The development of generative AI has opened a lot of questions about who we are as humans. What makes a human, human? What do we value? What does a flourishing future for us all even look like in this new technological age?

Embodying a character in games like Dungeons and Dragons "exercises the empathy muscle" and helps us expand our sense of self — at least according to the Dungeon Master Pastor. Even regular internet use provides ample opportunity to play with who we are and what might be possible.

Volunteers make the world go round! Most people undertake volunteer work at some point in their lives, but some religious traditions particularly emphasise the importance of service to others.

In the wake of the King's visit to Australia, we're once again debating questions that get to the heart of Australian government and identity. These aren't just political questions — they're spiritual too.

It's becoming rare to see a nun or Catholic sister out and about, but our continuing fascination with women religious is reflected in mass media. What's it really like to be a religious sister in the 21st Century?

There's an intangible sense of connection and interrelationship between things that's just as important as the things themselves. Depicting these relationships in art is a perennial challenge, and inspires us to new heights of creativity.

There can be a kind of grief and overwhelm at the violence happening in the world right now. Much of it is distressing — and often it feels like so little can be done on an everyday level. But in the day to day, are there ways we can practise peace, within ourselves, and in our communities?

It's a commonly held belief that play is just for children, but for many adults it's a path to self-awareness and creativity. Play is a joyous way of spending time, and more than that, a way of being fully human and connecting with the divine.

Food is a basic need, but also more than just a way of nourishing the body. The food on our plates and the drinks in our cups tell us all kinds of things about who we are and what we believe.

In post-apartheid South Africa, Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela is asking, when is forgiveness possible, and where does that leave the search for justice? These questions have sent her on what she calls the "reparative quest", seeking answers from people on opposite sides of the atrocity.

What happens when your deepest convictions aren't reflected in the society around you — how do you navigate that gap? Academic Farjana Mahbuba and entrepreneur Mariam Mohammed have been living out this question in their pursuit for gender equality. 

Maps tell us all kinds of things about the places they describe. Growing up in Central Australia, Kim Mahood was fascinated by maps. Now map-making has become a collaborative project for her and a way of honouring the complexities of remote desert life.

Mindfulness has become a big deal in the West — after all, it's been shown to reduce stress. But some practitioners of colour are critiquing how mindfulness has become accommodated to systems of whiteness. Similarly, postcolonial theologians are challenging Christian conceptions of God as a white man, and the consequences that has for our society.

Do you remember the day, in 1990, when Nelson Mandela walked free from a South African prison? On Soul Search, we meet Rabbi Ralph Genende and Pearl Proud, both of whom grew up in apartheid South Africa. They've been in pursuit of healing, and reckoning with racial injustice.

There’s something mystical about the night sky. The field of astronomy can veer pretty close to the big question of the origins of the universe. Staring up at celestial bodies prompts us to wonder about the kind of universe we live in, and who we are in the midst of it.

Australia is often described as one of the most multicultural societies in the world — but as our many cultures and spiritualities slam together, how do we navigate those points of difference to tell a common story?

Join Meredith Lake and Brother Phap Hai on a mindful walk around Mountain Spring Buddhist monastery – a community of mostly Vietnamese monastics in the Plum Village tradition, founded by the late Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh in 2020.

What does it mean to be fully alive? Elizabeth Oldfield has ditched the conventional script of what life can look like — instead choosing to live in what she calls a "micro-monastery".

National NAIDOC Week has its roots in the public theology of William Cooper, but what does it mean to do Christian theology on Aboriginal land?

Over 600,000 Australians visited Japan in 2023, and most of them visited a temple or shrine — even though they wouldn’t normally do that back home. But what's the etiquette when visiting a sacred place, and what do Japanese people think? 

Christians often use the word "ministry" to describe the work of the clergy, but in Aboriginal contexts, its meaning is more expansive. There are hundreds of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples right across these lands now called Australia engaged in ministry work, but much of it is unpaid, and might not fit into non-Indigenous ideas of what ministry looks like.

How do we make and find meaning alongside one another, in community?  We live in a society that's becoming increasingly atomised in all kinds of spheres. But what might it look like if we, instead, paid attention to the social — and spiritual — dimensions of life together? Sharon Hollis and Charissa Suli each have unique life experiences that speak to this question, and they are both prominent leaders of one of Australia's largest faith communities.

What does it mean to live skilfully in a world that's constantly changing? And what wisdom can Chinese philosophy offer to this question? We meet a philosopher and a master calligrapher, who have a go at tackling these big questions.

Today, we're taking a break from all the noise and distraction –  to pay attention to the quality of silence. Why is so precious in so many of the world's spiritual traditions? And where, or how, do we find it? An artist shares her encounter with a transforming silence in Antarctica, and a Quaker shares her habits around seeking silence.