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Something Understood

Religion & Ethics

Ethical and religious discussion that examines some of the larger questions of life

Ethical and religious discussion that examines some of the larger questions of life, taking a spiritual theme and exploring it through music, prose and poetry

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Something Understood: Living Lineage

Poetic Rituals

Living Lineage

BBC Radio 4 - Something Understood, Living Lineage

Sarah Goldingay examines our ongoing relationship with our ancestors.

Sarah Goldingay examines our ongoing relationship with our ancestors and the power of knowledge passed down.

Sarah Goldingay examines the ongoing relationship we have with our ancestors. These figures hover in our past, unknown to us and yet not entirely distant. Although her ancestors are strangers, Sarah also feels close to them; she senses her place in a long lineage stretching back over the generations.

As a teacher, Sarah is fascinated by another form of lineage, one through which knowledge is continually passed down. We hear from Jiu-Jitsu black belt Rener Gracie, whose family are martial arts royalty. The Gracies pioneered the stunningly effective Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighting system and have been honing it for generations, distilling it into an art form. Rener explains that, although he's only 34, he feels like he has over 100 years of martial arts expertise within him due to the compounding of knowledge across his lineage.

For Rener, a braiding of lineage and family, memory and embodiment is expressed through a martial art.  For others it's through the craft they practice or the instrument they play. Music has a powerful ability to strengthen the bonds within a lineage. Sarah draws upon the music of Toumani Diabate, a virtuoso player of the harp-like Kora, whose family have been Kora masters for 71 generations. She also explores the Jewish songs of the Seder, or Passover meal.

Sarah concludes by explaining that religion itself can be thought of as a lineage, a "chain of memory" that connects past, present and future people of faith.

Presenter: Sarah Goldingay
Producer: Max O'Brien
A TBI production for BBC Radio 4

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