Cultivating a Productive Rhythm of Action and Contemplation

Last Fall, I made an eight-day silent retreat at Eastern Point Retreat House in Gloucester, Mass. While I was there, I came across a book I’d read a long time back: Parker Palmer’s The Active Life. I read some of it while I enjoyed those prayerful days in November, quietly sitting next to a little bay on which this retreat is situated. What I learned is today’s theme: Cultivating a Productive Rhythm of Action and Contemplation. Welcome to the Unhurried Living Podcast.

So what are talking about here?

• If I were to use philosophical or theological categories, I might want to talk about action and contemplation.
• If I were to use practical or vocational categories, I might talk about leadership
• and spiritual formation.
• If I were to use theoretical or academic categories, I might talk about engagement and reflection.
• If I were to talk about this in everyday language, I might talk about work and
• prayer.

The reason this conversation is so important is that it often feels like there is no option but for action and contemplation to be at war with each other. It can feel like we have to choose sides between being a work-driven, Type-A activist or a deep-rooted, very prayerful contemplative. We sometimes assume one category is made up of extroverts and the other of introverts.

Listen as we discuss Parker's thoughts and the difference of each.