Zachary Ugolnik has for years been charting a new path that refuses the tired and inanimate narrative about the separateness of science and spirituality, reason and religion. In his life we find rich possibility when those old illusory dichotomies are discarded, and from that possibility perhaps new wisdom for creating a society full of care and flourishing, one that embraces our inherent needfulness and borrows from theology, ecology, and the social sciences.

Origins Podcast Website

Flourishing Commons Newsletter

Show Notes:

• locate shared spaces of curiosity across disciplines (11:50)
• Émile Durkheim and collective effervescence (13:45)
• Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University (14:10 and 16:20)
• through lines between religion and social science (13:45)
• Victor and Edith Turner communitas (15:00)
• Simone Weil decreation (18:30)
• re-membering (22:00)
• Zach's book: The Collective Self (18:30)
• Theater of War (24:00)
• Byzantine iconography and perspective (26:00)
• Picasso "Le Taureau" (26:20)
• The Social Science of Caregiving (27:30)
• Flourishing Knowledge Commons (27:45)
• Margaret Levi communities of fate (27:50)
• "Mobilizing in the Interest of Others" by Levi and Ugolnik (30:00)
• Buddhism and interdependence (31:50)
• Collective action problems (34:40)
• flourishing systems (37:30)
• Ilya Prigogine and dissipative structures (39:30)
• Danielle Allen (42:15)
• philanthropy (44:30)
• Strother School of Radical Attention (52:30)
• Andrei Rublev (52:50)
• Daniel Kahneman (53:50)
• Syriac term Iḥidāyā (55:00)
• Lightning Round (57:30):
  • Book: The Way of the Pilgrimand The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches by Matsuo Bashō
  • Passion: travel
  • Heart sing: swimming with my kids
  • Screwed up: eulogy
• Find Zach online:
  • https://zacharyugolnik.com/

Logo artwork by Cristina Gonzalez

Music by swelo on all streaming platforms or @swelomusic on social media

Dr. Jennifer Wiseman gives expression to our cosmos, as a pioneering astrophysicist, an outspoken advocate for science within policy and the public, as well as a person of faith. Her's are sensibilities of a scientist, a theologian, and a human being in awe of the universe, recognizing that these parts of ourselves need not be in opposition but rather in beautiful and enriching conversation.

Origins Podcast Website

Flourishing Commons Newsletter

Show Notes:

• Discovery of comet 114P/Wiseman-Skiff (14:30)
• Maria Mitchell (14:30)
• Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at MIT (15:40)
• Jim Elliot (16:00)
• Needfulness (23:30)
• the 'lone genius' myth of science (26:00)
• the Science of Science (29:40)
• the society of science (30:00)
• "How Prayer Works" by Kaveh Akbar (30:15)
• 'coworkers in the kingdom of culture' W.E.B. Du Bois (35:00)
• The Hubble Space Telescope (37:00)
• Ultra-deep field image (37:00)
• William James and numinous experiences (37:15)
• discovery of exoplanets (43:00)
• "My God, It’s Full of Stars" by Tracy K Smith (43:30)
• what does it mean to flourish? (52:30)
• lightning round (58:30):
  • Book: A Grief Observedby C.S. Lewis & Life, the Universe and Everythingby Douglas Adam
  • Passion: nature and serendipity
  • Heart sing: the bigger picture, being part of a bigger story
    • a sense of awe and wonder and a sense of hope
    • Jane Hirshfield on Origins
  • Screwed up: worrying about different things in different stages of life
• I am a Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter (01:07:00)
• Find Jennifer online:
  • At NASA
  • Wikipedia

Logo artwork by Cristina Gonzalez

Music by swelo on all streaming platforms or @swelomusic on social media

Susan Magsamen makes her life at the frontier: the frontier of neuroscience, of institutional change, of the intersection of art and science. Her's is a life full of wisdom for how to live amongst mystery and befriend complexity.

Origins Podcast Website

Flourishing Commons Newsletter

Show Notes:

• spontaneous "you are my sunshine" (02:00)
• T. S. Eliot (08:00)
• implementation science (08:40)
• therapeutic recreation (11:00)
• Trabian Shorters and asset framing (15:00)
• Daniel Kahneman (16:00)
• neuroplasticity (22:30)
• Howard Gardner and Kurt Fisher and Mind, Brain, and Education Program at Harvard (26:15)
• Karl Alexander (27:30)
• Curiosity Kits (28:30)
• NeuroArts (32:00)
• Gileadby Marilynne Robinson (36:00)
• more than scientific knowledge (38:00)
• "Social Support and the Perception of Geographical Slant" (45:00)
• Resmaa Menakem (46:30)
• NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative (46:40)
• "Cirque du Soleil and the neuroscience of awe" on Vox (47:40)
• Global Watering Hole (51:30)
• Renée Fleming Neuroarts Investigator Awards (52:30)
• Rachel Naomi Remen (56:30)
• Lightning Round (01:03:00)
  • Book: Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
  • Passion: horseback riding
  • Heart sing: grandchildren
  • Screwed up: articulation in these times
• Find Susan online:
  • International Arts + Mind Lab

Logo artwork by Cristina Gonzalez

Music by swelo on all streaming platforms or @swelomusic on social media