On Mindful Democracy: A Declaration of Interdependence to Mend a Fractured World
About this audiobook
An antidote to political burnout and civic despair: drawing on mindfulness and modern wisdom to cultivate resilience, healthy engagement, and skillful presence in turbulent times, this guide offers twenty-seven powerful teachings of interdependence to navigate news, social media, and civic engagement with clarity and courage.
250 years after the US Declaration of Independence, this incisive Declaration of Interdependence is a timely, tender, and transformative guide for citizens who care deeply about the world but feel disillusioned by the state of public discourse. Professor Jeremy David Engels—scholar, mindfulness teacher, and longtime student of Thich Nhat Hanh—proposes that clarity and interconnection are not only paths to personal peace, but vital practices for renewing democracy itself.
Structured in the spirit of On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder, this compact, accessible book delivers 27 profound insights—each a short chapter—on how to show up for democracy with compassion, clarity, and courage. It invites listeners to step away from enemyship, to root their activism in shared humanity, and to declare their interdependence.
Listeners will discover:
How mindfulness can heal the civic wounds of polarization and fear
Practices for engaging with news and social media without being consumed
A reimagining of democracy as collective empowerment, not endless conflict
Zen stories and teachings to inspire transformation
Practical tips for showing up skillfully in moments of disagreement and tension
Whether you’re a seasoned activist or a tender-hearted citizen seeking a new path forward, this luminous testament to resilience offers a lantern in the dark—and a quiet call to remember who we are, and what we’re here to do, together.
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About the author
Jeremy David Engels, PhD, is the Liberal Arts professor of Communication and Ethics at Penn State University. He is also a longtime teacher of mindfulness, meditation, and yoga and since undertaking a pilgrimage to walk in the footsteps of the Buddha in India and Nepal in 2018, a student of Thích Nhất Hạnh. He is an award-winning teacher and scholar, and has published numerous books and articles about democracy, community building, deliberation, and peace. He lives in State College, Pennsylvania, where he and his wife Anna run a community yoga and meditation studio called Yoga Lab.
Eric Burgher is an audiobook narrator based in Chicago, Illinois. He is an award-winning actor and a veteran of Chicago's famous storefront theater scene, who has been acting for over twenty years. A storyteller at heart, Eric is an authentic, engaging, and reliable audiobook narrator with experience in multiple genres, including history, business/finance, personal development, and thriller/suspense. He narrates romance/erotica titles under the pseudonym Scott Rose. Eric is a die-hard Chicago sports fan who loves traveling with his family, and is on a quest to find the best chicken wings everywhere he goes.
