Shimmering

[poliphilo]

 By a nifty piece of happenstance (now that my name has gone forward to be a Quaker elder)  I found myself listening to a podcast last night in which a couple of clever young chaps were talking about eldership in a wider context . Most people in our society, said one of them, never really get beyond the mindset of adolescence with its neediness and concern for status. He cited a Jungian ecologist called Plotkin- whom I should probably get to know better- who distinguishes between the older- who are merely old in years and the elder who have been initiated into true adulthood- and are thereby qualified to be teachers and guides.   He spoke of our digital culture as "The Shimmer"- a term so newly minted that the Shimmer itself doesn't seem to have heard of it.  I Googled and drew a blank. With its suggestion of glamour and illusion- and beauty too- I think it's perfect. We all live in the Shimmer now, he said, and must learn to get wise to it pretty damn quick or else it will eat us.