From beloved and bestselling author Parker J. Palmer (Let Your Life Speak, The Courage to Teach, Healing the Heart of Democracy), comes a beautiful book of reflections on what we can learn as we move closer to "the brink of everything."
Parker J. Palmer is a writer, speaker, and activist who focuses on issues in education, community, leadership, spirituality and social change. He is founder and Senior Partner of the Center for Courage & Renewal, which offers long-term retreat programs for people in the serving professions, including teachers, administrators, physicians, philanthropists, non-profit leaders and clergy. He is the author of nine books--including several award-winning titles-- that have sold over 1.4 million copies and been translated into ten languages.
2019 Independent Publisher Book Awards gold medalist in the
Aging/Death & Dying category.
“Parker Palmer is one of our wisest minds and lives and one of my
greatest mentors. He has the spirit of a poet and the stature of a
prophet. There is no one I’d rather eavesdrop on as he ponders ‘the
brink of everything.’ This book is a companion for not merely
surviving a fractured world but embodying—like Parker—the fiercely
honest and gracious wholeness that is ours to claim at every stage
of life.”
—Krista Tippett, founder of On Being Studios, author of Einstein’s
God and Becoming Wise, and winner of the 2013 National Humanities
Medal
“Parker Palmer is the most integral and wholehearted teacher of our
age. For nearly eight decades, he has seen much, questioned
everything, and returned with a wisdom essential to everyone. His
latest book, On the Brink of Everything, is a deep reflection on
aging that offers a master’s earned view of the large and the small
and how we’re all vital threads woven together by life. This book
will stir your soul and bring you closer to everything.”
—Mark Nepo, author of More Together Than Alone and The Book of
Awakening
“Parker J. Palmer’s tenth wise book, On the Brink of Everything, is
a wondrously rich mix of reality and possibility, comfort and
story, helpful counsel and poetry, in the voice of a friend. It’s
an honest wake-up chime, no matter where you are in your own time
line, because somehow, these pages hold all of time—past and
present, stirring together—refreshing the spirit. This is a book of
immense gratitude, consolation, and praise.”
—Naomi Shihab Nye, author of Transfer and Voices in the Air and
National Book Award finalist
“Our entire culture is deeply in need of true elders, and you can’t
be one until you have arrived there—chronologically, spiritually,
and intellectually. Parker J. Palmer is a writer and a man who has
clearly earned the title of elder. And he elders with such
readability and humor! This book is a generous gift to all of
us—and to our attempts at a truly human civilization.”
—Richard Rohr, founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation
and author of Falling Upward and Adam’s Return
“Parker J. Palmer’s books are long-treasured companions on my
personal journey. His newest offering is clear-eyed and
good-humored, luminously prophetic and disarmingly honest. It is
tender to the core for our shared human condition and fierce with
love and unguarded hope for our shared human possibility. It has
the feel of a lovely kitchen table conversation between the author
and reader, exploring thoughtful aging, finding meaning in hard
times, and how we can deepen and balance our inner and outer
landscapes at any stage of life. This book is a generous gift to a
worried and weary world.”
—Carrie Newcomer, musician, recording artist of The Beautiful Not
Yet, author of A Permeable Life, and Grammy Award–winning
songwriter
“Parker Palmer has given me so many gifts through the years. His
writing has done for me what I can only hope mine does for others.
On the Brink of Everything has given me new and special gifts.
Parker, now in his late seventies, has helped this guy in his early
sixties think of my years ahead as ‘triple wrapped in mystery.’
Savoring this book is a kind of mentorship in aging, and it ends in
a crescendo of poetry. My first thought when I turned the last
page: ‘I want to read this again from the beginning, starting right
now.’”
—Brian D. McLaren, author of The Great Spiritual Migration
“Parker Palmer has been a mentor and midwife to countless young
people in my generation, including me. When I was in my twenties
standing at a crossroads, his book Let Your Life Speak inspired me
to pursue an untraditional path as an activist-artist; he released
the music within me. Now in my thirties, as the cacophony of
vitriol and violence becomes deafening, his friendship teaches me
how to remain faithful to my own melodies and keep playing them. In
the darkness, Parker has taught me how to wonder at the night sky,
keep death in my mind’s eye, and listen to the wisdom of my
grandfather and ancestors, whose music lives within mine. He has
poured these insights into a book that feels more like a treasure
chest. On the Brink of Everything is filled with gems of wisdom,
each a prism that helps us see our own vast interiority and sing
our own truths. My greatest aspiration is to journey through life
and arrive at the brink as Parker has, with humility and
faithfulness, and pockets full of gems.”
—Valarie Kaur, civil rights activist, lawyer, filmmaker, and
founder of the Revolutionary Love Project
“One of the wisest people on the planet has written one of the
finest books on growing b/old gracefully. This warm and witty book
will delight and inspire readers of all ages.”
—Richard Leider, bestselling author or coauthor of The Power of
Purpose, Repacking Your Bags, and Life Reimagined
"Warm, generous, and funny, this impassioned book invites readers
to the deep end of life where authentic soul work and human
transformation become pressing concerns.”
—Publisher's Weekly
"Through essays, poems, and reflections, he covers subjects such as
the importance of staying connected with younger generations; the
writing life; engagement of the soul; and where it is we go when we
die. He is also an 'angry Quaker' as he might say, unafraid to
address issues of diversity and political engagement in a time when
we no longer have the luxury of inaction. My favorite part of the
book is the chapter titled 'Keep Reaching Out,' where he encourages
older humans to keep up their serious engagement with the world. It
gives vitality and purpose to life and allows elders to share their
unique gifts. Also, he notes, it would be ridiculous not to. This
is a bracing book, indeed."
—Kathryn Drury Wagner
"In his discussion of spirituality, Palmer covers his quest for the
true self, the call to community, and a memorable retreat. In his
commentaries on work and staying engaged with the world and your
soul, this seasoned writer keeps us attentive with short gems on
living from the inside out, the movie Begin Again, and some very
right-on-target assessments of today's tense political scene.
Palmer even takes responsibility for being hooked on anger and the
challenges he faces in bringing love to the fore in all his
relationships, both private and public."
—Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
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