‘Keep to the left except in times of war.’
Something remembered from childhood teaching and an awareness I still use when moving in crowds. I wonder if it holds true in all cultures and across time. It had meaning when men wore swords, usually worn on the left hip – most people being right handed.
It’s as though there’s nothing to be explained, nothing unusual, nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing luminous, profound, beyond the ken of the five senses. Yet there is and sad the human who never experiences more than the material world. It doesn’t have to be earth shattering to be a cause for wonder.
Rich indeed the tapestry of human experience when woven over a lifetime. Seem it so or not. Threads of hope and despair, the vivid colours of tragedy, of comedy, the slender threads of sanity, the thicker threads of endurance. And woven through plays instinct, intuition, perception, whatever name we give to that knowing which transcends the five senses.
Death and taxes aren’t the only certainties in life. Many don’t pay taxes in the ‘real’ world and Death, while the final out of body experience, isn’t, for many, the first. Such experience must change perception regarding the nature of reality. The way in which mankind sets boundaries around what is considered acceptable as an experience of reality and what is seen as ‘beyond the pale’ is somewhat limited without the acknowledging of the mystical. Is reality truly defined as three dimensional - with time thrown in to add a fourth dimension. And that’s it? This is the shape of reality allowed? No out of body experiences which, if real, do more than imply that consciousness is not tied to the body and that the body is the changing vehicle inhabited from birth to death – at which time I’ve no idea nor do I much care where it resides. I can trust that a loving God, creator of the Universe can take care of that and forgive the mistakes made along the way.
Life is full of abrupt transitions.
Just finishing up with all the gardening tasks which appear at this time of year. Autumn overnight temperature is at zero and three waves of dying Magnolia leaves have fallen over the last few weeks. I rake and mulch and place the compost around a TreeFern. We’ve yet to feel full winter cold with gusty winds straight from the Southern Ocean and beyond to Antarctica. If I don’t make use of the leaf litter now then the swirling winds will bring crumpled heaps to my door all winter long and there’s no purpose served there. I’ve brought in and spread two cubic metres of soil to lay a blanket over one of the garden beds. This bed contains TreeFerns - as they all do - and a Mandarin tree. It holds a constantly changing variety of bulbs – daffodils to Tiger lilies which spread out their flowering from early winter to late summer. It’s a delight and as there’s little soil here I bring in each year what I can afford and each bed gets its turn for renewal. I finish this bed with a ‘not too thick’ layer of sugar cane mulch and a mass planting of Polyanthus. They’re the most cheerful flower, bright splashes of colour all nestled in to that light blanket and ready to bloom when most I need that ‘sight for sore eyes.’ As much to the point - although they appear to die off completely they often don’t and will reappear the following year.
It’s a quiet luxury to have a garden in which to grow, to watch and nurture the changes over decades.
Back in the ‘real’ world and events continue the messy lurching towards - who knows what. China, Brexit, Orange Vests.
There were certainties in the world not so long ago. Even though Israel is no true friend to the rest of mankind - and it doesn’t take much to ascertain that - there was a two state solution agreed upon ‘in principle’ which has served to keep the ongoing injustice to the Palestinian cause simmering but also in some sort of focus. This is gone under yet another U.S. president who serves Israel’s interests rather than that of the American people and has no sense that agreements already made actually matter. Trust is fragile.
It’s the unthinking acceptance of propaganda which disturbs me. What part of the situation in Gaza remains hidden from the world yet the barbarity is whitewashed by selective vision and politicians refuse to condemn such behaviour and with one voice cry ‘Enough.’
Is that likely to happen? It hasn’t happened yet.
If it’s ‘By their fruits you shall know them’ then Israel is the bitter tree.
Sigh … no … it’s not ‘The Jews’ … it’s the policies carried out by the Zionist entity dubbed Israel – the one which many religious Jews say has no right to exist and who do give the valid reason. Did Hitler represent all Germans – then or now?
So – when, if ever, is any solution to the plight of the Palestinians other than ‘die and go away’ going to be offered by Israel?
Simple question after a lifetime of waiting. Why would any of us want to see this continue for yet another lifetime … as if it didn’t matter.