Published by ABC Australia
Soul Search explores contemporary religion and spirituality from the inside out — what we believe, how we express it, and the difference it makes in our lives
Listen on Apple Podcasts54 min
Gardeners have cultivated — or dominated — the natural world for thousands of years. But as any green thumb will tell you, in the garden nature has an opinion about how things will go and you won't always get your way. So, what does your garden say about you? And what does your garden say to you? Guests Georgina Reid is a landscape designer, gardener, writer and former editor of Wonderground — a print and online journal exploring questions of nature, culture and care. Megumi Bennett has been practising bonsai and ikebana for over 5 decades. She is the founder of the Bonsai Society of Sydney inc and is also a member of Ikebana International. Megumi received the bonsai instructors qualification from the Nippon Bonsai Association, Japan in 2008. She is the first overseas person to receive this recognition. Her book is My Journey with Australian Native Fig Trees, Bonsai and Botanical Art (2025). More from Soul Search The surprising role of grass in shaping who we are The science and spirituality of soil Deep ecology and reconnecting with the natural world
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With so much going on in the news and in the world right now, it's easy to feel overwhelmed, and even powerless. But how can the philosophy of a brilliant young Frenchwoman help us navigate through tragedy and troubles? Simone Weil wrestled with the question of how to live a moral life, and she gives us a remarkable vision of how to pay attention.
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Would you say you're a good listener? Listening well to others, and being properly listened to yourself, is the baseline for genuine encounter with each other. There's a vulnerability and intimacy to listening when it's done properly, so how do we do it in a noisy, divided world?
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How are our internal, spiritual lives shaped by the physical structure of our brains? Dr Iain McGilchrist is the author of two big books that have thrown into question our assumptions about knowledge and meaning and even our capacity to perceive the sacred.
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‘The humpback whale is Theresa Ardler’s totem, and she went all the way to Rome to share Indigenous knowledge of the ocean with the Pope.
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The word 'god' can bring many images to mind — perhaps a man with blue complexion and four arms, an old bearded man in the sky, or a woman seated on a lotus throne. Gods and goddesses have been visualised in all kinds of ways, through different times and societies. And when it comes to Hinduism, the deities can take on countless forms.
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Rituals mark moments throughout our lives, big and small. They are also used to draw attention to political injustice and social inequality, to express lament and to reorient the participants in the ritual toward wholeness. What role might rituals play in our lives, and how can rituals be part of the reparative work in our society and politics?
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How do you express your deepest emotions? Over the centuries many have turned to poetry, including the Book of Psalms from the Hebrew Bible. From anguish to ecstasy and anger to joy, how can one collection of poetry cover such a range of emotions and experiences?
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Pope Leo XIV has just published his first encyclical, and it's on artificial intelligence. But for 75 years, people from diverse religious traditions have been thinking about AI and the ethics of AI, including from Buddhist and Protestant perspectives.
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Swami Vivekananda made giant contributions to interfaith dialogue and interpreting Hinduism to the west. So who was Vivekananda, the young swami who impressed America at the end of the 19th century? And why does his legacy matter to young Hindus today?
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Pope Leo is the first Augustinian pontiff and has quickly made headlines speaking out about war an peace — which makes sense, because St Augustine was a major influence on Western understandings of war and when it is morally justified.
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NASA's Earthrise photo sparked an environmental movement, but decades later the environmental crisis has gotten worse, not better. What's missing from how we relate to our common home?
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What's the difference between a pilgrimage and a holiday? Going for Hajj in Mecca is an obvious pilgrimage, but something like going to Graceland for Elvis Week gets a bit tricky. So what does pilgrimage look like today?
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Reporting on what happens at the Vatican means being exposed to the best and worst of the church — and humanity. Colleen Dulle has had a front row seat to the biggest stories in the Catholic world. It's profoundly shaped her Catholic faith and her belief that telling the truth opens a path to healing.
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Does a society lose anything if we lose religion? Niki Harré is a lifelong atheist who wanted to test this. She took a year off from her job as an academic, to the point of setting herself up as a 'secular priest!' What did she uncover?
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Australia's devotion to sports takes on many religious qualities. And in many religious traditions, the physical discipline of the body is one way of working on the soul. So, how do shared activities, like running groups or football clubs, keep us healthy physically, mentally — and spiritually?
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We tend to think of death as constant — unchanging — but when and how we die looks very different today than it did even 100 years ago. So what does it mean to think about your own mortality in the 21st century?
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How might silence and stillness help us meet the challenges of our time? Fr Laurence Freeman is an English Benedictine monk, and one of the most well-known meditation teachers in the world.
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If a neighbour turned up on your doorstep, would you know them by name? In some ways we are more connected than ever before, but knowing and loving your neighbour has become thin in our increasingly individualised society. So how can we build flourishing communities with our neighbours?
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Imagine living life without money — cutting up your credit card, closing up your bank account, and finding new ways to feed and clothe yourself. On Soul Search, we examine what it might look like to step away from the cycle of getting and spending, and towards a gift economy.