Notes from an Exhibition, and different ways to pray.

I recently read Partrick Gale's wonderful novel, Notes from an Exhibition. It pressed all the right buttons for me. He traces a tale through the life of an artist, so vividly you can practically feel the paint under your fingernails. The artist marries and has four kids, and the story of her life, her work and her dysfunctional family is told not chronologically, but through the lens of a retrospective exhibition of her work and artefacts.

The family she marries into are Quakers, and the way Gale captures the mode of life and prayer that they live is so like my own that I began to wonder whether deep down I am a Quaker, not an Anglican at all. I say this lightheartedly, since having "dumped" religion many years ago, the recreation of a spiritual life that has both moral and intellectual integrity has meant, for me, drawing from several different traditions. Anglican theology, and the practice of public worship, is the glue in the middle, but my private prayers are mostly contemplative and wordless.

This week I came across the website of the Annunciation Trust, a group of spiritual directors. The site has a page with a list of thirteen different approaches to prayer, ranging from centring down through public liturgy to praying with the Bible and pryaing with the Imagination. Good stuff. Go read.

Comments

[Dermott]

Maggie,
I really enjoy your blog and am intrigued by your "dumping" religion and ending up an Anglican priest. I wonder if you would say a little about your own spritual journey? Apologies if you have previously blogged about this - (haven't read the earliest parts of your blog yet)
Dermott

[John Davies]

Henry Morgan's book Approaches to Prayer, on which their website material is based, is likely to be republished sometime quite soon. One to look out for.

[jane stranz]

Thanks for posting this Maggi I was looking (as ever) for a good book to read and this sounds like it. One of the things I liked in Siri Hustvedt's What I loved was that the art described in it was so much part of the story.
Thanks too for the Dave Walker posts we're all trying to do our bit on that front. What you wrote about the Streisand effect is helpful - some seem ot blaming Dave whereas actually he put his head above the parapet more than anyone else on the SPCK issue.
HAve a good summer - and thanks for your writings I enjoy reading your blog.
Jane

[Geoff Colmer]

Hi Maggie! I bought this book for holiday reading and then read your blog just before I went. I thought it was a profound book that's kept with me. The only sadness is that it's not 'kept with me' as I so raved about it to some English people we met in Italy I ended up giving it to them so I need to buy another one!

On another note, just to let you know that you are now officially a 'brillante weblog 2008' nominee. I'm sure I won't be the only person who nominates you for this 'not too serious' award, but it is a way for me to say how much I have appreciated your blog over the years and continue to be inspired by it. Thank you.

[maggi]

thanks for the compliments, Geoff! My copy of 'Notes...' was bought for me by a firend who loved it, and I have subsequently bought 2 copies for friends of mine. It seems to be one of those books. Just wait for my blog on Salley Vickers...