Author, attorney and filmmaker Valarie Kaur will be the first speaker in a new series from Cornell United Religious Work, “Into and Out of the Echo Chambers,” which seeks to address current societal challenges and to consider how spirituality and humanizing practices might help us meet the moment together.

The virtual talk, “See No Stranger: An Evening with Valarie Kaur,” is scheduled for March 22 at 7 p.m.; the event is free and open to the public but requires registration.

“The idea for this series emerged in the days after the (Jan. 6) insurrection at the U.S. Capitol,” said Oliver Goodrich,  associate dean for spirituality and meaning-making and director of Cornell United Religious Work.

“In conversations within the CURW community, we recognized that this was not an isolated event but rather a symptom of a broader spiritual crisis,” he said. “We wanted to open a conversation with the Cornell community to explore what habits of heart and mind might help us meet this moment, to see what the lens of spirituality might offer. I can think of no one better than Valarie Kaur to help us begin that conversation.”

A seasoned civil rights activist, Kaur founded Groundswell Movement, Faithful Internet and the Yale Visual Law Project to inspire and equip new generations of advocates. She now leads the Revolutionary Love Project, which seeks to reclaim love as a force for justice in America.

Kaur is the author of “See No Stranger: A Memoir & Manifesto of Revolutionary Love,” released in June 2020, and is a contributor to MSNBC, CNN, NPR, PBS, the Hill, HuffPost and The Washington Post. Her November 2017 TED Talk, “Three Lessons of Revolutionary Love in a Time of Rage,” has generated more than 3 million views.

The talk is sponsored by CURW and the Office of Spirituality and Meaning-Making, along with the Office of Engagement Initiatives, the Sikh Student Association, Cornell Garden-Based Learning, the Interfaith Council, and the Center for Transformative Action.