Ms. Tippett: I know that “landscape” is a really pivotal word for you that you use, not just in describing the natural world, but an important word in talking about how human beings know themselves and move through the world. I haven’t been to precisely the place you’re from, but I think the west coast of Scotland, the west coast of Ireland, it is this completely unusual, this wild, raw, bleak beauty. But talk to me about how you have come to understand landscape as something that forms each of us.
Mr. O’Donohue: Well, I think it makes a huge difference, when you wake in the morning and come out of your house, whether you believe you are walking into dead geographical location, which is used to get to a destination, or whether you are emerging out into a landscape that is just as much, if not more, alive as you, but in a totally different form, and if you go towards it with an open heart and a real, watchful reverence, that you will be absolutely amazed at what it will reveal to you.
And I think that that was one of the recognitions of the Celtic imagination — that landscape wasn’t just matter, but that it was actually alive. What amazes me about landscape — landscape recalls you into a mindful mode of stillness, solitude, and silence, where you can truly receive time.
— John O’Donohue, “The Inner Landscape of Beauty” in On Being Krista Tippett (August 31, 2017)
Notes:
- Thank you The Hammock Papers for the quote.
- DK Photo @ Daybreak. 6:29 & 7:09 am, December 13, 2021. 39° F, feels like 31° F. Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT.
Live & Learn 
oh, that last sentence – so incredibly powerful.
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Yes!
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The dream team…O’Donohue’s writing and DK’s images. And oh how this description of landscape resonates….🥰
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Ahhhhh
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Could not agree more!
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Love it all !!
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He was so great….
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The truest sun salutation…
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Yes…..
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what a view to start your day…
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So agree Jim!
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Everywhere we have lived, several states in US, two other countries I have found something beautiful about the landscape. We now live in northern Mn and it’s cold, cold, cold and a lot of white in the winter. I never ever wanted to live here because the weather limits one activities unless you snow ski, can afford snowmobile. I love swimming, warm weather. What God is teaching me is the landscape of people lives carries as much beauty as the outside landscape. I have learned to appreicate those who chose to live here, they are tough. Falls are wonderful, snow on the all the ground and trees is really a wonderland, springs are short, summers even shorter but they are full of fun times with friends and families. Sunset are beyond beautiful because we are very close to the night aroarea light from farther up north. Love you pictures and I need to take more pictures of this place God has me.
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Betty, easily the Comment of the Day. Beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
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O’Donohue — like Mary Oliver and Wendell Berry — re-opens the childhood door of Sacred Maybe. (As can all the arts — what care-full, beautiful shots, DK.)
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Sacred Maybe! Yes. Thank you!
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