A Third Way?

    Anyone following this blog will have seen how I have consistently done my bit to call out the lies of Mr Johnson and his cronies, not to mention Donald Trump, without however labouring the point too much, since I set out neither particularly concerned with British nor American politics.  Remorselessly, principally via Brexit and then covid, I have been sucked into being so.

     President Trump revealed himself most starkly, I have said, in three monstrous lies:- that climate change is an empty myth, that covid is 'a hoax', and that in fact he won that election. Yet as it happens I also believe the monumental assault on the very idea of truth that we are suffering has deeper roots than right-wing politics.

     Consider two core beliefs of the other, 'progressive' crowd, with regard to abortion and homosexual 'marriage'; in common with previous generations and all major religious traditions, I consider it undeniable that the former is the willful destruction of a vulnerable human life and as such cannot be termed a 'right', and also that it is a lie to characterise a relationship between two persons of the same sex as 'marriage'.  The impact of the dramatic and sudden reclassification of these fundamental human functions, in spite of all previous conceptions, was bound to be immensely destabilising, and indeed destructive of the very idea of truth. Nowadays, apparently, there is only to be 'your truth' and 'my truth'.

     Until he failed so dismally to stand up against the Brexit bandwagon, I entertained some hope that Sir Keir Starmer might manage to bring about a change of direction across the water. One phrase of his in a tweet today completes the disillusion. He refers to 'Holocaust deniers, anti-vaxxers and people harmful to public interest'. Wow! I hadn't realised that things were that bad, as I lead my somewhat sheltered island life.

It's not however as sheltered as it might have been lately. This last week I have been to hospital in Cork every day for radiotherapy. I am taken by a wonderful voluntary outfit, Cancer Connect, sometimes by car and sometimes by minibus. So far so good, but one of the drivers, on learning that I am not vaccinated, said 'oh, you're one of them!', meaning evidently one of the anti-social types refusing vaccination. 'Somebody has to do it!' was my reply. Again, I have set out my reasoning in recent blogs. What I want to discuss in this one is the possibility of a third way emerging, beyond left and right. It turns out that this irremediably politicised pandemic provides a pretty good lens through which to do so.

The fact that, albeit eventually and reluctantly, I have accepted radiotherapy for this prostate cancer, demonstrates that I have an open mind about medical science, and am very ready to agree that there are many caring professionals out there whose experience, together with the knowledge behind it, have to be respected even if not always agreed with; I also think that they are subject to massive commercial influences which they may not even recognise themselves, and what's more that their whole training and mindset is conditioned by the Cartesian split, which pits reason and science against spiritual reality. It was how the western world chose to proceed into the modern age, by hiving reason and faith off into separate compartments (and frequently then binning faith).

I do not categorically reject the use of vaccination, anymore than I dismiss scientific knowledge, vitiated though it may be by the aforesaid Cartesian split. As the saying goes, science is a good servant, but a bad master. In urgent and particular circumstances, vaccination may be very useful. However, it is a mistake to think it desirable for everyone, or even that it constitutes an ultimately viable escape route from the pandemic, and I vehemently object to anyone who thinks so being labelled anti-social and equivalent to a holocaust denier.

It is very curious how, for those of us able to recall the 1960s, 'individual freedom' used to be sacred to the young and lefty, while 'social order' was the cry of the old and right-wing; but now it seems to be the other way round. Be that as it may, I would suggest that those who think they are promoting social thinking in their support for vaccination are short-sighted and in fact too individualistic in their outlook. I suspect that dependence on vaccination to end the pandemic will only prolong the agony, and anyway it will vitiate the necessary development of each individual's immune system.

How each one can foster his immune system is something that each will have to work out for himself. However, I shall throw out a few 'straws in the wind'. Governments can't be expected to help very much, but nonetheless, we are not alone and cannot do it alone. We need to be more socialised at the inter-personal, as opposed to the mass level. We need to reduce our dependence on cities and mass everything, including health, entertainment, sport etc. A football game actually participated in is worth any amount of mass hype. We should not allow our lives to be 'all in the head', but should participate in the physical labour of existence. We need to be careful of what we eat; locally produced, organic food is to be preferred to the produce of agri-business.

The list goes on, you can add to it in your own way. Let it be repeated; the epidemic is a cry for attention from a wounded planet. There is indeed no going back to 'normal life'. A new world is struggling to be born; we must welcome it with joy! Joy and the sense of being loved and of life having meaning are the prerequisites for healthy immune systems, as is the ability to cope with seemingly endless set-backs, disappointments and death itself. The integration of mind and spirit, reason and faith are conditions for this too.

We must not be dismayed, or allow ourselves to be overtaken by despondency! 'The whole of creation groans in one great act of giving birth!' We shall be amazed where the answers come from; certainly they will not come from 'getting back to normal' and the same old same old!

Migraturus Habita

       

A Tale of Two Olivers

 

Summer Calm in Horseshoe Bay.

     Here in Sherkin Island, we are enjoying fabulous weather of a kind normally associated with more southern climes, while on a similar latitude in Canada 'The devastating “heat dome” has caused temperatures to rise to almost 50C  and has been linked to hundreds of deaths, melted power lines, buckled roads and wildfires.' One cannot but reflect how confusing, unfair and deceptive the reality around us is. Where can one look to try to make some sense of it all? Catholic Christians such as myself reflect on Scripture and the ongoing salvation history, the story of saints and martyrs who have handed on the Faith.

    Today is the feastday of Saint Oliver Plunkett, Primate of Ireland whose life's work was to overcome the devastation wrought in Ireland by Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans, and the last of the Catholic Martyrs to be hanged, drawn and quartered, in London in the year 1681. Meanwhile I read on the RTE website how our current Primate, Archbishop Eamon Martin, is protesting the sudden reversal of Government advice that First Communions and Confirmations were to go ahead. Apparently they are not formally 'banned', the Government merely advises 'that they should not take place at this time'. Meanwhile the article in RTE twice refers to the Archbishop as 'Mr Martin', as if to reinforce his complaint that the 'the manner of communication in this case was grossly disrespectful.... A journalist's tweet and the Tanaiste dismissively saying oh they're off - that was how we were told about the change in direction.'

    Back in the 17th century, those following 'the way of the world' would have been widely imagined burning in Hell. Is it a mere coincidence that humanity currently appears likely to burn on an overheated planet? Is it totally out of order to associate the possibility of life actually surviving and going on to thrive with the idea of 'everlasting life'?

    We can confidently identify a few of the conditions that might enable us to do so. Both a new sense of purpose and of community are evidently required, leading to a new sense of responsibility and willingness to sacrifice our immediate interests and indeed our very selves. These happen to be the very qualities that the rituals of First Communion and Confirmation are intended to promote. Whether the devastation we suffer be caused by Cromwell or Covid, in such basic respects our response needs to be the same. Hence the Government advice in this respect has to be rejected.

    Scientists work in narrow areas of specialisation; it is not appropriate for their figures, inevitably highly selective, to be the basis of political action; indeed the very nature of the authority that bases itself on such figures, one of command and control however much they try to pretend otherwise, is to be firmly rejected by any freedom-loving people. What's more, the O'Grady says do this approach, do that ..., whereby one is trained to immediately respond to the sargeant-major's orders while filtering out other influences, is a classic command and control technique.

     The Irish sense of community, it has to be said, is propagated by another institution altogether besides the Church. I refer of course to our Pubs. Who could have imagined that these twin pillars of rural Irish life could come under such sustained attack, together? And that the Irish mainstream media should be so complicit? Everyday we are treated to the figures of those who have died from Covid, at the top of the news. Where are the figures for all the other victims of this situation?

    So we suddenly find ourselves in a totalitarian society. We are not to be allowed to worship, to travel or even to go into a pub without a party card. It would appear to be only a matter of time before those like myself who insist that the way forward does not lie by way of universal vaccination find ourselve in re-education camps!

    I have already written a good deal about vaccinations in this blog, and will not repeat myself here; however I want make it clear that I am not anti-science. Scientists must be listened to, but so must everyone else. The way our Government is carrying on is not the way to achieve a respectful ear for their advice. Covid is a nasty disease, nobody wants to get it and if advice is sensible and coherent, it is likely to be listened to. It needs to be holistic and consistent, in tune with the other even nastier threats to our freedom and our future. That other Oliver, Cromwell, must not at this stage have the last word!