Hi, I'm Michael Maxsenti. My partner Steve Berman and I launched our front and center podcast in September, with the intention to help all sides get off the political battlefields and onto the cooperative playing fields. So we could write our new story together.
We're happy to report that our first seven guests have shown us a pathway to turn this ideal into the real deal. By reawakening the recognition of what is possible.
We know how busy most people are. And we want to make sure you get the essence of these conversations. So you can be as encouraged and optimistic as we are about the future. This seemingly dark time is actually leading us to the birth of a new era for humanity, an era of reunion, a new era, where humanity can actually come together as a family, and help each other deal with the significant challenges we face. So to clarify our intentions, and to help us see a path forward, we've distilled more than seven hours of conversation which are available at locals and on our YouTube channel. We did that into 217 minute videos, which are available there as well. And now we boiled that down to this very short piece.
To lift folks off the battlefield and put us on a new playing field, we need a unifying idea that expresses our common human desire to live in a loving, healthy and coherent world. So we chose a compelling and descriptive phrase Charles Eisenstein used as the title of one of his books, the more beautiful world, our hearts know as possible.
And since both Steve and I have known Charles for a number of years, we naturally invited Charles to be our first guest, to set forth and clarify this great aspiration of humankind, and also to present its most challenging obstacle, the learned habits of separation.
To address the separation, we invited Charles Randall Paul to talk about religious diplomacy that is accepting and holding the peaceful tension between opposing points of view, so that we can seek the whole truth together.
With Randall, we discussed Abraham Lincoln's Team of Rivals, this Team of Rivals who move past not just Opposing Viewpoints, but mutual hatred, to work together to preserve the Union. That sounds like the times we're at right now. And as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Randall also presented their vision of the more beautiful world, that which is called Zion. Zion is where people with significant differences can thrive together, where everyone can be nourished by the very best thinking of all of these rival paths.
Next, we invited longtime community organizer, Bobby Austin, who shared how public kinship can bring diverse viewpoints together around a common purpose. In other words, how can we disagree in our minds, and yet still stay united in the heart and create a common culture that we each and all can participate in?
Yes, a very important distinction, Unity without uniformity. So at this point, we had this sense of a common human aspiration, the more beautiful world our hearts know as possible. We acknowledge the obstacle, the illusion of separation, and the habits and institutions that keep this separation in place. We've looked at ways to overgrow this separation by engaging as trustworthy rivals, acknowledging our need for kinship, and recognizing that we can and we must use our differences constructively.
To further ground our unifying vision. We next invited Shawna Bluestar Nukem to bring forth her native American perspective, and show how we can evolve from the doctrine of domination to the reference code. The reference code connects us to the web of life and the web of life.
That of course, raised another question. How did our civilization become so unhinged? From the web of life, and from the understandings indigenous people have learned over millennia.
Well, that's when I found an article that talk show host Tom Hartman wrote about 23 years ago called The lost people, where he explains the disconnection of European people from their own indigenous roots. And the last refers not just to the last indigenous history, but to being lost being disconnected from our relationship to the natural world, and one another.
This was a very important puzzle piece for us, because it recognizes that trauma is universal trauma is at the root cause of many of our problems. And now acknowledging and beginning to heal that trauma is absolutely necessary for us to move forward.
We also wanted to acknowledge the Native American contribution that's been ignored and wiped from our history. So we invited Glenn Aparicio Perry, author of original politics, to tell the story of how the native peoples influence the colonists, the founders, and the framers of America's in original institutions, and to help us rediscover America's sacred purpose, unity and diversity,
unity and diversity, meaning our system is about extending freedom to all and growing community at the same time, individual rights with collective benefits. Glenn also emphasized the importance of cultivating wisdom, wisdom by bringing people together, the indigenous in the modern, the feminine and the masculine, the progressive and the conservative, so that we have the full power of wisdom on our side, to guide our actions going forward.
With the understanding that we need to bring all these diverse perspectives into the room, so that we get even greater wisdom. We wrapped up the series with John blades, founder of moved on moveon.org and living room conversations. We asked Joan to share her journey from partisan activist to trans partisan pioneer. She exemplifies and points us toward the rehumanize in conversations that provide the foundation for collaboration and reunion. And that grassroots engagement is the foundation of a good democracy, growing connection and understanding.
Yes, as Joan says, We need everyone's best ideas in the room. And to have those ideas fully aired. We need to and again, I'll use Jones words, respect the dignity of everyone. So there we have it.
That's the boil down, we've learned we have to have a compelling unifying vision to move forward. We've learned we must not just acknowledge opposing opinions, but use them constructively. In other words, we seek unity, and we celebrate diversity. And that also means diversity of viewpoints.
Jada lose star Nukem reminded us that our new story must be grounded in the web of life, and the web of love. And Tom Hartman reminded us of the universality of trauma. So we need to treat one another with understanding and compassion.
And from the seeming opposites, indigenous versus modern, masculine versus feminine, progressive versus conservative, we need to cultivate a higher wisdom that brings us to unity without uniformity.
We're going into the series by exploring a real world project that has been bringing individuals together from all sides, to find the unity in the heart that will allow each to disagree in the most constructive ways possible.
We hope we've accomplished our first task to awaken the recognition of what is possible so that we are motivated to uplift ourselves from the old ways that no longer work and find a new possibilities that will work.
We have a foundation that acknowledges the human condition and the human conditioning that will help move us from political battlefields to cooperative playing fields. It is a journey we're taking. It will lead us to more joyous and prosperous world. We hope you will join our front and center community so we can take this journey together. Thank you so very much. Thank you
