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Essays and videos offering insights into the self, relationships, cognition and neuroscience

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Photo of a framed picture with colourful string art overlays, featuring plants in the foreground and other photos around.

videoValues and beliefs

Why a single tree, uprooted in a typhoon, means so much to one man in Hanoi

7 minutes

Photo of a woman meditating by a fire in a dimly lit room with artwork on the walls and others seated in the background.

videoAnthropology

For an Amazonian female shaman, ayahuasca ceremonies are a rite and a business

30 minutes

Photo of a person sitting in a dimly lit church with stained glass windows and sun rays filtering through.

videoSpirituality

Through rituals of prayer, a monk cultivates a quietly radical concept of freedom

4 minutes

Photo of a man in a red shirt praying on a church pew, hands clasped, with a notebook beside him in dim lighting.

essayCognition and intelligence

The power of prayer

Praying is a cognitive practice full of problem-solving resources. You can learn from it even if you don’t want to do it

Eleanor Schille-Hudson

Illustration of a tattooed man from behind looking at a starry sky with trees silhouetted in the foreground.

videoAstronomy

The remarkable innovations inspired by our need to know the night sky

5 minutes

Photo of two young Asian women wearing sunglasses sitting in the back of a pickup truck at an outdoor event with American flags and mountains.

videoMeaning and the good life

A Japanese religious community makes an unlikely home in the mountains of Colorado

9 minutes

Close-up of a person with glasses playing the violin, illuminated by colourful lights in the background.

videoPleasure and pain

The volunteer musicians who perform in the aftermath of violence and tragedy

12 minutes

Old photograph of a girl sleeping in a chair, a ghostly boy kneeling before her, and a ghostly girl standing by a wall with a religious tapestry.

videoTechnology and the self

How the magic of photography brought Victorian England closer to the spirit realm

16 minutes

A person wearing a sun hat and sunglasses, standing in front of a snowy mountain range under a clear blue sky.

videoEarth science and climate

The only man permitted in Bhutan’s sacred mountains chronicles humanity’s impact

22 minutes

A man wearing a knit hat, facing sideways in a misty outdoor setting, with a stack of balanced stones in the background.

videoValues and beliefs

A Zen Buddhist priest voices the deep matters he usually ponders in silence

5 minutes

Two sphinx-like statues foreground an intricate formal garden of geometric hedges and a square pond. In the background are cherry trees in bloom

essayNature and landscape

The mystic art of gardening

In an era of 20th-century suburban sprawl, the great designer Russell Page infused soulful philosophy into his gardens

Caleb Smith

Close-up of tree roots and rocks on a forest floor, covered with moss and surrounded by dense greenery.

videoNature and landscape

Take a serene hike through an ancient forest, inspired by a Miyazaki masterpiece

6 minutes

A Buddha statue sitting on rocks with a burnt-out car and leafless trees in the background, indicating a scene of destruction.

essayPhilosophy of religion

Reckoning with compassion

After an abuse scandal destroyed my Buddhist community, I had to reconsider what it means to live an ethically attuned life

Jessica Locke

A man in a rural setting wraps his hands and prepares for physical work or training, with a focused expression and a rustic tin roof in the background.

videoSports and games

The brutality and beauty of the West African martial art of ‘dambe’

15 minutes

People wearing masks and queuing in a busy airport terminal, with signage for gates and toilets overhead. A monk in an orange robe walks nearby.

essayReligion

Buddhist missionaries

Buddhist monks have mostly escaped the label of proselytisers, but they’ll still spread the word to those who seek them out

Brooke Schedneck

Abstract artwork of a person lying on a vintage couch, with a colourful and patterned background and vivid highlights on the blanket and hair.

videoArt

A mindbending trip that summons the forgotten women of surrealism

17 minutes

Abstract painting with swirling blue tones and a bright yellow centre, resembling a starry night sky. A dark form lies to the left.

videoRituals and celebrations

In a Mongolian wind burial, a body falls on land before getting swept up to the heavens

6 minutes

Close-up of a person holding a sword, focusing intently. The background is dark, highlighting the facial expression and the blade.

videoHistory of technology

A rare glimpse inside a samurai sword workshop, where ritual meets mastery

24 minutes

A man preaches on a street corner beside three onlookers and a dog, one is taking a photo.

essayConsciousness and altered states

Pivotal mental states

Spiritual highs and mental breakdowns are both products of the same evolved brain system granting us the power to transform

Ari Brouwer

Dozens of small boats filled with people row along a busy river, with a densely built cityscape and a pink tower in the background.

essaySpirituality

Where the rivers meet

Pilgrims have long sought in India’s holiest city an antidote to the modern West, but Varanasi is more dream than reality

Manini Sheker

Medieval illustration of two robed figures facing a large eagle with multiple human faces in its feathers.

essayStories and literature

The divine Dante

At 700, Dante’s Divine Comedy is as modern as ever – a lesson in spiritual intelligence that makes us better at being alive

Mark Vernon

A person in an alien mask and hooded cape holding a red and white umbrella in a sunny, rural area with people and vehicles.

videoSubcultures

In a remote town near Area 51, UFO believers and locals contemplate the beyond

12 minutes

Painting of a contemplative figure with flowing hair sitting on a sunflower, against stars, moon and a glowing halo. “Jerusalem” is written in the left corner.

essayStories and literature

The four-fold imagination

William Blake saw angels and ghosts and the Hallelujah sunrise, even on the darkest day. We need to foster his state of mind

Mark Vernon

A crowd raising a large totem pole in front of a church with arched windows while children and adults look on.

videoRituals and celebrations

How a village’s first totem pole ceremony in a century sparked a spiritual awakening

16 minutes