- Written by: Kamran Mofid
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Is joyfulness really possible in a time of ruin and despair? Can we somehow flourish, have complete lives, when all around us is cold and dark? Has a sense of well-being, contentment and inner-peace become endangered species? Is joy any longer compatible or possible with the life of today?
The Aesthetics of Joy, illustration by Ingrid Fetell Lee
What is this world we have created? What is this life we are living? Look all around you. Despite so many gifts we have been given, the beautiful, awe-inspiring Mother Nature and life-giving Mother Earth, our world seems upside down. Wherever you look, mostly you see misery, injustice, despair, anger, isolation, separation, loneliness, mistrust, abuse, selfishness, carelessness, ecological degradation, wars, conflicts and suchlike.
To my mind, this is not a natural or indeed the intended state of affairs. Whoever and however this world was created, it was not meant to be a place of misery and pain, otherwise, why so many gifts of beauty and wonder?
- Written by: Kamran Mofid
- Hits: 3114
'People have strong, divergent opinions about the continuity of their own selves.'
I don’t know about you, but as I have been getting older, a question or two has been occupying my thoughts and moments of reflection, especially when I am on my own, that is me, myself and I. Who Was I and Who Am I Now? Am I the same person now as I was way back? What has changed and what is continuing?
I suppose like many others, I have both a deep sense of continuity and a deep sense of differences between then and now. I hope that my continuities will be with me forever, love and being loved, hope and hopefulness, gratitude and gratefulness, optimism and positivity, courage and the willingness to engage no matter the consequence.
If these and other similar questions are in your thoughts and reflections too, Then, perhaps the posting below will be helpful to you as it has been to me.
- Written by: Kamran Mofid
- Hits: 726
The first Elizabethan era ended on March 24, 1603, when 69-year-old Queen Elizabeth I died in her sleep at Richmond Palace.
The second Elizabethan era ended on September 8, 2022, when 96-year-old Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
‘At home and on the world stage, the Queen served with grace and unfailing duty. Now her son must rise to the challenge.
‘The UK is struggling to understand its place in the modern world at a time of great global instability and after the hugely consequential decision to leave the European Union. The very integrity of the United Kingdom remains in question as the campaign for Scottish independence continues to press for another referendum.
‘It is a difficult time for Britons to lose a Queen who was loved and cherished by people of all generations and it is a difficult time for her eldest son to assume her mantle. It is only right to wish him strength, courage and good fortune for the years of public duty that lie ahead.’- Observer editorial