3rd Spaces
3rd Space explores new perspectives beyond
binaries, seeking diverse, dynamic outcomes
- All
- Spirituality
- Psychedelics
- The More-than-Human World
- Environment
- Gender
- Health and Medicine
- Culture
- Thinking
- Politics
- Poetry
- Education
- Gender and Sexuality
- Mindfulness
- Activism
- Art and Consciousness
- Climate Change
- Consciousness
- Decolonisation
A Process of Learning and Unlearning: A dialogue with Boaventura de Sousa Santos
Part One Beginnings 3rd Space: I’d like to start with a background question about your life and work. You’re a distinguished legal scholar from the University of Madison and …
Imagination of the Unthought Within the Thought of our Times
Our imagination operates, to start with, within epistemic bounds. This means there is an unthought to our thought which we take for granted, just as a fish may imagine …
The Reluctant Activist: Exploring the Inner/Outer Divide
In May 2021 contemporary thinker and writer Jonathan Rowson wrote, “To be metamodern is to be caught up in the co-arising of hope and despair, credulity and incredulity, progress and …
Frankenstein Apples
Using stories from her father Gregory Bateson’s work on ecology, Nora Bateson speaks to our obsession with growth, and how singling out specific organisms for development creates a perilous …
A Nightingale Pilgrimage
So it was that after almost three weeks of recovering from the fatigue and coughing of a mild, but nevertheless very unpleasant covid infection, following right on the heels …
The Ukraine War: Challenging a Binary Lens
As a person who believes in democracy, it’s disappointing to read from your comments that you are ideologically opposed to western values. My heart sank a little as I …
Examining the Sensitive Self
In 2004, the psychologist Michael Eigen wrote a book called, “The Sensitive Self”. He examines sensitivity as our essential humanness, and ultimately as constituting the basis of humane ethics. …
Ceiba – The Future of Carbonless Shipping
3rd Space: Welcome, Dani. It’s good to see you again. From our brief tour, it’s clear a lot of development has occurred with Ceiba over the past two years, especially …
Racial Justice, Climate Activism, Self-Repair: building a new paradigm with Esther Stanford-Xosei
Planet Repair – Pre-Figuring a New World 3rd Space: Welcome to 3rd Space, Esther. I am going to dive straight in. (Smiles) Given the current systemic and existential crisis we’re facing …
Moving Beyond Empire
Sitting in the garden here in Cupar, drinking in this late September warmth, a familiar sound draws my gaze to the flight path above – not of aeroplanes, but …
Contemplating the Illusions of Corporate Culture
Early morning and we have porridge on the stove, the sun is struggling to come to terms with the clouds and we can sense it’s going to be a …
Why Climate Change is a Social Justice Issue
Another COP is over. Despite the rhetoric to keep global warming to 1.5˚C, national pledges to address the climate crisis put us instead on track for an alarming global …
Disobedience and the State
“Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.” Oscar …
What is Insulate Britain? The call for radical nonviolent civil disobedience
A Letter to my friends Dearest friends, We have shared many significant moments in our lives. Because of this, I wanted to share now with you another moment, particularly …
3rd Space unplugged – Patriarchy, identity and monotheism
Patriarchy, identity and monotheism. How they function in the relationship between coloniser and colonised. In the fifth of our unplugged cross-cultural discussions, 3rd Space continues the conversation with Mumbaikers, …
3rd Space unplugged -Truth and Reconciliation
Truth and Reconciliation – Reconciliation between the global north and south must be the foundation for a new world culture to emerge. In the fourth of our unplugged global …
3rd Space unplugged – Spiral Dynamics through an Indic Lens
Raghu Ananthanarayanan speaks with Abhishek Thakore: understanding the developmental model of Spiral Dynamics through an Indic lens. Raghu Ananthanarayanan has a Postgraduate Degree in Bio-Medical Engineering from IIT Madras. …
3rd Space unplugged -Is the Future Black and Brown?
Confronting the reality of Western global dominance In the second of our unplugged cross-cultural discussions, 3rd Space continues the conversation with Mumbaikers, Abhishek Thakore of the Blue Ribbon Movement, …
3rd Space unplugged – global discussions on a new cosmopolitanism
Exploring the potential of a true global citizenry In the first of a series of cross-cultural conversations, Steve Brett of 3rd Space in London talks with Abhishek Thakore, co-founder …
Nothing Exists In Isolation
Part One Developing Faith I grew up as a non-believer, an atheist. However, when I started working in the rural area in India, and developed some sort of relationship …
Living on purpose – Jamie Bristow and the Mindfulness Initiative
Mindfulness joins the political mainstream 3rd Space: Welcome Jamie. You have been doing ground-breaking work for some years to bring mindfulness into the political mainstream. You are also trying to …
The Entangled Activist-talking with Anthea Lawson
From Newspapers to Campaigning 3rd Space: Welcome to 3rd Space, Anthea. Could you begin by telling us about how you came to be concerned about some of the underlying issues in …
The Problem That Never Goes Away – The frightening normality of sexual violence
In 2018, while working on a writing project, my home for several months was a small cottage on the banks of the Periyar river in rural South India. In …
Some thoughts on the work of Daniel Schmachtenberger
It may seem strange to dedicate a blog to the thinking of somebody else, but Daniel Schmachtenberger just might be one of the best and brightest minds around at …
Awakening from the Meaning Crisis with John Vervaeke
Introduction This past summer, a colleague from the US sent me a video featuring John Vervaeke in conversation with Nora Bateson. “Do you know him? He seems to be …
Rethinking Conservation – A Holistic Approach in Botswana
3rd Space: Welcome Tempe. You’ve been working in Africa for almost nine years as a conservation scientist, a critical area for the survival of our global ecosystem; but it’s …
David Choquehuanca – A New Pachakuti in Bolivia
December 1st, 2020 After a decade as Chancellor of Evo Morales, David Choquehuanca was the leader chosen by the Pacto de Unidad to represent indigenous, native and peasant peoples …
The Future Begins Today – Boaventura De Sousa Santos
Watch the video here: For further information on the work of Boaventura De Sousa Santos, visit and also
On Choice and Love – an incident above the Bay of Bengal
To me, being able to exercise real choice or freewill was always tied to a sense of being ‘right’ – of knowing. At a certain point in my life …
Why are we here? Getting to grips with the QUESTion Project
3rd Space: Welcome Gerard and Francesca! Could you start by telling us what the QUESTion Project is, what are its aims and vision, and who it serves. Gerard: It’s a semester or …
The Social Unreality
About six weeks ago, we had three days of very heavy rains and thunderstorms in my region in India which led to trees falling on electric transmission lines, and …
Mindfulness and Meditation – a secular hijack?
The practice of Mindfulness, as everyone knows, has taken off in a big way in the western hemisphere. It is the most successful ‘non-religious’, awareness-based, self-help practice to establish …
A Spiritual Revolution to Meet Today’s Global Crises
In the face of a lack of existential meaning and coherence, Western civilization is currently struggling to stave off devouring itself through ever deepening fragmentation. Meanwhile, small pockets of …
The Opposite of a Cynic: David Graeber, 1961-2020
What is the opposite of a cynic? I have been wondering about this question since I heard the news of David Graeber’s death yesterday. I haven’t quite been able …
Reflections on the Culture Wars
Why are identity politics so dominating the public discourse? They are certainly drowning out not only any attempt at sensemaking as the world grows ever more complex and uncertain, …
The Need For A New Politics
In 1991 India changed. We opened up. We started becoming part of the global economy. Globalisation finally engulfed us. Slowly some disturbing signs started emerging. In 1996 we at SIDH (“Society for the Integrated …
Filmmaker Renate Keller on her documentary of Indian mystic and social activist, Vimala Thakar
3rd Space: Welcome Renata. You recently completed a documentary on the life and message of Vimala Thakar, called The Fire of Dancing Stillness – Reflections with Vimala Thakar. Could you tell …
Requiem for Nature in Britain – Devastation in our Green and Pleasant Land
Our hearts go out when we see one of those awful pictures of a disoriented, lost orangutan in the debris of clear-cut rainforest somewhere in Indonesia, which up to …
Being at Home in the World
There is a very long history in the western world to our experience of being a separate individual, atomised from the world; a world that right now, as a …
Post-Pandemic Ladhaki Perspective
A week before the announcement of the Janata [public] Curfew slated for March 22, 2020, I spoke with a 43-year-old close relative in her village in Leh, Ladakh, by …
What is in a name?
In eastern and African cultures, the name we are given at birth means a lot. In our names, the hopes, dreams and aspirations of our parents are borne. There …
Psychedelic Communities, Social Justice, and Kinship in the Capitalocene
Is therapy and “self-help” the best or only paradigm for psychedelic culture to flourish? Alnoor Ladha and Martin Kirk offer a critical assessment of humanity and suggest how psychedelic …
Decoding Darkness – a poem
Darkness isoften, not the absencebut the blinding presence of light.The colours of creation consolidatedand gifted to night,that heals the marks, the scars,the injuries, the wounds,Gathered through time. There, reside …
My inner quest: west to east
At 16, I went to India for a visit with my parents and sisters. I was a rebel, wanted to dye my hair purple, wore tight jeans and had …
A Civilisational Pause – What Will Follow ‘Normal’?
No one could have imagined the behemoth of neoliberal capitalism – the god and engine of modern life – brought to its knees literally within a mere blink in …
Tu Weiming: Spiritual Humanism: An Emerging Global Discourse
Watch the video here: In this video, Professor Tu Weiming, versed in eastern and western thought, gives a beautifully articulate and cogent talk on the need for Spiritual Humanism, …
Ceiba – Revolutionising the Shipping Industry
In February 2020 Antarctica hit an unthinkable record temperature of 20.75 degrees Celsius, rivalling that of an average (summer) June day in London. Brazilian scientists conducting research from Seymour …
Gandhi in the 21st Century
“I hope the fragrance of the non-violence of India would permeate the whole world. I often wonder if that hope will materialize.” Mohandas Gandhi For all of us, there …
Pressing ‘Reset’ in the Anthropocene: Global Social Witnessing as an Awareness-Based Practice for Global Citizenship
You swipe through your favourite news site while sitting in a train, and you enter the typical bombardment of information – “four degrees climate change temperature rise possible”,“rainforest burning”, …
From Seniors to Elders
Senior citizens, OAPs, retirees. Doesn’t sound so inspiring, in the way this vast and growing segment of our population is sometimes referred to, does it? Now of course I …
A Question of Progress (One)
Part One: Positive Disintegration – are we willing? “Something ancient asks us to give account of our centrality. To heed is to die. And there in lies our …
A Question of Progress (2)
Part Two: Breaking the Cycle – conscious uncivilising “Its very difficult to ask people to give up the assumptions by which they have always lived, and yet that is …
Poems of Sushri Sangita Mishra
The Poems: Truth I have walked very long on the rocky bed of time In my effort to excavate truth many times, I have fallen into the pit …
Why ‘3rd Space’?
J L Mehta, an Indian philosopher and admirer of the German philosopher Martin Heidegger once wrote , “So long as we live encapsulated within one tradition, our own, and …
The Problem with Western Universalism (long read)
Part 1. The Sabarimala Temple Controversy In January 2019, I read two related articles in the media that immediately caught my attention, being a regular visitor to India. The …
Extinction Rebellion & the Climate Emergency – The Case for Civil Disruption
Alexandria Villsenor, 13, has spent every Friday since December wrapped in a winter coat outside the United Nations headquarters in New York City, protesting the glacial response to climate …
Century of the Self part 1: “Happiness Machines” (video)
This documentary series is a deeply insightful study of how the consumerist driven, capitalist, liberal democracies of the modern world were formed in the early 20th century.
“This is not a University subject, this is a universal subject” – Dr. Vasudevan speaking on Ayurveda
Western medicine, like the worldview that sustains it, for all its incredible achievements, and there are many, has a profound inbuilt limitation.
Reinterpreting Vaastu
Sashikala Ananth is a leading exponent in India of Vaastu, the traditional architecture of the Indic civilisation.
Dialogue with Alnoor Ladha – in nine short podcasts
We met Alnoor Ladha at his home in Tierra Valiente, the community he helped create in 2016 in Costa Rica. We talked about The Rules, Community, Capitalism, his Sufism, …
#’Me-too’ to ‘We-too’
This essay looks specifically at the unresolved issue of gender relations, and its cross-cultural intersections as highlighted by the #MeToo movement.
Tradition through the Looking-Glass
In India, my experience of tradition (and just about everything else) was like going down the rabbit hole.
Spaces of Transformation – Epistemologies of the South
To Boaventura de Sousa Santos, understanding of the world far exceeds Western understanding of the world. Even though there is a growing recognition in the west of the cultural diversity of the world, he believes this does not extend to a recognition of the diversity of knowledge systems of the world.
- All
- Spirituality
- Psychedelics
- The More-than-Human World
- Environment
- Gender
- Health and Medicine
- Culture
- Thinking
- Politics
- Poetry
- Education
- Gender and Sexuality
- Mindfulness
- Activism
- Art and Consciousness
- Climate Change
- Consciousness
- Decolonisation
A Process of Learning and Unlearning: A dialogue with Boaventura de Sousa Santos
Part One Beginnings 3rd Space: I’d like to start with a background question about your life and work. You’re a distinguished legal scholar from the University of Madison and …
Imagination of the Unthought Within the Thought of our Times
Our imagination operates, to start with, within epistemic bounds. This means there is an unthought to our thought which we take for granted, just as a fish may imagine …
The Reluctant Activist: Exploring the Inner/Outer Divide
In May 2021 contemporary thinker and writer Jonathan Rowson wrote, “To be metamodern is to be caught up in the co-arising of hope and despair, credulity and incredulity, progress and …
Frankenstein Apples
Using stories from her father Gregory Bateson’s work on ecology, Nora Bateson speaks to our obsession with growth, and how singling out specific organisms for development creates a perilous …
A Nightingale Pilgrimage
So it was that after almost three weeks of recovering from the fatigue and coughing of a mild, but nevertheless very unpleasant covid infection, following right on the heels …
The Ukraine War: Challenging a Binary Lens
As a person who believes in democracy, it’s disappointing to read from your comments that you are ideologically opposed to western values. My heart sank a little as I …
Examining the Sensitive Self
In 2004, the psychologist Michael Eigen wrote a book called, “The Sensitive Self”. He examines sensitivity as our essential humanness, and ultimately as constituting the basis of humane ethics. …
Ceiba – The Future of Carbonless Shipping
3rd Space: Welcome, Dani. It’s good to see you again. From our brief tour, it’s clear a lot of development has occurred with Ceiba over the past two years, especially …
Racial Justice, Climate Activism, Self-Repair: building a new paradigm with Esther Stanford-Xosei
Planet Repair – Pre-Figuring a New World 3rd Space: Welcome to 3rd Space, Esther. I am going to dive straight in. (Smiles) Given the current systemic and existential crisis we’re facing …
Moving Beyond Empire
Sitting in the garden here in Cupar, drinking in this late September warmth, a familiar sound draws my gaze to the flight path above – not of aeroplanes, but …
Contemplating the Illusions of Corporate Culture
Early morning and we have porridge on the stove, the sun is struggling to come to terms with the clouds and we can sense it’s going to be a …
Why Climate Change is a Social Justice Issue
Another COP is over. Despite the rhetoric to keep global warming to 1.5˚C, national pledges to address the climate crisis put us instead on track for an alarming global …
Disobedience and the State
“Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.” Oscar …
What is Insulate Britain? The call for radical nonviolent civil disobedience
A Letter to my friends Dearest friends, We have shared many significant moments in our lives. Because of this, I wanted to share now with you another moment, particularly …
3rd Space unplugged – Patriarchy, identity and monotheism
Patriarchy, identity and monotheism. How they function in the relationship between coloniser and colonised. In the fifth of our unplugged cross-cultural discussions, 3rd Space continues the conversation with Mumbaikers, …
3rd Space unplugged -Truth and Reconciliation
Truth and Reconciliation – Reconciliation between the global north and south must be the foundation for a new world culture to emerge. In the fourth of our unplugged global …
3rd Space unplugged – Spiral Dynamics through an Indic Lens
Raghu Ananthanarayanan speaks with Abhishek Thakore: understanding the developmental model of Spiral Dynamics through an Indic lens. Raghu Ananthanarayanan has a Postgraduate Degree in Bio-Medical Engineering from IIT Madras. …
3rd Space unplugged -Is the Future Black and Brown?
Confronting the reality of Western global dominance In the second of our unplugged cross-cultural discussions, 3rd Space continues the conversation with Mumbaikers, Abhishek Thakore of the Blue Ribbon Movement, …
3rd Space unplugged – global discussions on a new cosmopolitanism
Exploring the potential of a true global citizenry In the first of a series of cross-cultural conversations, Steve Brett of 3rd Space in London talks with Abhishek Thakore, co-founder …
Nothing Exists In Isolation
Part One Developing Faith I grew up as a non-believer, an atheist. However, when I started working in the rural area in India, and developed some sort of relationship …
Living on purpose – Jamie Bristow and the Mindfulness Initiative
Mindfulness joins the political mainstream 3rd Space: Welcome Jamie. You have been doing ground-breaking work for some years to bring mindfulness into the political mainstream. You are also trying to …
The Entangled Activist-talking with Anthea Lawson
From Newspapers to Campaigning 3rd Space: Welcome to 3rd Space, Anthea. Could you begin by telling us about how you came to be concerned about some of the underlying issues in …
The Problem That Never Goes Away – The frightening normality of sexual violence
In 2018, while working on a writing project, my home for several months was a small cottage on the banks of the Periyar river in rural South India. In …
Some thoughts on the work of Daniel Schmachtenberger
It may seem strange to dedicate a blog to the thinking of somebody else, but Daniel Schmachtenberger just might be one of the best and brightest minds around at …
Awakening from the Meaning Crisis with John Vervaeke
Introduction This past summer, a colleague from the US sent me a video featuring John Vervaeke in conversation with Nora Bateson. “Do you know him? He seems to be …
Rethinking Conservation – A Holistic Approach in Botswana
3rd Space: Welcome Tempe. You’ve been working in Africa for almost nine years as a conservation scientist, a critical area for the survival of our global ecosystem; but it’s …
David Choquehuanca – A New Pachakuti in Bolivia
December 1st, 2020 After a decade as Chancellor of Evo Morales, David Choquehuanca was the leader chosen by the Pacto de Unidad to represent indigenous, native and peasant peoples …
The Future Begins Today – Boaventura De Sousa Santos
Watch the video here: For further information on the work of Boaventura De Sousa Santos, visit and also
On Choice and Love – an incident above the Bay of Bengal
To me, being able to exercise real choice or freewill was always tied to a sense of being ‘right’ – of knowing. At a certain point in my life …
Why are we here? Getting to grips with the QUESTion Project
3rd Space: Welcome Gerard and Francesca! Could you start by telling us what the QUESTion Project is, what are its aims and vision, and who it serves. Gerard: It’s a semester or …
The Social Unreality
About six weeks ago, we had three days of very heavy rains and thunderstorms in my region in India which led to trees falling on electric transmission lines, and …
Mindfulness and Meditation – a secular hijack?
The practice of Mindfulness, as everyone knows, has taken off in a big way in the western hemisphere. It is the most successful ‘non-religious’, awareness-based, self-help practice to establish …
A Spiritual Revolution to Meet Today’s Global Crises
In the face of a lack of existential meaning and coherence, Western civilization is currently struggling to stave off devouring itself through ever deepening fragmentation. Meanwhile, small pockets of …
The Opposite of a Cynic: David Graeber, 1961-2020
What is the opposite of a cynic? I have been wondering about this question since I heard the news of David Graeber’s death yesterday. I haven’t quite been able …
Reflections on the Culture Wars
Why are identity politics so dominating the public discourse? They are certainly drowning out not only any attempt at sensemaking as the world grows ever more complex and uncertain, …
The Need For A New Politics
In 1991 India changed. We opened up. We started becoming part of the global economy. Globalisation finally engulfed us. Slowly some disturbing signs started emerging. In 1996 we at SIDH (“Society for the Integrated …
Filmmaker Renate Keller on her documentary of Indian mystic and social activist, Vimala Thakar
3rd Space: Welcome Renata. You recently completed a documentary on the life and message of Vimala Thakar, called The Fire of Dancing Stillness – Reflections with Vimala Thakar. Could you tell …
Requiem for Nature in Britain – Devastation in our Green and Pleasant Land
Our hearts go out when we see one of those awful pictures of a disoriented, lost orangutan in the debris of clear-cut rainforest somewhere in Indonesia, which up to …
Being at Home in the World
There is a very long history in the western world to our experience of being a separate individual, atomised from the world; a world that right now, as a …
Post-Pandemic Ladhaki Perspective
A week before the announcement of the Janata [public] Curfew slated for March 22, 2020, I spoke with a 43-year-old close relative in her village in Leh, Ladakh, by …
What is in a name?
In eastern and African cultures, the name we are given at birth means a lot. In our names, the hopes, dreams and aspirations of our parents are borne. There …
Psychedelic Communities, Social Justice, and Kinship in the Capitalocene
Is therapy and “self-help” the best or only paradigm for psychedelic culture to flourish? Alnoor Ladha and Martin Kirk offer a critical assessment of humanity and suggest how psychedelic …
Decoding Darkness – a poem
Darkness isoften, not the absencebut the blinding presence of light.The colours of creation consolidatedand gifted to night,that heals the marks, the scars,the injuries, the wounds,Gathered through time. There, reside …
My inner quest: west to east
At 16, I went to India for a visit with my parents and sisters. I was a rebel, wanted to dye my hair purple, wore tight jeans and had …
A Civilisational Pause – What Will Follow ‘Normal’?
No one could have imagined the behemoth of neoliberal capitalism – the god and engine of modern life – brought to its knees literally within a mere blink in …
Tu Weiming: Spiritual Humanism: An Emerging Global Discourse
Watch the video here: In this video, Professor Tu Weiming, versed in eastern and western thought, gives a beautifully articulate and cogent talk on the need for Spiritual Humanism, …
Ceiba – Revolutionising the Shipping Industry
In February 2020 Antarctica hit an unthinkable record temperature of 20.75 degrees Celsius, rivalling that of an average (summer) June day in London. Brazilian scientists conducting research from Seymour …
Gandhi in the 21st Century
“I hope the fragrance of the non-violence of India would permeate the whole world. I often wonder if that hope will materialize.” Mohandas Gandhi For all of us, there …
Pressing ‘Reset’ in the Anthropocene: Global Social Witnessing as an Awareness-Based Practice for Global Citizenship
You swipe through your favourite news site while sitting in a train, and you enter the typical bombardment of information – “four degrees climate change temperature rise possible”,“rainforest burning”, …
From Seniors to Elders
Senior citizens, OAPs, retirees. Doesn’t sound so inspiring, in the way this vast and growing segment of our population is sometimes referred to, does it? Now of course I …
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