The Tragic Gap

You know when you feel lost?

Parker Palmer’s got this idea called “the tragic gap” for those times.  

He explains it as, “The gap between the world that we know is possible, and the world as it is.” 

The world we know as possible. 

*the tragic gap*

The world as it is. 

We’re all called to stand in the tragic gap. In our lives. More than once. 

If we refuse to stand in it, we tip towards either side. This comes with risks. Because as Parker teaches, it’s our calling to stand in the gap – to stand on the in-between, in the nothing where somehow, someway, the real magic happens.

If we only see the world as it currently exists, we are stuck in corrosive cynicism. 

If we only see the world as it could possibly be, we are stuck in irrelevant idealism. 

If we stand in the tragic gap, if we find belonging within the suffering, we can unite a belief in what’s possible with action in the real world. 

A message from the middle. In the tragic gap.

Hope.