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Unseen Beings
Hosted by Erik Jampa Andersson, author of 'Unseen Beings: How We Forgot the World is More than Human' (Hay House, 2023), Unseen Beings takes listeners on a journey of natural recovery, unravelling our lost threads of enchantment with the living world to uncover what it really means to be human in a more-than-human world.
The human-centred story is killing us. In addition to wreaking havoc on the natural environment, it makes us both miserable and unsafe. It is a corrupted story - born out of a pursuit of dominance, not of knowledge and wisdom. We *need* new (and old) perspectives. We need to explore different ways of understanding and responding to the challenges and crises of the Anthropocene.
Unseen Beings
Mike Fiorito: For All We Know (E08)
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In this episode, we are joined by author and journalist Mike Fiorito to discuss his upcoming book, 'For All We Know' (now available for pre-order), and to chat about UFOs, enchantment, spirituality, music, and the manifold ways that humans metabolise extraordinary and anomalous experiences.
Mike is a freelance journalist and the author of The Hated Ones, Falling from Trees, Sleeping with Fishes, Call Me Guido, Freud’s Haberdashery Habits and Hallucinating Huxley. His most recent book, 'Mescalito Riding His White Horse,' received the 2024 Independent Press Distinguished Book Award (in the Spiritual category), and *Falling from Trees* received the 2022 Independent Press Distinguished Book Award (in the Short Story category).
Episode contents:
5:19 - Mike’s work as a music journalist and sources of inspiration.
8:17 - Connection with Peter Rowan.
10:00 - Approaching UFOlogy through philosophy and literature.
14:39 - *For All We Know* as a book about enchantment.
15:30 - UFOlogical approaches to anomalous phenomena.
22:08 - UFOs and ‘us.’
23:10 - Anthropocentrism and UFOlogy.
26:50 - The ethical and metaphysical implications of UFOs.
29:11 - UFOs and the Structure of Scientific Revolutions
31:55 - Our discomfort with not knowing.
37:00 - On seeking other-than-human intelligence.
42:56 - On the notion of ‘paranormal’ and ‘supernatural.’
49:00 - On bringing lightness and humour into the narrative.
51:00 - Relating to plants and fungi as beings.
58:00 - ‘Nature’ is not good or bad.
59:00 - On the power and enchantment of music.
1:11:45 - The power of music and stories to inspire compassion.
1:18:40 - Disenchantment as a tool of the oppressor.
1:20:55 - For All We Know as a book about enchantment.
1:24:45 - Influence of J.R.R. Tolkien and fantasy literature.
For more about Mike and his work, please visit: www.mikefiorito.com
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