The Spiritual Aspect of Memoir: How We Find Stories in Our Quest to Find Meaning

PART TWO

Hello beloved reader,

This is a continuation from my last post: I’m serializing the 2017 graduating lecture I wrote while studying Creative Nonfiction writing in the MFA program at at Vermont College of Fine Arts.

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PART TWO:

Now, even though our so-called President [this lecture was given in July 2017] insists we put America first, let’s look at the rest of the world too.

The second and third largest religions in the world are Islam then Hinduism, however as we can see from these graphics, their religious conditioning won’t likely affect the majority of American memoir writers.

Islam is the second largest religion in the world at 1.6 billion. [Today, in September 2023, Wiki states it’s 2 billion]

Countries with the greatest proportion of Muslims:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_by_country

While Islam is one of the fastest growing religions, you can see that they presently comprise less than 1% of the American population. A lot more could be said here, but this is a brief overview of the world’s three largest religions.

Now the third largest religion in the world is Hinduism, with 1 billion adherents. [As of today in September 2023, Wiki states it’s 1.2 billion adherents worldwide (15-16% of the world's population.)]

Countries with the greatest proportion of Hindus:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism_by_country

As you can see the majority of Hindus reside in India.

This 2015 graph shows each religion, and the category of “Unaffiliated,” as a slice of the pie of the whole human population.

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2017/04/05/the-changing-global-religious-landscape/

At this point, I invite you to consider another question:

If one commonality between spirituality and writing memoir is a quest to find meaning, and Christianity offers plenty of ways to find meaning in one’s life, is it possible that the rise in the number of memoirs being published in this country over the past twenty years or so, could be written by people not satisfied with how Christianity makes sense of this human experience called Life?

Is it possible that people, perhaps women in particular, who are not satisfied with the patriarchal hierarchies that exists within many organized religions, are looking to find meaning in other ways, and writing memoir is another way to explore meaning in one’s life?

Yes, my intention in asking these questions is to invite you to examine your own biases and conditioning, and to consider how your beliefs may affect how you find meaning as you write memoir.

As noted, Hinduism is the third largest religion, and it is also the oldest religion in the world (that is, the oldest religion that exists with recorded written texts.)

And at this point, I want to spend some time on one of the ancient sacred texts that exists within Hinduism: The Bhagavad Gita.

Hundreds of English translations of the The Bhagavad Gita exist, however, this one by Eknath Eswaren is one of my favorites.

And yes, I want to spend some time talking about the Gita, as I spent nine months in interfaith seminary studying seven different translations of this revered text.

And yes, you could say that I became a Gita nerd.

But I also want to tell you about the Gita as I truly do not believe I could have embarked upon the journey of becoming a writer, had I not studied The Bhagavad Gita first.

One of the essential concepts discussed in the Bhagavad Gita is the word dharma—and this is different from the Buddhist definition of the same word.

We do not even have an exact equivalent English word for the Hindu concept of dharma,

but it centers around the idea of our “sacred duty,” or

“the great work of our lives,” or

our “personal legend” as Paulo Coelho puts it in The Alchemist, or

as the poet Mary Oliver writes, “what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” 

And yes, for everyone in this room, it may be fair to say that writing is our dharma.

The story of the Gita in a nutshell, begins at the start of a war where the prince Arjuna (who represents everyman) walks onto the battlefield and becomes consumed with doubt. The reader experiences the moment when Arjuna realizes that the enemies he’s facing are his own uncles and relatives, beloved friends, and revered teachers. He turns to his guide Krishna (who represents God) for advice. The whole of the Gita is the conversation that ensues, as Krishna explains to Arjuna how he must live his dharma, and that he must cultivate the courage to do so.

This idea of identifying my dharma, then cultivating the courage to live my dharma, led me to cultivate the courage to write and to share my writing in the world.

Further concepts in the Gita include the idea of living our dharma by cultivating whatever gift we may have to offer, placing that gift on the table, then we get to practice remaining detached from outcomes.

This idea of remaining detached from outcomes is, of course, easier said than done. However, I find it benefits my practice of writing enormously.

If I concentrate on the process of writing and cultivating the craft, rather than getting hung-up on the outcome of possible publication and acclaim which is food for my ego, I can practice remaining detached from outcomes which allows me to relax and enjoy the process.

In essence, by remaining detached from outcomes we can minimize suffering.

These ideas of dharma, cultivating the courage to share your gift, and remaining detached from outcomes, give you a taste (really just the tip of the iceberg) of how The Bhagavad Gita added to my own search for meaning and provided me with various tools that help me in walking the writer’s path, or living my dharma.

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For the remainder of this lecture I will explore how Paul Kalanithi searches for meaning in his memoir, When Breath Becomes Air.

But before I begin with that analysis, I want to share a few of the nuggets I learned in my four semesters here at VCFA that may also be of use to you.

My first semester advisor helped me to understand the difference between subjective response and critical discussion, and that subjective response often kills critical discussion.

I thought about that a lot.

And I came to realize though, that as a human being, I still have a subjective response, and I want to discuss that too. Especially in reference to memoir — examining and discussing an author’s life choices reflect how an author of memoir finds meaning in their life.

But it was also enlightening for me to understand that it is in my critical discussion of an author’s writing choices that I learn about craft. So rather than simply writing about what I liked and didn’t like, I found my way into a critical voice and embarked upon a critical discussion of various craft components—elements that may help create an experience for a reader, which then add to the ultimate success of a book.

My second semester advisor helped me understand that reading in an MFA is not always about enjoying the book. Yes, I realized that it was possible to learn about craft even from a book I didn’t enjoy. (Although it’s not quite as much fun.)

Then in my third semester, as I have a natural resistance to writing about painful subject matter, my third semester advisor helped me to understand the difference between my own resistance to writing about difficult subject matter, versus what the needs of the narrative may be. And even what the needs of the reader may be.

And in my fourth semester, everything seemed to come together.

Click here for Part 3.