Lines of inquiry that expand your worldview

One of our most beloved voices, Rachel Naomi Remen, died August 8. We offer this course in honor of her presence, which will be greatly missed. Rachel spent a lifetime at the threshold between medicine and mystery. This course gathers recordings from her decades at Commonweal New School, inviting you to sit with her not as a distant authority but as a companion—someone who spent her life listening closely to what it means to be human.

Throughout our 50 years of work healing people and the Earth, Commonweal has always embraced the power of arts and creativity in bringing inspiration, vision, and healing in our bodies, souls, and communities. In this course, join in our exploration of how art and creativity bring healing, connection, and hope—through conversation, writing, poetry, music and sound, film, visual arts, and more.

More than 40 years ago, long before integrative cancer care was mainstream, Michael Lerner helped to launch the Commonweal Cancer Help Program. Over the years, he has sat with more than 2,000 souls navigating a cancer diagnosis, learning much about what it means to live—and die—with uncertainty and illness. One insight runs through each experience: cancer can be an invitation to heal our body, mind, and spirit. This course includes some of the most compelling conversations Michael has hosted at Commonweal’s New School in recent years that explore whole-person cancer care. Join in Michael’s exploration, through his letters and interviews, with integrative oncologists, healers, and patients who are leading the understanding and practice of whole-person cancer care.

Jeffrey J. Kripal holds the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University. In this ongoing series of conversations, Jeffrey talks with Host Michael Lerner about his body of work—more than 13 groundbreaking books about the mystical and the erotic, the relationship of mind and matter, and parapsychological phenomena. Michael has been reading, talking, and meeting with Jeffrey for more than a year now, immersing himself in the consciousness worldview that Jeffrey presents in his books and teaching. Follow Michael’s journey through these conversations.

As a founder of terrapsychology—the study of how the things of the world live in us—The New School’s Spring 2025 Visiting Scholar Craig Chalquist is interested in how imagination, story, and creativity let us tune in on the Greater Conversation unfolding continually around and within us. With the podcasts, videos, writings, and exercises gathered during Craig’s visit, you can join the exploration: growing a more resilient and earth-honoring worldview. 

Jeanine M. Canty is a visionary scholar whose groundbreaking work illuminates the profound connections between consciousness, thought, and our relationship with the natural world. Her teaching weaves together social justice, ecological wisdom, and transformation. By reading her writings and watching or listening to recordings of her time in residence, you can explore how mind and spirit intersect with ecological healing in your own life.