Thinking time

I was Headless today. Gathered together in Judy’s house we explored The Headless Way. It is a practice developed by Douglas Harding that enables us to see, not as we have become accustomed to seeing, in a tunnel-visioned, self-conscious way, but from ‘behind’ as it were, from a great No-thingness that accommodates all; everything that is, has been and will be. The opening up of perspective and the sense of connection achieved through the practices is incredibly joyful, reassuring and peace-providing. The ‘movement’ (for want of a better word) isn't a cult, a religion or a mystique, but a most common sense way to see something which, once seen, is so obvious - we are not merely our finite human body, and to all intents and purposes, from an experiential point of view we are headless. We ARE the universe (Judy designates her U3A course - ‘Youniverse’)

Touristy forestry and Facebook

I'm here again. A visit to Sherwood Forest yesterday has me thinking; my mind drifting around stuff like legend, history and change. The little bit of England that can still be called Sherwood Forest is a recreation area. The Forestry Commission have kindly provided huge car parks and nicely laid out pathways that enable you to wander about among the trees on foot or bike. There are facilities, playgrounds and a ‘Go Ape’ installation as well as an area of woodland holiday bungalows for rent. The pine trees stand tall and majestic compared with the young mixed woodland I described in my blog yesterday but the magic we felt at that little woodland was absent in this legendary Nottinghamshire forest. I half expected the Forestry staff to be dressed up as Robin Hood and his Merry Men (and woman), being that the place is so utterly urbanised and touristyfied. Big concerts are on the agenda for summer there, including UB40  (only for 40 year olds???)

Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against the creation of recreation areas that are accessible to all. The little Cotswold woodland is a private garden, accessible only by invitation. It's magical connection with the Rollright stones, the ancient hill path and surroundings is lovingly guarded by a wealthy couple and their artistic helpers. If they were to provide car parking, toilets, bins, wheelchair accessible pathways, signage, a cafe and a playground the magic would be destroyed, to my mind anyway. And why is that? 

Last night we listened to some of the US Congress questioning of Mark Zukerberg’s Facebook operation and its failure to protect personal data. Facebook is undeniably an amazing phenomenon along with the rest of social media in this Information Age. Its whole development seems like magic to me. And its magic isn't actually so different from that Neolithic magic I felt at Neolithic Echoes. The ancients gathered together just as we do now on Facebook and created big stony edifices for the purpose. Today we commune with people in cyberspace and our stony edifices are the huge computer data banks in different places around the world. The big questions posed by the Facebook phenomenon, apparently, are whether, how and what to regulate. Clearly there have been some dubious goings on, but one thing is for sure - the imposition of regulation that will make it safe for law abiding users will kill its magic. The ancient, scary, dangerous Sherwood Forest that was home to peasants, wanderers, outcasts, minstrels and vagabonds as well as free thinkers and social reformers has been cut down to a tameable size and made safe. Facebook looks like going the same way.

What a conundrum. I like being safe but I don't want the magic of Wild to disappear. I'm no pioneer like those who braved the oceans trusting that they wouldn't fall off the edge of the world, or our astronauts, or our inventors who have pushed the boundaries of the world for the rest of us to move forward in. But, I don't want to live in a world so regulated and safe that no wild places or spaces remain, physical, intellectual or spiritual.

So that was my little thought for today. I'll now get on with my safe little life and make some tea. 

Cotswolds, Neolithic and magic

We're in the Cotswolds, on our second motorhome adventure. Dreary weather at home, a set of new van wheels waiting for us to collect from Chesterfield and the opportunity of visiting the Stokies (Stoke-on-Trent family) takes us off again. Typically, the weather forecast is ‘uncertain’ about where in the country we might find sunshine and now that we're in Middle England the sun has apparently come out at home! 

Cotswolds - chocolate box villages (where did that reference come from), fine country clothing, sedate hill walking and expensive quality tourist shopping is my assessment of it so far. Yesterday we came across a shop selling nothing but brushes; all kinds of brushes. There were clothes brushes, floor brushes, hair brushes, nail brushes, shaving brushes, vegetable brushes, fruit brushes and mushroom brushes. There were strange shaped brushes for dusting the rare books in your library (yeah!), brushes for waiters to take the crumbs of your damask tablecloth and beautifully soft little babies’ hairbrushes; everything made from natural wood and different types of bristle. I think it was The Oxford Brush company in Burford. I spent ages in there but came away with nothing. As usual, I couldn't make up my mind what to spend any meagre budget on.

In Chipping Campden we came across a shop specialising in cutlery and table ornaments! A visit to the Sunday craft fair though revealed the usual Womens Guild type of thing - knitted baby clothes, aprons and oven cloths, jams, chutneys, homemade jewellery and a bit of glasswork. Some things are the same everywhere.

I wrote that yesterday. This morning we woke up in Derbyshire. Rain meant that Cotswold meandering wasn't as attractive so we got some miles under the tyres instead. Before we left, though, we stopped by the Rollright Stones near Chipping Norton. It's a Neolithic site and there is magic there. We came across an adjacent woodland where wood cutters were busy and interesting structures were being assembled using the cuttings and the brash. A country lady, whose name turned out to be Claire, invited us in to the private wood and told us what was happening. Bought some twenty years ago to preserve its importance as an ancient and sacred site, she and her husband had planted hundreds of trees of different species and the project now includes lovely stick and brash structures as part of the woodland management, ecological support and aesthetic appeal. We chatted with the woodcutter artist and left there feeling we had tapped into the ancient and continuing magic of that lovely place. The project is called Neolithic Echoes and there is a website for it.

It's still raining. Waking up this morning I half expected to find ourselves afloat, in a Hymer ark rather than a camper van. It's heartening to know that Richard, Libby and the children have had a week of sunshine in Portugal and Owen, Jess and the children are enjoying sunshine at our caravan. It's the last week of the boys’ Easter holiday so a bit of sunshine for them is a gift that should get them away from TV and iPad games!

One of the books I am currently reading is “Being Mortal - Illness, Medicine and What Matters in the End” by Atul Gawande. I'd not heard of it until it was mentioned in a discussion of end of life care on a radio programme. Maybe my interest has something to do with my advancing years but it is nevertheless a very good account of the issues we face nowadays with an ageing population. I don't really want to contemplate how I might end this life I've been given, but this book seems to suggest I should give it a bit more thought. I could get morbid here and tell you all my thoughts about how I might spare my loved ones the trauma of dealing with my dying time but it's Tuesday (good enough reason not to get too morbid 😉). But, there’s nothing like retirement and having time on your hands to make you think about what life is all about, what we're supposed to do with it and what we'll leave behind. 

Talking about purpose (was I?) - the plastics thing. I was soldiering on with the challenge while we were at home in the caravan but now we're on the road again it is MUCH more difficult. I haven't given up completely though, I promise.

Saying of the week - “Pessimism is a waste of time!” Lol!