Wow! I appreciate your vulnerability mixed with humor that led up to the articulate call for all of us in America to look at our country’s deep shadows of white supremacy. It’s as an essential path forward in working on the “building of a perfect union.”
Two responses: 1) thank you for reminding me that caring for my husband is the contemplation I’m called to. I haven’t been able to manage the sit in silence model for a long time. And 2) thank you for acknowledging the Doctrine of Discovery as our country’s founding doctrine. This shadow follows us and needs to be seen how it still is alive today.
“Today we have yet another chance to grow beyond our illusions before it’s too late.” Parker, I so appreciate your urging us to not run from or just rage against these difficult times, but rather to acknowledge the part we have played in getting to this point. It is important to recognize how we have failed to live up to the promises of our “more perfect Union” for so many and instead rested on our laurels thinking that these horrible things could never happen here. I feel that the very visible and radical overreach of MAGA is a bit of a gift, as it forces us to contend with what is happening, take responsibility, and step up. It reminds me of Valerie Kaur’s words "What if this darkness is not the darkness of the tomb, but the darkness of the womb?" (Her words resonated deeply with me when I first heard them in 2017, and now they do even more.) Thanks for your clarion call to be honest about who we are and the good trouble and good work that needs to be done.
Can you name a single place on the earth where grievances have been overcome by making them the center of attention? I cannot, but I can name many places where misery is perpetuated by wallowing in offense. I can also name places where liberty…true, spiritual freedom…has been realized through the Gospel of forgiveness. Perhaps if you make that Gospel the object of your contemplation, you too will find that liberty. May God bless you in that pursuit.
Thank you for this, especially your story, which resonates deeply with my own. You have been on my list of influencers since my divinity school days, but this piece in particular marks familiar waypoints. It’s a blessing to be a contemplative by catastrophe when other paths seem impossible to follow. Thank you for being a guide.
Spot on. The hope in these dark times is that we can no longer sweep the darker aspects of our history and culture under the rug. The Myth of America is now exposed and that may give us a chance to actually embody some of the nobler aspects behind the idea of America.
As always thank you Parker. This theme with an antidote of action you share here is showing up everywhere. It is the essence of the human story unfolding. From Hospicing Modernity work to belonging work to the grief work within the great turning so many are exposing this problem. Yet, where do we start? The individual (the me) is the collective (the we) and vice versa. Where is the on ramp? What practices can the average individual distracted by merely surviving the day to day build to break thru the illusions? My work is shifting to this critical area of presencing, which begins non-linearly with practices that return us to I/we. This requires access to vast resources to unlearn and relearn ways of knowing and being--to remember. It's inside all of us, but requires some modicum of safety to turn towards our true natures and each other. It is becoming harder and harder to do this work. Yet it's right there if we can peel away the conditioning and change the channel.
Brother Parker, fruitcake and bourbon—the sacred sacraments of those too unruly for the cloister.
You name what most spiritual types tiptoe around: catastrophe as catechism. Not the polite kind printed in pew booklets, but the raw curriculum of collapse. America’s shadow isn’t a metaphor—it’s policy. It votes. It bans. It baptizes ignorance and calls it heritage.
And yet here you are, wringing contemplative clarity from the rubble. Thank you for reminding us that Merton’s solitude wasn’t escape, but x-ray vision. That depression isn’t just a wound but a wellspring. That it’s not enough to chant peace while swallowing empire.
I, too, am a Contemplative by Catastrophe. I didn’t come here by incense and psalms—I came by heartbreak and rage. And I’m staying for the reckoning.
May we all stop whispering, “This isn’t who we are,” and finally thunder, “This is who we’ve been—and now we choose something else.”
In ruin, grace. In exposure, healing. In fruitcake, enlightenment.
Years ago in my own struggle to follow the path of Contemplative spirituality, I discovered your book, THE ACTIVE CONTEMPLTIVE, and it helped me come to terms with the fact that I am a “wanna be” contemplative. Today’s world fro you enlightens my path even more as I age with you at 86 years. Thank you, Parker Palmer for all you bring of your own journey through the depths to who you are as a guide and mentor whom we need so desperately today!
Thank you Parker. I’ve been following your work ever since I read The Courage to Teach 34 years ago as a brand new philosophy professor. You have been one of my guides ever since. It’s a blessing to find kindred souls along the path.
Thank you for being a pathfinder and guide for so many of us, for decades now! Awareness of shadow, real humility and desire for a better future, constantly in tension with chaos and bad will, and disasters make it seem we aren’t getting very far. But having hope is so important for us to keep trying!
Thank you, Parker, for this contemplative post! Knowing you a bit (I live in Port Washington, WI) because I attended so many of your courage to teach retreats and have read all your books, I continue to be in awe of your deep love for humanity! Your naming “white supremacy” and the evils that this is causing is vital to beginning anew. Your last few paragraph were most touching … and chilling! I plan to use these at a group that is assembling in our city on John Lewis Day (July 17th). We will be listening to people’s stories regarding this administration’s new policies. We will also have present representatives from agencies who hopefully will be able to help … in an empathic, loving way. Forward … with hope!
Parker as always you have eloquently touched a nerve, laid bare the truth of our American democratic experiment. I sincerely hope we can accept the reality of our country’s shadow self and collaborate on building a more perfect Union. I do worry about the extreme MAGA hate machine and whether we can overcome it.
Wow! I appreciate your vulnerability mixed with humor that led up to the articulate call for all of us in America to look at our country’s deep shadows of white supremacy. It’s as an essential path forward in working on the “building of a perfect union.”
Two responses: 1) thank you for reminding me that caring for my husband is the contemplation I’m called to. I haven’t been able to manage the sit in silence model for a long time. And 2) thank you for acknowledging the Doctrine of Discovery as our country’s founding doctrine. This shadow follows us and needs to be seen how it still is alive today.
“Today we have yet another chance to grow beyond our illusions before it’s too late.” Parker, I so appreciate your urging us to not run from or just rage against these difficult times, but rather to acknowledge the part we have played in getting to this point. It is important to recognize how we have failed to live up to the promises of our “more perfect Union” for so many and instead rested on our laurels thinking that these horrible things could never happen here. I feel that the very visible and radical overreach of MAGA is a bit of a gift, as it forces us to contend with what is happening, take responsibility, and step up. It reminds me of Valerie Kaur’s words "What if this darkness is not the darkness of the tomb, but the darkness of the womb?" (Her words resonated deeply with me when I first heard them in 2017, and now they do even more.) Thanks for your clarion call to be honest about who we are and the good trouble and good work that needs to be done.
Can you name a single place on the earth where grievances have been overcome by making them the center of attention? I cannot, but I can name many places where misery is perpetuated by wallowing in offense. I can also name places where liberty…true, spiritual freedom…has been realized through the Gospel of forgiveness. Perhaps if you make that Gospel the object of your contemplation, you too will find that liberty. May God bless you in that pursuit.
Thank you for this, especially your story, which resonates deeply with my own. You have been on my list of influencers since my divinity school days, but this piece in particular marks familiar waypoints. It’s a blessing to be a contemplative by catastrophe when other paths seem impossible to follow. Thank you for being a guide.
Spot on. The hope in these dark times is that we can no longer sweep the darker aspects of our history and culture under the rug. The Myth of America is now exposed and that may give us a chance to actually embody some of the nobler aspects behind the idea of America.
As always thank you Parker. This theme with an antidote of action you share here is showing up everywhere. It is the essence of the human story unfolding. From Hospicing Modernity work to belonging work to the grief work within the great turning so many are exposing this problem. Yet, where do we start? The individual (the me) is the collective (the we) and vice versa. Where is the on ramp? What practices can the average individual distracted by merely surviving the day to day build to break thru the illusions? My work is shifting to this critical area of presencing, which begins non-linearly with practices that return us to I/we. This requires access to vast resources to unlearn and relearn ways of knowing and being--to remember. It's inside all of us, but requires some modicum of safety to turn towards our true natures and each other. It is becoming harder and harder to do this work. Yet it's right there if we can peel away the conditioning and change the channel.
Onward ☮️🎶🫶🏽
Brother Parker, fruitcake and bourbon—the sacred sacraments of those too unruly for the cloister.
You name what most spiritual types tiptoe around: catastrophe as catechism. Not the polite kind printed in pew booklets, but the raw curriculum of collapse. America’s shadow isn’t a metaphor—it’s policy. It votes. It bans. It baptizes ignorance and calls it heritage.
And yet here you are, wringing contemplative clarity from the rubble. Thank you for reminding us that Merton’s solitude wasn’t escape, but x-ray vision. That depression isn’t just a wound but a wellspring. That it’s not enough to chant peace while swallowing empire.
I, too, am a Contemplative by Catastrophe. I didn’t come here by incense and psalms—I came by heartbreak and rage. And I’m staying for the reckoning.
May we all stop whispering, “This isn’t who we are,” and finally thunder, “This is who we’ve been—and now we choose something else.”
In ruin, grace. In exposure, healing. In fruitcake, enlightenment.
Years ago in my own struggle to follow the path of Contemplative spirituality, I discovered your book, THE ACTIVE CONTEMPLTIVE, and it helped me come to terms with the fact that I am a “wanna be” contemplative. Today’s world fro you enlightens my path even more as I age with you at 86 years. Thank you, Parker Palmer for all you bring of your own journey through the depths to who you are as a guide and mentor whom we need so desperately today!
Thank you Parker. I’ve been following your work ever since I read The Courage to Teach 34 years ago as a brand new philosophy professor. You have been one of my guides ever since. It’s a blessing to find kindred souls along the path.
Thank you for being a pathfinder and guide for so many of us, for decades now! Awareness of shadow, real humility and desire for a better future, constantly in tension with chaos and bad will, and disasters make it seem we aren’t getting very far. But having hope is so important for us to keep trying!
Thank you, Parker, for this contemplative post! Knowing you a bit (I live in Port Washington, WI) because I attended so many of your courage to teach retreats and have read all your books, I continue to be in awe of your deep love for humanity! Your naming “white supremacy” and the evils that this is causing is vital to beginning anew. Your last few paragraph were most touching … and chilling! I plan to use these at a group that is assembling in our city on John Lewis Day (July 17th). We will be listening to people’s stories regarding this administration’s new policies. We will also have present representatives from agencies who hopefully will be able to help … in an empathic, loving way. Forward … with hope!
Thank you Parker. Your truth welcomes our truth. Your clarity brings our clarity. Your call calls us.
Parker as always you have eloquently touched a nerve, laid bare the truth of our American democratic experiment. I sincerely hope we can accept the reality of our country’s shadow self and collaborate on building a more perfect Union. I do worry about the extreme MAGA hate machine and whether we can overcome it.
This is such a precious and helpful perspective. As always, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom.