Unraveling Religion

The Many Faces of Poetry, Language of The Heart, Song of Praise: A Conversation with Pádraig Ó Tuama, Poet and Theologian

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Pádraig Ó Tuama joins Joel and shares a conversation from the heart about poetry, spirituality, community, and communion.

The conversation opens to how Joel and Pádraig met, and what informed Pádraig's life as a Poet and Theologian. Pádraig recalls the influences of Ireland and school and the foundation of poetry in that experience, and poetry as resistance, and the role of Peacemaker in the world.

Pádraig reads from his new book of poetry Kitchen Hymns' poem, 'The Long Table.'

The conversation opens to many faces of poetry and existence:

  • Are we irrelevant to the Universe or is the human being the center point of existence?
  • Do we understand what Love Is?
  • Joel reads from the Mountains and Rivers Sutra of Dogen Zenji's Shobogenzo
  • Coming together for the point of comprehension and not necessary agreement
  • The Church views of LGBTQ+ Community
  • Beyond formal belief and nurturing the heart
  • Pádraig and mentoring the younger generation
  • Pádraig's Kitchen Hymns and On Being's Poetry Unbound Anthology released in 2025: 44 Poems on Being with Each Another 
  • Jewish Mysticism and Kabbalah
  • Kabbalah is for Humankind
  • Plato's Soul with Two Faces
  • The importance of Good Questions is rooted in Judaism and is applicable to all spiritual traditions
  • Midrash in Judaism 
  • The body and the erotic in relation to spirituality and the deeper questions of existence
  • Star of David deconstructed
  • In Judaism a single person is known as half a human being
  • The Garments of the Soul: Intention, Thought, Action, and Speech
  • The Zohar and the thirst for deeper esoteric secrets
  • Pádraig examines the relationship between poetry and prayer
  • 'You' in poetry, most prayers include the word 'you'
  • Pádraig reads from Kitchen Hymns, 'Do You Believe In God?'
  • Close examination of a text will lead you into infinitity 
  • Are Jewish soul's always in Jewish bodies?
  • Joel reads Gary Synder's 'Why Log Truck Drivers Rise Earlier Than Students of Zen'
  • Poetry transports us to other time and place, poetry as a time-machine
  • Rooted spirituality is in the body 
  • Joel reads Rainer Maria Rilke's 'Go To The Limits of Your Longing' 

    • Pádraig closes with Kitchen Hymns' poem, 'Untitled.'

     

     

    Biography

    Pádraig Ó Tuama (b. 1975, Ireland) is a poet with interests in language, violence, power, and religion. He is the host of On Being’s Poetry Unbound and has published volumes of poetry, essays, a memoir and theology.  2025 saw the publication of  Kitchen Hymns, a volume of original poems, and the anthology 44 Poems on Being with Each Other; A Poetry Unbound Collection. He is a visiting scholar at the centre for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution at Columbia university in New York City.

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    Unraveling ReligionBy Joel Lesses
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