View Method has given rise to his acclaimed Soul Biographies Film Series, an experience of human presence viewed by millions. His subjects as well as viewers describe the Soul Biographies as an experience into full-spectrum awareness – a meditation of sorts. What follows is the transcript of the Awakin Call with Nic Askew, moderated by Preeta Bansal ,and hosted by Steve Elkins.  Steve Elkins: Our moderator today is Preeta. Preeta Bansal has had a lifelong passion for service which, for much of her life, took the form of public service. A constitutional lawyer by background, Preeta has served in some of the most senior posts in the governmental... posted on Apr 11 2023 (3,059 reads)

416 weeks, or almost 3,000 days. This is the amount of time that I have not had a fixed home; moving to a new country, culture and language every few months and taking absolutely everything I own with me. It has been a significant percentage of my life, and it’s still long from over. I had actually done some travelling before - a couple of summers in the states, and an entire month already in Spain. But about this time back in 2003, on the week of my 21st birthday, I left Ireland for good. I had graduated university a few days before, and knew that I’d only be coming back “home” for visits (I’ve n... posted on Jul 17 2011 (62,204 reads)

the last couple of days, I conducted a little social experiment. I asked different people a very important question, perhaps the most important question of all: Why are you here? I wanted to know what other people think about the meaning of life and what we can learn from it. I asked my friends, I talked to my parents and I called my grandparents. I’ve asked strangers on the streets, children from friends and random people in the subway. It is absolutely incredible how willing people are to open up when you sincerely ask for their opinion on something important. And the experiences while gathering the stories are something else as well. I got kicked out of a school, had ... posted on Jul 6 2017 (14,949 reads)

interview between Krista Tippett and Atul Gawande. Transcript Krista Tippett, host: What does a good day look like? This is the question that transformed Atul Gawande’s practice of medicine. He’s a citizen physician on frontiers of human agency and meaning in light of what modern medicine makes possible. And for the millions who have read his book, Being Mortal, he’s also opened new conversation about the ancient human question of death and what it might have to do with life. [music: “Seven League Boots” by Zoë Keating] Atul Gawande: The conversation I felt like I was having was, do we fight, or do we give up? And the reality was that it&rsq... posted on Jan 11 2018 (28,585 reads)

episode originally aired on June 4, 2015.  Krista Tippett, host:Pico Iyer is not a spiritual teacher or even, he says, a spiritual person per se. But he has become one of our most beloved and eloquent translators of the modern rediscovery of inner life. As a journalist and novelist, he travels the globe from Ethiopia to North Korea, and he lives in Japan. But he also experiences a remote Benedictine hermitage as his second home, retreating there many times each year. In this intimate conversation, we explore the “art of stillness” he practices — not in order to enrich the mountaintop, he writes, “but to bring calm into the motion of the world.&r... posted on Feb 5 2019 (8,315 reads)

varied roles within biological networks, as heard through the acoustics of a dozen trees around the world, which he visited regularly. David's innovative approaches to teaching and fieldwork, his radical commitment to a whole-bodied study of the natural world, and his remarkable lyrical gifts have yielded a lush and Illuminating body of work that returns us to our place in the web. As one reviewer put it, "With a poet's ear and and a naturalist's eye, Haskell re-roots us in life's grand creative struggle and encourages us to turn away from empty individuality. The Songs of Trees reminds us that we're not alone and never have been. What follows is the edited tr... posted on Mar 22 2019 (4,917 reads)

such a common feeling, and it’s episodic, too. I mean, as you and I speak, I think it’s really high, like the world just seems again to be falling apart. And one of the ironies about this book, Real Change, was it came out in the middle—not even the middle, kind at the beginning of the pandemic.   SS: When everything was sort of lending itself to the feeling of shut down and can’t do anything, and as they say, in the book, one of my icons in life is the Statue of Liberty. What I hadn’t really realized so much until working on the book was that she’s a woman on the move. She’s in mid stride. One of her legs is halfway up&... posted on Apr 8 2022 (2,597 reads)

you so much. What an honor to be in conversation today with Carrie Newcomer, who is an absolute national treasure. She is a singer, songwriter, recording artist, and educator. The Boston Globe described her as a “prairie mystic” and Rolling Stone wrote that she is one who “asks all the right questions.” She has been called a “conversational, introspective” songwriter who “celebrates and savors the ordinary sacred moments of life”. And Krista Tippett notes that Carrie is “best known for her story-songs that get at the raw and redemptive edges of human reality.” Carrie has produced an amazing array of ... posted on Jul 15 2023 (2,639 reads)

rhymed, it had an ocean metaphor, and it was roundabout how no one quite understood me, which is probably how all 13-year-old girls feel. But no, I don’t have access to most of my high school writing. It lives somewhere, and I wish I still had all of that stuff, but the earliest poems that I have access to are from college. TS: One of the things that I read about you is that you don’t think of yourself primarily as a storyteller, but more someone who thinks and experiences life in sensory experience. I wanted to understand more about that, experiencing life in sensory experience. What does that mean? How do you know which sensory experience is so scintillating that it l... posted on Aug 10 2023 (2,873 reads)

he has been a singular, transformative creative muse for artists across genres and generations — from the Beastie Boys to Johnny Cash, from Public Enemy to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, from Adele to Jay-Z — to name just a few. But Rick has been looking back these past few years at what he’s learned about the creative process itself, and he’s published his first book, The Creative Act, about that: the flow and the ingredients by which an idea becomes an offering; life practices which call that alchemy forth; the mystery of it all that can only be named and wondered at — and the ordinary mystery that creativity is a human birthright, a way of being rather... posted on Nov 30 -0001 (26 reads)

Ponce is a 16-year-old animal rights advocate and a citizen lobbyist from Casselberry, Florida. He is the founder of Lobby For Animals, the Coordinator for Fin Free FL, and founder of Harley’s Home, which is used as his school-based animal rights club. A vegetarian at age of 4, he began writing about animal rights at the age of 5.  Soon after, Thomas’s parents realized that his advocacy for animals was not a phase, but a way of life. “I feel that it is our responsibility as both citizens and human beings to use our minds, hearts and voices to speak up against the injustices we see in the world,” explains Thomas. What foll... posted on May 22 2017 (17,614 reads)

event I could not have even imagined twenty-four hours earlier. It had the quality of magic I know Reggio understands very well, a magic that comes through in the interview itself. Walking with Reggio down Van Ness Avenue after the interview towards Davies Symphony Hall, it was raining lightly, and cold. Reggio, wrapped in a long black overcoat with his gray hair slightly disheveled, and at six feet six inches tall, cut a striking figure. Strolling along together in friendly conversation, life could hardly have seemed better.  Richard Whittaker:  Would you mind telling us a little about your early experience with the church? Because I’m sure that must have a very imp... posted on Oct 25 2017 (11,079 reads)

from Intrinsic Hope: Living Courageously in Troubled Times by Kate Davies, New Society Publishers  April 201 Be where you are; otherwise you will miss your life. --Attributed to the Buddha The first habit of hope I’d like to discuss is being present. This means paying attention to whatever is going on and not getting sidetracked or distracted — in other words, living where life is actually happening rather than in our heads. To understand the difference between being present and not being present, think of a time when you felt completely alert and aware. What was happening? Where were you? What did you see and hear? Chances are you can probably remember ... posted on May 3 2021 (58,647 reads)

in the business of creating a miracle here on earth.” – Charles Eisenstein What is it like to be in the midst of a miracle? The idea of a miracle sounds so warm and delicious, the kind of thing you would aspire to experience in a minute, right? Well, in fact, here on earth we are in the middle of miracle school, whether you remember enrolling or not. And, much like life itself (a miracle in its own right), it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. It’s very important to know the signs that one is participating in a miracle so you can see it through and not mess it up. Because miracles inspire panic, not awe, while they are in process. Keep this... posted on Jul 25 2018 (12,980 reads)

called, “bad news.” Tell us a little bit about that experience. Did you view yourself as being an at-risk kid? Ed: Yes, I did. I was troubled, as they would say. A troubled youth. I wasn't able to communicate properly with my parents. They were older and had health issues and financial issues, and I was the youngest of four children. I actually grew up to be the black sheep of my family, and I think that was all in preparation for the work I was going to do later in life.  Rish: Which, of course, you didn't know at the time. When you turned 15, you enrolled in the Massachusetts National Guard, and then at 16 on to the U.S. Merchant Marine, and th... posted on Nov 1 2017 (8,028 reads)

18, 2018 Tami Simon: This program is brought to you buy SoundsTrue.com. At SoundsTrue.com, you can find hundreds of downloadable audio learning programs plus books, music, videos, and online courses and events. At SoundsTrue.com, we think of ourselves as a trusted partner on the spiritual journey, offering diverse, in-depth, and life-changing wisdom. SoundsTrue.com. You're listening to Insights at the Edge. Today my guest is Priya Parker. Priya is a facilitator and strategic advisor. She's the founder of Thrive Labs, at which she helps activists, elected officials, corporate executives, educators, and philanthropists create transformative gatherings. She work... posted on Sep 19 2019 (6,959 reads)

time seems to go by. TS: I have so much admiration for you. You’ve accomplished so much as I was reacquainting myself with your work over the past couple decades, I was floored by how much you’ve done as an activist in terms of all of your publishing activities. On your website I found a sentence, and I wanted to start our conversation with having you share a little bit about what is behind this sentence. Here it is: “Once we believe that there is a purpose to life and that we have a soul, then what we do with our life matters.” And I wanted to start right there, this notion of having this conviction, that there’s a purpose to our life; and then... posted on May 9 2022 (3,904 reads)

Simon: You’re listening to Insights at the Edge. Today my guest is Mark Nepo is a poet and philosopher who has taught in the fields of poetry and spirituality for over 35 years. He is a New York Times #1 bestselling author and a cancer survivor. Mark devotes his writing and teaching to the journey of inner transformation and the life of relationship. At Sounds True, Mark has created several audio programs, including an eight-CD series called Staying Awake: The Ordinary Art and an audio program called Holding Nothing Back: Essentials for an Authentic Life. Mark has also created a new nine-month interactive video learning course called A Pilgrimage of the Heart: Discovering Your Aut... posted on Jul 12 2014 (23,043 reads)

been writing this brain health blog since April, and very quickly it has become one of my life’s great passions—my “north star.” I wake up every morning buzzing with excitement and feeling so blessed I’m doing what I love. Besides trying my hardest to be the best Mum and wife I can be, my passion is writing about neuroscience. My goal is to provide impeccably researched, evidence-based stories that are told in a simple, fun, and compelling way. Your purpose in life, your north star, your passion, your bliss, your inner voice, your wisdom, your calling. What do you call it? I believe what Mastin Kipp from The Daily Love say... posted on Apr 26 2015 (27,495 reads)

all know that what will transform education is not another theory or another book or another formula but a transformed way of being in the world. In the midst of the familiar trappings of education—competition, intellectual combat, obsession with a narrow range of facts, credentials—we seek a life illumined by spirit and infused with soul. This is not romanticism, as John Cobb (President of the Naropa Institute and host of the Spirituality in Education conference) has properly cautioned us. I saw the other day a remarkable documentary called The Transformation of Allen School. Allen School is an inner-city school in Dayton, Ohio. It was for many years at the bottom of the l... posted on Aug 25 2017 (15,284 reads)