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Search - The Mercy of Eternity: A Memoir of Depression and Grace

The Mercy of Eternity A Memoir of Depression and Grace
Author: Eric G. Wilson

In his best-selling book Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy, Eric G. Wilson challenged our culture' s blindly insistent pursuit of happiness at all costs. In his harrowing yet ultimately hopeful memoir, The Mercy of Eternity, the author turns an unsparing eye on his own continuing struggle with bipolar depression and finds, within the ve... more »ry illness that causes so much suffering, the resources for hope, forgiveness, and love.

Although it is Wilson s illness that brings the featured virtues into sharper relief, The Mercy of Eternity charts challenges that any reflective person must consider in his or her lifetime. As a bright student-athlete on his way to West Point, Wilson seemed to be well on the way to a fulfilling life. Yet from his teen years he was haunted by overwhelming feelings of his deep insignificance. As he grew older, the traditional means of fulfillment marriage and professional success did nothing to assuage the descents into darkness and destructive behavior.

As a scholar of literature, Wilson often encounters the biggest question of life: Is this suffering meaningful? From the Book of Job to Oedipus Rex to Hamlet to the poetry of Emily Dickinson and beyond, writers have wrestled with a similar question. For most of his life, Wilson has tried to eradicate the either real or imagined sources of suffering. Therapy and medication have offered some relief, but the birth of his daughter ultimately forces his hand. In some ways, the answer has been in front of him the whole time, for Wilson finds in the literature of Coleridge, Blake, and others the lessons that depression might teach. When he comes upon negative theology the school of thought that finds God in the dark night of the soul Wilson discovers the framework for a radical call to forgive depression. Only by forgiving this capricious, impersonal force is Wilson able to find the grace to move beyond the cycles of destructive self-absorption.

In a refreshingly honest coda, Wilson explains his title, based on this passage from Blake: Time is the mercy of eternity . . . without Time's swiftness, which is the swiftest of all things, all were eternal torment. Wilson admits that he continues to struggle, but in facing his depression instead of trying to escape it, he finds wisdom and grace. Beautifully and accessibly written, The Mercy of Eternity is a brief yet profound meditation on the largest question of life.

ISBN-13: 9780810126855
ISBN-10: 0810126850
Publication Date: 9/28/2010
Pages: 126
Rating:

0 stars, based on 0 rating

Publisher: Northwestern University Press
Book Type: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

Genres:

Biographies & Memoirs >> Memoirs
Health, Fitness & Dieting >> Mental Health >> Bipolar

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