We’ve Boiled It Down for You!

We – Steve Bhaerman and Michael Maxsenti -- 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.

Our first seven guests have shown us the pathway to turn this ideal into the REAL DEAL – by awakening the recognition of what is possible and highlighting how to navigate there. This seemingly dark time is actually leading us to the birth of a new era for humanity, an era of REUNION …where we can come together as a family to face our common challenges, and thrive in harmony with the web of life and the web of love.

We know how busy most people are, and we want to make sure you get the essence of these conversations so you can start this New Year as encouraged and optimistic as we are about the future. So, to clarify our intention and help see a path forward, we’ve distilled more than seven hours of conversation into two 17-minute videos …and now we’ve boiled THAT down to this very short 10-minute video.

Here are the purposes, principles, and practices that emerged from conversations with Charles Eisenstein, Charles Randall Paul, Bobby Austin, Shawna Bluestar Newcomb, Thom Hartmann, Glenn Aparicio Parry, and Joan Blades:

1. To step off the battlefield and onto a new playing field, we need a UNIFYING VISION that expresses our common human aspiration to live in a loving, healthy and coherent world – best expressed by Charles Eisenstein’s phrase, “The more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.”

2. The great obstacle to achieving this heartfelt aspiration of humankind is the learned habits of separation. To address this separation, we invited Charles Randall Paul to explain the concept and benefits of “religious diplomacy” – accepting and holding the peaceful tension between opposing viewpoints so we can seek the whole truth together.

3. Bobby Austin shared how “public kinship” can bring diverse viewpoints together around a common purpose and develop a common culture that allows us to disagree in our minds while staying united in our hearts – unity without uniformity.

4. To further ground our unifying vision, we next invited Shawna Bluestar Newcomb to bring forth her Native American perspective, and show how we can evolve from the “doctrine of domination” to “the reverence code” that connects us to the web of life, and the web of love.

5. Our next guest, talk show host Thom Hartmann, spoke about the “Lost People” – the disconnection of European people from their own indigenous roots that made the doctrine of domination possible – and led to the collective trauma that we must acknowledge and begin to heal to build kinship and experience reunion.

6. To acknowledge the Native American contribution that has been largely ignored and to bring forth its wisdom that is so needed today, we invited Glenn Aparicio Parry, author of “Original Politics”, to tell the story of how the Native Peoples influenced America's founders and our sacred purpose – unity and diversity. He also emphasized the importance of bringing together the indigenous and 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.

7. With the understanding that we needed to bring all these concepts and perspectives into the room to bring forth a greater wisdom, we wrapped up our foundational series with Joan Blades, founder of MoveOn.org and co-founder of Living Room Conversations – a platform to have the “re-humanizing” conversations that provide the foundation for collaboration and reunion, where the dignity of everyone is respected.

So that’s the boil down, folks.

What we require now is a compelling and unifying vision to lift us beyond our differences so we can work together for the thrival of each and all.

We can heal the separation, by affirming kinship in the heart, even as we have disagreement in our heads – unity without uniformity.

Our vision must be compatible with the web of life, and the web of love, and we must acknowledge and heal the collective trauma that is part of our human DNA.

We must cultivate the wisdom of all sides and all polarities to improve the human condition, and “overgrow” the human conditioning.

To do so, we must engage in rehumanizing conversations that respect the dignity of everyone.

From this foundation of vision, kinship, unity and diversity, respect and acknowledgment, we begin this New Year, bringing all sides front and center to face the music and dance together. We hope you will join us on this journey to a healthier, more joyous, and more prosperous world.

Steve Bhaerman

Michael Maxsenti

January 3, 2022

“Courage” Our Front and Center Theme Song

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