The Ten Thousand (10,000) Heroes Show

Yesterday, I delivered my first sermon in an actual house of worship. It was an exciting and bizarre moment for me, and turned out to be quite beautiful. Exciting because I see myself as a priest, and giving a sermon is a very priestly honor. Bizarre because I never thought I'd ever write a sentence like that last one!  I've been marrying people for the last eighteen years. My first chaplaincy ass...

Earlier this week I spoke with renowned mediator Ken Cloke. Ken is a living breathing apostle of the philosophy of practical nonviolence that Gandhi and MLK took to such a high level. Because we were on a call with a group of professional mediators, I asked Ken what the recent US election might mean for mediators in the US. I'm sharing his answer more publicly because I see the philosophy behind m...

Happy USA Election Day 2024, denizens of the world. May it be, in fact, happy and harmless. I have an election-day message for you. We Too Must Grow. It's a combination of my thoughts on the opportunities the election presents us with " It's Worse Than You Think " and my explication of a song that I think is INCREDIBLY RELEVANT to this moment. The song is called "We Too Must Grow". It was written...

This episode is based on a speech/sermon I wrote in October 2024 and delivered at a March for Democracy in a small town. I used the opportunity to share what conflict mediation has taught me about winning. Part I: Definitions of winning and losing Part II: What's really standing in our way Part III: The pearl of wisdom and what we can do about it There's also some bonus material -- concrete guidel...

This episode is about Muslim-Jewish relations. It's about whats been going on in Israel and Palestine for the last year. It's about what's possible in the next year. It's about what happens when we expand the circle of concern. And it's about what is happening, all over the world, in small communities, unreported by most of the news, when people open their hearts, right now. I interviewed Aziza Ha...

Two years ago I overheard a conversation at a local farmers' market about Clam Gardens.  Being a nosy podcast host, I eavesdropped, eventually inserted myself, and got some contact information. Today I caught up with Ala̱g̱a̱mił Nicole Norris, of Halalt First Nation on what's now known as Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Nicole is a Shellfish Aquaculture Specialist, I...

In this episode I present what I learned from William Ury's The Third Side. The basic idea is that our communities and societies are the most important element in developing an effective conflict management system, and that the essence of being effect is to exert peer pressure on resolving the conflict instead of taking the "side" of any of the parties. Hence, the 3rd side... (For the video versio...

For the last few months I've been reflecting on How to Prevent a Civil War. Here's why I think we need to act: - It is in the avowed interests of multiple powerful actors -- both inside and outside of the US -- to foment widespread discord, confusion, and animosity. - The logical conclusion of widespread discord, confusion, and animosity is civil war. - The people working on this have lots of reso...

The concept I want to present today is the Six Dimensions of Conflict, which comes up in Chapters 2 and 3 of The Crossroads of Conflict by Ken Cloke. Ken has a model where he breaks down conflict and how we approach it into six areas, and then looks at that sextet from 4 different angles: - Orders of Resolution - Math/Geometry - Location in the body - Mediation style 🦸‍♀️🦸🏾🦸🏼‍♂️🦸🏽‍♀️🦸🏿🦸...

As part of my journey towards understanding what brings us together and what keeps us apart, today I want to share three examples of social dialogue I learned about in the past couple of weeks. I will resist the temptation to draw conclusions prematurely, but just let us all ruminate together with these three examples. The first is from Nelson Mandela's autobiography -- Long Walk to Freedom ( PDF...

As Lao Tzu used to say: "Do the hard thing while it is still easy." According to my guest, Ward Hayes Wilson, it's a pretty good time to work on nuclear disarmament. This is precisely the opposite of all my reflections on the issues, which usually end in hopeless shrugging and attempts to resign myself towards guaranteed nuclear annihilation. (Much harder when you have kids!) Ward has a very diffe...

Somia Sadiq is a peacebuilder and entrepreneur focused on Conflict Transformation. Our conversation was so wide-ranging I thought it would be worth a brief rundown of what we covered:   - Resilience and Fasting - Definitions: Settler and Newcomer -  Identity politics - Ancestral guilt and shame - How to approach history (and history of oppression) without guilt - The role of public apologies - The...

Casper ter Kuile is like a better version of myself. He's on a mission to rescue spiritual truths from religious dogma to fill the voids in modern life. We talk about what atheism and spirituality mean to us, gain inspiration from a John O'Donahue essay on "The Priestliness of the Human Heart," discuss the current struggles in El Salvador (and how to handle it), and finally, I broach the topic of:...

Wolf Sherman has dealt with excruciating pain 24/7 since being hit by a car a couple of years ago. The relationships he has developed between pain, drugs, and gratitude struck me as something every single one of us can learn from.  We also get into modern masculinity and communication with whales.   Yeah, You heard me right. 🐋   🦸‍♀️🦸🏾🦸🏼‍♂️🦸🏽‍♀️🦸🏿🦸 ♥️ If you liked this episode, let us k...

In this episode, I talk with one of my greatest mentors, John Giuliano, about how the Régimen de excepción is affecting his small community. Specifically, we discuss the situation of the co-director of the Tamarindo Foundation, Santos, who was arrested 54 days ago (as of March 6, 2024). The second half of the show (@ 16:02) covers John's response to the arrests, the difference between revenge and...

Here's a gratitude-forward recipe for Sourdough Bread. I go through the 4 main ingredients that go into the bread, and then go into the ingredients that go into those, and then the ingredients that go into those…   It's a gratitude practice. Try it out on literally anything in your life and see where you end up.   If you're actually looking for my recipe for sourdough bread, it's here: https://www...

If what I'm trying to do with this podcast is: Go deep immediately without any fluff, and Help us all understand how purpose shows itself empirically, even when things look horribly gnarly,    Then I give this conversation ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐.   It's deep. It deals with horrible things (sexual trauma). It's hopeful.   And Abby Carl is an absolute hero for turning all her experiences into something everybod...

Jason Taylor runs deep.    He's an ecologist and Five Elements acupuncturist with a lot to share about living a healthy and balanced life.   But what I liked best is how deeply he engaged with the questions.   That's part of what I love about this show – it's not just Information handed down from On High, but a mutual exploration, where we're all learning about our paths, through the vessel of the...

Crystal Beasley is a trip. She's a high priestess of the heart and listening to her journey is the auditory equivalent of getting tickled (for me) at least.   At one point she tells me she is here to protect the place of women. Then she mentions a finishing school she runs, to turn Men into Gentlemen. And then she reveals the How: Teaching them to Ask for what they Need.   It seems simple, but eve...

Walter Faro sees himself as a protector and creator of refuge.   His father (and mentor) was a trained assassin and mercenary, and Walter has spent his life trying to understand and integrate the skills and worldview he learned in his formative years.   Incredibly, he brings this history and presence to his work as a DEI facilitator.   Naturally, his vision for how to create safety and protection...

I talk to world-renowned mediator Ken Cloke about:   His personal reaction to the October 7th attacks and ensuing war Every Generation Has To Confront The Zero Sum Game Two Options When We Look At War What can individuals who don't live in the Middle East do? 50 Questions To Ask In Political Arguments Organizations he supports: Combatants for Peace and Women Wage Peace Should I Talk to My Congress...

Melvin Myles wields music as a weapon of love. He grew up in a gospel tradition in Mississippi, discovered Jazz in college, and stumbled his way (we laugh about it) into being a professional vocal artist. But for me the best part is what Melvin is so effortlessly able to communicate about the heart. Deep Truths I struggle to articulate through writing books and essays and poems… they just roll out...

🦸‍♀️🦸🏾🦸🏼‍♂️🦸🏽‍♀️🦸🏿🦸 ♥️ If you liked this episode, let us know with a review. And follow this show to get all our latest episodes. ♥️♥️Of course, If you really liked this episode, subscribe to The Ten Thousand Heroes newsletter to get weekly 5 minute reads on meaning, purpose, and community. Plus, you'll never miss an episode again. http://momentumlab.com/newsletter   Eric Grace is a kind...

This is an excerpt from a conversation Jeff Salzman with the Developmental Alliance, with a brief preface from yours truly. Jeff posts Integral takes on the news regularly at https://www.youtube.com/@UCCa3meEuah-lc2lIMX2BTng (and I often join him!)   🦸‍♀️🦸🏾🦸🏼‍♂️🦸🏽‍♀️🦸🏿🦸 ♥️ If you liked this episode, let us know with a review. And follow this show to get all our latest episodes. ♥️♥️Of co...

There's two critical steps towards making the impact you want to make in the world: 1) Knowing what you want to do 2) Doing it Most people never figure out Step 1.   But if you've worked hard enough to have a clear idea of what you want to do, you're still not out of the woods yet. For any plan of consequence there are lots and lots and lots and lots of things that can wrong. Most people ignore th...