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Author Brian Muldoon joins us to discuss his novel The Luminous One, which reimagines the missing years of Jesus between ages 12 and 30.

In this conversation, we explore Jesus as a mystic and moral leader who may have encountered diverse spiritual traditions along ancient trade routes. Our discussion touches on Christian mysticism, Christ consciousness, imagination as a path to spiritual insight, and the radical ethical teachings that challenged the social boundaries of Jesus’ time.

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Brian Muldoon is an attorney, mediator, author, and longtime explorer of the spiritual life. After beginning his career as an intellectual property and entertainment lawyer in the late 1970s, he became a pioneer in mediation and conflict resolution, co-founding one of the first mediation firms in the United States. Over the course of 25 years he helped resolve thousands of disputes and authored The Heart of Conflict, a book widely used in graduate programs, corporate leadership training, and military education.

Brian’s work has long bridged law, spirituality, and interfaith dialogue. In 1993 he helped lead the facilitation team for the historic Parliament of the World’s Religions, and later served as executive director of Chicago’s Metropolitan Interfaith Initiative. In 1999 he co-organized the Synthesis Dialogues in Dharamsala, India with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and forty leading thinkers and spiritual leaders—an event later featured in the award-winning documentary Dalai Lama Renaissance, narrated by Harrison Ford.

A lifelong seeker drawn to the contemplative life since childhood, Brian has continued to explore what it means to live as “a monk in the world.” His novel The Luminous One reimagines the missing years of Jesus through the lens of mysticism, spiritual development, and cross-cultural wisdom traditions.

Find out more about Brian Muldoon at www.theluminousonebook.com

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From Stardust to Us explores spirituality, consciousness, and culture in an evolving universe through conversations at the intersection of science, soul, and lived experience.

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In this powerful and timely conversation, we speak with Linda, an attorney-turned-chaplain, whose life has been shaped by advocacy for immigrants, survivors of violence, and marginalized communities.

Due to safety concerns surrounding immigration advocacy, our guest joins us using only her first name.

Drawing from years of legal work and spiritual care, Linda shares her journey from immigration law to ordained ministry, and what it means to hold sacred space for those navigating trauma, displacement, and systemic injustice.

We explore:

• The resilience of Latina immigrants
• The Holy Family as refugees
• Intergenerational trauma and intimate partner violence
• Restorative justice as an alternative to punishment
• How faith communities can move from charity to true solidarity

Linda reminds us that justice and compassion are inseparable and that sacred presence may be one of the most radical forms of advocacy available to us today.

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From Stardust to Us explores spirituality, consciousness, and culture in an evolving universe through conversations at the intersection of science, soul, and lived experience.

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The Rt. Rev. Br. Mark D’Alessio is a Franciscan friar and the Mentor General in the spiritual society of the Companions of Francis and Clare. He is also a Christian bishop and priest, ordained Buddhist lay minister, spiritual director, chaplain, retreat leader, interspiritual pilgrim, and author. He previously served as President and Executive Director of the Psychotherapy & Spirituality Institute, an organization dedicated to integrating the wisdom of psychological care with the spiritual and pastoral traditions of the church.

A graduate of the Guild for Spiritual Guidance—founded by Henri Nouwen and Madeleine L’Engle—Br. Mark now serves as Dean of the Franciscan Circle’s Spiritual Direction and Community-Based Chaplaincy Training Program, sponsored by the Circle’s Institute for Interfaith Understanding and Practice. In this role, he oversees formation programs rooted in contemplative practice, ethical spiritual care, interfaith understanding, and Franciscan values. He is also a faculty member and community leader within the Guild and serves on the faculty of All Faiths Seminary International, training interfaith ministers and spiritual caregivers.

A long-time seeker and practitioner of spiritual wisdom, Br. Mark is ordained within multiple spiritual lineages, both East (Zen Buddhist) and West (Franciscan Christian). He seeks to affirm the Christian Wisdom tradition within a wider interspiritual framework and looks to both science and spirituality—as well as teachers such as Thích Nhat Hanh and St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi—as sources of inspiration, healing, and hope.

Currently residing on Long Island, Bishop Br. Mark recently retired from his work as a crisis counselor and program coordinator at a shelter for men and women experiencing homelessness, as well as from his role as a chaplain at a residential treatment center and school for children with learning and emotional disabilities. After moving to Long Island, he founded the Franciscan Circle, a progressive, interfaith gathering of clergy and lay people committed to journeying in mind and heart with the witness and wisdom of Francis and Clare of Assisi. The Circle is dedicated to developing leaders for thoughtful social action, contemplative practice, and compassionate spiritual care.

As a Franciscan, Br. Mark is committed to serving those who are sidelined, marginalized, and at risk. As a Buddhist, he is mindful that the transformation of the world begins with the transformation of one’s own heart. Embodying both traditions, he seeks to participate in the healing of both self and society through compassion, justice, and understanding. In recognition of his community ministry, the Long Island Coalition for the Homeless honored Br. Mark with its “Unsung Hero” Award.

Br. Mark D’Alessio can be reached at franciscancircle@gmail.com

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From Stardust to Us explores spirituality, consciousness, and culture in an evolving universe through conversations at the intersection of science, soul, and lived experience.

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In this deeply honest conversation, we sit with Kenneth Wortley. His life journey spans decades of ministry, education, marriage, and fatherhood. Ultimately, it leads to liberation.

Ken was born in 1951 into a blue-collar family in Saginaw, Michigan. His early life led him into theology and pastoral ministry. He served churches across Colorado, Oregon, California, and Washington. For years, he faithfully met the expectations of church, marriage, and vocation. Meanwhile, he quietly carried hidden truths.

Later in life, after divorce and a profound inner reckoning, Ken came out as a gay man. He journaled about his experience of grief, faith, and living authentically. Through this process, he began to tell the story that would eventually become The Gospel of Secrets. This memoir has since reached #1 in new LGBTQ+ memoir releases.

Ken currently lives in Brazil with his partner.

You can find his memoir, "The Gospel of Secrets" at Barnes and Noble.

EPISODE NOTE: During the conversation, the work of biblical scholar Dan McClellan was mentioned. Listeners interested in exploring his academic perspective may do so independently. He can be found on many different social media sites and WordPress.

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From Stardust to Us explores spirituality, consciousness, and culture in an evolving universe through conversations at the intersection of science, soul, and lived experience.

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In this conversation, we sit with Kara Huntermoon, whose life and work are deeply committed to the Long Tom Watershed and the human and more-than-human communities of the Southern Willamette Valley. Kara shares how her path unfolded into hyper-local, hands-on ecological and community work, teaching permaculture and ancestral skills, living in intentional community, and organizing with neighbors to respond to climate change and the need for collective survival.

Kara speaks from a lived relationship with land, animals, and community. At the heart of her work are two intertwined practices: Liberation Listening, the internal and interpersonal work to heal the trauma carried by humans who have been isolated from one another and from the Earth. and ecological integration, the ongoing process of helping humans rejoin the living ecological community of their watershed.

This conversation is grounded in humility and gratitude for Indigenous stewardship and traditional ecological knowledge; for ancestors; and for the many teachers, scientists, farmers, permaculturists, midwives, herbalists, and earth-based practitioners, who have modeled what it looks like to love land and community.

Find out more about her work at:

https://karahuntermoon.substack.com/

https://karahuntermoon.com/

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From Stardust to Us explores spirituality, consciousness, and culture in an evolving universe through conversations at the intersection of science, soul, and lived experience.

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In this short year-end episode, we reflect on our first season by revisiting some of our favorite quotes and poems shared by our guests. These words helped shape the spirit of this podcast. We offer them again as a way of closing the year with gratitude.

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From Stardust to Us explores spirituality, consciousness, and culture in an evolving universe through conversations at the intersection of science, soul, and lived experience.

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Janet Lynn Roseman, PhD, is an Associate Professor in Integrative Medicine at the Dr. Kiran Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine. She teaches courses in Spirituality and Medicine, Art and Medicine, and Death and Dying for medical school students. She received the first Joseph Moore President's Award for her work in oncology and spirituality from Lesley College and was a David Larsen Fellow in Spirituality and Medicine at the Kluge Center for Scholars at the Library of Congress. Dr. Roseman is also the Founding Director of the Sidney Project in Spirituality and Medicine and Compassionate Care™, a medical education program for physician residents.

Find out more at Llewellyn.com.

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From Stardust to Us explores spirituality, consciousness, and culture in an evolving universe through conversations at the intersection of science, soul, and lived experience.

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In this conversation, we speak with writer and spiritual teacher Patricia Pearce, whose journey from Presbyterian pastor to mystic invites us to rethink the boundaries of faith and spiritual identity. Patricia shares how a profound shift in consciousness opened her to the illusion of separateness and the deeper unity beneath all things. Together, we explore the transformation that led her to leave the institutional church and step into her vocation as a writer and guide on unitive consciousness.

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Patricia Pearce was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. After graduating from college she served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Andes of Ecuador, an experience that set her on a path of spiritual exploration and into ordained ministry.

For seventeen years she served as a Presbyterian pastor, but in the early 2000's, following the death of a close friend, she experienced a spiritual awakening which showed her that Reality is an interconnected whole, the essence of which is Love; that separateness and the separate self are illusions in the mind; and that this world is a form of dream.

The insights from her awakening led her beyond the bounds of conventional Christian belief, and in 2010 she left the Church to embark on a vocation of writing, speaking, and teaching about the global shift into unitive consciousness.

She is the author of two books—Beyond Jesus: My Spiritual Odyssey; and No One in I Land: A Parable of Awakening.

Patricia shares her latest writings and podcasts on her WeAwakening Substack. You can learn more about her and her offerings on her website, www.patriciapearce.com.

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From Stardust to Us explores spirituality, consciousness, and culture in an evolving universe through conversations at the intersection of science, soul, and lived experience.