Reflections on "The Naked Now"

I have been reading a very engaging and provocative book by Richard Rohr recently, entitled The Naked Now. It is subtitled "Learning to See as the Mystics See," and has provided much food for thought. The dense ideas contained within have caused me to read and reread and reread again many of the chapters in an attempt to begin to understand what he's actually saying. While I'm sure I haven't grasped more than a fraction of what he's saying yet, here are the main messages I am drawing from the book.

Authentic Christian faith is NOT about adhering to a correct set of dogmas, principles or beliefs about God. That is a very dualistic, either-or, win-lose approach to seeing the world, and unfortunately, Western Christendom has fallen into this very trap as much as anyone else. The church tells people what to know more than how to know, what to see rather than how to see.

What Rohr is challenging us to is a nondualistic way of seeing the world, of opening ourselves to being open to experiences, of being willing to hold unresolved tensions within ourselves without needing to find immediate solutions, and to weigh positive and negative consequences without rushing to label, analyze, or judge the "wrong" or "perfect" answer. He calls us to let go our need for control.

I particularly liked what he said about how we transfer our own either-or mentality onto God. This is what he referred to as "the two heels of a Christian Achilles":

1. The individual Christian is told to love unconditionally, but the God who commands this is depicted as having a very conditional and quite exclusive love himself or herself! The believer is told to love his enemies, but "God" clearly does not; in fact, God punishes them for all eternity. This stifles and paralyzes many believers at the conscious or unconscious level, and it should. Such a message will not save the world and surely will not produce many great or loving people. The many loving Christians I have met in my life usually have had at least one unconditionally loving parent or friend along the way, and God was then able to second the motion. There are remarkable exceptions to this, however. I have met a few humanly unloved people whose need for divine love was so great that they surrendered to it--utterly. The Gospel worked for them.

2. Under the message that most of us have heard, we end up being more loving than God, and then not taking God very seriously. Even my less-than-saintly friends, the ordinary Joes on the block, would usually give a guy a break, overlook some mistakes, and even on their worst days would not imagine torturing people who do not like them, worship them, or believe in them. "God" ends up looking rather petty, needy, narcissistic, and easily offended. God's offended justice is clearly much stronger than God's mercy, it seems. Why would anyone trust or love such a God, or want to be alone with Him or Her? Much less spend eternity with such a Being? I wouldn't. We must come to recognize that this perspective, conscious or unconscious, is at the basis of much agnosticism and atheism in the West today.

He describes Jesus call to repent as really a call to change: to have the humility to keep growing and changing throughout our lives. Love and suffering are the two paths by which our inner defenses must be broken down to enable us to open ourselves to nonpolarity thinking, to die to our old selves and open up in new ways to new understandings and ways of knowing.

I have been through a range of emotions today, both joy at some of the ways I feel God is speaking to me through Rohr, and also anger at current world politics--both the way I think the current British government is causing great injustice by forcing the poorest people in Britain (through massive cutbacks of social services and unfair taxation) to pay for the economic problems brought about by the richest members of the population, as well as the whole situation in Libya, and confusion at what a faithful response to such situations might look like.

I think if I read Rohr correctly, it is I who need to be changed: to forgive myself for the ways in which I am complicit in the structural injustices in our world, and to seek to live more justly on a personal level in whatever ways I can.

British English Terms and Their Canadian Translations

I want to record some of the British expressions and vocabulary I have learned in the time I have been in England. Here is a sampling of some expressions:

"I'm not bothered." I couldn't care less.

"I'm feeling knackered." I'm completely exhausted.

"Y'alright?" How are you? (A bit like the Southern US version, except a bit less drawl and much less l in alright.)

"That's a bit dodgy." Looks a bit sketchy to me.

"Essex girls" Teen girls who dress provocatively (read, "tramp") and parade around pubs and night clubs, particularly at weekends

"In'it?" Isn't it?

And here's vocabulary that was either new to me, or used in a different way than I am used to.

loo and toilet--used to refer to the entire room in which the toilet is housed; they don't use the words bathroom or washroom here.

subway--a walkway under busy streets enabling pedestrians to cross safely.

tube--what in Toronto is called the subway; an underground train.

full stop--period.

rubbish bin--garbage can

trousers--pants

pants--underwear

jumper--pullover sweater

rubber--eraser

braces--suspenders

crisps--chips

chips--fries

courgette--zucchini

aubergine--eggplant

swede--turnip

cornflour--cornstarch

playtime--recess

headteacher--principal

aeroplane--airplane

telly--T.V.

flat--apartment

Tom-Tom--Sat-Nav

I fancy--I want/desire

snog--kiss

the Secret Lives of Teachers

I found this book of poetry about teachers in the library at one of the schools I tutor at a little while ago and thought I had to copy down a few of my favourites. I share them here for your enjoyment.

Hands

by John Kitching

Last Saturday, shopping with my mum downtown

I caught a glimpse of Mrs. Brown.

she must be 50 if she's a day.

Her face is wrinkled

and she's gone quite grey.

she's very old-fashioned,

Wears blacks and blues,

Thick, thick stockings,

and granny-type shoes.

But imagine if you can,

My huge surprise.

I hardly could believe my eyes.

There she was in the Saturday street,

Just as usual, greyly neat.

But walking along arm-in-arm

And holding the hand

Of a rock star from my favourite band.

And then I tell you

(I nearly missed it)

He took her hand

And gently kissed it!

And then my mum whispered

In a voice that just carried,

'But didn't you know

Those two are married?

Mrs. Brown's been married to him for years.'

I hardly could believe my ears.

Who would have thought

Rock stars could ever have wives--

Or that teachers could ever

Have such secret lives?

This next one tells you a bit about the status of teachers in Britain.

Extra-Money Activities

by Gina Duthwaite

Mr Count who teaches Maths,

became a comic just for laughs.

Behind the bar is Mme Drench,

who by day takes us for French.

Dinner lady, Mrs. Kipper,

took the job as part-time stripper.

Mr. Smart from Art and Craft,

earns more for brushing floors. It's daft!

Miss Plummy-Tongue, of gentle breed,

who listens to us when we read,

at night is now attending to

the cloakroom and the ladies' loo.

German tutor Herr von Frizz

compiles the local knowledge quiz.

Jack O'Toole O'school caretaker,

got appointed as head waiter.

Mrs. Note, the Music tutor's

ringing bells for 'TIME,' in future.

We hesitate er...to announce...er...

the Head's applied to be a bouncer.

Postcard from the Edge

by Jane Wright

Dear class ______(fill in year)

I'm having __ a wonderful time ___ sweet dreams of you ____a nervous breakdown.

We arrived after 16 ___ hours ____ days ____Hell's Angels helped us fix our flat tyre.

Still the hotel is ____ atop a huge cliff; ____sliding over the cliff ____not built yet

and the views over ___ the sea ____ the bins ____ Tesco's (a major grocery chain) car park

are staggering.

I'd like to ___take in the sea air _____teach the world to sing _____strangle every one of you personally

but the doctor says ____I should take it easy _____I'm a raving loony _____I need help.

You mustn't think ____I don't miss you _____I like you _____because it hurts your head.

But I admit taking this holiday is exactly ____what I needed ____what you needed ____what the rest of the staff needed.

I know that little chemistry experiment was ____an accident ____an act of genius ____an act of sabbotage

and that you didn't mean ____for it to happen _____to blow up the school ____to set my cardigan on fire.

Auntie Jane ____is looking after me very well ____is sick of the sight of me ____has fallen in love with one of the Hell's Angels

and says I should be up and about by ____next week ____next Christmas ____the time she counts to three

otherwise ____she'll have to get the doctor back ____she'll shout for Uncle Alfie ____there'll be trouble.

See you ____soon, I hope ______not if I see you first ____in court.

Your _____loving _____demented ______redundant

teacher,

____________________ (sign here).

Through the Staffroom Door

by Brian Moses

Ten tired teacher slumped in the staffroom at playtime,

One collapsed when the coffee ran out, then there were nine.

Nine tired teachers making lists of things they hate,

One remembered playground duty, then there were eight.

Eight tired teachers thinking of holidays in Devon,

One slipped off to pack his case, then there were seven.

Seven tired teachers weary of children's tricks,

One hid in the stock cupboard, then there were six.

Six tired teachers under the weather, barely alive,

One gave an enormous sneeze, then there were five.

Five tired teachers gazing at the open door,

One made a quick getaway, then there were four.

Four tired teachers faces lined with misery,

One locked herself in the ladies, then there were three.

Three tired teachers wondering what to do,

One started screaming, then there were two.

Two tired teachers thinking life really ought to be fun,

One was summoned to see the head, then there was one.

One tired teacher caught napping in the afternoon sun,

fled quickly from the staffroom, then there was none.

St. Albans and Havering Park

You may have noticed that since I began dating David, I have gone from a weekly blogger, to more like a monthly blogger. Somehow my weekends seem to fill up a lot more lately!

In late-January, David and I made a trip to St. Alban's one weekend, a town established around a monastery named for the first British Christian martyr, St. Alban. It grew up very close to the even older Roman town of Verulamium. Part of the old Roman wall (some 1800 years old) surrounding the town is still standing . Here we are standing in front of the St. Alban's Cathedral.

I love the interesting names the English give to their pubs. In case you can't quite read that, it says, "Ye Olde Fighting Cocks."

We had a lovely lunch at Cafe Rouge in town, and then headed to the Roman Museum to learn a bit about the Romans in Britain.

Here is a photo of the cathedral from a different perspective when we were coming back at dusk.
We had a fun day with less than an hour ride each way. Best part...the train trip only cost £6.80 each.

Last weekend, David was at a workshop for the weekend so I had a busy day at home on Saturday doing all the errands that I never seem to find time to do these days. Then on Sunday, several teacher friends came over for potluck brunch before going for a walk through Havering County Park, just north of my house. The weather was fine, and it was nice to get out for a walk with them.

Jessie, Jess, and Filomena.
Rolling English countryside.

Whilst I hear reports of -30 C and 20 cm of snow back home, we here are experiencing mostly cloudy, mild weather with the occasional burst of sunshine to relieve our SAD symptoms. One of my housemates is taking Vitamin D to lift her mood. However, the trees are all budding, and it feels like spring is around the corner. We aren't going to work and coming home in pitch blackness anymore, so that feels good. And I am looking forward to a visit from my family in April. The Eurostar tickets for our trip down to the Netherlands to visit some Nigeria friends arrived today. I don't think much of customer service in England generally, but I must say, the Royal Mail does a darn good job, since I only ordered them about 36 hours before they arrived!

Hope this finds you well. Take care. J

New Year

Hello everybody. It has been another couple weeks since I posted. What have I done since?

David and I went into Central London on New Years' Eve, but waited too late to get a front place view of the fireworks, as all access points had just been closed off by the time we arrived shortly after 11. So we walked up to Trafalgar Square and watched the New Year in on the jumbotron screen instead. Lots of drunken partiers and piles of rubbish on the sidewalks! I got sprayed by champagne at midnight by one enthusiastic reveler.

I spent that weekend at David's place and we had a really good and relaxing time together. We discovered a mutual interest in Scrabble amongst other things, and tuned in to part of the 12-day BBC special feature on Mozart (over the first 12 days of the New Year, they're playing every single piece of music the guy ever wrote!)

I met my friend Trish (from my Rouge Valley church family)--who was visiting various friends spread around the outskirts of London--in London on Wednesday last week, and we had a good time walking through Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, and Covent Garden and then going to the British Museum for part of the afternoon. It was a nice chance to catch up with her and to receive and send greetings to folks back home.

I went into school again on Thursday last week (the kids had returned on Wednesday) to get organized for this school term, and did a bit of tutoring on Friday. Then I met Trish and David downtown for drinks on Friday night before Trish went to see west-end show, Billy Elliot. Again, we had a lovely time together.

After spending Friday night and Satuday morning with David, I came home on Saturday afternoon, to allow him to spend some time preparing for an interview--which by the time I write this, should be over or almost over. He is interviewing for a public health job, which involves researching/asking questions relative to the government's proposal to get rid of a layer of middle management within the health system and delegate a lot of managing to GPs instead. This is an area of personal concern for David, and he is eager to be involved in asking relevant questions about how this might work, or indeed, what the long-term outcomes of such a decision might be. So he has spent a good chunk of the last week boning up on the current structure of the NHS (National Health Services) familiarizing himself with the relevant information/terminology.

Today I have taken off work, since the school at which I tutor is being inspected by OFSTED today and tomorrow. This is an inspection in which teachers are each evaluated during their lessons as to the effectiveness of their teaching and the school is evaluated as well. It is a high-stress event for all concerned, particularly for schools which have received poor results in the past.

Tomorrow I will be back at my other school, Five Elms again, and then Wednesday I am going to meet the head at another school in order to get started tutoring there in the next week.

Hope you are having a good start to 2011. 'Til next time,

Julie

Christmas with the Armes Family

The UK did have a white Christmas...first time in at least forty years! These two photos are taken just outside my house (above) and on Collier Row Road (the main road I walk along to get groceries).
Greetings...I am back in Romford again after spending Christmas Eve until today with David's family in Letchworth (north of London in Hertfordshire). I took the train up to Letchworth on Friday afternoon where I was met by David and his sister, Jo.

We have had a lovely weekend together. Joan (David's mom) spent a large part of the weekend in the kitchen for the big family meals each of the three days we were all there. Both David and Jo's husband, John are vegetarians, so there were vegetarian entrees at each meal in addition to the fish, turkey, and ham the rest of us had. The rest of us tried to pitch in and help where we could.

I had my first real experience with the crackers that that British like to hand out at Christmas. They're like a wish bone, in that two people pull the cracker and the person who gets the middle (filled) part of the cracker is supposed to win it. It contains a joke and a (gag) toy of some kind--a protractor with shape cutouts you can trace, or a tangram, or a miniature set of playing cards. Another popular tradition seems to be the little firecrackers that pop when you pull the string and send a stream of tissue paper strings across the table at the person at whom they are aimed. Each person's placemat was adorned with both of these items at both the Christmas Day dinner (just family present) and the Boxing Day buffet (to which two of Jeff and Joan's friends were invited).

Stevie, Jeff (Grandad), and (Uncle) David at the beautifully decorated table for Christmas Day dinner.

We had several games of Charades (which I initially heard as Sheraz) as well as completing a 500-piece jigsaw of Europe on Christmas Day, and then the 1000-piece one pictured below last night and this morning.
The three most persistent puzzlers--Jo, daughter Stevie, and yours truly. David and John and Joan also gave us some help at various points along the way.

Canterbury and Snow

It has been over three weeks since I last posted... much has happened. On Dec 2, my teacher friends and I went into London for the annual tree-lighting ceremony in Trafalgar Square of the 70-ft tall Norwegian pine given to London by the people of Oslo for their support during WWII. Then we celebrated Chelsea's birthday by going to a South Asian restaurant called Inamo that enabled us to order our meal off the table. That is to say, it was a touch-sensitive table with drop-down menus that displayed a picture of any selected dish on your plate. You drag and drop your menu selections into the shopping basket and they bring it to you. While you were waiting, you could play battleship with the person sitting across fro you, solve a jigsaw puzzle, look at a map of the area around the restaurant, or view a video of the chefs working in the kitchen.

On Dec 4, David and I visited his parents in Letchworth. We had a lovely visit, and they invited me to spend Christmas with them.

A week ago, we had our TimePlan Christmas social at the Christmas Market in Hyde Park. We went skating at the rink set up for one month over Christmas. It was rather rough, wet ice, and a very packed rink. Funny to watch the Londoners careen around or cling to the wall.

On Tuesday of this past week, David came out to my choir concert on Tuesday afternoon. We sang for a seniors group at a church in Romford, who were very appreciative of our efforts. We sang a variety of John Rutter carols as well as an arrangement of Auld Lang Syne and a few other seasonal pieces.

Friday I finished my tutoring work for the term, and my Bible Study group (from Chase Cross) had a Christas social. Then on Saturday, David and Esther (my housemate) and I went to Canterbury for the day. We saw the Cathedral and did some shopping. Canterbury is a gorgeous town, and was especially so after 10 c of snow fell.

With David, before snow.
Esther and I.

Entrance to Canterbury Cathedral.

This week I a enjoying a quiet week at hoe. Which is good, since the English cannot--CANNOT--deal with snow in any quantity. Trains, planes, and buses are all affected by the snow. I have several friends whose flights have been cancelled, and have heard of someone who sat on a plane for 5-6 hours on Saturday, the third plane in the queue to depart before finally being sent back home and told to return on Thursday. Heathrow has just closed the airport to any new passengers hoping to fly, as it is packed wall-to-wall with people hoping, waiting. There are massive lineups and delays and cancellations on Eurostar services too. More snow and colder weather is predicted for the rest of this week, so it sees all but certain that Britain will have a white Christmas this year. We are beginning to wonder if we might have a quiet Christmas, just the four of us here if even the local trains are shut down on Thursday and Friday this week. I am glad that I had no big travelling plans this month.