Devotion, not Domination

Rights and Responsibilities

Everyone, in my view, has the right to practise their religion without fear of persecution. However, this right also comes with the responsibility to be considerate of others.

On public transport, we already suffer the nuisance of people playing music through the loudspeakers of their mobile phones. 

This is usually not because they have forgotten the headphones that would afford them the private enjoyment of the music of their choice; rather than inflicting their tastes on others without permission, they are simply being antisocial. The same goes for loud phone calls, and I have found myself speaking up on occasion, dismayed at the breach of the peace.

A Step Too Far

It is on another level entirely when a fellow passenger decides to play the call to prayer. Even if that person were the imam, their presence in any setting, and especially on a vehicle, does not confer the authority to claim the whole space as a mosque.

This is how devotion slips easily into fanaticism, where common sense deserts faith and public concern follows. The devotee immediately attracts suspicion and dread, not so much for the act of worship itself, but because others begin to wonder about their intentions. When the practice of the religion of peace serves only to heighten unease, the wider perception of the freedom being exercised becomes a lightning rod for prohibition.

Where Freedom Ends

Anyone who dared to challenge that passenger would have found others ready to support them. It takes only one person to report the incident to the police, and before calmer heads could dismiss the matter as a question of civility, the spectre of radicalisation would justly have placed the individual under scrutiny and questioning.

Being a believer does not preclude you from behaving as a good citizen; the extent of a right reaches only to the point before it infringes on the freedoms of another. Whether it be music, a phone call, or a call to prayer, if you do not have your headphones, you should accept that you have deprived yourself of the opportunity to listen to your device when in a public place.

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The prescient December clues

When birth is due

December speaks of dreams and beauty, the surprise of my nativity which for me as a person was not earlier than I expected, especially when others tend to stay longer than necessary. I can remember the many times I have never needed to fulfil a quota; when what needs getting done is done.

To many, I was preterm. However, I was ready when I arrived, just after Michaelmas. That they brought in cavalry to sustain my arrival was a responsibility placed on those who cater for such things. I simply rode the wave because it was there for my pleasure.

If I had chosen January, I would have slipped into another year for which I could lament the inexplicable. The Hilary Term would never have suited me. I could hardly be considered a spring baby, yet, as provenance would have it, one was conceived in the Trinity Term.

Silent in the light

In the advent of the diamond jubilee, I have scarcely prepared much. I hope to mark it without much fanfare; I am exhausted in crowds and flailing in the company of many. It is something to celebrate without trumpeting, but I would scarcely be afforded that luxury.

It is a time for contemplation, reminiscence, thankfulness, and gratitude. The journeys, the companions, the supporters, and friends that have made it auspicious leave me astounded at the wonder and the gift of living.

In the solitude of the solitary

It is just me

It is the silence, the quiet stillness in a place of solitude in the company of just oneself that you find a spectrum of just wanting to be alone and the dread of loneliness. Your thoughts oscillating without any uniformity between a desirous need and an acceptance of lack, it could be disconcerting.

This long weekend presents that very scenario where at one time there was the prospect of receiving guests that was postponed to the next month, at the one time you feel you should jump on a train just to feel the energy of a crowd from afar, the sight of strangers with some purpose giving you a signal that you still exist even if you are not noticed.

It is just so

Then, there is lethargy, an overwhelming sense of inertia, where normalcy is not entirely so, as at least you are somewhat engaged even if you are working from home, but presently you are not. The curtains remain as they always were, undrawn that the outside is a mystery when asked about the weather.

For one Miss Havisham and I can be soulmates on the same voyage, though mine is not out of misery or disappointment and the clocks have not been stopped. It may not be out of commission, quite likely one of omission, as I just allow things to be as they are and trundle on.

I could do some cooking, but it is a table set for one, I could watch television, but the discussion goes on in my mind, I might read something, and the recognition is mine alone, or listen to something on the radio to be taken to a place of nostalgia and new meaning.

It is just there

What I have been blessed with, though I am given the joy of communication, but I cannot use fully for the distance between us. I have to trust myself that I am fine, though I found out at one time that it could mess with my head and set my emotions in flux, I hope I get my funk sorted long before that which warms my heart presents.

For now, I sail, a lonely mariner on a boat in storms, keenly aware of where I am going, but unsure of when I would arrive. An albatross perches on the mast to indicate, I might have a long way to go, but the winds are in my favour, and I should soon reach a safe harbour and that is where I am heading.

Thought Picnic: A mindset not to resent the present

Seeing beyond the limits

There are times when situations and circumstances get together to frustrate that you begin hitting out allowing the negativity to consume your thoughts and reactions. This is when you need the quiet and quietness around you to reassess how you are responding to things outside your control.

We can so easily be helpless and forlorn, completely unable to see a way out that we are trapped and immobile. It happens to many of us and it is part of life.

Yet, I have the good fortune to sometimes step back and ask myself whether I am tackling issues in the best way, if there ways in which I can change my mindset and adjust my frame of mind so as not to be frustrated in the first instance and consequently overwhelmed.

Beyond just coping with it

There are many things I have been able to shrug off or ignore, others I have tackled head-on, in certain circumstances it is just a matter of accepting the situation whilst looking for alternative remedies to mitigate the impact. I am affected, but what long term effect and hold would I allow to define my outlook.

I believe in prayers; the problem is usually not the prayer but finding the right words for the prayers you want answered. You may not get a miracle, but a speedy recovery with the medication working well for you, your wellbeing and quality of life, might well be a great miracle when looked back on as a blessing to be counted.

We are a storied existence of feats that do not have to end in defeats. Whilst every defeat we face is most definitely an old feat better understood for new strength, renewed courage and acquired skill.

Mindful of better prayers

We are not always assailed by enemies, sometimes what we require is mercy, grace, and favour. To looked favourably upon when you are applying for something. To be given good consideration, time, and space to meet obligations. To have others treat you kindly, respectfully, with courtesy and a sense of dignity could be all headway you need towards some achievement.

Today, my concern is with a whole range of plans, my desire to travel, the opportunity for remote working from anywhere on the globe, meeting up with my partner, getting married, planning our future together with all the means that help many of our dreams come true. A cloud appears to be in a way of the sunlight of warmth and life to these visions.

I cannot be preoccupied with the clouds; the limitations are momentary, and clouds move on eventually. In the exercise of patience and the assurance of hope that the temporary will always be that and the desires of the heart put into prayer does come true in more fantastical and mind-blowing ways than anticipated, I find new peace, to lie down in green pastures and beside the still waters, this walk through the valley of the shadow of death, will soon be over.

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Thought Picnic: Living a storied life

For the quiet around

Even without hearing a sound, there can be a lot of noise, deafening and debilitating noise, banging on your eardrums from the inside of your head.

They say the battle is mostly won in the mind, but how do you acquire the silence and quietude to concentrate on resolving the issues that give you much discomfiture?

I find my comfort in many things, the times when the turmoil proves too upsetting, I would probably just go to sleep. It keeps the thoughts from getting overwhelmed with imponderables and the implausible, hours later in wakefulness, the mind has settled into some resolution and purpose, it is a strange journey to acceptance that I have travelled many times before.

Not for a thing

Worry is an illness that can infect all organs of the body and make you terribly ill. The residue of religion left in me is the insight into how worry can change nothing. If nothing can be changed for the situation, you’re in, why bother expending energy in ruminating over the wastelands about you?

This is where other aspects of the residue come to play, for many stories from the Book have the narrative of coming to pass, rarely ever coming to stay. Nothing stagnates to the point of having no movement of time. Time rarely stands still, things might seem long in passing, but never immovably stopped that all the laws of nature are upturned. This too shall pass, and it will pass into the realm of stories told in the future as if it mattered not at all.

Talk to thy self

Beyond that, I speak to myself, loudly in my Anglicised name, I tell myself, it would come out right, I expect things to turn, I prepare for the future ahead that I cannot see, but know that life creates stories that you are given to help others see beyond their walls, their clouds, their chains, their gates, their inadequacies and anything that makes you think any less of who you can be.

I have a vision of the possible, the possible that walks through the impossible, usually not as miracles, but as the gift of fortune and fortitude with a mind set to rise and be lifted above the fray. Then, because I found it when I was in the Pentecostal movement, I still speak in tongues, it might be gibberish, incantations, prayers or commands that turn nature on its head like the parting of the seas, that is my teaspoonful of sugar that makes the medicine go down in a most delightful way.

I can find my peace in storms that rage so violently that the hearts of some men fail, I have stood in the whirlwinds that swirl the dross and dust off me to leave me feeling refreshed and ready for the next challenge. There is a life to live, live it well, for from the very first day, it was a struggle to thrive and a blessing, it remains each day, what I am thankful for, a life so ordinary, yet made extraordinary by the stories I have been given to tell.

Thought Picnic: The quiet place

The place to be

Sometimes we need to know our quiet place, the place where within the turmoil and the disarray that surrounds we can steal away and find a place of safety.

The safety we seek is essential for making sense of life and finding perspective when things do not look right.

I find my quiet in many places, the best is when I am travelling, when I embark on a long journey, a calm descends upon me as if I am caught away halfway to paradise. I make time for travel when I can afford it.

Memories we must cherish

Through my life, I have also found milestones, times when I have apparently felt so good, so well, and almost too sure, without a care in the world.

A colour, a smell, some music and the memories convey me to a place to daydream out of the present and latch on to the affirmative.

I do this not to find reasons to regret, but to appreciate that I have had a wonderful and blessed life full of many things to be thankful for, and that is a good thing.

For wonder and awe

Nature also offers a great sense of awe and wonder, be it in a forest, listening to carefree birds chirping in the trees or watching the wash of large bodies of water ebb and flow against banks or shores; mysteries expressed in beauty that words will never speak, but the heart and mind will fully understand, poured into the senses like an elixir of life.

Know how to find your quiet place, your break away from the rat race, where you can leave that hustle and bustle that will nevertheless continue whether or not you are part of it because there is always more to life and more to live for than the endless quest for survival.