videoValues and beliefs
Why a single tree, uprooted in a typhoon, means so much to one man in Hanoi
7 minutes
videoAnthropology
For an Amazonian female shaman, ayahuasca ceremonies are a rite and a business
30 minutes
videoSpirituality
Through rituals of prayer, a monk cultivates a quietly radical concept of freedom
4 minutes
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
videoAstronomy
The remarkable innovations inspired by our need to know the night sky
5 minutes
videoMeaning and the good life
A Japanese religious community makes an unlikely home in the mountains of Colorado
9 minutes
videoPleasure and pain
The volunteer musicians who perform in the aftermath of violence and tragedy
12 minutes
videoTechnology and the self
How the magic of photography brought Victorian England closer to the spirit realm
16 minutes
videoEarth science and climate
The only man permitted in Bhutan’s sacred mountains chronicles humanity’s impact
22 minutes
videoValues and beliefs
A Zen Buddhist priest voices the deep matters he usually ponders in silence
5 minutes
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
videoNature and landscape
Take a serene hike through an ancient forest, inspired by a Miyazaki masterpiece
6 minutes
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
videoSports and games
The brutality and beauty of the West African martial art of ‘dambe’
15 minutes
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
videoArt
A mindbending trip that summons the forgotten women of surrealism
17 minutes
videoRituals and celebrations
In a Mongolian wind burial, a body falls on land before getting swept up to the heavens
6 minutes
videoHistory of technology
A rare glimpse inside a samurai sword workshop, where ritual meets mastery
24 minutes
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
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
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
videoSubcultures
In a remote town near Area 51, UFO believers and locals contemplate the beyond
12 minutes
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
videoRituals and celebrations
How a village’s first totem pole ceremony in a century sparked a spiritual awakening
16 minutes