Guest blog – “Giving Up The God Business”

(Original post date: 23rd November 2017  —  Updated: 18th April 2018)

Today, rather than putting my own thoughts down on this virtual paper, I’d like to share a post with you that has struck a chord with me and got me thinking about the whole love thing .

The post was from the page This Cloth, This Colour, This Cut which contained the musings of one Paul Cromford, my husband.  Sadly, he has discontinued his blog page.  However, as I have a terrific communication link to the writer of that post (!) and not having been coerced into sharing his musing nor doing so from some sycophantic wifely devotion (I do actually value his musings and, it has to be said, I am his harshest critic.  Really!) I am fortunate to be able to post his writing directly on this page.  I hope you find “Giving Up The God Business” as intriguing and thought provoking as I have.

Giving Up The God Business
——————————————–

Here’s another thought-experiment for you, and I hope you’ll follow it all the way to the end of this post.
Imagine that you wake up on a typical rainy morning; you indulge in a bit of wishful thinking along the lines of “Why can’t it be sunny?”, and instantaneously the rainclouds vanish, leaving a glorious sunrise.

What just happened? You are understandably surprised by this turn of events. You dare to suppose that your own wish had a bearing on the phenomenon, and you try another one: for example, “let my toes put forth cow-parsley” — something elaborate, something to factor coincidence out of the equation — and suddenly your feet resemble a hedgerow.

By such means and with such tests, probably over a period of days, you become convinced of what, in fact, is an objective truth: you are now omnipotent; you have dominion over all things; you can bend and remake natural law; you might reasonably expect to live forever. You have become God.

The realisation fills you with amazement, delight and horror, as you consider all the possibilities and the responsibility involved.
Those possibilities: do I need to spell them out? The cleansing of a polluted Earth, the eradication of famine and poverty, the willed obedience of all creatures?
That responsibility: yes, of course. If you were to carelessly or indirectly wish the annihilation of the entire cosmos, you have no way of knowing, as a creature of that cosmos, if you would also cease to be. Therefore you must impose some framework of discipline on your thoughts. Possibly, as God, you could instruct your own mind to avoid certain concepts, cordon off a few neural pathways for evermore. Easy-peasy.

But what if that’s the only surgery you can perform on your own brain? Humour me here ‘God’, but you did start out as a human being, and although we’re very good at blocking off things we’d rather not think about, and we can fall prey to false memories, what we can’t change are our mental responses to any stimuli. We can change the way we handle those responses, but we can’t alter the initial triggers.

So, what if you, ‘God’, can’t avoid a growing sense of ennui regarding your now-perfect Creation? You can have everything just the way you want it, all the time. All The Time. There are no problems left to solve, no challenges left to meet, no goals left to achieve. Not a creature anywhere in the universe has anything but lavish praise for you; every sentient organism adores you implicitly. It’s heaven — or if you prefer, Heaven.
But you can’t will yourself into enjoying this constant perfection. Your human past undermines you: you remember the satisfaction of winning, of striving and succeeding against adversity; you recall the joy of finding that certain other human beings, free to give their affections anywhere, bestowed them gladly on you. It dawns on you that a state of incessant perfection is a condition of permanent stagnation: no prospect of improvement, no potential for growth, no further development.

So what can you do? There’s only one answer: you, ‘God’, must relinquish full control, undertake a partial abdication of your supremacy. You have to give up the God business. You must restore to all sentient beings their free will, and let them take you or leave you, according to their lights. You know this; we all know this. Only when we have the freedom to make our mistakes can we value the good things we also make.

And there’s a holiness, a supreme grace to this fact: that we, keepers all of an innate, godlike creative spark, are free to direct that spark wheresoever we will. For people of a Christian persuasion, it’s a fundamental source of wonder that their Deity basically gave up using the stick (the entire Old Testament) and decided to try the carrot (the entire New Testament); renounced supernatural powers — a debatable point viz. the reported miracles etc — in favour of trying to persuade folk in the guise of a frail human frame. And perishing horribly as a result.

We’ve reached the end of the thought-experiment, but now, normal human reader, let’s ask a highly pertinent question: have I just been defining one aspect of the concept of ‘true’ love? You know the one: Khalil Gibran’s “If you love somebody, let them go”. We’ve all been faced with that idea at some point, and many of us have even acted on it — some of us more successfully than others! Is this act a sign of ‘true’ love? And does it mean we are manifesting our own streak of divinity in the process?

If the answer to those questions is ‘yes’, and I believe that to be so, then don’t you think we ought to be finding a quiet happiness in it, as well as the pain, sorrow or frustration that usually occurs when we’re ‘letting them go’?
Obviously, I’m not arguing against these negative feelings, because they’re natural human responses in affairs of the heart. What I am arguing is that we should also, if you accept my premise, console ourselves with this thought: that at such moments — the realisations that a loved one is going their own way and not playing the part you’d written for them, that you can’t control them, they don’t belong to you and never did — at such moments your acknowledgement of their needs, your acceding to their will, is your version of giving up the God business. You’re demonstrating your own little bit of holiness and supreme grace.

The knowledge of this fact is what should persist, when all your short-term negativity has melted away. And that knowledge, a truly virtuous thought, will in time put a calm smile on the face of your soul.

PC

 

 

Advertisement

Recognition

I’m more than a little disappointed in myself that I don’t feel I have anything to write a blog about.   It’s been like that for two weeks now and I’m seriously wondering whether I have anything to say.   Paradoxically, I know that this isn’t true because I always have something to say!

So, I can only put it down to my mind being elsewhere lately.   Or maybe I have so much that I want to say that I’m suffering from a bad case of not-knowing-what-to-write-about-first.

Rather than waffle on about something that may well prove to be boring or inconsequential I think I’ll just tell you about something that I’ve added to my morning routine; I’ve started meditating again; seriously and enthusiastically this time.

“That’s no great shakes”   I hear you say.            “Loads of people meditate”   you add.  

And you’re quite right, they do and it’s no big deal that I’ve rejoined the band; but then again, meditation IS a big deal.  A very big and worthwhile deal.

My interest was piqued again when I picked up “The Secrets of Meditation” by davidji; a man whose voice you could drown in and who understands just how difficult meditation is in a world where there is so much needless pressure to perform meaningless tasks or to live up to unreasonable heights of attainment in futile corporateness.

Having meditated this morning for 15 minutes and then again for a 30-minute session later in the day (with my cat providing the soothing backdrop of her purring) I’ve become aware of a couple of failings of mine that I would really like to address.   I’ve known about them for a while but today they seem more important to overcome and I have a knowing that I can do so with loving-kindness.   And that’s the big deal; the acknowledgement of these failings of mine tempered by the knowledge that I can do something about them now and not have to beat myself up about having them in the first place or berate myself that it’s taken me so long to recognise them.

Let’s see if I can do this – all I need is the faith in myself and to trust.    Oh! is that all?

xx ♥ xx

N.B.   For more information about davidji’s book please visit his page:-   https://davidji.com/secrets/

Days Like These – an update

It’s been three weeks since my first post on this subject and today I got a long awaited update.  It’s pretty good as it turns out; Mum is doing much better with far fewer episodes of being difficult.  She’s been off the Pregabalin for a while but they reckon that there’s still quite a bit of it yet to leave in her system.

Still, Mum is engaging with people once more and as long as she has the option of squirrelling herself away somewhere when there is too much going on, she’s quite happy.

She’ll be having a review next week which I’m hoping I’ll be part of so it would seem that things are on a bit of an even keel again.  For a while anyway!

Once more I’m hopeful about things with regard to Mum’s wellbeing and once more I feel I have the space and time to get on with my life.  This is the thing with Alzheimer’s it’s always lurking there in the background despite your belief that everything is working out as it should again.

Unbeknownst to my conscious brain, my subconscious is always on alert for the next episode with that underlying and subtle sense of unease that always seems to be present.  An ever present thought that there’s no point in starting anything or forging ahead with getting my life on track again.

Strangely I’m not feeling angry about that anymore despite it also being a memory from my childhood – the persistent refrains “Don’t do that now, dinner’s almost ready” or “Don’t do it there I’ll be needing the table in a minute” or “Put that lot away; look, it’s everywhere!”.  

It’s only the details that are different; the protagonist and the outcomes are the same though.  Something that Mum does causes me to put everything on hold.  I used to resent it hugely but now it’s just another instance of the same old thing.  It causes me to procrastinate all the time – putting off starting something for weeks, months, even years – but then when I do start some project or other, finding it almost impossible to complete it for some spurious reason or other.

I’ve so many ideas just hanging around waiting for me to begin again and my intention is there to start them one day.  Honestly!  I just have to find the right way of getting through the backlog and sorting what goes on the “must do” or the “ought to do” list or the “bin/file/shred” list.  Ahh, and there I go again; another way of procrastinating!

There must be a solution for me somewhere.  I’ve started with the acceptance of things being what they are; isn’t that enough?  Shouldn’t it all start falling into place now?

No?  No.  No, you’re quite right.  I’ve got such a long way to go yet – discovering me once more; trusting myself and my intuition; strengthening my intuition in the first place; allowing myself to be educated in profound subjects as well as trivia; kicking social media into the gutter; having the courage to say no when I need to; reconnecting with those who mean the most to me and, – probably the biggest hurdle for me – letting go of the pain and regret of the past, the grief of loss in all its forms and, bit by bit giving up the destructive need to hang onto things that no longer have any relevance or joy for me.

It would seem that after all these years, both Mum and I have reached our goals in life and who would have thought that they’d actually be so similar:      the need to be part of a supportive and safe community that supports our respective need for space & peace; to know that our loved ones love us; and the freedom to follow our own thoughts & desires.  And all of that pursued without feeling guilty because we’ve put ourselves first or the thought that someone else’s needs are more important than our own.

Imagine the audacity of living a life that way.  Sounds good to me!

 

Music

My late teenage years were dominated by the music of the very end of the 70s and the early years of the 80s. The age of The New Romantic and synth-pop sound – Ultravox, Duran Duran, ABC, Blancmange, Soft Cell, Japan, Heaven 17, Talk Talk. And Gary Numan (OK not a New Romantic but, hey, I was smitten).

I have lovely memories of getting dressed up in all the gear:

• pedal pushers, frilly shirt, boots, scarves for a New Romantic evening out and black jumpsuit, black boots and red accessories for a Numan gig;
• getting the make-up just right – white pancake, blood-red lipstick and masses of black eyeliner; and, of course,
• whilst waiting for my friend Sue to arrive, making sure my hair was just so – and inadvertently killing the household plants with all that hairspray in the process.

Ahh, happy days!

The muscle memories of dancing to all those uplifting tunes never fades and whenever I hear a track from those days I not only hear the songs, I feel them too. I remember how that music transported me to another dimension – somewhere deeply rooted in the present but most definitely “sent” somewhere glorious by the music and the dancing.

It still has the ability to take me to that special place.

Such is the power of music that it is never just an aural experience. It stirs up the senses until they become inextricably linked forever.

 

As a youngster I was never a fan of progressive rock. Yuk! All oily and scruffy and unreachable. Ewwww! And so it remained for many years until I met my husband who has introduced me to the world of the most kaleidoscopic lands that are the music of Yes, Genesis, Focus, Jethro Tull, Camel and Mike Oldfield to name a few.

Last night we listened again to two favourite albums: “Going For The One” by Yes and “Wind & Wuthering” by Genesis and I was sent again somewhere glorious but this time only by the music as I’ve never danced to this music. However, there is a different muscle memory in play and this one seems to be much older and deeper; an opening of the solar plexus where it grabs you and dances with your emotions. Listening to these two albums, back to back, having known them for a few years now, was a joy which was much magnified somehow as well as filling me with such opposite emotions all at the same time.

Music has the capacity of filling us with joy and at the same time it can make us cry tears of happiness and bittersweet memory together. Indescribably beautiful melodies can elevate our mood when we are feeling down, and vice versa.

I love that chameleon-like quality of music and also the way that we don’t have to remember the words or a song or when we first heard it or even where we were when we heard it last.

The memory of it lives inside of us forever.

 

Days like these

I like to think that I have my life planned out and that every morning I’m ready to roll. That’s the plan.  It is, of course, all in my head and whatever I might have planned in there rarely pans out that way in reality.

Sometimes it’s because something exciting turns up and the essentials are done to allow me time to do something fun for a while.

Sometimes it’s because I’m so tired and/or utterly fed up that I decide everything can wait until tomorrow.

Sometimes, as is the case today, it’s because my mum’s life dominates things.

My mum is 92 years old, has severe Alzheimer’s Disease and is in a dementia-specialist care home 250 miles away from where I live.  She has had Alzheimer’s Disease for 20 years that we are aware of and it has steadily and relentlessly engulfed Mum during those years.

My mum’s life dominates things because, when things happen with her care I jump into action – immediately.  I’ve yet to decide whether it’s from a sense of guilt and my Catholic upbringing; a sense of compassion because I know that Mum wouldn’t want anyone to have to look after her like this; or whether it is from a sense of administrative duty – “this needs doing, I can do it, I will do it”.

Or maybe it’s all three that kick in simply because I love my mum and would do anything to stop her suffering.

Whatever the reason or reasons, today is one of those days.

I’ve been talking to all sorts of people, gathering information and trying to understand what is going on with my mum’s care.

The staff at the home all love Mum and care for her in a way that everyone who needs help should be treated and they’re trying their best to manage Mum’s wellbeing.  The NHS In-Reach department are trying to help Mum live a decent life by weaning her off some of her medication – what people call a “chemical cosh”.

Things were going well with the medication being very gradually reduced but now that she is off it completely, things aren’t going so well.  Pregabalin is a very powerful and at the same time, destructive medication and it’s probably still in her system.  It’s probably why she has become aggressive again and they’re all hoping that once the medication is completely out of her system she’ll be better.

The trouble is that she started on Pregabalin BECAUSE she was being aggressive and it worked to keep her safe from her own behaviour and it helped the other residents and staff too.  Mum might only be just over five feet tall but she’s very strong when she wants to be.  Pregabalin, in a low dose, works well for my mum.  Having reduced the dose she calmed down even more and started to engage with other people and things happening around her.  She even started reading to others again.  Staff were able to take Mum to church again and most recently, to Mass, something she has always enjoyed.  I’d be happy for her to continue with the low dose ad infinitum because it has given her some semblance of life again.

However, today I was told that the guidelines say that there is a requirement for her (and others) to stop taking it completely because it could kill her.

I snapped back “She’s 92 years old!” and I shocked myself when I said it.

My mind is in turmoil because I want Mum to live a good life but she has Alzheimer’s disease.  I want her to live a life where she remembers me and also where she remembers my dad and the life they once had, but she has Alzheimer’s Disease.  I want her to stop being violent to other people because that was never her way, but she has Alzheimer’s Disease.  And, I want her to die because she has Alzheimer’s Disease.

And here’s the thing, she doesn’t have Alzheimer’s Disease; IT has HER.  It had Dad too.  It has me.  And my husband.  It even has my cat.  Not in any actual or medical sense for the rest of us but it affects our lives completely.  It affected Dad by robbing him and Mum of the final years of their lives together; Dad died a broken and beaten man. It’s affecting me on a practical and also an emotional level – it never, ever goes away; not for one day. And it affected my husband because there is always a part of me that belongs to my mum’s Alzheimer’s Disease rather than to us and our lives.  It is ALWAYS there.

No wonder I’m so tired and in pain all the time.  No wonder there are so many people who are feeling the same way – utterly exhausted and seemingly incapable of advancing with anything meaningful in their lives.

Alzheimer’s Disease kills people who can’t physically or emotionally take any more.  It saps the life out of those whose loved ones have it.  It invades the lives of those whose loved ones are having the life sapped out of them.

But, in Mum’s case it isn’t killing her, not physically.  I can’t speak for her emotions because I can no longer find them.  And as for her soul – – – I can’t begin to imagine what’s happening.  All I can do is pray that it is keeping them both safe.  Safe until the day Mum is set free from it.  Until the day when we are all set free from it.