Conversations about Meher Baba

Aug 21, 2022 Late Night with Jeff Wolverton: guests Brad and Hunter, live on Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But twice a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for spontaneous chat, more readings, songs, quotes, you never know what treasures will be uncovered! Dear folks of Baba, This Sunday we have as our guests Hunter Flournoy and Bradley Williard. Though they both heard of Baba when they were young adults, it wasn’t until recent years that Baba reeled them in in the most touching ways. They wrote about their journey, “Pure longing sounds beautiful in the great Sufi poetry, but in practice our response to the Beloved’s call is a tangled knot of inspired creativity, spiritual ideals, addictive behaviors, and pain-driven reactivity, gently unwinding in the tender gaze of the Beloved.” Hunter was awakened to the longing for the Beloved at a very early age, but it was, in his own words, due to "extraordinary anxiety, trauma, internalized homophobia, and self-loathing that Hunter was unable to believe himself worthy of the tiniest degree of God’s love for the first half of his life.” He recognized Meher Baba as the Christ when he was 24 years old, but it wasn’t until another 24 years had passed before, in his words again, that “the hardness and rigidity of his heart" softened “ to let Baba’s love in. His meeting with his future husband Bradley and experiencing his love dissolved all remaining resistance to Baba. Bradley first experienced God’s presence around the age of seven, and he was 19 when he was first introduced to Baba. Many years had to pass before Bradley was miraculously awakened to the spiritual life in an extraordinary automobile accident, which he will describe . During the intervening years, Bradley pursued a career as an opera singer and a teacher of the deeper meaning behind the human voice. Eventually Bradley moved to Asheville, North Carolina, where he met Hunter, and both, through their united love, were gradually caught in Baba’s net. In 2015, Bradley and Hunter came to the Meher Center for the first time where they were completely swept off their feet by the power of Baba’s loving presence, and it was here that they were married on the Briarcliffe beach and were enfolded in Baba’s loving embrace. Their story is a testament to Baba’s patient and compassionate love for each of us, meeting us where we are in our lives.In His love, Jeff To join the email list for Jeff's Chats, contact AngelaThis event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily

Aug 7, 2022 Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton: guest Laurent Weichberger, live on Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But twice a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for spontaneous chat, more readings, songs, quotes, you never know what treasures will be uncovered! Dear folks of Baba, Tonight we are having Laurent Weichberger back with us. He came to Baba in the mid-1980s at the age of 17 and had the good fortune to spend many of his earlier years with Baba in the company of Don Stevens, one of His very close ones in the West. Baba gave Don the privilege of visiting Him any time he wished over the years. Laurent will share some of the invaluable exchanges he had with Don, whom Baba said embodied a near balance of head and heart. Laurent is always open to questions about these exchanges. Laurent will also talk about his work with forgiveness and surrender, which he has explored in two of his books. He is from a generation younger than many of us, and it is refreshing to hear how he experiences Baba in this world today.In His love, Jeff To join the email list for Jeff's Chats, contact AngelaThis event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily

Aug 7, 2022 Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton: Our involvement with the world, live on Zoom

The "record" button was pressed a little late...We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But twice a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for spontaneous chat, more readings, songs, quotes, you never know what treasures will be uncovered! Topic: Our involvement in the WorldDear folks of Baba, Over these past several years, guests coming to the Center have expressed that they are deeply disturbed by the state of the world, and they have been wondering how Baba would want them to respond to it. What is needed to find a healthy balance between our inner life with Baba and our response to what’s happening in the outer world?Here are some questions, with great help from a dear friend, to ask ourselves:What level of involvement would be pleasing to Baba? What place does conscience have in all of this?What are we supposed to do in the face of so much suffering near and far? Would we be more effective getting involved in serving at a local level or even person-to-person rather than putting our attention on distant events? Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25: 40)Do some Baba followers confuse Baba's directive not to discuss religion or politics while on the Meher Center in Myrtle Beach, assuming that it might apply everywhere?Will debating politics and religion cause greater distances with others?How can we best balance knowing that Baba is doing all of this, with our awareness of how distressing events are worldwide? Do we really believe or know that Baba is doing all this? When asked about World War II, Baba stated, “Do you think I would allow it to happen if it wasn’t necessary?” Back then events were even more horrific than today--are we just supposed to watch as outrageous things unfold, thinking this is what Baba wants?Also during World War II, as London was being bombarded by Germany, Baba sent a letter to Delia De Leon, a classic worrywart, asking her to remain calm, “If you remain calm, I can work through you."Can we be more effective in sending love into the world from within with Baba? Baba has said that if His followers would cultivate thoughts of world peace, it could be brought about.Just thoughts and not action?Since social media often sends out divisive messages, how can we respond without being similarly divisive? Why follow the media in the first place? Is it possible to speak out, to join in opposing injustice and cruelty and remain at the same time detached as Baba has said?Baba has enjoined us “to live in the world, but not be of it.” What then is our individual role? In His love, Jeff To join the email list for Jeff's Chats, contact AngelaThis event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily

Jeff Wolverton, Theme of Effort and Grace, June 24, 2022, live on Zoom

Another piece of writing from Jeff Wolverton.This event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily

Jeff Wolverton ”poem”, read June 17, 2022 after arti, live on Zoom

From Jeff:The other morning at three o’clock I got up and wrote down the following for your entertainment. It is a cockamamie metaphor that came to me some time back, and in wee hours about week ago I fleshed it out. You might say it is about the trajectory of my life with Baba using the metaphor of driving a car. It describes the evolution of my consciousness of Baba that is pretty much beyond words (but why not try?), and I’m sure each of you can fill in the gaps with your own experience. This may not be the final draft, and I am open to any feedback or need of clarification. In His love, JeffGOING ALONG FOR THE RIDE(evolving toward the provisional ego} This life with Baba is like driving a caralong the perilous highways of this world.It starts out like this: I am behind the wheel,and I have placed Baba in the back seat.He lovingly accepts this arrangement.At first I have the windows rolled down, and I only vaguely hearany guidance Baba might have to give me from behind.I learn to value His interventions: from time to time,He helps me when I am totally lost or am approaching serious danger.In an effort to hear Him better, I turn down the radio and roll up the windows.What an improvement! I find that Baba is an excellent backseat driver!Discovering over time how helpful He is, I invite Him to come up and sit in the passenger seat. Baba is perfectly fine with that. We have great conversations,and I enjoy His companionship. I can tell Him everything!Occasionally He suddenly grabs the wheel so we avoid an accident.When I get drowsy, I notice He does a little of the steering.I begin to trust Him a little more.Then at one point, it becomes clear that we really need to switch places.I move over to the passenger seat, and let Baba get behind the wheel.At first, from time to time, I grab the steering wheel when He turns towardsomewhere I don’t want to go, especially into the congestion of big cities.Sometimes He drives through dark neighborhoods where I feel frightened.Sometimes He spends too much time driving on roads that don’t seem safe.Sometimes He drives too slow and sometimes too fast.I have to work at trusting Him.But time and again, His decisions prove to be the best.He might turn off the highway onto a side road, and we find out laterthat a bridge ahead had been washed out or a patch of the highway was iced over.I realize my habit of grabbing the wheel from Him is not helping.I decide it’s best to move to the back seat and let Him do the driving.I’m now the backseat driver.Sometimes I yell out instructions, and He is so accommodating.He doesn’t force His will on me.Eventually I see that it is easier to let Him do the driving entirely.I trust Him more completely, and I don’t even bother to watch the highway.From the backseat, I find myself I’m so attracted to watching Him drive the car.And then I’m content to just watch Him.I notice for the first time how beautiful Baba is doing somethingso very ordinary!But then He disappears as Himself.Has He become what was formerly me, so simple, so natural— just an ordinary person?I wonder, what’s supposed to happen to me?Am I now to watch Baba live my life from the backseat?Am I no longer to look through my eyes,but through the eyes of awareness itself?If Baba has become me, then I must be a nobody. What an immense relief!Does He want to eclipse my personality and drive this jalopy of a carthrough the world, and I have only to witness this? Could it really be that simple?Baba has said that He is the One who plays all the roles.Does this mean that everyone is really Baba in disguise,and we are just consciousness witnessing this?My ego says: “Have I been taken for a ride?”But my soul counters, “Oh no, this has been the Ride of a Lifetime!”Only time will tell! __This event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily

June 12, 2022 Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton: Jay&Barbara Shauer Baba stories, live on Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But twice a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for spontaneous chat, more readings, songs, quotes, you never know what treasures will be uncovered! Topic: Barbara and Jay Schauer’s Baba storiesDear folks of Baba, I feel that Baba’s favorite pastime in creation must be in His reeling us in lifetime after lifetime from the chaotic and distracting ocean of the world. Finally we have taken His bait and are being painstakingly hauled up on to the shore. And what Baba's mandali liked most to hear from all of us, when we visited Meherabad and Meherazad back in the 1970s and 80s, were our stories of coming to Baba. They were deeply touched and even amused by how Baba cleverly came into our lives so unexpectedly. This Sunday night, Barbara and Jay Schauer will share their stories of how Baba captured their hearts so ingeniously many years ago. Jay is a business consultant and has also written several books, two on Shivaji who was Baba in an earlier incarnation. Barbara pursues her love of painting and doesn’t get out of bed until she’s done a drawing of Baba! She has run her own yogic studio for the last fourteen years. They lived in Myrtle Beach for seven years and now reside in Asheville, NC, where there is a large community of Baba lovers. After they told their story in Mandali Hall many years ago, Eruch asked them to always freely share with others their touching account of coming to Baba.In His love, JeffTo join the email list for Jeff's Chats, contact AngelaThis event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily

June 5, 2022 Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton, topic: sharing inner experiences, live on Zoom

sharing our inner experiences of BabaWe have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But twice a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for spontaneous chat, more readings, songs, quotes, you never know what treasures will be uncovered! Dear folks of Baba, Shortly after Baba had dropped His body, Eruch was asked if he thought that Baba would eventually become a religion. Eruch replied that Baba was “adamant” that He not become a religion. Eruch was then asked how this could be averted, and he said, “If His lovers would get together in small groups and share their mystical experiences, it could be averted.” This exchange took place in 1970. In the years that followed, Eruch would use the expression our "inner experiences" of Baba, rather than referring to them as "mystical experiences." I gathered from what he said that because each person’s inner experience of Baba is so unique and individual, it would be impossible to create a Baba religion. At the end of our last late night chat, some of you suggested that we share our dreams and visions of Baba. This could be very interesting. In order to expand the topic, I thought to include sharing any inner experiences, communications or intuitions from Baba, or exchanges with the mandali, that have been helpful, inspiring, instructive and even pivotal in our lives with Baba.In His love, Jeff To join the email list for Jeff's Chats, contact AngelaThis event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily

May 29, 2022 Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton, topic: sharing favorite quotes, live on Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But twice a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for spontaneous chat, more readings, songs, quotes, you never know what treasures will be uncovered! Dear folks of Baba, One of you suggested this topic of sharing one of our favorite quotes from Baba or from any other author, quotes that have been meaningful and helpful in our life with Baba. If there is an experience or a story that explains why your quote is important to you and you feel comfortable sharing, we would love to hear that also. Your quote might be from your early days with Baba or perhaps a recently discovered quote that has been pivotal in your life now. The quote could even be an entire poem special to you. I’m sure there will be a wide variety of quotes that will be very interesting, insightful and inspiring for all of us to hear.In His love, JeffTo join the email list for Jeff's Chats, contact AngelaThis event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily

May 22, 2022 Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton, topic: remembering Mehera, live on Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But twice a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for spontaneous chat, more readings, songs, quotes, you never know what treasures will be uncovered! Topic: Baba’s Beloved MeheraDear folks of Baba, As we approach May 20th, the anniversary of the day Mehera re-joined Baba, some of you suggested that we have a special remembrance of her. A number of you met Mehera and have touching stories to share. There are a few who didn’t meet her, but for whom she occupies an intimate place in their lives with Baba. She is the beloved of the Beloved, and in Baba's words, "the purest soul in the universe”. He has said that she is His very breath. Of all the mandali, there was none like her, His eternal counterpart, and along with her incomparable love for Baba, she showed all who came to Meherazad such a tender and intimate love that can never been forgotten. Please join us and hear about this great unassuming soul. There will be a Mehera video, songs and the story of her passing included in the night’s program.In His love, Jeff To join the email list for Jeff's Chats, contact AngelaThis event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily

May 15, 2022 Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton, topic: finding joy, live on Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But twice a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for spontaneous chat, more readings, songs, quotes, you never know what treasures will be uncovered! Topic: Accessing joyDear folks of Baba,We often choose as our topic one of the troubling issues that we face in our lives with Baba. Dyan Ullman, who regularly attends our sessions, piped up, "What about joy? Let’s not forget about the positive!” I agree. So joy it is.Do you feel joy behind all that happens in your life as a constant background?How does joy differ from bliss? Do you find that joy is more down-to-earth?Eruch used to say, “Baba didn’t want you to act happy. He wanted you to be happy.” How does joy fit into this?What things do you do in your life that naturally bring you joy? Do they have to be so-called spiritual?When you experience joy, do you feel Baba near you? That He enjoys your joy?Can joy be brought to others? In what ways can this be done?What emotions, thoughts and feelings rob us of joy?As you get older, have you discovered that you can enjoy others enjoying themselves without having to be a direct participant?It has been said that happiness is usually a temporary state and is based on outer circumstance, and joy is an abiding state not subject to the outer, but is an inner state that arises from one’s connection to a higher source, either from a selfless response to others or to the experience of the divine, of oneness with all of life.Could joy actually be bliss being brought down to the street level? Is bliss able to empathize with the suffering of others? What about joy?In His love, JeffTo join the email list for Jeff's Chats, contact AngelaThis event was recorded live. To be first to be notified of a new video on this channel, please hit the red subscribe button, then the notifications bell. To join future live events, see www.babazoom.net. Please join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/meherbabafamily