24: Jeffrey Kripal - Embracing the Impossible: Ontological Shock and the Extraordinary

About this episode

Jeffrey Kripal discusses the extraordinary and the paranormal, challenging our understanding of reality.

A lot of what Jeffrey Kripal writes about and explores doesn’t fit into our current worldview. A professor at Rice University, where he holds the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought, Jeff specializes in extreme religious experiences, a new comparativism in the study of religion, the paranormal, and the extraordinary dimensions of human existence. He helped create the groundbreaking GEM Program (Gnosticism, Esotericism, and Mysticism) and serves on the board of the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California. From UFOs/UAPs to near-death experiences, psi phenomena, and mystical visitations, Jeff’s work challenges us to rethink reality itself. As he puts it, “The paranormal is trying to get our attention. Reality is not what we think it is.” His 13 books, including Authors of the Impossible, Mutants and Mystics, The Flip, How to Think Impossibly, and the upcoming three-volume set The Super Story, invite readers to explore the limits of current-day thought and the vast potential of the unknown. In this conversation, we dive into grief, humor, and the transcendent. Jeff suggests that laughter can help us step outside our worldview, grief can open us to the…

People in this episode

Guest: Jeffrey Kripal

Topics covered

• extreme religious experiences
• paranormal
• mystical visitations
• grief
• laughter
• extraordinary dimensions of human existence

Keywords

• ontological shock
• UFOs
• near-death experiences
• psi phenomena
• mysticism
• reality
• extraordinary
• grief
• laughter

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Rice University, Esalen Institute

Books & works: Authors of the Impossible, Mutants and Mystics, The Flip, How to Think Impossibly, The Super Story

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