Finding out what it means to ‘be human is one of humanity’s longest quests.
It’s a massive question that we may never find a definitive answer to, but our quest to find answers certainly brings a lot of enlightening discussions to the table regardless.
While there are a fair few podcasts that explore philosophical concepts and issues, there are few that do it as well, or as perfectly as On Being.
This show is truly great and worthy of your time, but it can be difficult to know where to start.
Want to try out this amazing show for yourself? Try one of these following episodes for the best introduction!
Table of Contents
Ocean Vuong – A Life Worthy Of Our Breath
Ocean Vuong is a writer best known for their work in the realm of poetry, and for having a truly unique and positive perspective on life.
This episode sees our host Krista Tippett interviewing Ocean in an attempt to better understand his perspective on life and what unique things we can learn from him.
This episode was actually recorded live before a large audience of fellow podcasters, which helps to give it this really lovely and vibrant energy that further elevates the life-affirming ideas that Ocean is known for.
This episode will help to lift your spirits, and have you feeling much better able to take on some of life’s challenges so that you can better appreciate its beautiful highs!
Listen on onbeing.org.
Resmaa Menakem – Notice The Rage; Notice the Silence
Sometimes the best thing you can do is allow yourself to feel your emotions.
Many times when we notice ourselves feeling negative emotions, we have a tendency to lock them up deep inside, until they inevitably bubble up over the surface in a much worse way.
Guest Resmaa Menakem, in this episode, joins Krista to discuss how best people can allow themselves to feel their emotions, and how they can then turn those emotions to more productive ends.
Resmaa Menakem is a well-renowned therapist and public speaker known for his works on cultural somatics, which focuses on how our bodies and our emotions interact with the world and the society around us.
This makes him a perfect guest for the podcast, especially as, in this episode, he talks at length with Krista about the murder case of Derek Chauvin, and how feelings across the world have been impacted by it.
This is a truly masterful episode that will fully display the best that the series has to offer, and will get you hooked, and ready to tune into the next episode!
Listen on onbeing.org.
Bessel Van Der Kolk – Trauma, The Body, And 2021?
The relationship between the body and the brain is very often overlooked, which is definitely a shame, considering how interlinked our mental experience of the world is with the way we experience it physically.
Bessel van der Kolk is a highly revered psychiatrist and researcher whose work on trauma and how it affects our minds and bodies is well regarded.
This episode sees Bessel and Krista discussing the role that trauma can play in our lives, even without us noticing, as well as how it not only affects the brain, but also the physicality of the body.
If you’ve ever wanted to know a little more about the intrinsic link between our bodies and our minds, then this episode is well worth your time.
You’ll come out of it much wiser in terms of how we live and interact with the world around us, and will be better equipped to deal with any future issues that you may encounter.
It’s a truly wonderful episode to listen to, so make sure to give it a try!
Listen on onbeing.org.
Leonard Mlodinow – Randomness And Choice
Sometimes life and the universe can appear to be very cruel, and this is thanks to the element of randomness that continues to play a role in our lives.
Randomness is a fact of life that can bring us great happiness but can also bring us terrible sadness, without any prior warning.
However, it is also possible to make choices that can better improve our happiness, and improve our experience with the world around us.
This episode of On Being is dedicated to exploring the relationship between randomness and choice, and how we can influence our experience of the world through the choices we make during our lives.
To explore this concept, Krista invites onto the show Leonard Mlodinow, who is a physicist who is also a child of two Holocaust survivors, all of which have helped to give him a truly unique perspective on life and its challenges.
By analyzing the role that physics plays in randomness, and the role of chaos in everyday life, Mlodinow is able to present a truly uplifting and positive perspective on life built around choosing kindness over cruelty no matter what.
Listen on onbeing.org.
Gordon Hempton – Silence And The Presence Of Everything
Gordon Hempton is an acoustic ecologist who loves to collect unique sounds from across the world, to help us to get a much greater sense of the awesome sonic landscape all around us at all times.
However, though Gordon loves the world’s many sounds, he has come to believe that silence is actually on the verge of extinction, being that we live in a world of constant stimuli competing for attention in our minds.
Gordon imparts the importance of embracing a little more silence in our lives, though not in a traditional sense.
Gordon is not necessarily calling for a complete lack of sound, but instead on learning to be able to tune out from the many stimuli that compete for our attention every single moment of every single day.
This is a very valuable lesson, and Gordon is a fantastic teacher to help you learn it.
He has a wonderful and charismatic personality that will put you at ease as you listen, which helps to make his lessons all the more potent. Check it out now!
Listen on onbeing.org.
Alain De Botton – The True Hard Work Of Love And Relationships
Love can be difficult and painful, but that hard work makes it all the more worthwhile.
Alain de Botton presents, in this episode, a totally new perspective on love, and a new way that we can learn to experience it, that he feels would make society much kinder and much happier.
This episode will help you to much better appreciate your existing relationships and will help you to love more honestly and openly, which can only be better for all of us. It’s truly magical.
Listen on onbeing.org.
