Proof is in the Peaches | Contemplify NonRequired Reading List for August 30, 2020
Proof is in the Peaches | August NonRequired Reading List
Contemplative friend,
This is the final email of three (read the and ) examining the question - Suffering is not new, so how did the ancestors of yesteryears cultivate meaning in spite of ever present suffering? We have heard the song of suffering locally and globally, called upon the ancestors to show us the way, and today we seek to cultivate virtues in our own lives.
I am convinced that when the tops of our heads are spinning the contemplative drops to the Ground like a mellowed peach. The virtues are peaches heavy on the branch, bursting with potential and slyly emanating God’s goodness. Being and becoming fuse into one. And when I bite into an August peach I have proof of God’s ripening.
I am an orchardist in the arbor of virtue. Philosopher Pierre Hadot writes, "Any contemplation which had no effect on concrete life, and did not culminate in rendering man similar to God through virtue, would remain foreign and meaningless to us."* Below are a handful of my attempts to prune and cultivate virtuous peaches.
Wisdom: I am attending to the wisdom of the ancestors who have endured through pandemics, abject systemic suffering, and immersive exterior solitude. Folks who faced the heat of suffering while also tending to the coals of an inner fire. Hence my reading has focused on Julian of Norwich, Henry David Thoreau, Frederick Douglass, Marcus Aurelius, Plotinus and the like. Asking myself questions like, how did Julian sustain her joy in God during the relentless bubonic plague? What does it mean that Douglass' courage inspires me and makes me question the strength of my own backbone?
Temperance: This virtue is often regulated to abstaining from alcohol, but it is so much more. Temperance is practicing restraint or self-control for the sake of the whole. In this practice of self limitation a wellspring of potential disrupts passive consumption. I am reducing my input of media, upping my exercise and outside time, and becoming choosier about gifting my attention. And yes, limiting the intake of my beloved IPAs too.
Fortitude: This virtue seems to be naturally growing for many of us because of the pandemic. Life as it was has shifted to life as it is. The accepting of this reality strengthens the muscle of endurance in uncertain times. When I am dwelling on the gifts of this moment (a deep breath, clean water, a hug from my son) I am doing reps of forbearance. When I am truly looking at the suffering of our times in the systems that oppress and a pandemic that grips, I build the grit necessary to bear and break through burdens. Gratitude for what is and the imagination to dream what could be pairs wells with fortitude.
Justice: I am confronting my internal biases on race, systems, and supposed normalcy. The self-evaluation of this work is akin to scraping off barnacles from a boat. Barnacles that create a drag in the water that slow my efforts in right relationships. It is taxing to peel off crusty layers of my personal and historical barnacles of biases. For me this work is undergone through self-reflection, conversation, showing up, trainings, practices, and opening the doors of my curiosity even wider. I feel like I am never developing this virtue enough and those sneaky barnacles keep showing themselves in unexamined corners.
The hidden practice of meaning making is always under construction. It takes devotion to sweep up, build, and play with the virtues in the inner sanctuary of the heart. I am often called to lay down at the center of my inner sanctum, surrounded by the Mystical Choir of Christ, to be serenaded by songs of restoration. It emboldens me to whistle those same tunes on the streets or in endless Zoom meetings. Contemplative work is not escaping the current conditions of my life. It is embracing the fullness of my human condition and trying to help out where I can. The outward expression of my inner sanctuary is lived in concert with my one gifted chance to exist in this world. And it endlessly unfolds. The contemplative work is seeing the potential in waiting and overflowing from the Ground of Being into creative meaning-making.
Go, be, and become virtuous. "Virtue is the continuation of contemplation."^ A suffering world needs your meaningful participation right now. Become an ancestor that future generations will rely on for wise counsel in their own harrowing times.
*Plotinus or The Simplicity of Vision by Pierre Hadot, University of Chicago Press, 1993, p. 66
^ibid, p. 71
NonRequired Readings from within the Contemplify Basecamp
One of the many joys of Contempli is hearing from ya’ll around the campfire. The stories, practices, songs, and books that are illuminating your contemplative way. I am grateful for each one. I want to highlight four resources from artists and writers from within the Contemplify basecamp. Contemplify listeners and readers who are kindling the examined life for seekers around the world. A deep bow of gratitude to Joey, Syrah, Pat, and Elizabeth for sharing your gifts with me. Dear reader, may you be enticed to explore their contemplative work in the world below.
Living Revision: A Writer’s Craft as Spiritual Practice by Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew (Get it at the Public Library or IndieBound)
I wrote a ‘book’ on Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers when I was in third grade. It is my first memory of writing that made me feel fully alive. Writing is a spiritual practice of mine though I doubt I would have previously named it as such. In Living Revision, Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew gave me the structure, practical guidance, and encouragement to hone this craft and approach it as spiritual practice. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the line--oh this line--that trickles into my brain on the regular when I unleash my wordy faux-Knausgardian ways, “we do our best work of deepening and strengthening a heartbeat by eliminating all that doesn’t serve.” (p.247). This book offers so much to writers (amateur and professional) who want to add tools to their kit, refine their craft, or engage in writing as spiritual practice.
The Edge of the Unknown by The Least, Maybe (Listen and purchase at Bandcamp)
This album has accompanied me on many work days, drawing me to attend to the stirrings of my heart. I love how Joey describes this album: “It started with an idea. A logical regression. An album that begins with all electronic sounds, adds in piano & strings, the electronic sounds fade away, and the album ends with a solo piano piece. And the song titles make up a poem. And the idea stayed with me. For years. Slowly pieces started to come together. And the idea wouldn't leave me alone. Some individual songs I had written started to fit together in ways I didn't expect. There were some roadblocks. And I got in my own way more than I care to admit. But in the end, this is a work that I am very proud of.” This heartfelt spirit can be heard throughout this album.
Seeker Essays by Syrah Linsley (Read at SyrahLinsley.com)
These essays are tools for unearthing the inner life. Profound, touching, wily, and brimming with reflective depth. The particular essay that hooked me was ‘Unbegun Sun: Fathers, Photographs, and Sacrifice’. This sentence from 'Unbegun Sun' is swarming with melodious nuance, “I love this transition from self to self—from night to day—in the same way that my favorite season is the transition between seasons, and my favorite color is the transition from green to blue (“seafoam”). I seek these subtleties: the unnamed, the uncharted, the unbegun.” The Seeker Essays capture these transitions between the sacred and the mundane until the reader gasps, it is all one.
Conjectures: Three Books on Pilgrimage, Borderlands, and Belonging by Patrick Rawson (Get it at Amazon)
I often use the metaphor of pilgrimage. A rare religious word that holds dusty mystery in lock step with embodied motion. Patrick Rawson’s collection is alive with imagery of the “foot washers” of the church, travel notes along the Camino de Santiago, and our cosmic belonging in a time of pandemic. For Rawson, God is everywhere and belonging is his church. You are just as likely to find Rawson raising a pint in theological conversation with younger generations as you are to find him on borderland trails.
Contemplify Update
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At the edge of suffering, may you find meaning.
In the midst of suffering, may you find virtue.
In the legacy of suffering, may you hear ancestral voices guiding you forward.
Helping out where I can,
Paul
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P.P.S. The postings to kindle the examined life in a quarantined world are still being glued together daily under Quarantined Qontemplative at the Contemplify basecamp.