My Podcast Interview Today with Arno Michaelis

This week I’ve been writing about the paradox underlying Thich Nhat Hanh’s message: Still taking steps and already home. I ended Wednesday’s blog with, “I wish to be fully present, even as Ed and I are still laying the groundwork for our future.”

Today I want to share with you a moment that for me epitomizes that paradox of being fully present while simultaneously preparing for the future. I just finished my interview with Arno Michaelis for Season Two of my podcast on Forgiveness and Reconciliation. During our one-hour conversation, I was completely and deeply present and engaged in the moment. When you hear the interview, you’ll understand why:

Arno was a founding member of what became the largest racist skinhead organization in the world, a reverend of a self-declared Racial Holy War, and lead singer of the race-metal band Centurion, selling over 20,000 CDs to racists around the world.
Today Arno is a public speaker, author of My Life After Hate, and he works with Serve2Unite, an organization that engages young people of all backgrounds as peacemakers. His latest book, with Pradeep Singh Kaleka, is The Gift of Our Wounds: A Sikh and a Former White Supremacist Find Forgiveness After Hate.

You won’t hear that interview until August 9. So, as I focused my entire being on what this remarkable man had to say today, I was simultaneously laying the groundwork for a future that is months away.