​In this conversation, Steven Herrmann, PhD, Jungian Analyst and author of numerous books, such as "Spiritual Democracy", explores the key themes of "Moby Dick" that illuminate our current ecological, political, and spiritual crisis.

Learn more about Steven here: https://stevenherrmann.com/

Learn more about "Spiritual Democracy" here: https://www.northatlanticbooks.com/shop/spiritual-democracy/

Appendix A: Future Expressions of Bison Medicine

Future entity: the Bison Medicine Community (BMC)
The BMC is a community that places the nation’s purpose at its center and cultivates bison medicine as a way of being. The BMC remedies the lack of true purpose-centric communities (def. A community defined by a shared common purpose, a devotion to individual purpose activation and fulfillment, and a deliberate effort to nurture belonging), inspires and connects people, provides them tools to activate purpose and belonging in every area of their lives, and develop the skillset to build true purpose-centric communities in their local area / groups.

The BMC gathers virtually twice a month on the new moon and full moon, to reflect, connect, and create. We have special gatherings throughout the year to mark key moments in the development of our nation’s soul during our month-long civic season from June 19th to July 19th:

• June 19th - Juneteenth
• June 25th - Battle of Little Bighorn
• June 28th - Stonewall Riot
• July 2nd - 1964 Civil Rights Act
• July 4th - Independence Day
• July 19th - Seneca Falls Convention

This community has three levels of participation:

1. Graze. Includes a monthly newsletter and private online community to learn and discover information related to our nation’s purpose, the bison, and best practices for purpose and belonging,
2. Wallow. A five-week Bison Medicine Path (see Appendix D) program to activate purpose and belonging (offered twice a year in January and September), and
3. Bellow. A two-year program that meets online twice a month and in-person twice a year to activate purpose-driven leadership skills, and a purpose-driven organizational transformation.

Future entity: Certified Bison Corporation (CBC)
The CBC is a certification granted to organizations that A. Activate purpose and belonging for all employees, B. Grant them at least 25% of the ownership and board seats, and C. Hold themselves accountable to practicing bison medicine in their culture through purpose-driven career pathing and living wages, with their customers, in their living wage, sustainable supply chains, and in the communities / ecologies upon which they depend.

Future entity: Bison-led private equity funds and consulting firms
These firms work with businesses to activate purpose and belonging to become a CBC, and realize returns, e.g.,  a 2x increase in valuation over five years (Torrey Project, 2022), driven by a 175% increase in productivity (Bain, 2017), 30% increase in innovation (Deloitte, 2020), tripling the number of engaged employees (Deloitte, 2014), and 7.4 month increase in employee tenure (BetterUp, 2019).

Future entity: The Bison Union
The Bison Union is a Sunday periodical that explores current events through the lens of our nation’s purpose, exploring which current events promote, secure and expand it, and which events desecrate it. Editorials and opinions follow similar guidelines. Ad-supported by CBC organizations.

Future entity: Public Bison Charter Schools
Public Bison Charter Schools leverage best practices for learning, e.g., Jigsaw Method, small class sizes, student directed learning, social and emotional intelligence, systems thinking, as well as cultivate purpose and belonging / “beloved community” among students, and a devotion to democratic ideals. Civic education includes numerous: 

• Books such “A Documentary History of the United States”, “The 1619 Project”, “A People’s History of the United States”, “An Indigenous People’s History of the United States”, “These Truths”, “Spiritual Democracy”, “Become America”, “The Dawn of Everything”, “Debt: The First 5,000 Years”, “Patchwork Nation”, “Natural Capitalism”, “Upswing”, and “Healing America’s Narratives”,
• Films and series such as “What the Constitution Means to Me”, “Exterminate All the Brutes”, “The English”, “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee”, “Where to Invade Next”, “Lincoln”, “J. Edgar”, “Judas and the Black Messiah”, “Born on the Fourth of July”, “Oppenheimer”, “12 Years a Slave”, “Best of Enemies”, “13th”, “Harriet”, “All the President’s Men”, “Roots”, “Nomadland”, “13 Days”, “Bowling for Columbine”, “Selma”, “American Buffalo”, and
• Field trips to the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Zion National Parks, Washington DC (African American History and Culture Museum, American Indian Museum, Natural History Museum), Minneapolis (American Craft Museum), Detroit (Motown Museum), Montgomery, Alabama (Legacy Museum, National Memorial for Peace and Justice), and South Dakota (Black Hills / Crazy Horse Memorial).

Future entity: Bison Charter Communities
Bison Charter Communities are new townships, islands of sanity chartered to practice and embody democratic and humanistic ideals. Thirty families are granted land to collaborate over at least three years to become self-sustaining, with the goals to optimize human potential, belonging, community, and culture, and demonstrate democracy at the most micro / tangible level.

Future entity: The Bison Oath
The Bison Oath is a pledge to center “All… Created Equal” in your life, career, and community, a viral effort to proclaim to those in your life that equality is central to your identity, and that you want to be held accountable to it. Oath:

I believe in and am wedded to ALL CREATED EQUAL. It is what President Lincoln called “the central tenet of our ancient faith”, what President Kennedy called “our moral crisis”, what President Reagan called “our birthright” and “our heritage”, and what President Obama called our “the most evident of truths”, our “God-given promise”, and “the star that guides”. 

I will continually transform everything in my thoughts, beliefs, behaviors, and surroundings that inhibit equality.

I will continually take actions in my family, community, career, and civic life that ensure all people who call this place home have everything they need in their first 30 years of life to be fully created, to fulfill their potential, contribute their gifts, and be justly rewarded.

By taking this vow, I make it known that I ask to be held accountable to living ALL CREATED EQUAL, and encourage my fellow countryfolk to do so as well.

In solidarity,

Name:             _____________________
Town & State:         _____________________
Date:            _____________________
[Optional] Enter your email (not shared publicly or sold) to receive a badge to share on social media: _____________________
[Optional] Invite up to 5 friends to join you in taking the oath, by entering their email addresses here: __________________________________________




Appendix B: A People’s Constitutional Convention

“I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the changes of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times.”
- Thomas Jefferson

As we’ve explored, now is not the time for denialism, wishful thinking, incrementalism, exodus, or doomsday prepping. That’s your wetiko talking. That’s the eagle squawking. That’s what got us here. Now is the time for sober minds, open hearts, and wild eyes. This is a time for a spiritual revival of our civic religion and a good faith re-imagining of the union. As the Academy of Arts and Science, David Brooks, Jedediah Britton-Purdy, Jamelle Bouie, Barbara Walter, Ryan Doerfler, Samuel Moyn, and so many other respected voices tending to the health and spirit of our nation have faithfully detailed, our nation needs both spiritual and structural reform, not more politics as usual. Now is the time to psychologically, spiritually, and materially repair the cracks in the foundation of our nation, reconsecrate our purpose and renegotiate the terms to fulfill it.

Make no mistake, this is a time for grand gestures, for our wild-eyed courage and creativity. We’ve been this way before. We are rebels. It is our way. Just as we created and iterated in the 18th and 19th centuries, in a respiratory rhythm of imagination, deliberation, and feedback - taking inspiration from the Kaianerekowa to Canassatego’s 1744 speech to the Haudenosaunee and colonial ambassadors to Franklin’s failed Albany Plan in 1754 to our Articles of Association in 1774, to our Declaration of Independence in 1776, to our Articles of Confederation in 1778, to our Constitution in 1787, we find ourselves in need of another series of rhythmic, respiratory rebirths.

This heritage is neither progressive or conservative, but one that seeks to simply do what we set out to do - fulfill our shared purpose by forming institutions that guarantee the rights and deliver the resources we need for all to be fully “created equal” and enjoy “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”, love others as much as ourselves (e pluribus unum) - to be a beacon of freedom and flourishing to guide the planet’s peoples and governments into their fullness.

As such, it is with a sober mind, heavy heart, and in good faith that we firmly declare our current form of democracy dead. We are a failed state. Our political economy is a mindless automaton of orphanages that persist only because we have forgotten who we are and what we stand for. It persists because we aren’t doing our inner work to heal our traumas, illuminate our wetiko, and activate our purpose. It persists because we have stopped our imagining, generating, and deliberating new dreams sourced in our purpose. Instead of remembering, healing, activating, and imagining, we’ve been tightening our sphincters, holding our breath, and taking in small sips of civic air every four years, when we really need to fall to our knees, humble ourselves before our sacred purpose, take our deep belly breaths, and prepare ourselves for the great task ahead.

It is abundantly evident that help isn’t coming from technocrats in DC. It is abundantly evident that more extreme weather, school shootings, domestic terror events, hard-hitting journalism, or scientific research are not going to magically wake us up to the decay and need for change. As the climate and public health research reveals, it is abundantly evident that we cannot merely invest in education in hopes that future generations are up to the task. If we wait that long, we’ll all be dead. It’s on us. Now. It is incumbent upon us to breathe life deep into our sacred purpose, imagine, deliberate and guide our nation into a new future of unprecedented freedom, prosperity, and goodwill.

Now with a more current understanding of what “created”, “equal”, “life”, “liberty”, “happiness”, and “e pluribus unum” actually mean, we have an explicit duty - and the authority - to ensure every U.S. citizen reaches their full potential. As the Declaration of Independence and the 14th Amendment articulate, it is the right and duty of the federal government to ensure that states do not impinge upon these rights, “...nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law.” As such, cases against each state in the union that have failed to ensure these rights may be brought to court, receive redress, and materialize reform. 

Once we have a critical mass devoted to our great purpose and guided by the medicine of the bison, our task now is to consecrate them in form, feel, and function at the federal level. Given the aforementioned post-mortem of our current government, we will hold the first of many citizens’ constitutional conventions to create and adopt a new constitution, re-envision and re-charter each branch of government, each federal agency, and each sector of society to fulfill our purpose.

Each of these must not only be optimized for our purpose and vision given the most current research and best practices, but also be agile and adaptive, with short feedback loops that allow us to refine and evolve each function of our government as we learn, as we take transformative action on our many pressing emergencies, and govern in our increasingly diverse, interconnected, chaotic, and ambiguous environment. Once approved at the convention, we will petition the people’s support, and then Congress. This may involve many rhythmic cycles of inspiration and respiration lasting many years, if not decades. At least that’s how it happened the first time we tried to stand up a government (1754-1787).

So what might a bison-led federal government look like? What social, economic and political structures would be necessary to fulfill our purpose?

These are questions that we can only answer together. Answers to these questions require a purpose-activated, healed/ing, diverse, representative, patient, informed, and self-aware group of citizens. They require us to embody our purpose as we seek to find its full expression in our structures, laws, policies and processes. In this convention, we will generate and consider hundreds of TBD structures and policies. By way example, we might surface and debate ideas that impact:

1. Our elections: As most other democracies do, we make the right to vote an affirmative constitutional right, versus a states’ discretionary right. We abolish the Electoral College, political parties (such as the DNC and RNC), lobbying, campaign contributions, party primaries, and debates. Our federally funded election cycle lasts three weeks. During the first two weeks voters will be able to review (via a voter information guide distributed by mail and online) each candidate’s statement of purpose, the inner work they completed to know it, a written 10-page policy plan, a 15-minute video speech, a resume, and 10 years of income tax statements. As debates are nothing more than a spectacle of wetiko zingers, there will be no debates. Instead, candidates that secure the signatures of at least 1% of the voting population in the first two weeks will be given the opportunity to make their case via a 1-hour nationally televised town hall in the third week. Federal elections are determined by popular ranked-choice voting. Voters are automatically registered upon their 18th birthday. All citizens over the age of 18 are required to vote by mail or face a $50 fine. We nationalize all election and redistricting commissions. The nation is redistricted by an independent, non-partisan body every 10 years. 
2. Our legislature: 4-yr terms with 2-term limits for the House and the Senate, to wed leaders to the concerns of the people. We expand the Senate to ensure that each state has at least one Senator, and that no Senator represents more constituents than another, e.g., 1 Senator from Maine and 28 from California. We abolish the filibuster. In the first two years of each elected legislator's term (as well as in the onboarding and certification of each law enforcement officer, teacher and health professional), public servants embark on 3 hours a week of intense personal development (including healing their traumas and further purpose activation work), and 5 hours a week of civics, communication and team building skills in small groups of four, diverse peers to build authenticity, trust and empathy across divides, and develop critical skills such as conflict resolution, de-escalation, and peace-building. Upon election, all business interests and financial assets of public servants are sold and placed in a blind trust that can only hold domestic municipal debt, thereby cementing the financial interests of the individual and the prosperity of the nation. After their terms expire, they may either hold other public offices OR take a humble, living wage pension and retire. No further income generating activities may be pursued, e.g., lobbying, government contracting, board advisory positions, etc. They may write and speak, make art, sell books, volunteer, and serve their communities, but cannot receive any further income from their activities.
3. Our SCOTUS: 8-yr term, 2-term limit. They are not appointed, but elected by the people, in the same manner as our Senate and House. [During the first two weeks voters will be able to review (via a voter information guide by mail and online) each candidate’s statement of purpose, the inner work they completed to know it, written 10-page case deliberation plan, a 15-minute video speech, a resume, and 10 years of income tax statements. Candidates that secure the signatures of 1% of the voting population in the first two weeks will be given the opportunity to make their case via a 1-hour nationally televised town hall in the third week. Federal elections are determined by popular ranked-choice voting.] Upon confirmation, all business interests and financial assets must be sold and placed in a blind trust that can only hold domestic municipal debt. After their terms expire, they may either hold other public offices OR take their humble living wage pension and retire. No further income generating activities may be pursued, e.g., lobbying, government contracting, board advisory positions, etc. They may write and speak, make art, sell books, volunteer, and serve their communities, but cannot receive any further income from their activities. Further, a no confidence vote may be called every four years. A simple majority of a popular vote is all that is required to terminate a Justice’s service, thereby establishing a check on the Judicial - the people. 
4. Our economy: Employees must own at least 25% of the company they serve and hold at least 25% of the board seats. GAAP now requires labor to be an asset on the balance sheet, to ensure it is cultivated and invested in. Salaries, benefits and training are now capital investments. Ecological and community impact costs of business are measured, reported on the income statement, then tripled, and distributed to the counties in which the entity operates. For-profit entities will have 3 years to become Certified Bison Corporations (CBCs) and implement the necessary business, audit and reporting processes. If they do not become CBCs by this time, their charter will be revoked, their assets will be auctioned, and the proceeds will be distributed to their employees. Foreign companies exporting goods and services to the US must also meet the same requirements.
5. Our media: We implement a journalist licensure / bar, similar to other professions, such as securities, accounting, real estate and law, to ensure that articles labeled as news are written, edited and produced by licensed professionals.  We reinstate FCC Fairness Doctrine, expand it to include social media, and ascribe legal liability, to both lower the temperature and restore trust in journalism. All media companies will observe a “black out” on upcoming elections, until the three-week election cycle begins. They may explore the issues, causes, and solutions, but not particular candidates or campaigns.
6. Our justice system: We ensure each officer candidate has completed purpose work, understands that it is their purpose to preserve the peace, lives in the community they serve, and is trained in conflict resolution and de-escalation. We remove all liability protections. We adopt a restorative justice approach, viewing each transgression through the lens of trauma, individual and collective responsibility, avoiding future degradation at all costs, the incarceration or physical harm of the parties involved, working towards solutions to repair the harm, and lead to healing, learning, and growth.
7. Our agencies: We will stand up a new federal agency focused on holistic health and thriving to provide each person, according to their needs, everything they need in the first 30 years to fulfill their potential, e.g., safety, shelter, healthy food and water, clean air, and rights, rites, resources and programs to heal, activate their purpose, and belonging. We provide acute, substantial, and sustained care for those who have been historically dehumanized, terrorized, excluded, exploited, and murdered, e.g. women, BIPOC, and LGBTQIA+ citizens, until their income, longevity, and wealth reach the national average. We set universal metrics / KPIs for all federal agencies to work towards and agile / responsive decision making structures to meet the ever changing needs of our multicultural democracy and interdependent ecology.
8. Our policies: We pass laws that have wide popular and scientific support, such as universal healthcare, college debt forgiveness, universal K-16 education (focused on civics, communication, social and emotional health, trauma healing, purpose activation, multiple intelligences, liberal arts, creativity, community service), robust “turn in” program for assault weapons and handguns (e.g., turn in a gun and receive a $10k scholarship for a state college or trade school for oneself or family members), guaranteed living wages / rent caps and public housing to ensure that income is greater than four times rent, and our commutes are less than 30 minutes via public transportation.

Who gets to be a part of this convention?

You do.

Participants over the age of 18, from each state, reflecting the current number of their Representatives in the House (538), will be selected at random (excluding current public servants). Those selected will furnish a resume, social media profiles, and the last 10 years of income tax statements (or as many as are available). Each participant will receive travel, room, board, $200 per day to compensate them for lost wages during the convention. It is estimated that this first convention will cost $20 million dollars.

What happens before the convention?

The 6-month period prior to the convention is a pilgrimage, a descent into the essence and origins of our nation, as well as a personal transformation process required to embody our essence and advocate for it. In addition to discussing US History and the ideas that shaped and evolved our founding documents, participants will also develop a deeper connection to their personal purpose and values, and build critical communication skills required for the convention. The result will be that after 6 months, 538 citizens will understand US History, themselves, the nation’s purpose, and have the skills to navigate the many concerns that are sure to arise during the convention.

They will complete a purpose and values activation program, be inspired by a vision for their own lives, and therein build the foundational capacity to collectively dream the future of the nation. Once complete with that program, they will take a communication skills program, which empowers them with critical communication skills such as “I” statements, active listening, effective apologies, expressing gratitude and conflict management. In each program, they will be placed into small groups optimized for diversity (gender, race, ideology, geography, sexuality, political affiliation, etc.), and will leave each program with three new authentic diverse relationships. The result of completing both programs is that they will have a greater understanding of the lives of 6 very different fellow citizens, and experience empathy and trust among them. These will all be done virtually via video calls.

During this pilgrimage, they will also begin to develop their own ideas for what our Constitution should look like. At the end of the pilgrimage, they will have 2 weeks to submit the matters they want to vote on - their ideas about what our purpose means, what rights need to be secured, and what structures and institutions must be created to fulfill these rights. Once all matters are submitted, participants will then rank the matters that will be voted on first.

What happens at the convention?

The convention will begin with a 3-day Future Search Process to generate a shared history, common concerns and a vision for the future for the nation. Afterwards, they will set to work on a new Constitution to best fulfill our shared vision. Participants will be given 2 weeks to research, reflect, and generate their ideas for new structures, reforms or policies. They will then submit up to 3, 2-page proposals.

All proposals will be heard / read aloud. After hearing the proposals, participants will form working groups with those who submitted similar proposals. They will have 2 days to integrate, strengthen, and refine their proposals. The integrated / refined proposals will be heard again.

The order of proposals being voted on will be rank-choice voted. Each proposal will then be heard and voted on in order. Two hours of private research and reflection will follow after each proposal before the vote. 15 people will be selected at random to present their views on the matter for 2 minutes each.  A vote will be cast. A simple majority will determine whether it passes. The convention will last 8 weeks, be filmed and broadcast, and at the end, the new Constitution, in whatever form it is in, will be made public.

What happens after the convention?

• Petition. We will take this new Constitution to the people and seek to get over two-thirds of registered voters to endorse it. If we cannot, we will gather the feedback of those who do not endorse it and hold a second convention in a similar fashion. If we cannot gain two-thirds support after the second convention, we will keep holding conventions until we have over two-thirds of the people’s support.
• Thought leadership. Once supported by a ⅔ majority of the people, we will enlist our citizen legislators (those who participated in the convention) to write, speak, and be interviewed about their experience in their home districts and encourage their communities to understand how this new constitution works.
• PR and Media. We will build awareness of the movement online and via local news channels.
• Elections. A sister organization / PAC will be launched to run and/or endorse candidates in the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches, who share one goal above all others - to call a convention to adopt the citizens’ new Constitution.
• Community. Events will be held around the country to connect citizens who believe in the purpose and promise of the nation and support the new constitution. An online platform / strategy will be developed to encourage folks to dive deeper into our nation’s history and purpose, cultivate their purpose, and form local coalitions who gather regularly to renew our purpose and explore resonant local actions, e.g., mutual aid, community gardens, employee owned businesses, community service, mentor networks, local police reform, etc.

Appendix C: Bison Medicine Book Club

To get the most out of your Bison Medicine journey, you are invited to read this book socially and meet in-person to discuss your experience. While you can try host to a virtual book club, it is not recommended. You’ll want to experience this with people in your local work, alumni, career, neighborhood, or spiritual group, so that you can build and deepen mutually enriching relationships with people you’re likely to see at the market, the park, or your children’s events. The reason for this is that belonging is just as much about bumping into people you like and trust, as it is about having deep conversations about what matters most.

If you’ve participated in a book club in the past, you know the drill. However, I encourage you to do this book journey in a different manner. Most book clubs involve reading a book prior to getting together, pouring some tea or wine, and having a general discussion about the book, exploring what about the book did or didn’t resonate with folks. Given what’s at stake and what our nation’s purpose summons us to do, I recommend a longer marination by structuring this journey as a series of five weekly sessions:

1. Up through Part 1 (week one)
2. Parts 2 and 3 (week two)
3. Parts 4 and 5 (week three)
4. Parts 6, 7 and 8 (week four)
5. Part 9, Conclusion, and Appendices (week five)

For each session, I invite you to begin with two agreements: A. One person talks at a time, and B. a confidentiality agreement, inviting people to keep what others say in confidence. The purpose of these agreements is to allow people to share as openly and honestly as possible, knowing they will not be interrupted and that what they shared stays in the room. Then invite folks to do a brief one-minute check-in, such as sharing a high and low moment from the last week. This allows everyone the opportunity to speak and get a sense of each other’s lives.

After the check-in, split the group into smaller groups of 3-4 people to discuss the prompts at the end of the assigned parts for 20-30 minutes. Then have a discussion in the larger group around what people found surprising, moving, and/or took issue with. Then end each session with a brief check-out about what you are leaving with, e.g, a feeling or a thought, and what’s one new action you will take, e.g., activate my purpose, launch a Bison Medicine journey with another group in your life, book a trip to Yellowstone to see the bison, etc.

If you think it’s unlikely that your folks can meet for five weeks in a row, you can also do a three-session 90-minute format, e.g., week one (up through Part 3), week two (Parts 4-7), week three (Part 8 through the Appendices). If even three sessions feels like a stretch, you can do just one 120-minute session, please follow the same format above, but assign different parts to each small group, e.g., group A does up to Part 3, group B does Parts 4-7, and group C does Part 8 through the Appendices. In the general discussion after the small group discussion, please allocate equal time for each small group to share what they found surprising, moving, and/or took issue with, and end with the check-out above (feeling or thought and a new action).

Once you have a sense of the structure that you’d like to have, you need to invite people to join you on the journey. This is the most important part of the experience. If the invitation isn’t extended with care, it is unlikely anyone will say yes. To prepare an invitation with care, begin by writing out a list of 4-12 people within JUST ONE of your local alumni, career, work, neighborhood, or spiritual groups that you most want to connect with around this material. They can be people you enjoy, respect, and admire already. They can be people you don’t know well and want to get to know better. They can be people who have influence. But what’s most important, is that they already are a part of a single group together. This ensures that the transformation they will experience on this journey can be maintained through your group’s existing relationships and cadence of gatherings.

To prepare to make the invitations, for each person you want to invite, write their name, one thing about them that you appreciate, e.g,. they are a great parent, they are open-minded, the make you feel seen, they are a great friend, etc., and why you think they would add value to the book club experience, e.g., they have a background in economics, they are a local leader, they ask great questions, they’ve traveled extensively, they have a deep spiritual practice, etc. Take a moment to complete the form below, so you have a general idea of what the experience could be like and who you want to be involved.

Name of the experience, e.g., Bison Medicine Book Club, Radical Republicans Book Club, Hippy Brain Food, The Learning Lawyers, Ladies Who Lead, Concerned Citizens Collective, Bold Baptists Book Club, Awesome Accountants Book Club, etc.

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Name of the existing group that they are all a part of, e.g., local family, neighbors, church friends, coworkers, etc.

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Number of planned sessions (1-5)

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Duration of each session (60-120 minutes)

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Location, e.g., my home, a local park, 2nd floor conference room, etc.

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As the nature of this journey and the discussion prompts are highly personal and frequently  confronting, you’ll want to be sure that the person you are inviting feels connected to you before they receive the invitation. If they’re just trying to empty their inbox before their next commitment, the odds are low that they will be present to the connection they have with you and they will ignore the invitation. So please avoid inviting people via written word, e.g., email, messenging app, text, etc..

I recommend inviting each person to join you for lunch or a hike or a cup of coffee in a park and at some time when you won’t feel rushed. Let them know that you want to catch up, that you are starting a unique book club, and want to ask their opinion about it, so that they know you have an intention beyond just catching up. If you know you’re going to see them at a gathering, ask them to connect privately, 1:1, about your book club. If you don’t know when you’re going to see them next, send them a brief note, e.g., “I’d love to catch up 1:1 and pick your brain about a unique book club I’m launching. When is good for a cup of coffee?” 

When you see them at the agreed upon time and place, greet them, thank them for taking time to connect and share their perspective on the book club. Take between 10-20 minutes to catch up, being sure to share at least one thing you’re finding challenging in your life and one thing you find inspiring or joyful, before you turn the conversation to the book club.  The deeper and more real your check-in, the more connected they’ll feel to you and more likely they will be to join you.

The most important thing for them to feel after being connected with you, is that they understand that you like them and want to connect more with them, so share what it is about them that you respect, admire or appreciate and why you thought of them for this book club, e.g., “I really enjoy your wisdom about current affairs and that you always seem to share your perspective in a kind and considerate way”, “I love how well-read you are, and think your understanding of our local ecology would add a great deal of value to this book club”, etc.

Then share with them how you discovered this book, the main ideas of the book, and the experience you’re envisioning, e.g., “I heard the author speak about Bison Medicine on a podcast and knew that I wanted to read this with some of my favorite people. So, of course, I thought of you. The book explores three key ideas. The first is that we have a beautiful national purpose that can be realized if we understand what it means and what the science tells us about how to fulfill it. The second idea is that we have a majestic National Mammal, the bison, whose behavior is a better match for our nation’s purpose than the bald eagle, and that it provides us with ethical guidance to fulfill our nation’s purpose. The final point of the book is that each person can live their best life and fulfill our shared purpose, by activating a sense of purpose and belonging. At the end of each part, there are three thought provoking prompts that will make for a rich discussion. I’m envisioning reading this book together over the course of five weeks, where we’d meet to discuss a few parts a week at my house. I was wondering what you think of this idea, if you’d like to participate, and who else you think would be fun to invite.”

As they share their feedback, take note of it, and thank them. Then ask if there is anything that would make this a more compelling invitation. If their suggestions resonate with you, agree with them, and again ask them if they’d like to participate. If you have questions, need support, have ideas to share, or just want to celebrate a win, please send me a note at bisonmedicine.com. I can’t wait to hear about it!


Appendix D: Bison Medicine Path

The Bison Medicine Path (BMP) is a five-week journey completed in groups of four people from your local alumni, career, work, neighborhood, or spiritual group. Together, your group of four will complete a weekly purpose discovery exercise, a purpose activation exercise and have a 1-hour peer-facilitated conversation (peer = you and the other three members from your group) following a discussion guide.

You’ll leave the BMP with a purpose statement to guide you in every area of your life, and three authentic relationships to help you integrate your purpose, take purpose driven actions, support you on the journey, and celebrate your wins. This group will be your island of sanity, your people who see you for who you really are, who vulnerably share their own purpose and values, and help you stay on the path. On this journey you will develop greater clarity, confidence, courage, connection and coherence. Below you can see a sampling of what BMP participants have experienced:

CLARITY: “I have more strength and clarity of purpose which is a constant reminder to be a better person.”

CONFIDENCE: “I was able to find out other people's view of me- an incredibly refreshing experience to go through. It leveled up my perspective of myself and helped me see the good sides of my character.”

COURAGE: “I appreciated having a safe space to talk… to step outside of my comfort zone.”

CONNECTION: “It is nice to have validation.. that we all have similar needs, wants, and desires, and can rely more on others.”

COHERENCE: “I think more about ways I can find and incorporate my purpose through my career, rather than seeing it as something separate.”


You can learn more about this journey at bisonmedicine.com.



Appendix E: True Name

In February of 2016, I learned my true name. I was in a nine-day intensive as part of an eight-month Purpose Guide(TM) training and certification with the Purpose Guides Institute. During the three months leading up to this intensive, we performed many rituals and nature-based soul encounter exercises, read several books, and worked with several leading soul activation teachers, such as Bill Plotkin, Joanna Macy, Terry Patten, Tim Kelley, and Jean Houston.

Leading up to the eighth day of this intensive, we completed many more exercises and rituals to prepare ourselves emotionally, physically, intellectually, and spiritually for our quest - a one-day immersion in the realm of soul. During the quest, we observed silence, abstained from food for 24-hours, of which the last eight were spent at a ceremony spot that we chose in the woods. In advance, we each designed our ceremonies with guidance from texts from The School of Lost Borders and Animas Valley Institute and the reflection from our peers.

On the evening before the quest, we performed a fire ceremony, naming the chapter of our lives that was ending that night. We wrote each belief and behavior that supported this chapter on a piece of paper, and then read each aloud to the group, giving thanks for them, releasing them, and burning them in the fire. I named the chapter that was ending as one of righteous anger, of post-modern activism and vilification of the existing order (extractive capitalism, patriarchy, et al). I named the chapter that was beginning as one of compassionate leadership, effectively setting up a problem statement for my soul. I could not complete the quest unless some significant transformation occurred, as I was filled with and trapped by righteous anger. I needed to transform something in myself in order to step through righteous anger and into compassionate leadership. After the fire ceremony we entered into silence and went to bed.

At dawn on the next day, we set out to begin the quest, crossing a threshold into the realm of soul, after which all bets were off, meaning our preparation prior to the quest, while necessary, would take a seat behind the guidance of my soul once we crossed the threshold. My soul guided me to a spot. I set an eight-foot diameter perimeter with branches, cleared the center, set down a tarp, made a small altar, added an opening in the East, and set a timer for eight hours on my watch (which I left outside the circle along with all my other belongings, with the exception of my water bottle, pen, and journal).

To begin the ceremony, I entered the circle at the eastern opening, gave the land a gift, welcomed the energies of the 7 directions (North, South, East, West, Above, Below, and Within), and asked for guidance and protection from my deceased brother and my two deceased Grandmothers.

During the ceremony, I verbally told the story of my life and my ancestors. I then shared why I was there and that I needed help. I prayed, cried, danced, chanted, screamed, lamented and begged. I conversed with the trees, the wind, the birds and the sky, receiving powerful soul information which I captured in my journal. About 6 hours in, I asked for my true name, the name of my soul, the deeper name beneath and beyond my given and family names.

After some time, “Buffalo Heart” came through. But, it didn’t resonate wiyh me. I couldn’t feel it. It didn’t sound right. I needed confirmation. The trees, who had been so generous with soul information earlier, were now silent. So I left the ceremony circle to confront them. I placed my hand upon one tree and asked “Am I Buffalo Heart?” I heard nothing. I went to the second tree and asked “Am I Buffalo Heart?” Nothing. I went to the third tree and asked “Am I Buffalo Heart?” Nothing. I was disheartened. I felt betrayed and abandoned by my soul and the trees.

On my way to the fourth tree, the second part of the name came through “Who Loves and Wholes the World”. I crumpled. My body collapsed on the forest floor. Each word in “Buffalo Heart Who Loves and Wholes the World” produced shaking and crying. I was overtaken by the beauty and the resonance of the name, and the terror of all that this name required of me. Something new had begun. I was, and am still, very far from actualizing this name. But it had begun.

I returned to my ceremony circle, gave thanks, journalled, and carved this name into a small log as a memento of the experience. When my timer went off, I released and thanked the seven directions and my ancestors. I thanked the land, broke down my altar, and returned the land to the state I found it. I gathered my belongings, walked back across the threshold, and returned to camp.

We then sat in an integration circle and broke our silence to share, mirror, and integrate our experiences. After this circle, we enjoyed a feast, letting the soul information of our journeys settle into our bellies and bones.

…

In April of 2018, I had a related vision during another purpose process. I saw a warrior ride atop a giant buffalo. In the clouds we're the faces of Black Elk, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull. From atop the bison, the warrior shot flaming arrows into a straw circular building that resembled the Roman colosseum. Inside that building, all of humanity was held prisoner. As the fires burned holes in the colosseum, the people fled and were free.



Appendix F: An Approach to Community and Belonging

If you’re one of the many folks who aren’t a member of any group, or don’t feel a sense of purpose and belonging in your life, you are not alone. Unfortunately, many folks have this experience. What follows is an approach to help you change that. But it will take time. Let’s begin by distinguishing the difference between a group and a community. Groups are everywhere, and are defined by the beliefs and/or behaviors their members share, e.g., a bowling team bowls together, a business unit works together, school mates learn and play together, political parties vote together, churches explore faith and worship together, civic organizations serve together, regulars at a bar drink together, neighbors live on the same street, etc. Groups are important, but they are not be default, communities. A community is a special type of group that:

1. Has a clear and stated purpose, a set of values, agreements, and rituals that are known, upheld, and celebrated,
2. Is composed of folks who are discovering and fulfilling their unique purpose in life, 
3. Encourages folks to love themselves and each other,
4. Has a clear boundary (who is in the community and who is not), and
5. Has an ascension path to greater levels of mastery, responsibility, and belonging within their community (visitor > new member > committee member > committee leader > president > board member).

Odds are there are no true communities like this in your area, so you’ll have to build your own. To build a community and have a sense of belonging within it, you need two things:

1. A rough sense of your purpose in life and,
2. A group of people to start with.

The reason you need a rough sense of your purpose in life is because you don’t want to try to build community with people who believe things or exhibit behaviors that are unaligned with who you are. For example, if your rough draft of your purpose is The Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have done unto you.”, a church is a better group to join than a cryptocurrency meetup. If your purpose is to expand your mind, a book club is a better group to join than a knitting circle. If your purpose is to nurture life, a gardening club is a better group to join than a car club. If your purpose is to honor all people’s differences, a Unitarian Universalist church is a better group than a white nationalist group.

You can create a rough draft of your purpose (and all purpose statements are drafts) by reflecting on the type of world you want to live in and the qualities of people you most respect and admire. You can then combine them into a rough draft purpose statement, following this formula: I create a ___________ world by being __________, ___________, and __________. If you want to live in a thriving world and the people you respect and admire have qualities, such as kindness, hope, and resourcefulness, your rough draft would be “I create a thriving world by being kind, hopeful and resourceful.”

Now use this rough draft to guide you in exploring groups in your area. You can find these groups on a website such as meetup, your town’s website, or through an internet search, e.g., “service organizations in Springfield”, “churches in Springfield”, “volunteering in Springfield”. Once you’ve found a handful of groups in your local area that could be a good fit, visit each group a few times to get a feel for the group’s culture, the leaders, and their members. During this exploration phase, you’ll want to keep your purpose statement present to gauge which groups are most aligned with your purpose. If your purpose is “I create a thriving world by being kind, hopeful and resourceful.”, you’ll want to ask yourself these questions:

1. Are members of this group committed to thriving?
2. Are they hopeful?
3. Are they kind?
4. Are they resourceful?

Once you have a rough sense of alignment with a group (it doesn’t have to be perfect), join it and commit to being an active member. If it doesn’t work out for whatever reason, you can always quit and join another. 

Once you feel like you’ve found the right group for you for now, then you can begin the journey of community by inviting some of your group’s members to do a group purpose journey with you. Once complete you’ll have a deeper sense of your purpose and be able to sense if this group is truly aligned with who you are. You now have a choice to continue being a member of your group, or find a new group, or start your own. If you choose to stay in your group, your task after completing the journey is to share what you and your group experienced on the journey, and invite other group members to do it as well. Keep sharing and inviting until at least 25% of your group is purpose activated. Once you reach this milestone, a purposeful norm will be established in your group. From this place, you and your fellow purposeful members can start to enact changes to the group, by joining the leadership and putting forth motions such as:

1. Developing/updating a clear stated group purpose, a set of values, agreements, and rituals that are known, upheld, and celebrated,
2. Develop/update programs to help members fulfill their unique purpose in life, 
3. Develop/update rituals to create authentic connection between members so they can know and love each other,
4. Develop/update a clear boundary (who is in the community and who is not), and
5. Develop/update a purposeful ascension path to greater levels of mastery, responsibility and belonging within the community (visitor, new member, committee member, committee leader, president, board member).

If you get stuck, need support, or want to share a win, please reach out to me at bisonmedicine.com.

​

In this interview, we explore Afdhel's life journey to U.S. citizenship as a Sri Lankan, his purpose journey, his work helping individuals, leaders, and organizations become purpose-driven, and his new book, along with Bobby Jones, "Personal Purpose: Designing a Meaningful and Prosperous Career".

Book: https://www.conspiracyoflove.co/inspiration-articles/how-finding-your-purpose-can-supercharge-your-career

Afdhel: https://www.afdhelaziz.com/

Conspiracy of Love: https://www.conspiracyoflove.co/

In lieu of an interview this week, here is a playlist of illuminating videos that bring to life the story of democracy and peace on Turtle Island.

The below video is a summary of "The White Roots of Peace" by Paul Wallace. It could not be included in the playlist, because it's permissions are set for kids. It's also very good - the 1st 20 minutes are a telling of the creation myth of the Great Law, which is supposed to only be told in a longhouse and is reported to take 55 hours. The last 10 minutes reveal the key democratic innovations and practices in the Great Law.

“These are times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands by it NOW, deserves the love and thanks of men and women. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have consolation within us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”
- Thomas Paine, 1776

As should now be painfully clear, help isn’t coming from the orphanages. No elected savior is going to ride in on a white horse and make the pain go away. We can’t agree on truth, argue for best practices, or pass significant legislation. There are few fully developed adults, much less elders, in the rooms in which they are needed. Our shadows (arrogance, ignorance, fear, bigotry, violence, greed, excess, bullying, untrustworthiness) dance along the Beltway, poison and exploit our children. They infect our homes and offices, guide our business models and media platforms, and shape our local places of worship, cultures, neighborhoods, policies, and practices.

At the federal, state, country, city, and school board levels, polarization, lobbying, gerrymandering, disinformation, cancel culture, religious fundamentalism, and hate speech have made it political suicide to stand on principles (NYT, 2022), cooperate or put forth bipartisan solutions. Only the most wounded and rigid ideologues can get elected. Only those most ignorant of our sacred purpose attain power and wealth. The result is that even when sound legislation is popular with voters, or has produced powerful outcomes for other G20 nations, it doesn’t become law, and our fellow citizens continue to suffer and die.

The last 30 years of congressional dysfunction has left us with only one anemic option for change - the President declares national emergencies and issues executive orders. However, our unelected Supreme Court Justices with lifetime appointments, can and frequently do declare them unconstitutional. We are all now effectively governed by an unelected Supreme Court that is no longer a responsive or a neutral arbiter of constitutionality, but an activist organization with a Gilead agenda (Baltimore Sun, 2022) and movement (Turning Point, 2022) that has laid bare its plans to continue stripping the hard earned civil rights of three-quarters of U.S. citizens. However, as we have explored, this wetiko isn’t new. It’s been in the works for centuries and is nearing total victory. In 2014, researchers from Princeton and Cambridge proved the nation is effectively an oligarchy of wealthy and corporate interests (Cambridge, 2014) and in 2016, The Economist downgraded the US from a “full” to “flawed” democracy (Economist, 2020).

We have fulfilled the purpose of wetiko, not that of our souls or our nation. As Supreme Court Justice, Louis Brandeis, observed, “We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of the few, but we cannot have both.” And all of us know it. We feel it. We have already issued multiple “no confidence” votes in our system. It’s broken. It does not represent us nor is it able to do the people’s business:

• 64% of us do not believe in the “American Dream” (WSJ, 2023)
  
• 69% of us believe our political economy needs significant changes or to be torn down (New York Times / Sienna, 2024)
  
• 70% of us believe the government only serves the wealthy (Pew, 2020)
  
• 72% of us are dissatisfied with the way democracy works (Gallup, 2024)
  
• 84% of us distrust the government (Pew, 2023)
  
• 96% of us believe random citizens can govern better than politicians (MiC, 2021)
  

Although the two main parties in the United States are aware that they fail to do the people’s business, they fail to fulfill our purpose with increasing neglect and incompetence, they fail to speak for the powerless, protect the most vulnerable, ensure free and fair elections, and pass meaningful reform, their tactics haven’t changed. Our parties currently know how to do three things: 1. turn up the volume on rhetoric to divide and orphan us, 2. keep the revolving door spinning between public offices, lobbies, infotainment programs, and boardrooms, and 3. pump out more “churn and burn” fundraising emails as inflation impoverishes us, gun violence destroys our communities, our civil and electoral rights are stripped, poverty, addiction, and mental illness lay waste to our loved ones, and climate change guns down our future.

“I don’t know what I identify as these days, because everything has gotten so scrambled… I’m not a Democrat or a Republican, I don’t even think I could define myself narrowly as either a liberal or a conservative anymore. The one thing I know that I fundamentally do believe is… the dominant institutions of American life—in education, in the arts, in politics—are either totally broken or so weak or corrupt that they’re becoming irrelevant. In a way, the only thing I know that I believe in is … brokenness.”
- Ryan, a Black West Point Graduate from Ohio (Tablet, 2022)

It is no surprise that a record 49% of us do not identify with any political party (Axios, 2023) or that disillusioned legislators are retiring in droves (NYT, 2024). But that doesn’t mean we’ve entirely given up. In fact, we’re more engaged than ever. Voter turnout in 2020 was higher than at any time since 1900 (US Elections Project, 2024). Yet, despite our civic engagement, the system hasn’t changed. The orphanages are more powerful than ever. Even if we vote in record numbers, any single election cannot change the whole system, nor heal the trauma that created it.

These numbers tell us we are not dealing with a democracy, but tyranny. While our tyranny is not the tyranny of monarchs and feudal lords, it’s nature and impact are the same. We live in a more sophisticated and abstract tyranny than we did under monarchy, so we must become wiser, more whole, and more skillful in our righteous rebellion. We are a rebellious people, but we’ve lost connection to that central thread of our heritage. It is time to reclaim that spirit of ‘76 and recognize that we have the power to re-make our nation and the world.

We must accept the heartbreaking fact that help isn’t coming. It’s on us regular folk. It begins with us. We have to be, feel, think, and do everything differently. As Margaret Mead reminds us, “Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Even though we’re more politically engaged than ever…

Even though we’ve taken to the streets in record numbers…

Even though we’re “quiet quitting” and practicing all sorts of internal resistance, sabotage and whistle blowing…

The manner in which we are engaging is still within the rules of the system. It is driven by the individualistic, divisive mentality of wetiko (BIPOC vs. white, women vs. men, poor vs. rich, earth vs. capitalism, the Squad vs. MAGA, etc.). We are ready and willing to be part of the change, but we need a new way. This new way is not one forged in hand-to-hand combat or pining away for our leaders to suddenly “get it”, but through it, by facing and healing the underlying moral and spiritual crisis. It is our only path to our salvation. On the other side of this gauntlet is a deep reckoning of who we really are and the collective wisdom and solidarity required for long overdue systemic change.

We have a choice…

to continue playing the same old game…

without a deep reverence for our purpose and the guidance of the bison,…

without becoming whole ourselves by integrating all our internal parts,…

without the willingness to name and repair our many harms,…

and allow our current leaders and institutions to maintain their power and increase their wealth…

by working at the level of the symptoms of our soul sickness,...

and with the same horrifying results…

OR…

We allow our sacred purpose to work on us. We let the bison transform us. We let them work through us to activate our purpose, integrate our parts, take our vows, re-imagine how we live together, and build a new system to support our flourishing. If we choose the former, our suffering will increase, many more will die, and the republic will fall (HCWS, 2021). If we choose the latter, we have a chance to become who we are meant to be.

Luckily, we have the bison to guide us.

Summary:

• Our system is broken and cannot self-correct.
  
• Help isn’t coming.
  
• It’s on us - to be, feel, know, think, do differently.
  

​
Discussion/reflection prompts:

• Who is the most principled leader you know? And why?
  
• Are they able to enact lasting systemic change?
  
• How willing are you to try something new, something we’ve never done before?
  

In this Bison Medicine Talk between Brandon Peele and Richard Slotkin, we explore the governing myths that shape US cultural, political, and economic behavior.

Learn more about the book here: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674292383

WSJ Book Review: https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/a-great-disorder-review-american-mythologies-90e72f50

NYT Book Review: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/04/books/review/a-great-disorder-richard-slotkin.html

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Invitation
Provocation
Introduction
Part 1: Our Family Portrait
Part 2: The Orphanage
Part 3: It’s On Us
Part 4: Bison Medicine
 Courage
 Care
 Inclusion
 Independence
 Play
 Generativity
 Protection
 Redemption
Part 5: The Prairie of Possibility
Part 6: All Created Equal
Part 7: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
 Life
 Liberty
 Happiness
Part 8: E Pluribus Unum
Part 9: Bison Medicine Protocol
Conclusion
Appendix A: Future Expressions of Bison Medicine
 Future entity: the Bison Medicine Community (BMC)
 Future entity: Certified Bison Corporation (CBC)
 Future entity: Bison-led private equity funds and consulting firms
 Future entity: The Bison Union
 Future entity: Public Bison Charter Schools
 Future entity: Bison Charter Communities
 Future entity: The Bison Oath
Appendix B: A People’s Constitutional Convention
Appendix C: Bison Medicine Book Club
Appendix D: Bison Medicine Path
Appendix E: True Name
Appendix F: An Approach to Community and Belonging

Acknowledgments

You
First and foremost, I acknowledge and honor you. There are two ways to write a book for you. The first is to write from the assumption that you are lazy and stupid and that I need to spoon feed you tiny simplistic bites. The second is to write to the grown-ass adult that you are, one vested with intelligence, power, agency, resourcefulness, and wisdom. I chose the later approach, which will ask a lot more of you than the former. You’ll have to check my sources. You’ll have to note your questions and disagreements in the margins or in your journal. You’ll have to work for this. And truthfully, if you make it to the end, you will be a changed person. So I acknowledge you for the hard intellectual, emotional, and psychological work Bison Medicine will demand of you.

Bison
Secondly, I acknowledge the medicine of the bison, as a “shattering force” that calls us into greater courage, care, inclusion, play, independence, generativity, protection, and redemption. I first encountered it in a ceremony in February of 2016 (see Appendix E), and have been ongoingly healed and enlivened by it. In May of the same year, when the bison was officially recognized as our National Mammal in the National Bison Legacy Act (Congress, 2016), our nation acknowledged that it too should be working with it. As you’ll discover, this medicine has always been working on us.

Medicine
It is important to acknowledge that, although I use the term “medicine” in the indigenous and shamanic sense of the word, conveying a spiritual and psychological power, I have no First Nations’ blood, nor have I been initiated or adopted by a First Nation. That said, like you, my bones belong somewhere to some handfuls of soil. Although 23andMe says I am indigenous to parts of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, through prayer and ceremony, I reverently receive the medicine from the land of my youth in Illinois and the land I call home in California.

Additionally, although I’m not a medical doctor, I use the term “medicine” in the Western medical diagnostic sense, wherein I seek to understand the root cause of the malady, not only the symptoms of a singular biological organism or species, but the whole physical, social, emotional, spiritual, economic, and political condition. I seek to diagnose the malady that plagues the entire ecology, that is one and the same with all people and life. This book leverages both frames to explore a path to cure ourselves and our nation.

Nature
Further, my experience in living within the earth’s ecology, among millions of winged, four-legged, and scaled creatures, on a wondrous and bountiful corner of the earth first cared for by First Nations people, carries many gifts, freedoms, and responsibilities. In this sense, our land is our teacher. If we prepare and humble ourselves, we may receive the teachings as the First Nations did. Nature always asks something of us in return. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, a plague that in any other culture at any other time would be regarded as divine in origin, scope, and nature, akin to a meteor, ice age, or great flood, we have an opportunity to learn from it, to alchemize it’s teaching, to separate the prima materia from the dross. The pandemic showed us beauty and shadows hidden in the folds of our frenzied lives and careers. It begged each of us to summon deeper meaning. For many, it broke the spell of complacency and inevitable progress. It opened a portal that all of us walked through, whether we wanted to or not. But if we bring our awareness to it, take our cues from Nature, we may find new coherence, and realize greater potential, prosperity, and providence. It is my intention to honor these gifts by shining a light upon them to the best of my ability, so that you and all who call this land home may receive them.

Feminine
It is also important to acknowledge the feminine in all things, men, women, children, Nature, and spirituality. And yet, our historical record omits almost all of it and our culture and economy persecute it at every turn, as the Man vs. Bear in the woods conversation reminds us (USA Today, 2024). The result is that we have a very limited understanding of what the women of this land experienced before the Mayflower landed or after. Until women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth, and Emily Dickinson put pen to paper or mounted the stage, we knew almost nothing. We also had little sense for how men or society understood or honored or reconciled the feminine within themselves until the 1800’s when Herman Melville and Walt Whitman showed us the fullness and beauty available to men when we do. So let us acknowledge the feminine, as well as our deeply limited understanding of her history and foundational influence upon our nation.

Origins
I acknowledge and thank my parents, Nancy, Robert, and Dennis, for their love and care, for ensuring that my brother and I were safe, fed, loved, educated, challenged, immersed in nature, and had the opportunity to be awed by her beauty. I give thanks to the rolling hills, forests, prairies, lakes and rivers cared for by the First Nations of lands commonly known as Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan. I give thanks to the National Parks that have shaped my soul and forever demand pilgrimage - Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Zion, Yellowstone. I give thanks to the redwoods under whose shade and protection I write.

Teachers
I give thanks to my friends, teachers, and colleagues who guide me and helped developed this project. I give special thanks to Sacha Akira, Lara Lee, Bea Boccalandro, Robin Athey, Susan Lucci, Dena Wiggins, Steven Herrmann, Rod Bacon, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Reggie Marra, Eric Liu, Joshua Lowe, Kelly Doughty, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, Carl Jung, Emily Dickinson, Canassatego, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Kondiaronk, Ayawenta (Hiawatha), Black Elk, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, David Graeber, David Wengrow, Stephan Mackenzie, Wolfgang Arose, Brian Edgar, Marianne Williamson, Jon Eden Khan, Jonathan Erlich, Marcus Woo, Manly P. Hall, Ted Frelke, Dave Booth, Rashmir Balasubramaniam, Ezra Zohar, Rachel Zargo, Joel Domingo, Craig Wheeler, Brian Hammond, Jon Robison, Pedro Silva, and Sarah Jane Crespo.



Invitation
Hear this work as an invitation from love, to love, in the spirit of love,

as love itself, seeking to unfold in every imaginable way.

In tender embrace, in the sweet sense that all is well, safe, and joyful, that 40 houses in every direction from you is the unfolding of love,

a love enfleshed, a love in awe of Nature’s God, her wonders, her mysteries, her deep longing for you and all life to become and express love fully in every form.

Hear this from the deepest place in your heart that yearns to be free, loved, and supported,

that yearns for all to be free, loved, and supported.

Hear this as a marriage proposal from this land, from the bison, to love each other as much as we love ourselves,

to stand in our dignity, agency, and nobility, as the bison do, as a keystone species who make life flourish for all. 

Hear this as a completing love, one with wide eyes trained upon truth and wild eyes seduced by our potential, upon all that is beautiful and broken, on all that can be known, on all that demands blessing, curiosity and care.

Hear the necessary hard truths herein as love, the type of truth spoken only by ones who love you enough to say what needs to be said, even though it will hurt.

Hear this in the soothing voice of a mother removing painful splinters so her child may be healed and free to play.


Provocation 
As our democracy crumbles before our very eyes,

As our most wounded rise to positions of unprecedented power and wealth,

As the world descends further into chaos,

As the United States’ leadership role in addressing our numerous and increasing existential threats diminishes,

As our shadows are venerated as virtue,

As extractionary capitalism, deglobalization, and climate change accelerate famine, migration, war, genocide, and depopulation,

We find ourselves piloting a plane without navigation.

The old ways no longer work. Some say they never did. The old institutions are crumbling under the weight of trauma, ignorance, and corruption, and are falling far faster than reforms allow. The spine of our nation, after decades of neglect is beginning to show its age, perhaps even fracture.

What if this polycrisis is a necessary catalyst for the United States (and all of humanity) to fully and finally know itself? What if this moment is ripe for a deep remembering of who we really are - who we were before every moment of our days were gobbled up by the grind? What if this is, as historians and mythologists suggest, is the call for a new national myth? What if democracy, for it to work at all, it must work on all three levels - idea, political economy, and spiritual practice?

These are the questions we will be asking, debating and attempting to answer.

The United States of America is more than a country, more than a land, more than a people, more than its original sins of genocide and slavery, and more than an idea or experiment. It is not just a democracy, but the idea of democracy enfleshed… warts and all. As we’ll explore, unity is our destiny and democracy is at once our origin story, goal, spiritual practice, and operating system. If it is to survive, we cannot relate to it passively, nor take it for granted, nor tend to it with only our votes, our vocations, and deeds. We need to actively tend to it spiritually, and breathe it into all we do, moment by moment.

However, few of us even know the purpose of our nation. Hell, most can’t name more than a handful of our States. Fewer have been seduced by our purpose. Far fewer have taken their vows to fulfill it.

As such, we must make ourselves familiar with the contours of our purpose, as well as understand our shadows that now almost entirely obscure it, so that we may know what we’ve gotten ourselves into. By knowing our traumas and family histories, we can soberly choose the union, take our vows to fulfill our purpose, and heal, transform and integrate our shadows.



Introduction
Outside the vows required of our nation’s service members and naturalized citizens, we U.S. citizens are not given the opportunity to truly know and take our vows to the purpose of our nation. We weren’t given the opportunity to know ourselves either - we weren’t initiated and rooted in our personal purpose. We couldn’t authentically choose and commit to the nation’s purpose from this place.

Instead, we are born, raised, and come of age in a nation that only gives us patriotic pageantry, broken promises of politicians, and meaningless and often dangerous pseudo-initiations (sports, alcohol, drugs, decontextualized sex acts, heartbreak, stunts, poverty, illness, bankruptcy, jail, etc.). We end up with identities born, not of purpose and connection, but of generational trauma, economic hardship, physical impairments, societal exclusion, and psychological wounding. By default, we define ourselves, not by who we are, not by what we have in common or a shared destiny, but by who we are not. We define ourselves by our respective caste (Caste, 2020), depending on our gender, race, sexuality, religion, education, and income. This is not our fault. We didn’t know any better. We were not given another choice.

Yet, up until 2016, many of us assumed our nation, despite its flaws, was the best of all possible worlds (e.g., vs. socialism or monarchy). Since 2016, it has become increasingly clear that we are are not.  We need a new way forward, beyond just throwing more capitalism, technology, experts, and policies at the social, economic and environmental problems that capitalism, technology, experts, and policies created and keep creating. We can’t keep doing the same thing and expect different results. We need something beautiful and inspiring that calls us to work together, as we have before, and remake our nation.

Enter the bison.

In 2016, as a result of a bipartisan coalition in the House and Senate along with the InterTribal Buffalo Council, Wildlife Conservation Society, and the National Bison Association, our nation chose the bison as our National Mammal. The bison is a majestic and powerful herd species, a symbol, and source of ethical guidance (in Chapter 4, we’ll explore the moral molecules of bison medicine - courage, care, inclusion, play, independence, generativity, protection, redemption) that can lead us back to ourselves, each other, our great national purpose, and help us create a flourishing future. 

In this sense, Bison Medicine invites you and all who call this land home into a future worth fighting for, worthy of our hearts, minds, and bodies, worthy of our brilliance, creativity, and leadership. In the coming pages, we’ll root ourselves in our shared family history (Part 1), the impoverished way of life we experience because we are separated from our personal and collective purpose (Parts 2 and 3), the enlivening and healing medicine of the bison (Part 4), a high-definition view of our nation’s purpose (Parts 5-8), and a path forward to activate bison medicine in our lives, careers, and nation (Parts 9 and 10). At the end of each part is a three-bullet summary and three discussion questions, to give you a feel for the arc of this journey and to encourage you to read this socially.

As we’ll explore, like the bison, we are a herd species and learn through conversations, stories, and relationships. While we can be guided by a text, the real magic happens when we experience something powerful together and discuss it. You are invited to share this with your friends, family, work, alumni, professional, civic, and spiritual groups, and meet to discuss your experience (see Appendix C).