POST 1...Welcome to Two Minds Meet...Lets Roll!

Welcome to Two Minds Meet. I am Richard Dance, The Crawdaddy, and look forward to getting to know more about you...if you leave comments! I have four other blogs which are essentially the three books I wrote between 1998 and 2004 along with my graduate school papers:


The Education of Adam Speaker: A Philosophical Adventure
http://theeducationofadamspeaker.blogspot.com/

The Hero's Journey In Film: A Mythic Reading of Selected Hollywood Feature Films
http://herojourneyfilm.blogspot.com/


Mindful Salon Essays: A Collection of Papers on East-West Philosophy, Wisdom Traditions, and Depth Psychology
http://mindfulessays.blogspot.com/


Richard Dance Academic Papers: Six thesis papers I wrote in graduate school on comparative Perennial Philosophy of the classical East & West.  This was a ton of research and while not for everyone, I wanted to get this material up on a blog cloud before laziness or death sets in.  These papers became the basis for ten years of counseling, teaching, writing and other self-knowledge work I did in which about 1500 people participated. http://rdacademic.blogspot.com/

While the above blogs represent the more formal educational tools I used back when I was teaching full time, Two Minds Meet gets more into my personal experiences and how they have helped me find my own ways to Re-Imagine the World. The posts are based on my personal education, street knowledge, and real experiences in:


Classical East-West Philosophy (The Perennial Philosophy of The Old Silk Road), that I have taught now for many years and try to live by.

Roots Music, in particular Southern Soul, Funk, Blues, and Groove Rock of the late 60's and early 70's, that I played worldwide for many years (guitarist and vocalist). I will be talking about things like rhythm, meter, tone, improvisational styles, seminal bands and musicians, etc.

Self-Discovery based on my own dabblings in Depth Psychology, Mythology, Meditation, Hypnosis, Entheogens, Sweat Lodges, Risk-Taking, on-and-on.

Urban Pioneering, that is, re-developing old residential and commercial buildings in city centers to spark new culture and creativity in fringe neighborhoods. My setting for this work has mostly been in Phoenix, AZ.

BEFORE

AFTER

My various pursuits have spanned forty years and twenty countries on six continents. I have had both enlightening and dangerous encounters with a very large population of savory and unsavory characters, everything from Alabama shrimpers and New Orleans funk musicians to mega-wealthy Arabs and Sedona tantra wizards.  As a result I have developed some unusual worldviews that will hopefully be useful to you as you pursue your own noble quests both in the world at large and the crooked labyrinths of your own deep mind.

What I have to say will elicit both supportive and critical commentary. That's OK, provocative is good. I only ask that when you respond, please speak in the first person, from your own experiences and thoughtful reflections. Please do not rely soley on conventional or textbook points of view, though I certainly don't mind if you quote a source to support your opinion. I will be doing the same. But please be original. Many thanks in advance!


Feel free to ask questions. For many years I have been a counselor and consultant to clients ranging from African freedom fighters and Buddhist monks to egomaniacal rock stars and global transformation leaders, on a no less bizarre variety of topics. That said, I am still just a guy from the Gulf Coast of Florida with a relatively normal upbringing in a middle class family.


Let's Roll!