Soul Search ABC listen

Today, we're taking a break from all the noise and distraction –  to pay attention to the quality of silence. Why is so precious in so many of the world's spiritual traditions? And where, or how, do we find it?

An artist shares her encounter with a transforming silence in Antarctica, and a Quaker shares her habits around seeking silence. 

How do you cultivate curiosity? That mindset has propelled Amy-Jill Levine through a lifetime of discovery. She's learned about all kinds of things, but especially about sacred texts, and the people who read them.

Today, Amy-Jill is a distinguished professor of New Testament and Jewish studies. 

When Donna Mulhearn quit her job to go travelling, she found herself on an unusual path. First, to an Irish monastery, then to Baghdad during the Iraq War where she volunteered as a human shield. Later, she would break into a highly secure facility in Australia's Red Centre, all in the name of peace — and her pilgrimage isn't over yet.

Donna Mulhearn is a labyrinth facilitator, pilgrim and storyteller. A former journalist and political advisor, when she discovered a contemplative spirituality it changed her religious outlook and set her on a new journey. She is the author of Ordinary Courage, which tells the story of her time in Iraq as a human shield.

"It's not coming out, but inviting in." For Benjamin Oh, storytelling is an act of courage and hospitality, sharing his multilayered identity: gay, Chinese, Catholic. Benjamin has been an advocate for LGBTIQ+ people inside the Catholic Church and beyond for 20 years.

Benjamin Oh is co-Chair of Equal Voices, a national ecumenical alliance of LGBTIQA+ Christians and allies in Australia. He is also the Chair of Rainbow Catholics Interagency Australia and Convenor of the GLBTIQA+ Interfaith & Intercultural Network (GIIN) and national Convenor of the Asian Australian Alliance.

He is a contributor to Blessed Are Those Who Mourn, a collection of Chinese Tongzhi Catholic's tales and the Amplify Queer Faith portrait collection.

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.