[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 life, he suggests, is a medium of vision — and descent, a movement toward revelation.
Episode 961 of the On Being with Krista Tippett podcast, hosted by On Being Studios, titled "[Unedited] Robert Macfarlane with Krista Tippett" was published on June 3, 2021 and runs 97 minutes.
June 3, 2021 ·97m · On Being with Krista Tippett
Summary
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 life, he suggests, is a medium of vision — and descent, a movement toward revelation.
Episode Description
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 life, he suggests, is a medium of vision — and descent, a movement toward revelation.
Robert Macfarlane — is a Fellow at the University of Cambridge. His books include Mountains of the Mind, The Old Ways, Landmarks, and Underland: A Deep Time Journey. With the artist Jackie Morris, he co-created the book of illustrated poetry, The Lost Words and a follow-up, The Lost Spells.
This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode "Robert Macfarlane — The Worlds Beneath Our Feet." Find the transcript for that show at onbeing.org.
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