New Thinking Allowed with Jeffrey Mishlove Jun 20, 2024 Psychology and Psychotherapy Gary Lachman is the author of over twenty books about the history of esotericism and its influence on politics and society. He has written biographies of Carl Jung, Aleister Crowley, Rudolf Steiner, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Emanuel Swedenborg, P. D. Ouspensky, and Colin Wilson. His newest book is Maurice Nicoll: The Forgotten Teacher of the Fourth Way. His website is https://www.gary-lachman.com/ Here he weaves a fascinating tapestry involving the ferment in the early twentieth century, including the emergence of depth psychology and a burgeoning esoteric culture including theosophy, anthroposophy, ritual magick, and – particularly – the Fourth Way movement of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky. Maurice Nicoll was in the center of this world. 00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:53 The Fourth Way 00:18:13 Maurice Nicoll and depth psychology 00:28:36 Fourth Way paradoxes 00:44:12 Fusion of psychology and esotericism 00:57:38 Gurdjieff movements 01:06:56 Maurice Nicoll’s significance 01:16:46 Conclusion Edited subtitles for this video are available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Polish, and Swedish. New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in “parapsychology” ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980). He is also the Grand Prize winner of the 2021 Bigelow Institute essay competition regarding the best evidence for survival of human consciousness after permanent bodily death. (Recorded on June 6, 2024)
Category Archives: Spirituality
Book: “The Serpent’s Gift”
The Serpent’s Gift: Gnostic Reflections on the Study of Religion
Jeffrey J. Kripal
“Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field.” With those words in Genesis, God condemns the serpent for tempting Adam and Eve, and the serpent has shouldered the blame ever since. But how would the study of religion change if we looked at the Fall from the snake’s point of view? Would he appear as a bringer of wisdom, more generous than the God who wishes to keep his creation ignorant?
Inspired by the early Gnostics who took that startling view, Jeffrey J. Kripal uses the serpent as a starting point for a groundbreaking reconsideration of religious studies and its methods. In a series of related essays, he moves beyond both rational and faith-based approaches to religion, exploring the erotics of the gospels and the sexualities of Jesus, John, and Mary Magdalene. He considers Feuerbach’s Gnosticism, the untapped mystical potential of comparative religion, and even the modern mythology of the X-Men.
Ultimately, The Serpent’s Gift is a provocative call for a complete reorientation of religious studies, aimed at a larger understanding of the world, the self, and the divine.
About the author
(Image from esalen.org)
Jeffrey J. Kripal
Jeffrey J. Kripal, Ph.D. (History of Religions, The University of Chicago, 1993; M.A., U. Chicago; B.A., Religion, Conception Seminary College, 1985), holds the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University, where he serves as Associate Dean of Humanities, Faculty and Graduate Studies. He also has served as Associate Director of the Center for Theory and Research of the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California.
(Goodreads.com)
The Amazing Randi and American Skepticism with Mitch Horowitz
New Thinking Allowed with Jeffrey Mishlove Jun 15, 2026 Mitch Horowitz is the author of many books on esoterica, spirituality, mysticism and the occult. Among his titles are The Seeker’s Guide to the Secret Teachings of All Ages, The Miracle Club, One Simple Idea, and Occult America. His website is https://mitchhorowitz.com/. He recently wrote an article evaluating the legacy of James Randi that can be viewed at https://boingboing.net/2020/10/26/the…. Here he explains why, in his opinion, the sociologist Marcello Truzzi chose to label The Amazing Randi and others associated with the American “skeptical” movement as “pseudoskeptics”. He sheds light on the parallels between deliberate ignorance of facts in discussions of the paranormal and of politics. He points out how Randi and other “skeptics” have actually stifled scientific investigations into the paranormal. This activity actually resulted in Jeffrey Mishlove’s favorable lawsuit settlement in 1986. Articles about James Randi’s “million dollar challenge” as referenced in this video can be found at: https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/ar…https://www.dailygrail.com/2008/02/th… New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in “Parapsychology” ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980). He is also the Grand Prize winner of the 2021 Bigelow Institute essay competition regarding the best evidence for survival of human consciousness after permanent bodily death. He is Co-Director of Parapsychology Education at the California Institute for Human Science. (Recorded on November 10, 2020)
Spiritual Awakening in the Italian Renaissance with Betty Kovács
New Thinking Allowed with Jeffrey Mishlove Jun 10, 2026 Betty J. Kovács, PhD, taught symbolic and mythic language for twenty-five years. She has served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Jung Society of Claremont, California, and sits on the Academic Advisory Board of Forever Family Foundation. Dr. Kovacs is author of Merchants of Light: The Consciousness That Is Changing the World, winner of The Scientific and Medical Network 2019 Book Prize and a Nautilus Silver Award. She has also written The Miracle of Death: There Is Nothing But Life. Her website is www.kamlak.com. Here she describes the Italian Renaissance as a time when people began to celebrate the beauty of the human body, the dignity of worldly human life, and the potential of people to reach for new cultural accomplishments – while remaining mindful of the divinity within, as expressed in the art and insights of the High Middle Ages. Hermeticism and kabbalah were part of this awakening that was largely stimulated by a growing awareness of ancient cultures. New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in “parapsychology” ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980). He is also the Grand Prize winner of the 2021 Bigelow Institute essay competition regarding the best evidence for survival of human consciousness after permanent bodily death. He is Co-Director of Parapsychology Education at the California Institute for Human Science. (Recorded on January 24, 2021)
Kahlil Gibran on getting beyond the pain
Gibran in 1913
“Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.”
~ Kahlil Gibran
“Many of us spend our whole lives running from feeling with the mistaken belief that you can not bear the pain. But you have already borne the pain. What you have not done is feel all you are beyond that pain.”
~Kahlil Gibran
Jubrān Khalīl Jubrān, usually referred to in English as Kahlil Gibran, was a Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist. He was also considered a philosopher, although he himself rejected the title. Wikipedia
Born January 6, 1883, Bsharri, Lebanon
Died April 10, 1931 (age 48 years), St. Vincent’s Hospital
The Only Three Distinctions Between People
By Maria Popova (themarginalian.org)
It may be that consciousness evolved to sieve the relevant from the incomprehensible allness of all there is, to parse the world into concepts and find an organizing principle for the chaos of them. Our cognitive inheritance is a restless yearning to fathom how things cohere and where they belong, a yearning we have given shape to in laws and labels, weights and balances, hierarchies and categories. It has served us well, this instinct to categorize in order to contain, giving us music, the laws of planetary motion, and democracy. But it also pulsates beneath every ism we have ever invented, beneath every stereotype and every genocide, beneath every algorithm that reduces us to variables then adds them up to sell the sum of who we are, beneath all the parcels of preconception we trade daily and mistake the barter a for a genuine encounter with one another.
Two centuries ago, Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804–May 19, 1864) offered a pithy, powerful antidote to this double-edged instinct.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
In a notebook entry from the autumn of 1836, penned shortly after his moving meditation on how not to waste your life, Hawthorne proposes a revision of our standard classification system for humanity — one that would rehumanize us with the simple awareness that what binds us is infinitely stronger than what divides us or by what affiliations we divide ourselves. He writes:
A new classification of society is to be instituted. Instead of rich and poor, high and low, they are to be classed, — First, by their sorrows: for instance, whenever there are any, whether in fair mansion or hovel, who are mourning the loss of relations and friends, and who wear black, whether the cloth be coarse or superfine, they are to make one class. Secondly, all who have the same maladies, whether they lie under damask canopies or on straw pallets or in the wards of hospitals, they are to form one class. Thirdly, all who are guilty of the same sins, whether the world knows them or not; whether they languish in prison, looking forward to the gallows, or walk honored among men, they also form a class. Then proceed to generalize and classify the whole world together, as none can claim utter exemption from either sorrow, sin, or disease; and if they could, yet Death, like a great parent, comes and sweeps all through one darksome portal, — all his children.
What a magnificent way to remember that down where the spirit meets the bone, we are all facing the same struggle: to feel safe, to feel seen, to wrest some meaning and some marvel from the ephemeral bewilderment of being alive.
Teresa Avila on owning and on Christ
Saint Teresa of Ávila by Eduardo Balaca
“Thank God for the things that I do not own.”
~ Teresa of Avila
“Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours, Yours are the eyes through which to look out Christ’s compassion to the world. Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good; Yours are the hands with which he is to bless men now.”
~ Teresa Avila
Teresa of Ávila, religious name Teresa of Jesus, was a Carmelite nun, prominent Spanish mystic and spiritual reformer. Active during the Counter-Reformation, Teresa became the central figure of a movement of spiritual and monastic renewal, reforming the Carmelite orders of both women and men. Wikipedia
Born March 28, 1515, Ávila, Spain
Died October 4, 1582 (age 67 years), Alba de Tormes, Spain
Chrystos on the pace of life
Vajrayana Buddhism for Westerners with Andrew Holecek
New Thinking Allowed with Jeffrey Mishlove Jun 4, 2026 Andrew Holecek was trained for decades within the Tibetan Buddhist traditions of Dzogchen and Mahamudra, and having completed the traditional three-year retreat. He is the author of numerous influential books, including Dream Yoga, The Lucid Dreaming Workbook, Preparing to Die, Dreams of Light, and his newest work is Total Eclipse of the Mind: Unleashing the Power of Darkness for Creativity, Healing and Transformation. His website is https://www.andrewholecek.com/ Andrew explores Vajrayana Buddhism as a living transformational path for modern Westerners, drawing from decades of Tibetan Buddhist training, dream yoga, sleep yoga, and dark retreat practice. He discusses lucidity, the dreamlike nature of reality, the states of consciousness associated with waking, dreaming, dying, and deep sleep, and how these experiences can cultivate wisdom, compassion, and awakening. Holecek also examines emptiness, non-dual awareness, the bardos, lucid dreaming, and the integration of psychology, spirituality, and consciousness studies into everyday life. 00:00:00 Introduction 00:02:44 Andrew’s journey into Vajrayana Buddhism 00:06:42 Three-year retreat and meditative discipline 00:11:03 Consciousness, contraction, and openness 00:19:05 Dream yoga and spiritual practice in daily life 00:25:56 Lucid dreaming and the nature of reality 00:31:31 Sleep yoga and deep dreamless awareness 00:42:28 Dreamers, perception, and non-dual awareness 00:49:07 Bardos, death, and ritual phenomenology 01:02:10 Conclusion New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in “parapsychology” ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980). He is also the Grand Prize winner of the 2021 Bigelow Institute essay competition regarding the best evidence for survival of human consciousness after permanent bodily death. He is Co-Director of Parapsychology Education at the California Institute for Human Science. (Recorded on May 18, 2026)
How to Hold Your Remorse: Maira Kalman’s Illustrated Meditation on Wresting Defiant Joy in Living from an Imperfect Life
By Maria Popova (themarginalian.org)
Each time we have tried to elevate ourselves above the other animals by claiming singular possession of some faculty, we have been humbled otherwise: Language, it turns out, is not ours alone, nor is the use of tools, nor is music. Elephants grieve, octopuses remember and predict, crows hold grudges.
Perhaps one day this too will be snatched from us, but for now there seems to be one tumult of being pulsating in the human breast alone: the capacity to be sorry, to feel the soul-ache of remorse as the penitent past fangs the flesh of the present.
How to hold our remorse, how to make of it a catalyst for creation, is what the philosopher-artist Maira Kalman explores in her small and splendid book Still Life with Remorse — a collection of miniature essays, poems, and painted vignettes reckoning with remorse through Maira’s own family story, punctuated by glimpses of the lives of some of her muses: Leo Tolstoy, Clara Schumann, Virginia Woolf, Franz Kafka, Henri Matisse.
Objects in Matisse’s Studio by Maira Kalman
Defining remorse as “deep regret implying shame, implying guilt, implying sorrow,” Maira observes that “in still lifes and interiors there must be a certain amount of remorse lurking among the bowls of fruit, vases or flowers and objects scattered about the room.”
Rising from the pages is the intimation that memory is the still life of living, that while remorse may haunt the mental images of our recollections, we can find in it an occasion for beauty, for creative vitality, for defiant joy.
Tolstoy Eating Breakfast by Maira Kalman
Opening with an allusion to that immortal line from Anna Karenina — “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” — she considers the half-life of sorrow across generations:
Happy families,
Unhappy families.
All the same, right?
Ach. ach. ach.To begin
You are born.
To a long line of ancestors
who are long gone
but still yell or whisper
in your ear
in the depths of night.
A game of telephone played
from one generation to the next.Garbled and confused.
Glimmers of light.
Misunderstandings.
Errors.And now, here you are.
With the ones you love.
Or the ones you don’t.The ones you cannot live without.
The ones you would like to smite.Those who have disappointed you
or betrayed you. Those who have
been kinder than you deserve. And
the kind ones who inevitably die.
And leave you feeling very much
alone. They are what you have.And if you think, at any given point,
that you know what is going on,
you are sorely mistaken.And yet.
With an eye to the complicated marriage of Sophia and Leo Tolstoy (so different from that of Anna and Fyodor Dostoyevsky) — the initial mutual infatuation, the thirteen children, the selflessness with which Sophia transcribed all of Leo’s writings, the mutual resentment of the end — she writes:
The verse to which Mahler wrote music becomes a quiet animating chorus for the book:
Spring is here.
The birds are singing.
Virginia Woolf’s Writing Table by Maira Kalman
From the personal stories — her grandparents killed in the Holocaust, her father delivering milk as his cover while working for a Palestine liberation underground, Kafka’s troubled relationship with his own father, Clara Schumann’s tenacity and her tender unclassifiable relationship with Brahms — emerges a universal lens on suffering, remorse, and redemption, shining a sidewise gleam on what makes life worth living despite the almost unbearable brunt of being alive.
My family.Your remorse.
My remorse.All the same, right?
Vast skies full of remorse.
Oceans of remorse.
But enough.There should be merriment.
And good cheer.
Good tidings. Well wishing.Tables laden with food.
Children playing.
Gathering of kinfolk.Like Clara would have wanted.
Seeing the best.
Forgiving the worst.If there is remorse,
let there be a limit to remorse.
A way to shake off the heavy weight.But how can we make this happen?
How to do this?Dark is life.
Spring is here.
The birds are singing.In the strangeness of life, LIVE.
Yellow Vase by Maira Kalman
Couple with “Antilamentation” — poet Dorianne Laux’s antidote to regret — then revisit Maira Kalman’s wonderful Women Holding Things and her illustrated love letter to Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein’s love.