Becoming Spiritual Warriors: exploring a politics of radical Compassion with Jamie Bristow

In a world of turmoil where the only certainty is uncertainty, what happens if we who yearn for a future we'd be proud to leave behind began really to speak the quiet part out loud? What happens if we acknowledge the meaning crisis of our culture and state clearly that we need a world based on Love: on the raw, wild, wonder of life itself? And what happens if we shape our politics around this, instead of defensive attempts to make the death cult of predatory capitalism feel less... deathly? This week's guest, Jamie Bristow is someone who lives in the worlds where policies are made and, for the past sixteen years, he has been consciously committed to being a Spiritual Warrior with all this implies. Like Jon Alexander, Jamie started off life as an advertising executive before realising he needed to align his inner and outer worlds.  Now, he's a writer and policy advisor working at the intersection of inner and outer transformation and sustainability. For eight years, he was clerk to the UK's All Party Parliamentary Group on Mindfulness and director of the associated policy institute, the Mindfulness Initiative, (where he helped to introduce mindfulness to a number of other parliaments).  During this time he worked with legislators around the world to make mindfulness and compassion training serious matters of public policy and catalysts for a healthier political process. In 2023, he joined the Inner Development Goals team to lead on public narrative and policy development, emphasising the inner skills and qualities needed for a sustainable transition. His work includes influential reports such as Reconnection: Meeting the Climate Crisis Inside Out and The System Within: Addressing the inner dimension of sustainability and systems transformation. He is an associate of Life Itself, The Climate Majority Project, Mind & Life Institute and Bangor University. Jamie's website https://www.jamiebristow.com/ Jamie's substack https://jamiebristow.substack.com/ Jamie on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamiebristow/ Mindfulness Initiative Mindfulness initiative UN IDG Inner Development Goals Life Guild lifeguild.earth Transformative Skills Guide Transformative Skills Guide: Expanding the Definition of Climate Literacy (co-authored with US gov climate literacy experts) Jamie's Wiki psycho-social dimensions of societal resilience Desmog https://www.desmog.com/2024/08/06/between-optimism-and-despair-the-messy-middle-paths-through-climate-breakdown/ Reconnection: Meeting the Climate Crisis Inside Out https://www.themindfulnessinitiative.org/reconnection The System Within: addressing the inner dimensions of sustainability and systems transformation https://www.clubofrome.org/publication/earth4all-bristow-bell/ The Mindfulness Initiative Report on the result of 10 years of mindfulness in Westminster https://www.themindfulnessinitiative.org/mindfulness-in-westminster-reflections-from-uk-politicians Soulmaking Dharma with Catherine McGee https://www.buddhistinquiry.org/courses/immersive-online-programs/soulmaking-dharma/ SoulMaking Dharma teachings  https://hermesamara.org/teachings/soulmaking-dharma SoulMaking Dharma Course https://www.buddhistinquiry.org/classes/2025-introduction-to-a-soulmaking-dharma/