Michael Pollan and Katherine May - The Future of Hope 4

<p>Michael Pollan is one of our most revelatory explorers of the interaction between the human and natural worlds — especially the plants with which we have, as he says, co-evolved — from food to caffeine to psychedelics. In this episode of our series, The Future of Hope, <i>Wintering</i>’s Katherine May draws him out on the burgeoning human inquiry and science to which he’s now given himself over — the transformative applications of altered states for healing trauma and depression, for end-of-life care — and the thrilling matter of grasping what consciousness is for. This is an informative, intriguing, utterly uncategorizable conversation.</p><p>You may know Katherine May from <a href="https://onbeing.org/programs/katherine-may-how-wintering-replenishes/">her <i>On Being</i> conversation with Krista</a> about “wintering” as a season in the natural world — and a recurrent season in every human life. She too operates out of a deep curiosity about the human mind — the remarkable complexity of mental states and well-being — informed in part by her own welcome mid-life diagnosis of autism and her love of cold-water swimming. Her books of fiction and memoir include: <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/wintering-the-power-of-rest-and-retreat-in-difficult-times/9780593189481"><i>Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times</i></a>, <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/the-electricity-of-every-living-thing-a-woman-s-walk-in-the-wild-to-find-her-way-home/9781612199603"><i>The Electricity of Every Living Thing</i></a>, and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Burning-Out-Katherine-May/dp/1906727392"><i>Burning Out</i></a>. She is also the editor of an anthology of essays about motherhood, called <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/the-best-most-awful-job-twenty-writers-talk-honestly-about-motherhood/9781783964864"><i>The Best, Most Awful Job</i></a>. Her podcast is <a href="https://katherine-may.co.uk/winteringsessions"><i>The Wintering Sessions</i></a><i>.</i></p><p>Michael Pollan is a professor at the University