What Is Old is New

 

Celtic Sensibilities

“The world is holy. Nature is holy. The body is holy. Sexuality is holy. The mind is holy. The imagination is holy. You are holy. Divinity is imminent in all nature. It is as much within you as without.”

Margo Adler (Drawing Down the Moon; quoted in Irish Culture and Depth Psychology; p.8; Spring Journal Vol. 79; 2008)

          My friend Anna gave me the book Irish Culture and Depth Psychology for my birthday. I am learning a lot about the religious proclivities of my ancestors, and was surprised to see that, in large part, my beliefs about God, Creation and Divinity, which I thought were closely aligned with Native American spirituality, come straight from the Celtic perspective, Though I have never lived in Ireland, or even visited, I have a shared worldview. It’s part of my inherited unconscious (archetypal) mind. It’s why, even though I grew up Christian, was always a church goer, even a church leader, I simply never believed many of the tenets of the church. The virgin birth, the physical resurrection, the body-and-blood communion—I did all the rites and rituals, but I didn’t buy in, so to speak. I did, however, always love Bible stories and the teachings of Jesus, and I still do.

          In Vol. 79 of the Jungian Spring Journal, Analyst Jerry Wright wrote a chapter on, “Thin Places and Thin Times.” In it, he described the Celtic beliefs about the relationship between the living and the dead: “Thus, the circle of life and death was seamless, which preserved the perspective of the world as a unified whole with no distinction between matter and spirit, or between physical and spiritual, except for what was seen and unseen.” That may explain the Irish/Scottish affinity for “thin places and spaces,” where the veil between the two worlds—the seen and the unseen—can be crossed. Carl Jung related to that, saying, “The difference between most people and myself is that for me the dividing walls are transparent. That is my peculiarity.”

          You could describe the Celtic religious attitude, not as a small-world, mystical one, but as so much larger. It doesn’t focus on one person, one transcendent experience, sin or being "saved," but includes everything. All of creation is holy—even the dirt beneath our feet. How would our world be different today if we were to believe that we, and everything else in creation, are reflections of Divinity—are little pieces of the One Creator. Would we be more hesitant to exploit and mishandle our planet’s precious resources? Would we make every effort to sustain and steward the earth and everything in it if we thought of it as Holy? Would we treat our brothers and sisters and all of earth’s children differently? I’d like to think we would. I believe Jesus wishes we would, too.

                                                  In the Spirit,

                                                  Jane