Choosing a Deep Life: Parker Palmer on Finding Faithfulness Over Effectiveness

In our season finale, David Achata sits down with legendary author Parker Palmer to explore what it means to live a rooted life. Discover the wisdom of prioritizing faithfulness to your true values over the pressure of external effectiveness, and how integrity deepens as we grow old.

In this episode, Parker Palmer quotes a poem by William Stafford. 

A Ritual to Read to Each Other

If you don't know the kind of person I am and I don't know the kind of person you are a pattern that others made may prevail in the world and following the wrong god home we may miss our star.   For there is many a small betrayal in the mind, a shrug that lets the fragile sequence break sending with shouts the horrible errors of childhood storming out to play through the broken dike.   And as elephants parade holding each elephant's tail, but if one wanders the circus won't find the park, I call it cruel and maybe the root of all cruelty to know what occurs but not recognize the fact.   And so I appeal to a voice, to something shadowy, a remote important region in all who talk: though we could fool each other, we should consider— lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the dark.   For it is important that awake people be awake, or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep; the signals we give — yes or no, or maybe — should be clear: the darkness around us is deep.   To read Parker's recent writing visit: https://parkerjpalmer.substack.com/ To learn more about the Center for Courage and Renewal: https://couragerenewal.org/   To support this podcast visit https//davidachata.substack.com/ and to learn more about David Achata's work visit https://achatacoaching.com    If this interview was helpful to you, please leave us a postive review.