“No matter the medicinal virtues of being a true friend or sustaining a long close relationship with another, the ultimate touchstone of friendship is not improvement, neither of the other nor of the self, the ultimate touchstone is witness, the privilege of having been seen by someone and the equal privilege of being granted the sight of the essence of another, to have walked with them and to have believed in them, and sometimes just to have accompanied them for however brief a span, on a journey impossible to accomplish alone.”
~David Whyte
( Book: Consolations - Revised edition: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words )
( Art: Photograph by Walter Sanders )
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Does David Whyte also give examples of any journeys that cannot be walked alone?
If not I suggest that this is bs.
FrayedBear
Level 9
Dec 26, 2022
0
My father always taught me that there is only one person that I have to prove myself to and that person is me.
To think otherwise is merely being egotistical & I also suggest is egocentric for to do so is merely absorbing \complying with common belief even if wrong - like vaccinations & c19.
I don’t know anything about David Whyte beyond this quote, but for Homo sapiens, the journey of life is impossible to accomplish alone for longer than a few hours. It has nothing to do with proving oneself to anyone, including to oneself. Thinking that we don’t need other humans is what is egoistic.
@skado My father's aphorism is a case of response to those comparing your ability to others. Not that a person is able to survive without the help of others.
Lol. My father didn't know one end of a hammer from another, a grease gun from a shotgun, and he never grew spuds but his blind sister taught him how to hang patterned wallpaper like a pro.
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