Ways of the Wilderness: A Personal Journey Through Religion and Literature

Finding your place in life can be like wandering in the wilderness. From the first books of the Bible and throughout literature, the wilderness has imposed itself in our culture as a powerful and unavoidable concept. With images of negativity, absence, and lack of control the wilderness is part of the dark side of life which all of us experience at one time or another. At the same time, the wilderness also serves a a source of new vision, growth and potential. Curator and cultural historian, Anne McPherson guides us through biblical narratives and modern fiction from Canada, France, the United States and Europe to cast new light on the meaning of wandering in the wilderness, of being a scapegoat thrown out into the wilderness, of being the voice in the wilderness, or on rare occasions, of finding the holy community of the desert. In the wilderness is where we hear the prophetic cries against the wasted city. The wilderness contains within it pitfalls, tests, and the possibility of revelation, as well as the potential to bloom again. As McPherson writes, I think it is one of the most significant symbols in western culture. it is the locus for reintegration of the person, where all the insights come from, and goals. it is also the place of sorrowing and pain, but one pushes through the wilderness in search of new being.