“I have hope and faith that we can become more intelligent, more wise. After all, that's the name of our species: homo sapiens. The people who are wise," said Krista Tippett at Symposium by the Sea.
The name takes a full breath to say: Point Loma Nazarene University's Writer's Symposium by the Sea. But the annual get-together at the little Christian university near San Diego has been drawing guests that major universities would love to have.
At the February symposium the school had NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, spiritual guru Deepak Chopra and novelist Jane Smiley. There was also a writer whose name trips off the tongue, but who's not nearly as well-known as she deserves.
Krista Tippett is the host of the public radio program “On Being.” She was awarded a presidential National Humanities Medal, and her book “Speaking of Faith: Why Religion Matters and How to Talk About It” is a handbook for taking faith into the public square.
After she was interviewed on stage before a full auditorium at Point Loma, I told her she looked like she'd be more comfortable doing the asking instead of the answering.
“It's all conversation,” she said. “And I always enjoy a good conversation.”
And the key to a good conversation, Tippett says, is in the listening.
Poet William Stafford once said he'd heard a lot of people say, “I sure told him off,” but he had yet to hear someone say, “I sure out-listened him.”
Krista Tippett can "out-listen" most anybody.
Here are some of her thoughts from her interview at the Symposium by the Sea:
On ritual:
“Rituals are spiritual technology. They mirror things that scientists are now discovering. Rituals are how we harness all the things that make us human. They help us navigate the complexities of life. There is something life-giving about public rituals.”
On the inner life:
“Today, what we value, admire and celebrate is all external — money, power, celebrity. We have made having an inner life optional. And that's a lonely way to live. For me, quiet and submission, born out of fatigue, were the beginning of wisdom. When we get totally exhausted, external things can't carry us anymore. We have to look inside. And that's when we begin creating a worthy life for ourselves.”
On mystery:
“Mystery is the common, human experience. It is intellectual humility. Einstein said, ‘The ability to wonder is at the heart of both science and religion.' I am in love with asking questions. Questions are how we move forward.”
On the future:
“I have hope and faith that we can become more intelligent, more wise. After all, that's the name of our species: homo sapiens. The people who are wise."