"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."
Is there, in all literature, an opening line with which more minds are stamped? A passage more famous and quotable than that with which Dickens' timeless classic begins?
I think not!
Set in those two great centers of learning and culture, London and Paris, before and during the French Revolution, A Tale of Two Cities follows the tribulations of Dr. Manette, his blue-eyed daughter, Lucie, and her dashing, strong-willed husband, the expatriate Charles Darnay.
It is, according to every clear-thinking reader, one of Western literature's finest works of historical fiction.
While we all know and repeat the book's opening line, I ask you, do you remember the somewhat lesser-known sentence with which it ends?
"It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known".
Precisely our goal!--A "far, far better rest" awaits you (not the rest of death), if you'll only listen to this episode with me!
If you have a favorite book that you want read in a sleepy style, or if you're the author of an original work to which you'd like to draw more attention, drop me a line at pneuma.finneran@gmail.com. I will read it on this show.
Be sure to subscribe to this channel and leave a five-star rating!
“Distracted from distraction by distraction”
Look around: we’re in an inescapable loop of distraction.
How do we liberate ourselves from this endless cycle?
Borrowing from the great poet TS Eliot, this episode offers some advice.
I hope that it’s helpful!
Check out my sister channel Finneran’s Wake for profound, long-form conversations.
Like, subscribe, and share with friends!
“As I in hoary winter night stood shivering in the snow,
Surprised was I with sudden heat which made my heart to glow;
And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was near
A Pretty Babe all burning bright did in the air appear.”
Robert Southwell
I hope that you enjoy this bite-sized Pneuma Nugget!
Please consider sharing this episode with a friend and subscribing to this channel for more sleep stories, meditations, and soothing content!
Visit my YouTube page @pneumabydanielfinneran.
Email me at pneuma.finneran@gmail.com
Instagram: @danielethanfinneran
X: @DanielEFinneran
“A man travels the world in search of what he needs and returns home to find it”.
- George Moore
I hope that you enjoy this bite-sized Pneuma Nugget!
Please consider sharing this episode with a friend and subscribing to the channel for more sleep stories, meditations, and soothing content!
Visit my YouTube page @pneumabydanielfinneran.
Email me at pneuma.finneran@gmail.com
Instagram: @danielethanfinneran
X: @DanielEFinneran
And visit my sister project on YouTube/Podcast platforms, @finneranswake, where you’ll find endless great conversations.
“We do not content ourselves with the life we have in ourselves and in our own being; we desire to live an imaginary life in the mind of others…”
Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician, inventor, and philosopher, came to this realization about humankind in the 17th century.
It remains as true today as it was back then.
In this episode, we discuss living an “imaginary life” in the mind of others, as opposed to embracing our real existence in the pursuit of truth.
I hope that you enjoy this meditation!
Please consider subscribing to this channel for more sleep stories, meditations, and soothing content!
Visit my YouTube page @pneumabydanielfinneran.
Email me at pneuma.finneran@gmail.com
Instagram: @danielethanfinneran
X: @DanielEFinneran
And visit my sister project, @finneranswake, where you’ll find endless great conversations.
Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski) was a Polish-English novelist.
He was born in 1857 and died in 1924.
His twenty years spent as a sailor in the British merchant navy inspired many of his literary works, among which Heart of Darkness is most highly acclaimed.
In this episode of “Fall Asleep with Me”, I read this work’s opening scene. It takes place on the tranquil waters of the River Thames.
Please consider subscribing to this channel for more sleep stories, meditations, and soothing content!
Visit my YouTube page @pneumabydanielfinneran.
Email me at pneuma.finneran@gmail.com
And visit my sister project, @finneranswake, where you’ll find endless great conversations.
Sweet dreams!
The inspiration for this episode is a sonnet–a Shakespearean sonnet–with which you’re unlikely to be familiar;
Sonnet 30, you see, isn’t commonly ranked among Shakespeare’s finest works. It’s neither read to romantic lovers, inscribed on elegant tombstones, nor quoted in popular films.
Indeed, you’ll very seldom hear a recitation of its fourteen forgotten lines.
And yet, to our purposes, my dear friend, I think it’s ideally suited.
I hope that you enjoy this meditation on loss, regret, remorse, failure, and–that by which all sadness in life is wiped away–friends.
Do me the honor, my dear friend, of “liking” this episode, subscribing to this channel for daily doses of mindfulness, and sharing it with a friend.
“How interesting (it is) to trace the history of a single raindrop!”
In this guided meditation, we’ll join the American outdoorsman, conservationist, and writer John Muir as we contemplate the dramatic life story of a single raindrop.
Muir was a man of extraordinary depth.
In this episode, we’ll accompany him to lofty poetic heights–high, in fact, as the craggy summits atop which he made his home–before following him and his raindrop down to the oceans, rivers, puddles, and flower cups in which they came to rest.
I don’t know about you, but there’s nothing I enjoy better than watching the rain fall. It’s a divine spectacle of nature, a beautiful production of sound and movement than which there’s simply none more wondrous in all the world.
Hopefully this mediation enhances what is, quite without my meager contribution, a transcendent experience.
If I succeed, please give this episode a “thumbs-up” or a “five-star” rating.
Share it with friends, colleagues, and loved ones.
Return to it any time you’re stuck inside on a rainy day.
And subscribe to this channel!
You can now watch this episode on my YouTube channel. Just search, “Pneuma by Daniel Finneran” and immerse yourself in the stunning images.
With affection,
Daniel
Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888 - 1965) was an Anglo-American poet.
A devout Christian, Eliot was an important figure in the Modernist movement that sprang to life in the first quarter of the 20th century.
"Four Quartets", a uniquely sublime work by which all his other poems are eclipsed, addresses the theme of time.
It's a theme on which, as you doubtless know, so many of our meditations here on Pneuma are based.
I think that you'll enjoy it.
Subscribe, like, leave a five-star rating, and share this with friends. Send me poem recommendations at pneuma.finneran@gmail.com
Thank you!
Daniel
Time Stamps:
0:00 - Burnt Norton
11:35 - East Coker
29:52 - The Dry Salvages
46:45 - Little Gidding
Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Toward the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden.
This is an excerpt from the first poem of TS Eliot’s masterpiece, “Four Quartets”.
It is, in my opinion, the most memorable part of “Burnt Norton”.
In this episode, we’re going to meditate on the theme that Eliot presents: Regret.
Be sure to listen to my prior episode about remorse.
What is the one thing you regret most?
If you care to divulge, send me an email at pneuma.finneran@gmail.com or comment below.
Be sure to visit my sister project, @finneranswake on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. I think you’ll really enjoy it; Finneran’s Wake is where I have deep, probing, provocative conversations with a multitude of extraordinary people from all walks of life.
-Daniel
Charlotte Brontë (nom de plume "Currer Bell") was an English novelist.
She lived between 1816 - 1855.
She was the eldest (and most gifted) of an immensely talented trio of sisters, which included Emily and Anne.
Her most famous work, “Jane Eyre” is also one of the finest in the English language.
In this episode of “Fall Asleep With Me”, I read one of my favorite scenes: that in which our eponymous heroine, Jane Eyre, encounters the dashing Mr. Rochester in the garden at dusk.
Please consider subscribing to this channel for more sleep stories, meditations, and soothing content!
Visit my YouTube page @pneumabydanielfinneran
And my sister project @finneranswake
Thank you.
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