Oportus blog April 2023

Of mountains and meaning...

Last month, I wrote about some of the ways mountains are formed according to geologists, and I must say it’s been fascinating to explore. The real thing for me is how these can be a metaphor for some of the problems we face in life. Ireland has some stunning scenery, in all corners of the country.

For this blog, I’m going to focus on the effects of ice on shaping the landscape, and how it has parallels to our lives. Ice sheets and glaciers (huge frozen masses which sometimes flow very slowly like rivers) are powerful agents that can shape landscape through as they erode (wear away) rock, and transport it, along with sediment, vegetation and anything else as they move. The stuff is then deposited as the along the retreating ice’s path. The surface of Ireland has been modified by the growth, flow and decay of several large ice sheets since the last Ice Age in response to marked changes in climate, and most glacial features relate to this period. At one time ice covered the whole of Ireland and the UK, covering the highest mountains. It also extended as far as 100km across the western continental shelf into what is now the Atlantic Ocean.

Certain landforms were created when the ice was at its deepest, others as the ice thinned and wasted away into the mountain valleys. All these features contribute to the rich tapestry that is Ireland’s heritage. Parts of the earth’s surface which have lain buried under ice for thousands of years become scraped bare and uncovered by the glaciers as they move, while others get buried under the silt and rocks deposited as the ice melts and moves.

These pictures are of a mountain (353 metres high), though its name is Cnoc Mordáin, which means Mordáin Hill, a few miles from my house here in Connemara. At its foot is a lake and peat bog and countless rocks that were dumped there as the ice slid into the nearby Atlantic ocean. Depending on the time of year, weather and light, Cnoc Mordáin can appear like a sheer granite cliff or a sloping, stony grazing ground.

There are parts that can be walked with only trainers and a bit of common sense in good weather, but other parts that are strictly for experts and would require the right climbing experience, equipment and preparation.

The soil, vegetation and silt left at the foot of Cnoc Mordáin provided the perfect conditions for peat bogs, greenery and cultivating produce for generations past; the boulders that were dragged to the foot provided excellent raw materials for walls and houses.

How does this relate to life and problems?

Sometimes it takes a major external force to clear away that which has been covered, frozen for a very long time. How often do we bury (knowingly or unknowingly) things which are bound to be brought to the surface sooner or later? Sometimes it’s only in clearing away the debris that we can see what we are really supposed to look like or do.

And all the “stuff” we’ve allowed ourselves to get covered with can actually serve a purpose if we will only let it fall away and land somewhere else. The boulders which have been such a burden to us could be used to help someone else build something useful if we’d only let go!

And the granite that’s uncovered and left behind is the most strong and enduring.

What elements of your life are frozen or lying buried at present? Are there things you could offload, or would it take a major external event like the end of the Ice Age to scrape away the external and reveal the true purpose for your existence?

It would be great to hear from you if, like me, you have at times allowed things to stay the way they are for longer than is best.

Until next time, let’s keep learning…