Let Your Life Speak.

Book Review.
Palmer, Parker J. Let Your Life Speak. Listening for the Voice of Vocation. 2000 Jossey-Bass.
P.P.- writer, teacher, and activist. Senior associate of the American Association for Higher Education and senior adviser to the Fetzer Institute. PhD- Berkeley. Member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quaker).
Comment. Henry.
This book is all about one’s search for ‘self-hood’. The focus of the book is summarized in this question; “Is the life I am living the same as the life that wants to live in me?” There is a line of narcissism that can easily be crossed when there is a strong focus on self. There seems to be some evidence of that in this resource. The author actually expounds on the positiveness of depression. A Christian self-help resource.
Our vocation needs to be an authentic expression of our inner self not a reflection of circumstantial and/or peer pressurSelf-care is never a selfish act.” (30) Knowing and respecting limitations are a necessary part of wholesome self-care. When we attempt to give what we don’t possess we experience burn out. “Live in a creative tension between our limits and our potentials.” (55)
In as much as the journey to God “is not up but down” (69) depression may well become part of that journey. “The spiritual journey runs counter o the power of positive thinking.” (80) The belief that the responsibility of ‘escaping’ depression rests with us alone is a form of “functional atheism”. (88)
Selfhood and vocation are examined through the metaphor of the seasons. Transitions can be extreme and changes must be accepted. “Seasons is a wise metaphor for the movement of life.” (6)