Kything
Kything is from an old Scottish word, "kythe," meaning "to make visible." Madeleine L'Engle used it to describe a type of communication, in a sense like telepathy, found in several of the books in her Time Quartet.
Kything in the Time books is a sort of wordless, mind to mind communication in which one person, in essence, almost becomes another, seeing through their eyes and feeling through their senses.
In such a frame of mind, the two people intuitively know the meaning of what the other is telling them, disregarding such things as words or pictures. The idea may be based on the concept of Oneness, which states that all that exists, is one in its source and end. Apparently, recollection and assertion of that concept puts a person "in Kythe" with that which they are concentrating on.
Characters depicted as kything, particularly in A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet include Charles Wallace Murry (for whom it comes naturally), Meg Murry and Calvin O'Keefe. Meg and Calvin share a particular bond with each other, part of their growing relationship which eventually leads to marriage. In addition, Vicky Austin appears to kythe with both dolphins and Adam Eddington in A Ring of Endless Light, although the term is not used in that instance.
Catholic priest Louis M. Savary and Patricia H. Berne have created a handbook for kything as a spiritual practice, in Kything: The Art of Spiritual Presence.
External links
- L'Engle's Official Site
- IMDB entry for the film of A Ring of Endless Light
- Savary and Berne's Kything: The Art of Spiritual Presence
| Madeleine L'Engle | ||
|---|---|---|
| Time Quartet: |  |
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| Polly O'Keefe series: | ||
| Austin family series: |
Meet the Austins ·
The Moon by Night ·
The Young Unicorns ·
A Ring of Endless Light ·
Troubling a Star · The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas ·
|
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| Katherine Forrester series: | The Small Rain · A Severed Wasp | |
| Camilla Dickinson series: | Camilla Dickinson · A Live Coal in the Sea | |
| Other fiction: | Ilsa · And Both Were Young · The Other Side of the Sun | |
| Characters: | ||
| Other: | Places in the works of Madeleine L'Engle · Kything · Echthroi · Hugh Franklin | |
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