Original version

BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

Something Understood

Religion & Ethics

Ethical and religious discussion that examines some of the larger questions of life

Ethical and religious discussion that examines some of the larger questions of life, taking a spiritual theme and exploring it through music, prose and poetry

BBC Radio 4 LW

Something Understood: At the Darkest Point

At the Darkest Point

20/12/2015

BBC Radio 4 - Something Understood, At the Darkest Point

As midwinter approaches, John McCarthy explores how we cope with dark times.

As midwinter approaches, John McCarthy explores how we cope with dark times, how we express our feelings and how we find our way through.

At the moment of mid-winter, John McCarthy explores how we cope with dark times, how we express our feelings and how we find a way through.

Dark and difficult times are part of our human experience. On the news we encounter human suffering - on a scale so massive and distant from our immediate lives, whether man made or as a result of natural disasters, it is often impossible to take in or begin to understand.

Most of us have more local and intimate dark times to cope with. Sickness, loss of loved ones, financial worries - these are all examples of darkness that can come in the middle of the day.

And there is also the dark that is pure loneliness.

Since first reading it as a schoolboy, John has found solace in George Herbert's poem, The Flower, which emphasises renewal and return after the dark tempests of the night.

There's a new commission from the poet Jen Hadfield who sends us a postcard from the winter darkness of Shetland, readings of poems by Rilke and Byron, and the composer and sound artist Janek Schaefer tells the story of how he came to create a piece of music - White Lights of Divine Darkness (for Sir John Tavener).

The readers are Joshua Elliot, Serena Jennings and Jen Hadfield.

Produced by Natalie Steed
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Something Understood

At the Darkest Point

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4