Part Two
How To Stretch Time
A time-travelling adventure through the glittering awesomeness of deep time.
NOTE: this episode contains discussion around death which some people may find difficult.
In Part Two we learn how to stretch time!
We journey back to the beginning of life on earth, and forward into the far, far future, we learn from Brian Eno himself about why he invented ambient music, and we discover how coming to terms with our own death can transform the way we live.
We dive deeper into indigenous thinking, discover how to look at the world like a geologist, and find out why you might be looking the wrong way when you think about the future … clue: it’s below you!
This second episode is a time-travelling adventure through the glittering awesomeness of deep time - so buckle-up, and get ready to experience The Long Time!
Special thanks to the contributors to this episode, Vincent Ialenti, Brian Eno, Alua Arthur, Kimberely Wade Benzoni, Jay Griffiths, Marcia Bjornerud, Tyson Yunkaporta and Stephan Harding.
Long Time Practice: Death Meditation
A profound meditation that asks listeners to imagine what it’s like to die, in order to bring a deeper appreciation for being alive.
NOTE: this episode contains discussion around death which some people may find difficult.
Written and read by end-of-life specialist, Alua Arthur, this meditation asks us to imagine what it is like to die, in order to bring about a deeper appreciation of being alive. It’s a life-affirming practice that’s best done in its entirety, in a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed. And it’s important to say, that practice isn’t recommended for those experiencing depression or having suicidal thoughts. If this is you, we gently advise not to do this meditation today. Here’s a link to a collection of mental health resources around the world for those feeling, depressed, suicidal or needing emotional support: https://www.headspace.com/mental-health-resources
More about Alua Arthur’s end of life work here.
Long Time Practice: The Well of Deep Time
Travel back through the evolution of our beautiful planet in this deep time practice
Read by Kessonga Giscombe, this immersive and transformative meditation takes listeners back through time, and through the 4.6 billion year evolution of our living Earth. Experience a unique perspective of deep time!
The Well of Deep Time was written by Stephan Harding and Robert Woodford of the Deep Time Walk Project, with thanks to Ella Saltmarshe and Lina Prestwood.
The Well Of Deep Time is available in an illustrated .pdf from The Deep Time Walk Project website, alongside the Deep Time Walk App and other useful resources.
The meditation was composed and sound designed by Casually Here for Scenery Studios. Audio courtesy of The Deep Time Walk Project with additional sound design elements from Jo Hutton.
We’ve designed a set of tools to put the ideas explored in this episode into practice.
SHOW NOTES
Jay Griffiths’s latest book How To Rebel, her book Pip Pip: A Sideways Look At Time and all her other brilliant works are available here.
More about Alua Arthur’s end of life work here.
Vincent Ialenti’s book, Deep Time Reckoning: How Future Thinking Can Help Earth Now is available here.
Marcia Bjornerud’s book, Timefulness: How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World is available here.
Tyson Yunkaporta’s book, Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save The World is available here.
The Deep Time Walk App and Field Kit is available here.
CREDITS
The series was created and produced by Lina Prestwood and Ella Saltmarshe.
Produced by Ivor Manley and Madeleine Finlay with research by Momoe Ikeda-Chelminska.
Executive producers at Headspace Studios are Ash Jones, Leah Sutherland & Morgan Selzer.
Original artwork by Mavi Morais. Design by Loz Ives & Lewis Kay-Thatcher.
Original music, sound design and mixing by Tristan Cassel-Delavois, Scott Sorenson & Chris Murguia.
Track 1/1, Music For Airports (1978) by Brian Eno courtesy of Polydor Records.
Audio courtesy of The Deep Time Walk Project (Sound Design by Jo Hutton, directed by Jeremy Mortimer, performed by actors Chipo Chung and Paul Hilton).
The Long Time Academy comes to you from Headspace Studios and The Long Time Project, and is produced by Scenery Studios.
Meet our guests
Kimberly Wade-Benzoni
Kimberly is a Professor of Management & Organizations and Center of Leadership & Ethics Scholar at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. She is a recognized leading scholar in the area of intergenerational decision making and she has received numerous competitive awards for her research from organizations. She is co-editor of the book, Environment, Ethics, and Behavior: The Psychology of Environmental Valuation and Degradation.
Tyson Yunkaporta
Tyson is an Aboriginal scholar, founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab at Deakin University in Melbourne, and author of Sand Talk. His work focuses on applying Indigenous methods of inquiry to resolve complex issues and explore global crise.
Alua Arthur
Alua is a death doula, recovering attorney, and the founder of Going with Grace, a death doula training and end-of-life planning organization that exists to support people as they answer the question, “What must I do to be at peace with myself so that I may live presently and die gracefully?” Going with Grace works to improve and redefine the end-of-life experience for people rooted in every community using the individual lived experience as the foundation.
Brian Eno
Brian is a musician, producer, visual artist and activist. To date he has released over forty albums of his own music and exhibited extensively. He is a founding member of the Long Now Foundation, a trustee of Client Earth and patron of Videre est Credere. In April 2021, he launched EarthPercent, which raises money from the music industry for some of the most impactful environmental charities working on the climate emergency. His latest album, ‘Film Music 1976 – 2020’ was released in November 2020.
Jay Griffiths
Jay is the author of many books including Wild: An Elemental Journey; Kith: The Riddle of the Childscape; Tristimania and Pip Pip: A Sideways Look at Time. She won the Discover award for the best first-time author in the USA; the inaugural Orion award and the Hay International Fellowship. She has broadcast and written widely, including for Radiohead and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her latest book is Why Rebel. She is a wild skater, whenever the Welsh lakes freeze.
Marcia Bjornerud
Marcia is Professor of Geosciences at Lawrence University in Wisconsin. Her research focuses on the physics of earthquakes and mountain building. She is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America and has been a Fulbright Senior Scholar at the University of Oslo, Norway and University of Otago, New Zealand. A contributing writer to The New Yorker and Wired amongst other ublications, she is also the author of two book for popular audiences, Reading the Rocks: The Autobiography of the Earth, and Timefulness: How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World.
Stephan Harding
Stephen's doctorate at Oxford University was on the behavioural ecology of the muntjac deer. After teaching conservation biology at the National University of Costa Rica, he became a founder member of Schumacher College. Here he met James Lovelock – the originator of the Gaia hypothesis - with whom he has maintained a long-lasting friendship and scientific collaboration that lead to their joint appointment as founding chair holders of the Arne Naess Chair in Global Justice and the Environment at the University of Oslo. Stephan is author of Animate Earth: Science, Intuition and Gaia, which will soon be available in Spanish via Atalanta publishers in Spain. His latest book, Gaia Alchemy, will be published in January 2022.
Vincent Ialenti
Vincent Ialenti is an anthropologist who studies the culture of nuclear waste experts. He is currently a fellow at The Berggruen Institute and The University of Southern California. His recent book, Deep Time Reckoning, explores how Finland’s nuclear waste repository “safety case” experts envisioned distant future worlds and reflected on the limits of knowledge. Alongside his academic publications, Vincent has written for the BBC, NPR, Forbes, Sapiens, and other public outlets.