In this episode of the Peacemakers Podcast, hosts Jim Hōden Fricker and Geoff Shōun O’Keeffe sit down with Jared Seide to explore the simple, radical practice of sitting in a circle and truly listening. What begins as “ordinary” turns out to be transformative—calming classrooms, easing tensions in neighborhoods, helping people heal in prisons and police precincts, and weaving connection where stress and isolation have taken root.
Jared traces the arc of council, in the form practiced by Beyond Us & Them, from its early days in Los Angeles schools to deep work in prisons, reentry, law enforcement, and global bearing witness contexts—from Auschwitz to Rwanda. Jared worked closely with Roshi Bernie Glassman and led council workshops at many of the Zen Peacemaker Bearing Witness retreats he led.
In this podcast, we hear about how “everyone needs to feel seen and connected and valued,” and how council offers a reliable structure for belonging—one voice at a time—embodying Not Knowing, Bearing Witness and Taking Action, the Three Tenets of Zen Peacemakers.
To learn more about Beyond Us & Them’s work in prisons, reentry, with law enforcement, businesses and schools, please peruse our website. We invite you to become a supporter by clicking here.
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