The 10 Best On Being Episodes
The On Being podcast, hosted by journalist Krista Tippett, is a conversation podcast that probes the biggest questions in life. Her amazing and insightful interviewees — from Resmaa Menakem to Robin Wall Kimmerer to Mary Oliver — will make you think differently about the world around you. Krista is known for her masterful interview style, which the New York Times said "represents a fusion of all her parts – the child of small-town church comfortable in the pews; the product of Yale Divinity School able to parse text in Greek and theology in German; and, perhaps most of all, the diplomat seeking to resolve social divisions.”
Last Updated: Aug 31st, 2021
1) Ocean Vuong — A Life Worthy of Our Breath
Ocean Vuong is a poet, an author, a professor of English, and a literal genius as an award winner of the 2019 MacArthur Fellow “genius” grant. In this beautiful and honest conversation with Krista Tippett, Ocean Vuong unpacks how his work is shaped by his immigrant experience as a product of war and as a queer person in society. His insights about language and the violence of language will have you rethink the words we use everyday and how that impacts our thinking and culture. This compassionate interview full of truth bombs is definitely one of the On Being podcast's best episodes ever.
mm recommended:
Such beautiful words from Ocean Vuong, poet, writer, and actual genius. Why do we use such violent words in English like "target audience"...Show More
AUDIO REMOVED: The podcast creator has removed the audio for this episode.2) Resmaa Menakem — ’Notice the Rage; Notice the Silence’
Bodies and context are the root of Krista’s powerful conversation with clinical therapist and trauma specialist Resmaa Menakem. Resmaa helps us confront uncomfortable truths about how trauma, race, bodies, and cells are intertwined, and why diversity training has gotten us nowhere. He recounts stories from his grandmother and the cotton fields, and how those stories have impacted him so deeply to eventually write a book called “My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies”. This best On Being episode is a racial awakening and an important listen for everyone.
bkxb recommended:
An extremely relevant and timely interview drawing a line from the Dark Ages and 1,000 years of torture, brutality, and strife to modern day...Show More
AUDIO REMOVED: The podcast creator has removed the audio for this episode.3) Bessel van der Kolk — How Trauma Lodges in the Body
Talking through pain is usually our first resort to solving trauma, but psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk argues that there’s more we can do, because language cannot reach all areas where trauma affects us. Since the Vietnam War, Bessel has been studying, exploring and developing innovative treatments to help people with significant trauma. He shares a wealth of knowledge about the pathology, history, and complexity of trauma and its intersections with memories, sleep, and our brains.
4) Leonard Mlodinow — Randomness and Choice
Fundamental forces of physics somehow determine everything that happens, “from the birth of a child to the birth of a galaxy.” Yet physicist Leonard Mlodinow has an intriguing perspective on the gap b...Show More
5) Gordon Hempton — Silence and the Presence of Everything
Acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton collects sounds from around the world. He’s recorded inside Sitka spruce logs in the Pacific Northwest, thunder in the Kalahari Desert, and dawn breaking across six c...Show More
Gordon Hempton — Silence and the Presence of Everything
51:27 | Aug 29th, 2019
3 recommendations
5 playlists
write2tg recommended:
Because silence is not the absence of sound but it is about the presence of an acoustic system and what it means to be in a place - a place ...Show More
AUDIO REMOVED: The podcast creator has removed the audio for this episode.6) Carlo Rovelli — All Reality Is Interaction
“We don’t understand the world as made by stones — by things. We understand the world made by kisses, or things like kisses: happenings.” Carlo Rovelli offers vast, complex ideas beyond most of our im...Show More
fiercefab recommended:
I loves this interview. It left me astonished and grateful, looking at myself and the world around me in a different way. Through this poeti...Show More
AUDIO REMOVED: The podcast creator has removed the audio for this episode.7) [Unedited] Esther Perel with Krista Tippett
Therapist Esther Perel has changed our discourse about sexuality and coupledom with her TED talks, books, and singular podcast, “Where Should We Begin?”, in which listeners are invited into emotionall...Show More
aliceko recommended:
Oh Esther Perel, how I love you so much. It's nice to listen to an 'unedited' podcast interview - very raw and natural! Listen if you're an ...Show More
AUDIO REMOVED: The podcast creator has removed the audio for this episode.8) Maria Popova — Cartographer of Meaning in a Digital Age
She has called Brain Pickings, her invention and labor of love, a “human-powered discovery engine for interestingness.” What Maria Popova really delivers, to hundreds of thousands of people each day, ...Show More
9) Alain de Botton — The True Hard Work of Love and Relationships
The philosopher and creator of The School of Life. The question we should ask on an early date is, “How are you crazy? I’m crazy like this…” The real work of love that is in the stumbling and evolving...Show More
michelle_ebooks recommended:
one of my all time favorites. lots of great bits on what makes love work
AUDIO REMOVED: The podcast creator has removed the audio for this episode.10) Ross Gay — Tending Joy and Practicing Delight
There is a question floating around the world right now: “How can we be joyful in a moment like this?” To which writer Ross Gay responds: “How can we not be joyful, especially in a moment like this?” ...Show More
bkxb recommended:
A great interview on finding delight in part due to the ephemeral nature of our being. Gay’s essay on Loitering is fantastic.
AUDIO REMOVED: The podcast creator has removed the audio for this episode.