Get ready to contemplate the nature of reality this week with Julia and Victoria and a special guest as we read A Tale For the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki, the author’s award-winning third novel about two women on different continents in different times connected by a single story.

Follow along as they discuss their theories on what happened to Nao, empathize with the characters’ struggle against existence, and marvel at Jiko the 104-year-old Buddhist nun. Also Julia manages to explain the concept of non-duality on the fly, so she’s pretty proud of that.

Mentioned in the Episode:

Zen Buddhism

Ruth Ozeki’s films

Circe by Madeline Miller

nonduality

quantum computing

ikigai and/or raison d’etre

What to Read Next:

Get In Trouble by Kelly Link

Wolf359 the narrative podcast

This by Michael Gungor

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

Dora Bruderby Patrick Modiano

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty

Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki

Things that Bring Us Joy:

Haikyuu on Netflix

Oh Hello the P’dcast

Next Week: