Once Upon A Time, Long Time Ago,

Once upon a time, long time ago, a Spell was cast upon the people across the land.
The Spell made people believe that they were incomplete and needed something else to be whole.
The Spell also made people believe that we are all separate beings with no connection with each other or the rest of life or nature.
People were made to believe that they were born needing things to be happy, and needing Shamans and priests to talk to God and to be our intermediaries, to warn us and protect us.
The Spell included the belief that those things they could not see, hear feel, smell or taste did not exist. Only the outside material world really counts.
The Spell caused people to believe that only humans had a soul, and that a punishing God was ready to judge. Shamans and priests also taught people to be dependent, fearful and guilty.
Happiness could be reached only by having as many things as possible, or having as much money as they could get, and having power over others, over animals, over nature.
The Spell included the belief that people were not responsible for their own happiness, that they would need something or someone outside themselves to give that gift and blessing.
The Spell led us to believe that we are not creative, that we really do not need each other, and that our main role was to work and behave and conform to the expectations of parents and society.

The Spell continues today.
The effects of the Spell was to put people to sleep and to cover their eyes with a film.
We forgot about our own beauty, the beauty of children and the beauty of every day and of life.
We forgot about the purpose of our souls. We were never taught to discover Who We Are.
We were never taught to recognize that each person has a hole in our heart that only the mystery of Love could fill.
The wonder, awe, sense of mystery, creativity, and adventure that we often felt, at least briefly, as small children was never nourished. We forgot the excitement of being alive and curious.
The Light went out of our lives.
Life became dull and routine and getting by with a few small pleasures.
Empty gazes and fear and suspicion of others replaced the Light.
We forgot how to talk to nature, how to listen and how to love.
Everything became a problem to be solved, not a mystery to be lived, embraced and loved.

The story continues in the classes of Social Ethics, Philosophy and Theology at Midway College with Rev. Dr. Paschal Baute, and in his workshops on Celtic Spirituality. For your own reading, see the books and tapes by John O’Donohue on Beauty, also writings by J. Philip Howell, Tom Cowan and others. Contact him at pbbaute@paschalbaute.com for more information. Go to www.paschalbaute.com/writing and scroll down to Celtic Spirituality in Kentucky blog.