Writers at the Convent - #2. Stephanie Dowrick

Continuing on from my last post, I went to three other sessions at the Writers at the Convent Festival.  After lunch was the an interesting session with Stephanie Dowrick, author of books dealing with "personal, social, and ethical development" such as "Choosing Happiness"  (for more on Stephanie see her website at http://www.stephaniedowrick.com/.

Why Stephanie you might ask?  The "Mind, Body, Soul" genre is one of the fastest growing genres in book sales in the US and I'm sure that is so for Australia also.  Why are we looking for answers on happiness, intimacy, solitude, and forgiveness (all the subjects of some of Stephanie's bestselling books)?  I wanted to hear more from someone who is working in this genre everyday.  Stephanie's latest book "In the Company of Rilke" started life as a Phd thesis, and looks at the work of the 20th century German poet, Rainer Rilke.

Why Rilke?  Rilke lived during a time when the world was changing rapidly, becoming more mechanistic.  He wrote poetry about how we experience life - how my life connects with yours.  Rilke's poetry conveyed the message of not struggling to have answers, and to live the questions, at odds with the society in which he was living.  Stephanie could see parallels in society today, and talked about the idea of "surrendered living" to "awaken to whatever it is with freshness, and not be burdened by our preconceptions".  Putting it in my own context, I likened it to current parenting styles where "control" over outcomes has been the goal in recent years.  (That's the subject for another post).

Stephanie admitted that this book is very different from her previous books and thus would have a smaller audience, but she really wanted to make people less afraid of poetry, so that they might give it a go.  While much of what she said reflected the spirituality of her role as an interfaith minister, I did find much to ponder as I left the room.