Heroes Not Zombies

Should I ask you to choose? The flower or the bamboo, which do you prefer?

I don’t think that would be such a good idea.

There is a lot of binary thought around. People choosing this or that. People divided into two camps, us and them.

It’s not healthy and it’s a distortion of reality. Reality is more “and not or” than it’s binary.

I was thinking about this the other day when I came across a discussion about whether or not it’s human nature to be competitive or cooperative. A pretty futile debate I reckon, like most binary debates, because it’s human nature to be BOTH competitive AND cooperative.

I’d argue the same about “nature Vs nurture”. We all have a genetic inheritance and we all change constantly under the influence of culture and society.

I’m extremely wary of simplistic, narrow, views. Maybe it’s not as dramatic or as easy to argue for something more complex, more nuanced, more integrated, but that’s how I see reality all the same.

We have two cerebral hemispheres, each with it’s unique way of engaging with the world, and we thrive when we use both at the same time.

We are open, massively interconnected creatures, constantly growing, changing, adapting. We are not “this or that”. We are both “us AND them”.

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Do you find that certain numbers appeal to you so much they influence your daily life?

For me, one such number is three.

Body, mind and spirit is one triple which sits at the core of my understanding about both health and disease.

Past, present and future is the basic structure of narrative. My consultations often began with me inviting the patient to “tell me you story”.

I love the triskele symbol which is part of the Celtic culture of drawing….the three looping lines.

I could go on…conceptually, aesthetically, practically….I find threes everywhere.

However, I should add, I’m not a fan of distinct exclusive categories so I often see my triples and triads as a Venn diagram of three overlapping circles.

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Water is beautiful. It appears in a seemingly infinite variety of shapes. I love to see a fountain like this where the water gathers under the lip of a bowl then steadily flows in a single stream down to a pond. In this particular case a metal plate resembling a leaf catches the flow temporarily before it continues outwards into the rest of the pond. The pattern of ripples on the surface can be utterly mesmerising.

What you don’t get from looking at this photo, is the sound the water makes as it spills over and splashes down into the pond, but that sound, a uniquely “watery” sound really adds to the magic.

Through its different stages this water appears as one body – shape shifting as it goes.

On the other hand, rainwater or dew collected on these leaves forms discrete little jewels, each one sparkling in the light and, on closer inspection, acting as a tiny lens in which you can see the world around it.

Both of these images show water in its pure liquid form, but we know that under different conditions it can form sheets of ice, infinitely diverse crystal snowflakes, or endlessly changing clouds and mists.

Isn’t it wonderful?

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I was very fortunate to be able to visit Japan a number of times. I was fascinated by it on every visit. So much was just so different from my experience of Scotland and European countries.

This photo is one of many I took in Kyoto. It’s a good example of how obviously different life is there from, say, that in Edinburgh or Glasgow.

Look at the width of the street, the architecture of the buildings, the wires stretching the length and breadth of the street. And, especially look at the person on the bicycle, cycling while holding up an umbrella!

Our physical environments are all so different, our built ones too, and in particular our cultural ones. All that is created by, and creates, a particular way of living.

This diversity is a great strength not just in human communities but in every natural environment.

I have quite a dislike of uniformity. I know we have to create and live together and therefore need to have a fair amount of features in common, but wouldn’t the world be a much poorer place if sameness was imposed everywhere?

The other I think about when I see this photo is just how important are these environments in which we live. It’s impossible to understand health and disease without knowing the physical, social and cultural contexts of each person.

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If you are familiar with this castle I bet you know exactly which one it is from this photo. I’ve focused in on a small part of the building but I think it’s a very distinctive part.

When I learned how to make a diagnosis we were taught that most of the time you can do it by listening carefully to what the patient said (some physical examination might help distinguish between different possibilities and tests should be used last). What we listened for were the distinctive symptoms which were typical of particular diseases.

When I learned homeopathy we were taught that the most “strange, rare and peculiar” symptoms were often the key to finding the best remedy. In other words it was the most distinctive, most individual symptoms which often revealed what was most specific in this particular patient’s situation or experience.

Both of these teachings emphasise the individual story, and sticking with my usual “and not or”, between them I found how to make both a good diagnosis and a good remedy!

From a left hemisphere, right hemisphere perspective that’s a matter of recognising both what’s typical or “general”, and what’s specifically individual in each situation.

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Do you ever have that experience where something you see just stops you in your tracks? I do…..often! Plants are especially able to do that.

Just look at this one. Look at the structure as the bud unfolds. I can’t see something like this without astonishment. How on Earth does such an elaborate and delicate structure ever emerge? How does it develop like this, both in the evolutionary sense over millions of years and in the present time over a single life cycle of seed to plant to budding and blossoming.

How does each element of a flower like this emerge from the undifferentiated seed to produce just the right shape, just the right colour, in just the right place?

I don’t have answers to these questions but that’s part of the beauty of it – it’s that sense of wonder and awe which is fabulous in its own right, not dependent on any explanation or “answer”.

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Looks like the Easter Bunny turned up a little early today! It’s not Easter until the weekend!

Sometimes clouds are strikingly reminiscent of something or someone. We see faces easily in the patterns around us, whether those patterns are on living organisms or inanimate structures. But it’s not just faces we see. It’s easy to see representations of many familiar creatures or characters in the clouds.

I know the phrase “head in the clouds” tends to be used in a derogatory way, but every now and again, I think it’s one of life’s free and easy delights to lie back for a while and see what you can see in the clouds.

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Who doesn’t love a sunset? They are quite compelling. Every time I see the sky turn red I’m drawn outside to look at it. It’s something I never tire of. And, somehow, no two sunsets are identical.

There’s a kind of sunset which occurs in the distance. We see the orb of the Sun sinking below a far horizon, sending bright rays of colour upwards.

Then there’s this kind which turns the entire sky red. When the whole sky turns red the sunset is no longer something to watch “over there”. The distance collapses and you find yourself in a whole red world. It feels completely different, turned from an event to witness into an experience to live.

In that moment I realise there are no real distances which turn events into experiences. All events are experiences.

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Do we live in a world of discrete and separate objects or a world which is a community of interdependent, interconnected subjects?

Do we live in a world of fixed things or constantly changing phenomena emerging from invisible flows?

I’m strongly of the latter part of each of those statements. That’s partly why I have the phrase “becoming not being” at the top of my blog. That’s partly what informs my motto of “and not or”.

I’ve come to see the world this way from my experience with patients. For the whole of my working life my primary activity was one to one consultations where I found every single person was unique and that the person before me today could only be understood within the context of their personal web of relationships, as a developing human being with an individual story. Everyone I met could best be understood in the context of their physical, social and cultural environments.

Over time this understanding has expanded out to include the whole planet. The concept of the Earth as a whole living organism described in the Gaia hypothesis made a big impact on me. Since then I’ve come to see all of reality this way. So when I see a scene like this one above I don’t see separate objects or resources to be exploited. I see and experience a unique, beautiful, amazing place.

First peoples have myths and rituals which keep them in touch with the reality of the world as a community of ever changing subjects. We can enhance our own lives by learning from their example.

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Although the camera exposure doesn’t let you see any of the details on the surface of the moon in this image, it’s one of my favourite photos of a full moon.

I took the shot through a tree and the bright light of the moon has turned the leaves into a silhouette.

So you could say that all the details have been obscured but somehow that just makes this image so interesting. It does a number of things for me. It sparks my imagination making me think of stories set in forests at night. It puts me in touch with two different cycles at the same time – the lunar cycle and Earth’s cycle of seasons. Finally, the foregrounding of the leaves anchors me solidly here on Earth, a human being who has emerged within Life on this little planet, stirred by a sense of wonder and awe at all I can see.

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