Down the Rabbit Hole

Fasting appears in many religious and spiritual traditions, but its deeper appeal reaches beyond any single belief system. In this lively panel, Eric Ebersohl, Sam Ellerby, and Tamara Golding explore why people intentionally set aside food, entertainment, speech, comfort, or familiar routines—and why that absence can feel surprisingly full of meaning. First, the panel examines fasting as a way to...

Why do people face a particular direction when they pray, meditate, remember the dead, or enter a sacred space? Eric Ebersohl leads Sam Ellerby and Tamara Golding through the surprisingly rich idea of spiritual orientation. The panel compares practices such as facing the qibla in Islam, turning toward the east in some Christian traditions, aligning temples and shrines with landscapes, and choosing...

A lively panel examines the surprisingly powerful role of repetition in human thought and spiritual practice. Eric, Sam, and Tamara explore why repeating a phrase can steady attention, strengthen memory, create a sense of belonging, or gradually make familiar words feel strange. The conversation moves across everyday examples, religious traditions, meditation, music, and personal routines without...

Why does saying “I promise” feel more powerful than privately intending to do something? In this entertaining panel, Eric Ebersohl, Sam Ellerby, and Tamara Golding examine how spoken promises transform ordinary intentions into meaningful commitments. They explore the social psychology of being witnessed, the role of vows in religious and spiritual traditions, and the small rituals that make a prom...

Why do people keep objects that are broken, outdated, or seemingly useless? In this lively panel, Eric Ebersohl, Sam Ellerby, and Tamara Golding examine the surprising meanings we attach to worn-out possessions. They will explore how objects become containers for memory, how religious and spiritual traditions use relics and ordinary belongings to preserve connection, and why repairing something ca...

This lively panel explores why pilgrimage appears across religions and cultures, while also showing how the same pattern can shape ordinary life. Eric Ebersohl guides Sam Ellerby and Tamara Golding through three questions: how travel turns attention into intention, why effort can make a destination feel more meaningful, and how shared routes create belonging before anyone arrives. The conversation...

Every day, we pass through thresholds without thinking: bedroom doors, classroom entrances, places of worship, gates, and the boundary between private and public life. Yet across cultures, doorways have attracted rituals, symbols, blessings, warnings, and stories about what may enter or leave. In this lively panel, Eric Ebersohl, Sam Ellerby, and Tamara Golding explore why crossing a threshold can...

A song plays with uncanny timing, a familiar name appears twice in one day, or a chance encounter seems to answer a private question. Why do ordinary coincidences sometimes feel charged with meaning? In this lively panel, Eric Ebersohl guides Sam Ellerby and Tamara Golding through three lenses: how attention and memory make patterns stand out, how religious and spiritual traditions interpret meani...

Eric, Sam, and Tamara explore the surprisingly deep meaning of hospitality: the human habit of making room for someone else. The panel begins with an everyday question—why does being welcomed into a home, community, or shared meal often feel emotionally powerful? They then examine three connected ideas: hospitality as a social promise of safety, hospitality as a spiritual or religious practice, an...

Candles are simple objects, yet people light them in temples, homes, ceremonies, vigils, and quiet moments of reflection. This lively panel explores why a small flame can make time feel different and turn an invisible intention into something we can see. Eric guides Sam and Tamara through three accessible angles: the practical history of fire as human technology, the religious and spiritual meanin...

In this lively panel episode, Eric Ebersohl, Sam Ellerby, and Tamara Golding investigate the surprisingly rich meaning of silence. The conversation begins with an everyday mystery: why can a quiet room feel peaceful one moment and uncomfortable the next? From there, the panel explores three angles: silence as a spiritual practice, silence as a form of communication, and silence as a way to sharpen...

Before entering a sacred space, beginning a ritual, or simply facing a new day, humans often wash, wipe, sweep, or rinse. This episode asks why such ordinary actions appear so frequently in religious traditions, household customs, and personal routines. Eric Ebersohl guides Sam Ellerby and Tamara Golding through three angles: purification as a physical safeguard, cleansing as a boundary between on...

This lively panel explores the surprising power of names. Eric Ebersohl guides Sam Ellerby and Tamara Golding through three connected questions: how naming helps humans organize a confusing world, why names carry spiritual and religious weight, and how labels can shape identity, memory, and behavior. The conversation compares everyday acts—naming a pet, describing an emotion, or giving a place a n...

An empty room should feel empty, yet many people have experienced the unmistakable sensation of being watched, accompanied, or approached when no one is visible. In this lively panel, Eric, Sam, and Tamara investigate why humans sense an unseen presence without treating every experience as proof of the supernatural. First, they explore how attention, uncertainty, memory, and environmental clues ca...

What begins as a practical tool for checking our appearance quickly becomes a question about identity: why does a reflection feel both familiar and strangely separate? In this lively panel, Eric, Sam, and Tamara explore the mirror as an everyday object with an unusually rich symbolic life. First, they examine how reflections help us construct a sense of self and recognize change. Next, they compar...

A familiar action can become a ritual through repetition, but why does doing something again and again change how it feels? In this lively panel, Eric, Sam, and Tamara explore the hidden work of repetition across prayer, meditation, music, learning, ceremonies, and everyday routines. They will distinguish habit from ritual without treating either as automatically supernatural, examining how repeti...

Why do people leave home, accept inconvenience, and travel toward a meaningful place when they could simply stay put? In this lively panel, Eric Ebersohl, Sam Ellerby, and Tamara Golding explore pilgrimage as a human practice rather than a single religious tradition. They will compare sacred journeys across faiths, examine how effort and unfamiliar surroundings can sharpen attention, and ask why m...

This lively panel explores the meaning humans have attached to thresholds, doorways, gates, and bridges. Eric guides Sam and Tamara through three connected ideas: thresholds as physical boundaries, as symbols of personal change, and as places where spiritual or ritual attention gathers. The conversation compares everyday moments—entering a home, beginning a journey, graduating, or welcoming a gues...

Dreams can feel like private films, emotional puzzles, spiritual encounters, or completely random nighttime activity. In this lively panel, Eric, Sam, and Tamara explore why people across cultures have treated dreams as meaningful—and why modern listeners still wake up eager to interpret them. First, the panel examines dreams as the mind’s way of sorting memories, feelings, and unfinished question...

From friendship bracelets and wedding handfastings to prayer beads, protective cords, and sailor’s knots, humans repeatedly turn flexible fibers into symbols of connection and intention. In this lively panel, Eric Ebersohl, Sam Ellerby, and Tamara Golding explore why tying something can feel more powerful than merely saying it. They will examine the practical roots of knots, the role of binding im...

Why do people leave flowers at memorials, coins at wells, food at altars, or candles in places of worship? This lively panel examines the human impulse to make offerings—small acts that turn private feelings into visible gestures. Eric Ebersohl guides Sam Ellerby and Tamara Golding through three lenses: offerings as gratitude, offerings as relationship, and offerings as release. The conversation c...

What makes a direction feel like more than a point on a map? In this seven-minute panel, Eric, Sam, and Tamara investigate the human habit of turning movement and orientation into meaning. They begin with the practical world of landmarks, maps, and the relief of knowing where we are. Then they explore how religious and spiritual traditions have connected prayer, pilgrimage, sunrise, sunset, and sa...

A lively seven-minute panel explores the surprising meaning of circles across everyday life, religious traditions, and spiritual practice. Eric opens with a simple question: why do people sit in circles, draw circles, and imagine time as a circle when a straight line might seem more practical? Sam examines the circle as a boundary that can create safety, focus, and shared attention without requiri...

Why can saying someone’s name feel intimate, powerful, or even ceremonial? In this lively seven-minute panel, Eric, Sam, and Tamara investigate the human fascination with names and naming. They begin with the practical power of labels: how naming an emotion, habit, or experience can make it easier to understand. Next, they explore names in religious and spiritual traditions, including sacred names...

What happens when the background noise finally stops? In this entertaining seven-minute panel, Eric, Sam, and Tamara explore why silence has carried spiritual and social meaning across different traditions, from contemplative prayer and meditation to moments of respect and personal reflection. The discussion separates silence as a meaningful practice from silence as mere absence of sound, asking w...