Trouble in Ireland

It is ironic that you brought this up, Coyote... today I was overwhelmed with thoughts of Ireland. Specifically kept being drawn back to images of Ireland's great horse heritage, and even Bruce Springsteen's Irish roots when I was listening to his music this afternoon... (Brilliant Disguise* now playing)

You may feel that is superficial, but it led me to a flurry of impressions on Northern Eire and the 'Troubles', the tragic waste of so many young lives and how "civil" war is framed in so much devastation for everyone involved. U2 wrote some sad and powerful ballads on this War that lasted for so long... and altered so many lives.

It really seems that certain religious institutions are being challenged radically right now everywhere, as in the devastation just wrought in Sri Lanka... let's send a permeating intention in the hope that understanding and peace will prevail for all in the crosshairs of hatred and misplaced allegiance to intolerance and the hubris of man. ? 

After some meditation on Brexit, which is about British sovereignty and not being able to let go of the hubris of past rules and the old structures, I feel that Ireland is caught in the echoes of the past conflicts, but will have to adjust to maintain a direction of peace. The violence with the death of Lyra McKee will not be tolerated to continue by any side there... there will be mass condemnation even though unrest and continued conflict.

I am getting a really distinct feeling of a 'soft' border in Northern Ireland, and that Brexit will go through although it will be as if the UK has a foot in both camps (?) This could mean that all the confusion in so many options will morph into some kind of cohesion... it is an incredibly complicated issue on so many levels (what a headache). Maybe not resolved for a few months... I'm seeing around August perhaps.

I don't see Theresa May in the picture in this deal, but someone who comes after her as the integrater or negotiator, a new PM? I pulled one Tarot card : The Chariot, which reflects this. And one more : The World, as the outcome. The EU perhaps.

Thanks Stargazer. I especially like your phrase "echoes of the past conflicts." While these recent instances of sectarian unrest might resemble the Troubles,  echoes grow fainter with time, and both the Catholic and Protestant communities went through too much to repeat past mistakes. So yes, car bombs and shootings will not be tolerated, and the EU and Irish government will put a lot of pressure on the UK to find a solution to the most immediate issue of preventing a hard border on the island. 

So perhaps we will see crisis averted this summer. The two sides might even come up with a solution that leads to further integration between Ulster and the Republic of Ireland. I found this year-old post from Zoron about Ireland, and according to him:

"There will be serious political disputes, protests, etc, but the Nationalists, supported by the Irish Government, will attempt further negotiations, and  will support the Dublin Government in its attempts to solve the problems  of BREXIT, which will have serious consequences for Ireland. The Unionist community in Northern ireland, will show total intransigence, and refusal to cooperate on peace efforts, and will eventually be sidelined by the UK and Irish government, and the EU authorities. A solution will be imposed. That solution will be reunification, but it will be done in stages, as various intermediate proposals and steps are taken. The Unionist community will respond with some violence, but it will fall short of a resumption of the War. By 2024/26, Ireland will be completely reunited."

I'm also getting the sense that the Unionist are fighting a losing battle, and that the DUP's stubborn opposition to "regulatory decoupling" between Great Britain and Northern Ireland will ultimately lead to the scenario they loathe the most: a unified Ireland. Such are the fruits of hubris.

Note: The quote from Zoron came from this thread.

Thank you so very much,  Coyote, for sharing your incredible intellect and wealth of knowkedge with all of us and for the link and quote from one of Zoron's amazing posts. 

He was one of our most truly gifted seers and we miss him and his incredible ability to see, to know, and to understand how so many of us were stuck in having our own limited views --aliens jump into mind ?--  and fears and bring them forth to encourage us in his own unique ways to consider and discuss them..

I am glad we have you here to remind all of us that his gifts far outweighed our own denial of many often dark and scary changes ahead.

I think we are all beginning to see all of these huge changes ahead, that while might seem catastrophic to many are still part of the intrinsic patterns of time and change, decay and dissolution laying down the compost, however rotten it may seem, in order to fertilize change and propel us into the changes we not only need to see, but need to be.

Every post you write is a gift and knowlegde shared from a teacher to all of us as students.

PS:  It was great seeing and having you be a part of the Pink Moon Meditaion ?

Stargazer,

You not only come from and feel the stars you are connecting so very many with your own brillant light.

I am good friends with a number of Irish friends. On almost all levels, the echoes of their own pasts continue to haunt, drive, and even stop their own spiritual growth. Thank you for connecting your own haunting words to my heart connection with them. 

Thank you and bless you in all ways for being here and sharing your gifts with all of us.

You're right on, Michele. We cannot be reminded enough these days that this period of chaos is also a time of necessary disintegration and fertilization. That's why I'm starting to tune out daily political news bulletins  that the media landscape is constantly interpreting as "the end of democracy," the "opening salvos of a new civil war," or "the fall of the West." I think it's more productive to try to look at each new impasse facing society as an opportunity to explore new narratives and new ways of being. For example, there's a lot of anxiety right now here in the US about the sharp-right turn the federal judiciary is taking. Looked at from a different angle, however, our illegitimate president's remaking of the courts is opening a path for common citizens to question the legitimacy (and thereby dismantle) the paternalistic and corporatist structures that have directed so much of American history. On the other side of the Atlantic, maybe the chaos of Brexit will lead the next generation of politicians to restructure the EU so that it genuinely fosters cross-border well-being and diplomacy as opposed to neoliberal economic agendas. Overall, I get a strong "psychic pull" whenever I think of the upcoming 2020s. I feel like the mechanisms of cause and effect will unfold in ways we've never experienced, and that be 2030 we'll end up in a social and political place that is hard to fathom right now.

But back to Ireland. Lyra McKee's death has incensed both communities in Ulster, and her funeral brought together politicians from London, Dublin, and Belfast, all of whom were excoriated by the presiding priest for their squabbling. I've read several times in the past year or so that Ireland may be entering a new paradigm. If there's any redemptive aspect to Lyra's death, it's that her loss will spur Éire to move away from the essentialist paradigm of Unionist vs. Nationalist, Catholic vs. Protestant. 

Beautiful, Coyote, beautiful. Thank you once again.