In my Cosmopolitan Liberalism (2010), I gave chapter 5 of the book the title “Citizens of the world, unite!” I was calling for a revolution of the inner self that amounts to what I am calling here a “Revolution of the Heart.” I also called it a “hermeneutic of the heart” that entails understanding and valuing the other within my own sense of self. This requires empathy and inner work for each one of us to genuinely and meaningfully become involved in the fierce love and work of social justice and equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). For each person looking to contribute to the EDI “labour of love,” this involves a vast amount of inner work –a veritable revolution of the inner self. The idea is to achieve an expansion of the boundaries of our individual self towards compassion. In this book, I discuss compassion as a moral principle for the individual a self. Individuality is seen as sacred in the modern “cult of the individual” (Durkheim) and I propose that we embrace its sacredness through a hermeneutic of the heart. One example of this kind of work is that of “Spiritual Activism.”
Spiritual Activism
I recommend to follow the work of Rachel Ricketts, from the website Insighttimer:
“Rachel Ricketts is a thought leader and champion for Black and Indigenous womxn. As a racial justice activist, lawyer, healer, speaker + author, she educates white folx on their role in perpetuating white supremacy, and helps folx of colour heal from internalized oppression. Rachel hosts workshops that promote racial justice and offer solutions for all hue-mans to dismantle white supremacist heteropatriarchy, heal from racialized trauma, and better connect with themselves and each other.”
Listen to her podcast on “Stepping into Spiritual Activism,” click on the here for listening.