In this episode of The Holy Wild, Victoria Loorz speaks with Dr. Craig Chalquist as they explore how to live through collapse with open hearts, grounding in love and relationship with Earth. They speak of healing false separations between spirit and matter, human and nature, psyche and place, and how imagination, story, and synchronicity can guide us into deeper belonging. Craig shares how dreams, fiction, and encounters with the more-than-human world invite us into sacred conversation rather than despair. Together they remind us that even in times of unraveling, new stories are already emerging and calling us to co-create them.
Craig Chalquist, Ph.D., Ph.D. is program director of Consciousness, Psychology, and Transformation at National University and a former associate provost and several other administrative and leadership roles. His background includes public presentations, group counseling, depth psychology, mythology, ecopsychology, terrapsychology, and philosophy and wisdom studies. He presents, publishes, and teaches at the intersection of psyche, story, nature, reenchantment, and imagination. He has published more than twenty books, including the hopeful Lamplighter Trilogy. His motto is: “Converse with everything!”
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Timestamps:
- 00:31 Intro
- 05:31 Doing Spiritual Work In This Time
- 09:07 Fiction's Place In The Wisdom Path
- 12:11 A Sign Of Real Interconnection From A Teardrop Shaped Leaf
- 14:50 Healing The False Separations
- 18:10 Stage Settings Collapse
- 20:53 The Place Of Resistance
- 23:37 The Cycle Of The Human Story
- 27:13 Relationshiping Is Aliveness
- 29:37 Mythic Hero vs Savior
- 31:18 The Storied Life Needs Hope
- 34:56 New Stories Can't Be Stopped
- 36:56 The Wild Balance Of Nature Goes Beyond Good And Evil
- 43:02 Sacrifice Runs Deep
- 45:10 Drawn Toward Reality Laboratories
- 49:15 The Search For Certainty
- 51:59 Religion As Reconnection Is Necessary