Fascist movements kill off their critics, literally or metaphorically, while democratic movements value, invite and even welcome criticism.
Parker PalmerRead
Every religious tradition is rooted in mysteries I don't pretend to understand, including claims about what happens after we die. But this I know for sure: as long as we're alive, choosing resurrection is always worth the risk.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that while we may not understand all spiritual mysteries, embracing life and the concept of renewal is a valuable choice.
Parker Palmer reflects on the uncertainties inherent in religious traditions and the fundamental questions about life after death. He emphasizes that regardless of these mysteries, the choice to embrace renewal and live fully is a risk worth taking, suggesting that taking chances in life is essential for growth and transformation.
In practice
At a gathering discussing life's challenges, this quote can inspire participants to embrace change.
Fascist movements kill off their critics, literally or metaphorically, while democratic movements value, invite and even welcome criticism.
When I was depressed, nobody expected anything of me, nor did I expect anything of myself. I was exempt from life's demands and risks. But if I were to find new life, who knows what daunting tasks I might be required to take on?
There are a million 'oughts' in the world. There's a million ways in which I ought to be serving the world. But the ways I'm gifted to serve and the opportunities that come to me to serve are not a million.
Even when life challenges us, it's a gift beyond all measure.
We are a profoundly interconnected species, as the global economic and ecological crises reveal in vivid and frightening detail. We must embrace the simple fact that we are dependent on and accountable to one another.
Inner-life questions are the kind everyone asks, with or without benefit of God-talk: 'Does my life have meaning and purpose?' 'Do I have gifts that the world wants and needs?' 'Whom and what shall I serve?' 'Whom and what can I trust?' 'How can I rise above my fears?'
Lulled in the countless chambers of the brain, our thoughts are linked by many a hidden chain; awake but one, and in, what myriads rise!
All looks yellow to a jaundiced eye.
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. For the least sin, it wouldn't take us longTo get so we had no one left to live with.For to be social is to be forgiving.
Throw away the light, the definitions, and say what you see in the dark.
When I was doing missionary work when I was younger, which started this obsession of mine with the literature of witness, I was a translator for a missionary group, and I spent years in a Tijuana dump. People were really thrown by the fact that the Mexican poor, many of them pureblood indigenous people, seemed happy.
The greatest triumphs of propoganda have been accomplished, not by doing something, but by refraining from doing. Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth.
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