Peaceful World

During this morning’s meditation I became aware that the street outside was quiet, devoid of traffic and no other sounds apart from birds and the rain on the window. The soft occasional temple bell sound from my phone timer was the only thing to gently break into my reverie. I could have been anywhere in the world; halfway up a mountain or in the middle of nowhere for all the outside noise of which there wasn’t any. Nothing mattered really, and any passing thoughts quickly moved on unchallenged.

It reminded me of my first day at school when I was 5. I came from a home where there was only mum and no other siblings my age, the radio was on sometimes for Woman’s Hour or the “Play for Today”, the quiet would have been deafening had I had a comparison. I wasn’t allowed to make noise, shout, sing, keep up chatter and ask questions, I would be hissed into silence. Mum didn’t do people or social situations. She was reclusive. So I largely spent my time in the garden or drawing pictures and reading, (lucky I could read at an early age I suppose!) and thinking.

That first day in the playground was a terrifying experience. I spent it cowering in a corner with my hands pressed tightly over my ears against the barrage of noise that was nothing short of painful. I kept trying to escape back into the sanctuary of the school building, only to be turfed back out again. The staff obviously thinking I was faking it. The other kids got accustomed to calling me “weird” or “thick” because I didn’t have any idea how to interact on a social level, never having had to before. After a week or so (not sure how long) I got on with the hubbub and the people and surrendered to what is normal life. A final temple gong had sounded somewhere some long time ago in the back of my mind and with no real idea how long I had “sat” I attempted to move. Both buttocks had gone completely to sleep and my legs and feet were numb and difficult to move. I had been on that cushion for 40 odd minutes and it took me a while to kick myself into the day, but the insight and internal space I created for myself was priceless.

Love Love Love. Where did it go……

As it is Maytime and Beltane, and a fire festival in the pagan calendar, it’s Spring officially and Summer is fast approaching. As a pagan myself, this is a time of handfastings, declarations of love and a celebration of passion and sexual enjoyment out of doors. I’ve been to some lovely handfastings, and each one is as individual as the next one.

This is the time of year when the sap is rising in the trees and plants, animals and also in humans. We are no exception. We are driven by primeval desire and animal instincts through our animal brain stem and although we don’t have seasonal urges, we are always more “switched on” in the warmer sunnier weather. We do however, have the gift of the frontal lobes of our brain which have evolved over the ages and given us the ability to overcome our base urges with our intellect and sense of love and compassion for our fellow man.

Aliens landing now would find this hard to believe as they watch us warring with each other; imprisoning and torturing each other and imposing cruel regimes on our fellow man which is the stuff of sci fi horror. The older I get the more confused and disappointed I am at the combined mindset of my fellow man, particularly in the relationship department. What is commonly described to me as love seems as far removed from that as it is possible to be. I have always understood sex to be a raising of energy on a spiritual level, or an equal and balanced enjoyment of mutual pleasure and respect by spiritually mature people. Sadly I too often see it used as a conditional bargaining chip or a manipulative emotional or business arrangement where one is the aggressor and controlling influence and the other either puts up and shuts up or there is evidence of threats and coercion.

Of course there are relationships where it is agreed by the participants that one is the dominant and the other the submissive, and this is balanced, mutually agreed upon and purely between the people concerned and I am not referring to arrangements like this.

What I am referring to are the less balanced ones where one party gets enjoyment from overpowering the other against their will. A great many relationships would not exist if it were not for sex and its darker aspects. The thing that really upsets me and has become more apparent to me as I have got older is the amount of so called “spiritual” people who delight in manipulating devoted people in a less than spiritually sexual way, often against their will, and becoming angered when the recipient of their attention starts to object. I don’t think control and possession belong in any spiritual union and should certainly not occur to an attuned individual who has tamed the dragon energy inside, the serpent of temptation, and yet continues to demand obedience and submission form an unwilling subject.

People are people and holding a position of trust, particularly in a religious or devout context does not shield you from the normal temptations of excess. No one is beyond being exploited or exploiting another. It takes a constantly vigilant person to know themselves, accept their weaknesses, acknowledge the part they play in its continuation and take responsibility for the after effects of any decision they make. Until we can be completely honest with ourselves, and allow our higher mind to guide us and not allow the primeval mind to have full sway, we as a society, will likely continue the mistakes of the past generations and onward into an unknown future. No race is exempt and no religion or regime will have all the answers. The key to a life of love and compassion lies purely within each one of us. Our unconscious guidance, the small still inner voice, is the voice of love and understanding, the one we often choose not to listen to or to respond to. Sex and love can both exist equally together and also without each other, but beware of confusing the two.

All You Need is Love. The Beatles.  https://youtu.be/0oHeeEot35M

Love is all around!

Today is the anniversary of the death of the Roman soldier whose legend says he slay a dragon and saved a princess, and the cross of St George is worn joyfully both for sport and for more traditional values to mark the occasion, unlike the Union Jack which has been displayed sometimes in less favourable ways.

My life is largely routed in myth and ancient wisdom, so the legend of the person known as St George has a deeper connotation. He represents for me, the pure being that we all are inside, the unblemished spirit within each human being. His “dragon” is his base human nature, the Kundalini if you will, the writhing serpent of the personality and thoughts of which we are all composed, that he gains mastery over. The princess he rescues describes for me, the divine and pure aspect in all of us that we seek to discover within ourselves and release.

Spiritual practices vary from nation to nation and belief structure the world over, but one thing we all share in common are the things we do on a daily basis to live our lives, look after our families and loved one, make a living however best we can, and provide the basics that our physical lives demand of us; beyond that are our minds and hearts that also need food in the form of inspiration, love and compassion, humour and challenge; in this all human beings are no different. The striving comes from a higher purpose that we frequently are unaware of and spiritual practices give us an insight and connection to that part of ourselves.

From today and in forthcoming days, take moments of mindfulness and kindfulness, not just to others, but to yourselves, as you also need that hug to get you though physical life’s hardships so that you can celebrate life’s joys.

So today, and every other day “love is all around”

Across the divide

Getting back late from a freezing November bike rally on a Sunday, I nipped up to the local Tesco to get a few supplies, still wearing all my bike gear and bundled up against the cold. As I went through the entrance, the security guard, who resembled the Middle Eastern version of Lou Ferrigno, lunged toward me, which freaked me out and I jumped backward. He was full of apologies and as he softened his stance, he began chatting away to me.

He explained that the linen biker scarf that I was bundled up in, was a distinctive weave only made in Palestine, and that he was from Palestine and thrilled and surprised to find something so rare away from his home land. He kept touching the scarf and shaking my hand. He wanted to know where I had got it from as it was the only one he'd seen since being in the UK in recent years.

All I could tell him was that I had bought it from an army surplus stall at a bike rally in the Midlands and it was the best scarf I had ever owned because it was warm in winter and shaded me in hot sun. We stood for ages talking until I realised my friends would wonder where I was with the food and beer. I said my goodbyes and he put his arm around me and thanked me with tears in his eyes. I never saw him again on any of my late night emergency shopping trips but have thought often of him, and especially today in light of the current news.

You have to be taught to hate. Children from other ethnic and religious backgrounds don't see differences, they just see other children. We could learn a lot from them if we wanted to. 

Rabbits, eggs and the coming of Springtime.

The Spring Equinox, 21^st-22nd March, is significant on the modern calendar as a reference to equal night and day, as is the Autumn Equinox on the opposite side of the year. This pagan time is closely linked with the Goddess Oestra or Ostara, the goddess of fertility whose symbol is the hare. It is when night and day are in perfect balance and harmony, masculine and feminine, inner and outer. As we come through the colder darker half of the year and the earth warms up and the day lengthens, plants that have lain dormant in seed form begin to sprout and emerge, animals start to give birth and the time of high fertility is in evidence. The egg is the symbol of the living potential in all things of this earth. It is both a pause before a beginning and a breath after completion and is a wonderful example of a continuing cycle of life. The hare is unusual in that it is able to conceive while still pregnant, thus continuing this cycle of awakening and rebirth.

Mankind too, experiences a period of “rebirth” in the form of reflection, changes in behaviour, clearing out of old outmoded ideas and actions, and a sense of curiosity for the future, often tinged with nervousness and excitement. The future is a blank page upon which anything is possible to be written. Spring cleaning is a time to detach from and pass on anything that no longer serves the “you” who now is. A time to clear away clutter from mind and heart as well as from the home, as you emerge into the fertility of your own Springtime.