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Anam Cara is Gaelic term for "Soul Friend". In this book, John O'donohue positions himself to be our soul's companion on ancient journey down a nearly forgotten path of wisdom. He helps us to see into what it means to be human as the Celts did: we're more than just flesh, blood, and bone; we comprise individual worlds.
Excerpts from the Book
Light is Generous (page 1)
If you have ever had occasion to be out early in the morning before the dawn breaks, you will have noticed that the darkest time of the night is immediately before dawn. The darkness deepened and becomes more anonymous. If you had never been to the world and never know what a day was, you couldn't possibly imagine how the darkness breaks, how the mistery and color of a new day arrive.
Light is incredibly generous, but also gentle.
Emerson said, "No one suspects the days to be Gods"
We are always on a journey from darkness into light. At first, we are children of the darkness. Your body and your face were formed first in the kind darkness of your mother's womb. Your Birth was a first journey from darkness into light. All your life, your mind lives within the darkness of your body. Every thought that you have is a flint moment, a spark of light from your inner darkness. The miracle of thought is its presence in the night side of your soul; the brilliance of thought is born in darkness. Each day is a journey. We come out of the night into the day. All creativity awakens at this primal threshold where light and darkness test and bless each other. You only discover balance in your life when you lean to trust the flow of this ancient rhythm. The year also is a journey with the same rhythm.
The Human Heart is Never Completely Born (page 6)
Though the human body is complete in one moment, the birth of the human heart is an ongoing process. It is being birthed in every experience of your life. Everything that happen to you has the potential to deepen you. It brings to birth within you new territories of the heart. Patrick Kavanagh capture this sense of the benediction of happening: "Praise, praise, praise / The way it happened and the way it is".
A Friendship Blessing (page 36)
May you be blessed with good friends.
May you learn to be a good friend to yourself.
May you be able to journey to that place in your soul where there is great love, warmth, feeling and forgiveness.
May this change you.
May it transfigure that which is negative, distant or cold in you.
May you be brought in to the real passion, kinship and affinity of belonging.
May you treasure your friends.
May you be good to them and may you be there for them; may they bring you all the blessings, challenges, truth and light that you need for your journey.
May you never be isolated.
May you always be in the gentle nest of belonging with your anam cara.
Reviews
"John O'Donohue is a man of the soul. His scholarly mediation on the continuing relevance of Ireland's spiritual heritage has become a publishing phenomenon… This poetic meditation has become a bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic… A lyrical epic prayer."
The London Times
"Words of wisdom…. A heady mixture of myth, poetry, philosophy….. Profound and moving."
The London Independent
"Anam Cara is a radiant source of wisdom, a link between the human and the divine. This work is a blessed, rare gem."
Larry Dossey, author of Healing Words
"Anam Cara is a rare synthesis of philosophy, poetry and spirituality. This work will have a powerful and life-transforming experience for those who read it."
Deepak Chopra, author of The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success
"This book is a phenomenon in itself…. A book to read and re-read forever, its style of varied narration responds to our times."
The Irish Times
John O'Donohue
Reflections from an Irish poet, philosopher and Catholic scholar, John O'Donohue.
"I would love to live
Like a river flows,
Carried by the surprise.
Of its own unfolding".
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