In the World but Not of the World
John McCarthy shares experiences of being detached from everyday life, in interview with consultant psychotherapist and psychoanalyst David Morgan.
John McCarthy shares experiences of being detached from everyday life.
He begins by noting the 500th anniversary of the death of Suster Bertken. She was a Dutch woman who volunteered to become an anchoress, bricking herself up in a cell underneath a church in Utrecht for 57 years. Suster Bertken's story leads John to consider other ways in which people feel compelled to withdraw from normal life, or find themselves cut off from the rest of society.
He goes to the Courtauld Gallery to talk with Consultant Psychotherapist and Psychoanalyst David Morgan in front of Van Gogh's Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear. They discuss the difficulty that very creative people sometimes seem to have in feeling comfortable in the world in which they find themselves. And they consider the need in many people to retreat, either as a way of re-fuelling or as a means of escape.
Tanya Marlow describes her experience of disconnection from life as a result of having ME. For the past 3 years, Tanya has spent 23 hours a day in bed, unable to walk down the road, play with her son or leave the house more than once a month. She has found a new world of connection through her online blog and considers her view of the world from her new found position in life.
The programme includes readings from works by Mary Oliver, Suster Bertken and Ko Un - and music by Laura Mvula, Gustav Mahler, Paddy McAloon, and Olivier Messiaen.
Readers: Michael Lumsden and Adjoa Andoh
Produced by Rosie Boulton
A Whistledown production for 麻豆社 Radio 4.
Last on
Music Played
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The World Held Me in its Power by Berta Jacobs / Suster Bertken
A poem about Suster Bertken's withdrawal from the world.
I Have Decided by Mary Oliver
The push and pull that people feel to both retreat from life and to connect with others
Hometown by Ko Un
Ko Un聮s poem describes a sense that nowhere on earth is home.
The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year by Sue Townsend
Eva has gone to bed and simply stayed there, for many months. But Alexander has been falling in love with her.
I Am Lost to the World by Ruckert
The artist is lost in his own heaven of creation.
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Olivier Messiaen
Quartet for the End of Time
Performer: Joshua Bell. Performer: Steven Isserlis. Performer: Olli Mustonen. Performer: Stephen Collins.- Quartet for the End of Time.
- Decca.
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Paddy McAloon
Sleeping Rough
- I Trawl The Megahertz.
- EMI Music UK.
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Laura Mvula
Can't Live With The World
- She.
- RCA.
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Van Morrison
Alan Watts Blues (Cloud Hidden)
- Poetic Champions compose.
- Polydor.
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Don McLean
Vincent
- American Pie.
- EMI.
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Gustav Mahler
Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen
Performer: Dietrich Fischer鈥怐ieskau.- Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen, Kindertotoenlieder, 4 Ruckert Lieder.
- Deutsche Grammophon.
Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear 1889 - Vincent Van Gogh (1853-90)
![Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear 1889 - Vincent Van Gogh (1853-90)]()
Oil on canvas, 60 x 49 cm
漏 Samuel Courtauld Trust, The Courtauld Gallery, London
Broadcasts
- Sun 15 Jun 2014 06:05麻豆社 Radio 4
- Sun 15 Jun 2014 23:30麻豆社 Radio 4
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