Gazing Into the Abyss

Photograph by Robert Murphy

Christian Wiman is a writer and the editor of Poetry magazine - the premier publisher of contemporary verse. This essay is an account of how his creative work lead him into despair, and ultimately to a "hope toward God."

To believe that being conscious means primarily being conscious of loss, to find life authentic only in the apprehension of death, is to pitch your tent at the edge of an abyss, “and when you gaze long into the abyss,” Nietzsche says, “the abyss also gazes into you.” I blinked.

Read it here.