Wounds

a new, unpublished essay

Photo - ‘Portal Light’ © David Whyte

Wounds

are where we are suddenly open to the world, or opened traumatically by the world, whether we desire to be opened or not. A wound opens up or breaks down the precious edge between what I think is me and what seems to be other than me. Wounds are compelling because they cause immediate pain — physical or emotional: the gash in the arm, the sting of a razor cut while shaving, or the well-aimed insult to our sense of self when verbally attacked. Wounds also cause immediate reaction, the staunching of new blood with our palm, our hand moving automatically to touch and cover the painful area, the folding of the body around where we have been breached or hurt, or tellingly, our defensive voice, holding the insult to our dignity at bay.

All maturation, emotional and physical, comes from our inner sense of self being overwhelmed by what seems to come from beyond the closed system of our psychological or physiological understanding. Sometimes that ‘beyond’ comes from over the horizon of our outer understanding, through traumatic physical break downs in the everyday world, and sometimes they emerge from deep within us, from below the horizon of our inner comprehension.