the creative minimalist

darren r hill : writer, minstrel and journal keeper

By Leave a Comment

At the Zombie apocalypse where will you be?

There is a moaning sound, and a shuffling, the tension in the air is palpable. It goes quiet and then… we jump. It’s here, there, right in front. Arms reach out to grab and teeth prepare to bite. Then a sharpened piece of wood, a stake, is driven firmly into the face-craving flesh.

zombie darren

Another moan echoes from those of us watching the TV. This is a moan of disgust as the flesh… and blood… and brains spread across the TV screen… the prosthetics and special effects are quite real these days.

The Walking Dead is on TV, just one of the many post-apocalyptic stories and shows that are quite popular at the moment.

I seem to have been caught up in them, recently. I just watched the film World War Z, a fairly fast-paced, big-budget disaster. That’s disaster movie, not disaster of a movie. At the other end of the budget scale I watched Zombies vs Cockneys. A fun-filled romp through the East End of London. It’s worth watching for the chase scene with Richard Briers, these zombies don’t move as fast as the ones in the Brad Pitt movie. East End zombies obviously don’t get paid as much as their Hollywood counterparts.

I also just finished reading The Girl With All The Gifts by M.R.Carey, which was an interesting take on the genre. There were zombies but they weren’t all bad, evil or completely mindless, but I won’t spoil it for you, it’s worth reading.

So why are we interested and fascinated by Zombies. Why do we watch and read these narratives? It’s possible that we want to associate with the struggle of the non-infected. Perhaps we relate to their fight; staying alive against the odds. We believe that we could be the survivor, to continue living. We like to think that we could be the hero, to cope in the adverse situation. To live and survive.

It’s also a nice little bit of escapism. Our lives are an everyday struggle of wandering aimlessly looking for food and other things we need to survive. We’re mindless and unaware of the damage we do to those around us and the world we inhabit. We moan on a daily basis.

We’re the survivors, we’re also the undead.

We live lifeless lives. But we don’t have to. Make the choice.

By Leave a Comment

Less certainty means more faith

I’m not the first to say that it seems the older I get the less I know. Or perhaps more accurately the more I learn I realise there is so much more that I don’t know. When I was much younger I thought I knew it all. When it comes to spiritual matters and religious belief, this seems magnified.

Candles lit for prayer
lighting a candle

Shaken

Several years ago two close work colleagues died. They first became ill and as we found out about their illness we prayed. We prayed many prayers, asking for a cure, asking for the pain to be taken away. I believed my prayers would be heard… but it was the answer, or response, I was unsure about. And as time moved on, prayers for healing appeared to become more and more futile.

When prayer, especially for healing, isn’t answered in the way we would like, it can be devastating. Over the years, and not just in the examples given above I have prayed for people to be healed, yet they haven’t been. I have also prayed for people and they have been healed. And I think this is the issue that often shakes me. I don’t understand why some and not others. Yes, there is the medical profession involved and I personally believe that prayer works alongside these gifted professionals.

The bottom line, and for me, so often the faith shaker, is that I don’t understand why. In other words I don’t know, I don’t understand. And the more people who I see suffer and die multiplies this confusion.

And stirred

I don’t mind saying I don’t know all the answers. In fact I am more than happy to say it. The more I learn and experience life, adds to this; cause, effect and chaos happily coexist. But the question I always end up asking, whatever the outcome, is why.

Asking why means that at some level I expect an answer. Even in the deepest, darkest depths of despair, to ask that question shows a flicker of faith, perhaps mustard seed in size. A question that believes there is, at least somewhere, an answer.

Not asking why would be the greatest sadness and the domain of a completely closed mind. When the conversation stops, there can be no dialogue. And if you don’t ask the question, there can never be an answer.

Stay in touch