Desdemona

Shakespeare’s Othello was written without understanding of the black man. It’s also a play in which the role of women was so grossly distorted that Nobel laureate Toni Morrison was moved to pen the play, Desdemona, in the 21^st century to right the balance. In it she explores the often unconscious depths of our racial history and reveals our future interdependence.  Desdemona is to be performed at the Shakespeare International Festival in 2012.

In any society where one group is exploited by another, injustice is done and that society suffers. It’s simply not possible to benefit from the richness of talent within society if its people are not given recognition and encouragement. With the production of Desdemona, Morrison seeks to redress the imbalance of Shakespeare’s Othello and reveal the full personality of this talented woman. It offers a glimpse of a fuller, richer humanity in which everyone’s role is acknowledged.

This play gives us a lens with which to view our own lives. Where do we fail to acknowledge or undervalue the talent of those in our families, workplaces, communities and our wider world who want to contribute? Where do our prejudices block our appreciation of their role and disenfranchise them? How productive is the society where a significant section of its population goes unheard? Were we to capture our perspective in an artistic representation of the human form, what would be missing? How healthy could such a body be?

If instead of pandering to prejudice we identify every person as a unique cellular component of the greater body of humanity and we seek to stimulate the optimum health of such cells, then, as with a body enjoying optimum health, we will enjoy a healthy and rich society. Central to this philosophy is the idea that every person has been created with a unique purpose and has value. In an optimally healthy body there are no excess parts and the body is balanced. No organ is more important than any other. Without a full set of parts we are diminished. So too in a healthy society we all play our part to the best of our ability. Everyone is valued, everyone contributes. We can celebrate our diversity knowing we are secure and valued. When one element of society suppresses another, humanity is diminished.

Although slavery was abolished in the British Empire in 1833, we are in danger of replacing it with something just as demoralising. Today we see mass unemployment the world over and multiple generations of families without work. We distance ourselves from those on social security to the point of becoming resentful of their need. In the name of efficiency our industries demand ever more from their employees who then sacrifice family relationships and enslave themselves to the insatiable demands of mammon. By dividing society into those who work and those who beg we are driving humanity to the cancerous growth of greed at one extreme, and starvation at the other. There has to be a better way.

Let us imagine all humanity living in harmony and health. If it were, what would be happening in your neighbourhood? What could you do today to live in, and most enjoy, such a neighbourhood? Ghandi  called us to ‘Be the change you want to see in the world’. How will you change your life today in order to live in harmony and health, and in sustainable ways for the future? What will you do to acknowledge your Desdemona and celebrate our racial interdependence?

© Paul Curran,  25^th June 2012

Emotional Antioxidants

Preventive medicine encourages us to protect our bodies with a spectrum of antioxidants that fortify us against devastating diseases emerging from chronic inflammation, damaging toxins and malnutrition. There is abundant evidence that not only can we delay the onset of disease, we can slow its progress so that we maintain a good quality of life well into our later years. A sound principle for good health is to pay attention to its pillars –

·         Good Nutrition

·         Regular Detoxification

·         Stress Reduction

As with conventional medicine however, we too often attempt to address these pillars in isolation, ignoring their interdependence. A holistic approach recognises their interaction and builds our defences collectively. That way we can enjoy a special meal with the family that might occasionally break our dietary guidelines knowing that our primary nutrition is sound. The resulting feel-good factor is likely to compensate for the physiological stresses resulting from our one-off sugar excesses. Exercise too helps to dissipate the stress hormones generated in our lives, so detoxifying our bodies, lowering blood pressure, creating a healthy appetite and encouraging restful sleep.

My most neglected health pillar is undoubtedly Stress Reduction. Whereas I enjoy a varied, fresh and nutritious diet and have a well balanced exercise regime, I’m only slowly learning to live harmoniously with my emotions. Shakespeare told us long ago that ‘Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so’. He’s surely right but when deep in the blues it’s difficult to accept that any thinking has happened at all. I generally find that I’m too ready to analyse, largely superficially, while ignoring the overwhelming contribution of my unconscious self governing my emotional state.

Just as strong adherence to nutrition and detoxification protocols raise our immune system effectiveness, so too regular stress reduction activities equip us with a level of emotional immunity and enable us to recover more quickly from life’s more serious knocks. Kubler Ross wrote of the Change Curve and the emotions most commonly experienced through the process. Experience of a significant life change shows us that recovery does occur, even though the depth of depression preceding it may be such as to temporarily drown us.

I do not believe that we can ‘short circuit’ change and somehow skip over the dark days to awakening and growth. Those who try inevitably crash or get to relive their experiences, often in very similar circumstances, until they learn new ways to live. We’ve all had our ‘Groundhog Day’ experiences. Rather, using life’s disappointments to gain self knowledge and to both experience and accept the emotions of change, ensures that we minimise denial and engage in the transition sooner .

Attend to your emotional health at all times. Create your unique arsenal of emotional antioxidants and they will protect you from excesses of stress. I recommend exercise, meditation, mindfulness and patience over Ben and Jerry’s every time!

©Paul Curran June 2012