The Active Life Leader's Guide

My aim in this book,” writes Parker J. Palmer in The Active Life,“is to celebrate and criticize the active life, to explore its joys and pains, its problems and potentials, to understand the forces that both drive and deform our activity—but to do all this with reverence for the mystery of self-discovery and creation which is at the heart of human action” (p. 11). Through a creative exploration of the truths embodied in the imaginative patterns of stories and poems, Palmer mines the riches of diverse traditions—Taoism, Judaism, Christianity, the contemporary struggle for social justice—while probing the depths of his own experience. With penetrating insight, he guides us into a searching examination of the truth inside us and the truth around us. In the harmony between these two realities, we discover the exhilarating freedom for the active life.
Palmer paints a vision for becoming “fully alive”—a way of living that unites contemplation-and-action. This paradoxical tension brings the strength of self-knowledge to bear upon our relationships with other human beings, nature, and God. Learning right action teaches us to become more honest with ourselves while unveiling the truth of our interconnectedness in “the entire community of creation.” Palmer’s culminating vision is the horizon of new life, a resurrection into the great community of justice, truth, and love.
The Active Life challenges us to creative reflection and authentic action as we discover the deep points of connection between self, world, and spirit. In the context of group discussion, it provides opportunities for discovering the “gift of community” as we learn with each other how to become more aware, more active, more caring human beings.