Reading through my last few posts I became very aware that I extended criticism over matters which should not trouble me. And that such criticism is neither kind nor warranted.
If you want to retire from the world, which I most certainly do, then you should at least be gracious enough to let other people get on with their lives in the way they choose. Without offering frequent and unwarranted adverse comment.
There are a number of things in the human world which infuriate me and yet I should be big enough and forgiving enough to simply ignore such irritation.
If I wish to be a better person then it is foolish to harbour ill feelings about the behaviour of others. It is unjustified, unwarranted and harmful both to myself and to the victims of my ire.
My frequent rants against the “religious” are largely a result of visits to evensong at my local High Church C of E establishment. Which I do solely to hear their superb choir and to indulge in the beautiful words of the Book of Common Prayer.
The Vicar, while doubtless well meaning and good, does specialise in the sort of behaviour and mannerisms which I find less than helpful to my invariably irascible mood.
The sermon (which I usually avoid by quietly slipping out down a side isle) is invariably depressing. And delivered in that oh so Church of England pious mode. A quiet and dismal voice tells me that the world is terrible and that we are all so sinful and have been ever since the mythical Eve was dumb enough to eat from the tree of knowledge. And many of my fellow “worshippers” are equally pious and oh so humble. Even if away from the sacred portal they are guilty of the most heinous sin. Like so many of those good priests unable to resist the lure of each other or the under age pupils supposedly in their care.
We are then treated to a series of ghastly readings concerning an insane and vicious old testament god who does his best to make his people’s lives a misery. And we are supposed to see some relevance to our own lives and the condition of our awful species.
I can take much of the Gospels and get meaning out of it. The Sermon on the Mount being top of the pops.
But Acts and all the dreary Epistles simply don’t get my vote. A bunch of simpering crackpots telling me not to shag other people’s wives’ for the most part. Who are asinine enough to get themselves put down by the authorities for peddling their depressing drivel.
But there I go, making the same mistake yet again. Just because “worship” doesn’t get my vote there is no cause or justification in mocking others who quite sincerely take all that tosh as “gospel”.
And so it goes on. Wokeness is something I particularly dislike. I am supposed to embrace 64 different genders and call people “them” or “they”. Or it. Or something. I am supposed to rejoice in sexual variety I have no experience of and sing that I’m glad to be gay. Unless I grow or graft sexual organs other than those I was born with I am unworthy to read the Guardian or join the Labour Party.
I must wring my hands in anguish and pay out vast sums of money all because some ghastly people several hundreds of years ago used fellow humans as slaves. Horrible but that was then. And in any event, since the practice continues, let’s stop it now rather than whining about what happened hundreds of years ago.
Oh, and then there is a current religion which is growing like billyo which I’m not supposed to mention except in tones of admiration and quiescence. Despite the fact that what was once something very fine indeed has become a hideous instrument of terror and repression in the hands of politically inspired madmen. Whose most extreme adherents treat women as fifth class citizens and who beat and rape and torture all those who disagree with their savage and backward law.
Hmm…what else do I loathe and despise about the world. Well, most of it I guess. Or rather anything which touches on the human race.
I’m very happy with birds and bees and butterflies and natural beauty.
But there you see is my error. I am allowing my own likes and dislikes to make me into something just as unpleasant and unacceptable as those that I criticise.
It’s a human failing of course but one that must be overcome if one wishes to live up to one’s ideals.
I have often stated that I am not as such a “good” person and that becomes only too evident when I look at my own attitudes and behaviour. But at least I recognise it as wrong. Which must surely go some way to redress the balance in favour of my fractured and imperfect soul.
Note to self: “Must try harder”.
Weltanschauung 
There’s a lot to be said for fostering a live and let live attitude. It’s not a natural stance, but I find it makes life easier to cope with. If people want to believe things I’ve concluded are silly, and don’t try to impose those beliefs on me, then no worries. Particularly since it’s conceivable they’re right and I’m wrong.
There’s also something to be said for reviewing animal behavior, like the Gombe chimpanzee war, to remind ourselves that human behavior is a continuation of our evolutionary lineage. Yes, we hope to live by a higher standard of cooperation, but reviewing where we come from can help understand why we often fail.
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Yes. Robert Sapolsky from Stanford is superb on animal behaviour. Well worth watching his wonderful lectures. And yes indeed we are mere animals and have a long long way to go. If of course we ever get there.
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As human personalities, we are conditioned in a million ways, never to be content. The human failing is not, that we forever struggle to live up to our ideals, because our ideals are only an extension, a projection from the same conditioned personalities that we are striving/hoping to improve upon. But it is that we fail to step out of the identification, with our whole human personality. The self-criticism, is the same judgement that usually goes outwards, turned around.
The genuine moments of peace and tranquility are the moments when there is complete freedom from all reaction, only an observation of how it is, what it is. If we could sustain the knowing, watching of all that is, right before the analysis and judgement take over this knowing, we can be free. As long as we fail to shed it all…the good and the bad, ALL of it, and step out of the whole mess of a ‘human person’ that we think we are (with all its million concerns)- we may never be free from the repeating cycles of discontent. This is my experience, from my ongoing struggles with sustaining the observation of the arising judgements, criticism and my own quest for peace and contentment.
I recently read somewhere that every new moment is a “new right now” to step into (and release the past)! I wish you the best 🙂
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Yes, I am definitely getting better at stepping away partly no doubt in rebellion at my childhood. My mother stood on judgement on everything and everyone. I have tried to distance myself from that for many years. As my friend Keith Hancock also points out, humanity is simply irrelevant to someone who wishes to transcend to a better level of existence. You are quite right; good, bad, indifferent – ditch the lot.
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“I’m very happy with birds and bees and butterflies and natural beauty”— yes, and children at play… It gets easier as one gets older, if one is lucky enough to live long, as I have…
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Ah, children yes indeed. Which takes me back to my love of William Blake’s Songs of Innocence. I’m not so keen on his Songs of Experience!
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There is much to admire in this posting, and these past several essays that you’ve shared seem to signal an upswing in your “Weltanschauung,” with acknowledgement of what ails us, along with what would make the world a much better place should more of us adopt a more contemplative approach to the machinations of our lives.
One of Blake’s Songs of Experience that speaks to your thinking these days includes these lines:
“Love seeketh not Itself to please,
Nor for itself hath any care,
But for another gives its ease,
And builds a Heaven in Hell’s despair.
So sung a little Clod of Clay,
Trodden with the cattle’s feet,
But a pebble of the brook
Warbled out these metres meet:
Love seeketh only Self to please,
To bind another to Its delight,
Joy in another’s loss of ease,
And builds a Hell in Heaven’s despite.”
The world may be building a Hell in Heaven’s despite but you are on a path that clearly sees the advantage in doing it the other way around.
Very much enjoying the increase in your written offerings recently…John H.
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I do love Blake. He always gives me much to think about. Happily there are quite a few Blake paintings in the Tate Britain which I can walk to from our house in London.
I think my worldview has shifted somewhat over the past few years. I feel sorry for the way the world is and the way so many people live in such terrible conditions. Equally I feel much more accepting of the unacceptable. I was always thus and I do not think we will ever see much change.
All we can do is to try and behave ourselves and recognise that none of us actually chose to evolve the way we did.
Perhaps there is some overarching plan perhaps not.
But in any event I hope I can manage not to actually worsen the situation we find ourselves in.
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I hear you. Last year I had the misfortune of working with the most toxic sociopath of my thirty one year professional career, during which I took a fourteen week break from work.
It was during that time of contemplation and peace that I came to two conclusions.
Firstly, observation over judgement is a very powerful tool, not only to deal with one’s inner stress, but to reflect judgement back to the bearer. I found that not having an opinion on a matter and instead objectively declaring what I have observed is almost mirror-like, an in most scenarios the conflict initiator reflects and softens or changes their view. That is a truly powerful thing and negates the need to become emotionally attached to a theme or person.
“Judge not lest ye be judged yourself, yeaaahhhhh” – James Hetfield, Metallica
Latterly, I finally came to the conclusion that if one is to observe a person to decide (not judge) whether you want to make and retain a relationship, it is a very simple and binary choice between whether they are nice or not nice.
If for example my biologically male neighbour to one side is black, non-binary, homosexual, wears a dress, goes to church every day, supports Liverpool FC and gets their geopolitical information from the BBC is nice, yet my neighbour to the other side is a white, straight man who wears jeans and a polo shirt, is an atheist, supports Everton FC, only gets his news sources from a variety of non-mainstream sites on the internet is not nice, then it’s crystal clear who get an invite to my summer BBQ; the nice one.
And that decision is one supported by the law of attraction, gravitation towards positive energy is good for us and yields positive results, and observation over judgement wins every time.
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You are quite right in all you say of course. I think the reason I write all this down is to make myself think about my attitudes so that they can be changed. So much at my end is down to sheer irascibility. Becoming irritated when I should just walk away. As you put it, simply observe and the quietly gravitate towards nice and away from irritating and horrible.
As to gayness and all the gender stuff, I have no objection to any of it. I just don’t like to be told what to think and do by whoever these people are who insist on shoving it all down my throat. Same with the rest of what irritates me.
Tolerance is hugely important to me – I just don’t like being told what to do by the sanctimonious bunch who come up with all this crap.
I was walking round Kew Gardens with my son yesterday for 5 hours and that sort of experience really makes me concentrate on what should be important in this life and on this planet.
Cutting back on the human virus and rewilding the planet. Solving our problems with decreasing birth rates not be cutting down yet more forest, destroying yet more species.
Humanity is so up its own arse and religion hasn’t helped on that score with it’s anthropocentric nonsense.
I think at least part of the problem with humanity is that we are like rats in a cage. There is no room to breathe, no way to escape noise and neighbours, airplanes and industrial pollution.
Clearly that isn’t the whole problem but it would sure help.
But yes you are right : your suggestion on the importance of observation and the quiet backing away from is not nice is so important.
Otherwise of course we are left with the usual awful human savagery.
All the more important to keep thinking and writing and improving.
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