Where do we get our idea of belonging from? What is true belonging? It seems that the whole origin of belonging is rooted in the faithfulness of place. Each one of us awakens on the earth in a particular place. This place was and remains full of presence and meaning for us. As a child, one of the first things you learn is your name and where you live. If you were to get lost, you would know where you belong. When you know where you belong, you know where you are. Where you belong is where you inevitably continue to return. In some strange way, you long for the stability and sureness of belonging that Nature enjoys. As you grow, you develop the ideal of where your true belonging could be—the place, the home, the partner, and the work. You seldom achieve all the elements of the ideal, but it travels with you as the criterion and standard of what true belonging could be. You travel certainly, in every sense of the word. But you take with you everything that you have been, just as the landscape stores up its own past. Because you were once at home somewhere, you are never an alien anywhere. No one can survive by remaining totally restless. You need to settle and belong in order to achieve any peace of heart and creativity of imagination.
We live in times of constant activity and excitement. The media present endless images of togetherness, talk shows, and parties. Yet behind all the glossy imagery and activity, there is a haunted lonesomeness at the vacant heart of contemporary life. There is a desperate hunger for belonging. People feel isolated and cut off. Perhaps this is why a whole nation can assemble around the images of celebrities. They have no acquaintance with these celebrities personally. They look at them from a distance and project all their longings onto them. When something happens to a celebrity, they feel as if it is happening to themselves. There is an acute need for the reawakening of the sense of community. It is true that neighbours are not necessarily close to you. They do not need to be friends, but humans who live in clusters with each other are meant to look out for and look after each other, rather than live in such isolation. This is a primal sense of duty. You often notice that when something happens to someone on the street or in the village, neighbours who had never been in the house before come to help and support. In Ireland, this is especially apparent at a time of bereavement. People simply gather around so that you are not left alone with the shock and silence of death. While drawing little attention to itself, this support brings so much healing and shelter. It is something you would never forget, and the beauty is how naturally it happens. During times of suffering, the shelter of belonging calms us. The particular shape of belonging must always strive to meet our longing.