Boston’s, Wednesday, munching on one of their chunky avocado, tapenade, sun dried tomato and spinach sandwiches, slurping on their ‘home-made’ lemonade – actually a nice balance of sweet/sour. There we were trying to set our minds to the question of the big narrative versus fragments – those disconnected moments of life before they’re dragooned into some overarching story.
A mind can have a hunger for clarity; a violent wish to be vice like, to get hold of reality and hold it firm, don’t let it wriggle, hold still and let me see what I’ve got here. Though we might also want to include another meaning of vice – immoral or wicked behaviour. What is the good use of mind? A mind can be spoilt and is endlessly distractible. Alternatively shift the view a bit and we have a mind that’s fluid and flexible.
An image from the end of the conversation, of a large cross planted in the centre of the first floor spaciousness of Boston’s. It’s surrounded by the endless buzz of many different conversations – fragments. Nobody bothers with the cross. Perhaps there are even some who don’t know the big narrative that belongs to the cross. But I guess that most of us are aware of it to a lesser or greater degree, at the back of our minds, stored in the lumber-room or stacked in the garage. This might be useful one day. Don’t throw it away yet.
Who’s left holding the cross? Taking care of it?
Me, I say, I’ll lend a hand.