These resources encourage positivity, depth, nuance, faith, presence.
They are more often long-form than short-form.
(If you’re looking for negativity… or shallow, short-form dopamine hits… please go back to social media or tv!)
Podcasts
Meet Daryl Davis
(by Chloe Valdary, Theory of Enchantment)
In addition to being an amazing musician, Daryl’s claim to fame is getting hundreds of members of the KKK to leave the organization. You heard that right. As an African-American who regularly hangs out with klan leaders, Daryl’s very being serves as a fodder for cognitive dissonance — and, as you’ll hear in this episode, cognitive dissonance is what awakens folks to the quest of self-discovery, truth, and enlightenment.
Listen at: Apple; Spotify; Stitcher; etc.
Modern Day Slavery
Siddharth Kara is an author and expert on modern-day slavery, human trafficking, and child labor. His new book is “Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives”. Here is a 14-minute excerpt on YouTube. (Joe Rogan Experience episode 1914.)
Tyranny, Slavery, and Columbia U (The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast – S4: E26)
Yeonmi Park is a North Korean defector and human rights activist trying to shine a light on the atrocities still being committed in North Korea by the current Kim regime. She wrote her experiences into a bestseller, ‘In Order to Live.’ She tells stories of her childhood and escaping to remind the world of how terrible things are for North Koreans.
Watch on YouTube (also on Spotify, etc)
Videos
A Walk to Beautiful (Emmy-award-winning documentary)
The film (by Mary Olive Smith) tells the personal stories of rural women who make their way to Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, seeking treatment for obstetric fistula, a life-shattering complication of childbirth. The documentary juxtaposes the isolated lives of village women who are outcasts because of their medical condition, with the faraway hospital that offers a miracle after a long and arduous trek—a “walk to beautiful.”
(Note: this heartbreaking movie provides background info for one of Thomas’ favorite charities, Fistula Foundation.)
Poverty, Inc. (documentary) –
From Toms Shoes to international adoptions, from solar panels to U.S. agricultural subsidies, drawing from over 200 interviews filmed in 20 countries, Poverty, Inc. unearths an uncomfortable side of charity we can no longer ignore.
Just Mercy (movie)
True story. Follows tightly to the book of the same name, also recommended.
Bryan Stevenson heads to Alabama to defend those wrongly condemned or who were not afforded proper representation. One of his first, and most incendiary, cases is that of Walter McMillian, who, in 1987, was sentenced to die for the notorious murder of an 18-year-old girl, despite a preponderance of evidence proving his innocence.
Moral Courage (short videos series) –
From Executive Producer Irshad Manji, Moral Courage TV tells the stories of people who are standing up when others want them to sit down. Whether they are confronting a bully, challenging their culture, or simply seeking truth, the agents of moral courage refuse to fail.
Books
High Conflict – by Amanda Ripley
When we are baffled by the insanity of the “other side”—in our politics, at work, or at home—it’s because we aren’t seeing how the conflict itself has taken over.
This book offers fascinating case studies; and actionable wisdom. 10/10.
(There is also a discussion guide.)
A New Earth – by Eckhart Tolle
Access to the Now is everywhere – in the body, the silence, and the space all around you. These are the keys to enter a state of inner peace.
Don’t Label Me – by Irshad Manji
“Manji shows us a different way to think about identity; one that is humble, loving, humane, and therefore likely to work for many more people. In a time of rising national polarization and distrust, Don’t Label Me is among the most important books for Americans to read now.”
– Jonathan Haidt
Includes practical, succinct action steps, especially in the final short chapters.
The Precipice – by Toby Ord
(optimistic and frightening at the same time)
With the advent of nuclear weapons, humanity entered a new age, where we face existential catastrophes – those from which we could never come back. Since then, these dangers have only multiplied, from climate change to engineered pathogens and artificial intelligence. If we do not act fast to reach a place of safety, it will soon be too late.
Drawing on over a decade of research, The Precipice explores the cutting-edge science behind the risks we face. It puts them in the context of the greater story of humanity: showing how ending these risks is among the most pressing moral issues of our time. And it points the way forward, to the actions and strategies that can safeguard humanity.
Discrimination and Disparities – Thomas Sowell
Discrimination and Disparities challenges believers in such one-factor explanations of economic outcome differences as discrimination, exploitation, or genetics. It is listenable enough for people with no prior knowledge of economics. Yet the empirical evidence with which it backs up its analysis spans the globe and challenges beliefs across the ideological spectrum.
The point of Discrimination and Disparities is not to recommend some particular policy “fix” at the end, but to clarify why so many policy fixes have turned out to be counterproductive, and to expose some seemingly invincible fallacies behind many counterproductive policies.
Articles
Leverage Points – by Donella Meadows
The most important starting point for anyone who wants to “change the system.” It’s an excerpt from THE classic on systems – Thinking in Systems.
Greater Writings (The Foundation of GGG):
+ 6 brilliant excerpts.
+ Carefully curated.
+ Only 31 pages.
(Free to download)
Latest update: April 2023
If you have any suggestions, let me know 🙂