Time & Other Thieves

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, which originally aired in radio format on April 21st, 2022, I explore some of the ideas presented in the book How To Be Sick , by Toni Bernhard. A long-time meditator and Buddhist practitioner, Bernhard got mysteriously ill on a trip to Paris and remained ill for twenty years and counting. This experience brought her even closer to the Buddha's teachings on s...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, which originally aired in radio format on April 14th, 2022, I explore some of the religious and spiritual concepts that J.D. Salinger dramatizes in his 1961 book, Franny and Zooey , which centers on another book called The Way of a Pilgrim , written in the 1800s by an anonymous Russian peasant who's obsessed with the Jesus Prayer and how to repeat it incessan...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, which originally aired in radio format in two parts on March 31st and April 7th, 2022, I explore some of the ideas presented in the 1957 book, The Divine Milieu , by French Jesuit priest, scientist, paleontologist, theologian, philosopher and teacher, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Topics include but are not limited to: the divinisation of our activities (the things...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, which originally aired in radio format on March 17th, 2022, I celebrate my 40th birthday by reflecting on some of the ideas presented in Kathleen Dowling Singh's book, The Grace in Aging .

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, which originally aired in radio format on March 3rd, 2022, I explore some of the ideas presented in William Styron's 1990 book, Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness . I also talk about Virginia Woolf's experiences with depression, as presented in Hermione Lee's biography of her, and about Francis Weller's perspective on the illness, as present...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, which originally aired in radio format on February 24th, 2022, I explore some of the ideas presented in the book AND the documentary film, "How To Cook Your Life." The book was first published in 1970 by Zen priest and origami Master Kōshō Uchiyama Rōshi; it consists of his translation of and commentary on Dōgen Zenji's 13th century text, the "...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, which originally aired in radio format on February 10th, 2022, I share parts of my conversation with my friend Suni Pillay, who uses the I Ching, or Book of Changes, as a divination tool/oracle on a daily basis and therefore knows a lot about it. Suni will discuss some of the I Ching's history and the myriad reasons for its enduring appeal, especially for tho...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, which originally aired on February 3rd, 2022, I reflect on some of the ideas presented in May Sarton's 1973 book, Journal of a Solitude . Themes discussed  include writing, the artistic lifestyle, love and relationships, aging, suffering, the gifts of Nature, and of course, solitude. Sweet, sweet, precious solitude. But also the difficulties therein.  

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, which originally aired on January 27th, 2022, I share my conversation with Intuitive Eating, body image, and self-trust coach, Naomi Katz. Naomi will explain the 10 principles of Intuitive Eating, the harmful messages of diet culture, and why she is unequivocally against intentional weight loss of any kind. She'll also talk about her own podcast, which she co...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, which originally aired in radio format on January 20th, 2022, I explore some of the ideas presented in Sigmund Freud's 1930 book, Civilization and Its Discontents, including but not limited to: the purpose of human life, the frustration of dealing with other humans, how we tend to cope with that frustration, the role of technology (what Freud called our &quot...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, which originally aired on January 13th, 2022, I share my  conversation with Asheville-based mother, writer, and veterinarian, Cat Ashe. Cat's 5-year-old daughter Hazel was diagnosed with leukemia in December of 2019, and in January of 2017, Cat's infant son James died of Trisomy 18. So she knows her way around grief and hardship, and I was curious to hea...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, which originally aired in radio format on August 19th, 2021, I share my conversation with homesteader, letterpress artist, and musician Sally Anne Morgan. We discuss some of the ideas presented in the book The Good Life , by Scott and Helen Nearing, and some of the insights Sally has gained from her life of gardening and animal husbandry in Alexander, NC. Featurin...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, which originally aired in radio format on December 30th, 2021, I explore some of the ideas presented in the book The Seeking Heart ,  a collection of spiritual letters written in the early 1700's by French Catholic theologian and Archbishop of Cambrai, Francois Fénelon. I translate Fénelon's decidedly Christian way of talking about the benevolent functio...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, which originally aired in radio format on December 23rd, 2021, I share my  conversation with the oh-so-delightful award-winning sociolinguist Walt Wolfram. A long-time professor at NCSU (where I took one of his classes some years ago), Walt was one of the early pioneers in the study of urban African American English through his work in Detroit in 1969. Since the 1...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, which originally aired in radio format on July 22nd, 2021, I share my conversation with Lily Oster, who has a Master's in Divinity from Harvard Divinity School and a PhD in Religious Studies from Emory University, where she wrote her dissertation on nature and the erotic. Linda Hogan's book Dwellings: A Spiritual History of the Living World , and Audre L...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, which originally aired in radio format on September 23rd, 2021, I share my conversation with Ali McGhee, who is a core faculty member at The Enneagram School of Awakening in Asheville, NC. Ali will discuss this wisdom system, model of the human psyche, and typology of nine interconnected personality types and how we can use it to transcend fixation and get back to...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, which originally aired in radio format on December 9th, 2021, I explore some ideas from the book Internal Family Systems Therapy , by Richard C. Schwartz. According to IFS, we all have at least 5-15 different "parts" (subpersonalities) within us. Some are Managers, some are Firefighters, and some are the reason that Managers and Firefighters exist in the...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, which originally aired on December 2nd, 2021, I share my recent conversation with hospice chaplain Laura McBane. Laura will talk about her experiences in the death and dying field, why she chose that work (actually, she didn't), and how her Fourth Way spiritual practice supports her. Though she is a chaplain and went to seminary in NYC (she's currently i...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, which originally aired on November 18th, 2021, I explore some of the ideas presented in Marion Woodman's 1982 book, Addiction to Perfection . How do you feel toward your feminine side? People who identify as male, this question applies to you, too! We all have masculine and feminine principles working within us, but in this society the masculine is running th...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, which originally aired in radio format on November 11th, 2021, I explore some of the ideas presented in Chögyam's Trungpa's 1969 book, Meditation in Action . Trungpa's approach to meditation is about as open and curiosity-driven as they come, and if it doesn't inspire you to get on the cushion, I don't know what will. But then, as the titl...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, which originally aired in radio format on October 14th, 2021, I share my conversation with Asheville-based psychiatric nurse practitioner (and my friend) Leif Johnson. Leif is fascinated by the framework of the Big Five Personality Traits: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. We explore all of these and how understanding them...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, which originally aired in radio format on October 21st, 2021, I talk about some of my favorite ideas from Henry David Thoreau's Walden, a reflection on simple living in natural surroundings. I reflect on what Thoreau has to say about work/labor,   charity/altruism, monuments, newspapers, prejudice, and what it really means to be successful.

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, which originally aired in radio format on October 7th, 2021, I talk about Jack Kerouac's religious life, and how Catholicism and Buddhism, and his attempts to integrate the two, influenced his writing. I’ll be sharing passages from the Master’s thesis of my sister, Emily  Simpson, who tracks Kerouac's spiritual conflict as it’s revealed in the novels Vis...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, which originally aired in radio format on September 30th, 2021, I explore some of the ideas put forth in the "America" section of J. Krishnamurti's 1973 book, The Awakening of Intelligence . What does it mean to really see something, and not just the "image" of that thing? Is there such a thing as a thought that isn't old? What is Kri...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, which originally aired on March 10th, 2022, I share my conversation with Asheville-based psychotherapist Melissa Lopez. Melissa is in training to be a sex therapist, so that's what we're talking about, but in the larger context of the erotic, or Divine Eros, which Melissa broadly defines as "experiencing life through the senses." We discuss ero...