The true essence of friendship is understanding what is hidden behind the silence. Often secrets are not revealed through words, but are hidden in the silences and the gaze of the person before you, in the depths of their soul.
I “Anam Cara” is an expression of the Gaelic language, the Celtic language of Ireland. “ Anam ” means “ soul ” and “ Cara ” means “ friend ”, so saying “Anam Cara” is saying soul mate or soul friend.
This Gaelic term is based on the Celtic belief that everything in the universe is linked, regardless of time and space.
When you meet your Anam Cara for the first time, you experience the strange sensation of having met each other before, of knowing unsaid things, and you perceive a particular connection.
This “Anam Cara” is the person to whom we can freely open our heart, our mind, and our spirit, especially those darkest corners of our interior, with the full confidence of feeling protected and understood.
He is that person to whom one could reveal the hidden intimacies of one's life. This reunion between two souls, two kindred spirits, was an act of recognition and belonging. When you had an anam cara, that friendship transcended all conventions and categories. Spiritual friends were united in an ancient and eternal way. Inspired by this concept, the central idea here is the recognition and awakening of the ancient communion that makes the two friends one.
An “Anam Cara” is not sought, it appears; It is not chosen, it is recognized; It is not asked for, it is received unconditionally.
When you have walked through life enough to recognize an “Anam Cara” a new space opens up in which you learn and teach, always seeking the benefit of the other, with the certainty that, whatever happens, That bond, which already existed because it was written in the book of destiny, will never disappear.
The Celts had a conception of the word friendship as the link that encompassed everything, Nature, divinity, the underground world and the world where human beings traveled. Their sense of friendship generated a world infused with a rich texture of symbolism and imagination. For our culture, in which physical separation is painful, the possibility of this concept of fruitful and unifying friendship is the beautiful legacy of our Celtic ancestors. They symbolized it in the form of an infinite knot , a knot that has no beginning or end, the eternal knot of friendship.
If throughout your life you find another human being who understands your silences...then, only then, will you have found your Anam Cara (your soul friend).
Sources: John O'Donhue "El Anam Cara",
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