Extracts from a poem by the 13th-century Sufi poet Yunus Emre:
God permeates the whole wide world,
Yet his truth is revealed to none.
You better seek Him in yourself,
You and He aren’t apart – you’re one.
Mystic is what they call me.
Hate is my only enemy;
I harbour a grudge against none.
To me the whole wide world is one.
Filed under Psychology, Religion
The Oxford philosopher J. L. Austin was giving a lecture in New York to a group of fellow philosophers. In it he raised the question of double negatives. ‘In some languages,’ said he in his precise Oxford voice, ‘a double negative yields an affirmative. In others it yields a more emphatic negative. But I know of no language in which a double affirmative yields an negative.’ From the back of the hall came a drawling professorial Brooklyn accent: ‘yeah, yeah’.
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Filed under Work
We had a busy weekend. The local Ramor Inn Golf Society had very kindly decided to dedicate its annual fundraising effort this year to CRY Ireland, in memory of Sean.
Susanna arrived home from France on Friday; we were joined later that day by Mary, Aoife and Liam. There was a quiz and raffle in the pub, and a ‘corner session’ afterwards with Caroline, Seán, Noel, myself and others banging out a few tunes and songs. It turned out to be a late night.
The golfers were up and out early on Saturday morning, at Virginia Golf Club. We stayed at home most of the day, and watched the rugby – a great game, notwithstanding Ireland’s narrow defeat to England.
Pauline, Liam and I went to the pub again that night, and met up with many of our friends. There was music and a raffle.
When all the money was counted, it turned out that €2,520 had been raised for CRY. We are delighted with this, and very grateful to all those who made it happen or helped in any way, and the local community who supported it so generously. It was a fitting tribute to Sean’s memory, and will go towards preventing the sudden death of other young people. Sean would be pleased and proud.
Some years ago, a blog I visited asked for famous poems to be reimagined in the form of limericks. I came up with two.
THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE
By William Butler Yeats
Young Mr Yeats, W. B.
Thought he’d visit that isle, Innisfree;
A cabin he built
Out of twigs and some silt,
Then peace came, dropping down from a tree.
STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING
By Robert Frost
A coldhearted fellow named Frost
Once found there were woods to be crossed;
It was snowing, but still,
While his horse caught a chill,
He lingered as if he was lost.
Filed under Poems
The road to God knows where ... Brendan O'Brien 