The Work 

Many people have moments in life that feel too large, deep or undefined for the language available to them. Moments of intense, overflowing love or beauty, a sudden sense of personal calling without a clear sense of life direction, an unexpected creative urge that feels vital and deeply disruptive at the same time, the experience of sudden, anticipated or silent loss, often unrecognized by others, sometimes unrecognized by ourselves. All experiences that rearrange what matters. Boundary situations. An upheaval and clearing of our personal values. And sometimes a quiet but persistent feeling that life asks something of us, beyond the demands of our daily commitments. Wanting to go ‘there’ but not knowing where. Sometimes longing for an unknown 'there'. Often these experiences remain half-articulated to ourselves and others. We simply have no language. They may feel deeply meaningful, yet difficult to explain within the frameworks most readily available today, whether psychological, scientific, philosophical or religious.

Eros, Truth, and the Numinous is a 3-volume philosophical and literary inquiry into contemporary sources of meaning. It attempts to give language to the experiences mentioned above without reducing them to any single domain.  Across a projected trilogy or triptych, it explores how human longing, desire, truth and transcendence intersect: Eros as both a historical and contemporary phenomenon, Truth as event and revelation rather than merely as correctness, and the Numinous as boundary experiences that give life its ultimate meaning.  Readers may come to see that certain forms of restlessness or intensity are not signs of failure or instability, but expressions of a deeper orientation toward meaning. Part of the inquiry is informed by sustained proximity to illness, vulnerability, and mortality. In such contexts, familiar categories often fall away. What remains can be difficult to articulate yet carries an intrinsic sense of meaning. Many people, whether patients, caregivers, clinicians, or family members, recognize that encounters with finitude can reveal dimensions of life that are otherwise easily overlooked. The book attempts to honor this kind of knowledge without sentimentalizing it.