When there is a gap between what's on the outside and what's on the inside, that's when people retreat into their foxholes because it is an unsafe situation. You don't know what you are dealing with. What you see is not what you are going to get. And that is when people start withdrawing.
Parker J. PalmerGood teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher.
Parker J. PalmerIn a culture of technique, we often confuse authority with power, but the two are not the same. Power works from the outside in, but authority works from the inside out. . . . I am painfully aware of the times in my own teaching when I lose touch with my inner teacher and therefore with my own authority. In those times I try to gain power by barricading myself behind the podium and my status while wielding the threat of grades. . . . Authority comes as I reclaim my identity and integrity, remembering my selfhood and my sense of vocation.
Parker J. PalmerBefore I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am.
Parker J. PalmerThe inner life of any great thing will be incomprehensible to me until I develop and deepen an inner life of my own.
Parker J. Palmer