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18. PETER BAUMANN
Peter Baumann
began his career as a member of the internationally
acclaimed 1970s band Tangerine Dream and later
founded the Private Music record label. Instead of
being derailed by early fame and fortune, he asked
himself this in his late 40s: “Given that I probably
have about 10,000 days left on the planet, how can I
use this time in the most meaningful and useful way
possible?” To address this question, Baumann
assembled a top-notch interdisciplinary think-tank,
the San Francisco-based
Baumann Foundation.
He serves as a trustee of the California Institute
of Integral Studies and as a fellow at the Mind &
Life Institute.
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INTERVIEW
To
begin with I would like to ask you a brief background question,
how did you become interested in consciousness?
Peter
Baumann: About 10 years ago, I woke up one morning and I
realized I had about 10,000 days left to live. That’s the
average life expectancy of a white male when they are in their
late 40s. I had a lot of success by then. I was happily married
and I said, how am I going to spend the last 10,000 days.
I said I’m going to study that. So I took upon myself to study
wisdom traditions, science evolution and all about that which
led me to my own perspective on consciousness and nonduality,
and how we make decisions, and the sense of a self.
Prior
to that, did you have any sort of traditional beliefs?
Peter
Baumann: None whatsoever no. I was involved in the music
business and was brought up in Germany in a relatively
Protestant environment. We were not active in the church.
Ok, what
about meditation. At any point, did you practice any type of
meditation?
Peter
Baumann: I had some experience when I lived in southern
California, but not extensively. I did a couple of retreats and
I thought it was cool but it was not something that was a major
part of my life.
Was
it like a vipassana retreat?
Peter
Baumann: Yes,
Shinzen Young.
Did you have any other teachers? Also, up until the point when
you had this awakening, did you read anything that may have led
to this?
Peter
Baumann:
Not really, maybe a little bit here and there of traditional
Buddhism - Sounds material from sounds true. Nothing really
significant.
Did anything from ‘sounds true’ stand out in your mind? Or were
there any Buddhist teachers in particular that you liked?
Peter
Baumann:
No
nothing really stood out. I thought it was all pretty
interesting, but nothing hit me.
How did you become interested in the Science and Nonduality
conference?
Peter
Baumann:
Well I mean by that time I had started the foundation to
explore human well being and it’s certainly a related subject,
so I hung out there like I do at many other conferences.
Do
you see nonduality going more towards a scientific inquiry and
not so much a traditional guru oriented inquiry, as in the past?
Peter
Baumann: I certainly feel that science is getting a little bit
more attention. My personal view is that human life happens and
can be examined from different perspectives. From a third person
objective perspective and a subjective perspective and how it
actually shows up in your awareness, and those are two realms
that you cannot conflate. They deal with just different aspects.
This next
question has to do with the business side. Traditionally, what
they had was dana or the giving of the teaching. What are your
views on the practice of dana? Is this changing today?
Peter
Baumann: I’m not that familiar; it’s always been a tradition to
deliver teachings without charging for it and a tradition to
make a donation. I don’t know how much that has changed. It’s
worked for a long time. I also understand that when teachers
have a retreat or something, they can be compensated for their
time. I don’t think that the substance of what they are teaching
or the framework is in any way changed by charging or depending
on dana.
Ok, what
about with satsangs? Would that same theory apply with satsangs?
Peter
Baumann: That’s a good question. It’s a very difficult
question. There’s a whole range of associations where people
just come together and congregate. And that’s a satsang. The
traditional church obviously invites people in without charging
for it. The problem when you charge is people expect something.
And all the direct delivery of teaching is different from a
satsang.
If you pay
for its expenses, that’s perfectly fine, but if it’s an
organization that makes a profit from it, the sense of the
satsang falls apart.
My view of a
satsang is that everybody contributes and revives in equal
amounts and that’s the value of a satsang.
And when you
say contribute, do you mean donations or like a set fee or a
charge?
Peter
Baumann: No, contributing by attention. Sharing themselves and
by just showing up they contribute.
Right,
do you see a problem with the tradition of dana working in
contemporary settings? Do you feel that Westerners understand
that when you go to a teaching, you are supposed to donate
something rather than pay for it?
Peter
Baumann: Yes, I think it needs to be made explicit that it’s
really an exchange; they are receiving something and the whole
universe works with exchange of energy. And when they receive
something, then they have to compensate with energy themselves
in a form of work, contribution or financial contribution or in
other ways.
END OF INTERVIEW