Culture Perspectives: St. Basil the Great

In my on-going quest for Orthodox perspective on culture, I ran across the following excerpt from St. Basil the Great’s “Advice to Young Men on the Right Use of Greek Literature.” This is an Orthodox perspective on the non-Christian “culture” of the time.

“For just as bees know how to extract honey from flowers, which to men are agreeable only for their fragrance and color, even so here also those who look for something more than pleasure and enjoyment in such writers may derive profit for their souls…For the bees do not visit all the flowers without discrimination, nor indeed do they seek to carry away entire those upon which they light, but rather, having taken so much as is adapted to their needs, they let the rest go. So we, if wise, shall take from heathen books whatever befits us and is allied to the truth, and shall pass over the rest. And just as in culling roses we avoid the thorns, from such writings as these we will gather everything useful, and guard against the noxious. So, from the very beginning, we must examine each of their teachings, to harmonize it with our ultimate purpose.”

Fracture lines in Orthodox culture?

In our ongoing blog-versation about Orthodox culture, Jonathan Kotinek asked what  ”fracture lines” I see in the American Orthodox scene.  He noted that in his experience, the lines tend to be political lines, which in America usually means either liberal/conservative or Democrat/Republican.

I have certainly seen those lines also, especially here in Washington state where the same-sex marriage law is causing no end of acrimony and rhetoric on all sides, in and out of church.

But when I look at what I’ve seen of Orthodoxy (and I don’t pretend to be an expert), I see lines that are much deeper and more powerful than politics. The marriage law will be in the news for a while, and then it will be replaced by some other hot-button issue, and that issue will sink under another, and another. In some ways, politics are temporary. The beliefs underpinning the politics are not temporary.

Mowing and Musing

Today, I mowed my lawn.

On Thursday, I read a blog post by Jane Meyer that touched me. It’s lovely, and so are the photographs she included. But it reminded me of the quiet moments of my own life, the ones where I achieve a certain stillness, enough to reflect on the details of life around me and within me, and to understand who I am. These moments don’t come often. Not any more. I was thinking about that, after I read what Jane wrote. I feel sometimes like that sense of myself as someone to observe and understand belongs to a younger me. I was still figuring out what life was, then. Now, I’m living it. But do you ever feel, for a few minutes, as if you might lose yourself in the shuffle if you don’t find a way to be still once in a while?

Mowing my lawn is hardly an exercise in stillness. You may not be aware what an odyssey this mowing business is, in my life. You likely have not seen me stalking along behind the mower, cursing whatever president happened to be in office and further cursing his foreign policy and its impact on whatever ship my husband was on at that time. “If it weren’t for foreign policy,” I would mutter, shoving the grumpy mower over the uneven turf, “I might have some HELP mowing this blasted heath.”

Three Life Lessons, and a Caveat

After a few minutes in a Facebook conversation about my Orthodox culture post, I find myself inspired to share what I could easily call “Melinda’s Life Lesson #1.”

Which is:

Other people do not see themselves the way you see them.

You probably think this is a painfully obvious truth, but where is your evidence for that conclusion?

Only God Does That

I must confess something important about my views on Orthodox culture, or indeed on any Christian culture creation.

It’s essential to keep our goals clear. There are some things that we can’t do. In my observation of Christian culture-makers of various denominations, I’ve noticed a viewpoint that shows up in every Christian context I’ve been in (and I’ve been in several). There is an impression, either conscious or unconscious, that it is within our power to change the world. If we just hit the right formula, the right combination of message and medium, we can turn the broader secular culture on its head and drive evil back from all its strong points in the world.

No “Orthodox culture”?

In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m Orthodox. For the past few days, I’ve been in a conversation with an Orthodox friend about whether there’s any such thing as Orthodox culture in America.

This is a complicated question.

I had one thought about it this afternoon, and here it is, as the beginning of my attempt at answering the question.

My Cooperative Cover

I’m not prepared to say yet what will be on the cover of The Other Side of the Bonfire.  But I wanted to share something I already love about it.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned in my recent writing life is that generosity bears good fruit. If something good is happening to you, the more people you can include in your blessing, the better the blessing becomes. There’s something a little miraculous about this, to me. It has a tiny bit of the “loaves and fishes” miracle in it, I think. You take something good and start sharing it, and it suddenly expands and improves.

The Other Side of the Bonfire

That’s the title of my new book. It’s a novel, set in modern times, and although it wouldn’t be inappropriate for teens necessarily, it is primarily for and about adults.

So far, this publishing experience is doing its best to emulate the rosy dreams I had when I was in grad school, walking around next to formal gardens and old shade trees in Williamsburg, Virginia. In short, it bears no resemblance to real life. I love it!

The next fun event on this program is the photo shoot for the book cover, which is scheduled for later this week. I’m using the photographer who did the cover for Letters to Saint Lydia, which means that I’m already happy with whatever magic she’s going to work.  Her name is Stephanie Platis, and you can see some of her incredible portfolio here.

But at the moment, I’m going to try sleeping before midnight, for a change.

The Book Plan!

Approximately two minutes ago, I sent the final draft of my second novel off to the publisher. PHEW!!!

Let me say that one more time. It really feels great.

PHEW!!!

This book and I have lived together for two years. There are fragments of the story scattered all over my life, appearing at odd moments like real memories. I’m starting to look back on it as if it happened to me, as if I were in it instead of writing it. I can’t proofread the text any more. I can hardly see the words on the page because they are almost committed to memory. I look right through the words to the people and places they describe.

So now, it’s time to say goodbye.  The book is on its way, by invitation, to a capable and generous writing friend who started his own publishing company. By the end of this summer, it should be available in paperback, Kindle, and Nook formats.

All of which is like opening the front door of my house and watching a group of well-loved guests walk down the drive to the street, on their way to whatever comes next.

What’s Coming Next

Today was a wonderful day, thundery and changeable, and crowned with a rushing shower of enormous silver raindrops. The air smelled like rain, which means that it smelled like memories of other long-ago summers, good moments curled up next to the doorway in my childhood house, watching the raindrops bounce off the driveway and surge down the roadside in impromptu rivers.

I made a decision today, about what to do with my second novel. I’m excited and full of brainstorms and curiosity. Because every time I put one thing in motion, life adds other motions and everything begins to move in new ways, like all the colored particles in a kaleidoscope. Shifting.