Healing the Heart of Democracy -- Book of the Year Review
HEALING THE HEART OF DEMOCRACY: The Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit. By Parker J. Palmer. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2011. 219 pages.
Most
Americans are proud of their democratic institutions, despite the many
imperfections and stains on the nation’s record as a democracy. The freedoms enshrined in the Constitution of
the United States have given hope to men and women of every race, ethnicity,
religion, or social class, of a better future.
Over time, we have developed a national mythology to give voice to these
aspirations, including the declaration of the first of our two founding
documents that “all [men] are created equal.”
We have not always lived up to this premise, indeed, rarely have we done
so, but it is there to remind us of who we might become, should we choose. Although Americans have an individualistic
side to them, the Preamble to the Constitution begins with the words “We the
People,” words that remind us of our interdependence as well as our
independence.
In recent years the
emphasis on independence has overwhelmed the concern for our
interdependence. We have placed our own
individual “pursuit of happiness” above the corporate good described in the
words “we the people.” As we have
pursued the private good over the public good, we have also lost confidence in
the structures and institutions that embody America’s democratic principles and
ideals. Faith in the competence and
wisdom of America’s leaders, from local to federal, is at an all time low,
which leads many to call for the ousting of everyone in power, but surely healing
this national crisis of confidence will take more than simply changing out
those in power. Instead, it will come
only as “we the people” take responsibility for the common good.
In
need of prophetic words of wisdom in this difficult time, we are blessed to
receive this tome from Parker Palmer, a Quaker, writer, teacher, and activist. It is a book that every American needs to
read, because it offers resources that can help us discern a path toward healing
the broken heartedness that so many Americans are feeling. Palmer speaks of the politics of our age as
the “politics of the brokenhearted.” By
heart, Palmer means, the “core of the self, that center place where all of our
ways of knowledge converge – intellectual, emotional, sensory, intuitive,
imaginative, experiential, relational, and bodily, among others” (p. 6). The American heart is broken, but will this be
experienced as a shattering of our national self, or as a breaking open of the
self to new possibilities for the nation to live into the aspirations that are
embedded in our national myth?
Palmer’s
Quaker identity, with its emphasis on public service, nonviolence, listening,
consensus-building, and commitment to the common good undergirds this
conversation about reclaiming and healing our political and public life. This conversation is rooted in a very deep
Christian spirituality, even though religion is rarely at the forefront of the
discussion. Because this is a book
about democracy, it deals with politics.
Unlike many writers today, Palmer doesn’t believe that politics is evil
or unredeemable. Our politics may be
broken, but politics is a necessary part of the democratic ethos. Indeed, partisanship isn’t the problem,
instead it is our tendency to demonize the other, engage in scapegoating, and
neglecting the political infrastructure.
Although we tend to
seek to eradicate stress, conflict, and tension, Palmer reminds us that tension
is an essential component of our democratic infrastructure. It is a reflection of our diversity as a
nation, and the Founders of the nation sought to create structures that would
allow for this tension and conflict to be converted into energy that would lead
to social progress. For healing of
democratic heart to take place, we will need to form “habits of the heart” that
will enable us to embody the principles inherent in our identity as “we the
people.” Again, the focus isn’t on “them” (the politicians), but on the
populace as a whole.
In the course of eight
chapters, Palmer invites us to reconnect with what Lincoln called our “better
angels,” and discern what it means to be citizens of a democracy. In these chapters he describes democracy’s
ecosystem, citizenship, politics, what he calls the loom of democracy, life
among strangers, the role of classrooms and congregations in developing the democratic
heart, and the creation of safe spaces for democracy. In the concluding chapter he speaks of the “unwritten
history of the heart,” in which he points us toward true social transformation,
which is “sparked by people who are
isolated, marginalized, and oppressed but who do not fall into despair” (p.
184). This transformation happens
because such people have done the kind of “heart work” that enables their
hearts to break open, rather than break apart.
This can happen when we open ourselves to others, and bring about both
inner and outward transformation.
Transformation is judged by our faithfulness to the community upon which
we depend. To get there, we must be
intentional about our heart-work.
This process perhaps
begins with a definition of citizenship, which Palmer defines as “a way of
being in the world rooted in the knowledge that I am a member of a vast
community of human and nonhuman beings that I depend on for essentials, I could
never provide for myself” (p. 31). Note
that this definition says nothing about national structures or patriotism, but instead
speaks of interdependence and awareness of the other, including the
stranger.
In an increasingly
individualistic and privatized age, we are seeing the demise of a robust public
life. This privatization of society is
exemplified in the belief among many today that the nation’s sole reason for existing
is to “secure such a self-contained private realm that we can pursue our own
happiness without regard for the needs of others, even at their expense” (p.
92). Perhaps it’s no wonder that there
is a libertarian embrace of the Declaration of Independence and its call for
the “pursuit of happiness.” As a result
of this privatization of society, there is less room for the stranger to be
present in our midst, for they are allowed into this sphere only by
invitation. If the private layer is
designed to exclude the stranger, then so is the political realm, wherein the
governmental and financial institutions restrict access to the corridors of
power, effectively restricting the stranger.
Therefore, it’s only in the public realm that allows for us to freely
encounter the stranger, the other. The
public is “we the people,” and as Palmer notes, only when we truly understand
that we are in this together can we hope to hold the political realm
accountable. That is, we must have
institutions and spaces where we can gather together and experience each other
in public ways. This can involve such
spaces as neighborhoods, community gardens, city streets, parks, libraries,
classrooms and even congregations. These
are spaces where we discover our interdependence and connections. But for us to get to this place, we must
stop equating the stranger with the enemy.
As noted earlier, there
is a deep spirituality undergirding this book, but for the most part this
spirituality lies below the surface, becoming explicit largely in a later
chapter where Palmer deals with the role of classrooms and congregations in
forming the “habits of the heart” that enable democracy to flourish. At their best, congregations contribute to the
development of two key characteristics necessary for democracy to thrive –
compassion and trust. Although
congregations have a less than stellar record at living out these
characteristics, they are part of the ethos of faith. Therefore, while our congregations also need to
experience healing, they can also provide spaces where we can experience
compassion for the diversity present in our communities. To get there, Palmer suggests that we develop
a theology of hospitality that speaks to our national illusion of
self-sufficiency, and invites us to break open our hearts to the stranger.
There is a deep and
disturbing cloud hanging over the United States. It is a malaise that is leading to cynicism
and self-centeredness. The antidote is
to be found in the healing of the heart of our democracy, so that we might
emerge from this private focus to a public one, which recognizes our
interdependence. I know of no better
guide to discerning the problem and the solutions, than this book by Parker Palmer. It is a prophetic book, one that needs to be
taken with all due seriousness, if we are to emerge from our malaise stronger
and healthier than before.
Note: This review was originally published in the Print Edition of Englewood Review of Books (Ordinary Time 2011, Volume 1, Number 4) p. 26.
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