This conversation with Aarti Tejuja was filmed during the Deep Living Lab retreat in Taos, New Mexico (2026).
As you watch, you might notice what stays with you, what feels familiar, or what quietly invites your attention.
Standing behind the camera, I found myself deeply resonating with Aarti’s reflections. They brought me back to a period of my own life when I was trying to understand how to meet a world that felt increasingly divided.
Growing up in a small Midwestern town while also having the opportunity to travel, I often found myself moving between very different ways of seeing the world. Each time I returned home, I carried questions that did not always have a place to land. During the 2016 election, those differences felt especially pronounced. I responded with urgency, frustration, and a desire to convince others of what I believed.
Over time, I began to notice that certainty, including my own, rarely created the conditions for genuine encounter.
Something shifted when I became more interested in curiosity than persuasion. Instead of asking how to change someone’s mind, I began asking what it might look like to remain in relationship while honoring our differences. Could humor create space where debate could not? Could listening reveal something that certainty concealed? Could I meet another person without abandoning my own values?
This way of relating felt radical because it was not easy. It asked something of me. It required patience, humility, and a willingness to stay present in moments when my instinct was to defend, or withdraw.
I do not offer these questions because I have answers. They are questions I continue to live with.
As you listen, I wonder what questions arise for you.
