Sacred Earth Sacred Soul: A Celtic guide to listening to our souls and saving the world

Author: John Philip Newell

‘We need to go back to some fundamental questions.’

Nature is my go-to source of spiritual refreshment. Somehow, the natural world ‘opens me up’ and inspires me. So when I was first introduced to this book a little over a year ago, I listened to the audiobook version, and it spoke to my condition. But recently I was inspired to return to the text following a talk at the Quaker Universalist Group conference on the future of religion, when a speaker noted that Quakerism has much to offer that can constructively address the many spiritual challenges we face today, not least, the climate emergency. At a time of declining religious belonging in the west, this book speaks of humanity’s need to reconnect with that inner wisdom we all hold, through our deep connection with the natural world. As Newell writes: ‘In Celtic wisdom we remember the earth as sacred. Every tree and bush, every flower and creature, every hill mountain is on fire with the divine.’

Through nine chapters, Newell traces threads of Celtic wisdom. Each presents an account of the teachings of particular figures, whom Newell sees as ‘icons for today’. The radicalism of their ideas, often espoused at great personal cost, and seen as threatening to powerful influences of their time, still has meaning. These accounts span from fourth-fifth century Pelagius and Brigid of Kildare, with their respective emphases on humans as divine and the earth as sacred, to the contribution of twentieth/twenty-first-century poet Kenneth White. In each chapter Newell explores his subjects’ ideas, their origins, and their implications for contemporary spirituality. Some of Newell’s subjects will perhaps be familiar – the panentheism of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in chapter seven, for example, reminded me of Richard Rohr’s book The Universal Christ.

Each book chapter closes with an invitation to the reader to reflect quietly on how the subject’s life and ideas speak to them. There are ‘words of awareness’ and a closing prayer to support readers’ contemplation. These closing prompts are brought together in an appendix, which offers the reader a practical nine-day cycle of ‘Meditative Awareness’ to explore.

I found Newell’s book engaging and informative. It is scholarly in its notes and sources, and it provides sufficient historical context to bring its subjects’ personal stories and thinking to life. It shows how these teachings can help us reframe our thinking to reconnect with our own inner spirituality and connectedness to the natural world. I highly recommend it. 

---

Comments

Please login to add a comment