Anam

I love Gaelic. It is the most beautiful and captivating language I have ever heard. One of my favorite authors, John O'Donohue (an Irishman of course), says of Gaelic that it is "...such a poetic and powerful language, it carries the Irish memory." Imagine it! A language, something so intangible yet so powerful and real that it can hold within itself the memory of a people. The ancient memory of the Irish people is cradled in the Gaelic language. How cool is that?

Though I don't speak Gaelic, there are a few words I have learned since my time in Ireland. One of my favorites is Anam, meaning soul. In the Celtic understanding, the soul is not something that resides in the physical body (the 'clay' body), rather the clay body resides in the presence of the soul. The light of the soul envelopes the body, shining through it. This might be the most beautiful picture of how the spirit of God enfolds us daily, by being present in our soul. The presence of God is not in us, rather it is engulfing us. It's not a little flame that lives inside us so much as it's a fire that surrounds us. That sounds kinda awesome to me...