Hi folks, I hope you are well? This week we are meeting at the Crescent Club upstairs in the front lounge at 7.30. We hope we see you there.
This weeks blog is written by Martin Hood… Also a reminder that if you would like to write a blog for us around a song, movie, book, art, etc. Then please do let Sue or I know. Thanks.
If our current theme/handle is the arts, then we might explore from:
‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ through:
‘ we are meaning-making, and story-telling animals’ to:
‘what is your truth, post-modern person..?’
But to back-step a bit…
For a few years, I have occasionally dabbled with acrylic-painting, which is both creative and relaxing (and forces me to sitstill for a while!), but encourages a different way of looking at the world, playing with colour, seeing details, or the general impression; so what is produced is not photographic (partly lack of skill!), but an impression or interpretation. [An image below is such an interpretation from Avoriaz, some years ago, towards the Mount Blanc massif, while skiing.]
Secondly, philosophically (and a bit academically), I have become interested in: ‘what makes people tick’: how we perceive, assume, think; what are the factors which influence that?
So, thirdly, the question becomes: How do we honestly dialogue with, and comprehend, others with rather different ‘world-views’ ( ideologies, faiths) and associated ‘pre-understandings’ about life..?
Therefore, I offer this playful exercise, which has no right answer!
In the souk, if you ask the price of the local rug and are told ” 1000 shekels” (or whatever) when you we thinking 200 might be nearer the mark, then the advise is generally to walk away. The rationale is that if ‘1000’ is the baseline, it influences all further discussion.
Use that as a metaphor for our thinking of the world: our baseline understanding affects all subsequent judgements. A bright light in the sky might be a supernova or the herald of a great king; a rainbow might be scatter of different wavelengths of light through raindrops, or the pointer to a pot of gold; ‘football’s coming home’ (maybe) or sport has been corrupted by big business sponsorship…
In our post-modern, individualistic, multi-cultural world, people have differing presuppositions, assumptions, priorities, and ways of construing the world; so in discussions we can’t assume safely that what we believe, and think, is the same as the person next us, even in the banter in BFX.
So, it might be interesting/ illuminating, to offer these four pictures, below to look at/ ponder, and without constraining/ pre-supposing any schema, then share:
1. which is/are we drawn to/ find interesting;
2. what do we think about the picture(s): what lines of association do
they produce;
3. what is our response/ feelings towards all that;
4. what does all that say about us, and how we differ;
5. what might our shared responses illustrate/say about our world-view/ our faith..?’
Martin.
All others by Martin.
Rob Wylie is the founder of BeachcomberFX and guides its leadership team. He has worked in the North East for over 20 years and has vast experience from various roles he has held. He has a passion for Fresh Expressions of Church and Pioneer Ministry as well as beer, beaches and Miniature Schnauzers.