Prayer Thoughts

My usual 'Ironing' accompaniment with my mate Melvin

In Our Time discussion about Prayer  - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p005465m

With Professor Russell Stannard, physicist, religious writer and author of The God Experiment; 
Andrew Samuels, Jungian analyst and Professor of Analytical Psychology, University of Essex.

In Our Time discussion about Dietrich Bonhoeffer -  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bkpjns

With Stephen Plant, Dean and Runcie Fellow at Trinity Hall at the University of Cambridge

Eleanor McLaughlin,  Lecturer in Theology and Ethics at the University of Winchester and Lecturer in Ethics at Regent’s Park College at the University of Oxford

And Tom Greggs, Marischal Chair of Divinity at the University of Aberdeen

In Our Time discussion about St Paul - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00kjk8z

Helen Bond is Senior Lecturer in the New Testament at the University of Edinburgh; 
John Haldane is Professor of Philosophy at the University of St Andrews; 
John Barclay is the Lightfoot Professor of Divinity at Durham University.

And my thoughts on Prayer inspired by this programme.

"Thinking of you", a modern secular way of saying "Praying for you". But is it enough?  We know that connecting with 'the other', a Supreme Being, is universal across all time and space.  Is there anything out there?  I agree with Samuels (and perhaps Stannard too) that researching the effects of prayer is likely to back fire.  The premises of the experiment is floored.  What if the experiment was repeated in Japan?  Is God's love dependent on The attention of a fan base?  I was interested by Carl Jungs book, described by Samuels, analysing the God of Job as a narcissist.  

I like the idea of the word 'pray' being banned.  

Beauty is a Vector

The arcing blades of wind-turbines bring wonder and inspiration,
But if just one stands stationary, this turns to consternation.

Beauty is a vector, motion creates depth of vision,
A beautiful face is nullified with a dull expression.

One, with large body and moled face,
Speaks with joy, fascinating, delightful, a warm embrace.

The other, beauty as seen on the screen,
Plastic expression, two dimensional, mean.

Making Myth

Elizabeth got her ICU diary back from safe keeping on Friday.  She read the diary without experiencing any trauma.  She did point out the historical inaccuracies (for example - that nurse was Christie, not Kirsty. I didn't use a letter board, I wrote with my right hand.)

It struck me that this is how myth evolves.  Slight inaccuracies which Liz is pointing out in the blog, are sometimes changed, sometimes not.  She says I have simplifies the story for my readers.  Perhaps so. After some time the story solidifies.  It is analogues to a pathway that is formed by many people treading the same route.  After a while it become difficult to re-route.

I remembered when I transcribed my great grandmothers memoirs and was then surprised that my mother, uncle and aunt did not seem very interested in it.  "Oh she exaggerated.  You can't believe what she wrote."  For me it didn't matter.  What she wrote might as well be the truth.  Didn't matter that much to me, as I was not emotionally involved.

I heard a Hindu explaining his understanding of Hindu mythology. He said that the things described in the Hindu texts happened so long ago.  No one can verify whether they actually happened or not.  And does it matter?  It's in the past.  Why not believe, but if you don't, it doesn't make much difference. The past is the past, a distant land.  Myth and reality; two sides of the same coin.

And I think about my own relationship with the sacred text of my faith.  Does the same perspective apply to me?  I recently listened to the 'In Our Time' radio broadcast on artistic representations of 'Judith'. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002hl7

The programme began with a discussion about whether the story could be described as an early historical novels.  Apparently the narrative is full of historical inconsistencies.  If these were corrected, then how would the story then play out?  The Protestants removed the book of Judith from the biblical cannon and put it in the apocrypha.  One reason for this it was argued was that Jewish scholars had already made this decision.

How important is it to identify myth?  Am I a myth maker?

“History is a set of lies agreed upon.” ― Napoleon Bonaparte

“What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence. The question is what can you make people believe you have done.” ― Arthur Conan Doyle, - A Study in Scarlet

"Truth is not born nor is it to be found inside the head of an individual person, it is born between people collectively searching for truth, in the process of their dialogic interaction."  - Mikhail Bakhtin

So to my conclusion - Myth occurs when questions end.  The truth is maintained and kept alive by shared lived experiences.  These are as beams of light projected on the truth from all directions.  

To quote Michel Foucault

Truth does not belong to the order of power, but shares an original affinity with freedom.

MICHEL FOUCAULT, History of Sexuality