Some Notes on Parker Palmer

On Friday I mentioned that Parker Palmer would be here at Viterbo to receive the Pope John XXIII award. I attended one of his talks and, as promised, want to share with you some of the things he mentioned.

Disclaimer: I am a terrible note-taker. It may surprise you to hear that from a teacher (or perhaps not), but the reality is my notes make a lot more sense when I write them. Then when I go back to them later, I wonder 'Now what was the context in which this note was written?' So if I can help explain some of these quotes better, please don't hesitate to ask.

Palmer's talk, focused on the idea of 'Work as Vocation,' contained a lot of ideas from his book The Hidden Wholeness. If you haven't read it, I encourage you to do so.

• Palmer spoke a lot about rejoining 'Soul' & 'Role' - Finding a way to have our inner life be the same as our outer life.
• For example, we often ask when we meet someone: Is this person the same on the inside as they are on the outside? In fact, we are all asking this of one another. In other words, Is what I see, what I get?
• He related this idea to politicians and living in a democracy. For example:
  
• When people in a democratic society feel their leaders have integrity, then they are willing to vote and participate. Conversely,
• Citizens don't vote when they don't perceive integrity in their leaders.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the talk. I'll just throw them out there and let you sit with them for awhile:

• "The 1 thing that would reform our institutions is if we all spend 1 day each week telling the truth"
• "We should all become a learning organization around the place that we struggle with - screwing up"

And perhaps one of his best lines, which, while a little funny, does carry a lot of truth to it:

• "If you choose to live an unexamined life, please don't get a job working with other people"

For others that were there.....what were your thoughts?