About the Open Question Podcast

How do we navigate our lives in the midst of uncertainty? How do we bring our deepest intentions together with our actions? What is the purpose of spirituality? How can we accommodate both the beauty and the pain of life?
These questions may never find a definitive answer, but they are questions to live by. At OQ we feel that if you have a genuine question you should explore it, continue to ask it, and then pay attention.

I am Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel, a Buddhist student and teacher. Please join me as I share some intimate and rich dialogues with accomplished practitioners of diverse wisdom lineages.

Open Question is available wherever you get your podcasts.

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Note from Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel

Dear Friends,

These are challenging times, full of both uncertainty and possibility. For many, it has been a time for self reflection, and yet, the circumstances have also forced us into finding new and creative ways of reaching out to others, and of being of service.

An opportunity to serve emerged for me over the past couple of months, to produce a podcast. Through producing, Open Question: a Call to Inner Brilliance, we - myself and podcast team, have found a way to connect with a variety of students and teachers, who have generously shared their insight and kindness, and now we want to share this with you.

We received funding to create the podcast in early January this year, from the Hemera Foundation’s Tara Project, which seeks to support women communicating Buddhist Wisdom. Soon after, Michael Velasco, a dear friend and sangha member, signed on as my podcast partner. When it became clear that the coronavirus crisis would profoundly affect many of the circumstances we had put in place around production, we thought of postponing. After giving it a lot of thought, we made the decision not to postpone, and made arrangements to produce the podcast remotely. The moment we decided to proceed, everything fell into place.

Michael overnighted me a mic and we began the next morning. Because everyone is sheltering at home, all the guests I wanted to interview for the podcast—people from various spiritual and cultural traditions—were available and wanted to connect. We have had some meaningful discussions, which we are excited to share.

I am also enthused to announce that Chimé Mattis’ (my brother’s) music will be featured on the series. We have been collaborating on the theme music with Chime, and later in the series I will interview him about his process of making music. We will be including more of Chimé’s music in the podcast episodes. Each episode will also have its own art, including paintings by Tatjana Krizmanic, Tara DiGesu, photography by Sasha Meyerowitz, Charmaine Oakley, and others. The podcast pages on my website will contain related materials, and supporting interviews, articles and links, to create a rich home of information and engagement. You will always be able to hear the episodes here on the podcast pages.

As far as our valued guests, we have already had the honor of interviewing: Chief Arvol Looking Horse (leader of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Nations); Anam Thubten Rinpoche (a Tibetan Vajrayana teacher); Lorain Fox Davis (a Cree\Blackfeet Elder); Lama Willa (a contemporary voice in the Tibetan Vajrayana tradition); Lyla June Johnson (a poet, rapper, and educator of the Dine (Navajo) Nation; Fleet Maull (Buddhist practitioner and prison activist). Our First episode aired on Tuesday, April 21st we are in the process of approval and distribution on all podcast services. Open question is available on Apple Podcasts - click here to subscribe and anywhere you get your podcasts.

Producing a podcast is a completely new process for me. I am learning a lot, and am having to learn things quickly! I love the energetic and unknown aspect of engaging this. It requires a lot of listening, flexibility, openness, and research on my part. Each day I rise to the challenge, make a few mistakes, and feel surprised at how much I am enjoying this work, and how the episodes have turned out!

Open Question is a labor of love. For me, Michael Velasco (co-producer, sound designer, editor), Doug Beechwood (sound technician and distributor), Chime Mattis (composer, songwriter, musician), and Tatjana Krizmanic (podcast artist), the podcast is an offering during these challenging times. I hope that it supports you as you navigate this unusual moment in history, and that it brings encouragement and joy into your lives.

Listen to Recent Open Question Podcast Episodes

Featured

Episode 505: Looking Into the World

In this episode Elizabeth reflects upon the provocative poem composed by the renowned contemporary teacher, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, entitled, “Looking Into the World.”

“It’s not a cozy poem,” says Elizabeth, “It’s a reflection on loneliness. It is an incantation to distrust. It is a tribute to the freedom and confidence that comes from standing on our own two feet.” Put your familiar and conventional views aside for this wonderful exploration.

Episode 504: “Hook and Ring”

In Episode 504, Elizabeth explores devotion, one of the many aspects of faith. Through stories and inquiry, she brings us through various meanings of devotion. Elizabeth examines devotion as an experience, along with cultural and interpersonal challenges that can arise through misunderstanding the teacher/student dynamic. When understood more clearly, devotion hastens the process of spiritual awakening for the student.

Episode 503: The Ineffable

All great spiritual lineages point us back to that which defies concept and language. Authentic practitioners describe awakening as being touched by a sense of awe, overcome by the beauty, fierceness and power of being. To be in AWE is a natural human experience. Ironically, so is the discomfort that leaves us restless with the experience, making it almost impossible to bear. Our inability to bear the ineffable gives rise to dualism and our conflict with faith.

Episode 502: Hail the impossible!

At 7:15 am on August 7th, 1974, 1,300 feet above a gathering crowd, French high wire artist, Philip Petit, renowned for his unauthorized public stunts, stepped onto a 131-foot wire rigged between the twin towers of New York City's World Trade Center. In this episode, Elizabeth recalls Petit 's "impossible" display of human courage and confidence as an analogy for faith, why we need to cultivate it, what it is, and how it works.

Episode 501: Faith Beyond Belief and Doubt: The “F” Word

In this episode, Elizabeth takes us on a journey through the term ‘faith.' We may assume we know what faith is, but most of us have never truly explored its nuance or spectrum of meanings. We often use the term faith to refer to: dogma, fundamentalism, doctrine, confidence, devotion, conviction, just to name a few. In the context of contemporary culture, there are those who suggest that we replace the world faith with spirituality, but Elizabeth requests us not to write-off faith so glibly. Faith carries with it the undeniable tension between our search for security and the limits of our ability to know. Faith keeps us connected to the heart of the human condition.