Writing your Spiritual Autobiography – a Workshop

Solitude is not something you must hope for in the future. Rather, it is a deepening of the present, and unless you look for it in the present you will never find it. —Thomas Merton

Is it possible to slow down enough to really be present to your life? Have you ever tried? Do you know how? Judith and Charles can help you. Two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Judith Valente and husband Charles Reynard, Circuit Court judge, will be in Fargo Friday, March 27 and Saturday, March 28 to present a seminar called “Writing Your Spiritual Autobiography” at the Presentation Prayer Center.

Why learn about spiritual autobiography? Judith explains that most of the time when we write or talk about our stories, we focus on the facts—our names, where we were born, what our work is. But the spiritual autobiography is the “story behind the story of your life. They are the stories of the times you felt God’s presence in your life and felt connected to something larger than yourself,” Judith said.

Judith used to be less than contemplative, working as a writer for the Wall Street Journal. “Some days I would look up from my desk and see it dark outside and realize that the whole day had gone by and I hadn’t even noticed. I’d miss the whole day!” She is now an on-air correspondent for national PBS-TV and has more time to look up from her desk. Joined by her husband, they travel around the country giving seminars and workshops on a variety of topics.

The idea for the workshops continues to grow organically out of the seeds planted in 2005 when they went out to do book signings for the book “Twenty Poems to Nourish Your Soul,” which they co-edited. People started asking them to come speak in their churches, then present workshops, until they got to where they are today: offering help to others to “awaken from sleepwalking through their lives.”

One of Valente’s own poems appears in that book, and is the one she will be reading on Friday evening. It is called, “Conjugating.” Here is an excerpt:

I was the only public
that September at Saint Aloysius,

third desk from last in the alphabet outskirts of class.

Only Jane Zaccaro,
Barbara Zombrowski farther asea.

My body a stranger
in alien clothes:  pleated skirt,

white knee socks,
Peter Pan collar

buttoned to the neck.
In freshman art

Mrs. Cirone asked us
to observe a beechwood,
describe what we saw.
Some said summer,
others said nature.
I said the branches
were the serpent tresses
of Medusa. We had read

          “Bulfinch’s Mythology”
    in Sister Helen Jean’s Latin class –

    the bark, the terrible wide
    stem of her neck.

    Mary Smith grimaced
    Doris Crawford, then

          Maureen Jennings snickered,
          their laughter spread,
              washed over the waste baskets,
    George Washington’s portrait,

    the crucifix above
          the blackboard in Room 202.

Charles will also be reading one of his poems,  “Juvenile Day.” Here is an excerpt:

Like loaves and fishes, a miracle
to find one desultory day each week
amid traffic days, motions days,

felony days, here in Heart Break:
courtroom on the second floor,
the intersection of South Surrender

and West Submission,  where
I sit and await with mumbled prayers
the comings of those like Danny.

The law, in its due and majestic process
assigns fault, sometimes responsibility.
There’s a difference I frequently say

from my bench-top Olympus, incanting
the fifteen minute legal ritual called
Permanency Review, once every six months.

Wherefore, I find it is not your fault,
Danny, that you have Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder, Oppositional Defiant

Disorder, and R-O bi-polar illness.
Or that you are under the influence
Of Depakote 500 mg, Zoloft 200 mg,

and Seroquel 40 mg. But it is
your responsibility not to swallow
shampoo or thumbtacks, not to run

away, steal gas, shoplift matches
from Dollar General, not to knife
your neighbor or your nurse during

the manic phase of your moon,
the unspeakable sorrow hidden
behind you chaotic chronicle

(which we cannot talk about because
you may break, Family Service says,
even though your are doing better).

Friday night is more of a presentation by Judith and Charles, where they’ll be showing a series of photographs, reading other poets’ works that have inspired them as well as reading some of their own poems. Saturday will be an introduction into the concept of writing your spiritual autobiography as well as offering some writing prompts to get people started.

All writing levels are welcome, so even if you don’t consider yourself to be a “real” writer, it’s usually those “beginners” that write the most beautiful work, not having their inner critic permanently established yet, Valente said. The work of Thomas Merton will be discussed, as his writings form the basis of what Valente feels to be a very valuable example of spiritual autobiography.

“When we begin to pay closer attention to the world around us, when we look at the world with awe and gratitude, that is what it means to be a contemplative,” Judith said. “I really do think writing is a spiritual discipline and resource.” With all of our current chaos and upsets, going within may just be the sanest option available right now. It’s free, it’s painless and has no side effects. Besides that, it’s totally legal and calorie-free. It doesn’t get much better than that.

So when the sandbagging is done and you are ready to take the next step, come to the workshop (feel free to come on just Friday or Saturday if you’d like. The cost is $10 for Friday evening alone, or $25 for Saturday alone, or $30 for both days). And be sure to bring your soul—you’ll need it.

It is necessary for me to see the first point of light which begins to dawn. It is necessary to be present alone at the resurrection of Day, in blank silence when the sun appears. In this completely neutral instant I receive from the eastern woods, the tall oaks, the one word “Day” which is never the same. It is never spoken in any known language.—Thomas Merton

Information:
Friday, March 27th from 7-9PM and Saturday, March 28th from 9AM-3PM
Presentation Prayer Center - Fargo
Sponsored by HeartSprings in Fargo
http://www.judithvalente.com
to register, contact Jan Nelson at HeartSprings, 701.261.3142.