We started with a pretty simple question—though it’s not an easy one.
What would it actually take to create a future that’s not dystopian or apocalyptic…
but genuinely livable?
Not just for a few people.
For communities. For society.
We weren’t looking for a policy solution or a new movement.
We were wondering whether there was something ordinary people could do—together—that might actually make a difference.
A turning point came when, through a friend, we met Rosa Zubizarreta, who wrote a book called From Conflict to Creative Collaboration. She shared work that’s been happening quietly around the world.
Small groups of people—very small groups—taking on really big issues.
Separatism in Canada. Immigration in Germany.
Citizen councils in places like Austria that actually help inform public decisions.
What struck us was this:
These groups weren’t debating or trying to convince each other.
They were listening in a very particular way—and something smarter than any individual started to emerge.
That insight stayed with us.
We ended up writing a screenplay called The Gatherings, imagining a future where this kind of process had become normal—where, when people faced complex issues, they simply came together in small, well-facilitated Gatherings.
And then something unexpected happened.
People read the screenplay and said,
“Okay… but how do we do this now? In our community?”
So we stopped imagining the future and started experimenting in the present.
Gatherings need skilled facilitation, and Rosa agreed to help us train facilitators. We began offering Facilitator Intensives via Zoom, and now we’re holding our first in-person Gathering—January 23rd and 24th in Brooklyn.
This isn’t about advising government officials or representing a constituency.
It’s about coming together at a grassroots, human level.
And here’s something important to understand about Gatherings:
A Gathering is not joining a group.
It’s not a membership.
There’s no ongoing obligation.
Each Gathering is a one-time event, intentionally complete in itself.
You come together with people you may or may not know.
You bring what genuinely matters to you.
There’s no debating, no persuading, no trying to win an argument.
Instead, something shifts.
People experience a sense of relief—
like, oh… I’m not alone with this.
There’s a feeling of trust, even among people who started out as strangers.
Often there’s clarity. Sometimes a concrete project or next step emerges.
There’s a sense of being part of something bigger than oneself.
We sometimes describe Gatherings as being like breathing.
Coming together is like an inhale.
Leaving—taking action, living your life—is the exhale.
You don’t stay in one Gathering forever.
Later, you might attend another Gathering, with different people, with different emerging issues.
Inhale. Exhale.
Again and again.
There’s a natural rhythm to it—more like waves than meetings.
Many of us have had moments—maybe at camp, or on retreat, or in a rare conversation—where we touch something essential about what life could be like.
The problem is… those moments fade.Gatherings are a way of keeping that aliveness going.
Not by escaping the world,
but by learning how to meet it—together