Know Thyself: Practicing Spiritual Self-Awareness with Literature
By Katie Zachok
Many saints have confirmed that knowing yourself is a foundational building block of the interior life. We have an innate dignity as human beings, made in the image and likeness of God, yet we also have faults and vices that we struggle with as a result of original sin. By understanding both of these perspectives, we can come to have a true and clear picture of how God has made us, both collectively as the human race, and individually, with the unique temperament and personality that He has woven into each of us.
It is the work of a lifetime to really know yourself. Even on a good day, it can be difficult to pinpoint how we are feeling and why we feel that way. Great art can act as a sounding board for the soul and help us sift through all the emotions we experience. While we might know that a picture can be worth a thousand words, or that “when words fail, music speaks,” there are often moments in life where we feel at a loss for words, and wish we had the language to express what is going on inside us. Self-awareness is definitely a key component of the spiritual life, and it is important to ask God to reveal those truths to us. But self-knowledge means nothing, and can actually feel quite depressing, unless we also prayerfully contemplate our identity in God’s love.
To this end, I have found that studying great works of literature and poetry is not only emotionally cathartic, but has opened up new doors in my relationship with God. Of course, you can always find Him in Scripture, but God’s power and desire to reach us has no limits. He still teaches us in other ways. If we’d like to develop greater self-knowledge to fuel our spiritual lives, I heartily recommend we begin with the classics. We call something a classic because it has withstood the test of time and no matter how many times you return to it, there are always new layers to explore. Below are three literary mediums for you to experiment with, asking the Lord to open your heart and reveal through the words who you are and how He wants you to grow in holiness.
Novels
This is probably the most obvious choice, isn’t it? Novels make particularly great emotional mirrors. Not only does immersing yourself in its chapters keep your brain nimble and help you sleep better, but it has been proven that reading makes us more empathetic too. In order for us to give our full attention to a story, we are invited to mentally and emotionally don the motives and feelings of its characters. All sorts of topics for personal reflection can result from this, as we navigate their joys, trials, and sufferings. We can stand in front of the jury with Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird and take a look at how we personally handle prejudice; we can contemplate what our own feminine genius means to us as we laugh, cry, and create with the March sisters in Little Women; and we can meditate on the true definition of selfless love in C.S. Lewis’s Till We Have Faces. By allowing the story to settle inside us, we may feel seen and understood by some characters, while others can inspire us to greater interior growth.
Plays
Reading through a play might seem counterintuitive at first. A play is supposed to be seen on a stage, right? Absolutely! But even the actors need to read the play before they can portray the content. This can be a bit more challenging as we try to keep the cast, setting, and stage directions straight in our minds. However, it often enriches our experience of the play as a whole and, if we enter into it with a prayerful posture, it can become a wonderful magnifying glass that helps us understand ourselves and those around us.
I would recommend attending a play in real time (or watching a film version) after reading through it as well. This double-whammy of reading and watching a play allows it to reach down to vulnerable spaces in our hearts and move us and, perhaps, in the darkness of a theater, we have the freedom to experience those emotions deeply and privately while remaining a part of the audience.
I personally experience this when I crack open a Shakespeare play. While the language he uses is notoriously tricky, there are a seemingly infinite number of layers to his characters. The emotional sensitivity with which he crafts the plot helps me to understand the different facets of human nature––I can reflect on the jealousy of Iago, the desperation of Romeo and Juliet, the sarcasm of Beatrice, the grief of Hamlet, or the guilt of Macbeth. Whether you choose to read Shakespeare or not is up to you, but there are many other plays that can act as personal touchstones too, including Our Town, The Importance of Being Earnest, or The Tragedy of King Lewis the Sixteenth.
Poetry
Poets have a tough job but, by most accounts, it’s one that they enjoy. Poetry is the fruit of wrestling with words until you’ve found the right combination. When you read a poem, you are taking in the finished result of the poet’s emotional experience. And poetry isn’t just words—it’s meter, form, structure, and rhythm that all help to convey the deep meaning within. It’s no wonder that this art form resonates with so many!
Poetry can feel intimidating, especially since it is best understood and connected with when spoken aloud. As readers, we have to do our own bout of wrestling while we come to understand it and take in its meaning for us, but it is well worth the effort. There is a plethora of words, phrases, and ideas for the soul to feast on, from the epic poems of Homer, to the romantic lines of Tennyson, to the magical strains of Yeats. A personal favorite of mine is Robert Frost’s, “Dust of Snow.” It’s a delightful snapshot that I repeat to myself when I’m feeling down, and the Lord has often brought it to my mind when I need to remember that the small things of life can still salvage a bad day.
God speaks to us through our interests and desires. He knows the personal language of each heart. Perhaps you will find out more about yourself in the pages of Lord of the Rings, or in the adrenaline rush of Fahrenheit 451. Maybe you’ll discover some habits you’d like to change as you read Dante’s Divine Comedy, or maybe you’ll be inspired by the noble gallantry of The Ballad of the White Horse. Many have discovered reading great literature can be life-changing, whether it becomes a treasured favorite or a kind of wake-up call. Whatever reading material He uses to draw your heart closer to Him will become special to you. Take some time today to select a book that has always piqued your curiosity or caught your eye, then sit down with the Word Himself and read it together.
