369. Michael A. Rodriguez

Buddha at the Gas Pump

Rick Archer

Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Spirituality, Society & Culture

4.7 • 695 Ratings

🗓️ 3 November 2016

⏱️ 99 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Michael A. Rodriguez is a spiritual teacher who works with people in meetings, retreats, and private sessions on a full-time basis in the United States and abroad. He holds four academic degrees, including a master's degree in comparative religion from Harvard and a Ph.D. in English literature from Florida State University; taught at the university level for well over a decade; and has lived long-term in two monasteries. Drawing always from his direct experience, Michael illuminates the undivided nature of Life or Consciousness with great clarity and compassion, pointing to reality in a way that is free from dogma, ritual, or adherence to any particular tradition. Michael draws skillfully from the world's wisdom traditions and also integrates Jungian psychology, literature, music, and art into his work to address the full range of human potential. His book--Boundless Awareness: A Loving Path to Spiritual Awakening and Freedom from Suffering--distills the essence of his teaching and is now available on Amazon. Website: BoundlessAwareness.org Book: Boundless Awareness: A Loving Path to Spiritual Awakening and Freedom from Suffering YouTube Channel Michael in a panel discussion on the direct vs. progressive paths. Transcript of this interview Interview recorded 10/20/2016 YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction and Background 00:03:44 - The Glimmer 00:06:58 - The Depths of Literary Texts 00:10:16 - The Path of Literature and Teaching 00:13:38 - The Source of Absolute Knowledge 00:17:09 - Zen and Spiritual Teachings in Academia 00:20:33 - Literature and Spirituality 00:23:29 - The Limitations of Academic Education 00:26:31 - The Disconnect Between Education and Spiritual Development 00:29:48 - Rediscovering Wonder and Imagination 00:32:37 - Finding Moments of Stillness in Daily Life 00:35:51 - The Importance of Effective Practice 00:38:57 - Becoming More Earnest About Spirituality 00:41:48 - Facing Fears and Following Your Truth 00:45:00 - Being True and its Impact on Society 00:48:29 - The Societal Implications of Understanding Conscious Presence 00:52:11 - The Aliveness of Consciousness 00:55:59 - The Non-Dual Awareness of Jesus and "Do unto others" 00:59:33 - Marinating in the Felt Sense of Being 01:02:31 - The Gift of Sitting with Conscious Beings 01:05:55 - The Invitation of Suffering 01:09:26 - Being Consciousness, Not Conscious 01:12:46 - Seeking Abiding Contentment 01:15:40 - The Shift to Pure Awareness 01:19:11 - Returning to the Natural State 01:22:13 - Embracing the Perfection of the Moment 01:25:45 - The Relaxed Journey of Awakening 01:29:04 - The Flow of Experience and Consciousness 01:32:11 - Influential Teachers in the Journey of Self-Realization 01:35:28 - A Journey of Self-Awareness 01:38:34 - Enhancing the Spiritual Resource Save Save

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.
0:28.5	My name is Rick Archer.
0:30.0	Buddha at the gas pump is an ongoing series of interviews with spiritually awakening people.
0:35.6	There have been over 365 of them now. And if this is new to you,
0:40.3	go to batgap.com, B-A-T-G-A-P, and check out the past interviews menu where you'll see them
0:47.3	organized in various ways. Also, this whole production is made possible by the support of
0:53.3	appreciative viewers and listeners.
0:55.0	And so if you appreciate it and if you feel like supporting it in any amount, there's a PayPal button on every page of batgatgap.com.
1:04.0	And we appreciate those who have been supporting it.
1:07.0	And part of their support has gotten me out to California for the Science and Non-Duality Conference, which starts tonight.
1:13.6	But first, today, I'm going to interview my good friend Michael Rodriguez.
1:18.6	I say good friend, even though we just met in person last night, because for quite a few months we've been corresponding by email and including a couple of friends in the
1:30.2	correspondence such as david buckland and susanna marie and we really felt an affinity from the
1:36.6	start and had very lively conversations which um in preparation for this interview michael had the kindness to consolidate into a series of notes.
1:47.0	And a little bit later in the conversation, we'll go through those notes and make sure we've covered them all
1:52.0	because there's really some juicy stuff in there.
1:54.0	And I think you're going to find this a very interesting conversation.
1:58.0	Michael's a very bright guy with a very dedicated background,
2:04.5	both to his traditional education and to his spiritual education.
2:09.1	So that's what we're going to start talking about, first of all, is your background.
2:13.2	How you ended up where you are today.
	...

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.