Portals of Perception

Aviv Shahar, Peter Barry

Portals of Perception endeavors to create conversations at the frontier of discovery, and to bring to life the natural processes of human development. Each of us, by design, can become a living agency for the evolutionary process, as it arises, through our living expression, and can become an intentional participant in the emergence of a wiser future. Join our hosts Aviv Shahar and Peter Barry every week for conversations on a wide variety of topics including human purpose, personal development, evolution and the future, community of conversation and discovery, and more.

  1. 128 - Beyond the Collapse - Event Part 1

    Jun 5

    128 - Beyond the Collapse - Event Part 1

    We all experience parts of ourselves moving in different directions at the same time. The cells in our bodies continually die as new ones are born. Throughout our lives, we release what no longer serves us and shift our attention toward new opportunities. So, we are no strangers to seeing that something is ending, fading, dying — while at the same time, something else is emerging, arriving, birthing through us. This conversation brings to life the transition from an epoch that's fading to one that's emerging, and explores the soul's journey in placing both within a larger frame, one that recognizes three simultaneous processes: something ending, something emerging, and the liminal space in between. It is within this threshold that we can immerse ourselves in the unknown and embrace our struggles as whole human beings. This journey invites us to expand beyond the familiar impulse to solve problems, and instead to explore options, widen our sense of what’s possible, and rewire our ways of seeing and being. The inquiry opens up vast questions, like “Where does the future come from?” — and illuminates latent potentials in humanity and higher states of consciousness. The soul, with its latent memory of the future, transcends the linearity of time in an entangled universe. It can serve as a powerful guide as the transition between epochs intensifies. To navigate these times with resilience and adaptability, we are called to both “hospice” the old epoch and “midwife” the new within ourselves and the world around us. Strategies that help us approach this include: Releasing the conditioning of the old epoch, even as it resists being released Embracing the liminal in-between state and the opportunities it provides Facilitating, ripening and liberating the new epoch as it appears in us This conversation is part of the continuing Portals discovery into what is emerging on the frontiers of human experience in this time of profound change. Information about upcoming special events can be found on the Events page. Also visit and subscribe to our YouTube channel.   TWEETABLE QUOTES   “The answer to the question, ‘Where does the future come from?,"’ is, well, it comes through all of us, each and every one of us, potentially. When you found a way to forgive deeply inside you, a person, or a certain situation, you have released that situation into a new future, rather than being stuck in a historic point of pain. When you come up with a new way of seeing the challenges you are facing, you are literally opening for yourself, and likely for the people around you, a future that was not available before. So, we are each, simply by the definition of being a human at this time on Earth, we are each an active agency for the future.” (Aviv) “Can we find a way to embrace the totality of who we are as humans, and recognize that perhaps there is a way to imagine and envision this crisis point as a birthing crucible. If there is a test in it, the test in it is to live fully in the here and now, in the every moment of what it is that we encounter, whether it's a struggling moment at work, whether it's a struggling moment at home in our relationships, whether it is when we are in the meditation and the deepest prayer we choose to formulate, and refuse almost defiantly, to bypass this moment, to bypass this life.” (Aviv)   RESOURCES MENTIONED   Portals of Perception Website Aviv’s LinkedIn  Aviv’s Twitter Aviv’s Website Beyond the Collapse – Event Part 1: The Soul’s Role in Birthing a New World

    1h 6m
  2. 127 - 10 Elements of the Elevation Process Mystery - Current Openings #24

    May 22

    127 - 10 Elements of the Elevation Process Mystery - Current Openings #24

    What does it mean for a human to elevate? Esoteric pursuits are often associated with ancient mystery schools that promise to teach an initiate their secret knowledge. But, of course, you can’t walk in the door and be told the meanings of life. There is a rite of passage, an apprenticeship, a service required to earn the right to access sacred knowledge. Importantly, true sacred knowledge offers energetic potency, so the rite of passage is also a process of naturalizing a person to higher energies and frequencies, so that they will be able to handle more potency without getting out of balance. This is the esoteric journey, but we recognize the process from everyday life. If you want to be a race car driver, you don’t start in a car that goes 200 miles per hour — you learn in less powerful cars and learn to handle them, moving up as you gain skills and stability. You don’t start as a head chef; you chop 10,000 onions first. So, how do we apply this understanding to our life? In this episode of Current Openings (#24), Aviv Shahar and David Price Francis make a foray into codifying the mechanics of elevation, through 10 Elements, as it arises in any endeavor where we seek to grow and improve — to better ourselves and to access new knowledge. Because it is a natural process, once we understand it for one path, it can be seen in almost any undertaking. They begin with the premise that we are first and foremost energetic beings, we are processing energies through our system non-stop. And, the ways of energies are graduated — there is a spectrum from low to high, coarse to refined, in all things. The journey is to move from the lower, entry level energy, to the higher, more complex and more intelligent energy. And there will be challenges along the way — always! There is resistance that will test our resolve, there are setbacks. We’ll find we need to change things about ourselves to manage the next step. We’ll have to brave uncertainty, and we’ll have to find a way to trust our instincts and find ways to persist. Understanding the process offers a huge advantage toward succeeding. Why might the universe want a mechanism such as this? Perhaps it provides the greatest safety for us — we aren’t given more than we can handle, and for the universe, where quality control ensures a reliable product. Ultimately, we want to meet the energetic requirements of the elevation we seek. Insights into elevation: Resistance is a necessary part of the journey to elevation Persistence is needed to overcome our default patterns When we surrender we allow higher intelligence to work through us We need to rewire ourselves to meet new requirements Quantum leaps help us in making transformational changes Acclimatization: how do we stabilize connections to higher sources of energy? This conversation is part of the continuing Portals discovery into what is emerging on the frontiers of human experience in this time of profound change. Information about upcoming special events can be found on the Events page. Also visit and subscribe to our YouTube channel.   TWEETABLE QUOTES   “This idea that every domain, everything you're going to do, has its requirement, and the reason this is so important is because, as we said, there is an energetic dimension to this. So once we begin to enter a new domain of practice, a new domain of knowledge, a new domain of artistry and mastery, what we are really describing is that the immersion inside this elevated energy space rewires and activates new internal pathways and connections. It's like the whole vessel that you are is rewired on the inside.” (Aviv) “The reason we often need to find the point of surrender through crisis is because we are creatures of habit, and also because we tend to love, not only our successes, but also our struggles and pain. We're not easy to let go. And so this entire focusing theme of the journey to elevation is a journey of learning to release, learning to let go, reaching the point of surrender, and reaching the point, as you said, where instead of you doing it, it begins to do it through you. Now what is this it? Well, it is the latent intelligence. It is the latent potential.” (Aviv)   RESOURCES MENTIONED   Portals of Perception Website Aviv’s LinkedIn  Aviv’s Twitter Aviv’s Website 10 Elements of the Elevation Process Mystery – Current Openings #24

    1h 42m
  3. 126 - The Soul's Journey In Between Epochs, Part 2

    May 8

    126 - The Soul's Journey In Between Epochs, Part 2

    The mystery of the soul has captivated humanity throughout time. In this new conversation, Aviv Shahar and Portalsfriends continue exploring The Soul’s Journey, now delving into the enigma of spontaneous healing. This live event weaves contemplations, soul dialogue, music, and visual expression. The invitation is to slow down and release the pressure to instantly agree or disagree. Instead, allow space to gently listen to the soul's subtle, quiet voice. The soul’s knowledge is immense, largely untapped. By uplifting the meaning of “knowledge” beyond conventional learning, we begin to perceive the self and the soul as distinct yet deeply interwoven: the self as the "choice-making you," and the soul as the intelligent companion forever tethered to infinite creativity and all knowledge. Eight core soul premises serve as perceptual gateways, inviting deeper recognition of the soul’s role and subtle influence as it nudges us forward with the capacity to mediate the uncertainty of a new epoch and an unknown future. Spontaneous healing is one such soul capacity — rare, mysterious, and historically documented. The soul already works as healer, and has the potential to access the knowledge to bridge to higher energies and intelligence that are faster than the planetary speeds of conventional healing. Can we release the pains of our yesterdays to create space for such renewal? If we don’t trust the intelligence of the soul and the natural systems we’re part of, how can they deliver capabilities beyond the known? What mindset, energy, and connections are needed to open the gate to this higher possibility? Significant opportunities: Create space to release the pressure of having to agree or disagree and open to the soul’s natural rhythm. Discover a wider intelligence that transcends conditioned ideas of learning. Recognize the agency of the self and how the soul supports our alignment with higher intelligence to help us mediate change, especially in times of great uncertainty. Ask: What is spontaneous healing? What blocks it? What inner gateways open it? This conversation is part of the continuing Portals discovery into what is emerging on the frontiers of human experience in this time of profound change. Information about upcoming special events can be found on the Events page. Also visit and subscribe to our YouTube channel.   TWEETABLE QUOTES   “The Soul reads the subtle, energetic properties of everything. So every sound, every color, every object, every shape, every internal feeling, every registration of the environment, all of those, each and every one of those dimensions and elements, they carry knowledge. Every word carries knowledge, but it's not just a word; it's the intonation, it's the sound. So when we say the Soul is intimately connected with all the knowledge that exists on the planet, we are inferring the full range is available by potential for the Soul.” (Aviv) “What does it feel like when you embrace this idea that there is a part of you, an intelligence loom within you, an intelligence loom that accompanies you all the days of your life, including when you are asleep, never leaves you without, affords you all that you know to do, supports you every moment of your life, and that it has all that you may need to encounter the challenges in front of you?” (Aviv)   RESOURCES MENTIONED   Portals of Perception Website Aviv’s LinkedIn  Aviv’s Twitter Aviv’s Website Spontaneous Healing – Event Part 2: The Soul’s Journey In Between Epochs

    59 min
  4. 125 - The Soul's Journey In Between Epochs, Part 1

    Apr 24

    125 - The Soul's Journey In Between Epochs, Part 1

    How can we bring the whole human intelligence to strengthen and steady us as we navigate an epochal shift? In this engaging workshop, through inquiry and ground-breaking insights, Aviv Shahar and a group of international friends explore the story of the soul alongside the unfolding story of the evolving epoch. Movement, music, painting and drawing are shared as live, experimental methodologies to liberate our unique inner capacities. Beginning with a summary of Chapters 1–6 of Portals into the Soul, the workshop opens the challenging invitation to attune to the greater versatility of one’s soul. At its core, the premise is a calling to the human family to re-engage the soul as a vital force in our time. Rather than offering answers, the invitation is to live into the inquiry. Within each of us, one part may be dying while another is being born anew. Participants' contributions illuminate this inner panorama, revealing that what we see happening in the world is also stirring within us. As we come to see that the energy crisis is not only planetary but also a concern of the soul — expressed in inner fragmentation, fatigue, and the depletion of human faculties — the search for greater intactness and soul range becomes a path to renewed vitality. This awakening can unlock inner resources to meet the demands of our time. In the face of a global leadership breakdown, the soul’s journey calls us to step into a deeper initiation, toward becoming fully self-arising, self-responsible, and self-directing beings. True self-leadership emerges as essential for personal growth and for navigating transformative times. How do we engage in three essential tasks at once: release the conditioning of the old epoch and its operating system, embrace the liminal transition into the unknown, and facilitate liberation in the emerging epoch? The meta-crisis is not merely a problem to solve, but an expression and symptom of an epochal transition. What triggers chronic conflict in humans and what could enable deep settlement, peace, and well-being? How do we discover and cultivate the inner technologies that support process leadership? What we need now are process catalysts and facilitators of emergence. We are tenderly hospice-ing a dying epoch and caringly midwifing the birth of a new one — not only in the world around us, but within ourselves. This sensibility is arising in many people who feel called to this threshold. This conversation is part of the continuing Portals discovery into what is emerging on the frontiers of human experience in this time of profound change. Information about upcoming special events can be found on the Events page. Also visit and subscribe to our YouTube channel.   TWEETABLE QUOTES   “Any crisis point you can describe, and look at, on the world stage, has an interior dimension that mirrors it, that we can frame by way of an inquiry that is a Soul concern. So we'll abide with that for a bit, and there again, the inquiry will be, okay, what is it that we are observing that we can do, individually and collectively, to help facilitate the Soul to be more fully resilient, and all of us as people, wherever we find ourselves?” (Aviv) “Part of the awareness in this is that we cannot make the transition from one epoch to the next just with our heads, just with concepts. We actually need the whole human person, the full inner orchestra, the inner lives, all the faculties, all the capabilities, all the talents, all the intelligence lines to participate in the discovery.” (Aviv)   RESOURCES MENTIONED   Portals of Perception Website Aviv’s LinkedIn  Aviv’s Twitter Aviv’s Website Navigating the Shift – Event Part 1: The Soul’s Journey In Between Epochs

    1h 7m
  5. 124 - 10 Dimensions of Knowing - Universalis #17

    Apr 10

    124 - 10 Dimensions of Knowing - Universalis #17

    “How do you know what you know?” This provocative question sets the stage for an illuminating live conversation. Opening pathways to expanded ways of knowing is a profound liberation — especially in a time marked by increasing polarization. The exploration of ten distinct types of knowledge runs throughout this latest dialogue in the Universalis series. In this episode, Aviv Shahar, Karen Heney, and Kyriaki Nikandrou explore the transformative shifts that catalyze the emergence of a "Universalis human." These shifts guide us beyond rigid fixations and controlling tendencies rooted in what we think we know, steering us instead toward authentic curiosity and inquiry into the unknown. Through a whole-person contemplative exploration, attuned to the natural flow of life, we discover how each of us can uniquely serve the universe. Insights developed and explored include: To dance with the universe and be an agency for life is the invitation at the heart of this enlightening conversation. The 10 Dimensions of Knowledge introduce pathways where integrated approaches expand and elevate our capacity to know. By weaving together the experienced, the sensed, and the intuited, we liberate our multiple inner lives — and in doing so unlock and uplift what we can connect with and understand. Through a potent inquiry integrating thinking and feeling, this brief explores new ways of knowing — not by replacing our senses, feelings or emotions, but by introducing frameworks of reference about how the universe works, ready to guide and accompany us on our journey inward. With domain residency, access to knowledge becomes almost instant as the domain knows itself through you. You can then move with ease through different life domains (such as family or profession) and unlock broader networks of human possibility. The emerging inquiry is: How fully can we be present in ourselves in order to access these pathways and liberate whole‑person, integrated knowing? This conversation is part of the continuing Portals discovery into what is emerging on the frontiers of human experience in this time of profound change. Information about upcoming special events can be found on the Events page. Also visit and subscribe to our YouTube channel.   TWEETABLE QUOTES   “And then the inquiry arose from an even more foundational place, which is, how do you integrate what you think you know, by way of reference that you have learned, and the feeling experience? How do you bring these two interior universes into a convergent coherence where thinking and feeling work together rather than fight each other?” (Aviv) “And what I suggested here is that there is a point where the attunement to a domain, and being centered in the first-principle nature of the domain, you become the embodiment of the essence of that domain. It's another way of describing it, a whole other level of mastery, process knowledge, sentiment knowledge, and domain knowledge, now you became the embodiment of that arena or that space, or that artistry or that discipline that you demonstrate.” (Aviv)   RESOURCES MENTIONED   Portals of Perception Website Aviv’s LinkedIn  Aviv’s Twitter Aviv’s Website The Universalis Project #17 – 10 Dimensions of Knowing

    1h 17m
  6. 123 - This Epochal Moment, Part 2: Renewal

    Mar 27

    123 - This Epochal Moment, Part 2: Renewal

    One of our greatest sources of power is our imagination — the creative energy we bring online as we visualize the way forward and a new blueprint for humanity’s renewal. It’s the knowledge we are never alone: intelligence and perception in multiple dimensions are available for the asking. Can we make the space? Are we prepared to update our understanding and belief about what is possible? Great ponders once again for our international group of Portals friends, who gathered recently with Aviv Shahar to explore what it means to create a new future-inclined operating system for the human species in this epochal moment. These creative contemplations began in their first gathering. A core understanding is that as the universe accelerates its expansion, we also can choose to accelerate, and be more defined by who we are becoming than by who we were yesterday. In doing so, we then begin to sense our Universalis nature. Additional insights from our friends’ collective contemplation: What is uniquely different about this time is that our destructive capacity is exponential; so much is at stake, especially for future generations and the toddlers arriving now. We are each self-authoring, each responsible; no need to wait for a teacher or guru to tell us what to do. In this epochal moment, we awaken into our own fuller potential. The best advice in any crisis point is find somebody to help; when you help somebody else, you help yourself. We are loved and supported by creation: believe in that. We are not alone; something higher enhances us, and we can lean into that strength. This conversation is part of the continuing Portals discovery into what is emerging on the frontiers of human experience in this time of profound change. Information about upcoming special events can be found on the Events page. Also visit and subscribe to our YouTube channel.   TWEETABLE QUOTES   “Where do I begin a place of renewal and upgrade? Well, the first two places I go to, nature and my purpose friends, and my community of purpose, one of which is right here right now, with all of you. And thirdly, I work daily to be in communion with the sacred blessing realms, the invisible, unseen blessing realms that I feel and experience when I'm out in nature. I feel an experience when we come together, and I feel an experience in literally everything I do, every moment of my life. And when I forget to remember that, I don't feel as well. I don't feel as vibrantly energized as I know I can.” (Aviv) “So now I ask myself, well, how will I choose to upgrade my self-authoring government in how I guide, how I enact, how I regulate my everything? It begins with how I regulate my energies because everything begins with energy, it's the foundational property of life. How do I regulate my physical energy, emotional, mental, spiritual, and relational energy? And then, how do I guide, and enact, and regulate my thoughts, my feelings, my inner lives?” (Aviv)   RESOURCES MENTIONED   Portals of Perception Website Aviv’s LinkedIn  Aviv’s Twitter Aviv’s Website This Epochal Moment, Event Part 2: Renewal

    49 min
  7. 122 - This Epochal Moment, Part 1: Breakdown

    Mar 13

    122 - This Epochal Moment, Part 1: Breakdown

    Is it really a contradiction to think of the global chaos unfolding us around as both an overdue day of reckoning, and possibly the most hopeful, optimistic time we’ve seen in this century? Can humanity still retain the capacity for renewal and rebirth in such a time of intense doubt and fear about the future? It seems like the perfect contemplation for a group of international Portals friends who recently gathered with Aviv Shahar to share their intuitions about this moment in the onsetting new epoch. Their intention and direction are to begin imagining a path forward, a new blueprint, through the upheaval to a new possibility for resurrection and rejuvenation.  The collective intelligence reveals clarity and confidence, and the humility of realizing we swim in a great unknown among emerging patterns of new universal possibility. Among their insights and sentiments: We call this an epochal moment because humanity is fast approaching a pivot point that can define future possibility, but requires an active individual and collective response. If humanity does not choose wisely, we can cause irreversible harm. Never has so much depended on the few of us alive today to guarantee future generations have a future. Just when we need it the most, the global collaboration required to solve global issues is becoming harder to find in this time of a quickening epochal transition. The coming decade is a critical reckoning time, as upgrade and renewal begin with each of us, and how we express the values and sentiments of the emerging universal human. This conversation is part of the continuing Portals discovery into what is emerging on the frontiers of human experience in this time of profound change. Information about upcoming special events can be found on the Events page. Also visit and subscribe to our YouTube channel.   TWEETABLE QUOTES   “For some of us, this is what we're here, what we bargained, what we contracted. If you believe that you come here to life with a sacred contract, then that is what you showed up here for; that is to say, with all the know-how and the spiritual and personal capacities to play at this time and be a constructive, creative contributor to the journey of humanity through these times of change.” (Aviv) “What it practically means is that all systems, at all levels, are experiencing and will experience phase shift. We shouldn't be surprised by anything in the coming years and decades. Because the system is going through such a tectonic shift, the entire biological system, and the energetic system that accompanies and works with and through the biological system and this planet, the entire connected system, is going through a massive shift, which is why we are experiencing these changes that we are seeing.” (Aviv)   RESOURCES MENTIONED   Portals of Perception Website Aviv’s LinkedIn  Aviv’s Twitter Aviv’s Website This Epochal Moment, Event Part 1: Breakdown

    50 min
  8. 121 - Conscience: A Threefold Soul Guidance

    Feb 27

    121 - Conscience: A Threefold Soul Guidance

    Do we think of our conscience only as a feeling of guilt when our behavior or attitudes seem somehow out of line with our inner sense of moral right and wrong? What if we imagine the conscience as something much deeper and more powerful? An active process that allows access to our natural finer values — sometimes called the ‘better angels of our nature’? An international gathering of Portals friends join Aviv Shahar in this conversation to explore the nature and function of conscience. As we discover, unraveling the mystery and meaning of the conscience also takes us deeper into the nature of the soul and its mission to guide and uplift our earthly journey. (This conversation is part two of a special event that also focused on the “Portals Into the Soul” series; part one is included below.) In Portals Into The Soul – Chapter 2, conscience is described as a self-arising moral presence — part of the soul’s awakened power and purpose. We’re invited to hear, sense and feel the multiple dimensions of the conscience, rather than only consider definitions and notions in our head. Among their insights and sentiments: Conscience is a form of guidance that we experience as a self-aligning angelic presence within — an actuality we feel as an impulse that evaluates, regulates, nudges and directs. When we attune to the ‘permanent-line’ values of the universe, we sense the universe is a learning system, and learns best through our conscious witnessing experience. We can transcend personal development work to consider soul work for humanity, where we metabolize, disarm and recast the collective memory, a form of ‘world work’. We can engage with the conscience esoterically as a function — a cosmic, planetary process — that brings us to know the elemental building blocks of life. This conversation is part of the continuing Portals discovery into what is emerging on the frontiers of human experience in this time of profound change. Information about upcoming special events can be found on the Events page. Also visit and subscribe to our YouTube channel.   TWEETABLE QUOTES   “The soul carries a throughout remembrance of the purpose you came to this life with, including the unique and particular qualities and capacities, configuration, the gifts, the genius that you are wired to manifest, regardless as to whether you're fully aware of that or not. That calling, that memory, that you came into this life with, that you are here to serve in a particular way, is the conscience of that second impulse.” (Aviv) “There is something about this universe, it is a learning system. It wants to continue to learn. Now we may be wired also in the first and the second impulse into learning for different reasons. But when we are attuned to the permanent line values of the universe, one of the dimensions we will exhibit will be that sense of the universe is a learning system. It wants to learn, and it can learn, and it learns best through our conscious witnessing experience.” (Aviv)   RESOURCES MENTIONED   Portals of Perception Website Aviv’s LinkedIn  Aviv’s Twitter Aviv’s Website Conscience – A Threefold Soul Guidance

    43 min

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

Portals of Perception endeavors to create conversations at the frontier of discovery, and to bring to life the natural processes of human development. Each of us, by design, can become a living agency for the evolutionary process, as it arises, through our living expression, and can become an intentional participant in the emergence of a wiser future. Join our hosts Aviv Shahar and Peter Barry every week for conversations on a wide variety of topics including human purpose, personal development, evolution and the future, community of conversation and discovery, and more.

You Might Also Like