Spirituality in The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

What is a “spiritual awakening?”• “..the work of the Holy Spirit in restoring the people of God to a more vital spiritual life,

witness, and work by prayer and the Word after repentance in crisis for their spiritual decline.” Earle Cairns

• “Wisdom becomes knowledge when it becomes experience” Yogi Tea

• The Four Noble Truths

– All life is suffering (impermanent)

– There is a cause for this suffering (desire)

– There is freedom from suffering (detachment)

– The Middle Path (moderation)

Our Definition

• A rejuvenation of soul and mind, either by a struggle or a clear set of steps.

• Embracing weakness so it becomes a positive.

• A realization of a world greater than the one of the present.

• A state of Enlightenment

• Look inside the self for self-realization

Topics to Discuss

• In times of great struggle or strife, do we as humans create a “spiritual awakening” to make sense of the chaos? Is a “spiritual awakening” simply an adaptation to conflict in one’s environment?

• Or do times of suffering and exhaustion bring a clarity of mind – an Enlightenment – that is spiritual awakening?

• “The dolphin looks green of course because he is really gold. But when he comes to feed, truly hungry, purple stripes show on his side as on a marlin. Can it be anger, or the greater speed he makes that brings them out?” (p.72)

• In the novel, when the old man is struggling with life and death and catching the fish, he turns to God, why?

Possible Examples of Spiritual Awakenings in the text

• “I am not religious,’ he said. ‘ But I will say ten Our Fathers and Ten Hail Marys that I should catch this fish, and I promise to make a pilgrimage to the Virgin of Cobre if I catch him. That is a promise.’ (p. 65)

• “ He commenced to say his prayer mechanically. Sometimes he would be so tired that he could not remember the prayers and then he would say them fast so that they would come automatically. ‘Blessed Virgin, pray for the death of this fish.’ With his prayers said, and feeling much better, but suffering exactly as much, and perhaps a little more, he leaned against the wood of the bow and began, mechanically, to work the fingers of his left hand.” (combined p.65)

• Is this evidence that the man is not having a spiritual awakening or is he forming a spiritual dependency? Does this vary from person to person?

Ritualistic

• Many cultures have used ritual, often combining dance, music, drugs, chanting, to enter into a state of spiritual awakening.

• Often these events involve reaching an intense state of exhaustion, which brings on this “enlightened” stage.

• Some users of marijuana, peyote, LSD, and other hallucinogenic drugs argue that these substances allow them to achieve a spiritual awakening or a mini spiritual awakening.

Salvador Dali

Peyote

Lion Zion

Christ Resurrection

Lotus

Mandela

Photo Sources

Mandala: http://www.junemoon.com/images/book/page06.gif

Lotus: http://www.hulbertfamily.com/GrantHImages/jameshimages/fullsize/lotus

%20closeup.jpg

Christ Resurrection: http://www.luc.edu/depts/history/dennis/Visual_Arts/02-

Baroque_Rubens_Resurrection-of-Christ.jpg

Lion Zion: http://dabudz.ru/images/lion_zion.gif

Salvador Dali Resurrection: http://www.artsforge.com/ccards/media/p7040.jpg

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~clauspat/dict.htm

Peyote: http://www.focus.at/artikel/img/peyote.jpg