The There There Letter: Delight, Desire, and Davids
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DAH is me, David Anthony Hance. "Every happy living thing revels in the cheerful spring."
First up this week, Delight …
One sound of delight in my life is a madrigal by Henry Purcell, In These Delightful Pleasant Groves. As a teenager, I sang it with an a capella choir. At that time, with those singers (often in Davis, California, but we performed in many other places), delight was defined for young DAH. So many of my thoughts about life were set during those salad days of high school and college. Thereafter, if we're fortunate, our decades are spent trying out new flings, getting stuck in old ruts, and often recalling and returning to standards set in our youth. I do remember much detail (and many song lyrics) from those long ago times. Within 20 years, I became challenged to remember usernames and passwords that offer precious little in the ways of delight. I'd rather sing.
365 Days Of Delight: Poet Ross Gay's Guide To Finding Joy
Second up this week, Desire …
That same long-ago youth is when I began to understand desire, and decided how best to act upon it and manage it (or not) for the long haul. The desire impulse is at the root of all but forced action. It can be too easy, and painful, to flit from desire to desire. I needed to establish good self-awareness and self-control. With those in place to balance desires, I allowed myself the luxury of choice. I can still make questionable choices, but I make them thoughtfully. Some might (would/do) say that I've tipped the scales in favor of desire in the case of acquiring books. It's true. We all have blind spots, and mine are (mostly) acknowledged. I know that I desire the words, the knowledge, and the possession of too many books. But as a past postmaster once said to me as I picked up a pile of online-purchased books delivered to my box, "There's lots worse things you could be spending money on."
The Problem of Desire: The psychology and philosophy of desire
Third up this week, Davids …
A few years ago we hosted a dinner of Davids. Four couples that each included a partner named David. Why did this seem like a good idea? Well, we were amused by the conceit, and we did know other Davids whose company we enjoyed. Also, all four of the Davids at dinner, and their spouses, had worked in the performing arts. Clearly, therefore, based on a simple causal fallacy, all people named David and those close to them must be involved in the performing arts. For that single dinner evening it was true. I suspect that our simpatico-ness was based more on our involvement with the stage than it was with our David-ness. Still, I encourage whimsical causal fallacy magical thinking because the flights of fantasy can be so ridiculously fun.
Oh baby! Names: David
A Book I'm Reading Quickly: Write For Your Life, by Anna Quindlen. A quick read because: 1) It's not a long book; and, 2) It has a low word count per page. "(Quindlen) makes the case for everyday writing in a love song to the private diary, the handwritten letter. As with the corniest ballads, its currency is nostalgia, a rosy view of the past paired with an irrational disdain for the present." (New York Times, April 5, 2022). I'm enjoying the book. It's not overwrought and pedantic, so I happily accept Quindlen's passions.
And a bit more:
Touched by An Angel, by Maya Angelou
We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.
Love arrives
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain.
Yet if we are bold,
love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls.
We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love's light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.
And that's all for this week.
From Mary Oliver’s poem Sometimes …
You can subscribe and browse past issues HERE
DAH is me, David Anthony Hance. "Every happy living thing revels in the cheerful spring."
First up this week, Delight …
One sound of delight in my life is a madrigal by Henry Purcell, In These Delightful Pleasant Groves. As a teenager, I sang it with an a capella choir. At that time, with those singers (often in Davis, California, but we performed in many other places), delight was defined for young DAH. So many of my thoughts about life were set during those salad days of high school and college. Thereafter, if we're fortunate, our decades are spent trying out new flings, getting stuck in old ruts, and often recalling and returning to standards set in our youth. I do remember much detail (and many song lyrics) from those long ago times. Within 20 years, I became challenged to remember usernames and passwords that offer precious little in the ways of delight. I'd rather sing.
365 Days Of Delight: Poet Ross Gay's Guide To Finding Joy
Second up this week, Desire …
That same long-ago youth is when I began to understand desire, and decided how best to act upon it and manage it (or not) for the long haul. The desire impulse is at the root of all but forced action. It can be too easy, and painful, to flit from desire to desire. I needed to establish good self-awareness and self-control. With those in place to balance desires, I allowed myself the luxury of choice. I can still make questionable choices, but I make them thoughtfully. Some might (would/do) say that I've tipped the scales in favor of desire in the case of acquiring books. It's true. We all have blind spots, and mine are (mostly) acknowledged. I know that I desire the words, the knowledge, and the possession of too many books. But as a past postmaster once said to me as I picked up a pile of online-purchased books delivered to my box, "There's lots worse things you could be spending money on."
The Problem of Desire: The psychology and philosophy of desire
Third up this week, Davids …
A few years ago we hosted a dinner of Davids. Four couples that each included a partner named David. Why did this seem like a good idea? Well, we were amused by the conceit, and we did know other Davids whose company we enjoyed. Also, all four of the Davids at dinner, and their spouses, had worked in the performing arts. Clearly, therefore, based on a simple causal fallacy, all people named David and those close to them must be involved in the performing arts. For that single dinner evening it was true. I suspect that our simpatico-ness was based more on our involvement with the stage than it was with our David-ness. Still, I encourage whimsical causal fallacy magical thinking because the flights of fantasy can be so ridiculously fun.
Oh baby! Names: David
A Book I'm Reading Quickly: Write For Your Life, by Anna Quindlen. A quick read because: 1) It's not a long book; and, 2) It has a low word count per page. "(Quindlen) makes the case for everyday writing in a love song to the private diary, the handwritten letter. As with the corniest ballads, its currency is nostalgia, a rosy view of the past paired with an irrational disdain for the present." (New York Times, April 5, 2022). I'm enjoying the book. It's not overwrought and pedantic, so I happily accept Quindlen's passions.
And a bit more:
Touched by An Angel, by Maya Angelou
We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.
Love arrives
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain.
Yet if we are bold,
love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls.
We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love's light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.
And that's all for this week.
From Mary Oliver’s poem Sometimes …
Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
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