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?'
For over 200 years after the adoption of the Second Amendment, it was uniformly understood as not placing any limit on either federal or state authority to enact gun control legislation.
As in private life one differentiates between what a man thinks and says of himself and what he really is and does, so in historical struggles one must still more distinguish the language and the imaginary aspirations of parties from their real organism and their real interests, their conception of themselves from their reality.
What is it about childhood that never lets you go, even when you're so wrecked it's hard to believe you ever were a child?
A black man of my generation born in the late 1960s is more than twice as likely to go to prison in his lifetime then a black man of my father's generation. I was born after the Voting Rights Act, after the Civil Rights Act, after the Fair Housing Act.
Trout, incidentally, had written a book about a money tree. It had twenty-dollar bills for leaves. Its flowers were government bonds. Its fruit was diamonds. It attracted human beings who killed each other around the roots and made very good fertilizer.
To live remains an art which everyone must learn, and which no one can teach.
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