The rest of that day was spent exploring Inis Mor, wandering
up to the area known as Seven
Churches (which actually only has two churches, dating from around the 10th
to the 15th centuries, and a bunch of other ruined buildings, likely
the remains of domestic buildings), visiting a tiny, ancient stone hut with
tinier doorways. Apparently small doorways isn’t an indication of the height or
size of the inhabitants, but was a way of keeping heat in the buildings – I
can’t help thinking that the practicalities of having to crouch down to get in
and out (the doorway on this house only came up to my waist) would get rather
wearing after a time, however there was no denying that on the cold day I
visited, even without a fire, the little houselet did feel cosy.
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| Believe it or not this is a cottage. You can just make out the door, just to the top left of centre. |
Everywhere I was struck by the evident lifecycle of human
habitation – stone houses being built, at the height of their existences,
falling into decay, in ruins with plants and creatures of all kinds reclaiming
them for their own. It felt wonderfully natural, like being in a garden, and
the phrase “ashes to ashes, dust to dust” kept floating through my head. How
lovely it must be to build a home out of the materials immediately to hand,
knowing that when it was no longer in use, it would sink slowly back into the
land from which it came, causing no damage, leaving no permanent marker of
itself. I couldn’t stop myself from ruefully considering the heritage that the
majority of us are leaving behind, and how very far we are from such loving,
understanding relationship with the world around us. In a place like Ireland,
where there is so much poverty, so much dependence on the riches of the Earth
for the existence of our species, and where spirituality is so intimately tied
up with humans’ lives and their work with the Earth, with poetry and music and
wry senses of humour, it is easy to both hope and despair for what we could be
and what we seem to stubbornly refuse to become.