Peabody award-winning conversations to live with. Wisdom to replenish and orient in this wild ride of a time to be alive.A full season of new shows — Emergence — is now here, with On Being's singular mix of spiritual inquiry, science, social healing, and the arts: biomimicry and the science of awe; spiritual contrarianism and social creativity; pause and poetry and more towards stretching into this world ahead with moral imagination and joy.Also: classic, celebrated, beloved conversations in our 20-year archive: Mary Oliver. John O'Donohue. Thich Nhat Hanh. Desmond Tutu. And so much more.Learn more at onbeing.org.

Peabody award-winning conversations to live with. Wisdom to replenish and orient in this wild ride of a time to be alive. A full season of new shows — Emergence — is now here, with On Being's singular mix of spiritual inquiry, science, social healing, and the arts: biomimicry and the science of awe; spiritual contrarianism and social creativity; pause and poetry and more towards stretching into this world ahead with moral imagination and joy. Also: classic, celebrated, beloved conversations in our 20-year archive: Mary Oliver. John O'Donohue. Thich Nhat Hanh. Desmond Tutu. And so much more. Learn more at <a href="http://onbeing.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">onbeing.org</a>.

On Being with Krista Tippett

Practical Philosophy & How to live

Relationships & Love

A psychotherapist that focuses on relationships. She has a therapy practice in New York City, and hosts Where Should We Begin? which brings listeners inside her therapist's office as well as How's Work? focuses on workplace dynamics. She's the author of multiple best selling books about love, relationships, affairs, eroticism and more.

What erotic intelligence means

How love and desire both relate and also conflict with each other

The concept of ambiguous loss

Esther Perel

The psychotherapist Esther Perel has changed our discourse about sexuality and coupledom with her TED talks, her books, and her podcast, Where Should We Begin? Episode after episode lays bare the theater of relationship, which is also the drama of being human. Her insights speak to the flip side of social isolation — the intense experience many have now had of togetherness. And her deep understanding of “erotic intelligence” feels so interesting as we grapple with emergent dynamics of the human condition writ large — coupled or not, and both intimate and societal.Esther Perel has a private couples and family therapy practice in New York. She hosts two podcasts, Where Should We Begin? and How’s Work? and is the creator of a new game called, Where Should We Begin? - A Game of Stories. She is also the author of two TED talks and two books, Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence and The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity.Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.This show originally aired on July 11, 2019.

The psychotherapist Esther Perel has changed our discourse about sexuality and coupledom with her TED talks, her books, and her podcast, Where Should We Begin? Episode after episode lays bare the theater of relationship, which is also the drama of being human. Her insights speak to the flip side of social isolation — the intense experience many have now had of togetherness. And her deep understanding of “erotic intelligence” feels so interesting as we grapple with emergent dynamics of the human condition writ large — coupled or not, and both intimate and societal.Esther Perel has a private couples and family therapy practice in New York. She hosts two podcasts, Where Should We Begin? and How’s Work? and is the creator of a new game called, Where Should We Begin? - A Game of Stories. She is also the author of two TED talks and two books, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mating-Captivity-Unlocking-Erotic-Intelligence/dp/0060753641" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/State-Affairs-Rethinking-Infidelity/dp/0062322591" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity</a>.<a href="https://onbeing.org/programs/esther-perel-the-erotic-is-an-antidote-to-death/#transcript" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Find the transcript</a> for this show at <a href="https://onbeing.org/programs/esther-perel-the-erotic-is-an-antidote-to-death/#transcript" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">onbeing.org</a>.This show originally aired on July 11, 2019.

Esther Perel – The Erotic Is an Antidote to Death

It's not that I just wanted to do an exhibitionism with a public therapy session for people to listen into. It's because I actually think that when you listen deeply to the experiences of others, you stand in front of your own mirror, and you transcend that aloneness. You connect with others going through the same things, as well as better understand what you yourself are going through.

In many of my therapy sessions, I'm thinking, it's not what they're experiencing but the fact that they're experiencing it completely alone. It's compounded.

Eroticism is not sex per se, but the qualities of vitality, curiosity, and spontaneity that make us feel alive. It's a transgressive force that's about breaking the rules, it takes you outside of the borders of reality and the limitations of life. It blooms from the tension between excitation and inhibition and manifests in the things we say and do, by how we act, and by how we think.

Eroticism, narrowed down to the pure sexual meaning, is a real reduction of what the word stands for.

We often think about how "I need to first work on myself. I need to first feel good about me or solve me, before I can be with somebody else," but you often discover who you are, in the presence of another. It's like a constant dance between us and others. What right do I have to do for me when it hurts you? How much can I ask for me and not give to you? How much do I make sure not to lose you but lose me in the process? Or how much do I have to hold onto me but lose you in the process? That tension between yourself and others is the core of being human, the balance of freedom and responsibility.

It is often during the times we are far outside our elements that we best experience ourselves the most.

I turn myself off by... or I turn myself off when...?

"We're walking contradictions, seeking safety and predictability on one hand and thriving on diversity on the other."

An author of novels and poetry for young adult and middle-grade audiences. His books are about what it's like to be a Black young person growing up in the U.S. He's also the National Ambassador of Young People's Literature.

How we shouldn't shelter kids too much from reality

How history books are usually written for to students, not humans

How to channel and use our rage

Jason Reynolds

Jason Reynolds is the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature of the Library of Congress — and a magnificent source of wisdom for human society as a whole. He’s driven by compassion and the clear-eyed honesty that the young both possess and demand of the rest of us. Ibram X. Kendi chose him to write the YA companion to Stamped from the Beginning. In his person, Jason Reynolds both embodies and inspires innate human powers of fortitude and imagination. Hear him on “breathlaughter”; the libraries in all of our heads; and a stunning working definition of anti-racism: “simply the muscle that says humans are human… I love you, because you remind me more of myself than not.”Jason Reynolds was appointed National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by the Library of Congress in January, 2020. His body of writing about what it is to be a Black young person growing up in the U.S. has been received as a godsend by teachers and librarians — including the award-winning Ghost, Long Way Down, and Look Both Ways. His most recent work of nonfiction, together with Ibram X. Kendi, is Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You.Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.This show originally aired on June 25, 2020.

Jason Reynolds is the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature of the Library of Congress — and a magnificent source of wisdom for human society as a whole. He’s driven by compassion and the clear-eyed honesty that the young both possess and demand of the rest of us. Ibram X. Kendi chose him to write the YA companion to Stamped from the Beginning. In his person, Jason Reynolds both embodies and inspires innate human powers of fortitude and imagination. Hear him on “breathlaughter”; the libraries in all of our heads; and a stunning working definition of anti-racism: “simply the muscle that says humans are human… I love you, because you remind me more of myself than not.”Jason Reynolds was appointed National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by the Library of Congress in January, 2020. His body of writing about what it is to be a Black young person growing up in the U.S. has been received as a godsend by teachers and librarians — including the award-winning <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/ghost-volume-1-reprint/9781481450164" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ghost</a>, <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/long-way-down-9781481438254/9781481438261" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Long Way Down</a>, and <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/look-both-ways-a-tale-told-in-ten-blocks/9781481438285" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Look Both Ways</a>. His most recent work of nonfiction, together with Ibram X. Kendi, is <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/stamped-racism-antiracism-and-you-a-remix-of-the-national-book-award-winning-stamped-from-the-beginning/9780316453691" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You</a>.Find the transcript for this show at <a href="https://onbeing.org/programs/jason-reynolds-imagination-and-fortitude/#transcript" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">onbeing.org</a>.This show originally aired on June 25, 2020.

Jason Reynolds — Imagination and Fortitude

Each person has often collected stories and lessons from the books they've read, and experienced things from the life they've lived. Finding time to have conversations with those around you, and creating opportunities to conversations with those you don't yet speak to, will be like going into different libraries and reading different books.

Every person is like a library.

It's an on-going choice to be a part of something that rejects racism. To be anti-racist is to be human, it is to love other humans for who they are. It's a muscle that you have to train and continuously use, because the movements that go against humanity are always shifting and changing.

Anti-racism isn't a binary choice that switches on or off.

If we don't know what truly happened throughout history, then we can never accurately assess and learn from our past. We must not only remember to speak up during our time for what is unrightfully so, but we also remember to write and pass it down to the next generation. It's up to each generation to communicate what's happened to those next in line that weren't there to see what really happened.

History can only teach its lesson if it is first remembered.

Can you think of an important lesson to pass down to future generations from your lifetime?

"You can't run away from who you are, but what you can do is run toward who you want to be."

Joanna is a philosopher of ecology and Buddhist teacher, and the root teacher of The Work That Reconnects. Anita is a psychologist, poet, translator and autism specialist. Together they worked on translations of Rainer Maria Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet.

How sexuality has placed a burden and how we need to become human together

How love isn't a merging of two people, but being oneself fully

What God means to all of us

Joanna Macy

Anita Barrows

A new translation of Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet has been released in a world in which his voice and vision feel as resonant as ever before. In ten letters to a young person in 1903, Rilke touched on the enduring dramas of creating our lives — prophetic musings about solitude and relationship, humanity and the natural world, even gender and human wholeness. And what a joy it is to delve into Rilke’s voice, freshly rendered, with the translators. Krista, Anita and Joanna have communed with Rainer Maria Rilke across time and space and their conversation is infused with friendship as much as ideas.Joanna Macy is a philosopher of ecology and Buddhist teacher, and the root teacher of The Work That Reconnects. She’s the author of many books. Our previous On Being episode with her is “A Wild Love for the World.” That’s also the title of a lovely book of homage to her published in 2020.Anita Barrows has translated three books of Rilke’s writing with Joanna, in addition to Letters to a Young Poet: Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God; In Praise of Mortality; and A Year with Rilke. Anita is a psychologist and poet. She was a voice in the On Being episode, “The Soul in Depression.” Her most recent poetry collection is Testimony.Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.

A new translation of Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet has been released in a world in which his voice and vision feel as resonant as ever before. In ten letters to a young person in 1903, Rilke touched on the enduring dramas of creating our lives — prophetic musings about solitude and relationship, humanity and the natural world, even gender and human wholeness. And what a joy it is to delve into Rilke’s voice, freshly rendered, with the translators. Krista, Anita and Joanna have communed with Rainer Maria Rilke across time and space and their conversation is infused with friendship as much as ideas.Joanna Macy is a philosopher of ecology and Buddhist teacher, and the root teacher of The Work That Reconnects. She’s the author of many books. Our previous On Being episode with her is “<a href="https://onbeing.org/programs/joanna-macy-a-wild-love-for-the-world/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">A Wild Love for the World</a>.” That’s also the title of a lovely book of homage to her published in 2020.Anita Barrows has translated three books of Rilke’s writing with Joanna, in addition to <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/643471/letters-to-a-young-poet-by-rainer-maria-rilke-translated-by-anita-barrows-and-joanna-macy/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Letters to a Young Poet</a>: Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God; In Praise of Mortality; and A Year with Rilke. Anita is a psychologist and poet. She was a voice in the On Being episode, “<a href="https://onbeing.org/programs/the-soul-in-depression/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Soul in Depression.</a>” Her most recent poetry collection is <a href="https://kelsaybooks.com/collections/all/anita-barrows" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Testimony</a>.Find the transcript for this show at <a href="https://onbeing.org/programs/joanna-macy-and-anita-barrows-what-a-world-youve-got-inside-you/#transcript" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">onbeing.org</a>.

Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows — ‘What a world you’ve got inside you.’

In life, there are always questions that are not yet resolved, but we need to learn to love the uncertainty, and to love the questions themselves. And only through doing this, are we able to live in the present moment, as any hope or anticipation of where you're headed, take ourselves out of the present moment. Through living in the present moment with the questions, may we gradually in the future live into the answers.

Often we're so focused on finding answers that we forget that sometimes we need to live with unanswered questions.

People are drawn to the easy and to the easiest side of the easy. But it is clear that we must hold ourselves to the difficult. As it is true for everything alive, everything in nature grows and defends itself in its own way and against all opposition, straining from within and at any price, to become distinctively itself. It is good to be solitary, because solitude is difficult, and that a thing is difficult must be even more of a reason for us to undertake it.

Don't let your solitude obscure the presence of something within it that wants to emerge.

Beauty isn't something that just comes to us, it's something that we can learn and train to become better at seeing. We can improve how we see beauty, how to treasure it, how to celebrate it and how to be grateful for it. At every experience of loss, but also equally at every experience, is an opportunity to give thanks for the beauty of life that once was, or still is.

We should teach ourselves how to see beauty.

Can you think of any unanswered questions that you should be living in the present with?

"Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love."

Teaches workshops on writing to heal, and hosts the podcast "hey, girl". She's also the author of After the Rain: Gentle Reminders for Healing, Courage, and Self-Love.

How each year we grow older, the more tender our childhood trauma is

The meaning of meeting one's "inner child" for a new generation

How it's hard to love when all you're trying to do is survive

Alex Elle

Alex Elle complicates the idea of self-care, opening it up as community-care, as a way towards generational healing. And she’s revivifying the meaning of meeting one’s “inner child” for a new generation. Our colleague Lily Percy says she could not have survived the physical isolation of the pandemic without Alex’s writing, teaching, and Instagram presence. So Krista hands over the mic to Lily for this conversation. Alex Elle has a beloved presence on Instagram @alex_elle. She teaches workshops on “writing to heal,” and hosts the podcast “hey, girl.” Her books include After the Rain: Gentle Reminders for Healing, Courage, and Self-Love, Neon Soul, and In Courage Journal. Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.

Alex Elle complicates the idea of self-care, opening it up as community-care, as a way towards generational healing. And she’s revivifying the meaning of meeting one’s “inner child” for a new generation. Our colleague Lily Percy says she could not have survived the physical isolation of the pandemic without Alex’s writing, teaching, and Instagram presence. So Krista hands over the mic to Lily for this conversation. Alex Elle has a beloved presence on Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/alex_elle/?hl=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@alex_elle</a>. She <a href="http://www.alexelle.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">teaches workshops</a> on “writing to heal,” and hosts the podcast “hey, girl.” Her books include <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/after-the-rain-gentle-reminders-for-healing-courage-and-self-love/9781797200101" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">After the Rain: Gentle Reminders for Healing, Courage, and Self-Love</a>, <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/neon-soul-a-collection-of-poetry-and-prose/9781449484835" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Neon Soul</a>, and <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/in-courage-journal-a-daily-practice-for-self-discovery/9781797200118" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">In Courage Journal</a>. <a href="https://onbeing.org/programs/alex-elle-self-care-as-generational-healing/#transcript" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Find the transcript</a> for this show at <a href="https://onbeing.org/programs/alex-elle-self-care-as-generational-healing/#transcript" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">onbeing.org</a>.

Alex Elle — Self-Care as Generational Healing

It's also about how far-reaching being cared for internally is to our external communities. The better you look after yourself, the better you can look after others. If you don't fill your tank with self care, you'll eventually end up with nothing to give to others.

Self care isn't just about yourself.

We don't ever stop raising ourselves, or parenting ourselves. And the better and more you do that for others, the better you can do this for yourself.

By learning to raise others, whether as a parent or mentor, you learn to better raise yourself.

We need to look at ourselves and still say "I love you anyway", in order to open up the door of compassion towards other people. You can't love yourself, you learn to love yourself first.

You can't seeing other people genuinely until you to forgive yourself.

Can you think of a situation where self care means giving more to your community?

"The Sun will rise and set regardless. What we choose to do with the light while it's here is up to us. Journey wisely."

A Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science at Yale University. He's also the author of Connected: How Your Friends' Friends' Friends Affect Everything You Feel, Think, and Do and Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society.

How goodness outweighs the negatives

How death is a process of letting go

How social contagion effects free will

Nicholas Christakis

Elemental human capacities like friendship and love, teaching and learning, have tremendous, constant, practical force. We don’t think of these in terms of what has given our species the grit to endure through hard times and even evolve in the long run. They’re lived social intelligence, part of the everyday, and so can be hard to see as serious amidst the high tumult of our age. But these kinds of human qualities are what sociologist Nicholas Christakis studies from his Human Nature Lab at Yale and his life generously lived. He offers a wide lens, a broad perspective, that deepens and refreshes.Nicholas Christakis is the Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science at Yale University, where he’s also the director of the Human Nature Lab and co-director of the Institute for Network Science. He’s the author of Connected: How Your Friends’ Friends’ Friends Affect Everything You Feel, Think, and Do and Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society. In October 2020, he published Apollo's Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live.Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.This show originally aired on March 5, 2020.

Elemental human capacities like friendship and love, teaching and learning, have tremendous, constant, practical force. We don’t think of these in terms of what has given our species the grit to endure through hard times and even evolve in the long run. They’re lived social intelligence, part of the everyday, and so can be hard to see as serious amidst the high tumult of our age. But these kinds of human qualities are what sociologist Nicholas Christakis studies from his Human Nature Lab at Yale and his life generously lived. He offers a wide lens, a broad perspective, that deepens and refreshes.Nicholas Christakis is the Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science at Yale University, where he’s also the director of the Human Nature Lab and co-director of the Institute for Network Science. He’s the author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Connected-Surprising-Networks-Friends-Everything/dp/0316036137" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Connected: How Your Friends’ Friends’ Friends Affect Everything You Feel, Think, and Do</a> and <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/blueprint-the-evolutionary-origins-of-a-good-society/9780316230049" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society</a>. In October 2020, he published <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/apollo-s-arrow-the-profound-and-enduring-impact-of-coronavirus-on-the-way-we-live/9780316628211" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Apollo's Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live</a>.Find the transcript for this show at <a href="https://onbeing.org/programs/nicholas-christakis-how-were-wired-for-goodness/#transcript" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">onbeing.org</a>.This show originally aired on March 5, 2020.

Nicholas Christakis — How We’re Wired for Goodness

One of the metaphors to think about this is that we're deluded into thinking that our cultural forces and differences are so big and important, that it's like standing on a 10,000-foot plateau and noticing that one hill is 300 feet, and one hill is 900 feet, and becoming obsessed that what is it that explains the difference between these two hills. But if you step off the plateau, you see that actually those are two mountains, one of which is 10,300 feet and the other of which is 10,900 feet. And the forces you were previously focusing on, from erosion or human impact are actually trivial in comparison to the plate tectonic and volcanic forces that caused these huge mountains in the first place, which is human nature.

Love, friendship, and violence have been influenced by culture and technology, but they were also around thousands of years ago, before any culture & technology.

We cooperate with each other, altruistically, we're kind to unrelated individuals. We form bonds with those we have sex with, we create friendships with unrelated people. But above all else, we set out to teach each other things. All of these things are incredibly rare in the rest of the animal kingdom, but for most of us, it's universal and innate.

One of the aspects that make humans unique is the ways in which we socialize with others.

It first s with us all having a different-looking face to be able to differentiate between different people. If you don't want someone to fail to feed you, when you're an infant, and feed some other child, or forget that they had sex with you or not remember that you were mean to them and they should avoid you, you need some way to signal this. In order for us to create groups and come together, we first have to go down to the level of individuals, to seeing each person as a unique human being.

Our uniqueness is essential to our socialness. In order to be social, we have to first be individual.

Can you think of something we've had that existed before culture and technology?

"Love and death are things we all experience universally, but in incredibly personal and unique ways."

Best known for his books on landscape, nature, place, people and language, which include The Old Ways, Landmarks, The Lost Words and Underland.

How the root of something often branches off into more

How ice captures memories &amp; funghi are like superheroes

How darkness if a medium of vision - and descent, a movement toward revelation

Robert Macfarlane

There’s dark matter in the cosmos, and inside us, and hidden beneath our feet. Robert Macfarlane is an explorer and linguist of landscape and his book, Underland: A Deep Time Journey, is an odyssey that’s full of surprises — from caves and catacombs under land, under cities, and under forests to the meltwater of Greenland. “Since before we were Homo sapiens,” he writes, “humans have been seeking out spaces of darkness in which to find and make meaning.” Darkness in the natural world and in human life, he suggests, is a medium of vision — and descent, a movement toward revelation.Robert Macfarlane is a Fellow at the University of Cambridge. His books include Mountains of the Mind, The Old Ways, Landmarks, and Underland: A Deep Time Journey. With the artist Jackie Morris, he co-created the book of illustrated poetry, The Lost Words and a follow-up,  The Lost Spells.Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.This show originally aired on November 14, 2019.

There’s dark matter in the cosmos, and inside us, and hidden beneath our feet. Robert Macfarlane is an explorer and linguist of landscape and his book, <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/underland-a-deep-time-journey/9780393242140" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Underland: A Deep Time Journey</a>, is an odyssey that’s full of surprises — from caves and catacombs under land, under cities, and under forests to the meltwater of Greenland. “Since before we were Homo sapiens,” he writes, “humans have been seeking out spaces of darkness in which to find and make meaning.” Darkness in the natural world and in human life, he suggests, is a medium of vision — and descent, a movement toward revelation.Robert Macfarlane is a Fellow at the University of Cambridge. His books include <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/mountains-of-the-mind-adventures-in-reaching-the-summit/9780375714061" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mountains of the Mind,</a> <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/56083/the-old-ways/9780141030586.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Old Ways</a>, <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/landmarks-9780241967874/9780241967874" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Landmarks</a>, and <a href="https://www.underlandbook.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Underland: A Deep Time Journey</a>. With the artist Jackie Morris, he co-created the book of illustrated poetry, <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/293340/the-lost-words/9780241253588.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Lost Words</a> and a follow-up,  <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/the-lost-spells-9781487007799/9781487007799" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Lost Spells</a>.<a href="https://onbeing.org/programs/robert-macfarlane-the-worlds-beneath-our-feet/#transcript" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Find the transcript</a> for this show at <a href="https://onbeing.org/programs/robert-macfarlane-the-worlds-beneath-our-feet/#transcript" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">onbeing.org</a>.This show originally aired on November 14, 2019.

Robert Macfarlane — The Worlds Beneath Our Feet

We can look up and see literally trillions of miles. We can see light coming from stars across the universe, across the galaxy. But we look down, and we can't see beyond the grass or the tarmac. But in much the same way that there's an infinitely complex and fascinating world above us, so too is there below us.

We sometimes forget the world beneath us because we can't see below our toes.

What we do in our time on this Earth, no matter how insignificant, will have a permanent and lasting effect in this world. Every action and person we all touch, has flow on effects, and it is through all this, that the world inevitably evolves.

Go beyond just being a good child or a good parent, ask yourself; 'Are we being good ancestors?'

We as a species, have too long thought of ourselves as a superior species that can draw on the world as an inexhaustible resource. Where in reality, when we take away what nature has to offer, we're taking away much of ourselves &amp; our future.

Our relationship with nature is one of entanglement; where our impact on our environment impacts us.

Can you think of a way you can be a better ancestor?

"Those who travel to mountain-tops are half in love with themselves, and half in love with oblivion."

A professor of creative writing at Princeton University and writer of multiple poems on interplanetary travels, racial issues and more. Michael Kleber-Diggs teaches creative writing through the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop. His debut poem collection, Worldly Things covers topics around community.

The importance of learning about history

Multiple poems on race and the pandemic

What it means to be black

Tracy K. Smith

The pandemic memoirs began almost immediately, and now comes another kind of offering — a searching look at the meaning of the racial catharsis to which the pandemic in some sense gave birth and voice and life. Tracy K. Smith co-edited the stunning book, There’s a Revolution Outside, My Love: Letters from a Crisis, a collection of 40 pieces that span an array of BIPOC voices from Edwidge Danticat to Reginald Dwayne Betts, from Layli Long Soldier to Ross Gay to Julia Alvarez. Tracy and Michael Kleber-Diggs, who also contributed an essay, join Krista for a conversation that is quiet and fierce and wise. They reflect inward and outward, backwards and forwards, from inside the Black experience of this pivotal time to be alive.Tracy K. Smith — is a professor of creative writing at Princeton University and the former Poet Laureate of the United States. Her poetry collections include Life on Mars, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Duende, and Wade in the Water. Her memoir is Ordinary Light. She’s the co-editor of the book, There’s a Revolution Outside, My Love: Letters from a Crisis.Michael Kleber-Diggs — teaches creative writing through the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop and at colleges and high schools in Minnesota. He’s a contributor to the book, There’s a Revolution Outside, My Love: Letters from a Crisis. His debut collection, Worldly Things, has been awarded the 2021 Max Ritvo Poetry Prize.Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.

The pandemic memoirs began almost immediately, and now comes another kind of offering — a searching look at the meaning of the racial catharsis to which the pandemic in some sense gave birth and voice and life. Tracy K. Smith co-edited the stunning book, <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/677424/theres-a-revolution-outside-my-love-by-edited-by-tracy-k-smith-and-john-freeman/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">There’s a Revolution Outside, My Love: Letters from a Crisis</a>, a collection of 40 pieces that span an array of BIPOC voices from Edwidge Danticat to Reginald Dwayne Betts, from Layli Long Soldier to Ross Gay to Julia Alvarez. Tracy and Michael Kleber-Diggs, who also contributed an essay, join Krista for a conversation that is quiet and fierce and wise. They reflect inward and outward, backwards and forwards, from inside the Black experience of this pivotal time to be alive.Tracy K. Smith — is a professor of creative writing at Princeton University and the former Poet Laureate of the United States. Her poetry collections include <a href="https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/life-mars" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Life on Mars</a>, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, <a href="https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/duende" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Duende</a>, and <a href="https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/wade-water" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Wade in the Water</a>. Her memoir is <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/223021/ordinary-light-by-tracy-k--smith/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ordinary Light</a>. She’s the co-editor of the book, <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/677424/theres-a-revolution-outside-my-love-by-edited-by-tracy-k-smith-and-john-freeman/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">There’s a Revolution Outside, My Love: Letters from a Crisis</a>.Michael Kleber-Diggs — teaches creative writing through the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop and at colleges and high schools in Minnesota. He’s a contributor to the book, <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/677424/theres-a-revolution-outside-my-love-by-edited-by-tracy-k-smith-and-john-freeman/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">There’s a Revolution Outside, My Love: Letters from a Crisis</a>. His debut collection, <a href="https://milkweed.org/book/worldly-things" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Worldly Things</a>, has been awarded the 2021 Max Ritvo Poetry Prize.<a href="https://onbeing.org/programs/tracy-k-smith-and-michael-kleber-diggs-history-is-upon-us-its-hand-against-our-back/#transcript" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Find the transcript</a> for this show at <a href="https://onbeing.org/programs/tracy-k-smith-and-michael-kleber-diggs-history-is-upon-us-its-hand-against-our-back/#transcript" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">onbeing.org</a>.

Tracy K. Smith and Michael Kleber-Diggs — ‘History is upon us... its hand against our back.’

A common guidance for Black children from their parents was to conduct themselves in a particular way, dress a particular way, act a particular way, and you'll be received in a particular way. If you dress and speak and act in a "proper" way, people will see your humanity. Those that are privileged enough to not be stereotyped, can have more freedom in how they express themselves. And those that judge others through stereotypes, should open up to not judging a book by it's cover.

The more stereotyped the people around you view you, the harder it is to be fully yourself.

Every generation has problems of their own. But realizing that the problems that we're facing today, are more often than not, significantly easier or better than the problems faced by those that came before us, should humble us. And understanding that these problems are only lesser today than previously, because of the sacrifices of those that came before us, should make us be grateful, even of the problems that we face today.

We can view the responsibilities we have, both as a burden, but also a privilege.

We're often either too focused on what's directly in front of us and we miss part of the bigger picture, of history, and the greater world outside of our own lives. But we also need to make sure that our understanding of the bigger picture assists us in our own present life.

We have to multitask and simultaneously connect with the greater world and history that spans across time as well as be present in the now.

Can you think of responsibilities &amp; problems that you should feel privileged to have?

"Being born Black in an anti-Black country is like being handed a stone at birth, an object you have to carry and can never throw."

An astronomer best known for her work on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence at SETI.

Why the number 2 is so important

How there's only one tribe and we're all Earthlings

The power of art and science fiction in science

Jill Tarter

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence — or SETI — goes beyond hunting for E.T. and habitable planets. Scientists in the field are using telescopes and satellites looking for signs of outright civilizational intelligence. One of the founding pioneers in this search is astronomer Jill Tarter. She is a co-founder of the SETI Institute and was an inspiration for Jodie Foster’s character in the movie Contact, based on the novel by Carl Sagan. To speak with Tarter is to begin to grasp the creative majesty of SETI and what’s relevant now in the ancient question: “Are we alone in the universe?”Jill Tarter — is the co-founder and chair emeritus for SETI Research at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California. She currently serves on the management board for the Allen Telescope Array. She has been awarded two Exceptional Public Service medals from NASA and the Women in Aerospace Lifetime Achievement Award. In April of 2021, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.This show originally aired on February 27, 2020.

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence — or SETI — goes beyond hunting for E.T. and habitable planets. Scientists in the field are using telescopes and satellites looking for signs of outright civilizational intelligence. One of the founding pioneers in this search is astronomer Jill Tarter. She is a co-founder of the SETI Institute and was an inspiration for Jodie Foster’s character in the movie Contact, based on the novel by Carl Sagan. To speak with Tarter is to begin to grasp the creative majesty of SETI and what’s relevant now in the ancient question: “Are we alone in the universe?”Jill Tarter — is the co-founder and chair emeritus for SETI Research at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California. She currently serves on the management board for the Allen Telescope Array. She has been awarded two Exceptional Public Service medals from NASA and the Women in Aerospace Lifetime Achievement Award. In April of 2021, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.Find the transcript for this show at <a href="https://onbeing.org/programs/jill-tarter-it-takes-a-cosmos-to-make-a-human/#transcript" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">onbeing.org</a>.This show originally aired on February 27, 2020.

Jill Tarter — 'It Takes a Cosmos to Make a Human'

Our latest views are almost never the final answer, and more often than not, they can show where our old views were lacking. But just because our old views could've been improved, doesn't mean we were wrong. We can only do our best, with what we know at the time.

In some of our views, there will always be ways to improve them. And in those views, we reserve the right to improve them.

In order for us to be successful and detect evidence of other forms of intelligent life, that technology has to be close to us - not only in space, but also in time. That is, they have to be co-temporal with our technology over the ten-billion-year history of our galaxy. And, statistically, the only way that this is going to happen is if, on average, technological civilizations last a long time - that they have longevity.

Successfully detecting technology from another intelligent lifeform, is a sign that it's possible for us as a species to also have a long future.

To think about the fact that humans have somehow managed to piece together a 13.8 billion-year history of our universe, and how intimately we're connected to those distant times and places - the calcium in our bones, and the iron in the hemoglobin in our blood. This was all cooked up in a massive star that blew itself up billions of years ago. Humans are literally made of stardust and it's taken a cosmos to make a human.

We're the only species on the planet today that can use its senses and tools to understand our cosmic evolution and where we came from.

Can you think of something that you reserve the right to improve?

"We, all of us, are what happens when a primordial mixture of hydrogen and helium evolves for so long that it begins to ask where it came from."

A poet &amp; saxophone musician. She is the incumbent United States Poet Laureate, the first Native American to hold that honor and writes about First Nation history, feminism and social justice.

How we have instructions and a map buried in our hearts when we enter this worl

How her father was 10% body and 90% spiritual

How poetry &amp; living are often the same thing

“Though we have instructions and a map buried in our hearts when we enter this world,” the extraordinary Joy Harjo has written, “nothing quite prepares us for the abrupt shift to the breathing realm.” She is a saxophone player and performer, a visual artist, a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, and the 23rd Poet Lau­re­ate of the Unit­ed States. She opens up with Krista about her life, dreaming as a way of relating to time and place, and the story matrix that connects us all. Joy Harjo — is a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation and the 23rd Poet Lau­re­ate of the Unit­ed States. She is the author of nine books of poet­ry, including An American Sunrise and She Had Some Horses, and a memoir, Crazy Brave. She has also produced several award-winning music albums, including her most recent, I Pray for My Ene­mies. Her new memoir, coming out in September 2021, is called, Poet Warrior.Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.

“Though we have instructions and a map buried in our hearts when we enter this world,” the extraordinary Joy Harjo has written, “nothing quite prepares us for the abrupt shift to the breathing realm.” She is a saxophone player and performer, a visual artist, a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, and the 23rd Poet Lau­re­ate of the Unit­ed States. She opens up with Krista about her life, dreaming as a way of relating to time and place, and the story matrix that connects us all. Joy Harjo — is a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation and the 23rd Poet Lau­re­ate of the Unit­ed States. She is the author of nine books of poet­ry, including An American Sunrise and She Had Some Horses, and a memoir, Crazy Brave. She has also produced several award-winning music albums, including her most recent, I Pray for My Ene­mies. Her new memoir, coming out in September 2021, is called, Poet Warrior.Find the transcript for this show at <a href="https://onbeing.org/programs/joy-harjo-the-whole-of-time/#transcript" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">onbeing.org</a>.

Joy Harjo — The Whole of Time

And this is multiplied by hundreds and thousands of times, where each and every individual has lived a rich and deep life. With some paths &amp; connections that have significant overlap, and others that don't at all.

Whenever we look at houses and storefronts, think about all the different people, their stories and lives within each place.

And because of this, we often don't think or feel any connection to the family members that we haven't shared time with. But we forget that not only does each family member share some of the same genes, but also, who we are shapes our children and those that come after them, and who we are has been shaped by those that come before us. Zooming out and thinking in a time horizon well beyond our lives, can change some of the ways we think about what we want to do in this world.

We often only see and therefore think about those immediately around us.

It's possible to understand the world from studying a leaf. You can comprehend the laws of aerodynamics, mathematics, poetry and biology through the complex beauty of a leaf. But it's also possible to travel the whole globe and learn nothing.

Those who go down the same path, don't always end up at the same place.

Can you think of a time where what you learnt through an experience was different to what someone else learnt?

"All acts of kindness are lights in the war for justice."

A Nobel prize winning psychologist and economist notable for his work on the psychology of judgment, decision-making &amp; behavioural economics.

Why we're not often surprised enough.

How people react to pain in a surprising way.

The two sides of overconfidence

Daniel Kahneman

The classic economic theory embedded in western democracies holds an assumption that human beings will almost always behave rationally in the end and make logical choices that will keep our society balanced on the whole. Daniel Kahneman is the psychologist who won the Nobel Prize in Economics for showing that this is simply not true. There’s something sobering — but also helpfully grounding — in speaking with this brilliant and humane scholar who explains why none of us is an equation that computes. As surely as we breathe, we will contradict ourselves and confound each other.Daniel Kahneman received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002. He’s best known for his book, Thinking, Fast and Slow and is now releasing a new book, Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment, written with Olivier Sibony and Cass R. Sunstein. He’s the Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Princeton University, Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs Emeritus at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, and a fellow of the Center for Rationality at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.This show originally aired on October 5, 2017.

The classic economic theory embedded in western democracies holds an assumption that human beings will almost always behave rationally in the end and make logical choices that will keep our society balanced on the whole. Daniel Kahneman is the psychologist who won the Nobel Prize in Economics for showing that this is simply not true. There’s something sobering — but also helpfully grounding — in speaking with this brilliant and humane scholar who explains why none of us is an equation that computes. As surely as we breathe, we will contradict ourselves and confound each other.Daniel Kahneman received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002. He’s best known for his book, <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/thinking-fast-and-slow/9780374533557" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Thinking, Fast and Slow</a> and is now releasing a new book, <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/noise-a-flaw-in-human-judgment-9780316322270/9780316451406" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment</a>, written with Olivier Sibony and Cass R. Sunstein. He’s the Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Princeton University, Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs Emeritus at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, and a fellow of the Center for Rationality at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.<a href="https://onbeing.org/programs/daniel-kahneman-why-we-contradict-ourselves-and-confound-each-other/#transcript" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Find the transcript</a> for this show at <a href="http://onbeing.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">onbeing.org</a>.This show originally aired on October 5, 2017.

Daniel Kahneman – Why We Contradict Ourselves and Confound Each Other

System One thinking is fast, intuitive, and completely unreflected. It's all the things we do automatically or without thinking; for example, walking, knowing the answer to two plus two, driving a car. System Two is the brain's slower, more deliberative and analytical mode. It doesn't do two plus two, but it picks up 17 times 24. It gets involved in difficult life decisions, in self-control, and sometimes, in checking and correcting intuition. The main thing about System One is that it can't be turned off. The main thing about System Two is that it's lazy. It's very capable of endorsing and rationalizing what our System One thinking is telling us to do and say.

Part of Daniel Kahneman's research is that our brains have two systems of thinking.

The way that the mind works, very frequently, is that we from a decision, or we from a belief, and then the stories that explain it come to our mind. We often take the reasons that people give for their actions and beliefs, and our own reasons for our actions and beliefs, much too seriously. Because even when we destroy the arguments that people raise for their beliefs, it wouldn't change their beliefs. They would just find other arguments.

Conclusions come first, and rationalizations come later.

But on the other hand, you can stop people and ask them to think about their life and to say whether their life is good or bad. That's the well-being of the remembering self. It's an act of memory and construction. Both are important, but more often than not, what people care more about is more closely associated with the remembering self. They want to have good opinions of themselves &amp; a good story about their life.

In one sense, well-being is something that you experience every second of your life. You are happy or not in the moment, and you can recall that continuously. This the well-being of the experiencing self.

Can you think of something where you came to a conclusion first before rationalizing?

"The idea that the future is unpredictable is undermined every day by the ease with which the past is explained."

A filmmaker &amp; co-founder of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. She's also the author of 24/6: Giving up Screens One Day a Week to Get More Time, Creativity, and Connection.

The value of a tech shabbat - one day without technology

How we're ultimately the curator of our brains.

How we need to move our lives and mind off leash.

Krista’s been in a conversation with Tiffany Shlain for several years about her practice of “Tech Shabbat.” For more than a decade, she and her family have taken a rest from screens sundown Friday to sundown Saturday; her book 24/6 is a kind of manual to open the practice to everyone. After a year in which many of us have relied on our devices as our portals to reality — our sole connection to the people and places we love — Krista called Tiffany to talk about how this practice works. Might it be a reset and ritual we could all use?Tiffany Shlain is the founder of the Webby Awards and a co-founder of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. She has directed and co-written more than 30 films. She is the author of 24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week.Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org

Krista’s been in a conversation with Tiffany Shlain for several years about her practice of “Tech Shabbat.” For more than a decade, she and her family have taken a rest from screens sundown Friday to sundown Saturday; her book 24/6 is a kind of manual to open the practice to everyone. After a year in which many of us have relied on our devices as our portals to reality — our sole connection to the people and places we love — Krista called Tiffany to talk about how this practice works. Might it be a reset and ritual we could all use?Tiffany Shlain is the founder of the Webby Awards and a co-founder of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. She has directed and co-written more than 30 films. She is the author of <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/24-6-the-power-of-unplugging-one-day-a-week-9781508296638/9781982116866" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week</a>.<a href="https://onbeing.org/programs/living-the-questions-weve-been-enmeshed-with-our-technologies-tech-shabbat-for-everyone/#transcript" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Find the transcript</a> for this show at <a href="http://onbeing.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">onbeing.org</a>

Living the Questions — We’ve been enmeshed with our technologies. Tech Shabbat for everyone?

We often fill too much of our waking moments with stimulation and input, what we need is time to digest &amp; reflect.

During the pandemic, when we've had to be on our screens 10 times more, the time in which we're off the screens, also becomes 10 times more important.

As much convenience and value there is in being able to connect with people online through video conferences, it simply isn't the same as in person interactions. Small things such as the physical presence, touch and/or eye contact, are things that simply can't be emulated online. So as our world returns to normal, we need to prioritize opportunities for real life interactions, as opposed to default to the convenience of technology.

Nothing replaces real human connection.

To be bored is to be uncomfortable, and it is on the edge of the uncomfortable, that lives the incredible creative world. We have to give ourselves the space to allow for creativity to flourish.

Boredom is the runway of creativity.

Can you think of a time or situation where you could use less technology?

"How we spend our days, is how we spend our lives."

A poet and author on topics covering race, gender and culture. He's also a music critic and podcast host of 'Object of Sound'.

The difference between showing off and showing out

The beauty of musics above and beyond the lyrics

Reading out and discussing his poem 'Forgive me

Hanif Abdurraqib

Hanif Abdurraqib’s writing is filled with lyricism, rhythm, people and precision. In his essays and poetry, he introduces readers to a soundscape of Black performance and Black joy: we hear hip-hop and jazz, we hear Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin and Little Richard. Music and performance of every kind are the source of his fascination, focus and wisdom: what makes people cry, or feel safe, or brave; held in struggle, joy, or love. Hanif is interviewed by our colleague, Pádraig Ó Tuama, a poet himself and the host of On Being Studios’ Poetry Unbound podcast, now in its third season.Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio. His poetry has been published in Muzzle, Vinyl, PEN American, and various other journals. His essays and music criticism have been published in The FADER, Pitchfork, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. His books include, A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance, The Crown Ain’t Worth Much, They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest, and A Fortune for your Disaster. He’s also the host of the podcast, Object of Sound.Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org 

Hanif Abdurraqib’s writing is filled with lyricism, rhythm, people and precision. In his essays and poetry, he introduces readers to a soundscape of Black performance and Black joy: we hear hip-hop and jazz, we hear Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin and Little Richard. Music and performance of every kind are the source of his fascination, focus and wisdom: what makes people cry, or feel safe, or brave; held in struggle, joy, or love. Hanif is interviewed by our colleague, Pádraig Ó Tuama, a poet himself and the host of On Being Studios’ <a href="https://onbeing.org/series/poetry-unbound/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Poetry Unbound</a> podcast, now in its third season.Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio. His poetry has been published in Muzzle, Vinyl, PEN American, and various other journals. His essays and music criticism have been published in The FADER, Pitchfork, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. His books include, <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/a-little-devil-in-america-notes-in-praise-of-black-performance/9781984801197" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance</a>, <a href="https://buttonpoetry.com/product/the-crown-aint-worth-much/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Crown Ain’t Worth Much</a>,<a href="https://twodollarradio.com/products/they-cant-kill-us" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us</a>,<a href="https://utpress.utexas.edu/books/abdurraqib-go-ahead-in-the-rain" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest</a>, and<a href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781947793439" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> A Fortune for your Disaster</a>. He’s also the host of the podcast, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/object-of-sound/id1548596327" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Object of Sound</a>.<a href="https://onbeing.org/programs/hanif-abdurraqib-moments-of-shared-witnessing/#transcript" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Find the transcript</a> for this show at <a href="http://onbeing.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">onbeing.org</a>

Hanif Abdurraqib — Moments of Shared Witnessing

People often want to say, because I know this about you, therefore I can assume that you are a particular person. But in reality, who we are hour by hour, situation by situation differs, we have multiple different selves. To love oneself, is therefore, to love all the different versions of yourself. And to grow oneself, is to understand that different versions of oneself have different ways to improve.

The self too is a collection of individuals.

However, none of us are promised or just given things that will lessen our suffering. So when we do find these tools and opportunities, uplift &amp; appreciate them.

Life can often be filled with different sufferings, but also a great range of tools to help with that suffering.

Mourning should also be about expressing gratitude for the gift of carrying the memory of someone who isn't here anymore, as well as appreciating &amp; moving forward with everything that we learnt from them.

Mourning shouldn't only be about sadness and/or longing for the return of someone.

Can you think of a few different versions of yourself at different times?

"When examining the question of power in situations of conflict, ask; Who decides? Who pays? Who wins?"