On Being with Krista Tippett

One of the values of science is to make us uncomfortable says Lawrence Krauss. The particle physicist explains why we should all care about dark energy and the Higgs Boson particle. Science literacy matters, and, more importantly, he suggests we should take joy in science -- just as we cultivate enjoyment of arts we may not completely comprehend.

Krista Tippett interviewed Lawrence Krauss on July 13, 2012 at the Chautauqua Institution. Krauss is a cosmologist and theoretical physicist at Arizona State University. He's the author of 'The Physics of Star Trek.' This interview is included in the show "Our Origins and The Weight of Space." Download the mp3 of the produced show at on-being-dot-org.

A reframed, redemptive conversation about same-sex marriage with the subject before the U.S. Supreme Court. Coming to the gay marriage debate from two, predictable opposing directions, David Blankenhorn and Jonathan Rauch both have an equal desire to strengthen the institution of marriage. They're now showing all of us another way forward in grappling with the future of marriage.

An hour with the extraordinary humanity of Congressman John Lewis. The civil rights movement he helped animate was -- as he tells it -- love in action. He opens up the art and the discipline that made nonviolence work then -- and that he offers up for our common life even today.

Krista Tippett interviewed Congressman John Lewis on March 2, 2013. Lewis is a member of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia's 5th District. He's also the author of 'Walking with the Wind' and 'Across That Bridge.' This interview is included in the show "John Lews on the Art and Discipline of Nonviolence." Download the mp3 of the produced show at on-being-dot-org.

Katy Payne is an acoustic biologist with a Quaker sensibility. From the wild coasts of Argentina to the rainforests of Africa, she discovered that humpback whales compose ever-changing songs and that elephants communicate across long distances by infrasound. With Krista Tippett, she reflects on life in this world through her experiences with two of its most exotic creatures.

Katy Payne is an acoustic biologist and founder of the Elephant Listening Project at Cornell University. Krista spoke with her on January 9, 2007, from the studios of American Public Media in St. Paul, Minnesota. She was in a private recording studio in Ithaca, New York. This interview is included in our program "Whale Songs and Elephant Loves." Download an mp3 of the produced show at onbeing.org.

Fairy tales don't only belong to the domain of childhood. Their overt themes are threaded throughout hit TV series like 'Game of Thrones' and 'True Blood,' 'Grimm' and 'Once Upon a Time.' These stories survive, says folklore expert Maria Tatar, by adapting across cultures and history. They are carriers of the plots we endlessly re-work in the narratives of our lives -- helping us work through things like fear and hope.

Krista Tippett interviewed Maria Tatar on February 14, 2013. Tatar is the John L. Loeb Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures at Harvard University, where she also chairs the Program in Folklore and Mythology. This interview is included in the show "The Great Cauldron of Story: Why Fairy Tales Are for Adults Again." Download the mp3 of the produced show at on-being-dot-org.

Being able-bodied, Kevin Kling says, is always only a temporary condition. Part funny guy, part poet and playwright, part wise man, Kling is known for NPR commentaries in his Minnesota accent that sounds straight out of the movie Fargo. With Krista Tippett, you'll hear his own special angle on life's humor and its ruptures. Born with a partially disabled left arm, in his 40s he then lost the use of his fully functional right one after a motorcycle accident nearly killed him. Take in his wisdom on the losses we're born with, and the losses we grow into -- and why we turn these things into stories.

Krista Tippett interviewed storyteller and humorist Kevin Kling on February 9, 2012. This interview is included in the show "The Losses and the Laughter We Live Into." Download the mp3 of the produced show at on-being-dot-org.

A Jesuit priest famous for his gang intervention programs in Los Angeles, Fr. Greg Boyle makes winsome connections between service and delight, and compassion and awe. He heads Homeboy Industries, which employs former gang members in a constellation of businesses. This is not work of helping, he says, but of finding kinship. The point of Christian service, as he lives it, is about "our common calling to delight in one another."

Fr. Greg Boyle is a Jesuit priest and founder and executive director of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, California. This unedited interview with Thupten Jinpa is included in our show, "The Calling of Delight: Fr. Greg Boyle on Gangs, Service, Kindship." Download the mp3 of the produced show at onbeing.org.

Esoteric teachings on reincarnation and consciousness; simple teachings on compassion and ethics. Geshe Thupten Jinpa is a man who finishes the Dalai Lama's English sentences. Meet this philosopher and former monk, now a husband and father of two daughters, and hear what happens when the ancient tradition embodied in the Dalai Lama meets science and life.

Geshe Thupten Jinpa is a Buddhist philosopher and former monk who, as his English interpreter, can finish the Dalai Lama's sentences. This unedited interview with Thupten Jinpa is included in our show, "Translating the Dalai Lama." Download the mp3 of the produced show at onbeing.org.