Sweet smelling smoke wafts from behind the garden shed at the side of my unit. It’s not a naughty boy in my backyard. It’s a naughty boy next door.
Recreational drug consumption has increased significantly during this covid chaos. Authorities can tell that by testing our wastewater.
That random fact was on the news this week, by the way. You can read about it here if you like: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/new-report-reveals-what-drugs-are-most-popular-in-every-state/news-story/30569b0a6b43e70c0a01224621a2a179
You’ll not be surprised to hear that illicit drugs don’t interest me. Caffeine is my drug of choice and its quite legal. Caffeine isn’t causing significant chaos in my inner world, however. No, my problem is far more respectable.
The Brewing of Soma
The use of drugs, natural or man-made, illicit or legal, has been around since time immemorial. One of my favourite poems describes the ecstasy which imbibers enjoy.
If you’ve not read it, look up ‘The Brewing of Soma,’ written in the 1800s by John Greenleaf Whittier. If you’re a long-time church-goer, you will recognise some lines starting about 2/3 of the way through. Here is a sample.
“Drink, mortals, what the gods have sent,
(Stanzas 4 and 5 from the poem ‘The Brewing of Soma’ by John Greenleaf Whittier)
Forget your long annoy.”
So sang the priests. From tent to tent
The Soma’s sacred madness went,
A storm of drunken joy.
Then knew each rapt inebriate
A winged and glorious birth,
Soared upward, with strange joy elate,
Beat, with dazed head, Varuna’s gate,
And, sobered, sank to earth.
Distractions
My mind spins out of control sometimes too. A lot of the time actually. Probably even most of the time, just at the moment.
Studies suggest that distractions affect our minds in a similar way to that of drugs or alcohol. A frequently-aired TV advertisement at the moment highlights the fact that distractions while driving are as potentially lethal as drink driving. Quite apart from driving a vehicle, distractions can also affect our performance on a host of other tasks too – tasks to which we would like to give our full attention.
If we let it … and it’s hard not to … modern life can be FULL of distractions. Social media poses a particular problem. (If you’d like to read more on this, see https://theconversation.com/social-media-is-as-harmful-as-alcohol-and-drugs-for-millennials-78418 ) Pop psychology suggests that over-stimulated minds and a corresponding inability to concentrate is the malaise of millennials. I’m not a millennial, but I identify.
When I was a teenager, life was simple. I had my study, a casual job, family, friends and a few hobbies. Generally, I focussed on one thing at a time. Now, decades later, the various things that fill my life are all mixed up.
Throughout the day, my phone or iPad or computer continually dings, trills, quacks like a duck, rings and more. Social media apps keep me informed of what people I barely know (though quite like) ate for lunch today. ‘Prayer points’ (surely good and appropriate) come thick and fast. I constantly check the internet for the latest virus figures and stay there to understand a stranger’s opinion on some matter that I didn’t even know interested me until a moment earlier.
Lessons from roses
As I sat on the back porch this morning pondering such things, my attention wandered to the glorious rose buds on a bush nearby. They are just about ready to burst open. Each stem carries six or seven rose buds. Although they stand tall and proud now, I know that once they open, the stems will bend under their weight and they will lower their proud heads. Some people would have clipped off all but one rose bud per stem so as to allow the bush to pour all its energy and nutrition into that one bud. I am not one of those good gardeners. I can’t bear to ‘waste’ something with such potential. Pruning is painful … not just to the plant but also to some gardeners.
The similarities between my overly prolific rose bush and what is inside, on my desk and in my head both, are stark. I have lots of interests, responsibilities and commitments. It’s hard to concentrate though. I don’t sense that God is asking me to prune any of them completely just now. However, I need to do something if I am to make headway on any of them.
A popular hymn
‘Dear Lord and Father of Mankind’ was declared one of the most popular hymns in the United Kingdom in 2019, according to a poll conducted by the popular BBC programme, Songs of Praise. (Check out the full list if you’re interested in this article: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-49871456 ) It is one of my favourites too. Did you know that this whole hymn is actually an excerpt from the longer poem, a portion of which was quoted above, called ‘The Brewing of Soma’? The part about drugged frenzies, mentioned earlier, is NOT sung as a hymn. It contrasts with what we do sing about, however.
Today I sat in the backyard singing quietly the part of that poem which has become one of England’s most loved hymns.
Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
Stanza 12 of the poem, ‘The Brewing of Soma’ by John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) and now a hymn in its own right
Forgive our foolish ways!
Reclothe us in our rightful mind,
In purer lives Thy service find,
In deeper reverence, praise.
A respectable problem
My problem is not soma or any other drug, illicit or otherwise. It is distractions.
If you read this blog regularly, you may have noticed that a few weeks ago, I started a four-part series on the Jewish high holy days … but never got beyond part one. (I would like to get back to that, but those holy days are now long past. It can wait.) Why did I not get to it? How did I run out of time for other projects too? My days were full but full of what?
I blame my scattered focus and general lack of concentration on the unsettling times in which we live. In addition to the obvious covid chaos as well as changes at home, I have also been indulging in too much mental stimulation through the ever-changing news and more.
Life is settling down now. It’s time to take myself in hand.
And so I pray, in the form of a song, while sitting in the backyard.
Drop Thy still dews of quietness,
(Stanza 16 from the poem, ‘The Brewing of Soma’ by John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace.