more important in the creation of modern American Buddhist convert sanghas than the ethics espoused by Buddha more than 2500 years ago. We have found voice in Buddhism to values we hold dearly. Care for others, compassion, lovingkindness, equanimity, service, and non-materialism are parts of Buddhist teachings. They resonate for us, so we like it. Just like any pick and choose practitioner of religion, most of us ignore the parts of the teachings that we don’t relate to or agree with, like the confucian views of hierarchy and fidelity to family and country (which my teacher espoused).
My Zen tradition is based on the Bodhisattva way. That way is service to all beings. Zen Master Seung Sahn said: “For me, suffering appears. For all beings, no suffering.” To focus on the welfare of others is the practice of uprooting self-centeredness. Self-centeredness is the great mistake. When “I” becomes the most important thing, we all suffer. To live the Bodhisattva way is to practice. It is the playing field of our life. If we truly take up this vow, we dedicate our lives to the healing and growth of the whole in each and every moment of our life. A life lived from this vow can become a life which benefits all sentient and non-sentient things. This is meditation in action in our daily life.
One more point. When we practice a meditation which focuses on What am I?we learn about ourselves and become more aware of our actions and the conditions that lead to those actions. This awareness can grow into wisdom, which allows us to act in less unconscious and hurtful ways. We act out of our psychological blindness less and in that way bring healing to the world. So, our practice directly impacts the wellbeing of others. Whether that extends to systemic issues is less clear to me.
I hope these thoughts help. I am very interested in the questions that have arisen for you and look forward to the challenging conversation we could have in looking in to those questions.”
I am writing this from what we commonly call the Lower Hudson Valley, north of New York City, which is the land of the Ramapough Lenape Munsee people.
It has become a practice for some folks while in public communications, zoom calls, etc., when asked where they are from, to say, “on the land of …” and then the name of the tribal people who inhabited that land prior to the arrival of Europeans and the forced removal or genocide of that people. It seems like a respectful thing to do.
When I was growing up in the 50’s, we played “cowboys and indians” and watched western movies where the indians were savages and the really evil villain was the medicine man. As time went on we began to see Native Americans portrayed with more nuance and then respect and even a kind of idealization. The medicine man we learned is a shaman with access to great wisdom and healing powers. Movies have changed. Lots of attitudes have changed. But the reality of many Native tribes is still quite dire.
The Ramapough are still here in New York and New Jersey and I live on what was their land. They are struggling to keep their language and customs alive and to preserve the sacredness of what remains of their land, much of which continues to be gobbled up by suburbia and mega-mansions. In recent years the tribe has fought numerous legal battles just to have the freedom to hold public ceremonies on the small patches of Mother Earth they can still call theirs. These ceremonies have been attended by Native people from all over the world and hundreds of non-Native people in the area (myself included).
The tribe was recognized by the State of New Jersey as the Ramapough Indians in 1980. Their effort to achieve federal recognition was thwarted largely by intense lobbying from, yes, Donald Trump. Trump claimed the Ramapough were not legitimate and would bring waves of crime. Of course, he also feared they would establish a casino that would compete with his own just miles away in Atlantic City. The story of this struggle is told in the film American Native (2013).
Over the years they have dealt with the classic definition of environmental racism. Portions of a toxic waste dump of the Ford Motor Company became the site for affordable housing for many of the Ramapough people. The contamination has been linked to nosebleeds, leukemia, and other ailments. They also have been at the forefront of the battle to stop the Pilgrim Pipeline from carrying gasoline, diesel, kerosene, aviation fluid and heating oil through their land. * At the center of these activities is the man who since 2007 has been the elected Chief of the Ramapough Munsee tribe, Dwaine Perry. It was an honor for me to record my recent conversation with Chief Perry for my podcast and YouTube channel, “Crossing the Boundary.”
Chief Perry has a long history of fighting for human rights, today focusing primarily on issues of concern to the Ramapough Munsee nation, decolonization, and the indigenous community at large. He has sat with Elders and indigenous leaders in the Himalayas, the Andes, and throughout North America. His journey to Standing Rock was instrumental in establishing the Split Rock Sweetwater Prayer Camp in northern New Jersey. He is also currently working to establish the first Embassy of Sovereign Indigenous Nations of the Western Hemisphere.**
While Chief Perry often speaks sardonically, he is a serious man who, against all odds, seeks to unify his people and bring together native and non-native peoples to work together for a kinder humanity, honoring the living Earth and all creatures as sacred. As I previously said, it was an honor (and a joy) to speak with him and learn more about the tribe and his life. See: podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1827447/13710848 or YouTube:
“A human being becomes whole not in virtue of a relation to himself [only]
but rather in virtue of an authentic relation to another human being.” –Martin Buber
“Faith is not a question of the existence or non-existence of God.
It is believing that love without reward is valuable.” – Emmanuel Levinas
The first time I met Lenny, Dr. Leonard Grob, I asked him what he did. He replied, “I’m a philosopher.” That was the first time anyone ever introduced themselves to me that way and I was quite moved. It was the beginning of a deep friendship, long conversations and many collaborations as activists for peace and justice. Many of our efforts have related to Palestine/Israel. While we often find points of difference in our perspectives, we always have maintained mutual admiration, respect and love in our ongoing relationship.
My most recent conversation with Lenny was recorded for my YouTube channel and Podcast series “Crossing the Boundary.” It’s called, “Philosopher – Activist: Dr. Leonard Grob.” I hope you take some time and watch or listen. Lenny is a deep thinker and while in his mid-eighties, continues to be very active in working to help transform our world to a more just and loving place.
Lenny has a long resume of activities and writings. He is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck, New Jersey, where he served for most of his career as Chairperson of Philosophy Studies and Director of the University’s nationally-recognized University Core Program in the Humanities. As an activist, he is vice president of Partners for Progressive Israel and has been active for decades in Israeli-Palestinian dialogue.
Earlier in his career Dr .Grob published extensively in the areas of the philosophy of dialogue and peace studies, focusing in particular on the philosophy of Martin Buber and Emmanuel Levinas. He is the co-editor of two anthologies based on Buber’s philosophy. A journey to Ukraine to uncover the history of the destruction of his father’s family during the Holocaust led him to the study of genocide, a focal point of his research during the second half of his career. The Nazis killed all the members of his fathers immediate family in Poland. He has said, “Speaking about the lessons of the Holocaust and striving to make the world a better place is a way of memorializing the dead, particularly my own grandparents and other members of my fathers family.”
As a Holocaust scholar he has been the principle organizer of international conferences and forums on the subject. He is the author or co-author of numerous books and articles, several of which focus on the lessons we can learn from the Holocaust in relationship to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the issue of torture, ethics, Jewish-Christian-Muslim dialogue, women’s and mens liberation, genocide, the use of power, and his most recent book with Dr. John Roth, Warnings – The Holocaust, Ukraine, and Endangered American Democracy.
The phrase “Never again” has meant, for many in the Jewish community, “never allow Jews to be persecuted again.” Dr. Grob has shared with me his view that this is a mistake. The phrase should refer to all people. We need to dedicate ourselves to preventing the persecution or genocide of any group. And that would include Palestinians.
While many steeped in Holocaust studies have become staunch, unquestioning defenders of Israel, Lenny has taken a different direction. He is active with Partners for Progressive Israel and is a very active participant in an NGO committed to the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In that role, he is currently bringing peace proposals to ambassadors and their deputies at UN missions. The underlying principle is that in any just solution, both Palestinians and Jewish people in the land must be valued equally and have equal rights.
Lenny describes his politics as derived from the teachings of Martin Buber and Emmanuel Levinas. In my admittedly very limited understanding, these philosophers exhort us to live as though our relations with others define us, and only love will save us. I know from my experience with him, that Lenny applies this not just to politics, but to his relations with family, community and friends. I am happy to be one of them.
Please check out our conversation and explore my conversations with others who have crossed boundaries and are making the world a better place.
Below are some of the publications Lenny has authored or co-authored.
Warnings: The Holocaust, Ukraine, and Endangered American Democracy by Leonard Grob and John K. Roth | Jul 6, 2023
Encountering the Stranger: A Jewish-Christian-Muslim Trialogue (Stephen S. Weinstein Series in Post-Holocaust Studies) by Leonard Grob and John K. Roth | Jan 3, 2013
Losing Trust in the World: Holocaust Scholars Confront Torture (Stephen S. Weinstein Series in Post-Holocaust Studies) by Leonard Grob and John K. Roth
Teen Voices from the Holy Land: Who Am I to You? by Mahmoud Watad and Leonard Grob | May 1, 2007
Education for Peace: Testimonies from World Religions by Haim Gordon and Leonard Grob | Jan 1, 1987
Anguished Hope: Holocaust Scholars Confront the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict by Leonard Grob and John K. Roth | Aug 20, 2008
Women’s and Men’s Liberation: Testimonies of Spirit (Contributions in Philosophy) by Haim Gordon, Leonard M. Grob, et al.
When I am reminded of the bravery of those who put their lives in danger for the sake of justice, I am moved to find at least a bit more of that courage in myself and take whatever steps I can to continue that struggle for a more just and peaceful world. I recently had a conversation with my good friend, Joseph Tieger, who was among the early white participants in the civil rights struggle in the South. By activist, I don’t mean someone who attended a few civil rights marches or protests, but someone who devoted himself full-time to local and national efforts and was repeatedly threatened, beaten and imprisoned. I recorded our talk for both a podcast and YouTube and hope you can take the time to tune it in.
Joseph recently published a memoir of his activist time in the civil rights struggle from 1962 – 72, and his later attempts to find an even deeper path towards bringing about change. The book, Lately It Occurs To Me: A Memoir of the Civil Rights Movement & The Open Road (1963—1976) offers a deep and detailed look into the movement in North Carolina and beyond. It givers us a glimpse into the overt hatred and violence as well as the only somewhat more subtle actions of the political and legal establishment to stop the movement towards integration and voting rights. It’s an exciting and mind-opening read.
After his years as a civil rights activist and then attorney, Joseph watched as the movement splintered and broke apart. He went on a journey of self-discovery not unlike many of us in the 60’s ending up in California. (Full disclosure: In many respects Joseph’s journey is very parallel to my own, and when we met in the 1980’s we discovered that we were in each other’s FBI files).
It was in the Bay Area of California that I met Joseph. He was then traveling and presenting a video series with his wife Johanna called “How Then Shall We Live.” It featured Ram Dass and Stephen Levine and eventually became a PBS series offering “essential teachings for personal awakening on social action, impermanence and living life fully present.”
After that, Joseph and Johanna produced a magical ten-part series with Ram Dass and dozens of other visionary teachers and celebrities live in Oakland that involved thousands of participants in social justice and diversity training while cultivating self-awareness and an open heart. This series, “Reaching Out” also became a video series.
Interestingly, on the day I had my recorded zoom conversation with Joseph, I received an article from Tikkun Magazine that included the following passage:
“However, in a sense, the saturating effects of the sixties movements were radically incomplete. They have not reached many people, particularly many White people, in our bones. Although the movements have created, and continue to create, institutional and legal and systemic shifts, the system is quite stubborn because most people’s hearts and minds have not been deeply affected. That’s why what’s needed in the United States, and the world over, is a moral, even a spiritual, change, to rise to the level of the demands for political change. ….. It’s actually quite empowering to know that we’re responsible for what we see on the news. Instead of wringing our hands, we can rewrite the script.” –from “My American Violence” by Robert Birdwell in Tikkun Magazine
It’s well worth asking, ‘Where did all that passionate courage of the movement in the 60’s go?’ As well as, ’Where did all that hateful resistance go?’ Obviously, there are aspects of it in the current scene all around the world. But, perhaps part of the answer is they are both within us, you and me. It’s just a matter of which part we feed.
“The world changes for the better with every act of kindness,
and for the worse with every act of cruelty.”– Bo Lozoff
I’ve heard a powerful teaching attributed to the mystic/philosopher/spiritual teacher, George Gurdjieff. It goes something like this: “A person cannot get free of a prison if he doesn’t know he’s in one.” Incarcerated men and women are reminded 24/7 that they are in a prison by the bars that limit their movement. Those of us on the outside are mostly blind to the imprisonment defined by our self-limiting beliefs and narrowed vision of reality. Who then is in a better position to do the work aimed at inner freedom?
My dear friends, Bo and Sita Lozoff, created the Prison Ashram Project in 1973 to help prisoners make their time behind bars one of spiritual awakening through yoga, meditation and a wide range of wisdom teachings from the East and West – to make their prison an ashram for their spiritual awakening. They were inspired and supported by Ram Dass and their project has grown into the largest prison ministry in the U.S. reaching tens of thousands of incarcerated men and women. It is now renamed the “Human Kindness Foundation.” In addition to ongoing letter exchanges with prisoners, they have visited and held workshops in prisons all across the country while distributing free copies of books to prisoners. The Village Voice called Bo’s book, We’re All Doing Time, “one to the 10 books everyone in the world should read” and has over half a million copies in print.
Sita Lozoff is a wise and deeply spiritual person with a warm and loving heart. She happily took a supportive role to Bo’s very dynamic leadership and teaching activities until Bo’s death in 2012. She has now stepped into a greater leadership role herself as the spiritual director of HKF and I was very happy to have a recorded conversation with her which you can now see on YouTube or listen to as a podcast (links also below).
Human Kindness Foundation, like most non-profits, depends primarily on small donor contributions and I encourage you to consider making a donation if you want to support their mission. As you know, mass incarceration in the U.S. is enormously destructive and unjust. It is inflicted disproportionately on people of color, with little benefit towards rehabilitation or restoring justice. Nonetheless, while in prison, facing the injustice of the system and the often brutal reality of life there, individuals have transformed their thinking and way of being with the help of HKF. You can see more about their projects and make a donation here: https://humankindness.org/
Ken Cohen is the author of The Way of Qigong: The Art and Science of Chinese Energy Healing and also Honoring the Medicine: The Essential Guide to Native American Healing. He is the rare individual who has entered fully into these spiritual traditions, studying and honoring the lineage, language and practices with absolute integrity. It was my honor to have another chance to interview Ken for my podcast and YouTube series having previously spoken with him for my book, Crossing the Boundary: Stories of Jewish Leaders of Other Spiritual Paths.
In our conversation we cover a lot of ground and I hope you take the time to either listen to the podcast or watch the video. We begin with discussing his identity as a Jewish man as well as his being an adopted member of the Cree people. He recalls his Jewish family history that shaped much of his life’s direction even while choosing to focus his attention on two distinctly different paths: learning the Chinese language, Taoism, Qigong and Tai Chi, and finding himself adopted and trained by Native American elders in their traditional, healing arts.
In response to a wide range of questions, he offers rich teachings from a Taoist perspective as well as his views on learning from nature. In regards to the latter, he emphasizes the importance of cultivating deep knowledge and intuitive relationships with plants for healing body and mind, much of which he learned the elders.
We explore the focus of much of my own work: how the spiritual quest, (Taoist or otherwise) relates to helping relieve suffering and to activism for peace, justice and a sustainable human relationship with the world. I find what he shared to be very powerful teachings for being with our internal process when responding to the painful state of the world. Recognizing his own troubled reactions, he describes going out into nature and praying for guidance. What he received are four guidelines. He emphasizes that this is not a substitute for active work in the world, but for preserving personal, psychological and spiritual well-being in the face of injustice. (I’ve summarized them here, but hope you listen for the full explanation of this very powerful teaching.)
1.Release the injustice you experience up to Creator. Don’t return the fire. 2. Never indulge in negative thinking. That only strengthens what feeds the abuse. 3. Don’t allow even a single shell of bitterness to form around your heart. 4. Do whatever is necessary to keep your heart fully capable of receiving and giving love.
We continue on to discuss the use of psychedelic plant medicines, the use of tea as a spiritual path and the need to focus deeply with a spiritual tradition rather than diluting or mixing them haphazardly, . Ken is quite an amazing individual and I encourage you to listen to our interview and check into his books and websites to find out more about him and his teachings.
