Consider the Blackbird: Reflections on Spirituality and Language
by Harvey Gillman
London: Quaker Books, 2007
Reviewed by Linda Douty
132 pages, US$25.00
Harvey Gillman is a scholarly Quaker who delights in wisdom and words.
Gillman’s deep insights about the spiritual journey are fruits of the
contemplative life and the steady practice of silent reflection. Consider the
Blackbird is a collection of essays written around the theme of the language
used to convey our deepest spiritual yearnings. As a blackbird continues to
visit outside the writer’s window, Gillman incorporates the blackbird’s song as
a clever literary device. Gillman introduces his feathery friend in the early
pages:
This book is a sort of consider the blackbird in the same way as in the
Christian scriptures Jesus told his disciples to consider the lilies of the field. (They) just are; they do not need justification for their
existence. The blackbird came, and sang, and left … I hope that something is
conveyed to the … reader, some echo of the blackbird’s song…. (P. 10)
Gillman shares his own spiritual journey, beginning in his birthplace of
Manchester, England, as part of a Jewish family. His affinity for language and
theology took him through a tour of religious traditions, and he became well
acquainted with the Christian gospels, Buddhist, Hindu, and Taoist thought,
before finally finding his soul’s home with the Quaker Society of Friends.
Hillman’s own penchant for words was balanced by the Quaker emphasis on silence.
He remains open to a variety of insights, which is evident in these thoughts:
“The more I meet seekers, the more I am convinced that there is a vast seeking
which goes far beyond the materialism and consumerism which seem to dominate
public life, and beyond the rigid distinctions of differing faith communities”
(p. 15). Additionally, the text is sprinkled with sentences from the Bible and
from other religious writings, broadening the reader’s view of the language of
faith: “The division for me in the religious life is not between members of one
religion and another, or even between skeptics, atheists and followers of
religions. It is between those who include the stories of their fellow humans
and those who exclude them” (p. 45).
The Jewish community of his youth gave Gillman a strong appreciation for
the strength of community. Yet he feels that today’s seekers are more likely to
make intentional choices about community, based primarily on “The Three B’s”,
which he discusses in a chapter as Belief, Belonging, and Behavior.
Perhaps most helpful to me was his comprehensive treatment of the often
misunderstood term, postmodernism. After reading chapter five, I have a much
clearer view of this complex label, which he summarizes with these phrases:
FROM organic community based on family ties
TO communities based on work or friendship…
FROM a sense that there is a universal Truth…
TO a multiplicity of truths.
FROM doctrine
TO experience;
FROM deference in the face of authority
TO listening to the inner voice;
FROM reverence for particular sacred texts
TO the idea that the whole of reality is a text to be explored;
FROM the norm of the white upper class male
TO respect for the multiplicity and diversity of human experience. (P. 56)
Consider the Blackbird: Reflections on Spirituality and Language should be
especially helpful to those of us who seek to be with others as they deepen
their spiritual journeys, because it broadens our sense of how language affects
the whole sacred experience. In addition it gives us a wonderful window through
which to understand Quaker belief and expression.
Not a book to hurry through, Consider the Blackbird’s academic density
requires that the reader chew slowly, relishing every bite of the beautiful
words. Its pages are permeated by sharp intellect but enlivened by humor and
above all, a reverence that searches for meaning in the mystery. Reading it was
like sipping a glass of vintage wine.
Linda Douty is a spiritual director and retreat leader living in
Memphis, Tennessee, USA. She is the author of How Can I Let Go If I Don’t Know
I’m Holding On?: Setting Our Souls Free (2005) and the forthcoming How Can I See
the Light When It’s So Dark?: Journey to a Thankful Heart. You can contact her
at lindadouty@aol.com
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