Great Swamp

The bog of life choices and spiritual discernment

J. and G. on the trail in Great Swamp Management Area

Years ago, our friend J. cautioned me that specialization is a good idea because "one only has so much lyricism." As I dilettantishly pursue parallel marshy paths in art, music, and writing, I keep worrying that I must give up two of those things and devote the rest of my life to just one of them.

So I asked G. what she thought my superpower was, hoping that she might help me to discern a path of specialization.  Her answer — based in part on the contents of my bookcase — shocked me: according to her, my superpower is bringing spirituality to people. 

I definitely don't feel morally or intellectually equipped for that and I don't think I ever could be.  A bodhisattva? Really? My thinking on this is a quagmire. And yet, this was the third time within the space of a couple of weeks that someone suggested this to me. R., after hearing me read aloud from scripture, suggested that I go to Divinity School. J., during a walk in RI’s Great Swamp Management Area, said she thought I’d missed my calling — that I should have been a minister.

J. recently retired from a career of teaching writing in various settings. I have read and admire her short stories, and look forward to reading her novel. In the Great Swamp, we got to talking about our writing efforts and I asked her for feedback on this Substack newsletter. She was supportive, saying that she appreciated my clarity. But she expressed doubts about my expressions of faith (here and here). She said, “I’m spiritual, but not religious.” Among other things she said she had trouble with the idea of a God who lets bad things happen to good people. Why would a loving God allow horrible things like cancer, war, pandemics, mass shootings, and so on? This is well-trodden theological ground — many people are familiar with Rabbi Harold Kushner’s 1981 book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People.

I think of myself as a beginner when it comes to theological and philosophical questions, but having heard at least one good sermon on the topic of “Theodicy,” and “free will,” I wanted to try to explain to J. my view that a loving God creates us in the image of God, i.e., as beings with free will, and not automatons that follow a predetermined path of sweetness and light. “Image of God” NOT as depicted in Western Art History, but more as the all-pervading energy of, say, the Big Bang.

Between the sex abuse scandals, history of inquisition violence, and overemphasis on obedience in the Roman Catholic church and the insanely narrow-minded autocratic tendencies of right-wing evangelicals, religion seems to have waned almost to nonexistence for most 21st-century people.

It’s understandable that 21st-century people would confront religious people with reservations.

I do feel called to support the neglected “Via Media,” or “middle way,” that embraces religiously faithful people who value reason and who thoughtfully espouse “progressive” ideas about social justice, environmental justice, and non-discrimination. It’s heartbreaking, maybe predictable, to see this middle way nearly drowned out by the cacophony of contemporary culture.

I said all this to J.

That’s when she said she thought I’d missed my calling.

I draw inspiration to be faithful from the faithful people that I have known — people who have devoted themselves to the institution of the church, like my brother-in-law who spent his entire career as an Episcopal priest and then died shortly after retirement; people like my brother who has led a contemplative life which has included Biblical scholarship and teaching people in his parish church; and people who have selflessly served others, like my sister who founded a daycare center for low-income people in southern Maine; and G., who has worked for justice by entering the political fray and by aiding the effort to help a refugee family settle locally.

I also draw inspiration from several e-mail newsletters to which I subscribe. Millennials: sorry, I doubt any of this content is available on TikTok. But quite a bit of it is freely available online, at least.

• “The Cottage” is a Substack newsletter by Diana Butler Bass, the historian of Christianity. She has written several books, notably Christianity for the Rest of Us, and A People’s History of Christianity.

• Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations. Also the author of many books, including The Naked Now and Falling Upward.

• Tish Harrison Warren writes a “subscriber-only” opinion newsletter for the NY Times. Her points of view frequently don’t mesh with mine, but they’re thought-provoking (if behind a paywall).

• The Pause / On Being. The archives of Krista Tippett’s superb public radio show On Being are available through the podcast platform of your choice.

• The Marginalian — “Marginalia on Our Quest for Meaning.” Maria Popova’s sources and interests are wide-ranging — literary, artistic, and scientific — including Virginia Woolf, Susan Sontag, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Pablo Neruda, May Sarton, Audre Lorde, Ram Dass, Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave. Popova has written or edited a couple of notable books: Figuring and A Velocity of Being: Letters to a Young Reader

• Next Draft, by Dave Pell, “managing editor of the Internet.” He rounds up the most interesting stories of the day, and seasons them with puns and mensch-y tag lines. His chronicle of pandemic times, Please Scream Inside Your Heart, is worth a read.

• Letters from an American, by Heather Cox Richardson, the historian, lays out the facts of current events and historical occurrences that relate to current politics. She sends something out every day, and even if she is still developing an idea or is tired, she sends a photo by her partner from the beautiful area of coastal Maine where she lives. In general, she is a fan of Biden. Every day (except for the photo days) after reading her, I get the feeling that it is past time to leave this country, but then I read her again the next day.

I suppose my way of being a bodhisattva is recommending things — like the librarian that I was in a previous life. I welcome YOUR recommendations and thoughts, especially here in the comments section below this post, but also in whatever communication medium you prefer.

My thanks as always to G. for her editorial perspicacity and for helping me clarify swampy thoughts.

[Books purchased through the independent bookseller links on this page may earn me a small commission.]