ForumGarden

I envy people with simple faith, who have somehow found satisfying answers, who have achieved peace... Me - I'm always a mass of questions. I wander between darkness and light, always searching for stillness. But maybe that's almost a definition of human existence anyway.. and my head hurts too.

Billy Graham?

Scream !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Diuretic, you made a good point which I somehow missed. Has the "shaman" always been with us? I think so, because I think THAT is the world's oldest profession....STORYTELLER! And it's just one step from storyteller to storyWRITER. And then one more step to "how do I calm these people in the horrible thunderstorm which rages outside our cave? hmmmmm....I KNOW! I KNOW! There are SPRITIS out there! And we can appease them--if we (fill in the blanks.)"

What do you think?

In a way, I was thinking of my grandmother when I wrote that, Diuretic. When she'd comfort me during a thunderstorm, she'd tell me "the angels are making their beds."

I suppose there were thousands of years for people to DO something and then, when coincidence made something else happen, they believed in THEIR power to change events and shape the future.

We're still doing it, aren't we?

If you seemed to have the answers to cosmic questions, you'd probably be cared for in your old age and fed when meat was found. You could ask for a share of whatever comforts were available while you threw the bones or read the omens. You could even create a system where people made sacrifices and you made sure those sacrifices were noticed by the gods.

We're still doing THAT, aren't we?

This is not really relevant but one of my oldest friends (and she's now in her eighties) is an Irish seannachie - traditional storyteller.. and golly gosh, can she weave a spell.

(She also plays a mean honky tonk piano, and I used to jam with her on my flute.. also mixes a lethal vodka tonic!! Thinking of you, a Rita, a chara!!)

Sounds like a great person to know! (What other kind of friend would YOU have?)

As a Sydney girl I'm proud of the heritage of my city. Its brash, crazy, bolshie unpredicability and creativity are probably derived from early settlers - Irish and London Cockney convicts. Sure Aussies are liars, in exactly the same way as Muslims are liars. And Americans are liars, and FGers are liars... etc... some are, some aren't.

Of course these days it's considered high status to be able to trace your ancestry to convicts.

My family came here much more recently. My Dad's German family to farm the Wimmera wheat district of Victoria. My mum's French family.. gosh who knows, maybe just for the aussie sunshine.

In tonight's Sydney Telegraph, Sheik Elhilaly good mate Kezer ? Trad writes to say exaggeration is part of Arab culture and the Supreme Mufti of All Australia meant it all as mererly an illustration, with his own special brand of kindly humour.

Bollocks!!!