Podcast
The Laughing Mystics: Jungian Psychology, Christian Spirituality, and Laughter
Hosted by Laura Lewis-Barr, Jungian Artist - Marci Madary DMin, Educator, Spiritual Director · EN
The Laughing Mystics: Explore Christianity and Depth Psychology through weekly scripture reflections and lively conversations between friends. Each week, Marci shares her Christian perspective and infectious laughter, while Laura offers insights from Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell. Together, they also explore the profound ideas of Ilia Delio, Richard Rohr, and other evolutionary thinkers of psychology and theology. This happy pair offer as many questions as answers. They invite listeners to reflect on mystery, faith, doubt, spirituality, and personal growth.
20episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
The Dance of God in my Life - Trinity Sunday - May 31, 2026
3w ago00:38:47Tap to summarize(69) Our Question: How do I experience the reality of "The Trinity" in my daily life? The Greek word translated believe is pisteuō (πιστεύω). And it carries a much richer meaning than simple mental agreement. It means to trust, rely upon, entrust oneself to, and align one’s life with someone.And from Marcus Borg - Thus in John, this verse is not about believing a set of statements about Jesus now for the sake of heaven later. It is about beloving Jesus and beloving God as known in Jesus, in the incarnation, and entering into "the life of the age to come" now. It is not about people going to hell because they don't believe. It is about the path into life with God now. Full article here. The book Laura was trying to remember - Death by Suburb: How to Keep the Suburbs from Killing Your Soul. The Sunday ReadingsThank you for listening! You're invited to join our FB community at https://www.facebook.com/laughingmystics/Need more poetry in your life? Visit Marci's blog and/or subscribe to Laura's new substack and receive one of her fresh poems delivered to you periodically. Questions? Comments? Bring your voice to the conversation. We'd like to SHARE THE MIC with you! Send an audio from your phone with a question or comment to Laughing.Mystics@gmail.comWe now have an easier way for you to leave a review or rating, using this link! RateThisPodcast.com/thelaughingmysticsPlease follow us to be alerted for new episodes. We hope you'll share this passion project with others, write a review, or rate/like our podcast on your favorite platform!pod.link/1799776273New episodes now released on Thursday mornings!For more on Marci Madary visit https://www.insideoutspirituality.com/For more on Laura Lewis-Barr visit https://psychescinema.com/Want to support The Laughing Mystics? We now have MERCH! Visit https://www.zazzle.com/store/laughing_mystics/products(0ur show notes are always filled with many links. If your platform doesn't show them, visit the "episode webpage" or our Spotify page.)Music licensed from Artlist#jungianpsychology #depthpsychology #richardrohr #progressivechristianity #jungianwisdom #mysticalchristianity #religioustext #transpersonalpsychology
Transcribe →On Fire with God - Pentecost - May 24, 2026
4w ago00:47:13Tap to summarize(68) Pentecost – Our question: When have I had a "fiery" experience of God? Marci is in a singing mood. Laura offers a quote from Marcus Borg: Before Christianity became the civil religion of Rome in 337 CE, to name Jesus as Lord was to challenge the empire. It was a revolutionary statement. The “proclamation of Jesus as Son of God, Lord, and Savior directly countered Roman Imperial theology…. Jesus was Lord and the emperor was not! “Jesus is Lord” was high treason!… (The )message challenged the normalcy of civilization, then and now, with an alternative vision of how life on earth can and should be. “Jesus is Lord” offers fundamental opposition… Who is our Lord: Jesus or an empire? Jesus Christ as Lord led to resistance to the imperial vision, and advocacy of a different vision of the way the world can be”. (Marcus Borg- The First Paul) We both share some of our interpersonal challenges and explore the idea of “being one Body” and what that means in daily life and how does that relate to having healthy boundaries. We ask ourselves and you: what question does the story of my life ask me to answer, for myself and the world? The Sunday ReadingsThank you for listening! You're invited to join our FB community at https://www.facebook.com/laughingmystics/Need more poetry in your life? Visit Marci's blog and/or subscribe to Laura's new substack and receive one of her fresh poems delivered to you periodically. Questions? Comments? Bring your voice to the conversation. We'd like to SHARE THE MIC with you! Send an audio or video from your phone with a question, reflection, or comment to Laughing.Mystics@gmail.comWe now have an easier way for you to leave a review or rating, using this link! RateThisPodcast.com/thelaughingmysticsPlease follow us to be alerted for new episodes. We hope you'll share this passion project with others, write a review, or rate/like our podcast on your favorite platform!pod.link/1799776273New episodes now released on Thursday mornings!For more on Marci Madary visit https://www.insideoutspirituality.com/For more on Laura Lewis-Barr visit https://psychescinema.com/Want to support The Laughing Mystics? We now have MERCH! Visit https://www.zazzle.com/store/laughing_mystics/products(0ur show notes are always filled with many links. If your platform doesn't show them, visit the "episode webpage" or our Spotify page.)Music licensed from Artlist#jungianpsychology #depthpsychology #richardrohr #progressivechristianity #jungianwisdom #mysticalchristianity #religioustext #transpersonalpsychology
Transcribe →The Angels Say, "Stop Looking Up." (Look Within)
May 1400:38:23Tap to summarize(67) Ascension Sunday. Our Question: How do I experience God?Join us today for our lengthy discussion of the story of the Ascension. What do you make of it?We struggle with the second reading and the Gospel. After our recording Laura found this great quote from Richard Rohr re: the "Great Commision" at the end of Matthew's gospel. In our discussion Marci got us there anyway but it would have been nice to have had this then! " If I wanted to create a great people, what I’ve got to do is get them outside of their country, their religion, their nationality, by saying: “Go give the message to everybody else,” and then you will find yourself converted by the people you thought you were supposed to convert. We call it “reverse mission.”https://cac.org/podcasts/reframing-the-great-commission/The Sunday ReadingsThank you for listening! You're invited to join our FB community at https://www.facebook.com/laughingmystics/Need more poetry in your life? Visit Marci's blog and/or subscribe to Laura's new substack and receive one of her fresh poems delivered to you periodically. Questions? Comments? Bring your voice to the conversation. We'd like to SHARE THE MIC with you! Send an audio or video from your phone with a reflection, question or comment to Laughing.Mystics@gmail.comWe now have an easier way for you to leave a review or rating, using this link! RateThisPodcast.com/thelaughingmysticsPlease follow us to be alerted for new episodes. We hope you'll share this passion project with others, write a review, or rate/like our podcast on your favorite platform!pod.link/1799776273New episodes now released on Thursday mornings!For more on Marci Madary visit https://www.insideoutspirituality.com/For more on Laura Lewis-Barr visit https://psychescinema.com/Want to support The Laughing Mystics? We now have MERCH! Visit https://www.zazzle.com/store/laughing_mystics/products(0ur show notes are always filled with many links. If your platform doesn't show them, visit the "episode webpage" or our Spotify page.)Music licensed from Artlist#jungianpsychology #depthpsychology #richardrohr #progressivechristianity #jungianwisdom #mysticalchristianity #religioustext #transpersonalpsychology
Transcribe →Inner and Outer Journeys - Miracles, Suffering, Charisms
May 700:43:10Tap to summarize(66) The 6th Sunday of Easter. Our question: What has been a miracle in my life? Laura shares some insights from her recent trip to Turkey - the "second Holy Land." We talk about charismatic leaders and our openness to religious ecstacy. We offer several quotes by Rumi and St. Julian of Norwich, and explore the tradition of the mystics -- intimacy with the divine. Marci Madary offered this quote from MLK Jr. "All I'm saying is simply this, that all life is interrelated, that somehow we're caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. You can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality."From excerpts from Martin Luther King Jr’s speech at Western Michigan University, 18 December 1963https://libguides.wmich.edu/mlkatwmu/speechRumi quote - “Take the famous utterance, "I am God." Some people think this is a great pretension, but "I am God" is in fact a great humility. Those who say, instead, "I am a servant of God" believe that two exist, themselves and God. But those who say, "I am God" have become nothing and have cast themselves to the winds. They say, "I am God" meaning, "I am not, God is all. There is no existence but God. I have lost all separation. I am nothing." In this the humility is greater.The Sunday ReadingsThank you for listening! You're invited to join our FB community at https://www.facebook.com/laughingmystics/Need more poetry in your life? Visit Marci's blog and/or subscribe to Laura's new substack and receive one of her fresh poems delivered to you periodically. Questions? Comments? Bring your voice to the conversation. We'd like to SHARE THE MIC with you! Send an audio from your phone with a question or comment to Laughing.Mystics@gmail.comWe now have an easier way for you to leave a review or rating, using this link! RateThisPodcast.com/thelaughingmysticsPlease follow us to be alerted for new episodes. We hope you'll share this passion project with others, write a review, or rate/like our podcast on your favorite platform!pod.link/1799776273New episodes now released on Thursday mornings!For more on Marci Madary visit https://www.insideoutspirituality.com/For more on Laura Lewis-Barr visit https://psychescinema.com/Want to support The Laughing Mystics? We now have MERCH! Visit https://www.zazzle.com/store/laughing_mystics/products(0ur show notes are always filled with many links. If your platform doesn't show them, visit the "episode webpage" or our Spotify page.)Music licensed from Artlist#jungianpsychology #depthpsychology #richardrohr #progressivechristianity #jungianwisdom #mysticalchristianity #religioustext #transpersonalpsychology
Transcribe →Poems, Proposals, Process – The Church Moves Forward
Apr 3000:43:53Tap to summarize5th Sunday easter - We begin with a poem by Lynn Unger. Our question: What is a memory I have of visiting a spiritual dwelling? Do I have a memoryof visiting one from another spiritual tradition? We read of complaints to early church leaders and imagineour “complaints” today. We talk about the paradox of stones, and note that it is one of the archetypes of the Self. If we were going to create a new lectionary, what other readings might we add? Marci names poets: Joy Hardjoe, Maya Angelou, Mary Oliver, or Tracy K Smith. Laura mentions Wayne Teasdale and his passion for interspirituality.The Sunday ReadingsThank you for listening! You're invited to join our FB community at https://www.facebook.com/laughingmystics/Need more poetry in your life? Visit Marci's blog and/or subscribe to Laura's new substack and receive one of her fresh poems delivered to you periodically. Questions? Comments? Bring your voice to the conversation. We'd like to SHARE THE MIC with you! Send an audio from your phone with a question or comment to Laughing.Mystics@gmail.comWe now have an easier way for you to leave a review or rating, using this link! RateThisPodcast.com/thelaughingmysticsPlease follow us to be alerted for new episodes. We hope you'll share this passion project with others, write a review, or rate/like our podcast on your favorite platform!pod.link/1799776273New episodes now released on Thursday mornings!For more on Marci Madary visit https://www.insideoutspirituality.com/For more on Laura Lewis-Barr visit https://psychescinema.com/Want to support The Laughing Mystics? We now have MERCH! Visit https://www.zazzle.com/store/laughing_mystics/products(0ur show notes are always filled with many links. If your platform doesn't show them, visit the "episode webpage" or our Spotify page.)Music licensed from Artlist#jungianpsychology #depthpsychology #richardrohr #progressivechristianity #jungianwisdom #mysticalchristianity #religioustext #transpersonalpsychology
Transcribe →Highlights from our new season! Second Season Trailer!
Apr 2700:01:42Tap to summarizeIf you haven't been around for awhile, our new second season has more laughs, surprises, and insights. Join us! New episodes drop every Thursday morning.
Transcribe →Getting through the Narrow Gate - 4th Sunday of Easter
Apr 2300:39:57Tap to summarize(64) Good Shephard Sunday. Our Question: When have I been shepherded or been the shepherd? We explore the difference between "neurotic" suffering and "transformative" suffering. Quoted in this episode - from Alfred North Whitehead's Religion in the Making."A system of dogmas may be the ark within which the Church floats safely down the flood tide of history. But the Church will perish unless it opens its window and lets out the dove to search for an olive branch". Marci talks about the Enneagram. We talk about the paradoxical, contradictory, and powerful archetypes of shephards, sheep, and gates. Laura's voice suffers from Easter allergies. Boo. The Sunday ReadingsThank you for listening! You're invited to join our FB community at https://www.facebook.com/laughingmystics/Need more poetry in your life? Visit Marci's blog and/or subscribe to Laura's new substack and receive one of her fresh poems delivered to you periodically. Questions? Comments? Bring your voice to the conversation. We'd like to SHARE THE MIC with you! Send an audio from your phone with a question or comment to Laughing.Mystics@gmail.comWe now have an easier way for you to leave a review or rating, using this link! RateThisPodcast.com/thelaughingmysticsPlease follow us to be alerted for new episodes. We hope you'll share this passion project with others, write a review, or rate/like our podcast on your favorite platform!pod.link/1799776273New episodes now released on Thursday mornings!For more on Marci Madary visit https://www.insideoutspirituality.com/For more on Laura Lewis-Barr visit https://psychescinema.com/Want to support The Laughing Mystics? We now have MERCH! Visit https://www.zazzle.com/store/laughing_mystics/products(0ur show notes are always filled with many links. If your platform doesn't show them, visit the "episode webpage" or our Spotify page.)Music licensed from Artlist#jungianpsychology #depthpsychology #richardrohr #progressivechristianity #jungianwisdom #mysticalchristianity #religioustext #transpersonalpsychology
Transcribe →"Peek-a-Boo Jesus" - 3rd Sunday of Easter 2026
Apr 1600:41:56Tap to summarizeOur Question: When have I "seen God"?We talk of Peter's public speaking style and Stephen Colbert's talks with God. We wonder about modern spiritual metaphors and talk about the famous NASA photo "Earthrise."We imagine how the early church experienced blood and lambs and sacrifice - symbols that are different for us now. We recall memories of moments of revelations and clarity and how these often vanish. The Sunday ReadingsThank you for listening! You're invited to join our FB community at https://www.facebook.com/laughingmystics/Need more poetry in your life? Visit Marci's blog and/or subscribe to Laura's new substack and receive one of her fresh poems delivered to you periodically. Questions? Comments? Bring your voice to the conversation. We'd like to SHARE THE MIC with you! Send an audio from your phone with a question or comment to Laughing.Mystics@gmail.comWe now have an easier way for you to leave a review or rating, using this link! RateThisPodcast.com/thelaughingmysticsPlease follow us to be alerted for new episodes. We hope you'll share this passion project with others, write a review, or rate/like our podcast on your favorite platform!pod.link/1799776273New episodes now released on Thursday mornings!For more on Marci Madary visit https://www.insideoutspirituality.com/For more on Laura Lewis-Barr visit https://psychescinema.com/Want to support The Laughing Mystics? We now have MERCH! Visit https://www.zazzle.com/store/laughing_mystics/products(0ur show notes are always filled with many links. If your platform doesn't show them, visit the "episode webpage" or our Spotify page.)Music licensed from Artlist#jungianpsychology #depthpsychology #richardrohr #progressivechristianity #jungianwisdom #mysticalchristianity #religioustext #transpersonalpsychology
Transcribe →My Doubts and Separateness - 2nd Sunday of Easter
Apr 900:45:31Tap to summarizeThis week we go back to the basics with our question: What am I being saved from?We mention the Corporal acts of mercy We talk about the powerful beginnings of the early church and reflect on the Quaker tradition. "Quaker” was originally an insulting nickname given toFriends in the 1650s, based on a widespread belief in England, where Quakerism began, that in their worship, when under the influence of the Holy Spirit (or perhaps evil spirits, depending on one‘s point of view), Friends would shakeand quake. We explore separateness and losing our separation from each other and recall Robert Frost's opinion that, "good fences make good neighbors." We wonder - is salvation “being saved from our seperateness?"We wonder if Thomas' doubts are actually a very active form of seeking God. The Sunday ReadingsThank you for listening! You're invited to join our FB community at https://www.facebook.com/laughingmystics/Need more poetry in your life? Visit Marci's blog and/or subscribe to Laura's new substack and receive one of her fresh poems delivered to you periodically. Questions? Comments? Bring your voice to the conversation. We'd like to SHARE THE MIC with you! Send an audio from your phone with a question or comment to Laughing.Mystics@gmail.comWe now have an easier way for you to leave a review or rating, using this link! RateThisPodcast.com/thelaughingmysticsPlease follow us to be alerted for new episodes. We hope you'll share this passion project with others, write a review, or rate/like our podcast on your favorite platform!pod.link/1799776273New episodes now released on Thursday mornings!For more on Marci Madary visit https://www.insideoutspirituality.com/For more on Laura Lewis-Barr visit https://psychescinema.com/Want to support The Laughing Mystics? We now have MERCH! Visit https://www.zazzle.com/store/laughing_mystics/products(0ur show notes are always filled with many links. If your platform doesn't show them, visit the "episode webpage" or our Spotify page.)Music licensed from Artlist#jungianpsychology #depthpsychology #richardrohr #progressivechristianity #jungianwisdom #mysticalchristianity #religioustext #transpersonalpsychology
Transcribe →Only Seeing What I Expect to See? Easter 2026
Apr 200:36:24Tap to summarizeAn Easter episode full of sound-booth surprises. Our question: How do I experience resurrection in my life?Marci references a famous video regarding perception. We appreciate this quote from Thomas Merton, spoken at another difficult time in history. “We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and the divine is shining through it all the time.”We discuss an old Chinese story: "Good Luck Bad Luck." Marci discovers a powerful metaphor regarding our lack of "object permanence" with God.We explore the gospel story with active imagination: I'm at the threshold to the tomb. what happens next? And where am I at in the story right now?The Sunday ReadingsJoin the community: Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/laughingmystics/Daily Poetry: Visit Marci’s Blog and subscribe to Laura’s Substack for your daily dose of verse.Share the mic: Send a voice memo to Laughing.Mystics@gmail.comRate/review easily: RateThisPodcast.com/thelaughingmysticsFollow + listen: https://pod.link/1799776273New episodes drop Thursday mornings.More from Marci Madary: https://www.insideoutspirituality.com/More from Laura Lewis-Barr: https://psychescinema.com/Merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/laughing_mystics/products(If your platform hides links, visit the episode webpage or Spotify.) Music licensed from Artlist.#jungianpsychology #depthpsychology #richardrohr #progressivechristianity #jungianwisdom #mysticalchristianity #religioustext #transpersonalpsychology #EasterSunday #Resurrection #ThomasMerton
Transcribe →