Robert Macfarlane and Barry Lopez, Powell's Bookstore, June 13, 2019

Robert Macfarlane and Barry Lopez in a rare discussion at Powell's Bookstore in Portland, Oregon on June 13, 2019. This event was in support of Robert's newest book "Underland."
Read my personal account behind the making of this video, and follow my newsletter on nature and language at www.lukasguides.com/my-day-with-robert-macfarlane/.

[@theresamorrow7207]

A truly wonderful conversation with two great writers. RIP Barry Lopez. Long may you write, Rob.

[@sharonrussell7799]

I'm reading "Underland " now and fell upon this interview. Listening to these two beautiful writers made me tear, made me feel chills on my arms in their observations. Their humility, love, and idea that writing is a service to others and not an ego-filled endeavor is so attractive. With the passing of Barry Lopez last year, I was reminded of how profound his work has touched me and so many. I feel now that Robert MacFarlane is indeed his protege in a way, both are poets in their prose. How grateful I feel.

[@DavidLukas]

Thank you for your heartfelt comment. I'm so glad that you're reading these important writings and that you discovered this video.

[@margaretgilman8787]

I'm so grateful it's never too late to learn ☮️💜

[@DavidLukas]

Such inspiring voices!

[@FraserLGuitar]

That is truly remarkable. Two incredibly important voices who so many should listen to. Thank you very much for posting this.

[@DavidLukas]

I agree and I think it's important that this conversation will be remembered and shared.

[@jackmclean3808]

Two legends their book’s have changed my life!

[@DavidLukas]

Absolutely! Two important voices for our time!

[@williamc.hensel130]

An homage to language and landscape linking heart to heart, heart to cosmos. A bridge to love, which is also the confluence of truth, beauty and goodness, peace and joy. Thanks David Lukas, Barry Lopez, Rob Macfarlane.

[@kingy002]

The wealth of knowledge on those bookshelves, behind Robert and Barry, is vast and expansive. I have owned some of those collections, so I know what is in them.

[@DavidLukas]

Thank you for watching and it's fun that you commented on the books!

[@maryanncullinan5902]

Thank you David Lukas - couldn't believe my luck when someone sent me the link to this pairing of two favourite writers in conversation!

[@DavidLukas]

Thank you, I appreciate your note and love of these two writers.

[@jylyhughes5085]

Robert Macfarlane .. Barry Lopez .... thank you for being and sharing and inspiring .... Underland is an astonishing book! Thank you ....

[@DavidLukas]

Isn't it amazing to hear the two of them talking with each other for the first time?!

[@jylyhughes5085]

@@DavidLukas yes! What a marvellous discussion between these two beautiful men. Utterly engrossing .... I want more and more ....

[@amandamoore9183]

Many more people need to see share and read these guys we need to be sharing this.

[@DavidLukas]

Please do share this. We need to hear the voices of writers like this.

[@amandamoore9183]

@@DavidLukas Thanks for your reply and I will the combination of these two souls give hope, reading their books and sharing those as well feels essential to me. Thank you.

[@Redoakhouse]

We need so many more of these thoughtful and intelligent conversations. Grateful to be able to watch from Dakota.

[@DavidLukas]

Thank you for watching! I put the effort into making this video so that it could be shared and seen by folks that weren't there. I love the interplay of thoughts and ideas here!

[@marcdefaoite]

Thanks for sharing

[@DavidLukas]

Thank you for watching!

[@kreek22]

The Western world had been on a trajectory to transition its religious mode from Christianity to Gaia worship. As an example, Lopez himself has never denied his strong religious passion, which nearly caused him to take orders as a young man. But, he redirected his hopes, as so many others have, in face of the decline in the persuasiveness of revealed religion. This process, on the civilizational level, was interrupted on June 22, 1941. The genocide of the Jews caused the rulers of the West to alter the path from Gaia worship to racial obsession, an obsession which then branched out to include obsessions concerning various other aspects of personal identity. It is these obsessions which preeminently have captured the religious passion of the West in recent decades Capital naturally and anti-naturally prefers the new path, which in recent years has even intensified in its emotional resonance and in its costs to society. Although the new religious rites often operate as a taxes on Capital, they nevertheless do not prevent it from continuing its relentless ascent toward its logical destination: the Singularity, the point when Capital becomes sentient and utterly unassailable. Having chosen the wrong religion, humanity has insisted on remaining the handmaiden of Capital even as Capital promises the extinction of the species. And the Singleton, in the absolute freedom of its post-human universe, if it posits a religious faith for itself, may choose any arbitrary option, to include those beyond human comprehension.

[@kingy002]

That is a wonderful articulation, and it has set me thinking.