How do we discover what brings life and vitality to us? How do we identify and acknowledge the destructive forces within ourselves? Can we approach the complex, ongoing process of discernment with maturity and nuance, avoiding simplistic judgments? And what resources or practices can we trust to guide us through this challenging work?



This week’s conversation is hosted, as always, by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.



Episode Overview

00:00 Introduction and Context of the Conversation

02:57 Our Source for This Week, by Nick Cave

06:05 The Nature of Evil and Human Complexity

08:41 The Inherent Potential for Goodness in Humanity

12:00 The Cosmic Disposition Towards Goodness

14:47 The Duality of Good and Evil in Human Experience

17:45 The Responsibility of Attending to Sorrow

20:46 The Choice to Cultivate Goodness

24:05 The Power of Intentional Living

26:41 The Complexity of Human Relationships

30:01 The Importance of Slowing Down and Reflecting

33:01 Conclusion and Reflection on the Conversation



Woven Into Everything



I am inclined to believe in a form of intelligence within the universe, as I hold that consciousness or ‘intelligence’  exists throughout everything, that it goes all the way down to the fundamental atomic matter of things. This force, woven into everything - both living and non-living - is inherently good. If we choose, we could call this force God. I view this power as a kind of cosmic disposition that grows, understands, and empathises with us - suffers with us, you might say - and that humans are ‘fractal', as Cormac so beautifully puts it, exemplars or metaphors of the melancholic nature of this God-soaked universe.



I believe that evil exists not only within the human heart but also as an external energy separate from us, moving through the world - a nullifying, destructive potency - 'going to and fro in the earth and walking up and down in it’. We can see it, if we choose, all around us. Yet, we can act as the remedy to this existential predicament by directing our efforts towards the world’s flourishing and away from its destruction, in whatever way we can. It is our duty to attend to the sorrow of the universe - the sorrow of God.



Nick Cave

from The Red Hand Files Issue # 342



Photo by NASA on Unsplash





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About Turning Towards Life

Turning Towards Life, a week-by-week conversation inviting us deeply into our lives, is a live 30 minute conversation hosted by Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn of Thirdspace.  Find us on FaceBook to join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Amazon Music and Spotify.



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