We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.
— Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
As CEO/ReImaginator for 360° Nation and Chief Encouragement Officer of our 
affiliated pro bono social impact enterprise, GoodWorks 360° Foundation, I was delighted to have the opportunity to get better acquainted with Zen Benefiel, Founder of Planetary Citizens, a global activity dedicated to fostering unity, sustainability, and a higher sense of collective responsibility for the well-being of our planet and, more important, its people. Learn more as you enjoy my recent interview with Zen below.
We’d like to hear about your personal story BEFORE Planetary Citizens.
I was orphaned at birth and arrived as an adoptee in small‑town Indiana—loved, yet always asking bigger questions. At 18, in my first year of pre-Med, a blinding light/death experience rewired my compass: help birth a new world order of harmony was the invitation. The vision survived a psyche ward, Thorazine, Divorce, dismissal from church and decades of corporate dabbling’s, Coaching conundrums, and radio/TV‑host life.
Along the way I earned two master’s degrees, raised four kids, produced 120 One World episodes, managed logistics for an array of public events, facilitated construction‑partnering, wrote 40 books, and enjoyed playing drums, golf, and rock climbing. Being on the rock was a very Zen experience, totally present with it.
Every detour—from aerospace to hypnotherapy—was rehearsal for weaving the mystical and the practical into one through‑line: harmony in life (Love) promoting people and planet over profit. We are one people, one planet, not bound by the illusion of boundaries or separative notions.
Tell us about Planetary Citizens and the inspiration behind it.
It’s a continuation of my inner work and effort to restore what’s been dormant since the 1980s; Donald Keys’ banner deserved a 21st‑century upgrade. My journey is an evolving series of serendipitous and synchronistic moments of interconnectedness. It began with my 
TV show, One World, in 1990 and an interview with an actor and theologian, Khigh Dhiegh, who spoke of world citizenship. Learning about Key’s work a decade later, there was a strong pull to re-engage as part of the fulfillment of my ‘mission.’ Yet another decade and surprisingly, the .net domain was available and I launched the first version in 2010, showcasing world servers of the time and featuring Khigh’s reading of the World Citizen Pledge.
Another decade passed and in 2023, inspired by the ‘apocalyptic chats’ for One World in a New World podcast, as well as an inner prompt to take the leap, we reincorporated as a 509(a)(2) public charity to offer a neutral, practice‑based commons where academics, activists and indigenous Wisdom‑keepers co‑create solutions instead of competing. I continued to be led by the inner promptings to engage the outer world. The process was a consistent refinement of that invitation and rite of passage in college.
What’s unique about your nonprofit?
Planetary Citizens isn’t built around a single issue or campaign, or even a movement—it’s designed as a platform for pattern-breakers. Think of it as a living systems-lab where personal awakening, community collaboration, and planetary stewardship are woven into one recursive fabric. Instead of siloed programs, we offer a 12-sector Co-Creation Wheel that lets people map their passion (from arts to agriculture) to real-world projects, then feed lessons learned back into the commons. I want to provide apocalyptic moments for those seeking to serve something greater; those called to action one might say.
When was Planetary Citizens launched and what’s been your biggest challenge?
We received 509(a)(2) public-charity status (EIN 93-4055628) in December 2023 and publicly launched the revamped site in process in January 2024. It continues to be a work in progress and with several joining our adhoc board of advisors helping to guide us. Like life, it expands and contracts accordingly. I’ve been fortunate to have developed some tech skills on my journey and am able to apply them in the build.
The hardest piece has been, and is, capacity-building—matching global enthusiasm and self-initiated cohorts with the back-end infrastructure (CRM, multilingual moderation, micro-grant pipeline, member area). It’s still new and with minimal assistance, I’ve done most of the work to date. It’s allowed me to pour my passion into a practical application, yet it is dependent on the attraction and resonance of others while I continue to seek and submit grant proposals to help us move forward. It’s a lot to do, and with a 10-year strategy, we can break it down into doable chunks. Everything is built one step at a time and has a process, usually its own.
Any noteworthy surprises or ‘A-ha’ Moments along the way?
I’ve had many. I’ll highlight a few.
My identity crisis as an adoptee and a death/light encounter fused into the insight that belonging is an inside job: when you touch the luminous core of self, every outer label—nationality, religion, even species—becomes secondary. Years of “high strangeness” finally clicked: science and mysticism aren’t rivals but complementary lenses on the same field of Consciousness across the universe.
Realizing that every moment reduces to a binary—fear or love—was a gut punch. Choosing love consistently is the shortest path from chaos to coherence. Discovering that self-awareness begets synchronicity: when a leader is inwardly aligned, uncanny “chance” resources appear exactly when teams need them. Play is not frivolous—it’s a strategic Technology for Innovation. Making work fun measurably increases solution speed and stakeholder buy-in.
The big synthesis: identity rooted in Earth-belonging dissolves ideological turf wars. When we widen “us” to include the biosphere, collaboration becomes the obvious move. During episode 203 of One World in a New World a quantum biologist remarked, “recursion is nature’s design language.” That clicked. It resounded like a gong: our Wheel wasn’t a diagram; it was a fractal—and we began teaching it that way.
Each of us have a recursive function that is operational, we’re querying our inner guidance all the time. Why not focus on bringing that out more?
What about the impact/outcomes of your nonprofit so far?
In 18 months the idea of “planetary citizenship” moved from a concept on a website to a measurable ecosystem: a million-view podcast of four years, a five-star book that’s climbing Amazon’s Philanthropy charts, a growing alliance map that now spans six continents, and an AI companion (“Citi-Zen GPTChat”) that lets visitors converse with the framework in real time. The through-line is resonance—people are not only consuming content, they’re using it to seed local projects, refine leadership practice, and spark fresh dialogue.
Launched in June of 2021 One World in a New World – Apocalyptic Chats has released 200 + episodes and was listed #10 in MillionPodcasts’ 2025 “Best 50 Sense-Making Podcasts,” underscoring its credibility among critical-thinking audiences. We published a 3-volume set of the first three years as One World: Uniting Voices – Conversations for a United World, featuring golden threads.
We have several fundraising efforts shared on the website and every podcast episode, plus nearly 900 shorts. The show’s cumulative views/listens passed the one-million mark in March of 2024, and listener reviews consistently reference “actionable inspiration.” Still, we’re on that slow climb of a startup seeking support.
Planetary Citizens: Awakening the Heart of Humanity debuted 26 March 2025 and already holds a 5.0-star average from 16 Amazon reviews, ranking #300 in Philanthropy & Charity and #2,114 in Business Motivation & Self-Improvement (Kindle). Independent endorsements—from a thoughtful articles on several platforms and praise from a consciousness scholar Dr. Jeffrey Mishlove—have driven steady month-over-month sales plus audiobook uptake on Audible.
As an Alliance feature, logos on our site now reflect working Relationships with the Octopus Movement (neurodiverse innovation), Live and Let Live Global Peace Movement, Global Regeneration CoLab and ten other networks—providing speaker exchanges, joint webinars and shared research pools. These activities are in Phase 2 of our strategic plan.
Using open-access tools for development. The launch of Citi-Zen GPTChat transformed the website from a static library into an interactive mentor; early analytics show an average session length of 7 minutes and a 42 % return-visitor rate as users explore co-creation prompts. This piece is easy to miss because it lives under Media ▸ Citi-Zen GPTChat in the menu bar.
What’s the next big thing/challenge for Planetary Citizens?
Planetary Citizens is now shifting from “broadcasting inspiration” to building the operating system that lets anyone anywhere turn that inspiration into coordinated action. The 10-year Strategic Plan (Phase 1 & 2) lays out a clear sequence of moves: knit the One World in a New World podcast tightly into every initiative, grow an integrated learning-and-doing community online, and secure the resources that keep momentum high. Here’s the condensed roadmap:
Funding & talent magnetism – Scaling translation, micro-grants, and podcast-integrated campaigns demands steady capital and mission-aligned specialists. Securing sponsor packages, grant partners, and a pipeline of tech-savvy servant-leaders tops the priority list.
Member-portal infrastructure – Designing a social-media–style hub with real-time collaboration rooms, multilingual UI, and built-in open-badge credentials is technically and administratively complex. It must be robust enough for rapid Growth yet simple enough for first-time global users.
Global reach & quality control – Translating every toolkit, transcript, and AI prompt into six core languages—while maintaining production value, accessibility, and a healthy feedback loop—requires tight coordination between content teams, moderators, and analytics dashboards.
These hurdles are the gateways to a fully coordinated, badge-powered ecosystem of regenerative action. For a deeper dive into milestones, timelines, and partnership opportunities, explore the full ten-year blueprint at PlanetaryCitizens.net/strategy.
As a humanitarian, what’s non-negotiable for you?
People-and-planet over profit. Any partnership must honor ecological limits, transparent governance, and psychological safety. If those three aren’t on the table, I politely walk away.
How can our readers learn more about and support your Planetary Citizens?
Share with us your favorite quote related to all that you do.
I’m hard pressed to pick one. I’d like to share three, one being my own.
“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.” — Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.
“Whatever you believe or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, magic and power in it.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“We cannot think our way through a system built on vibration. We must sense our way.” – ZB
BONUS QUESTION: What’s one thing people would be surprised to learn about you?
My senior year in high school I took third place in a state-wide DeMolay springboard diving competition, against 6 AAU divers and others, shifting a 3-meter routine to 1-meter the day of, and was also medalist on our high school golf team. I was awarded the International Order of DeMolay ‘Medal for Saving a Human Life’ at the same event. I’d acted quickly as a lifeguard the previous summer, pulling an unconscious swimmer from peril, and was unaware of the parent’s push for praise.
Originally Published on https://www.bizcatalyst360.com/author/dennisjpitocco/
