Something Understood
Ethical and religious discussion that examines some of the larger questions of life, taking a spiritual theme and exploring it through music, prose and poetry
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Series & Episodes
216 items available
Something Understood
Mark Tully talks to Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad about India's religious and cultural pluralism
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Adjoa Andoh considers how the act of befriending someone in need can change lives.
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Mike Wooldridge reflects on the first hour or so after dawn across the globe.
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Mark Tully considers the spiritual dimensions of exercise and sport.
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Mark Tully looks at the art of parables and fables.
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Just before Lent, Mark Tully asks 'are human beings basically good, or basically bad'?
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Mark Tully considers why we all need second chances.
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Lost and Found: Mark Tully considers the experience of losing and finding.
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Writer Vesna Goldsworthy asks how emigres and exiles find a voice in a foreign country.
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A Place Within. With Fergal Keane.
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Katy Radford considers how some people find the resources to survive trauma.
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Madeleine Bunting explores our complex and contradictory relationship with the wild.
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Mark Tully considers claims by scientists that we could be facing a Sixth Extinction.
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Mark Tully explores how we judge another person's character.
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Mike Wooldridge considers the Sufi tradition - its history, beliefs and practices.
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Fergal Keane discovers that silence means much more than the mere absence of noise.
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Andrew Motion revisits the village where he spent the first nineteen years of his life.
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Fergal Keane reflects on the destructive and constructive power of anger.
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Mark Tully asks what triggers our sympathy.
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Mark Tully asks if honesty is always the best policy, and talks to philosopher AC Grayling
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Mark Tully considers the wisdom that comes with age and talks to Sr Pia Buxton CJ.
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Mark Tully asks why are so many of us so angry all the time.
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Mark Tully asks whether ambition can be detrimental to spiritual growth.
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Mark Tully explores the meaning of dignity.
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Mark Tully reflects on reasons behind the current raft of films with apocalyptic themes.
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Mark Tully talks to Desmond Tutu, former Archbishop of Cape Town and Nobel Peace Laureate.
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Mark Tully explores how the way we live our lives reveals our most powerful beliefs.
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Mark Tully draws on the ancient prayer tradition of the Examen to look back on the year.
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Mark Tully considers the impact of our mental attitude on situations, events and objects.
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Jane Ray reflects on moments and chance encounters which can prove to be life changing.
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Mike Wooldridge considers the questions raised by the expansion of the digital world.
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On Mothering Sunday, Fergal Keane considers some of the aspects of being a good mother.
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Rabbi Julia Neuberger explores the symbolism of candles at this time of year.
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Poet laureate Andrew Motion considers perceptions of birth.
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Mark Tully wonders why so many people now talk about The Universe rather than God.
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Mark Tully explores how the circumstances of our birth affect the course of our lives.
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The power of the breath as the source of our physical, mental and spiritual health.
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Writer Christie Dickason considers the physical and metaphorical significance of bridges.
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Mark Tully examines the relationship between buyer and seller.
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Mark Tully explores the notion of a cantus firmus, the enduring melody of a life.
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Storyteller Pamela Marre reflects on the invisible power of the wind.
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Mark Tully investigates the danger and usefulness of charm, with guest Tony Benn.
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Jonathan Charles considers the innocence of children.
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Mark Tully asks whether committees are good or bad for us.
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Mark Tully celebrates cricket as a symbol of an ideal society.
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Fergal Keane explores the physical and fairytale world created by the forest.
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Mark Tully considers the human experience of longing.
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Mike Wooldridge and Prof Raymond Tallis explore the nature of human perception.
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Mark Tully considers how we deal with enforced downsizing through financial necessity.
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Scholar and priest Teresa Morgan explores some of the many ways in which we see work.
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Food writer Marguerite Patten looks back on a lifetime of love and loss.
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Mark Tully considers where heaven is to be found, in conversation with Jonathan Stedall.
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Jonathan Charles reflects on whether travel really does broaden the mind.
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Mark Tully considers life after downfall, personal, emotional or financial.
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Mark Tully considers life after downfall, personal, emotional or financial.
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Mark Tully considers the qualities that help people survive life's tribulations.
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Enduring Love: Fergal Keane reflects on what makes a lasting relationship.
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Enduring Love: Fergal Keane reflects on what makes a lasting relationship.
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Mark Tully explores the complex relationship between entitlement and rights.
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The journalist Madeleine Bunting reflects on the appeal of gardens and gardening.
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Mike Wooldridge explores the implications of our expanding knowledge of the cosmos.
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Mark Tully reflects on how family relationships and responsibilities change over time.
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Mark Tully considers the idea that people rediscover compassion when they abandon fear.
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Writer and broadcaster Irma Kurts reflects on the human obsession with food.
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Nigerian-born Gospel singer Muyiwa Olarewaju tells the story of his search for a father.
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Mark Tully considers great leaders and the source of their power to galvanise the cynical.
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Mike Wooldridge visits the unique Franciscan community at Hilfield in Dorset.
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Mark Tully considers the paradox that controls can create a sense of freedom & creativity.
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Mark Tully considers that, for some, creativity is only possible when control is abandoned
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Mark Tully explores the notion of a gift culture.
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Mark Tully considers our current obsession with success at all costs.
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Mark Tully talks to Abbot Christopher Jamison about his new book on happiness.
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Future Perfect: Mark Tully considers how far it is possible for us to create the future.
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Future Perfect: Mark Tully considers how far it is possible for us to create the future.
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Mark Tully explores the nature of genius.
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Tom Robinson reflects on the benediction God Be In My Head.
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Mark Tully asks whether we have lost the culture of civility.
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Mark Tully asks if happiness can be taught.
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Mark Tully and Prof Michael Northcott discuss food production and consumption.
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Mark Tully explores homesickness, a yearning more complex than nostalgia for homeland.
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For Palm Sunday, Mark Tully explores the deeper spiritual meaning of hospitality.
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Broadcaster Anita Rani explores the significance of being lost, physically and spiritually
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Mark Tully considers how we balance our need for privacy with responsibilities to others.
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Mark Tully considers blessings - what do we wish for other people and why?
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Felicity Finch reflects on those moments when we feel more truly alive than seems possible
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Rosemary Hartill wonders why we all seem to be in a perpetual hurry.
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Judith French reflects on usury.
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Mark Tully considers many people's new-found reliance on 'sat nav'.
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Tom Robinson reflects upon our yearning to be rescued.
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Irma Kurtz reflects on laughter and its importance to spiritual wellbeing.
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Mike Wooldridge considers what happens to our memory when we lose our first-hand witnesses
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Limbo: Mark Tully considers the state of limbo, where time can seem to stand still.
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Violinist Ruth Waterman reflects on the art of listening.
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Writer and performer Judith French considers the ways of children and angels.
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Mark Tully examines the skill of Living in the Mind, with readings from Lawrence and Keats
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Mark Tully is joined by environmental campaigner Jonathon Porritt.
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Mark Tully discusses our longing for the sea and its connection with spiritual belief.
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Mike Wooldridge considers the growing role of international mediators in brokering peace.
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Mark Tully wonders why habits of thrift have been lost in a generation.
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Mark Tully reflects on reflections - in mirrors, photographs, film and art.
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Mark Tully explores the complexities of our relationship with money.
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Madeleine Bunting explores the delights, dilemmas and dangers of modern parenting.
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Mark Tully explores the physical and emotional upheaval of moving home.
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Mark Tully considers the link between mysticism and resistance.
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Exploring the difference between scientific and mythological understandings of the world.
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Why are we so obsessed with naming and shaming and why is the fear of shame so powerful?
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Madeleine Bunting explores our relationship with water - practical, cultural and spiritual
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Mark Tully considers our responses to beauty.
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Melissa Viney reflects on the physical and spiritual benefits of walking.
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Mark Tully considers the potentially subversive nature of walking.
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Mark Tully celebrates what the novelist Marilynne Robinson has called 'the dear ordinary'.
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Mark Tully explores the special character of Indian democracy.
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The writer and broadcaster Irma Kurtz considers the complexity of dreams and dreaming.
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Satish Kumar explores the difference between a tourist and a pilgrim.
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Mark Tully contemplates our need for security, and the places of safety we yearn for.
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Katy Radford considers how individuals and societies relate to their own reflections.
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Mark Tully asks how our deep need for rituals and rites of passage is being expressed.
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Mark Tully enters the current debate about the nature of religion. Is religion dangerous?
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Dr Rowan Williams talks about the influential Trappist monk and activist Thomas Merton.
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Mark Tully talks to Simon Small about the importance of the lost art of contemplation.
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Mike Wooldridge explores the implications of our increasingly risk-averse attitude to life
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Mark Tully considers the most important gifts that parents can bestow upon their children.
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Mark Tully considers the human need to escape.
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Writer Blake Morrison considers the physical and spiritual isolation of the runner.
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Fergal Keane explores Christmas traditions of giving and receiving.
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Mark Tully explores the psychology of spying and the effects of constant surveillance.
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Mark Tully explores the psychology of spying and the effects of constant surveillance.
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Mark Tully considers Jesus's instruction to his disciples to be both wise and innocent.
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Felicity Finch considers goal-orientated and extemporised lives.
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Mark Tully asks why sleep is so important to our physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing.
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Mark Tully asks whether problems are best solved by the unconscious or by rational thought
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The writer Sarah Cuddon explores the ancient notion of Snakes and Ladders.
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Melissa Viney reflects on different states of solitude.
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Mark Tully explores the experience of an intense spiritual awakening.
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Mark Tully asks if spirituality would be a better starting point for dialogue than faith.
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Canadian broadcaster Chris Brookes reflects on how memories are captured.
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Fergal Keane looks forward to Spring, as a season and a metaphor for better times to come.
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Mark Tully considers the lot of those who don't quite fit in.
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Mark Tully considers the lot of those who don't quite fit in.
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Mark Tully celebrates libraries.
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Mark Tully considers the current concern over identity theft.
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Mark Tully considers the current concern over identity theft.
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Mark Tully considers one of fast-growing social networking activity of scrap-booking.
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Mark Tully considers the significance of traditional nativity stories.
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Classicist Llewelyn Morgan considers the problem of aspiring towards perfection.
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Fergal Keane considers if serenity comes when you trade expectations for acceptance.
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Madeleine Bunting explores the complex experience and language of pain.
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Christie Dickason reflects on that magical world where humans lived as equals with animals
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Mike Wooldridge considers the place of religious art in an increasingly secular age.
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Mike Wooldridge explores the universal principles that underlie all sacred art.
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Writer Sarah Cuddon reflects on her fascination with mountains.
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Mark Tully considers the spiritual inspiration poets and musicians have found in birds.
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Mark Tully talks to Louis de Bernieres about the difference between poetry and prose.
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Mark Tully explores the lure - for some - of bitter cold and deep snow.
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Mark Tully considers bullying - the bully, the bullied and the bystanders.
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Mark Tully considers the relationship between the gravely ill and those who care for them.
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Mark Tully explores former UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold's exhortation.
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Hazhir Teimourian asks if youth, as with spring and summer, is not overrated.
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Radio producer Chris Brookes explores the nature of exchange in our day-to-day lives.
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Felicity Finch reflects on observations of dance-like movement in everyday life.
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Mike Wooldridge explores the decision of the conscientious objector.
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Mike Wooldridge on the life of Mary Ward, who helped to redefine religious life for women.
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Madeleine Bunting explores the traditional desire of communities to create festivals.
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Mark Tully meditates on the realities and contradictions of our relationship with dirt.
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Mike Wooldridge considers the complex relationship between theology and climate change.
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Mark Tully looks at the spiritual, symbolic and personal appeal of horses.
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Mark Tully explores the conflict between loyalty and betrayal.
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US writer and broadcaster Dmae Roberts reflects on the enduring allure of secret places.
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Mark Tully considers the 'lost dimension of depth' in contemporary life.
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Mark Tully tells the remarkable story of the first martyrs of the English Reformation.
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The writer Sarah Cuddon reflects on the idea of the mother figure as a muse.
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Mike Wooldridge considers the nature of belief and asks whether it can be taught.
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Mike Wooldridge considers the nature of belief and asks whether it can be taught.
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Is it true that the contribution of Britain's engineers has gone unrecognised?
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Mark Tully discovers how networking can empower all of us to bring about change.
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Mark Tully considers how we look back on the past.
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Guardian columnist Madeleine Bunting meets Yahya Birt, who converted to Islam as a student
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Mark Tully considers the enduring symbolism and mystical properties of pearls.
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Poet Kenneth Steven reflects on poetry that brings healing to the heart.
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Mark Tully considers the power of a name to shape our sense of self.
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What do self-help manuals really mean when they advise us to 'discover our passion'?
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Mark Tully talks to author Will Hopper about the origins of the Puritan work ethic.
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Mark Tully explores the theme of rescue.
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Mike Wooldridge explores what happens when we choose between different paths in life.
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Mark Tully considers the purpose and scope of science.
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Mike Wooldridge talks to the Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks.
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Judith French considers why almost every culture has a legend of a second coming.
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American radio producers The Kitchen Sisters on their distinctive approach to interviewees
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On Father's Day, Fergal Keane asks how we can instil in our children a sense of values.
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Mike Wooldridge considers 'The Tree of Life', in conversation with Professor Steve Jones.
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Mark Tully explores the relationship between inner and outer violence.
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Mark Tully explores the many-shaded nature of Green.
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Writer Irma Kurtz reflects on the medieval troubadours and how they have evolved.
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Mike Wooldridge explores the meaning of health and well-being.
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Mark Tully explores the meaning of Jesus' words at the Last Supper.
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Classicist Llewelyn Morgan reflects on the importance of fragments of the past.
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Mark Tully explores the difference between changing and adapting.
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The Scottish poet Kenneth Steven reflects on how solitude refreshes the human spirit.
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Llewellyn Morgan explores how attitudes towards tomorrow reflect our fear of the unknown.
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Mark Tully considers the tensions between traditionalists and reformers in all faiths.
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For Pentecost, Mark Tully explores the process of translation.
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Mark Tully on the idea that the human spirit craves for knowledge of the right direction.
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With Mark Tully. Can truth be absolute or is the concept always relative?
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Mark Tully talks to the Archbishop of Canterbury about his understanding of prayer.
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Felicity Finch reflects on the space above us and the heights we strive to reach.
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A programme for Remembrance Sunday on the power of the military band.
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Mike Wooldridge celebrates the role of the volunteer with Glyn Roberts.
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Mark Tully asks why emptiness is regarded as such a high ideal in spiritual teachings.
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Mark Tully asks why emptiness is regarded as such a high ideal in spiritual teachings.
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Mark Tully explores weaving as a metaphor for how we should live our life.
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Mark Tully explores the sacred spaces of Westminster Abbey with the Very Rev Dr John Hall.
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Mark Tully talks to Anthony Seldon, about the loss of trust in public and private life.
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Sarah Cuddon reflects on what draws people into the open sea and the wild water of rivers.
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Pamela Marre looks at how ancient wisdom is passed down through families.
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Mark Tully explores different approaches to the intractable issues in our lives.
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Mark Tully asks if we all have it within us to be heroes.