A Hidden Wholeness by Parker Palmer

A few months ago a Quaker from Adelaide came up to Alice to speak to our group about different Quaker practices, thoughts etc. In our group everyone is pretty new to it so it was quite a helpful weekend. Anyway, he spoke a lot about Parker Palmer as he is a bit of a Quaker guru so I thought I would read this book. He talks a lot about how most of live fairly divided lives in that who we are publicly and who we are privately is often quite different. What we actually do is often at odds with who we are or what we really believe. He believes that many of us have lost touch with our souls. This book is about how to create spaces to listen to your soul, your inner teacher and/or God when wrestling with life’s question or callings. Doing this will obviously be of benefit to us personally but he also talks about the implications of doing this on social issues. One of my favourite bits was about learning to sit with tension, learning to sit in what he called “the tragic gap” between reality and our deepest hopes eg the reality of war versus our hopes for peace. There was a lot in it about a particular process called “circles of trust” in which people are enabled to do this and I found some of that a bit tedious at times in its detail but there were some really gem thoughts in there as well that I am still pondering. I would like to feel less divided.

Waterhole of Hope by Annie Patterson.

This book is about Sue Woods. Sue Woods is a friend of mine in Alice who started the House of Prayer in Goulbourn and now runs Campfire in the Heart in Alice Springs. To be honest I didn’t think I would be that into this book but I picked it up a month or two ago and I have really enjoyed it. It is a story of a faith, about a woman who had tried to live every day according to what she believes God is calling her to. It is a story of the ups and downs of doing this. It is a story of a very ordinary woman who followed her vision and has done some pretty amazing things. Although, there were some slow bits I found it pretty inspiring.