Jonathan Gustin (Part 1) - Integrating Activism and Spiritual Practice: Nonduality and the Metacrisis

Ep. 125 (Part 1 of 3) | Purpose guide, activist, nonduality student/teacher, and meditation teacher Jonathan Gustin is passionate about bringing the subject of the metacrisis into spiritual practice, essentially updating spiritual traditions that originated on deeply local levels to reflect the world of interrelated global crises we live in today. Jonathan proposes we delve into the relationship between nondual awakening and the metacrisis, using the metacrisis as our spiritual koan, and fostering within our contemplative practice a sense of responsibility for life that manifests in activism. Jonathan’s focus is also on guiding individuals to explore the notion of soul-level purpose—not only to discover our true purpose but embody a purpose that is consistent with love without boundaries. This is a warm, lively, far reaching, and enlightening discussion, tying many intriguing subjects to the overarching theme of nonduality, metacrisis, and soul-level purpose: Native American vision questing, karma yoga, skillful communication, the developmental stages of purpose, the consequences of the delusion of separateness, the difference between humancentric nonduality and ecocentric nonduality, and much more. It is deeply inspirational to approach the metacrisis (which Jonathan provides a wonderful definition of) as an investigation into our relationship with life and reality. Recorded April 4, 2024.“When we wake up, we wake up to a love and a responsibility for all things.”(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1Introducing meditation teacher, activist, nondual student/teacher, and founder of the Purpose Guides Institute & the Green Sangha organization, Jonathan Gustin (00:51)What inspired Jonathan to adopt climate change as a spiritual practice: Jonathan’s vision of whole person midwifery (02:20)A passion for bringing spiritual practice and activism together (04:20)How can the metacrisis inform nonduality? How can nonduality inform the metacrisis? (05:27)Why does a nondual experience not effect more change in people? (07:43)Nonduality defined: “not two;” the difference between separate and individual, and the underlying unity of reality (09:42)The responsibility aspect: expanding our circle of care, the realization that we are responsible to life brings us to our purpose (12:50) Marrying liberation (moksha) and service (dharma) into one: liberation/service (15:03)Purpose discovery falls between self-actualization and self-transcendence (17:04)Native American nondual wisdom and Jonathan’s daily practice (19:45)“What is this?” Seung Sahn and Kalu Rinpoche (23:16)For the first time in history we can access all the world’s wisdom: YouTube is the new Alexandria (24:12)Privilege, the top 1%, and the option of service (26:11)Handling the overwhelm of the world’s suffering (29:10)Awakening soul-level purpose and mythopoetic identity (31:09)Understanding and implementing whole person midwifery: Who are you at a soul level? Who are your people? What are you good at? (34:27)“Find the place where your deepest gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet” – Frederick Buechner (37:51)Resources...