Spark My Muse

This evergreen episode comes out near Christmas time. Stop by the website to see "luminaria" photos mentioned in the episode at SparkMyMuse.com and sign up for the update newsletter delivered with love 2-3 times per month.

WEDNESDAYS: short, special SOUL SCHOOL episodes with homework for those of you into bonus points. (Bonus points get you things like grams of pixie dust and fantasy chits to be redeemed capriciously on various leap years.)

FRIDAYS: longer conversational guest episodes on interesting topics with intriguing people, some famous, some-not-so-famous, all of them will spark you muse if you pay attention.

Thank you for listening. Please pass Spark My Muse on to your friends and pepper your enemies with hints about listening. Appeal to their ego or vanity if you must.

Spark My Muse is heard in 146 countries! Thank you people of earth, you never fail to surprise and hearten me when I least expect it.

ox

-Lisa

PS

HELP SANTA! Go to the Spark My Muse PayPal Stocking Stuffer Page here: http://bit.ly/1PqWUwX

Jennifer Michael Hecht is my guest. Poet, Best-Selling Author, Philosopher, Historian, and appreciator of wonder.

When we feel upset the thought of ending it all is more common than most people think. Research shows that suicide is often an impulsive type of act.

Don't kill yourself. Stay. This show discusses some reasons to stay that you may not have thought of before.

First, some suicide FACTS. 1 Million people take their own lives worldwide per year, and 40,000 in the U.S. per year. 22 U.S. veterans per DAY take their lives, and all these numbers are rising. Needless deaths. These deaths also represent countless hours of suffering for those left behind. This doesn't have to be the case.

We owe it to our future selves and to those around us to make sure that we stay alive and that we help others stay and feel better together. Listen to this important conversation and PLEASE be sure to share it widely with others.

As a prominent atheist philosopher, my guest today may seem like an unlikely advocate against suicide (contemporary atheist/secularist are nearly always associated with right-to-kill-yourself positions). Today, in a fantastic and wide-ranging conversation, Jennifer Michael Hecht presents two arguments from her book "Stay: A History of Suicide and the Philosophies Against it" for why suicide is not a good choice. Instead, staying alive is a virtue we should cultivate in our cultural.

We also discuss her education, background and other work including her dissertation topic of the Parisian Society of Mutual Autopsy: a group of nonbelievers who dissected each other's brains to find out if the brain housed the soul. We discuss her bestselling book "Doubt: A history" and her first love: poetry, (and she reads her poem "History"!), and she talk about her upcoming book "Wonder Paradox" on finding meaning in the conscious human experience.

Other show highlights:

• A long human history of disbelief

• A recentness of finding God within

• What Christians who leave suicide notes say about God (which can cause more suicide)

• What the person under 25 years old who wants to die should realize.

• The mood that wants to kill the other moods.

• Depression is illness. Suicide is behavior.

• On not ever getting to choose WHO suffers by ending your life.

• On Robin Williams suicide.

• On the universe waking up and the wonder of the human mind.

Please give Spark My Muse a good review on iTunes and be sure to stop by sparkmymuse.com for some extra special shownotes, links, and all the other episodes and shownotes. There will be links to books, people, and websites mentioned in this episode, plus another of Jennifer's poems, and much more.

People in 145 countries are listening to Spark My Muse! Thank you, listeners. It means a lot to me that you have spent some time with us.

Come back soon or SUBSCRIBE. Episode are released twice-weekly.

WEDNESDAYS are short "Soul School" lessons.

FRIDAYS are longer conversational-style guest episodes.

xo

-Lisa

#synCREATE

Jennifer Michael Hecht is my guest. Poet, Best-Selling Author, Philosopher, Historian, and appreciator of wonder.

When we feel upset the thought of ending it all is more common than most people think. Research shows that suicide is often an impulsive type of act.

Don't kill yourself. Stay. This show discusses some reasons to stay that you may not have thought of before.

First, some suicide FACTS. 1 Million people take their own lives worldwide per year, and 40,000 in the U.S. per year. 22 U.S. veterans per DAY take their lives, and all these numbers are rising. Needless deaths. These deaths also represent countless hours of suffering for those left behind. This doesn't have to be the case.

We owe it to our future selves and to those around us to make sure that we stay alive and that we help others stay and feel better together. Listen to this important conversation and PLEASE be sure to share it widely with others.

As a prominent atheist philosopher, my guest today may seem like an unlikely advocate against suicide (contemporary atheist/secularist are nearly always associated with right-to-kill-yourself positions). Today, in a fantastic and wide-ranging conversation, Jennifer Michael Hecht presents two arguments from her book "Stay: A History of Suicide and the Philosophies Against it" for why suicide is not a good choice. Instead, staying alive is a virtue we should cultivate in our cultural.

We also discuss her education, background and other work including her dissertation topic of the Parisian Society of Mutual Autopsy: a group of nonbelievers who dissected each other's brains to find out if the brain housed the soul. We discuss her bestselling book "Doubt: A history" and her first love: poetry, (and she reads her poem "History"!), and she talk about her upcoming book "Wonder Paradox" on finding meaning in the conscious human experience.

Other show highlights:

• A long human history of disbelief

• A recentness of finding God within

• What Christians who leave suicide notes say about God (which can cause more suicide)

• What the person under 25 years old who wants to die should realize.

• The mood that wants to kill the other moods.

• Depression is illness. Suicide is behavior.

• On not ever getting to choose WHO suffers by ending your life.

• On Robin Williams suicide.

• On the universe waking up and the wonder of the human mind.

Please give Spark My Muse a good review on iTunes and be sure to stop by sparkmymuse.com for some extra special shownotes, links, and all the other episodes and shownotes. There will be links to books, people, and websites mentioned in this episode, plus another of Jennifer's poems, and much more.

People in 145 countries are listening to Spark My Muse! Thank you, listeners. It means a lot to me that you have spent some time with us.

Come back soon or SUBSCRIBE. Episode are released twice-weekly.

WEDNESDAYS are short "Soul School" lessons.

FRIDAYS are longer conversational-style guest episodes.

xo

-Lisa

#synCREATE

Jennifer Michael Hecht is my guest. Poet, Best-Selling Author, Philosopher, Historian, and appreciator of wonder.

When we feel upset the thought of ending it all is more common than most people think. Research shows that suicide is often an impulsive type of act.

Don't kill yourself. Stay. This show discusses some reasons to stay that you may not have thought of before.

First, some suicide FACTS. 1 Million people take their own lives worldwide per year, and 40,000 in the U.S. per year. 22 U.S. veterans per DAY take their lives, and all these numbers are rising. Needless deaths. These deaths also represent countless hours of suffering for those left behind. This doesn't have to be the case.

We owe it to our future selves and to those around us to make sure that we stay alive and that we help others stay and feel better together. Listen to this important conversation and PLEASE be sure to share it widely with others.

As a prominent atheist philosopher, my guest today may seem like an unlikely advocate against suicide (contemporary atheist/secularist are nearly always associated with right-to-kill-yourself positions). Today, in a fantastic and wide-ranging conversation, Jennifer Michael Hecht presents two arguments from her book "Stay: A History of Suicide and the Philosophies Against it" for why suicide is not a good choice. Instead, staying alive is a virtue we should cultivate in our cultural.

We also discuss her education, background and other work including her dissertation topic of the Parisian Society of Mutual Autopsy: a group of nonbelievers who dissected each other's brains to find out if the brain housed the soul. We discuss her bestselling book "Doubt: A history" and her first love: poetry, (and she reads her poem "History"!), and she talk about her upcoming book "Wonder Paradox" on finding meaning in the conscious human experience.

Other show highlights:

• A long human history of disbelief

• A recentness of finding God within

• What Christians who leave suicide notes say about God (which can cause more suicide)

• What the person under 25 years old who wants to die should realize.

• The mood that wants to kill the other moods.

• Depression is illness. Suicide is behavior.

• On not ever getting to choose WHO suffers by ending your life.

• On Robin Williams suicide.

• On the universe waking up and the wonder of the human mind.

Please give Spark My Muse a good review on iTunes and be sure to stop by sparkmymuse.com for some extra special shownotes, links, and all the other episodes and shownotes. There will be links to books, people, and websites mentioned in this episode, plus another of Jennifer's poems, and much more.

People in 145 countries are listening to Spark My Muse! Thank you, listeners. It means a lot to me that you have spent some time with us.

Come back soon or SUBSCRIBE. Episode are released twice-weekly.

WEDNESDAYS are short "Soul School" lessons.

FRIDAYS are longer conversational-style guest episodes.

xo

-Lisa

#synCREATE

It's lovely that you're listening. Thank you. People from 145 countries listen to Spark My Muse! Only 31 more to go for complete world saturation. You can help spread the world.

Get episodes shownotes, sign up for the handy-dandy update letter, hear other episodes, watch Replays of live discussions and events, get the skinny about my books and other resources, and find plenty of extras at sparkmymuse.com

WEDNESDAYS you can hear SOUL SCHOOL lessons.

FRIDAYS you can hear Guest conversations.

Feeling the generous Christmas spirit coming over you and want to send a little Christmas cheer my way?

It costs about $150 a month to produce and run Spark My Muse, the website, related expenses. I have no sponsors right now, so I fund it out of my own pocket. The Paypal donation page is here. http://bit.ly/1PqWUwX (If you'd like to sponsor a show visit sparkmymuse.com)

Thank you.

If you think the show deserves it, please give it a good review on iTunes!

It's lovely that you're listening. Thank you. People from 145 countries listen to Spark My Muse! Only 31 more to go for complete world saturation. You can help spread the world.

Get episodes shownotes, sign up for the handy-dandy update letter, hear other episodes, watch Replays of live discussions and events, get the skinny about my books and other resources, and find plenty of extras at sparkmymuse.com

WEDNESDAYS you can hear SOUL SCHOOL lessons.

FRIDAYS you can hear Guest conversations.

Feeling the generous Christmas spirit coming over you and want to send a little Christmas cheer my way?

It costs about $150 a month to produce and run Spark My Muse, the website, related expenses. I have no sponsors right now, so I fund it out of my own pocket. The Paypal donation page is here. http://bit.ly/1PqWUwX (If you'd like to sponsor a show visit sparkmymuse.com)

Thank you.

If you think the show deserves it, please give it a good review on iTunes!

It's lovely that you're listening. Thank you. People from 145 countries listen to Spark My Muse! Only 31 more to go for complete world saturation. You can help spread the world.

Get episodes shownotes, sign up for the handy-dandy update letter, hear other episodes, watch Replays of live discussions and events, get the skinny about my books and other resources, and find plenty of extras at sparkmymuse.com

WEDNESDAYS you can hear SOUL SCHOOL lessons.

FRIDAYS you can hear Guest conversations.

Feeling the generous Christmas spirit coming over you and want to send a little Christmas cheer my way?

It costs about $150 a month to produce and run Spark My Muse, the website, related expenses. I have no sponsors right now, so I fund it out of my own pocket. The Paypal donation page is here. http://bit.ly/1PqWUwX (If you'd like to sponsor a show visit sparkmymuse.com)

Thank you.

If you think the show deserves it, please give it a good review on iTunes!

Shane Blackshear has been interviewing famous Christian thinkers, authors, theologians, and maybe even a few heretics, on his fantastic podcast Seminary Dropout for years. I love the podcast and I wanted to speak to the man behind the mic (and behind the beard) for myself.

In this episode we cover Shane's spiritual influences, his background, the books that made big influences on him, some of his favorite guests, and why he was a Seminary Dropout, and called his show that. Plus, Shane and I cover a bunch of other topics including a book that he's been enjoying by Gary Black Jr and Dallas Willard called "Preparing for Heaven" completed in Dallas Willard's last days.

Shane and I have some exciting surprises coming in 2016, so stay tuned and check back in January. You won't want to miss what we're up to. Get on the Spark My Muse update newsletter at sparkmymuse.com to get news and links.

Spark My Muse is heard in 145 countries and you are a part of that! Thank you! Will you please a review on iTunes?

Spark My Muse comes out TWICE per week.

Wednesdays: short episodes "Soul School" are released.

Fridays: longer interview style / conversational episodes are released with guest. Please subscribe and check around to hear the episodes you've missed.

- LIVE discussions happen a few times per month too. Sparkmymuse.com and Lisa's twitter feed @lisadelay is the best place to find the link for those events.

Search the hashtag #synCREATE to find work and share your creative work and find events you can participate in.

Shane Blackshear has been interviewing famous Christian thinkers, authors, theologians, and maybe even a few heretics, on his fantastic podcast Seminary Dropout for years. I love the podcast and I wanted to speak to the man behind the mic (and behind the beard) for myself.

In this episode we cover Shane's spiritual influences, his background, the books that made big influences on him, some of his favorite guests, and why he was a Seminary Dropout, and called his show that. Plus, Shane and I cover a bunch of other topics including a book that he's been enjoying by Gary Black Jr and Dallas Willard called "Preparing for Heaven" completed in Dallas Willard's last days.

Shane and I have some exciting surprises coming in 2016, so stay tuned and check back in January. You won't want to miss what we're up to. Get on the Spark My Muse update newsletter at sparkmymuse.com to get news and links.

Spark My Muse is heard in 145 countries and you are a part of that! Thank you! Will you please a review on iTunes?

Spark My Muse comes out TWICE per week.

Wednesdays: short episodes "Soul School" are released.

Fridays: longer interview style / conversational episodes are released with guest. Please subscribe and check around to hear the episodes you've missed.

- LIVE discussions happen a few times per month too. Sparkmymuse.com and Lisa's twitter feed @lisadelay is the best place to find the link for those events.

Search the hashtag #synCREATE to find work and share your creative work and find events you can participate in.

Shane Blackshear has been interviewing famous Christian thinkers, authors, theologians, and maybe even a few heretics, on his fantastic podcast Seminary Dropout for years. I love the podcast and I wanted to speak to the man behind the mic (and behind the beard) for myself.

In this episode we cover Shane's spiritual influences, his background, the books that made big influences on him, some of his favorite guests, and why he was a Seminary Dropout, and called his show that. Plus, Shane and I cover a bunch of other topics including a book that he's been enjoying by Gary Black Jr and Dallas Willard called "Preparing for Heaven" completed in Dallas Willard's last days.

Shane and I have some exciting surprises coming in 2016, so stay tuned and check back in January. You won't want to miss what we're up to. Get on the Spark My Muse update newsletter at sparkmymuse.com to get news and links.

Spark My Muse is heard in 145 countries and you are a part of that! Thank you! Will you please a review on iTunes?

Spark My Muse comes out TWICE per week.

Wednesdays: short episodes "Soul School" are released.

Fridays: longer interview style / conversational episodes are released with guest. Please subscribe and check around to hear the episodes you've missed.

- LIVE discussions happen a few times per month too. Sparkmymuse.com and Lisa's twitter feed @lisadelay is the best place to find the link for those events.

Search the hashtag #synCREATE to find work and share your creative work and find events you can participate in.