The Seventh Story is a framework for reimagining life through the lens of stories that have evolved over thousands of years in response to the human need for peace and security.

The call for leadership often manifests as the Domination story, oppressing the many.

The cry for justice often turns into the Revolution story, seeking retribution on the oppressors.

The need for boundaries often becomes the Purification story, blaming others for our problems through exclusion, character assassination, bigotry and worse.

The yearning for a space within can become the Isolation story, withdrawing to attempt utopian community, which can quickly devolve into cycles of domination and revolution.

The desire to care for suffering people can be weaponized as the Victimization story, keeping victims and survivors trapped in their pain.

And the presence of “things” - material goods, status, and territory - can be fuel for the Accumulation story, in which peace and security are sought through having more.

Each story is imperfect, fails to answer the need, and creates further problems. Yet each story also has another side through which illumination is possible.

Domination can be exchanged for Servant Leadership.

Revolution’s legitimate aims can be better achieved through Transformative Justice.

Purification can mature into Self-Reflective Boundaries.

Isolation can give way to Contemplation.

Victimization can evolve into Binding the Wounds of the Brokenhearted - and protecting the vulnerable.

Accumulation’s addictions and false promises disappear in the face of recognizing the deeper satisfaction of Shared Stewardship of the Beautiful.

The path to transfiguring the six broken stories into six whole ones is found in the seventh: the story of Liberation and Reconciliation embodied by Jesus and revealed in Christ, and with elements in all spiritual wisdom traditions.

We see the seventh story as something like a laboratory for experimenting with what it is to be human - an icon that helps us see more clearly.

Asking ourselves what Liberation and Reconciliation would be, in any given situation, leads us toward the common (and cosmic) good.

The possibilities are endless - and the change begins the moment you decide to experiment with the idea that the very story you tell will shape the reality you experience.

To read more, click here to download our ebook The Seventh Story: Us, Them, and the End of Violence.