Some Easter Thoughts!

I believe in God but I have doubts about Jesus Christ being the Son of God or being God on Earth in the form of a Human. Why I should believe in one and not the other! I find the idea of the Holy Spirit very attractive. I know the Lord's Prayer in English but I couldn't recite it all the way through in Welsh which is shameful.  



I believe that a Spiritual Awakening is required globally but especially in UK PLC and perhaps it will start in Wales, land of ancient myths and legends. If only to stop our collective insanity in its tracks. Something is required to slow down the never ending consumption and short term thinking.   A Secularist would call the Bible a work of fiction. I am not comfortable with a book written by Men professing the word of God. A Belief in a Higher Being is a personal thing so why am I writing a Blog Post about it? I suppose because it is a universally personal thing. On occasion when the 'sap' has been high and I have felt particularly in need of spiritual replenishment I have attended a church service. As a teacher in London I would make a pilgrimage to a Chapel near the Barbican called Jewin, the chapel where my parents met when it's services were held at the London Welsh Centre in Gray's Inn Road. I went for an opportunity to be in the presence of my mother tongue and worship in Welsh. I was a desperate man. My mood swings and intrusive thoughts were getting the better of me. Stress levels were high.  I am less desperate these days but you need to fill the God shaped hole. Some people do it with drink and drugs. Some people do it with...God. I have never felt comfortable in the Fellowship of the Church and was always the first to leave and tried to be the last to arrive at any service. I couldn't do small talk then and even now I find it a waste of time. I think I began following God because I got fed up of Man and what Man was doing in and of the world. I had a Spiritual Emergency in 2005 where I bargained with God. I prayed to a Higher Power. He/She kept their side of the Bargain and is still doing so and I am trying to hold my end up in the negotiation. It would be wonderful to see a Spiritual Revival start again in Wales like it did in 1904 with Evan Roberts at the helm. It kickstarted the Pentecostal Movement in America with the Azuza Street Revival.  If I attend a service now, it is to the Pentecostals I go because in my opinion if you are going to believe then you need to do it with a bit of 'hwyl' with a bit of singing and dancing in the aisles.

I always feel sorry for Jesus especially at this time of year and maybe we are meant to pause for reflection. Well we do get two days holidays in lieu of his crucifixion and resurrection so he's definitely worth a thought as we push our shopping trolleys around the Temples of the Moneylenders  I feel sorry that Man has put such a burden of belief upon him. Was he just a Man, a special Man or was he indeed the Son of God? Perhaps we shall never know.

Streipiau bach person da

 

 

 

Y lleisiau boreol ar Radio Cymru

Yn gwthio trwy fy ngwythiennau mawr

Fel saim a braster

Y llais bach miniog yna ar fore Sul

Yn son am beth ysbrydol mewn ffordd mor faterol

Yn atgoffa fi o'r pulpud, oedolion yn perswadio plant

I fod yn blant da, i gredu mewn Duw ac i gydymffurfio

Well, dwi yn credu mewn Duw, credwch neu beidio

Ond dim fel y Duw yn y Beibl,

Llyfr a gafodd i sgrifennu gan ddynion

Does dim rhaid i mi fynd i gapel neu eglwys i ddangos fy lifrau Cristnogol

Fy 'Streipiau' bach person da.

Oherwydd addoli yn gyhoeddus ydy hwnna, rhag eich cywilydd chi.

A waeth i ni siarad am gywilydd ar ddiwrnod Saint Padrig

Gyda'r Pab newydd da i slippars coch dan fwrdd yn y Fatican

Dwedwch wrthyf y rhai ffyddlon, pa ddaioni ydynt yn ei wneud?

Fel bob sefydliad arall mae ei chysgod yn fwy gwnâi het

Rydym ni bobl gyffredin, y werin, wedi ein gorthrymu gan grefydd

Yn gweiddi 'Thou Shalt Not'.

Roedd yr addoliad yn fawr ddoe yn Stadiwm y Mileniwm.

Digon o 'Hymns and Arias' a ffydd, gobaith cariad i bara tan flwyddyn nesaf

Ond dyn ni yn genedl o ragrithwyr dweud?

'My People'

No I don't think so, I am not one of them.

A hwnna ydy'r unig ffordd i guro'r gormeswyr?

 

 

 

Collective Sigh (Ochenaid) Cymraeg

Here he goes again! Collective Sigh: Ochenaid the noo och aye. Was having a convo in a Cafe in Cardiff this afternoon and was discussing the Welsh Language in English. Half an hour previously I had been in an other establishment talking in Welsh and was met with disdainful looks by passers by to the table. Yes in the Capital City of Wales and I am not being paranoid. The second conversation went along the lines that if all Welsh Speakers were to wear the above badge then spontaneous conversations could be had by people who would otherwise not know you spoke it. Especially in the Capital City more conversations could be had between strangers. Life can be breathed into it by this one simple, small action. At the moment it is being taught in Secondary Schools but it stops generally at the school gates as people don't wish to be forced to do anything especially young people. There is a distinct lack of self confidence regarding the language. Surely as a nation it would be in our best interests to become a stronger bilingual nation but we must get over this obsession with England and the English and their yoke of oppression. The truth is that it happened all over the world. We just happen to have the Castles to prove it. In Cardiff on Saturday Welsh Nationhood will be tested to its absolute limits. For the urbane English it will be water off a duck's back whether they win or lose but unfortunately for us it is a matter of national pride and this is VERY unfortunate beacuse we appear to have nothing else to hang our collective three cornered hat upon. If we can strengthen Welsh Language and Identity then to use a footballing analogy success breeds success. The Assembly will become stronger and we will have a stronger more confident sense of self. You must have noticed that Alex Salmond and the S.N.P have become rather quiet of late because Scotland's membership of the EU will not be automatic should its people vote for Independence. Heart over Head we would all wish for Wales to be an Independent Nation but the rules of the Market apply unfortunately and with a population of 3 and 1/2 million people we do not pay enough tax into the collective Westminster coffers to be allowed that luxury at the moment. It is a duty upon every Welsh Speaker to now become an Ambassador for the language. To nurture and encourage Welsh Learners wherever they may be found. To wear the badge to encourage conversation in the street. I saw somebody wear the badge in Canton and we got into conversation. He was from Anglesey and had come to work in the Assembly. I conversed with two Nurses in Welsh at the Heath Hospital purely because they were wearing the badge. I would not have known otherwise and an opportunity would have been missed. I don't know about you but I feel better after I have spoken Welsh not to make money or to show off, just for its natural intrinsic value. For me it is like going back to the source of  the river and I do not wish to do it in bars and clubs where drink manufacturers will reap the benefits of me crying into my beer. If somebody has a problem with the native language as some do, that is their problem, not ours. They will have a problem with anything and anybody different to themselves.

 I won't translate this blog post into Welsh because in the words of the Cardiff Bigot

 "They all speaks English Anyway"        

Narcissistic Rage and the Sense of Entitlement | After Psychotherapy

Narcissistic Rage and the Sense of Entitlement | After Psychotherapy

Penblwydd Hapus i Fi/Happy Birthday to Me!!!

This was me, this time last year:

http://sharkfishinginwales.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/birthday-blog.html

This year, I am one year older and a little wiser I think. In normal currency I still deem myself a failure and having reached the grand old age of 47 it is unlikely that I will now make a million or its equivalent, have a pension. The Holy Grail: A Company Pension keeps many of us chained to the desks and computers of this land, afraid to venture out, to try something else, to downsize, to let go! The rate I am going it is ESA to JSA to OLD AGE PENSION. Yes in 3 years time I will be old. I view anybody over 50 as old, as any young self respecting 'whipper snapper' would view 47 as old. I am edging nearer. I am moving closer to the Mortality Mile. I am going to be a strange old man because I will still hold the views I hold now, to a lesser extent they are the views I held as a young man but those views don't mean diddly squat unless I can action them. I have mentioned my plans before and it will do no harm to mention them again here.

http://sharkfishinginwales.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/therapeutic-community.html

http://sharkfishinginwales.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/therapeutic-community_16.html

There have been slight modifications since I wrote the above but the dream remains true. I wish to start, open and run a Care farm, a Therapeutic Community run on a Permaculture basis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture

I want us to reclaim our Mental Wellbeing by digging for victory. If any of you noble souls reading this know of any altruistic individuals who might just wish to leave their farm or small holding anywhere in the UK to a Community Care Farm run on Socialist Principles please let me know.

As an individual I think I am moving in the right direction,

not to make money but to make a difference.