You have traveled too fast over false ground;
Now your soul has come to take you back.
Take refuge in your senses, open up
To all the small miracles you rushed through.
Become inclined to watch the way of rain
When it falls slow and free.
Imitate the habit of twilight,
Taking time to open the well of color
That fostered the brightness of day.
Draw alongside the silence of stone
Until its calmness can claim you.”
― excerpted from “For One Who is Exhausted”
from Benedictus (Euro[e)/ To Bless the Space Between Us (USA) by John O’Donohue
Few contemporaries, if any, have captured the spirit of Celtic spirituality more than the Irish philosopher and poet, John Donohue. Born in 1956 in the Burren Region of County Clare, John grew up working on his family’s farm before studying English Literature, Philosophy and Theology at the University of Ireland in Maynooth. John considered his boyhood farming deeply formational, calling it “a huge wild invitation to extend your imagination … an ancient conversation between the land and the sea.”
John completed an MA and was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1982. He later went on to achieve a PhD in Philosophical Theology, from the University of Tubingen, Germany, in 1990. His doctoral dissertation was on the German philosopher Hegel, whom he described as:
someone who puts his eye to the earth at the most unusual angle and manages to glimpse the circle toward which all things aspire. He sticks to the hard edge of what is absolutely real, while encouraging this rich imagination that allows you to glimpse how dualities and contradictions actually entwine around each other.
Following his studies, he returned to priestly ministry in Ireland. He soon noted an affinity of non-dualism between Celtic consciousness and Hegel’s thought. This led him to work on a post-doctoral dissertation on Meister Eckhart, the 14th century German mystic and philosopher.
John’s first book, Anam Cara, was an instant international best-seller in 1997. He followed the next year with Eternal Echoes: Exploring our Hunger to Belong. By 2000 he left the active ministry and devoted himself to writing and speaking to large audiences across the world. A collection of poetry, Conamara Blues, was published in 2001 and was followed by Divine Beauty: The Invisible Embrace in 2004. Benedictus (Euro[e)/To Bless the Space Between Us (USA) was published months before his untimely death in 2007. Much of his writing has been published posthumously, and more is yet to come.
John recovered ancient wisdom and blended critical analytic thought with imaginative evocation, enabling his readers and listeners to become agents of transformation.
For more on John Donohue visit his extensive website at: https://www.johnodonohue.com/
Meanwhile …
“May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.”
― John O’Donohue, Eternal Echoes: Celtic Reflections on Our Yearning to Belong