The Joy of Reading

 For those of you who have followed my multi-faith work in Indiana, I have started a new blog:  https://freedomtoflourish-thejoyofreading.blogspot.com/

This is my first post: 

My Joy of Reading Journey

These past two years my reading, which has always been a favorite pastime, has escalated into a significant reading project, a book club, and ways of communicating with friends and families. Reading has taken a prominent place in my life, a place it could not be when I was a mother of young boys, working as a teacher and developing a multi-faith dialogue in northern Indiana. Life has changed. I now live in Göteborg, Sweden, my sons are raised and I have grandchildren. The morning alarm does not call me to go to work every day. In 2018 I read 24 books. In 2019 I read 54 books. In 2020 I read 75 books. My hope is that through writing I can make my reading a spiritual endeavor. My hope is that by bringing together the eclectic books I have read I will form in myself a new way of being in the world. My hope is to post at the beginning of each month what I have read the previous month. I invite you to join me on my joy of reading journey.
 
What I read:
Book Club: In 2018 I started a book club in Sweden with women I met in my Swedish classes. These women are from Brazil, Poland, Greece, and Sweden. Each month we read one or two books and rotate through these categories: Contemporary, Classic, Swedish, and Spiritual. We have now read 30 books together.
 
Great Books of the Western World: In 2018 my brother, my sambo (Swedish word for someone who lives with their romantic partner) and I started a ten-year reading project of the Great Books of the Western World. We have a reading list for each quarter of the year. After our reading is completed for the quarter, we each do a write-up of what we have read using Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren’s, How to Read a Book. (Robert Hutchins and Adler founded the Great Books of the Western World reading program)
            What is the book about as a whole?
            What is being said in detail and how?
            Is it true?
            What of it?
After almost two years I have added these questions to my write-ups of the reading.
           What is the nature of Man?
           What is the nature of Society?
           What is the nature of God?
These questions launch us into our seminar-style discussions each quarter.
 
Family Book Club: My Mom, the same brother, and I started reading the classics together. My Mom was an avid reader when she was young and she is reading again. There are many classics I have not read and reading with my Mom has deepened my respect for her as her curiously and intellect make for meaningful discussions. We have read many classics, such as Anna of Karenina by Leo Tolstoy and Gilgamesh. We have read 21 books together.
 
Friends read together: My friend, from a neighboring town where I grew up in North Dakota, and I are reading together. We talk every week about books and about life. We have a shared history and reading together has deepened our friendship and our connection.
 
Learning Swedish: A person can’t live in another country without taking on the task to learn the language. My Swedish language skills needed to move beyond the sing-song voice of the Swedish Chef on Sesame Street. I am tackling the Swedish children’s book genre.  When my sons were in third grade, they read Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren, a famous author from Sweden. I am proud to say I have read Pippi Långstrump in Swedish.

Audio Books: My brother, same as above, has listened to many audio-books, and now he has become a narrator himself. Because of him, I have started listening to books during that part of my day when I can not sit down to read. These tend to be non-fiction or historical fiction.  With America in political turmoil, it has been important to learn in more detail the history of the United States.
 
Poetry and Art are a part of my daily reading. When I read poetry, I always read it out loud, for it creates another meaning when the words are spoken. Every day I read a Psalm from the Bible and have read through many poetry books.

Reading with my littles: Having two granddaughters who love books, reading to them via the internet is an absolute highlight of my week. When my sons were small, we would sit with a stack of new books from the library and read and read. They never became tired. Even over the internet little Izzy sits and listens as we read one book after another.

Hobbies: Finally, I love to cook, garden, and bird watching. Those types of books are never far from my reach.
 

Beneath the Surface

During our winter break we traveled to the Caribbean. While we were there we snorkeled every day. When sitting on the beach enjoying the warmth of the sun and looking across the ocean it is impossible to see the beauty that is beneath the surface of the water. Even when I entered the water to swim I could not see what was beneath the surface. In order to see this beautiful world of astonishing color, of the various fish and coral, special equipment was needed. I couldn’t wait to don my mask and flippers so that I could see this world which was directly below the surface.

That has been my experience with the multi-faith efforts that I have been a part of throughout the year. On the surface there have been Haven Interfaith Parent (HIP) meetings; moderating Interfaith Events, Multi-Faith Events and Interfaith Forums; changing the name to multi-faith from interfaith; attending religious events; helping design a multi-faith room at a local hospital and speaking at various locations. But the true beauty of these different events  lie beneath the surface. 

As in snorkeling there is special equipment which is needed in order to see the beauty beneath the surface of all these endeavors. The tools which I have discovered which have helped me to see this beauty have included convicted civility, dialogue, and promoting social inclusivism. Throughout this blog are postings on each of these topics. In using these tools in multi-faith dialogue I have seen a beauty which has deeply impacted my life. Thank you to my many friends of other faiths and to those of my own faith, who have helped me learn how to use these tools. It has been a beautiful year.

Roman 3:18, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”

Listening Like Your Life Depended On It

The audience's role in creating a successful Multi-Faith Event: How Good Must I Be?   can not be understated. At the event the audience demonstrated a desire to understand and to learn by listening like their life depended on it.

Below are a few notes I have received since the event:

What a magnificent evening of thoughtful exchange you assembled at Canterbury last week. Congratulations on a really significant accomplishment. I wish I could have attended the  Taylor dialogue too.

This is remarkable work; may you continue to provide our community with this most sacred of sacraments: real, honest, meaningful connection.

Another great event. It is comforting & encouraging to see that the similarities of the different faiths far outweigh the differences. Exposed only to news media most would not realize that. Thanks for another outstanding job as moderator.  As a fellow Christian brother you are clearly a shining example of the love of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessings to you.

Our Lord Christ is working through you to help bring peace into this world.  There is no greater work than what you are doing.  I just feel blessed to be a part of it, and I watch in amazement at your accomplishment through His Hand.

The use of lay persons provided a good transition to the normal relationship/dialogue among persons not trained specifically in theology. An evolution from top down to horizontal communication. 

You should know just how impressed I have been with your work on this. You put together a very clearly thought-out and executed event. Your comments leading into the evening last night were stellar and your facilitation of the dialogue was superb; you had a “light touch” (hard to accomplish). Well done Ramona! 

Excellent diversity of faiths. Straight forward presentations of each perspective.

Email from someone who watched the event on youtube:

I've been watching this morning, and I'm just captivated. I will be sure to attend the next event. Your events are like the best of college--the stimulating, fascinating discussion--without the test!