Why is there so much beauty in the natural world? What can we learn from jamming with the more-than-human? Join interspecies musician David Rothenberg and myself as we explore these questions and experience some bird-bug-clarinet collaboration, perched on a hillside outside of LA.

David Rothenberg is a musician, composer and professor of philosophy and music, with a longtime interest in understanding other species by making music with them. In this conversation we follow his journey from being a young environmentalist collaborating with deep ecology founder Arne Næss to his current work as interspecies musician and philosopher, playing music with bugs, birds, whales, ponds and more.

* David’s website

* Documentary (free) Why Birds Sing:

* Pond music

* Arne Næss and deep ecology

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🎵 Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen.

What are the underlying patterns of thought that have led our civilization into its current crises? And how might we begin to tell a different story, one that would allow both humans and the more-than-human to thrive?

In this episode, I speak to author Jeremy Lent. In his wide-ranging book The Patterning Instinct, Jeremy identifies the root metaphors that different cultures have used to construct meaning in their universe, also tracing the deep historical foundations of our modern worldview. In his latest book, The Web of Meaning, he integrates science with traditional wisdom to tell a new story, one that is both scientifically rigorous and intrinsically meaningful.

Jeremy Lent is an author exploring the patterns of thought that have led to our crisis of sustainability. He is founder of the nonprofit Liology Institute, dedicated to fostering an integrated worldview that could enable humanity to thrive sustainably on the earth.

Special thank you to the Centre for Process Studies for helping to make this interview happen in conjunction with their Ecological Civilization conference.

LINKS TO THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT:

* Jeremy’s website and books

* Freya Matthews

* Centre for Process Studies

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🎙️ The FoT Substack is now live! Become a free or paid subscriber and receive newsletters direct to your inbox.

🎧 All episodes and more at ⁠forestofthought.com⁠.

💜 Support us on ⁠Patreon⁠ or Substack.⁠

🎵 Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at ⁠stoneproduction.no⁠.

Many cultures maintain that we are not born human but that we may become fully human through cultivation and care. Could it be that our destructive tendencies are not because of our human-ness, but rather due to a lack of it? If so: where and how can we cultivate our humanity? All species play their part in the living web – what role might we humans have to play in this unfolding drama?

Mikael Kurkiala is a cultural anthropologist and author. He spent many years living and working with the Oglala Lakota people of South Dakota, and is currently a researcher at the Swedish Church Office. His most recent books are "When the Soul Goes into Exile: Modernity, Technology & the Sacred“ and “Where the Pendulum has its Base: On the Eternal in Humans”.

This conversation was recorded with a lovely audience at the Uppsala Public Library in Sweden, December 2024. 

It's one of three public conversations we hosted 2023-2024 as part of a series of events exploring the concept of ‘life-force’. You’ll find all three episodes (26, 27 & 28) at forestofthought.com or on your podcast listening platform. 

Support us on Patreon: ⁠⁠patreon.com/forestofthought⁠⁠

Share and subscribe. Find all available platforms ⁠here⁠.

Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at ⁠⁠stoneproduction.no⁠⁠. 

Caroline Ross has spent decades being immersed in Daoism, art, crafting and foraging (and spent 10 years touring with her rock band). Today, her practice weaves these diverse threads together into a philosophy of life centred on embodied living, exploring the Way (in the Daoist sense of the word) and making art as if the Earth mattered. 

Caroline Ross is an artist, craftswoman, writer and T’ai Chi teacher. You’ll find her sharing her passion for foraging and crafting via @foundandground on IG, and she writes weekly on themes of embodied life, art and the Way as Uncivil Savant on Substack. 

This is one of three public conversations that were recorded 2023-2024 as part of a series of events exploring the concept of ‘life-force’. The final and last episode will arrive in a few weeks’ time! 

This episode was recorded at and produced in collaboration with CEMUS at Uppsala University, and supported by the Viriditas foundation. 

LINKS TO THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT:

• Caroline’s books
• Caroline’s substack, The Uncivil Savant
• Link to Caroline’s text about the Spruce Tree Crone
• Dougald Hine's Substack
• The Dark Mountain Project

Support us on Patreon: ⁠patreon.com/forestofthought⁠

Share and subscribe. Find all available platforms here.

Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at ⁠stoneproduction.no⁠. 

Forest of Thought episodes are back! And over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing three public conversations that were recorded 2023-2024 as part of a series of events exploring the concept of ‘life-force’. 

We begin with philosopher Jeremy Naydler, delving into the question of how we may cultivate the human in a time of intelligent machines: 

“Advanced technologies and artificial intelligence are rapidly growing more enmeshed in our lives. How does this affect the deeper realms of consciousness, spirituality and our relation to the living world? What are the unfolding human qualities that machines cannot acquire and how might we cultivate them?”

Jeremy Naydler is a gardener and philosopher based in Oxford, England. He has written several books on the experience of the sacred in ancient cultures. In his newer work he focuses on the fraught relationship between humans and technology as it has developed from ancient times until today, and explores how we cultivate the human in an era of intelligent machines. 

We recorded this with a wonderful audience at ⁠NAV Sweden⁠, Stockholm, in September 2023 with support from the Viriditas foundation. (There is also an unedited, filmed version available ⁠here⁠ on Youtube).

LINKS TO THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT:

• Unedited filmed version of this conversation is here.
• Jeremy’s books on the sacred in ancient traditions (e.g. The Future of the Ancient World, The and Temple of the Cosmos).

• Jeremy’s books on technology in relation to the human (In the Shadow of the Machine and The Struggle for a Human Future).

We would love your support! Find us on Patreon.

Share and subscribe. Find all available platforms here.

Our wonderful theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at ⁠stoneproduction.no⁠. 

In this episode I speak to writer and filmmaker Sarah Thomas. Her memoir, The Raven’s Nest, is a meditation on her time spent in Iceland, and explores how identity and language are interwoven with landscape and ecology. What does it mean to fall in love with a place, with its human and non-human inhabitants?  And how may we each do our little part in mending the world? 

Sarah Thomas is a writer, documentary filmmaker, and traveller with a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies. She is committed to work that explores, evokes and honours our entanglements with the living world. She has lived and journeyed from the Equator to the Arctic Circle finding stories in the everyday. Her films have been screened internationally. In 2020 she was nominated for the Arts Foundation Environmental Writing Award. She was longlisted for the inaugural Nan Shepherd Prize for nature writing and shortlisted for the 2021 Fitzcarraldo Essay Prize. Her ecological memoir, The Raven’s Nest (Atlantic Books 2022), is her debut. 

ICELANDIC WORDS FROM THE EPISODE: 

• Óvissuferð – a journey where you don’t know what will happen


• Kvöldvaka – an evening gathering, traditionally to mend or do crafts while listening to someone reading aloud.


• Bergmál – echo (literally: language of the mountains)


• Tölva – computer (literally: number oracle)

LINKS: 

• Sarah’s website: ⁠https://sarahthomas.net⁠


• The Raven’s Nest: ⁠https://sarahthomas.net/the-ravens-nest/⁠


• Book by David Abram on language and ecology: Spell of the sensuous: ⁠https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/319/the-spell-of-the-sensuous-by-david-abram/⁠


• Ursula LeGuin’s The carrier bag theory of fiction: ⁠https://otherfutures.nl/uploads/documents/le-guin-the-carrier-bag-theory-of-fiction.pdf⁠

MORE INFO:

• All episodes and more at ⁠⁠forestofthought.com⁠⁠


• Support us on Patreon: ⁠⁠patreon.com/forestofthought⁠⁠


• Share and subscribe. Find all available platforms here: ⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/forestofthought⁠


• Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at ⁠⁠stoneproduction.no⁠⁠. 

How are our modern ways of thinking and being different from those of ancient peoples? When did logic and rational thinking become ‘common sense’, instead of just one of the many ways we may contemplate life’s important questions? And how is our consciousness and presence in the world altered as we become evermore enmeshed in advanced technologies?

Ingrid speaks to philosopher-gardener Jeremy Naydler. Jeremy has written several books on the experience of the sacred in ancient cultures. In his newer work he focuses on the fraught relationship between humans and technology as it has developed from ancient times until today, and explores how the acceleration of modern technologies forces us to examine how we cultivate the human in an era of machines. 

Jeremy Naydler, Ph.D., is a philosopher who specializes in the religious life of ancient cultures. He is a Fellow of the Temenos Academy and author of Temple of the Cosmos, Shamanic Wisdom in the Pyramid Texts, The Future of the Ancient World, and Goethe on Science. He lives in Oxford, England.

LINKS TO THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT:

• Jeremy’s books on the sacred in ancient traditions (e.g. The Future of the Ancient World, The and Temple of the Cosmos): https://www.innertraditions.com/author/jeremy-naydler


• Jeremy’s books on technology in relation to the human (In the Shadow of the Machine and The Struggle for a Human Future): https://www.templelodge.com/viewauthor.php?auth_id=109


• Egyptian Book of the Dead: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead


• Heidegger on “The question concerning technology”: https://monoskop.org/images/4/44/Heidegger_Martin_The_Question_Concerning_Technology_and_Other_Essays.pdf


• The Philokalia: https://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Philokalia.pdf

All episodes and more at ⁠forestofthought.com⁠

Support us on Patreon: ⁠patreon.com/forestofthought⁠

Share and subscribe. Find all available platforms here: ⁠https://anchor.fm/forestofthought⁠

Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at ⁠stoneproduction.no⁠. 

It’s been said that it’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism and our modern way of life. Why is it so hard for us to cultivate our imagination and to imagine that things might be different? What becomes possible if communities harness the power of imagination in building a more beautiful world? In this episode I speak to Rob Hopkins, writer and co-founder of the Transition movement. I visit him in the Buttercup Field and we discuss what might be possible if we moved from ‘What is’ to ‘What if?’

Rob Hopkins is the co-founder of Transition Network and of Transition Town Totnes, and author of several books including ‘The Transition Handbook‘ and most recently, ‘From What Is to What If: unleashing the power of imagination to create the future we want’. He is a Director of Totnes Community Development Society and of New Lion Brewery, and hosts the podcast ‘From What If to What Next‘.

LINKS: 

• Rob’s website: https://www.robhopkins.net


• Rob’s podcast: https://www.robhopkins.net/podcast/


• Transition Towns: https://transitionnetwork.org


• Joanna Macy & ‘The work that reconnects’ : https://www.joannamacy.net


• Jane McGonigal on the things that can change in 10 years: https://janemcgonigal.com


• Civic imagination office in Bologna: https://www.resilience.org/stories/2019-03-07/bologna-the-city-with-a-civic-imagination-office/


• Antanas Mockus, ex-mayor of Bogota: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/17/opinion/the-art-of-changing-a-city.html


• New Lion Brewery in Totnes: https://www.newlionbrewery.co.uk

All episodes and more at forestofthought.com

Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/forestofthought

Share and subscribe. Find all available platforms here: https://anchor.fm/forestofthought

Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at stoneproduction.no. 

How might the use of voice and song be an unexpectedly powerful way to access our deeper selves? In this episode I speak to Briony Greenhill, an incredible musician who uses collaborative improvisation as a way to connect and heal. Briony also generously shares her personal experiences and the philosophy of life that she has come to through her work.

Briony Greenhill is an artist, teacher and changemaker, with a special focus on improvisation, described as "one of the world's leading proponents of Collaborative Vocal Improvisation (CVI)" by the Guardian, and as "Marvin Gaye crossed with a funky earth mother" by Mojo.  She finds her music and lyrics through improvising, often together with others. Her lyrics focus on themes of human depth, paradigm shift, the intimacy and bigger picture of our times. As a teacher she helps people bring out their full voices, develop their musicianship, express themselves, connect and heal.

LINKS

• Briony’s website – find all info and music there: https://www.brionygreenhill.com/


• Call off the Thought and Sing – conversations hosted by Briony (past convos available on Youtube): https://www.facebook.com/CallofftheThoughtandSing


• Pat MacCabe : https://www.patmccabe.net


• Kimberley Hare – The Edge https://www.heartofthriving.com/conversations/


• Happy Thank you More Please: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls_SKFeJxEg


• Robert MacFarlane’s book Mountains of the Mind: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/nov/13/guardianfirstbookaward2003.gurardianfirstbookaward

Did you enjoy? Please consider supporting the podcast at patreon.com/forestofthought. Thank you for sharing and subscribing!

Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at stoneproduction.no. 

In what ways might the roots of the internet actually stretch back much further than we think? Does the internet enhance or distort our humanness? How is our deepening entanglement with algorithms shaping how we think and what we pay attention to?

Justin E. H. Smith is a professor at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the Université Paris Cité, and is a writer of both non-fiction, fiction and poetry. His latest book is The Internet is Not What You Think It Is: A History, a Philosophy, a Warning, in which he traces the deep history of the internet and asks where these technologies may be taking us next. His previous books include Irrationality: A History of the Dark Side of Reason and Divine Machines: Leibniz and the Sciences of Life. He posts regularly on Substack at Justin E. H. Smith’s Hinternet.

LINKS:

• Justin’s book The Internet is Not What You Think It Is: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691212326/the-internet-is-not-what-you-think-it-is


• Justin’s Substack: https://justinehsmith.substack.com


• Justin’s book on Gottfried Leibniz: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691141787/divine-machines


• David Abram on technology and animism: https://emergencemagazine.org/essay/magic-and-the-machine/


• James William’s Stand out of our light (Ted Talk based on book of same name: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaIO2UIvJ4g


• Yves Citton on the Ecology of attention: https://www.wiley.com/en-us/The+Ecology+of+Attention-p-9781509503735

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Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at stoneproduction.no.