 Richard
of Éire
I. Biography
• Gaeilge name: Risteárd Mac Suibhne (Uí Éire)
• English name: Richard Mc Sweeney (of Éire)
• Year of birth: 1955
• Place of birth: Isle of Éire
• Nationality: Irish
• Marital status: Happily
• Children: Son & Daughter
• Residence: Tallow, County Waterford, Éire
Self-designation & Lifestyle:
• Rural philosopher-poet of the lyrical kind
• Nuptial hermit of the Green Desert
Qualifications:
-- Diploma in Philosophy & Arts from St. Patrick’s College,
Maynooth, Éire
• While studying to be a Catholic Missionary priest; six years in
St. Columban’s Seminary, Dalgan Park, Éire.
• Discontinued his studies for priesthood as he felt his role in
life lay elsewhere.
-- Bachelor’s degree in Korean Language & Literature from Kyunggi
University, Seoul, Korea
• Conducted through the mediums of Korean and Classical Chinese.
• Thesis in Korean on the 17th century Korean classic The Nine Cloud
Dream.
-- Master’s degree in Chinese Philosophy from Seoul National University,
Seoul, Korea
• Conducted through the mediums of Korean and Classical Chinese
• Thesis in Korean on the circa 3rd century BCE Chinese Taoist classic
The Chuang-Tzu
• Distinction of having been the first Irish person in Korea to
write a masters in Korean and Classical Chinese on The Chuang-Tzu
at the prestigious Seoul National University.
-- Doctorate candidate in Chinese Philosophy at Seoul National University,
Seoul, Korea
• Continued focus on The Chuang-Tzu
• Adhering to a higher consideration, namely that of the education
of his children he decided not to complete the program, but wisely
chose instead to move the family to Ireland.
International experience:
• English Language Instructor for 2 years in the Foreign Language
School at Seoul City University.
• Guest Lecturer for 9 years in the Department of English Language
& Literature at Seoul City University.
• English Language & Literature Teacher for 3 years in Dar Al-Fikr
School (Tutorial Section) in Jeddah
• English Language Instructor for 3 years in an isolated desert
military cadet academy in Shahama in the UAE
Inspirational mentors:(*)
• 3rd century BCE Chinese Taoist philosopher Chuang-Tzu for his
constant reminder that true philosophy is of the flight of the butterfly.
• 9th century CE Irish philosopher Iohannes Scottus Eriugena for
his courage to freely speculate on even the greatest of human concerns,
and in an age too when such profound questioning was looked upon
as a waste of time.
• 16th century literary genius William Shakespeare for his admirable
ability to transform his uncertainties with syntax into a powerful
and enchanting art form.
• 20th century Lebanese poet, artist, philosopher Gibran Kahlil
Gibran for his ability to beautifully give expression to the gardens
of his inner world.
(*) Interestingly, that while his inspirational
mentors for the most part have all been men, his writings have women
taking center stage.
Primary influences on his writings:
• Spiritually: Native Éireinn, Christian, Jewish, Islamic.
• Philosophically: Nature of Éire, The Chuang-Tzu.
• Literarily: John M. Synge, Authorized Version of the Bible, Shakespeare.
Quotation:
“This eloquent, honourable road you have chosen be surely a solitary
one, and oft quite lonely it will be for thee, yet be of a joyful
courage for in like balance rewarding it will be.” (Source: Hearing
in the Write, Canto 19, Ivy-muffled).
Books:
• Myriam of Lebanon
• A Jesus of Nazareth
• Generations Reaching
• Hearing in the Write
• Innkeeper’s Fire
Work in progress:
• “Unto Lineage Royal”
Aspiration:
• To have his works be found to be worthy of translation into various
other languages, especially into his native Gaeilge, French, and
Arabic.
II. Books
 Myriam
of Lebanon - Description:
This unique work, established on Gibran Kahlil Gibran’s The
Prophet presents a philosopher-poetess called Myriam from the Phoenician
port city of Byblos of the land of Lebanon who visits the isle of
Éire and while there shares of her profound wisdom.
The work is a bright beacon of hope and strength for our times and
beyond; a beautiful and endearing work born of the green fields
of Éire and the snow-capped mountains of Lebanon.
Chapter 1
The Dawnsong Annunciation
The Qadisha valley-spirit of Lubnan Mountain ever lives in inspiration;
inspiration’s gateway being the issuer forth of ideas that nourish
the needs of the times that be.
Subtle she is almost like as if she were making no effort at all.
Yet be she is most assuredly.
Only those who lend themselves to patiently and reverently standing
in dawns and twilights can begin to appreciate her profound generosity.
Behold, hereupon is presented the Annunciation of the Qadisha valley-spirit
of Lubnan Mountain, concerning Myriam the Beautiful; a fragrant
scion from her upland groves.
In this scroll herewith, it is written for all to read in refined
contemplation, and joyful anticipation, a goodly and timely message.
My Myriam my Beloved, who is my dawn and my fulfilment unto her
own day, had waited seven years in my city isle of Éirelese
for her ship that was to return and bear her back to my Lebanon,
my land of her birth.
And in my seventh year, on my eight day of September, my month of
reaping, she climbed my hill without my city walls and looked seaward;
and she beheld her ship coming with my mist.
Then my gates of her heart were flung open, and her joy flew far
out over my sea.
And she closed her eyes and prayed in my silences of her soul.
But as she descended my hill, my sadness came upon her, and she
thought in her heart:
How shall I go in my peace and without my sorrow?
Nay, not without my wound in my spirit shall I leave this city.
Long were my days of pain I have spent within its walls, and long
were my nights of aloneness; and who can depart from her pain and
her aloneness without her regret?
Too many fragments of my spirit have I scattered in these streets,
and too many are my children of my longing that walk leafless among
these hills, and I cannot withdraw from them without my burden and
my ache.
It is not my garment I cast off this day, but my skin that I tear
with my own hands.
Nor is it my thought I leave behind me, but my heart made sweet
with my hunger and with my thirst.
Yet I cannot tarry longer.
My sea that calls all things unto her calls me, and I must embark.
For to stay, though my hours burn in my night, is to languish and
fossilise and be bound in my mould.
Fain would I take with me all that is here.
But how shall I?
My voice cannot carry my tongue and my lips that gave it my wings.
Alone must it seek my ether.
And alone and without her nest shall my eagle fly across my sun.
Now when she reached my foot of my hill, she turned again towards
my sea, and she saw her ship approaching, and upon her prow my mariners,
my women and men of her own land…
 A
Jesus of Nazareth - Description:
A genre-breaking work readily encouraging and lending itself
to comparison and contrast with the Holy Bible, the Holy Qur’an,
and the Holy Tanakh as well as with the principal philosophical
Taoist texts, namely the Tao Te Ching and The Chuang-Tzu.
Essentially a contemplative work, written as it is to be interpreted
both exoterically and esoterically is an attempt to restore to the
bright - the light, the memory, and the power of insight, dream,
and intuition.
Chapter 1
Word being fulfilled
1:1 In the village of Nazareth in Galilee, having been
born and raised, and now in your twenty-seventh year, and having
only recently returned there, having spent seven years in wandering
contemplation in the Middle Kingdom of Sinai, you will on the first
Sunbathian of spring, enter into the temple, where according to
custom you will be invited to stand up to read;
1:2 And there will be given over to you a roll of Isaiah,
and having unfolded it, will find the place where it is written:
1:3 'The Spirit of The God is within me, to live the good
news of the reign of The God: to bring about peace and joy; to bring
about deliverance from unthinking.'
1:4 And having folded the roll; having given it back to
the attendant, you will sit down, and the eyes of all in the temple
will be gazing on you.
1:5 And you will begin to say unto them, 'From this the
first Sunbathian of spring, is this word being fulfilled in your
hearing;'
1:6 And all will be wondering at the gracious words that
are mellifluously coming forth out of your mouth,
1:7 And they will be filled with a peace and a joy, that
is new to them.
1:8 And after some time you will go on down, and sail across
Lake Galilee to Capernaum, and daily teach,
1:9 And everyone will be astonished at your teaching, because
your word will be with the authority of your heart.
1:10 And in the temple in Capernaum there will be a man,
having a troublesome spirit, and he will cry out to you,
1:11 Saying, 'Away, what, to me? You have come to destroy
me; I know you are, a holy one of The God.'
1:12 And you will quieten him, saying, 'Be silent, and
come forth out of the man;' and the troublesome spirit having cast
him into the midst, will come forth from him, having hurt him not…
 Generations
Reaching - Description:
This work is being presented as a time barque for the generations
of our future, thence enabling them to know and to come to appreciate
the reflections and aspirations that one of their ancestors had
with respect to a sampling of life’s eternal concerns, while happily
living simply and plainly with his wife and two children in a 21st
century of his era, in a beautiful border village that the people
of his day called Tallow, on the lovely isle they called Éire,
of the fragile planet they called Earth.
Chapter 1
A fragrance so lovely
One sunny Saturday morning I was sweeping the footpath outside the
front door of our house.
I was using a fine strong yard brush that I had bought down at Cunningham's
the village hardware store.
As I was sweeping I was daydreaming.
And this is what I was dreaming.
"I am the Sun in the sky.
Truly I am the Sun and know nothing about any Human.
Then by somehow I find myself to be a Human.
Truly I am a Human and know nothing about any Sun."
With coming out of this daydream, I couldn't rightly say for sure
whether I was a Human that had dreamt he was the Sun or the Sun
that had dreamt it was a Human.
I thought to myself there must be some difference surely between
being a Human and being the Sun.
Yet, do you know what?
I couldn't for the life of me say if I really knew what that difference
might be.
Verily, I concluded that I am undergoing translations.
Now I am the Sun, then here a Human, and there about Something else;
continuously translating.
And then it came to me that everything then must be undergoing translations
all of the time.
This thought made a whole lot of goodly sense to me.
So I stopped the sweeping for a little while, and leant my oxter
on the handle of the brush to look up at the sky that I may give
that thought some further consideration.
Oh, I don't know for how long I was lost there in such fine contemplation,
but didn't I find myself looking across the street at Kay's Flower
shop.
Day after day she has it looking lovely; taking great care that
the floral displays on the windows are always ahead of festive days
such as Valentine's, Saint Patrick's, Daffodil and Mother's Day.
They often remind me of the classic 1960 movie “The Time Machine”
in which the boutique across the street keeps changing with the
times…
III.
Downloading
All of my written
works and a sample of my artworks are now available as instant pdf
downloads.
Myriam of Lebanon
A Jesus
of Nazareth
Generations
Reaching
Hearing
in the Write
Innkeeper's
Fire (vol. 1&2)
Visit:
http://store.payloadz.com/go?id=215529
to learn more …
IV. ►►
Poem Inspiration
V. ►►
Publication
updates
Contact: rich.etidings@gmail.com
|
