Frontlines: Encounters with Difference

In war zones, public service (healthcare, education, policing etc), communty and even our personal lives, we encounter frontlines; places where we meet with difference head-on.

Too often, these frontlines are failing. Instead of fostering dialogue and growth, they become power struggles, even battlegrounds, where the instinct is to dominate, to control, perhaps even to destroy the other.

In the process, not only do we harm those on the other side of our fonrtline, but we also damage ourselves, eroding our human spirit through confrontation and control.

Our frontlines are failing, caught in a destructive dynamic that must be transformed.

But these are not just the external frontlines of conflict and control. On a personal level, we also create frontlines out of our own identities. We project our egos, our masks, our constructed selves into the world as our frontline, holding back our true selves, our soul, until we know it will not be stolen, wounded, or dismissed. We meet difference not as our whole, vulnerable selves but as a strategic presentation of who we think we must be to survive or thrive.

This distancing of soul from frontline is a form of self-protection that echoes the failures of our public and institutional frontlines. When our advance guard is an egoic mask, the encounter with difference becomes adversarial, rooted in fear rather than curiosity, protection rather than openness. Yet, just as with public frontlines, there is another possibility.

What if we reimagined frontlines, both personal and collective, not as battlegrounds but as liminal spaces? What if they became places of encounter, enchantment and transformation rather than conquest? Places where difference is not a threat but an invitation to engage, to listen, and to be changed.

Drawing on the insight of Audre Lorde, "It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences", we will explore how we might shift our approach to frontlines from war zones to wonder zones.

How might we prepare ourselves, our communities and institutions to meet difference not with hostility but with humility and curiosity?

Join us for an online meeting to shape this project.
We’ll gather to share perspectives, imagine possibilities, and lay the groundwork for an ongoing exploration through essays, mythical tales, poetry, art, and practical actions.

What to expect:

• An introduction to the concept of frontlines as sites of encounter and transformation
• Reflections on how frontlines are currently failing across various spheres of life: war, public service, healthcare, education, policing, and the personal
• Exploration of the inner frontlines we create from ego and masks, and the hidden soul that remains unexpressed
• An open dialogue to share your own experiences and insights
• A space to co-create a shared vision for the Frontlines project

Why participate?
This is not just a meeting, it’s the first step in a collaborative inquiry.

Your experiences and ideas will help shape the direction of this project, influencing how we explore the dynamics of frontlines and the practices that can transform them from sites of conflict to spaces of wonder.

Our frontlines are failing, both in the world and within ourselves, but together we can imagine a better way. Let’s shape a project that invites us to meet difference differently, by leading with our soul rather than our masks.

Your voice is necessary.

I look forward to imagining, exploring, and co-creating with you.