023. Rick Archer interviewed by Richard Miller - a podcast by Rick Archer

I'm the Chief Cook and Bottle Washer at Buddha at the Gas Pump. Richard Miller hosts a similar interview show called Never Not Here. Somehow we connected and he asked to interview me, not necessarily as an awakened being or teacher, but as a fellow spiritual aspirant. In the summer of 1967, when I was 17 years old, I was driving through Westport, CT with three friends in the car. One of them in the back seat was reading from a commentary on the Tibetan Book of the Dead by Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (Ram Dass). A quiet but memorable realization dawned in me that there was such a thing as"enlightenment"and that realizing it was life's ultimate goal. I rather recklessly explored that possibility through drugs for a year, then saw the futility of that approach and learned Transcendental Meditation. I taught TM for 25 years and still meditate regularly, but am not affiliated with any particular spiritual organization. I respect any of them which seem to offer genuine benefits to their participants.

Interview recorded 6/5/2010.Other talks by or interviews of Rick on BatGap:

SAND 2019 - Knowledge/Reality is Different in Different States of Consciousness2018 SAND Conference Q&A and Interview by Shakti Caterina Maggi
SAND 2017:"The Ethics of Enlightenment"Talk at Berkeley Open Circle Center
SAND 2015: Science and Spirituality: Potential Allies in Discovering TruthInterviewed by Fax Gilbert

Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

Further episodes of Buddha at the Gas Pump

Further podcasts by Rick Archer

Website of Rick Archer