I am heartened by this series of posts; thank you to Peter Reason and the guest writers.
Somehow the latest post has put me in mind of Shakespeare's play As You Like It. The play is set in a time between cultures, or between two worlds: the court, and the forest. Exiled from court to forest, Duke Senior addresses his companions (Act 2, Scene 1, 1-17):
"Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile,
Hath not old custom made this life more sweet
Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods
More free from peril than the envious court?
Here feel we not the penalty of Adam,
The seasons' difference, as the icy fang
And churlish chiding of the winter's wind -
Which when it bites and blows upon my body
Even till I shrink with cold, I smile and say,
'This is no flattery - these are counsellors
That feelingly persuade me what I am.
Sweet are the uses of adversity
Which like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head,
And this our life exempt from public haunt
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything."
As the play unfolds, the forest guides the characters toward truth, a way of living.
Thank you so much for this guest post, very moving in giving words to relationships and experiences long denied in mainstream Western culture. How much is lost and harmed when connection and care for Country not honoured and taught to young. This leaves me thinking about teh daily practices we can do to start listening and being with where we are and who we are with in more than human world
Apologies, I meant to write that the forest guides them toward truth and conviviality.
Also, there should be a close of quotation mark after '[...] flattery' in line 10. (Substack abruptly closed its window of time for me to edit my comment.)
Thank you, Kathryn, for this interesting comment. I am thinking myself about where might be our equivalent of rinyi, pirlirr and liyan in the English language and culture, buried as it may be under millennia of rational, masculine thought. Interesting link, maybe, with Elif Shafak's Note on Apollo and Dionysus. https://elifshafak.substack.com/p/apollo-dionysus-and-the-paris-olympics
I am heartened by this series of posts; thank you to Peter Reason and the guest writers.
Somehow the latest post has put me in mind of Shakespeare's play As You Like It. The play is set in a time between cultures, or between two worlds: the court, and the forest. Exiled from court to forest, Duke Senior addresses his companions (Act 2, Scene 1, 1-17):
"Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile,
Hath not old custom made this life more sweet
Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods
More free from peril than the envious court?
Here feel we not the penalty of Adam,
The seasons' difference, as the icy fang
And churlish chiding of the winter's wind -
Which when it bites and blows upon my body
Even till I shrink with cold, I smile and say,
'This is no flattery - these are counsellors
That feelingly persuade me what I am.
Sweet are the uses of adversity
Which like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head,
And this our life exempt from public haunt
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything."
As the play unfolds, the forest guides the characters toward truth, a way of living.
Thank you so much for this guest post, very moving in giving words to relationships and experiences long denied in mainstream Western culture. How much is lost and harmed when connection and care for Country not honoured and taught to young. This leaves me thinking about teh daily practices we can do to start listening and being with where we are and who we are with in more than human world
Apologies, I meant to write that the forest guides them toward truth and conviviality.
Also, there should be a close of quotation mark after '[...] flattery' in line 10. (Substack abruptly closed its window of time for me to edit my comment.)
Thank you, Kathryn, for this interesting comment. I am thinking myself about where might be our equivalent of rinyi, pirlirr and liyan in the English language and culture, buried as it may be under millennia of rational, masculine thought. Interesting link, maybe, with Elif Shafak's Note on Apollo and Dionysus. https://elifshafak.substack.com/p/apollo-dionysus-and-the-paris-olympics