Listening – really listening – is a superpower.
A power we can all cultivate. A power we rarely use.
Our lives are so busy, we rarely give others the attention they crave. We want them to “get to the point”, so that we can hurry off to our next distraction.
Being heard is healing. And we’re living through an epidemic of not being heard.
When we argue, it’s rarely the other person’s beliefs that we take issue with, it’s our preconceptions of their beliefs. Because we’ve not taken the time to hear them out.
Try this: shut up and listen. Beyond the point when it becomes uncomfortable. Silence the inner voice that wants to respond. Carry on listening.
This morning, I was approached on the street by a young woman.
“Please can you help me sir. I don’t feel well.”
I looked up, and behind her I saw two police officers, apparently with her but studiously ignoring her.
“Perhaps these two fellas can help you,” I replied.
“An ambulance is on its way,” said the first officer.
“Please, sir: I don’t feel right. Somebody’s given me something.”
“It’ll be OK, the ambulance will be here soon, hopefully they can help you.”
And I walked off, feeling awkward, ineffectual.
Only later did I realise what I should have said: the four words “tell me what happened?” And then, I should have listened. Something which the police officers were avoiding doing.
Hearing is healing. And we all crave to be heard. In 2024, give the gift of healing hearing.
We also crave ritual. And one of the most powerful rituals I have ever experienced was at 2019’s Church of Burn. At Church of Burn, we burn money. Why?
Because the change we need - to give us even the slightest chance - is so deep that we can’t even conceive of it. The least we can do is reject - and I mean iconoclastically reject - the one thing that we all agree is somehow at the core of the metacrisis. Money is the oxygen on which the fire of global warming burns. So let’s fuck with it and see what happens. - Jonathan Harris, How do we persuade people to burn money when we can't tell them why we do it?
All right-thinking people will, of course, be appalled at this idea. Which is why you should sign up to the Church of Burn’s new Substack, and engage with them.
December was an incredibly busy month here at Peakrill Press. We published:
King Arthur vs Devil Kitty, a whimsical illustrated retelling of a 12th Century tale in which King Arthur battles a giant kitten.
The Lost Doctor Annual, by the Lost Doctor Kollective, a 1980s-style Christamas treat from Ken Campbell’s Doctor Who in the Universe Next Door.
The Mycelium Parish News, a round-up of Discordian-adjacent counterculture that happened in 2023.
We have exciting plans for 2024, including True Clown Stories, a collection of abhorrent short stories about the real lives of clowns, by James Burt. And more news to come soon.
Have a great 2024!
Could be different to squeezing it through tubes at banks or slotting it into machines says she whilst idly in a mother goose type fashion counting her very large golden counting counting coins.