Ambiguity

 

Comfort with ambiguity is a requirement for anyone who is trying to have a serious relationship with God. "Why doesn't God make himself clear!" is a complaint I have made and have heard many others make through the years.
O'Donohue makes the point that Celtic consciousness is a wild yet serene complexity. He says, "The Celtic mind was never drawn to the single line; it avoided ways of seeing and being that seek satisfaction in certainty." Celts used the circle which "never reduces the mystery to a single direction or preference."
I think of the man who came up beside me as I was looking in a store window in Ireland. I told him I was interested in the "Seltic" design on some of the jewelry in the window. He said, "Some people say 'Seltic;' others say 'Keltic.'" No need to nail it down.
O'Donohue uses the expression "neon vision" to talk about the harsh certitude that some people want about the soul and about God. He says, "The Celtic mind had a wonderful respect for the mystery and depth of the individual soul. The Celts recognized that the shape of each soul is different; the spiritual clothing one person wears can never fit the soul of another."
Absolute clarity about God and things religious will never happen. "The glimpse is sufficient."
All this points again to the flexibility of Celtic spirituality that I find so attractive.