Slow Down London

Slow Down London – what a fantastic idea! A ten day festival from April 24 to May 4 organised by the Go Slow movement will encourage Londoners to calm down, relax and “live life in real time”, The Times reports today.

http://slowdownlondon.co.uk/

I wonder if there is a city faster than London. When I ran down a main street in Vienna recently, an old man actually stopped and remarked on my apparent need to rush somewhere. When I ran down the Ku’damm in Berlin a couple of years ago, walkers stared at me gone out. But if I run down Oxford Street, no one batters an eyelid. And there will probably be someone running past me at the same time. In London, it does seem that no one can get anywhere fast enough and that people have little tolerence for those who choose to take their time. So many Tube commuters often appear lost in frustrated contemplation about where they have to be in five minutes time that it must chip away at the soul if it is constantly battered into believing it is on the back foot.

In this fashion, the idea of meditation becoming part of school life – reported in The Guardian today – sounds wonderful. The practise of meditation does not exclusively belong to any one religion and many atheists and agnostics are champions of its benefits as well. Another great idea!