Customer Reviews

The Active Life: Wisdom of Work, Creativity and Caring

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In his book The Active Life, Parker Palmer asserted that contemplation and action are not at odds with each other but rather different aspects of a common approach to truth. An approach which seeks to unmask illusions and live out true reality in everyday life. By exploring new ways of relating to action and contemplation Palmer illustrated how these areas are united and how we can incorporate both into our own unique journey. The author asked us to see how our picture of what our lives are embedded in shapes what we do. He argued that all of our actions ultimately have some underlining context of belief. That if we permit the view of competing individuals in a sparse world to fix in our thinking, we will ultimately create a lonely environment which is impoverished and hostile to true community. Actions based on false beliefs have the energy to bring falsehoods into real life.

Ostensibly, this book is about finding an authentic spirituality without withdrawing from the community. The active life of the title is offered as a contrast to a solitary contemplative life as exemplified by the late, and now famous Christian monk, Thomas Merton. I don't know if, in the writing of it, the book developed beyond Palmer's initial intentions, but it is as much about our relationship with our own demons and the creative mastery that is ours when we have the courage to face them as it is an exploration of the title theme. This book gets my absolute highest recommendation.