The Spirit Of Things - Program Podcast

He was the moral conscience of South Africa, a hero in the struggle against apartheid, and one of the spiritual giants of our time. The legacy of the late Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu lives on through people like Michael Battle, Director of the Desmond Tutu Centre in the US. Dr Battle lived with the renowned bishop and theologian as his student and personal chaplain during the dismantling of apartheid.

Dr Martin Luther King Jr called him an 'Apostle of Peace' when nominating Thich Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. To many, he's known as the Buddhist monk who introduced the practice of mindfulness to the West and popularised it. Explore the life and legacy Thich Nhat Hanh –renowned Zen master, monk, poet, peace activist, teacher and global spiritual leader.

How secular, or not, is China today? As many of us celebrate Lunar New Year, Soul Search heads to China. Professor Mayfair Yang discusses the resurgence of popular religion in China – from local cults to lineage organisations, Protestant Christianity to modern Taoism. Then we chat to British-born, Australian-Chinese illustrator, Chrissy Lau, who is at the forefront of modern representations of Lunar New Year – reimagining her own heritage for a new generation.

Francis Spufford is a storyteller who sees grace and beauty in the grimiest and grittiest of places. He challenges us to look closely and catch a glimpse of something wildly precious and extraordinary, even holy and eternal. Also, Mehmet Ozalp previews the inaugural Sydney Muslim Writers' festival and explains the significance of the pen in the Islamic faith.

How Kate Bowler, a self-described incurable optimist and expert on the American prosperity gospel, faced the biggest challenge of her life – which upended everything she knew about health, wealth and what it means to live a good and successful life.

Many Indigenous languages have a word that means something like ‘deep listening’. In Ngan'gikurunggurr, a Northern Territory language, that word is dadirri. We hear from renowned Aboriginal elder and 2021 Senior Australian of the Year, Dr Miriam Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann, who advocates for a kind of listening — a quiet awareness — that sums up a whole way of being. We also meet Wiradjuri and Wailwaan woman Fleur Magick Dennis on a different kind of meditation and ethical reflection.

Do you ever look around and think, there must be a better way to do life, here? We’re meeting people asking the big question of how to live well in the world as we find it. Hear from Dr Jonathan Cornford, a political economist on a mission to live more slowly, gently, and simply, and Asher Packman, the current President of Meditation Australia.

Muslim cameleers have a rich history in Australia – that you may not have heard much about. They're the men who transformed the economic, cultural and spiritual life of many outback communities at the turn of the 20th century.

Meredith Lake chats to podcaster and author Casper ter Kulie whose been thinking about a big question: How do we make meaning as communities, and deepen our sense of connection to one another?

Acclaimed ethologist and 2021 Templeton Prize winner, Jane Goodall, tells us about the many teachers who have gifted her with lessons on humanity and hope: from her childhood reading tree to her first dog, the Gombe forest and, of course, her beloved chimps.

It has been quite the year for many of us — but what's helped you through? What everyday wisdom and practices have nourished you and been good for your soul? Hear the answers to these questions and more from friends of the show: the always insightful academics and authors, Alda Balthrop-Lewis and David Newheiser, GP and Yamatji Badimaya woman, Dr Umber Rind, Adelaide-based Rabbi, Shoshanna Kaminsky, and Wakka Wakka woman and CEO of Common Grace, Brooke Prentis.

Join Dr Meredith Lake and Suvira Bhikkhuni as they trace the revival of the ordination of Theravada women — one of the most important recent reforms within global Buddhism.

At the turn of the 20th Century, a teenage military cadet and budding poet began a correspondence with Rainer Maria Rilke. The young man expected some guidance and criticism from the great German poet but received something far greater: instructions on love and solitude, beauty and art, spirituality and life. Almost 100 years on, two grand dames of literature – Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows – have delivered a new translation of Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, unveiling new insights in the context of today's world.

Shakespeare's world was marked by social change, spiritual tumult and cosmic disorientation – Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne, Europeans were exploring the Americas, and a heliocentric model of our solar system was taking shape. Join us as we explore the religious landscape of Elizabethan-era England, and how the Bard grappled with emerging ideas about self, the supernatural, and humanity's place in the cosmos.

Claude AnShin Thomas enlisted in the US Army at 17, served as a helicopter gunner and crew chief in the Vietnam War, and was awarded numerous medals and a Purple Heart – all before becoming ordained as a Zen Buddhist monk. He carries the responsibility for much death and destruction, but has learned to live peacefully with unpeacefulness and is helping others do the same.

How do we navigate the mundane of the everyday, the ordinariness of life, without becoming dull to its depth, beauty and capacity to surprise? A poet presents his award-winning meditation on walking around Wagga, and an ex-priest takes us on a mental excursion through the history of philosophy to explore the wisdom of the stoics, epicurans, and many of the world's greatest thinkers.

What does forgiveness look like in the messiness and chaos that is real life? A filmmaker shares the intimate and courageous story of her own tumultuous relationship with her mother, and her journey towards love and acceptance. A professor describes forgiveness as a work of love, and explains the difference between the act of forgiveness and the virtue of forgivingness – and the importance of both.

Are suburbs spiritual deserts or sacred wellsprings? In the places where most of us live our day to day lives, where do we go to find joy and hope, beauty and grace – and how do we experience the transcendent and divine?

Glaciers matter to the people who live near them – but how do these communities respond as more and more ice melts away? A priestess of the Icelandic religion of Ásatrú explains how ancient Norse mythology orients her towards nature, and a professor shares how her experiences on the Himalayan glaciers revealed a deep connection between spirituality and the lived reality of climate change.

Soul Search returns to our Sacred Landscapes series that explores the connections between spirituality and place. We turn to the cool climates with our guides – Dr Jonica Newby and Professor Jakelin Troy – taking us into the coldest regions of Australia and deepening our understanding of the spiritual importance of snow.