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To be human is to belong. Belonging is a circle that embraces everything; if we reject it, we damage our nature. The word “belonging” holds together the two fundamental aspects of life: being and longing.

Being and Longing, the longing of our Being and the being of our Longing. Belonging is deep; only in a superficial sense does it refer to our external attachment to people, places and things. It is the living and passionate presence of the soul. Belonging is the heart and warmth of intimacy. When we deny it, we grow cold and empty. Our life’s journey is the task of refining our belonging so that it may become more true, loving, good and free.

We do not have to force belonging. The longing within us always draws us towards belonging and again towards new forms of belonging when we have outgrown the old ones. Postmodern culture tends to define identity in terms of ownership: possessions, status, and qualities. Yet the crucial essence of who you are is not owned by you. The most intimate belonging is self-belonging. Yet your self is not something you could ever own; it is rather the total gift that every moment of your life endeavors to receive with honor. True belonging is gracious receptivity. n

—By John O’Donohue

From Eternal Echoes: Celtic Reflections on our Yearning to Belong by John O’Donohue, published in 1999 by Cliff Street Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.