“You are joined in an ancient and eternal union with humanity that cuts across all barriers of time, convention, philosophy and definition. When you are blessed with Anam Cara, the Irish believe, you have arrived at that most sacred place: home.” ~ John O’ Donohue
The poet Theodore Roethke wrote that “In a dark time, the eye begins to see.”
Cultivating the ‘inner garden‘, Anam Cara relationship, and some connection to beauty — rather than the ensorcelment of glamour — can also be sustaining.
The late poet-priest, John O’Donohue also said, in a very rich and inspiring conversation with Krista Tippett (OnBeing),
“… There are individuals holding out on frontlines, holding the humane tissue alive in areas of ultimate barbarity, where things are visible that the human eye should never see.”
“And they are able to sustain it, because there is in them some kind of sense of beauty that knows the horizon that we are really called to in some way. I love Pascal’s phrase, that you should always “keep something beautiful in your mind.”
“I have often found — like in times when it’s been really difficult for me — that if you can keep some kind of little contour that you can glimpse sideways at now and again, you can endure great bleakness.”

O’Donohue speaks of shifting the way we look at time, and mused that, “… the greatest question isn’t “What should I do,” but “How should I be?”
For the full OnBeing conversation — worthwhile and inspiring — you’ll find it here.
For a related Sophia’s Children musings:
Big Love,
September 4, 2017 at 5:31 pm
A beautiful reminder – thank you!
September 4, 2017 at 5:57 pm
‘how should I be’, yes, that’s a great question – a useful way to frame your thoughts when what is happening in the world seems too big to know what we can do.
September 4, 2017 at 11:50 pm
Questions like that do gather us in and bring us back home to center, from my own experimentation with them. I do appreciate his beautiful and poetic way with the language, too.
September 5, 2017 at 8:11 pm
Reblogged this on Laura Bruno's Blog and commented:
A beautiful reminder from Jamie and that dear, soulful priest of beauty, John O’Donohue. May we each seek and find those moments of beauty and hold the vision of what our world and we ourselves can be.
September 8, 2017 at 3:38 pm
Thank you, as ever, for sharing this musing that sprung from the Gael-soul wisdom of John O’Donohue. Bountiful blessings. xo j
September 5, 2017 at 10:35 pm
Reblogged this on dreamweaver333.
September 8, 2017 at 3:39 pm
Deep appreciation that you shared this musing, VioletGold. 🙂 Blessings, Jamie
September 7, 2017 at 5:00 am
Reblogged this on Forever Unlimited and commented:
Persevere, I always say. Yet when overwhelmed, I hide at home, not going out out for days.
When I finally venture out, to be in nature, seeking solace, I experience great healing.
Do?
Be.
What a concept.