The Sacred

Nearly a decade into The Sacred, we’re still doing the same thing: having honest and curious conversations with people who see the world differently.

We're wondering why - like the return of spring - seeking to understand another person at a deep level never seems to get old.

There's something about learning to truly understand people outside our “tribe” that feels challenging and pleasurable all at once and we're seeing (nine years later!) just how much we need these conversations today.

As Maff Potts says, “the answer to our problems is each other.”
So this is a practice, a community and a place to sit with the hard questions and we're really glad you’re doing it with us.
— The Sacred Team - Elizabeth, Josh, Amari & Joe

👀 You may notice that our visuals have been levelled up. We’re delighted that our team is growing and The Sacred will be getting a lot more beautiful and creative!
✍️ Substack: https://thesacredpodcast.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips
💡 Theos Think Tank: www.theosthinktank.co.uk/

The world wasn’t built for everyone. Leah Libresco Sargeant on feminism, care, and the myth of the “neutral” human.
Join our community of people listening curiously to different perspectives: https://www.youtube.com/@thesacredpodcast/videos
Leah has spent her life following philosophy to its limits, from Kantian questions of moral truth to reckoning with human vulnerability. Her journey reveals what happens when the world is built for a ‘neutral human’ - and who it leaves behind.
This conversation explores feminism, gender difference, care, and what it really means to take morality seriously.
Leah is the writer of Dignity of Dependence, works in of family policy and is the host of Other Feminisms on Substack.
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✍️ Find us on Substack: https://thesacredpodcast.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips
📖 Follow Elizabeth Oldfield: www.elizabetholdfield.com/
💡 Produced by Theos Think Tank: www.theosthinktank.co.uk/👉Check out Leah's substack: https://www.otherfeminisms.com/

What actually shapes the life you’re living - your own choices, or the ones you inherited?
In this episode of The Sacred, we are with Dr Rangan Chatterjee exploring the moments that force our values to the surface - births, deaths and major life events - and how they can reset the direction of our lives.
An Indian immigrant doctor, his father worked relentlessly to give his family opportunities — but it also came at a cost and contributed to the illness that ended his career and eventually his life. This left Dr Rangan with the question 'Dad, was it worth it?"

This conversation opens up topics that many of us choose to avoid:
• Workaholism and the drive for more
• What it really means to define “success” for yourself
• What it takes to consciously choose what we carry forward from our parents

Dr Rangan Chatterjee is a former GP, bestselling author and one of the UK’s most recognisable voices on a holistic approach to health.
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🎙️Listen to The Sacred: linktr.ee/sacredpodcast\
📖 Follow Elizabeth Oldfield: www.elizabetholdfield.com/
💡Produced by Theos Think Tank: www.theosthinktank.co.uk/👉 Check out Dr Rangan's podcast, Feel Better Live More: https://drchatterjee.com/podcast-epis...

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:50 What is Sacred to You? Dr. Rangan Chatterjee answers
1:31 Staying connected to family roots
2:09 Career sacrifices and setting boundaries
5:14 Being non-judgmental around boundaries
6:23 Understanding empathy from a most-wanted criminal
9:11 Everyone's story makes sense
12:06 Indian upbringing vs western culture at school
13:41 Integrating eastern values into modern life
15:35 Teaching respect and kindness to children
17:29 Father's work ethic and health impact
19:41 "Was it worth it?"
22:29 Recognising overworking and knowing what is enough
24:51 Surprising personal interests and finding joy
27:30 Spiritual awakening, introspection and personal growth
29:19 Whose life are you leading?
33:39 Are you religious?
36:23 Responding to negative comments with kindness
39:56 Meaningful living and the importance of relationships, humour, and belief

Keywords:values, grief and growth, redefining success, what is enough, living with intention, family and sacrifice, work life balance, burnout and overwork, meaning of life, personal growth, self reflection, life purpose, inner work, emotional wellbeing, mental health, lifestyle medicine, holistic health, parenting and values, legacy and inheritance, immigrant family story, identity and belonging, cultural identity, compassion and empathy, curiosity over judgment, relationships and connection, modern life stress, slowing down, presence and mindfulness, gratitude practice, life transitions, dealing with loss, grief and clarity, success vs happiness, redefining ambition, work ethic rethink, conscious living, self awareness, asking better questions, deep conversations, philosophy of life, spirituality and meaning, living authentically, personal values, making better choices, life design, happiness and contentment, avoiding burnout, healing generational patterns, carrying forward what matters

We spoke to Stig Abell on how to live if nothing is ultimately sacred.

Elizabeth Oldfield and Stig explore detective fiction and our longing for justice, the consolations of books in an age of infinite scroll, the quiet crises many of us are living through, and whether “muddling along” might be the most honest way live.
This is a conversation about meaning and what remains when you’re not sure there is any.

We talk about:
• Why Stig feels more profane than sacred
• Books as portals out of panic
• Detective fiction and our longing for resolution
• The exhausting, competitive condition of modern life
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🎙️Listen to The Sacred: linktr.ee/sacredpodcast
📖 Follow Elizabeth Oldfield: www.elizabetholdfield.com/
💡Produced by Theos Think Tank: www.theosthinktank.co.uk/
👉 Check out Stig’s work: https://www.instagram.com/thestigabell/?hl=en

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:28 What is Sacred to You? Stig Abell Answers02:48 Questioning the Concept of the Sacred
04:32 Suspicion of Institutions and Freedom in Randomness
06:13 The Principles of Fairness and Kindness
08:56 Work ethics, Loughborough roots, and the story behind “Stig"
12:11 Reading and the Pre-internet childhood
14:35 Reading as Empathy and Sacred Practice
15:58 The Nature of Doubt and Certainty
17:42 Evolution, Randomness, and Meaning Without Agency
19:59 Do “holy” moments require God?
23:54 The Press and Public Appetite For Bad News
29:56 Navigating the Complexities of Journalism
32:02 Navigating the Media Landscape
36:05 Being unboxable, tribal politics, and scepticism as a way of life
37:58 Highbrow, Lowbrow, and the Freedom to Read Widely
39:32 Imposter Syndrome and Self-Perception
43:17 The Comfort of Genre Fiction
46:42 The Search for Justice in Storytelling
49:24 The Human Need for Narrative
54:03 The Crisis of Modern Existence
56:41 Quiet Struggles and the Fear of Being Useless
58:51 Recognising Flaws in Ourselves and Others

Keywords:
A wide-ranging conversation with Stig Abell on doubt, belief, meaning, secularism, faith and scepticism, fairness and kindness, journalism and media ethics, detective fiction and crime novels, books and reading as refuge, panic attacks and anxiety, modern life and burnout, human rights and Christianity’s cultural legacy, tribalism and political identity, institutions and individual conscience, and how to live well - or at least muddle through - in an age of uncertainty and infinite scroll.

In this episode, Elizabeth Oldfield is joined by political theorist and author Sophie Lewis to explore one of the most provocative ideas: the abolition of the family.
Reflecting on her own complicated adolescence, Sophie asks what it would mean to reorganise society around love and collective care rather than accumulation?
Drawing on her book, Abolish the Family, Sophie argues that the nuclear family carries impossible burdens in a capitalist society - privatising care, exhausting women, and quietly treating children as property. Could we imagine a world where love, care, and kinship extend beyond the walls of the nuclear family?
Together, they talk about:
• Why “utopia” is a practice, not a destination
• The hidden labour inside the private household
• Surrogacy, reproduction and the myth of “unassisted” motherhood
• Are autonomy and care are opposites, or inseparable?
• Jesus’ radical redefinition of family and the overlap between Christianity and communism
• What Sophie really means by abolition
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🎙️ Follow The Sacred: linktr.ee/sacredpodcast
📖 Follow Elizabeth Oldfield: www.elizabetholdfield.com/
💡 Produced by the ‪@thinktanktheos‬ www.theosthinktank.co.uk/
👉 Check out Sophie Lewis' work: https://www.instagram.com/reproutopia/?hl=en--

Chapters:00:00 Intro01:30 What is Sacred to you? Sophie Lewis answers12:15 - Sophie’s complex family history and personal struggles17:08 - Educational journey and radicalisation at university 20:28 - The meaning of utopia as a non-attachment process 24:22 - Connections between faith, love, and collective action 31:42 - Dissecting the concept of "Full Surrogacy Now" 36:39 - The biological myths around kinship and their political implications 43:46 - The paradox of abolition47:01 - Abolishing slavery through a radical reimagining of humanism 50:04 - Redefining family and kinship beyond blood ties 58:37 - How revolutionary care structures could have supported Sophie’s mother 60:45 - Sophie’s dedication to collective love and care as sacred practices 65:55 - The importance of shared purpose, synchronised action, and community
Keywords:
Sophie Lewis interview, abolish the family, radical feminist theory, Marxist feminism, political theory podcast, communisation of care, collective care, kinship networks, utopian thinking, libertarian communism, red love, family abolition, post-capitalist society, rethinking family, surrogacy ethics, gestational labor, parenthood and care, children belong to all of us, abolitionist thought, freedom and care, communal living, shared responsibility, parenting in modern society, radical theory for everyday life, anti-capitalist ideas, feminist politics, climate activism and radical thought, human geography theory, political philosophy podcast, queer runaway experiences, care as politics, social justice ideas, ethical community building, friendship as radical practice, collective freedom, family and society, abolitionist feminism, pregnancy and labor politics, communal childcare, mutual aid networks, parenting beyond the nuclear family, utopian visions, practical radicalism, human interconnection, radical love, ethics of kinship, parenting as shared labor, post-nuclear family ideas, political critique of capitalism, community-centered society, love and autonomy, humanism and care, social reproduction theory, feminist philosophy, radical theory conversation, future of family, abolitionist imagination