Michael Pollan is one of our most revelatory explorers of the interaction between the human and natural worlds — especially the plants with which we have, as he says, co-evolved — from food to caffeine to psychedelics. In this episode of our series, The Future of Hope, Wintering’s Katherine May draws him out on the burgeoning human inquiry and science to which he’s now given himself over — the transformative applications of altered states for healing trauma and depression, for end-of-life care — and the thrilling matter of grasping what consciousness is for. This is an informative, intriguing, utterly uncategorizable conversation.
You may know Katherine May from her On Being conversation with Krista about “wintering” as a season in the natural world — and a recurrent season in every human life. She too operates out of a deep curiosity about the human mind — the remarkable complexity of mental states and well-being — informed in part by her own welcome mid-life diagnosis of autism and her love of cold-water swimming. Her books of fiction and memoir include: Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, The Electricity of Every Living Thing, and Burning Out. She is also the editor of an anthology of essays about motherhood, called The Best, Most Awful Job. Her podcast is The Wintering Sessions.
Michael Pollan is a professor at the University of California Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. His many bestselling books include The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food, How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence, and most recently, This Is Your Mind on Plants.
In 2020, he co-founded the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics.
Katherine May is an author of both fiction and memoir, including: Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, The Electricity of Every Living Thing, and Burning Out. She is also the editor of an anthology of essays about motherhood, called The Best, Most Awful Job. Her podcast is The Wintering Sessions.
Michael Pollan is a professor at the University of California Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. His many bestselling books include The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food, How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence, and most recently, This Is Your Mind on Plants. In 2020, he co-founded the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics.
Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.
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[Unedited] Robin DiAngelo and Resmaa Menakem with Krista Tippett
Kevin Kling — The Losses We Grow Into
Sharon Salzberg — The Healing Is In The Return
[Unedited] Sharon Salzberg with Krista Tippett
Jen Bailey — What We Inherit & What We Send Forth
[Unedited] Jen Bailey with Krista Tippett
Glennon Doyle and Abby Wambach — ‘Courage is the presence of fear, and going anyway.’
[Unedited] Glennon Doyle and Abby Wambach with Krista Tippett
Brian Greene — This Tiny Slice of Eternity
[Unedited] Brian Greene with Krista Tippett – 2021 Conversation
Esther Perel – The Erotic Is an Antidote to Death
[Unedited] Esther Perel with Krista Tippett
Jason Reynolds — Imagination and Fortitude
[Unedited] Jason Reynolds with Krista Tippett
Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows — ‘What a world you’ve got inside you.’
[Unedited] Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows with Krista Tippett
Alex Elle — Self-Care as Generational Healing
[Unedited] Alex Elle with Liliana Maria Percy Ruiz
Nicholas Christakis — How We’re Wired for Goodness
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