How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Let's think of reverence as awe, as presence in and openness to the world. The alternative is that we stultify, we shut down. Think of those times when you've read prose or poetry that is presented in such a way that you have a fleeting sense of being startled by beauty or insight, by a glimpse into someone's soul. All of a sudden everything seems to fit together or at least to have some meaning for a moment. This is our goal as writers, I think; to help others have this sense of—please forgive me—wonder, of seeing things anew, things that can catch us off guard, that break in on our small, bordered worlds. (14.6)
Lamott is seriously invested in this sense of awe, even if she recognizes it might sound a little corny to some. She seems to find this awe in both writing and spirituality, which is one reason why these two things interact for her.
Quote #5
There are moments when I am writing when I think that if other people knew how I felt right now, they'd burn me at the stake for feeling so good, so full, so much intense pleasure. I pay through the nose for these moments, of course, with lots of torture and self-loathing and tedium, but when I am done for the day, I have something to show for it. When the ancient Egyptians finished building the pyramids, they had built the pyramids. Perhaps they are good role models: they thought they were working for God, so they worked with a sense of concentration and religious awe. (Also, my friend Carpenter tells me, they drank all day and took time off every few hours to oil each other. I believe that all my other writer friends do this, too, but they won't let me in on it.) (29.27)
Yep, snark and awe. It's a weird combination, but it seems to work for Lamott since she's able to communicate some of her farewell thoughts about both writing and spirituality this way, as odd as it sounds. Maybe feeling all that awe leads Lamott to have a healthy dose of humility, which allows her also to see the humor in things.
Quote #6
I always mention a scene from the movie Chariots of Fire in which, as I remember it, the Scottish runner, Eric Liddell, who is the hero, is walking along with his missionary sister on a gorgeous heathery hillside in Scotland. She is nagging him to give up training for the Olympics and to get back to doing his missionary work at their church's mission in China. And he replies that he wants to go to China because he feels it is God's will for him, but that first he is going to train with all of his heart, because God also made him very, very fast. So God made some of us fast in this area of working with words, and he gave us the gift of loving to read with the same kind of passion with which we love nature. (Introduction.52-53)
Maybe Lamott is saying here that we decide what we should do in life partly by looking at the gifts we've been given and that there's something awe-inducing about that. She seems to think there's something amazing about this, something that's a bit like the awe some people experience in religion, whether you believe in God like she does or whether you simply find nature and humanity amazing on their own terms.