On Love, Storytelling, and Radical Curiosity | Baktash Ahadi

What does it mean to choose love in the times we're in?

What will help us to open our hearts again after they close? 

And see with greater clarity, what connects us, rather divides us?

These are the deep and challenging questions we’re exploring in the final chapter of this trilogy. 

A mini series on the podcast that has brought together leaders across disciplines to discuss the possibilities of:

Embracing impermanence, 

Leaning into mystery & wonder, 

And is now turning the conversation toward love. 

Emmy and Peabody Award Winning Filmmaker, Baktash Ahadi writes:

“Growing up across cultures, languages, and histories shaped by conflict, I learned early that facts alone rarely move people. 

Stories do. 

They shape belonging, fear, loyalty, and identity. 

Long before I became a filmmaker, I was already paying attention to how narratives functioned beneath the surface of everyday life.”

I wrote to Baktash and asked him:

Could storytelling be part of the answer to these questions? 

Could storytelling be what helps us find our way back to each other? 

Today’s conversation will traverse this territory.   

Including the insights Baktash has gained through documentary work across conflict zones, classrooms, institutions, and intimate human spaces. 

The patterns he’s uncovered. 

The ways in which Narratives have structure, how they carry emotional momentum, 

And how ultimately they shape how people interpret themselves, each other, and the world. 

Baktash offers a powerful reminder:

When mishandled, Narratives flatten complexity and deepen division. 

But when handled with care, they create space for dignity, curiosity, and connection.

And ultimately the profoundly human practice of sharing, 

and listening to each others stories, 

may be what helps us 

to love again. 

For more on Baktash, his films, podcast, events, and other work please visit baktashahadi.org. For more on his recent documentary Champions of the Golden Valley, please visit: https://www.championsofthegoldenvalley.com/

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Other conversations in the trilogy:

Part One: Impermanence:

• Impermanence, Letting Go, and Finding Freedom | Sharon Salzberg & Sunita Puri
• On Work, Friendship, and Embracing Impermanence | Parker Palmer & Jerry Colonna
• On Love, Death, and Embracing Our Humanity | Roshi Joan Halifax & Frank Ostaseski

Part Two: Mystery & Wonder

• On the Power of Wonder | Monica Parker 
• On Ordinary Mysticism, Wonder, and Love | MIrabai Starr
• On Living a Life That Brings us Truly Alive | Lee Johnson

Part Three: Love

• On the Power of Love | Stephen G. Post

Thanks for listening!