Emergence Magazine Podcast

In an effort to seek out a language beyond the human, Charles Foster travels to the Isle of Skye to listen to the intricate vocalizations of the eight remaining Scottish killer whales. Charles is the author of more than twenty books, including “Being a Beast: Adventures Across the Species Divide” and “Wired for God: The Biology of Spiritual Experience.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rejecting the refrain “there are no words,” author and poet Camille T. Dungy reaches for a language that can encompass the experience of loneliness, erasure, and loss. Camille is the author of four collections of poetry, most recently “Trophic Cascade,” and a collection of personal essays, “Guidebook to Relative Strangers.” She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a companion to Kimberly Ruffin's essay “Bodies of Evidence” from our Faith issue, she created this guided practice offering ways to connect to the living world through a walk in the forest. For Kimberly, faith is a continuous exchange of belonging, an experience that’s palpable among trees. In this practice, as with any experience in nature use common sense, trust your intuition, and tell somewhere where you’re going. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For Chickasaw novelist and poet, Linda Hogan, hope lives where faith has fallen away. During an encounter with caged elephants, she experiences a wave of profound and startling love in the presence of beings so very different from—and so very like—ourselves. In her essay “Ancient Root,” Linda reflects on how these beings embody a terrestrial intelligence akin to our own. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this narrated essay, Aylie Baker reflects on her experiences sailing by canoe under Micronesian Master Navigator Sesario Sewralur and shows how we can draw on an innate ability to orient ourselves in a shifting world. Born in Maine, Aylie is committed to supporting the healing of watershed communities. View this story on our website: www.emergencemagazine.org/story/wave-patterns Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this in-depth interview, Reverend angel Kyodo williams reflects on our widespread crisis of story, the failure of institutional religions to offer a new way forward, and her philosophy of Radical Dharma—a path to individual and collective liberation. A Sensei in the Japanese Zen tradition, angel is author of “Being Black: Zen and the Art of Living with Fearlessness and Grace” and coauthor of “Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In an age when the fate of the world is frightfully unknown, George Prochnik, author of “In Pursuit of Silence: Listening for Meaning in a World of Noise,” makes a case for uncertainty as a form of faith and hope. If we unravel our desire for the all-knowing, he says, we can enter into a sanctuary of mystery, in which “I do not know” becomes a statement of hope. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Kimberly Ruffin revisits her upbringing and spiritual heritage, she compiles the bodies of evidence that have invigorated her spirit. A certified Nature and Forest Therapy Guide and a new member of a church, Kimberly explores where “spirit power” can be found, both within a church community and in the places where faith rises up within the land. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bill Porter, known as Red Pine, is a celebrated translator with deep roots in Chinese hermit traditions and poetry. He shares his transformative journey to the Zhongnan Mountains, where simplicity and spirituality reign supreme. The discussion highlights the intricate dance of translating ancient Chinese poetry, emphasizing the essence and energy of the originals. Porter also explores the resurgence of hermit culture in modern China, as more individuals seek a deeper connection to simpler living and spiritual fulfillment.

Struggling to explain her belief in God to her atheist husband, award-winning Palestinian American poet Hala Alyan reflects on her Muslim faith as inextricably linked to her family, to Palestine, and to histories of erasure. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices