Transcendence, transformation, rationality, ritual, and the divine double w/ Charles Stang

Listening to this conversation, I was on the verge of weeping in gratitude. For you to have this conversation with someone coming out of the field of Religious Studies has been a desire from the first day, years ago now, when taking up your Awakening from the Meaning Crisis series. And to hear where your conversation was building out of and pointing to...to the heavens, thank you. Thank you Charles Steng for seeing the value of John's work within RS and how his work, I continue to believe, can further this invaluable field of study into a direction that actually provides meaning as opposed philosophical, performative tail chasing, that you are so correct in pointing out it having somewhat developed itself into. And as always, thank you, John, ...and thank you for John.

The idea of a sapiential notion of rationality that requires transformation and transcendence is something that is at the core of who I am and what I practice. I already crave for the continuation of this conversation.

This is very interesting. Thank you both. pvk

Bravo! More please with Dr. Stang. That dialogos was exceptional. One of the best Voices with Verbaeke yet. Thank you for sharing

As this conversation flowed through me, I tried to grab and hold multiple frames as they were so Beautiful. Before halfway, I had to simply let go of all of it and it felt as if I was hearing the most wonderful symphony for the first time. I am so grateful, as always!

This was wonderful. A very rich addition to my consciousness.

So many thanks John and Charles. I'll be here next time with my angel . . .

What a great talk! I really appreciated the description and explanation of the dialogic angelic function. Corbin's insistence that mystical experiences and this kind of mode as angels and not God allow for both a defense against inflation and over-identification with the divine principle and an opportunity for continuous transformation in self, other, and cosmos. I also appreciate that Charles' book is "our" not "the" divine double, placing it in this world rather than waiting for an elusive afterlife, convergent with Rick Repetti's view of rebirth as transformative rebirth in this life rather than elsewhere. In the spirit of Tanabe's philosophy of metanoetes, all I can say is "zange!". :)

This discussion was absolutely mind-blowing.

AMAZING dia-logos. This is the first time I heard someone mention (Charles) about a reality that we are not perceiving because I had an expontaneus altered state of consciousness were i was introduced to this reality. (I'm not talking about a metaphysical world). Thank you guys for giving meaning to something very important to my life.

Wonderful, just wonderful gentleman. Thank you both. 🙏

Just listened to this again and a deep thank you to you both. The explanation John gave on the Imaginal for the first time really landed like it hasn’t before, and Charles talking about the connections with Corbin and the Angel really helped map things.Thank you both 🙏

Wonderful and inspiring dialogos! Thank you both for sharing your inner light. John, I can’t help but feeling that the practices you do combined with your scientific work is allowing you to bridge the worlds of science, religion & philosophy. We need this so much. If education and religion could become more transcendent and therefore transformative, our society and the world could become so much more balanced and positive than at present. The talk about the imaginal & angels brings to my mind process philosophy & theology, which makes good sense to me. You two have inspired me to re-dedicate myself to my spiritual practices of Zen meditation, Christian lectio divina , Sufi music and dance and prayers of Grattittude. I wish I could study with Charles at Harvard, but will at least buy his book! Looking forward to more convos.

Excellent dialogue - looking forward to what's next!

This must be an early Christmas present for me. Just loving every minute. So long to see the wonders of the manifestation of God's love transforming His people taken seriously by scientific, academic minds after 50 years of derision.

I'm motivated and inspired by this conversation even though you're not "motivational" or "inspirational" speakers. Thank you both. I can't wait to find out where this leads 😉

51:01 - From antiquity, "...some people believe this 'future self' is very real and in touch with them." Charles explains this is a flip from the way we think. There were a lot of great parts to this video, but to me this was the peak. JV talked about our need to envision our 'future self' as a dearly loved family member that we want to sacrifice and care for... that is powerful, but what is even more powerful is to realize that we can be pulled forward by our future self. We can imagine our "guardian angel" (or what could be called the the Divine Self) is calling us to be better than we are. In this way the religious see "God" as a partner in their efforts, and thus they trust "all things work together for good."

This is a fantastic conversation. Thank you for sharing it with us. I think he could have a good conversation with Jonathan Pageau

As for having a child/becoming a parent as a transformational prosess. There is another important one that starts at conception and lasts for 9 months. "Somebody" goes through that one first...

So glad to see this conversation.