Subject: Within not without.

Subject: Within not without.

Today the debate was about the intriguing concept of believing in the "essence" of god without "believing in God". 

The complexity of the biblical story and it's time line, set in a period so remote from our own current thinking, makes the telling of this unlikely and complex story, which includes concepts  such as the "virgin birth" the "resurrection" even the concept of "heaven", difficult if not unfathomable. 

There are of course many religions. Some of them thrive on sticking firmly to the text and believing every word,  others try to manage their belief in "something" with a nagging doubt about the bibles specific veracity.
The Quakers, who were members of the audience are currently undergoing a re-evaluation of their teachings with a pragmatic sense of trying to put greater  emphasis on the 'human experience' on earth than with the god described in the Testament. 

Their personal striving for understanding through human love and human reconciliation, is reflected in their congregation being called "the society of friends" and that there is something of god in everyone, each human being unique and therefore their belief in god is tempered by their belief in their fellow man. 

This emphasis on humanities role in the practicality of founding a better place on Earth rather than the carrot of life beyond death is more atheistic than faith bound, although perhaps the Quaker would balk at the comparison. They belong to a pantheon of faiths which strive to understand the basis of humanity without mixing the image of God with their own, other than the belief that God lies within us.

Sent from my iPad

The Donald effect

Subject: The Donald effect.


What does it say when millions of pounds have to be spent to protect a visiting dignitary, in this case Donald Trump, from contact with anyone except those specially vetted by the security industry.
Our leaders in this country have minimal protection, a special detective, a chauffeured motor car and it's expected that our MPs and Ministers rub shoulders regularly with the ordinary man and woman in the street.
The sight of Robert Mugabe's motorcade rushing him through the streets of Harare on his way from his home to his office depicted a man who had become a megalomanic, who saw himself as a messiah leading his people to the promised land from under the yoke of colonialism but In the process he had lost sight of who the people are.
Sadly the history of America is peppered with assassinations and attempted assassinations on the streets of America. The freely available firearm makes it relatively easy to take a pot shot at anyone you don't like and since the nature of politics and the political animal is to oppose as many as it seeks to help, the politician is certainly vulnerable.
Our airwaves are red hot with commentary about what Trump said in his interview with the Sun newspaper prior to his meeting with our Prime Minister Mrs May in which in essence he was extremely derogatory to Mrs May describing the nature of her proposed attempt to leave the EU as precluding any deals with the US and then to rub salt in the wound, suggested Boris Johnson, the person who has just resigned in a huff over her proposal to try for close trading links with Europe, would himself make a good prime minister. Not 8 hours later, Trump was transformed, lovey-Dover with Mrs May, extolling her virtues and suggesting that his words had been misconstrued.
He is a Jekyll and Hyde character, a representative of the fake news he so condemns and yet he can be a breath of fresh air when compared to the choreographed diplomatic double speak we are so used to when listening to any politician these days. With him the lies and deceit are blatant it's like talking to the guy in the pub. He may change his mind half way through talking to you, he may deny having said something but at least for the moment "it's true for him". He hasn't been intellectually neutered to say what he has been programmed to say. He isn't under the politically correct  constraint which most of our politicians and media seem to hide behind. He doesn't call a 'spade a shovel' in an attempt, not to upset people or be as tortured as so many of our tv journalists seem to be, afraid not to tow the line
If one hears them talk about immigration, race, so called misogyny then there is not a cigarette papers width between any of them and yet in the 'real world' there are wide divergent views, openly discussed when free from the PC ideology held by many organisations such as a municipality.
The truth in terms of sociology is an individual thing since the thing being discussed is a moral or ethical assumption and there are no hard and fast rules so long as the discussion takes all views into consideration and doesn't assume that some views have some sort of divine exclusivity.

It's not coming home

Subject: "It's not coming home"

"It's not coming home" The competition for the English team is over in so far as winning the cup is concerned but at least it has left many productive memories, not least of a new and fresher perspective of Russia.
When Keiren Tripper stepped up to take the first free kick of the game in the 6th minute and slotted a beautifully controlled shot over the heads of the Croatian defence I thought "Its coming home". This young inexperienced team were repeating their previous games with episodes of football opportunism that wins games.
The team have no real playmaker, Kane is a brilliant poacher but not a tactician who can guide and dictate the game like Paul Pogba. There is no one of the brilliance of Mbappe to split a defence apart by running at defenders and turning them with his ferocious speed and ball control. Our players have the exuberance of youth to try anything but when up against an experienced side of seasoned professionals their ideas began to lose potency and with it the verve which had served them well in previous matches. Croatia are not a great team, rather they stuck to their task and wore down the young English bloods who became dispirited as the game wore on.
Refreshingly the North European teams, who have come through to contest the final stages of the tournament have done so without the theatrics  of the South American sides. The grappling in the goalmouth, the writhing on the floor for the slightest tackle all this had begun to bring the game into disrepute and make it a farcical spectacle.
Eventually the game won out with in my opinion France the clear leaders. Their game against Argentina was the best game of the tournament and the tactical display against Belgium was masterful.
A great tournament played in near perfect conditions to full house apparently happy crowds. As a piece of propaganda it replicated the London Olympics in organisation and public appeal and whilst the mastications of political life in a dictatorship bear no relationship to a democracy with all is public spats and upheaval played out daily it has caused many in the West to question our continuing diet of uneven media protestation.
How much is false news or perhaps have our senses become so blunted with scepticism that we wouldn't be able to evaluate anyway.

Quaker's

Subject: Quaker's

Today the debate was about the intriguing concept of believing in the "form of the essence" of god without "believing in God". 

The complexity of the biblical story, set in a period so remote from our own current thinking, makes the telling of this unlikely and complex story,  including concepts  such as the "virgin birth" the "resurrection" and the concept of "heaven", difficult, if not unfathomable. 

There are of course many religions. Some of them thrive on sticking firmly to their individual  text,  every word precious , others, try to manage their belief in "something" with a nagging doubt about the stories or their absolute veracity.

The Quakers, who were members of the debating audience, are currently undergoing a re-evaluation of their teaching. They apply a pragmatic sense of trying to put greater  emphasis on the 'human experience' on earth than with the god described in the Testament. 

Their personal striving for understanding through human love and human reconciliation, is reflected in their congregation called "the society of friends". Their philosophy is that there is something of god in everyone, each human being is unique and therefore a belief in god is tempered by their belief in their fellow man. 

This emphasis on 'humanities role' in the practicality of founding a better place on Earth, rather than the carrot of proclaiming "life beyond death", is, in some ways more atheistic than purely a faith bound religion, although perhaps the Quaker would balk at the comparison. They belong to a pantheon of faiths which strive to understand the basis of humanity, its needs and never ending conclusions  without mixing the image of God with their own image, other than the belief that God lies within all of us.

Living in, Looking out

Subject: Living in looking out.

Are we, the Oldies on the threshold of a new way, a palatable way of living our lives to the beat of a different drum. One which acknowledges the need old people have for communication, exercise, good nutrition and independence.
Our homes have become the square meterage we know best and feel most comfortable It's the private space where we can let it all out, no need to play-act, no need to be considerate, no need to compare ourselves with other younger more active people.
Our world, made up of ourselves, perhaps a partner, living within the self containment of our own choosing.

The mornings become evenings if we nap or stay in bed. Our evenings become morning as we hang about happily making  breakfast at lunchtime and gently going about our day ignoring the lives of those 'other people' who have been up for hours.

So much of our life spent performing for 'those others' in that macabre dance to which we were always one or two steps behind. The demands on us was dependant on our exposure, how much we were prepared to put ourselves out and about, but sadly usually for someone else's benefit. It was a Faustian Pact in which our time and energy were traded on the assumption that "time", some time would be left over for ourselves.
Being a well drilled performing animal we forgot how to be ourselves and still measure ourselves by the habits of those around us.
The holiday resorts, the starred hotel system, the cruse ship and its inevitable on-board competition, the box ticking sightseeing, always aware of "others" what they wear and how thick their wallet appeared to be.
The bliss of being home is that the door is shut to all this. Your imagination can be limitless without spending a penny. You food delivered to the door, cooked or uncooked. The drinks needn't be counted by your partner. The car stays on the driveway. The rain is observed and not felt. Communication is world wide with the added advantage that if the discussion gets heated a battery fades and the line drops out before much harm is done.
Homo-erectus (not so erectus these days) can take the weight off his feet for the first time in decades and truly chill.

Homo interectus

 

Subject: Homo interactus.

The assumption that mankind is special a sort of biological anomaly, set aside from the common or garden animal kingdom which whilst being part of Darwinistic evolution somehow managed to categorise  itself as special, imbued with the special powers of developmental which gives us some sort of control over our destiny.
From the time of the Ancient Greek civilisation systems of thought allowed us to build and reference previous hypothesis to refine or discard according to logical analysis. The assumptions we made regarding our fellow man allowed morality to become ingrained, to a greater or lessor degree and with it also the assumptions regarding life and after life which developed into the religious instinct.
One of the problems has been, over the millennia, different environments have allowed what we call civilisation to flourish or, conversely stand still and the assumptions we make about our ability to become the masters of our species is very patchy.
The tautology which tells us how we advance and keep advancing also assumes we hold all the answers and that our future is assured but perhaps, like the dinosaurs who must have seen them selves as pretty invincible, we are also on a path to extinction.
For instance our absorption in petty, self centred governance must be a cause for concern. The Brexit negotiations provided such a powerful goal to pursue for its own ends but has been caught in the tangled web of narcissistic self interest such that the nation is at risk of 'self harm', and yet nothing seems to bring the warring parties to the table for the common good.
Perhaps self destruction is the most important part of evolution in its elemental search for improvement. As we continue to pollute the environment and strip it of its riches, perhaps eventually a new life form will emerge, 'homo interactus' where the "self" becomes buried inside the knowledge that the sum is greater than the parts.

Getting used to rowing together

 

Subject: Getting used to rowing together.

The World Cup has once again shown a world nation in the rich technicolor of self promotion. These immaculate stadiums and near perfect playing surfaces, the happy faces not only of overseas fans but of local Russians.  Where was the oppressed nation of food shortages and the ever present Gulag, of secret police and assassinated  politicians, of a country you can't trust, who's propaganda machinery was even now contriving the scenes we see on our television screen. Gosh they must be good.
A friend of mine the other day suggested that Putin had, by diktat, told his citizens to smile and perform for the audience much like the enraptured crowd perform for the North Korean leader in the parades they hold.

Propaganda has softened our minds to such an extent that we don't know what to believe and of course it's propaganda from both sides. There is no doubt that Russia is a more authoritarian country than ours and that Putin is ruthless in maintaining his grip on his nation and yet in many conversations with men I work with, men who came to the UK from Eastern European nations which were once under the heel of the USSR and some from Russia itself, the story is of a fondness for the country it's history and its people especially their relatives who live there.

Theirs is a different story from the one pumped out on our media. It's one of a country which respects it's past and it's traditions, not in constant upheaval, ever changing, even decrying what went before, creating a near constant debilitating mental turmoil we do here in Britain. The love of their country is balanced by the pragmatism of work and wages. Their lives here are conflicted by the laissez-faire society in which the individual must constantly choose and remembers a more stable society, more paternal, less turbulent, less greedy.
So Putins eastern Mongolian features which rarely seems to smile belies that eastern inscrutability which so frightens the westerner with its implied conformity and willingness to accept rules. It's an anathema to the western mind brought up on the importance of being an individual.  To see society as a social concoction, a mechanism for getting on with people around you and recognising that we are all in the same boat which if you want to arrive at your destination you better get used to rowing together.

Petty point scoring

 

Subject: Petty point scoring.

It's a wonder we ever get anything done.
The infighting between our cabinet ministers seems to have made our negotiation with the EU Commission virtually impossible. The political intrigue and jockeying for power has made our position at the bargaining table very difficult and it would seem the hubris of some would rather see us go over the cliff than survive.
People, especially politicians live in a bubble of their own contrivance, for them it's a talking shop of phraseology of scoring debating points rather than understand the definition of their conclusions. People's livelihood, the countries livelihood is at stake and yet claims, made in the heat of battle during the run up to the referendum, claims which were shaky then and now seem clearly wrong are still defended. Their minds seem to exclude the facts around and whilst faith and belief are useful in religious debate they are indefensible in a reasoned economic strategy.

I was reading a book by Lord Beaverbrook, one of the press titans of the 20th century in which he describes the political brinkmanship and backstabbing which went on whilst the First World War was being fought. While men in there thousands laying down their lives in the trenches the politicians intrigued amongst themselves like schoolboys. Narcissistic, self indulgence ruled the political corridors of power whilst the nation plunged ever deeper towards defeat and its only when one reads a historical account written by people close to the actual workings of government does one feel nothing but shame for those we once admired.

And so we repeat our inglorious past, not with decisions which should be the binding us together in the national interest but in petty point scoring, the eternal manoeuvre to secure our own advantage over all others.

Afraid even of our own shadow

Subject: Afraid even of our own shadow

Is it the essence of who we are to feel compassion for other people.
Most people would say yes if they came from the relatively prosperous West with its abundant mental space to reflect on the position of others vis a vis ourselves. But what happens in that emotional equation if our actions begin to threaten our own cosy existence. Swopping some of our cosy advantage might be acceptable so long as the threat to our way of life is not too acute and we can see some sort of gradualism, a time frame for us to promote new concepts and rational into our world of assumed surety.
Of course the world is in flux, it always has been since the times of Genghis Khan and before, a world of conquest and challenge, of change and the adoption of the new.

A friend wrote yesterday that with our immigrant problems the African diaspora were only reversing a trend where hundreds of years of colonisation, which has received such a bad press for the last twenty years, was now being thrown in our faces with the Africans colonisation of Europe.
For the young idealists who man the rescue ships, plucking people out of the sea there's  is more than just an humanitarian act it's an act of restoration. Resorting the underlying ethical rights of people to act in their own best interest.
As we close the ports and erecting walls to protect ourselves from the known and the unknown are we not also practising that essential trait of mankind to assert our right to preservation, what we see as our own best interest. Has the lifestyle and the economic advantage we have created through force of arms over the centuries not given us a self serving right to hang onto what we have. Or do we allow the 'brotherhood of man' an ill defined concept at the best of times, to trump our hubris. Do we turn to religious definitions or social definitions to map out our future or do we erected a stockade with sentries peering out into the night, afraid even of our own shadow.

The Brexit charade

Subject: The Brexit charade.

There are moments when an opportunity arises to display ones anger at an institution which is coming under scrutiny as to whether it is fit for purpose.
I am talking of the House of Commons.

The other day the House was debating the amendments sent down from the House of Lords regarding Parliaments role in accepting or not accepting, on behalf of the electorate, the outcome of the Governments negotiations surrounding our withdrawal from Europe.
In our unwritten constitution the role of Government and the role of Parliament are separate. Government decide policy and negotiate policy, Parliament hold government to account by the way they vote. Withdrawing support for Government usually brings the government down with a "no confidence vote" but with the new fixed time parliaments (5 years) a government could conceivably carry on until the end of the fixed time period.
The importance of Brexit, equal in many measures to the seriousness of committing the country to war (a commitment which since the Iraq war has to pass through Parliament for approval) is being manipulated in such a way to avoid this parliamentary approval.
A series of amendments brought from the Lords to argue that, in its final form, the arrangements agreed with the Europeans should be submitted to Parliament for approval was being debated in the House of Commons.
Only 2 days had been set aside for this momentous decision which will effect the citizens of this country for decades to come and when the section which determined the areas of devolved  governance which had been handed to the Scottish Parliament in the Act of devolution, the time allocated, 2 hours was taken up by the minister speaking for virtually all of the 2 hours and leaving no time for the SNP to take part in a session crucial to them and the citizens they represent.
The outcome was that on a Point of Order being denied by the Speaker the leader of the SNP refused to take his seat and was ordered to leave the chamber. At which point the whole SNP parliamentary delegation walked out. I cheered their act of defiance and was extremely disappointed when the Labour Party sat on their hands and didn't follow them out preferring instead to allow the Tory charade to continue.

The artificiality syndrome

Subject: The artificiality syndrome

 

The World Cup has started in Russia and the journalists have flocked to there to write their controversial pieces about the football, about the politics and about the society at large. The verbiage has to be controversial otherwise the editor back in London who has an eye on the 'sensation lusting public' (how else could you describe the public who in their millions buy the Sun, the Express and the Mail, each signified with their gory, rabble rising  headlines). The cliches are being thrown around already. The racially motivated, violence within Russian society who's political masters will stop at nothing to win as evidenced by the almost industrial scale drug abuse by the Russian athletes, the use of cyber space to effect change in western democracies and the removal of anyone who opposes Mr Putin.  So starting off with the premise that the Russian society is bad, their journalism is bent on digging the dirt.

Brought up in cities across Europe and America, the Fourth Estate is often used by the State to propagate a societal contrivance "the common view" which of course, speaking to real people is not common at all but rather a "manipulated state speak", an attempt  to close down dissension amongst the masses.

The Russian authorities are past masters of propaganda and spreading false news but clearly we in the west are not far behind. The words racially motivated or misogynist usually close down any debate, so strong has grown the prejudice towards people who would uphold values which do not conform with the conformity the governments wish us to hold. 

In our "brave new world" with its increasing ability to terrorise us with propaganda, we believe what we read and we read what "others" wish us to believe. The emphasis on multiculturalism and the need to embrace cultures which we don't understand and inherently go against our own sense of right and wrong is portrayed as at the least unhelpful and worse our hesitancy is called out as racially motivated, which in the world of 'state speak' is a heinous crime.

The fact that black people can be just as racially motivated against white people is brushed aside with the claim that they were and are that oppressed section of society and therefore they are simply venting both historically based anger as well as their contemporary unhappiness (a far more complex question) and is perfectly normal. 

Backed up by a press which has become lazy with stereotypes it makes it almost impossible to have an open debate on so many subjects which are already prescribed as being off limits.