"What was the most joyful part of this lifetime?" Every day and every lifetime, no matter how hard, contains moments of joy. How did you get through it?" We somehow managed to make it to the end of this day, the end of this lifetime. "What was the hardest part in this lifetime? Notice where you sense that hardship in your body. “Think of today as an entire lifetime," Wise Woman says to me before I fall asleep. See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love So I ask myself, What is this story demanding of me? What will I do now that I know this?” As Hannah Arendt says, 'One trains one's imagination to go visiting.' When the story is done, we must return to our skin, our own worldview, and notice how we have been changed by our visit. As soon as I notice feeling unmoored, I try to pull myself back into my body, like returning home. ![]() Sometimes I start to lose myself in their story. I try to understand what matters to them, not what I think matters. The most critical part of listening is asking what is at stake for the other person. I just need to feel safe enough to stay curious. But I also know that it's okay if I don't feel very much for them at all. Empathy is cognitive and emotional-to inhabit another person's view of the world is to feel the world with them. I am always partially listening to the thoughts in my own head when others are speaking, so I consciously quiet my thoughts and begin to listen with my senses. ![]() When I really want to hear another person's story, I try to leave my preconceptions at the door and draw close to their telling. We are delighted to share Valarie’s TED Talk, so you can experience more of her story and her vision:įor more information about Valarie Kaur and The Revolutionary Love Project, visit her website.“Deep listening is an act of surrender. I have made a promise to spend the rest of my life organizing around love.” I have spent the last 20 years of my life organizing around hate. As she explained, “We plan to use these insights to design what this movement needs to keep building. It will involve approximately 100 communities across America that have been self-organizing around revolutionary love. We asked about her upcoming plans, and discovered that she intends to launch a national listening tour. In the fall of 2022, President Biden honored Valarie at the White House in the first-ever Uniters Ceremony, naming her as one of sixteen leaders whose work is healing America.ĭue to illness, Valarie was unable to join us for a video interview, but we were able to connect with her in other ways. Her book See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love (One World Publishing, New York, 2020) was a #1 LA Times Bestseller. It seeks to inspire and equip people with practical tools to build beloved community in the places they live. Valarie now heads up The Revolutionary Love Project, which is both a movement and a learning hub. Her question was, “Is this the darkness of the tomb – or the darkness of the womb?” This six-minute video of her speech has been viewed 40 million times around the world. During her address, she asked a question that helped to reframe the political moment, and became a mantra for people fighting for change during a dark time. William Barber, a pastor in North Carolina. James Forbes of Riverside Church in New York City, Imam Talib Al Rashid of Harlem, and the Rev. She joined several leaders, including the Rev. ![]() 30, 2016, Valarie gave a short address during a “Watch Night Service” at the Metropolitan AME Church in Washington. She founded the Groundswell Movement (a multifaith online community working together through social action), Faithful Internet (a resource protecting faith-inspired service), and the Yale Visual Law Project (to train up advocates at the intersection of spirituality, storytelling, and justice). Over the last two decades, Valarie’s work has led to policy change in areas such as hate crimes, racial profiling, and immigration detention, to solitary confinement, Internet freedom, and more. The daughter of farmers in California’s heartland, Valarie was brought up in the Sikh faith, and earned degrees at Stanford University, Harvard Divinity School, and Yale Law School. ![]() VALARIE KAUR is a civil rights leader, documentary filmmaker, lawyer, educator, and faith leader.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |