Listeners' Reflections
This is your place to publicly comment on the topics and issues addressed in Speaking of Faith programs. React in a personal way, and put into words what this program meant to you.
Submit Your Reflection about "The Inner Landscape of Beauty."
What a Lovely Man, What a Compassionate Soul (August 6, 2008)
I initially listened to it in my kitchen, while doing the dishes on a cold and blustery MN day. My own father died last fall, so when this aired I was still in that ether of thoughts; about life, death, and how we coexist in this world. How we touch each other in so many ways, and how we do not sometimes realize the full beauty of a person, until after they have left us.
I have re-listened to this over and over these past few months and his words grow more insightful and lovely each time I listen. I appreciate Krista's style of interviewing, where she actually listens, and more importantly hears what is being said, asks interesting questions, but does not overpower the guest. I've passed this link on to friends and am hoping to read John's book, Anam Cara soon.
I can honestly say, I don't think I have ever been so deeply moved by a program as I have with this interview. What a lovely man, what a compassionate soul. How sad to know he's gone from this earth, but also, how hopeful we can be that there is perhaps something more in store for the soul, as John believed.
Thanks again Krista (and company) for this indescribably lovely program and I will surely tune into your program in search of more honest and moving interviews.
Sally I.
Minneapolis, MN (KNOW, 91.1 FM)
Stricken with Beauty (June 2, 2008)
There are few times in life when I have a very unexpected transformation or shift of viewpoint. Upon my return from Assisi, Italy in March, I put on my iPod and began an unknown journey. It was so unexpected that I had to stop many times as I listened, in order to take in some new understanding of life and spirit. As John O'Donohue says in the opening statements of his book Beauty: The Invisible Embrace: "In the experience of beauty, we awaken and surrender in the same act", my spirit was awoken and surrendered to the Beautiful. My desire and longing for sharing this experience of finding a new life-long friend caused me to send out many emails to others hoping that they too would hear the words that so changed me. Krista, Thank you for capturing this interview and being able to share it with us all.
Rich Brimer
Thousand Oaks, CA (Listens to SOF Podcast)
Easter Gift (March 22, 2008)
What a gift you have given me — words to use to communicate encouragement to evangelical friends to broaden and enrich their religious understanding and vocabulary.
I thought you might be interested in what I sent to many of my contacts as an Easter gift: "The Inner Landscape of Beauty." An unusual Easter gift, certainly, but one that as I listened to yesterday, was so beautiful that I wanted to pass it on to those I thought would like it and be blessed by it.
I told my friends: If you can find 53 minutes to take off from routine duties to be inspired to see with different eyes, I encourage you to listen, - and give yourself a beautiful gift. (Some of you may disagree with some of it, but many of the points are too beautiful to miss even if you don't agree with all of them. His divergence from orthodox faith may disturb, but I encourage you to be stretched by new vocabulary and a fresh vantage point which can enrich our own faith and interaction with others within and outside of it.)
Jeanne Jemison
Memphis, TN (Listens to SOF Podcast)
On SOF and Beauty (March 17, 2008)
This is really just a heartfelt compliment that I want to give to Krista Tippett and all of the folks who put together such a stunningly beautiful work of art. In Krista's interview with John O'Donohue, both spoke about how essential beauty is. John O'Donohue in particular stressed how there are people out there on the brutal edge of things, seeing things that no human should see, and yet they still can stand and fight for all that is humane, because they have a patch of beauty that they can look at sidelong, and that keeps them going. (I'm paraphrasing him very roughly.) Speaking of Faith seems to me to be an example of exactly that fight for beauty and humaneness. I discovered SOF a few months ago, and it is also becoming more and more for me something of beauty that I can draw from and restore myself thereby. Thank you for the blessing that Krista and everyone else is, and the beauty that you put forth into the world.
Karen Sharp
Madison, WI (Listens to SOF Podcast)
A Voice of Calm (March 17, 2008)
I had set my alarm to awaken myself early, so I could be sure to hear this broadcast. However, I didn't need the alarm and somehow managed to rouse before the program began. It was very heartwarming to hear Krista and John during the interview; it was like a voice of calm in a troubled world. John O'Donohue was like that in a way. He seemed to take the time to listen, then respond in just the right fashion. His voice will be missed by many of us.
Laura Marshall
Silver Spring, MD (WAMU, 88.5 FM)
Benedictions (March 13, 2008)
I was on the bus this morning on my way in to the university. I haven't had a good night's sleep in a week and I was feeling rather unmotivated and pessimistic. I had exams to take, hundreds if not thousands of pages to read, theses to write, research to do. I casually put on your podcast, which I get on a regular basis. I found myself enthralled with a person I have never met. I have never heard someone so eloquently speak, write, share, and teach. It has really changed me. I wish I could have met him. Such a powerful person. I think his book should have been called benedictions and not blessings. His blessings clearly give you a mission, which is a benediction right? Not just a mission to change the world but change yourself within yourself.
Tim Radke
Madison, WI (Listens to SOF OnDemand)
Tremendously Moved (March 5, 2008)
I was so tremendously moved by John O'Donohue and, ever since I heard the interview, I have been sharing his story and poetry with everyone I know. I am a physician and dealing with great sorrow personally in having lost my sister to breast cancer and having breast cancer and leukemia myself, in addition to caring for patients and family. I happened to be discussing the Beannacht poem with my colleagues when one of my patients heard and said "I have a copy of this poem in my purse!"
I am so happy to have discovered such a treasure as this show and I wanted to tell Ms. Tippett how much I love listening to her and her guests. I almost can't wait for the next interview! I have never been very religious, although I was raised Greek Orthodox and consider myself a humanist and a scientist but I love her discussions and now have a more open mind and tolerance for other peoples approach to the life and spirituality.
Katherine Ballis
Chestnut Hill, MA (WBUR, 90.9 FM)
What This Program Meant to Me (March 3, 2008)
I have only just begun knowing of John O'Donohue. In the early Sunday morning hours, I fumble with the radio to listen to SOF, in my sleepy state Mr. O'Donohue's words ring like the sound of Church bells off to a distance. I re-listened online the following day and wept! I wept for the loss of what and how he could have helped this planet and the business world with his knowledge, compassion, and depth. I wept wondering what was not yet written. His writings are so familiar to me. I have read different philosophers/new age writers, Native American, African, but something really moved me deeply hearing this interview. How he spoke, what he discussed moved me deeply. I feel blessed to have heard it and will be reading John O'Donohue's works.
Emily Santos-Poplawski
Branford, CT (WPKT, 90.5 FM)
Krista's Interview with John (March 3, 2008)
I recently lost my grandmother in a tragic car accident last July 21 with my grandfather and my brother's two children in the car. Thankfully everyone else survived the accident. I had just visited my grandparents a month prior to her death for their 60th wedding anniversary. It would be the last time I would see her alive. She was like a mother to me and I miss her a great deal. I am fortunate to have had her around at my age of 31 prior to her passing. She was only in her late seventies and that seems so young to me. I have been so lost as to where I stand with God. I am not religious at all but extremely spiritual. Her death has brought many questions on why this has all happened and my own mortality. I have a hard to finding likeness in what I believe in.
The last hour of my trip heading up to see my grandfather your program had started on NPR. I had never heard your show before. Your interview with John was perfect to what I was searching for. I found in moving and inspiring. You seemed deeply touched by him and also sad about his untimely passing. There was so much about that airing that I could relate to. I have never felt the need to thank someone after hearing a radio show, but this time I did. Thank you for loving what you do and sharing it with the world. Thank you so much!
Drew Polenchar
Long Beach, CA (XMPR, ch. 133)
Interconnectedness (March 3, 2008)
John O'Donohue is one of my favorite poets. Last week, my Irish father, who hails from Connemara, passed away. He was waked on Thursday with the mass and burial on Friday. I put O'Donohue's poem "Beannacht" on the cover of the program for his funeral mass. You can imagine my utter astonishment when I awoke the next day to hear O'Donohue's voice speaking "to me" from the radio. Serendipitous indeed! If that doesn't get one to believe in the interconnectedness of us all, nothing will!
Nancy Nee Hanifin
Boston, MA (WBUR, 90.9 FM)
Soul Food (March 2, 2008)
Thank you for introducing me to John O'Donohue. How could I have thought myself so spiritually astute and not read any of his works! I will be ordering his book, Anam Cara, for myself and other beloveds in my life in the near future.
I would like to share that your selection of topics for Speaking of Faith is amazing. Ever since two of my favorite ministers moved out of the area I have experienced a bit of Sunday morning void. Thank you for the "soul food."
Sherrie D'Anne
Chardon, OH (WKSU, 98.7 FM)
Compressed (March 2, 2008)
What a great interview. I will have to listen again when I am less distracted. Not that I was not moved to tears with half an ear, but there was so much here to think about. I was hooked with the first question, "What formed you?" and his response about being blessed to be born into a wild landscape. I have been reflecting on this same thing. His comment "Landscape is alive, and if you go toward it with an open heart" recalls you to a mindful mode of solitude and and silence where you can truly receive time. Then Krista's relevant question, "What about the urban poor?" and then his great answer about keeping some contour of beauty in your mind as a reminder.
Earlier in my life I moved from a small town with a father who worshiped God exclusively outdoors and an abundant childhood freedom to roam the same rivers and streams to living in poverty in the heart of a Chicago neighborhood. I will never forget the extreme joy a single marigold gave me every day nor how the secret place near the train tracks where dangerous gangs hung out late at night became a holy refuge for me early in the morning. It is not just the landscape but it has to do with our childhood. Not necessarily where we grew up but how we learned to imagine based on the things we can see. If you have ever had this memory then you can still find it if you realize how much you really long for it and desperately need it. I find it now with rubber boots in the drainage ditches here among the most barbaric suburban sprawl in the country. We all talk about the problem, but we are not sure quite what it is or how to fix it. This program encouraged me to keep looking to the landscape — be it erosion from bulldozers or flooded woods because of inadequate drainage.
Tim Gapinski
Noblesville, IN (WFYI, 90.1 FM)
Beautiful Interview (March 2, 2008)
Thank you for sharing John O'Donohue with the rest of us. I had not heard of him until now and was ultimately saddened to have his words touch me only to know that no more would be uttered. I look forward to reading John's books, and find a little comfort to huddle by these glowing embers of his essence on this plane.
You have a wonderful show, and now, at a much more reasonable hour! Previously, I would set my alarm clock for 5 a.m., and enjoy your show and guests as specters in my dreams. For example, this morning, as I was waking, I dreamt of my father and I walking through old 19th-century warehouses. Our conversation in the dream was later attributed to this interview. Thank you.
Brian Hassick
Philadelphia, PA (WBUR, 90.9 FM)
Awakening (March 2, 2008)
What a wonderful interview with John O'Donohue. I sat in my kitchen by myself early on Saturday morning and just let the calming voices of John O'Donohue and Krista Tippett flow over me. I confess that I knew little about O'Donohue before this but felt a real awakening as I listened to his insights into beauty, life, and love. I just downloaded the extended interview from the SOF website and am looking forward to listening to it.
Niall O'Gara
Philadelphia, PA (WBUR, 90.9 FM)
Solace, Stillness, and Beauty (March 2, 2008)
Speaking of Faith is our church. As an agnostic at the atheistic end of the spectrum, your interviews with spiritual luminaries nearly always reach my interior connection to solace, stillness and beauty. Never more so than with your conversation with John O'Donohue, prompting this e-mail, and my intention to read his work.
David and Jeannie Armstrong
Manchester, MI (WUOM, 91.7 FM)
Reawakening (March 2, 2008)
I have not read Anam Cara, but will now. Friday a friend was trying to say music is a universal language. John O'Donohue says how much more it is. I have gone through a year of trying not to feel or think. I'm just coming into myself and the world again. When you both were talking about music from hard landscapes, I thought about the music in movies always being Celtic if it is supposed to convey deep feelings. Thanks to you I will be listening to my Scottish music again. Krista, hearing you on Sundays is an important part of my week. Thank you for sharing your interesting and thought provoking conversations.
Dee Carr
Boise, ID (KBSU, 91.5 FM)
Celtic Mysticism (March 2, 2008)
I sleep with the radio on at night; it helps to slow the inner monologue to listen to someone else. I generally drift off to BBC news and awake to national news at short intervals. But today was different, I heard the words Anam Cara in my sleep and immediately sat up. It was a rush of memories for me, that book was a gift from a woman I fell in love with, who, sadly, did not feel the same way. The book was beautiful, but a painful reminder and I packed it and other things away. The words also reminded me of Ireland where I lived for four years, of a friend who, when asked to describe that celtic "otherness" responded with, "Like a Dolphin that breaks the surface for a brief moment, that arc, that 'otherness' is what we are born out of and die into." And so it was that half way through your broadcast, I found myself crying and smiling both at the same time. As I recalled her, and Ireland, I was treated to a rush of reflection and nostalgia. Thanks to your program, I will be revisiting Mr. O'Donohue's book with a renewed might strength.
Brick Maier
Notre Dame, IN (WVPE, 88.3 FM)
A Profound Decency (March 2, 2008)
John O'Donohue was conducting a workshop in Minneapolis the weekend after this interview was conducted. My wife and I were seeing him for this first time in eight years; the experience was inspiring. The interview captures the profound decency of the man as well as his humor and eloquence. So many great intellects and John O'Donohue was surely one, are unable to translate the depth and tapestry of their thoughts to an educated lay audience. By contrast, John brought to the interview and to his life a deep understanding conveyed in words and images that resonated very powerfully with me. Listening to this interview knowing it was among the last of his public discussions was an opportunity to connect with an extraordinary spirit. Thank you.
George Connolly
Grant, MN (KNOW, 91.1 FM)
Pain and Spirituality (March 1, 2008)
I often seek out your programs during difficult times — this recent speaker on beauty was particularly soothing. Do you have a program on pain and spirituality? I am 49 years old and have developed pain throughout my body. I've been going to work, a job I love (special ed.), but it is getting more and more difficult. I find my spiritual thoughts grow and I am a different person — my priorities have changed. I have no solid diagnosis and that is hard. I do have fibromalgia-like symptoms. I long for my pre-October life, but am realizing perhaps that that may be gone, I was so active and free-spirited. Next saturday, I will have the "laying of hands," for healing — whether that be emotional, spiritual, or physical.
Paula Bhagyam
Houlton, WI (Listens to SOF OnDemand)
A Gift (February 29, 2008)
I have tickets for two lectures by John O'Donohue that he was to deliver at the Los Angeles Religious Education Conference tomorrow and the next day. I learned of John O'Donohue's death when the tickets arrived a few weeks ago with a substitution — David Whyte (a Welsh poet and friend of O'Donohue). I was so saddened by the news and was seeking a voice recording of one of O'Donohue's previous lectures when into my e-mail box this morning was delivered SOF — Krista's conversation with O'Donohue. What a gift! I wept as he spoke of the concert in New York and the way in which music moves him. I truly felt that I was being touched in some way by the program. Thank you Krista for such a timely program!
Sara Tucker
Pacific Palisades, CA (Listens to SOF Podcast)
Beannacht (February 29, 2008)
I have long been deeply touched and inspired by so many of the Speaking of Faith broadcasts that I receive via e-mail. But this particular day, this specific blessing, "Beannacht," comes at a time in my life when the pristine goodness and sweetness of John O'Donohue's words, "May a slow wind work these words of love around you, an invisible cloak to mind your life" seem so real and close to my heart. Thank you for a new prayer for my loved ones — thank you so very much.
Joye Palmer
Charlotte, NC (Listens to SOF OnDemand)
Right Timing (February 29, 2008)
I almost fell over when you said John O'Donohue had died in January, I have his books and his tapes. How did he die?
Brad Kochunas
Middletown, OH (WVXU, 91.7 FM)
Anam Cara (February 29, 2008)
Although we didn't hear directly your reference to the eponymous Anam Cara, we were delighted when a fellow writer told us about your reference today. We've been conducting writer's workshops at Anam Cara Retreat, Eyeries, Beara, County Cork, Ireland for a number of years. Sue Booth-Forbes named her amazing facility Anam Cara following on your distinguished author's lead.
Michael Downend
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (Listens to SOF OnDemand)
