On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity, and Getting Old

Author Parker Palmer is approaching the eighth decade of his life and now stops to reflect on age and approaching death. In this patchwork assemblage of his writings and poetry over the years, he loosely bastes together a course of practices that seniors might apply for a more fulfilling engagement with life. Oldsters are urged to interact with the youth of this world and help mentor them through their grueling growth stages. He calls on the elders to reflect on their past experiences and to stay engaged with their souls. Throughout the book, he fills his missive with quotes and excerpts from his hero, Thomas Merton, and many others, such as Diane Ackerman, Henry Thoreau, and Leonard Cohen. The introductions to the selections in the seven chapters tend to ramble, and one section dealing with the current political crisis disturbs the general tenor of the book’s theme. The writer, a practicing Quaker, tends to dwell on his bouts with depression, but it is probably this melancholy that grants him the sensitivity to view the goodness in people and the beauty in nature. The book may provide some comfort for those disturbed by the thought of aging, but its message is diluted by the lack of focus.