Portals to the Deep Self with Edward Bruce Bynum, PhD

Join us for a conversation with author and poet Dr. Edward Bruce Bynum as we talk about dreams and meditation as portals to the deep self. We start with the ideas that most of our big decisions are arrived at intuitively rather than logically and that consciousness predates language. Bruce argues that meditation and dreaming (and meditating while dreaming) can take us to a timeless place which is a way of accessing the deep self. Bruce then says there is recent evidence that death is not the end of conscious experience. 

After the break, we take a call from Kelly from Santa Cruz who asks about the roots of identity. Max in the studio then asks if we are truly different selves awake vs dreaming. Finally, we take a call from Elisabeth from Bellingham who suggests that deep inner work can heal mental illness.

BIO: Edward Bruce Bynum, Ph.D., is an award-winning poet, clinical psychologist, and the author of six popular psychology books including Our African Unconscious and seven books of poetry, his latest being The Dead Sea Scrolls: Narratives of the Brotherhood. His most recent book is a lyrical novel of discovery and romance: A Thousand Years in the Body: A Novel of Love and Transcendence.

Find our guest at Obelisk.foundation

This show, episode number 311, was recorded during a live broadcast on May 17, 2025 at KSQD.org, community radio of Santa Cruz.

Intro and outro music by Mood Science. Ambient music new every week by Rick Kleffel. Archived music can be found at Pandemiad.com. Many thanks to Rick for also engineering the show and to Tony Russomano for answering the phones.

The Santa Cruz Festival of Dreams is coming October 10-12, 2025! Mark your calendars now. Check our landing page at FestivalofDream.net and FB group page HERE or follow #KeepSantaCruzDreaming on FB and IG.

SHARE A DREAM FOR THE SHOW or a question or enquire about being a guest on the podcast by emailing Katherine Bell at katherine@ksqd.org. Follow on FB, IG, LI, & YT @ExperientialDreamwork #thedreamjournal. To learn more or to inquire about exploring your own dreams go to ExperientialDreamwork.com.

The Dream Journal aims to: Increase awareness of and appreciation for nightly dreams. Inspire dream sharing and other kinds of dream exploration as a way of adding depth and meaningfulness to lives and relationships. Improve society by the increased empathy, emotional balance, and sense of wonder which dream exploration invites.

A dream can be meaningful even if you don’t know what it means.

The Dream Journal is produced at and airs on KSQD Santa Cruz, 90.7 FM. Catch it streaming LIVE at KSQD.org 10-11am Pacific Time on Saturdays. Call or text with your dreams or questions at 831-900-5773 or email at onair@ksqd.org. Podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms the Monday following the live show. The complete KSQD Dream Journal podcast page can be found at ksqd.org/the-dream-journal/.

Closed captioning is available on the YouTube version of this podcast and an automatically generated transcript is available at Apple Podcasts.

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