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Written by: Kamran Mofid

Published: 31 March 2021

Hits: 685

 

Photo:facebook

I was intrigued to write this Blog with this title, when on Sunday 28 March 2020 I read the Guardian’s Editorial on 'Post-Christian' Britain: a spiritual enigma’.

The editorial got me thinking on ‘Some of the biggest questions ever asked’. Questions such as: What is reality? What is Life? What is consciousness? What is dying? What is religion? What is god? What is nature? What is spirituality? What is philosophy? What does it mean to be human?...

Thus, I thought it would be a very good idea to share this editorial with our GCGI family. 

However, before that, I would very much like to draw your attention to an article I had posted on the GCGI website a few years back in 2013, dealing with some of the  big questions of our time as a taster, warm up to the  Guardian’s editorial:

“What does Spirituality Mean to You?” 

Photo: medium

Now, reverting back to the Editorial:

The Guardian view on 'post-Christian' Britain: a spiritual enigma

Could Britain become post-secular as well as post-Christian?

Inside the derelict St Paul's Church in Penzance (Image: Greg Martin / Cornwall Live)

St Paul’s Church, which is also known as Saint Paul’s Memorial Jubilee church and Church of Saint Paul, was declared redundant in 1999,

and was finally closed on 30th April 2000 . The closure was in response to shrinking congregation sizes, as well as a lack of funds to repair the church.

…’Congregations may have since thinned out, but spiritual hunger is part of the human condition.

It will find other outlets and means of expression in the years to come.’

‘Afew years ago, one of Britain’s leading sociologists published a fascinating paper on the rise of “no religion” as a self-designation in social surveys. More and more “nones”, reported Prof Linda Woodhead, had declared themselves “in a slow, unplanned and almost unnoticed revolution”. A new cultural majority was emerging with no connection to organised religion.

Empty Pews everywhere. Photo: Dylan Martinez/Reuters

'The most recent census may prove to be a tipping point of sorts in that national journey. The results will not be published for months, but it is being predicted that, for the first time, the number of Britons describing themselves as Christian may dip below 50%. In 2001, when the question “What is your religion?” was first included, the figure was 72%; by 2011 it had fallen to 59%. Meanwhile the proportion of “no religions”, or “nones”, rose from 15 to 25%. These statistics, stark as they are, may significantly underestimate the phenomenon. When the 2018 British Social Attitudes survey asked the less loaded question: “Do you regard yourself as belonging to a religious group?”, only 38% identified as Christian. A whopping 52% said they were “nones”...’- Continue to read

Read more:

Religion - British Social Attitudes

UK secularism on rise as more than half say they have no religion

Is religion disappearing entirely from Great Britain? 

……

What is religion if less and less people are believing it?

A reflection by Kamran Mofid PhD (Econ, Birmingham, 1986) & Certificate in Education in Pastoral Studies, Plater College, Oxford, 2001

St. Peter's-On-the-Wall, Bradwell-On-The-Sea, Essex. It dates from between 660–662 and is believed to

be the oldest active church in England.-Photo:wikimedia.org

Study after study have reported that, around the world, people, and especially

the youth, have turned their backs on religion.*

‘My religion is, to live through Love...In every religion there is love, yet love has no religion.’-Rumi 

Being without Believing: Is this the fate of the world In today's "post-modern society"?

......

...And it is the same across the pond 

‘Percentage of churchgoing Americans is steadily falling, and the swirl of rightwing politics and Christianity is playing a key role’

…’Just 47% of the US population are members of a church, mosque or synagogue, according to a survey by Gallup, down from 70% two decades ago – in part a result of millennials turning away from religion but also, experts say, a reaction to the swirling mix of rightwing politics and Christianity pursued by the Republican party…’

 

Donald Trump with religious leaders for a national day of prayer in September 2017.

Photo: Evan Vucci/AP/ Via The Guardian  

 'Allergic reaction to US religious right' fueling decline of religion

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Written by: Kamran Mofid

Published: 22 March 2021

Hits: 1838

A selection of April poems, thoughts, reflection and hopes by my guest editor Anne Mofid

Photo: World Meteorological Organization 

‘Heaven is my father and earth is my mother, 

and I, a small child, find myself placed intimately between them.

What fills the universe I regard as my body;

what directs the universe I regard as my nature. 

All people are my brothers and sisters; all things are my companions.’- Zhang Zai (1020–1077)

Dear GCGI Family, 

After a long, hard winter, the sights, sounds and scents of spring will come as a welcome relief for many people. Furthermore, the return of the vernal equinox and the associated longer days, more light and warmer weather, as well as the Covid-19 vaccination in many parts of the world, comes a renewed sense of hope and optimism. As the Sun's centre passes over the equator, we are reminded that we are part of a great cosmic dance. That, as astronomer Carl Sagan put it, "we are all stardust". 

“Every aspect of Nature reveals a deep mystery and touches our sense of wonder and awe. Those afraid of the universe as it really is, those who pretend to nonexistent knowledge and envision a Cosmos centered on human beings will prefer the fleeting comforts of superstition. They avoid rather than confront the world. But those with the courage to explore the weave and structure of the Cosmos, even where it differs profoundly from their wishes and prejudices, will penetrate its deepest mysteries.” – Carl Sagan

Globally, we have endured a very challenging and disruptive year of pain, hurt, sorrow, death, and deep transformation. For many of us, the process of renewal has just begun. We are discovering the keys that will unlock the doors to inner peace, joy and hopefulness.  

We are, once again, feeling the  wonders for the mysterious gift of existence, life and its meaning and purpose. Moreover, in  this tender and fragile moment in time, we are witnessing that the wheel of Life is turning, and it is Spring once again, all the more reason for hope to reimagine the better days, yet to come. 

I was delighted when Kamran invited me to be his guest editor for His Poem of the Month for April. We need to discover ways to heal ourselves, heal each other and together bring this higher consciousness and transformative ways and paths to our everyday journey on this planet we call home. And, as Kamran had noted in the early days of the pandemic and the first lockdown, what better way to achieve this, than through poetry and poems.

Now I am very excited to share with you my chosen poems for April. Hope you will like them, as much as I do. 

‘Poetry is the key which unlocks the gates of wisdom’

‘Reading poetry, solitude, silence and sanctuary: finding ourselves on  pilgrimage of self-discovery’

My poem of the Month: Springing back in April with a Renewed Sense of Hope and Optimism

Photo: pinterest

As the Irish poet, Billy Mills* writing about April has noted, ‘if March was the month of Mars, god of warfare, then this is the month of Venus, goddess of love and spring rebirth. Although the etymology of the word April is uncertain, given that it was dedicated to the Roman goddess of love the idea that it derives from Aphrodite is an appealing one. What is undoubtedly the case is that April is the month when spring has well and truly sprung.’

One of my favorite April poems is the one by Robert Browning: ‘‘Home-Thoughts, from Abroad’, when Browning casts himself in the role of the homesick traveler, longing for every detail of his beloved home. The poem describes a typical springtime scene in the English countryside, with birds singing and flowers blooming.

A beautiful spring day in the Cotswolds.- Photo: pinterest

‘Oh, to be in England

Now that April's there,

And whoever wakes in England

Sees, some morning, unaware,

That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf

Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,

While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough

In England—now!

And after April, when May follows,

And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows!

Hark, where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge

Leans to the field and scatters on the clover

Blossoms and dewdrops—at the bent spray's edge—

That's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,

Lest you should think he never could recapture

The first fine careless rapture!

And though the fields look rough with hoary dew,

All will be gay when noontide wakes anew

The buttercups, the little children's dower

—Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!’

Another April Poem I very much like is Laurie Lee’s ‘April Rise’.

Slad Valley Stroud Gloucestershire Cotswold; Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty;

A source of inspiration for Laurie Lee’s poetry.- Photo: Alamy Stock/ Country Life

‘If ever I saw blessing in the air

I see it now in this still early day

Where lemon-green the vaporous morning drips

Wet sunlight on the powder of my eye.

Blown bubble-film of blue, the sky wraps round

Weeds of warm light whose every root and rod

Splutters with soapy green, and all the world

Sweats with the bead of summer in its bud.

If ever I heard blessing it is there

Where birds in trees that shoals and shadows are

Splash with their hidden wings and drops of sound

Break on my ears their crests of throbbing air.

Pure in the haze the emerald sun dilates,

The lips of sparrows milk the mossy stones,

While white as water by the lake a girl

Swims her green hand among the gathered swans.

Now, as the almond burns its smoking wick,

Dropping small flames to light the candled grass;

Now, as my low blood scales its second chance,

If ever world were blessed, now it is.’

Moreover, April with its burst of  light and warmth, in the beautiful words of Arthur Symons, in ‘ April Midnight’ is the poem of LOVE. 

“Trafalgar Square by Moonlight” by Henry Pether, circa 1865

April Midnight

‘Side by side through the streets at midnight,

Roaming together,

Through the tumultuous night of London,

In the miraculous April weather.

Roaming together under the gaslight,

Day’s work over,

How the Spring calls to us, here in the city,

Calls to the heart from the heart of a lover!

Cool the wind blows, fresh in our faces,

Cleansing, entrancing,

After the heat and the fumes and the footlights,

Where you dance and I watch your dancing.

Good it is to be here together,

Good to be roaming,

Even in London, even at midnight,

Lover-like in a lover’s gloaming.

You the dancer and I the dreamer,

Children together,

Wandering lost in the night of London,

In the miraculous April weather.’

Another beautiful and favourite April poem which I very much like is ‘An April Day’ by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, when he  notices, speaks and celebrates the beauty of nature in spring: the flowers, forests, saplings (baby trees); the morning and the evening; even the moon and stars. He closes by romantically asserting the everlasting nature of his love for this time of year.

Photo:Windsong Properties

An April Day

‘When the warm sun, that brings

Seed-time and harvest, has returned again,

'T is sweet to visit the still wood, where springs

The first flower of the plain.

I love the season well,

When forest glades are teeming with bright forms,

Nor dark and many-folded clouds foretell

The coming-on of storms.

From the earth's loosened mould

The sapling draws its sustenance, and thrives;

Though stricken to the heart with winter's cold,

The drooping tree revives.

The softly-warbled song

Comes from the pleasant woods, and colored wings

Glance quick in the bright sun, that moves along

The forest openings.

When the bright sunset fills

The silver woods with light, the green slope throws

Its shadows in the hollows of the hills,

And wide the upland glows.

And when the eve is born,

In the blue lake the sky, o'er-reaching far,

Is hollowed out and the moon dips her horn,

And twinkles many a star.

Inverted in the tide

Stand the gray rocks, and trembling shadows throw,

And the fair trees look over, side by side,

And see themselves below.

Sweet April! many a thought

Is wedded unto thee, as hearts are wed;

Nor shall they fail, till, to its autumn brought,

Life's golden fruit is shed.’

And then, there is this lovely poem by William Wordsworth, ‘To Daisy’ Where he honours Daisy's humility, purity and innocence. Wordsworth, again and again, so brilliantly reminds us that  the ‘Love of Nature Leads to Love of Humankind.’

To the Daisy

Daisy collection. Illustration by Phuong Tran

‘In youth from rock to rock I went,

From hill to hill in discontent

Of pleasure high and turbulent,

Most pleased when most uneasy;

But now my own delights I make, -

My thirst at every rill can slake,

And gladly Nature's love partake

Of Thee, sweet Daisy! 

Thee Winter in the garland wears

That thinly decks his few grey hairs;

Spring parts the clouds with softest airs,

That she may sun thee;

Whole Summer-fields are thine by right;

And Autumn, melancholy wight!

Doth in thy crimson head delight

When rains are on thee…’-To the Daisy

And how can I not mention the beautiful and inspiring “Nothing is so beautiful as spring.” by Gerard Manley Hopkins:

Thrushes' Nest by Fidelia Bridges

‘Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –

When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;

Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush

Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring

The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;

The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush

The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush

With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.

What is all this juice and all this joy?

A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning

In Eden garden. – Have, get, before it cloy,

Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,

Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,

Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.’

Inevitably, any mention of April will, sooner or later, involve some reference to showers, rain and rain. 

Here, Amelia Josephine Burr, in ‘Raining’ says it beautifully:

Photo:Pinterest

‘Raining, raining,

All night long;

Sometimes loud, sometimes soft,

Just like a song.

There'll be rivers in the gutters

And lakes along the street.

It will make our lazy kitty

Wash his little dirty feet.

The roses will wear diamonds

Like kings and queens at court;

But the pansies all get muddy

Because they are so short.

I'll sail my boat to-morrow

In wonderful new places,

But first I'll take my watering-pot

And wash the pansies' faces.’

And finally, I would very much like to conclude by recalling the beauty and the elegance of Sweet Peas, which alongside Daisy, is the flower month of my birthday, April.

Sweet Peas by Pierre-Joseph Redouté

For me, the sweet peas are the sweetest of flowers, which I grow them annually in our garden. They are truly a delicate pleasure, a feast for your eyes and nose, and a precious connection to loved ones everywhere.

Whilst pleasing my eyes with the delicate sweet pea painting above, I wondered if I could find a poem in praise of sweet peas to accompany it. And, I think I have. It is by Alfred Noyes, the English poet, short-story writer and playwright, which wrote ‘A Child’s Vision’:

‘Under the sweet-peas I stood

And drew deep breaths, they smelt so good.

Then, with strange enchanted eyes,

I saw them change to butterflies.

Higher than the skylark sings

I saw their fluttering crimson wings

Leave their garden-trellis bare

And fly into the upper air.

Standing in an elfin trance

Through the clouds I saw them glance….

Then I stretched my hands up high

And touched them in the distant sky.

At once the coloured wing came back

From wandering in the zodiac.

Under the sweet-peas I stood

And drew deep breaths. They smelt so good.’

……

A Selection of Related postings from our archive

Photo:HDWallpapers

Finding sanctuary in poetry during lockdown 

Reflecting on Life: My Childhood in Iran where the love of poetry was instilled in me 

Poetry is the Education that Nourishes the Heart and Nurtures the Soul 

My Poem of the month (January) and our New Year’s Greetings 

My Poem of the month (February): Let Hope and Healing Begin to Brighten the Covid Darkness

My Poem of the month (March): Look with joy on what is past and Look with hope on what is yet to come

My Poem of the month (October): MORḠ-E SAḤAR (Bird of Dawn)

My Poem of the month (November): Reimagined Garden

My Poem of the month (December): The Emerging of a New Consciousness and Hopefulness 

……

*Billy Mills, Poster poems: April