My daughter Iduna is one year old this week, where did the time go? She is bright and lively and highly curious, so I have begun her education. Well, to be fair we both have but I have been introducing her to rather different things than her mother seems to find important. That is okay, why have two parents if they are boringly the same? My gift has been to introduce Iduna to music I think she should hear before she is old enough to question my taste. Just one or two songs at a time and the other evening I thought Neil Diamond might be a good choice. I found a Youtube clip from an occasion Diamond performed at the Greek Theater, LA, I think in 2012. The venue is packed with thousands of people, Neil Diamond sings Sweet Caroline and the whole audience is on their feet and singing along as one older man (as Diamond was over 70 by then) leads a communal expression of joy and love for the song, the singer, fellow fans, and the camera picks up the tears of joy that are on many faces. What is seen is an expression of community and the loving energy which is generated in shared community activity with just the right focus of intent and willingness to share and participate. This particular example isn’t a rare event either. A well conducted church service should create a similar experience. As Methodist I would like to sit in on a discussion between John Wesley, who wrote some of the best Methodist Hymns, and Neil Diamond as they compared notes on the power of collective singing. A regular performer at the Mercian Gathering is Damh the Bard who will fill the big tent on the Saturday night and energise and unite the crowd with his songs and music. Played one of Damh’s CDs the other day, while I enjoyed hearing it I found myself very sad that I didn’t hear him live again this September. We had also planned to take Iduna with us this year and it might have been her first experience of live music too.

Now, experiences like the one Neil Diamond, or Dahm the Bard can create with their music, words, and sheer presence are banned, and the reason, so we are told, is in case a deadly virus is spread by people coming together.

I had a reaction to one of my recent posts where a reader suggested that the Fenris Wolf represented the virus that threatens to swallow the world. He went on to suggest that Baldur is the person foolish enough to believe that he is immune from the virus and takes foolish risks and will eventually pay the price. That is one interpretation, I would see it differently.

To me, the virus is Baldur’s dream. The dream may be something, it may be nothing, either way death is inevitable anyway, disease is always with us and always will be. Baldur’s protectors are so concerned that the dream might mean something that Odin consults the expert by raising a dead seeress. The prophecy Odin hears about the end times and Ragnarok might be something, might be nothing, whatever will happen is probably inevitable anyway. Odin and Frigg are so concerned about what they hear they bend reality to their will and believe they have made their beloved son immune to harm of any kind. All they have actually done is made him foolishly reckless and death becomes inevitable. Maybe Frigg’s attempt to make all things in earth and heaven promise to go against their true nature and never harm Baldur is more an exercise in power that she cannot resist exercising than any real desire to protect her son?

Watching Neil Diamond on Youtube made me think that if any member of that audience went home and realised that they were going to die that night because they participated in that concert then I believe they would have passed away happy that they had just had one of the most wonderful experiences they could have had. In fact the energy and joy you can see shared in that venue must have added at least five years to the life of each person there.

What is preventing the spread of infection really all about? What is the infection which is really prevented by banning concerts? Religious services? Martial Arts training, in classes and at events such as Fightcamp? Dancing? Camps such as Druid, Spirit of Awen, and Mercian Gathering, just the ones I missed? And all the other events when people come together and share experience, love, energy, fun, ideas, knowledge, and the pure spirit of being alive. Why is it so important to ban these opportunities for real community? I will tell you why. If you combine a high level of consciousness, with a vision of how the world could be, and with people coming together in loving solidarity, we could create the kind of world we really want to live in. A world without war, without conflict, with genuine fairness, and each person fully supported in discovering and living out their true potential. It really would not be that difficult. All that needs to happen is people of good will and pure intent come together and the world changes. Now, who might not want such a transformation to happen, and what might they do to hold it back?

Regards

Graham

PS I have no idea what next year holds, whatever it is life is going to be interesting. If you have enough confidence that next year is worth planning for you might like a diary to help you get organised. I have a few left this year and, if you live in the UK, I will be very happy to send you one on a first come, first served basis. Just drop me you name and address and I will send it to you. Size 150 by 80 mm, week to view, includes a pen and has a quote for every week. Please see picture below.