logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2016
11m 1s

Mapping Meaning in a Digital Age | Maria...

ON BEING STUDIOS
About this episode

“Critical thinking without hope is cynicism. But hope without critical thinking is naïveté. I try to live in this space between the two.” The creator and editor of Brain Pickings on the pratfalls and promise of knowledge-sharing in the digital age. Find more at onbeing.org/becoming-wise.

Up next
Jul 2019
What did you love? What would you like to hear?
Season two of Becoming Wise is a wrap! We’re so grateful you joined us for these months of reflection and recentering. Before we go away to work on our next season, we’d love to hear from you. What did you love? How can we make the podcast even better? Go to onbeing.org/bwsurvey ... Show More
36s
Jul 2019
Releasing Anger as an Act of Self-Compassion | Sharon Salzberg and Robert Thurman
The last episode of season two. Robert Thurman and Sharon Salzberg are icons of American Buddhism, and they are joyful, longtime friends. They challenge us to reframe our anger by seeing love for our enemies as an act of self-compassion. “It’s very hard to see love as a force, as ... Show More
7m 45s
Jul 2019
Healing Through Story | Desmond Tutu
Archbishop Desmond Tutu is one of our wisest models on the territory of reckoning with past wrongs that infuse and haunt the present. In the 1990s, he helped galvanize South Africa’s peaceful transition to democracy after decades of white supremacy as the law of the land. He tell ... Show More
5m 56s
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2025
The Right Way To Be A Skeptic w/ Tim Urban
This week I sit down with writer and thinker Tim Urban, creator of the blog Wait But Why to talk: political polarization, AI, university campuses and even dating. Tim brings his trademark clarity and curiosity to a conversation that covers the rise of tribal thinking, the challen ... Show More
1h 8m
Jul 2025
Hopeful pessimism
We live in a culture obsessed with hope. We are trained to believe that being hopeful is the key to success. Stay positive. The sun will come out tomorrow. Keep the faith. But maintaining that kind of blind hope is hard. When our hopes are dashed, we often feel defeated. In a wor ... Show More
51m 53s
Apr 2025
24. how to fall down a curiosity rabbit hole & reconnect to your creativity
"creativity is just connecting things," & how living a project based life will save you from the robot-ization of society! Reading mentioned: - ⁠Be More Confusing, Actually⁠- ⁠A Project of One's Own⁠- ⁠Research as a leisure activity⁠- ⁠What does it mean to study independently in ... Show More
31m 59s
Mar 2019
Post, Shoot
What is the relationship between the version of you that lives online and the one that walks around the earth? We think of our online selves as shadow versions of us which we can control. But in this age when facts are malleable, something strange is happening: our online selves ... Show More
50m 3s
Sep 2024
How to Find Hope in a Cynical World
It’s hard to stay hopeful these days. Stanford professor Jamil Zaki has been studying the incredible depth of human kindness for decades, but even he gives in to cynicism when he doubts our ability to be civil and cooperative.  That’s a shame - because shedding cynicism and grasp ... Show More
43m 6s
Nov 2025
749 - What words do you use to talk to yourself?
tail spinning
17m 23s
Mar 2016
39. Maria Popova (Writer, Editor of Brain Pickings) – The Absurdity of Not Writing Poems
"I’m always pulled toward anything that helps me figure out how to live a meaningful and substantive life." – Maria PopovaWhat does real friendship look like? How can something written a thousand years ago help us to navigate our lives in the 21st century? On this week's Think Ag ... Show More
39m 29s
Sep 2024
Find Hope and Banish Cynicism... Coming Sept 9
It's hard to stay hopeful sometimes. Things can look pretty bleak and divided, especially around election time. But if you're losing hope in your fellow humans, stop and listen to the science. Other people are kinder, friendlier and more co-operative than you might think.    Usin ... Show More
4m 3s
Jan 2023
How To Be A Skeptic
There's a lot of information out there these days -- and, unfortunately, a lot of it isn't true. But how can we learn to discern fact from fiction? In today's episode, Ben, Matt and Noel explore the basis of critical thought and skepticism, and how your own brain can conspire aga ... Show More
1h 1m
Nov 2024
3 practices for wisdom and wholeness | Krista Tippett
How do we stand before the pain and promise of the world and keep hope and courage alive? Journalist and podcast host Krista Tippett has spent a career interviewing some of the world's wisest people in search of answers to that question. Listen along as she offers three practices ... Show More
15m 39s