"GOOD" FRIDAY... Easter... a man on the radio yesterday explained the pre-Christian origins of the "cross"... which represents the disc of the sun interposed with the crossing lines... a remnant of sun-worship, the wider world's version of monotheism... He also made a point that had crossed my head once in religious thought. He was wondering how the cross could possibly have become an emblem of Christianity when it represented that religion's darkest hour. "It's a bit like using a machine gun to represent Jacqueline Kennedy," he declared.The picture above right is a South Indian fertility goddess; Easter apparently being a tie-in with fertility cults of the ancient world... Ishtar... Venus... and so on.
This "interview" ... I was trying to explain what happened and this is it. When you phone a talk radio station there are professional phone answerers. Depending on whether your point seems worthwhile and whether or not there is time to fit you on air they will take your name and may or may not ring you back.
Usually when you're rung back you wait about five minutes with the radio playing through your handset. When you're put through the host will already be discussing the subject you said you wanted to talk on, then you are put on live and it's up to you to make your point. This time, however he kind of "interviewed" me by asking a series of maybe twenty questions. They were very well put, and because I've got used to being able to discuss addiction I gave what were apparently fairly good answers. Because a couple of people phoned in afterwards and said so. That was what flattered me because one said he'd never heard addiction explained so well. It was, as I say, as much down to good questions as anything I answered "why did you start injecting?" etc etc he went right through it... So that's why I talk about an "interview". I wasn't specially put on as a special guest ~ I just phoned in like anyone else...
Well I'd better go. Have a merry day everyone and don't eat too much chocolate. (Or isn't that meant to be for Sunday? I've absolutely no idea...)
How neat that you did a phone interview. And you are back to writing! So many things give us that little push to keep moving when we need it.
ReplyDeleteHappy Easter! We are planning to visit relatives for a ham dinner.
Hub's family never discusses anything too intense or interesting,
so many topics are off limits for one reason or another so it'll just be nice to sit mindlessly and exchange a few pleasantries. That's certainly worth not having to cook.
OH and having cake for our niece's birthday, that will be yummy! :)
Have a nice holiday weekend.
Sounds like you did a good job and were straight up about your addiction.
ReplyDeleteHoney candy eating is a 24/7 thing with me! Happy Easter Gleds!
Sounds to me like this interview may lead to something more . . .
ReplyDeleteHappy Friday to you, whatever you decide to celebrate!
Hi Gleds
ReplyDeleteSorry I have not been here much will try harder. As well as your memoir you could write a book about addiciton. Another idea to help get u off drugs would be if a newspaper or magazine gave you some weekly space to talk about coming off the drugs. Now that would be brilliant as you might get off the drugs and earn yourself a tidy sum. Don't worry I know life just isn't that easy but its a thought.
have a good easter. treat yourself to some chocs!
all the best lostgirl x
A couple of thoughts:
ReplyDeleteYes, that’s the origin of the Celtic cross.
The “good” refers to the sinlessness of Christ and/or that Christ’s death benefited the world. In other, non-English speaking, cultures it is called other things. The Germans call it Karfreitag—Friday of lament.
A blessed day to you and to the little ones.
I often wonder when listening to so called experts on the radio (usually those involved in the treatment side of things) why on earth they don't have people who have walked or are walking the walk to explain in their own words how life really is for them. I'm pleased listeners took the time to phone in and leave positive feedback for you gleds, you must have had a positive impact on them. x *!*
ReplyDeleteCrystal: cheers! I'm not doin' nothin' special at all. I'll probably end up eatin' Cadbury's mini eggs and phoning the bloody radio station again haha!
ReplyDeletePatti: I try not to eat too many sweets. Yeah I DID make an impression I'm glad about that ha-har!!
TutTut: Maybe something will come out of it you may be right... I partly started calling as a "personal development" issue. Well you can't write a book and not be able to go on live airwaves to discuss it can ya? Publishers wouldn't go for that (specially not nowadays it's all promote promote PROMOTE so...) I'm not celebratin' Fertility Goddess Day I can tell ya that I would rather eat Matzos and do Jewish
Lost: I was thinking that (book) as well... writing in a newspaper that might be a bit stressful what do I say if I "relapse"..??! Have a good 'un over the weekend
ReplyDeleteSaintly: thanks: I think maybe the cross represents the beams of the sun? maybe...??
Bimbimbie: I have no idea why this is but addicts are so incredibly bad usually at explaining their problem... e.g. when I wanted to know what rehab was like not one person could tell me "well it's normally a big house on an ordinary residential street; sexes are segregated by buildings or different floors; a nurse works there and several counsellors; usually there are 8-16 clients..." and so on. So simple yet seemingly impossible so I reasoned I ought to write a book just to tell it like it is. The only other good memoir (from Australia actually it's called In My Skin by Kate Holden) is good but it's 50% about working in a legalized Melbourne brothel and her skirmish with heroin was nowhere near as bad as mine: no abscesses, no homelessness, no blahblah I'm not writing to say my life was the worst I just think/hope I can tell it the best!
Have a happy Yuletide everyone. Sorry Candlemass. Urrk..? Passover! That's what I like to call it...
I'm glad you are getting enjoyment from these phone interviews. I would love to hear them!
ReplyDeleteHave a good Easter Gled! x
Well done again mate. I find it absolutely fantastic that you had this opportunity. We have another friend who's on a heroine program funded by the city and he's getting his life back on track again. He functions completely normal except that he has to shoot up once or twice a day. If you can make as little as a few people more aware of the fact that not all junkies are the same then that's already a gain.
ReplyDeleteAnd how cool that you got complimented afterwards by another listener.
Have you ever thought about contacting schools (with or without help from a social worker) to maybe do drug-education or something?
Happy Easter Gled :-)
You have so much to teach people Gled, I hope you make it on the radio many more times. I'd love to see you do a programme for schools and colleges about drug education. You should mention your blog on the radio next time and tell people they can get more information here as well. And I read earlier about your idea to do a Podcast. That would be grand!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Vincent and Nicole you should look into getting your experienced heard by kids through whatever avenues are available. Perhaps the people at the radio station might have some contacts to put you in touch with. And what about things like local community radio and newspapers you might be able to submit an article with them.
ReplyDeleteAll the best with the results of that Interview!
ReplyDeleteI've already eaten too many Easter eggs and I feel sick :(
keshi.
The fact that you phoned the radio station and talked about your addiction shows just how eloquent you are Gleds. Just imagine what you could do it you 'didn't do drugs'! Hope your Easter is a good time for you, and you have to save your easter eggs until tomorrow (Sunday). x
ReplyDeleteVi: cheers, you too though I don't do easter (cannot even stomach the eggs haha!!)
ReplyDeleteVince: schools? i could do that AFTER my memoirs. that was really sposed to be the package; and that's why I wasn't really into selfpublishing or doing it on the internet it has to be a big deal or no deal. you have to PROMOTE books these days more than ever and it would fit perfectly into an educational campaign. one reason i took to phoning the radio was to get rid of my nerves. it can be v nerveracking knowing 100,000 listeners are evesdropping on you...
Nicole: yeah I think I will do I just didn't want to be doing it all too quickly. also they might be pretty bemused by the heroin/hamsters connexion unless prewarned haha!!
Bimbimbie: ditto what I said to Vincent ... I can only do one thing at a time though HAVE to get that book finished and in print though. when I rang in last night about my drinking there was a woman on who'd written a drink memoir I said I was writing my drugs memoir the hostess (joking, well halfjoking y'know) said we'll have you on after you finish that book only if you're sober tho!!
ReplyDeleteKeshi: cheers I had mad Cadbury's Mini Egg craving at 4am with limited dough; but bought cigarettes instead...
Akelamalu: yeah you have a point. I gotta finish my bloody book though and get an agent after it and get the bloody thing in print. there was an ex-drinker woman on last night promoting her book i rang in about my drinking and mentioned my memoirs... her story was NOTHING on mine... I mean in terms of near complete selfdestruction ... yet I was writing it under the aegis (is that the right word? sounds like a nice word to use...) of the BEST TOLD drugs story and certainly not the worst... which indeed it would be. but this woman had done an alcohol memoir and yet didn't start drinking till 7pm and never got roaring drunk... so how much of a bloody alcoholic WAS she..??
Hey, it's great you did an interview. Wish we could hear it.
ReplyDeleteAbout the cross; it's s good question about how it became the Christian symbol. Didn't the Romans actually use a single stake or tree, with no crosspiece, to do their crucifying? The hands being nailed above the head, I would presume.
Something to research, when I have the time.
Yeah I think you're right... when Simon of Cyrene was compelled to "carry the cross" I'm pretty sure it meant the crossBAR not the "Christian-style" cross with longer stake (how would he have carted THAT around...?) and also even in The Life of Brian the crosses are huge poles in the ground with a futher arms crossbar
ReplyDeleteI've heard that it was done on a tree and that as you said the "cross" meant the plank for the arms... apparently (though I'm not absolutely sure) people were often merely TIED up in such a way that their body sagged, killing them internally (but slowly) hence the breaking of the legs...
you may well be right and it is worth researching I don't have the fuller details myself
just beware: you will of course end up hopping on whatever "Christian" group's agenda wherever you Google almost...
Gleds,
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the way you handled the phone interview and for raising people's awareness about addiction.
As to why the cross became the symbol for Christianity, Jesus death was part of God's plan for freeing us from the power and penalty of sin. One might look at the crucifixion as the low point with Jesus humiliated and executed but for Christians it became the reason for hope. "By his stripes, we are healed......God laid upon him, the transgressions of us all."
So, the cross represents the practical and real expression of God's love for us and our hope for a future.
so it's the highpoint and the lowpoint all at once
ReplyDeletehey bill are you still an addict? and proud of it? Mr P couldnt work out what you is all about
ReplyDeleteyeah: still using, but on methadone so FAR better than 't' used to be in past
ReplyDeleteHi Glenwood,
ReplyDeleteGood for you doing that interview, you my friend have a unique perspective even the interviewer could appriciate.
Happy Easter!
Janice~
Best wishes, happy easter and all.
ReplyDeletewell done on the interviews gled - hope you have a good weekend.
ReplyDeletei remember that c'est la vie song - i'd have thought it was earlier though....
Janice: cheers!
ReplyDeleteMago: ta!
Lettuce: c'est la vie: earlier than what tho? i thought it was mid to late 80s
Gled, bear with me on this comment:
ReplyDeleteAs a Christian myself I can totally agree with Lone Grey Squirrel. However I think the cross symbol is so overmarketed as to be almost meaningless any more. I mean celebs wear it because it's "cool" not because it means anything to them. You see it plastered all over. Really I don't mean to sound as though I don't value the blood Christ shed. But to me the more meaningful symbol is the empty tomb. Dying on a cross was not uncommon in those days; coming back to life afterwards is what sealed the deal, as it were. It's just hard to depict an empty tomb and wear it around one's neck.
That said:
In doing quick research on this cross issue I found that Romans did indeed occasionally crucify on what they called a "crux simplex" or a simple wooden stake with hands extended straight above the head and nailed to the stake.
But there is also archeological evidence of a crucifixion: in 1968 they found the remains of someone who'd been crucified in the same century as Christ and there had been a crossbar. However it wasn't as typically depicted in Christian protrayals.
I'll shut up on this for now; don't want to crash your comments section.
Cheers!
hey I see what you mean...
ReplyDeletewhen Jesus was about to be crucified Simon of Cyrene was compelled to "carry the cross" I always assumed this meant a crossbar (for the arms) to be affixed to some sort of pole or tree
were there no crossbar surely the implement would have been called a "pole"?
the Jehovah's Witness Bible does chuck out the word "crucified" in favour of "impaled" (though that implies Vlad the Impaler style...)
Ooops, I've eaten too much chocolate!
ReplyDelete