A Busy Week Ahead
Hi there,
How is it March already? How did the extra day go for you yesterday? I conducted a wedding, the first new wedding I’ve taken on in, I think, two and a half years. I loved it. Gorgeous couple. I always love it when the groom shows emotion. It shows how much the moment means to him.
Upcoming Events
It’s been a hectic week and maybe an even fuller one awaits me. I’m the guest speaker—more of an interviewee in conversation, I hope—at a free public event at 2pm this Sunday 3 March at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Sligo, hosted by North West Humanists.
I’ll include some readings from my memoirs, the second volume of which, Saved by a Woman, is being launched at a free public zoom event at 8pm next Thursday 7 March. I hope you can join us!
And I’m a contestant at Navan Toastmaster Club’s international speech contest next Wednesday.
Progress on Audiobook
But back to last week. I recorded and edited a further two and a half episodes of my new memoir for the audiobook edition. It’s quick enough to record it but the editing takes me ages.
Click here to listen to a one-minute snippet from it. Oh, yeah, did I mention that my second memoir is a love story?
Reflections on Last Week’s Substack
Last week’s Substack about shame and people throwing stones evoked some interesting and stimulating responses. I’m glad to have initiated a conversation on this much-needed public debate.
Synthesizing Worldviews
On a more general reflection for myself, given my unique life experience of having been trained for the Catholic priesthood (thesis) and now not feeling the need to believe in any deity or afterlife (antithesis), it occurs to me that I’m uniquely well placed to offer a synthesis of both worldviews.
Perhaps that’s why last week’s substack elicited responses from believers and unbelievers alike. I can write in that space. I’ve done it before. I used to be a columnist with Reality, a Catholic magazine, then edited by Father Gerry Maloney. I wrote several long running columns for it and its sister publication Face Up.
Soul Food Restaurant: A Reflection
But along the way, Gerry asked me to write another regular column which we called Soul Food Restaurant. What I liked about the column was that I knew the readership and I succeeded in writing something meaningful for believers without betraying my own worldview and conscience. I was particularly chuffed when Gerry asked if he could use some of the columns as reflections on Mass leaflets. I felt I’d cracked it—that I’d managed to be true to myself while also finding a language that connected with people who were religious believers.
The structure was simple for each column of Soul Food Restaurant. I offered starters, a main course and dessert. Here’s a flavour of the first column, from March 2007:
Main Course
We have two highly renowned chefs cooking in the kitchen today, one from Nazareth, the other a Greek, whose dishes on our theme for today have been chewed over by generations before us. Our theme is the soul. Not sole, mind you, because not everyone likes fish. But soul: the life and essence of a person.
Jesus, the Nazarene, never used the word soul. The word didn’t exist in Hebrew or Aramaic. Translations of the Gospel of Matthew 16: 26 use it: "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" But it wasn’t Jesus’s word.
The Greek word (which, of course, Jesus didn’t speak either) in the original Gospel text is psyche. That’s the root of our English word psychology. So, although we might associate it with the ideas about what happens to us after death – the holy souls, All Souls Day etc. - it may be that, if Jesus said anything, he might have intended something simpler: how self-aware and attuned you are within yourself today.
As humans, we need to guard against pursuing anything so singly that we lose our essential self—and harmony with others and the universe—in the process.
Dessert
At the heart of ‘soul’ is that sense of living your life today to the full. Anima (the dish prepared by chef Aristotle when translated to Latin) means breath. Picture a psychologically ‘dead’ person and contrast with a vibrant animated person, engaged and attuned to self, life and others in the here and now.
As you savour your final course, decide upon one simple, practical thing you can do right now to restore your soul/psyche/spirit. I know what mine is: I’m buying a new bike!
Recent Activities
Back to the present, 2024: Ruth and I visited Dublin Zoo last Saturday. It was great to take time out when there’s so much going on for a date with me missus! We both love the zoo. It’s a wonderful experience, wandering around, seeing our cousins! Every visit is a new experience.
Interview with Niall Delaney
I enjoyed doing the interview with Niall Delaney on Ocean FM on Wednesday.
If you missed it, you can listen back here. I spoke of our need to think for ourselves, accept ourselves as we are, trust ourselves, decide for ourselves, and put into action what we decide to do.
Book Launch Invitation
I hope you can join us for the book launch next Thursday at 8pm GMT on Zoom. Ideally, please register in advance.
Join Us at the Book Launch
I would be delighted if you, beloved reader, could attend the book launch. It will be a special event, with live music by The Rayne and Andrea Patron. My very good friend Eamon Murphy will be hosting the event and interviewing me and there’ll be readings from Saved by a Woman and audience participation with questions and answers. It should be a good night. And it’s free! Guests need to register in advance to secure their place.
Date and Time: Thursday 7 March at 8pm GMT.
I hope you can join us!
Happy days,
Joe
Saved by a Woman is now available on Amazon in Kindle, Paperback, and Hardback editions.
In My Gut, I Don’t Believe is available on Amazon in Kindle, Paperback, Hardback and Audible editions.
Please note that if the Amazon link to either memoir says that any edition isn’t available, simply change the .co.uk or .com or .de in the Amazon domain name or territory in the URL or address bar to Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk, or Amazon.com etc. depending on the territory you’re based in.
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