Wisdom Teachers

Wisdom Teachers

"The three teachers who impart wisdom: suffering, thought,

and a truthful heart."

-- Welsh Triad (trans. CM)

It is often said that on the path to spiritual wisdom we must suffer in order to learn. Certainly whatever breaks us out of the path of ingrained habit leads us into a wider and deeper existence. Those who have endured great sufferings are indeed sometimes forged by their terrible experiences into wiser people; adrift from what is normal and familiar to them, perhaps even forced into the regions of pain and terror, they have experienced the full enormity of suffering and come out whole. There are also many people who feel that suffering is an over-rated teacher, however.

It takes an active curiosity in conjunction with the perseverance to research human motives and behavior, to reach new understandings about our experiential sufferings and how they can be altered or accepted. The exercise of thought can lead us, in turn, to the truthful heart within us - unless, of course, we remain bound in fetters of useless analysis and recrimination about our condition. A truthful heart has no room for blame or revenge. It maintains its own living watch on what life sends, transmuting the toxins of difficult experience into a regenerating draught, siphoning away whatever cannot be changed.

The way of freedom is to draw upon the compassion plumbed by our suffering, upon the clarity of our thought, and upon the essential truth of our whole human existence.

"Select one difficult experience from your own life and - with compassion, clarity, and truth -

consider what wisdom has been revealed to you."

[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews"]

The Courage to Try Again

"I will rise, I will go back to the white and silver shore.

I will have courage, as the sun does, rising and setting.

I will go as the sea in its turning.

I will rise, I will go back, I will rise!"

___ Caitlin Matthews, "Celtic Devotional"

The courage to return to places (emotional as well as physical) of trial or difficulty is often lacking in us. Sometimes the injury, offence, or experience we underwent in a place was so dreadful that we choose to avoid it altogether. Any mention of a person or place associated with that experience may cause disorientation or even nausea.

Sometimes we must summon up the courage to surmount our careful avoidance's, to step back onto ground where we have been hurt or injured or mocked. How do we find the courage then? Only by surrendering our fear, only by transforming it into the ability and power to move again. By avoiding our fear, we give it more substance. By facing our fear, we transform it.

The truly courageous go into danger realizing and accepting the terrors ahead. Most importantly, they do not plumb the depths of courage by an act of will alone. They draw upon spiritual helpers, upon the familiar strengths of their daily lives. upon the love and friendship of their kindred and their dear ones. With them, because of them, for them, the courage within grows and conquers fear, shame, and anger.

"Consider a painful situation or experience that is causing you to avoid certain places, or people. Pray to your strongest spiritual helpers for courage to return."

{From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Colonization

Colonization

"Until we have learned to stand Grand Canyon deep in the earth,

we shouldn't even think of setting foot on the moon or Mars."

__ John Moriarty, "Turtle Was Gone a Long Time"

The bequest of colonization is a miserable one, and it stems entirely from selfishness and greed; from lack of respect for land, beast, and culture; from a superior attitude that leads to untold violence and abuse. Even when nations have extricated themselves and peoples have gained their independence, the legacy lives on. Colonists may leave, but colonization burrows even deeper in the land and people, leaving crooked souls and wounded attitudes.

There are many who silently pray for a complete change in human behavior before the space program becomes much more advanced. It is one thing to live with animosity, selfishness and greed upon our own planet; it is another to take those traits beyond our atmosphere to other planets and spread the plague of violence and disrespect there. But how can we learn to 'stand Grand Canyon deep' in our own planet, in the good earth from which all life comes, before that moment arrives?

To love what we have is perhaps more important than to aspire to that which we do not possess. To respect and maintain the earth, to find resourceful ways of living. is actually a greater challenge than to find ways of propelling ourselves at ever-greater speeds to even further destinations. Let us hope that the immensity of space itself may teach humankind a better wisdom.

"Meditate upon one of the uplifting places of the earth that you have visited. Go there in soul-flight now and learn from the spirit of the place what it is to live upon the earth with respect."

[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Ancestral Wisdom

Ancestral Wisdom

"We who have no elders, come

To your strong knees for counsel."

___ Caitlin Matthews, "Avebury Easter"

Most of us are sufficiently distanced from our own ancestral wisdom to feel disoriented in a time when indigenous knowledge is being reevaluated. How do we rekindle the ancestral fires once again? Where is the wisdom that will help us through the night of ignorance and doubt? Instead of elders, we now have elected politicians who speak with corrupt and self-serving voices; instead of fragrant local wisdom, we have homogeneous civil law and institutionalized religion to guide us.

Ancestral wisdom does not cease because the elders are no longer important in our society. Indeed, the wisdom is retrievable and implementable now. Part of the solution lies with ourselves. By changing the way we think - extending our planning to include the next ten generations rather than our own lifetime and vigorously upholding the rights and privileges of elders in our community - we shift from a basis of neglect to a more respectful and empowered position.

If we genuinely want to look to our recent or ancient past for wisdom, then we must give time, effort and study to our own spiritual and indigenous traditions, or to the traditions of those lands whence our ancestors came. Whatever is useful, whatever is practical, whatever is wise will never be lost as long as one person is practicing it.

"Ask one of your own ancestors - someone known or unknown to you - to come to your circle of meditation. Ask this wise one for help about some aspect of your own life that is problematic. Then implement the advice you are given and see what results."

[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Retracing the Animal Presences

Retracing the Animal Presences

"In the infancy of culture ritual and art were one, and the hunters who drew the animals they desired and performed ritual dances in fissures deep in the rock must also have had poetry to evoke this physical and spiritual sympathy."

__ Jacquetta Hawkes, "A Land"

The cave and rock paintings of the ancient world depict the bison, mammoth, horse and deer, all of which have a powerful presence not found in domesticated animals. These wild creatures who prefigure a primal world of nature are figurative of more than meat and hid: they hold and mediate spiritual powers greater than the present consumerist mentality can evoke. The spirits of animals open gateways to deeper worlds of understanding, shared worlds in which people and animals learned from each other.

We do not know what rituals attended the painting of these creatures in ancient times, but looking at comparable cultures extant today, we can see that among the aboriginal Australians, for example, the rock and cave paintings are retraced by subsequent generations. This is a method of honoring and reconnecting with spiritual presences drawn by ancestors.

The power to re-evoke the spirits of animals with whom we once shared our world more equitably is still with us, if we will set aside the time and space. Returning to our own dark cave, lit only by the torch of our willing understanding, we come again to the ritual kindling of spiritual vision, wherein the ancient animal powers speak to us, creature to creature, in the dance of life.

"Meditate upon a species of animal now under threat of extinction. Listen to its wisdom with respect and thankfulness. Make a drawing of your experience."

[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Undending Quest

The Unending Quest

"I watch the star to guide me home,

I found my soul and spirit's rest,

I travelled far across the foam.

There is no ending to my quest."

___ Caitlin Matthews, "The Celtic Book of the Dead"

Our spiritual quest leads us on many a long voyage, across unknown seas to distant and unguessed-at destinations. Like the heroic voyagers of Irish tradition who took ship to the furthest shores of the Blessed Isles, looking for the Land of Women and the Land of Heart's Desire, we too strike out into unknown seas.

To all spiritual quests there are two main features: the outward voyage, on which all is strange, new and frightening; and the homeward passage, on which there is time to consider all that we have experienced and to make sense of it. It is in that context that the epic of Troy makes sense when that other wily mariner, Odysseus, makes his own epic journey home. The manner in which we make our own spiritual homecoming is very important, since the return is a critical stage of our progress. Whatever beckons us from home will surely lead us, as we return with our spiritual luggage. Once home, we must unpack everything, retaining what is useful to us and freely giving away what does not serve.

The spiritual quest is unending. It may lead us to revisit old destination, but we will disembark as different people at each step as we progress on our meandering and fruitful voyage.

"Chart the major island landfalls of your own spiritual quest to date. Note any recurring patterns and check the usefulness of the spiritual baggage you have acquired on the way."

[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Lugh - The Many Gifted One

Lugh: The Many Gifted One

"There is a man at the door," said the doorkeeper. "His match

would be hard to find; every art answers his skill."

___ Gofraidh FionnO'Dalaigh, in Osborn Bergin, "Irish

Bardic Poetry" (trans. CM)

The nickname of the Irish god Lugh (LOO'kh) is Samidanach, or "The Many-Gifted One." He earns it when he comes to the court of King Nuada (NOO'a-ha) just as everyone is sitting down to feast. The doorkeeper challenges Lugh for his name and skill, for no one without a special art or skill may enter Tara. Lugh tells him that he is a smith, a builder, a champion, a harper, a hero, a poet, a magician, a healer, a cup-bearer, and a fire-keeper. His boast is tested by everyone there, and he is ultimately admitted.

Lugh is what we now call a 'Renaissance man', one whose many skill pass beyond narrow categories of accomplishment, spilling over into many fields of artistic skill. His boast at Nuadu's court causes as much skepticism as would that of a man attempting to enter Congress or Parliament who claimed to be a great politician, a military hero, a Nobel-winning scientist, a shaman, a pop musician, a film star and a poet of international acclaim all rolled into one

Lugh's many-gifted nature holds sway at this time of year, reflecting the rich variety of harvest, heralding the beginning of the many-colored autumn months. For ourselves, the month of August enables us to pass the narrow confines of our daily occupation and enjoy the full range of our own skills and abilities as we take our vacation.

"On this day of festival, review your own many-gifted nature with appreciation. How does it serve your community? Which of your gifts are you hiding away? Which ones will you be enjoying this autumn?"

[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

On this day we pass into the Lughnasadh Quarter of the Wheel of Year. The autumn quarter of Lughnasadh brings the gift of maturity and is a time of physical harvest and spiritual garnering. It sees the greatest change in weather from broiling heat to dark and chilly nights.

It is the time for celebrating the harvest and sees the busy preparations for winter. In the human growth cycle, Lughnasadh corresponds to the period of mature adulthood when a certain steadiness and responsibility have been established. It is a good time to celebrate the lives of all who have helped stabilize and uphold the noble values of life, of all who have exercised good judgment and steered the doubtful into the harbor of certainty, of all holy ones whose guardianship has saved us from life-disabling mistakes.

[From "Celtic Devotional" by Caitlin Matthews]