A couple of weeks ago I got a text from my long-time blog friend, Erika, telling me that she was reading a book called The Power of Ritual: How to Create Meaning and Connection in Everything You Do by Casper ter Kuile. Casper is one of the co-hosts* of a podcast called Harry Potter and the Sacred Text.** I've never listened to it, but my friend Cassie is a fan and has told me a lot about it.
Anyway, Erika thought I might be interested in learning about lectio divina, which means "sacred reading." Erika said it reminded her of the way I read. Intrigued, I looked the book up on my library app, and the eBook happened to be available, so I downloaded it and read it over the following few days.
The idea of the book is that we can take things we do in every day life and layer meaning and ritual into them by thinking of them as spiritual practices. I've read some other books along the same lines, for example Liturgy of the Ordinary and The Power of Stillness. A difference between those books and this one is that those two books are God-centered, and this book is not. It approaches spirituality outside of organized religion (but still occasionally mentions religious practices). I am a devout religious person, so God is central to my everyday rituals. As I read this book, I was able to apply some of the ideas to the way I live. The way Casper uses words like "sacred," "sabbath," "prayer," and "blessing" may not match the traditional religious denotations, and that may not sit well with some participants of organized religion, but I found that Casper’s ideas can be applicable either way. I wouldn't necessarily recommend the book - it's not the type of book that suits everyone - but it was an excellent recommendation for me. So thanks, Erika, for knowing.
I thoroughly enjoyed the beginning of the book - the intro and the first chapter. I didn't care much for chapters 2 & 3, but chapters 4 & 5 were okay. Even though my reading experience went from fantastic to blah to just okay, there are so many great things I want to take away from this book.
Here are some quotes and ideas I want to remember:
On Reading
"Reading makes us see ourselves in other characters, become nostalgic for parts of our past, and challenge our world view... reading about other people improves our ability to understand and cooperate with others and ultimately understand ourselves" (page 45).
"Self-discovery through reading is often revelatory and freeing. But it isn't always pleasant. It makes us look within, and that is sometimes painful. We can be confronted by trauma and suffering when reading about someone who went through a similar experience, and we can be forced to address things we haven't before" (page 46).
"Reading is a path to greater awareness. To courage and commitment. To helping us see our mistakes, and to finding a better way forward" (page 49).
Rather than reading entire chapters of the scriptures, read as much as stirs your mind to prayer (paraphrased idea from page 50). I love the idea of studying the scriptures until I have something to pray about rather than feeling like I need to read for a certain amount of time or complete a certain number of chapters.
On Sabbath
"Sabbath isn't a time to catch up on tasks. Nor is it simply a time of rest to prepare for a busy week. It is a time to revel in the beauty and delight of simply being. The sabbath 'is not for the purpose of recovering one's lost strength and becoming fit for the forthcoming labor,' [Abraham] Heschel writes. 'The sabbath is a day for the sake of life... The sabbath is not for the sake of the weekdays; the weekdays are for the sake of the sabbath'" (page 72).
"I like to pretend that sabbath time is like going to a royal wedding. I'm lucky to be invited, and I'm going to make the most of enjoying it" (page 74).
On Eucharist (or sacrament)
"We don't eat the bread and wine because we know what it means. We do it because we are learning what it means" (page 197).
On Prayer
"...the practice of prayer is about being conscious of - and telling the truth about - how we really feel and think, taking what has been unconscious and bringing it into open awareness" (page 154).
"Prayer is like a workshop for the soul. In it, we get to work out all the kinks and knots of life. It can soften resentment and make space for forgiveness. What we do might not magically change other people or the world outside, but prayer certainly changes us" (page 174).
Idea for prayer from Jack Kornfield's Buddhist metta: pray for yourself, pray for someone you love, pray for a stranger, and pray for someone you are struggling with (page 174).
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*He's leaving the podcast at the end of the month.
**Just in case you've ever wondered, the name of a podcast should be italicized, and the name of a podcast episode should be in quotations. Since I looked it up while writing this post, just to be sure, I figured I'd throw that out there for anyone who wants to stow that away in their mind palace.
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