How to love, care, and make a difference: Non-dual global justice in action

Abstract

This dissertation is an inquiry into the worldviews and global justice actions of persons who have experienced non-dual consciousness. This research explores how people who have self-reported experiencing non-duality and are engaging in global justice actions describe economic globalization and global scale inequality as it relates to their actions. Eight open-ended in-depth interviews generated rich data around the themes of (a) non-dual experiences, (b) personal transformations, (c) understanding of global affairs, and (d) non-dual global justice in action. The primary findings are twofold. First, the participants hold conventional analysis of global affairs, such as the inherent exploitation of the capitalist economy, within the sense of an interconnected whole without any contradictions between the two. Second, the participants reported that their personal transformations had decisive influence in shaping their understanding of the world, as well as their choice of global justice actions. Because of the impact of their personal and often spiritual transformations on their global justice actions, participants consider fostering others' transformation to be their act for global justice. Their engagements for global justice are significantly different from conventional activism both in form and in nature. Instead of "analyzing, criticizing, and making a change," the non-dual global justice actors "love, care, and make a difference" through their way of being on this planet.