If you want to bore yourself silly, read about “No Blame Culture’ in business. It is the most turgid rubbish I have read in a long time. But philosophy in business is about the most tragic and dreary thing one could possibly read… If you want to think about something astonishing look at what the Tao says about blame… things like ‘No fight, no blame’ and ‘if you blame someone else, there will be no end to the blame.’
We really do not need to blame. We just need the truth.
There’s a lot of blame around: after 12 years in power the Tories blame Labour for the economic crisis, and the fat hedge-fund manager blames ‘remainers’ for the fall of the pound, and the Russians blame the west for the sabotaging of their own pipelines. The Americans blame everybody for everything, because that is part of their obsessively litigious culture.
My rational mind says there is no space and no place for blame, but my body, which is very cold right now says somebody out there should be blamed… and maybe made aware that so many of us are fearful of turning up the heat – as if we have no right to be warm, to be alive or to buy food and eat, even though we have been law abiding citizens and paid taxes all our lives.
In the last two days, several people have suggested to me that this government want many of us to die… sooner rather than later. So maybe there is somebody out there to blame. Whether there is somebody to blame… rest assured… Liz Truss and her Government would not know compassion or empathy if it came up and poked them in the eye with a pointed stick.
The Queen will be remembered with affection by zillions of people, even those that err on the side of republicanism… she’s a blazing beacon to the beauty and power of service… in the right place at the right time.
The late and great Queen Elizabeth was born in an era when service was rewarded and appreciated, thanks to the corresponding efforts of trade unions and social reformers. She set out on her path to serve unequivocally as Queen in the early 1950s, and others resonated with her work ethic. It was an era when postmen weren’t paid much, but felt valued for their work – like nurses, doctors, plumbers and ambulance drivers. It seemed that people had a real sense of their own worth and role in service, even if the state was a touch mean. Then Margaret Thatcher came along, and said “anyone on a bus over the age of 25 is a failure” and the ethos of self-worth drifted away on the breeze, and was duly replaced by the ethics of greed. No wonder Queen Elizabeth disliked Thatcher so much. And yet Thatcher was addicted to service, self-service – like Trump and Boris Johnson – not service to the good of others. And there we have it… service… real service has to be for the benefit of others and at best done with love. And knowing this, many understandably loved our late Queen, and others respected her, which is similar in a way.
I once visited a nursing home with my MP – Caroline Lucas. A cheeky nurse looked Caroline in the eye, as if to challenge her and said “So why did you become an MP then?” to which Caroline replied almost dreamily – “I did it because I wanted to make a difference.”
And for your delight and mine… here are some great service quotes:
“Everyone can be great because everyone can serve…” – Martin Luther King
“The high destiny of the individual is to serve rather than to rule.” Albert Einstein
“Life is a place of service, and in that service one has to suffer a great deal that is hard to bear, but more often to experience a great deal of joy. But that joy can only be real if people look upon their life as a service, and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness.” Leo Tolstoy
The most popular reading I have ever written is entitled The Matriarch. I wrote it some years ago, and people have requested it under the most unexpected circumstances. It is about matriarchal power and the importance of soul groups, which always intrigues me… because it is most often used by those who openly request secular readings.
This is a version I adjusted in tribute to the late and great Queen Elizabeth II; it appeared recently in an on-line publication. If you would like to read the original, just click on this link in Funeral Readings.
The Matriarch
Time is an illusion It takes and it gives All of us Are travellers On an endless and sacred Journey of our making
The voyage of this companion We remember this day Because it was long and rich Warm and bright Sometimes sunny Sometimes sad For memories Are the children Of a long life
The voyage of this companion Was colourful and complete She was mother Grandmother And great grandmother And so much more
She gave life She gave love And she gave friendship And so much more This great family Gathered here and beyond Would be nothing without her Without her some of us Would be less Than a passing dream Which is why we honour her spirit Her love Her knowledge And her wisdom
Our journey Yours and mine Will never end It may divert And for a while We may lose Fellow travellers Just for a moment A blink in time But we will always travel With soul companions Within and beyond our own sphere
We, her people, her children Her grandchildren Great grandchildren And her friends Known and unknown Now understand Her power Her love