A conversation with Bonnitta Roy
In this episode of the Ordinary People series, Rufus Pollock sits down with Bonnitta Roy to explore her extraordinary life journey, from her early days in a Connecticut factory town to her groundbreaking work in neuroscience, philosophy, and spiritual practice. Bonnitta recounts her adventurous childhood, her academic achievements, and the profound mome…
a year ago · 2 comments · Lauren Wigmore and Rufus Pollock
Loved hearing more about the divinity school at the end. Love the idea that maybe the main thing is just to help more people open their senses. That's a clear directive!
Thank you so much for sharing this interview. To me, it seems like the perfect follow up to the course on “Varieties of Spiritual Experiences… “. In particular, helpful in adding to the differential understanding between ‘spiritual’ vs ‘mystical’ experiences… not a differential i have come across before. I was left wondering if there were references for the distinction… ‘spiritual’ being more about experiences of ‘Self’ (in the W the psychological); ‘mystical’ being more about experiences of ‘Reality’ (a ‘shock’ of reality… ‘more’ real). (IF… i have understood that 5th Session???)
In the interview, it seems the ‘non-linear’ aspect of your ‘life’ story was about those experiences of ‘more’ real… of ‘getting’ the real in a depth that is illusive to language, yet profoundly influential in living/participating with life. Much appreciation for your comments about the necessity of having a ‘day to day’ grounded in ‘nature’… horses, plants, children… when the ‘mystical’ presents. ‘Conventional’ life perhaps can help ‘preserve’ the ‘day to day’… but nature is perhaps inclusive of the ‘more’ real so is not inherently dismissive?
It occurs to me to ask if the ‘mystical’ experience is related to Gebser’s ‘magic structure’… presenting a ‘shock‘ to the dominant ‘mental structure’? Would even ‘shock’ a dominant ‘mythic structure’?