While society has advanced in its understanding of mental health, with advances in treatment, wider awareness and a reduction in stigma, there seems to be no abating of the mental health crisis. Tracing the history of modern psychotherapy, and the systematic approach taken by the medical sciences, Jim Schirmer returns to the podcast to reflect on the academic heritage of psychotherapy and the therapeutic direction of our understanding of human mental health and wellbeing.While recognising the enormous gains and gifts of medical precision, diagnosis and classification systems, is it possible that something could be gained from greater inclusion of other traditions that think deeply about the human condition?  And how does Christian faith with its central image of the cross speak to an age which seems to pursue the goal of eliminating suffering and pursue individual happiness as the highest good? And where, in all of this, is there space for the mystery of the human soul?

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Anyone who describes an experience with the sacred will find themselves often struggling for words because they find the sacred is not a 'thing', nor a set of beliefs, but rather an encounter in open and vulnerable relationship which requires a far more humble and receptive form of knowing. Dr Iain McGilchrist, neuroscientist, philosopher and author, joins the podcast for a second conversation, this time in person in Australia with Dom, Sue and Peter. Those familiar with Iain's work about the two hemispheres of the brain will know that there is a connection traced between the way we attend to reality and a more utilitarian left hemisphere way of seeing and being which has become more culturally dominant in the West. The right hemisphere, Iain contends, is better equipped for perceiving the whole, appreciating paradox and engaging with the sacred. Thinking that we know it all is characteristic of the left hemisphere, robbing us of the sense of awe and wonder which makes life both beautiful and meaningful. 

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So often we think of leaders as born rather than made, or at least as having some kind of specialist predisposition such as charisma or perhaps an extraverted, more dominant personality. Dr Donna Ladkin joins Dom, Peter and Sue to explore the idea that maybe leadership is much more complex and may be better understood as a lived experience rather than a checklist of traits or behaviours. While recognising that individuals do matter, this conversation explores the idea of ‘a leadership moment’ that happens when context, purpose, followers and leaders align. How a leader is perceived, but also how the context and meaning of any given moment is understood all contribute to linking these four factors that come together in the moment. This thoughtful conversation about the making of leaders is of critical importance in current global contexts, but also in our own where understanding the nature and importance of leadership is vital for healthy and thriving communities.

Dr Donna Ladkin is the Professor of Leadership and Ethics at Graduate School of Management, Plymouth University, and the author of many books including “Rethinking Leadership: A new look at old leadership questions”.

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What if dignity is a way of seeing that changes the kind of attention we pay to each other and to our world?

Authenticity, human dignity and the courage to confront difficult truths are a common thread in the writing of Dr Beth-Sarah Wright who joins the podcast for this conversation during her recent visit to Brisbane. 

The Latin root of the word 'respect' is to look again. Everyone is worthy of respect, but sometimes we need to 'look again' to see beyond what we think we know about one another. Using 'dignity' as a lens has the power to shift conversation, prompting us to something different from our normal patterns and bridging the gap between what we say we believe and what we do. Beth-Sarah contends that, "Authentic people build authentic communities, creating a more just and dignified world for all."

Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Dr Beth-Sarah Wright has over 27 years of experience in education, organisational culture and senior leadership, and is a sought after speaker for organisations as they seek to assess integrity and remain authentic to their identity. 

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A special cross-over podcast episode between Spiritual Misfits and On the Way, recorded at 'Words For Those Who Wander' at West End Uniting Church in Brisbane. 

In this conversation, Will Small, Dom Fay, Sue Grimmett, and Peter Catt explore what happens when the old spiritual maps stop working and we need to become cartographers for our time.

Together they wrestle with profound questions: What if we're all exiles seeking belonging? How do we build community when our frameworks for understanding are themselves lost? And what would we write on 'the map' for those who come after us? 

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We do everything we do in this world through our embodiment. There remains a pervasive myth that we move through this world working and creating without leaving any trace of our own lived experience upon our moving and interacting, commenting and creating. With such a mythology the dominant voices become normative, and can be associated with objective truth, obscuring the understanding and experience from the margins. In biblical scholarship, whiteness is so often unarticulated in its effect on biblical translation, that it is as if in their interpretation scholars have left no imprint of their own lived experience and perspectives.

The Rev'd Dr Wil Gafney is an Episcopal Priest and Biblical scholar, specialising in a Womanist interpretation of the Bible. Womanism is an American Black women's feminist way of seeing; a lens centred in the lived experience of Black women, and especially interested in the well-being of those who are vulnerable and often exploited. In this conversation Wil speaks with Dom and Sue about the importance of attending to the multiple cultures and contexts of every text that we may be aware of dynamics of power in both the time of the text and in our own. 

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After 50 years of working with leaders globally, Margaret Wheatley, argues that leadership has never been more difficult. In the face of a multicrisis of climate and human created catastrophes, Meg points to the compelling need to awaken the human spirit and create “islands of sanity”: spaces of possibility and refuge created by people's commitment to forming healthy communities to do meaningful work. Peter and Margaret recall working together in past decades and return to this conversation with Dom and Sue in this critical time when a life-affirming vision of what it means to be most fully human is more critically important than ever.

Author of thirteen books including Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time and Restoring Sanity: Practices to Awaken Generosity, Creativity and Kindness, Meg Wheatley has trained countless leaders and activists. You can keep up with Meg’s work here;

https://margaretwheatley.com/library/current-thinking/

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Exploring a curious story that she thought might be “knotty and weird”, of two comedians from her student days who converted to Christianity and decided to become Anglican priests, journalist Lamorna Ash unearths a recurring phenomenon of a new generation discovering religion for themselves. Lamorna sets out on a journey that takes her across Britain to talk with Gen Z-ers wrestling with Christianity today. In some remarkable conversations and surprising encounters, Lamorna brings insightful perspectives to every kind of Christian expression from monastic movements to Evangelical youth festivals. The result is her new book, “Don’t Forget That We’re Here Forever: A New Generation’s Search for Religion”. The writing style is lyrical and beautiful, full of wisdom that also emerges in this first conversation with Dom, Peter and Sue.

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"Sooner or later, everything falls away."
With these words, author Parker J. Palmer begins his much-loved poem exploring the landscape of loss, grief and letting go. In this conversation, Parker reads the poem and reflects on the transient nature of reality and the great tapestry that holds all things together. 
Dom joins Parker in his living room in Madison, Wisconsin. 

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Alongside being the title of Pádraig Ó Tuama's recently released collection of poetry, Kitchen Hymns is also an informal term referring to the hymns sung in Irish homes that weren't allowed in formal church contexts, due to their being in the Irish language rather than Latin. 
It is this rebellious and honest flavour of sacred expression that has been at the heart of Pádraig's work for many years, and informs his new collection of poems exploring an embodied, liberated, and deeply human life of both faith and doubt. 
Dom joins Pádraig in his New York apartment for this conversation. 

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