479. Rick Archer SAND Conference Q&A & Shakti Caterina Maggi Interviews Rick

This video contains my Question and Answer session at the 2018 Science and Nonduality conference. and also an interview of me by Shakti Caterina Maggi, an Italian spiritual teacher who used to be a journalist. My SAND Q&A includes the following points: How BatGap started. Which guests have been the most interesting, provocative, intriguing, brilliant, mysterious, surprising, etc.? What insights have I gained? How has this process influenced my spiritual path? What do I experience while I’m interviewing people? What do I foresee for BatGap in the next few years? How to deal with family and friends who don’t understand your awakening or interest in spirituality? A consideration of sudden vs. gradual awakenings. How do I regard the urgency of humanity’s need to take a spiritual/cultural leap in response to the dire predicament facing us? The joy and challenge of speaking with people from such a broad range of spiritual backgrounds. Why science and spirituality need and can benefit one another. The importance of understanding consciousness to be the fundamental to the universe rather than merely a product of brain functioning. Shakti's interview includes the following points: In which direction are we as consciousness moving? How might the growing awakening of consciousness help humanity avert disaster? Embodied spirituality vs. avoidance of life through transcendence. Consciousness is relevant to every field of human endeavor. Consciousness is fundamental to matter. Finding the foundation of our being and dealing with individual planetary problems from that foundation. Ethical standards for spiritual teachers. The quality of awakening will vary according to one’s constitution. Awakening enhances individual differences while establishing our fundamental unity. Sticking with one teacher vs. working with many. The importance of sincerity. The principle of “the highest first”. Recorded October 27th and 28th, 2018, in San Jose, California. Discussion of this talk and interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group. Transcript of this talk and interview Other talks by Rick on BatGap: SAND 2019 - Knowledge/Reality is Different in Different States of Consciousness YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - The Birth of Buddha at the Gas Pump 00:04:10 - The Enlivening Effect of the Industry Update 00:07:12 - The Power of Ordinary People 00:09:47 - Hidden Gems in Interviews 00:12:14 - Creating New Categories of Interesting Content 00:14:24 - The Transformative Power of Immersion in the Interview Process 00:16:44 - The Evolutionary Impact of Service 00:18:38 - Dealing with Family in the Awakening Process 00:20:04 - Cultivating Patience and Compassion in Relationships 00:22:16 - A Remarkable Awakening 00:24:14 - The Incremental Process of Spiritual Development 00:25:57 - A Tipping Point 00:28:44 - The Spiritual Awakening in Response to Crisis 00:31:40 - Awakening Within Everyone's Physiology 00:33:49 - Revival of Extinct Cultures and Convergence of Technologies 00:36:24 - Science, Spirituality, and the Balance of Evolution 00:38:37 - The Role of Science in Spirituality 00:41:02 - The Fundamental Nature of Consciousness 00:43:35 - Interview with Shakti Caterina Maggi 00:46:33 - The Earth's Immune System 00:49:56 - The Evolution of the Non-Duality Conference 00:53:59 - The Extension of Human Quest to Know the Universe 00:57:48 - The Dark Side of Spiritual Teachers 01:01:30 - Remaining a Student Forever 01:04:30 - Cultivating Discernment and Questioning in Spiritual Development 01:07:56 - The Boundaries of a Behavioral Teacher 01:11:28 - The Boundaries of Ethics and Honesty in Teacher-Student Relationships 01:14:46 - Transparency and Ethical Guidelines in Spiritual Teaching 01:17:15 - The Cognition and Integration of Awakening 01:20:27 - Different Perspectives in Spirituality

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.