Rapidly approaching the end of Lent - it seems to go by faster with each passing year. Lent is one-eighth of a year long - 46 days, that's six and half weeks, with 13 weeks to the quarter, 52 weeks and one day to the year (52 weeks and two days to the leap year).
How much spirituality do you need in your life? One day in every seven, or an eighth of a year every year? This 46-day marathon concentrates my mind on that need, a need that is also there outside of Lent, but this time of year is time to study it in some depth. The discipline of daily writing helps.
I am moving towards an every deeper appreciation of 'mindfulness' in its broadest sense as an antidote to the everyday materialism that encroaches us. This is both the materialism of classical physics that negates the metaphysical or supernatural as well as the materialism that manifests itself in our desire for possessions that deplete our planet's natural resources.
Retail therapy - the high you get stepping out of a clothing retailer with a new jacket - needs to be placed in the context of the materials and energy used to make it. Has it genuinely made you happier?
The quest in life should be for fulfilling your human potential - the balance between your talents, your drive and your limitations. This is vastly more important that any quest for possessions. Now, I'm not saying "imagine no possessions" (while being the owner of a Mercedes 600 SEL, Rolls-Royce Phantom V and other prestigious cars); I am saying - remove discomfort from your life. Discomfort distracts from the real task ahead. Yes, live your life in comfort - but not in luxury.
Our human desire to get one up on others in our mammalian hierarchy is evidenced by consumerist notion of built-in obsolescence; products that still have utility and value are overtaken by ones with more 'modern' design; we cast aside that which is useful because it no longer signals our position on the social scale. Fortunately, planned obsolescence is something that consumers and regulators have begun to take seriously as being wasteful.
Focus mindfully on sources of real joy in life and on the primacy of the subjective conscious experience - this is where it's truly at. These are the bridges between the material you - your brain and body - and your soul, your spirit, the conscious you - the eternal thread. When scientists ask for proof of your consciousness, the best answer lies in those deep memories that flash back, bidden or unbidden - they are proof that your consciousness is not just a here-and-now illusion, but is something that lasts.
Yet we are so far from understanding where we are going, and why we're going there; Lent has given me again the chance to concentrate intellect and emotion on the great questions.
Little by little we inch forward in near darkness, sometimes stumbling, sometimes taking a wrong path, but guided by goodwill and hope, the journey progresses. It's like walking up a mountain; after a while you can see how high you've gone, but the upper slopes are shrouded in mist; you've no idea how much of the path still lies ahead.
As I write, I look at the clock and see that Lent will end in 25 and half hours. I shall then celebrate with a bottle of Grand Imperial Porter and a Laphroaig chaser. But before then, the summing up.
This time last year:
Further thoughts on Reincarnation?
This time two years ago:
Peace of mind stolen by Brexit
This time three years ago:
On Learning and Living
This time five years ago:
Goats and hares
This time six years ago:
On Gratitude, and loving life
This time nine years ago:
Edinburgh views
This time ten years ago:
Halfway through Lent
This time 12 years ago:
Swans on ul. Trombity
This time 13 years ago:
Papal anniversary, Warsaw
This time 14 years ago:
Sowing oats, Jeziorki
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