Bridging Worlds: Introducing a New Column by Bentinho's Team

Hi, Cory here 👋

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m one of Bentinho’s longtime friends and teammates.

I wrote an essay a few days ago intended for this exact spot in this newsletter. I was happy with it and eager to begin this new “team column” initiative (more on that later).

The team green lit the essay to be published but then Bentinho shared some feedback:

“Sometimes in your drafts like this I still feel like you’re not saying what you truly want to say. Like you’re holding back your true passion a little bit… I keep feeling: ‘What is it that you really want to tell people?’ 

What you want to share and what you share are still energetically removed. But it’s a good post so feel free to send it out as it is.” 

I recognized what he was referring to. I prepared a polished presentation as opposed to delivering a courageous and resolute transmission. Since I would be representing him and the team on a fairly public forum, I erred safe and controlled as opposed to going for it. Or in simpler terms: instead of playing to win, I played not to lose.

The essay I wrote introduced a new interactive “column” that I and others from the team will write and publish exclusively in this newsletter. We will invite you to submit questions and we will select the best of those questions to answer in the subsequent newsletter. Our intention is to invite subscribers (you) behind the scenes into team dynamics, recent lessons, real stories and breakthroughs, honest answers to some of your questions, and probably more.

But the reason I offered to take on this project isn’t because I’m passionate about answering questions. I have another more specific intention for this initiative—one I didn’t mention in my first draft.

What we have together, on this team, is a breath of fresh air that I don’t see anywhere else out there. The high bar for honesty and authenticity. The low tolerance for manipulation or psychological games. The highly-attuned no-bullshit meter. The generous, attentive care for each other and the brutal sense of humor. The accountability from each other to stay aligned and on track and the total freedom to be what we are. The unending opportunities for growth and refinement. The high aim. The ever-present devotion to Source and transparency to God (with none of the spiritual identities or displays).

What unites and orients these people is perhaps my greatest passion. The true teamwork, the resilience and transparency, the teachings and our genuine relationship to them, the commitment to learning and evolving and integrating. What we have is unique.

I hear many teachers and pundits and influencers describe these qualities and states but so few live them in their daily relationships and communities. I think that’s because they stop short: in theory this approach is much easier than in practice.

For instance: it’s easy to intelligently talk about the hard inner work of uprooting the ego. But to actually do it, for real, with nowhere to hide and nobody to fool…that can be legitimately scary. We humans tend to defend the most hidden parts of ourselves with our best weapons.

Many people (who identify as practitioners of this work and claim to have transmuted their ugliest parts) are attracted to us because they see the end product—they see our harmony and trust and anti-fragility and deep, permanent friendship. But upon entering our sphere they simply can’t or won’t tolerate the heat and pressure that turns coal to diamond.

From my perspective, that’s wonderful. It should be inspiring. But I realize that for many it’s seen as threatening, intimidating, counterproductive, or worse.

My intention with this column is to bridge the gap. I want to lay some foundations, bring you up to speed, demystify this type of development, and make it more likely that more of you could do the hard and confronting inner work if you ever choose to.

I want to share this with you. Whether you call it a culture or a worldview or a set of values and principles, I want to share with you what makes such unification, transparency and refinement possible. I want to address some misunderstandings and give the best tips I (and others from the team) have collected along the way.

I want to do some myth-busting about what this community is; what Bentinho is.
I want to share the magic of what we’ve built and I want to do it collaboratively. You ask us the realest questions you have (what are you really wondering? Let’s have those hard conversations) and I and the team will give you the best of what we’ve learned.

Ready? Let’s begin.

Subscribe to the newsletter (where you can submit questions for the column) here.