http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/mottisfont/

On Wednesday I took a guided retreat day with Brian Draper. I don’t feel the need to share all of it, but despite the weather forecast, the rain held off from the minute we walked into the grounds of Mottisfont Abbey to the point at which we headed for hot chocolate (and without my mobile devices, so no checking in on Foursquare, or taking a photo of the magnificent building/grounds).

Having just read Brian’s Less is More, been de-cluttering, and looking for better work-life balance (although I’ve often talked in terms of work-life integration), and worked through a lot of difficult stuff, I’m seeking to find what Brian describes as ‘making my soul sing’.

15 minutes on a bench with W.H.Davies poem …

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad day light,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

from Songs Of Joy and Others (1911)

Find on Wikipedia.

I have spent much of the last 10-12 years, ever since we moved from our large home in Sussex to a much smaller one in Suffolk (not that I have ever truly lived in Suffolk), in gradually trying to declutter and focus more and more on what’s important. I feel that I still have a long way to go, but having spent last weekend in some serious decluttering (the physical space is nearly there, the electronic needs some more!), after going shopping yesterday and thinking I’m not sure that I need more… and knowing that I’m meeting with Brian Draper in a couple of weeks, I ensured I put aside some time this weekend to read his new book Less is More.

It’s been great to sit still for a while (no radio, TV) and just absorb some of the thinking. I don’t really want to turn this into a ‘task’ of a formal review, but would love to share a few snatches with you (and if you’re someone who’s horrified by people writing in their books – sorry – I’ve scribbled quite a lot on it)!

•  We’re always talking about “one day” I will do this, that, the other … but we find a comfortable physical place, and we just put it on hold… for a little longer!
• “Consumerism has a built-in obsolescence, for a very good reason: if we were truly satisfied with what we had, we wouldn’t feel the urge to consume more and more.”
• The example of bottled water, which our culture has persuaded us we need to pay for… and has also done with many other things such as adventure, inspiration, art, etc.
• To stop equating ‘quality of life’ with our possessions, and more with our interactions with others.
• The example of a gratitude diary, which I kept for the first year I was on antidepressants. Do I start one up again?
• We should give thanks for a dull news day, as it means no bad news (such as 9/11)… but those bad news days can shock us into putting our lives back into perspective.
• Rather than expecting everything to go wrong, ask yourself “What could go right today?”
• “But when, exactly, did life become just another problem to be solved? Who said it was something to be fixed? What if it were, instead, something rare to be witnessed, to be savoured, and to be appreciated?”
• Ask the simple questions that others are afraid to ask, and focus on developing what you’re good at, rather than spending hours correcting your weaknesses.
• What does silence sound like… reminds me of my trip to Doubtful Sound (which still see as the No 1 highlight of my round the world trip). Take time to stop & listen to it  (not be afraid of it)… savour the now.

Source: Uploaded by user via Bex on Pinterest

• We fashion our sense of identity from our wounds, and old/hurtful voices clamour in our head, if we allow that to restrict our choices. It can be difficult to hear over those.
• Go to places where oceans merge, etc.”In this kind of place, roles mean nothing. Titles mean nothing. Status means nothing. While you mean everything.”
• A blank page represents such promise, and each time you press ‘New Message’ for an email “you are confronted with a blank page and this is your chance to use it well. It is an invitation to craft something from nothing, with care and with love.” Each day presents ‘a blank page’ – watch out for the seemingly insignificant moments that can be squeezed out by what seems important.

• Don’t try and fill gaps in the conversation. Stop and properly listen – will make others feel valued.
•  The way we’re working isn’t working. We need to understand more about how we work in waves of energy, and need to look for spaces to renew energy as well as spend it. Otherwise, as I learnt with Beyond Chocolate, you’ll eat to stay awake, when what your body needs to function effectively is sleep. I’ve also learnt much more to take time to focus – I have Google docs for each of my roles, with things that need doing – pick a task and get going on it. I also used to have a rule in my PhD research – you can move something on the calendar 3 times then you have to do it!
• Adele’s success = not selling out!
• Find the Source of our refreshment and wisdom – return frequently to drink from it – and then let it flow through us… not trying to trap/hold it.
• Reconnect with creation.. and an interesting piece as someone who’s trying to run… trainers are BAD for our feet … causing us to run with our heels, and doing the work our feet are meant to do. Stop STAMPING on the earth, and learn to walk lightly on it.
• The 6-word Memoir (which doesn’t have to be for all time)
• Take time to listen to others stories, and think how we want our lives to be defined (as a challenge we set on Big Bible to write our own epitaph – then work towards it!).
• Start somewhere! “We cannot do everything after all. And when we realise that we can’t, we are liberated to do one thing wherever we are, and to make the kind of difference to the world around us that only we can make.”
• Start listening to ‘what I do is me’- and be introduced to the person you were created to be.
• Slow down and savour the moment… taste that sandwich, say thank you to the person who served it to you…
• Learn to live with poise (from within), rather than pose (a false identity which takes energy to maintain). It’s not always about getting from A to B, but about how you get there.
• Learn to relate to each other without an agenda, and without judging.
• What are the passions, values and beliefs at our centre, and how do we reach them?
• “… in a go-getting world, we may like to think that ‘the sky’s the limit’, when really our fear of flying keeps us earthbound.” We have a responsibility to be free, whatever the situation, and need to be unafraid to fail.

A reference to a great quote (as someone who has a PhD in the arts!) – acknowledged unverified:

• We are all involved in life’s battles – fight them – but choose the right battles.
• A soldier follows orders: kill or be killed. A warrior fights with the example of their lives, with physical fighting the last option where necessary. Matthew Fox: The true warrior is “a co-creator, a worker with the Spirit, a worker for Spirit. The warrior’s hands are the hands of Spirit at work; the warrior’s mind is seized by theSpirit precisely in the work of creativity.”
• We tend to live in a haze … stop to see what’s right in front of our eyes:

• Spend time outdoors in reflection. Stop. Close your eyes for a full minute. Listen, smell, feel.
• Autumn: the trees allow themselves to be laid bare in order for renewal, rather than holding onto the gloriously coloured leaves.
• Eckhart Tolle The Power of Now: “Death is a stripping away of all that is not you. The secret of life is to ‘die before you die’ and find that there is no death.”
• A mention of Michael McCarthy and the difficulty in describing a butterfly: “It has been well said that science gives us knowledge but takes away meaning.”
• Believe that there must be more to life than this.

Well, that was a little more than I intended to write, but I hope that it inspires you to buy the book.

Great use of the ‘front garden’ space.

A chance to think at each point. Each of these red threads has the same activities upon it.

1. Put aside concerns, worries, and the contents of your pockets
2. Write in an envelope where you think you’re missing opportunities to reap the fruits of the spirit [I felt that God is carrying me through a particularly difficult time, but that I am still allowing 'busy busy' to get in the way!]
3. Holly Leaves: Feel them, feel the minor pain, and think how the pain would have been for Jesus on the Cross
4. Thin cloth/nails. Feel how thin the cloth is (Jesus skin), how heavy the nails are.
5. Water, given to Jesus, and poured out of his body. Drink some for refreshment or splash some on.

An MP4 playing, that I can’t find online, which really had me thinking as the words ‘Breathe Breathe Breathe’ got more difficult for the auditor to play, and the screen played a heartbeat … ending in a single line.

A song, the words “Some work too hard; but work won’t get us far”….

There was also a prayer tree at the end, to put forward a prayer as a response to the session.

I was in there about 40 minutes.

After Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion comes the reply. Wham bam! Rupert Sheldrake takes on the “truth-finding religion” of science in general and “ten dogmas” of the 21st-century worldview in particular. These include arguments that consciousness is “a by-product” of the biochemistry of the brain; that evolution is purposeless; that God is only an idea. Each is dealt with swiftly and efficiently in its own chapter, at the conclusion of which are some sceptical questions that challenge the reader to think again, and a clear summary of the main arguments.

Sheldrake recalls, disapprovingly, the philosopher of science George Sarton saying: “Truth can be determined only by the judgment of experts … The people have nothing to say but accept the decisions handed out to them.” Verily, says Sheldrake, here is an attitude worthy of the Roman Catholic Church at its most zealous. And he hints that religion lies behind many philosophical certainties, starting with Descartes splitting asunder mind and matter, that have shaped the modern, supposedly “objective” worldview.

Read the full review. Buy the book. Another book of interest is Wired for Culture: The Natural History of Human Co-Operation which takes a biological perspective on cooperation.

Lent is the time when we are preparing for Easter, which some have described as ‘New Year for Christians’ – when we remember the 40 days of preparation that Jesus spent in the desert:

Taken up for 2012?

This year, I am again running ‘The Big Read 2012‘. We had the materials prepared a lot sooner, and have prepared social media layers, so there’s more conversation – but a lot of it is still going on offline – people keep saying how wonderful it is – would love people to demonstrate that by partaking more online

Given up for 2012?

For a couple of months I’ve been trying to sort out my cupboards by eating up what’s in them, and increasing my “local” shopping, but still ending up at the supermarket with £100 trolley loads… which then don’t seem to add much to the choices in the cupboard (and I’m not feeling particularly flush in the pocket so need to save some ££)! So, for Lent, I’ve formalised that – no shopping in the big out of town supermarkets (and avoiding the in-town ones if possible).

• Last Sunday I went to the Farmer’s Market & shot around – spending about £20 – not a huge amount of stuff, but very tasty!
• Yesterday I made it into town, picking up milk in £land, £13 worth of fruits & veg from the marketstall (towards end of day, when they are down-pricing everything).. not sure if even then I don’t have too much
• I seem to be whizzing around the country, so I have pre-cooked a load of meals yesterday to put in the freezer – as I don’t want to waste food either.

I’m thinking more about what I need, what I’m buying, and having a more interesting range of foods, as I had bought things meaning to try them, but it seemed easier to buy something else! Let’s see how we get on…

http://12baskets.co.uk/view/images/heavens_door_opened

An atheist was seated next to a little girl on an airplane and he turned to her and said, “Do you want to talk? Flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger.”

The little girl, who had just started to read her book, replied to the total stranger, “What would you want talk about?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said the atheist. “How about why there is no God, or no Heaven or Hell, or no life after death?” as he smiled smugly.

“OK,” she said. “Those could be interesting topics but let me ask you a question first.

“A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff – grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, but a horse produces clumps. Why do you suppose that is?”

The atheist, visibly surprised by the little girl’s intelligence, thinks about it and says, “Hmmm, I have no idea.”

To which the little girl replies, “Do you really feel qualified to discuss why there is no God, or no Heaven or Hell, or no life after death, when you don’t know shit?”

And then she went back to reading her book.

A warning to all “evangelists” whether Christian, Atheiest, or other… 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/Westminster_Abbey_-_West_Door.jpg/450px-Westminster_Abbey_-_West_Door.j

16 November 2011 at NoonHer Majesty The Queen accompanied by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh and His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales will attend a service of celebration, in association with the King James Bible Trust, to mark the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible at Westminster Abbey on 16 November at 12 noon.

The place of the King James Bible in our culture and the continuing significance of the Word will be celebrated in the service.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend and Right Honourable Dr Rowan Williams will give the Address. A new composition by one of the winners of the King James Bible Trust Composition Awards, Out of the South Cometh the Whirlwind by American composer, Zachary Wadsworth will be performed by the Choir of Westminster Abbey, conducted by James O’Donnell.

Following the service the Abbey’s bells will be rung to a peal of Stedman Caters comprising 5,400 changes.

Lancelot Andrewes, Dean of Westminster 1601-1605, was Director of the first Westminster Company responsible for translating part of the Old Testament. It is believed that the translators met in the Jerusalem Chamber at Westminster Abbey, a room also used by subsequent translators.

The service is part of a series of Abbey events marking the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible.

Taken from Westminster Abbey website and read more on the King James Bible Trust.

I’m a little concerned that we (Pete Phillips & I) have a meeting at 1.30pm, and it doesn’t start til 12 … we can get there from 10am. I’ll be getting the 854 I think – guess I should decide what to wear, and not forget my 2 forms of ID…

See the full interview, and follow @alantlwilson… who also spoke at @flashevensong on Friday, and The World This Weekend… and he’s on the BBC news RIGHT now!

After blogging about @flashevensong on this blog the other day, and subsequent conversations on Facebook/Twitter, Wayne Clarke invited me to speak (at 7.40am!) on BBC Radio Merseyside about my experiences of being there.

• Listen again, from around 1.32, to the stories about St Paul’s (around 1.37 for my stuff)
• And I’ve collected a version for posterity…