Oh what a piece of work is man!

The Lady Chapel in Westminster Cathedral - that is the Tree of Life

I was in London last weekend. 

London was very crowded. It reminded me of Singapore. Hordes of people on Piccadilly and hordes of people everywhere. I could not live in London for the same reason i could not live in Singapore. Even the museums were filled with people. You had to line up everywhere you went. It was really too much, but there were plus points.

Well, there was Francoise and Natasa whom i had not seen for three years. It also made me think why the heck did i not go to London more frequently, it was so nearby Belfast. But most of all there was the V&A museum, which I visited for the first time and it was so beautiful, i was choked with emotion when i saw it.

Most touching were the exhibits from the Arts and Crafts movement. For the first time i really understood what Ruskin was trying to say about the sublime. The sublime in the service of God through the service of man. In his essay The Stones of Venice, Ruskin said that the work left behind by the craftsmen were sublime because they had given what was essentially their individuality in the service of art - no one would know who they were, their names, but by giving over of themselves completely, they paradoxically would live forever in their works of art. It was the eternal made visible and it was never clearer - it really reached its peak during this wonderful period of the Arts and Crafts Movement. The other really important thing was that this was accessible to everyone. There was a true democracy in the art - it was not self obsessed or self absorbed, but completely in the realm of the everyday. It elevated the mundane, making the experience of sitting on the chair, or drinking out of a cup a union with the spirit. It made taking the train or opening a cupboard a mystery journey. It was really so touching. Seeing the furniture they made, the lighting, the table cloths, the draperies, the wallpaper - i was so so grateful for them having been there - it served as inspiration. I felt so humbled, so absorbed and enfolded by them. I understood then that service was everything. We are here to serve, we are here to lower ourselves and it is through this sacrifice that great feats are achieved. But the thing is that we never know where sacrifice will lead us - we can only trust the path to unfold.

The other amazing place I went to was Westminster Cathedral. Francoise told me about it and i was astonished to find it. In the heart of SW1, amidst the buildings for law and the beautiful apartments, was this piece of Byzantine architecture, this piece of Venice which that found its way to London. Inside, oh my goodness, the mosaic work - and the brickwork, the vaults. Mass was being sung in Latin and the scent of frankincense wafted around the pillars. I sat in the Lady's Chapel and for the first time in a long long time, i prayed. I made the sign of the cross and i said my Hail Marys and i asked for strength and i was just overwhelmed with the beauty of the place. 

As i get older i am delighted to find that i am not getting more angry or cynical. I like this soft, more tolerant, more vulnerable me. I like this development as i ease into midlife. The world is even more wonderfilled than it used to be and there is a deeper appreciation for beauty, for humanity, for the places around us.

And i will fight, i will fight to keep them. I will fight to ensure that they stay. I will fight quietly. I will fight in my own way. I will struggle. But in the midst of the struggling i will know contentment.

This is because i have come to the conclusion that life is sacred - it is intrinsically sacred. There is a journey which we are on which is unclear to us. Or maybe it is clear, but as i live and continue reading more and more world mythology, it is clear that there is only one story which is going one. The story of Wisdom through Suffering, or of living life in the truth. If we live in our truth, we are bound to suffer, but through suffering, we will be redeemed. And note it is through suffering, our own suffering, not the suffering of others. 

It is nice to no longer have anything to prove, or need to prove anything. To be able to simply learn and live is such a pleasure. It is such a privilege. In many ways it is something which i have always wanted to do without knowing that i have wanted to do it. It found me, or i found it... perhaps we were always searching for each other. It does not matter because we have found each other. This restfulness, this place of repose. From this all good things will come.