On Being with Krista Tippett
On Being Studios
Wisdom to replenish and orient in a tender, tumultuous time to be alive. Spiritual inquiry, science, social healing, and poetry. Conversations to live by. With a 20-year archive featuring luminaries like Mary Oliver, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Desmond Tutu, each episode brings a new discovery about the immensity of our lives. Hosted by Krista Tippett, Learn more about the On Being Project’s work in the world at onbeing.org.
Remembering Nikki Giovanni - ‘We Go Forward With a Sanity and a Love’
The delightful Nikki Giovanni died on Dec. 9. It is a joy and a solace to relisten to this beloved conversation she had with Krista in 2016 – to experience her signature mix of high seriousness, sweeping perspective, and insistent pleasure. Her words and her spirit feel, if anything, more necessary now. In the 1960s, she was a poet of the Black Arts Movement that nourished civil rights. She became a professor at Virginia Tech, where she called forth beauty and courage after the 2007 shooting the
Dec 12, 2024 • 50:40
Joan Baez — "This Gift of a Voice"
She is known as the voice of a generation. The Queen of Folk. A legend. An icon, the one who sang “We Shall Overcome” alongside Martin Luther King Jr. at the 1963 March on Washington. As much as anyone, Joan Baez embodied the spirit of that decade of soaring dreams and songs and dramas set in motion that echo through this world of ours. Meanwhile, her love affair with a young Minnesota singer-songwriter calling himself Bob Dylan, whose career she pivotally helped launch, is also reentering the p
Nov 26, 2024 • 57:54
adrienne maree brown — On Radical Imagination and Moving Towards Life
The wonderful civil rights elder Vincent Harding liked to look around the world for what he called "live human signposts" — human beings who embody ways of seeing and becoming and who point the way forward to the world we want to inhabit. And adrienne maree brown, who has inspired worlds of social creativity with her notions of "pleasure activism" and "emergent strategy," is surely one of these. We're listening with new ears as she brings together so many of the threads that have recurred in thi
Jul 3, 2024 • 1:20:13
“The End of Poetry” by Ada Limón
An impassioned plea, a yearning for connection — the poem U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón wrote when she says all language failed her. Take in Ada's reading of her piece, “The End of Poetry” — and hear her read more of her work in the On Being episode, “To Be Made Whole.”Ada Limón is the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States. She’s written six books of poetry, including The Carrying, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry, and Bright Dead Things, which was a finalist for the
Jun 28, 2024 • 1:43
Atul Gawande — On Mortality and Meaning
We are strange creatures. It is hard for us to speak about, or let in, the reality of frailty and death — the elemental fact of mortality itself. In this century, western medicine has gradually moved away from its understanding of death as a failure — where care stops with a terminal diagnosis. Hospice has moved, from something rare to something expected. And yet advances in technology have made it ever harder for physicians and patients to make a call to stop fighting death — often at the expen
Jun 27, 2024 • 1:02:48
“Ars Poetica #100: I Believe” by Elizabeth Alexander
Today, a poem with a poignant question to live: “...and are we not of interest to each other?” Carry Elizabeth Alexander’s reading of her poem “Ars Poetica #100: I Believe” with you — and hear Elizabeth read more of her poetry in the On Being episode, “Words That Shimmer.”Elizabeth Alexander is a poet, author, and educator. Since 2018, she has served as president of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. She was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019 and is Chancellor Emeritus
Jun 21, 2024 • 1:17
Luis Alberto Urrea — On Our Belonging to Each Other
We humans have this drive to erect barriers between ourselves and others, Luis Alberto Urrea says, and yet this makes us a little crazy. He is an exuberant, wise, and refreshing companion into the deep meaning and the problem of borders — what they are really about, what we do with them, and what they do to us. The Mexican-American border was as close and personal to him as it could be when he was growing up — an apt expression of his parents’ turbulent Mexican-American divorce. In his writing a
Jun 20, 2024 • 59:10
Ross Gay — On the Insistence of Joy
In our world of so much suffering, it can feel hard or wrong to invoke the word "joy." Yet joy has been one of the most insistent, recurrent rallying cries in almost every life-giving conversation that Krista has had across recent months and years, even and especially with people on the front lines of humanity's struggles. Ross Gay helps illuminate this paradox and turn it into a muscle.We are good at fighting, as he puts it, and not as good at holding in our imaginations what is to be adored an
Jun 13, 2024 • 59:05
Janine Benyus and Azita Ardakani Walton — On Nature's Wisdom for Humanity
In this all-new episode, Krista engages biomimicry pioneer Janine Benyus in a second, urgent conversation, alongside creative biomimicry practitioner Azita Ardakani Walton. Together they trace precise guidance and applied wisdom from the natural world for the civilizational callings before us now. What does nature have to teach us about healing from trauma? And how might those of us aspiring to good and generative lives start to function like an ecosystem rather than a collection of separate, si
Jun 6, 2024 • 1:16:20
Befriend Your Body: A Compassionate Body Scan
In a time of stress, uncertainty, and isolation, Christine Runyan turns our attention to what often evades our awareness — the response of our nervous systems. As part of On Being’s 2021 Midwinter Gathering, she offered this brief, practical, gently guided practice as an invitation to befriend your beleaguered body, to “blanket it with a little bit of tenderness, a little bit of kindness.”Delve more deeply into Runyan’s wisdom in her On Being conversation with Krista, “On Healing Our Distressed
May 31, 2024 • 11:16
Christine Runyan — On Healing Our Distressed Nervous Systems
The years of pandemic and lockdown are still working powerfully on us from the inside. But we have trouble acknowledging this, much less metabolizing it. This conversation with Christine Runyan, which took place in the dark middle of those years, helps make sense of our present of still-unfolding epidemic distress — as individuals, as communities, as a species. She has cultivated a reverence for the human nervous system. She tells truths about our bodies that western medicine itself is only fitf
May 30, 2024 • 1:01:11
“Joy is the Justice (We Give Ourselves)” by J. Drew Lanham
We are overjoyed to share this heart-stirring performance with you, which transpired when we invited the ornithologist/poet/former On Being guest J. Drew Lanham to offer some poetry at a live On Being event in January 2024. We could not have imagined the lightning in a bottle that unfolded — a live adaptation of the title poem that appears in Drew's wonderful new book, Joy is the Justice We Give Ourselves.Be sure to listen to his full 2022 conversation (accompanied by poetry and birdsong) with K
May 24, 2024 • 14:26
Lyndsey Stonebridge and Lucas Johnson — On Love, Politics, and Violence (Channeling Hannah Arendt)
Here is a stunning sentence for you, written by Lyndsey Stonebridge, our guest this hour, channeling the 20th-century political thinker and journalist Hannah Arendt: "Loneliness is the bully that coerces us into giving up on democracy." This conversation is a kind of guide to generative shared deliberations we might be having with each other and ourselves in this intensely fraught global political moment: on the human underlay that gives democracy its vigor or threatens to undo it; on the differ
May 23, 2024 • 1:15:26
New From Poetry Unbound: A Series on Conflict and the Human Condition
A taste of a special mini-season of Poetry Unbound — bringing contemplative curiosity and the life-nurturing tether of poetry to the very present matter of conflict in our world. In this first offering, Pádraig introduces the intriguing idea of poems as teachers and ponders Wisława Szymborska’s “A Word on Statistics," translated by Joanna Trzeciak. This poem covers statistics of the most human kind — like the number of people in a group of 100 who think they know better, who can admire without e
May 21, 2024 • 11:09
Colette Pichon Battle — On Knowing What We're Called To
There is an ecological transformation unfolding in the places we love and come from. On a front edge of this reality, which will affect us all, Colette Pichon Battle is a singular model of brilliance and graciousness of mind and spirit and action. And to be with her is to open to the way the stories we tell have blunted us to the courage we’re called to, and the joy we must nurture, as life force and fuel for the work ahead. As a young woman, she left her home state of Louisiana and land to whic
May 16, 2024 • 1:02:38
Kate DiCamillo — On Nurturing Capacious Hearts
In her writing, it is Kate DiCamillo's gift to make bearable the fact that joy and sorrow live so close, side by side, in life as it is (if not as we wish it to be). In this conversation, along with good measures of raucous laughter and a few tears, Kate summons us to hearts "capacious enough to contain the complexities and mysteries of ourselves and each other" — qualities these years in the life of the world call forth from all of us, young and old, with ever greater poignancy and vigor.Kate D
May 9, 2024 • 54:16
Wisdom, Solace, and Courage for 2024
A special two-month season of On Being starts May 9. Freshly curated conversations from across the On Being archive. Big new conversations and extra offerings. To be present to the suffering and sorrow of this world from a place of love. To accompany each other in this — and accompany the young. To honor the fragility of being human. To keep our capacity for joy alive as a human birthright — and as fuel for resilience. To grasp the relationship between violence and power. To listen to our bodies
May 2, 2024 • 2:58
Nick Cave — Loss, Yearning, Transcendence
Here are some experiences to which Nick Cave gives voice and song: the "universal condition" of yearning, and of loss; a "spirituality of rigor"; and the transcendent and moral dimensions of what music is about. This Australian musician, writer, and actor first made a name in the wild world of ’80s post-punk and later with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. He also underwent public struggles with addiction and rehab.Since the accidental death of his 15-year-old son Arthur in 2015, and a few years late
Nov 22, 2023 • 1:03:59
A Word from Krista
A little musing on this season, the spectacular finale headed your way — and ways to stay connected in the time ahead.Subscribe to the The PauseFind our Starting PointsPeruse our LibrariesAnd on YouTube, grab a Poem to Carry in Your Pocket
Nov 21, 2023 • 2:22
Sara Hendren — Our Bodies, Aliveness, and the Built World
Our built world is designed around something called "normal," and yet every single one of our bodies is mysterious, and constantly adapting for better or worse — and always, always changing. This is a fact so ordinary — and yet not something most of us routinely pause to know and to ponder and work with. But Sara Hendren has made it her passion, bringing to it her varied vocations and gifts: being a painter and loving how art reveals truth not by way of simplicity, but by juxtaposition; teaching
Nov 16, 2023 • 1:01:26
Christiana Figueres — Ecological Hope, and Spiritual Evolution
The ecological crisis we are standing before is at once civilizational and personal — intimately close to each of us in the places we love and inhabit, and unfolding at a species level. And as much as anyone alive on the planet now, Christiana Figueres has felt the overwhelm of this and stepped into service. She gives voice so eloquently to the grief that we feel and must allow to bind us to each other — and what she sees as a spiritual evolution the natural world is calling us to. If you have w
Nov 9, 2023 • 1:19:41
Clint Smith — What We Know in the "Marrow of Our Bones"
This phrase recurs throughout Clint Smith's writing: "in the marrow of our bones." It is an example of how words can hold encrypted wisdom — in this case, the reality that memory and emotion lodge in us physically. Words and phrases have carried this truth forward in time long before we had the science to understand it.Clint Smith is best known for his 2021 book, How the Word Is Passed, but he is first and foremost a poet. He and Krista discuss how his various life chapters have been real-world
Nov 2, 2023 • 1:04:22
“Dance Party” by Clint Smith
Clint Smith reads his poem, “Dance Party.” This poem is featured in Clint’s On Being conversation with Krista, “What We Know in the ‘Marrow of Our Bones.’” Find more of his poems, along with our full collection of poetry films and readings from two decades of the show, at Experience Poetry.Clint Smith is a staff writer at The Atlantic. His narrative nonfiction book, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonf
Nov 2, 2023 • 2:25
“Ode to Those First Fifteen Minutes After the Kids Are Finally Asleep” by Clint Smith
Clint Smith reads his poem, “Ode to Those First Fifteen Minutes After the Kids Are Finally Asleep.” This poem is featured in Clint’s On Being conversation with Krista, “What We Know in the ‘Marrow of Our Bones.’” Find more of his poems, along with our full collection of poetry films and readings from two decades of the show, at Experience Poetry.Clint Smith is a staff writer at The Atlantic. His narrative nonfiction book, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across Ame
Nov 2, 2023 • 1:55
[Extended] Clint Smith with Krista Tippett
This phrase recurs throughout Clint Smith's writing: "in the marrow of our bones." It is an example of how words can hold encrypted wisdom — in this case, the reality that memory and emotion lodge in us physically. Words and phrases have carried this truth forward in time long before we had the science to understand it.Clint Smith is best known for his 2021 book, How the Word Is Passed, but he is first and foremost a poet. He and Krista discuss how his various life chapters have been real-world
Nov 2, 2023 • 1:48:38
Three Skills for Staying Calm, Sane, and Open in a Chaotic World | Krista interviewed by Dan Harris for Ten Percent Happier
From Krista: I loved being interviewed by Dan Harris as much as I've ever enjoyed being on the other side of the microphone (as the saying goes). He drew things out of me I didn't know I had to say. And I'm so impressed with him as a human being, and what he's created with Ten Percent Happier. I hope you might enjoy this!Listen to Ten Percent Happier in all the podcast places: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast______The host of On Being shares lessons learned from 20 years of interviews, includi
Oct 31, 2023 • 1:05:34
Latanya Sweeney — On Shaping Technology to Human Purpose
You may not know Latanya Sweeney's name, but as much as any other single person — and with good humor and grace as well as brilliance — she has led on the frontier of our gradual understanding of how far from anonymous you and I are in almost any database we inhabit, and how far from neutral all the algorithms by which we increasingly navigate our lives.In this conversation with Krista, she brings a helpful big-picture view to our lives with technology, seeing how far we've come — and not — sinc
Oct 26, 2023 • 1:01:21
[Unedited] Latanya Sweeney with Krista Tippett
You may not know Latanya Sweeney's name, but as much as any other single person — and with good humor and grace as well as brilliance — she has led on the frontier of our gradual understanding of how far from anonymous you and I are in almost any database we inhabit, and how far from neutral all the algorithms by which we increasingly navigate our lives.In this conversation with Krista, she brings a helpful big-picture view to our lives with technology, seeing how far we've come — and not — sinc
Oct 26, 2023 • 1:24:48
Matthew Sanford – The Body's Grace
A wondrous, buried treasure from the 20-year On Being archive, with renowned yoga teacher Matthew Sanford. Be prepared, as you listen to what follows, to take in subtleties and gracefulness you've never before pondered — or tried to feel in yourself — in the interplay between your mind and your body.Matthew has an immensely energetic physical presence. He has been paralyzed from the chest down since a car accident in 1978. But he likes to say that his experience is only more extreme, not so diff
Oct 19, 2023 • 57:19
Baratunde Thurston — How to Be a Social Creative
Baratunde Thurston is a comedian, writer, and media entrepreneur. He has eyes open to the contradictions, strangeness, and beauty of being human. He looks for learning happening even amidst our hardest cultural tangles. And he intertwines all of this, innovatively and searchingly, with his lifelong joy in the natural world. The kaleidoscopic view of life and love and the world that is Baratunde's builds and builds in this conversation Krista had with him around the edges of the 2023 Aspen Ideas
Oct 12, 2023 • 1:09:36
Reid Hoffman — AI, and What It Means to Be (More) Human
In this season of On Being and those to come, we are going to train the core human questions on the emerging “generative AI.” Beyond the hype and the doom, what is this new technology calling us to as human beings? What is our agency to shape it to human purpose, and how might it bring us — literally — to our senses? This inaugural conversation with Reid Hoffman is a wide and deep beginning foundation. He and Krista venture into unexpectedly relevant places, like the nature of friendship in huma
Oct 5, 2023 • 1:23:20
Kerry Washington — Acting as a Devotional Practice
“Becoming other people” for a living, as Kerry Washington likes to describe her craft, turns out to be a revelatory lens on the high drama that is the human condition. As a “learning actor,” a kind of actor/anthropologist, she has brought elegance and moral rigor to all kinds of roles: as the uber-glamorous, tough-as-nails Olivia Pope on Scandal; as the wife of Idi Amin and the wife of Ray Charles; from Little Fires Everywhere to Django Unchained. Just after Scandal ended seven triumphant season
Sep 28, 2023 • 1:05:17
Kate Bowler — On Being in a Body
We love the theologian Kate Bowler's allergy to every platitude and her wisdom and wit about the strange and messy fullness of what it means to be in a human body. She's best known for her 2018 book Everything Happens for a Reason (And Other Lies I've Loved) — a poetic and powerful reflection on learning at age 35 that she had Stage IV colon cancer. From a reset on how to think about aging, to the new reality in our time of living with cancer as a chronic illness, to the telling of truths to our
Sep 21, 2023 • 1:00:22
Kate Bowler — A Blessing for the Life You Didn't Choose
This blessing is featured in Kate’s conversation with Krista, “On Being in a Body.” It's published in her book The Lives We Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days. Kate Bowler's beloved books include Everything Happens for a Reason (And Other Lies I’ve Loved) and most recently, The Lives We Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days. She is an associate professor at Duke Divinity School, and made an early name in her field of American religious history with her 2013 book Blessed: A
Sep 21, 2023 • 1:55
A New Season of On Being Is Coming
A big conversation to live by starting NEXT WEEK — every Thursday — from September 21. Loss — and love. AI — and the intelligence that lives in our bodies. Kerry Washington, Kate Bowler, Reid Hoffman, Latanya Sweeney, Nick Cave, Baratunde Thurston … and more.Subscribe, tell your friends, and buckle your (metaphorical) seatbelts.
Sep 14, 2023 • 1:39
"Love is still the only revenge. It grows each time the earth is set on fire."
From Krista: I have been texting this exquisite poem from our archives to my beloveds. Perhaps it will touch you — hold you — as it is touching and holding me.ON ANOTHER PANEL ABOUT CLIMATE, THEY ASK ME TO SELL THE FUTURE AND ALL I'VE GOT IS A LOVE POEMTo call the young Pakistani-American poet, Ayisha Siddiqa, a "climate activist" feels too simple. She describes herself as a storyteller and human rights and land defender. She is a climate advisor to the U.N. Secretary General, and was a 2023 TIM
Jul 21, 2023 • 2:19
From Poetry Unbound: Benjamin Gucciardi — The Rungs
Hello friends, it is a joy to introduce the new season of Poetry Unbound, which is underway. As Krista shares at the top, this episode has everything in it that makes Poetry Unbound such a gift in a noisy podcast world.If you enjoy this episode, subscribe to Poetry Unbound for new episodes every Monday and Friday through July — and stay tuned for a new season of On Being this fall. We’re pleased to offer Benjamin Gucciardi’s poem, “The Rungs,” and invite you to connect with Poetry Unbound throug
Jun 8, 2023 • 16:07
Patronage and Love: On Being's Becoming
Pádraig makes an announcement, and we listen to a few lovely moments from the On Being season we've just brought into the world. We're inviting the beautiful humans who gather around On Being to partner in the vitality of the unfolding On Being Project in a new way. Our friend Maria Popova says it daringly, beautifully, and she's given us permission to adapt her equation. Giving = loving. Any amount of love and sustenance will be gratefully — indeed, gleefully — received.Learn more and make a gi
Apr 20, 2023 • 1:40
Vivek Murthy — To Be a Healer
We need a modicum of vitality to simply be alive in this time. And we're in an enduringly tender place. The mental health crisis that is invoked all around, especially as we look to the young, is one manifestation of the gravity of the post-2020 world. How to name and honor this more openly? How to hold that together with the ways we've been given to learn and to grow? Who are we called to be moving forward? Dr. Vivek Murthy is a brilliant, wise, and kind companion in these questions. He's a ren
Apr 13, 2023 • 57:04
Vivek Murthy — A Meditation for Moments of Despair, and To Feel Less Alone
An excerpt from the On Being episode, "To Be a Healer." The extraordinary physician and public servant stilled a raucous room full of storytellers and podcasters with this offering at the 2023 On Air Fest.Vivek Murthy is the 21st Surgeon General of the United States. He also served in this role from 2014 to 2017. He hosts the podcast House Calls with Dr. Vivek Murthy. And he’s the author of Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World.
Apr 13, 2023 • 3:04
[Unedited] Vivek Murthy with Krista Tippett
We need a modicum of vitality to simply be alive in this time. And we're in an enduringly tender place. The mental health crisis that is invoked all around, especially as we look to the young, is one manifestation of the gravity of the post-2020 world. How to name and honor this more openly? How to hold that together with the ways we've been given to learn and to grow? Who are we called to be moving forward? Dr. Vivek Murthy is a brilliant, wise, and kind companion in these questions. He's a ren
Apr 13, 2023 • 1:17:26
Barbara Brown Taylor — “This Hunger for Holiness”
"I like it much better than ‘religious’ or ‘spiritual’ — to be a seeker after the sacred or the holy, which ends up for me being the really real."– Rev. Barbara Brown TaylorFrom Krista, about this week's show:It's fascinating to trace the arc of spiritual searching and religious belonging in my lifetime. The Episcopal priest and public theologian Barbara Brown Taylor was one of the people I started learning about when I left diplomacy to study theology in the early 1990s. At that time, she was l
Apr 6, 2023 • 1:05:07
[Unedited] Barbara Brown Taylor with Krista Tippett
"I like it much better than ‘religious’ or ‘spiritual’ — to be a seeker after the sacred or the holy, which ends up for me being the really real."– Rev. Barbara Brown TaylorFrom Krista, about this week's show:It's fascinating to trace the arc of spiritual searching and religious belonging in my lifetime. The Episcopal priest and public theologian Barbara Brown Taylor was one of the people I started learning about when I left diplomacy to study theology in the early 1990s. At that time, she was l
Apr 6, 2023 • 1:24:30
Ruth Wilson Gilmore — “Where life is precious, life is precious.”
To say that Ruth Wilson Gilmore is a geographer, which she is, is not to convey the vast and varied ways in which she is influencing the makings of the future. She's a mentor and teacher to a new generation of social activism and creativity. She's a visionary of “abolition,” and that has become a fraught and polarizing word in our fraught and polarized public discourse. But when Ruth Wilson Gilmore speaks of “abolition,” she is working with a long, long view towards making a whole world, startin
Mar 30, 2023 • 1:06:05
Janine Benyus — Biomimicry, an Operating Manual for Earthlings
There is a quiet, redemptive story of our time in this conversation — a radical way of approaching the gravest of our problems by attending to how original vitality functions. Biomimicry takes the natural world as mentor and teacher — for, as Janine Benyus puts it, "we are surrounded by geniuses." Nature solves problems and performs what appear to us as miracles in every second, all around: running on sunlight, fitting form to function, recycling everything, relentlessly "creating conditions con
Mar 23, 2023 • 1:08:43
Rick Rubin — Magic, Everyday Mystery, and Getting Creative
The flow and the ingredients by which an idea becomes an offering — and life practices which call that alchemy forth. The mystery of it all that can only be named and wondered at — and the ordinary mystery that creativity is a human birthright, a way of being rather than doing, that beckons to us all, in everything we do, from crafting something to conversing to the arranging of furniture in a room.This is where Krista goes with the rock star music producer Rick Rubin. It's not a conversation ab
Mar 16, 2023 • 1:04:39
Isabel Wilkerson — "We all know in our bones that things are harder than they have to be."
In this rich, expansive, and warm conversation between friends, Krista draws out the heart for humanity behind Isabel Wilkerson's eye on histories we are only now communally learning to tell — her devotion to understanding not merely who we have been, but who we can be. Her most recent offering of fresh insight to our life together brings "caste" into the light — a recurrent, instinctive pattern of human societies across the centuries, though far more malignant in some times and places. Caste is
Mar 9, 2023 • 1:18:42
James Bridle — The Intelligence Singing All Around Us
You might want to take a walk with this one. It is big and full of brain food and an enlivening opening of imagination to possibilities that are emergent now: the notion of the “broad commonwealth of life” that we are “inextricably entangled with and suffused by”; the paradox that the more accurately you try to measure some things, the more unmeasurable they become; the way words we use all the time have kept our cellular belonging to the natural world alive, even as civilization forgot. The tec
Mar 2, 2023 • 1:04:29
[Unedited] James Bridle with Krista Tippett
You might want to take a walk with this one. It is big and full of brain food and an enlivening opening of imagination to possibilities that are emergent now: the notion of the “broad commonwealth of life” that we are “inextricably entangled with and suffused by”; the paradox that the more accurately you try to measure some things, the more unmeasurable they become; the way words we use all the time have kept our cellular belonging to the natural world alive, even as civilization forgot. The tec
Mar 2, 2023 • 1:32:57
Nick Offerman — Working with Wood, and the Meaning of Life
Nick Offerman has played many great characters, most famously Ron Swanson in Parks and Recreation, and he starred more recently in an astonishing episode of The Last of Us. But he is driven by passionate callings older and deeper than his public vocation as an actor and comedian. He works with wood, and he works with other people who work with their hands making beautiful, useful things. And this, it turns out, is also a primary source of his tethering in values. It's a source of a spiritual tho
Feb 23, 2023 • 1:00:18
Ada Limón — “To Be Made Whole”
An electric conversation with Ada Limón's wisdom and her poetry — a refreshing, full-body experience of how this way with words and sound and silence teaches us about being human at all times, but especially now. With an unexpected and exuberant mix of gravity and laughter — laughter of delight, and of blessed relief — this conversation holds not only what we have traversed these last years, but how we live forward. It unfolded at the Ted Mann Concert Hall in Minneapolis, in collaboration with N
Feb 16, 2023 • 1:11:40
“Dead Stars” by Ada Limón
Ada Limón reads her poem, “Dead Stars.” This poem is featured in Ada’s On Being conversation with Krista, “To Be Made Whole.” Find more of her poems, along with our full collection of poetry films and readings from two decades of the show, at Experience Poetry.Ada Limón is the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States. She’s written six books of poetry, most recently, The Hurting Kind. Her volume The Carrying won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry, and her volume Bright Dead Things
Feb 16, 2023 • 2:28
“The Quiet Machine” by Ada Limón
Ada Limón reads her poem, “The Quiet Machine.” This poem is featured in Ada’s On Being conversation with Krista, “To Be Made Whole.” Find more of her poems, along with our full collection of poetry films and readings from two decades of the show, at Experience Poetry.Ada Limón is the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States. She’s written six books of poetry, most recently, The Hurting Kind. Her volume The Carrying won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry, and her volume Bright Dead
Feb 16, 2023 • 1:25
“A New National Anthem” by Ada Limón
Ada Limón reads her poem, “A New National Anthem.” This poem is featured in Ada’s On Being conversation with Krista, “To Be Made Whole.” Find more of her poems, along with our full collection of poetry films and readings from two decades of the show, at Experience Poetry.Ada Limón is the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States. She’s written six books of poetry, most recently, The Hurting Kind. Her volume The Carrying won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry, and her volume Bright D
Feb 16, 2023 • 2:27
Amanda Ripley — Stepping out of "the zombie dance" we're in, and into "good conflict" that is, in fact, life-giving
Amanda Ripley began her life as a journalist covering crime, disaster, and terrorism. Then in 2018, she published a brilliant essay called “Complicating the Narratives,” which she opened by confessing a professional existential crisis. We journalists, she wrote, “can summon outrage in five words or less. We value the ancient power of storytelling, and we get that good stories require conflict, characters and scene. But in the present era of tribalism, it feels like we’ve reached our collective l
Feb 9, 2023 • 1:03:38
Dacher Keltner — The Thrilling New Science of Awe
One of the most fascinating developments of our time is that human qualities we have understood in terms of virtue — experiences we've called spiritual — are now being taken seriously by science as intelligence — as elements of human wholeness. Dacher Keltner and his Greater Good Science Center at Berkeley have been pivotal in this emergence. From the earliest years of his career, he investigated how emotions are coded in the muscles of our faces, and how they serve as “moral sensory systems." H
Feb 2, 2023 • 58:13
Emergence: On Being Is Back!
We are immensely grateful for your patience in our season of podcasting pause. But enough already. Starting Thursday, February 2, we'll come to you with three months of soaring new On Being conversations with Krista, with an eye towards emergence. The science of awe. The wonder of biomimicry. "Lean Spirituality." What we're talking about — and not — when we talk about mental health. "Good conflict." Technology and vitality. Creativity. Woodworking and the meaning of life. Deeper truths and large
Jan 26, 2023 • 1:38
December musings from Krista, plus: an invitation — and next season NEWS
"It is still an enduringly strange and hard time to be alive. And December is always hard for many of us — filled with all kinds of experiences and feelings that contradict each other or contradict how we think we are supposed to be feeling … Yet it's also on my mind, as we roll around to nearly three years since the pandemic shifted the ground beneath our feet, that we are a bit more open, many of us, to pick up more of what these years have given us to see and to learn and to live into."Regist
Dec 12, 2022 • 7:32
Foundations 4: Calling and Wholeness
In the modern western world, vocation was equated with work. But each of us has callings, not merely to be professionals, but to be friends, neighbors, colleagues, family, citizens, lovers of the world. Each of us imprints the people in the world around us, breath to breath and hour to hour, as much in who we are and how we are present as in whatever we do. And just as there are callings for a life, there are callings for our time. "Some of us are called to be bridge people.. Some of us are call
Nov 3, 2022 • 9:26
Foundations 3: Taking a Long View of Time, and Becoming “Critical Yeast”
We inhabit a liminal time between what we thought we knew and what we can’t quite yet see. But time is more spacious than we imagine it to be, and it is more of a friend than we always know. Cracking time open, seeing its true manifold nature, expands a sense of the possible in the here and the now. It sends us back to work with the raw materials of our lives, understanding that these are always the materials even of change at a cosmic or a societal level."A long, reality-based view of time has
Oct 27, 2022 • 13:01
Foundations 2: Living the Questions
We live in a world in love with the form of words that is an opinion, and the way with words that is an argument. Yet it is a deep truth in life — as in science — that each of us is shaped as much by the quality of the questions we are asking as by the answers we have it in us to give. Precisely at a moment like this, of vast aching open questions and very few answers we can agree on, our questions themselves become powerful tools for living and growing. "If you are faithful to living a questio
Oct 20, 2022 • 7:57
Foundations 1: Seeing the Generative Story of Our Time
The first of four short offerings, more wisdom practice than podcast: life-giving, hope-generating words, ideas and practices that can literally shape your experience of reality — and shape what can become possible. At this juncture in the life of the world, we are all stretching. We are finding the ground shifting beneath our feet, whoever we are. Think of these as tethering foundations towards walking our way into our callings in this world of so much pain — and so much promise. We are fluent
Oct 13, 2022 • 7:15
Introducing On Being Foundations
A new season of big On Being conversations is coming in the new year. But for the next few weeks, we are pulling back the veil on how we’re getting grounded for that. On Being Foundations are words and ideas — ways of seeing the world and walking through it — a few tethering understandings towards imagining and walking our way into our callings for now and the future. These have emerged across 20 years of conversation. They are shaping how The On Being Project meets the world that is now unfoldi
Oct 12, 2022 • 5:05
A Listening Ritual for this Fall: Poetry Unbound
Three years ago, Krista texted Pádraig Ó Tuama with a simple question: what if he were to start a poetry podcast that listened as much as it shared? Not long after, Poetry Unbound was born, and it keeps going from strength to strength. Pádraig likes to say that poems are interested in the people who listen to them. And so, as the next season of On Being takes shape for release in early 2023, why not take Poetry Unbound as a listening companion and ritual this fall?Season six of Poetry Unbound ju
Oct 6, 2022 • 14:25
A Season of Emergence with Krista
Krista returns from her summer in Berlin, where her present-day self reunited with the 25-year-old of the 1980s, at large in the divided city. Hear the reflections that emerged from her season of creative rest, and her beloved practices of contemplative reading and journaling. Pull on the thread of emergence with Krista and our Pause newsletter community as the next season of On Being takes shape: onbeing.org/newsletter. You can read the transcript of Krista’s letter in our September 17 edition
Sep 29, 2022 • 6:22
Before Newness Arrives …
In some languages, there are words for goodbye that are also a promise of a future "hello," and that's the kind of farewell this is. Krista offers this “see you later” with a parting poem as she and the full team at On Being get a bit restored and dream and make some new things. We are so grateful for your listening.Our podcast feed will be in a period of repose until the fall. In the meantime, join us this summer at onbeing.org/staywithus.
Jul 7, 2022 • 4:49
BONUS: An On Being Listening Party — Celebrating 20 Years
A special offering from Krista Tippett and all of us at On Being: an incredible, celebratory event — listening back and remembering forwards across 20 years of this show in the good company of our beloved friend and former guest, Rev. Jen Bailey, and so many of you. We offer it here as an audio experience, and we think you will enjoy being in the room retroactively. You will hear the voices of wise and graceful lives — of former guests, and of listeners from far-flung places. You may also catch
Jun 30, 2022 • 1:12:14
adrienne maree brown — “We are in a time of new suns”
“What a time to be alive,” adrienne maree brown has written. “Right now we are in a fast river together — every day there are changes that seemed unimaginable until they occurred.” adrienne maree brown and others use many words and phrases to describe what she does, and who she is: A student of complexity. A student of change and of how groups change together. A “scholar of belonging.” A “scholar of magic.” She grew up loving science fiction, and thought we’d be driving flying cars by now; and y
Jun 23, 2022 • 50:09
[Unedited] adrienne maree brown with Krista Tippett
The beloved civil rights elder Vincent Harding liked to look around the world for what he called "live human signposts" — human beings who embody ways of seeing and becoming and who point the way forward to the world we want to inhabit. And adrienne maree brown, who has inspired worlds of social creativity with her notions of "pleasure activism" and "emergent strategy," is surely one of these. We're listening with new ears as she brings together so many of the threads that have recurred this sea
Jun 23, 2022 • 1:44:04
Ocean Vuong – A Life Worthy of Our Breath
Krista interviewed the wise and wonderful writer Ocean Vuong on March 8, 2020 in a joyful, crowded room full of podcasters in Brooklyn. A state of emergency had just been declared in New York around a new virus. But no one guessed that within a handful of days such an event would become unimaginable. Most stunning is how presciently, exquisitely Ocean speaks to the world we have come to inhabit— its heartbreak and its poetry, its possibilities for loss and for finding new life. “I want to love m
Jun 16, 2022 • 49:18
[Unedited] Ocean Vuong with Krista Tippett
We are in the final weeks as On Being evolves to its next chapter — in a world that is evolving, each of us changed in myriad ways we’ve only begun to process and fathom. So it felt right to listen again to one of our most beloved shows of this post-2020 world. In fact, Krista interviewed the wise and wonderful Ocean Vuong right on the cusp of that turning, in March 2020, in a joyful and crowded room full of podcasters in Brooklyn. Yet what’s most stunning is how presciently and exquisitely Ocea
Jun 16, 2022 • 1:32:15
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson — What If We Get This Right?
Amidst all of the perspectives and arguments around our ecological future, this much is true: we are not in the natural world — we are part of it. The next-generation marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson would let that reality of belonging show us the way forward. She loves the ocean. She loves human beings. And she’s animated by questions emerging from those loves — and from the science she does — which we scarcely know how to take seriously amidst so much demoralizing bad ecological news.
Jun 9, 2022 • 49:34
[Unedited] Ayana Elizabeth Johnson with Krista Tippett
Amidst all of the perspectives and arguments around our ecological future, this much is true: we are not in the natural world — we are part of it. The next-generation marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson would let that reality of belonging show us the way forward. She loves the ocean. She loves human beings. And she’s animated by questions emerging from those loves — and from the science she does — which we scarcely know how to take seriously amidst so much demoralizing bad ecological news.
Jun 9, 2022 • 1:19:34
Rachel Naomi Remen – How We Live With Loss
The conversation of this hour always rises as an early experience that imprinted everything that came after at On Being. Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen is one of the wise people in our world. She trained as a doctor in a generation that understood death as a failure of medicine. Yet her lifelong struggle with Crohn’s Disease and her pioneering work with cancer patients shaped her view of life. Becoming whole, she teaches, is not about eradicating our wounds and weaknesses; rather, the way we deal with l
Jun 2, 2022 • 49:53
[Unedited] Rachel Naomi Remen with Krista Tippett
The conversation of this hour always rises as an early experience that imprinted everything that came after at On Being. Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen is one of the wise people in our world. She trained as a doctor in a generation that understood death as a failure of medicine. Yet her lifelong struggle with Crohn’s Disease and her pioneering work with cancer patients shaped her view of life. Becoming whole, she teaches, is not about eradicating our wounds and weaknesses; rather, the way we deal with l
Jun 2, 2022 • 1:27:58
David Whyte — Seeking Language Large Enough
It has ever and always been true, David Whyte reminds us, that so much of human experience is a conversation between loss and celebration. This conversational nature of reality — indeed, this drama of vitality — is something we have all been shown, willing or unwilling, in these years. Many have turned to David Whyte for his gorgeous, life-giving poetry and his wisdom at the interplay of theology, psychology, and leadership — his insistence on the power of a beautiful question and of everyday wo
May 26, 2022 • 50:34
"Everything is Waiting for You" by David Whyte
David Whyte reads his poem, “Everything is Waiting for You.” This poem is featured in David’s On Being conversation with Krista, “Seeking Language Large Enough.” Find more of his poems, along with our full collection of poetry films and readings from two decades of the show, at Experience Poetry.David Whyte is the author of The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America, Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words, and The Bell
May 26, 2022 • 2:03
"Working Together" by David Whyte
David Whyte reads his poem, “Working Together.” This poem is featured in David’s On Being conversation with Krista, “Seeking Language Large Enough.” Find more of his poems, along with our full collection of poetry films and readings from two decades of the show, at Experience Poetry.David Whyte is the author of The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America, Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words, and The Bell and the Black
May 26, 2022 • 1:25
"Sweet Darkness" by David Whyte
David Whyte reads his poem, “Sweet Darkness.” This poem is featured in David’s On Being conversation with Krista, “Seeking Language Large Enough.” Find more of his poems, along with our full collection of poetry films and readings from two decades of the show, at Experience Poetry.David Whyte is the author of The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America, Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words, and The Bell and the Blackbi
May 26, 2022 • 1:23
[Unedited] David Whyte with Krista Tippett
It has ever and always been true, David Whyte reminds us, that so much of human experience is a conversation between loss and celebration. This conversational nature of reality — indeed, this drama of vitality — is something we have all been shown, willing or unwilling, in these years. Many have turned to David Whyte for his gorgeous, life-giving poetry and his wisdom at the interplay of theology, psychology, and leadership — his insistence on the power of a beautiful question and of everyday wo
May 26, 2022 • 1:26:37
BONUS: A Defining Moment from Krista — Celebrating Our First 20 Years
As we approach nearly two decades of On Being, Krista shares a moment from the earliest years of the show that imprinted everything that followed. Hear Krista reflect on her 2005 conversation with Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen — and the wisdom she encountered that accumulated across the years into all The On Being Project is today, and all we continue to become. You, too, can share a memory or experience from an On Being episode that has stayed with you, or made a difference. Record your reflection wit
May 24, 2022 • 6:11
Kimberley Wilson — Whole Body Mental Health
The British psychologist Kimberley Wilson works in the emergent field of whole body mental health, one of the most astonishing frontiers we are on as a species. Discoveries about the gut microbiome, for example, and the gut-brain axis; the fascinating vagus nerve and the power of the neurotransmitters we hear about in piecemeal ways in discussions around mental health. The phrase “mental health” itself makes less and less sense in light of the wild interactivity we can now see between what we’ve
May 19, 2022 • 49:50
[Unedited] Kimberley Wilson with Krista Tippett
The British psychologist Kimberley Wilson works in the emergent field of whole body mental health, one of the most astonishing frontiers we are on as a species. Discoveries about the gut microbiome, for example, and the gut-brain axis; the fascinating vagus nerve and the power of the neurotransmitters we hear about in piecemeal ways in discussions around mental health. The phrase “mental health” itself makes less and less sense in light of the wild interactivity we can now see between what we’ve
May 19, 2022 • 1:37:15
Robin Wall Kimmerer — The Intelligence of Plants
Few books have been more eagerly passed from hand to hand with delight in these last years than Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass. Krista interviewed her in 2015, and it quickly became a much-loved show as her voice was just rising in common life. Robin is a botanist and also a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She’s written, “Science polishes the gift of seeing, Indigenous traditions work with gifts of listening and language.” An expert in moss — a bryologist — she describes moss
May 12, 2022 • 49:32
[Unedited] Robin Wall Kimmerer with Krista Tippett
Few books have been more eagerly passed from hand to hand with delight in these last years than Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass. Krista interviewed her in 2015, and it quickly became a much-loved show as her voice was just rising in common life. Robin is a botanist and also a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She’s written, “Science polishes the gift of seeing, Indigenous traditions work with gifts of listening and language.” An expert in moss — a bryologist — she describes moss
May 12, 2022 • 1:26:38
Sylvia Boorstein – What We Nurture
A few years ago, Krista hosted an event in Detroit — a city in flux — on the theme of raising children. The conversation that resulted with the Jewish-Buddhist teacher and psychotherapist Sylvia Boorstein has been a companion to her and to many from that day forward. Here it is again as an offering for Mother’s Day — in a world still and again in flux, and where the matter of raising new human beings feels as complicated as ever before. Sylvia gifts us this teaching: that nurturing children’s in
May 5, 2022 • 50:40
A Lovingkindness Meditation with Sylvia Boorstein
The beloved Buddhist-Jewish teacher Sylvia Boorstein led this impromptu, short meditation as part of her On Being conversation with Krista Tippett (“What We Nurture”) at a gathering in Michigan in 2011. It was a magical experience in which the audience fully participated.Find the original video and transcript at onbeing.org.
May 5, 2022 • 8:33
[Unedited] Sylvia Boorstein with Krista Tippett
A few years ago, Krista hosted an event in Detroit — a city in flux — on the theme of raising children. The conversation that resulted with the Jewish-Buddhist teacher and psychotherapist Sylvia Boorstein has been a companion to her and to many from that day forward. Here it is again as an offering for Mother’s Day — in a world still and again in flux, and where the matter of raising new human beings feels as complicated as ever before. Sylvia gifts us this teaching: that nurturing children’s in
May 5, 2022 • 1:30:42
Pádraig Ó Tuama — “This fantastic argument of being alive”
Pádraig Ó Tuama is a friend, teacher, and colleague to the work of On Being. But before that was true, Krista took a revelatory trip to meet him at his home in Northern Ireland, a place that has known sectarianism and violent fracture and has evolved, not to perfection, yet to new life and once unimaginable repair and relationship. Our whole world screams of fracture, more now than when Krista sat with Pádraig in 2016. This conversation is a gentle, welcoming landing for pondering and befriendin
Apr 28, 2022 • 49:48
[Unedited] Pádraig Ó Tuama with Krista Tippett
Pádraig Ó Tuama is a friend, teacher, and colleague to the work of On Being. But before that was true, Krista took a revelatory trip to meet him at his home in Northern Ireland, a place that has known sectarianism and violent fracture and has evolved, not to perfection, yet to new life and once unimaginable repair and relationship. Our whole world screams of fracture, more now than when Krista sat with Pádraig in 2016. This conversation is a gentle, welcoming landing for pondering and befriendin
Apr 28, 2022 • 1:41:05
Ai-jen Poo and Tarana Burke — The Future of Hope 5
The visionary, next-generation organizer Ai-jen Poo says this of Tarana Burke: “There are just so many layers of hope that she brings to the world and to people like me, to survivors, to all kinds of communities.” Ai-jen and Tarana are the conversation partners for this episode of The Future of Hope. And what a conversation it is. We listen in on a brilliant friendship that has powered and sustained two extraordinary women who are leading defining movements of this generation that call us to our
Apr 21, 2022 • 50:03
Avivah Zornberg — Human Becoming, Between Biblical Lines
You probably know the outline of the Exodus story and its main characters: Moses, the Pharaoh, the burning bush, the plagues, the parting of the sea. And, in another realm of the power of story, the words “let my people go” and the arc of liberation from slavery have inspired people in crisis and catharsis across time and cultures. Call it “myth” if you will — as the Greek Statesman Solon said, myth is not something that never happened. It’s something that happens over and over and over again. A
Apr 14, 2022 • 51:00
[Unedited] Avivah Zornberg with Krista Tippett
You probably know the outline of the Exodus story and its main characters: Moses, the Pharaoh, the burning bush, the plagues, the parting of the sea. And, in another realm of the power of story, the words “let my people go” and the arc of liberation from slavery have inspired people in crisis and catharsis across time and cultures. Call it “myth” if you will — as the Greek Statesman Solon said, myth is not something that never happened. It’s something that happens over and over and over again. A
Apr 14, 2022 • 1:11:52
Eugene Peterson — Answering God
“Prayers are tools not for doing or getting, but for being and becoming.” These are words of the late legendary biblical interpreter and teacher Eugene Peterson. At the back of the church he pastored for nearly three decades, you’d be likely to find well-worn copies of books by Wallace Stegner or Denise Levertov. Frustrated with the unimaginative way he found his congregants treating their Bibles, he translated the whole thing himself and that translation has sold millions of copies around the w
Apr 7, 2022 • 50:46
[Unedited] Eugene Peterson with Krista Tippett
“Prayers are tools not for doing or getting, but for being and becoming.” These are words of the late legendary biblical interpreter and teacher Eugene Peterson. At the back of the church he pastored for nearly three decades, you’d be likely to find well-worn copies of books by Wallace Stegner or Denise Levertov. Frustrated with the unimaginative way he found his congregants treating their Bibles, he translated the whole thing himself and that translation has sold millions of copies around the w
Apr 7, 2022 • 1:22:54
Mary Oliver — “I got saved by the beauty of the world.”
The late poet Mary Oliver is among the most beloved writers of modern times. Amidst the harshness of life, she found redemption in the natural world and in beautiful, precise language. She won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award among her many honors — and published numerous collections of poetry and also some wonderful prose. Krista met with her in 2015 for this rare, intimate conversation. We offer it up anew, as nourishment.Mary Oliver published over 25 books of poetry and prose, i
Mar 31, 2022 • 49:42
[Unedited] Mary Oliver with Krista Tippett
The late poet Mary Oliver is among the most beloved writers of modern times. Amidst the harshness of life, she found redemption in the natural world and in beautiful, precise language. She won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award among her many honors — and published numerous collections of poetry and also some wonderful prose. Krista met with her in 2015 for this rare, intimate conversation. We offer it up anew, as nourishment.Mary Oliver published over 25 books of poetry and prose, i
Mar 31, 2022 • 1:33:13
BONUS: An Invitation from Pádraig and Krista
What do poetry, songs, and prayer have in common? While preparing for the next season of Poetry Unbound, host Pádraig Ó Tuama sat down with Krista Tippett to wonder at this mystery: that poems land in our lives as though they knew us already, as if they were waiting for us. From Ada Limón to Rosanne Cash to Eugene Peterson — how single lines become a portable ritual, and help us live. Poetry Unbound hears from so many people who’ve encountered a poem and made it part of their life; and whose lif
Mar 30, 2022 • 16:29
J. Drew Lanham – Pathfinding Through the Improbable
The ornithologist J. Drew Lanham is lyrical in the languages of science, humans, and birds. His celebrated books include The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature and a collection of poetry and meditations called Sparrow Envy: Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts. J. Drew Lanham’s way of seeing and hearing and noticing the present and the history that birds traverse — through our backyards and beyond — is a revelatory way to be present to the world and to life in our t
Mar 24, 2022 • 50:34
[Unedited] J. Drew Lanham with Krista Tippett
The ornithologist J. Drew Lanham is lyrical in the languages of science, humans, and birds. His celebrated books include The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature and a collection of poetry and meditations called Sparrow Envy: Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts. J. Drew Lanham’s way of seeing and hearing and noticing the present and the history that birds traverse — through our backyards and beyond — is a revelatory way to be present to the world and to life in our t
Mar 24, 2022 • 1:33:02
Kate DiCamillo — For the Eight-Year-Old in You
Each and every adult is a former eight-year-old, wide open with yearning and possibility; understanding exactly how troubled the adults around you are, even if they think they are hiding it from you; almost unbearably alert to the world’s wonders and its dangers all at once. And that’s the reason you should listen to this conversation with Kate DiCamillo, even if you’ve never heard of her bounty of books beloved by teachers, parents and former children who’ve grown up reading her. They include B
Mar 17, 2022 • 50:36
[Unedited] Kate DiCamillo with Krista Tippett
In her writing, it is Kate DiCamillo's gift to make bearable the fact that joy and sorrow live so close, side by side, in life as it is (if not as we wish it to be). In this conversation, along with good measures of raucous laughter and a few tears, Kate summons us to hearts "capacious enough to contain the complexities and mysteries of ourselves and each other" — qualities these years in the life of the world call forth from all of us, young and old, with ever greater poignancy and vigor.Kate D
Mar 17, 2022 • 1:22:18
Mario Livio — Mathematics, Mystery, and the Universe
The astrophysicist Mario Livio spent 24 years at the Space Telescope Science Institute working with the Hubble Telescope, which has revealed the reality and beauty of the Universe to scientists and citizens in whole new ways. The Hubble’s successor, the James Webb Telescope, will become fully operational in 2022, and will further some of the questions about the early formation of the Universe and the origins of life to which Mario Livio has been devoted. Krista spoke with him in 2010, and this c
Mar 10, 2022 • 50:38
[Unedited] Mario Livio with Krista Tippett
The astrophysicist Mario Livio spent 24 years at the Space Telescope Science Institute working with the Hubble Telescope, which has revealed the reality and beauty of the Universe to scientists and citizens in whole new ways. The Hubble’s successor, the James Webb Telescope, will become fully operational in 2022, and will further some of the questions about the early formation of the Universe and the origins of life to which Mario Livio has been devoted. Krista spoke with him in 2010, and this c
Mar 10, 2022 • 1:30:44
Colette Pichon Battle — “Placed Here, In This Calling”
Colette Pichon Battle is a generational native of the Gulf Coast of Louisiana. The ebb and flow of the Bayou was a background rhythm in her childhood to every aspect of life. She did not ever imagine in that childhood that she would one day be known as a “climate activist.” To be with Colette, and experience her brilliance of mind and spirit and action, is to open up all the ways the words we use and the stories we tell about the transformation of the natural world that is upon us blunt us to th
Mar 3, 2022 • 50:38
[Unedited] Colette Pichon Battle with Krista Tippett
There is an ecological transformation unfolding in the places we love and come from. On a front edge of this reality which will affect us all, Colette Pichon Battle is a singular model of brilliance and graciousness of mind and spirit and action. And to be with her is to open to the way the stories we tell have blunted us to the courage we’re called to, and the joy we must nurture, as life force and fuel for the work ahead. As a young woman, she left her home state of Louisiana and land to which
Mar 3, 2022 • 1:10:35
“Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower” by Rainer Maria Rilke
We’ve noticed that many people have been seeking out this poem by Rilke on our website this week. It feels like a meditation and a salve for this fraught, uncertain moment in the world. So, we’re sharing it here as well. Rainer Maria Rilke was a Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist. His poem, “Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower,” is read here by Joanna Macy. It was translated by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows, and originally read in the On Being episode “A Wild Love for the World.” Watch a film ver
Feb 25, 2022 • 1:38
Gal Beckerman — How Newness Enters the World
When time becomes history, different dynamics come into focus than the ones that are at any moment screaming for attention. The title of Gal Beckerman’s book intrigues and compels: The Quiet Before. He’s a journalist with a special interest in history and words and ideas — how ideas are passed and debated and become defining in generational time; how conversation becomes culture-shifting relationship. He attends to dynamics we don’t often take seriously enough: that every idea and discovery that
Feb 24, 2022 • 50:39
[Unedited] Gal Beckerman with Krista Tippett
When time becomes history, different dynamics come into focus than the ones that are at any moment screaming for attention. The title of Gal Beckerman’s book intrigues and compels: The Quiet Before. He’s a journalist with a special interest in history and words and ideas — how ideas are passed and debated and become defining in generational time; how conversation becomes culture-shifting relationship. He attends to dynamics we don’t often take seriously enough: that every idea and discovery that
Feb 24, 2022 • 1:44:36
Sharon Salzberg and Robert Thurman — Love Your Enemies? (Really?)
It’s a piece of deep psychological acuity, carried in many religious traditions: that each of us is defined as much by who our enemies are and how we treat them as by whom and what we love. In this episode, two legendary Buddhist teachers shine a light on the lofty ideal of loving your enemies and bring it down to earth. Across a half-century conversation and friendship, Sharon Salzberg and Robert Thurman have investigated the mind science behind this virtue and practice. They illuminate how to
Feb 17, 2022 • 50:40
[Unedited] Sharon Salzberg and Robert Thurman with Krista Tippett
It’s a piece of deep psychological acuity, carried in many religious traditions: that each of us is defined as much by who our enemies are and how we treat them as by whom and what we love. In this episode, two legendary Buddhist teachers shine a light on the lofty ideal of loving your enemies and bring it down to earth. Across a half-century conversation and friendship, Sharon Salzberg and Robert Thurman have investigated the mind science behind this virtue and practice. They illuminate how to
Feb 17, 2022 • 1:36:01
John O'Donohue – The Inner Landscape of Beauty
No conversation we’ve ever done has been more beloved than this one. The Irish poet, theologian, and philosopher insisted on beauty as a human calling. He had a very Celtic, lifelong fascination with the inner landscape of our lives and with what he called “the invisible world” that is constantly intertwining what we can know and see. This was one of the last interviews he gave before his unexpected death in 2008. But John O’Donohue’s voice and writings continue to bring ancient mystical wisdom
Feb 10, 2022 • 50:38
[Unedited] John O'Donohue with Krista Tippett
No conversation we’ve ever done has been more beloved than this one. The Irish poet, theologian, and philosopher insisted on beauty as a human calling. He had a very Celtic, lifelong fascination with the inner landscape of our lives and with what he called “the invisible world” that is constantly intertwining what we can know and see. This was one of the last interviews he gave before his unexpected death in 2008. But John O’Donohue’s voice and writings continue to bring ancient mystical wisdom
Feb 10, 2022 • 1:38:46
Trabian Shorters – A Cognitive Skill to Magnify Humanity
Trabian Shorters is a visionary who has seen and named a task that is necessary for all healing and building, for every vision and plan, whether in a family or a world, to flourish. It’s called Asset Framing — and it works with both new understandings of the brain and an age-old understanding of the real-world power of the words we use, the stories we tell, and the way we name things and people. From everyday social media, to hallowed modes of journalistic, academic, and policy analyses, we have
Feb 3, 2022 • 50:44
[Unedited] Trabian Shorters with Krista Tippett
Trabian Shorters is a visionary who has seen and named a task that is necessary for all healing and building, for every vision and plan, whether in a family or a world, to flourish. It’s called Asset Framing — and it works with both new understandings of the brain and an age-old understanding of the real-world power of the words we use, the stories we tell, and the way we name things and people. From everyday social media, to hallowed modes of journalistic, academic, and policy analyses, we have
Feb 3, 2022 • 1:25:24
Remembering Thich Nhat Hanh, Brother Thay
The Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, revered Zen master, teacher, and poet, died on January 22, 2022, in his native Vietnam. Brother Thay, as he was known by his community and students, transmuted what he had experienced of chaos and bloodshed in his country and his life into an ability to speak with equal measures directness and compassion to the many conflicts and bewilderments of contemporary life. Martin Luther King Jr. nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize. He was a great teacher of the wonderf
Jan 27, 2022 • 50:48
[Unedited] Thich Nhat Hanh with Krista Tippett
The Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, revered Zen master, teacher, and poet, died on January 22, 2022, in his native Vietnam. Brother Thay, as he was known by his community and students, transmuted what he had experienced of chaos and bloodshed in his country and his life into an ability to speak with equal measures directness and compassion to the many conflicts and bewilderments of contemporary life. Martin Luther King Jr. nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize. He was a great teacher of the wonderf
Jan 27, 2022 • 40:32
[Unedited] Cheri Maples with Krista Tippett
Krista interviewed Cheri Maples around the edges of a retreat with revered Zen master, teacher, and poet Thich Nhat Hanh in 2003. Parts of this interview, as well as Krista’s conversation with Thich Nhat Hanh, appear in our show, Remembering Thich Nhat Hanh, Brother Thay. Find the transcript for that show at onbeing.orgCheri Maples served in the criminal justice system for 25 years, including as an Assistant Attorney General in the Wisconsin Department of Justice, and as a police officer with th
Jan 27, 2022 • 22:04
[Unedited] Larry Ward with Krista Tippett
Krista interviewed Larry Ward around the edges of a retreat with revered Zen master, teacher, and poet Thich Nhat Hanh in 2003. Parts of this interview, as well as Krista’s conversation with Thich Nhat Hanh, appear in our show, Remembering Thich Nhat Hanh, Brother Thay. Find the transcript for that show at onbeing.orgLarry Ward is co-founder of the Lotus Institute, and was ordained as a Dharma teacher in Thich Nhat Hanh's Plum Village tradition. He accompanied Thich Nhat Hanh on peace-building m
Jan 27, 2022 • 19:14
Michael Pollan and Katherine May - The Future of Hope 4
Michael Pollan is one of our most revelatory explorers of the interaction between the human and natural worlds — especially the plants with which we have, as he says, co-evolved — from food to caffeine to psychedelics. In this episode of our series, The Future of Hope, Wintering’s Katherine May draws him out on the burgeoning human inquiry and science to which he’s now given himself over — the transformative applications of altered states for healing trauma and depression, for end-of-life care —
Jan 20, 2022 • 50:37
Oliver Burkeman – Time Management for Mortals
Journalist Oliver Burkeman has made a delightful and important philosophical, spiritual, and practical investigation of all that is truly at stake in what we blithely refer to as “time management.” At this time of year, many of us are making plans and resolutions — treating time as part bully, part resource — something we could fit everything we want into if only we had the discipline. This conversation is offered up to release you from that illusion. He invites us into a new relationship with t
Jan 13, 2022 • 50:35
[Unedited] Oliver Burkeman with Krista Tippett
Journalist Oliver Burkeman has made a delightful and important philosophical, spiritual, and practical investigation of all that is truly at stake in what we blithely refer to as “time management.” At this time of year, many of us are making plans and resolutions — treating time as part bully, part resource — something we could fit everything we want into if only we had the discipline. This conversation is offered up to release you from that illusion. He invites us into a new relationship with t
Jan 13, 2022 • 1:30:35
Befriend Your Body: A Compassionate Body Scan
In a time of stress, uncertainty, and isolation, Dr. Christine Runyan turns our attention to what often evades our awareness — the response of our nervous systems. As part of On Being's 2021 Midwinter Gathering, she offered this brief, practical, gently guided practice as an invitation to befriend your pandemic-beleaguered body, to “blanket it with a little bit of tenderness, a little bit of kindness.” Delve more deeply into Dr. Runyan’s wisdom in her On Being conversation with Krista, "What's H
Jan 10, 2022 • 11:16
Remembering Desmond Tutu
The remarkable Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town and Nobel Laureate died in the closing days of 2021. He helped galvanize South Africa's improbably peaceful transition from apartheid to democracy. He was a leader in the religious drama that transfigured South African Christianity. And he continued to engage conflict well into his retirement, in his own country and in the global Anglican communion. Krista explored all of these things with him in this warm, soaring 2010 conversation — and how Desmo
Jan 6, 2022 • 50:49
[Unedited] Desmond Tutu with Krista Tippett
The remarkable Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town and Nobel Laureate died in the closing days of 2021. He helped galvanize South Africa's improbably peaceful transition from apartheid to democracy. He was a leader in the religious drama that transfigured South African Christianity. And he continued to engage conflict well into his retirement, in his own country and in the global Anglican communion. Krista explored all of these things with him in this warm, soaring 2010 conversation — and how Desmo
Jan 6, 2022 • 1:15:27
Gordon Hempton — Silence and the Presence of Everything
Acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton collects sounds from around the world. He’s recorded inside Sitka spruce logs in the Pacific Northwest, thunder in the Kalahari Desert, and dawn breaking across six continents. An attentive listener, he says silence is an endangered species on the verge of extinction. He defines real quiet as presence — not an absence of sound but an absence of noise. We take in the world through his ears.Gordon Hempton is the founder of the One Square Inch of Silence Foundation
Dec 30, 2021 • 50:46
[Unedited] Gordon Hempton with Krista Tippett
Acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton collects sounds from around the world. He’s recorded inside Sitka spruce logs in the Pacific Northwest, thunder in the Kalahari Desert, and dawn breaking across six continents. An attentive listener, he says silence is an endangered species on the verge of extinction. He defines real quiet as presence — not an absence of sound but an absence of noise. We take in the world through his ears.Gordon Hempton is the founder of the One Square Inch of Silence Foundation
Dec 30, 2021 • 1:29:46
Jeff Chu — A Life of Holy Curiosity (In Friendship with Rachel Held Evans)
Here we are in a religiously-infused season — and in a world in which more and more of us experience ourselves to be religious nomads, misfits, even refugees. This deep reality of our life together is often simplified in analyses of the decline of traditional religious identity, of the rise of the spiritual-but-not-religious. Yet there is abundantly, alongside all of that, a rising theological and liturgical searching, a passionate calling towards service that echoes the heart of the great tradi
Dec 23, 2021 • 51:10
[Unedited] Jeff Chu with Krista Tippett
Here we are in a religiously-infused season — and in a world in which more and more of us experience ourselves to be religious nomads, misfits, even refugees. This deep reality of our life together is often simplified in analyses of the decline of traditional religious identity, of the rise of the spiritual-but-not-religious. Yet there is abundantly, alongside all of that, a rising theological and liturgical searching, a passionate calling towards service that echoes the heart of the great tradi
Dec 23, 2021 • 1:22:57
Jane Hirshfield – The Fullness of Things
The esteemed writer Jane Hirshfield has been a Zen monk and a visiting artist among neuroscientists. She has said this: “It’s my nature to question, to look at the opposite side. I believe that the best writing also does this … It tells us that where there is sorrow, there will be joy; where there is joy, there will be sorrow … The acknowledgement of the fully complex scope of being is why good art thrills … Acknowledging the fullness of things,” she insists, “is our human task.” And that’s the
Dec 16, 2021 • 50:14
[Unedited] Jane Hirshfield with Krista Tippett
The esteemed writer Jane Hirshfield has been a Zen monk and a visiting artist among neuroscientists. She has said this: “It’s my nature to question, to look at the opposite side. I believe that the best writing also does this … It tells us that where there is sorrow, there will be joy; where there is joy, there will be sorrow … The acknowledgement of the fully complex scope of being is why good art thrills … Acknowledging the fullness of things,” she insists, “is our human task.” And that’s the
Dec 16, 2021 • 1:18:50
Katherine May – How ‘Wintering’ Replenishes
In so many stories and fables that shape us, cold and snow, the closing in of the light — these have deep psychological as much as physical reality. This is “wintering,” as the English writer Katherine May illuminates in her beautiful, meditative book of that title — at once a season of the natural world, a respite our bodies require, and a state of mind. Krista first spoke with Katherine in midwinter 2020, and their conversation continues to offer a helpful container for our pandemic time: as o
Dec 9, 2021 • 50:49
[Unedited] Katherine May with Krista Tippett
In so many stories and fables that shape us, cold and snow, the closing in of the light — these have deep psychological as much as physical reality. This is “wintering,” as the English writer Katherine May illuminates in her beautiful, meditative book of that title — at once a season of the natural world, a respite our bodies require, and a state of mind. Krista first spoke with Katherine in midwinter 2020, and their conversation continues to offer a helpful container for our pandemic time: as o
Dec 9, 2021 • 1:21:22
Vivek Murthy and Richard Davidson – The Future of Well-being
What if the future of well-being is about “tipping the scales in the world away from fear and toward love”? And what if it’s a surgeon general of the United States, Dr. Vivek Murthy, who talks this way? Krista draws him out with his friend, the groundbreaking neuroscientist Richard Davidson. Together they carry deep intelligence and vision from the realms of science and public health, expansively understood. They explore all we are learning to help move us forward as a species. This conversation
Dec 2, 2021 • 50:46
[Unedited] Vivek Murthy and Richard Davidson with Krista Tippett
What if the future of well-being is about “tipping the scales in the world away from fear and toward love”? And what if it’s a surgeon general of the United States, Dr. Vivek Murthy, who talks this way? Krista draws him out with his friend, the groundbreaking neuroscientist Richard Davidson. Together they carry deep intelligence and vision from the realms of science and public health, expansively understood. They explore all we are learning to help move us forward as a species. This conversation
Dec 2, 2021 • 1:15:53
Jane Goodall – What It Means to Be Human
Jane Goodall’s early research studying chimpanzees helped shape the self-understanding of our species and recalled modern Western science to the fact that we are a part of nature, not separate from it. In honor of the publication of her 32nd book — The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times — we’re re-releasing her beautiful conversation with Krista over Zoom from pandemic lockdown. From her decades studying chimpanzees in the Gombe forest to her more recent years attending to human pov
Nov 24, 2021 • 51:10
[Unedited] Jane Goodall with Krista Tippett
Jane Goodall’s early research studying chimpanzees helped shape the self-understanding of our species and recalled modern Western science to the fact that we are a part of nature, not separate from it. In honor of the publication of her 32nd book — The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times — we’re re-releasing her beautiful conversation with Krista over Zoom from pandemic lockdown. From her decades studying chimpanzees in the Gombe forest to her more recent years attending to human pov
Nov 24, 2021 • 1:21:38
Pico Iyer and Elizabeth Gilbert – The Future of Hope 3
Pico Iyer is an esteemed journalist and essayist, and an explorer of inner life — for himself and in 21st-century society. For this episode in our Future of Hope series, he draws out writer Elizabeth Gilbert and “her sense of hope based not on a confidence in happy endings, but the conviction that something makes sense — even if not a sense that we can grasp.” Pico’s questions and Liz’s answers are all the more poignant given that both of them have recently suffered deep losses. These two friend
Nov 18, 2021 • 51:18
Bessel van der Kolk – How Trauma Lodges in the Body, Revisited
When Krista interviewed the psychiatrist and trauma specialist Bessel van der Kolk for the first time, his book The Body Keeps the Score was about to be published. She described him then as “an innovator in treating the effects of overwhelming experiences on people and society.” She catches up with him in 2021 — as we are living through one vast overwhelming experience after the other. And The Body Keeps the Score is now one of the most widely read books in the pandemic world. His perspective is
Nov 11, 2021 • 50:47
[Unedited] Bessel van der Kolk with Krista Tippett
Krista interviewed the psychiatrist and trauma specialist Bessel van der Kolk for the first time in 2013, as his book The Body Keeps the Score was about to be published. He is an innovator in treating the effects of overwhelming experiences. We call this “trauma” when we encounter it in life and news, and we tend to leap to address it by talking. But Bessel van der Kolk knows how some experiences imprint themselves beyond where language can reach. He explores state-of-the-art therapeutic treatme
Nov 11, 2021 • 1:18:24
Bryan Stevenson – Finding the Courage for What's Redemptive
How to embrace what’s right and corrective, redemptive and restorative — and an insistence that each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve done — these are gifts Bryan Stevenson offers with his life. He’s brought the language of mercy and redemption into American culture in recent years, growing out of his work as a lawyer with the Equal Justice Initiative based in Montgomery, Alabama. Now the groundbreaking museum they created in Montgomery has dramatically expanded — a new way of engaging t
Nov 4, 2021 • 50:46
[Unedited] Bryan Stevenson with Krista Tippett
How to embrace what’s right and corrective, redemptive and restorative — and an insistence that each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve done — these are gifts Bryan Stevenson offers with his life. He’s brought the language of mercy and redemption into American culture in recent years, growing out of his work as a lawyer with the Equal Justice Initiative based in Montgomery, Alabama. Now the groundbreaking museum they created in Montgomery has dramatically expanded — a new way of engaging t
Nov 4, 2021 • 1:30:13
Pádraig Ó Tuama and Marilyn Nelson – “So let us pick up the stones over which we stumble, friends, and build altars”
Where to turn to find my place of standing when it feels like the world is on fire? This question surfaced in a public conversation Krista had just a couple of years ago with Pádraig Ó Tuama and Marilyn Nelson, two poet-contemplatives. Pádraig weaves together social healing, poetry, and theology. Marilyn is a lyrical excavator of stories that would rather stay hidden — yet as she coaxes them into the light, they lead to new life. This conversation is a pleasure and balm, and a reminder that the
Oct 28, 2021 • 50:47
[Unedited] Pádraig Ó Tuama and Marilyn Nelson with Krista Tippett
Where to turn to find my place of standing when it feels like the world is on fire? This question surfaced in a public conversation Krista had just a couple of years ago with Pádraig Ó Tuama and Marilyn Nelson, two poet-contemplatives. Pádraig weaves together social healing, poetry, and theology. Marilyn is a lyrical excavator of stories that would rather stay hidden — yet as she coaxes them into the light, they lead to new life. This conversation is a pleasure and balm, and a reminder that the
Oct 28, 2021 • 1:23:22
Katharine Hayhoe – "Our future is still in our hands"
Katharine Hayhoe is one of the most esteemed atmospheric scientists in the world. She’s made her mark by connecting dots between climate systems and weather patterns and the lived experience of human beings in their neighborhoods and communities. She’s also an ambassador, if you will, between the science of climate change and the world of evangelical Christian faith and practice, which she also inhabits. To delve into that with her is to learn a great deal that refreshingly complicates the pictu
Oct 21, 2021 • 50:48
[Unedited] Katharine Hayhoe with Krista Tippett
Katharine Hayhoe is one of the most esteemed atmospheric scientists in the world. She’s made her mark by connecting dots between climate systems and weather patterns and the lived experience of human beings in their neighborhoods and communities. She’s also an ambassador, if you will, between the science of climate change and the world of evangelical Christian faith and practice, which she also inhabits. To delve into that with her is to learn a great deal that refreshingly complicates the pictu
Oct 21, 2021 • 1:09:14
Darnell Moore and dream hampton — The Future of Hope 2
We’re in a time as thick with uncertainty as with possibility. Many of us are still, and again, exhausted — and yet opening, fitfully, to what we’ve learned and have been called to at this moment in the life of the world. Toward nourishing that, the second offering in our new series, The Future of Hope, with social creative Darnell Moore in conversation with filmmaker dream hampton. The influence they wield spans hip-hop to Netflix to the Oscars; from the Movement for Black Lives to Surviving R.
Oct 14, 2021 • 51:40
Mike Rose – The Deepest Meanings of Intelligence and Vocation
“I grew up a witness,” Mike Rose wrote, “to the intelligence of the waitress in motion, the reflective welder, the strategy of the guy on the assembly line. This then is something I know: the thought it takes to do physical work.” Mike Rose died in August, yet the particular way he saw the world resonates more than ever before as our debates about the future of school and work only intensify. He argued with care and eloquence that we risk too narrow a view of the way the physical, the human, and
Oct 7, 2021 • 51:10
[Unedited] Mike Rose with Krista Tippett
“I grew up a witness,” Mike Rose wrote, “to the intelligence of the waitress in motion, the reflective welder, the strategy of the guy on the assembly line. This then is something I know: the thought it takes to do physical work.” Mike Rose died in August, yet the particular way he saw the world resonates more than ever before as our debates about the future of school and work only intensify. He argued with care and eloquence that we risk too narrow a view of the way the physical, the human, and
Oct 7, 2021 • 1:29:50
Priya Parker — Remaking Gathering: Entering the Mess, Crossing the Thresholds
Priya Parker has become the voice of what it means to gather in this world we inhabit now. She is helping remake the “how” of coming together — and more importantly, the “why.” Long before the pandemic, she points out, we had fallen into rote forms for staff meetings, birthday parties, conferences, shared meals. Virtual or physical, this time of regathering offers a threshold we can decide to cross with imagination, purpose, and joy. This is a conversation with so much to walk away from and put
Sep 30, 2021 • 50:48
[Unedited] Priya Parker with Krista Tippett
Priya Parker has become the voice of what it means to gather in this world we inhabit now. She is helping remake the “how” of coming together — and more importantly, the “why.” Long before the pandemic, she points out, we had fallen into rote forms for staff meetings, birthday parties, conferences, shared meals. Virtual or physical, this time of regathering offers a threshold we can decide to cross with imagination, purpose, and joy. This is a conversation with so much to walk away from and put
Sep 30, 2021 • 1:39:10
Stephen Batchelor – Finding Ease in Aloneness
One of the great challenges of life is to learn to be alone peaceably, at home in oneself. The pandemic forced many of us inside both physically and emotionally, even if we were not home on our own. We’ve been forced to work out the difference between loneliness and solitude. With teachers across the ages, and drawing on his life from monasticism to marriage, Buddhist writer and scholar Stephen Batchelor teaches how to approach solitude as a graceful and life-giving practice.Stephen Batchelor is
Sep 23, 2021 • 50:49
[Unedited] Stephen Batchelor with Krista Tippett
One of the great challenges of life is to learn to be alone peaceably, at home in oneself. The pandemic forced many of us inside both physically and emotionally, even if we were not home on our own. We’ve been forced to work out the difference between loneliness and solitude. With teachers across the ages, and drawing on his life from monasticism to marriage, Buddhist writer and scholar Stephen Batchelor teaches how to approach solitude as a graceful and life-giving practice.Stephen Batchelor is
Sep 23, 2021 • 1:32:01
Kate Bowler and Wajahat Ali — The Future of Hope
An irreverent conversation about hope between journalist Wajahat Ali and theologian Kate Bowler. They speak to this moment we’re in through the friendship they found on the edge of life and death that is cancer — Wajahat through his young daughter; and Kate with a stage 4 diagnosis at the age of 35 that she’s chronicled in a beloved memoir, Everything Happens for a Reason (And Other Lies I’ve Loved). Their conversation is rich with practical wisdom for facing uncertainty and mortality, losses we
Sep 16, 2021 • 51:15
The Future of Hope — Trailer
This past year has held layers of loss and grief and rupture as well as tectonic shifts of opening and learning and possibility. We walk into a world trying to open up, fitfully, that we must in many ways remake. At On Being, we’re feeling called to walk alongside others listening, asking and leading. So in the year ahead we are going to be bringing a stunning array of voices having the conversations they want to be hearing now. We’re calling this series The Future of Hope: Wajahat Ali with Kate
Sep 14, 2021 • 3:15
Suzanne Simard — Forests Are Wired For Wisdom
Suzanne Simard is the forest ecologist who has proven, beyond doubt, that trees communicate with each other — that a forest is a single organism wired for wisdom and care. Simard found that the processes that make for a high-functioning forest mirror the maps of the human brain that we’re also just now drawing. All of this turns out to be catching up with intelligence long held in aboriginal science. She calls the mature hub trees in a forest “Mother Trees” — parenting, eldering, in a mode of mu
Sep 9, 2021 • 50:47
[Unedited] Suzanne Simard with Krista Tippett
Suzanne Simard is the forest ecologist who has proven, beyond doubt, that trees communicate with each other — that a forest is a single organism wired for wisdom and care. Simard found that the processes that make for a high-functioning forest mirror the maps of the human brain that we’re also just now drawing. All of this turns out to be catching up with intelligence long held in aboriginal science. She calls the mature hub trees in a forest “Mother Trees” — parenting, eldering, in a mode of mu
Sep 9, 2021 • 1:19:48
Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn – Truth, Beauty, Banjo
We are digging into the archives to celebrate some of the conversations listeners have loved the most and that have shaped this project. Béla Fleck is one of the greatest living banjo players. He’s followed what many experience as this quintessential American roots instrument back to its roots in Africa, and he’s taken it where no banjo has gone before. Abigail Washburn is a celebrated banjo player and singer, both in English and Chinese. These two are partners in music and in life — recovering
Sep 2, 2021 • 50:47
[Unedited] Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn with Krista Tippett
We are digging into the archives to celebrate some of the conversations listeners have loved the most and that have shaped this project. Béla Fleck is one of the greatest living banjo players. He’s followed what many experience as this quintessential American roots instrument back to its roots in Africa, and he’s taken it where no banjo has gone before. Abigail Washburn is a celebrated banjo player and singer, both in English and Chinese. These two are partners in music and in life — recovering
Sep 2, 2021 • 1:23:50
Luis Alberto Urrea — Borders Are Liminal Spaces
The wonderful writer Luis Alberto Urrea says that a deep truth of our time is that “we miss each other.” He is singularly wise about the deep meaning and the problem of borders. The Mexican-American border, as he likes to say, ran straight through his parents’ Mexican-American marriage and divorce. His works of fiction and non-fiction confuse every dehumanizing caricature of Mexicans — and of U.S. border guards. The possibility of our time, as he lives and witnesses with his writing, is to evolv
Aug 26, 2021 • 50:48
[Unedited] Luis Alberto Urrea with Krista Tippett
We humans have this drive to erect barriers between ourselves and others, Luis Alberto Urrea says, and yet this makes us a little crazy. He is an exuberant, wise, and refreshing companion into the deep meaning and the problem of borders — what they are really about, what we do with them, and what they do to us. The Mexican-American border was as close and personal to him as it could be when he was growing up — an apt expression of his parents’ turbulent Mexican-American divorce. In his writing a
Aug 26, 2021 • 1:24:25
Robin DiAngelo and Resmaa Menakem — Towards a Framework for Repair
Through the ruptures of the past year and more, we’ve been given so much to learn, and callings to live differently. But how to do that, and where to begin? Resmaa Menakem’s book, My Grandmother's Hands, and his original insights into racialized trauma in all kinds of bodies, have offered new ways forward for us all. So we said yes when Resmaa proposed that he join On Being together with Robin DiAngelo. She has been a foremost white voice in our civilizational grappling with whiteness. This conv
Aug 19, 2021 • 50:49
[Unedited] Robin DiAngelo and Resmaa Menakem with Krista Tippett
Through the ruptures of the past year and more, we’ve been given so much to learn, and callings to live differently. But how to do that, and where to begin? Resmaa Menakem’s book, My Grandmother's Hands, and his original insights into racialized trauma in all kinds of bodies, have offered new ways forward for us all. So we said yes when Resmaa proposed that he join On Being together with Robin DiAngelo. She has been a foremost white voice in our civilizational grappling with whiteness. This conv
Aug 19, 2021 • 1:29:43
Kevin Kling — The Losses We Grow Into
We are digging into the archives to celebrate some of the conversations listeners have loved the most and that have shaped this project. Kevin Kling is part funny guy, part poet and playwright, part wise man — homegrown Minnesota meets Dante and Shakespeare. He was also born with one disabled arm, and a midlife motorcycle accident paralyzed the other. Then again, being so-called able-bodied, Kevin points out, is always only a temporary condition. We take in his wisdom on the losses we’re born wi
Aug 12, 2021 • 50:46
Sharon Salzberg — The Healing Is In The Return
As we reflect back on 2020 and look ahead, how do we keep walking forward, and even find renewal along the way? How can we hold to our sense of what is whole and true and undamaged even in the face of loss? Sharon Salzberg is one of the most esteemed meditation teachers in the world. She speaks with Krista about how to care for the world while also learning kindness towards ourselves.Sharon Salzberg — is a Buddhist teacher and author — and co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, M
Aug 5, 2021 • 50:43
[Unedited] Sharon Salzberg with Krista Tippett
As we reflect back on 2020 and look ahead, how do we keep walking forward, and even find renewal along the way? How can we hold to our sense of what is whole and true and undamaged even in the face of loss? Sharon Salzberg is one of the most esteemed meditation teachers in the world. She speaks with Krista about how to care for the world while also learning kindness towards ourselves.Sharon Salzberg — is a Buddhist teacher and author — and co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, M
Aug 5, 2021 • 1:51:43
Jen Bailey — What We Inherit & What We Send Forth
“I’m entering into this next phase… with a great deal of curiosity and perhaps tenderness, wanting to hold each other tight, because I think that there are ramifications of last year that have yet to be felt.” Rev. Jen Bailey is a wise young pastor and social innovator, and a “friend of a different generation” of Krista. This conversation is a loving adventure in cross-generational mapmaking and care. Jen is a leader in a widening movement that is “healing the healers” — sustaining individuals,
Jul 29, 2021 • 50:46
[Unedited] Jen Bailey with Krista Tippett
“I’m entering into this next phase… with a great deal of curiosity and perhaps tenderness, wanting to hold each other tight, because I think that there are ramifications of last year that have yet to be felt.” Rev. Jen Bailey is a wise young pastor and social innovator, and a “friend of a different generation” of Krista. This conversation is a loving adventure in cross-generational mapmaking and care. Jen is a leader in a widening movement that is “healing the healers” — sustaining individuals,
Jul 29, 2021 • 53:31
Glennon Doyle and Abby Wambach — ‘Courage is the presence of fear, and going anyway.’
Glennon Doyle’s book Untamed has been a sensation of 2020 and beyond, and now she’s launched a new podcast titled with words of hers that have become a cultural force: We Can Do Hard Things. Meanwhile her wife, the soccer icon Abby Wambach, has her own bestselling books and is hosting a new tv show - Abby’s Places on ESPN+. Krista spoke with them before they were quite so much in the public eye together, and it’s a window into the passions that brought them here. They sat together in Seattle at
Jul 22, 2021 • 50:48
[Unedited] Glennon Doyle and Abby Wambach with Krista Tippett
Glennon Doyle’s book Untamed has been a sensation of 2020 and beyond, and now she’s launched a new podcast titled with words of hers that have become a cultural force: We Can Do Hard Things. Meanwhile her wife, the soccer icon Abby Wambach, has her own bestselling books and is hosting a new tv show - Abby’s Places on ESPN+. Krista spoke with them before they were quite so much in the public eye together, and it’s a window into the passions that brought them here. They sat together in Seattle at
Jul 22, 2021 • 1:08:41
Brian Greene — This Tiny Slice of Eternity
If we didn’t have vast civilizational challenges upon us, we might be living in a constant state of wonder at what science in this century is learning and showing us about the cosmos and about ourselves — the new questions it’s giving us to live. We are the generation of our species to map the genome, to detect black holes colliding, to hear gravitational waves. The physicist Brian Greene is one of our greatest interpreters from the human enterprise that is science. And in his most recent thinki
Jul 15, 2021 • 50:48
[Unedited] Brian Greene with Krista Tippett – 2021 Conversation
If we didn’t have vast civilizational challenges upon us, we might be living in a constant state of wonder at what science in this century is learning and showing us about the cosmos and about ourselves — the new questions it’s giving us to live. We are the generation of our species to map the genome, to detect black holes colliding, to hear gravitational waves. The physicist Brian Greene is one of our greatest interpreters from the human enterprise that is science. And in his most recent thinki
Jul 15, 2021 • 1:08:41
Esther Perel – The Erotic Is an Antidote to Death
The psychotherapist Esther Perel has changed our discourse about sexuality and coupledom with her TED talks, her books, and her podcast, Where Should We Begin? Episode after episode lays bare the theater of relationship, which is also the drama of being human. Her insights speak to the flip side of social isolation — the intense experience many have now had of togetherness. And her deep understanding of “erotic intelligence” feels so interesting as we grapple with emergent dynamics of the human
Jul 8, 2021 • 50:26
[Unedited] Esther Perel with Krista Tippett
The psychotherapist Esther Perel has changed our discourse about sexuality and coupledom with her TED talks, her books, and her podcast, Where Should We Begin? Episode after episode lays bare the theater of relationship, which is also the drama of being human. Her insights speak to the flip side of social isolation — the intense experience many have now had of togetherness. And her deep understanding of “erotic intelligence” feels so interesting as we grapple with emergent dynamics of the human
Jul 8, 2021 • 1:30:37
Jason Reynolds — Imagination and Fortitude
Jason Reynolds is the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature of the Library of Congress — and a magnificent source of wisdom for human society as a whole. He’s driven by compassion and the clear-eyed honesty that the young both possess and demand of the rest of us. Ibram X. Kendi chose him to write the YA companion to Stamped from the Beginning. In his person, Jason Reynolds both embodies and inspires innate human powers of fortitude and imagination. Hear him on “breathlaughter”; the
Jul 1, 2021 • 50:47
[Unedited] Jason Reynolds with Krista Tippett
Jason Reynolds is the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature of the Library of Congress — and a magnificent source of wisdom for human society as a whole. He’s driven by compassion and the clear-eyed honesty that the young both possess and demand of the rest of us. Ibram X. Kendi chose him to write the YA companion to Stamped from the Beginning. In his person, Jason Reynolds both embodies and inspires innate human powers of fortitude and imagination. Hear him on “breathlaughter”; the
Jul 1, 2021 • 1:28:27
Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows — ‘What a world you’ve got inside you.’
A new translation of Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet has been released in a world in which his voice and vision feel as resonant as ever before. In ten letters to a young person in 1903, Rilke touched on the enduring dramas of creating our lives — prophetic musings about solitude and relationship, humanity and the natural world, even gender and human wholeness. And what a joy it is to delve into Rilke’s voice, freshly rendered, with the translators. Krista, Anita and Joanna have com
Jun 24, 2021 • 50:45
[Unedited] Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows with Krista Tippett
A new translation of Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet has been released in a world in which his voice and vision feel as resonant as ever before. In ten letters to a young person in 1903, Rilke touched on the enduring dramas of creating our lives — prophetic musings about solitude and relationship, humanity and the natural world, even gender and human wholeness. And what a joy it is to delve into Rilke’s voice, freshly rendered, with the translators. Krista, Anita and Joanna have com
Jun 24, 2021 • 1:30:45
Alex Elle — Self-Care as Generational Healing
Alex Elle complicates the idea of self-care, opening it up as community-care, as a way towards generational healing. And she’s revivifying the meaning of meeting one’s “inner child” for a new generation. Our colleague Lily Percy says she could not have survived the physical isolation of the pandemic without Alex’s writing, teaching, and Instagram presence. So Krista hands over the mic to Lily for this conversation. Alex Elle has a beloved presence on Instagram @alex_elle. She teaches workshops o
Jun 17, 2021 • 50:46
[Unedited] Alex Elle with Liliana Maria Percy Ruiz
Alex Elle complicates the idea of self-care, opening it up as community-care, as a way towards generational healing. And she’s revivifying the meaning of meeting one’s “inner child” for a new generation. Our colleague Lily Percy says she could not have survived the physical isolation of the pandemic without Alex’s writing, teaching, and Instagram presence. So Krista hands over the mic to Lily for this conversation.Alex Elle has a beloved presence on Instagram @alex_elle. She teaches workshops on
Jun 17, 2021 • 1:18:51
Nicholas Christakis — How We’re Wired for Goodness
Elemental human capacities like friendship and love, teaching and learning, have tremendous, constant, practical force. We don’t think of these in terms of what has given our species the grit to endure through hard times and even evolve in the long run. They’re lived social intelligence, part of the everyday, and so can be hard to see as serious amidst the high tumult of our age. But these kinds of human qualities are what sociologist Nicholas Christakis studies from his Human Nature Lab at Yale
Jun 10, 2021 • 50:45
[Unedited] Nicholas Christakis with Krista Tippett
Elemental human capacities like friendship and love, teaching and learning, have tremendous, constant, practical force. We don’t think of these in terms of what has given our species the grit to endure through hard times and even evolve in the long run. They’re lived social intelligence, part of the everyday, and so can be hard to see as serious amidst the high tumult of our age. But these kinds of human qualities are what sociologist Nicholas Christakis studies from his Human Nature Lab at Yale
Jun 10, 2021 • 1:37:46
Robert Macfarlane — The Worlds Beneath Our Feet
There’s dark matter in the cosmos, and inside us, and hidden beneath our feet. Robert Macfarlane is an explorer and linguist of landscape and his book, Underland: A Deep Time Journey, is an odyssey that’s full of surprises — from caves and catacombs under land, under cities, and under forests to the meltwater of Greenland. “Since before we were Homo sapiens,” he writes, “humans have been seeking out spaces of darkness in which to find and make meaning.” Darkness in the natural world and in human
Jun 3, 2021 • 50:42
[Unedited] Robert Macfarlane with Krista Tippett
There’s dark matter in the cosmos, and inside us, and hidden beneath our feet. Robert Macfarlane is an explorer and linguist of landscape and his book, Underland: A Deep Time Journey, is an odyssey that’s full of surprises — from caves and catacombs under land, under cities, and under forests to the meltwater of Greenland. “Since before we were Homo sapiens,” he writes, “humans have been seeking out spaces of darkness in which to find and make meaning.” Darkness in the natural world and in human
Jun 3, 2021 • 1:37:49
Tracy K. Smith and Michael Kleber-Diggs — ‘History is upon us... its hand against our back.’
The pandemic memoirs began almost immediately, and now comes another kind of offering — a searching look at the meaning of the racial catharsis to which the pandemic in some sense gave birth and voice and life. Tracy K. Smith co-edited the stunning book, There’s a Revolution Outside, My Love: Letters from a Crisis, a collection of 40 pieces that span an array of BIPOC voices from Edwidge Danticat to Reginald Dwayne Betts, from Layli Long Soldier to Ross Gay to Julia Alvarez. Tracy and Michael Kl
May 27, 2021 • 50:31
[Unedited] Tracy K. Smith and Michael Kleber-Diggs with Krista Tippett
The pandemic memoirs began almost immediately, and now comes another kind of offering — a searching look at the meaning of the racial catharsis to which the pandemic in some sense gave birth and voice and life. Tracy K. Smith co-edited the stunning book, There’s a Revolution Outside, My Love: Letters from a Crisis, a collection of 40 pieces that span an array of BIPOC voices from Edwidge Danticat to Reginald Dwayne Betts, from Layli Long Soldier to Ross Gay to Julia Alvarez. Tracy and Michael Kl
May 27, 2021 • 1:12:47
Jill Tarter — 'It Takes a Cosmos to Make a Human'
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence — or SETI — goes beyond hunting for E.T. and habitable planets. Scientists in the field are using telescopes and satellites looking for signs of outright civilizational intelligence. One of the founding pioneers in this search is astronomer Jill Tarter. She is a co-founder of the SETI Institute and was an inspiration for Jodie Foster’s character in the movie Contact, based on the novel by Carl Sagan. To speak with Tarter is to begin to grasp the creat
May 20, 2021 • 50:46
[Unedited] Jill Tarter with Krista Tippett
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence — or SETI — goes beyond hunting for E.T. and habitable planets. Scientists in the field are using telescopes and satellites looking for signs of outright civilizational intelligence. One of the founding pioneers in this search is astronomer Jill Tarter. She is a co-founder of the SETI Institute and was an inspiration for Jodie Foster’s character in the movie Contact, based on the novel by Carl Sagan. To speak with Tarter is to begin to grasp the creat
May 20, 2021 • 1:06:08
Joy Harjo — The Whole of Time
“Though we have instructions and a map buried in our hearts when we enter this world,” the extraordinary Joy Harjo has written, “nothing quite prepares us for the abrupt shift to the breathing realm.” She is a saxophone player and performer, a visual artist, a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, and the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States. She opens up with Krista about her life, dreaming as a way of relating to time and place, and the story matrix that connects us all. Joy Harjo — is a
May 13, 2021 • 50:43
[Extended] Joy Harjo with Krista Tippett
“Though we have instructions and a map buried in our hearts when we enter this world,” the extraordinary Joy Harjo has written, “nothing quite prepares us for the abrupt shift to the breathing realm.” She is a saxophone player and performer, a visual artist, a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, and the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States. She opens up with Krista about her life, dreaming as a way of relating to time and place, and the story matrix that connects us all. Joy Harjo — is a
May 13, 2021 • 1:12:33
Daniel Kahneman – Why We Contradict Ourselves and Confound Each Other
The classic economic theory embedded in western democracies holds an assumption that human beings will almost always behave rationally in the end and make logical choices that will keep our society balanced on the whole. Daniel Kahneman is the psychologist who won the Nobel Prize in Economics for showing that this is simply not true. There’s something sobering — but also helpfully grounding — in speaking with this brilliant and humane scholar who explains why none of us is an equation that compu
May 6, 2021 • 50:46
[Unedited] Daniel Kahneman with Krista Tippett
The classic economic theory embedded in western democracies holds an assumption that human beings will almost always behave rationally in the end and make logical choices that will keep our society balanced on the whole. Daniel Kahneman is the psychologist who won the Nobel Prize in Economics for showing that this is simply not true. There’s something sobering — but also helpfully grounding — in speaking with this brilliant and humane scholar who explains why none of us is an equation that compu
May 6, 2021 • 1:37:27
Living the Questions — We’ve been enmeshed with our technologies. Tech Shabbat for everyone?
Krista’s been in a conversation with Tiffany Shlain for several years about her practice of “Tech Shabbat.” For more than a decade, she and her family have taken a rest from screens sundown Friday to sundown Saturday; her book 24/6 is a kind of manual to open the practice to everyone. After a year in which many of us have relied on our devices as our portals to reality — our sole connection to the people and places we love — Krista called Tiffany to talk about how this practice works. Might it b
May 3, 2021 • 30:10
Hanif Abdurraqib — Moments of Shared Witnessing
Hanif Abdurraqib’s writing is filled with lyricism, rhythm, people and precision. In his essays and poetry, he introduces readers to a soundscape of Black performance and Black joy: we hear hip-hop and jazz, we hear Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin and Little Richard. Music and performance of every kind are the source of his fascination, focus and wisdom: what makes people cry, or feel safe, or brave; held in struggle, joy, or love. Hanif is interviewed by our colleague, Pádraig Ó Tuama, a poet hims
Apr 29, 2021 • 50:36
[Unedited] Hanif Abdurraqib with Pádraig Ó Tuama
Hanif Abdurraqib’s writing is filled with lyricism, rhythm, people and precision. In his essays and poetry, he introduces readers to a soundscape of Black performance and Black joy: we hear hip-hop and jazz, we hear Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin and Little Richard. Music and performance of every kind are the source of his fascination, focus and wisdom: what makes people cry, or feel safe, or brave; held in struggle, joy, or love. Hanif is interviewed by our colleague, Pádraig Ó Tuama, a poet hims
Apr 29, 2021 • 1:26:09
Layli Long Soldier — The Freedom of Real Apologies
Layli Long Soldier is a writer, a mother, a citizen of the United States, and a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation. She has a way of opening up this part of her life, and of American life, to inspire self-searching and tenderness. Her award-winning first book of poetry, WHEREAS, is a response to the U.S. government’s official apology to Native peoples in 2009, which was done so quietly, with no ceremony, that it was practically a secret. Layli Long Soldier offers entry points for us all — to ev
Apr 22, 2021 • 50:40
[Unedited] Layli Long Soldier with Krista Tippett
Layli Long Soldier is a writer, a mother, a citizen of the United States, and a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation. She has a way of opening up this part of her life, and of American life, to inspire self-searching and tenderness. Her award-winning first book of poetry, WHEREAS, is a response to the U.S. government’s official apology to Native peoples in 2009, which was done so quietly, with no ceremony, that it was practically a secret. Layli Long Soldier offers entry points for us all — to ev
Apr 22, 2021 • 2:00:04
Resmaa Menakem — ‘Notice the Rage; Notice the Silence’
Across the past year, and now as the murder trial of Derek Chauvin unfolds with Minneapolis in fresh pain and turmoil, we return again to the grounding insights of Resmaa Menakem. He is a Minneapolis-based therapist and trauma specialist who activates the wisdom of elders, and very new science, about how all of us carry in our bodies the history and traumas behind everything we collapse into the word “race.” We offer up his intelligence on changing ourselves at a cellular level — practices towar
Apr 15, 2021 • 50:44
[Unedited] Resmaa Menakem with Krista Tippett
Across the past year, and now as the murder trial of Derek Chauvin unfolds with Minneapolis in fresh pain and turmoil, we return again to the grounding insights of Resmaa Menakem. He is a Minneapolis-based therapist and trauma specialist who activates the wisdom of elders, and very new science, about how all of us carry in our bodies the history and traumas behind everything we collapse into the word “race.” We offer up his intelligence on changing ourselves at a cellular level — practices towar
Apr 15, 2021 • 1:43:27
Bryan Doerries — "You are not alone across time."
“Remember,” Bryan Doerries likes to say in both physical and virtual gatherings, “you are not alone in this room — and you are not alone across time.” With his public health project, Theater of War, he is activating an old alchemy for our young century. Ancient stories, and texts that have stood the test of time, can be portals to honest and dignified grappling with present wounds and longings and callings that we aren’t able to muster in our official places now. It’s an embodiment of the good G
Apr 8, 2021 • 50:37
[Unedited] Bryan Doerries with Krista Tippett
“Remember,” Bryan Doerries likes to say in both physical and virtual gatherings, “you are not alone in this room — and you are not alone across time.” With his public health project, Theater of War, he is activating an old alchemy for our young century. Ancient stories, and texts that have stood the test of time, can be portals to honest and dignified grappling with present wounds and longings and callings that we aren’t able to muster in our official places now. It’s an embodiment of the good G
Apr 8, 2021 • 1:58:08
Serene Jones — Grace in a Fractured World
The glory that coexists in human life right alongside our weird propensity to choose what is not good for us; the difference between a place of sheer loss and a sacred space for mourning; grace as something muscular amidst the muck and mess of reality. These are some of the places of musing, sweeping perspective, and raw wisdom a conversation with Serene Jones takes us. And after hearing this, you’ll never think in the same way again about Woody Guthrie, or John Calvin, or what a Christian upbri
Apr 1, 2021 • 50:36
[Unedited] Serene Jones with Krista Tippett
The glory that coexists in human life right alongside our weird propensity to choose what is not good for us; the difference between a place of sheer loss and a sacred space for mourning; grace as something muscular amidst the muck and mess of reality. These are some of the places of musing, sweeping perspective, and raw wisdom a conversation with Serene Jones takes us. And after hearing this, you’ll never think in the same way again about Woody Guthrie, or John Calvin, or what a Christian upbri
Apr 1, 2021 • 1:15:48
Michael Longley — The Vitality of Ordinary Things
To reassert the liveliness of ordinary things, precisely in the face of what is hardest and most broken in life and society — this has been Michael Longley’s gift as one of Northern Ireland’s foremost living poets. He is known, in part, as a poet of “the Troubles” — the violent 30-year conflict between Protestants and Catholics, English and Irish. And he is a gentle voice for all of us now, wise and winsome about the everyday, never-finished work of social healing.Michael Longley has written mor
Mar 25, 2021 • 50:37
[Unedited] Michael Longley with Krista Tippett
To reassert the liveliness of ordinary things, precisely in the face of what is hardest and most broken in life and society — this has been Michael Longley’s gift as one of Northern Ireland’s foremost living poets. He is known, in part, as a poet of “the Troubles” — the violent 30-year conflict between Protestants and Catholics, English and Irish. And he is a gentle voice for all of us now, wise and winsome about the everyday, never-finished work of social healing.Michael Longley has written mor
Mar 25, 2021 • 1:21:47
Christine Runyan — What’s Happening in Our Nervous Systems?
The light at the end of the COVID tunnel is tenuously appearing - yet many of us feel as exhausted as at any time in the past year. Memory problems; short fuses; fractured productivity; sudden drops into despair. We’re at once excited and unnerved by the prospect of life opening up again. Clinical psychologist Christine Runyan explains the physiological effects of a year of pandemic and social isolation - what’s happened at the level of stress response and nervous system, the literal mind-body c
Mar 18, 2021 • 50:37
[Unedited] Christine Runyan with Krista Tippett
The years of pandemic and lockdown are still working powerfully on us from the inside. But we have trouble acknowledging this, much less metabolizing it. This conversation with Christine Runyan, which took place in the dark middle of those years, helps make sense of our present of still-unfolding epidemic distress — as individuals, as communities, as a species. She has cultivated a reverence for the human nervous system. She tells truths about our bodies that western medicine itself is only fitf
Mar 18, 2021 • 1:38:09
Ocean Vuong – A Life Worthy of Our Breath
Krista interviewed the wise and wonderful writer Ocean Vuong on March 8, 2020 in a joyful, crowded room full of podcasters in Brooklyn. A state of emergency had just been declared in New York around a new virus. But no one guessed that within a handful of days such an event would become unimaginable. Most stunning is how presciently, exquisitely Ocean speaks to the world we have come to inhabit— its heartbreak, its poetry, and its possibilities of both destroying and saving. “I want to love more
Mar 11, 2021 • 50:49
[Unedited] Ocean Vuong with Krista Tippett
Krista interviewed the wise and wonderful writer Ocean Vuong on March 8, 2020 in a joyful, crowded room full of podcasters in Brooklyn. A state of emergency had just been declared in New York around a new virus. But no one guessed that within a handful of days such an event would become unimaginable. Most stunning is how presciently, exquisitely Ocean speaks to the world we have come to inhabit— its heartbreak, its poetry, and its possibilities of both destroying and saving. “I want to love more
Mar 11, 2021 • 1:33:01
Naomi Shihab Nye — “Before You Know Kindness As the Deepest Thing Inside...”
It’s pretty intriguing to follow poet Naomi Shihab Nye’s idea that most of us actually “think in poems” whether we know it or not. Rarely, as she points out, do you hear anyone say they feel worse after writing things down. That, she says, can be a tool to survive in hard times like these, to anchor our days - and to get into a conversation and community with all of the selves that live on in each of us at any given moment - “your child self, your older self, your confused self, your self-that-m
Mar 4, 2021 • 50:39
[Unedited] Naomi Shihab Nye with Krista Tippett
It’s pretty intriguing to follow poet Naomi Shihab Nye’s idea that most of us actually “think in poems” whether we know it or not. Rarely, as she points out, do you hear anyone say they feel worse after writing things down. That, she says, can be a tool to survive in hard times like these, to anchor our days - and to get into a conversation and community with all of the selves that live on in each of us at any given moment - “your child self, your older self, your confused self, your self-that-m
Mar 4, 2021 • 1:34:10
The Question “Who Am I,” and Movies We Love
So many of us have been getting through this year by watching movies at home by ourselves, or with friends on Zoom, inventing new ways to grieve and to hope, to keep ourselves laughing, all through the simple act of watching stories unfold on our screens. Movies have the power to unearth the many layers of our identities; to help us answer the question: Who am I? And that is what we trace, by way of a few beloved movies including The Color Purple, The Fly, and Blockers, in this episode.Danez Smi
Feb 25, 2021 • 50:39
Ariel Burger — Be a Blessing
There is a question rolling around even in the most secular of corners: What do religious people and traditions have to teach as we do the work ahead of repairing, renewing, and remaking our societies, our life together? Krista’s conversation this week with Rabbi Ariel Burger, a student of the late, extraordinary Elie Wiesel, delves into theological and mystical depths that are so much richer and more creative than is often imagined even when that question is raised.Rabbi Ariel Burger is the aut
Feb 18, 2021 • 50:35
[Extended] Ariel Burger with Krista Tippett
There is a question rolling around even in the most secular of corners: What do religious people and traditions have to teach as we do the work ahead of repairing, renewing, and remaking our societies, our life together? Krista’s conversation this week with Rabbi Ariel Burger, a student of the late, extraordinary Elie Wiesel, delves into theological and mystical depths that are so much richer and more creative than is often imagined even when that question is raised.Rabbi Ariel Burger is the aut
Feb 18, 2021 • 1:37:11
Alain de Botton — The True Hard Work of Love and Relationships
As people, and as a culture, Alain de Botton says, we would be much saner and happier if we reexamined our very view of love. His New York Times essay, “Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person,” is one of their most-read articles in recent years, and this is one of the most popular episodes we’ve ever created. We offer up the anchoring truths he shares amidst a pandemic that has stretched all of our sanity — and tested the mettle of love in every relationship.Alain de Botton is the founder and chair
Feb 11, 2021 • 50:35
[Unedited] Alain de Botton with Krista Tippett
As people, and as a culture, Alain de Botton says, we would be much saner and happier if we reexamined our very view of love. His New York Times essay, “Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person,” is one of their most-read articles in recent years, and this is one of the most popular episodes we’ve ever created. We offer up the anchoring truths he shares amidst a pandemic that has stretched all of our sanity — and tested the mettle of love in every relationship.Alain de Botton is the founder and chair
Feb 11, 2021 • 1:32:38
Living the Questions — What's our communal equivalent of rubbing each other's feet?
A companion conversation to Parker Palmer’s reflections in this week’s On Being, about the soul in depression. Krista catches up with her friend and teacher in 2021. Plus, Parker learns to use QuickTime.Parker J. Palmer is a teacher, author, and founder and senior partner emeritus of the Center for Courage & Renewal. His many books include Healing the Heart of Democracy, Let Your Life Speak, and On the Brink of Everything. He’s also a contributor to the book, Anchored in the Current: Discovering
Feb 5, 2021 • 13:53
The Soul in Depression
We’re increasingly attentive to the many faces of depression and anxiety, and we’re fluent in the languages of psychology and medication. But depression is profound spiritual territory; and that is much harder to speak about. This is an On Being classic. Krista opens up about her own experience of depression and talks with Parker Palmer, Anita Barrows, and Andrew Solomon. We are putting this out on the air again because people tell us it has saved lives, and so many of us are struggling in whole
Feb 4, 2021 • 50:36
[Unedited] Parker Palmer with Krista Tippett
This is the unedited conversation Krista had with Parker Palmer in 2002, which is excerpted within our produced episode “The Soul in Depression.” That episode also includes the voices of Andrew Solomon and Anita Barrows. Find the transcript for that show at onbeing.org. Parker J. Palmer is a teacher, author, and founder and senior partner emeritus of the Center for Courage & Renewal. His many books include Healing the Heart of Democracy, Let Your Life Speak, and On the Brink of Everything: Grac
Feb 4, 2021 • 54:50
[Unedited] Anita Barrows with Krista Tippett
This is the unedited conversation Krista had with Anita Barrows in 2002, which is excerpted within our produced episode “The Soul in Depression.” That episode also includes the voices of Andrew Solomon and Parker Palmer. Find the transcript for that show at onbeing.org. Anita Barrows is a psychologist, poet and translator. Her most recent poetry collection is We are the Hunger. She has translated several volumes of the writings of Rainer Maria Rilke together with Joanna Macy, including Rilke's
Feb 4, 2021 • 1:00:07
[Unedited] Andrew Solomon with Krista Tippett
This is the unedited conversation Krista had with Andrew Solomon in 2002, which is excerpted within our produced episode “The Soul in Depression.” That episode also includes the voices of Anita Barrows and Parker Palmer. Find the transcript for that show at onbeing.org. Andrew Solomon is a journalist and writer of epic books, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, and Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity.
Feb 4, 2021 • 46:13
J. Drew Lanham reads his poem “Love for a Song”
Ornithologist J. Drew Lanham reads his poem, “Love for a Song.” Krista’s conversation with him is our episode, ‘I Worship Every Bird that I See.’
Feb 1, 2021 • 2:18
J. Drew Lanham reads from his book.
This is an excerpt from a chapter called “New Religion” in 'The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man's Love Affair with Nature.'There's also a video designed around this reading on our YouTube channel. Krista's conversation with J. Drew is our episode ‘I Worship Every Bird that I See.’
Feb 1, 2021 • 2:31
Drew Lanham — "I Worship Every Bird that I See"
The ornithologist Drew Lanham is lyrical in the languages of science, humans, and birds. He’s a professor of wildlife ecology, a self-described “hunter-conservationist,” and author of the celebrated book The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature. His way of seeing and hearing and noticing the present and the history that birds traverse - through our backyards and beyond - is a revelatory way to be present to the world and to life in our time.J. Drew Lanham is an Alumni D
Jan 28, 2021 • 50:35
[Unedited] Drew Lanham with Krista Tippett
The ornithologist Drew Lanham is lyrical in the languages of science, humans, and birds. He’s a professor of wildlife ecology, a self-described “hunter-conservationist,” and author of the celebrated book The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature. His way of seeing and hearing and noticing the present and the history that birds traverse - through our backyards and beyond - is a revelatory way to be present to the world and to life in our time.J. Drew Lanham is an Alumni D
Jan 28, 2021 • 1:33:07
Katherine May Reads from 'Wintering'
This passage of Katherine May's book, read by her in our latest show, is so lovely that we decided to offer it up as its own meditation. There's also a beautiful video designed around it on our YouTube channel. And hear Krista's whole conversation with Katherine - and more reading - in the full episode How 'Wintering' Replenishes.
Jan 25, 2021 • 2:55
Katherine May — How 'Wintering' Replenishes
In so many stories and fables that shape us, cold and snow, the closing in of the light — these have deep psychological as much as physical reality. This is “wintering,” as the English writer Katherine May illuminates in her beautiful, meditative book of that title — wintering as at once a season of the natural world, a respite our bodies require, and a state of mind. It’s one way to describe our pandemic year: as one big extended communal experience of wintering. Some of us are laboring harder
Jan 21, 2021 • 50:38
[Unedited] Katherine May with Krista Tippett
In so many stories and fables that shape us, cold and snow, the closing in of the light — these have deep psychological as much as physical reality. This is “wintering,” as the English writer Katherine May illuminates in her beautiful, meditative book of that title — wintering as at once a season of the natural world, a respite our bodies require, and a state of mind. It’s one way to describe our pandemic year: as one big extended communal experience of wintering. Some of us are laboring harder
Jan 21, 2021 • 1:21:21
Living the Questions: A Civil Rights Elder on Exhaustion and Rest, Spiritual Practice, and the Necessity of Loving Community
Our colleague Lucas Johnson catches up with one of his mentors, Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons. Now a member of the National Council of Elders, she was a teenager when she joined the Mississippi Freedom Summer. She shares what she has learned about exhaustion and self-care, spiritual practice and community, while engaging in civil rights organizing and deep social healing. Dr. Simmons was raised Christian and later converted to the Sufi tradition of Islam.Lucas Johnson leads The On Being Project's wo
Jan 18, 2021 • 24:13
Nikki Giovanni — 'We Go Forward With a Sanity and a Love'
It feels good and right this week to sit with the beloved writer Nikki Giovanni’s signature mix of high seriousness, sweeping perspective, and insistent pleasure. In the 1960s, she was a poet of the Black Arts Movement that nourished civil rights. She’s also a professor at Virginia Tech, where she brought beauty and courage after the 2007 shooting there. And she’s an adored voice to a new generation — an enthusiastic elder to us all — at home in her body and in the world of her lifetime even whi
Jan 14, 2021 • 50:40
[Unedited] Nicki Giovanni with Krista Tippett
It feels good and right this week to sit with the beloved writer Nikki Giovanni’s signature mix of high seriousness, sweeping perspective, and insistent pleasure. In the 1960s, she was a poet of the Black Arts Movement that nourished civil rights. She’s also a professor at Virginia Tech, where she brought beauty and courage after the 2007 shooting there. And she’s an adored voice to a new generation — an enthusiastic elder to us all — at home in her body and in the world of her lifetime even whi
Jan 14, 2021 • 1:27:06
Frank Wilczek — Beauty as a Compass for Truth
“Having tasted beauty at the heart of the world, we hunger for more.” These are words from Nobel physicist Frank Wilczek in his book, A Beautiful Question. It’s a winsome, joyful meditation on the question: Do cosmic realities embody beautiful ideas? — probing the world, by way of science, as a work of art. He reminds us that time and space, mystery and order, are so much stranger and more generous than we can comprehend. He’s now written a wonderful new book, Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality.F
Jan 7, 2021 • 50:35
[Unedited] Frank Wilczek with Krista Tippett
“Having tasted beauty at the heart of the world, we hunger for more.” These are words from Nobel physicist Frank Wilczek in his book, A Beautiful Question. It’s a winsome, joyful meditation on the question: Do cosmic realities embody beautiful ideas? — probing the world, by way of science, as a work of art. He reminds us that time and space, mystery and order, are so much stranger and more generous than we can comprehend. He’s now written a wonderful new book, Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality.F
Jan 7, 2021 • 1:21:40
Mary Catherine Bateson — Living as an Improvisational Art
Underpinning all the great challenges of our time there is the human drama, the human condition. And as we move beyond 2020, we turn to Mary Catherine Bateson to help us understand the puzzle of being ourselves, of rising to our best capacities and gifts, in all of our complexity and strangeness. She is the daughter of the great anthropologists Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, and she is a linguist and anthropologist herself.Mary Catherine Bateson - is Professor Emerita at George Mason Univers
Dec 31, 2020 • 51:02
[Unedited] Mary Catherine Bateson with Krista Tippett
Underpinning all the great challenges of our time there is the human drama, the human condition. And as we move beyond 2020, we turn to Mary Catherine Bateson to help us understand the puzzle of being ourselves, of rising to our best capacities and gifts, in all of our complexity and strangeness. She is the daughter of the great anthropologists Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, and she is a linguist and anthropologist herself.Mary Catherine Bateson - is Professor Emerita at George Mason Univers
Dec 31, 2020 • 1:34:38
Gaelynn Lea’s Voice and Violin
Gaelynn Lea’s voice and violin land like a balm — an offering of both clarity and gladness that can still be mustered in this midwinter, this upended Christmas season. She first came to the attention of many when she won NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Contest in 2016. This fiddler and singer-songwriter moves through the world in an electric wheelchair, and plays the violin like a cello because of the disability she was born with — a genetic condition that has made her bones more breakable. So much of wha
Dec 23, 2020 • 51:09
[Unedited] Gaelynn Lea with Krista Tippett
Gaelynn Lea’s voice and violin land like a balm — an offering of both clarity and gladness that can still be mustered in this midwinter, this upended Christmas season. She first came to the attention of many when she won NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Contest in 2016. This fiddler and singer-songwriter moves through the world in an electric wheelchair, and plays the violin like a cello because of the disability she was born with — a genetic condition that has made her bones more breakable. So much of wha
Dec 23, 2020 • 1:29:53
Jennifer Michael Hecht — 'We Believe Each Other Into Being'
“We are indebted to one another and the debt is a kind of faith — a beautiful, difficult, strange faith. We believe each other into being.” That’s the message the philosopher, poet, and historian, Jennifer Michael Hecht, puts at the center of her unusual writing about suicide. She’s traced how Western civilization has, at times, demonized those who died by suicide, and, at times, celebrated it as a moral freedom. She has struggled with suicidal places in her life and lost friends to it. She prop
Dec 17, 2020 • 51:02
[Unedited] Jennifer Michael Hecht with Krista Tippett
“We are indebted to one another and the debt is a kind of faith — a beautiful, difficult, strange faith. We believe each other into being.” That’s the message the philosopher, poet, and historian, Jennifer Michael Hecht, puts at the center of her unusual writing about suicide. She’s traced how Western civilization has, at times, demonized those who died by suicide, and, at times, celebrated it as a moral freedom. She has struggled with suicidal places in her life and lost friends to it. She prop
Dec 17, 2020 • 1:20:38
Bishop Michael Curry & Dr. Russell Moore — Spiritual Bridge People
We’re in a tender spiritual moment, widely feeling our need for re-grounding both alone and together. By way of the Almighty force of Zoom, Krista engages a forward-looking conversation with two religious thinkers and spiritual leaders from very different places on the U.S. Christian and cultural spectrum: Episcopal Bishop Michael Curry and Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention. Through their friendship as much as their words, they model what they preach. The Washington National Cathe
Dec 10, 2020 • 51:05
[Unedited] Bishop Michael Curry & Dr. Russell Moore with Krista Tippett
We’re in a tender spiritual moment, widely feeling our need for re-grounding both alone and together. By way of the Almighty force of Zoom, Krista engages a forward-looking conversation with two religious thinkers and spiritual leaders from very different places on the U.S. Christian and cultural spectrum: Episcopal Bishop Michael Curry and Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention. Through their friendship as much as their words, they model what they preach. The Washington National Cathe
Dec 10, 2020 • 1:08:53
Bryan Stevenson — Love is the Motive
How to embrace what’s right and corrective, redemptive and restorative — and an insistence that each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve done — these are gifts Bryan Stevenson offers with his life. He’s brought the language of mercy and redemption into American culture in recent years, growing out of his work as a lawyer to people unfairly on death row, people who are mentally ill and incarcerated, and children tried as adults. Krista draws out his spirit and his moral imagination.Bryan Ste
Dec 3, 2020 • 50:56
[Unedited] Bryan Stevenson with Krista Tippett
How to embrace what’s right and corrective, redemptive and restorative — and an insistence that each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve done — these are gifts Bryan Stevenson offers with his life. He’s brought the language of mercy and redemption into American culture in recent years, growing out of his work as a lawyer to people unfairly on death row, people who are mentally ill and incarcerated, and children tried as adults. Krista draws out his spirit and his moral imagination.Bryan Ste
Dec 3, 2020 • 1:30:00
Agustín Fuentes — This Species Moment
We’ve realized in 2020 that the way we’ve organized culture — from the economy to race to work — could be done radically differently. We’ve been modeling our life together on “survival of the fittest” long after science itself moved on from that. And we’re learning to see that in every sphere of life we inhabit ecosystems. Agustín Fuentes brings spacious insight into all of this as a biological and evolutionary anthropologist, exploring how humans behave, function, and change together. In this c
Nov 25, 2020 • 51:05
[Unedited] Agustín Fuentes with Krista Tippett
We’ve realized in 2020 that the way we’ve organized culture — from the economy to race to work — could be done radically differently. We’ve been modeling our life together on “survival of the fittest” long after science itself moved on from that. And we’re learning to see that in every sphere of life we inhabit ecosystems. Agustín Fuentes brings spacious insight into all of this as a biological and evolutionary anthropologist, exploring how humans behave, function, and change together. In this c
Nov 25, 2020 • 1:20:03
Richard Blanco — How to Love a Country
The Cuban American civil engineer turned writer, Richard Blanco, straddles the many ways a sense of place merges with human emotion to make home and belonging — personal and communal. The most recent — and very resonant — question he’s asked by way of poetry is: how to love a country? At Chautauqua, Krista invited him to speak and read from his books. Blanco’s wit, thoughtfulness, and elegance captivated the crowd. Richard Blanco – practiced civil engineering for more than 20 years. He is now a
Nov 19, 2020 • 51:01
[Unedited] Richard Blanco with Krista Tippett
The Cuban American civil engineer turned writer, Richard Blanco, straddles the many ways a sense of place merges with human emotion to make home and belonging — personal and communal. The most recent — and very resonant — question he’s asked by way of poetry is: how to love a country? At Chautauqua, Krista invited him to speak and read from his books. Blanco’s wit, thoughtfulness, and elegance captivated the crowd.Richard Blanco – practiced civil engineering for more than 20 years. He is now an
Nov 19, 2020 • 1:21:28
Remembering Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
Rabbi Sacks was one of the world’s deepest thinkers on religion and the challenges of modern life. He died last week after a short battle with cancer. When Krista spoke with him in 2010, he modeled a life-giving, imagination-opening faithfulness to what some might see as contradictory callings: How to be true to one’s own convictions while also honoring the sacred and civilizational calling to shared life — indeed, to love the stranger?Jonathan Sacks was Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congrega
Nov 12, 2020 • 51:04
[Unedited] Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks with Krista Tippett
Rabbi Sacks was one of the world’s deepest thinkers on religion and the challenges of modern life. He died last week after a short battle with cancer. When Krista spoke with him in 2010, he modeled a life-giving, imagination-opening faithfulness to what some might see as contradictory callings: How to be true to one’s own convictions while also honoring the sacred and civilizational calling to shared life — indeed, to love the stranger?Jonathan Sacks was Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congrega
Nov 12, 2020 • 1:10:44
Karen Murphy — The Long View, II: On Who We Can Become
We are called to consider who we want to be as a people and what kind of world we will build with and for our children. Karen Murphy has been gathering wisdom for this juncture, as she’s worked around the world with teachers and educators in societies moving toward repair after histories of violence. We learn from her about how to prepare ourselves in the U.S. for the civic healing that we are called to ahead.Karen Murphy creates curricula, trains teachers, and leads global gatherings for Facing
Nov 5, 2020 • 51:04
[Unedited] Karen Murphy with Krista Tippett
We are called to consider who we want to be as a people and what kind of world we will build with and for our children. Karen Murphy has been gathering wisdom for this juncture, as she’s worked around the world with teachers and educational systems in societies moving toward repair after histories of violence. We learn from her about how to prepare ourselves in the U.S. for the civic healing that we are called to ahead.Karen Murphy creates curricula, trains teachers, and leads global gatherings
Nov 5, 2020 • 1:43:39
Wild Geese by Mary Oliver
Mary Oliver reads her poem, “Wild Geese.” This poem is included in our “Taking the Long View” playlist on Spotify, which we created to get grounded in reflection that will be with us the day after the U.S. election and far beyond, whoever wins. Find more of Mary’s poems on our website, where we’ve recently launched an entirely new way to Experience Poetry.
Oct 30, 2020 • 1:27
Ars Poetica #100: I Believe by Elizabeth Alexander
Elizabeth Alexander reads her poem, “Ars Poetica #100: I Believe.” This poem is included in our “Taking the Long View” playlist on Spotify, which we created to get grounded in reflection that will be with us the day after the U.S. election and far beyond, whoever wins. Find more of Elizabeth’s poems on our website, where we’ve recently launched an entirely new way to Experience Poetry.
Oct 30, 2020 • 1:17
The Facts of Life by Pádraig Ó Tuama
Pádraig Ó Tuama reads his poem, “The Facts of Life.” This poem is included in our “Taking the Long View” playlist on Spotify, which we created to get grounded in reflection that will be with us the day after the U.S. election and far beyond, whoever wins. Find more of Pádraig’s poems on our website, where we’ve recently launched an entirely new way to Experience Poetry.
Oct 30, 2020 • 2:53
This is what was bequeathed us by Gregory Orr
Gregory Orr reads his poem, “This is what was bequeathed us.” This poem is included in our “Taking the Long View” playlist on Spotify, which we created to get grounded in reflection that will be with us the day after the U.S. election and far beyond, whoever wins. Find more of Gregory’s poems on our website, where we’ve recently launched an entirely new way to Experience Poetry.
Oct 30, 2020 • 1:41
America the Beautiful Again by Richard Blanco
Richard Blanco reads his poem, “America the Beautiful Again.” This poem is included in our “Taking the Long View” playlist on Spotify, which we created to get grounded in reflection that will be with us the day after the U.S. election and far beyond, whoever wins. Find more of Richard’s poems on our website, where we’ve recently launched an entirely new way to Experience Poetry.
Oct 30, 2020 • 2:38
John Biewen — The Long View, I: On Being White
The U.S. election will be over soon but this year has surfaced deep human challenges that remain our callings — and possibilities for growth — for the foreseeable future. So this week and next, we’re taking the long view — first with journalist John Biewen, on the stories of our families and hometowns, what it means to be human, and what it means to be white. This conversation between Krista and John starts simply — tracing the racial story of our time through the story of a single life. It’s an
Oct 29, 2020 • 51:00
[Unedited] John Biewen with Krista Tippett
The U.S. election will be over soon but this year has surfaced deep human challenges that remain our callings — and possibilities for growth — for the foreseeable future. So this week and next, we’re taking the long view — first with journalist John Biewen, on the stories of our families and hometowns, what it means to be human, and what it means to be white. This conversation between Krista and John starts simply — tracing the racial story of our time through the story of a single life. It’s an
Oct 29, 2020 • 1:45:46
Sharon Salzberg — Shelter for the Heart and Mind
How can we keep walking forward, and even find renewal along the way, in this year of things blown apart? How can we hold to our sense of what is whole and true and undamaged, even in the face of loss? These are some of the questions the renowned Buddhist meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg has been taking up in virtual retreats which have helped ground many — including Krista — through this year’s many hard days. She teaches how to stay present to the world while learning kindness toward yoursel
Oct 22, 2020 • 50:57
[Unedited] Sharon Salzberg with Krista Tippett
How can we keep walking forward, and even find renewal along the way, in this year of things blown apart? How can we hold to our sense of what is whole and true and undamaged, even in the face of loss? These are some of the questions the renowned Buddhist meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg has been taking up in virtual retreats which have helped ground many — including Krista — through this year’s many hard days. She teaches how to stay present to the world while learning kindness toward yoursel
Oct 22, 2020 • 1:51:31
Rev. Otis Moss III — The Sound of the Genuine: Traversing 2020 with 'the Mystic of the Movement' Howard Thurman
An hour to sit with, and be filled. Two voices — one from the last century, one from ours — who inspire inward contemplation as an essential part of meeting the challenges in the world. Howard Thurman’s book Jesus and the Disinherited, it was said, was carried by Martin Luther King Jr. alongside the Bible and the U.S. Constitution. Thurman is remembered as a philosopher and theologian, a moral anchor, a contemplative, a prophet, and pastor to the civil rights leaders. Rev. Otis Moss III, himself
Oct 15, 2020 • 51:08
[Unedited] Rev. Otis Moss III with Krista Tippett
An hour to sit with, and be filled. Two voices — one from the last century, one from ours — who inspire inward contemplation as an essential part of meeting the challenges in the world. Howard Thurman’s book Jesus and the Disinherited, it was said, was carried by Martin Luther King Jr. alongside the Bible and the U.S. Constitution. Thurman is remembered as a philosopher and theologian, a moral anchor, a contemplative, a prophet, and pastor to the civil rights leaders. Rev. Otis Moss III, himself
Oct 15, 2020 • 1:23:02
Arlie Hochschild – The Deep Stories of Our Time
After Arlie Hochschild published her book Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, just before the 2016 election, it came to feel prescient. And the conversation Krista had with her in 2018 has now come to point straight to the heart of 2020 — a year in which many of us might say we feel like strangers in our own land and in our own world. Hochschild created a field within sociology looking at the social impact of emotion. She explains how our stories and truths — w
Oct 8, 2020 • 51:04
[Unedited] Arlie Hochschild with Krista Tippett
After Arlie Hochschild published her book Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, just before the 2016 election, it came to feel prescient. And the conversation Krista had with her in 2018 has now come to point straight to the heart of 2020 — a year in which many of us might say we feel like strangers in our own land and in our own world. Hochschild created a field within sociology looking at the social impact of emotion. She explains how our stories and truths — w
Oct 8, 2020 • 1:27:23
Jericho Brown – Small Truths and Other Surprises
The poet Jericho Brown reminds us to bear witness to the complexity of the human experience, to interrogate the proximity of violence to love, and to look and listen closer so that we might uncover the small truths and surprises in life. His presence is irreverent and magnetic, as the high school students who joined us for this conversation experienced firsthand at the 2018 Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival. And now he’s won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.Editor’s note: This interview discu
Oct 1, 2020 • 51:04
[Unedited] Jericho Brown with Krista Tippett
The poet Jericho Brown reminds us to bear witness to the complexity of the human experience, to interrogate the proximity of violence to love, and to look and listen closer so that we might uncover the small truths and surprises in life. His presence is irreverent and magnetic, as the high school students who joined us for this conversation experienced firsthand at the 2018 Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival. And now he’s won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.Editor’s note: This interview discu
Oct 1, 2020 • 1:10:04
From Poetry Unbound: Ada Limón — “Wonder Woman”
We’re happy to share the first episode of the new season of Poetry Unbound with host Pádraig Ó Tuama. This poem by Ada Limón tells the story of a person living with invisible chronic pain who finds unexpected fortitude from a girl dressed as a superhero. Their encounter, “at the swell of the muddy Mississippi,” doesn’t have a fantasy ending, but instead finds strength and glory in bodies and myth. Subscribe to Poetry Unbound on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Overcast, or wherever you
Sep 28, 2020 • 16:07
‘Poetry Unbound’ Returns, With Wisdom For Living Now
Poetry rises up in human societies in times of crisis when official words fail us and we lose sight of how to find our way back to one another; how to hear each other’s voices. This week we offer a preview of the next season of our Poetry Unbound podcast, which returns on Monday, Sept. 28. Each episode takes a single poem as its center, with host Pádraig Ó Tuama reading the poem and meditating on it. In this hour, we dwell with six poems that accompany the struggle, strangeness, and possibilitie
Sep 24, 2020 • 51:04
Craig Minowa & Cloud Cult — Music As Medicine
Music is a source of solace and nourishment in the best of times and the hardest of times. It has been for so many of us in this year of pandemic, and Cloud Cult is on every playlist Krista makes. Craig Minowa started the band in 1995. Its trajectory was cathartically changed the day he and his wife Connie woke up to find that their firstborn two-year-old son, Kaidin, had mysteriously died in his sleep. The music that has emerged ever since has spanned the human experience from the rawest grief
Sep 17, 2020 • 51:02
[Unedited] Craig Minowa and Cloud Cult with Krista Tippett
Music is a source of solace and nourishment in the best of times and the hardest of times. It has been for so many of us in this year of pandemic, and Cloud Cult is on every playlist Krista makes. Craig Minowa started the band in 1995. Its trajectory was cathartically changed the day he and his wife Connie woke up to find that their firstborn two-year-old son, Kaidin, had mysteriously died in his sleep. The music that has emerged ever since has spanned the human experience from the rawest grief
Sep 17, 2020 • 1:24:55
angel Kyodo williams – The World Is Our Field of Practice
This prophetic conversation, which Rev. angel Kyodo williams had with Krista in 2018, is an invitation to imagine and nourish the transformative potential of this moment — toward human wholeness. Rev. angel is an esteemed Zen priest and the second Black woman recognized as a teacher in the Japanese Zen lineage. She is one of our wisest voices on social evolution and the spiritual aspect of social healing.angel Kyodo williams is a Zen priest, activist, and teacher. She’s the author of Being Black
Sep 10, 2020 • 51:02
Living the Questions: Why 2020 hasn’t taken Rev. angel by surprise
A companion conversation to this week’s On Being episode — Krista catches up with Rev. angel Kyodo williams on how she’s keeping her fearlessness alive through pandemic and rupture.Krista Tippett created and leads The On Being Project and hosts the On Being radio show and podcast. She’s a National Humanities Medalist, and The New York Times bestselling author of Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living. Read her full bio here.angel Kyodo williams is a Zen priest, activist, an
Sep 10, 2020 • 30:44
[Unedited] angel Kyodo williams with Krista Tippett
This prophetic conversation, which Rev. angel Kyodo williams had with Krista in 2018, is an invitation to imagine and nourish the transformative potential of this moment — toward human wholeness. Rev. angel is an esteemed Zen priest and the second Black woman recognized as a teacher in the Japanese Zen lineage. She is one of our wisest voices on social evolution and the spiritual aspect of social healing.angel Kyodo williams is a Zen priest, activist, and teacher. She’s the author of Being Black
Sep 10, 2020 • 1:27:13
Mary Oliver – Listening to the World
Amid the harshness of life, Mary Oliver found redemption in the natural world and in beautiful, precise language. Oliver, who died in 2019, was one of the most beloved poets of modern times. She sat with Krista for a rare, intimate conversation in 2015.Mary Oliver published over 25 books of poetry and prose, including Dream Work, A Thousand Mornings, and A Poetry Handbook. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1984 for her book American Primitive. Her final work, Devotions, is a curated colle
Sep 3, 2020 • 50:56
[Unedited] Mary Oliver with Krista Tippett
Amid the harshness of life, Mary Oliver found redemption in the natural world and in beautiful, precise language. Oliver, who died in 2019, was one of the most beloved poets of modern times. She sat with Krista for a rare, intimate conversation in 2015.Mary Oliver published over 25 books of poetry and prose, including Dream Work, A Thousand Mornings, and A Poetry Handbook. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1984 for her book American Primitive. Her final work, Devotions, is a curated colle
Sep 3, 2020 • 1:33:06
Michael McCarthy — Nature, Joy, and Human Becoming
“The sudden passionate happiness which the natural world can occasionally trigger in us may well be the most serious business of all,” Michael McCarthy writes. He is a naturalist and journalist with a galvanizing call — that we stop relying on the immobilizing language of statistics and take up our joy in nature as our defense of it. And he reminds us that the natural world is where we first found our metaphors and similes and it is the resting place for our psyches.Michael McCarthy is a natural
Aug 27, 2020 • 51:00
[Unedited] Michael McCarthy with Krista Tippett
“The sudden passionate happiness which the natural world can occasionally trigger in us may well be the most serious business of all,” Michael McCarthy writes. He is a naturalist and journalist with a galvanizing call — that we stop relying on the immobilizing language of statistics and take up our joy in nature as our defense of it. And he reminds us that the natural world is where we first found our metaphors and similes and it is the resting place for our psyches.Michael McCarthy is a natural
Aug 27, 2020 • 1:36:34
Robin Wall Kimmerer — The Intelligence of Plants
As a botanist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Robin Wall Kimmerer joins science’s ability to “polish the art of seeing” with her personal, civilizational lineage of listening to plant life and heeding the languages of the natural world. She's an expert in moss — a bryologist — who describes mosses as the “coral reefs of the forest.” And she says that as our knowledge about plant life unfolds, human vocabulary and imaginations must adapt.Robin Wall Kimmerer is the State University of
Aug 20, 2020 • 50:55
[Unedited] Robin Wall Kimmerer with Krista Tippett
As a botanist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Robin Wall Kimmerer joins science’s ability to “polish the art of seeing” with her personal, civilizational lineage of listening to plant life and heeding the languages of the natural world. She's an expert in moss — a bryologist — who describes mosses as the “coral reefs of the forest.” And she says that as our knowledge about plant life unfolds, human vocabulary and imaginations must adapt.Robin Wall Kimmerer is the State University of
Aug 20, 2020 • 1:26:31
Dario Robleto — Sculptor of Time and Loss
Dario Robleto has been called a sculptural artist, a philosopher, and a “materialist poet.” He works with unconventional materials — from dinosaur fossils and meteorites to pulverized vintage records — and has been a creative partner to an eclectic range of projects. At the heart of his work is a fascination with human survival and the creative response to loss.Dario Robleto is an artist-at-large at the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University. His work has been displayed at ga
Aug 13, 2020 • 51:01
[Unedited] Dario Robleto with Krista Tippett
Dario Robleto has been called a sculptural artist, a philosopher, and a “materialist poet.” He works with unconventional materials — from dinosaur fossils and meteorites to pulverized vintage records — and has been a creative partner to an eclectic range of projects. At the heart of his work is a fascination with human survival and the creative response to loss.Dario Robleto is an artist-at-large at the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University. His work has been displayed at ga
Aug 13, 2020 • 1:28:08
Jane Goodall on What it Means to Be Human
Jane Goodall’s early research studying chimpanzees helped shape the self-understanding of our species and recalled modern western science to the fact that we are a part of nature not separate from it. From her decades studying chimpanzees in the Gombe forest to her more recent years attending to human poverty and misunderstanding, she reflects on the moral and spiritual convictions that have driven her, and what she is teaching and still learning about what it means to be human.Jane Goodall is t
Aug 6, 2020 • 0:00
[Unedited] Jane Goodall with Krista Tippett
Jane Goodall’s early research studying chimpanzees helped shape the self-understanding of our species and recalled modern western science to the fact that we are a part of nature not separate from it. From her decades studying chimpanzees in the Gombe forest to her more recent years attending to human poverty and misunderstanding, she reflects on the moral and spiritual convictions that have driven her, and what she is teaching and still learning about what it means to be human.Jane Goodall is t
Aug 6, 2020 • 0:01
Marilyn Nelson — Communal Pondering in a Noisy World
Marilyn Nelson is a storytelling poet who has taught poetry and contemplative practice to college students and West Point cadets. She brings a contemplative eye to ordinary goodness in the present and to complicated ancestries we’re all reckoning with now. And she imparts a spacious perspective on what “communal pondering” might mean.Marilyn Nelson is a professor emerita of English at the University of Connecticut and a former chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. She is the recipient of
Jul 30, 2020 • 51:02
[Unedited] Marilyn Nelson with Krista Tippett
Marilyn Nelson is a storytelling poet who has taught poetry and contemplative practice to college students and West Point cadets. She brings a contemplative eye to ordinary goodness in the present and to complicated ancestries we’re all reckoning with now. And she imparts a spacious perspective on what “communal pondering” might mean.Marilyn Nelson is a professor emerita of English at the University of Connecticut and a former chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. She is the recipient of
Jul 30, 2020 • 1:54:39
Remembering John Lewis
An extraordinary conversation with the late congressman John Lewis, taped in Montgomery, Alabama, during a pilgrimage 50 years after the March on Washington. It offers a rare look inside his wisdom, the civil rights leaders’ spiritual confrontation within themselves, and the intricate art of nonviolence as “love in action.”John Lewis was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia’s 5th Congressional District. He is the author of Walking With the Wind: A Memoir of the Mov
Jul 23, 2020 • 51:02
[Unedited] John Lewis with Krista Tippett
An extraordinary conversation with the late congressman John Lewis, taped in Montgomery, Alabama, during a pilgrimage 50 years after the March on Washington. It offers a rare look inside his wisdom, the civil rights leaders’ spiritual confrontation within themselves, and the intricate art of nonviolence as “love in action.”John Lewis was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia’s 5th Congressional District. He is the author of Walking With the Wind: A Memoir of the Mov
Jul 23, 2020 • 1:00:12
Living the Questions: It’s really settling in now, the losses large and small
Pauline Boss joins Krista to ponder what it means to be living through a collective experience of “ambiguous loss” right now. This is a companion to this week’s On Being rebroadcast of our conversation with Pauline Boss, a family therapist, on navigating loss where there is no closure. How does that work during a pandemic with no end in sight?Krista Tippett created and leads The On Being Project and hosts the On Being radio show and podcast. She’s a National Humanities Medalist, and the New York
Jul 17, 2020 • 26:39
Pauline Boss — Navigating Loss Without Closure
Pauline Boss coined the term “ambiguous loss” and invented a new field within psychology to name the reality that every loss does not hold a promise of anything like resolution. Amid this pandemic, there are so many losses — from deaths that could not be mourned, to the very structure of our days, to a sudden crash of what felt like solid careers and plans and dreams. This conversation is full of practical intelligence for shedding assumptions about how we should be feeling and acting as these o
Jul 16, 2020 • 51:00
[Unedited] Pauline Boss with Krista Tippett
Pauline Boss coined the term “ambiguous loss” and invented a new field within psychology to name the reality that every loss does not hold a promise of anything like resolution. Amid this pandemic, there are so many losses — from deaths that could not be mourned, to the very structure of our days, to a sudden crash of what felt like solid careers and plans and dreams. This conversation is full of practical intelligence for shedding assumptions about how we should be feeling and acting as these o
Jul 16, 2020 • 1:29:10
Robin DiAngelo and Resmaa Menakem: In Conversation
The show we released with Minneapolis-based trauma specialist Resmaa Menakem in the weeks after George Floyd’s killing has become one of our most popular episodes, and has touched listeners and galvanized personal searching. So we said yes when Resmaa proposed that he join On Being again, this time together with Robin DiAngelo. She is perhaps the foremost voice in our civilizational grappling with whiteness; her book, White Fragility, is one of the most widely read books in the world right now.
Jul 9, 2020 • 51:00
[Unedited] Robin DiAngelo and Resmaa Menakem with Krista Tippett
The show we released with Minneapolis-based trauma specialist Resmaa Menakem in the weeks after George Floyd’s killing has become one of our most popular episodes, and has touched listeners and galvanized personal searching. So we said yes when Resmaa proposed that he join On Being again, this time together with Robin DiAngelo. She is perhaps the foremost voice in our civilizational grappling with whiteness; her book, White Fragility, is one of the most widely read books in the world right now.
Jul 9, 2020 • 1:29:41
Vincent Harding — Is America Possible?
Vincent Harding was wise about how the vision of the civil rights movement might speak to 21st-century realities. He reminded us that the movement of the ‘50s and ‘60s was spiritually as well as politically vigorous; it aspired to a “beloved community,” not merely a tolerant integrated society. He pursued this through patient-yet-passionate cross-cultural, cross-generational relationships. And he posed and lived a question that is freshly in our midst: Is America possible?Vincent Harding was cha
Jul 2, 2020 • 51:01
[Unedited] Vincent Harding with Krista Tippett
Vincent Harding was wise about how the vision of the civil rights movement might speak to 21st-century realities. He reminded us that the movement of the ‘50s and ‘60s was spiritually as well as politically vigorous; it aspired to a “beloved community,” not merely a tolerant integrated society. He pursued this through patient-yet-passionate cross-cultural, cross-generational relationships. And he posed and lived a question that is freshly in our midst: Is America possible?Vincent Harding was cha
Jul 2, 2020 • 1:24:43
Jason Reynolds — Fortifying Imagination
Books that fortify the young also have a power to help heal adults; so, too, does this conversation with writer Jason Reynolds. He is the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature of the Library of Congress and author of a new companion to Ibram X. Kendi’s history of racism, Stamped From the Beginning, for young readers.Jason Reynolds was appointed National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by the Library of Congress in January 2020. His many award-winning books include Ghost, Lon
Jun 25, 2020 • 0:00
[Unedited] Jason Reynolds with Krista Tippett
Books that fortify the young also have a power to help heal adults; so, too, does this conversation with writer Jason Reynolds. He is the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature of the Library of Congress and author of a new companion to Ibram X. Kendi’s history of racism, Stamped From the Beginning, for young readers.Jason Reynolds was appointed National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by the Library of Congress in January 2020. His many award-winning books include Ghost, Lon
Jun 25, 2020 • 0:01
Isabel Wilkerson — This History is Long; This History Is Deep
Go to the doctor and they won’t begin to treat you without taking your history — and not just yours, but that of your parents and grandparents before you. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson points this out as she reflects on her epic work of narrative nonfiction, The Warmth of Other Suns. She’s immersed herself in the stories of the Great Migration, the movement of six million African Americans to northern U.S. cities in the 20th century. The book is a carrier of histories and tr
Jun 18, 2020 • 51:28
[Unedited] Isabel Wilkerson with Krista Tippett
Go to the doctor and they won’t begin to treat you without taking your history — and not just yours, but that of your parents and grandparents before you. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson points this out as she reflects on her epic work of narrative nonfiction, The Warmth of Other Suns. She’s immersed herself in the stories of the Great Migration, the movement of six million African Americans to northern U.S. cities in the 20th century. The book is a carrier of histories and tr
Jun 18, 2020 • 1:50:03
Eula Biss — Talking About Whiteness
You can’t think about something if you can’t talk about it, says Eula Biss. The writer helpfully opens up lived words and ideas like complacence, guilt, and opportunity hoarding for an urgent reckoning with whiteness. This conversation was inspired by her 2015 essay in the New York Times, “White Debt.”Eula Biss teaches writing at Northwestern University. Her books include On Immunity: An Inoculation and Notes from No Man's Land: American Essays.Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org Th
Jun 11, 2020 • 51:29
[Unedited] Eula Biss with Krista Tippett
You can’t think about something if you can’t talk about it, says Eula Biss. The writer helpfully opens up lived words and ideas like complacence, guilt, and opportunity hoarding for an urgent reckoning with whiteness. This conversation was inspired by her 2015 essay in the New York Times, “White Debt.”Eula Biss teaches writing at Northwestern University. Her books include On Immunity: An Inoculation and Notes from No Man's Land: American Essays. This interview is edited and produced with music a
Jun 11, 2020 • 2:00:04
Race and Healing: A Body Practice
Therapist and trauma specialist Resmaa Menakem is working with old wisdom and very new science about our bodies and nervous systems, and all we condense into the word “race.” “Your body — all of our bodies — are where changing the status quo must begin.”Find a quiet place and experience this short, simple body practice offered in Resmaa’s conversation with Krista on the On Being episode, ‘Notice the Rage; Notice the Silence.’
Jun 9, 2020 • 4:32
Living the Questions: When no question seems big enough
With our colleague Rev. Lucas Johnson, Krista talks through the question of what questions matter for this moment. Can anyone use the word “we”? And how to begin walking forward?Living the Questions is an occasional On Being segment where Krista muses on questions from our listening community. Submit your own at ltq@onbeing.org.Krista Tippett created and leads The On Being Project and hosts the On Being radio show and podcast. She’s a National Humanities Medalist, and the New York Times bestse
Jun 5, 2020 • 27:17
Resmaa Menakem — ’Notice the Rage; Notice the Silence’
The best laws and diversity training have not gotten us anywhere near where we want to go. Therapist and trauma specialist Resmaa Menakem is working with old wisdom and very new science about our bodies and nervous systems, and all we condense into the word “race.” Krista sat down with him in Minneapolis, where they both live and work, before the pandemic lockdown began. In this heartbreaking moment, after the killing of George Floyd and the history it carries, Resmaa Menakem’s practices offer u
Jun 4, 2020 • 0:00
[Unedited] Resmaa Menakem with Krista Tippett
The best laws and diversity training have not gotten us anywhere near where we want to go. Therapist and trauma specialist Resmaa Menakem is working with old wisdom and very new science about our bodies and nervous systems, and all we condense into the word “race.” Krista sat down with him in Minneapolis, where they both live and work, before the pandemic lockdown began. In this heartbreaking moment, after the killing of George Floyd and the history it carries, Resmaa Menakem’s practices offer u
Jun 4, 2020 • 0:01
Gregory Orr — Shaping Grief With Language
We often explore on this show the places in the human experience where ordinary language falls short. The poet Gregory Orr has wrested gentle, healing, life-giving words from extreme grief and trauma. And right now we are all carrying some magnitude of grief in our bodies.Gregory Orr is the author of two books about poetry, Poetry as Survival and A Primer for Poets and Readers of Poetry, a memoir, The Blessing, and twelve collections of poetry, including How Beautiful the Beloved and The Last Lo
May 28, 2020 • 51:28
[Unedited] Gregory Orr with Krista Tippett
We often explore on this show the places in the human experience where ordinary language falls short. The poet Gregory Orr has wrested gentle, healing, life-giving words from extreme grief and trauma. And right now we are all carrying some magnitude of grief in our bodies.Gregory Orr is the author of two books about poetry, Poetry as Survival and A Primer for Poets and Readers of Poetry, a memoir, The Blessing, and twelve collections of poetry, including How Beautiful the Beloved and The Last Lo
May 28, 2020 • 1:04:27
Jacqueline Novogratz — Towards a Moral Revolution
Moral reckonings are being driven to the surface of our life together: What are politics for? What is an economy for? Jacqueline Novogratz says the simplistic ways we take up such questions — if we take them up at all — is inadequate. Novogratz is an innovator in creative, human-centered capitalism. She has described her recent book, Manifesto for a Moral Revolution, as a love letter to the next generation.Jacqueline Novogratz is the founder and CEO of Acumen, a venture capital fund that serves
May 21, 2020 • 51:29
[Unedited] Jacqueline Novogratz with Krista Tippett 2020
Moral reckonings are being driven to the surface of our life together: What are politics for? What is an economy for? Jacqueline Novogratz says the simplistic ways we take up such questions — if we take them up at all — is inadequate. Novogratz is an innovator in creative, human-centered capitalism. She has described her recent book, Manifesto for a Moral Revolution, as a love letter to the next generation.Jacqueline Novogratz is the founder and CEO of Acumen, a venture capital fund that serves
May 21, 2020 • 1:32:56
Samar Jarrah, Wajahat Ali, Sahar Ullah, et al. — Revealing Ramadan
This year Muslims are experiencing a Ramadan like no other. The month is usually a period of both intimacy and great community. Now Muslims are improvising, as in many places the rituals of Ramadan must be experienced at home or online. This show, recorded in 2009, grew out of an invitation to Muslim listeners to reflect on what it means to be part of what often is referred to in the abstract as “the Muslim world.” We received responses from all over the world and were struck by the vivid storie
May 14, 2020 • 51:30
Devendra Banhart — ‘When Things Fall Apart’
In this “spiritual book club” edition of the show, Krista and musician/artist Devendra Banhart read favorite passages and discuss When Things Fall Apart, a small book of great beauty by the Tibetan Buddhist teacher Pema Chödrön. It’s a work — like all works of spiritual genius — that speaks from the nooks and crannies and depths of a particular tradition, while conveying truths about humanity writ large. Their conversation speaks with special force to what it means to be alive and looking for me
May 7, 2020 • 51:30
[Unedited] Devendra Banhart with Krista Tippett
In this “spiritual book club” edition of the show, Krista and musician/artist Devendra Banhart read favorite passages and discuss When Things Fall Apart, a small book of great beauty by the Tibetan Buddhist teacher Pema Chödrön. It’s a work — like all works of spiritual genius — that speaks from the nooks and crannies and depths of a particular tradition, while conveying truths about humanity writ large. Their conversation speaks with special force to what it means to be alive and looking for me
May 7, 2020 • 1:14:00
Ocean Vuong — A Life Worthy of Our Breath
Krista interviewed the writer Ocean Vuong on March 8 in a joyful room full of podcast makers at On Air Fest in Brooklyn. None of us would have guessed that within a handful of days such an event would become unimaginable. So this conversation holds a last memory before the world shifted on its axis. More stunning is how exquisitely Ocean Vuong spoke on that day to the world we have now entered — its heartbreak, its poetry, and its possibilities of both destroying and saving.Ocean Vuong is an ass
Apr 30, 2020 • 0:00
[Unedited] Ocean Vuong with Krista Tippett
Krista interviewed the writer Ocean Vuong on March 8 in a joyful room full of podcast makers at On Air Fest in Brooklyn. None of us would have guessed that within a handful of days such an event would become unimaginable. So this conversation holds a last memory before the world shifted on its axis. More stunning is how exquisitely Ocean Vuong spoke on that day to the world we have now entered — its heartbreak, its poetry, and its possibilities of both destroying and saving.Ocean Vuong is an ass
Apr 30, 2020 • 0:01
Living the Questions: How can we balance connection with disconnection?
To a question from listener Vanessa Parfett in Melbourne, Krista reflects on "Zoomzaustion" and relearning the primacy of our bodies. Also, how this helps explain poetry's rise in our midst, and can make us more whole.Living the Questions is an occasional On Being segment where Krista muses on questions from our listening community. Submit your own at ltq@onbeing.org.Krista Tippett created and leads The On Being Project, hosts the On Being radio show and podcast, and curates The Civil Conversati
Apr 28, 2020 • 10:13
Stephen Batchelor — Finding Ease in Aloneness
One of the great challenges of life is to learn to be alone peaceably, at home in oneself. And now, by way of a virus, we have been sent inside physically and emotionally, even if we’re not home on our own. We’re forced to work out the difference between isolation and loneliness or solitude. With teachers across the ages and drawing on his life from monasticism to marriage, Buddhist writer and scholar Stephen Batchelor teaches how to approach solitude as a graceful and life-giving practice.Steph
Apr 23, 2020 • 0:00
[Unedited] Stephen Batchelor with Krista Tippett
One of the great challenges of life is to learn to be alone peaceably, at home in oneself. And now, by way of a virus, we have been sent inside physically and emotionally, even if we’re not home on our own. We’re forced to work out the difference between isolation and loneliness or solitude. With teachers across the ages and drawing on his life from monasticism to marriage, Buddhist writer and scholar Stephen Batchelor teaches how to approach solitude as a graceful and life-giving practice.Steph
Apr 23, 2020 • 0:01
Wendell Berry and Ellen Davis — The Art of Being Creatures
In this intimate conversation between Krista and one of her beloved teachers, we ponder the world and our place in it, through sacred text, with fresh eyes. We’re accompanied by the meditative and prophetic poetry of Wendell Berry, read for us from his home in Kentucky: “Stay away from anything / that obscures the place it is in. / There are no unsacred places; / there are only sacred places / and desecrated places. / Accept what comes of silence."Ellen Davis is the Amos Ragan Kearns Distinguish
Apr 16, 2020 • 51:38
“The Peace of Wild Things” by Wendell Berry
Wendell Berry reads his poem “The Peace of Wild Things”Wendell Berry is a farmer, poet, and environmentalist who has published more than 40 books. He lives in Port Royal, Kentucky.
Apr 16, 2020 • 1:15
“How to Be a Poet (to remind myself)” by Wendell Berry
Wendell Berry reads his poem “How to Be a Poet (to remind myself)”Wendell Berry is a farmer, poet, and environmentalist who has published more than 40 books. He lives in Port Royal, Kentucky.
Apr 16, 2020 • 1:53
“Sabbaths – 1985, I” by Wendell Berry
Wendell Berry reads his poem “Sabbaths – 1985, I”Wendell Berry is a farmer, poet, and environmentalist who has published more than 40 books. He lives in Port Royal, Kentucky.
Apr 16, 2020 • 2:10
“Sabbaths – 1979, IV” by Wendell Berry
Wendell Berry reads his poem “Sabbaths – 1979, IV”Wendell Berry is a farmer, poet, and environmentalist who has published more than 40 books. He lives in Port Royal, Kentucky.
Apr 16, 2020 • 4:19
“The Man Born to Farming” by Wendell Berry
Wendell Berry reads his poem “The Man Born to Farming”Wendell Berry is a farmer, poet, and environmentalist who has published more than 40 books. He lives in Port Royal, Kentucky.
Apr 16, 2020 • 1:14
“The Contrariness of the Mad Farmer” by Wendell Berry
Wendell Berry reads his poem “The Contrariness of the Mad Farmer”Wendell Berry is a farmer, poet, and environmentalist who has published more than 40 books. He lives in Port Royal, Kentucky.
Apr 16, 2020 • 2:53
[Unedited] Ellen Davis with Krista Tippett
In this intimate conversation between Krista and one of her beloved teachers, we ponder the world and our place in it, through sacred text, with fresh eyes. In the edited version of this conversation, we’re accompanied by the meditative and prophetic poetry of Wendell Berry, read for us from his home in Kentucky: “Stay away from anything / that obscures the place it is in. / There are no unsacred places; / there are only sacred places / and desecrated places. / Accept what comes of silence."Elle
Apr 16, 2020 • 1:29:03
Living the Questions: How can I find my footing in a shifting world?
To a question from listener Elena Rivera of Colorado Springs, Krista reflects on seeing this as a collective moment of transition (which is always stressful in human life) and ponders what we might integrate into the people we become on the other side of it. “To really, actively, accompany each other in holding that question — that might be a spiritual calling but also a civilizational calling for this very extraordinary transition,” she says. Living the Questions is an occasional On Being segme
Apr 14, 2020 • 10:16
David Steindl-Rast — How to Be Grateful in Every Moment (But Not for Everything)
We’re in a season of renewal in the natural world and in spiritual traditions; both Easter and Passover this year are utterly transformed. It’s drawing us back to the wisdom of Br. David Steindl-Rast, who makes useful distinctions around experiences that are life-giving and resilience-making yet can feel absurd to speak of in a moment like this. A Benedictine monk for over 60 years, Steindl-Rast was formed by 20th-century catastrophes. He calls joy “the happiness that doesn’t depend on what happ
Apr 9, 2020 • 51:39
[Unedited] Brother David Steindl-Rast with Krista Tippett
We’re in a season of renewal in the natural world and in spiritual traditions; both Easter and Passover this year are utterly transformed. It’s drawing us back to the wisdom of Br. David Steindl-Rast, who makes useful distinctions around experiences that are life-giving and resilience-making yet can feel absurd to speak of in a moment like this. A Benedictine monk for over 60 years, Steindl-Rast was formed by 20th-century catastrophes. He calls joy “the happiness that doesn’t depend on what happ
Apr 9, 2020 • 1:16:06
A Poem in Gratitude for Health Care Workers
In Leanne O’Sullivan’s poem “Leaving Early,” the poet writes to her ill husband, entrusting him into the care of a nurse named Fionnuala. As the novel coronavirus sweeps the globe, many of us can’t physically be there for loved ones who are sick. Instead, it is the health care workers — and all involved in the health care system — who are tirelessly present, caring for others in spite of exhaustion and the risk it brings to their own well being.We offer this episode of Poetry Unbound in profound
Apr 3, 2020 • 11:49
Ai-jen Poo — This Is Our (Caring) Revolution
Ai-jen Poo is a next-generation labor organizer who co-founded a beautiful and muscular movement with caregivers and those who employ them: The National Domestic Workers Alliance. For over two decades, she has been reinventing policy and engaging a deep conversation that has now met its civilizational moment. This conversation was recorded before “coronavirus” was a word we all knew. But the many dimensions of the crisis now upon us have revealed Ai-jen Poo and her world of wisdom and action as
Apr 2, 2020 • 51:39
[Unedited] Ai-jen Poo with Krista Tippett
Ai-jen Poo is a next-generation labor organizer who co-founded a beautiful and muscular movement with caregivers and those who employ them: The National Domestic Workers Alliance. For over two decades, she has been reinventing policy and engaging a deep conversation that has now met its civilizational moment. This conversation was recorded before “coronavirus” was a word we all knew. But the many dimensions of the crisis now upon us have revealed Ai-jen Poo and her world of wisdom and action as
Apr 2, 2020 • 1:31:28
Living the Questions: At home, frustrated and stressed — is 'just being' worthy right now?
“If I believe that we are all inherently worthy just by being human, how can I feel that way when I feel I’m doing ‘nothing?’” — Anna Bondoc from Los AngelesSo many of us are raised to believe that hard work is what makes us valuable; many of our professions and even our identities as helpers are on hold. How does self-worth interact with just being when we feel we're doing nothing? Krista reflects on the problem with the phrase “just being” — and how settling inside ourselves right now, and kin
Mar 31, 2020 • 9:55
Ross Gay — Tending Joy and Practicing Delight
In this unsettled moment, we’re returning to the shows we’re longing to hear again. Among them is this 2019 conversation with writer Ross Gay. The ephemeral nature of our being allows him to find delight in all sorts of places (especially his community garden). To be with Gay is to train your gaze to see the wonderful alongside the terrible; to attend to and meditate on what you love, even in the midst of difficult realities and as part of working for justice.Ross Gay lives in Bloomington Indian
Mar 26, 2020 • 51:32
[Unedited] Ross Gay with Krista Tippett
In our world of so much suffering, it can feel hard or wrong to invoke the word "joy." Yet joy has been one of the most insistent, recurrent rallying cries in almost every life-giving conversation that Krista has had across recent months and years, even and especially with people on the front lines of humanity's struggles. Ross Gay helps illuminate this paradox and turn it into a muscle.We are good at fighting, as he puts it, and not as good at holding in our imaginations what is to be adored an
Mar 26, 2020 • 1:04:27
Rebecca Solnit — Falling Together
“When all the ordinary divides and patterns are shattered, people step up to become their brothers’ keepers,” Rebecca Solnit writes. “And that purposefulness and connectedness bring joy even amidst death, chaos, fear, and loss.” In this moment of global crisis, we’re returning to the conversations we’re longing to hear again and finding useful right now. A singular writer and thinker, Solnit celebrates the unpredictable and incalculable events that so often redeem our lives, both solitary and pu
Mar 19, 2020 • 51:39
[Unedited] Rebecca Solnit with Krista Tippett
“When all the ordinary divides and patterns are shattered, people step up to become their brothers’ keepers,” Rebecca Solnit writes. “And that purposefulness and connectedness bring joy even amidst death, chaos, fear, and loss.” In this moment of global crisis, we’re returning to the conversations we’re longing to hear again and finding useful right now. A singular writer and thinker, Solnit celebrates the unpredictable and incalculable events that so often redeem our lives, both solitary and pu
Mar 19, 2020 • 1:32:21
Carlo Rovelli — All Reality Is Interaction
Physicist Carlo Rovelli says humans don’t understand the world as made by things, “we understand the world made by kisses, or things like kisses — happenings.” This everyday truth is as scientific as it is philosophical and political, and it unfolds with unexpected nuance in his science. Rovelli is one of the founders of loop quantum gravity theory and author of the tiny, bestselling book Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and The Order of Time. Seeing the world through his eyes, we understand that
Mar 12, 2020 • 51:39
[Unedited] Carlo Rovelli with Krista Tippett
Physicist Carlo Rovelli says humans don’t understand the world as made by things, “we understand the world made by kisses, or things like kisses — happenings.” This everyday truth is as scientific as it is philosophical and political, and it unfolds with unexpected nuance in his science. Rovelli is one of the founders of loop quantum gravity theory and author of the tiny, bestselling book Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and The Order of Time. Seeing the world through his eyes, we understand that
Mar 12, 2020 • 1:20:18
Nicholas Christakis — How We’re Wired for Goodness
Sociologist Nicholas Christakis says we come to social goodness as naturally as we come to our bloodier inclinations. Research out of his Human Nature Lab at Yale shows that capacities like friendship, love, teaching, and cooperation exert a tremendous and practical force on us — and yet we don’t think of those behaviors as grit for what’s helped humans evolve as a species. Christakis’ science — and the passion with which he shares and lives what he learns — put goodness in refreshing evolutiona
Mar 5, 2020 • 0:00
[Unedited] Nicholas Christakis with Krista Tippett
Sociologist Nicholas Christakis says we come to social goodness as naturally as we come to our bloodier inclinations. Research out of his Human Nature Lab at Yale shows that capacities like friendship, love, teaching, and cooperation exert a tremendous and practical force on us — and yet we don’t think of those behaviors as grit for what’s helped humans evolve as a species. Christakis’ science — and the passion with which he shares and lives what he learns — put goodness in refreshing evolutiona
Mar 5, 2020 • 0:01
Jill Tarter — It Takes a Cosmos to Make a Human
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence — or SETI — goes beyond hunting for E.T. and habitable planets. Scientists in the field are using telescopes and satellites looking for signs of outright civilizational intelligence. One of the founding pioneers in this search is astronomer Jill Tarter. She is a cofounder of the SETI Institute and was an inspiration for Jodie Foster’s character in the movie Contact, based on the novel by Carl Sagan. To speak with Tarter is to begin to grasp the creati
Feb 27, 2020 • 0:00
[Unedited] Jill Tarter with Krista Tippett
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence — or SETI — goes beyond hunting for E.T. and habitable planets. Scientists in the field are using telescopes and satellites looking for signs of outright civilizational intelligence. One of the founding pioneers in this search is astronomer Jill Tarter. She is a cofounder of the SETI Institute and was an inspiration for Jodie Foster’s character in the movie Contact, based on the novel by Carl Sagan. To speak with Tarter is to begin to grasp the creati
Feb 27, 2020 • 0:01
George Coyne and Guy Consolmagno — Asteroids, Stars, and the Love of God
The wise and beloved Vatican astronomer Father George Coyne died last week. Like most of the Vatican astronomers across history, he was a Jesuit. More than 30 objects on the moon are named after the Jesuits who mapped it, and ten Jesuits in history have had asteroids named after them. Father Coyne was one of the few with this distinction, alongside his friend and fellow Vatican astronomer Brother Guy Consolmagno. In a conversation filled with laughter, we experience a spacious way to approach li
Feb 20, 2020 • 51:39
[Unedited] George Coyne and Guy Consolmagno with Krista Tippett
The wise and beloved Vatican astronomer Father George Coyne died last week. Like most of the Vatican astronomers across history, he was a Jesuit. More than 30 objects on the moon are named after the Jesuits who mapped it, and ten Jesuits in history have had asteroids named after them. Father Coyne was one of the few with this distinction, alongside his friend and fellow Vatican astronomer Brother Guy Consolmagno. In a conversation filled with laughter, we experience a spacious way to approach li
Feb 20, 2020 • 1:27:53
Sandra Cisneros — A House of Her Own
The House on Mango Street by Mexican American writer Sandra Cisneros has been taught in high schools across the U.S. for decades. A poetic writer of many genres, she’s received a MacArthur “genius grant,” a National Medal of Arts, and many other accolades. Cisneros grew up in an immigrant household where it was assumed she would marry as her primary destiny. In this warm and lively conversation with a room full of Latinx teens, she gives voice to the choice to be single — and, single or not, to
Feb 13, 2020 • 52:22
[Unedited] Sandra Cisneros with Krista Tippett
The House on Mango Street by Mexican American writer Sandra Cisneros has been taught in high schools across the U.S. for decades. A poetic writer of many genres, she’s received a MacArthur “genius grant,” a National Medal of Arts, and many other accolades. Cisneros grew up in an immigrant household where it was assumed she would marry as her primary destiny. In this warm and lively conversation with a room full of Latinx teens, she gives voice to the choice to be single — and, single or not, to
Feb 13, 2020 • 1:39:28
Ezra Klein — How We Walked Into This and How We Can Walk Out
Journalist Ezra Klein has been widely interviewed about his new book, Why We're Polarized. In this conversation, he's frank and reflective about what's at stake in human terms in this political moment. And he describes how we all — Democrat and Republican, journalist and citizen alike — walked into this as a way to trace our steps out of it.Ezra Klein is the co-founder and editor-at-large of Vox Media and host of two podcasts: The Weeds and The Ezra Klein Show. His book is Why We’re Polarized.Fi
Feb 6, 2020 • 52:23
[Unedited] Ezra Klein with Krista Tippett
Journalist Ezra Klein has been widely interviewed about his new book, Why We're Polarized. In this conversation, he's frank and reflective about what's at stake in human terms in this political moment. And he describes how we all — Democrat and Republican, journalist and citizen alike — walked into this as a way to trace our steps out of it.Ezra Klein is the co-founder and editor-at-large of Vox Media and host of two podcasts: The Weeds and The Ezra Klein Show. His book is Why We’re Polarized.Th
Feb 6, 2020 • 2:00:43
Pádraig Ó Tuama and Marilyn Nelson — A New Imagination of Prayer
Pádraig Ó Tuama and Marilyn Nelson are beloved teachers to many; to bring them together was a delight and a balm. Nelson is a poet and professor and contemplative, an excavator of stories that would rather stay hidden yet lead us into new life. Ó Tuama is a poet, theologian, conflict mediator, and the host of our new podcast, Poetry Unbound. Together, they venture unexpectedly into the hospitable — and intriguingly universal — form of poetry that is prayer.Editor’s note: This episode includes a
Jan 30, 2020 • 51:30
Introducing ‘Poetry Unbound’
We’re excited to share the first episode of our new podcast, Poetry Unbound. It’s your new ritual: Immerse yourself in a single poem, guided by Pádraig Ó Tuama. Short and unhurried; contemplative and energizing. Anchor your week by listening to the everyday poetry of your life, with new episodes on Monday and Friday during the season.This episode features Brad Aaron Modlin’s poem, “What You Missed That Day You Were Absent from Fourth Grade.”For more, subscribe to Poetry Unbound on Spotify, Apple
Jan 30, 2020 • 8:22
[Unedited] Pádraig Ó Tuama and Marilyn Nelson with Krista Tippett
Pádraig Ó Tuama and Marilyn Nelson are beloved teachers to many; to bring them together was a delight and a balm. Nelson is a poet and professor and contemplative, an excavator of stories that would rather stay hidden yet lead us into new life. Ó Tuama is a poet, theologian, conflict mediator, and the host of our new podcast, Poetry Unbound. Together, they venture unexpectedly into the hospitable — and intriguingly universal — form of poetry that is prayer.Marilyn Nelson is professor emerita of
Jan 30, 2020 • 0:01
Alison Gopnik — The Evolutionary Power of Children and Teenagers
Alison Gopnik understands babies and children as the R&D division of humanity. From her cognitive science lab at the University of California, -Berkeley, she investigates the “evolutionary paradox” of the long human childhood. When she first trained in philosophy and developmental psychology, the minds of children were treated as blank slates. But her research is helping us see how even the most mundane facts of a toddler or a teenager — from fantasy play to rebelliousness — tell us what it mean
Jan 23, 2020 • 51:38
[Unedited] Alison Gopnik with Krista Tippett
Alison Gopnik understands babies and children as the R&D division of humanity. From her cognitive science lab at the University of California, -Berkeley, she investigates the “evolutionary paradox” of the long human childhood. When she first trained in philosophy and developmental psychology, the minds of children were treated as blank slates. But her research is helping us see how even the most mundane facts of a toddler or a teenager — from fantasy play to rebelliousness — tell us what it mean
Jan 23, 2020 • 1:45:29
Ruby Sales — Where Does it Hurt?
Civil rights legend Ruby Sales learned to ask “Where does it hurt?” because it’s a question that drives to the heart of the matter — and a question we scarcely know how to ask in public life now. Sales says we must be as clear about what we love as about what we hate if we want to make change. And even as she unsettles some of what we think we know about the force of religion in civil rights history, she names a “spiritual crisis of white America” as a calling of today.Ruby Sales is the founder
Jan 16, 2020 • 52:14
[Unedited] Ruby Sales with Krista Tippett
Civil rights legend Ruby Sales learned to ask “Where does it hurt?” because it’s a question that drives to the heart of the matter — and a question we scarcely know how to ask in public life now. Sales says we must be as clear about what we love as about what we hate if we want to make change. And even as she unsettles some of what we think we know about the force of religion in civil rights history, she names a “spiritual crisis of white America” as a calling of today.Ruby Sales is the founder
Jan 16, 2020 • 2:15:16
Joe Henry — Welcoming Flies at the Picnic
Joe Henry faced his mortality in 2018 when he was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer and told he might only have months to live. Now in remission, the singer-songwriter and producer has created a gorgeous new album, The Gospel According to Water. Henry’s wisdom on living — and the loss that strangely defines it — ran all the way through this conversation, recorded before his cancer, in 2015. Beloved by fellow musicians as much as by his fans, he’s produced over a dozen albums of his own and
Jan 9, 2020 • 51:43
[Unedited] Joe Henry with Krista Tippett
Joe Henry faced his mortality in 2018 when he was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer and told he might only have months to live. Now in remission, the singer-songwriter and producer has created a gorgeous new album, The Gospel According to Water. Henry’s wisdom on living — and the loss that strangely defines it — ran all the way through this conversation, recorded before his cancer, in 2015. Beloved by fellow musicians as much as by his fans, he’s produced over a dozen albums of his own and
Jan 9, 2020 • 1:40:09
Brené Brown — Strong Back, Soft Front, Wild Heart
Brené Brown says our belonging to each other can’t be lost, but it can be forgotten. Her research has reminded the world in recent years of the uncomfortable, life-giving link between vulnerability and courage. Now she’s turning her attention to how we walked into the crisis of our life together and how we can move beyond it: with strong backs, soft fronts, and wild hearts. Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston, where she holds the Huffington Foundation-Brené Brown En
Jan 2, 2020 • 51:37
[Unedited] Brené Brown with Krista Tippett
Brené Brown says our belonging to each other can’t be lost, but it can be forgotten. Her research has reminded the world in recent years of the uncomfortable, life-giving link between vulnerability and courage. Now she’s turning her attention to how we walked into the crisis of our life together and how we can move beyond it: with strong backs, soft fronts, and wild hearts.Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston, where she holds the Huffington Foundation-Brené Brown Endo
Jan 2, 2020 • 1:18:25
Bessel van der Kolk — How Trauma Lodges in the Body
Psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk is an innovator in treating the effects of overwhelming experiences. We call this “trauma” when we encounter it in life and news, and we tend to leap to address it by talking. But Bessel van der Kolk knows how some experiences imprint themselves beyond where language can reach. He explores state-of-the-art therapeutic treatments — including body work like yoga and eye movement therapy — and shares what he and others are learning on this edge of humanity about the
Dec 26, 2019 • 51:39
[Unedited] Bessel van der Kolk with Krista Tippett
Psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk is an innovator in treating the effects of overwhelming experiences. We call this “trauma” when we encounter it in life and news, and we tend to leap to address it by talking. But Bessel van der Kolk knows how some experiences imprint themselves beyond where language can reach. He explores state-of-the-art therapeutic treatments — including body work like yoga and eye movement therapy — and shares what he and others are learning on this edge of humanity about the
Dec 26, 2019 • 0:01
Greg Boyle — The Calling of Delight: Gangs, Service, and Kinship
Fr. Greg Boyle makes amazingly winsome connections between things like service and delight, compassion and awe. He landed as an idealistic young Jesuit in a gang-heavy neighborhood of Los Angeles three decades ago. Now he heads Homeboy Industries, which employs former gang members in a constellation of businesses from screen printing to a farmers’ market to a bakery. This is not work of helping, he says, but of finding kinship.Greg Boyle is founder and executive director of Homeboy Industries in
Dec 19, 2019 • 53:10
[Unedited] Greg Boyle with Krista Tippett
Fr. Greg Boyle makes amazingly winsome connections between things like service and delight, compassion and awe. He landed as an idealistic young Jesuit in a gang-heavy neighborhood of Los Angeles three decades ago. Now he heads Homeboy Industries, which employs former gang members in a constellation of businesses from screen printing to a farmers’ market to a bakery. This is not work of helping, he says, but of finding kinship.Greg Boyle is founder and executive director of Homeboy Industries in
Dec 19, 2019 • 1:18:08
David Whyte — The Conversational Nature of Reality
“Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet / confinement of your aloneness / to learn / anything or anyone / that does not bring you alive / is too small for you.” David Whyte is a poet and philosopher who believes in the power of a “beautiful question” amid the drama of work as well as the drama of life and the ways the two overlap. He shared a deep friendship with the late Irish philosopher John O’Donohue. They were, David Whyte says, like “two bookends.” More recently, he’s written about the
Dec 12, 2019 • 51:39
"Close" by David Whyte read by Krista Tippett
"Close" by David Whyte read by Krista TippettDavid Whyte is an associate fellow at Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford. His books include The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America, Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment, and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words and The Bell and The Blackbird. His latest collection is David Whyte: Essentials.Find more at onbeing.org
Dec 12, 2019 • 2:37
[Unedited] David Whyte with Krista Tippett
“Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet / confinement of your aloneness / to learn / anything or anyone / that does not bring you alive / is too small for you.” David Whyte is a poet and philosopher who believes in the power of a “beautiful question” amid the drama of work as well as the drama of life and the ways the two overlap. He shared a deep friendship with the late Irish philosopher John O’Donohue. They were, David Whyte says, like “two bookends.” More recently, he’s written about the
Dec 12, 2019 • 1:26:48
Serene Jones — On Grace
Serene Jones describes theology as the place and story you think of when you ask yourself about the meaning of your life, the world, and the possibility of God. For her, that place is a “dusty piece of land” on the plains of Oklahoma where she grew up. “I go there to find my story — my theology. I go there to be born again; to be made whole; to unite with what I was, what I am, and what I will become.” In her work as a public theologian, Jones explores theology as clarifying lens on the present
Dec 5, 2019 • 0:00
[Unedited] Serene Jones with Krista Tippett
Serene Jones describes theology as the place and story you think of when you ask yourself about the meaning of your life, the world, and the possibility of God. For her, that place is a “dusty piece of land” on the plains of Oklahoma where she grew up. “I go there to find my story — my theology. I go there to be born again; to be made whole; to unite with what I was, what I am, and what I will become.” In her work as a public theologian, Jones explores theology as clarifying lens on the present
Dec 5, 2019 • 0:01
Richard Blanco — How to Love a Country
As a longtime civil engineer by day and a poet by night, Cuban American writer Richard Blanco has straddled the many ways a sense of place merges with human emotion to form the meaning of home and belonging. In 2013, he became the fifth poet to read at a presidential inauguration (he was also the youngest and the first immigrant). The thoughtfulness, elegance, and humor of Blanco’s poetry and his person captivated the crowd for this live conversation at the Chautauqua Institution. Richard Blanco
Nov 27, 2019 • 0:00
"América" (parts IV-V) by Richard Blanco
Richard Blanco reads parts IV and V from his poem “América”. Excerpted from the On Being episode “Richard Blanco – How to Love a Country”.
Nov 27, 2019 • 2:29
[Unedited] Richard Blanco with Krista Tippett
As a longtime civil engineer by day and a poet by night, Cuban American writer Richard Blanco has straddled the many ways a sense of place merges with human emotion to form the meaning of home and belonging. In 2013, he became the fifth poet to read at a presidential inauguration (he was also the youngest and the first immigrant). The thoughtfulness, elegance, and humor of Blanco’s poetry and his person captivated the crowd for this live conversation at the Chautauqua Institution. Richard Blanco
Nov 27, 2019 • 0:01
Marilynne Robinson and Marcelo Gleiser — The Mystery We Are
Novelist Marilynne Robinson and physicist Marcelo Gleiser are both passionate about the majesty of science, and they share a caution about what they call our modern “piety” toward science. They connect thrilling dots among the current discoveries about the cosmos and the new territory of understanding our own minds. We brought them together for a joyous, heady discussion of the mystery we are.Marcelo Gleiser is Appleton Professor of Natural Philosophy and a professor of physics and astronomy at
Nov 21, 2019 • 51:37
[Unedited] Marilynne Robinson and Marcelo Gleiser with Krista Tippett
Novelist Marilynne Robinson and physicist Marcelo Gleiser are both passionate about the majesty of science, and they share a caution about what they call our modern “piety” toward science. They connect thrilling dots among the current discoveries about the cosmos and the new territory of understanding our own minds. We brought them together for a joyous, heady discussion of the mystery we are.Marcelo Gleiser is Appleton Professor of Natural Philosophy and a professor of physics and astronomy at
Nov 21, 2019 • 1:17:08
Robert Macfarlane — The Hidden Human Depths of the Underland
Robert Macfarlane is an explorer and linguist of landscape. His newest book, “Underland: A Deep Time Journey,” is an odyssey that’s full of surprises — from caves and catacombs under land, under cities, and under forests to the meltwater of Greenland. “Since before we were Homo sapiens,” he writes, “humans have been seeking out spaces of darkness in which to find and make meaning.” Darkness in the natural world and in human life, he suggests, is a medium of vision and descent, a movement toward
Nov 14, 2019 • 0:00
[Unedited] Robert Macfarlane with Krista Tippett
Robert Macfarlane is an explorer and linguist of landscape. His newest book, “Underland: A Deep Time Journey,” is an odyssey that’s full of surprises — from caves and catacombs under land, under cities, and under forests to the meltwater of Greenland. “Since before we were Homo sapiens,” he writes, “humans have been seeking out spaces of darkness in which to find and make meaning.” Darkness in the natural world and in human life, he suggests, is a medium of vision and descent, a movement toward
Nov 14, 2019 • 0:01
Joy Ladin — Finding a Home in Yourself
For as far back as Joy Ladin can remember, her body didn’t match her soul. In her mid-40s, Ladin transitioned from male to female identity and later became the first openly transgender professor at an Orthodox Jewish institution. She admits the pain this caused for people and institutions she loved. And she knows what it is to move through the world with the assumed authority of a man and the assumed vulnerability of a woman. We take in what she’s learned about gender and the very syntax of bein
Nov 7, 2019 • 51:38
[Unedited] Joy Ladin with Krista Tippett
For as far back as Joy Ladin can remember, her body didn’t match her soul. In her mid-40s, Ladin transitioned from male to female identity and later became the first openly transgender professor at an Orthodox Jewish institution. She admits the pain this caused for people and institutions she loved. And she knows what it is to move through the world with the assumed authority of a man and the assumed vulnerability of a woman. We take in what she’s learned about gender and the very syntax of bein
Nov 7, 2019 • 1:37:55
America Ferrera and John Paul Lederach — The Ingredients of Social Courage
“Our discomfort and our grappling is not a sign of failure,” America Ferrera says, “it’s a sign that we’re living at the edge of our imaginations.” She is a culture-shifting actor and artist. John Paul Lederach is one of our greatest living architects of social transformation. From the inaugural On Being Gathering, a revelatory, joyous exploration of the ingredients of social courage and how change really happens in generational time.John Paul Lederach is a senior fellow at Humanity United and p
Oct 24, 2019 • 51:38
[Unedited] America Ferrera and John Paul Lederach with Krista Tippett
“Our discomfort and our grappling is not a sign of failure,” America Ferrera says, “it’s a sign that we’re living at the edge of our imaginations.” She is a culture-shifting actor and artist. John Paul Lederach is one of our greatest living architects of social transformation. From the inaugural On Being Gathering, a revelatory, joyous exploration of the ingredients of social courage and how change really happens in generational time.John Paul Lederach is a senior fellow at Humanity United and p
Oct 24, 2019 • 1:35:37
Jennifer Bailey and Lennon Flowers — An Invitation to Brave Space
Lennon Flowers and Rev. Jennifer Bailey embody a particular wisdom of millennials around grief, loss, and faith. Together they created The People’s Supper, which uses shared meals to build trust and connection among people of different identities and perspectives. Since 2017, they have hosted more than 1,500 meals. In the words they use, the practices they cultivate (some of which we’ve collected on onbeing.org), and the way they think, Flowers and Bailey issue an invitation not to safe space, b
Oct 17, 2019 • 51:38
[Unedited] Jennifer Bailey and Lennon Flowers with Krista Tippett
Lennon Flowers and Rev. Jennifer Bailey embody a particular wisdom of millennials around grief, loss, and faith. Together they created The People’s Supper, which uses shared meals to build trust and connection among people of different identities and perspectives. Since 2017, they have hosted more than 1,500 meals. In the words they use, the practices they cultivate (some of which we’ve collected on onbeing.org), and the way they think, Flowers and Bailey issue an invitation not to safe space, b
Oct 17, 2019 • 1:21:32
David Treuer — Language Carries More Than Words
Writer David Treuer’s work tells a story that is richer and more multi-dimensional than the American history most of us learned in school. Treuer grew up on the Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota. At the time of our conversation with him in 2008, he was part of an ongoing project to document the grammar and usage of the Ojibwe language. He says the recovery of tribal languages and names is part of a fuller recovery of our national story — and the human story. And it holds unexpected ob
Oct 10, 2019 • 51:20
[Unedited] David Treuer with Krista Tippett
Writer David Treuer’s work tells a story that is richer and more multi-dimensional than the American history most of us learned in school. Treuer grew up on the Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota. At the time of our conversation with him in 2008, he was part of an ongoing project to document the grammar and usage of the Ojibwe language. He says the recovery of tribal languages and names is part of a fuller recovery of our national story — and the human story. And it holds unexpected ob
Oct 10, 2019 • 1:37:30
Derek Black and Matthew Stevenson — Befriending Radical Disagreement
We’d heard Derek Black, the former white-power heir apparent, interviewed before about his past, but never about the college friendships that changed him. After Derek’s ideology was outed at the New College of Florida, Matthew Stevenson (one of the only Orthodox Jews on campus) invited him to Shabbat dinner. What happened next is a roadmap for navigating some of the hardest and most important territory of our time.Matthew Stevenson was born and raised in South Florida. He graduated from the New
Oct 3, 2019 • 51:39
[Unedited] Derek Black and Matthew Stevenson with Krista Tippett
We’d heard Derek Black, the former white-power heir apparent, interviewed before about his past, but never about the college friendships that changed him. After Derek’s ideology was outed at the New College of Florida, Matthew Stevenson (one of the only Orthodox Jews on campus) invited him to Shabbat dinner. What happened next is a roadmap for navigating some of the hardest and most important territory of our time.Matthew Stevenson was born and raised in South Florida. He graduated from the New
Oct 3, 2019 • 1:03:17
Imani Perry — More Beautiful
James Baldwin said, “American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it.” Imani Perry embodies that prism. For the past few years, Perry has been pondering the notions of slow work and resistant joy as she writes about what it means to raise her two black sons — as a thinker and writer at the intersection of law, race, culture, and literature. This live conversation was recorded at the Chautauqua Institution.Imani Perry
Sep 26, 2019 • 52:34
[Unedited] Imani Perry with Krista Tippett - 2019
James Baldwin said, “American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it.” Imani Perry embodies that prism. For the past few years, Perry has been pondering the notions of slow work and resistant joy as she writes about what it means to raise her two black sons — as a thinker and writer at the intersection of law, race, culture, and literature. This live conversation was recorded at the Chautauqua Institution.Imani Perry
Sep 26, 2019 • 1:17:30
Erik Vance — The Drugs Inside Your Head
Science writer and reporter Erik Vance says today’s brain scientists are like astronomers of old: They’ve unsettled humanity’s sense of itself by redrawing our picture of the cosmos within our own heads. Vance has investigated the healing power of stories and the “theater of medicine” (white coats included). It turns out that the things that make us feel better are often more closely connected to what we believe and fear than to the efficacy of some treatments. In fact, most drugs that go to tri
Sep 19, 2019 • 52:33
[Unedited] Erik Vance with Krista Tippett
Science writer and reporter Erik Vance says today’s brain scientists are like astronomers of old: They’ve unsettled humanity’s sense of itself by redrawing our picture of the cosmos within our own heads. Vance has investigated the healing power of stories and the “theater of medicine” (white coats included). It turns out that the things that make us feel better are often more closely connected to what we believe and fear than to the efficacy of some treatments. In fact, most drugs that go to tri
Sep 19, 2019 • 1:23:45
Ta-Nehisi Coates — Imagining a New America
Ta-Nehisi Coates says we must love our country the way we love our friends — and not spare the hard truths. “Can you get to a place where citizens are encouraged to see themselves critically, where they’re encouraged to see their history critically?” he asks. Coates is a poetic journalist and a defining voice of our times. He’s with us in a conversation that is joyful, hard, kind, soaring, and down-to-earth all at once. He spoke with Krista as part of the 2017 Chicago Humanities Festival.Ta-Nehi
Sep 12, 2019 • 52:35
[Unedited] Ta-Nehisi Coates with Krista Tippett
Ta-Nehisi Coates says we must love our country the way we love our friends — and not spare the hard truths. “Can you get to a place where citizens are encouraged to see themselves critically, where they’re encouraged to see their history critically?” he asks. Coates is a poetic journalist and a defining voice of our times. He’s with us in a conversation that is joyful, hard, kind, soaring, and down-to-earth all at once. He spoke with Krista as part of the 2017 Chicago Humanities Festival.Ta-Nehi
Sep 12, 2019 • 1:22:22
‘This Movie Changed Me’ Is Back
Movies can be whimsical, terrifying, life-altering, culture-changing experiences where the big ideas we take up at “On Being” show up in the heart of our lives. This hour we experience this through seven lives and seven movies — from “The Wizard of Oz” and “Black Panther” to “The Exorcist.” Get out the popcorn for this upcoming flavor of the new season of our On Being Studios podcast “This Movie Changed Me” — a love letter to movies and their power to teach, connect, and transform us. Naomi Alde
Sep 5, 2019 • 51:38
Gordon Hempton — Silence and the Presence of Everything
Acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton collects sounds from around the world. He’s recorded inside Sitka spruce logs in the Pacific Northwest, thunder in the Kalahari Desert, and dawn breaking across six continents. An attentive listener, he says silence is an endangered species on the verge of extinction. He defines real quiet as presence — not an absence of sound but an absence of noise. We take in the world through his ears. Gordon Hempton is the founder of the One Square Inch of Silence Foundatio
Aug 29, 2019 • 0:00
[Unedited] Gordon Hempton with Krista Tippett
Gordon Hempton is the founder of the One Square Inch of Silence Foundation, which recently expanded to become Quiet Parks International with the mission to “save quiet for the benefit of all life.” His books include One Square Inch of Silence: One Man’s Quest to Preserve Quiet, co-authored with John Grossmann, and Earth Is A Solar Powered Jukebox: A Complete Guide to Listening, Recording, and Sound Designing with Nature. He’s also produced more than 60 albums of vanishing natural soundscapes. De
Aug 29, 2019 • 0:01
Katy Payne — In the Presence of Elephants and Whales
We were made and set here, the writer Annie Dillard once wrote, “to give voice to our astonishments.” Katy Payne is a renowned acoustic biologist with a Quaker sensibility. She’s found her astonishment — and many life lessons — in listening to two of the world’s largest creatures. From the wild coast of Argentina to the rainforests of Africa, she discovered that humpback whales compose ever-changing songs and that elephants communicate across long distances by infrasound Katy Payne is a research
Aug 22, 2019 • 51:31
[Unedited] Katy Payne with Krista Tippett
We were made and set here, the writer Annie Dillard once wrote, “to give voice to our astonishments.” Katy Payne is a renowned acoustic biologist with a Quaker sensibility. She’s found her astonishment — and many life lessons — in listening to two of the world’s largest creatures. From the wild coast of Argentina to the rainforests of Africa, she discovered that humpback whales compose ever-changing songs and that elephants communicate across long distances by infrasound. Katy Payne is a researc
Aug 22, 2019 • 1:11:19
Shane Claiborne and Omar Saif Ghobash — Called and Conflicted
Spiritual border-crossing and social creativity were themes in a conversation between Shane Claiborne and Omar Saif Ghobash, two people who have lived with some discomfort within the religious groups they continue to love. Ghobash is a diplomat of the United Arab Emirates and author of Letters to a Young Muslim. One of his responses to the politicization of Islam has been to bring a new art gallery culture to Dubai, creating spaces for thought and beauty. Claiborne is a singular figure in Evange
Aug 15, 2019 • 51:33
[Unedited] Shane Claiborne and Omar Saif Ghobash with Krista Tippett
Spiritual border-crossing and social creativity were themes in a conversation between Shane Claiborne and Omar Saif Ghobash, two people who have lived with some discomfort within the religious groups they continue to love. Ghobash is a diplomat of the United Arab Emirates and author of Letters to a Young Muslim. One of his responses to the politicization of Islam has been to bring a new art gallery culture to Dubai, creating spaces for thought and beauty. Claiborne is a singular figure in Evange
Aug 15, 2019 • 1:41:35
Darnell Moore — Self-Reflection and Social Evolution
Darnell Moore says honest, uncomfortable conversations are a sign of love — and that self-reflection goes hand-in-hand with culture shift and social evolution. A writer and activist, he’s grown wise through his work on successful and less successful civic initiatives, including Mark Zuckerberg’s plan to remake the schools of Newark, New Jersey, and he is a key figure in the ongoing, under-publicized, creative story of The Movement for Black Lives. This conversation was recorded at the 2019 Skoll
Aug 8, 2019 • 51:36
[Unedited] Darnell Moore with Krista Tippett
Darnell Moore says honest, uncomfortable conversations are a sign of love — and that self-reflection goes hand-in-hand with culture shift and social evolution. A writer and activist, he’s grown wise through his work on successful and less successful civic initiatives, including Mark Zuckerberg’s plan to remake the schools of Newark, New Jersey, and he is a key figure in the ongoing, under-publicized, creative story of The Movement for Black Lives. This conversation was recorded at the 2019 Skoll
Aug 8, 2019 • 1:12:39
Amichai Lau-Lavie — First Aid for Spiritual Seekers
Forms of religious devotion are shifting — and there’s a new world of creativity toward crafting spiritual life while exploring the depths of tradition. Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie is a fun and forceful embodiment of this evolution. Born into an eminent and ancient rabbinical lineage, as a young adult he moved away from religion towards storytelling, theater, and drag. Today he leads a pop-up synagogue in New York City that takes as its tagline “everybody-friendly, artist-driven, God-optional.” It’s
Aug 1, 2019 • 51:37
[Unedited] Amichai Lau-Lavie with Krista Tippett
Forms of religious devotion are shifting — and there’s a new world of creativity toward crafting spiritual life while exploring the depths of tradition. Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie is a fun and forceful embodiment of this evolution. Born into an eminent and ancient rabbinical lineage, as a young adult he moved away from religion towards storytelling, theater, and drag. Today he leads a pop-up synagogue in New York City that takes as its tagline “everybody-friendly, artist-driven, God-optional.” It’s
Aug 1, 2019 • 1:36:16
Jonathan Rowson — Integrating Our Souls, Systems, and Society
Applied philosopher Jonathan Rowson insists on holding a deeper appreciation for how our inner worlds influence our outer worlds. His research organization, Perspectiva, examines how social change happens across “systems, souls, and society.” “If we can get better and more nimble and more generous about how we move between those worlds, then the chance of creating a hope that makes sense for all of us is all the greater,” he says. We engage his broad spiritual lens on the great dynamics of our t
Jul 18, 2019 • 51:37
[Unedited] Jonathan Rowson with Krista Tippett
Applied philosopher Jonathan Rowson insists on holding a deeper appreciation for how our inner worlds influence our outer worlds. His research organization, Perspectiva, examines how social change happens across “systems, souls, and society.” “If we can get better and more nimble and more generous about how we move between those worlds, then the chance of creating a hope that makes sense for all of us is all the greater,” he says. We engage his broad spiritual lens on the great dynamics of our t
Jul 18, 2019 • 1:18:01
Esther Perel — The Erotic Is an Antidote to Death
Therapist Esther Perel has changed our discourse about sexuality and coupledom with her TED talks, books, and singular podcast, “Where Should We Begin?”, in which listeners are invited into emotionally raw therapy sessions she conducts with couples she’s never met before. For Perel, eroticism is a key ingredient to life — and it’s more than just a description of sexuality. “It is about how people connect to this quality of aliveness, of vibrancy, of vitality, of renewal,” she says. “It is actual
Jul 11, 2019 • 0:00
[Unedited] Esther Perel with Krista Tippett
Therapist Esther Perel has changed our discourse about sexuality and coupledom with her TED talks, books, and singular podcast, “Where Should We Begin?”, in which listeners are invited into emotionally raw therapy sessions she conducts with couples she’s never met before. For Perel, eroticism is a key ingredient to life — and it’s more than just a description of sexuality. “It is about how people connect to this quality of aliveness, of vibrancy, of vitality, of renewal,” she says. “It is actual
Jul 11, 2019 • 0:01
[Unedited] Annette Gordon-Reed and Titus Kaphar with Krista Tippett
We must shine a light on the past to live more abundantly now. Historian Annette Gordon-Reed and painter Titus Kaphar lead us in an exploration of that as a public adventure in this conversation at the Citizen University annual conference. Gordon-Reed is the historian who introduced the world to Sally Hemings and the children she had with President Thomas Jefferson, and so realigned a primary chapter of the American story with the deeper, more complicated truth. Kaphar collapses historical timel
Jul 4, 2019 • 1:17:01
Annette Gordon-Reed and Titus Kaphar — Are We Actually Citizens Here?
We must shine a light on the past to live more abundantly now. Historian Annette Gordon-Reed and painter Titus Kaphar lead us in an exploration of that as a public adventure in this conversation at the Citizen University annual conference. Gordon-Reed is the historian who introduced the world to Sally Hemings and the children she had with President Thomas Jefferson, and so realigned a primary chapter of the American story with the deeper, more complicated truth. Kaphar collapses historical timel
Jul 4, 2019 • 51:37
Indigo Girls — No Separation: On Music and Transcendence
The folk-rock duo Amy Ray and Emily Saliers have been making music for over 25 years. They’re known for their social activism on-stage and off, but long before they became the Indigo Girls, they were singing in church choirs. They see music as a continuum of human existence, intertwined with spiritual life in a way that can’t be pinned down. Amy Ray is a singer-songwriter who is one half of the folk-rock duo Indigo Girls. Her latest solo album, “Holler,” was released in September 2018. Emily Sal
Jun 27, 2019 • 51:35
[Unedited] Amy Ray and Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls with Krista Tippett
The folk-rock duo Amy Ray and Emily Saliers have been making music for over 25 years. They’re known for their social activism on-stage and off, but long before they became the Indigo Girls, they were singing in church choirs. They see music as a continuum of human existence, intertwined with spiritual life in a way that can’t be pinned down. Amy Ray is a singer-songwriter who is one half of the folk-rock duo Indigo Girls. Her latest solo album, “Holler,” was released in September 2018. Emily Sal
Jun 27, 2019 • 48:56
Jerry Colonna — Can You Really Bring Your Whole Self to Work?
We still work with the old idea that we should check the messy parts of ourselves at the door of our professional lives. But Jerry Colonna says doing so cuts us off from the source of our creativity. “The result is that our organizations are actually less productive, less imaginative; not just poor workplaces for individuals to be, but poor places for collaboration … and spontaneity and laughter and humor.” Colonna is a former venture capitalist who now coaches CEOs. He says undoing the old mode
Jun 20, 2019 • 51:30
[Unedited] Jerry Colonna with Krista Tippett
We still work with the old idea that we should check the messy parts of ourselves at the door of our professional lives. But Jerry Colonna says doing so cuts us off from the source of our creativity. “The result is that our organizations are actually less productive, less imaginative; not just poor workplaces for individuals to be, but poor places for collaboration … and spontaneity and laughter and humor.” Colonna is a former venture capitalist who now coaches CEOs. He says undoing the old mode
Jun 20, 2019 • 1:35:18
[Unedited] Richard Rohr with Krista Tippett
Men of all ages say Richard Rohr has given them a new way into spiritual depth and religious thought through his writing and retreats. This conversation with the Franciscan spiritual teacher delves into the expansive scope of his ideas: from male formation and what he calls “father hunger” to why contemplation is as magnetic to people now, including millennials, as it’s ever been. Richard Rohr is a Franciscan writer, teacher, and the founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquer
Jun 13, 2019 • 1:20:16
Richard Rohr — Growing Up Men
Men of all ages say Richard Rohr has given them a new way into spiritual depth and religious thought through his writing and retreats. This conversation with the Franciscan spiritual teacher delves into the expansive scope of his ideas: from male formation and what he calls “father hunger” to why contemplation is as magnetic to people now, including millennials, as it’s ever been. Richard Rohr is a Franciscan writer, teacher, and the founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquer
Jun 13, 2019 • 51:30
[Unedited] Jericho Brown with Krista Tippett
The poet Jericho Brown reminds us to bear witness to the complexity of the human experience, to interrogate the proximity of violence to love, and to look and listen closer so that we might uncover the small truths and surprises in life. His presence is irreverent and magnetic, as the high school students who joined us for this conversation experienced firsthand at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival. Editor’s note: This interview discusses sexual violence and rape. Jericho Brown is Winship R
Jun 6, 2019 • 0:01
Jericho Brown — Small Truths and Other Surprises
The poet Jericho Brown reminds us to bear witness to the complexity of the human experience, to interrogate the proximity of violence to love, and to look and listen closer so that we might uncover the small truths and surprises in life. His presence is irreverent and magnetic, as the high school students who joined us for this conversation experienced firsthand at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival. Editor’s note: This interview discusses sexual violence and rape. Jericho Brown is Winship R
Jun 6, 2019 • 0:00
Abraham Verghese and Denise Pope — How Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?
Today young people are trying to balance the question of “What do I want to do when I grow up?” with the question of “Who and how do I want to be in the world?” Physician and writer Abraham Verghese and education researcher Denise Pope argue that’s because the way we educate for success doesn’t support the creation of full, well-rounded humans. And they see the next generation challenging our cultural view of success by insisting that a deeply satisfying life is one filled with presence, vulnera
May 23, 2019 • 51:36
[Unedited] Denise Pope and Abraham Verghese with Krista Tippett
Today young people are trying to balance the question of “What do I want to do when I grow up?” with the question of “Who and how do I want to be in the world?” Physician and writer Abraham Verghese and education researcher Denise Pope argue that’s because the way we educate for success doesn’t support the creation of full, well-rounded humans. And they see the next generation challenging our cultural view of success by insisting that a deeply satisfying life is one filled with presence, vulnera
May 23, 2019 • 1:31:06
Rami Nashashibi and Lucas Johnson — Community Organizing as a Spiritual Practice
Community organizers Rami Nashashibi and Lucas Johnson have much to teach us about using love — the most reliable muscle of human transformation — as a practical public good. Nashashibi is the founder of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network, a force for social healing on Chicago’s South Side. Johnson is the newly-named executive director of The On Being Project’s Civil Conversations Project. In a world of division, they say despair is not an option — and that the work of social healing requires
May 16, 2019 • 51:36
[Unedited] Rami Nashashibi and Lucas Johnson with Krista Tippett
Community organizers Rami Nashashibi and Lucas Johnson have much to teach us about using love — the most reliable muscle of human transformation — as a practical public good. Nashashibi is the founder of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network, a force for social healing on Chicago’s South Side. Johnson is the newly-named executive director of The On Being Project’s Civil Conversations Project. In a world of division, they say despair is not an option — and that the work of social healing requires
May 16, 2019 • 1:18:06
Sylvia Boorstein — What We Nurture
Sylvia Boorstein says spirituality doesn’t have to look like sitting down and meditating. A Jewish-Buddhist teacher and psychotherapist, Boorstein says spirituality can be as simple as “folding the towels in a sweet way and talking kindly to the people in [your] family even though you’ve had a long day.” And she insists that nurturing our inner lives in this way is not a luxury but something we can do in the service of others — from our children to strangers in the checkout line at the grocery s
May 9, 2019 • 51:35
[Unedited] Sylvia Boorstein and Krista Tippett
Sylvia Boorstein says spirituality doesn’t have to look like sitting down and meditating. A Jewish-Buddhist teacher and psychotherapist, Boorstein says spirituality can be as simple as “folding the towels in a sweet way and talking kindly to the people in [your] family even though you’ve had a long day.” And she insists that nurturing our inner lives in this way is not a luxury but something we can do in the service of others — from our children to strangers in the checkout line at the grocery s
May 9, 2019 • 1:30:39
Atul Gawande — What Matters in the End
“What does a good day look like?” That question — when asked of both terminally-ill and healthy people — has transformed Atul Gawande’s practice of medicine. A citizen physician and writer, Gawande is on the frontiers of human agency and meaning in light of what modern medicine makes possible. For the millions of people who have read his book “Being Mortal,” he’s also opened new conversations about the ancient human question of death and what it might have to do with life. Atul Gawande practices
May 2, 2019 • 51:37
[Unedited] Atul Gawande with Krista Tippett
We are strange creatures. It is hard for us to speak about, or let in, the reality of frailty and death — the elemental fact of mortality itself. In this century, western medicine has gradually moved away from its understanding of death as a failure — where care stops with a terminal diagnosis. Hospice has moved, from something rare to something expected. And yet advances in technology have made it ever harder for physicians and patients to make a call to stop fighting death — often at the expen
May 2, 2019 • 1:21:21
[Unedited] Joanna Macy with Krista Tippett
A Buddhist philosopher of ecology, Joanna Macy says we are at a pivotal moment in history with the possibility to unravel or create a life-sustaining human society. Now entering her 90s, Macy has lived adventurously by any definition. She worked with the CIA in Cold War Europe and the Peace Corps in post-colonial India and was an early environmental activist. She brings a poetic and spiritual sensibility to her work that’s reflected in her translations of the early-20th-century poet Rainer Maria
Apr 25, 2019 • 1:27:42
Joanna Macy — A Wild Love for the World
A Buddhist philosopher of ecology, Joanna Macy says we are at a pivotal moment in history with the possibility to unravel or create a life-sustaining human society. Now entering her 90s, Macy has lived adventurously by any definition. She worked with the CIA in Cold War Europe and the Peace Corps in post-colonial India and was an early environmental activist. She brings a poetic and spiritual sensibility to her work that’s reflected in her translations of the early-20th-century poet Rainer Maria
Apr 25, 2019 • 51:37
[Unedited] Wangari Maathai with Krista Tippett
The late Wangari Maathai was a biologist, environmentalist, and the first African woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize. She was born under British colonial occupation and schooled by Catholic missionaries. But when she looked back on her childhood near the end of her life, she realized her family’s Kikuyu culture had imparted her with an intuitive sense of environmental balance. Maathai was steadfast in her determination to fight for the twin issues of conservation and human rights — and planting tr
Apr 18, 2019 • 1:25:55
Wangari Maathai — Marching with Trees
The late Wangari Maathai was a biologist, environmentalist, and the first African woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize. She was born under British colonial occupation and schooled by Catholic missionaries. But when she looked back on her childhood near the end of her life, she realized her family’s Kikuyu culture had imparted her with an intuitive sense of environmental balance. Maathai was steadfast in her determination to fight for the twin issues of conservation and human rights — and planting tr
Apr 18, 2019 • 52:06
[Unedited] Pádraig Ó Tuama with Krista Tippett
Pádraig Ó Tuama is a poet, theologian, and extraordinary healer in our world of fracture. He leads the Corrymeela community of Northern Ireland, a place that has offered refuge since the violent division that defined that country until the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Ó Tuama and Corrymeela extend a quiet, generative, and joyful force far beyond their northern coast to people around the world. Over cups of tea and the experience of bringing people together, he says it becomes possible to talk wit
Apr 11, 2019 • 1:41:25
Pádraig Ó Tuama — Belonging Creates and Undoes Us
Pádraig Ó Tuama is a poet, theologian, and extraordinary healer in our world of fracture. He leads the Corrymeela community of Northern Ireland, a place that has offered refuge since the violent division that defined that country until the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Ó Tuama and Corrymeela extend a quiet, generative, and joyful force far beyond their northern coast to people around the world. Over cups of tea and the experience of bringing people together, he says it becomes possible to talk wit
Apr 11, 2019 • 52:03
[Unedited] Whitney Battle-Baptiste with Krista Tippett
This interview accompanies the On Being episode “Maya Angelou, Elizabeth Alexander, and Arnold Rampersad — W.E.B. Du Bois & the American Soul.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Apr 4, 2019 • 1:10:07
[Unedited] Arnold Rampersad with Krista Tippett
A prolific writer on sociology, history, economics, and politics, W.E.B. Du Bois was one of the most extraordinary minds of American and global history. His life traced an incredible arc; he was born three years after the end of the Civil War and died on the eve of the March on Washington. In 1903, he penned the famous line that “the problem of the 20th century is the problem of the color line.” Du Bois was a formative voice for many of the people who gave us the Civil Rights Movement and for al
Apr 4, 2019 • 1:00:29
[Unedited] Maya Angelou with Krista Tippett
A prolific writer on sociology, history, economics, and politics, W.E.B. Du Bois was one of the most extraordinary minds of American and global history. His life traced an incredible arc; he was born three years after the end of the Civil War and died on the eve of the March on Washington. In 1903, he penned the famous line that “the problem of the 20th century is the problem of the color line.” Du Bois was a formative voice for many of the people who gave us the Civil Rights Movement and for al
Apr 4, 2019 • 9:19
[Unedited] Elizabeth Alexander with Krista Tippett
A prolific writer on sociology, history, economics, and politics, W.E.B. Du Bois was one of the most extraordinary minds of American and global history. His life traced an incredible arc; he was born three years after the end of the Civil War and died on the eve of the March on Washington. In 1903, he penned the famous line that “the problem of the 20th century is the problem of the color line.” Du Bois was a formative voice for many of the people who gave us the Civil Rights Movement and for al
Apr 4, 2019 • 47:13
Maya Angelou, Elizabeth Alexander, and Arnold Rampersad — W.E.B. Du Bois and the American Soul
A prolific writer on sociology, history, economics, and politics, W.E.B. Du Bois was one of the most extraordinary minds of American and global history. His life traced an incredible arc; he was born three years after the end of the Civil War and died on the eve of the March on Washington. In 1903, he penned the famous line that “the problem of the 20th century is the problem of the color line.” Du Bois was a formative voice for many of the people who gave us the Civil Rights Movement and for al
Apr 4, 2019 • 52:07
‘Becoming Wise’ With Tools for the Art of Living
Over the years, listeners have asked for shorter-form distillations of On Being — something to listen to while making a cup of tea. Becoming Wise is this offering, designed to help you reset your day and replenish your sense of yourself and the world, ten minutes at a time. A taste of the second season, which launched this week, curated from hundreds of big conversations Krista has had with wise and graceful lives — including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, astronomer Natalie Batalha, and spiritual tea
Mar 28, 2019 • 51:32
[Unedited] Lawrence Kushner with Krista Tippett
Rabbi Lawrence Kushner is a long-time student and articulator of the mysteries and messages of Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition. Kushner says mysticism tends to appear when religion — whatever the tradition — becomes too formal and logical. “The minute mysticism becomes permissible, acceptable, possible, it’s an immediate threat to organized religious structures,” he says. “Because what mysticism does is it gives everybody direct unmediated personal access to God.” He is influenced by the
Mar 21, 2019 • 1:26:40
Lawrence Kushner — Kabbalah and Everyday Mysticism
Rabbi Lawrence Kushner is a long-time student and articulator of the mysteries and messages of Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition. Kushner says mysticism tends to appear when religion — whatever the tradition — becomes too formal and logical. “The minute mysticism becomes permissible, acceptable, possible, it’s an immediate threat to organized religious structures,” he says. “Because what mysticism does is it gives everybody direct unmediated personal access to God.” He is influenced by the
Mar 21, 2019 • 51:31
Sharon Olds — Odes to the *****
When the wise and whimsical Sharon Olds started writing poetry over 40 years ago, she explored the subjects that interested her most — like diaphragms. “The politeness and the prudity of the world I grew up in meant that there were things that were important to me and interesting to me, [but] I had never read a poem about,” she once said. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 2013 for her collection Stag’s Leapabout walking through the end of a long marriage. Her most recent book, Odes, pays homage to t
Mar 14, 2019 • 51:31
[Unedited] Sharon Olds with Krista Tippett
When the wise and whimsical Sharon Olds started writing poetry over 40 years ago, she explored the subjects that interested her most — like diaphragms. “The politeness and the prudity of the world I grew up in meant that there were things that were important to me and interesting to me, [but] I had never read a poem about,” she once said. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 2013 for her collection Stag’s Leap about walking through the end of a long marriage. Her most recent book, Odes, pays homage to
Mar 14, 2019 • 1:09:27
[Unedited] Jean Vanier with Krista Tippett
Editor’s note added 02/25/20: In February 2020, L’Arche International released the results of anindependent investigation that it commissioned into Jean Vanier, who died in 2019. The investigation determined that the L’Arche founder, Catholic philosopher and humanitarian engaged in manipulative sexual relationships with at least six women from 1970-2005. None of the women had disabilities. The report also concluded that Vanier was complicit in covering up similar sexual abuse by his mentor, the
Mar 7, 2019 • 1:35:35
Jean Vanier — The Wisdom of Tenderness
Editor’s note added 02/25/20: In February 2020, L’Arche International released the results of an independent investigation that it commissioned into Jean Vanier, who died in 2019. The investigation determined that the L’Arche founder, Catholic philosopher and humanitarian engaged in manipulative sexual relationships with at least six women from 1970-2005. None of the women had disabilities. The report also concluded that Vanier was complicit in covering up similar sexual abuse by his mentor, the
Mar 7, 2019 • 51:32
[Unedited] Teju Cole with Krista Tippett
Writer and photographer Teju Cole says he is “intrigued by the continuity of places, by the singing line that connects them all.” He attends to the border, overlap and interplay of things — from Brahms and Baldwin to daily technologies like Google. To delve into his mind and his multiple arts is to meet this world with creative raw materials for enduring truth and quiet hope. Teju Cole is a photography critic for The New York Times and the Gore Vidal Professor of the Practice of Creative Writing
Feb 28, 2019 • 1:27:57
Teju Cole — Sitting Together in the Dark
Writer and photographer Teju Cole says he is “intrigued by the continuity of places, by the singing line that connects them all.” He attends to the border, overlap and interplay of things — from Brahms and Baldwin to daily technologies like Google. To delve into his mind and his multiple arts is to meet this world with creative raw materials for enduring truth and quiet hope. Teju Cole is a photography critic for The New York Times and the Gore Vidal Professor of the Practice of Creative Writing
Feb 28, 2019 • 52:44
[Unedited] Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn with Krista Tippett
Béla Fleck is one of the greatest living banjo players in the world. He’s followed what many experience as this quintessential American roots instrument back to its roots in Africa, and he’s taken it where no banjo has gone before. Abigail Washburn is a celebrated banjo player and singer, both in English and Chinese. These two are partners in music and in life — recovering something ancient and deeply American all at once, bringing both beauty and meaning to what they play and how they live. Bél
Feb 21, 2019 • 0:01
Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn — Truth, Beauty, Banjo
Béla Fleck is one of the greatest living banjo players in the world. He’s followed what many experience as this quintessential American roots instrument back to its roots in Africa, and he’s taken it where no banjo has gone before. Abigail Washburn is a celebrated banjo player and singer, both in English and Chinese. These two are partners in music and in life — recovering something ancient and deeply American all at once, bringing both beauty and meaning to what they play and how they live. Bél
Feb 21, 2019 • 0:00
[Unedited] Richard Davidson with Krista Tippett
Neuroscientist Richard Davidson is one of the central people who’s helped us begin to see inside our brains. His work has illuminated the rich interplay between things we saw as separate not that long ago: body, mind, spirit, emotion, behavior and genetics. He is applying what he’s learning about imparting qualities of character — like kindness and practical love — in lives and in classrooms. This live conversation was recorded at the Orange County Department of Education in Costa Mesa, Californ
Feb 14, 2019 • 1:35:34
Richard Davidson — A Neuroscientist on Love and Learning
Neuroscientist Richard Davidson is one of the central people who’s helped us begin to see inside our brains. His work has illuminated the rich interplay between things we saw as separate not that long ago: body, mind, spirit, emotion, behavior and genetics. He is applying what he’s learning about imparting qualities of character — like kindness and practical love — in lives and in classrooms. This live conversation was recorded at the Orange County Department of Education in Costa Mesa, Californ
Feb 14, 2019 • 52:36
Maria Popova — Cartographer of Meaning in a Digital Age
She has called Brain Pickings, her invention and labor of love, a “human-powered discovery engine for interestingness.” What Maria Popova really delivers, to hundreds of thousands of people each day, is wisdom of the old-fashioned sort, presented in new-fashioned digital ways. She cross-pollinates — between philosophy and design, physics and poetry, the intellectual and the experiential. We explore her gleanings on what it means to lead a good life — intellectually, creatively, and spiritually.
Feb 7, 2019 • 51:31
[Unedited] Maria Popova with Krista Tippett
She has called Brain Pickings, her invention and labor of love, a “human-powered discovery engine for interestingness.” What Maria Popova really delivers, to hundreds of thousands of people each day, is wisdom of the old-fashioned sort, presented in new-fashioned digital ways. She cross-pollinates — between philosophy and design, physics and poetry, the intellectual and the experiential. We explore her gleanings on what it means to lead a good life — intellectually, creatively, and spiritually.
Feb 7, 2019 • 1:21:38
Daniel Kahneman — Why We Contradict Ourselves and Confound Each Other
With his book “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” Daniel Kahneman emerged as one of the most intriguing voices on the complexity of human thought and behavior. He is a psychologist who won the Nobel Prize in economics for helping to create the field of behavioral economics — and is a self-described “constant worrier.” It’s fun, helpful, and more than a little unnerving to apply his insights into why we think and act the way we do in this moment of social and political tumult. Daniel Kahneman is best know
Jan 31, 2019 • 0:00
[Unedited] Daniel Kahneman with Krista Tippett
With his book “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” Daniel Kahneman emerged as one of the most intriguing voices on the complexity of human thought and behavior. He is a psychologist who won the Nobel Prize in economics for helping to create the field of behavioral economics — and is a self-described “constant worrier.” It’s fun, helpful, and more than a little unnerving to apply his insights into why we think and act the way we do in this moment of social and political tumult. Daniel Kahneman is best know
Jan 31, 2019 • 0:01
[Unedited] Glennon Doyle and Abby Wambach with Krista Tippett
The topic of the day was “courage,” with two singular, admired women (who happen to be married to each other): soccer icon Abby Wambach and writer/philanthropist Glennon Doyle. Abby is an Olympic gold medalist and World Cup champion. Glennon entered the American imagination with the label “Christian mommy blogger.” Now she ignites millions of followers through initiatives like “Love Flash Mobs,” as she says “to turn heartbreak into action.” What follows is a conversation about courage that is bo
Jan 24, 2019 • 0:01
Glennon Doyle and Abby Wambach — Un-becoming
The topic of the day was “courage,” with two singular, admired women (who happen to be married to each other): soccer icon Abby Wambach and writer/philanthropist Glennon Doyle. Abby is an Olympic gold medalist and World Cup champion. Glennon entered the American imagination with the label “Christian mommy blogger.” Now she ignites millions of followers through initiatives like “Love Flash Mobs,” as she says, “to turn heartbreak into action.” What follows is a conversation about courage that is b
Jan 24, 2019 • 51:29
[Unedited] Claudia Rankine with Krista Tippett
The poet, essayist, and playwright Claudia Rankine says every conversation about race doesn’t need to be about racism. But she says all of us — and especially white people — need to find a way to talk about it, even when it gets uncomfortable. Her bestselling book, “Citizen: An American Lyric,” catalogued the painful daily experiences of lived racism for people of color. Claudia models how it’s possible to bring that reality into the open — not to fight, but to draw closer. And she shows how we
Jan 10, 2019 • 1:29:37
Claudia Rankine — How Can I Say This So We Can Stay in This Car Together?
The poet, essayist, and playwright Claudia Rankine says every conversation about race doesn’t need to be about racism. But she says all of us — and especially white people — need to find a way to talk about it, even when it gets uncomfortable. Her bestselling book, “Citizen: An American Lyric,” catalogued the painful daily experiences of lived racism for people of color. Claudia models how it’s possible to bring that reality into the open — not to fight, but to draw closer. And she shows how we
Jan 10, 2019 • 51:32
[Unedited] Maira Kalman with Krista Tippett
To be in conversation with Maira Kalman is like wandering into one of her cartoons in The New Yorker. Millions have been prompted to smile and think by her illustrated revision of Strunk and White’s “Elements of Style” or a “New York Times” blog or her lovely books and her drawings about dogs. Her words and pictures bring life’s whimsy and quirkiness into relief right alongside its intrinsic seriousness, its most curious truths. Maira Kalman is the author and illustrator of over 20 books for adu
Jan 3, 2019 • 1:00:52
Maira Kalman — Daily Things to Fall in Love With
Writer and illustrator Maira Kalman is well known for her books for children and adults, her love of dogs, and her “New Yorker” covers. Her words and pictures bring life’s intrinsic quirkiness and whimsy into relief right alongside life’s intrinsic seriousness. As a storyteller, she is contemplative and inspired by the stuff of daily life — from fluffy white meringues to well-worn chairs. “There’s never a lack of things to look at,” she says. “And there’s never a lack of time not to talk.” Maira
Jan 3, 2019 • 51:31
Walter Brueggemann — The Prophetic Imagination
The great scholar and preacher. “The task is reframing so that we can re-experience the social realities that are right in front of us, from a different angle.” Prophets are also always poets. “A society finally cannot live without the quality of mercy.” Walter Brueggemann is one of the world’s great teachers about the prophets who both anchor the Hebrew Bible and have transcended it across history. He translates their imagination from the chaos of ancient times to our own. He somehow also embod
Dec 20, 2018 • 51:58
[Unedited] Walter Brueggemann with Krista Tippett
The great scholar and preacher. “Reframing so that we can re-experience the social realities that are right in front of us, from a different angle.” The disarming use of language. “A society finally cannot live without the quality of mercy.” Walter Brueggemann is one of the world’s great teachers about the prophets who both anchor the Hebrew Bible and have transcended it across history. He translates their imagination from the chaos of ancient times to our own. He somehow also embodies this trad
Dec 20, 2018 • 1:10:59
Rebecca Traister and Avi Klein — #MeToo Through a Solutions Lens
The feminist journalist and the psychotherapist. “It’s partners and lovers and spouses…fathers and brothers and sons and friends.” The difference between apology and forgiveness. “Men are used to trying to fix things.” Trauma, and also healing. What we are naming with the impetus of #MeToo is, at best, an opening to a long-term cultural reckoning to grow up humanity; to make our society more whole. We explore this with psychotherapist Avi Klein, who works with men and couples, and feminist journ
Dec 6, 2018 • 51:57
[Unedited] Rebecca Traister and Avi Klein with Krista Tippett
The feminist journalist and the psychotherapist. “It’s partners and lovers and spouses…fathers and brothers and sons and friends.” The difference between apology and forgiveness. “Men are used to trying to fix things.” Trauma, and also healing. What we are naming with the impetus of #MeToo is, at best, an opening to a long-term cultural reckoning to grow up humanity; to make our society more whole. We explore this with psychotherapist Avi Klein, who works with men and couples, and feminist journ
Dec 6, 2018 • 1:04:22
Living the Questions: What does civility actually mean, and is it enough?
A question from Kevin: “I have been hearing a lot of deconstruction of the word ‘civility.’ The debate around this word has become, like so many other things, binary. ‘Civility’ is either a tool of oppressors to silence those on the margins, or it is something that is necessary for every single conversation and dialogue. I’d love to hear something about this word — what it actually means, in what contexts can it be helpful, in what contexts can it be used as a tool to silence anger.”Takeaways fr
Dec 3, 2018 • 17:04
[Unedited] Pico Iyer with Krista Tippett
Absorption as a definition of happiness. “To bring that calm into the motion, the commotion of the world.” Traveling not in order to move around but in order to be moved. His friend Leonard Cohen. Stillness & silence as a recharging station for the soul. Pico Iyer is one of our most eloquent explorers of what he calls the “inner world” — in himself and in the 21st century world at large. The journalist and novelist travels the globe from Ethiopia to North Korea and lives in Japan. But he als
Nov 29, 2018 • 1:26:38
Pico Iyer — The Urgency of Slowing Down
Absorption as a definition of happiness. “To bring that calm into the motion, the commotion of the world.” Traveling not in order to move around but in order to be moved. His friend Leonard Cohen. Stillness & silence as a recharging station for the soul.Pico Iyer is one of our most eloquent explorers of what he calls the “inner world” — in himself and in the 21st century world at large. The journalist and novelist travels the globe from Ethiopia to North Korea and lives in Japan. But he also
Nov 29, 2018 • 51:32
Rachel Naomi Remen — The Difference Between Fixing and Healing
The wise physician and lyrical author. How our losses actually help us to live. Perfection as the booby prize in life. “Wholeness is never lost, it is only forgotten.” “Stories are the flesh we put on the bones of the facts of our lives.” Listening generously.Rachel Naomi Remen’s lifelong struggle with Crohn’s disease has shaped her practice of medicine, and she in turn is helping to reshape the art of healing. “The way we deal with loss shapes our capacity to be present to life more than anythi
Nov 22, 2018 • 51:54
[Unedited] Rachel Naomi Remen with Krista Tippett
The wise physician and lyrical author. How our losses actually help us to live. Perfection as the booby prize in life. “Wholeness is never lost, it is only forgotten.” “Stories are the flesh we put on the bones of the facts of our lives.” Listening Generously.Rachel Naomi Remen’s lifelong struggle with Crohn’s disease has shaped her practice of medicine, and she in turn is helping to reshape the art of healing. “The way we deal with loss shapes our capacity to be present to life more than anythi
Nov 22, 2018 • 1:28:21
Anand Giridharadas — When the Market Is Our Only Language
We Americans revere the creation of wealth. Anand Giridharadas wants us to examine this and how it shapes our life together. This is a challenging conversation but a generative one: about the implicit moral equations behind a notion like “win-win”— and the moral compromises in a cultural consensus we’ve reached, without reflecting on it, about what and who can save us.Anand Giridharadas is a journalist and writer. He is a former columnist and foreign correspondent for “The New York Times” and a
Nov 15, 2018 • 51:33
[Unedited] Anand Giridharadas with Krista Tippett
We Americans revere the creation of wealth. Anand Giridharadas wants us to examine this and how it shapes our life together. This is a challenging conversation but a generative one: about the implicit moral equations behind a notion like “win-win” — and the moral compromises in a cultural consensus we’ve reached, without reflecting on it, about what and who can save us. Anand Giridharadas is a journalist and writer. He is a former columnist and foreign correspondent for “The New York Times” and
Nov 15, 2018 • 1:34:03
[Unedited] James Doty with Krista Tippett
A brain surgeon. “The brain is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.” The science of compassion. The baggage of evolution. The two way street of “neural innovation that comes from the brain stem into the heart.” Brain surgeon James Doty is on the cutting edge of our knowledge of the brain and the heart: how they talk to each other; what compassion means in the body and in action; and how we can reshape our lives and perhaps our species through the scientific and human understanding
Nov 8, 2018 • 1:40:56
James Doty — The Magic Shop of the Brain
A brain surgeon. “The brain is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.” The science of compassion. The baggage of evolution. The two way street of “neural innovation that comes from the brain stem into the heart.” Brain surgeon James Doty is on the cutting edge of our knowledge of the brain and the heart: how they talk to each other; what compassion means in the body and in action; and how we can reshape our lives and perhaps our species through the scientific and human understanding
Nov 8, 2018 • 52:15
[Unedited] Tracy K. Smith with Krista Tippett
The U.S. Poet Laureate. “There’s this whole other narrative unfolding.” How history “which once felt so remote, feels closer and active and unresolved.” Listening for the spaces that are under-imagined. “Little leaps of imagination” that can restore us. Tracy K. Smith has a deep interest in “the kind of silence that yields clarity” and “the way our voices sound when we dip below the decibel level of politics.” She’s a welcome voice on the little leaps of the imagination that can restore us. She’
Nov 1, 2018 • 1:29:27
Tracy K. Smith — love is a language / Few practice, but all, or near all speak
The U.S. Poet Laureate. “There’s this whole other narrative unfolding.” How history “which once felt so remote, feels closer and active and unresolved.” Listening for the spaces that are under-imagined. “Little leaps of imagination” that can restore us. Tracy K. Smith has a deep interest in “the kind of silence that yields clarity” and “the way our voices sound when we dip below the decibel level of politics.” She’s a welcome voice on the little leaps of the imagination that can restore us. She’
Nov 1, 2018 • 52:15
Mirabai Bush — Contemplation, Life, and Work
Co-creator of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society. “There is a calming, quieting, centering practice that leads to insight in every tradition.” Contemplative practice and social change. Mindful emailing. Creative, relational, ritual, cyclical. Mirabai Bush works at an emerging 21st century intersection of industry, social healing, and diverse contemplative practices. Raised Catholic with Joan of Arc as her hero, she is one of the people who brought Buddhism to the West from India in the
Oct 25, 2018 • 52:15
[Unedited] Mirabai Bush with Krista Tippett
Co-creator of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society. “There is a calming, quieting, centering practice that leads to insight in every tradition.” Contemplative practice and social change. Mindful emailing. Creative, relational, ritual, cyclical. Mirabai Bush works at an emerging 21st century intersection of industry, social healing, and diverse contemplative practices. Raised Catholic with Joan of Arc as her hero, she is one of the people who brought Buddhism to the West from India in the
Oct 25, 2018 • 1:35:24
[Unedited] Arlie Hochschild with Krista Tippett
A creator of the field of the sociology of emotion. Treating emotion seriously in our life together. “I could see what they couldn’t see but not what I couldn’t see.” Our stories as “felt” not merely factual. Caring is not the same as capitulating. One of the voices many have been turning to in recent years is Arlie Hochschild. She helped create the field of the sociology of emotion — our stories as “felt” rather than merely factual. When she published her book, “Strangers in Their Own Land: Ang
Oct 18, 2018 • 0:01
Arlie Hochschild — The Deep Stories of Our Time
A creator of the field of the sociology of emotion. Treating emotion seriously in our life together. “I could see what they couldn’t see but not what I couldn’t see.” Our stories as “felt” not merely factual. Caring is not the same as capitulating. One of the voices many have been turning to in recent years is Arlie Hochschild. She helped create the field of the sociology of emotion — our stories as “felt” rather than merely factual. When she published her book, “Strangers in Their Own Land: Ang
Oct 18, 2018 • 0:00
David Whyte — Poetry from the On Being Gathering (Closing Words)
“The sense of having walked from far inside yourself / out into the revelation, to have risked yourself / for something that seemed to stand both inside you / and far beyond you, that called you back” David Whyte sent us out into the world at the end of the first On Being Gathering — a four-day coming-together of the On Being community for reflection, conversation, and companionship — at the 1440 Multiversity in the redwoods of Scotts Valley, California. David Whyte is a poet and an associate fe
Oct 15, 2018 • 12:01
Sally Kohn and Erick Erickson — Relationship Across Rupture
What happens when you call your Internet trolls. The peril of forgetting our next door neighbors. “You don’t have to love people to not hate them.” “People believe things that are mutually contradictory; I think we all do. I know I do.” — Erick Erickson Earlier this year, the University of Montana invited On Being to attempt an outside the box civil conversation between two political pundits on contrasting ends of the U.S. political spectrum. It became a sold-out, public event in the spirit of M
Oct 11, 2018 • 52:03
[Unedited] Sally Kohn and Erick Erickson with Krista Tippett
“People believe things that are mutually contradictory; I think we all do. I know I do.” — Erick Erickson Earlier this year, the University of Montana invited On Being to attempt an outside the box civil conversation between two political pundits on contrasting ends of the U.S. political spectrum. It became a sold-out, public event in the spirit of Montana’s Senator Mike Mansfield, who famously modeled integrity, courage, and humility across the partisan aisle in the tumult of 1960s and 70s. Sal
Oct 11, 2018 • 1:38:01
Living the Questions: Can conversation make any difference at a moment like this?
"Conversation is not just about words passing between mouths and ears. It’s about shared life. Listening is about bringing our lives into conversation.” About the Living the Questions series, from Krista Tippett:“I think of a good conversation as an adventure. You create a generous and trustworthy space for it, and prepare hospitably for it, so the other person will feel so welcome and understood that they will put words around something they have never put words around quite that way before. Th
Oct 8, 2018 • 22:08
Layli Long Soldier — The Freedom of Real Apologies
The Oglala Lakota poet. “I wanted as much as possible to avoid this nostalgic portraiture of a Native life.” The reward and joy of patience. The difference between guilt, shame, and freedom from denial. When apologies are done well. Layli Long Soldier is a writer, a mother, a citizen of the United States, and a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation. She has a way of opening up this part of her life, and of American life, to inspire self-searching and tenderness. Her award-winning first book of poe
Oct 4, 2018 • 0:00
[Unedited] Layli Long Soldier with Krista Tippett
The Oglala Lakota poet. “I wanted as much as possible to avoid this nostalgic portraiture of a Native life.” The reward and joy of patience. The difference between guilt, shame, and freedom from denial. When apologies are done well. Layli Long Soldier is a writer, a mother, a citizen of the United States, and a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation. She has a way of opening up this part of her life, and of American life, to inspire self-searching and tenderness. Her award-winning first book of poe
Oct 4, 2018 • 0:01
Poetry From the On Being Gathering — John Paul Lederach
A series of haikus from peacemaker John Paul Lederach on the fourth day of our On Being Gathering. This year, we were thrilled to host our very first On Being Gathering — a four-day coming-together of the On Being community for reflection, conversation, and companionship — at the 1440 Multiversity in the redwoods of Scotts Valley, California. We greeted each day with verse from some of our most beloved poets — and now we’d like to share these delightful moments with all of you. Peacemaker and po
Oct 1, 2018 • 15:37
[Unedited] Frances Kissling with Krista Tippett
From abortion activist to bridge person. Questions to break out of intractable polarization. Wisdom beyond the news cycle. “What is it in your own position that gives you trouble? What is it in the position of the other that you are attracted to?” The focus of our national fight over abortion may change, but this hasn’t changed for decades: we collapse this most intimate and complex of human dilemmas to two sides. We’ve been looking yet again for wisdom away from the turbulent news cycle and kee
Sep 27, 2018 • 1:29:19
Frances Kissling — What Is Good in the Position of the Other
From abortion activist to bridge person. Questions to break out of intractable polarization. Wisdom beyond the news cycle. “What is it in your own position that gives you trouble? What is it in the position of the other that you are attracted to?” The focus of our national fight over abortion may change, but this hasn’t changed for decades: We collapse this most intimate and complex of human dilemmas to two sides. We’ve been looking yet again for wisdom away from the turbulent news cycle and kee
Sep 27, 2018 • 51:33
Poetry From the On Being Gathering — Marilyn Nelson
A morning of poetry with Marilyn Nelson from the third day of our On Being Gathering. This year, we were thrilled to host our very first On Being Gathering — a four-day coming-together of the On Being community for reflection, conversation, and companionship — at the 1440 Multiversity in the redwoods of Scotts Valley, California. We greeted each day with verse from some of our most beloved poets — and now we’d like to share these delightful moments with all of you. Here is how Marilyn Nelson ope
Sep 24, 2018 • 20:49
[Unedited] Seth Godin with Krista Tippett
“We are flying too low. We built this universe, this technology, these connections, this society, and all we can do with it is make junk? All we can do with it is put on stupid entertainments? I’m not buying it.” Seth Godin is wise and infectiously curious about life, the internet, and everything. He was one of the first people to name the “connection economy.” And even as we’re seeing its dark side, he helps us hold on to the highest human potential the digital age still calls us to. His daily
Sep 20, 2018 • 1:26:18
Seth Godin — Life, the Internet, and Everything
“We are flying too low. We built this universe, this technology, these connections, this society, and all we can do with it is make junk? All we can do with it is put on stupid entertainments? I’m not buying it.” Seth Godin is wise and infectiously curious about life, the internet, and everything. He was one of the first people to name the “connection economy.” And even as we’re seeing its dark side, he helps us hold on to the highest human potential the digital age still calls us to. His daily
Sep 20, 2018 • 51:32
Poetry from the On Being Gathering — Naomi Shihab Nye
A morning of poetry with Naomi Shihab Nye from the second day of our On Being Gathering. This year, we were thrilled to host our very first On Being Gathering — a four-day coming-together of the On Being community for reflection, conversation, and companionship — at the 1440 Multiversity in the redwoods of Scotts Valley, California. We greeted each day with verse from some of our most beloved poets — and now we’d like to share these delightful moments with all of you. Here is how Naomi Shihab Ny
Sep 17, 2018 • 13:56
Poetry From the On Being Gathering — David Whyte (Opening Night)
An evening of poetry with David Whyte from the first day of our On Being Gathering. This year, we were thrilled to host our very first On Being Gathering — a four-day coming-together of the On Being community for reflection, conversation, and companionship — at the 1440 Multiversity in the redwoods of Scotts Valley, California. We greeted each day with verse from some of our most beloved poets — and now we’d like to share these delightful moments with all of you. Here is how David Whyte opened f
Sep 10, 2018 • 33:33
Eugene Peterson — The Bible, Poetry, and Active Imagination
A beloved pastor and biblical interpreter. The poetry of the Bible as what keeps it alive to the world. The spirituality of loving books. Reimagining God. Prayers as tools not for doing and getting but for being and becoming. “Prayers are tools not for doing or getting but for being and becoming.” These are words of the legendary pastor and writer Eugene Peterson, whose biblical imagination has formed generations of preachers. At the back of the church he led for nearly three decades, you’d be l
Aug 30, 2018 • 51:29
[Unedited] Eugene Peterson with Krista Tippett
A beloved pastor and biblical interpreter. The poetry of the Bible as what keeps it alive to the world. The spirituality of loving books. Reimagining God. Prayers as tools not for doing and getting but for being and becoming. “Prayers are tools not for doing or getting but for being and becoming.” These are words of the legendary pastor and writer Eugene Peterson, whose biblical imagination has formed generations of preachers. At the back of the church he led for nearly three decades, you’d be l
Aug 30, 2018 • 1:22:45
[Unedited] Mahzarin Banaji with Krista Tippett
The science of implicit bias is one of the most promising fields for animating the human change that makes social change possible. The social psychologist Mahzarin Banaji is one of its primary architects. She understands the mind as a “difference-seeking machine” that helps us order and navigate the overwhelming complexity of reality. But this gift also creates blind spots and biases as we fill in what we don’t know with the limits of what we do know. This is science that takes our grappling wit
Aug 23, 2018 • 1:32:39
Mahzarin Banaji — The Mind Is a Difference-Seeking Machine
An architect of the science of implicit bias. How our conscious minds are ahead of our less conscious minds. Letting go of “I’m a bad human being” — moving out of the realm of guilt, into the realm of good. How fast can we lose fear? The science of implicit bias is one of the most promising fields for animating the human change that makes social change possible. The social psychologist Mahzarin Banaji is one of its primary architects. She understands the mind as a “difference-seeking machine” th
Aug 23, 2018 • 51:32
[Unedited] Alan Rabinowitz with Krista Tippett
How to get to the heart of the human experience without speaking? This question drove Alan Rabinowitz, after a childhood with a severe stutter, to become a wildlife biologist and explorer — “the Indiana Jones of wildlife conservation.” He died this month at age 64. He was known for his work with big cats, his discovery of new animal species, and for documenting human cultures believed to be lost. Alan Rabinowitz took our understanding of the animal-human bond to new places, while also being wise
Aug 16, 2018 • 1:28:58
Alan Rabinowitz — We Are All Wildlife
How to get to the heart of the human experience without speaking? This question drove Alan Rabinowitz, after a childhood with a severe stutter, to become a wildlife biologist and explorer — “the Indiana Jones of wildlife conservation.” He died this month at age 64. He was known for his work with big cats, his discovery of new animal species, and for documenting human cultures believed to be lost. Alan Rabinowitz took our understanding of the animal-human bond to new places, while also being wise
Aug 16, 2018 • 51:32
“Motherless Child” performed by Joe Carter
Aug 13, 2018 • 2:18
“Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen” performed by Joe Carter
Aug 13, 2018 • 2:10
“Wade in the Water” performed by Joe Carter
Aug 13, 2018 • 1:50
“Steal Away” performed by Joe Carter
Aug 13, 2018 • 2:26
“Let the Work That I’ve Done Speak for Me” performed by Joe Carter
Aug 13, 2018 • 2:27
“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” performed by Joe Carter
Aug 13, 2018 • 2:21
Joe Carter — The Spirituals
“Magic, shining songs.” Reaching back to the ancestors. How do we survive when the worst happens? Transcendence and code: “Steal Away,” “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.” Music as a secret door. The roots of gospel, jazz, hip-hop, the blues. An exuberant experience of conversation and singing. There are nearly 5,000 spirituals in existence. Their organizing concept is not the melody of Europe, but the rhythm of Africa. They were composed by slaves, bards whose names we will never know, and yet gave ris
Aug 9, 2018 • 51:32
[Unedited] Joe Carter with Krista Tippett
An exuberant experience of conversation and singing. There are nearly 5,000 spirituals in existence. Their organizing concept is not the melody of Europe, but the rhythm of Africa. They were composed by slaves, bards whose names we will never know, and yet gave rise to gospel, jazz, blues, and hip-hop. Joe Carter lived and breathed the universal appeal and hidden stories, meanings, and hope in what were originally called “sorrow songs.” This was one of our first weekly shows, and it’s still one
Aug 9, 2018 • 2:19:51
Living the Questions with Krista Tippett — #4
How can we embrace vulnerability in ourselves and in our culture?Krista reflects on how vulnerability can bring us closer to ourselves and each other. The fourth installment of “Living the Questions” this summer. We’ll be back to answer more of your questions in the fall.
Aug 6, 2018 • 8:49
[Unedited] Alain de Botton with Krista Tippett
What if the first question we asked on a date were, “How are you crazy? I’m crazy like this”? Philosopher and writer Alain de Botton’s essay “Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person” was one of the most-read articles in The New York Times in recent years. As people and as a culture, he says, we would be much saner and happier if we reexamined our very view of love. Nowhere do we realistically teach ourselves and our children how love deepens and stumbles, survives and evolves over time, and how that
Aug 2, 2018 • 0:01
Alain de Botton — The True Hard Work of Love and Relationships
The philosopher and creator of The School of Life. The question we should ask on an early date is, “How are you crazy? I’m crazy like this…” The real work of love that is in the stumbling and evolving, skill and surviving — not in the falling. The joy of flirting. What if the first question we asked on a date were, “How are you crazy? I’m crazy like this”? Philosopher and writer Alain de Botton’s essay “Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person” was one of the most-read articles in The New York Times
Aug 2, 2018 • 0:00
Living the Questions with Krista Tippett — #3
“If my kids ever said ‘I’m bored,’ I would say, ‘That is great. I’m so glad to hear that. Maybe you’re gonna get creative right now.’”On mental downtime as a place of rest and refuge.Living the Questions is an occasional On Being segment where Krista muses on questions from our listening community.
Jul 30, 2018 • 8:59
Cory Booker — Civic Spiritual Evolution
The U.S. Senator. From merely tolerating each other to manifesting love. “Hope confronts.” Self-care in a world “so elegantly designed to distract you.” Making your bed as a spiritual practice. “We’re all more fragile than we let on.” We don’t really reward or allow our politicians, good or bad, to be searching, or to change their minds and grow — to admit their human frailty. So it’s surprising to hear Cory Booker say that the best thing that’s happened to him is “being broken, time and time ag
Jul 26, 2018 • 51:33
[Unedited] Cory Booker with Krista Tippett
We don’t really reward or allow our politicians, good or bad, to be searching, or to change their minds and grow — to admit their human frailty. So it’s surprising to hear Cory Booker say that the best thing that’s happened to him is “being broken, time and time again.” He’s taken flack for talking about politics as “manifesting love.” He speaks with Krista about the inadequacy of tolerance, strengthening the “muscle” of hope, and making your bed as a spiritual practice. This interview is edited
Jul 26, 2018 • 1:27:35
Living the Questions with Krista Tippett — #2
How can we help young people feel like they have a voice in the world?Krista reflects on the voice and agency of young people and the importance of fostering intergenerational relationships. The second installment of “Living the Questions” — a new feature of the On Being podcast where Krista responds to questions from you.
Jul 23, 2018 • 10:44
Living the Questions with Krista Tippett — #1
How can we stay present to what’s happening in the world without giving in to despair and hopelessness?Good conversation is an adventure. A few weeks ago, Krista asked on social media for the questions you’ve been asking in your own lives. Your responses were beautiful and delved into so many facets of life — from boredom and vulnerability to compassionate conversation. Here, she responds to what’s on your mind. The first installment of “Living the Questions,” a new feature of the On Being podca
Jul 16, 2018 • 9:37
Luis Alberto Urrea — What Borders Are Really About, and What We Do With Them
A border as liminal space, an imposed metaphor on the family, a place of crossing, a place of pressure. “There is no them. There is only us.” The fullness of what it is to be Mexican (and American). Evolving into enjoying each other more. The wonderful writer Luis Alberto Urrea says that a deep truth of our time is that “we miss each other.” We have this drive to erect barriers between ourselves and yet this makes us a little crazy. He is singularly wise about the deep meaning and the problem of
Jul 12, 2018 • 0:00
[Unedited] Luis Alberto Urrea with Krista Tippett
The wonderful writer Luis Alberto Urrea says that a deep truth of our time is that “we miss each other.” We have this drive to erect barriers between ourselves and yet this makes us a little crazy. He is singularly wise about the deep meaning and the problem of borders. The Mexican-American border, as he likes to say, ran straight through his parents’ Mexican-American marriage and divorce. His works of fiction and non-fiction confuse every dehumanizing caricature of Mexicans — and of U.S. border
Jul 12, 2018 • 0:01
Yo-Yo Ma — Music Happens Between the Notes
The great cellist shares his philosophy of living. Turning fear into joy. Performance as hospitality and communal witnessing. Beauty as a transfer of life. Sound as visual. How music makes us better. And being a firm believer in accidental meetings. Yo-Yo Ma is a citizen artist and a forensic musicologist, decoding the work of musical creators across time and space. In his art, Yo-Yo Ma resists fixed boundaries, and would like to rename classical music just “music” — born in improvisation, and t
Jul 5, 2018 • 51:32
[Unedited] Yo-Yo Ma with Krista Tippett
The great cellist Yo-Yo Ma is a citizen artist and a forensic musicologist, decoding the work of musical creators across time and space. In his art, Yo-Yo Ma resists fixed boundaries, and would like to rename classical music just “music” — born in improvisation, and traversing territory as vast and fluid as the world we inhabit. In this generous and intimate conversation, he shares his philosophy of curiosity about life, and of performance as hospitality. This interview is edited and produced wi
Jul 5, 2018 • 1:39:12
[Unedited] Lyndsey Stonebridge with Krista Tippett
Nothing is helping us more right now, as we watch human tragedies unfold on the U.S.-Mexican border and elsewhere, than a conversation Krista had last year with literary historian Lyndsey Stonebridge — on thinking and friendship in dark times. She applies the moral clarity of the 20th-century philosopher Hannah Arendt to now — an invitation to dwell on the human essence of events we analyze as political and economic. Our dramas of exile and displacement are existential, she says — about who we w
Jun 21, 2018 • 1:31:29
The Moral World in Dark Times: Hannah Arendt for Now — Lyndsey Stonebridge
Nothing is helping us more right now, as we watch human tragedies unfold on the U.S.-Mexican border and elsewhere, than a conversation Krista had last year with literary historian Lyndsey Stonebridge — on thinking and friendship in dark times. She applies the moral clarity of the 20th-century philosopher Hannah Arendt to now — an invitation to dwell on the human essence of events we analyze as political and economic. Our dramas of exile and displacement are existential, she says — about who we w
Jun 21, 2018 • 51:33
Frank Wilczek — Why Is the World So Beautiful?
Nobel physicist Frank Wilczek sees beauty as a compass for truth, discovery, and meaning. His book “A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature’s Deep Design” is a long meditation on the question: “Does the world embody beautiful ideas?” He’s the unusual scientist willing to analogize his discoveries about the deep structure of reality with deep meaning in the human everyday. Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.
Jun 14, 2018 • 0:00
[Unedited] Frank Wilczek with Krista Tippett
Nobel physicist Frank Wilczek sees beauty as a compass for truth, discovery, and meaning. His book “A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature’s Deep Design” is a long meditation on the question: “Does the world embody beautiful ideas?” He’s the unusual scientist willing to analogize his discoveries about the deep structure of reality with deep meaning in the human everyday. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Frank Wilczek — Why Is the World So
Jun 14, 2018 • 0:01
[Unedited] America Ferrera and John Paul Lederach with Krista Tippett
“Our discomfort and our grappling is not a sign of failure,” America Ferrera says, “it’s a sign that we’re living at the edge of our imaginations.” She is a culture-shifting artist. John Paul Lederach is one of our greatest living architects of social transformation. From the inaugural On Being Gathering, a revelatory, joyous exploration of the ingredients of social courage — and how change really happens in generational time. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features i
Jun 7, 2018 • 1:36:11
America Ferrera and John Paul Lederach — How Change Happens, In Generational Time
“Our discomfort and our grappling is not a sign of failure,” America Ferrera says, “it’s a sign that we’re living at the edge of our imaginations.” She is a culture-shifting artist. John Paul Lederach is one of our greatest living architects of social transformation. From the inaugural On Being Gathering, a revelatory, joyous exploration of the ingredients of social courage — and how change really happens in generational time.
Jun 7, 2018 • 52:07
[Unedited] Maria Shriver with Krista Tippett
Maria Shriver’s life is often summarized in fairy tale terms. A child of the Kennedy clan in the Camelot aura of the early 1960s. Daughter of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who founded the Special Olympics, and Sargent Shriver, who founded the Peace Corps. An esteemed broadcast journalist. First lady of California. This hour, she opens up about having a personal history that is also public history — and how deceptive the appearance of glamour can be. We experience the legendary toughness of the women i
May 31, 2018 • 1:17:56
Maria Shriver — Finding My “I Am”
Maria Shriver’s life is often summarized in fairy tale terms. A child of the Kennedy clan in the Camelot aura of the early 1960s. Daughter of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who founded the Special Olympics, and Sargent Shriver, who helped found the Peace Corps. An esteemed broadcast journalist. First lady of California. This hour, she opens up about having a personal history that is also public history — and how deceptive the appearance of glamour can be. We experience the legendary toughness of the wo
May 31, 2018 • 52:06
[Unedited] Elizabeth Gilbert with Krista Tippett
Her name is synonymous with her fantastically best-selling memoir “Eat Pray Love.” But through the disorienting process of becoming a celebrity, Elizabeth Gilbert has also reflected deeply on the gift and challenge of inhabiting a creative life. Creativity, as she defines it, is about choosing curiosity over fear — not to be confused with the more familiar trope to “follow your passion,” but rather as something accessible to us all and good for our life together. This interview is edited and pro
May 24, 2018 • 1:36:52
Elizabeth Gilbert — Choosing Curiosity Over Fear
Her name is synonymous with her fantastically best-selling memoir “Eat Pray Love.” But through the disorienting process of becoming a celebrity, Elizabeth Gilbert has also reflected deeply on the gift and challenge of inhabiting a creative life. Creativity, as she defines it, is about choosing curiosity over fear — not to be confused with the more familiar trope to “follow your passion,” but rather as something accessible to us all and good for our life together.
May 24, 2018 • 52:06
How Friendship and Quiet Conversations Transformed a White Nationalist
Derek Black grew up the heir apparent of a prominent white nationalist family. David Duke was his godfather. When Derek was 11, he designed the kids’ page for what is known as the first major internet hate site, created by his father. But after his ideology was outed in college, one of the only Orthodox Jews on campus — Matthew Stevenson — invited Derek to his weekly Shabbat dinners. What happened over the next two years, as the two of them became friends, is a roadmap for navigating some of the
May 17, 2018 • 52:14
[Unedited] Derek Black and Matthew Stevenson with Krista Tippett
Derek Black grew up the heir apparent of a prominent white nationalist family. David Duke was his godfather. When Derek was 11, he designed the kids’ page for what is known as the first major internet hate site, created by his father. But after his ideology was outed in college, one of the only Orthodox Jews on campus — Matthew Stevenson — invited Derek to his weekly Shabbat dinners. What happened over the next two years, as the two of them became friends, is a roadmap for navigating some of the
May 17, 2018 • 1:04:02
[Unedited] john a. powell with Krista Tippett
“Race is a little bit like gravity,” john powell says: experienced by all, understood by few. He is a refreshing, redemptive thinker who counsels all kinds of people and projects on the front lines of our present racial longings. Race is relational, he reminds us. It’s as much about whiteness as about color. He takes new learnings from the science of the brain as forms of everyday power. “We don’t have to imagine doing things one at a time,” he says. “It’s not, ‘how do we get there?’ It’s, ‘how
May 10, 2018 • 1:29:14
john a. powell — Opening to the Question of Belonging
“Race is a little bit like gravity,” john powell says: experienced by all, understood by few. He is a refreshing, redemptive thinker who counsels all kinds of people and projects on the front lines of our present racial longings. Race is relational, he reminds us. It’s as much about whiteness as about color. He takes new learnings from the science of the brain as forms of everyday power. “We don’t have to imagine doing things one at a time,” he says. “It’s not, ‘how do we get there?’ It’s, ‘how
May 10, 2018 • 52:14
Introducing The On Being Project
What does it mean to be human? How do we want to live? Who will we be to each other? These questions have been at the heart of On Being from the start — as it grew from a radio project into a thriving public space for delving into the big questions of our lives together. As we begin a new chapter, the leadership team — CEO and founder Krista Tippett, executive producer Lily Percy, COO Erinn Farrell, and the executive director of the new Impact Lab, Casper ter Kuile — sits down to update you on w
May 7, 2018 • 30:46
[Unedited] Michael Longley with Krista Tippett
To reassert the liveliness of ordinary things, precisely in the face of what is hardest and most broken in life and society — this has been Michael Longley’s gift to Northern Ireland as one of its foremost living poets. He is a voice for all of us now, wise and winsome about the force of words in a society that has moved away from sectarianism in living memory. The Good Friday Agreement was signed 20 years ago this month, and social healing is ongoing work to this day. This interview is edited a
Apr 12, 2018 • 0:01
The Vitality of Ordinary Things
To reassert the liveliness of ordinary things, precisely in the face of what is hardest and most broken in life and society — this has been Michael Longley’s gift to Northern Ireland as one of its foremost living poets. He is a voice for all of us now, wise and winsome about the force of words in a society that has moved away from sectarianism in living memory. The Good Friday Agreement was signed 20 years ago this month, and social healing is ongoing work to this day.
Apr 12, 2018 • 0:00
This Is Your Brain on Sex
Anthropologist Helen Fisher explores the biological workings of our intimate passions, the brew of chemicals, hormones, and neurotransmitters that make the thrilling and sometimes treacherous realms of love and sex. In the research she does for match.com and her TED Talks that have been viewed by millions of people, she wields science as an entertaining, if sobering, lens on what feel like the most meaningful encounters of our lives. In this deeply personal conversation, she shows how it is poss
Apr 5, 2018 • 51:50
[Unedited] Helen Fisher with Krista Tippett
Anthropologist Helen Fisher explores the biological workings of our intimate passions, the brew of chemicals, hormones, and neurotransmitters that make the thrilling and sometimes treacherous realms of love and sex. In the research she does for match.com and her TED Talks that have been viewed by millions of people, she wields science as an entertaining, if sobering, lens on what feel like the most meaningful encounters of our lives. In this deeply personal conversation, she shows how it is poss
Apr 5, 2018 • 1:29:06
[Unedited] Maria Popova and Natalie Batalha with Krista Tippett
A literary thinker with a “telescopic view of time”; an astrophysicist with an eye to “cultural evolution towards good.” What unfolds between these two is joyous, dynamic, and unexpectedly vulnerable — rich with cosmic imagining, civic pondering, and even some fresh definitions of the soul. A live taping from the inaugural On Being Gathering at the 1440 Multiversity in California. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Maria Popova and Natali
Mar 29, 2018 • 1:06:46
Maria Popova and Natalie Batalha — Cosmic Imagining, Civic Pondering
A literary thinker with a “telescopic view of time”; an astrophysicist with an eye to “cultural evolution towards good.” What unfolds between these two is joyous, dynamic, and unexpectedly vulnerable — rich with cosmic imagining, civic pondering, and even some fresh definitions of the soul. A live taping from the inaugural On Being Gathering at the 1440 Multiversity in California.
Mar 29, 2018 • 51:51
[Unedited] Anita Barrows with Krista Tippett
We’re fluent in the languages of psychology and medication, but the word “depression” does not do justice to this human experience. Depression is also spiritual territory. It is a shadow side of human vitality and as such teaches us about vitality. Is depression possible for the same reason that love is possible? This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “The Soul in Depression.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Mar 22, 2018 • 0:01
The Soul in Depression
We’re fluent in the languages of psychology and medication, but the word “depression” does not do justice to this human experience. Depression is also spiritual territory. It is a shadow side of human vitality and as such teaches us about vitality. And what if depression is possible for the same reason that love is possible?
Mar 22, 2018 • 0:00
[Unedited] Parker Palmer with Krista Tippett
We’re fluent in the languages of psychology and medication, but the word “depression” does not do justice to this human experience. Depression is also spiritual territory. It is a shadow side of human vitality and as such teaches us about vitality. Is depression possible for the same reason that love is possible? This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “The Soul in Depression.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Mar 22, 2018 • 55:02
[Unedited] Andrew Solomon with Krista Tippett
We’re fluent in the languages of psychology and medication, but the word “depression” does not do justice to this human experience. Depression is also spiritual territory. It is a shadow side of human vitality and as such teaches us about vitality. Is depression possible for the same reason that love is possible? This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “The Soul in Depression.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Mar 22, 2018 • 0:00
[Unedited] Naomi Shihab Nye with Krista Tippett
“When you’re in a very quiet place, when you’re remembering, when you’re savoring an image, when you’re allowing your mind calmly to leap from one thought to another, that’s a poem.” Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem “Kindness” has traveled around the world. She grew up between Ferguson, Missouri, Ramallah, and Jerusalem. She insists that language must be a way out of cycles of animosity. She’d have us notice “petite discoveries” that embolden us to choose human nourishment over division. “Before you know
Mar 15, 2018 • 0:01
Naomi Shihab Nye — Your Life Is a Poem
“When you’re in a very quiet place, when you’re remembering, when you’re savoring an image, when you’re allowing your mind calmly to leap from one thought to another, that’s a poem.” Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem “Kindness” has traveled around the world. She grew up between Ferguson, Missouri, Ramallah, and Jerusalem. She insists that language must be a way out of cycles of animosity. She’d have us notice “petite discoveries” that embolden us to choose human nourishment over division. “Before you know
Mar 15, 2018 • 51:55
Nathalie Joachim — Song of Haiti’s Women
Flutist and vocalist Nathalie Joachim is a magnetic voice of one of the unexpected aspects of our globalized world — new generations reclaiming and falling in love anew with the places their parents left. In an odyssey through songs of women, Nathalie Joachim is immersing in Haiti’s ecological and political traumas, as well as its beauty and its promise. She is co-founder of the urban art pop duo Flutronix and is based in Brooklyn.
Mar 8, 2018 • 52:15
[Unedited] Nathalie Joachim with Krista Tippett
Flutist and vocalist Nathalie Joachim is a magnetic voice of one of the unexpected aspects of our globalized world — new generations reclaiming and falling in love anew with the places their parents left. In an odyssey through the songs of women, Nathalie Joachim is immersing in Haiti’s ecological and political traumas, as well as its beauty and its promise. She is co-founder of the urban art pop duo Flutronix and is based in Brooklyn. This interview is edited and produced with music and other f
Mar 8, 2018 • 1:44:10
[Unedited] Stephen Batchelor with Krista Tippett 2018
Stephen Batchelor’s secular Buddhism speaks to the mystery and vitality of spiritual life in every form. For him, secularism opens to doubt and questioning as a radical basis for spiritual life. Above all, he understands Buddhism without transcendent beliefs like karma or reincarnation to become something urgent to do, not to believe in. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Stephen Batchelor — Wondrous Doubt.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Mar 1, 2018 • 1:24:25
Stephen Batchelor — Wondrous Doubt
Stephen Batchelor’s secular Buddhism speaks to the mystery and vitality of spiritual life in every form. For him, secularism opens to doubt and questioning as a radical basis for spiritual life. Above all, he understands Buddhism without transcendent beliefs like karma or reincarnation to become something urgent to do, not to believe in.
Mar 1, 2018 • 52:14
[Unedited] Sylvia Earle with Krista Tippett
Oceanographer Sylvia Earle was the first person to walk solo on the bottom of the sea, under a quarter mile of water. She has watched humanity’s enduring fascination with “outer space” while she has delighted in “inner space” — the alien and increasingly endangered worlds beneath earth’s waters. These frontiers, as Sylvia Earle points out, are our very life-support system. She takes us inside the knowledge she’s gathered from a lifetime of research and literally swimming with sharks. This interv
Feb 22, 2018 • 1:25:28
Sylvia Earle — Her Deepness
Oceanographer Sylvia Earle was the first person to walk solo on the bottom of the sea, under a quarter mile of water. She has watched humanity’s enduring fascination with “outer space” while she has delighted in “inner space” — the alien and increasingly endangered worlds beneath earth’s waters. These frontiers, as Sylvia Earle points out, are our very life-support system. She takes us inside the knowledge she’s gathered from a lifetime of research and literally swimming with sharks.
Feb 22, 2018 • 52:04
Rubén Blades, Ashley C. Ford, David Greene, et al. — This Movie Changed Me
Movies delight and inspire and repel. They’re places the big questions we take up at On Being land in the heart of our lives. They change our lives and our life together. Get out the popcorn for this show, and immerse yourself in film scores and iconic movie moments — with David Greene on how “Star Wars” changed him, Ashley C. Ford on “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” Rubén Blades on the 1943 noir Western “The Ox-Bow Incident,” and more.
Feb 14, 2018 • 52:03
Sarah Bassin and Abdullah Antepli — Holy Envy
The tensions of our time are well-known. But there are stories that are not being told, because they are not violent and not shouting to be heard. One of them is that all over this country, synagogues and mosques, Muslims and Jews, have been coming to know one another. There is friendship. There are initiatives that are patiently, and at human scale, planting the seeds for new realities across generational time. As part of the Civil Conversations Project, a live conversation at the Union for Ref
Feb 1, 2018 • 52:04
[Unedited] Sarah Bassin and Abdullah Antepli with Krista Tippett
The tensions of our time are well-known. But there are stories that are not being told, because they are not violent and not shouting to be heard. One of them is that all over this country, synagogues and mosques, Muslims and Jews, have been coming to know one another. There is friendship. There are initiatives that are patiently, and at human scale, planting the seeds for new realities across generational time. As part of the Civil Conversations Project, a live conversation at the Union for Ref
Feb 1, 2018 • 1:28:33
[Unedited] Mary Karr with Krista Tippett
“A dysfunctional family is any family with more than one person in it.” Mary Karr has a captivating ability to give voice to what is funny in life’s most heartbreaking moments. She is beloved for her salty memoirs in which she traces her harrowing childhood in southeast Texas — with a mother who once tried to kill her with a butcher’s knife and her own adult struggles with alcoholism and breakdown. Mary Karr embodies this wryness and wildness in her lesser-known spiritual practice as a devout Ca
Jan 25, 2018 • 1:13:12
Mary Karr — Astonished by the Human Comedy
“A dysfunctional family is any family with more than one person in it.” Mary Karr has a captivating ability to give voice to what is funny in life’s most heartbreaking moments. She is beloved for her salty memoirs in which she traces her harrowing childhood in southeast Texas — with a mother who once tried to kill her with a butcher’s knife and her own adult struggles with alcoholism and breakdown. Mary Karr embodies this wryness and wildness in her lesser-known spiritual practice as a devout Ca
Jan 25, 2018 • 52:09
[Unedited] Kevin Kelly with Krista Tippett
“It’s very likely that the universe is really a kind of a question, rather than the answer to anything,” says philosopher technologist Kevin Kelly. He was the founding editor of WIRED and is an original thinker on shaping the character and spiritual meaning of technology. He says our role as good askers of questions will remain the most important contribution of our species in a coming world of AI. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Kevin
Jan 18, 2018 • 1:31:50
Kevin Kelly — The Universe Is a Question
“It’s very likely that the universe is really a kind of a question, rather than the answer to anything,” says philosopher technologist Kevin Kelly. He was the founding editor of WIRED and is an original thinker on shaping the character and spiritual meaning of technology. He says our role as good askers of questions will remain the most important contribution of our species in a coming world of AI.
Jan 18, 2018 • 52:10
Isabel Wilkerson — The Heart Is the Last Frontier
Go to the doctor and they won’t begin to treat you without taking your history — and not just yours, but that of your parents and grandparents before you. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson points this out as she reflects on her epic work of narrative non-fiction, The Warmth of Other Suns. She’s immersed herself in the stories of the Great Migration, the diaspora of six million African Americans to the north of the U.S. in the 20th century. It’s a carrier of untold histories and
Jan 11, 2018 • 52:11
Christian Wiman — How Does One Remember God?
The poet Christian Wiman is giving voice to the hunger and challenge of being religious now. He had a charismatic Texas Christian upbringing, and was later agnostic. He became actively religious again as he found love in his mid 30s, and was diagnosed with cancer. He’s written, “How does one remember God, reach for God, realize God in the midst of one’s life if one is constantly being overwhelmed by that life?”
Jan 4, 2018 • 52:09
[Unedited] Christian Wiman with Krista Tippett
The poet Christian Wiman is giving voice to the hunger and challenge of being religious now. He had a charismatic Texas Christian upbringing, and was later agnostic. He became actively religious again as he found love in his mid 30s, and was diagnosed with cancer. He’s written, “How does one remember God, reach for God, realize God in the midst of one’s life if one is constantly being overwhelmed by that life?” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being e
Jan 4, 2018 • 1:31:30
Claire Danes, Ellen Burstyn, Tracy K. Smith, et al. — Stories About Mystery
We often find ourselves talking to poets and writers about the vivid connections between art and faith. This special hour came out of a live collaboration between On Being and Selected Shorts at Symphony Space in New York. Claire Danes, Ellen Burstyn, Julie White, and U.S. poet laureate Tracy K. Smith joined us with stories and poems about meaning and mystery.
Dec 28, 2017 • 51:51
[Unedited] Adam Gopnik with Krista Tippett
The wise and lyrical writer Adam Gopnik muses on the ironies of spiritual life in a secular age through the lens of his many fascinations — from parenting, to the arts, to Darwin. He touches on all these things in a conversation inspired by his foreword to “The Good Book,” in which novelists, essayists, and activists who are not known as religious thinkers write about their favorite biblical passages. Our ancestors acknowledged doubt while practicing faith, he says; we moderns are drawn to faith
Dec 7, 2017 • 1:38:00
Adam Gopnik — Practicing Doubt, Redrawing Faith
The wise and lyrical writer Adam Gopnik muses on the ironies of spiritual life in a secular age through the lens of his many fascinations — from parenting, to the arts, to Darwin. He touches on all these things in a conversation inspired by his foreword to “The Good Book,” in which novelists, essayists, and activists who are not known as religious thinkers write about their favorite biblical passages. Our ancestors acknowledged doubt while practicing faith, he says; we moderns are drawn to faith
Dec 7, 2017 • 51:52
[Unedited] Anand Giridharadas and Whitney Kimball Coe with Krista Tippett
No challenge before us is more important — and more potentially life-giving — than that we come to see and know our fellow citizens, our neighbors, who have become strangers. Journalist Anand Giridharadas and Whitney Kimball Coe of the Rural Assembly have two very different histories and places in our life together. But they are both stitching relationship across the ruptures that have made politics thin veneers over human dramas of power and frailty, fear and hope. We spoke at the Obama Foundat
Nov 30, 2017 • 1:15:51
Anand Giridharadas and Whitney Kimball Coe — The Call to Community in a Changed World
No challenge before us is more important — and more potentially life-giving — than that we come to see and know our fellow citizens, our neighbors, who have become strangers. Journalist Anand Giridharadas and Whitney Kimball Coe of the Rural Assembly have two very different histories and places in our life together. But they are both stitching relationship across the ruptures that have made politics thin veneers over human dramas of power and frailty, fear and hope. We spoke at the Obama Foundat
Nov 30, 2017 • 52:10
[Unedited] Rachel Yehuda with Krista Tippett
The new field of epigenetics sees that genes can be turned on and off and expressed differently through changes in environment and behavior. Rachel Yehuda is a pioneer in understanding how the effects of stress and trauma can transmit biologically, beyond cataclysmic events, to the next generation. She has studied the children of Holocaust survivors and of pregnant women who survived the 9/11 attacks. But her science is a form of power for flourishing beyond the traumas large and small that mark
Nov 9, 2017 • 1:34:33
Rachel Yehuda — How Trauma and Resilience Cross Generations
The new field of epigenetics sees that genes can be turned on and off and expressed differently through changes in environment and behavior. Rachel Yehuda is a pioneer in understanding how the effects of stress and trauma can transmit biologically, beyond cataclysmic events, to the next generation. She has studied the children of Holocaust survivors and of pregnant women who survived the 9/11 attacks. But her science is a form of power for flourishing beyond the traumas large and small that mark
Nov 9, 2017 • 52:10
Ellen Langer — Science of Mindlessness and Mindfulness
Her unconventional studies have long suggested what neuroscience is now revealing: Our experiences are formed by the words and ideas we attach to them. Naming something play rather than work — or exercise rather than labor — can mean the difference between delight and drudgery, fatigue or weight loss. What makes a vacation a vacation is not only a change of scenery, but the fact that we let go of the mindless everyday illusion that we are in control. Ellen Langer says mindfulness is achievable w
Nov 2, 2017 • 52:10
[Unedited] Ellen Langer with Krista Tippett
Her unconventional studies have long suggested what neuroscience is now revealing: our experiences are formed by the words and ideas we attach to them. Naming something play rather than work — or exercise rather than labor — can mean the difference between delight and drudgery, fatigue or weight loss. What makes a vacation a vacation is not only a change of scenery, but the fact that we let go of the mindless everyday illusion that we are in control. Ellen Langer says mindfulness is achievable w
Nov 2, 2017 • 1:29:07
[Unedited] Jonathan Haidt with Krista Tippett
“When it comes to moral judgments, we think we are scientists discovering the truth, but actually we are lawyers arguing for positions we arrived at by other means.” The surprising psychology behind morality is at the heart of social psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s research. He explains “liberal” and “conservative” not narrowly or necessarily as political affiliations, but as personality types — ways of moving through the world. His self-described “conservative-hating, religion-hating, secular lib
Oct 19, 2017 • 1:50:09
Jonathan Haidt — The Psychology of Self-Righteousness
“When it comes to moral judgments, we think we are scientists discovering the truth, but actually we are lawyers arguing for positions we arrived at by other means.” The surprising psychology behind morality is at the heart of social psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s research. He explains “liberal” and “conservative” not narrowly or necessarily as political affiliations, but as personality types — ways of moving through the world. His self-described “conservative-hating, religion-hating, secular lib
Oct 19, 2017 • 52:09
Joan Halifax — Finding Buoyancy Amidst Despair
It’s easy to despair at all the bad news and horrific pictures that come at us daily. But Roshi Joan Halifax says this is a form of empathy that works against us. There’s such a thing as pathological altruism. This zen abbot and medical anthropologist has nourishing wisdom as we face suffering in the world.
Oct 12, 2017 • 52:11
[Unedited] Joan Halifax with Krista Tippett
It’s easy to despair at all the bad news and horrific pictures that come at us daily. But Roshi Joan Halifax say this is a form of empathy that works against us. There’s such a thing as pathological altruism. This zen abbot and medical anthropologist has nourishing wisdom as we face suffering in the world. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Joan Halifax — Buoyancy Rather Than Burnout in Our Lives.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Oct 12, 2017 • 1:31:59
Lisa Randall — Dark Matter, Dinosaurs, and Extra Dimensions
“When it comes to the world around us,” Lisa Randall has written, “is there any choice but to explore?” As one of the most influential theoretical physicists working today, she’s interested in the interconnectedness between fields that have previously operated more autonomously: astronomy, biology, and paleontology. She’s pursuing a theory that “dark matter” might have created the cosmic event that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs — and hence humanity’s rise as a species. We learn what she
Sep 28, 2017 • 52:10
[Unedited] Lisa Randall with Krista Tippett
“When it comes to the world around us,” Lisa Randall has written, “is there any choice but to explore?” As one of the most influential theoretical physicists working today, she’s interested in the interconnectedness between fields that have previously operated more autonomously: astronomy, biology, and paleontology. She’s pursuing a theory that “dark matter” might have created the cosmic event that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs — and hence humanity’s rise as a species. We learn what she
Sep 28, 2017 • 1:12:00
[Unedited] Arnold Eisen with Krista Tippett
“In a free society, some are guilty, but all are responsible.” A mystic, a 20th-century religious intellectual, a social change agent, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel marched alongside Martin Luther King, Jr., famously saying afterwards that he felt his legs were praying. Heschel’s poetic theological writings are still read and widely studied today. His faith was as much about “radical amazement” as it was about certainty. And he embodied the passionate social engagement of the prophets, drawing on
Sep 21, 2017 • 1:19:23
Arnold Eisen -- The Spiritual Audacity of Abraham Joshua Heschel
“In a free society, some are guilty, but all are responsible.” A mystic, a 20th-century religious intellectual, a social change agent, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel marched alongside Martin Luther King, Jr., famously saying afterwards that he felt his legs were praying. Heschel’s poetic theological writings are still read and widely studied today. His faith was as much about “radical amazement” as it was about certainty. And he embodied the passionate social engagement of the prophets, drawing on
Sep 21, 2017 • 51:32
Junot Díaz — Radical Hope Is Our Best Weapon
“From the bottom will the genius come that makes our ability to live with each other possible. I believe that with all my heart.” These are the words of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Dominican-American writer Junot Díaz. His hope is fiercely reality-based, a product of centuries lodged in his body of African-Caribbean suffering, survival, and genius.
Sep 14, 2017 • 51:54
[Unedited] Junot Díaz with Krista Tippett
“From the bottom will the genius come that makes our ability to live with each other possible. I believe that with all my heart.” These are the words of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Dominican-American writer Junot Díaz. His hope is fiercely reality-based, a product of centuries lodged in his body of African-Caribbean suffering, survival, and genius.
Sep 14, 2017 • 1:06:41
[Unedited] John O'Donohue with Krista Tippett
No conversation we’ve ever done has been more beloved than this one. This Irish poet, theologian, and philosopher insisted on beauty as a human calling. He had a very Celtic, lifelong fascination with the inner landscape of our lives and with what he called “the invisible world” that is constantly intertwining what we can know and see. This was one of the last interviews he gave before his unexpected death in 2008. But John O’Donohue’s voice and writings continue to bring ancient mystical wisdom
Aug 31, 2017 • 0:01
John O'Donohue — The Inner Landscape of Beauty
No conversation we’ve ever done has been more beloved than this one. This Irish poet, theologian, and philosopher insisted on beauty as a human calling. He had a very Celtic, lifelong fascination with the inner landscape of our lives and with what he called “the invisible world” that is constantly intertwining what we can know and see. This was one of the last interviews he gave before his unexpected death in 2008. But John O’Donohue’s voice and writings continue to bring ancient mystical wisdom
Aug 31, 2017 • 0:00
[Unedited] Nikki Giovanni with Krista Tippett
In the 1960s, Nikki Giovanni was a revolutionary poet of the Black Arts Movement that nourished civil rights. She had a famous dialogue with James Baldwin in Paris in 1971. As a professor at Virginia Tech, she brought beauty and courage by the way of poetry after the shooting there. Today, she is a self-proclaimed space freak and a delighted elder — an adored voice to hip-hop artists and the new forms of social change this generation is creating. This interview is edited and produced with music
Aug 24, 2017 • 0:01
Nikki Giovanni — Soul Food, Sex, and Space
In the 1960s, Nikki Giovanni was a revolutionary poet of the Black Arts Movement that nourished civil rights. She had a famous dialogue with James Baldwin in Paris in 1971. As a professor at Virginia Tech, she brought beauty and courage by the way of poetry after the shooting there. Today, she is a self-proclaimed space freak and a delighted elder — an adored voice to hip-hop artists and the new forms of social change this generation is creating.
Aug 24, 2017 • 0:00
[Unedited] Mary Catherine Bateson with Krista Tippett
Life as an improvisational art, at every age. This idea animates the wise linguist and anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson, whose book “Composing a Life” has touched many. Since her childhood as the daughter of the iconic anthropologists Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, she’s had an ability to move through the world as both an original observer and a joyful participant. Now in her 70s, she’s pondering — and living — what she calls the age of “active wisdom.” She sees longer life spans creati
Aug 3, 2017 • 0:01
Mary Catherine Bateson — Composing a Life
Life as an improvisational art, at every age. This idea animates the wise linguist and anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson, whose book “Composing a Life” has touched many. Since her childhood as the daughter of the iconic anthropologists Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, she’s had an ability to move through the world as both an original observer and a joyful participant. Now in her 70s, she’s pondering — and living — what she calls the age of “active wisdom.” She sees longer life spans creati
Aug 3, 2017 • 0:00
[Unedited] danah boyd with Krista Tippett
Steeped in cutting edge research around the social lives of networked teens, danah boyd demystifies technology while being wise about the changes it’s making to life and relationship. She has intriguing advice on the technologically-fueled generation gaps of our age — that our children’s immersion in social media may offer a kind of respite from their over-structured, overscheduled analog lives. And that cyber-bullying is an online reflection of the offline world, and blaming technology is missi
Jul 27, 2017 • 1:25:25
danah boyd — The Internet of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Steeped in cutting edge research around the social lives of networked teens, danah boyd demystifies technology while being wise about the changes it’s making to life and relationship. She has intriguing advice on the technologically-fueled generation gaps of our age — that our children’s immersion in social media may offer a kind of respite from their over-structured, overscheduled analog lives. And that cyber-bullying is an online reflection of the offline world, and blaming technology is missi
Jul 27, 2017 • 52:05
[Unedited] Matthieu Ricard with Krista Tippett
A French-born Tibetan Buddhist monk and a central figure in the Dalai Lama’s dialogue with scientists, Matthieu Ricard was dubbed “The Happiest Man in the World” after his brain was imaged. But he resists this label. In his writing and in his life, he explores happiness not as a pleasurable feeling but as a way of being that gives you the resources to deal with the ups and downs of life and that encompasses many emotional states, including sadness. We take in Matthieu Ricard’s practical teaching
Jul 20, 2017 • 1:32:41
Matthieu Ricard — Happiness As Human Flourishing
A French-born Tibetan Buddhist monk and a central figure in the Dalai Lama’s dialogue with scientists, Matthieu Ricard was dubbed “The Happiest Man in the World” after his brain was imaged. But he resists this label. In his writing and in his life, he explores happiness not as a pleasurable feeling but as a way of being that gives you the resources to deal with the ups and downs of life and that encompasses many emotional states, including sadness. We take in Matthieu Ricard’s practical teaching
Jul 20, 2017 • 52:24
Billy Mills, Christina Torres, Ashley Hicks, et al. — Running as Spiritual Practice
We explore a topic our listeners have called out as a passionate force and a connector across all kinds of boundaries in American culture: running. Not just as exercise, or as a merely physical pursuit, but running as a source of bonding between parents and children and friends; running as an interplay between competition and contemplation; running and body image and survival and healing.
Jul 6, 2017 • 52:23
[Unedited] Martin Sheen with Krista Tippett
The renowned actor as you’ve never heard him before. He has appeared in over 100 films, including Apocalypse Now. He’s best known on television as President Bartlet in “The West Wing.” But Martin Sheen, born and still legally named Ramón Estévez, has had another lesser-known life as a spiritual seeker and activist. He returned to a deep and joyful Catholic faith after a crisis at the height of his fame in mid-life. He’s been arrested over 60 times in vigils and protests. “Piety is something you
Jun 22, 2017 • 1:33:33
Martin Sheen — Spirituality of Imagination
The renowned actor as you’ve never heard him before. He has appeared in over 100 films, including Apocalypse Now. He’s best known on television as President Bartlet in The West Wing. But Martin Sheen, born and still legally named Ramón Estévez, has had another lesser-known life as a spiritual seeker and activist. He returned to a deep and joyful Catholic faith after a crisis at the height of his fame in mid-life. He’s been arrested over 60 times in vigils and protests. “Piety is something you do
Jun 22, 2017 • 52:01
Enrique Martínez Celaya — The Whisper of the Order of Things
A philosopher’s questioning and a scientist’s eye shape Enrique Martínez Celaya’s original approach to art and to life. A world-renowned painter who trained as a physicist, he’s fascinated by the deeper order that “whispers” beneath the surface of things. Works of art that endure, he says, possess their own form of consciousness. And a quiet life of purpose is a particular form of prophecy.
Jun 15, 2017 • 52:00
[Unedited] Enrique Martínez Celaya with Krista Tippett
A philosopher’s questioning and a scientist’s eye shape Enrique Martínez Celaya’s original approach to art and to life. A world-renowned painter who trained as a physicist, he’s fascinated by the deeper order that “whispers” beneath the surface of things. Works of art that endure, he says, possess their own form of consciousness. And a quiet life of purpose is a particular form of prophecy. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Enrique Martí
Jun 15, 2017 • 1:28:30
Hari Kondabolu, Lindy West, et al. — Humor as a Tool for Survival
Humor lifts us up but it also underscores what’s already great; it connects us with others and also brings us home to ourselves. And like everything meaningful, it’s complex and nuanced — it can be fortifying or damaging, depending on how we wield it. But as a tool for survival, humor is elemental. We explore this idea with a rabbi who started out in drag, comedians, an NPR host, writers of sci-fi/fantasy, social commentary, and the TV show Veep.
Jun 8, 2017 • 51:49
[Unedited] Brian Greene with Krista Tippett
A thrilling, mind-bending view of the cosmos and of the human adventure of modern science. In a conversation ranging from free will to the multiverse to the meaning of the Higgs boson particle, physicist Brian Greene suggests the deepest scientific realities are hidden from human senses and often defy our best intuition. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Brian Greene — Reimagining the Cosmos.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Jun 1, 2017 • 1:24:41
Brian Greene — Reimagining the Cosmos
A thrilling, mind-bending view of the cosmos and of the human adventure of modern science. In a conversation ranging from free will to the multiverse to the meaning of the Higgs boson particle, physicist Brian Greene suggests the deepest scientific realities are hidden from human senses and often defy our best intuition.
Jun 1, 2017 • 51:48
[Unedited] Patrisse Cullors and Robert Ross with Krista Tippett
Black Lives Matter co-founder and artist Patrisse Cullors presents a luminous vision of the spiritual core of Black Lives Matter and a resilient world in the making. She joins Dr. Robert Ross, a physician and philanthropist on the cutting edge of learning how trauma can be healed in bodies and communities, on the evolving nature of social change. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Patrisse Cullors and Robert Ross — The Spiritual Work of B
May 25, 2017 • 1:40:37
Patrisse Cullors and Robert Ross — The Spiritual Work of Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter co-founder and artist Patrisse Cullors presents a luminous vision of the spiritual core of Black Lives Matter and a resilient world in the making. She joins Dr. Robert Ross, a physician and philanthropist on the cutting edge of learning how trauma can be healed in bodies and communities. A cross-generational reflection on evolving social change.
May 25, 2017 • 51:49
[Unedited] Glenn Beck with Krista Tippett
If we’re going to create the world we want our children to inhabit, we’re going to have to find ways to hold more complexity peaceably, and probably uncomfortably, just to soften what is possible between us. We need to be ready to let others surprise us, offer forgiveness, and ask hard questions of our own part in this moment. This doesn’t happen often in politics. But it is essential in life, and it must be part of common life, too. As part of our ongoing Civil Conversations Project, Krista dra
May 11, 2017 • 1:34:40
Glenn Beck — What You Do Will Be a Pivot Point
We need to be ready to let others surprise us, offer forgiveness, and ask hard questions of our own part in this moment. This doesn’t happen often in politics. But it is essential in life, and it must be part of common life, too. If we’re going to create the world we want our children to inhabit, we’re going to have to find ways to hold more complexity peaceably, and probably uncomfortably, just to soften what is possible between us. As part of our ongoing Civil Conversations Project, Krista dra
May 11, 2017 • 51:48
Marie Howe — The Power of Words to Save Us
The moral life, Marie Howe says, is lived out in what we say as much as what we do. She became known for her poetry collection “What the Living Do,” about her brother’s death at 28 from AIDS. Now she has a new book, “Magdalene.” Poetry is her exuberant and open-hearted way into the words and the silences we live by. She works and plays with a Catholic upbringing, the universal drama of family, the ordinary rituals that sustain us — and how language, again and again, has a power to save us.
May 4, 2017 • 51:53
[Unedited] Marie Howe with Krista Tippett
The moral life, Marie Howe says, is lived out in what we say as much as what we do. She became known for her poetry collection “What the Living Do,” about her brother’s death at 28 from AIDS. Now she has a new book, “Magdalene.” Poetry is her exuberant and open-hearted way into the words and the silences we live by. She works and plays with a Catholic upbringing, the universal drama of family, the ordinary rituals that sustain us — and how language, again and again, has a power to save us. This
May 4, 2017 • 1:52:55
[Unedited] Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant
Sheryl Sandberg is synonymous with Facebook, and Silicon Valley success, and she’s the voice of “Lean In.” She joins us, frank and vulnerable, together with the psychologist Adam Grant. His friendship — and his research on resilience — helped her survive the shocking death of her husband while on vacation. They share what they’ve learned about planting deep resilience in ourselves and our children, and even reclaiming joy. There is so much learning here, on facing the unimaginable when it arrive
Apr 24, 2017 • 1:18:27
Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant — Resilience After Unimaginable Loss
Sheryl Sandberg is synonymous with Facebook, and Silicon Valley success, and she’s the voice of “Lean In.” She joins us, frank and vulnerable, together with the psychologist Adam Grant. His friendship — and his research on resilience — helped her survive the shocking death of her husband while on vacation. They share what they’ve learned about planting deep resilience in ourselves and our children, and even reclaiming joy. There is so much learning here, on facing the unimaginable when it arrive
Apr 24, 2017 • 51:51
Heather McGhee and Matt Kibbe — Repairing the Breach
It’s hard to imagine honest, revelatory, even enjoyable conversation between people on distant points of American life right now. But in this public conversation at the Citizen University annual conference, Matt Kibbe and Heather McGhee show us how. He’s a libertarian who helped activate the Tea Party. She’s a millennial progressive leader. They are bridge people for this moment — holding passion and conviction together with an enthusiasm for engaging difference, and carrying questions as vigoro
Apr 6, 2017 • 51:49
[Unedited] Heather McGhee and Matt Kibbe with Krista Tippett
It’s hard to imagine honest, revelatory, even enjoyable conversation between people on distant points of American life right now. But in this public conversation at the Citizen University annual conference, Matt Kibbe and Heather McGhee show us how. He’s a libertarian who helped activate the Tea Party. She’s a millennial progressive leader. They are bridge people for this moment — holding passion and conviction together with an enthusiasm for engaging difference, and carrying questions as vigoro
Apr 6, 2017 • 1:04:04
Joy Ladin — Transgender Amid Orthodoxy: I Am Who I Will Be
For as far back as Joy Ladin can remember, her body didn’t match her soul. Gender defines us from the moment we’re born. But how is that related to the lifelong work of being at home in ourselves? We explore this question through Joy Ladin’s story of transition from male to female — in an Orthodox Jewish world.
Mar 23, 2017 • 52:10
[Unedited] Margaret Wertheim with Krista Tippett
A passionate translator of the beauty and relevance of scientific questions, Margaret Wertheim is also wise about the limits of science to tell the whole story of the human self across history and culture. Her Institute for Figuring in Los Angeles reveals evocative, visceral connections between high mathematics, crochet and other folk arts, and our love for the planet. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Margaret Wertheim — The Grandeur an
Feb 16, 2017 • 1:31:22
Margaret Wertheim — The Grandeur and Limits of Science
A passionate translator of the beauty and relevance of scientific questions, Margaret Wertheim is also wise about the limits of science to tell the whole story of the human self. Her Institute for Figuring in Los Angeles reveals evocative, visceral connections between high mathematics, crochet and other folk arts, and our love for the planet.
Feb 16, 2017 • 51:46
Chuck Colson, Greg Boyd, and Shane Claiborne — How to Be a Christian Citizen: Three Evangelicals Debate
White Evangelical Christians helped secure the election of President Trump. Many said that his views on abortion were decisive, overriding concerns they had on other matters. But to be Evangelical is not one thing, even on abortion. This conversation about Christianity and politics with three generations of Evangelical leaders — Shane Claiborne, Greg Boyd, and the late Chuck Colson — feels more relevant in the wake of the 2016 election than it did when we first recorded it. We offer this searchi
Feb 2, 2017 • 51:21
[Unedited] Chuck Colson, Greg Boyd, and Shane Claiborne with Krista Tippett
This conversation about Christianity and politics with three generations of evangelical leaders — Shane Claiborne, Greg Boyd, and the late Chuck Colson – feels more relevant in the wake of the 2016 election than it did when we first taped it. White Evangelical Christians helped secure the election of President Trump. Many said that his views on abortion were decisive, overriding concerns they had on other matters. But to be Evangelical is not one thing, even on abortion. We offer this searching
Feb 2, 2017 • 1:30:48
Anil Dash — Tech's Moral Reckoning
A wildly popular blogger, tech entrepreneur, and Silicon Valley influencer, Anil Dash has been an early activist for moral imagination in the digital sphere — an aspiration which has now become an urgent task. We explore the unprecedented power, the learning curves ahead, and how we can all contribute to the humane potential of technology in this moment.
Jan 12, 2017 • 51:21
[Unedited] Anil Dash with Krista Tippett
Anil Dash is the CEO of Fog Creek Software. He also founded Makerbase, Activate, and the non-profit Expert Labs, a research initiative backed by the MacArthur Foundation and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which collaborated with the Obama White House and federal agencies. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Anil Dash — Tech’s Moral Reckoning.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Jan 12, 2017 • 1:29:37
[Unedited] Gordon Hempton with Krista Tippett
Gordon Hempton is founder and vice president of The One Square Inch of Silence Foundation, based in Joyce, Washington. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Gordon Hempton — Silence and the Presence of Everything.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Dec 29, 2016 • 0:01
Gordon Hempton — Silence and the Presence of Everything
Silence is an endangered species, says Gordon Hempton. He defines real quiet as presence — not an absence of sound, but an absence of noise. The Earth, as he knows it, is a “solar-powered jukebox.” Quiet is a “think tank of the soul.” We take in the world through his ears.
Dec 29, 2016 • 0:00
Sharon Salzberg and Robert Thurman — Meeting Our Enemies and Our Suffering
Two legendary Buddhist teachers shine a light on the lofty ideal of loving your enemies and bring it down to Earth. How can that be realistic, and what do we have to do inside ourselves to make it more possible? In a conversation filled with laughter and friendship, Sharon Salzberg and Robert Thurman share much practical wisdom on how we relate to that which makes us feel embattled from without, and from within.
Dec 15, 2016 • 51:00
[Unedited] Sharon Salzberg and Robert Thurman with Krista Tippett
Sharon Salzberg is a meditation teacher and the cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts. She is the co-author of “Love Your Enemies.” Her other books include “Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation” and “Real Happiness at Work: Meditations for Accomplishment, Achievement, and Peace.” Robert Thurman is professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University. He’s also the president of the Tibet House U.S. He is the co-author of “Love Your Enemies.” His other
Dec 15, 2016 • 1:39:12
[Unedited] Alice Parker with Krista Tippett
Alice Parker is the artistic director of the non-profit Melodious Accord and is the author of “Melodious Accord: Good Singing in Church.” She collaborated with the Robert Shaw Chorale for 20 years and has composed operas, cantatas and suites for chamber ensembles, as well as hundreds of anthems and songs. CDs of her compositions and arrangements include “My Love and I” and “Take Me to the Water.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Alice P
Dec 7, 2016 • 1:18:46
Alice Parker — Singing Is the Most Companionable of Arts
Singing is able to touch and join human beings in ways few other arts can. Alice Parker is a wise and joyful thinker and writer on this truth, and has been a hero in the universe of choral music as a composer, conductor, and teacher for most of her 90 years. She began as a young woman, studying conducting with Robert Shaw at Juilliard, and collaborated with him on arrangements of folk songs, spirituals, and hymns that are still performed around the world today.
Dec 7, 2016 • 50:59
[Unedited] James Martin with Krista Tippett
James Martin is a Jesuit priest and editor at large of America magazine. His books include “The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything,” “Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor and Laughter are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life,” and most recently “Jesus: A Pilgrimage.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “James Martin — Finding God in All Things.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Dec 1, 2016 • 1:29:51
James Martin — Finding God in All Things
Before Pope Francis, James Martin was perhaps the best-loved Jesuit in American life. He’s followed the calling of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order, to “find God in all things” — and in 21st-century forms. To delve into Fr. Martin’s way of being in the world is to discover the “spiritual exercises” St. Ignatius designed to be accessible to everyone more than six centuries ago. Also his thoughts on the “un-taming” Christmas.
Dec 1, 2016 • 51:00
Natasha Trethewey and Eboo Patel — How to Live Beyond This Election
This political season has surfaced our need to reimagine and re-weave the very meaning of common life and common good. We take a long, nourishing view of the challenge and promise of this moment with former U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey and interfaith visionary Eboo Patel. This is the second of two public conversations convened by the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis on the eve of the 2016 presidential debate on that campus.
Oct 27, 2016 • 50:59
[Unedited] Natasha Trethewey and Eboo Patel with Krista Tippett
Natasha Trethewey was the 19th U.S. Poet Laureate. Her books include “Domestic Work,” “Native Guard,” and “Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.” Eboo Patel is the founder and president of Interfaith Youth Core. His books include “Sacred Ground: Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America” and “Interfaith Leadership: A Primer.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Natasha Trethewey and Eboo Patel — How to Live Bey
Oct 27, 2016 • 1:09:06
David Brooks and E.J. Dionne — Sinfulness, Hopefulness, and the Possibility of Politics
This is a strange, tumultuous political moment. With columnists David Brooks and E.J. Dionne, we step back from the immediate political gamesmanship. We take public theology as a lens on the challenge and promise we will all be living as citizens, whoever our next president might be. This public conversation was convened by the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Graham Chapel at Washington University in St. Louis, the day before the second presidential debate on that campus.
Oct 20, 2016 • 51:00
[Unedited] David Brooks and E.J. Dionne with Krista Tippett
David Brooks is a columnist for The New York Times. His books include “The Social Animal” and “The Road to Character.” E.J. Dionne is a columnist for The Washington Post. His books include “Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith in Politics after the Religious Right” and “Why The Right Went Wrong.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Sinfulness, Hopefulness and the Possibility of Politics.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Oct 20, 2016 • 1:10:04
[Unedited] Leonard Mlodinow with Krista Tippett
Leonard Mlodinow is a physicist, and the author of several books including “The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives” and “Feynman’s Rainbow: A Search for Beauty in Physics and in Life.” He’s also written for television, including “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Leonard Mlodinow — Randomness and Choice.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Oct 6, 2016 • 1:14:20
Leonard Mlodinow — Randomness and Choice
Fundamental forces of physics somehow determine everything that happens, “from the birth of a child to the birth of a galaxy.” Yet physicist Leonard Mlodinow has an intriguing perspective on the gap between theory and reality — and the fascinating interplay between a life in science and life in the world. As the child of two Holocaust survivors, he asks questions about our capacity to create our lives, while reflecting on extreme human cruelty — and courage.
Oct 6, 2016 • 51:00
[Unedited] Alain de Botton with Krista Tippett (2012)
Alain de Botton is the founder and chairman of The School of Life. His books include “Religion for Atheists” and “How Proust Can Change Your Life.” His new book is a novel, “The Course of Love.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Alain de Botton — A School of Life for Atheists ” Find more at onbeing.org.
Sep 29, 2016 • 1:11:14
Alain de Botton — A School of Life for Atheists
Alain de Botton is a philosopher who likes the best of religion, but doesn’t believe in God. He says that the most boring question you can ask of any religion is whether it is true. But how to live, how to die, what is good, and what is bad — these are questions religion has sophisticated ways of addressing. So he’s created The School of Life — where people young and old explore ritual, community, beauty, and wisdom. He explains why these ideas shouldn’t be reserved just for believers.
Sep 29, 2016 • 51:00
Parker Palmer and Courtney Martin — The Inner Life of Rebellion
The history of rebellion is rife with excess and burnout. But new generations have a distinctive commitment to be reflective and activist at once, to be in service as much as in charge, and to learn from history while bringing very new realities into being. Quaker wise man Parker Palmer and journalist and entrepreneur Courtney Martin come together for a cross-generational conversation about the inner work of sustainable, resilient social change.
Sep 22, 2016 • 51:00
[Unedited] Parker Palmer and Courtney Martin with Krista Tippett
Parker Palmer is founder and Senior Partner of the Center for Courage and Renewal. He’s the author of bestselling books including “Let Your Life Speak,” “The Courage to Teach,” “A Hidden Wholeness,” and “Healing the Heart of Democracy.” Courtney Martin is the co-founder of the Solutions Journalism Network and a strategist for the TED Prize. She’s the author of six books including “Do It Anyway: The New Generation of Activists” and most recently, “The New Better Off.” This interview is edited and
Sep 22, 2016 • 1:10:48
Jimmy Wales — The Sum of All Human Knowledge
In the 15 years since its inception, Wikipedia has become as much a global community as a business venture — a living organism with a mission statement to make “the sum of all human knowledge available to every person in the world.” And a conversation with co-founder Jimmy Wales — one of the architects of that philosophy and the world-changing project that has grown up around it — is full of surprises. What Wikipedia is learning has resonance for our wider public life — about the imperfect but g
Sep 8, 2016 • 51:00
[Unedited] Jimmy Wales with Krista Tippett
Jimmy Wales is the co-founder and promoter of Wikipedia and chair emeritus of the Wikimedia Foundation. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Jimmy Wales — The Sum of All Human Knowledge” Find more at onbeing.org.
Sep 8, 2016 • 1:04:20
Gustavo Santaolalla — How Movie Music Moves Us
Movies, for some of us, are a form of modern church. The Argentinian composer and musician Gustavo Santaolalla creates cinematic landscapes — movie soundtracks that become soundtracks for life. He’s won back-to-back Academy Awards for his original scores for “Brokeback Mountain” and “Babel.” We experience his humanity and creative philosophy behind a kind of music that moves us like no other.
Aug 25, 2016 • 51:10
[Unedited] Gustavo Santaolalla with Krista Tippett
Gustavo Santaolalla has composed film scores for over a dozen features including “Amores Perros,” “The Motorcycle Diaries,” “Brokeback Mountain,” “Babel,” “On the Road,” and “Wild Tales.” His latest solo album is called “Camino.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Gustavo Santaolalla — How Movie Music Moves Us.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Aug 25, 2016 • 1:10:28
Paulo Coelho — The Alchemy of Pilgrimage
The Brazilian lyricist Paulo Coelho is best known for his book “The Alchemist” — which has been on the New York Times bestseller list for over 400 weeks. His fable-like stories turn life, love, writing, and reading into pilgrimage. In a rare conversation, we meet the man behind the writings and explore what he’s touched in modern people.
Aug 4, 2016 • 51:00
[Unedited] Paulo Coelho with Krista Tippett
Paulo Coelho is the author of many books including “The Pilgrimage,” “Veronika Decides to Die” and “The Alchemist.” His new book is “Adultery.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Paulo Coelho — The Alchemy of Pilgrimage.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Aug 4, 2016 • 1:02:00
[Unedited] Xavier Le Pichon with Krista Tippett
Xavier Le Pichon is Honorary Professor at Collège de France in Paris. He founded La Maison Thomas Philippe that provides retreats for families, including those struggling with mental illness. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Xavier Le Pichon — The Fragility at the Heart of Humanity.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Jul 21, 2016 • 1:23:14
Xavier Le Pichon — The Fragility at the Heart of Humanity
Xavier Le Pichon, one of the world’s leading geophysicists, helped create the field of plate tectonics. A devout Catholic and spiritual thinker, he raised his family in intentional communities centered around people with mental disabilities. He shares his rare perspective on the meaning of humanity — a perspective equally informed by his scientific and personal encounters with fragility as a fundament of vital, evolving systems. Le Pichon has come to think of caring attention to weakness as an e
Jul 21, 2016 • 51:00
[Unedited] Larry Ward with Krista Tippett
Larry Ward is co-director of the Lotus Institute in Encinitas, California and an ordained Baptist minister. He also owned a management consultant firm for Fortune 500 companies. He co-authored a book with his wife, “Love’s Garden: A Guide to Mindful Relationships.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Thich Nhat Hanh, Cheri Maples, and Larry Ward — Mindfulness, Suffering, and Engaged Buddhism.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Jul 14, 2016 • 0:00
[Unedited] Thich Nhat Hanh with Krista Tippett
Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese Zen monk, poet, and peacemaker. He co-founded the An Quang Buddhist Institute, the Van Hanh Buddhist University in Vietnam, and Plum Village, a Buddhist training monastery in France. He is the author of many books, including “Being Peace,” “The Miracle of Mindfulness: A Manual on Meditation,” “The Art of Communicating,” “Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals 1962–1966,” and “The Long Road Turns to Joy — A Guide to Walking Meditation.” This interview is edited and produce
Jul 14, 2016 • 0:00
Thich Nhat Hanh, Cheri Maples, and Larry Ward — Being Peace in a World of Trauma
The Vietnamese Zen master, whom Martin Luther King nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, is a voice of power and wisdom in this time of tumult in the world. We visited Thich Nhat Hanh at a retreat attended by police officers and other members of the criminal justice system; they offer stark gentle wisdom for finding buoyancy and “being peace” in a world of conflict, anger, and violence.
Jul 14, 2016 • 0:00
[Unedited] Cheri Maples with Krista Tippett
Cheri Maples served in the criminal justice system for 25 years, including as an Assistant Attorney General in the Wisconsin Department of Justice, and as a police officer with the City of Madison Police Department. She is a licensed attorney, a clinical social worker, and co-founder of the Center for Mindfulness and Justice in Madison, Wisconsin. She was ordained as a dharma teacher by Thich Nhat Hanh in 2008. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being e
Jul 14, 2016 • 0:00
[Unedited] Jonathan Haidt + Melvin Konner with Krista Tippett
Jonathan Haidt is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University’s Stern School of Business. His books include “The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion” and, forthcoming in 2017, “Three Stories about Capitalism: The moral psychology of economic life.” Melvin Konner is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Anthropology and of Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology at Emory University. His books include “The Tangled Wing: Biological Constrain
Jun 2, 2016 • 1:15:03
Jonathan Haidt and Melvin Konner — Capitalism and Moral Evolution: A Civil Provocation
It was supposed to be a discussion about “culture and conscience” with two social scientists, as part of a public gathering of the Center for Humans and Nature at the American Museum of Natural History. But Jonathan Haidt is studying the relationship between capitalism and moral evolution, and our conversation took off from there in surprising directions. The liberal view of capitalism as essentially exploitative may remain alive and well, Haidt says. But the ironic truth of history is that capi
Jun 2, 2016 • 50:58
Kevin Kling — The Losses and Laughter We Grow Into
Kevin Kling is part funny guy, part poet and playwright, part wise man. A treasured figure on the national storytelling circuit, his voice inhabits an unusual space — where a homegrown Minnesota wit meets Dante and Shakespeare. Born with a disabled left arm, he lost the use of his right one after a motorcycle accident nearly killed him. He shares his special angle on life’s humor and its ruptures — and why we turn loss into story.
May 19, 2016 • 0:00
[Unedited] Kevin Kling with Krista Tippett
Kevin Kling is a performer and an advisory council member of Interact. His plays include “21A” and “Lloyd’s Prayer.” His books include “The Dog Says How.” The new PBS documentary about his life and work is called “Kevin Kling: Lost and Found.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Kevin Kling — The Losses and Laughter We Grow Into.” Find more at onbeing.org.
May 19, 2016 • 1:45:07
[Unedited] David Isay with Krista Tippett
David Isay is the founder of StoryCorps and winner of the MacArthur Genius Grant and 2015 TED Prize. His new StoryCorps book is “Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work”. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “David Isay — Listening as an Act of Love. Find more at http://onbeing.org/program/david-isay-listening-as-an-act-of-love/6268
May 12, 2016 • 1:12:44
David Isay — Listening as an Act of Love
“The soul is contained in the human voice,” says David Isay, founder of StoryCorps. He sees the StoryCorps booth — a setting where two people ask the questions they’ve always wanted to ask each other — as a sacred space. He shares his wisdom about listening as an act of love, and how eliciting and capturing our stories is a way of insisting that every life matters.
May 12, 2016 • 51:00
[Unedited] Krista Tippett with Pico Iyer
Krista Tippett is a journalist and host of On Being. She is the New York Times bestselling author of “Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living” and “Einstein’s God: Conversations About Science and the Human Spirit.” She won a Peabody Award and received the National Humanities Medal for “thoughtfully delving into the mysteries of human existence.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Krista Tippett — An Inquiry into the M
May 5, 2016 • 1:33:43
Krista Tippett — An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living
This episode, a “theft of the dial.” Writer and traveler Pico Iyer turns the tables on our host Krista Tippett by asking her the questions. Her latest book, “Becoming Wise,” chronicles what she’s learned through her conversations with the most extraordinary voices across time and generations, across disciplines and denominations. An illuminating conversation on the mystery and art of living.
May 5, 2016 • 51:00
Michelle Alexander — Who We Want to Become: Beyond the New Jim Crow
The civil rights lawyer Michelle Alexander is one of the people who is waking us up to history we don’t remember, and structures most of us can’t fathom intending to create. She calls the punitive culture that has emerged the “new Jim Crow,” and is making it visible in the name of a fierce hope and belief in our collective capacity to engender the transformation to which this moment is calling.
Apr 21, 2016 • 51:00
[Unedited] Michelle Alexander with Krista Tippett
Michelle Alexander is an associate professor of law at the Moritz College of Law and the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University, and has served as the director of the Racial Justice Project at the ACLU of Northern California. Her book is “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Michelle Alexander — Who We Want to Become: Beyond the New Ji
Apr 21, 2016 • 1:27:45
Tiffany Shlain — Growing Up the Internet
When Tiffany Shlain thinks of her favorite quote from naturalist John Muir, she thinks of the internet: “When you tug at a single thing in the universe, you find it’s attached to everything else.” As a filmmaker and founder of the Webby Awards — the “Oscars of the internet” — she is committed to reframing technology as an expression of the best of what humanity is capable, with all the complexity that entails. With her young family, she has helped popularize the practice of the “tech shabbat” —
Mar 31, 2016 • 51:00
[Unedited] Tiffany Shlain with Krista Tippett
Tiffany Shlain is the founder of the Webby Awards and a co-founder of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. She has directed and co-written 28 films, some with accompanying books, including “The Science of Character,” “Brain Power: From Neurons to Networks,” and the feature-length documentary “Connected: An Autoblogography about Love, Death & Technology.” This interview is produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Tiffany Shlain — Growing Up the Internet.”
Mar 31, 2016 • 1:29:19
Nathan Schneider — The Wisdom of Millennials
There’s a kind of brilliance that flashes up in early adulthood: an ability to see the world whole. Nathan Schneider has been able to articulate and sustain that far-seeing eye of young adulthood. He’s also a gifted writer, chronicling the world he and his compatriots are helping to make — spiritual, technological, and communal. At the Chautauqua Institution, we explore the wisdom of a millennial generation public intellectual on the emerging fabric of human identity.
Mar 24, 2016 • 51:00
[Unedited] Nathan Schneider with Krista Tippett
Nathan Schneider is a scholar-in-residence of media studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is the author of “God in Proof: The Story of a Search from the Ancients to the Internet” and “Thank You, Anarchy: Notes from the Occupy Apocalypse.” He is a regular columnist for Vice magazine and America, the national Catholic weekly. He is currently co-editing a book on democratic business models for online platforms. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the O
Mar 24, 2016 • 1:15:58
Jean Berko Gleason — Unfolding Language, Unfolding Life
Jean Berko Gleason is a living legend in the field of psycholinguistics — how language emerges, and what it tells us about how we think and who we are. She has helped to illustrate the remarkable ordinary human capacity to begin to speak, and she’s continued to break new ground in exploring what this may teach us about adults as about the children we’re raising. We keep learning about the human gift, as she puts it, to be conscious of ourselves and to comment on that. For her, the exploration of
Feb 4, 2016 • 51:00
[Unedited] Jean Berko Gleason with Krista Tippett
Jean Berko Gleason is Professor Emerita of psychology at Boston University. This interview was edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Jean Berko Gleason — Unfolding Language, Unfolding Life.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Feb 4, 2016 • 1:24:58
B.J. Miller — Reframing Our Relationship to That We Don’t Control
“Let death be what takes us,” Dr. BJ Miller has written, “not a lack of imagination.” As a palliative care physician, he brings a design sensibility to the matter of living until we die. And he’s largely redesigned his sense of own physical presence after an accident at college left him without both of his legs and part of one arm. He offers a transformative reframing on our imperfect bodies, the ways we move through the world, and all that we don’t control.
Jan 28, 2016 • 51:00
[Unedited] B.J. Miller with Krista Tippett
B.J. Miller is executive director of the Zen Hospice Project, an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and an attending specialist for the Symptom Management Service of the UCSF Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “B.J. Miller — Reframing Our Relationship to That We Don’t Control.” Find more at onbeing.org
Jan 28, 2016 • 1:25:58
[Unedited] Carrie Newcomer with Krista Tippett
Carrie Newcomer is a singer-songwriter. Her albums include “Betty’s Diner,” “The Gathering of Spirits,” and “A Permeable Life,” which has an accompanying book of poetry and essays. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Carrie Newcomer — A Conversation with Music.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Dec 31, 2015 • 1:32:26
Carrie Newcomer — A Conversation with Music
Something of a celebrity in Quaker circles, Carrie Newcomer is best known for her story-songs that get at the raw and redemptive edges of human reality. This week, a musical conversation with the Indiana-based and born folk singer-songwriter who’s been called a “prairie mystic.” She writes and sings about the grittiness of hope and the ease of cynicism.
Dec 31, 2015 • 51:00
Paul Muldoon — A Conversation with Verse
The Irish poet and “New Yorker” poetry editor Paul Muldoon has won the Pulitzer Prize, written for other media from radio to song, and plays in a rock band. He visited us for a magical day at the On Being studios on Loring Park in Minneapolis, including a dinner salon and reading from his work.
Dec 23, 2015 • 51:00
[Unedited] Paul Muldoon with Krista Tippett
Paul Muldoon holds the Howard G.B. Clark chair in the Humanities at Princeton University. He has served as the poetry editor at the The New Yorker since 2007. He is the author of 12 major collections of poetry, including “Horse Latitudes,” “Hay,” and “One Thousand Things Worth Knowing.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Paul Muldoon — A Conversation with Verse.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Dec 23, 2015 • 1:16:57
Jennifer Michael Hecht — Suicide, and Hope for Our Future Selves
Stay. That’s the message that philosopher, poet, and historian Jennifer Michael Hecht puts at the center of her unusual writing about suicide. She’s traced how the history of Western civilization has, at times, demonized those who commit suicide, and, at times, celebrated it as a moral freedom. She has struggled with suicidal places in her life and lost friends to it. As a scholar, she’s now proposing a new cultural reckoning with suicide, based not on morality or on rights but on our essential
Dec 10, 2015 • 0:00
[Unedited] Jennifer Michael Hecht with Krista Tippett
Jennifer Michael Hecht is a poet, philosopher, and historian. Her books include “Stay: A History of Suicide and the Philosophies Against It,” “Doubt: A History,” and “Who Said.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Jennifer Michael Hecht — Suicide, and Hope for Our Future Selves.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Dec 10, 2015 • 0:01
Mark Hyman, James Gordon, and Penny George — The Evolution of Medicine
A transformation of medicine is underway, a transition from a science of treating disease to a science of health. Mark Hyman is a family physician and a pioneer in the new discipline of functional medicine. James Gordon is an expert in using mind-body medicine to heal depression, anxiety, and psychological trauma. Penny George became a philanthropist of integrative medicine after she experienced cancer in mid-life. Before a live audience at the University of Minnesota, they discuss the challenge
Dec 3, 2015 • 51:00
[Unedited] Penny George, Mark Hyman, and James Gordon with Krista Tippett
Mark Hyman is the director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine. He is also the founder and medical director of the UltraWellness Center. He’s a practicing family physician and a best-selling author. James Gordon is the founder and executive director of the Center for Mind-Body Medicine and a clinical professor in the departments of Psychiatry and Family Medicine at Georgetown Medical School. Penny George is the board chair of the Penny George Institute Foundation, which suppor
Dec 3, 2015 • 1:35:21
[Unedited] Ann Hamilton with Krista Tippett
Ann Hamilton is a visual artist and self-described maker. She is Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Art at Ohio State University. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Ann Hamilton — Making, and the Spaces We Share.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Nov 19, 2015 • 1:27:05
Ann Hamilton — Making, and the Spaces We Share
The philosopher Simone Weil defined prayer as “absolutely unmixed attention.” The artist Ann Hamilton embodies this notion in her sweeping works of art that bring all the senses together. She uses her hands to create installations that are both visually astounding and surprisingly intimate, and meet a longing many of us share, as she puts it, to be “alone together.”
Nov 19, 2015 • 51:00
[Unedited] Jonathan Sacks with Krista Tippett
Jonathan Sacks was Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwealth for 22 years. He is now the Ingeborg and Ira Rennert Global Distinguished Professor of Judaic Thought at New York University and the Kressel and Ephrat Family University Professor of Jewish Thought at Yeshiva University. He is also Professor of Law, Ethics and the Bible at King’s College London. His books include “The Great Partnership: Science, Religion, and the Search for Meaning,” “The Dignity of Dif
Oct 29, 2015 • 0:01
Jonathan Sacks — The Dignity of Difference
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks is the former Chief Rabbi of Great Britain and one of the world’s deep thinkers on religion in our age. He’s just released a new book, “Not in God’s Name: Confronting Religious Violence.” In this intimate conversation with Krista, he speaks about how Jewish and other religious ideas can inform modern challenges. Rabbi Sacks says that the faithful can and must cultivate their own deepest truths — while finding God in the face of the stranger and the religious other.
Oct 29, 2015 • 0:00
[Unedited] Adam Grant with Krista Tippett
Adam Grant is a professor of psychology at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is the youngest tenured and highest rated professor. He is a regular contributor to The New York Times. He has consulted for numerous organizations, including Google, the United Nations, and the U.S. Army. He became known to many through his popular book, “Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success.” His forthcoming book, “Originals,” will be published in February, 2016.
Oct 22, 2015 • 1:20:54
Adam Grant — Successful Givers, Toxic Takers, and the Life We Spend at Work
The organizational psychologist Adam Grant, who many know from his New York Times columns, describes three orientations of which we are all capable: the givers, the takers, and the matchers. These influence whether organizations are joyful or toxic for human beings. His studies are dispelling a conventional wisdom that selfish takers are the most likely to succeed professionally. And he is wise about practicing generosity in organizational life — what he calls making “microloans of our knowledge
Oct 22, 2015 • 51:00
[Unedited] Nancy Cantor and Christopher Howard with Krista Tippett
Nancy Cantor is a social psychologist and the chancellor of Rutgers University–Newark, one of the most diverse institutions in the U.S. She is widely recognized for helping forge a new understanding of the role of universities in society that re-emphasizes their public mission. Christopher Howard is the first African-American president of Hampden–Sydney College in Virginia, an historically white all male school in the South. He is one of the youngest college presidents in the U.S., a distinguish
Oct 8, 2015 • 1:30:10
Nancy Cantor and Christopher Howard — Beyond the Ivory Tower
When we talk about the relationship between colleges and the world, we tend to focus on economics. But what is the place of institutions of higher education in the communities they inhabit? How can and should they nurture students as citizens and leaders for the emerging 21st century world? Two visionary college presidents of two very different institutions take up these questions with Krista at the American Council on Education’s 97th Annual Meeting.
Oct 8, 2015 • 51:00
Louis Newman — The Refreshing Practice of Repentance
The High Holy Days create an annual ritual of repentance, both individual and collective. Louis Newman, who has explored repentance as an ethicist and a person in recovery, opens this up as a refreshing practice for every life, even beyond the lifetime of those to whom we would make amends.
Sep 17, 2015 • 51:00
[Unedited] Louis Newman with Krista Tippett
Louis Newman is an Associate Dean of Carleton College and John M. and Elizabeth W. Musser Professor of Religious Studies. He is the author of several books on Jewish ethics and theology, including “Repentance: The Meaning and Practice of Teshuvah.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Louis Newman — The Refreshing Practice of Repentance.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Sep 17, 2015 • 1:40:24
[Unedited] Mike Rose with Krista Tippett
Mike Rose is a research professor in the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. He’s the author of several books, including “The Mind at Work: Valuing the Intelligence of the American Worker,” “Why School?: Reclaiming Education for All of Us,” and more recently “Back to School: Why Everyone Deserves a Second Chance at Education.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Mike Rose — The Intelligence in All Kinds of Work, and
Sep 3, 2015 • 0:01
Mike Rose — The Intelligence in All Kinds of Work, and the Human Core of All Education that Matters
“I grew up a witness,” Mike Rose writes, “to the intelligence of the waitress in motion, the reflective welder, the strategy of the guy on the assembly line. This then is something I know: the thought it takes to do physical work.” In all our debates about standardized testing and the information economy, the value of learning to work and the future of liberal arts education, we may risk too narrow a view of the way the physical, the human, and the intellectual blend in all kinds of learning and
Sep 3, 2015 • 51:00
Grace Lee Boggs — A Century in the World
Chinese-American philosopher and civil rights legend Grace Lee Boggs turned 100 this summer. She has been at the heart and soul of a largely hidden story inside Detroit’s evolution from economic collapse to rebirth. We traveled in 2011 to meet her and her community of joyful, passionate people reimagining work, food, and the very meaning of humanity. They have lessons for us all.
Aug 27, 2015 • 51:00
[Unedited] Grace Lee Boggs with Krista Tippett
Grace Lee Boggs was a philosopher and a civil rights leader and a founder of the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center. She authored the book “Living for Change: An Autobiography.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Grace Lee Boggs — A Century in the World.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Aug 27, 2015 • 1:01:21
Rex Jung — Creativity and the Everyday Brain
Few features of humanity are more fascinating than creativity; and few fields are more dynamic now than neuroscience. Rex Jung is a neuropsychologist who puts the two together. He’s working on a cutting edge of science, exploring the differences and interplay between intelligence and creativity. He and his colleagues unsettle long-held beliefs about who is creative and who is not. And they’re seeing practical, often common-sense connections between creativity and family life, aging, and purpose.
Aug 20, 2015 • 51:00
[Unedited] Rex Jung and Krista Tippett
Rex Jung is an Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. He’s a Distinguished Senior Advisor to the Positive Neuroscience Project, based at the University of Pennsylvania. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Rex Jung — Creativity and the Everyday Brain.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Aug 20, 2015 • 1:20:27
[Unedited] Katy Payne with Krista Tippett
Katy Payne is a visiting fellow with the Bioacoustics Research Program at Cornell University’s Laboratory of Ornithology. She was part of the research team that produced the original recording “Songs of the Humpback Whale.” Her book is “Silent Thunder: In the Presence of Elephants.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Katy Payne — In the Presence of Elephants and Whales.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Aug 13, 2015 • 1:10:57
Katy Payne — In the Presence of Elephants and Whales
We were made and set here, the writer Annie Dillard once wrote, “to give voice to our astonishments.” Katy Payne is a renowned acoustic biologist with a Quaker sensibility. And she’s found her astonishment in listening to two of the world’s most exotic creatures. She has decoded the language of elephants and was among the first scientists to discover that whales are composers of song.
Aug 13, 2015 • 51:00
[Unedited] Elizabeth Alexander with Krista Tippett
Elizabeth Alexander is a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and the inaugural Frederick Iseman Professor of Poetry at Yale University. She’s the author of a new memoir, “The Light of the World.” She’s also the author of several books of essays and poetry including “Crave Radiance.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Elizabeth Alexander — Words That Shimmer.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Jul 23, 2015 • 1:33:47
Elizabeth Alexander — Words That Shimmer
Poetry is something many of us seem to be hungry for these days. We’re hungry for fresh ways to tell hard truths and redemptive stories, for language that would elevate and embolden rather than demean and alienate. Elizabeth Alexander shares her sense of what poetry works in us — and in our children — and why it may become more relevant, not less so, in hard and complicated times.
Jul 23, 2015 • 51:00
[Unedited] Rami Nashashibi with Krista Tippett
Rami Nashashibi is founder and executive director of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN). He is a visiting assistant professor of Sociology of Religion and Muslim Studies at Chicago Theological Seminary. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Rami Nashashibi — A New Coming Together.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Jul 9, 2015 • 1:11:53
Rami Nashashibi — A New Coming Together
Rami Nashashibi uses graffiti, calligraphy, and hip-hop in his work as a healing force on the South Side of Chicago. A Palestinian-American, he started his activism with at-risk urban Muslim families, especially youth, while he was still a college student. Now he’s the leader of a globally-emulated project converging religious virtues, the arts, and social action. And he is a fascinating face of a Muslim-American dream flourishing against the odds in post-9/11 America.
Jul 9, 2015 • 51:00
[Unedited] Mario Livio with Krista Tippett
Mario Livio is a senior astrophysicist at the Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute. His books include: “Is God a Mathematician?” and “Brilliant Blunders: From Darwin to Einstein — Colossal Mistakes by Great Scientists That Changed Our Understanding of Life and the Universe.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Mario Livio — Mysteries of an Expanding Universe.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Jun 18, 2015 • 1:30:26
Mario Livio — Mysteries of an Expanding Universe
The Hubble Space Telescope, which turns 25 this year, has brought the beauty of the cosmos into our lives. Mario Livio works with discoveries it makes possible, studying things like dark energy, extrasolar planets, and white dwarf stars. He’s fascinated with the enduring mystery of mathematics, the language of science. He describes the cosmic puzzles that accompany our greatest scientific advances.
Jun 18, 2015 • 51:01
Simone Campbell — How to Be Spiritually Bold
She became a national figure as the face of the “Nuns on the Bus.” Sr. Simone Campbell is a lawyer, lobbyist, poet, and Zen contemplative working on issues such as “mending the wealth gap,” “enacting a living wage,” and “crafting a faithful budget that benefits the 100%.” She is a helpful voice for longings so many of us share, across differences, about how to engage with the well-being of our neighbors in this complicated age.
Jun 11, 2015 • 51:00
[Unedited] Simone Campbell with Krista Tippett
Sr. Simone Campbell is the executive director of NETWORK. She is the author of “A Nun on the Bus: How All of Us Can Create Hope, Change, and Community.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Simone Campbell — How to Be Spiritually Bold.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Jun 11, 2015 • 1:31:41
[Unedited] Jane Gross with Krista Tippett
Jane Gross is the creator of “The New Old Age” blog at The New York Times and author of “A Bittersweet Season: Caring for Our Aging Parents — and Ourselves.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Jane Gross — The Far Shore of Aging.” Find more at onbeing.org.
May 7, 2015 • 1:26:22
Jane Gross — The Far Shore of Aging
It is a story of our time — the new landscape of living longer, and of dying more slowly too. Jane Gross has explored this as a daughter and as a journalist, and as creator of the New York Times’ “New Old Age” blog. She has grounded advice and practical wisdom about caring for our loved ones and ourselves on the far shore of aging.
May 7, 2015 • 51:00
Mohammed Fairouz — The World in Counterpoint
He’s been called a post-millennial Schubert. Mohammed Fairouz has composed four symphonies and an opera while still in his 20s. He invokes John F. Kennedy and Anwar Sadat, Seamus Heaney and Yehuda Amichai in his compositions. He sees “illustrious language” as a form of music — and as a way, just maybe, to shift the world on its axis.
Apr 30, 2015 • 51:00
[Unedited] Mohammed Fairouz with Krista Tippett
Mohammed Fairouz is a composer whose opera and symphonies have been performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and The Kennedy Center. His 11 albums include “Native Informant,” “In The Shadow of No Towers,” “Poems and Prayers,” and, most recently, “Follow, Poet.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Mohammed Fairouz — The World in Counterpoint.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Apr 30, 2015 • 1:21:12
David Blankenhorn and Jonathan Rauch — The Future of Marriage
What would it take to make our national encounter with gay marriage redemptive rather than divisive? David Blankenhorn and Jonathan Rauch came to the gay marriage debate from very different directions — but with a shared concern about the institution of marriage. Now, they’re pursuing a different way for all of us to grapple with the future of marriage, redefined. They model a fresh way forward as the subject of same-sex marriage is before the Supreme Court.
Apr 16, 2015 • 51:00
[Unedited] David Blankenhorn and Jonathan Rauch with Krista Tippett
David Blankenhorn is founder and president of the Institute of American Values. He’s also co-director of The Marriage Opportunity Council. His books include “The Future of Marriage.” Jonathan Rauch is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and co-director of The Marriage Opportunity Council. He’s a contributing editor to The Atlantic and National Journal, and the author of “Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America.” This interview is edited and produc
Apr 16, 2015 • 1:23:47
[Unedited] Bruce Kramer with Krista Tippett
Bruce Kramer was the creator of “The Dis Ease Diary” a blog about his life with ALS and “We Know How This Ends: Living While Dying.” He was the Dean of the College of Education, Leadership and Counseling at the University of St. Thomas, where he served on the faculty for over 19 years. He was a passionate music lover and was a choir conductor for most of his adult life. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Bruce Kramer — Forgiving the Body:
Mar 26, 2015 • 1:29:02
Bruce Kramer — Forgiving the Body: Life with ALS
From the moment of his diagnosis with ALS, Bruce Kramer began writing — openly, deeply, and spiritually — about his struggle, as he puts it, to live while dying. He died on March 23, 2015, while we were in production on this show. His words hold abiding joy and beauty, and reveal an unexpected view opened by this disease.
Mar 26, 2015 • 51:00
[Unedited] Alan Dienstag with Krista Tippett
Alan Dienstag is a clinical psychologist in private practice in New York City and Westchester County. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Alan Dienstag — Alzheimer’s and the Spiritual Terrain of Memory.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Mar 19, 2015 • 1:28:45
Alan Dienstag — Alzheimer's and the Spiritual Terrain of Memory
Alzheimer’s disease has been described as “the great unlearning.” But what does it reveal about the nature of human identity? What remains when memory unravels? Alan Dienstag is a psychologist who has led support groups with early Alzheimer’s patients, as well as a writing group he co-designed with the novelist Don DeLillo. He’s experienced the early stages of Alzheimer’s as a time for giving memories away rather than losing them.
Mar 19, 2015 • 51:00
[Unedited] Arthur Zajonc and Michael McCullough
Arthur Zajonc is president of the Mind and Life Institute. He is emeritus professor of physics at Amherst College, where he taught from 1978 to 2012. His books include “Meditation as Contemplative Inquiry: When Knowing Becomes Love” and “The Heart of Higher Education: A Call to Renewal.” Michael McCullough is professor of psychology at the University of Miami, where he directs the Evolution and Human Behavior Laboratory. He’s the author of “Beyond Revenge: The Evolution of the Forgiveness Instin
Mar 12, 2015 • 1:32:27
Arthur Zajonc and Michael McCullough — Mind and Morality: A Dialogue`
For several hundred years, much of scientific advance has been about exploring human beings, including their actions and choices, in terms of mechanism — our bodies, our brains, physical processes. Research psychologist Michael McCullough believes that understanding our minds as mechanistic creates moral possibility. He’s led groundbreaking studies on the evolution and cultivation of moral behaviors such as forgiveness and gratitude. Arthur Zajonc is a physicist and contemplative, who believes t
Mar 12, 2015 • 51:00
Eve Ensler — The Body After Cancer
Eve Ensler has helped women all over the world tell the stories of their lives through the stories of their bodies. Her play, “The Vagina Monologues,” has become a global force in the face of violence against women and girls. But she herself also had a violent childhood. And it turns out that she, like so many Western women, was obsessed by her body and yet not inhabiting it without even knowing she wasn’t inhabiting her body — until she got cancer.
Mar 5, 2015 • 52:30
[Unedited] Eve Ensler with Krista Tippett
Eve Ensler is a Tony Award-winning playwright, performer, and activist. She is the author of “The Vagina Monologues” and “The Good Body.” Her memoir is “In the Body of the World.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Eve Ensler — The Body After Cancer.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Mar 5, 2015 • 1:14:02
Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons and Lucas Johnson — The Movement, Remembered Forward
Wisdom for how we can move and heal our society in our time as the Civil Rights Movement galvanized its own. Lucas Johnson is bringing the art and practice of nonviolence into a new century, for new generations. Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons was an original Black Power feminist and a grassroots leader of the Mississippi Freedom Summer.
Feb 19, 2015 • 52:30
[Unedited] Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons and Lucas Johnson with Krista Tippett
Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons is assistant professor of religion at the University of Florida. She is also a member of the National Council of Elders. Her account of her work as an activist in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) is featured in the book, “Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC.” Lucas Johnson is international coordinator of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation and an ordained Baptist minister. This interview is edited and produced wit
Feb 19, 2015 • 1:34:48
[Unedited] Brené Brown with Krista Tippett (2013)
Brené Brown is Research Professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. Her books include: “The Gifts of Imperfection” and “Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Brené Brown — The Courage to Be Vulnerable.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Jan 29, 2015 • 1:27:22
Brené Brown — The Courage to Be Vulnerable
Courage is borne out of vulnerability, not strength. This finding of Brené Brown’s research on shame and “wholeheartedness” shook the perfectionist ground beneath her own feet. And now it’s inspiring millions to reconsider the way they live, parent, and navigate relations with members of the opposite gender.
Jan 29, 2015 • 51:53
[Unedited] Reza Aslan with Krista Tippett
Reza Aslan is the founder of Aslan Media, a social media network for news and entertainment about the Middle East and the world. A scholar of religions, he is currently professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside. His books include “Beyond Fundamentalism: Confronting Religious Extremism in the Age of Globalization,” “No God But God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam,” and “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth.” This interview is edited and produc
Nov 20, 2014 • 1:33:33
Reza Aslan — Islam's Reformation
In a probing and personal conversation, Reza Aslan opens a refreshing window on religion in the world and Islam in particular. It’s a longer view of history and humanity than news cycles invite — certainly when it comes to the Arab Spring, or to ISIS. His life is a kind of prism on the fluid story of religion in this century. But in a globalized world, we all have a personal stake in how this story unfolds.
Nov 20, 2014 • 53:40
[Unedited] Bernard Chazelle with Krista Tippett
Bernard Chazelle is Eugene Higgins Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University. He is a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and a member of the European Academy of Sciences. He’s authored an extensive collection of essays on music for A Tiny Revolution. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Bernard Chazelle — Discovering the Cos
Nov 13, 2014 • 1:32:52
Bernard Chazelle — Discovering the Cosmology of Bach
Computer scientist Bernard Chazelle has an original take on what music works in us — especially the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Just as mathematicians talk about discovering rather than inventing great equations, so, he says, Bach set out to “discover” the musical rules behind the universe. After hearing this conversation, you may never listen to any piece of music — whether Bach or Jay-Z — in quite the same way again.
Nov 13, 2014 • 1:06:06
[Unedited] Nadia Bolz-Weber with Krista Tippett
Nadia Bolz-Weber is the pastor and founder of the Denver-based church the House for All Sinners and Saints. Her spiritual memoir is “Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner and Saint.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Nadia Bolz-Weber — Seeing the Underside and Seeing God: Tattoos, Tradition, and Grace.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Oct 23, 2014 • 1:16:33
Nadia Bolz-Weber — Seeing the Underside and Seeing God: Tattoos, Tradition, and Grace
She’s the tattooed, Lutheran pastor of the House for All Sinners and Saints in Denver, a church where a chocolate fountain, a blessing of the bicycles, and serious liturgy come together. She’s a face of the Emerging Church — redefining what church is, with deep reverence for tradition.
Oct 23, 2014 • 51:26
Scott Atran — Hopes and Dreams in a World of Fear
For over a decade, the French-American anthropologist Scott Atran has been listening to the hopes and dreams of young people from Indonesia to Egypt. He explores the human dynamics of what we analyze as “breeding grounds for terrorism” — why some young people become susceptible to them and others, in the same circumstances, do not. His work sheds helpful light on the question on so many of our minds as we watch horrific news of the day: How could this happen — and how could we possibly help tran
Oct 16, 2014 • 51:26
[Unedited] Scott Atran with Krista Tippett
Scott Atran is director of research at the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris, visiting professor at the University of Michigan, senior fellow at Harris Manchester College of Oxford University and research professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York. He’s the author of “Talking to the Enemy: Faith, Brotherhood and the (Un)Making of Terrorists.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “S
Oct 16, 2014 • 1:27:58
[Unedited] Michel Martin with Krista Tippett
Michel Martin is a journalist with NPR. She previously reported for The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and ABC’s “Nightline.” She was the creator and host of the NPR program Tell Me More, which ran from 2007-2014. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Michel Martin — The Fabric of Our Identity.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Oct 2, 2014 • 1:19:24
Michel Martin — The Fabric of Our Identity
If journalism is a primary way we tell the story of ourselves and our time, Michel Martin is a person helping us tell that story — and take part in it — more completely. Her daily NPR program “Tell Me More” was often labeled as “diversity” or “minority” programming. But in fact, she and her journalism are about a more generous and realistic sweep of who we are now — and how we’re creating our life together anew. At the Chautauqua Institution, we mine her wisdom on the emerging fabric of human id
Oct 2, 2014 • 51:00
[Unedited] The Dalai Lama, Jonathan Sacks, Katharine Jefferts Schori, and Seyyed Hossein Nasr with Krista Tippett
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet is the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet. He is the author of many books, including “Ethics for a New Millennium.” Jonathan Sacks is the former Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwealth. He is the Ingeborg and Ira Rennert Global Distinguished Professor of Judaic Thought at New York University and the Kressel and Ephrat Family University Professor of Jewish Thought at Yeshiva University. He has also been appointed as Profes
Sep 25, 2014 • 1:54:30
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, Jonathan Sacks, Katharine Jefferts Schori, Et. Al. — Pursuing Happiness
The XIV Dalai Lama seems to many to embody happiness — happiness against the odds, a virtue that is acquired and practiced. Before a live audience in Atlanta, Georgia, Krista had a rare opportunity to mull over the meaning of happiness in contemporary life with him and three global spiritual leaders: a Muslim scholar, a chief rabbi, and a presiding bishop. An invigorating and unpredictable discussion exploring the themes of suffering, beauty, and the nature of the body.
Sep 25, 2014 • 51:00
[Unedited] Richard Rodriguez with Krista Tippett
Richard Rodriguez is a journalist and essayist. He won a Peabody Award for his original commentary on The NewsHour and received the National Humanities Medal in 1993. His books include “Hunger Of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez,” “Brown: The Last Discovery Of America,” and “Darling: A Spiritual Autobiography.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Richard Rodriguez — The Fabric of Our Identity.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Sep 18, 2014 • 1:13:40
Richard Rodriguez — The Fabric of Our Identity
After September 11, 2001, Richard Rodriguez traveled to the Middle East to explore his kinship, as a Roman Catholic, with the men who stepped onto airplanes and turned them into weapons of terror. What he learned illuminates some of the deepest paradox and promise of the world we inhabit. He is an especially intriguing conversation partner for right now — a life and mind straddling left and right, religious and secular, immigrant and intellectual. At the Chautauqua Institution, we mine his wisdo
Sep 18, 2014 • 51:00
[Unedited] Imani Perry with Krista Tippett
Imani Perry is a professor of African-American Studies at Princeton University. Her scholarly books include “Prophets of the Hood: Politics and Poetics in Hip Hop” and “More Beautiful and More Terrible: The Embrace and Transcendence of Racial Inequality in the United States.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Imani Perry — The Fabric of Our Identity.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Sep 11, 2014 • 1:12:13
Imani Perry — The Fabric of Our Identity
Imani Perry is a scholar of law, culture, race — and hip hop. She acknowledges wise voices who say that we will never get to the promised land of racial equality. She writes, “That may very well be true, but it is also true that extraordinary things have happened and keep happening in our history. The question is, how do we prepare for and precipitate them?” We took her up on this emboldening question at the Chautauqua Institution, on the cusp of yet a new collective reckoning with the racial fa
Sep 11, 2014 • 51:00
[Unedited] Dan Barber with Krista Tippett
Dan Barber is chef and co-owner of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns. He’s received James Beard Awards for best chef in 2006 and 2009, and was named one of the world’s most influential people by Time. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Dan Barber — Driven By Flavor.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Aug 21, 2014 • 1:33:25
Dan Barber — Driven By Flavor
Dan Barber is a celebrated young chef — but his passionate ethics and intellect have made him much more. He’s out to restore food to its rightful place vis-à-vis our bodies, our ecologies and our economies. And he would do this by resurrecting our natural insistence on flavor.
Aug 21, 2014 • 51:00
[Unedited] Adele Diamond with Krista Tippett
Adele Diamond is a professor of developmental cognitive neuroscience at the University of British Columbia. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Adele Diamond — The Science of Attention.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Aug 7, 2014 • 1:08:11
Adele Diamond — The Science of Attention
What Adele Diamond is learning about the brain challenges basic assumptions in modern education. Her work is scientifically illustrating the educational power of things like play, sports, music, memorization, and reflection. What nourishes the human spirit, the whole person, it turns out, also hones our minds.
Aug 7, 2014 • 51:00
[Unedited] Andrew Robinson with Krista Tippett
Andrew Robinson is a biographer and writer. He is the co-author of “The Myriad-Minded Man,” a biography of Rabindranath Tagore. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Anita Desai and Andrew Robinson — The Modern Resonance of Rabindranath Tagore.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Aug 6, 2014 • 59:14
[Unedited] Anita Desai with Krista Tippett
Anita Desai is an Indian novelist of Bengali descent. Her novels include “Clear Light of Day,” “The Village by the Sea,” and “Fasting, Feasting.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Anita Desai and Andrew Robinson — The Modern Resonance of Rabindranath Tagore.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Aug 6, 2014 • 55:34
Anita Desai and Andrew Robinson — The Modern Resonance of Rabindranath Tagore
He bestowed the title “Mahatma” on Gandhi. He debated the deepest nature of reality with Einstein. He was championed by Yeats and Pound to become the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. Rabindranath Tagore was a polymath — a writer and a painter, a philosopher and a musician, and a social innovator — but much of his poetry and prose is virtually untranslatable (or inaccessibly translated) for modern minds. We pull back the “dusty veils” that have hidden his memory f
Aug 6, 2014 • 52:41
[Unedited] Seane Corn with Krista Tippett
Seane Corn is the National Yoga Ambassador for YouthAIDS and cofounder of “Off the Mat, Into the World.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Seane Corn — Yoga, Meditation in Action.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Jul 31, 2014 • 1:31:08
Seane Corn — Yoga, Meditation in Action
Yoga has infiltrated law schools and strip malls, churches and hospitals. This 5,000-year-old spiritual technology is converging with 21st-century medical science and with many religious and philosophical perspectives. Seane Corn takes us inside the practicalities and power of yoga. She describes how it helps her face the darkness in herself and the world, and how she’s come to see yoga as a form of body prayer.
Jul 31, 2014 • 51:00
Philip Hamburger and Steven Waldman — The Long Experiment of American Democracy
For the Fourth of July, a refreshing reality check about the long road of American democracy. We remember forgotten but fascinating, useful history as we contemplate how we might help young democracies on their own tumultuous paths now.
Jul 3, 2014 • 51:00
[Unedited] Steven Waldman with Krista Tippett
Steven Waldman is the author of “Founding Faith: How Our Founding Fathers Forged a Radical New Approach to Religious Liberty.” He is the founder and former editor of Beliefnet and now heads Daily Bridge Media. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Steven Waldman and Philip Hamburger — The Long Experiment of American Democracy.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Jul 3, 2014 • 1:26:48
Stuart Brown — Play, Spirit, and Character
Who knew that we learn empathy, trust, irony, and problem solving through play — something the dictionary defines as “pleasurable and apparently purposeless activity.” Dr. Stuart Brown suggests that the rough-and-tumble play of children actually prevents violent behavior, and that play can grow human talents and character across a lifetime. Play, as he studies it, is an indispensable part of being human.
Jun 19, 2014 • 51:00
[Unedited] Stuart Brown with Krista Tippett
Stuart Brown is founder and president of the National Institute for Play near Monterey, California. He is co-author of “Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Stuart Brown — Play, Spirit, and Character.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Jun 19, 2014 • 1:16:04
Rosanne Cash, Time Traveler
As the daughter of Johnny Cash, singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash describes her life as “circumscribed by music.” But, it’s through her love of language and quantum mechanics that she’s finding new sources of creativity and mathematical ways to think about the divine. The mother of five shares her perspectives on being present, Twitter as a “boot camp for songwriters,” and how she wrestles with love and grief through her music.
Jun 5, 2014 • 51:00
[Unedited] Rosanne Cash with Krista Tippett
Rosanne Cash is a Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter and author of several books. Her latest album is “The River & the Thread.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Rosanne Cash — Time Traveler.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Jun 5, 2014 • 1:25:39
Maria Tatar — The Great Cauldron of Story: Why Fairy Tales are for Adults Again
Fairy tales don’t only belong to the domain of childhood. Their overt themes are threaded throughout hit TV series like “Game of Thrones” and “True Blood,” “Grimm” and “Once Upon a Time.” These stories survive, says Maria Tatar, by adapting across cultures and history. They are carriers of the plots we endlessly re-work in the narratives of our lives — helping us work through things like fear and hope.
May 8, 2014 • 51:00
[Unedited] Maria Tatar with Krista Tippett
Maria Tatar is the John L. Loeb Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures at Harvard University, where she also chairs the Program in Folklore and Mythology. Her books include “Enchanted Hunters: The Power of Stories in Childhood” and “The Annotated Brothers Grimm.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Maria Tatar — The Great Cauldron of Story: Why Fairy Tales Are for Adults Again.” Find more at onbeing.org.
May 8, 2014 • 1:07:05
[Unedited] Jaroslav Pelikan With Krista Tippett
Jaroslav Pelikan was professor of history at Yale University for four decades. He authored many books “Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine” and “Credo.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Jaroslav Pelikan — The Need for Creeds.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Apr 24, 2014 • 1:14:06
Jaroslav Pelikan — The Need for Creeds
The idea of reciting an unchanging creed sounds suspicious to modern ears. But the late, great historian Jaroslav Pelikan illuminated ancient tradition in order to enliven faith in the present and the future. He insisted that strong statements of belief will be necessary if pluralism in the 21st century is to thrive. We take in his moving, provocative perspective on our enduring need for creeds.
Apr 24, 2014 • 51:17
[Unedited] Avivah Zornberg with Krista Tippett
Avivah Zornberg is a scholar of Torah and rabbinic literature, and author of several books including “The Particulars of Rapture: Reflections on Exodus.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Avivah Zornberg — The Transformation of Pharaoh, Moses, and God.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Apr 10, 2014 • 1:11:48
Avivah Zornberg — The Transformation of Pharoah, Moses, and God
With a master of midrash as our guide, we walk through the Exodus story at the heart of Passover. It’s not the simple narrative you’ve watched at the movies or learned in Sunday school. Neither Moses or Pharaoh, nor the oppressed Israelites or even God, are as they seem. As Avivah Zornberg reveals, Exodus is a cargo of hidden stories — telling the messy, strange, redemptive truth of us as we are, and life as it is.
Apr 10, 2014 • 51:00
[Unedited] Janna Levin with Krista Tippett
Janna Levin is an astrophysicist and writer. She has contributed to an understanding of black holes, the cosmology of extra dimensions, and gravitational waves in the shape of spacetime. She is the author of “A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines,” which won the PEN/Bingham prize. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Janna Levin — Mathematics, Purpose, and Truth.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Apr 3, 2014 • 1:16:00
Janna Levin — Mathematics, Purpose, and Truth
An astrophysicist who studies the shape of the universe, Janna Levin has also explored her science by writing a novel about two pivotal 20th-century mathematicians, Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing. Both men pushed at boundaries where mathematics presses on grand questions of meaning and purpose. Such questions, she says, help create the technologies that are now changing our sense of what it means to be human.
Apr 3, 2014 • 51:00
[Unedited] Desmond Tutu with Krista Tippett
Desmond Tutu is an Anglican archbishop emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He has written many books, including, “Made for Goodness: And Why This Makes All the Difference,” and “The Book of Forgiving.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Desmond Tutu — A God of Surprises.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Mar 20, 2014 • 0:01
Desmond Tutu — A God of Surprises
“There’s no question about the reality of evil, of injustice, of suffering, but at the center of this existence is a heart beating with love.” South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu on how his understanding of God and humanity has unfolded through the history he’s lived and shaped.
Mar 20, 2014 • 52:09
[Unedited] Brian McLaren with Krista Tippett
Brian McLaren is a leading Evangelical pastor and author of several books including “A Generous Orthodoxy,” “Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road?,” and the forthcoming “We Make the Road by Walking.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Brian McLaren — The Equation of Change.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Mar 13, 2014 • 1:19:02
Brian McLaren — The Equation of Change
“Let’s go back and look at our faith before it was reduced to a system, before it was reduced to a system of abstractions and beliefs. How can we rediscover our faith as a series of stories and as a series of encounters?” Brian McLaren on the evolution of Christianity and the meaning of progressive Evangelicalism.
Mar 13, 2014 • 51:00
[Unedited] Sherwin Nuland with Krista Tippett
Sherwin Nuland was a clinical professor of surgery at Yale University, where he also taught bioethics and medical history. His books include “How We Die,” “Lost in America,” “Maimonides,” and “How We Live: The Wisdom of the Body.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Sherwin Nuland — The Biology of the Spirit.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Mar 6, 2014 • 53:50
Sherwin Nuland — The Biology of the Spirit
Dr. Sherwin Nuland died this week at the age of 83. He became well-known for his first book, “How We Die,” which won the National Book Award. For him, pondering death was a way of wondering at life — and the infinite variety of processes that maintain human life moment to moment. He reflects on the meaning of life by way of scrupulous and elegant detail about human physiology.
Mar 6, 2014 • 51:00
[Unedited] Bobby McFerrin with Krista Tippett
Bobby McFerrin is a ten-time Grammy Award winner. He is one of the world’s best-known vocal innovators and improvisers, a world-renowned classical conductor, and a passionate spokesman for music education. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Bobby McFerrin — Catching Song.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Feb 27, 2014 • 1:14:18
Bobby McFerrin — Catching Song
He is a genius of improvisation; a genre-bending vocal magician and conductor. And he sings the territory between music, mystery, and spirit. Who better to contemplate the human voice — its delights, its revelations, and its mystery — than Bobby McFerrin?
Feb 27, 2014 • 51:00
[Unedited] Paul Elie with Krista Tippett
Paul Elie is a senior fellow with the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and the director of the American Pilgrimage Project. His books include “The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage” and “Reinventing Bach.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Paul Elie — Faith Fired by Literature.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Feb 20, 2014 • 1:35:29
Paul Elie — Faith Fired by Literature
The writers Flannery O’Connor and Walker Percy, social activist Dorothy Day, and the Trappist monk Thomas Merton — all four shared a complex Catholic faith. Paul Elie takes us on a kind of literary pilgrimage through a Catholic imagination that still resonates in our time.
Feb 20, 2014 • 51:00
David Hartman — Hope in a Hopeless God
David Hartman died a year ago this week. The Orthodox rabbi was a charismatic and challenging figure in Israeli society, called a “public philosopher for the Jewish people” and a “champion of adaptive Judaism.” We remember his window into the unfolding of his tradition in the modern world — Judaism as a lens on the human condition.
Feb 6, 2014 • 51:00
[Unedited] David Hartman with Krista Tippett
David Hartman was an Orthodox rabbi and founder of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. He authored many books, including “A Heart of Many Rooms” and “The God Who Hates Lies.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “David Hartman — Hope in a Hopeless God.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Feb 6, 2014 • 1:23:33
Ursula King, Andrew Revkin, and David Sloan Wilson — Teilhard de Chardin's Planetary Mind and Our Spiritual Evolution
The coming stage of evolution, Teilhard de Chardin said, won’t be driven by physical adaptation but by human consciousness, creativity, and spirit. We visit with his biographer Ursula King, and we experience his ideas energizing New York Times Dot Earth blogger Andrew Revkin and evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson.
Jan 23, 2014 • 51:00
[Unedited] Ursula King with Krista Tippett
Ursula King is Professor Emerita of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Bristol. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Ursula King, Andrew Revkin, and David Sloan Wilson — Teilhard de Chardin’s “Planetary Mind” and Our Spiritual Evolution.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Jan 23, 2014 • 1:30:34
[Unedited] Patrick Bellegarde-Smith with Krista Tippett
Patrick Bellegarde-Smith is a professor at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and author of many books about Vodou. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Patrick Bellegarde-Smith — Living Vodou.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Jan 9, 2014 • 1:24:09
Patrick Bellegarde-Smith — Living Vodou
The word “Vodou” evokes images of sorcery and sticking pins into dolls. In fact, it’s a living tradition wherever Haitians are found based on ancestral religions in Africa. We walk through this mysterious tradition — one with dramatic rituals of trances and dreaming and of belief in spirits, who speak through human beings, with both good and evil potential.
Jan 9, 2014 • 51:00
Phil Donahue — Transformation, On-Screen and Off
Talk show pioneer Phil Donahue opens up on his remarkable perspective on the last half century of America and who we are now. He shares his personal transformations on race, gender roles, and parenting in the dramatic era he captured on television.
Dec 12, 2013 • 52:09
[Unedited] Interview with Phil Donahue and Krista Tippett
In this unedited interview, talk show pioneer Phil Donahue opens up on his remarkable perspective on the last half century of America and who we are now. He shares with Krista Tippett his personal transformations on race, gender roles, and parenting in the dramatic era he captured on television.
Dec 12, 2013 • 1:26:46
Vincent Harding and Phyllis Tickle — Racial Identity in the Emerging Church and the World
What might words like repentance or forgiveness mean, culturally, in this moment? These are questions of the emerging church, a loosely-defined movement that crosses generations, theologies and social ideologies in the hope of reimagining Christianity. With Phyllis Tickle and Vincent Harding, an honest and sometimes politically incorrect conversation on coming to terms with racial identity in the church and in the world.
Nov 28, 2013 • 51:00
[Unedited] Vincent Harding and Phyllis Tickle with Krista Tippett
This is the unedited version of On Being’s produced show, “Racial Identity in the Emerging Church and the World.” Emerging church elder Phyllis Tickle and civil rights veteran Vincent Harding in an honest and sometimes politically incorrect conversation on coming to terms with racial identity in the church and in the world.
Nov 28, 2013 • 1:28:16
[Unedited] Lord Martin Rees with Krista Tippett
Some of the biggest philosophical and ethical questions of this century may be raised on scientific frontiers — as we gain a better understanding of the deep structure of space and time and the wilder “microworld.” Astrophysicist Martin Rees paints a fascinating picture of how we might be changed by what we do not yet know: “If science teaches me anything, it teaches me that even simple things like an atom are fairly hard to understand. And that makes me skeptical of anyone who claims to have th
Nov 21, 2013 • 1:27:40
Martin Rees — Cosmic Origami and What We Don't Know
Parallel realities and the deep structure of space-time sound like science fiction. These are matters of real scientific inquiry. Lord Martin Rees is an astrophysicist and self-professed atheist who paints a fascinating picture of how we might be changed by what we do not yet know.
Nov 21, 2013 • 52:07
[Unedited] Ira Byock with Krista Tippett
What if we understand death as a developmental stage — like adolescence or mid-life? Dr. Ira Byock shares how we can understand dying as a time of learning, repair, and completion of our lives. Krista Tippett interviewed Dr. Ira Byock on March 2, 2012. This interview is included in the show “Contemplating Mortality.” Download the produced show at onbeing.org.
Nov 7, 2013 • 1:41:21
Ira Byock — Contemplating Mortality
What if we understand death as a developmental stage — like adolescence or mid-life? Dr. Ira Byock is a leading figure in palliative care and hospice in the United States. He says we lose sight of “the remarkable value” of the time of life we call dying if we forget that it’s always a personal and human event, and not just a medical one. From his place on this medical frontier, he shares how we can understand dying as a time of learning, repair, and completion of our lives.
Nov 7, 2013 • 51:00
Esther Sternberg — The Science of Healing Places
The light and smells in places like hospitals can often depress us. And, our favorite room at home keeps us sane. But why? Immunologist Esther Sternberg explains the scientific research revealing how physical spaces create stress and make us sick — and how good design can trigger our “brain’s internal pharmacies” and help heal us.
Oct 24, 2013 • 51:00
[Unedited] Esther Sternberg with Krista Tippett
Krista Tippett spoke with immunologist Esther Sternberg on March 30, 2012. This unedited interview is included in our show, “The Science of Healing Places.” Download the mp3 of the produced show at onbeing.org.
Oct 24, 2013 • 1:24:20
[Unedited] David Sloan Wilson with Krista Tippett
David Sloan Wilson believes that evolution is not just a description of how we got here. He says it can also be a tool kit for improving how we live together. He’s taken what he’s learned in studying evolution in animals and is now applying it to the behavior of groups in his hometown of Binghamton, New York. His goal is to help people behave pro-socially — at their best, and for the good of the whole. This is Krista Tippett’s complete, unabridged conversation with David Sloan Wilson that’s incl
Oct 17, 2013 • 1:41:06
David Sloan Wilson — Evolving a City
David Sloan Wilson believes that evolution is not just a description of how we got here. He says it can also be a tool kit for improving how we live together. He’s taken what he’s learned in studying evolution in animals and is now applying it to the behavior of groups in his hometown of Binghamton, New York. His goal is to help people behave pro-socially — at their best, and for the good of the whole.
Oct 17, 2013 • 51:00
[Unedited] Keith Devlin with Krista Tippett
Keith Devlin is a mathematician and executive director of H-STAR at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. Krista Tippett spoke with him on July 11, 2013. This interview is included in our show “The Joy of Math.” Download the mp3 of the produced show at onbeing.org.
Sep 19, 2013 • 1:26:27
Keith Devlin — The Joy of Math: Learning and What It Means To Be Human
Mathematical equations are like sonnets says Keith Devlin. What most of us learn in school, he says, doesn’t begin to convey what mathematics is. And technology may free more of us to discover the wonder of mathematical thinking — as a reflection of the inner world of our minds.
Sep 19, 2013 • 51:00
Arthur Zajonc — Holding Life Consciously
What happens when you bring together science and poetry on something like color or light? Arthur Zajonc is a physicist and contemplative. And he says we can all investigate life as vigorously from the inside as from the outside.
Sep 12, 2013 • 51:00
[Unedited] Arthur Zajonc with Krista Tippett
What happens when you bring together science and poetry on something like color or light? Arthur Zajonc is a physicist and contemplative. And he says we can all investigate life as vigorously from the inside as from the outside. This is Krista Tippett’s unabridged conversation with Arthur Zajonc. See more at onbeing.org/program/arthur-za…e-consciously/109
Sep 12, 2013 • 1:29:31
Natalie Batalha — Exoplanets and Love: Science That Connects Us to One Another
A mission scientist with NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope, Natalie Batalha hunts for exoplanets — Earth-sized planets beyond our solar system that might harbor life. She speaks about unexpected connections between things like love and dark energy, science and gratitude, and how “exploring the heavens” brings the beauty of the cosmos and the exuberance of scientific discovery closer to us all.
Aug 29, 2013 • 51:00
[Unedited] Natalie Batalha with Krista Tippett
Natalie Batalha is a research astronomer at NASA Ames Research Center and a mission scientist with the Kepler Space Telescope. Krista Tippett spoke with her on December 13, 2012 via ISDN. This interview is included in our show “On Exoplanets and Love: Natalie Batalha on Science That Connects Us to One Another.” Download the mp3 of the produced show at onbeing.org.
Aug 29, 2013 • 1:16:31
Kwame Anthony Appiah — Sidling Up to Difference: Social Change and Moral Revolutions
How can unimaginable social change happen in a world of strangers? Kwame Anthony Appiah is a philosopher who studies ethics and his parents’ marriage helped inspire the movie “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.” In a tense moment in American life, he has refreshing advice on simply living with difference.
Aug 15, 2013 • 51:00
[Unedited] Kwame Anthony Appiah with Krista Tippett
Krista Tippett’s unedited interview with Kwame Anthony Appiah was recorded in 2011 and is included in our show, “Kwame Anthony Appiah — Sidling Up to Difference.” See more at http://onbeing.org/program/sidling-difference/175
Aug 15, 2013 • 1:39:58
David Montgomery — Reading the Rocks: Flood Stories and Deep Time
The push and pull between religion and science has shaped advances in geology from the beginning. David Montgomery set out to debunk Noah’s Flood; instead he discovered this biblical story was the plate tectonics of its day. He tells us how the evolution of landscapes and geological processes shape ecology and humanity. And, how we should read rocks for the stories they tell about who we are and where we came from.
Aug 1, 2013 • 51:00
[Unedited] David Montgomery with Krista Tippett
Krista Tippett interviewed geologist David R. Montgomery on July 3, 2013. This interview is included in the show ‘Reading the Rocks.’ Download the mp3 of the produced show at onbeing.org.
Aug 1, 2013 • 1:18:27
[Unedited] David Gushee and Frances Kissling with Krista Tippett
Krista Tippett spoke with Christian ethicist David P. Gushee and abortion-rights activist Frances Kissling on September 26, 2012 in front of a live, public audience at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs in Minneapolis, MN.
Jul 25, 2013 • 1:35:47
David Gushee and Frances Kissling — Pro-Life, Pro-Choice, Pro-Dialogue
No issue is more intractable than abortion. Or is it? Most Americans fall somewhere between the absolute poles of “pro-life” and “pro-choice.” A Christian ethicist who advocates a “consistent ethic of life” and an abortion-rights activist reveal what they admire in the other side and discuss what’s really at stake in this debate.
Jul 25, 2013 • 51:24
[Unedited] Meredith Monk and Krista Tippett
Krista Tippett’s unedited interview with Meredith Monk, award-winning, composer, singer, director and choreographer. She spoke with her on January 11, 2012 from the studios of APM in St. Paul, Minnesota. Meredith Monk was in a private recording studio in New York City. This interview is included in the show “Meredith Monk’s Voice.” Download the produced show at onbeing.org.
Jun 27, 2013 • 1:16:00
Meredith Monk's Voice
A kind of archeologist of the human voice, singer and composer Meredith Monk says that “the voice could be like the body” — flexible and fluid with practice. Through music as through meditation, the longtime Buddhist practitioner pushes the boundaries of what we can do without words.
Jun 27, 2013 • 51:41
Sarah Kay's Way with Words
Sarah Kay says that listening is the better part of speaking. A spoken word poet who’s become a role model for teenagers around the world, she shares how she works with words to make connections — inside people and between them.
Jun 13, 2013 • 51:58
[Unedited] Sarah Kay and Krista Tippett
Krista Tippett interviewed spoken word poet Sarah Kay on April 12, 2012. This interview is included in the show ‘Sarah Kay’s Way with Words.’ Download the mp3 of the produced show at onbeing.org.
Jun 13, 2013 • 1:11:37
[Unedited] S. James Gates Jr. and Krista Tippett
Krista Tippett interviewed S. James Gates Jr., Toll Professor of Physics and Director of the Center for String and Particle Theory at the University of Maryland in College Park, on January 25, 2012 from the studios of APM in St. Paul, MN. Gates was in the studios of NPR in Washington, D.C. This interview is included in the show “Uncovering the Codes for Reality.” Download the mp3 of the produced show at onbeing.org.
Jun 6, 2013 • 1:21:15
S. James Gates — Uncovering the Codes for Reality
Are we in the matrix? Physicist James Gates reveals why string theory stretches our imaginations about the nature of reality. Also, how failure makes us more complete, and imagination makes us more knowledgeable.
Jun 6, 2013 • 51:45
Tami Simon — Inner Life at Work: Business, Meditation, and Technology
You might call Tami Simon a spiritual entrepreneur. She’s built a successful multimedia publishing company with a mission to disseminate “spiritual wisdom” by diverse teachers and thinkers like Pema Chödrön and Eckhart Tolle, Daniel Goleman and Brené Brown. She offers compelling lessons on joining inner life with life in the workplace — and advice on spiritual practice with a mobile device.
May 30, 2013 • 51:00
[Unedited Tami Simon with Krista Tippett
Krista Tippett interviewed entrepreneur Tami Simon on April 4, 2013 via ISDN. Ms. Simon is publisher, CEO, and founder of Sounds True. This interview is included in the show “Inner Life at Work: Tami Simon on Business, Meditation, and Technology.” Download the mp3 of the produced show at onbeing.org.
May 30, 2013 • 1:27:00
Andrew Zolli — A Shift to Humility: Resilience and Expanding the Edge of Change
Disruption is around every corner by way of globally connected economies, inevitable superstorms, and technology’s endless reinvention. But most of us were born into a culture which aspired to solve all problems. How do we support people and create systems that know how to recover, persist, and even thrive in the face of change? Andrew Zolli introduces “resilience thinking,” a new generation’s wisdom for a world of constant change.
May 15, 2013 • 51:00
Lawrence Krauss — Our Origins and the Weight of Space
One of the values of science is to make us uncomfortable says Lawrence Krauss. The particle physicist explains why we should all care about dark energy and the Higgs Boson particle. Science literacy matters, and, more importantly, he suggests we should take joy in science – just as we cultivate enjoyment of arts we may not completely comprehend.
Apr 9, 2013 • 51:00
Lawrence Krauss with Krista Tippett [Unedited Interview]
This is Krista Tippett’s unabridged interview with physicist Lawrence Krauss. One of the values of science is to make us uncomfortable says Lawrence Krauss. The particle physicist explains why we should all care about dark energy and the Higgs Boson particle. Science literacy matters, and, more importantly, he suggests we should take joy in science – just as we cultivate enjoyment of arts we may not completely comprehend.
Apr 9, 2013 • 1:14:14
Thupten Jinpa — Translating the Dalai Lama
Esoteric teachings on reincarnation and consciousness; simple teachings on compassion and ethics. Geshe Thupten Jinpa is a man who finishes the Dalai Lama’s English sentences. Meet this philosopher and former monk, now a husband and father of two daughters, and hear what happens when the ancient tradition embodied in the Dalai Lama meets science and life.
Feb 21, 2013 • 51:00
[Unedited] Thupten Jinpa with Krista Tippett
Esoteric teachings on reincarnation and consciousness; simple teachings on compassion and ethics. Geshe Thupten Jinpa is a man who finishes the Dalai Lama’s English sentences. Meet this philosopher and former monk, now a husband and father of two daughters, and hear what happens when the ancient tradition embodied in the Dalai Lama meets science and life. This is Krista Tippett’s unedited, unabridged interview with Thupten Jinpa that took place at Emory University. See more at onbeing.org/progra
Feb 21, 2013 • 1:16:15
[Unedited] Kabat-Zinn and Krista Tippett
Jon Kabat-Zinn has learned, through science and experience, about mindfulness as a way of life. This is wisdom with immediate relevance to the ordinary and extreme stresses of our time — from economic peril, to parenting, to life in a digital age. See more at onbeing.org/program/opening-our-lives/138
Dec 27, 2012 • 1:24:54
Jon Kabat-Zinn — Opening to Our Lives
Jon Kabat-Zinn has learned, through science and experience, about mindfulness as a way of life. This is wisdom with immediate relevance to the ordinary and extreme stresses of our time — from economic peril, to parenting, to life in a digital age.
Dec 27, 2012 • 51:00
Kate Braestrup — A Presence in the Wild
Kate Braestrup is a chaplain to game wardens, often on search and rescue missions, in the wilds of Maine. She works, as she puts it, at hinges of human experience when lives alter unexpectedly — where loss, disaster, decency and beauty intertwine. Hear her wise and unusual take on life and death, lost and found.
Dec 13, 2012 • 51:00
[Unedited] Kate Braestrup with Krista Tippett
Kate Braestrup is a chaplain to game wardens, often on search and rescue missions, in the wilds of Maine. She works, as she puts it, at hinges of human experience when lives alter unexpectedly — where loss, disaster, decency and beauty intertwine. Hear her wise and unusual take on life and death, lost and found. See more at onbeing.org/program/presence-wild/144
Dec 13, 2012 • 1:47:41
Robi Damelin and Ali Abu Awwad — No More Taking Sides
Robi Damelin lost her son David to a Palestinian sniper. Ali Abu Awwad lost his older brother Yousef to an Israeli soldier. But, instead of clinging to traditional ideologies and turning their pain into more violence, they’ve decided to understand the other side — Israeli and Palestinian — by sharing their pain and their humanity. They tell of a gathering network of survivors who share their grief, their stories of loved ones, and their ideas for lasting peace. They don’t want to be right; they
Nov 29, 2012 • 51:00
[Unedited] Robi Damelin and Ali Abu Awwad with Krista Tippett
Robi Damelin is an Israeli who lives in Tel Aviv. She speaks with community groups about her experiences as part of the Parents Circle – Families Forum. Ali Abu Awwad is a Palestinian who lives in the West Bank. He is a spokesman and project manager for the Parents Circle – Families Forum.
Nov 29, 2012 • 2:06:32
[Unedited] Sherry Turkle with Krista Tippett
Each of us, in our everyday interactions, chooses between letting technology shape us and shaping it towards human purposes, even towards honoring what we hold dear. Sherry Turkle, director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self, is full of usable ideas — from how to declare email bankruptcy to teaching our children the rewards of solitude. See more at http://onbeing.org/program/alive-enough-reflecting-our-technology/63
Nov 15, 2012 • 1:28:15
Sherry Turkle — Alive Enough? Reflecting on Our Technology
Each of us, in our everyday interactions, chooses between letting technology shape us and shaping it towards human purposes, even towards honoring what we hold dear. Sherry Turkle, director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self, is full of usable ideas — from how to declare email bankruptcy to teaching our children the rewards of solitude.
Nov 15, 2012 • 51:00
[Unedited] Pete Domenici and Alice Rivlin with Krista Tippett
A veteran Republican senator and Democratic economist are political bridge people who’ve brought differing approaches and shared love of country to generations of economic policy. In this tense political moment, they offer straight talk and wise perspective – and won’t let partisan gridlock have the last word. The final dialogue in our Civil Conversations Project.
Oct 25, 2012 • 1:31:35
Sen. Pete Domenici and Alice Rivlin — Political Bridge People
A veteran Republican senator and Democratic economist are political bridge people who’ve brought differing approaches and shared love of country to generations of economic policy. In this tense political moment, they offer straight talk and wise perspective – and won’t let partisan gridlock have the last word. The final dialogue in our Civil Conversations Project.
Oct 25, 2012 • 51:00
[Unedited] Jim Daly and Gabe Lyons with Krista Tippett
Jim Daly is president of Focus on the Family. He’s also a Christian radio broadcaster and author of several books, including ReFocus: Living a Life that Reflects God’s Heart. Gabe Lyons is founder of Q: Ideas for Common Good and author of The Next Christians: Seven Ways You Can Live the Gospel and Restore the World and unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity… and Why It Matters.
Sep 20, 2012 • 1:23:38
Jim Daly and Gabe Lyons — The Next Christians
Two Christian leaders are working to restore Christian engagement in the world. Gabe Lyons and Jim Daly discuss how they who are reshaping their part in common life, and the common good. This often surprising conversation addresses subjects like gay marriage, abortion, and the strident reputation that Christian evangelicals have earned in the past decade.
Sep 20, 2012 • 51:00
Joanna Brooks — Mormons Demystified
From “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” to CNN, Joanna Brooks has become a go-to voice during our national inspection of Mormonism in this presidential campaign. As Mitt Romney makes history, we revisit our personal and revealing conversation with the Ask Mormon Girl blogger. She opens a window on Mormonism as an evolving and far from monolithic faith.
Aug 23, 2012 • 51:00
[Unedited] Joanna Brooks with Krista Tippett
Joanna Brooks is chair and associate professor of English and Comparative Literature at San Diego State University. She’s also blogs at Religion Dispatches and Ask Mormon Girl.
Aug 23, 2012 • 1:21:59
Fr. Alberto Ambrosio and Metropolitan Elpidophoros Lambriniadis — Spiritual Boundaries in Modern Turkey
The second show from our recent trip to Istanbul. We meet a Dominican friar whose Christianity is inspired by the mystical tradition of Islam. And, an Eastern Orthodox bishop is creating what he calls a “dialogue of life” as a religious minority in this crucible of the ancient church.
Aug 2, 2012 • 51:00
[Unedited] Fr. Alberto Ambrosio with Krista Tippett
Fr. Alberto Ambrosio is a Dominican friar and scholar of Sufism. Metropolitan Elpidophoros Lambriniadis is the Metropolitan of Bursa in the Ecumenical Patriarchate of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Aug 2, 2012 • 1:18:48
[Unedited] Terry Tempest Williams with Krista Tippett
Terry Tempest Williams is a naturalist and writer, a biologist by training with a literary mind, who comes from a long Mormon lineage in Utah. She draws political, spiritual, and creative inspiration from her experience of the interior American West. She offers stories of neighborly collaboration that turns into environmental protection, and the value that comes from vitriolic disagreement inside families. See more at: onbeing.org/program/vitality-struggle/233
Jul 19, 2012 • 1:26:51
Terry Tempest Williams — The Vitality of the Struggle
Terry Tempest Williams is a naturalist and writer, a biologist by training with a literary mind, who comes from a long Mormon lineage in Utah. She draws political, spiritual, and creative inspiration from her experience of the interior American West. She offers stories of neighborly collaboration that turns into environmental protection, and the value that comes from vitriolic disagreement inside families.
Jul 19, 2012 • 51:00
Mustafa Akyol — Religion, Democracy, and the New Turkey
There’s a country between Europe’s debt crisis and the Arab Spring, where democracy is valued and the economy is growing. It’s Turkey. Mustafa Akyol gives a fresh perspective on this new model of religion and democracy.
Jul 12, 2012 • 51:00
[Unedited] Mustafa Akyol with Krista Tippett
Mustafa Akyol is a Turkish columnist for the English-language Hürriyet Daily News. He’s also the author of “Islam without Extremes: A Muslim Case For Liberty.” This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Mustafa Akyol — Religion, Democracy, and the New Turkey.” Find more at onbeing.org.
Jul 12, 2012 • 1:18:53
[Unedited] Jacob Needleman with Krista Tippett
Krista Tippett speaks with philosopher Jacob Needleman. As new democracies are struggling around the world, it’s easy to forget that U.S. democracy was shaped by trial and error. A conversation about the “inward work” of democracy — the conscience that shaped the American experiment. See more at http://onbeing.org/program/inward-work-democracy-jacob-needleman/222#sthash.uEEZSvS1.dpuf
Jun 28, 2012 • 1:00:28
Jacob Needleman — The Inward Work of Democracy
Krista Tippett speaks with philosopher Jacob Needleman. As new democracies are struggling around the world, it’s easy to forget that U.S. democracy was shaped by trial and error. A conversation about the “inward work” of democracy — the conscience that shaped the American experiment.
Jun 28, 2012 • 51:00
Richard Davidson — Investigating Healthy Minds
Neuroscientist Richard Davidson is revealing that the choices we make can actually “rewire” our brains. He’s studied the brains of meditating Buddhist monks, and now he’s using his research with children and adolescents to look at things like ADHD, autism, and kindness.
Jun 14, 2012 • 51:00
[Unedited] Richard Davidson with Krista Tippett
Neuroscientist Richard Davidson is revealing that the choices we make can actually “rewire” our brains. He’s studied the brains of meditating Buddhist monks, and now he’s using his research with children and adolescents to look at things like ADHD, autism, and kindness. See more at http://onbeing.org/program/investigating-healthy-minds-richard-davidson/251
Jun 14, 2012 • 1:10:18
[Unedited] Michael McCullough with Krista Tippett
Michael McCullough describes science that helps us comprehend how revenge came to have a purpose in human life. At the same time, he stresses, science is also revealing that human beings are more instinctively equipped for forgiveness than we’ve perhaps given ourselves credit for. Knowing this suggests ways to calm the revenge instinct in ourselves and others and embolden the forgiveness intuition. Krista’s unedited conversation with Michael McCullough, author of “Beyond Revenge: The Evolution o
May 24, 2012 • 1:48:20
Michael McCullough — Getting Revenge and Forgiveness
Michael McCullough describes science that helps us comprehend how revenge came to have a purpose in human life. At the same time, he stresses, science is also revealing that human beings are more instinctively equipped for forgiveness than we’ve perhaps given ourselves credit for. Knowing this suggests ways to calm the revenge instinct in ourselves and others and embolden the forgiveness intuition.
May 24, 2012 • 51:00
[Unedited] Matthew Sanford with Krista Tippett
An unusual take on the mind-body connection with author and yoga teacher Matthew Sanford. He’s been a paraplegic since the age of 13. He shares his wisdom for us all on knowing the strength and grace of our bodies even in the face of illness, aging, and death. Krista Tippett interviewed author and yoga instructor Matthew Sanford on July 7, 2006. This interview is included in the show “Matthew Sanford on The Body’s Grace.” See more at http://www.onbeing.org/program/bodys-grace-matthew-sanfords-st
May 3, 2012 • 1:10:48
Matthew Sanford — The Body's Grace
An unusual take on the mind-body connection with author and yoga teacher Matthew Sanford. He’s been a paraplegic since the age of 13. He shares his wisdom for us all on knowing the strength and grace of our bodies even in the face of illness, aging, and death.
May 3, 2012 • 51:00
Ernie LaPointe and Cedric Good House — Reimagining Sitting Bull, Tatanka Iyotake
As some Lakota make an annual pilgrimage on horseback to Wounded Knee in memory of Sitting Bull’s death, we’ll pull out some of the lesser known threads of the legacy of this complex leader and American icon. And we’ll explore why his spiritual character has animated his own people in the last three decades more openly than at any time since his death in 1890.
Apr 19, 2012 • 51:00
[Unedited] Ernie LaPointe with Krista Tippett
As some Lakota make an annual pilgrimage on horseback to Wounded Knee in memory of Sitting Bull’s death, we’ll pull out some of the lesser known threads of the legacy of this complex leader and American icon. And we’ll explore why his spiritual character has animated his own people in the last three decades more openly than at any time since his death in 1890. Krista Tippett interviewed Ernie LaPointe, great-grandson of Sitting Bull, on October 20, 2009. This interview is included in the show “T
Apr 19, 2012 • 2:03:46
Vigen Guroian — Restoring the Senses: Gardening and Orthodox Easter
An understanding of Easter from inside the Armenian Orthodox tradition that is at once mystical and literally down to earth. Vigen Guroian is a theologian who experiences Easter as a call to our senses. He is passionate about the meaning of grand ideas like incarnation, death, and eternity as revealed in life and in his garden.
Apr 5, 2012 • 51:00
[Unedited] Vigen Guroian with Krista Tippett
An understanding of Easter from inside the Armenian Orthodox tradition that is at once mystical and literally down to earth. Vigen Guroian is a theologian who experiences Easter as a call to our senses. He is passionate about the meaning of grand ideas like incarnation, death, and eternity as revealed in life and in his garden. Krista Tippett interviewed Armenian Orthodox theologian Vigen Guorian on February 22, 2007. This interview is included in the show “Restoring the Senses: Gardening and an
Apr 5, 2012 • 1:38:23
Fatemeh Keshavarz — The Ecstatic Faith of Rumi
The 13th-century Muslim mystic and poet Rumi has long shaped Muslims around the world and has now become popular in the West. Rumi created a new language of love within the Islamic mystical tradition of Sufism. We hear his poetry as we delve into his world and listen for its echoes in our own.
Mar 8, 2012 • 51:00
[Unedited] Fatemeh Keshavarz with Krista Tippett
The 13th-century Muslim mystic and poet Rumi has long shaped Muslims around the world and has now become popular in the West. Rumi created a new language of love within the Islamic mystical tradition of Sufism. We hear his poetry as we delve into his world and listen for its echoes in our own. Krista Tippett interviewed Fatemeh Keshavarz on January 17, 2007. This interview is included in the show “The Ecstatic Faith of Rumi.” See more at onbeing.org/program/ecstatic-faith-rumi/189
Mar 8, 2012 • 1:25:33
[Unedited] Nicholas Kristof with Krista Tippett
Can journalism be a humanitarian art? New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has learned that reportage can deaden rather than awaken the consciousness, much less the hearts, of his readers. He shares his wide ethical lens he’s gained on human life in our time — both personal and global. Krista Tippett’s unedited interview with Nicholas Kristof, op-ed columnist for the New York Times. She spoke with him on September 3, 2010 from the studios of APM in St. Paul, Minnesota. Nicholas Kristof was
Feb 9, 2012 • 1:25:13
Nicholas Kristof — Journalism and Compassion
Can journalism be a humanitarian art? New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has learned that reportage can deaden rather than awaken the consciousness, much less the hearts, of his readers. He shares his wide ethical lens he’s gained on human life in our time — both personal and global.
Feb 9, 2012 • 51:00
[Unedited] Tiya Miles with Krista Tippett
Krista Tippett’s unedited interview with Tiya Miles, Chair and Professor in the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She spoke with her on November 16, 2011 from the studios of APM in St. Paul, MN. Tiya Miles was in studio at Michigan Radio at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This interview is included in the show “Toward Living Memory.” Download the produced show at onbeing.org.
Feb 2, 2012 • 1:23:33
Tiya Miles — Toward Living Memory
For Black History Month: a MacArthur “genius” who’s unearthing an especially painful chapter of the American experience — the intersecting history of African-Americans and Native Americans, and the little-known narratives that Cherokee landowners held black slaves. Even with history this difficult, Tiya Miles shows us the possibility of stretching the canvas of the past wide enough to hold both hard truths and healing.
Feb 2, 2012 • 51:00
[Unedited] John Paul Lederach with Krista Tippett
What happens when people transcend violence while living in it? John Paul Lederach has spent three decades mediating peace and change in 25 countries — from Nepal to Colombia and Sierra Leone.. He shifts the language and lens of the very notion of conflict resolution. He says, for example, that enduring progress takes root not with large numbers of people, but with relationships between unlikely people. John Paul Lederach is Professor of International Peacebuilding at the Joan B. Kroc Institute
Jan 12, 2012 • 1:47:58
John Paul Lederach — The Art of Peace
What happens when people transcend violence while living in it? John Paul Lederach has spent three decades mediating peace and change in 25 countries — from Nepal to Colombia and Sierra Leone. He shifts the language and lens of the very notion of conflict resolution. He says, for example, that enduring progress takes root not with large numbers of people, but with relationships between unlikely people.
Jan 12, 2012 • 51:00
Scott-Martin Kosofsky — Legends to Live By
Could a Yiddish text from the Middle Ages serve as a guide to living now? Book composer and typographer Scott-Martin Kosofsky revives unlikely sources of “customs” for leading a modern life and marking sacred time. For Hanukkah and all the seasons upon us.
Dec 15, 2011 • 51:47
[Unedited] Scott-Martin Kosofsky with Krista Tippett
Scott-Martin Kosofsky is a book composer, typographer, and author of “The Book of Customs.” Krista Tippett spoke with him on November 2, 2004 from the studios of APM in Saint Paul, Minnesota; Mr. Kosofsky was in a studio of WGBH in Boston. This interview is included in our show “Legends To Live By.” Download the mp3 of the produced show at onbeing.org.
Dec 15, 2011 • 1:33:56
[Unedited] Diane Winston with Krista Tippett
Diane Winston is the Knight Chair in Media and Religion at the Annenberg School for Communication + Journalism at the University of Southern California. Krista Tippett spoke with her on November 2, 2011 from the studios of APM in Saint Paul, Minnesota; Diane Winston was in a studio at NPR West in Culver City, California. This interview is included in our show “Monsters We Love: TV’s Pop Culture Theodicy.” Download the mp3 of the produced show at onbeing.org.
Dec 1, 2011 • 1:41:49
Diane Winston — Monsters We Love: TV's Pop Culture Theodicy
Amoral zombies. Loving vampires. Righteous serial killers. And lots of God. That’s all in the new TV season — a place where great writers and actors are telling the story of our time — playfully, violently, soulfully.
Dec 1, 2011 • 51:00
Paul Raushenbush — Occupying the Gospel
Paul Brandeis Raushenbush opens up a hidden but possibly re-emerging influence in the DNA of American Christianity, reaching back to the Social Gospel movement at the turn of the 20th century. And, the Huffington Post religion editor shares what he’s learning about religion in this century’s evolving realm of technology.
Nov 17, 2011 • 51:00
[Unedited] Paul Raushenbush with Krista Tippett
Paul Brandeis Raushenbush is the Senior Religion Editor for the Huffington Post. Krista Tippett spoke with him on October 5, 2011 from the studios of APM in Saint Paul, Minnesota; Paul Brandeis Raushenbush was in the Argot Studios in New York City. This interview is included in our show “Occupying the Gospel.” Download the produced show at onbeing.org.
Nov 17, 2011 • 1:23:26
Avivah Zornberg — The Genesis of Desire
What may one of the great literary teachers of Torah and midrash — the Jewish tradition of reading between the lines of the Bible to uncover hidden layers of meaning — teach us about our own human longings? Hear what happens when she takes on Noah and the Flood, and Adam and Eve in the garden.
Oct 6, 2011 • 51:00
[Unedited] Avivah Zornberg with Krista Tippett_2011
Avivah Zornberg is a celebrated, literary teacher of the Torah. We spoke with her on April 7, 2005, from the studios of American Public Media in St. Paul, Minnesota. She was in a private recording studio in Jerusalem. This interview is included in our show “Exodus, Cargo of Hidden Stories.” Download the produced show at onbeing.org.
Oct 6, 2011 • 1:03:41
Sari Nusseibeh — The Evolution of Change
We experience a vision of caution and hope planted in a long view of Arab and Palestinian history, culture, and time in Palestinian philosopher Sari Nusseibeh. His personal story is steeped in layers of identity and, as he says, living legend, which shape history in the making today.
Sep 15, 2011 • 51:00
[Unedited] Sari Nusseibeh with Krista Tippett
We experience a vision of caution and hope planted in a long view of Arab and Palestinian history, culture, and time in Palestinian philosopher Sari Nusseibeh. His personal story is steeped in layers of identity and, as he says, living legend, which shape history in the making today. See more at onbeing.org/program/evolution-change/15
Sep 15, 2011 • 1:18:55
[Unedited] Hendrik Hertzberg, Serene Jones, and Pankaj Mishra with Krista Tippett
In the days and months after 9/11, St. Paul’s Chapel became the hub where thousands of volunteers and rescue workers received round-the-clock care. It was a moving setting to explore how 9/11 changed us as a people — and to ponder the inward work of living with enduring grief and unfolding understanding. See more at: http://onbeing.org/program/who-do-we-want-become-remembering-forward-decade-after-911/257
Sep 8, 2011 • 1:34:42
Hendrik Hertzberg, Pankaj Mishra and Serene Jones — Remembering Forward Ten Years after 9/11
In the days and months after 9/11, St. Paul’s Chapel became the hub where thousands of volunteers and rescue workers received round-the-clock care. It was a moving setting to explore how 9/11 changed us as a people — and to ponder the inward work of living with enduring grief and unfolding understanding. From a live conversation at the edge of Ground Zero, The New Yorker‘s Hendrik Hertzberg, journalist and novelist Pankaj Mishra, and theologian Serene Jones.
Sep 8, 2011 • 51:01
Richard Mouw — Restoring Political Civility: An Evangelical View
Richard Mouw challenges his fellow conservative Christians to civility in public discourse. He offers historical as well as spiritual perspective on American Evangelicals’ navigation of disagreement, fear, and truth.
Aug 18, 2011 • 52:49
[Unedited] Richard Mouw with Krista Tippett (Restoring Political Civility)
Richard Mouw challenges his fellow conservative Christians to civility in public discourse. He offers historical as well as spiritual perspective on American Evangelicals’ navigation of disagreement, fear, and truth. See more at http://onbeing.org/program/restoring-political-civility-evangelical-view/163
Aug 18, 2011 • 1:34:31
Paul Collins and Jennifer Elder — Autism and Humanity
One child in every 110 in the U.S. is now diagnosed to be somewhere on the spectrum of autism. We step back from public controversies over causes and cures and explore the mystery and meaning of autism in one family’s life, and in history and society. Our guests say that life with their child with autism has deepened their understanding of human nature — of disability, and of creativity, intelligence, and accomplishment.
Jul 14, 2011 • 52:01
[Unedited] Paul Collins and Jennifer Elder with Krista Tippett
One child in every 110 in the U.S. is now diagnosed to be somewhere on the spectrum of autism. We step back from public controversies over causes and cures and explore the mystery and meaning of autism in one family’s life, and in history and society. Our guests say that life with their child with autism has deepened their understanding of human nature — of disability, and of creativity, intelligence, and accomplishment. See more at: onbeing.org/program/autism-and-humanity/70
Jul 14, 2011 • 1:50:42
[Unedited] Nidal Al-Azraq with Krista Tippett
Did you know that the sacred city of Bethlehem lies within the West Bank? And, inside its borders, you’ll find something unexpected — a close-knit neighborhood where generations of people have created a new life for themselves. Amahl Bishara and Nidal Al-Azraq show us something rare that we don’t see in the news about refugee camps — the quiet cycles of everyday life. See more at onbeing.org/program/pleasure-more-hope/13
Jul 7, 2011 • 40:56
[Unedited] Amahl Bishara with Krista Tippett
Did you know that the sacred city of Bethlehem lies within the West Bank? And, inside its borders, you’ll find something unexpected — a close-knit neighborhood where generations of people have created a new life for themselves. Amahl Bishara and Nidal Al-Azraq show us something rare that we don’t see in the news about refugee camps — the quiet cycles of everyday life. See more at onbeing.org/program/pleasure-more-hope/13
Jul 7, 2011 • 46:16
Amahl Bishara and Nidal Al-Azraq — Pleasure More Than Hope
Did you know that the sacred city of Bethlehem lies within the West Bank? And, inside its borders, you’ll find something unexpected — a close-knit neighborhood where generations of people have created a new life for themselves. Amahl Bishara and Nidal Al-Azraq show us something rare that we don’t see in the news about refugee camps — the quiet cycles of everyday life.
Jul 7, 2011 • 51:00
Anthea Butler and Arlene Sánchez-Walsh — Reviving Sister Aimee
A look back at the closest thing the early 20th century may have had to Oprah Winfrey. The flamboyant Pentecostal preacher Aimee Semple McPherson was a multimedia sensation and a powerful female religious leader long before most of Christianity considered such a thing. The contradictions and passions of her life are a window into the world of global Pentecostalism that touches as many as half a billion lives today.
Jun 9, 2011 • 52:30
[Unedited] Margaret Paloma with Krista Tippett
A look back at the closest thing the early 20th century may have had to Oprah Winfrey. The flamboyant Pentecostal preacher Aimee Semple McPherson was a multimedia sensation and a powerful female religious leader long before most of Christianity considered such a thing. The contradictions and passions of her life are a window into the world of global Pentecostalism that touches as many as half a billion lives today. Margaret Paloma is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at University of Akron in Ohio
Jun 9, 2011 • 23:34
[Unedited] Arlene Sanchez-Walsh with Krista Tippett
A look back at the closest thing the early 20th century may have had to Oprah Winfrey. The flamboyant Pentecostal preacher Aimee Semple McPherson was a multimedia sensation and a powerful female religious leader long before most of Christianity considered such a thing. The contradictions and passions of her life are a window into the world of global Pentecostalism that touches as many as half a billion lives today. Arlene Sanchez-Walsh is Associate Professor of Latino Church Studies at Azusa Pac
Jun 9, 2011 • 1:01:59
[Unedited] Anthea Butler with Krista Tippett
A look back at the closest thing the early 20th century may have had to Oprah Winfrey. The flamboyant Pentecostal preacher Aimee Semple McPherson was a multimedia sensation and a powerful female religious leader long before most of Christianity considered such a thing. The contradictions and passions of her life are a window into the world of global Pentecostalism that touches as many as half a billion lives today. Anthea Butler is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Graduate Chair of R
Jun 9, 2011 • 1:03:14
Yossi Klein Halevi — Thin Places, Thick Realities
A new show from Jerusalem with American-Israeli journalist Yossi Klein Halevi, who says Jerusalem is a place where the essential human story plays itself out with particular intensity.
May 12, 2011 • 52:14
[Unedited] Yossi Klein Halevi with Krista Tippett
A new show from Jerusalem with American-Israeli journalist Yossi Klein Halevi, who says Jerusalem is a place where the essential human story plays itself out with particular intensity. This is the unedited interview of the produced show “Thin Places, Thick Realities.” See more at http://onbeing.org/program/thin-places-thick-realities/14
May 12, 2011 • 1:10:21
Mohammad Darawshe — Children of Both Identities
Mohammad Darawshe is Arab with an Israeli passport — a Muslim Palestinian citizen of the Jewish state. Like 20 percent of Israel’s population, he is, as he puts it, a child of both identities. He brings an unexpected way of seeing inside the Middle Eastern present and future.
Apr 28, 2011 • 52:32
[Unedited] Mohammad Darawshe with Krista Tippett
Mohammad Darawshe is Arab with an Israeli passport — a Muslim Palestinian citizen of the Jewish state. Like 20 percent of Israel’s population, he is, as he puts it, a child of both identities. He brings an unexpected way of seeing inside the Middle Eastern present and future. Darawshe is co-executive director of The Abraham Fund Initiatives in Israel. Krista Tippett spoke with him on March 17, 2011 at his office outside of Jerusalem. This interview is included in our show “Children of Both Ident
Apr 28, 2011 • 59:27
Avivah Zornberg — Exodus, Cargo of Hidden Stories
The biblical Exodus story has inspired believers and non-believers, Jews and Christians — and more than a few Hollywood movies. But this is no simple story of heroes and villains; it is a complex picture of the possibilities and ironies of human passion and human freedom. If you’re not familiar with Exodus, you’re in for a deeply sensual experience; and, even if you’re well-versed in the text, you just might be surprised.
Apr 14, 2011 • 51:00
[Unedited] Avivah Zornberg with Krista Tippett (Exodus, Cargo of Hidden Stories)
Avivah Zornberg is a celebrated, literary teacher of the Torah. We spoke with her on April 7, 2005, from the studios of American Public Media in St. Paul, Minnesota. She was in a private recording studio in Jerusalem. This interview is included in our show “Exodus, Cargo of Hidden Stories.” The biblical Exodus story has inspired believers and non-believers, Jews and Christians — and more than a few Hollywood movies. But this is no simple story of heroes and villains; it is a complex picture of t
Apr 14, 2011 • 1:11:49
[Unedited] John Polkinghorne with Krista Tippett
This unedited interview with John Polkinghorne was recorded in 2005 and is included in our show, “Quarks and Creation.” Science and religion are often pitted against one another; but how do they complement, rather than contradict, one another? Physicist and theologian John Polkinghorne applies the deepest insights of modern physics to think about how the world fundamentally works, and how the universe might make space for prayer. See more at onbeing.org/program/quarks-and-creation/148
Jan 13, 2011 • 58:57
John Polkinghorne — Quarks and Creation
Science and religion are often pitted against one another; but how do they complement, rather than contradict, one another? We learn how one man applies the deepest insights of modern physics to think about how the world fundamentally works, and how the universe might make space for prayer.
Jan 13, 2011 • 52:00
Evolving "Faith"
At the turn of the year, we look at how American culture’s encounter with religious ideas and people has evolved in the past decade — and this radio project with it.
Dec 30, 2010 • 51:00
[Unedited] Darius Rejali with Krista Tippett
One of the world’s leading experts on torture, Iranian-American political scientist Darius Rejali discusses, in particular, how democracies change torture and are changed by it. In the wake of Wikileaks revelations about torture in U.S.-occupied Iraq, we explore how his knowledge might deepen our public discourse about such practices — and inform our collective reckoning with consequences yet to unfold. See more at onbeing.org/program/long-shadow-torture/206
Nov 4, 2010 • 1:49:26
Darius Rejali — The Long Shadow of Torture
One of the world’s leading experts on torture, Iranian-American political scientist Darius Rejali discusses, in particular, how democracies change torture and are changed by it. In the wake of Wikileaks revelations about torture in U.S.-occupied Iraq, we explore how his knowledge might deepen our public discourse about such practices — and inform our collective reckoning with consequences yet to unfold.
Nov 4, 2010 • 51:00
Doris Taylor — Stem Cells, Untold Stories
Using stem cells, Doris Taylor brought the heart of a dead animal back to life and might one day revolutionize human organ transplantation. She takes us beyond lightning rod issues and into an unfolding frontier where science is learning how stem cells work reparatively in every body at every age.
Sep 30, 2010 • 51:00
[Unedited] Doris Taylor with Krista Tippett
Using stem cells, Doris Taylor brought the heart of a dead animal back to life and might one day revolutionize human organ transplantation. She takes us beyond lightning rod issues and into an unfolding frontier where science is learning how stem cells work reparatively in every body at every age. In this unedited conversation, Krista speaks with Doris Taylor, the director of the Center for Cardiovascular Repair at the University of Minnesota. They speak about the science of stem cells and their
Sep 30, 2010 • 1:33:43
Sharon Brous — Days of Awe
We delve into the world and meaning of the Jewish High Holy Days — ten days that span the new year of Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur’s rituals of atonement. A young rabbi in L.A. is one voice in a Jewish spiritual renaissance that is taking many forms across the U.S. The vast majority of her congregation are people in their 20s and 30s, who, she says, are making life-giving connections between ritual, personal transformation, and relevance in the world.
Sep 2, 2010 • 51:09
[Unedited] Sharon Brous with Krista Tippett
We’ll delve into the world and meaning of the approaching Jewish High Holy Days — ten days that span the new year of Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur’s rituals of atonement. Sharon Brous, a young rabbi in L.A., is one voice in a Jewish spiritual renaissance that is taking many forms across the U.S. The vast majority of her congregation are people in their 20s and 30s, who, she says, are making life-giving connections between ritual, personal transformation, and relevance in the world. In this un
Sep 2, 2010 • 1:24:45
[Unedited] Jacqueline Novogratz with Krista Tippett
The devastation of the Haiti earthquakes and the lack of infrastructure for responding to the disaster have deepened an ongoing debate over foreign aid, international development, and helping the poorest of the world’s poor. Jacqueline Novogratz, whose Acumen Fund is reinventing that landscape with what it calls “patient capitalism,” is charting a third way between investment for profit and aid for free. Krista’s unedited conversation with Jacqueline Novogratz. She’s the founder and CEO of the A
Aug 19, 2010 • 1:25:06
Jacqueline Novogratz — A Different Kind of Capitalism
The devastation of the Haiti earthquakes and the lack of infrastructure for responding to the disaster have deepened an ongoing debate over foreign aid, international development, and helping the poorest of the world’s poor. Jacqueline Novogratz, whose Acumen Fund is reinventing that landscape with what it calls “patient capitalism,” is charting a third way between investment for profit and aid for free.
Aug 19, 2010 • 51:09
[Unedited] Bill McKibben with Krista Tippett
We had to cut some great segments from Krista’s conversation with Bill McKibben. Here you can listen to it all, and tell us what you think of our edits from our produced show “Bill McKibben on The Moral Math of Climate Change.” A conversation about climate change and moral imagination with a leading environmentalist and writer who has been ahead of the curve on this issue since he wrote The End of Nature in 1989. We explore his evolving perspective on human responsibility in a changing natural w
Aug 5, 2010 • 1:30:47
Bill McKibben — The Moral Math of Climate Change
A conversation about climate change and moral imagination with a leading environmentalist and writer who has been ahead of the curve on this issue since he wrote The End of Nature in 1989. We explore his evolving perspective on human responsibility in a changing natural world.
Aug 5, 2010 • 51:09
Barbara Kingsolver — The Ethics of Eating
Kingsolver describes an adventure her family undertook to spend one year eating primarily what they could grow or raise themselves. As a citizen and mother more than an expert, she turned her life towards questions many of us are asking. Food, she says, is a “rare moral arena” in which the ethical choice is often the pleasurable choice.
Jul 15, 2010 • 52:09
[Unedited] Barbara Kingsolver with Krista Tippett
Barbara Kingsolver describes an adventure her family undertook to spend one year eating primarily what they could grow or raise themselves. As a citizen and mother more than an expert, she turned her life towards questions many of us are asking. Food, she says, is a “rare moral arena” in which the ethical choice is often the pleasurable choice. This unedited interview with Barbara Kingsolver is included in our program “Barbara Kingsolver on The Ethics of Eating.” See more at onbeing.org/program/
Jul 15, 2010 • 1:04:17
Shane Claiborne — A Monastic Revolution
Shane Claiborne is a leading spirit in a gathering movement of young people known as the New Monastics. Emerging from the edges of Evangelical Christianity, they are patterning their lives in response to the needs of the poor — and the detachment they see in our culture’s vision of adulthood.
Jul 1, 2010 • 52:09
[Unedited] Shane Claiborne with Krista Tippett
Shane Claiborne is a leading spirit in a gathering movement of young people known as the New Monastics. Emerging from the edges of Evangelical Christianity, they are patterning their lives in response to the needs of the poor — and the detachment they see in our culture’s vision of adulthood. This unedited interview with Shane Claiborne is included in our program “Shane Claiborne on A Monastic Revolution.” See more at onbeing.org/program/monastic-revolution/53
Jul 1, 2010 • 1:26:23
Sandy Eisenberg Sasso — The Spirituality of Parenting
More and more people in our time are disconnected from religious institutions, at least for part of their lives. Others are religious and find themselves creating a family with a spouse from another tradition or no tradition at all. And the experience of parenting tends to raise spiritual questions anew. We sense that there is a spiritual aspect to our children’s natures and wonder how to support and nurture that. The spiritual life, our guest says, begins not in abstractions, but in concrete ev
Jun 17, 2010 • 52:09
[Unedited] Sandy Eisenberg Sasso with Krista Tippett
More and more people in our time are disconnected from religious institutions, or find themselves creating a family with a spouse from another tradition or no tradition at all. We sense that there is a spiritual aspect to our children’s natures and wonder how to support and nurture that. Our guest, Rabbi Sandy Sasso, says the spiritual life begins not in abstractions, but in concrete everyday experiences. And children need our questions as much as our answers. This unedited interview is included
Jun 17, 2010 • 53:59
Andrew Freear — An Architecture of Decency
Auburn’s Rural Studio in western Alabama draws architectural students into the design and construction of homes and public spaces in some of the poorest counties. They’re creating beautiful and economical structures that are not only unique but nurture sustainability of the natural world as of human dignity.
Jun 3, 2010 • 52:09
[Unedited] Andrew Freear with Krista Tippett
Auburn’s Rural Studio in western Alabama draws architectural students into the design and construction of homes and public spaces in some of the poorest counties. They’re creating beautiful and economical structures that are not only unique but nurture sustainability of the natural world as of human dignity. In this edition, Krista interviewed Andrew Freear, director of Auburn University’s Rural Studio in western Alabama. Here’s your chance to listen to their entire, unedited conversation and ob
Jun 3, 2010 • 1:43:01
[Unedited] Mercedes Doretti with Krista Tippett
Mercedes Doretti is co-founder and senior researcher of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF). She received a MacArthur “genius” grant for her work in 2007.
Apr 15, 2010 • 1:21:34
Mercedes Doretti — Laying the Dead to Rest
With an Argentinean scientist, we explore the human landscape of forensic sciences and its emergence as a tool for human rights. Doretti has unearthed bones and stories of the dead and “the disappeared” in more than 30 countries, including victims of Argentina’s Dirty War, over two decades. She shares her perspective on reparation, the need to bury our dead, and the many facets of justice.
Apr 15, 2010 • 52:09
[Unedited] Mayfair Yang with Krista Tippett
Mayfair Yang is Director of the East Asia Center at the University of California in Santa Barbara. She has produced two films about China and is the author of Chinese Religiosities: Afflictions of Modernity and State Formation.
Apr 8, 2010 • 1:33:37
Mayfair Yang — China's Hidden Spiritual Landscape
A filmmaker and scholar gives us a parallel story to the ubiquitous news of China’s economy and politics. Mayfair Yang discusses the ancient and reemerging traditions of reverence and ritual — revealing background to its approach to Tibet. And, she tells us how China gleaned some of its recent dismissive attitudes towards religion from the West.
Apr 8, 2010 • 52:08
[Unedited] Robert Wright with Krista Tippett
Robert Wright charts an intellectual path beyond the faith versus reason debate. He takes a relentlessly logical look at the history of religion, exposing its contradictions. Yet Wright also traces something “revelatory” moving through human history. In this public conversation — recorded before a live audience — we explore the story he tells, the import he sees in it for our culture, and where it has personally taken him. Our unedited conversation with journalist and scholar Robert Wright. This
Mar 4, 2010 • 1:30:37
Robert Wright — The Evolution of God
Robert Wright charts an intellectual path beyond the faith versus reason debate. He takes a relentlessly logical look at the history of religion, exposing its contradictions. Yet Wright also traces something “revelatory” moving through human history. In this public conversation — recorded before a live audience — we explore the story he tells, the import he sees in it for our culture, and where it has personally taken him.
Mar 4, 2010 • 52:08
[Unedited] Freeman Dyson with Krista Tippett
Albert Einstein’s quip that “God does not play dice with the universe,” was about quantum physics, not a statement of faith. But he did ponder the relationship between science and religion and his sense of “the order deeply hidden behind everything.” With guests Freeman Dyson and Paul Davies we explore Einstein’s wisdom on mystery, eternity, and the mind of God. See more at onbeing.org/program/einsteins-god/90
Feb 25, 2010 • 1:00:59
[Unedited] Priyamvada Natarajan With Krista Tippett
Albert Einstein’s quip that “God does not play dice with the universe,” was about quantum physics, not a statement of faith. But he did ponder the relationship between science and religion and his sense of “the order deeply hidden behind everything.” With guests Freeman Dyson and Paul Davies we explore Einstein’s wisdom on mystery, eternity, and the mind of God. See more at onbeing.org/program/einsteins-god/90
Feb 25, 2010 • 54:31
[Unedited] Paul Davies with Krista Tippett
Albert Einstein’s quip that “God does not play dice with the universe,” was about quantum physics, not a statement of faith. But he did ponder the relationship between science and religion and his sense of “the order deeply hidden behind everything.” With guests Freeman Dyson and Paul Davies we explore Einstein’s wisdom on mystery, eternity, and the mind of God. See more at onbeing.org/program/einsteins-god/90
Feb 25, 2010 • 59:36
Freeman Dyson and Paul Davies — Einstein's God
Part two of this series delves into Einstein’s Jewish identity, his passionate engagement around issues of war and race, and modern extensions of his ethical and scientific perspectives.
Feb 25, 2010 • 52:08
[Unedited] E. Ethelbert Miller with Krista Tippett
A poet and self-described literary activist, E. Ethelbert Miller attended Howard University in 1968 — the age in which Black Power was finding its voice. He has remained there ever since, observing and making sense of the trajectory of black history and culture. He pushes at the parameters within which mainstream America routinely sees what he calls “blackness.” Krista’s unedited conversation with E. Ethelbert Miller. He is a poet and literary activist. Krista spoke with him on January 22, 2010,
Feb 11, 2010 • 1:27:44
E. Ethelbert Miller — Black and Universal
A poet and self-described literary activist, E. Ethelbert Miller attended Howard University in 1968 — the age in which Black Power was finding its voice. He has remained there ever since, observing and making sense of the trajectory of black history and culture. He pushes at the parameters within which mainstream America routinely sees what he calls “blackness.”
Feb 11, 2010 • 52:08
Ed Husain — Reflections of a Former Islamist Extremist
British activist Ed Husain was seduced, at the age of 16, by revolutionary Islamist ideals that flourished at the heart of educated British culture. Yet he later shrank back from radicalism after coming close to a murder and watching people he loved become suicide bombers. He dug deeper into Islamic spirituality, and now offers a fresh and daring perspective on the way forward.
Jan 14, 2010 • 52:08
[Unedited] Ed Husain with Krista Tippett
British activist Ed Husain was seduced, at the age of 16, by revolutionary Islamist ideals that flourished at the heart of educated British culture. Yet he later shrank back from radicalism after coming close to a murder and watching people he loved become suicide bombers. He dug deeper into Islamic spirituality, and now offers a fresh and daring perspective on the way forward. Krista Tippett’s unedited conversation with Ed Husain. He’s the author of “The Islamist: Why I Became an Islamic Fundam
Jan 14, 2010 • 1:22:36
Anoushka Shankar, Stephen Mitchell, and Roberta Bondi — Approaching Prayer
Americans are religious and non-religious, devout and irreverent. But in astonishing numbers, across that spectrum, most of us say that we pray. We explore the subject of prayer, how it sounds, and what it means in three different traditions and lives.
Dec 31, 2009 • 52:08
[Unedited] Stephen Mitchell with Krista Tippett
In this Unheard Cut, Krista speaks with author and translator Stephen Mitchell. She interviewed him on April 22, 2002 from the studios of American Public Media in St. Paul, Minnesota; he was at his home in California. This interview is included in our program Approaching Prayer. Americans are religious and non-religious, devout and irreverent. But in astonishing numbers, across that spectrum, most of us say that we pray. We explore the subject of prayer, how it sounds, and what it means in three
Dec 31, 2009 • 45:13
[Unedited] Roberta Bondi with Krista Tippett
In this Unheard Cut, Krista speaks with Roberta Bondi, a professor of Church History Emeritus at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. Krista interviewed her in April 2002 in a New York City hotel where they were both attending a conference. This interview is included in our program Approaching Prayer. Americans are religious and non-religious, devout and irreverent. But in astonishing numbers, across that spectrum, most of us say that we pray. We explore the subject of prayer, how
Dec 31, 2009 • 30:07
[Unedited] Anoushka Shankar with Krista Tippett
In this Unheard Cut, Krista speaks with musician Anoushka Shankar from a Minneapolis hotel while she was touring in 2002. This interview is included in our program Approaching Prayer. Americans are religious and non-religious, devout and irreverent. But in astonishing numbers, across that spectrum, most of us say that we pray. We explore the subject of prayer, how it sounds, and what it means in three different traditions and lives. See more at onbeing.org/program/approaching-prayer/67
Dec 31, 2009 • 25:32
[Unedited] Karen Armstrong with Krista Tippett
In this unedited conversation, Krista speaks with Karen Armstrong, a best-selling author, scholar, and Catholic nun. Hear their complete conversation as Armstrong tells the story behind her developing ideas about God. Karen Armstrong speaks about her progression from a disillusioned and damaged young nun into, in her words, a “freelance monotheist.” She’s a formidable thinker and scholar, but as a theologian she calls herself an amateur — noting that the Latin root of the word “amateur” means a
Nov 5, 2009 • 1:26:00
Karen Armstrong — Freelance Monotheism
Karen Armstrong speaks about her progression from a disillusioned and damaged young nun into, in her words, a “freelance monotheist.” She’s a formidable thinker and scholar, but as a theologian she calls herself an amateur — noting that the Latin root of the word “amateur” means a love of one’s subject. Seven years in a strict religious order nearly snuffed out her ability to think about faith at all. Here, we hear the story behind Armstrong’s developing ideas about God.
Nov 5, 2009 • 52:08
Malka Haya Fenyvesi and Aziza Hasan — Curiosity Over Assumptions
We shine a light on two young leaders of a new generation of grassroots Muslim-Jewish encounter in Los Angeles. They’re innovating templates of practical relationship that work with reality, acknowledge questions and conflict, yet resolve not to be enemies — whatever the political future of the Middle East may hold.
Oct 15, 2009 • 52:08
[Unedited] Malka Haya Fenyvesi and Aziza Hasan with Krista Tippett
We shine a light on two young leaders of a new generation of grassroots Muslim-Jewish encounter in Los Angeles. They’re innovating templates of practical relationship that work with reality, acknowledge questions and conflict, yet resolve not to be enemies — whatever the political future of the Middle East may hold. See more at onbeing.org/program/curiosity-over-assumptions-interreligiosity-meets-new-generation/81
Oct 15, 2009 • 1:40:32
[Unedited] Eckhart Tolle With Krista Tippett
This unedited conversation with Eckhart Tolle comes from our produced show “Eckhart Tolle on the Power of Now.” One of today’s most influential spiritual teachers shares his youthful experience of depression and despair — suffering that led him to his own spiritual breakthrough, and ultimately, freedom and peace of mind. He also explicates his view of what he calls “the pain body” — the accumulated emotional pain that may influence us and our relationships in negative ways. And Tolle talks about
Oct 8, 2009 • 1:35:51
Eckhart Tolle — The Power of Now
One of today’s most influential spiritual teachers shares his youthful experience of depression and despair — suffering that led him to his own spiritual breakthrough, and ultimately, freedom and peace of mind. He also explicates his view of what he calls “the pain body” — the accumulated emotional pain that may influence us and our relationships in negative ways. And Tolle talks about spirit and God, and what those concepts mean to him.
Oct 8, 2009 • 52:08
David Treuer — Language and Meaning, an Ojibwe Story
Language is a carrier of human identity. It is a vehicle by which we understand and express our very sense of self. Novelist and translator David Treuer is helping to compile the first practical grammar of the Ojibwe language. He describes an unfolding experience of how language forms what makes us human. Some memories and realities, he has found, can only be carried forward in time by Ojibwe.
Oct 1, 2009 • 52:08
Living Islam
Nine Muslims, in their own words, reveal a creative convergence of Islamic spirituality and American identity that is unfolding, largely unnoticed, in the United States. A lawyer turned playwright, a teacher who’s a lesbian, a retired federal prosecutor — all giving shape to the nature and meaning of Muslim identity, and sharing how tricky it can be to unravel Islamic religious tradition from the many cultural traditions.
Sep 24, 2009 • 52:08
[Unedited] Binyavanga Wainaina With Krista Tippett
We explore the complex ethics of global aid with a young writer from Kenya, Binyavanga Wainaina. He is among a rising generation of African voices who bring a cautionary perspective to the morality and efficacy behind many Western initiatives to abolish poverty and speed development in Africa. See more at www.onbeing.org/program/ethics-aid-one-kenyans-perspective/190
Aug 27, 2009 • 1:40:31
Binyavanga Wainaina — The Ethics of Aid: One Kenyan's Perspective
We explore the complex ethics of global aid with a young writer from Kenya, Binyavanga Wainaina. He is among a rising generation of African voices who bring a cautionary perspective to the morality and efficacy behind many Western initiatives to abolish poverty and speed development in Africa.
Aug 27, 2009 • 52:08
David Brooks and E.J. Dionne — Obama's Theologian: Reinhold Niebuhr and the American Present
President Obama has cited Reinhold Niebuhr’s teachings as significant in shaping his ideas about politics and governance. In a public conversation, we discuss the great public theologian’s legacy and ideas — and what influence they may play in the future of American politics.
Aug 13, 2009 • 52:08
[Unedited] David Brooks And E.J. Dionne With Krista Tippett
This unedited conversation with David Brooks and E.J. Dionne comes from our produced show “David Brooks and E. J. Dionne on Obama’s Theologian: Neibuhr and the American Present.” President Obama has cited Reinhold Niebuhr’s teachings as significant in shaping his ideas about politics and governance. In a public conversation, we discuss the great public theologian’s legacy and ideas — and what influence they may play in the future of American politics. See more at www.onbeing.org/program/obamas-t
Aug 13, 2009 • 1:23:18
[Unedited] Majora Carter with Krista Tippett (Repossessing Virtue: Being More Deliberately Joyful)
Activist Majora Carter says she doesn’t think of her work at Sustainable South Bronx as a moral endeavor, but a pragmatic one. Nevertheless she looks on this period of economic tumult as a chance for being happy and passing that on to others. Last fall we began to conduct an online conversation parallel to but distinct from our culture’s more sustained focus on economic scenarios. For in each of our lives, whoever we are, very personal scenarios are unfolding that confront us with core questions
Jul 30, 2009 • 8:46
Repossessing Virtue: Wise Voices from Religion, Science, Industry, and the Arts
As the global economic crisis began to unfold this past fall, we wanted to respond immediately, in our way. We began to conduct an online conversation parallel to but distinct from our culture’s more sustained focus on economic scenarios. For in each of our lives, whoever we are, very personal scenarios are unfolding that confront us with core questions of what matters to us and what sustains us. We made a list of our guests across the years who we thought might speak to this in fresh and compel
Jul 30, 2009 • 52:08
[Unedited] Martin Marty with Krista Tippett (On Repossessing Virtue: Trust in Uncertain Times)
The SOF First Person project kicks off with our search for fresh ways to talk about the current economic crisis — beginning with reflections from an acclaimed historian and theologian. He shares a good deal of his “lived theology” — the personal, daily acts of faith that preserve sanity and restore trust even at the most uncertain times. Last fall we began to conduct an online conversation parallel to but distinct from our culture’s more sustained focus on economic scenarios. For in each of our
Jul 30, 2009 • 14:46
[Unedited] Esther Sternberg with Krista Tippett (On the Economic Crisis in Biological Terms)
SOF First Person continues its series on the economic downturn with Dr. Esther Sternberg, a rheumatologist and stress researcher. She doesn’t see the financial crisis in moral terms in so much as biological ones. She elaborates on these scientific points and then relates them on a personal level, often by looking inward and exposing the frailty of her own humanity. Last fall we began to conduct an online conversation parallel to but distinct from our culture’s more sustained focus on economic sc
Jul 30, 2009 • 12:27
[Unedited] Sharon Salzberg with Krista Tippett (On Repossessing Virtue)
The Buddhist teacher and author Sharon Salzberg reflects on our current culture and its inability to acknowledge the inevitability of suffering. We hide from it, and hide it from others. She argues that we need not fear this, but look to others for compassion and wisdom and generosity as well as being touch with ourselves. Last fall we began to conduct an online conversation parallel to but distinct from our culture’s more sustained focus on economic scenarios. For in each of our lives, whoever
Jul 30, 2009 • 9:16
[Unedited] Anchee Min with Krista Tippett (Repossessing Virtue: Repairing the American Individual)
Novelist Anchee Min grew up during the Cultural Revolution in Mao’s China. Living in the United States for several decades, she offers a challenging assessment of American reactions to these times based on her harsher experiences. Last fall we began to conduct an online conversation parallel to but distinct from our culture’s more sustained focus on economic scenarios. For in each of our lives, whoever we are, very personal scenarios are unfolding that confront us with core questions of what mat
Jul 30, 2009 • 16:46
[Unedited] Prabhu Guptara with Krista Tippett (On Repossessing Virtue)
As promised, we continue our SOF First Person project by turning to Swiss banking expert, Prabhu Guptara. Several years ago, Krista spoke with Guptara when the fallout of the Enron scandal was wreaking havoc on the U.S. economy and shaking investor confidence in corporate practices and business fundamentals. His message was simple but challenging, and also quite liberating for much of our audience — bring your personal values into the workplace. For Guptara, doing this is one of the best ways of
Jul 30, 2009 • 14:33
[Unedited] Rachel Naomi Remen (On Repossessing Virtue: Economic Crisis as Spiritual Journey)
Our SOF First Person series continues with physician Rachel Naomi Remen, author of “Kitchen Table Wisdom.” She sees these fiscally hard times as an opportunity to find our way back to the largeness of our collective story, which is part of the spiritual path we are on as we ask ourselves questions during this economic crisis: What do I trust? What do I really need? Last fall we began to conduct an online conversation parallel to but distinct from our culture’s more sustained focus on economic sc
Jul 30, 2009 • 23:20
Parker Palmer — Repossessing Virtue: Economic Crisis, Morality, and Meaning
We explore human and spiritual aspects of economic downturn with a wise public intellectual of our time, the Quaker author and educator Parker Palmer. He works with people from all walks of life at the intersection of spiritual, professional, and social change, and stresses the need to acknowledge the inner life of human beings as a source of reality and power.
Jul 23, 2009 • 52:08
[Unedited] Parker Palmer With Krista Tippett (On Repossessing Virtue)
This unedited conversation with Parker Palmer comes from our produced show “Parker Palmer on Repossessing Virtue: Economic Crisis, Morality, and Meaning.” We explore human and spiritual aspects of economic downturn with a wise public intellectual of our time, the Quaker author and educator Parker Palmer. He works with people from all walks of life at the intersection of spiritual, professional, and social change, and stresses the need to acknowledge the inner life of human beings as a source of
Jul 23, 2009 • 1:43:23
[Unedited] Diane Winston with Krista Tippett
Diane Winston holds the Knight Chair in Media and Religion at the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Her media and religion blog is called “the SCOOP.”
Jul 16, 2009 • 1:23:26
Diane Winston — TV and Parables of Our Time
Diane Winston appreciates good television, studies it, and brings many of its creators into her religion and media classes at the University of Southern California. In what some have called a renaissance in television drama, we examine how TV is helping us tell our story and work through great confusions in contemporary life. And, we play clips from The Wire, House, Lost, and Battlestar Galactica.
Jul 16, 2009 • 52:08
Paul Zak — The Science of Trust: Economics and Virtue
In a few breathtaking months, we’ve culturally moved from seeing Wall Street as an icon of thriving civil society to discussing its workings with book titles like “House of Cards” and “Animal Spirits.” As part of our ongoing Repossessing Virtue series, we look at what science is learning about trust, fair play, and empathy — and what these qualities have to do with human character and economics.
Jul 9, 2009 • 52:08
[Unedited] Paul Zak with Krista Tippett
Paul Zak is professor of Economics and director of the Center for Neuroeconomic Studies at Claremont Graduate University in California. He’s editor of Moral Markets: The Critical Role of Values in the Economy.
Jul 9, 2009 • 1:18:45
Joshua DuBois — Obama's Faith-Based Office
The very words “faith-based” became controversial during the Bush administration, yet Barack Obama has retained the faith-based centers in 11 federal agencies that his predecessor created. And within weeks of assuming the presidency, he announced priority areas for his own White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships — including economic recovery and poverty reduction, abortion reduction, responsible fatherhood, and global interfaith dialogue. In a live, public conversation, w
May 28, 2009 • 52:08
[Unedited] Joshua DuBois With Krista Tippett
In this unedited conversation, we meet Joshua DuBois, the 26-year-old political strategist, Pentecostal minister, and trusted associate of the president who will lead this charge. The very words “faith-based” became controversial during the Bush administration, yet Barack Obama has retained the faith-based centers in 11 federal agencies that his predecessor created. And within weeks of assuming the presidency, he announced priority areas for his own White House Office of Faith-based and Neighbor
May 28, 2009 • 1:20:40
[Unedited] Vali Nasr with Krista Tippett
In this unedited conversation, we seek fresh insight into the history and the human and religious dynamics of Islam’s Sunni-Shia divide. Our guest says that it is not so different from dynamics in periods of Western Christian history. See more at onbeing.org/program/obamas-faith-based-office-meeting-joshua-dubois/135
May 21, 2009 • 1:27:35
Vali Nasr — The Sunni-Shia Divide and the Future of Islam
We seek fresh insight into the history and the human and religious dynamics of Islam’s Sunni-Shia divide. Our guest says that it is not so different from dynamics in periods of Western Christian history. But he says that by bringing the majority Shia to power in Iraq, the U.S. has changed the religions dynamics of the Middle East.
May 21, 2009 • 52:08
Repossessing Virtue: Living Differently, Beyond Economic Crisis
We’re bringing the voices of our listeners into the conversation we’ve been building online and on-air since the economic downturn began last year. Many are grappling with the shame that comes in American culture with the loss of a job, and many are seeking community in old places and new. For some, economic instability — a kind of life on the edge — is not new. They’ve been cultivating virtues of patience, self-examination, service and good humor that might help us all.
May 14, 2009 • 52:08
James Moore — Evolution and Wonder: Understanding Charles Darwin
We’ll take a fresh and thought-provoking look at Darwin’s life and ideas. He did not argue against God but against a simple understanding of the world — its beauty, its brutality, and its unfolding creation.
Feb 5, 2009 • 52:08
[Unedited] James Moore with Krista Tippett
In this unedited conversation with James Moore, we’ll take a fresh and thought-provoking look at Darwin’s life and ideas. He did not argue against God but against a simple understanding of the world — its beauty, its brutality, and its unfolding creation. See more at onbeing.org/program/evolution-and-wonder-understanding-charles-darwin/94
Feb 5, 2009 • 1:31:59
Mary Doria Russell — The Novelist as God
Our guest has grappled with large moral and religious questions on and off the page. We discover what she discerned — in the act of creating a new universe — about God and about dilemmas of evil, doubt, and free will. The ultimate moral of any life and any event, she believes, only shows itself across generations. And so the novelist, like God, she says, paints with the brush of time.
Jan 29, 2009 • 52:08
[Unedited] Mary Doria Russell With Krista Tippett
This unedited conversation with Mary Doria Russell comes from our produced show “Mary Doria Russell on the Novelist as God.” Mary Doria Russell has grappled with large moral and religious questions on and off the page. We discover what she discerned — in the act of creating a new universe — about God and about dilemmas of evil, doubt, and free will. The ultimate moral of any life and any event, she believes, only shows itself across generations. And so the novelist, like God, she says, paints wi
Jan 29, 2009 • 1:44:30
[Unedited] Pankaj Mishra On The Backdrop Of The Buddha
This unheard cut on “The Backdrop of the Buddha” comes from our produced show ‘Pankaj Mishra on the Buddha in the World.” See more at onbeing.org/program/buddha-world/186
Jan 22, 2009 • 18:06
Pankaj Mishra — The Buddha in the World
A few years ago, journalist Pankaj Mishra pursued the social relevance of the Buddha’s thought across India and Europe, Afghanistan and America. He emerged with a startling critique of Western political economy that is even more resonant today as he pursued the social relevance of the Buddha’s core questions: Do desiring and acquiring make us happy? Does large-scale political change really address human suffering?
Jan 22, 2009 • 52:08
[Unedited] Pankaj Mishra With Krista Tippett
This unedited conversation comes from the produced show “Pankaj Mishra on the Buddha in the World.” Journalist Pankaj Mishra pursued the social relevance of the Buddha’s thought across India and Europe, Afghanistan and America. He emerged with a startling critique of Western political economy that is even more resonant today as he pursued the social relevance of the Buddha’s core questions: Do desiring and acquiring make us happy? Does large-scale political change really address human suffering?
Jan 22, 2009 • 1:24:41
[Unedited] Fr. Columba Stewart with Krista Tippett
Columba Stewart is the executive director of the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library at Saint John’s Abbey and University. Getatchew Haile is a MacArthur Fellow and the curator of the Ethiopian Study Center at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library at Saint John’s Abbey and University.
Jan 15, 2009 • 1:30:54
Columba Stewart and Getatchew Haile — Preserving Words and Worlds
Saint John’s University and Abbey in rural Minnesota houses a monastic library that rescues writings from across the centuries and across the world. There are worlds in this place on palm leaf and papyrus, in microfilm and pixels. And the relevance of the past to the present is itself revealed in a new light.
Jan 15, 2009 • 52:09
[Unedited] Getatchew Haile with Krista Tippett
Columba Stewart is the executive director of the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library at Saint John’s Abbey and University. Getatchew Haile is a MacArthur Fellow and the curator of the Ethiopian Study Center at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library at Saint John’s Abbey and University.
Jan 15, 2009 • 55:20
Unedited Interview with Jennifer Michael Hecht
In this unedited conversation poet and historian Jennifer Michael Hecht says that as a scholar she always noticed the “shadow history” of doubt out of the corner of her eye. She shows how non-belief, skepticism, and doubt have paralleled and at times shaped the world’s great religious and secular belief systems. She suggests that only in modern time has doubt been narrowly equated with a complete rejection of faith, or a broader sense of mystery. See more at onbeing.org/program/history-doubt/51
Jan 8, 2009 • 1:18:50
Jennifer Michael Hecht — A History of Doubt
Poet and historian Jennifer Michael Hecht says that as a scholar she always noticed the “shadow history” of doubt out of the corner of her eye. She shows how non-belief, skepticism, and doubt have paralleled and at times shaped the world’s great religious and secular belief systems. She suggests that only in modern time has doubt been narrowly equated with a complete rejection of faith, or a broader sense of mystery.
Jan 8, 2009 • 52:08
[Unedited] Robert Coles With Krista Tippett
Psychiatrist Robert Coles has spent his career exploring the inner lives of children. In this unedited interview, he says children are witnesses to the fullness of our humanity; they are keenly attuned to the darkness as well as the light of life; and they can teach us about living honestly, searchingly and courageously if we let them. See more at onbeing.org/program/inner-lives-children/204
Jan 1, 2009 • 1:07:28
Robert Coles — The Inner Lives of Children
Psychiatrist Robert Coles has spent his career exploring the inner lives of children. He says children are witnesses to the fullness of our humanity; they are keenly attuned to the darkness as well as the light of life; and they can teach us about living honestly, searchingly and courageously if we let them.
Jan 1, 2009 • 52:08
[Unedited] Studs Terkel with Krista Tippett
We remember Studs Terkel, who recently died at the age of 96. The legendary interviewer chronicled decades of ordinary life and tumultuous change in U.S. culture. We visited him in his Chicago home in 2004 and drew out his wisdom and warmth on large existential themes of life and death. A lifelong agnostic, Studs Terkel shared his thoughts on religion as he’d observed it in his conversation partners, in culture, and in his own encounters with loss and mortality. See more at onbeing.org/program/s
Nov 13, 2008 • 52:34
Studs Terkel — Life, Faith, and Death
We remember Studs Terkel, who recently died at the age of 96. The legendary interviewer chronicled decades of ordinary life and tumultuous change in U.S. culture. We visited him in his Chicago home in 2004 and drew out his wisdom and warmth on large existential themes of life and death. A lifelong agnostic, Studs Terkel shared his thoughts on religion as he’d observed it in his conversation partners, in culture, and in his own encounters with loss and mortality.
Nov 13, 2008 • 53:08
Steven Waldman — Liberating the Founders
Americans remain divided about how much religion they want in their political life. As we elect a new president, we return to an evocative, relevant conversation from earlier this year with journalist Steven Waldman. From his unusual study of the American founders, he understands why 21st-century struggles over religion in the public square spur passionate disagreement and entanglement with politics at its most impure.
Oct 30, 2008 • 53:08
[Unedited] Steven Waldman with Krista Tippett (On Liberating the Founders)
In this unedited conversation, Krista interviewed Steve Waldman, journalist and founder of Beliefnet, for the produced show “Steven Waldman on Liberating the Founders.” Listen to their complete, unedited conversation. Here’s your chance to observe the editorial process and let us know what you think. Americans remain divided about how much religion they want in their political life. As we elect a new president, we return to an evocative, relevant conversation from earlier this year with journali
Oct 30, 2008 • 1:26:27
Vashti McKenzie — African American, Woman, Leader
The current U.S. presidential election has illustrated how gender, race, and religion can become lightning rods, and may be seen as potential stumbling blocks to leadership. Vashti McKenzie is a pioneering figure on all these fronts. When she became the first woman bishop of the oldest historic black church in America, she declared, “The stained glass ceiling has been pierced and broken.” We offer her story, her wisdom, and her good humor as an edifying lens on the American past, present, and fu
Oct 23, 2008 • 53:08
[Unedited] Vashti McKenzie with Krista Tippett
In this unedited conversation Krista Tippett interviews Vashti McKenzie, first female bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, for the produced show “Vashti McKenzie: African American. Woman. Leader.” The current U.S. presidential election has illustrated how gender, race, and religion can become lightning rods, and may be seen as potential stumbling blocks to leadership. Vashti McKenzie is a pioneering figure on all these fronts. When she became the first woman bishop of the oldest his
Oct 23, 2008 • 1:40:03
[Unedited] Rod Dreher with Krista Tippett
This unedited conversation with Rod Dreher comes from the second part of our series “The Faith Life of the Party.” A conservative columnist, Rod Dreher is an outspoken critic of mainstream Republican economic and environmental ideas and the conduct of the Iraq war, but he voted for George W. Bush twice. We explore the little-known story of religiously influenced impulses within the conservative movement that diverge from the Religious Right. The second part of our examination of religious energi
Oct 9, 2008 • 1:24:31
Rod Dreher — The Faith Life of the Party: Part II, The Right
The second part of our examination of religious energies below the surface of the 2008 presidential campaign. Conservative columnist Rod Dreher is an outspoken critic of mainstream Republican economic and environmental ideas and the conduct of the Iraq war, but he voted for George W. Bush twice. We explore the little-known story of religiously influenced impulses within the conservative movement that diverge from the Religious Right.
Oct 9, 2008 • 53:08
[Unedited] Amy Sullivan with Krista Tippett
This unedited conversation with Amy Sullivan comes from the first part of our series “The Faith Life of the Party.” She’s a national corespondent for Time magazine, an Evangelical Christian, and an observer of the Democratic Party. The Religious Right has gotten a fair amount of coverage in recent years, while the political Left has rarely been represented with a religious sensibility. Our guest, a national correspondent for Time magazine is a political liberal and an Evangelical Christian who h
Oct 2, 2008 • 1:01:20
Amy Sullivan — The Faith Life of the Party: Part I, The Left
The Religious Right has gotten a fair amount of coverage in recent years, while the political Left has rarely been represented with a religious sensibility. Our guest, a national correspondent for Time magazine is a political liberal and an Evangelical Christian who has been observing the Democratic Party’s complex relationship with faith and the little-told story of its response to the rise of the Religious Right.
Oct 2, 2008 • 53:08
[Unedited] Cecil M. Robeck, Jr. With Krista Tippett
This unedited conversation with Cecil M. Robeck, Jr. took place on April 22, 2006 at The Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles and comes from our produced show Cecil M. Robeck, Jr. and Arlene Sanchez-Walsh on The Origins and Impact of Pentecostalism, Spiritual Tidal Wave.” See more at onbeing.org/program/spiritual-tidal-wave-origins-and-impact-pentecostalism/176
Sep 18, 2008 • 1:09:45
Mel Robeck — Spiritual Tidal Wave: The Origins and Impact of Pentecostalism
The birth of the Pentecostal movement began 100 years ago on Azusa Street in Los Angeles. We’ll be taking our show on the road to cover this global gathering and revival that is reshaping Christianity, culture, and politics worldwide.
Sep 18, 2008 • 53:08
Esther Sternberg — Stress and the Balance Within
The American experience of stress has spawned a multi-billion dollar self-help industry. Wary of this, Esther Sternberg says that, until recently, modern science did not have the tools or the inclination to take emotional stress seriously. She shares fascinating new scientific insight into the molecular level of the mind-body connection.
Sep 4, 2008 • 53:08
[Unedited] Esther Sternberg With Krista Tippett (On Stress And The Balance Within)
This unedited conversation with Esther Sternberg comes from our produced show “Esther Sternberg on the Balance Within.” The American experience of stress has spawned a multi-billion dollar self-help industry. Wary of this, Esther Sternberg says that, until recently, modern science did not have the tools or the inclination to take emotional stress seriously. She shares fascinating new scientific insight into the molecular level of the mind-body connection. See more at onbeing.org/program/stress-a
Sep 4, 2008 • 1:20:03
James Prosek — Fishing with Mystery
James Prosek is an artist, fly-fisher, author, and environmental activist who has always, as he puts it, found God “through the theater of nature.” From a young age he has been fascinated by trout and now eel – which he sees as “mystical creatures” – and he’s captured them literally and artistically, by way of both angling and paint. We explore the sense of meaning and mystery he has developed along the way, including his concern with how we humans limit our sense of other creatures by the names
Aug 28, 2008 • 52:08
[Unedited] James Prosek With Krista Tippett
This unedited conversation is part of the radio program, “James Prosek on Fishing with Mystery.” James Prosek is an artist, fly-fisher, author, and environmental activist who has always, as he puts it, found God “through the theater of nature.” From a young age he has been fascinated by trout and now eel — which he sees as “mystical creatures” — and he’s captured them literally and artistically, by way of both angling and paint. We explore the sense of meaning and mystery he has developed along
Aug 28, 2008 • 1:34:46
Rick and Kay Warren — At Saddleback
In this program we revisit a 2007 conversation with evangelical leaders Rick and Kay Warren — exploring where they came from and what motivates them. Rick Warren hosted the first post-primary joint appearance of Barack Obama and John McCain at his Saddleback Church in southern California, one of the largest churches in the U.S. This two hour event, broadcast live on CNN, is just one sign of the cross-cultural authority he and Kay have achieved in a handful of years.
Aug 21, 2008 • 53:08
[Unedited] Jonathan Greenblatt with Krista Tippett
The news has been marked in recent years, at regular intervals, by the moral and practical downfall of prominent businesses. Jonathan Greenblatt is among a new generation of entrepreneurs who want to lead a fundamental shift in corporate culture as well as philanthropy — a merger between making a profit and doing good. We explore his way of seeing the world and his economics of “ethical brand architecture” and “fiercely pragmatic idealism.” See more at onbeing.org/program/business-doing-good/187
Jul 31, 2008 • 1:30:03
Jonathan Greenblatt — The Business of Doing Good
The news has been marked in recent years, at regular intervals, by the moral and practical downfall of prominent businesses. Jonathan Greenblatt is among a new generation of entrepreneurs who want to lead a fundamental shift in corporate culture as well as philanthropy — a merger between making a profit and doing good. We explore his way of seeing the world and his economics of “ethical brand architecture” and “fiercely pragmatic idealism.”
Jul 31, 2008 • 53:08
[Unedited] Adrian Ivakhiv with Krista Tippett
An environmentalist who pursued the ecological impulse of Paganism, from its ancient roots to its modern revival in Europe and North America, discusses his observations about the spirit of Paganism and its influence on everyday Western culture — and even on old-time religion. See more at onbeing.org/program/pagans-ancient-and-modern/139
Jun 12, 2008 • 1:25:37
Adrian Ivakhiv — Pagans, Ancient and Modern
An environmentalist who pursued the ecological impulse of Paganism, from its ancient roots to its modern revival in Europe and North America, discusses his observations about the spirit of Paganism and its influence on everyday Western culture — and even on old-time religion.
Jun 12, 2008 • 53:08
[Unedited] Susan Cheever with Krista Tippett
Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill Wilson once said that the program he helped create is, “utter simplicity which encases a complete mystery.” Our guests reflect on the Twelve Steps and how they resonate in their personal stories and in Buddhist and Christian teachings. See more at onbeing.org/program/spirituality-addiction-and-recovery/229
May 15, 2008 • 1:09:09
Susan Cheever and Kevin Griffen — The Spirituality of Addiction and Recovery
Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill Wilson once said that the program he helped create is, “utter simplicity which encases a complete mystery.” Our guests reflect on the Twelve Steps and how they resonate in their personal stories and in Buddhist and Christian teachings.
May 15, 2008 • 52:00
[Unedited] Fr. Donald Senior With Krista Tippett
This unedited conversation with Fr. Donald Senior comes from our produced show “The Beauty and Challenge of Being Catholic: Hearing the Faithful” We received hundreds of essays in response to our query about what anchors and unsettles our Catholic audience. So we asked some of you to speak about your tradition. The moving reflections we heard prompted us to depart from our usual format and bring you a fabric of voices from the Church itself. See more at onbeing.org/program/beauty-and-challenge-b
May 1, 2008 • 1:45:33
The Beauty and Challenge of Being Catholic - Hearing the Faithful
We received hundreds of essays in response to our query about what anchors and unsettles our Catholic audience. So we asked some of you to speak about your tradition. The moving reflections we heard prompted us to depart from our usual format and bring you a fabric of voices from the Church itself.
May 1, 2008 • 53:08
Greg Epstein — Exploring a New Humanism
In a recent Pew poll, 16 percent of Americans identified themselves as “unaffiliated” — atheist, agnostic, or most prominently “nothing in particular.” Greg Epstein, a Humanist chaplain at Harvard, described himself that way until he discovered the tradition of humanism. He is passionate about articulating an atheist identity that is not driven by a stance against religion but by positive ethical beliefs and actions.
Mar 27, 2008 • 53:27
[Unedited] Ingrid Mattson With Krista Tippett
Ingrid Mattson, the first woman and first convert to lead the Islamic Society of North America, describes her experience of Islamic spirituality, which she discovered in her twenties after a Catholic upbringing. We probe her unusual perspective on a tumultuous age for Islam in the West and around the world. See more at onbeing.org/program/new-voice-islam/54
Mar 6, 2008 • 1:28:14
Ingrid Mattson — A New Voice for Islam
Ingrid Mattson, the first woman and first convert to lead the Islamic Society of North America, describes her experience of Islamic spirituality, which she discovered in her twenties after a Catholic upbringing. We probe her unusual perspective on a tumultuous age for Islam in the West and around the world.
Mar 6, 2008 • 53:27
[Unedited] Robert Millet With Krista Tippett
Americans have been hearing a lot about Mormonism in the context of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. But much of the public discussion of this faith of 13 million people has focused on controversies in the church’s history. We’ll avoid well-trodden ground to seek an understanding of the lived beliefs and spirituality of Latter Day Saints, with a leading scholar of the church and a lifelong practitioner. Robert Millet describes a developing young religion with distinct mystical and practical
Jan 24, 2008 • 1:36:34
Robert Millet — Inside Mormon Faith
Americans have been hearing a lot about Mormonism in the context of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. But much of the public discussion of this faith of 13 million people has focused on controversies in the church’s history. We’ll avoid well-trodden ground to seek an understanding of the lived beliefs and spirituality of Latter Day Saints, with a leading scholar of the church and a lifelong practitioner. Robert Millet describes a developing young religion with distinct mystical and practical
Jan 24, 2008 • 53:00
[Unedited] Cal DeWitt With Krista Tippett
Environmentalism and climate change are hot topics; yet they’re still often imagined as the territory of scientists, expert activists, and those who can afford to be environmentally conscious. We discover two people who are transforming the ecology of their immediate worlds: biologist Calvin DeWitt in Dunn, Wisconsin and Majora Carter in New York’s South Bronx. See more at onbeing.org/program/discovering-where-we-live-reimagining-environmentalism/87
Jan 17, 2008 • 1:24:19
[Unedited] Interview with Majora Carter
Environmentalism and climate change are hot topics; yet they’re still often imagined as the territory of scientists, expert activists, and those who can afford to be environmentally conscious. We discover two people who are transforming the ecology of their immediate worlds: biologist Calvin DeWitt in Dunn, Wisconsin and Majora Carter in New York’s South Bronx. See more at onbeing.org/program/discovering-where-we-live-reimagining-environmentalism/87
Jan 17, 2008 • 56:06
Cal DeWitt and Majora Carter — Discovering Where We Live: Reimagining Environmentalism
Environmentalism and climate change are hot topics; yet they’re still often imagined as the territory of scientists, expert activists, and those who can afford to be environmentally conscious. We discover two people who are transforming the ecology of their immediate worlds in Dunn, Wisconsin and New York’s South Bronx.
Jan 17, 2008 • 52:58
[Unedited] Douglas Johnston with Krista Tippett
In this unedited conversation, Krista interviews Douglas Johnston, president and founder of the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy. We’re making the entire, unedited conversation available for the first time. Here’s your chance to observe the editorial process and let us know what you think. See more at onbeing.org/program/diplomacy-and-religion-21st-century/86
Jan 3, 2008 • 1:23:33
Douglas Johnston — Diplomacy and Religion in the 21st Century
The greatest threat in the post-Cold War world, says Douglas Johnston, is the prospective marriage of religious extremism with weapons of mass destruction. Yet the U.S. spends most of its time, resources, and weapons fighting the symptoms of this threat, not the cause. The diplomacy of the future, he is showing, must engage religion as part of the strategic solution to global conflicts.
Jan 3, 2008 • 53:00
Rick and Kay Warren — The New Evangelical Leaders, Part II
The second program in our series on guiding figures in what some are calling the “post Religious Right era.” This program’s guests are conservative Evangelicals who are increasingly being watched by a new generation of Christian and secular leaders. They want to move beyond the partisan and cultural divides of recent years to fight poverty, AIDS, and homelessness.
Dec 6, 2007 • 53:00
[Unedited] Rick and Kay Warren with Krista Tippett
Evangelical Christianity has no single, central authority, but it does have guiding figures in every generation. Progressive social activist Jim Wallis has become something of a national celebrity, proposing a new agenda for religion in politics in what he calls the “post-Religious Right era.” See more at onbeing.org/program/new-evangelical-leaders-part-ii-rick-and-kay-warren/213
Dec 6, 2007 • 1:14:46
Jim Wallis — The New Evangelical Leaders, Part I
The first in a two-part series on influential leaders who are reshaping Evangelical Christianity from within progressive and conservative circles. Jim Wallis founded “Sojourners” and now advises presidential candidates and world leaders in what he calls the “post-Religious Right” era. He is determined to put poverty at the top of America’s “moral values” agenda.
Nov 29, 2007 • 53:00
[Unedited] Jim Wallis With Krista Tippett
Evangelical Christianity has no single, central authority, but it does have guiding figures in every generation. Progressive social activist Jim Wallis has become something of a national celebrity, proposing a new agenda for religion in politics in what he calls the “post-Religious Right era.” See more at onbeing.org/program/new-evangelical-leaders-part-i-jim-wallis/212
Nov 29, 2007 • 1:27:38
[Unedited] Varadaraja V. Raman With Krista Tippett
U.S. culture’s clash between religion and science is almost exclusively driven by Christian instincts and arguments. Hindu physicist V.V. Raman offers another view of religion, the universe, and the complementarity of the questions of science and faith. See more at www.onbeing.org/program/hearts-reason-hinduism-and-science/202
Nov 22, 2007 • 1:33:18
Varadaraja V. Raman — The Heart's Reason: Hinduism and Science
U.S. culture’s clash between religion and science is almost exclusively driven by Christian instincts and arguments. Hindu physicist V.V. Raman offers another view of religion, the universe, and the complementarity of the questions of science and faith.
Nov 22, 2007 • 53:00
Ingrid Jordt — Burma: Buddhism and Power
A look inside the spiritual culture of Burma, exploring the meaning of monks taking to the streets there in September, the way in which religion and military rule are intertwined, and how Buddhism remains a force in and beyond the current crisis.
Nov 1, 2007 • 53:00
[Unedited] Ingrid Jordt With Krista Tippett
Former Burmese Buddhist nun and anthropologist Ingrid Jordt takes us inside the spiritual culture of Burma, exploring the meaning of monks taking to the streets there in September, the way in which religion and military rule are intertwined, and how Buddhism remains a force in and beyond the current crisis. See more at onbeing.org/program/burma-buddhism-and-power/75
Nov 1, 2007 • 1:21:46
Paul Elie, Jean Bethke Elshtain, and Robin Lovin — Moral Man and Immoral Society: Rediscovering Reinhold Niebuhr
We explore the ideas and present-day relevance of 20th century theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, an influential, boundary-crossing voice in American public life. Niebuhr created the term “Christian realism:” a middle path between religious idealism and arrogance. Exploring his wide appeal, three distinctive voices describe Niebuhr’s legacy and ask what insights he brings to the political and religious dynamics of the early 21st century.
Oct 25, 2007 • 53:00
Harvey Cox, Jr. — Beyond the Atheism-Religion Divide
In 1965, a young Harvard professor became the best-selling voice of secularism in America with his book The Secular City. He sees the old thinking in the “new atheism” of figures like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. The either/or debates between religion and atheism, he says, obscure the truly interesting interplay between faith and other forms of knowledge that is unfolding today.
Oct 18, 2007 • 53:00
Sister Joan Chittister — Obedience and Action
In over 50 years as a Benedictine nun, Sister Joan Chittister has emerged as a powerful and uncomfortable voice in Roman Catholicism and in global politics. If women were ordained in the Catholic Church in our lifetime, some say, Joan Chittister would be the first female bishop.
Oct 4, 2007 • 53:00
[Unedited] Sister Joan Chittister With Krista Tippett
In over 50 years as a Benedictine nun, Sister Joan Chittister has emerged as a powerful and uncomfortable voice in Roman Catholicism and in global politics. If women were ordained in the Catholic Church in our lifetime, some say, Joan Chittister would be the first female bishop. See more at onbeing.org/program/obedience-and-action/137
Oct 4, 2007 • 1:22:23
[Unedited] Eboo Patel With Krista Tippett
We revisit Krista’s 2005 conversation with Eboo Patel, who calls al-Qaeda the most effective youth organization in the world. But contrary to the wisdom of secular society, he’s working to deepen rather than tame the religious energies of the young across many traditions. And he believes this may be our only chance for survival. See more at onbeing.org/program/religious-passion-pluralism-and-young/159
Aug 16, 2007 • 1:23:09
Eboo Patel — Religious Passion, Pluralism, and the Young
A 30-year-old, Indian-American Muslim and former Rhodes Scholar is setting out to change the way young people relate to their own religious traditions and those of others. Al-Qaeda is the most effective youth program in the world, he says, and we neglect this work at our peril.
Aug 16, 2007 • 53:00
Jean Vanier and Jo Anne Horstmann — L'Arche: A Community of Brokenness and Beauty
Editor’s note added 02/25/20: In February 2020, L’Arche International released the results of anindependent investigation that it commissioned into Jean Vanier, who died in 2019. The investigation determined that the L’Arche founder, Catholic philosopher and humanitarian engaged in manipulative sexual relationships with at least six women from 1970-2005. None of the women had disabilities. The report also concluded that Vanier was complicit in covering up similar sexual abuse by his mentor, the
Aug 2, 2007 • 53:00
Krista Tippett — Remembering Forward
Before a live audience at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota, Krista reads from her book, “Speaking of Faith.” She traces the intersection of human experience and religious ideas in her own life, just as she asks her guests to do each week. Krista reflects on her adventure of conversation across the world’s traditions — and on the whole story of religion in human life, beyond the headlines of violence.
Jun 7, 2007 • 53:00
[Unedited] Krista Tippett — Remembering Forward
Before a live audience at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota, Krista reads from her book, “Speaking of Faith.” She traces the intersection of human experience and religious ideas in her own life, just as she asks her guests to do each week. Krista reflects on her adventure of conversation across the world’s traditions — and on the whole story of religion in human life, beyond the headlines of violence. See more at onbeing.org/program/remembering-forward/160
Jun 7, 2007 • 59:06
John Morris — The Soul of War
With Iraq veteran and chaplain Major John Morris, we explore how war challenges the human spirit and the core tenets of a life of faith. The War on Terror, he says, presents its own spiritual challenges. He is working to support the reintegration of National Guard and Reserve personnel, who are being mobilized for active duty at record levels in Afghanistan and Iraq.
May 24, 2007 • 53:18
George F. R. Ellis — Science and Hope
Our guest straddles the worlds of cosmology and social activism. During a live audience interview in Philadelphia, he tells us how he unites his convictions about faith, ethics, and cosmology.
May 10, 2007 • 53:07
The Private Faith of Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter — former president and Nobel Laureate, author and global humanitarian — speaks of his born-again faith with a directness that is striking even in today’s political culture. He reflects on being commander in chief while following, as he says, “the Prince of Peace”; on upholding the law while privately opposing abortion; and on his marriage of 60 years as a metaphor for the challenge of human relationship both personal and global.
Apr 26, 2007 • 53:07
Richard Cizik — The Evolution of American Evangelicalism
Last month, conservative Christian leaders demanded that Richard Cizik be silenced or removed from his post. They charged that his concerns about climate change and torture have shifted attention away from moral issues such as gay marriage and abortion. But for Cizik, poverty, war, and the environment are moral issues too. We revisit Krista’s 2006 conversation with Cizik that took many listeners by surprise.
Apr 12, 2007 • 53:07
Charles Villa-Vicencio and Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela — Truth and Reconciliation
South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) held public sessions from 1996 to 1998, and concluded its work in 2004. In an attempt to rebuild its society without retribution, the Commission created a new model for grappling with a history of extreme violence. The basic premise of the Commission was that any individual, whatever he or she had done, was eligible for amnesty if they would fully disclose and confess their crimes. Victims were invited to tell their stories and witness con
Mar 22, 2007 • 53:17
S. James Gates and Thomas Levenson — Einstein's Ethics
Part one of this series takes Einstein’s science as a starting point for exploring the great physicist’s perspective on ideas such as mystery, eternity, and the mind of God.
Mar 15, 2007 • 53:18
[Unedited] Thomas Levenson with Krista Tippett (On Einstein's Ethics)
Part one of this series takes Einstein’s science as a starting point for exploring the great physicist’s perspective on ideas such as mystery, eternity, and the mind of God. See more at www.onbeing.org/program/einsteins-ethics/89
Mar 15, 2007 • 1:15:21
[Unedited] S. James Gates with Krista Tippett (On Einstein's Ethics)
Part one of this series takes Einstein’s science as a starting point for exploring the great physicist’s perspective on ideas such as mystery, eternity, and the mind of God. See more at www.onbeing.org/program/einsteins-ethics/89
Mar 15, 2007 • 1:14:43
Leila Ahmed — Muslim Women and Other Misunderstandings
Is there such a thing as the Muslim world? Is the “veil” a sign of submission or courage? Is our Western concern about women in Islam really a concern for the well-being of women? Our guest, Egyptian-American Leila Ahmed, challenges current thought on these and other questions.
Dec 7, 2006 • 53:18
Nathan Dungan — Money and Moral Balance
The sales are starting, the stores are open late, and many of us are gearing up to spend more money than we actually have in a holiday season with deep roots in religion. We explore the turmoil many of us experience with money in our day-to-day lives — and how we might work towards a moral and practical balance for ourselves and the next generation.
Nov 30, 2006 • 53:00
[Unedited] Martin Marty With Krista Tippett (On America's Changing Religious Landscape)
A great public theologian and historian, Martin Marty offers personal and historical perspective on religion in modern life — including the nature of fundamentalism, and the decline of America’s mainline Protestant majority as Evangelical Christianity gains in influence. See more at onbeing.org/program/americas-changing-religious-landscape-conversation-martin-marty/65
Nov 2, 2006 • 1:38:25
Martin Marty — America's Changing Religious Landscape
A great public theologian and historian, Martin Marty offers personal and historical perspective on religion in modern life — including the nature of fundamentalism, and the decline of America’s mainline Protestant majority as Evangelical Christianity gains in influence.
Nov 2, 2006 • 53:18
John Danforth — Conservative Politics and Moderate Religion
Politics driven by a religious agenda, Danforth says, is true neither to his understanding of Christian faith nor to the traditional values of the Republican party. This veteran politician speaks about the values that have helped him navigate the line between private faith and public life and his current concerns about religion in his own party and in the world.
Sep 14, 2006 • 53:11
Seyyed Hossein Nasr — Hearing Muslim Voices Since 9/11
An Iranian man sits on the ground after weekly Friday prayers at Tehran University in the Iranian capital, 02 June 2006. An Iranian cleric today dismissed US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s warning that the Islamic republic would incur ‘great costs’ if it rejected the latest international offer to curtail its nuclear programme. ‘We are ready to pay a great cost to defend our ideals,’ Hojatoleslam Ahmad Khatami said in his sermon at the main weekly Muslim prayers broadcast live on state rad
Sep 7, 2006 • 53:11
David Hilfiker — Seeing Poverty After Katrina
Hurricane Katrina brought urban poverty in America into all of our living rooms. In this program, David Hilfiker tells the story of how poverty and racial isolation came to be in cities across America. He lives creatively and realistically with questions many of us began to ask in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Aug 24, 2006 • 53:11
Basil Brave Heart and Susan Cheever — Spirituality and Recovery
Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill Wilson once said that the program he helped create is, “utter simplicity which encases a complete mystery.” Our guests reflect on the Twelve Steps and how they resonate in their personal stories and in Buddhist and Christian teachings.
Jul 27, 2006 • 53:18
Elie Wiesel — The Tragedy of the Believer
A survivor of the Holocaust, in which he lost most of his family, Wiesel was a seminal chronicler of that event and its meaning. Wiesel shares some of his thoughts on modern-day Israel and Germany, his understanding of God, and his practice of prayer after the Holocaust.
Jul 13, 2006 • 49:33
Dan and Sue Hanson — Room for J: One Family's Struggle with Schizophrenia
Joel Hanson has schizophrenia and believes he is God. His parents reflect on living with their son and how they have learned to see mental illness, normalcy, and religion differently. Is there room in our culture to consider a schizophrenic personality as another form of human difference and diversity?
May 4, 2006 • 53:18
Mohammed Abu-Nimer + Sami Adwan — Two Narratives, Reflections on the Israeli-Palestinian Present (part 2)
As Israel prepares for a critical election and Hamas forms a Palestinian cabinet, we explore the difficulty of reaching resolution in a land that its inhabitants, on both sides of the conflict, consider holy. Our guests in this two-part series, Israeli and Palestinian, identify deeply with the story and suffering of their own people. They are also individuals who from across tumultuous recent history have reached out to the other side. They find themselves embittered at the failure of the Oslo p
Mar 16, 2006 • 53:18
Yossi Klein Halevi — Reflections on the Israeli-Palestinian Present, Part 1
As Israel prepares for a critical election and Hamas forms a Palestinian cabinet, we explore the difficulty of reaching resolution in a land that its inhabitants, on both sides of the conflict, consider holy. Our guests in this two-part series, Israeli and Palestinian, identify deeply with the story and suffering of their own people. They are also individuals who from across tumultuous recent history have reached out to the other side. They find themselves embittered at the failure of the Oslo p
Mar 9, 2006 • 53:18
Prabhu Guptara — The Gods of Business
In an age of Enron and WorldCom, how can we imagine a place for business ethics, much less religious virtue, in the global economy? We speak with a Hindu international business analyst who offers learned, fascinating observations about how the world’s myriad religions have shaped global business norms and practices.
Feb 23, 2006 • 53:18
Vincent Cornell — The Face of the Prophet: Cartoons and Chasm
Our guest, an American Muslim and religious scholar, helps untangle the knot of violent and bewildered reactions to cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
Feb 16, 2006 • 53:18
Isabel Mukonyora — Sacred Wilderness, An African Story
Isabel Mukonyora has followed and studied a religious movement of her Shona people, the Masowe Apostles, that embraces Christian tradition while addressing the drama of African life and history. The founder of this movement, Johane Masowe, emphasized an ancient Jewish and Christian pull to the wilderness. Through her stories we explore modern African spirituality, diaspora, and finding meaning, as Mukonyora says, “in the margins.”
Feb 9, 2006 • 53:18
Martin Doblmeier — Ethics and the Will of God: The Legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, whose life spanned the rise and fall of Hitler’s Germany, offers us a model of personal morality and conscience in the most troubled and immoral of times. His resistance of Nazi ideology, while much of the German church succumbed, is a testament to his moral vision and faith. Krista speaks with producer Martin Doblmeier, whose 2003 documentary chronicled Bonhoeffer’s life and thought, about the legacy of this unusual theologian.
Feb 2, 2006 • 53:18
Manuel Vasquez — Latino Migrations and the Changing Face of Religion in the Americas
Vásquez believes that in the global age, religious dynamics may have a boomerang effect across the Americas with dramatic consequences. We explore how religion will shape the increasing Hispanic population and how religion itself might be changed.
Jan 19, 2006 • 53:00
[Unedited] Marie Friedmann Marquardt With Krista Tippett
This unedited conversation with Marie Friedmann Marquardt comes from our produced show “Marie Friedmann Marquardt and Manuel A. Vasquez on Latino Migrations and the Changing Face of Religion in the Americas.” See more at onbeing.org/program/latino-migrations-and-changing-face-religion-americas/106
Jan 19, 2006 • 1:04:01
Joan Halifax — A Midwife to the Dying
The Terri Schiavo case earlier this year raised ethical and medical issues that remain with us today. But missing in that debate was a real attention to the quality and the meaning of death. Joan Halifax tells us what she’s learned and how she lives differently after three decades accompanying others to the final boundary of human life.
Dec 1, 2005 • 51:00
Don Saliers and Edward Foley — The Meaning of Communion: At the Table
What are the origins of communion, and what is its deepest social relevance? Two leading theologians of communion describe a ritual that is not just personally meaningful for the believer, but also collectively and ethically challenging for Christians.
Nov 24, 2005 • 51:00
Joan Brown Campbell and Thomas Hoyt, Jr. — Living Reconciliation: Two Ecumenical Pioneers
Two people with unique perspectives both discovered ecumenism — the movement to reconcile Christian churches — during the Civil Rights era. They’ll describe what they’ve learned about grappling with vexing clashes of difference, and why reconciliation among different Christians still matters in a multi-religious, post-Katrina world.
Nov 3, 2005 • 51:00
James Smith and Nancey Murphy — Evangelicals, Out of the Box
Stereotypes tell us this: Evangelical Christians are politically conservative, closed-minded, morally judgmental, and anti-science. We speak with two creative members of a new generation of Evangelical thinkers and teachers, who defy stereotypes and reveal an evolving character for this vast movement that describes 40 percent of Americans.
Oct 20, 2005 • 50:59
Miroslav Volf — Religion and Violence
Religious extremism drives some of the most intractable conflicts around the world. Our guest knows this shadow side of the Christian faith in his personal history. We’ll speak about what goes wrong when religion turns violent, and why, he believes, the cure for religious zealotry is not less religion but more religion — or rather stronger and more intelligent practices of faith.
Aug 4, 2005 • 52:59
Kecia Ali, Omid Safi, Precious Rasheeda Muhammad, and Michael Wolfe — Progressive Islam in America
In the years since the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, scrutiny of the religion of Islam has become part and parcel of our public life. In forums of all kinds, often guided by non-Muslim pundits, we ask, what does terrorism have to do with the teachings of the Qur’an? Can Islam coexist with democracy? Is Islam capable of a reformation, or has it fallen into hopeless decay? We pose these questions to a spectrum of American Muslims who describe themselves as devout and moderate. Our gue
Jul 28, 2005 • 52:00
Khaled Abou El Fadl and Harold M. Schulweis — Religion and Our World in Crisis
In this personal exchange between a Jewish rabbi and Islamic scholar, host Krista Tippett explores the integrity of religious faith and openness to the faiths of others. In a world in which religious experience is implicated in violence, two thinkers discuss how it is possible to love their own traditions and honor those of others. This program was recorded live at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles in June 2003.
Jun 9, 2005 • 52:00
Abdul-Rasheed Muhammad — Serving Country, Serving Allah
There are an estimated 4,000 Muslim soldiers in the U.S. military, though some counts place that number much higher. We’ll speak with the first Muslim imam in the US Army Chaplaincy — Major Abdul-Rasheed Muhammad — about Iraq, faith, and military service.
May 26, 2005 • 52:00
Peter Berger and Rosabeth Moss Kanter — Globalization and the Rise of Religion
Experts once predicted that as the world grew more modern, religion would decline. Precisely the opposite has proven true; religious movements are surging and driving “alternative globalizations” across the world. Two leading thinkers offer a penetrating view of how and why religion of all kinds is shaping the global economy and political order.
May 19, 2005 • 53:18
Helen Prejean, Debbie Morris, and Elie Spitz — Reflections on the Death Penalty in America
The American public supports the principle of capital punishment, but there is a growing consensus among Jewish and Christian thinkers — across traditional liberal/conservative lines — that it should be abolished in this country or suspended while the system for imposing it is made more just. Reflections on justice, forgiveness, and the nature of God shed new light on America’s death penalty debate.
Apr 14, 2005 • 52:00
Jelle De Boer and Ursula Goodenough — The Morality of Nature
We explore the human and religious implications of natural disasters through the eyes of two scientists steeped in the workings of the natural world. We approach the morality of nature from a non-theological angle, tracing how natural disasters have sometimes fueled religious agendas and movements and how strictly scientific perspectives can both challenge and illuminate religious questions.
Apr 7, 2005 • 52:00
Joel Marcus — The Jewish Roots of the Christian Story
New Testament writings about Jews may sound inflammatory in modern ears. A New Testament scholar with ties to both Judaism and Christianity helps us put these writings in context and look for meaning in the Passion that Hollywood and popular culture can’t convey.
Mar 24, 2005 • 52:00
Steven Waldman — The Future of Moral Values
We deconstruct the phrase “moral values,” which has confused and divided Americans since November’s election. As the second term of George W. Bush commences, political analyst Steven Waldman helps explore what these words do and do not convey to liberals and conservatives, and why they still matter. What is at stake when both sides fail to understand the moral convictions of the other?
Jan 20, 2005 • 52:00
Omid Safi and Seemi Bushra Ghazi — The Spirit of Islam
We experience the religious thought and the spiritual vitality of two Muslims—male and female—both American and both with roots in ancient Islamic cultural, intellectual, and spiritual traditions. Their stories and ideas, music, and readings, evoke a sense of the richness of global Islamic spirituality and of some of its hidden nuances and beauty. They reveal how sound, music, and especially poetry offer a window onto the subtleties and humanity of Islamic religious experience.
Jan 6, 2005 • 52:00
[Unedited] Mehmet Oz with Krista Tippett
The word “healing” means “to make whole.” But historically, Western medicine has taken a divided view of human health. It has stressed medical treatments of biological ailments. That may be changing — Mehmet Oz, a cardiovascular surgeon, is part of a new generation of doctors who are taking medicine to new technological and spiritual frontiers. Krista’s interview with cardiovascular surgeon Mehmet Oz for “Heart and Soul” underwent some merciless editing in order to fit our hour-long radio format
Nov 4, 2004 • 1:13:39
Dr. Oz — Heart and Soul
The word “healing” means “to make whole.” But historically, Western medicine has taken a divided view of human health. It has stressed medical treatments of biological ailments. That may be changing. Mehmet Oz, a cardiovascular surgeon, is part of a new generation of doctors who are taking medicine to new technological and spiritual frontiers.
Nov 4, 2004 • 53:08
Muqtedar Khan and Cheryl Sanders — The Other Religious America in Election 2004
In this show, we speak with an African American Christian and an American Muslim and explore the perspectives of two religious communities which defy the broad stereotypes of this election year. We’ll seek to gain a deeper understanding of the way in which they are thinking through the mix of religious ideas that have come to the forefront of this campaign. These religious people see complex choices between competing religious ideals, and they are making their decisions in ways that challenge th
Oct 21, 2004 • 52:00
Carl Feit, Anne Foerst, and Lindon Eaves — Science and Being
Many of history’s greatest scientists considered their work to be a religious endeavor, a direct search for God. Pioneers like Newton, Copernicus, and Galileo believed that their discoveries told humanity more about God’s nature than had been known. Beginning in the early 18th century, science and religion came to be at odds — the gap widening most famously with the publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. In recent years, a new dialogue has begun, driven by leading scientists across th
Sep 23, 2004 • 52:00
Steven Waldman — Beyond the God Gap
The theory of the “God gap”—often broadly suggesting that religious Americans are conservative and will vote Republican while non-religious Americans are liberal and will vote Democratic—has been prominent in press reporting and political maneuvering in the 2004 presidential race. At their recent conventions, both parties seemed to grapple with faith dynamics and respond to the perceived God gap in interesting, unexpected ways. Krista speaks with Steven Waldman, who covered the 2004 Democratic a
Sep 16, 2004 • 52:00
Joseph L. Price — In Praise Of Play
If sport is an American religion, is that bad for us? What is the metaphysic of baseball? In this show, we’ll speak with a theologian and sports fan who has spent much of his career studying the religious character of rituals in sporting events and the spiritual significance of fans’ attention to sports.
Aug 12, 2004 • 52:00
Phyllis Tickle and Lynn Schofield Clark — A Return to the Mystery: Religion, Fantasy, and Entertainment
During the past decade, there has been an explosion of films and television programs containing religious and spiritual themes. Mel Gibson’s The “Passion of the Christ” was only the tip of the iceberg. As new generations of Americans work out their spiritual and religious questions, they are increasingly turning to fantasy. We’ll explore the deeper appeal of films like “Harry Potter” and “The Matrix,” and we’ll ask how fantasy in media reflects a changing spiritual imagination, especially in you
Jul 29, 2004 • 52:00
Joseph Califano — Religion and Politics
We speak with Washington insider Joseph Califano, a devout, lifelong Catholic, who held key positions inside the Kennedy, Johnson, and Carter administrations. Califano provides frank insight into the practical difficulties of applying religious ideals in the political arena.
Jul 15, 2004 • 52:00
[Unedited] Anchee Min With Krista Tippett (On Surviving The Religion Of Mao)
Anchee Min has recently published the second book in her fictional account of the last Chinese imperial court and its empress. In her personal story and in her writing, Anchee Min offers a window into spiritual instincts and experiences that mark a rapidly evolving China into the present. See more at onbeing.org/program/surviving-religion-mao/181
Jun 17, 2004 • 1:25:55
Anchee Min — Surviving the Religion of Mao
Author Anchee Min has won acclaim for her memoir of growing up in China under Mao Zedong. She’s also written several works of fiction in which she explores the human hunger to survive against extreme social brutality. In this conversation, Anchee Min tells us what she learned about the human spirit in the forced labor camp in which she spent her teenage years, and how she’s found healing in America.
Jun 17, 2004 • 52:59
Robert Franklin and Margaret Poloma — Pentecostalism in America (June 10, 2004)
Pentecostalism began on the American frontier, and it has become one of the largest expressions of global Christianity. In less than a century, it has grown to hundreds of millions of adherents. Today, Pentecostalism is pan-denominational. There are charismatic Catholics and Lutherans, unaffiliated Pentecostal communities, and established Pentecostal traditions, most prominently the Assemblies of God. Host Krista Tippett speaks with a theologian about the rise of Pentecostal worship among Africa
Jun 10, 2004 • 52:00
Richard Mouw and Virginia Ramey Mollenkott — Gay Marriage: Broken or Blessed? Two Evangelical Views
Our culture’s acrimonious debate on the morality of gay marriage has been framed in religious — largely conservative Christian — terms. We go behind the rhetoric to explore the human confusion, hopes, and fears this subject arouses. We’ll name hard questions that these religious people on both sides of the issue are asking themselves, and that they would like to ask of others.
May 13, 2004 • 53:18
[Unedited] Mariane Pearl With Krista Tippett
In this close-up look at the human dynamics of the war on terror, our guest speaks about her husband, journalist Daniel Pearl, who was murdered in Pakistan shortly after 9/11. She talks about Buddhism, her ethic of spiritual defiance, and her hopes for the future. See more at onbeing.org/program/spirit-defiance/58
Apr 29, 2004 • 1:02:57
Mariane Pearl — A Spirit of Defiance
In this close-up look at the human dynamics of the war on terror, our guest speaks about her husband, journalist Daniel Pearl, who was murdered in Pakistan shortly after 9/11. She talks about Buddhism, her ethic of spiritual defiance, and her hopes for the future.
Apr 29, 2004 • 53:07
Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, Richard Hays, and Linda Loving — Passover and Easter
In the coinciding seasons of Passover and Easter, two world religions celebrate their core stories in ritual and worship. Each of these sacred holidays is based on a key biblical story of suffering and deliverance. The Christian Holy Week commemorates the death of Jesus leading to the Easter celebration of resurrection. In eight days of Passover, Jews remember and reenact the exodus story. What can ancient narratives of violence and miracle have to say to contemporary audiences? Host Krista Tipp
Apr 8, 2004 • 52:00
Ahmed H. al-Rahim — A Perspective on Islam in Iraq
The religious landscape of Iraq is complex and somewhat enigmatic to the western world. Nearly 97% of Iraq’s 25 million people are Muslim, and a majority of Iraqis are Shiite rather than Sunni. What does that mean? And how powerful is the prominent cleric Ayatollah Ali al Sistani who has effectively challenged the American-led coalition. Could he become another Islamic revolutionary like Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini? As part of Iraq’s rebuilding process, the Iraqi governing council agreed on an int
Mar 4, 2004 • 52:00
Luke Timothy Johnson and Bernadette Brooten — Deciphering the Da Vinci Code
The wildly popular novel turned movie reimagines the New Testament, in part, as a cover-up. What really happened in the fluid early years of Christianity? What is the truth about Mary Magdalene? We separate fact from fiction in the story’s plot with two New Testament scholars who say that the story is simpler and much more interesting than conspiracy theories suggest.
Jan 29, 2004 • 53:18
Michael Cromartie and E. J. Dionne — Religion on the Campaign Trail
Religious pronouncements seem to have become mandatory for the Democratic candidates in this election. Yet it’s been easy to deride the resulting sound bites that are widely repeated—such as Howard Dean’s proclamation of his favorite book of the New Testament: the Old Testament book of Job. Host Krista Tippett takes a larger view of what this election has to say about the role of religion in American life. Is it changing, and if so, what is substantive and important in that change?
Jan 22, 2004 • 52:00
Sylvia Poggioli, Donald Cozzens, and Margaret A. Farley — The Religious Legacy of John Paul II
John Paul II’s papacy was dramatic and historic on many fronts. We explore some of the critical religious issues of his 26 years as pontiff and discusses the great and contradictory impact he made on the Catholic Church in America and abroad.
Dec 4, 2003 • 52:00
Roberta Bondi, Gregory Plotnikoff, Michele Balamani, Anoushka Shankar, and Stephen Mitchell — Patterns of Prayer
In recent years, the practices of prayer have been evolving for many religious traditions. Even western medicine is looking at prayer as it expands its concept of healing. In this program, we consult several people from a variety of practices about the role of prayer in their lives.
Nov 27, 2003 • 52:00
Laurie Zoloth — A Theological Perspective on Cloning
Dr. Jing Kang, from the Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School sits in his lab in Boston, Massachusetts. He collaborated in a study with other scientists from three U.S. universities to create cloned pigs that produce higher than normal levels of omega-3 fatty acids.
Oct 30, 2003 • 52:02
Coleen Rowley and Tim McGuire — Work and Conscience
Host Krista Tippett explores the practical implications of spirituality at work with Federal Bureau of Investigations special agent and whistleblower Coleen Rowley and syndicated columnist Tim McGuire. In May 2002, Rowley wrote a now-famous 13-page letter to Robert Mueller, Director of the FBI. In it, Rowley raised serious and detailed concerns about how the FBI had handled leads prior to the September 11th attacks.
Aug 29, 2003 • 52:00
John Lipscomb and Catherine Roskam — Homosexuality and the Divided Church
The General Convention of the Episcopal Church has sharpened our culture’s intensifying focus on homosexuality. In a year of political and religious milestones for gays and lesbians, Gene Robinson became the first openly gay man to be elected an Episcopal Bishop. There were 11th-hour allegations of impropriety. But in the end, the laity, clergy, and House of Bishops of the Church confirmed his election. This week, we set aside the ins and outs of the Robinson controversy. The public furor over t
Aug 8, 2003 • 52:00
Rebecca Chopp, Kecia Ali, and Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen — Women, Marriage, and Religion
Over the last four decades, women’s roles have changed dramatically — at home, in the work force and in religious institutions as well. In America, resistance to this is often couched in religious terms. Where there is a backlash against feminism and its repercussions, it is often embodied in religious practice. Host Krista Tippett speaks with three devoutly religious women who also call themselves feminist.
Aug 1, 2003 • 52:00
[Unedited] Elliot Dorff With Krista Tippett
American ideals of courtship and marriage echo with Biblical imagery — “bone of my bones” “flesh of my flesh.” But what does the Bible really say, and how has it been taught across the centuries in which the institution of marriage has changed dramatically? With a rabbi and a New Testament scholar, we explore nuances of biblical teachings about marriage, family, and divorce — the surprising ambiguities of the New Testament and the striking practicality of Jewish tradition across the ages. See mo
Jul 25, 2003 • 1:01:06
[Unedited] Luke Timothy Johnson With Krista Tippett (On Marriage, Family, And Divorce)
American ideals of courtship and marriage echo with Biblical imagery — “bone of my bones” “flesh of my flesh.” But what does the Bible really say, and how has it been taught across the centuries in which the institution of marriage has changed dramatically? With a rabbi and a New Testament scholar, we explore nuances of biblical teachings about marriage, family, and divorce — the surprising ambiguities of the New Testament and the striking practicality of Jewish tradition across the ages. See mo
Jul 25, 2003 • 48:19
Elliot Dorff and Luke Timothy Johnson — Marriage, Family, and Divorce
American ideals and rituals of marriage, family, and divorce are infused with biblical messages. But what does the Bible really say, and how has it been taught across the centuries as the institution of marriage has changed dramatically and often? A rabbi and Christian theologian help us explore the nuances of Jewish and Christian teachings and reveal the striking practicality of Jewish tradition across the ages and the surprising ambiguities of the New Testament.
Jul 25, 2003 • 53:07
Charles Haynes, Philip Hamburger, and Cheryl Crazy Bull — Religious Liberty in America: The Legacy of Church and State
At the center of our history of church and state is a troublesome irony. What began as an attempt to guarantee religious tolerance in the new world has at various times been commandeered by the most chauvinistic movements America has known. In spite of this, religious liberty has survived as an American ideal—one which we continue to test. We live in a world of increasing religious pluralism—diversity beyond the imagining of our nation’s founders—which suggests fresh nuance to the meaning of rel
Jul 1, 2003 • 52:00
David Fox and Bruce Weigl — Sacrifice and Reconciliation
In remembering the legacy of four World War II chaplains — Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish — who went down together with their torpedoed ship in 1943, we speak with David Fox, nephew of one of the chaplains. We also hear interviews with surviving veterans and veterans of the German ship that torpedoed them. Finally, a conversation with author, poet, and Vietnam War veteran Bruce Weigl. His most recent book, The Circle of Hahn, chronicles the long personal journey he has made back to Vietnam and
May 23, 2003 • 52:00
Sharon Salzberg, Lawrence Kushner, Anne Lamott, and Omid Safi — The Meaning of Faith
In our time, some associate the word “religion” with rigid dogma and the excesses of institutions. The word “spirituality” on the other hand can seem to have little substance or form. The word “faith” can appear as a compromise of sorts, pointing to the content of religious tradition and spiritual experience. The truth is, all of these words are vague in the abstract. They gain meaning in the context of human experience. In this show, we’ll explore the connotations of the word “faith” in four tr
Apr 11, 2003 • 52:00
Bruce Feiler — Children of Abraham
The sacred story of Abraham traverses the geography of the most bitter political conflict in the modern world — beginning in what is now southern Iraq and ending in the West Bank city of Hebron. Yet Abraham is the common patriarch of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. We explore the story of Abraham in several traditions and why he might be important for people in our time. The hour also includes readings from the Bible and the Qur’an as well as music from the likes of Bob Dylan and Benjamin Brit
Apr 4, 2003 • 53:18
Peter J. Gomes, Jean Bethke Elshtain, and Chris Hedges — Religion in a Time of War
More than any crisis in modern memory, the War on Terror—including the current U.S. military presence in Iraq—is being debated in religious, usually Christian, terms. We explore the nuances of that debate with a former war correspondent, a political theorist, and a renowned preacher. We ask how and whether Christian principles really make a difference at this moment in our national life—and if not, why not?
Mar 27, 2003 • 52:00
Mario Cuomo and Mark Souder — Faith and Politics in America
Even among deeply religious Americans, there’s no consensus on the proper role of religion in politics. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life in Washington, D.C., recently invited two veteran politicians to address this issue: former New York Governor Mario Cuomo, and Congressman Mark Souder of Indiana. They were asked to speak about how they have reconciled personal religious conviction with serving a pluralistic American constituency.
Feb 20, 2003 • 51:59
Thomas Moore, Debra Haffner, and Anthony Ugolnik — Spirituality and Sexuality
Christian scripture and tradition have overwhelmingly shaped American attitudes toward sexuality. And in the past year, our national attention has been riveted on sexual scandal within the Catholic Church. In this program, we crack open the difficult subject of Christian tradition and healthy sexuality. What is the positive sexual ethic of the Bible, beyond the identification of sin? What does sexuality have to do with the human spirit and how might this change they way it is discussed in commun
Dec 19, 2002 • 52:00
Parker Palmer, Phyllis Tickle, and Ingrid Mattson — The Spiritual Fallout of 9/11
In this program, we delve into uncomfortable religious and moral questions that the September 2001 terrorist attacks raised—questions of meaning that Americans have only begun to ponder one year later. This hour also features the riveting first-person account of veteran public radio producer Marge Ostroushko, who captures elements of the religious life that grew up at and around Ground Zero and was largely hidden from news reporting. Her coverage, which you won’t hear anywhere else, includes the
Sep 5, 2002 • 52:50
Khaled Abou El Fadl, Richard J. Mouw, and Yossi Klein Halevi — The Power of Fundamentalism (Aug 19, 2004)
Religious fundamentalism has reshaped our view of world events. In this show, host Krista Tippett explores the appeal of fundamentalism in Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, as experienced from the inside. Three accomplished men, who were religious extremists at one time in their lives, provide revealing insight into the spiritual and cultural dimensions of fundamentalism. They also discuss religious impulses which counter the fundamentalist world view and helped them break free.
Apr 18, 2002 • 52:00
Robert Pollack, Rami Nashashibi, Lisa Lampman, Leon Weinstein, and M. Scott Peck — The Problem of Evil
Many around the world labeled the events of September 11 as “evil.” President Bush in his recent State of the Union speech described “an axis of evil.” But what does the word mean? It is a subject of enduring theological debate, even of scientific argument. It drives to the heart of the question: What does it mean to be human?
Feb 15, 2002 • 51:59
Robert Coles, Diane Komp, and Carol Dittberner — Children and God (Dec 16, 2004)
Maria Montessori, the great 20th-century educational pioneer, observed that children have an intuition for religious life at an early age that is matched only by their capacity to acquire language. During this holiday season, Speaking of Faith explores the spiritual wisdom and intelligence of children—including their ability to process the difficult realities of life.
Dec 14, 2001 • 52:00
Jean Bethke Elshtain, John Paul Lederach, and Michael Orange — Justice and a Just War
Just-war theory was set in motion in the 5th century as St. Augustine agonized over how to reconcile Christianity’s high ethical ideals with the devastating world realities which were bringing about the fall of Rome. For 1,600 years, theologians, ethicists, diplomats, and political leaders have drawn on this tradition, refined it, and employed its key questions: When is it permissible to wage war? And how might our ethical and religious foundations place limits on the ways we wage war? In this p
Nov 9, 2001 • 51:24