Cyboral

I've been given a set of stock images for TAFE; this is a practice lab for dental hygienists.  Is this how dentists see us...just featureless mouths? Some kind of story idea in there somewhere. 

 ...or perhaps some kind of dental superhero?

Tidal Surge

 I woke early this morning and found this essay I wrote about six years ago for the Spiritual Activism course in my Human Ecology program at Strathclyde; we were asked to write a justification for enrolling in the course. No answers to the questions have presented themselves but the narrative still unfolds.

I am the product of a place, a people, a culture and the religious thought that bind these together. This idea was easily established in my thinking; however, it has taken some time to unravel the meaning of it. I’ve felt, at times, part of some grand American Destiny; but that destiny, parsed out, does not fit nicely back together again. Indeed, though Americans speak often about the core history of our nation, there is little practical evidence of this history playing itself out in daily life. The perception of common aims; the meaning of place and community; the content and concept of culture; the course and character of these societal supports are now subtly altered (e.g. our “Founding Fathers” were mostly men of the Enlightenment; strangely, they have become paragons of religious piety and defenders of The Faith). 

There is a rising tide of religious fervour (note that differentiate between this and spirituality); the tidal image may be cliché, however it is apt. The sea may fall endlessly upon a stable shore without damage; the sand and rock repel or absorb what may come. However, nothing can buffer a tsunami; waters rush in and set everything adrift. Ironically, those who push this fervour onward assert it will have the opposite effect; the [insert religion or ideology] Nation they propose will stabilise and maintain the social and spiritual order of the world. Of course, this is not isolated in any one country; there are ideologues everywhere proposing their version of reality over others. It's just a question of who has the most power (or a lever wedged in that critical place to shift the world).  

There is nothing extraordinary when men (and, yes, mostly men) use religion to further political aims or gain power; nothing happens today that is shocking or novel. What  marks this new wave of fervour is the totality of its impact; there may be no solid land beyond the shore it falls upon. As no economic or environmental issue is now truly local, neither are matters of faith and belief. Nor are faith and belief separate from economic or environmental issues; they are a continuum. 

I’m seeking a vocabulary of reason to speak in a language that is not necessarily based on rationality. I am fluent in the faithful lingo, my accent will, no doubt, betray me. I have no designs to pull down the foundations of organised religion or feed resentment in myself or others. It is not my place to deter anyone from this or any other faith; as someone who was once imbedded, I know an attempt by outside influence would be nearly futile. It’s not an attack on the spiritual I'd propose; it is a return to genuine spirituality. 

What role an individual may play in this, I do not know. Perhaps one may help add reason where there has only been a thrilling cloud of fervour. Perhaps no one person may deter the tides. I do know there is great and fearful power in the spiritual; if used with grace, it may begin to heal the problems we face as a species. If used unwisely, it will be the undoing of us all. 

Unsurvivable

I'm listening to a Re:Sound episode on Ewa Wisnierska, a German paraglider who was caught up in a thunderstorm that lifted her to 9,946 meters [32,631 feet]. She survived, frostbitten and unconscious at the highest altitudes. It was, in most respects, an unsurvivable incident. I think I may start searching for these and making a collection.

This hour: two stories of regular old days that started out static and ended up seismic. Birdy by Michael O'Kane (Documentary on One, RTE, 2010) Ewa Wisnierska was an experienced paraglider. She won the world cup in 2005, and a training run for the same competition two years later began as a routine exercise.

Social Networking with Grandma

I spoke with my grandmother this morning. She related a story about siting in a busy doctor's reception recently; everyone in the room except her was on a mobile (or 'touching their phones' as she put it). She said that, as an elderly person without the technology, it's often isolating in that kind of situation as there are people all around but nobody is present. 

I considered as she spoke (note, distracted from the actual conversation with her and thinking instead about the technology), someone should make an app that connects mobile devices in close proximity with a peer-to-peer chat. People in waiting rooms or packed trains could then communicate about what's happening in that place, share pictures, link up on social networks, just generally get to know each other. It could work over WiFi as the devices can already call out and find each other in an ad-hoc network.

My grandmother, when I attempted to explain this to her, just said, 'or they could just...talk to each other.' Well, there is that; how quaint. 

Open Heart gallery

I've just posted up a gallery of images from my recent visit to the States; the photography is of my mother's stay in hospital and recovery following open heart surgery in July. She is doing fantastically well (her doctor said it was a 'textbook perfect' surgery). 

I've more imagery from her time in hospital but some of it is rather confronting. I've a new compassion for people who have loved ones on long-term life support and know that their condition is critical or irreversible. Thankfully, Mom was only briefly on a ventilator and all the associated critical care machines. Click on the image below to go to the gallery.

Smaller Faith

A couple months ago I was visited by a pair of Jehovah’s Witnesses at the door (again). We had a conversation that really didn’t go where they wanted it to go (it rather dulls their efforts if the person they are speaking with has actually read and studied the Bible and already has some thoughts about its ramifications). However, they were pleasant enough and we had what seemed like the necessary dialogue. At one point, one of them asked if I was a person of faith. I said, “Yes, I’m a Quaker.” She paused with a bemused expression. It was a cross between now, who are the Quakers again? and we should probably make a hasty retreat down the street; he’s some kind of cult member!

As they left and I returned inside, I thought it must be a challenge to be part of a small marginalized religious community in secular Australia. Then the irony of that thought came to me; there are surely more Jehovah’s Witnesses in Australia than Quakers, yet I never really feel marginal at all. I think this comes from years of once being part of a church movement that placed such an emphasis on numbers in the pews. One sits in church surrounded by others who are of a similar mind and spirit; it’s reassuring to know that you are all there in an equal state of ‘rightness’ (I’m not saying that as a condemnation; it’s not just a ‘church thing’).

However, the Quaker focuses one down to the smaller confines of a very personal faith; back to the mustard seed. We are around others who share a common tone of the spirit; however it's not necessary to completely harmonise to one accord. ​On Sunday, one of the Friends spoke of singing in a massed choir here in Sydney. She said it is so uplifting to mix one voice with so many others and magnify it manifold (or, in my case, at least nullify my flat tonality). In Quaker Meeting, we sit in silence. Each silence augmented and shared by the gathered Friends; a quiet collective (I wonder how people would respond if we went door to door and just stood there silently when people answered...)

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