John O'Donohue was an Irish poet and philosopher who lived in the solitude of a cottage in the West of Ireland and spoke Gaelic as his native language. He had degrees in philosophy, English literature and was awarded a Ph.D in philosophical theology from the University of Tubingen in 1990.
His dissertation developed a new concept of Person through a re-interpretation of the philosophy of Hegel.
The prestigious Review of Metaphysics commended him for "breaking new ground in our thinking about consciousness…(with) a richer and deeper notion of Personhood."
O'Donohue said: "Hegel struck me as someone who put his eye to the earth at a most unusual angle and managed to glimpse the circle toward which all things aspire."
Through the glow of image and narrative and a deft underpinning of thought, John's writing draws the reader into intimate conversation with neglected or unknown regions of the soul.
Readers say his work puts words on things they have felt for years but never found expressed.
As a speaker John evoked an atmosphere of Attention where heart and head gradually open to new horizons and where often the inspired self gains courage to break free from inner prisons.
His work seeks to be a threshold where the hunger of our contemporary questions might awaken treasure-wells in our tradition.
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Sunday, Feb. 24
Some of John’s family and friends will be participating in a television documentary about John for RTE 1’s Would You Believe? (24th February, 2008, at 10.25pm - GMT)
The film features rare television footage and radio recordings of John O’Donohue as part of a celebration and exploration of his work.
http://www.rte.ie/live/
It is a programme deserving of your time and please God it will bring to you a sense of this most spiritual and earthy man whose time here was only too short amongst us.