Below is a blessing from the Celtic mystic, John O’Donohue that I am offering to all you who follow my spiritual wanderings on this digital footpath.
Some of you I know and love. Your presence and friendship are divine scaffolding for my shaky heart surround by a world of unchecked ego gratification and a lust for power. It’s not a time to go it alone. Instead, closing ranks with people whose compassion and character refuse to succumb to a popular,, yet categorically untrue, existential slight of hand trick that nothing matters “Stay clear of those vexed in spirit,” John O’Donahue would advise in another blessing. Especially now when our collective clarity, purpose and courage are so essential.
Some of you are more casually connected to me and my work, curious about how the developmental psychology of the second half of life, poetry, art and music all fit into my cosmology of aging. The best I can offer to better understand how I arrived at this eclectic stance is to offer my snippet bio from Instagram that seems to capture the recipe of what brought me here:
Conservationist, earth friendly, artist, poet, untethered English major, Cat fluent, Aging fluent, following the mystery until the end…
Most of you remain unknown to me but not unfamiliar. There’s is a resonance in the postings on my digital footpath that ring true with some aspect your journey. It might be a word, a phase, an insight or sense making that qualifies as a breakthrough. And that is enough.
And now the blessing…
For Equilibrium
By John O’Donohue
Like the joy of the sea coming home to shore,
May the relief of laughter rinse through your soul.
As the wind loves to call things to dance,
May your gravity be lightened by grace.
Like the dignity of moonlight restoring the earth
My your thoughts incline with reverence and respect.
As water takes whatever shape it is in,
So free may you be about who you become.
As silence smiles on the other side of what’s said,
May your sense of irony bring perspective.
As time remains free from all it frames,
May your mind stay clear of all its names.
May your prayer of listening deepen enough|
To hear in the depths the laughter of God.
From To Bless the Space Between Us