Buffy's Salon

Goblin Market

An excerpt from Goblin Market.  A suitably spooky poem for Halloween, but one with a powerful message about temptation, transgression and redemption through self-sacrifice.

Evening by evening
Among the brookside rushes,
Laura bowed her head to hear,
Lizzie veiled her blushes:
Crouching close together
In the cooling weather,
With clasping arms and cautioning lips,
With tingling cheeks and finger-tips.
"Lie close," Laura said,
Pricking up her golden head:
We must not look at goblin men,
We must not buy their fruits:
Who knows upon what soil they fed
Their hungry thirsty roots?"
"Come buy," call the goblins
Hobbling down the glen.
"O! cried Lizzie, Laura, Laura,
You should not peep at goblin men."
Lizzie covered up her eyes
Covered close lest they should look;
Laura reared her glossy head,
And whispered like the restless brook:
"Look, Lizzie, look, Lizzie,
Down the glen tramp little men.
One hauls a basket,
One bears a plate,
One lugs a golden dish
Of many pounds' weight.
How fair the vine must grow
Whose grapes are so luscious;
How warm the wind must blow
Through those fruit bushes."
"No," said Lizzie, "no, no, no;
Their offers should not charm us,
Their evil gifts would harm us."
She thrust a dimpled finger
In each ear, shut eyes and ran:
Curious Laura chose to linger
Wondering at each merchant man.
One had a cat's face,
One whisked a tail,
One tramped at a rat's pace,
One crawled like a snail,
One like a wombat prowled obtuse and furry,
One like a rat tumbled hurry-scurry.
Lizzie heard a voice like voice of doves
Cooing all together:
They sounded kind and full of loves
In the pleasant weather.

Read full text

Goblin Market was written in 1859 by Christina Rossetti.

Bright Star

Mannered, restrained, and underplayed to the hilt, Bright Star is (miraculously) anything but stuffy.  It's a deft feat, avoiding even a hint of melodrama, anchored by two fiercely vulnerable performances.  Ben Whishaw brings full clarity to Keats, naturally balancing the unadulterated passion of an artist in love with the reason and ethics that the responsibility of love requires.  His is not the petulant or moody poet, but a manly one.  As Fanny Brawne, Abbie Cornish is a revelation.  Underneath a stoic veneer, she conveys a beautiful whirlwind of love inside her—its confusion, its completion, its freedom.  A mere gulp is enough to reveal her full passion for Keats, and we feel its overwhelming grip. 

from The fish film reviews

A few reasons why I believe in God

 
Faith for Life

This is not an attempt to convert anyone, it's just a very personal list.  Believing in God is an act of faith, but not an irrational one in my opinion.  Here are some of my thoughts.

• Most of us feel there is a gap in our lives that needs filling and I think we instinctively think it has something to do with a relationship.  We hope for so much from our romantic relationships, and are so often disappointed.  Maybe that gap can only be filled with a relationship with God.
• Again, most of us are filled with strong desire to understand the meaning of life.  We can drive ourselves crazy asking "why".  From a purely biological or evolutionary perspective what possible purpose can this constant questioning serve, unless there actually is some profound meaning to life?
• We long to believe in some form of life after death, we feel on a profound level that what happens in our often short and brutal lives cannot be the end.  We expect there to be more, despite a lack of evidence.  Is this because we are programmed by God to anticipate immortality?
• A basic sense of morality seems to be innate, or at least passed on in a very similar form from parent to child in every kind of culture.  Where do we get a sense of right and wrong from?  And how can atheism justify any kind of morality?
• Every society in history has demonstrated some kind of belief in a supernatural, most of them in gods of some description.  Every other naturally occurring desire we have (for eating, drinking, sex, society etc) can be met and is a necessary form of existence.  Why would we have a spiritual drive for no purpose?
• The feelings we have when we look at the overwhelming beauty of nature, the awe at the grandeur, seem to open us up and pull us closer to God.  Again, these feelings serve no purpose from a reductionist biological point of view.
• Even if we accept evolution there is still no answer to the questions "how did life first appear on this planet?", "how do you explain the remarkable series of coincidences that allowed this planet to support life once it had occurred", "how did the universe become so finely tuned that life is even possible"?
• The default position for humans seems to be to believe in God (children and primitive societies are natural theists); it is something we have to talk ourselves out of, not into, as modern atheists suggest
• People who have a strong sense of religion and regularly attend church tend to have healthier lives than those who don't, suggesting to me that this is the more natural and healthy state for humans.

What have I missed off the list?

Do one thing for nature...

Woman talking to singing bird 

An article in National Trust magazine (which unfortunately I can't find online) urges us to go back to nature for the good of our health, both physical and mental.

"Just watch children playing outdoors on logs and in streams and you can see that they are not doing it to promote their health but because they love it." the article states.  In other words humans, in their most unspoilt state, have an affinity with nature

"The natural environment has a powerful effect on us to become less stressed.  In fact the changes in brain waves can be measured, showing an increase in alpha waves that indicate more calm.  Children become less hyperactive, can concentrate better and play more independently with greater balance.  They develop a lifelong ability to connect with nature, but only if they are allowed to play freely in streams and woods before the age of 12.  After this the effect rapidly diminishes."

The good news is that the concept of the Natural Health Service is being developed in England and Scotland to supplement care provided by the NHS. 

In the meantime there is plenty we can do as individuals.  BBC Breathing Places encourages everyone to do one thing for nature.  My favourites include:

1. Wake up to bird song
   

2. Provide water for birds

3. Feed hedgehogs and other small mammals

4. Collect rainwater

5. Give bats a place to roost by putting up a bat box

6. Build a pond

7. Turn your household waste into compost

8. Make your cat wildlife friendly

Being Present

 
Evening Sun

 "Only in the present are we conscious, awake to the moment, which is why yesterday's an illness and tomorrow's a disease...This does not mean that you have not lived your past.  Your past is rich with significance.  But it is a springboard, not a chaperone.  Neither does it mean that you do not have a future.  Your future is bright without your planning, an unfolding mystery, with many arrivals to enjoy along the way.  But an arrival is only worth the journey traveled.  If we have not been present to the journey, we can hardly be present to the arrival."

Simon Parke - The Beautiful Life

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough troubles of its own." Matthew 6:24

"With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future.  I live now."  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Women of the Bible Quiz

What Woman of the Bible Are You?

Ruth You are Ruth. You are the meaning of self-sacrifice for what is true. You do so much with little regard for selfish needs. A strong, good and faithful woman. God has blessed you. (Ruth 2:12)

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