Souls Day

"Are Space and Time Different in the Eternal World?"
from ANAM CARA
John O'Donohue

* * *
When the soul leaves the body, it is no longer under the burden and control of space and time. The soul is free; distance and separation hinder it no more. The dead are our nearest neighbors; they are all around us. Meister Eckhart was once asked, Where does the soul of a person go when the person dies? He said, no place. Where else would the soul be going? Where else is the eternal world? It can be nowhere other than here. We have falsely spatialized the eternal world. We have driven the eternal out into some kind of distant galaxy. Yet the eternal world does not seem to be a place but rather a different state of being. The soul of the person goes no place because there is no place else to go. This suggests that the dead are here with us, in the air that we are moving through all the time. The only difference between us and the dead is that they are now in an invisible form. You cannot see them with the human eye. But you can sense the presence of those you love who have died. With the refinement of your soul, you can sense them. You feel that they are near.


* * *

Echo der Seele

Irgendwo, außen am Rand, geht die Nacht
Zurück, und die Wellen der Dunkelheit
Beginnen die Küste des Morgens sacht zu erhellen.

Das schwere Dunkel fällt auf die Erde herab,
Und befreit tobt die Luft von besinnungslosem Licht,
Das Herz füllt sich mit frischem, hellem Atem,
Und der Sinn schickt sich an, Farbigkeit zu gebären.

John O` Donohue „Echo der Seele

There have been a large number of enquiries about the location of John's funeral service and about his gravesite. The church where John's funeral took place is in Fanore, about 12 miles from Ballyvaughan on the coast road south. During winter months it is likely only to be open at weekends for Mass.
John is buried in Creggagh graveyard, about two miles further south along the coast road, just beyond O'Donoghue's pub on the left hand side of the road.
All of John's friends hope that respect will be shown to the grave site and to the environment that John loved so well.