Presence of Mind
“On one hand we have the most ancient and universal theological intuition, that the order we see exists by divine fiat, that the heavens proclaim the glory of God,” Marilynne Robinson, Absence of Mind, 2010
Extremes of geography and climate: Ireland’s most northerly point is also its sunniest and windiest. Atlantic waves crash and splash against 250 metre high cliffs. An appreciation of the vastness of creation is inevitable at Malin Head. The 15 kilometre road from the village of Malin northwards to the Head meanders through a sort of beautiful nowhereville, a great emptiness splayed in all directions, reaching out to infinity and the Divine. On the western coast of this peninsula is Five Fingers Beach with some of the largest sand dunes in Europe. At high tide the strand disappears. Below the spiralling road leading up to the viewing point of Malin Head, a long low cottage beckons before the better land. County Donegal is beautiful, especially so in the perfected world of a Saturday morning.
“Each of us lives intensely within herself or himself, continuously assimilating past and present experience to a narrative and vision that are unique in every case yet profoundly communicable, whence the arts.” Marilynne Robinson, Absence of Mind, 2010
