Celtic Wisdom with John O’Donohue

Program Description

If you are seeking a deeper meaning in life, you will find some here as John O’Donohue explores and reveals the ancient wisdom of the Celts. Friendship, landscape, death, time, language, the seen and the unseen–all are illuminated through the Celtic consciousness. Compared to the “linear abstract monotheism” of our modern world, O’Donohue notes that “one of the lovely things about the Celtic sensibility is the co-existence of differing dimensions. …The invisible was just as important, if not more important, than the visible.” Let O’Donohue’s profound spirituality melt into your consciousness as his words find their way to the “tabernacle of your heart.”

A Catholic scholar, he is the author of a book of poetry entitled Echoes of Memory (Salmon Poetry 1994), a series of monographs on the four elements and Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom (HarperCollins 1997).

Topics Explored in this Dialogue:

• The role of friendship in life
• Exploring Celtic sensibility
• The contemporary world’s addiction to image
• The Irish capacity to celebrate death
• “November Questions,” a poem about O’Donohue’s departed uncle
• Ireland’s pubs: the social hub of the community
• Comparisons of Tibet and Ireland, yesterday and today
• Avoiding the “unlived” life

Program Number: 2666               Host: Michael Toms               Interview Date: 10/10/1997