The unexamined life is not worth living (Socrates)

Were Socrates alive in the 21st century, where we can fill our lives with so much noise and so many distractions, I rather suspect that he would encourage us to get back to nature.

The older I get, the more I realise the importance of nature for our emotional, psychological and spiritual wellbeing.  Nature helps to slow us down, whether it be the vast countryside or our own little patch of garden or even a window box.  

Nature gives us space and opportunity to reflect, and we can begin to see little parables which enable us to better understand God and our own spiritual life.

For example, earlier this week I was walking on Bleaklow and was reminded of when I walked the Camino de Santiago several years ago.  This week, like then, I began to struggle; I was getting acute pains in the balls of my feet and blisters began to form.

To try and avoid these sharp pains, I began to limp, to put the pressure on other areas of my feet.

But, of course, we are designed to walk evenly, symmetrically; limping is not in our ‘instructional manual’.  And once I started limping, other pains emerged – aching in the right knee, discomfort in the left calf, etc. 

In a desperate and futile attempt to reduce one type of pain, I was creating others.  

And I reflected on how this is very similar to sin. 

We are created to be like God – to be holy as He is holy.  Sin is acting, speaking, thinking (add any number of things to those) in a manner that goes against our Maker’s instructions. 

The temptation and rationale to sin can seem as obvious and acceptable as my rationale to limp.  But it is never the solution and there are always consequences to this, which will cause pain and suffering to ourselves and to others.



(For those not in our parish, Bleaklow is "a high, largely peat-covered; gritstone moorland in the Derbyshire High Peak near the town of Glossop.")