
Healing the Heart of Democracy
The Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit
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Narrated by:
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Stefan Rudnicki
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By:
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Parker J. Palmer
About this listen
News Flash! Utne Reader names Parker J. Palmer as one of "25 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World" - people who, in the editor's words, "don't just think out loud but who walk their talk on a daily basis." See the October-November 2011 print or online issue.
At a critical time in American life, Parker J. Palmer looks with realism and hope at how to deal with our political tensions for the sake of the common good - without the shouting, blaming, or defaming so common in our politics today.
In this audiobook, Parker J. Palmer builds on his own extensive experience as an inner life explorer and social change activist to examine the personal and social infrastructure of American politics. What he did for educators in The Courage to Teach he does here for citizens by looking at the dynamics of our inner lives for clues to reclaiming our civic well-being. In Healing the Heart of Democracy, he points the way to a politics rooted in the commonwealth of compassion and creativity still found among "We the People."
"Democracy", writes Palmer, "is a non-stop experiment in the strengths and weaknesses of our political institutions, local communities, and the human heart - and its outcome can never be taken for granted. The experiment is endless, unless we blow up the lab, and the explosives to do the job are found within us. But so also is the heart's alchemy that can turn suffering into compassion, conflict into community, and tension into energy for creativity amid democracy's demands."
Healing the Heart of Democracy names the "habits of the heart" we need to revitalize our politics and shows how they can be formed in the everyday venues of our lives. Palmer proposes practical and hopeful methods to hold the tensions of our differences in a manner that can help restore a government "of the people, by the people, for the people".
©2011 Parker J. Palmer (P)2012 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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What listeners say about Healing the Heart of Democracy
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Dennis Norman Stroud
- 01-10-24
Always a great listen
Compelling and common sense inspiration. Parker Palmer's message is increasingly important in these times.
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- Annie P.
- 03-31-25
Community Building
This book will support your choice to explore all the layers of your humanity in service of building the community in which you wish to live. Engage with community socially and politically to create a world that leads with compassion.
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