The Hillbilly Sutra

My teachers were the sun, moon, stars, dirt, wind, trees, and the critters.  All of them were preaching the truth…. ~ The Hillbilly Sutra

There is a hidden spiritual goldmine tucked away in rural Tennessee.  He doesn’t consider himself a spiritual teacher and rarely speaks in public or does interviews on this topic.

Fortunately, he agreed to be on the Journals of Spiritual Discovery podcast.  When our original interview ran into technical problems, he went to a professional studio and recorded a nearly two hour account of his spiritual path and the wisdom revealed along the way.

Sit back and be transported by the poetic storytelling of this Hillbilly Sutra.

  • Listen to the interview on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play.
  • Stream by clicking here, or download after you follow the link by using right-click and then “save as.”
  • Read the transcript.
  • If you enjoy the podcast, join my monthly supporters.  Your help is appreciated.

Supporter Options



  • QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: Who would you like to see interviewed on the show? Please let me know in the comments.

Selected Links and Notes from this Episode:

  • “There is absolutely nothing here and everything is proof of it.” [6:00]
  • “We already know what we are, but need an intuitive shift in perception in order to recognize it.” [13:45]
  • “Desperate earnestness is the key.” [18:00]
  • Discovering A Course in Miracles. [1:04:15]
  • The Gnostic Gospel of Thomas, I Am That by Nisardadatta Maharaj, and Talks with Ramana Maharshi. [1:24:24]
  • “At this particular point in my life, the only two authorities I trusted in my quest was God and Jesus and they weren’t talking.” [1:05:30]

14 thoughts on “The Hillbilly Sutra”

  1. I really enjoyed this interview, the format and received a lot from it.
    Thanks —-…and Shawn!
    I wasn’t sure at first i would like this format but it wasn’t too long before i got comfortable with it.
    Recently i had taken my daughter to a planetarium in Redding, California to see a show called “The Cowboy Astronomer” and the narrator was Baxter Black who sounds amazingly similar to —–. I really enjoyed the show and wanted to hear more “Campfire” type stories from Baxter.
    Who would have guessed i would have gotten such an incredible spiritual story with a voice so similar.
    What a treat this was for me.
    I listened to it by Lake Siskyou in Mt Shasta, California watching the sunset in between pine trees watching the pine needles glisten from the setting sun… as i experienced it was “me”.

    I will listen again at another magical place and hopefully see myself from another angle 🙂

    Thanks again!

    Mark J. Ryan

    Reply

  2. This was such a wonderful talk, thank you. I felt deeply moved by what was shared. I think he is one of the most down to Earth enlightened people I’ve heard speak! 🙂 Very refreshing. He also helped clear some things up for me about some of my own “seeings” as well. It was a joy to listen to this, and I’ll be returning to listen again. A gem of a spiritual teacher (even if he doesn’t consider himself to be one!). Thank you Shawn and —- for putting this together and sharing your wisdom and insights. ❤️

    Reply

  3. This is one of the most helpful talks I’ve heard about these things, and I’ve heard a lot of talks, probably too many.

    I too grew up on a farm in the bible belt and this voice sounds like an old friend to me. Shawn said in his intro that this would probably become a spiritual classic, and I don’t know about other people but I for one would have to agree with that. There’s so much packed into this talk that I think I’m going to spend a long time thinking on it.

    I particularly found the concepts about the triune self helpful. I have struggled for a long time trying to grasp the concept of no-self and I think I got too wrapped up in concepts, and thinking that somehow you have to ditch your self when really it’s a matter of getting the identification of your self right. You have to trust your intuition and rely on what he calls the intuitive shift. At least that’s my understanding right now.

    Thank you very much, and thank you Shawn for presenting this.

    Reply

  4. I like clarity, and in this talk — states that Awareness is a product of absolute consciousness. Rupert Spira has (in my understanding) proclaimed that consciousness and awareness are essentially the same, which remains true, but allows room for ambiguity.
    Great wisdom, wonderful accent Thank you

    Reply

  9. Lucid, direct, simple, and yet wonderfully expressive. A truly beautiful talk. Thank you Mike and Shawn.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *