Yesterday, King Charles, at St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh, was presented with a crown, sceptre and giant sword to mark his Coronation. In a service of thanksgiving and dedication, he made a promise to Scotland to serve as King.
Meanwhile, outside the cathedral, republican protestors with ‘Not My King’ placards were active and vocal. It seems ironic that the 1603 Act of Union, uniting England and Scotland, should cause such division.
Teachers were on strike yesterday. Schools were closed. There were predictable interviews with teachers, parents and politicians about pay, conditions and whether strike action was necessary or appropriate.
There was unity – all wanted well-paid teachers doing a good job; they were divided as to whether teachers should be striking.
It isn’t just groups of people; we can have divided unity in our own heads…
Yesterday I was chatting to Dave. Dave has dementia and has to go to hospital for a brain scan. Together we made inappropriate jokes about if they would find anything. Dave (and his wife!) wants the scan because he wants a clearer diagnosis; he doesn’t want the scan because he’s anxious about what it might show.
Robinson Crusoe, alone on a desert island, finds a man’s footprint in the sand and becomes exceedingly fearful:
‘…my fear banished all my religious hope, all that former confidence in God, which was founded upon such wonderful experience as I had had of his goodness, now vanished…’
He explains further: ‘Today we love what tomorrow we hate; today we seek what tomorrow we shun; today we desire what tomorrow we fear…’
Politicians, psychologists, ministers of religion will all seek to shed light on such personal ‘divided unity’. Robinson Crusoe concludes: ‘I considered that this was the station of life the infinitely wise and good providence of God had determined for me; that as I could not foresee what the ends of divine wisdom might be in all this, so I was not to dispute his sovereignty…’
I’m left musing…
malcolmsmusings.org 