Today, my guest is Krista Tippett.
Krista is a Peabody Award-winning broadcaster and New York Times bestselling author. She is the host of On Being, a radio show and podcast distributed to more than 400 stations across the country, a program which often ranks among the top 50 podcasts on iTunes. Krista is the author of several books, including, Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living, published in April, 2016.
In 2014, she was awarded the National Humanities Medal at a special ceremony at the White House, and honored by President Barack Obama for “thoughtfully delving into the mysteries of human existence. On the air and in print, Ms. Tippett avoids easy answers, embracing complexity and inviting people of every background to join her conversation about faith, ethics, and moral wisdom.”
(Share audio using the app below. Share by TWEET some of Krista’s most memorable quotes when you see the blue bird icon.)
Krista writing a prayer, bare bones liturgy, gratitude,
“I don’t know what I mean when I say I pray, but there is something essential and grounding about having this as part of my life.”
[ictt-tweet-inline via=””]Prayer is also an orientation to mystery. My prayer now has very little to do with asking for things. via @kristatippett[/ictt-tweet-inline]
MIN 12:00
Going to Divinity School in the 1990s and the life of the mind and keeping the eyes of a journalist on the world. The important issues of theology and human life were discussions that were missing in public life.
MIN 16:00
Religion, politics, and values
MIN 19:30
The puzzle about human beings and doing “what we ought”, and power, agency, and will and choice, and being people of integrity that need cultivation and our need for each other.
MIN 21:30
We can value that we have the knowledge that we know what’s right and we can learn to get companion for ourselves.
MIN 23:00
Does one need to suffer to become wise?
[ictt-tweet-inline via=””]Suffering is not optional. via @kristatippett[/ictt-tweet-inline]
[ictt-tweet-inline via=””]Suffering offers rich ground for becoming more wise but it can take generations. via @kristatippett[/ictt-tweet-inline]
MIN 24:30
Krista on her own depression and how it deepened her wisdom.
[ictt-tweet-inline via=””]Suffering is seedbed of wisdom but not the only seedbed of wisdom. via @kristatippett[/ictt-tweet-inline]
MIN 26:00
Hefty wisdom and also the kind of wisdom children possess.
MIN 28:00
How have the wisest people you’ve spoken to continued to learn and grow in wisdom?
[ictt-tweet-inline via=””]Wise people find a way to stay soft in the face of what ever life will present next.via @kristatippett[/ictt-tweet-inline]This lessens the suffering.
MIN 30:00
Hope is borne of struggle
A toughness and courage
MIN 32:00
The connection of Empathy and Wisdom and how it’s embodied.
[ictt-tweet-inline via=””]Wisdom is a quality of presence. via @kristatippett[/ictt-tweet-inline]
[ictt-tweet-inline via=””]If we walk through our sufferings and losses desiring to learn from them and to grow and deepen, empathy is a natural effect. via @kristatippett[/ictt-tweet-inline]
MIN 35:00
The most foolish people get all the attention.
As a culture we seem to be growing distance from each other and less empathic–what can be done?
[ictt-tweet-inline via=””]Fear is an empathy killer. via @kristatippett[/ictt-tweet-inline]
We can become paralyzed and think we can’t do anything.
[ictt-tweet-inline via=””]If many of us could take up the calling to be ‘calmers of fear’ and really close to home. via @kristatippett[/ictt-tweet-inline]
[ictt-tweet-inline via=””]We really need to be leaning into the better angels of our nature to stand up to the challenges of the 21st century together in common life.[/ictt-tweet-inline]
MIN 39:00
We are talking about work that is stitching a new fabric of common life that has to start at a very personal level.
Being a non-anxious presence for others
MIN 41:00
We are not taught to be a non anxious presence as powerful people or to be powerful this way and we need more postures in our common spaces; and it won’t feel intuitive.
MIN 43:00
Human drama will remain after the (2016) election and we have to be equipping our selves to reckon with that and be present to that.
MIN 44:00
Krista answering the “so what” question for herself in public life and presence in the world and moving away for being the On Being organizational direction.
My guest is a young man who reflects the mission of this project called Spark My Muse. That mission is to be the spark of light and love I (and we) want to see the world.
If that’s a mission you can support, please spread the word about what’s happening here and contribute a little bit to help me meet the financial burden of keeping this effort going.
Usama Awan is a medical Student at Ohio State and a Ahmadiyya Muslim that escaped religious persecution in his native Pakistan with his family when he was a young boy.
Contact him here: muslimperiscope@gmail.com
On Twitter @MuslimPeriscope
Ahmadiyya muslims are a moderate minority sect in the Muslim world and they believe their messiah came already.
The Messiah of the Ahmadiyya sect was Hazrat Mirza Ghulan Ahmad. He was a teacher and he was not divine.
Ahmadiyya believe in an established Khilafat is not a physical dominion but a dominion of the heart.
The website about his sect of Islam
http://www.alislam.org
2:30
Usama addresses some misconceptions about Islam.
About his wanting to change the perception of Muslims by going live on Periscope to answer questions.
3:40
Usama’s story of leaving Pakistan because of religious persecution.
His sect believes in a Messiah of Muslims (who died in 1908) and this belief makes his sect targets for persecution from other Muslims in the Muslim world.
6:00
Current leader (the Caliph) is Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad and lives in London. He advocates for peace.
8:00
About the belief in Jesus by Muslims.
Three goals of the Muslim Messiah:
1. Revive the teachings of Islam and bring Muslims back to the true teachings of Islam
2. To spread the truth about religion and to get humankind back to its Creator
3. To unite all religions
10:30
Worshipping the one true God and Creator.
Allah means God in Arabic. Arab Christians refer to God is Allah because it is the word for God.
12:00
Some of God’s attributes.
13:00
How names summarize us poorly.
14:00
God as male?
15:00
What Islam is not:
Terrorism is forbidden.
Life is precious, no matter the faith belief of the person.
19:30
Asking Usama, “Do you think most Muslims understand the truth?”
1.6 billion Muslims in the world but most have lost the true teachings of Islam–like a body without a beating heart.
The Muslim Messiah is there to get the heart of Islam to beat again.
20:40
The Quran is (usually) misunderstood. It is written in parables and must not be taken literally in ways that it is commonly.
The Calif (leader) is the ultimate authority on the Islamic teachings and there to resolve disputes.
23:00
What is the same about people is far more than what is different.
23:30
The big curveball question:
Was Mohammad violent and in favor of killing unbelievers?
The wars of Mohammad and were they fought in self-defense?
24:00
How the wars in (pagan/polytheistic) Mecca started around 610 AD.
Mohammad moves to Medina and the faith starts to spread.
27:00
Book by Karen Armstrong the life of Mohammad as a historical figure.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Armstrong
Now, I’d sooner get a defective Nembutal enema then be correct here, butt (sic.) it seems that things have been pretty fishy. (Read: peculiar and fish-centric) Okay, I sort of made the second one up. I probably should have mentioned dead schools of fish or something.
Today, I feel a well….a “disturbance in the force”. Something just isn’t right…ya know? Maybe in the universe. Maybe in the thinking I read reverberating through social media. It’s not just the caffeine talking. I have some very conflicting thoughts and emotions at this point. Something is the matter.
With this talk of the most wanted wealthy, terrorist mastermind being “brought to justice”, I am reminded that human justice (so-called) is focused on retribution and punishment. Those are its first aims. But, must’n we realize there is no justice qua justice at the hands of human beings?
Can this man’s death heal the wounds of those who lost loved ones on 9/11? Never. There has been no score settled. Nothing can repay or compensate for that type of destruction and loss.
Here is where ultimate triumph can only come through the practice of forgiveness. It is the hard stuff, the stuff that happens supernaturally–not through our strength.
Grace trumps our flawed and immature (human) slant on Justice.
Will we ever get justice right?
God cancels our debt. My debt. Yours. Bin Laden’s. God’s work at the cross and ongoing through his people is the working out of this cancelation which does not overlook the evil, but negates it. It pulls its teeth out. It becomes victorious in the most scandalous way (compared to our standards). This way is very unpopular, I might add. Check out the movies. We like revenge and payback. Our movie stars exact it out for us, so we can feel comforted.
So, absorb the important part. The weight and burden of the disparate of goodness and evilness funnels down and is defeated and overcome by sacrifice, and by grace. Christ Jesus’ death on the cross. This is God’s active dealing with evil and human nature gone wrong. In all cases.
I didn’t think I’d feel this way, but all the bin Laden news and stuff has just left me with the creeps. We need help.
What must we change about our view of justice with regards to God’s holiness and mercy? How can we understand and enact justice better, and our active role in meting it out?
Tell me: What are your feelings about the ways of justice, or the recent events concerning Osama bin Laden? Was “justice served”?
And In what ways can grow from this? (And, Yes, I’m fishing for your thoughts.)
29:00