Irish poet and author, John O’Donohue, died in his sleep January 3. 2008. He was 54. He taught at Omega several times, offering workshops on his many books that reflected on such things as beauty, the restlessness of the human heart, and love. In this passage from his 1999 book, Eternal Echoes, he speaks to the ancient longing for prayer.
Prayer is an ancient longing; it has a special light, hunger, and energy. Our earliest ancestors knew and felt how the invisible, eternal world enveloped every breath and gesture. They recognized that the visible world was merely a threshold. Their very first representations on the walls of caves expressed the desire to name, beseech, and praise. To the ancient eye, the world was a mystery independent in its own rhythm and poise. Nature was a primal mother with an unfathomable mind; she could be tender or cruel. The force and surface of Nature were merely the exterior visage that concealed a wild, yet subtle mind. For the ancients, prayer was an attempt to enter into harmony with the deeper rhythm of life. Prayer tempered human arrogance; it became the disclosure point of the deeper, eternal order. In post-modern society, the isolated individual has become the measure of all things. It is no surprise that in our loss of connection with Nature, we have forgotten how to pray. We even believe that we do no need to pray.
For further exploration: Eternal Echoes: Celtic Reflections on Our Yearning to Belong
