and so here is THE august the 31st 2004..

"some of life's stepping stones are underwater."
(reflections on walking up a valley -PF)

'FAITH' is one of those words that is used a lot that I've never really worked out exactly what it is supposed to mean; maybe it is used by different people to mean slightly different things, or maybe I'm just not getting the point??

but recently I have been swapping it for 'TRUST' (which i really think we are allowed to do(I looked in a dictionary and everything)), see what happens..

perhaps less disembodied and vague?
perhaps more tangible? active?

we learn to trust over time, we can suddenly realise that we do trust someone/something based on our experience of them/it; we can also choose to trust, this involves risk. Our trust for a person may well involve a combination of the two. Trust for a system like the postal service, or an object like a microwave, may be more straightforward or not.
Sometimes we are placed in situations that make us aware of what levels our trust is at, these could be described as 'tests of faith'?

So maybe all these questions: Of what faith tradition are you a part? What is your 'faith journey'? Do you have a faith? Really boil down to:

WHO/WHAT IS THE GREATEST THING THAT YOU TRUST AND HOW MUCH DO YOU REALLY TRUST THEM??

keep the faith,
Tom

few more thoughts..
..recommendations may encourage us to risk trust.
..if we choose to trust no-one/nothing, then we are left solely to our own individual resources which from where I'm standing would seem an ultimately hopeless and impoverished life.
..but we need to be careful where we place our trust, it is worth seeking those who are trustworthy, can we trust God? ..what are the implications of that?
..many things we may trust, we may also recognise as being flawed (eg humans), is that ok?

Fire in the tea forests raining under dark dark caves, climb enchanted mossy cliffs of stories told swimming over hill and bridge, and faster faster stained purple blueberry mud paint somersaulted from the formations of aeolian lime shroomed points of vantage.

the early bird catches the worm..
yes but the second mouse gets the cheese.

And the grey spray spattered stinging across the deck.. minging.

today I found a book called, "the amateur poacher's handbook."
I'm learning to see the point of books. They are the record of the force and weakness of the human mind throughout history. Collective accumulative experience and reflection is important.
They are stored in libraries that have ingenious filing systems and are good places to shelter from the cold rain. Even as the entire human race ever there's a billion things we don't know. Maybe that's ok.


We are so tied down and chained up by our inability to commit.

the edinburgh festival is weird.

but a week where you get covered in paint on 3 seperate occasions...

"You cant say civilisation doesn't advance.. Every war they kill you in a new way."
-Will Rogers

paint, grass, blood, oil and mud.
have been living using my feet this week.
they have EXPERIENCED it.
it's important.

coughing.

7am: playing football with people from Scotland, Spain, France, Germany.. it's really slippery, most of them been up all night, very proud of having taken coke.. i think my team won, me and pepper had a 5minute break to have a communion service with a load of friends who'd been dancin singin etc in another part of the field after they got kicked out the dance tent by stewards.. my feet are covered in paint. Think life's a better laff this way..

"institutions don't 'love' - people do," -paulo

some friends got in the paper, on that “fantasy boat party” boat near Cyprus.

Made my street performing debut with a musical acrobatics double act on the hard hard stone cobbles of Covent Garden: 'the home of street theatre'. Disconcertingly large crowd formed very quickly, and they gave us money! Even 4 volunteers lay on the ground to help us with one of our stunts. I love the General Public.

Today stood in a big vertical cylindrical light box that when you go inside feel-like you fall into the colours which trip out your eyes and leave you floating supported in the warm light. Thank you God for colour.

And lightning bolts hitting buildings around me and the colossal thunder silencing the busy traffic roads drilling noise. Electrical power shifts right across the skies of a vast historic city. Really anything can happen at any second of any moment. The things we think are solid can fall down. So much massive stuff is actually flimsily temporary. It's scary, choosing what to rely on, to trust in?