I tend to be drawn to books written about real life experiences. The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, by Sue Monk Kidd is one of my most favorite books. She makes herself so vulnerable in simply telling her story. I have also read books by Barbara Brown Taylor. Her book, Leaving Church, helped me understand so much of my own problems with church. When I went to a book signing to hear Mrs. Taylor speak, she said something that made a huge impact on me. She said something like "I am an expert in exactly one person's journey." She helped me understand that part of my function in this world was simply to become an expert in my own journey. That is when I started quit trying to tell everyone else's story. It is when I started to tell my own.
Telling my own story is much harder than trying to tell other people's stories. It means that I am to start examining myself in different ways. I wanted to be willing to share my story. I began wondering if, perhaps, I have something to say. When I read this quote in a book yesterday, I understood why I wanted to share it publicly.
"I hope something ancient and indigenous may reawaken inside the modern reader, who may catch a whiff or a glimmer of his or her own ancestral indigenous soul, or a memory of her ancient Celtic ancestral roadhouse, or Dravidian river people, or Polynesian canoe raid. Perhaps the soul could remember a little of its origination, when its people still belonged to the spirit of a place. Possibly my own story will give your stories courage enough to blossom." p.xix of Secrets of the Talking Jaguar by Martin Prechtel
Part of the difficulty of telling your own story is the difficulty of streamlining the story. How do you find the flow of the narrative in the your own river journey?
ReplyDeleteYou know all of the eddies in your story. You can see all of the flotsam and jetsam. You know all of the mudbanks and rocks along your personal river. I expect that you also have trouble seeing the nourished fields, the safe habitat, and the cleansing power of the river.
When we follow the flow of others, then we can see the strength, the power, and the majesty of their story. When I follow my own river, then I find that I can get lost in the mud.
And, if nothing else, I learned about the Dravidian peoples from this post.
Micheal, I think that part of finding the flow of your own narrative is to see it within the context of a healthy community. It is in the context of knowing where our personal stories end, and other's stories begin. In a way, it is the paradox of being an individual while being connected to others. Besides, whatever you see in others is essentially about you too. I understand the getting lost in the mud! I think that is where our community is supposed to help us. No one can do it alone.
ReplyDeleteIt has been a real pleasure to reconnect with you!!