Spiritual Genealogy I mentioned my thrill at finding in John O'Donohue's "embers of kinship" quote the idea of "spiritual genealogy," some mysterious non-physical connection which may click or spark like two magnets smashing together. This connection may be some sort of "blood link" similar to D. H. Laurence's "blood memory"--the idea that within us are mysteries, often unknown to us consciously, which we have inherited through the blood and DNA handed down to us. Or possibly, sucked into our essence by osmosis from, through, physical places or things. When we encounter strangers within whom exists some of our own inheritances, we sense a connection. O'Donohue calls this person an "anam cara" or "soul friend" which, by definition, implies that we are already aware of our own "soul" and that we recognize within some Other some aspect of our selves. This is why I see the idea of a soul fr...