Unraveling Cloud Atlas (A Film)

My colleague and receptionist, with a background in Art History, recommend the film 'Cloud Atlas'.  I bought it for Margaret this Christmas

The story is composed of 6 linked plots, using characters from different races and genders, in multiple roles and settings spanning 500 years, from mid 1850 to 2300.

Plot 1.- (1850's) A lawyer is sent to witness a contract to purchase slaves for a plantation.  While at the plantation he observes the brutal beating of a slave.  His eyes meet those of the slave and he faints.  On the journey home he discovers the slave has stowed away in his room.  He befriends him.  The slave has to proves his worth by setting the ship's sail.  It's touch and go, but he wins them over the captain.  He latter saves the lawyer from being poisoned by a wicked quack.  The lawyer and his wife become abolitionists.
Plot 2. - (1931) A young gay musician links up with a famous but creatively blocked composer, and helps him to write great music.  He is compromised by the composer who realises he has a hold over the young genius.  This leads to the young musician accidentally shooting the composer, but not fatally, and running off to live in oblivion.  He then chooses to kill himself.
Plot 3.  - A publisher gets in with the wrong crowd and is threatened for money.   He goes to his brother, who being fed up with him, has him consigned to an old peoples home, which is actually a prison.  With others, they eventually escape and enlist the help of enraged Scotland rugby fans to act as their army of protection.
Plot 4.  - (1970's) An American journalist follows in the footsteps of her father to uncover an attempted nuclear reactor disaster, deliberately aiming to end the threat posed by the nuclear industry over that of oil.  She escapes with the help of a friend of her fathers, who switches sides.  He fought in Vietnam with the reporters father.
Plot 5. - (2060?) A Korean 'clone' developed to serve food in a restaurant, realises that
she can 'resist' by observing the example of a colleague.  She is befriended by a soldier who is also a member of the resistance.  They escape through hair-raising endeavours.  She goes on to become an icon, and a goddess of the future.
Plot 6. - (2300?) A voyage arrives at an inhabited tropical island.  The local people are terrorised by marauding cannibals.  The voyagers want help to climb a high mountain that the locals fear.  A risk filled endeavour discovers a mountain top.  A inter galactic transporter is requested.  Our local hero says he must stay with his family, despite its troubles. However devastation has been visited on the village while they were away, and with one surviving daughter, all depart this world for a better future in some other galaxy.

This film begins with the quack doctor digging up human teeth on a beach in the south pacific.  This is an echo to the cannibals in the final film, implying circularity.

Themes
Systematic and established Abuse from a dominant power.  In plot 1, slavery is the theme, the ultimate degradation of humanity against itself.  The capitalistic commodification and exploitation of people for profit.  This is institutional greed. The justification goes 'if we don't do it, others will, and we will loose out (and then might become the victim!)'  In order to make this bearable, people are turned into animals. In plot 5 the waitress realises that the 'hope of salvation' the women are given for freedom is actually fake.  The one chosen woman, offered nirvana,  is actually executed, in the style of mass manufactured chicken carcasses and her body is then used to make the very food served up by the women in their cafe. 
Greed
In plot 1. the quack doctor says it all.  'I like money, that's why I do it.' In plot 4, the massive oil interests from around the world attempt to destroy any threat that the nuclear industry may offer by engineering and nuclear catastrophe.
Power
In plot 2, the composer is aware of his hold over the young musician.  He enjoys the power he holds over him, and knows that he holds all the cards.  But he does not.  He is shot by his own gun, kept in his bedside cabinet, symbolising fear.  The musician is now even pray to the consiege at his Edinburgh tenement block.
Resistance and hope.  
Resistance is futile.  The hope that is offered is a lie.  What is true love, and how does it liberate?  These stories show how week and insignificant resistance to oppression is.  First it is seen for what it is, and understood.  Second it is resistance, third it is strongly and violently opposed.  The resistor runs a fragile root, across a ship's sail, over an escape route between high rise blocks, out of a sinking car, pushed over a bridge, running away for incarceration in an old people's home in a stolen expensive car, climbing a precipitous mountain.

My thoughts
Though apparently 'godless', this film challenges the Faustian deal with the devil, and celebrates Resistance, for Resistance sake.  A firework of light and power in an oppressive darkness.  In a parallel with Christ, the waitress become an figure of worship for future generations.  As a Christian, this is a simplistic veneration, but is  touching.  It does alert me to the questions raised in the reformation about naivety of  'veneration'.  The waitress' words are not new but are gentle and refreshing. More Aung San Suu Kyi than Christ.

The religion depicted in the film is eastern in origin.  There is an idea that the people are reincarnated from each other.  There is an idea that death is a door into a different world, but this world is the worlds of this film.

I appreciate this eagle eye take on humanity.  It speaks of hope staying alive, through  these tenuous living moments.  The film indicates this by revealing the mark of a shooting star on their body.  This is like the sign of the cross.  To me this is the mark of those who choose to live differently, to run against for mainstream towards the light.  For me, this light is the 'light of life'.

I having been trying to think from the perspective of the whole of time, inspired by 'Sapiens' (Yuval Harari).  This film projects into the future, with the similarly brief that all organised religion is no more. 

It is a worthy film, raising some interesting philosophical issues, in the context of hope.  I liked the use of 'spark' between people- of unforeseen connections linking people, and creating changes, some being significant.

The Medes and the Persians

Caroline Taggart's book

A Classical Education: The Stuff You Wish You'd Been Taught At School

Says a number of things that made me think twice.  She says the phrase 'a parting shot' actually comes from the skill demonstrated by Parthian warriors who can swivel in the saddle and shoot an arrow backwards. see  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthian_shot 

What about the origin of the Persian Empire?  Anything to go with the Greek Pericles?  I don't think so.  Our friends Ali and Neda called their daughter Diana, which they say is a Persian name.  

Another interesting bit of trivia the book points out is that the statue of Eros, on the top of the Shaftesbury memorial in the centre of Piccadilly Circus, is in fact Anteros, his brother, and god of avenging unrequited love.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaftesbury_Memorial_Fountain

Anteros- not Eros.

Where was I when land was being handed out?

Is Britain overcrowded?

The gypsy lent over and retorted "You didn't inform me when land was being handed out.  I wouldn't have agreed anyway.  I don't acknowledge your laws which say no one can enter this land."  And a lot of these rules go back to the day the land was forcibly taken by Norman invaders.  We, the subject people,  learned over time to kowtow to the power of the sword.  Soon the idea that you own that land, and I respect your right to privacy, is reinforced by me also acquiring my little bit of land, and wanting the same rules to apply, even if on a much smaller scale. 

We then agree together who can collectively share this space, knowing that our prosperity is affected by the value of what we hold in common.  My prosperity is dependent on my ability to concentrate wealth, not share it.

I understand that until the turn of the 19th century, anyone could come and settle in Britain. There were no restrictions on immigration.  Now it is virtually illegal to marry someone who is not British, and expect them to be allowed to live here.  An exception is always made for the 'very wealthy'.  They have the key that unlocks all doors.

My favourite economics quote:  'No one can earn a million dollars honestly.' -  William Jennings Bryon -American Lawyer 1860-1925

For money to be accumulated, a degree of exploitation is necessary.  The rubix cube craze must have made a millionaire somewhere.  We all had to believe we needed a piece of the action.  But how much does it cost to make a rubix cube? Others have to be poor in order for me to be rich.  If we were all paid £30 an hour- we might think we had found the end to all poverty.  But no, pretty soon inflation would cancel any sense of at I was at last rich.  Being rich is directly related to others being poor, just as heat is extracted from a ground pump and concentrated in modern heating systems. 

So is Britain over crowded?  People come to Britain because it has a massive accumulation of wealth.  That is the key.  The answer is to share resources in a way that affects the direction of flow.  Stable societies actually shrink in population, enabling safe and stable immigration.   Shared resources also act as a balance, stemming the flow.  Enforcing border controls brings grief to each family in the Uk as we are all affected by the 'prisons we chose to live behind'.

I once heard it said that Yehudi Menuhin said "National borders provide the prisons we choose to live behind."  I have not been able to corroborate that quote since I first heard it quoted on the radio.

Freekanomics

I knew this book would be for me.  Two things- playing with statistics, and coming at things from opposite directions.  It's brilliant.

First is the dilemma that what might have caused the sudden and decline in violent crime and drug addiction in New York city might be the knock-on effects of changes in the abortion laws across the USA twenty years earlier.  the moral status of abortion moves from the personal to the macro.
The idea is that babies born into love starved and unsafe households were being exterminated before birth, avoiding the propensity for children to grow into criminals.  Ironically the right wing position which focuses on individual morality is caught in a paradox.  'To be, or not to be.'  A left wing position would focus on changing a society that allows children to grow up to be violent criminals in the first place.  "Tough on crime and the causes of crime" as was Blair's catchphrase.

What about the story of Stetson Kennedy? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stetson_Kennedy

This is an amazing 'All American' story of how an organisation with over 3 million signed up members was brought low by a simple, but brave man, Stetson Kennedy.  The organisation was the Ku Klux Klan, that has been legitimised by the State of Georgia.  Kennedy joined and infiltrated the organisation.  He must have been a good actor, because he succeeded in convincing his chapter that he was genuine.  He noted that most of the members were sad lonely pathetic men.  The level of violence had greatly decreased over the years, because the aims of the KKK could be achieved though the threat of violence, rather than the risk inherent 'real thing'.  This is a similar process used by the subjugation of most victimised groups, and still a staple with all bullies.

Kennedy's trick was to team up with the writers of the superman comic, and to encourage them to move on from the battle against the Nazi's (post WWII) to the KKK.  He revealed all the hidden secrets about the group so that they could be reproduced in graphic detail.  Soon young boys were racing around living rooms dressed in bed sheets, uttering ridiculous oaths.  The membership of the KKK dropped like a stone.  What a wonderful story- worth of a Hollywood film?  Yes-  Stetson Kennedy died in 2011.  The film about his life was released this year called 'Klandestine Man'.  Is it any good?  What about 'How Superman defeated the KKK' (2015)?  I can't find any reviews.  I bet the actual comics are now collectors items.

The daily game show called 'The weakest Link' traveled smoothly from the UK to the USA.  After thousands of competitions, statisticians and sociologists could ask the question, "Are competitors racist and sexist in the chooses when eliminating players.  The game involves voting out the weakest player to start with, but soon becomes tactical, when competitors are able to eliminate players they might consider a threat.  The analysis of thousands of result did not show any bias against black players, or female players.  However it did show clear bais against older players and Hispanic players.  The book notes that even in societies that prise equality greatly, there are discriminatory attitudes that are not noticed, or challenged.

The book ends with an analysis of American names looking at wealth, education and race.  That got me thinking.  Is there a class/cast difference between Asian names in the UK?

Feuerbach to Marx.

Francis Wheen's book on Karl Marx also introduced me to Ludwig Feuerbach.
What about his book that is regarded to be one of the first modern books on theology to espouse an atheist christian position, Das Wesen des Christentums (1841; The Essence of Christianity)? 

This entry in the Encyclopedia Britannica sums up the argument thus; 

"Feuerbach posited the notion that man is to himself his own object of thought and that religion is nothing more than a consciousness of the infinite. The result of this view is the notion that God is merely the outward projection of man’s inward nature. In the first part of his book, which strongly influenced Marx, Feuerbach analyzed the “true or anthropological essence of religion.” Discussing God’s aspects “as a being of the understanding,” “as a moral being or law,” “as love,” and others, he argued that they correspond to different needs in human nature. 

In the second section he analyzed the “false or theological essence of religion", contending that the view that God has an existence independent of human existence leads to a belief in revelation and sacraments, which are items of an undesirable religious materialism."

Probably the most famous quote from the book is:-

“As God has renounced himself out of love, so we, out of love, should renounce God; for if we do not sacrifice God to love, we sacrifice love to God, and in spite of the predicate of love, we have the God – the evil being – of religious fanaticism.” 

What I like about this book is the thought provoking challenge to examine the "God in our own image".  Also the idea of a God of Love transmuting into 'undesirable religious materialism'.

An eminently understandable  explanation of the significance of Feuerbach is made by Stephen West on one of his excellent array of podcasts which are offered free for the world's taking (donations gratefully received.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i69Qxzu2l94  Stephen West http://philosophizethis.org 

Without faith in God, it has been often argued that maintaining a moral compass is problematic.  It is with these thoughts that I read 'Reasons to stay Alive' by Matt Haig- recommended by my sister Frances.  
Haig makes almost no reference to organised religion.  He hints that he finds organised religion 'fills him with fear', relating this to problems affecting his mental wellbeing.  His book resonates with love, (though initially it is just him being loved by other.)  Indeed his life is saved by the love of his girlfriend and future wife.  He sees kindness as more important to recovery than pills.

How do we understand Feuerbach's famous quote?  If I look at Haig's book and change 'love' for 'God', I see a translation of his thesis that becomes spiritual. I understand the word 'God' originates from Norse mythology.   Its use in Germanic Christianity is no different from the use of words from other religious experiences such as  'Allah'.  These are words invented by humans used to describe what is greater than us, our originator, creator, sustainer, and terminator. 
 Exodus 3: 13-15 in the Bible says that when Moses asked God to tell him 'by who's name shall I say I have been sent? God say 'I AM...(blank)' sent you (Nemo?). (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_God.)

1 John 4:8 in the Bible states that 'God is love'.  Without Love, there is no God, and with Love, there is God. 

I wonder that if we made this translation through all we read, we might be able to turn the secular into the spiritual, and visa versa.  Is this what Feuerbach is saying when he says 'sacrifice God to love'?

How to try to prevent the perception of organised religion in the UK as being purely a Victorian anachronism, with the interest level of  'heritage' or 'our colonial history': change the name of 'God' to 'Love'.  

Sermon from Barchester

The Warden

A Tudor foundation established a charitable hospital for 12 poor men with £12000 pa long ago.  £850 now has been assigned to the warden after years of 'creep' have tipped the balance in favour of the rich and powerful. (I imagine the place as Leycester Hospital in Warwick.)

An honest reforming lawyer brings an action to challenge the situation.

The Warden is a goodly priest and it dawns on him that he has been defrauding the poor for year without really thinking  He steps down, much to the annoyance of his archdeacon who would prefer no threat to the status quo.  The warden is caught by a no-win situation, as both sides feel that it is vital to succeed.  The lawyer however, on the behest of the warden's beautiful daughter, drops his case.  The warden steps down on grounds of conscience.  The Hospital falls into decline.  Everyone has lost.  Even the old men of the hospital start dying due to the strain.

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.  A systemic perspective on 'change' foresees knock-on effect.  The conservative forces of inertia resist change, and even positive change can reap negative consequences also.  I think of the pain involved in almost 100 years of suffering following the French revolution.

Another example: if the monarchy in the united kingdom were to be abolished, what would the knock-on effects be?  The monarchic system may be anachronistic in this day and age.  A system that is the 'king pin' holding together most of the discrimination we observe in our society, from racism, sexism, classism, etc.  A system to fit the idolatry that we see in our 'celebratory obsessed' culture.  But then I would not put much in the 'republican hat' if it were to be passed round.  The upset change to this status quo would affect would inflict too much trauma at present I fear. An then Harry FitzWindsor goes and proposes to Meghan Markle breaking most the rules in the royal rule book.  Not bad.

Victimless Joke

There is no such thing as a victimless joke.

Last night Alexi Sayle joked that from Thursday to Tuesday a small section of the middle class population become amazingly knowledgeable thanks to radio 4
's In our Time with Melvin Bragg.  Usually it's 'String Theory' or 'Spinoza' or the significance of 'Jane Eyre', but only until Tuesday, when retention in the memory fails.  Yes- that's me Alexi.



.

Yuval Noah Harari

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuval_Noah_Harari

The book is "Sapiens: A brief History of Humankind."

What is the evidence that humanoids have lived on this planet for 700,000 years?  Humans as we know them fro 20,000 years?  What about the greater overlap of time when Sapiens, Neanderthals and Homo Erectus lived together?  Was this analogous to Chimpanzees and Bonobos, where Chimps are lively, aggressive, intelligent and Bonobos are placid, matriarchal and less intelligent? 

Harari describes the various revolutions - agricultural, were the exchange was more control, predictability, planned economy, in exchange for a more relaxed lifestyle. 

Then navigating the major international changes.  The end of thousands if years of slave based economies.  Industrialisation, international emancipation of women after many many thousand years of oppression.  The end of the dominance of religion across the world.  The rise of 'isums'. 

He describes explanations based on global systemic changes, like paradigm shifts, working at many levels all at the same time. 

Western slavery came to an end with a combination of moral persuasion, changes in economic profit, slave resistance,  mechanisation (machines are cheaper than people.)  Harai points out, there was no deliberate subjugation of African for being African, it was to do with the lowness of capitalistic forces.  If I want to make a profit, I must cut my costs to beet competition, therefore I have to use slaves.  Just as empires used to say "you think we are bad, you should see what they do," capitalists say "we have to operate this way, or we won't survive, so we do it not as badly as the others."

Likewise with women's emancipation, within 100 years the whole of Europe and most of the world was treating half it's population with far more equality than nit had ever done.  Why?  The necessity for 'home maker' passed into history with organised western style states.  Women were needed in the work force.  Machines could take on the roles women were told was for them to do. 

Harari speaks kindly of religion, but sees it as part of an evolution of 'sense making' and shared identity and meaning.'  He rightly wonders whether future generations will want what is on offer now.  I feel he is most supportive of Buddhist creeds and behaviours.

I appreciate Harari contribution.  I like the holistic broad brush strokes.  I feel it is a book written from the top of a high pillar, with the expanse of time stretch out. 

The joy of Omnipotence

Charlie and Jill called round last night to greet Margaret on her birthday (+1 day).  We discussed the Omnipotence paradox.

Here is my stab at it.

Can an omnipotent being create an object too heavy to lift?

This is a question about defining limits.  I am reminded of the famous 'monkey trap',  Peanuts are placed in a thin necked jar.  The monkey sees the peanuts and likes them.  The monkey puts its arm into jar.  It takes a handful and discovers now it can not remove its fist from the jar.  The monkey thinks about letting go of the peanuts, but can not bear to do so.  It is now stuck.

My answer is that I cannot think of a solution, because I have limits.  I am aware that I cannot answer this question.  An omnipotent being has unlimited capacity and therefore is able to conceive of the answer to this paradox.

All I know is that I cannot - God can.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnipotence_paradox

Of killing the thing you love

OLIVIA

Even what it please my lord, that shall become him.

DUKE ORSINO

Why should I not, had I the heart to do it, Like to the Egyptian thief at point of death, Kill what I love?--a savage jealousy That sometimes savours nobly. But hear me this: Since you to non-regardance cast my faith, And that I partly know the instrument That screws me from my true place in your favour, Live you the marble-breasted tyrant still; But this your minion, whom I know you love, And whom, by heaven I swear, I tender dearly, Him will I tear out of that cruel eye, Where he sits crowned in his master's spite. Come, boy, with me; my thoughts are ripe in mischief: I'll sacrifice the lamb that I do love, To spite a raven's heart within a dove.

VIOLA

And I, most jocund, apt and willingly, To do you rest, a thousand deaths would die.

Twelfth Night - Act V Scene I - William Shakespeare

And all men kill the thing they love,
  By all let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
  Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
  The brave man with a sword!

Ballad of Reading Gaol - Oscar Wilde

Day One- Leicestershire round

Official start from Ashby Foville to Thorpe Sachville.

Ashby Folville, a sweet Leicestershire village with a picturesque cricket pitch.  Also has some fine modern houses.  The church has a Folville tomb effigy of a knight with a lance sticking out of him, a graphic illustration of his death.  The route begins by walking though someones garden.  Then though horse county up and under the old railway, to Thorpe Sachville.  From here the route goes though the 'Hall's' parkland, into a labyrinth where the route magically revealed itself though the trees, step by step.  Then alone a single track lane, over a very high railways bridge, and back down across the fields past fishing lakes, across a cabbage patch, to Ashby Folville.

The is the route around Leicester.

Today's walk went north from Thorpe Sachville and back to Asby Folville
 via a single lane road- then route across the fields. 

View of Ashby Folville as we returned.

The end

The trees have it

Ty Coch 2017

The Firework season begins

The Barmouth bridge is 150 years old.  The ferryman told us as we crossed to buy crabs in the harbour.  And Barmouth was in suitably festive mode, heaving with people.  We nipped up two flights of stairs to the Dragon Theatre gallery to  hear Trevor Roberts talking about his life on the railways.  There is so much to know.  The railway’s main customers are now tourists and school children.  The school children trump tourists because essential repairs occur during the ½ term break (negating a perfect excuse to miss school.)  Why have there been no (apparently lucrative) steam excursions on the line for over 3 years?  Not because Barmouth has finally caught up with the modern era.  It’s because a new train safety system has been introduced to all trains across Europe involving satellite tracking.  But why not fit satellite tracking to steam trains?  Some big bullies want to spoil a lot of innocent people’s fun.  I’m sure there’s a protest film brewing.  In the evening we walked to the end of the Fairbourne peninsula to watch the fireworks over the bridge.  An equally colourful spectacular was seen in the ques of cars on the peninsular, from one end to the other, and all along the cliff roads as far as the eye could see. 

The bridge

We went plane spotter spotting today.  The signs were the rustling of two flags, one was for the RAF, the other, the Americans.  Then we spied a small group of mainly males, warmly clothed, with enormous telephoto lenses.  They’d chosen the perfect spot, high up on the valley side, just next to the flight path of low flying jets.  It was as if they were hoping to reach out and high five the pilots as they screamed past.  After a while, we got our ‘eye in’ and saw another huddle of spotter on the other side of the valley, in little bivouac tents.  We enquired about whether this was a special event.  No, and there was no knowing whether they would be in luck today.  The best fishing requires an element of risk and possible disappointment.  But today was a grand day.  Small specks that suddenly grew large with a deafening roar.  Eurofighters turning side-on as the rounded the bend into the valley:  American S-wings shooting to the sky.  I noticed where further down the valley they made a sharp left turn.  Surely there must be more spotters down there too, but despite straining to see, no bivouacs, and long lens cameras.  All spotters must be prepared for disappointments.

Taken with a telephoto lens

Creggennan Lakes

Wales coastal path

Harlech- in appropriate lighting

by the estuary

Wonderful Ty Coch

Coming of the Long Run

The good father

Francis Wheen quotes WB Yeats at the start of his biography of Karl Marx -

“Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric; 

out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry.”

Is it hubris to want to write a book?  Who will it be for? Will it be rhetoric or poetry?  Perhaps rhetoric into a mirror?

The title I have mussed with for 31 years is- 'The Coming of The Long Run.' The Long Run is the time when all things will be sorted out, resolves, and completed.  This time never comes, even when considering whether to put anything down in writing.  So now it comes....in dribs and drabs.

Contents

Part I - Matter and Form

Part II -Faith and Illusion

Part III -Peregrination and Alienation (Peregrination is featured in Dombey and Son, and was mentioned by Wheen.  It a wonderful hawkish, circling word.) 

What is the aim of the book?

3 things - to try to offer some original ideas, to illustrate these with stories, or metaphors, and to highlight some conclusions in the form of challenge.  

Part I

In the beginning-  The ideas of society before everything we know now.

Experience and knowledge.

The aesthetic - what makes a thing fine? 

Part II

The nature of Superstition and belief.  My reality and other peoples reality.

The nature of Relationships.  The key

Meaning and Experiencing.

Part III

Traveling and Living lightly

Belonging and identity.

Meaning, Desire and Revolution.

  

Take Comfort

What Mr Dickins thinks

Themes

A loveless marriage,
 with a brutal, bullying husband, versus meek, loving wife who dies in child birth.
Mr Dombey and his first wife                                - Dombey and Son (D&S)
Mr Murdstone and David Copperfield's Mother    - David Copperfield (DC)

An elopement
James Steerforth and Little Em'ly                          -  DC
Mrs Dombey and Mr Carker                                  - D&S

Hopeless, blind, crazed, infatuation 
Mr Toots for Florence                                            - D&S
DC for Dora Spenlow   - (his first wife)                - DC

The scheming clerk,
set on taking control of the business
Uriah Heep                                                              -DC
James Carker                                                          - D&S

David Copperfield is Dickens eighth book written in 48/49.  It is considered to be his 'veiled autobiography'.
Dombey and Son was written in 48 when Dickens stayed in Lausanne.

Remember this one?

The quality of mercy is not strain'd,

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath: 

it is twice blest; it blesseth him that gives and him that takes:

'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: 

it becomes the throned monarch better than his crown;

His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,

The attribute to awe and majesty, wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;

But mercy is above this sceptred sway;

It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,

It is an attribute to God himself;

And earthly power doth then show likest God's when mercy seasons justice. 

— The Merchant of Venice, Act 4, Scene 1

It suddenly came to mind.

"What the Dickens"

Dombey and Son 

Chapter 36 “Housewarming”

If none of the new family were particularly at home in private, it was resolved that Mrs Dombey at least should be at home in public, without delay.  A series of entertainments in celebration of the late nuptials, and in cultivation of society, were arranged, chiefly by Mr Dombey and Mrs Skewton; and it was settled that the festive proceedings should commence by Mrs Dombey is being at home upon a certain evening, and by Mr and Mrs Dombey’s requesting the honour of the company of a great many incongruous people to dinner on the same day.

Accordingly, Mr Dombey produced a list of sundry eastern magnets who were to be bidden to this feast on his behalf; to which Mrs Skewton, acting for her dearest child, who was haughtily careless on the subject, subjoined a western list, comprising Cousin Phoenix, not yet returned to Baden-Baden, greatly to the detriment of his personal estate; and a variety of moths of varying degrees in ages, who had, at various times, fluttered around round the light of her fair daughter, or herself, without any lasting injury to their wings.  Florence was enrolled as a member of the dinner party, by Edith’s command - elicited by a moment’s doubt and hesitation on the part of Mrs Skewton; and Florence, with a wondering heart, and with a quick instinctive sense of everything that grated on her father in the least, took her silent share in the proceedings of the day.

The proceedings commenced by Mr Dombey, in a cravat of extraordinary height and stiffness, walking restlessly about the drawing room until the hour appointed for dinner; punctual to which, an East India director, of immense wealth, in a waistcoat apparently constructed in serviceable deal by some plain carpenter, but really engendered in the tailor’s art, and composed of a material called nankeen, arrived, and was received by Mr Dombey alone. The next stage of the proceedings was Mr Dombey’s sending his compliments to Mrs Dombey, with the correct statement of the time; and the next, the East India director’s falling prostrate, in a conversational point of view, and as Mr Dombey was not the man to pick him up, staring at the fire until rescue appeared in the person of Mrs Skewton; whom the director, as a pleasant start in life for the evening, mistook for Mrs Dombey, and greeted with enthusiasm.

The next arrival was a bank director, reputed to be able to buy up anything - human Nature generally, if he could take it in his head to influence the money market in that direction - but who was a wonderfully modest spoken man, almost boastfully so, and mentioned his “little place” at Kingston upon Thames, and it’s just being barely equal to giving Dombey a bed and a chop, if he would come and visit it. Ladies, he said, it was not for a man who lived in his quiet way to take upon himself to invite - but if Mrs Skewton and her daughter, Mrs Dombey, should ever find themselves in that direction, and would do him the honour to look at a little bit of shrubbery they would find there, and a poor little flowerbed or so, and a humble apology for a pinery, and two or three little attempts of that sort without any pretension, they would distinguish him very much. Carrying out his character, this gentleman was very plainly dressed, in a wisp of cambric for a neckcloth, big shoes, a coat that was too loose for him, and a pair of trousers that were too spare; and mention being made of the Opera by Mrs Skewton, he said he very seldom went there, for he couldn’t afford it. It seemed greatly to delight and exhilarate him to say so: and he beamed on his audience afterwards, with his hands in his pockets, and excessive satisfaction twinkling in his eyes.

Now Mrs Dombey appeared, beautiful and proud, and as disdainful and defiant of them all as if the bridal wreath upon her head had been a garland of steel spikes put on to force concession from her which she would die sooner than yield. With her was Florence. When they entered together, the shadow of the night of their return again darkened Mr Dombey’s face. But unobserved: for Florence did not venture to raise her eyes to his, and Edith’s indifference was too supreme to take the least heed of him.

The arrivals quickly became numerous.  More directors, chairman of public companies, elderly ladies carrying burdens on their heads for full dress, Cousin Phoenix, Major Bagstock, friends of Mrs Skewton, with the same bright bloom on their complexions, and very precious necklaces on their very withered necks. Among these, a young lady of sixty five, remarkably coolly dressed as to her back and shoulders, who spoke with an engaging lisp, and whose eyelids wouldn’t keep up well, without a great deal of trouble on her part, and whose manners had that indefinable charm which so frequently attaches to the giddiness of youth. As the greater part of Mr Dombey’s list were disposed to be taciturn, and the greater part of Mrs Dombey’s list were disposed to be talkative, and there was no sympathy between them, Mrs Dombey’s list, by magnetic agreement, entered into a bond of union against Mr Dombey’s list, who, wondering about the rooms in a desolate manner, or seeking refuge in corners, entangled themselves with company coming in, and became barricaded behind sofas, and had doors open smartly from without against their heads, and underwent every sort of discomfiture.

When dinner was announced, Mr Dombey took down an old lady like a crimson velvet pincushion stuffed with banknotes, which might have been the identical old lady of Threadneedle Street, she was so rich, and looks so accommodating; Cousin Pheonix took down Mrs Dombey; Major Bagstock took down Mrs Skewton; the young thing with the shoulders was bestowed, as an extinguisher, upon the East India director; and the remaining ladies were left on view in the drawing room by the remaining gentlemen, until a forlorn hope volunteered to conduct them downstairs, and those brave spirits with their captives blocked by the dining room door, shutting out seven mild men in the stony-hearted hall. When all the rest were got in and were seated, one of these mild men still appeared, in smiling confusion, totally destitute and unprovided for, and escorted by the butler, made the complete circuit of the table twice before his chair could be found, which it finally was, on Mrs Dombey’s left hand; after which the mild man never held up his head again.

Blessed be the Bread

Bread - staple diet in Europe, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent.
It has a special status- not to be thrown away in Islamic traditions.  I think  of how corpses are similarly disposed of in Zoroastrianism.

We have a book that describes how Australian aboriginal people made bread from grass seed.  Ants winnow the seed.  Seed was scattered round an ants nest. The ants, partial to only the husks, leave the seeds for later collection.  Then to cook on a fire.  The origin of damper.

Not to eat and drink is possible, but only for a time.  It's essential to life.  What about praying or being close to God?  I think of what it is like for me when I neglect this.

The bread of life defines this significance.  We must eat and drink to live.  In the same way we must accept Christ. into our body - as our medicine, necessary for our healing.  No wonder Christians got a bad name in Rome.

Jesus said "Peter, I have to wash your feet- It is necessary."  Jesus wash me too.

How to cook damper

Elizabeth is 21 - Soon

What sorts of things do you think Elizabeth's likes?
Like, watching Japaneses films or going on long hikes?

What about the things that definitely don't get Elizabeth's vote?
Believe it or not, swimming, riding bikes, neither float her boat.

She doesn't like bread- even bread with jam!
But she does like to visit her friends in Mizoram.

Elizabeth has a large collection of pips in jars,
Her wardrobe is interesting, it covered in stars.

Her wardrobe is actually filled with books, 'think dragon',
If you think she's writing a book you're not far wrong.

Elizabeth has always been constant, faithful and true,
We gather here today to say that 'we love you'.

The End is Nigh

The war of attrition has come to an end.  20 hours of narration from the book called 'Stalingrad' by Anthony Beevor.  It's an amazingly honest, balanced book; a celebration of anti-war.  This is war that defines the horror of war completely.  Beevor suggests that at the Tehran conference, Churchill and Roosevelt felt they were not able to oppose the suggestions made by Stalin (except for the obviously stupid ones), because of the horror they knew Russia had gone through.  They knew that what the armies faced in the west was like child's play to what the armies in the east had faced.  They had been into the heart of hell.  It was also clear that the Vermark and the Red Army had been exposed to very similar atrocities.  The prison camps in Russia with 200,000 German prisoners were kept in very similar conditions to Auschwitz.  Guards could tell which of the prisoners had been at the dead flesh of their comrades.  They had a pink tinge to their cheeks, as opposed to jaundiced yellow.

Stalingrad Madonna- In charcoal by the theologian and physician Kurt Reuber.  It's
drawn on the back of a Soviet map.  Smuggled out of the 'kessel', it is now on display
in the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin. Reuber drew another Madonna whilst a
prisoner in Russia.  He was one of the 84,000 prisoners to die.  Only about 6000 survived,

A useful tip.  If you find yourself unduly irritated by the mass of lice you find swarming over your clothing, remove the offending garments and bury them under a light sprinkling of soil.  Leave one corner sticking out.  The lice, like rats on a sinking ship, will move on mass to this life raft.  As they strung over each other, much a humans do in everyday life, light a match and bring it down onto the heap.  There is a slight risk that you may burn the corner of your garment, but for a week, you will enjoy the luxury of only an occasional odd scratch.

The Germans copied what Nordic people have always known to be practical.  they made roads out of birch logs, which are slow to rot.  These were called corduroy roads.  In Stalingrad, where all trees and wood had been used up, frozen bodies were sometimes found in the road, as impromptu logs.  Horse legs were stuck up at crossroads with signs attached to point the way.
http://www.spiegel.de/einestages/stalingradmadonna-kurt-reuber-und-seine-beruehmte-zeichnung-a-947850.htm

Oslo and the North

I start with an eternal apology to Anna for suggesting the ‘r’ should be removed from Norway.  I have known for a long time that Norway is very special.  I recall our friend Helen Wilson saying she thought Norway was ‘heaven’ when I was about 17 years old.  In my wedding speech I thanked our Norwegian hosts for the wonderful welcome we had received.  I noted how spoilt we were by people’s willingness to use their faultless English to keep us involved.  I reflected that this 'easy life' was likely to short lived because when we meet again in heaven, given my appraisal of our surroundings, we will be speaking Norwegian, what’s more, Norwegian with a northern dialect. 

Leaving Oslo City Hall Behind on the way to the Museums

Margaret in Oslo Habour

Oslo.  We got out of the R10 train to Drammen.  The announcer informed us the city is called 'Oshlo', not Oslo.  We got out at 'Nationaltheatret'.    This station is extraordinary, and a complete contrast to the other city station, Oslo Central.  It is a vast dark underground chasm of a station, with no advertising hoardings at all.  I liked its barren forgotten quality.  We followed the escalators, with the intriguing parallel funicular lift to one side, right up to the surface.  My map did not indicate where the exit was and we set off overshooting our street.  Mercifully, a kind lady (perfect English at the ready) reassured us that we were not far from our destination.  When we got to the apartment, I read the instructions more clearly, and discovered that the keys were located one km away on the other side of the palace park (a mini St James Park).  We left the girls in a covered doorway- had another chat with another Oslo resident who showed us the route to our keys on her mobile phone, and set off dodging the marching palace guard to our destination.  The keys were handover by a young woman who told us about her quite village upbringing, and how she had moved to the big city 2 years ago to live with her aunt.  She had only visited Vigoland Park and knew nothing else about the city. 

On the evening of day one we walked by the harbour and saw it in it cowering in the light rain. 

In the morning we visited the fort.  This is a national monument with more armed guards.  The view from the battlements was obliterated by a cruise liner moored by the ancient walls.  Within minutes, foreign forces had invaded.  Sheer numbers overwhelmed the guards.  In vain they waved and shouted trying to keep the marauding hoards away from the national treasure.  Shoe on other foot I thought to myself.

We moved on to see the amazing Opera House; perhaps an attempt to compete with Sydney.  Maybe not as striking, but it’s certainly more homely.  Slabs of beautiful white marble slope up to create a delightful angular playground for all.  Anna has played there many times.  From it I saw a curious tent like structure near to a café.  I wondered what it could be, and realised that it might be a nod to the famous cod.  I have seen similar structures covered in drying cod. 

From the Opera House, we examined the City Hall.  Again a very striking and unique building.  The workmanship is impressive, but perhaps it is dated.  Another 1950’s examples that came to mind was Coventry Cathedral. 

A beautiful 1500 year old ship

The Stave Church

Next we crossed on the ferry to the museums at Byggtoy.  A short walk with a parade of tourists took us to the Viking ships Museum.  Three Viking ships dug out on their burial mounts after perhaps 1500 years are beautifully and timelessly displayed.  Two are skilfully repaired to make them look as if they could be launched again today.  The third, the most interesting to archaeologists, is as it was when removed from the mud, with sheep’s wool and tar packed between each clinker.  The building is like a cruciform church, with balconies positioned to help the crush of visitors see into the boats.  I felt I was the only person there.  The graceful boats where help with reverence, like other iconic machines, such as the Supermarine Spitfire, or a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow.  Other objects of interest where the main items packed into the boats, including sleighs, curious objects called rattles and barrels of pickled fish.  We then changed museum and visited the open air folk museum.  Apparently there is a similar museum in Stockholm, where similar ancient wooden houses where taken from each side of the boarder to their respective sites of homage. 

Caving on the doorway

What about a goat for the roof

Dancing (no TV)

Our guides were dressed in tradition costume.  This only exists in Wales and Scotland and has no existence in England.  We saw the Stave Church, a building with a 13^th century core, and restored exterior (1856).  This church felt orthodox.  It looked orthodox.  We entered through a narrow slit of a door into a dark interior.  As we became accustomed to the dark, one could see it was painted from bottom to top in colourful biblical scenes.  I thought of Ethiopia, or Armenia.

It was interesting to see that the general ancient log house seemed to be repeated throughout the villages on the site.  Clay floor- two large built in beds, fireplace in the centre with open central chimney; built in benches.  Barns had a bridge up to the first floor, and this you can see all over Norway. 

Vigeland

We walked round the edge of the Oslo fiord and then headed off for Vigeland Park.  This is an extraordinary park featuring the work of Gustave Vigeland.  He has created hundreds of sculptures of human figures, all ages, mixed in every respect, including sexuality.  All the arrangements depict human relationships and emotions.  They are brilliant.  I thought of Anthony Gormley, and is idea of using himself to depict everything he wants to say.  “You cannot leave your body” – “everything I want to say has to come out of me”.  But here I saw a great understanding of the human condition.  There are even four great statues of figure wrestling and hugging dragons.  I particularly liked the two girls, one in front, confident, one behind timorous, ‘the same girl’ I thought. 

In the evening, the sun was shining.  Oslo water front was transformed and bustling.  Restaurants were packed.  It felt like a different place for the night before.

On Wednesday morning, before our flight to Bardufoss, I managed to fit in a trip to the Historical Museum where I saw hundreds of Viking swords, many bent into ‘s’ shapes.  I also saw the only Viking helmet every found (yes no horns), and the hammer Thor pendants, soon to become crucifixes.  I also saw another amazing interior of a Stave church.

I also visited a beautiful cemetery and saw the famous graves of Edvard Munch, and Henrik Ibsen.

The Wedding

Anna is our priceless treasure,
We love her- she loves us in equal measure.
Her faithfulness and trust is like the never setting sun,
She is always creative, and just wants to have fun.
Anna's life changed, as at the pressing of a button,
When she first visited friends in Brostadbotn.
Everything about this place she began to adore,
After a chance meeting on a fiord, this included Herr Ivan Dalgard.
Now it's Ivan, his boys, and his house, that keeps her from us I fear,
If you want to see Anna, you'll have to come and see her here.

The Wedding Party

Holly, Gabriel and Nathanial.

Ben and Andrew

Picnic at Steinora

My girls in their natural environment.