Monday, March 18, 2013

TNS#84: Spirits in Spacesuits, with Father Sean O'Laoire

TheNextStep show #84 was taped 2/23/2012 and featured a wide-ranging discussion on spiritual topics with Father Sean O'Laoire. Fr. Sean is the author of various books including Spirits in Spacesuits: A Manual for Everyday Mystics (2003), Souls on Safari (2006), and A Sensible God (2008). What a delightful discussion!

From my notes: "All world religions are merely cultural articulations of the same basic archetypal human search for God"... "reality is an artifact of consciousness"... "the real object of science is to awaken the cosmic religious experience" (Einstein quote)... A 'thin place' is where the veil between the seen and unseen is diaphanous so that one can see thru... "we see things as WE are"... "Resurrection is about recognizing the face you had before your parents were born"... "God cannot forgive, because cannot develop a grudge"... "Children are god's way of reminding adults that we are spirits in spacesuits". "May you discover the mystic within you"!

From Father Sean's website Spiritsinspacesuits.com: Father Seán ÓLaoire was born in Ireland and was awarded a BSc degree (major in Math) from the Nat'l. Univ. of Ireland. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1972 and subsequently spent 14 years working among the Kalenjin people of East Africa. He is multi-lingual. Dr. ÓLaoire has an MA and a PhD in Transpersonal Psychology and is a licensed Clinical Psychologist with a private counseling practice in Los Altos, California. He lectures and conducts scientific research on the effects of prayer. Fr. Seán is a co-founder and Spiritual Director of Companions on the Journey (COJ), a spiritual community which seeks to recognize the God/divinity within each of us and among all of us. COJ is an independent, non-hierarchical Eucharistic community dedicated to aligning itself with God and healing the separations between us. Each individual's spirituality is seen as derived from his/her own experiences of God, immanent and transcendent, and is illuminated by the teachings of Christ and the wisdom of other spiritual traditions.

The show has been uploaded here: http://blip.tv/the-next-step/thenextstep-84_fatherseano-laoire-6098654

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

TNS#83: Steve Jobs Retrospective, with John Draper

TheNextStep show #83 was taped 10/27/2011 and featured John "Cap'n Crunch" Draper recounting stories about how he got started with phone phreaking and how he was instrumental in getting Woz and Jobs up to speed with how to use a blue box to make free phone calls. This was Woz and Jobs' first business venture, without which (as Steve Jobs once said) there would have been no subsequent Apple Computer. Our discussion is intercut with a slideshow of photos of Steve Jobs, and video clips of his iconic "One More Thing..." product introductions. The episode has been posted here: http://blip.tv/the-next-step/thenextstep-83_stevejobsretrospective-6549719