If politics is broken how might people rediscover agency? If capitalism favours the powerful are there alternative forms of power to be found? If life often feels fragmented how can the fractal become revelatory? And further: how might practises like improvisation and resources like spiritual traditions assist?

Indra Adnan explores these themes and more in conversation with Mark Vernon. Indra is a Co-Initiator and Founder of The Alternative which seeks to surface new ways of coming together. She is a regular contributor to the Realisation Festival and a member of the festival’s advisory committee.

Indra and Pippa Evans, who is one of the festival directors, will be hosting a local Realisation Festival gathering in Edinburgh on 17th May 2025, 3pm-6pm. For further details direct message Indra if you are on the festival group WhatsApp or email her at ia@thealternative.org.uk.

For more on The Alternative see https://thealternative.org.uk/.

What good is a poem? How might poetry be a tool for transformation, both personally and collectively? And how does poetry help us to better understand the spirit of our times?

In this conversation, Mark Vernon and Josiane Smith explore the ways in which poetry goes beyond 'the poem', towards a more soulful way of living; engaging more deeply with the forces of nature and change all around. It can be used in surprising places to console and challenge, it can be a catalyst for our dreams and actions, but can also uplift the mundane everyday.

Carrying the spirit of realisation throughout, Mark and Josiane explore poetry as an education into, and a language for, the energetics of our times.

In this podcast episode, Josiane reads two of her poems, "The Nightingale" and "Do we have enough faith?” which can be found here - .rockpa.org/poetry-philanthropy-and-climate-action-opening-reflections-at-the-skoll-world-forum/. She also reads from Audre Lorde’s essay, “Poetry Is Not A Luxury”.

Josiane is a poet, philanthropic advisor and Quaker trustee. For more see - https://www.linkedin.com/in/josianesmith

For more about the Realisation Festival see - https://realisationfestival.com/

What is the function of myth and story? How can they help us become more human? What do they teach us about the nature of reality and how we might orient wisely in a time such as ours when the world is in turmoil?

In this conversation, Michael Bready of the Realisation team explores these questions with writer, mythographer and master storyteller, Martin Shaw.

With warmth, wisdom and wit Martin shares from his deep experience as a wilderness guide, lover of mythology, and christian thinker.

Why is seeing simply so valuable? How can we relearn from nature a reimagining our of lives? What does it mean to tackle contemporary troubles with joy and devotion? And what role might myth and ritual play in the rediscovery of pathways to the future?

Mark Vernon talks with Sarah about these questions and more.

Sarah is speaking at The Realisation Festival held in St Giles House, Dorset, 26-29 June 2025.

For more about the festival see - https://realisationfestival.com/

For more about Sarah see - https://sarahwilson.com/

Her substack can be found here - https://sarahwilson.substack.com/

Professor Pauline Rudd is a leading glycobiologist, recognised most recently by being awarded the Torbern Bergman Medal 2025. So what is it like to work as a scientist? And why is she inspired by everything from beluga whales to the grail stories?

In this conversation with Mark Vernon, Pauline describes how understanding the habits of sugar molecules is akin to playing music: a moment is reached when, in some sense, the object of study becomes part of you.

She discusses how meaning in the natural world has been lost, though is also be re-found. She argues that we live in an age in which spiritual paths are being re-made - which is why she is gripped by the grail stories.

For more on Pauline's professional work see this interview with her following her recent award! https://kemisamfundet.se/torbern-bergman-medal-2025-to-pauline-rudd-university-college-dublin/

How is sport a spiritual practice? What is the value of coaching? Why are collective undertakings as valuable as individual goals?

Mark Vernon talks with Ed Haddon, who Is one of the directors of the Realisation Festival and knows St Giles House, playing a longstanding part in its re-emergence. He has represented England in sport and learnt much from the pursuit of excellence. He also knows the ways in which the choices we make in life can be deeply affected by personal difficulties and pain. He talks with Mark about what realisation can mean, how the festival is held by the directors, and what it means to discover your distinctiveness.

Ed Haddon is the founder of Haddon Coaching. For more see - https://www.haddoncoaching.com. His book is The Modern Maverick - https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/modern-maverick-9781399407090.

What do we really learn from neuroscience? How can scientific assumptions shape the world we perceive? Why might notions such as soul and mind matter all the more in times of mechanistic, computational thinking?

Mark Vernon talks with philosopher and neuroscientist Mazviita Chirimuuta.

Mazviita is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh and author of the prize-winning book, The Brain Abstracted. She is also an advisor to the Realisation Festival

Details of her books can be found at MIT Press - https://mitpress.mit.edu/author/m-chirimuuta-17741/

Many of today’s troubles could be described as ones of connection. But is that about a lack of connection, a flood of connection, or perhaps the quality of connections?

Mark Vernon talks with Kenneth Cross about relationally and, in particular, the inspiration that might be drawn from fungi. Mycelium exist in a substerranean world, blurring the distinctions between organisms, sharing in ways that are strange even disturbing. So what light does that cast on human sympathies and selfhood?

The conversation ranges over the ideas of Iain McGilchrist and Merlin Sheldrake, over the challenges of meeting in groups and our basic views of reality.

Kenneth is a vicar and a writer.