I attended our Christian study group last evening and the topic was Israel, particularly the history of Israel going back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob from 2000 BC. I don’t see how anyone can understand the current position unless you make an examination in general of the tensions in the Middle East, and when they were caused, previous incursions by Israel onto its neighboring Palestine, who set up the state of Israel in 1948, (that was funded by the Rothschilds) and who and why funds Israel today and to what extent.

We should learn more about Khazarian Jews as opposed to the regular Jews and look at the current situation stability-wise. We should remember or at least ascertain that the mainstream media are not impartial in their opinions of who did what, why and when. I am reminded of Iraq when it was said that babies were killed in their incubators. There was no supporting evidence. Now we were told that Hamas were responsible for killing babies. There is a certain similarity between that, Iraq, and 9/11, which was clearly an inside job, blaming others. As they say ‘do your own research’.   Do I recall hearing about ‘dancing Israelis’ after the twin towers collapsed?  A coincidence I am sure.

Don had prepared a very good talk from Colin Chapman’s book, “Who’s promised land?” I think it is important that everyone comes to a view on this, even if there is nothing we can do about it, but meanwhile I think we need to pray for peace for both sides.

The meaning of Steadfast

On my way out, I found myself telling everyone that we needed to be steadfast. Steadfast is one of these lovely words which stands with a dignity of itself. It even sounds good if a trifle conservative. It is almost onomatopoeic. I do not use this word often. It comes from the middle English unshakable, stubborn, resolute; firm and fixed in purpose and faith.

Steadfast applies not only to individual characteristics but also in attachment to a person or cause this has been in use since the 15th century. ‘I am steadfastly attached to the cause of health medicine’. ‘I will remain steadfast with my wife in her difficulties’.

Note it’s use as in ‘firm ‘(from the late 14c ferm) as in strong and steady. With regard to agreements legal or otherwise it is permanent and enduring . With arguments It is sound and well founded. A firm decision means that you will not change your mind and it is unconditional.

Personally I feel that to be steadfast requires no ambiguity of purpose and complete transparency at all levels. It is not something that can change from day to day based on a whim but it must be based on a set of principles that will stand the test of time.

The use of the word ‘nice’- is it laziness?

Laziness prevails in many aspects of our life unless we do something about it, and manifests in the effort we make to describe people we know. Damning with faint praise can be the use of the word ‘nice’ which is about one of the most useless words, as bad as saying ‘ have a nice day’. This is an export from America which quite frankly could be reimported so far as I am concerned. Anything with the word ‘nice’ in has little substantive meaning.

You may care to look at the etymology of this and consider the usefulness of it in current day English. Originally in the late 13th century the word meant foolish, frivolous, senseless and believe it or not from the Latin nescius meaning ignorant, not knowing. The word has undergone a transformation from timid and faint hearted in earlier times to ‘precise and careful’ as in ‘making a nice distinction’.

Now it is reserved for something more benign and generic such as, ‘have a nice day’, ‘we will go on a very nice walk’, ‘these are two very nice people’  but the early origins of this word haunt it to this day.

Be careful who you speak ill of

So when someone asks you what you think of somebody, don’t go into automatic mode but pause a moment, consider, and then give your verdict. To say that they are a ‘nice’ couple means nothing.  You will be doing yourself and the listener a favor by thinking. But first of all, think why  the person is asking you. Do they want you to reinforce their previously conceived notion of the person? This can especially apply with malicious gossip.

In this case,  it is particularly lazy apart from being unnecessary because if you choose to set aside the possible better parts of the person being criticized you do them a disfavour and it will bounce back on you. As the saying goes, ‘what goes around comes around’ and this is especially true if you don’t know who you are talking to. If you are not careful you could insult somebody’s friend or even a family member.

If you don’t know the person very well, then say so. We do not really know a person unless ‘we’ve walked a mile in their shoes’ as someone said. Maybe avoid to  speak in such a way as to preclude further contact because your prejudice – if indeed there is a prejudice – may not be based on any fact but on the opinions of others as in the game ‘pass the parcel’ and therefore does not have much value and could do a dis- service to you the speaker.

A good rule of thumb ‘Is it necessary?  Is it loving?  Is it true?

Is it not a better plan to describe a previous meeting with the person or people or couple and say what happened during the meeting for example ‘I met Mr and Mrs so and so, the local hall and we discussed the dilapidation of the building and agreed that something has to be done’ This encourages your immediate listener because it tells something of the nature of the people talked about, including the fact that they are concerned about community matters.

If you start in an objective way you may realize during your conversation that these people might actually be quite useful to society. I question the value of a subjective judgement based on feelings. I am aware that some people do not present very well but that is an interface or cultural problem not so much a character problem.

I could make out a case for avoiding giving any comment on anybody but instead we could use the following descriptors to give some sort of image of the person in question.

Before that please spare us the use of hyperbole such as

lovely, fantastic, brilliant, marvelous, wonderful, great, ‘you are a star’, awesome, incredible.

The following I consider more useful with regard to something someone has done:

‘I really appreciate your prompt action’
‘I did not expect such a good job’
‘Most people would not have bothered’
‘thanks for being there for me’

or of groups or couples:

‘I had an enjoyable time with them clearing the garden’
‘they struck me as being pleasant people who were interested in what I was doing’
‘he told a story in a captivating way’
‘after being with them for some time I felt refreshed’
‘in my time of need they were able to comfort me’

or even a comparison such as

‘he is very down to earth but she has her head in the clouds as she is an artist’. This is a tongue in cheek observation not a judgement.

In other words and I repeat, speaking badly about someone is what I call the long-term shooting yourself in the foot or maybe even the heart. It will rebound on you sooner or later in one form or another so why take the risk?

The Christian believes that there is God in everybody but alas in most of us this is shrouded by what we would call sin or perhaps the word ignorance would be a better word. I refer to it as ‘over coats’.

Question – Is it so difficult or challenging to say something positive about someone else. If it is difficult, then why is it difficult? Does the whole of life have to be a competition where we compare ourselves (who we know) with others (who we do not know).

So to return to our theme of niceness, when people say to me, have a nice day, I come back at them and say ‘why not have a nice week or month or year or lifetime’. I could also say sarcastically if I was feeling a bit bad tempered, ‘I was having a bad day until now. I now decide to have a good day’ but maybe that is a step too far ….. or it could be treated as a joke.

To record or not record?

I had a chat with someone this morning about the recording of a group session. This would be a small group. I felt that the member of the group who requested this was being paranoid. My point of view, is that I cannot write very well as I have inherited the shaking hand of my father and when I try to write, it looks like a platoon of spiders on the loose.

However we eventually agreed that if a record is made, it is in another category and especially in this high tech age, the contents could be lifted, obtained nefariously, and then used out of context. Although the chances of this happening are very small the fact must be taken into account and so some people, especially more nervous people, would prefer there to be that extra assurance of privacy. This conversation helped me to fill in,the missing pieces of the jigsaw puzzle and so I was able to rest assured.

Sometimes it is a good idea to lift the lid off the pressure cooker.

What is healing and what is it not?

The Scientific and Medical Network runs a number of informal ZOOM events and I tend to pop in on Monday and Friday. I am getting a little bit bored with the passivity of most of the people there. The phrase comes into my mind from the bible about being a doer of the Word and not just a hearer of the Word. The analogy was given of the latter being like a man who built his house upon sand and the rains came and the wind blew and the house was destroyed.

My frustration is that it is very seldom that people on our ZOOM meetings show signs of having taken any notice of the wonderful spiritual messages and wisdom that is given out by the speakers on each and every occasion. I wonder if this is a social club for introverts. I view the world from a different platform now I am writing my diaries and I’m impatient with those who just sit back and listen. I wonder what they are doing and what they hope to achieve.

However I did hear and was reminded during the brief time I stayed with the group last evening about the law of reversed effort. In other words the more you ask, beg and beseech God to heal you the less it works because it is called by some ‘ the law of reversed effort’. If you are worried and insecure how can you be a channel. People who have healed me seldom intended to do so and they did just by their presence. The answer is to lead a good life, be close to God as you can, and the Spirit of healing come through you. It cannot originate from you although you may feel manifestations in your hands of say prickling or heat that can be the energies of the Universe going through you and burning the wires a bit.

I am doing a series of readings and healing for a whole family. To be very careful about my conflict of interest but so far we are managing and they are pleased to have me as a helper in the background as I see myself. So the fallacy of trying to heal implies something which is incorrect, that when you are not thinking about healing you are not doing it. I believe that healing comes out of people of good world all the time provided they are given respect and the circumstances are contiguous.

An evening at the movies

This evening we went to see a film called Lunana which was filmed in Bhutan and subtitled in English. It was the heartwarming story of a young teacher who dreams of being a singer in Australia but is sent to teach at a remote school in the Himalayas where there is even a yak in the classroom.

The film lasted one hour 50 minutes, the pace was slow and the scenery consisted mostly of the beautiful snow capped mountains, a small and ramshackle School and the emotional time spent by a young man who did not really want to become a teacher but in the end wanted to stay. There was minimal dialogue, no violence, no swearing, no loud music and during the time I felt ashamed of what passes for Western entertainment.

I can understand why the King of Bhutan was very careful to limit the number of visitors from abroad in what was essentially a closed country. Seeing it from their point of view, I can well understand why.

The film was shown to a packed audience in the village hall in Kilmersdon.  The film was bought from Amazon. The screen was about  5m wide and there was 6-channel sound so the whole was well up to cinema standards.  There was a wine, beer and tea bar available before the show.  Admission was £6. Membership is available.

This little village is deceptive. It’s basically a small traditional high street with a converted post office, church, a machinery repair workshop and the Village Hall. If you blink you will miss it but the population is more akin to Bath in its demographic makeup and should not be under-estimated.

The registered population is only about 600 and yet they have a Women’s Institute, an art group, a bridge club, a garden group, a village day, a village shop, a film society of which this event was a part. Around Christmas there are candles by candlelight, an advent carol service, a Christmas carol service, the usual Christmas carol service in a neighboring church. This is presided over by Reverend Clarissa Kridland of Mendip Trinity Church. The Kilmersdon Parish News has 20 pages and is very professionally produced.

This is a village that punches well above its weight. Anyone thinking of moving into the area and wishing to work in Bath or Frome or indeed Wells would be well advised to look around for a property, if you can find one