"I believed I wanted to be a poet, but deep down, I just wanted to be a poem."
-Jaime Gil de Biedma
A Personal Note From Francis Weller
To read this post, go to francisweller.substack.com
I am happy to share with you the publication of my new book, In the Absence of the Ordinary: Soul Work for Times of Uncertainty, and the 10 year anniversary hardcover edition of The Wild Edge of Sorrow. Both books were released on August 19th. The hardcover includes a new Foreword by Thomas Hübl, a new Preface by me, and a study guide for deepening your exploration of the material in the book.
In the Absence of the Ordinary is a collection of rich essays rooted in the currents of sorrow, vulnerability, love, initiation, longing, and beauty. The imprints of soul are everywhere in these pages.
Thank you for supporting my writings over the last decade. It has been deeply gratifying to see the increased attention to grief work in the collective field. I hope these new offerings will continue to nourish our attention to soul in these fierce times.
Here is the description of In the Absence of the Ordinary from the North Atlantic Books website:
"We are at a threshold. As we face uncertain futures, the familiar is falling away. This book invites us to embody new ways of being and connecting so we can navigate troubled times together.
In his singular and inimitable voice, psychotherapist and author, Francis Weller offers 17 soulful essays to help us move together through the anxieties, difficulties, and sacred transitions of 21st-century life.
In the Absence of the Ordinary frames our current era as a rough initiation—an upending experience of profound trauma and transformation that demands we reorient our ways of thinking, being, and relating. Through essays like “Some People Wake Up…,” “The Gift of Restraint,” and “Gratitude for All That Is,” Weller offers clarity and wisdom on how to face the sobering stakes of our time—while offering the nourishment and support we need to embody the new roles this initiation requires.
Weller guides us in naming our collective traumas and peeling back the false armor of modernity. Here, we’re called to the depths—to understand the power of descent, cultivate the necessary skills of initiation, and distinguish between the self and the soul. This book invites us back into collective alignment with the wider world of belonging: It gives shape to the emptiness we carry, teaches us to welcome our experiences with reverence, and calls upon us to face the myriad ways that modern life severs us from our inherent interdependence with the living earth.
In each essay, Weller fortifies us to become immense—to meet these unpredictable times with presence and faith, to restore our souls’ place in the soul of the world, and to hold steady, amid and for it all."
I hope you will pick up a copy from your local bookstore or find it online through multiple sources. Barnes & Noble | Bookshop.org | Amazon
I am happy to share with you the publication of my new book, In the Absence of the Ordinary: Soul Work for Times of Uncertainty, and the 10 year anniversary hardcover edition of The Wild Edge of Sorrow. Both books were released on August 19th. The hardcover includes a new Foreword by Thomas Hübl, a new Preface by me, and a study guide for deepening your exploration of the material in the book.
In the Absence of the Ordinary is a collection of rich essays rooted in the currents of sorrow, vulnerability, love, initiation, longing, and beauty. The imprints of soul are everywhere in these pages.
Thank you for supporting my writings over the last decade. It has been deeply gratifying to see the increased attention to grief work in the collective field. I hope these new offerings will continue to nourish our attention to soul in these fierce times.
Here is the description of In the Absence of the Ordinary from the North Atlantic Books website:
"We are at a threshold. As we face uncertain futures, the familiar is falling away. This book invites us to embody new ways of being and connecting so we can navigate troubled times together.
In his singular and inimitable voice, psychotherapist and author, Francis Weller offers 17 soulful essays to help us move together through the anxieties, difficulties, and sacred transitions of 21st-century life.
In the Absence of the Ordinary frames our current era as a rough initiation—an upending experience of profound trauma and transformation that demands we reorient our ways of thinking, being, and relating. Through essays like “Some People Wake Up…,” “The Gift of Restraint,” and “Gratitude for All That Is,” Weller offers clarity and wisdom on how to face the sobering stakes of our time—while offering the nourishment and support we need to embody the new roles this initiation requires.
Weller guides us in naming our collective traumas and peeling back the false armor of modernity. Here, we’re called to the depths—to understand the power of descent, cultivate the necessary skills of initiation, and distinguish between the self and the soul. This book invites us back into collective alignment with the wider world of belonging: It gives shape to the emptiness we carry, teaches us to welcome our experiences with reverence, and calls upon us to face the myriad ways that modern life severs us from our inherent interdependence with the living earth.
In each essay, Weller fortifies us to become immense—to meet these unpredictable times with presence and faith, to restore our souls’ place in the soul of the world, and to hold steady, amid and for it all."
I hope you will pick up a copy from your local bookstore or find it online through multiple sources. Barnes & Noble | Bookshop.org | Amazon
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Is my soul asleep?
Have those beehives that labor at night stopped? And the water- wheel of thought, is it dry, the cups empty, wheeling, carrying only shadows? No, my soul is not asleep, It is awake, wide awake. It neither sleeps nor dreams, but watches, its clear eyes open, far-off things, and listens at the shores of the great silence. -Antonio Machado |
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Hear psychotherapist and author Francis Weller, discuss the communal nature of grief, the expressive virtue of anger, false happiness, and the two hands of grief and gratitude. Interview recorded at the 2013 Minnesota Men's Conference. |
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A rich and varied conversation between Michael Lerner, founder and director of Commonweal and Francis Weller, exploring the Long Dark that is emerging in our culture and the planet. Recorded November 12, 2021 |
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An exquisite video combining scenes from the film, "The New World" and passages from Francis' book, The Wild Edge of Sorrow. Produced by Tom van der Linden, of "Like Stories of Old." |
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