Chris Smith & Dave Kopacz bring the year to a close talking about a number of themes, such as looking back and looking forward, creating sanctuaries of creativity & imagination, the start of the healer’s council, and the question of whether our country and world is metaphorically stuck in something like a chronic illness pattern.
Chris starts with a story of creating workshops on Chronic Illness Meets Love, and Mindfulness Meets Chronic Illness – and not having anyone show up! But then he is invited to join a healthcare professional to run a series of workshops on Mindfulness and Irritable Bowel Disorders. Chris introduces the idea of creating a space that can become filled with creativity & imagination.
Dave introduces the Sanskrit term guhā or cave of the heart, which he and Joseph Rael wrote about in their book, Becoming Medicine: Pathways of Initiation into a Living Spirituality. This concept teaches that there is an inner space of stillness deep within the heart, a place where the individual meets the divine. The Greek terms kenosis (emptying) and hesychia (stillness) reflect a similar state of being or practice, as well as the practice of incubation in the ancient temples of Asklepios, where initiates would lie down in darkness and stillness and wait for inspiration from dreams or visions.
Dave and Chris talk about Albert Ellis’ three musts: 1) “I must do well” 2) “you must treat me well” 3) “life must be easy.” We spoke about similarities with the Buddha’s four noble truths that begins with “life is suffering.”
Chris read the poem, “Dropping Keys,” a version of Hafiz by Daniel Landinsky, based on a story from Sufism of looking for dropped keys. (The poem can be found in Ladinsky’s The Gift, p. 205 and his A Year with Hafiz, p. 395).
The podcast closes with Dave leading a guided meditation that combines The Cave of the Heart Ceremony from Becoming Medicine with the Coming Home Ceremony from Walking the Medicine Wheel. This meditation takes us on the journey of transformation of the circulation of the blood through the four chambers (four directions) of the heart, receiving the most oxygen-depleted blood into the heart and giving away the most oxygen-rich blood to the body. After circulating around, the meditation moves into the still point of the circle, the center, the cave of the heart – a place of stillness and emptiness where one can go to feel replenished, a sanctuary of creativity and imagination at our deepest being.
We look back over the life of the podcast, Becoming a True Human, and look forward to the new year where we plan to alternate between our usual dynamic duo podcast, guests who have been foundational in creating and implementing the VA Whole Health program, and special guests – authors, artists, healers, and poets we admire.
I think we’ll call this the end of season 1! Have a great end of 2025 and we’ll see you again in 2026!
Being Fully Human 