Daily Nourishment for October 7, 2024: As If You Were There with Guidance from Mary McCampbell
Daily Nourishment Read Time: 60 seconds
Pause/Prompt/Practice Time: 15-20 minutes
“There is no such thing as not worshipping.” - David Foster Wallace
Pause.
Watch and feel this live performance from Bon Iver and Taylor Swift. Allow yourself to get totally wrapped up in it, as if you were there.
Prompt.
If you grew up going to church, you are used to singing communally, together focusing all your attention, energy, and worship on one divine being. This habitual intentionality–these commonplace moments of Sunday worship–are, of course, not commonplace to everyone. But, as David Foster Wallace notes in “This is Water:”
“Because here’s something else that’s weird but true: in the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.”
In this context, a football stadium or performance hall can also be places of collective worship. It is easy to see the passionate devotion of Swifties as a sort of secular religion, but can every concert be a collective religious experience? Have you ever felt the religiosity, the power of aligning yourself with a crowd that has a singular purpose?
This may be a concert, a sporting event, even a protest. And the object of the worship might be the divine creator of the sport, the music, the call for justice–or, for some, the object of worship is not transcendent but immanent: the athletes, the musicians, the cause itself.
Practice.
Sit for a few moments and consider a time when you have felt a sense of religious unity, a collective focus on worship, outside of a church space. Have you ever felt this way at a concert? At a game? At a protest?
If so, write for ten minutes about this experience. Although you are talking about an abstract/ metaphysical experience, it is grounded in the concrete details of reality and the senses. Remember details.
Want More?
Watch and listen to a shortened version of David Foster Wallace’s “This is Water” speech. You can also read the transcript of the full speech here.
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Workshops, Gatherings, & Resources
—New Resource: Parenting with Art® Lectio Divina Cards Information about ordering these cards can be found in my Books + Spiritual Direction + Retreats & Gatherings email newsletter that went out last night. To stay in the loop on all of my work, writing, book recs, and more, subscribe to that weekly newsletter at charlottedonlon.com/subscribe.
—The October Co-Writing is ready. All SDW Members get free co-writing through November. If you aren’t a member and would like to join us, please contact me at charlotte@charlottedonlon.com and I’ll hook you up.
—The Great Belonging Project is live here and The Great Belonging Project October Refresh will take place Oct 1-Oct 31.
—October 26— Online Revision Stations Designed by Lauren F. Winner
The Pauses, Prompts, and Practices for this week are from Mary McCampbell and were originally shared before Daily Nourishment offerings were posted online.
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