Unraveling Religion

18/10/2024

Free Tibet

ཝ་ཀ་སྙན་ངག

Waka Poems (Dogen Zenji)

སད་པའམ་གཉིད་ཁུག་པ།
རྩྭ་ཁང་ཞིག་གི་ནང་དུ།
ངས་སྨོན་ལམ་འདེབས་པ་ནི།
གཞན་དག་བརྒལ་བར་བྱེད་པ།
ང་རང་གི་སྔོན་དུ།

Awake or asleep
in a grass hut,
what I pray for is
to bring others across
before myself.

རྨོངས་པའི་བདག་འདི་ཡིན་ནའང༌།
སངས་རྒྱས་ནམ་ཡང་མི་འགྱུར་སྲིད།
ངས་འཁྱེར་ཡོང་བའི་དམ་བཅའ།
གཞན་དག་བརྒལ་བ།
གང་ཡིན་ཟེར་ན་ང་གྲྭ་བ་ཡིན།

Although this ignorant self
may never become a buddha
I vow to bring
others across
because I am a monk.

ཇི་འདྲའི་ཟླ་བརྒྱད་པ།
བརྡ་རྙིང་ལ་སློབ་སྦྱོང་བྱེད་པ།
སངས་རྒྱས་བདུན།
ཁྱེད་ལས་བརྒལ།
ཁམས་དྲུག་དང༌།

How August!
Studying the old words
of the Seven Buddhas
you pass beyond
the six realms.

https://x.com/jdlesses/status/1847235319034155400

22/02/2024

Philip Kapleau meets Yasutani Roshi

Am completely at ease with Yasutani Roshi. His manner's gentle yet penetrating, he laughs easily and often.

At dokusan, (private interview) be told me:

“Now, why if we have the flawless Buddha-nature are we not aware of it? Why if everything, in essence, is Wisdom and Purity itself, is there so much ignorance and suffering in the world? ... This is the 'doubt-mass' which must be dispersed. . . . Only if you deeply believe that the Buddha was neither a fool nor a liar when he affirmed that we all are inherently Whole and Self-sufficient, can you tirelessly probe your heart and mind for the solution to this paradox."

- Three Pillars of Zen

08/12/2023

08/12/2023

🙏

12/01/2022

About Unraveling Religion, A Short Description

https://episodes.castos.com/5ea4b0611ba010-44844826/UR-Final-Edit-W-Music.mp3

In this brief talk, Joel describes the origins and purpose of Unraveling Religion, reviewing some of the guests and giving an overall flavor of what Unraveling Religion examines through its conversations.

02/04/2021

'Unarmed Truth and Unconditional Love': Spirituality and Activism with Vicki Ross

https://unraveling-religion.castos.com/episodes/39unarmed-truth-and-unconditional-love39-spirituality-and-activism-with-vicki-ross

Vicki and Joel discuss her evolution in spirituality and as an activist, including the struggles of many different people and populations, the power of indiginous life-ways and the importance of connection to Nature and humility, the prison system and war and restricting pipeline access by Water Protectors. In Vicki's path as an activist, her upbringing and family influences were explored, Martin Luther King, Jr. and other examples and literature, conversations that influenced her and her deep principles rooted in Spirit.

Victoria Ross is Executive Director of the WNY Peace Center since August 2015, and Consultant to the Interfaith Peace Network of WNY, is a social worker and peace activist. Through community building efforts, Vicki helps to . Through the WNYPC, she organized all the Women’s Marches in Buffalo (the first two both record-breaking rallies), and all conducive to more collaboration and unity in Buffalo and Western New York. Vicki calls out violence wherever it is: including especially state-sponsored, state-permitted, and/or state-excused violence. She emphasizes principles and the Spirit as what we need for radical changes locally, nationally, and internationally - the principles and Spirit of Unarmed Truth and Unconditional Love. (Peace Center link: https://wnypeace.org/wp/)

Vicki and Joel discuss her evolution in spirituality and as an activist, including the struggles of many different people and populations, the power of indiginous life-ways and the importance of connection to Nature and humility, the prison system and war and restricting pipeline access by Water Pro...

02/02/2021

Spirituality and Poetry: Perceiving Beyond the Edge of Paradigm

Henry Cretella, M.D, host of the humanistic and spiritual podcast Alchemical Dialogues, talks with Joel Lesses, host of Unraveling Religion in a far-reaching and engrossing conversation about spirituality and poetry. Listen to Henry and Joel discuss the meaning of identity and paradigm, mysticism, and ‘who am I’ as a resolution to the existential question of life. With an emphasis on the sacred, mundane, and profane, Henry and Joel take a deep dive into what poetry is in relation to authenticity and genuineness. This talk is also on Alchemical Dialogues under 'Spirituality and Poetry: Beyond the Edge.'

Alchemical Dialogues are live and unscripted conversations recorded on Zoom by Amber Light International. They choose topics from our current social and cultural climate, with an emphasis on humanism and spirituality. Subscribe to Alchemical Dialogues on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, or search for us in your favorite podcast app.

Joel David Lesses' background is in psychology and counseling with other passions including the intersection of poetry, spirituality, science and phenomenology shared and disparate in the human experience, and transformative power of self inquiry and introspection through contemplative and meditative practices. Joel was nominated by Artvoice in 2013 and 2014 Buffalo's Best Poet and won the honor in 2014, he has been published in various magazines and publications, founded Ground and Sky Poetry Series, facilitated numerous poetry workshops.

Henry Cretella, M.D, host of the humanistic and spiritual podcast Alchemical Dialogues, talks with Joel Lesses, host of Unraveling Religion in a far-reaching and engrossing conversation about spirituality and poetry. Listen to Henry and Joel discuss the meaning of identity and paradigm, mysticism...

02/02/2021

'Nothing But A Tender Spirit': A Conversation With Poet Maj Ragain

In 2015, in the wide expanse of spiritual and emotional terrain, before his passing in 2018, Maj Ragain, northeast Ohio's poetic fixture and teacher sits with Joel to talk of spirituality and mentorship, sharing poems, talking of tenderness and eroticism and the flux of life, 'all rivers run to the sea.' Maj Ragain was born into a small, southeastern Illinois farm town. Home-tutored and raised on Vernor Lake, he earned a BA in English at Eastern Illinois University, and an MA in English at the University of Illinois. He has been on faculty, off and on, at Kent State University since 1969, where he obtained his PhD in 1990. He is the author of seven chapbooks of poetry and five book-length collections, all of which contribute to Clouds Pile Up in the North: New & Selected Poems. Maj had served for more than thirty years as host to open poetry readings in Kent, monthly, downtown, mentoring hundreds of poets through the years.

In 2015, in the wide expanse of spiritual and emotional terrain, before his passing in 2018, Maj Ragain, northeast Ohio's poetic fixture and teacher sits with Joel to talk of spirituality and mentorship, sharing poems, talking of tenderness and eroticism and the flux of life, 'all rivers run to the....

02/02/2021

Personal and Universal Dream Meaning and Integration, Waking: A Conversation with Dr. Henry 'Wadud' Cretella

In this talk from 2017, Wadud and Joel explore what is beyond psychology from a religious, mystical, and spiritual perspective in dreams; also, the relation of Freud, Jung, and Sufism and what dreams teach, symbols, where does meaning stop, archetypes, the unconscious, "accidents," "symptoms/neurosis" and the balance of our actions as tipping scales to what is good. About Henry Cretella, M.D: he has had a professional career spanning over 40 years along with his spiritual and especially mystical interests. Henry Cretella, M.D and Kathleen FitzPatrick, LCSW co-direct Amber Light International, a non-profit educational/spiritual group. Through it, they offer spiritual guidance, individual and group retreats, workshops, intensive book studies, celebrations and other related experiences. Under the aegis of Amber Light, Alchemical Dialogues (link https://www.amberlightinternational.org/podcast/) are live and unscripted conversations recorded on Zoom, with topics from our current social and cultural climate, with an emphasis on humanism and spirituality.

In this talk from 2017, Wadud and Joel explore what is beyond psychology from a religious, mystical, and spiritual perspective in dreams; also, the relation of Freud, Jung, and Sufism and what dreams teach, symbols, where does meaning stop, archetypes, the unconscious, "accidents," "symptoms/neurosi...

16/12/2020

https://unraveling-religion.castos.com/

Welcome to Unraveling Religion's page please listen share and like!

These mystical and practical discussions are explorations of spirituality and its relation to religion and psychology, with questions always. Beyond a specific religion or spiritual practice; what do we share, what do we have in common? These talks are a work in progress evolving our rich inner life, including reflections on religious texts, poems, art, and what is common in our human experience enhancing understanding of our relationships: with ourselves, with one another, and with the world we share.

16/12/2020

16/12/2020