The Mystical Positivist

Stuart Goodnick and Robert Schmidt
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  • Spirituality
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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.

  1. 2 days ago

    The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #444 - 22AUG26

    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.

  2. 12 Jul

    The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #443 - 11JUL26

    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.

  3. 19 Apr

    The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #442 - 18APR26

    Podcast: This week on the show, we present a pre-recorded conversation with author, Peter Russell, about his latest book, How to Meditate Without Even Trying (An Eckhart Tolle Edition), just released from New World Library. The refreshingly simple approach that Peter unfolds in his book replaces effort with ease and reminds readers that true peace of mind is closer than they might imagine. His techniques include the practice of allowing – releasing effort, relaxing the mind, and gently returning to the present moment – to make meditation more enjoyable and effective. In this extended conversation we go deep with Peter to foundations of his approach and how the methods he describes can enrich a variety of spiritual practices. Peter Russell is the author of eleven other books including, Letting Go of Nothing and From Science to God. A teacher of meditation for more than fifty years, he believes the critical challenge today is freeing human thinking from the limited beliefs and attitudes that lie behind many of our problems – personal, social, and global. He has inspired thousands through his talks, teachings, retreats, and popular online courses. More information about Peter Russell's work can be found at: Peter Russell's Website: www.peterrussell.com,  How to Meditate Without Even Trying page: newworldlibrary.com,  Online course on Meditation: How to Meditate - Without Even Trying,  Peter Russell on The Mystical Positivist MP388-04SEP21,  Peter Russell on The Mystical Positivist MP189-27JUN15.

  4. 14/12/2025

    The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #441 - 13DEC25

    Podcast: This week on The Mystical Positivist, we feature a pre-recorded conversation with Red Hawk, acclaimed poet and the author of 13 books, including Self Observation, Self Remembering, The Way of the Wise Woman, Return to the Mother, and Book of Lamentations. Of Self-Observation and Self-Remembering, he writes, “Every living thing is surrounded by a vibratory atmosphere, a vibratory energetic field which surrounds the body and in humans is the ground in which the second, or etheric, body is formed. But in order for that to happen, we must learn to "eat impressions," which are the food by which this second body is created.” In this conversation, we go deep on the process by which we can metabolize the false self and give birth to genuine Being. Red Hawk (aka Robert Moore) is Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. He is the author of 11 books of poetry and two books on spiritual practice. He is a student and devotee of the Spiritual Teacher Lee Lozowick and of Lozowick's Master, Yogi Ramsuratkumar, the Godchild of Tiruvanamali, India. He is also a long-time student of the Spiritual Teacher George Gurdjieff. His root-Guru was Osho Rajneesh. He is the winner of numerous national honors, among which are the 1992 Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University, the 1992 Cleveland State University poetry book prize, the 2008 Bright Hill Press poetry book award, one winner of the xlvi Pushcart Prize, and the 2023 Bitter Oleander Library of Poetry book prize-all using his Earth name Red Hawk. More information about Red Hawk’s work can be found at: Self-Observation at HOHM Press: Self-Observation, Self-Remembering at HOHM Press: Self-Remembering, Book of Lamentations: Book of Lamentations.

  5. 30/11/2025

    The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #440 - 29NOV25

    Podcast: This week on The Mystical Positivist, we feature a pre-recorded conversation with Abby Havermann, speaker and podcaster, on the challenges of going through life in a waking dream and how practices like Self-Observation and Self-Remembering can metabolize the dream and restore our lost sense of presence. Abby Havermann is a psychotherapist, coach, and speaker who focuses on the illumination of the unconscious self-betrayals that drive our everyday challenges. A lifelong learner, Abby’s singularity resides in combining her psychology, neuroscience, spiritual, and coaching experience with her ability to transform difficult life experiences into a gratitude-worthy self-evolutionary tool — awareness done right can breed transformation. She teaches mission-driven, insight-oriented people to unlearn what no longer serves them through 1:1 and group coaching, speaking, training, and online courses. Abby’s direct signature style challenges clients to up-level while witnessing and holding compassion for the complexity of their multifaceted inner and outer worlds. More information about Abby Havermann’s work can be found at: Abby Havermann’s website: www.abbyhavermann.com, Abby Havermann on Facebook: www.facebook.com.

  6. 16/11/2025

    The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #439 - 15NOV25

    Podcast: This week on The Mystical Positivist, we feature a pre-recorded conversation with returning guest Stephen Aronson about his new book, AS INSIDE, SO OUTSIDE, AS ABOVE, SO BELOW – Reconciling Science and Spirituality through Consciousness, published by Karnak Press in 2024. This series of essays represents perspectives from Stephen’s half-century in the study of psychotherapy and spiritual exploration. He suggests that the energy we call consciousness is an inherent aspect of the Universe, the instrument through which the deepest understandings can be experienced. Stephen Aronson is a psychotherapist with an eclectic training background ranging from cognitive behavioral therapy to the alchemical approach of Carl Jung. His spiritual life has been a search for verification of a deeper reality underlying the ordinary world of our senses. His personal aim has been to find a way to reconcile science and spirituality which would unite the concept of Universal Intelligence with rationality. After more than a decade in Jungian analysis and over four decades of study and practice in the system of transformational psychology introduced to the West by G. I. Gurdjieff, he has sought to find an approach to illustrate these deep and complex ideas and methods in common language and universally shared experiences. Steve lives in rural Maine where he retired in 2013 after forty-three years in the practice of psychotherapy, education and training. He is also the author of THE SEARCH FOR MEANING AND THE MYSTERY OF CONSCIOUSNESS: A Psychologist's Journey Through Gurdjieff And Jung, has published on the subject of Spiritual Psychology in the Proceedings of the annual All and Everything International Humanities Conference, and has written for Parabola, a magazine dedicated to myth, tradition and the search for meaning. More information about Stephen Aronson's work can be found at: AS INSIDE, SO OUTSIDE at Karnak Press: Karnak Press, Stephen Aronson at The Gurdjieff Club: Preparation for the Third Line of Work, Stephen Aronson on The Mystical Positivist: Show 395, Show 350, and Show 332.

  7. 09/11/2025

    The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #438 - 08NOV25

    Podcast: This week on the show we feature a pre-recorded conversation with Donna McLaughlin, Mahamudra teacher in the Karma Kagyu tradition. Donna was first introduced to the Dharma in her teenage years. In 1970, having finished college, she travelled overland to India. After attending retreats in Bodhgaya with S. N. Goenka, she stayed at a Buddhist mission outside Delhi. Several people had already mentioned the name of Kalu Rinpoche to her, but it wasn’t until she met Ken McLeod at that mission that she learned how to negotiate the logistical difficulties in getting to Darjeeling. In 1971, she made the journey to Kalu Rinpoche’s monastery in Sonada, near Darjeeling. Her meeting with him was a turning point, solidifying her commitment to this branch of Buddhist practice. Along with other practices, Kalu Rinpoche encouraged her to study Mahamudra. Instruction and guidance was difficult to come by in those days and it was only with the 1986 publication of Tashi Namgyal’s Mahamudra: The Quintessence of Mind and Meditation, that she appreciated the full scope and range of Mahamudra teaching. In the 1980’s, she attended two Mahamudra retreats with Ken McLeod. She then attended four more Mahamudra retreats with Thrangu Rinpoche, a senior scholar and meditation master in the Karma Kagyu tradition. In the course of these retreats, he became her principal teacher. Her transcriptions of the teachings he gave at those retreats were later published under the title Essentials of Mahamudra. In 1990, with Thrangu Rinpoche’s blessing, she and Peter Barth, another student of Thrangu Rinpoche, co-taught a Mahamudra study group for four years in Sonoma County, California. In 1996 she joined with Lama Palden, a graduate of the three-year retreat, to establish the Sukhasiddhi Foundation in Marin County, California. There she continued to teach Mahamudra. In 2006, Thrangu Rinpoche suggested she teach under his auspices in Sonoma County as part of the Vajra Vidya or Indestructible Heart Wisdom network. To this day, she continues to teach and guide students in this practice. More information about Donna McLaughlin’s work can be found at:   The Practice of Mahamudra website: www.mahamudra-practice.com.

  8. 02/11/2025

    The Mystical Positivist - Radio Show #437 - 01NOV25

    Podcast: This week on the show we feature a pre-recorded conversation with Layne Negrin, author of Gurdjieff in Tibet. Divided into three parts, Part One looks at the evidence of Gurdjieff's presence in Tibet, Part Two researches the direct students of Gurdjieff who explored Tibetan or other Buddhist sects to one degree or another, and Part Three is a collection of comparative studies showing the influence of Tibetan Buddhism upon Gurdjieff's teaching. Interspersed with the author's writing on the individuals discussed in Parts One and Two are relevant texts by them, many of which were previously unavailable in English. Layne Negrin began his spiritual path in 1988, practicing the Gurdjieff tradition exclusively for 19 years, then Mahayana Buddhism (primarily the Soto Zen of Shunryu Suzuki but also the Shambhalian Buddhism of Trungpa Rinpoche) exclusively for the next 13 years, and since 2020, after having realized that the two ideologies are the same in essence, practices both. More information about Layne Negrin’s work can be found at:   Gurdjieff in Tibet on Amazon: www.amazon.com,   Layne Negrin on Facebook: www.facebook.com.

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About

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.

Information

  • Creator
    Stuart Goodnick and Robert Schmidt
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    131
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Tayu Meditation Order, Inc.
  • Show Website
    The Mystical Positivist

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