Prodigal Kiwi(s) Blog

Resilience

On a recent episode of the radio show On Being Krista Tippet was talking to her guest Andrew Zolli about resilience as being a successor to common-place solutions-based strategies and to the current (although it’s been around for about four decades) buzz word, “sustainability”. The conversation is a thought-provoking one with what I think are applications in all kinds of directions, from relationships, to counseling, to mission etc 

Here are a couple of excerpts: 

“…There’s no way we can steer around these storms; we had better build a better boat... we believed that we could essentially out engineer failure… I think the first premise is all things fail. And in fact not only do all things fail, but failure is intrinsic, healthy, normal, and necessary to most complex systems… 

… It's important that we have spare capacity. It's important that we have the right kinds of social networks, so that we can share with each other. It's important that we have a shared wisdom, a body of knowledge that helps us be more locally self-reliant… 

… [There needs to be] a tradeoff between the agility that comes with short-term thinking and wisdom that comes from long-term thinking…

… And maybe … the best you can do is, rather than solve all the problems. You can expand [or grow the] edge of change… 

…There are many things that make you or I and the people we know and everyone we know more or less resilient psychologically, psychosocially. Your social networks, the quality of your intimate relationships, the degree to which you both love and experience love. Your access to other kinds of resources, physical resources. Your physical health, your genes and in particular the interaction between your genes and your life experiences. What's called the GXE, a hypothesis which is the complex interactions between potentially traumatic events and the on and off switches that drive our genes through our lives. And the good news is that human beings are surprisingly resilient, particularly when you look at us at a population scale…”

You can find the podcast here.

A Religion of Your Own

I’ve been listening to a podcast interview with Thomas Moore, aired on the Voice America / 7^th Wave show Abundant Living. The episode is titled: A Religion of Your Own. 

Among a number of themes Moore discusses his new book A Religion of One's Own (Gotham Books) which will be available in January 2014, although as at today it’s not yet listed as a pre-order on Amazon.com. 

Moore discusses: 

• The distinctives in the terminology around the use of the terms religion and spirituality
• Our need for psychological and religious maturity – a religion we can own as ours.
• How the arts can help us to explore complex and subtle issues around psychology and religious health. 

Moore encourages people to actively study and deepen their understanding of their own tradition, while, from the depths of that tradition nurturing an exploratory willingness to engage with and enrich ones own religious tradition with the insights and perspective of other religious and spiritual traditions, practices etc. He encourages people to develop the spiritual practice of spending time in nature. He explores how a contemplative approach contributes to religious depth. Run time for this episode is approximately 57 minutes. 

As always with Moore, there are some really valuable insights, and I found it an encouraging and affirming conversation. 

You’ll find the conversation here. 

Nick Cave – Far From Me

The musician who has journeyed with me since my young adult years.

Like U2, Cave and his music / art attract academic papers, essays and engagement. The latest being The Art of Nick Cave: New Critical Essays, published in March of this year. It covers a great range of material. In February 2013, there was also the release of the latest album from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, the very understated and brilliant Push the Sky Away. And in March 2014 we have the release of Mark Mordue's 446-page biography of Cave, Tender Prey: A Biography of Nick Cave to look forward too, if you're a fan.

NT Wright: Christian Origins and the Question of God – Vol # 4

         

Paul and the Faithfulness of God – 2 Vol. by N. T. Wright is due to be released on the 1^st November 2013 

•      First book comprises Parts I and II and front matter
•      Second book has Parts III and IV plus bibliography and indices 

Can be pre-ordered from Amazon, as can Paul and His Recent Interpreters and Pauline Perspectives: Essays on Paul, 1978-2013. The latter two are also to be published and available on the 1st November 2013.

The Gift of Quiet

Sheila Prichard offers a few reflections on a book that I have on my shelf, but have yet to read – Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking. It is part of my reading around Melancholy – one of the four temperaments of personality (cf. Claudius Galen (c.129-201 CE). Both melancholy (in my experience) and the quieter, more thoughtful and introverted personality types have come in for a lot of criticism (grounded, of course, in significant misunderstanding) in our contemporary Western Culture. Yet, I’m increasingly aware of the incredible depth and richness that these personality characteristics make possible in a healthy introvert. I brought Quiet because I warmed to its author’s central theses. She appeared to me to be saying something important and needful particularly if, in your life stage (post-midlife, post … [fill in the blank]) you’re an introvert and trying to recover a rich and deep sense of self, of who you are, and of why you need to be more your truest, healthiest and deepest self.

You’ll find Sheila’s post here.

Interestingly, but unsurprisingly, Susan Cain’s TED talk is one of Bill Gates’ “favourite 13 TED talks”.

Books

All my life I’ve valued books, both for reading pleasure, but also as a means of learning and growth, of change and development. I’ve seen books change lives for good. I’ve also seen them do great damage. 

Books do a number of things. Sometimes they reinforce bad thinking; they narrow us down, and they turn our warm hearts to stone. Other times they challenge and reshape thinking. They open us up. They invite us to grow up. They enlarge our horizons. Other times they ask questions of us. They take us to people, lands and times we would never travel to. They bring the unconscious into consciousness. They invite us into depth through self-reflection. They do so many things, and I’m so very grateful to them. How else could we sit at the feet of such a broad range of learning, of life-experience, of insight and of wisdom from both the past and the present…? 

"The purpose of a book is to serve as an axe for the frozen sea within us." 

- Franz Kafka 

“…For me, words on a page give the world coherence… Words tell me what we, as a society, believe the world to be… I believe there is an ethic of reading, a responsibility in how [and what] we read, a commitment that is both political and private in the act of turning the pages. And I believe that sometimes, beyond the author’s intentions and beyond the reader’s hopes, a book can make us better and wiser…” 

- Alberto Manguel, Into the Looking Glass Wood.

Built By Stories

Francis Spufford wrote a wonderful little book: The Child that Books Built: A Memoir of Childhood and Reading (pub. 2002). While Christopher Book wrote a large book titled The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories (pub. 2004). Both are deeply insightful, the latter reflecting on stories from a particularly Jungian perspective on the universal nature of stories and why we tell and read them. 

All my life I’ve loved stories; I’ve immersed myself in them, whether by way of books, film, live drama, or storytellers. Stories shape and form us; they challenge us and invite change and growth; they console us. While having value in and of themselves, they do a whole more. For better or worse, I’m an adult that stories built. I’m adult that continues to be changed and formed by stories. I’ve been formed consciously and unconsciously by my own stories and by the stories and perspectives of others. Some of that formation has been helpful, some hasn’t, and at times in our lives we need to find, tell, and listen carefully to new stories.

Most recently I was reading from a book The Examined Life: How We Find And Lose Ourselves (pub. 2013). It’s a book written by psychoanalyst Stephen Grosz. The inside flap tells its readers that “We are all storytellers – we make stories to make sense of our lives. But it is not enough to tell tales. There must be someone to listen… this… book is about one ordinary process: talking, listening and understanding… These are stories about our everyday lives: they are about the people we love and the lies we tell; the changes we bear, and the grief. Ultimately, they show us not only how we lose ourselves but how we might find ourselves also.” 

New Zealand Medical Doctor, poet and storyteller Glen Colquhoun reflects “no story worth being told ever stands still or lies in a book all silent and neat. It wriggles into your eyes and ears and turns over in your belly and mouth. If it is quiet for a while it is only because it is growing, like a seed… [Stories] are that part of us we pass onto each other like treasure and are alive no matter how long it has been since we heard them. If we lend them our voices and our faces then in a little while they look like us…” 

On Being, a US Radio show, recently featured Maria Tatar talking about why fairytales are for adults again. 

Here’s the promo for the show: 

“Fairy tales don't only belong to the domain of childhood. Their overt themes are threaded throughout hit TV series like Game of Thrones and True Blood, Grimm and Once Upon a Time. These stories survive, says Maria Tatar, by adapting across cultures and history. They are carriers of the plots we endlessly re-work in the narratives of our lives -- helping us work through things like fear and hope.” 

You can listen to the conversation here. 

On Looking Backwards and Reading

I enjoyed this recent post by Ben Myers, as much for the way it was written, but more importantly or the insights it offered, the invitations to (try and) remember when I 24 years of age. I appreciated too his reflections on books and on why we often read. I often look back over blog posts – a record of a journey and of discoveries which began over 10-years ago… 

Am I the same person I was then? Yes, and no. A lot has changed. Some things have stayed the same. Yet, I see I’ve grown and matured; I’ve self-critiqued and I’ve worked hard to learn, to see; to understand, to make changes, and to grow as a person; as a human being. Books, experiences, self-reflection, “alien prejudices and remote experiences, books that offend[ed] my sense of being at the centre”, the critique of pain and joy, and diverse people have been vital parts of that journey. 

I was reminded of Thomas Merton's reflection later in life, following the huge success of his autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain. He wrote, "...it is the work of a man I never even heard of".

Here’s an excerpt from Ben’s reflection: 

“ I was rummaging in the bottom drawer looking for some old papers when I found it. One of those big plain A4 books, rather business-like with its matter-of-fact black cover, red spine, red corners - A JOURNAL OF READINGS, (MAINLY THEOLOGICAL). B. Myers. July 2002 to July 2004… 

… The most arresting feature of this diary, however, is the way it documents an entire philosophy of reading. This philosophy of reading – let's call it the Reading Mirror – takes it for granted that the whole purpose of books is to reflect back to ourselves our own preferences, assumptions, and opinions. My 24-year-old self sums this up rather bluntly on 6 December 2002, noting – after reading Donald Bloesch's Theology of Word and Spirit – how satisfying it is "to find someone with whose views I feel I can almost entirely agree." 

Isn't that where so much of our reading goes wrong? We turn to books, lots of books, looking always for the same thing: ourselves. And we end up finding just what we were looking for. The ego remains at the centre, absorbing other minds and worlds into itself. 

There is a whole approach to education that uses books like this. Good books are the ones that share my prejudices and affirm my experiences; bad books are the ones that are strange to me, books full of alien prejudices and remote experiences, books that offend my sense of being at the centre. On these terms even the best books become unfruitful. The seed falls on stony ground; it springs up momentarily but withers, having no roots.  

But the seed that falls on good soil brings forth grain – some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty…” 

You can read his complete reflection here. 

The Wideness of the Sea: Women Bishops in the Church of England – A Review by Steve Taylor

My pre-order should just about be here. My friend Maggi Dawn’s latest publication – Like the Wideness of the Sea: Women Bishops and the Church of England (2013 / 96 pages) – a very timely and “classy” publication written against the backdrop of the Church of England’s decision that women priests in it’s church cannot be Bishops; a deeply sad decision made all he more sadder for me because in this country, in this part of the Anglican Family, women can be, and are serving as bishops. 

I can’t speak highly enough of Maggi’s writing – she has a wonderful gift – and I’m very much looking forward to this latest addition to the books she’s written; all of which are compulsory reading for me. 

Meantime, another good friend, Steve Taylor (who’s books / articles are also a compulsory read for me), has penned a very positive review from England. 

Here’s an excerpt: 

“…[Maggi] outlines a theology of waiting, as a spiritual discipline embedded in the life and liturgy of the church. She argues persuasively that waiting includes times when God waits for us to act. She mounts a cultural critique of English ‘niceness’ and the damage done when truth and justice are smothered in platitudes. In other words, at times waiting is the most sinful response to a situation of injustice.

Third, it tells a story, of being a woman in ministry. It is a story Maggi Dawn is eminently suited to write, being one of the first woman priests to train in the Church of England. It is harrowing to read, a story of a church that has found ways to behave badly, in deeply sexist patterns, and the damage this has, and is, causing. It made me ashamed to be a male and should mean some corporate Anglican work at Colleges and denominationally on safe workplace environments. One result is the loss of enormously gifted people from the church and the reduction of the full flourishing, both of individuals and churches. The body of Christ is being harmed.

It is wonderfully written, concise and cohesive. It moves smoothly between theology, literature, spirituality and experience. The title is a case in point, elegantly referencing the books key interpretive metaphor, the struggles in the Church of England, place in Maggi’s sense of call and her current location. It is very classy writing…”

You can read Steve’s complete review here. Also, a short video of Maggi talking from Yale about Women Bishops and the Church of England. 

Ignatius of Loyola: “Just Call Me Lopez”.

Looking for a general introduction (or maybe for something for younger readers – 15+) to St. Ignatius of Loyola…? Margaret Silf’s latest publication might be just what you’re looking for – Just Call Me Lopez: Getting to the Heart of Ignatius Loyola (pub 2012 / Thanks to Shelia for bringing it to my attention). 

In simple terms, it’s a work of fiction; the weaving together of factual stories from St. Ignatius’ life; insights into Ignatian spirituality (particularly Discernment, The Exercises, and the Examen of Consciousness) and the narrative of a fictional character named Rachel. Not entirely successfully it brings the sixteenth century saint into conversation with a twenty-first century woman – their two very different paths cross as a consequence of a hit and run accident. 

While I didn’t find the literary mechanism (time-travel of sorts) particularly helpful and while I had higher expectations, it was an easy read and insightful, to a point. If you knew nothing about Ignatius of Loyola it would provide a good starting point, or perhaps better, and “entry point” into your own exploration of some of the practices of Ignatian Spirituality. 

For example, if the practice of discernment piqued your interest, then I’d move from Just Call Me Lopez to David Runcorn’s excellent Choice, Desire and the Will of God (pub 2003) 

Overall, I think the concept of a shared conversation between Ignatius and the 21^st Century had real potential. However, as much as I value Margaret Silf’s writing, I’m not sure this particular book brought out that potential. I liked how Silf wrapped contemporary language around notions of prayer, discernment (it’s practice from an Ignatian point of view), the Examen of Consciousness and imaginative prayer (reading ourselves into and out of the gospel stories). 

“…Contemplation and action need to go hand in hand,” he told me firmly, as if I, not he, were the transgressor. “However much we feel drawn to prayer, we must still put our very best efforts into everyday responsibilities. It’s prayer that fuels our actions, but our actions are the fruit that prayer brings forth. I [Ignatius] realized that I was letting contemplation take over and neglecting he action” …” 

I think too that there were some helpful insights into the practice of spiritual direction (a benefit of the “conversational” nature of the book). 

Silf also provided a helpful list of titles for those interested in further exploration, but those titles primarily are aimed at learning more about Ignatius of Loyola, and the Jesuits more generally. I’d have added other titles and focused more on Ignatian Spirituality. This list would have included a number of Silf’s own books, e.g. Landmarks: An Ignatian Journey.