Emergence Magazine Podcast

Join eco-philosopher Joanna Macy and award-winning poet Anita Barrows as they explore the beauty of Rainer Maria Rilke's poetry. They delve into themes of divine unknowability and the unity of nature with the transcendent. Listeners will hear reflections on urban suffering, the yearning for a restored earth, and the importance of embracing both joy and sorrow. Macy and Barrows invite a deeper connection with the world through Rilke's verses, urging us to trust in our longing while celebrating the richness of existence.

In this week’s story, Australian writer and Zen roshi Susan Murphy explores how haiku’s reflections of the seasons are being disrupted by the climate crisis. How will this poetic form bear witness to the ferocity of change reshaping the seasons? Woven with verses from Bashō, Buson, Issa, and fellow Volume 6 contributor Ron C. Moss, this story contemplates whether haiku may, in fact, be a vessel for holding the paradox of the seasons in this moment: allowing us to both mourn and love a rapidly evolving Earth.  Read the essay.  Discover our latest print edition, Volume 6: Seasons. Image: Asako Narahashi, Kawaguchiko #5, 2003 © Asako Narahashi / Courtesy of Ibasho Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Merlin Sheldrake, a renowned researcher and author in mycology, delves into the fascinating world of mycelial networks and their ecological wisdom. He discusses how fungi offer a decentralized approach to problem-solving, emphasizing mutualism over individualism. Sheldrake draws parallels between mycelial behaviors and human creativity, highlighting how crises can lead to new symbiotic relationships. The conversation invites us to embrace uncertainty and explore the hidden potentials within fungi, encouraging a profound connection with the natural world.

Join Potawatomi botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer as she dives into her new book, The Serviceberry. She introduces the concept of the Honorable Harvest, emphasizing principles like restraint and gratitude. Robin discusses the sacred connections between gifts and nature, critiquing the commodification of resources like water. Through storytelling, she highlights how community and mutual flourishing can foster ecological healing. Kimmerer argues for local gift economies, deepening our human and environmental relationships, all through a lens of practical reverence.

In November, we celebrated the launch of our latest print edition, Seasons, at the Tate Modern in London. Recorded live at the event, this conversation featuring four Volume 6 contributors, delves into each of their stories and the themes of requiem, invitation, and celebration at the heart of their seasonal experiences. From honoring the fragility of spring birdsong, to finding an expanded sense of self through seasonal “noticelings,” this wide-ranging and lively exchange explores the myriad ways of remembering our relationship with the seasons.  Read the transcript.  Discover our latest print edition, Volume 6: Seasons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this conversation from our archive, Australian writer and Zen roshi Susan Murphy immerses us in the ancient tradition of koan and the power of the “not-knowing mind” to open a treasury of resources for meeting the climate crisis. Sharing several koans from Zen masters that push at the boundaries of our consciousness, she speaks to the way they can draw us deeper into kinship and reminds us that the Earth Herself is a koan waiting to be known.  Read the transcript. Photo by Warren Summers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Acclaimed poet Jane Hirshfield, with a rich background in Zen practice, dives deep into the mysteries of time and kinship. She beautifully recites her poem "Time Thinks of Time" and shares insights on how Zen has reshaped her perception of time. Topics of spaciousness in intimacy, the importance of attention in poetry, and the interplay of empathy and imagination are explored. Jane emphasizes compassion in the face of climate challenges and discusses how grief can inspire love and action, all while reflecting on the interconnectedness of life.

Probing the flatness of his Midwestern landscape, Roy Scranton challenges us to peer beyond what meets the eye to engage more thoughtfully with a place’s ecological, geological, and cosmological dimensions. What first appears to him as farmland, highways, and worn industrial sprawl in his new home of South Bend, Indiana, begins under sustained attention to disclose rich layers of physical and temporal meaning. Roy invites us to practice this same attentiveness, allowing ourselves to be changed by the stories that make a place new and strange, and the mundane alive with resonance. Read the transcript. Artwork by Nico Krijno. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this final talk of a three-part series, Emergence executive editor and Sufi teacher Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee speaks about two essential elements needed if we are to tend to a relationship of reverence with the Earth: humility and offering. To ground ourselves in respect for the power of the Earth, and respond to Her unconditional generosity, we can begin by remembering to de-center our needs, and instead ask ourselves: What attitude towards the seasons can help me develop a relationship to place? How can I respond with love not only to the wonder, but to the pain of the Earth? When we are rooted in this space of humility and offering, we can remain open and present with Her beauty and loss.  Read the transcript.  Discover our latest print edition, Volume 6: Seasons. Artwork by Thoth Adan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are in need of stories that can help us navigate the complexity of our moment: both the unfolding ecological catastrophe and the love we feel for our burning world. This second talk in a series given by Emergence executive editor and Sufi teacher Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee at our Song of the Seasons retreat on Whidbey Island explores how the story of birth, growth, decay, and death told by the seasons, regardless of where one is in the world, invites us into a space of reverence that offers a container for holding love and loss amid the vast ecological changes reshaping our Earth. Read the transcript.  Discover our latest print edition, Volume 6: Seasons.  Artwork by Thoth Adan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices