Holy Island is a "Close Place"

Dear Reader.

Do you know the amazing thing about the silence on holy island? Its how noisy it is. The birds are constantly twittering and the sheep are constantly calling for their lambs who must have been torn away from them I'm sure, nothing can sound that sad. But one thing that amazes me is how silent the island itself is. The sea makes no sound whatsoever, the waves are completely silent and still, even though the tide can come in, in a matter of minutes and there is hardly any wind and when it comes its soft and fresh.

Have you ever heard a seal? Not the honking barking noise I know your thinking of. I mean the noise it makes when it sniffs the air before dipping its head under the water again. Its an amazing experience. You can hear it from the shore. That's how quiet it is here.

My dad said that Holy Island is a "close place". There is this really old tradition in some of the Celtish Paganism which says that holy places are places where the two circles of heaven and earth are so close that their walls almost touch if that makes sense.
But it also says that in some places it even crosses like a Venn Diagram and of course they argue this is where religious experiences happen (as I suppose does the messiah, ghosts etc where something comes through this cross over) I'm not sure if its true of course but its a good way of thinking about places like this. I hope some parts of heaven are like this.

it confuses me when the tourist parties come here because they come to a holy place and ruin it simply by being there. They roll in with their noise and their money and then they leave just when the island is at its most beautiful. If they leave when the silence returns then what's the point?

I see children and teenagers complaining that there's nothing to do here and I think "yes! that's the point!" Lindisfarne isn't a place where you are given things to do. There are virtually no shops and there are only a couple of landmarks to visit. Its a terrible place for tourism but it is a place where there are things to discover and make your own entertainment and you are left to fill your world with thoughts. You read, you write or you sit and think and watch. I would never recomend you come here (if nothing else that would encourage something I've already said ruins the place e.i. tourism) but I would say, like most places of pilgrimage, for people who are ready, its there.

And no I'm not sure if I'm ready for this place either.