What is the opposite of Love? I've often heard people say 'hate' in reply to this question. Someone suggested 'indifference' - which is a little closer to the mark - but I believe the answer is 'self-love'. True love recognises that one is NOT the centre of the universe and that the focus is other than oneself. True love questions our concepts of 'autonomy', 'individuality' and 'self-actualisation'. If we primarily see relationships as a means to self-fulfillment then that is not love.

Did Aliens help to line up Woolworths stores?

In last Saturday's edition of The Guardian newspaper (16th Jan 2010) was a brilliant "Bad Science" article by Ben Goldacre. He reports that a researcher called Tom Brooks had analysed 1,500 prehistoric monuments and had found that all of them were on a grid of isosceles triangles, each pointing to the next site. "Such is the mathematical precision, it is inconceivable that this could have been carried out by the primitive indigenous culture we have always associated with such structures" Brooks is quoted as saying. In fact he does not rule out the possibility of extraterrestrial help!

Matt Parker, who is based at the School of Mathematical Sciences at Queen Mary, University of London applied the same techniques used by Brooks to the now defunct Woolworths stores. The results revealed an exact and precise geometric placement of the Woolworths locations, by "skipping over the vast majority, and only choosing the few that happen to line up" with 1,500 locations, Brooks had almost twice as much data to choose from.... so it is not surprising he could make his pattern fit selective evidence.

Imagine it, in some future era someone might look back using Brooks' technique and trace the patterns of the ancient Woolworths stores and conclude we must have had help from an alien civilisation!

NURSING - IN SEARCH OF IDENTITY.

Imagine the scene. It is a busy ward in a large teaching hospital. A patient has collapsed, is unresponsive, there is no pulse. A "Crash Call" goes out. The nurses start cardiac massage. The 'resus' trolley is wheeled up, the de-fib fetched. The 'Crash Team' come running up the corridor. Cannula inserted, nervous fingers snap open ampoules. Adrenaline, Calcium, DC shock. No output. As the drama unfolds a nurse steps forward and commences massage - not cardiac massage but foot massage.

In the ensuing exchange of conversation with the Senior Registrar, the nurse asserts that as a practitioner in Reflexology she alone is treating the patient's underlying disease, all the rest were merely treating symptoms. Sounds far-fetched? I'm reliably informed that this very scenario was played out in a London hospital recently. It invites the question, "What's going on in society in general and nursing in particular?"

There is a sea change at work in our culture. For three centuries or more the prevailing philosophy within western culture has been modernism. This emphasised the human intellect and the scientific, technological, rational approach to life. It is a materialist philosophy, rejecting any notion of the spiritual. Such a world-view questions the existence of a Creator and asserts that everything can be explained in secular and reductionistic terms.

Most of us will have had contact with some institution of higher education. Within these academic circles, modernism is the over-arching belief system. Until recently this has been the influence that has helped shape Medicine and Nursing as we know them, particularly as they move away from their earlier Christian roots. But now we are witnessing a sea-change. So while once-upon-a-time the general public showed great respect and deference to scientific experts, now attitudes are changing. People are more likely to question, probe and doubt the words of scientists. Indeed, whereas once science was viewed as mankind's hope for a better future, now people are more likely to blame it and the technology it has spawned for causing more problems than it has solved. The belief in inevitable progress is defunct.

This tendency occurring in society as a whole is magnified with nursing. Nursing as a profession is currently seeking to discover an identity of it's own, one that will make it distinctive from Medicine. In my view nurses will inevitably turn to alternative forms of medicine simply because they are alternative. The emerging 'post-modernist' nurse will emphasise the emotional, the intuitive and the holistic, as opposed to the rational, objective, quantifiable and material. As a thorough-going pluralist, the new nurse will accept that there are many different points of view about everything, all of which are equally valid. Indeed any "truth claim" is by definition coercive and domineering, aimed at forcing others to conform to someone else's version of the truth. In this context it is not surprising that an article in the Nursing Times last year urges nurses to avoid making moral judgements if one is asked to obtain the services of a prostitute for a client.

Although Christians have never felt entirely comfortable within modernist professions which denied the spiritual, Christians could at least work within Nursing and Medicine, appreciating the benefits of science but recognising that it did not present a complete picture of what it is to be human. Now, however, we are increasingly being faced not with a denial of spirituality, but with alternative spiritualities often dressed up as complementary therapy. It is easy to feel threatened and overwhelmed by the challenge that faces us at the start of the twenty-first century. I suspect that within Nursing, we will continue to see an on-going tussle between two opposing schools of thought, the post-modernist and a reactive modernist rear-guard action.

These are not easy times for Christians. And yet this situation presents Christians with an opportunity. "Spirituality" is on the agenda, and as Christian nurses we will need to prayerfully consider how best to use these new opportunities. Like the modernist, we too believe in objective truth and that it is knowable. But at the same time we appreciate the limitations of human knowledge and that to be human cannot be fully explained in purely material terms. The spirituality we would profess is one of dependence upon God, rather than one which depends on us manipulating real or supposed spiritual forces.

This article was first published in the Spring 2001 issue of "TRIPLE HELIX" and is reproduced here with the kind permission of the Christian Medical Fellowship.

"AS A PAGAN MYSELF
.....[I BELIEVE]....
THAT KINDNESS IS ALL".

I've recently been reading Jan Morris'
biography of Jacky Fisher- a pioneering
British admiral of the late 19th and
early 20th centuries.

While commenting on Fisher's eccentric
take on Christianity she made the above
passing reference to her own pagan beliefs.
As throwaway remarks go it is quite
revealing - careless talk often is. She
alludes to the inconsistency of Fisher's
beliefs - his military professionalism and
belief in a version of Christianity. That
might be a fair point depending on whether
one believes it is not possible to be a
professional soldier (ie serving a legitimate
authority) and a Christian; that would take
us into the realm of "Just War Theory". But
I digress.

The thing I do not get at all is her connection
between Paganism and kindness -
you wouldn't get very far by pointing out
that the Pagan gods were paragons of
kindness as you were assaulted by some
one following their example, would you?
"But this is antithetical to your ethos!....
aarrrgh!"

My initial reaction was to say that Jan
Morris' assertion is a complete non sequitur.
But then, of course - stupid me! - I thought
back to the great pagan cultures in history
such as the Roman Empire and remembered
that they were such a kindly bunch weren't
they? The Assyrians, Aztecs and Spartans
were ever so touchy feely! And who would
deny that the Celts and the Vikings were the
cuddliest of them all!?

FRIDAY THE 13th!
Superstition & Destiny.

The problem with superstition is the implication that one's
destiny is ultimately controlled by forces the control of
which is the province of a professional magician class.
Being interested in Astronomy (not to be confused with
Astrology!) I entered my birthdate into a computer
programme checking on planetary positions. To my
surprise the Sun was in the constellation Leo - my
"birthsign" is supposedly Virgo. I don't mean the Sun
was on the margins of the two it was definately well
within the 'wrong' star sign!

Since Ptolemy the ancient astronomer defined the
Zodiac two and a half thousand years ago a phenomenon
called the precession of the equinoxes has shunted the
constellations along a month or so. It's like having a
calendar without the leap years - over time the months
end up out of synch. It is amusing to think that astrologers
claim to be able to read ones destiny but cannot get the
one objective starting point right!

I once put this to an astrologer friend of mine; "so what star
sign am I? Leo or Virgo?".......... "Typical b****y Virgoan!"
she replied!

The point is as a Christian I don't believe my destiny is ruled
by the date. I don't accept that the date defines who I am.
To give way to such fears is to deny that Jesus is Lord.
He is the one who defines who I am and he is the one
who controls my destiny.

CALENDAR OF DOOM! [Parte Une].

For Christmas I was given, among other things, a calendar
for 2006. This is no ordinary calendar because it was put
together by a relative, Dawn Divyn, and includes some of
her own photography together with a saying or two for
each month. The aphorisms in question , I assume, are
calculated in a kindly way to challenge my faith.
I appreciate the effort that she has given to this project
and the well meaning motive which lay behind it: for
it is a kindness to try to put me right if one thinks I am
wrong.

Anyway I thought that it might be an interesting exercise
over the year to ruminate on these thoughts of hers and
to test their strength.

So to it:
January 2006. Credibile est, quia ineptum est.

"Religion is regarded by the common people as
true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as
useful." Seneca the Younger (4?BC-65AD).

That is probably a fair reflection on pagan religion by
Seneca - an ancient Roman philosopher and statesman.
The aphorism reflects the snobbery of the Roman
patrician class towards the people who were despised
as ignorant and maleable by those who considered
themselves wise and better fitted to rule.

Jesus torpedoes this sort of smugness when he said:
"I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that
you have hidden these things from the wise and
understanding and revealed them to little children;
yes, Father, for such was your gracious will."
Matthew 11v25&26. It pleases God to subvert
human pride by choosing those most despised in
the world's eyes to receive the wisdom of the kingdom
of God. The Christian recognises the folly of putting
one's faith in those generally considered wise by the
pundits!

Oh - the latin quote - that's Tertullian being silly.
Something should not be believed simply because it
is absurd - but rather if something claims to pop
the pomposity of the proud it is at least worth
considering with humility. It is not wisdom as such that
is being questioned but the smug air of conceit that
often blinds those who are wise in their own eyes.

fin




ps. 10th May 06: I recently learnt that Tertullian
never actually said this, it is a commonly
accepted fallacy that he did. It is correct that he did
make the point that sometimes a counter-intuitive statement
has a degree of plausibility because it is not something
one would make up.