Love + Death with Andreas Weber
Love + Death
with Andreas Weber
"Our purpose is to make the world fecund. That’s our purpose. I’d really put it that strongly. If we don’t do this, we are missing our purpose...If we contribute to the fecundity of the cosmos—including ourselves—we feel right and we forget about the question of purpose because somehow it’s okay."
If you know me at all or have followed me for some time, you'll know that this episode of the podcast is a big deal. I'll leave most of the talking to what I say in the opening introduction of the episode—and my very clear affection for Andreas and his work in our actual interview—but I'm absolutely thrilled to finally be able to release this two-hour-long discussion to you.
Unsurprisingly, it feels a bit like two hours of poetry.
Dr. Weber, after all, is on social media under the handle, "@biopoetics." So, if you love hearing very beautiful, poetic discussions about nature, what it means to be alive, and how life is intricately tied to death, this episode is for you.
If you're unfamiliar with him, Dr. Andreas Weber is a Berlin-based book and magazine writer and independent scholar. He has degrees in Marine Biology and Cultural Studies, and his work focuses on a reevaluation of our understanding of the living. He proposes that we understand organisms as subjects, and hence the biosphere as a meaning-creating and poetic reality.
Accordingly, Andreas holds that an economy inspired by nature should not be designed as a mechanistic optimization machine, but rather as an ecosystem that transforms mutual sharing of matter and energy in a deepened meaning.
Andreas has contributed extensively to developing the concept of enlivenment in recent years, notably through his essay Enlivenment: Towards a Fundamental Shift in the Concepts of Nature, Culture and Politics, published in expanded and rewritten form as Enlivenment: Toward a Poetics for the Anthropocene.
He has also put forth his ideas in several books and is contributing to major German magazines and journals, such as GEO, National Geographic, Die Zeit, and Greenpeace Magazine. Weber teaches at Leuphana University and at the University of Fine Arts, Berlin. He is also part of the staff of und.Institute for Art, Culture and Sustainability, Berlin, which is devoted to link the fields of art and culture with the field of sustainability, and to develop exemplary models of productive exchange; and was named the 2016 Jonathan Rowe Commons Fellow, Mesa Refuge, Point Reyes, CA, USA.
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EP 006
Love + Death
with Andreas Weber
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Related Reading & Listening
In addition to the episode's show notes, here are some great pieces that I think connect to my conversation with Dr. Weber—
- I was just interviewed on the Follow Your Curiosity podcast by host, Nancy Norbeck. Listen to it here. She loves conversations about "aliveness," so you'll hear me talk more about my chat with Andreas, as well as my own thoughts related to aliveness. Stay tuned, too, because Nancy and I are considering some "aliveness" collaborations to help creators do more work that makes them come alive.
- If you’re interested in hearing more about “attachment theory,” which Andreas and I discuss at one point, one of the most popular books on it is called “Attached.” However, I’ve really found a lot of value in following Clementine Morrigan on the subject, who I think does a really incredible job of including more nuance, especially expanding beyond attachment theory's typically very binary, heteronormative conceptions.
- I you want to dig into attachment theory while also having a good laugh at yourself, you can also go follow Lane Moore.
- Check out the work of Gaston Bachelard, who I'm told by my friend Juliette has very clearly influenced and informed the work of Dr. Weber, and who Dr. Weber has actually translated previously. I'm personally really excited to dig into his stuff.
- Christopher Alexander, who created "pattern language" for the field of architecture, and who also speaks to the "aliveness" of our spaces and even our building materials.
- And, I'd love to specifically call out Tiokasin Ghosthorse, the name of Dr. Weber’s colleague, who he mentions wakes up every morning and addresses water. Since we're just one day out from Indigenous Peoples' Day, please definitely check out the Land Back movement, as well.
Know of someone else connecting the seemingly un-connectable or talking about why it matters? Think I should interview them? Reply here and tell me!
Brandi Stanley
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