Eremos

The issues raised in this EREMOS place what is happening in Australia today in the context of a contemporary spirituality. Ruth and Clive Norton lead off with a New Year challenge to Australia to come to grips with the parlous state of so many Indigenous communities. Rod Pattenden, Chair of the Blake Society, reports on the controversy surrounding one of the entries in this year’s Blake prize. He goes on to show how the winning entry describes the suffering of Indigenous Australians seen through an art which seeks comfort in a land once full of meaning beneath their feet, now pulled out from under them. This winning entry in the 2007 Blake competition by artist Shirley Purdie is displayed in black and white on the cover of this issue.

The next four contributions—two articles and two poems—look at expression, at how we come to name our God and how we can have an inclusive approach to the idea of god. Val Webb reflects on why she wrote her latest book, Like Catching Water in a Net. Jeremy Nelson, in a poet’s minimal use of words, gives snapshots of the human race finding its tongue, Eric Stevenson describes the limitations of thought in experiencing spirituality and Diana Neutze delights in recognising ideas known long ago.

George Emeleus presents some hard, inconvenient facts on the physical state of the planet. This Noah’s Ark we share becomes less of a home for many—both now and in the future—due to the high standard of living enjoyed by a few. Noel Preston adds to these reflections with an extract adapted from his latest book in which he looks at the relationship between ethics and the spiritual, and at the ethics of sustainability.

In ‘What Kind of Society Can We Hope For’ Sue Emeleus concludes with a big question as she mines the wisdom of Diarmuid O’Murchu, Rosemary Radford Ruether and other authors. Theories about human desire are explored here, desire which O’Murchu relates to yearning and longing and wishing. Authors such as René Girard see the source of violence and warfare in the world as the desire for those things for which others yearn, long and wish.

As Sue was involved in writing this longer piece and not able to produce her usual ‘Sue Recommends’ column on books, I contacted all Eremos members whose current emails I have on the mailing list inviting them to write 100 or so words about any book they had recently read and liked. The result is twelve mini book reviews at the end of this issue, under the title ‘Eremos Readers Recommend’. Thank you to the contributors. We might do this again some time.

We have a new government. Where will we go with it? Indigenous poverty, religious diversity, a planet in peril (with people with simpler, more land- and seabased lifestyles especially vulnerable), the ethics of sustainable living and the role of imitative desire in relationships between people and nations—we have challenges indeed. Reconnecting with the earth is at their core and the greatest of them all. May this issue give us the insights and courage we need to contemplate and effect change.

- Jacquie Pryor