Study guide for book On Being
Don and Joyce
The reading and discussion of Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living, by Krista Tippet, will begin on Tuesday, February 7 at 7:00 PM at PCC. The first session will cover the Introduction (Chap.1): The Age of Us, and Chapter 2, Words: The Poetry of Creatures (56 pages). This will involve 5 sessions to cover the book (and that can be flexible). We’ve copied below (and attached) a guide to your reading and preparation for our first gathered time. We look forward to having stimulating conversations and opportunities to explore these timely topics.
Don and Joyce
Study Guide -- to encourage reflection as you read.
(Session 1 -- Chapters 1 and 2)
Chapter 1
1. "Our spiritual traditions have carried virtues across time. I've come to think of virtues as tools for the art of living to be our best selves in flesh and blood, time and space." (pg. 9)
What are the 5 virtues ("tools") Tippett names and how do you see these operating in your life?
2. Mystery will be a theme in these chapters. Tippett calls mystery “a common human experience, like being born and falling in love and dying.”
Are you comfortable with the concept of mystery? Tippett and her conversation partners describe mystery as an adventure—and as a companion to truths deeply held. Does this ring true in your experience?
3. Tippett says, “Spiritual geniuses of the everyday are everywhere. They are in the margins and do not have publicists. They are below the radar, which is broken.”
Is there someone in your world who exemplifies this observation?
4. Giving examples such as battles with illness, childhood pain, disability, and even birth itself, Tippett marvels, “We are made by what would break us. . . . What has gone wrong becomes an opening to more of yourself and part of your gift to the world. This is the beginning of wisdom.”
Does this idea ring true for you? Can you share a personal example, whether dramatic or ordinary, when the thing that went wrong carried with it a hidden gift? Can you translate this to the public sphere in terms of common life as well as individual life?
Chapter 2
1. "Life is made up of stories; it's not made up of facts." (Rachel Naomi Remen, pg. 26)
If a 15 year old were to sit and listen to 3 of your stories, what guidance would you
offer through your stories?
2. “I can disagree with your opinion, it turns out, but I can’t disagree with your experience. And once I have a sense of your experience, you and I are in relationship, acknowledging the complexity in each other’s position, listening less guardedly.” (pg.22) Have you ever participated in such an exchange of experience and story with someone of a different perspective? How did that change what was possible between you?
3. Tippett notes that many of the ways we are taught to argue, debate, and advocate actually work against the qualities of the “basic social art” of listening, which we also need in our social toolkit.
How challenging is the thought of truly being willing to be surprised by people on very different places on the political/cultural spectrum? What kind of inner preparation would that require?
4. “I’ve learned this: a question is a powerful thing, a mighty use of words. Questions elicit answers in their likeness. . . . It’s hard to transcend a combative question. But it’s hard to resist a generous question.” (pg. 29, 30)
Tippett proposes that we shy away from taking up hard discussions with different others, in part because we live in a culture that frames issues in terms of the most strident, extreme people and positions. Imagine a gathering, in the words of Tippett’s guest Frances Kissling, of people on both sides “who absolutely refuse to see each other as evil.” Imagine the questions you impulsively want to ask “the other side,” and the ways you might reframe your questions more generously, to invite honesty, dignity, and revelation.