Beth Jacobs is a writer and a clinical psychologist in practice in Chicago. She is a lay teacher in the Soto Zen tradition who integrates Buddhist studies and practice into both her clinical work and creative expression. Beth and Polly explore the relationship of early Buddhist psychology to present-day psychotherapy and the development of consciousness individuals. Dr. Jacobs’s expertise on Abhidharma broadens our perspective on the observational powers of the human mind: that humans can train themselves to become aware of the nano-second process of the coming into being of awareness, moment by moment.

Michael Lewis is University Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry, and director of the Institute for the Study of Child Development at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Polly and Michael talk about the developmental role of the self-conscious emotions, those emotions that emerge in humans around 18 months of age. Dr. Lewis’s wide-ranging and influential research on shame is a major part of their conversation, as they come to understand how shame functions in individuals and groups. This is an extraordinary opportunity to learn from a leading researcher how and why the human self forms and grows from an emotional core of interactive patterns between children and caregivers.

Ayo Yetunde is an author, pastoral counselor, and Community Dharma Leader. She and Polly talk about the strengths and weaknesses of a Dharma-based approach to anti-racism. How do justice and compassion work together in anti-racism? Where is the larger Western Dharma community heading in regard to anti-racism? An eye-opening and inspiring conversation on anti-racism, Buddhism, and the nature of identity, this conversation will take you into fresh and challenging terrain.

Ken Wilson is a pastor and the author of several books, including Mystically Wired and A Letter to My Congregation: An Evangelical Pastor’s Path to Embracing Those Who Are Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Into the Company of Jesus. He and Polly talk about what “evangelical” means, lifting the stereotypes of Evangelical Christianity and the future and evolution of the movement.

In this conversation with Arthur Samuelson, the Program Director of the Rowe Conference Center, Polly talks about subjective and objective truth and how/why they relate to the limits or constraints of reality. She also talks about why she developed Pay Attention: Interviews About Truth in Troubling Times and how she chooses guests for this program.

Ken Wilber is an American philosopher and writer on transpersonal psychology and his own integral theory, a systematic philosophy that describes a synthesis of all human knowledge and experience. Polly and Ken talk about the ways in which spiritual awakening (waking up) and adult development (growing up) can be confusingly out of sync so that spiritual and political insights often seem at odds. They also apply the framework of adult development to the problems of the “regressive Left” and the fragmentation of identity politics in our current period.

Mark Matousek is a bestselling author, teacher, and speaker whose work focuses on personal awakening and creative excellence through transformational writing and self-inquiry. He and Polly talk about truth and how it relates to spiritual development, conscience, finding and aligning personal integrity. And finally, hope for the coming era and finding some kind of truth that will allow greater ease and peace among our species.