Robert Walter, Joseph Campbell Foundation

Robert Walter, president of the Joseph Campbell Foundation, talks about the consciousness-jarring impact of visions. In an elevated state of consciousness, these events can be spiritual blessings. But when we return to the mundane state, they can be negative. Sublimating them has led, Walter says, to creation of much of our mythology, literature, and religious teachings.

Bede Griffiths on the Power of Surrender

In this 3-minute video, Bede Griffiths (1906-1993) relates his profound experience of surrender, loss of fear, and gaining of unconditional love ~ a condition he believes exists within each of us. He studied at Oxford under C.S. Lewis, became a Benedictine monk and priest and moved to India in the 1950s to build a monastery. In India, he also aligned himself with Hindu beliefs and became a proponent of Vedanta-inspired Christianity. His teachings have inspired millions ~ including me ~ for nearly a half-century.

Physicist David Peat

David Peat (born 1938) is one of my favorite physicist/philosopher/authors and was for many years associated with physics legend David Bohm. In this brief clip, Peat discusses Bohm's theory of the implicate and explicate orders. This theory crops up in many different disciplines and is thought by many to hold the secret of everything from ESP to a materially and spiritually unified universe, and the final uniter of Newtonian and quantum physics. Peat lives in Italy, which explains the opening slide being in Italian.

The Dalai Lama

Inner peace is the answer to personal happiness. Here the Dalai Lama stresses that point, especially comparing inner peace to the prospect of wealth, which too often in our society is sought as the key to happiness.

[My plan for these "Wisdom" clips is to provide interesting teachings that run two minutes or less. On some, the audio may be bad, others may exceed two minutes by a bit. But I hope they'll still be worth your time.]

Ram Dass

Spiritual teacher Ram Dass ~ earlier known as Harvard professor Richard Alpert (born 1931) ~ here recites a well-known anecdote that captures a universal truth in which I firmly believe. That is, you can’t really tell whether an incident is “good” or “bad” until its implications have played out over a period of time.

Viktor Frankl on Idealism and Destiny

I'm so excited to find this video clip from 1972 of Viktor E. Frankl speaking on idealism and what it means for the individual.
Frankl is the author of Man's Search for Meaning, an oft-cited, powerful book stemming from Frankl's experiences as a death-camp prisoner during Hitler's Holocaust. This clip is just over four minutes.

Frankl was a founder of "logotherapy," a form of existential analysis devoted to finding meaning in life and thus a reason to continue living. He lived from 1905 to 1997.

Terence McKenna

Here American metaphysician and author Terrance McKenna (1946-2000) delivers a scathing but profound analysis of American culture ~ far different from his usual anthropologically abstract and mild-mannered talks. "Culture and language tend to become traps," he says here. "And yet they can be the platforms for enormous freedom ... if you understand what it's all about."

[My plan for these "Wisdom" clips is to provide interesting teachings that run two minutes or less. On some, the audio may be bad, others may exceed two minutes by a bit. But I hope they'll still be worth your time.]

J. Krishnamurti

Here Indian sage J. Krishnamurti (1895-1986) explains  individual responsibility for the condition of the world's people because "we are all one."

[My plan for these "Wisdom" clips is to provide interesting teachings that run two minutes or less. On some, the audio may be bad, others may exceed two minutes by a bit. But I hope they'll still be worth your time.]