Love is a form of sweet labor: fierce, bloody, imperfect, and life-giving—a choice we make over and over again. Love as labor can be taught, modeled, and practiced. This labor engages all our emotions. Joy is the gift of love. Grief is the price of love. Anger protects that which is loved. And when we think we have reached our limit, wonder is the act that returns us to love. 

“Revolutionary love” is the choice to labor for others, for our opponents, and for ourselves in order to transform the world around us. It begins with wonder: You are a part of me I do not yet know. It is not a formal code or prescription but an orientation to life that is personal and political, sustained by joy. Loving only ourselves is escapism; loving only our opponents is self-loathing; loving only others is ineffective. All three practices together make love revolutionary, and revolutionary love can only be practiced in community.

The learning hub was developed by Valarie Kaur and Dr. Melissa Canlas, Director of Education at the Revolutionary Love Project with support from our research scholars. The content is based on the work of Valarie Kaur and her book See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love. The learning hub was designed by Amy Olrick, Senior Technologist at the Revolutionary Love Project.

Anyone interested in practicing revolutionary love for personal and political transformation. The educator’s guide was designed for educators in the U.S. context, but it can be adapted into other contexts as well. It offers a roadmap to teaching, learning, and practicing revolutionary love in classrooms and communities. The lessons are designed to be accessible to a broad audience, starting with high school students.

This learning hub is free of charge. We created this resource for everyone, everywhere!

We offer the educator’s guide on a sliding scale (pay what you can), beginning at $0. We recommend a donation of $87 for this labor, led by women of color. We welcome anything you are able to offer to support our work. You can donate and download the educator’s guide here.

If you would like to take a course with Valarie Kaur, you can sign up for “10 Days to Activate Revolutionary Love” for a fee here. Half of all proceeds to go back to supporting our work. Valarie also frequently offers free workshops, teachings, gatherings, meditations, and more. Find the latest when you follow @ValarieKaur and @RevLoveProject. 

We encourage you to use the learning hub in a way that works best for you. We do have some suggestions, though!

1. Work with one practice from the revolutionary love compass on a weekly or monthly basis for a deep dive into what you need. You can also use the hub to supplement the course 10 Days to Activate Revolutionary Love.
2. Lead your own SEE NO STRANGER book group with the questions and practices contained in the reader’s guide.
3. Bring revolutionary love into your classroom or community with a workshop or coursework grounded in the rich lessons and practices from the educator’s guide. We encourage all participants (educators and students) to read SEE NO STRANGER, but we also designed these lessons to be accessible to those who have yet not read Kaur’s full text.

We invite individuals and groups to use all our materials on the Revolutionary Love learning hub within boundaries. For more information, see what is permitted and what is not permitted in the tabs below. If you have questions, please contact us via this form here, rather than via social media.

We invite you to use our compass, educator’s guide, and other materials from this learning hub both internally and publicly. You can use it within your organizations, community groups, classrooms, schools, campuses, conferences, and more. You must include the following attribution: The Revolutionary Love Learning Hub, valariekaur.com/learninghub. All rights reserved.

You can also share and post the revolutionary love compass and materials on social media, within emails and newsletters, and on resource lists with the original link to this learning hub, with the following attribution: The Revolutionary Love Learning Hub, valariekaur.com/learninghub. All rights reserved.

You can use the Revolutionary Love Educator’s Guide in classrooms, campuses, individual learning groups, community organizations, and other spaces of learning. You are permitted to adapt the Educator’s Guide to meet the needs of your students and communities so long as you maintain the fidelity of the revolutionary love framework and practices. The use of Educator’s Guide must include the following attribution: Canlas, Melissa (2020). See No Stranger: Educator’s Guide. Revolutionary Love Project.

No commercial use is permitted. The framework, compass, or educator’s guide or derivations of its content can never be used to accrue money for yourself or your organization, ie., charging people or asking for donations in a session that includes the framework; or making and selling products based on materials from the Revolutionary Love Learning hub. If you would like to discuss the possibility of partnering or training for you or your organization, please contact us via this form here.

Each of us has a role to play in healing, reimagining, and rebuilding our nation. To seed a pocket of revolutionary love means to put the framework to practice right where you are in the way that only you can. Bring revolutionary love into your neighborhood, your place of worship, your industry, your school district, your yoga studio, your home. Practice it with the people you live, work, and commune with each day. Revolutions happen not only in grand moments in public view but also in the spaces where people are coming together to inhabit a new way of being. We birth the beloved community by becoming the beloved community.