[These transcripts, as with all aspects of Servicespace Pods, are created as a labor of love by an all-volunteer team located around the world. They are a collective offering, born from a shared practice of deep listening and service. Diverse and spontaneous teams emerge each pod to create and offer these pods.]

Charles: My name is Charles Gibbs, and it is my privilege, on behalf of Service Space and the many partnering organizations and communities, to welcome everyone to this kick-off call for a 21-day Interfaith Compassion Pod. I can't think of anything our challenged world needs more these days than the largest doses of compassion any of us can offer, and so it is a gift that we begin this journey together with that focus.

I would encourage you, at some point, to just scan through the gallery view to see your pod mates. Just this incredibly beautiful and diverse collection of Humanity. We are privileged to be together for this journey.

And as we begin the journey, let's take a moment to look at how we're going to travel together, today. We'll have this welcome, a time of setting the space with silence and a song. We will hear about the pod context and get some operating instructions for the pod. We'll get to hear from a dynamic speaker who will be introduced, a little bit later, but a heads up, it's his birthday today.

We'll go into a great adventure with breakouts, or it's really to break out or not to break out. That is the question. If you wish to go into groups, we are praying that the technology supports us. If you wish to stay in the main room, you don't have to do anything. Just stay in the main room. We would love to have everyone here for the whole call.

After breakouts, we'll have a chance to share, and then get some details about the logistics of the pod and the pod process and then wrap up, and we will be on our way. And to move into that, let's ground ourselves in a moment of silence, a moment of compassion. And I know, particularly for me today, the people of Morocco, stand as a place to receive every ounce of compassion we might choose to offer. And let them stand for all the people in the world, who would be blessed to receive a minute of our compassion. Let's have some silence.

[A minute of silence]

Thank you.  I had the privilege. Seventeen years as the founding Executive Director of the United Religions Initiative to live, basically, a 17-year interfaith community compassion Pod. I had the great privilege of travelling all over the world and meeting people of every size, shape, colour, every ethnicity, every religion, spiritual movement, and indigenous tradition. Just this bewildering, enlivening array like the stars in the sky, each one its own shining light. I believe that changed my life almost daily, and I trust that this pod, that we're doing, will change our lives, if we give ourselves fully to it.

One of the people I was privileged to journey with, on that 17-year process was a man named Jin Wall Lee from Korea. He told me, at one point, how he grew up in a family that was not particularly spiritual, not particularly religious, but when he was 18, about to graduate from high school, his class went on a field trip to a Buddhist monastery. He said the minute he stepped through the gates into that monastery, something told him, this is home. This is where I belong. He found a phone, called his family, and said, I'm not coming back. He became a Buddhist monk and helped spread the Buddhist Dharma all over the world. There are so many surprises like that, so many voices that reach out and tap us on the shoulder, and open new possibilities for us.

I pray for everyone on this call that each day, in its own way, is a tap on the shoulder. A voice speaking into our lives with an invitation to see something new and different, to open our hearts, to be enriched,  and to offer that enrichment into the world. And as we imagine offering enrichment into the world, it is my great joy to introduce a dear friend, Wakanyi Hoffman, who is an artist of life, who paints the shades of each day as a storyteller,  author, mother, global citizen, journalist, and keeper of indigenous wisdom and women too, I hope. A profound insight she offers from her years working in a refugee camp. Compassion is a two-way act of service, if you give of yourself, the more you give of yourself, the more you receive of someone else. I don't know if I know someone who gives more freely and gloriously than Wakanyi. Please share your song with us.

Wakanyi : Thank you so much Charles, what a wonderful introduction, and thank you to everyone who's here today. It is such a privilege for me to be sitting where I am and looking at the screen and just imagining where everyone is around the world, joined together for this call. Thank you so much. And in the spirit of tapping ourselves on the shoulders or being tapped on the shoulder, the song that I'm about to share is Ashnia Swahili. Song, and it is a worship song, but it is really a gratitude song. This is a song about thank you, and the song itself is called Asante, which in Swahili means thank you. You are welcome to close your eyes or watch, however it resonates with you.

[Song in Swahili]

Nasema asante, nasema asante (I say thank you, I say thank you)
Nasema asante, kwa mungu wangu (I say thank you, I say thank you to my God)
Kwa maana Fadhili zako zadumu (for your kind acts last)
Milele na milele amina (forever and ever amen)

Nitaimba sifa zako (I sing of your praises)
Mbele ya watu wote (in the presence of everyone)
Nitaimba sifa zako (I sing of your praises)
Mbele ya watu wote (In the presence of everyone)
Kwa maana fadhili zako zadumu (for your kind acts last)
Milele na milele, amina (forever and ever amen)

Nasema asante, kwa wema wako (I give thanks for your goodness)
Nakushukuru, nakushukuru (I am grateful, I am grateful)
Umenitendea, makubwa sana (you have done great things for me)
Nainua jina lako milele (I lift up your name forever)

Thank you, everyone.

Charles: Asante Wakanyi , nakupenda. Let that gratitude just settle into the core of our being for a moment. You might think of all the languages you know the words for thank you, in, and just let them course through.

It is in the spirit of deep gratitude that I introduce our next offerer, Preeta Bansal. Preeta has done so much amazing service to this world. She is the former chair of the U. S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a federal human rights group that worked across religious divides. In that capacity, she helped draft the constitutions of Iraq and Afghanistan. She's also currently the Global Board Chair of United Religions Initiative, and on the Advisory Board of the Pluralism Project at Harvard. Previously, she served as a lawyer and senior advisor to President Barack Obama, and for more than a decade has been a committed Service Space volunteer and visionary. And on top of that, she just has an amazing heart and a wonderful laugh. Preeta, we are yours.

Preeta: Thank you so much, dear Charles , and all of you. It's a joy to be here with so many of you from around the world for the second straight year. More than 2, 000 people from 70  countries have signed up for this challenge. And we have more than 25 amazing partner organizations, and many of these organizations, for decades, have been leading the way in spreading compassion, inter-spiritual understanding and healing throughout the world. Thank you to each of you, and to all of our partners for coming together in this way. Among the many roles in life that I've been privileged to play, and the many rooms where it happens, where I've spent some time in, the one that is nearest and dearest to me is the role I play ,now, as one of the volunteer anchors in this ecosystem at Service Space. Many people ask, why in the face of so many existential crises, all converging at the same time, threats from war, conflict, wobbling democracies, climate and planetary destruction,  why do I spend my time as a mere volunteer, rather than trying to exert “so called power” within the system? I do so because it's clear to me that we need a new operating system, a new consciousness, in order to bring about the kind of transformation we seek, instead of just shifting deck chairs on the Titanic, as I like to say.

As Einstein once said, you can't solve a problem from the same level of consciousness that created it. And I believe that this is the room where it's happening, this collective room with all of us, and the room of each of our hearts. Nobel Prize poet, Rabindranath Tagore wrote that the traveller has to knock on every alien door to come to his own. And one has to wander through all the outer worlds to reach the innermost shrine at the end. Together, over the next 21 days, we're going to explore that innermost shrine of ‘  I Am” and shift our personal internal operating systems, so that we can ,maybe, begin to shift our collective operating system. And we'll try to do this through three aspects of our challenge.

First, by opening ourselves to wisdom outside our own sacred stories,  and our most profound belief patterns, through seeking greater interfaith understanding and appreciation. Second, by performing daily acts of compassion flowing from spirit. And third, by doing all of this, while in community with each other, through designs that allow us to surrender our personal work to a deeper collective intelligence.

I want to just touch on each of these very briefly. First, the interfaith nature of all of this. We all know that spirit and faith have formed some of the most historical and divisive fault lines throughout history. It was the church's doctrine of discovery more than 500 years ago that gave sanction to colonization and brutal genocide. Howard Thurman described Sunday morning as the most segregated hour of the week, and religious nationalism and fanaticism have caused harm and violence in all cultures and traditions throughout the ages, including now, maybe especially now. But we also know that tapping into humanity's deepest source of meaning and spirit has been the key to the most enduring, transformative, and probably paradigm-shifting struggles for justice and social change throughout the age.

From the exodus, to the decolonization movements of the global south, to American civil rights and anti-apartheid struggles of the last century. The interfaith nature of all of this allows us to step into a more direct relationship with the many expressions of the sacred and the divine, and maybe we can begin through that, to just break out of all of exclusive stories and walls of divisive community, that have been the hallmark of religions, connecting us to a broader living community, and so it allows us, I think, to transform ourselves, and I think for me, that's been so much the role of interfaith work over the ages,  a place by which I can connect with others across my own belief systems and begin to transform myself. Second, the challenge inspires us in daily practices of compassion, and through that, we can mirror these shifts that were going in the side and back out into our environment.   Service space is committed to small acts  and shifts of individual consciousness,  and    we try to amplify those through designs that harness the collective power of networks.

And finally, in doing this challenge together with one another we can perhaps begin to surrender to a deeper collective intelligence that arises, where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.  As you go through this challenge,  we encourage you to post your reflections on the platform and read others' and be open to receiving and being transformed in this way.

Let's celebrate this opportunity over the next 21 days to experience some deeper truths and timeless wells of humanity's wisdom and creativity. The prompts have been beautifully curated by people in this community and all of us here on this call. And let's challenge ourselves to open up to the many manifestations of the sublime, and maybe in doing so, we can begin to upgrade that collective operating system. And that may seem like a really big task, but we all know that big change happens from everyday small acts. Margaret Mead famously said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”

Thank you for being part of this small, thoughtful group, and let us together begin to change ourselves and change the world. Thank you so much.

Charles:  Thank you, Preeta.  The invitation to pay attention to the room of our hearts, to abide in our innermost shrine, the I Am.  To do that not only for ourselves, but collectively in this community, and through this community out into the world. You've given us good operating instructions, and as you said, we need that operating system to move forward. Thank you. And now, I would like to invite another bright, shining volunteer star, Meghna, to  lead us through a video highlight of Pod Apps. Meghna, it's all yours.

Meghna: Thank you, Charles. Thank you, Preeta, for sharing this incredible overview of all of our hearts together. What a joy to be on this call with all of you and on this pod for the next few days.

It's incredibly overwhelming and pleasantly heartening to see the responses of applications that have come on this pod. Wow was my first response when I was reading everything. We have a small video, a short video, that we'd like to share that mirrors all our collective intentions.

Where we have come from, from literally the map of the world, into the map of our hearts. It is a mirror of what pulled us here, through our intentions that have brought us together, into the shared inquiry.

And where the fabric of our lives and wisdom will now be each other's textbooks for the next 21 days and beyond. So thank you once again, and thank you for saying "Yes" in riding the wave of this compassion. I would like to request the tech team - Oh, there you go. Thank you.

[Video]

Charles: Thank you, Meghna. That was a lovely video and helps situate us. I love what you said. I may not get the words exactly right, but we can be open to being each other's teachers during this time together. And learners. We're in it together. I love that. Many faces. One heart.

We now have the great privilege of listening to a great heart whose birthday is today, Rabbi Ariel Berger. Nipun sent me a quote that I just can't resist reading because it says a lot about what Rabbi Berger has done, but more importantly about the spirit that I think animates his life. He says:

"I grew up in New York City, an artsy kid in an ultra-Orthodox elementary school, with a blind sister and divorced parents who held very different views on life. My quest for meaning and integration, a way to bring together all the elements of my life into a whole, led me to study for seven years in the closest thing to a monastery Judaism offers. I became a rabbi, wrote hundreds of songs. And played guitar at Carnegie Hall with Ritchie Havens."

For those of you under a certain age, you'll have to look up how swell it was that he got to play with Ritchie Havens.

"Exhibited art in galleries. Danced with thousands of Breslover Hasidim at their annual pilgrimage in Ukraine. Participated in dialogue groups between Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Got married and had four children. Got a PhD in Religion and Conflict Transformation. Illustrated folktales. Became a Teacher. Worked as an Executive at a Non-Profit for six years. Taught, Lectured, Led workshops on Leadership and Design Thinking, and began using storytelling to connect people across communities."

It needs to be noted that the great spiritual Nobel Laureate, Elie Wiesel, is a powerful force in his life, and he carries that light forward. Rabbi Berger, we are in your hands and your heart, and happy birthday.

Rabbi Berger: Thank you. Thank you so much, Charles. And happy birthday to your mother, too

Charles: Thank you

Rabbi Berger: And thank you all for having me, for holding this beautiful space, for deepening compassion and projecting it broadly into the world. It's so, so necessary. I'm so pleased and grateful to be with you and to be a part of this, and to see my dear friends and teachers, Nipun and Preeta, and all of you here in this beautiful community.

So much has changed since last year. Each of our lives moves and evolves and develops and we face new challenges and new triumphs. We know of the continuing convulsions across the globe, the suffering, the displacement of so many people, the continuing quest for peace and well being.

Many of the details have changed and we see this in the news. daily, but some things remain the same.

What remains timeless is our interconnectedness and our responsibility for one another.

What does not change is the proposition that we human beings have an immense capacity for courage and compassion and that as seekers and learners we can grow these capacities to help us move more and more deeply into applied practical, sustained compassionate action.

What is constant always is the beautiful richness and diversity of our traditions, and the way in which sharing our particular wisdom leads to a vast tapestry of ideas, stories, and practices that can help us to live through and thrive through this era.

What is compassion?  In my tradition, in the language of my tradition - Hebrew - the word for compassion is Rachamim, and the root of this word is Rechem, which means a womb.

So one definition we might offer and consider is that compassion is the act of making space for new life as we are in the process of gestating a new world. Using that metaphor, the pains we experience, the anxiety, the deep inward listening, the joyous anticipation - none of which I've experienced myself, only secondhand, but in close proximity - all of it points us to new birth and new possibility. We are clearly living in such a high potential moment with subtle and not so subtle processes supporting the incubation of those new possibilities.

We, if we're sane, we do not criticize pregnant people, we support them, we help them to bear their burdens, we cheer them on. This is what we need to do for each other now as we're all carrying so much and nurturing so much within us and between us and moving toward new ways of living, new norms, perhaps even new societies.

So compassion means nurturing space in which another person can grow, or another tribe or family or tradition can grow. In Judaism, we say a prayer three times a day as part of the silent prayer, which is the centerpiece of the entire series of prayers. We say:

"Let my soul be like earth for all people"

The word for Earth in Hebrew, Afar, is defined very specifically in our tradition as earth in which seeds can successfully take root and grow.

We are asking that we become fertile ground for each other, for each other's ideas and dreams and purposes.

Another root word wisdom from the Hebrew language, the Hebrew word for responsibility, the word is Arevut and it's the same word as the word for sweetness. I think this is teaching us that our intertwining lives and dreams and destinies obligate us to act morally and ethically, but this obligation makes our lives so much better, so much sweeter, perhaps in part because it liberates us from the cage of self-centeredness and all the pain and anxiety that comes with that.

In our mystical tradition, we are taught that when God The Divine Creator wants to say, I love you, to a person, The Divine Creator sends that person someone in need, and the opportunity to help. So our acts of kindness, our acts of giving, are actually expressions of the universe and its creator's love for us. In the moment of giving, we receive. We receive that love.

There are two challenges that I see in the world of the realm of compassion and trying to live a compassionate life.

The first one is to have a certain kind of consciousness and awareness and precision to know, not only to have the intention to help, but to know what will actually help you, what will help another person.

There's a great story of one of the Hasidic masters, I heard this from my teacher, Professor Elie Wiesel - The great Reb Moshe Leib of Sassov was traveling, and he came home from his travels, and his students asked him, "What did you learn?" and he said, "I learned about compassion".

His students said, "Well, where did you learn it? And what did you learn?" He said:

"Well, I was actually in an inn - which is kind of like a bar as well as a hotel - and there were two friends who had drunk a lot of wine and were clearly intoxicated and were in conversation with one another. And one friend said to the other, 'My friend, you love me, right?' And the friend said, 'Yes, of course.'

They were silent for a bit and kept drinking, and then he said, 'My friend, you love me very deeply, right?' And his friend said, 'Of course I do'.

Again, silence, another drink, another four drinks. He said, 'You love me better than you've loved anyone else, right?' And his friend said, 'Yes, you're my best friend. I love you so much.'

And so the first one said to the second one, 'If you love me so much, then why don't you know what hurts me? Why don't you know my pain?'

And Professor Wiesel, quoting the great Reb Moshe Leib of Sassov, said, "To love, to feel compassion, is to know what the other really needs."

This is important for us to be able to get right the process of translating our compassion, our love, our intentionality, into action that will help the other person. That requires precision, learning and listening.

The other great challenge that I experience in my relationship with compassion is the process of balancing passion with humility. We have a sense of urgency in our quest to make the world better. We have a sense of intensity; even ferocity sometimes, a sense of mission. But we also have, and must have, a sense of deep openness to the perspectives and quests and missions of others.

If you have a passion for compassion, which is very positive, we're yearning and working towards a world we want to see for our children and their children - how do we find the balance of openness and humility and a sense of calm and centeredness along the way?

So I want to share a story that's been with me lately, from one of the great masters and teachers of my tradition, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, who lived about 200 years ago in Ukraine. And this is an excerpt from a story called 'The Seven Beggars', which is a long and winding story with tales within tales, and this is a tale within a tale, framed by another tail, and I'm going to jump in the middle. If you're interested in seeing it, you can find it easily online - 'The Seven Beggars' by Rabbi Nachman:

Once there was a group of people who were seeking a tree in whose shade all the animals in the world could dwell, and on whose branches all the birds of the sky could rest.

They discovered that there is indeed such a tree. As soon as they made this discovery, they wanted to go there, because the delight that exists there is immeasurable; because all the birds and all the animals live together there without conflict. They even play together, and delight together. So that delight is contagious, and when you come close to the tree you are filled with an infinite delight.

So this group wanted to go there, and they felt a strong, strong desire to find this tree. They began to consider which way to go. And of course, they began to argue. One said they should go east, and another said west. And one said they should go this way, and another said that way. They couldn't decide which way to go to come to that tree of peace and delight.

Suddenly a sage appeared and said to them, "Why are you arguing about which way to go? You should be asking a different question. Who are the people who are able to arrive at the tree? For not just anyone can get there, only those who have the traits of the tree itself.

For the tree has three roots. One root of the tree is Faithfulness, and another is Awe, and the third is Humility, and Truth is the body of the tree from which all the branches emerge. Therefore, it is impossible to come to the tree unless you embody these traits."

Let's pause for a moment. We each have a superpower, and it's called our imagination. We can imagine and envision a world in which we really want to live, a world of peace and true justice. A world of connection and compassion.

So often in our society today, we get stuck examining which way to go: Which particular policy will get us there? Which platform? Which answer or intervention will work?

We argue about these questions, and these arguments sometimes begin to define our culture, our politics, our relationships; and the sage reminds us to ask a different question: Who do we need to become to get to the tree of peace and delight? How are we to train ourselves to be citizens of the world we wish to see?

To do this requires a lot of work as we cultivate those traits. If we want to live in a world of peace, we have to become peaceful people. If we want to live in a world of justice, we must become just. If we want to live in a world of truth, we must cultivate truth in ourselves.

This is a crucial lesson, but there's a bit more. The story continues:

Some of the people in the group had the qualities of the tree. They already were there. They had all these qualities. They had cultivated them over many years.

But others in the group did not yet have those qualities. They did not yet have those traits. But there was great unity and love between them, among the group. And so, rather than proceed immediately to the tree, those who did have the tree's qualities decided to wait for those who did not so that they could also grow and develop themselves.

This is what they did. They waited until everyone acquired the traits of the tree, and suddenly, they knew, all of them, which way to go, and they set off on their quest.

These seekers know a secret that we have to remember as we work on ourselves to become people of that tree of peace and delight; citizens of the future world, of love, the beloved community, we must leave no one behind.

Our unity is what will unlock our clarity; the path becomes clear when we are all together. When we wait for each other, when we bear witness to each other, when we celebrate and appreciate the gifts of each of us, each person, each human tradition, then we will find the way to that tree, that sacred country, for which we're yearning so deeply.

We need each other, and so I ask you to consider: Who will we wait for as we grow and yearn and work towards that beautiful world we imagine? And who is waiting for us?

This is how we open the way to the world we want to see together. Only together, with compassion and unity and celebration. So on my birthday, in my tradition, we give blessings. The tree is waiting. I bless you all. May we travel there together, and may you see and feel, and experience vividly clearly how the gifts that you give to others are also bringing you healing and joy.

Chris: Thank you. Oh, thank you, Aryae. What a gift you have given us. That question, “who do we want to become?”, and the notion that our becoming is intimately interconnected with everyone else's becoming. Your description of the ones who were already there and chose not to go ahead but to wait, reminds me of Kuan Yin Bodhisattva is right behind me.

In the Buddhist tradition, it's the same thing. I won't go there until we can all go together. Here is a blessing of 21 days of going there together, and to echo one of the things you offered – may all our souls be like Earth for all people, and a fertile ground for each other and ourselves. Thank you.

Let's just exhale and inhale for a couple minutes. What richness we have been given.

Thank you. Now I invite another amazing star in the galaxy of ServiceSpace volunteers, Ruth Lopez, to please bring us to “break out or not to break out?” That is the question. Ruth, we are yours.

Ruth: Thank you, Charles, and thank you, Rabbi Berger, for your moving words of compassion. By the way, happy birthday! Thank you all for joining us today. I'm happy to serve as an anchor for this next segment of our call, which is where we get to hear from you, our diverse collective of pod members, for joining us on this 21 day challenge. In a few minutes, we'll invite you to join an optional breakout room. But first, we have a little surprise for you.

Some of our volunteers got together and created a video based on the sampling of your responses to the profile questions. One of the questions in the profile it's about the one line that asks you to describe your life. So, we hope you enjoy it.

[Starts showing video on Pod Profiles at 43:05]

Ruth: I hope you enjoyed that as much as the volunteers enjoyed creating that for you. Now we begin our breakout room segment, where you'll have the opportunity to join in small breakout rooms, anywhere from two to four participants, depending on how many people choose to participate today, and then share on a seed question.

These breakouts are optional, so if you'd rather not participate, you'll get a dialogue box where you can choose to stay in the main room for silent reflection. And after the breakouts, we'll offer an open mic session for anyone who wishes to share with a larger group.

When you join your breakouts because we've got people from all around the world, it would be fun to let us know where your home is in the world, or what you call a home after you introduce yourself.

After that, you can share on the seed question. Today's seed question has two parts. The first part is, “What role has faith played in your life?” And the second part is, “How do you practice compassion?” So please know that there's no correct way to answer. It doesn't have to be polished or any kind of big story, just share what's in your heart and true for you in this moment.

Also, there'll be a countdown timer to help you keep track of the time to ensure everyone has a chance to share. Again, the seed question is, what role has faith played in your life and how do you practice compassion? This question will be in the chat window in case you forget. So, in a moment, you'll see a dialogue box inviting you to join, so join.

Ruth: Hello and welcome back everyone. I hope you enjoyed your breakout session or your period of silence in the main room. We now begin our open mic portion, where I invite you to share. You could share about the breakout room you've had, or really anything that's come up for you. Rabbi’s or Chris’ words, Wakanyi's gratitude song, or anything that's in your heart.

There may be something inside you today that somebody else would really appreciate hearing. So, please raise your digital hand when you're ready to share.

[Breakouts shares redacted to honor privacy of the shares]

Ruth: So now I'd like the pass the baton to Nipun, who's going to go over the details of our next 21 days. Over to you Nipun.

Nipun: Thank you Ruth. Indeed we will have 21 days of sharing with each other and we'll feel like very close friends by the end. So I want to just talk a little bit about the pod process.

It's unique in a couple of ways. At one level, it's a space for learning. So every day you'll be emailed a thoughtfully crafted module with heart prayers, head readings and hands practices. I think all of those, it will certainly be very opening after each one. There is also a reflective question. As you engage with it, you get to engage with other people's prompts as well.

So the first bit is that we will be doing a lot of learning. But the second bit is that it's not just learning, it's also in a peer to peer context. If we just wanted content, we just have to go to Google, right?

You don't have to go through this pod and through each other. I think one of the interesting things that occurs here is this sense of peer-to-peer learning.

And I think that will, reveal itself more and more as you engage with the pod. It's actually really beautiful that it's not just the content, but the context. Because you shared on day two, and I read it, and I interacted, and I was touched, that changed the way I commented on somebody else's. And that sort of has a ripple effect.

And there's a very collective field that gets generated. That's the second point., I should add that this pod is progressive. So, you, once you do day one, you get to day two, then you, if you finish day two, you get to day three.

This is not just a content that, hey, I'm curious what day 14 looks like, because it's a journey we're all going on together. And so, if you're on day two and I'm on day 14, we don't have the same shared context. That's not how this challenge is structured.

It's day by day, but if you fall behind, it's totally cool. You know, it's totally fine. You, you, you can catch up. and you know, there's many ways to, to speed things up on your own. The first bit is learning and the second bit is creating a peer to peer. context. I think where it gets really interesting is the field of emergence, which is the third thing.

Because if we just wanted peer to peer connection, we could also just go to Facebook, right? So, this is not just a content thing, and this is not just a connection thing. It is that when we come together in a certain way, we allow for, we honor the space in between us. And that allows us to actually, create what Preeta called, the whole which is greater than the sum of the parts.

So, it's not just what you bring, it's not just what I bring, it's that when we come together in a certain way, we create this entire new field of emergence. And so that's really the hope here. and we have, there are 28 volunteers who are going to be putting in, even pre, during, and post the challenge, 2, 500 volunteer hours.

And on the face of it, you say, well, what do you need all those hours for, you know, but it is, it is to cultivate this field of emergence. so, I think it's quite unique and quite precious. I just wanted to share a little video. about the mechanics of the pod process, for those of you, that are new to it.

And even if you aren't, it actually helps to get a nice little review of it. So let me see if we can play it here.

[Pod Process Overview Video Begins]

This video is an overview of the pod process. When you apply to join a pod, you'll receive a welcome email with the website address for the pod platform and your login information. Your login information is your email address and your password that's included in the welcome email. To get started, log in to the POD platform.

The first thing you need to do when you log in is to complete your profile. You'll have a POD profile for every POD that you join. The POD profile will contain five questions for you to complete. You'll also receive an email invitation for an orientation call for the POD. RSVP and attend the orientation call that begins the POD.

And then you start with day one activities. Most days during the pod, you'll receive an email with a daily theme. The email will include a link for you to go to the prompt page for the daily theme and engage with it further. You can also go to the prompt page from your home page that's on the website.

Your home page includes a dashboard. In the status column, when you have a daily prompt to complete, there will be a calendar icon. Click on the calendar icon and that will take you to the prompt page. The prompt page, also referred to as the ad reflection page, has information for the daily theme. Each prompt has head, hands, and heart activities.

Start with the head activities that are readings. When you click on the header for the head activities, you'll get links for the daily readings.

Then, you can proceed to the hands activities. When you expand the hands section, you'll see the suggested activities to follow up on the daily theme. When you've completed the head and hands activities, there are bonus readings provided if you have time for them. When you expand the bonus reading section, you'll see the links for additional bonus readings.

When you've completed the head and hands activities and the optional bonus readings, then you can do the heart activity. The heart activity is writing your reflection on the theme. You write your reflection in the text box down below on the prompt page. Click the Submit button to submit your reflection.

After you've submitted your reflection, you'll have a View All Responses button that will let you view the reflections from other pod members. Clicking on View All Responses takes you to the pod feed where you can view the reflections that have been submitted so far. As you read the reflections, you can add comments.

You can also read the comments that other pod members have submitted. Note that there is some mobile support for the pod platform as well. So the main activities of the pod process are the daily prompts, your reflections, and engaging with your pod members. The daily prompts will continue during the pod.

There will be another Zoom call for you to gather with pod members, and in longer pods, sometimes there are Zoom calls during the pod. There's always a closing call. A few days before the call occurs, you'll receive an RSVP notification by email, and you'll see the RSVP button on one of the prompt pages.

When you click on the RSVP button, it takes you to the page with more information about the upcoming call and the button where you can RSVP. When you RSVP, you'll be provided with the information about the Zoom call. After you have RSVP'd, you'll be able to retrieve the Zoom information at any time from that reflection page by clicking on the button to view the event details.

The pod will continue with the daily prompts and then you'll have the Zoom call. There's more information about pods and using the pod platform in the Frequently Asked Questions and in some tutorial videos. We thank you very much for joining us in the pod process. And we hope you enjoy the journey.

[Pod Process Overview Video Ends]

Nipun: Thank you. just a couple more things here, outside of the mechanics. One, we'll send out that video in case you haven't seen it. and it was actually sent out a little earlier as well. so one point is that there is help. So, you can email anytime to any of the emails that you're going to get daily emails from us.

You can just write back and volunteers will be happy. to help you, with anything that comes up for you. and another thing is for those who would appreciate a more in-depth walkthrough, there is an orientation, tech orientation kind of call. It's optional. it'll be on Wednesday and you'll get an email about it.

You'll, you'll get notified about it in tonight's email. but outside of those mechanics, just a couple quick points, quick but important points. one is You know, actually, I think I'll frame this in a way that one of the volunteers did. he says, oh, you know, the pod process, actually, I think there's four Ms.

And so, we're like, okay, what Ms? So, he's like, the first M is Modeling, which is be the highest change, we're all here to be the highest change we wish to see. and, and just to honor that, to be mindful of that, one very simple manifestation of that is that everything here is non transactional.

There is no fee, there is no solicitation, there is no agenda, there's no pushing of anything. and that's a kind of modeling and we all will do our own expressions of that modeling.

The second M is Mama-ing.  I like this one a lot. We want to create a safe space. You know, this is a space where everyone should belong, and in whatever ways they'd like to belong for however long they'd like to belong.

And one of the practices around that to facilitate this is that all the material in the pod is confidential. it's confidential to the pod, and if it is ever shared outside, it is always done through permission. So, but on your end, as a participant, please make sure, to honor that.

The third M is mirroring, which is to reflect the whole to itself. And one of the processes we use, is called appreciative inquiry. If you don't know about it, I encourage you to look it up. and the idea of appreciative inquiry is to lead with curiosity, right? Not, we're not here to tear each other down. The idea, the deepest, idea behind it is to look at assets first to amplify the good in other people.

And if we all do that collectively, it becomes a really strong process. which then leads to the last M which is, which is Murmuring. which is, I don't know if you've seen the photos of those starlings that form these incredible shapes, without any coordination whatsoever sometimes in a span of a second, they come together and just do these incredible shapes.

And that's the murmuring. So, if we are going to get to that point, these things in our experience, really help. So yeah, we're looking forward to an incredible time together, of inner growth, of supporting other people. and also just seeing what comes up in the field of emergence.

If you haven't already, create a profile. This is required for you to do day one. Tonight, you'll get the first email. and that'll be a pointer to the module, which will have, which will be self-explanatory. and like I said before, in case you fall behind, it's 21 days, you got to keep it up.

It's a challenge, right? but if you fall behind, you can always catch up. We are going to split everybody up into smaller groups, since we have such a big collective pod. But, because you're in a smaller pod group doesn't mean, it's meant to build a kind of intimacy, but it doesn't mean that you won't be connected to the larger feed.

You, everyone has access to all the posts from all the pod mates. and so you'll have access to read the entire feed for a certain day, as well. So it's not an either or, it's a yes and. so we hope we can, have an intimate experience and at the same time also be. held in a larger collective field.

So, we're really looking forward to this challenge and seeing what emerges. Thank you for saying yes. It's so inspiring, just to be here even on this call today. So, thank you all. And, I hand it over to Charles.

Charles: Thank you, Nipun. I don't know anyone who can make the backstage workings of technology come so alive and have such a heart and soul the way you do.

And thank you to Marilyn's voice guiding us through that video with such clear and calm compassion. So, folks, we're rounding into the completion of this call. If you had a hard stop right now and need to leave, feel free to do that. If you can, hang on for another no more than 10 minutes, we’re wrapping this up.

What an amazing array of riches we've received today. And that, that is sort of a down payment on what lies ahead.  I liked, when Nipun was talking about appreciative inquiry, the notion of leading with curiosity. What is out there for me to discover? I'd love to share briefly one of the things I discovered right at the beginning of my time as URI's founding executive director.

These delightful people from Japan gave me this little book. It's about a woman named Nao Deguchi, who founded the Omoto movement. in Japan, a spiritual tradition deeply tied into the arts. Well, when I read this, I discovered that this woman came from a very impoverished background. was married to an alcoholic and abusive husband, was at one point, arrested and incarcerated.

She was illiterate. And at a certain point, she got one of those taps on the shoulder. Like my friend, Venerable Jin Wei, and the tap on the shoulder identified itself to her as the spirit to renew the world. The spirit to renew the world. This woman who had been through the gates of hell and back in her life.

And it is said, you know, that in, in the story of the Prophet Muhammad, he received the word, Recite. Recite. And his teachings flowed from that command, Recite. She received the word, Write. She was illiterate. She had no idea how to write. But she found a nail, and her hand was guided.

Over time, she had a calligraphy brush. She wrote over 200, 000 pages. of calligraphy texts, teachings that are the foundation of the Omoto community. And when she wasn't in a trance, she could not read or understand one page of them. Lead with curiosity. You never know what we might discover. You never know when you, I, we, might get tapped on the shoulder.

Let's keep our Earth fertile for what wants to grow here. Everything grows better with song, as far as I'm concerned, and so, another one of the all star, shining volunteers in the ServiceSpace firmament, Nina Chaudhary, has a song for us, and a beautiful video to go with it.

Nina: Thank you, Charles. Oh, it's such a gift to be here with everybody, and, I want to share a song that, certain questions tapped me to, to explore in, in the form of music, and, it's accompanied by, footage from a documentary called Human, which featured interviews with close to 2, 000 people from 60 countries. It's very much a reflection of the pod that we have here. This is World Without Mirrors.

In a world without mirrors, how would I see me—
How would you describe what you see?
How would I look through your eyes if my eyes were blind?
Can you tell me what you’d find?

Would you see my transgressions, my courage, my woe?
All of the things that I wish you didn’t know?
World without mirrors, who do we all see—
Is it really you or me?

In a world without mirrors, how would they see us—
How would they see past their mistrust?
How would we look through their eyes if our eyes were blind?
Can you tell me what they’d find?

Would they see our traditions, the way that we love?
All of the things that we’re not too proud of?
World without mirrors, who do we condemn—
Is it really us, or them?

In a world without mirrors, how would I see you—
How would I describe what you do?
How would you look through my eyes if your eyes were blind?
Let me tell you what I find.

I can see all the trial, all the fire you walk through
All of the things that you wish you didn’t do.

World without mirrors, who do we see true—Is it really me or you?

Charles: Nina, thank you so much for receiving and sharing that amazing gift. I don't know how many times I've experienced that now, and it's always with a combination of tears and an enormous smile at the incredible depth and beauty of humanity and the invitation. to look beyond the surface. We're going to have a two-part short closing ritual.

I would invite everyone to move to gallery view and for just a little bit in silence and in the spirit of that beautiful song and video, A World Without Mirrors, just Look at the faces of the souls we are privileged to share these 21 days with. Just slowly scan through the pages and see our colleagues.

And now... None of this could happen without the incredible dedication and work of so many volunteers and everyone on this call who has said yes. So, if our tech wizards can unmute everyone. Whether it's Asante or 1, 800 other languages, let's just offer Thank Yous out loud. Shukria! Thank you Shukria! Thank you very much to all of you.

Thank you. Bye. Bye. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thanks. Thank you. Bye. See you next time. Everybody, thank you so much for sharing with us. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.