Thoughts on Richard Rose and the Spiritual Life

Richard Rose has been one of my 5-star teachers since the inception of spiritualteachers.org.  He passed away in 2005, but his work influences numerous contemporary teachers.  I thought it would be interesting to interview one of his long-time students, Michael Casari, and get a glimpse of life with Richard Rose as well as another person’s view on the key teachings of this self-styled West Virginia Zen master.

The interview concludes with Michael reading several poems from Richard Rose’s book Carillon, so be sure to listen to the end.

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QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

Selected Links and Notes from this Episode:

• Announcement that TAT Press just published Awake at the Wheel: Norio Kushi’s Highway Adventures and the Unmasking of the Phantom Self,” which I highly recommend as Norio was a guest on this podcast. [0:30]
• Arthur Janov’s Primal Scream.  [3:25]
• Meeting Richard Rose at his home. [7:30]
• Rose’s presence and lack of pretense. [11:43]
• The window of opportunity resulting from LSD. [13:00]
• What was Rose’s guidance? [14:00]
• Richard Rose’s system of spiritual teaching [16:28]
• Celibacy as a spiritual practice, conservation of energy, and focusing the attention. [17:25]
• Books recommended by Richard Rose: Ouspensky’s The Fourth Way, Conquest of Illusion by Van Der Leeuw. [21:50]
• The difficulty of working with a spiritual group. [27:14]
• Why you should not hire the Russian mafia for your cross country move. [28:10]
• “The perfect psychology will lead to Absolute Truth.” ~ Richard Rose [34:00]
• Rose’s Psychology of the Observer.  You have to go through your psychology, you can’t ignore it.  [34:10]
• Was there Richard Rose the spiritual teacher and Rose the “regular guy?” [36:10]
• The power of making a commitment to help others. [38:30]
• Mixing money and spirituality, making oneself a “truth machine.” [39:35]
• “I’m willing to sacrifice your good opinion of me to tell you the truth.” ~ Richard Rose [41:00]
• A 30-day winter retreat intensive on the Rose farm. [41:15]
• The Direct Mind Experience and what does it mean to “step inside the head” of another person? [44:50]
• Learning hypnosis to understand the human mind. [50:05]
• “To know, to will, to dare, and to be silent.” [52:35]
• Richard Rose’s book Energy Transmutation, Between-Ness and Transmission, and transmission of mind.  [53:00]
• Allowing oneself to be more sensitive. [1:03:00]
• “Essence recognizes essence, and that’s what rapport really is.” [1:08:20]
• Michael’s essay “Richard Rose: The Man who was a Mirror” and Rose’s comment that “if you want direct mind, you have to avoid technology.” [1:08:30]
• Michael’s recommendations for learning more about Richard Rose, include visiting tatfoundation.org, reading Carillon for Rose’s poetry, and the Three Books of the Absolute in the back of The Albigen Papers,  [1:17:00]
• Michael reads several of Richard Rose’s poems. [1:19:35]