Meditations at Exeter: Telling Your Story

Every Wednesday at 9:50 a.m. students and faculty gather in front of the steps of Phillips Church. The crowd files inside and sits together, shoulder to shoulder, waiting to listen to the collective of voices and experiences—impres- sions of life at the Academy and beyond.Meditations are spoken reflections that range in scope and style, drawing from the both the art of narrative as well as poetry. The program relies on the goodness of the com- munity, including faculty, staff, spouses, alumni and persons from the greater Exeter community.Regarding the process of preparing a meditation, reli- gion instructor Jamie Hamilton noted the amount of effortand rumination required to compose a shared reflection. “It is a lot of work, preparing for a meditation. You do a lot of reflection, thinking about what the topic is going to be,” Hamilton said. “If you have something that needs to be told and feels compelling, you have to trust that that needs to be told. I just put away every possible topic I had [planned]and just got into it. Once I did that, it came out easily.” Math instructor Joseph Wolfson, who has given four meditations during his Exeter career, shared his experience. “My own process is to jot down thoughts and then towait around and finally realize there is a week to go,” Wolfson said. “So then I write, revise, say it out loud to see how long it is and revise some more.”Whatever topic a speaker reflects on, Wolfson noted that the process of rendering a meditation is the most memorable and valuable aspect of meditations, because it allows the individual to discover the unknown characteristics of themselves and delve into the inner parts of their minds.“The writing process itself is a value. I should do it more often. I get to explore who I am. Each time I have to write something down and deliver it publicly there is a looking inside myself and seeing what it is I want to say. And my writing gets a little bit better each time,” Wolfson said.Although most meditations are prepared through writing, some are presented in a uniquely different man- ner. A recent meditation, delivered spontaneously by English instruc- tor Molly Simmons, surprised and impressed students and faculty who attended it.Simmons explained that after deciding to write her meditation about motherhood, the writing process naturally incorporated the topic of grief she experienced after her mother passed away. “I felt the authenticity of telling my story by sharing the process of self-discovery was better conveyed through speaking it as it was happen- ing,” Simmons said. “I wasn't inspired by anyone, it just was what felt right for me and my story.”Wolfson reflected upon Sim- mons’ “spoken” meditation. “It was interesting because even when she was giving it, even though it was somewhat extemporaneous, it didn’t feel any different,” he said. “It just felt like this is her personality and this is how it is coming across. So whether she was working from notes or whether she had written a thing outwas just irrelevant.”While meditations vary in theway they are presented, the topics of meditations are distinct and true to each speaker who presents them. For example, English instructor Christine Knapp shared the experience of her multi-cultural marriage.“I wrote about my marriage to a person from a different culture because I know students are curious about that aspect of my life,” Knapp said. “I shared a bit about the way that experience has changed me and shaped me as a person.”During the winter term, Seniors engage in extensive writing work- shops and read selections from PEA’s A Book of Meditations as models of method and voice.In light of the experience of writing a senior meditation, senior Thomas Clark noted that the process is equally busy and stressful for students.“For me, writing the meditation was difficult. I originally had ten pages, but ended up scrapping all of them and starting over,” Clark said. “On one hand, it is a busy time of [the] term and it is hard to find time to think and to write, yet on the other hand, the meditation is one of the most important papers that a student at Exeter writes.”Whether it’s a faculty meditation or a student meditation, Hearon em- phasized that meditation is an appre- ciated aspect of Exeter that provides the community with opportunities to learn about individual speakers as well as time to take a break from the daily routine and reflect upon the topics presented.“Each person approaches the meditation in his or her own unique way,” Hearon said. “It's part of the vitality of the program that each new meditation contributes to our grow- ing understanding and appreciation of the form.”