Q Combinations 4: Donne, Chagall and a possible prayer of Jacob’s
This is a complete mismatch chronologically – but there seems an undeniable synergy here (to me at least). For Jacob (the deceiver) is the one from whom the nation is named and the one privileged with extraordinary divine encounters.
The Black Dog (10 Years On)
A while back, I wrote a daily post over a week on the reality of the Black Dog (the image Winston Churchill famously used to describe his own battle with depression). The individual posts are on my old WordPress blog, but I have linked to them here Behind The Mask… Tectonic Vulnerability… The Darkened […]
The Black Dog (10 Years On): THE WEEK’S LINKS IN ONE PLACE
So here are all this week’s Black Dog posts linked in one place…
The Black Dog (10 years on) 8: SOME LITERARY COMPANIONS…
William Nicholson wrote Shadowlands, the play (which became the film) inspired by C.S.Lewis’s extraordinary testimony A Grief Observed. In it, he gave Lewis this lovely line, one he never actually uttered, but may as well have done. We read to know we’re not alone
The Black Dog (10 years on) 7: SOME TOP TIPS…
As I wrap this little sequence of ruthless self-exposure up, various omissions and oddities have occurred to me, so the easiest thing is probably to string them together in a miscellany that’s almost Pauline in its randomness (though naturally without his claims to authority).
The Black Dog (10 years on) 6: SO YOU WANT TO HELP…
I’m glad. In fact, if you didn’t, I’d be quite concerned for you! But be warned. This isn’t for the faint-hearted. It will try your patience and frustrate your sympathies. You’ll definitely have days when you’ve had enough. Perhaps months. So you’ll shrug that you did everything you could but to no avail. [There are only so many hours in a […]
Q Combinations 3: Thomas, Spencer and the Tangible Kingdom
So here’s the 3rd Q Combination. I don’t know how well known these two geniuses are beyond British shores – but they are true 20th Century greats. In their different ways, both articulate a deeply earthy, incarnated spirituality.
The Black Dog (10 years on) 5: THE INSENSIBILITY OF FAITH…
It’s been very moving to have messages in the last few days about my black dog posts. Thank you! At least it shows that it’s been worth it. As I mentioned in the first post, I’m genuinely not motivated by the kind of confessional culture that is all around us; still less am I trying to elicit sympathy. And I’m definitely […]
The Black Dog (10years on) 4: THE END OF THE ROAD…?
So where does it all lead? Well, that’s precisely the problem. It can often feel like the road down has only one conclusion. Or perhaps terminus is the better description. Which is a terrifying thought. Not to mention taboo…
The Black Dog (10 years on) 3: THE DARKENED CAVE…
I touched on the surprisingly physical reality of the black dog yesterday. It’s surprising, because, of course, depression is as much about emotional pain and scars as anything else. But here’s the really weird thing: the emotional anguish actually feels physical at times. I think I really get now why people talk about feeling heart-sick. It is a piercing constant, perhaps a little like having […]
The Black Dog (10 years on) 2: TECTONIC VULNERABILITY…
The thing about volcanoes is that they’re as immovable as mountains. Rock solid in fact. But of course that’s the deception of appearances. And in geological terms, they’re savage beasts, easily provoked to ire by invisible tectonic interference. It probably seems a totally incongruous metaphor for the Black Dog – but probably only to those whom he’s […]
The Black Dog (10 years on) 1: BEHIND THE MASK…
Poets and artists have had it. Leaders and teachers have had it. Normal and extraordinary people have had it. For all I know, even educated fleas have had it. All kinds of stats get flung around about the black dog (1 in 4 so they say??) but who knows? What matters is not the exact numbers but how commonplace […]
