Get out of your head
During covid (and i wish I'd seen it back then!) two Benedictine monks from Worth Abbey in sussex produced some videos for young people (and others) suffering mental health issues
Fr Christopher Jamison had been working with London youth at the time. One of these was a beautiful video adaptation of a poem written by Fr Luke Bell OSB, appended below.
Luke wrote an amazing book not long ago*, The Meaning of Blue* on contemplative prayer. I Have a copy available for borrowing ?
In this piece, he has written a reflection about manual labour and how practical, daily tasks can be a useful coping strategy for those experiencing isolation or social distancing.
I think it would be very helpful for many of us, even now after the pandemic.
From get out of your head video
have a look at the a further post and the guardian article
Get out of your head
Get out of your head
Your head does not have all the answers
There are worries in your head
There are anxieties in your head
Get into your hands
You have two hands
You have one hand for loving
You have one hand for doing
Work with your hands
Your hands will work together
They will not complain
They will not expect to be paid
Live in your hands
Watch what they do
Love what they do
Treasure what they make
Be in your heart
Let your hands take you out of your head
Let them take you nearer to themselves.
Let them take you to your heart
He brings everything full-circle to the metaphor of the spiritual triangle, reexamining the essence of art and the core responsibility of the artist:
Art is not vague production, transitory and isolated, but a power which must be directed to the improvement and refinement of the human soul — to, in fact, the raising of the spiritual triangle.
If art refrains from doing this work, a chasm remains unbridged, for no other power can take the place of art in this activity. And at times when the human soul is gaining greater strength, art will also grow in power, for the two are inextricably connected and complementary one to the other. Conversely, at those times when the soul tends to be choked by material disbelief, art becomes purposeless and talk is heard that art exists for art’s sake alone…
It is very important for the artist to gauge his position aright, to realize that he has a duty to his art and to himself, that he is not king of the castle but rather a servant of a nobler purpose. He must search deeply into his own soul, develop and tend it, so that his art has something to clothe, and does not remain a glove without a hand. The artist must have something to say, for mastery over form is not his goal but rather the adapting of form to its inner meaning.
From the Margin Alien
Charles