A bit of that 'how much spirituality do we need?' in this post - the need to connect, the hear feedback - from that part of the world that's closed to our five senses, yet we feel exists. If the matter of 'God' is primarily one of definition, and that's down to individual preference for how we seek to understand All That Is Above Us, that which exceeds mankind's capacity for understanding.
My first need is to express gratitude for life, for health, for consciousness. I have habitualised this into my daily routine of brushing my teeth. Should I catch myself forgetting to do so having left the bathroom, I return, pick up the brush, and having another go - this time with gratitude. It is also present as I drop off to sleep. There are many things that I should really recall as I fall asleep - but there's not the time, as I am blessed with the ability to switch off very quickly. It's different in the middle of the night. A night's sleep usually consists of four or five sleep cycles, each of between 90 and 135 minutes, each ending with a rapid-eye movement (REM) phase during which the most vivid dreams occur. Usually the second or third cycle (around 2am/3am) is followed by a short period of insomnia. And it is this time that should be put to use in either meditation or prayer.
Prayers for the wellbeing of our planet, our tiny corner of the Universe; prayers for peace, understanding and cooperation. Pretty soon, I've nodded off again.
Do not overlook the importance of Coincidence. I notice them, and roll them around my mind for a while, rather like a nice bogie before flicking it away. Physicist Richard Feynman roundly rejected our irrational tendency to mistake randomness for coincidence and coincidence for meaning. I don't. Just don't read too much into it - see it as a pointer rather than a forecast. Last year, while out walking on the other side of the tracks I was considering when the pandemic would end, and the Unbidden Voice replied - "When you have learnt not to harm your planet." A few hundred paces up the track I came across several large bags of household waste strewn across a field. Today, in the same field, I saw four separate piles of junk removed from the insides of a car, probably by a scrap metal dealer getting rid of everything that was non-metallic and dumping it here. "The pandemic will not be over soon", was my instant take. Creating myself a comforting narrative? Don't know. It just feels right.
Returning to yesterday's post about meditation, while in the sauna tonight, I was thinking about why I reject the notion of the Rosary. Simple really - I just don't buy into the 'Holy Mary, mother of God' thing. And yet Swinging Sixties Britain tuned into some traditional Hindu stuff about Ram and Deva and Hari Krishna. Was it just an attraction to an exotic sounding language? Take a tip from David Bowie, and listen to some Silesian folk singing - create an imaginary language, and write Warszawa...
Sula vie dilejo
Sula vie dilejo
Cheli venco deho
Cheli venco deho
Mali, Malio
Helibo seyoman
Helibo seyoman
Cheli venco raero
Cheli venco raero
This time last year:
Chance, complacency, gratitude
This time seven years ago:
The clash of narratives
This time eight years ago:
The Church and democracy
This time nine years ago:
Prime lens or zoom?
This time ten years ago:
Warsaw's failed bid as City of Culture, 2016
This time 11 years ago:
Stalinist downtown at dusk
This time 12 years ago:
The End of an Age of Excess?
This time 13 years ago:
Snowy Easter in England
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