Beautifully, Gloriously, Violently Awake – Art and Spirituality

It’s interesting to notice where an invitation to notice the deeper currents in your life comes from. Over the years I have realised that often happens for me through art in the broadest sense in the wider culture. By that I mean listening to music, seeing a film, being at a gig, going to exhibitions, reading books, being arrested by street art. It happens too on retreat, in silence, in nature, but the cultural space always catches me a bit more by surprise, seems to have the feel of a gift.

This summer I read a novel called Rare Singles by Benjamin Myers. I had read Cuddy by him the summer before, which is a spiritual tale about Saint Cuthbert. Rare Singles is the story of Bucky, who had a Northern Soul hit with one track back in his youth, which is a long time back. And due to a mix of circumstances, he did not carry on as a singer.

He lives in the US and has his fair share of struggles going on. Out of the blue he receives a letter inviting him to a Northern Soul festival in the North of England with airfare and accommodation paid. This is something of a surprise as he has not performed or done anything for decades, but he decides to say yes. It is touch and go whether he is going to be well enough to perform as he has quite a few health issues going on and the plot tension builds as it heads towards his moment to perform. But he does go out on stage and perform. His tune is a well-known classic, so the crowd love it and him. Somehow it all comes flooding back to him how to perform and he still has this amazing voice.

After he has performed, Dinah, who invited him over, finds him backstage and asks him how he feels. Initially he says he doesn’t know, but finally, after moving beyond the surface feelings of being relieved and satisfied, he says, ‘I feel awake. I feel awake for the first time in a long time… I’ve been sleepwalking for months… But right now I feel awake. Beautifully, gloriously, violently awake.’

Art and spirituality

I loved that when I read it and still find it moving now. It touches a deep longing in me. It invites me to think about the sweet spot of when I feel I am doing what I was born to do. It is also a good reminder that however buried that is or however much I push it aside, it is there waiting to be reignited. I like the idea that spirituality is about waking up.

It can be so helpful to notice when there is an invitation to attend to some of the deeper currents in your life, through art and spirituality perhaps. I hope that spiritual direction creates a space for that sort of attention and conversation about such experiences. If Bucky booked into a spiritual direction session (which I admit is fairly unlikely), that experience would be a wonderful thing to bring and explore and notice the movement of what is going on in the deeper currents of his life.