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Podcast Episodes
(Part 2) Growing Beyond Conflict: The Power of Polarity Thinking for Healing, Thriving, and Becoming Wiser with Barry Johnson & Beena Sharma
“Love is a natural byproduct of seeing completely.”
Ep. 198 (Part 2 of 3) | Polarity management pioneer and author Barry Johnson and adult development expert Beena Sharma are masterful teachers on the subject of polarities and what polarity thinking can bring to the world, benefitting our well-being at every level. Together they explain what polarities are, why they matter, how to apply and leverage them, and the essence of polarity wisdom: pursuing the upsides of opposite poles. Barry is careful to explain that although either/or thinking is the root of our troubles, both/and thinking by itself isn’t the answer either. Integrating either/or with both/and thinking and recognizing the interdependence of all things is the road to transformation and, Beena adds, the engine of human development, of human maturity.
Barry explains the profound spiritual understanding foundational to polarity wisdom and Beena details how polarities shift according to our developmental stage. Each of the polarities discussed—justice/mercy, claiming power/sharing power, being/doing, to name a few—illuminates its sphere, whether it relates to democracy, social justice, or spiritual practice. Barry and Beena are passionate about the promise of polarity thinking and their excitement is contagious in this fast-paced, delightfully lucid dialogue, jam-packed with information that is practical, inspiring, and potentially life changing. Recorded May 22, 2025.
Growing Beyond Conflict: The Power of Polarity Thinking for Healing, Thriving, and Becoming Wiser with Barry Johnson & Beena Sharma (Part 1)
“Either/or thinking without both/and thinking is the root cause of poverty, racism, sexism, and war.”
Ep. 197 (Part 1 of 3) | Polarity management pioneer and author Barry Johnson and adult development expert Beena Sharma are masterful teachers on the subject of polarities and what polarity thinking can bring to the world, benefitting our well-being at every level. Together they explain what polarities are, why they matter, how to apply and leverage them, and the essence of polarity wisdom: pursuing the upsides of opposite poles. Barry is careful to explain that although either/or thinking is the root of our troubles, both/and thinking by itself isn’t the answer either. Integrating either/or with both/and thinking and recognizing the interdependence of all things is the road to transformation and, Beena adds, the engine of human development, of human maturity.
Barry explains the profound spiritual understanding foundational to polarity wisdom and Beena details how polarities shift according to our developmental stage. Each of the polarities discussed—justice/mercy, claiming power/sharing power, being/doing, to name a few—illuminates its sphere, whether it relates to democracy, social justice, or spiritual practice. Barry and Beena are passionate about the promise of polarity thinking and their excitement is contagious in this fast-paced, delightfully lucid dialogue, jam-packed with information that is practical, inspiring, and potentially life changing. Recorded May 22, 2025.
A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series (Dialogue 12, Part 2) – Opening to Pure Being: Awakening to the Fundamental Nature of Reality
“Practice is clearing the way, but whether awakening emerges or not is not up to you.”
Ep. 196 (Part 2 of 2) | n the twelfth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali guides us into the profound experience of pure being, which lies at the core of all mystical teachings. There are two nondual ways of experiencing the fullness of being, he explains. We can recognize we are infinite and boundless—as if we were the sky, but still experiencing this through our being—or, we can experience the oneness of being from the perspective of all manifestation: the mountain, the rocks, the molecules and atoms… “Wherever you go, physically or mentally, is pure being.” Hameed calls the first recognition “unity,” and the latter “oneness.”
Hameed clarifies the paradox of nothingness: “being and nothing are two ways of knowing the same thing; you can feel it as a fullness or you can feel it as an emptiness.” And he explains that being being and knowing being are the same thing, when knowing is understood in its deeper sense as gnosis. “Awakening is knowing our being or our awareness for what it is,” he says. Why is Hameed so uniquely articulate in talking about the experience of pure being? John asks him. This talk is an amazing teaching—visual and sensory, scientific and mathematical, deeply mystical and spiritual—Hameed comes at the subject of pure being from all angles. Recorded June 26, 2025.
A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series (Dialogue 12, Part 1) – Opening to Pure Being: Awakening to the Fundamental Nature of Reality
“One way of experiencing pure being is from within itself; then there is experiencing it from the perspective of all manifestation. This is when we understand form is formlessness and formlessness is form.”
Ep. 195 (Part 1 of 2) | In the twelfth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali guides us into the profound experience of pure being, which lies at the core of all mystical teachings. There are two nondual ways of experiencing the fullness of being, he explains. We can recognize we are infinite and boundless—as if we were the sky, but still experiencing this through our being—or, we can experience the oneness of being from the perspective of all manifestation: the mountain, the rocks, the molecules and atoms… “Wherever you go, physically or mentally, is pure being.” Hameed calls the first recognition “unity,” and the latter “oneness.”
Hameed clarifies the paradox of nothingness: “being and nothing are two ways of knowing the same thing; you can feel it as a fullness or you can feel it as an emptiness.” And he explains that being being and knowing being are the same thing, when knowing is understood in its deeper sense as gnosis. “Awakening is knowing our being or our awareness for what it is,” he says. Why is Hameed so uniquely articulate in talking about the experience of pure being? John asks him. This talk is an amazing teaching—visual and sensory, scientific and mathematical, deeply mystical and spiritual—Hameed comes at the subject of pure being from all angles. Recorded June 26, 2025.
(Part 2) Learning From Death and Dying: Lessons for All of Us From Zen Hospice with Frank Ostaseski
“Grief is a way we continue to love someone… a natural response to the experience of love.”
Ep. 194 (Part 2 of 2) | Frank Ostaseski, Zen hospice pioneer, founder of the Metta Institute, and author of The Five Invitations, speaks with us about the profound wisdom and potential for transformation that is unleashed in the process of dying. “Suppose we imagine death as an unprecedented opportunity for transformation, he says, adding, “so why wait until we are dying?” In attending over a thousand people in hospice, Frank has often seen them experience a real sense of discovery in the dying process; there is a time of acceptance, a time of letting go, and then a deeper state of surrendering to something larger. The walls that prop up the self start tumbling down, Frank explains, and a larger connection emerges that is always there.
Frank would like to see the process of dying brought out of the closet—shared about, learned from, and not reduced to a medical event. It’s important to meet death with don’t-know mind and trust the dying process to teach each of us what we need to know, he explains. And some of what we can do right now to open ourselves to the wisdom of death is pay attention to how we end things, and to how we love. This far reaching discussion delves gently into the divine mystery of death and dying, touching on radical acceptance, transcending self, don’t-know mind, everyday compassion and boundless compassion, grief as an expression of love, and creating rituals to mark this passage and all passages. We are left feeling unexpectedly comforted and liberated at the same time. Recorded December 5, 2024.
Roger Walsh’s New Edition of The World of Shamanism Available Now