Not “no comment”

An embarrasingly long time ago, Danielle at White Hot Truth went to the trouble of asking me some questions as part of an interview chain that’s going around. For some reason I’ve had my procrastination hat on over this, but I’ve now given my answers some thought. What an interesting exercise!

Do you want to be interviewed? See the end of this post. Meanwhile here are my answers to Danielle’s five questions:

1. What is your favourite prayer?

The monastic office of Compline, the last office of the day, which in the monastery precedes the great silence. In particular the Nunc Dimittis:

At last, all-powerful Master,
you give leave to your servant
to go in peace, according to your promise.

For my eyes have seen your salvation
Which you have prepared for all nations,
the light to enlighten the Gentiles
and give glory to Israel, your people.

It makes me feel complete.

2. How can one find the sacred in a shopping mall?

By really looking into the faces of people passing by. They may look like shopping robots, but they are sacred human beings, just like us. And sometimes we need to remember we are not shopping robots, either.

3. What is your most cherished possession?

My computer, or more accurately, my internet connection, because it allows me to reach all sorts of fascinating corners of the world.

4. What three books rocked your world?

So many books, and so difficult to settle on three, but these are all books I first read a number of years ago:

Gaining Ground, by Joan Barfoot (also published as Abra). This novel explores the story of Abra, a young mother who abandons her husband and children and moves to an old cabin on a piece of isolated land. She lives in silence, without clocks, mirrors or companionship. It’s an exploration of alternatives, of duty, of what sanity means. I found it extraordinarily liberating, and although I now have what is almost an obsession with knowing the time (I even sleep with my watch on), Abra’s world is still there for me somewhere.

Woman on the Edge of Time, by Marge Piercy. A feminist sci-fi classic exploring a future world in which gender is irrelevant, in which people live without surnames or bureaucracy, in which art and ritual are of equal importance with growing food and raising children. It’s a world in which people live vivid lives in small communities run sustainably. In fact the emphasis on sustainable, ecological living is amazing given that Piercy wrote this book in 1976.  Again, the exploration of alternatives, of possibilities, really speaks to me.

The Earthsea Chronicles, by Ursula le Guin. OK, perhaps this is cheating because it’s more than one book. When I first met the world of Earthsea, it was a trilogy, then it became a quartet, and now there are five books. They speak to my love of myth, magic and symbolism. I value the way le Guin describes the power of names. In the world of Earthsea, people go by their everyday “use names”, and they confide their true names only to a trusted handful of people, because names have power and can be used to control. The wizards of Earthsea spend years learning the true names of every pebble, every stretch of inland sea, every breeze. And of as many dragons as possible.

I read this as a metaphor for the dragons in our lives. If we can name them and see them accurately for what they are, their power over us begins to fade.

5. If you were to throw a celebration, what would it be for, and how would you create the party?

This is a scary one because of the word Party. There are all kinds of reasons I don’t like parties: I’m useless at small talk (this overly-jolly, inane, artificial, cliche-spouting person takes me over before I can stop her), I’m slightly deaf so I often can’t hear people against background noise, I dance like a constipated puppet. And basically, I’m self-conscious and shy.

But I do like people and I like my friends to enjoy themselves. So I would consider throwing a party to celebrate my next big birthday, or for some blessed event like having a book published.

Forgetting expense for a minute, the venue would have lots of separate spaces: somewhere self-contained for music and dancing; a gorgeous grotto for eating, with lots of little candlelit tables; several secluded nooks and crannies for intimate conversation (and possibly dalliances); a few curtained window seats with bookshelves for hard-core introverts to hide in; a garden strung with fairy lights, for strolling and smelling the night-blooming jasmine.

And there would be one caveat: I would not invite a single person because I thought I “should”, out of duty or politeness.

What about you?

If you would like to be interviewed as part of this game, please let me know in the comments. I’ll check out your blog and send you some personalised questions to answer. You never know, it might be fun!

Image by chrisscheupp

Elsewhere:

In a piece of shameless self-promotion I’ll mention that my other blog, Pilgrim’s Moon, is slowly creaking into life again. Please consider visiting.

And there is a really interesting, challenging and lovely sermon at Sarcastic Lutheran that I commend to you. Hat tip to Rachel.

Finally, if you are prayer-inclined, please remember the community at Turvey Abbey, who have just lost a much-loved sister after a long illness.