ABSTRACT
During my five-month of sabbatical time at Pendle Hill in 1984 I attended Parker Palmer’s Tales of the Journey course once a week. The previous summer I’d met Parker through his new book, To Know as We Are Known: A Spirituality of Education. 16 The pedagogy, sharing emanating from silence, which he described in his book, bore a resemblance to what I later found in Quaker worship sharing and still later in Buddhist dharma (referring to the teachings of the Buddha) sharing. Each provided a spiritual container in which it was possible to share suffering as well as joy. I’d already undergone life-changing encounters in alternative education with Ron McKeen, David Mallery, and St. Mary’s. I felt at home and well nourished by Parker’s style. At the end of each class he’d give us an aphorism related to journeys which we were invited to write about in the coming week. The reflections we did primed us to share from our depths when we gathered again as a class. The space Parker opened for us and helped us to hold together, helped each of us touch our truth in that moment. We were able to speak our own personal truth and listen deeply to the truth of others, to what was alive in that moment, listening obediently, devotedly, and with fidelity.
