20 - 27 Dec 2009

We often say that Christmas is for children, but perhaps this Christmas we can all find again that sense of wonder which we admire in children but which we can easily loose as adults:

"Christmas renews our youth by stirring our wonder. The capacity for wonder has been called our most pregnant human faculty, for in it are born our art, our science, our religion."

Ralph W Sockman (1889-1970; US theologian and pastor; from 'Now to Live!', Kessinger Publishing).

What does Christmas mean to you? See Blog below.

13 - 20 Dec 2009

At our Christmas Carol Service on 9 December, I asked three people ‘What are you looking forward to at Christmas?’ and ‘What does Christmas mean to you?’ This is one reply:

“Christmas is a time of celebration and optimism. The Christmas messages reinforce ... the notion of ‘goodwill to all people’. It is a time for reflection – happy memories of a child’s view of Christmas in the past.... But I am acutely aware that for my best friend from school, Christmas is not going to be a happy time as the anniversary approaches of his eldest son’s death... All I can offer is some sense of understanding their grief... Christmas ought to ... emphasise the sense of being together in a deeply spiritual sense.”

Nick Tyldesley (Chaplaincy Pastoral Assistant; Quaker; Consultant for Teaching and Learning, Bolton Metro Children’s Services).

You can read the other replies at www.bolton.ac.uk/Chaplaincy/Events/Past/CarolService2009.

Let us know here what Christmas means to you by clicking 'comments' below:

6 - 13 Dec 2009

Another quotation about the environment as the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meet during the next two weeks to negotiate a framework for a new agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol. I am not sure of the original source of this quotation as it has probably been said by many people:

“Care for our world; it is the only one we have.”

Desmond Tutu (born 1931; Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984).

29 Nov - 6 Dec 2009

From 7 – 18 December 2009 parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will meet in Copenhagen to negotiate and agree the framework for a new international climate change agreement. This will be a last opportunity to pave the way for updating and replacing the Kyoto Protocol before it expires in 2012. A quotation often used in articles about environmental issues:

“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.”

Source unknown but probably a Native American Proverb

22 - 29 Nov 2009

One hundred and fifty years ago on Tuesday, 24th November, (1859) Charles Darwin published his most celebrated book, “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.” Even though Darwin studied the “struggle for life” of many species, he didn’t lose that wonder he had for the natural world. Unfortunately, some adults lose that sense of wonder which all children seem to be born with. But we can still have a sense of wonder whether or not we believe in an ultimate purpose or in an ultimate Being; or whether or not we accept that species evolve and have evolved from a single organism.

This is the last sentence of Darwin’s book (the words in brackets were added by Darwin for the second edition to make his point clearer):

“There is a grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed [by the Creator] into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”

Charles Darwin (1809-1882; naturalist, geologist, biologist and author).

15 - 22 Nov 2009

“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference between life and death.”

Eliezer “Elie” Wiesel KBE (b.1928; writer, political activist, 1986 Nobel Peace Prize and Holocaust survivor).

8 - 15 Nov 2009

In the week which begins with Remembrance Sunday and includes Armistice Day (11th November), a thought about ‘peace’:

“Establishing lasting peace is the work of education;
all politics can do is keep us out of war.”

Maria Montessori (1870-1952; Italian physician, educator and philosopher).

1 - 8 Nov 2009

I saw this quotation on someone's computer desktop last week:

“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, nor to anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.”

Siddhartha Gautama (about 563-483 BCE, founder of Buddhism and known as the Buddha meaning Enlightened One)

25 Oct - 1 Nov 2009

I have been reading about a thesis by anthropologist, René Girard, which is very appropriate having just seen Nick Griffin of the BNP on Question Time:

“We are living in troubled times and people have become bothered and bewildered. When people are bothered and bewildered, great caution is needed because our instinctive response is scapegoating and death-dealing.

“Scapegoating seems to make us feel better – but at immense cost. All of us look for someone to blame, blaming appears as natural as the air we breathe... Tragically, there is plenty of evidence in our recent history to support Girard’s analysis...: the treatment of Jews, gypsies and homosexuals in Nazi Germany, the Rwandan genocide in 1994 and the degrading of indigenous people, are scarcely sufficient examples. The challenge that faces pastoral care in dismal times is to help us become robust enough ... to be able to resist this age-old temptation to seek out someone to blame and the ensuing socially cathartic bloodlust.”

Ann Morisy (From “Bothered and Bewildered: Enacting Hope in Troubled Times”, Continuum, 2009).

18 - 25 Oct 2009

One of our chaplains who is on secondment from the Bolton Christian Community Cohesion Project offers this quotation for your thoughts:

“We can build a community out of seekers of truth but not out of possessors of truth.”

William Sloane Coffin, Jr (1924 – 2006; American clergyman and peace activist).

11 - 18 Oct 2009

We are approaching the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species...’. Since 1859 Darwinism and neo-Darwinism have been used and misused, passionately attacked and supported, by people of very different ideologies and beliefs. It has been a major topic in the science and religion debate. Ironically, Darwin hated religious controversy and wrote in 1878:

“I hardly see how religion & science can be kept...distinct, but...there is no reason why the disciples of either school should attack each other with bitterness”

Reflecting on the Darwin celebrations, I came across this quotation which relates to an idea of a God creating through evolution. I apologise that it will only strike a chord (pun intended) with theists, some of whom will disagree strongly:

“God has no plan; he prefers to improvise.”

Graham Bell (1949-; Iona Community; from Radio 4’s Thought for the Day on 23/2/2006).

24 - 31 May 2009

To help us through the struggles of life we need something or someone to make hope a reality. This realisation is behind this week’s quotation:

“To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing”.

Raymond Williams (1921-1988, novelist, cultural theorist).

Williams does not say how we make hope possible. Religion or spirituality has played a major part in many people’s lives in helping them when despair could easily get the upper hand. My experience is that religion or spirituality needs a human face for this to be effective.

17 - 24 May 2009

Over the last few weeks the quotations have been about the struggles of life. This week’s quotation follows the previous one which described the power struggle between humans as a virus. It is by a French palaeontologist, who I would also describe as a mystic, Teilhard de Chardin:

“The persons in the street get in my way because I collide with them as possible rivals. I shall like them as soon as I see them as partners in the struggle.”

Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955, Jesuit priest, palaeontologist and geologist). If you want to find out more about Teilhard de Chardin, there are links at www.bolton.ac.uk/Chaplaincy/Thought/.

10 - 17 May 2009

Struggle is part of life, but there are some struggles which do not help us to grow well:

"The greatest danger facing the human race is the world-view that sees human life in terms of a power struggle. We are convinced that in order to survive we must compete rather than co-operate. This is like a lethal virus infecting the human race."

Gerard W Hughes (b. 1924, spiritual writer; from 'God in All Things', Hodder & Stoughton, 2003). The Gerard Hughes website http://www.gerardwhughes.com/ has a short autobiography and extracts from a couple of his books.

3 - 10 May 2009

Throughout history many have expressed the realisation that through life's struggles our characters can grow stronger. In our own time, a well-known media personality put it very simply:

"Where there is no struggle, there is no strength".

Oprah Winfrey (born 1954, actress, literary critic and American talk-show host).

Related Oprah quotations

"What I learned at a very early age was that I was responsible for my life. And as I became more spiritually conscious, I learned that we all are responsible for ourselves, that you create your own reality by the way you think and therefore act. You cannot blame apartheid, your parents, your circumstances, because you are not your circumstances. You are your possibilities. If you know that, you can do anything".

"What other people label or might try to call failure, I have learned is just God's way of pointing you in a new direction".

26 Apr - 3 May 2009

The general theme for the next few weeks will be in the areas of struggle and also of pain: how do we continue to have a positive attitude if we are struggling with work (a project, research revising for exams or routine tasks), or when life becomes difficult. I will begin with a quotation from an unlikely source, Dolly Parton; and yet she expresses an attitude which can be found in many religions:

“The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain”.

Dolly Parton (born 1946, singer-songwriter and actress).

You may like to respond with a quotation or idea from your own world-view or religion.

22 - 29 Mar 2009

We are coming to the end of our series of quotations on the theme of 'understanding and wisdom'. A well-known Indian writer and speaker said:

"Learning is the very essence of humility".

Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986, Indian writer, speaker and philosopher).

In order to learn we have to admit to ourselves that we do not know or what we do know is inadequate. Arrogance is the opposite of humility, but we hear arrogant statements from many people including politicians, academics and religious people.

15 - 22 Mar 2009

We continue with another quotation about knowing people rather than things:

“The one who knows others is wise;
the one who knows the self is enlightened”

Laozi also known as Lao Tzu, Lao Tse, Laotze, Lao Zi (4th or 6th century BCE and may represent a number of ‘Old Masters’, Chinese Taoist philosopher).

Have you seen any of the Bourne films (The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum)? They are about Jason Bourne’s frantic mission to find out who he is and how he has come to be where he is. Knowing oneself is an important part of our life’s journey – and our spiritual journey, whatever our faith or belief. Who are we? Are we determined by our genes or our environment or ...? How have we come to be where we are? Is it possible for us to change? These are questions which all religions and philosophies have addressed because they focus on what it means to be human. For Jason Bourne, only when he comes to terms with his past and who he is can he move on.

8 - 15 Mar 2009

In this series on the theme of 'understanding and wisdom', until now I have focused on knowing things. However, I was sent this quotation about getting to know people. The person who sent it to me was reminded about this quotation as he heard that Barack Obama is to open more dialogue with Iran a few weeks ago, and said that Obama has been inspired by Lincoln and maybe he is putting some of his ideas into practice:

"I don't like that man. I must get to know him better"

Abraham Lincoln (1809 –1865, 16th President of the United States of America from 1861 to 1865).

1 - 8 Mar 2009

Our quotation this week implies the question, ‘In what ways are we open to change?’:

"The mind is like an umbrella – it only works when it is open".

Sir James Jeans (1877-1946, physicist)

We can be open to change in terms of understanding the physical world, or how we view an artistic method. But what about being open to change about our beliefs or our values? Beliefs – religious or non-religious – and values go deep within us and make us who we are. On the positive side, changing our mind about what we believe or what we think is right / wrong can help us to become more mature, to grow in understanding what it is to be human and also to grow in faith. But is there a negative side?

22 Feb - 1 Mar 2009

We continue the 'Thought for the Week' quotations on the theme of 'understanding and wisdom':

"The wise man doesn't give the right answers,
he poses the right questions."

Claude Lévi-Strauss (born 1908, French anthropologist).

15 - 22 Feb 2009

This quotation is in a similar vein to last week’s - just in case you were confused by it:

“The great end of education is to discipline the mind;
to train it to the use of its own powers,
rather than fill it with the accumulation of others.”

Tyron Edwards (1809-1894, American theologian, best known for compiling a book of quotations).

All quotations simplify complex ideas, not least this one, so do respond with your own thoughts.

8 - 15 Feb 2009

The theme of our new series this semester is all things pertaining to understanding and wisdom. You may well know our first quotation:

“Education is not filling a bucket but lighting a fire.”

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939, Irish poet and dramatist)