Etikettarkiv: Krista Tippett

Podcast 33/52 – On Beauty

Publicerad den av
Svara

Inspired by my coach Carla, I recently bought the book Beauty – the invisible embrace by John O’Donahue. Haven’t started to read it yet, but I will. In the meantime, I’ve listened to the podcast from On Being, where Krista Tippett is in conversation with John just a few month before he died, way to early, at 52 years of age.

This is another one of those podcasts where I, after listening to it, simply press PLAY again, to listen once more. And then once more. And so on. Every time I hear something new, pick up on a different vibe, moved by a phrase, a word, an emotion arising within me.

BoldomaticPost_beauty-is-not-a-luxury-but-IThere is just too much beauty, wonder, insight and laughter in this podcast to even begin to try to characterize or label it. It’s simply too rich, too overwhelming, too beautiful.

I absolutely adore Johns Irish accent so I could re-listen to this podcast many times, solely for the joy of hearing John speak. It’s beautiful, there’s a rhythm and song to it, that gathers me up, holds me, in warm arms. And beauty is, after all, one of the theme this entire conversation centers around. John gives some wonderful suggestions on how to ensure you have beauty in your life, no matter what physical surroundings you live in, suggestions that are profound in their simplicity.

Now, at the end of this interview (which I truly hope you will listen to!), John talks a bit about conversation. He asks a question, which I will leave you with:

And the question is: when is the last time that you had a great conversation, a conversation which wasn’t just two intersecting monologues, which is what passes for conversation a lot in this culture. But when had you last a great conversation, in which you overheard yourself saying things that you never knew you knew?

Podcast 28/52 – Stewardship, not disruption

Publicerad den av
1

I’ve not followed Brain Pickings a lot, but now and again I stumble upon something coming from that site, and it’s almost always magnificent. Making me wonder, kick-starting my curiosity and often being very inspirational. Then I listened to Maria Popova of Brain Pickings in a conversation with Krista Tippett from On Being.

Guess what happened after I was finished listening? I pressed PLAY once more, and took in the entire episode once more. I believe I’ll listen to it over and over again. Because there’s so much interesting stuff in this podcast, beautiful sentences, phrases, stories about Marias grandparents, and much else. It’s hard to pick out one or two things, because it’s truly an episode worth listening to in full.

But the sentence below, which is a quote by a friend of Marias, really hit home. Perhaps because I’ve been talking about the need for personal stewardship with a friend of mine. How it’s a word, and an activity, that we seem to have forgotten, I believe.

BoldomaticPost_Culture-needs-stewardship-not

Sitting here looking at that quote ”Culture needs stewardship, not disruption”, my mind took a leap. To cultivation itself. To the no-dig no-till practice of cultivation put in use by Paul and Elizabeth Kaiser, that I got so enthralled by in the Peak Prosperity podcast. They explained how disruptive it is for soil structure, and hence, for soil-living creatures such as a majority of all wild pollinators, when we dig, till and uproot plants from the ground. They work with nature, rather than against it, and boy, are they rewarded!

There’s more for me to discover here, I can sense it lurking just beneath the surface. So I’ll sit with it, letting it take its time. Sooner or later it will emerge. I won’t try to dig for it, because that would likely just disrupt the process.

Does this quote evoke anything in you?

Book delivery

Publicerad den av
2

I ordered some books last week and picked them up today. Oh, how I long to get started on them. Summer is saved.

As if my book case wasn’t already jam-packed with books I’m longing to read!

books

 

Here’s a quick rundown of these books:
* Synchronicity by Joseph Jaworski I read a month ago, and it made such an impact I just knew I had to buy it (I’d borrow it from a friend). So I’m gonna read it again. And likely, again, and again, and then again. You get the picture!
*The Tibetan Art of Positive Thinking by Christopher Hansard comes highly recommended from a friend, who’s opinion I hold in high regard. I can’t wait to read this one.
*Letters to a young poet by Rainer Maria Rilke is a book that I’ve heard Krista Tippett refer to in numerous episodes of On Being, my absolute favorite podcast, so I finally got around to ordering it too. I haven’t quite figured out what kind of a book this is, so it will be an adventure to dive into.
*My coach Carla have read poems to me, by both John O’Donahue and David Whyte and they have touched my soul. So now I have two books of my own, to dive into. The invisible embrace of Beauty and The house of belonging, respectively. I’m not a very skilled reader of poetry, but I’m practicing, and enjoying myself!
*And finally The Parents Tao Te Ching by William Martin. Pages from this book have floated around Facebook, intriguing me a bit. So I figured – why not give it a go, maybe I will find something there?

If these are the only books I plan on reading this summer? No. Not by a long shot. But it’s a good start, don’t you think? Have you read any of these? If so – what feeling were you left with after reading them? Based on this selection, do you have any other book recommendations for me?

 

 

 

 

 

Podcast 23/52 – the wisdom of tenderness

Publicerad den av
1

I can’t help it. Here’s another On Being-episode that I so hope you will listen to. Krista Tippett in a conversation with Jean Vanier, an episode recorded in 2007 when he was 79 years old. Jean is the founder of L’Arche, just having celebrated it’s 50th anniversary, hence the re-broadcast of the interview. And I am grateful for that, since I might not have discovered this particular episode in the archives of On Being otherwise.

(But there’s a thought – how many other gem’s are hidden in the archives? I might just set my mind to listening through all of On Being, every episode produced…. now there’s a quest!)

Being very interested and involved in the school debate and the educational system, I found this bit especially interesting to listen to:

The balance of our world frequently is seen as a question of power. That if I have more power and more knowledge, more capacity, then I can do more. […] And when you have power, we can very quickly push people down. I’m the one that knows and you don’t know, and I’m strong and I’m powerful, I have the knowledge. And this is the history of humanity. And that is all of what I’d call the whole educational system, is that we must educate people to become capable and to take their place in society. That has value, obviously. But it’s not quite the same thing as to educate people to relate, to listen, to help people to become themselves. 

BoldomaticPost_It-s-the-realization-of-how-t

There’s something to ponder, for me, and others, of whom I ask the question Why school? The reason for asking, for me, is to get people thinking about the society we create, through the whole educational system (as well as other structures, but for me, the educational system and family are the top two factors.), and if we are creating that which we want to see more of. Like Jean Vanier said, capable people taking a place in society is all fine and dandy. But then what? What else is needed/desired?

L’Arche, which centers on sharing the lives of people with intellectual disabilities, is new to me, as Jean Vanier is. I get intrigued, as I listen to what Jean speaks about, which is the thing I dream of. A world of people becoming themselves, relating and listening, sharing tenderness and love. A culture of welcoming. To and of all.

Fascinating to listen to the wisdom of tenderness this old gentleman has, towards life, all of it, regardless. And to hear him speak of growing older, and absolutely loving it. Witnessing the increasing frailty of his own body, being in total acceptance that his mind no longer can keep up as it used to, that his body demands an afternoon nap and so on. It’s just pure love. Magnificent.

What if…. I met the world from the wisdom of tenderness? What if…. we all did?