“Tell all the Truth but tell it slant” -Emily Dickinson.
Today is the first Sunday of Advent, a season of waiting and the beginning of the church calendar year.
It’s the Sunday of hope.
The dictionary defines slant as “slope or lean in a particular direction; diverge or cause to diverge from the vertical or horizontal.” or “present or view (information) from a particular angle.” (google define)
I’ve been pondering the title of Emily Dickinson’s poem “Tell all the Truth but tell it slant” all week. Of course, I am not the first to consider her words; they invite thoughtful consideration.
When I started thinking about Advent this year and how it related (if at all) to this newsletter, Emily’s famous line popped right into my mind. I think it’s because it’s what I try and do every Sunday, is to find the slant, the lean, the divergence from vertical or horizontal in what and how I write. I try to consider the most ordinary of moments from an angle; I try to tell it slant and invite you to see with new eyes and new angles.
It’s intuitive knowledge that to see anything; it should be viewed from different angles; left, right, above, and below, in front of and behind. Just watch people in stores stepping forward, backward, and left to right to see their considered purchase in all the ways. Looking smaller and deeper is helpful too.
So many words and ideas of faith, spirituality, and religion are worn thin. They are spoken of so much with little care; the contours, angles, and depths have been lost. The powerful essence is there but dulled from overuse and careless engagement. What does it mean to tell about hope but tell it slant?
Hope is a slant word by its very definition. Hope is the “feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.” (Google Define) The decision to hope for something or a specific outcome is leaning in a particular direction. A decision has already been made about what would be best and desired. Hope is slant.
Hope slants in as many directions as there are people who decide to hope. It strikes me that hope is a rainbow. From the horizon, hope arches from every angle, from horizon to horizon. There is the tiniest ray of hope, just 1 degree of hope and hope at the apex and in every place in between. Hope is as varied as those who hope. The slant of hope means that it is prevalent everywhere, for everyone.
Brené Brown writes that hope is not an emotion; it’s a way of thinking. “Hope is a way of thinking-a cognitive process.”
“We experience hope when: 1. We have the ability to set realistic goals. 2. We are able to figure out how to achieve those goals, including the ability to stay flexible and develop alternative pathways. 3. We have agency-we believe in ourselves.” (bolded words are from Brené)
-Brené Brown in Atlas of The Heart
Hope is more than empty words and proclamations. Hope is not a feeling. Hope is slanting towards clearly defined desired outcomes. Hope is finding the pathway to achieve the goal. I like that it’s a pathway, not a highway. Paths are narrow and not well traveled. Paths can be tricky, rocky, steep, or broad and well-attended. It’s easy on a path to find an alternative route, much easier than on a highway. Hope is personal; it’s not a one size fits all. Hope is unique to the hoper.
“The theological virtue of hope is patient and trustful willingness to live without closure, without resolution, and still be content and even happy because our Satisfaction is now at another level, and our Source is beyond ourselves.”
-Richard Rohr in Preparing for Christmas
The slant of hope is embracing the process of the anticipated but not yet and the pathway that must be walked to get there. It’s a way to engage with what is and slant toward what could be. Hope is the energy for living in the present, in the now. Hope is gritty, sacred, and beautiful.
A blessing for slanted Hope…
May the slanted nature of hope enliven how you see and live the daily dailiness of your life. Just as a rainbow arches across the sky from horizon to horizon, may you find and live fully in your degree of hope, your slanted hope, from horizon to sky. May you embrace the anticipated but not yetness of hope, and may it be the energy that animates each moment on your path. May the gritty, sacredness of hope breathe new life into this season of waiting and awakening.
Spotting the slant of Hope:
How do you define hope? (Tell about Hope, tell it slant)
Does one of the definitions of hope by Brene Brown, Richard Rohr, or Thomas Merton (see below) resonate with you?
How can you walk with and learn from hope this week? (some ideas to consider)
Write a haiku
take a photo of hope
meditate on hope
find a song that speaks to you about the slant of hope
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
Burial Rites is a fiction book based on the last public execution in Iceland. Agnes Magnúsdóttir, and two others (a man and woman), were convicted of the murder of two men in 1828. It was a sad book, which is usually not my favorite. However, I found this story so compelling and well-written. Agnes was sent to live with a farm family and to meet with an assigned pastor. It’s the story of the family forced to shelter a convicted murderess, the young pastor assigned to offer her spiritual comfort and prepare her for death and all the other elements that such a situation would create. I had never thought about what life was like in Iceland in the 1820s, and I’m glad I was forced to think about what a difficult existence it was. I love books that transport me to different places, times, and experiences, and this book did this. I know it’s a good book when I stay up late to read it and wake up early to finish it. A reviewer said of Burial Rites, “Bleak and beautiful…Kent handles her starkley austere story with uncanny precision and an utter lack of sentiment.” (Steve Donoghue, Washington Post) He is exactly right about this book.
Sacred Instructions: Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change by Sherri Mitchell
This book has been on my bookshelf for a few years. I’m sad it took me so long to get to and so glad I read it. This book's title perfectly sums up what the book is about: indigenous wisdom for living spirit-based change. I will be pondering her insight and experience for a long time to come; I have many corners turned down on ideas, thoughts, and insights that I want to return to.
“As we seek this healing, let us do so with the knowledge that oneness is not sameness. It is the transcendence of our differences and the weaving of our diverse expressions into a tapestry that is harmonized and aligned with common purpose.”
― Sherri Mitchell, Sacred Instructions: Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change
“We also understand that the way that we speak to creation defines the place that we hold within creation. Our language creates a sense of kinship with the world around us.”
― Sherri Mitchell, Sacred Instructions: Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change
I found some interesting and slant definitions of hope. Read each slowly and see if there is one that resonates with you. Maybe you jot it down on a piece of paper and read it daily over the next week. See what invitation to new seeing you might uncover.
That’s the meaning of hope…to trust in the ultimate goodness of creation. Hope doesn’t mean an anticipation or expectation of a deliverance from an intolerable or oppressive situation or condition.… That’s what most of us are doing most of the time: wanting something other than what is. As I said—true hope is trusting that what we have, where we are, and who we are is more than enough for us as creatures of God.
-Thomas Merton
If you exist, you exist in hope. To cease hoping is to cease existing. To hope, and to exist, is to have roots in God.
-Thomas Merton
“Speak words of hope. Be human in this most inhuman of ages. Guard the image of man for it is the image of God.”
-Thomas Merton
“The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.”
― Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams
It is a misnomer that hope is idealistic and saccharine. In actuality, hope is the energy of life filtering through the honesty of all its impediments. In our modern era, we endure a culture of hiddenness and denial, which has left most people frantically searching for the true energy of hope.
-Mark Nepo