Ep163: Dharma Bum’s Guide to Western Literature - Dean Sluyter

Dean Sluyter is a meditation teacher and best-selling author of several books including ‘The Dharma Bum’s Guide to Western Literature: Finding Nirvana in the Classics’.

Available on Youtube, iTunes, SoundCloud & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast’.

Dean recounts his fortunate upbringing, how he began to realise he had an unusually fast mind, and the early mystical experiences that would change his life in profound ways. 

Dean talk about his parent’s radical left activism, and how one event caused him to re-examine his family’s beliefs. 

Dean shares the arc of his spiritual life, including his psychedelic sadhu period, his twenty years as a teacher of Transcendental Meditation while teaching English at the illustrious Pingry School, his studies in Buddhism and Dzogchen, and why he now considers himself to be a spiritual elder.


Topics include:

00:00 - Intro
00:55 - Origins of the book 
03:05 - Dean’s Moby Dick karma
04:02 - A literature primer
05:16 - Art comes through people 
06:30 - Dean’s fortunate upbringing 
07:55 - A special mind 
09:01 - Spontaneous childhood mystical experiences
12:18 - The mystery of awakening experiences 
16:13 - Is Dean spiritually talented?
17:48 - Teaching literature and enlightenment at the illustrious Pingry School
20:03 - Dean’s emotional and social development 
21:51 - Radical left activism of Dean’s parents
24:40 - Being wrong is a precious opportunity 
30:57 - The appeal of certainty 
32:18 - How to examine one’s inherited views 
36:59 - Dean’s psychedelic sadhu phase
42:35 - Encountering Transcendental Meditation
48:09 - Mood making enlightenment 
52:09 - Making your day a practice 
54:20 - Why Dean left TM
57:15 - True meditation is effortless
01:00:12 - Life after TM 
01:05:17 - Interest in Buddhism and Dzogchen  
01:06:39 - Studying with Ngakchang Rinpoche and Surya Dass.
01:07:45 - Umbanda explorations 
01:09:31 - Becoming a spiritual elder 
01:11:14 - Rupert Spira as a spiritual reality check 
01:13:36 - Emily Dickinson’s pure nonduality
01:16:39 - Facing the impossible in art
01:17:44 - Dean’s writing routine 
01:18:18 - Dean’s teaching activities 


To find out more about Dean Sluyter, visit:

- https://deansluyter.com/

Music ‘Deva Dasi’ by Steve James

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Ep162: The Hermeticist - Martin Faulks