And the first thing that came into my mind was Free Will/Free Speech! Egalitarianism, personal sovereignty, free will, free expression through language, -- laughter, voice and speech -- are fundamental healing principles in Celtic philosophy.

Any other condition could be called subjection, oppression or slavery. It's that simple! And we know that when we are seriously unwell we must take stock of our lives and reclaim our autonomy.

"The "CRAIC" (pronounced "crack") is an Irish expression for good, fun conversation amongst equals -- "the gift of the gab" -- "the Blarney" -- good story-telling and conversation with plenty of music and laughter. This is the main focus of Irish social life and it has its roots in ancient Celtic ancestry and the continuing determination to maintain "inner" freedom.

Anyone who understands and celebrates the concept of personal sovereignty as "individual freedom and responsibility for acts of free will" can become a lively communicator who knows the ecstasy of good communication: new stories and new experiences to share over and over, renewing the thrill of original discovery. "The CRAIC."

It is interesting to observe the remnants of a joyous spirit associated with the Celts -- particularly the Irish -- even with the history of suffering they have experienced.

In the ancient Celtic world view, Truth is the supreme power. The "word" is sacred and imbued with real magic power and is not to be profaned. "Truth is the foundation of speech and all words are founded on truth." Weaving the truth into mythical stories is considered a high art by the Irish.

The spirit of inner freedom is still alive in Celtic people. The oppression of Celtic culture by various changes in the established order of their society has not squelched the individual Celt, who was brought up in an environment where personal responsibility for the definition of reality is an innate freedom.

Let me throw a little historical perspective on the subject. In recent years, rich archeological findings trace the people whom we call the Celts across Europe before 3000 BC. The name Celt comes from Keltori, "the hidden people." They were elusive.

But we know from archeological, anthropological and historical research that they were a rich and sophisticated tribal culture. They didn't have a centralised government. They were united inter-tribally by their shared language and world view/philosophy. Their system of government was, in fact, more like the structure of a modern state. The Druids were their intellectual class incorporating all the professions. The Druids were a spiritual people -- not a materialistic people.

Celtic culture successfully upheld social egalitarianism for thousands of years -- their philosophy promoted the personal sovereignty of each individual based on free will. This is unique in the history of European societies, where partriarchal hierarchy ruled from east to west.

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The western world today is the successor of an empire-structured cultural heritage. The Roman Empire-State was hierarchally organised and authoritarian -- women were just bearers of children and objects of pleasure. Celtic society was centered on moral order with a mythical world view where men and women were equal. For the expansion of the Roman Empire, the Celtic Druids and their world view had to go.

Up until the seventeenth century, unlike the rest of Europe and England, Ireland's Bardic schools had an educational tradition outside the monastic and ecclesiastical schools which turned out poets, historians, lawyers, doctors, etc.. Legends speak of these schools reaching back, before the 1st millenium BC, to ancient Druidic schools throughout the Celtic world.

We know from historic documentation that great and heated debate went on around the Catholic Church's concept of original sin and the Celtic philosophical concept of free will. The Celtic philosopher, Pelagius (c.AD 354-420), believed that the Church doctrine of original sin, expounded by Augustine of Hippo, would lead to personal irresponsibility since it was based on the theory that everything is preordained and that we are all imperfect sinners because we have inherited the original sin of Adam. This theory denied people's capacity to live openly, with courage and with free will.

The concept of sin was foreign to the Celts. Pelagius argued that through the exercise of free will, where people's choices were their own, people could be free of sin. For this heresy, St. Augustine initiated long arguments, condemnations and excommunications of Pelagius and his followers. Pelagius was excommunicated three times and eventually "liberated" each time. The Church didn't win the debate and the Celts held their position on this central philosophical point up until the 12th century. St. Augustine and his followers accused Pelagius of reviving the "Natural Philosophy of the Druids" which is, essentially, that when the will is free there is no sin, and that we have the power to exercise choice in any moment, no matter what context. Pelagius wrote about "The ability, the will, the act." Many writers since his time have presented the same arguments, which we now call "Pelagian."

In a free society, all people are equal in common law, and can exercise free will and free speech in an environment where centralized government has no controlling influence over individual personal sovereignty.

The main focus of my interest is in understanding the concepts of "personal sovereignty" and "egalitarianism". These concepts are so contrary to modern social philosophy that just coming to understand them is an education in itself! I like to understand this perspective on freedom through the metaphor of the dance -- our most ancient ritual.

So, let us picture the dancer standing still with eyes closed -- concentrating all their attention on "being in the body", first noticing the energy that is focused in themselves. When the dancer feels tuned in to the profound nature of their own sense of being, they may begin to move -- exploring "the meaning of energy" as they dance. Maintaining a concentrated focus would require a sense of inner stillness while they are moving -- shoulders dropped back -- body light and loose and still -- feeling the energy flowing up through the feet on the ground. The next experiment would be to concentrate on movement with others: first, moving toward another person; then around another person; then in the traditional dance forms - such as in a circle or in a row of people moving toward each other and away - all the while noticing the movement of energy. The main aim would be to keep concentrating on the quality of the energy and its fluctuation in relation to other people. I suggest that this focus on the movement of energy within and between people will lead to genuine sense of egalitarianism through perception of the inner "spiritual" domain of personal sovereignty -- which is our true state of being.

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The New World/America offered the first opportunity for the enshrinement of personal sovereignty -- individual rights -- in a centralised government. Free speech was protected from government intervention. Even the early Greeks didn't offer this breadth of personal freedom in their democracy. Socrates had to take hemlock as the remedy for the free speech of his adventurous spirit.

Free speech involves Self-transcendance -- I and thou. It is a primal urge no matter how that is defined socially. Self-transcendence is a natural process for the person who has been brought up with a world view which sees the individual as a sacred conduit for universal energy, as the Celts did.

Celtic people are all over the globe now. Remember that the Celts were originally a migrating tribal culture unified by language and fundamental egalitarian philosophy. Celtic people today are the inheritors of a culture foreign to the prevailing culture, with a foreign language and foreign cultural concepts. Their story is a true story and a story we can learn from! A legitimate inheritance.

The feeling-need for people today is to create a more "intimate" process for development of deeper insight. For this, physics has met up with religious philosophy. The superparadigm of Living Systems Theory helps us recognize the connection between the physical world as we see it and the mysterious world, which we cannot see. The idea that we are self-maintaining, self-renewing and self-transcending is becoming an culturally acceptable concept. It helps us wrestle out of the two major old world experiences -- the spiritual dictatorship of hierarchal religions and our physical entrapment in materialism.

We are looking for a conduit -- ways to perceive the process of living so that we can consciously participate in the creation of a new reality. We want to transcend our mundane reality and see ourselves as part of the Shapeshifting! We want to return full circle back to ourselves as creatures of free will and free expression reclaiming our personal sovereignty enhanced, finally, by the egalitarian world view -- that we are all created equal and that great knowledge brings responsibility.

We are ultimately free! We are seeing a timely unveiling of the illusion of doctrines. Everything is in place to make a shift possible. So what are we supposed to do to be truly effective for the improvement of our lives? We must look closely at our ability, acknowledge our will to choose, and then act. It's the same "old" Pelagian story that mainstream society chose to ignore and suppress hundreds of years ago when it was highly refined by the ancient Druids.

Spiritual reality is a place where we can be if we want to -- a parallel universe -- where we "allow" our hearts to expand with sublime love.

Mature people who know the Truth and still compromise in their lives -- who fluctuate and falter in their ethics -- are holding back love, the most sublime manifestation of evolution. These people need energy! Creatively energetic people, especially amongst artists and scientists, have developed the precision of originality needed to infuse this energy and awe into the sleeping masses , through "waking up" to the knowledge -- the realization -- that every person is truly connected to the energy of the universe and all its glory.

Personal sovereignty is based on the truth that no two people can know the same reality and that time is truly a subjective concept. We only can know that we are aligned with one another in the daily unfolding of our personal myth/truth. The memory of meeting one another carries the flow of energy on to our next meeting.

The pinnacle of consciousness is where everyone is meant to "watch" -- most of all ourselves: A kind of telepathy. An exchange of energy is the first principle of our individual commitment to Truth. Love is the highest energy in Truth. Love is the frontier of energy and the true power of energy comes with unconditional love. We align with each other for the courage and the energy to better love each other and ourselves.

Through all this, laughter is the best medicine. Laughter releases healing harmones. For this we need lots of enthusiastic conversation, good music, and hearty hugs.

And you have to laugh!

Its called "The CRAIC!" (and it's pronounced "crack")

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About the Author:
Maireid Sullivan is a singer, poet, writer. She was born near Bantry, in County Cork, Ireland. She has lived in the US, Europe, Asia and Australia. Her work is dedicated to researching and interpreting the gifts of Celtic culture, blending the evocative feeling and beauty of ancient Celtic melodies with new expressions of poetry and music. For further information see Maireid's website, www.maireid.com.