Soul Search ABC listen

How much stuff is too much? It's a question rarely asked here in the 'Lucky Country', but it has become central to the life of Jonathan Cornford, a political economist and theologian exploring new ways of thinking about money and consumption.

Dr Jonathan Cornford is a political economist, historian and theologian. He's also the co-founder of Manna Gum, a ministry in 'good news economics' exploring alternative economic ethics. His most recent book is Ecology and Everyday Economics.

The nature of consciousness is a subject of enormous interest to both science and religion. Modern, secular mindfulness techniques have their foundation in ancient Buddhist thought, but it's only recently that neuroscientists have given serious attention to what actually happens in the brain when we meditate.

Dr Sara Lazar is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and leads the Lazar lab for Meditation Research at Massachusetts General hospital. She is one of the world's leading researchers into the impact of mindfulness techniques on the brain, and has been a yoga and meditation practitioner since 1994.

The Venerable Thubten Dondrub is resident teacher at Buddha House in Adelaide and has been an international teacher with the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition for nearly 50 years.

Keerthik Sasidharan grew up with stories from the great Indian epics. They fired his imagination, and they've stayed with him through all kinds of changes — including moving from India to New York City. Now he is reimagining the Mahābhārata, one of the major Sanskrit epics of ancient India.

Keerthik Sasidharan is an author and essayist based in New York City. His first book is The Dharma Forest, published by Penguin India in 2019.

More info
Read Keerthik Sasidharan's piece in Aeon magazine, The Way of Dharma
Listen to the episode of Soul Search mentioned in this episode, The music of doubt, grief and transformation

Thirty years after the Rwandan genocide, Rwandans are working towards a better future for the country, and each other — including the perpetrators of the violence. Also, an Australian doctor works tirelessly all over Africa to heal women of fistulas — a medical condition related to childbirth that's almost unheard of in wealthy countries.

Emmanuel Kwizera is a Partnership Facilitator with Compassion International and a former sponsor child. He survived the Rwandan genocide at the age of five and has since become a leader of the Rwanda alumni association, with over 10,000 Compassion alumni who support children in poverty. He is also a children's pastor at his Pentecostal church.

Dr Andrew Browning AM is Medical Director at the Barbara May Foundation. His book is A Doctor in Africa: The Australian surgeon changing the lives of women in Africa. He has completed over 8000 free fistula operations all over Africa. He is the nephew of Valerie Browning, who appeared on Soul Search in 2022.

What role does faith play over the course of a lifetime? Three Christian women, each from a different generation, engage in an honest conversation about faith.

How can one nurture the soul? Or seek the divine in times of suffering and violence? These aren't new questions, but as 1.9 billion Muslims approach the peak of Ramadan, we meet a poet and a professor wrestling with these questions. 

Professor Mohamad Abdalla AM is the Founding Director of the Centre for Islamic Thought and Education (CITE) at UniSA. He has over 25 years of experience in the field of Islamic Studies.

Yahia Lababidi.is a writer, poet and aphorist. His forthcoming collection of poems Palestine Wail, is dedicated to his grandmother, who had to flee her home in Jerusalem nearly 80 years ago.

Further information:

"Love that makes devils weep", "Ramadan", "What Tragedy Teaches" ©️ Yahia Lababidi