Artists' Role: Imagining Futures Worth Leaving

On the 89th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Manda Scott. Manda trained as a veterinary surgeon but is now an award-winning novelist and host of the Accidental Gods podcast. Best known for the internationally best-selling Boudica: Dreaming series, which The New York Times labelled “a masterpiece in historical fiction,” her latest novel departs from historical fiction in favour of a contemporary Thrutopian narrative, exploring the potential for a future we’d be proud to leave as our legacy. Any Human Power opens doorways we could all walk through, following routes to a paradigm shift we could make happen now.

In this captivating conversation, Manda takes us on her journey of connecting to the living web of life. We explore what the web is asking of us, learning to learn through pain until we can learn through love, the joyful curiosity that arises from the heart-mind connection, dreaming awake, and the magic of co-creation that our relationships with each other can entail. She outlines the role of artists in envisioning a future that lays the foundations for a new way of being and path to follow.

This entire conversation is brimming with hope, connection, curiosity, and considerable wisdom and insight from Manda. I hope it serves as a window into what is possible when we fully sense and connect with all that is around us—the living web of life.

Subscribe for weekly episodes, every Tuesday, and check out my YouTube channel (link below) for full interviews and clips.

For further content and information check out the following:

Manda's website / books: https://mandascott.co.uk/
Manda's podcast: https://accidentalgods.life/

- For the podcast's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlife/videos
- My newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/
- My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/

Contact me at mark@whatisagood.life if you'd like to explore your own lines of self-inquiry, take part in my weekly free silent conversations, discuss experiences I create to stimulate greater trust, communication, and connection, amongst your teams, or you simply want to get in touch.

00:00 Introduction
02:45 Podcast begins

04:45 Connecting with the web of life

07:55 Consciously encountering the web of life

12:15 Communicating with time and space

18:03 Learning through pain and love

22:57 Accepting, understanding and healing

26:28 The heart-mind connection

31:45 The power of joyful curiosity

37:15 Feeling the web of life

42:03 Attributing more aliveness to AI and others

45:32 Dreaming awake and the void

55:37 Responding to messages from the web of life

59:45 Inquiries into death

1:03:45 A place outside of space and time and the role of artists

1:09:16 A whole new way of being and path to take

1:18:20 What is a good life for Manda?