379. Rick Archer at Berkeley Open Circle Center

I was hesitant to put this up because there's more than enough of me on this site, but a few kind friends encouraged me to, so here it is. I gave this talk at the Open Circle Center in Berkeley, California on October 24, 2016. Other talks by or interviews of Rick on BatGap: SAND 2019 - Knowledge/Reality is Different in Different States of Consciousness 2018 SAND Conference Q&A and Interview by Shakti Caterina Maggi SAND 2017: "The Ethics of Enlightenment" Talk at SAND 2015 Interviewed by Fax Gilbert Interviewed by Richard Miller Transcript of this talk YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - My Role in the Spiritual Community 00:03:46 - The Role of Spirituality in the Age of Science 00:06:30 - The Ramifications of Meddling with Nature 00:08:42 - The Potential of a Transcendent Society 00:10:42 - The Possibility of Countless Advanced Civilizations 00:13:03 - Science and Spirituality: Working Hypotheses 00:15:36 - Distorted Teachings of Religion and the Importance of Understanding 00:18:19 - Finding Inner Happiness 00:21:10 - Clarifying the Meaning of Awakening and Spirituality 00:23:31 - The True Nature of Identity and Awareness 00:25:57 - The concept of "awakening" 00:27:43 - Exploring the Unknown Territory 00:29:51 - The Full Nature of Reality 00:32:32 - The Variations of the Spiritual Realm 00:35:06 - Spiritual Enlightenment and Historical Figures 00:37:19 - The Threefold Paradox of Reality 00:39:21 - The Full Range of Creation in Living 00:42:32 - The Predominant Subjective Experience of Christ 00:46:33 - The Endless Evolution of the Self 00:51:04 - The Marvelous Creation and the Divine Intelligence 00:55:25 - The All-Pervading Intelligence 00:58:36 - The Universe's Fine-Tuned Nature 01:01:19 - The Evolution of the Universe and the Awakening of Humanity 01:04:53 - The Awakening of Consciousness 01:08:08 - The Purificatory Mechanism 01:11:13 - The Natural Cycle of Imbalance and Balance 01:13:42 - The Concept of Mistakes 01:17:02 - Sharing a Unified Intelligence as a Species 01:22:51 - Harmonizing with Subtle Realms and Collaborating with Beings 01:26:07 - Embracing Corporations and Politics in Creating Change 01:28:44 - The Unity of All Beings Save

Om Podcasten

The implication of the title - Buddha at the Gas Pump - is that ordinary people are experiencing higher states of consciousness once thought to be rare and difficult to attain. People everywhere are undergoing a shift or awakening to their true nature. For some, this shift has been abrupt and dramatic. For others, it has been so gradual that they may not have realized it has occurred. Such shifts, or awakenings, are not new: Christ spoke of the Kingdom of Heaven within, Buddhists speak of Nirvana, Zen masters of Satori, Hindus of Moksha, but these traditions generally regard these states as rare and difficult to attain. Many people are therefore skeptical of claims of higher states of consciousness. They find it hard to believe that apparently ordinary friends and neighbors might be experiencing something extraordinary. Maybe they expect Enlightenment to look as remarkable on the outside as it is reputed to be on the inside. This show will attempt to dispel skepticism and misconceptions by week after week, allowing otherwise ordinary people to relate their experience of spiritual awakening. The terminology is tricky, because there are no universally agreed upon definitions to describe this experience. So please forgive us if we use some unfamiliar terms. We will try to clarify our definitions as we go along. Perhaps, after a while, those listening will become convinced that genuine and permanent spiritual awakenings are not just a pipe dream, but are real and are becoming relatively commonplace. These podcasts are the audio track of a weekly interview show which may be seen as videos on our YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/buddhaatthegaspump). Also see the main site: http://batgap.com. For search purposes, I will add the following to this description - batgap, Buddha at the Gaspump, Buddah at the Gas Pump.