Naught for your comfort

This post is occasioned by thoughts which occurred to me when eating lunch in the peace garden on Sunday. The pictures are respectively one titled 'Homeless person's bedroom?' And another of the church there as it was before it was bombed, both found online. Because the peace gardens are frequented by an incredible mixture of people, some who clearly live in the luxury flats nearby, and a greater number in far less sumptuous circumstances. Some are clearly homeless or drug users, others have the pallor you only get on submarines or in prison.

I feel the spirit of place draws the disadvantaged. A friend commented that that area of the city feels all over the place, & it truly is. That spirit is a magnet, conscious or not, for those on the (h)edge. And while that spirit is welcoming it is never really comforting. It is the natural place psychically for the desire for peace. Real peace is not achieved without discomfort. A full & frank exchange of views can be very uncomfortable but can create peace between people. Similarly real peace is not achieved by overlooking or forgetting the things that contribute to conflict.

It is good the disadvantaged are drawn to the peace garden because a true peace is not one creating by pretending ubfortunate facts of life don't exist.

The title of this post is stolen from Trevor Huddlestone's book about apartheid-era South Africa. The Afrikaaners were very comfortable with their God-given life & country, happily ignoring the fact the majority of the country's population were is poverty. I've read through the book hoping for quotes but his cause is quite different from a witch one.

The prevention of oppression of a majority by a  minority is a clear case. We as witches create peace often by causing - or not allowing people to forget, rather - the discomfort of the things people are ashamed of.

Huddlestone's book paints a bleak picture of human nature. The theory of health & safety - that a lot of near misses will snowball into an eventual fatality - is quite true. If magically we pull people up on what discomfits them, it will often turn out that what we have uncovered is the tip of the iceberg. This is also the keen psychology underlying zero tolerance law enforcement.

If we take a zero tolerance approach as witches, tackling seemingly little things will cause greater conflict because it will bring bigger stuff out of hiding. Not letting things pass also involves no comfort for the witch, since we must have the same approach to our own behaviour.

Huddlestone's book brought out a feeling of discomfort in me - that I ought to be out doing something - so doing precisely what it said on the cover. However I feel that is not the witch's way. It is difficult or impossible to tie witchcraft to a public cause, since what we are called upon to do is too hidden and shadowy. I do do things to change the world, it's just not always apparent. I also make efforts to make myself right-sized in the world. But to continue this, I have to remember that it is important continually to work on my own attitudes, since this is exactly my point, that outer actions indicate inner attitudes, & long-term revolution is wrought by changing them.

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