The Wonder Paradox Study Guide

The Wonder Paradox was written in order to suggest a template for secular rituals that can substitute for the many holidays, life celebrations, and daily affirmations that religion provides. Since this is one of the primary goals of this wiki project, and most of the poems are in the public domain, much of the poetry used throughout this wiki has been borrowed from her book.

It makes an excellent book club read for secular groups, whose book clubs usually tend towards the more scientific and cerebral than the poetic. It offers a lot of fodder for discussion.

Introduction

This book offers a unique perspective in the atheist literary canon, because it looks at religion from a poetic and functional perspective rather than a literal one. It asks "what psychological functions do rituals and scriptural readings serve?" and acknowledges they can have positive benefits

This book really helps atheists and others with scientific worldviews to understand scripture as poetry that is not meant to be interpreted literally. Like poetry, it contains wisdom in the way it elicits emotional truths, and allows for interpretation that helps create meaning.

Rather than clinging to tradition as many secular gurus have advocated, Hecht constructs a new ritual canon using her extensive knowledge and love of poetry to find words that can convey the necessary gravitas when important moments call for it.

Discussion Questions

• Do you agree that ritual is important to human psychology?
• Can ritual be rational or is it inherently irrational?
• Can poetry reinforce reason?
• Define "cultural liturgy"
• Define "liminal space"
• What do you think of the term "Interfaithless"?

1. Decisions

Many people pray or meditate in order to help make important decisions. These rituals can focus the mind on a problem, help set intentions and goals, and cultivate hope for success.

Discussion Questions

• Can ritualized reflection help with decision making?
• Do any of you have a contemplation or decision making ritual that replaces prayer?
• What is the "sweet spot between gravitas and pleasure" for secular people?

Poems

• Traveler There Is No Road

2. Eating

Many religions encourage saying a prayer before meals, especially holiday meals and banquets. These practices can help us appreciate our food and the complex natural and human systems that have produced the abundance we currently enjoy.

Discussion Questions

• Did your family say prayers before meals?
• Do any of you currently practice a gratitude ritual before meals?
• What about Thanksgiving, holidays, or banquets? Do you offer words of gratitude on these occasions?
• Can a moment of reflection before eating help with diet or eating disorders?
• What are the missing words in "Not only the sugar, but the days, to hold"?

Poems

• From Blossoms
• Frost the Road Not Taken
• Ate the Fellow Raw
• Wild Geese

3. Gratitude

Many scientific studies have shown that practices cultivating gratitude have a huge benefit to our happiness. Prayers of gratitude are a part of every religion in some form.

Discussion Questions

• Do you ever feel the need to thank the universe for being awesome and giving you consciousness?
• Do humanists have a responsibility to cultivate generosity?
• Who has kept a gratitude journal? What was your experience?
• "If you aren't in love with late-capitalism, why are you letting it store all its stuff at your place?"
• Is a poem better if its stanzas follow a mathematical pattern like the Fibonacci sequence?
• What's in your cosmic gratitude poem?

Poems

• Alphabet
• Mark Strand end of poem

4. Sleep

Bedtime rituals can help you calm your mind and create Pavlovian triggers that cause it to enter the sleep state more easily.

Discussion Questions

• Have you ever dreamed about Dolly Parton? Fran Liebowitz? (for those TN or NYC especially)
• Who was taught to say prayers before bed as a kid?
• Can you still recite the "Now I lay me down to sleep...." poem from memory?
• Has anyone kept up a bedtime ritual?
• Can a bedtime ritual help you sleep?

Poems

• The Sleep that Comes Over Me

5. Meditation

Meditation is like prayer without the kayfabe. It can help calm your mind, reduce anxiety and negativity, set goals and intentions, and lead the mind to solutions for persistent personal problems.

Discussion Questions

• Who has done meditation? Who does it regularly?
• Does focusing our mind on our goals or wishes help make them come true?
• Does humanism/science fail to address mental states and qualia?
• Is it possible to develop a scientific practice for describing and inducing mental states?
• What is your original face before your parents were born?
• Who is it who drags your corpse around?
• Do you suffer from rumination? Do you have a mental technique to avoid it?

Poems

• Wannabe Hoochie Mama Gallery of Realities’ Red Dress Code

6. Happier Holidays

Putting the meaning back into holidays that secularism has removed. Recasting harvest holidays as "earth days."

Discussion Questions

• Do you celebrate religious holidays like Christmas and Easter? Did you always?
• Do you celebrate the "humanist holidays"? [1][2]
• We should be doing more Diwalis! (not a question, just a fact)
• What holidays would you feel uncomfortable missing entirely?
• What holidays do you personally work hardest on, in whatever way?
• Are there holidays you dread?
• Which holiday most delights you?
• Are there holidays outside your tradition that you find attractive?
• Which holidays do people in your life care about most?

Poems

• New Year’s morning—  everything is in blossom!   I feel about average.
• Holiday poem template / "Christmas Cabinet"