Full Transcript
Wise Talkers, Podcast Trailer, Feb 12, 2024
Hello, I’m Ronald Fel Jones, the host and producer of a new interview podcast called Wise Talkers, launching this month, February 2024. And here, briefly, is what Wise Talkers is all about.
As the name suggests, I’ll be talking to people who have some wisdom to share, and particularly what I’m calling actionable wisdom, wisdom that we can deploy in the real world to help us better understand and engage these turbulent times we’re living through. In fact that’s the official theme of the Wise Talkers podcast – Actionable Wisdom for Turbulent Times.
Now I think most of us would agree that we’re living in an uncertain and pivotal time for the planet, and for humanity.
We see this all around us – from our increasingly polarized politics to social and cultural upheaval, disruptive technological change, ongoing ecological destruction. And more, as we all know.
And as the world destabilizes around us, we feel this turbulence in our own lives as well.
And yet, while we definitely face unprecedented peril from this accelerating pace of change, I also believe, as do many others, that these extraordinary times hold untold promise as well … if we can successfully navigate our way through this turbulence.
And that’s what Wise Talkers is all about, navigating the turbulence – both its distressing elements and its hopeful aspects – while keeping our eyes on the prize: making this world a better place for all of us.
On Wise Talkers I’ll be engaging in one-on-one conversations with interesting guests from an intentionally diverse array of cultural backgrounds and professional disciplines – teachers and writers, scientists and spiritual teachers, psychologists and philosophers, activists, Indigenous leaders, social entrepreneurs – changemakers and thought leaders from all quarters. Because I firmly believe that, for humanity to survive and thrive, we need to seek wisdom from all quarters and weave it all together.
In one sense, this podcast picks up from a brief radio career going back more than 40 years. In those days, around 1980, I conducted a live, one-hour interview show called World Views on KVMR radio in Nevada City, California. Each week for about three years I interviewed a local resident or perhaps a visitor to the area about their life and views.
I interviewed many wonderful guests on my show, including some well-known people, such as Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gary Snyder, death-&-dying pioneer Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, spiritual leader Swami Kriyananda, and a handful of other notable guests.
In fact I’ll be re-packaging some of those old World Views interviews as new Wise Talkers episodes. Indeed, the very first edition of this podcast, titled The Timeless Wisdom of Gary Snyder, is exactly that.
So in many ways my radio show 40-plus years ago was a precursor to the podcast I’m starting today, as I’ll likewise be inquiring into the lives and views of my guests on Wise Talkers, but now with this more focused purpose of helping us understand and engage today’s radically changed world.
My passion for undertaking this venture stems from a dedicated lifelong quest for self-knowledge, in the spirit of the ancient maxim to “know thyself.” I have been obsessed my entire adult life with understanding ‘the human condition’ and how we can improve that condition, both individually and collectively. And I have always been confident that we are fully capable of doing that.
Of course, this is a massively complex topic, ranging from our innermost psychological-emotional-spiritual lives all the way out to culture and politics and the full spectrum of global issues we face.
And I am really excited about talking with my guests about all of this on the Wise Talkers podcast.
Now, in taking this broad-brush approach, I am going against all the standard marketing advice to ‘pick your niche/you can’t be all things to all people.’ As an old marketing pro myself, I’m well aware of this practical advice.
But I’m breaking that rule here. Not only because my own interests cover a wide range of human thought and activity, but also because I believe – if we hope to successfully navigate this turbulence in pursuit of a better world for all – we need to look beyond our comfortable boundaries and see the bigger interconnected picture.
So it this idea of a wide-ranging inquiry and exploration intrigues you, as it does me, I invite you to join me on the Wise Talkers journey.
You can find more information on the website, wisetalkers.com. You can also get the latest updates on upcoming guests, join others in discussion, and sign up to be notified when a new episode is published. And if you’d like to know more about me and my background, you can check my bio there, linked in the top menu.
I hope I’ve enticed you to check out an edition or two of Wise Talkers, and see what you think. And I encourage you to start with the very first edition – The Timeless Wisdom of Gary Snyder – as in many ways it sets the tone for all the episodes to follow.
Thanks for tuning in!