Parker J. Palmer, PhD, is an American writer, speaker, teacher, and activist. His work, informed by Quaker teachings, addresses a variety of topics, including education, leadership, depression, spirituality, community and social change, and aging.
CLEAR ALL
In May of 2015, Parker J.
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In Healing the Heart of Democracy, Parker J. Palmer quickens our instinct to seek the common good and gives us the tools to do it. This timely, courageous, and practical work—intensely personal as well as political—is not about them, "those people" in Washington, D.C.
The core Quaker belief is that there is an inner teacher, an inner light in every human being, a sacred core worthy of respect.
Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am.
This primer on authentic education explores how mind and heart can work together in the learning process.
The author of On the Brink of Everything finds inspiration in nature’s cycles of death and renewal.
Every day, I get closer to the brink of everything. We’re all headed that way, of course, even when we’re young, though most of us are too busy with Important Matters to ponder our mortality.
Our deepest calling is to grow into our own authentic self-hood, whether or not it conforms to some image of who we ought to be. As we do so, we will not only find the joy that every human being seeks—we will also find our path of authentic service in the world.
“What am I meant to learn from this situation? What’s life trying to teach me here?” Questions like those help me find meaning in apparently meaningless situations.
The growing edge is rich with the promise of new life. But in our experience, moving toward it is often as slow as the growth of a plant, so the process requires patient tending. We seem to go through three stages before we can begin to see and have confidence in the flowering.
Photo Credit: Photograph by Sharon L. Palmer / Distributed under the CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported license
Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am.
