How can we address global problems – such as catastrophic climate change – when individual actions make very little difference? What’s the right thing to do when there aren’t easy answers? Is it wrong to do nothing? Is everything relative, or are there better ways to think about solutions?

As Travis Rieder writes in Catastrophe Ethics, we need our own frameworks for making decisions. Two common pitfalls can get in the way. One highlights universal rules and the other is averse to them. To avoid being distracted by either, we need to think for ourselves about right and wrong, inspired by ideas drawn from moral philosophy.

Our conversation explores how this works to make life meaningful. In the process, we talk about illusions of purity, the need to find reasons to justify actions and the value of “doing our part” – however limited it may be – to minimise harm. We also reflect on life’s inevitable compromises, the complicated ethics of creating new people, and why personal integrity means being transparent not wearing a hair-shirt.

Travis works as a professor at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. He’s also the author of In Pain: A Bioethicist’s Personal Struggle with Opioids, which expands on a TED talk about his experience.

🎓 Join me in London – or online – for a weekend immersion in yoga philosophy (March 1-2, 2025)

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What does it mean to be human, and how can one access one’s innermost self? Robert Rowland Smith writes popular books about practical philosophy, including a memoir that discusses what he’s learned from his relationships – as well as a career as an Oxford don, a strategic adviser and a personal coach, among other things…

Our conversation explores the extent to which people can change, and how to get attuned to an inner alarm that reveals when it’s necessary. We also talk about intuitive ways of knowing, the role of fate and how inherited patterns shape our lives. Along the way, we consider the importance of facing mortality, why it might be scary to experience awakening and how to find purpose by asking good questions.

If you’d like to learn more about Robert’s approach – including family constellations – he’s running an online “retreat” from January 5 (available on-demand at other times). He’s also co-host of regular philosophy slams, where he and Mark Vernon respond to audience prompts with impromptu ideas.

🧘‍♂️ Join me in London or online for a weekend immersion in yoga philosophy (March 1-2, 2025)

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"What are we doing wrong that requires us all to be so resilient so often?” That’s the basic question that frames a new book by Elliot Cohen. The Psychology of Slow Living investigates ways to avoid being frazzled by a culture of urgency fuelled by quests for instant gratification via digital technology and overconsumption.

Drawing on ideas from Buddhist, Hindu, Daoist and Jewish traditions – as well as social psychology – the book explores how to slow down from a range of perspectives. It warns against seeking quick fixes, but highlights the value of meditative practice, communion with nature and social rituals, from tea ceremonies to the Sabbath.

We also talk about the mental effects of surroundings – from the impact of urban environments to natural examples of living with balance. In the process, Elliot cites teachings on the “usefulness of uselessness”, promoting some renouncing without dropping out. You can find out more about his research here.

📅 Join me in March to explore authenticity in yoga (in London or online).

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N.B. for more on this topic, see this article.

What if the text known as the Yoga Sūtra never existed – at least not to start with? Philipp Maas is a scholar of Patañjali’s yoga, whose work suggests its teachings were originally transmitted as part of a larger philosophical text with explanations.

We discuss how this accompanying commentary (bhāṣya) interprets the sūtras, and reflect on the broader significance of studying history for modern practitioners. We also consider the distance in time and space between yogic texts and their uses today. Among other topics, our conversation explores:

* The evidence for Philipp’s conclusions on Patañjali

* What studying another culture reveals about our own

* Whether scholars of yoga ought to practise its methods

* The risks of colonising history for political purposes

* Recent critical comments by Shyam Ranganathan

You can find out more about Philipp’s research at academia.edu, where his work is downloadable (free registration needed). This recent overview is a helpful place to start. It covers much of what we discuss, including several layers of commentary.

🎓 For accessible insights on yoga, join me for a course at truthofyoga.com.

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What do Heinrich Himmler and Mohandas Gandhi have in common? Both were inspired by the Bhagavad Gītā. As Dorothy Figueira explains, what they found in it were mental projections. So Gandhi saw promotion of non-violence, while Himmler thought it justified killing for an avatar of God called Adolf Hitler.

These interpretations – among many others – are the subject of Dorothy’s recent book, The Afterlives of the Bhagavad Gītā. As a scholar of religion and comparative literature, she shows how modern translations are often more revealing of their authors’ ideas than the texts they engage with.

With the Gītā, there are so many readings that it’s difficult to summarise where they diverge. Our conversation discusses the “decadence”, as Dorothy terms it, of Western seekers such as Allen Ginsberg. She contrasts this with meticulous colonial scholars and use of the Gītā by Indian nationalists. Detached from commentaries, it proved politically malleable, serving to justify many positions.

Some of the most shocking continue to resonate. The Nazi Gītā is resurgent online, via the writings of a European woman known as “Savitri Devi”. Although Dorothy laments these distortions, her general advice is to accept the existence of multiple readings, and to explore them open-mindedly to counteract dogma. She works as a professor at the University of Georgia.

🎓 For accessible overviews of yoga’s evolution, join me for a course at truthofyoga.com.

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A shift in focus for the podcast this week to discuss a new book by Richard Seymour. Subtitled “The Downfall of Liberal Civilization”, Disaster Nationalism investigates “a struggle for our collective soul”, along with the psychology of far-right movements.

As Richard warns, these can take many forms – including the perversion of liberal and leftist agendas into authoritarianism. “There is a fascist temptation for everyone,” he writes: “we all have our jackboots.” Rather than focusing on charismatic leaders, as if defeating them might solve the problem, he highlights the trends and tendencies that they exploit, and in the process suggests how to counter them.

Richard used to blog as “lenin”, so we start by discussing his political perspective, then explore other topics from living with purpose to the limits of materialism. He’s the author of multiple books, and a co-founder of Salvage, “a bi-annual journal of revolutionary arts and letters”, which “recognises that the catastrophe is already upon us and that the decisive struggle is over what to do with the remains.”

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🧘‍♂️ N.B. the Truth of Yoga course starts this week and there's still time to join us.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ancientfutures.substack.com/subscribe

Is prāṇāyāma the same thing as breath-work? Both labels are commonly used to teach similar techniques. They’re also increasingly hard to distinguish, because of ongoing changes in methods and objectives. This conversation with Isabel Tew examines the overlaps as well as distinctions between modern systems.

Isabel started with yoga, which made her curious about prāṇāyāma – a much older form of practice than sequences of postures. However, she’s also explored modern breath-work, and some of its teachings are part of her Breath Cards (published on October 29), which present daily “practices for calm, clarity and renewal”.

Together, we reflect on a shift in yogic priorities towards well-being, as opposed to ancient goals of renouncing the world. That helps to blur boundaries between East and West, leading teachers of yoga to draw inspiration from non-yogic sources (for historical details, see this recent article by Magdalena Kraler).

As we discuss, most contemporary approaches focus on healing in some way which has parallels with earlier frameworks of transcending suffering. For an accessible overview of prāṇāyāma history, try this talk at truthofyoga.com.

🧘‍♂️ N.B. there's still join me for The Truth of Yoga online course, which runs live in November.

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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit ancientfutures.substack.com

This is a different sort of podcast, featuring interviews I did half my life ago. I originally planned to make a radio documentary, but the audio wound up on MiniDiscs gathering dust.

In 2001, I was a foreign correspondent searching for answers. I hoped I might find some in India at the world’s biggest gathering – the Mahā Kumbha Melā, where the Ganges meets the Yamuna. I talked to a wide range of people, asking Westerners what had inspired their journeys Eastward.

Looking back, I’ve made one myself – from drug-fuelled confusion to writing a book about yoga philosophy, and a career as a teacher. My younger self had other ideas – he tried to emulate the Melā by staging a festival on Big War Island in Belgrade. However, listening to these chats, I can hear a few echoes of what was to come – plus repeated indications of much still to learn…

The first conversation is with Scott McNamara, an American disciple of the yogi “Pilot Baba”. The second is with Susan Shumsky, who learned to meditate with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, then turned to “New Thought” – better known today as “manifesting” – whose positive psychology infuses modern yoga.

I’m still unsure about the documentary prospects – not least since I don’t work in radio, or know where to start. I also have mixed feelings about the discussions, as the podcast explains. If you have any thoughts in response, please get in touch!

🧘‍♂️ For more about yogic traditions, join me for a course at truthofyoga.com.

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What might it look like to live in a world that combines ancient wisdom with newer ideas about sustainable development? In his recent book Politics of Being, the social scientist Thomas Legrand explores the potential for shifts in perspective that could help us to face converging challenges.

At the heart of his vision is an inner transformation, rejecting a paradigm that fuels separation while awakening values that promote collective consciousness. Although this is rooted in a spiritual worldview, Thomas says it’s more about human ideals of freedom, virtue, truth and understanding – plus peace, love and happiness.

We discuss how his agenda for action goes beyond the personal by looking at life in relational terms. Recognising interconnection leads to more holistic policies, which Thomas describes using real-life examples. However, we also reflect on obstacles to change – from entrenched vested interests to the underlying craving that drives an economy addicted to growth.

Click here to download an excerpt from Politics of Being, or find out more via social media (he’s on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn). Thomas also writes a Substack newsletter, and currently works with the Conscious Food Systems Alliance, convened by the United Nations Development Programme.

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* Last call for The Path of Knowledge! We start on Sun, Sep 29 – join us here *

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit ancientfutures.substack.com

Why is “light” used as a metaphor for “good”, while “dark” means “bad”? How does that blind us and what might we do about it? As Mariana Alessandri writes in Night Vision, difficult feelings such as anger, sorrow, grief, depression and anxiety can be sources of knowledge, so we need to embrace them as part of humanity.

Her book is not a gloom manifesto. Instead, it seeks to clarify why we feel bad about feeling bad. This is an outcome of social pressure to look on the bright side, so telling each other “don’t worry, be happy” causes shame. As a philosopher, Mariana explains that the problem has ancient roots, which are entangled with positive thinking. She also highlights alternative sources with more helpful messages.

Our conversation explores practicalities, including how to strike a balance between acceptance and change – both individually and as a society. We touch on overlaps with yoga, such as the fusion of older ideas with Western “New Thought” (whose original “mind cure” shapes modern-day “manifesting”). And we consider ways of seeing beyond dark and light to more diverse perspectives.

Night Vision is out now in paperback, ebook and audio – it’s engagingly written, but with scholarly rigour. For a taste of Mariana’s work, try this New York Times essay on the children’s TV host Fred Rogers, whose “belief that we should validate emotions, not suppress them, is wisdom for all ages”.

🎓 Join me online for The Path of Knowledge, a year-long immersion in yogic traditions, relating ancient wisdom to modern priorities.

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