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A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life [With DVD]
In "A Hidden Wholeness," Parker Palmer reveals the same compassionate intelligence and informed heart that shaped his best-selling books "Let Your Life Speak" and "The Courage to Teach." Here he speaks to our yearning to live undivided lives--lives that are congruent with our inner truth--in a world filled with the forces of fragmentation.
Mapp
...morePaperback, 260 pages
Published
June 1st 2009
by Jossey-Bass
(first published September 22nd 2004)
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"'...it is better to be whole than to be good....'" - John Middleton Murry (p. 8)
"The deeper our faith, the more doubt we must endure; the deeper our hope, the more prone we are to despair; the deeper our love, the more pain its loss will bring; these are a few of the paradoxes we must hold as human beings. If we refuse to hold them in hopes of living without doubt, despair, and pain, we also find ourselves living without faith, hope, and love.' (p. 82)
"...more
"The deeper our faith, the more doubt we must endure; the deeper our hope, the more prone we are to despair; the deeper our love, the more pain its loss will bring; these are a few of the paradoxes we must hold as human beings. If we refuse to hold them in hopes of living without doubt, despair, and pain, we also find ourselves living without faith, hope, and love.' (p. 82)
"...more
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In A Hidden Wholeness, Parker Palmer reveals the same compassionate intelligence and informed heart that shaped his best-selling books Let Your Life Speak and The Courage to Teach. Here he speaks to our yearning to live undivided lives-lives that are congruent with our inner truth-in a world filled with the forces of fragmentation.Mapping an inner journey that we take in solitude and in the company of others, Palmer describes a form of community that fits the limits of our active lives. Defining...more
I went into this one with pretty high expectations and was pretty disappointed with the results. I disagree with Palmer's theology but also didn't think it was written all that well. He quotes a lot of Christian writers and thinkers but his theology doesn't mention Jesus at all. I thought it was a bit perplexing that he wrote a book that concentrates on becoming our "true selves" and yet he says, "What we name it matters little to me, since the origins, nature, and destiny of [t...more
With his Quaker background and worldview, Palmer has learned to place a great confidence in the "inner teacher" that is within each of us, otherwise known as the "soul". He suggests that the only path to an "undivided life" in which soul and role are joined is to provide space for the soul to speak. I especially appreciated his advice "on "letting things alone" in the lives of other people. In our ego driven attempt to instruct and advise others on...more
In A Hidden Wholeness Parker Palmer explains that to have our divided lives become whole we need community. This view of community has a particular shape to it. First is to understand and acknowledge that we live divided lives. Second, we look at how we started out as children living an undivided life that became divided when we started to ignore our own truth. Third, we realize that to rejoin our soul with our role in life we need to combine our solitary journey with relationships to others. Fo...more
This is yet another beautifully written book by Parker Palmer on living one's life authentically. Drawing on his experience as a facilitator for educators and other professionals within the context of the Quaker Circles of Trust, he skillfully presents the fundamental considerations for evaluating and identifying the ways in which an individual might live the truth of their lives more skilfully. Can't praise it enough!!
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A good mix of rationale/ explanation and how to do circles of trust. Though good for people already familiar with Palmer, the how to do section isn't so oppressive as to make it uninteresting to newbies like me.
The final chapter is the best chapter in terms of how we can live a life in this manner of wholeness. I liked it the most.
The final chapter is the best chapter in terms of how we can live a life in this manner of wholeness. I liked it the most.
Some very meaningful passages, but early sections seem to be repeated later in the book, and much of the book sounds familiar if you've read his prior work. It seems like he wrote the book as part of a process of reflection on his career, but without adding much in the way of new thinking. Still one of my favorite authors on the topic of vocation, teaching, and living your values.
I recently heard Parker Palmer on NPR and I was reminded of this and others of his books as he spoke of the issues we face in the current economonic crises. He discussed what we considered abundance over the years - wealth, a job, things... and how richness and abundance now and always needs to be relationships, people, memories......
Solitude means never living apart from one's self. It's abt being fully present to ourselves, whether or not we are with others. Community means never losing the awareness that we are connected to each other. It's abt being fully open to the reality of relationship, whether or not we are alone. Cheem, right?
Amblingbooks.com
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"Parker J. Palmer's latest book is a gift...a guide for living...compassionate, deeply insightful...heart opening and transforming." - BookSense
Listen to A Hidden Wholeness on your smartphone.
Listen to A Hidden Wholeness on your smartphone.
Palmer's book was not what I expected from his others, and didn't draw me in as a few of his other works have. However, mixed in throughout are a few compelling thoughts, including explorations on what it means to live a life of integrity and undividedness, satire and silence as weapons of nonviolence and political change, and the difficult (yet necessary) task for practitioners of non-violence to live in the tension of what is with what may be...
Worth reading...
Worth reading...
I learned about a "circle of trust" and a "clearness committee." I want a couple of these. How to go about it in my current life?
Palmer has a beautiful way of writing. This is a book that needs to be read a second time.
Palmer has a beautiful way of writing. This is a book that needs to be read a second time.
The BOH staff is reading through this over the next year. We are and we work with wounded people and this is just what we need to be discussing with each other. It's all about strengthening the soul through strong communities.
Honestly, I found this book about connecting with your inner soul to be kind of weird. The concept itself was good but it seemed very drawn out and I found myself reading it simply for the sake of finishing it. If you wanted to lead a "circle of trust" group which allows you to discover your soul through community it is a good 'how to' book complete with a chapter guide in the back of the book.
Very well-written book about reconciling one's place/effect on the world and the world's effect on self. I plan on reading other books by this fellow.
Psrker Palmer reassures me that there is some sanity in the world. I love his carefully crafted sentences and his message of hope.
A bit tedious at times, but the concepts outlined in this book should help anyone live a more fulfilling, less stressful life.
The amazing importance of safe, intimate fellowship with other people.
It opened my heart to a new way of thinking. A very good book for me to read.
living a genuine life takes work...but it is WORTH IT!
Only a five because "6" isn't an option.
Recommended by Sue Miller
I'm not much of a self help or non fiction reader. Please consider that when you look at my rating. Some of what Parker has to say seems redundant, then again, maybe what he has to say needs to be said over and over again until we get it. I love the passages about not fixing or saving, about deep listening. If you can practice deep listening, you're usually listening to yourself. You're usually at peace with you and others.
I hope to widen my circles of trust. It's the only way ...more
I hope to widen my circles of trust. It's the only way ...more
By
Couldn't get through this book - seemed like one big commercial. There was however, the following quote that I absolutely loved so it made the book worthwhile.
I come together with people who bring out my better self, friends with whom I can be authentic. I make it a point to connect, whenever possible, with people with whom I have a history of shared joy and shared pain, who call forth in me this feeling of safety.
I come together with people who bring out my better self, friends with whom I can be authentic. I make it a point to connect, whenever possible, with people with whom I have a history of shared joy and shared pain, who call forth in me this feeling of safety.
Palmer spends about half the book discussing the format and structure of a "circle of trust". It's a really novel idea and the qualities and format can apply to a other types of interaction as well. I especially appreciated the section on how to ask truly open and honest questions of one another. Kinda deep stuff, especially if you're into how to make your relationships with others as authentic and soul-affirming as possible.
A great before bed read. Very thoughtful as to creating supportive groups for problem solving, discernment, etc.
I'm pretty sure I'd need to read this again before fully reviewing it. Anything by Parker Palmer is a winner for me. This book focuses on the processes of forming and carrying out 'circles of trust', intentional groups, and it is suggested that each chapter form the subject of each meeting. I might find the 'learning by/while doing' a little too 'layered' but I like both ideas independently.
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Parker J. Palmer (Madison, WI) is a writer, teacher and activist whose work speaks deeply to people in many walks of life. Author of eight books--including the bestsellers Courage to Teach, Let Your Life Speak, and A Hidden Wholeness--his writing has been recognized with ten honorary doctorates and many national awards, including the 2010 William Rainey Harper Award (previously won by Margaret Mea...more
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