A Mystic Journey

…it has been argued that for us to recognize the truth, 

there must be something within us that already knows it.

Newell

Sometimes in order to go forward, we must look to the past. I suggested in a recent post, Understanding Our True History, that the ancient past has much to teach us. 

John Philip Newell in Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul: Celtic Wisdom For Reawakening To What Our Souls Know and Healing The World (Harper One, 2021) suggests a similar lesson. His journey, however, suggests a look at a more recent past: the Celtic Tradition.

“What is unique about the Celtic tradition compared to most other Western traditions is that it cannot be reduced to a set of doctrines or beliefs; 

instead, at its core is the conviction that we essentially need to keep listening to what our soul already knows”

Newell

The Celts were in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Cornwall, but also spanned all of middle Europe from what is now Turkey to present day Spain. They believed that: 

“all life is holy, not just the life of our family or our nation, and that every species, 

not just the human species, is sacred.” 

Newell asks us to see that “This story of both the beauty and the suffering of the people of the western island of Scotland is in fact a universal story. It is the story of what has happened to native people and marginalized cultures throughout the world again and again.”  A “universal” story implies, perhaps, an even wider scope than might have been originally intended by Newell. I suggest this universality also includes Cosmic Beings.

We can’t undo the many movies depicting destructive extraterrestrials trying to harm and destroy our world. 

We can, however, release our fear, and be part of a new beginning.

A new beginning includes the acceptance of all beings, 

including nonphysical beings.

Newell discusses nine Celtic teachers from early Celtic Christianity to modern times who show us how to “be part of new beginnings.” Two of those Celts particularly touched me: John Muir and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.  I was surprised to find their words resonating deeply within, reinforcing Newell’s belief that something within us knows the truth. 

John Muir (1838-1914) was a prophet born in Scotland who moved to the US and is called an American Celt. He began to promote the

”interrelationship of all things and the sacredness of every species.”

Newell describes Muir as having a “passionate anger at what is being done to the environment coupled inseparably with a passionate love for the earth.”

Another Celt, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) was a French scientist, Jesuit priest and mystic. Newell explains that Teilhard’s view is “learning to live from the sacred common ground of life rather than lifting ourselves up over one another or separating ourselves from one another.” This statement takes on a larger meaning when we apply it to nonhumans.

The Celtic Tradition has evolved over time. Newell claims that our role now is to apply those beliefs in new ways. I repeat the quote from Newell used earlier in this discussion:

“all life is holy, not just the life of our family or our nation, and that every species, 

not just the human species, is sacred.” 

Perhaps that Celtic wisdom applies to all of Earth, our environment, all humans, all animals, all plants, and all species, including extraterrestrials. Deep within, we do know that truth.