Here's some challenging quotes that I like

All man's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.

Blaise Pascal,  French mathematician (1623-1662), Penseés

The man to whom little is not enough will not benefit from more.

Columbanus (7th century monk)

There are some interesting discussions going on about the development of faith in Europe. Grace Davie has pioneered research in this area and written books on the subject. She comments on the current discussion hosted by the Guardian.

Grace gives an overview there, but her comment that the church has an important role to play, but does not have control, seems central to me.

I write this because I have been pointed to a video on YouTube which draws attention to the changing demographics in Europe. It contends that Europe will be Muslim in a few years because of changes in birth rates. Clearly Europe, and Britain, are becoming increasingly multi-racial. According to the videobirth rates among "native Europeans" have dropped below a critical level which guarantees their extinction as a majority culture. It then predicts that Europe will become predominantly Muslim, as distinct from Christian and from the current trend towards secularism. This prediction seems fraught with hazardous assumptions, such as: immigrant communities will continue to have "higher birthrates," and that they will want to overthrow the culture that they are surrounded by rather than value it or develop it.

The video finishes with a "call to action" for Christians, but it seems intended to scare and to evoke a racist response in order to protect ("Christian") "civilisation as we know it." For this reason I do not find the seven minute video easy to watch, but here's the link to it.

What do I think, from a Christian viewpoint?

Firstly, it's no good being protectionist about our Christian culture, we need to do better. It has a lot of holes in it, as is shown at present by the scandal over the expenses of some Members of Parliament. The good news is that the public does care about such abuses, and has a sense of ideal morality to which it aspires.

Secondly, it is clear that our culture is changing and not static, we need to have an idea of the way that we would like our culture to develop, and live in a way that will bring it about. We need to be intentional about our own way of life and the development of society, not just "let it happen." As Gandhi put it, "Be the change that you want to see in the world."

Thirdly, the Bible does not set out a vision for a homogeneous Christian culture. On the contrary, it describes Christianity being lived out in different ways as it continues to spread through different cultures. It took courage and wisdom on the part of early church leaders to allow this. Healthy church growth has worked for its culture, and needs to be culturally and racially diverse.

So, finally, let's build a Godly society in which the teachings of Jesus are alive, expect it to be culturally (and racially) diverse and to benefit from those varied expressions, and don't expect to control the way it happens!

Here's some great material from Phil

http://wandering4loveofgod.blogspot.com/2009/05/lev-tolstoy-reflections-on-his.html

I've finished listening to the Finding Happiness CD set, and my previous summary seems to hold good. The end point is that seeking happiness by clinging to one of the Eight Deadly Thoughts is an unhealthy route, and we need to let go of them, or shed them. This resonates with my view that living life to the full is about getting rid of the things (such as sins and unhealed wounds) that get in the way of us being ourselves. One may imagine that this is a route to selfishness, but the true self we discover is one that is able to heed the needs of others because we no longer feel a need to be self-protective.

On the way Christopher seems to have a bit of a rant, even if it is a wise rant, about the way in which youth culture in western society behaves as if all that anyone needs is to have friends, and that if everyone has a good close friendship group then it does not matter what is happening in the world because everyone is OK. He says that this is insufficient, and that people need to relate to wider community, and wider values, such as the church.

He also observes, more obviously, that in today's society we seem to keen to be busy, and to see such busy-ness as a good thing. This is shown by the approval given to the reply "keeping busy" when someone asks how one is. Activity is not necessarily a good thing, and - to use Stephen Covey's analogy that I like - the activity of climbing a ladder has little value if the ladder is up against the wrong wall. This links back to Christopher's main theme: if we are seeking to find happiness it's no good just being busy, or chasing after today's idols, we need to choose a route that will take us to the goal we seek.

Easter is a time when it is easier to be cheerful, with the arrival of primroses, daffodils, and other spring flowers and sunnier weather (in the northern hemisphere anyway).

There is also the message of the church of the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ, which I enjoyed hearing afresh this morning.

"Eternal life" is a phrase that we can underestimate, because arguably we cannot understand it anyway. It conveys the meaning of life outside of, unconstrained by, time - not just an everlasting life that goes on forever. If God created, then he also created time, and somehow exists outside it as well as within it - being both the beginning and the end (as the Bible puts it) but more than that. So the gift of eternal life is the invitation to be with him in this way.

Julian of Norwich is famously quoted as saying that "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well." This leads to a Christian hope that even if things do not seem well now, it will be O.K. This was one of her "revelations." However if our life is eternal, then what is a future hope can also be recognised as (present) reality.

So (as Christian writers such as Anthony de Mello put it) not just "all shall be well," but "all is well", and we are able to discover this. Such a fresh way of seeing life and experiencing life must be good news, whatever situation we are in.

Here are the related quotes from the Bible.
God has given us eternal life... (1 John 5:11)
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (John 17:3)

I enjoy chocolate Easter eggs, but I don't expect to be fascinated or educated by them. So thank you for the Divine Fairtrade egg that is made from cocoa beans from Ghana, and includes some pictures of Adinkra symbols which express the values of the Akan people of Ghana.

These symbols are for:

Wisdom, creativity ananse ntontan
Democracy and shared destiny funtunfunefu-denkyemfunefu
Wisdom & knowledge mate masie
Humility & inner strength dwennimmen
Learning from the past sankofa
Family and solidarity fi-hankra
Adaptability denkyem
Charisma and leadership adinkrahene
Endurance, perseverance aya

It's an impressive list: if I wanted to invent healthy values for a society I don't think I could do much better. 

What experience have monks had that may help ordinary people to be happy? I've been intrigued to find out from Christopher Jamison as I've started to listen to an audio book that a friend gave me.

You may remember last year's television programme called The Monastery:  a handful of people were filmed as they experienced monastic living for the first time at Worth Abbey in England. This programme created a surge in interest in spirituality and the Abbot of Worth, Christopher Jamison (who featured significantly in the programme) has published a book called Finding Happiness.

I've only listened to some of the chapters so far, and I am already impressed by the talented way in which he clearly explains the benefits to society today of spiritual practices that monks have used for centuries. This is about finding happiness through knowing good and doing good, rather than through just trying to feel good.

What has fascinated me in Christopher's description is the relevance of the teachings of the Desert Fathers (and Mothers), who were the pioneers of monasticism in Egypt around the fourth century AD, and how some of these teachings were lost during adaptation. It seems to me that these losses give us a blind spot when it comes to looking at the condition of our society today.

We need to take on board some details now. The Desert Fathers were keen to develop spiritually by dealing with their inner life, and they were concerned to do battle with Eight Deadly Thoughts. As Christopher describes it (and the three groupings in italics may be his rather than original), they saw these as the demons that they had to fight. They were:

of the body: gluttony, lust, avarice (greed, or covetousness);
of the heart and mind: wrath (anger), sadness, acedia (or accedie); and
of the soul: vainglory, pride.

This list was developed or refined by Evagrius Ponticus (AD 345-399) and was intended to be diagnostic, that is to help readers identify temptation and the thoughts from which sin can spring. Several centuries later these Eight Deadly Thoughts became the more commonly known Seven Deadly Sins: gluttony, lust, avarice (greed), wrath (anger), sloth, pride, envy. According to the Wikipedia article about Evagrius, this transformation was the work of Pope Gregory the Great (in AD 590) who rolled sadness and acedia into sloth, combined vainglory with pride, and added envy.

So today we have lost sight of acedia and vainglory. Acedia is a word that does not have a translation in English (as is true also of baptism, for example). The original meaning is to do with carelessness, that is a lack of care. It is in particular a lack of care about God, and his involvement, and about spiritual awareness itself. Vainglory is related to vanity. While vanity is about a person having too big a belief in their abilities of appearance, vainglory is about wanting to be known for those (false) attributes. Within vainglory there is the sense of the Christian wanting glory for themselves rather than for God. That is, "It's all about ME!"

As we look at attitudes to morality today, for example through what is written in newspapers, there is some awareness of the behaviour listed in the Seven Deadly Sins, although it is not necessarily condemned. For example people may see that some of today's problems to do with the 'Credit Crunch' come from greed, but not necessarily be willing to go as far as to recognise the evil of greed itself and the possibility that we may all suffer from it. However there seems to me to be a blindness to the way in which problems may flow from a lack of interest in God (acedia) and from spin. I do not use spin to refer to rotating objects, but in today's sense of seeking to publicise something in a good light and where people (at worst) seek to publicise achievements which are not real. This is as close as I think I can get to vainglory in modern English.

Thinking of 'climate change' as another example, I find myself wondering whether the concept of acedia demands that we cannot consider such an issue without considering God's involvement. I also wonder whether our human belief that we have caused these changes to the climate entirely on our own is a kind of vainglory.

Reviewing Pope Gregory's revisions, I think he would have done better to leave the list as eight items, and I don't think he needed to add envy as surely without greed there is no envy. Furthermore Christopher describes sloth as a symptom of acedia, so to replace acedia by sloth is to miss the point. If it is helpful to have a checklist against which to measure our spiritual health today - whether nationally, corporately, or individually - it seems good to me to put the clock back and stick with the Eight Deadly Thoughts of the Desert Fathers.

There are a couple of other things that I like about this approach. Firstly, Church teaching can focus on sin (by which they mean actions) and the way in which it follows temptation (which may be thoughts). So the teaching is that we all get tempted; the task is to avoid acting from that temptation. The Desert Fathers' approach reminds us that it is thoughts that lead to sinful action, and that it is important to recognise that link and to deal with the thoughts rather than to let them fester. Secondly, the inclusion of sadness in the list is interesting. People may not see sadness as a problem for them in the same way that they may recognise anger. It reminds me that a state of mind of sadness is not what God intends for us (He does not want us to be unhappy) and that it is not just a symptom of something else but can be dealt with in its own right.

All this talk of sins and deadly thoughts may seem deadly. It would be good to finish with the more positive theme from the abbot's book: a happy life is not just about avoiding the bad but about nurturing the good, that is cultivating a life of virtue. There is a classic list of virtues, the Seven Holy Virtues: chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility. Helpfully, these are broadly the opposite of the Seven Deadly Sins, which is probably why they are also sometimes called the Seven Contrary Virtues. I find it curious that honesty is not on this list: perhaps that is assumed to be part of the context.

Making progress towards virtue or away from sin requires honesty, starting with being honest with oneself. Christopher writes of the way that the Desert Fathers used to share their disturbing thoughts with others: destroying the thought's secrecy did much to defuse them. This practice of just listening to thoughts without comment, but perhaps giving a Bible verse as a source of help, was certainly an antecedent of sacramental confession, and may be a precursor of modern psychological methodologies. I see that one of the gifts that the church offers to the people is loving support in such honest self-examination, for example through Spiritual Direction.

To avoid confusion (I hope) I note that there is another list of Seven (Heavenly) Virtues in the tradition of the church (derived from Plato, and described by St Augustine): faith, hope, charity, justice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude.

In Finding Happiness, Christopher uses a further list that appears to be more contemporary. At this stage I am not sure whether he invented it, but I like it as a description of the virtuous behaviour that we may travel towards, in opposition to the Eight Deadly Thoughts:

of the body: moderation, chaste love, generosity;
of the heart: gentleness, gladness, and spiritual awareness;
of the soul: magnanimity, humility.

While these correspond well with the Seven Contrary Virtues, we have the valuable addition of spiritual awareness to combat the lost thought of acedia.

In summary: don't lose out on happiness because of acedia, and do read the book! 

A few years ago I remember reading an article which said that the countries with the best overall quality of health were those with the least income gap between the richest and the poorest.

Will Hutton this week writes in The Observer about a new book called The Spirit Level. This has a similar theme, that more unequal societies are more dysfunctional across the board.  Our instinct is to be collaborative, but where there are big income gaps the rich no longer fear the censure of the poor, and the poor no longer feel able to bridge the wealth gap through their own efforts. This results in a ruder and more violent society.

The comments on the web under Will's article do not dispute the statistics, but some comment that statistics cannot show causation. So these things may be true, but does one cause the other, or are they both caused by something else?

It's a good question, but it seems to me obvious that where there are big differences of wealth it indicates that the rich care less about the poor and so the outcomes he cites are likely.

Original article here.

Source: The Week, 21st March 2009.

It's good to see British women doing well in the Vendée Globe again. Ellen MacArthur preceded her impressive round the world voyage with a Vendée Globe success.

Sam Davies completed the coure in ninety five days and impressed people by not moaning about hardships but marvelling at the beauty of the natural world. "It sounds strange, but it was easy," she said. "It felt as I was doing something normal." It sounds like she was 'in the zone!'

She was closely followed by Dee Caffari who thus became the first woman to sail solo around the world non-stop in both directions, despite having a broken sail.

Wow!

(Source: The Week, 21/2/09, quoting Andrew Longmore in The Sunday Times and Kate Laven in the Daily Telegraph.) 

Following a couple of earlier articles about God getting a mention (here and here) it's interesting to read that Tony Blair is enjoying his new found freedom from British public office to invoke God's blessing.

Perhaps because he wanted to, but was purportedly prevented from, ending a speech with "God bless the British people" he has been first among British leaders to meet new president Barack Obama at the annual National Prayer Breakfast in the U.S.A. He finished his speech there with: "By the way, God bless you all."

It is curious that a short trip across the Atlantic Ocean allows things unsaid to be said. It is Grace Davie, Professor of Sociology at Exeter University, who has written particularly about the unique secularism of Western Europe. I wonder whether, if we become increasingly entrenched in this, we may find it increasingly difficult to relate to the other 95% of the world's population.

As we move into the start of a New Year when much seems unknown and uncertain, I find myself reminded of words used by King George VI on Christmas Day 1939.

In the meantime I feel that we may all find a message of encouragement in the lines which, in my closing words, I would like to say to you: I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year, "Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown." And he replied, "Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light, and safer than a known way."

May that Almighty Hand guide and uphold us all.

The quote he used, by Bristol author Minnie Louise Haskins, has often been requoted since - even though the rest of her poem seems difficult to find - probably because it is so evocative. I find that it resonates within me as I look out into our present circumstances.

The context of the speech was the King seeking to encourage his people shortly after Britain and France had declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939. Since I can imagine that this must have been one of the scarier moments in British history, perhaps we should appropriate its imagery and encouragement now.

May God bless you in 2009.

Links with thanks: Full text of the King's message. Biography of Minnie Louise Haskins.

Epiphany 2009.

A few years ago (and before I started this blog) I remember majoring on how the most precious gift we receive at Christmas is Jesus himself, and how we need to enjoy "unwrapping" that gift.

This year I find myself reflecting similarly that it is awesome that God's response to a fallen world riven with rejection, misunderstanding, and alienation, is to give himself - through his son Jesus. He gives himself unconditionally, not requiring a partiuclar response but giving us a choice. Will we receive this gift? Will we accept him?

So in a world where people want to be known, loved and accepted, God does not encourage us to seek acceptance, but to be one who accepts.

From time to time I receive newsletters from Revd Dr Clifford Hill, of C&M Ministries Trust, Moggerhanger Park, Bedfordshire. Formerly he was a pastor in East London, and has a challenging prophetic ministry drawing on his learning as a sociologist (it is in sociology that he has a PhD). He's written some interesting books, and he sees that much of what he foresaw is now coming to pass.

His latest newsletter draws attention to the way sociologists recognise five major social institutions, and that there is an invariable rule that when significant change takes place in any one of the five, all others are affected. They are:

• The Economy
• The Family
• Education
• Law and government
• Religion

He speaks of how all these except the economy have undergone major change since the 1960's so today's financial problems were predictable. Since this is the result of a domino-effect to do with changing values, a solution based on just addressing financial issues will not be suffiicient. The full article is worth reading here. His home page here.

I had a great meeting a week ago with some friends from the Wiltshire Christian Spiritual Direction Course. One was Janet Robbins, who some while ago had won a session with a Horse Whisperer. His hot tip to her was: Watch. Let go. Just be. This is an awesome recipe for life for anyone who generally wants to be in control, which of course is not the way to succeed as a horse whisperer. I am valuing the advice already.

I came across another good motto from a friend from Accts I met recently (Cal Dunlap) at an Accts MMI trustees meeting (I am a trustee). This was advice on the right attitude to visit other organisations sensitvely. To listen. To learn. To love. I like that too.

It's good that people continue to wonder about God, although what he thinks about us may be more important than what we think about him.

The British Humanist Association are the latest in the line-up to give God some publicity, according to a BBC News report. Aided by Prof Richard Dawkins they plan to run a poster campaign on London buses in January with the slogan: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."

This is described as the Atheist Bus Campaign, and atheists don't believe in God - right? Yet unable to say, "God does not exist," they usethe motto above. I can only conclude that they're concerned that God may exist, and fearful of how he may react if they say he doesn't. This is despite the BHA's headline on its web site that "the humanist view of life is progressive and optimistic, in awe of human potential, living without fear of judgement and death." I'm not sure they've arrived yet, and I also find myself wondering whether God has an even bigger view of human potential than we humans ourselves do.

I am happy to announce that I do enjoy life, in the knowledge that God is very much alive!

I enjoy looking at the BBC news website. There seems to be a curious mixture of the news everyone is talking about and random information. The latest piece of random information is the exciting news that if you are middle aged (or older) blogging is good for you, maybe even better than doing the Times Crossword. Take a look.

On the more general subject of intelligence, I've been reminded that it's not that simple - with IQ, EQ, and SQ. Different people have different perspectives, and it seems to me that much of what we call education encourages people to be numerate, literate etc. (all of which are important); these people see themselves as intelligent (which is true); and are often looked to in times of crisis ahead of those with other kinds of intelligence.

However, to give an example of the current "Credit Crunch" the intelligensia are number crunching to solve the economic problem (IQ), and it is important, but are they in touch with how the population are feeling (EQ) and their perspectives (EQ and IQ) to be able to communicate and motivate effectively? Are they, and all of us, in touch with what is most important (this is about values too) and have the strength of character to win out (largely all about SQ)?

After writing about not colluding with powerlessness, I seem to have got a few things to work on.

My latest upset is Barclays Bank. Some years ago they closed down lots of branches in "small towns" including the one I live in. (Other banks did the same.) The main irritation of this to many people is the difficulty of paying in cheques. Once upon a time, when we lived a long way from a bank, Barclays gave us prepaid envelopes to do this. After a while they refused to do that anymore. Anyway, to lessen the blow to rural communities, they agreed to allow cheques to be paid in at Post Offices. This is useful, supports local Post Offices too (that's nice, because I'm not sure that the government want to support this useful social service) and - unsurprisingly - you have to obtain special envelopes to do this.

What happens if you keep ordering them and they do not arrive? Then you can't use the service anymore.

The system is that you phone a free number and get put through to a helpful person in Mumbai (I have nothing against that in principle.) He asks you for your address which he writes down and then faxes to an office in Britain. The office in Britain then posts the envelopes to my home. This seems a complicated system. Why not just use an online portal that automatically prints out the shipping documents? Why not use e-mail rather than fax?

When I phoned the same number and asked what the procedure was if the system worked, the reply was, "I can only send a fax." So he sent another fax, and the envelopes did not arrive again. Why should they? (Einstein quote!).

When I spoke to UK customer services on the phone, they said they could not help me as they had no "procedure" to do so. Helpfully the lady took ownership of the problem and phoned the same number to ask for some envelopes for me. She had to wait about quarter of an hour in the queuing system.

I'm sure you will await the next instalment with excitement!

I still have not heard from Monarch Airlines, after I wrote to them.

On a brighter note, when I made the effort to chat to my local councillors about some things that were winding me up, I started to understand their problems more, and feel that they are now more in touch with the needs of those they seek to serve. I am impressed by the dedication of people who serve as local councillors, often doing it pretty much full time without a salary.

Here's some good quotes...

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Albert Einstein.

"The usefulness of a cup is in its emptiness." Old Chinese proverb.

"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." Albert Einstein.

This was the subtitle of a day by Revd Steve Chalke MBE entitled "Intimacy and Involvement" at Gloucester Cathedral yesterday. It was organised by the Spirituality Network for Gloucestershire. I was attracted to attend the day because of the reference in his title to Jesus' summary of the (Jewish) law - love God and love your neighbour as yourself - which seems to me to be about as good as it gets in any summary of how to live your life intelligently.

I'm not quite sure what I expected from the day, but usually days organised by Spirituality networks are "Quiet Days" and have a few short talks with lots of space for reflection. However this day involved a lot of listening to Steve (and he is an entertaining speaker) with a bit of group work so we could think about what we might do differently in Gloucester. (Someone pointed out that they were not from Gloucester but Gloucestershire, and I am from neither!) Steve's main point was that during the 20th century, partly because of the state takeover of social security and health care, the church became kind of ghetto of piety instead of being actively engaged in society. So maybe it was appropriate for him to attempt a more action-oriented day. Steve's own response to his own beliefs has been to set up various charities to help build community through schools, hostels, and medical care (Oasis Trust), encourage social action among churches (Faithworks) and now to fight against people trafficking (Stop the traffik).

He made many references to the Torah to make the point that the whole of life should be worship and the family at the centre of it, and not just some time in a church building on a Sunday. He movingly recounted how a Jewish friend, when asked where the worship happened in the sabbath meal, talked of how everything was worship from the hugs to the eating to the conversation. Yes, life should be worship, and there's not much to a religious faith that does not issue in action. However I felt that although his comments were informative and persuasive, his failiure to value the pietistic side of church life gave his comments a lack of balance. Maybe that was the stance he needed to take to encourage us to become more active!

I continue to be attracted by the balanced way in which the Cursillo movement encourages Christians to view their life by looking at piety, study, and action.

I learned some interesting things to do with Jesus' summary of the law, which gives new significanct to Jesus' comments about his yoke being light (Matthew 11:29), the way he invited disciples by saying "follow me" (Matthew 4:19 et al), and references to his authority (Matthew 7:29 et al).

According to Steve, Jewish rabbis (teachers) would be approached by men who wanted to be disciples. If they showed that they knew the scriptures, then they would be accepted by the rabbi with the words "follow me." The disciple knew the scriptures, so what he was to learn was the rabbi's particular interpretation. This was called their yoke. The way in which the teaching of the rabbi was passed on through the generations was through his disciples who were trained for three years and then became rabbis themselves. Some rabbi's passed on the yoke that they had received. Others developed their own interpretation and were said to speak with authority - so this phrase in the Bible is a technical term. When Jesus summarised the law he said (Matthew 22:37-40)

'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments

The two parts of this were well known quotes from the scriptures, he says, however it was a new innovation by Jesus to pair them in this way.

Today I found myself wondering why I don't talk to my local councillor or MP about the things that I do not feel are right in our local area. Reflecting on this, I decided that it is because something in me does not believe that they can make a difference. So feeling that they are powerless, I allow myself to feel powerless too. Our local MP is a Conservative; we have a Labour Government. In these days when democracy in England seems to be about the Prime Minister telling MP's in his party how to vote, rather than ordinary MP's exercising collective influence, I am right to wonder how much influence an MP has - particularly one who is not in the ruling party. Reflecting further, it seems to me that my belief about powerlessness may be wrong, but that even if the belief is correct it is not helpful to accept it!

As I talk to people, it seems that many share a view that they can have little influence on the society that they live in. For example some think that the only influence they have on the world of politics is through voting in a General Election every five years or so. So we seem to have a culture of powerlessness.

If people feel powerless, who do they think calls the shots? As Margaret Mead, anthropologist, wrote: "Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." Is she right?

The Bible develops a similar theme: "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self control." (2 Timothy 1:7)

I find Stephen Covey helpful on this to, as he writes in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People about how we are concerned about many things, but need to focus on those which we can influence. He says this will not only result in us having influence in those areas, but discovering that the number of areas in which we have influence will grow. This contrasts with the common habit of moaning about things which we don't think we can do anything about!

One of the strengths of coaching, which I do, is that it leads people to discover the action that they can take to bring about the changes that they want.

So, I've decided not to collude with a culture of powerlessness.

When I was praying the other day about the challenges of Climate Change, I was reminded of Jesus' "Summary of the (Jewish) Law." He said love God with your whole self; love your neighbour as yourself; and then he explained that the whole law depends on (flows from, is subservient to) these two. (Matthew 22:40.) So life needs to be seen in the context of our relationship with Creator God and with other people.

If this was (is) Jesus' perspective on life; then it needs to be ours also.

Having been thinking along these lines, I found it interesting today to be given publicity for a day event at Gloucester Cathedral by Revd Steve Chalke MBE organised by the Spirituality Network for Gloucestershire. (4th October; 10.00-3:00.) The title is "Intimacy and Involvement" and the sub-title "Love God - Love others - nothing else matters."

SQ Spiritual Intelligence the Ultimate Intelligence - I'm starting to read the book of this title, by Danah Zohar and Ian Marshall, published in 2000. Moving on from IQ and Emotional Intelligence, businesses - and those who coach in business - have been becoming more interested in SQ over the last few years.

Have any of my readers engaged with this subject?

Today is the 22nd Anniversary of my adult conversion to Christianity at Mission Newbury - 25th May 1986, and it was a Sunday then too.

Somehow I was attracted to an advert for this event on Newbury Racecourse on that Sunday evening - even though I had no idea what a "Mission Newbury" was, and was not consciously aware that I wanted to do something about my dormant Christian faith.

On arrival I remember the parking attendants telling me that I was going to have a great evening (in my experience they don't usually behave like that, but are more likely to growl or order you around!) and walking into the vast marqee and being caught up by the enthusiastic singing of modern Christian songs such as I had not heard before.

Somewhere in the middle of the talk by Revd. Colin Urquhart I felt as if I had been "hit between the eyes" by God with the thought that God accepted me, but I was not good at accepting other people.

Leaving that meeting, after talking to people who wanted to pray with me, I felt a new energy and enthusiasm which I can only describe as being like a spring lamb.

With hindsight this event changed my life, and has been the start of a whole series of new adventures, supported by a loving God.

I recommit myself to this ongoing journey.

A BBC report gives details of a revision of the Hadith under way in Turkey.

Pehaps this paragraph summarises the significance.

According to Fadi Hakura, an expert on Turkey from Chatham House in London, Turkey is doing nothing less than recreating Islam - changing it from a religion whose rules must be obeyed, to one designed to serve the needs of people in a modern secular democracy. He says that to achieve it, the state is fashioning a new Islam. "This is kind of akin to the Christian Reformation," he says.

I would love to live
Like a river flows
Carried by the surprise
Of its own unfolding

I find this poem, called Fluent, really moving. It entices me to live in an unknowing of what will happen.

It finishes off a kind of obituary to him in the March issue of Third Way magazine, as they quote an extract from a talk that he gave at Greenbelt, from whose web site you can probably download his talk.

Described as an Irish writer and mystic, he talks of how the root of all our fears is death, and the antidote is love.

Two other quotes touched me. In the first he talks of the importance of remaining best friends with ourselves. The second is this:

Meister Eckhard [a medieval German mystic] said: 'There is a place in the soul that neither time nor flesh nor any created thing can touch'. A place inside you that no one has never got to, or hurt or damaged - a place where there is peace, serenity, courage and healing. At your deepest core you don't actually belong to yourself. But you belong to a beauty, an intimacy and a shelter that offers you every freedom that you could ever imagine.

After pancakes enjoyed last night (with Grand Marnier and ice cream), today Ash Wednesday marks the start of Lent. It is a particularly poignant anniversary for our family.

Many people think that Lent is a time for giving up things, and traditionally it is a time of fasting as a way to draw closer to God. In society at large it seems to me that if people think about wrong-doing they usually think of things that they should stop doing. So it makes sense in Lent to give up the things we think are wrong!

On the other hand, wrong-doing is just as much about things that we have failed to do. To quote an inscription at the Holocaust Museum in Israel: For evil to triumph all that is needed is for good men to do nothing. So how about doing something for Lent as well as giving something up?

My extra bit of doing has come about almost accidentally as I ordered a copy of a book about the Prayer of Jabez, with Bible Study, by Bruce Wilkinson and David Kopp (ISBN 1-57673-979-1), to avoid paying for postage on an Amazon order. I shall read it over the next few weeks. It's all about God's blessing based on a little known man called Jabez who crops up just once in the Bible in 1 Chronicles chapter 4 verses 9 to 10.

Christian encounters Christianity - in one of its most ancient forms amongst the Copts of Egypt. In this third episode (televised yesterday) Peter spends three weeks in a cave in the desert, following the example of the Desert Fathers. They were the first ever monks: living in isolated communities they gained a reputation of closeness to God and great practical wisdom.

Whereas his guides in the previous two episodes had seemed to be encouraging him towards (personal) enlightenment, I felt that here he was introduced to a greater cosmic purpose: that his solitude and prayer might not only affect him but the wider world. Effectiveness in prayer in this sense is about persevering by fighting the demons that become apparent (at the least in the mind).

Having struggled with the silence and solitude, by the middle of his third week he was starting to enjoy it, and - with a face that had started to show joy - he looked forward to "another beautiful day; another difficult day." Life is difficult, if we engage with it.

At the end of his stay he reflected that the battle is about making good choices. (In my mind this connects with the importance of Discernment.) He said that not to join this battle (of concern about truth and what is right) is to be numb. He admitted that when he arrived he had been numb, but that he was now waking up. This felt painful, he said, like being born.

This is a challenge to us all to develop our "inner life," and to seek appropriate help to do so, and to deal with what we find there.

Before he went up the mountain he spent time in the monastery, commenting that the Orthodox form of worship had many differences as well as similarities to that which he was familiar with. In an aside he noted that the practice of prostration when praying was an ancient Christian practice before the Muslims took it on.

On Friday Peter Owen-Jones' fascinating adventures on television continued as he attended the only-every-six-years Hindu Mela (gathering) on the banks of the River Ganges in India, met a guru, and experienced the initiation of lots of Saddhu (holy men).

His last Kung Fu exploit looked pretty hard work, but in this he seemed to look bewildered and out of his depth most of the time. This may have been helped by the hash smoking which seemed to be a necessary part of being a Saddhu, or the very in-your-face experience of lots of naked men covered in ash excitedly converging on the river at dawn to immerse themselves as an initiation. Peter opted out of this part "so as not to offend." On a brighter note, he may not have needed the initiation because as a Church of England Priest the Guru and his followers seemed keen to accept him as a Saddhu.

More insightful was his trip into the Himalayas, dressed in the saffron robes of a Saddhu, to experience solitude in a particular small cave (regularly used for the purpose) in a remote village. He enjoyed the companionship on the way. Unfortunately, after being accepted and fed by the villagers for some weeks, he had to abandon his trek further into the Himalayas because of dysentery.

I found it fascinating that although he didn't really know what being a Saddhu was all about, the villagers accepted him in the role. This may have been helped by some long-awaited rain that fell as he arrived. His cave was empty when he arrived, but gradually the villagers brought him everything he needed from cow dung to bedding to food and water: humbling hospitality.

In reflecting on his own religion, and life as a parish priest in England, he felt that the life of the guru, with casual visits by many people, was perhaps more like the life of Jesus than he had experienced, and how the pattern of being a holy man is perhaps how his predecessors would have experienced their own ministry a few years ago. (This is in contrast to the more managerial way in which many church leaders feel it is right to focus their energies.)

He noted the way in which the Saddhu is "sustained by the faith of the community." In the U.K I note that the church authorities sometimes wonder about how to make the church more relevant, or can blame themselves for lack of impact. This reciprocity in the life of a Saddhu means that one also has to ask whether British society collectively wants holy men (or women) or a church.

I can't wait for the final episode next Friday. Here's the link to the BBC site, you can watch the ones you missed!