So, most of the time, I've been in "reading-for-comprehension-rather-than-appreciation" mode. But, when a particular passage has really struck me right between the eyes, I've tried to slow down and take a good look at it.
Sections of several psalms struck me in just such a way. So much so, that I've actually set one of these passages to music (audio and/or video to follow).
It occurs to me that the parts of the Bible that are most meaningful and important to me are often poems, or are at least poetic. And I think that's true for most other people, too. Why is this the case?
The answer, at least for me, is that poetry speaks not just to the mind but to the soul.
As Kim Rosen says in her book "Saved by a Poem":
"Indeed, the very indefinability of the word gives us the need for poetry. Poems can speak these ineffables with a kind of mysterious accuracy. 'Poetry is a commitment of the soul,' Gaston Bachelard writes. 'Forces are manifested in poems that do not pass through the circuits of knowledge.'"
What kind of understanding is deeper than knowledge? And why is it that we spend so much time gleaning facts when we read, rather than experiencing this deeper understanding?
I understand the exigencies of a demanding MDiv program, but I also understand the need of the human soul to breathe its way into the deeper understanding that poetry can provide. And now to learn how to balance the two . . .
What kind of understanding is deeper than knowledge? And why is it that we spend so much time gleaning facts when we read, rather than experiencing this deeper understanding?
I understand the exigencies of a demanding MDiv program, but I also understand the need of the human soul to breathe its way into the deeper understanding that poetry can provide. And now to learn how to balance the two . . .
