The MindThatEgo Podcast Ricky Derisz

This episode features my presentation for the International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis (ISPS-US) annual conference in October, 2023. The original title was Metanoia: How Psychosis and Paranoia Ignited My Spiritual Awakening. I completely rewrote the talk a few days before, following a lightning bolt of creative energy that surfaced a structure I’d not previously made conscious.

I called this the Psychotics Twofold Call to Adventure. It’s my attempt to contextualize and integrate experiences of paranoia and psychosis across a 12 year period. I suggest the twofold path of cultivating awareness and creating coherence, to re-relate to psychological content, and to understand the language of the soul.

Metanoia means spiritual conversion, or the change of mind and heart. I suggest that psychosis, as a process of metanoia, has the potential to be a pathway to what R.D Laing calls “true sanity,” whereby the ego is “in service to the divine and no longer its betrayer.”

The stages cover the unconscious tsunami and collapse into chaos, answering the inward call and the ego’s surrender, finding the inner sanctum, the world as meditation, divine emergence, initiation, and individuation, before closing with a note on how this relates to humanity’s current crises. 

And just a reminder before we jump into the conversation to please like, rate, subscribe and share to help more people access the podcast. Enjoy!

I’m joined by one of the world’s leading experts in the field of forgiveness research, Everett Worthington. Everett is a Commonwealth Professor Emeritus working from the Department of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University, and a licensed clinical psychologist.

He has published over 38 books and over 440 articles and scholarly chapters, mostly on forgiveness, humility, positive psychology, marriage, family, and religion and spirituality. He has also developed the REACH Forgiveness model, which is supported by more than 25 randomized trials.

Everett generously gives away free self-help workbooks on practices including forgiveness, humility, and patience, which are linked in the show notes.

Our conversation explores the overlap of spiritual and scientific approaches to forgiveness, dealing with injustice, overcoming grudges, ruminations and emotional unforgiveness, empathy and cognitive biases, self-forgiveness, discerning genuine forgiveness from self-deceit, plus a Everett’s moving account of applying the wisdom of forgiveness following his mother’s murder.

And just a reminder before we jump into the conversation to please like, rate, subscribe and share to help more people access the podcast. Enjoy!

Resources


Website: https://www.evworthington-forgiveness.com/
Free Workbooks: https://www.evworthington-forgiveness.com/diy-workbooks

I’m joined by Nikunja, a musician and yoga teacher who bridges the creative arts with ancient philosophy. Following a path of devotion — known as Bhakti yoga — Nikunja teaches the embodiment of the Bhagavad Gita as a way of life.

Nikunja has reimagined chapters from the Gita as part of a project to illuminate yoga’s sacred nature, which extends far beyond physical postures.

In exploring the Gita’s ancient wisdom, we discuss the divine intellect, reading sacred scripture as a spiritual practice, the art of listening, the nuances of yoga philosophy across traditions, single-pointed devotion as a pathway to union with God, the nature of the soul and the supreme self, the overlooked value of the teacher / student dynamic, and much more.

In September, Nikunja will be performing at the Bhakti Fest in California. She will be sharing music on the main stage and conducting a workshop. Discounted tickets for the festival can be found at https://www.bhaktifest.com/tickets by entering the code NIKUNJA.

And just a reminder before we jump into the conversation to please like, rate, subscribe and share to help more people access the podcast. Enjoy!

Nikunja's Resources:


Website: https://www.nikunjartistry.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikunja
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC44NFKxo4399zT6byAVOZkA
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/11SfT4EjJa4ObpX8nZJQ7M?si=_Sp4fdglQ4qKGf82Fvv9QA

Ellen Emmet returns to the show. Ellen is a psychotherapist and facilitator of Authentic Movement. Our first conversation in episode 29, Nonduality and the Shadow, covered psychological aspects of the awakening.

This time we focus on Ellen’s teaching of the Awakening Body and yoga meditations in the tradition of nonduality and Kashmir Shaivism. This is an exploration of our true nature at the level of tactility and feeling.

We discuss gentle practices to relax the somatic sensation of separation and re-enliven the senses, the undefinable nature of tantra, how listening to sensation differs from hedonism and sensory indulgence, embodying vs. intellectualizing, method vs. devotional practice, the pros and cons of self-trust, valuing intuition, embracing not knowing, plus much more.

And just a reminder before we jump into the conversation to please like, rate, subscribe and share to help more people access the podcast. Enjoy!

Resources


Ellen Emmet’s website: https://www.ellenemmet.com/
Ellen’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theawakeningbody/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ellenemmet

This episode will answer the ultimate question to life, the universe and everything. Or maybe not quite everything, but I couldn’t miss the only chance to reference the number 42 from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

That being said, Jane Clapp does answer many questions I had about the inner universe. Jane is a distinguished Jungian analyst who formed Jungian somatics from over 20 years of clinical experience. Exploring the interplay of body and psyche, she specializes in developmental and complex trauma through a mythological and embodied lens. 

Our conversation includes somatic symptoms as symbols from the unconscious, developing ego strength, misconceptions about ‘shadow work,’ how skilled guidance can highlight blind spots, dreams as compensating for psychic imbalances, individual and cultural complexes, the tension of opposites and the transcendent function, and the risk, reward and necessity of differentiating from group mentality on the journey of growth.

And just a reminder before we jump into the conversation to please like, rate, subscribe and share to help more people access the podcast. Enjoy!

Resources:

Jane’s website: https://www.janeclapp.com/
Jane’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jungiansomatics/

Har-Prakash Khalsa started as a student of Zen meditation in 1984 and went on to become a certified Kundalini Yoga instructor and teacher of Mindfulness meditation in the systematic style of Shinzen Young (whom Har-Prakash has studied intensively with since 1999).

He has written Cultivating the Jewel of Mindfulness, a comprehensive practitioner curriculum, offers private online mindfulness coaching, and supervises solo retreatants at his off-grid farm near Owen Sound, Ontario.

Our conversation covers the spectrum from suffering to enlightenment, from core wounds to Buddha nature, in an approach that will resonate with seasoned practitioners and those looking to relate better to themselves and others. Topics include the value of introspection, the scale of meaning, cultivating wholesome states, embracing the full human experience, and the key markers of balanced awakening.

Resources


Har-Prakash’s website.
Shinzen Young’s Expand Contract YouTube channel.