I have been giving a thought to ‘worrying’ in all its sadness and negativity. The problem with worrying is that it is highly infectious. We talk to each other and we worry about the climate, the economy, the war, Covid, the earthquake and the horribly inappropriate behaviour of those in power. So I’ve written a prayer about worrying…
Why Worry?
Why worry? When you can pray? … With calm
Why misuse imagination When you can request? … Ruffle-free
Right now I pray for more love More kindness More compassion
What’s there not to pray for? What’s there not to ask? What indeed?
Intention is stronger Than you and I So pray… And stop worrying
Make it happen soon Make it good and kind
Change the song Throw the switch Do it now Thank you Thank you Thank you
Lots of us find it difficult to identify completely with any particular religion, even if we respect and love the religious practices of our friends and neighbours. There are few prayers outside the usual stuff that address everyday emotions. With this in mind I’m creating a website of prayers, in the language of the moment without reference to any particular religion. It will be called ‘Prayers for Everyone’ and I hope to have it up and running in a month or two. Here is a prayer about anger. I shall publish several of my angry prayers over the coming days. If they resonate with you, let me know… and let me know if you believe that we need prayers to help with anger… despair… environmental decline… earthquakes… war and all the concerns of the moment.
So Much to be Angry About
I pray That I can look At the wickedness The cruelty The greed And the self-serving… And not feel rage, pure rage
I pray That I will come to know That wickedness Will give way to good.
That cruelty Will be overwhelmed by compassion. That the greedy Will be satiated, shamed and step back.
May those self-serving beings Whose faces I see every evening Framed in boxes of all sizes Be put in their place… And when all this happens… When change comes As it must do I will no longer be angry But give thanks That my prayers Came to be answered.
But right now Embracing inevitable change Let me experience Calm… peace and understanding.
Some do say that tucked away, in the further regions of our bodies lies the hibernation gene. It seems that with the onset of dark winter days, assaulted by cold and freezing temperatures, we may have the ability to wrap ourselves up and just sleep… for a very long time. I am confident we have that ability, because when I lie down at night I can accept changes in consciousness accompanied by the feeling that once, zillions of years ago, I slept through long, silent winters. And with that thought I drift off to the most bizarre and distant dreamlands, that are rarely recalled.
So what do we dream about? Distant lands of warmth and sunshine? Exotic palaces and landscapes with glorious mountains? Gardens of delight full of exquisite bird-song? Beaches fringed by bending palm trees? The human mind and spirit can travel far, and is a great deal more creative than we ever credit. Sometimes I’m certain that I’ve travelled the world and visited a thousand strange lands and places, if only I could tap into the memories of those journeys in spirit. The sleep of winter is quite different to that of other seasons, which is why I reckon we have the hibernation gene.
One of my great joys are the white sheets and duvet that I have taken to use these days. Even if I can’t recall where my spirit roamed during the hours of sleep, I can rest amidst the bed’s own hills of white, reimagining the warmth beneath the snow-covered South Downs nearby, where dormice, rabbits, plants and numerous life forms sleep in peace waiting to be unlocked and freed by the glory of spring.
Anti-Establishment, Pro-Fun – putting fantasy and glory into vegetables and vegetarian stuff and nonsense.
I came to Brighton in 1991, a refugee from London. Two years after my entry to this ancient pile of history and its accompanying gunge, the very wondrous Terre à Terre was established by classically trained chefs Amanda Powley and Philip Taylor. They have been here ever since, their superlative restaurant surviving the pandemic, economic horrors and everything that this sad and sorry government has thrown at us. Theirs is a story of excellence. Theirs is a story of the avant-garde. Theirs is a story of Brighton at its best— its most creative.
And so, steeped in lovely vegetable juices and the virtues of exquisite ethical and sustainable foody, this brilliant and inspirational vegetarian restaurant lies at the very heart of all things great and good in our City. In my view it is the best restaurant in Brighton.
Bucking against all the screaming trends of the à la mode and pretentious in the foody scenario – Amanda and Philip operate in the land of inspiration that is all their own. The very names of their divine dishes have been the source of joy to both the frivolous and the wise, and a possible off-put to the dull and unimaginative… and that’s just fine with the fans.
Feast out on a Terre a Tapas, Better Batter, Hushpuppy Plumpkin or Who’s Shrooming Who, and experience something wonderful. Those like me with gluten problems have no problems here.
If you ever doubt the innate spirit, individuality and special characteristics that make this City a place of excellence, just think again. Creativity is alive and kicking in Brighton, in East Street. Just do Terre à Terre, have fun, and appreciate the sheer mastery of a cuisine in the hands of the super-talented. It’s a place of nutritious, unexpected and outrageous joy.
The recent mistreatment of refugees is very much on the mind of so many of us, not just on the basis of our failure to take in as many refugees as other countries, but our ugly tribal racism. Our cowardly and ignorant racism has dictated our ugly political posturing for far too long.
As one who believes that our present existence is closely related to our past lives, our failure to honour visitors to this country now comes as a real and painful disappointment. In honour of the past and those we have known and can no longer recall, I wrote a poem encompassing all those fleeting moments we have experienced in our past lives, and both conveniently and inconveniently forgotten:
This earthly mind of mine Won’t recall Mother’s greatest great grandmother… Wading through floods Heavy with child Fighting for life… My cells know all about it But my mind won’t retain it
And this earthly mind of yours Won’t ever bring back the memory Of that smiling boy on horse-back Tricorn hat tipped to one side Thrilled to be off someplace different Your memory doesn’t contain that chapter But you were there
Voyaging arduously across the oceans Our ancestors passed each other They were bold nomads, cunning migrants Exiles, refugees, runaways, adventurers, And you and I don’t recall a thing Yet we are their progeny
Today I bow to you Struggling (and failing) to recall When you took my hand in the desert And lead me out
Tomorrow, shall we do coffee? Of course. Even then I won’t remember the moment When your voice made my heart leap And you asked for a goblet of wine
Old memories drift — leaves on a stream They wilfully float beyond reach
So knowing this Let’s honour each other Accept our limitations And reach out to each other And the world As we have done before So many times In so many places In love, out of love And with love
I often feel that the garden knows very well what’s going on in our house, and all around us. It’s as though the leaves and the trees have a wisdom we cannot comprehend. In autumn I get this feeling particularly strongly, and so I wrote about it… and here it is:
Garden Memories
These colours of autumn Have trapped memories In spring there is green It bows to the house Saluting light and shade Warmth and cold Past and present
Once the grasses recalled feelings of loss Leaves bent in the wind A soul that fell in a great war The passing sadness Drifted cruelly… and then casually A leaf that shone in the sun Heard laughter and longing
Once the gardener stooped And wept Later she smiled The smile meandered… A dozing spider Captured its reflection In diamond dew drops Suspended in a perfect web
Long ago, in spring, A primrose felt the colour of a wild wedding A daffodil opened to the music of a violin A crocus heard a baby cry And then laugh The garden saw them all Young and old alike
Today the colours of autumn Resonate with familiar voices But later… they will be silent There will be cold and sadness Challenged by warmth and kindness
These colours of autumn trap our memories Living and dying… departing and returning
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.
Queen Elizabeth II
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
The news that our seas and rivers are being totally contaminated by the detritus approved by a Governmentseeking to cut corners and award corporate greed is not to my liking. So I wrote this prayer:
We pray for the missing thought The lost particle of caring That must be found And will be found… Because we pray With all our hearts… Together
We pray that this newfound particle of caring Restores our air, our water, our earth, Returning them to health Our animals, fish, insects, plankton and people So that it comes to be Because we have prayed With all our hearts, our minds and souls Together
We pray for an end to the power of the self-serving For connection, peace and healing in a ravaged land: May kindness and the wisdom of nature prevail So that in the light of life and love We witness the return of trees and plants Birds, fish and wild animals That come to be In this place and beyond Because we have prayed… then and now With all our hearts, our minds and souls Together
And we offer up thanks, Together and together Knowing that our prayers will be answered
