Western Psychology, Eastern Spirituality with Jeffrey Rubin (#390)

Western Psychology, Eastern Spirituality with Jeffrey Rubin (#390)

From Religion on the Mind by Dan Koch

March 30, 2026 · 1h 8m

About this episode

Dan Koch interviews Dr. Jeffrey Rubin about the integration of Western psychoanalysis and Eastern contemplative practices in meditative psychotherapy.

I sit down with clinical psychologist and author Dr. Jeffrey Rubin to explore his concept of meditative psychotherapy — a genuinely reciprocal integration of Western psychoanalysis and Eastern contemplative practice that goes far deeper than the usual mindfulness-lite approaches. We get into what meditation actually is (hint: not just stress relief), spiritual bypassing, the scandals that keep plaguing Buddhist communities, and why real healing requires both quieting the mind and doing hard psychological work. Highlights: Meditation isn't just symptom reduction East-West integration done poorly vs. well Spiritual bypassing across traditions AI, dreams, and idiographic meaning Three stages of meditative psychotherapy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: Dan Koch

Guest: Dr. Jeffrey Rubin

Topics covered

  • meditative psychotherapy
  • Western psychology
  • Eastern spirituality
  • spiritual bypassing
  • meditation
  • psychological work

Keywords

  • meditation
  • psychotherapy
  • spiritual bypassing
  • Eastern spirituality
  • Western psychology
  • mental health
  • Buddhism

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Buddhist communities

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