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“Driven by the force of love, the fragments of the world seek each other so that the world may come into being.”
The Love Is Storytelling Project is a project on love as a force for social and personal change. I ask a broad range of people known and unknown a series of introspective but relatable questions about their relationship to and thoughts on this subject. From these interviews, I craft segments for a meditative podcast series as well as a soundtrack for an audio installation.
The project is motivated in part by the state of the world, one in which I feel we lose out by not living more in the space of non-romantic love but also by the burgeoning awareness that it is only through a deeper connection to love's offerings that we can experience a more sustainable existence on this planet. We owe it to ourselves to love more deeply and more openly. I know I'm not the only one feeling a sense of urgency with regards to the direction we're heading on this planet and in such times of stress, it can be hard to not succumb to the overwhelming diet of fear and anxiety we're being fed on a daily basis. Many traditional, indigenous and mystical cultures, such as my own, center love as the highest form of consciousness, the most powerful force for change, at the heart of an ecology that sees the world through the lens of interconnection. In our rush towards a heavily mechanized idea of modernity, we have forgotten this. This project is my way of remembering and thereby carving space for the same at the collective level.
Having conducted several of these interviews already, I can say that it's been a transformative experience all around.
Info on how to participate below. In the meantime, you can find and listen to edited interviews below, on my Soundcloud channel, on Spotify and on iTunes. Soundtrack entitled Ninyani is courtesy of Hilmar Hajek. Additional sound editing by Dirk Eusterbrock.
And if you’d like to support the project in other ways, I have a launched a crowdfunding fundraiser and would gladly welcome contributions.
The format is simple. Whether in person or on Zoom, I sit opposite the interviewee who speaks their answers to my questions into a microphone. Some participants have asked to see the questions in advance while others have preferred to respond spontaneously. I leave the choice up to each person.
This is an ongoing and self-funded project with no fixed deadline per se so while I cannot make any promises with regards to when each interview will be edited and launched or when I might be able to activate the sound installation, I do make copies of the unedited interviews available to each participant.
Please feel free to reach out with any questions and to arrange a time to be interviewed. I’d love to sit down with you and hear your thoughts on love.
© Sheba Remy Kharbanda 2020