Thin Places

Description: When he was asked to summarize his philosophy, Plato reportedly said: ""Practice dying,"" which seems a rather strange, even morbid, comment until one realizes that every life consists of passages, some smooth and some not. Within these passages are what John Morgan calls ""thin places."" On a trip to Wales, Morgan discovered that the term ""thin places"" is part of Celtic culture. Thin places are those places where the eternal and the temporal touch, if only for a brief glimpse; where you know that life is more than just the obvious. Thin places can be of great beauty, where life's meaning breaks through by the ocean or in the mountains; but thin places can also arise in the life of every person, whether with the birth of a child or the death of a family member. John Morgan believes that being fully awake to such times and places holds a clue to living more deeply and with greater wisdom about what's really important. His poems express this understanding. About the Contributor(s): John C. Morgan is an adjunct professor of humanities at Reading Area Community College, a diverse inner-city college in Reading, Pennsylvania, where he teaches courses in ethics and philosophy. He is a regular columnist for two Pennsylvania newspapers and the author of many books, the most recent of which is In the Shadow of Grace (2007).