The medicine of words – Medicina Verbi

From Anna Kamienska “A Nest of Quiet: A notebook”

At the bandstand we were thinking about how words can encourage us and build us up or tear us apart.

“One breath taken completely: one poem, fully written, fully read-in such a moment, anything can happen. The pressed oil of words can blaze up into music, into image, into the hearts and minds knowledge. The late and shadowed places with errors can be warmed.”
– JaneHirshfield, Nine gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry

“Why should we all use our creative power and write or paint or play music, or whatever it tells us to do?
Because there is nothing that makes people so generous, joyful, lively, bold and compassionate, so indifferent to fighting and the accumulation of objects and money. Because the best way to know the Truth or Beauty is to try to express it. And what is the purpose of existence here or yonder but to discover truth and beauty and express it, i.e. share it with others?”
– Brenda Ueland, If You Want to Write

We considered words which we did not know and tried to interpret them:

Selcouth: unfamiliar, rare, strange and yet marvellous.

Susurrus: a low soft sound, as whispering or muttering or a quiet wind; a whisperer or a rustling.
Grayden said “I love the coming of spring, daffodils and tulips burst into flower, summer lies ahead. Bright days, warm sunshine a sussurrus of wonderful days.

Redamancy: the act of loving the one who loves you; a love returned in full.
Fi quoted “A good marriage is where both people feel like they are getting the better end of the deal.”

Duende: the mysterious power of art to deeply move a person.

Ichariba Chode: though we meet but once, even by chance, we are friends for life.
Barbara said that at Third Space we are companions on the journey and friends for life, always and forever. We then had a group hug as a practical demonstration:

Hoppipolla: jumping into puddles.
Barbara had is accessing the inner child like Peppa Pig we had to jump into virtual puddles and dance in the sun.

Concupiscence: any yearning of the soul for good.
Wendy thought that we contain a divine discontent with injustice and that this word was a reminder of who we are and who we are called to be.

Floccinaucinihilipilification: the act of deciding that something is useless.

Kalon: beauty that is more than skin deep.

Livsnjutare: one who loves life deeply and lives it to the extreme.
Jon described some of the people he has known who exhibit the qualities of both Kalon and         Livsnjutare.

Words of Life:

Jesus said to them, “…The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.  He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.” From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

John 6: 63-69