The Seed: Conversations for Radical Hope
The Seed: Conversations for Radical Hope
World Building with Francisco Burgos
Episode Summary:
In this opening episode of Season 5 of The Seed: Conversations for Radical Hope, host Dwight Dunston speaks with Francisco Burgos, Executive Director of Pendle Hill, about the theme of world-building. They explore what it means to co-create new systems rooted in cooperation, reciprocity, and love. Francisco reflects on his experiences at Pendle Hill, his childhood in the Dominican Republic, and the prophetic witness that inspires his work.
In addition, Dwight introduces the exciting changes in Season 5. These changes include a second guest in each episode who will bring a reflection, song, poem, or reading.
Key Highlights:
- Primary Guest: Francisco Burgos—Francisco shares stories from his upbringing and how his family's generosity has influenced his worldview. He also reflects on the prophetic role Pendle Hill has played in building a different world since its founding in 1930.
- Second Guest: Dwight Dunston – As the second guest, Dwight offers insights into his journey with Quakerism, continuing revelation, and how his experiences at Pendle Hill have shaped his vision of world-building. He also reflects on the transformative experience of attending a writing retreat in Ireland in the summer of 2024.
- World-Building in Practice – Dwight and Francisco discuss what it means to build new worlds in the cracks of broken systems, drawing on their personal experiences and the influence of Pendle Hill.
New Features for Season 5:
- Mini-Episode Preview: This season will include alternating mini-episodes featuring unaired content and new material created on the Pendle Hill campus. These shorter episodes will deepen the season’s exploration of world-building.
- Two Guests! Each of our full episodes will include a main guest in conversation with Dwight and a second guest who will offer a short reflection, reading, poem, or song.
- Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details.
The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/
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The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people.
Please complete our listener survey by January 1, 2025, and receive a special gift.
Follow us @pendlehillseed on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast.
Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details.
This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.
We are holding, holding very close to our heart the conviction that this world can be different, and it can be different, not just for us, but for everybody.
Dwight Dunston:You're listening to The Seed: Conversations for Radical Hope, a Pendle Hill podcast where Quakers and other seekers come together to explore visions of the world growing through the cracks of our broken systems. I'm your host, Dwight Dunston. For season five, we're focusing our attention on world building. It is easy to point out all that is wrong today, but what is the world we long to see and inhabit? What models from the past inspire us as we consider new ways of organizing society in the future? What creative visions of community motivate us to co create future systems filled with values of cooperation, reciprocity and love, and how can we begin to live in that new reality right now? On today's show, for our opening episode, we'll once again be joined by Francisco Burgos, Executive Director of Pendle Hill. A Quaker, Francisco attends Providence Monthly Meeting in Media. He came to Pendle Hill from the Center for Community Initiatives at the Monteverde Institute in Costa Rica. At the beginning of each season, we've been blessed to invite Francisco to discuss the themes, the guests and more. Before I welcome Francisco onto the show, I want to tell you about the changes you will notice in this new season of The Seed. You will still hear my conversation with the guests who shares their experiences and expertise around the theme. In addition, a second guest will join us on each episode to bring us a special offering, either more perspectives, a piece of art, a learning of their own. Here at the top of the episode, we want to shout out Anna Hill, who produced seasons two through four of The Seed. Anna has transitioned from her role at Pendle Hill, but her impact on this podcast can't be understated. We love you, Anna. Our new producer is Peterson Toscano, who has helped produce our past podcast since Season Two. Peterson is the host of Citizens Climate Radio and Quakers Today podcast. So excited to be able to collaborate with Peterson in this episode, and moving forward. You will get a new podcast episode in your feed every two weeks during the season, and we will alternate between our typical episodes, including guest discussions, while also inserting new mini episodes. These will include voices from previous episodes, previously unaired content, and new content created on the Pendle Hill campus. Speaking of Pendle Hill, you and I can worship together once a month through Pendle Hill's online Quaker meeting. Every day
from 8:30 to 9:10am, Eastern Time, Pendle Hill facilitates an online worship space, and I will participate in worship on the last Friday of each month. Please join me and others who attend meeting for worship. And to learn more about what happens at one of those meetings, and to access the virtual space via Zoom, visit pendlehill.org/explore/worship, that's pendlehill.org/explore/worship. I will have these details for you in the show notes as well. Friends. I have so many feelings, one, and maybe the most salient is deep gratitude. It has been a journey to be in this role as the host of The Seed: Conversations for Radical Hope, with all of these changes in relation to this podcast, and also what feels like many changes in life outside of The Seed, it feels very important for me to ground in the gratitude, notice the things that have gone well with this project, notice the people and the contributions from you all that have made this feel meaningful and impactful to continue to just lift that up for just a moment. Starting with gratitude, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for listening. Thank you for continuing to be committed to this project, to building a new world with me, and I'm so excited to see what we'll build together in this season. The second thing I want to share is that the conversations that we'll have with folks from the US and beyond are meant to point our attention towards what happens when we really ground in possibility and imagination. We just invite you to have an open hearted stance towards the emerging worlds that we're building in each of these episodes through our new and old practices. So thank you in advance for walking with us. Our guest today is Francisco Burgos, Executive Director at Pendle Hill. From 2012 to 2015 Francisco was the head of school at Monteverde Friends in Costa Rica. He has also served with the Organization of American States in Washington, DC and the American Friends Service Committee in Baltimore, Maryland. Francisco has a BS in clinical psychology from the National University Pedro Enrique Urena in the Dominican Republic. An MA in sustainable development from the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont, and a Doctor of Education from Universidad De La Salle in Costa Rica. Francisco. So great to be with you here for another season of the podcast.
Francisco Burgos:Yeah, here we are again.
Dwight Dunston:It feels like yesterday that we just started.
Francisco Burgos:I have so many flash memory of crafting dreams
of The Seed:Conversation for Radical Hope. It has been a real blessing to see how each season developed in ways that we can celebrate. When I remember dreaming about it and sitting down writing the first few notes for this project at the mound outside my office was just a real seed, and now we are seeing that how this seminal moment is spreading. So thank you. Thank you for all of you that has made this possible.
Dwight Dunston:Well, you know, every time that we get the chance to sit together and be in conversation, enriches my life, enriches my understanding of the spirit, understanding of the role that Pendle Hill plays in the life of others. I'd love to just start by slowing down by just asking you, what's it, what's it like being you today, Francisco?
Francisco Burgos:Hmm, we are experiencing some storm weather here at Pendle Hill. Being me today is associated with the many feelings that are in fully expectancy of what this wind will bring to us. Some people are very afraid of hurricanes, and I think that we need to be cautious. But on the other hand, as someone that come from the Caribbean, a region that always is touched by hurricanes, we know that there are certain parts of mountains that only are reforested when hurricanes are able to carry the seeds with the strong wind that they that they bring. Today, I am recognizing the many feelings that that that generate within me, gratitude, and at the same time thinking, Hmm, what are the things that I need to do today to be faithfully responding to Pendle Hill's needs. This is me. How about you?
Dwight Dunston:I'm feeling quite grounded today, and there's a lot of kinetic energy in my spirit at the same time. So I feel I feel deeply rooted and held, and also buzzing today, and in this moment. I had a smoothie this morning. When I turn on the blender, it's bumping, it's going around, you know, and then when I turn it off, it's settling. It's not in these different parts. It's like the whole thing. It is the complete thing of these, these mixing parks, I feel kind of like I'm in a blender here.
Francisco Burgos:You know, this is a great metaphor. Life is a blender. Great metaphor. We try to think that it is not, but it is, yeah.
Dwight Dunston:Yeah. One new question that we're inviting guests to think about is actually connecting with with their childhood, with their young selves. In this conversation around world building, I want to ask you, Francisco, if there's something from your childhood, yeah, that feels like a lesson or a learning or an experience that you hope endures, that you hope gets carried into the future. What, what, what is that thing for you?
Francisco Burgos:This is a deep question. It's a good one. It's a good one. I think that I will start borrowing it. The first things that come to mind are two people, my mom and my grandma. You know, I come from a large family and my grandparents, in my mother's side has 11 kids. My mom has only me and my sister, and later she raised one of my cousins too, so three of us. And as I was growing up, I remember that cooking at my house was like a industrial kitchen. So many, so many people to be fed. So you can imagine cooking rice for more than 15 people every day. Dominicans eat rice a lot. But one of the things that, as you, as you posed that question to me, one of the things that that came so vividly to to my heart is I remember seeing my mom and my grandma every single day as they serve each one of us, because that could not be self-serve, yeah? When you have a large family like that, somebody has to distribute the portion to make sure that everybody eats, yeah, so. But I remember that every day one of us, me or my my sister or my cousin, was sent to one of the neighbor's house with with a serving of our food. My grandma and my mom knew that this family was in a worse condition than our family, and that they also were a large family. So that little gesture of sharing what we have independently, if we have a lot or not, stay with me and and I think that this is one of the inspiration and guidance that I have as I relate to people and to the reality that that people face. Yeah. Is it is something that I as, as I talk to you here, that I recognize as as a gift from my childhood. Yeah, thank you for asking that question. Yeah.
Dwight Dunston:Thank you for that, that image and those memories and bringing those people into this space. Had a chance to be in space with you and get to know you over these years, I can say that you bring that hospitality and that open heartedness and that care. I'm so glad that you, you brought that. You know that that reaches back. You didn't let that drop off at any point in your life here on Earth, Francisco,
Francisco Burgos:I think it's part of the blender that you were talking about.
Dwight Dunston:You're in the blender, right, right. It's a party, right? Exactly. It feels true. Yeah. It feels true, yeah. And it makes me think, you know, this season, we're talking about world building, you know, really thinking about the world that is growing up through the cracks of our broken systems. I'm curious, as you even hear the words world building, what comes to mind for you and what comes to mind in your heart and spirit about ways you've seen world building?
Francisco Burgos:I associate it very strongly to the experience of being at Pendle Hill. In 1930 when, when Pendle Hill was founded, the group of Friends that hold that adventure were very clear that they wanted to create a school for prophets. Again, 1930 we were living in into a world big depression and those Friends acted in a leap of faith. This is what they call a sacrament of hope. But they were not just thinking about how to provide an alternative of a social order for the world that we were living in that moment, but they were also holding very, very deep in their heart how they could bridge the division within the Religious Society of Friends. And they were very intentional about creating an experiment that was not just speaking to Friends in North America, but how to reach out to other branches and experiences of Quakerism around the globe. This is a great experience for for what we are exploring here with, with this season. We are holding, holding very close to our heart, the conviction that this world can be different, and it can be different, not just for us, but for everybody. So let me, let me flip that question back to you, because I also know that you are involved in so many great movements as a change, change maker. So what this question represent to you? How do you see those connections?
Dwight Dunston:As you know, it's it's very special to be in the histories and the flows of a place like Pendle Hill. I'm very aware of reverberations of past bodies and minds and spirits and conversations you know, in in those hallways, in the in the dining hall you know. And I've been so blessed to have met some people over the last just in the last two years, who have gone going on to catalyze huge change in my life, either through their gifts and just the words they share with me, or the things that I got invited to participate in after meeting them at Pendle Hill. One thing I'm thinking about is Marcel Martin's Nurturing Faithfulness course that I got to take part in at the end of 2022 and into 2023. When I think about world building, I feel like I've known about Quakers since I was 14 and went to Quaker schools. I had a Quakerism class, and what I thought was swimming in some of the ethos and philosophy of Quakerism. And when I tell you, Francisco, that Nurturing Faithfulness course felt like a Quakerism crash course for me, you know, and a and a deep dive. Maybe if my high school experience was like a 101 level, this was like the thesis level. It felt like for me those this nine month, 10 month program, getting to really develop a relationship with Spirit and a relationship and cultivating a practice and technologies to deepen my relationship with with Spirit, with God with love, for the purpose of being faithful to what God, Loves, Spirit is calling me to do in this lifetime. I didn't know it at the time, but it felt, it felt like the foundation of a building being set in these tools and skills and practices that I gathered through the Nurturing Faithfulness program. Those things would be key, so key in learning about and moving into this idea of world building. Yeah, it continues to be something that I come back to the lessons from that program. One of the things that sort of piqued my my interest, as you were sharing about Pendle Hill and being founded in 1930 to cultivate prophets and prophetic witness. You know, we spoke a lot in the Nurturing Faithfulness course about the sort of the role of the prophet, both in like biblical terms, but also throughout different traditions. You know the prophet as an arc archetype that shows up in many cultures and societies and and the ways that prophetic witness is a part of catalyzing great change and cultivating and ushering in a new world. You know, building new worlds. You know, somebody needs to say something ain't right here. Something needs to change. Doesn't necessarily need to have all the answers I think, like you're so beautifully modeling. Lots of our guests this season aren't going to speak from a place of "I know exactly what to do next." A lot of them are going to share"These are some things that, some wisdoms from my past or from, you know, past traditions, past history. These are some things I learned from experiences I had. These are ways I feel like we're call in, we're called to be in right relationship with one another, with the Earth, with our wounds, with our grief, with our pain, with our joy that is in service of building this new world." Yeah, I'm just really grateful for Pendle Hill's role and place in my journey of considering and understanding that I have a place and responsibility in in world building, which which I really feel like all of us do. The world building doesn't necessarily happen without the brilliance and and gifts of all of us. So that's coming to mind just just being on that campus, and this experience of meeting folks there and taking part in this, in this course, that really, really changed my relationship to thinking about that world, growing up through the cracks of our broken systems, and what responsibility I have in helping that to come forward. Then this past summer, I had the chance to participate in a writing workshop with adrienne maree brown and Autumn Brown that took place in Ireland, and the title of that writing workshop, that retreat was called Writing the Next World. I joined 12 other writers from around the US and the UK and Germany, and it was this experience, Francisco, that I have never had an experience like this. Gathering with other folks using the art of writing speculative fiction to create a world, create a world together. For those five days we were together, you couldn't tell me that wasn't the real world. Honestly it felt like a out of body, spiritual experience to be in this writing retreat, writing the next world with other artists, shaping what we wanted that world to look like and feel like, and also embodying it through our connections, through the, we ate meals together, through the travels and experiences that we had. When I got back from Ireland from that trip, there was this new fire in me to really open up conversations with artists and activists and community leaders, as we usually do on this podcast, right spiritual leaders, but focusing those conversations on this idea of world building. I'm so grateful to all the experiences I had. I'm so grateful to adrienne and Autumn and an incredible organization, Bog & Thunder, that helped to facilitate, the gathering the folks together and helped to facilitate the program that took place throughout our time in Ireland. Because it was, it was a transformative experience. And just thinking this theme, like, why this theme feels so important now, I don't know if people have looked outside, you know, but we are being called to be in a different relationship with, and to call into question our relationship with most I would argue, most everything. How we are, how we love, how we hold folks accountable, how we forgive, how we express our anger, how we express our gratitude. I think these last few years have have been very much calling us into transformation, and like you were speaking about the prophetic witness, you know, like that, transformation requires both an assessment and understanding of the present in order to create a different future. It feels so important now because this this time, it just feels ripe for transformation. And I'm so grateful to to the guests and to you here as our our opening guest, as you, as you are in in this podcast project for helping us set the stage for these conversations.
Francisco Burgos:Well, thank you. I really feel, feel honored for joining you in this adventure. I know that building the the world that we seek is a task that we share. And again, let's continue being courageous in working with determination, in transforming the realities small and big that we face today. I look forward for season five.
Dwight Dunston:You and me both. Thank you, Francisco, so so good to see you every time, good brother,
Francisco Burgos:Thanks. Thanks, and to be continued, my friend.
Dwight Dunston:To be continued. Wow, friends, that was Francisco Burgos, the executive director at Pendle Hill. If you haven't had the chance to visit Pendle Hill yet, it's a Quaker study retreat and conference center right outside of Philadelphia, on a 24 acre beautiful, beautiful piece of land. It offers a welcoming space for spiritual reflection, community building and learning. And one of my all time favorite things to do at Pendle Hill is to visit the almost 400 year old American Beech tree, lovingly known as Mama Beech, right on the backside of campus. I just love to go there, to sit to pray, to sing. If you find yourself on campus, definitely want to check out Mama Beech and see if there's any wisdom that she might have to share with you on your visit. There are many programs and opportunities for learning at Pendle Hill, and some of which I'll be leading this upcoming fall, including a workshop about clowning and Quakerism. If you want to learn more about that opportunity or others, you can hop on over to pendlehill.org with a list of all of the experiences on campus. Since this is the very first episode of a brand new season, and we already told you we're going to do some new things, including this practice of inviting a second guest, I want to introduce you all to our second guest, me, Dwight Sterling Dunston. I'm here. It's I just want to take a brief moment to bring folks up to me. speed about who I am and some of the ways that my Quaker journey has unfolded for me over the last few years. I am a West Philadelphia artist, activist and ice cream enthusiast that is committed to and passionate about supporting folks unlock their gifts and potentials, the ones that are known to them and unknown to them. I first came about facilitating through my role as a middle child. Shout out to all the middle middle children listening right now, we may have had to intervene or be very skilled and adept at knowing what was happening in the ecosystems that we were part of growing up. One of the things I've learned about myself very early on as a middle child is the skill of facilitating. I love, or grew to love, the playing a role of helping folks really harmonize with one another. That's something that I did in my home ecosystem and the communities I was a part of as a young person, and as I grew up and started to think about ways I wanted to be of use in in the communities I was a part of, facilitation kept coming back to my mind. As a facilitator, one of the things that I'm really, really passionate about is supporting folks to unlock their hidden gifts and potentials, to be very clear about the gifts and expertise that they have and carry, and to help groups work well together. That's something I'm so passionate about. I love people. I've always been and continue to be so curious about individuals and the things that bring them joy, the things that break their hearts, the things that keep them coming back to being in and staying in a learning stance, a curious stance, an open stance. I love learning about those things, about folks. I did not grow up Quaker. I grew up going to a black Baptist Church in Philadelphia, but came across Quakerism through my high school experience, and kept coming back to this faith tradition in my adulthood. One of the things that I love, love, love about Quakerism is this idea of continuing revelation. There are always truths to be unveiled, to unfold in our lives. Really readying ourselves for these truths to come into focus, for these truths to shake up our lives. As I make sense of continuing revelation it's a thing to really prep our hearts, minds and spirits for. Quakerism, and that practice of continuing revelation has been such a useful tool in my life as a facilitator, where we never quite know what's going to happen. In my life as an artist, as a musician, as a clown, where you never quite know where, where the the note's going to take you, or what to do during the beat drop, or where that drama piece is going to want to go next. But really bringing in Quakerism to other parts of my life has has given me such such joy and such purpose. Even this project of hosting a podcast feels very much connected to my surrendering to and being faithful to continuing revelation because I didn't know y'all I was going to be on this podcast. And here we are, season five, and I'm so grateful that you're here, continuing to listen, continuing to be in practice and process of allowing things to unfold. That's just a little bit about me, your second guest, Dwight Dunston, and in having the opportunity to introduce myself, reintroduce myself to you all, the guests, I want to make an opening extended invitation for you the listener, to share something with me about who you are. Perhaps the ways continuing revelation is moving within your life, perhaps your own journeys with worldbuilding. Feel free to send an email along to podcast@pendlehill.org and you can join me in worship on the last Friday of the month.
Worship begins at 8:30 Eastern and lasts for about 30 to 40 minutes. I'll be in that virtual space in worship and present after worship on the last Friday of each month, and really, really look forward to the opportunity to connecting with you. To find out more about joining our virtual worship at pendlehill.org/explore/worship. That's pendlehill.org/explore/worship. Can't wait to be in the space with you soon. Oh. And one more thing, Francisco asks, "What should folks expect from season five?" You can expect international voices from Ireland and Palestine, voices from here in the US as well. You can expect some artful sharing, including poetry and spoken word, activists and artists who will help us envision living and pursuing a new world. All of that will be here in season five of the podcast. So stay tuned and stay locked in. Thank you so much for showing up and spending some time with me here on The Seed. The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit led learning, retreat and community. We're located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni Lenape people. Many of our guests are teachers, leaders and speakers at Pendle Hill. We host retreats, workshops and lectures all year round. For a full list of these upcoming education opportunities, visit us at pendlehill.org/learn. This episode was produced and edited by Peterson Toscano. Our theme music is the I rise project by Reverend Retta Morgan and Bennet Kuhn, produced by Astronautical Records. Other music comes from epidemicsound.com. You also got to hear some music that I produce, and I'm glad to share a little part of me and my art with you all. The Seed podcast is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H and Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund. We thank you so much for that contribution, and you can stay in touch by following us@PendleHillSeed on all social media platforms or by emailing us at podcast@pendlehill.org. If you're finding these conversations meaningful, please consider supporting our work financially. You can head over to pendlehill.org/donate and you can also support by letting people in your life know about our podcast. We want to connect with other folks like you, so please subscribe, rate and review us on your podcast platform. These seeds could not be planted without you. This episode was produced in Edison. This episode was produced in Edison near in the end, I'm gonna take a nice, long nap after this, I'm.
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