Bits and pieces (free post)

A few more recommendations: "The Mystical Positivist," Huston Smith, a new DBH interview

In my frequent online meanderings, I come across — as most of you know — chance “discoveries” that I like to share with you. This week, I have three new recommendations: one for listening, one for viewing, and one for reading.

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The first — for listening — is a superb radio/podcast program called The Mystical Positivist, which began in 2010 (I believe) and continues to the present. Its guiding “philosophy” is one that I consider in sync with my own, to wit:

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.

The Mystical Positivist is a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP FM 107.3 Occidental, CA, and on the web at KOWS-LP Live Feed, Saturdays from 4 - 6 p.m. PST.

It can also be found on various podcast platforms.

The conversations, which run in length to roughly two hours each, are erudite, stimulating, and unfailingly treat intelligently and respectfully the various traditions of spiritual practice. Perfect for listening when traveling, resting, or… well, whatever. Their website can be accessed by clicking here.

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One of the joys I’ve experienced related to my books has been the range of fine and often renowned people (some of them now deceased) who have contributed cover endorsements for them. One of these was the late religion scholar, Huston Smith, author of many invaluable books, including The World’s Religions and Why Religion Matters. His impressive Wikipedia entry can be read here. His front cover endorsement — which I was not at all expecting when it appeared — of my The Ox-Herder and the Good Shepherd in 2013 still moves me when I read it.

YouTube gives us the opportunity to see a very young Huston Smith present his 1955 television series, The Religions of Man (a title he changed later for obvious reasons). All the episodes are available in the playlist, beginning with this one:

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Lastly, during this past week, an interview with my brother David (or, Ben, as his family and lifelong friends call him), conducted by Ross M. Allen, appeared in The Christian Century. He states so clearly what I regard as our common “credo,” especially on the vital matter of theosis, that I thought it worthwhile to link the interview here. In it he claims that he’s not a “mystic,” and given what I’m sure he means by that term, he isn’t (nor would I be without that restraining adjective “pragmatic” attached). Regarding the word “theology,” I agree entirely with him that “academic” theology is a blight on, well, the name of theologia. The latter is a term related to ever-deepening spiritual practice, not simply to reason or ideational systems. As Evagrius of Pontus succinctly said, “If you are a theologian you truly pray. If you truly pray you are a theologian” (Chapters on Prayer, 60).