Expanding Mind is going on hiatus. In this solo show, Erik reflects on a decade of podcasting, the learning curves of the show, the work of conversation, the uncanniness of our moment, and the publication of High Weirdness: Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies. Download Here
Expanding Mind – Liminal Mind
A conversation with my wife Jennifer Dumpert about collaborative dreaming, iPad skrying, meditation, play, the problem with interpretation, and her new bookLiminal Dreaming: Exploring Consciousness at the Edges of Sleep (North Atlantic). Download Here
Expanding Mind – Deconstructing Yourself
A discussion with meditation teacher and author Michael Taft host of the Deconstructing Yourself podcast, about hardcore dharma, Buddhist modernism, shop talk, the soup of the sangha, and the problem of the achievement self and the blind leading the blind. Download Here
Expanding Mind – Queering Psychedelia
An informative chat with clinical psychologist and psychedelic researcher Dr. Alexander Belser about qualitative research, the Mystical Experience Questionnaire, the diversity of psychedelic trips, queer spiritualities, and the idea of coming “out of the psychedelic closet.” Download Here
Expanding Mind – Sacred Matter
A conversation with philosopher of religion Mary-Jane Rubenstein about wonder, horror, animism, the multiverse, Heidegger, Einstein, Hawaiian telescopes, and her book Pantheologies: Gods, Worlds, Monsters (Columbia). Download Here
Expanding Mind – Patterns of Transformation
A talk with experience designer Ida Benedetto about transformative games, trespassing, rules for sex parties, active introversion, magic circles, funerals, and queer spirituality. Download Here
Expanding Mind – Decriminalize Nature
Entheogenic and community activists Larry Norris and Kufikiri talk about the growing campaign to decriminalize entheogenic plant medicines within the city of Oakland. Topics include community access, education, reframing “psychedelics,” blind spots, changing the narrative, and resisting “the metronome of programming.” https://www.decriminalizenature.org/ Download Here
Expanding Mind – Feral Poetics
Poet Janaka Stucky talks about guerrilla poetry, burlesque horror, mystical language, shame, prophecy, and the strange DMT experiences that inspired his latest book, Ascend Ascend (Third Mind Books). Download Here
Expanding Mind – Meditation Apps
Science and technology researcher Rebecca Jablonsky talks about consciousness hacking, tech ethnography, information ecosystems, media fasts, and the ups and downs of outsourcing awareness. Download Here
Expanding Mind – Ouija Board Poetics
Poet and literary scholar Stephen Yenser talks about James Merrill and his poetic epic The Changing Light at Sandover (1982), based on decades of Ouija board communications. Topics include: devotion, Maya Deren, duplicity, friendship, the alchemy of language, and Yenser’s recent annotation of the first part of Merrill’s masterpiece, The Book of Ephraim (PenguinRandomHouse). Download Here