
The discussion explores Bardo Gaming, a concept blending spiritual awareness with immersive video game experiences. E.J. Gold, an author and game designer, explains how people lose their perception of unseen realities due to societal conditioning and how specific gaming environments can help rekindle those lost perceptions. The conversation also delves into education, spiritual traditions, and the evolution of gaming technology, ultimately arguing for gaming as a transformative spiritual tool.
The talk begins with a satirical radio introduction before transitioning to an interview with E.J. Gold about Bardo Gaming. Gold, an author and spiritual teacher, describes how people are conditioned from childhood to filter out non-physical realities, losing their innate ability to perceive broader spectrums of existence.
He argues that children naturally see unseen dimensions but are trained to ignore them for societal functionality. He connects this loss of perception to formalized education, which he claims primarily conditions obedience rather than fostering true learning.
Gold then turns to gaming as a means of reconnecting with these lost states of awareness. He details his long history in gaming, from text-based adventures to modern 3D experiences, and criticizes the evolution of commercial games toward violence and sensory overload. Bardo Gaming, he explains, provides immersive spaces designed to evoke spiritual realizations rather than simple entertainment.
Gold outlines the difficulty in "proving" such experiences to players beforehand, suggesting that only by engaging with the games directly can one understand their transformative potential. He emphasizes minimalistic game design—eschewing cutting-edge graphical realism in favor of evocative structures that allow personal interpretation. He further draws an analogy to black-and-white films, arguing that less visual detail can create more profound experiences by engaging the imagination.
The discussion ultimately frames Bardo Gaming as both an experiment and a gateway. Gold suggests it functions as an open-ended experience that elicits personal revelations rather than prescribing spiritual knowledge, reinforcing the idea that real learning must come from inner realization rather than external imposition.
A surreal, first-person perspective of an endless labyrinth illuminated by ethereal, multicolored light. Shadows stretch impossibly long, and the walls pulse with shifting fractal patterns. Ghostly figures of children, partially transparent, walk between the corridors whispering mysteries. A computer monitor embedded in one wall displays an old-school video game level, its 3D geometry subtly mirroring the labyrinth itself. In the distant sky above, an enormous eye watches silently, its gaze neither menacing nor comforting, but filled with ancient knowledge. The entire scene exudes an atmosphere of liminality, as though hovering between worlds.