Boredom: … the mood of diffuse restlessness which contains that most absurd and paradoxical wish, the wish for a desire. Adam Phillips, On Kissing, Tickling and Being Bored, p.71 It is one of the most oppressive demands of adults that the child should be interested, rather than take time to find what interests [her]. Boredom … Continue reading Boredom: guardian of the Temple (part 2)
Tag: desire
Boredom: guardian of the Temple (part 1)
One of the more distracting things about capitalist culture is that there is no stupor, no time to vegetate. What I would suggest is more time-wasting, less stimulation. We need time to lie fallow like we did in childhood, so we can recuperate. Rather than be constantly told what you want and be pressurised to … Continue reading Boredom: guardian of the Temple (part 1)
Do not be consistent
Those who write about God, like John V Taylor in The Christlike God, suggest that there are two fundamental, and fundamentally different, experiences of God: the numinous and the mystical: in a numinous experience you feel yourself "to be in communion with a holy other" who can "attract, fascinate and compel" as well as evoke … Continue reading Do not be consistent
Prayer in the intersticies
Prayer is a subversive activity. It involves a more or less open act of defiance against any claim by the current regime. Eugene Peterson: The Contemplative Pastor, p.10 The 'claim of the current regime' is multiple and multiply overwhelming: improve: today's achievement is never good enough tomorrow (something I learnt from working in the NHS); … Continue reading Prayer in the intersticies
On being loved and desired
I have been rereading The Shape of Living by David F Ford. I am trying to put into practice something he says. Shape of Living by David F Ford There are two great simple truths about Christian desiring. The first is that God desires us.This is perhaps the hardest truth of any to grasp. Do … Continue reading On being loved and desired
The Desiring Subject
Sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires. from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake I want to write about desire. We find ourselves inhabited by all sorts of desires, some welcome, others less so: perhaps I'm uncomfortable today and wish the weather was cooler, warmer, sunnier, drier, wetter, … Continue reading The Desiring Subject
The ASBOs of Desire
In a consumer society there are inevitably two kinds of slaves: the prisoners of addiction and the prisoners of envy. Ivan Illich I am uneasy when I hear about Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs). I, too, am angry when I have to suffer noise, litter, graffiti, abuse and the effects of the use of alcohol and … Continue reading The ASBOs of Desire