Lifeworlds

Anab Jain, co-founder of Superflux, a visionary design studio focused on ecological challenges, takes listeners on a journey through speculative design. She explores how imagination can redefine our relationship with nature and promote interspecies thriving. Jain discusses transformative concepts like multispecies banquets and rewilding urban spaces. By emphasizing emotional connections and responsible narratives, she highlights the role of design in fostering ecological awareness and hope amidst global challenges.

This is my take on ancient and intuitive sensory experience that taps into the innate intelligence of the human body, a blend of body compass, Zen Beginner's Mind, a shamanic medicine walk and Goethean science. The practice asks you to find a place in the natural landscape where you could walk undisturbed for some time, and have an encounter with an element of nature. A true act of lifeworld-ing! I guide you through a short introduction and the instructions. Attached on the website page is a link to the full instructions in PDF, and listed here in much briefer bullets below. I recommend listening in full, then using either of the instructions when you choose to do the practice itself. Abbreviated instructions ·     Before entering into the natural landscape, you’ll walk to a threshold place, and stop.·     Here you will physically draw a threshold that you will walk across.·     Once you’ve done that, pause, connect with the land, speak your intention, ask for permission.·     Cross the threshold, and start walking towards where you feel a tug. Be conscious of the way your body can intuitively lead the way. Use the senses. ·     At some point, you may come across a being in the land that catches your attention. It could be a spiders web, a stone, a patch of moss, a dead bough of a tree, a stream, a blade of grass, truly anything. Approach, introduce yourself.·     Spend a moment in presence with them, in beginners mind. ·     Use Goethe’s Exact Sense Perception instructions –then imagine it transforming. Then release to receive. Let it communicate back to you. ·     Stay here as long as feels right. ·     When it comes to the time to go, thank this natural being and start walking back to your threshold place. ·     When you cross the threshold, thank the land and when you’re ready, step across back into the other world. ·     Gently wipe out the threshold door and take some time upon returning to digest anything that may have arisen for you. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Martin Wikelski, director of the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, delves into the fascinating world of animal communication and ecological interconnectedness. He shares insights from the ICARUS project, likening it to ‘the internet of animals.’ The conversation covers how technology tracks wildlife movements, helping us understand their responses to environmental changes. Wikelski emphasizes the implications for conservation, including strategies to reduce human impacts on ecosystems and enhance our coexistence with nature.

Pella Thiel, an advocate for international Ecocide law and environmental justice, discusses groundbreaking ideas that aim to redefine how we view environmental destruction. She explains how ecocide law could align with the severity of genocide, catalyzing a moral shift in global values. Pella delves into the potential of this law to enhance ecological accountability and explores the rights of nature. Additionally, she proposes the creation of an environmental embassy to advocate for the Baltic Sea, emphasizing community action and innovative governance to protect vital ecosystems.

Ersin Han Ersin, director of the artist collective Marshmallow Laser Feast, chats about their groundbreaking virtual reality work focused on nature. They delve into the emotional and sensory impact of immersive art that fosters deep connections with the environment. Combining science and creativity, they highlight projects like 'Observations on Being' that explore biodiversity. The conversation also touches on the concept of 'braincasting' and the idea of experiencing life from diverse ecological perspectives, urging listeners to embrace a more empathetic understanding of nature.

Today’s episode brings us into the heart and philosophy of Zen Buddhism, as practiced by the Plum Village monastic community that was founded in 1982 by the Vietnamese peace activist, monk, poet, and teacher Thich Nhat Hanh. Today it has grown into Europe’s largest Buddhist monastery, with over 200 resident monks and nuns, and known as one of the most actively engaged Buddhist communities offering insight on the modern world, and on the climate and ecological crises.We’ve spoken on the show about fragmented consciousness, a mind that sees parts and not the whole. Meditation and other Buddhist practices are one of the core ways of how we can heal minds and views. And so we will hear from two Plum Village monks: Sister True Dedication and Brother Spirit. Before entering the monastery, Sister True Dedication studied History & Political Thought at Cambridge University and worked as a journalist for BBC News. In the early years of her monastic training, she assisted Thich Nhat Hanh in their engaged Buddhist actions for human rights, religious freedom, applied ethics, and ecology. Brother Spirit began his monastic training in Plum Village in 2008, and before ordaining he studied mathematics at Cambridge and worked professionally as a composer, and as such has since composed many of the community’s beloved chants. They both helped to found the international Wake Up Movement, a community of young meditators finding new ways to combine mindfulness and engaged Buddhism.We talk about:the fragmentation of consciousnesshow to hold the perspective of non duality and interbeing within unlikely contexts, and how doing so grants us agency and transformationdehumanization, de animation, and what Buddhism teaches about our relationship to other life and other intelligencesthe Mayahana Diamond Sutra (the world’s earliest printed text) and its invitation for us to reconsider four key notions of existancehow to find and make peace with one’s activismthe seeds of wisdom that lie dormant in 4000-year-old magnolia treeshow to hold the suffering of the world and call upon our ancestors for supportspiritual bypassing, instrumentalising, and get out of jail free cardsEpisode Website LinkShow Links:Plum VillageAbout Thich Nhat HanhZen and the Art of Saving the PlanetThay's Poetry / Please Call Me by My True Names (song & poem)Lifeworlds Meditation on Food inspired by Plum VillageMahamudra: Dr Dan BrownHope in the Dark: Rebecca SolnitGlobal OptimismLook out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd Photo credit: Plum Village website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Woven together loosely by my narrative, this special episode traces through a selection of five dazzling poems from the Pulitzer-prize winning poet Mary Oliver; bringing us into giddy relationship with the natural world -- with geese and grasshoppers and miracles and scars and existential queries on what makes life worth living. Mary's sharp and gentle perception of nature, her ability to communicate its messages with such simple and profound language, is at once both balm and flame for the soul.   “Poetry is a life-cherishing force. For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry.” – Mary Oliver Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Paco Calvo, a professor at the University of Murcia and head of the Minimal Intelligence Lab, discusses the groundbreaking field of plant cognition. He challenges the notion that intelligence requires a brain, presenting the root-brain hypothesis and exploring how plants exhibit decision-making and communication. Calvo highlights their adaptive behaviors, like memory and self-recognition, and argues for a decentralized view of intelligence. He also delves into biorebotics inspired by plants, emphasizing ethical considerations in our interactions with other life forms.

Daniel Schmachtenberger, a social philosopher and founding director of the Civilisation Research Institute, dives deep into intriguing topics. He discusses the psychological and metaphysical dimensions of the metacrisis, including fragmented consciousness and the balance of intellect and emotion. The conversation touches on the sacredness of interconnectedness and the significance of community, while also exploring the beauty-truth-meaning relationship. Schmachtenberger encourages cultivating curiosity in youth, emphasizing the role of creativity in healing and fostering genuine connections.

Milka Chepkorir Kuto, an expert in seed preservation, discusses the importance of preserving diverse seed varieties for food sovereignty and cultural identity. She emphasizes the role of women in seed saving programs and restoring indigenous food systems. The podcast explores the interconnectedness of traditional foods, seeds, and cultural preservation, highlighting the significance of ancestral knowledge and land stewardship in reviving traditional farming practices.