By Sean Byrne
Modern society nowdays has us believing that EGO is very important and that we carry a rather full image of ourselves as we go about our daily business. Former Wexford Hurling legend George O'Connor tore this theory to pieces when he addressed an audience in Askamore Community centre at a session called NEW YEAR, NEW YOU. In a provocative speech full of anecdotes, metaphors and analogies he shared some of his own battles of recent years.
Modern society with its fast lifestyle has placed this importance on EGO, not as we know it but as EXIT GOD OUT. He called for more EGI which means ENTER GOD IN. He shared his insight of how daily prayer and in particular visiting his local church gave him balance in his life. He drew a comparison between the ordinary human to that of a perfectly tuned grandfather clock, which chimes in perfect harmony. The human person has a few basic needs - food, rest, water, air, exercise, work, human interaction, sexuality,and spirituality. Full on modern living allows us to neglect spirituality and as a result one of the hands falls off the clock and it does not work properly. The same is true of people especially young people if this is the dominant culture.
George told part of his own story in a metaphorical sense as that of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He compared himself to Snow White and the dwarfs as components of his own brain. He called them out individually and told the audience of how he suffered bad consequences when he woke up Grumpy. This caused conflict with the other dwarfs and strongly advised not aggravating him.
Another point he made was that of information overload with modern technology. If a chainsaw or lawn mower gets too much fuel at starting time it will flood and not function. The same is true for the human brain. The antidote to this is stillness and making time to enjoy nature everyday, even if it is only looking at 2 spiders having a race on the ground.
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