Eternal Echoes: Celtic Reflections on Our Yearning to Belong:
John O'Donohue:
9780060955588: Amazon.com: Books
Eternal Echoes: Celtic Reflections on Our Yearning to Belong Paperback – March 22, 2000
by John O'Donohue (Author)
There is a divine restlessness in the human heart, our eternal echo of longing that lives deep within us and never lets us settle for what we have or where we are. In this exquisitely crafted and inspirational book, John O'Donohue, author of the bestseller Anam Cara, explores the most basic of human desires - the desire to belong, a desire that constantly draws us toward new possibilities of self-discovery, friendship, and creativity.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"[O'Donohue's books] fairly plead with humankind to escape our contemporary dehumanizing traps and, in so doing, return to a spiritual heritage that includes intimacy, poetry, connectedness and compassion". -- Boulder Planet
While we are here, where is it that we are absent from? This is the question that echoes at the heart of all longing.
About the Author
John O'Donohue was awarded a Ph.D. in philosophical theology from the University of Tübingen in 1990. He is the author of several works, including a book on the philosophy of Hegel, Person als Vermittlung; two collections of poetry, Echoes of Memory and Conamara Blues; and two international bestsellers, Anam Cara and Eternal Echoes. He lectures and holds workshops in Europe and America, and is currently researching a book on the philosophical mysticism of Meister Eckhart. He lives in Ireland.
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Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Awakening in the World: The Threshold of Belonging
The Belonging of the Earth
In the beginning was the dream. In the eternal night where no dawn broke, the dream deepened. Before anything ever was, it had to be dreamed. Everything had its beginning in possibility. Every single thing is somehow the expression and incarnation of a thought. If a thing had never been thought, it could never be. If we take Nature as the great artist of longing then all presences in the world have emerged from her mind and imagination. We are children ofthe earth's dreaming. When you compare the silent, under-night of Nature with the detached and intimate intensity of the person, it is almost as if Nature is in dream and we are her children who have broken through the dawn into time and place. Fashioned in the dreaming of the clay, we are always somehow haunted by that; we are unable ever finally to decide what is dream and what is reality. Each day we live in what we call reality. Yet the more we think about it, the more life seems to resemble a dream. We rush through our days in such stress and intensity, as if we were here to stay and the serious project of the world depended on us. We worry and grow anxious; we magnify trivia until they become important enough to control our lives. Yet all the time, we have forgotten that we are but temporary sojourners on the surface of a strange planet spinning slowly in the infinite night of the cosmos. There is no protective zone around any of us. Anything can happen to anyone at any time. There is no definitive dividing line between reality and dream. What we consider real is often precariously dream like. One of the linguistic philosophers said that there is n evidence that could be employed to disprove this claim: Th world only came into existence ten minutes ago complete with all our memories. Any evidence you could proffer could still be accounted for by the claim. Because our grip on reality is tenuous, every heart is infused with the dream o belonging.
Belonging: The Wisdom of Rhythm
To be human is to belong. Belonging is a circle that embrace everything; if we reject it, we damage our nature. The word "belonging" holds together the two fundamental aspects o life: Being and Longing, the longing of our Being and the being of our Longing. Belonging is deep; only in a superficial sense does it refer to our external attachment to people places, and things. It is the living and passionate presence o the soul. Belonging is the heart and warmth of intimacy when we deny it, we grow cold and empty. Our life's journey is the task of refining our belonging so that it may become more true, loving, good, and free. We do not have to force belonging. The longing within us always draws u towards belonging and again towards new forms of belonging when we have outgrown the old ones. Postmodern culture tends to define identity in terms of ownership: possessions, status, and qualities. Yet the crucial essence of who you are is not owned by you. The most intimate belonging is SelfBelonging. Yet your self is not something you could ever own; it is rather the total gift that every moment of your life endeavors to receive with honor. True belonging is gracious receptivity. This is the appropriate art of belonging in friendship: friends do not belong to each other, but rather with each other. This with reaches to the very depths of their twinned souls.
True belonging is not ownership; it never grasps or holds on from fear or greed. Belonging knows its own shape and direction. True belonging comes from within. It strives for a harmony between the outer forms of belonging and the inner music of the soul. We seem to have forgotten the true depth and spiritual nature of intimate belonging. Our minds are oversaturated and demented. We need to rediscover ascetical tranquillity and come home to the temple of our senses. This would anchor our longing and help us to feel the world from within. When we allow dislocation to control us, we become outsiders, exiled from the intimacy of true unity with ourselves, each other, and creation. Our bodies know that they belong; it is our minds that make our lives so homeless. Guided by longing, belonging is the wisdom of rhythm. When we are in rhythm with our own nature, things flow and balance naturally. Every fragment does not have to be relocated, reordered; things cohere and fit according to their deeper impulse and instinct. Our modern hunger to belong is particularly intense. An increasing majority of people feel no belonging. We have fallen out of rhythm with life. The art of belonging is the recovery of the wisdom of rhythm.
Like fields, mountains, and animals we know we belong here on earth. However, unlike them, the quality and passion of our longing make us restlessly aware that we cannot belong to the earth. The longing in the human soul makes it impossible for us ever to fully belong to any place, system,or project. We are involved passionately in the world, yet there is nothing here that can claim us completely. When we forget how partial and temporary our belonging must remain, we put ourselves in the way of danger and disappointment. We compromise something eternal within us. The sacred duty of being an individual is to gradually learn how to live so as to awaken the eternal within oneself. Our ways of belonging in the world should never be restricted to or fixated on one kind of belonging that remains stagnant. If you listen to the voices of your own longing, they will constantly call you to new styles of belonging which are energetic and mirror the complexity of your life as you deepen and intensify your presence on earth.
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Product details
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Harper Perennial; Reprint edition (March 22, 2000)
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Biography
JOHN O'DONOHUE was a poet, philosopher and scholar, a native Gaelic speaker from County Clare, Ireland. He was awarded a PhD in Philosophical Theology from the University of Tübingen, with post-doctoral study of Meister Eckhart. John's numerous international best-selling books include: Anam Cara, Beauty, Eternal Echoes, and the beloved To Bless the Space Between Us, among many others, guide readers through the landscape of the Irish imagination. John's latest book introduced in 2018, Walking in Wonder: Eternal Wisdom for a Modern World, is now available. More information can be found: https://johnodonohue.com/
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Christopher Marcus
4.0 out of 5 starsLet this book make you feel beautiful inside when you need itOctober 12, 2017
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
This is not as good a book as Anam Cara, which was nearly perfection incarnate if you are looking for a combo of practical wisdom, philosophical reflection and poetic beauty. But it comes close. I bought this one when my father-in-law had died and I am reading it again now that my mother has cancer - again. John's words aren't particularly focused on death and illness, although these are topics he does not shy away from. But his words are just there - for all life situations - to reveal the inner light in all things, if I may put it so. He simply makes you feel beautiful and uplifted inside, when you read what he has to say about life, love, death, longing and all the other threads in the tapestry of our journey.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsThis is a truly beautiful book of wisdom and insightOctober 14, 2017
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This is a truly beautiful book of wisdom and insight. I've bought probably 20 of them over the years to give to friends. Wonderful to read any time, but especially good for those who are going through transitions like grieving, questioning the meaning of life, or facing other challenges. This book is a true blessing.
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Morning Glory
5.0 out of 5 starsIncredible!January 2, 2016
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I don't even know what to say about this book. I read Anam Cara and was blown away. I did not expect this book to be as good. All I can say is that if you are truly interested in applicable, and resonating knowledge as opposed to high-flying inspirational quotes-this is the book. It sparked a creative and profound thought process that very little literature ever has.
14 people found this helpful
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KWCraft
5.0 out of 5 starsand O'Donohue was the perfect guide.May 4, 2016
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This writing is insightful and important. I underlined so much that I will revisit, starring passages I wanted to talk over more with my husband that evening. So much to chew on in this book that I could only read a few pages at a time; my mind would be so full I feared skimming and I wanted to give every thought-provoking page its due. I've heard from others that this book came into their lives at just the right time and this certainly was true of me, after suffering a series of professional and personal losses that left me feeling untethered from my sense of self. I longed to feel plugged back in to the world again, and O'Donohue was the perfect guide.
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daniel
5.0 out of 5 starsVery good for daily reflectionsJuly 11, 2013
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I purchased this book at the recommendation of a friend who recommended that I read it randomly, one section at a time instead of cover to cover. I was at first reluctant to do so, since I'm usually interested in *studying* the topics I read and reading them in order so that I can follow the "prescribed" way to learn... however in a way this book is all about unlearning the unhealthy learning habits that we have developed and learning how to look inward. I chose to do the daily random method and am quite happy about it. The other nice thing is that there are a couple hundred different sections so you can discover a new topic every day, and that has been fun and interesting, and I look forward to reading it before going to bed.
The content itself is quite thought provoking. If you are a heavy intellectual with very little emphasis on emotions or emotional intelligence then you may have some trouble with it... but you're the one who needs it the most then! Happy reading...
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lisa V
5.0 out of 5 starsLove him! Amazingly insightful and expresses the deeper side ...June 13, 2016
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Love him! Amazingly insightful and expresses the deeper side of recognizing and working through life's challenges.
Acceptance and compassion for One's self....
This is my spiritual reader, my go to book for those times you just need a little deeper insight.
RIP John O'Donohue~
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Happy Gal
5.0 out of 5 starsGood bookNovember 30, 2018
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I really like this book, the author brings good insight into the human longing to belong, not only in society but in the universe. He also has some great writings about the inner spirit that lives in all of us, moving from darkness into light, and how to connect in nature. Love it.
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Westwood Village Reviews
5.0 out of 5 starsO'Donohue's GeniusJuly 14, 2014
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
O'Donohue is one of the greatest and most gifted geniuses of our time. Fortunately, before his untimely passing, he was bejeweled with stars and he left us with some of the most breathless language every written. Pick a sentence at random in any one of his books and you will see what I mean.
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Feb 02, 2016Julie Christine rated it it was amazing
Shelves: best-of-2016, writing-companions, read-2016, social-political-commentary,poetry, ireland-theme-setting
Some books simply find you. They enter your life at the right time, when you are most in need of and receptive to hearing their message. This book. My soul. The Universe recognized what I needed and offered up these words in response.
I've been aware of John O'Donohue's work for some time: I have a collection of his poetry, gifted by a dear friend, that I dip into and feel embraced by; I've been to a writing residency at Anam Cara in southwest Ireland, named for one of his works of essays and reflections. But it wasn't until I read a quote in the amazing weekly newsletter of curated wisdom, Maria Popova'sBrain Pickings (you must subscribe, you simply must) that I learned ofEternal Echoes and knew it was the book for me, at this time, in this place.
There is a divine restlessness in the human heart. Though our bodies maintain an outer stability and consistency, the heart is an eternal nomad. No circle of belonging can ever contain all the longings of the human heart. As Shakespeare said, we have “immortal longings.” All human creativity issues from the urgency of longing.
That quote has become the centerpiece of the talk I give at author readings, for it speaks not only to the central themes of my novel, but to the themes playing out in my life.
Eternal Echoes is about coming to terms with the emptiness inherent to one's soul, an emptiness we seek to fill with religion or drugs, love or work, instead of accepting that it is the very space inside we need, in order to grow into our compassion, our true selves.
There is something within you that no one or nothing else in the world is able to meet or satisfy. When you recognize that such unease is natural, it will free you from getting on the treadmill of chasing ever more temporary and partial satisfactions. This eternal longing will always insist on some door remaining open somewhere in all the shelters where you belong. When you befriend this longing, it will keep you awake and alert to why you are here on earth.For this reader, acknowledging and living with this longing has been a particularly painful and recent exploration. I am a problem-solver by nature and when something is off, when my soul is akilter, my instinct is to root out the source of the maladjustment and fix it. It's hard to accept that I need to sit with my discomfort and listen to what it is trying tell me.
Most of the activity in society is subconsciously designed to quell the voice crying in the wilderness within you. The mystic Thomas à Kempis said that when you go out into the world, you return having lost some of yourself. Until you learn to inhabit your aloneness, the lonely distraction and noise of society will seduce you into false belonging, with which you will only become empty and weary.By necessity, I have been spending a lot of time "in society" lately, losing bits of myself along the way. And the more time I spend engaged in society, the more Fernando Pessoa's lament from The Book of Disquiet (yet another collection of wisdoms that has found its way to me at the right time): my “passions and emotions (are) lost among more visible kinds of achievement.”
Eternal Echoes is informed by Celtic mysticism and a fluid Christian theology. Although I am not a Christian and actively avoid anything that smacks of faith-based advice, O'Donohue's approach is philosophical rather than theological. It is something akin to gnosticism, that compels the individual to be an active participant in her own journey to wholeness, not a blind believer in an all-powerful god. He writes of allowing in vulnerability, for vulnerability leads to wonder, and wonder leads to seeking, and seeking leads to growth, and growth makes room for everyone else.
Dog-eared and underlined and highlighted and journaled, Eternal Echoesenters my library of go-to soulcatchers, along with the writings of Richard Hugo, Rilke and Pessoa, Woolf, Didion and Solnit: writers who understand what it means to allow in the darkness and sit tight while it slowly becomes light. (less)
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Mar 24, 2017Avonlea Rose rated it liked it
Shelves: religion-spirituality, well-being
Does anyone else read a book, then can't decide whether they loved it or hated it? Sometimes I bounce between a 2-star and a 4-star rating and I wonder what other people must be thinking that I keep changing it. But I imagine I'm not the only who has that issue when reading a certain book.
For me, this was one of those books that I can't quite make my mind up on. "Eternal Echoes" is a collection of poetical reflections on spirituality in the modern world and human desires for longing and belonging. It reads in a very stream-of-conscious style, which is part of its charm, but I also felt at times it may have been edited more thoroughly: O'Donohue might have reconsidered a turn of phrase or expressed something more succinctly. He rambles at length on a certain idea, then is brief with another. He employs certain words or phrases too frequently, and sometimes he introduces description of the Native landscape and mythos in Ireland in a way that is not totally seamless - repeating multiple times that this is in the West of Ireland, when it might have done enough if O'Donohue had only said once that this is where he hails from. But I was not at all put off by this. Rather, I felt I struggled with "Eternal Echoes," because I do not quite agree with all of the opinions expressed within it.
While much of the book reflects genuine personal insight and some beautiful notions upon prayer and desire, some of this book could best be described as a type of Catholic pop-psychology, which is fascinating because O'Donohue also rebukes both fundamentalism and popular psychology in this book. Perhaps O'Donohue just could not quite get out of their grasp, in spite of perceiving their limitations. He still finds himself expressing on multiple occasions the idea that people can acquire not only spiritual healing, but a physical and material healing, if only they were dutiful to God and learned to see their suffering as a Divine lesson - something that has its reflection in the field of psychology, where people are made to believe they can achieve good health and wealth through simply thinking more positively. He pens that nobody would be lonesome if only they could be more generous, which itself seems austere and belies that generosity must be a shared activity. A particularly troubling element for me is that he also employs language which segregates - we should pity the poor, he writes, and children who have been abused and have lost their way; and we should pray for prostitutes. He does not seem to consider that such persons could, in fact, be reading his book. He keeps "them" at an arms length -to be pitied, but not included. Almost ironically, it was yet his ideas of the loss of a shared identity and whole community in the modern world that touched me; and this created a real conflict for me in reading this. It also felt at times that O'Donohue moved away from the really meaningful and personally-felt insights that make this book so endearing and illuminating, and resorted yet to his role as lecturer: becoming suddenly a preacher, he proffers advice on illness with a type of authority, although it seems clear he has no such experience of living with a life-long illness or disability. He often writes imperatively, as if we are not here just to listen to his reflections, but, rather, *must* listen to him.
The above said, I will also say I really enjoyed the selection of quotations that O'Donohue included among the pages; and I also appreciated the Blessings he included at the end of each chapter. These added something special, I thought, to the work: a thoughtful touch that gave it finesse.
So this book was not a complete loss, but I would also suggest approaching it with a certain level of caution - that not everything O'Donohue says is necessarily all that could be hoped for; and, while sometimes very striking and beautiful when he locates an authentic notion, and, while O'Donohue may have tried to transcend common limitations in religion and psychology, it seems to suffer still from a limited and biased perspective that does not quite make it completely past the grasps of fundamentalist and popular ideas.
Notes:
pg. 113, on "The Prison of Shame" - provides example of where O'Donohue mistakenly segregates where he tries to create tolerance. He writes, "Imagine the years of silent torment so many gay people have endured, unable to tell their secret." He continues, "Think of the victims of racism: lovely people who are humiliated and tagged for hostility." At the bottom of the page, he also chooses to describe victims of sexual violence similarly, failing to write towards but of them: "When a person is sexually abused or raped, she often feel great shame at what happened to her."
pg. 161-162 on "When Sorrows Come, They Come Not Single Spies, but in Battalions" - This essay, and the one proceeding, show some of the insensitive language I refer to above. O'Donohue writes that, "Often the flame of pain can have a cleansing effect and burn away the dross that has accumulated around your life. It is difficult to accept that what you are losing is what is used, what you no longer need."
pg. 233-234 on "Brittle Language Numbs Longing" - This essay, and the one following, is one of the areas of this book where O'Donohue begins to successfully nibble around the edges of popular psychology, speaking about how the field's jargon is so ill-suited to describe humanity: "When your experience is rich and diverse, it has a beautifully intricate inner weaving. You know that no analysis can hold a candle to the natural majesty and depth of even the most ordinary moment in the universe." He describes the language of psychology as "brittle" and "disembodied." "One such powerful term is 'process,'" he writes about how we talk of "processing" emotions. "In many cases, 'processing' has become a disease; it is now the way in which many people behave towards themselves. This term has no depth or sacredness. 'Processing' is a mechanical term: there are processed peas and beans. The tyranny of processing reveals a gaping absence of soul." He continues: "Such terminology is blasphemous; it belongs to the mechanical word."
pg. 198 on "Wonder Invites Mystery to Come Closer" - is another area of the book where O'Donohue attacks the language of popular psychology. "This jargon has no colour and no resonance of any mystery, opaqueness, or possibility. Real wonder about your soul demands words which [...] would be imaginative and suggestive of the depths of the unknown within you. Unlike the fashionable graffiti of fast-food psychology, they hold the reverence to which mystery is entitled." (less)
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Jun 18, 2012Writerful Books rated it it was amazing
This is not a book you simply read from cover to cover. There is so much timeless wisdom contained in this book that you will often find yourself pausing to reflect on what has been said time and time again. Totally appealed to my Celtic soul. I can't praise this book enough.
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May 15, 2012Victoria Evangelina Allen rated it really liked it
Shelves: read-again, psychology, spirituality, in-english, took-notes
~GREEN PASTURES OF BELONGING~
I wrote down about 40 pages of quotes from this book during the month of reading it. If I read it with a yellow highlighter instead, there would be no page left unmarked. For all the brilliance of meaning and artful writing of separate sentences and passages, the whole landscape of the book stayed covered in thick fog for me. "Perhaps, I do not embrace my longing and deny my need of belonging, and thus cannot see clearly," I would joke, routinely, over the weeks of marinating in the atmosphere of soulful writing and deeper than my conscious comprehension messages of the philosopher.
I was advised to switch off my logic and read with the heart, knowing that whatever my soul craves from this book, it will open up to. It helped; though I connected (read: understood) chapters on suffering and grief the most.
The foundation of O'Donohue's book lays in ancient Celtic teachings and mysteries with added flavors of theosophy, spirituality and Hegel's influence. Thus the study of longing and belonging becomes larger than life and connects itself in a never-ending circle of the snake, biting its tail, to conclude that we are shuffling God out of our lives and until we bring Him back in, we'll never belong fully and never satisfy our immense longings in all the areas of life and beyond.
The book dives into the meanings of presence (the flame of longing), suffering (the dark valley of broken belonging), prayer (a bridge between longing and belonging), and absence (where longing still lingers).
This deep and beautiful book is full of many-layered wonders and gems. It lullabies the reader into its embrace. It does not give simple answers on what "belonging" is, but gives you enough material to create your own house of understanding.
Especially, if you are willing to take time with the book and your own inner dialogue.
Which I should do once again, on a re-read, in hope of connecting the dots and stepping out of the fog onto the green pastures of belonging to Self and the Universe of Spirit.
Victoria Evangelina (less)
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Apr 01, 2008Karunagrace rated it really liked it
Shelves: books-i-bought
I just love John O'Donohue's writing. His gently probing reflections, woven with rich Celtic and Catholic learning and a love of language, combine to form a deepening meditation that spirals inward and outward at the same time. You feel like you are participating in or witnessing his creative thought process, and that he enjoys the process, and the process itself brings new insights to light.
Eternal Echoes is about the soul's deep thirst for belonging, or "Being and Longing, the longing of our Being and the being of our Longing." He reflects on the shapes this longing takes and the ways in which it can--and cannot--be satisfied in earthly life. "The heart is an eternal nomad," he says. When I read this book I wanted to quote big chunks of it on a myspace page I didn't have. If nothing else, read the beautiful introduction; the whole book is encapsulated there anyway. (less)
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Apr 17, 2012Cliff rated it it was amazing
Shelves: owned-books
Mr. O'Donohue, in his masterful book - Eternal Echoes, takes you on an exquisitely organized, vastly scenic, interpretive journey through the corridors of the human soul. His profound knowledge and sensitivities in the realm of the human condition are astounding; And the language with which he chooses to impart these insights to the reader, is equally fantastic. With lyric like imagery, he weaves words that touch the senses like beautiful music - pure literary excellence!
"It takes a lifetime of slow work to find a rhythm of thinking which reflects and articulates the uniqueness of your soul" - John O'Donohue
Eternal Echoes will forever rattle around in the brain, helping you gain a better understanding of others and, more importantly, a better understanding of yourself! READ this book! It will move you, amaze you, and give you a new appreciation of what it means to be human! (less)
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Nov 11, 2011Jessica rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: motivational
Like Anam Cara the words in this book just washed over me soothingly, making me receptive to the ideas contained within. It gave me some insight into where that 'search to belong' comes from and what to expect from the world in terms of an answer.
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Dec 09, 2018Katherine rated it really liked it
Shelves: adult, inspirational
This little book felt nothing short of sacred. O'Donohue takes spritual concepts and applies them directly to our world today in a way that is uplifting but doesn't tiptoe around real issues.
My only complaint is that I can't have excerpts read to me every morning before I start my day.
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Jun 01, 2014Amy added it · review of another edition
This was a somewhat disappointing read but not without it's strong points. The main theme was the cohabitation of longing and belonging in the human experience. It explored the role of both feelings and the importance of a balance between them. I would not recommend this book for its theology as it seems to advance a nominally Christian, watery sort of spiritualism. However, some meditations and thoughts were insightful and worthwhile never the less. The strongest sections were the sections on longing and belonging and the first part of the section on absence. However, the book's greatest shortcoming is that it is much longer than it needs to be. In my opinion the best sections could be made into a book half it's size and even those sections have a tendency to ramble on long after they have exhausted their message.
I did pick up a new favorite quote: "To be here is so much." (less)
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Oct 12, 2014Victoria rated it it was amazing
Some books are to be returned to again & again, and this is one of them. I picked this up in a charity shop and I had no idea what to expect from it. I quickly fell in love with John's reflections and deep insights, drawn from the Celtic way of life; his simple, honest and engaging writing style; and his ability to conjure up vivid imagery and analogies to transmit his wisdom in a way that is accessible to anyone. His humility, understanding and love of life come through on every page, as well as the solace and inspiration he found in the Irish landscape. There is so much in this, it is hard to capture it in a few words, but it is simply a source of impeccable wisdom from a beautiful soul. (less)
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May 23, 2016Patricia rated it really liked it
I love John O'Donohue and wish I could sit across from him in front of a warm hearth as we discuss the fertile dynamism that exists between longing and belonging. Sadly, as that is not possible, I will have to settle for spending time with him through his books. This one is densely packed with wisdom and is probably best read in bits over a span of weeks or months so that his reflections can be processed and savored.
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Apr 04, 2010Emily Davenport rated it it was amazing
Shelves: nonfiction, spiritual
This is my fourth John O'Donohue book, and I'm continually amazed at the depth and breadth of wisdom his books encompass. Reading them is like reading a long, beautiful prayer. It is so sad to think he died so young. Highly recommended for anyone wanting to understand their place in the world.
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Sep 05, 2011Laura Uplinger rated it it was amazing
A soulful symphony of thought. An essential read for those who love flights of freedom in the realm of longing and belonging.
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Jul 08, 2011Angela Joyce rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Shelves: faith-in-general
This is an extraordinary work. The man possessed unusual insights and had such a way of expressing them. I'm sorry there won't be more books from him, but I intend to read all his existing work.
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Sep 15, 2009Lcord rated it it was amazing
One of those books I've read and reread. John O'donohue had such a beautiful soul. So sad that he died so young. He had much to teach and share
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Jul 27, 2014Julie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
a wonderful meditation read
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Oct 28, 2018Brian Wilcox rated it liked it
The late O'Donohue was a superb writer in that his prose is captivatingly poetic. And for persons with a romantic orientation, as in, romanticism as emerged late 1700s ff, with accent on, among other things, subjectivity and nature, this would likely prove an inspiring read. Yet, romanticism being part of the truth, over-emphasizes part of the truth. The same applies to the fade of focus on Celtic spirituality, which represents our human tendency to glorify a past in avoidance of the challenge of the collective present.
To me, Eternal Echoes, as romanticism itself, tends to a sentimental (as in, subjective, emotive) glorification of nature. Here we see what we would like nature, and ourselves as part of nature, to be. A rock may be a part of oneness, even embodying intelligence to the extent a rock can do that, but a rock is a rock, not a He or a She.
O'Donohue represents a popular regressive movement, which is understandable, seeing we of modernistic cultures seem lost and increasingly suffering isolation amid the morass of impersonal technology. Yet, retro-ing to an earlier relationship with the natural world is not the answer, any more than an adult returning to the egoic innocence of the cooing infant kicking its hands and legs in gleeful ignorance.
Also, in personifying nature, with all its beauty, in such romantic spirit, is exemplified the romantic accent on the beauties of nature and fails rightly to be honest about nature as a theater of perpetual violence. Simply put, nature is brutal, and we are part of that brutality: we eat, we are being eaten. My body, part of nature, as your body, is being eaten by nature, now. Nature is deadly, not simply lovely.
So, concluding, I rated the book 3, for the book reflects a truth about what nature partly is, and O'Donohue is right-on in our needing to recover a healthy relationship with the natural world and the benefits of that reunion. Technology offers an immediate, easy substitute to communion with the vitality of living, life-affirming, breathing forms, and does tend toward leaving persons physically and emotionally unhealthy, as well as feeling isolated, even while connecting through machines with persons all over our world. There is a difference between walking along a wooded path with a friend and chatting on-line with someone one has never met and, truly, very-little knows. Nature, indeed, does present eternal echoes and of so much more than nature. And, possibly, we must sate our adoration of technology to realize it cannot fulfill the intuitions of those timeless, true echoes calling us to integrate a forgotten past with the living, onward-moving moment. O'Donohue's voice, with its regression, like regressive voices, arises to remind us of forgotten wisdom. (less)
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Feb 02, 2016Julie Christine rated it it was amazing
Shelves: best-of-2016, writing-companions, read-2016, social-political-commentary,poetry, ireland-theme-setting
Some books simply find you. They enter your life at the right time, when you are most in need of and receptive to hearing their message. This book. My soul. The Universe recognized what I needed and offered up these words in response.
I've been aware of John O'Donohue's work for some time: I have a collection of his poetry, gifted by a dear friend, that I dip into and feel embraced by; I've been to a writing residency at Anam Cara in southwest Ireland, named for one of his works of essays and reflections. But it wasn't until I read a quote in the amazing weekly newsletter of curated wisdom, Maria Popova'sBrain Pickings (you must subscribe, you simply must) that I learned ofEternal Echoes and knew it was the book for me, at this time, in this place.
There is a divine restlessness in the human heart. Though our bodies maintain an outer stability and consistency, the heart is an eternal nomad. No circle of belonging can ever contain all the longings of the human heart. As Shakespeare said, we have “immortal longings.” All human creativity issues from the urgency of longing.
That quote has become the centerpiece of the talk I give at author readings, for it speaks not only to the central themes of my novel, but to the themes playing out in my life.
Eternal Echoes is about coming to terms with the emptiness inherent to one's soul, an emptiness we seek to fill with religion or drugs, love or work, instead of accepting that it is the very space inside we need, in order to grow into our compassion, our true selves.
There is something within you that no one or nothing else in the world is able to meet or satisfy. When you recognize that such unease is natural, it will free you from getting on the treadmill of chasing ever more temporary and partial satisfactions. This eternal longing will always insist on some door remaining open somewhere in all the shelters where you belong. When you befriend this longing, it will keep you awake and alert to why you are here on earth.For this reader, acknowledging and living with this longing has been a particularly painful and recent exploration. I am a problem-solver by nature and when something is off, when my soul is akilter, my instinct is to root out the source of the maladjustment and fix it. It's hard to accept that I need to sit with my discomfort and listen to what it is trying tell me.
Most of the activity in society is subconsciously designed to quell the voice crying in the wilderness within you. The mystic Thomas à Kempis said that when you go out into the world, you return having lost some of yourself. Until you learn to inhabit your aloneness, the lonely distraction and noise of society will seduce you into false belonging, with which you will only become empty and weary.By necessity, I have been spending a lot of time "in society" lately, losing bits of myself along the way. And the more time I spend engaged in society, the more Fernando Pessoa's lament from The Book of Disquiet (yet another collection of wisdoms that has found its way to me at the right time): my “passions and emotions (are) lost among more visible kinds of achievement.”
Eternal Echoes is informed by Celtic mysticism and a fluid Christian theology. Although I am not a Christian and actively avoid anything that smacks of faith-based advice, O'Donohue's approach is philosophical rather than theological. It is something akin to gnosticism, that compels the individual to be an active participant in her own journey to wholeness, not a blind believer in an all-powerful god. He writes of allowing in vulnerability, for vulnerability leads to wonder, and wonder leads to seeking, and seeking leads to growth, and growth makes room for everyone else.
Dog-eared and underlined and highlighted and journaled, Eternal Echoesenters my library of go-to soulcatchers, along with the writings of Richard Hugo, Rilke and Pessoa, Woolf, Didion and Solnit: writers who understand what it means to allow in the darkness and sit tight while it slowly becomes light. (less)
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Mar 24, 2017Avonlea Rose rated it liked it
Shelves: religion-spirituality, well-being
Does anyone else read a book, then can't decide whether they loved it or hated it? Sometimes I bounce between a 2-star and a 4-star rating and I wonder what other people must be thinking that I keep changing it. But I imagine I'm not the only who has that issue when reading a certain book.
For me, this was one of those books that I can't quite make my mind up on. "Eternal Echoes" is a collection of poetical reflections on spirituality in the modern world and human desires for longing and belonging. It reads in a very stream-of-conscious style, which is part of its charm, but I also felt at times it may have been edited more thoroughly: O'Donohue might have reconsidered a turn of phrase or expressed something more succinctly. He rambles at length on a certain idea, then is brief with another. He employs certain words or phrases too frequently, and sometimes he introduces description of the Native landscape and mythos in Ireland in a way that is not totally seamless - repeating multiple times that this is in the West of Ireland, when it might have done enough if O'Donohue had only said once that this is where he hails from. But I was not at all put off by this. Rather, I felt I struggled with "Eternal Echoes," because I do not quite agree with all of the opinions expressed within it.
While much of the book reflects genuine personal insight and some beautiful notions upon prayer and desire, some of this book could best be described as a type of Catholic pop-psychology, which is fascinating because O'Donohue also rebukes both fundamentalism and popular psychology in this book. Perhaps O'Donohue just could not quite get out of their grasp, in spite of perceiving their limitations. He still finds himself expressing on multiple occasions the idea that people can acquire not only spiritual healing, but a physical and material healing, if only they were dutiful to God and learned to see their suffering as a Divine lesson - something that has its reflection in the field of psychology, where people are made to believe they can achieve good health and wealth through simply thinking more positively. He pens that nobody would be lonesome if only they could be more generous, which itself seems austere and belies that generosity must be a shared activity. A particularly troubling element for me is that he also employs language which segregates - we should pity the poor, he writes, and children who have been abused and have lost their way; and we should pray for prostitutes. He does not seem to consider that such persons could, in fact, be reading his book. He keeps "them" at an arms length -to be pitied, but not included. Almost ironically, it was yet his ideas of the loss of a shared identity and whole community in the modern world that touched me; and this created a real conflict for me in reading this. It also felt at times that O'Donohue moved away from the really meaningful and personally-felt insights that make this book so endearing and illuminating, and resorted yet to his role as lecturer: becoming suddenly a preacher, he proffers advice on illness with a type of authority, although it seems clear he has no such experience of living with a life-long illness or disability. He often writes imperatively, as if we are not here just to listen to his reflections, but, rather, *must* listen to him.
The above said, I will also say I really enjoyed the selection of quotations that O'Donohue included among the pages; and I also appreciated the Blessings he included at the end of each chapter. These added something special, I thought, to the work: a thoughtful touch that gave it finesse.
So this book was not a complete loss, but I would also suggest approaching it with a certain level of caution - that not everything O'Donohue says is necessarily all that could be hoped for; and, while sometimes very striking and beautiful when he locates an authentic notion, and, while O'Donohue may have tried to transcend common limitations in religion and psychology, it seems to suffer still from a limited and biased perspective that does not quite make it completely past the grasps of fundamentalist and popular ideas.
Notes:
pg. 113, on "The Prison of Shame" - provides example of where O'Donohue mistakenly segregates where he tries to create tolerance. He writes, "Imagine the years of silent torment so many gay people have endured, unable to tell their secret." He continues, "Think of the victims of racism: lovely people who are humiliated and tagged for hostility." At the bottom of the page, he also chooses to describe victims of sexual violence similarly, failing to write towards but of them: "When a person is sexually abused or raped, she often feel great shame at what happened to her."
pg. 161-162 on "When Sorrows Come, They Come Not Single Spies, but in Battalions" - This essay, and the one proceeding, show some of the insensitive language I refer to above. O'Donohue writes that, "Often the flame of pain can have a cleansing effect and burn away the dross that has accumulated around your life. It is difficult to accept that what you are losing is what is used, what you no longer need."
pg. 233-234 on "Brittle Language Numbs Longing" - This essay, and the one following, is one of the areas of this book where O'Donohue begins to successfully nibble around the edges of popular psychology, speaking about how the field's jargon is so ill-suited to describe humanity: "When your experience is rich and diverse, it has a beautifully intricate inner weaving. You know that no analysis can hold a candle to the natural majesty and depth of even the most ordinary moment in the universe." He describes the language of psychology as "brittle" and "disembodied." "One such powerful term is 'process,'" he writes about how we talk of "processing" emotions. "In many cases, 'processing' has become a disease; it is now the way in which many people behave towards themselves. This term has no depth or sacredness. 'Processing' is a mechanical term: there are processed peas and beans. The tyranny of processing reveals a gaping absence of soul." He continues: "Such terminology is blasphemous; it belongs to the mechanical word."
pg. 198 on "Wonder Invites Mystery to Come Closer" - is another area of the book where O'Donohue attacks the language of popular psychology. "This jargon has no colour and no resonance of any mystery, opaqueness, or possibility. Real wonder about your soul demands words which [...] would be imaginative and suggestive of the depths of the unknown within you. Unlike the fashionable graffiti of fast-food psychology, they hold the reverence to which mystery is entitled." (less)
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Jun 18, 2012Writerful Books rated it it was amazing
This is not a book you simply read from cover to cover. There is so much timeless wisdom contained in this book that you will often find yourself pausing to reflect on what has been said time and time again. Totally appealed to my Celtic soul. I can't praise this book enough.
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May 15, 2012Victoria Evangelina Allen rated it really liked it
Shelves: read-again, psychology, spirituality, in-english, took-notes
~GREEN PASTURES OF BELONGING~
I wrote down about 40 pages of quotes from this book during the month of reading it. If I read it with a yellow highlighter instead, there would be no page left unmarked. For all the brilliance of meaning and artful writing of separate sentences and passages, the whole landscape of the book stayed covered in thick fog for me. "Perhaps, I do not embrace my longing and deny my need of belonging, and thus cannot see clearly," I would joke, routinely, over the weeks of marinating in the atmosphere of soulful writing and deeper than my conscious comprehension messages of the philosopher.
I was advised to switch off my logic and read with the heart, knowing that whatever my soul craves from this book, it will open up to. It helped; though I connected (read: understood) chapters on suffering and grief the most.
The foundation of O'Donohue's book lays in ancient Celtic teachings and mysteries with added flavors of theosophy, spirituality and Hegel's influence. Thus the study of longing and belonging becomes larger than life and connects itself in a never-ending circle of the snake, biting its tail, to conclude that we are shuffling God out of our lives and until we bring Him back in, we'll never belong fully and never satisfy our immense longings in all the areas of life and beyond.
The book dives into the meanings of presence (the flame of longing), suffering (the dark valley of broken belonging), prayer (a bridge between longing and belonging), and absence (where longing still lingers).
This deep and beautiful book is full of many-layered wonders and gems. It lullabies the reader into its embrace. It does not give simple answers on what "belonging" is, but gives you enough material to create your own house of understanding.
Especially, if you are willing to take time with the book and your own inner dialogue.
Which I should do once again, on a re-read, in hope of connecting the dots and stepping out of the fog onto the green pastures of belonging to Self and the Universe of Spirit.
Victoria Evangelina (less)
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Apr 01, 2008Karunagrace rated it really liked it
Shelves: books-i-bought
I just love John O'Donohue's writing. His gently probing reflections, woven with rich Celtic and Catholic learning and a love of language, combine to form a deepening meditation that spirals inward and outward at the same time. You feel like you are participating in or witnessing his creative thought process, and that he enjoys the process, and the process itself brings new insights to light.
Eternal Echoes is about the soul's deep thirst for belonging, or "Being and Longing, the longing of our Being and the being of our Longing." He reflects on the shapes this longing takes and the ways in which it can--and cannot--be satisfied in earthly life. "The heart is an eternal nomad," he says. When I read this book I wanted to quote big chunks of it on a myspace page I didn't have. If nothing else, read the beautiful introduction; the whole book is encapsulated there anyway. (less)
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Apr 17, 2012Cliff rated it it was amazing
Shelves: owned-books
Mr. O'Donohue, in his masterful book - Eternal Echoes, takes you on an exquisitely organized, vastly scenic, interpretive journey through the corridors of the human soul. His profound knowledge and sensitivities in the realm of the human condition are astounding; And the language with which he chooses to impart these insights to the reader, is equally fantastic. With lyric like imagery, he weaves words that touch the senses like beautiful music - pure literary excellence!
"It takes a lifetime of slow work to find a rhythm of thinking which reflects and articulates the uniqueness of your soul" - John O'Donohue
Eternal Echoes will forever rattle around in the brain, helping you gain a better understanding of others and, more importantly, a better understanding of yourself! READ this book! It will move you, amaze you, and give you a new appreciation of what it means to be human! (less)
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Nov 11, 2011Jessica rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: motivational
Like Anam Cara the words in this book just washed over me soothingly, making me receptive to the ideas contained within. It gave me some insight into where that 'search to belong' comes from and what to expect from the world in terms of an answer.
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Dec 09, 2018Katherine rated it really liked it
Shelves: adult, inspirational
This little book felt nothing short of sacred. O'Donohue takes spritual concepts and applies them directly to our world today in a way that is uplifting but doesn't tiptoe around real issues.
My only complaint is that I can't have excerpts read to me every morning before I start my day.
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Jun 01, 2014Amy added it · review of another edition
This was a somewhat disappointing read but not without it's strong points. The main theme was the cohabitation of longing and belonging in the human experience. It explored the role of both feelings and the importance of a balance between them. I would not recommend this book for its theology as it seems to advance a nominally Christian, watery sort of spiritualism. However, some meditations and thoughts were insightful and worthwhile never the less. The strongest sections were the sections on longing and belonging and the first part of the section on absence. However, the book's greatest shortcoming is that it is much longer than it needs to be. In my opinion the best sections could be made into a book half it's size and even those sections have a tendency to ramble on long after they have exhausted their message.
I did pick up a new favorite quote: "To be here is so much." (less)
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Oct 12, 2014Victoria rated it it was amazing
Some books are to be returned to again & again, and this is one of them. I picked this up in a charity shop and I had no idea what to expect from it. I quickly fell in love with John's reflections and deep insights, drawn from the Celtic way of life; his simple, honest and engaging writing style; and his ability to conjure up vivid imagery and analogies to transmit his wisdom in a way that is accessible to anyone. His humility, understanding and love of life come through on every page, as well as the solace and inspiration he found in the Irish landscape. There is so much in this, it is hard to capture it in a few words, but it is simply a source of impeccable wisdom from a beautiful soul. (less)
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May 23, 2016Patricia rated it really liked it
I love John O'Donohue and wish I could sit across from him in front of a warm hearth as we discuss the fertile dynamism that exists between longing and belonging. Sadly, as that is not possible, I will have to settle for spending time with him through his books. This one is densely packed with wisdom and is probably best read in bits over a span of weeks or months so that his reflections can be processed and savored.
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Apr 04, 2010Emily Davenport rated it it was amazing
Shelves: nonfiction, spiritual
This is my fourth John O'Donohue book, and I'm continually amazed at the depth and breadth of wisdom his books encompass. Reading them is like reading a long, beautiful prayer. It is so sad to think he died so young. Highly recommended for anyone wanting to understand their place in the world.
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Sep 05, 2011Laura Uplinger rated it it was amazing
A soulful symphony of thought. An essential read for those who love flights of freedom in the realm of longing and belonging.
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Jul 08, 2011Angela Joyce rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Shelves: faith-in-general
This is an extraordinary work. The man possessed unusual insights and had such a way of expressing them. I'm sorry there won't be more books from him, but I intend to read all his existing work.
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Sep 15, 2009Lcord rated it it was amazing
One of those books I've read and reread. John O'donohue had such a beautiful soul. So sad that he died so young. He had much to teach and share
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Jul 27, 2014Julie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
a wonderful meditation read
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Oct 28, 2018Brian Wilcox rated it liked it
The late O'Donohue was a superb writer in that his prose is captivatingly poetic. And for persons with a romantic orientation, as in, romanticism as emerged late 1700s ff, with accent on, among other things, subjectivity and nature, this would likely prove an inspiring read. Yet, romanticism being part of the truth, over-emphasizes part of the truth. The same applies to the fade of focus on Celtic spirituality, which represents our human tendency to glorify a past in avoidance of the challenge of the collective present.
To me, Eternal Echoes, as romanticism itself, tends to a sentimental (as in, subjective, emotive) glorification of nature. Here we see what we would like nature, and ourselves as part of nature, to be. A rock may be a part of oneness, even embodying intelligence to the extent a rock can do that, but a rock is a rock, not a He or a She.
O'Donohue represents a popular regressive movement, which is understandable, seeing we of modernistic cultures seem lost and increasingly suffering isolation amid the morass of impersonal technology. Yet, retro-ing to an earlier relationship with the natural world is not the answer, any more than an adult returning to the egoic innocence of the cooing infant kicking its hands and legs in gleeful ignorance.
Also, in personifying nature, with all its beauty, in such romantic spirit, is exemplified the romantic accent on the beauties of nature and fails rightly to be honest about nature as a theater of perpetual violence. Simply put, nature is brutal, and we are part of that brutality: we eat, we are being eaten. My body, part of nature, as your body, is being eaten by nature, now. Nature is deadly, not simply lovely.
So, concluding, I rated the book 3, for the book reflects a truth about what nature partly is, and O'Donohue is right-on in our needing to recover a healthy relationship with the natural world and the benefits of that reunion. Technology offers an immediate, easy substitute to communion with the vitality of living, life-affirming, breathing forms, and does tend toward leaving persons physically and emotionally unhealthy, as well as feeling isolated, even while connecting through machines with persons all over our world. There is a difference between walking along a wooded path with a friend and chatting on-line with someone one has never met and, truly, very-little knows. Nature, indeed, does present eternal echoes and of so much more than nature. And, possibly, we must sate our adoration of technology to realize it cannot fulfill the intuitions of those timeless, true echoes calling us to integrate a forgotten past with the living, onward-moving moment. O'Donohue's voice, with its regression, like regressive voices, arises to remind us of forgotten wisdom. (less)
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