Culture

Culture

"The purpose of culture is to enhance and intensify one's vision of that synthesis of truth and beauty which is highest and deepest reality."
    ___ John Cowper Powys, "The Meaning of Culture"


   Culture is not only for the specialist, the expert, or the rich and powerful: it embraces everyone in its cloak. What are taken for the highest achievements of a civilization - the art, music, drama, poetry, film and so of a people - are not culture's only expression. Culture also includes fashion, sport, science, gardening and a mass of other areas that define a society's interest in itselfand its environment.

  How do we bring balance and harmony - the fruit of truth and beauty - to our culture? By honoring the wider vision of whatever branch of culture we are most involved with - not only guarding its boundaries from inappropriate incursions but also looking for ways through which we can expand our human vision to its fullest expression. By ensuring that commerical interest does not become the paramount thrust of our vision. By warranting that the vision does not become hidebound by custom.

   This latter element is crucial. We cannot inhabit our romantic percetion of past ages or keep culture in a traditional backwater. This is especially so of the Celtic traditions, which many people would like to have preserved as a time-warped romance. Such a vision may be fine in a museum, but it will not serve in daily life today. Taking only what is finest and fittest for our culture and submitting it to the tests of truth and beauty, we can find ways of living our culture with dynamism and delight.

"How are you woven in the cloak of your culture? Reflect on the core principles that underlie your particular strand or interest."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]


Celtic Spirituality

   Long before the Celts swept westward, the native peoples of Europe embodied their knowledge of the sun, moon and stars in monuments such as Stonehenge in England, Newgrange in Ireland and the Ring of Brodgar in Orkney (Scotland).  When the Celts came, there was a reservoit of native wisdom for them to tap into and make their own. The bards and druids carried on the wisdom tradition, and the stone circles were incorporated into Celtic tales and ceremonies.

  Early writings show that, on the western seaboard at least, the Celtic gods and goddesses were grouped into various families, such as "Children of Don", known in Ireland as the "Tuatha De' Danaan" and the "Children of Llyr". Many Celtic tales tell of these gods: Don, or in Ireland Danu, the great mother goddess who gave her name to many of the rivers of Europe, such as Dnieper and the Don; the magical child Lleu, or Lugh, who grows up to become a solar hero; Manannan mac Llyr, the sea god, equivalent of the Greek deity Poseidon (the Isle of Man is named after him); Arianrhod, the shining virgin goddess whose castle - Corona Borealis - can be seen among the stars; Bran the Blessed, the great king who sacrifices his head in order to save his land; and Morgan, or the Morrigan, the dark goddess who haunts the battlefields in the shape of a black crow to collect the souls of the dead. These deities are found all over the Celtic world with slight variations and under different names. When the Romans came it often happened that their gods merged with the Celtic ones, and names were changed again.

  With the coming of Christianity nmany of the Druidic wizards converted to the new faith. As a part of the same process, some of the old gods were transformed into saids; for example, the triple goddess Brigid became St. Brigit. This religion, with its emphasis on love and individual salvation, appealed to the Celtic spirit, and a golden age of Celtic Christianity arose; great men like Columba founded monasteries, most notably Iona, and the exquiste illuminated gospels, such as those from Laudisfarne and Kells, were created.

  True Celtic spirituality is neither pagan nor Christian but something that transcends these catagories. It is based on a deep connection with the natural world, a relentless intellectual curiosity and a sense of comradeship with all creatures. The Arthurian legends, which are of Celtic origin, weave these strands into the world-famous story of Arthur and Guinevere, and their court at Camelot. Their doomed love, the coming of the wasteland and the quest for the Grail, which brings regeneration and hope, are all quintesssentially Celtic themes.
[From: "Celtic Inspirations" by Lyn Webster Wilde]