Legacy: Mind, Meaning and the Freedom to Choose #51 #cong24 #legacy
William O'Connor

Synopsis:

Despite what society, including organised religion, may claim, our universe offers no inherent meaning. Only when you grasp this truth and seize control of your destiny can you truly examine the societal meanings imprinted upon you since childhood – meanings shaped by language, culture, and creed. These are the rules that are meant to be broken. Forge your own path. Define your own purpose. Let this be your legacy.

Total Words

1,288

Reading Time in Minutes

5

Key Takeaways:

  1. Uncertainty is the only certainty there is.
  2. Every single thing in the entire universe including your own existence is a product of this uncertainty.
  3. This is why the most random experiences can re-route your future including your legacy in an instant.
  4. Your primary duty is to yourself, and that duty is to make your own meaning.

About William O'Connor:

William (Billy) T. O’Connor is Foundation Professor and Director of Teaching and Research in Physiology at the University of Limerick School of Medicine, Ireland. He also holds a position as Visiting Research Scholar at Flinders Medical School in Adelaide, South Australia.

Contacting William O'Connor:

You can connect with William via LinkedIn or see his work on Inside the Brain.

By William O’Connor

Two fundamental laws govern our reality and they both describe the nature of energy as it relates to our Universe. The First Law of Thermodynamics, sometimes called the Law of Energy Conservation, tells us that energy cannot be created or destroyed – only transformed. For instance, the burning of coal transforms its chemical energy into light and heat energy. The Second Law of Thermodynamics, however, governs the direction of these transformations, introducing the concept of entropy (uncertainty and disorder) and tells us that it constantly increases. For instance, the burning coal disperses the ordered molecules in (solid) coal into a more disorganized state found in the smoke (gas). These two laws, shaping the flow and transformation of energy, set the stage for everything we experience in the physical world.

The second law of thermodynamics is such a breathtakingly profound insight, and its understanding is the greatest achievement of the human mind. If there is one testable truth that explains the behaviour of the physical world – what we call reality- it is this law. This single principle doesn’t just apply to burning coal or dispersing gases; it shapes the unfolding of everything, from the stars in distant galaxies to the fragile balance of life on Earth, and to the personal identity that makes you, you.

Simply put, the second law of thermodynamics is a law of nature telling us that in our Universe, uncertainty and disorder can only increase and can never decrease. In everyday life, this explains why you have no idea what the future holds for you, and why the most random experiences can re-route your future including your legacy in an instant.

The second law of thermodynamics explains the origins of reality by tracing a path from the moment of the big bang. From that initial explosion emerged primordial matter in the form of hydrogen. Gravity then coalesced hydrogen into stars to randomly generate the heavier elements like carbon, oxygen and iron through nuclear fusion, and how the energy released by that process sustains life here on Earth.

Unlike cultural, political, and religious beliefs, a belief in the second law of thermodynamics costs you nothing and does not require your loyalty. It simply is. No other philosophical belief rests upon such a verifiable, fundamental truth. According to this law there IS life after death, but not in the way we might traditionally imagine. It’s not the persistence of “me” or personal consciousness. Instead, it’s the infinite life force found in the recycling of the building blocks that make life, and that make you.

The probability that you came to exist at all is testament to the power of this uncertainty – the power of possibility. You are the product of the fusion of just one of twelve trillion sperm cells created by your father with just one of 100,000 egg cells created by your mother, which made the fertilized egg that came to make you. The odds of this precise union, the one that led to you, are roughly 1 in 400 quadrillion. To put it another way, imagine winning the lottery against truly astronomical odds. While the chance of any one person winning is minuscule, someone eventually wins. And in the grand lottery of life, that someone, against all odds, happened to be you on the day you were conceived. Now that’s an achievement worth celebrating.

You and all other life in the entire Universe are a product of this fundamental uncertainty. From a purely human perspective, our understanding of nature tells us that existence is devoid of inherent meaning and there is no point to it. Therefore, it falls upon each individual to forge their own purpose, and to create meaning amidst the chaos. It is up to each individual to make their own meaning. Consider the brevity of your individual impact: You emerge from an anonymous stream of humanity, shaped by a handful of recent ancestors—your parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. You, in turn, shape a few generations of your own descendants and then your contribution dissolves back into an anonymous stream of humanity. The only life lived is remembered in the here-and-now. The rest is lost in the wind.

The second law of thermodynamics tells us that there is no pre-ordained meaning woven into the fabric of the universe. However, while there are some things you cannot avoid such as school and taxes you are largely free to chart your own course Your purpose can be whatever you want it to be and is yours to define. Just as boundless number of possibilities converged to bring you into existence, there are countless number of things for you to do while you are figuring that out.

You only live once, and your life is random and transient. A chance meeting leads you to your profession and the places you visit. That same randomness decides the people you meet including your life-partner. The irony is that you may regard this randomness as stressful – as a stone in your shoe never knowing what is going to pop up, when the secret is that embracing and surfing this wave of randomness is what makes your life what it is. Mental health is being curious and open to new experiences. When you embrace life’s uncertainty then countless possibilities open in your life. The same random possibly than generated you in the first place. Accepting this reality frees your mind and lets your spirit soar.

You have no idea what your future holds and even the most random events can re-route your future in an instant. Despite what society, including organised religion, may claim, our universe offers no inherent meaning. Only when you grasp this truth and seize control of your destiny can you truly examine the societal meanings imprinted upon you since childhood – meanings shaped by language, culture, and creed. These are the rules that are meant to be broken. Forge your own path. Define your own purpose. Let this be your legacy.

Once you grasp the profound truth that your life, and indeed the entire universe, is devoid of inherent meaning then a subtle shift occurs in the mind that truly seals your fate. The understanding that your legacy is the freedom to harness your imagination and passion to create your own meaning and chart your own course in life. To create a self-forged purpose to guide you as you make authentic choices in the pursuit of your own truth, and there can be no judgement.

November 14, 2024 2024 Legacy No comments yet

Our Legacy is Cooperative, Waste, Hope, Now #50 #cong24 #legacy

Synopsis:

We are social cooperative animals who evolved the capacity to be hyper-social by being cooperative. Our present stage of neo-liberal hyper individualised is destroying out heritage. Our legacy is every moment we apply our values of cooperation.

Total Words

1,100

Reading Time in Minutes

4

Key Takeaways:

  1. Core needs are food, water, shelter, community, environment.
  2. Prioritise using cooperative structures for them.
  3. Work with sharers, not takers.
  4. Enjoy each others company.

About Conor O'Brien:

I am a retired dairy farmer from a tradition of cooperative and local involvement. I am a member of the Board oversight on Mitchelstown Credit Union, Knockmealdown Active that develops outdoor activities there and has just received the Pride of Place award for community wellbeing. Also involved with a local group using walks on the Knockmealdowns and the Galtees to build the community. I help to organise an October storytelling workshop on Whiddy island. Learning more about regenerating soil every day. Reading: local and general economic history, particularly heterodox economics.

Contacting Conor O'Brien:

You can contact Conor by email

By Conor O’Brien

Our Legacy is
Cooperative,
Waste,
Hope,
Now.
I say ‘our’ because no one can function on their own as an individual. Nor can we function in isolation from the natural world. We are a cooperative social species who evolved within the natural world . As Easkey Britton has said, We are not the protectors of the forest. We are the forest protecting itself.

Cooperation is not a moralistic development. Edward O. Wilson and David Sloan Wilson debated and challenged each other for over thirty years as to whether the individual competitive gene and cell or cooperating groups of cells within organisms was the basis of evolution. In 2007 they wrote a joint paper concluding that: “. Within groups selfish individuals beat altruistic individuals, but groups of altruists beat groups of selfish individuals. ” That is what cooperation is; it is a real evolutionary process.

We evolved to prioritise sharing resources together in a group rather than taking and holding for our individual selves. Sarah Blaffer Hrdy has developed a robust explanation of how the maternal instinct of mothers was the foundation of our evolution. She argues from the fact that the pelvic structure needed by our female ancestors for an upright posture limited the size of their offspring. These infants were completely helpless until three to four years old, and were juvenile till eleven or twelve years old. They could be provisioned only if the mother had sufficient trust in those around her to override her instinctive protective behaviour. The infants themselves also had to evolve a theory of the ‘other’ so that they could understand what would attract the attention of those providers to them. We took pleasure then, and still do, in mutually transcending our individuality by supporting each other to live in and understand this world as it is. Humans great advance lay in organising themselves into groups with cultures which we could consciously differentiate rather than waiting for the random mutations of natural evolution.

Organisations with a cooperative culture and structure satisfy our needs for mutuality, fairness, autonomy, and growth through mutual development; and control the inherent tendencies towards individualist extraction. The crisis in our society is caused by allowing a relatively recent culture of extremely selfish hierarchic individualism, nowadays called neo-liberalism, to hold us in a state of constant individual competition.

Nature abhors waste. All actions need energy and all lead to entropy, or waste. All nature, including us, depends on photosynthesis in plants to harvest the energy of the sun for our survival and growth. This energy is limited by being diffuse, though practically limitless. Nature reduces waste of this scarce energy by filling every niche with small and large organisms that continuously recycle the energy and the materials of organisms at the end of their life cycle. It is a process with a positive feedback that continuously enhances our world within the boundaries of our planet.

Proponents of neo-liberalism treat fossil fuels as if they were unlimited and that boundaries caused by the need to recycle do not exist. They use fossil fuels to break food production into stages so that it is no longer consumed where it is grown, breaking the nutrient cycle. Major elements such as nitrogen, phosphorous, potash or calcium are lost from the soil, along with micro-elements such as boron or cyanide, or micro-organisms, that are just as significant. If the soil is missing those, they will also be missing from subsequent crops. Gilles Billen explains how conventional agriculture uses artificially produced nitrogen to replace what is lost when a crop is harvested and exported and cannot now complete the nutrient cycle. As the US discovered, the yields and quality of the crops gradually decline as further micro-nutrients are extracted. The degraded soil is blown away in dust-storms and runs off during floods.

Urbanised countries are on the other side of the gap in the nutrient cycle. There, the effluent from the intensive livestock operations fed on imported grain does not have a matching land area to utilise it. The excess nitrogen causes eutrophication of water bodies and its gas form is a significant factor in acid rain and climate change. It’s not just that we produce waste by breaking the nutrient cycle; our consumer society actively introduces new materials which either cannot be recycled, or prevent nature from recycling other materials.

There is no legacy for a society that damages and wastes its own soil. We are like passengers on a river-boat heading for a cataract while passing safe landing place.  Terry Eagleton has used the phrase ‘Hope without optimism’ to describe how we must change our approach. We must have hope, even in the worst of times. But we cannot afford to fool ourselves with blind optimism. We must see the task as it really is, both good and bad, in order to move away from the cataracts in front of us.

We form our legacy at each moment by asserting our own purpose of growing together by sharing our real nature; or by taking from it. We cannot change the past, nor can we leap forward and change a world in the future if it is not to our liking.

The natural world is our heritage: our legacy is what we do now.

We are the forest protecting the forest

Easkey Britton speaking at the Hometree workshop 7/7/23 
David Sloan Wilson and Edward O. Wilson. 2007 Rethinking the Theoretical Foundation of Sociobiology. The Quarterly Review of Biology Volume 82, Number 4December 2007 

November 14, 2024 2024 Legacy No comments yet

Steps of a Legacy: Art, Shoes, and the Journey Within #49 #cong24 #legacy

Synopsis:

This essay reflects on my legacy as an artist with a love for shoes. Each pair of shoes and each painting represents a part of my journey, carrying memories and moments that shape my story. Legacy, for me, is not about lasting monuments but about leaving honest, heartfelt imprints—marks that may fade over time but capture emotions and perspectives that continue to inspire me.

Total Words

1,080

Reading Time in Minutes

4

Key Takeaways:

1.Legacy can be a quiet but powerful trace of our journey**: Like footprints that eventually fade, our legacy is the heartfelt impact we make in the moment, meaningful even if it’s not permanent.
2. Legacy can be found in personal, everyday items: Even something as simple as a pair of shoes can carry meaningful memories, reflecting different stages of life..
3.Legacy isn’t always about permanence**: Leaving a legacy doesn’t require something monumental; sometimes, it’s the small, honest imprints we leave behind that matter most.
4. Our legacy is shaped by both presence and influence**: The people we touch, inspire, or challenge are part of what we leave behind, even if we’re not remembered by name.

About Trish Findlater:

Trish Findlater grew up in Co Westmeath on the River Shannon.
After an (BauhausArt inspired) Foundation year at GMIT Galway, she spent three years at the Fine art department of University of Ulster in Belfast graduating with a first class honour degree in Sculpture & painting 1983.
The following year Trish was awarded an masters scholarship to the Academy of Antwerp, Belgium specialising in portraiture, sculpture, painting and art history graduating with a masters in Art 1986. On her return to Dublin Trish established a very successful mural painting company which evolved into the world of interior design and eventually she engaged fulltime in Architecture working with various companies here in Ireland only returning in 2006 to complete a first class degree in interior architecture at Griffith college Dublin, finally setting up her own practice and continuing in design for many years.
Trish attributes her return to fine art to her late husband Alex who always felt she had a tremendous talent for it and now fully immersed. Her focus is primarily Landscapes and seascapes but tends to paint in both oils and soft pastels a variety of subject matter whilst painting ‘En plein air’. Her Solo exhibition last year ‘Grief’s dark seed and hope’s Blossom’ of 41 paintings in soft pastel inspired by her perennial and herbaceous garden was a triumph. The book of the same title was published subsequently with the addition of her poetry and winning the Silver gilt award at AITO Wexford in the same year firmly acknowledged ‘Trish Findlater, an artist of note.
“ I adore art, all genres of art, but I am expressly drawn to landscape and seascape and have made these my main focus in my painting and can carry the viewer to new places or evoke emotions & memories of previous locations.
My paintings often prompt emotional responses especially through the use of pastels ,their highly pigmented colours along emit light, texture & composition.

Contacting TRISH FINDLATER:

You can contact Trish by email or see her work

By Trish Findlater

Legacy is a word that carries weight, echoing forward from the lives we’ve lived and the impressions we’ve made. As a fine artist, my work naturally becomes a piece of my legacy—a silent, visual mark on the world. My legacy isn’t something grandiose or fixed; it is a collection of moments, thoughts, and images woven together, like brushstrokes on a canvas, waiting to be interpreted. And, somewhat unexpectedly, I realize that my love for shoes has found a place within this understanding of legacy, shaping how I step into and leave each moment.

Shoes are among the most personal items we own. They carry us, support us, and reflect our journey. When I think of my wardrobe full of shoes, I think of the stages of my life that each pair represents. There are scuffed sneakers from my days of long walks through cities, where I wandered alone, searching for inspiration. There are elegant, strappy heels that remind me of gallery openings, where I stood tall, hoping my art spoke louder than my words could. In this way, each pair of shoes represents a piece of my history, a small fragment of my story. And this, too, is legacy: it is the collection of places I’ve been, the things I’ve seen, and the imprint I’ve left behind.

My work as an artist is undoubtedly a significant part of what I leave behind, but I wonder if legacy truly lies in the permanence of things. A painting may hang on a wall, but its meaning evolves over time and with every new viewer. My art is a kind of whisper, a suggestion of the world as I’ve seen it. The colors, shapes, and textures I choose are expressions of emotions, observations, or questions I couldn’t articulate in any other way. Legacy, then, isn’t just about what endures; it’s also about what I contribute to the endless conversation of human expression and understanding. Like shoes, each piece of art carries a bit of where I’ve been, but each also walks forward without me, adding meaning through others’ interpretations.

Legacy, in a broader sense, is also about influence—the lives we touch, the people we inspire, even those we challenge. I don’t know if my art will be remembered a hundred years from now, or if anyone will even know my name. But in the present, I hope to leave behind a trail of empathy, a record of emotions felt deeply. My hope is that my art, like my shoes, carries people—maybe just for a moment—into a different experience or perspective.

Sometimes, I think of legacy as the footprints left on a well-trodden path. Just as I walk in the shoes of artists who came before me, creating and questioning as they did, I leave traces of my own journey. My shoes remind me that my legacy is not only my art but also my curiosity, my willingness to explore, to move forward with uncertainty and excitement.

In the end, my legacy might not be monumental or historic. It will likely be quiet, like a shoeprint in sand that fades over time. But it will be honest—a collection of places I’ve been, questions I’ve asked, and beauty I’ve sought to capture. For me, that is enough.

November 14, 2024 2024 Legacy No comments yet

Dangerous Women and their Legacy for Us Today #48 #cong24 #legacy

Synopsis:

Have women always been considered dangerous? In what ways have they been misrepresented in cultural narratives, resulting in the loss of wisdom and a distorted legacy? How can we change this narrative going forward?

Total Words

888

Reading Time in Minutes

4

Key Takeaways:

  1. Recognise the misrepresentation of women, hiding in plain sight.
  2. Question your own unconscious bias in relation to historical narratives.
  3. Be brave enough to call out socially accepted stereotypes.
  4. Stand together in solidarity with others to change the narrative going forward so that women’s legacy is recognised and valued.

About Laura Read:

Former teacher who has returned to study in later life, and is now exploring possible ideas for research. Recently certified as a Spiritual Director/Companion, with particular interest in Spiritual Traditions and representations of the ‘Divine Feminine’.
Passionate about challenging the difficulties faced by women, particularly the gender pay gap and poverty through caring. Member of the Fawcett Society, and a feminist finance and philanthropy group.
Keen volunteer in parish Food Hub/Cafe, promoting social justice through outreach in the local community, including Women’s Refuge.

Contacting Laura Read:

You can connect with Laura via email

By Laura Read

I believe the historical narratives of women have frequently been misrepresented, with the consequence that important wisdom is lost and their legacy compromised.  What are some  possible reasons for this distortion? Two examples from Early Christian history and one from the Middle Ages pose questions regarding the legacy of historic women and the impact on our lives today.

Mary of Egypt, a ‘forgotten’ Desert Mother 

Mary of Egypt is recorded to have been born in the fourth century. An ancient commentary states that she lived a dissolute and sexually promiscuous early life before seeking repentance, and spending the next half century as an ascetic, wandering alone in the desert.  Her story became popular and remained so throughout the Middle Ages, as a model of repentance for ‘fallen women’. Many other stories of so-called ‘courtesans’ and ‘women of ill-repute’ also became conflated in this one story, so that in time, through art, plays and retellings, she became entangled as ‘Mary Magdalene’ and other ‘unnamed’ ‘sinful’ women in biblical tales.  Whilst the ‘rediscovery’ of the wisdom of the Desert Mothers in recent years has been a positive step forward, many questions remain regarding the way in which these women have been represented and their lives portrayed.

What is Mary’s legacy? How has the retelling of her story served as a model for control over women’s behaviour?

Mary Magdalene or Mary of Magdala – or actually something quite different?

Mary Magdalene has widely been described a former prostitute, often depicted as being ‘in love’ with Jesus of Nazareth. Yet research recently carried out by Elizabeth Schrader Polczer at Duke University has revealed that changes made by an ancient scribe to the text of Papyrus 66, the oldest know copy of John’s gospel, may have completely altered our understanding of who this woman was. It was a sermon by Pope Gregory in the sixth century which first described her as a prostitute, despite there being no evidence of this, biblical or otherwise.  Some have argued that she should be referred to as Mary of Magdala, the name of the her home town, although further research has shown that the village wasn’t known by that name in the first century. What ‘magdala’ did mean in ancient Aramaic was ‘tower’, and some scholars have now postulated that Mary the Tower was her title, in the way that (saint) Peter was called ‘the Rock’.

What is Mary’s legacy? What is the implication for women if a society only wants to define them ‘in relation’ to a place or a father/husband, not by their own title referring to their power and influence?

Helena Sheuberin, the Witchfinders’ witch 

Helena Sheuberin was one of the first so-called ‘witches’ prosecuted by Inquisitor Heinrich Kramer in the 15th century. Sheuberin asserted that Kramer’s interpretation of church doctrine was heretical, and refused to attend his sermons. She was tried, yet found innocent of the charges against her. Following her acquittal, Kramer began writing the infamous Malleus Maleficarum, the witch-hunt manual known as The Hammer of Witches, leading to the deaths of an estimated 60,000 women across Europe.

What is Sheuberin’s legacy? To what extent did she provoke Kramer? And to what extent does that remain a dilemma for women today, when faced with men in positions of power?

What is the legacy of the lives of these three women? 

I am writing this on the day Donald Trump has been re-elected as US president.  In recent weeks Trump has promised to “protect women…..whether the women like it or not”.  His narrative is one of protecting ‘good’ women from ‘bad ones’, in the same way that the State and Church carried out witch-hunts which resulted in the deaths of untold numbers of (mostly elderly) women.  Kamala Harris has been described by Trump supporters as a ‘Jezebel’, the biblical figure characterised as a ‘wicked temptress’, ‘witch’ and ‘prostitute’. The narrative returns once again to ‘dangerous women’, who are regarded as a threat to both moral and political stability. If accusing women of immorality and witchcraft has been Christian patriarchy’s way of demonising women through the centuries, how do we change this narrative now?

November 14, 2024 2024 Legacy No comments yet

Understanding the Word Legacy, an Attempt #47 #cong24 #legacy

Synopsis:

Given that this year’s central theme is “Legacy”, I decided that to prepare myself for the event that I should understand what the word means. Before any meaningful and thoughtful conversations about “Legacy” can take place we should at least know what we are talking about.

Total Words

1,260

Reading Time in Minutes

5

Key Takeaways:

  1. What is a Legacy?
  2.  What are some examples of legacies?
  3. Does Legacy matter?
  4. I should not invest in a future as a writer

About Miguel Menano

Half Portuguese, Half Thai.
I have travelled quite a bit but not enough.
I have done a bit of everything workwise. I have been a business developer, a bartender, a touring musician, a translator.
I am always looking to learn something new, be it a language, a recipe, a culture or a country.

Contacting Miguel Menano:

You can connect with Miguel via email

By Miguel Menano

I would like to start by thanking my good friend David for inviting me to this marvelous event, however, I was not expecting to do much more than to simply enjoy the beautiful Irish sights and people while drinking adult amounts of good Irish spirit so this came as a bit of a surprise to me at first.

Now, since I am not a particularly academically inclined person, nor am I someone wishing to make others think so, I shall try to keep this text quite simple and short. On the subject of legacy, I have found it best for me to start by trying to define the word, however not wanting to fall under the cliché of simply looking it up on a dictionary and calling it a day, I actually took a risk and decided to think.

I began by realising that there is not much in life that does not have a legacy, individual people, groups of people, cultures, countries, companies, brands, bands, even football clubs and dishes. However, I noticed that the legacy of practically any entity can and most likely will contain different points of view. In my home country of Portugal, we are taught that the “Great Age of Discovery” that we started allowed western civilisation to expand its knowledge in the fields of science, biology, geography, technology, cartography amongst others, while also opening up the world and creating important maritime routes and commercial relations that would help usher in the modern age, we currently live in. While it is true that the military aspect of occupation and conquest of foreign lands and peoples is also discussed, it is done so swiftly in a confusingly patriotic yet also trivial manner, in a “we had to fight off savages with bows and arrows so that we could then share our culture and civilise them” kind of way. Curiously, we seem to try so hard to underplay the negative aspects of our colonial empire as a whole yet we normally define the starting date of the “Age of Discovery” as 1415, the year in which we conquered Ceuta in Northern Africa, a city settled in the western world in the 1st millennium BCE. To think of the number of peoples, histories, cultures and countries that have been enslaved, defiled if not entirely erased by Portugal and then by other countries that soon followed our example like Spain, France, the Netherlands, and of course England can be a quite sobering and depressing exercise. However, while one side of this story definitely looks better than the other, both are true, both happened and both are part of the legacy of Portugal.

On a less serious but nonetheless very controversial example, we have the legacy of Italian cuisine. World famous and adored by many all around the globe, Italian cuisine’s most beloved dishes such as pizza and spaghetti in its many forms have been bastardised so much to the point of confusing, enraging and disgusting the citizens of Italy. The addition of certain ingredients such as pineapple or chicken to pizza, giant meatballs to spaghetti or cream to a carbonara sauce are the consequences of generations of Italian migration throughout the world, unequal availability of ingredients, and at times sheer morbid curiosity of experimentation. What most of the world will see as being Italian cuisine can at best be considered Italian-adjacent, and while it can be quite funny to annoy one’s Italian friends by asking if certain ingredients could be added to any of their traditional dishes only to then revel in the outrage of their answer, it is interesting to take a deeper dive into the steadfastness with which Italy’s sons and daughters defend the integrity and limits of their gastronomy. The idea that Italian recipes are something untouched since their respective creation and to remain so until the end of time while quite stereotypical is also just wrong. While officially quite young, Italy is culturally many millenniums old and its cuisine is no different, so how could a gastronomy be historically close-minded and yet have ingredients that were only available from the Age of Discovery onward become so important to it? I am obviously referring to the potato and the tomato, both ingredients that originally come from the Americas and can be found today in many recipes in every region of Italy. So, is the legacy of Italian cuisine one of acceptance of change or resolute permanence? Again, it might be paradoxically a bit of both.

Looking back at the cases I have just mentioned and thinking of others as well, I notice that a legacy is a changing thing, depending on who is viewing it, their individual values through which they may analyse it, as well as those of the society they live in, all of which can transform in time. The good today can be bad tomorrow and ugly the day after. Not only that, but one’s knowledge on any subject may be at best extensive but never truly total as it appears there is always something new to discover or learn regarding just about anything.

I have also found that a legacy seems to be determined exclusively by others and is therefore something out of the control of the subject. So, so far from what I can understand, a legacy is a collection of people’s flawed and possibly differing notions of a subject, which does not seem like a very good definition or at least not a very satisfying one. Then again, maybe it is not my place to find an answer. Maybe I can add to the conversation by simply posing more questions and making everything a little bit messier. Maybe that is all we can do.

Given a legacy’s apparent capability to continuously change in time and the fact that it is not determined by any of the subject’s actions, words or characteristics but rather how they will be viewed by others, one question (or three) comes to me. Should we worry about our own legacy? As individuals? As part of a certain group or society?

What we leave behind after we are gone does seem to matter, but exactly how much it matters is not in our power to determine, so maybe we should just try our best to be an do better anyway. Just not so someone a few hundred years later will think of us in a good light and not because it seems morally to be the right thing to do. We should just try our best because we actually want to.

Thank you and please take care of each other.

November 13, 2024 2024 Legacy No comments yet

Legacy – Be Who You Are #46 #cong24 #legacy

Synopsis:

I wrote this case study to demonstrate where my values came from.
  • History is where our legacy comes from
  • We need to understand our values and why we do what we do
  • I use these values to live my life and help others to discover theirs
  • When their values are aligned and free from negative emotions magic happens
  • Their beliefs change and become more positive through the work we do
  • My aim is to provide a memorable and positive legacy that helps to make this a better world

Total Words

1,239

Reading Time in Minutes

5

Key Takeaways:

  1. Vision
  2. Motivation
  3. Confidence
  4. Courage to make a difference

About Carol Passemard

For the past 15 years I have been a trainer in Neuro Linguistic Programming, Timeline Therapy and Hypnosis.

I am in the business of transforming peoples’ lives in order to help them discover who they are and how they can create a more positive future for themselves.

Contacting Carol Passemard:

You can connect with Carol through Facebook and LinkedIn

By Carol Passemard

Alan was born in London in 1927.  He was an only child and educated at Dulwich College.

In 1944 he left his parental home to find out about joining the Merchant Navy in Liverpool.  He lied about his age and was accepted as an apprentice on a ship bound for India.  He had told his mother he was just going away for a weekend!

Alan rose through the ranks to 2nd Mate. In 1948 he chose to give up the Merchant Navy and instead applied for a place at Peterhouse, Cambridge to study Geography and English.  He loved rowing and was captain of the College Boat Club.

He left Cambridge with a BA degree in 1951 and was appointed housemaster of a boys boarding house at Wellington School, Somerset.  The only problem was that this appointment required him to have a wife, so he married Sheila who had qualified as a state registered nurse.  She became a wonderful housemistress and excellent matron to the 16 boys who resided with them.  They all had to share bathroom facilities and Alan remembers asking Jeffrey Archer to move up so he could have some space to shave.

Alan and Sheila had two children born in 1952 and 1955 while still living in Gatehouse with the 16 boys.

In 1958 the family moved to Uppingham School where Alan taught English, Latin and Religious Studies.  Their third daughter was born in 1960.  The family lived in a large Tudor House which was cold and run down, but at least they had accommodation provided by the school.  Much to Sheila’s delight there were no boys living with them.

Alan was appointed Headmaster in 1964 to Wells Cathedral School.  There were 340 boys aged between 7 – 18. The school provided the Cathedral with around 16 choristers.

Alan and his family moved into a very large boarding house called, The Cedars.  Sixty boys, two matrons, two housemasters and Alan’s family all lived together.  At least this time Alan’s family had their own bathroom.   The family were provided meals from the school kitchen, even during the holidays.

It was part of Alan’s salary package!  And of course this arrangement provided year round employment for the kitchen staff.

Within that first year living in Wells, Alan soon recognised the horror of what was expected of him.  He was heard saying, one day – “Oh God! What have I done?!”

The school was clearly failing and faster than he could have imagined.  His confidence was at rock bottom.  To make things worse certain members of staff would send him very long letters in the holidays telling him all the things he was doing wrong!

However, not to be beaten, he decided that with the help of an outside advisor and support of the governors who played a very active role in the school, he would set up an appeal to build the biggest sports hall in the West of England.  This required a huge amount of extra work and his two older daughters were seen returning from their own school, an hour away,  and set to work stuffing hundreds of envelopes with letters inviting donations to the school’s appeal.

On July 3rd 1969.  Alan’s vision was realised and the Queen Mother came to open the Sports Hall.

He constantly worried about what would happen to the school if a Labour government came into power?  Would they survive?  What was the next thing he needed to do to keep the school going?

All of his fears and concerns were played out during family meals.  Nothing was kept secret.  This was a place where Alan was able to display all of his lack of confidence.  As soon as he was out in public he acted as if he were a man full of confidence and bravado.

His next vision was to introduce girls into the school.  Questions arose. Where should they start?  At the sixth form or the lower end of the school.  After much family discussion and, no doubt debating with the governors, it was decided to admit girls at the lower end and for them to grow up through the school, allowing the boys to get used to having girls around them, and probably vice versa.

September 1969 saw the first 12 girl boarders and 17 day girls arrive.  The school is now fully co-educational.

Another of Alan’s visionary ideas was to make Wells Cathedral School famous.  He had a passion for music, despite being unable to play his mother’s beautiful baby grand piano that lived in his study or be able to sing a note in tune.  However  he never lacked focus and determination.

He started by inviting Yrfah Neaman, principal violinist at the Guildhall School of music to come and meet with him and discuss setting up a scheme for musically gifted violinists.  This led to further meetings with Yehudi Menuhin, Meredith Davis and other eminent musicians.

Since those darker days the school has gone from strength to strength and has recently celebrated its 50th anniversary in launching the scheme for Musically Gifted Children.

In 2017 a beautiful room was dedicated to Alan,  in what used to be the old Theological College, opposite the cathedral.  It is known as the Quilter Hall.  Many lunchtime concerts are played there by students and appreciated by the public.

Alan Quilter was my father and I, his first born.  I remember those days living in Wellington, Uppingham and  the early years of living in the Cedars.

Life moved on when I left home in 1970.  I look back on those very tough days and my father’s lack of confidence. Despite that, Alan’s remarkable vision and tenacity made this beautiful school world famous.

 Today there are 700 attending.  There is a purpose built concert hall and many of the very old buildings have been transformed to accommodate the children.

Vicar’s Close, the oldest street in England houses many staff and students.  The buzz during school term time is palpable and the sound of music is everywhere.

My father would be incredibly proud of the legacy he has left behind.  His legacy continues to live on in the enormous talent of young musicians today, alongside others who may have chosen a more academic slant to their studies and careers.

Alan Quilter passed away on February 14th 1998 at the age of 70.

November 13, 2024 2024 Legacy No comments yet

Purpose, Vision and Legacy #45 #cong24 #legacy
Fiona English

Synopsis:

Purpose, Vision all feed in to creating an inspiring legacy.

Total Words

358

Reading Time in Minutes

1

Key Takeaways:

  1. Inspiring legacy should outlive us
  2. ‘I am what survives me’
  3. Our legacy should include impact on the environment
  4. The journey begins within us

About Fiona English:

Fiona is a keynote speaker, coach and thought leader who combines her extensive experience in global investment markets with expertise and thought leadership in human potential, purpose, leadership and self-expression.

Passionate about the areas of life that are innately human, the red thread that runs through all her work is the exploration of who we are & how we want to show up in the world. Recognised as a contemporary thinker and inspiring speaker in areas such as leadership, purpose, and self-expression, she has spoken at events in over 30 countries globally and was a semi-finalist in the Nordic Business Forum global speaking contest in 2022. In her previous career, she worked in global investment markets for nearly 20 years with institutional clients across multiple markets. In 2015, she was one of 50 women globally chosen to participate in the W50 Program in UCLA, California, aimed at building the next generation of global women leaders.

Through her MSc in Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology, Fiona conducted research into how spirituality, meaning, purpose, and authenticity manifest for individuals in our modern society. She continues to focus on her research areas of personal leadership, meaning and purpose, authenticity and spirituality through her speaking, thought leadership and writing. Alongside her speaking practice, she coaches and advises purpose-led entrepreneurs, business leaders and individuals seeking to deepen their understanding of who they are so they can live, work and lead with greater impact and authenticity.

Contacting Fiona English:

You can connect with Fiona on LinkedIn or see her work on her website.

By Fiona English

In a podcast interview with Luke Sheehan, Fiona English explores the role of purpose and vision in creating an inspiring legacy.  How we leverage our strengths, talents, passion in service of others while relating to the world in front of us.

November 13, 2024 2024 Legacy No comments yet

The Legacy of the Good Friday Agreement #44 #cong24 #legacy

Synopsis:

I describe how the idea of  ‘event time’ (volume and significance of activity) rather than calendar time (days, weeks, years etc) may be applicable when considering the legacy of the Good Friday Agreement. The human experience of how this period impacted daily lives and the subsequent recovery has given rise to transformative identity shifts such as “I am a child of the peace process” or “I am both a British and an Irish citizen”. Given the context of the climate crisis, the event-based identity shifts experienced as a result of the Good Friday Agreement may have implications across the world.

Total Words

819

Reading Time in Minutes

3

Key Takeaways:

  1. In a world increasingly focused on data and AI, numerical concepts are important for framing human behaviour. I describe how the idea of‘event time’ measured based on significance of events rather than calendar time may be applicable when considering the legacy of the Good Friday Agreement.
  2. In particular, on an event time basis the human experience of how this period impacted daily lives and the subsequent recovery may have increased in significance relative to historical associations.
  3. This has given rise to transformative identity shifts such as “I am a child of the peace process” or “I am both a British and an Irish citizen”.
  4. As the world faces numerous challenges such as the climate crisis the event based identity shifts experienced as a result of the Good Friday Agreement may have implications across the world.

About Jamie Eustace:

Jamie Eustace has worked in the computerized investment management industry for over 15 years with a particular emphasis on analysing behavioural patterns with regards to stock market investing. He first became interested in the applications of data and models to human behaviour while an undergraduate was at Trinity College Dublin where he majored in Political Science.

Contacting Jamie Eustace:

You can connect with Jeffrey on email.

By Jamie Eustace

Associated with Cong is the processional cross made for the third last High King Ireland Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair whose reigned ended in 1156, thirteen years prior to the Norman Invasion of Ireland in 1169.

One significant feature of the Good Friday Agreement is that not since that time has there been a framework for the creation of a united Ireland agreed to by all political forces on the island, moreover one achieved by peaceful means.

One legacy of the Good Friday Agreement is it that links to the wider political objectives and historical links like this.

Another legacy, potentially more important links to the recent human experience and the transformations therein. I explore this through the lens of numerical concepts as the world increasingly shifts towards data and technology driven outcomes.

Please note: the author was not personally impacted by the violence that occurred in Northern Ireland between 1968 and 1998. All respect, care and consideration is to those that were.

***

These are lines from the 1979 song ‘The Healing has Begun’ by Belfast born Van Morrison:

“And we’ll walk down the avenue in style”

“And we’ll walk down the avenue and we’ll smile”

And we’ll say:

“Baby, ain’t it all worthwhile when the healing has begun?”

***

There is a concept in numerical modelling called ‘event time’. This makes the distinction between calendar time, measured in days, weeks, months, years etc and time which is measured based on the volume and significance of activity.

One common application of this in financial markets when computer trading systems are predicting market moves it’s often better to calibrate to event time – not calendar time. If major news has hit the market in the past day, it’s more effective to calibrate models based on this recent high volume period than include what might have been uneventful days in the week prior.

This can also be applied in other areas, like politics.

***

Looking at the peace agreement in Northern Ireland and the period preceding it, the point could be made that the past half century or so have represented significant event time. In particular, this relates to how day-to-day lives have been impacted by the period relative to periods preceding it.

The impact of this is that definitions in particular regarding identity may be framed from the more recent high event period.

For example, some might say:

“I am a child of the peace process”

or

“I am both an Irish and British citizen”

The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland represents this tendency as it doesn’t identify with any outcome regarding the political status of Northern Ireland.

This is nothing short of a transformative shift and has major implications across the world.

As the world faces issues like the Climate Crisis it’s possible further event based identity shifts may happen.

***

From the above mentioned song there is also the line:

“And you feel it in your heart and it grows and grows”

November 13, 2024 2024 Legacy No comments yet

Light Touch Legacy #43 #cong24 #legacy

Synopsis:

What is the lightest intervention I can make?

Total Words

383

Reading Time in Minutes

2

Key Takeaways:

  1. We all have a mark to make.
  2. An ecological approach asks for a light tough.

About Jeffrey Gormley:

this year:
introduction to creative process, various national schools.
dramaturg, script editor, motherKraft, Project Theatre.
author, organisationlessness: research shared at Laboratory for Social Choreography, Duke University.
editor, we weave community, publication for community mental health social enterprise.
artist, Creative Climate Action Fund, Citizen Innovation Lab Limerick, Creative Ireland.
dramaturg, script editor, Songlines, Culture Night Kilkenny.
swimmers charter, Thomastown Community River Trust.
in the works:
Next Cultural Institutions, position paper for Laboratory for Social Choreography, Duke University.
Green Magic, concept development.
playWildParty, participatory theatre format.

Contacting Jeffrey Gormley:

You can connect with Jeffrey on Instagram and LinkTree

By Jeffrey Gormley 

when I roll out a large sheet of paper and give children absolute freedom to draw whatever they want, at least one will put their hand on the paper and draw an outline
it happens every time, and very often when I work with grown ups too
of course, these young artists don’t realise that they are recapitulating a move that has been core to art for tens of thousands of years, as seen on the walls of caves throughout the world
hand outlines, finger prints, foot prints
these are the primary marks that we leave on the world
.
we all have a mark to make
we can’t help but leave traces everywhere we go
carving initials in a tree trunk, signing our name
writing a poem, speaking up for a cause
starting a company, building a house, making a family
I don’t think of legacy any more
I focus, here and now, on the mark I am making on the present situation
I tune in to how my move, my action, my speech, my gesture can be part of the coming to matter of what is happening now
because I think in terms of ecology, I aspire to the lightest touch possible
I ask myself: what is the lightest, most accurate, least imposing intervention I can make, that can still help this situation to become what it wants to be?
what is the lightest trace I can leave?

November 13, 2024 2024 Legacy No comments yet

Storied Thinking; Legacy Takes Time #43 #cong24 #legacy

Synopsis:

Legacy requires mythological thinking. Being comfortable looking back over epochs to understand our position in the world, we might be better placed to think forward thousands of years to help us find what we need to plant now, that will serve the future.

Total Words

922

Reading Time in Minutes

4

Key Takeaways:

  1. Be mindful of the stories you carry
  2. Let us look at the national story and see what we can learn
  3. Change the way you think about time
  4. Let stories be in service to your legacy

About Clare Murphy:

Clare’s performances include ancient myth, folklore, quantum physics, history and modern stories in productions that tour worldwide.
Her latest show, The Spanking Goddess and Other Discard Tales is based on the forgotten stories of wild women in history, and is currently touring.
Requested to speak at Embassies, Universities and international gatherings, her speeches spark wonder while giving practical tips that enhance teams and work cultures.
Her trainings have been delivered to limbless veterans, firefighters, NASA scientists, schoolchildren, NHS workers, Forest School leaders and the All-Blacks, as she swiftly injects resilience and curiosity into each environment.
She also runs Salons connecting arts, medicine, sport, education, climate activists and parents in a collaborative inquiry space.
Clare’s work is centered around using Story to re-humanize humans for almost 20 years.

Contacting Clare Murphy:

You can contact Clare by email or find her @storyclare

By Clare Murphy 

Stories are built to last. Some last 500 years, and some have lasted as long as 60,000 years. That is a particularly potent kind of legacy. When a myth gets made it is built of strong material; archetypes, symbols, dramatic events. It is forged in the fire of the one who tells it, with each telling it becomes stronger. It lives in the hearts and minds of its’ listeners, gaining power with each year. Until it doesn’t. Until a new army invades, or a new religion takes over. Myths go underground then, carried in the hearts of the brave until they can resurface years or centuries later. We are all of us living inside of mythological time, though it is easy to forget that.

It is easy to become lost in the moment, the latest crisis, the next drama unfolding for humanity. Especially now when everything feels so fraught with danger. It can be hard to imagine a living future, a thriving humanity. As a storyteller I am trained in stories that have lived for thousands of years. Stories that have been distilled in thousands of human bodies, and passed from mouth to ear.

The distillation of wisdom teaches a certain amount about legacy, change and patterns. Often the same motifs get repeated in stories, wisdoms that return again and again. Those who seek to build up only their own house fail, whereas those who seek to build the next generation into one that is wise and kind often succeed. Speed and quick fixes rarely lead to long term solutions. Wealth for wealth’s sake never creates happiness.

“Societies grow great when old people plant trees under the shade of which they will never sit”

Greek Proverb

Myths invite us into a larger landscape, and also allows us to think mythologically about our present day predicament. Ireland still lives in the shade of the myths planted by colonialism, capitalism and the Roman Catholic Church. Although politically free for 100 years, we Irish have inherited behaviours from our multiple masters of church and foreign state. Until we address the inherited legacy it may prove difficult to create a new positive legacy for those that come after us.

What will our national legacy be? Will it be one of self-interest, individualisation? Do we have the capacity for a truly gigantic leap in our thinking? Could we move out of an inherited paradigm into creating a legacy that serves all humans, plants, animals and the biosphere?

The stories say that we can change. But it depends on which stories we read, which we repeat and which we carry. If we want to, we can change the narrative. If we change the narrative we can change the legacy and make one worth leaving behind.

Working with story is a quick and effective way to build vision and empathy. Stories trigger the brain of the listener to brim up with neurochemicals that activate empathy. They create a kind of emotional intelligence that allows the listener to wrestle with their own thoughts, develop their own understandings, while being part of a greater community of listeners.

In most societies listening to a story was a community wide event. Certainly this was the case in Ireland, it also was the case in Mesopotamia. In second millenium BCE the Mesopotamians listened to the Enuma Elish at times of great change in order to achieve catharsis. It was believed that we needed to listen to myth, to watch the gods go through their ordeals so that we could fathom how we might get through our ordeals. Mythological thinking allows for thinking across deep time, long stretches of time that encompasses many many generations. In a world of quick fixes that often exacerbate the problem, this kind of storied thinking is needed.

To know what comes next, to understand what legacy we want, we have to be willing to look back behind us and remember how we ended up here. Then we can find the required tools, technologies and thinking that can allow for a different future than the apocalyptic one that is predicted.

November 13, 2024 2024 Legacy No comments yet