Allan G. Hunter's Blog, page 64

A Truly Democratic Museum?

An odd little museum, the one at Knowlton, Quebec, and the home (as you see) of the last remaining Fokker D7 fighter of 1918. It also has remarkable examples of local history, all very domestic.

What’s remarkable about this museum, though, is that it has existed entirely because of voluntary donations. The good people of this area tended to see things and say “that deserves to be preserved” and so they brought it to the museum. No curator, no special exhibits funded by major corporations – just things that locals thought ought to be preserved because they had real, human significance. The fighter plane was one, because Knowlton boys had died fighting it and its brethren. That may be why it was preserved when the other 21 example shipped to Canada in 1921 were left to decay, victims of the neglect of those for whom it was a cumbersome exhibit, not a visceral reminder.

Perhaps we need more democracy in our museums. Then they might cease being intellectual palaces and turn into places filled with emotion.

In Praise of Restlessness

There’s nothing wrong with restlessness. The problem is only that when we feel it we’re encouraged by the powers of commerce and advertising to go towards physical solutions. We feel restless so we go somewhere, we buy something, or we take up an occupation.

Yet restlessness is, almost by definition, about the desire to attain rest. It is a spiritual longing to be released from wanting. So – why do we feed it with exactly the wrong things?

Yew Trees and Time

This picture is of the Yew Tree at Rotherfield church, England. It’s a tee that is probably older than Christianity itself, and has been for centuries a venerated feature of the church yard. If you look closely you can see it has split down the middle and various wires have been attached to try and keep the whole thing vaguely upright, and alive.

Yes, it is historic and yes, it’s a survivor. But at what point to we let it go, since it’s clearly dying. Like the church itself, split, fragmented and held together by artificial means, we’re reluctant to declare it dead – even if it is not truly vital any more.

We all cling on to old beliefs, old ways of being, old concepts of who we are. And how difficult it is to let them go! The Yew tree is my witness.

Liberals and Present Day Republicans

Liberals live in a world in which it is assumed that intelligent people talking openly together will come to sane and humane conclusions about what to do. It’s a lovely idea. This is a world that has long disappeared, alas.

Present Day Republicans, by contrast, exist in a world in which blind insistence on certain dogmas is seen as the only viable way forwards. Lockstep voting and total hatred for anyone who does not see it their way are the orders of the day. This is close to the religious zealotry of the Spanish Inquisition. Also a time long gone.

We need a newer dialog than this. Neither of the existing viewpoints seem to value the heart, its power, and its ability to dissolve ancient ills.

See you at the voting booth.

We Are Compasses

On my desk I have a compass. It is of the same type that my late father had in his aircraft when he, as navigator, had to ensure that the crew reached their destination safely, even across vast expanses of featureless sea.

Just such a compass helped him to find the battleship that shot him out of the sky in 1941, by a strange quirk of fate saving his life. For as a prisoner of war he at least got to survive the conflict.

The compass on my desk deflects slightly if you move it closer to any wiring or the associated magnetic fields of a computer. A good navigator knows exactly how much that deflection will be, and calculates accordingly.

We’re all like compasses. We get deflected by forces we can’t see, and we stop being our real selves. The wise person notices this, and takes it into account. We should, too. That way we can always get back to the authentic self, and save ourselves.

Overheard comments

I overheard this comment the other day. It was hard not to, the speaker was talking so loudly. Here it is:

“I’d spent so many years reacting against my parents and defending myself from them that now they’ve died I don’t know what to do with myself…”

It speaks volumes, doesn’t it? And I couldn’t help thinking there’s some of this in a lot of us….. Sometimes overhearing is not merely a sneaky activity. Sometimes it can deliver important messages to us.

Listening….

Today it rained, which was welcome after a very long and very hot and dry spell. The parched grass on my scruffy lawn gave an almost audible sigh and drank in the moisture, growing visibly greener in the course of the day. The Grackles and Robins splashed in the birdbath and couldn’t seem to believe their luck. Even the rabbit that lives beside the garage seemed to be happier.

So what? Well, perhaps Nature was sending us all a message. Me? I felt it personally. Relax. Get gentle, let things grow. Be generous with your bounty. Love where you are, love those around you.

Nature speaks in many ways. Perhaps we should listen more often.

The Royal Baby (Hurrah!)

The new Royal Baby has been born, as I understand it, into a new series of laws governing succession. From now on males and females will have equal right to ascend the throne in strict birth order. No more favoring the male line.

This should come as no surprise, since The United Kingdom has already agreed to honor same sex unions.

The United States, of course, still struggles with this. It struggles with equality of all kinds, especially equal rights for women in the workplace, equal earnings… the list goes one.

The UK is not perfect. Far from it. But events like this make one re-think all that bias against “Old” and “stodgy” Europe. Perhaps they’re leading the way. Again.

Going Deeper

Plenty of myths and legends exist about the descent into the self. For example, Persephone is snatched down to the underworld by Hades, and returns for only half of each year to bring fertility to the fields. Dante descends to hell, but re-emerges, cleansed by the adventure. Orpheus used his powers as a musician to descend to the underworld to rescue Eurydice. The trouble is that Eurydice glances backwards, despite being forbidden to do so, and so is whisked back to the underworld forever. Orpheus is unable to live a meaningful life ever afterwards.

It’s that glance backwards that catches our attention.

We need to see it as a powerful metaphor. At its core it seems to be saying this: if you’ve been in a place of hell, or trauma, of loss, then art or music or love can help heal you. But if you choose to look backwards towards your experience, then you will be unable to let it go. You will be trapped by it and you will sink into its powerful grip all over again. If you choose to dwell on the pain you are leaving behind you cannot be saved.

The myth says it clearly – as myths tend to do. Being a victim is not the problem. Choosing to stay as a victim is. Remember what you have seen, but don’t look back.

Lessons from Strawberries

Strawberries are like people. Think of those big red ones you buy in the supermarket that are definitely non-organic and taste like cotton. We all know a few folks like that. And those tiny wild strawberries you find under the trees when you’re walking in some rural spot, and that taste so astonishingly sweet? They’re like chance encounters with wise people in places you’d never expect to find them.

Strawberries

But more than this strawberries – real strawberries – are seasonal. They don’t appear every month of the year. Only those tasteless ones flown in from Brazil hothouses are out on the shelves, rain or snow, complete with a light dusting of pesticides. And real strawberries don’t last that long, even in the fridge. Get them fresh, in season, and eat them as soon as you can because they won’t stay fresh and good. Be grateful for that.

They remind us that what is good is often fugitive. Like laughter, you can’t hold it and save it for another hour, let alone another day. The strawberry beckons to us and says, “Be present, now”. Can you do that?