I am reading a new book, which is different and inspiring. The book is Eight Whopping Lies by Brian Doyle. It is a collection of two or three-page reflections on some aspect of life or experience that Doyle gives focus. He is not really a theologian, but a writer---writer of novels and essays. This book is a book of essays. I have only recently heard about Brian Doyle, but plan to spend time with some of his other works.
Doyle died recently from a bout with cancer at the relatively young age of sixty. Knowing this, as I head into the book, gives me a perspective and expectation to see what he says. This book is published not too long before his death, so I wonder if he had any premonitions? We shall see.
I would like to focus on one particular short essay he entitled, “Illuminos.” Clearly, our English word, illumination, comes that that word. When I see a title, I expect that it guides what I am to expect when I get into the text. Illumination suggests to me sight, insight and, perhaps, revelation. Let’s dive in and see.
“One child held onto my left pinky finger everywhere we went.” That is an intriguing line, but it gives me no clue where he is going with it. However, I did relate to it, because I easily recall all those times my two girls held a finger or hand. And more recently, there are the grandkids. We have just finished training the last one to walk. He would manage to get to a standing position, reach up his hand and want at least a finger to guide his first drunken steps! So I can relate.
“Another child held onto my left trouser leg most of the time…” This is a similar scene with a different point of contact. The third paragraph flagged his third child. That child, we are told, “held hands happily all the time, either hand, any hand, my hands, his mother’s hands…” It is easy to imagine that kid, although neither of my girls was this kind of child. That kid is the outgoing one, apparently ready to trust anyone and simply go for it. I was not that kind of kid, I suspect.
I read all of this on one page and, while intrigued, I have no idea where this is going. I also do not know how it relates to illumines. But like a good life, I can’t wait to see what comes. Essentially he uses the third kid as the link to what he really wants to tell us. Oddly, he finishes the third kid’s story by saying, “He once held hands with his best friend during an entire soccer game.”
Then comes the next sentence which touches in illumines. Doyle observes, “It seems to me that angels and bodhisattvas are everywhere available for consultation if we can only see them clear…” This seeing, I am confident, becomes and illumination. Normally we don’t go around saying we see angels and bodhisattvas. We see only ordinary things. But this is surely Doyle’s point. In and through the ordinary, we can glimpse the extraordinary. I would like to suggest that the extraordinary, in this case, links to the spiritual. And so, the spiritual is found right here in the midst of our ordinariness.
Listen further to Doyle’s explanation, when he allows that the angles and bodhisattvas are “unadorned, and joyous…radiant, and luminous, and not disguised, or hidden…” He assures us that when we see them clearly (and anybody can see them), “you realize immediately who they are, beings of great and humble illumination…” Finally and clearly, here is reference to the title of the essay. Illumination comes to those of us who are able to see the angels and bodhisattvas.
Now Doyle is ready for his next step with us. He promises “they are your teachers, and they are agents of an imaginable love…” This is the crucial sentence for me and links to the title I have offered for this inspirational piece. They are agents of love. In fact, they are agents of unimaginable love. This sounds almost too good to be true. I can imagine Doyle would nod and say yes, almost too good to be true. But it is true! This is quite exciting.
Regularly, I tell students that humans have the choice to survive or thrive. To thrive is to be fully human, which for me is to be spiritual. I don’t think we can do it on our own. We will need others---angels and bodhisattvas---to show us the way---to illuminate, if you will. Those angels may be our own kids or, maybe, any little kid. They probably will be our friends and maybe even the strangers who come across our path.
Doyle says they are there all the time. There are right here in our midst. We don’t need special revelations. All we need to do is learn to see. Learn to see: that sounds simple and it is. But we have to become aware. Think of all the junk you watch (see) all the time. It used to be tv. Now it is computers, cell phones, etc. Look up! Look around! Open your eyes. There are angels and bodhisattvas all around.
They are agents of love.
Doyle died recently from a bout with cancer at the relatively young age of sixty. Knowing this, as I head into the book, gives me a perspective and expectation to see what he says. This book is published not too long before his death, so I wonder if he had any premonitions? We shall see.
I would like to focus on one particular short essay he entitled, “Illuminos.” Clearly, our English word, illumination, comes that that word. When I see a title, I expect that it guides what I am to expect when I get into the text. Illumination suggests to me sight, insight and, perhaps, revelation. Let’s dive in and see.
“One child held onto my left pinky finger everywhere we went.” That is an intriguing line, but it gives me no clue where he is going with it. However, I did relate to it, because I easily recall all those times my two girls held a finger or hand. And more recently, there are the grandkids. We have just finished training the last one to walk. He would manage to get to a standing position, reach up his hand and want at least a finger to guide his first drunken steps! So I can relate.
“Another child held onto my left trouser leg most of the time…” This is a similar scene with a different point of contact. The third paragraph flagged his third child. That child, we are told, “held hands happily all the time, either hand, any hand, my hands, his mother’s hands…” It is easy to imagine that kid, although neither of my girls was this kind of child. That kid is the outgoing one, apparently ready to trust anyone and simply go for it. I was not that kind of kid, I suspect.
I read all of this on one page and, while intrigued, I have no idea where this is going. I also do not know how it relates to illumines. But like a good life, I can’t wait to see what comes. Essentially he uses the third kid as the link to what he really wants to tell us. Oddly, he finishes the third kid’s story by saying, “He once held hands with his best friend during an entire soccer game.”
Then comes the next sentence which touches in illumines. Doyle observes, “It seems to me that angels and bodhisattvas are everywhere available for consultation if we can only see them clear…” This seeing, I am confident, becomes and illumination. Normally we don’t go around saying we see angels and bodhisattvas. We see only ordinary things. But this is surely Doyle’s point. In and through the ordinary, we can glimpse the extraordinary. I would like to suggest that the extraordinary, in this case, links to the spiritual. And so, the spiritual is found right here in the midst of our ordinariness.
Listen further to Doyle’s explanation, when he allows that the angles and bodhisattvas are “unadorned, and joyous…radiant, and luminous, and not disguised, or hidden…” He assures us that when we see them clearly (and anybody can see them), “you realize immediately who they are, beings of great and humble illumination…” Finally and clearly, here is reference to the title of the essay. Illumination comes to those of us who are able to see the angels and bodhisattvas.
Now Doyle is ready for his next step with us. He promises “they are your teachers, and they are agents of an imaginable love…” This is the crucial sentence for me and links to the title I have offered for this inspirational piece. They are agents of love. In fact, they are agents of unimaginable love. This sounds almost too good to be true. I can imagine Doyle would nod and say yes, almost too good to be true. But it is true! This is quite exciting.
Regularly, I tell students that humans have the choice to survive or thrive. To thrive is to be fully human, which for me is to be spiritual. I don’t think we can do it on our own. We will need others---angels and bodhisattvas---to show us the way---to illuminate, if you will. Those angels may be our own kids or, maybe, any little kid. They probably will be our friends and maybe even the strangers who come across our path.
Doyle says they are there all the time. There are right here in our midst. We don’t need special revelations. All we need to do is learn to see. Learn to see: that sounds simple and it is. But we have to become aware. Think of all the junk you watch (see) all the time. It used to be tv. Now it is computers, cell phones, etc. Look up! Look around! Open your eyes. There are angels and bodhisattvas all around.
They are agents of love.
Comments
Post a Comment