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Robert Augustus Masters: True Masculine Power

Robert Augustus Masters is an integral psychotherapist and spiritual teacher whose work emphasizes physical embodiment and greater relational maturity. With Sounds True, he has published the book To Be a Man: A Guide to True Masculine Power. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Robert and Tami Simon talk about the deep shame that men often experience in a society that encourages them to “man up” and ignore their emotions. They also speak on developing a healthier approach to anger, as well as coming to a new understanding of masculine sexuality. Finally, they discuss Robert’s interpretation of what women truly need from modern men. (68 minutes)

Resurrecting Jesus: Adyashanti on the True Meaning of ...

Until this spring, the last time I’d read the New Testament was a quarter-century ago, when I was in college studying comparative religion and literature.  Back then, I spent all my time reading the mystics—not just the Christian mystics, but Sufis and kabbalists too. Though I loved the desert fathers and Meister Eckhart and St. John of the Cross, I eventually read less and less of the Christian mystics.

I didn’t grow up in a church-going family, so I didn’t have a lot of baggage around my personal experience of Christianity.  Still, I had a problem with Jesus—or rather, all the things that the church had done in Jesus’ name.  I couldn’t separate my feelings about the centuries of crusades and witch hunts, about the church’s institutionalized drive for worldly power, about the repression and small-mindedness of the Christian right, from my feeling about Christianity’s ‘founder’.

Christian theology got in my way, too; as someone with a mystical bent, I couldn’t accept that my own relationship with the divine required an intermediary, and the whole doctrine of the Trinity seemed needlessly complicated.  Finally, on those few occasions when I did go to church, I found the Jesus portrayed in the pulpit to be simplistic, even insipid.

Yet, in spite of all these blocks to the predominant religion of my culture, I also sensed an immense transmission of love right at the core of Jesus’ teachings, prior to any of the trappings of doctrine and theology. I  sensed it, but I couldn’t access it.

Then, a few years ago, I stumbled upon one of Adyashanti’s Christmas satsangs, and a whole new view of Jesus opened up for me.  The Jesus he portrayed was a spiritual revolutionary, one whose life could be read as a map of the awakening journey.  This view of Jesus didn’t so much resolve my earlier issues with “church Jesus” as render them pointless.  After all, if there’s only one truth and it’s only found now, all historical perspectives are moot.

The more I listened, the deeper Adya’s message on Jesus resonated for me.  When it came time to brainstorm new projects with Adya, I suggested that we ask if he’d be willing to teach on Jesus.  As it turned out, he was already preparing for a weeklong retreat on that very topic, and was happy to take on these new projects. That was the genesis of Adya’s current online course—and upcoming book and audio program—Resurrecting Jesus: Embodying the Spirit of a Revolutionary Mystic.

This spring, I traveled with Tami Simon and Hayden Peltier (one of our audio engineers) to record Adya at a studio in the mountains above Santa Cruz. I was excited to be part of the recording, but didn’t realize just what a profound impact listening to Adya talk about the Jesus story for four days would have on me.   As those who have attended satsangs or intensives with Adyashanti already know, his presence is a teaching, and his talks carry a powerful transmission.

At the end of the recording, I found myself energized and excited to work on editing the video, audio and book projects that we’d captured.  In the months since, I’ve read the gospels over and over—especially the Gospel of Mark, which is the primary text Adya refers to in Resurrecting Jesus.  I see clearly now how the Jesus story maps out the journey of awakening.  But for me, the most exciting aspect of the project has been discovering what a fantastic story Mark tells in his gospel.  The Jesus who comes through in Mark—now that I’ve heard Adya’s take on the gospel’s deeper meanings—is engaged, compelling, and totally unexpected.

I know how many people have grown disillusioned with the Christian tradition, even as they seek deeper spiritual insight through other practices and traditions.  My hope is that Resurrecting Jesus will invite others to reconnect—or connect for the first time—with the deep wisdom of the Jesus story.

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The True Nature of Mindfulness

Tami Simon speaks with Joseph Goldstein, who is the cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, and has been teaching insight and lovingkindness meditation worldwide since 1974. He is the coauthor of the Sounds True audio learning course Insight Meditation (with Sharon Salzberg), and has recently released the third volume of his landmark audio course of advanced teachings and practical guidance on the Satipatthāna Sutta, Abiding in Mindfulness. In this episode, Tami speaks with Joseph about his study of the Satipatthāna Sutta as the Buddha’s central teaching of mindfulness meditation, the evolution of his own practice over the past four decades, and what it might mean to live without any sense of there being an “I” or a “me.” (60 minutes)

Tara Brach: True Refuge

Tami Simon speaks with Tara Brach, an author, clinical psychologist, and the founder and senior teacher of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington. She’s the author of the Sounds True audio learning programs Radical Self-Acceptance and Meditations for Emotional Healing. She’s also the creator of a new, nine-week online course called Meditation and Psychotherapy beginning February 18 at SoundsTrue.com, which includes three live sessions with Tara Brach where she will answer participants’ questions. (54 minutes)

E88: The Power of Nonresistance

Resistance is the inner act of opposing what is, and it is the root cause of all suffering. Whether you are resisting emotions, thoughts, or life events, it is this opposition—not the events themselves—that causes disturbance. Spiritual freedom comes through a deep state of nonresistance: allowing reality to pass through you without blocking it. Once you reach this state, you are truly ready to interact with life instead of reacting to it.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2025 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

E87: The Path to Nonduality

Nonduality is not an abstract philosophy but a practical spiritual path rooted in everyday life. The Universe is one unified system, but we can’t see it that way because we need certain parts to be certain ways. This is because we don’t feel whole within ourselves, so we differentiate the outside based on what we think will make us feel better or worse. Once we feel whole and at peace inside, everything is free to be as it is—one nondual reality.

For more information, go to michaelsingerpodcast.com.

© Sounds True Inc. Episodes: © 2025 Michael A. Singer. All Rights Reserved.

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