Monday morning, up early to a blue sky with scudding white clouds. I survey my diary for the week. I have a zoom meeting this evening with the  Scientific and Medical Network, Wednesday off to Glastonbury to celebrate the spring equinox, my yoga session on Thursday followed by an interesting meeting at the Vineyard church and Friday, a lunch with a friend from Ireland in Bath. To my joy, I have lots of space and few obligatory engagements.

I came across the link to an article listed below which caused me much amusement. At my age I would be considered beyond dead by the younger generation who probably wouldn’t even notice me, but that’s fine by me.

In general I get on with young people very well if given half a chance. I retain this teenage sense of humour though I must admit with their particular slang I don’t understand what they are talking about half the time. These people are our future and should be respected. I would rather see some unruly behavior than robotic conformation. I am slightly suspicious if a child is too ‘good’. I need to see a bit of color in people even though it might be a bit untidy.

Failings of the Young Generations, Documented Since the 4th Century B.C. Igor Chudov

Loneliness and Democide

A great article forwarded by two friends Luna and Sol in Glastonbury who run a shop at the top of the High Street.
Domicide: The Loss of Place, Space, and Face in Modern Society. It came out today and is really worth a read. ‘Democide’ is the loss of place, space and face in modern society.

This quote from Erich Fromm within The Art of Being says it all – read it slowly:
A person who has not been completely alienated, who has remained sensitive and able to feel, who has not lost the sense of dignity, who is not yet “for sale”, who can still suffer over the suffering of others, who has not acquired fully the having mode of existence – briefly, a person who has remained a person and not become a thing – cannot help feeling lonely, powerless, isolated in present-day society. He cannot help doubting himself and his own convictions, if not his sanity. He cannot help suffering, even though he can experience moments of joy and clarity that are absent in the life of his “normal” contemporaries. Not rarely will he suffer from neurosis that results from the situation of a sane man living in an insane society, rather than that of the more conventional neurosis of a sick man trying to adapt himself to a sick society.

and later

However, with this loss of place, space, and face in modern society, with this home killing, those of us who become lone wolves have the chance to find a greater role and purpose.

Those of us who have the privilege of transmuting whatever form of domicide we’ve experienced – whether familial, cultural, religious, geographic, internal, or external – can find meaning and a new role in transforming pain into a deeper inner power and perspective that we can gradually share in whatever way life is asking us to share.

A lovely grass roots work of art providing nourishment and perspective.  They are offering a free course. Worth a look.