Wisdom

"To think & act utilizing knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense & insight".
"Accumulated erudition & enlightenment". - Collins Dictionary.

By now I feel I should have acquired some. More importantly I should be capable of acting on my accrued wisdom & not responding emotionally or without thought of the consequences. At my age, following the path of Enlightenment (awakening to ultimate truth) & Karma (the doctrine of inevitable consequence), I should be a better person than I was.

I think I am - but I would wouldn't I? It's a subjective judgement.

What I'm wondering is whether every person of reasonable intelligence is capable of wisdom? The evidence would seem to point to the answer NO.

I'm thinking of what gets into the news. Politicians decisions, Dictators actions, Criminals offences etc etc...We seem to live in a world where human beings are very capable of acting without even common sense. Behaving in ways which cause really bad consequences for people & the world we live in, the environment. It is truly disappointing, distressing & destructive.

I'm all for Mindfulness, (being aware, heedful, in the moment). I try - it's hard.

But we can't just think of now. We have to think ahead. We have to try to postulate possible outcomes of our behaviour, both individually & collectively. We have to try to avoid bad decisions & consequences.

It seems to me we have become a society of immediate gratification & selfishness. To hell with the future. I'm a Granny. I can't think like that. I wish everyone could try to aspire to Wisdom.

Pleasure

Some friends came to supper last night. D is a whizz at flower arranging, well someone has to be good at it, I'm certainly not! She bought me a round fresh flower table decoration which is beautiful. It's in the middle of my table & I hope it lasts a really long time, because it is giving me so much pleasure every time I go into the kitchen.

We had a nice meal & the conversation flowed, over a huge range of topics, for hours. It was very pleasurable. Human beings need to interact with other humans. We are social animals.

I am playing my piano. I am improving, but there are still bum notes. It is giving me a lot of pleasure & helping stimulate my brain & keep my fingers mobile.

I am painting my shed. The painting itself isn't particularly pleasurable, but my daughter comes over to help me periodically & we talk - non stop. We catch up with eachothers lives in a way we can't over a quick coffee when the twins are there. When she isn't helping me I listen to music on my MP3 player. I suspect that my singing along to Dire Straits, or even worse, opera, isn't pleasurable for passers by though.

I swim 4/5 times a week. I meet nice people & we chat. The actual swimming is truly pleasurable & theraputic. My brain goes into a Zen state. I am exercising my body - good. But I am also relaxing my brain into an altered state - very good. 

I think, in this busy modern world, we have forgotten how important real pleasure is. Pleasure doesn't need to cost money or have a designer label. Pleasure can be very small things.

 

Met Opera - Magic Flute

I went to see the Met's live streaming of Mozart's "Zauberflote", ("Magic Flute" to us mortals), in my local cinema on Saturday. It is, without a doubt, one of my favourite operas.

Unfortunately the sound wasn't synched with the image for the whole of the first half, which was disconcerting to say the least. It didn't look at all like a live performance.

Although it's the cinema, the tickets aren't cheap, so I was more than a little disappointed. After the screen went dead in the second half, suddenly it was OK. No idea whether it was the fault of the Met or the cinema. No one apologised or explained.

The thing is, although it was an amazing production, I think I am going off Met operas. The singers & musicians are always wonderful. (The Queen of the Night was probably the best I've ever heard). The trouble is, for me, that is what is important -  the music & the story. The Met spends money like it's going out of fashion - it must be all of those philanthropic & hugely wealthy Americans who bankroll it & want the kudos of a truly spectacular production.

Do the costumes really always have to be quite so over the top? Ditto the sets? Does the chorus really need to be quite so huge, some not singing, just adding bulk? Do we always need to have ballet in every opera? I find myself distracted by the whole thing. The puppets were amazing & very beautiful, but I felt over stimulated.

The Met nearly went bust not long ago despite the sponsors. I'm not in the least surprised. Just because you can spend money doesn't mean you should. They have obviously never heard the saying "less is more". They should try letting the music & story speak for themselves. Even for an opera like this which lends itself to wonderful costumes & sets.

Whats more important - the singers & the songs or the sets & the "schmutter"?

We are lucky to be able to see great performances from London & all over the world, but I hope live streaming doesn't result in a competition to outdo eachother like women's coffee mornings when they compete to produce the best cake.

Stealing Time

My mobile stopped working in the house last week. I couldn't send or receive texts. Such a pain. I have just changed over from O2 to Carphone Warehouse's iD mobile - much cheaper. This may be a mistake. It finally started working on it's own - iD did nothing other than send me a ridiculously long questionnaire to fill in. At least O2 sorted the problem out, when I had it before with them, with no fuss.

My "Smart" TV stopped working at the beginning of the week - It was smart enough to tell me there was no signal. My unsmart TV upstairs is still working, so obviously it isn't the aerial. Where the hell do you go from there? It has taken quite a bit of time to answer that question. I let it have a rest, thinking that it might be some temporary problem & it might fix itself - After all it is smart. Unfortunately not. My lovely, & very clever neighbour sorted out the problem this morning. I can, apparently watch TV on the internet. Who knew that was what a smart TV is for?

The wireless mouse on my desktop stopped working mid email this morning. I changed it's batteries - I do know that much. I removed the USB & put it back again - I go for simple solutions. No joy. So I got out the unused wired one. It didn't work either. I'm a big believer in rest & recuperation in all circumstances, so I turned the computer off completely. Both decided to work when I switched on again.

All three of these issues happened suddenly, with no warning & apparently sorted themselves out. My point is that technology is supposed to save time & make life easier. I don't know how long I spent trying to resolve each problem, but it was a long time & was very frustrating.

My Carphone Warehouse man, who is a whizz, told me once that I was lucky I'm reasonable techie. He said my generation won't stand a chance soon if they aren't, because everything is changing so fast & becoming so technology reliant.

I won't tell you what some friends said about Smart Meters. Suffice it to say I'm going to resist them till my dying breath.

The Haves & the Have Nots

I can remember, in my first headship in 1979, teaching a class of Juniors & hearing screaming coming from the corridor. I rushed out of the class at top speed. The screaming was coming from the girls toilets. It was a new infant who had finished going to the toilet & who didn't know how to wipe her bottom & pull her pants up. That was how she attracted her mother's attention at home.

The Social Mobility Commission, chaired by Alan Milburn, published a report "State of the Nation 2016". It makes for shocking reading. 
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/state-of-the-nation-report-on-social-mobility-in-great-britain

In the last decade, 500,000 poorer children were not considered school-ready - out of nappies and able to dress themselves - by age five. Having the necessary social & communication skills to be able to listen & learn is on the distant horizon for many of our 5 year olds.

In 40 local authority areas, one third of all employee jobs are paid below the Living Wage. 

More than half the adults in Wales, the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber, the West Midlands and Northern Ireland have less than £100 in savings.

Why are we surprised at the anti-establishment mood that resulted in the Brexit vote and is believed to have swept Donald Trump to power in the US? Social mobility is the best antidote to the growth of political populism whether of right or of left that we are now experiencing. How can you have social mobility if you don't have reasonable educational attainment & educational opportunity for the majority of young people? 

Whole sections of society and areas of Britain feel left behind. We are an 'us and them' society,  A few have power and wealth, a great many just have problems getting by. It is deeply corrosive and divides nations.

I'm a "Have". I'm very lucky. I had a good education - free. I got qualifications which delivered a well paid professional career. We could afford to buy a house & move up the housing ladder. We were financially secure for life with good pensions. We prospered.

The trouble is that the "Haves" are not prepared to give a little to improve the lot of the "Have Nots". They want to hang on to everything they have got. 

Unpredictability

My good friend bought a digital piano to learn how to play. She is really enthusiastic & spends ages every day practising. When I went to stay with her I had a go & it reminded me how much pleasure I got from playing when I was a teenager. I had thought about going back to playing, but hadn't wanted to spend the money on an expensive piano which I might not play much.

My friends' enjoyment made me decide to do it. I ordered my piano today & am really excited about the prospect of playing again. I doubt if I would have gone ahead had she not encouraged me.

A random & unpredictable set of circumstances.

Going to work in Malawi was the result of a donation made to a charity. The CEO came to see me. I offered to help in other ways. I went out for a month to do a specific job. It was quite a meaningful experience I would otherwise not have had.

A random & unpredictable set of circumstances.

We tend to be resistant to change. We want things to stay the same - predictable - comfortable. We tend to think that unpredictability is bad - we want to control our lives. Because we don't welcome & accept change we lose opportunities. Doors don't open.

The older I get, the more I think that it's important to say yes to change. It's important to grasp life's opportunities & be open & outward looking.

Comfort zones are all very well but they are also boundaries. Predictability & routine can be very boring.

Life is for living. We should grasp it with both hands. We don't know when the journey will end.

That's the real unpredictability.

Theresa May

Goodness knows I'm not a Tory. I'm also not a big fan of Theresa May. But, whatever her faults, & despite the many people who have undermined her & not supported her, I do think she has been given a very rough deal. Both her own parliamentary party & the media / press seem to enjoy briefing against her & vilifying her.

What has the poor woman really done to deserve all this? She misjudged an election.

Isn't it interesting that May has largely taken over from Corbyn, who has had exactly the same problems since being elected leader.

MP's, the press & the media are like Pirahna fish circling & taking bites out of their leaders. We the people seem to enjoy the gladiatorial spectacle of some hapless man or woman at the mercy of the  "slings & arrows". We put them up there & then we do our best to make their job almost impossible to do. The whole leadership thing has become a "poisoned chalice". Who on earth would want to do the job, other than a genuine conviction politician or a manipulative, power seeking, clown like Boris Johnson?

We had better come to our senses. There has to be someone in charge. That democratically elected person deserves support & loyalty from their closest colleagues & the people who voted for them. We should not expect a leader to be omnipotent - they will make mistakes - they are human.

I think both Theresa May & Jeremy Corbyn have strong beliefs & ideals. I think they are both hard working. I doubt they have much time for family life or relaxation. Leaders give up a lot to lead.

What more do we want? For goodness sake lets give them a chance, rather than going in for "the kill" like a pack of lions.