The Lindisfarne Tapes

Gregory Bateson, anthropologist, cyberneticist, and systems theorist, develops a theory of “how we know what we know” using a number of parables. Bateson is the author of Mind and Nature and Steps to an Ecology of Mind. (Episode photo courtesy of wildculture.com)

E.F. Schumacher, author of Small is Beautiful, suggests how one might begin to transition from violent to non-violent technology, from chemical to biological agricultural methods, from cleverness to wisdom. (Episode photo courtesy of schumacherinstitute.org.uk)

British poet and scholar, Kathleen Raine, discusses religion and spirituality in Blake’s life and work. Raine is the author of many highly respected studies on the work of William Blake, W.B. Yeats, and Thomas Taylor. (Episode photo courtesy of counterpointpress.com)

Stewart Brand, editor of The Whole Earth Catalog and CoEvolution Quarterly, describes the experiences that culminated in the creation of The Catalog and leads a lively discussion joined by most of the Lindisfarne conference speakers. (Episode photo courtesy of theculturecrush.com)

Thomas Banyacya, spokesman for the Elders of the Hopi, describes his people’s prophecy and way of life. Revealing some of the “signs of the times” which guide the Hopi in the present epoch, Banyacya relates this to other great spiritual traditions. (Episode photo courtesy of windspeaker.com)

David Spangler, spiritual philosopher and author of Revelation: The Birth of a New Age, speaks on the synthesis and transformation of science, religion, and government in the new age. (Episode photo courtesy of fairycongress.com)

Rosabeth Kanter, author of Community and Commitment, analyzes the factors that determine success and failure in alternative communities. She focuses her analysis on several historical cases, including ancient esoteric communities, the Oneida community, Shaker villages, the Lindisfarne Association, and others.

Gary Snyder, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning Turtle Island, reads from his work to illustrate the way in which he is currently thinking about poetry. He suggests that poetry represents songs of the life cycle, and shares poems that embody birth, childhood, adolescence, work, love, celebration, healing, and death. (Episode photo courtesy of allenginsberg.org)

Nechung Rinpoche, the Grand Lama of Nechung Monastery, speaks of the development of compassion based on the Buddhist Path of Enlightenment. This tape retains the Tibetan spoken by Rinpoche, vigorously translated by Robert Thurman, Professor of Religion at Amherst College and the translator of The Holy Teachings of Vimilakirti. (Episode photo courtesy of nechung.org)

Architect/mathematician/designer Sean Wellesley-Miller reconceives architecture in the image of the bioshelter. The house, no longer the end point of consumption, becomes a domesticated, productive ecosystem. This new architecture cultivates a more profound attachment to place, promoting decentralization and strengthening local economies. (Episode photo courtesy of newalchemists.files.wordpress.com)