For Rudy, part 1 to part 5 please visit episodes #179, #186, #192 , 195 and 196.

Thanks for joining us again at Behind Greatness. We are back again with Rudy. Rudy is a pre-eminent expert on black holes and a world-renowned Astrophysicist from Harvard, practising in the field since the mid-1960s. He is also the co-Founder of FREE / CCRI (see co-Founder past guests Rey Hernandez & Mary Rodwell) and also the Editor in Chief of the Journal of Cosmology.

With Rudy we explore and re-explore: the important research work of the FREE foundation, breeding programs and John Mack's work, fossilized critters in meteorites, his take on the "alien agenda", evidence of life in space, astrotheology, the purpose of the universe and his beloved car collection .

"It's shocking, but you better get over it."

Previous episodes/discussions referenced in this episode with Rudy:

• Dr. Kevin Knuth (ep 216, 226)
• Matthew Roberts (ep 188)
• Danny Sheehan (ep 169)
• Rey Hernandez (ep 153, 154)
• Dr. Robert Davis (ep 151)
• Mary Rodwell (ep 149)

Rudy,

• Center for Astrophysics – https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/
• Journal of Cosmology - https://thejournalofcosmology.com/About.html
• Personal website - http://www.rudyschild.com/
• List of Published papers - https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/search/p_=0&q=author%3A(%22schild%2Cr%22)&sort=date%20desc%2C%20bibcode%20desc
• CCRI (Consciousness & Contact Research Institute) - https://agreaterreality.com/
• Book (co-Author with Suzy Hansen) – Dual Soul Connection: The Alien Agenda for Human Advancement: https://www.amazon.com/Dual-Soul-Connection-Agenda-Advancement/dp/0473295644/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3J7YBLDXEL5H8&keywords=Dual+Soul+Connection%3A+The+Alien+Agenda+for+Human+Advancement&qid=1706573177&sprefix=dual+soul+connection+the+alien+agenda+for+human+advancement%2Caps%2C214&sr=8-1
• Book: Beyond UFOs: The Science of Consciousness & Contact with Non Human Intelligence - https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-UFOs-Science-Consciousness-Intelligence/dp/1721088652/ctoc
• Edgar Mitchell Book: The Way of the Explorer: An Apollo Astronaut's Journey Through the Material and Mystical Worlds - https://www.amazon.com/Way-Explorer-Astronauts-Material-Mystical/dp/0399141618
• NASA – Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy "SOFIA" - https://science.nasa.gov/mission/sofia/

John is a Depth Psychotherapist, Jungian scholar, musician, podcast host (The Sacred Speaks) and the co-founder of The Center for the Healing Arts and Sciences. John sees the sacred in most things. We talk death, aging, decay … "human-ing", questioning our myths, nourishing the mundane, music, the multiplicity of the masculine, blood rites of passage, disrupting our filters and navigating the mush. A fun episode all the way through.

"Give me the weird".

Smoking in the Boys Room, https://youtu.be/PMXg_KAe5yc?si=xgGd2u62aWh1zX7r

John,

• Website: https://www.drjohnwprice.com/
• The Sacred Speaks Podcast YT Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/thesacredspeaks
• IG: @thesacredspeaks
• Centre for the Healing Arts and Science: https://www.thecenterforhas.com/
• Album, Questionably Red: https://open.spotify.com/album/0bDYLBuKJ3PFBCh5rlUhdT?si=U3NoHo1iSg6wQo9_7HXOrw

To give to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors

Welcome back to Behind Greatness. We sit down with Dr. Ken Atchity at his home in California. Ken started his adult life on an academic stream and he eventually became what he personally dreaded: a tenured professor. But, shortly after his tenure-ship, he decided to breakup with his career and start anew. Already an author, Ken decided to write screenplays and produce films – not ever looking back for over 30 years. as been producing films since 1996. We talk about his thoughts on competition, creativity and what it hinges on, doing great work in isolation and how he turned around his accountant dad to seeing the freedom and beauty in insecurity. We talk staring at fire and mountains, dying by committee, the perfection of Dante's Divine Comedy, chopping wood – and the Rose Café.

Seeing the David before carving it.

Go back in time to see our early episodes with like-minded luminaries who embrace Ken's philosophy: Kenneth Oppal (ep 106), Mike Narducci (ep 24), Steve Litchman (ep 36), Matt Larochelle (ep 30) and Tim Kring (ep 52).

Ken,

• Websites:
• https://storymerchant.com/
• https://www.atchityproductions.com/about-us
• IG: @storymerchant

To give to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors

Welcome back to Behind Greatness. This week, we are speaking with a modern day Oracle and Founder of a Mystery School. Marguerite grew up in the suburbs of New York, the daughter and granddaughter of Sicilian immigrants to the US. We discuss her roots to the ancient world where natural and indigenous philosophy of existence ruled for hundreds and thousands of years before the advent of Christianity. She illuminates for us the importance of ancient knowledge traditionally held by "streghe" (healers/witches) in that part of the world. Marguerite dives into the esoteric (and into the galactic) with gusto and brings us with her. We talk about gods in other dimensions, the sacred feminine, myths being histories, experience with the underworld, parthenogenesis and the divine birth and hybridization of humanity. And if that's not enough, we also discuss the chronic scholarly "clampdown" on the study of sexuality in spiritual practices of the ancient world and how this attitude has had us lose earth's histories. As an oracle, Marguerite is focused on piecing together a new understanding of our earth histories, in part by understanding that we need to marry the intellect with intuition.

A lovely, expansive conversation with a truth seeker. Like plants on asphalt.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Marguerite,

Check out the Seven Sisters Mystery School website: https:/www.sevensistersmysteryschool.com

Watch more from Marguerite on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MargueriteRigoglioso7

Follow Marguerite on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/margueriterigoglioso/ IG @margueriterigoglioso

Follow Seven Sisters Mystery School on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SevenSistersMysterySchool/ FB @SevenSistersMysterySchool

New course now available in replay: Heal Yourself & Our World by Reclaiming Guinevere, Arthur, the Fae & the Round Table: https://www.sevensistersmysteryschool.com/guinevere-arthur-course/

Join Our Monthly Mother Mary Love & Empowerments Circle: https://www.sevensistersmysteryschool.com/monthly-mother-mary-love-circle/

Master Mary's Holy Womb Mysteries (a comprehensive bundle of courses with both live & on-demand segments featuring ancient wisdom to help you restore the miracle capacities of your womb and advance as a holy being - with Mary as your mentor): https://www.sevensistersmysteryschool.com/marys-womb-mysteries/

Join the Priestess of the Dove Sisterhood! Level 1 Oracle Training is available on demand here: https://www.sevensistersmysteryschool.com/oracle-training/

Experience private spiritual mentorship with Marguerite: https://www.sevensistersmysteryschool.com/mentoring/

Welcome back to Behind Greatness. Today we have a wonderful chat with Robert Doyle. Robert has been a therapist for 25 years, with an expertise in hypnotherapy and brief therapy ACT. He grew up in London – a small city between Toronto and Detroit – and needed to expand his own limits as a young man. He was a highly intuitive and curious young boy who also developed an early affinity to tech. After leaving for the big city, he graduated from university and started on a career in telecommunications where he quickly developed a reputation for being the "fixer". Named by his colleagues as the "confidence recovery expert " he helped save his employer millions in potential lawsuits over the years by simply giving a tuned ear to customer grievances. This prepared him for a jump to what he really wanted to do: help people discover and explore about their frontier and pushing it to get bigger limits (see also theme with Wynton Marsalis, ep 126). We talk about a heck of alot: the lost relationship with ourselves, our connection with the dream state, the power of words, the 3 minds, command vs control, curiosity deficiency and doubting your doubt. We discuss the importance of giving real space to the voice in your head, and of understanding that your subconscious always gets a vote.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Robert,

Email: Greatness@BiggerLimits.com

8 Master Keys: www.The8Phrases.com

Website: www.BiggerLimits.com/action for any inquiries re: ACT/generative therapy

Anthony joins us from his office in Toronto. He is a long time friend of our team and Behind Greatness. For over two decades, he and his firm Veritas have been very prominent and public in the world of forensic accounting and investment research in Canada. Anthony is a multi-layered human being with a drive-forward bent – and boy does he bring it in this conversation. We talk about preparation, freeing your mind for new ideas and quick-start vs follow-through – and being open to reciprocal impact. We talk pounding pavement and ideas, shining apples and doctor-visit crying. And, we lean in close as he shares some intimate, emotional, personal stories that instructed him as a young adult with life-long hard lessons in persistence, empathy, love and the importance of abstaining from judgement. We learn that you can tell him anything … just don't tell him "can't". And ask yourself: what is it that you do that you never tire of doing?

Big hugs to Ana.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Anthony,

Websites: www.vertiascorp.com, www.veritasfunds.com, www.theveritasfoundation.com

Veritas Fact Finding Podcast: https://www.veritascorp.com/events/webinars-fact-finding

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-scilipoti-fcpa-fca-cpa-illinois-97a54913/

Stephen joins us from his home in the Los Angeles area. Stephen is the founder of The Identity Development Institute and an acclaimed Hollywood Director, and a published poet. He is a father of 3 children, two of whom are Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, who are artists in their own right. He grew up with parents (and grandparents) who suffered trauma and addiction. His father, as a young American soldier during World War II, lived the reality of opening and freeing concentration camps in Germany. He also grew up in a Christian cult-like community in Pennsylvania and when he reached college age he saw doors and pathways open ahead of him that he otherwise wouldn't have seen. And one of those paths was film directing. And he never looked back. Kind of. He also went back to school to do a Masters in Therapy. And boy do we discuss some themes that are important to Stephen. We talk about being "sane" in an insane world, the "engine in me", lack of connection, the love of art, the curiosity in death – and being drawn to skid row. "Art is there to comfort the disturbed and to disturb the comfort". Bam!

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Stephen:

Identity Development Institute: https://www.identitydevelopmentinstitute.com/

Website: https://www.stephengyllenhaal.com/

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0350455/

We sit with Wynton in Toronto for a delightful conversation shortly after a show at Massey Hall. Wynton, a Trumpeter, is originally from New Orleans and is widely regarded as one of Jazz's all time greats, having also won multiple Grammies for his classical and jazz work. He also co-founded Jazz at the Lincoln Center and acts as the Center's Managing and Artistic Director. We discuss music as core human expression, the responsibility of teaching music, antagonistic cooperation and modern American culture, the latter of which is also something profoundly important to Wynton. He shares with us his thoughts on some types of modern music and the machine of commercialization that has corrupted the real message of music – and how this imbalance has informed our present society. And that's just the start. We dive deep and learn about the allegorical qualities of sounds (and stories), music as the art of the invisible and being still enough to understand. He talks to us about the "halls of music" and how the vibration comes at him (and all of us) "whole" and how we are all interconnected on the board. To boot, Wynton has an interesting answer to previous guest John Kapelos' musing about what's beyond the river's edge. A melodic conversation.

"The ability to rise above your limitations".

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Wynton,

Website: https://wyntonmarsalis.org

TW: @wyntonmarsalis

IG: @wyntonmarsalis

FB: @wyntonmarsalis

Marsiac Jazz Festival (France): https://www.jazzinmarciac.com/en

Welcome back to Behind Greatness. John Kapelos joins us from his home in Hollywood. He is a veteran actor, with over 40 years of acting experience in Film, TV and Theatre. Originally from London, Ontario, John shares with us his life as a child of Greek parents with older siblings who he adored. As a perennial "leaver", John explored a young adult life as a creative nomad, living in several cities across North America before spending years in Chicago and then finally settling in LA. He's not afraid to share some episodes of racial prejudice from those who took culture "hostage" in the business back then in his native country of Canada. John also speaks highly of his parents … and we dare the listener not to shed a tear on the story of his father as a little boy. John endears us with his openness in sharing his experiences of despair, of peer ridicule, of exploration, of hoarding – and of flying and dying. He chronicles his life as a "leaver" – but not as a man who leaves a place, but a man who enjoys the thrill of discovering different places…. Beyond the river's edge.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

John,

IMbD: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0438127/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/thejohnkapelos/?hl=en

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1850ydRHRdl0TCRr9xHRPQ

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-kapelos-7158985/

Welcome back to Behind Greatness. Our dicussion today is with writer, author, philosopher and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, Gary Lachman, who joins us from his home in London. Gary grew up in New Jersey and as a young adult he decided to follow his musical curiosities and move to NYC to play and write Rock & Roll. Living in a store-front at 19 in NYC, he spent years writing songs and playing gigs as Gary Valentine until he lived his dreams: co-founding a successful Rock & Roll band, opening for the Rolling Stones, starting his own group The Know and playing with punk legend Iggy Pop. At 28, he retired. Taking his attitude, energy and drive and devoting it to learning, reading and writing – he started writing histories of Hermeticism and the Western Inner Tradition, existentialism, the paranormal, the Occult and the philosophy of consciousness. We discuss the importance and the significance of the Rose and "The All", our lack of self-remembering, the robot we all live with and the triviality of "everydayness". We learn from Gary about the taps on his shoulder and about current reconnection with (musical) exploration and living and creating with the lack of preconceptions.

"The promise without the guarantee". What a treat.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Gary,

Website: https://www.gary-lachman.com/

Books: https://www.gary-lachman.com/books-1 & https://www.gary-lachman.com/books-2

TW: https://twitter.com/GaryLachman

FB: https://www.facebook.com/gary.lachman.3/

Welcome back to Behind Greatness. Today we are speaking with Mark Cecchetto. Mark acts as the President of Nestle Canada's Confectionary Division and lives in Toronto. Mark grew up in a healthy family environment where he was encouraged to explore and where the expectation for a successful future path was also not negotiable. Originally wanting to have a career in sports management – with the ultimate ideal as the GM of the Blue Jays – Mark saw a different path emerging as he became a young professional. We discuss several "oh crap" moments through his life and his need to look for rougher waters. We discuss at length his passion for mentoring and helping those younger than him and the angst and fear he sees in many as a reflection of his past worries. We learn about what "A" word best defines his expectation for his two children. And what we're really curious about is what he's trying to cleanse when we discuss his non-professional life. And staring at water …

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Mark,

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markcecchetto/

We are joined by Dean Radin at his home in Idaho. Dean is the Chief Scientist at the famous IONS in California. IONS was founded by Astronaut Dr. Edgar Mitchell 50 years ago after the Apollo-14 mission. Mitchell had a mystical experience as he found himself in space and walking the moon that he started this Institute when he returned to Earth to study our interconnectedness with the universe. And Dean has certainly taken on those reigns. Contemplating existential questions at a very young age, he was often ribbed for having an extra "why" chromosome when he was merely a boy. Dean became fascinated early about tackling the problem of figuring our how the brain knows it's aware. We learn about his upbringing both in the South and in the North, playing violin as an aspiring professional musician, the magic of the banjo, a mystical event in Scotland and a Thunderbird experience. We discuss his term "presentiment", his experience with psychic espionage at the Stargate program, the cracking of belief systems, building evidence of psychic phenomena and using science to study from the INSIDE, and what his scientific research points to about our psychic abilities.

We recommend the listener to reference episode 80 with Russell Targ re his leadership in the CIA's Remote Viewing program.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Dean,

Website: www.deanradin.com

TW: https://twitter.com/deanradin

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dean-radin-9417877/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/DeanRadinsPage/

Books: https://www.deanradin.com/books

Welcome back to Behind Greatness. Today we are joined by Thomas Verny at his home in Stratford, Ontario. He is one of the world's leading experts on the effects of prenatal and postnatal environment on personality. Dr Verny shot to international fame after the publication of his book entitled "The Secret Life of the Unborn Child" in 1982. But fame was never a driver for Thomas. Searching the truth suited him better. We speak to a man today who has had his own private practice for many decades, has published several books, articles, short stories and poems and now who also hosts his own podcast – "Pushing Boundaries with Dr. Thomas R Verny". But, we also learn about Thomas the Boy who was separated from his parents during the Nazi occupation, who was jailed to be shipped to a concentration camp and who was blessed with people close to him of miraculous love. We learn about the hardships his parents endured also after the War and as new immigrants to North America. And, we learn about the boy who became fascinated with the works of Sigmund Freud at age 13.

With a lifelong interest in memory and mind, Thomas soon went on to help establish the science of Pre & Perinatal Psychology. We discuss his work on cellular intelligence and the central role of the cell membrane vs the nucleus and the importance of the body vs the brain. If that isn't enough, we also discuss his personal experience with a psychic and an illuminating Out of Body experience that became a very informative episode in his life – and possibly an informative one for our host.

And what matters most to Thomas? The teaser says it all.

His is a life lived. And it seems like he's only getting started.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

               Thomas,

Website: http://www.trvernymd.com

Recent Book (2021): The Embodied Mind https://www.amazon.com/Embodied-Mind-Understanding-Mysteries-Consciousness/dp/1643137999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=D8CV2ZKKT48H&keywords=the+embodied+mind&qid=1662511995&sprefix=the+embodied+mind+%2Caps%2C199&sr=8-1

Podcast: "Pushing Boundaries" - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1628669415

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tverny/

Ralph Blumenthal joins us today from his office in NYC. Ralph is a Distinguished Lecturer, an Award-Winning Reporter and Journalist for The New York Times from 1964 to 2009, and a writer on organized crime and cultural history. He also is known for co-authoring the now famous NY Times article in 2017 along with Leslie Kean and Helene Cooper that broke the door open on the secret AATIP program. He and Kean followed that up in 2023 with their breaking story on David Grusch and the details of a secret retrieval program and existence of non-human intelligence. Moreover, he is also the distinguished biographer of the late Harvard psychiatrist and author Dr. John Mack with his book "The Believer: Alien Encounters, Hard Science, and the Passion of John Mack."

Ralph has both writing and NYC at his core. Ralph straight-talks us through everything important to him: his curiosities, his artistic background, his Jewish heritage, mysteries that fascinate us, his wife's sensibilities-  and the life, research and curiosities of John Mack. We talk unmovable beliefs, inquisitions and the big questions.

What is the bottom line?

People mentioned in this episode can be found here:

• Rudy Schild (re John Mack) – ep 179
• Leslie Kean – ep 112
• Guy Consolmagno – ep 133
• Danny Sheehan – ep 169

Ralph,

• Books: https://ralphblumenthal.com/books/
• Website: https://ralphblumenthal.com/bio/
• X: @ralphblu

To give to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors

Rick joins us from his home outside of Toronto. He is perennially and lovingly known as "Rick the Temp" in his home country. He is a long time national TV & Radio host and a long time friend to Inspire and Behind Greatness. As a shy kid growing up in Hamilton, Rick knew he had something in him. Armed with the love of music and art, a positive life-energy and a heavy commitment to preparation, Rick created the opportunity for himself to become a national video jockey for Much Music in the 1990s. And he never looked back. We learn about throwing Christmas trees off buildings (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSYvZdqapZw), microphones in microwaves and note-filled footballs. We discuss being cognizant of the nostalgia that he represented for millions of viewers across the country. And we also learn about being ok with facing new experiences with little confidence, high anxiety and lack of polish and how the commitment to learning and pushing has always been the key for Rick. He also stresses the importance of staying approachable and the pact he had with his family members when he first started his journey.

Rick's positivity is contagious – and real. Listen for yourself.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Rick,

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-campanelli-05832231/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/rick_campanelli/?hl=en

TW: https://twitter.com/rickacampanelli

Z Mornings: https://z1035.com/z-mornings-rick-campanelli-sandra/

Doug joins us from his home in the Hamilton area, Ontario. Doug is a serial entrepreneur, owning several brick & mortar companies that together employ over 20,000 people. After high school, he decided that university wasn't for him and began exploring how he could create his own path. And like an artist, create is what he did. We discuss several themes that are important to him: the influence of his family and his parents in his life, having a healthy dose of an inferiority complex, the desire to be underestimated and over-prepared, how to own the coin flip and refusing to accept "no". Doug charms us with his boyish attitude towards exploration and seeing the magic of creating in the moment. He also shares his experience of being on his death bed in his 20s and how that changed his view on short term vs long term living.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Doug,

Linked in: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doug-putman?originalSubdomain=ca

Globe & Mail: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/rob-magazine/article-doug-putman-profile-toysrus-hmv-putman-investments/

Jeff joins us from Houston. He is the current Associate Dean of the Faculty and Graduate Programs in the School of the Humanities and the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University. He is also the Associate Director of the Center for Theory and Research at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California. In this conversation we explore the "3rd space" that Jeff occupies and a wide array of topics therein and all connected to the esoteric: a term that is important to Jeff. We discuss Jeff's position on the physical world vs the immaterial world, Belief vs Beliefs, the importance of the Humanities and the porosity of the human being. We delve immediately into the Paranormal and learn how old religious heterodoxy allowed what we could accept and what we should ignore and linked to how many scientists (social and otherwise) are "in the closet" about these experiences. We discuss how our culture is trying to change itself today as we share our experiences without the societal / cultural shackles of our recent ancestors. We learn more about his thoughts on religion as a mechanism to tap into paranormal forces and then attribute to an external deity. We discuss being in your own story, creating your own story versus believe that you are your own story. We talk about religion as an art, the self, reincarnation, the importance of acting, the persona – and the Friendly Neighbourhood Spiderman.

Soo much to talk about and too little time!

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Jeff,

Website: http://jeffreyjkripal.com

Books: https://www.amazon.com/Jeffrey-John-Kripal/e/B001IODIT2%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

John chats with us from his place in Toronto. John comes from a family – like many of us – that left their country in poverty to make a better life in a new place. John tells us about growing up, living and working in a cocoon of a 2km radius … until he began to poke a hole in his bubble. In the 90s, John worked relentlessly for his firm fulfilling his billable hours, but spending 1000 hours / year trying to build a business with future tech-giants like Microsoft and Oracle. But before they were giants John bet his future on this space, perplexing all of his superiors … until the tech space exploded and he became the authority in the country in this industry. We discuss being on top of the world … until his firm became embroiled global scandal and he lost everything. We discuss in detail a horrific accident, near-death, his comatose state … until Pavarotti, a stage, a white light and the perennial chip on his shoulder brought us to this conversation. Talk about piercing holes in the universe….

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

John,

Website: https://www.maverixpe.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joruffolo/

TW: https://twitter.com/ruffoloj

Orlando joins us from his home city of Miami. In a followup to last week's scintillating talk with Luis Zuniga, we continue with Orlando in talking about living under a totalitarian regime and the peoples' fight against the same. Orlando's family lineage in Cuba traces back to 1492. Orlando explains how he and his Organization are trying to pierce through the communist armour of Cuba's regime to get the message of hope, liberty and democracy to the Cuban people on his home island. We discuss infiltration of radio airwaves, the "escape" story of his own family, the grave political dangers of pork, evictions, the sacrifices of his parents and grandparents and the humiliating and punishing treatment of those who simply try to leave and those who rise up against. Orlando also stresses with us how tourism dollars into Cuba are directly deposited into military bank accounts and not necessarily into hospitals and schools and for the general welfare of the people. We learn from Orlando how the ideological cloak of the regime has started to wear and tear in modern times and how a continued push to show those living under crushing communist rule that beliefs are stronger than many think them to be.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Orlando,

Website: www.directorio.org

Assembly of the Resistance website: www.republicadecuba.org

Personal website: www.gutierrezboronat.com

Luis joins us from Miami, Florida. Luis is a former Plantado. Born and bred in Cuba, Luis was a young teen during Fidel Castro's revolution against the military dictatorship in Cuba at the time. However, he found out as a young university student just how oppressive Castro's version of "liberation" was (and is) living under his communist rule starting in the early 1960s. Refusing "political integration" as a university student, Luis brings us through his harrowing story fighting back against Castro's totalitarian regime. Fighting meant that he was imprisoned for his beliefs for almost 2 decades of his life. He describes the appalling conditions, the tortures, the beatings, the "re-education" programs, the solitary confinement, the maimings, the escapes, the mine fields, and the rescue attempts. And none of this affected his resolve. Today, at 75 years young, he continues the fight against communism through The Assembly of Cuban Resistance. We discuss the current conditions in Cuba and the continued stranglehold that the government has on its people and that the military has on the entire tourist industry. Sensitive ears, beware. Luis brings us hard truth – and enlightening lessons.

A very special thanks to Torchia Communications https://torchiacom.com/.

Luis,

FB - Assembly of Cuban Resistance: https://www.facebook.com/cubaresist

FB- Directorio: https://www.facebook.com/directoriodemocraticocubano

Media Release: https://www.canadiannetworkoncuba.ca/index.php/events/1035-july-10-statement-of-the-canadian-cuban-friendship-association-toronto-

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Santiago joins us from Vienna. He is from Bogota, Colombia and spends his time between Austria and his native land. He is a founder and director of Jaguar Siembra – a not for profit outfit in Colombia dedicated to preserving Indigenous knowledge and sharing indigenous wisdom through film about this supremely unique place on the planet in northern Colombia: "La Linea Negra" in Santa Marta. This conversation is packed with what's important to our guest – and to our podcast. Santiago warns us about the travails from our disconnection from our food sources, he explains the sacredness of the Jaguar (see episode with Amy Jo Johnson for more) and the community in music. He also educates us on ancient places on earth and their connection to sound and to ancient wisdom. We discuss his mission in communicating through art and why it's important for him to use the power of film cut through the noise to share the sacred knowledge from a piece of the earth that has been untouched by modernity since forever. And yes, Metallica once again makes a cameo in this discussion. 

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Santiago,

Website: www.jaguarsiembra.com

IG: @jaguarsiembra

FB: https://www.facebook.com/jaguarsiembra

We chat with Diane, who is joining us from Oregon. Diane is an artist and dancer … and she is also a practising neuroscientist, psychiatrist, clinician and author. She is a polymath, whose life has been enriched by unique near death experiences - at age 4, age 13 and again in her 20s. We learn about Diane's challenge of the materialistic model that scientists are trained to follow and why this is important for her – and for science. Diane is also known for her pioneering work in parapsychology, through the study of telepathy and savant skills in autistic children. She discusses with us the primacy of consciousness and consciousness "as a cloud", the information field vs the sensory field, reincarnation, out-of-body experiences, the dreaming state and the limitations of language on our ability to think. She brings us through a wonderful retelling of her experience with ducks and making sense of chaos through artistic experience. A fascinating discussion, with a fascinating human being.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Diane,

Website: https://drdianehennacy.com/

Books: https://drdianehennacy.com/?page_id=13

Leslie joins us from NYC. She studied ornithology in her graduate studies in Massachusetts, moved to humanitarian work for Burma to radio show production in California to then freelance investigative journalism.

As a journalist she was able to publish her early work relating to UFOs in the Boston Globe in 2001 – and was struck by the deafening silence of response to her piece. But some did take notice …. She published a best selling book several years later and began to be invited by high level political officials and defence bureaucrats to help them understand what she was investigating and indeed finding. In 2017 she had found out about ATIIP, a secret program within the Pentagon to investigate UFOs. With the help of Luis Elizondo – a recently resigned lead in this program - she was shown documentation and videos on this program. She then worked with 2 journalist colleagues, Ralph Blumenthal and Helene Cooper and revealed these details through the NY Times (including the tic tac video). From there everything changed – the tide changed in Congress and with the general public interest in UFOs in the US, and the world around. We talk about radically changing beliefs by following curiosities. We discuss her work on her last book and the Netflix series that it inspired (and filmed by BreakThru Films) and how/why she was drawn by reincarnation cases and suggestion that we survive death. We discuss her beliefs on after-death, her personal experience with mediums, her experience with her deceased brother and her wish to delve more into the study of consciousness and human super-powers. She explains her gratitude for being able to spend the time and space to pursue truth and to help "shine the light on the irrationality of the skeptical mindset".

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Leslie,

Website: https://www.lesliekean.com/

TW: https://twitter.com/lesliekean?lang=en

Bruce joins us from his home in California. Bruce was a pioneer cell biologist and one of the few scientists in the world working with cloning stem cells back in the late 1960s. And he dared asking questions. During his early research work at Stanford, he started to realize that what scientists were learning and teaching others about genetics and genetic determinism was faulty. He came to understand that we are in fact the masters, not the victims of our genes. Ostracized by his peers early on for his pioneering work, Bruce was finally vindicated when 23 years later in the early 1990s, his work in Epigenetics became recognized by modern science. Bruce discusses at length with us the importance of understanding the programs that we are inculcated with early on in our lives and how these programs unfortunately run the majority of our lives. We discuss how our consciousness has direct input into the culture of our cells … how our cells are formed based on our environment and what and how we "feed" them. We talk about cells as the "antennas of self" -- how our bodies are receptors of our own broadcasts. We also discuss the importance of creating and of breaking through our old programs and taking on new programs that don't perpetuate disharmony. And to our giddy pleasure we also touch upon the importance of dreams: disconnecting from the machine and doorways.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Bruce,

Books: https://www.brucelipton.com/store/?product-category=bruce-lipton-authored

Website: https://www.brucelipton.com/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/BruceHLiptonPhD/

TW: https://twitter.com/biologyofbelief

IG: https://www.instagram.com/brucelipton/

YT: https://www.youtube.com/user/biologyofbelief

Joe was a US Army intelligence veteran before being selected for the psychic intelligence unit at Fort Meade, Maryland, in 1978. He became known as "Remote Viewer No. 1" within Project Stargate, the United States' first organized research into psychic phenomena, conducted by the Defense Intelligence Agency and contractor SRI International. He is an author and the founder of Intuitive Intelligence Applications Inc. Today, he teaches Remote Viewing at The Monroe Institute, a leading center for exploring human consciousness.

Chapters:

00:00 Trapped in a Lucid Dream

02:36 Secret Military Retirement

08:50 Joe's Youth

19:33 Remote Viewing at the National Security Museum

27:39 Remote Viewing, Lucid Dreaming, Out-Of-Body Experiences

32:45 Why Lucid Dreaming Exists

36:35 Using Lucid Dreaming for Remote Viewing

41:45 Getting Stuck in Multiple Lucid Dreams Whilst Remote Viewing

55:37 Meeting Another Entity in an Out of Body Experience

At 21, Joe was already a staff sergeant, nicknamed "Pop." He shares insights into his upbringing, revealing why he was exceptionally experienced and mature when he enlisted. We discuss the practice of separating new war recruits from seasoned field operatives. Joe highlights his unclassified work as a psychic spy, now showcased at the NSA Cryptological Museum in Washington, to the apparent dismay of the CIA. He also explores OBE versus lucid dreaming, surviving a nested lucid dream state during a government-sponsored experiment, enduring bear attacks, and encountering informational beings in the out-of-body state.

• NSA Cryptological Museum: https://www.nsa.gov/museum/
• Joe's Exhibit: https://www.nsa.gov/Press-Room/News-Highlights/Article/Article/3946210/new-exhibits-at-the-national-cryptologic-museum-unlock-your-curiosity/

Previous episodes/discussions on Behind Greatness with Remote Viewers:

• Russell Targ (ep 80) – Co-Founder, SRI Institute
• Courtney Brown (ep 131)
• Stephan A. Schwartz (ep 155, 156)
• Lyn Buchanan (ep 163)
• Nancy DuTertre (ep 167)
• Paul H. Smith (ep 180)

Joe's Links:

• Books: (via Amazon)
• Parapsychological Association: https://www.parapsych.org/users/jmcmoneagle/profile.aspx
• Monroe Institute: https://www.monroeinstitute.org/pages/trainer-joe-mcmoneagle
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2140996/

To give to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here (as a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors): https://behindgreatness.org

Ramy joins us from his home in Toronto. Ramy has spent a career honing his gifts and capabilities in building a successful career in management consulting and corporate C-level leadership. From the outset of this conversation, Ramy is more than happy to get into what matters to him: investing in others' lives. We discuss his belief in making impact and making a difference with others, a mindset he imported from his upbringing and early career life in a more ancient part of the world - in North Africa and the Middle East. We discuss the cultural differences between living in the East and the West: the central role that relationships played in his everyday life and how the concept of time is viewed in building those relationships. We chat about his thoughts on the importance of logic, structure, the concept of building a set of skills in our society and discipline … and we see Ramy politely tolerate some of your host's naïve questions (;)). Ramy stresses his need to be present for others and the continuous struggle between focus on the self vs community engagement. A solid, "structured" conversation, with a healthy sprinkling of right brain musings.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Ramy,

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramy-dimitry-6260121b/

Tim grew up in London (Ontario), a small city between Detroit and Toronto. He had a happy childhood, but needed to live a closeted existence as his environment was hostile. After moving to the big city as a young adult, he quickly began to flourish. He lived a life surrounded by art and the artistic endeavour and lived within the irreverent energy that it exuded. Not considering himself an 'artist', this early adulthood life experience shaped his ambitions to the core nonetheless. He soon began to understand how irreverence in the arts brought people together, created culture and helped changed beliefs. Over his career, he has become a globally recognized social entrepreneur in this space. We discuss how modernism in architecture began to focus away from people and give way to towers, plazas - and the car – and how we lost our way in creating places for people and stories and the emotional connection to both. We chat about the "activation" of a place, multisensorial dimensions and art as urban acupuncture. In line with our discussion with the late Hazel Henderson (ep 61), Tim talks about focusing on a bigger pie – not a bigger slice of what we already have. 

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Tim,

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-jones-8ba9b11a0/?originalSubdomain=ca

TW: https://twitter.com/timjones0001

Jack joins us from his home in Atlanta, Georgia. Jack grew up as Albrecht Dittrich in post-WW2 East Germany in "The Valley of the Clueless". He was a youth leader for the communist party and a promising young academic when he was approached by the KGB and recruited as an espionage agent. Armed with a sharp curiosity, a penchant for learning languages and a strong sense of adventure, Jack's changed his life forever when he agreed to take on his mission. After several years of training in Europe, he was posted in New York City as a "sleeper agent". He spent many years working and educating himself as a regular dutiful US citizen would and eventually built a legitimate career and had a (second) family while living his American life. He found himself deciding between choosing to leave his new family and return to the KGB fold in Europe or leave the KBG at great expense and live out his life as an IT executive and father (spoiler alert: the FBI eventually caught up with him). We discuss what belief systems, elitism, "slow decontamination", fear, narcissism, cowardice and heroism all mean to him. We ruminate about the immense power of (a lack of) a mother's affection and the moving love of a daughter and how those two forces book-ended his intensely unique human experience.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Podcast Series "The Agent": https://open.spotify.com/show/5DToOunQsM18OmGD5eVRXR

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackbarsky/

Website: https://jackbarsky.com/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/spybarsky

Jason is a partner at McMillan LLP and joins us from his office in Toronto. He is a recognized top construction lawyer in the country – with soft hands, no less. But, that's not where we go with this conversation. We go instead where Jason lives: in the exploration of his essence. We start with family … Modesta and Eugénio, kitchen-Portuguese, the menu-reading child within and his grandfather's "I get it" moment. We discuss his tendency to throw himself into something fully when he's impassioned by it, and demanding more of himself with that little bit of a chip on his shoulder. We chat about the importance of thinking about your existence, the Buddhist concept of flow and interconnectivity with others and the illusion of our own perceptions. We discuss the importance of challenging and wrestling with mystery. He also muses about recognizing the bravery of a faith/belief that compels those in it to make sense of it only to risk having those come out the other side shedding those same beliefs. A treat of a conversation. 

Bodybuilding, manes, gypsies and golf-commentating all had honourable mentions.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Jason,

Website: https://mcmillan.ca/people/jason-annibale/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-annibale-26911322/

Kenneth joins us from his home in Toronto. He is an award winning and best selling author of numerous novels for young readers. He is famed for writing Airborn, the Silverwing Trilogy and now his latest novels, Bloom and its sequels, Hatch and Thrive. This was a fun conversation. He grew up on Vancouver Island on the Pacific coast and spent a few uncomplicated, happy pre-teen years in Halifax, on the Atlantic. Kenneth wanted to be a writer from a very young age, being pig-headed about his vocation from the very beginning. We naturally delve into themes that are important to us on Behind Greatness. Kenneth explains how childhood experiences run parallel throughout our lives, informing also our decisions today. He chats with us about taking pleasure in creation and the quiet, solitary, undramatic process that he invests in to find that pleasure. We discuss the power of encouragement as a lifeblood to pursuing creation and the importance of listening to dreams (encouragement: so easy a word and so elusive for many of us). And, we hark back to a reference from episode 24 with Mike Narducci regarding creativity – to Kenneth existing as a simmering well.

"There are fewer things more powerful than an idea." Indeed. 

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Kenneth,

Website: www.kennethoppel.ca

FB: www.facebook.com/kennethoppelfan

YT: www.youtube.com/user/kennethoppel

TW: @kennethoppel

We have an exciting conversation with Avi Loeb. Avi is a philosopher and farm-boy at his core. He has spent the past several decades as a leading Astrophysicist, including a most recent decade-long stint as a department head at Harvard, having published over 700 papers and written 8 books . Avi became wider known outside of scientific circles for his stance on scientific and space exploration after the discovery of the famous interstellar object called "Oumuamua" in 2017. He subsequently also founded The Galileo Project in 2021, which is focused on researching evidence of alien civilizations on earth and beyond. We discuss what is important to Avi in this discussion …. (and take a deep breath before you read): the need for humans to attach themselves to nature, rather than to their egos … searching for the pimples on the face of nature … the danger of echo-chambers and keeping young scientific minds within the herd … the risks of being beholden to awards, honours and prestige … giving power back to young innovating scientists (see: Einstein, Galileo etc.) to encourage exploration rather than putting them in career "house arrest" … project Lyra … the metaphor of jogging with light footwear ... and dark chocolate. We also hear about how viewing the frontier of new knowledge and exploration should inspire the child in us all – a person we all were when ego and self-importance where not a factor in how we pursued truth.

Honourable mentions by the way to one of history's most courageous philosophers, mathematicians, cosmologists, martyrs and truth seekers: Giordano Bruno. And Brad Pitt. "Aumm Aumm"

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Avi:

The Galileo Project: https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/galileo/home

Commentaries: https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~loeb/Opinion.html

Video Clip – Miami, Florida: https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~loeb/Bit22.mp4

Harvard Bio: https://lweb.cfa.harvard.edu/~loeb/

We have the privilege of sitting down Safiya, who only recently fled from her native Ukraine with her daughter. We are also joined by one of our favourite past guests on the podcast, the marvelous Joan Koenig (ep 79). Joan helps facilitate the conversation. Joan and her friends (Janice Giarracco & Michael Clancey) have been instrumental in helping Safiya find safe haven in France over the last month. A trained psychologist, Safiya ran a special school for children in the Donbas region before the war in 2014 forced her to relocate. After a brief stay in Moscow her vocation had her return to her Ukraine, this time in Kyiv – until she once again lost everything after the start of the war in February 2022. She recounts the experience of living under the real threat of missile attacks and bombing throughout the day and night and her eventual exodus to the Polish border. She describes the emotional episode watching men separated from their families as they left them to cross the border. And we learn so much more from this extraordinary woman. We listen to her recounts of her multiple near death experiences over her lifetime so far and what particular gifts each of those experiences have left her. Spoiler alert: one of them is healing. There are too many take-aways from this discussion: the value of empathy, of teaching through play, of fairy-tale therapy, of learning to see your ancestral program … and the ultimate value of the pursuit to help others.

During our talk, Safiya gave an impromptu numerological reading of your host and his recent ancestral lineage and she was bang-on with her entire diagnosis. We decided to edit most of this out as they are of a personal nature. But, we may very well divulge some details in future episodes…

Kindly see below information on the Foundation set up to help Safiya – so that she can help others who are in the same boat during this time:

·        For donations that do not require a fiscal receipt, or a French receipt: https://www.fondation-enfance.org/creer-ma-fondation/fondations-et-fonds-abrites/koenig-foundation-2-2/

·        For fiscal receipts in the USA: donors must donate to CafAmerica.org, and indicate they want the funds to go to the above link (in France). Main USA Link: CafAmerica.org & https://www.cafamerica.org/give-now/

·        For fiscal receipts in Canada: donors must donate to CafCanada.ca and indicate they want the funds to go to the above link (in France). Main Canada link: CafCanada.ca & https://www.cafcanada.ca/givenow/

We speak with Lisa Good in Toronto. Lisa started out in the mail-room of an ad agency in Toronto to eventually become an Ad Exec and Managing Director of a leading and award-winning ad agency in Canada. We chat with Lisa about losing a parent at a young age, mental health and acting out against suppressed grief as a young adult. We discuss workaholic-ism and the importance of finding the ok in quiet time. More importantly, we chat about her family and lessons we give to our kids about "doing" vs being, boredom and creativity, flying slippers, empathy … but not too much empathy … and the advantages and pitfalls of restlessness. We stretched it, but we found nuggets of truth in tying food preparation and the artform of sculpting.

… and we get to meet "restless" Lisa in action during the recording.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Lisa:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisaaraujo/

Website: https://www.bensimonbyrne.com/about

Bayo joins us from his home in Chennai India but grew up in Lagos, Nigeria. Losing his father as a young teen had him start a search for knowledge and meaning – a search that has intensified throughout his life. As a teen he hustled to make a living in the street to help support his family and save for university studies. At university, he was destined to be "The Total Man" until he unfurled his mind and his beliefs. The conversation goes to exciting depths and hidden corners … we discuss our Entanglement (oh, our entanglement!), the seditiousness of writing, the "bible and a pencil", the act of making his father through his daughters, being "dire-whelmed", seeing death as a soundscape, the act of creation – and shiny dishes. So. Much. Goodness.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.behindgreatness.org. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Bayo:

Website: https://www.bayoakomolafe.net/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bayoakomolafe/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bayoakomolafe

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/bayoakomolafeampersand

Jill joins us from her home state of Indiana where she grew up. Jill graduated from Harvard and embarked on a career as a neuroanatomist, motivated in part by her desire to understand her brother's schizophrenia. She soon became known throughout the world through her widely viewed and viral TED talk back in 2008, entitled "My Stroke of Insight". And so we giddily sit down together and have fun exploring the depths of her experience. Jill had a stroke and became the patient, the observer and the pilot of her own case study in one fell swoop – which changed her forever. She describes her experience of living through a stroke – the left hemisphere not able to process and the right hemisphere floating its own way – and the ensuing 8 years of recovery. We discuss her experience living in a world free from judgement and intellectual primacy and existing as an entity free from the shackles of a Left Hemisphere dominant life. We delve a bit into her new book Whole Brain Living and the Four Characters of both the left and right hemispheres – and her decision to live a Right Hemisphere dominant life. We talk about make belief, the role of the actor, the Great Gigi, empathy, living with more order, but less order, great whales, timelessness of the artists' endeavour, our training of children to discount the importance of connection, creativity, earning your mother power, proprioception, the present moment…. and the desire to be awake when consciousness finally shifts and she Glides back into the Sea of Silent Euphoria.

We dare you not to listen.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.behindgreatness.org. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Jill:

Website: https://www.drjilltaylor.com/

Book: https://www.drjilltaylor.com/whole-brain-living/

TED Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyyjU8fzEYU&t=2s

FB: https://www.facebook.com/DrJillBolteTaylor

IG: @drjillboltetaylor

For Rudy + Nick, part 1, see ep 211. For one-on-one episodes with Nick see ep 207. With Rudy, see ep 179, 186, 192, 195, 196, 204.

Welcome back to Behind Greatness. This is a continuing series of talks where we host two luminaries in one conversation. Nick - a prolific journalist and author - joins us from his home in the UK. Rudy – a preeminent astrophysicist and a self-described "hopeless astronomer" – joins us from his place in Massachusetts. This is the second meeting between the two.

Exploring again the depths of the "why nots" and "what ifs" in this conversation. Nick and Rudy get into plasmas and plasmoids, orbs and their mimicry and camouflage, a tear in the sky, Wilhelm Reich's love-measuring waveform, stories on famed Astronaut Edgar Mitchell, an account of Wernher von Braun and Roswell, and Edgar's space story about swapping consciousness with an elephant.

For others:

• Series with Joe McMoneagle – Remote Viewer #001 – ep 198, 199, 200, 210, 215

Nick:

• Website: https://www.nickcook.works/about-nick-cook/
• Books: https://www.nickcook.works/books/

Rudy:

• Center for Astrophysics – https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/
• Journal of Cosmology – https://thejournalofcosmology.com/About.html
• Personal website – http://www.rudyschild.com/
• List of Published papers – (via The SAO Astrophysics Data System)
• CCRI (Consciousness & Contact Research Institute) – https://agreaterreality.com/
• Book (co-Author with Suzy Hansen) – Dual Soul Connection: The Alien Agenda for Human Advancement: (via Amazon)
• Book: Beyond UFOs: The Science of Consciousness & Contact with Non Human Intelligence – (via Amazon)
• Edgar Mitchell Book: The Way of the Explorer: An Apollo Astronaut's Journey Through the Material and Mystical Worlds – (via Amazon)
• NASA – Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy "SOFIA" – https://science.nasa.gov/mission/sofia/

00:00 NASA's Unspoken Astronaut Challenges

04:46 Introduction to the Discussion

06:23 Nick and Rudy's Quest for Truth

06:47 Remote Viewing and Plasma Phenomena

10:56 The Nature of Consciousness and Entanglement

13:52 Love and Quantum Entanglement

18:50 Probes, Orbs, and Alien Surveillance

23:02 The Science of Plasmas and Orbs

42:14 Reflective Qualities of Orbs

46:51 Remote Viewing and Aerial Phenomena

50:26 Belief Systems and Perception

01:00:20 Edgar Mitchell: A Life of Exploration

01:13:59 Astronaut Experiences and Consciousness

01:19:50 Closing Thoughts and Reflections

To give to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors.

Athena is originally from Johannesburg, South Africa. Athena was a highly intuitive child and learned not to demonstrate this with most, believing that there was little acceptance of these abilities in her circles. As a young adult she was trying to understand her place in the world when she had a dream that had a profound impact on her life's direction. We move on to discuss the importance of the "divinity within" and how we may have been shut off from our own sacred knowledge. We learn about Athena's experience in confronting a psychological shadow/demon, and in the middle of discussing the idea of malevolence beings we face a power outage in our conversation (not joking). But this doesn't thwart our determination. We discuss the dismissive nature of modern Western culture on the exploration of the dream realm and we discuss what might be brewing underneath anyway … a yearning from each of us to be awake. 

FYI - the Jaguar made another surprise cameo in this discussion … and we highly recommend our discussion with Amy Jo Johnson in episode 92 as an accompaniment to this episode with Athena.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.behindgreatness.org. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Athena:

Website: www.athenalaz.com

Book: The Alchemy of Your Dreams - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0593327799/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0593327799&linkCode=as2&tag=alchemy063-20&linkId=f770ebbcffddfeb2d152796a17c048b4

IG: @athena_laz

TW: @athena_laz

Sharon joins us from her home in Virginia. Sharon grew up in a Christian-centric upbringing and was home-schooled at her request. After having gone away for post-secondary to NYC, she found that her new secular environment was not the fit that she expected. However, after having experienced grad school in Paris, the secular view on life became more attractive to her … until it didn't. She brings us through a couple of personal experiences of "coincidences" and becoming more of herself as she explores the "weirdness" of paranormal. We discussed the importance of paying attention to the paranormal – starting with synchronicities and dreams – to help us to see deeper layers of ourselves. We talk about freedom, the importance of love to learn about interconnectedness, the shedding of beliefs and the importance of being puzzled. For good measure we threw in a chat about the number 33.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.behindgreatness.org. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Sharon:

Website: https://sharonrawlette.wordpress.com/about/

Books: https://sharonrawlette.wordpress.com/books/beyond-death/

Psychology Today blog Mysteries of Consciousness

BICS award-winning essay Beyond Death: The Best Evidence for the Survival of Human Consciousness

We are joined by Jade Johnson at her home in London. A native of London, her (large) family moved temporarily to Liverpool when she was 7. She grew up in a mixed race family and never took notice of this - until she and her sister were singled out after her move to her new neighbourhood. She relays a story that obliterated her childhood and changed her life forever. She spent the rest of her youth driven by a deep motivation to disprove her doubters and this carried her all the way to the Olympics - twice. We discuss her high-octane need to challenge herself to "battling the event" rather than battling others. We hear her describe her innate desire to help others, even if it means that they may succeed in beating her as a result. We turn the page and delve into her life as a mother and the profound truths of existence from her precocious young son, Lucas. We discuss the strong evidence of reincarnation in her family and hear a most profound metaphor for empathy. And, there is a poignant and well placed chat about the magic of the octopus.  

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.behindgreatness.org. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Jade:

Unconventional Voice of Track & Field: https://www.instagram.com/voicesoftnf/?hl=en

Twitter: @JadeLJohnson7

Centrepoint Charity: https://centrepoint.org.uk/about-us/

Natalie joins us from her native Minnesota for our talk. After having finished a Masters in Art, Natalie worked as an archaeologist in US deserts to help support her desire to continue her vocation as an artist. We learn that Natalie also had a selfless bent to her, which brought her to explore different parts of her country to help others in need. And through these experiences, she learned of other explorative opportunities. One was a work stint in (the frozen desert of) Antarctica where she found that she could finish her work quickly enough during the day so to "escape" to sketch and write for the rest of the day. But it was in yet another desert setting, in Iraq, where Natalie had her most profound life experience. The truck she was riding in was bombed and Natalie instantly found herself outside of her body and communicating and collaborating with beings in the non-physical dimension. She brings us through her experience with delightful detail – and with the lessons she learned about the wisdom of love and adoration, about creativity as the fundamental force of being and about the sacredness of laughter. We discuss being the agent of our own lives, facing our fears in our dreams, having the openness and courage "to be a beginner" and having the will to examine and break down our beliefs. 

An expansive conversation to say the least.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.behindgreatness.org. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Natalie:

Book: Application of Impossible Things: A Near Death Experience in Iraq - https://www.amazon.com/Application-Impossible-Things-Death-Experience/dp/188694024X

Website: www.nataliesudman.com

Blog: www.traceofelements.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-sudman-6811158/

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100027975176862&_rdr

We have a delightful conversation with Elisabetta, who joins us from her abode in the Apennine mountains in Abruzzo in central Italy. Elisabetta is the foremost expert on the Marsican Bear in Italy. Originally from Rome, Elisabetta has spent over 20 years living in the mountains observing, researching, writing about, and storytelling on the famous Marsican bear. Elisabetta was an aspiring actress as a teen. As she developed her love for emotional channelling that acting provided, she also began to experience the exact same energy in her nature walks as a biology student. Eventually, she decided to "break up" with acting to pursue a life studying, researching and living with wildlife – but not before learning the lifelong lesson of feeling with her gut. A scientist by trade and a storyteller by heart, Elisabetta brings us through her thoughts on the majesty of wildlife, the importance of empathy, fear and respect and the timelessness of nature and of art. And forest school. And tracking wolves alone in the Arctic. And a playful and frightening close encounter with her beloved bear.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.behindgreatness.org. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Elisabetta:

Website: https://www.orsoeformica.it/?lang=en

FB: https://www.facebook.com/elisabetta.tosoni.1

Today we are joined by Cat Criger in Toronto. Cat has had a life so far filled with experiences in following his curiosities. He is an Elder of the Cayuga Nation, Turtle Clan and has German and English ancestry. His father was a "disenfranchised" Indigenous man, which meant that his children were protected from the "scoop" of government authorities that took children away to residential schools. His father decided to pursue his career for the Department of Defence working on military aircraft. This imbued a young Cat with an interest in high tech machinery, which served him well later in his career. And then Cat pivots again in the 1990s after rediscovering the ancient philosophies of his Indigenous roots. Not shy of professing his passion of racing bikes, Cat discusses with us the importance of "always exploring" and living with the "twisty-roads-only" gps setting. We talk about the majesty of felines, the purpose of February, hot-pink deer, portable record players and Mr Baird, dream-catchers, swamps as both transition and as home and the gift of music from our mothers.

A winding discussion filled with metaphors - and lesson sharing.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Cat: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cat-criger-371a097a/

We are joined this week by Julie Church on her rear porch. Our backdrop is the night sky over her backyard in Nairobi, Kenya. Julie brings us through a magically-weaved story about growing up in Kenya, with secondary and post-secondary schooling in Europe and South Africa and a life-long commitment to the magic and mystery of the sea. While working with the WWF she created an eco-friendly project where she created jobs and skills centres for the community through the collection of ocean refuse (ie. flipflops) and creating art from it. This kick-started her entrepreneurial approach to creating ocean and marine awareness. We also learned about a childhood filled with exploration of the land and the sea, her family's deep love of cultural and linguistic diversity, a horrific, near fatal and a fatal buffalo attack and the magic of witch-doctor guidance. We discussed her life as one filled with the beauty, the blessings and the danger of deep interconnectedness with nature's flow. Reminding us that we know more about our solar system that we do our ocean … which is a diverse, rich, mystical and charismatic story that she strives to share with the world. We explore how perhaps our human story is dependent on and rooted in our one ocean …. in fact, in our blue consciousness.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Julie:

Website: https://www.seas4life.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-church/

IG: @seas4lifesafaris

IG: @jules_church

Video: https://www.grida.no/resources/8456

George joins us from his abode in LA where he hosts his own Music Radio Show on Apple that is broadcast to over 120 countries. Originally from Toronto, George grew up with a no-nonsense single mom who taught him the importance of being of service to others. As a young boy, his backdrop was a life filled with daily library visits, a senior's home, rough neighbourhood streets, cinema and a growing affection for those anti-establishment music genres: punk and metal. We discuss the flawed artists who George says helped shaped him as he grew into a national media personality – with a unique edge. We go on to discuss the importance of doing "the interior work", living a life with space, refusing to be limited and clearing a path for others. We learn about a muse of his – Raine Maida – who taught him an important lesson on exploring the "what if" at an important juncture in his life. Throughout the chat, we come to understand the important things that really matter to George … and making your mark is not one of them. Listen in. And rock on.

To learn more about George's muse, feel free to have a listen to Raine's talk on Behind Greatness. Episode 65.   

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

George:

Website: https://www.music.strombo.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/strombo/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/strombo/

TW: https://twitter.com/strombo

House of Strombo (YT): https://www.youtube.com/user/TheStromboShow

Amy Jo is originally from Cape Cod and spent many years as an actor in Hollywood before packing up her bags and leaving for Montreal. After several years, she left for Toronto where she lives currently – devoting herself to film directing, writing and creating music. For 12 years, she, her siblings and her mom lived in a religious cult, with her only outlet for self-expression being gymnastics and story-telling. At age 15, her beliefs suddenly collapsed when her mother took her family out of the cult. From that point Amy Jo set upon a life of continued creative exploration. We discuss escaping rules and judgment, quieting inner voices, investing in story-telling and tapping into the creative flow. But we don't stop there … We explore some of her more reoccurring and lucid dreams and how they are a connective tissue to her sense of creative expression. We listen to a vivid account of "opening of doors" in her dream state and how this has shown itself through her sense of "seeing" beyond the physical. And it's the metaphorical doors to rebirth and to the creative realm that are just as relevant to this discussion as are the literal doors to the same.

During our chat, we invoke a past discussion we had with Carl Ruck (ep 73) about dreaming and an elevated state of consciousness.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Amy Jo:

Website: https://www.amyjojohnson.com/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/atothedoublej/

TW: https://twitter.com/_amyjojohnson

FB: https://www.facebook.com/atothedoublej/

YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFxfa3EuLCSA7_zUzWtBkOw?view_as=subscriber

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005057/

Today we are joined by Edoardo Ghignone, who lives in The Hague, Netherlands. He is the founder of a consultancy named LTx that works with C-Suite leadership teams of large corporate organizations across Europe. Originally from Milan, Edoardo was brought up in a family that ran a manufacturing business in the city for 75 years. He describes his parental influences: an artisan father and a mother too fast for the world. He lived an early adult life devoted to learning languages, travelling, working in different countries and having fun. He brings us to the point in his life where he decided that he needed to put his "soul on the table". From there, we explore his thoughts on the beauty of caressing your ideas, trusting your intuition, and the importance of feeling. We also discuss a unique psychic ability that he uncovered later in his life and how he incorporates this into his understanding of inter-relatedness. And we hear about how wasting time is a direct input for learning and the creative process … playing cards, sipping wine and listening to elders through mountain side trips.

This episode is best listened to with a Campari on the rocks.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Edoardo:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edoardoghignone/

Website: www.LeadershipTeamX.com

Our chat today is with Dr. Kevin Knuth, who joins us from Albany. He is a Professor of Physics at the University at Albany (SUNY). He is a former NASA research scientist designing artificial intelligence algorithms for astrophysical data analysis. His current research interests include the foundations of physics, quantum information, autonomous robotics, the search for and characterization of extrasolar planets, and unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP).

Like any good scientist, Kevin is truly interested in the weird. He is inspired by space and by gravity. We learn on what is intimidating vs what is scary, what is perceived as magic, telepathy and intuition, "contriving coincidences", the importance of the subjective experience, investigating UAPs, a story about the Matrix and a hairy raising story about a personal experience that became a catalyst for his sleeplessness and his deep curiosity about the weird.

What is going on? Why is there not nothing?

Referenced episodes:

• Kid Koala (ep 28)
• Russell Targ (ep 80)
• Jeffrey Kripal (ep 118, 189)
• Jeremy Taggart (ep 136)
• Ryan Graves (ep 141)
• Kevin Day (ep 171)
• Rudy Schild & Garry Nolan (ep 204)

Kevin's Website: https://www.knuthlab.org/

Kevin's Sol Foundation Work: https://thesolfoundation.org/people/kevin-knuth/

To give to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org. As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donors.

We connect with Rune, who lives in Copenhagen. Rune is a leading expert in pre-Christian Nordic Religions & Animism. Born and bred in rural Denmark, Rune explains how hints of Nordic pre-Christian tradition was woven into songs that his grandmother used to sing. This spurred a life-long quest: his need for unearthing and attaining long-lost knowledge of Nordic Indigenous culture. He started with travelling and living as a teen to Norway and learning how the Sami (the last Indigenous peoples of Northern Europe) lived. He soon found that current scholarship in the field was too mundane for him. So, he decided to spend considerable time studying animist religions in West Africa and Brazil and he saw that the peoples from where he was born held similar ancient beliefs, long before the spread of Christianity. Rune brings us through a discussion on relation and connectedness to the "other": the landscape, the animals, other peoples, cycles of the seasons etc. We discuss how death and the dead were uniquely perceived by his Indigenous ancestors and the "carnivalesque" nature of this perception. Just fascinating. We're not going to lie: "Valhalla" was uttered at least once.

DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Rune:

Website: https://nordicanimism.com/

YT Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Runehr

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rune-hjarn%C3%B8-rasmussen-4626b010/

Marie joins us from Toronto. Marie is inarguably one of the country's most public and most sought after criminal defence lawyers. She was born of Middle Eastern parents and grew up in Toronto within a tight knit family. Being a serious and studious girl from the get-go, she decided early in life that fighting for the underdog was what she wanted to do. Her deep affection for her uncle brought her to spend much time in NYC as a young adult. It was a world in full contrast to her own life in Toronto and her own cultural upbringing – but it was a world that felt comfortable for her just the same. Laser-focused and with sharp instincts, she also learned to navigate the world with an open mind through her uncle Sami's mentorship. We discuss the perennial battle between objectivity and subjectivity in human-made systems. We hear about her thoughts on toughness, boredom, passions, the dangers of compartmentalizing, therapy, winning, losing and a little about artistic endeavours. And, home-made pasta.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marie-henein-bb35b936/

Website:  https://hhllp.ca/

Book – Nothing But The Truth: https://www.amazon.ca/Nothing-But-Truth-Marie-Henein/dp/0771039344/ref=sr_1_1?gclid=Cj0KCQiA8vSOBhCkARIsAGdp6RTW5lPEHW3gOemFHDKlw1sSVBGifrsNlF7iZZ1w34ZZ1SQZPzc2MFAaAiNSEALw_wcB&hvadid=362236155796&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9000799&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=b&hvrand=12251961253226623843&hvtargid=kwd-297270459522&hydadcr=22426_9261600&keywords=marie+henein&qid=1641930990&sr=8-1

Antonia joins us from Vancouver, Canada. Antonia brings us through her experience in an idyllic US Midwest setting as a little girl, as a curious PhD student at Harvard and as a mother of four moving to Northern British Columbia and living with her adoptive Indigenous family. In the 1980s, Antonia met Dr. Ian Stevenson, an American psychiatrist from the University of Virginia. She became interested in his pioneering work on reincarnation research and the afterlife and she took it on herself. Already having a deep connection to the Beaver, Gitxsan and Witsutit'en peoples in BC she began researching reincarnation within these tribes. This soon had her join Ian Stevenson in becoming a pioneer in her own right in North America on the subject. We discuss the last dreamer/prophet (Charlie Yahey) of the Dane-zaa peoples and her first-hand experience witnessing one of his travels. We chat about the role that the child has in their society as a bridge between the past and the future, the Catholic Church's changed stance on reincarnation and how the Canadian government currently actively funds studies like hers (!). And we hear about a wonderful early life transcendental experience of her own as a little girl. A purely enchanting discussion.

To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north

Antonia:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonia-mills-0b151222/

Website: https://www2.unbc.ca/first-nations-studies/faculty

Upcoming Book: That's My Chair: Rebirth Experience of the Gitxsan and Witsutit'en