Spiritual Geography Podcast

Joni Miller, Ph.D.
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Spirituality
  • Updated Weekly

Searching for our unique home in the spiritual/religious universe. Exploring a wide variety of other beliefs along the way. jonimiller.substack.com

  1. 1d ago

    Smoke & Mirrors: Ep 21 Evolving Democracy

    Discerning what’s true has become an important part of citizenship. We talk about misinformation, confusing ballot language, why truth matters even when it hurts “our side,” and how asking questions like “Who benefits?” and “Where did you hear that?” can help us see through the smoke and mirrors. When we can see through the smoke and mirrors, we’re better able to choose the kind of communities and country we want to create, putting our values — and our love — into action. Together. Join us next Friday at 11 am, eastern for our live discussion of Evolving Democracy. Joni Miller, Ph.D., is a writer, researcher, spiritual coach, and speaker who uses her knowledge, education, and love of all things spiritual to help spiritual wanderers find a place they can call home, navigating by the light of Love. www.SpiritualGeography.net Get full access to Spiritual Geography at jonimiller.substack.com/subscribe

  2. 5d ago

    Ep 92: Shouldn’t Patriotism be a Verb?

    What does it mean to love your country? And what does that love ask of us? In this episode of Spiritual Geography, I explore the idea of “cheap patriotism”—patriotism that asks nothing of us—and what jury duty, Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s idea of “cheap grace,” and my own experience have taught me about participation, responsibility, and putting love into action. Maybe patriotism isn’t simply something we are. Maybe it’s something we do. #SpiritualGeography #Patriotism #GrowMoreLove Joni Miller, Ph.D., is a writer, researcher, spiritual coach, and speaker who uses her knowledge, education, and love of all things spiritual to help spiritual wanderers find a place they can call home, navigating by the light of Love. www.SpiritualGeography.net Get full access to Spiritual Geography at jonimiller.substack.com/subscribe

  3. Sep 26

    Polls and Goals: Ep 20 of Evolving Democracy

    The polls may be encouraging, but polls aren’t the future. In our latest Evolving Democracy Live, Christy and I talk about the temptation to keep checking the numbers and asking, “How are we doing?” Maybe there’s a more useful question: What am I doing? We talk about the many ways people are participating in this election, from canvassing and marches to conversations and simply making civic participation visible. The march I’m excited about is happening in my county on the first day of early voting in Maryland. This march is part of Repairers of the Breach 1,000 marches to the polls initiative. Learn more and see if there’s a march in your area here: In our live, we also wander into a bigger conversation about what all that participation is for: accountability, truth, equality under the law, community, and a country that moves closer to living up to its own promises. The polls can tell us something about this particular moment. They can’t tell us what happens next. That part is still being written. And we are among those writing it. Every day. Let’s put love into action. Together. Join us next Friday at 11 am, eastern for our live discussion of Evolving Democracy. Joni Miller, Ph.D., is a writer, researcher, spiritual coach, and speaker who uses her knowledge, education, and love of all things spiritual to help spiritual wanderers find a place they can call home, navigating by the light of Love. www.SpiritualGeography.net Get full access to Spiritual Geography at jonimiller.substack.com/subscribe

  4. Sep 18

    Move the Needle: Ep 19 of Evolving Democracy

    When we think about civic engagement, we often think of voting. If we want to get more involved, we might think of protesting, phone banking, or knocking on doors. But if those activities feel uncomfortable, it might seem like activism just isn’t for you. But what if there are many other ways to make a difference? Today on Evolving Democracy Live, Christy and I talked about how each of us can “move the needle” in ways that feel right for us. We took a civic engagement inventory that shows the different ways people like to contribute, and it listed 95 ways to get involved. You can find the information on The Agentic Substack here: Some options surprised me, like repairing bicycles, doing data entry for a nonprofit, starting a book club, supporting a food bank, or writing a positive review for an organization or local business you care about. The point isn’t that we should always stay in our comfort zones. Growth often means feeling a bit uncomfortable. But there’s a difference between stretching ourselves and picking something that just doesn’t fit, which can make us avoid it altogether. Maybe a better question is: What can I do, as I am now, with my own interests, skills, time, and energy? Creating the world we want isn’t just about Election Day. It happens when we learn more, support organizations doing good work, build relationships in our communities, speak up, help someone, or simply choose kindness when we could have acted differently. We can’t always tell which actions will matter most, or who will be affected, or how far the impact will reach. But none of us has to move the needle alone. We just need to find our part … and put love into action together. Joni Miller, Ph.D., is a writer, researcher, spiritual coach, and speaker who uses her knowledge, education, and love of all things spiritual to help spiritual wanderers find a place they can call home, navigating by the light of Love. www.SpiritualGeography.net Get full access to Spiritual Geography at jonimiller.substack.com/subscribe

  5. Sep 11

    Rumi-Nation: Ep 18 of Evolving Democracy

    In today’s Live, Christy and I talked about how we might turn our rumination regarding the chaos, fear, and uncertainty into Rumi-Nation, using the ageless wisdom of the 13th-century mystic to help move our nation forward. Rumi’s idea that “where there is ruin, there is hope for a treasure” can be our rallying point to create something more loving, expansive, and humane out of the destruction now occurring. Today, on the 25th anniversary of 9/11, we can remember both the horror and the way the country came together afterward. But if we want to help create what comes next, we can’t remain consumed by the chaos. We need to find our center so we can respond from the values we want to bring into the world. Rumi’s invitation to “be a lamp or a lifeboat or a ladder” offers one way to think about how we respond: being a light for others, providing a safe place for someone to land, or helping someone move to a different place. We don’t have to do everything. We can decide what our part is. We can’t control the outcome, but we can each decide: Who do I want to be in this moment? You don’t have to create the whole change. Just create your ripple. Christy may have eclipsed Rumi’s quotes when she spontaneously said, “There’s no ripple if you don’t drop the stone.” People rarely change because of one conversation. We drop pebbles, plant seeds, tell stories, vote, call, protest, talk to neighbors, then release our need to control what happens next. We can each do our part and put our love into action. Together. Join us next Friday at 11 a.m. Eastern on Substack for our next Live. Joni Miller, Ph.D., is a writer, researcher, spiritual coach, and speaker who uses her knowledge, education, and love of all things spiritual to help spiritual wanderers find a place they can call home, navigating by the light of Love. www.SpiritualGeography.net Get full access to Spiritual Geography at jonimiller.substack.com/subscribe

  6. Sep 8

    Feathers, Signs, and What We Choose to Believe

    Were the feathers I found really signs from people I loved who had died? I don’t know. After my brother died, I began having experiences I couldn’t explain. As I read about after-death communication, I learned that many people experience ordinary things — birds, butterflies, pennies, feathers — as signs from people they have lost. Then feathers began showing up for me, too … sometimes in ways that were surprisingly hard to dismiss as coincidence. Over time, though, I realized that trying to prove where the feathers came from might be answering the wrong question. I share some of my many feather stories in this video, along with the two questions I eventually began using when thinking about spiritual beliefs and practices: Is this belief or practice life-giving? And does it harm me or anyone else? I still can’t say for sure whether those feathers were really signs. But they helped me feel connected to people I loved, and they helped me through my grief. Sometimes we don’t have to understand the Mystery to receive what it gives us. Joni Miller, Ph.D., is a writer, researcher, spiritual coach, and speaker who uses her knowledge, education, and love of all things spiritual to help spiritual wanderers find a place they can call home, navigating by the light of Love. www.SpiritualGeography.net Get full access to Spiritual Geography at jonimiller.substack.com/subscribe

  7. Sep 4

    Power Plays: EP 17 of Emerging Democracy

    When we think about power, we tend to look up — to presidents, billionaires, institutions, and the people who seem to be calling the shots. What happens if we look around instead? This week on Emerging Democracy, Christy and I talk about power-over: dominance, hierarchy, othering, and the insistence that everyone conform. But more importantly, we talk about its antidote: power-with. None of us has to do everything. None of us even has to do something enormous. Think of a symphony orchestra. Different instruments have different sounds. Occasionally someone steps forward for a solo, but most of the music comes from people playing their own part alongside everyone else. And therein lies its beauty. Our differences aren’t a weakness. They’re part of our power. Every individual voice. Every action. Every note contributes to the whole. What note is yours to play? Let’s put our love into action. Together. Joni Miller, Ph.D., is a writer, researcher, spiritual coach, and speaker who uses her knowledge, education, and love of all things spiritual to help spiritual wanderers find a place they can call home, navigating by the light of Love. www.SpiritualGeography.net Get full access to Spiritual Geography at jonimiller.substack.com/subscribe

  8. Sep 1

    I Asked Them to Go Away

    After my brother died, I started having experiences I couldn’t explain. Hearing voices. Feeling as if I was communicating with long-dead relatives. After I while I had to draw a line. I said out loud, “This is too much. I don’t know which voice is my own. I need you to go away.” They did. And almost immediately, I wanted them back. What happened next was my journey into other people’s accounts of after-death communication, near-death experiences, and mediumship. Sometimes the accounts varied greatly. Sometimes the author had very specific interpretations about what happens after we die. But beneath all those differences, I kept finding a few common threads: some part of life continues after physical death. Communication is possible. And whatever lies beyond our understanding appears to be characterized by a love more pure than anything I’ve experienced on earth. I didn’t need to have detailed explanations of the afterlife. In fact, I was turned off by someone who thought their explanation was the one correct and true interpretation. How can we ever know all there is to know about Infinity? The Eternal? Yet I could trust what I experienced without pretending I understood it completely. I could listen to other people’s experiences without assuming their explanations had to become mine. And I could leave some of the Mystery as mystery. One of the greatest lessons I took from this is that our understanding is always incomplete. There is always more we don’t know than what we do. Maybe that is part of what spirituality asks of us — not to believe without question or to have all the answers, but to pay attention to what we experience, discern what we believe those experiences mean, and remain humble about how much we still don’t know. Joni Miller, Ph.D., is a writer, researcher, spiritual coach, and speaker who uses her knowledge, education, and love of all things spiritual to help spiritual wanderers find a place they can call home, navigating by the light of Love. www.SpiritualGeography.net Get full access to Spiritual Geography at jonimiller.substack.com/subscribe

See All (132)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Searching for our unique home in the spiritual/religious universe. Exploring a wide variety of other beliefs along the way. jonimiller.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Joni Miller, Ph.D.
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    132
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Joni Miller
  • Show Website
    Spiritual Geography Podcast

You Might Also Like