Enjoy this downloadable offering of a seven-part “contemplative / conversational reading” of James Bridle’s book, Ways of Being, first offered by Krista Tippett in The Pause newsletter.

Krista wrote, by way of introduction: 

This book felt to me, as soon as I cracked it open, to be a fitting continuation of the idea of emergence so alive in our world and in my conversations of the last year. James Bridle is both a technologist and an artist. Ways of Being brings together a view of how emergence works in the natural world — but also in the ecosystem of our intelligence, the words we use, the economies that hold (and can break) us. All of this is held with an eye on the technologies we’ve come to live by, and how they could evolve in the direction of human and planetary flourishing.

If you’re so inclined, I warmly invite you to find yourself a copy of Bridle’s book and enter your own adventure of contemplative reading alongside me. Get into conversation with the voice on the page, the world of the life and ideas you’ve entered. When it says something beautiful that you love, stop and write it down. When it sparks a question or memory or idea that speaks to the laboratory of your life, let that flow out of you and onto the page.

What transpired elicited fantastic musings and marginalia from many readers. It is compiled here in a document that turns out to be the size of a chapbook. We offer it as a very deep companion to this episode — or book club fodder? 

And, explore our Spotify playlist of kindred shows, An Ecology of Intelligence, created alongside Krista’s compilation.