Week 4 Notes

Do you remember daydreaming as a child?

“To hear the simple and bold proclamation ‘You are doing too much. You can rest. You can just be. You can be’ is revolutionary.” p. 96

“Who taught you the capacity to dream?…When ddi your desire to daydream fade away?” p. 98 (some people think that ritual is the capacity to dream together

Twitter Post:

I’m reading a fascinating little book by Byung-Chul Han called *The Disappearance of Rituals.* In it, Han makes the provocative implication that ritual is actually a kind of “play.” With the disappearance of rituals (communal performances that cultivate recognition and stability), “The holy seriousness of play gives way to the profane seriousness of work.” Thus we become an atomized, isolated, and narcissistic society oriented toward industry instead of community. Han writes, “Rituals and ceremonies are the genuinely human acts which allow life to appear to be an enchanting, celebratory affair. Their disappearance desecrates and profanes, transforming life into mere survival. we might thus expect a re-enchantment of the world to create a healing power that could counteract collective narcissism.”

“Daydreaming is a form of rest and feels like the opening of your great doing what it’s supposed to do… A blanket of care swaddling you tightly. A comforting now. We are socialized into systems that cause us to conform and believe our worth is connected to how much we can produce…we forget how to dream. This is how grind culture continues. We internalize the lies and in turn become agents..” p 99 ex: Holy Imagination, Anne of Green Gables

Audre Lorde Poetry is not a Luxury “Poetry is not only a dream and vision: it is the skeleton architecture of our lives. It lays the foundation for a future of change a bridge across our fears of what has never been before.” p. 100 humans need art, Hogfather: Humans need to imagine justice

“All right,” said Susan. “I’m not stupid. You’re saying humans need… fantasiesto make life bearable.”

REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.

“Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—”

YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.

“So we can believe the big ones?”

YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.

“They’re not the same at all!”

YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET—

Death waved a hand.

AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME…SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.

“Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what’s the point—”

MY POINT EXACTLY.”

– Terry Pratchett, Hogfather

Rest Poem p. 101 (read to congregation)

Cultivate DreamSpace p. 106-107

p. 124
More Care.
More Therapy.
More Dreams
More Daydreaming
More DreamSpace
More Meditation.
More Love.
More Calls to Say, “How Are You Feeling?”
More Love Letters.
More Bedtime Stories.
More Strength to Love.
More Naps.
More Rest.
More Sleep.
More Care.
Place Us in a Dream Trance.

“This is not a book offering a step-by-step rigid list for you to find rest in a capitalist system. As a culture, we have already given ourselves over to a rigid binary that is neither expansive nor imaginative.” p. 125