s17/6/16: I walked home in the rain yesterday evening, after going to the Red Brick Building to see a local EU Referendum debate. It was good to see Theo Simon and Mike Hannis who were speaking on behalf of 'Remain', but I came away feeling quite depressed.
The EU is being characterised as a proto-fascist organisation that is responsible for everything from the war in Ukraine to the flood of migrants coming across the Mediterranean. The Leave campaign is deliberately stirring up fear and prejudice, about migrants in particular, and they might very well be successful.
I said nothing at the meeting – it would have just added to the intellectual sludge that was being generated. But after 30 years in Glastonbury I have seen the traditional community here deprived of its Borough Council, its small farming community, its 'real' High Street shops, and much else besides. All this has been blamed on the in-coming 'hippies' – and on occasions fear and prejudice have been stirred up in a similar way, on a local level.
I remember C.G.Jung writing about Nazism in Germany, in terms of it being the shadow side of the German psyche. I see the rise of Donald Trump in the U.S.A. and I wonder whether the same thing is happening there. And here, with Boris Johnson and Nigel Farrage, and the peculiar current of irrational distress that they are riding on, I now see that the same thing might be happening in this country.
This morning I feel a deep sadness coming up. I can identify it now. It is not just the human irrationality; nor the habitats directive, the birds directive, the water framework directive and all the rest that might well go as a result; it's the natural world that is tramped upon whilst these loud voices of fear and disgust hold sway and insist on being heard above all else.
My connection with the river, as I sit on the bank and watch fish breaking the surface, listen to birds singing in the reed beds, and thank God for water that is still reasonably clean and fresh, is real. This morning I feel my direction is being confirmed. Over the past few days I have struggled considerably with my writing, but this morning I feel 'un-plugged' and I am glad after all that I went to the Red Brick Building and came away feeling depressed.
The EU is being characterised as a proto-fascist organisation that is responsible for everything from the war in Ukraine to the flood of migrants coming across the Mediterranean. The Leave campaign is deliberately stirring up fear and prejudice, about migrants in particular, and they might very well be successful.
I said nothing at the meeting – it would have just added to the intellectual sludge that was being generated. But after 30 years in Glastonbury I have seen the traditional community here deprived of its Borough Council, its small farming community, its 'real' High Street shops, and much else besides. All this has been blamed on the in-coming 'hippies' – and on occasions fear and prejudice have been stirred up in a similar way, on a local level.
I remember C.G.Jung writing about Nazism in Germany, in terms of it being the shadow side of the German psyche. I see the rise of Donald Trump in the U.S.A. and I wonder whether the same thing is happening there. And here, with Boris Johnson and Nigel Farrage, and the peculiar current of irrational distress that they are riding on, I now see that the same thing might be happening in this country.
This morning I feel a deep sadness coming up. I can identify it now. It is not just the human irrationality; nor the habitats directive, the birds directive, the water framework directive and all the rest that might well go as a result; it's the natural world that is tramped upon whilst these loud voices of fear and disgust hold sway and insist on being heard above all else.
My connection with the river, as I sit on the bank and watch fish breaking the surface, listen to birds singing in the reed beds, and thank God for water that is still reasonably clean and fresh, is real. This morning I feel my direction is being confirmed. Over the past few days I have struggled considerably with my writing, but this morning I feel 'un-plugged' and I am glad after all that I went to the Red Brick Building and came away feeling depressed.
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