HUMAN AND SPIRITUAL JOURNEY AS SUBJECTIVE, PERSONAL, AND EXPERIENTIAL | PART 3
One of the greatest gifts of poetry to humanity is that poetry can hold contradictions as contradictions and mystery as a mystery without needing to unnecessarily divide and force things into binary thinking. Though the words tend to be dualistic in nature, poetry somehow can capture ironies, wonders, and mysteries and hold everything together without judgment. Poetry that holds this space of generosity and grace tends to span over many centuries and is well-loved across religious and cultural traditions. Poetry is the language of the human soul.
Poets with their keen ability to “caress the detail, the divine detail”[1] can make their experiences relate to people outside their world. While doing so, they struggle with the very existence and purpose of language, trying to be as precise as they can muster up and at the same time realizing the limits and even failure of language. Such profundity of language keeps the poets continuing to express themselves as unerringly as they can. This intolerable liminal space is where poets live and spend an inordinate amount of time and effort to be truthful and faithful to each experience and expression. I increasingly appreciate the process that went into the nicety of language with the backdrop of language limitation. More and more I am being invited to dwell in such judicious words and phrases to drink deeply from their life in relationship with my life. Rohr is right in that experientially for me, good poetry seems quite worthy of high religion and not for self-defined and self-interested “black and white” morality-driven low religion.
I love the “poetry” portions of Scripture, especially the Psalms (including other wisdom books in the Old Testament. I would also even consider Old Testament prophets as poets) for their brutal honesty, willingness to hold tensions and ironies of life, and the audacity to call life as is, not necessarily as it should be. While we know that “God is good,” the Psalmists would pause and honestly say, “I know God is good, but not today.” Today, I am angry, in lament, upset, in pain, under duress, being pursued by enemies, etc. The greater attraction and freedom are that one does not have to end with praise or a declaration that God is good. The Psalms invite us to be aware, be real, and be honest and okay with the fact that God does not seem good today. God’s goodness ultimately prevails someday for sure, but we do not have to force it upon us today before we are ready. It invites us to hold the tensions and the liminal space without a clear resolution. The Psalmists or the poets tell us it is okay. I find this generosity freeing. I find this God magnanimous and full of grace.
While traveling throughout Southeast Asia and now Korea because I am in a new environment, I am more cognizant of what is happening around me. With heightened awareness, I can engage better my life’s interior orientation such as emotions, thoughts, and senses. My usual tendency is to deny negative emotions and thoughts and try to coast along but I am learning to “greet and host them all”[2] as my guests. Anxiety and anger, the slow simmering kind, as well as the excitement of the unknowns and adventures risen to the top in recent weeks. The “all” aspects of my life become a doorway to connect with the poetry of all aspects of life. I find myself conversing poetry with the “poem”[3] of my life and vice versa.
The Psalmists also seemed to struggle with language as we do. Never mind the fact that the Bible has been edited countless times and reorganized by later scribes and priests with certain religious, national, and political agendas, not even mention the translation effort into many different languages for many centuries, adding more complexity. On a grand stroke, I would like to think that the Bible is giving us permission to struggle with our own words honestly, stemming from our experiences and engagement in our lives. There is the invitation to process by entering and owning our life as well as by learning from the writers (poets if you like) and editors. The Bible engages us in the very process of life, not necessarily giving us answers in life.
The parables Jesus taught, and “other-worldly” eloquent teachings Jesus said are like good poetry. The teachings reveal what’s often underneath beyond a simple yes or no and engage a process by which answers arise from within. Jesus is the master of saying just enough, causing those who are willing to listen and see to hear and see, not overexplaining and destroying astonishment. Jesus possesses an unparalleled way of asking questions, deep and existential questions, that we cannot and had better not avoid. Poetry, dare I say, plays a similar role in raising questions in my life without destroying astonishment or curiosity. In fact, poetry creates an expansive and generous space for shared astonishment, wonder, and curiosity.
Both engage in the very process of life. Without the process, life is not life—no one blinks on life and blinks off life. As we live or process life with awareness, we experience life as it happens, in real-time, discover grace as synonyms for power and wisdom to know how to live and find a connection between what is personal and universal, thus connecting with the world God created and ultimately with God.
Conclusion
Both God and the Bible fully expect and celebrate life to be fully lived according to God’s original blessing and intention. All of us are on the journey of discovering who we are (how God created us to be). This journey is and should be unapologetically subjective, personal, and experiential. As we own our subjectivity and honor our life experiences, I believe we develop greater capacity and hospitable space for others to own their subjectivities without us meddling and vice versa. And that is a good and honorable thing because that is how God designed us!
[1] Vladimir Nabokov
[2] The Guest House by Jalaluddin Rumi
[3] “Poiema” is the word Apostle Paul uses only twice in the New Testament: Romans 1:20 and Ephesians 2:10. Romans 1:20 verse refers to the creation whereas the same word in Ephesians refers to humanity.