I’m happy to share a fresh dialogue with you! In this intimate conversation, I sit down with my dear friend of 20 years, Gareth Higgins — peace activist, film critic, and cultural mystic. Together we explore how movies can serve as portals for personal and collective transformation, from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey to Wonder Woman 1984.
Drawing from his latest book A Whole Life in Twelve Movies (co-authored with Kathleen Norris), Gareth shares how cinema can help us metabolize fear, cultivate silence, and imagine new possibilities for our shared future. We also discuss The Porch Gathering — a unique festival-meets-retreat he’s bringing to the mountains of Western North Carolina next month, where story and imagination converge to help us tell better stories about ourselves and our world.
- Why Gareth considers 2001: A Space Odyssey possibly the most optimistic film ever made, and how it speaks to both personal and cosmic evolution
- A fascinating deep-dive into Wonder Woman 1984 as a meditation on desire, sacrifice, and collective healing
- How growing up during The Troubles in Northern Ireland shaped Gareth’s understanding of silence, violence and peace through cinema
- The power of imagination and wonder in transforming fear and anxiety in our current cultural moment
- Details about The Porch Gathering (March 13-16 in Montreat, NC) – a unique space for transformative storytelling
- The difference between watching films on streaming versus the sacred communal space of cinema
- Why money is ultimately a story, and how we can tell better stories about resources and reciprocity
And if transformative storytelling intrigues you and you’d like to experience this in person, please do join Gareth and I are next month for The Porch Gathering in beautiful Montreat, near Asheville, NC, March 13-16, 2025.
This isn’t your typical conference – it’s more like a festival-meets-retreat where we’ll explore how better stories can build a better world. Through storytelling, music, breakout sessions, films, and genuine community connection, we’ll discover tools for living with greater courage and creativity in these challenging times.
What makes The Porch Gathering special is its intentionally intimate size – just right for meaningful community to emerge. We often say that the world isn’t falling apart, but the story we’re telling about it could use some help. This gathering is a space where those better stories come to life.
I’m particularly excited about the accessibility of this event. The Porch community leadership is committed to making this transformative experience available to everyone, offering partial scholarships that can reduce the registration fee to as little as $79 for the entire event.
Whether you’re seeking tools for constructive conversation, longing for authentic community, or simply need a space to reimagine what’s possible, I believe The Porch Gathering will speak to much of what ails us right now. You can learn more and register at theporchgathering.com.
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