Categories: uncategorized
Date: 31 December 2006 09:35:22
Iona is described as a "thin place" - that is it is one of those places recognised as where Celts believed that the veil between heaven and earth was thin & they could be seen to meet.
I have been to other thin places, or spiritual chill out zones as I often describe them and was to some extent was initially disappointed, as I arrived at the abbey that the island didn't immeadiately have that vibe to it. However, as the week went on and I discovered the North Shore and began to soak up the rest of the island I realised that it really is a thin place & perhaps a thinner place than anywhere else I had discovered.
The North Shore is a beautiful place where the Atlantic comes crashing in against the shore, meeting sandy shore and rocks of red and black. Sometimes the sand is clear at other times, just hours later, it is covered in kelp. It is one of the two most beautiful places on the whole earth that I have ever seen. It felt amazing.
To get from the end of the road to the North Shore you have to negotiate your way through a field where sheep and cattle live. To me this was a really powerful image, having to make my way through the s*** in order to reach heaven on earth. If I had decided that I wasn't willing to go through that field I would never have seen / experienced the beauty of North Shore; and wouldn't have been able to connect with God in the way I did in that place.