Don Jones
Poetry is ecstatic speech. It is intended to be spoken aloud, not simply read silently from the page. D.H. Lawrence’s poetry is ecstatic in nature, particularly his poems which are concerned with issues of human wholeness.
The Author's vision for writing this book has been simply to introduce some of D.H. Lawrence’s magnificent poems in such a way that others might come to love and appreciate them as deeply as he does. People from every gender and walk of life can find enjoyment and inspiration from Lawrence’s poetry in "Hunger For Wholeness".
Don Jones, now in his 78th year, has had a long life of spiritual leadership including his 40 years of service as a pastor and preacher, his leadership of non-profit organizations for the healing of youth and adults, his seminar teaching in the field of masculine psychology, and his healing of souls as a psychotherapist.
He has a Bachelor’s degree in philosophy and religion, and a Master of Divinity degree, both from Phillips University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and advanced doctoral studies in Religion and Literature at the University of Chicago Divinity School.
For the past 15 years he has served as a Leader of men’s initiation weekends within the ManKind Project, an international organization whose mission is “To Empower Men to Missions of Service.” He convened the first National Elder Council meeting of this men’s order and recently finished a term as International Chairman of the ManKind Project. He lives in Indianapolis, Indiana, with his wife, Emily Hurst-Jones.
Lawrence believed that the sun is the soul of the inanimate universe and the quick of the sun is polarized with the solar plexus of mankind. He believed that the only way for men to return to a true relationship with each other was to meet in this common ground - belief in their gut connection with the religious core of the universe.
This belief would create the “new order” in place of the old. It is when men ignore that common flame of life within them that they become obsessed with mere ideas and the outer world. Then the very sense of a new order seems distant and impossible.
Human progress can only be achieved when men found this new order of common bonding and devotion. Lawrence was convinced that only the renewed empowerment of men would move the evolution of the human race forward.
This renewed humanity will come from the influx of strength and guidance from the ‘great one’. So, the “center of all things” is not simply a passive recipient of praise and devotion. It is a true source of empowerment and enlightenment which supersedes any other source.
The task of men is to “refuse the pettifogging promptings of human weakness”, that is, to turn from merely human sources of knowledge and tend to the flow of inspiration and energy coming from the very core of the living universe. Not yielding to the forces of conformity or making capitulation to the old order, men will begin to walk, talk, and behave in new and powerful ways. Men’s whole bodies will come alive with new energy and boldness.
Men will shine as never before as they walk with “bright legs.” They will not cower or cringe with fear because they will possess “uncringing buttocks!” They will become creatures of a new order which Lawrence calls an “aristocracy of the sun.”
