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The Mystical Positivist

The Mystical Positivist

De : Stuart Goodnick and Robert Schmidt
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The Mystical Positivist, with hosts Stuart Goodnick and Dr. Robert Schmidt, is dedicated to the application of reason in the pursuit of spiritual practice and development. It consists of commentary, book reviews, interviews, and discussion in and around the local and larger spiritual community. The thesis of the show is that rationality is in no way the antithesis of deep mystical experience, in fact, we assert that it is a necessary ally.© 2025 Tayu Meditation Order, Inc. Spiritualité
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  • The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #445 - 29AUG26

    The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #445 - 29AUG26
    Aug 30 2026
    Podcast: This week on The Mystical Positivist, we feature a discussion from the Western Baul Podcast Series featuring Rob Schmidt and Stuart Goodnick. The title is "Conversation as Spiritual Practice: The Legacy of Robert Daniel Ennis" July 4, 2026 marked the 50th anniversary of the founding of Tayu Meditation Center by Robert Daniel Ennis. Mr. Ennis dated the 200th birthday of American independence in 1976 as the transition moment when he left the context of the spiritual school where he had trained, to establish himself as an independent teacher, and began to explore what spiritual independence meant for himself and others. Interestingly, and perhaps at first ironically, Mr. Ennis found his work focusing upon the reciprocal mutuality of co-creation in relationship, which he summarized concisely with the mantram “I am that I am; Thou art that I am.” Following Gurdjieff’s assertion of the critical importance of “impression food,” Mr. Ennis created a progressively elaborated, innovative series of two-person meditative practices entitled Co-Meditation. Co-Meditation is a special form of the Gurdjieffian practice of Self Observation, which consists of holding a neutral witnessing presence with whatever experience unfolds in a given moment. Precisely due to this necessary feature of witness neutrality, Co-Meditation offers rigorous ways to investigate and explore the unseen, long-forgotten, and typically misunderstood implications of what come to be our habits of expression and action in relationship. These habits frequently derive from impression food in infancy and early childhood, when we are most vulnerable and least equipped to receive messages from other people internally without identification. With repetition over time, such deep-seated habits of responding to early impression food persist for decades, resulting in habits of relationship which we ultimately take for granted as “natural” from the perspective of the individual. Spiritual independence relies upon and is synonymous with the intentional development of a robust and reliable habit of self-examination (as opposed to self-analysis). Co-Meditation offers a powerful practice in just that arena of human experience – relationships – where most people have the greatest difficulty establishing internal neutrality. Gravely ill weeks before his death, Mr. Ennis remarked to his students that he intended to focus his teaching energies on conversations around meals. On the aforementioned 50th anniversary of Tayu, his gathered students co-created and witnessed the clarifying atmosphere that was their tribute to Tayu’s founder. The Western Baul Podcast Series features talks by practitioners of the Western Baul path. Western Bauls, as named by Lee Lozowick (1943-2010), an American spiritual Master who taught in the US, Europe, and India and who was known for his radical dharma, humor, and integrity, are kin to the Bauls of Bengal, India, with whom he shared an essential resonance and friendship. Lee’s spiritual lineage includes Yogi Ramsuratkumar and Swami Papa Ramdas. More information about Tayu Meditation Center can be found at: Many Rivers Books and Tea Website: www.manyriversbooks.com, Rob Schmidt and Stuart Goodnick on The Mystical Positivist: The Crisis of Continuity of Wisdom, Rob Schmidt and Stuart Goodnick on The Mystical Positivist: The Practice of Patriotism, Rob Schmidt and Stuart Goodnick on The Mystical Positivist: Cultivating Transparency and Languaging Nonduality, Rob Schmidt and Stuart Goodnick on The Mystical Positivist: Fourth Way Magic, Rob Schmidt and Stuart Goodnick on The Mystical Positivist: Interview by Richard Whittaker.
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  • The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #443 - 11JUL26

    The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #443 - 11JUL26
    Jul 12 2026
    • Podcast:

    This week on the show we feature a pre-recorded conversation with Ken McLeod, Buddhist teacher and author the recently released book, The Magic of Vajrayana. In today’s conversation, we discuss the challenges of spiritual practice in the modern world. Among the topics we cover are the contrasting roles of religious and spiritual practice, the crisis of meaning in contemporary life, understanding Mahayana’s “Two Truths” as the Fact of Mystery and the Fact of Life, and Faith versus Belief.

    One of the more innovative Buddhist teachers today, Ken McLeod is known for his clear explanations, poetic translations, and pragmatic approach to practice. He is one of the first generation of Western teachers in the Tibetan tradition and one of the few to be authorized to transmit the full scope of these teachings to students. In particular, his approach resonates strongly with those whose path lies outside established institutions.

    After graduating with a degree in mathematics, Ken cycled across Europe to Istanbul and then continued his journey overland to India. In 1970 he met his principal teacher Kalu Rinpoche at his monastery near Darjeeling. There Ken began a study and practice in Tibetan Buddhism that lasted more than twenty years. He completed the traditional three-year retreat program two times, translated for many teachers, and helped set up Buddhist centers in Canada and the United States. After his teacher's passing, Ken moved away from the hierarchical structures of Asian Buddhism to explore new approaches.

    In 1990, he founded Unfettered Mind in Los Angeles. His approach of one-on-one consultations roiled the Buddhist world in the early '90s, but was quickly recognized as a viable way to teach and guide students in the West. He made individual interviews a central feature of the many retreats he taught in California, New Mexico, and British Columbia. Through numerous small groups in Southern California, he developed the materials that became the encyclopedic meditation manual, Wake Up to Your Life.

    Now retired from formal teaching, he lives in Northern California where he hikes and writes. His writings and translations include The Great Path of Awakening (1987), Wake Up to Your Life (2001), An Arrow to the Heart (2007), Reflections on Silver River (2014), A Trackless Path (2017), and The Magic of Vajrayana (2022), as well as a corpus of articles and translations in Tricycle and other Buddhist magazines.

    More information about Ken McLeod's work can be found at:
    Unfettered Mind website: www.unfetteredmind.org.
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  • The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #444 - 22AUG26

    The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #444 - 22AUG26
    Aug 29 2026
    • Podcast:

    This week on the show we feature a pre-recorded conversation with Kenneth Hillsman, a diviner in the Dagara West African tradition. Kenneth was born and raised in Tennessee as a preacher’s kid in a very religious family. In college while taking African studies classes, he read Elder Malidoma Somé’s first book, Of Water and Spirit, which planted the seeds for what was to come. While working in the family business, a health and natural foods store, he developed a passion for herbs and roots and how they can heal people. In 2018, Kenneth was initiated into the Dagara tradition of Stick Divination, and after developing a deeper relationship with the ancestors, he began to be shown how herbs and roots can not only heal and help people physically but spiritually as well. As he learned more about past family members it became clear that practicing root medicine always ran in his blood. Now Kenneth uses his divination and root medicine tools to help others along their own spiritual journeys, and he looks forward to one day making the trip to Dagara land in Dano, Burkina Faso, to pay homage to the tribe that helped awaken the medicine that was deep in his bones.

    More information about Kenneth Hillsman's work can be found at:
    Intuitive Medicines on Facebook: www.facebook.com,
    Intuitive Medicines on Instagram: www.instagram.com,
    Kenneth Hillsman's email: kenneth.hillsman @ gmail.com.
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