He's like the swallow that flies so high.
He's like the river that never runs dry.
He's like the sunshine on the lee shore. He'll love his love for evermore.
-a Nova Scotia folksong (slightly altered for the occasion)
I was lucky enough to attend O' Donahue's talk in Vancouver last year. He was sweetness and light. His charming humour and scholarly intelligence were enchanting. I have his book called Beauty: The Invisible Embrace on CD, so I can listen to his inspiring voice any time. When I heard on CBC's tapestry that he had died suddenly, (on January 3, 2008) I was sad, shocked, angry--all those things you feel when someone you have a great fondness for is dead. He was a spiritual advisor in a time when we so need those people who can help us perceive Divine Beauty. I was angry at him for having deserted us, but I've come to realize he's helping us "behind the scenes" now. He taught me that the materiality of our world is only the smallest part of what really exists.
I will tell the bees. I invite you to do the same.
I attended his memorial service here in Vancouver, which was loving, but much to solemn, in my opinion. Where was the fiddle music? Where was the whiskey? All back home in Ireland, I guess.
When I die, I want the chocolate to flow as freely as the booze. Live music by anyone who wants to play or sing, and anyone at all can speak their mind. A party, s'il vous plait. That is all.
"When I can hold a stone within my hand
And feel time make it sand and soil, and see
The roots of living things grow in this land,
Pushing between my fingers flower and tree,
Then I shall be wise as death,
For death has done this and he will
Do this to me, and blow his breath
To fire my clay, when I am still."
--Richard Eberhart
For more memorials to John O'Donahue follow these links:
http://www.greenbelt.org.uk/index.php?p=966
"Greenbelters know that he had a way with words that made you feel whole again" he created a space with language, both spoken and written, that felt like the home you never knew you were missing, but now never wanted to leave.
His work on retrieving the earthiness of celtic spirituality and helping make sense of it in a postmodern world is so profound that its impact has not yet been fully felt, and it represents something rare in a consumerist, post-Britart culture: a work of art that will outlast its author."
--Gareth Higgins
http://www.jodonohue.com/inmemoriam/
"John was a love-letter to humanity from some address in the firmament we have yet to find and locate, though we may wander many a year looking or listening for it."
--David White
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