Sources of Inspiration: Paramananda and Atula, Working in the Depths (Pilot Episode)
Channel: The Buddhist Centre
Date: 2021-04-15

In 'Sources of Inspiration', Paramananda talks to his guests about what gets their spiritual juices flowing and has helped them stay inspired in their rich, committed Dharma lives.

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"O fret not after knowledge - I have none, And yet my song comes native with the warmth. O fret not after knowledge - I have none, And yet the Evening listens..." John Keats

Forty years of friendship around meditation, the Dharma, and a common interest in the workings of the 'psyche' - the human 'soul' - mark out this first pilot episode for a new series of live podcasts. Join Paramananada in conversation with a set of friends to explore and share together their 'Sources of Inspiration'.

Our first guest is Atula (Richard Hudson), psychosynthesist and good friend to many in the Triratna Buddhist Community. Atula has made it his life's work to consider the place of darkness, descent, depth as  experienced aspects of spiritual life, rather than an obstacle to it. What follows is itself a soulful, insightful conversation about Atula's approach in therapy and in dream work (individual and collective); particularly looking at the inspiration he draws from James Hillman in considering the deep workings of human behaviour and of the mind itself.

There's an urgent relevance here for anyone exploring ideas of integration and the felt tensions between "matter" and "spirit". William Blake meets Mickey Spillane, Sangharakshita and Northrop Frye as the conversation catches, sparks and flows in the space between the twin myths of 'authority' and 'freedom': two old friends, holding the two in balance as a creative force.

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