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Tangentially Speaking with Christopher Ryan

628 - Aaron Rivera

Tangentially Speaking with Christopher Ryan

Chris Ryan

Society & Culture, Arts

4.82.3K Ratings

🗓️ 11 November 2024

⏱️ 99 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

I met Aaron at the Budokon retreat this summer, and I was immediately impressed by his candor, kindness, and the depth of his intellect. Then, when I learned that he led men’s groups, I thought he’d be a great guest for the podcast, since I know little about that world and, in fact, have some resistance to what often ends up being somewhat exploitative of men’s very real sense of alienation and desperation. But Aaron seemed like the real deal, so I invited him to set me straight on that.

Please check out Khuda, the app I mentioned, and let Pete Lord and me know what you think.

Intro music “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin and Range. “Stand by Me,” by Ben E. King, performed by Stephen Wilson, Jr. (video below). Outro: “Smoke Alarm,” by Carsie Blanton.



This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Radio Mano, Papa Chango I identified with my shame and my judgment most of my life.

0:32.3

But when I had the opportunity to trust somebody else or a circle of men, I had to ask myself, like,

0:40.9

where do I put my faith? Do I put my faith in the protection mechanism that I've known and in

0:46.0

the hiding and in the fear and in the shame? Or do I put my faith in something else, in the

0:53.0

possibility that the truth will set us free.

0:58.7

That is the question, is it not? That's today's guest. His name is Aaron Rivera. I met him at the

1:07.4

Boudiccan retreat this summer. And, you know, I think it's been a while since we have this conversation, so I don't remember all the details.

1:18.6

But I believe that in the conversation, we talked about how impressed I was listening to him speaking in different group settings.

1:33.2

And I asked him at some point what he did for living,

1:37.6

and he told me that he led men's groups in, I think in Guatemala, he said, around somewhere in Lake Atitlan,

1:48.4

an amazing place.

1:50.4

And it was interesting because I felt like, oh, this, I like this guy, but this is the kind

1:57.6

of guy I don't like.

1:59.9

You know, at the same time, it was like, you know, the sort of, I've got a lot of

2:07.2

discomfort around New Age exploitation, as you know, if you've listened to this podcast before.

2:18.7

And it's difficult because my own personal values align very much with some of the stuff that

2:29.2

New Age exploiters are promoting. And I'm not saying Aaron is an exploiter, quite the contrary.

2:38.0

And that's why I find him interesting. But I find that setting, that realm, that energetic area of, you know, the self-proclaimed shaman and the, um, the, the sort of vulture-like energy

2:55.6

that swoops in on desperate, lost people and says, I'll show you the way. I know. I,

3:03.9

I, I watched the first episode of this HBO special about Kundalini Yoga last night.

3:14.4

It was quite good so far. And it focused on this woman Guru Jagat, I think her name was.

3:23.0

Or she called herself. Who the fuck knows what her name was?

...

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