This week, on The Conscious Consultant Hour, Sam welcomes Buddhist Nun, Ethnobotanist, and Founder of Divine Master Alchemy and the Acācea Foundation, Ven. Pema Dolma (Acacea Lewis).
Ven. Pema Dolma is an ordained Getsul (Novice) Vajrayana.
For over a decade, she has explored the intersections of high‑dose psilocybin practice, cultural anthropology, and Vajrayana Buddhism, studying with teachers such as Baba Kilindi Iyi and Lama Mike Crowley.
Her research and teaching have included the study and ceremonial application of sacred medicines such as Psilocybin containing mushrooms, Amanita Muscaria, Bufo alvarius, San Pedro, Kambo, and many other ethnobotanicals (psychedelic and non-psychedelic) with a focus on their role in cultural, medical and spiritual development all over the world.
Pema is presently preparing for a long‑term silent retreat while continuing to share her insights through select lectures and collaborations.
Tune in and share all of your questions and comments about Psychedelics and Buddhism on our YouTube livestream or on our Facebook page.
In this segment of The Conscious Consultant Hour, Sam Liebowitz reflects on the importance of embracing balance and avoiding extremes, reminding listeners that each of us has a unique center point shaped by our personal needs, values, and life experiences. Drawing from time spent in both solitude and community, from mountaintops to vibrant cities, Sam shares that honoring the full spectrum of life's choices—not just our own—opens the door to deeper compassion, richness, and spiritual growth. He encourages conscious individuals to be more open-minded, curious, and inclusive, reminding us that the beauty of life often lies in its variety and the freedom to choose our own path.
In this next segment of The Conscious Consultant Hour, Sam continues his reflections on life’s rich variety by highlighting the beauty of differing preferences—even in close relationships—and encourages listeners to try something outside their norm as a path to growth. When his guest, Venerable Pema Dolma, joins the show, she shares her deeply personal journey into Vajrayana Buddhism, emphasizing that the monastic path is often a calling rather than a decision made from ego or preference. She explains the profound distinction between attaining Nirvana and full Buddhahood, advocating for the Bodhisattva path of compassion and service to all sentient beings—a spiritual mission rooted in reverence for the sacred potential in all life.
In this final interview segment of The Conscious Consultant Hour, Venerable Pema Dolma shares her profound journey of spiritual transformation—tracing her path from early curiosity about psychedelics and Eastern spirituality to her current life as an ordained Vajrayana Buddhist nun. She explains how early encounters with suffering, systemic exclusion, and the loss of both her partner and unborn child catalyzed a deep awakening, leading her to discover the stabilizing power of Buddhist practice and the Bodhisattva path of compassion. Her integration of sacred medicines and Buddhist teachings—under the guidance of qualified lamas—served not as escapism, but as a bridge to clarity, purpose, and ultimately, the commitment to a three-year contemplative retreat aimed at fully embodying her spiritual calling.
In the closing segment of The Conscious Consultant Hour, Sam Liebowitz reflects on Venerable Pema Dolma’s moving story and expands on the theme of psychedelics as a gateway to deeper spiritual and personal insight. He emphasizes that raising consciousness—whether through sacred medicine, self-inquiry tools like human design, or practices like meditation—is a spiritual act accessible to everyone, regardless of belief system. Sam invites listeners to honor their unique path to self-understanding and reminds us that cultivating self-awareness naturally leads to greater compassion, acceptance, and a more unified world.
00:00:43.040 --> 00:00:58.699 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Good afternoon, my conscious co-creators. Welcome to another edition of the conscious consultant hour awakening humanity. I am very, very pleased that you are all here with me today.
00:00:59.290 --> 00:01:12.520 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Got a fascinating guest who hopefully will show up shortly in store for you today I'm looking forward to it. Did you catch my show last week with my dear old friend Teresa de Grobois
00:01:12.910 --> 00:01:15.259 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: talking about a retreat center in
00:01:15.700 --> 00:01:36.579 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Costa Rica Vista Mundo highly recommend, if you're thinking about hosting a retreat in Costa Rica to check it out and contact Teresa. It's a really beautiful place, and right now the retreat business is booming, so it's a good time to do a retreat if you haven't done one yet.
00:01:36.730 --> 00:01:45.059 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: All right, so let's get started my blog post for this week. Of course, from a couple of years ago
00:01:45.640 --> 00:01:50.619 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: is entitled, Extremes rarely serve us.
00:01:50.770 --> 00:01:55.420 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: for there are an infinite number of choices in life.
00:01:57.130 --> 00:01:59.630 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: We each have a center point.
00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:05.379 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: that middle ground where everything feels right.
00:02:07.270 --> 00:02:10.069 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yet for each of us it is different.
00:02:12.020 --> 00:02:19.100 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Whether it is the center point of our life, our environment, or our relationships.
00:02:20.650 --> 00:02:26.639 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: For some of us our center is always being with friends and family.
00:02:27.460 --> 00:02:32.160 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and for others the center is having time to be alone.
00:02:33.040 --> 00:02:39.310 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yet for many people. Their center is somewhere in between those 2 points.
00:02:40.160 --> 00:02:43.020 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: The same is true for our home.
00:02:43.610 --> 00:02:47.120 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Some of us like to live in the middle of a big city
00:02:47.440 --> 00:02:55.080 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: for others. That is too much energy, and they need to be in a rural area far away from people.
00:02:56.170 --> 00:03:02.890 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And then there are those of us who just want to be in nature, not surrounded by people.
00:03:03.110 --> 00:03:05.800 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: but with others close by.
00:03:07.030 --> 00:03:12.510 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: For some of us our center is all around our work or our business.
00:03:13.310 --> 00:03:17.610 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: We put everything into creating something through our labor.
00:03:18.010 --> 00:03:24.720 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: yet for others we pour everything into our relationships and our families.
00:03:26.120 --> 00:03:32.549 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and then there are those who find a beautiful balance between work and their personal life.
00:03:33.790 --> 00:03:43.319 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: For every aspect of our lives there is a continuum that flows from extreme to its opposite from one extreme to its opposite.
00:03:43.780 --> 00:03:49.390 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: that in-between landscape covers quite a bit of terrain.
00:03:49.910 --> 00:03:58.969 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: It can be easy to get caught in the mindset that a certain aspect of our lives has to be one extreme or another.
00:04:00.540 --> 00:04:05.829 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: That kind of immature thinking does not serve us very well
00:04:07.130 --> 00:04:11.240 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: as we grow and learn from our experiences in life.
00:04:11.500 --> 00:04:18.069 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: we discover that sticking to one end of the spectrum or another, it's not fruitful.
00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:22.800 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Indeed, there is so much complexity to life.
00:04:23.580 --> 00:04:28.790 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and so much opportunity to find the point that serves us the best.
00:04:29.450 --> 00:04:38.750 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: It is hard to be so extreme. Once we are aware of all the possibilities, possibilities that abound
00:04:39.250 --> 00:04:45.760 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and exist in every aspect of life, force oneself
00:04:48.830 --> 00:04:50.270 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: or another.
00:04:50.910 --> 00:04:56.180 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: To pick one extreme or another is a sign of immature thinking.
00:04:57.110 --> 00:05:02.420 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So let us find a way to make room for all the colors of the rainbow.
00:05:02.640 --> 00:05:07.640 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and allow for each person to find their own center.
00:05:08.780 --> 00:05:11.909 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Even if it is not the center we would choose.
00:05:12.610 --> 00:05:17.440 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: for there as many choices in life as there are stars in the sky.
00:05:19.700 --> 00:05:23.540 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: so can you see where your thinking is extreme.
00:05:24.280 --> 00:05:29.519 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Can you find a way to allow more center points in your life?
00:05:31.690 --> 00:05:35.840 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So, as I mentioned, over the last couple of weeks
00:05:37.040 --> 00:05:43.299 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: 2 summers ago I was in Colorado with my wife.
00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:52.020 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and she got a call from her niece that her sister was diagnosed with cancer, and she left and and went to China to see her sister, which
00:05:52.350 --> 00:05:55.690 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: we're about to go see her next week.
00:05:59.820 --> 00:06:10.820 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And so she left. But we had still made all these arrangements to to take care of these people's homes, where they were away in Colorado. So I spent the next
00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:17.530 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: week and a half 2 weeks there on my own, and so it gave me a lot of time to reflect on different things.
00:06:19.760 --> 00:06:24.930 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and and while I was out there I pretty much stayed in 2 places. I was in this
00:06:25.190 --> 00:06:29.719 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: home that was on top of a mountain outside of Golden Colorado.
00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:36.930 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: That was, you know, a half hour drive to to golden down this dirt road.
00:06:37.060 --> 00:06:41.219 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: kind of in the middle of nowhere at the top of a mountain.
00:06:42.970 --> 00:06:47.279 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And I was it was me, the cat and the dog, and that was it.
00:06:47.890 --> 00:06:51.679 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And then so that gave me some time to just be with myself.
00:06:52.710 --> 00:06:55.789 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And then from there I went to
00:06:55.900 --> 00:07:04.679 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: a place in Silverthorne, Colorado, which is a bit west from there. I think it was about an hour hour and a half drive from from
00:07:04.900 --> 00:07:09.329 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: from that golden Colorado which is just west of Denver.
00:07:10.030 --> 00:07:16.610 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and that was very different. It was more of a suburban type of neighborhood.
00:07:17.443 --> 00:07:23.259 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And I was taking care of this very cute Portuguese water dog puppy that was 6 months old.
00:07:24.880 --> 00:07:29.279 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and and so I was reflecting kind of on the difference
00:07:29.910 --> 00:07:34.209 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: between these and coming home to New York City.
00:07:34.970 --> 00:07:38.459 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and and what it was like to be
00:07:38.580 --> 00:07:45.799 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: in the middle of nowhere, in the suburban neighborhood, and then back, smack, dab in the middle of the most urban place on the planet New York City.
00:07:49.320 --> 00:07:56.760 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And then I realized that over the years I've talked to so many people, some who.
00:07:58.190 --> 00:08:07.140 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: you know just can't stand the city. It's too much energy for them. It's too built up too many buildings. They just want to be out in the middle of the woods.
00:08:08.340 --> 00:08:13.660 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and I've also talked to many people who can't stand the city, who just love being in the suburbs.
00:08:14.740 --> 00:08:22.309 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And then there are people who, just like myself, who love the city, love its vibrancy, its variety, all it has to offer.
00:08:26.420 --> 00:08:31.930 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and I was just reflecting on how none of those choices are wrong.
00:08:32.309 --> 00:08:37.710 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: None of those choices are better than another one. They're just different.
00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:50.629 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And I think that for me, having the flexibility to be able to stay
00:08:51.440 --> 00:09:12.919 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: in the middle of a city on the top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere, in a very suburban area, wherever I happen to go. You know before that the year before we had spent 3 months on the West Coast, a month in San Diego, a month in Berkeley, a month in Vancouver, and those were all different and beautiful in their own way, and we love the experience.
00:09:13.330 --> 00:09:16.459 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: though at the end of the 3 months I really couldn't wait to get home.
00:09:21.090 --> 00:09:24.809 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And so it just kind of came to me that there is
00:09:27.540 --> 00:09:33.490 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: are so many choices in life there was so much variety.
00:09:36.600 --> 00:09:41.190 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and that we don't have to stay in one extreme or another.
00:09:42.100 --> 00:09:49.980 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: that if we can find a way to appreciate all of it, that our life is much richer that way.
00:09:54.970 --> 00:10:01.119 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And so this is kind of where this blog post kind of came from
00:10:02.090 --> 00:10:07.140 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: is just really appreciating, like how much choice there is in life
00:10:07.470 --> 00:10:13.819 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and how many different options that, especially here in the United States, we're so fortunate.
00:10:14.790 --> 00:10:23.779 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: There's just every kind of different environment, different kind of neighborhood, different kind of place to live.
00:10:25.980 --> 00:10:28.839 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and we can all find what serves us.
00:10:31.490 --> 00:10:40.439 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: But we don't have to make it wrong for other people, and I have to admit for many years I did. I hated the idea of living in the suburbs.
00:10:41.540 --> 00:10:53.219 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I always kind of looked down upon people who lived in the suburbs, because, you know the city was where it's at. I mean, I'm native New York. I grew up in the Bronx. I've been living in Manhattan now for
00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:56.140 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: over 35 years.
00:10:57.990 --> 00:11:00.460 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So I'm a real city boy at heart.
00:11:01.790 --> 00:11:05.100 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: But I've really softened a lot
00:11:06.570 --> 00:11:11.789 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: to the idea that different people like to live in different places.
00:11:12.670 --> 00:11:26.929 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and where we live it's just one aspect. There are so many differences between us. There are different beliefs, different religions, different philosophies, different creeds, different races, different ethnic cultures.
00:11:27.640 --> 00:11:35.349 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And and one of the reasons why I love New York City and I love big cities so much is that there's such a blend of all of this
00:11:36.010 --> 00:11:58.000 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: that you know, if I want to go out and have great Indian food one night and and sushi the next night, and Chinese the next night, like I can walk out of my apartment, and within 10 blocks there's a dozen different ethnic foods, Ethiopian, Greek, Italian, everything, even good pizza, you know.
00:12:00.030 --> 00:12:05.640 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and I'm just such a believer that variety is the spice of life.
00:12:06.300 --> 00:12:13.710 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: that it's in all these differences and all these, all these little
00:12:14.420 --> 00:12:27.299 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: permutations, all these different flavors that are around us, that really give life such a
00:12:28.510 --> 00:12:34.849 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: rich meaning and taste, and help us to really enjoy.
00:12:37.670 --> 00:12:52.550 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And look, you know there are some people who maybe they were brought up on a farm in the Midwest, and that's all they know, and that's what they love, and they love being with the cattle or growing whatever crops they're growing, and
00:12:52.730 --> 00:12:55.309 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: you know, God bless them! That's a hard life.
00:12:56.320 --> 00:12:59.150 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and and that's what they love, and that's great.
00:13:00.940 --> 00:13:02.899 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: But I guess what I'm
00:13:04.900 --> 00:13:10.570 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: wanting to encourage all of you to do is to just be a little more open
00:13:11.420 --> 00:13:17.460 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: to something that's different than what you normally would like.
00:13:19.220 --> 00:13:27.389 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And it's those differences that can make life so rich, so meaningful.
00:13:32.060 --> 00:13:34.070 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And that's why I'm I'm
00:13:34.260 --> 00:13:39.360 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I'm such an avid learner. I feel there's so much in this world to learn
00:13:39.680 --> 00:13:42.669 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: that that there's something of value in
00:13:42.950 --> 00:13:46.800 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: all the major religions and all the different spiritual traditions
00:13:47.040 --> 00:13:53.000 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: doesn't mean you have to follow things dogmatically doesn't mean you follow every single letter of everything.
00:13:54.140 --> 00:13:58.649 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: But there's something there there's something there to appreciate.
00:13:59.880 --> 00:14:08.530 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And when we push against something when we push away when we say No, I don't like that. No, that's not good. Whenever we push away something
00:14:09.980 --> 00:14:18.510 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: we're limiting ourselves, and we're limiting our lives, and that's
00:14:20.120 --> 00:14:25.580 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I don't know for me that just doesn't feel good, that just
00:14:28.160 --> 00:14:31.190 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: doesn't feel like it serves my soul.
00:14:32.820 --> 00:14:35.250 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And look, you may have a different perspective.
00:14:35.490 --> 00:14:42.490 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: You may think that what you think is right and everything else is wrong, and that's fine.
00:14:43.050 --> 00:14:49.320 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I I'm more than happy to give you the space to live that way as long as you don't
00:14:49.530 --> 00:14:52.519 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: try and force your opinions on me.
00:14:53.130 --> 00:14:58.690 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I don't believe we have the right to force anybody
00:14:59.690 --> 00:15:03.870 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: to think a certain way to believe a certain way.
00:15:07.430 --> 00:15:10.129 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: But I do believe we all have the right
00:15:12.690 --> 00:15:14.960 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: to live. How how we choose
00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:19.070 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: to follow what we believe in.
00:15:20.710 --> 00:15:26.580 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And so this this blog post is really just a calling to you to
00:15:27.770 --> 00:15:31.370 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: maybe open yourself up to some new choices in life.
00:15:33.220 --> 00:15:37.010 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So that's my blog post. It is entitled.
00:15:37.460 --> 00:15:44.189 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Extremes really Serve us, for there are an infinite number of choices in life.
00:15:44.680 --> 00:15:51.919 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and of course you can always find my blog on my personally branded website, theconsciousconsultant.com.
00:15:53.080 --> 00:15:58.909 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And of course, on the station's website@talkradio.nyc slash blog.
00:15:59.690 --> 00:16:04.140 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Okay, so when we come back hopefully. In the next
00:16:04.270 --> 00:16:17.449 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: 2 min my guest will show up, and if not, we'll continue the conversation, and if you're listening on the live stream. Please feel free to tune in, you know. Post your comments, your questions. I'm happy to
00:16:17.660 --> 00:16:21.740 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: to touch upon anything that you would like to this week.
00:16:22.291 --> 00:16:32.010 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And we'll see how it goes. So you are listening to the conscious consultant hour awakening humanity. We do this every Thursday
00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:39.210 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: 12 noon to one Pm. Eastern time right here in Talkradio, Dot, Nyc. And all over social media.
00:16:39.640 --> 00:16:43.070 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and we'll be right back in just a moment.
00:18:28.730 --> 00:18:35.219 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And welcome back to the conscious, consultant hour awakening humanity.
00:18:35.350 --> 00:18:41.570 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Unfortunately, my guest is mia. So we're going to continue on on our theme
00:18:42.860 --> 00:18:48.170 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: of the variety of choices in life, and how they can serve us.
00:18:49.220 --> 00:18:52.760 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And you know, when I when I think of this.
00:18:53.750 --> 00:19:00.930 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: you know my wife always comes to mind because we have very different tastes and things.
00:19:02.062 --> 00:19:08.930 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: She loves classical music, opera ballet me.
00:19:09.370 --> 00:19:13.999 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I'm a tech geek. I love science fiction. I love.
00:19:16.470 --> 00:19:23.740 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: you know, action movies. I love all the all, all the pop kind of stuff.
00:19:24.030 --> 00:19:37.260 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And my wife has been really good over the years she. She came with me to see Star Wars way back when and now she loves Yoda and and she'll come to see some of the, you know comic book, superhero movies and stuff.
00:19:38.650 --> 00:19:48.979 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And look, it's not that I never go to the opera or classical music, but I I have specific tastes. So there's certain things I like certain things I don't like.
00:19:49.110 --> 00:19:55.727 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I don't mind going to a Wagner opera you know the ring cycle
00:19:56.760 --> 00:20:02.813 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and one of my favorite ones is deflate a mouse because it's a comedy, not a tragedy.
00:20:05.330 --> 00:20:21.201 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: but you know it's just not my 1st choice. It's not, you know. It's like, Sam, hey? What would you like to do tonight? It's not going to be like, hey? Let's go see a ballet, you know modern dance is okay. But
00:20:22.470 --> 00:20:30.429 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: But just because it's not my choice, just because it's it's not my 1st go to
00:20:38.848 --> 00:20:50.553 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: One second, it looks like my guest is in the wrong. There we go, all right.
00:20:51.350 --> 00:20:58.209 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I see my guest has entered the zoom room hopefully. She'll come on screen soon, and I'll introduce her.
00:20:59.270 --> 00:21:04.889 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: But yeah, so I I really do feel that the variety
00:21:07.780 --> 00:21:15.030 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: the the differences in life and and the changes that we all experience.
00:21:15.650 --> 00:21:19.230 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: that really is what gives life its flavor.
00:21:19.390 --> 00:21:25.819 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And I would just say, my one recommendation to all of you
00:21:25.950 --> 00:21:29.990 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: is to try something different this week.
00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:40.229 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Try, you know something you wouldn't normally do. Go see something you wouldn't normally go see?
00:21:40.660 --> 00:21:46.140 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: All right it is. Now, acacia you there!
00:21:46.560 --> 00:21:47.740 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Can you unmute.
00:21:47.740 --> 00:21:49.469 Pema Dolma: Hey? There! I'm trying to get my
00:21:49.580 --> 00:21:52.029 Pema Dolma: air earphones set up one second.
00:21:52.030 --> 00:22:11.390 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Okay, sure, no problem. So while she's doing all that, let me introduce her, because I'm very pleased to welcome to the show Buddhist nun, ethnobiologist and founder of Divine Master Alchemy, and the Acacia Foundation. Venerable Pima Dolma, formerly known as acacia lewis
00:22:13.210 --> 00:22:21.030 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: venerable pima doma is an ordained ghetsuul novice Vajrana.
00:22:21.300 --> 00:22:28.899 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: For over a decade she has explored the intersections of high dose, Psilocybin practice, cultural anthropology
00:22:29.030 --> 00:22:48.200 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and Vajranya, Buddhism studying with teachers such as Baba Kalindi Ei and Lama, Mike Crowley. Her research and teaching have included the study and ceremonial application of sacred medicines, such as psilocybin, containing mushrooms.
00:22:48.410 --> 00:23:05.139 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: amanita, mosquera buffo, alvares San Pedro Combo and many other ethnobotanicals, both psychedelic and non-psychedelic, with a focus on their role in cultural medical and spiritual development all over the world.
00:23:05.160 --> 00:23:19.640 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Pima is presently preparing for a long-term, silent retreat, while continuing to share her insights through select lectures and collaborations. I am very, very pleased to welcome her back to the show.
00:23:20.771 --> 00:23:22.940 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Pima, are you set up yet?
00:23:24.940 --> 00:23:26.220 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Alright? We'll give her just.
00:23:26.220 --> 00:23:28.389 Pema Dolma: Yes, yeah, I am. Yeah.
00:23:28.975 --> 00:23:29.560 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Wonderful!
00:23:30.567 --> 00:23:33.589 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: There she is, wonderful great to see you.
00:23:34.260 --> 00:23:34.870 Pema Dolma: Hello!
00:23:35.480 --> 00:23:53.460 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Hi, so I may have mentioned this to you last time, because when you came on the show we were talking more about the psychedelic aspect. And now we're going to talk more about the Buddhist aspect. But you know, the station was actually started by a Terrava, by someone who became a Theravad and Buddhist monk.
00:23:53.670 --> 00:24:14.869 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: who now spends most of his time meditating in the woods in Thailand and Malaysia. Bante, I forget his full, his full Buddhist name, but he used to be known as Giorgio Ripetti, so I always have a special place in my heart for for nuns and monks in the Buddhist tradition.
00:24:15.080 --> 00:24:33.710 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So I guess my 1st question for you is just going to be, how did you decide to become a nun? I mean, that's not something most people do. I mean, many people practice Buddhism. It's a very popular path. But what made you decide to don the robes and become a nun?
00:24:34.410 --> 00:24:45.469 Pema Dolma: Well, I get that question a lot, Sam, actually. And I didn't actually decide on my own. Generally speaking, it's not even something I would consider is really in the realm of
00:24:45.828 --> 00:25:08.030 Pema Dolma: especially in the Vajrayana tradition, Theravadan tradition. It's a little bit different, you know, a lot of young men and young women go forth, and it's kind of seemed like even kind of like going to high school, you know, in some countries. And there's even a funeral ceremony where you know you say you apologize to your parents for becoming a monk or a nun, you know, and you really take on new persona, and you
00:25:08.030 --> 00:25:19.910 Pema Dolma: you really leave behind, you know, worldly convenience, you know, taking a begging bowl in your picture, and you have your robes, and you and you live that way very simply.
00:25:20.100 --> 00:25:26.540 Pema Dolma: But Vajrayana is Tantric Buddhism, and Vajrayana is a different
00:25:27.140 --> 00:25:38.239 Pema Dolma: part of the Mahayana Deravada Vajrayana tree. I guess you can say and Bachrayana. Buddhism
00:25:38.570 --> 00:26:04.019 Pema Dolma: is very, very special to me, because my late partner was very interested in Vajrayana Buddhism, and you know there's 3 sorts of main vehicles, you know. There's the Dehravada vehicles, kind of like the considered and the lesser vehicle. Then there's a Mahayana vehicle called the greater vehicle, and then there's a Vajrayana, the lightning.
00:26:04.020 --> 00:26:20.819 Pema Dolma: thunderbolt vehicle, and none of these vehicles are great, higher or lower. I guess you could say, considering they're they're all Buddhist practices, but certain practices lead you to
00:26:20.990 --> 00:26:28.140 Pema Dolma: full, unsurpassed awakening and other practices, you know, kind of like our hot ship.
00:26:28.400 --> 00:26:58.109 Pema Dolma: It's like 50% of the way, you know you can reach Nirvana without becoming a Bodhisattva, you know, and so certain practices are more like for solitary realizers and ascetic monks who become Arhats, you know through many, many decades of devoted practice, and you know they they want to get out of Samsara, you know, and just get out, you know, and just reach enlightenment. That's the Buddhism I was accustomed to before I met Vajrana Buddhism.
00:26:58.340 --> 00:27:18.090 Pema Dolma: and you know there's really nothing wrong with you know, waking up that way, but it said, you know that the Buddhas, you know, will actually wake up that Arhat who's reached Nirvana Eons from that point and say, you've still got more to go. You know. Our precious teacher says you know
00:27:18.140 --> 00:27:47.250 Pema Dolma: our Guru says you know they'll have to. They'll have to take the Bodhisattva path eventually. They'll have to come back and help liberate beings from suffering eventually. So their work is not complete. Even once they've reached Nirvana. It's not Buddhahood. There's a big difference between Nirvana and Buddhahood. And so Vajrayana is more geared towards people who are on the path of developing a Bodhisattva qualities of compassion for all sentient beings.
00:27:47.720 --> 00:27:57.830 Pema Dolma: And that's really what makes it stand apart. Is your your everyday moment to moment life, practice your daily life, practice your your goal
00:27:58.230 --> 00:28:18.370 Pema Dolma: is to awaken for the benefit so that you can help other beings. You won't just wake up because you want power because you want fame, or because you want superpowers, and that's not a reason for your awakening. That's possible. You know. The only way that you're going to achieve. Buddhahood is, if you genuinely want to
00:28:18.370 --> 00:28:35.009 Pema Dolma: help all sentient beings to realize that they, too, have that same potential and out of compassion for them, not out of some sort of selfish aggrandizement or egotistical idealism, you know. And and so it really.
00:28:35.680 --> 00:29:04.830 Pema Dolma: it really matters that you know, from the ant, from the highest to the lowest, that you recognize that this supreme, enlightened nature is inside of that awareness inside of their awareness, and to respect all orders of life as being sacred and having the capacity, lifetime after lifetime to eventually achieve a precious human birth, and then from precious human birth. This is really the only place where we can
00:29:04.830 --> 00:29:24.229 Pema Dolma: get the work done to become enlightened, you know, and a lot of people think, Oh, I want to be a God, or Oh, I want to have superpowers, and they don't realize, you know, even though there's 6 6 realms in Buddhism, you know, there's a hell realm beings, you know, who are constantly suffering hundreds of thousands of years of
00:29:24.310 --> 00:29:50.369 Pema Dolma: of hells and suffering in our, in our Buddhist understanding of the cosmos. And then there's the the beings for the hungry goats, you know, who can't drink any food or water, and are constantly craving and thirsting for food and water, and suffering immensely. As a result, then you have, you know the animal realm, you know, and people think, oh, I want to be a cat, you know. I'm like, I don't want to be a cat, you know, cats
00:29:50.370 --> 00:29:51.130 Pema Dolma: have suffered
00:29:51.130 --> 00:30:01.680 Pema Dolma: so much, you know. The only way they can survive is by playing with their prey killing it. You know they they can't survive without creating harm for another another animal's life. You know.
00:30:01.680 --> 00:30:02.180 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I see you.
00:30:02.180 --> 00:30:05.930 Pema Dolma: Literally cat, eat cat, dog, eat dog world out there, you know.
00:30:06.070 --> 00:30:15.290 Pema Dolma: and then you have the human realm, you know, and human realm. And then above that, you have God realm. And then above the gods realm, you have
00:30:15.300 --> 00:30:40.010 Pema Dolma: the formless gods realm, you know, and you know there's desire realms, formless realms, you know, and beyond formless realms that are all very wonderful places. Don't get me wrong, but they are still not unsurpassed enlightenment to go fully beyond the realm of form and formlessness, and beyond the realm of the gods that are, you know, long live God's
00:30:40.010 --> 00:30:48.980 Pema Dolma: live billions of years, and still they have to suffer death and rebirth eventually. And so, you know.
00:30:49.350 --> 00:31:01.080 Pema Dolma: getting to know the Buddhist reality or worldview was really freeing for me, you know, because taking psychedelics, you know. You stumble into all sorts of realms all the time.
00:31:01.080 --> 00:31:02.010 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yes, yes.
00:31:02.010 --> 00:31:02.540 Pema Dolma: You know.
00:31:02.540 --> 00:31:19.650 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I want you to hold it there because we got to take a quick break. And when we come back I actually want to talk about psychedelics. The relationship to Buddhism and kind of was that your path to Buddhism? Or was it sort of a dual path happening at the same time? Okay.
00:31:19.650 --> 00:31:20.749 Pema Dolma: Okay. Yeah. Okay.
00:31:20.750 --> 00:31:31.489 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: All right. So everyone, please stay tuned. You're listening to the conscious, consultant hour awakening humanity. We're speaking this hour with the venerable Pima Doma, and we'll be right back after this.
00:33:06.990 --> 00:33:15.263 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And welcome back. So, Pima, I know you only have a little bit more time to spend with us, but I really just wanted to get into
00:33:16.170 --> 00:33:29.340 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and ask you that question of was psychedelics sort of your path to Buddhism? Was it something you found independent that worked with it, and sort of for you. What's the relationship between Buddhism and psychedelics? If there is one, maybe there's not.
00:33:29.580 --> 00:33:46.019 Pema Dolma: Well, you know, I was always interested in psychedelics and such, because my parents named me Acacia, you know, and that's the name of a psychedelic plant. You know, I realized when I was like 5 years old, Googling my name on the Internet, that there was something mysterious about my name.
00:33:46.200 --> 00:34:15.559 Pema Dolma: you know, and that was when Aol was 1st coming out, and such, you know, and then also simultaneously. You know, I really cared about sentient beings like worms and earthworms. My mom always tells me stories about me picking up worms on the sidewalk and putting them in the grass and picking up snails, and you know, I had pet crabs, you know, hermit crabs and things like that. I used to breed little fishes, you know, like different types of guppies and different types of Mollies
00:34:16.000 --> 00:34:38.449 Pema Dolma: live bearing fish. I was always very fascinated with, you know, nature and and life, you know, in general, and also Buddhism. I see a Buddhist statue I'd be like, oh, there's the real thing. I don't. I know I'm not allowed to look at it, but I want to, you know, and, you know, growing up in a Christian household that was very disciplined. You know.
00:34:38.750 --> 00:34:53.699 Pema Dolma: I wasn't educated, really, and I would find my education through National Geographics, about other cultures, religions, and spiritual traditions. And I did have a natural curiosity that erupted around the time I got married.
00:34:53.780 --> 00:35:10.519 Pema Dolma: and I got married to my partner, and I think, 2014. I remember our anniversary 2015, 2, 22 sorry anniversary, 2, 2, and my partner had a natural predisposition to
00:35:10.680 --> 00:35:34.670 Pema Dolma: dharmic activity just hated the idea of, you know, death people killing people, you know, didn't like violent movies was very calm and level-headed, and Mike really brought me closer. My partner, Mike, brought me closer to a deeper understanding of the not only the practical applications of Dharma, but
00:35:35.720 --> 00:36:04.490 Pema Dolma: the necessity of transforming oneself for the benefit of not only yourself, but also for others. You know. I guess I had thought of it as kind of like this woo, woo kind of pie in the sky. Hippie, you know religion at first, st because the people who would tell me about it always seemed to be throwing around quotes. Buddha said this, and Buddha said that, but they couldn't tell me what Buddhism was. You know they couldn't.
00:36:04.490 --> 00:36:04.930 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: The.
00:36:04.930 --> 00:36:13.530 Pema Dolma: They couldn't tell me a shred really of anything of depth, you know, and so I always was exposed to the surface, especially in the conscious
00:36:13.650 --> 00:36:42.840 Pema Dolma: community of people who were spiritual seekers. You know I was a hard Krishna for a long time, you know, because I, the Ashrams, you know, have free food on Sundays, and, you know, being a very underprivileged low income kid, you know, who was not at home, you know, as I should have been. I really appreciated that I could survive by going and spending time with the Hare Krishnas, and so that exposed me to some Eastern spiritual system. But
00:36:43.400 --> 00:36:55.140 Pema Dolma: you know, as I got older, I started realizing as a female and also as a female, you know, as an African American, there were certain areas I couldn't access
00:36:55.230 --> 00:37:12.640 Pema Dolma: of the spiritual tradition that were locked inside of the culture inside of religious beliefs about one's gender. You know, you know, females couldn't really be gurus in the Hare Krishna
00:37:12.640 --> 00:37:21.749 Pema Dolma: movement or teachers. And then, when I started talking about psychedelics oh, it was. It was a mess, you know. I got a lot of pushback, especially because I was reading
00:37:21.750 --> 00:37:43.289 Pema Dolma: about Amritas and Shivasm, you know, and I got made fun of, you know, because they're like, Oh, you're a jackass devotee. You love Shiva, you know you love all that, you know. Blue necked mushroom stuff, you know. That's not really what we do. We just chant Hare Krishna, can you just just chant, you know, and not look over there at all of the old Upanishads and stuff.
00:37:43.560 --> 00:38:00.789 Pema Dolma: Just chant the Maha mantra, and everything will be okay. And for a long time I did. And then one day my partner pulled me aside and just was like, We can't keep doing this. I can't keep going there. They don't like me. My partner was trans masculine, and he felt very uncomfortable, you know, being there sometimes
00:38:01.570 --> 00:38:09.050 Pema Dolma: not be so friendly, you know, and so around 2015 llama Mike Crowley
00:38:09.050 --> 00:38:34.380 Pema Dolma: Book came out. Of course my my partner's name was Mike, and there was a llama, Mike. And so Mike was like, Oh, look at this book, you know this guy. He's writing about what we do, you know, because Mike had already been practicing Buddhism without a teacher, you know, before I really got involved, Mike was listening to Sutras on this little Chinese app. You know, we could play the music, and it would go home.
00:38:34.810 --> 00:38:41.660 Pema Dolma: I'd be like, listen, I'd be like, Oh, that sounds good. Yeah. It needs like some some drumbeat, you know, some snare drum in the background, you know.
00:38:41.660 --> 00:38:42.170 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah.
00:38:42.170 --> 00:38:50.370 Pema Dolma: Be beatboxing to Mike's mantras and stuff, you know. And and what's so funny is those apps, you know.
00:38:50.630 --> 00:39:14.339 Pema Dolma: So funny. It's like it's like this free app you can get on the app store has all these sutras inside, and I didn't understand the value or the meaning of sutras, but because I came from a hare Krishna background. I had an appreciation for ancient texts. So I was like, well, what's their ancient text like? Do they have a Bible. Do they have some sort of book I can read, and of course, you know, I got the answer. Oh, we have 84,000, and I'm like I can't. I can't.
00:39:15.045 --> 00:39:16.529 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: 84,000.
00:39:17.890 --> 00:39:34.980 Pema Dolma: 84,000 teaching. Why do you need all those, you know, like one guy that I can read and get some wisdom out of. And so inside of my confusion about what was the main text I discovered, like Amitabha, Sutra, Lotus Sutra. These are famous.
00:39:35.890 --> 00:39:41.985 Pema Dolma: Works that are, you know, teachings of the Buddha and
00:39:42.630 --> 00:39:59.609 Pema Dolma: Mahayana teachings mainly, and I just fell in love with the iconography and the imagery of how it transported me from planet earth into the heavenly realms, you know, into getting to.
00:40:00.340 --> 00:40:11.620 Pema Dolma: you know, kind of visualize these Bodhisattvas that were there to that taken vows to liberate sentient beings from suffering. There's just so much beauty and so much depth
00:40:11.740 --> 00:40:24.719 Pema Dolma: inside of the Sutras that I was moved to tears on more than one occasion, reading them, and at some of the lowest points in my life, we read Sutras together, and really bonded deeply, and so, after
00:40:24.940 --> 00:40:30.790 Pema Dolma: Mike passed away, about 8 years later, Mike passed away. In 2021
00:40:31.800 --> 00:40:35.180 Pema Dolma: By that time Mike had decided he wanted to be a monk.
00:40:35.420 --> 00:40:43.249 Pema Dolma: and I had also decided that I was going to pursue the path deeply after we had our 1st club. Of course
00:40:43.570 --> 00:40:54.280 Pema Dolma: impermanence is something that I didn't read about in Buddhism before I got to experience the loss of what would have been my 1st child and my partner on the same day.
00:40:54.280 --> 00:40:55.360 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Oh!
00:40:55.360 --> 00:40:58.120 Pema Dolma: And so it it it.
00:40:58.340 --> 00:41:18.750 Pema Dolma: When you go through preparing to have something, have a life, or have a notion of a life that is the life that you want to live, and you spend your whole energy, your whole life fighting to have stability fighting, to have acceptance fighting, to have the basic things that you need. Then all of a sudden.
00:41:19.040 --> 00:41:23.219 Pema Dolma: life pulls the rug out from under you, as it tends to do.
00:41:23.550 --> 00:41:24.230 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: -
00:41:24.740 --> 00:41:51.300 Pema Dolma: And then you are left in shock and in grief. And then realizing well, this isn't what I thought it was. This wasn't supposed to happen. I was told that if I was a good person this kind of stuff didn't happen to good people, you know. You can make all sorts of fake justifications in your mind that you think that you're somehow above going through the worst suffering that exists. And then when you go through it, then you have to realize. Oh, everybody goes through this. In fact, so many good people go through this, and we don't talk about it.
00:41:51.320 --> 00:42:12.439 Pema Dolma: and it needs to be talked about. It needs to be looked at, this, this hurting, this humanness of pain and suffering that we all go through. We need to have a plan, you know, for it. We go through our lives so attached to the appearances of goodness, the appearances of what's comfortable, what makes us feel good.
00:42:12.900 --> 00:42:25.380 Pema Dolma: and that attachment leads us to this suffering because we feel like when the thing outside of us that's good goes away. There's nothing left for us
00:42:25.790 --> 00:42:40.650 Pema Dolma: that's what was making us happy, not our. There's nothing inside of ourselves that we can really find stability in, and finding our own Buddha nature, our own innate nature. I really it really saved my life because
00:42:41.010 --> 00:42:46.349 Pema Dolma: Lama Mike Crowley, he became my teacher, you know, shortly after the death of my partner.
00:42:47.310 --> 00:43:02.790 Pema Dolma: and kind of a really auspicious turn of events, and I got to meet him and and listen to his lectures, and I really resonated with what he was sharing. You know, about the link between psychedelics and Buddhism. But for me it was more about.
00:43:03.270 --> 00:43:17.340 Pema Dolma: how do I find stability? And he was so patient with me for so many years still is, you know, I still need to give him a phone call. You know, because he's in another country right now in Wales. But.
00:43:17.340 --> 00:43:18.430 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah, yeah.
00:43:18.430 --> 00:43:18.835 Pema Dolma: No
00:43:19.240 --> 00:43:27.470 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So do you. Still, even though you've you've become a nun, and you're engaged on this path. Do you still use psychedelics? Or or have you given.
00:43:27.470 --> 00:43:29.811 Pema Dolma: An ambiguous area, you know.
00:43:30.410 --> 00:43:47.559 Pema Dolma: secret drugs of Buddhism is secret, you know. It's not something that we just go on. Oh, we just do such and such. But I will say this because my Guru did tell me, he said, it would be good for you to tell people this. You know I years of working with mushrooms, you know, led me to
00:43:47.580 --> 00:44:04.259 Pema Dolma: being more open-minded, I would say to actual Buddhist practices, and then gave me previews of what if I actually did practice more seriously what benefits could happen? And that was very encouraging for me on my path.
00:44:04.260 --> 00:44:05.200 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Hmm.
00:44:05.200 --> 00:44:14.919 Pema Dolma: You know, and when I talk to my current Guru, who is a high lama, you know. In the lineage.
00:44:15.280 --> 00:44:28.340 Pema Dolma: he said. You know you should tell people you know the way that you became a nun. You know. I didn't ask to become a nun. He told me I would make a good nun, and then it started off with me, not believing him.
00:44:28.820 --> 00:44:47.790 Pema Dolma: I was like, I don't think you know what I really I'm really like, you know, I might seem calm and nice, and all this stuff, but I'm really not that kind of person he's like. I think you make a good nun. And so that idea was like a seed planted in fertile soil. You know, after all these years of spiritual practice and working with psychedelics, it was a seed.
00:44:48.090 --> 00:44:53.839 Pema Dolma: and then one day I had an experience with a toad venom five-omere Dmt. Bufo.
00:44:55.310 --> 00:44:56.280 Pema Dolma: And
00:44:57.880 --> 00:45:16.660 Pema Dolma: you know I'd had 6 other experiences with it. Up to that point I was fairly experienced psychonaut, but this was after he told me I think you would make a good man. I was still a lay Buddhist. And as a lay Buddhist, yeah, I did work with psychedelics for generating Bodhicitta with my Guru's instructions. You know there's a book called Psychedelic Buddhism. If you're interested.
00:45:16.660 --> 00:45:36.630 Pema Dolma: and it does outline some actual Buddhist practices that can be combined with the use of mushrooms and other substances by a lot of micro Buddhists, you know. But for ordained people there are certain regulations. You know, our Guru has to be involved in that.
00:45:36.800 --> 00:46:00.169 Pema Dolma: And so, before I got ordained, I had an experience with Buffo, and when I let go I let go in the direction of letting go, of my fear of what? What could happen, what could go wrong if I became ordained? And I had all sorts of the cooped up mess in my head about what could possibly go wrong, and how I would possibly mess it up. And then I realized.
00:46:00.530 --> 00:46:03.130 Pema Dolma: as long as I'm aware, as long as I'm present.
00:46:04.580 --> 00:46:06.169 Pema Dolma: I'm not gonna mess this up.
00:46:06.480 --> 00:46:07.390 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: There's.
00:46:07.390 --> 00:46:32.200 Pema Dolma: It's when I'm not present that I mess things up. It's when I'm not aware that I mess things up, and I was able to let go of that fear, and that conditioning that oh, I won't have enough money! Oh, I won't have enough support. Oh, my parents are going to hate me! Oh, I'll never! I'll never be loved! Oh, you know I can never love other people. I had all of this cooped up kind of a conditioning in my head as to why you just don't do that, you know, as an
00:46:33.170 --> 00:46:44.600 Pema Dolma: you know African American black woman who's, you know, studied physics in college, you know. I took skepticism very seriously. I was
00:46:45.220 --> 00:46:54.879 Pema Dolma: aging skeptic most of my time in college and and borderline atheist, you know, and it took me having these experiences and these moments of
00:46:55.420 --> 00:47:10.440 Pema Dolma: encounters with compassion, and generally from random strangers, sometimes from family members, but mostly from random strangers, and having experiences with this kind of mysterious compassion for me to really get interested.
00:47:10.990 --> 00:47:13.510 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So I know you have to run.
00:47:14.109 --> 00:47:18.919 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: You're about to engage in a in a silent retreat. For how long.
00:47:18.920 --> 00:47:19.850 Pema Dolma: It's
00:47:19.910 --> 00:47:49.670 Pema Dolma: not just silent, it's contemplative. It's our traditional 3 year retreat. It's 1 of the spiritual experiences that's recommended for monks and nuns to have if they can. They have the freedom to do so, and requires a great deal of support from your teacher, from your community, because you will be off the grid. You won't be on social media. You'll still be talking in retreat, but to your retreat, masters, and to your peers, you know, not to the outside world.
00:47:49.670 --> 00:47:50.469 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah. So we'll.
00:47:50.470 --> 00:47:52.519 Pema Dolma: Appear silent to the world.
00:47:52.520 --> 00:48:04.610 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Well, listen, I I really wish you all the best. I I hope that maybe when you come out of your silent out of your retreat that we can reconnect, and I would love to hear
00:48:04.730 --> 00:48:10.560 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: what you got out of it, and and how it supported your spiritual progress.
00:48:11.100 --> 00:48:32.189 Pema Dolma: I really appreciate that. You know my job is to study the Buddhist teachings and to pay homage, you know, and to walk in the footsteps of my of my gurus, and those who came before me, and honored in a good way, and so thank you for your support and your prayers, and I hope that I can live up to your expectations hopefully.
00:48:32.857 --> 00:48:36.970 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I have no expectations. Just curiosity. Okay, okay.
00:48:37.600 --> 00:48:43.440 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Hi, wonderful. Thank you so much. And thank you for taking the time to come on the show today. I know you're very busy right now.
00:48:43.730 --> 00:48:45.029 Pema Dolma: Thank you so much.
00:48:45.030 --> 00:48:59.160 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: You're welcome. You're welcome, all right, everybody. We're going to take a last little commercial break, and we'll come back. I just have some final thoughts before we end the show. So everybody, please stay tuned. You're listening to the conscious, consultant hour weakening humanity, and we'll be right back.
00:50:48.060 --> 00:50:51.869 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So I really want to extend my gratitude to
00:50:52.530 --> 00:51:16.579 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Pima Dolma, formerly Acacia Lewis, for taking the time to come on the show today and just speak a little bit about her background. Her experience? Why, she became a Buddhist nun, and before she goes off on her retreat, and also being open about the fact of the psychedelic influence. And and this is something that I really wanted to touch upon a little bit more. Unfortunately, we didn't have a lot of time.
00:51:16.920 --> 00:51:20.959 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: But I've had many people come on my show over the years
00:51:21.100 --> 00:51:34.240 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: who either are still actively engaged in using psychedelics or who used psychedelics, and that was sort of their gateway into spirituality, into finding a path that really served them.
00:51:35.340 --> 00:51:50.759 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And and so for me. And the reason why I have so many people come on my show and talk about psychedelics and talk about different aspects of it. I have some really wonderful guests in the fall who will be talking about it.
00:51:50.930 --> 00:52:20.709 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: But the reason why is because for me, personally, I do find it as a key for enhancing our consciousness. And to me. That's a spiritual practice, that whenever we raise our consciousness around any aspect of our life, our emotional aspect or physical aspect, you know our familial aspects, or even work whenever we raise our consciousness. That's a spiritual act.
00:52:21.810 --> 00:52:32.907 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And while psychedelics may have still a little bit of stigma from the seventies, and and still not fully accepted. I truly do believe,
00:52:34.450 --> 00:52:42.070 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: that it is really a gateway, that it is a path to
00:52:43.180 --> 00:52:52.530 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: finding our own internal spirituality, and and it doesn't matter whether you're Christian or Jew, or Muslim, or Buddhist, or Hindu, or
00:52:52.650 --> 00:52:57.470 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Jainist, or whatever your particular belief system is.
00:52:57.960 --> 00:53:03.660 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Psychedelics are non-religious. Psychedelics are non-discriminatory psychedelics
00:53:04.180 --> 00:53:10.690 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: don't care what your belief system is. They're here, I believe, to help us
00:53:10.820 --> 00:53:15.279 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: to raise our consciousness, to raise our consciousness around it.
00:53:16.270 --> 00:53:25.360 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and that can raise your your spiritual awareness in whatever particular frame of reference you choose.
00:53:27.140 --> 00:53:35.039 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And so I I guess I'm just making this sort of a call out there to anyone listening.
00:53:35.340 --> 00:53:46.140 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And even if you're an atheist, even if you're agnostic, even if you don't believe that there's spirit or God, or whatever you want to term it, even if you're a hardcore materialist.
00:53:46.540 --> 00:54:02.830 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: which, if you've listened to my past episodes, especially the one with Paul Levy about the quantum revelation. According to quantum physics. Everything is energy. So this isn't a physical universe. This is an energetic universe that just appears physical. But even if you're a hardcore materialist.
00:54:03.420 --> 00:54:06.269 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: maybe psychedelics can help you to
00:54:06.360 --> 00:54:15.920 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: be greater, aware, greater conscious of this physical reality. Look, I don't believe in denying the physical reality. I don't believe
00:54:16.000 --> 00:54:45.939 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: that we're here to ascend and leave this physical plane. I believe we're here to descend these spiritual energies into this physical world, to create heaven on earth, to create a more conscious, more mature, more ethical, more spiritual world, to live in, one which we can all be accepted for our differences. Which kind of goes back to where I started with my blog post today
00:54:46.830 --> 00:54:59.220 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: that to me the greatest challenge in today's world is the lack of acceptance of difference is the lack of acceptance of people thinking differently.
00:54:59.630 --> 00:55:03.250 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: practicing differently, dressing differently, being different.
00:55:05.450 --> 00:55:11.599 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And I think if we can just find some more acceptance through that acceptance, we can find more peace.
00:55:12.040 --> 00:55:15.179 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and that ultimately is what we all want.
00:55:18.070 --> 00:55:30.349 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So I do believe that psychedelics can help us to know ourselves better.
00:55:30.900 --> 00:55:46.930 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And that's why I like talking about it so much on the show the same way. All these different systems, like astrology, numerology, human design, the engram. They're all about helping us to understand ourselves better.
00:55:47.420 --> 00:55:57.749 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I had a group over the weekend out in Fire Island, and somebody asked one of the participants if they knew what human design they were, and they were like, Oh, I don't like labels.
00:55:58.630 --> 00:56:02.540 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: It's not about a label, it's about understanding.
00:56:02.660 --> 00:56:08.070 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: It's about being more of who and what we truly are deep inside.
00:56:10.340 --> 00:56:18.640 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and for me psychedelics is just one path towards that meditation, journaling movement.
00:56:19.450 --> 00:56:22.010 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: All of that is a path as well.
00:56:22.590 --> 00:56:25.770 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And so I'd love to hear from you. What's your path?
00:56:26.630 --> 00:56:30.689 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: What's your way of getting to know yourself better?
00:56:31.240 --> 00:56:36.500 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: How do you practice being more of who you are?
00:56:39.890 --> 00:56:48.880 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Because I think if in the end we're more in alignment with who and what we truly are.
00:56:49.690 --> 00:56:54.970 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: then we can really be more accepting of everyone else, and who and what they truly are.
00:56:58.140 --> 00:56:59.080 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So
00:56:59.600 --> 00:57:05.070 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I hope you enjoyed this episode. I hope you got something out of it. Even my ramblings in the beginning.
00:57:06.450 --> 00:57:10.690 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I appreciate you all. I look forward to
00:57:11.050 --> 00:57:39.470 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: returning. We do have some shows in store for you while I'm away, but I do hope you keep listening to the show. I got some really wonderful guests coming up later this month, September, October, November, and also in case I have forgot to mention, we do have a couple of new shows starting next week on the Talkradio dot Nyc. We do have a therapist doing a show all about
00:57:39.720 --> 00:57:50.689 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: her association with personal and spiritual development as well as psychedelics, and that show is called the Expansion Room, and her name is Siobhan Laurice.
00:57:50.700 --> 00:58:13.709 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and she's going to be starting her show. It'll start next Wednesday at 5 Pm. Eastern time. Here on the network, and on Thursdays we have another business show coming on called making sales seamless with art from at 7 Pm. On Thursdays, 7 pm. Eastern time, right after serving up success with a splash. So we're getting a nice little business block building there.
00:58:13.730 --> 00:58:20.690 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So more shows coming up making seamless sales. Yes, and
00:58:22.020 --> 00:58:27.269 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: thank you for tuning in. Take care we will talk to you all next week.
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