A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life

Palmer offers hope for a 21st century expression of community - intentional, connected and open. Offering a way to break through barriers internally (individually) and within the community (collectively), Palmer's method provides help and hope from a spiritual perspective - free of advice, full of hope and honoring diversity.

In A HIDDEN WHOLENESS, the highly respected writer, lecturer, teacher and activist, Parker J. Palmer describes the creation of a "circle of trust," a specific kind of community that welcomes the soul and helps those involved to hear its voice. Over the last several years, Palmer and his colleagues at the Center for Courage and Renewal [www.couragerenewal.org] have forged, tested, and re-worked the practices and principles of creating such circles. This book reflects both Palmer's own transformation from living a divided life to finding the courage to live divided no more. He reflects on his own and others experience as they have moved into circles of trust to live lives of deep integrity. "Circles of Trust" are not easy things to create. Individuals, communities, or congregations looking for ways to work with long-standing problems of isolation, fear, and soul-forgetfulness will find reason for optimism in this writing, but readers looking for "seven easy steps" will not find them here. Parker Palmer is a sharp and witty writer who invites the rest of us into a practice that is messy, countercultural, and deceptively complex. For those willing to take the journey, this book, like the circles of trust it speaks of, offers lessons on the power of trust and acceptance as "soul and role" are reunited. [...]

By everyman I mean, of course, men and women, young and old, retired and working, republicans and democrats, believers and non-believers. This is a book I wish I'd found years ago (before it was written)! Almost everyone lives the divided life. (I suspect the Dalai Lama does not). As Palmer notes, sometimes we have to -- this is a choice we sometimes must choose to make. One of the reasons I love this book so is that Palmer does not have rigid judgmental expectations of us (we probably are harsh enough on ourselves). He offers guidelines and explanations for the human condition, and some help on getting through. Parker Palmer takes a long time Quaker practice -- the Clearness Committee - and uses it to provide for everyone a Circle of Trust. This mutual support network is unusual -- it isn't an advisory committee but more support for listening to that inner voice which we may joke about, but which exists (you know, the one you should have listened to, that nagging feeling, that annoying little warning sign). One thing that makes us crazy is the denial of that inner voice, our true self, the divided side of self that knows the questionable aspects of our work life, the one we hush up so we can get by and make a living. This isn't just a teacher's issue or a spiritual issue. For some it may be a spiritual divide; for others, a more humanistic one. In any case, we become emotionally, mentally and otherwise unbalanced if our day to day movements and choices feel separate from -- or in conflict with -- our beliefs and values, and yet we deny that they are so. We do not allow ourselves to hear that inner voice, afraid of the changes we might have to make. We smush it down, despite knowing intellectually that anything you smush down in one area pops up in another. This book offers recognition of this conflict we are in, and gives us ways we can listen without, necessarily, having to make changes that will make us walk out from or get fired from our daily bread earning jobs. This is one to have, to give, to read and reread, to keep by the bedside or take on business trips.

For most of our lives we have talked about, experimented with, and attempted many forms of spiritual community, often with disappointing results. Not until we met Parker Palmer did we find and learn reliable ways to not only explore our inner lives, but to witness and discover the 'hidden wholeness,' not only in ourselves, but in others, in cirlces of trust. We have been priviiledged to learn this way of living and being in community through working with Parker and other facilitators through the Center for Teacher Formation over the last ten years. Now Parker, in HIDDEN WHOLENESS, shares his legacy, the 'live encounter' thousands of people have experienced through a retreat process he began. Now, the reader can find, in clear, simple language, a description of these practices, and begin to consider a way of being with others that honors the soul and supports us in living the undivided life we all deeply yearn for. Caryl & Jay Casbon Bend, Oregon

Parker Palmer has gifted us all with his revealing reflections and insights about living an undivided life. He writes about the conflict that we experience when our professional life and our inner beliefs are not aligned. "A Hidden Wholeness" addressed many questions for me including: What happens when the person that I have become, shaped by my work experiences, faces decisions that have to be made... decisions that I know will feel 'bad' or 'wrong' because they threaten my integrity? What happens when I find myself part of an organization or profession that has evolved and changed in ways that are troubling? What happens when I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place and can't see clearly where to go? What happens when advice from others and self-help books are of little or no value? Palmer shows how we can support one another in today's busy and often impersonal world by creating a unique and very special kind of community. The ideas presented in this book are well grounded and applicable to all. This is an important book for all individuals who are concerned about or troubled by the divisions that exist in the lives we lead. Spending a few quiet hours with Parker Palmer's new book, "A Hidden Wholeness", may just change your mind about what is possible... and this book is one that you will want to pass on and share!