• Document

The Broken-Open Heart: Living With Faith and Hope in the Tragic Gap

Parker J. Palmer

"But there is another way to visualize what a broken heart might mean. Imagine that small, clenched fist of a heart “broken open” into largeness of life, into greater capacity to hold one’s own and the world’s pain and joy. This, too, happens every day. We know that heartbreak can become a source of compassion and grace because we have seen it happen with our own eyes as people enlarge their capacity for empathy and their ability to attend to the suffering of others."

A PDF reprint from Weavings: A Journal of the Christian Spiritual Life. March/April 2009.

When our “fight or flight” response is in charge, humility, compassion, forgiveness and the vision of a beloved community do not stand a chance. Learning how to hold life’s tensions in the responsive heart instead of the reactive primitive brain is key to personal, social and cultural creativity. Can suffering become life-giving rather than death dealing?  In this article, Parker shares a path for how heartbreak can become a source of compassion and grace.

Download PDF

Report

Harassment or bullying behavior
Contains mature or sensitive content
Contains misleading or false information
Contains abusive or derogatory content
Contains spam, fake content or potential malware

Block Member?

Please confirm you want to block this member.

You will no longer be able to:

  • See blocked member's posts
  • Mention this member in posts
  • Invite this member to groups
  • Message this member
  • Add this member as a connection

Please note: This action will also remove this member from your connections and send a report to the site admin. Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete.

Report

You have already reported this .