Wednesday, 5th
September, 2012
Brandon Bay, Kerry
Woke up to perfection!
Sat outside eating breakfast
from the van Caroline says, “Aren’t we lucky?”, “Yes very lucky” I reply, “Blessed”.
It’s warm, the sun is
shining, there is no wind and the surf is a clean 3’ to 4’. Perfection.
I can’t emphasise enough how warm it is. We could be in the south of France.
Ireland like other countries has a feeling of freedom, freedom
to roam. Cows roam, dogs roam, people roam. Even farmers are open to you
roaming. What a contradiction to home.
On the need to travel I think
the Russian philosopher and writer Alexander Herzen (1812-1870) summed it up,
“After living a long time in one place and in the same rut, I feel that for a
certain time it is enough, that I
must refresh myself with other horizons and other faces…and at the same time
must retire into myself, strange as that sounds. The superficial distractions
of the journey do not interfere.” (Newby. 1995. P. 230) Herzen’s viewpoint
reinforces British cultural anthropologist Victor Turner (1920-83) that
liminality can be “regarded as a time and place of withdrawal from normal modes of social
action” and can be seen as “a period of scrutiny for central values and axioms
of the culture where it occurs”. (Turner V. 1969. p. 156).
Whilst my desire to travel
has been recognised I have related my most recent trips to a pilgrimage but are
they, are they not just holidays and what of the existence of God if these
trips can be considered a pilgrimage?
As Knight posits, the notion
of a pilgrimage within the modern age has changed. Ease of travel has helped pilgrimages become
more curiosity-seeking rather than devotional and as the authenticity of
religious relics began to be questioned the tradition of undergoing a religious
pilgrimage began to lose its authority. Devotion, it seems has been superseded
by play, yet as Turner sets out, the pilgrimage from its beginning was always a
combination of both devotion and play, and it is through such a combination
that I feel we can relate the surfing trip to some kind of secular pilgrimage. Play, for Knight, especially when it is organized and made
into routine is as ritualistically charged as worship.
In relation to God I think of
an Almighty Being, a being in human form. Maybe this is what I have learnt
through education and art. God, it seems is the single entity that brings
together people of faith much like a pyramid with all belief centred on one
point. This point is God, the zenith.
W Blake “And God Blessed The Seventh Day And
Sanctioned It”
My belief in God is
undermined by the portrayal of him as him, a person, a man and also because of
different religions both old and new. As feminist theologian Merlin Stone
asserts that whilst the Hebrews intended to inhabit the land of Canaan
their ultimate aim was to also destroy and replace the existing religion.
It also seems religion was formed as a means of control. At the birth of civilization in the land of Sumer what could be deemed natural calamities were used by the priests and their temples to make religion both powerful and pervasive. Whilst the temples supported those in need they eventually grew in size as did the land they owned. Eventually the economic leverage of the Sumerian priesthood grew substantially. Warfare became chronic and eventually the power of the kings grew to rival that of the temples. However, the support and approval of the priesthood was always sought. In return, the king was held as the deity’s earthly representative, a ruler by divine right. The relationship between the sovereignty and the priesthood was mutually beneficial.
It also seems religion was formed as a means of control. At the birth of civilization in the land of Sumer what could be deemed natural calamities were used by the priests and their temples to make religion both powerful and pervasive. Whilst the temples supported those in need they eventually grew in size as did the land they owned. Eventually the economic leverage of the Sumerian priesthood grew substantially. Warfare became chronic and eventually the power of the kings grew to rival that of the temples. However, the support and approval of the priesthood was always sought. In return, the king was held as the deity’s earthly representative, a ruler by divine right. The relationship between the sovereignty and the priesthood was mutually beneficial.
Then there is logic. As Vernon posits logic fails
to underpin faith and there is no rational basis for a belief in God or Gods.
What if God were thought of
differently?
I can begin to gain a
relationship with God if I believe in terms of God as a divine energy, what the
Platonists called Logos. What I find difficult in regards to Christianity is
that the divine energy, Logos became flesh, in the form of Jesus. However, the
Platonists were about pure reason whereas Christianity embraced reality.
Does God have to be referred
to as a man for followers to make a tangible leap? Platonists believed God to
be beyond the reach of human comprehension but as a man this notion is bridged.
As Vernon
states, “the living wisdom of Christianity is greater than that of any dry
philosophy because it is focused in the life of a person, Jesus Christ.”
(Vernon. 2012. P.10) Such an argument reinforces the idea that for God to be
comprehendible the concept needs to be recognised in the form of a person thus
taking the idea away from any philosophical viewpoint.
I feel I ought to believe but
as Anselm stated, “merely believing what you feel you ought to believe is deadening.”
(Vernon. 2012. P. 12)
In regards to travelling it
is a great leveller. When surfing at home, in Croyde I am aware of those who can be considered
local and because of this they are treated differently but here in Brandon Bay I know no-one and so everyone is
treated with the same respect and politeness. The hierarchy has disappeared. I
am a new member of Turner’s communitas.
My sense of identity has, as Turner sets out, become somewhat dissolved thus
reinforcing a sense of disorientation which is experienced, I feel through my
heightened awareness of my presence in the ocean.
Bibliography
Cotton C, 2007 The Photograph As Contemporary Art Thames
& Hudson: London
De Botton A, 2003 The Art of Travel Penguin: London
Newby E, 1995 A Book of Travellers’ Tales Pan Books
Ltd: London
Perlmutter D and Koppman D,
1999 Reclaiming the Spiritual in Art:
Contemporary Cross-cultural Perspectives State University
of New York Press: New York
Sontag S, 2002 On Photography Penguin Group: London
Tolstoy L, 1969 What Is
Art? And Essays on Art London: University Press Oxford
Turner V, 1967 The Forest of Symbols Ithaca, NY: Cornell
University Press
Turner V, 1969 The Ritual Process Penguin 1969
Various, 1987 The Age of God-Kings 3000-1500 BC Time
Life Books: USA
Vernon M, 2012 God The
Big Questions Quercus: London
Copyright Mark King 2012
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