In a new global culture, Irish Spirit must be invented anew. And if the new global culture presents special challenges to ancient ways, those ancient ways also challenge and illuminate emerging paradigms. In a virtual World, what is the significance of place, of the body? Irish Spirituality, never dualistic, both demands a rootedness in space-time and acknowledges an Otherworld beyond. In a global economy, what are the requirements for true prosperity? Irish Spirituality, like that of other indigenous cultures, offers a complex vision of reciprocity between human, animal, and vegetable spheres. In a democratic society, what constitutes power? Irish Spirituality encourages a subtle balance between the need for strong Leadership and the requirement to impose Limits upon it.
There is much to mine from Ireland's rich Spiritual past: balance between Masculine and Feminine energies; humble commitment to Service; love of the word and the powers beyond the word; belief that a Leader's integrity is vital to the people's health; extraordinary sensitivity to place. And perhaps most Importantly, an awareness that this World is not all there is, that there are mysterious realms that affect us and that we, in turn, affect-Worlds just beyond range, out in the Western Sea, at the dim meeting of Sky and Cloud. It is such Eternal Visions that draw people, Irish and Otherwise, to Irish Spirit.
~Patricia Monaghan
~Beannaichte'
22 April, 2013
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