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Thoughts on life, love, friendship, fear etc. from Connie Palmen’s Die...
Connie Palmen, whose work I discovered only recently, is perhaps as much a philosopher as she is an author of fiction. Which should come as no surprise, as she studied both philosophy and Dutch...
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Best Reads 2013. II: Connie Palmen, I. M.: Ischa Meijer. In Margine. In Memoriam
In February 1991 Dutch author Connie Palmen is interviewed by the well-known talk show host and journalist Ischa Meijer. It is a meeting that changes the course of their lives, and what ensues is a...
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Best Reads 2013. VIII: Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey...
his is one of the lesser known books by the late Dutch Roman Catholic priest Henri Nouwen, best remembered perhaps for books such as The Return of the Prodigal Son and The Wounded Healer. In the...
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Secret places inside this violent world
Time for some more of Rumi’s poetry, again in the translation of Coleman Barks, from Bridge to the Soul: Journeys into the Music and Silence of the Heart. I am sure I have said this before, but Rumi...
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Fifty Shades yet again
On my continuing journey through Fifty Shades of Feminism, edited by Lisa Appignanesi, Rachel Holmes and Susie Orbach, I have just come across a new highlight. It’s Susie Orbach’s contribution,...
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Friendship and intimacy
I urge you … to open your heart to friendship and intimacy, remembering that your friendships are an extension of your contemplative prayer. They are indeed contemplative friendships. As mystical...
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On love, maturity, emotions, living in the present, problems, grief and stoicism
Here are some more thoughts from Alain de Botton’s book On Love. First of all, on falling in love: Albert Camus suggested that we fall in love with people because, from the outside, they look so whole,...
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Not So Afraid – a poem about friendship, among other things
The sparrows are spinning warmth into the winter world. Their delicate, clear chirps bring with them a crisp joy, making me not so afraid of the howling wind. So, too, the friends of my heart. Joyce...
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Friendship
Friendship is a basic and vital human relationship that forms the social fabric of our lives. It is in and through friendships that we discover our identity, gain our sense of value and place in the...
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Not So Afraid – a poem about friendship, among other things
The sparrows are spinning warmth into the winter world. Their delicate, clear chirps bring with them a crisp joy, making me not so afraid of the howling wind. So, too, the friends of my heart. Joyce...
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The great falsity of colonisation, the art of letting go – and some other...
John O’Donohue is one of the most evocative writers I know. His books, his thoughts, his phraseology are like beautiful cathedrals to me, beautiful cathedrals made of words. Here are some passages from...
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