Mahamrityunjaya mantra from Truth Love Creation, a series of beautiful, haunting Sanskit songs sung by Reema Datta.
A pity Truth Love Creation is not on bandcamp.
I came across this album in Soluciones one evening, a week and a day ago.
Soluciones is a wonderful New Age shop, bookshop, cum music, cum crystal, just up from Plaza Charco en Puerto de la Cruz. It puts to shame Waterstones and a HMV.
Paulo Coelho uses archery as a form of meditation.
The Way of the Bow is a mediation on archery.
Please feel free to download a free audio book of The Way of the Bow (limited to 200 free books per month, always free to listen on-line, to share).
Mary Magdalene Church
Mary Magdalene Church
end of the mayan calander
I am the single radiance by which all is aroused and within which it is vibrant…
For the man who has found me, the door to all things stands open…
I am the magnetic force of the universal presence and the ceaseless ripple of its smile.
– Excerpts from Hymn To the Eternal Feminine by Teilhard de Chardin
Today was the shortest day.
At a little wholefood stall in at the Central Market in Lincoln, maybe a new stall as I have never seen before, a little typewritten notice of celebrations for the Winter Solstice.
0700 Walk up Hoe Hill, near Fulletby, near Horncastle to observe the sunrise
1100 Mary Magdalene Church, Castle Square, Lincoln for a silent meditation at 1111.
1130 Tea shop at Lincoln Cathedral.
1530 Heartwood near Branston to observe the sunset.
The only one I was able to make was the silent meditation at Mary Magdalene. Walk to the top of the High Street, then up The Strait and Steep Hill. I must be unfit as hard going.
Mary Magdalene is rarely open, it was a pleasant surprise to find open. No mention of mediation, no one knew what I was talking about.
Rather annoying, very noisy people in the church.
Unbeknown to the church the silent mediation did take place, and luckily the noisy people had left.
But why can people not be quiet in a church? In the main Catholic Church in Puerto de la Cruz, it is always quiet, those in the church are either silent or converse in quiet whisper.
Silent meditation in a church, one very quickly becomes aware of surroundings, every little sound.
Nine people turned up, ten counting me.
I like this idea a group of people unannounced descending on a church.
I walked with them to Lincoln Cathedral. I was curious why these two locations?
Mary Magdalene represents the sacred feminine, Lincoln Cathedral masculine (I assume St Hugh), yin and yang.
Mary Magdalene lies immediately outside Lincoln Cathedral. At Winchester there is a little church immediately outside the cathedral.
Mary Magdalene, an old Saxon church, lies on a ley line (I do not know what evidence). It is also at the junction of two Roman roads. One I know to be Ermine Street, I assume the other to be Fossway.
A little south of Lincoln, where you can still walk on the old Ermine Street, not a modern road that follows the route, is an ancient Templar building.
At least one of the group of nine had read The Alchemist several times (the tenth anniversary edition is currently available as e-book reduced price). I said there was a new book, Manuscript Found in Accra available next year, Aleph was in The Works at a low price, The Pilgrimage preceded The Alchemist, and to check out The Alchemist pen from Montegrappa. And do not forget audio book of The Way of the Bow is free!
Today the world was going to end (the day has not yet ended). A misinterpretation of what Mayans predicted. They predicted a new era of understanding, not the end of the world. (14th Baktun).
Greenwich Meridian at former RAF base East Kirkby
We only need an accurate measure of time because we travel.
Everywhere had local time, time set by the sundial, clocks and watches set by the church clock or town hall.
When we travel, we travel through time and space.
With the fastest mode of travel by stagecoach, which was measured in days, not hours, local time was ok. With the arrival of steam trains hurtling along at the unheard of 80 mph there was a need for a universal time, railway time, for accurate timetables. The station clock, or the station master’s pocket watch, was now the time by which time was set.
Travel by ship needed an accurate time piece by which to measure longitude.
We measure time by change. The burning of a candle, dripping of water, swinging of a pendulum, vibration of a quartz crystal.
The vibration of a quartz crystal varies with the voltage across the crystal and its temperature. For very accurate clocks, the voltage is stabilized and the temperature controlled.
In the 1970s I was making very accurate measurements and was using atomic clocks.
Atomic clocks are so accurate that as with leap years and extra days, we have to add leap seconds to account for the earth’s rotation.
The astronauts in the Space Station circle the earth once every forty minutes, They use GMT.
GMT, Greenwich Mean Time, referenced to the Greenwich Meridian that runs through Greenwich.
Travel on a plane as the sun is setting, and you can experience the sun set over an extended period, often dipping and rising.
We can be outside of time, time can stand still.
We are outside of time when we meditate.
When I was with my lovely Russian friend Lena time stood still.
In Aleph, Paulo Coelho discusses the aleph where time and space meet at a point.
Sometimes we have no time for the things that matter.
We only exist in the present, the past no longer exists, the future has yet to happen.
Time did not always exist. Time came into existence at the time the universe was created. Before then there was no time.
Tonight, strictly speaking 2am Sunday morning, clocks go back one hour from BST (British Summer Time) to GMT.
We go forward in the spring to give an extra hour in the evening. But in the summer, we have extra hours in the evening. In the winter, when we have less time in the evening, the clocks go back, gving us even less time, making the nights long and dark, with it getting dark early evening.
dusk inside Winchester Cathedral
A cold day, a cold north wind, occasional heavy showers. Did I really wish to spend an afternoon in Winchester?
Bus, train to Alton, then bus to Winchester.
Dysfunctional public transport. Time of arrival of train at Alton is same time as the bus departs. As the train pulls in and comes to a stop, the doors open, I leap off the train, run out of the station, leap on the bus and catch it as it is about to pull out. As the bus pulls away, I observe people leaving the station who have just alighted from the train.
The sun is shining as I reach Winchester, and it is warmer than when I set out. I am feeling rough from the bus journey and go for a walk.
Lunch at The Bridge Patisserie, which was something of a disappointment. I can see why they are getting bad reviews on TripAdvisor.
Calamity strikes. I do something wrong on my camera, over a thousand pictures deleted, gone in a blinking of an eye.
I walk along the river. Now cold, no sun.
I look in the bookshop in the back streets behind Winchester Cathedral. A real bookshop. I ask when is Manuscript Found in Accra due out. Something Waterstone’s unable to answer. I assumed some time soon as been coming out all over Europe this week. But no, not until April 2013!
I wonder into Winchester Cathedral Not quite dusk, but soon will be. Dusk is the time to see a mediaeval cathedral at its best.
I light candles for Canon Andrew White, Paulo Coelho, my lovely Russian friend Lena.
Evensong is about to begin.
The choir emerge and sing in the South Transept. It is a song of welcome. The acoustics are amazing. I sit at the foot of a shrine or tomb. I am the only one there.
I follow the choir and sit in the choir stalls for Evensong. It is sung evensong or choral evensong cf spoken evensong.
I had not intended to stay. I do, and as a consequence I miss two buses.
Walking to the High Street I spot a little alley I had not noticed before that leads to a coffee shop.
As I walk down the High Street, I spot a little alley I had not seen before that leads to a pub hidden in the alley.
I catch the last bus.
I once again experience dysfunctional public transport. Train departs Alton ten minutes early Bus arrives as train departs.
Forty minutes wait. I go to Waitrose.
At Aldershot, train arrives two minutes after bus departs. Almost 30 minute to wait for the next bus. I visit a local shop and chat to Nepalese girl serving in the shop.
From leaving Winchester Cathedral, almost three hours until I reach home!
Men came from the sea
with their unusual catch -
one hundred and fifty three.
A fire burned on the beach.
They had expected nothing,
now there was a glut,
and also this man waiting.
The charcoal was white hot.
But was the man there?
One moment it seemed so,
the next he was not.
Master, they said, don’t go.
Like thin air shimmering
when powerful heat bakes it,
he continued his waiting.
Indefinite. Definite.
The fire burned on the beach
with their unusual catch.
They had expected nothing.
Now there was too much.
– Andrew Motion
I heard this read a few moments ago by Andrew Motion.
Very moving. It was like hearing something from Khalil Gibran.
Andrew Motion was on the last in the series of Honest Doubt, a series by Richard Holloway, former Bishop of Edinburgh, talking about religion.
Also featured was Tears in the Rain from the film Blade Runner.
Shame on the BBC that they are not holding this excellent series on-line.
The omnibus edition on BBC Radio 4, 2100 BST tonight.
Andrew Motion explained how he came to write the poem, sitting in church listening to the service.
The relevant text is St John Chapter 21.
I am a farmer of the heart. — Rumi
I am a farmer of the heart.
– Rumi
Prayer is not an old woman’s idle amusement …
Prayer is not an old woman’s idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action.
– Mahatma Gandhi
prayer
A farm labourer with a sick wife, asked a Buddhist monk to say a series of prayers. The priest began to pray, asking God to cure all those who were ill.
‘Just a moment,’ said the farm labourer. ‘I asked you to pray for my wife and there you are praying for everyone who’s ill.’
‘I’m praying for her too.’
‘Yes, but you’re praying for everyone. You might end up helping my neighbour, who’s also ill, and I don’t even like him.’
‘You understand nothing about healing,’ said the monk, moving off. ‘By praying for everyone, I am adding my prayers to those of the millions of people who are also praying for their sick.
‘Added together, those voices reach God and benefit everyone. Separately, they lose their strength and go nowhere.’
Posted by Paulo Coelho on his blog.
reflection on a wooden cross of nails
single lit candle
The Pilgrimage - Paulo Coelho
I was at St Mark’s this evening for two reasons:
You will not find service of nails in a liturgical calender, at least I do not think so, I am no expert on church dates.
For the last few weeks, St Mark’s has been running a book club on The Nail. This evening was a service of reflection and meditation.
How would you have acted if you were one of the following:
The one group who were not mentioned were the women. The women did not run away and hide, did not deny, did not betray. The women remained with Jesus until the end.
We were asked to each hold a nail, to imagine how we would react?
Would we have driven in the nails if ordered to do so, bayed for blood, run away or denied we knew Jesus, or would we have stood up and challenged what was taking place? Would we have followed religious doctrine and dogma, or would we have listened to our heart?
How we would behave we do not know until we are in a situation.
Last year I had someone try to kill me. I am lucky to be alive.
I would probably speak out, and then be hung on the cross.
How many people reflect on their own lifestyle, the impact it has on those around them?
Do we ask where our food comes from, our clothes? How is it grown, produced?
Slow fashion v fast fashion.
Faded washed out jeans, literally killer jeans. Do we ask of those who are killed to produce the faded jeans, especially when we can get the same look through hard work, not throwing our clothes away every few months, or simply buying second hand jeans?
I resisted the temptation to dig the nail into my hand to focus on the pain, a technique Paulo Coelho describes in The Pilgrimage.
We were also asked to focus on a cross of nails on the floor in front of us. The lit candle represented light, hope, at a time of darkness.
For a future run up to Easter I would suggest ‘I Thirst’.
On Sunday, Paulo Coelho exceeded eight million friends on facebook. By common consensus it was agreed to have 24 hours of prayer and acts of random kindness.
The prayer was at 6pm local time today. I was later than 6pm, but then I do not determine the opening times of St Mark’s
I lit a candle for Canon Andrew White (for his work in Iraq), for Paulo Coelho (thanks for his writing and the wonderful St Joseph’s Day party at which I was his guest last month), Mio Baba (for a wonderful three days together in Bassano del Grappa).
I donated to the church library The Pilgrimage.
- A celebration of Holy Week at St Mark’s by the children
- Maundy Thursday
- The Cross
- Mary’s thoughts on her way to Calvary
