I’ve long been a news junky. Newspapers, television, and, these days, the major news websites from around the world. It’s meant to tell me what’s happening, who is making news, how, and for what.

Of course, since my teenage induction into skepticism I know that there’s a lot of manipulation in it all. Whether the source is ‘reputable’ or not. Power, powerful men, powerful white men of big countries with big money dominate. Have you ever wondered why whole continents (Africa, South America) or the most populated countries (India, China) receive very little mention? Or why only certain (male) sports are deemed the most newsworthy?

Not that my moaning about it is going to change anything. It is what it is. Mostly.

My concern is more that such ‘news’ usually sets the conversation about what is important.

What is important though is a whole different conversation. My experience as a parish minister for 40+ years tells me that what is most important, the things of upmost value, are from and found in the deep relationships of life.

Which, as a discussion starter, questions the whole goal of self-sufficiency, the ‘self-made man/woman’ myth. To be in deep relationship is to lose self-sufficiency. It’s in the complex and inexplicable caring for each other and our life together that we find ourselves. Losing to find.

It’s what David Brooks calls the difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is good, it’s the expansion of self. We want people to be happy. To win a victory, a promotion, an award. But joy is something else. It’s not the expansion of self, but the dissolving of self. It’s the moment when the skin barrier disappears between a parent and their child. It’s the moment when you are so lost in your work or cause, you have totally forgotten self. It’s the moment on a mountain when you become one with the mountain.

That’s another thing that ‘news’ barely touches upon. Enchantment. To paraphrase Niki Harré's definition, enchantment is that capacity to see coincidence and beauty combine.

Those peddlers of what passes as ‘news’ might scoff. Enchantment is a word regulated to the world of make-believe and children. A world of fantasy, not reality. A world of entertainment, not seriousness.

Yet I beg to differ. Are my anxieties, the things on my to-do list, the state of my health or my bank balance what determines reality? Seriously? What about the light filtering in through the autumnal colours? Or the flood of rain coming off my gutter? Or the smile of a child, with the scrunching up of the nose in a cheeky grin? Or the joy of a dog rolling on the saturated lawn? These are enchanted moments if I pause to let them be. I want to be one with the leaves, rain, child, dog. I want to be as one with the mountains.

These are the moments that point to something beyond my lists of tasks and worries. These are moments of seeing the ordinary as extraordinary. Seeing what is important and worthwhile; and being buoyed by it.

I don’t discount the gravity of wars, politics, violence, fuel, money and all that ‘news’ provides. But it’s not the whole picture. And, when we pause to ponder, not the most important either.

Glynn

Photo by Jason Leem on Unsplash