On Being with Krista Tippett: Daily Summaries Delivered

Michael Pollan — The Mystery of Consciousness

From Krista: Michael Pollan’s latest book, A World Appears, is an exploration — with scientists and journalists and technologists and spiritual teachers — of what consciousness is, and is not, or might be: from the plants which have always fascinated him, to the new technologies which we are marveling at and fearing in equal measure. Do sentience, feeling, thought, or a sense of self amount to consciousness? Does it emerge from inside us? Or is it a force beyond us, in which we partake? Before a rapt gathering in New York City, we explored where Michael has come on these questions and others. The word “mystery” kept landing the longer we spoke, and I brought some intriguing (and somewhat mysterious) conversations I’ve been having with Anthropic’s Claude briefly near the end. I’m delighted to bring you into that room with us now. I spoke with Michael at the W Hotel New York, Union Square. Our conversation was hosted by the Perfect Earth Project, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting chemical-free ecological gardening, as part of its Grounded Conversations series in collaboration with the W Hotel Union Square. Perfect Earth Project was founded and is led by visionary landscape architect and designer Edwina von Gal. Learn more at perfectearthproject.org. This episode was produced by Chris Heagle, Zack Rose, Carla Zanoni, Andrea Prevost, Daryl Chen, and Ron Passaro. Sign yourself and others up for The Pause to be on our mailing list for all things On Being and to receive Krista's monthly Saturday newsletter, including a heads up on new episodes, special offerings, recommendations, and event invitations. Find an excellent transcript of this show, edited by humans, on our show page. Michael Pollan is the author of culture-shaping books, including The Botany of Desire, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and How to Change Your Mind. His new book is A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness. He is the John S. and James L. Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and the director of the Knight Program in Science and Environmental Journalism. In 2020, he co-founded the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics with Dacher Keltner and others. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

“The Fierce Urgency of Now” — Michelle Alexander and Lucas Johnson

From Krista: On April 4, 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech at Riverside Church in New York City called “A Time to Break Silence.” This is often referred to as his “Beyond Vietnam” Speech. His own allies criticized it as a risky departure from a focus on civil rights. But Dr. King had never seen his calling confined to those two words. The Vietnam War needed to end, he believed, and he needed to say that plain. And in the waging of this war — and all of its consequences for people at home, especially the poor — he saw an underlying crisis that threatened the very soul of our nation. On that same date this year, the 59th anniversary of this speech, hundreds gathered again at Riverside for reflection, song, and a reading of portions of the speech. It was drafted by Dr. King’s friend and comrade Vincent Harding, a beloved former On Being guest, and many of his friends and family joined this year. None of the words of this speech is as famous as the sentence “I have a dream.” This speech altogether gives voice to the less remembered and heeded evolution of the vision of Dr. King and Vincent Harding and others. It invokes the work that endures beyond leaders and events of the day, and that can be neglected at our peril if too many of us too narrowly focus our imaginations and creativity and callings on what transfixes and demoralizes in the moment. It calls for a “revolution of values” in the face of glaring contrasts of poverty and wealth and the human cost of a world order that settles differences with wars. That our world is broken, it tells us, should come as no surprise. There were deep moral and spiritual underpinnings to the events of 59 years ago, which we did not acknowledge, much less have risen to as a nation. A line from this speech seems directly aimed at our ears and our hearts: “We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now.” What are the callings now, finally, for us to pick up in creating the world we want to inhabit in the beyond of this moment of great peril and an equal magnitude of possibility? This is a conversation with two human beings who loved Vincent Harding and whom he loved and formed: Michelle Alexander and Lucas Johnson. You do not need to have heard or read the speech to follow this conversation, but here are links to do so if you wish: Hear the speech, as recorded in 1959, in full. Read the speech in full here. Listen to Krista's original conversation with Vincent Harding here. Find an excellent transcript of this show, edited by humans, on our show page. Sign yourself and others up for The Pause to be on our mailing list for all things On Being and to receive Krista's monthly Saturday newsletter, including a heads up on new episodes, special offerings, recommendations, and event invitations. Michelle Alexander is a civil rights lawyer, legal scholar, and bestselling author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. She is currently a Scholar in Residence at Union Theological Seminary, where she is preparing to launch Spirit of Justice, a new organization dedicated to nurturing the spiritual lives of those committed to justice. Learn more at spiritofjustice.org Lucas Johnson is an organizer and public theologian, who cultivates space for the spiritual transformation that brings about beloved community. He is currently traveling the United States, evoking stories about the movements that expanded American democracy and raising the question ”Is America possible?” in this 250th year since the Declaration of Independence. Find him at lucasjohnson.online. If you would like to invite Lucas to your congregation or organization to explore the personal stories of democratic revival, please learn about the Storytelling Tour here. This event was produced by a new

Shai Held — On Love, and Judaism

Jason Reynolds — On Hopelessness, the Virtue of Stamina, and Showing Grace to Ourselves

Arab Aramin, Robi Damelin, Liora Eilon, Mohamed Abu Jafar — Turning Unbearable Loss Into Ground of Shared Life

Gül Dölen — Psychedelic Science and Radical Healing

Joy Harjo and Tracy K. Smith – "This world is full of everything good, everything beautiful."

A New Season for a Tender New Year