Pistis reclaims and wonders...: December 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

Pistis reclaims and wonders...