Life often invites us to go to the place of paradox and most times we resist it or just refuse. Yesterday, I was reminded of this several times.
The Notre-Dame, an image in my mind of immense grandeur and beauty, suddenly replaced with an image equal its immensity but of its falling and destruction. Parallel to this, I was watching the Yorkshire Ripper Files. In the third episode, professionals and members of the public expressing their absolute shock that when Peter was seen in the dock, he looked and sounded nothing like the image of the monster he had become in their minds; he was an ordinary man. This reminded me of the neighbours who lived in Cromwell street, next to Fred and Rose who, day after day, as the bodies of their victims were removed from their garden, also expressed their inability to think of Fred and Rose behaving as sadistic murderous sexual predators, instead of the lovely, friendly as one had said’ salt of the earth’ neighbours known to them over the years.
I think also of the many people I have known, who have committed extreme acts of destruction; bombings, murders, rapes, arsons, who on meeting them in the Police, court or prison cell are also often, gentle, unassuming, charming and very polite. David Copeland, being no exception. Soon we will be remembering his victims killed or maimed by the bombs he planted in Brixton, Brick Lane and Soho; acts of expressed hatred. But on meeting him, a quiet, timid, sexually confused vulnerable young man.
The wholeness of the human condition is made of both horror and beauty, it fills our lives day by day and mostly at the same time. What are we to make of this?
Very early in my career, my work, as indicated above took me to a place of understanding and acceptance of that which we are all conditioned, time and time again to avoid; the place of paradox. The reality being that, absolutely not one of us are one thing or the other, we are always both.
Personally, I can be extremely self -destructive and immensely creative. I can party for several days and for months enjoy sobriety and celibacy. I can, in a sentence, wither the closest of friends and equally raise them up with love. This list could go on and on, for me and for you.
But life lived in these extremes is not where peace of mind, acceptance and reality of the whole of life dwells. Peace of mind and true acceptance of others and self is found in the place where our most extreme aspects meet and come together; the place of paradox – the place of wholeness.
Our world is full of the symbolism of paradox and reminders of wholeness. The most common is the concentric circles made of stained glass found in Notre-Dames across the world. Where the circles overlap our eyes forever drawn to that middle place where the sacred and profane come together. This again and again reminds us of the true nature of the human condition. We, and life is neither one or the other; we are always both – we are whole.
Soon, it will be 20 years since David Copeland visited horror upon the heart of London and soon I will, as I have done every year since, go to Soho and gather with others in the memory of those killed. But I will also hold David; his vulnerability just as apparent in his being and words as his murderous rage.
Today, I will step out into the world and no doubt will be confronted with the invitation of paradox maybe several times over. I hope it remains possible for me to accept the whole and not just one or the other.
Br Stephen Morris FCC
