New Constellation – Peace Through Forgiveness

The Modern Masters project is ambitious. We are seeking a new, beautiful world, and we believe the secret to success will be different from what it has been in the past. Due to the nature of this world we seek, we can no longer rely on competition and on our self-interested motivations to bring it into reality. It is too different from our current world for that.

For this reason, Modern Masters is founded on principles of cooperation and creative collaboration. One outgrowth of those values is our Constellation system. Modern Masters’ Constellations are projects, campaigns, organizations and businesses that are earnestly working to bring that new, beautiful world closer to us. At Modern Masters, we encourage and enhance their work in many different ways.

There’s a lot more to say about this, and more is coming soon. In the meantime, read a short question and answer session I wrote up with our newest Constellation, Peace Through Forgiveness.

John, why are you involved in this project?

This is what I do.

Any project of truth–anything that is virtuous, lovely, joyful, or beautiful–is one I will seek after and give whatever I can to see succeed. We, the humans of this world, desperately need more of these projects to shake us, make us smile, and dance with us. Our lives ought to be overflowing with the love and joy and beauty all around us, waiting for us to open our hearts and see it. When I give what I can to bring projects that genuinely seek to uncover the truly magical world within our reach, I work in joy.

What draws you to wish to inspire 1 billion people to forgiveness practice?

Forgiveness has always come very easily to me. It may be due to the experiences of my life, or the way I was raised, but I’ve never totally understood why people sometimes have such difficulty with forgiving. But the ease with which this particular act comes to me does not preclude me from seeing its incredible value. The opposite is true.

Thinking about it now, I might say that the blessings I’ve been given, and my best qualities, have emerged from the practice of this simple art. I often tell a story of a young boy I met a few years ago. He had lived his entire life in a cage up until the point when child protective services found him and the rest of his siblings. I met him a couple years after this, when he was living with a caring foster mother. He was one of the happiest, bright and shining kids I have ever met, though he suffered from serious permanent issues due to the way he was raised. His case of real forgiveness is a constant example to me.

I believe that some serious issues in our society would be solved by practicing sincere forgiveness. The potential of such an awakening is worth nearly any effort to bring it about.

What is your value in/to this project?

I possess what I have found to be a unique ability to communicate–to truly understand, and be understood–with people of very diverse backgrounds. In a project of this scope, and considering the reach we are trying to achieve, it will take more than the words and actions of celebrities, politicians, large organizations, and multi-national businesses for our message to be communicated effectively.

To succeed, our project must be understood. It must be heard with the heart. It must reach deeply into people. It must get past the defensive systems erected to keep just such deep, profoundly challenging messages out. And it must have the ability to captivate people–it has to get their attention. Among the many other characteristics this message must have to accomplish these goals, it must immediately be recognized as genuine.

I believe that I can provide a voice of clarity and sincerity that will be heard and understood by the vastly varied audience we hope to reach. This is my gift.

What makes this project different from others?

For a long time, I have worked and thought about how to make a lasting positive difference in the world. We have all seen many grand, expensive, idealistic, humanitarian endeavours struggle, and in many cases, fail. I have come to the–seemingly obvious to me now–conclusion that change must be initiated by individuals. And in order for individuals to desire change, they must see that something is not quite right, and that there is some path available to them to bring at least a little of that rightness into their world.

This project provides just such a path. The possibility of forgiving is ubiquitous. The joyful consequences of forgiving are immediately recognizable. And the method of forgiveness is intuitively known to each of us. What I hope this project can achieve is to provide the little push that we so often seem to need in order take the first step towards what we know with our hearts is right.

What will make it effective and successful?

Keep it simple and sincere.