Starting from his personal story, David talks about the two forms of cultures that are close to his personal upbringing. Australians and New Zealanders are close, neighbors, yet there are some significant differences. The Māori are warrior people and aboriginal people are not. As you know, the Māori put up a formidable resistance to the European invasion to their land whereas the aboriginal responded in many different ways. In Australia there is no indigenous renaissance, differently from the Māori. The countries are also strikingly different. One has to speak in the plural about aboriginal cultures, as there is often more than one. Speaking of languages for example in Australia there are 250 aboriginal languages and 600 dialects, whereas in Māori culture there is only one language to represent the Māori people, which makes it easier to stay united and to speak to the outside world. David takes us on a journey to explore how the 'old ways of doing things' is often associated to convention, lack of spontaneity, whereas the 'very old', the primeval is often the source of renewal in modern culture, both cultural and spiritual.

In this episode Alex Zatyrka SJ, keynote speaker at the John Main Seminar 2020 talks about the culture of resistance of indigenous people, taking us on a personal journey to a Bolivian indigenous community. He then explores spirituality in the world of an indigenous Christian church in Mexico. In the works of Paul, he describes "the human being is conformed by a body (soma), mind (psyche) and spirit (pneuma). This spirit is the centre of the human identity, where the body and the mind come together and are harmonized, the place where we become what we're supposed to be, in dialogue with God and with the others. The Indian indigenous culture sees the heart as the centre of the human identity, just as the ancient Christian tradition.

In these wide-ranging reflections David Lorrimer, Programme Director of the Scientific and Medical Network (former President of Wrekin Trust and the Swedenborg Society) speaks about the decline of modern civilisation and the emergence of a creative minority which renews human society in each of its cycles. Other themes include the sense of human ‘progress’, the source of consciousness and the importance of spiritual discipline (helped in his case by his early athletic training), on science (and especially scientific discovery) as a contemplative activity – contemplation in contrast to mere observation – and the political challenge of our time to understand the difference between freedom and control, an understanding that requires us to go beyond our materialistic worldview.

In the second part of the talk, David continues in his reflection on the loss of the value of self discipline. "Culture implies cultivated people. Cultivating yourself requires a disciplined process. Another element of our culture which undermines this is the constant distractions that we are subjected to, the so-called the Attention Economy. All of that disperses our substance of being. We need to bring back to one-pointedness, because attention is our most important form of currency."

In this second and third talk, Belgian politician Herman Van Rompuy continues on his reflection on corona and its impact on politics starting with 'the case for global optimism', meaning that there is a case for optimism and sometimes us human can forget the good things that are happening in our society. For example, 70 years of peace, the existence of a European social market economy is still unique in the world today and protecting us in all kinds of setbacks. So it's not all gloomy. New problems have arisen and of course a crisis is needed in order to correct and avoid further mistakes. Herman Van Rompuy goes on explaining about what should be the priorities to help the countries to recover from the pandemic crisis: "We need to work together to emerge from the crisis in solidarity".

In this talk Sarah Bachelard further explores the broader shape of Christian virtue. In the past talks, we've been exploring what constitutes Holy Living, this exploration implies some conception of what human life is and what it is for. We must have some vision about our purpose and our meaning. How do we come by this vision? Christianity says the life, death and resurrection of Jesus reveals the deepest nature of human being and human vocation.

In this series of reflections, Sarah Bachelard explores the distinctive shape of Christian virtue, how it matters, and how a contemplative practice can enable us to grow in grace and power.

In this second talk of the series Who do You think You are?, Kim Nataraja guides us into a broader understanding of the way of meditation and the distinction between the ego and the true self. She takes a deeper exploration into the process of self-discovery that we find in meditation. Kim gives us some other perspectives on what this process is like and how we can describe it in neurological terms.

This is part of the Contemplative Through The Crisis programme held in April 2020.

Kim Nataraja in conversation with Laurence Freeman on her book Dancing with Your Shadow and the connection with the current pandemic crisis. Kim uses her book as a way of helping people to make sense of this experience of the crisis we’re passing through and the importance of a spiritual path that we can follow, or deepen through this time of uncertainty and suffering. Kim will walk us through meditation and the essential role it plays in the time we live in at the moment.

Angelene Chan speaks freely from the heart, with clarity and depth from a life that balances professional pressure in a company that stretches from Shanghai to London with family and service to others. She speaks gratefully of her professional work. “ I love my work” – she says.

Meditation has helped her continue to love her family too and stay centred in her professional and inner life.

In this second talk, Father Laurence asks Angelene to explain how meditation helped her with the burden of leadership that she carries, especially in times of crisis. "I feel everyone is a leader in their own right, you don't need to have a team of people under you, you can still be an example for others and be a leader. Since becoming a regular meditator my idea of professional success is grounded on how well I can align my personal value system with the business decisions I take on behalf of the organization, in other words how I can bring aspects of spirituality like empathy, inclusiveness in what is essentially a secular environment."

In this second talk, Claudia Nielsen gives her advice to people that would like to meditate, addressing especially those who may be feeling lonely in this time of lockdown or as first time meditators who approach meditation for their first time. Claudia here looks into the concept of expectations. If we can try to set basically no expectations. Even if the mind travels, just gently bring it back without giving ourselves a hard time. It's a wonderful thing to be in control of our mind. Meditation has got so many positive results in day-to-day living. Keep your expectations within your possibilities.

Claudia is a psychotherapist and meditator working in London. In this series of talks, Laurence Freeman invites her to ask her to speak to us about the psychological aspects of the crisis that we are passing through and learning from – and how this crisis throws light upon our mental and spiritual health in general.

Angelene Chan speaks freely from the heart, with clarity and depth from a life that balances professional pressure in a company that stretches from Shanghai to London with family and service to others. She speaks gratefully of her professional work. “ I love my work” – she says.

Meditation has helped her continue to love her family too and stay centred in her professional and inner life.

In her first reflection with Laurence Freeman she describes how she felt called to the profession early in life, how she found meditation and wasted no time in starting the daily discipline “I’ve experienced the benefits of meditation – it has helped me to release the daily pressure of a very demanding profession.”

In these talks, Jim Green, author of Giving Up Without Giving Up: Meditation and Depression, explores the meaning of being and asks if perhaps, now we have the opportunity to practice as simply and skillfully as we can, discovering together (while apart) the always new life within and between us that is the real wellbeing.

Jim Green has been an oblate of the World Community for 11 years. He has learned to meditate from both the Buddhist and Christian traditions. Having worked for many years in the field of mental health and wellbeing, Jim’s latest book is Giving Up Without Giving Up: Meditation and Depressions (Bloomsbury 2019) – available from Medio Media: www.mediomedia.com or direct from www.bloomsbury.com“