British Legion supporters on the Central Line at Stratford, 9/11/18. |
Paul Vallance: reflections on art, psyche and life in east London.
Friday 9 November 2018
Thursday 4 October 2018
Tuesday 29 May 2018
Monday 12 March 2018
High speed to my past
I enjoyed living in Gravesend at the time but the town like many others has fallen on hard times, and never recovered from the competition of the nearby Bluewater shopping complex. The ravages of neoliberalism! Visiting the town after forty years was a strange melancholic experience with many Proustian moments. I took a lot of photographs. Heres a small selection.
New brutalist furniture outside the Promenade cafe looking towards Tilbury. |
Even the pigeons looked fed up |
Scene of dereliction in the town centre. |
The Pilot Public House, now closed. I have fond memories of friends rehearsing punk music in the upstairs room. |
Tuesday 15 October 2013
The enigmatic crow ...and Jelly Baby.
Crows gather menacingly outside the Bodega Bay schoolhouse in Hitchcock's 'The Birds'. Innocence and experience? |
Although it has a reputation as a gallows bird, it also has an engaging boisterous cocky quality about it. This is a bird determined to get what it wants, an opportunist, thief, a gatecrasher at the party. In this way perhaps the crow reminds us of our baser instincts, the untrammelled ego, the will to take risks in the pursuit of satisfaction. It's not a dainty or delicate bird, it means business.
'I looked out the window and saw that ragged soul take flight' The Black Crow, Joni Mitchell. Lyrics and artwork from the album Hejira. |
Illustration by David Shenton |
Illustration by David Shenton |
I like the way the Taschen 'Book of Symbols' describes the mystery of the crow/raven:
'We never grasp the full measure of the birds. They subvert our attempts to do so, just as the tricksters, shamans, magicians and culture heroes they embody in folklore and myth subvert our fondest notions of human superiority, put in question what constitutes the reality of the sacred or profane, rearrange our moral landscape. Consider the progenitor and shaman Raven, who brings humans into being by coaxing them out of their clam (shell), steals daylight for them through trickery or by opposing the falcon of the night, brings them fire and water, teaches them how to sow seed and to hunt-and then"plays" with his creatures and occasionally kills and eats them. Just so does the crow or raven daemon perched in our psyches open doors, steal treasures for us from hidden places, coax us out of our narrow, conventional shells-and also mercilessly confuses us, trips us up, puts us down and sometimes devours us.'
Sunday 13 October 2013
Who wants to live forever? Coping with death anxiety.
'Longevity' brand of condensed milk. I think the branding suggests the milk is long life, not that you will live any longer if you drink this product. |
'Who wants to live for forever
who wants to live forever
But touch my tears with your lips
Touch my world with your fingertips
And we can have forever
And we can love forever
Forever is our today'
The song concludes with Mercury's soaring vocal on the line 'Who wants forever anyway'.
These are questions we trend to shy away from, but what would it be like to live forever? How aware are we of our own mortality? Are we scared of death? These are themes that are always present in psychotherapy but often at a less conscious more subterranean level. What is it about the existential given of death that frightens us so much? Existentialist psychotherapist Irvin Yalom writes well on this subject, arguing 'the idea of death can save us' for 'preparing for death is preparing for life'. When we face death we overcome procrastination and stop postponing we begin to really assess our priorities in life, and live more authentically in touch with our needs.
From a Buddhist perspective mindfulness is a way of dealing with death anxiety. As we become more aware, more present, we see that death and life are not separate, and that impermanence enables change and growth, and can motivate us to live fuller lives and achieve our goals. When we know we must die we learn how to live, if we don't confront our anxiety about death, the anxiety will manifest in other ways-such as trying to cheat death through reckless dare-devil behaviour or the opposite-risk adverse behaviour, hypochondriasis, procrastination and fantasies of rescue. We can't cheat death, but death can save us.
So as the saying goes carpe diem, seize the day but don't forget your dreams either -carpe noctem, seize the night.....
Halloween window display, Spitalfields London. |
So as the saying goes carpe diem, seize the day but don't forget your dreams either -carpe noctem, seize the night.....
Tuesday 8 October 2013
What is Core Process Psychotherapy? A short film about the Karuna Institute.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEfcspW-848
A link to an excellent short film about Core Process Psychotherapy and the work of the Karuna Institute in Dartmoor, Devon. The film conveys some of the spirit of this unique psychotherapy training and the wonderful wilderness setting which is so supportive to learning. Trainees from the Post Qualification M.A., and Maura Sills Director of the Institute and one of the founders of Core Process Psychotherapy, share their experience of the training.
A link to an excellent short film about Core Process Psychotherapy and the work of the Karuna Institute in Dartmoor, Devon. The film conveys some of the spirit of this unique psychotherapy training and the wonderful wilderness setting which is so supportive to learning. Trainees from the Post Qualification M.A., and Maura Sills Director of the Institute and one of the founders of Core Process Psychotherapy, share their experience of the training.
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