At a recent Narrative Leadership workshop initiated by writer and storyteller Geoff Mead, we followed the thread of a Russian folk tale[i] The story can be told in longer or shorter form, but the essence is that a hunter marries a beautiful woman who is, of course, a magical being.
Beautiful! I love your version of Cohen's song. Having played this piece many times half a life time ago I found myself singing along... until your own verses... very moving
"Participants on Living Waters inquiry workshops similarly speak of a longing to come into communication; and of feelings of failure, guilt, and unworthiness when ‘nothing seems to happen’ on a river visit." This is my experience; possibly I need to dedicate much more time to listening. What I do get sometimes is a sense of calmness, of peace -- and I recite to myself Wendell Berry's poem "The Peace of Wild Things". A kind of ritual, signalling I'm still serious about being able to 'hear'.
One thing we have found in our inquiries with River is that we need to condition ourselves to a different quality of attention. We have drawn on different forms of ceremony, song and chanting, offerings, simple loving attention. Reciting a poem like Peace of Wild Things, especially if used repeatedly, would seem to be a most effective discipline. You may be interested in my musical setting https://soundcloud.com/peterreason/the-peace-of-the-wild-things
Thank you for the audio; that's conveys the poem in an interesting way. I always finish any of my poetry recitals with The Peace of Wild Things; it has such a strong sense of closure, and hope, for me.
Lovely! Thank you x
Lovely post! We can learn much from folk-tales. Not just the obvious "moral".
Beautiful! I love your version of Cohen's song. Having played this piece many times half a life time ago I found myself singing along... until your own verses... very moving
Thank you, Veronika. All the experiences in my own verses come directly from invocations of River as sentient being
Yes, I realise that. Fascinating!
"Participants on Living Waters inquiry workshops similarly speak of a longing to come into communication; and of feelings of failure, guilt, and unworthiness when ‘nothing seems to happen’ on a river visit." This is my experience; possibly I need to dedicate much more time to listening. What I do get sometimes is a sense of calmness, of peace -- and I recite to myself Wendell Berry's poem "The Peace of Wild Things". A kind of ritual, signalling I'm still serious about being able to 'hear'.
One thing we have found in our inquiries with River is that we need to condition ourselves to a different quality of attention. We have drawn on different forms of ceremony, song and chanting, offerings, simple loving attention. Reciting a poem like Peace of Wild Things, especially if used repeatedly, would seem to be a most effective discipline. You may be interested in my musical setting https://soundcloud.com/peterreason/the-peace-of-the-wild-things
Thank you for the audio; that's conveys the poem in an interesting way. I always finish any of my poetry recitals with The Peace of Wild Things; it has such a strong sense of closure, and hope, for me.