Entering into the Consciousness Worldview of Jeffrey Kripal
The Secret Body
Jeffrey J. Kripal holds the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University. In this ongoing series of conversations, Jeffrey talks with Host Michael Lerner about his body of work—more than 13 groundbreaking books about the mystical and the erotic, the relationship of mind and matter, and parapsychological phenomena. Michael has been reading, talking, and meeting with Jeffrey for more than a year now, immersing himself in the consciousness worldview that Jeffrey presents in his books and teaching. Follow Michael’s journey through these conversations.
Course Material
Pre-Read for The Secret Body Series
In this introductory document to the Secret Body self-paced course, Host Michael Lerner offers an introduction to Jeffrey Kripal's work, as well as suggestions on what to read to orient yourself to his work before, or while, you explore the conversations.
The Superhumanities: Historical Precedents, Moral Objections
Recorded in 2024, this conversation is an overview and precursor to the Secret Body conversation series, with Host Michael Lerner in conversation with Jeffrey J. Kripal about his work of more than a dozen books about new consciousness.
The Secret Body
In this series, Author and Professor Jeffrey J. Kripal talks with Host Michael Lerner about his body of work—more than 13 groundbreaking books about the mystical and the erotic, the relationship of mind and matter, and parapsychological phenomena.
Kali’s Child
In part 2 of this series, Host Michael Lerner talks with author and professor Jeffrey Kripal about his book Kali’s Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna. This was a revised version of his PhD dissertation at the University of Chicago. It was greeted with acclaim in the West and with vitriol by Hindu fundamentalists. It begins Kripal's long study of homoerotic themes in world religions.
Roads of Excess
In part 3 of this series, Host Michael Lerner talks with author Jeffrey Kripal about his book Roads of Excess, Palaces of Wisdom: Eroticism and Reflexivity in the Study of Mysticism. Roads continues and expands Kripal's exploration of homoerotics themes in world religion. It focuses on the inner lives of five great scholars of religion and their own engagement with the homoerotic themes in the saints and traditions they studied. Kripal also continues his own autobiographical experience with five "secret talks" interspersed with his five case studies.
Esalen
In part 4, Jeffrey Kripal and Host Michael Lerner explore Jeffrey’s remarkable history of Esalen in Esalen—The American Religion of No Religion. This astonishing cultural history of the famed retreat and conference center in Big Sur provides a panoramic insight of West Coast counter-culture over the past half century. No one serious about understanding our times should miss it. You can find more information on his website jeffreyjkripal.com.
Serpent’s Gift
In part 5 of this series, Host Michael Lerner talks with author Jeffrey Kripal about his book The Serpent's Gift—Reflections on the Study of Religion. The book is a provocative call for a complete reorientation of religious studies—a reversal of the Adam and Eve story—aimed at a larger understanding of the world, the self, and the divine. He considers Feuerbach’s Gnosticism, the untapped mystical potential of comparative religion, and even the modern mythology of the X-Men.
Authors of the Impossible
In part 6 of our series with Jeffrey Kripal and Host Michael Lerner, they discuss Jeffrey's Authors of the Impossible: The Paranormal and the Sacred. The history of psychical phenomena, Jeffrey contends, is an untapped source of insight into the sacred. The cultural history of telepathy, teleportation, and UFOs; a ghostly love story; the occult dimensions of science fiction; cold war psychic espionage; galactic colonialism; and the intimate relationship between consciousness and culture all come together in Authors of the Impossible, a dazzling and profound look at how the paranormal bridges the sacred and the scientific.
Mutants and Mystics
In part 7 of the series, Host Michael Lerner talks with Jeffrey Kripal about his book Mutants and Mystics: Science Fiction, Superhero Comics, and the Paranormal. In the book, Jeffrey shows how creators turned to science fiction to convey the reality of the inexplicable and the paranormal they experienced in their lives. He spins out a hidden history of American culture, rich with mythical themes and shot through with an awareness that there are other realities far beyond our everyday understanding. You can find more information on his website jeffreyjkripal.com.
Jeffrey J. Kripal
Jeffrey is the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University, where he also hosts the Archives of the Impossible collection and conference series. He co-directs the Center for Theory and Research at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, and sits on numerous advisory boards in the United States and Europe involving the nature of consciousness and the human, social, and natural sciences. Most recently, Jeff is the author of The Superhumanities: Historical Precedents, Moral Objections, New Realities (Chicago 2022), where he intuits an emerging order of knowledge that can engage in robust moral criticism but also affirm the superhuman or nonhuman dimensions of our histories and futures; and How to Think Impossibly: About Souls, UFOs, Time, Belief, and Everything Else (Chicago 2024), which thinks—with experiencers of the extreme–toward a future form of theory that does not separate the mental and the material. His full body of work can be seen at jeffreyjkripal.com. He thinks he may be Spider-Man.