What I'm Reading: Book 15, The Delight of Being Ordinary

    When I told my friend Carolyn that my blog had been overtaken by book reviews of a more spiritual nature, she recommended I read The Delight of Being Ordinary: A Road trip with the Pope and the Dalai Lama, by Roland Merullo. Carolyn and I go way back. When I arrived in Washington, DC, at 22 with a green Chevette full of my belongings and a bike strapped on top, she became my first friend. I had been accepted to The George Washington University's Publication Specialist Program and found a job at the university. Carolyn was my supervisor. We shared a large office in the history department and spent many hours talking as we worked, kindred spirits whose paths crossed for a year or two, then moved on -- her to Massachusetts and me to Florida some years later. I read the book she recommended with her in mind, enjoying the memories of such a pivotal time in my life.

    This book was published in 2017, written when Pope Francis was head of the Catholic Church. The Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is still the leader of Tibetan Buddhism. Paolo dePadova tells us his story, how he is the First Assistant to his cousin, His Holiness the Pope of Rome, or was, until he orchestrates the kidnapping of a lifetime. Actually, dePadova's victims are willing accomplices who want nothing more than to take an unofficial vacation. DePadova himself is reluctant to comply with the Pope and Dalai Lama, but he is overruled and off the three men go on this unlikely but delightful adventure.

I enjoyed the story and the characters the three met along the way, and appreciated how dePadova  struggled with everyday life and didn't pretend to have all the answers, even though in his car (a borrowed Maserati with silver stripes!) sat two of the wisest men on the planet. The highlights of the book for me were the thought-provoking questions and the delicious nuggets of wisdom proffered by these titans of faith. Here are a few.

"All difficulties in this life, every moment of difficulty, comes from the distance between what is and what we want to be."

"The world is bursting with neurosis, and it seems to me that the source of this neurosis is a lack of appropriate acceptance, an urge to control everything, to resist God's divine guidance in whatever surprising or difficult form it takes."

"We wanted to think we understood, that we had some control, when in actual fact we made our way through time on the thinnest film of ice over a lake that was unfathomably deep and utterly mysterious..." 

These next two quotes are especially meaningful. "Ignore the cold wind of fear. Trust in God's protection. I tried to imagine what it would be like to believe every minute of every day according to advice like that! I was two steps into the dark dusty tunnel and filled with spiritual envy. To be free of fear! To believe - to really believe - that you were always watched over and protected by a kind and all-powerful spirit."

"Could it be, I wondered, could it really be that we were loved that way too? Could there be some Essence, some Father or Mother or Divine Intelligence that felt about me, about us, the way Rosa and I felt about Anna Lisa? Could our love for [our daughter] be some kind of metaphor for a large relationship, God to humankind?"

Like dePadova, I struggle to allow myself to truly believe, without fear, that I am loved by this all-powerful spirit as deeply as I love my children. It's nice to know I'm not alone. 

'"The Dalai Lama said, 'I say sometimes now, 'My religion is kindness,' because to say other things only divides people. All peoples can be kind.'"

This last quote reminds me of another favorite aspect of the book; the relationship between the Pope and the Dalai Lama. First and foremost, they are kind to each other, respecting the other's belief system. Laughter and delight seem to be their most proficient common language.

Many more pages have been dog-eared with passages underlined and tagged with sticky notes (I'm a firm believer in interacting with books), but much of the wisdom is circumstantial. You'll have to read it yourself to glean insights from the pages. I'm glad Carolyn recommended it to me!