David Whyte knows there are three crucial relationships, or marriages, in our lives: the marriage or partnership with a significant other, the commitment we have to our work, and the vows, spoken or unspoken, we make to an inner, constantly developing self. In The Three Marriages, the bestselling author, poet, and speaker argues that it is not possible to sacrifice one relationship for the others without causing deep psychological damage. Too often, he says, we fracture our lives and split our energies foolishly, so that one or more of these marriages is sacrificed and may wither and die, in the process impoverishing them all. Whyte looks to a different way of seeing and connecting these relationships and prompts us to examine each marriage with a fierce but affectionate eye as he shows us the importance of cherishing all three equally.--From publisher description.

A wide-ranging and original study on how enigmas and riddles work in literature.

"Edition bilingue palhavi-anglais.

The Three Marriage EnigmasMost marriages all face the same underlying problem: Somewhere along the way, their intimacy was destroyed, and without it, the marriage failed, even if the couple never got divorced. As widespread as such difficulties are, the problems that sabotage intimacy are invisible, enigmas. Just about every couple faces these same enigmas. If not dealt with properly, they can lead to what I call the "downward spiral in marriage." Worse, these enigmas interact with and feed on each other, which makes them even more difficult to identify and eliminate. Rather than being in control, most couples are struggling and helpless, because they are unaware the enigmas exist, much less how to overcome them. It is the great heartache and pain that millions suffer during marriage and after divorce that has inspired me to write this book. I understand their pain from personal experience, and my heart breaks for these people.The book identifies these hidden forces as enigmas and addresses how these enigmas interact to destroy even the deepest intimacy and love couples have. Most couples level out, just to spiral down again; the cycle often repeating itself over and over. Statistics show over 72% of spouses will end up breaking their vows and cheating! Divorce is an incredibly painful experience. Many people join divorce support groups to cope with the pain they are experiencing. Some who are in the midst of this pain believe it will never end. Their lives are shattered, and most of them have no idea why.Author Kevin Foster M.Th. identifies what is happening and why. Then using the "Love Actions" outlined in this book; he shows how to permanently stop the downward spiral and restore wonderful love and intimacy forever. He then explains how to bulletproof marriages against affairs. This is the one book every engaged or married couple should read!

In this book, Curtis Gruenler proposes that the concept of the enigmatic, latent in a wide range of medieval thinking about literature, can help us better understand in medieval terms much of the era’s most enduring literature, from the riddles of the Anglo-Saxon bishop Aldhelm to the great vernacular works of Dante, Chaucer, Julian of Norwich, and, above all, Langland’s Piers Plowman. Riddles, rhetoric, and theology—the three fields of meaning of aenigma in medieval Latin—map a way of thinking about reading and writing obscure literature that was widely shared across the Middle Ages. The poetics of enigma links inquiry about language by theologians with theologically ambitious literature. Each sense of enigma brings out an aspect of this poetics. The playfulness of riddling, both oral and literate, was joined to a Christian vision of literature by Aldhelm and the Old English riddles of the Exeter Book. Defined in rhetoric as an obscure allegory, enigma was condemned by classical authorities but resurrected under the influence of Augustine as an aid to contemplation. Its theological significance follows from a favorite biblical verse among medieval theologians, “We see now through a mirror in an enigma, then face to face” (1 Cor. 13:12). Along with other examples of the poetics of enigma, Piers Plowman can be seen as a culmination of centuries of reflection on the importance of obscure language for knowing and participating in endless mysteries of divinity and humanity and a bridge to the importance of the enigmatic in modern literature. This book will be especially useful for scholars and undergraduate students interested in medieval European literature, literary theory, and contemplative theology.