Hints and Guesses

Shadow and Soul: Into the Labyrinth

Fri, 05 Jun 2026 13:10:25 +0000

Here's an episode exploring the human shadow. I offer here an image of the psyche, a way to think about projection, and a myth that helps. Enjoy!

In a Locked Room with Six Big Ideas

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 12:31:32 +0000

This episode explores Robert Bly's poem, One Source of Bad Information, how I got my Enneagram number wrong for 20 years, and a little of how ended up back in the church. Special thanks to may Patrons who keep this podcast going. Enjoy!

Examen, AI and 3 Kinds of People

Sat, 17 Jan 2026 18:03:06 +0000

It's the time of year to do a like searching spiritual inventory, a Great Annual Examen. This requires discernment, a word that's not all that common anymore. I also want to talk a little about AI and about becoming the kind of person who joins the Cosmic Dance. Happy New Year. Enjoy!

Risk Longing: On the First Day of Advent

Sun, 30 Nov 2025 19:42:26 +0000

A winter storm canceled church, so here's a sermon of sorts. Enjoy!

Maybe you need a Blessing

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 16:16:34 +0000

Happy Thanksgiving! Here are a few thoughts on blessing, pilgrimage, monastic creativity, and the new dark age. Wishing you all many blessings. May the road rise to meet you. Enjoy!

Shadow and the Prophetic Imagination

Mon, 13 Oct 2025 14:31:57 +0000

The ancient prophets were something like the first shadow detectors, and had the courage to externalize their vision of the world. What ever happened to such prophetic imagination? Are there any lessons we can metabolize from the prophets in our age of madness? What would it be like to stand between the way of power and the way of denial, a creative alternative to the tantalizing polls of scapegoating and blame? Enjoy!

Covenant with Limit

Wed, 17 Sep 2025 12:38:17 +0000

I'm borrowing this phrase "covenant with limit" from Martin Shaw. Perhaps it's time to reconsider how freedom is actually found. In this episode, I discuss briefly Wendell Berry's poem Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front, the ancient art of fasting, and the imaginative possibility that we might want to make a covenant with limits before we go mad in the wrong direction. Enjoy!

Nature, Nurture, Unanswered Ancestral Questions

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 13:28:41 +0000

What if we inherit not only biological material but existential and spiritual questions from our ancestors? What's ours to carry that's been handed to us? I've been wrestling with these questions for a while now, and some big changes in my life have brought them into new focus. I hope you hear and hint or guess for your own spiritual life. Enjoy!

Letter to the Lost

Mon, 23 Jun 2025 22:56:28 +0000

"We have to know the darkness to be able to search for the light," according to Henri Nouwen. And he goes on to claim that we need lostness, in the search for meaning. With so much disorder, lostness, darkness, denial and confusion, I'd like to read most of a letter written by Nouwen that seems to address our age, people like you and me. I hope you'll hear something encouraging, no matter how wild and meandering your path. Enjoy!

Hell is Endless Autobiography

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 12:54:29 +0000

In an age obsessed with "knowing oneself," how do we not get stuck in endless autobiography and self-absorption? At its best, a healthy spiritual and religious life helps free us from the cul-de-sac of narcissistic feedback. In the episode, we'll look at a story from Saint Antony, a paragraph from C.S. Lewis about hell, and I'll outline the four foundations of a spiritual life from the book Journey Into Emptiness by Robert Jingen Gunn (a book about Dogen, Merton and Jung). See below for the link I promised in the episode about the Cree mountains of human development. Enjoy!

https://decolonialfutures.net/portfolio/fourmountains/#:~:text=Each%20mountain%20represents%20a%20stage,one%20mountain%20to%20the%20other.

https://www.patreon.com/c/kentdobson

The Christ Symbol: Part 7 - Authority and Resurrection

Mon, 14 Apr 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Here's the final episode of The Christ Symbol. This episode is about Authority and Resurrection (stage 6 and 7). What does real authority look like? What does it mean for a "grain of wheat to go into the ground and die?" What is the nature of real change? Hope you hear something from Jesus own transformed life, that may in fact trans-form your own. Enjoy!

The Christ Symbol: Part 6 - Wilderness and Mission

Fri, 11 Apr 2025 16:39:25 +0000

Here's the next episode in The Christ Symbol. This episode is about Wilderness and Mission (stage 4 and 5), the necessity of the desert and the nature of a soul-oriented mission in the life of Jesus, a life transformed. Hope you hear a hint or guess for your own spiritual growth. Enjoy!

The Christ Symbol: Part 5 - Transcendent Encounter

Thu, 13 Mar 2025 18:10:38 +0000

Here's the next episode in looking at Christ through a symbolic lens, a life transformed. This episode is about Transcendent Encounter (stage 3), those moments we could not have predicted, manufactured, controlled, or made up. Those moments when we know we are ushered into something larger. Hope you hear a hint or guess for your own spiritual growth. Enjoy!

The Christ Symbol: Part 4 - Calling

Fri, 28 Feb 2025 18:06:34 +0000

What's going on with our thumbs? Plus, the next episode in this series looking at the life of Christ through a symbolic lens, a life transformed. This episode is about calling, the first nudges of our sense of meaning and destiny. Hope you hear a hint or guess for your own spiritual growth. Enjoy!

Metagelical? A Conversation with Paul Vanderklay

Wed, 12 Feb 2025 19:27:06 +0000

This is a long-format, unscripted, very personal conversation, with Paul Vanderklay. We talk a bit about our stories, what it's like to be a pastor, what's been happening in the changing landscape of Christianity, and what the future might hold. Check out Paul's YouTube channel for more content. Enjoy!

The Christ Symbol: Part 3 - Birth

Thu, 06 Feb 2025 14:58:23 +0000

This episode is part of my series, Wandering through the Bible, where I look again at these ancient stories through a symbolic lens. Beginning with a quote from Teilhard about the slow work of God, we then turn to the first stage of a life of Christ, a life transformed, the birth stories. Special thanks to my Patrons. Enjoy!

Wandering through the Bible: Christ Symbol Part 2

Sun, 19 Jan 2025 13:12:05 +0000

In this episode, I describe the changes faces of Jesus over the centuries, and what I mean by the Symbolic Christ. I also explore in more detail what I call the three chords of listening to the Bible: story, context and symbol. This is part of a series called Wandering through the Bible, where I return to some of the most important stories and images from the Christian tradition. Hope you hear a hint or guess. Enjoy!

Wandering through the Bible: Christ Symbol Part 1

Sat, 11 Jan 2025 18:27:56 +0000

I'm starting a new series on the Bible, particularly through the lens of symbol. It feels like I've come back around again to the central stories and images of my tradition, but seeing and hearing new things. To begin with, I'll be releasing parts of my audio book (A Grain of Wheat), which had only been free for my Patrons. In this experimental audio book, I look at the stages of Christ's life, and the symbols that still feel potent. Clearly Jesus lived a life transformed, and left a few hints and guesses. No matter how you feel about the Bible, or what you might think, I hope you'll hear something meaningful and rich. Enjoy!

Love: Romance, Self, Other, God

Sat, 28 Dec 2024 18:10:37 +0000

We use the word love for sports teams, friends, partners, food, and even God. What are we talking about? What is love? And how might we grow into more loving people? Here are a few hints and guesses about romance, love of self, love of the other, and the possibility of divine love. Inspiration for this podcast come from John O'Donohue's book Anam Cara, Robert Johnson's books He and She, and St Paul's letter to the Corinthians. Enjoy!

Deal with the Devil

Wed, 11 Dec 2024 17:00:51 +0000

There are many ancient stories about making a deal with the Devil. What happens when we no longer take these seriously? What is lost? What are we missing? I'd like to explore the consequences and opportunities in taking seriously what happens when we make a deal with the Devil through stories of the Handless Maiden, Faust, and the Temptation of Christ. Enjoy!

Green Flags (in a Red Flag World) with Quique Autrey

Sat, 02 Nov 2024 12:06:39 +0000

Here's a conversation with Quique Autrey, therapist, author and podcaster, about his new book Green Flags. What does it look like to become a person who's a little more like a "green flag" than a red flag? Where does one even start with "depth psychology?" Quique's highlights a number of accessible ways to turn the gaze inward, toward a healthier relationship with ourselves, which seems necessary in order to be a more generative presence in the world. You can find out more about Quique, and buy the book, at https://www.quiqueautrey.com/ Hope you here a hint or guess for your own path.

Age of Mistrust: A Sermon

Mon, 21 Oct 2024 19:11:20 +0000

The word sermon implies a threading together, and I'd like to thread together some lines from St Paul, T.S.Eliot, and Jung. I hope you'll find some encouragement and challenge from these voices, who in their own way, point beyond themselves to the transcendent, to God. I can't think of anything more important in our age of mistrust.

Moving Again?

Fri, 27 Sep 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Here are few thoughts on feeling stuck, big storms gathering at the window, what it's like when our stories and imagination seem disconnected from the present, a few musings on intuition, the still small voice, the melody below the melody, being defeated, and less metaphorically, moving back to Michigan. The poems that I quote are from Rilke and Annie Lighthart. Enjoy!

The Masculine and the (Wounded) Feeling Function

Tue, 20 Aug 2024 18:45:23 +0000

What's the difference between mood and feeling? Between emotions and values? How do we grow our capacities for relationship, for deep values, in other words, how do we access the "feeling function" (Jung)? This episode is an exploration of the feeling function, the common wounds associated with it, and some possibilities for developing a healthier "masculine" psyche. I pull mainly from Robert A. Johnson's book He: Understanding Masculine Psychology, but also a little from Jung, and from my own experience. Thanks for supporting this podcast. I hope you hear and hint, a guess, for your own life. Enjoy!

The Old Will Dream, the Young See Visions: Renewal of the Mystical

Wed, 26 Jun 2024 17:17:03 +0000

I'd like to explore the mystical, not as an expert, but a student. Lately I've been inspired by Evelyn Underhill's insights in her book, Mysticism: A Study in Nature and Development of Spiritual Conscious which I quote in this podcast. My sense is, that despite the darkness of the age we live in, something of the Absolute wishes to break in, to rearrange our consciousness. When this happens, the old dream and the young see visions. What might it look like for modern people, spiritual - religious - not-so-religious, to open up to the possibility of the transcendent, so that our present mode of consciousness, our small egoic frame, might grow? What if Reality is not what we thought? The mystics left us a few clues for how to listen and how to be.

Wandering Desert God

Sat, 08 Jun 2024 12:49:55 +0000

Here's a followup to Religious Problems, Religious Medicine, a further exploration of the tension between Law and Spirit, tradition and innovation, which seems to be natural and important. I also have a few musings on the Wandering Desert God of the Hebrew people, as a kind of symbol for the religious outsider. And I turn again to Jung's highly unusual sense for "God," which might open a few doors to the transcendent. Enjoy!

Religious Problems, Religious Medicine?

Wed, 15 May 2024 18:31:40 +0000

I want to explore some religious questions that have been troubling me lately, where I've gotten things wrong over the last few years, and some hints and guesses about what's calling my name; namely some very ancient invitations...worship, prayer and sacrifice. Enjoy!

The God of Wild Places: Tony Jones

Wed, 10 Apr 2024 16:33:10 +0000

We discuss Tony's new book, which is great (www.reverendhunter.com). We talk about theology, leaving the church, Tao and redemption, sacred places, and some personal things. Enjoy!

When the World Breaks: Jason Adam Miller

Fri, 22 Mar 2024 16:28:54 +0000

I hope you'll appreciate this conversation with Jason Adam Miller about his new book on Jesus' most paradoxical and misunderstood words at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. I loved this book, When the World Breaks. I've not read anything so personal, rich and thought provoking on the Beatitudes. It's worth your time, especially if you're interested in a way of being, more than a way of believing, a way that might well upend our frames and call us into a deeper life. Jason Adam Miller is a pastor in South Bend and someone worth paying attention to (www.jasonadammiller.com) Enjoy!

The Journey

Mon, 11 Mar 2024 15:05:57 +0000

Here's another shorter podcast in my series, where I turn to poems, prayer, passages that have been important to me. I hope you'll hear your own hints and guesses. This week, we turn to Mary Oliver's classic, The Journey. Enjoy!

When We Are Lost

Mon, 19 Feb 2024 18:17:39 +0000

I'd like to explore the possibilities, the postures, and the terrain, of feeling lost, a certain kind of lostness. Rather than being prescriptive, I hope to just describe a little of what it's like, and a few hints and guesses from the poets and mystics, that I hope you'll find meaningful, and possibly helpful. Enjoy.

Church in the East

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 15:49:17 +0000

Here's another shorter mediation on Rilke's passage about leaving home, about following a calling, the cost and terrible possibilities hidden in walking toward the East, toward a church forgotten, a sacred place ignored. Enjoy.

Coleman's Bed

Thu, 18 Jan 2024 18:59:39 +0000

For my 100th episode, I'm introducing a new dimension of the podcast, shorter mediations based on poems, passages, and prayers. Thanks for all your support, can't believe I've made 100 episodes. I hope you'll hear some hints and guesses in this David Whyte poem, Coleman's Bed, or in my own reflections. Stay tuned for more shorter episodes, as well as my longer format contributions and interviews. Special thanks to Jonas Dobson, my son, for the music. Enjoy!

The Dream: A Bridge Between Worlds

Fri, 05 Jan 2024 19:38:51 +0000

In this episode, we turn our attention again to the language of dreams, particularly the ways in which the dream experience seeks to have an effect on the dreamer. This is really part 2 of a podcast series on dreams, the first episode being called The Language of Dreams. Special thanks to my friend Emma who was willing to share her dream in a such a public place. We hope it serves you in some way. Thanks for listening and supporting. Enjoy!

The Language of Dreams

Thu, 21 Dec 2023 16:57:56 +0000

On the longest night of the year, I'd like to explore dreams, dreamwork and surrendering to the intelligence of the dream. "We have forgotten the age old fact that God speaks primarily through dreams and visions" (C.G. Jung). Enjoy!

Are You Alive? A Conversation with Eloise Skinner

Mon, 20 Nov 2023 14:27:18 +0000

Eloise Skinner's new book is called, But Are You Alive? How to Design a Life Worth Living. In this conversation about her book, we discuss existential therapy, ancient practices, work life, monastic possibilities, and questions of meaning. You can find her on Instagram, or through her website www.eloiseskinner.com

I hope you hear some hints and guesses for your own everyday spiritual life. Enjoy!

Complex Moral Minefields: Israel and Palestine

Mon, 06 Nov 2023 19:31:46 +0000

Here's the second conversation with my wife Mandy about Israel, about the troubling questions we think this conflict raises, the hyper-charged language being used, a bit of historical context, the cultural climate of oppressor and victim, plus a few hints and guesses about deception and the power of seeking the truth.

Living in Israel, a Conversation

Fri, 27 Oct 2023 21:32:54 +0000

Here are a few thoughts and reflections about out life in Israel with my wife, Mandy. We thought we'd share a few personal reflections about out time there, what we learned, and a bit of what we find troubling, plus a few things we've found helpful. "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem."

Soul as Relationship

Tue, 12 Sep 2023 14:48:31 +0000

"People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in other to avoid facing their own souls" (C.G. Jung). Here's the most recent way I've been thinking about Soul, along with some very personal stories. You can check my previous podcasts, What is Soul? Part 1 and 2 if you want to see how my own thoughts have evolved and grown. Enjoy!

The Father Wound: Part 2

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 18:28:49 +0000

This is a further exploration of the unique ways the masculine, or the unhealthy patriarchal world, wounds the son and the daughter. We'll explore the nature of these wounds using two ancient myths, one about a rat, and the other about the handless maiden. Like all sacred stories, a few hints and guesses are hidden here that can help us navigate the ways our fathers are wounded, and the ways we all received wounds when we were innocent, and small, and vulnerable. Although myths rarely spell out the path of healing explicitly, or tell us how to translate it, they nevertheless show us that healing is possible, and that our wild instinctual core can burn brightly again in our lives, opening us further to a life of value and meaning. Enjoy!

The Father Wound: Part 1

Thu, 15 Jun 2023 12:31:52 +0000

This episode is an investigation of the father wound. I'll be exploring our own wounded fathers, the kind of wounds the masculine receives, and the shape of our own wounds as sons and daughters in a "time of no father," to quote Robert Bly. I'm interested here in the archetypal and mythic terrain of the wounded feeling function, as Jung calls it. I'm relying heavily on the Robert Johnson's book The Fisher King and the Handless Maiden, as well as Iron John by Robert Bly. I'm curious what these important myths tell us about our wounded fathers, or the wounded masculine more generally. This is the beginning of a two-part dive into this realm. Enjoy!

Blessing in the Dust

Wed, 31 May 2023 15:02:15 +0000

Some personal reflections on public/private life tensions, moving to another state, thresholds spaces, and a few other things going on in my life. Thanks for all your support. The title is a reference to a poem by Jan Richardson called A Blessing in the Dust, which I read at the end of podcast. Enjoy!

The Mythic Masculine: Ian MacKenzie

Tue, 02 May 2023 14:01:40 +0000

Check out my conversation with Ian MacKenzie, filmmaker and creator of The Mythic Masculine Podcast. We're experiencing a current renaissance in men's work right now, which is so important for the health and healing of our culture. Ian has been exploring and bringing forth voices who are contributing to the conversation, and he has his own story of how the mythic masculine has been shaping his life. Check out his work at https://www.themythicmasculine.com/

Listening as Prayer

Wed, 12 Apr 2023 18:36:55 +0000

"I do not know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention...how to kneel" (Mary Oliver). What do you think about prayer now, with the unraveling of religious categories, and traditional practices? Does prayer still have a place in the spiritual life? If so, what do we mean by prayer? Enjoy

Wild Yoga: A Conversation with Rebecca Wildbear

Mon, 13 Mar 2023 20:33:06 +0000

Here's my conversation with Rebecca Wildbear about her new book Wild Yoga. She's a guide with Animas Valley Institute, she also teaches Wild Yoga, and other soul-oriented offerings. We discuss the art and craft of listening, the nature of prayer, and Wild Yoga as a way of being. You can find her work at https://www.rebeccawildbear.com/

Enjoy!

Are We Ready for Psychedelics?

Wed, 01 Feb 2023 13:16:15 +0000

Psychedelics is the hottest topic in spiritual and therapeutic circles. Are we ready? What are the dangers and opportunities? Ryan Meeks and I have been wrestling with these questions for the last few years. This podcast is an unscripted conversation about drugs between two friends, not an authoritative final word on the research, or a formula for what's best for each individual. Ryan has a lot of experience in this world, I do not. I hope you enjoy our back and forth, as we search for hints and guesses about what's going on.

Rituals: Meaning and the Too-Muchness of Mystery

Fri, 20 Jan 2023 12:46:18 +0000

Here's a conversation about rituals in the modern world with my friends at Eastlake Community Church, outside of Seattle. We talk about meaning in Target, our human craving for transcendence, the Starbucks holiday cup, the Vatican, and wonder together whether or not new rituals can be created and how much of what's still available might help us. Special thanks to Jordan Gilliam for the original soundscape, In This Together. Find him on Instagram @jordan_tyrone78.

Radiant Center: Divine Child and the Soul

Thu, 08 Dec 2022 16:20:42 +0000

Turning to the archetypal patterns of Advent, the birth of the Soul, the Christ, and the forces that try to cut us off from our radiant center, our possibilities, our creative incarnation. Special thanks to Jordan Gilliam for the original soundscape, In This Together. Find him on Instagram @jordan_tyrone78. The main quote, and a few of the ideas used in this episode, comes from Trauma and the Soul, A Psycho-Spiritual Approach to Human Development and its Interruption, by Donald Kalsched. Enjoy!

Sacred Feminine Sacred Masculine

Mon, 14 Nov 2022 16:22:47 +0000

Here are a few ideas, images, stories, hints and guesses, about the Feminine and Masculine, as sacred, as archetypal realities, as something we all carry in the psyche, and as something to be honor and respected. Enjoy!

We All Worship Something

Thu, 06 Oct 2022 13:36:37 +0000

This episode is about the religious instinct, our proclivity to worship, the fact that we bow down to something, and what might happen if we consent to the inner compass which seeks ultimate meaning.

”There is no such thing” as God

Wed, 07 Sep 2022 19:32:07 +0000

Merton, Nietzsche, Buber and a few thoughts on the opportunities when we no longer know what we mean by God.

The Cult of Identity and the ”True Self”

Fri, 05 Aug 2022 13:23:47 +0000

I'd like to turn to Thomas Merton's writings on the True Self. I find his mystical understanding of identity to be counter-cultural, challenging and ultimately hopeful. I hope you hear a hint or guess from Merton, as I am, for your own descent beneath the ego's demands and stances. Enjoy!

Thank God I’m Not Like Other People

Mon, 18 Jul 2022 20:06:25 +0000

Some reflections and an unorthodox reading of an old parable of Jesus. Enjoy!

Approaching Deconstruction, Dark Night and Emptiness

Mon, 13 Jun 2022 20:09:01 +0000

What is deconstruction? Or the Dark Night for that matter? And what is it that we are being invited into, during certain seasons of life? These are only hints and guesses.

Ancient Compost: The Trees are on Fire

Mon, 02 May 2022 16:12:36 +0000

This week is about the sacred, the holy ordinary, trees lit from within, Annie Dillard, Moses, and a few suggested practices for deepening our quality of attention. Enjoy!

Ancient Compost: Pilgrimage and the Absence of God

Mon, 25 Apr 2022 14:34:00 +0000

A podcast about the golden calf, the absence of God, the center which has no center, and the nutrients left in the compost heap of our spiritual ancestors.

Ancient Compost: Babel and Borders

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 18:26:06 +0000

The first in my Monday series on ancient texts, Biblical images, and the compost heap of the wisdom tradition. This episode is a musing on Babel, power, greed, pride, Putin, borders, invasion and the Wind. Enjoy!

The (Re)Rise of Fundamentalism

Thu, 17 Feb 2022 19:11:37 +0000

Hopefully I'll step on everyone's toes, including my own.

Brie Stoner and the Gates of Unknowing

Thu, 20 Jan 2022 19:26:11 +0000

Excited to chat with Brie Stoner. We chat about courage, art, motherhood, divorce, unknowing, mentors and geography. Enjoy!

Wound-Gift

Fri, 17 Dec 2021 15:14:20 +0000

This episode is about the mysterious relationship between our wounds and our gifts. Perfect for the holiday season. Enjoy!

Born for these Times

Tue, 02 Nov 2021 12:49:04 +0000

What stories are we carrying about human purpose, or destiny, or about the how any of us are actually here, right now, in this life, in this era? Are we mere accidents, among countless accidents? What needs to be remembered for us to really flourish, or find some sense of deeper meaning? Just a few questions I'm wrestling with on this podcast. Enjoy!

Surprise! Rob Bell

Mon, 20 Sep 2021 08:00:00 +0000

I hope you enjoy our unscripted conversation about surprises, form and creativity, what is currently speaking to us, and finding a life-giving pace in the madness and anxiety of our age.

Tony Jones: Epistemic Humility and Memento Mori

Thu, 09 Sep 2021 13:50:45 +0000

In this wide-ranging chat we talk about Tony's story, being canceled, the Emergent Church, epistemic humility, not losing faith, finding wild places, hunting, contact with death, Israel, and whether or not the Jesus story still has power. I hope you hear a few hints and guesses for your own unfolding. Enjoy!

You Cannot Mock the Stars

Mon, 09 Aug 2021 20:17:48 +0000

Abraham Heschel, unflinching awe, Yellowstone at night, sublime grandeur, and what happens when the only value system we have is the market. Enjoy!

Iron John and the Sacred Masculine

Fri, 02 Jul 2021 15:39:12 +0000

More in my series, Stuff That Helps! This time, Iron John by Robert Bly. In this episode we explore the opening of the myth Iron John and what it has to teach us about growing up. It's very challenging right now to talk about the masculine, much more what I call the Sacred Masculine. I hope you hear something that helps. Enjoy!

Peter Rollins: The Not-at-Oneness of Reality

Thu, 10 Jun 2021 10:42:29 +0000

The death of God, the unconscious, Freudian slips, why you can't find your keys, are all in this wide ranging conversation with my friend Peter Rollins. You might have to listen more than once. Special thanks to my Patrons for supporting this podcast. It's great to be back after a strange and challenging month for me. Enjoy!

Shouldn't I Be Further Along?

Thu, 29 Apr 2021 14:54:30 +0000

How long does this whole spiritual transformation stuff take? Shouldn't I be enlightened by now? Why is all this old stuff still getting dragged up? Well, let's talk about it.

The Immature Hero and the Second Garden

Mon, 29 Mar 2021 14:25:03 +0000

Here's my Holy Week offering. Enjoy! #hintsandguesses

The Forum (from Jerusalem): Danny Kopp and Gary Alley

Tue, 23 Mar 2021 14:33:21 +0000

Just before the pandemic shut down the world, I recorded a conversation with two friends from Jerusalem while I was leading a tour there, both pastors at the small congregation I attended when I was a student. We dive into what life is like in Jerusalem for Christians, our thoughts and feelings about the ongoing tensions, what it's like to raise kids in such a complex environment and more. Our conversation is completely unscripted and wide-ranging. I hope you hear something fresh and interesting here as we discuss ideas and realities that tend to sharply divide the world in camps. Thanks for being a part of this podcast, for sharing it, for making it happen. Enjoy!

The Forum: Paul Moore

Sat, 20 Feb 2021 21:37:54 +0000

Back to the origins of the podcast with Paul Moore! Hope you enjoy another unscripted conversation, from racism, to meditation, to the nature of how the ego changes.

Mass Intoxication

Wed, 10 Feb 2021 10:00:00 +0000

What do we stand to learn from 2020? What sort of spiritual stance is needed in 2021? These questions keep turing over in my heart and mind. Part of the answer seems to require some curiosity and clarity about mass movements, how they work, their intoxicating power, how the individual gets swallowed and dehumanized, and what to do about it. I'll be turing to some Jung and T.S. Eliot for a few hints and guesses. Enjoy.

The Forum: Bill Plotkin

Mon, 01 Feb 2021 20:29:41 +0000

Check out my interview with the eco-depth psychologist Bill Plotkin! We discuss his new book, The Journey of Soul Initiation, and the challenges of growing into a true adult. I'm so grateful for his books and the time I've spent in wild places with him and other Animas Valley Institute guides. Enjoy!

The Forum: Ryan Meeks

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 16:36:10 +0000

The Forum is a place for conversations with inspiring people. Ryan Meeks is a friend, guide, and a former Mega Church pastor (just like me)! We talk about what threads we started following later in life, and what the current edge of our sense of calling and spirituality is right now. I hope you here a hint or guess for your own story. I'll occasionally be dropping these conversations as part of a project I'm calling the The Forum. Enjoy!

Searching Spiritual Inventory

Mon, 04 Jan 2021 21:08:47 +0000

Join me in starting off the New Year with some needed self examination. Enjoy (perhaps)!

Advent 4: the Messiah

Mon, 21 Dec 2020 17:39:21 +0000

The final advent reflection, based on the traditional scripture readings. Merry Christmas and happy Solstice.

Advent 3: Are You the One?

Mon, 14 Dec 2020 18:17:24 +0000

Episode 3 in my short Advent series. What the nature of the Messianic kingdom that Jesus embodied? Enjoy!

Advent 2: The Wilderness

Mon, 07 Dec 2020 20:34:45 +0000

Check out the next episode in my advent series. Enjoy!

Advent 1: The Day and Hour

Mon, 30 Nov 2020 19:03:46 +0000

Here's the first in a series of Advent reflections based on the traditional Advent readings from the Christian calendar. I hope you hear some ancient wisdom, a hint, a clue, a guess, that's a little light during the darkest time of year. Enjoy!

The Scapegoat

Wed, 11 Nov 2020 17:30:07 +0000

Understanding why we scapegoat and how to stop it. A viable and generative future depends upon it. Enjoy!

The Fisher King

Tue, 27 Oct 2020 17:08:52 +0000

One week from the election here in the States, let's talk about the wounded king, the Fisher King, and what brings vitality and new life to the individual and the culture. Enjoy!

Why We Need Prophets

Mon, 05 Oct 2020 21:38:40 +0000

What does the prophetic consciousness have to teach us, right now, in all this madness? Enjoy!

Why We Need Mentors

Wed, 16 Sep 2020 14:42:53 +0000

Lets' talk about mentors, Telemachus, slapping the master, apprenticeship, Rabbi Zusha, and a few personal stories. Enjoy!

Introduction to a Grain of Wheat

Mon, 17 Aug 2020 18:52:41 +0000

So excited to release this podcast about the Christ symbol, and my new audio book called A Grain of Wheat: The Christ Symbol now available on my website. Enjoy!

Third Way Consciousness

Thu, 09 Jul 2020 16:54:48 +0000

"We are here to awaken from the illusion of separateness," says Thich Naht Hahn. In a culture hell bent on separateness, canceling, disassociation, shaming, and division, no wonder we are having such a hard time. In this episode, I'd like to begin a conversation about the Third Way, a way that emerges between the poles. I hope you hear something that helps. Thanks for all your support. Enjoy

Disconnect from the Machine

Fri, 03 Jul 2020 13:16:58 +0000

Crisis means "turning point," an opportunity, as much as a struggle. This week I discuss practical ways of unplugging from the machine, finding some deeper source, which is needed now more than ever. "What if you gain the whole world and forfeit your soul?" How do we return to what matters in an age that is deciding for us, what to think, what to buy, what to protest, what to post, what to care about, what to promote, what flag we should fly, and who we should be. Time for a Sabbath from all this nonsense.

Time to Hear the Caged Bird

Tue, 02 Jun 2020 15:02:34 +0000

Feeling heartbroken and troubled, now is the time to listen, to the caged bird, to voices from the edge. I hope you hear some hints and guesses.

New Batteries, the Marlboro Man, and the Messiah Complex

Thu, 07 May 2020 15:05:01 +0000

What are the fantasies we'd like to maintain so our worldview doesn't have to change? Plus, change your batteries! Thanks for listening. Stay safe, stay smart, be courageous.

What Really Matters?

Fri, 17 Apr 2020 18:08:30 +0000

Just holding the question, "what really matters," seems to be more important right now than quick answers. This week is about that question, as well as the gifts of silence, severance and solitude. I also turn to some voices of wisdom, Merton, Berry and Rilke, who have lived through a few things, and still their words ring true. This time period is nothing short of a global invitation to change, but how and when and at what cost all seem to be unanswered. I hope you hear a few hints and guesses which inspire and challenge. Stay safe, stay smart, be courageous.

Beauty and Terror...Just Keep Going

Wed, 18 Mar 2020 17:12:01 +0000

Collision of opposites, Corona, survival dance, sacred dance, abandonment, overwhelm, extrovert, introvert and the possibilities of a greater consciousness. What a world we live in! Stay safe and smart and courageous.

The Vulnerability Hangover

Mon, 24 Feb 2020 18:28:57 +0000

Let's talk about vulnerability, over-sharing, wounds and the fundamental nature of being. I Hope these hints and guesses are helpful. Enjoy!

The Hidden Gifts of Anger

Tue, 28 Jan 2020 20:26:28 +0000

Does anger have anything to teach us in a world with so much violence and suffering? Join me this week for an exploration around anger. I'll weave threads from David Whyte, Bill Plotkin and Joanna Macy, plus share a few personal stories about my own relationship with anger. Enjoy! Or get pissed off.

I Believe in the Night

Wed, 18 Dec 2019 23:08:36 +0000

A podcast on advent, incarnation, the womb, Rilke, holiday parties, the mall, and the pregnant possibility of sweet darkness. Happy holidays my friends. Enjoy!

The Earth is Flat

Tue, 03 Dec 2019 19:48:16 +0000

This week is about conspiracy theories, fantasies and our strategies for avoiding impermanence and the abyss. Enjoy!

How Not To Be A Narcissist

Wed, 13 Nov 2019 20:43:01 +0000

Sick of the news? Let's talk about Echo and Narcissus, a David Whyte poem, flannel shirts, and Gandhi's well know imperative, "be the change you want to see in the world." Enjoy!

Stuff that Helps! 5 The Magical Other

Mon, 21 Oct 2019 13:38:18 +0000

"You complete me!" Not really. As a follow up to the last episode on the Shadow, I'm diving into the image of the Magical Other. Let's talk about projections and fantasies in intimate, long-term relationships. And how to grow up. This episode is in my series Stuff that Helps!, where I popularize stuff I've found helpful. This week will be about the work of James Hollis, a Jungian Analyst and author who coined the phrase the Magical Other. According to Hollis the fantasy of the Magical Other is one of the chief sources of suffering in long-term relationships, not to mention a kind of false god in the Western world. Enjoy!

A Little Podcast on the Shadow

Wed, 09 Oct 2019 15:11:45 +0000

With so much finger pointing and blame right now, let's talk about the shadow and projection. Ken Wilber calls shadow work the great gift of psychology in the 21st century. So what is it? How do we get close to the possibilities and invitations hidden beneath our conscious awareness? Enjoy!

We've Lost the Plot 7: It's the End of the World (As We Know it)

Wed, 11 Sep 2019 18:08:02 +0000

We've lost the plot again! Let's talk about The Apocalypse, which really means "to reveal." With so much anxiety and fear, is there a reason to be hopeful? What does the destruction and renewal symbol have to teach us right now? "No one ought ever love their suffering/but no one ever loves without its pain/as we die we come to wondering/if there was something we could not yet see/that winged Thing that merges with Earth's suffering/to make us what we would otherwise never be." (Rilke)

Step Away From the Enneagram Part 2

Mon, 19 Aug 2019 18:18:08 +0000

The last podcast created some controversy, so let's go further. In this episode, I bring in some other voices on the subject of "know thyself" - I discuss the early adolescent tensions of authenticity and social acceptance from the work of Bill Plotkin, the traps of identification according to Cynthia Bourgeault, radical consciousness from Ken Wilber, and the Cosmic Dance of Thomas Merton. Enjoy!

Step Away From the Enneagram Part 1

Wed, 17 Jul 2019 18:20:11 +0000

Know thyself! The gifts and limits of the enneagram, from my experience. Enjoy.

Co-creation and the Feminine Imagination

Tue, 02 Jul 2019 16:48:17 +0000

This week, woman's soccer, Exodus, liberation, co-creating a better world and the gift of the sacred feminine imagination. Enjoy!