Everyday Transcendence

Wonderful paralympic team 2016

If I asked you if you had had a transcendent experience, you might doubt it, you might search for some out of body experience, some deep and profound shift from one consciousness to a state of sublime bliss and not find it there!
The subject of transcendence fascinates me because it seems such a far off and unlikely event in the ordinary way of things.  However, if you look at it in a different way (and especially look at it after the end of those wonderful Paralympic Games) you might get a hint of the possibility of everyday transcendence.  Because if transcendence means to transcend one state of being for another, then surely a person who might think they were disabled but who decides to transcend the condition by taking part in an exacting sport is someone who has transcended the state of disability and risen to the state of athlete.

lovely glass of wine!

In the same way, a person with a headache who goes to work has transcended the state of headache, not accepted the headache as a reason not to go in.  They have transcended state one for state two.  My own state of transcendence is to complete half an hour of meditation and transcend the ideas which beg for attention some of which are completely brilliant and would let me rebuild the house and probably remodel the universe!!! Some of them are the opposite, those ideas tell me what rubbish I am, what a failure and why would anyone like me!  Transcending the second lot is clearly desirable, transcending the great and glorious ones takes a bit more effort.
You have to make sure that the lovely supper or the glass of wine aren't going to win the day because     somewhere deep in your consciousness, you know that they are a passing thing and you are trying to build up a capital of remembering the transcendent reality of your own soul. You have to have the discipline of an athlete, an everyday build up of strength to be able to transcend the idea that you are just a body with a small mind inside it bound to your name and your nationality, your status and your age.  It has to be worth it doesn't it. Plus you can have the glass of wine when you have finished especially if you haven't let it cross your mind during your meditation!

The real Titchener tale at Granny's house

Before the end, it all seemed perfect

A hot debate between Grandpas

Are you gripped by the current Archers story of domestic abuse?  I am addicted to it and have to creep off at 7.00 pm to listen by myself because there is a debate in our house about what the real issue is.  I am all for Helen but Grandpa thinks that it is a feminist plot and that someone should write a script with an abusive female.  Maybe Clary  Grundy abusing Ed, and never allowing him to go to the pub or to see his mates or his old Dad! Or maybe Linda Snell terrorising Robert and excluding his family!
You may be wanting to know what happened to our own feathered Rob Titchener, he of the Buff-Orpington family who cruelly dispatched his Helen by constant hidden bullying.  We kept him in isolation for a while but watched over by the flock of hens, all female, who had witnessed the terrible bullying of Helen and were just waiting for their chance to see justice being done.  Actually, it wasn't justice, it was revenge and he, a lone male, possibly repentant and alone, was set on by the whole other 10 hens and found by one of us, dead as dead.  This may possibly indicate that Grandpa has a point and although Rob Titchener is clearly a bad man, the feminine creature is also pretty fearsome when she thinks she is right.  All that being said, I hope that Helen is out of that prison by the end of tomorrow's marathon listen and I hope that Grandpa doesn't come in and disturb me while I listen, gripped,  as if it were really happening.

Multi-purpose Granny app

Grandchildren

Clearly being a Granny is only a small part of who anyone might be,  In fact, Granniedom is only real when you are thinking of, being with, preparing for or considering the welfare of those who come into your own particular Granniedom.  So, this has been an interesting summer for us to watch the size of the Granniedom.

What is it is that sets a grandparent in motion.  What I have noticed, especially as some of the grandchildren live abroad and the others are far away is that when they are expected, Grandpa gets the croquet out, the tractor comes out of the shed, he goes down to his cellar and brings up special drinks for the parents of the grandchildren and he and I set about making family favourite foods: prawn cocktail, fish pie and steak and kidney pudding (not my bag!).  They come, they go, it all rushes by with friends and festivities and we change gear.

Dogs

Grandchildren's shoes

But of course, it doesn't end there, there is the Skype connector, the WhatsApp Group, the plans to visit again all set against a backdrop of something else.  I am going to tell you what it is just in case you far away grandchild are out there listening.  It is set against a background of love, not sloppy sentimental love, but deep profound and continuous love.  Apart from anything else about it, it isn't our love, we just get to participate in it as grandparents but also as dog owners, gardeners, Olympic gymnasts, Aid workers, brides and grooms, mothers and fathers, lovers, young and old, we all just get a dollop of love from a great big bowl of love.  This love isn't pink or blue or coloured in anyway, it simply is what exists.

When you get a chance to be quiet and still and you tune in to that love especially if you need it or you have someone in your life who you are concerned about, you know it is real.  When you turn away from it, it doesn't ever turn away from you.  Apart from anything else, it can't.  It is all there is.  So, when I don't see you dear children and grandchildren, I can leave my particular individual Granny and Grandpadom and all its pairing of socks and preparing of meals and meet it in meditation.  It is a discipline to do this twice a day every day and of course sometimes the socks take precedence. During this summer when there have been an unusual number of dramatic moments and people (and the Butty dog) to really care for, meditating has been for real and the reality of unmoving love surrounding all of us is really and truly there.

One who knows