Living the Questions: Can conversation make any difference at a moment like this?

On Being with Krista Tippett

On Being Studios

Sociology, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality, Krista Tippett, Arts, Culture, On Being, Society, Society & Culture, Science, Social Sciences

4.7 • 10.2K Ratings

🗓️ 8 October 2018

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“Conversation is not just about words passing between mouths and ears. It’s about shared life. Listening is about bringing our lives into conversation.” About the Living the Questions series, from Krista Tippett: “I think of a good conversation as an adventure. You create a generous and trustworthy space for it, and prepare hospitably for it, so the other person will feel so welcome and understood that they will put words around something they have never put words around quite that way before. They will give voice to something they didn’t know they knew — and you will be a witness to thinking, revelation, in real time. This is one reason that radio/podcasting is such a magical medium: Everyone who listens joins that room, becomes a witness, the moment they push “play.” They are also there for the revelation. It’s a form of time travel. And if the conversation is edifying (one of my favorite, underused words), we all sync up in some mysterious way across time and space and grow a little together. In recent years, I’ve discovered that I really like being on the other side of a conversation too. Maybe because I’ve experienced that thrill of revelation so many times, I approach someone asking questions of me with great anticipation of what they will draw out of me that I can’t draw out of myself. So, last summer on social media, my colleagues and I asked for questions you’d want to throw at me. We received, and continue to receive, such a bounty.” Find more at onbeing.org/series/living-the-questions/.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello on-being listeners. This is Marie Sambolet, one of the producers here at On-Being Studios,
0:05.7	and I'm back with another installment of Living the Questions.
0:09.1	American news has been really difficult to watch these last couple of weeks,
0:12.9	as we followed the proceedings around Dr. Christine Blasiford and her allegations against judge
0:18.5	Brett Kavanaugh. And it's bringing forth a lot of pain, anger, and frustration in so many of us.
0:25.2	And this is something Christa really heard from you. So she stepped into the studio last week,
0:29.8	to share what's been on her mind right now, about how real conversation might help us at a time
0:34.6	like this, and how real conversation is a relationship that goes deeper than just talking.
0:46.5	It's been really painful for us to witness this very intimate anguish that so many women,
0:54.7	so many people share be surfaced in such a political, unfortunately political, and public way.
1:01.7	And in the midst of all this, last Friday, the day after the hearing, you sent out this tweet,
1:06.8	saying, heart sick at the quote right and the quote left. Politics has become the thinnest of veneers
1:13.9	over human brokenness. The vast majority of us don't want to live this way. It is left to each of us
1:20.4	where we live to start having the conversations we want to be hearing and grow this culture up.
1:26.8	And a lot of people took issue with this idea, wondering whether we should be having
1:32.8	conversations, civil conversations with people who've done things or represent things, or
1:40.3	even people who seem to be supporting, people who've done things or represent things that we find
1:45.7	morally reprehensible. And as one of your followers put it, what middle ground is there between
1:51.9	tyranny and democracy, between rape culture and respect for women? Was there any between slavery and
1:58.1	abolition? Sadly, history seems to show that justice is never given only one. So of course,
2:05.3	Twitter is not an ideal venue for nuanced reflection and conversation on a topic like this.
2:10.4	So tell us what you mean, Christa, when you talk about engaging in conversation and
	...

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