Invitation to Silence and Solitude

As many know, this past semester, my last one at college, was quite a rough one.  On the verge of a mental breakdown, I begged God for the opportunity to "just get away from it all."  It was at that time that an idea came to me - to go on a road trip come May for a week, after school was done.  I began to make plans for this trip, and part of my plans involved purchasing a bookCD from Amazon that was on sale and that had caught my attention: Invitation to Silence and Solitude by Ruth Haley Barton.

Listening to this book probably changed my life, but in ways that are still intangible and unexplainable.  As I listened to the author explain the essence and substance of these two disciplines, I began to identify the overwhelming desires of my own soul to experience these two things.  I realized that there is nothing more that I desire in life right now than silence and solitude.  I am tired of doing, tired of trying and tired of performing - I want the permission to be, and not for anyone else except for myself and God.

The thing that I liked most about this book, I think, is that the author made it all right for a person to seek out silence and solitude, even at the expense of being anti-social.  She made it all right to be selfish for a time, so that we can feel free to be silent and solitude without having to fulfill any external obligations.  She observed that if we give our souls the care they need, they will start caring again on their own.

The only problem with silence and solitude is that they are all but impossible to obtain in this world that we live in.  My week long road-trip/pilgrimage was such a short time, just a quick dip before I had to get out again and into the real world.  I still find myself longing for silence and solitude, but once again the rhythms of everyday life are obstructing its call.  This book remains a reminder to me that solitude will always be there waiting for me, ready to pick up where we left off, if I am willing to take the plunge into the silence.

  

Life of the Beloved

Here is a book I purchased to use in my guided study, for which the proposed topic is (roughly) "the disconnect between the body and soul."  The Life of the Beloved was written by Henri Nouwen at the request of one of his secular Jewish friends who asked Nouwen to write a book that "he and his friends could understand."  This little book was the result.

The premise of the book is that we are all beloved by God, and we all are called to live a life that is a testament to that belovedness.  Borrowing from the language of the eucharist, Nouwen expands on how we become the beloved that we are.  First we are taken, or chosen - and this is an identity that we all need to recognize and claim in our own lives.  Next we are blessed, not cursed.  We do not have to live a life as though it is a curse, but we can recognize the blessing within it, and we do this by saying "yes" to our belovedness.  Thirdly, we are broken. We all have been hurt and broken inwardly at some point in our lives.  We respond to this brokenness by befriending it and then bringing blessing into it.  Finally, we are given.  The true flavour of life comes from giving ourselves to others.  When we recognize our belovedness and give ourselves to others, then they too can come to recognize their own belovedness.  The ultimate giving in life is death. 

As far as writing a book that a secular audience could understand, Nouwen himself includes an epilogue at the end admitting that he had failed.  Indeed, there were times where what he was trying to get across went way above even my head, and sometimes I found his language difficult to access.  However, there were times as well where what Nouwen had to say spoke profoundly to me.

"The greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity, or power, but self-rejection.... I tend to blame myself - not just for what I did, but for who I am." (31)

"The blessings that we give to each other are expressions of the blessing that rests on us from all eternity.  It is the deepest affirmation of our true self.  It is not enough to be chosen.  We also need an ongoing blessing that allows us to hear in an ever-new way that we belong to a loving God who will never leave us alone, but will remind us always that we are guided by love on every step of our lives." (72)

"Our sufferings and pains are not simply bothersom interruptions of our lives; rather, they touch us in our uniqueness and our most intimate individuality.  The way I am broken tells you something unique about me... I am deeply convinced that each human being suffers in a way no other human being suffers." (87)

Do we want to discuss these quotes?  I fear to say more about them, because they touch a very deep and intimate part of my own life.

First Peoples In Canada

First Peoples in Canada by Alan D. McMillan and Eldon Yellowhorn is a textbook that was assigned to me for my "Canadian Aboriginal Cultures" class.  Although I have really been enjoying the class and have been really personally challenged by it, I have to admit I feel a sense of relief upon finishing this book.  The book is essentially an introduction to the First Nation cultures throughout Canada and stretches its discussion back to "time immemorial" (which is usually during the Holocene period 10,000 or so years ago) up until the modern day.  This is a lot of history to fit in one book, especially when you consider that we are dealing with dozens of distinct societies.  The complexities of this book are further compounded when one considers that we actually have very little with which to build a history for First Nations until the dawn of globalization (European contact with the Americas). 

The first chapter of this book is devoted to explaining the different kinds of anthropology and ethnography (and a whole series of other -ologies and -ographies) that go into piecing together the missing pieces of the puzzle.  Unfortunately, due to a lack of actual story, the piecing together makes for some of the most dry and unengaging history that one could read. Subsequent chapters in the book are organized regionally according to a broad definition of cultural groups: Maritime, Eastern-Woodlands, Plains, Sub-Arctic, Plateau, North-West Coast, Arctic and Metis.  Every chapter begins with a long descriptions of what the different fossils might mean about the early cultural habits of native groups in the Holocene and Doecene periods and drawn out speculations about how those groups settled where they did in the first place.  Speculation and description culminate into a snapshot of the eating, hunting and sociological habits of these early nations.  The chapters then describe the meeting between Europeans and these Native groups - how the meeting happened and what implications it had for the native residents of that region.  Finally every chapter moves into the 20th century to describe the recent struggles and issues that aboriginal groups are dealing with today and what inroads have been made in their discussions with the Canadian government.

If the description of the book that I have written above sounds dry, it is because the book is dry.  The parts on fossils were particularly hard to get through, especially since the pages were large, the writing was small and the chapters were long.  I did appreciate the end of the chapters though, which educated me as to how all of this boring history manages to fit into the now, and this book has brought to mind some issues such as land claims that have provided food for thought.  While I can say that although this was not a fun read, it was an informative one, and I walk away from this book knowing a lot more about First Nations in Canada than I did.

In Search Of Sacred Places

"In Search of Sacred Places: Looking for Wisdom on Celtic Holy Islands," by Daniel Taylor, is a book that I ordered from Amazon long ago when I was do research on the spirituality of place. After I got it, however, it became apparent to me that this book wasn't so much about place as it was about journey, or pilgrimage. Now, a couple of years later, I have pulled this book off my shelf to read it as I am finally ready to learn more about pilgrimage.
The thing I love most about this book is how earthy it is. It consists of the ramblings and meditations of the author who had taken a trip as a tourist to a number of the Celtic holy places and returned from the trip changed in small ways: ways that led him to reflect on the deeper meanings of pilgrimage, holy places, the Celtic saints and our own feeble attempts as human beings to grasp something of the holy. The author traces his journey from Iona, to Lindisfarne to Skellig Michael, reflecting along the way on the stories of the Celtic saints who inhabited those regions, and on what wisdom they have to offer. One thing I particularly enjoyed about the author is that he doesn't write as someone who is a spiritually mastered intellectual that has all the answers. Rather, Taylor writes into the questions of his journey, more often than not leaving the questions hanging for the reader to ponder.
This book makes me excited about learning more about pilgrimage as I continue my guided study. In his stories and reflections Taylor offered some very simple statements about this topic, statments that I feel are an excellent starting place to help me understand what this pecular thing called pilgrimage might be:
The tourist goes to see and collect...; the pilgrim goes to be changed." (10)
"A definition of pilgrim as one who travels hopefully." (11)
Pilgrimage is physical travel with a spiritual destination." (16)
"Walking is the maximum desirable speed for seeing things fully enough to name them. And when we name things then we begin to value them. No wonder that we all want to be named and known." (37)
"There is, then, something both individual and communal about seeking the holy through pilgrimage. Each pilgrim goes individually to find God, to find meaning, or at least, to fulfill some indefinite hope. And yet we often go together, with other pilgrims, or, even if alone, where others have gone before us. Like travelers in a dense forest, we are thankful for a worn path, for marks carved on a tree, for any hint that we are moving in the right direction." (12)

The Art of War

"The Art of War" is a literary classic, written in the 6th century BC by the brilliant Chinese tactician and general, Sun Tzu. Since its inception this military treatise has been used by armies throughout history to govern the art of waging war against other nations. In modern times the text has been adapted to influence business tactics and strategies. The argument of this book is written in point form over 13 little chapters and cover such topics from (#1) Laying Plans to (#7) Maneuvering to (#10) Terrain to (#13) The Use of Spies. In the introduction of this book, the editors write, "Sun Tzu was the first to recognize the importance of positioning in strategy and that position is affected both by objective conditions in the physical environment and the subjective opinions of competitive actors in the environment. He taught that strategy was not planning in the sense of working through a to-do list, but rather that it requires quick and appropriate responses to changing conditions."

Strangely enough, I found this short little book rather fascinating. As a reader of fantasy novels, I was riveted by making mental comparisons how the principles in this book have influenced authors writing about war, particularly the author I am reading right now, Robert Jordan. On a deeper level however, the observations that Sun Tzu makes are incredibly practical, earthy and wise. They involve recommendations that a leader must be connected to his troops on a emotional level, but at the same time he must not let that level of attachment interfere with the enforcement of discipline. He espouses the importance of planning and the need of secrecy to keep these important plans, and while at the same time emphasizing that plans must be flexible, and their execution quick and sure. Such is his emphasis on preplanning that he declares that one should not start a war until he is certain that battle has already been won, and that preparing for defense rests not on the liklihood that the enemy will come but that rather their position is "unassailable." Above all Sun Tzu stresses the importance of leadership, and most if not all of his arguments place the glory of victory or the blame of defeat squarely on the general's shoulders. Character, in particular, is particularly important in a general, and there are five dangerous faults that a general may show that are "ruinous to the conduct of war:" recklessness (which leads to destruction), cowardice (which leads to capture), a hasty temper (which can be provoked by insults), a delicacy of honour (which is sensitive to shame), and an over-solicitude for his men (which exposes him to worry and trouble). Sun Tzu summarizes his entire arguement in one timeless maxim that I think is still valid today in almost every action of life. "If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt," he writes, "If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yoursef, you will succumb in every battle."

Who ever expected an anciety military leader to say that self-reflection and self-knowledge were what the most important things one needed to wage a war? These two things are so lost in today's society, but I would also say that these two traits are also paramount to living successfully to one's full capacity.

malcolm gladwell overload

over the past while, i have read

• what the dog saw and other adventures 
• tipping point: how little things make a big difference 
• outliers: the story of success 
• blink: the power of thinking without thinking

these are the four books published by new yorker columnist malcolm gladwell (in the order i read them), and they represent storytelling at its very best. what they don't represent, necessarily, is coherent and analytical argumentation. but nothing's perfect.
"tipping point" was the first of gladwell's oeuvres and therein he discusses catchy ideas, powerful regimes, and sticky trends. more importantly, he asks himself (and experts, too, thank goodness): "what makes these work, where others fail?" unsurprisingly, there's still a lot of mystery in this area, but gladwell illuminates some basic guidelines for making your idea work. one thing that stuck out to me was this: having a very clear notion of what the problem is and how the problem works is essential to crafting an appropriate solution.

in "blink," gladwell shifts his focus toward intuition and snap judgements. unfortunately, all the praise for these phenomenon comes early on, and it isn't until later in the book that the pitfalls are discussed. what he really wants to argue is that we need to educate our instincts where we can and mitigate against them where we can't. but that doesn't really come out until the afterword - which, as you may have guessed, was added to a subsequent edition of the book.

"outliers" is gladwell's most recent original work - it's not even in softcover yet, i don't think. anyway, its thesis is that people who succeed don't do so only because they're naturally gifted, but also because they have unique opportunities. in particular, because they have the luxury and ability to acquire 10,000 hours of practice at their craft. gladwell isn't fatalistic about this, but instead prescribes an increase in such opportunities for all americans. wouldn't the world be better off if every geeky kid had access to the supercomputers bill gates tested out in high school? or if there were separate peewee hockey leagues for those born before and after june? (players who are more advanced from day one on account of being older and bigger than their teammates tend to get more attention and eventually advance quicker than their peers.)

finally, "what the dog saw" brings together a wide range of interesting stories gladwell wrote for the new yorker. each of these gives the reader insight into the way someone thinks - and it's bound to be quite different from the way most of us think.

i love stories, so i thoroughly enjoyed each of gladwell's books. i read the last three over the past two months or so, and i wouldn't have done that if the material weren't engaging or if the themes weren't captivating. i highly recommend reading the books. just... think about the argument, ok? it's not always quite right. in fact, there are some bad examples, tenuous leaps, and outright contradictions along the way. (i can rant about one that especially frustrated me, if anyone's interested!) being a thoughtful reader is universally a good practice - all the more so when faced with a gifted and articulate storyteller.

The Audacity of Hope

Finally! After 2 years of slaving through, forgetting to read and coming back to the book, I have finally finished The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama! It was such an intriguing prospect to read a book written by such a public figure, who has now become the leader of one of the most powerful nations in the world. It has given me a chance to know the person for what he has to say, not for what the media and propoganda has to say about him. In fact, one of the chapters that I enjoyed most in the book was the one where he talked about the media. It was interesting hearing about the process of newsmaking from someone at the other end, where every single action and word is scrutinized to see if it can be given a slant to portray what bias the media wants to portray.

Despite the amount of time it took for me to finish this book, I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. The book's style is unique: it isn't fiction and it isn't academic research or cold hard facts; rather it is written in the style of conversation and throughout the entire book Obama is conversing with the reader, describing what he see, discerns and envisions for his home country, which he loves. It was refreshing to be able to read something so warm, positive and optomistic, especially from someone who has now become a world leader.

In some ways, however, one of the harshest criticisms I can give about this book was that in some ways it was too optomistic - optomistic to the point of naivety. Obama had a lot of good observations, and a lot of good suggestions and criticisms, but there seems to be an assumption in his writing that if the issue he identifies is fixed in the way he suggests it be fixed, then everything would be fixed, it's just that simple. But life is rarely so simple. Below is a selection of quotes I have taken from his book regarding the taxation of the wealthy, and while I agree on many levels with him, I doubt the situation is as clear-cut as he makes it seem:

"We will have to stop pretending that all cuts in spending are equivalent, or that all tax increases are the same. Ending coporate subsidies that serve no discernible economic purpose is one thing, reducing health-care benefits to poor children is something else entirely. At a time when ordinary familieis are feeling hit from all sides, the impulse to keep their taxes as low as possible is honorable and right. What's less honorable has been the willingness of the rich and the powerful to ride this antitax sentiment for their own purpose, or the way the President, Congress, lobbyists, and conservative commentators have been able to successfully conflate in the mind of voters the very real tax burdens of the middle class and the very manageable tax burdens of the wealthy... Perhaps I possess a certain Midwestern sensibility that I inherited from my mother and her parents....that you can derive as much pleasure from a Picasso hanging in a museum as from one that's hanging in your den, that you can get an awfully good meal in a restaurant for less than twenty dollars, and that once your drapes cost more than the average American's yearly salary, then you can afford to pay a bit more in taxes."

Despite the fact that I agree with Obama in most of these statments, the fact is also that human beings will always try to exploit one another. It is also a fact that most Americans are addicted to the spending and consumerism which feeds the wealthy. Forcing the wealthy to pay more taxes makes more sense than taxing the middle class American who can barely make ends meet as it is, but it hardly solves the deeper issues. Furthermore, making such adjustments to society is not easy, as I'm sure Obama has found out since he has gotten into office. The changes he has tried to bring to the healthcare system have been mentioned in this book, and despite how good of idea they may seem on paper, implementing them has been for him a whole other ballgame.

I guess in someways this book is full of audacity. It has the audacity to claim that with a few seemingly sensible changes then everything would be better. It has the audacity to hope for change, even if, in reality, change isn't very likely or forthcoming.

"That was the audacity of the American spirit, I thought - having the audacity to believe despite all the evidence to the contrary that we could restore a sense of community to a nation torn by conflict; the gall to believe that despite personal setbacks, the loss of a job or an illness in the family or a childhood mired in poverty, we had some control - and therefore responsibility - over our own fate."

C.S. Lewis: A Life

Over the past couple of weeks I have been reading a biography of C.S. from the public library written by Michael White. I was assigned the reading of a secondary source perspective on C.S. Lewis' biography by my professor, who seems to be of the opinion that I should write my undergraduate thesis on this man, whose writin I connect to so much. However, I have to admit that after reading this particular biography, I don't know if I do want to write a thesis on this man.

One thing that has always attracted me to the person of C.S. Lewis is that I connected with his writing. He writes in a way that is very relevent to how I think: linear, rational, and yet imaginative and witty. This particular book, but it also made me feel completely disillusioned with the man C.S. Lewis was, in fact, it almost makes me want to dislike him. The author represents Lewis as a bigoted snob, who didn't really have time for technology, progress, children or women, and who is deeply scarred and bitter over experiences that happened over his childhood. While I understand that all of these things were certainly a part of the human that C.S. Lewis was, I really detest how the author not only presented, but speculated on the information with his own personal bias.

The thing I dislike most, I guess, in this book, is how pitiable the author made C.S. Lewis out to be. He presented the humaness of C.S. Lewis to the point of making his seem pathetic. One particular way he did this was by painting C.S. Lewi's faith as a crutch, which although was certainly very helpful and important to C.S. Lewis, was not really worthy of any major notice. In contrast, the author spent almost a whole chapter ruminating on whether Lewis had sex with a particular women whom he lived with for a long period of time and called mother (she was the mother of one of Lewis' best friends who was killed in the war). He spend a great deal of time focusing on Lewis' fantasy literary career but tries to brush over most of his religious works with a short description.

Once again I find myself struggling with the fact on how popular literature can actually write about a person whose faith became so integral and central to their life and fail to provide any detail on how that actually worked, other than that faith being a crutch. On the positive side, I did glean some valuable information from this book - such as certain events and people who influenced C.S. Lewis' life - and I also appreciated how this author went out of his way to present C.S. Lewis as a human being and not some glorified uber-Chrisitan, but at the same time I feel like I must take even this portrayal of Lewis with a grain of salt. I understand that the author is an athiest and that every writer must have their bias, but if I were to use this book as a judge of C.S. Lewis' character, I probably would never read another one of his books again.