The Soul-Directed Life

If you've heard Andrew Harvey, you know what a joy this conversation will be. If not, you're in for an exciting new treat. But prepare yourself! Andrew is the very fire of love. When he speaks of The Beloved, the Sacred Heart, or the Queen of Heaven, your own heart will catch on fire. This is not quiet love. This is the love of the cosmos flowing ecstatically through Andrew and into all of us. In just one hour, you will be lifted right out of your chair to go make a difference.

Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee is a Sufi mystic and lineage successor in the Naqshbandiyya-Mujaddidiyya Sufi Order. He is an extensive lecturer and author of several books about Sufism, mysticism, dreamwork, and spirituality. His books are all about love. Fragments of a Love Story, Love Is a Fire, and The Circle of Love are just three titles among many. His newest, Spiritual Ecology, is a cry from the earth to love it.

Sean Murphy is a Zen master, writing teacher, novelist, the cofounder of The Sage Institute in Taos, and the author of One Bird, One Stone: 108 Contemporary Zen Stories. When Janet asked Mirabai Starr who should come on the show to talk about love, Mirabai said SEAN MURPHY! And she was right! In this gentle but sparkling conversation, you'll hear how meditation and compassion are connected and why there's really only one soul-and you'll get to hear a Zen story with parading cats.

What is the perfect book to capture our exploration of "the call to be a mystic in the modern world?" Surely, it's The Naked Now, a sparkling "how-to" written by a delightful and erudite teacher and mystic, Richard Rohr. In Fr. Rohr's hands complex spiritual concepts dissolve into language that is so simple, so understandable, that you come away bobbing your head saying, "Oh! I get it! Of course!" This important book delivers the all-important message that every mystic knows: "When you can be present, you will know the Real Presence." Richard will show us how.

When you read the mystics, after a while, you begin to notice a few patterns. They see the world differently than we do. They perceive the mystery differently. They touch an essence, a limitless truth, a divine love that sings a song the rest of us may not yet hear. And one other thing: They have a delicious sense of humor. So it's only perfect that a divinely-appointed "Holy Rascal" rabbi joins us today to add a little spice and humor and paradox to our exploration of what it means to become a mystic.

Our exploration of "the call to be a mystic" jumps off the high dive today with Jim Marion. I first heard of Jim while reading Cynthia Bourgeault's The Wisdom Jesus, in which she calls Putting on the Mind of Christ "one of the most important books to appear in recent years." Why? Because Jim shifts our understanding of the Kingdom of Heaven from a place you go to a place you come from-the totally transformed nondual consciousness of Jesus. If you've ever wondered what Jesus really taught, and how he saw the world, this is the conversation for you. It will upend your understanding and open your mind to finally "putting on the mind of Christ."

After exploring a month of the call FROM the mystics, we are ready to dive into "the call to BE a mystic." That can seem like a tall order. A too-tall order. But perhaps not. My special guest today, Ellen Debenport, walks us gently through each of the five principles in her landmark book, The Five Principles. And guess what? She's as surprised as we are to discover the five principles just might be "the map" to a mystical life.

What is the perfect book to capture our month of "the call from the mystics"? Well, the mystics all speak in poetry, so it has to be Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West (Compass) by Daniel Ladinsky. This won't be a typical book discussion-because there's really nothing to discuss. Instead, it will be a celebration-a "Mystical Poetry Love Fest!" and YOU are invited. Join me and Neale Lundgren, former rock star and monk (how's THAT for a combo), Nancy Barton, Daniel's collaborator, and Diana Wentworth, best-selling author of Love Your Heart and a Hafiz memorizer. It's a party. Come play!

What is a mystic? Who is a mystic? Can we define mysticism? According to Carl McColman, perhaps not! Mysticism, you see, is a paradox. (But of course. Why are we surprised? Isn't the divine always hiding in paradox?) In his book, The Big Book of Christian Mysticism, Carl McColman helps us hear the call from the mystics to live a contemplative life, enter the mystery, and engage in "prayer beyond words."

Our exploration of "the call from the mystics" deepens today in conversation with Matthew Fox, priest, scholar, and radical theologian. Matthew understands firsthand what happens when you enter the mystical realm and upset the fundamentalists around you. Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict) reactivated the Inquisition and used its power to silence Matthew for teaching creation spirituality. Hildegard, too, was a bold, bright radical thinker and the Inquisition was none too happy with her either! She truly is a saint for OUR times.

The month of June is dedicated to the call from the mystics. The conversation starts today with the woman who has written about more mystics from more traditions than anyone else-Mirabai Starr. Mirabai tells the story of how a secular Jew and lover of all traditions became the queen of the Christian mystics. Listen as she shares the universal message of the mystics, how death cracked her open, why St. John of the Cross is her soul's partner, and why dropping into the place where we know nothing is essential to the fully lived life.

Our month exploring the call to pray concludes with the book that dramatically altered our understanding of how Jesus prayed-Prayers of the Cosmos. For more than 30 years, Dr. Neil Douglas-Klotz has immersed himself in the original Aramaic words of Jesus. His translation of The Lord's Prayer from the Aramaic was first published in 1990 and has sold more than 100,000 copies in five languages. In his preface, Matthew Fox rightly understood that this slender volume contained "the seeds of a revolution." We are blessed beyond blessed to have Dr. Klotz join us from his home in Scotland. Listen as he leads us in body prayers of the original words of Yeshua.

Cynthia Bourgeault is an Episcopalian priest and scholar. Her study of The Meaning of Mary Magdalene is a tectonic shift in our understanding of Jesus, his mission, and his followers. Today, Cynthia joins us to share her love of the contemplative prayer method made famous by Fr. Thomas Keating, Centering Prayer. In Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, Cynthia explains how this method of prayer allows us to experience prayer as Jesus experienced it-kenosis-a total letting go. If you long to experience a deep prayer of the heart, you will relish this hour with Cynthia Bourgeault.

Dr. Roger Teel is the senior minister and spiritual director to more than 10,000 members and friends of Mile Hi Church in Denver. He is a transformative speaker and global spiritual leader serving organizations such as Centers for Spiritual Living, Association for Global New Thought, the Synthesis Dialogues, M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, and the Community First Foundation. In June, Dr Teel will be awarded "The Light of God Expressing Award" at the annual Unity People's Convention. In our conversation today, Dr. Teel will explain what metaphysical prayer is and how it works. And then he'll lead us in in-the-moment prayers of transformation.

Our exploration of "the call to pray" deepens today in conversation with Rev Abhi Janamanchi. After 14 years serving the Unitarian Universalist church in Clearwater, Florida, Rev. Janamanchi has just been selected senior minister for Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist church in Bethesda, Maryland. Abhi grew up in a liberal Hindu home in India, got a degree in physics from Andrha University, and began a career in banking. But then everything changed when he felt the call to ministry and came to the University of Chicago's Meadville Lombard Theological School to earn a master's degree. In Chicago, he also created a Bharat Samaj society, a spiritual and social bridge between people of Indian and non-Indian origins.