Something Beyond— At Principle Gallery
All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and the change is painful.
–Flannery O’Connor, The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O’Connor
Grace is such a wonderful word, yet it often eludes definition or understanding for many, me included. I think of it in terms of harmony, of being synchronized with the rhythm of the world and universe. There is a quality of smoothness in this, one that is accepting of the moment and place. Graceful in movement, gracious in manner.
And simple as that might sound, it eludes us mightily. And just when you think you might understand or recognize it, it seems to evaporate like morning mist in the sunlight.
Maybe it is as the author Flannery O’Connor wrote above. Maybe we live our lives out of rhythm and become comfortable in that way of being so that the idea of grace seems alien to us. To accept grace, to move towards it, would mean we would have to leave parts of ourselves behind in order to change.
And as we all know, change is dreaded by almost everyone. We often accept the misery we know in lieu of trying to change who and what and where we are.
That’s it for today. I am only throwing out that thought and may be wrong at that. Just a thought.
I will add that if you haven’t read any Flannery O’Connor, brace yourself. Her work presented a dark vision and place with residents who often both sought and rejected grace. Both heaven and hell are in the here and now and it is up to us to figure things out for ourselves. It might be our only chance, our only turn on the big prize wheel.
The paragraph below is a prime example of that, taken from her novel Wise Blood. It’s a tough and grim book to get through as was its film adaptation. But it certainly makes one think.
“Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were going to never was there, and where you are is no good unless you can get away from it. Where is there a place for you to be? No place.
Nothing outside you can give you any place,” he said. “You needn’t look at the sky because it’s not going to open up and show no place behind it. You needn’t to search for any hole in the ground to look through into somewhere else. You can’t go neither forwards nor backwards into your daddy’s time nor your children’s if you have them. In yourself right now is all the place you’ve got. If there was any Fall, look there, if there was any Redemption, look there, and if you expect any Judgment, look there, because they all three will have to be in your time and your body and where in your time and your body can they be?”
― Flannery O’Connor, Wise Blood
For this Sunday Morning Music, let’s continue with the theme of grace. Here’s a wonderful performance of the Paul Simon classic, Graceland, from Allison Krauss and Jerry Douglas.
Redtree Times 
However atypical, O’Connor’s view of grace is grounded in the Christian view; we don’t move toward it, it comes to us, and our choice is to accept or reject. You’re right about the power of her view of the human condition. If you’ve not read the collection of her letters, it’s fabulous, and great for dipping into, one letter or a dozen at a time.
I downloaded her book of letters this morning in order to find the context of the passage I used. I may have to do some more reading in it.
This may be my favorite quotation from her: “On the subject of the feminist business, I just never think of qualities which are specifically feminine or masculine. I suppose I divide people into two classes: the Irksome and the Non-Irksome without regard to sex. Yes, and there are the Medium Irksome and the Rare Irksome.”
That is a great quote. I think I have been doing that same sort of classification for a long time now! I just use a different term for irksome.
Which is exactly why I thought you’d enjoy this one!