094. Jeff Foster

Buddha at the Gas Pump

Rick Archer

Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Spirituality, Society & Culture

4.7 • 695 Ratings

🗓️ 4 November 2011

⏱️ 99 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Jeff Foster graduated in Astrophysics from Cambridge University in 2001. Several years after graduation, following a period of severe depression and illness, he became addicted to the idea of ‘spiritual enlightenment’, and embarked on an intensive spiritual search which lasted for several years. The spiritual search came crashing down with the clear recognition of the nondual nature of everything. In the clarity of this seeing, life became what it always was: open, loving, spontaneous, and fully alive. Jeff presently holds meetings and retreats in the UK, Europe, and around the world, clearly and directly pointing to the frustrations surrounding our seeking activities, to the nature of the mind, and to the clarity at the heart of everything. His uncompromising approach, full of humour and compassion, enlightens and exposes the seeking mechanism – the mechanism behind all suffering – shattering our hopes for a future salvation, revealing the unconditional freedom and ease that is always already present, right in the midst of the human drama, and within every experience. Jeff belongs to no tradition or lineage but has a deep respect for traditions and lineages. Jeff is not an ‘authority’ on life. His words are equal to the sound of a bird singing, or a cat meowing. All are expressions of the One Life. And when all words have disappeared, as they do, all that’s left is laughter. Jeff's site: Life Without a Centre Jeff's books: An Extraordinary Absence: Liberation in the Midst of a Very Ordinary Life, The Wonder of Being: Awakening to an Intimacy Beyond Words Interview recorded 10/30/2011 Interview summary and transcript YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction to the Interview with Jeff Foster 00:03:24 - The Mystery of Non-Duality 00:06:21 - The Stuck-ness and Freedom 00:09:49 - Discovering the Ocean Behind Things 00:12:30 - Embracing our Humanity 00:16:04 - A Total Embrace of Life and Non-Duality 00:18:54 - The Longing for Completeness and the End of Seeking 00:22:07 - Seeking Completeness in Relationships 00:25:42 - The Natural Movement of Seeking Completeness 00:29:06 - The Completeness of Seeking 00:32:33 - The Paradox of Seeking and Completeness 00:35:55 - The Constant Invitation of Waves 00:39:25 - Embracing Relationships and Self-Acceptance 00:42:26 - The Adventure of Relationships 00:45:30 - The Pain of Honest Self-Reflection 00:48:38 - The Possibility of Recognizing Who You Really Are 00:52:28 - A Journey of Self-Discovery 00:55:47 - The Messy Path to Self-Realization 00:59:26 - The Myth of Dramatic Stories 01:02:03 - The Sun and the Waves 01:05:02 - The New Doing: Rejecting All Doing 01:08:00 - Meeting People at Their Level 01:10:54 - Meeting Without Defenses 01:14:06 - The Man or Woman at the Cash Register 01:17:28 - Reflections on Crucifixion and Acceptance 01:20:51 - The Crucifixion and the Resurrection 01:23:40 - The Evolution of Language and Understanding in Non-duality 01:27:29 - The Natural Expression of Sharing 01:31:11 - Singing Our Song 01:35:02 - Allowing and Acceptance in Spiritual Teachings 01:37:44 - Introduction to the Show and Guest

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The Welcome to Buddha at the gas pump. My name is Rick Archer and my guest today is Jeff Foster.
0:33.6	Hi Jeff. I had the pleasure of meeting Jeff at the Science and Non-Duality Conference just
0:39.3	a week ago out in California.
0:41.3	We had lunch together in a little Thai restaurant which was delicious.
0:45.3	And I've been meeting to interview Jeff for a long time but he's always had trouble
0:51.3	with his bandwidth over in the UK but now he happens to be in the
0:55.0	U.S., so we've worked it out.
0:57.0	And speaking of the science of non-duality consciousness, I just want to make a brief mention
1:03.0	of thanks to all the people who donated to my being able to go there.
1:08.0	There's a donate button on my site, and it was on the basis of that that I was able to go there, there's a donate button on my site and it was on the basis of that
1:12.2	that I was able to attend the conference and I really had a great time.
1:17.1	If I get a chance I'll make a little video or write something up about the whole experience
1:21.0	of the conference but I just wanted to say thanks to those people who have donated and
1:24.8	also perhaps to mention that the Bat Gap coffers have been somewhat depleted
1:29.3	as a result of that conference and so if anyone feels like donating or donating again
1:34.3	or something it's much appreciated but of course there's no obligation.
1:39.8	So Jeff, Jeff is a, we'll let him introduce himself in the course of the interview, but Jeff is, I guess, what we would call a non-duality teacher.
1:50.0	No, he doesn't like that. We'll have to refine it.
1:53.0	In fact, on the, on the little, I saw some little blur, maybe it was at the Science and Non-Duality Conference description of you, and
2:01.1	it used the word radical. And I thought, why is that there? Because I wouldn't think of Jeff
2:04.6	as radical. Why are they using that word?
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Rick Archer, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Rick Archer and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.