From Divide-and-Conquer to Unite and Thrive: Interview with “Thrive” Producer Foster Gamble

Using the “Adjacent Possible” to Get Us from the Ideal to the Real Deal

“The best way to overgrow the ‘deep state’ is by cultivating a deeper state.”
-- Swami Beyondananda

Here is the oxymoronic political contradiction of our times. We seem more polarized than ever, and yet the vast majority of us long to work together for mutual benefit. Perhaps the resolution of this seemingly impossible “shituation” can be found in the “real” American dream of our founders: individual freedom AND collective wellbeing.

The accentuated polarization of our times has put these two universal aspirations in conflict with one another. But what if they need to co-evolve together? Is there a way to transform these dueling dualities into dynamic-duo dance partners?

Our guest this week on Front and Center, Foster Gamble (https://www.freetothrive.com/), has spent his adult lifetime seeking what he calls a “universal morality” that is not imposed from the top down, but realized from the individual on up. Growing up in privilege – he’s a Gamble as in Proctor & Gamble – Foster’s journey to extend political and economic wellbeing to all has led him to the “consciousness” movement and through the “truth movement”, to exo-politics and suppressed inventions. He and his wife Kimberly Carter Gamble have produced two hugely successful Thrive movies, and created a worldwide Thrive platform that has informed millions of people. And today, his work boils down to just one idea – the Non-Aggression Principle, which states simply that no one is allowed to defraud another, or initiate force, except in true self-defense.

As the Swami has said, he is proposing a sane world – he must be crazy!

Seriously, is there a way to turn that ideal into the real deal?

This freewheeling Front and Center “conversation for possibility” leads us to some surprisingly practical ways to use the “adjacent possible” to bridge us, step-by-step from where we are now to where we want to go.

It’s been said that the truth will set us free – but more accurately, it will UPSET us free first. In producing the outside-the-official-narrative Thrive movies, Foster has confronted the challenge of presenting inconvenient truths when people would much rather believe convenient lies. He is heartened however, with how the consciousness movement and the various “truth” movements have interacted in recent years to “transcend the fake polarity of political rulership, and actually come together on truth and freedom and harmonious collaboration.”

And while his notion of a noncoercive universal morality may seem out there in some distant future, Foster’s approach is eminently practical. It involves activating truly independent forces in our political system – like the Common Sense and Forward Parties – to slow the spread of what he calls “turn-key totalitarianism”, where what used to be called the military-industrial complex has now metastasized into the military-industrial-pharmaceutical-media-tech complex with the unchecked, unbalanced power to monitor and control every aspect of our lives.

In keeping with the Swam’s prescription for sanity, “turn off your TV and tell-a-vision instead,” Foster shared his vision of the prize he has his eye on:

It’s a planet where every individual has the opportunity to thrive, and no one is authorized to encroach on anyone else's person, or property. It's a planet of truly voluntary exchange, where people can feel happy in their pursuit of happiness and also feel secure that that their community has their back, where they can be productive through the unleashing of the creative their natural creativity. That would happen as people know that their individual freedom is the key to liberating all of us. And as we master love of ourselves, of one another, and our environment, we can be welcomed into the cosmic community.”

Can we step off the political battlefield and cultivate a cooperative playing field together? Can we confront the true evils facing us, rather than project them onto some convenient “other”? Can a critical mass of the heretofore uncritical masses unite to “overgrow” a global domination agenda? As the great philosopher / centerfielder Willie Mays said, “That’s what we’re going to play the season to find out.”

Tune into this heartening conversation here.