Columnist continues to examine Parker Palmer speech

On Jan. 5, I shared a part of Parker Palmer’s 2015 commencement speech at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado titled “The Six Pillars of the Wholehearted Life.”

He is the founder of the Center for Courage and Renewal, a speaker, activist and the author of several books.

Although he was speaking to graduating students, his words may offer something to consider to all of us as we begin this new year.

This is not his speech in its entirety, but is the six pillars he offered. He spoke about inclusiveness, mentioned some people who became heroes, talked some about his family and some people he had known, and quoted others.

With a web search, you can find, watch, and listen to a video of this complete speech as he delivered it.

Palmer said, “Take on big jobs worth doing, jobs like the spread of love, peace, and justice. That means refusing to be seduced by our cultural obsession with being effective as measured by short-term results. We all want our work to make a difference, but if we take on the big jobs and our only measure of success is next quarter’s bottom line, we’ll end up disappointed, dropping out, and in despair.”

“Our heroes take on impossible jobs and stay with them for the long haul because they live by a standard that trumps effectiveness,” Palmer said. “The name of that standard, I think, is faithfulness, faithfulness to your gifts, faithfulness to your perception of the needs of the world, and faithfulness to offering your gifts to whatever needs are within your reach.”

“The tighter we cling to the norm of effectiveness, the smaller the tasks we’ll take on, because they are the only ones that get short-term results. Care about being effective, of course, but care even more about being faithful to your calling, and to the true needs of those entrusted to your care.”

“You won’t get the big jobs done in your lifetime, but if at the end of the day you can say, ‘I was faithful,’ I think you’ll be OK.

“Since suffering as well as joy comes with being human, I urge you to remember this: Violence is what happens when we don’t know what else to do with our suffering,” he said. “Sometimes we aim that violence at ourselves, as in overwork that leads to burnout or worse, or in the many forms of substance abuse; sometimes we aim that violence at other people. Racism, sexism, and homophobia often come from people trying to relieve their suffering by claiming superiority over others.”

“The good news is that suffering can be transformed into something that brings life, not death. It happens every day. I’m 76 years old, I now know many people who’ve suffered the loss of the dearest person in their lives. At first, they go into deep grief, certain that their lives will never again be worth living. But then they slowly awaken to the fact that not in spite of their loss, but because of it, they’ve become bigger, more compassionate people, with more capacity of heart to take in other people’s sorrows and joys. These are broken-hearted people, but their hearts have been broken open, rather than broken apart.

“So, every day, exercise your heart by taking in life’s little pains and joys. That kind of exercise will make your heart supple, the way a runner makes a muscle supple, so that when it breaks, and it surely will, it will break not into a fragment grenade, but into a greater capacity for love.

“If you hold a healthy awareness of your own mortality, your eyes will be opened to the grandeur and glory of life, and that will evoke all of the virtues I’ve named, as well as those I haven’t, such as hope, generosity, and gratitude. If the unexamined life is not worth living, it’s equally true that the unlived life is not worth examining.”

This story was originally published January 12, 2017 at 1:00 AM with the headline "Columnist continues to examine Parker Palmer speech."