February 19, 2021

The Light Of Ancient Wisdom

 Genius: an attendant spirit
of a person or place.

With respect
And reverence.
John O’Donohue

John’s writings hold the weight of genius. It is the genius of the man. It is the genius of his deep connection to Ireland’s landscapes and heritage. It is a genius that shines a great wisdom through his words.

Respect and reverence. These words echo the belief embedded in Ireland’s ancient civil codes and practices that every person has value and is to be respected and honored. It is the fundamental tenent of the Brehon Laws. Laurence Ginnell wrote about the Brehon Laws in 1894.

This is a great collection, not of statutes, proclamations, or commands of any sort, but of laws already known and observed from tIme immemorial, originating in the customs of times beyond the reach of history. … They were not written by in a foreign tongue. No foreign mind conceived them. No foreign hand enforced them. They were made by those who, one would think, ought to make them: the Irish. They were made for the benefit of those for whose benefit they ought to be made: the Irish. … The laws having been made by the nation itself were, of course, designed to promote and secure its wellbeing and happiness, and were therefore broadly just and generally found favourable to every good purpose. 

Respect and reverence. An ethic rooted in Ireland’s heritage. An ethic sorely lacking in our nation today. May we one day, and soon would be good, embrace the genius of it.

Beannacht,
Judith – judith@stonefires.com