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katscribefever's review against another edition
4.0
This little book felt nothing short of sacred. O'Donohue takes spritual concepts and applies them directly to our world today in a way that is uplifting but doesn't tiptoe around real issues.
My only complaint is that I can't have excerpts read to me every morning before I start my day.
My only complaint is that I can't have excerpts read to me every morning before I start my day.
emilybriano's review against another edition
5.0
This is my fourth John O'Donohue book, and I'm continually amazed at the depth and breadth of wisdom his books encompass. Reading them is like reading a long, beautiful prayer. It is so sad to think he died so young. Highly recommended for anyone wanting to understand their place in the world.
thepermageek's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
A slow, luxurious meditation on belonging, community, self-discovery, spiritual longing, and grief, to name just a few of the dozen or so themes touched on in this brilliant collection.
And as with all John O’Donohue’s writings, even though the book is written in prose form it, the actual phrasing & choice of words is profoundly poetic.
A book I will definitely return to for solace and comfort.
And as with all John O’Donohue’s writings, even though the book is written in prose form it, the actual phrasing & choice of words is profoundly poetic.
A book I will definitely return to for solace and comfort.
libkatem's review against another edition
4.0
Another O'Donohue book that I really enjoyed. I highly recommend him.
pdonnellan's review against another edition
4.0
I love John O'Donohue and wish I could sit across from him in front of a warm hearth as we discuss the fertile dynamism that exists between longing and belonging. Sadly, as that is not possible, I will have to settle for spending time with him through his books. This one is densely packed with wisdom and is probably best read in bits over a span of weeks or months so that his reflections can be processed and savored.
vverbatim7's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
juliechristinejohnson's review
5.0
Some books simply find you. They enter your life at the right time, when you are most in need of and receptive to hearing their message. This book. My soul. The Universe recognized what I needed and offered up these words in response.
I've been aware of John O'Donohue's work for some time: I have a collection of his poetry, gifted by a dear friend, that I dip into and feel embraced by; I've been to a writing residency at Anam Cara in southwest Ireland, named for one of his works of essays and reflections. But it wasn't until I read a quote in the amazing weekly newsletter of curated wisdom, Maria Popova's Brain Pickings (you must subscribe, you simply must) that I learned of Eternal Echoes and knew it was the book for me, at this time, in this place.
That quote has become the centerpiece of the talk I give at author readings, for it speaks not only to the central themes of my novel, but to the themes playing out in my life.
Eternal Echoes is about coming to terms with the emptiness inherent to one's soul, an emptiness we seek to fill with religion or drugs, love or work, instead of accepting that it is the very space inside we need, in order to grow into our compassion, our true selves.
Eternal Echoes is informed by Celtic mysticism and a fluid Christian theology. Although I am not a Christian and actively avoid anything that smacks of faith-based advice, O'Donohue's approach is philosophical rather than theological. It is something akin to gnosticism, that compels the individual to be an active participant in her own journey to wholeness, not a blind believer in an all-powerful god. He writes of allowing in vulnerability, for vulnerability leads to wonder, and wonder leads to seeking, and seeking leads to growth, and growth makes room for everyone else.
Dog-eared and underlined and highlighted and journaled, Eternal Echoes enters my library of go-to soulcatchers, along with the writings of Richard Hugo, Rilke and Pessoa, Woolf, Didion and Solnit: writers who understand what it means to allow in the darkness and sit tight while it slowly becomes light.
I've been aware of John O'Donohue's work for some time: I have a collection of his poetry, gifted by a dear friend, that I dip into and feel embraced by; I've been to a writing residency at Anam Cara in southwest Ireland, named for one of his works of essays and reflections. But it wasn't until I read a quote in the amazing weekly newsletter of curated wisdom, Maria Popova's Brain Pickings (you must subscribe, you simply must) that I learned of Eternal Echoes and knew it was the book for me, at this time, in this place.
There is a divine restlessness in the human heart. Though our bodies maintain an outer stability and consistency, the heart is an eternal nomad. No circle of belonging can ever contain all the longings of the human heart. As Shakespeare said, we have “immortal longings.” All human creativity issues from the urgency of longing.
That quote has become the centerpiece of the talk I give at author readings, for it speaks not only to the central themes of my novel, but to the themes playing out in my life.
Eternal Echoes is about coming to terms with the emptiness inherent to one's soul, an emptiness we seek to fill with religion or drugs, love or work, instead of accepting that it is the very space inside we need, in order to grow into our compassion, our true selves.
There is something within you that no one or nothing else in the world is able to meet or satisfy. When you recognize that such unease is natural, it will free you from getting on the treadmill of chasing ever more temporary and partial satisfactions. This eternal longing will always insist on some door remaining open somewhere in all the shelters where you belong. When you befriend this longing, it will keep you awake and alert to why you are here on earth.For this reader, acknowledging and living with this longing has been a particularly painful and recent exploration. I am a problem-solver by nature and when something is off, when my soul is akilter, my instinct is to root out the source of the maladjustment and fix it. It's hard to accept that I need to sit with my discomfort and listen to what it is trying tell me.
Most of the activity in society is subconsciously designed to quell the voice crying in the wilderness within you. The mystic Thomas à Kempis said that when you go out into the world, you return having lost some of yourself. Until you learn to inhabit your aloneness, the lonely distraction and noise of society will seduce you into false belonging, with which you will only become empty and weary.By necessity, I have been spending a lot of time "in society" lately, losing bits of myself along the way. And the more time I spend engaged in society, the more Fernando Pessoa's lament from The Book of Disquiet (yet another collection of wisdoms that has found its way to me at the right time): my “passions and emotions (are) lost among more visible kinds of achievement.”
Eternal Echoes is informed by Celtic mysticism and a fluid Christian theology. Although I am not a Christian and actively avoid anything that smacks of faith-based advice, O'Donohue's approach is philosophical rather than theological. It is something akin to gnosticism, that compels the individual to be an active participant in her own journey to wholeness, not a blind believer in an all-powerful god. He writes of allowing in vulnerability, for vulnerability leads to wonder, and wonder leads to seeking, and seeking leads to growth, and growth makes room for everyone else.
Dog-eared and underlined and highlighted and journaled, Eternal Echoes enters my library of go-to soulcatchers, along with the writings of Richard Hugo, Rilke and Pessoa, Woolf, Didion and Solnit: writers who understand what it means to allow in the darkness and sit tight while it slowly becomes light.
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