Last week I gave a talk at Loretto Senior School in Edinburgh, which I enjoyed enormously. The students I met were committed and reflective, and we managed to experience a moment of real peace – uplifting peace – in beautiful surroundings. It was therefore fitting that I should encounter there a Gaelic Blessing which is all about peace; beginning with ‘Deep Peace of the Running Wave to you, Deep Peace of the Flowing Air to you…’, it continues in this vein to encompass the whole of the earth and beyond, and is, quite simply, beautiful.
John Rutter, the great British composer, wrote an extended version of the blessing, which has been recorded by various groups around the world, including his own Cambridge Singers; delving deeper, however, the most interesting analysis of the blessing I found was by another contemporary composer, this time American – Z Randall Stroope. In his analysis of the origins of the Gaelic Blessing, he explores the original Gaelic and its traditional translation into English:
May the peace of the wave always be with you
May the peace of the sky (air) always be with you
May the peace of the quiet land always be with you
A deeper probing of the original language reveals, though, that it contained other meanings which enhanced the notion of peace around us – ‘wave’, for instance, also has connotations of ‘good news’, because, historically, ships brought with them news on the waves. An understanding of the original context of the words adds to the impact of the whole today.
Research in the field of neuroscience increasingly shows that we react to words not simply in the ‘language’ areas of our brains, but in the areas which relate to the experiences that they describe. The more we understand by each word, therefore, the greater the depth of the experience that we will have when we read or hear it. This is why story-telling is so important – a narrative evokes memories and makes connections. We learn to walk in other people’s shoes; we learn – as long as we are open to this – to understand others.
If ever there was an argument for learning as much as we can about the world around us – past and present, near and far – then this is it. Education and learning matter; an openness to experience, thought and imagination will take us on journeys of the mind that can equal and surpass the physical journeys that others have taken ahead of us. The more we can delve into meanings and stories, the more we will make connections that help us genuinely to make those leaps of understanding which allow us to accept others – wherever and whoever they are.
If what we seek is ultimately world peace for our next generations, then surely education is our starting point.
