Becoming Intimate with All That Is: A Terrifying Psychedelic Experience & the Transformative Power of Opening to Fear, Grief & Vulnerability

Ep. 50 (Part 1 of 2) | Robert Masters, psychospiritual guide, shadow work expert, and author of Spiritual Bypassing and To Be A Man, tells the story of his life-shattering psychedelic experience with DMT, from which it took 9 months to recover. Following this experience, Robert found himself transformed in many ways, heart broken (not just open but broken), embracing ordinariness instead of the limelight, attuned to his own mortality, and intimate with all that is. Here, Robert shares about how to learn from such an experience, how to unseat fear from its place of power, recognize grief’s wisdom, and the always-important need to turn into our pain—under all conditions at all times.

Robert Masters also talks about men’s work: the need for men to reclaim their integrity as well as be vulnerable in relationship; include heart in their anger; and sexuality, shame, and how to outgrow porn habits. And our existential metacrisis. Can we become a species reborn in a good way as we confront our current challenges? This conversation blends psychotherapeutic brass tacks with transcendent insights into the nature of reality and opening to the divine mystery. As Robert says, “If there was a time for waking up, this is it.” Recorded August 17, 2022. 

“My path is becoming intimate with all that I am.”

(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

Topics & Time Stamps - Part 1

• Introducing Robert Augustus Masters, author, shadow work expert, psychospiritual guide (01:15)
• Robert’s terrifying and transformative psychedelic experience with 5-methoxy-N (5-MeO-DMT) (03:19)
• Working with deep fear states (09:32)
• Who should use psychedelics (DMT) and who shouldn’t? (10:45)
• How to learn from the experience: embracing ordinariness, compassion and gratitude (16:55)
• Fear: loving and protecting the fearful part (21:38)
• The importance of attuning to mortality: becoming intimate with death (22:51)
• Turning into the pain under all conditions at all times (27:43)
• Individual grief, collective grief—grief is a very beautiful emotion. It has its own wisdom (29:07)
• Working with men: transforming emotional emptiness and including heart in anger (33:34)
• Sexuality, shame, and how to outgrow porn habits (35:44)
• Women’s groups are about getting their voice back, establishing firm boundaries (36:21)
• Internet porn is an epidemic: recognizing loneliness, sadness, frustration (36:50)
• The clarifying capacity of intimacy and the importance of curiosity (42:42)
• Awakened innocence, plugging into the divine, opening to the mystery (46:46)

Resources & References - Part 1

• Robert Masters’ website: https://www.robertmasters.com
• Robert Masters, Spiritual Bypassing*
• Robert Masters, To Be a Man, A Guide to True Masculine Power*
• Robert Masters, Darkness Shining Wild: An Odyssey to the Heart of Hell & Beyond: Meditations on Sanity, Suffering, Spirituality, and Liberation*
• Robert Masters, Bringing Your Shadow Out of the Dark: Breaking Free from the Hidden Forces That Drive You*
• Robert Masters, Emotional Intimacy: A Comprehensive Guide for Connecting with the Power of Your Emotions*
• Robert Masters, Transformation through Intimacy, Revised Edition: The Journey toward Awakened Monogamy*
• Robert Masters, Knowing Your Shadow: Becoming Intimate with All That You Are* (audiobook)
• Robert Masters, Shadow Work: Turning Towards Our Pain (Integral Recovery podcast YouTube video)
• 5-MeO-DMT, psychedelic 
• DMT Facts: 10 Must Know Facts About Dimethyltryptamine
• Stanislov Grof, The Way of the Psychonaut Vol. 1: Encyclopedia for Inner Journeys*
• Alcoholics Anonymous, Using HALT to prevent relapse
• Ram Dass: Living the Mystery (“Death is the ultimate mystery”)

* As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

---

Robert Masters, PhD, is a psychospiritual guide and trainer, with a doctorate in psychology.  He’s also the author of many books — including Transformation Through Intimacy, Spiritual Bypassing, Emotional Intimacy, To Be a Man, and Bringing Your Shadow out of the Dark — and the audio program Knowing Your Shadow. His intuitive, uniquely integral work blends the psychological and physical with the emotional and spiritual, with an emphasis on full-blooded awakening, emotional authenticity and literacy, deep shadow work, and the develop­ment of relational maturity. At essence, his work is about becoming more intimate with all that we are, in the service of the deepest possible healing, awakening, and integration. His website is robertmasters.com.

---

Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell