In honor of Election Day, I post this:

Nov. 19 through Nov. 21 Sonoma State University will host “Engaging the Other: The Power of Compassion,” a three day conference “to promote wider and more skillful public dialogue about how to improve understanding in relationships and agreements, locally and globally,” according to organizers.

“This is a time of heightened insecurity and turmoil in many regions of the world, including the U.S., and locally,” conference coordinator Steve Olweean said in a statement.

Olweean is the head of the International Humanistic Psychology Association (IHPA) and Common Bond Institute (CBI). “The energy of fear associated with this serves to foment increasing distrust and divisiveness within and between groups and whole societies,” he said.

Presenters and participants will explore “how conflict works and how methods have been developed to help bridge this misunderstanding and distrust,” according to SSU.

Huston Smith, author of “The World’s Religions” is the keynote speaker.

The fifth annual conference, sponsored by SSU’s psychology department, IHPA and CBI, is open to the public. The event is a collaboration of more than 100 endorsing universities, according to organizers.

More information and registration details can be found at www.cbiworld.org or by calling Skip Robinson at 793-9339 or emailing him at skip.robinson@sonoma.edu