"I think that part of our experience of the plains is that kind of arid simplicity, which in some ways forces us to acknowledge that we are not the center of the universe." - Sister Rita Rauschendorfer, OSB.

Theodore Roosevelt loved it. Kathleen Norris wrote penetratingly about it. North Dakotans live with it every day. The weather, the wind, the sky.

As Norris says in "Dakota: A Spiritual Geography," this place forms a person.

Clay Jenkinson, scholar, author and portrayer of Teddy Roosevelt, will explore "spirituality on the plains" at a program Feb. 24 at the Benedictine Spirituality Center at Sacred Heart Monastery in Richardton.

The "arid simplicity" of the plains which Sister Rita describes has something in common with the early Christian ascetics, the "desert fathers" and "desert mothers" who sought the quiet and emptiness of the desert to encounter God.

In the same way, the quiet and relative emptiness of the plains forms the spirituality of those who live on it, including the state's Benedictine religious communities.

As the Sacred Heart Sisters look toward the future, they have made a very strong statement, Sister Rita said - "we feel it's very important to our spiritual lives that we live in the country. We don't want to leave this piece of land, because of the breadth it gives us.

"There's a simplicity about it that helps us stay in touch with our own simplicity," she said.

From Baltimore, where "there was not just one flower, but millions," Sister Rita said, "when I came to the prairie, that one flower was so precious. It's something about that level of appreciation."

In contemporary life, people try to find total happiness by themselves, and technology helps give us the illusion of control, she said.

But the plains' weather extremes means that "we don't always just bask in the elements," Sister Rita said. "We have to step aside for the elements to be their own force.

"When we have to do that, it forces us to say we aren't just here for ourselves. We are one with this whole creation, and God is even bigger than all that.

"I think a farmer or a rancher faces that kind of essence even more severely," she said: When nature pushes people to the edge to make their livelihood, "we are forced to bend our knee and rely on a power and force greater than ourselves," she said.

"If we're not living off the land, we have to experience that in other ways - relationally, emotionally - come to a place in our lives where we have to bend our knee."

The Feb. 24 program with Jenkinson focuses on the concept of spirituality, which to Sister Rita means something different from religion.

"It's a broader term. I see it being a person's meaning in life, what connects us with truth, the center of all goodness. I would call that God," she said.

The paradox of the plains is this, Jenkinson said: Stepping out under the huge sky, the lone person is so central, yet is dwarfed by the scale of the landscape. He plans to speak -about spirit of place, about the desert fathers and about his own recent hike on the Little Missouri River - but also to listen, "to explore out loud with experts," he said.

"I come at the whole theme with extreme modesty and humility. What do I have to say to professional spiritual seekers?" he said.

"The sisters seem to me to be spiritualists who are also Christians," he said, appreciative of what he describes "the open-endedness of their questing, their tolerance and curiosity."

People such as the Prophet Mohammed and the early Christian ascetics went to the desert to get clarification, he said - "they chose to be there to limit distractions, (to find) an unmolested line to God."

The sisters, too, are looking at what the benefits might be of living in an emptying place, he said.

"I think spirituality and spirit of place ought to be central to North Dakota's conversation about its future," he said. So his afternoon presentation as Teddy Roosevelt focuses on the development of Roosevelt's views on conservation.

"I think more and more people are going to want to seek out "spiritual" or "sacred" places," Jenkinson said. "We need to make sure we keep that possible as we move hectically into mineral extraction … so conservation and spirit of place are related."

Because this is primarily an agricultural state, climate and weather are destiny: "North Dakota as a place can take over at any time - blizzards, winds, drought, flood. When you walk out of your car, the sky overwhelms you with its vastness," he said.

This is not a neutral place, but is always knocking on the door of your consciousness, Jenkinson said.

(Reach Karen Herzog at 250-8267 or karen.herzog@bismarcktribune.com.)