loader from loading.io

When You Know Yourself: Gnostic Revelations from Nag Hammadi

The Gospel of Direct Experience

Release Date: 05/14/2025

Beyond the Psychedelic Renaissance: Devotion, Birth, and Spirit with Justin Levy show art Beyond the Psychedelic Renaissance: Devotion, Birth, and Spirit with Justin Levy

The Gospel of Direct Experience

Psychedelics are often framed today as medicines for trauma and therapy—but what if they are something more? In this episode, we sit down with Justin Levy, founder of , Oregon, to explore psychedelics as a path of devotion, surrender, and cultural rebirth. Justin shares his journey from early rave experiences to work with kundalini, capoeira, and ayahuasca, and how these threads wove together into a living spiritual practice. Together we ask: How do psychedelics invite us to crack open and encounter Spirit? What does it mean to center devotion rather than therapy? And how can we midwife a...

info_outline
The Time Travel Episode show art The Time Travel Episode

The Gospel of Direct Experience

In this episode, Michael finally shares the wild story he’s been holding back for decades: the day in 2006 when he slipped from a meditation session in his Queens apartment back through time—waking up in his 15-year-old body in 1990. Was it something like a dream, an out-of-body journey, or actual time travel? Jeff and Michael follow the thread from memory and synchronicity into questions of how we experience time itself—linear, cyclical, radial, and kairos. Episode Highlights [00:00:50] Waking Up in 1990 Michael quickly jumps into the story that frames our whole conversation. ...

info_outline
The Psychedelic Renaissance with Nicholas Collura show art The Psychedelic Renaissance with Nicholas Collura

The Gospel of Direct Experience

In this episode, we speak with Nicholas Collura—a board-certified chaplain, spiritual director, and Enneagram teacher—about the unfolding intersection between psychedelics and contemporary spirituality. We explore what the so-called "psychedelic renaissance" means for spiritual direction, Christian practice, and the broader search for meaning in a disenchanted world. Topics include integration, cultural appropriation, mystical experience, the challenges and risks of reintroducing visionary substances into modern religious life, and what psychedelics might reveal about the gaps—and...

info_outline
The City & the City by China Miéville: Seeing What We've Been Taught to Unsee show art The City & the City by China Miéville: Seeing What We've Been Taught to Unsee

The Gospel of Direct Experience

In this episode, we explore The City & the City by China Miéville as a powerful metaphor for cognitive blind spots, social conditioning, and spiritual perception. Drawing on Miéville’s layered, dual-city setting—where citizens are trained to “unsee” an overlapping world—we reflect on what it means to overlook not just people and places, but also inner experiences, spiritual insights, and hidden possibilities. Using the novel as a lens, we talk about religious experience, social breach, the boundaries of acceptable belief, and the psychological costs of seeing too much. We...

info_outline
Spiritual Direction (in a Shattered World) show art Spiritual Direction (in a Shattered World)

The Gospel of Direct Experience

What is spiritual direction, really? In this episode, Jeff and Michael explore the practice not as a professional technique or spiritual luxury, but as a vital response to living in a fragmented, disenchanted world. Drawing on their own experiences as directors and directees, they talk about the invisible agreements that shape the space, the role of intuition, the balance between presence and expertise, and what it means to create a container where something deeper—call it spirit, God, or presence—can actually show up. Along the way, they touch on remote viewing, trickster dynamics,...

info_outline
Ask Us Anything—Live! show art Ask Us Anything—Live!

The Gospel of Direct Experience

Welcome to our very first live AMA episode—unscripted and full of spirit. Listeners showed up with real questions about prayer, mystical experience, cryptids, and the strange space where the psychological meets the spiritual. We talked about what it means to pray when God no longer fits, how to trust the knowledge of the heart, why some people encounter the sacred and others don’t, and whether Bigfoot might just be a messenger from beyond (seriously). It was thoughtful, honest, sometimes strange, and fun! Thanks to everyone who joined us live—and if you missed it, we hope to see you...

info_outline
Jumping on the Bridge of Faith with Emma Mcilroy show art Jumping on the Bridge of Faith with Emma Mcilroy

The Gospel of Direct Experience

In this powerful and personal episode, we sit down with Emma Mcilroy—queer feminist, immigrant, entrepreneur, and CEO of —for a conversation that dives deep into faith, identity, capitalism, and surviving life's darkest valleys. Emma shares her journey of reconciling her sexuality with her faith, the near-death experience surrounding the birth of her son, and how a private, hard-won relationship with God became her unshakable bridge. We explore what it means to wrestle with faith, lead with integrity, and hold onto Spirit in a world that often demands compromise. Episode Highlights ...

info_outline
When You Make the Two One: Gnosis & Healing the Duality show art When You Make the Two One: Gnosis & Healing the Duality

The Gospel of Direct Experience

What if the path to salvation isn’t belief—but integration?  Building off our last episode, Jeff and Michael unpack a mysterious saying from the Gospel of Thomas about making “the two one,” and explore how ancient Gnostic wisdom speaks to our divided modern selves. Jeff shares a concluding dream that becomes a portal into the deeper meaning of inner and outer reconciliation, while Michael reflects on the radical claim that knowing yourself might be the same as knowing God. Episode Highlights [00:01:54] Gnosticism & Direct Experience Jeff and Michael introduce the Gnostic theme...

info_outline
When You Know Yourself: Gnostic Revelations from Nag Hammadi show art When You Know Yourself: Gnostic Revelations from Nag Hammadi

The Gospel of Direct Experience

What if the spiritual texts we grew up with only told part of the story? In this episode, Jeff and Michael explore the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library—a collection of ancient, long-buried texts that include radically different teachings attributed to Jesus, including the enigmatic Gospel of Thomas. These writings challenge many assumptions of mainstream Christianity and open a doorway into a spirituality centered on inner knowing, direct experience, and the integration of what is within and what is without. Then Jeff shares a recent dream that unexpectedly mirrors the themes of the...

info_outline
Knowledge Must Bow to Spirit: A Journey with George Inness show art Knowledge Must Bow to Spirit: A Journey with George Inness

The Gospel of Direct Experience

What if a long-dead painter could reach across time to guide your spiritual awakening? In this episode, Jeff shares the astonishing true story of how George Inness—a 19th-century landscape artist and mystic—emerged as a living spirit guide in his life. From a chance encounter at a museum to a series of visionary dreams filled with barns, handprints, and transfigured light-beings, Jeff and Michael explore how spirit invites us to see beyond appearances, surrender our over-love of knowledge, and walk the ancient, living path of direct experience. This is an episode about listening deeply,...

info_outline
 
More Episodes

What if the spiritual texts we grew up with only told part of the story?

In this episode, Jeff and Michael explore the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library—a collection of ancient, long-buried texts that include radically different teachings attributed to Jesus, including the enigmatic Gospel of Thomas. These writings challenge many assumptions of mainstream Christianity and open a doorway into a spirituality centered on inner knowing, direct experience, and the integration of what is within and what is without. Then Jeff shares a recent dream that unexpectedly mirrors the themes of the Gospel of Thomas, leading into a conversation about what it means to know yourself—and how that knowing might be the very key to transformation.

Episode Highlights

[00:02:45] Discovering the Nag Hammadi Library

  • Michael introduces the strange and mysterious discovery of the Nag Hammadi texts in 1945 Egypt—and how they ended up in Carl Jung’s hands.

[00:16:48] The Inner and the Outer

  • Jeff and Michael begin unpacking a core theme of the Gospel of Thomas: that the Kingdom is both within and beyond us. They explore how this insight contrasts with—and deepens—mainstream Christianity.

[00:28:45] Suppression, Not Survival

  • A historical dive into how the Gnostic tradition wasn’t forgotten or lost—it was actively suppressed. What might Christianity have become if these texts had remained in circulation?

[00:33:35] Spooky Timing & the Modern World

  • The Nag Hammadi texts reemerge into history just months after Hiroshima, alongside the rise of quantum physics and the first reported UFOs. Coincidence—or synchronicity?

[00:43:33] A Dream of Inner Revelation

  • Jeff shares a powerful dream that surfaced personal and symbolic dimensions of integration, identity, and coming to know oneself.

[00:50:10] Interpreting the Dream & Returning to the Gospel

  • The conversation turns toward Jung, MBTI types, and the deep need for balance between the inner world and the outer persona. Sayings from Thomas come alive as personal spiritual instruction.

[01:07:01] Final Reflections

  • Michael brings the episode to a close by linking the Nag Hammadi Library’s reappearance to a deeper cultural and spiritual reckoning still unfolding today. 

Two Special Events—Join Us!

Event #1: Live AMA (Ask Me Anything)

Thursday, June 12th at 6 PM PT / 9 PM ET

Join us live on Zoom for a laid-back Q&A session. Ask Michael, me, or both of us anything—about the podcast, spirituality, your own journey, or whatever’s on your heart.

RSVP by emailing us at [email protected].

Can’t make it? Email us your question by Wednesday, June 11th, and we might include it when we release the AMA as an episode later in June.

Event #2: Gnostic Town Hall

Thursday, July 10th at 6 PM PT / 9 PM ET

This is your time to share. We want to hear your stories, experiences, and spiritual desires. What are you seeking? What does authentic spiritual practice mean to you?

RSVP the same way: [email protected].

This is just the beginning—we hope to see you soon.

— Jeff & Michael

Continue the Conversation

Visit our website. While you're there: