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I mentioned in my “Depression–The Full Monty” post that one way of triumphing over despair is by an act of kenosis, or self-emptying. As Soren Kierkegaard would say, of becoming “transparent under God.”
This is what Walker Percy means when he refers to writers like himself as ex-suicides. In a fascinating article entitled “Walker Percy and Suicide,” published in the journal “Modern Age,” John F. Desmond writes the following:
“[Percy] maintained that the writer…’starts with himself as nothing and makes something of the nothing with things at hand…a novelist these days has to be an ex-suicide.’ The writer as ex-suicide becomes a ‘nought’ before the challenge of the blank page, which opens him to the possibilities of finding an authentic ‘self’ by discovering a true voice and naming reality.
“For Kierkegaard, one form of despairing ‘suicide’ is silence before reality, which he termed ‘shut-up-ness’ (I like that!). Thus, Percy saw writing as a way to overcome despair by emptying the egoist self in order to create a bond of communion with the reader. For author and reader, literature that honestly names the truth of being can reverse–albeit temporarily–the death-in-life alienation and despair. Writer and reader become ‘ex-suicides’ in humility before the truth.”
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Previous Posts
Rewire Your Brain For Love: An Interview with Marsha Lucas, Ph.D.
posted 6:00:56am Feb. 14, 2012 | read full post »
Love Deeply ...
posted 6:00:28am Feb. 13, 2012 | read full post »
Therapy Thursday: Sweat
posted 6:01:57am Feb. 09, 2012 | read full post »
Scrupulosity: What It Is and Why It's Dangerous
posted 6:17:35am Feb. 07, 2012 | read full post »
The Treasures of Darkness
posted 6:06:40am Feb. 06, 2012 | read full post » |
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Therese J. Borchard writes the daily blog, Beyond Blue, on Beliefnet and is a regular contributor to the award-winning blog, World of Psychology, on Psych Central. Therese is the author of Beyond Blue: Surviving Depression & Anxiety and Making the Most of Bad Genes and The Pocket Therapist: An Emotional Survival Kit. Subscribe to Beyond Blue, visit her website, or follow her on Twitter @thereseborchard.
Meet others on the journey in
Therese’s community group
Ask Therese to be your friend
Therese J. Borchard writes the daily blog, Beyond Blue, on Beliefnet and is a regular contributor to the award-winning blog, World of Psychology, on Psych Central. Therese is the author of Beyond Blue: Surviving Depression & Anxiety and Making the Most of Bad Genes and The Pocket Therapist: An Emotional Survival Kit. Subscribe to Beyond Blue, visit her website, or follow her on Twitter @thereseborchard.
