Ira Israel is a licensed professional clinical counselor and a licensed marriage and family therapist. He has graduate degrees in philosophy, religious studies, and psychology. He has a private practice in Santa Monica, California as well as on-line coaching. He leads workshops at the Esalen Institute and throughout the United States. He has 28 years of experience working in various capacities with award-winning filmmakers, musicians, artists, and writers. His website is www.iraisrael.com. We di...
Mar 03, 2018•53 min
Dr. Samuel Harrington, MD, is the author of At Peace: Choosing a Good Death After a Long Life. In this important book, which James Fallows of The Atlantic calls “deeply humane,” he argues the case for taking a clear-eyed yet compassionate view towards the end of life. Most people say they would like to die quietly at home. But overly aggressive medical advice, coupled with an unrealistic sense of invincibility, results in the majority of elderly patients misguidedly dying in institutions while u...
Feb 23, 2018•53 min
Many of us have grown up watching The Ten Commandments on television. Each year we would watch Charlton Heston kill an Egyptian, rescue Midianite damsels, confront the Pharaoh with amazing miracles and the lead the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt and through the Red Sea. Is the whole thing fiction? Did the exodus even happen? Premier biblical scholar, Richard Elliot Friedman makes the case for the exodus as an event in history. He is the author of The Exodus: How It Happened and Why It Matters. ...
Feb 15, 2018•53 min
Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth (AE911truth) now has nearly three thousand professional engineers and architects calling for a new investigation into the destruction of the three World Trade Center towers on 9/11. Founder of AE911Truth, Richard Gage, AIA talks about the history of the movement, the basic facts, and the big question: will Americans ever be able to accept truths that upset their image of the world? Mr. Gage is betting they can and that Building Seven will be the eye-opener...
Feb 09, 2018•53 min
John Shuck speaks with Glenn Montogomery. He is the executive director of Vision Action Network. The mission of Vision Action Network is "to engage stakeholders across sectors to collaboratively address critical issues in Washington County.” Some of those issues include income inequality, cultural diversity, and housing and houselessness. We will also discuss initiatives such as Washington County Thrives that "is focused on a comprehensive, long-term investment strategy in proven programs that s...
Feb 09, 2018•49 min
Andreas Weber is a Berlin-based philosopher, biologist, and writer. He holds degrees in marine biology and cultural studies. He proposes the development of a “poetic ecology” which intimately attaches our species to every being and underpins the entire range of human experience. He argues that feelings and emotions, far from being superfluous to the study of organisms, are the very foundation of life. His books in English include: Enlivenment: Towards a Fundamental Shift in the Concepts of Natur...
Feb 03, 2018•53 min
The election of Donald Trump came as a shock to many. But others saw it as the culmination of a decades-long effort to uproot and destabilize America’s democratic government. My guests come from two different generations but with a similar viewpoint and quest to empower Americans to leave despair behind and embrace the new democracy movement. Frances Moore Lappe’s 18 books include the three million copy Diet for a Small Planet, described by the Smithsonian as “one of the most influential politic...
Jan 25, 2018•53 min
This is the podcast version of a live broadcast that aired January 12th on KBOO/Portland. John Shuck spoke with Catherine Shakdam, Scott Bennett, and Aisha Jumaan. They will be three of the headliners at a conference taking place at Portland State University on February 3rd, entitled, "U.S. - Saudi Coalition: Bringing Peace or War?" The conference is hosted by Roots of Conflict. Joining John in the studio was Hanan Alzubaidy and Manijeh Mehrnoosh, who are hosting the conference.-- Catherine Shak...
Jan 22, 2018•50 min
White born-again or evangelical Christians and white Catholics strongly supported Donald Trump for president. To what extent does this vote represent Christian values? What would happen if Jesus were in the White House? What would be our priorities as a nation if the values of the historical Jesus guided our budget and our actions and ethics? Ursuline College Professor, Gina Messina, asks these questions and talks with host John Shuck about her book, Jesus in the White House: Make Humanity Great...
Jan 21, 2018•53 min
California has legalized recreational use of marijuana. The law went into effect January 1st, 2018. Meanwhile, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has recently stated that he is rescinding the Cole Memo which had protected states from federal interference regarding cannabis laws. Dr. Richard Miller talks with me about the history of marijuana suppression and the suppression of other psychedelic medicines and the harm this oppression has caused. His latest book is Psychedelic Medicine: The Healing Pow...
Jan 13, 2018•53 min
Brad Warner is a Soto Zen priest. He also plays bass for the punk band, Zero Defex. And he plays a zen priest named Brad in the important film, Zombie Bounty Hunter, M.D. He also has a curious interest in the 13th century Japanese Zen Master, Dogen. He is in the process of translating Dogen’s work for a modern audience. In the course of the hour, we are going to explore a lot of stuff including Brad Warner's two books based on Dogen’s work. They are Don’t Be A Jerk and Other Practical Advice fro...
Jan 05, 2018•53 min
Stephen Gray is the author of Cannabis and Spirituality: An Explorer’s Guide to an Ancient Plant Spirit Ally. On October 1st, 2015, Oregon joined Washington and Colorado as the third state to legalize recreational use of cannabis. Now that it is easy as going to one of the many cannabis shops in the state and choosing from a wide selection of strains, many who perhaps haven’t used cannabis since college or are curious and using it for the first time may have many questions about the plant. Many ...
Dec 28, 2017•53 min
During one year, 1967, it seemed possible that the world could be transformed by peace, love, and meditation. The assassinations, violence, and polarization of 1968 hadn’t happened, and the hippies were exploring spirituality and social justice. Danny Goldberg takes us back to 1967, to the music, the acid, Jefferson Airplane, Allen Ginsburg, Black Power, and Muhammad Ali. He is the author of How the Left Lost Teen Spirit and Bumping into Geniuses: MY Life Inside the Rock and Roll Business. Danny...
Dec 22, 2017•2 hr
Jann Aldredge-Clanton didn't start out as a reformer. When she was a pre-teen, she almost starved herself to death trying to fit into the culture's feminine mold. In high school she felt inadequate because she never won a beauty crown, even though she graduated at the top of her class. Slowly, she began waking up to her own voice, and became one of the first women ever to be ordained as a Baptist minister in the South. She is the author of several books including hymnbooks in which she writes hy...
Dec 15, 2017•54 min
Les Jamieson was live with John Shuck on Friday morning December 8th on KBOO’s The Beloved Community to discuss Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that is set to expire on Dec. 31st, 2017. This is the language which allows for warrantless spying on all Americans by the NSA. According to Mr. Jamieson, a vote could be taken before recess on December 15th on bills to extend Section 702 and make warrantless spying legal and permanent. Oregon Senator Ron Wyden has propose...
Dec 12, 2017•53 min
Jorge Cham and Daniel Whiteson have co-authored We Have No Idea: A Guide to The Unknown Universe. Jorge Cham is the creator of PHD Comics and Daniel Whiteson is a particle physicist at the University of California Irvine. In this book they explain everything we DON'T know about the Universe, from Cosmic Rays and Dark Matter to time travel and the Big Bang. Filled with their popular infographics, cartoons, and clear and entertaining explanations, this book is perfect for anyone who's curious abou...
Dec 08, 2017•53 min
Ian Morgan Cron is a bestselling author, Enneagram teacher, nationally recognized speaker, psychotherapist, and Episcopal priest. His books include the novel Chasing Francis and spiritual memoir Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me. Ian draws on an array of disciplines—from psychology to the arts, Christian spirituality to theology—to help people enter more deeply into conversation with God and the mystery of their own lives. Suzanne Stabile is an internationally recognized Enneagram Master. Suzann...
Dec 01, 2017•53 min
Professor of Philosophy at Columbia, Phillip Kitcher, talks with host John Shuck about how if human beings hope to survive the looming climate catastrophes, we will need to talk it out, one to one, in families, neighborhoods, and social gatherings. The power of grassroots democracy is the theme in the latest book he co-wrote with MIT philosopher Evelyn Fox-Keller, The Seasons Alter: How to Save the Planet in Six Acts.Matt Alford along with Tom Secker have exposed new evidence that the national s...
Nov 26, 2017•53 min
The Broken Country is a book-length essay on cultural trauma and the inter-generational legacies of war. In 2012, a young Vietnamese man named Kiet Thanh Ly walked into a downtown Salt Lake City megastore, purchased a knife, and began stabbing white male passersby in the parking lot, purportedly in revenge for the war in Vietnam: a war that, due to Ly's age, he never immediately experienced.The Broken Country explores how Ly's case, and the case of other recent immigrant and refugee perpetrators...
Nov 17, 2017•53 min
This is the fifth episode in my series on 9/11. These are interviews with those who are speaking out about the 9/11 false flag and cover up. These are scientists and scholars who are showing us that the science supports what we see with our own eyes, that the three World Trade Center Towers collapsed due to controlled demolition. I have spoken with psychotherapist, Frances Shure, who is writing a series of articles entitled,"Why Do Good People Become Silent or Worse About 9/11?" We talked about ...
Nov 11, 2017•16 min
Leslea Mair is the president and CEO of Zoot Pictures out of Winnipeg, Manitoba. She talks about her latest film, Losing Our Religion, a feature length documentary about preachers who are not believers, and what atheists do when they miss church. Allowed access to the 600 members of The Clergy Project – a safe haven for preachers from all faiths who no longer believe – the documentary follows ex-members and clergy who are still undercover. The film will be screened in the Portland Metro on Novem...
Nov 11, 2017•57 min
My two guests on this episode will help us love more and remember more. Love and memory. Scott Stabile is the author of Big Love: The Power of Living with A Wide Open Heart." His inspirational posts and videos have attracted a huge and devoted social media following, including over 350K Facebook fans and counting. A regular contributor to the Huffington Post, he lives in Michigan and conducts personal empowerment workshops around the world. In the second half of the show I will speak with Dr. An...
Nov 03, 2017•53 min
What if we brought mindfulness to schools and Buddhism to economics? Clair Brown teaches at Cal Berkely and is the author of Buddhist Economics: An Enlightened Approach to the Dismal Science. Caverly Morgan is the founder of Peace in Schools, the first for credit high school mindfulness course in the nation. What if? We just might make a more compassionate world. :00-26:00 Caverly Morgan Interview26:30-53:00 Clair Brown Interview **This episode was originally broadcast in May 2017**
Oct 27, 2017•53 min
***Celene Lillie and Arthur Dewey will be at Southminster Presbyterian Church for a Jesus Seminar on the Road, November 10-11, 2017.*** The Nag Hammadi library discovered in 1945 has provided a number of alternative Christian texts. They were not included in the Bible. They have been dismissed by many orthodox Christians as Gnostic or even heresy. Yet new scholarship is discovering the complexity of these texts and the value they have for many today. Dr. Celene Lillie discusses three of these te...
Oct 21, 2017•53 min
Oregon’s military heritage goes back thousands of years, including native people’s warrior traditions. Most of the cultures in this region were relatively peaceful, even welcoming visiting strangers, such as the Lewis and Clark overland Army expedition in 1805–1806. Then, overwhelming numbers of fur trappers, merchants, settlers, and miners began taking over traditional native grounds. Oregon military historians Warren W. Aney and Alisha Hamel draw their service with the Oregon Army National Gua...
Oct 13, 2017•56 min
This week my guests discuss big problems regarding food. How can we work toward healthy food and enough food for everyone? Maryn McKenna is a journalist who writes about science, food, and disease. Like Superbug: The Fatal Menace of MRSA. But that's not the end of it. We’ve been pumping antibiotics into chicken for a good long time. They have come home to roost. We can’t make antibiotics faster than evolution. Ms. McKenna and I talk Big Chicken: The Incredible Story of How Antibiotics Created Mo...
Oct 13, 2017•53 min
What can mathematics tell us about God? According to todays guest, physicist and mathematician, H Chris Ransford, mathematics can tell us quite a bit about the classic attributes of an infinite God who is all-knowing, all-seeing, and all-powerful. The logic and beauty of mathematics offers an exciting path to exploring the nature of reality and of elevating the conversation between atheists, theists, and the rest of us about religion, science, and Godhood. H. Chris Ransford earned advanced degre...
Oct 06, 2017•53 min
John R. Gregg is an historian, a writer, researcher, educator, and traveler. He has had a lifelong fascination for the beliefs and practices of peoples worldwide. He has taught World Civilization, Anthropology, American History, and Native American History and Culture, at the University of Florida, University of North Florida, and other universities. He has lived, worked and travelled extensively in Asia, and North and South America , studying religious and cultural practices throughout the worl...
Sep 28, 2017•53 min
This is my fourth episode in my series on 9/11. Most will dismiss this as a conspiracy theory as the CIA and its obedient media have instructed us. But some will open their minds and face the evidence. Opening minds is what we do on Progressive Spirit. Already in this series, I have spoken with psychotherapist, Frances Shure, who is writing a series of articles entitled, “Why Do Good People Become Silent or Worse About 9/11.” We talked about the psychological blocks that keep us from information...
Sep 21, 2017•53 min
Since 1973, Justine Willis Toms has been exploring personal, social, and spiritual transformation through her work as an electronic journalist, editor, and writer. She is the co-founder, managing producer, and host of New Dimensions Radio/Media. She has also produced many award-winning radio series, including Deep Ecology for the 21st Century, and Bioneers: Revolution From the Heart of Nature. She is coauthor of True Work: Doing What You Love and Loving What You Do, and author of Small Pleasures...
Sep 15, 2017•53 min
