Scott Goolsby - Radiance of Abiding Bliss

Seekers and Finders Podcast

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Scott Goolsby emerges from his writing as a modern-day seeker who transforms profound personal suffering into deep spiritual insight. He candidly recounts a harrowing battle that stripped away the familiar rhythms of life. What begins as a medical ordeal gradually reveals itself as a spiritual teacher—reshaping how he relates to his body, his expectations, and the very meaning of normalcy.

“As burdensome, depressing, and annoying as it has been, CVS, Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome, has also been one of the greatest spiritual teachers I have ever had. I have learned acceptance. I have acknowledged that this is how my life is now, and, unless I want to be miserable and fight a losing battle, I must accept it.”

“I have also learned patience. I must be patient with myself and with my body. Sometimes I have to cancel plans. Both important and unimportant plans. The disease doesn’t care what they are. But it’s here and I must be with it now. The plans can either wait or go on without me.”

“In many ways, CVS has given me a lot of freedom. It has made room for and called me to fully put in to practice the spiritual teaching of Buddhism, yoga, and Advaita Vedanta that I have been studying most of my life. It has given me new respect for the body, and a much greater appreciation for good health.”

In “Encounters with Ketamine”, Scott steps into the realms of consciousness-shifting medicine. After over two decades of depression and anxiety, he embarks on six guided ketamine infusions. These sessions, he shares, are nothing short of mystical—powerful visits to a crystalline, light-infused inner landscape where suffering transforms into a celebration of joy, universal love, and the dissolution of self.

Together, these two deeply personal accounts reveal a man who integrates suffering and healing, medicine and mysticism. Scott’s journey is both raw and luminous—showing how chronic illness and psychedelic therapy can become conduits to embodied wisdom, leading to resilience, spiritual presence, and the ongoing discovery of self beyond suffering.

In our conversation with Scott Goolsby, we explore the often-overlooked shadow side of spiritual seeking—the emotional turbulence that can arise on the path. Scott spoke candidly about the waves of depression, disillusionment, and raw vulnerability that contrast sharply with popular notions of constant peace or bliss. His journey reveals that true transformation often involves moving through darkness, not around it—and that the path to awakening is rarely linear, tidy, or without pain.

Scott Goolsby’s Website:

https://www.scottgoolsby.com

Encounters with Ketamine:

https://www.scottgoolsby.com/encounters-with-ketamine/

Papaji’s profound teaching. “Stop the Search”

https://www.scottgoolsby.com/the-power-to-stop/

Chapters

1. Introduction and Front End Teaser (00:00:00)

2. Introducing Scott Goolsby (00:04:31)

3. Scott’s background and upbringing (00:05:46)

4. Scott and the Finders Course (00:08:20)

5. Moving on from the Finders Course to his own Awakening (00:11:00)

6. Scott’s visceral experience of bliss (00:15:30)

7. Scott’s feeling of going Batshit with the Finders Course (00:20:09)

8. Going deeper into the loss of everything in Scott’s world (00:22:15)

9. With all Scott’s problems his fundamental wellbeing got deeper (00:25:20)

10. Do you have moments when you don’t feel like gettin out of bed (00:28:35)

11. The Aghoris sect in India (00:30:43)

12. Scott’s private consultations (00:33:09)

13. Is there god in your particular spiritual journey (00:34:30)

14. Do you open up to your clients about your pain (00:37:10)

15. Scott’s advice to spiritual seekers, “Get Your Shit Together…” (00:40:12)

16. Scott’s depression, feeling suicidal, his experience with Ketamine Therapy (00:54:29)

17. Final thoughts and outro (01:06:50)