🧵 1/n David Whyte is one of my favorite authors, an Anglo-Irish poet who straddles the boundary between poetry + prose.
In his 2014 book "Consolations", he explores deeper meanings behind a series of 52 common words.
Here is the intro to"Solace" (an appropriate choice, given his book's title)
In his 2014 book "Consolations", he explores deeper meanings behind a series of 52 common words.
Here is the intro to"Solace" (an appropriate choice, given his book's title)
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What I love about Whyte is that he recognizes often the challenge is not to give in to the temptation to extend language further - by writing more + more, say - or
instead, the entire project seems to tell us - look at the treasure we already have.
Look at what language ALREADY gives us.
And he takes on this journey one word at a time, holding each word up to the light like a gemstone;
His book now has a sequel (Consolations II, Many Rivers Press, Jan. 2025) - and I'll be doing a live read of it on this thread.
Stay tuned!
The first word David looks at, in C2, is "Anguish". (The words are presented in alphabetical order).
It turns out there is a whole philosophy to be discovered here...
The path to wholeness necessarily leads us through powerlessness. If we love - a child, a pet, another person, a place, a flower, a garden, a world - that love will eventually render us powerless -
It is the first step - the step of integrating the knowledge of our own limits.
We integrate it in our body. This is no mere mental exercise. Anguish is a full body experience.