Sensuality

"If we come home to our own sensuality and if we let go of all the awful, brutalizing notions of sin and guilt with which we were inflicted and we recognize and recover the lyrical innocence of our own bodies then we will come into the sacred within us.   It will also in another way relieve us of the crass, harsh brutality the modern idea of Eros, which is very voyeuristic and driven and lacks the textured gentleness of loving sensuality."  John O' Donahue

Learning

"One always learns one's mystery, at the price of one's innocence."  Robertson Davies

Guilt and Fear...the Lie

"People were given to believe that they were naturally bad and sinful.   They let this toxic idea into their minds and it gradually poisoned their whole way of seeing themselves.   Sin was in every corner and probable damnation waited at the end of the road.   People were drafted into blasphame against their own nature.  You could not let yourself go.   Any longing to claim your nature or pursue your wildness would lead to ruin.   This corrupted the innocence of people's sensual lives and broke the fluency of their souls.   Rather than walk the path with the encouraging companionship of your protecting angel beside you and the passionate creativity of the Holy Spirit at your deepest core you were trapped between guilt and fear."   John O' Donahue

Second Innocence

"Second innocence comes later in life, when you have lived deeply.   You know the bleakness of life.   You know it's incredible capacity to disappoint and sometimes destroy.  Yet not withstanding that realistic recognition of life's negative potential, you still maintain an outlook that is wholesome and hopeful and bright.   It is innocent in it's trust in the good and the true and the beautiful."    John O' Donahue