"Claiming Your Pain"

I'm always looking for books about women who have made an impact in history, in our world and upon my life. I found many a a "kindred spirit" in this book, I pulled off the shelf at Barnes & Noble a few years ago called "Faith and Feminism - A Holy Alliance - Five Spirited and Spiritual Women Throughout History" by Helen LaKelly Hunt, Ph.D.

The title definitely caught my eye and what also intrigued me too was that the introduction of the book was written by Gloria Steinem, one of the leaders of the very well known Feminist movement! I was so impressed with this book that I bought 5 of them to give to friends and family members.

Hunt chooses five women (altho, I know there are many more women who would qualify) of history, "who combined their undying faith with feminist beliefs and who made the world a better place by doing so."

One of the people that I was most surprised to learn about was Emily Dickinson. To mention how I feel she conveys her feelings through her poetry....well, I'm afraid my words would just fall short and pale in comparison. Emily lived from 1830-1886. She was living during a time when others were writing some of the most incredible pieces of literature that we still have around today, Writers like Hawthorne, Melville and Thoreau. Of course I'm an English Major and I have read quite a few pieces from each of these men and have been challenged by many of their values and beliefs, but not so much by what Emily Dickinson has written, up until now!

I like how she is really in touch with who she is and how she expresses herself. She is not afraid to write about the pain she experiences. I admire her honesty. She is an authentic person. This is something that I have been trying to do as well. Though it isn't easy and some things may seem too depressing to look at....I still believe that whenever a person lives honestly and from a place of authenticity, their "light shines brighter" as a witness and testimony to the indomitable fighting spirit that our Creator has placed in each of us!

Here's a little Emily:

"There Is A Pain So Utter"

There is a pain --- so utter ----
It swallows substance up -----
Then covers the Abyss with Trance ---
So Memory can step
Around --- across --- upon it ---
As one within a Swoon ---
Goes Safely --- where an open eye ---
Would drop Him --- Bone by Bone.

Poem #599

Hunt says: "Pain became a frequent subject that she wrote about in her life. We don't know the source of her pain, but she allowed this hurt to become and opening into the depths of her heart. And from this depth she sent messages of great courage and honesty.....Emily's formal education started at Amherst Academy. Then she attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, where despite her successful academic life, she stayed only seven months. We do not know why she returned home so quickly. Nor why she never ventured far from home again.

Given Emily's unwillingness to function more actively in a social context, she doesn't seem to fit the stereotype of a feminist in action. You might wonder why she is included among the five empowered women in this book. It is important to remember that not all feminists are activists, and I am including Emily as an opportunity to expand what it means to be a feminist. In her daily life, she was shy to the point of being a recluse, while in her writing, she revealed herself with a level of honesty that took enormous bravery. Her life is an example of the richness that can be found when one follows one's deep inner voice rather than conforming to societal pressures.

This is a quality that Emily shares with other feminists who stayed on their own path despite the pressures of the status quo. Her life and her words make a unique contribution to the chorus of women's voices. They remind us that there is room for all of us in our uniqueness. There is no one kind of feminist. There are times in life when we may withdraw or set firm boundaries to protect our inner life and experience. The purpose of this is often to gain the strength and knowledge we need to communicate on a deeper and more honest level......She illuminates for us the potential to be fearless explorers of ourselves: to watch, listen, and accept what we find without the biases the world can often impose.....Emily's poetry charts an evolution from avoiding pain to claiming and being defined by it. Pain shapes us, breaking us open so that we can reconfigure ourselves in a way that more deeply mirrors our authentic self. "There is always one more thing to be grateful for," she writes, "that one is one's self and not somebody else." In this way, she celebrated her selfhood in the midst of her suffering, a profound teaching for us all.

Emily teaches us that pain opens us not only to deeper levels of our self, but also to the humanness of others. She wrote, "When Jesus tells us about his Father, we distrust him. When he shows us his Home, we turn away, but when he confides to us that he is 'acquainted with Grief,' we listen, for that also is an Aquaintance of our own. She wrote about feelings we avoid, and her unique spirit of feminism encourages us to give voice to our own lives, to find the power in emotion, and to trust it as a way of connection. When we work through our own grief, we can cut to the heart of the common universal experience, which opens us to feel for others."

What is amazing to me (Paula) is that Emily tried to get her poetry published and was told that the public wouldn't appreciate her gift in its form if it were not "corrected." But Emily refused to compromise her writing style and made a difficult decision not to publish.

I wonder how many other women have been told "the public wouldn't appreciate her gift in its form if it were not "corrected"? I digress.

I guess not all Feminists are activists, not all activists are women either (PTL!!!).

To this I end with this one question, "Where are all the Feminist Men?"