Welcome to The Wildroot Parables weekly discussions! This is where we can come together as a community and have real talk with one another: open, honest, gracious, and curious.
This is YOUR space to discuss with each other, not just engage with me! Because of this, SAFE SHARING is my highest priority. If you are not engaging safely and with grace with others, you will have to leave. Period.
On Monday, our devotional was all about the sweet parable of watching young ducklings follow their mother, and the word-picture of how we follow after God with simple trust.
Today, let’s discuss: who else are you following? What thinkers, writers, philosophers, mystics, and wisepeople—ancient or modern—do you reach for when you’re looking for wisdom, comfort, and direction?
Share them with us, not to put them on a pedestal, but to honor them in their capacity as teachers.
Oh wow, what an incredible list, Sara!! Thank you for sharing it!
I stumbled upon Tish Harrison Warren's work a few years ago myself and I just love it. Her emphasis on the sacred in the mundane is really beautiful. 🌿
I found an online community of "thinkers" on Wordpress centered around one blog and it was great. I learned a lot. There's one brilliant writer whose blog I only discovered when these people announced he passed away. I spent months reading through his articles and clicking through links. His work popped my brain in the best of ways.
What I'm struggling with right now is that the community of "thinkers" is kind of falling apart. They've been gripped by despair and malaise, and sometime last year I stepped out of my comfort zone a bit and wrote a guest post for them that got absolutely shellacked--people hated it. It was about a controversial topic, but after that point the community there degraded. I used to be a barstool gadfly there too, I'd comment liberally and occasionally thoughtfully--I've had to dial it back to nothing.
It's been weird because these thinkers were people I looked up to and admired. In a few cases I still do--but the depth of despair that grips people, the anger and resentfulness when they lose hope. That makes me sad. I want to (and tried to) help! But it amounted to nothing.
So those are people I did follow and wanted to follow but have had to stop following, and the result is that I have had to follow my gut and instinct a little more--follow the holy spirit such as I can understand it. Definitely feel a void there still.
Thanks for the honest response, Scoot. And I'm sorry about your online community; having been part of a few spontaneously edifying groups myself, I know how hard it is when they disband or fade away. I hope you're able to find a new group or source local to you to fill that space!
For wisdom I enjoy the Stoics. Of those I've read, Epictetus stands out as a favourite - all of his works are lessons recorded by his student, and he gives the impression that Epictetus had a good sense of humour, as well as a healthy dose of 'old man grumpiness'.
Some teachers who I reach for, from many disciplines, in no particular order:
N. T. Wright (English New Testament scholar, Pauline theologian and Anglican bishop)
Francis Schaeffer (American evangelical theologian, philosopher, and Presbyterian pastor)
Robin Wall Kimmerer (mother, scientist, decorated professor of Environmental and Forest Biology, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation)
Brandon Sanderson (American author of high fantasy and science fiction)
Tish Harrison Warren (priest in the Anglican Church in North America)
Sean Tucker (professional photographer and filmmaker based in the United Kingdom; more interested in the why of photography than the how)
Oh wow, what an incredible list, Sara!! Thank you for sharing it!
I stumbled upon Tish Harrison Warren's work a few years ago myself and I just love it. Her emphasis on the sacred in the mundane is really beautiful. 🌿
Love this list, Sara! I’d definitely include several on mine as well!
This is a great question.
I found an online community of "thinkers" on Wordpress centered around one blog and it was great. I learned a lot. There's one brilliant writer whose blog I only discovered when these people announced he passed away. I spent months reading through his articles and clicking through links. His work popped my brain in the best of ways.
What I'm struggling with right now is that the community of "thinkers" is kind of falling apart. They've been gripped by despair and malaise, and sometime last year I stepped out of my comfort zone a bit and wrote a guest post for them that got absolutely shellacked--people hated it. It was about a controversial topic, but after that point the community there degraded. I used to be a barstool gadfly there too, I'd comment liberally and occasionally thoughtfully--I've had to dial it back to nothing.
It's been weird because these thinkers were people I looked up to and admired. In a few cases I still do--but the depth of despair that grips people, the anger and resentfulness when they lose hope. That makes me sad. I want to (and tried to) help! But it amounted to nothing.
So those are people I did follow and wanted to follow but have had to stop following, and the result is that I have had to follow my gut and instinct a little more--follow the holy spirit such as I can understand it. Definitely feel a void there still.
Thanks for the honest response, Scoot. And I'm sorry about your online community; having been part of a few spontaneously edifying groups myself, I know how hard it is when they disband or fade away. I hope you're able to find a new group or source local to you to fill that space!
That's a shame. Good online communities are hard to come by, and being a part of one is even rarer. I hope Substack can fill some of that gap.
For wisdom I enjoy the Stoics. Of those I've read, Epictetus stands out as a favourite - all of his works are lessons recorded by his student, and he gives the impression that Epictetus had a good sense of humour, as well as a healthy dose of 'old man grumpiness'.
Epictetus has been a heavy influence on the peasant life!
What a wonderful question, and a scrumptious discussion below! I'm taking notes joyfully!
My touchstones include...
Henri Nouwen (one of the first people I want to hug in heaven)
Anne Lamott
Brian Doyle
Thomas Merton
Madeleine L'Engle
Innumerable bloggers and light-bearers on Substack and beyond, including you!
Another fantastic list!! Thank you so much! A few that I adore, and a handful that I haven't read yet. Noting for future! 🌿