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pkgonzales7's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Some very powerful and important insights about right action and how contemplation informs and becomes part and parcel of it. Lots to digest here that I still have to ponder.
lukenotjohn's review against another edition
4.0
This is my second read by Parker Palmer, and the one that has made me eager and anticipatory to read whatever else I can find by him. I found myself enthralled, convicted, compelled, and deeply moved throughout my reading of this relatively slender book, and also frequently struck with powerful moments of resonance. Echoing his notion that contemplation exposes the reality underneath illusion, this was packed with insights that felt like they'd always been lingering just beneath the surface. This was especially true in the first chapters of the books which set up the frameworks around the action-contemplation polarity and the pillars of work, creativity, and caring. I loved the ways he broke down the seeming dichotomy and hierarchy of the two while also giving people some room and permission to acknowledge that they lean towards one or the other and that's okay. I'm flipping through those early chapters now to refresh my memory and honestly I underlined and exclamation point-ed so many of the sentences from there.
With that said, my engagement ebbed and flowed a little bit from there. It's a shame because I felt like Palmer had built such an exceptional framework only to leave it pretty underutilized for the remainder of the book. While he continued to reference some of the same points and terms, I felt like each chapter mostly operated as a standalone essay rather than part of a more cohesive book. This was a bit of a drawback for me, and I think made it hard to keep momentum (it took me over a month to read through this short book, even despite really loving it) and track with building ideas.
However, there was still plenty of stuff to be found within those later chapters, and some function as exquisite stand-alone chapters when considered that way. My favorites were his exploration of Buber's story of the angel, the story of the loaves and the fishes from the Gospels, and the poem regarding the "threat of resurrection." Each of those offered a robust theological reading that felt really fresh and unexpected and ultimately beautiful. As someone with some process theology integrated into my own understanding of God, the reflection around Buber's angel was especially exciting. Similarly, the concepts of scarcity and abundance have been a frequent obstacle and invitation for me in recent years, and I really adored the way Palmer grounded those within the embodiment of community. And while I personally hold to a theology of the resurrection that goes beyond the communal manifestation he poses from the poem (and it seems as though he might as well), it's a beautiful vision nonetheless of the ways we can partake in it here and now in the ongoing pursuit of justice within community. As a whole, this was a phenomenal book (made all the more impressive by its unassuming size and tone) totally packed with brilliant insights on God, the human spirit, community, justice, and the world around us.
With that said, my engagement ebbed and flowed a little bit from there. It's a shame because I felt like Palmer had built such an exceptional framework only to leave it pretty underutilized for the remainder of the book. While he continued to reference some of the same points and terms, I felt like each chapter mostly operated as a standalone essay rather than part of a more cohesive book. This was a bit of a drawback for me, and I think made it hard to keep momentum (it took me over a month to read through this short book, even despite really loving it) and track with building ideas.
However, there was still plenty of stuff to be found within those later chapters, and some function as exquisite stand-alone chapters when considered that way. My favorites were his exploration of Buber's story of the angel, the story of the loaves and the fishes from the Gospels, and the poem regarding the "threat of resurrection." Each of those offered a robust theological reading that felt really fresh and unexpected and ultimately beautiful. As someone with some process theology integrated into my own understanding of God, the reflection around Buber's angel was especially exciting. Similarly, the concepts of scarcity and abundance have been a frequent obstacle and invitation for me in recent years, and I really adored the way Palmer grounded those within the embodiment of community. And while I personally hold to a theology of the resurrection that goes beyond the communal manifestation he poses from the poem (and it seems as though he might as well), it's a beautiful vision nonetheless of the ways we can partake in it here and now in the ongoing pursuit of justice within community. As a whole, this was a phenomenal book (made all the more impressive by its unassuming size and tone) totally packed with brilliant insights on God, the human spirit, community, justice, and the world around us.
bookish_sue's review against another edition
3.0
I picked up this book after reading Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation, one of several self-reflective or professional-related titles read in the "bettering" days of January.
As one might expect, much of the themes and anecdotes of The Active Life repeat those in Let Your Life Speak. Palmer's philosophy seems to be that we are by nature honest, though small-thinking people. That all people are honest I cannot accept, so this philosophy hits me as undeveloped. I nonetheless tagged several aspirational bits:
"as we act, we not only express what is in us and help give shape to thew world; we also receive what is outline us, and we reshape our inner selves. When we act, the world acts back, and we and the world are co-created." (17)
"a process of contemplation by which we penetrate the illusion of enshalvement and claim our own inner liberty" (60)
"The paradox is that failure may turn to growth, while success can turn to self-satisfaction and closure." (89)
"Right action requires only that we respond faithfully to our own inner truth and to the truth around us. It requires not that we aim at any particular outcome, for ourselves or for others, but that we act on truth as we know it, with truth as our only end." (115)
"If we allow the scarcity assumption to dominate our thinking, we will act in individualistic, competitive ways that destroy c community. If we destroy community, where creating and sharing with others generates abundance, the scarcity assumption will become more valid." (127)
"when a leader is willing to trust the abundance that people have and can generate together, willing to take the risk of inviting people to share from that abundance, then and only then may true community emerge." (138)
"A culture of isolated individualism produces mass conformity because people who think they must bear life all alone are too fearful to take the risks of selfhood." (156)
As one might expect, much of the themes and anecdotes of The Active Life repeat those in Let Your Life Speak. Palmer's philosophy seems to be that we are by nature honest, though small-thinking people. That all people are honest I cannot accept, so this philosophy hits me as undeveloped. I nonetheless tagged several aspirational bits:
"as we act, we not only express what is in us and help give shape to thew world; we also receive what is outline us, and we reshape our inner selves. When we act, the world acts back, and we and the world are co-created." (17)
"a process of contemplation by which we penetrate the illusion of enshalvement and claim our own inner liberty" (60)
"The paradox is that failure may turn to growth, while success can turn to self-satisfaction and closure." (89)
"Right action requires only that we respond faithfully to our own inner truth and to the truth around us. It requires not that we aim at any particular outcome, for ourselves or for others, but that we act on truth as we know it, with truth as our only end." (115)
"If we allow the scarcity assumption to dominate our thinking, we will act in individualistic, competitive ways that destroy c community. If we destroy community, where creating and sharing with others generates abundance, the scarcity assumption will become more valid." (127)
"when a leader is willing to trust the abundance that people have and can generate together, willing to take the risk of inviting people to share from that abundance, then and only then may true community emerge." (138)
"A culture of isolated individualism produces mass conformity because people who think they must bear life all alone are too fearful to take the risks of selfhood." (156)
aunnalea's review
4.0
This book helped me do a lot of thinking about the balance in my life between action and contemplation and not thinking of them as opposites but complements.
A few of my favorite quotes:
"An expressive act is one that I take not to achieve a goal outside of myself but to express a conviction, a leading, a truth that is within me. An expressive act is one taken because if I did not take it I would be denying my own insight, gift, nature. By taking an expressive act, an act not obsessed with outcome, I come closer to making the contribution that is mine to make in the scheme of things."
"The only thing we have to bring to community is ourselves, so the contemplative process of recovering our true selves in solitude is never selfish."
"Learning from failure is not a cool and calculated act. It tears at the heart and opens us against our will."
"suffering can never be solved. It can only be shared in compassion, shared in community, and every effort to put ourselves in charge of the relief effort weakens the very sharing in which our hope resides."
"A primary task for every healer is to help people understand that love is not distributed on the curve but is abundant in the very nature of things."
A few of my favorite quotes:
"An expressive act is one that I take not to achieve a goal outside of myself but to express a conviction, a leading, a truth that is within me. An expressive act is one taken because if I did not take it I would be denying my own insight, gift, nature. By taking an expressive act, an act not obsessed with outcome, I come closer to making the contribution that is mine to make in the scheme of things."
"The only thing we have to bring to community is ourselves, so the contemplative process of recovering our true selves in solitude is never selfish."
"Learning from failure is not a cool and calculated act. It tears at the heart and opens us against our will."
"suffering can never be solved. It can only be shared in compassion, shared in community, and every effort to put ourselves in charge of the relief effort weakens the very sharing in which our hope resides."
"A primary task for every healer is to help people understand that love is not distributed on the curve but is abundant in the very nature of things."
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