Hosted by Matthew Green. Produced by J’aime Rothbard.
In this episode, Cynthia and Will draw on their decades of working with the ancient wound of gender dysfunction to give a foretaste of these events — and set forth their vision of a new era of reconciliation between genders.
Gender Equity and Reconciliation International (GERI) creates spaces for participants to share the deepest truths of their experiences as women, men and non-binary people. Through their work with GERI, Will, Cynthia and their global collaborators facilitate a form of “collective alchemy” that builds community by dissolving longstanding barriers to mutual understanding and empathy.
“One of the deepest patterns we’ve noticed in our 34 years of this work is that untold stories keep gender oppression both invisible and intact,” says Will. “We are all living in cultures and in communities where most of us have very little awareness of the real truth of the experiences of people of the other gender categories in our family, in our communities, in our workplace, in our towns and cities.”
While men are often shocked to hear women’s first-hand accounts of suffering, discrimination, harassment and violence, women are often equally amazed at the breadth and depth of the pain men carry and have been taught to repress, Cynthia says.
“And then both women- and men-identified people are very surprised to see what our LGBTQ+ siblings go through in their lives as well,” Cynthia says. “We move through the fire in this work, but we do it as a community holding each other to be able to transmute those difficult experiences and move to the other side.”
Cynthia and Will believe that the gender wound is a root cause of virtually every manifestation of destructive human drama — from the intimately personal to the global. Their work with GERI aims to address societal problems at every fractal scale and establish a new form of civilisation of beloved community, rooted in the heart.
“I believe that together, we can rebirth humanity by healing this wound,” Will says. “That’s my conviction based on what we’ve seen in these groups. And so our mission is to take it to scale at a larger level.”
This dialogue is an inspiring source for anybody seeking to bridge the gulf that so often divides men, women and non-binary people. It also provides invaluable insights from two practitioners who have dedicated their lives to addressing one of humanity’s oldest and most consequential wounds.