Friday 14 August
“‘Tis the eye of childhood that fears the painted devil.” Lady Macbeth to her husband who chastises him for showing fear. He fears facing the scene of his own murderous crime. The irony is that she herself is afraid of the dark and of the demons that lay within. The point, of course, is that we all have our demons, our fears to face. On another level, we are also fascinated by the supernatural, and East Anglia has more than its fair share.
It’s a wonderful world we live in and we are wonderous animals. We are highly social and capable of using tools, language and arts to develop our social norms and values. The development of our neocortex, prefrontal cortex and temporal lobes mean that we have a highly developed brain that distinguishes us from our closest relatives, the apes.
Wikipedia states “Curiosity and the human desire to understand and influence the environment and to explain and manipulate phenomena (or events) have motivated humanity’s development of science, philosophy, mythology, religion, and numerous other fields of knowledge.”
11am Outside the St Peter’s Church, Wenhaston. It is as a result of the above that The Doom (and its like) were created and why, having read a book inspired by it, I have driven an hour both ways to view it for myself. This surprisingly large painting directly on to oak planks, was erected above the knee so that the whole congregation could see what would happen if they chose one of two paths in life. I am not religious but I consider myself spiritual. I find that hard to reconcile as many would see the two as the same. But although I believe there is good and bad in human nature, I do not believe there is evil in the world. I don’t believe that God and Satan continually battle it out on the planet using us as pawns.
We all have an inquisitive nature and are drawn to things that we can’t explain rationally. But we also fear the irrational or unexplained in equal measure. As in Macbeth, we sometimes create ghosts or demonic creatures as vessels for these fears. It is often easier to do this than face our real demons; trauma from our pasts in most cases.
Our past oppressors, individual tyrants or organisations, have sometimes devised fears for us. Creating a threat of eternal damnation to keep us subservient and in our place.
Still the questions hold. Why doesn’t everyone do good? Why do some people do bad things? Do they really get their comeuppance either during their life or after it? Our sense of justice likes to think they will. But it is possibly better to focus on what leads people to behave badly in the first place?
The Wenhaston doom shows naked figures, as judgement strips away all clothing and regalia (except for crowns and cardinals hats naturally). The puritan movement considered this indicative of all that was wrong with catholicism and in the mid 1600s had these images whitewashed or destroyed. The Wenhaston doom was only discovered after the planks of wood we’re piled up outside, only for a heavy downpoor during a thunderstorm to wash away the whitewash, revealing the images beneath. Pure luck?
12.30pm The sun is trying to come out and I am sitting on a bench overlooking the Church Common at Wehaston after a fascinating visit to the church and a wonderful conversation with the local church volunteer. We inevitably got on to the subject of birds and in particular how a number of swift boxes have been erected in the church and throughout the village. The background noise is of a Blackcap clicking like two marbles being tapped together. And, of course, the obligatory wood pigeons.
So, a relatively short trip to quite an amazing place pretty much on my doorstep. Full of atmosphere, history and such thought provoking spaces.
Later… So, I was just leaving Wenhaston village and drove past The Star Inn. Turned around, drove in and now sat in the garden, sun on my back, local beer and sausage roll for lunch. Reading my book. Unplanned. What a lucky man.
The Bald Birder 