Essays, Writing, Love. But under the crushing weight of the former, is there any chance that the last could remain?
The Essay can also be a form of love – the curiosity that impels our love of the world, not interrogation but conversation
The world needs to be apprehended through love. I am interested in the pests which feed upon my trees in order to love the trees, I’m interested in their chemistry their DNA, so that I can provide for them. And one day I want to be able to pass on the care of this garden to my children, and passing on care involves passing on a lifetime of knowledge how to care.
The opportunity to read a book may be an opportunity to learn how to care from the lovers who lived before.
learning to love something might take a lifetime. Sitting with the ancients as they seek to pass on what they learned in order to love
And writing the essay is a moment of love – it’s communication which is finds its end in love – packaging up the words so that they might surprise and delight the reader – at least not cause them too much further pain.
At the very least we should pray for our examiners. Are we not to pray for our persecutors? And if the whole system is stuffed, well, at least we can write an essay about it.
Writing, Love, Essays – the exercise of writing is either an exercise in love or an exercise of power. I write like an impressionist painter – stabs of meaning, resting on an idea, sentence only long enough to give a footing for the next leap. The process of writing then becomes a laborious exercise of finding the right words to make these ideas flow, to present them as an appropriately packaged gift for the reader.
The Essay – with its roots in assay, trial – is the test.
The exercise of writing is an exercise of power, it may also be an exercise of love.