About the Book

Social change leaders know that there must be a radical shift in how we approach social change work, but not necessarily what it is or how to do it. This book approaches social change with a consciousness lens—because as consciousness is the driving force of evolution, it is also the key catalyst for transformational social change. It asks the key question: Are you creating social change positively or negatively?

The book is structured along the main aspects of organizations working for social change—purpose, philosophy, principles, power, organizational culture, social movements, and practices.

The heart of the book is chapter 5: "The Next Social Movement Is In Consciousness." The key question it poses is "Why are we more afraid of pleasure than pain?" It then answers that question by showing that shifting to creating positively, from pleasure, takes place at the level of consciousness. The 4-step process (from Eva Pierrakos's work) begins with becoming free of negative creation.

The chapter that is likely most useful for people leading organizations—executive directors, board members, program officers—who know something is broken in their culture but don't have a framework for it is chapter 7: "The Culture of Grace." The arc from grace to mutuality to high synergy culture (Ruth Benedict's distinction between high and low synergy cultures is one of the most underused ideas in organizational life) is elegant and builds. 

The idea that we are trying to solve fragmentation from a place of fragmentation is the core message of chapter 2: "The Philosophy of Wholeness." This explains what has been happening in the social sector for the last 30 years but have never had precise language for. Brilliant, committed people, and yet we keep recreating versions of the same harm in new containers with new language. This chapter is diagnostic—it names the root cause.

Finally, on the personal level, the proposal of chapter 1: "The Purpose Is Evolution" to shift from identity politics to identity in development is one that will make some people deeply uncomfortable and others feel finally seen. Both reactions matter. Sometimes leaders can see their own limitations, but do not always know what to do with what we see. Nevertheless, the inner work is not optional—this is perhaps the biggest shift the book invites.

This book is about taking a quantum leap. Social change doesn't have to be slow and linear; consciousness can jump. The combination of science with practice is what makes this book different from anything else in the field.

"Big Soul is a book the social change field has been quietly waiting for — and maybe quietly afraid of. Cyndi Suarez does something most practitioners won't: she turns the lens inward, asking not just what we are fighting for, but what kind of consciousness we are bringing to the fight. Where Pleasure Activism gave us permission to feel joy in the work, Big Soul asks the harder question: why do we keep choosing not to? Drawing from quantum physics, Vedic philosophy, transpersonal psychology, and decades on the front lines of the sector, she makes a case that is both intellectually rigorous and spiritually honest—that fragmentation creates the problems we seek to solve, and only wholeness can resolve them. This is not a comfort read. It is an invitation to evolve."

—Natanja Craig Oquendo, Executive Director, Boston Women's Fund