elainegrey

Bar-- Bab-- (returning to visit the area) spoke in ministry at Meeting, referring to Parker Palmer's description of the Tragic Gap.

It turns out Parker Palmer (a Quaker educator) speaks and writes about this very often, and one can find his reference to the tragic gap in multiple venues.

I copy this over because it catches something i've known without a name for it:

The insight at the heart of nonviolence is that we live in a tragic gap-a gap between the way things are and the way we know they might be. It is a gap that never has been and never will be closed. If we want to live nonviolent lives, we must learn to stand in the tragic gap, faithfully holding the tension between reality and possibility.

I harbor no illusions about how hard it is to live that way. Though I aspire to be one of those life-giving people who keeps a grip on both reality and hope, I often find that tension too hard to hold--so I let go of one pole and collapse into the other. Sometimes I resign myself to things as they are, sinking into a life of cynical disengagement. Sometimes I embrace a dreamy idealism, living a life of cheerful irresponsibility that floats above the fray.