The Active Life: A Spirituality of Work, Creativity, and Caring | 
 enlarge | Author: Parker J. Palmer
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy Used: $3.81
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Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 102750
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 176
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.6
ISBN: 0787949345
Dewey Decimal Number: 248.88
EAN: 9780787949341
ASIN: 0787949345
Publication Date: July 21, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: Has been read, but remains in great condition. Ships within 2 business days. 100% Customer satisfaction guaranteed.
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Product Description
The Active Life is Parker J. Palmer's deep and graceful exploration of a spirituality for the busy, sometimes frenetic lives many of us lead. Telling evocative stories from a variety of religious traditions, including Taoist, Jewish, and Christian, Palmer shows that the spiritual life does not mean abandoning the world but engaging it more deeply through life-giving action. He celebrates both the problems and potentials of the active life, revealing how much they have to teach us about ourselves, the world, and God.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 Loved it- and constantly revisit it... July 21, 2008
I loved this book. It helped me to think deeply about what is right action. Over my last few years, my spiritual development through contemplation and meditation has caused me need understanding of how to act in ways that have deeper alignment and truth. This book helped me better understand this topic.
I would love to see someone like Eckhart Tolle write a similar book- speaking more to what we "do" after we raise our consciousness and reduce our ego.
Bring your highlighter...
 A gift from a professor to his students. May 12, 2008
This book helps to answer questions about your inner feelings, and is highly recommened for anyone.
 unmasking illusions to reveal reality January 18, 2007
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
In the last few decades a fair amount of attention has turned toward the so-called "inner journey" of Christian discipleship, as opposed to the mere externals of our "outer" journey. One thinks, for example, of the writings of Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen, and Richard Foster. Parker Palmer writes out of this genre, and takes as his starting point the many "monastic metaphors and practices" that inform the inner journey--silence, solitude, contemplation, centeredness, and the like (p. 1). But therein lies a Catch-22. Many of us lead such frenetic and harried lives that trying to appropriate these "inner" ideals becomes practically impossible, an unattainable gold standard, the result being feelings of failure, guilt, and unspirituality. Still, we rightly sense that there is something true and good about whatever it means to lead a "centered" life. Conversely, viewed from the energy of an outwardly active life, is not such silence and solitude really a thinly veiled form of escape, passivity and withdrawal? Or perhaps obsession with action is a diversion and ploy to avoid one's "real" self? Thus, the "tug-of-war" (p. 5) between the active and contemplative life, both of which demand our attention and both of which seem opposed to the other.
To move beyond this stalemate Palmer encourages us to understand contemplation (which he defines as unmasking illusions to reveal reality) and action not as contradictory opposites but as complementary poles of a paradox that we should hold in tension. Further, we all have unique callings from God and should strive to maintain our own integrity, whether that veers toward one pole or the other. After two introductory chapters, Palmer devotes one chapter each to six stories or poems that have helped him to tease out the relationship between inner wholeness and outer activity: (1) "Active Life" by Chuang Tzu, a fourth century BC Chinese Taoist, (2) "The Woodcarver" by Tzu, (3) "The Angel" by the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, (4) the temptation of Jesus in the desert, (5) the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000, and (6) a poem by the Guatemalan activist Julia Esquivel entitled "Threatened with Resurrection." Palmer is at his best, I think, when he reminds us how much we are obsessed with outcomes, the almost ceaseless efforts we make to prove and justify ourselves, our fears of failure rather than embracing the power that comes from being "dis-illusioned," the task of becoming our own true selves instead of allowing others to define us, moving beyond criticism and praise, and the like. This is the third book by Palmer I have read, and he repeats much of his material, but I have found that many of his stories, and his willingness to share his own personal story, encourage me to develop a centered self out of which I can be the unique, active disciple God has called me to be.
For those on a spiritual journey December 11, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I am pleased to read of the struggles shared by the author and insights received into spirituality of those who are active faith workers like myself. Many friends with whom I have shared some of the insights contained in this book are thankful to know their faith is still in reach in the active and confusing culture in which they and we work and try to find our being.
Chaplain Joyce
you said it May 21, 2004
45 out of 60 found this review helpful
I believe the words were 'narrow-minded religious zealot,' though I might prefer 'nearly as arrogant as he is ignorant' to describe the previous reviewer. He had nothing interesting or useful to say, and thus decided simply to be mean. I feel no need to defend Parker Palmer; I do, however, feel compelled to rebuke said reviewer, and to hope that his angry demons will be exorcised. If only our poor reviewer spent less time judging, and more time reading (and learning)...
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