John O'Donohue (1956–2008)

Excuse me if I gush! It is the only thing I can do that is a proper reaction to this book.
To Bless the Space Between Us by John O'Donohue may be the absolute most beautiful book I have ever read. Its prose is gorgeous, its poetry even more so, and every page, every entry in the book will stir emotions, will remind us fully of the rich depth of the human spirit.
O'Donohue says that the book is not a collection of poems but blessings, and entries in the book reflect that idea. The author show more offers 'blessings' about desires, callings, and states of the heart, among others, and each of these is divided into separate, smaller categories of blessings. "States of the Heart," for example, includes blessings for courage, for failure, for suffering, for advice, and several more.
What is most remarkable about the book is its tremendously evocative and lyrically stunning language. The very opening lines of the book tell you much about what it will include and how well it is written: "There is a quiet light that shines in every heart. It draws no attention to itself, though it is always secretly there. It is what illuminates our minds to see beauty, our desires to seek possibility, and our hearts to love life."
With opening lines like that, how can a kind or loving person not want to read the book? And look at the stunning depthof that phrase, "It is what illuminates our minds to see beauty..." Beauty is an illumination of the mind! Incredible imagery.
Though beautiful, just about any other passage in the book is its equal or may even be superior.
It writing this review, I randomly opened the book to,
"When you travel
A new silence
Goes with you,
And if you listen,
You will hear
What your heart would love to say."
Believe me when I say, I just randomly opened to that stanza, which is important because it proves how beautiful this book is at every single turn.
Originally, I checked the book out of the library, but once I'd read it, I had to have my own copy which now is just filled with highlighter markings and post-it flags.
"Blessings" is just about the biggest literary blessing I have ever encountered. show less

I wanted to like this. A poetic friend (whose work I love) posted about it and how much she got from it, so I went in with high expectations. But it just fell flat for me, and felt pretty New Agey throughout.

I did enjoy the blessing for the traveler. That stood out as memorable. But the rest that I read…nah.

It came across very generic…I would have preferred (and expected) a more blatantly Christian read but did not find that here. Intentional by the author, perhaps, but not for this show more reader. show less

(From my review on Amazon in 1998.)

Each sentence is a ponderable morsel.

Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom is truly a work of art. Over the past three years, I have been working on discovering myself through self-help books, 12-step programs, religious study, and personal introspection. This book summed up everything I have learned (the hard way) during this time, and presented it in a beautiful package that was invigorating and thought-provoking to read. It was a pure joy. I began reading show more it in January, and have only just finished it last night, because each sentance was a ponderable morsel. Sometimes I would read a phrase five times over in order to fully grasp and apply it's meaning to my life. This is not a 70 mph trip through the McDonald's drive-thru, this is a seven course meal in Vienna, and every bite demands that you hold it in your mouth to savor it.

Anam Cara is one of the best non-fiction books I have ever read. I plan to read it again in a year or so, because I know I will get new things out of it. I am already loaning it to a friend, and have a couple of others in mind I'd like to loan it to. I can't keep this from the ones I love. show less

A beautiful book written by a beautiful man, John O'Donohue’s Beauty is filled with such inspiring words I found it difficult, almost inappropriate, to read even a chapter straight through since many lines invite us to reread and linger with their fragrance for days. Here are several such lines coupled with my brief comments, taken from two of my favorite chapters – The Call to Beauty and The Music of Beauty:

"Indeed, the subtle touches of beauty are what enable most people to survive. show more Yet beauty is so quietly woven through our ordinary days that we hardly notice it. Everywhere there is tenderness, care, and kindness, there is beauty."--------- During this past year I have been reading ancient Greek philosophy. Turns out, one of those Greek philosophers I especially enjoy is Epicurus, one big reason, Epicurus was famous for his kindness, caring and sensitivity, encouraging us to transform our life itself into a work of beauty.

"Yet beauty's visitation affects us and invites us into its rhythm, it calls us to feel, think and act beautifully in the world: to create and live a life that awakens the Beautiful." ---------- I have been involved in the creative arts for many years but I have come to realize our greatest creation is to become ourselves a being radiating beauty.

"Even, and perhaps especially, in the bleakest times, we can still discover and awaken beauty; these are precisely the times when we need it most. Nowhere else can we find the joy that beauty brings. Joy is not simply the fruit of circumstances; we can choose to be joyous independent of what is happening around us." --------- How true! John O'Donohue invites us to raise our own inner vibration and experience the inner joy of simply being alive, especially needed when we are facing our biggest challenges.

"If our style of looking becomes beautiful, then beauty will become visible and shine forth for us. We will be surprised to discover beauty in unexpected places where the ungraceful eye would never linger. The graced eye can glimpse beauty anywhere, for beauty does not reserve itself for special elite moments or instances; it does not wait for perfection but is present already secretly in everything. When we beautify our gaze, the grace of hidden beauty becomes our joy and our sanctuary." ---------- Thank you, John. `Beautify our gaze' - the experience of beauty is an inner transformation not a change of scenery.

"To behold beauty dignifies your life; it heals you and calls you out beyond the smallness of our own self-limitation to experience new horizons. To experience beauty is to have your life enlarged." --------- Again, thank you, John. There is a rightness and clarity when we see beauty in the world and become fuller and more attuned to not only the outside world by also to ourselves.

"Beauty is not to be captured or controlled for there is something intrinsically elusive in its nature. More like a visitation than a solid fact, beauty invests the aura of a person or infuses a landscape with an unexpected intimacy that satisfies our longing." ---------- Intimate, mysterious and, on occasions blissful and ecstatic, an experience quite beyond any words.

"To the human ear, however, music echoes the deepest grandeur and the most sublime intimacy of the soul." ---------I find this true to my own experience. Music hits me at a much deeper level than the other arts. It is like an internal dance with my nervous system.

"In contrast to most other forms of art, music alters your experience of time. To enter a piece of music, or to have the music enfold you, is to depart for a while from regulated time. Music creates a rhythm that beats out its own time-shape." --------- Music has a deep connection to Eros and love, expressing an energy short-circuiting reason, an energy that is transporting, absorbing, sensuous, kinetic, and involves our whole person, body and soul.

"There is a profound sense in which music opens a secret door in time and reaches in to the eternal. This is the authority and grace of music; it evokes or creates an atmosphere where presence awakens to its eternal depth."---------- I never tire of reading these words over and over again. show less