“God doesn’t need to come down upon a mountain, for the mountain itself is the revelation. We only have to look at it and we will know how we should live.”
It was John’s belief that insofar as the Western world is in ecological and spiritual trouble, the source of this trouble can be found in our myths and foundational stories. Working from this idea, John sought to reimagine our stories so they might lead to a more life-giving and harmonious future both for culture and nature. He believed that the great goal of humanity in our age is to ‘learn to live ecumenically with all things.’
Who was John Moriarty?
John Moriarty was an Irish writer and philosopher acknowledged for his profound insights and mystical perspective on modern life. He was born on February 2, 1938 in County Kerry and died there on June 1, 2007.
John lived an extraordinary life by any standards. Born into a small farm in Moyvane, North Kerry, John attended local schools until the age of eighteen. He trained to be a primary school teacher, but became dissatisfied shortly after qualifying. Returning to third level education, he graduated with a Double First Class Honours degree in Philosophy and Logic from University College Dublin. After a spell as a tutor in the University of Leeds, John lectured in the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada for six years. Though he enjoyed much of his time teaching English literature and the history of European ideas, in 1971 John chose to leave academia and return to live in Ireland. He sought, in his own words, to find his ‘bush soul’ – a sense of himself not mediated by any of the ideas or works which he had been teaching in Canada.
The following two and a half decades John spent gardening, writing and giving talks around Ireland. He lived in Connemara until 1995, with the exception of brief periods spent with the Carmelite community in Oxford and a period gardening for the Guinness family in Kildare. His first book, Dreamtime, was published in 1994 and was soon followed by many others in a tremendous literary outpouring. John returned to live in his native County Kerry in 1995. Nostos, the first volume of his acclaimed autobiography, was published in 2001. As well as for his writing, which John acknowledged as being often difficult, he was celebrated for his public talks and radio appearances. John’s contributions resound with a hard-won authority, while always being delivered with kindness and compassion. John’s plans to establish a Christian Monastic Hedge School, in which his vision of Christianity might take root, were cut short by a triple-cancer diagnosis in early 2006. John died at home outside Killarney, County Kerry, on June 1, 2007.
John’s published works blend storytelling, philosophical exploration and a deep sense of ecological urgency. Deeply and widely read, his vision encompasses the wisdom of many world religions and traditions, and is ultimately grounded in his unique vision of the person of Jesus. He sought a rebirth of a reimagined Christianity in our time and for our time; a vision of Christianity hospitable towards all faith traditions and indeed all life on Earth.
Timeline
1903, Jimmy Moriarty, John’s father, was born in Baile an Lochaigh, Dingle, Co. Kerry.
1904, Mary O Brien, John’s mother, was born in Barragougeen, Co. Kerry.
1929, Jimmy Moriarty and Mary O’ Brien married in Springfield, Massachusetts; by the mid-1930s they moved back to Ireland.
1938, John Moriarty born in Moyvane, Co. Kerry, February 2nd
1943-1951, John attended National school in Moyvane.
1951-1956, Attended St. Michael’s College, Listowel.
1956-1958, Attended St. Patrick’s Teacher Training College, Drumcondra, Dublin.
1958-59, Taught in a Christian Brothers National School in Portarlington, Co. Laois.
1959-1962, Attended University College Dublin and graduated with a First Honours degree in Philosophy and Logic.
1962-1964, Lived in various locations between Moyvane and London, with a spell teaching in a Catholic Boarding School in North Staffordshire.
1964-65, Tutored in the Philosophy Dept. at the University of Leeds.
1965-1971, Lecturing in the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada:
Summer 1967 – Trips to San Francisco, Mexico, Vera Cruz.
Summer 1968 – Trips to London and Greece
1968-1969 – Year off on half pay. Lived in France.
!969-1970 – Back in Canada, with trips to the Shetland Islands and London that summer.
1970-1971, Final year in Canada. During the Christmas vacation he took a road trip from Manitoba through the mid-western States to the Grand Canyon in Arizona.
1971, Quit his position in Canada and returned to Ireland in June, lived on the island of Inisbofin off the Connemara coast until September, then relocated to the mainland, Ballyconneely, until Dec 21, on which date he moved to one of Lynn Hill’s cottage at Toombeola, near Roundstone,
Co Galway.
1972-1974, Rented the cottage at Toombeola, living frugally, dependent on his savings from Canada.
1974, Began work helping in the kitchen of Ballinahinch Castle in March and lived in the staff quarters there.
1974-76, Spent these years working and living part-time in Ballinahinch, part-time at the cottage in Toombeola. In 1976 he spent a week in the Carmelite Priory at Boar’s Hill in Oxford and then returned there for the summer from May to September.
1977, Spent this year at Boar’s Hill, living with the monks and working in the gardens until he became ill and returned to Connemara in November.
1978, The early months of this year were spent at Toombeola recovering from illness, during which time he decided to seek work as a fulltime gardener. He found a position working for the Guinness family at Lodge Park, Straffan, Co. Kildare.
1978-1980, He worked at Lodge Park until the sudden death of his mother, Mary Moriarty, in early January 1980, after which he returned to Moyvane and spent that year living at home with his father.
1981-1982, Returned to Lodge Park and worked there until the summer of 1982, after which he returned to Toombeola and began working as a gardener in two local estates, Leitirdyfe and Lisnabrucka.
1983, Starts building a house on a site gifted to him by his neighbours, the McCahill family.
1983-1995, These years were spent in Connemara, living in his house at Toombeola, while gardening, writing, giving talks at various locations around the country and in 1994 he published Dreamtime.
1995, Moved to Kerry to Coolies, on Mangerton Mountain near Killarney.
1995-2007, Lived in Coolies, while publishing his Turtle trilogy, and writing Nostos, Invoking Ireland, Night Journey to Buddh Gaia, What the Curlew Said, and the Slí na Fírinne publications. In 1997 he hosted a six-part television series, The Blackbird and the Bell, for RTE.
John died on June 1st 2007 at his home in Coolies, Killarney.
Timeline originally published in Mary McGillicuddy, John Moriarty: Not the Whole Story. Dublin: Lilliput Press, 2018.
