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 his newest 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."
