More and more of the readers of this “Notebooks” E-newsletter come from beyond the world of my day job, serving as Bishop of the New England Synod ELCA Lutheran. So welcome! This community is deep and wide. The focus here is on the intersection of Spirituality and Depth Psychology. The spirituality is primarily (but not exclusively) based on Christian mysticism, and the psychology is rooted in the work of Carl Jung and Marie Louis Von Franz, along with others in that tradition. This issue of Notebooks is a bit more newsy than usual but concludes with some reflections on the Sabbath.

What’s going on with the new book?

Weird Wisdom is in process.

I hope to complete the writing this summer and engage my editor by late July. I've made some changes from the first version, which I previewed at a retreat in March. I'm shaping the book to emphasize the weird wisdom we all need as opposed to only on the second half of life though that's still present.

My conviction is that our data-filled society of instant everything has become over-saturated with information and knowledge, but we lack wisdom. Worse than that, it strikes me that what we lack is the desire for wisdom. It’s just not something people pursue anymore. An elder commented to me this past winter that life is less about finding the answers, the solutions, or the outcomes but really about the choice to pursue them. That's kinda weird, and perhaps there is some wisdom simply in the pursuit.

I'm expecting a fall release, and you'll be the first to know here.

“The serious problems in life, however, are never fully solved. If ever they should appear to be so, it is a sure sign that something has been lost..." ~ C.G. Jung, from The Stages of Life.

Resurrecting contemplative photography

For years I worked as a professional photographer. It was rewarding on many levels, and the extra income helped send my son to college. But after a decade or more I burned out on that side hustle. It’s been some time since that work, and the sabbath time away has been healthy. Recently, I’ve felt the tug back toward the art of photography. Nowadays, it's showing up on my Instagram account in the form of abstracts, weird color combinations, and artful black and white. This spring, a friend pointed me to a couple of fine books on contemplative photography. Both Valerie Jardin’s Introduction to Contemplative Photography as well as Howard Zehr’s The Little Book of Contemplative Photography remind me of the soulful, creative and life-giving side of this art I once practiced. Unburdened by the demand to make it a business, photography is now becoming a spiritual practice. I’m in conversations with a retreat center about hosting a workshop on contemplative photography as a spiritual practice, more to come.

Words as Images

Earlier in May, the Poet Cathy Smith Bowers reignited my appreciation for the poetry of life, nature, and the soul. Ms. Bower's book The Abiding Image is a must-read for the poet in all of us. She reminds us of the abiding image that permeates all of life, while offering helpful ways for people to articulate that image in words for story, poetry and lyrics. Thanks to her help, I was able to pen this poem.

On the Turning of my 63rd Year
Hiking the Carter Preserve
On the trail
Marked by granite and moss,
Glacial rubble from the Pleistocene.
To the west
the sun moves from zenith to landfall.
A breeze tickles the white pines and the birch.
Above me, the cumulus gather
For a coming storm
Or the passing of one.

All this banter of dreams, books, images, and words bouncing around in my brain and moving in my soul might give you a glimpse of the disruption I've experienced lately. My coach tells me this is the natural order for Enneagram 8's. We've lived our lives leading groups, challenging structures, and pushing projects. So it's not unusual to open to new ways of being in the world. So expect more of this coming storm, be it a whirlwind or gentle rain.

A Summer of Sabbath

We live in a culture of restlessness, and the antidote is restfulness.

Ancient people in the Near East seem to be the first to realize and articulate the need to "give it a rest." They were agrarian people after years and years as nomadic people. While the Hebrew scriptures suggest that from the very outset of time, even Yahweh insisted on a day of rest, it wasn't until the once enslaved people were moving toward a more settled existence that they finally got the message and encoded it in their first book of laws. Remembering the sabbath day became a commandment that was also tied to other ideas, such as the year of Jubilee, a time of debt relief every fifty years. Both aspirational concepts that never became solidified in day-to-day life.

In our time, there is much gnashing and wailing around laws or structures that we no longer follow, but the one commandment our society seems quite bold to defy is rarely mentioned. How often is the answer to "how are you?" no longer "I'm fine," but "I'm so busy." A sigh of exhaustion often accompanies it. In today's world, people are praised for their productivity, effectiveness, and accomplishments. And, like you, I have that voice pounding in my head to do more, generate more, and work more. The Pharoah's voice from ancient Egypt echoes through the centuries as if my value comes from building more pyramids.

There was a period when external collective agreements reinforced the practice of the Sabbath. On the farm in Montana, the wheat farmers with Nordic piety never worked the land on Sundays. A classmate of mine from seminary discovered this while on his internship in a rural parish on those open plains. That was thirty-five years ago and a reminder of an era with culturally reinforced norms. In our go-go 21st century internet-connected society, external reinforcement disappeared long ago. The only way to reclaim the sabbath falls to the individual and perhaps a tiny cluster of friends and family members.

By Sabbath, I'm not speaking of the day off to get errands done. Instead, I wonder about time on the porch, a walk in the park, contemplating Mary Oliver, or extended reflection on life's big questions. The more extroverted among us might invite a friend to the porch or the park or the conversation on those important looming questions. Some Orthodox communities, be they Jewish or Amish, restrict engagement with all things mechanical and technological. Thus it's a walk to the synagogue or the neighbor's barn for supper. These practices seem utterly distant, and the reader may think I'm casting about for a time that is simply out of reach—a fair point.

But our restless times call for a response, and I do not see more activity moving us further toward the realm of peace. On the contrary, I think we are all desiring a sabbath. Self-imposed pauses, be they breathing techniques, mindfulness practices, or plain old prayers of silence, are increasingly needed.

As Walter Brueggeman points out in the quote below, finding Sabbath requires intentionality and communal reinforcement. It's not enough for each of us to individually seek Sabbath, though that is part of the solution. What is needed is a commitment by the community to Sabbath. This might happen in gatherings where people say, "let's pause from all this activity, even if for a moment, an hour or a week." It can also be reinforced when we speak and listen to others about their busy lives. Can we offer words that counter the not-so-subtle implication that the more active we are, the more value we hold?

“In our contemporary context of the rat race of anxiety, the celebration of Sabbath is an act of both resistance and alternative. It is resistance because it is a visible insistence that our lives are not defined by the production and consumption of commodity goods. Such an act of resistance requires enormous intentionality and communal reinforcement amid the barrage of seductive pressures from the insatiable insistences of the market, with its intrusions into every part of our life from the family to the national budget….But Sabbath is not only resistance. It is alternative…The alternative on offer is the awareness and practice of the claim that we are situated on the receiving end of the gifts of God.” Walter Brueggeman, Sabbath as Resistance: Saying No to the Culture of Now

All the wise people I know, be they in the annals of recorded history or the partners in contemporary living, practiced Sabbath and still do. So let's bring this to a close with the wisdom of Mary Oliver. Though the poem is titled Praying, it could also be titled Sabbath.

Praying
It doesn’t have to be
The blue iris, it could be
Weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
Small stones; just
Pay attention, then patch
A few words together and don’t try
To make them elaborate, this isn’t
A contest but the doorway
Into thanks, and a silence in which
Another voice may speak.
- Mary Oliver, Devotions

In the spirit of the summer sabbath, I'll be stepping away from Notebooks until the weather turns cooler and the length of days decreases. See you in September. Have a sabbath-like summer.

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