Share Sounds. from Thought for the Week related to Mindfulness - Mindfulness Topic

There's a real logic to maintaining economic dynamism throughout the broad span of adult life: our commentary today picks up on recent reports in The Times on the extent to which parents and grandparents help out, on the value of incentivising young people to build early experience in the workplace, and how fresh ideas and opportunities can bring new potential for those of more mature years. If you don't use it, you'll lose it, body and mind: and we shouldn't get too fixated on retirement! Background music: 'Everything Has a Beginning' by Joel Cummins

The climax of the Easter story, for those of a Christian persuasion, is resurrection: something which should concern us all, because we're all going to die one day — and this is about life after death. Drawing on reason and logic, and referencing great intellectual thinkers throughout history, Revd. Canon Rosie Harper contributes her thoughts to help you make sense of it all. Background music: 'Erev Shel Shoshanim' by E's Jammy Jams Image source: BBC Share Radio webpage for links & text https://www.shareradio.co.uk/thinkingaloud/newsletters/comment-wc-2023-04-03/

Putin's two-hour monologue in Moscow last week sought to justify his assault on Ukraine with a raft of dogma, including a presumption of divine male headship — hardly the basis for economic and social justice for all. Elitist theories, whether based on gender, race or nationality, have no place in an egalitarian, peaceful world: it is men, not women, who start wars and fill the prisons. Likewise, Churches should not allow themselves to be drawn into defending masculinity in the nature of God. Background music: 'A Fool's Theme' by Brian Bolger Also: view https://www.shareradio.co.uk/media/8106/love-and-the-individual.pdf

The earthquake disaster in Turkey shows yet again how little we learn from the past, and the limited attention we give to planning for the future. Constitutional principles could do much to help - but are we making best use of them? Meanwhile insurers tend to refer to natural disasters as 'Acts of God', but such a description doesn't align with with the Christian understanding that the nature of God is love. In March 2020 we recorded 'Love at the Cutting Edge' seeking to provide an answer, and it's included as the second part of this commentary. Background music: 'Elegy' by Wayne Jones; and to accompany 'Love at the Cutting Edge', Gorecki's Symphony No. 3, first movement as performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1995.

Our understanding of science moves forward relentlessly: it feels that we are not far from unwrapping the nysteries of the spiritual dimension. For example, the seemingly impossible basis of communication which is quantum entanglement, illustrated by murmurations, appears to be beyond the limitations of the known laws of physics — could this be the route by which the disciplines of spiritual and scientific endeavour can converge? Meanwhile the established Churches seem locked in tradition as they struggle to present the message of love and servant leadership which Jesus brought. Background music: 'In the Temple Garden' by Aaron Kenny Image source: Geograph © Walter Baxter

Liz Truss and Kwazi Kwarteng could have done with the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee report 'Where have all the workers gone?' to supplement our commentary on 26th September 'Workforce Capacity is the Missing Link'. It was, however, published a couple of working days before Christmas, and it prompted us to consider again what's happened to the more than half a million people who are not employed and not claiming benefits. So, supported with evidence from the excellent Oldie magazine, we offer a few thoughts on a wide variety of enterprising activity that these older folk could be doing — and we round off this episode with a further suggestion for entrepreneurial activity which the Government might support in due course. Background music: '64 Sundays' by Twin Musicom, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Artist: http://www.twinmusicom.org/

Let's hope that, as we approach 2023, we can start looking ahead in contrast to the wave of pessimism with which we greeted 2022, and which has proved to be so accurate in retrospect. Is it too much to hope that we are at the nadir of the economic cycle, and at the point when tyrants recognise the limits of force and suppression of individual freedom? Is it unrealistic to imagine a world in which we share our resources more willingly, and empower young people from all backgrounds to achieve their potential? The next two weeks will give us a chance to reset the dial — we must do better in 2023. Background music: 'O Holy Night' by DJ Williams

Last week's Census announcement, that the population of those in England and Wales who identify as Christian has fallen below 50% for the first time in 1,500 years, contrasts strongly with the fact that the secular culture which surrounds us is more deeply embedded than ever with the values that Jesus taught — arguably more so than the Church itself — to love our neighbours as ourselves. How did the Church get left behind, and what should it learn from those who are not its members? Background music: 'Not Forgotten' by Dan Lebowitz

Welcome to our 250th commentary, produced over these last five years since Share Radio moved to 100% online broadcasting. It's been a period of massive change and increasing clarity on what we need to do to sort out the problems of the world, and we hope these thoughts are making some contribution in that respect. To mark this staging point we thought it might be helpful to set out some of the guiding principles which have steered, and will continue to steer, our comment. For our full list of commentaries, please visit https://www.shareradio.co.uk/thinkingaloud/newsletters/ Background music: Hovering Thoughts by Spence

In much of modern life we value the present much higher than either the past or the future; the latter because, if we'd like our descendants to remember where they came from, we would need to leave them a legacy — which we’re clearly not prepared to do, either in our personal and civic lives. So this week we consider some of the range of areas afflicted by this timeline poverty, and how this focus on the ‘now’ threatens the whole prospect of a legacy for our species as a result of both climate change and international aggression. Background Music: Turn - The Tower of Light