I am always knocked out by the “and identity.” He’s reminding us of the unlikelihood of our personalities, of our wild inner lives, and personally it catches me when I feel like I’m skidding. It reminds us that it is already quite a thing just that we came into existence. The tiny piece of poetry invites us to see ourselves as part of a great story of humanity. Today I’d suggest a poem to do with babies for the particular kind of event we were talking about, but as it happened it struck a lot of people in the room quiet and they wanted a copy, they wanted to know where to find it.

I added that there’s a famous place in Leaves of Grass when he has asked himself what the point of life is, with a terrific incisiveness, really raking life and himself over the coals in the question and then he writes:Īnswer: That you are here-that life exists and identity,/That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse. Still, I shouted further, because some Walt Whitman lines came to mind. I’m sure they knew what I meant, since poetry is not uncommon at any ritual, and has become expected at weddings and funerals. As the two of them were going, I shouted after them that they may want to add some poetry so that they’d be lifted up at the ceremony. I told them that I take part in religious ritual and holidays-poetically-and consider them a sweet part of life. I hadn’t been expecting this kind of question, so I gave a historical answer about how ritual is reinterpreted in different times and places to match what people believe and want. But they genuinely didn’t want to insult their family faith by faking it, nor betray their true belief in science and reality in a way that they might live with as an act of cowardice or just a badly wrong note. I know, it’s not an exact fit, but hear me out.Īfter my first big Doubt talk, a very pregnant couple asked me whether they could have a religious ceremony for the baby as their parents were hoping, even if they are atheists? They seemed happy when they described what the grandparent generation wanted, they lit up when they mentioned that the food would be delicious, and that they’d been to these things their whole lives. Of course, for many people the supernatural parts of religion are super important, but I think poetry does that same job.

Doubt by Jennifer Michael Hecht