Pico Iyer (bestselling travel writer; author of The Art of Stillness; Leonard Cohen’s close mate) studies the paradox of our desire to go out and explore foreign lands…and our need for stillness, the delicate dance between our outer and inner lives.
Pico has spent 50 years writing about travel for more than 250 publications, but he also spent three decades living in monasteries and 48 years as a friend and travel companion of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. And he concludes a bunch of things we cover off in this beautiful conversation: we move to feel moved; the benefits of global travel outweigh the carbon miles (understanding humanity is more important right now); and paradise is mostly lost. He also shares insights into how Leonard Cohen wrote Hallelujah, arguably the most stunning song ever recorded.
Get hold of Pico’s new book The Half-Known Life: Finding Paradise in a Divided World.
Read more of his work via his website and you can also find Pico on Twitter.
Listen to Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen.
If you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" page
For more such conversations subscribe to my Substack newsletter, it’s where I interact the most!
Get your copy of my book, This One Wild and Precious Life
Let’s connect on Instagram
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP 10, How will a hung Parliament work? Will it be chaos? Tony Windsor sets us straight
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP 9, Who has the best policies for women with Jane Caro and CheekMedia's Kristen Perissinotto
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP 8, How to #voteclimate, with Richie Merzian
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP 7, A dead simple guide to voting (tag and share!)
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP 6, What if Anthony Albanese becomes PM? with Karen Middleton
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP 5, Who *actually* is Scott Morrison? Sean Kelly explains
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP 4, Things have got dodgy, we need an ICAC with teeth, with Mike Seccombe
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP3, So what are these independents about, with Grattan Institute CEO Danielle Wood
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP 2, You’re not imagining it, things have got pretty bad... with Jan Fran and Zara Seidler
THIS WILD ELECTION: Ep 1, I’m doing an election mini-series for everyone who gives a sh*t about where Australia is heading!
SARA NESS: How to “win" difficult conversations
PETE DAVIS: A scientific (and spiritual) case to quit flaking... and commit already!
JASON HICKEL: Degrowth economics! It’s wild, it could save us…
PETER SINGER: How much should you be giving to charity to be a 'good person'?
JOHANN HARI: THIS is why you're finding the world too much
AMY REMEIKIS: Decodes the sexual violence clusterf*** in Parliament House
BRIAN KLASS: Why so many leaders in 2022 are dodgy, awful humans
SISTER HELEN PREJEAN: The radical (!) nun who wrote ‘Dead Man Walking’
BONUS EPISODE 3: Tips and guided meditation for anxiety
BONUS EPISODE 2: How to do a morning routine plus a guided meditation
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
Hamish & Andy
The Howie Games
Motley Fool Money
Just the Gist
The Briefing