Literature Link April 10, 2022 — Humanism

• “Why ‘Awe’ Might Be the Secret Ingredient for Happiness” by Emily Mae Mentok. [brief psychology type article] “That awe, wonder, and beauty promote healthier levels of cytokines suggests that the things we do to experience these emotions — a walk in nature, losing oneself in music, beholding art — has a direct influence upon health and life expectancy,” says Keltner, who was a co-author of the recent study. https://grottonetwork.com/navigate-life/health-and-wellness/why-wonder-and-awe-can-lead-to-a-happier-life/

• “I got saved by the beauty of the world.” From NPR, this is an On Being interview with the late poet and Unitarian favorite, Mary Oliver. “ The only record I broke in school was truancy. I went to the woods a lot, with books — Whitman in the knapsack — but I also liked motion. So I just began with these little notebooks and scribbled things as they came to me, and then worked them into poems, later.”

• “A Community of the Spirit: by Rumi. “There is a community of the spirit. / Join it, and feel the delight / Of walking in the noisy street, And being the noise. . . feel the shepherd’s love filling you.” https://thelinebreak.wordpress.com/2013/01/10/rumi-a-community-of-the-spirit/

• The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchet. “Beloved British fantasy writer Sir Terry Pratchett (named 2013 Humanist of the Year by the British Humanist Association) is best known for Discworld, a comic fantasy book series, but his humanistic thought comes forth in other works as well. In the children’s novel The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, the mice invent morality before they invent religion. A masterfully crafted, gripping read, both compelling and funny.” This is a very grown-up Pied Pier story, though it was awarded the Carnegie Award for Children’s Literature in 2001.

Review from Amazon; click on the “look inside!” The reviews are worth a read. https://www.amazon.com/Amazing-Maurice-Educated-RodentsDiscworld/dp/0060012358?asin=0060012358&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1

In faith,

Dale Dunnigan