Expanding Mind

Expanding Mind – Summer Pause

Thu, 20 Jun 2019 10:00:00 -0300

Erik reflects on a decade of podcasting, the learning curves of the show, the work of conversation, the uncanniness of our moment.

Expanding Mind – Liminal Mind

Thu, 13 Jun 2019 17:01:49 -0300

A conversation with my wife Jennifer Dumpert about collaborative dreaming, iPad skrying, meditation, play, the problem with interpretation, and her new bookLiminal Dreaming: Exploring Consciousness at the Edges of Sleep (North Atlantic).

Expanding Mind – Deconstructing Yourself

Thu, 06 Jun 2019 15:14:40 -0300

A discussion with meditation teacher and author Michael Taft about hardcore dharma, Buddhist modernism, shop talk, the soup of the sangha, and the problem of the achievement self and the blind leading the blind.

Expanding Mind – Queering Psychedelia

Thu, 23 May 2019 11:13:54 -0300

An informative chat with psychedelic researcher Dr. Alexander Belser about qualitative research, the Mystical Experience Questionnaire, queer spiritualities, and the idea of coming “out of the psychedelic closet.”

Expanding Mind – Sacred Matter

Thu, 16 May 2019 14:32:43 -0300

A conversation with philosopher of religion Mary-Jane Rubenstein about wonder, horror, animism, the multiverse, Heidegger, Einstein, Hawaiian telescopes, and her book Pantheologies: Gods, Worlds, Monsters (Columbia).

Expanding Mind – Patterns of Transformation

Thu, 02 May 2019 14:09:29 -0300

A talk with experience designer Ida Benedetto about transformative games, trespassing, rules for sex parties, active introversion, magic circles, funerals, and queer spirituality.

Expanding Mind – Decriminalize Nature

Fri, 26 Apr 2019 12:07:58 -0300

Entheogenic and community activists Larry Norris and Kufikiri talk about decriminalizing entheogenic plant medicines within Oakland: blind spots, changing the narrative, and resisting “the metronome of programming."

Expanding Mind – Feral Poetics

Thu, 18 Apr 2019 15:55:17 -0300

Poet Janaka Stucky talks about guerrilla poetry, burlesque horror, mystical language, shame, prophecy, and the strange DMT experiences that inspired his latest book, Ascend Ascend (Third Mind Books).

Expanding Mind – Meditation Apps

Thu, 11 Apr 2019 15:49:21 -0300

Science and technology researcher Rebecca Jablonsky talks about consciousness hacking, tech ethnography, information ecosystems, media fasts, and the ups and downs of outsourcing awareness.

Expanding Mind – Ouija Board Poetics

Thu, 04 Apr 2019 14:55:59 -0300

Poet and literary scholar Stephen Yenser talks about James Merrill's poetic epic The Changing Light at Sandover (1982).

Expanding Mind – Yoga Tales

Thu, 28 Mar 2019 15:38:41 -0300

Yogi, psychonaut, and dear old pal Spiros Antonopoulos returns to talk about the Ashtanga lineage, Crowley’s yoga chops, NYC punk yoga, and psychedelic Patanjali.

Expanding Mind – Higher Intelligence

Thu, 21 Mar 2019 16:12:55 -0300

In this second wide-ranging talk with Anthony Blake, author of A Gymnasium of Higher Intelligence, we discuss J.G Bennett’s ideas of higher intelligence.

Expanding Mind – Psychedelic Dharma

Thu, 14 Mar 2019 14:33:31 -0300

Host Erik Davis does a solo show on Beat Zen, the Fifth precept, tantric heresy, headless dharma collectives, capitalist subjectivity, and the Psychedelic Sangha meetups popping up in a few cities around North America.

Expanding Mind – Tarot Artistry

Thu, 07 Mar 2019 14:20:01 -0400

Author and Tarot expert Mary Greer discusses Pamela Colman Smith (the illustrator of the famous Rider-Wait-Smith deck). We touch on the Golden Dawn, Jung’s active imagination, and the marvelous Pamela Colman Smith: the Untold Story.

Expanding Mind – Reality Physics

Thu, 28 Feb 2019 14:55:24 -0400

Historian and astrophysicist Adam Becker—author of What is Real? The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics—talks about Schrödinger’s Cat, Bell’s Theorem, and the difference between weirdness and nonsense.

Expanding Mind – Beatnik Boyhood

Thu, 21 Feb 2019 16:22:53 -0400

Writer and avant-garde publisher Tosh Berman discusses his charming new memoir Tosh, about growing up with his father, the remarkable underground California artist Wallace Berman.

Expanding Mind – Daimonic Conversations

Thu, 14 Feb 2019 16:22:46 -0400

Writer and Ultraculture wizard Jason Louv talks about occult history, reality tunnels, his John Dee and the Empire of Angels book, Aleister Crowley’s secret Christianity, and the apocalyptic RPG the West can’t seem to escape.

Expanding Mind – Visionary Permaculture

Thu, 07 Feb 2019 16:27:44 -0400

Culture-crafter and plant poet Delvin Solkinson discusses permaculture principles, OS Gaia, cartomancy, visionary art, design activation, and the Galactic Trading Card Oracle.

Expanding Mind – Queer LA

Thu, 31 Jan 2019 18:22:29 -0400

Professor and queer historian Heather Lukes talks about Silver Lake riots, gay bikers, house ball scenes, the nostalgia for repression, and the joys and challenges of working on the online archive "The Grit and Glamour of Queer LA Subculture."

Expanding Mind – Find the Others

Mon, 28 Jan 2019 11:08:37 -0400

Author and media scholar Douglas Rushkoff talks about collaborative technologies, silicon transhumanism, analog aura, the problem of the soul, and his new and timely manifesto Team Human. Join the team!

Expanding Mind – “Meditation"

Fri, 18 Jan 2019 10:59:39 -0400

Host Erik Davis explores his personal history of “meditation"—including teenage stoner trances, voices in the head, and Zen anti-authoritarianism.

Expanding Mind – American Cosmic, Part 2

Thu, 10 Jan 2019 10:51:53 -0400

Religious scholar Diana Pasulka talks about anomalous cognition, 2001 monoliths, disclosure, future truths, absurd Christianity, and her book American Cosmic (Oxford).

Expanding Mind – American Cosmic, Part One

Thu, 03 Jan 2019 15:24:45 -0400

A talk with religious scholar Diana Pasulka about UFOs, scientific believers, book encounters, elite cabals, studying weirdness, and her new book American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology (Oxford).

Expanding Mind – Speaking with Plants

Thu, 20 Dec 2018 15:31:04 -0400

Author and plant behavior researcher Monica Gagliano talks about courage, scientific blindness, plant spirits, and her new book Thus Spoke the Plant (North Atlantic).

Expanding Mind – The Gorey Details

Thu, 13 Dec 2018 10:46:31 -0400

Culture critic Mark Dery talks about Surrealism, the gay voice, penny dreadfuls, and his new biography of Edward Gorey, Born to Be Posthumous (Little Brown).

Expanding Mind – The Superheroic Dose

Thu, 29 Nov 2018 15:27:49 -0400

Martial artist and psilocybin explorer Kilindi Iyi talks about African martial arts, high dose psilocybin work, African-American psychedelia, Dr. Strange, and the metaphysics of darkness.

Expanding Mind – Memetic Tribes

Thu, 15 Nov 2018 14:42:10 -0400

Canadian cultural observer Peter Limberg talks about Stoicism, philosophical sandboxes, the Intellectual Explorers Club, making uncertainty sexy, and navigating the conflicts between today's memetic tribes.

Expanding Mind – Integrating Psychedelics

Thu, 08 Nov 2018 16:13:33 -0400

Nurse practitioner and psychedelic therapist Julie Megler talks about integration circles, hierarchy vs. community, ketamine therapy, somatic work, and the philosophy behind her new East Bay clinic Sage Integrative Health.

Expanding Mind – Rainbow Bodies

Thu, 01 Nov 2018 14:18:08 -0300

Poet, journalist, and professor Nicholas Powers talks about festival politics, race and psychedelia, dreads, tokenism, and his book The Ground Below Zero: 9/11 to Burning Man, New Orleans to Darfur, Haiti to Occupy Wall Street (UpSet Press).

Expanding Mind – The Arts of Dying

Thu, 25 Oct 2018 17:57:50 -0300

Bay Area conceptual artist Lindsay Tunkl talks about confronting death, therapy as art, pre-apocalypse counseling, humor, and her book When You Die You Will Not Be Scared to Die (Parallax Press).

Expanding Mind – Strange Angels - 10.18.18

Thu, 18 Oct 2018 12:27:31 -0300

Occultist and Aleister Crowley biographer Richard Kaczynski talks about Jack Parsons, the "method of science,” the Agape Lodge, the women of Thelema, and the pluses and minuses of the Strange Angel TV series.

Expanding Mind – Dialogue Mind

Thu, 11 Oct 2018 16:05:18 -0300

The Gurdjieffean teacher and DuVersity director Anthony Blake talks about dialogue, synergy, mind between brains, the trouble with teachers, and the gymnasium of beliefs in higher intelligence.

Expanding Mind – Time Loops, Part 2 - 10.04.18

Thu, 04 Oct 2018 17:17:08 -0300

In part two of our conversation, author and blogger Eric Wargo talks about dreams, self-fulfilling prophecies, unconscious trauma, the banality of true spirituality, and his book Time Loops: Precognition, Retrocausation, and the Unconscious.

Expanding Mind – Time Loops - 09.27.18

Thu, 27 Sep 2018 17:13:57 -0300

In part one of our conversation, author, blogger, and dreamer Eric Wargo talks about uncertainty, determinism, Zen, and his book Time Loops: Precognition, Retrocausation, and the Unconscious.

Expanding Mind – Terraforming Earth - 09.13.18

Thu, 13 Sep 2018 15:00:00 -0300

A conversation with eco-literary scholar Derek Woods about science fiction, terrariums, geo-engineering, eco-modernism, and the wild science of designing technologies that exceed our control.

Expanding Mind – Black Rock City 2018 - 09.06.18

Thu, 06 Sep 2018 14:55:00 -0300

Host Erik Davis reflects on Burning Man in light of his first return to the event in nearly a decade. Topics include: the Burning Opera, Instagram, poetic terrorism, remembering dead people, chaos, and the unfolding paradigm of the city.

Expanding Mind – Kali Ma - 08.30.18

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 15:00:00 -0300

A conversation with devotees Usha Harding and Swami Bhajanananda about the unique Kali temple they help run in Laguna Beach: the perfume of practice, religious diversity, and the challenge of commercial yoga.

Expanding Mind – Citizen Science Trips - 08.23.18

Thu, 23 Aug 2018 14:05:21 -0300

A conversation with activist and writer David Nickles about the DMT Nexus, psychedelic militancy, extraction tek, the Statement on Open Science for Psychedelic Medicines, MAPS, and the trouble with for-profit psilocybin companies.

Expanding Mind – Voyages into Ethnobotany

Thu, 16 Aug 2018 15:00:00 -0300

A conversation with South African ethnobotanist Dale Millard about sangoma healers, animist science, beta carbolines, ayahuasca, and the broad-spectrum healing properties of harmine.

Expanding Mind - Playa Tricksters - 08.10.18

Fri, 10 Aug 2018 09:56:17 -0300

A conversation with writer, editor, and performer Mitch Mignano—aka Raven—about existential humor, the Cacophony Society and the origins of Burning Man, pranking your fears, nihilism, and the sacred clowns of the Sun Dance ceremony.

Expanding Mind - The Practice of Skepticism - 07.26.18

Thu, 26 Jul 2018 14:57:08 -0300

A conversation with philosopher and religious studies professor Dustin Atlas about ancient skepticism, Madhyamaka Buddhism, the taste of honey, Montaigne, Robert Anton Wilson, and the path of doubt.

Expanding Mind - The Archons Are Back - 07.19.18

Thu, 19 Jul 2018 14:49:16 -0300

A talk with gnostic scholar Matthew Dillon about religious mourning, the Nag Hammadi library, sex magick Jesus, the gnostic Eden, David Icke’s lizards, and the power of the archons as an allegory of contemporary technological and political power.

Expanding Mind - Silicon Valley Fever - 07.12.18

Thu, 12 Jul 2018 16:09:22 -0300

A talk with journalist Adam Fisher about virtual reality, the cyberculture underground, libertarianism, and his Silicon Valley oral history Valley Of Genius.

Expanding Mind - Mind Change - 07.05.18

Thu, 05 Jul 2018 16:40:37 -0300

A conversation with author Michael Pollan about psychedelic awe, trip reports, the mental health crisis, underground therapists and his book How to Change your Mind (Penguin).

Expanding Mind - Drone Metal Mysticism - 06.28.18

Thu, 28 Jun 2018 15:00:57 -0300

A talk with music scholar and ethnographer Owen Coggins about amplifier worship, sonic pilgrimage, “as if” listening, metal humor, and his new book Mysticism, Ritual and Religion in Drone Metal.

Expanding Mind - None of This is Real - 06.21.18

Wed, 20 Jun 2018 14:13:52 -0300

A wide-ranging conversation with writer and teacher Miranda Mellis about uncanny climates, thinking with fables, empathic fictions, “don’t know” politics, Buddhist meditation, and the entanglement with the nonhuman.

Expanding Mind - Fungal Alliance - 06.14.18

Thu, 14 Jun 2018 10:47:42 -0300

A discussion with anthropologist Joanna Steinhardt about her study of DIY mycology, psilocybe politics, PF Tek, and psychedelic naturalism.

Expanding Mind - Trump and Magick - 06.07.18

Thu, 07 Jun 2018 16:41:25 -0300

A conversation with esoteric writer Gary Lachman about postmodernism, Positive Thinking, chaos magic, Putin's esoteric tricksters, and Gary's hot new book Dark Star Rising: Magick and Power in the Age of Trump (Tarcher).

Expanding Mind - Guru’s Child - 05.31.18

Thu, 31 May 2018 16:03:36 -0300

Guru’s Child A conversation with artist and man-about-town Naropa Sabine about Shakti, self-formation, rural ashrams, and growing up with a Tantric guru for a dad.

Expanding Mind - The Great Larry Norman - 05.24.18

Thu, 24 May 2018 13:32:58 -0300

A conversation with author Gregory Alan Thornbury about 70s Jesus Music, apocalyptic politics, and his biography of the Christian rock star Larry Norman: Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?

Expanding Mind - On Beyond - 05.21.18

Mon, 21 May 2018 11:11:56 -0300

A conversation with designer and snowboarder Sijay James about archaic revivals, neotribal design, mystic powder, flow, and falling with style.

Expanding Mind - Being Anarchist - 05.10.18

Thu, 10 May 2018 11:06:15 -0300

A conversation with Scottish poet and novelist John Burnside about Henry Miller, the flight from society, sexual braggadocio, folk ballads, Taoism, and his arresting book On Henry Miller: or How to Be an Anarchist (Princeton).

Expanding Mind - Tao Lin Trips - 05.03.18

Thu, 03 May 2018 11:28:51 -0300

A conversation with alt-lit novelist, poet, and artist Tao Lin, about Terence McKenna, feeling happy (or not), degenerate humans, writing trip reports, and his refreshing new non-fiction book Trip: Psychedelics, Alienation, and Change (Vintage).

Expanding Mind - Desert Oracle - 04.26.18

Thu, 26 Apr 2018 12:06:47 -0300

A conversation with Ken Layne, the maestro of the Desert Oracle podcast and field guide, about Joshua trees, desert Christianity, Edward Abbey, military secrecy, and the mysterious (and smelly) Yucca Man of local legend.

Expanding Mind - Practice - 04.19.18

Thu, 19 Apr 2018 13:07:34 -0300

A three-way idea fest with Marcus Boon and Gabriel Levine about art, discipline, self-care, crafting community, tikkun, and their rich and stimulating edited collection Practice (MIT Press).

Expanding Mind - Psychedelic Bridges - 04.12.18

Thu, 12 Apr 2018 11:16:00 -0300

A conversation with Brazilian anthropologist, conference programmer, and chacruna.net editor Bia Labate: peyote politics, the bureaucratization of psychedelics, and working with indigenous leaders. www.bialabate.net

Expanding Mind - The Revery of the Ordinary - 04.05.18

Thu, 05 Apr 2018 17:59:33 -0300

A sprawling conversation with my interlocutor and old pal Ed Phillips (aka Faustroll on Twitter) about revery, misery, irony, and the ethics of being real. https://congruenz.wordpress.com/

Expanding Mind - Chaos Magic Flashbacks - 03.29.18

Wed, 28 Mar 2018 15:13:47 -0300

A juicy chat with occultist Joe Max about punk-rock sorcery, Cthulhu invocations, intensity and fear, and the power of chaos magic in rave-era San Francisco.

Expanding Mind - They Shimmer Within - 03.22.18

Fri, 23 Mar 2018 09:43:52 -0300

A conversation with artist and independent scholar Bruce Rimell about psychedelic entities, evolution, and his new book They Shimmer Within: Cognitive-Evolutionary Perspectives on Visionary Beings.

Expanding Mind - How to Die - 03.16.18

Fri, 16 Mar 2018 09:54:43 -0300

A conversation with classics professor James Romm about mortality, Stoicism, the ambivalent freedom offered by suicide, and his new book of Seneca translations, How to Die: An Ancient Guide to the End of Life (Princeton).

Expanding Mind - Out There - 03.08.18

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 09:47:47 -0400

A conversation with Burt Shonberg biographer Spencer Kansa about LA bohemia, psychedelic art, Marjorie Cameron, gumshoe biography, and his new book Out There: The Transcendent Life and Art of Burt Schonberg. http://burtshonberg.com/

Expanding Mind - Erowid on Pineapple - 03.01.18

Thu, 01 Mar 2018 14:00:00 -0400

A conversation with Sylvia Thyssen, senior editor at the Erowid Center, about experience reports, drug geekery, Shulgin's notebooks, and Erowid's current Pineapple fund-matching drive.

Expanding Mind - Goodbye Reality - 02.22.18

Thu, 22 Feb 2018 11:10:43 -0400

A conversation with futurist, inventor, and educator Mark Pesce about Faustian bargains, Facebook mind control, surveillance capitalism, and his bracing recent article “The Last Days of Reality.” https://www.markpesce.com/

Expanding Mind - The Gnostic New Age - 02.15.18

Thu, 15 Feb 2018 10:57:56 -0400

A conversation with historian of religion April DeConick about altered states, religious conspiracy theory, and her new book The Gnostic New Age.

Expanding Mind - Getting Higher - 02.08.18

Thu, 08 Feb 2018 12:43:37 -0400

A chat with occult writer and drug geek Julian Vayne about Baphomet, the (sur)reality of spirits, evolution, ritualizing entheogens, and his new book Getting Higher: The Manual of Psychedelic Ceremony. https://theblogofbaphomet.com/

Expanding Mind - Consciousness Explorer - 02.01.18

Thu, 01 Feb 2018 17:36:53 -0400

A lively discussion with "meditation MacGyver" Jeff Warren about polyspirituality, Buddhist hedonism, the X-factor of awareness, and how he contributed to Dan Harris's new book Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics (Spiegel & Grau). http://jeffwarren.org/

Expanding Mind - Booting Up - 01.26.18

Fri, 26 Jan 2018 10:23:58 -0400

A fascinating conversation with computer scientist and freak-geek extraordinaire Dr. Bruce Damer about innovation pools, realm-bending, Terence McKenna, and a powerful new scientific vision about the origins of life.

Expanding Mind - The Zen of OBEs - 01.18.18

Thu, 18 Jan 2018 14:26:09 -0400

Psychologist and consciousness researcher Susan Blackmore talks about astral cords, brain regions, Zen koans, and her recent book Seeing Myself: The New Science of Out-of-Body Experiences (Robinson). https://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/

Expanding Mind - Theorizing Conspiracy Theory - 01.11.18

Thu, 11 Jan 2018 14:09:39 -0400

A wide-ranging conversation with historian of religion Dustin Atlas about certainty, skepticism, antisemitism, gnosis, and the politics of knowledge. Read Dustin’s blog thoughts on this and other matters at https://blogblawgblog.wordpress.com/.

Expanding Mind - Insect Surfing - 01.04.18

Fri, 05 Jan 2018 11:29:14 -0400

Guitarist and artist David Arnson talks about his long-running psychedelic surf band Insect Surfers, along with comments on rare dolphins, reverb units, pictures in your mind, and his eye-boggling new coloring book Insect Surfers & Alien Allies. http://www.insectsurfers.com/

Expanding Mind - For the Wild - 11.30.17

Thu, 30 Nov 2017 17:30:07 -0400

Religious scholar Sarah M. Pike talks about wilderness conversion, Hare Krishna hardcore, feral wonder, and her illuminating new book For the Wild: Ritual and Commitment in Radical Eco-Activism (University of California).

Expanding Mind - Trans-Millenia Consort - 11.23.17

Thu, 23 Nov 2017 11:30:00 -0400

Legendary electronic musician Pauline Anna Strom talks about space music, intuition and imagination, being blind, and her new compilation Trans-Millennia Music (Rvng Intl.)

Expanding Mind - Morbid Anatomist - 11.16.17

Thu, 16 Nov 2017 14:00:00 -0400

Writer, photographer, and curator Joanna Ebenstein talks about Goth obsessions, memento mori, Santa Muerta, and her extraordinary new illustrated collection Death: A Graveside Companion (Thames & Hudson).

Expanding Mind - Scary Thoughts - 11.09.17

Thu, 09 Nov 2017 12:33:16 -0400

Electronic musician and podcaster Marc Kate talks about nihilism, horror movies, New Age music, and transmuting Nazi black metal into the ambient soundscapes of his latest album, Deface. www.marckate.com

Expanding Mind - Coyote Poetics - 11.02.17

Thu, 02 Nov 2017 16:36:46 -0300

Poet and wilderness writer Andrew Schelling talks about his new biography Tracks Along the Left Coast (Counterpoint), which tells the story of Jaime De Angulo (1887-1950): Big Sur bohemian, California Indian anthropologist, and great Coyote poet.

Expanding Mind - Mindlessness - 10.19.17

Thu, 19 Oct 2017 15:00:00 -0300

Academic psychologist Thomas Joiner talks about the mindfulness craze, stoicism, the trouble with “trauma,” and his trenchant new book Mindlessness: The Corruption of Mindfulness in a Culture of Narcissism (Oxford).

Expanding Mind - Imaginal Landscapes - 10.12.17

Thu, 12 Oct 2017 14:27:28 -0300

Scholar, writer, and mythographer William Rowlandson talks about Jorge Luis Borges, magical trees, Yankee mysticism, and the power of the weird and murky. https://williamrowlandson.wordpress.com/

Expanding Mind - The Voyager Golden Record - 10.05.17

Thu, 05 Oct 2017 18:06:16 -0300

Futurist, science journalist, and Boing Boing co-editor David Pescovitz discusses space exploration, Carl Sagan the stoner, and the recent release of the Voyager Golden Record.

Expanding Mind - Mentored by a Madman - 09.28.17

Thu, 28 Sep 2017 16:43:46 -0300

Neurologist and world-class Parkinson’s expert Professor A.J. Lees talks about William S. Burroughs, self-experimentation, ayahuasca, and his terrific medical memoir Mentored by a Madman: The William Burroughs Experiment.

Expanding Mind - Into the Muck - 09.21.17

Thu, 21 Sep 2017 16:36:05 -0300

Israeli therapist, spiritual teacher, and psychedelic activist Galia Tanay talks about deep dharma practice, the problems with mindfulness, acceptance and commitment therapy, and how psychedelics shape the self.

Expanding Mind - Robot Multiplicity - 09.18.17

Mon, 18 Sep 2017 11:04:10 -0300

Computer scientist, artist, and UC Berkeley robotics professor Ken Goldberg talks about autonomous vehicles, tele-gardens, free speech on campus, and the Singularity myth.

Expanding Mind - Radical Technologies - 09.11.17

Mon, 11 Sep 2017 09:55:13 -0300

Designer and technology critic Adam Greenfield talks about magic bullets, the melancholy of machines, Tesla’s Autopilot, and his must-read new book Radical Technologies: The Design of Everyday Life (Verso).

Expanding Mind - Divination for Troubled Times - 08.31.17

Thu, 31 Aug 2017 16:17:23 -0300

Professional “psycho-diviner" (and former Expanding Mind co-host) Maja D’Aoust talks about solstice magic, liquid archetypes, artificial intelligence, and her hypnogogic new Tarot deck White Witch Tarot.

Expanding Mind - Studying the Dead - 08.10.17

Thu, 10 Aug 2017 16:54:14 -0300

Grateful Dead scholar and professor Ulf Olsson talks about improvisation, self-organization, pirate ships, and his new book Listening for the Secret: The Grateful Dead and the Politics of Improvisation (University of California Press).

Expanding Mind - Marvelous Moments - 08.03.17

Thu, 03 Aug 2017 14:48:00 -0300

Performer, writer, and MC Mark Petrakis, aka Spoonman, talks about San Francisco Dada, avant-vaudeville, spontaneous spirituality, and the importance of disregarding precision.

Expanding Mind - The Fifth Wall - 07.27.17

Fri, 28 Jul 2017 10:04:21 -0300

Novelist, poet and conceptual artist Rachel Nagelberg talk about trauma, technology, ayahuasca, and her intense and resonant debut novel The Fifth Wall. http://www.rachelnagelberg.com/

Expanding Mind - Cosmic Triggerer - 07.20.17

Thu, 20 Jul 2017 16:35:16 -0300

Performer, director and playwright Daisy Campbell talks about Robert Anton Wilson, the dangers of synchronicity, and her recent staging of Cosmic Trigger: the Play.

Expanding Mind - Psychedelic Pedagogy - 07.13.17

Thu, 13 Jul 2017 17:06:32 -0300

Research scientist and UK sociologist Tehseen Noorani talks about hearing voices, pharmacological biases, studying psilocybin studies, and the importance of trickster teachers. His talk at Psychedelic Science is available here.

Expanding Mind - The Zombie Complex - 06.29.17

Thu, 29 Jun 2017 16:20:40 -0300

Artist, author, and educator John Cussans talks about zombie cinema, revolutionary transgression, the politics of race, and his new book Undead Uprising: Haiti, Horror and the Zombie Complex.

Expanding Mind - Indian Talking Machine - 06.22.17

Thu, 22 Jun 2017 16:34:47 -0300

Musician, sound artist, and 78 collector Robert Millis talks about hunting for records in India, the spectral mysteries of 78 records, Sublime Frequencies, and the sacred universe of Indian classical music. https://robertmillis.net

Expanding Mind - Enlightened Resilience - 06.15.17

Thu, 15 Jun 2017 16:32:13 -0300

Futurist, Ethereum programmer, and critical infrastructure guru Vinay Gupta talks about global poverty, practical enlightenment, galvanizing visions, and the wisdom of uncertainty.

Expanding Mind - Paranthropology - 06.01.17

Thu, 01 Jun 2017 15:00:00 -0300

Anthropologist Jack Hunter talks about possession, parapsychology, permaculture, and the elusive ontology of spiritual beings.

Expanding Mind - Big Sur Encounters - 05.29.17

Mon, 29 May 2017 10:49:59 -0300

Musician and Gnome Life label head Fletcher Tucker talks about living through the Big Sur landslides, hunting for songs, and his haunting new eco-folk record Cold Spring.

Expanding Mind - Cocreating Spiritual Worlds - 05.18.17

Fri, 19 May 2017 12:50:37 -0300

Transpersonal psychologist Jorge Ferrer talks about participatory spirituality, the problems with perennialism,and his new book Participation and the Mystery.

Expanding Mind - Cross Cultural Qawwali - 05.11.17

Thu, 11 May 2017 16:05:39 -0300

North American Qawwali musician Tahir Faridi Qawwal talks about sacred improvisation, the mystic bliss of qawwali music, breaking into tradition, and building bridges between East and West with his group Fanna-Fi-Allah. www.fanna-fi-allah.com

Expanding Mind - Game Transfer Phenomena - 05.04.17

Thu, 04 May 2017 17:17:53 -0300

Psychologist Dr. Angelica Ortiz de Gortari talks about earworms, closed eye visuals, virtual reality dreams, and the many ways that computer games bleed into the offscreen lives of gamers.

Expanding Mind - Psychedelic Science - 04.27.17

Thu, 27 Apr 2017 17:15:44 -0300

Neuroscientist and former psychedelic researcher Matthew Baggot talks about anxious mysticism, the MAPS conference, the default mode network, and the blind spots within psychedelic research.

Expanding Mind - Occult Control Systems - 04.20.17

Thu, 20 Apr 2017 17:21:57 -0300

Hypermedia researcher and author Konrad Becker talks about algorithms from hell, the madness of rationality, media seances, and the martial art of freedom. http://world-information.net/en/

Expanding Mind - Talismanic Bookseller - 04.13.17

Thu, 13 Apr 2017 16:30:15 -0300

Occult book dealer and underground musician Richard Bishop talks about modern grimoires, scorpion gods, Orientalist imagery, and hunting down physical books in the age of the Internet.

Expanding Mind - Diamond Truths - 04.03.17

Thu, 30 Mar 2017 17:02:58 -0300

Spiritual leader and integral theorist A. Hameed Ali talks truth in the post-truth era, the method of inquiry, science fiction, and his new book The Alchemy of Freedom,written under his pen name A. H. Almaas.