Yearlong Course

Healing America’s Narratives:
Freedom, Truth, & Shadow in the 21st Century

October 11, 2025 – October 3, 2026

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Brief description & overview.

Is this course for you?

What does the course invite?

Registration, tuition, structure, CEUs, and finding out more.

Downloadable full-course schedule.

Overview

This multidisciplinary course considers the United States of America today and who we think we are as citizens (or allies) through the integration of history, culture, developmental worldview, politics, shadow, & spirituality, among other lenses. The course content emerges through Reggie Marra’s 2022 book, Healing America’s Narratives: The Feminine, the Masculine, & Our Collective National Shadow, and integrates what has occurred since the book’s publication and what is happening as you read this.

If we are to understand and respond effectively to current conditions, it is necessary that we understand history and that we become increasingly aware of our individual and collective worldviews, biases, and blind spots—our dignities and our disasters—as we interpret historical fact. It’s important that we acknowledge and remove the sequoia that’s in our eyes before attempting to point out the seedling in the eyes of others (and vice versa).

“When you say ‘I think’ it is often not you who think, but ‘they’—it is
the anonymous authority of the collectivity speaking through your mask.”
– Thomas Merton, “The Inner Experience” (1967)               

Modules include History & Current Events; Development & Practice; Doing More Good than Harm in Conversation; Poetry of Witness; and Integration & Personal Statements.

Different fields of view – January 20, 2017

“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist.”
– Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, (1951)

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You are invited to engage with a community of of people who may not agree on every issue, but who:

  • are committed to truth, truthfulness, and the difference between fact and opinion

  • are at times anxious, scared, or concerned about the state of the nation (and the planet) and experience bouts of deep sadness, rage, hope, and despair 

  • agree with, or embody the belief that all humans deserve equal rights and opportunities to live free, healthy, responsible, and creative lives—that do no harm to others—of their choosing

  • oppose bullying in any iteration and at any scale, and embrace the dignity of every human being

  • are open to exploring or are already engaged with the relationships among history /current events, developmental psychology, culture, spirituality, and other disciplines and how these are relevant to and essential for freedom and democracy

  • have an inkling, or a deep understanding that we’re currently not facing “simple” policy disagreements, but the dismantling of the democratic structures of the United States

  • understand, or are willing to consider, that all of us who work toward progress in specific areas like climate, health, violence, wealth disparity, gender, race, orientation, identity, and (add others here___) are called to come together in solidarity to defend and improve the democratic institutions that allow us, however imperfectly, to do our ongoing work toward progress

  • are able and willing to look at, recognize, own, and integrate both the dignities and disasters of the United States—currently, and throughout its history

  • are able and willing to look at, recognize, own, and integrate both the dignities and disasters of modernity, and the metacrisis we face as modernity runs its course

  • are open to, or already engaged with, ongoing personal development

  • are willing to explore in good faith questions and statements such as Who am I, really? How do I choose to be? Everything is a story. What am I missing?—especially, but not only, in the context of the dignities and disasters of the U.S.

  • are willing to consider and engage with practices that enable conversations that do more good than harm

  • are willing to stand as witness to their own and others’ suffering (and joy)

  • have a sense of humor amid the goofiness and gravitas of Life

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
                                        – Victor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning, 1992 / 1946

Workers at Yosemite Protest the Gutting of the Federal Workforce

Origins, Philosophy, Intention, and Approach

The intention and philosophy of the course have their origins in 2016 and 2018 in two essays about the collective shadow of the United States. The essays evolved into a book, Healing America’s Narratives: The Feminine, the Masculine, & Our Collective National Shadow (2022), which evolved into a series of public lectures (2022-present), additional essays on Medium through October 2023, and on Substack thereafter, and courses at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Connecticut, Waterbury (Spring 2024-present).

Our foundational thesis is that what millions of Americans don’t see or won’t acknowledge about the nation—the collective national shadow—renders not surprising (although perhaps shocking), the events of the 21st century, as well as what preceded it. We are not reducing the nation to its shadow; and it is essential to address the shadow.

“The shadow is that part of us we fail to see or know…. that which has not entered adequately
into consciousness…. The shadow gone autonomous is
a terrible monster in our psychic house.”
– Robert A. Johnson, Owning Your Own Shadow (1991)

Our general intention is to shed light on the shadow—to recognize, understand, own, and integrate it—in order to move toward wholeness and to ensure that the more perfect union we continue to attempt to establish is increasingly more integrated, whole, balanced, and clear in its complex unfolding.

Photo by Tom Coe on Unsplash

The Foundations of Liberty Are Harder to See – Photo by Tom Coe on Unsplash

“Everyone assumed [in the 1990s] that in a more open, interconnected world, democracy and liberal ideas would spread to the autocratic states. Nobody imagined that autocracy
and illiberalism would spread to the democratic world instead.”
– Anne Applebaum, Autocracy, Inc. (2024)

The course invites us to:

  • engage an unvarnished, good-faith approach to understanding history and current events (HCE). Among the areas we’ll explore are the foundational subjugations of women, Indigenous Peoples, Africans and African Americans, and the poor; the Vietnam and post-9/11 wars; the CRT/DEI/woke/cancel extravaganzas; the dismantling of democracy; addiction crises; generally othering others; and planetary ambivalence

  • recognize ourselves as humans, citizens, and primary “instruments” in our explorations and understandings of history and current events, which requires that we explore and engage in good faith at least basic levels of critical thought, self-reflection, self-awareness, and self-compassion, and that we attend to our own development through intentional practice (DEVPRACT). We’ll do this in part through an exploration of questions and statements that include, among others: Who am I, really? Everything is a story. How do I choose to be? What am I missing? What’s my impact & what impacts me? Who are my people? I am going to die. How am I in relationship with all of this?

  • commit to finally saying enough with the talking points (ETP), and to doing the work of engaging in good-faith conversation—doing more good than harm, which, while a low bar, is a good place to start nowadays. We may raise the bar as we go.

  • honor and engage the essential role of witnessing and testifying on behalf of ourselves and others, whether we are impacted directly, indirectly, or (apparently) not at all (yet) by what we observe—with a specific focus on poetry of witness (PW).

  • be willing to do the work of integration—of embracing our own development, what we learn, and who and how we are—in order to bring increasingly comprehensive, inclusive, balanced, and complex ways of being to what we observe, how we assess, what we do, and who we think we are as citizens and human beings.

Working Toward Balance & Trust and Acknowledging the Freedom to Fall

Logistics: Where, When, & Tuition

Beginning Saturday, October 11, 2025 and ending Saturday, October 3, 2026 we will meet every other week from 1pm until 3pm ET in an online classroom for two hours of instruction (lecture/presentation) and interaction (full- and small-group discussion)—52 hours over 26 sessions. In addition, four optional 90-minute Q & A sessions, and one optional post-U.S. 2026 midterm election gathering are included. All sessions will be recorded and made available to view and download to registered participants.

26 two-hour sessions include:

  • Introduction – 1 Session/2 hours
  • History & Current Events (HCE) – 8 Sessions/16 hours
  • Development and Practice (DEVPRCT) – 8 Sessions/16 hours
  • Enough With the Talking Points – doing more good than harm in conversation (ETP) – 4 Sessions/8 hours
  • Poetry of Witness (PW) – 2 Sessions/4 hours
  • Integration/Personal Statements (IPS) – 3 Sessions/6 hours
  • Four optional 90-minute Q & A Sessions – 6 hours
  • One optional 90-minute post-U.S. 2026 midterm election gathering – 1.5 hours

HCE, ETP, and DEVPRCT module sessions will alternate throughout the course. The two PW sessions will follow the final ETP session. The six IPS hours make up the final 3 sessions. See the course dates table for a grid view.

We may adjust the content and sequence of the final six sessions if deemed appropriate. Any adjustments will be consistent with the course description and outline.

Each session will include suggested resources, as well as two optional written forums for participants’ between-session interaction.

The course does not provide formal CEUs for specific professionals (educators, therapists, coaches, etc.). It may meet the Resource Development / Ongoing Education requirements for various organizations that oversee ongoing education for professionals.

A Certificate of Attendance will be provided for those who attend at least 21 of the 26 synchronous sessions, and a Certificate of Participation will be provided for those who actively and consistently engage the forums and meet the Certificate of Attendance requirement.  

Tuition is based on a sliding scale. Full tuition is $3,600 for the year. Tuition payments between $3,600 and $1,200 ($1,000 before September 1, 2025) will be accepted. Those who can afford to pay the full tuition of $3,600, or more than the minimum, make it possible to provide financial assistance to others.

Registration: If you are ready to register, you can do so here: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/PTTXHNSK7VSNL

To find out more, please complete this brief survey and we’ll schedule time to chat.

For more information regarding content:

Healing America’s Narratives on YouTube: Short (most under 6 minutes), unedited videos that unpack the book, one concept or issue at a time, from November 10, 2022 through December 29, 2023.

Healing America’s Narratives on Substack: Weekly written newsletter and unedited audio of Reggie reading the newsletter, beginning November 1, 2023 through the present, that reflect first, on the book, and then on how current events continue to reflect the book’s themes, and on emerging themes not explored in the book. The most recent four postings, as well as selected others, are free to the public. Archives are available with a (very reasonably priced) paid subscription. Both the About page and the introductory November 1, 2023 post provide detailed overviews of intention and content and are public.

Healing America’s Narratives Book website: Basic information about and testimonials for the book, past and upcoming classes and lectures (you may be reading this on the website). https://healingamericasnarratives.com/

Working Bibliography: https://healingamericasnarratives.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/post-han-bibliography-2.pdf

Again, if you have questions, please:

  1. Complete this form.
  2. Have a brief, no obligation conversation.
  3. Register when you’re ready.

A color-coded version of this table is available to view or download.

Session/DateModule HCE = History & Current Events DEVPRCT = Development & Practice ETP = Enough With the Talking Points PW = Poetry of WitnessModule SessionsModule HoursTotal hours
1 Oct. 11, 2025Introduction WelcomeGuidelines/online etiquetteQ & A1/122
2 Oct. 25, 2025HCE #1  1/82/164/52
3 Nov. 8, 2025DEVPRCT #1  1/82/166/52
4 Nov. 22, 2025ETP #11/42/88/52
5 Dec. 6, 2025HCE #2  2/84/1610/52
6 Dec. 20, 2025DEVPRCT #2  2/84/1612/52
Jan. 3, 2026Optional Q & A #11/4n/an/a
7 Jan. 10, 2026ETP #2  2/44/814/52
8 Jan. 24, 2026HCE #3  3/86/1616/52
9 Feb. 7, 2026DEVPRCT #3  3/86/1618/52
10 Feb. 21, 2026ETP #3  3/46/820/52
11 Mar. 7, 2026HCE #4  4/88/1622/52
12 Mar. 21, 2026DEVPRCT #4  4/88/1624/52
Mar. 28, 2026Optional Q & A #22/4n/an/a
13 Apr. 4, 2026ETP #4  4/48/826/52
14 Apr. 18, 2026HCE #5  5/810/1628/52
15 May 2, 2026DEVPRCT #5  5/810/1630/52
16 May 16, 2026PW #11/22/432/52
17 May 30, 2026HCE #6  6/812/1634/52
18 June 13, 2026DEVPRCT #6  6/812/1636/52
June 20, 2026Optional Q & A #33/4n/an/a
19 June 27, 2026PW #22/24/438/52
20 July 11, 2026HCE #7  7/814/1640/52
21 July 25, 2026DEVPRCT #7  7/814/1642/52
22 Aug. 8, 2026HCE #8  8/816/1644/52
23 Aug. 22, 2026DEVPRCT #8  8/816/1646/52
24 Sept. 5, 2026Integration #1  1/22/448/52
Sept 12, 2016Optional Q & A #44/4n/an/a
25 Sept. 19, 2026Integration #2/Personal Statements #1 If necessary, complete integrationPersonal statements  2/2 -1/24/4 – 2/450/52
26 Oct. 3, 2026Personal Statements #2/Close Personal statementsClose2/24/452/52
Nov. 7, 2026Optional Post-U. S. 2026 Midterm Election Gathering1/1  

Again, full tuition is $3,600 for the year. Tuition payments between $3,600 and $1,200 ($1,000 before September 1, 2025) will be accepted. Those who can afford to pay the full tuition of $3,600, or more than the minimum, make it possible to provide financial assistance to others.

Registration: If you would like to register, you can do so here: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/PTTXHNSK7VSNL.

To find out more, please complete this brief survey and we’ll schedule time to chat.

Thanks for reading this far.