Whatever Is Wholesome

will in all probability
also seem quite light,
and be quite deep,
whilst proving to be solid.

And at its heart
there will be humour.

The Prayer Of The Man Trapped In Room 101

Lord defend me from the people
whose sole definition of themselves
is their otherness from the people
in whom they see no need for empathy. Amen. 

Artifice Of Intelligence

When machines apologize
as if they were real people,
and when we accept their words
without asking 'Who programmed this machine to say 'Sorry'?'
we have taken a step too many in the wrong direction,
away from knowing the weakness of our flesh and spirit selves.  

Mirthful Housing

What improves my life
is the mutual reinforcing
strengths of humour and asceticism
that I find through good friends.

They combine so well,
and enrich each other,
they could define 'forever'.

Simple Rules For A Better Life

1-Live within your means.
2-Promptly return everything you borrow.
3-Don't blame other people
(until they really did ill by you).
4-When you make a mistake admit it.
5-Give unworn clothing to charity
(bin clothing too worn to sell).
6-Listen more, talk less, use reason in speech.
7-Do good things naturally and discreetly,
(be modest but open about having done them).
8-Minimize your need for secrecy.
9-Walk 30 mins every day.
10-Strive for excellence, forget perfection.
11-Be punctual.
12-Don't make excuses to yourself  (other people
will see through them faster than you will).
13-If you need to argue, both be calm and use logic.
14-Be organized.
15-Be kind to unkind people
(whilst stopping them be cruel to you).
16-Take time to be alone.
17-Let people cut into queues ahead of you
when you have the time and they don't.
18-Cultivate good manners
(swear if you must but without anger).
19- Accept that life will not always be fair.
20-Go as many days as you can without criticizing people.
21-Know when to say less and make it sound enough.
22-Learn from the past, plan for the future, live in the present.
23-The small stuff is the small stuff, don't stress on it.

If you can do any or all of the above
without resorting to fear, defensiveness,
or a pietism that makes you seem falsely genteel,
then you will have gone beyond 'being an achiever'.

   

Unseasonal Greetings (2)

I got the greatest warmth and most fabulous smells 
when in the new year my friend and neighbour
gave me her Christmas tree-for burning.....

How Much Slack

must we cut our enemies
before they hang us
then hang themselves?
For as much we have enemies
it was not our intent to create,
and did not ask for,
we must be as crafty as snakes
and as gentle as doves
to survive the unexpected.

For A Life After Testosterone

Many men are in love with their senses,
women too, particularly when engaged
in a heightened sense of mutual sensuality.
Who would deny another a shared high?
But the taste of well prepared food
shared with a companion is what settles me.
And even more powerful is a heart
that is feels light, from an easy burden.
 

The False Self

that brings us popularity
gives us a false popularity.

Alas

irony is the last thing
education can teach us
-but it is a vital thing
for understanding life.

The Lighter Life

creating debt is human,
cancelling debts is divine.

For The Oldest And Best

in unwaged creativity
the most basic choice
since the troglodytes
it has to be housework.

Like 'Our Lord'

-a saintly patron for non-breeders
who has too long been hijacked
by the zealots of patriarchal 'family values',
many of them women-all we can do
is hold to what we sense is true
and resist the family centred world,
where false behaviour comes with such ease.
We can think carefully about our own flesh/nature.

As Jesus Never Said

Pride is the gift
that uniquely
you give yourself
that is hardest
to dispose of.

A Youthful Prayer

from the hindsight of misbegotten middle age.
'Lord, help me to find the experiencees
I can have, in their unfolding sequence,
and to know beyond doubt those things
that I can't have and I really should not want.
Most of  all let me have the solid reasons why
-the better to withstand the jealousy
of those who insist they are my elders and betters. Amen'

Like Cruelty

kindness is something we make
through our thoughts and actions.
It does not come out of a tap-
we are the source of both,
and we so easily turn off the kindness-
in favour of indifference.
Worse, we can come to think
that the good we do is not ours
to do, but for some other person
to tell to deliver on our behalf,
and still claim it as our kindness.
Worst of all is the belief we deserve
far more credit for our kindness
(or our cruelty) than we get.

The Shoppers Rest

Airports have had multi-faith
spiritual rest rooms for many years,
and these rooms are in transitory places,
where their chances of being well used
are surely minimal. Why not have them
where the human traffic is at high volume,
near people homes, in the local supermarket?
There they would be the shoppers rest-
the one area in the aircraft hanger
sized buildings where Mammon measures all
and life is stressful. Add volunteer chaplains
to help calm shoppers and the rest rooms
could start to re-inspire faith in community.

The Circle Of Doubt

A prayer for the worried; Lord help them to worry
more about the lives they know they can change
more than life they can't. And to know the difference.
When they worry about life, then Lord help them to act,
to refresh themselves, to break the circularity of their thoughts.
Finally, Lord, give me insight when I worry about the worried.
Particularly including myself. Amen.