Wade in the Water: A Class in Spiritual Writing

Writing and spiritual exploration have always been closely linked. “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you,” Augustine wrote in his Confessions. More recently, Mary Oliver put it this way: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do/ with your one wild and precious life?”

“In this course,” says instructor Nate Klug, “we will create prose and poetry that puts our hearts in conversation with the divine and the ineffable. Journaling, ghazal poems, tiny stories with God as protagonist, spiritual aphorisms, and haiku — our writing exercises will help us explore some of these forms, as well as our own urgent spiritual questions and concerns. We will also integrate meditation and visualization into our prompts, in order to explore the link between creativity and centeredness.

“As a religious professional, I am used to working with people of different faith backgrounds, including none at all. No particular spiritual identification is expected for this course — only a restless heart and a willingness to ask big questions.”

Participants will produce several pieces of new writing. They will also walk away with a renewed intimacy with their own spiritual lives.