“Conscious Awareness - The Essence of Our Being”

Preface By Ronan Scully

I have known Ronan Rooney for a good few years. I am so grateful to him for his guidance and friendship and I am deeply blessed to call him a friend. Recently he has honoured me by asking me to read and to review his new book, 'Conscious Awareness - The Essence of Our Being'. Personally for me it's an amazing authentic mind opening book. Ronan knows as much as anybody about our beingness and in reading this book it does make you aware of various aspects of the true Essence of Our Being. In it he brings us on a journey to scientific, philosophical, psychological, metaphysical and spiritual consensus of who and what we are and he shares himself completely like he has always done in his past writings and living.

Ronan, as in all his writings, living and beingness, is very personal about his own life story and through the pages gives us hope and explains the essence of our being and our purpose in life and how we live or should live our life for the betterment of ourselves, for others and for the world around us. Saints, Scholars and Spiritual Masters, since time immemorial, have come to remind us that we are much more than the body that we see with our physical eyes and much more than our mind or emotions. They tell us that our true self is the 'Spirit or Soul' and like Ronan explains in this his latest book is the true Essence of Our Being. He tells us that the true Essence of Our Being is a part of God, the Creator and that it is the Power that enlivens the body, that animates us, that makes us tick. Ronan also tells us that there is a way for each of us to experience our true nature. It is not an intellectual pursuit, but one of practice, meditation, insightfulness, prayer and awareness wherein we can have a direct experience of our true self. Ronan in his writings is helping us to empower our soul through meditation and awareness of the world within us and outside of us so that we truly recognize ourselves and are aware that it is the essence of who we really are, that is the guiding power behind the body and mind.

It is my hope for this new book of Ronan's - 'Conscious Awareness - The Essence of Our Being'. that it will challenge your thoughts and awareness of who you are and encourage your faith. May you tap into the fullness of your awareness of one self and your own potential and discover the richness within your day to day life experience which is evident from this book that Ronan Rooney really has and in writing this book is giving us the tools to do likewise.

Walking the Camino or any long distance pursuit is a long arduous business. It has some great moments but it also has some dark ones especially when the wind and rain are against you and you are a long way from home. It is almost always something small, something intensely human that creates or inspires the energy from within and the desire to continue, to dig deep and become aware of oneself and to keep going until the finishing line comes into view. Then the doubt, the fear, the physical and mental pain all fade away like magic and in crossing that line you have won the ultimate victory, you have beaten yourself so to speak and you have become fully aware of yourself in the process. One such memorable moment occurred when I was doing the Via Francigena Camino in Italy when I was close to the end of my Camino and was close to entering Rome and I was suffering from aches and pains and blisters in my feet when a more fitter pilgrim whom I met for a pint later said as he walked passed me on his way into Rome, "From now on we begin to enjoy ourselves". And I did.

Reading Ronan Rooney's book, 'Conscious Awareness - The Essence of Our Being'. is experiencing and becoming aware of all his moments. They are personal to him. In generosity of mind, soul and spirit he is sharing them with us and making us aware of our moments of ourselves. They are almost certainly not your moments but by reading them and experiencing them with him, you will undoubtedly become aware of your own moments and who you really are and they will give you the tools to strive to be more fully aware of the person you are and the person you can become and the true nature of your Being.

There is no greater gift than this in life to be given the tools to make you aware of the true essence of your being. Ronan Rooney in this book does just that.

We need to dwell and become aware of the eternal within our midst and in these critical times to discover and become aware of our true selves and to also discover anew in ourselves and in our brothers and sisters the God who dwells amongst us. Ronan truly knows from his own personal journey, the essential truths about what is of value in one’s own life and in this his latest book he brings you the reader on a journey to empower your own life and to gain those insights for yourselves.

 

Ronan explains ever so well the big important ideas of life and our world in a direct, understandable, practical and very meaningful way. His heartfelt way of explaining how to live a life of meaning, purpose, compassion and prosperity is exceptional and so authentic.

There is a haunting line at the end of T.S. Eliot's, 'The Waste Land', "These fragments I have shored against my ruins." Ronan in this wonderful insightful authentic book helps us to become aware of the ruins and joys within and outside of us. We are all at the moment aware or are becoming aware of the ruins around us, the end of an era, the collapse of many traditions, the uncertainty about our roots, the loss of many anchors, the scepticism about any possible wisdom and the larger shadow of the world that I often experience in my work of a world in terrible pain. But my life has taught me to believe in humanity and God and to become aware of God working in and through my life and becoming aware of the true self of myself.

 

The chapters of Ronan's book and the words within give us the tools to capture the unsteady roads at times of our own internal seeking and help us to become aware of who we really are. Here in this book are tools that help us become aware of a vision of oneself and avenues towards hope, faith and love - perhaps in that order and helping us to become fully aware of who we are in this world. Faith for me itself is a God-given way of imaging existence, not a cold truth, easily captured in concepts. And my conviction is that these words by Ronan Rooney, like prophecies, can deepen our angle of seeing and becoming aware of who we truly are before ourselves, before our brothers and sisters and before the God of the Universe.

 

These pages in Ronan's book as they have done in his previous earlier writings indicate the drama of life and they specialise in speaking to our inner soul and mind and to our intuitive levels of consciousness and they hit us below the belt of reason. They awaken wonder in us and help us to become aware of who we really are and help us develop it into wisdom, knowing and becoming.

Over 100 years ago an American thinker Josiah Royce wrote, 'My life means nothing, either theoretically or practically, unless I am a member of a community.' This serves as a wise reminder that although we are all trying to know or become who we really are in front of God and all humanity, our human roads towards light are never just private. The normal and blessed context for finding faith is within a community, belonging. These thoughts and words of Ronan will especially touch those on the inside of community in the hope of enriching and making them more aware of their human basis for faith and towards living the Essence of their being, but the hope is too that these words so expertly authentic and knowingly written by Ronan Rooney will reach towards and help others on the outskirts of community who walk more lonely paths of honest searching for the Essence of Being in their lives. This amazing book is a blessed opportunity for each one of us to become more fully aware of the Essence of Our Being.

In reading Ronan's book, 'Conscious Awareness - The Essence of Our Being'. you will discover in him a genuine caring, open, loving, compassionate soul and he will help you along your journey with the authenticity of his writing and the tools he has provided in this book to become empowered to discover for yourself the true nature of who you are and the essence of your being and the reality that is life. Enjoy this incredible time with him as you read this book on this journey we call life and delve with him into the scientific, philosophical, psychological, metaphysical and spiritual journey and consensus of who and what we truly are!
 

Ronan Scully,

Business Development Representative,

Self Help Africa,

Westside Resource Centre,

Westside, Galway.

087 6189094

www.selfhelpafrica.org

Gorta Charity No. 5678

SHA Charity No. 6663