Module 2

“When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality, language, religion. I shall try to fly by those nets.”

~ James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Many of us may feel aware that there is a richness and depth to being Irish, but also, often, a quality of undertow, a sense of being hindered, of there being a cost.

This module invites each of us to explore freshly how we have experienced the richness and tensions of ‘belonging’ to Ireland and/or Irishness. We will look at this in a way that invites each of us to clarify our specific and unique experiences of belonging and not belonging. We will identify those things that have helped us to feel and claim our Irishness; and look also at what has othered, alienated or oppressed us, creating a sense of distance or even exile.

Approaching our experience of being Irish from this angle enables us to look at how we have negotiated the tension between our need to belong, and our desire to become - to grow and emerge in our uniqueness and full expression. Many of us, as the quote by Joyce suggests, may have experienced being Irish as a threat to our right to become. We may have had to ‘go away’ from Ireland or the Irish, withdraw into solitary or lonely worlds, or seek out environments elsewhere in order to unfold more freely and receive genuine encouragement and support to become ourselves.

• How has it been for us to ‘belong’ - do we feel ambivalent, passionate, ashamed of being Irish - perhaps all of these?

• Have we felt seen and supported in our ‘becoming’ - in the momentum of our own unique evolution and unfoldment, or have we been held back, encouraged not to leave the tribe.

To belong is one of our deepest human longings. Yet belonging can also ask something of us. It can offer roots, identity, and community, while at the same time shaping who we feel permitted to become.

This exploration invites us to look honestly at our own relationship with Irishness. Where has it nourished us? Where has it constrained us? Where have we felt deeply at home, and where have we experienced distance, silence, or exile?

Together we explore one of the central questions of the journey:

Can we truly belong without sacrificing who we are becoming?

Through personal reflection, relational dialogue, and embodied practice, we begin to recognise how family, culture, history, and inherited loyalties continue to shape our lives today. Rather than choosing between belonging and becoming, we explore how both might deepen one another.