I describe Kelly Brogan as a “renegade psychiatrist” – someone who abandoned a prestigious career “in the system” to become a critic of pharmaceutical psychiatry and an advocate for holistic therapy. She is also a dear friend and ally whom I appreciate for her courage, creativity, and intellect. We covered a lot of ground in this conversation, medical, philosophical, and spiritual. Some of the main themes were: ending the war on pain, reclaiming personal sovereignty in physical and mental...

This conversation with my good friend Cynthia Jurs was originally recorded for my online course, Living in the Gift. It was a meditative, engaging experience with synchronicities that showed up to support the flow of our stories and connection with one another. Truly, it was a lived experience of gift just to be in her presence and allow meaning to unfold, as I hope you will also sense in listening to this slow, deep, and joyful conversation on ideas that are central to synchronicity and...

Lynne Twist is the author of The Soul of Money and co-founder of the Pachamama Alliance. This conversation weaves together various themes explored in my online course, Living in the Gift: https://charleseisenstein.org/gift

Helena Norberg-Hodge is a revered elder in the movement seeking alternatives to the present course of economic globalism and cultural homogenization. Her film on Ladakh, Ancient Futures, was a major influence on my work. Here we talk about what is drawing so many people back to the local, back to the land, back to place, and back to a culture of belonging.

Brian Swimme is a mathematical cosmologist and philosopher. We went really deep in this conversation: the limits of human knowledge, cosmic evolution, science as a road to the sacred, and other speculations. I loved this fun, humorous, and mind-stretching conversation, and had the feeling that together we reached a place that neither could have reached alone.

Daniel Schmactenberger is a brilliant and innovative technologist and social philosopher. Here he outlines some of the foundations of his worldview as we discuss exponential tech, self-terminating social and technological processes, the future of humanity, the nature of the present crisis, and the necessity of a transition to non-rivalrous systems.

Brock Dolman is the founder of Occidental Arts & Ecology in Northern California, one of the first permaculture education centers in North America. In this conversation Brock displays a tiny fraction of his savant-level knowledge of ecology, water, soil, trees, and how to engage in a healing relationship to our environment. His unorthodox insights, especially relevant in a time of forest fires and extreme weather events, embed scientific reasoning within an ecospiritual aesthetic.

Philip Munyasia is the founder of Otepic, a permaculture/ ecovillage project in Kenya that brings youth from the slums to the land for social and ecological healing. You will Philip's courage, vision, and insight as they shine through in this conversation. He has been for me a key  informant to the question I carry: "What will it take to heal?" You can make donations to Otepic and send out a powerful ROI  (ripple of impact).

Orland Bishop is in my eyes a treasure on this earth. In this conversation we talk about the cosmological and geological dimensions of the current evolution of culture and consciousness, along with other topics. Please do avail yourself of the information carried by Orland's words and -- even more -- by his voice.

Judith Schwartz is the author of several books, most recently "Water in Plain Sight." She is a leading advocate of what is coming to be known as "rain for climate" -- a shift in emphasis toward water as the most important substance in understanding and addressing climate change. We talk about water, soil, and plants, trees and cows, dogmatism, veganism and meat, and other topics.

This conversation explores the contentious subject of the mental health system, through the story of patient advocate Laura Delano. Her journey into being institutionalized and recovering sovereignty over her mind and body has larger significance in our society. Her organization, Inner Compass Initiative, supports those who want to wean themselves off medication -- a formidable task not to be taken lightly.

Part 2 of Charles' conversation with Orland Bishop.

Charles Eisenstein in conversation with Orland Bishop

Eivind Skjellum is the creator of Reclaim your Inner Throne, a training program for men. In this conversation we talk about masculine and feminine archetypes, leadership, elderhood, and stories of transformation in this time when the old story of what a man is and how to be one are dissolving.

Severine von Tscharner Fleming is a kind of farming savant and a super-dynamic agent of the revolution in agriculture reuniting us with soil, water, and life. She is the founder of the Agrarian Trust, which connects young farmers with land they otherwise couldn't afford. We talked about the evolution of farming, its planetary healing potential, issues of ownership and the commons, and how to bridge our ideals and best practices to present-day economic realities.

This conversation with the amazing Gigi Coyle was recorded with a small live audience on a houseboat, where Gigi was recovering from knee surgery. Gigi is a source of valuable wisdom for activists and change agents today; a veteran of 1970's feminist and environmental movements, she has turned to deeper levels of activism. We connected on topics of ritual, surrender to a path, the importance of water, community, ambivalence and paradox, living our songlines, myth as a conveyor of truth, and...

In this episode, Charles talks with author, podcaster, and life-long seeker Joanna Harcourt-Smith.

This is a conversation with the political thinker and activist Helena Norberg-Hodge. She had a huge radicalizing influence on my political thinking through her film Ancient Futures. By "radical" I don't mean the usual leftist politics. Helena is a tireless advocate for re-localization, the reclaiming of the commons, and the importance of direct participation in community. She is deeply insightful in linking these to global issues. Having spent decades in Ladakh, she is also one of the first...

Satish Kumar is, in the truest sense of the word, an elder in the peace and ecology movement. To me personally, he is one of those deep allies who confirms that the most radical ideas I work with are not in fact crazy. It was my honor to weave this tapestry of conversation with him. We spoke about gift culture and the natural order; value, values, and the standardization of everything; the perils of over-reliance on metrics; speaking to power and preaching to the converted; gratitude and...

Martin Shaw is a mythologist and storyteller from the area of Devon, England. He and I share a deep appreciation for the way myth and story shape the world. Martin starts our conversation with a story about Fox Woman Dreaming that is still with me months later, working inside me. We go on to talk about exile, the nature of magic, stories and relationship, decolonizing the imagination, and lots more. It was a really heady and passionate conversation.

This podcast is a public conversation between me and Orland Bishop, recorded in Santos, Brazil. Even though the audio quality isn't perfect, I want to release this recording anyway in hopes of transmitting to you some of what Orland has transmitted to me. He draws from a deep pool of wisdom that is carried not only by his words, but by the voice beneath them. I don't use phrases like "deep pool of wisdom" very often, and in this case it is not a cliche. We talk about gift and relationship;...

Kelly Brogan is a psychiatrist who made a radical break with pharma-centered orthodoxy to pursue holistic approaches to mental health, with extraordinary results. We recorded a conversation that started with psychiatric drugs and visited many perennial topics: working inside versus outside the system; the importance of community, the blunting of consciousness in our society and the power of grief to restore it; and the recovery of our power as agents of planetary change. I hope you enjoy this...

This podcast is a recording of a second conversation between me and Rupert Sheldrake, one of my favorite renegade scientists and the number one target of the defenders of scientific orthodoxy. He hardly needs any introduction, but I'll say he is prolific author and researcher with a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Cambridge University. I see him as an elder or a pioneer in the liberating of science from its metaphysical dogmas of reductionism and mechanistic materialism, and a true practitioner...

St.JamesTalk by Charles Eisenstein

The Fertile Ground of Bewilderment was the title of a speech I gave at St. James Church in London. I'm sharing it with you all because it was such a high-energy event and I ventured into territory I haven't brought into public speaking before.