Perspective: It Depends on Angles of Vision

I will begin with a tale that can be told almost entirely by a shrug. It is a story that I have loved and been irritated by in equal measure. It has meant different things to me over the years, depending on my own angle of vision, my perspective. The state of my mind, my heart and soul at the time. The lens through which I was reading it. It will lead us into a conversation about perspective, which is this week’s perspective. It’s a story about a farmer and his horse, but I like to call it maybe, maybe not.

“Let’s Wait and See”

The story goes that an old farmer is working hard in the fields. He has a wife and a son, and ekes out a meagre living. One day, his only horse runs away. Upon hearing this, his neighbours comment "Oh, how awful! That is terrible!" to this the farmer replied:

"Maybe, maybe not." “Let’s Wait and See”

A few days later, the farmer's horse returns and with it is another, exotic horse from far away. The horse is a mare, and is of rare value. The neighbours, upon hearing this, exclaim "How wonderful! It's fantastic that your horse returned and brought another horse with it!". The farmer shrugged and said:

"Maybe, maybe not." “Let’s Wait and See”

The farmer's horses gave him many young, prized colts making the farmer very wealthy in the town. The neighbours were very happy for the farmer saying; "This is so fantastic! Your new horses have brought you much fortune!" The farmer responded:

"Maybe, maybe not." “Let’s Wait and See”

The farmer's son, now a young man, tried to tame one of the young colts and was thrown from the horse, breaking his hip. This left the son unable to walk. The neighbours came to help and tried to console the farmer saying; "Oh, how awful! Your only son will never walk again!". The farmer, who was not upset, simply said:

"Maybe, maybe not." “Let’s Wait and See”

Later that year, the farmer's country went to war, and the army came by to conscript every able bodied man for duty. The farmer was too old to be taken, and his son could not walk, therefore he was excused. The army simply took the farmer's horses, leaving him just his original horse to allow him to keep farming.

Was the farmer's life good? Maybe. Was the farmer's life bad? Maybe not.

Good luck and bad luck are two sides of the same coin...it really depends on the perspective that we choose, on our angle of vision.

I eased my way into Monday. Did a bit of admin and thought I had better take Molly out for a walk, before it got too hot. She didn’t seem mad keen. She would rather just sit around the chapel gardens all day; I think she would have been far happier just sitting outside on the grass. We wandered towards town. After going to the toilet outside the town hall, she again hinted to go home. I thought no I have work to do today and I don’t want to take you out later when it will be very hot. I did though let her take the lead and go in any direction she wanted. After a time walking around the back of the market and health centre she made her way to Café Nero. I ordered my coffee and they offered Molly some milk. We laughed at her recent refusal to drink out of a paper cup, only porcelain for Molly and her refusal to drink warmed milk, only cold fresh milk for her. She is a girl who knows what she likes. I thought we would head toward the park, but oh no she wanted to sit outside and I thought ok. Unfortunately, there was only space in the shade. Molly wanted the sun and kept on inching toward the sunspots. There were several other people around just enjoying the day. Two young people came to sit down, they seemed happy and full of life. I noticed one had arms covered in small and large scars, they looked like they must have been caused by self-harm. I imagined the pain that they must have gone through and experienced in life. That said they were sat there out in the sun, with no shame. They just happily chatting away about life, enjoying the sun.

In a little while a friend passed by. He was in Altrincham for an appointment. He had got the times wrong and was two hours early. So, we sat and talked about all sorts for a while. I mentioned the two young people. It was fascinating as he had a completely different perspective to me. He talked about the journey that the person may well have been on and that the scars were marks of survival, of healing, of becoming who they are. I am glad he looked at the scene from an entirely different angle to mine. This led to a fascinating conversation about perspective and how we see things. How what we often see in life and the world, in literature and the ancient texts says as much about the state our inner life as it does the state of the world. We see, we read, we evaluate due to the condition of our condition. They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul, but perhaps it is through our souls that the eyes see the world.

I guess it all depends on angles of vision

This brings to mind a favourite song of mine called “High” from the album of the same name by New Model Army released in 2007, particularly the following lyrics

All these things you fear so much depend on angles of vision
From down in the maze of walls you can't see what's coming
But from high on the high hills it all looks like nothing
But from high on the high hills it all looks like nothing, nothing.

Here is the song

Just then Molly’s best friend Ronnie walked by with his owner. This changed her whole perspective and suddenly she wanted to go off to the park and play. I enjoyed an interesting conversation before heading home with thoughts of perspective in my mind. Earlier my friend at Café Nero had asked me about how I write and create worship. He had asked me about the video I had produced based on last Sunday’s service on hospitality. He had run it through AI and had come up with a fascinatingly accurate overview. I thought I could have done with that when creating publicity, as it summed it up better than I had. Another fascinating perspective. I then told him that a few years ago while watching an episode of “The Simpson” I realised that my style of writing was very much like an episode of the “The Simpson”. In that I set off in one direction and then at some point early on I tend to veer off in the direction I always meant to go. Sometimes it is hard to see the link. I’m about to do it in a moment or two. I call it “The Simpson Method”, I think at first he thought it was an official style, until he realised I was messing about, just something I made up.

So here we go on a journey around perspective, No doubt you won’t quite see it through my angle of vision.

Perspective, how we view ourselves and our world, impact of how we view the contours of our lives. Yes, external circumstances have a massive impact, but it isn’t just about them. We see through our eyes and our vision is shaped by our souls. Discovering a healthy perspective is vital to the good life. This might just be what they mean when they speak of enlightenment. A healthy perspective will enable us to persevere with tenacity throughout the ups and downs of life, much like the farmer in the earlier story. I have a friend who often talks about his grandmother telling him that what he needed in life was perseverance, something he never truly understood until he entered the second half of life. True perspective is what will carry us through the ups and downs of life. I suspect that it may well be that “pearl of great price” that Jesus spoke of in Matthews Gospel.

It matters how we look at things, how we see the world, it creates our perspective. It also matters how the world sees us. It was fascinating listening to my friend’s perception of the young person outside the coffee shop, it opened my eyes that day. It matters how we see the world and it matters equally how the world sees us. Monday was one of those days filled with fascinating interactions and conversations. Ones I had no idea I would experience when I woke. Were they good, were they bad, maybe, maybe not. If nothing else they filled my heart and soul with nourishment, that I am attempting to share with you who have ears to hear.

“Perceive” is an interesting word. It shares the same Latin root as the word “receive”. They both come from “percipere” which meant “to understand”, from “per” meaning “entirely” and “capere” meaning “to take”. So, to “perceive” something means to take things in entirely, completely, in a way that covers us with understanding. So yes it is interesting how we perceive things, how we take things in. I wonder already how you are perceiving this video.

It matters how we perceive how we take in life, this depends on angles of vision. No one sees things directly, exactly as they are. My friend and I had a long conversation about how people hear what you say. How people have interpreted things that we have said and come to the exact opposite conclusion to the point you were making. This is an interesting contrast to his AI tool. Not that AI doesn’t have biases, of course it does, placed there by those who created the tool. We all look into the glass dimly, or at least from angles. We look at the world through a mirror in some degree as we see it through our lens, not clear glass. No one experience things as they are, it comes to each of us through all kinds of filters? We all have our biases and prejudices. Does anyone ever really see things exactly as they are? We do not look at the world through untarnished eyes.

The physicist David Bohm asserted that: “What we take to be true is what we believe. What we believe is based upon our perceptions. What we perceive depends on what we look for. What we look for depends on what we think. What we think depends on what we perceive. What we perceive determines what we believe. What we believe determines what we take to be true. What we take to be true is our reality.”

Reality can be very different for each of us. It matters how we see the world and how the world sees us. It is the same with what happens to us, our perspective and how we respond to what happens to us and the life in which we live and breath and share our being.

Was the farmer's life good? Maybe. Was the farmer's life bad? Maybe not.

Good luck and bad luck are two sides of the same coin. It depends on the perspective that we choose to view reality in any given situation.

How we perceive ourselves and how we perceive life matters, it shapes our perspective, how we view the world. Perspective shapes the contours of our lives. How we see the world depends on the angles of our vision. Our lives are not shaped only by our circumstances but how we respond to them. Do they close down our hearts, minds and souls or do they open us to new possibilities? If you are anything like me, it will be mixed. We all go through dark times, when how we see life is not so beautiful and we all go through times when how we perceive life is both beautiful and refreshing. Our perception of life really matters. For as Jesus said in Luke 11 “Your eye is the lamp of your body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light; but if it is not healthy, your body is full of darkness.”

Perception is vital. It matters how we see the world and how the world sees us. It matters what we believe about ourselves and life. I believe that we are created in the Divine image, that there is that of God in each and everyone of us. I believe in the “inherent worth and dignity of every person.” It is important that is what people perceive when they see me as a Unitarian minister. I believe in original blessing and that it is our task to bring this blessing alive through our human being. Our vulnerable and sometimes broken human being. That we all have feet of clay, that we are perfectly imperfect, that it is ok to stumble and struggle at times. I trust this is obvious to you all. We all have feet of clay, we are all more human than otherwise. That said this does not mean that we are wrong that we are fundamentally flawed, that there is something wrong at the core of us. This my perspective and it influences how I see the world. This the lens. I do not look at the world through a perfectly clear cleanse. This is my bias if you like.

Perspective is so very important. It matters how we see things and how we are seen. It is important to see things as they are and to be seen as we are. It matters what we perceive and how we are perceived. Perception shapes how the world looks at us and equally perspective shapes how we look at the word. How we look at others is so important. We can look on people with compassion, or we can give them a “hard look”. Think about it when someone gives us a “hard look”, what do we do? Well often we turn away in fear, or respond in anger or aggression. What if someone looks at us with compassion, how do we respond to this? Well usually we look back with compassion. Well, we do unless we have fallen so far down into that pit of nihilistic despair that we respond to love with utter hatred. I’m sure most folk have been there at some point. I know that I have. So, it matters how we view our own humanity and how we view the humanity of each other.

How we act towards others really matters too. But it’s not just about doing what is right; it’s also about the spirit in which each task is conducted. We can appear to be encouraging and loving and doing the right thing, but our eyes may well say otherwise. Think about a smile. We think we smile with our mouths, but we do not, we smile with our eyes. When I smile my eyes almost slant shut. Whatever we do and however we do something our eyes will reveal the truth of our hearts and people will intuitively pick up on this. They will see it into our eyes.



How we see the world matters and how respond perhaps even more so. Life truly is in the “eye of the beholder”, it is about perception. How we see one another is vital, it is all about perspective. Try not to look so hard today and you never known those eyes looking back at you might just be stretched by a smile.

Please find below a video devotion based on the material in this "Blogspot"

 

Emptiness and Fullness: Living by Heart, Mind and Soul

You may remember that in the last video I offered a simple suggestion for us all. Well, there has been a lovely response and that’s just the things I know about. I asked us to explore our lives, to think of a few of our favourite things, to let them fill our hearts and then respond in love in some small and if you like big way in this our world. To share a little thing with someone, or some aspect of our world, and to bring that love to life. I know it won’t change the world, but it will do something and it might just change the world for someone. Well, what lovely responses I have borne witness to.

Looking at the world it is easy to see all that is wrong. Our minds, our hearts and souls are bombarded with darkness. There is much darkness, let’s not pretend. It is so easy for our hearts and minds to be filled with fear about it all. That though is not all there is and as I go through my daily life, this is not what I experience. I bear witness to loving generosity everywhere and every day.

Last Sunday I received so much that filled my heart. After the service at Altrincham. Will Pitcher gave me some wonderful gifts of behalf of his family, for helping them through the loss of both of their parents Hugh and Pat. It was a lovely book “The Complete Winnie the Pooh Collection” and music box that played “You are my sunshine, you make me happy when sky’s are grey”. Inside it read “There is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think”. The family noticed I had a Winnie the Pooh diary. I get one every year. Now the reason they noticed it was due to one of my empty headed moments. The first time I went to visit them I accidently picked up last years diary. I only noticed this as I was about to set a date to meet again. It brought much mirth and human connection and it was obviously something they held in their hearts. They responded in love from their hearts and wanted to pour out that love in gratitude. They are a credit to Pat and Hugh.

That evening I met with friends as I always do. As they were leaving one said he wanted a word with me. We spoke for a short while and then he presented me with a gift. It was another thank for something many years ago that has led to so many wonderful things. It is crafted from glass cup in the shape of a pile of books. It is of deep significance to him and countless others and I cannot begin to tell how much it meant to me.

I returned home in the beautiful summer sun and unpacked the gift. I didn’t at this moment know what it was going to be. As I picked a knife from the draw I must have put my keys down. I opened it up and was so moved I decided I wanted to take a picture and share with people. I thought it would be better to go outside. I did and then returned home put my hands in my pocket and no keys were there. I had locked myself out. Thankfully I was able to call on an angel who let me into the chapel where there is a spare kit. I had to wait a while though and as I did I sat and talked with a friend who was still there, they had been talking with someone. It was a beautiful evening. I also took a video of the gift, so moved by it all, my heart full to bursting. I was also laughing at my gormless self. I shared it with friends, passing on the generosity.

I awoke on Monday morning and beautiful morning it was. I shared a gift of “Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day, I’ve got a beautiful feeling, everything’s going my way”. I added a little extra about even if it isn’t all going my way, it still feels like a beautiful morning, a beautiful day. The truth is not everything is, but there is love and my heart feels filled with love. Perhaps a bit too filled it seems. I have noticed that the fuller the heart, the emptier the head. There are plusses and minuses to this. If your head is too empty, then you can too easily find yourself locked out of your own house and this can be an inconvenience for you and others. Yes, my heart was full, but my “gorm” was not. I was gormless and not gormful.

The week off I had enjoyed had done me the world of good. The last 12 months have been very full, a near perfect example of the blessings and curses that come with “Choosing Life”, to paraphrase good old Moses. There has been professional fulfilment too, as I get increasingly involved in helping to shape and develop future ministry. There have been personal and professional challenges, including so much grief. It has felt like too much at times. My mind has felt filled to bursting at times and this has left my heart almost empty. It’s a strange feeling to be filled up to brim with life and yet at the same time to feel almost empty in my being at the same time. A very strange paradox indeed. I know I am not alone. We need to find stillness and not be too full in order to fully function in our own lives, to feel alive.

I am reminded of a story of a university professor who visited a Japanese master to inquire about Zen. The professor began to ask questions while the master just sat quietly, listening. After a while the master began to pour tea into the professor’s cup. The cup soon filled up, but the master did not stop pouring. The tea soon began to spill over on to the table. Initially the professor just sat there in stunned silence, he did not know what to do. Eventually he could take no more and shouted out “It’s overfull. No more will go in!” The master stopped pouring and simply said “Like this cup you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”

It would appear that a full cup ,an overflowing cup, is not such a great thing. Whether it is filled with things or filled with fears. Well certainly this is true when it comes to our minds and perhaps our responsibilities and certainly our fears and anxieties.

That said the last few days have also reminded me of another image of an overflowing cup, that is a beautiful and vital thing.

The image comes from the 23rd Psalm.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths
Of righteousness for his name sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley
Of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:
For thou art with me.
Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou prepares a table before me
In the presence of mine enemies:
Thou anointest my head with oil;
My cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me,
All the days of my life:
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
For ever.

The Psalms are attributed to King David. Here he sings of God as a shepherd who will see him safely through the Valley of Death. “Thou prepares a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.” In the psalm the overflowing cup is an excess of goodness, a symbol of abundance, a source of joy. Something you can never have too much of. Can you ever be too full of love?

I am reminded here of the gifts I was given, good old “Pooh Bear” and that cup of love and knowledge, this cup will no doubt be filled and poured out many times. A cup I will drink from, as will many others.

Two cups of contrasting meaning; two cups overflowing: One depicting a mind that is too full and therefore unable to focus or learn something new, or too full that is paralyses us with so much fear; the other depicting a cup overflowing with love that will enable us to live full loving lives, despite the very real troubles present.

Is there a contradiction here, is this a dilemma? Well only if you get lost in the metaphor, the curse of the literalist. The two images are of course depicting different aspects of our humanity.

The Zen story is describing the mind, whereas the Psalm is depicting the heart. It is talking of God’s infinite love. So yes, we can be full abundantly with love and yet still have a mind that is clear. Experience has revealed to me that it is the full heart that enables me to clear my mind and not a clear head that leads me to a full heart. By emptying my mind, I do not fill my heart and yet as my heart becomes full, my mind and soul do indeed begin to settle.

As I look back at my life, proved once again in the last few weeks, I can see clearly that it is when my heart is filled with love that my mind begins to clear. There have been times when my head has been so full that there just was no more room for anything else; times when my life was just too full and I couldn’t create space, when prayer and meditation was not enough. My head doesn’t spin these days, thank God, but I can still begin to not feel life again, as my body becomes detached from my soul.

This has happened again in recent months. I so needed last week. I needed to stop, my soul needed to catch up with my body. I needed to let my heart be filled; I needed to once again be touched by the joy of living, as I was in danger of becoming detached from life. Then there was last weekend and the love I was offered and gratefully received.

Love is one of those commodities that multiplies by subtraction, the more you give it away the more all receive as it encourages others to the same. I have borne witness to this all week long, in the people around me. I saw a wonderful example of anonymous generosity this week. Someone responding in love, but ensuring I didn’t know who it was. I believe that we can all live fully aware of the abundance that is open to us in life. We can live as though are cups were overflowing with abundant love. We can give our love freely. We can truly throw caution to the wind and live with true gracious abandon. I know that sounds some what awkward, but I know we can, we just need to be encouraged. We just need to encourage one another.

I do not believe that I am the only dreamer I am sure that you have all felt this at times. We have all felt full up with the abundance of life, if only for brief moments. We can trigger this in others too. It can begin with a smile at a stranger in the street. Or just by responding with spontaneity. I have talked many times of my belief in the chaos theory of compassion, the source of which is this abundant love that can be poured out from us all. I have seen proof of this once again in the last few days of my life.

The wonderful thing about this abundance is that unlike any other resource it is not finite it truly is infinite. The more we express it, the more we give it away, the more are cups are filled. The key is to share it extravagantly to pour it out onto one another.

That said you do need to be careful not to over do it too. I know I can exhaust myself. There is always need for balance in life. If your mind gets too full of things then you lose all sense of clarity and or connection. You find that you forget everything and lock yourself out of your house, like I did.

So you do need to have a clear mind, a cup that is not overly full in order to focus on what life is offering you. That said in order to do this you need an open heart, you need this to allow this abundant love to fill you up and to flow from you, to let it pour out into your life. We were all born to love.

So sing and rejoice abandon yourself to love and anoint one another regardless of the troubles that may come your way. Will it take all our troubles away. No, but it will bring love to life in our humble human being. Isn’t this the greatest gift of them all.

Please find below a video devotion based on the material in this "blogspot"

I was recently present at two funerals. One I conducted, the other I attended. A week last Thursday I conducted the funeral of Hugh Pitcher at Queens Road. The funeral felt like a song of praise for Hugh’s life. Hugh was a truly gifted and humble man. He was a truly gentle and gentleman, one of integrity and humility. It was a pleasure to know him and to be able to conduct his funeral service. That evening, I attended a V.E. Day memorial service at St Margeret’s Church, up the road. I was asked to sing “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen. I spent time learning the song, so I could sing it “A Capella”. I found it a soothing experience doing so, as I got lost in the music. The next day I travelled back home for my friend Stuart’s funeral service. Now while there were elements of songs of praise during the service, especially the music he entered into by “Killing Joke”, the service itself left me frustrated and somewhat empty. Now that was partly how I was feeling, but it was also to do with the service itself. We did sing our own songs of praise to his life as I shared with friends later. We sang our own Hallelujah’s to Stuart’s life. Throughout the day and the drive back and forth, the words of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah were singing and ringing in my heart and soul.

As I have said I spent time learning “Hallelujah” last week. There are many versions of the song. In fact probably the better known version was not the one originally recorded by Cohen. Over the years Cohen himself would sing many different versions of the song. It took him seven years to write the song, re-working it and obsessively immersing himself in it. Some claim that the 7 years mean something deep and profound as the number seven has Biblical significance.

Cohen has claimed that he wrote 180 verses for the song and that he changed the lyrics he himself sang as time went by. There is a universal quality to “Hallelujah” as it blends the sacred and secular. It is not enough to simply call it a song, it is somehow more than that, it also a prayer that beautifully commentates on the nature of humanity. The singer song writer Regina Spektor has said of “Hallelujah”, “You get this feeling of hearing a modern prayer.”

Hallelujah was not immediately successful. In fact it was made famous by other artists, covering it and developing it, as the mystique grew. Jeff Buckley transformed the song into emotional masterpiece while Cohen was on a five sabbatical training to become a Zen Buddhist Monk. Buckley’s version is deeply emotive and following his tragic death the song gained even more prominence. Many artists have covered it and it is now a kind of secular anthem. That said as Cohen sang “It doesn't matter which you heard/The holy or the broken Hallelujah

I sang my own adaptation based on the lyrics of John Cale’s version, last Thursday. I did not sing a laid back version, certainly nothing like Cohen’s original, or Cales adapted version. I sang a song of Praise to God, symbolic in my eyes to the feeling that must have been experienced on that first V.E. Day. How the people must have cried out “Praise the Lord” that war in Europe had ended. I hope we can sing that song again soon. I felt that my version was also an impassioned plea that we humans could one day live in peace.

To me to sing in praise it to sing with passion, to let the spirit take you where it will. "Isaac Watts once likened singing hymns to 'breathing toward heaven.' In so doing we our singing our praise to the God that gave us life with his own breath. It is not just about the words and music, but what is felt in the experience, the emotion and the breath, joining with the Divine breath of life. To sing Hallelujah is to sing with enthusiasm, that Divine spirit within, bursting into life. As John Osborne observes:

“How I long for a little ordinary human enthusiasm. Just enthusiasm — that's all. I want to hear a warm, thrilling voice cry out Hallelujah! Hallelujah! I'm alive.”

With passion and enthusiasm in mind I will sing a version of my own. This time though I will sing the original lyrics that Cohen recorded in 1984

Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor falls, the major lifts
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

You say I took the name in vain
I don't even know the name
But if I did, well, really, what's it to you?
There's a blaze of light in every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even though it all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

“Hallelujah” has several biblical threads woven through it, but there is so much more to the song than these stories. There are deeper metaphors, some of which are explored in later verses. There are many stories to found in “Hallelujah”, including our own story which if you look for it, you will find in it. I feel sure that each person who has performed it has found theirs. I found some deep solace last week as I struggled with grief and one or two personal and communal challenges. I have found my own “Hallelujah”

There have many and varied interpretations of the song. Some say it is simply a song about desire, lust and betrayal, themes Cohen explored constantly. Others have spoken of a deep longing for covenant, for putting things right again in our relationships with others and with God. Others see it more literally and claim it is a story about King David’s great mistake. I hear real pain and regret in the song, but there is more to it than this. One verse, that was added later and can be found in many versions recorded since, suggests this

Maybe I've been here before
I know this room, I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you
I've seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah

To me it is hymn of praise, much like the original Psalms attributed to David. There is real faith at the heart of “Hallelujah”, despite the cries of pain and suffering, as well as despair and regret. The opening verse speaks of “The minor fall and the major lift”, The song only works when the two are sung together, surely this is the song of life, those “Blessings and curses”, that Moses spoke of. Surely this is Hallelujah. I was thinking of this as I reflected on both Stuart’s and Hugh’s funeral services, both so contrasting and yet echoing many of themes of “Hallelujah”.

Now as you know I enjoy my etymology, so I thought I would look at the word “hallelujah” itself. It is word made up of two parts. The first “hallelu” means “to praise; the second “jah”, is an abbreviation for Yahew, one of the many words for God, often translated as “Lord”. So “Hallelujah” means that often heard phrase “praise the Lord”. It is a song of praise to God, the Divine. This can be one of celebration, in a major chord, or a more melancholy one, in a minor key.

Leonard Cohen himself has explained what he was trying to express in the song. He said, “It’s a desire to affirm my faith in life, not in some formal religious way, but with enthusiasm, with emotion…It’s a rather joyous song.”

Alisa Ungar-Sargon has said that ‘The song’s central premise is the value, even the necessity, of praise in the face of confusion, doubt, or dread.’ The song speaks of the whole of our humanity, our capacity to achieve greatness and also destructiveness. King David the primary character being the ultimate example of this. That both the holy and the broken exist within each of us. Something also explored in another famous song of Cohen ‘Anthem,’ and that classic line, ‘There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.’

“Hallelujah” is a song about humility, but also about grace and faith, that no matter how far we have fallen we can still sing our hallelujah and no matter how much we achieve, we can still be humbled by life.

The key for Cohen is to remain open and that no matter how many times we fall we can rise again. This is exemplified in that final verse of “Hallelujah”.

I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even though it all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

“Hallelujah” has a universal quality. Leonard Cohen explored many themes through his music. There are both Jewish and Christian dimension, as well as other traditions, such as Hinduism. He spent five years studying in silence at a Zen Buddhist monastery in California after being brought to his knees again when he was swindled out of all his money. Perhaps the solitude appealed to him; perhaps he felt a need to quiet himself, to get away from the rush and tumult of the entertainment business and the hard labor of seeking after fame. But it did not suit him well, as he notes in two poems: "The Lovesick Monk" and "Leaving Mt. Baldy." In the first, he gently pokes fun at the austerity of the place and the rigors of Zen practice. In the second, he admits:

"I finally understood
I had no gift
for Spiritual Matters."

His love for women was probably too much too, another theme that Cohen constantly explored. Zen Buddhism was not for him in the end, the denial of this physical life, His spirit was far too embodied. There were cracks in him, that needed to let in the light, and he wanted to sing “Hallelujah”

These two themes are powerful message, the cracks and the joyous sing to my heart and soul, in this time and place, of all times I suspect. This is the beauty and the joy of living.

The song “Anthem” took ten years to write, three years longer than “Halllelujah”. The line, “there is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in”, might well be Cohen’s credo, the beginning and end of his personal theology. This is something he revisited in in other songs, although from slightly different angles, like “Suzanne,” with the following line “look among the garbage and the flowers / there are heroes in the seaweed,” and again in “Hallelujah”, “There’s a blaze of light / In every word / It doesn’t matter which you heard / The holy or the broken Hallelujah”.

Havinf said all this it is “Hallelujah” that calls out to me. So, it is back to “Hallelujah” that I am going to return as I come to an end. That “secret chord” of King David, that flawed hero, 'the baffled king,' who sang songs of praise to God, songs of hope and despair. Those four original verses and the hundred plus Cohen has written since describe this human need to sing our praise, even if the song is only to life itself, to sing the joy of living. It’s the praise that saves us, that lets the light into the cracks and out of them too. It is in the singing that we light the flame once more in our own hearts and one another’s too. It is something I experienced several times last week, when amongst people who were remembering with love, friends and family and the sacrifice of previous generations.

Those cracks in our hearts, let the love both in and out. It allowed us to come together in that same spirit and to sing out in praise, to sing the song of love.

You see I have heard that it’s not so secret that chord
We can all sing and play, it will please the Lord
Because you have the music in you, don’t you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor falls, the major lifts
We’re cracked open by love, let’s all sing Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Please find below a video devotion based on the material in this "blogspot"

It’s How You See Things: Perception and Perspective

They say that perception is everything. It matters how we look at things, how we see the world, it creates our perspective. It also matters how the world sees us. I care a lot about what people think of me, I care a lot.

There was an amusing moment at the last "Singing Meditation". An attender mentioned that when a friend of theirs met me they were surprised by my attire as they thought I would be in robes and sandals. They obviously had an image of a holy man; I am just a man no more or less holy than anyone else. They had formed this view from reading the services I publish and distribute; her friend passes them on to her. Another woman who was attending for the first time said that she thought I would be in robes and a dog collar. She said that this is the image of me in my Watts App profile picture. This puzzled me and so I found my profile picture and showed it to her. I then said I had never worn a collar and or robes since being in the job. Somehow in her mind this is what she had seen in the picture. I find this fascinating. I did say that the picture is taken in a holy place, it is underground beneath "The Western Wall" in Jerusalem. I am dressed casually though in jeans, t-shirt and a hooded top. Isn’t it interesting what we see or believe we see, our perception and how it often does not resemble reality; isn’t it fascinating how what we see is often what we expect to see and not reality at all? The conversation at the recent “Singing Meditation” being a classic example of this.

Here is the profile picture in question.

 

At a recent ministry retreat I attended, ministerial attire was discussed on several occasions. One of our number had written her dissertation on the subject. It is interesting what different colleagues choose to wear, some formal and traditional and others more casual and informal. I prefer to be as informal as possible. I want people to find me approachable, so I wear nothing that would be considered traditional ministerial attire. For people to perceive me as approachable, is very important to me. I cannot imagine ever wearing a clerical collar or robes. Most Unitarian colleagues these days wear a “stole”. Again, I do not. In fact I may be the only colleague I know who never has. Again, I feel that they give a priestly impression and would somehow separate me from those I serve. I am a minister of religion. To minister is to serve, but it in no ways separates me from others.

Having said all that people do still form opinions of you, whether they have met in person or not. Perception truly is everything. It matters how we see the world and it matters equally how the world sees you. I hope that I am the kind of person that people feel is approachable and who encourages others to journey on spiritually together. For me this is what it means to serve as a minister in a free religious tradition.

I would be interested to hear your views on such things. I know some folk think a suit and tie is appropriate and for some time I dressed this way. I never felt comfortable like this though, as I felt like a used car salesman. No doubt the conversation will continue. I suspect I will never find anything that feels just right. What matters the most though is that whatever I wear is not a barrier to anyone. To minister means to serve. I serve this community in many different ways, it is important to me to understand this. I hope that I am perceived this way.

“Perceive” is an interesting word. It shares the same Latin root as the word “receive”. The both come from “percipere” which meant “to understand”, from “per” meaning “entirely” and “capere” meaning “to take”. So to “perceive” something means to take things in entirely, completely, in a way that covers us with understanding. So yes it is interesting how we perceive things, how we take things in. I wonder already how you are perceiving this devotion.

It matters how we perceive how we take in life. Do we do so directly? Do we experience things as they are or do they come to us through all kinds of filters? We all have our biases and prejudices about all kinds of people and experiences. Do we ever really see things as they ever actually are. Do we ever look at the world with fresh eyes? With open eyes? I am sure we all have our own examples of not seeing reality as it actually is, just like the woman who was convinced she had seen me dressed in robes and a collar. She had created an image that simply does not exist in reality.

The physicist David Bohm asserted that: “What we take to be true is what we believe. What we believe is based upon our perceptions. What we perceive depends on what we look for. What we look for depends on what we think. What we think depends on what we perceive. What we perceive determines what we believe. What we believe determines what we take to be true. What we take to be true is our reality.”

Reality can be very different for each of us. It matters how we see the world and how the world sees us. It is the same with what happens to us, our perspective and how we respond to what happens to us and the life in which we live and breath and share our being. This brings to mind my favourite story, I have told before, from the Zen tradition.

“Let’s Wait and See”

The story goes that an old farmer is working hard in the fields. He has a wife and a son, and ekes out a meagre living. One day, his only horse runs away. Upon hearing this, his neighbours comment "Oh, how awful! That is terrible!" to this the farmer replied:

"Maybe, maybe not."

A few days later, the farmer's horse returns and with it is another, exotic horse from far away. The horse is a mare, and is of rare value. The neighbours, upon hearing this, exclaim "How wonderful! It's fantastic that your horse returned and brought another horse with it!". The farmer shrugged and said:

"Maybe, maybe not."

The farmer's horses gave him many young, prized colts making the farmer very wealthy in the town. The neighbours were very happy for the farmer saying; "This is so fantastic! Your new horses have brought you much fortune!" The farmer responded:

"Maybe, maybe not."

The farmer's son, now a young man, tried to tame one of the young colts and was thrown from the horse, breaking his hip. This left the son unable to walk. The neighbours came to help and tried to console the farmer saying; "Oh, how awful! Your only son will never walk again!". The farmer, who was not upset, simply said:

"Maybe, maybe not."

Later that year, the farmer's country went to war, and the army came by to conscript every able bodied man for duty. The farmer was too old to be taken, and his son could not walk, therefore he was excused. The army simply took the farmer's horses, leaving him just his original horse to allow him to keep farming.

Was the farmer's life good? Maybe. Was the farmer's life bad? Maybe not.

Good luck and bad luck are two sides of the same coin...it really depends on the perspective that we choose to view in any given situation.

How we perceive ourselves and how we perceive life matters, it shapes our perspective, how we view the world. Perspective shapes the contours of our lives. Our lives are not shaped only by our circumstances but how we respond to them. Do they close down our hearts, minds and souls or do they open us to new possibilities? |If you are anything like me, it will be mixed. We all go through dark times, when how we see life is not so beautiful and we all go through times when how we perceive life is both beautiful and refreshing. Our perception of life really matters. For as Jesus said in Luke 11 “Your eye is the lamp of your body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light; but if it is not healthy, your body is full of darkness.”

Perception is vital. It matters how we see the world and how the world sees us. It matters what we believe about ourselves and life. I believe that we are created in the Divine image, that there is that of God in each and everyone of us. I believe in the “inherent worth and dignity of every person.” It is important that is what people perceive when they see me as a Unitarian minister. I believe in original blessing and that it is our task to bring this blessing alive through our human being. Our vulnerable and sometimes broken human being. That we all have feet of clay, that we are perfectly imperfect, that it is ok to stumble and struggle at times. I trust this is obvious to you. We all have feet of clay, we are all more human than otherwise. That said this does not mean that we are wrong that we are fundamentally flawed, that there is something wrong at the core of us.

Perspective is so very important. It matters how we see things and how we are seen. It is important to see things as they are and to be seen as we are. It matters what we perceive and how we are perceived. Perception shapes how the world looks at us and equally perspective shapes how we look at the word. How we look at others is so important. We can look on people with compassion, or we can give them a “hard look”. Think about it when someone gives us a “hard look”, what do we do? Well often we turn away in fear, or respond in anger or aggression. What if someone looks at us with compassion, how do we respond to this? Well usually we look back with compassion. Well we do unless we have fallen so far down into that pit of nihilistic despair that we respond to love with utter hatred. I’m sure most folk have been there at some point. I know that I have. So it matters how we view our own humanity and how we view the humanity of each other.

How we act towards others really matters too. But it’s not just about doing what is right; it’s also about the spirit in which each task is conducted. We can appear to be encouraging and loving and doing the right thing, but our eyes may well say otherwise. Think about a smile. We think we smile with our mouths, but we do not, we smile with our eyes. When I smile my eyes almost slant shut. Whatever we do and however we do something our eyes will reveal the truth of our hearts and people will intuitively pick up on this. They will see it into our eyes.

How we see the world matters and how respond perhaps even more so. Life truly is in the “eye of the beholder”, it is about perception. How we see one another is vital, it is all about perspective. Try not to look so hard today and you never known those eyes looking back at you might just be stretched by a smile.

Please find below a devotion based

on the material in this "blogspot"

To Life: I could do with a bit more Zeal

There are times when I become aware of just how British I can be, it makes me chuckle and occasionally cringe.  A classic example would have been the day of my proposal to Sue at the water’s edge of Capernaum, looking out on the Sea of Galilee. Now this is not what exposed my Britishness,  that was an unexpectedly romantic moment, I surprised myself that day. No it was what followed that showed up my Britishness. The first example was a couple of hours later as we ate in a famous fish restaurant in a local kibbutz. Sue and myself were the only people there and as we were chatting with the waiter, I discovered that we shared an unexpected passion, a love for Leeds United. Because of this I decided that he should be the first person to know our news. Well he went crazy with excitement as did all the other staff working in the restaurant, with cries of “Mazel Tov”. There were other such reactions over the next few days including several young people picking up Jewish horns, in the shop where we went to buy the engagement ring. On hearing our news they ran around the shop, danced and celebrated in joy. Complete strangers just sharing in the joy of the occasion and wishing us well. It was wonderful, but a bit overwhelming and it made me realise just how British I actually am. This would not have happened back home.

Don’t get me wrong I am not a shrinking violet, but my passion is not displayed so publicly. Mine had been displayed in the search for the perfect spot, I had been on, as we reached the Sea of Galilee. I had stuck steadfast to the task, spurred on by passion and not satisfied until I had found the perfect place and moment. I also have a growing passion for life, as folk have heard me say many times. I “Choose Life” in all its blessings and curses. I sing the joy of living in all of its mystery.

I have noticed that within my own spirituality there are some Jewish flavours. Now while I am tee-totaler I do toast life..“To life” is a toast within the Jewish tradition. It is powerful representation of the faith, which at its core is about how to live more than just what to believe; at its core it conveys an optimistic attitude toward life, investing energy in living rather than in worrying about dying. It promotes the pleasures of life rather than focusing on all that is wrong. The emphasis is on this world rather than pinning our hopes on finding satisfaction in some world to come. The toast "to life" emphasises the original blessing that is life that God has given and seen as good. Think of Genesis I and its emphasis on the goodness of creation rather than what followed and the fall of Genesis II. As the sages teach 'in time to come, everyone will have to account for all the good things God created which he refused to enjoy.'

So it is no surprise that all the people we met following the proposal wanted to dance and sing and join in the celebration. It also showed me just how British I am. Oh how I wish I could release a little bit more of that zeal that I know is within me. Maybe we need to rescue British Zeal and not just British Steel.

Now “Zeal” is one of those words that is given a bit of a bad press. Too much passion in spiritual circles can be mistrusted. Also no one would want to be called a Zealot. I heard a lot about the Zealots as I learnt more about Jewish history particularly at the time of the destruction of the “Second Temple”. During the first century “The Zealots” were a political movement who sought to incite the people of the Judea Province to rise up against their Roman rulers. The word Zealot meant one who is zealous on behalf of God.

In the New Testament you see an example of Jesus acting in such a manner. This in the Temple when he turns over the tables and chases out the money changers who are trading in the Temple that was destroyed just a few decades later. Accounts of which were all written after the destruction of the “Second Temple”, may years after Jesus' death.

Today a “Zealot” is understood to be “a person who is fanatical and uncompromising in pursuit of their religious, political, or other ideals.” So not someone you would expect a person of liberal spiritual leanings to be singing the praises of.

I am not of course. What I am talking of is “Zeal”.

I drink a non-alcoholic toast to life each and every single day. I need zeal for life to do so. Zeal is a natural aspect of our humanity. To awaken each day enthused (filled with Divine Spirit) and anticipation, wholeheartedly and with gusto to attend to what is in front of us is an innate human quality. Yet so often that light, that spark can be absent.

The key is to harness this zeal, this enthusiasm, in order to propel our lives with courage to their rightful purpose. Zeal is the toast to life, brought into being in our daily activities. By the way by not harnessing this zeal, and thus acting in life in loving ways, is to deny the greatest gift of all, life itself.  Life is the ultimate free gift, the ultimate Grace. What did we do to deserve it? Well nothng. It is gifted to us freely.

To live with zeal is essentially to be aroused by life itself. This is not a singular cellular experience, but a uniting one. It’s that expression of spontaneous joy even for strangers, as we experienced in Israel. It is to truly feel kinship with other people. In fact one sign that that zeal is not awake is to fail to see this kinship, is to see the other as different from self. A sign that our zeal is aroused is to feel a deep connection with all life. As Anais Nin has said “What everyone forgets is that passion is not merely a heightened sensual fusion but a way of life which produces, as in mystics, as ecstatic awareness of the whole of life.”

To live with zeal is about creating and repairing the fabric of life, beginning with our relationships with each other. It is love in action, which is a powerful and creative force, something we all possess, even if it is latent within us.

To live with zeal is to give of ourselves in loving service. It is the essence of the religious life. It is about doing our little bit for our human family. By the way it begins, and in many ways ends, with the little things. As Helen Keller so beautifully put it “I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.”

It comes in the little things, thus saith the Lord.

This though is far from easy, to live a toast to life, every day, takes real courage. How many times do we get knocked down each and every day? I reckon it’s even harder if you re British, we do not like too much exuberance, too much zeal. It makes us feel a little too uncomfortable and self conscious.

Mark Nepo put it this way...

"In the face of this gritty, mysterious, and ever-changing dynamic we call being alive, it's nothing short of heroic that we are asked to choose life and living, again and again. Not just to put a good face on things while we're here, but because saying yes to life is how the worm inches its way through earth. It's how salmon leap their way upstream. It's how flowers grow out of stone. The word for such flowers, saxifrage, from the Latin, means stone breaker. Saying yes is the way the flower of the soul breaks through the stone of the world.

"But how do we do this? Some deep part of us knows and needs no instruction, while the part of us sore for meaning needs to uncover the practice of saying yes. . . .”

But how do we say yes?

Well it begins and it ends with the little things. With the things and the people in front of us. It is about giving ourselves and our attention to what is simply before us. This requires faith in life itself, despite those oh so many times we have fallen.

It begins by paying attention to the little things in front of us and all around us. This is what the Zen Buddhist would call our “Semu”, our work practice, our work. For as the “Sandokai”, says 'Each thing has its own intrinsic value.' This kind of activity affects other people in positive ways it begins to bring healing, no matter how small the task is. That said it isn’t just what we do it is the spirit in which we do what we do, with love for life, in zeal.

So today I’m going live my life as an offering, a toast to life, in all its mystery. I know I will falter many times. There are no doubt going to many sufferings ahead. I offer a toast to mortality and the original blessing that is life itself. And when my time comes I hope I can offer a good account for all the good things that life has offered for all to enjoy. In so doing I know I will  become a light of the world and in so doing I will begin to bring healing to the many tears in the fabric of this our shared world.

We all belong here.

Come and join in the celebration, come with me and lets sing a toast to life. A toast to the Majesty of mortality.

I’m going to end with this lovely little poem by Dawna Markova “Wide Open”

“Wide Open”

I will not die an unlived life.
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance;
to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.

By Dawna Markova

The Strange Arithmetic of Christmas

The following reflection has been growing in my heart and soul for a couple of weeks now and has inspired my own little relfection that follows...

"The Strange Arithmetic of Christmas” by Jeremiah Jenkins

I deliberately requested your minister to allow me to write to you about Christmas. I was a teacher of arithmetic for fifteen years in a preparatory school, so I want to write about the inverted arithmetic of Christmas.

Christmas differs from figures and sums and dollars and crowds-at-a football game. You can add these together and get more. But with Christmas, you can add all the Santa Clauses on earth and there is still only one Santa Claus. Or all the trees and there is still only one Tree. Or perhaps all the births of children but there is still only one Bethlehem story. Or all the families, and there is still one family – yours!

It is when you start dividing Christmas that it begins to grow. It multiplies with division. It defies the rules. If you have six TV sets and give two or three away, you have less. But when it comes to the richness of love, the currency of gratitude or the document of faith, the more you give the more you possess. To teach is to learn. To encourage someone and give them your faith is to strengthen your own faith. To love is to know love.

Christmas is like a lot of things; it can be misused. I think it was never meant for raucous public displays. Its carols were not intended to be blared into the streets. Its colors probably were not meant to be emblazoned like advertising – or even associated with advertising. Christmas is the artistry of the world; it is the subtle touch, the gentle word, the endearing act, the loving gift. Share these qualities, divide them, and you will find miraculously that they have grown with division. This is the strange arithmetic of Christmas.

"The Strange Arithmetic of Christmas" I've been thinking about this for quite some time now, it has been growing, nay multiplying in my heart an soul...

Social media is full of quotations and Meme’s proclaiming little bits of wisdom. Some make sense to me, others do not. Many seem to contradict one another and depending on my mood, or the status of my soul, I can find myself agreeing and disagreeing with them. The one thing that is consistent about me is my very inconsistency. Or maybe the truth is that contradictions are true, depending on certain aspects of our humanity; two opposing truths can actually be true, depending on what parts of our our lives they are speaking of.

I recently came across the following quotation from that great medieval heretical mystic Meister Eckhart:

“God is not found in the soul by adding anything, but by a process of subtraction.”

It instantly brought to my mind “The Strange Arithmetic of Christmas.” Particularly the following sentences:

"It is when you start dividing Christmas that it begins to grow. It multiplies with division. It defies the rules. If you have six TV sets and give two or three away, you have less. But when it comes to the richness of love, the currency of gratitude or the document of faith, the more you give the more you possess. To teach is to learn. To encourage someone and give them your faith is to strengthen your own faith. To love is to know love…”

“…Christmas is the artistry of the world; it is the subtle touch, the gentle word, the endearing act, the loving gift. Share these qualities, divide them, and you will find miraculously that they have grown with division. This is the strange arithmetic of Christmas.”

Gosh I love this…What beautiful un-common sense!!! Makes sense to me…

Now before I continue an apology. I’m talking here about a subject I cannot claim to be an expert in, mathematics. I say this although I was a champion at mental arithmetic at primary school, my cousin told me it was because I was the most mental in my school. She may well be right. Arithmetic wasn’t a problem for me, it was mathematics I just couldn’t fathom, algebra and trigonometry etc. just made no sense at all to my brain.

So apologies if what I write is difficult to make sense of. This is because what I am attempting to share is un-commonsense. What I have come to believe is that what we lack today is not really common sense, we have perhaps too much of that. What I believe we need more of is the un-commonsense that lies at the heart of everything. What I’m attempting to share with you is, what I have come to believe, a beautiful and essential paradox. It is the true gift at the heart of the spirit of the season, the strange arithmetic of Christmas. How the spiritual life does indeed defy the perceived laws of nature as we understand them. How by giving away a particular commodity not only does the person receiving gain, but so does the giver and all who are caught up in this activity. You see what I have learnt, what the strange arithmetic of Christmas has taught me, is that the more love you give away the more love you experience. In fact if you want to fill the cup of love, that you hold in your heart, the first thing you must do is empty it and pour it out on all who you share this world with you.

Unfortunately many of us lack the courage, the heart, to empty our cups…

Through living spiritually I have leant that it is through the process of subtraction, rather than addition, that my soul grows and it is through division rather than multiplication that my heart is filled.

This to me is the heart of Christmas, this giving from the heart to others. This is the key message of Christianity as I see it, self-giving love. By the way I am not suggesting that it is unique to Christianity. I find it at the heart of all the faith traditions I have come to know too.

Self-giving love is a love that grows the more that we give it away. A love that is at the core of each and every one of us if we would but nurture it in the mangers of our own hearts and give birth to it in our living and breathing.

This is what Christmas means to me and why as the years have gone by I have come to believe in Christmas more and more.

I believe in Christmas, the soul of Christmas, the spirit of Christmas, the heart of Christmas the religion of Christmas more today than I ever did at any moment in my life. Today I believe everything about Christmas and a whole lot more than everything that we think we know.

Now don’t get me wrong here I am not suggesting that I believe that everything that the Gospel accounts recounted actually happened. I really can’t answer that, I wasn’t there. Were any of us who argue about it actually there? No of course not. What I mean when I say I believe in Christmas more today than I have ever done before is that I believe in the universal mythos that lies in the soul of the story. I believe in the story and what it has to teach humanity regardless of time and or space.

I also believe we need Christmas more today than at any other time before, for we mock the bells at Christmas time probably more today than we ever did before. The problem I suspect is that we do not hear the message at the heart of Christmas…Maybe we have forgotten how to listen or perhaps we have forgotten how to deliver the message.

So how do we hear the message of Christmas and perhaps most importantly how do we ourselves become Father Christmas, become Santa Claus, how do we deliver Christmas ourselves into everyone’s home?

Well here is where the contradiction comes in. We need both emptiness and fullness. We need clarity of mind and abundance of love. We need an empty mind and a full heart; we need both an empty cup and at the same time one that is full to overflowing. Now this probably doesn’t sound like sense to most, but then Christmas isn’t about common sense it is about un-common sense.

I will try to explain what I mean, beginning with the following story:

There is a story of a university professor who visited a Japanese master to inquire about Zen. The professor began to ask questions while the master just sat quietly, listening. After a while the master began to pour tea into the professor’s cup. The cup soon filled up, but the master did not stop pouring. The tea soon began to spill over on to the table. Initially the professor just sat there in stunned silence, he did not know what to do. Eventually he could take no more and shouted out “It’s overfull. No more will go in!” The master stopped pouring and simply said “Like this cup you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”

To bring this spirit of Christmas to life in our lives requires a certain kind of emptiness. A certain kind of stillness. We need this to hear the still small voice, to hear the angels calling, to be like little children to learn all that this season has to offer us. You see the problem for so many of us is that we think that we know so much, we think we are so clever, but all we have done is killed the spirit of the season. Our so called common sense, our rejection of the spirit of the season, “our glad tidings of reason and fact, reason and fact, glad tidings of reason and fact” has filled our minds to overflowing and as a result there is no room for the spirit of the season.

We also live such busy and full lives, that paradoxically can feel so empty. We never seem to have a minute to simply be still and to feel the season. To truly know the spirit of the season we need time for silence and stillness, we need spiritual practice. We need time for prayer and meditation, a time to empty the mind so as to hear the cries of those in need and the songs of the angels and to let the love present in all of us to fill our hearts.

We need to empty our minds so that we can once again begin to fill our hearts.

And how do we fill our hearts? Well it’s quite simple really. We become like Father Christmas, like Santa Claus. We fill our hearts, like his sacks and stockings, by giving our hearts away. By practising this strange arithmetic of Christmas. We multiply by division. By giving our hearts away we receive all the love and a whole lot more than we could ever wish for. Of course we cannot measure this in the way that we can measure other commodities of life, except through our own lived human experiences. This is the strange paradox of giving though, the strange arithmetic of love that multiplies by division. It can only be measured by taking the time to reflect on our own lived experience and this requires stillness and silence.

This is how we deliver the gift at the heart of Christmas. This is how we bring the spirit to life not only for a day, or even a season, but for the rest of our lives. It is quite simple really, but it aint easy. It requires courage, it requires heart, it requires us to truly live from our hearts and to go against the grain of conventional truth. It requires that most priceless of commodities un-common sense.

It requires us to still ourselves in silence so as to hear the call of Christmas, isn’t that what this time of Advent, of preparation is about. To make ready those mangers in our own hearts and then to simply fill our hearts with the love we have been yearning for, by pouring out that love on all we share our lives with.

In so doing we will bring the spirit, the heart of the season to life. Christ will truly be born again. Love will be incarnated in and through our very lives…

For when our hearts are opened Christ is born again…

Emptiness & Fullness: How to Live Spiritually Alive

23rd Psalm, Japanese Translation

The Lord is my Pace-setter, I shall not rush;
He makes me stop and rest for quiet intervals.
He provides me with images of stillness,
which restore my serenity.

He leads me in ways of efficiency
through calmness of mind,
and His guidance is peace.
Even though I have a great many things
to accomplish each day,
I will not fret, for His presence is here;

His timelessness, His all importance,
will keep me in balance.
He prepares refreshment and renewal
in midst of my activity,

By anointing my mind with His oils of tranquility.
My cup of joyous energy overflows,
surely harmony and effectiveness
shall be the fruits of my hours,
for I shall walk, in the pace of my Lord
and dwell in His house forever.

Translated by Toki Miyashina

I seem to have had an exceptionally busy few weeks. This has occasionally been a little overwhelming and I have certainly felt exhausted at times. That said it has not been a negative kind a tiredness, the kind that comes from a weariness with life. Quite the opposite actually it has been a tiredness that comes from living a full life. A kind of satisfied tiredness. Maybe it’s the kind of tiredness a man is meant to experience.

The other evening I laid out on my settee, feeling tried but at the same time satisfied. You may remember the evening it was the first night of those powerful storms we have been experiencing. What a powerfully electric experience it was. I closed my eyes for a few moments and a lovely feeling came over me. I experienced a beautiful sensation around my brow and also in the pit of my stomach, the place where the intense fear used to inhabit. After a while two beautiful images came over me as I lay there listening to the thunder. There was a wonderful sense of connection and satisfaction in my heart. The images that came to me are two of my favourites. One was of an empty cup and the other of a cup that is overflowing.

Now when I think of these images my understanding is that the empty cup is symbolic of a clear mind, a completely empty and open mind and one that is able to be used to its best purpose. While the overflowing cup symbolises a heart that is filled to overflowing; a heart that is filled with abundant love; love that is being poured out on the world. Now for me these images symbolise the spiritual life. True spiritual living is about having a clear, empty and open mind and a heart that is so full that it is overflowing.

Now you often hear the question “Is the glass half empty or half full” it is symbolic of a person who is either an optimistic or a pessimistic person. I have been both at different times in my life. These days though I am neither, I am no longer a glass half empty or glass half full kind of man. These days I am completely empty glass kind of man, while at the same time I am also a cup that is so full it is overflowing kind of man. Now some folk tell me that you can’t be both, you have to be an either or and my answer to them is, says who? I am both and so can you be too, stop being so literal, open your mind, use your imagination and fill up your heart to overflowing.

This brings to mind a story I have heard in many different forms over the years…

There is a story of a university professor who visited a Japanese master to inquire about Zen. The professor began to ask questions while the master just sat quietly, listening. After a while the master began to pour tea into the professor’s cup. The cup soon filled up, but the master did not stop pouring. The tea soon began to spill over on to the table. Initially the professor just sat there in stunned silence, he did not know what to do. Eventually he could take no more and shouted out “It’s overfull. No more will go in!” The master stopped pouring and simply said “Like this cup you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”

This story teachers that a full cup, one that is overflowing is not a good thing to have. It teaches we need an empty cup, which symbolises and empty mind. What the Buddhists call a “Beginners Mind”. A mind that is open to new ideas. It is a humble mind that results in an open mind. Think of the image of the Buddhist monk with his begging bowl held out, an act of humility and interdependence.

The image of an overflowing cup also brings something else to my mind. A line from the 23rd Psalm. In the Psalm King David sings of God as a shepherd who will see him safely through the Valley of Death. At the beginning of this "blogspot" is a wonderful Japanese translation of these familiar words. The translation I believe helps us to make sense of these ancient words in our contemporary time. There aren’t really many shepherds about these days and it can be hard for 21st century boys and girls to relate to this metaphor.

The more traditional translation states that “Thou prepares a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.” In the psalm the overflowing cup is depicting an excess of goodness, a symbol of abundance, a source of joy. A heart full of Love. Can you ever be too full of love?

Here we have two images of cups overflowing: One depicting a mind that is too full and therefore unable to focus or to learn something new; the other depicting a cup overflowing with love that will enable us to live full lives despite the presence of fear.

So you see it is not a problem to have both an empty cup and one that is overflowing at the same time. This only becomes a problem if you get lost in the metaphor, the curse of the literalist. The two images are of course depicting different aspects of our humanity.

The Zen story is describing the mind, whereas the Psalm is depicting the heart. It is talking of God’s infinite love. So yes we can be full abundantly with love and yet still have an empty mind. I suspect that it is the full heart that enables us to clear our minds, or perhaps it’s the clear mind that enables us to have our hearts filled.

Maybe, maybe not!

It’s a bit like the old riddle “What came first, the chicken or the egg” Do you need to fill your heart in order to clear your mind, or ought you be focusing on clearing your mind in order to allow your heart to be filled to overflowing? Why not try both at the same time.

Now in my case it would seem that it was only when love began to take over my heart that my mind began to clear. My head used to be full of so much that there was no space for anything else. My thoughts would just swirl round and round and round and go pretty much nowhere. These days my head is pretty much empty most of the time. My head is clear, even when I’m really busy and my diary gets too full. This is good thing as my mind can be used for what its true purpose is. I thank God that it is no longer held back by the regret of the past or the fear of the future. As a result I have peace of mind these days, even in the most difficult of times. The cup (my mind) is no longer overflowing and yet at the same time I experience the cup that runneth over, I know that everlasting and eternal love of God. As a result I can experience this abundant love present in life.

That is not enough though. I have also learnt that it is my task to pour this love out onto the world. To bring this love alive. In many ways I suspect it is our task not so much to seek and find God, but to let God out and pour this love on our world, whilst allowing and inviting that love to be poured out on us. Again like the Buddhist bowl this is symbolic of our interconnectedness and our interdependence. We each fill one another’s bowl.

From you I receive, to you I give, together we share and from this we live.

These two images also bring something else to my mind about the spiritual life. This is of course the phrase “faith without works is dead”. For me these two cups also symbolise both faith and works. The empty cup is the faith and the overflowing cup is the works, or maybe it’s the other way around. By working these two together, we become spiritually alive. In order to do the works we need the faith. We need to be still and to connect spiritually, we need to clear our minds and fill our hearts and then to truly bring this to life we need to do the works and pour out this love on the world. By the way if we do this the love will grow and the peace we feel will become realised. That said we must also remain appropriately humble and let others serve us too. We need to accept the love and help of others. We must never think that we can live by ourselves alone. To be fully alive is to understand, accept and embrace our interdependence.

The spiritual life is simple, but it is far from easy. It needs two simple things. One is emptiness and the other fullness. Now this requires an empty mind and a heart that is full to over flowing. How is this achieved you may well ask? Well quite simply actually, through faith and good works. All we need to do is spend time in stillness allowing our minds to become empty and clear and also spend time giving of ourselves to one another and life itself, pouring out our love. That said we must also spend time in silence allowing our hearts to be filled, acknowledging our interdependence and allowing others to serve us too.

It really is that simple.

So let us become like tea cups, empty and ready to filled. And when we are filled to overflowing lets pour out that love on our world.

Let’s follow the advice of “the lads” in those Tetley Tea Bag adverts lets “Let flavour flood out”

I'm going to end this little chip of a blogspot with the following extract from "The Book of Words" by Lawrence Kushner

From “The Book of Words” by Lawrence Kushner

Energy in the form of light is trapped in gross matter. Sparks of holiness are imprisoned in the stuff of creation. They yearn to be set free, reunited with their Source through human action. When we return something to its proper place, where it belongs, where it was meant to be; when we use something in a sacred way or for a holy purpose; when we treat another human being as a human being, the captive sparks are released and the cosmos is healed. The liberation of light is called the Repair of creation.

The process occurs also within each individual. According to one legend, once there was a primordial person as big as the whole universe whose soul contained all souls…

This person is identical with the universe and, for this reason, each human being is at the same time both riddles with divine sparks and in desperate need of repair. Each person is the whole world. And every human action therefore plays a role in the final restitution. Whatever we do is related to this ultimate task: To return all things to their original place in God. Everything a person does affects the process.