Occasionally, I run into an idea or a passage which really grabs me. It has the effect of finding a toy that you immediately have to play with! I found one such passage today and it was actually penned by a friend of mine. Parker Palmer has been a friend for at least thirty years. I have appreciated his writings for that long. And I don’t remember ever encountering these words.
Actually, I was not even reading one of Palmer’s books. Instead I am working my way through Krista Tippett’s book, Speaking of Faith. Krista hosts the popular public radio program by that same name. Her book is a lush country of personal religious stories and narratives by a variety of men and women whom she has met or about whom she has read.
She describes her approach interviewing people as a “first-person” approach. Soon thereafter, she comes to Parker Palmer’s one-liner. She says, “The Quaker author Parker Palmer likens the nature of the soul to a wild animal deep in the woods of our psyche that if approached brusquely or cross-examined will simply run away. We have to create quiet, inviting, and trustworthy spaces, Parker says, to keep the insights and presence of the soul at the table.”
“Whew,” I thought, “I have a wild animal running around deep inside my psyche! That explains a lot!” I am intrigued by the idea of something wild inside of me. At first blush, it does not sound very religious. And on second blush, I bet the institutional churches in our land do not see that as good news! In fact, it might be just what pious church leaders most fear! But I rather like the idea.
I like the idea that my soul might be wild. How dull would it be if I had a mousy soul? Please, Lord, don’t make us will passive souls. If we are created in Your image, surely we can’t be soul-wimps. If my soul is wild, then there has to be some energy. There has to be some life…some verve and vitality.
But Palmer adds a nice piece when he suggests we cannot approach our souls and get to know them if we are going to go stomping into the woods of our psyche to accost or capture our soul. If we are going to meet and get to know our soul, then we need to provide carefully for the meeting space.
That space needs to be quiet. Noise will scare away the soul. The noise of my superficial life and the superficial world around me is the not the soul-space where the encounter will happen. That space must be inviting. I don’t think my soul wants to step into my courtroom with my rules, regulations, and commands. And finally, that soul-space will need to be trustworthy.
The soul has no interest in stepping into some space where the jerk above (me!) is going to be bossy with my own agenda. The soul is the Divine image in me with its own Divine agenda. That is not going to work with an egocentric, often maniacal, guy at the wheel of his life.
To meet and get to know my soul means a readiness to be open to what that deeper part of me wants to tell and show me. It means beginning to trust that soul to give me Divine hints about my life and how to make meaning. It means a willingness to share the wheel of my life with Someone who knows where we are going. If fact, it is a recognition that the trip finally is not even about me…it is about us.
And the “us” includes, you too, dear reader. You, too, have a wild animal running around deep inside you. And if you can make space for your soul to come into, then maybe I will get a chance to meet that “real you,” too. And I hope you can get to know that “me.”
If only some of that can happen, then this world is going to be better. And you and I are going to be more soulful!
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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