Tuesday, October 28, 2008

John O'Donohue


Today, I listened to this podcast; it is beautiful, relevant and poetic. If any of you have any interest in religion, ethics, or ideas, check out Krista Tippet's program...she always has amazing, interesting, and diverse thinkers on her program.

Here is an excerpt from his book, Anam Cara:

"In the Celtic tradition, there is a beautiful understanding of love and friendship. One of the fascinating ideas here is the idea of soul-love; the old Gaelic term for this is anam cara. Anam is the Gaelic word for soul and cara is the word for friend. In the early Celtic church, a person who acted as a teacher, companion, or spiritual guide was called an anam cara. It originally referred to someone to whom you confessed revealing the hidden intimacies of your life. With the anam cara you could share your innermost self, your mind, and your heart. This friendship was an act of recognition and belonging. … In everyone's life there is great need for an anam cara, a soul friend, in this love you are understood as you are without mask or pretension. Where you are understood, you are at home."

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