RSPB Ham Wall 26th July 2022
A bright afternoon and evening and about time to take a visit to RSPB Ham Wall. Always the beauty and delight of the natural world, spilling over with life-energy, with Spirit.
Always many swans, never tiring of their elegance.
Spire Falls
Drama on St Thomas Street as top of St Thomas Church spire falls in high winds. I was out watching the scene, as we live very close by, with the spire rocking in the wind and the police and fire service in attendance. I was crossing the road as it fell and not filming unfortunately! Thankfully it fell to the ground, missing the roof and nobody hurt.
Doubt in Wells
When Doubt Comes: being willing to have a conversation with doubt and to become more real and authentic through that practice.
The Antony Gormley sculpture DOUBT has now been installed on the west façade of Wells Cathedral. Described by some as "hideous" it offers the invitation to question beliefs, assumptions and prejudices and to be changed in the process. I find it quite moving in it's portrayal of looking in a new direction, vulnerability and change. Especially poignant surrounded by other niches that are worn or empty and occasional ones renewed.
Antony says this:
"I am very aware of the paradox of placing an object called DOUBT on the façade of a building devoted to belief, but it seems to me that doubting, interrogating, questioning, are all part of belief. For me doubt can be a positive force and the imaginative engine of future possibility.
I have chosen this niche on the West Front of Wells Cathedral for its exposed position and visibility: the book at the end of the bookshelf. Most of the figures on the west façade stand facing the world in an open attitude of confidence, proudly displaying their attributes - regal, military, and divine. In contrast, I have used the orthogonal geometry of our modern habitat to evoke the body as a place. DOUBT is literally on edge and teeters uneasily out of its niche, one foot perilously off the ledge and one shoulder jutting forward. This cast iron body has collapsed into itself, compressing torso to pelvis; energy is drawn inwards but the head juts out enquiringly into space at large.
In the context of an 800-year-old celebration of hierarchy, I wish to make a space for a contemporary state of mind. Perhaps paradoxically, by using a rigorous abstract language, my primary purpose is to engage the eye and body of the viewer in empathic projection, to consider our time in the shelter of other times."
Lunar Reflection
Museum of the Moon, Wells Cathedral
I like to take a broad perspective and to allow that to impact the way I think about the world and behave in it. The current installation in Wells Cathedral (Wells, Somerset is where I live) is by Luke Jerram: Museum of the Moon. It’s an installation of the moon, measuring seven metres in diameter, featuring detailed NASA imagery of the lunar surface. The scale is about 1:500,000 so that each centimetre of the internally lit spherical sculpture represents about 5km of the moon’s surface.
The moon has always been powerful in human life and culture. It is the nearest and most prominent astronomical body and features historically in the life and culture of most nations and religions through there images, sacred texts, songs and poems. The moon’s existence is likely to be critical for life on earth through it’s reflected light, affect on tides and seasons and its influence in enabling earth axis stability.
Here are some lines from the Indian poet and mystic Kabir:
The moon shines in my body, but my blind eyes cannot see it:
The moon is within me, and so is the sun.
The unstruck drum of Eternity is sounded within me; but my deaf ears cannot hear it.
The moon installation in Wells cathedral is almost the width of the nave and is impressive in its size, detail and luminosity. The luminosity of its reflected light can inspire us to consider what we reflect out to others and the world in the lives that we live. Seen in relationship to the cross in the cathedral it can point to something close to the heart of the Christian message: “I am the light of the world…You are the light of the world”.
