S4-EP34 Shamanism, Stand-Up Comedy, and the Adventure of Being Alive with Dr. Hillary S. Webb

Dr. Hillary S. Webb talks about shamanism, stand-up comedy, and the adventure of being alive. She’s a cultural anthropologist and mixed-media storyteller with a focus on theater anthropology and cross-cultural perspectives on human consciousness. And, Hillary describes her work as exploring how we make meaning of this wonderful, terrible, ecstatic, startling, and often absurd world in which we live. 

Growing up, Hillary found herself falling in love with the human condition. Consequently, the more she saw, the deeper she wanted to go into understanding it. And, it was this impulse that led Hillary to earn an undergraduate degree in Journalism from New York University, an MA in Consciousness Studies from Goddard College, and a PhD in Existential-Humanistic Psychology from Saybrook University.

Hillary values, “pulling back the blinders." because she wants to understand and engage with the world in the purest possible way. And, to do that, she aims to expand her perspective to try to see the world for what it really is, not just the limited view we have as an individual.

Hillary is interested in how people around the world address the complexities of being human.  Furthermore, to what degree do we differ and in what ways are we the same in our existential concerns. And how do we seek to relieve them?

What experiences—and the belief systems that arise out of them—help us make meaning of our lives and feel less alone in the universe?

These are some of the questions motivating Hillary’s life and work. She lives to write. Writing is part of creating an adventurous life she LOVES living! And her four books recount some of what she discovered when she went looking for answers.

A professor at Goddard College in Vermont, Hillary is the author of four nonfiction books including the most recently published, The Friendliest Place in the Universe: Love, Laughter, and Stand-Up Comedy in Berlin. When not lurking around the stand-up comedy clubs of Europe, she lives in Maine with her husband.

Resources Mentioned: 

• Dr. Webb’s website  - check out her books!
• Email Dr. Webb: [e-mail]
• Dr. Webb on LinkedIn
• @TalesFromTheThrownWorld or search "Hillary S. Webb"
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