A Doorway to Connection with
Nature and the Divine

“Before 500 BCE, religion and poetry were largely the same thing. People did not presume to be able to define the Mystery. They looked for words that could describe the Mystery. Poetry doesn’t claim to be a perfect description as dogma foolishly does. It’s a ‘hint half guessed,’ to use T. S. Eliot’s phrase. That’s why poetry seduces and entices you into being a searcher for the Mystery yourself. It creates the heart leap, the gasp of breath, inspiring you to go further and deeper; you want to fill in the blanks for yourself.” — Fr. Richard Rohr

The poet Mary Oliver understood, perhaps better than most, that to read and to write poetry is to give oneself over to the mystery of the living, breathing world. Throughout a life lived in careful observation and the cultivation of wonder, she offered her poems as containers for divinity — not some far-off, heaven-dwelling deity, but the divine who lives and dwells in all the abundant life on this gorgeous and fragile planet. With depth and reverence, Oliver’s poetry overflows with the sacredness of life. As she writes: “For me the door to the woods is the door to the temple.”

During this retreat, we used Mary Oliver’s poetry as a guide to discover and explore our personal connection to nature and the divine. Through reflections on Mary’s poetry, small group discussion, time spent in nature, journaling, and being in community, we reminded ourselves of the sacredness of all of creation, including ourselves and our lives. We were encouraged to see the divine in all things, and to consider how it is that we want to be in the world.

As Mary Oliver asks: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

We invited participants during this retreat — this time away — to slow down, to notice and appreciate the beauty of the world that surrounds us all, and to be inspired to continue their spiritual journey. We gathered at the beautiful Schoodic Institute on the shores of Winter Harbor, Maine, for immersion in Mary Oliver’s poetry. Guided by Greg Rose, a personal friend of Mary’s, and accompanied by music and the wonders of the Maine coast, we had the opportunity to contemplate the Mystery, as inspired by Mary’s poetry.

*Quotes are from “Upstream – Selected Essays” and “The Summer Day”, by Mary Oliver