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Musing
Reverend Brian J. Kiely,
Unitarian Church of Edmonton, January 14, 2001
This is about the Muse. A few months ago a member asked me to do
a sermon on where I get my sermon ideas. The answer to that question
is actually quite short, too short, in fact, for a whole sermon....which
means I have time this morning to muse on the subject of musing.
It is not a subject that really lends itself to the typical sermonic
format where the preacher has in mind the making and illustrating
one or two specific points. Instead, I find the creative process
as I have experienced it is a little more like the pollination of
flowers... the bee moves from one to another picking up a little
bit here and leaving a little bit there. So this will be more of
a collage of reflections on the ideas of the Muse and creativity.
In ancient days, long before the first glimmers of what we now call
psychology, humans explained away their inner impulses and processes
as the product of interaction with external agents. To put that in
English let me quote Flip Wilson, "The Devil made me do it!" and
before the Christian Devil was introduced to culture, it was the
gods and demigods who changed the course of our daily lives. Among
that pantheon were the Muse sisters. The great chronicler of mythology,
Thomas Bullfinch describes them this way:
Jupiter was a Titan and after rebelling against his father Saturn
became god of the heavens.
With Mnemosyne (goddess of memory) he had many daughters, the three
Furies who punished the crimes that escaped justice, the Graces who
presided over the banquet, the dance and all social enjoyments, the
Fates whose office it was to spin the thread of human destiny.
And then there were the Muses. "They presided over song, and
prompted the memory. They were nine in number, to each of whom was
assigned the presidence over some particular department of literature,
art, or science. Calliope was the muse of epic poetry, Clio of history,
Euterpe of lyric poetry. Melpomene of tragedy, Terpsichore of choral
dance and song, Erato of love poetry, Polyhymnia of sacred poetry,
Urania of astronomy, Thalia of comedy."
Why Muses? Why were they figures outside of us? The notion that
human beings have power over their own lives is a relatively modern
invention. Our ancestors the world over tended to be more aware of
their powerlessness before Nature. All that humans built could be
swept away by the capriciousness of bad weather. One poor harvest
meant people died of starvation. One turn of the weather meant drought
or flood. An earthquake or even bad storm destroyed things of human
creation.
In our age of modern technology it is easy for us to forget the
transitory and sometimes illusory nature of human strength and power.
But in anceint Greece they knew. And so they dreamed a religious
world where much skill and ability depended on the gods themselves.
Human abilities were gifts to be given or wimsically taken away.
Evils befell us because gods had set their faces against us or each
other, using us as pawns in their divine battles. It would follow
that things like beauty and creativity would also rest in their hands,
and so the Muses were given birth, children of the sky god and the
godess of memory.
The Muses figured prominently in ancient Greece and Rome. In a literal
sense they were believed to stand behind the great artists providing
them with inspiration. Since most of those artists were men, and
since men have long been inspired by women, it's not surprising that
the Muses were sisters, not a boy among them.
When the poets of the Renaissance rediscovered the ancient Greeks
and Romans, the Muses also experienced a renaissance of their own
and much English poetry between 1500 and the 1950's included references:
"Fool!' said my Muse, to me, ‘look in thy heart and write" wrote
Phillip Sidney late in the 16th century.
or John Milton who urged against ignoring the inspired warnings of
the Muses:
What the sage poets taught by th' heavenly Muse,
Storied of old in high immortal verse
Of dire chimeras and enchanted isles
And rifted rocks, whose entrance leads to Hell --
For such there be, but unbelief is blind. (Comus)
Well, we of the 20th and 21st centuries, we who claim untold power,
no longer look to ancient Greek goddesses to inspire us. But for
some this idea of creativity and inspiration has taken on a more
Christian flavor. The feminist theologian Mary Daly wrote a mere
20 years ago:
"It is the creative potential itself in human beings that is
the image of God." (Beyond God the Father)
Henry Nelson Wieman, one of the first process theologians perhaps
melded the idea of human power and Divine inspiration, when he asserted
that we are no less than co-creators with God. Creation is not finished
or perfect he said some 70 years ago. We keep working with the creative
power of God to make the world anew. With our words and actions and
design we help to keep creation unfolding.
Wow! That's a leap! From waiting for the Muses to inspire us to
joining in full partnership where they need us as much as we need
them!
But as I muse on all of that divine intervention, I feel no resonance
within me. It sounds nice, but it doesn't speak to my heart or experience.
Those poets of old describe a process I can understand, the process
by which we find the way to be creative in our lives, but I confess
I have never felt the presence of a beautiful semi-divine woman standing
behind me as I sat down to write. Mores the pity! I wouldn't mind
trying it that way, but that's not the way I work.
But I do know the feeling of inspiration. Most of my sermon or writing
ideas don't feel like they come from inside me. Instead I discover
them, trip over them, when I am open and aware to what is outside
of me...to what I see and hear. In the language of neurochemistry,
any creative inspiration I encounter feels more like the firing of
synapses in my brain than anything else. I encounter an image or
an idea or a melody and it triggers an awareness of a connection
to something else.
To answer the question directly, how do I write sermons? First I
settle on a topic anywhere from a 2 to 6 weeks or more before a service.
These topics come from your suggestions, or are dictated by the calendar
(like Christmas and Easter), or from something I read or heard at
some UU gathering somewhere. Once in awhile I am even inspired by
the title a colleague has picked for their sermon in some faraway
pulpit.
Once the idea is in place, I open a mental file, which is to say
I simply start moving through the world aware that this topic is
coming up. At that point an amazing thing happens. Everything I encounter,
every conversation, every book I read or tv program seems to have
a comment to offer on the topic. In my mind I make new connections,
see new relations between things. The actual writing process is more
a case of winnowing out the things that are too far from the central
theme that emerges.
Inspiration is all around me, all around us, all the time. Hey,
maybe the Muses do exist! All we have to do is note it, welcome it,
prepare it a place to sit down and chat awhile. Inspiration is less
about seeking, than it is about clearing away.
The Oxford English Dictionary reminds us that one of its many definitions
for the word ‘muse' is "to be absorbed in thought, to
meditate continuously in silence, to ponder." That sounds sort
of monastic or Buddhist to me, all very sober and somber. But before
we start to become too pompous about it it adds , "closely related
to a waste of time." and soon adds the definition "a fit
of abstraction, as in amuse". Maybe not every inspiration is
to be given the same weight as all the rest.
Everyone is inspired. Let me affirm that again: Everyone is inspired.
Inspiration doesn't have to be about music or art or writing. It
can be about gaining insight into relationships, finding a good way
of organizing files, seeing a pattern among the players take shape
so that you know just before it happens that a hockey team is about
to score. It's about finding the right way to make your point in
a business meeting, or deciding to act on impulse and start a new
friendship.
"...Any form of creativity, is a power intensifying life." writes
Rita Mae Brown. Anytime some dimension in life becomes clearer for
you, comes into sharper focus, that is the Muse touching your shoulder.
Madeline L'Engle writes, "When we are writing, or painting,
or composing, we are, during the time of creativity, freed from normal
restrictions, and are opened to a wider world, where colors are brighter,
sounds clearer, and people more wondrously complex than we normally
realize. (Walking on Water)
It happens to all of us...but what do we do with when that inspiration
comes calling? Rita Mae Brown again:
"Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instinct
And never hope more than you work." (Starting from Scratch)
Too many of us don't think we are qualified to be inspired. That's
nonsense. We all receive inspiration. And all of us have some gifts
for turning that inspiration to useful purpose. But we're not all
equal in every area. I have had the pleasure of working with Gordon
Ritchie over the last couple of years in our Celtic story and harp
concerts...or as Gordon puts it, Celtic harp and story concerts...
My realm is words. Gordon's is music. At times we are both struck
by inspiration and he finds music that feeds me, or I find words
that feed him. He uses his skill and I mine. But the key is we trust
the inspiration...and then we trust each other to be honest when
the product is not all that good or appropriate to the total vision.
Creativity doesn't end with the visit of the Muse. It only starts
there as Jonathon Swift suggests.
Then rising with Aurora's light,
The Muse invoked, sit down to write;
Blot out, correct, insert, refine,
Enlarge, diminish, interline. (On Poetry)
Or as some more recent philosopher once suggested, "Success
is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration."
Now it would be impossibly exhausting to respond to every
musing moment we encounter, but if we are to engage in the co-creation
of the universe we will have to do the work. We will have to make
choices about not only what inspires us, but also what engages us
to pursue that inspiration and bring it into some workable form,
whether it be some magnum opus on canvass or a really cleverly arranged
closet.
I'm going to pause now for us to sing "Spirit of Life",
one of the most inspired and inspirational in the hymnal, and then
I will conclude the sermon by rereading Kathleen Norris' poem "Three
Small Songs for the Muse".
I invite you to listen for the connections. Both sing of longing
for some spirtual filling, some inspiration. And in the poem, the
Muses appear, but in unexpected shapes. So let's sing, and listen,
and in the silence that follows seek the counsel of our own Muse.
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