We have been deformed by educational and religious institutions that treat us as members of an audience instead of actors in a drama, so we become adults who treat democracy as a spectator sport. — Parker Palmer Copy Share Image
“Instead of telling our valuable stories, we seek safety in abstractions, speaking to each other about our opinions, ideas, and beliefs rather than about our lives. Academic culture blesses this practice by insisting that the more abstract our speech, the more likely we are to touch the universal truths that unite us. But what happens is exactly the reverse: as… — Parker Palmer Copy Share
Whatever America's founders believed about Christianity - and they believed a wide range of things - they clearly rejected the idea of an established… — Parker Palmer Copy Share Image
When I was depressed, nobody expected anything of me, nor did I expect anything of myself. I was exempt from life's demands and risks.… — Parker Palmer Copy Share Image
There are a million 'oughts' in the world. There's a million ways in which I ought to be serving the world. But the ways… — Parker Palmer Copy Share Image
“By standing respectfully and faithfully at the borders of another’s solitude, we may mediate the love of God to a person who needs something… — Parker Palmer Copy Share Image
“We are whiplashed between an arrogant overestimation of ourselves and a servile underestimation of ourselves.” — Parker Palmer Copy Share Image
“Vocation at its deepest level is, 'This is something I can't not do, for reasons I'm unable to explain to anyone else and don't… — Parker Palmer Copy Share Image
“There is as much guidance in what does not and cannot happen in my life as there is in what can and does --… — Parker Palmer Copy Share Image
Fascist movements kill off their critics, literally or metaphorically, while democratic movements value, invite and even welcome criticism. — Parker Palmer Copy Share Image
We have been deformed by educational and religious institutions that treat us as members of an audience instead of actors in a drama, so… — Parker Palmer Copy Share Image
Movements begin when oppressed people make - and keep remaking - a deeply inward decision to stop consenting to external demands that contradict a… — Parker Palmer Copy Share Image
