Birds of Paradise

This was published in The Tablet this week (20.6.15)

Birds of Paradise by Mary Colwell

Birds of Paradise by Mary Colwell

The M4 Shepherd

Sometimes random things stick in your mind for years, and it was many years ago I remember listening to a programme on Radio 4 about a man who is the shepherd of a flock of sheep which graze the grassy banks of a big reservoir right by the side of the M4 near Heathrow.  The sheep keep the slopes from becoming overgrown; it is cheaper and easier than mowing places that are so steep.  The shepherd was interviewed and the conversation went something like: “Isn’t it strange being a shepherd of a reservoir, especially so close to the M4 and Heathrow, a shepherd usually looks after sheep in the countryside or even mountains?”  He replied, “Not at all, sheep are sheep, doesn’t matter where they are really, the job is the same.”  What an oddity to remember, but somehow the image of a shepherd concentrating on sheep, despite the roar of planes taking off and the thunder of millions of cars zooming past, was comforting.

I know the job of a shepherd has changed beyond recognition through time.  Today shepherds ride around on quad bikes, even helicopters, and they use chemicals and trucks and all kinds of breeding techniques on their sheep, it simply isn’t the same as it was 2000 years ago.  The sentimental image of a man carrying a crook and carefully tending his flock all day in the fields has long gone, shepherds are in the modern world; the emotional involvement however is most likely still the same.  How a shepherd does the job day to day has changed, what he or she feels probably hasn’t.

In May 2009, lambing time, The Guardian interviewed a shepherd about daily life and when asked why he loves it Andy Jackman replied: "It's not a job, it's a way of life, and it's got to be treated as a way of life, because you couldn't do it otherwise. But it is extremely rewarding. And you're here now talking to me at the most rewarding time of the year." What's so nice about it? "Life," he says immediately. "Life. Life is coming up in front of your very eyes. And you're helping to bring life into the world."  No change there then, the heart of the job is still the same.  Andy Jackman didn’t say he loved it because it was in the countryside or up a mountain, but because it was about life.

This image has been stronger in my mind the last few weeks as the Catholic Church charters stormy and unknown waters.  This vast and traditional institution faces change and it is notoriously slow at changing.  The media is baying for a shift in position and transparency; the laity is unsettled and disturbed by the accumulating mass of crimes and cover-ups (or head-in-the-sand approaches).  The public shaming of Keith O’Brien has been a severe blow.  How will these senior shepherds re-group and focus in Rome over the next few days with so much pressure?

The image of a shepherd doing the job of tending no matter how fast life zooms around is a good one.  The job of a leader is to stay focussed and lead through change, not to ignore it or be carried away by it.  The M4 shepherd and Alan Jackman are modern shepherds who operate in a contemporary world whilst still doing the basic job of caring and managing.  So it is with the leaders of the Catholic Church, it is imperative not to be tied to a past that no longer exists but at the same time hold firm to the basic instruction of Jesus to “feed my sheep.” Change is inevitable and often good but if change is always regarded as wrong then the leader can no longer lead successfully in a dynamic world, and the sheep suffer.  I’ll be praying for calm wisdom and courage as the media storm whirls around the Vatican and I’ll also be praying for healing for all those who have been hurt, wronged and degraded as the walls crumble.

Swifts are soaring

There's been some great news about people taking up the request to put swift boxes on churches or religious buildings.  

My article appeared in The Tablet and was called Holy Birds of the Heavens.

Holy Birds of the Heaven : Tablet 21 April 2012

St Albans putting up swift boxes

 St Albans got on with it straight away as they already had scaffolding on the roof.

St Beuno's

St Beuno's in N Wales - the Jesuit retreat house featured in The Big Silence - are just about to put up two boxes and will send pictures when they do.

The Churches Conservation Trust have also agreed to put up swift boxes in suitable places - they have 341 churches that might work!  They are in the process of getting a plan together so I'll keep you posted.

There has also been interest from Bristol Cathedral - so watch this space for swift updates.

Confidently Spiritual - a Bigger Big Society

Arctic tern over waves - N Ireland

Listening to Today again this morning I was struck by the undercurrent coming through the interviews around the change we expect to see in the coming year.  What will be different in 2012? was the question posed, what are the trends?  It was no surprise to hear a whole range of people talk about new values, re-adjustment of our ideas about what is important etc.  Nothing new there...

One interview was very interesting. It was with 2 academics who want the Prime Minister to redefine what he means by The Big Society.  Professor Anthony Seldon, master of Wellington College, and Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the RSA, argue that the concept needs deepening and extending.  This is not just a call for more voluntary work but a drive to create citizens that are fit for purpose.

Anthony Seldon wants  the Big Society concept to have more "more substance" and with a more "thoughtful" government and more "responsible" and "responsive" citizenry.  Matthew Taylor says The Big Society "needs big citizens", with people being "more autonomous" and "responsible".

What does all that mean?  For me it is hinting at a deeper aspect to people than present society would allow us to believe is important.   Big, selfless, giving, responsible, substantial people are generated by looking out and up.  They are people who don't see themselves as the centre of everything.  Its not all about you!  That could be the strap line for The Big Society in its new form.

The new BS people are not simply concerned with pay packets and career prospects but with generating a thriving community that seeks justice, peace and integrity.  It is all sounding familiar.

It is not essential to have a religious faith to be a new BS person - by no means - but to those who have a faith it gives a framework to operate from within, a sense of bigness that takes us way beyond the day to day and allows us to see the familiar in a huge, new context. Happiness is not generated by wealth but by living in a faith consistent way that is based on doing the right thing.

For me the new BS is based on 4 relationships which I discuss in my public talks a lot.  To be the fully human, big people for a big society there are only 4 relationships we have to get right and in balance.  Our relationship with God, with ourselves, with each other and with the earth.

The Catholic Church is urging people to be "confidently Catholic" this coming year.  By that I think it means that we shouldn't be embarrassed or shy about showing the world that faith is important - and people will only perceive that it means something if we demonstrate that the Christian values of giving, service, truthfulness, community spirit and peacemaking are at the heart of our actions.  Of course these are not only Catholic - these are values that are enshrined by all the religions of the world - and for those who simply call themselves "spiritual."  To live for God is to be a big citizen.

Perhaps society should be more "confidently spiritual" in 2012, be outward about something greater than ourselves.  I am convinced society will be happier, more fulfilled and more content if we do.

Jerusalem Awards Shortlist

The Boxing Vicar has been shortlisted for the Jerusalem Awards, series category. Awards ceremony on October 20th so fingers crossed...
CTVC helped fund this project so thanks to them.

The Boxing Vicar

Here are 3 short films/podcasts I made with Brian Branche - a C of E vicar who was also a champion boxer in his youth. He found the skills he learned in the ring helped him cope with situations he came across in some of the most challenging parishes in England. Brian is warm, thoughtful and this is a real insight into the connection between spirituality and sport.
Annette Dunn composed the music.

Empathy, ducks and the key to the future

I have this long held conviction that the re-discovery and re-finding of the seemingly unique ability of people to empathise, individually and as a society, will hold the key to the future. Empathy seems to be unique to humans, whereas sympathy might be experienced by other animals - such as primates. The ability to understand and share the feelings of others is at the heart of all spirituality - it is the key to action and can unlock great forces within individuals as well as societies. To truly empathise is difficult and requires great imagination - as the psychoanalyst Heinz Kohut said -

"Empathy is the capacity to think and feel oneself into the inner life of another person".

And that is what allows us to write great poetry and fiction, compose music, help those in need and to understand the forces of history.

There is no way we can understand the meaning and message behind the lives of the Buddha, Christ, The Prophet or any other great spiritual leader unless our ability to empathise is honed. Empathy is thought to be innate to some degree, but can be learned and refined - or completely stamped out.

Is it just confined to humans? When a dolphin or an ape helps a human in trouble, and there are certainly examples of that, are they empathising? I believe that is sympathy - wanting to help a creature in trouble. And animal behaviourists would say it is adaptive to help - because then others might help you in the future. But empathy involves another layer of concern and understanding that goes beyond good works and enters into the realm of imaginative living.

Sympathy will motivate us to practical action to help those in need - empathy will drive those feelings to a deeper level of sustained action that will solve problems and work for change. And we need that in every situation. We will change the world for the better is empathy is on the curriculum, in the papers and out on the streets.

I found this quite old blog on the web. It makes some good points about the effects on society when empathy is stifled - leading to slavery, apartheid, gross differences in wealth, cruelty and abuse. But if empathy permeated society we couldn't allow any of those to happen.

But what about empathy and the environment? Can we feel ourselves in the position of a habitat? A tuna? Perhaps not - in the same way anyway - but we can reflect on the duck story. Those who know me will have heard this story many times, but it is worth repeating because it raises questions that need to be answered.

When I made natural history films I filmed a rare duck in the High Arctic - a spectacled eider. They never leave the Arctic Circle and amazingly even spend the winter months sitting in huge flocks in the sea ice.

Male Spectacled Eider

Photo by Hugbunny

I filmed them on a remote island in the middle of the Colville River delta - a wild, flat, muddy, desolate yet hauntingly beautiful place. 4 females regularly nested on this particular island and we saw them raise their young and the ducklings swim off into the vast Arctic ocean. it was magical.

A couple of years later I phoned the man who owned the island and asked how the birds were doing - it is very sad he said, he went to check on them the year after I left and found all 4 had been shot sitting on their nests. No one had taken the bodies for food or feathers, the eggs were cold - they were shot for being ducks on N America.

My question is this: if Christ had been walking over that island and had found those shot ducks - would he have wept? Not just for the wickedness of the people who killed them, but the ducks themselves?

For me, unequivocally yes, for some I have asked (and they are almost all higher levels in the clergy) say no - God would not weep over that which is not human.

To me that is simply wrong-headed and makes God so small minded (but then much of "traditional" religion is so full of boxes God isn't allowed to be big).

Empathy is being able to creatively imagine the right life for those creatures, their sense of well-being in the place they are meant to be and living a life that is flourishing. I don't know whether a duck can feel happiness but it can certainly desire to be in a state that allows it a healthy and fruitful life, and they certainly feel fear and pain. To be shot while nesting for no other reason than a distorted sense of self importance is worth shedding tears for. The potential for those ducks to be fully alive and to contribute to the health, wealth and diversity of the planet was taken away.

The best example of one who lived an empathetic life that we could all emulate is John Muir, whose sense of otherness in nature was unsurpassed. He has to be the greatest environmentalist, nature poet and environmental spiritual leader.

"A few minutes ago every tree was excited, bowing to the roaring storm, waving, swirling, tossing their branches in glorious enthusiasm like worship. But though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease."

And he captures exactly a life with no empathy - for nature or much else.

"Most people are on the world, not in it—have no conscious sympathy or relationship to anything about them—undiffused, separate, and rigidly alone like marbles of polished stone, touching but separate."

And therein lies the source of so many of this earth's woes.