A New and Ancient Story: The Podcast

Description: Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. shares stories of his childhood, his family, the origins of his environmental activism, and the spiritual beliefs that keep him sane. The campaign website is https://www.kennedy24.com/.

Swaady Martin is the daughter of a militant Black Panther who fled to Africa. She grew up in the Ivory Coast and ended up pursuing an elite education and corporate career, yet remains at heart and in spirit a revolutionary. We covered many topics: her background, colonialism, the Covid narrative and attitudes about it in West and South Africa, and the spiritual crisis of the developed world. Bio: Swaady Martin is an internationally recognized African leader. Spirituality and African identity are at the heart of all Swaady’s many and varied roles. Her academic background includes London School of Economics (LSE) and Harvard Divinity School. She is also an Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellow. A former Corporate Executive at General Electric (GE), Swaady is the founder of Yswara African Tea, Tounché Global Consciousness Summit & Events and LovingKindness Boma (through which she publishes mindful, multicultural picture books for children). She sits on several boards, including the African Leadership Institute(Afli). More about Swaady Martin, please visit https://www.swaady.com/

Playwright, satirist, and political commentator CJ Hopkins, creator of the website Consent Factory, joins me for a conversation on totalitarianism, safety, and the ideology of control. We go a little beyond his political writings on these topics to talk about the inner life of a dissident. Another major topic is the phenomenon of the cult, as a lens through which to understand our historical moment. CJ Hopkins' writings can be found on Substack https://cjhopkins.substack.com/ and the Consent Factory https://consentfactory.org/.

Nathan Riley is a medical doctor trained in OB/GYN and palliative care. In this episode, birth and death, we talk about the role of medicine in society, what is has been and could be, its beauty and limitations, working in the system and outside the system. Be sure to listen to the last 15 minutes especially, where Nathan shares a story that brought tears to my eyes and is still working me from the inside. More about Nathan Riley and his work, please visit: https://www.belovedholistics.com/

People call Daniel Raphael a "wizard," for reasons that may become apparent in this interview. He weaves an inspiring life story with his work with the body, subtle energies, and spiritual teachings. We touch on topics of perception and reality, self-forgiveness, and the limitations of the modern view of the real. More about Daniel, please visit: www.danielraphael.org

Anna Breytenbach is one of the world's best known interspecies communicators, subject of the film The Animal Communicator (excerpt here). In this conversation we touch on a couple of her stories before zooming out larger themes: such as the living planet and humanity's role on it, the relationship between humans and the rest of life, and how to access the kind of abilities Anna has developed. About Anna: Anna Breytenbach is a professional interspecies communicator practicing for 20 years on several continents and featured in the documentary "The Animal Communicator". Native to South Africa, she holds a degree in Psychology and studied telepathic animal communication with the Assisi Institute in California as well as tracking and mentoring at the Wilderness Awareness School in Seattle. As an experienced master facilitator she focuses on mentoring in a practical manner that reminds us humans of the ways of indigenous nature awareness. Her consultation work is exclusively with wildlife and peaceful interventions globally via remote work. This includes predator research, wilderness protection, anti-poaching assistance, biodynamic and reforestation initiatives, wildlife management and rehabilitation and numerous public appearances as an inspirational speaker. Anna’s communication and conservation work guides people to deepen their connection with all species in an honouring manner. She's inspired by being a voice for wild beings and natural environments. www.animalspirit.org www.youtube.com/c/AnimalSpirit

Here I speak with a woman who, in her younger days, put 110% of her time and life energy into a cause, in this case, Palestinian rights (Devorah is Jewish). Her story will resonate with many current and former activists, as it has resonated with me. Today she is a regenerative urban homesteader. Does that mean she has given up on changing the world? Or is there a deep level of activism where being a healing presence is not always about struggle? The conversation also engages my own burnout and fatigue... it gets a bit personal. \n\nCharles Eisenstein\n---\nAbout Devorah Brous:\nDev Brous (she/her) is a regenerative consultant at the nexus of urban gardening and burnout recovery. An urban homesteader and a frontline community organizer -- she designs, writes, and gardens with individuals and institutions to design regenerative practices for soul care, community care, and earth care. \nHer website: www.fromsoil2soul.com

British bass guitarist Yolanda Charles carries some powerful stories\nabout trust, luck, mentorship, motherhood, and music. She shares some of them in our far-reaching conversation on these and other topics. Why does luck sometimes happen in life? Are some people born lucky? Do we make our own luck? What choices and conditions invite it in? This conversation gave me insight into these questions, and I hope it will for you as well.\n\nAbout Yolanda Charles:\nYolanda Charles is a touring musician and mother of three, who has\nplayed and toured with Squeeze, Hans Zimmer, Robbie Williams, Mick\nJagger, and others. You can support her on Patreon and find her work on Youtube, Soundcloud, and her website.\n\nMUSIC: https://soundcloud.com/yoyobasscharles \nWEBSITE: https://g4dz.com/\nYOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/c/YoBassCharles/\nPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/yolandacharlesmusic

Galina Angaraova is an indigenous rights activists and the Executive Director of the nonprofit Cultural Survival. Her stories from her native indigenous village in Siberia illuminate vividly and poignantly the topics we visit, such as gift culture in indigenous societies, the tragedy of "development," the power of ceremony, healing trauma, and the nature of true wealth. What she describes in Siberia -- the damage and the healing -- applies powerfully to our modern condition. Articles on philanthropy -https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/reimagining-philanthropy-towards-relationships-trust-abundance-and-radical-love and https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/indigenizing-philanthropy-rematriating-distribution-wealth Website: www.cs.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/culturalsurvival/ @culturalsurvival Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/culturalsurvival/ @culturalsurvival Twitter: https://twitter.com/CSORG @CSORG

Welcome to this moving conversation with prison activist and filmmaker Fritzi Horstman, in which we discuss her powerful short film Step Inside the Circle. Please watch it first. We talk about prisons, trauma, healing, and the bankruptcy of the punishment paradigm. The underlying theme of the conversation is compassion, which, as Fritzi's work makes obvious, is the animating principle of any truly radical action. Fritzi Horstman bio: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQ-wertyFyx2n4q2WZBtiRgO3FqhEMKe-G2RC5DNBh8S3YiT8s3jdhehmfEmdEO4JhYQqXb83qfzna7/pub Compassion Prison Project website: https://compassionprisonproject.org/ Donate to Compassion Prison Project: https://compassionprisonproject.org/donate-to-cpp/ Wesley Purkey Blog Post (man on death row who was executed on July 16, 2020): https://compassionprisonproject.org/portrait-of-a-human-wesley-purkey/

Welcome to this moving conversation with prison activist and filmmaker Fritzi Horstman, in which we discuss her powerful short film Step Inside the Circle. Please watch it first. We talk about prisons, trauma, healing, and the bankruptcy of the punishment paradigm. The underlying theme of the conversation is compassion, which, as Fritzi's work makes obvious, is the animating principle of any truly radical action. Fritzi Horstman bio: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQ-wertyFyx2n4q2WZBtiRgO3FqhEMKe-G2RC5DNBh8S3YiT8s3jdhehmfEmdEO4JhYQqXb83qfzna7/pub Compassion Prison Project website: https://compassionprisonproject.org/ Donate to Compassion Prison Project: https://compassionprisonproject.org/donate-to-cpp/ Wesley Purkey Blog Post (man on death row who was executed on July 16, 2020): https://compassionprisonproject.org/portrait-of-a-human-wesley-purkey/

This was a delightful conversation. We hadn't intended to talk about race, but I'm glad we did, because Mellody shared some unique, unorthodox insights worthy of considering in our troubled times. The conversation ranged into the territory of psychedelic therapy, mysticism, and principles of personal and collective transformation. Her riff on spiritual bypass near the end is not to be missed! Mellody Hayes is a physician-writer, speaker, and spiritual teacher and the Executive Director of Ceremony Health, a faith-based psychedelic healing center. She is graduate of Harvard College and UCSF Medical School and Anesthesiology Residency, John Kenneth Galbraith Scholar, and a Voices of Our Nation Alum. Links: Mellody Hayes: https://www.mellodyhayes.com/ Ceremony Health: https://www.ceremonyhealth.org/ Refuge with Last Black Man in San Francisco: https://adelaidemagazine.org/nf_mellody_hayes33.html

Dr. Edith Ubuntu Chan has an unusual background -- studied mathematics at Harvard, became a Doctor of Oriental Medicine... Actually, nothing I could say about her can do justice to the stories she carries: about the soul's journey, the nature of life and death, illness and healing, and the vastness of human potential. I was on her podcast a couple months ago, and she has graciously returned the favor here. Also check out her new book, Super Wellness via http://www.superwellness.com/ Another podcast of Dr. Chan and Charles is available via http://www.dredithubuntu.com/thedreshow/our-great-initiation-into-the-more-beautiful-world-w-charles-eisenstein

Here I talk with Zach Bush, MD, a doctor with a background in endocrinology who "went holistic" and turned toward gut/brain health, the microbiome, and soil science. Our conversation covered a lot of ground: evolution, the importance of biological diversity for personal, social, and ecological health, the inventive fecundity of life, the role of viruses in sharing genetic information, and more. I expect this conversation will help expand people's horizons in trying to understand health and sickness in the Covid era. Del Bigtree podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXI0UEmCsEw About Zach: https://zachbushmd.com/video/the-highwire/

This rich dialog treats the evolution of activism beyond us-versus-them thinking, with special reference to current events around race, the indigenous, and the Amazon rainforest. Alnoor Ladha’s work focuses on the intersection of political organizing, systems thinking and narrative work. He was the co-founder and Executive Director of The Rules (TR), a global network of activists, organizers, designers, coders, researchers, writers and others focused on changing the rules that create inequality, poverty and climate change. Currently, he is active with Cura Da Terra (#CuraDaTerra), a campaign of and for the indigenous of the Amazon in their role as healers of the earth. Alnoor comes from a Sufi lineage and explores/writes about the intersection between politics and spirituality in times of crisis. The Rules: https://therules.org/

Vivian Dittmar is a teacher, speaker, and writer, author of the book The Power of Feelings. In this conversation we talk about the collective global field of uncertainty, the dynamics of birth and death, and the opportunity that Covid offers to befriend fear and follow its evolutionary power. Here is a guided meditation she offers on accessing the power of fear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eqOXGUgBWY She also shares with the audience a chapter on the power of fear from her book: https://viviandittmar.net/wp-content/uploads/The-Power-of-Fear.pdf Vivian's book, The Power of Feelings is here: https://viviandittmar.net/en/books/the-power-of-feelings/ Her upcoming book, The Inner GPS is here: https://viviandittmar.net/en/books/your-inner-gps/

Rishi Kumar(https://farmerrishi.com), a former software engineer, is a gardening evangelist who uses gardening for personal, social, and ecological healing. We talk a lot about regeneration: how it is not just a set of techniques, but an orientation, a way of seeing, and a way of relating to the earth. We humans don't have to be outsiders to nature; we too are an organ of Gaia and can join the gift circle of life. I hope our conversation gives whomever listens a little extra encouragement to begin or to deepen their gardening, and to look at the nonprofit Rishi works with, Kiss the Ground (https://kisstheground.com).

Sayer Ji is a prominent holistic health researcher and the founder of one of the largest alternative health websites, greenmedinfo.com. We talk first and foremost about the coronavirus and the multiple fear narratives surrounding it, then venture into some other controversial topics: body ecology and the "virome," vaccines, internet censorship, science and its limitations, biological transmutation of elements, water bubble cavitation, and my favorite topic of late, ideological polarization and peace. Link to his new book, Regenerate: Unlocking Your Body's Radical Resilience through the New Biology:  https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/599585/regenerate-by-sayer-ji/  Other resource site: https://regenerateproject.com/

Luz Gonçalves Brito is a Brazilian anthropologist who brings academics and spirituality together in an exquisite way. Our conversation was like a meditation, touching on the inseparability of the spiritual from the ecological and political. For example: ecology, like spirituality, is ultimately a search for connection. Luz's research is not only scholarly -- you may feel chills as I did upon hearing her sing the song given to her by a river.

Julie Esterly is active in the death care movement, part of the reclamation of death as a culturally recognized part of life. We speak of our culture's death rituals, the necessity of realizing death in order to fully realize life, and the connection between the denial of death and the denial of life, which takes specific form in collective ecocide. Is this a depressing topic? No. See if you come a little more alive through this conversation. More about Julie Esterly at esterly.com and her work at naturaldeathcareinitiative.org