Poet and writer, David Whyte, has a short poem called “Twice Blessed.” Whyte is one of the most thoughtful writers I know. He is Irish but lives in the US. One reason I like him so much is his ability with words. People who know me know how much I like words, but my thinking is not poetic. I have never written poetry and have not even read that much. This is an area I am trying to do more of as I move through my life.
I was attracted to Whyte's poem because I respond well to the idea of blessing. I probably heard this word in church as I was growing up. It usually meant one of two things. One thing was a “blessing” that one might say as a kind of prayer at mealtimes. Sometimes my grandmother would ask someone to “ask a blessing.” When you hear that as a kid, you naturally assume blessings are things you can ask for---much like presents at Christmas. The other place I ran into the idea of blessing was at church itself. Sometimes the last thing the pastoral leader would say at the end of the service was some form of blessing for all of us in attendance. Again, as a kid, I was not really sure what that meant---except things were finished, and I could run off with my buddies.
The poem begins by portraying a person stopping by a body of water to see her face and look to the sky to see her image there, too. Soon Whyte says, “I allowed myself to be astonished by the great everywhere calling to me…” I am sure many people immediately interpret this to be God “speaking” in some way. I am ok with that interpretation, but I also don’t think it has to be God---at least God speaking directly to us. It seems clear to me that things have called me, as well as God. Particular jobs and special people have “called to me.” I admit I am as fascinated with the word, astonished, which Whyte used in the sentence I quoted.
I am intrigued that he confesses he “allowed” himself to be astonished. Typically, when I think about being astonished, I assume it comes unbidden. It is almost like being surprised. Astonishment is like being positively startled. Boom! It is there and I am astonished. Whyte sounds like he has a bit more control than that. “I allowed myself to be astonished,” he says. For me astonishment is always a good thing---a positive. I am not astonished by evil or bad things. I might be revolted, disgusted, but never astonished.
Whyte says he is astonished by “the great everywhere calling to me.” This is the cool thing about poetry. I am not at all sure what he means by “the great everywhere.” If God is love, then it could be God again. Love is everywhere; hence so is God. But it might mean something like the entire universe calls us. I can imagine that. Once more, I believe the universe calls us to good things. The universe would prefer that we not be up to no good!
I love the idea that Whyte conveys when he says this “call” comes to us as an invitation. This seems significant, because we can always turn down an invitation. We can always say no. That is certainly what many of us do to God. We say no---or not yet. But what if the universe is inviting into wonderful places and very special times? Some of us are living such controlled lives, we would not even catch that kind of invitation. We think we have to set things up---arrange things so they come our way. It is almost as if we don’t trust God or the universe to work on our behalf and deliver the kinds of things we prefer.
Basically, I read Whyte telling us that this kind of call, invitation and response is a good way to discover who we really are and who we can yet be. I can almost hear God saying, “You want to do it all on your own? Go ahead, but it won’t be as good as I can give you or as I want for you.” Obviously, this is difficult to believe. And if I am an atheist, it is impossible to believe! I will say, however, I am trusting it to be true. And I would like to be where Whyte is so I can hear that call and respond to the invitation.
I appreciate where Whyte ends his short poem. His deep learning has to do with love. Part of that is realizing he is loved---whether he knows it or not. It is a divine fact and a truth of the universe. It is too bad to live our lives not knowing this. Too often because of our own strong wills, we miss the very thing so many of us want above all things---to love and to be loved.
Having this as a gift of life is to be blessed. And knowing we have it is to be twice blessed. Right now that is my best guess about the title Whyte gives the poem---twice blessed. He ends the poem with the comment, “the miracle reflection of a twice blessed life.” I appreciate the idea of reflection being a miracle. It does seem miraculous. Think how poor life would be if we were not able to reflect on what has happened and what might yet happen. Without the capacity of reflection, we would not know either blessing.
I am grateful I do have a sense of being twice blessed. Thanks, David Whyte, for helping me understand it.
Those of us who have read theology or, perhaps, those who are people of faith and are old enough might well recognize this title as a reminder of the late Jewish philosopher and theologian, Martin Buber. I remember reading Buber’s book, I and Thou , when I was in college in the 1960s. It was already a famous book by then. I am not sure I fully understood it, but that would not be the last time I read it. It has been a while since I looked at the book. Buber came up in a conversation with a friend who asked if I had seen the recent article by David Brooks? I had not seen it, but when I was told about it, I knew I would quickly locate and read that piece. I very much like what Brooks decides to write about and what he contributes to societal conversation. I wish more people read him and took him seriously. Brooks’ article focused on the 2016 contentious election. He provocatively suggests, “Read Buber, Not the Polls!” I think Brooks puts
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