214. Fr. Seán ÓLaoire – Former Catholic Priest / Clinical Psychologist / Author – Giving Death the Middle Finger
May 6, 2025
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Fr. Seán ÓLaoire, a former Catholic priest with a PhD in transpersonal psychology, shares his multifaceted journey from priesthood to exploring spirituality and reincarnation. He discusses the vibrant Irish customs surrounding death, the role of storytelling in preserving culture, and the interplay of masculine and feminine energies. Seán reflects on living in Africa, encounters with the Vatican, and the significance of language in personal growth. A captivating conversation that challenges conventional beliefs and embraces a holistic view of life and death.
Integrating both masculine and feminine energies is crucial for societal morality, advocating for coexistence rather than replacement in spirituality.
Irish wakes celebrate death with joy through storytelling and dance, challenging cultural taboos and fostering a more compassionate view of mortality.
Language shapes cultural wisdom and connecting human experiences, emphasizing the need to preserve linguistic diversity for deeper connections.
Deep dives
The Fusion of Masculine and Feminine Energies
The speaker emphasizes the need to integrate both masculine and feminine energies rather than simply replacing one with the other. This perspective is highlighted through the lens of history and societal shifts, where women have been given rights but have not universally resulted in improvements in societal morality. Instead of viewing spirituality through a gender-based lens, the idea is to embrace the Taoist principle of yin-yang, which represents the harmony between these energies. There are occasions in life where exhibiting either masculine or feminine traits is essential, indicating that both energies have their places and should coexist.
Cultural Perspectives on Death
The celebration of death in Irish culture is illustrated through the tradition of wakes, where the deceased is honored not with somber rituals but with laughter, storytelling, and even dance. This contrasts sharply with other cultures, emphasizing the unique approach to mortality that is both liberating and deeply humanizing. Such gatherings serve as communal experiences celebrating life, where the dead are honored with joy rather than fear or sorrow. This cultural acceptance of death fosters a greater understanding of mortality and challenges the taboo surrounding it.
The Interconnection of Mysticism and Language
The notion that language offers diverse perspectives on life is underscored, as losing languages can lead to the erosion of cultural wisdom and insight. Language encapsulates not only words but also the unique worldviews and lived experiences of different cultures. The speaker suggests that communication may have evolved from telepathic abilities to spoken languages, which, while useful, have also led to a decline in deeper connections. Preserving and appreciating the diversity of languages is seen as essential in maintaining the richness of human experience and connection.
The Role of Reincarnation in Personal Growth
Reincarnation is positioned as a critical component of personal and spiritual evolution, where individuals reincarnate to explore various life lessons and relationships. This perspective challenges conventional views of life and death, suggesting that souls choose to return to learn from experiences and awaken to greater truths. The impact of past lives on current identities and relationships becomes a focal point of exploration, emphasizing the interconnectedness of existence across dimensions. Through this understanding, the speaker advocates for a compassionate view of life’s challenges as opportunities for growth and learning.
Achieving Greatness Through Purpose
Greatness is framed as the realization of one’s life purpose, akin to an acorn's journey to becoming a robust oak tree. This metaphor symbolizes the potential each individual holds, suggesting that everyone has within them the capacity to fulfill significant roles and impact others positively. The speaker highlights that life's teleological nature means every experience contributes to this overarching purpose, encouraging individuals to embrace their unique paths. Ultimately, achieving greatness is about recognizing one's inherent abilities and using them to inspire and guide others on their journeys.
Welcome back to Behind Greatness. We chat with Fr. Sean O’Laoire, joining us from his mountain side home in California. We delight in the dance with this conversation. Sean has a background in math, a PhD in transpersonal psychology, he speaks multiple languages and is an ordained catholic priest. We learn about his experience living in Africa, cataloging hundreds of Gaelic proverbs, dealing with death threats from politicians, receiving that letter from the Vatican and everything in between. We talk STATE vs STAGE of consciousness, churches and graveyards, “Irishing” Christianity, his druid grandfather, reincarnation and the early Church, the banning of Irish funerals, telepathy, stories and culture, language as a blessing and a curse, the masculine and the feminine, imagination, dancing with the dead and the Lioness …. What a dance.
