Humankind on Public Radio

The human survival instinct prods us to outlast afflictions and, if circumstances permit, to reach old age. Nothing, of course, could be more quintessentially natural than aging. Physician Andrew Weil gives his views on healthy longevity in which older people come to accept the challenges and discover the rewards of aging, plus a look at […]

Songwriter Jill Jackson Miller tells the history of the song and how she and her husband composed “Let there be Peace,” and members of a contemporary high school chorus describe the song’s special meaning in the age of terrorism.

Physician Rachel Naomi Remen counsels patients drawing from her own bout with a life-threatening illness.

Although being teased and picked on are typical challenges for kids growing up, the effects can be traumatizing when a child is relentlessly bullied. The most common targets of bullying are young people who are perceived as gay, or who are disabled or overweight. But any kid who is singled out for harassment may feel […]

While Capitol Hill may at times seem like the last place to find contemplative reflection, Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan has emerged as an advocate of daily periods of silence and meditation for personal growth and as a learning tool for schoolchildren.

We remember the late Anthony DeMello with the help of University of London Theologian Michael Barnes as well as recordings of the colorful DeMello during one of his many popular retreats.

New research suggests that people who actively cultivate gratitude in their lives become both more content and physically healthier, but Oakland, California writer Catherine Price wanted to find out for herself.

Counting Martin Luther King Jr. among his disciples, Rev. Howard Thurman stamped his spiritual influence on an entire generation.

Pultizer Prize-winning historian Gordon Wood discusses how the founders of America intended to thwart the ascendance of demagogues in the fledgling democracy they were building.

Chicago dramatist Meade Palidofsky uses theater as a therapeutic tool in her work with juvenile offenders who write and perform plays while incarcerated — and in the process see their lives through a new lens.

The coauthor of “Getting to Yes,” a classic on negotiation, maintains that conflict is inevitable—and sometimes desirable—but that violent confrontation can be much more easily prevented than is commonly believed.

This documentary explores one of the most basic questions facing our democracy: who may participate?

Charlie Starbuck, an affable tax attorney, single-handedly has increased the “canopy” of San Francisco by planting more than 7,500 trees, as part of the movement known as Friends of the Urban Forest.

Have our courts – intended by America’s founders to be an independent arbiter of justice – turned into another political battlefield? Are today’s judges mere “politicians in robes”? This public radio documentary series looks at crucial flashpoints in recent decades. In this divisive climate, will the frequency of 5-4 decisions by the Supreme Court increase, as […]

Have our courts – intended by America’s founders to be an independent arbiter of justice – turned into another political battlefield? Are today’s judges mere “politicians in robes”? This public radio documentary series looks at crucial flashpoints in recent decades. Because federal judges are nominated by the president and confirmed the U.S. Senate, inevitably the process […]