meaning

the meaning is in the writing...
R S Thomas

oops - what I meant to write was "the meaning is in the waiting". See comments below for more on the typo queen..
the quote is from Kneeling

but it must be said "the meaning is in the writing" could in fact be a whole poem on its own.
                               

Comments

[Hugh A]

I was going to post this under "Gays and the future of Anglicanism" but I feel it may fit better here.

I came across this in Celtic Daily Prayer:

The Jews would not willingly tread upon the smallest piece of paper in their way, but took it up, for possibly, said they, the name of God may be upon it. Though there was a little superstition in this, yet truly there is nothing but good religion in it, if we apply it to man. Trample not on any; there may be some work of grace there, that thou knowest not of. The name of God may be written upon that soul thou treadest on: it may be a soul that Christ thought so much of as to give His precious blood for it; therefore, despise it not.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

When the Church has to deal with differences in doctrine and interpretation of scripture these are words we should all remember.

[Chris Salter]

Have I missed something? Isn't the quote
"The meaning is in the waiting" ? A phrase I have found helpful to chew on in difficult times.

[maggi]

it IS the waiting! it's from Kneeling, as you probably know...

all that close throng of spirits waiting, as I, for the message.... the meaning is in the waiting.

But my fantastic typo above has produced such a good comment from Hugh i shall have to leave it up here as further evidence that I am the typo-queen...

[Chris Salter]

Thanks ever so for replying...I did fear I was being pedantic, and yes, Hugh's response is so good.

[Mark Godson]

Three cheers for the typo-queen and for Chris! Surely, though, meaning is indeterminate. It's not "in" the text but is found in the nuances of conventions and the play of language in which the reader is immersed. In this way, the reader constructs a text as she participates in this play. She belongs to a interpretative community and responds to the symbolic groundwork and core fantasies of the text in a highly personal way. The meaning is created in her psyche as the text opens a path between her conscious and unconscious. Which all sounds fine unless the text deconstructs itself as I may have done in the above!

[Kathryn]

Phew...had been trawling RS in search of unknown poem, - I envisaged some sort of "Kneeling revisited" but could find it nowhere! I should perhaps have guessed,but tend to assume that everyone knows everything much better than me...

[Caroline]

Yes, Hugh I was reading that note from Celtic Daily Prayer too this week. I thought of Maggi and her love of Coleridge as I read it..

but the meaning is in the waiting? I don't know the poem, but I wouldn't want to restrict waiting to meaning. I think that meaning is such an overrated word; we in our cerebral (have I spelled that right, or am I challenging as a typo-queen?) age we tend to wait for meaning..

In a way I've just blogged about this over at my place. And it's not so much the meaning that is in the waiting but there is

making in the waiting.