In light of NPR's new series 'Enlighten Me', Sommer Hill sat down with host, Rachel Martin. In this interview, Rachel shares why she decided to launch this series, the topics she explores with her guests and even shares insight into where she is on her own spiritual journey.
Sommer Hill
Hello everyone. My name is Sommer Hill and I am the Senior Social Media Associate for NPR Extra. Today I'm here with Rachel Martin, host of Enlighten Me. Thank you so much for being here today.
Rachel Martin:
Thank you for having me.
Sommer Hill:
Can you tell us a little bit about this series?
Rachel Martin:
It is for me a way to tackle the most existential questions. I've spent more than 20 years in news and have covered all kinds of grim stuff: wars, recessions, shootings, opioid crisis, you name it. And to be perfectly honest, I needed to step away from those stories, and I needed to kind of focus on different kinds of questions, fundamental questions about. Why are we here? What happens after we die? How do we navigate our way through life?
Sommer Hill
It's our own curiosity that drives us to ask these certain questions, what in particular are you searching for? Is there something that you need to know yourself?
Rachel Martin
I'm really interested in trying to figure out to what degree people actually quietly or maybe out loud, apply religious and spiritual principles to how they live their life. Because people don't talk outwardly a lot about that part of themselves.
I lost both my parents and I brought that up because they were the people in my life who built my spiritual scaffolding and then it's sort of up to you as the kid to do your own investigating and blow the house down or build it up. And I just never did the work to fill it in in any way. I just leaned on them whenever I felt like I needed a dose of spiritual nourishment. And then when they're gone, you're sort of looking around and casting about and nothing really makes sense to me anymore, like on a deeply spiritual level. And so that is partly why I wanted to do this as well. I think this happens to a lot of people.
Sommer Hill
Where are you now in your spiritual journey? We've heard your interviews with all these people, and they explain exactly where they're at and where they're going and how they got there but where are you?
Rachel Martin
So the breaking news, the end of this whole thing is that we create our own meaning. It's like realizing that everything is imperfect. Nothing will ever be like the end all, be all, but really trying to figure out what it is that is a priority, what is ultimately important. And I'm still trying to sort through that, but also an outward expression like, what am I doing with that knowledge? Like now that I feel like all zen'd out after my meditation, what do I do in the world with that?
Sommer Hill
I was listening to your interview with Dr. Roland Griffiths and he talked about the power to speak up and he was speaking to his cancer and he had that conversation with his cancer. I want to know what in you would you speak to and what would you say?
Rachel Martin
Oh, if I was on some crazy psychedelic trip?
Sommer Hill
Sure.
Rachel Martin
Good question Sommer. I think I would talk to my parents. You know, I think I would like to say things that I didn't think to say because you never you're never really ready. And then when those people aren't in your life anymore, You know, they're just questions I have about raising kids, things that I wish I could ask my parents now or or things that I know I screwed up on and want to apologize for. So that's probably what I would do.
Sommer Hill
Do you feel like you can still talk to them?
Rachel Martin
Well, that's interesting. I mean, praying is not a thing I do. But I was in another conversation with someone, this guy named Jeff Hiller, who's an actor on Somebody Somewhere. And when we were sort of talking about praying, he said, "I don't really pray, but I do talk to my mom." I don't as I sit there and I'm like, "Hey, Mom, what's up?" But I conjure her. And I think about what she or my dad would do in different circumstances. And so that's like a way to remember them and try to imagine the answers that they would give me to the question I'm imposing. That's probably as close as I get to like praying.
Sommer Hill
What has been your biggest aha moment or wow moment through these conversations you've been having?
Rachel Martin
I had a conversation with this author named Katherine Mae, and she's this really beautiful writer. She basically told me in the end the revelation that has happened to her, which is that people who are out there, myself included, are trying to search for meaning in places. What does it all mean? Why are we here? What are we doing over there? There are no answers. We have to be comfortable in the questioning and to get solace from the fact that we create our own meaning. And we have the power to do that. You don't have to look to some external force like maybe you believe in a god. Maybe you believe in some kind of divine plan that governs your life. Or maybe you just create sacredness as you walk around the world yourself and you have the ability to do that like you and I are talking right now. That's like a sacred thing. We're having this genuine exchange, and that's sort of why I went into journalism in the first place. It was never like the breaking news story. If I'm being honest, I was a sucker for that exchange of intimacy. And that's like a really sacred thing. So when you decide to recognize that in the interactions you have with strangers and just people in your life to really listen to people and be present and just decide for yourself, the walk I'm taking down the street, I can make that a sacred experience.
Sommer Hill
So what are some concepts you still want to explore?
Rachel Martin
I think there's more to be looked at when it comes to how people and cultures for a very long time have used medicines and psychedelics as an expression of their belief system, their cosmology, their religious system. I'm super interested in that. And I'm really interested in forgiveness as just an idea and how hard it can be to do that sometimes. I'm endlessly interested in death. I think that the experience of transitioning is like such a beautiful and sacred experience. And I think we don't really talk enough about it.
Sommer Hill
It's so taboo, but it's like it's the only thing that's definite in this life.
So who is your dream guest?
Rachel Martin
I wish I had better answers for this question, but what I really want this show to be is not necessarily like the big fancy celebrities. Like, I definitely want to talk to Mahershala Ali. I think he's amazing and he's a very religious person and he's religious in Hollywood, which is really interesting to me. So, yes, there's like big celebrities I want to talk to, but I just want to talk to people who get to get it and will be honest and make themselves vulnerable. And that can be anyone.
Sommer Hill
I'm sure you've experience in journalism, especially being a White House correspondent, when we talk to people, they have scripts and they already know what they want to say, they already have the agenda they want to push. But I find with these kinds of conversations, they kind of just flow and you can really get the essence of someone and what they live by. So finally, I want you to enlighten me. Leave me with some words. What are some things I can think about?
Rachel Martin
Well, I don't know if I've gleaned enough wisdom to be the teacher at this point. I think it's more of what I've already said. It's like we are each more in control than we think we are. And I need to take more responsibility for myself in answering these questions. And I think it's sort of a cop out to try to endlessly look for something and just be dissatisfied that you can't find the answer. And then just like swim around in your spiritual angst. Get over yourself. I'm already sort of over myself. Learn something and apply it and move on. We can imbue meaning into our lives. It's on me to read more, seek out people who are different than I am and have come up with different answers for these questions and then live it out. So I think my way to enlighten you is just that you have the power. You have more answers to the questions than you realize it is. It is already in you and you just kind of have to be comfortable in that power.
Sommer Hill
When does the show come out? How can we listen?
Rachel Martin
So right now it's on Weekend All Things Considered. It's the last segment in that show. So it's usually like 5:45 on Sundays and then we'll see what the future holds.
*The video has been transcribed and edited for clarity.
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