John Butler (Meet The Author) - The Wonders of Spiritual Unfoldment

This week we are speaking with John Butler, one of our most popular authors at Shepheard-Walwyn and perhaps the most unlikely YouTube star, you can ever hope to meet. John is a retired farmer and is well into his 80s. He published The Wonders of Spiritual Unfoldment in 2008 which tells his life story and shares the realisations he experienced during a lifetime of meditation. He began to get attention after his 80th year when he did an interview for a show called Conscious TV with Ian McNay. This now has approaching 10m views on all platforms. In response to questions he received he set up the YT channel Spiritual Unfoldment where he now has 200k subscribers. His down to earth, honest and reassuring message not to mention his extraordinary voice has been of great help to people during the pandemic. So it was an absolute pleasure to sit down with him in his favourite church in Bakewell, Derbyshire where he still meditates twice a day.  

Here’s the summary of our first conversation where we discuss how and why he came to write Wonders. Please note, John is extremely patient and thoughtful and he can pause a LONG time before responding to questions. We did think about editing them out but decided to leave them in as they are part of his approach to things. Whilst it can be disconcerting at first to ask a question and not get an answer immediately, it’s wonderful that John thinks so deeply about his answers.

00.00  Welcome and set up.

02.00    How did he come to write the book? And how have sales developed.

05.45    Conscious TV and the interview on stillness that went viral.

https://youtu.be/fZXhPmHPoNo
07.00    Releasing the other 10 books – the benefits of letter writing and his process of publishing the books. Loving his work.

09.00    Meditation and his realisations – how they come into being. Going beyond the thinking process.
11.45    The structure of the book – 0-160 John’s adventures – 160 – 400 the realisations.

14.00    Silence is always with us in the background. What is Silence?

17.30    What surprised you about the process of writing?

19.30    Embracing and getting beyond life’s failures – one disaster after another!  
22.00    Finding God or being found by God?

26.00    Advice on getting the most from the book – read them slowly!
29.00    Is there anything you want to say to someone considering buying the book? (maybe the longest pause in the history of podcasts!).

31.20    Close and thank you. 

 

Until next time, keep reading!

 

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