Pistis reclaims and wonders...: 2022

Friday 30 December 2022

Pistis ponders stories, again (weekending December 31st 2022)

‽istis ponders stories, again (weekending December 31st 2022)

This week ‽istis has again[i] pondered stories:

‽ super-natural/fantastical: the BBC ghost story; the Christmas Story?

· in ‘traditional’ nine lessons and carols
· in more modern and perhaps accessible forms and formats
· in live nativities for novelty
· in school nativities where there is just about a part for everyone (but perhaps parental bragging rights for Mary, solo verse singer etc.)?
· with or without much belief, reflection, critical analysis, rationality, relevance for today, outcome measurement of key elements: a Saviour has come, peace on earth, goodwill, etc, etc.

‽ stories told by families?

· to others in ‘round robins’ with news of offspring’s achievements, health (or otherwise in more or less detail), holidays, work, changes, moves, plans for the New Year, hopes expressed
· to each other about each other or ‘us’
· scripts and parts played out perhaps again, and again, and again; possibly functional or highly dysfunctional

‽ stories allegorical?

· in films and programmes watched this week:

o ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ perhaps[ii] an allegory for civil war in Ireland
o ‘I Came By’[iii] possibly an allegory about class, elitism, patriarchy, private education, paternal abuse, British history, Empire, slavery, hypocrisy, hubris, entitlement, power?
o ‘The Smeds and the Smoos’[iv] (thank you Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler) maybe an allegory about love, about non-sectarianism, about co-operation, about crossing boundaries, about righting the wrongs of the ending of Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’

‽ stories to teach or to educate

‽ stories of resilience or vulnerability

‽ stories to justify and maintain war and conflict, division and hatred

‽ stories to influence and indoctrinate

‽ stories to warn, to frighten or deter

‽ stories to protect, distract or forget

‽ stories of trauma, stories to hurt, embarrass or shame

‽ stories of nurture, stories to heal

‽ stories to claim or proclaim a voice, a perspective

‽ stories to conserve or progress

‽ stories about identity and heritage and tradition and culture

‽ stories that build ramps, stories that build steps; stories that put up dry stone walls, stories that put up styles

‽ stories to maintain power or speak ‘truth’ to power

‽ stories to sustain an illusion, stories delusional

‽ stories to challenge or discomfort

‽ stories to awaken, to call to a cause, to ‘incite a meeting to rebellion’[v]

‽ stories about change, transition, evolution or revolution, or stasis or stagnation, or digression, or transgression, or regression

‽ stories of judgement, of condemnation, of tolerance, of championing, of forgiveness

‽ stories to heal, to redeem

‽ stories to bring insight and revelation, to open eyes and ears and hearts and minds

‽ stories to inspire

‽ stories of growth, stories of sustainability, stories of diminishment

‽ stories of comfort or challenge

‽ stories to hide behind

‽ stories to parade and present with pride

‽ stories of crisis or acuteness

‽ stories of thriving, stories of declining

‽ stories about bravery, cowardice, of compliance, defiance, of strength, weakness

‽ stories to redress

‽ stories to close

‽ stories to reflect, represent, reveal

‽ stories that are fictional

‽ stories that are factual

‽ stories that are parables

‽ stories that are prophetic

…and on and on… and you might like to think of examples for each…

And, as the story that many ascribe to - about how time and dates are organised - moves a large proportion of the world from one New Year to another[vi], ‽istis wonders what stories you and I might receive, create and tell - to and about each other and ourselves, our pasts, presents and futures…

NB: further reflections and comments linked to this week’s theme and past blog entries to be found on Twitter: replies, retweets (which don’t necessarily indicate approval, sometimes the very opposite!) and ‘likes’: @Pistis_wonders. ‘Follows’ and respectful comment and dialogue welcome...

[i] See blog weekending August 15th 2022: https://pistisrec.blogspot.com/2020/08/pistis-reclaims-stories-weekending.html

[ii] https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/the-banshees-of-inisherin-reunites-colin-farrell-and-brendan-gleeson-in-darkly-comic-allegory-for-irish-civil-war/ar-AA15BK63

[iii] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15083184/

[iv] https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001gncf

[v] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EMNDj_Ao3s

[vi] Other new years are available: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/11-cultures-that-dont-celebrate-new-years-day-on-jan-1/nsmaojbot

Friday 23 December 2022

Pistis ponders Christmas (weekending December 24th 2022)

‽istis ponders Christmas (weekending December 24th 2022)

Christmas[i]…

…and so much that could be said, and has been said and will be said; and could be sung and has been sung and will be sung; and could be eaten and has been eaten and will be eaten; and could be drunk and has been drunk and will be drunk; and could be remembered and has been remembered and will be remembered; and could be received and has been received and will be received; and could be given and has been given and will be given…

…or not said or sung or eaten or drunk or remembered or received or given…

Once upon a time (though not necessarily in the beginning) the person behind the pseudonym behind the character, ‽istis – pondered and penned and there was a word, a new lyric that seemed to fit with a tune already there (with apologies to Kate Rusby, but also with very grateful thanks for what the person behind the pseudonym behind the character, ‽istis, considers to be the glory that is the song ‘My Young Man’[ii]).

Perhaps, possibly, maybe these alternative lyrics, offered humbly, say something about this season and the beliefs that give it its name:

A Star Shines
1) A star shines on the earth,
A herald of a baby’s birth.
A promise made: of peace,
Goodwill to all shall never cease.
God is here – Emanuel!
And yet we search, for now it seems so hard to tell.

2) For on this glorious morn,
As Christmas Day begins to dawn.
The bombs and bullets fly
And children cry before they die.
And who’s the Herod now?, we say,
As parents weep, we feel their loss and cannot pray.

3) A star shines on the earth,
A herald of a baby’s birth.
A promise made: of peace,
Goodwill to all shall never cease.
God is here – Emanuel!
And what we say and do will be the way they tell.

All things shall be well, be well?
We are the star – and we must prove Emanuel!

And as the talk about God continues to filter, more or less, through the wrappings of the season, ‽istis tries replacing the ‘G’ word with the ‘l’ word: ‘love’ – in carols and songs and prayers and sermons and words and deeds – to see what might be born and nurtured; what peace and goodwill might be brought on earth; what glory might yet be shone around‽

[i] Other festivals are available…

[ii] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AjblYI9KEY

Sunday 18 December 2022

Pistis ponders 'tabulas', rasa or otherwise (weekending December 17th 2022(

‽istis ponders ‘tabulas’, rasa or otherwise (weekending December 17^th 2022)

Holding a new-born baby

‽ simply and complexly miraculous and wonderous…

‽ any amount of pondering the ordinary/extraordinariness of new life and potential perhaps, possibly, maybe brings humble awe and gratitude…

‽ the end of our Advent waiting…

‽istis ponders the continuing development of this new little life

· nature and nurture (in interactive equation?)

· influences (endogenous and exogenous?)

· brain and the ‘operating system’ (architecture preformed or built?)

· the potential impact of all that is best and all that yet may be traumatising (resilience, vulnerability, internal and external resources to enable coping or not?)

· learning:

o by trial and error, trying and success

o by example – positive and not so positive

o by adventure and discovery and serendipity

o by formal regulated proscribed methods and content, by informal stuff of everyday experience

o by deliberate plan, by happy or otherwise accident?

· dependent, independent, co-dependent?

And as the airwaves, the Twittersphere, the Instagramming and all Meta things are Tik-Toking away, resounding with the claim and counter-claim, opinions masquerading as universal truths, vitritroll (sic) and views expounded, declaimed, offered humbly, insisted, declared, whispered, shouted, ranted, spoken quietly, ‽istis wonders:

· what perhaps happened

· what possibly influenced

· what purpose may be served

· what ‘facts’ were perhaps heard, read, selected, absorbed, remembered

· what circumstances, experiences and examples - possibly residualised into ‘messages’ about the world, about others, about you and me and ‘us’ and ‘them’ - maybe residing deep within, just below, or on the surface

…for you to believe what you believe and think what you think, feel as you feel, do as you do‽

And perhaps, possibly, maybe this might be a question to ask and explore – especially to and with those whose words and behaviour might either revile or be reviled:

‽ How have you come to think, feel and do this?

And perhaps, possibly, maybe this might be a question to ask and explore of and with ourselves:

‽ How have I come to think, feel and do this?

And a few days’ later, holding this new life once more, ‽istis marvels again and wonders what, how and why will you, o little one, come to think, feel and do; the universe perhaps, possibly, maybe awaits…

Friday 9 December 2022

Pistis ponders coal, hypocrisy, irony and a focal point (weekending December 10th 2022)

‽istis ponders coal, hypocrisy, irony and a focal point (weekending December 10^th 2022)

This week the UK Government approved the opening of a coal mine, to dig out fossil fuels again for the steel-making industry…

Clicking on this link: https://www.westcumbriamining.com/ following a headline announcing the plan, a message was presented on ‽istis’ laptop:

‘Welcome to West Cumbria Mining. We’ll be back soon!

Sorry for the inconvenience. We’re performing some maintenance at the moment. If you need to you can always contact us at info@westcumbriamining.com for updates, otherwise we’ll be back up shortly!

— The West Cumbria Mining Team’

‽ And perhaps a cry of ‘hypocrisy’ broke out:

· a current (and especially historic) high polluting country that could still be described as developed / rich / global North / over-developed / developed-at-others’-expense / developed-and-maintained-at others’-expense (delete as appropriate, or add your own); that has perhaps seemed to lecture or shame other countries about their world-and-habitat-polluting-and-destroying ways… is opening a coal mine!

‽ And possibly a note of ‘irony’ was struck:

· Thatcher’s mine closures, Sunak’s and Gove’s mine openings; both strategies promoted in pursuit of partisan gain and ideology?

‽ And maybe a new focal point was created:

· the former chemical works on the outskirts of Whitehaven in Cumbria is the site of the proposed mine and could become this decade’s ‘Greenham’; a centre for a progressive protest movement; the beating heart and drum of a continued articulation and creative and practical expression of new and different ways of doing things: more co-operative than competitive; less for private profit, more for public good; less for immediate gain, more for long term sustainability; less for grim and dirty and life-limiting work, more for green and clean and healthy jobs; less for security ‘against’ external threat (‘Putin’s war’), more for safeguarding and securing ‘for’ all of us and especially for those who will follow – if the focal point of our imagination, hope and vision can be set that far ahead‽

Thursday 1 December 2022

Pistis ponders dissonance (weekending December 3rd 2022)

‽istis ponders dissonance (weekending December 3^rd 2022)

This week ‽istis hears and sees and experiences much dissonance, in things perhaps sublime, possibly mundane, maybe everyday…

‽ extraordinary bravery then and since and now, the capacity to endure and survive the so-long-unspeakable, experiencing immediate terror and enduring trauma, resilience, the power of love and restorative relationships – v - the depravity and evil… and the oh-so-different respective social-psychological, natured or nurtured situations that contributed to both[i]

‽ boycotting the football – v – drawn to the sport’s international news

‽ globalist by inclination – v – ‘English’ by parentage, law, constant domicile and likely deep unconscious social osmosis (and yet somehow wanting Wales to win!)[ii]

‽ ‘Artisan’/Christmas market in a cathedral – v – Matthew 21v12 (The Bible), no tables were overturned but plenty of money seemed to be changing hands; no water was turned in to wine, but plenty of ‘handcrafted’[iii] gin was on offer

‽ surprised at the revelation of an encounter at Buckingham Palace – v – not surprised at the revelation of an encounter at Buckingham Palace[iv]

‽ Advent waiting – v – giving up on waiting[v]

‽ eager anticipation of a new birth in the family – v – hoping that baby and mother will hold on a bit longer so that a Covid positive testing parent can be there

‽ the cost of new glasses – v – the price of being able to see clearly and drive safely

And, maybe not surprisingly, there has been a headache…

[i] An extraordinary interview on ‘Woman’s Hour’ I think: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001fmq8 Rachael Watts and Emma Barnett Had to Tweet: ‘What resilience, what a dreadful, dreadful ordeal both then and in its legacy; what sensitive interviewing; what powerful radio. Listening in the car, reached destination, sat and listened to the end, tears unavoidable. Thank you.’

[ii] https://www.skysports.com/football/wales-vs-england/report/462994

[iii] Wondering what profit margin increase may be represented by the addition of ‘handcrafted’; excessive profit realised in the light from windows depicting many prophets and saints?

[iv] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/dec/01/lady-hussey-resign-monarchy-race-remarks-institution

[v] See previous blogs including: ‽istis reclaims Advent (weekending 21st December 2019) https://pistisrec.blogspot.com/2019/12/pistis-reclaims-advent-weekending.html

Friday 25 November 2022

Pistis wonders about change (weekending November 26th 2022)

‽istis wonders about change (weekending November 26^th 2022)

This week when:

‽ the members of the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) eventually agree enough to issue a statement including ‘a historic decision to establish and operationalize a loss and damage fund.’[i], but perhaps cannot agree fully how to “…win this battle for our lives”

‽ the journalist…. George Monbiot ‘Tweeted’: ‘For 50 years (starting with the Stockholm conference in 1972), they have kept us safely talking. Summit after environmental summit has failed even to begin the action that’s needed. At what point do we conclude that the process is part of the problem? #COP27’ (21.11.2022)

‽ the RMT announces new strike dates on the railways [ii], university staff strike,[iii] more unions ballot members in relation to prospective strike action and remember that withdrawal of labour is perhaps the action that best reminds the bosses and us all of our dependency? (discuss!) including the Royal College of Nursing[iv]

‽ the deadly war in Ukraine continues and whilst the original outcome may not be realised (‘Russia embarked on a full-scale invasion of Ukraine with the aim of toppling the Western-aligned government of Volodymyr Zelenskyy.’[v]), relations will be altered absolutely fundamentally for a very long time

‽ calls come again for action to improve safeguarding and child protection arrangements in England and Wales[vi] after the death of Logan Mwangi[vii] - new approaches to continue to improve the safety net through which some children fall so catastrophically (yet which does manage to protect so many whose names will, fortunately, never be highlighted on national papers)

‽ the immigration and asylum system continues to be in the spotlight and revisions are mooted with flags perhaps being run up flag poles to test the water for possible proposals (and to mix metaphors)[viii]

‽ The Labour Party talks about reforming the House of Lords[ix]

‽ A programme on BBC4 highlights the state of a bay and coast on an island far away and over time – and considers what it may tell us about there and us, then and now[x]

‽ new gestures to raise awareness about human rights matters are aired across the world – from rainbow bucket hats (not allowed/now allowed in a FIFA not-so-okay-cokey, sic)!, to fingers on lips, to pundits’ introductions, to personal boycotts[xi]

‽ Tory MPs are invited to indicate whether they will stand again at the next election[xii] as the chances of electoral loss and potential strength of ‘give the other lot a chance’ voting vagaries are calculated

‽ ….and on and on – just try listening, reading and seeing the news through the lens of the word in italics below…

‽istis continues to ponder ‘change’ and wonder at processes that may be involved… What comes to mind?

· What might we do if we can’t really calculate potential cost/benefits longer term‽ Assert confidently? Proceed cautiously? Precautionarily not proceed at all?[xiii]

· Am I fundamentally a ‘jerk’ or a ‘smoothie when it comes to thinking about evolutionary processes‽[xiv]

· ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world’ – or – ‘We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.’[xv]

· Is ‘lifestyle authenticity’ the only antidote to cries of ‘hypocrisy’‽

· Is this ancient wisdom actually the case – in theory and practice?: ‘Everything flows and nothing stays. Everything flows and nothing abides. Everything gives way and nothing stays fixed. Everything flows; nothing remains. All is flux, nothing is stationary. All is flux, nothing stays still. All flows, nothing stays.[xvi]

And, perhaps, possibly, maybe most critically of all, this week ‽istis has pondered and wondered: what difference can I make… and how can I make a difference…‽ What change do I need to make, to make change‽

[i] https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/cop27 See https://unfccc.int/documents/624444 for the Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan.

[ii] https://www.rmt.org.uk/news/rmt-announces-4-weeks-of-industrial-action/

[iii] https://www.ucu.org.uk/article/12609/Biggest-ever-university-strikes-set-to-hit-UK-campuses-over-pay-conditions--pensions

[iv] https://www.rcn.org.uk/news-and-events/news/uk-nhs-pay-dispute-first-nursing-strike-dates-announced-251122

[v] https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/ukraine-conflict-crossroads-europe-and-russia

[vi] See ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ (2018) https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/942454/Working_together_to_safeguard_children_inter_agency_guidance.pdf

[vii] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/nov/24/logan-mwangi-review-highlights-systemic-child-protection-issues

[viii] https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/some-foreign-students-could-be-banned-in-move-to-lower-immigration_uk_63806e01e4b0b7f65305867d

[ix] https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/labours-proposals-reformed-house-lords

[x] https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01s6gjx

[xi] https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/11/22/fifa-qatar-rainbow-hats-world-cup/

[xii] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11460863/Tories-brace-flood-MPs-QUITTING-election-given-up.html

[xiii] Vote to leave the EU, or not…?

[xiv] Gradualism v sudden-transition? https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2004/12/16/repeat-after-me (apologies for citing a reference behind a pay-wall… even for an article from 2004, well thanks for that ‘The Economist’ (might you consider suddenly-transition to a new policy on articles that are more than, say, 5 years’ old?)…

[xv] https://professorbuzzkill.com/gandhi-be-the-change-you-wish-to-see-in-the-world/

[xvi] Commonly attributed to Heraclitus: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heraclitus

Friday 18 November 2022

Pistis wonders at those who manage the dying (weekending November 19th)

‽istis wonders at those who manage the dying (weekending November 19^th 2022)

Back in July 2021, ‽istis wondered and reclaimed dying[i] as a loved-one prepared to ‘cross the bar’. This week, attending another funeral, ‽istis wonders at those who manage the dying – including for the 11,795 people whose death was registered in England and Wales in the week ending Nov 4^th (latest available)[ii]:

‽ the slow decline in mind and body or catastrophic emergency health crisis as the inevitable approaches sooner or later (but never if…) and with all that may mean: patience, lack of squeamishness, coping with bodily fluids – cleaning, mopping, washing - great skill and care, diagnosing, prescribing, operating technical medical equipment and managing complex procedures, feeding, encouraging drinking, mitigating pain if possible[iii], repeating things over and over again, end of life 'doula-ing', comforting, weeping-with, holding hands…

‽ the last rites – sacred or secular, formularied or improvised perhaps from sentiment deep within and generations bestowed…

‽ the dignified handling of the body – investigation if that is needed, preparation, storage, transport in common likelihood from bed to gurney to coffin to graveyard or crematorium, to soil, to box…

‽ the funeral or memorial (direct, essential or tailored[iv] – family, friends, acquaintances, the respect-payers – and everyone behind the scenes: funeral directors, pall-bearers, drivers, celebrants (all perhaps in touch with the sacred, whether religious or otherwise), gravediggers, crematoria manages and technicians, florists, musicians, poets, liturgists, readers, eulogisers (flowing eloquently or managing the catch in the throat and the need for breath or to manage the tears), singers, silent witnesses, the caterers…

‽ registrars, solicitors, the administrators of charities and banks and data-management...

‽ kind friends and family, sometimes strangers, perhaps therapists…

‽ and on and on across the many and varied roles and ways we, mostly, somehow manage and cope before, during and after…

And what is left in mind for ‽istis, or for you, at the end of this pondering at the managing of death…‽ Once again perhaps there is a sense of an essential complex connectedness of people; possibly a reminder of our common final physical fate; maybe a fresh appreciation and wonder in the thick and sometimes thinness[v] of what might be seen as the fragility and miraculousness of life…‽

[i] https://pistisrec.blogspot.com/2021/07/pistis-reclaims-dying-weekending-july.html Blog from July 24th 2021

[ii] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/weeklyprovisionalfiguresondeathsregisteredinenglandandwales

[iii] And not forgetting all the services and people that lie behind these activities e.g: pharmaceutical companies, researchers and scientists, manufacturers of PPE – all those then involved in managing and supplying resource materials, finished goods, deliveries, administrating etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc…

[iv] References include: https://www.coop.co.uk/funeralcare/funeral-services/direct-cremations; https://www.cremation.org.uk/statistic; https://www.communitycelebrant.co.uk/growth-of-direct-cremations/

[v] References include: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/travel/thin-places-where-we-are-jolted-out-of-old-ways-of-seeing-the-world.html; Thin Places, Holy Spaces: Where Do You Encounter God? - A Sacred Journey; https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/mar/22/this-column-change-your-life-heaven-earth;

Pistis reclaims and wonders...