Bayo Akomolafe invites us to consider what can happen when urgency gives way to slowing down and healing. His conversation with Tami Simon reflects on sanctuary, grief, ancestry, and finding different ways to meet times of change.
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In this piece, Bayo Akomolafe: Let Us Make Sanctuary and its reflections on sanctuary, slowing down and healing, grief, and ancestry will be discussed.
Key Takeaways:
- Sanctuary: Learn how Akomolafe frames sanctuary as a space for reconsidering our relationships with change, grief, and uncertainty.
- Ancestry: Consider how ancestral relationships and Yoruba-influenced practices contribute to Akomolafe’s reflections on connection and belonging.
- Spiritual Inquiry: Understand how contemplation, activism, historical trauma, and social change intersect throughout the conversation.
Making Sanctuary in Times of Change
Born in Nigeria and shaped by Yoruba teachings as well as Western academia, Bayo Akomolafe brings an unconventional perspective to questions of crisis and social change.
In our conversation, Bayo Akomolafe: Let Us Make Sanctuary, he speaks with Tami Simon about sanctuary as a place where slowing down and healing can happen. Their discussion moves through ancestry, grief, trauma, spiritual contemplation, and the crossroads at which familiar ways of responding may no longer be sufficient.
What Let Us Make Sanctuary Means
Sanctuary, as it emerges in this conversation, is closely connected to the practice of slowing down. Akomolafe challenges the idea that a pause simply helps us recover enough energy to keep moving in the same direction.
Instead, slowing down can create space for deeper inquiry. It gives us an opportunity to question where we are going, what has shaped that direction, and what other possibilities might become visible when forward movement is no longer our only priority.
Slowing Down and Healing in Difficult Times
Urgent circumstances often create pressure to respond immediately. Akomolafe offers another possibility: slowing down and healing can become part of how we meet a crisis rather than something postponed until the crisis has passed.
This kind of slowing asks for attention. It makes room for questions that can be difficult to hear amid constant movement and gives us time to reconsider the paths we have inherited.
Let Us Make Sanctuary Through Slowing Down and Healing
Akomolafe also draws attention to our relationships with those who came before us. The conversation considers the African spiritual practice of pouring drink to the earth as an expression of indebtedness to ancestors and to everything that makes life possible.
From this perspective, sanctuary is relational. Slowing down and healing can involve remembering the connections that hold us and recognizing that our lives do not exist independently of the people, histories, and living world around us.
Finding New Possibilities Through Slowing Down and Healing
The image of standing at a crossroads runs through Akomolafe’s reflections. He suggests that the ground beneath familiar assumptions is shifting, creating conditions in which what once went unsaid may become possible to speak and understand.
Slowing down gives us time to remain with that uncertainty. Rather than rushing toward a familiar answer, we can pay attention to what a changing landscape might reveal.
Bayo Akomolafe on How We Make Sanctuary
Grief also has a meaningful place in Akomolafe’s understanding of sanctuary. His conversation with Simon considers grief in relation to activism, along with the possibility of approaching sites of historical trauma as places for spiritual contemplation and renewed connection with loss and tragedy.
To make sanctuary, then, can mean creating room to stay present with experiences we might otherwise hurry past. Akomolafe’s invitation asks us to consider what becomes possible when we slow down enough to listen, grieve, question our direction, and encounter the world from another place.
Final Thoughts
Bayo Akomolafe’s invitation to make sanctuary encourages us to reconsider our relationship with urgency, grief, and change. Through slowing down and healing, we can create space to listen more deeply, honor our connections, and remain open to possibilities that may emerge when we pause.
Frequently Asked Questions About Bayo Akomolafe: Let Us Make Sanctuary
Who is Bayo Akomolafe?
Bayo Akomolafe is a thinker, writer, speaker, and trained clinical psychologist whose work engages questions of social change, spirituality, community, and the ways people respond to challenging circumstances.
Who speaks with Bayo Akomolafe in Let Us Make Sanctuary?
Bayo Akomolafe speaks with Sounds True founder Tami Simon. Their conversation brings his ideas into a reflective exchange centered on sanctuary, change, grief, and spiritual inquiry.
What traditions influence Bayo Akomolafe’s perspective?
Akomolafe’s perspective is informed in part by Yoruba teachings and his Nigerian background, alongside his experience with Western academic thought. These influences contribute to his distinctive approach to spirituality and social questions.
What role does ancestry play in Bayo Akomolafe’s teachings?
Ancestry provides a way to consider our relationship with those who came before us. Akomolafe speaks about practices that acknowledge indebtedness to ancestors and the many relationships that make our lives possible.
How does Bayo Akomolafe connect spirituality and activism?
Akomolafe considers how spiritual contemplation can inform our relationship with activism. Rather than treating inner reflection and collective concerns as entirely separate, his perspective creates room for them to meet.
Why does Bayo Akomolafe discuss historical trauma?
Historical trauma offers an opportunity to consider how places marked by suffering might be approached differently. Akomolafe reflects on visiting such sites as spaces for contemplation and engagement with histories of loss.
What is the significance of the crossroads in Akomolafe’s thinking?
The crossroads represents a place where established directions may become uncertain and different possibilities can emerge. It provides a useful image for considering periods of cultural and personal transition.
How does Let Us Make Sanctuary approach interconnectedness?
The conversation recognizes that individual lives are shaped by relationships, histories, ancestors, communities, and the living world. This perspective invites a broader understanding of how people belong to one another and their surroundings.
Is Let Us Make Sanctuary intended only for experienced spiritual practitioners?
No. The conversation can speak to both longtime spiritual seekers and people who are newly curious about contemplative ideas. Sounds True shares teachings in an accessible, heart-led way for people at different points in their learning journeys.
Where can I listen to Bayo Akomolafe: Let Us Make Sanctuary?
You can listen to the full Bayo Akomolafe: Let Us Make Sanctuary podcast conversation through Sounds True.
Nataly Kogan is an author (Happier Now), speaker, and the founder of Happier. Her work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, TEDx Boston, SXSW, and Dr Oz. Nataly lives with her husband and daughter in Boston. For more, visit happier.com.
