“It takes a long time to sift through the more superficial voices of your own gift in order to enter into the deep signature and tonality of your Otherness. When you speak from that deep, inner voice, you are really speaking from the unique tabernacle of your own presence. There is a voice within you that no one, not even you, has ever heard. Give yourself the opportunity of silence and begin to develop your listening in order to hear, deep within yourself, the music of your own spirit.” — John O’Donohue
As with every word from the late John O’Donohue’s mouth or fingers, the above excerpt from his breathtaking book, “Anam Cara,” stands powerfully on its own.
And given the message of said excerpt, it seems almost a sacrilege to muddy it with my trite thoughts.
So, if you choose, go off now, sit quietly with this sampling of his profound Celtic wisdom, and let these words sink deep into the marrow of your being.
Let them help you escape the superficial madness of our world and take you on an interior adventure of the soul.
I’ll see you next week.
***
Everyone still reading: I’ve been a fan of John O’Donohue for many years.
His lyrical written and spoken words are genuine expressions of the “music of his spirit.”
And, his spirit is a rare music in 2022, one that even when you read his words in quiet solitude, sing of the Infinite Ineffable Beauty we so desperately need in our individual and collective lives.
O’Donohue was only 52 when he died in 2008, in his sleep, leaving millions of family, friends and fans devastated.
But his prophetic voice is as strong and powerful as it ever was when he walked this planet, and amplified now by the Great Spirit from which he originated.
His books, recordings and interviews are easily accessible on the internet. (I highly recommend listening to his works spoken in his own voice.)
Which, if you think about it, is overflowing with irony.
I, for one, have lost touch with the deepest voice inside of me.
And it is without a doubt, largely due to the enormous amount of time I have spent engaging with technology over the last 15 to 20 years.
Not only have the myriad voices I’ve seen, read and heard online competed with each other to hold my deep inner voice captive, but my everyday thinking and speaking voice has been severely watered down.
This has become painfully clear this week as I’ve sweated out COVID-19, a beast I managed to escape until now.
I’ve spent much of these sick days quiet, without artificial distraction, and I have noticed just how far I am from that deep inner voice I first discovered in my young adulthood.
Before I really began to get online in my late 20s, I spent a great deal of my time reading — real books! — and writing — with a pen and notebook!
But until recently, most everything I have done has been sieved through electronic waves.
It is no secret writing on a piece of paper with our hands (which are ultimately connected to our hearts), generates a far different effect than rapidly typing words through a keyboard as fast as we can think them, onto a digital screen.
Despite knowing its benefits, I’ve actually resisted using a pen and paper for quite some time, because it is just so … slow ... and restrictive ... These are the lies that have ingrained themselves in my digital age psyche.
But in the last year or so, I have made a concerted effort to return to that organic way of communicating with myself.
While I continue my contemplative prayer practice — essential for reconnecting with my real self — I have also taken matters into my own creative hands.
Most mornings I do what creativity coach Julia Cameron calls “morning pages.” First thing I do when I open my eyes is grab my journal and write three pages in longhand, ignoring all the inner critics and just getting it out of my brain and onto the paper. This practice clears up space to recognize the true voice of my spirit, and it has given way to my adding a colorful doodling practice right after I’m done writing, which in turn, is deepening and expanding my creative thinking in general.
And exercising your creativity is one of the best things you can do for your mental health.
I have come a long way in the last year in recovering my truest voice.
I still have a way to go.
And the whole idea that “There is a voice within you that no one, not even you, has ever heard,” is enough to keep me on this journey of contemplative listening and creativity to one day live myself into hearing that voice.
- SPIRIT MATTERS is a weekly column that examines spirituality. Contact Jerrilyn Zavada at jzblue33@yahoo.com to share how you engage your spirit in your life and community.