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Matthew Fox on Pilgrimage
Pilgrims are not "know-it-all" people but seeking people. They go on pilgrimage to find something they know they do not have -- usually something of the heart.... A pilgrim is one who does not have all the answers.... A pilgrim is not steeped in righteousness but in humility, with an awareness that we must all be willing to learn together.
A pilgrim seeks what
s/he does not have, what his/her country, religion or economic system has failed to give. A pilgrim has looked at the dark side of life... A pilgrim people are keenly aware that they have not arrived, are not yet there. ...
For the pilgrim, the place one seeks is not to be seized, controlled , owned by anyone. A sacred site is a place of reverence. It is not to be manipulated. One's shoes are to be taken off. One is to be silent, to listen, to pray, and to open one's heart. A sacred site can change us, but we do not seek to change it....
A Reflection on Themes: Myth, Dreams and Reconciliation
Pilgrimage: Our tours incorporate the theme of pilgrimage, defined by Matthew Fox as "a journey undertaken with an open heart..... Our journey is not one of length so much as one of depth." In pilgrimage we connect with openness to ourselves, each other, the earth...to a spirituality of transformation.
Myth
According to mythologist and author Moyra Caldecott, myth helps us to "step back from the immediacy of our own cluttered society and see our lives from a different perspective. In Celtic myth the very mix of wise spiritual teaching, the power and beauty of the imagery, and the harsh and gruesome violence makes for a new, potent, and disturbing vision." In sharing our diverse cultural and personal myths, we enrich and heal each other, and thereby, reconstitute our souls. Some of the stories we will look at: Battle of Moytura, Cattle Raid of Cooley, the Salmon of Knowledge, the Black Pigs Dyke, Deirdre of the Sorrows and the Sons of Uishneach, Oisín and Tír na nÓg, Fionn, Diarmuid and Grainne
Dreams
We believe, as Jeremy Taylor teaches, that dreams come in the service of health and wholeness, and that, in fact, our dreams serve as the workshop of the evolution of consciousness. By dream sharing we venture beyond ego-boundaries and invite/ engage the collective. We go beyond the fearfully defined self and taste the archetypal offerings of the gods....
Reconciliation
"Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold". Yeat's appalling vision for the end of the second millennium will hopefully motivate rather than paralyse us. So many things call to be reconciled at this juncture in human history...male and female, young and elder, rich and poor, North and South, East and West, "us and them".... All of these dualisms beckon for healing within each of us.....
At this juncture, Ireland is intensely engaged in a struggle for healing after many centuries of division and strife. The "peace process" is alive and fragile, inspiring, dynamic, volatile, hope-filled.... It is our own hope that through a mutual sharing of dreams and story-telling, by "walking in each other's moccasins" for a little while, we may both challenge and encourage each other in our search for peace, both personal and political. In our sharing we will seek to withdraw projected shadows that have both made "others" strangers and divided us within ourselves. In welcoming strangers do we not always entertain angels?
The background "wallpaper" for our website is adapted from Gerald Boyle's "Peace Wall," installed at Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, Co. Wicklow.
"Made with 1000 handprints from Belfast, this was made to highlight the walls in our society, and to give people an opportunity to make a positive gesture for peace."
Evoking Amergin
I am the cliff’s edge at Dún Aonghasa.
I am the expanse of sea beyond—
I am the mystery of its depth and pull,
and the precipitous drop
that leads to the depths.
I am the mighty wave,
the rockface and crash;
the distillation of ocean on air,
and the taste of salt on tongues.
I am the memories of stones
in the Chevaux de Frise
and fortress walls.
I am the mystery of ancient ways.
I am the sky’s infinite opening.
I am the mist closing in from the West.
I am the rose of sunlight
sinking into the dark Atlantic.
I am the fort of the god of love.
~sfr
November 14, 2007