In The Ashes With You: A Kural Conversation with Gareth Higgins

The Wealth and Wonder of Relatedness

With Gareth Higgins, storyteller and author of How Not to Be Afraid, I was delighted to speak about compassion, community, guilt, and the ripple effects of kindness as reflected in THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural.

Here are a few highlights and where in the video you can find them:

How cherishing strangers connects with abundance. 5:32
The difference between difficulty and ruin. 13:55
“I will sit in the ashes with you.” 15:39
The shadow of guilt at never doing enough. 19:52
Timidity and sovereignty. 27:18
The ripple effects of kindness. 34:48
What it is to introduce a work of this kind to new people. 40:12

Gareth Higgins was born in Belfast in 1975, grew up during the northern Ireland Troubles, and now lives in the US. He writes and speaks about the power of storytelling to shape our lives and world, peace and making justice, and how to take life seriously without believing your own propaganda. He has been involved in peace-building and violence reduction in northern Ireland and helping address the legacy of conflict, received a Ph.D. in Sociology from Queen’s University Belfast, and helped teach the world’s first graduate course in Reconciliation Studies at Trinity College Dublin. He also helped found the Wild Goose, New Story and Movies & Meaning festivals. Gareth leads retreats in North America and Ireland; and he founded The Porch Magazine.

Brian McLaren says Gareth’s new book How Not to Be Afraid is “a beautiful book,” Kathleen Norris says it’s “a necessary book,” and Micky ScottBey Jones says it’s “a much-needed resource for skill-building through our fear and trauma, so that we might create the belonging and communities we desire.”

http://www.garethhiggins.net/

Here are the verses we talked about, in both English and Tamil:

83
The life that cherishes strangers each day
Never falls upon ruin

வருவிருந்து வைகலும் ஓம்புவான் வாழ்க்கை
பருவந்து பாழ்படுதல் இன்று

82
With a guest at the door it is not worth eating
Even the nectar of the gods

இருந்தோம்பி இல்வாழ்வ தெல்லாம் விருந்தோம்பி
வேளாண்மை செய்தற் பொருட்டு

87
We cannot foretell the good of offering—it rests
On the nature of each guest

இனைத்துணைத் தென்பதொன் றில்லை விருந்தின்
துணைத்துணை வேள்விப் பயன்

From chapter 9, “Hospitality.”

Translated from the Tamil by Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural
Beacon Press, Boston