Longing and the Celtic Spirit

It is said that the Celtic Spirit is one of strong Longing. In fact, a lot of the old Celtic Poems and Verses spoke of longing. Longing became its on entity in these poems and verses, so much so that it was always capitalized as if Longing was an actual person.

Tell me, men of learning, what is Longing made from?

What cloth was put in it that it does not wear out with me?

Gold wears out, silver wears out, velvet wears out, silk wears out,

every ample garment wears out - yet Longing does not wear out.

Great Longing, cruel Longing is breaking my heart every day;

when I sleep most sound at night Longing comes and wakes me.

~Excerpt from an old Cymric (Welsh) poem

Everyone knows the three basics - food, shelter, and water. If we have all three of these, we then move to a deeper more sensual/want or longing. What do you long for? Think about this and take some time. This is important. Everyone has a longing deep inside that means much more than fame and money. Something that goes deeper than the materialistic. Some may long to help the needy and in doing so achieve a deeper satisfaction on a higher plane. Others may long for a relationship or union with nature. While others may want to birth and raise a family. No one person's longing is more important than another's.

I can laugh and say "I long for a clean house." But honestly, my motto has always been that when I am on my deathbed, the last thing on my mind is going to be "Gee, I wish I would have cleaned more." That's the difference between a wish and a longing. What are you going to long for on your deathbed? Will you have achieved this longing before that point? If you haven't moved towards achieving what you long for, what is blocking you?

Knowing what your longing is may be something that is on the tip of your tongue, while others may need to meditate and really think on what their longing is. God knows in today's society are deep wants and longings are sometimes suppressed. For me, I know exactly what it is. I've known for a long time. I have moved towards it only to have it paused to raise a family. Now, I'm back to yearning for that longing. I want it so bad I can taste it. When I'm on my deathbed, I want to be able to proudly say that I had achieved my longing and that I spent most of my life working with it and not against it. I will hold off on revealing my longing this time because I don't want this blog to be about me. I want to hear what everyone else has to say?