Daniele Bolelli contrasts the beauty of community and selfless leadership in Native culture with the epidemic of loneliness in America.

In this episode, Daniele and Raghu roll through:

• Native American history and lessons
• Daniele’s first exposure to Native culture through his journalist mother
• How the Sundance ceremony shifted Daniele’s entire world
• The purpose of Sundance ceremony and praying for the welfare of all living beings
• The beauty and power of community we can see in Native American culture
• Loneliness in America as an epidemic
• Discussing a few of the great Native American chiefs, like Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull
• Thinking collectively for the well-being of an entire village
• Why a functioning community or tribe is essential for collective ideologies to work
• The Native American myth of the Wendigo as a metaphor for insatiable craving

Grab the book Daniele suggests, Black Elk Speaks, for more Native American wisdom and stories.

About Daniele Bolelli:

Daniele Bolelli is an Italian writer, philosopher, and professor of comparative religion. Currently living in Los Angeles, Danielle Bolelli is also a martial artist and podcaster. Learn more about Danielle Bolelli and his published works as well as his suggested reading list on Daniellebolelli.com.

Be sure to subscribe to Danielle’s podcast, History on Fire.

“Loneliness is one of those epidemics that is killing us on a mental health level. When you see functioning communities, it’s a beautiful thing because that sense of relation that exists with this group of people that are not just your nuclear family but extend beyond that.” – Daniele Bolelli

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Sharing inspiration from the monk Thomas Merton, James Finley explains what he has learned about God, healing, and mystical paths.

Grab James Finley’s Memoir, The Healing Path, HERE

This week, James and Raghu have a deep conversation about:

• How James discovered a connection to God through Thomas Merton
• James’ time living in the Abbey of Gethsemani immediately after high school
• The resonance that happens between awakened people
• The secret, safe place that God can commune with us
• Never forgetting what we learn from dark times
• Having empathy for others through our own suffering
• Seeing children as our mentors
• Becoming an act of acceptance for the unexplainable mystery
• The healing stories in the gospels

About James Finley:

James Finley is an author, clinical psychologist, and spiritual director. He is one of the core faculty members of the Center for Action and Contemplation (with Richard Rohr) and is host of the CAC podcast “Turning to the Mystics.” A former novice under Thomas Merton at the Abbey of Gethsemani, he is the author of the classic book Merton’s Palace of Nowhere: A Search for God through Awareness of the True Self. A leading figure in the integration of psychology and spiritual direction, he has led workshops and retreats around the country.

“Often, when the terror is overtaking us, it isn’t until later that we reflect on it. We realize it isn’t that it wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t just terrible. That precisely because it got so dark I was able to see a light shining in the darkness that had come in looking for me, or it was there all along and I didn’t know it.”– James Finley

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Turning to Celtic wisdom, author and teacher John Philip Newell chats with Raghu about reconnecting to our home, Mother Earth.

Pick up your copy of John’s new book, The Great Search: Turning to Earth and Soul in the Quest for Healing and Home, HERE.

This week, John and Raghu get into:

• John’s upbringing and being drawn to the natural world
• The Celtic lineage and having awareness for the sacredness of nature
• Knowing that wisdom resides deep within us, not outside of us
• Seeing the universe as an expression of the divine
• What we can learn from native traditions
• A radical new beginning through humility and relation to earth and one another
• Addressing the divine in one another and in every life form
• Breaking cycles of war and repetition
• The contributions of Carl Jung on the collective and individual unconscious
• Merging Eastern and Western traditions

Check out The Marriage of East and West to learn more about the topics John and Raghu reference

About John Philip Newell:

John Philip Newell is a Celtic teacher and author of spirituality who calls the modern world to reawaken to the sacredness of Earth and every human being. In 2016 he began the Earth & Soul initiative and teaches regularly in the United States and Canada as well as leading international pilgrimage weeks on Iona in the Western Isles of Scotland. His PhD is from the University of Edinburgh and he has authored over fifteen books, including his award-winning publication, Sacred Earth Sacred Soul, which was the 2022 Gold Winner of the Nautilus Book Award for Spirituality and Religious Thought of the West. His new book, also with HarperOne (and published in the UK by Wild Goose), is The Great Search (August 2024), in which he looks at the great spiritual yearnings of humanity today in the context of the decline of religion as we have known it.

Join senior meditation teachers David Nichtern and Rebecca D’Onofrio for a free online discussion on the path of developing one's own meditation practice and supporting others who wish to explore this transformative path.

Register for free today: The Journey of Becoming a Meditation Teacher | Sep. 19th @ 6:00pm ET

“For me, it was the introduction to Celtic wisdom that awakened me to knowing that wisdom is deep within us and the divine is at the very heart of our beings. We don’t have to somehow invoke or implore a distance presence.” – John Philip Newell

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