The Irish Complex and GAA.
We're an erratic group of suppressed people who love a scrap both on and off of a GAA field. But how much of this is down to our ancestral roots? In a lecture given by Eugene Wall in Mary Immaculate College in the final semester of my degree, I was introduced to the concept of ancestral resonance. For those unsure of what it means, it is the generational reincarnation of conscious and unconscious beliefs, values and behaviours passed down from ancestors. Put simply, what our ancestors have experienced and the way they behaved can be used to explain much of our behaviour today. Dissertations in reference to the 'Irish condition' have been written on ancestral resonance. It is a truly fascinating concept. With reference to Irish people and general Irish attitudes it can be used to explain much of how we have evolved socioculturally. One of the common examples of how ancestral resonance applies to the Irish psyche is in our inhibition to self-praise. This is seen