Conversation with Author and Propaganda Expert Mark Crispin Miller“Who needs conspiracy theories when we have con’s piracy facts?” -- Swami BeyondanandaIf you’re like most Americans I know, you are watching the train wreck that is American politics chugging down the track to oblivion, and wondering how it is that the likes of Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln have devolved into the (dis)likes of Trump and Biden? How is it we have hunkered into angry rival political camps spending our fury on one another rather than coming together to face our multiple crises together? As the Swami has noted, we are no longer rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. We are now throwing them at each other.If this toxic “shituation” has left you feeling baffled … disheartened … enraged, then you will find this week’s Front and Center conversation with author, NYU professor, and propaganda expert Mark Crispin Miller illuminating and elucidating, as he shines a light on how entire populations are manipulated, and don’t even know it. To quote Swami again, “The truth shall upset you free.”Mark Crispin Miller is a long-time faculty member of New York University, and author of numerous books on the political and cultural scene, including Boxed in: the Culture of TV … The Bush Dyslexicon: Observations on a National Disorder … Cruel and Unusual: Bush/Cheney's New World Order … Fooled Again: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election and Why They'll Steal the Next One Too (Unless We Stop Them) … and Loser Take All: Election Fraud and the Subversion of Democracy, 2000-2008.And while Mark didn’t exactly “write the book” on propaganda, he did write the introduction to the 2005 edition of Edward Bernays’ classic 1928 book, Propaganda. (For those who don’t know, Bernays was Sigmund Freud’s nephew and has been called “the father of modern public relations”. Perhaps his best-known stunt occurred at the Easter Parade in Manhattan in 1928, when he was in the employ of the American Tobacco Company, makers of Lucky Strike cigarettes. At an appointed moment, young women marching as suffragettes stopped, lit up cigarettes, held them aloft and proclaimed them “torches of freedom.” Prior to that time, it was considered unladylike to smoke. After that … well, you’ve come a long way, baby. For a deeper look at Bernays and his work, check out the 2002 BBC documentary, Century of the Self. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ3RzGoQC4s)Curious to learn more?In this riveting and highly-informative conversation, Mark shares how a truth-teller becomes a “conspiracy theorist”, and how being branded as such led him to discover how and why that term was popularized. He walks us through the untold history (i.e., provable facts that have been conveniently left out of the narrative) of post-World War II American history. Mark says, “They call people conspiracy theorists so that no one will pay attention to what they're saying.” Speaking of how the term “conspiracy theorist” was used to delegitimatize those who questioned the official JFK assassination story, he says, “The purpose of the propaganda is to persuade people to ignore a threatening counter narrative. The tactic of dismissing dissidents as conspiracy theorists has worked like a charm, and put a lot of people to sleep.”Mark offers his own story of having his NYU class on propaganda de-platformed because he had the audacity to discuss how propaganda was being used to “sell” the official COVID narrative. And … he offers this caveat – no one, no matter how “smart” they are, are “infoolable”. And he cites his own experience and discomfort confronting his own cherished “truths”. He tells us, “Many things that I believed, and believed ardently, I came to discover were groundless. And I came to that discovery through the critical study of propaganda. You can actually learn a great deal about reality by studying propaganda.”Above all, Mark says, it is much, much easier to see how others (particularly the “other side”) are being manipulated by propaganda, while we stay convinced our side is telling us “The truth”. He says, “Bernays understood that propaganda has to be disguised as something else. It has to be disguised as news, has to be disguised as entertainment, and if it is disguised in this way, then people have let their guard down, because they don't know that that's what it is that's confronting them. And they tend to believe it that much more readily.”One of our key missions at Front and Center is “seeking the whole truth together”. Join our quest, join the upwising, join the conversation.Mark’s website https://markcrispinmiller.com/Mark’s Substack Site https://markcrispinmiller.substack.com/Propaganda in Focus http://propagandastudies.ac.uk/propaganda-in-focus/Watch on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WINmvhod1soWatch on Locals. https://frontandcenter.locals.com/Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on Spotify. Listen on StitcherFront and Center can also be found on most other podcast providers.

Part 3 of conversation with Political and Community Activist Nancy Vogl“I believe in fundamental minority rights. Each of us has the right to be the individual we truly are.” -- Swami BeyondanandaOne of our missions at Front and Center is “finding the whole truth together”, and on a practical level it means unpacking narratives that have become too volatile to talk about. In part 2 of our interview with Nancy Vogl, we addressed Critical Race Theory (CRT), and how polarized misunderstandings have put our body politic on the “critical list.”In Part 3, we address the “gender agenda”, where individuals who don’t identify as M or F get to personally choose their own personal pronouns. To prepare for this conversation, we read the highly-controversial illustrated autobiography, “Gender Queer” which is graphic in more ways than one.To get a “bilateral” view, we invited Nancy, who has journeyed across the political spectrum, from Republican to gay activist to evolutionary revolutionary to Common Sense Party advisory board member to offer her wisdom and perspective.  As with critical race theory, gender engenders an even more passionate and heated response, where fear interferes with rational discourse. We have come a long way from the time when gays were confined to mental institutions and put in straight-jackets. Now that the narrative has flipped, fearful straight men are worried about being put into “gay jackets”. Seriously, sexual identity has always been a “touchy” issue, particularly when it comes to men’s concern about their own masculinity. As Nancy points out, when she was a girl in the late 50s and 60s, it was acceptable for her to be a tomboy. Not so for boys who wanted to play with dolls.  The book, Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe, who identifies as “nonbinary” is literally a journey of self-discovery of someone born female who never, ever identified that way. While the book outraged many – particularly because it is so graphic about “nonbinary” reality – Michael and I both found it eye-opening and compelling. Why SHOULDN’T someone be able to identify any way they like, and share their story and perhaps provide perspective and support for others going through the same identity struggle? Nancy characterized it as a “suicide prevention” book. “It was life changing to some of the young people who might be considering self-harm, who might be considering that they are such an anomaly that they don't deserve to exist.”  If you’re ready for an uncommonly commonsensical conversation that will liberate you from the “binary” views on all sides, please tune in.Gender Queer: A Memoir | by Maia KobabeLeadership and the New Science: Learning about Organization from an Orderly Universe by Margaret J. Wheatley | Sep 1, 1992About “Courage” Our Front and Center Theme SongWhen I heard “Courage” performed live by Luke Anderson with Aea Luz and Jakob Pek at a gathering this past fall, I immediately recognized it as our theme song for Front and Center. ~SteveCourage, courage, courage like a lionStrength of the heart, strength of the spirit to rely onTo truly lift ourselves above the political battlefields so we can populate and animate the new cooperative playing fields requires strength of heart, and strength of spirit. It takes courage to rise above tribal beliefs, to venture beyond the familiar habits of separation to see the bigger picture. And our courage will encourage others to do the same.You can find out more about Luke Anderson’s music here:http://www.danceawake.com/

Part 2 of Conversation with Political and Community Activist Nancy Vogl“Not only do hot-button issues activate the base, they activate the basest of the base.’” -- Swami BeyondanandaOne of our missions at Front and Center is “finding the whole truth together”, and on a practical level it means unpacking narratives that have become too volatile to talk about. One such issue is “critical race theory”. To get a “bilateral” view of this hot button issue, we invited Nancy Vogl, who has journeyed across the political spectrum, from Republican to gay activist to evolutionary revolutionary to Common Sense Party advisory board member to offer her wisdom and perspective. As Nancy tells us, in the case of Critical Race Theory (CRT), there has been plenty of heat, and precious little light. She addresses the widespread belief that CRT, supposedly being taught in our public schools, appears to blame white people living now for what happened 200 years ago. That racism is endemic to the United States, no one can deny. And because people of color are easy to identify, they are more easily separated out. As a white kid growing up in a mostly-black neighborhood, I could take the subway to Manhattan and blend in. Not true for my black friends.As Nancy points out, it’s not CRT itself, but how it is being used to “foment divisiveness and fear.” She continues, “Nobody wants whites to feel guilty. And … people of color and those who've been marginalized by the predominantly male patriarchy want some acknowledgement that that in fact has been done.”  The problem is, real conversations haven’t been happening. The issue – pro or con – becomes a political grenade to lob over the wall to the other side, that is used to gather votes or raise money. “And we'll have these conversations,” Nancy says, “when more and more people are tired of the polemics and the criminalization of another point of view.”If you’re ready for an incisive, compassionate, truth-telling conversation that will liberate you from the “binary” views on all sides, please tune in.About “Courage” Our Front and Center Theme SongWhen I heard “Courage” performed live by Luke Anderson with Aea Luz and Jakob Pek at a gathering this past fall, I immediately recognized it as our theme song for Front and Center. ~SteveCourage, courage, courage like a lionStrength of the heart, strength of the spirit to rely onTo truly lift ourselves above the political battlefields so we can populate and animate the new cooperative playing fields requires strength of heart, and strength of spirit. It takes courage to rise above tribal beliefs, to venture beyond the familiar habits of separation to see the bigger picture. And our courage will encourage others to do the same.You can find out more about Luke Anderson’s music here:http://www.danceawake.com

Conversation with Political and Community Activist Nancy Vogl“Even Jesus believed in evolution. Otherwise, he would have said, ‘Now don’t do a thing until I return.’” -- Swami BeyondanandaAs per a recent Atlantic Monthly article, the new phrase describing America’s ever-deepening political divide is “pernicious polarization”. That old phrase “I wouldn’t want my son / daughter to marry one”, that used to apply to someone of another race, now applies to someone of a different political persuasion. Let that one sink in, folks. While we as a society have largely accepted racial, ethnic and religious intermarriage, that toxic “othering” has now been transferred to the political divide, which has now taken on the feel of a “religious war.”So, if we are to rehumanize one another, get off the political battlefield and onto the cooperative playing field, put government on the side of the people, and write our new story together, where do we turn for guidance and wisdom?This week on Front and Center, we air part one of a three-part conversation with long-time political activist and community educator Nancy Vogl. Why? Because at a time of deepening polarization, the story of her own political evolution offers a clue as to how it can be done. Growing up in a Republican family in Los Angeles County, she recounts a moment where her dad rethought his political stance, and this open-mindedness offered Nancy a living example of political evolution. When she came out as gay in her late teens, Nancy had her parents’ support. She was a founding member of one of the first feminist rock bands of the 1970’s Bay Area Women’s music scene, and played bass at the First International Women’s Rock Festival in Germany in 1981.A poster she saw while on tour of the Midwest that posed the provocative question, “What America do you want to live in?” led her to study with James and Grace Lee Boggs, Detroit-based political activists and “evolutionaries.” The book they authored, Revolution and Evolution in the Twentieth Century, was decades ahead of its time, pointing out that ideologies outlive their usefulness (or in too many cases, uselessness) because their rigidity leaves no room to encompass new information and perspective. “One view is never going to be the answer to anything,” says Nancy. “When you harness the wisdom from different perspectives and different experiences, you increase the capacity for change because you've gotten the best ideas and you create a new whole.” Taking what she learned from vigorous and rigorous conversations with the Boggs, she chose to turn the ideal into the real deal working with high school students, linking young people with “authentic community activities'. She served on the State Superintendent’s Task Force on Service Learning for the California Department of Education and as Youth Service Director for the Volunteer Center of Sonoma County. She was Co-Director and Leadership Coach for Sonoma County’s LGBTQI support group, and represented Northern California as a Rotary Foundation Peace Ambassador in Barcelona, Spain.She is currently on the Advisory Board of the California Common Sense Party, where she is applying her broad political perspective and wisdom to bring the awakening people of California together around common values and common cause, and a commonly-sensed common sense consensus – we the people have been divided and nearly conquered, and now we have the choice to “unite and thrive.”Please tune in for this heart-opening and mind-expanding interview.You will also want to listen to her upcoming interviews, where she sheds light on two controversial and polarizing issues – the so-called Critical Race Theory (CRT), and gender identification. One of our early Front and Center guests, Randall Paul, President of the Foundation for Religious Diplomacy, offered what should be the standard and challenge of journalism – seeking the whole truth together. Our three interviews with Nancy Vogl put us on track for doing just that.

Conversation with Former US Congressman and CSP Founder Tom Campbell“We have a deeply-divided body politic. Half the people believe our system is broken. The other half believe it is fixed.” -- Swami BeyondanandaWhen asked if we need a new third party in the United States, our cosmic comic uncommontator Swami Beyondananda answered, “No. We need a new FIRST party in this country.” And … what if there were a “third force” that could transform our system from a dysfunctional two-party duopoly to a thriving multi-party system?Our conversation with former U.S. Congressman and Common Sense Party founder Tom Campbell offers up an uncommonly sensible common sense approach to get government on the side of the people. And Tom Campbell is no sidelines commentator. He served five terms in the US Congress, and two years in the California State Senate. He was finance director for the state of California, and Director of the Bureau of competition for the Federal Trade Commission. He earned a PhD in Economics from the University of Chicago, and a law degree magna cum laude from Harvard. He was a White House fellow, and a US Supreme Court law clerk, a tenured law professor at Stanford, Dean of the Haas School of Business at Berkeley, was founding Dean of the Fowler School of Law at Chapman University. Currently, he is professor of law and professor of economics at Chapman.In this rich conversation, Tom brings his experiences – and frustrations – as a legislator dedicated to working across party lines to bring constructive policies that benefit We the People, not the special interests, and not just the party elites. You’ll learn why legislators in states like California where there is one-party monopoly, CANNOT deviate from their party line, and why this leaves the majority of voters unrepresented by either party. As an insider, he offers telling examples of this uncommonly senseless system where rigid party stances prevent so many good things from happening …and the way issues were resolved in the past that can be revived in the future.He presents the Common Sense Party as a truly “radical” alternative, radical meaning “getting to the root of.” Instead of platform planks designed to cater to special interests, all platform items will have the approval of three quarters of the party members, giving ordinary citizens not just a vote every two years, but a VOICE in setting policy priorities. Above all, the Common Sense Party is dedicated to collaborating to solve the real problems we face as opposed to staying on the partisan battlefield where regardless of which party wins, the people will lose. Imagine … instead of having the default choice of voting for the “lesser evil” every two years, the voters of California will be able to work for the GREATER GOOD together.As Tom explains, this experiment is beginning in California, both because it is currently a one-party monopoly, and because the “open primaries” mean that in overwhelmingly blue or overwhelmingly red districts, two members of the same party might find themselves opponents in the general election. By supporting the candidate that most represents the independent, common sense approach, the Common Sense Party can be a powerful influence, even in districts where they aren’t running their own candidate.“Instead of being just another political party that runs candidates every two years,” Tom says, “the Common Sense Party offers an ongoing dynamic process for support of positions and supportive of candidates. It's a way that invites people who would otherwise be excluded … and a new way to govern that reflects the needs of the people.”If you’re ready to entertain a constructive alternative to the destructive status quo – a “party for the rest of us” – please tune into this informative and heartening conversation, and find out how YOU can participate.The Common Sense Party website: www.cacommonsense.orgFull Otter unedited transcript: https://otter.ai/u/cKAgathHYKjfcxMu9jehliLBATM“Courage” Our Front and Center Theme Song http://www.danceawake.com/

Conversation with Integral Philosopher Steve McIntosh “Instead of the familiar political tug-of-war pulling us apart, we need a tug of peace where we all pull together in the same direction.” -- Swami BeyondanandaIn this “bite-size excerpt” from our longer interview with Integral philosopher, Steve McIntosh, author of Developmental Politics: How America Can Grow into a Better Version of Itself, we explore the deeper reasons for our political “hyper-polarization”, and why “centrism” won’t bring us together. How can we move from “stuck polarization” to healthy polarization?  How do we evolve our political culture? And how do we expand inclusivity even further to include different worldviews? Find out how “transcending” the current dualistic forms can be “trance-ending.”Steve McIntosh, author of Developmental Politics: How America Can Grow into a Better Version of Itself, has been a leader in the integral philosophy movement for decades. He is president and co-founder of the Institute for Cultural Evolution think tank, which focuses on the cultural roots of America's political problems. He is also co-author with John Mackey and Carter Phipps of the book, Conscious Leadership: Elevating Humanity through Business. He has authored three previous books on Integral philosophy … The Presence of the Infinite, Evolution’s Purpose, and Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution. There were a lot of concepts thrown brought up. If you are like me, you will want to read the full transcript to further think about what you heard and digest it. Here is a link to do so.Article referenced: "Why Centrism Fails”The Institute for Cultural Evolution’s online magazineThe Institute for Cultural Evolution’s existing headquarters website https://www.culturalevolution.org/

Conversation with Integral Philosopher Steve McIntosh“Instead of the familiar political tug-of-war pulling us apart, we need a tug of peace where we all pull together in the same direction."  -- Swami BeyondanandaHere is the political paradox of our times.At a time when the body politic seems more polarized than ever, there seems to be a parallel impulse to come together at a coherent and cohesive center. However, as author and integral thinker Steve McIntosh tells us, “Centrism” has failed us, and is no longer workable. That means, instead of coming together in the muddled middle ready to compromise so that no one is satisfied, we need a “transcendent” and “inclusive” new context that includes not just a variety of races and genders, but a variety of viewpoints as well. Writes McIntosh: “Hyper polarization is not a problem that can be solved under America’s current cultural conditions. The only way to ameliorate this wicked problem is to effectively grow out of it by pointing to achievable next steps for America’s cultural evolution. Integral philosophy accordingly offers a realistic remedy for America’s political dysfunction.”Steve McIntosh, author of Developmental Politics: How America Can Grow into a Better Version of Itself, has been a leader in the integral philosophy movement for decades. He is president and co-founder of the Institute for Cultural Evolution think tank, which focuses on the cultural roots of America's political problems. He is also co-author with John Mackey and Carter Phipps of the book, Conscious Leadership: Elevating Humanity through Business. He has authored three previous books on Integral philosophy … The Presence of the Infinite, Evolution’s Purpose, and Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution. So, how do we “overgrow” our current “bi-polar insanity” and “go sane” together? We do it by cultivating what McIntosh calls “cultural intelligence” and a “new vision of the common good.” We do it by recognizing that each worldview has a blind spot, and integrating the best aspects of the worldviews from the past, into a new vision for the future. Imagine using the two natural human impulses of growth and protection, progressivism and conservatism, to address two functional questions:How do we want to progress?What do we want to conserve?I know, I know. We are proposing a sane world. We must be crazy!Seriously, join us for this deep conversation on how we can use our differences to find our sane and sacred center.Article referenced: "Why Centrism Fails”The Institute for Cultural Evolution’s online magazine: https://post-progressive.org/The Institute for Cultural Evolution’s existing headquarters website https://www.culturalevolution.org/

Front and Center Interview with “Habits of Unity” Author Elaine Parke“There’s no need to change the world. There is a better way. I say let’s toilet train the world, and we’ll never have to change it again.” -- Swami BeyondanandaIn these times of division, fear, misunderstanding, and confusion, those who are awakening to the “shituation” are asking, “What can I do?”Maybe the better question is, “Who can I BE?” For as Gandhi famously said, “Be the change you seek.” Could it be that the key to changing what’s out there is changing what’s “in here”?  This week’s guest on Front and Center, Elaine Parke, has applied her 25 years’ experience in the world of advertising and marketing messaging, to design a unique, playful and highly-effective way to ground the “ideal” of universal values into the “real deal” of daily practice. Her book, The Habits of Unity: 12 Months to a Stronger America, offers a “habit-forming” practice to transform our largely unconscious habits of separation into a program and practice of what she calls, “intentional evolution”.  She successfully implemented this program in Rwanda, and in systems like the Pittsburgh school system, and now she is bringing her wisdom and program to the world at large at a time when we most definitely could use “unity without uniformity.” The brilliance in her program is that each individual gets to embody and apply each helpful habit in their own unique way. Says Elaine: “I wrote this book because, like me, you may find it stressful to feel like a helpless bystander in this toxic era of division in America. If you really think about it however, national unity won’t trickle down to help us. It will ‘bubble up’ as each good citizen like ourselves add ‘our better.’”Watch our interview here, and discover a simple and effective way for YOU to move the “upwising” forward. Website: https://www.12habits4allofus.orgFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/12wonderfulhabitsLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elaine-parke-mba-cs-cm-b69aa7/Twitter: https://twitter.com/12harmonyhabitsLive Transcript: https://otter.ai/u/yNAqxtUdyiqYzSqv_kXvpEoCmn8

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 BhaermanMichael MaxsentiJanuary 3, 2022“Courage” Our Front and Center Theme Songhttp://www.danceawake.com/

“There are no sides, only angles. And if we see things from the right angle, we’re all on the same side.” -- Swami BeyondanandaThree months ago, amidst very little fanfare, we – Michael Maxsenti and Steve Bhaerman – launched a podcast to bring awakening individuals from all sides “front and center” to get off the political battlefields, and on to the cooperative playing fields, so that we could write humanity’s new story together.At a time when the news “out there” emphasizes division and conflict, we recognized that the new story begins “in here” with an emerging desire to work together in fruitful collaboration, rather than waste our precious energy in fruitless battle. Our intention has been to spark a sane and sacred community that serves as a beacon for those ready to “create the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.”We lifted that phrase from Charles Eisenstein’s book of the same name, and we chose Charles as our first guest to share his unifying vision, in contrast to the division currently dominating our public discourse. We had no idea where this first conversation would lead, and now after our first seven guests, we are both humbled and amazed how the new narrative has unfolded.We’ve created two summary videos where our first guests help lead us “out of the bewilderness” by seeing both where we are coming from, and how we can get where we want to go. We’re hoping they will lift you off the battlefield, and motivate you to get onto the playing field we’re helping create. Build it, and they will come. Well, here it is …and welcome!Please enjoy both of these, and we hope you’re as inspired as we were.Please watch first, Foundational Video Part 1 – 'From Separation and Domination to Kinship and Reverence' Part 2A couple of months ago, we saw an article written in the 1990’s by author and talk show host Thom Hartmann called “The Lost People” that addressed something not often discussed – the disconnection of European people from their own indigenous culture. This disconnection and the trauma that resulted, helps explain why domination and exploitation has ruled the day – until now. Next, Glenn Aparicio Parry, author of “Original Politics”, offers insights on how the Native Peoples influenced the colonists and America’s founding institutions and “sacred purpose.” Finally, Joan Blades, founder of both MoveOn.org and Living Room Conversations, shares her journey from partisan activist to transpartisan pioneer – and points us toward the “re-humanizing” conversations that provide the foundation for collaboration and reunion.From this foundation of a unifying vision, an understanding of how separation occurred, and practical pathways to collaboration, cooperation, and community, we now seek to address divisive issues together in a constructive way, and explore the exciting solutions available to us if we work together, above and beyond our political institutions and distracting, divisive narratives.Where Do We Go From Here?As we look at the current political conversations based on “divide-and-conquer” we recognize the remedy – unite and prevail. We also see the sacred purpose of the United States of America, and its gift to the world – unity AND diversity, individual freedom in the context of sacred community. Please join us on our journey of reunion to turn the ideal into the real deal.Here's how you can participate and contribute:Become a Member – it’s FREE. You’ll become part of our “sane and sacred community” on www.FrontandCenter.us , a place where we can share ideas free of censorship – and trolls.Become a Supporter. Your one-time or ongoing monthly support will help us do our work, and build our community of collaborators, cooperators and connectors. You’ll also be able to post on our site to share your own work, as well as other information and resources. We will also be doing livestream programs in 2022 that you’ll be able to participate in directly.Watch the Full Interviews here on our YouTube channel. We are creating a presence on YouTube as well so that more awakening folks can watch our conversations and share them with others.The journey we are on today will determine the future of our species. Currently, we are threatened by a confluence of crises, and fomented fear seems to have us on course toward a “Hunger Games”-style dystopia. No external force or savior will save us. Only by waking and working together can we create this more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.Please join us on this journey!Steve BhaermanMichael MaxsentiDecember 1, 2021Live transcript: https://otter.ai/u/waUFLSrNDUNyVZWMjIB1a6rlyoE“Courage” Our Front and Center Theme Songhttp://www.danceawake.com/