I am a pastor of a Presbyterian Church (USA) congregation in Newberg, Oregon. Thanks for your wisdom. Our congregation is seeking to cultivate a spiritual community of grace, hope, peace, and love. We have a peace garden with a labyrinth. We are teaching people how to love one's enemies and make them, when possible, friends. I love your podcast and book. You might want to check out our church at newbergfpc.org . It would be cool to connect sometime by Zoom. One vision I have is to see people of Christian faith join with other folks who identify with a faith or who are non-religious in efforts of deep spiritual value, such as peacemaking, love, compassion. We need a spiritual movement that celebrates inclusion of religious and non-religious folks with values of peace, love, and unity. Thanks for all you do!
Hi Chris! Thanks for sharing your work and your vision. It's a beautiful one. In the coming year we will be launching efforts with our Soul Boom non-profit and we hope to have community engagement. We'll share developments through the Dispatch as they unfold. Thanks!
YES. Every fiber of my being resonates with the essence and specificity of this potent essay. It’s what I both profess and practice with equal measures of heart and inner conviction, both essential to the cause. Thank you for lifting us all up - and challenging us - with this piece.
I appreciated the themes of compassion, empathy, and moral courage in this conversation. The call to reimagine America through a lens of shared humanity deeply resonates with me. At the same time, I have some hesitation about featuring Mark Ruffalo as a guest, given his support for the BDS movement and Artists4Ceasefire. The pin associated with that group features a red hand, a design that many find troubling because it echoes imagery tied to past violence against Israelis. While I understand the intent may have been to signal peace, the symbolism feels painful to many and risks deepening divides rather than healing them. Still, I value Soul Boom’s effort to foster dialogue that invites reflection, respect, and a genuine desire to understand one another.
That’s a gracious and thoughtful response to something we can see genuinely troubles you. On a topic as complex and emotionally charged as this, many of our guests will hold varied and divergent views. Our role is simply to guide the conversations we host toward the oneness of humanity—a centering that invites change in every people and every land.
Thank you so much for this. I’ve been struggling with anger and a deep hurt for the world. I grew up being a very white privileged human. Being a woman of a certain age I did have struggles with misogyny, but nothing in comparison to women of color. The anger started when my family was formed and I was hit in the face with what it was like to be a person of color.
My family is formed through adoption. My daughter is from Guatemala, my son from China and my husband is Persian. I was always a compassionate person, but until I felt the racism first hand I had no idea. This with an innate sense to protect my family I became very angry. I wanted people who bullied my family to feel it deeply. My husband pointed out to me that this was a white fragility and that they had and will always be treated this way by some, and that we, I needed to handle it differently; teach our children how to handle it differently, because anger would destroy them and keep them from living their best lives.
This essay hit exactly at the right time because what we’re dealing with today is fueling that anger and anxiety once again. I truly needed this.
Thank you for this kind encouragement, Lisa! Your story is impactful and it certainly sounds like you are doing your part for the spiritual revolution!
Thanks for this essay, and thank you for explaining why we become addicted to outrage. My thoughts are that the violent response to outrage emerges from a kind of groupthink...you know the characteristics: suppression of dissent by group members; rationalizing the group's decisions even if there is some doubt among individual members; illusions of invulnerability and belief that the group is morally correct; pressure to conform; and ultimately the failure to consider other alternative actions. I believe that transformation has to begin on the micro level, at the level of the individual. Once the individual comes to terms with his or her own prejudices, delusions and closed-mindedness, then and only then can that individual become a part of a group of others who have also come to terms with theirs. As Jane Goodall so famously put it, "“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make."
I was inspired by this conversation! This spiritual revolution that is occurring is at the level of families and communities. One of the topics that came up is the effect of the digital revolution is having on humanity. I recently read a book by Douglas Rushkoff titled “Team Human” . His thesis is that the digital world comes down to a binary system of zeros and ones. Humans rely on interactions with each other that are not binary. The love between us depends on a lot of grey between the black and white.
Mark uses the word “ethos” many times during the episode. As a lifelong athlete and coach, I have spent many years focusing on how to build and create ethos at a team level. Focus on the transformation of an ethos on a humanity level is the order of the day.
I loved the analogy made on the process of giving birth. It is painful and chaotic, but the result is maybe the most beautiful things we humans can experience. We just need to focus on what is on the other side of this pain and chaos, and create a loving, human ethos worldwide.
Largely relevant to the present social and political turmoil, both domestically and abroad, are the words of American sociologist Stanley Milgram (1933-1984), of Obedience Experiments fame/infamy: “It may be that we are puppets — puppets controlled by the strings of society. But at least we are puppets with perception [and] awareness. And perhaps our awareness is the first step to our liberation.”
At least as individuals, we can try to resist flawed human nature thus behavior, however societally normalized it may be, once we become aware of its potential within ourselves. Once cognizant of it, perhaps enough of us could instead perform truly humane acts in sufficient quantity to initiate positive change on a large(r) scale.
Currently, however, there’s relatively little compassion in the world when compared to the very plentiful anger or rage. I’ve noticed myself getting angrier over the last few years, especially about domestic and global injustices, or at least how I perceive them as such. Maybe my anger is largely related to the Internet’s ‘angry algorithm’ sending me the stories, etcetera, it has (unfortunately correctly) calculated will successfully agitate me into keeping the (I believe, overall societally-/socially-damaging) process going thus maximizing the number of clicks/scrolls I’ll provide it to sell to product advertisers.
Regardless, I often see the human race as perhaps desperately needing a unifying existential/fate-determining common cause; that an Earth-impacting asteroid threat or, better yet, a vicious extraterrestrial attack may be what we have to collectively brutally endure together in order to survive the longer term from ourselves.
Hey Rainn,
I am a pastor of a Presbyterian Church (USA) congregation in Newberg, Oregon. Thanks for your wisdom. Our congregation is seeking to cultivate a spiritual community of grace, hope, peace, and love. We have a peace garden with a labyrinth. We are teaching people how to love one's enemies and make them, when possible, friends. I love your podcast and book. You might want to check out our church at newbergfpc.org . It would be cool to connect sometime by Zoom. One vision I have is to see people of Christian faith join with other folks who identify with a faith or who are non-religious in efforts of deep spiritual value, such as peacemaking, love, compassion. We need a spiritual movement that celebrates inclusion of religious and non-religious folks with values of peace, love, and unity. Thanks for all you do!
Hi Chris! Thanks for sharing your work and your vision. It's a beautiful one. In the coming year we will be launching efforts with our Soul Boom non-profit and we hope to have community engagement. We'll share developments through the Dispatch as they unfold. Thanks!
YES. Every fiber of my being resonates with the essence and specificity of this potent essay. It’s what I both profess and practice with equal measures of heart and inner conviction, both essential to the cause. Thank you for lifting us all up - and challenging us - with this piece.
Wonderful to read this. So glad we are walking this path with you, Kimberly.
I appreciated the themes of compassion, empathy, and moral courage in this conversation. The call to reimagine America through a lens of shared humanity deeply resonates with me. At the same time, I have some hesitation about featuring Mark Ruffalo as a guest, given his support for the BDS movement and Artists4Ceasefire. The pin associated with that group features a red hand, a design that many find troubling because it echoes imagery tied to past violence against Israelis. While I understand the intent may have been to signal peace, the symbolism feels painful to many and risks deepening divides rather than healing them. Still, I value Soul Boom’s effort to foster dialogue that invites reflection, respect, and a genuine desire to understand one another.
That’s a gracious and thoughtful response to something we can see genuinely troubles you. On a topic as complex and emotionally charged as this, many of our guests will hold varied and divergent views. Our role is simply to guide the conversations we host toward the oneness of humanity—a centering that invites change in every people and every land.
Thank you so much for this. I’ve been struggling with anger and a deep hurt for the world. I grew up being a very white privileged human. Being a woman of a certain age I did have struggles with misogyny, but nothing in comparison to women of color. The anger started when my family was formed and I was hit in the face with what it was like to be a person of color.
My family is formed through adoption. My daughter is from Guatemala, my son from China and my husband is Persian. I was always a compassionate person, but until I felt the racism first hand I had no idea. This with an innate sense to protect my family I became very angry. I wanted people who bullied my family to feel it deeply. My husband pointed out to me that this was a white fragility and that they had and will always be treated this way by some, and that we, I needed to handle it differently; teach our children how to handle it differently, because anger would destroy them and keep them from living their best lives.
This essay hit exactly at the right time because what we’re dealing with today is fueling that anger and anxiety once again. I truly needed this.
Lisa
Thank you for this kind encouragement, Lisa! Your story is impactful and it certainly sounds like you are doing your part for the spiritual revolution!
Thanks for this essay, and thank you for explaining why we become addicted to outrage. My thoughts are that the violent response to outrage emerges from a kind of groupthink...you know the characteristics: suppression of dissent by group members; rationalizing the group's decisions even if there is some doubt among individual members; illusions of invulnerability and belief that the group is morally correct; pressure to conform; and ultimately the failure to consider other alternative actions. I believe that transformation has to begin on the micro level, at the level of the individual. Once the individual comes to terms with his or her own prejudices, delusions and closed-mindedness, then and only then can that individual become a part of a group of others who have also come to terms with theirs. As Jane Goodall so famously put it, "“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make."
Nailed it!
THIS... is a fantastic essay. And yes, yes, 1000% yes. 💖👏💖👏💖
Thank you! ♥️✨🌍
I was inspired by this conversation! This spiritual revolution that is occurring is at the level of families and communities. One of the topics that came up is the effect of the digital revolution is having on humanity. I recently read a book by Douglas Rushkoff titled “Team Human” . His thesis is that the digital world comes down to a binary system of zeros and ones. Humans rely on interactions with each other that are not binary. The love between us depends on a lot of grey between the black and white.
Mark uses the word “ethos” many times during the episode. As a lifelong athlete and coach, I have spent many years focusing on how to build and create ethos at a team level. Focus on the transformation of an ethos on a humanity level is the order of the day.
I loved the analogy made on the process of giving birth. It is painful and chaotic, but the result is maybe the most beautiful things we humans can experience. We just need to focus on what is on the other side of this pain and chaos, and create a loving, human ethos worldwide.
An ethos of humanity! Yes. What Soul Boom is all about!
By the way, Douglas has been on the Soul Boom podcast—and his writing featured in this here Dispatch: https://newsletter.soulboom.com/p/soul-boom-dispatch-guest-essay-by-74d?r=3p5ood&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Largely relevant to the present social and political turmoil, both domestically and abroad, are the words of American sociologist Stanley Milgram (1933-1984), of Obedience Experiments fame/infamy: “It may be that we are puppets — puppets controlled by the strings of society. But at least we are puppets with perception [and] awareness. And perhaps our awareness is the first step to our liberation.”
At least as individuals, we can try to resist flawed human nature thus behavior, however societally normalized it may be, once we become aware of its potential within ourselves. Once cognizant of it, perhaps enough of us could instead perform truly humane acts in sufficient quantity to initiate positive change on a large(r) scale.
Currently, however, there’s relatively little compassion in the world when compared to the very plentiful anger or rage. I’ve noticed myself getting angrier over the last few years, especially about domestic and global injustices, or at least how I perceive them as such. Maybe my anger is largely related to the Internet’s ‘angry algorithm’ sending me the stories, etcetera, it has (unfortunately correctly) calculated will successfully agitate me into keeping the (I believe, overall societally-/socially-damaging) process going thus maximizing the number of clicks/scrolls I’ll provide it to sell to product advertisers.
Regardless, I often see the human race as perhaps desperately needing a unifying existential/fate-determining common cause; that an Earth-impacting asteroid threat or, better yet, a vicious extraterrestrial attack may be what we have to collectively brutally endure together in order to survive the longer term from ourselves.
Self aware and insightful. Thanks for shining your mind light 💡 here!