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From Leslie Griffiths, Methodist Minister:ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý

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Over the weekend I spotted lots of people paying particular attention to their smartphones. It wasn’t the usual stuff; they were on to something that clearly excited them. This aroused my curiosity. I dared to stick my nose into the private world of one or two of them and asked them what was happening. They were playing a game that, so they told me, straddles the gap between the real and virtual worlds – you’ll have read about it I’m sure. Their phone was giving them pictures of the real world, the street or park or whatever, where they were actually standing but, hidden within those surroundings, virtual creatures could be discovered - funny little things – that they were hunting for with great enthusiasm. Apparently, the search for these creatures has led people to get lost in caves, to become nuisances at funeral parlours and fire stations, and to increase attendances at national monuments or visitor sites. To play it you have to acquire what they’re calling Augmented Reality, AR. And it was this business of AR that stopped me in my tracks. For I live in the real world – I don’t need my smartphone to tell me that. And I’ve been teaching the art of heightened awareness, my words for augmented reality, for years. It’s possible to find the extraordinary hidden in the ordinary in our normal everyday lives. There’s so much waiting to be spotted that remains unnoticed because we’re too busy or pre-occupied to see it. Just listen to some words written by William Blake, one of my favourite gurus. He writes about cultivating the art that allows us:

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To see the world in a grain of sand,

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý And a heaven in a wild flower;

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý And eternity in an hour.

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It’s all there, waiting to be discovered. You’ll see it in a smile, in the encouragement given by a pat on the back or an arm round someone’s shoulder, in a sunset, in the arrival of a new baby, and in the rainbow colours of love, love, glorious love.

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