074 Jeremy Lent – Welcome Each Moment as a Sacred Treasure
State of Emergence
Philosopher, pro-activist and author Jeremy Lent explores the underlying nature of our civilizational crises and how a greater understanding of the physical, biological, noetic & cultural interconnectedness of reality can inspire us into a new level of devotion to life itself. Jeremy’s book The Patterning Instinct traced patterns of thought that led human civilization to its sustainability crisis and his new book, The Web of Meaning offers an integrative worldview for a sustainable, flourishing future.
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073 Fred LaMotte – From the Temple to the Wilderness of Now
State of Emergence
Poet, teacher and interfaith chaplain Fred LaMotte shares the inner processes and revelations from which his luminous poetry arises and explores a place beyond words and beliefs where there is simply presence and dwelling in the tender receptivity of the miracle of each moment. Fred is an author, a graduate of Yale and Princeton Theological Seminary, a director of Religious Studies and Community Service, a college instructor in World Religions, an interfaith chaplain and a meditation teacher.
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072 Peter Russell – Letting Go of Nothing
State of Emergence
Futurist, teacher, and author Peter Russell explores how the exponential acceleration of complexity in our civilization may exceed our capacities as a species, and how a radical letting-go of our efforts to counteract that destiny can dissolve whatever gets in the way of us showing up fully, sanely, and gratefully. Peter is a leading thinker and writer on consciousness and spirituality, he is on the faculty of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and his beautiful new book is Letting Go of Nothing.
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071 Indra Adnan – The Politics of Waking Up
State of Emergence
Social psychotherapist and political entrepreneur Indra Adnan explores the politics and power dynamics of “waking up” to our meta-crisis and to one another. She shares her pioneering work as Founder of The Alternative UK creating “community agency networks” and considers how we can shift from narratives of trauma, disconnection and collapse into a radical certainty of our solutions. Indra has consulted to the World Economic Forum, Indian and Danish governments and NATO, amongst others. Her new book
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070 David Sloan Wilson – Evolution's Key Practices and Design Principles
State of Emergence
In a new and unedited conversation with evolutionary biologist and social theorist David Sloan Wilson, Terry and David continue to explore evolution’s design principles and practices that can enable social experiments and cooperative communities to succeed and grow. They consider the virtues and exploitations of competition, multiple layers of competition, genetic vs. cultural steams of evolution, the role of symbols in evolving our cultural narratives, and the political economist Elinor Ostrom’s eight
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069 David Sloan Wilson – A Human Superorganism: The Higher Potentials of Cooperation
State of Emergence
Evolutionary biologist & social theorist David Sloan Wilson clarifies the science of “multi-level selection” and how interpersonal cooperation and altruism are central to evolution. He shares the specific conditions that are required to nurture prosocial behavior in groups, as well as those that would qualify humans as a “superorganism” that prioritizes the wellbeing of the whole. David is the author of several books including a new novel, Atlas Hugged. He teaches at Binghamton University and is Pre
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068 Stephen Jenkinson – Overwhelming Beauty — and Being OK, Dying
State of Emergence
Spontaneous poet, culture activist & shamanic bard Stephen Jenkinson explores the disarming ordeal of bearing witness to death up close, including Terry’s uncertain situation — probable lung cancer with no diagnosis, prognosis, or treatment plan. They wonder together about the overwhelming nature of beauty and the vividness that dying well can bring to living. Stephen co-founded Orphan Wisdom, has authored four books and is now recording with musician Gregory Hoskins, most recently DARK ROADS and ROUGH
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Francis Weller (Rebroadcast) – Letting Grief Open Us to Grace
State of Emergence
A rebroadcast of a tender and deeply grounding conversation with psychotherapist and soul-activist Francis Weller, whose presence, wisdom and “soul obligation to register the rips and tears of the world” remains powerful medicine. He and Terry share their griefs and rediscover fierceness to protect all they love. Francis' work as a soul-centered psychotherapist synthesizes insights from psychology, anthropology, mythology, alchemy, and indigenous cultures in healing rituals for those working with grief.
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067 Jonathan Rowson – Tasting the Pickle: A Personal Relationship with the Meta-Crisis
State of Emergence
Chess Grandmaster & philosopher Jonathan Rowson explores our global meta-crisis from new angles — as a crisis of civilizational purpose, a lack of a meaningful global ‘We’, and its various socio-emotional, epistemic, and spiritual features. Jonathan is a sensemaking entrepreneur and the Director of Perspectiva. He is an applied philosopher with degrees from Oxford, Harvard, and Bristol Universities, and the author of The Moves that Matter, Spiritualise, and the brilliant essay "Tasting the Pickle.”
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067 Jonathan Rowson – Tasting the Pickle: A Personal Relationship with the Meta-Crisis
State of Emergence
Chess Grandmaster & philosopher Jonathan Rowson explores our global meta-crisis from new angles — as a crisis of civilizational purpose, a lack of a meaningful global ‘We’, and its various socio-emotional, epistemic, and spiritual features. Jonathan is a sensemaking entrepreneur and the Director of Perspectiva. He is an applied philosopher with degrees from Oxford, Harvard, and Bristol Universities, and the author of The Moves that Matter, Spiritualise, and the brilliant essay "Tasting the Pickle.”
info_outlineFuturist, teacher, and author Peter Russell joins Terry in person at his home to connect more intimately and explore several profound considerations about this human miracle and our current predicament. In a previous podcast episode (February 2020), their conversation focused on an essay Peter had written called Blind Spot, in which he explores how human creativity builds on itself, leading to an exponential acceleration of complexity that he believes inevitably exceeds our capacities as a species. Then, he suggested we might be best served by a radical letting-go of our efforts to counteract that destiny. In this new episode, they venture deeper into the how of this letting-go, and how it can open into an uncomplicated relationship to what is right now, dissolving whatever gets in the way of us showing up fully, sanely, and gratefully. Peter and Terry consider together how wonder releases tension in the mind, how gratitude releases tension in the heart, and how a radical practice of letting go, releases the whole being into its true nature — beneath and beyond even our humanity.
Peter Russell is a leading thinker and writer on consciousness and contemporary spirituality. He is on the faculty of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and a fellow of The World Business Academy and The Findhorn Foundation, and an Honorary Member of The Club of Budapest. In the 1980’s, Peter coined the term "global brain" with his bestseller of the same name, in which he predicted the Internet and the impact it would have on humanity. Peter has studied theoretical physics, experimental psychology, and computer science at the University of Cambridge, and meditation and Eastern Philosophy in India. He also pioneered the introduction of personal growth programs to corporations, running courses for senior management on creativity, stress management and sustainable development. We appreciated Peter’s work to distill the essence of the world's spiritual wisdom and to present it in ways that speak to people in current terms. He is the author of ten books, including Waking Up in Time and From Science to God. His beautiful new book, Letting Go of Nothing: Relax Your Mind and Discover the Wonder of Your True Nature, will be published in August of 2021.
Here are some of the questions that Peter and Terry explore in the episode:
- What is it to let go? And what exactly are we letting go of?
- Can waking up to the existential severity of our civilizational predicament serve as an initiatory force, drawing us into fuller presence with ourselves, each other, and reality?
- If we let go of the energy in us that’s opposing our societal predicament, what emerges in its place?
- If we accept Peter’s thesis that humanity’s creative impulse is contributing to our inevitable collapse, how can we relate in new ways to creativity as it arises within us?
- How might our doing of good works in the world evolve in the future as we become more rested in Being and trusting of our inherent nature?
- How can we practice accepting that our conditional perspectives will inevitably keep arising but that their context is unconditional, radiant, vast, beautiful, and more primary?
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State of Emergence is made possible by listeners’ contributions, through the nonprofit A New Republic of the Heart. If you appreciate our work, we’d love to invite you to support it through a monthly or one-time donation of any size. Also, we explore each episode in greater depth during our State of Emergence live Q&A events and our monthly supporters are always invited to join. If you haven’t already joined as a supporter, please consider becoming a Friend of State of Emergence and help the podcast become financially sustainable. A caring community is making it all possible and we’d love for you to be part of it! Sign up here.
For more information on Peter Russell and Terry Patten, check out the following resources:
- Peter Russell’s new book, Letting Go of Nothing (forward by Eckhart Tolle)
- Peter’s other books and multimedia offerings
- Peter’s website, peterrussell.com
- Our podcast website, stateofemergence.org
- Terry Patten’s nonprofit, A New Republic of the Heart
- Terry Patten’s personal website
Join us as a Friend of State of Emergence
We will be exploring this episode in greater depth during our next State of Emergence live Q&A (date and time to be announced soon). If you haven’t already joined us, we invite you to become a Friend of State of Emergence and join these monthly Q&A sessions with me and other listeners episodes, as well as help the podcast become financially sustainable. A vibrant, intelligent, and caring community is already gathering around State of Emergence and we’d love for you to be part of it. Sign up here.