Episodes
-
43. In search of the sacred // PER INGVAR HAUKELAND
How do we find ways of connecting to that which is sacred to us? Can we learn to listen for that which brings us into attunement with our deepest selves and the living world? And how do we discern between true spiritual insight and wishful thinking? In this conversation, eco-philosopher Per…
more -
42. How myth, folklore and place help us find our calling in the second half of life // SHARON BLACKIE
How can myth and folklore help us find our way in the second half of life? What can we learn from the places we inhabit, and the stories that are rooted in the land? Dr. Sharon Blackie is an award-winning and internationally bestselling author, speaker and teacher. She’s a former neuroscientist…
more -
41. In between worlds – on creating cultures of care after birth // OPOKUA BRITTON CAVACO
The arrival of a new baby entails an opening between the worlds. It’s a liminal in–between space, where life is vulnerable until the baby has fully arrived and the window is safely closed. All over the world, people have developed traditions, rituals and practices to care for the new baby and...
-
40. LIVE: Is a river alive? On enlivenment, animism and nature's rights // ROBERT MACFARLANE & PELLA THIEL
What does it mean to say that a river is alive? And if a river is alive, could it have legal rights that protect it from abuse and exploitation? What kinds of practices could affirm our interconnectedness with the rest of the living world? Do our Western ideals of enlightenment need to be...
-
39. Birth as a rite of passage // KRISTINA TURNER
Birth can be difficult to talk about, because it's so complex and paradoxical. It can be beautiful and traumatic, often at the same time; it’s intensely personal and highly political; it’s something extraordinary that is also entirely ordinary. You give birth to a baby and you also birth yourself...
-
38. How we honor our nervous systems and cultivate pleasure as a pathway towards health // KIMBERLY ANN JOHNSON
What healing could be made possible if we began to work in ways that honoured our nervous systems? How could pleasure be a pathway to health? How can we have more true intimacy and eroticism in our lives? Kimberly Ann Johnson is a Sexological Bodyworker, Somatic Experiencing practitioner, yoga...
-
37. Embracing our cyclical nature // JENNY KOOS [Blood Mysteries pt. 1]
From menarche until menopause, women have a rhythmical companion, whose presence or absence tells us something about our bodies. The menstrual cycle is considered by many medical professionals to be the fifth vital sign, and just like our pulse or our blood pressure, it tells us something…
more -
REPRISE: Imaginations of Control // ANDY STIRLING
A favorite conversation from the archives, with particular relevance for upcoming episodes! When our societies are faced with challenges we often call on science to provide us with the best course of action; we strive to make evidence-based decisions. But what assumptions are hiding behind this...
-
36. Thinking with plants – on Hildegard of Bingen’s ecological theology // MICHAEL MARDER
What can we learn from plants? In Western thinking, plants have usually been seen as the most lowly beings, fixed in one place and without capacity for thinking. But many cultures have known – and modern science is confirming – that plants carry their own kind of vibrant intelligence. They...
-
35. Walking for peace and learning with head, heart & hands // SATISH KUMAR
If you’d prefer to watch the episode, it is available here on Youtube. In 1962 , a young man named Satish Kumar set out with his friend Prabakhar Menon on a pilgrimage for peace that would take him around the world, forever changing the course of his life. Later on, Satish dedicated himself to…
more -
34. The subtle art of listening // KERI FACER
As we are faced with multiplying crises, we often rush into trying to fix the world through words and busy action. What if an adequate response is to simply listen? What new worlds can be made, what wounds can be healed, through listening deeply? In this episode, Keri Facer returns to the podcast...
-
33. “Our crisis is an aesthetic crisis” – on art, education and ecology // JAN VAN BOECKEL
What could art making and aesthetics mean to us in these difficult times? Can we justify going off to paint or to spend time in nature when there is so much destruction going on in the world? Aesthetics is about opening up our senses to the world - but do we even want to stay sensitive when there...
-
32. God as the poet of the world – on Whitehead's process philosophy // MATTHEW DAVID SEGALL
I was born into a world where many of the things that are most important to me, like art, beauty, relationships, embodied experience, love, and the sacred, are not really considered very important to our understanding of the cosmos. They are thought of as ‘extra fluff’ rather than being at the…
more -
31. On building community – across the divides and beyond the doom // ASHLEY FITZGERALD
Is it possible to look clear-eyed at the enormous challenges we’re facing today, and still do something practical and creative in the face of that? What happens when we engage with nature and people in an embodied way, rather than through their representations in statistics and media? And how do…
more -
30. Survival of the beautiful // DAVID ROTHENBERG
Why is there so much beauty in the natural world? What can we learn from jamming with the more-than-human? Join interspecies musician David Rothenberg and myself as we explore these questions and experience some bird-bug-clarinet collaboration, perched on a hillside outside of LA. David…
more -
29. Patterns of Meaning // JEREMY LENT
What are the underlying patterns of thought that have led our civilization into its current crises? And how might we begin to tell a different story, one that would allow both humans and the more-than-human to thrive? In this episode, I speak to author Jeremy Lent. In his wide-ranging book The...
-
28. LIVE: Becoming human - the search for soul in turbulent times // MIKAEL KURKIALA
Many cultures maintain that we are not born human but that we may become fully human through cultivation and care. Could it be that our destructive tendencies are not because of our human-ness, but rather due to a lack of it? If so: where and how can we cultivate our humanity? All species play...
-
27. LIVE: Living an embodied life and crafting the Way // CAROLINE ROSS
Caroline Ross has spent decades being immersed in Daoism, art, crafting and foraging (and spent 10 years touring with her rock band). Today, her practice weaves these diverse threads together into a philosophy of life centred on embodied living, exploring the Way (in the Daoist sense of the word)...
-
26. LIVE: Cultivating the human in an era of intelligent machines // JEREMY NAYDLER
Forest of Thought episodes are back! And over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing three public conversations that were recorded 2023-2024 as part of a series of events exploring the concept of ‘life-force’. We begin with philosopher Jeremy Naydler, delving into the question of how we may cultivate...
-
25. On language, landscapes and mending the world // SARAH THOMAS
In this episode I speak to writer and filmmaker Sarah Thomas. Her memoir, The Raven’s Nest, is a meditation on her time spent in Iceland, and explores how identity and language are interwoven with landscape and ecology. What does it mean to fall in love with a place, with its human and non-human...
-
24. In the shadow of the machine // JEREMY NAYDLER
How are our modern ways of thinking and being different from those of ancient peoples? When did logic and rational thinking become ‘common sense’, instead of just one of the many ways we may contemplate life’s important questions? And how is our consciousness and presence in the world altered as…
more -
23. From What is to What if? // ROB HOPKINS
It’s been said that it’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism and our modern way of life. Why is it so hard for us to cultivate our imagination and to imagine that things might be different? What becomes possible if communities harness the power of imagination in...
-
22. The power of voice // BRIONY GREENHILL
How might the use of voice and song be an unexpectedly powerful way to access our deeper selves? In this episode I speak to Briony Greenhill, an incredible musician who uses collaborative improvisation as a way to connect and heal. Briony also generously shares her personal experiences and the...
-
21. The internet is not what you think it is // JUSTIN E. H. SMITH
In what ways might the roots of the internet actually stretch back much further than we think? Does the internet enhance or distort our humanness? How is our deepening entanglement with algorithms shaping how we think and what we pay attention to? Justin E. H. Smith is a professor at the…
more -
20. Entangling art, activism & ritual // ISA FREMEAUX
How do we manifest the world we would like to see? How are art and activism connected to things like magic and ritual? How does being rooted in a place help us defend it? In this episode I visit Isa Fremeaux at the ZAD (zone à defendre) in Brittany, France, where an unlikely alliance of local...
-
19. The meaning of crisis // SEASON FINALE WITH HOST INGRID M. RIESER
"Crisis" was a topic that came up many times in this season of the podcast, in discussions on everything from pandemics, to climate change, to spiritual transformation, and healing. In this episode, wandering host Ingrid Rieser offers a personal reflection on the true meaning of crisis. Find a...
-
18. Addiction, recovery and the death of Davos // FELIX MARQUARDT
Felix Marquardt used to enjoy a jet-setting lifestyle, advising CEOs and heads of state, and mingling at elite gatherings like the World Economic Forum in Davos. Now he is on a slow journey of recovery from substance abuse, and has recently published The New Nomads – a unique perspective on...
-
17. What do men long for? // VIDAR VETTERFALK
Might harmful norms around masculinity be at the root of both men’s violence against women and the degradation of nature? In this episode we look more closely at men’s relationships their – to themselves, to other humans (especially women), to nature, and we ask the question: what becomes…
more -
16. LIVE: Does it still make sense to talk about climate change? // DOUGALD HINE
Does it still make sense to talk about climate change? This seems a strange question to ask, for someone who has spent much of his adult life talking to people about climate change, but it is the question writer Dougald Hine has found himself wondering about lately. When we talk about climate...
-
15. How our bodies can resolve trauma // GUNILLA HAMNE
What is trauma? When we experience suffering or hardship we often feel this as a physical sensation in our bodies – we are “heartbroken” or have experienced something “gut-wrenching” or “bone-chilling”. The latest research is confirming that trauma and stress always have a bodily dimension –…
more -
14. Covid, climate and emergency politics // MIKE HULME
What can the covid pandemic teach us about handling the climate crisis? We’ve seen that governments have not hesitated to take bold action when faced with this virus, by going into lockdowns and declaring states of emergency. Should we respond in a similar way to climate change? Or does emergency...
-
13. The architect and the garden // PETER LYNCH
What is the true task of the architect? In this episode we talk to Peter Lynch about what the role of architecture really is. Can we create spaces that are more hospitable to both humans and other living beings? How can we truly get to know places – and the mysteries hidden beneath them? What is...
-
12. On fermentation and cultural activism // EVA BAKKESLETT
Words like culture and aesthetics make us think of grand museums and concert halls. But what if there is a deeper meaning to these words that we’ve forgotten? Meanings that are more grounded, more sensual and somehow related to the song of earthworms at work in our soil? And how do you learn to...
-
11. Imaginations of Control // ANDY STIRLING
When our societies are faced with challenges we often call on science to provide us with the best course of action; we strive to make evidence-based decisions. But what assumptions are hiding behind this recipe for decision-making? And how can taking control of a situation reduce our capacity for...
-
10. The stories we tell // SEASON FINALE WITH HOST INGRID M. RIESER
Goodbye 2020, hello 2021. How do we start to make sense of one of the most turbulent, transformative and chaotic years in recent history? We’re always telling – and listening to – stories in order to make sense of the world around us. In this episode we explore how those narratives take shape and...
-
9. Until we all are free // CRYSTAL VANCE GUERRA & VICTOR MENOTTI
The US has been through several extremely turbulent months, and we’ve been yearning for deeper and more genuine conversations on these developments. What does this time of upheaval and polarization mean for the USA? How do questions of race and class connect? What are we learning about power and...
-
8. The conversational arts // PERNILLA GLASER
What are really good conversations made of? And how is a dialogue similar to a work of art? In this episode I speak to facilitator, theatre director and writer Pernilla Glaser to explore the transformative power conversations, and discuss why we’re both obsessed with them. Pernilla Glaser runs…
more -
7. Tree teachings // PER INGVAR HAUKELAND
It’s always hard to talk about our connection to "nature" because the wording already implies that nature is something other than ourselves. In this episode we talk to eco-philosopher Per Ingvar Haukeland about what a deeper engagement with the world would mean, and how we bring the aliveness of...
-
6. The map and the territory // ULF DANIELSSON
A wide-ranging conversation with astrophysicist Prof. Ulf Danielsson on how we understand this universe and why we keep confusing our maps with the territory. We also hear about a life-changing comet, a secret promise and why conscious machines are highly unlikely. Ulf Danielsson is professor of...
-
5. An ecology of ideas // PER JOHANSSON
What is this this mysterious thing we call “an idea”? What is its nature and power? We posed these questions to human ecologist and historian of ideas Per Johansson, who had some unexpected and intriguing answers. Join us in our latest adventure into the Forest of Thought! Per has a PhD in human...
-
4. A world of many worlds // DOUGALD HINE
The big story of never-ending Progress has captured our imaginations for hundreds of years. But now we seem to be witnessing its unravelling. The search for other stories is no longer a fringe activity, but taking place in all parts of society. What do we want to keep from this story, and what do...
-
3. Playing with time // KERI FACER
“The Future." We say the words all the time, but what do we really mean? How do our stories about yesterday and today help shape tomorrow? Could a different idea of the future change the present? And how are we all entangled in the mysterious process of bringing the future into being?! Join us…
more -
2. The Great Unveiling // PELLA THIEL
What is the corona crisis revealing to us – about our societies and about ourselves? Join us in conversation with activist and ecologist Pella Thiel as we discuss the deeper meaning of apocalypse, and how it is interwoven with hope and desire. Share and subscribe! Share your thoughts and stay in...
-
1. A very convincing game // TIMOTHÉE PARRIQUE
Welcome to the new podcast, Forest of Thought! We hope to have conversations that explore the ideas we live by – re-examining the familiar and catching glimpses of the new. Read more at forestofthought.com. In today's episode we speak to economist Tim Parrique to explore what the mode of thinking...
About this show
Conversations that explore the ideas we live by – re-examining the familiar and catching glimpses of the new.
forestofthought.substack.com
Hosted by
Ingrid M. Rieser
Categories