Parker Palmer continues, “even though Socrates – the patron saint of education – regarded self-examination as key to a life worth living.” I couldn’t agree more. Because Parker Palmer has been a steady advocate of doing the “silent, solitary process of reflection” for nearly 50 years, he is the author I’m most thankful for in 2018. In this new book, he continues his exploration of suffering. Palmer describes two different ways suffering can break our hearts. Brittle hearts, he says, shatter like grenades, whiles supple hearts break open, not apart, and can remain open to new life – a life worth living.
Palmer, Parker J. On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity & Getting Old.Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2018, p. 145.