unlearning Archives - Bhavana Learning Group

Why “Good Faith” Matters Now More Than Ever

In a previous essay on coaching, politics, and democracy, I explored what it means to treat democracy as a living conversation—and offered practices to sustain it. The foundational practice included a simple, but essential commitment: good faith.

Since then, sociopolitical tensions—both globally and at home—have only intensified. What once felt foundational now feels indispensable. In every effort, conversation, and even disagreement, good faith establishes the conditions under which we remain whole and understanding remains possible—even in the presence of opposition.

Ezra Klein captures this principle in a recent New York Times column:

Conversation is not a reward DOWNLOAD PDF

By Tony Zampella|2026-06-03T14:31:00-04:00April 20th, 2026|Blog, Communication, Leadership, Practice|0 Comments

Expectations Kill Possibility: From Projection to Presence

In the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Sacred Ground,” Captain Kathryn Janeway—a trained scientist with a background in quantum cosmology and a former chief science officer—faces a crisis she cannot solve through conventional means.

When crewmember Kes is rendered unconscious by a planet’s mysterious energy field, Janeway petitions the planet’s monks to allow her to undertake a sacred ritual connected to the field.

The monks assign her a guide.

Before the ritual begins, Janeway encounters three elder monks who engage her in Zen-like Taoist wordplay. Their exchanges subtly expose something unsettling: Janeway is already preparing for the experience. She perceives it as a trial DOWNLOAD PDF

By Tony Zampella|2026-06-03T14:31:07-04:00March 12th, 2026|Blog, Wisdom|0 Comments

Keeping Care Alive, part 2: Practices for Working with Being

In everyday language, care is often treated as an emotion. We speak of caring as a feeling we have toward people, causes, or outcomes. Sometimes it is framed morally—as kindness or concern—and other times therapeutically, as empathy or emotional availability.

In Part 1 of this series, I argued that something essential is lost when care is reduced to sentiment. I also distinguished between two different ways of understanding care: psychology and ontology. Psychology interprets experience—explaining feelings, motivations, and patterns of behavior. Ontology, by contrast, discloses the structures that shape how experience is possible in the first place.

From DOWNLOAD PDF

By Tony Zampella|2026-06-03T14:31:16-04:00February 17th, 2026|Blog, Mental Models|0 Comments