{"id":81403,"date":"2018-10-06T13:08:15","date_gmt":"2018-10-06T19:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tracyrittmueller.com\/?p=81403"},"modified":"2020-10-06T23:21:13","modified_gmt":"2020-10-06T23:21:13","slug":"8-things-poets-and-monastics-can-teach-us-about-happiness-with-8-poems-to-make-life-more-meaningful-part-1-of-a-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tracyrittmueller.com\/2018\/10\/06\/8-things-poets-and-monastics-can-teach-us-about-happiness-with-8-poems-to-make-life-more-meaningful-part-1-of-a-series\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Things Poets and Monastics Can Teach Us About Happiness; with 8 Poems to Make Life More Meaningful&#8211;Part 1 of a series"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><span style=\"color:#333333;\">What poets and monastics have in common<\/span><\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"color:#333333;\">When people think about what poets and monastics (monks and nuns who live in monasteries) have in common, the list might look like this:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color:#333333;\">They have their heads in the clouds;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color:#333333;\">They\u2019re hermits;.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color:#333333;\">They dress weird;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color:#333333;\">And they\u2019re dying off.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color:#333333;\">Like all potent rumors, there\u2019s a smidgeon of truth in each of those statements.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color:#333333;\">Poets and monastics do tend to contemplate the nonmaterial world \u00a0\u2014<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>love, death, memory, dreams, intuition, emotions, and the spiritual life.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color:#333333;\">The work of poets (studying literature and writing poems) and of monastics (praying and reading scripture) frequently causes them to spend significant time alone.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color:#333333;\">Some monastics wear habits and some poets dress artsy.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color:#333333;\">It&#8217;s true there are <a style=\"color:#333333;\" href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/2\/hi\/europe\/7227629.stm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fewer monastics than there were just fifty years ago<\/a>, \u00a0And while <a style=\"color:#333333;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/magazine\/archive\/1991\/05\/can-poetry-matter\/305062\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the proliferation of MFA programs has given us more professional poets than ever<\/a>, \u00a0they appear to have sequestered themselves into <i>the professional poets\u2019 secret cave<\/i> (somewhere in Brooklyn?). And when we look at who reads poetry (other poets!), poems appear to have little cultural relevance for average Americans.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color:#333333;\">And yet, <a style=\"color:#333333;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.garrisoninstitute.org\/blog\/turn-poetry-important-moments-lives\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">at the important moments of our lives, we often turn to poetry<\/a> <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>And while the number of monks and nuns have recently been declining, <a style=\"color:#333333;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christiancentury.org\/article\/hermitage-sees-surge-laypeople-who-want-monastic-experience\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">there is a world-wide surge in the number of people becoming Benedictine Oblates,<\/a>\u00a0(ordinary lay people of all denominations who choose to affiliate with a monastic community, committed to a Benedictine way of life while living away from the monastery).<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#333333;\">I have been a life-long reader and writer of poetry. In my recent formation as a Benedictine Oblate, I was struck by many commonalities between the practices and values of poets and those of Benedictines. Although poetry is made of words, it works on our hearts in ways that are akin to music and to prayer. Poetry, music, and prayer\u00a0take us to levels of insight and understanding deep in our hearts and soul, places even the most rational, cogent, and beautiful words of sermons or instruction cannot reach. So, in this series of articles, I identify:<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"color:#333333;\">8 things poets and monastics can teach us about happiness, with 8 poems that can help us live more meaningfully.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h1><span style=\"color:#333333;\">The First Thing Poets and Monastics Teach Us: Become who you were made to be.<\/span><\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"color:#333333;\">Both poets and monastics know that everything meaningful begins with desire&#8211;that call of the heart that compels us to live an authentic life, true to who we were made to be. In other words, as the poet <a style=\"color:#333333;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.alicebfogel.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alice B. Fogel<\/a>\u00a0writes in her book <em>Strange Terrain<\/em>, &#8220;It&#8217;s all about love.&#8221;<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#333333;\">What calls you? What do you <em>love<\/em>? (Notice that this is an entirely different question from &#8220;what do you <em>want<\/em>?&#8221;) \u00a0What kind of life does your heart &#8212; your truest self &#8212; desire to live?<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#333333;\">Living the life we are <em>called<\/em> to live, leads to a fulfilling life.<a style=\"color:#333333;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mountosb.org\/share\/the-discernment-process\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u00a0Before making their final monastic profession, monks and nuns go through years of discernment<\/a>\u00a0to discover whether they are called to community life. Poets also frequently speak of being called. Joy Harjo, in her introduction to\u00a0<i><a style=\"color:#333333;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/How-We-Became-Human-1975-2002\/dp\/0393325342\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1538847300&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=how+we+became+human+joy+harjo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">How We Became Human: New And Selected Poems: 1975-2001<\/a>,\u00a0<\/i>says that early in her writing life, she felt as if poetry tapped her on the shoulder and said, &#8220;You&#8217;re coming with me.&#8221;<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#333333;\">In both the vocation of a monastic and the vocation of a poet, there is a sense that this call comes from outside of us, from something bigger than we are. <a style=\"color:#333333;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/entertainment-arts-29538180\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sir Andrew Motion is an English poet and novelist who was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2009.<\/a> He says. \u201cYou don&#8217;t find your subject, it finds you.\u201d<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#333333;\">Here is a long poem with a long title, (often shortened to it&#8217;s first word, &#8220;Lines&#8221;)\u00a0by William Wordsworth, that speaks to me of desire of the heart to seek a life we can love. This was one of the first poems that called me to the reading and writing of poetry, and also, through a circuitous route, to Benedictine spirituality. Even in my early twenties, I wanted a life committed to &#8220;kindness and to love.&#8221; \u00a0This poem speaks of holy love, of stability of place, of harmony, deep joy, and the ability to &#8220;see into the life of things.&#8221;<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#333333;\">Here is the second stanza of the poem:<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"c-feature-hd\">\n<h2 class=\"c-hdgSans c-hdgSans_2 c-mix-hdgSans_inline\"><span style=\"color:#333333;\">Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour. July 13, 1798: by William Wordsworth<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-feature-sub c-feature-sub_vast\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left:180px;\"><span style=\"color:#333333;\">\u00a0These beauteous forms,<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color:#333333;\">Through a long absence, have not been to me<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color:#333333;\">As is a landscape to a blind man&#8217;s eye:<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color:#333333;\">But oft, in lonely rooms, and &#8216;mid the din<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color:#333333;\">Of towns and cities, I have owed to them,<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color:#333333;\">In hours of weariness, sensations sweet,<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color:#333333;\">Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart;<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color:#333333;\">And passing even into my purer mind<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color:#333333;\">With tranquil restoration:\u2014feelings too<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color:#333333;\">Of unremembered pleasure: such, perhaps,<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color:#333333;\">As have no slight or trivial influence<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color:#333333;\">On that best portion of a good man&#8217;s life,<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color:#333333;\">His little, nameless, unremembered, acts<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color:#333333;\">Of kindness and of love. Nor less, I trust,<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color:#333333;\">To them I may have owed another gift,<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color:#333333;\">Of aspect more sublime; that blessed mood,<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color:#333333;\">In which the burthen of the mystery,<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color:#333333;\">In which the heavy and the weary weight<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color:#333333;\">Of all this unintelligible world,<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color:#333333;\">Is lightened:\u2014that serene and blessed mood,<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color:#333333;\">In which the affections gently lead us on,\u2014<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color:#333333;\">Until, the breath of this corporeal frame<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color:#333333;\">And even the motion of our human blood<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color:#333333;\">Almost suspended, we are laid asleep<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color:#333333;\">In body, and become a living soul:<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color:#333333;\">While with an eye made quiet by the power<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color:#333333;\">Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color:#333333;\">We see into the life of things.<\/span><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#333333;\">*******************<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#333333;\">If this fragment of the longer poem engaged any part of you, you might want to spend time with the entire poem. Pour yourself a cup of tea and settle into a cozy sofa.<i>\u00a0<\/i>Read &#8220;<i>with half-extinguished thought&#8221;<\/i> the way you might listen to music. Don&#8217;t try to puzzle out the meaning of the words because what, after all, is the <em>meaning<\/em> of desire, of love, of romance? Just experience the poem, and see if any words call you to pay attention to them, to live with them, love them, and follow them where they lead you.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#333333;\">You can click here to access the full version of<a style=\"color:#333333;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.poetryfoundation.org\/poems\/45527\/lines-composed-a-few-miles-above-tintern-abbey-on-revisiting-the-banks-of-the-wye-during-a-tour-july-13-1798\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> &#8220;Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour. July 13, 1798.&#8221; <\/a>Try\u00a0\u00a0reading <i>Lines <\/i>aloud, and see what happens. Allow your understanding to remain <i>dim and faint and somewhat of sad perplexity <\/i>while you taste the poem\u2019s deliciousness. Then ask yourself&#8211;<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color:#333333;\"><em>What kind of life does my truest self, in my heart of hearts, desire to live?\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color:#333333;\">This is a profound question. The answer requires discernment. Part Two of this series explores a habit cultivated by Benedictines and by poets: to listen. It is only through <em>listening<\/em> that we can <em>hear<\/em> what calls.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color:#333333;\">If you aren&#8217;t already on my email list, and would like to receive an email when I post the next articles in this series, please contact me through this form. You can also use this form to share your thoughts with me, and I&#8217;ll respond to you. I promise you will always hear from me personally, and not from a contact management software program.<\/span><br \/>\n[contact-form][contact-field label=&#8221;Name&#8221; type=&#8221;name&#8221; required=&#8221;1&#8243; \/][contact-field label=&#8221;Email&#8221; type=&#8221;email&#8221; required=&#8221;1&#8243; \/][contact-field label=&#8221;Comment&#8221; type=&#8221;textarea&#8221; required=&#8221;1&#8243; \/][\/contact-form]<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1><\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What poets and monastics have in common When people think about what poets and monastics (monks and nuns who live in monasteries) have in common, the list might look like this: They have their heads in the clouds; They\u2019re hermits;. They dress weird; And they\u2019re dying off.\u00a0 Like all potent rumors, there\u2019s a smidgeon of &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/tracyrittmueller.com\/2018\/10\/06\/8-things-poets-and-monastics-can-teach-us-about-happiness-with-8-poems-to-make-life-more-meaningful-part-1-of-a-series\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">8 Things Poets and Monastics Can Teach Us About Happiness; with 8 Poems to Make Life More Meaningful&#8211;Part 1 of a series<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81405,"comment_status":"closed","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":[2,4],"tags":[110,200,673,776,830,842],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tracyrittmueller.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81403"}],"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=81403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tracyrittmueller.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tracyrittmueller.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tracyrittmueller.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tracyrittmueller.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tracyrittmueller.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}