the human face

Landscape is the first-born of creation.
It was here, hundreds of millions of years before the flowers, the animals or the people appeared. Landscape was here on it’s own. It is the most ancient presence in the world, though it needs a human presence to acknowledge it.

One could imagine that the oceans went silent and the winds became still the first time the human face appeared on earth.

It is the most amazing thing in creation.
In the human face, the anonymity of the universe becomes intimate. The dream of the winds and the oceans, the silence of the stars and the mountains, reached a mother-presence in the human face. The hidden, secret warmth of creation comes to expression here. The face is the icon of creation. In the human mind, the universe becomes resonant with itself. The face is the mirror of the mind. In the human person, creation finds the intimacy it mutely craves. Within the mirror of the mind it becomes possible for diffuse and nature to behold itself.
The human face is an artistic achievement. A subtle, yet visual autobiography of each person. It is here where the soul is revealed. It is here where divinity of the inner life finds an echo and image.

John O' Donnohue - Anam Cara

ANAM CARA - soul friends

“There is a relentless search for the factual and this quest often lacks warmth or reverence. At a certain stage in our life we may wake up to the urgency of life, how short it is. Then the quest for truth becomes the ultimate project. We can often forage for years in the empty fields of self-analysis and self-improvement and sacrifice much of our real substance for specks of cold, lonesome factual truth. The wisdom of the tradition reminds us that if we choose to journey on the path of truth, it then becomes a sacred duty to walk hand in hand with beauty.”

― John O'Donohue - from his book, Anam Cara , Celtic spirituality

Anam Cara, is the Celtic word for soul-friend, or soul love. In the early Celtic church, a person who acted as a teacher, companion or spiritual guide was called an anam cara.
It was someone you confessed to, revealing the hidden intimacies of your life. With the anam cara you could reveal your innermost self, your mind and your heart. This friendship was an act of recognition & belonging. When you had an anam cara, your friendship cut across all convention, morality & category. You were joined in an ancient and eternal way, with the friend of your soul.
With the anam cara there is no set limitations of space or time. There is no cage on the soul. The soul stays a divine light that flows from you to your "other". This art of belonging awakened and fostered a deep & special companionship. In everyone's life there is a great need for an anam cara. In this love, you understand and are understood as you are, without mask or pretention. You can be as you truly are.
Love allows understanding to dawn, and understanding is precious.
Where you are understood, you are at home.
Understanding nourishes belonging. When you really feel understood, you feel free to release yourself into the trust & shelter of the other person's soul. A love like this is the only light that can truly read the secret signature of the other person's individuality and soul.
Love alone is literate in the world of origin. It can decipher identity & destiny. It is precise in awakening and exploring the rich & opaque inner landscape that the anam cara experience. It illuminates the mystery and kindness of the divine. The anam cara is God's gift. Friendship is the nature of God. This love is everything but sentimental, in fact, it is the most real and creative form of human presence. This love is the threshold where the divine and human presence ebb & flow into each other. Where there is this depth in awareness, there is reverence for presence. Awareness is one of the greatest gifts you can bring to your friendship.
Many people have an anam cara of whom they are not aware. Their lack of awareness cloaks their friend's presence & causes feelings of distance and absence.
It is wise to pray for the grace of recognition, inspired by awareness. You may then discover beside you, the anam cara you have always dreamed of. Always longed for.
The anam cara friendship is graced with affection. Friendship awakens affection, and the heart learns a brand new art of feeling. Such a friendship is neither cerebral, nor abstract. It is not merely a metaphor or ideal.
Anam cara alters the meaning of identity and perception. It brings integration & healing. You look and see & understand differently.
The anam cara is sublime by permitting us to enter the unity, of ancient belonging.
(Extract from Anam Cara ISBN 978-1-848-27048-0 John o'Donohue)

Your Anam Cara always accepts you as you truly are, holding you in beauty and light. In order to appreciate this relationship, you must first recognize your own inner light and beauty. This is not always easy to do. The Celts believed that forming an Anam Cara friendship will help you to awaken your awareness of your own nature and experience the joys of others.

In Celtic spirituality, the anam cara friendship awakens the fullness and mystery of your life. You are joined in an ancient and eternal union with humanity that cuts across all barriers of time, convention, philosophy, and definition. When you are blessed with an anam cara, the Irish believe, you have arrived at that most sacred place: ~HOME~

I would like to translate it as spiritual friends. Because the main factor for me between spiritual friends is inspiration (in the spirit). To inspire each other and infuse each other with enthusiasm (en Theos: in God) to help spreading the divine light all over the Universe.
This is also a beautiful expression of the Shiva-Shakti principle.
If a normal relation is to succeed it is very important to share a common goal. If you share the highest goal your spiritual friendship will easily transcend space and time.
Also, Osho used this concept of a spiritual friend: The real master is only a friend, nothing more, nothing less. He can share his experience with you.

I love the definition of Deepak Chopra of the soul or spirit:
Soul is omniscient, it is intuitive, the source of intuition, source of intention, insight, imagination, creativity. The source of meaning, purpose, decision making.
Your soul has infinite creativity, your soul co-creates with God and there is no more valuable quest for human beings then to find their soul.
The chaos that is in the world now is a rift in our collective soul. We have lost our soul. Healing is nothing else as bringing back the restoration of the meaning of wholeness.

An Anam Cara loves your essence.
They see you beyond your mask. This is the mask of persona. This is what you call personality. They see beyond the fear. They see the absence of love. This is love you withdraw from others and yourself. This is the love that is your real power. This does not mean they have to like YOU. You are the one that gets in the way of soul. You soul is the light of love and it needs light. It needs the lightness of being. An Anam Cara will remind you simply “to be.”

An Anam Cara lives close to the land.
They might be found roosting with chickens. They love the elements of fire, water, earth and air. They are elemental beings although they are more down to earth than mental. Some might consider they exhibit opposite traits. They love sensuality and sexuality. They love the play of Eros. This takes them on the wing. An Anam Cara will remind you to come to your senses and be sensational.

An Anam Cara guides you to the presence you are
.They are people of the silence. They listen. They do not debate. They do not fill you up with knowledge. They transmit the knowing of love. They touch you with beauty. This is not their beauty but the beauty of the Beloved. They move in the world as nobodies of import. They do not puff up your ego. They may build your ego up. They do so in order that you can disappear. This is in order that you can fly the coop. This is so you can enter the joy of leaving the prison house of never being enough.

An Anam Cara reminds you of what is important.
They guide you to knowing who you are. They take you into what are called in Ireland “thin places.” They take you to the edge. They coax you to the edge. When you are trusting enough they push you. They know this is the only way for you to learn to fly. They know you are an eagle that was brought up in a society of chickens. The Anam Cara will take you soaring. The very air that will take you higher is learning trust and faith in your essential goodness.

An Anam Cara takes you to the source
You will be taken beyond time and space to the very source of your being. This will be done using different techniques depending on which Anam Cara you talk with. There will be techniques to take you out of the constant chatter of the coop into the light heartedness of life beyond the chicken wire. These techniques take you into ease and allow you to give up dis-ease.

An Anam Cara will affirm YOU.
You will be told that YOU are forever enough. This is because the Anam Cara knows that you are forever enough. They have seen beyond the limitation of the ego. They know the prison house of the little self. They know you hold the key to liberation. Only they might tell you that the door is always open. It was and never will be shut to you. They have trust that “all is well and all manner of things shall be well.”

An Anam Cara does not really care.
They know you are always held in the hand of the Beloved. They are not here to do anything for or to you. They are only there to facilitate your discovery that you are always enough. They know that what you need is not more of anything but a great big helping of “no-thing.” This gives your soul true rest. This is where you give up trying to live life and become life abundant. You become the flow of the essential. Nothing matters because it all matters. Ultimately they take you to love of soul.