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 developm ...
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Aviv Shahar Podcasts

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Create New Futures | How Leaders Produce Breakthroughs and Transform the World through Conversation
Aviv Shahar
Welcome to Create New Futures. Every episode, best-selling author and host Aviv Shahar will explore ideas and insights that can awaken and inspire you to the opportunities you have to create new futures for you, your family, your teams, and for your business. Life is too short to not be engaged in fascinating conversations that open, inspire and unleash new ways of thinking and seeing possibilities and beauty. Through Create New Futures, Aviv will engage in conversation with leaders and expe ...
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105 - The Open-Heart Conversation: Current Openings #18
47:32
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47:32What is the message we would bring back to our families and friends if we survived a near-death experience? It’s the kind of event that could change our lives in a big way. What would we most want the people closest to us to realize from our close encounter with the veil? Such close encounters reveal profound insights and perceptions that can chang…
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What would the divine feminine or Goddess nature want to ask or expect of a man today? If you were a man representing the divine masculine, and had the chance, what would you want to ask or say to a woman at this moment? Can we even imagine ourselves and each other as different expressions of a divine source, more than merely a personality? These w…
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103 - The Two Struggles - The Universalis Project #11
41:15
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41:15As we find our way each day through the often intense and personal struggles facing us and humanity, imagine that we can build our strength and resilience by exercising the right muscles; not just physical, but our emotional, mental and spiritual “muscles.” In the newest chapter of the Homo Universalis series, Aviv Shahar, with Karen Heney and Kyri…
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102 - Evolution, Consciousness, and the New Truth
1:33:43
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1:33:43Where is our global culture today? How did we get here? What steps might we need to take now to shape a future that could become a saving grace for humanity? It feels special to find a clear, cohesive and compelling picture, one that encompasses the insights that help us make sense and meaning out of the tumultuous times we live in and answer these…
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How can a forward-looking, evolution-inclined spirituality, not tied to dogma or history, offer us a sense of meaning and purpose in a time of cultural upheaval powered by AI? Can a metamodern spiritual path also include a new perspective and appreciation of Christianity and the many faces, or dimensions, of Jesus Christ? In the newest conversation…
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100 - Current Openings #17 – Burning Questions
1:11:43
1:11:43
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1:11:43Imagine being able to connect with a level of potency, passion and energy that could help reveal even deeper intelligence and meaning to our most compelling “burning questions” — the inquiries and mysteries that drive and inspire us to search for answers. In several ways the potency of an inquiry is generated in how we think about and ask the quest…
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099 - Portals Into the Soul, Chapter 4: A Growing Space for the Soul
53:25
53:25
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53:25In the third installment we described two ways to apply Einstein’s admonition when he observed that we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. The first practice involved placing the problem you are working to solve inside an even bigger problem. The second practice involved the cultivation of a symphonic loom…
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098 - The Universalis Project #10 - Why the World is Breaking Down
1:03:42
1:03:42
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1:03:42Even if we’re familiar with the themes of evolutionary change and upgrade that run through Portals, what’s happening in the world today seems startling: the operating system that enables modern life as we know it appears to be crashing. The key questions now: Is this an irreversible slide into self-elimination? Does evolution ever offer a chance fo…
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097 - Normalizing the Extraordinary: In the Metamodern God Lab
1:17:56
1:17:56
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1:17:56A laboratory is where we’d expect to find a safe space of discovery and purpose; an environment that supports experimenting with diverse ideas and mysteries in the search for truth. Add in an atmosphere of mutual trust and acceptance, and now we’ve created an ecology that invites something even deeper — a God lab. Imagine a God lab as an intensifie…
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096 - Current Openings #16: The Octave Leap Mystery
1:04:47
1:04:47
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1:04:47How many of us remember having what some people call a “chrysalis” moment? An octave leap, with mind-opening perceptions, in real time. A powerful flow of energy, a quickening, triggered by a connection or breakthrough that can happen anywhere, at any time, and transform us and the circumstance we’re in. The chrysalis we probably know as the middle…
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095 - The Universalis Project #9 - Deepening in Evolutionary Mysteries
57:51
57:51
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57:51If we’re already diving deep into the core mysteries of the human experience — such as how to partner with a new wave of evolution and engage with the universe — how do we push even further on the edge of discovery? Can we go even deeper into the mysteries? What’s the real benefit? A curious feature of engaging with the natural human impulse to gro…
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094 - Evolving Together #4 - The Human Radio Set
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49:24
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49:24It may be time to finally change channels, or — if we really want better reception and perception — to trade in that old analogue transmitter and receiver for the best, state-of-the-art technology in the universe. We are referring, by analogy, to the most advanced radio set ever created: the human mind and network of finer, higher faculties — capab…
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093 - Portals Into the Soul, Chapter 3: Symphonic Seven-fold Soul Work
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45:11In chapter 2 we described the nature of separation events and the compensatory act of the soul — the ghost. Before developing ways to recover the sense of connection and explore pathways to reengage and liberate the greater potential of the soul, this chapter begins to reflect on a whole loom of considerations, including the experience of showing u…
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How can we access greater intelligence, wisdom, and power to face the often-scary challenges of these times? In the Inner Conclave Consciousness, Aviv Shahar and Jeff Vander Clute develop further the three process octaves they began to explore in part one of this conversation. Why is this exploration so relevant now?. Portals is chronicling what we…
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A glance at the headlines today often brings a deep sense of sadness about the escalating violence in many parts of the world, along with an urgent inner inquiry: what can one person do to promote peace, both within themselves and the global community? Several Portals conversations and, most recently, the first chapters of Portals Into the Soul, of…
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090 - Current Openings #15: The Four Development Zones
1:07:16
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1:07:16It may be easy to see the wisdom of Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, who noted back in the 6th century BC, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." When the journey of a lifetime is measured not in distance, but in sensing and connecting with a universal source of purpose and potency, what is that single first step? We’ve explored t…
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089 - Universalis #8 - Partnering with the Universe
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1:14:29Our long and revealing journey of discovery with homo universalis, the universal human, has taken us to what feels like a new beginning, but now as partners; a partnership that will transform both of us in the ongoing adventure of an unfolding new epoch and new future. This partnership with the cosmos actually begins inside of us, with ourselves. W…
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088 - The Teacher's Journey with Sarah McCrum
1:20:28
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1:20:28The journey of a spiritual teacher can help illuminate the joy, pain, revelations and profound awakenings that often accompany someone on the path to discover the larger meaning of life and the universe. This conversation brings us an intimate look into one such life of spiritual learning and leading, as Aviv Shahar is joined by author, educator, i…
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087 - Current Openings #14: What Does it Mean to Develop?
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49:49It was a Portals cliffhanger: We were in midflight, in midair, final destination unseen, at the end of the last Current Openings as we journeyed into the deeper space of development and what it means for us and the universe. The conversation then paused, to pick up later. No need to worry. Our flight now resumes, as we aim even deeper into the core…
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It remains one of the most powerful and personal callings for someone on a quest for transformation and inspiration: the pilgrimage — a journey to what are believed to be sources of connection to the sacred or divine, the holy places. Many of the best-known religious pilgrimages involve a million or more believers or devotees, such as the Hajj, or …
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085 - The Time Between Worlds with Layman Pascal
1:12:14
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1:12:14How do we reckon with a reckoning? We can look around at the many crises engulfing the planet and think that, yes, humanity is facing its day of reckoning, a time of consequences for many forms of unsustainable behavior throughout the modern era. The “twilight of the gods,” or unraveling of our inherited values and reality described in mythology an…
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084 - Current Openings #13 – How Can We Help the Future?
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47:15How would we even consider paying back the universe — returning the favor — for the most amazing gift of being alive? In a simple appreciation, every breath, every heartbeat, demonstrates a greater permission, an ongoing love and care for the human species. Isn’t it reasonable to wonder how we might reciprocate? Fortunately, there are many clues an…
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083 - Portals Into the Soul, Chapter 2 - The Ghost
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57:31
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57:31In chapter one we introduced the story of the soul showing up as part of a new life on the natural as was meant to be line. It is programmed with a threefold brief to orchestrate and guide the human to a) stay alive, b) learn, adapt, and improve opportunities, and c) discover and realize your higher purpose. The soul nudges you to bring to life and…
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082 - 8 Patterns of Transformation with Jose Leal
1:25:39
1:25:39
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1:25:39What if the underlying natural intelligence and energy that help influence and shape nearly every aspect of our lives were actually identifiable patterns hiding in plain sight — visible in every domain of life to anyone with the eyes (perception) to see? Underlying patterns that together point to a unified universal operating system or source code …
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081 - What is Healing? #3 - Opening to Healing
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1:22:38
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1:22:38How do we sidestep a familiar and unhelpful pattern of thought or behavior in that moment when trauma or pain begins to assert itself and trigger a response? Can we in the triggering moment find a uniquely creative and new response that helps illuminate and loosen the trauma’s grip? Learning to pause before reacting to a triggering feeling or memor…
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080 - The Guru Trap and the Golden Shadow
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1:04:17The teacher-student dynamic has been central for the unfolding story of humanity. Although universities began to emerge in Europe in the 11th and 12th centuries, the modern education system only developed during the Industrial Revolution, in part for adults to be able to go to work in factories. Modern education focused on exterior knowledge of the…
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079 - The Ghost and the Inner Conclave
1:11:33
1:11:33
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1:11:33It’s good to remember that whatever the emotional, mental, or life pain or trauma we face — whatever the shadow or ghost — we can at any time assemble the most powerful team of advisors, healers, teachers, and friends available to help us. It can be anyone, close by or at distance; a quality, such as courage or kindness. Whatever we think we need. …
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078 - Evolving Together #3 - Choosing Our Families
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41:59
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41:59How often do we feel the people closest to us emotionally or energetically — though not related by blood or marriage — are actually our real family? We all know the saying “You can’t choose your family,” usually meant humorously when a relative does something we find embarrassing. What if we can choose our family, in all the ways that have conseque…
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077 - Current Openings #12 - Why Develop Yourself?
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1:09:11We might want to stop and consider if a slightly different approach could help us unlock the core question this conversation is posing: Why develop yourself? Wouldn’t it be more accurate to wonder that since we will develop, one way or another, why not choose with intention and awareness what will fill our lives and help shape our future? The human…
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076 - Portals Into the Soul, Chapter 1: The Soul - A Threefold Orchestration
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38:42Building on the context offered in thePreamble, this is the first in a series of Portals Into the Soul chapters we are publishing in a draft form. This work was seeded by the conversation The Ghost and The Inner Conclaveand, as the preamble narrates, by four decades of intense inquiry. Portals into the Soul will reflect on the core story of life fr…
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Greetings, friend, Aviv is writing with exciting updates about Portals Into the Soul. On Christmas Eve, Sunday, December 24, I finally found space to sit down with notes Kyriaki Nikandrou of the Portals team created out of The Ghost and the Inner Conclave conversation with Jeff Vander Clute. We recorded that conversation after a four-day Epoch Jour…
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074 - What is Healing? #2 - A New Togethering
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1:19:33
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1:19:33Sometimes it takes courage to heal. It’s usually easy to see, feel, and know the pain and trauma from our own lives, our communities, and the cultural upheavals upending many parts of our world. Being able to perceive and register hurt or isolation and loneliness doesn’t necessarily make the path to healing and wholeness any more visible, or smooth…
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073 - Evolving Together #2 - What Holds Us Back?
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54:12Be honest: When we see a friend or colleague achieve a personal breakthrough — barrier overcome; milestone reached; the best of themselves coming forward — do we fully feel the value and joy of their success? Not even a tinge of jealousy, or wish that it had been us instead? What if we embrace a very different view of each other’s accomplishments a…
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072 - Current Openings #11 - The Application Conundrum
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1:09:25Where can the human Big Bang be found? It is: You become what you apply yourself to. It’s not just a different angle on the familiar phrase of becoming what we think about; it goes much deeper. Application happens when we bring intention and purpose to focus our energy, knowledge and passion to achieve what we most value in life; to turn learning i…
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071 - A Conversation with Layman Pascal, Part 2 - Pursuing Integral Wisdom
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1:02:46We’re living in a time where increasingly we see what’s happening in the world around us and have to wonder how, or even if, we can find deep truth in the age of the “deep fake”. Artificial intelligence can distort or manipulate many forms of data and information we take in through our physical senses. Sights, sounds and “facts” on a page can all b…
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070 - A Conversation with Layman Pascal Part 1 - Protecting the Sacred
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1:07:10At a time when cultural and existential crises threaten the wellbeing of our global community, shouldn’t the search for wisdom and a more enlightened path forward embrace all sources of insight and new intelligence? Twenty-first century technology, side by side with ancient and sacred traditions? The intuitive, and the scientific? There is growing …
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069 - Rebel Wisdom and the Trauma Myth
1:27:57
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1:27:57Many news platforms today still at times refer to the struggles of life in 2023 as residual pandemic trauma — directly influenced by the painful events beginning in 2020. Is it really fair and accurate to connect today’s behavior and attitudes to a three-year-old ‘trauma’? There’s no doubt the pandemic caused pain and suffering, and trauma, for mil…
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Portals Into the Soul invites us to realize the soul wants us to be fulfilled — to live a life as closely aligned as possible to the greater connections, intelligence and qualities that are the human’s universal birthright. Through a contemplative inquiry process, we can open a living conversation with the soul and its many facets and capabilities.…
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Is there a unique human or universal possibility in “we” that simply is not available to even the most finely developed “me”? When two human beings meet in purpose — really meet, not just be in close proximity — can they unlock in each other a greater growth and evolutionary potential than either one can even perceive on their own? We can see in wo…
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066 - Current Openings #10: The Einstein Brief
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1:24:08We haven’t followed Albert Einstein’s ratio exactly here on Portals, but there is great wisdom in his insight that if given an hour to solve a problem, he’d spend 55 minutes focusing on the problem, and five minutes thinking about solutions. It’s one of the perceptions helping us uncover practical solutions to the puzzle and pain of the human predi…
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065 - The Next Renaissance, Part 2 - Seeding Cultural Change
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47:28What if we paraphrase a popular saying about the devil* and think “The greatest trick the modern world ever pulled was getting humanity to believe there aren’t any options”? As cultural and ecological crises deepen around the world, there are visionaries taking steps to demonstrate that, yes, we have options in how we choose to live and the future …
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064 - The Next Renaissance Part 1: The Art of Metamorphosis
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58:59What would it take for us to see the ecological and cultural crises sweeping the planet as possible harbingers of a higher transformation and metamorphosis, a second global Renaissance? Big economic and political change can be traumatic, for individuals and communities. What if the global upheavals shaking our modern way of life actually are part o…
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063 - The Development Edge #1 - The Art of Being Together
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1:20:33With so much interest in creating a new type of collective living experience, it’s reasonable to wonder why the “we” space is seen to be so important in supporting the next big leap in evolution. What can’t the individual alone — me, just being me — accomplish? There is a deepening awareness that a new future, a transforming universal possibility, …
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Imagine a process of healing that is powerful enough to restore wellbeing and transform a life, a family, a community with just a one-degree shift in perception or attention; a state of health and wholeness not defined by medicine or ecology, culture or location. In a time of cultural and environmental upheaval, the natural and regenerative paths t…
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061 - A Conversation with Dr. Keith Witt, Part 2: How to Love and Evolve
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1:33:06Just how important are relationships, really, to our health and happiness? What about to our sense of emotional and spiritual growth and fulfillment? We can trace the influence of intimacy on human development through evolution all the way back to the Big Bang. Humans are social in a way unlike anything else in the universe. The complexity, beauty …
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060 - A Conversation with Dr. Keith Witt, Part 1: Trauma to Transcendence
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43:32Is it a big stretch to think of struggling with trauma as part of a hero’s journey? Or is it integral for the hero’s transformation? How do we metabolize feeling weak or diminished by fear, anxiety and pain from traumatic events that at times can seem beyond our ability to cope? What if we understood that even the willingness to face a trauma will …
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Isn’t it curious the only species on the planet that appears concerned about or pursues the notion of “wholeness” is the human? Other highly intelligent and social animals — such as dolphins and elephants — show no evidence of feeling an inner fragmentation, separation from purpose, or impulse to connect with a source of higher intelligence. The co…
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058 - Current Openings #9 - The Emotion Problem
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1:07:14The popular concept of emotional intelligence only begins to scratch the surface of understanding the true nature and power of the human emotion. Emotions can uplift and heal and transform a life or relationship. They can also inflict and become self-destructive; lead us to either our salvation or downfall. Some people believe the emotion plays a c…
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057 - Current Openings #8 - The Energy Problem
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1:23:37Many of us are getting robbed every day, whether we know it or not. We just may be robbing ourselves, too, without fully understanding the consequences of our behavior. It could be through ignorance, lack of attention, or bad decisions. Whatever the cause, we’re getting robbed of the very energy that enables good health, inspiration, and possibilit…
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What is the power of a motivating purpose in one’s life? What happens when our chosen purpose seems to run out? What do we do when the expected fulfillment at the high point of a career or other life quest feels empty, less thrilling, than anticipated? How do you recalibrate when the change you worked so hard to catalyze has a timeline that doesn’t…
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