Beyond the I Beyond the I there is a golden space, a shared place, not in any sky, no fantasy escape. And getting there requires a frightening journey through the gaze of the other. To see your seed in every child’s eye and feel that every wrinkle in a worn hand was your own skin gone dry requires a journey that few may take. For, once begun, the terrifying gaze requires the journey be complete. That look in all the children’s eyes will start a fire in the heart that no private words
or gesture of limb or lip can quench... Alone you must make it through the fire where the death of the I is required... All hands combine in the space of light and beckon all human, not one I but occupants of a shared space where, at last, all hearts can beat together, that space of no difference beyond the I where life no longer defies death. And a great unity brings peace with all creation, defiled no longer by the I. MDH
‘Beyond the I’, from The Season of Fire, Brandon. 1993.
UACHTARÁN NA h ÉIREANN President of Ireland Le Président d’Irlande
Beannachtaí na Nollag agus na hAthbhliana Blessings for Christmas and the New Year Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année
2015
The painting by Monika Wocial-Finke is a copy of the original by Andrea Solario, ‘Madonna of the Green Cushion’ in the Louvre Museum, Paris and was presented to Sabina and President Michael D. Higgins on 5th October, 2015. Monika was one of around a hundred breastfeeding mothers who, along with Cuidiú, the La Leche League of Ireland and the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland attended the 'Latching On' Day at Áras an Uachtaráin to celebrate Breastfeeding Week. The painting is a symbol of Caring Love in Polish tradition. Áras an Uachtaráin, Phoenix Park, D08E1W3. Website: www.president.ie