Back by popular demand!
Start date: January 3, 2022
Price: $30
Duration: 4 weeks
Instructor: Gudjon Bergmann
Registration: Now Closed
Sessions: Zoom and Self-paced online lessons
Zoom: Zoom lessons will be on Thursdays at 8 AM PST, January 6, 13, 20, and 27. The lessons are interactive, so participation is highly encouraged, but they will also be recorded and shared with those who cannot attend in person.
Scholarships: If you are enthusiastic about this course but cannot make a donation due to financial hardship, you can ask about the availability of a scholarship. Requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
A Certificate of Completion will be available at the end of the course.
About the Course
Are you tired of the divisiveness and acrimony that pervades our society? Do you want to learn actual techniques and strategies to counter the trend and create harmony? Would you like to be able to help other people do the same?
Whether the goal is de-escalation or increased social harmony, the ideas and methods in this 4-week course apply equally to interfaith and interideological communications. It brings together ideas from interfaith activists, Nobel peace prize laureates, modern psychologists, and ancient Indian seekers to create a unique recipe for all those who are interested in working towards finding common ground.
You will learn about dialogue principles, bridge-building techniques, basic human psychology, the experiential dimensions of faith, effective communications, and more. What makes the legacy edition special is that you will also learn how to guide others through the material and facilitate shared human experiences and dialogues.
The legacy edition includes
- Unrestricted permission to use the course material for facilitating and training
- Co-Human Harmony (ebook)
- Google Slideshow with video links and speaker notes
- Unlimited access to the online course material
- Four interactive Zoom sessions on how to guide others through the material
Even if you don’t want to facilitate, the course can help you improve communications with people around you—everyone from family and friends to neighbors and coworkers—and aid in your quest for personal growth.
Over a thousand people from 25 countries have already attended, but this is the last time that Gudjon Bergmann, who is an Icelandic-American author, and interfaith minister, will offer this course with CEI—it has also been offered under the title “Working Together Towards Harmony.” Bergmann hopes is that the legacy edition will continue to spread the ideas.
Course Goals
- Explore the importance of shared human experiences
- Learn about effective communications and dialogue facilitation
- Become aware of unconscious pitfalls and biases
- Use moderating behaviors to temper fanaticism
- Acquire an assortment of bridge-building techniques centered on interfaith and interideological dialogue
- Understand the process of ethical development, how it develops from selfish to care to world-care, and how it is directly related to people’s capacity for compassion
- Examine self-care principles to reduce the likelihood of burnout
- Develop a sense of compassion through direct action
- Create a realistic vision for bridge-building and social harmony
Course Outline
Lesson 1: Making a Difference and Finding Common Ground
Get to know the creator/facilitator, Gudjon Bergmann, and participants from around the world. Discuss what it takes to make a difference and explore a narrative paradigm of cooperation. Learn about the foundational principle of shared humanity and extrapolate implications. The first lesson includes ideas from Betty Williams, Gandhi, and Padraig O’Malley.
Lesson 2: Improving Communications
Examine the Maslow hierarchy of needs in relation to the idea of our shared humanity. Learn to use a variety of approaches to dialogue for improved communications. Discuss what it takes to persuade other people—even if it seldom works. The second lesson includes ideas from Leonard Swidler, Interfaith Action of Central Texas, Megan Phelps-Roper, and the Interfaith Amigos.
Lesson 3: From Self-Care to World-Care
Consider the arc of moral growth from self-care to world-care and how seeds of goodness can be nurtured in various ways. Reflect on the attraction-repulsion principle and study five moderating behaviors that can prevent love for one thing from turning into hate for another. The third lesson includes ideas from Carol Gilligan, William James, and Jonathan Haidt.
Lesson 4: Real-World Applications
Contemplate guidelines for teaching, facilitating dialogue, creating co-human experiences, and using the material in everyday life. The goal is to do what you can, with what you have, where you are. The fourth and final lesson will also show you how to work within the spectrum of harmony and set realistic goals for improved relations.
About the Course Creator and Facilitator
Gudjon Bergmann is an Icelandic-American author of thirty books, ordained interfaith minister, and seasoned professional speaker with twenty years of experience. He was born and raised in Iceland but moved to the USA in 2010 and became a US citizen in 2013. After completing his interfaith studies in 2017, Bergmann discovered a calling to foster co-human understanding and bridge-building between differing ideologies, theologies, and philosophical viewpoints.
You can email him and learn more by visiting his website.
The course includes a complimentary copy of Gudjon Bergmann's e-book, Our Shared Humanity.
Testimonials
Opening Up to a Deeper Awareness
Thank you for opening up a deeper awareness in me of the term co-humanity and deepening my beliefs of the necessity to embrace and understand the value of diversity. Most of all, to becoming more aware of the part I play in the harmony/disharmony dance in my own environment through my thoughts, words and actions.
~ Gabrielle Menegaldo
More Compassionate, Tolerant and Joyous
We live in a word full of daily news that divides us and makes us angry and even hateful. The course helped me to wrestle with the reality that while the world around me may incite divisiveness, we can work to create harmony in our lives, and in so doing, learn to be more compassionate, tolerant, and joyous.
~ John Smelcer, Ph.D., CAGS, MLA
Recognizing My Triggers
Continuing to work with the exercises has become part of my daily practice. I am creating a harmony journal inspired by the course. For example, part of that journal focuses on recognizing triggers for what they are and critically analyzing why I am reacting as I do. Thank you for being such a wonderful moderator, I know it was an incredible amount of work, but your input and responses were really inspiring to me.
~ Angela Chouinard
Not a Soft Option – but an Absolute Must
Using conflict resolution techniques based on harmony and compassion, Bergmann’s course requires participants to walk the talk as he shines a powerful light on alternative pathways towards understanding and acceptance. This course is not a soft option. It will be confronting and challenging for many. But if you believe our future survival requires shared respect and understanding for the sake of both people and planet, then this course is an absolute must. It was a waypoint in my own journey, providing alternatives I’d never previously considered, new ways to create meaningful change by focusing on our shared humanity rather than our ideological differences.
~ John Sellwood
Help with Ideological Discussions
As I attend a rather conservative church but teach a very non-traditional class at this church, his pointers on having discussions with those with whom you disagree ideologically were VERY useful in helping me see changes I have to make in having such discussions. I strongly recommend his course to others to help us live through these rather contentious times we are experiencing.
~ Margaret Cox
Refreshed My Soul
The course infused and refreshed my soul with tonics of simplicity and understanding. I am grateful and thankful for the gentle push to a better understanding of my fellow folks here on this planet of ours.
~ Kevin B.
Succinct, Clear and Profound
The course materials were so valuable, succinct, clear and profound. Specific invitations and directions on how an individual can change personal perspectives and behaviors will make a significant difference in interacting in today's divisive climate are so needed. I very much enjoyed the robust and provocative discussions between yourself and so many within the course. What a gift for each of us to create peace and unblock paths to love for others and ourselves. Thank you so much!
~ Nancy Rushlow Bray
Practical and Powerful Wisdom
Bergmann has developed and presented an insightful and impactful course that has already helped me to have more positive and productive interactions with others. The structure of the course enabled concise and engaging presentation of its key concepts. Gudjon was an excellent embodiment of the key principles and practices of the course in all his communication with us. The course offers practical, powerful wisdom and techniques for achieving greater harmony and peace in all our lives; I highly recommend it.
~ Tom Miller
Supporting Connection
Through Gudjon Bergmann’s course, I have learned new and powerful elements to support connection with others whose views are different than my own. Gudjon was very supportive as were the discussions with fellow classmates from around the world.
~ Linda Kochman
Provided Me with Useful Tools
This course not only reinforced my desire to communicate and connect with those who I would not normally connect with, but it provided quite a few useful tools to make that connection possible. The videos, readings and instruction were first rate and not the usual platitudes. I recommend this course.
~ Steve Liebowitz, ED. D, Author, Life & Business Coach, www.HQPubs.com
Clarity and Language
The most valuable thing I gained was clarity. I so often struggle to express myself for lack of words; I have been given some of the language I need in order to express not only what is important to me, but also to help build those bridges. Thank you so much!
~ Jennifer Brodeur
Thought-Provoking Material
Thank you for the wonderful course, Gudjon. Amazing how much thought-provoking material you have packed into lessons that read so quickly. I have come away with a wealth of ideas that I can use in my Dignity Dialogues initiative.
~ Larry Visser
Confidence Builder
The course was a confidence builder.
~ Angela
Two Personas and Co-Humanity
I thought the course was excellent, especially since it introduced concepts unfamiliar to me...the two personas. Focusing on the co-human is very helpful.
~ Larry Brown
Uplifting and Challenging
This course is at once uplifting and challenging. The frameworks provided helped me, and my course colleagues, to break down complex issues and discuss them using a common language. I left the course with actionable tools and language for continuing to work on creating harmony in my corner of the world.
~ Amy Giddon, CEO Daily Haloha
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