#156 A Hospitable Space (with Parker Palmer & Ariel Burger)

The Wonder Dome

Return guests Parker Palmer (author, activist, educator, and co-host of The Growing Edge) and Ariel Burger (scholar, musician, rabbi, and author of Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom) join Andy in sharing music, poetry, and reflections on humanity’s current moment with generous wisdom and insight.

Parker and Ariel speak to what it means to be “awake” to the realities of hardship and suffering experienced by others; to be a witness rather than a spectator; and how through the compassionate creation of “hospitable spaces” we can engage with one another across even the most cavernous of divides.

"A Ritual to Read to Each Other" by William E. Stafford If you don't know the kind of person I am and I don't know the kind of person you are a pattern that others made may prevail in the world and following the wrong god home we may miss our star. For there is many a small betrayal in the mind, a shrug that lets the fragile sequence break sending with shouts the horrible errors of childhood storming out to play through the broken dike. And as elephants parade holding each elephant's tail, but if one wanders the circus won't find the park, I call it cruel and maybe the root of all cruelty to know what occurs but not recognize the fact. And so I appeal to a voice, to something shadowy, a remote important region in all who talk: though we could fool each other, we should consider— lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the dark. For it is important that awake people be awake, or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep; the signals we give — yes or no, or maybe — should be clear: the darkness around us is deep.

Show Notes

* Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Joy [Title Video]

* The Witness Institute

* Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom by Ariel Burger

* The Growing Edge with Carrie Newcomer & Parker J. Palmer

* Martin Buber

* Maurice Stanley Friedman

* Taoism

* Hasidic Judaism

* Sarah and Abraham

Connect with Andy:

* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjcahill/

* Instagram: instagram.com/wonderdomepodcast​

What is your fiercest hope for humanity?

Get full access to The Wonder Dome at wonderdome.substack.com/subscribe