Ghosts, death and ecstatic states
Arts & Ideas
BBC
4.2 • 598 Ratings
🗓️ 1 November 2024
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
With Day of the Dead, Halloween and All Souls Day being marked in different countries around the world - Shahidha Bari's guests discuss the belief in ghosts and the search for meaning in mysticism. They are:
Dr Chris Harding is a cultural historian of Japan, India and East-West connections and is based at the University of Edinburgh. He is the author of The Japanese and Japan Story.
Dr Hetta Howes is a Senior Lecturer in English Literature at City, University of London and Deputy Programme Director for the BA in English. She is a BBC Radio 3 and 4 New Generation Thinker and the author of a new book “Poet Mystic Widow Wife: The Extraordinary Lives of Medieval Women.”
Simon Critchley is a philosopher and the Hans Jonas Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York, USA. His latest book is On Mysticism: The Experience of Ecstasy.
Dr Iriving Finkel is Assistant Keeper of Ancient Mesopotamian script, languages and cultures in the Department of the Middle East at the British Museum and has published The First Ghosts: A rich history of ancient ghosts and ghost stories
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Can I just say? |
| 0:01.5 | You're about to listen to a BBC podcast. |
| 0:04.0 | It's such a wonderful listen. |
| 0:05.6 | So nice. |
| 0:06.5 | There are loads more like it on BBC sounds. |
| 0:08.8 | Different paces, different heights. |
| 0:10.6 | The roof is buckling. |
| 0:11.9 | Where you can also listen to live sports commentary. |
| 0:14.2 | It's right foot goes for goal. |
| 0:16.7 | And then enjoy even more podcasts full of analysis and reaction to the big stories. |
| 0:21.6 | The stat that is astonishing is they ended with the lowest amount of possession. |
| 0:25.2 | And she's had to live with that. |
| 0:26.8 | So if you love sport, a passion, it's almost like a religion. |
| 0:29.7 | Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:31.7 | Sort of expecting that every week now. |
| 0:35.8 | BBC Sounds, music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:40.2 | Hello, I'm Shahidabari, and this is the Arts and Ideas podcast, The Halloween Special. |
| 0:50.9 | I don't know if you've been following the news recently, but Chancellor Rachel Reeves made a budget announcement this week, and next week it's the American election. |
| 1:00.1 | So has listening to all that made you lose the will to live? |
| 1:03.9 | If yes, then great, because we could do with the living dead for this Halloween edition of Freethinking. |
| 1:10.2 | As ever, we're taking a lateral look at the news, |
| 1:13.0 | and in this case, we're trying to think beyond the orderly formal realms of budgets and |
... |
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