EPISODE SUMMARY:
This week on The Conscious Consultant Hour, Sam is joined by Ralph White, a pioneer in holistic education and a guiding light in the esoteric and consciousness movements.
Ralph was the visionary co-founder of the New York Open Center, which served for nearly four decades as the city’s primary hub for holistic learning, spiritual exploration, and transformative education. Now, as Director and President of the New Center for Holistic Learning, Ralph continues this rich legacy, ushering in a new chapter for seekers, healers, and wisdom keepers alike.
In this enlightening conversation, Ralph shares stories from his remarkable journey, curating global conferences through the Esoteric Quest series, supporting the evolution of end-of-life consciousness with the Art of Dying work, and holding space for the reawakening of ancient wisdom in modern times. His path weaves together deep spirituality, cultural history, and an unwavering dedication to the inner life.
Whether you’re drawn to the mysteries of the soul, curious about esoteric traditions, or simply seeking deeper meaning in an ever-changing world, this episode will nourish your mind and heart. Join us as we explore how the sacred, the mystical, and the practical can come together to foster individual awakening and collective transformation.
Tune in and share all of your questions and comments about Esoteric Traditions on our YouTube livestream or on our Facebook page.
Sam Liebowitz opens this week’s episode by reflecting on the hidden power of coincidences and serendipity, reminding us that these moments are invitations to greater awareness rather than commands from the universe. He encourages spiritually conscious individuals to cultivate openness, trust their intuition, and discern meaning without losing sight of free will. By embracing synchronicity as gentle nudges toward growth and connection, we learn to thrive in uncertainty, open to magic, and step into new possibilities with clarity and choice.
Ralph White shared that his spiritual awakening began as a young man traveling Route 66, where the silence, vastness, and beauty of the American desert stirred a deep inner awareness that shifted him toward spirituality and holistic exploration. This journey eventually led him to co-found the New York Open Center, which grew into a vibrant hub for holistic learning, uniting art, psychology, spirituality, and consciousness until its closure after nearly four decades. Now, through the New Center for Holistic Learning, he continues the mission in a more flexible, hybrid form, affirming that the need for ecological and spiritual consciousness is more vital than ever, even if the work now calls for new approaches.
Ralph White reflected on how much has shifted since the early days of holistic learning, noting that what was once dismissed—like meditation, natural foods, or alternative medicine—has now become mainstream and deeply influential in culture. At the same time, he emphasized that new frontiers are emerging, such as a renewed exploration of healthy masculinity, deeper engagement with death and dying through death doulas and psychedelic end-of-life care, and the enduring importance of esoteric traditions. He also described his long-running Esoteric Quest, which this year will journey from Jung’s retreat center in Switzerland to Rudolf Steiner’s Goetheanum, bridging modern seekers with a living lineage of spiritual wisdom and transformation.
Ralph White closed by acknowledging that while the New Center carries forward vital holistic work, it faces challenges such as funding, shifting cultural interests, and adapting to hybrid models in a polarized world. He emphasized the importance of resilience, personal practice, and viewing today’s regressive forces as spiritual challenges to be met with awareness and courage, echoing Rudolf Steiner’s insights on nationalism, materialism, fundamentalism, and economic dominance. Looking ahead, Ralph hopes to launch a podcast to further alternative media, while reminding us that staying connected in community and rooted in purpose is essential for navigating these times and continuing humanity’s evolution toward greater consciousness.
00:00:24.760 --> 00:00:45.940 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. You are all here with me today. We've got another wonderful show in store for you with a wonderful guest, another returning guest.
00:00:45.940 --> 00:01:01.340 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I'm looking forward to bringing him on shortly, but first, st of course, we have our blog post from a couple of years ago, and this one, I think it's actually a pretty apropos blog post for our guest today.
00:01:01.440 --> 00:01:09.579 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and the title of our blog post for today is coincidence and serendipity are the magic of life.
00:01:10.830 --> 00:01:14.659 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: There are these little moments in life that are important.
00:01:14.800 --> 00:01:18.099 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: We often don't recognize their significant.
00:01:18.300 --> 00:01:24.349 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: for we pass by them without a second thought, and when we do miss
00:01:24.600 --> 00:01:29.980 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: them we and when we do. We miss a great opportunity.
00:01:30.230 --> 00:01:35.760 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Sometimes they can be subtle and quiet, so they are easy to miss.
00:01:35.990 --> 00:01:43.640 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Other times. They are profound that we so profound that we cannot help but pay attention.
00:01:44.140 --> 00:01:50.390 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: These synchronicities and coincidences can occur in our everyday life
00:01:51.230 --> 00:01:54.629 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: like a phone call from a friend we were just thinking about.
00:01:54.920 --> 00:01:59.640 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: or a chance meeting of someone who can take our life in a different direction.
00:02:00.390 --> 00:02:04.680 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: To truly take advantage of these important events in our lives.
00:02:04.830 --> 00:02:10.240 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: we can cultivate a mindset of openness and awareness about them.
00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:19.599 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So when a coincidence or a serendipitous event happens, we can take a moment and reflect on its possible meaning.
00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:22.710 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Which way are we to turn?
00:02:22.820 --> 00:02:26.299 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Do I follow this opportunity or pass it by?
00:02:26.680 --> 00:02:32.169 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: We can ask ourselves what it might be presenting to us.
00:02:33.130 --> 00:02:40.450 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: reflecting on these moments can help us gain insights and make connections that we might have otherwise missed.
00:02:41.490 --> 00:02:47.540 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Coincidences and serendipitous events often come with a sense or feeling.
00:02:48.380 --> 00:02:54.190 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Our intuition or our gut may be telling us something important.
00:02:54.570 --> 00:03:04.459 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: When we earn. When we learn to trust our instincts and follow our intuition, we can decide to act on these events more consciously.
00:03:05.040 --> 00:03:10.969 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: yet we need to remember that synchronicities are not commands.
00:03:11.870 --> 00:03:19.379 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: It is essential to use both our mind and our intuition to decide on the best course of action.
00:03:19.990 --> 00:03:26.800 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: We can use coincidences and serendipity to learn to thrive in the realm of uncertainty.
00:03:27.490 --> 00:03:32.320 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Instead of fearing the unknown. We can learn to embrace it
00:03:32.760 --> 00:03:40.480 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: by allowing ourselves to step outside our comfort zone and explore new possibilities.
00:03:41.140 --> 00:03:48.500 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: By embracing this uncertainty we can open up to a world of new potentials and new connections
00:03:49.850 --> 00:03:54.489 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: they can offer us, bring us, together with strangers in unexpected ways.
00:03:54.670 --> 00:04:03.560 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Sometimes we can decide to use these events as opportunities to connect with others who share our similar experience.
00:04:04.590 --> 00:04:15.569 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: We can engage in conversations, join communities, or even consider investigating the patterns to connect with other like-minded people.
00:04:16.440 --> 00:04:24.290 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Remember, we are all unique, but we can find common ground through the coincidences we share.
00:04:25.320 --> 00:04:32.110 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: as we cultivate, a mindset that welcomes and embraces the magic of coincidence and serendipity.
00:04:32.640 --> 00:04:36.989 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: We will begin to see that magic is all around us.
00:04:37.640 --> 00:04:40.379 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: for when we keep an open mind.
00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:44.610 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: trust our intuition, and are ready to seize
00:04:44.900 --> 00:04:50.960 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: what opportunities come our way. Life can bring us real magic.
00:04:51.830 --> 00:04:58.129 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and who knows what wonderful experiences and connections await us on this path.
00:05:00.990 --> 00:05:05.299 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So I wrote this a couple of years ago.
00:05:08.510 --> 00:05:12.319 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: It was kind of 2 things that sort of brought this up.
00:05:12.690 --> 00:05:22.830 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: The 1st was I had this. This, you know, interesting connection where I was.
00:05:23.140 --> 00:05:24.093 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I was
00:05:24.760 --> 00:05:32.970 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: doing a little ceremony around a retreat for the Evolutionary business council in San Diego a couple of years ago.
00:05:33.290 --> 00:05:42.700 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and one of the gentlemen involved with the organization, who's kind of helping to run the tech and stuff. He connected me to somebody
00:05:42.870 --> 00:05:57.339 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: who we thought might be interested in the ceremony, and it turned out that she was already committed in doing something else that same weekend. But she was helping me to try and find a place to host it, and in the end we couldn't find a place. We ended up doing it at her house.
00:05:57.550 --> 00:06:06.580 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and so one of my friends, who was attending the ceremony, who lives in Encinitas, you know, a little bit north of of
00:06:06.750 --> 00:06:11.720 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: La Jolla, where she, where her place was. I asked him to kind of help with
00:06:11.830 --> 00:06:16.959 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: bringing pads over and and helping to set up the space and stuff. And it turns out. She actually knew him.
00:06:17.290 --> 00:06:25.279 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So. So there was a connection there which was kind of funny. And actually it was kind of funny. They ended up going out after a while after they reconnected from that
00:06:26.836 --> 00:06:31.590 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and then that was in April, and then the summertime.
00:06:32.130 --> 00:06:38.840 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I got a connection from a woman who facilitates in the same lineage that I do from Florida.
00:06:39.060 --> 00:06:49.390 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and she was like, Oh, I have this woman. She wants to work with a facilitator. She she comes up north during the summer. I work with her in the wintertime. Let me connect you to her
00:06:49.520 --> 00:06:51.120 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: like, Okay, great.
00:06:52.190 --> 00:06:58.180 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And so I I set up a time to talk to her.
00:06:58.710 --> 00:07:08.630 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and then the woman who hosted me in San Diego was like, Oh, you know, during that weekend that I was at that other ceremony I I met this woman
00:07:09.230 --> 00:07:21.129 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: also from the same place, Southampton, who's also looking to work with someone. So let me connect you to them. And I thought, Wow, this is great. 2 connections in Southampton who who'd ever thought?
00:07:22.930 --> 00:07:26.840 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: But then it turned out it was the same woman.
00:07:28.090 --> 00:07:47.519 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and that to me was just so funny that 2 different people connected me to the exact same person right around the same time, and she ended up hosting us. We've done several ceremonies at her beautiful home in Southampton, and we're still working together to this day.
00:07:49.470 --> 00:07:58.419 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And so that whole incident, kind of, you know, brought to my mind this whole idea of of sort, of this coincidence and serendipity.
00:07:59.100 --> 00:08:15.740 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: But then I was talking to somebody someone I work with in my community, and they were telling me about all these coincidences, and and you know how the universe was. Quote unquote, showing them they had to do this, or they had to do that.
00:08:16.820 --> 00:08:27.119 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And so when I kind of when I hear language like, Oh, it's telling me I have to do this. I always take a step back, and I want to reconsider it for a moment, because
00:08:29.060 --> 00:08:37.620 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I don't believe that the universe, as it ever tells us, we have to do something, maybe in very extreme circumstances, but not in general.
00:08:37.870 --> 00:08:39.670 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: because we have free will.
00:08:40.020 --> 00:08:43.159 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: It's always our choice to do it or not.
00:08:44.870 --> 00:08:47.470 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And so that kind of brought up to me.
00:08:47.940 --> 00:08:58.039 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and and I felt it was important to talk about how often we think like coincidences are like a command from the universe that we should do something.
00:08:59.770 --> 00:09:00.780 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and
00:09:01.370 --> 00:09:09.579 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and I always kind of feel like no, it might be a suggestion. It's something to pay attention to, but that doesn't mean we have to do it.
00:09:09.940 --> 00:09:27.630 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And it's so funny, because I even recently had a conversation with a friend who was talking about. Oh, there were all these coincidences. And I connected with this guy. And he does these retreats, and we're going to and going to Egypt. And I just feel so called to it. And this and that I'm like, oh, really like, how much does that retreat cost? And it was like.
00:09:27.780 --> 00:09:32.769 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I don't know. Some ridiculous amount of money, $1015,000. And I was just like.
00:09:33.340 --> 00:09:40.869 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and knowing this person and knowing their situation, I was like, well, you know, I mean, that sounds really nice. But
00:09:41.190 --> 00:09:46.790 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: couldn't you really put that money towards something else that would really be more beneficial to you?
00:09:47.420 --> 00:09:50.660 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And she stopped, and she thought about it for a moment, and she was like.
00:09:50.790 --> 00:10:08.109 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah, that's true. I could use it for this, or I could use it for that, or I could use it, for you know several things. And I was just like, Yeah, I mean, it's nice. But just consider for a moment that just because there's a coincidence, just because you know something like that happens doesn't mean that you have to do it.
00:10:08.500 --> 00:10:13.740 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And so she thought about it for a minute, and we talked about a little bit more, and she kind of agreed with me.
00:10:14.570 --> 00:10:15.950 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And so
00:10:16.660 --> 00:10:23.879 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: it it really I kind of, and I don't think I've ever really talked about this in this particular manner
00:10:24.900 --> 00:10:32.949 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: that just because there's a serendipitous event, just because there's a connection unusual. And and there's a serendipity.
00:10:33.170 --> 00:10:38.009 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And and this coincidence again, not that we shouldn't pay attention to it.
00:10:39.340 --> 00:10:46.920 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: But the meaning we make from it, the interpretation we make from it is always
00:10:47.920 --> 00:10:56.170 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: influenced by our history, our past, and who we are, and and our judgment, and so it.
00:10:56.500 --> 00:11:03.620 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: These coincidences are not commands, I feel, and purely, purely my opinion.
00:11:03.960 --> 00:11:09.680 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: are not commands from God or the universe that you have to do this.
00:11:11.370 --> 00:11:13.970 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I think of them more as suggestions.
00:11:14.150 --> 00:11:19.260 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I think of them more as like opening opportunities, as
00:11:19.550 --> 00:11:22.799 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: as a little nudge in a direction
00:11:23.960 --> 00:11:27.470 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: that we have agency to decide
00:11:28.280 --> 00:11:31.080 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: whether we should or shouldn't go in that direction.
00:11:32.220 --> 00:11:39.839 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: because sometimes that little nudge might not be about actually making the decision to go to something or do something.
00:11:40.600 --> 00:11:44.660 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: But it might be a little wake-up call to practice discernment
00:11:46.160 --> 00:11:55.140 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: of how you know you normally go to something like this. But you want to look at this and see like sometimes. It doesn't always serve you in the moment.
00:11:56.770 --> 00:12:06.219 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: It doesn't always have to be a command. It can be a lesson. There can be so many different lessons to learn from it
00:12:07.460 --> 00:12:12.579 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: that it's not just a 1 opportunity, one way to move forward.
00:12:16.330 --> 00:12:20.580 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: However, it is something to pay attention to. It is something to listen to.
00:12:21.480 --> 00:12:24.120 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: just not always the way we think.
00:12:25.650 --> 00:12:32.689 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And so I felt like this topic deserved a little discussion, a little highlighting.
00:12:33.210 --> 00:12:36.010 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: just so that we could think about it just so that we
00:12:36.510 --> 00:12:43.950 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: don't fall into this trap of automatically assuming that just because something is presented to us like
00:12:44.100 --> 00:12:46.000 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: this, is it? This is
00:12:46.360 --> 00:12:50.599 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: where to go. This is what to do. This is, you know our next step.
00:12:51.790 --> 00:13:03.729 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So maybe you agree with me. Maybe you don't. I'd love to hear from you. Please feel free to email me at Sam at theconsciousconsultant.com. Let me know how you feel about it
00:13:04.070 --> 00:13:10.500 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: again. The title of this blog post is coincidence and serendipity are the magic of life.
00:13:10.880 --> 00:13:23.390 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and you can always find my blogs on theconsciousconsultant.com. And of course, on the radio station's website@talkradio.nyc slash blog
00:13:24.230 --> 00:13:38.290 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: all right. Now it is my extreme pleasure to welcome back to the show Ralph White, a true pioneer in a holistic education and a guiding light in the esoteric unconsciousness movements.
00:13:38.410 --> 00:13:53.240 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Ralph was the visionary co-founder of the New York Open Center, which served for nearly 4 decades as one of New York City's primary hubs for holistic learning, spiritual exploration and transformative education.
00:13:53.630 --> 00:14:05.599 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Now, as director and president of the new center for holistic learning, Ralph continues this rich legacy, ushering in a new chapter for seekers, healers, and wisdom keepers alike
00:14:07.610 --> 00:14:11.679 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: welcome back to the conscious consultant hour. Ralph.
00:14:11.680 --> 00:14:14.100 Ralph White: Thanks very much, Sam. Great to be here.
00:14:14.250 --> 00:14:16.220 Ralph White: It's it's a wonderful day.
00:14:16.220 --> 00:14:19.689 Ralph White: And what you said there, that was great. I thought that was right on. Yeah.
00:14:19.890 --> 00:14:29.630 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Really, really. Yeah, it's it's kind of funny how I'm just taking these blog posts in order. Yet somehow they always seem to be so apropos for.
00:14:29.630 --> 00:14:36.509 Ralph White: Well, here's here's another synchronicity. In a little over a month's time I'm going to be in the retreat center of Ouranos.
00:14:36.610 --> 00:14:46.410 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: In Lago majority in Switzerland, which is where Carl Jung developed the whole notion of synchronicity. Of course, Carl Jung, the great psychologist.
00:14:46.410 --> 00:14:46.980 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yes.
00:14:46.980 --> 00:14:57.849 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: so yeah, I'm thinking a lot about synchronicity and young right now, and to be in the very place where he met with so many of the luminaries of the mid 19th century is going to be a real.
00:14:58.450 --> 00:15:25.560 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: beautiful, beautiful. Oh, my God! I'm so jealous! I wish I could join you. Unfortunately not where life is right. Now for me. You know what we need to take a quick break rather than get started and interrupt. Let me take the break now, when we come back. Let's start off talking about like what got you initially just on this whole path. And and we'll kind of just highlight some of the points along the way and and get up to the present. Okay.
00:15:25.560 --> 00:15:26.450 Ralph White: Hey Sean!
00:15:26.450 --> 00:15:44.189 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Wonderful. So everyone, please stay tuned. You're listening to the conscious consultant hour awakening humanity. We do this every Thursday 12 noon to one pm, Eastern time, right here on Talkradio, Dot, Nyc. And all over social media, and we'll be right back with our guest, Ralph White, in just a moment.
00:18:00.280 --> 00:18:26.310 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And welcome back to the conscious consultant hour awakening humanity. We're speaking this hour with Ralph White, co-founder of the New York Open Center and director and president of the new center for holistic learning. So, Ralph, you're like me. You've been around the block a few times. You've been here. What initially got you started in this whole crazy world of esoteric learning and spiritual endeavors.
00:18:26.540 --> 00:18:34.719 Ralph White: Well, I would say that spiritual turning point for me was a trip I took down Route 66 way back, when.
00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:35.530 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah.
00:18:35.530 --> 00:18:35.995 Ralph White: I
00:18:36.870 --> 00:19:03.699 Ralph White: I 1st came. You know I'm British. So I 1st came to America as a graduate student. So when I was 21. I was in Chicago, and I answered an ad for a co-driver to La Down Route 66. Of course I always wanted to drive Route 66, and it was in the deserts of New Mexico, Arizona, the silence, the great stars overhead, the beauty, the vastness of the landscape, that it triggers some kind of awakening in me.
00:19:05.430 --> 00:19:10.130 Ralph White: And then yes, it was a whole month long journey in the beauty of the West.
00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:18.032 Ralph White: and that really launched me, and then that launched me into a whole series of deep reading, and so on.
00:19:18.540 --> 00:19:28.749 Ralph White: so I would say that was the turning point that woke me up, or should we say, alerted me to the spiritual dimension of reality? You know, growing up.
00:19:28.890 --> 00:19:56.319 Ralph White: I was not particularly spiritual oriented. I didn't grow up in a religious family. I was very aware of the wars and the holocaust, and all the horrible things that happened in the 20th century. You know. How could there be anything. How could there be a deeper spiritual reality? But with all those things happening? But then I had that inner awakening, and that's what launched me onto onto the path of deep spiritual and later holistic interests.
00:19:56.720 --> 00:20:01.319 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So it's a really kind of nature awoken something deeper within you. It sounds like.
00:20:01.320 --> 00:20:07.490 Ralph White: Yes, I think you know, I was 21, I think, in Woodley I was ready to have that change.
00:20:07.900 --> 00:20:12.280 Ralph White: And yeah, I've always been. I'm a bit of a nature mystic, even though I've lived in New York.
00:20:13.789 --> 00:20:22.700 Ralph White: But yes, it coming from Europe, you know the size, the scope, the vastness just the native American.
00:20:22.700 --> 00:20:23.270 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: No.
00:20:23.270 --> 00:20:38.630 Ralph White: Dimension was was extraordinary, you know. And then, 50 years later, or 40 years later, when I did my DNA, I find out I'm 15% native American from from Mexico or native Mexican, should we say, from the Zacateca.
00:20:38.630 --> 00:20:39.859 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Wow, really.
00:20:39.860 --> 00:20:57.100 Ralph White: Well, it was my biological grandfather who I never met. My mother was adopted. She was born in Ireland, but it was all a bit of a mystery about where she came from. Anyway, I was amazed. That was an extraordinary discovery. But yeah, that's what was the spiritual turning point in my life.
00:20:57.100 --> 00:21:19.229 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Wow! And and how did you come to co-found the open center? Because the open center for so many years was really one of the premier centers for metaphysical learning here in New York, so so many of them, like the open center, have closed down since you know, over the last 10 years, 20 years, but the open center had been around for a long time.
00:21:19.740 --> 00:21:30.600 Ralph White: Well, it was another synchronicity. Appropriately enough, before I did the open center. I was program director of Omega Institute, you know, institute upstate.
00:21:31.280 --> 00:21:34.479 Ralph White: There was a synchronicity, too, but I won't go into that one.
00:21:34.590 --> 00:21:42.010 Ralph White: and you know it was the very beginning. Omega was sort of a rundown, abandoned old family camp that had been empty for 10 years.
00:21:42.040 --> 00:21:45.660 Ralph White: and it was a mess. So we had a lot of work to do.
00:21:45.690 --> 00:22:12.309 Ralph White: and I went down to the lake one day those of you who know. And there was a guy I recognized from Findhorn. I had lived at Findhorn, you know, the Echo village and alternative community in Northern Scotland. It was an Australian bloke I had met at Findhorn years earlier and hadn't seen. And it's like, what are you doing here, and so he invited me to dinner at his place. He was living in Millbrook, and then he told me about this guy, Walter Beebe.
00:22:12.310 --> 00:22:23.340 Ralph White: in New York, who was part of a small group of people who wanted to start something in the city, and suggested I meet with him, and so, to cut a long story short, Walter and I met.
00:22:25.120 --> 00:22:25.576 Ralph White: And
00:22:26.850 --> 00:22:35.420 Ralph White: yeah, it was the only Christmas Day I ever worked on Christmas Day, 1982 was that or one or 2 2
00:22:35.570 --> 00:22:44.639 Ralph White: we decided to work together. You know we were a good combination of talents. He was actually a lawyer, and knew about real estate and creating nonprofits and all of that.
00:22:44.860 --> 00:22:55.589 Ralph White: And I had some resources. And of course, you know, I knew about the world of creative programming, and so on from being at a maker and Findon before that. So we were a good combo.
00:22:55.900 --> 00:23:01.910 Ralph White: So that's what it got, and that's what got it going. And then well, we launched in what January of 1984.
00:23:01.910 --> 00:23:08.309 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Right. And did you ever expect it to end up being as influential as it ended up being in its heyday.
00:23:08.310 --> 00:23:14.050 Ralph White: Well, I hoped I certainly hoped it would, you know. But it's it's it's always a wild gamble, you know.
00:23:14.050 --> 00:23:14.660 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Don't want to be.
00:23:14.660 --> 00:23:32.229 Ralph White: Things. There's no guarantee you're not joining some big corporation. I was doing it because I was committed to the same kind of values and vision that you have here on the show awakening humanity, the spiritual development, the need to move towards a more holistic and ecological worldview.
00:23:33.042 --> 00:23:37.299 Ralph White: So yeah, no, I I didn't need him.
00:23:37.990 --> 00:23:42.187 Ralph White: I no, I would say, yeah, that would be. That would have been my hope. But.
00:23:42.450 --> 00:23:42.980 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah, yeah.
00:23:42.980 --> 00:23:52.170 Ralph White: But yeah, it exceeded my my highest ambitions. I would say, if ambitions, the wrong word, highest hopes, and.
00:23:52.170 --> 00:24:07.250 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: What what would you say was the real turning point for the open center where you felt like, Wow, we've really achieved something we've really like, stepped into our fullness, and and people really see it now.
00:24:08.330 --> 00:24:16.260 Ralph White: Well, I can remember one evening, maybe sometime in the eighties. Some of your listeners may remember.
00:24:16.707 --> 00:24:42.609 Ralph White: The original open center building, which was on Spring Street, in Soho, downtown Manhattan, for those who don't know you in New York, and I remember coming out of the building once and standing on the other side of the street. When Spring Street, when the OS. Eighties. Was very run down, it was dark, it was empty, and just looking at what was going on. I think we had some kind of music concert going on. Was it.
00:24:42.620 --> 00:24:43.120 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And.
00:24:44.520 --> 00:24:47.080 Ralph White: Yes, it was a wonderful sort of
00:24:47.450 --> 00:25:03.169 Ralph White: spiritual jazz going on up on the 3rd floor. We had another program. I was at a Jungian program, on another we were covering the whole spectrum of the art, spirituality, consciousness, psychology, the body. In one evening, you know, we saw Friday evenings. We used to do 3 simultaneous
00:25:04.522 --> 00:25:09.499 Ralph White: and I just thought, Wow, this is really working. This is taking off. And and it's covering
00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:16.490 Ralph White: all the aspects of human. Well, not all, but a good number of dimensions of human experience
00:25:16.690 --> 00:25:36.399 Ralph White: that I wanted it to. So I think if I had to look at a moment I can remember having that feeling just standing on the other side of Spring Street, looking back at the open center building at 83 Spring Street, and seeing it alive and vibrant, and doing good work on all of those levels. So that would be the moment if I had to choose one.
00:25:37.296 --> 00:25:45.740 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Beautiful, beautiful, and and what kind of happened towards the end, like what sort of
00:25:46.090 --> 00:25:53.639 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: you know, caused the open center to to close its doors. Was it the pandemic, or or were there other factors.
00:25:53.640 --> 00:26:05.660 Ralph White: That paid a role. But no, I would say, after going for 38 years, it's relational and organizational structure. We're no longer able to really serve as a vehicle for this kind of work.
00:26:06.130 --> 00:26:06.600 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Okay.
00:26:06.600 --> 00:26:10.620 Ralph White: Own internal karma, should, we say had had evolved.
00:26:10.810 --> 00:26:14.350 Ralph White: And you know organizations have beginnings, middle and ends,
00:26:15.230 --> 00:26:21.592 Ralph White: it wasn't that the work was and was unfinished. It was it was
00:26:23.180 --> 00:26:30.430 Ralph White: It was that the open center itself, with its own internal issues, was no longer able to continue it. So we had to create something new.
00:26:31.373 --> 00:26:43.039 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Okay. And so I mean, after the open center again, 38 years is a long time to work on something after that. Did you ever think you would do another holistic learning center.
00:26:43.040 --> 00:27:02.249 Ralph White: Well, I remember thinking, you know well, I had that same perspective that I just articulated that it's not that this work is over, that we don't need these programs. It's just that the open centers internal Karma, brought it to an end. So I remember feeling, yes, let's give it a try. Let's let's see if we can continue this work. But in a different mode.
00:27:02.810 --> 00:27:11.910 Ralph White: For instance, the new center is not operating out of one building. You know, we do online stuff. We do hybrid things. We use various spaces in Manhattan.
00:27:12.270 --> 00:27:12.690 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Oh!
00:27:12.690 --> 00:27:13.956 Ralph White: Yeah. So
00:27:15.230 --> 00:27:21.730 Ralph White: yeah. And I think the need for a more holistic ecological consciousness is as if not more necessary than ever.
00:27:21.730 --> 00:27:22.530 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah, I.
00:27:22.530 --> 00:27:27.009 Ralph White: So. But we're living in different times, and of course, you know, after after the
00:27:27.300 --> 00:27:33.390 Ralph White: one of the virtues, if there was a virtue to the the pandemic was that we all got into zoom, and we got into.
00:27:33.390 --> 00:27:33.770 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Right.
00:27:33.770 --> 00:27:42.849 Ralph White: Online programs. And so now with various programs, when we did them purely in person, let's say, an art of dying training and.
00:27:42.850 --> 00:27:43.320 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Understood.
00:27:43.320 --> 00:27:48.559 Ralph White: Artistic thanatology. We have to fly people in, for you know, 6 weekends and.
00:27:48.560 --> 00:27:48.930 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Button.
00:27:48.930 --> 00:28:05.449 Ralph White: Come into new order once soon as we took it online. It it quadrupled in registration. So of course. Now, who? I think we've had our fill of a lot of that we want to mix now. It's a hybrid, but I think you know, that's there are new possibilities. Now.
00:28:05.450 --> 00:28:06.880 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Hmm, hmm!
00:28:09.250 --> 00:28:13.359 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: We we just got a minute or so before break. But I'm I'm curious.
00:28:15.580 --> 00:28:20.447 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Did you ever feel when once you started the new center?
00:28:21.300 --> 00:28:38.570 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: that this was still a labor of love, or was there any like old baggage from the open centers like oh, here we go again all right, and, you know, steal yourself up like like. Were you able to approach it with enthusiasm? Or was it more like, no, this is just something we have to do.
00:28:39.800 --> 00:28:41.509 Ralph White: I'd say it's a bit of both, really.
00:28:41.510 --> 00:28:42.050 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: It, above.
00:28:42.050 --> 00:28:44.350 Ralph White: No, I did feel a sense of.
00:28:44.590 --> 00:28:50.350 Ralph White: We should at least make a good effort to to continue this work, even in a somewhat different form.
00:28:51.030 --> 00:29:02.060 Ralph White: But there was another part of me that's oh, my God! I started working on the open center in 1983. I did Omega in. You know. What was that? 1980 or 81 or something.
00:29:02.760 --> 00:29:05.189 Ralph White: And I've been doing this a long time, you know.
00:29:05.190 --> 00:29:05.680 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Well.
00:29:05.680 --> 00:29:07.440 Ralph White: Involved with other things.
00:29:07.620 --> 00:29:09.790 Ralph White: But yes, I'd say it was a mix.
00:29:10.010 --> 00:29:37.050 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I imagine. So I imagine. So I mean, the longest I've ever done anything is what I'm doing right now, which is working with the radio station, which has been a little over 15 years now, and and I've never done anything for full 15 years except maybe being married, and just like the idea, after 38 years of then can starting something new, but sort of a continuation of what I'd be doing before I'd be like. Oh, you know, it'd feel a little.
00:29:37.050 --> 00:29:40.250 Ralph White: Yeah. Well, I can't say them. I'm not. I'm devoid of some of those.
00:29:40.250 --> 00:29:42.020 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah, yeah, I imagine, all right.
00:29:42.020 --> 00:29:45.996 Ralph White: Yeah long distance, cross country runner. So I've always had a lot of stamina.
00:29:46.750 --> 00:29:47.640 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Wow. Okay.
00:29:47.640 --> 00:29:49.490 Ralph White: On track. Keep on tracking. Yeah.
00:29:49.490 --> 00:29:50.070 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Got it.
00:29:50.070 --> 00:29:53.739 Ralph White: But of course it's also, you know, the nourishment you get from this work is that.
00:29:53.740 --> 00:29:56.360 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yes, changes people's lives for the better.
00:29:56.360 --> 00:29:56.870 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah.
00:29:56.870 --> 00:29:59.310 Ralph White: So that's what gives gives back to you.
00:29:59.490 --> 00:30:07.670 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah, absolutely. And the people you meet and the connections you make. So we're gonna take a quick break when we come back. I'd like to talk about
00:30:07.800 --> 00:30:29.150 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: sort of what's the difference, maybe, between the new center and the open center, besides, just the delivery mechanism and and like, do you see that people need things different than before, like like, is there a different calling? Is there a different desire to learn different things than before? So we'll get into all of that right after our break. Okay, Ralph.
00:30:29.150 --> 00:30:30.250 Ralph White: Okay. Sure.
00:30:30.250 --> 00:30:39.549 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Wonderful. So everyone, please stay tuned. You're listening to the conscious consultant hour awakening humanity, and we'll be right back with our guest, Ralph white in just a moment.
00:32:44.190 --> 00:32:46.779 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So, Ralph, what would you say
00:32:47.380 --> 00:32:56.070 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: is the difference today in in what people are looking for in terms of what they're looking to learn what they're looking to experience
00:32:56.270 --> 00:32:58.919 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: compared to when you started the open center.
00:32:59.200 --> 00:33:04.049 Ralph White: Yeah. Well, you know, you look back 40 years ago, and a lot of this stuff that is now
00:33:04.240 --> 00:33:06.840 Ralph White: integrated into the mainstream
00:33:07.000 --> 00:33:15.319 Ralph White: was not there, I mean, I look back. It used to be that meditation was considered a fancy word for sleep. You know.
00:33:16.270 --> 00:33:34.710 Ralph White: The New York Times was publishing OP-eds, dismissing every form of alternative medicine as snake oil, and this kind of thing, and there were concerns that any kind of opening to the mystical dimension would lead the doorway to fascism and nonsense like this.
00:33:34.880 --> 00:33:38.420 Ralph White: So yeah, I mean.
00:33:38.770 --> 00:33:46.140 Ralph White: when I was living in the north of Scotland, we were getting windmills and solar panels in the seventies that was considered totally outrageous.
00:33:46.140 --> 00:33:46.770 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Wow!
00:33:46.770 --> 00:33:49.720 Ralph White: Course it's it's crucial to the
00:33:50.040 --> 00:34:06.280 Ralph White: development of humanity. And if you've been to China, you say, Oh, my God! Look at the way the Chinese are getting into alternative sources of energy. So so much, you know, I mean, as you'll remember, the original health food stores were little Mom and pop operations. Hole in the walls
00:34:06.940 --> 00:34:33.249 Ralph White: became whole foods, and then whole foods was bought by Amazon, and so on and so forth. So you know, natural foods, complementary medicine, meditation, emotional intelligence, all of these things have become integrated into the culture. So you can say that in a way, the whatever it was, 4 or 500,000 people that came through, or participants that came through the open send. It's had its impact.
00:34:33.590 --> 00:34:41.609 Ralph White: And you know, it's not a big story and a dramatic story that the media is going to write about. But it's been a subtle evolution.
00:34:41.920 --> 00:34:42.250 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So.
00:34:42.250 --> 00:34:54.839 Ralph White: So these are different times. You know. We used to have Daniel Gold, you know, the real creator of the concept of emotional intelligence. He was our 1st mindfulness, meditation, teacher, and so.
00:34:54.840 --> 00:34:55.760 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Oh, wow!
00:34:55.760 --> 00:35:07.889 Ralph White: So. You know. On the other hand, things are coming back in a different turn of the wheel. You know. I was just looking at an old video of Robert Bly. Do you remember Robert Bly, the great poet who.
00:35:07.890 --> 00:35:08.560 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Oh yes!
00:35:08.560 --> 00:35:19.560 Ralph White: He did a lot of that pioneering work. It was men's work. I know him through the athletic side, really. But you know, now we're having a resurgence of interest in masculinity. What is healthy masculinity.
00:35:20.170 --> 00:35:26.820 Ralph White: And we're looking at doing some programs around that so that hasn't gone away.
00:35:27.100 --> 00:35:27.640 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: You can.
00:35:27.640 --> 00:35:31.220 Ralph White: You know, to move past the old, you know, macho hardcore
00:35:31.940 --> 00:35:35.269 Ralph White: male attitudes that probably you and I probably grow up with.
00:35:35.270 --> 00:35:36.350 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah.
00:35:37.110 --> 00:35:39.289 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I'm curious, because
00:35:39.410 --> 00:35:51.169 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: you mentioned before about your your work with death and dying, and and I've seen it more just in general, that as the population ages, you know this, this huge
00:35:51.340 --> 00:36:07.900 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: percentage of people who are the baby boomers, you know, are now older. Is there much more interest in the whole topic of death and dying today than there used to be? Or is it still something that people you know, kind of like? No, we don't want to talk about that until we have to.
00:36:07.900 --> 00:36:15.709 Ralph White: No, no, I think it's made an enormous stride, you know I 1st we did. We 1st did the art of dying conferences.
00:36:15.820 --> 00:36:24.680 Ralph White: holistic, spiritual and practical approaches to living and dying. We partnered with Tibet House literally 30 years ago, 1990.
00:36:25.620 --> 00:36:33.639 Ralph White: I know that has come a long way since. I was just talking yesterday with an elder, the International Association of Death. Doulas, you know, Doulas.
00:36:34.200 --> 00:36:59.719 Ralph White: It's normally a birth, Doulas, who are there to help the mother at birth or the midwife. Now we have death, Doulas, something like that has really permeated the culture. And you're getting more and more people. Training in that. Now. The open center taught a death Doula training for 10 years with a guy called Henry Fresco Weiss, and even now the an elder people, that the Death Doula people were telling me that there's now a
00:36:59.790 --> 00:37:04.709 Ralph White: a health organization. If in Florida, quite a major
00:37:04.890 --> 00:37:15.710 Ralph White: outlet for for these issues that is now incorporating doula work into what it offers as along as the the whole other pantheon of medical
00:37:15.910 --> 00:37:21.429 Ralph White: offerings that it provides. So no, this is definitely not going away ideally.
00:37:21.430 --> 00:37:21.770 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: No.
00:37:21.770 --> 00:37:26.475 Ralph White: But maybe relate to the fact that we're getting older. But it's it's not so much
00:37:27.100 --> 00:37:43.370 Ralph White: people themselves, you know, even though when we did some of those 900 person conferences, it would be a handful of people or less who were actually dying themselves. It's mostly professionals or semi-professionals work in the dying field, and that is definitely growing
00:37:43.960 --> 00:37:47.060 Ralph White: in many, many places. We just did a weekend.
00:37:47.270 --> 00:37:51.810 Ralph White: What was that a couple of months ago on the use of psychedelics
00:37:51.940 --> 00:38:14.610 Ralph White: in end of life care. So we had my friend Tony Bosses, who was the principal investigator at Nyu in the use of Ibin with stage 4 cancer patients dealing with things, you know, that come with that depression, fear of death, etc. In terms of the science. It's 1 of the many scientific experiments going on.
00:38:14.980 --> 00:38:22.230 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: You know, that's actually a topic around. I've had many people come on to talk about psychedelics, but I haven't talked about the end of life, aspect.
00:38:22.230 --> 00:38:24.019 Ralph White: Yeah. Well, that you know. Tell
00:38:25.060 --> 00:38:35.129 Ralph White: the science around that is the of all the different research, addiction, etc. Depression. The most impressive science, I'm told, is around the effect
00:38:35.250 --> 00:38:42.819 Ralph White: of people dealing with dying. So yeah, that's a real growing field. And there's some wonderful work going on there.
00:38:43.090 --> 00:38:44.920 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah, wonderful, wonderful.
00:38:47.530 --> 00:38:50.640 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So there's this esoteric conference you've been running.
00:38:50.720 --> 00:38:51.560 Ralph White: Yeah.
00:38:51.560 --> 00:38:52.720 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: For a bunch of years.
00:38:52.720 --> 00:38:53.950 Ralph White: 30 years.
00:38:53.950 --> 00:38:55.200 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: 30 years.
00:38:55.200 --> 00:38:57.499 Ralph White: Oh, my God! I can't believe it. Yeah.
00:38:57.500 --> 00:39:02.640 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah, so so what what goes on in this conference? What are you going to be talking about this year?
00:39:02.640 --> 00:39:06.800 Ralph White: Well, this year is called an esoteric quest for the mountain of truth.
00:39:07.490 --> 00:39:08.060 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Hmm.
00:39:08.060 --> 00:39:17.349 Ralph White: Wonder where the mountain of truth is the Himalayas, or maybe the Andes? No, actually, the mountain of truth is in the foothills of the Alps.
00:39:17.520 --> 00:39:22.069 Ralph White: It's it's really it refers to a place called Monte Verita.
00:39:22.190 --> 00:39:32.759 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Now this is where the counterculture was born in 19 0 1. We think you know. Most of us, especially Americans, think that the counterculture was born in California in the 60 S.
00:39:32.760 --> 00:39:33.380 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: No.
00:39:33.380 --> 00:39:43.809 Ralph White: Eb. Greenwich Village in the 19 twenties or something. But actually it began on the shores of Lago majority in 19 0 1, when the spiritual rebels of Europe.
00:39:44.030 --> 00:40:12.270 Ralph White: who were seeking to escape what Max Weber, the sociologist, described as the iron cage of thinking dominating in Europe at that time, you know, materialism, nationalism, all the things pointing towards the horror of the 1st World War. People were rejecting that women were breaking out of. You know the rigidity and repression of the Victorian age into their own liberation. People were going back to nature. So this place, Monte Verita, this pioneering colony
00:40:12.270 --> 00:40:22.359 Ralph White: that's where it all began, and it flourished between, you know, 1,919, 0, 1, and about 1925. We think if you think of people like Herman Hesse.
00:40:22.410 --> 00:40:31.809 Ralph White: you know you know her Steppenwolf, the journey to the East, the Dartah, and so on. Herman Hesse was probably one of the best known people in the West.
00:40:31.890 --> 00:40:36.779 Ralph White: or rather the English speaking world that we know. Isadora Duncan. You know the great dancer.
00:40:36.780 --> 00:40:37.380 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Oh yes!
00:40:37.380 --> 00:40:38.080 Ralph White: Fair
00:40:38.710 --> 00:40:46.759 Ralph White: people who know about bodywork and dance would know Rudolph Lauren. But it was. It's amazing to look at images from that time.
00:40:46.760 --> 00:40:47.380 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Oh, God!
00:40:47.380 --> 00:40:58.180 Ralph White: With long hair. It's people, you know. They had even natural fabric clothes. They didn't want to wear the uptight crease starch clothes.
00:40:58.180 --> 00:40:58.780 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Phone.
00:40:59.442 --> 00:41:12.500 Ralph White: And yeah. So there's a long tradition of Celtic spirituality there, too. So it's amazing to look at that men and women dancing naked together. That would have been wild in 1963 0, 3,
00:41:13.640 --> 00:41:31.619 Ralph White: I mean. So that's what this is about. I want. You know, we've been doing it. For 30 years now we've been. We've covered a lot from the ancient world antiquity, the ancient Greek mysteries, the whole world of ancient Alexandria. But I wanted to bring it up to the 20th century, because
00:41:32.210 --> 00:41:46.930 Ralph White: Yuri Steonoff, the author of that great book, The Hidden Tradition. Europe, says, the old medieval notice the old medieval, holy, sacred wisdom embodied by people like the Cathars. Many people have heard of the Cathars in the south of France.
00:41:46.930 --> 00:42:02.670 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: There was a terrible crusade organized against them, but they died out right in this area at the end of the Middle Ages, and yet, so you could say, the medieval gnosis or the medieval sacred wisdom was extinguished through the Inquisition, and things like that right in that area.
00:42:04.040 --> 00:42:29.700 Ralph White: and and it was reborn again in the same place 5 or 600 years later. So that is a sweet. So it's it's a sweet prospect. So that's what we're going to. But we're going to start off, you know. As I mentioned earlier, the 1st part will be in the retreat center of Erranos or Eranos, which some people would have heard of the Erranos. Carl Jung was there. He sort of presided. He was the predominant person there.
00:42:29.740 --> 00:42:54.399 Ralph White: It hasn't changed since the 19 forties. You walk in there, and you know you could imagine Young himself just sitting right there at his desk with his pipe and his moustache, and you know the library. It's all leather bound volumes from wall to ceiling, and you can see the big green table where he would meet with people like Dt. Suzuki. Even Joseph Campbell, I believe, was that in terms of people we know about
00:42:54.991 --> 00:42:58.000 Ralph White: so we're gonna start off there
00:42:58.490 --> 00:43:08.570 Ralph White: attuning to that particular realm. It's it's, you know, those were the people who really pioneered holistic, mythological, etc. Thinking while the rest of the world was caught in
00:43:09.146 --> 00:43:14.560 Ralph White: either, you know, existentialism or logical positivism, or some of those dead end
00:43:14.750 --> 00:43:18.799 Ralph White: worldviews. So that's where we're going to start off.
00:43:19.030 --> 00:43:28.779 Ralph White: And then we go to Monte Verite. But then we're going to wind up going into the Alps, and we're going to conclude the journey at Rudolf Steiner's Goethearnum
00:43:29.200 --> 00:43:58.099 Ralph White: people know Rudolph's people think of Steiner today as the founder of biodynamic agriculture which is now worldwide. You know it was really the rebirth of organic agriculture in the 19 twenties that Steiner pioneered, or they think of him in reference to the Waldorf school. You know now the largest independent approach to education, holistic education, head, heart, and hands for kids, but in fact, he was a tremendous spiritual, esoteric teacher of the highest order.
00:43:58.100 --> 00:44:01.119 Ralph White: Yes, I knew gave 6,000 lectures
00:44:01.590 --> 00:44:12.070 Ralph White: and phenomenally. And there's this great building outside Basel, in Switzerland, the north of Switzerland. We're going to start in the south and wind up in the north of Switzerland.
00:44:12.290 --> 00:44:16.279 Ralph White: called the Goethe Annum, done in honor of Goethe. You know the great.
00:44:16.280 --> 00:44:16.800 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah.
00:44:16.800 --> 00:44:40.009 Ralph White: Great German writer, poet, scientist, and statesman, etc. So that's where we're going to be. So we're going to start off with Jung. To me. The great is certainly one of the great psychotherapists of the 20th century. He loves the soul, and we're going to wind up with Rudolf Steiner, one of the certainly one of the great spiritual philosophers of the 20th century.
00:44:40.030 --> 00:44:46.359 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Wonderful, wonderful! Does the the new center have any courses on Steiner cause? His work is just so.
00:44:46.360 --> 00:44:52.159 Ralph White: Yes. Well, we're actually co-sponsoring a program with the Anthroposophical Society in
00:44:52.550 --> 00:44:55.739 Ralph White: September. We're gonna I will be there with
00:44:55.910 --> 00:44:59.100 Ralph White: some of us may know Daniel Pinchbeck.
00:44:59.100 --> 00:44:59.610 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yes.
00:44:59.610 --> 00:45:17.050 Ralph White: You know, Daniel. So Daniel is into Steiner. He's 1 of the few people in the sort of post psychedelic world who really understand the importance of Steiner. So with Daniel and his Liminal News and the Society and the new center, we're going to be doing a 3 part series on Steiner, starting in September.
00:45:17.050 --> 00:45:38.239 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Oh, wonderful, wonderful! Yeah, I follow. I've had Daniel on my show. I follow his blog post, and I see all his analysis of of Steiner's work and how it relates to what's going on today. I find it quite fascinating. So if I can, I'll try and make it. I have a busy September, but I'll see if I can make that all right. We're going to take a last break of the show when we come back.
00:45:38.820 --> 00:45:46.830 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: My last 2 questions for you. What challenges are you facing today? And and what does the future hold for Ralph White.
00:45:46.830 --> 00:45:47.540 Ralph White: Oh!
00:45:47.760 --> 00:45:58.120 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Right. So everyone, please stay tuned. You're listening to the conscious consultant hour awakening humanity, and we'll be right back with my guest, Ralph white in just a moment.
00:48:21.390 --> 00:48:33.449 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So, Ralph, I mean, you have so much experience between thin Horn Omega Center open center. Are there any challenges around working with the new center.
00:48:33.980 --> 00:48:36.946 Ralph White: Oh, definitely, plenty of challenges.
00:48:38.223 --> 00:48:41.469 Ralph White: Funding, of course, is always a challenge.
00:48:41.470 --> 00:48:42.000 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Oh!
00:48:42.000 --> 00:48:44.019 Ralph White: It's always the biggest one, isn't it?
00:48:44.230 --> 00:48:44.780 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah.
00:48:45.155 --> 00:48:56.789 Ralph White: Attuning to how things have changed and what people are interested in as opposed to, because so much is mainstream now and what was pioneering 30 or 40 years ago.
00:48:58.146 --> 00:48:58.793 Ralph White: And
00:49:00.870 --> 00:49:06.849 Ralph White: yeah, we we're not operating out of an office so that we don't see each other every day with the kind of.
00:49:06.850 --> 00:49:07.220 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I mean.
00:49:07.220 --> 00:49:15.889 Ralph White: That happens there. And we're all we're doing it all on Zoom, where, of course, we're not. We're we're we're having events in person.
00:49:16.010 --> 00:49:21.850 Ralph White: And online. So yeah, I would say, all of those are challenges. And
00:49:22.140 --> 00:49:24.639 Ralph White: you know, we're living in difficult times.
00:49:24.830 --> 00:49:25.270 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah.
00:49:25.270 --> 00:49:30.860 Ralph White: There's a lot of regressive forces at work in this world that can be very discouraging and depressing to people.
00:49:30.860 --> 00:49:31.510 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: No.
00:49:31.510 --> 00:49:32.195 Ralph White: And
00:49:34.040 --> 00:49:53.669 Ralph White: yeah. So I would say, those are. Those are some of the challenges. And for me, you know, of course, there's as you know, there's part of me. Look, I've been doing this a long time. I wanna continue this work. But I also want to do something different and new as well. So how to make those things work simultaneously.
00:49:53.670 --> 00:49:54.230 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Hmm.
00:49:54.230 --> 00:49:54.779 Ralph White: Is.
00:49:55.960 --> 00:50:04.190 Ralph White: that's something I'm really thinking about. I liked your ad there the people who were mixing wisdom with Happy Hour.
00:50:06.190 --> 00:50:10.660 Ralph White: So you know I'm half Irish. So that's.
00:50:10.660 --> 00:50:11.200 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah, yeah.
00:50:11.200 --> 00:50:12.450 Ralph White: Okay.
00:50:12.450 --> 00:50:21.999 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah, yeah, that's 1 of our fun. New shows. So so I guess that brings me to to my second question, which is, what does the future hold for Ralph? Is there anything new and interesting.
00:50:22.000 --> 00:50:28.250 Ralph White: Yeah, well, what I'm wanting to do in the New Year is, I actually really would like to start a podcast.
00:50:28.430 --> 00:50:29.080 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Okay, go ahead.
00:50:29.080 --> 00:50:44.120 Ralph White: A Youtube podcast kind of thing. I, yeah, during the pandemic, you know, when we're all sitting around home. And I'm, not the world's greatest sleeper. So I was. I was awake in the middle of the night many times. So I got into really listening to podcast.
00:50:44.120 --> 00:50:44.960 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Okay.
00:50:44.960 --> 00:50:46.220 Ralph White: Enjoyed them so much.
00:50:46.950 --> 00:51:03.910 Ralph White: And you know, I can remember as a kid in Wales, you know, we didn't have a TV. So we listened to the radio all the time, and you know, the BBC used to do great radio plays and so on. So it reminded me, a radio is a wonderful medium. But of course.
00:51:03.910 --> 00:51:04.350 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: You know.
00:51:04.350 --> 00:51:07.630 Ralph White: Youtube's coming into a zone, too. So that is as well.
00:51:07.820 --> 00:51:11.550 Ralph White: But yeah, I think this is a time for alternative media to.
00:51:11.550 --> 00:51:12.010 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah.
00:51:12.010 --> 00:51:15.269 Ralph White: With a decline in corporate media. So
00:51:15.380 --> 00:51:18.560 Ralph White: that's that's something that is really
00:51:19.530 --> 00:51:29.380 Ralph White: that really interests me. And I I've been too busy getting the new sense of launch to really focus on that. But in the New Year or in the fall, I want to really see if I can really develop that.
00:51:29.380 --> 00:51:31.710 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: All right. Well, let's talk when you get back from your conference.
00:51:31.710 --> 00:51:37.120 Ralph White: Yeah. Cause you know, I did. I did a radio show weekly radio show on Wbai.
00:51:37.670 --> 00:51:49.349 Ralph White: Sponsored radio station in New York for 5 or 6 years. And I really enjoyed it. And so, yeah, yeah, by all means, let's talk some when I get back, because that's really of interest to me.
00:51:49.350 --> 00:52:00.520 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So I just want to briefly touch upon. We've got a few minutes left, but something you said which I think is so important, which I know a lot of people I work with and talk with kind of feel the same way is.
00:52:00.640 --> 00:52:12.380 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: there's a lot of this, as you put it regressive energy around. Right now, it does feel in some ways like we're going backwards, that the world is getting more tribal, more authoritarian.
00:52:12.990 --> 00:52:16.069 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: What can people do as individuals
00:52:16.320 --> 00:52:30.260 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: to kind of combat that, or to just hold their own sovereignty in the face of this extreme polarization and extreme authoritarianism. That's that appears to be developing around the world.
00:52:31.410 --> 00:52:41.550 Ralph White: Well, I think one way is to take a view of what it is. What's going on right now, you know, Rudolf Steiner said back in 1919, in the aftermath of the 1st World War.
00:52:41.750 --> 00:53:02.470 Ralph White: that regressive powers retrograde powers, spiritual impulses taking us backwards, would inevitably arise in the 20th century and in the new millennium, and he identified 4 of them actually, which I think are right on. And he said, Look, these are spiritual challenges for humanity that we have to overcome.
00:53:02.630 --> 00:53:03.260 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Hmm.
00:53:03.260 --> 00:53:18.140 Ralph White: So it's part of the evolution or awakening of humanity. We have to overcome it. So, rather than just throwing our hands up in despair, and saying, all these ugly, fascistic, horrible! You know the attempt to destroy alternative energy, for instance, I mean.
00:53:18.140 --> 00:53:18.730 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah.
00:53:18.730 --> 00:53:21.690 Ralph White: So ridiculous, it's so obviously regressive.
00:53:21.800 --> 00:53:35.899 Ralph White: But if we see it as something that we simply have to deal with, we don't want to lose faith, want to lose our own centeredness? I mean those. Let me just give you those 4 different things that starts to. 1st of all, he said.
00:53:36.210 --> 00:53:39.830 Ralph White: No grotesque forms of nationalism and tribalism.
00:53:40.750 --> 00:53:43.990 Ralph White: This is before the Nazis. This is the 1919,
00:53:44.600 --> 00:53:51.999 Ralph White: he said, what he called with his tongue in his cheek. I think the superstition of scientific materialism.
00:53:52.370 --> 00:53:53.510 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Oh!
00:53:54.157 --> 00:53:58.920 Ralph White: He talked about religious fundamentalism.
00:54:00.670 --> 00:54:12.450 Ralph White: What was the 4? th I'm not thinking of the 4th right now. But yeah, fundamentalism, nationalism. Oh, yeah. And the 4th was the the primacy of economic values in all spheres.
00:54:12.450 --> 00:54:13.220 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Oh!
00:54:13.220 --> 00:54:19.440 Ralph White: Think of no neoliberal global capitalism that puts a price on everything and knows the value of nothing.
00:54:19.440 --> 00:54:20.570 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yes.
00:54:20.570 --> 00:54:26.420 Ralph White: You see it, you can see that the whole fundamental. I don't care whether it's Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and whatever it is.
00:54:26.610 --> 00:54:26.960 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So.
00:54:26.960 --> 00:54:28.689 Ralph White: It's a regressive force.
00:54:29.330 --> 00:54:33.430 Ralph White: And you see the power of global capitalism. Should we say.
00:54:33.430 --> 00:54:33.680 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Where?
00:54:33.930 --> 00:54:36.909 Ralph White: Everything is reduced to to money and profit.
00:54:37.945 --> 00:54:50.659 Ralph White: And you see that still in the academic world, and so much of the mainstream materialism is the predominant worldview there is no level of. There is nothing beyond just this physical body.
00:54:50.660 --> 00:54:50.980 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah.
00:54:51.543 --> 00:54:57.179 Ralph White: So you know these. So I think just staying centered.
00:54:57.550 --> 00:55:04.909 Ralph White: You know, it helps. It's obviously helpful. If you have some kind of personal practice, some kind of meditation practice, or wherever it is that helps you stay centered
00:55:05.550 --> 00:55:34.219 Ralph White: and keep the faith. Keep on tracking. Do whatever you do, whether you're whatever you know, because you want to contribute in some way to the evolution of humanity and the evolution of God. So if you can work in green energy or conscious business, or you know, whatever it may be, by all means do it. But it's not time to just give up the fight and go. Oh, God! These bastards are just taking over. It's part of what if we see dealing with this as part of our spiritual work? That's helpful.
00:55:35.200 --> 00:55:37.909 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: That's why we keep doing what we do at the station and trying.
00:55:38.255 --> 00:55:39.980 Ralph White: Well, good for you. Yeah.
00:55:40.490 --> 00:55:50.330 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Ralph. It's been a pleasure having you on the show. If people want to learn more about the new center and and the program that you offer? Where do they go? How do they.
00:55:50.330 --> 00:56:01.219 Ralph White: Yeah, they can. They can go to New center. ny.org. That's the main website. The esoteric quest is esotericquest.org.
00:56:01.460 --> 00:56:01.960 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Okay.
00:56:01.960 --> 00:56:09.110 Ralph White: And there's also, you know, the we're going to be doing a new art of dying training in the New Year. So art of dying.org too.
00:56:09.110 --> 00:56:13.389 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Oh, okay, those are. Those are 3. Right? There.
00:56:13.570 --> 00:56:21.020 Ralph White: I was just gonna say, my own personal website, Ralph white.net, which needs to be updated a bit. I haven't had time to do it. But yeah, Ralph, white.net.
00:56:21.020 --> 00:56:42.029 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: All right. Wonderful, wonderful! Well, Ralph, it's been a pleasure to reconnect with you. I I wish you all the success in the world with the new center. And and yeah, we'll we'll talk when you come back from your conference and see what we can do to support you and help in that process. And yeah, let's I, I think
00:56:42.480 --> 00:56:46.479 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: now is the time for people like you and me to stay connected and.
00:56:46.480 --> 00:56:47.180 Ralph White: So.
00:56:47.370 --> 00:56:48.090 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: To.
00:56:48.090 --> 00:57:00.269 Ralph White: Yeah, that's another point, Sam. Yeah, in terms of what we could, we can stay connected to strengthen numbers. We need community and to help us deal with these difficult issues. You know.
00:57:00.510 --> 00:57:04.189 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you so much. I really.
00:57:04.190 --> 00:57:06.789 Ralph White: And Sam appreciate it all. The very best.
00:57:06.790 --> 00:57:32.309 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: All right, all the best, and of course, thank you, my loyal listeners, for tuning in each week. Without you there is no show. I truly appreciate you. And don't forget. If you did miss any part of today's show, you can always catch the replay on talkradio, dot Nyc. And on all the major podcasting platforms, apple, spotify Pandora Iheartradio Amazon. Wherever you listen to podcasts, you can always find the conscious consultant hour.
00:57:32.350 --> 00:57:37.260 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Thank you all for tuning in. Take care we will talk to you all next week.
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