The Gospel of Direct Experience

We finally discuss the new documentary The Age of Disclosure and what it suggests about UFOs, government secrecy, and the possibility of non-human intelligence. Already convinced of the reality of UFOs, your hosts explore the deeper challenges of disclosure itself: psychological operations, selective truth-telling, and the difficulty of knowing what to trust when intelligence agencies are shaping the narrative. We discuss why so many credible insiders are speaking publicly now—and their suggestion that there's more—much more—they can't say. Drawing on UFO research, the work of Jacques Vallée, and the history of religious and paranormal encounter, we imagine the UFO phenomenon within a broader landscape of "high strangeness" that resists simple explanation and unsettles our assumptions about reality. Our conversation meanders (as it so often does) toward ontological shock—the disorientation that arises when our frameworks for understanding the world begin to break down—and the question of whether humanity is truly prepared for what disclosure may reveal to us about reality and our place within it. The Age of Disclosure Trailer Watch the Age of Disclosure on Prime Video Continue the Conversation What did you think about this conversation? Tell us at [email protected] or reach out at: https://www.gospelofdirectexperience.com/#contact.

What if Christianity began not as a set of doctrines to believe, but as a mystery school—an initiatory path meant to awaken direct experience of the divine? In this episode, wel trace the ancient roots of the Christian story through the lost mystery traditions of the ancient world. From the Eleusinian rites to the "dying before you die" experience, we explore how Jesus may have carried forward an older, hidden stream of spiritual practice—and what it might mean to recover those inner mysteries today. Episode Highlights [00:00:49] Inner vs. Outer Mystery We open the episode by introducing the concept of the inner and outer mysteries. Jeff reflects on his "self-initiation" as a mystic. We contrast the living, experiential "inner mystery" with the outer, dogmatic forms of religion that dominate both conservative and progressive Christianity. [00:14:35] Christianity's Forgotten Roots We trace how Christianity may have grown from the ancient "mystery schools" of the Mediterranean world—traditions that used ritual, theater, psychedelics, and more to guide people through some sort of dying-before-you-die experience. We discuss the striking similarities between stories of Jesus and earlier myths like Isis and Horus, and the theological mischief of time-traveling demons. We conclude that the Jesus story carries forward a much older initiatory wisdom—one meant to be lived and experienced, not "believed." [00:30:39] Christianity as a Living Mystery School Further "conclusions" from the previous section, included the idea that we are meant to become like Jesus, not just believe in Jesus. [00:38:55] Lost "Indigenous" Mysteries We reflect on the loss of the ancient initiatory traditions that once formed the spiritual heart of Western culture. We explore the idea that early rituals in the Eleusinian Mysteries may have included sacred plant medicines—technologies for direct encounter with the divine. We grieve how this indigenous wisdom was outlawed, forgotten, and replaced by flat, literal religion. But if the mystery could born in as unlikely a place as Galilee and Judea, could it be reborn here and now? [00:47:50] Reawakening the Mysteries We close by asking whether the ancient mysteries are reemerging in our time. We reflect on the idea that true initiation may come not from institutions but from Spirit itself—the same living intelligence that once guided the mystery schools. If those mysteries are still alive in the inner world, then perhaps the Spirit will give them back. Continue the Conversation What did you think about this conversation? Tell us at [email protected] or reach out at: https://www.gospelofdirectexperience.com/#contact.

Jeff and Michael sit down with Victoria Loorz, author of Church of the Wild, founder of the Center for Wild Spirituality, and co-founder of the Wild Church Network, for a conversation about finding the sacred beyond church walls. They talk about the experience of hearing God beneath an oak tree, encounters with owls and vultures, and why wilderness has always been the place where spiritual transformation begins. Together they explore what it means to face ecological and institutional collapse without turning away—to grieve, to stay connected, and to treat even loss as part of the holy cycle of life, death, and renewal. You can learn more about Victoria at her website or by listening to her podcast, The Holy Wild with Victoria Loorz. Continue the Conversation What did you think about this conversation? Tell us at [email protected] or reach out at: https://www.gospelofdirectexperience.com/#contact.

Psychedelics are often framed today as medicines for trauma and therapy—but what if they are something more? In this episode, we sit down with Justin Levy, founder of Spirit House in Portland, Oregon, to explore psychedelics as a path of devotion, surrender, and cultural rebirth. Justin shares his journey from early rave experiences to work with kundalini, capoeira, and ayahuasca, and how these threads wove together into a living spiritual practice. Together we ask: How do psychedelics invite us to crack open and encounter Spirit? What does it mean to center devotion rather than therapy? And how can we midwife a new spiritual culture in the midst of collapse and transformation? This is a conversation about the terrifying beauty of the goddess, the messiness of birth, and the possibility that spirit is emerging through unexpected places—if we are willing to give ourselves fully to it. Continue the Conversation What did you think about this conversation? Tell us at [email protected] or reach out at: https://www.gospelofdirectexperience.com/#contact.

In this episode, Michael finally shares the wild story he's been holding back for decades: the day in 2006 when he slipped from a meditation session in his Queens apartment back through time—waking up in his 15-year-old body in 1990. Was it something like a dream, an out-of-body journey, or actual time travel? Jeff and Michael follow the thread from memory and synchronicity into questions of how we experience time itself—linear, cyclical, radial, and kairos. Episode Highlights [00:00:50] Waking Up in 1990 Michael quickly jumps into the story that frames our whole conversation. [00:07:08] Living in 1990 Michael recounts the weeks he spent in 1990. [00:11:01] Back to the Future Michael goes back to the future and seeks confirmation of his travels back in time. [00:15:23] Follow Up Questions Jeff asks Michael some follow up questions to try to better understand the nature of his experience. [00:20:21] Meditation, Tantra, and Radial Time A deeper dive into how meditation and Tibetan tantric models (mandalas, wheel-of-time) might reshape our understandings of time—time as radial/mandalic/cyclical rather than linear. [00:33:53] Modern Time Jeff and Michael widen the lens: how do we experience and understand time in our modern lives and world? From clocks and railroads to relativity and the Big Bang. chronology vs. kairos, the social history of clocks, relativity, and speculative cosmology (how modern observations challenge simple Big-Bang narratives). [00:47:43] OBE / Astral Projection Connections They compare Michael's time story to out-of-body and astral experiences. [00:53:36] Kairos, Practical Takeaways & Sign-off Closing reflections on kairos (the opportune moment), spiritual implications for freedom from "clock time," and suggestions for small time experiments. Continue the Conversation What did you think about this conversation? Tell us at [email protected] or reach out at: https://www.gospelofdirectexperience.com/#contact.