{"id":81085,"date":"2017-03-04T07:20:26","date_gmt":"2017-03-04T13:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tracyleekarner.com\/?p=81085"},"modified":"2017-03-04T07:20:26","modified_gmt":"2017-03-04T13:20:26","slug":"81085","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tracyrittmueller.com\/2017\/03\/04\/81085\/","title":{"rendered":"Marilynne Robinson on The Givenness of Things and Democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you ever try to write a poem attempting to capture a mind-to-mind, heart-to-heart encounter, sitting\u00a0up half the night conversing\u00a0with a brilliant person \/ kindred spirit, your heart bursting with a sensation of music, moonlight and the mystery of existence all mingled together?
\nDon’t bother; it’s impossible to put into words.
\nI’ve recently been savoring\u00a0essays from\u00a0Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Marilynne Robinson<\/a>‘s 2015 collection,\u00a0The Giveness of Things.\u00a0<\/em>I’d like to share my feelings about this book with you.
\n\"screen-shot-2017-02-15-at-5-01-42-pm\"
\nI attempted to put my sentiments into an essay, but instead of communicating the moonlit, musical, mystery of existence\u00a0welling up in\u00a0my heart, I came off sounding like Marilynne Robinson’s parrot.
\nIt’s difficult to write about\u00a0The Giveness of\u00a0Things\u00a0<\/em>because it’s a difficult book–chock-full of rigorous, abstract, theological, political, historical, literary, scholarly argument. It’s as difficult as maintaining democracy.
\nThis might have been\u00a0the sort of hoity-toity tome I usually slam shut with an exasperated\u00a0hrumph.\u00a0<\/em>But in this case, all that intimidating knowledge is counterbalanced with humility, compassion and wisdom. I couldn’t stop reading. It’s so timely,\u00a0<\/em>it feels like soul-medicine. I expected the usual Robinsonian mixture of literature and theology. I didn’t expect that she would be speaking to the current political situation, and to my heart.
\nThis collection is about the aspirations that truly, authentically make a nation\u00a0great\u00a0<\/em>— unity, justice, domestic peace\u00a0and liberty. Robinson seems to be of the mind that America\u00a0could still become the nation it, at its inception,\u00a0aspired to be. So this is a hopeful volume.
\nBut this is also a wrenching lamentation of biblical proportion, heroically identifying the sins (she’s a self-proclaimed Calvinist) America\u00a0needs to acknowledge, repent of, and make amends for — greed, racism, classism, narrow-minded arrogance, and above all, fear.
\n“Fear,” this\u00a0Calvinist-Christian and lover of her country says to a nation which overwhelmingly self-identifies as Christian, “is not a Christian habit of mind.”
\nRobinson makes me\u00a0aware that democracy is something for which we always must fight, not with violent words or weapons. We fight by first coming to a deep, clear\u00a0understanding of who we as Americans are\u00a0supposed to be and stand for. To\u00a0win we must then abide\u00a0by our noblest convictions.
\nAmerica, she reiterates in one essay after another, was founded on the principle that all\u00a0humans, by simple virtue of their humanity, are deserving of\u00a0dignity, respect and compassion.
\nDivisiveness, greed, and hatred are not American habits of mind. Indignity, disrespect and cruelty are not American behaviors.
\n“To value one another is our greatest safety,” she writes, “and to indulge in fear and contempt is our gravest error.”
\nRobinson’s\u00a0use of the personal-plural is designed to indict us and incite us to action. I’m moved to join her in calling for decency and respect in our speech and behavior. Here’s my credo now:<\/p>\n

Note to Self<\/h4>\n

To be rich in love you must squander your love\u00a0on every person you meet. Want\u00a0your\u00a0<\/span>world\u00a0changed, your country reformed,\u00a0your life\u00a0<\/span>made safe? You cannot shirk, you cannot\u00a0afford\u00a0to leave the work\u00a0to others.\u00a0You must lead\u00a0the revolution,\u00a0<\/span>you must be the cure.\u00a0Begin now.\u00a0To the people\u00a0you don’t\u00a0understand,\u00a0offer kindness, a listening ear;\u00a0to the people you cannot condone\u00a0offer respect and dignity. If you lack\u00a0courage, build it. Begin simply–offer a smile\u00a0instead of a sneer. You will grow capable you will\u00a0grow confident you will become a beautiful\u00a0lover (love is a muscle you must build). So love\u00a0those people\u00a0who sour your stomach,\u00a0then love the ones you fear, then go\u00a0pro–love the people you hate. Because love
\n(you knew this once)\u00a0is the only\u00a0thing that makes\u00a0your country,\u00a0your city,\u00a0your neighborhood, your family, you…<\/span>
\nGreat.<\/span><\/p>\n

Who do you aspire to become and what will\u00a0you stand for?<\/h3>\n

Photo credit: freestock.ca \u2661 dare to share beauty<\/a> via Visual hunt<\/a> \/ CC BY<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Did you ever try to write a poem attempting to capture a mind-to-mind, heart-to-heart encounter, sitting\u00a0up half the night conversing\u00a0with a brilliant person \/ kindred spirit, your heart bursting with a sensation of music, moonlight and the mystery of existence all mingled together? Don’t bother; it’s impossible to put into words. I’ve recently been savoring\u00a0essays …<\/p>\n

Marilynne Robinson on The Givenness of Things and Democracy<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8,52,54,55,378,392,707,1127],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tracyrittmueller.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81085"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tracyrittmueller.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tracyrittmueller.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tracyrittmueller.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tracyrittmueller.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tracyrittmueller.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tracyrittmueller.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tracyrittmueller.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tracyrittmueller.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tracyrittmueller.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}