The Wild Reed

Tuesday, September 22, 2026

A Sacred Threshold

Monday, September 21, 2026

“The Thoughts of God Are With You”

I’m choosing to start the week with one of the most beautiful and powerful passages from A Course in Miracles.

It’s the eighth (and final) paragraph in Section IV of Chapter 5 (“Teaching and Healing”) of the Text. I share it with no accompanying commentary or interpretation, just an invitation to whoever’s reading this to take from it anything that “shimmers” with deep truth for you.

___________

How can you who are so holy suffer? ²All your past except its beauty is gone, and nothing is left but a blessing. ³I have saved all your kindnesses and every loving thought you ever had. ⁴I have purified them of the errors that hid their light, and kept them for you in their own perfect radiance. ⁵They are beyond destruction and beyond guilt. ⁶They came from the Holy Spirit within you, and we know what God creates is eternal. ⁷You can indeed depart in peace because I have loved you as I loved myself. ⁸You go with my blessing and for my blessing. ⁹Hold it and share it, that it may always be ours. ¹⁰I place the peace of God in your heart and in your hands, to hold and share. ¹¹The heart is pure to hold it, and the hands are strong to give it. ¹²We cannot lose. ¹³My judgment is as strong as the wisdom of God, in Whose Heart and Hands we have our being. ¹⁴His quiet children are His blessed Sons. ¹⁵The Thoughts of God are with you.

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• A Course in Miracles: A Gift of Peace
• Why A Course in Miracles Is Not “New Age”
• Mysticism and Miracles
• Gifts of Abundance
• Choosing to Awaken
• I Am One With the Beloved
• Being One With the Beloved, the Source of All Things
• Your Peace Is With Me, Beloved One
• Dwelling in Peace
• The Peace of God
• You Are My Goal, Beloved One
• Be In My Mind, Beloved One
• Stepping Out of Time and Resting Your Mind
• Resting in the Presence of the Beloved
• In the Stillness and Silence of This Present Moment
• The Beauty and Challenge of Being Present in the Moment
• Today I Will Be Still
• I Need Do Nothing . . . I Am Open to the Living Light
• Aligning With the Living Light
• An Expression of Humility

Related Off-site Links:
A Course in Miracles – Lesson 45: God Is the Mind With Which I Think – Foundation for Inner Peace.
A Course in Miracles – Lesson 165: Let Not My Mind Deny the Thought of God – Foundation for Inner Peace.
From Monkey Mind to the Mind of God – Greg Mackie (Circle of Atonement).
9 Lessons from A Course in Miracles to Transmute Fear into Faith – Shannon Kaiser (Thrive Global, September 7, 2020).
The Power of Your Thoughts and A Course In Miracles: An Interview with Marianne Williamson – Aubrey Marcus Podcast (December 24, 2024).

Image: Timothy Jackson.

Sunday, September 20, 2026

Will the “Astonishing” Andrew Scott Be the First Gay Man to Win the Best Actor Oscar?

Above: Andrew Scott in Simon Stone’s soon-to-be-released film, Elsinore.

Following, with added images and links, is an excerpt from an article by Catherine Shoard published yesterday in Guardian.

_____________

This Sunday, the curtain falls on the Toronto Film Festival, the last of the three big autumn showcases – alongside Venice and Telluride – that are launchpads for award campaigns. And as the dust settles on the red carpets, one name rises above the others as destined for sure-fire glory: Andrew Scott.

The Irish actor, 50 next month, is now not only considered a lock for a leading actor Oscar nomination but almost certain to take the prize next spring. Should he win, he will become the first out gay actor to do so in the Academy’s almost 100-year history.

If that’s a fact that seems astonishing today, it would have felt an inevitability in 1989, when the film for which Scott has been so praised is set. In Elsinore, he plays Ian Charleson [left], the dashing Scottish star of films including Chariots of Fire and Gandhi. Charleson had been given his first role three years before Chariots by Derek Jarman, but excised it from his CV (leading to a lifelong rift, depicted in Elsinore). Muting his sexuality was then considered essential in the pursuit of stardom. Yet despite such curation – and his undeniable talents – Charleson never reached the level of fame he felt he deserved.

Until December 1989, that is, when he took over the role of Hamlet from Daniel Day-Lewis at the National Theatre, despite secretly having AIDS. His performance was reckoned to be one of the finest ever, and he died six weeks after the final show, aged 40. His family then went public with his diagnosis and sexuality: this was the first celebrity death in the U.K. attributed to AIDS, and did much to boost awareness and acceptance.

The film is a passion project for Scott, who also produced and rallied together funding alongside Stephen Beresford, screenwriter of Scott’s big-screen breakthrough, 2014’s Pride, another real-life story of 1980s gay history, about an unlikely alliance of LGBTQ+ activists and striking Welsh miners. Scott was galvanised to get Elsinore off the ground by the death of his mother, Nora, in 2023. “When you’re in that grief state,” he said, “you feel like you’ve got nothing to lose.”

The actor’s own path to stardom makes for a curious contrast with the man he plays. Born in Dublin in 1976, Scott shot his first film aged 17 before studying drama at Trinity College Dublin and moving to London aged 22. Despite playing gay characters, he, too, was advised to remain silent on his own sexuality, to avoid pigeonholing. Speaking after Elsinore’s Toronto premiere last week, Scott said such a climate gave him “a horrible feeling that I perhaps wasn’t going to be able to speak a language I was desperate to speak.”

He came out publicly in 2013 aged 37, shortly after his small-screen breakthrough as Moriarty opposite Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock. In the 13 years since, Scott has arguably done more than any man since Ian McKellen to refute the idea that publicly gay actors cannot plausibly play straight roles. His part in Fleabag is the most lusted after example, yet the hot priest stands alongside numerous other heterosexual characters he’s taken on: Richard Rogers in Blue Moon, Anthony Julius in Denial, 10 different people in his one-man Uncle Vanya. Still in cinemas is his sturdy and scowling Group Captain James Stagg, meteorological hero of D-day and new drama Pressure.

“The war is never over,” said Scott of the debate over LGBTQ+ casting in Toronto, “but there have been significant advances in what I believe is stopping the underestimation of audiences. They’re smart and they want to see representation and also transformation.”

And yet alongside his more conventional career choices, the actor has also consistently sought to engage with the pricklier aspects of the debate – railing against the use of the phrase “openly gay” while doing the rounds for All of Us Strangers [right] in 2023, for instance. His next role, in Leo Reich’s forthcoming sitcom It Gets Worse, pushes the envelope further. A teaser appears to shows him as a toxic therapist who instructs his much younger client that he’s “just a hole for daddy” before spitting into his mouth.

For Guy Lodge, chief critic of Variety, Scott is “essentially carving an unprecedented career path for an out gay leading man in the industry. One where he isn’t pigeonholed into queer roles, but where he doesn’t have to avoid them either, in order to prove his mainstream viability.”

While some of his highest-profile roles have been gay or queer men – Pride, All of Us Strangers, the Netflix series Ripley [left] and now Elsinore – Lodge points to the lack of other commonalities between these parts. “In defiance of the restrictions and stereotypes that would, not all that long ago, have limited his options, Scott is showing us that there are many ways to embody queerness on screen.”

And it is this forward-thinking integrity that has come to mark the actor’s persona. His gentle, uncompromising candour – paired with an elegant discretion about his private life – has meant he is held in high regard and affection both by the public and his collaborators.

“I love him,” says Johnny Flynn, who plays the director Richard Eyre in Elsinore, and previously starred opposite Scott in Ripley. “He’s a dear friend and I think he deserves everything for Elsinore. He always puts his whole soul into whatever he does but this was something else. Watching him channel and hold Ian Charleson was such a privilege.”

Scott, Flynn adds, is “one of our greatest actors. He’s got such a unique quality – a beauty in the deftness of his thinking; darkness and humour and power with heartbreaking fragility. He is such a gorgeous human being – so quick to laugh and wicked fun.”

[. . .] Andrew Haigh, who directed him in All of Us Strangers, calls Scott’s turn “simply astonishing. I struggle to think of a better performance. Andrew embodies the character so completely it feels as if we are watching lived experience. But make no mistake, this is a performance of incredible skill. Andrew is completely fearless in the role.”

Likewise, Elsinore director Simon Stone says that “every time I rewatch the film I can’t see Andrew – it’s just Ian. The way he surrenders to the character, to the world, the situation, is beyond compare. Sure, it’s also an effortlessly brilliant performance in terms of technique. But what is most astonishing is how he matches this technique with raw truth.

“Where other actors may perform an emotion or a state, Andrew presents us with a character surprised by what he is going through. That shock helps the audience be surprised and heartbroken with him and we can feel empathy in the truest sense.”

The Academy has spent 98 years giving out leading performance Oscars to gay actors who never or only later publicly spoke their whole truth, as well as to a parade of straight stars for playing LGBTQ+ characters. Their failure to recognise Scott’s remarkable achievements, both professional and personal, seems unlikely.

To read Catherine Shoard’s article in its entirety, click here.

Photo of the Day

Saturday, September 19, 2026

Quote of the Day

What is a woman?

A “woman” is a gender construct forced by much of society onto people who are assigned a female sex at birth or are intersex. It is a set of norms and behaviors, often ridiculously arbitrary (boys should prefer blue; girls, pink) that emerge from culture, which varies over time and place and has shifted throughout history. Gender is not binary and neither is sex. Intersex people exist, whether the right wing wants to acknowledge them or not, and XX and XY are not the only chromosomal pairings humans have. If gender were an inherent quality, it would be unchanging, immune from cultural forces and socialization and would not have to be enforced, as if often is in conservative cultures. Babies are not born performing gender; it is something they learn from the societies they’re raised in – the adults who assign them those roles as soon as they’re old enough to understand them.

Anyone sincerely who does not understand this answer and asks follow up questions may be worth engaging, but overwhelmingly, the people asking that question [have] no intention of understanding it and in fact, [will go] to great lengths to willfully misinterpret it. There is no point [engaging with] people who do this.

– Elizabeth Spiers
Excerpted from “The Correct Answer
to ‘What Is A Woman?’”
Medium
September 18, 2026

Friday, September 18, 2026

Dolly and Olivia

Something special this evening for “music night” at The Wild Reed . . .

It’s the 2023-released Olivia Newton-John and Dolly Parton duet of “Jolene,” one of Dolly’s most well-known songs. It was Olivia’s final official recording, being released posthumously in February 2023, following her passing in August 2022. The track is featured on Olivia’s final album, Just the Two of Us: The Duets Collection.

As you’ll see below, the music video of their duet shows Dolly and Olivia in two separate recording studios. ABC News nevertheless reported at the time of the song’s release that “both artists expressed deep joy about finally working together, with Olivia noting she had always wanted to sing with Dolly.”

Although it’s sad that both of these music legends have now died (Dolly passed last month), I’m grateful that we have their many wonderful recordings – including this very special duet. Enjoy!

Related Off-site Link:
Olivia Newton-John’s Final Recording, a “Jolene” Duet with Dolly Parton, Released – Angeline Jane Bernabe (ABC News, February 17, 2023).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Olivia Newton-John’s Legacy of Healing
• Love’s the Only Dance
• “Rest in Peace, Dear Prophet Dolly”
• Remembering the Dolly Parton and Dionne Warwick Duet . . . and Celebrating Dolly as a “Kind of American Folk Saint”
• Memes of the Times – August 2026
• Memes of the Times – September 2026

Thursday, September 17, 2026

Quote of the Day

As Macklemore example shows, ACTUALLY opposing the Israeli occupation means NOT putting personal careers ahead of the fight. Why? The apartheid Israeli state and its genocidal policies exist at the behest of the billionaires and multimillionaires who want to maintain control over the Middle East and their political representatives. Which means that Palestinian solidarity REQUIRES pissing off extremely powerful and wealthy individuals.

Macklemore has shown that he's willing to do that. As have Kneecap and Bob Vylan. As have the Filton 4 and countless working and young people across the world, including tech workers.

Ed Sheeran, who has about $400 million in wealth, has decided to put his own money and career ahead of the need for Palestinian solidarity. Sheeran said: “I am not complicit. . . . Just because I choose not to speak publicly, . . . it doesn’t mean I don’t care.”

Yes, Ed Sheeran, you ARE complicit, as are any public figures with real influence and ability to build the movement against Israeli apartheid but who refuse to do so. This applies even more so to the leadership of the Democratic Socialists of America and their elected officials like Zohran Mamdani and AOC, who claim to be pro-Palestinian but whose many actions have shown otherwise.

Mamdani has endorsed arch Zionists Kathy Hochul and Hakeem Jeffries. AOC has also endorsed Jeffries, and voted against cutting funds for the Israeli military with the idea that Israel should get “defensive” weapons so it can carry out genocide with impunity. Such actions constitute a whitewashing of Zionism and are geared towards keeping cordial relations with powerful Zionists and building careers in the Democratic Party.

– Kshama Sawant
via social media
September 17, 2026

Wednesday, September 16, 2026

Remembering Ms. Bacall

Related Off-site Links:
This Day in History: Happy Heavenly Birthday, Lauren Bacall – Nourhan Sandouk (AOL.com, September 16, 2026).
Lauren Bacall at 100: A Hollywood Casualty Who Fought Back – Lily Ruth Hardman (Indie Wire, September 16, 2024).
How Lauren Bacall Faced and Overcame Antisemitism – Benjamin Ivry (Forward, September 16, 2024).
Lauren Bacall Talks Favorite Hollywood Memories and Career in Unpublished Interview – Sandy Stert Benjamin (Remind Magazine, August 12, 2024).
The 10 Best Lauren Bacall Movies, Ranked – Daniela Gama (Collider, June 6, 2024).
The Day Lauren Bacall Let Rip at Australian Reporters – The Sydney Morning Herald (August 14, 2014).
An Astonishing Portrait of Lauren Bacall at Age 88 – Kristin Hohenadel (Slate, August 13, 2014).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Remembering Lauren Bacall on the 100th Anniversary of Her Birth
• Lauren Bacall’s Vow Following the Death of Humphrey Bogart
• An Appropriate Homage

Memes of the Times

Exposing the Apocalyptic Thinking of Today’s U.S. Far Right

A very timely and important book was released yesterday – End Times Fascism . . . And the Fight for the Living World by Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor.

Following is how the book is described by its publisher, Macmillan.

End Times Fascism is a scathing investigation into the apocalyptic thinking of the Christian nationalists, tech-bro reactionaries, and populist survivalists who increasingly define the contemporary right – and a recipe for how to fight them.

As the planet burns and shared reality melts, a new iteration of the far right is on the march. How can we understand this dangerous new development, and what resources can we draw on to resist it? In their scathing assessment of the contemporary scene, the celebrated activists and authors Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor explore how the religious fundamentalists, Silicon Valley technologists, and ethno-nationalists who make up this apocalyptic alliance share more than one might think: they are united in their belief that some kind of cleansing cataclysm is coming, whether through the manifestation of messianic prophecy, the rampages of a resource- and job-consuming artificial intelligence, or the purported existential threat of immigration and cultural replacement. Rather than avoiding this conflagration, they welcome it, convinced they will be among the saved on the other side.

“End times fascism” is the ideology of the actors who strive to make the world unlivable and then seek to protect themselves from the fallout — whether by repairing to luxurious private islands, rocketing off to Mars, or bunkering the nation to keep their enemies at bay. The new survivalists have accumulated power, but they are far from impregnable. As Klein and Taylor show via original reporting and analysis, their many internal conflicts and contradictions and their nihilistic inability to envision a shared future, even for their ostensible allies, leave them vulnerable to a new kind of “pro-life” politics – rooted in reverence for our shared existence and regard for the earth we inhabit and must protect.

Yesterday, Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor were interviewed by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzále of Democracy Now!.

Here’s part of Goodman’s introduction to this hour-long segment, followed by the video of it.

Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor launch their new book, End Times Fascism: And the Fight for the Living World on Democracy Now! It examines how wealthy elites are preparing for “the end of the world,” even as they contribute to growing inequality, political instability and the climate crisis. The rise of modern-day fascism is “not simply a rerun,” explains Klein. “We don't believe that history repeats on a loop. We believe that we're in something more like a sequel, where the logics of fascism, which are the logics of dehumanization, of othering, of racial supremacy and hierarchy, are now being applied in a time of global existential crisis.” In response, says Taylor, the growing movement seeking to resist this fatalistic vision “fundamentally needs to be grounded in a desire to stay here on Earth, to commit to this place.”

Tuesday, September 15, 2026

Ed Sheeran Chooses the Side of the Oppressor

Mike Figueredo (right) begins his latest Humanist Report segment with the following:

Singer Ed Sheeran decided to boot Macklemore from his tour after weeks of relentless pressure by the media, billionaire venue owners, and even fellow singer Pink. Why did they want Macklemore removed, you ask? Because he had the audacity to say “free Palestine” on stage. In this video we’ll talk about Macklemore's (correct) comments about Israel, the manufactured outrage, and why history will judge Ed Sheeran harshly for his cowardice.

Indeed, this whole situation reminds me of Desmond Tutu’s words: “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

Figueredo’s timely and insightful 18-minute video commentary can be viewed in its entirety below.

UPDATE:

Ed Sheeran's Band, Beoga,
Along With All Four Supporting Acts,
Quit Tour in Solidarity with
Macklemore and Palestine
– Far Out Magazine
September 15, 2026

Related Off-site Links:
Hey, Ed Sheeran, Palestine Is Dying in White Silence Like Yours – John Pavlovitz (The Beautiful Mess, September 15, 2026).
“Lowlife Coward”: Ed Sheeran Declaration of “I Am Not Complicit” Stirs Fresh Outrage Over Macklemore Ouster – Stephen Prager (Common Dreams, September 15, 2026).
Ed Sheeran Digs the Hole Even Deeper – David Doel (The Rational National, September 15, 2026).
Macklemore’s Tour Cancellation Shows Why Celebrities Don’t Criticize Israel – Caitlin Johnstone (Caitlin’s Newsletter, September 14, 2026).
Macklemore Responds After Removal From Ed Sheeran Tour: “The Victims Are the Palestinian People” – Ethan Millman (The Hollywood Reporter, September 14, 2026).
Robert Kraft, Associate of Jeffrey Epstein, Defends Banning Macklemore from Ed Sheeran Tour After ‘Free Palestine’ Comments: “We Do Not Provide a Platform for Hate Speech” – Jem Aswad (Variety, September 14, 2026).
Macklemore Exposes Robert Kraft in Explosive Ed Sheeran Tour Fallout After “Free Palestine” Controversy – Oindrila Chowdhury (Sportskeeda, September 15, 2026).
Ed Sheeran Says Dropping Macklemore From Tour Was “Promoter’s Decision, Not Mine,” Explains Why He’s Not Speaking Out on Israel and Palestine – Jem Aswad and Zack Sharf (Variety, September 15, 2026).
Ms. Rachel Calls Out Ed Sheeran for Being Politically Spineless . . . In the Nicest Way Possible – Elyse Wanshel (The Huffington Post, September 15, 2026).
Justice for Macklemore – Dave Zirin (The Nation, September 15, 2026).
Kneecap, Garbage, Bob Vylan and More Back Macklemore After Ed Sheeran Axing – Rachael Pimblett (Far Out Magazine, September 15, 2026).
Why White People’s Humanity Is “Just Humanity” But Yours Is “Politics” (The Sheeran Receipts) – The Conscious Lee (September 14, 2026).
Rapper Macklemore Says NFL Owners Got Him Kicked Off Concert Tour for Criticizing Israel – Stephen Prager (Common Dreams, September 14, 2026).
“Free Palestine”: Macklemore’s Courage and the Myth of Pink’s “Loneliness” – Romana Rubeo (The Palestine Chronicle, September 14, 2026).
Pink Says Standing Up for Jews Has Been “Lonelier” Than She Expected – The Times of Israel (September 12, 2026).
Pink Addresses Backlash Over Comments About Macklemore’s Pro-Palestine Stance – Mitchell Peters (Billboard, September 12, 2026).
“Imagine Being Threatened by Peace”: Singer Pink Lambasted for Criticising Macklemore’s Pro-Palestine Stance – The New Arab (September 12, 2026).
Three Major Revelations About the Gaza Holocaust in the Israeli Press – Caitlin Johnstone (Caitlin’s Newsletter, September 9, 2026).

UPDATES: Ed Sheeran’s Craven “Neutrality” Is a Watershed Moment for Mainstreaming Palestine Solidarity – Natasha Lennard (Common Dreams, September 16, 2026).
Ed Sheeran Openers Quit Tour as Boycott Begins Over “Silencing” of Macklemore’s Palestine Speech – Stephen Prager (Common Dreams, September 16, 2026).
Macklemore Donating Entire $1 Million Tour Earnings to Palestinian Aid, Challenges Robert Kraft to Match – Brett Meiselas (Meidas News, September 16, 2026).
Here Are All the Celebrities Who Have Sided with Macklemore or Called Out Ed Sheeran in the Past 48 Hours – Leyla Mohammed (BuzzFeed, September 16, 2026).
Ed Sheeran Wants to Stay Out of Politics. By Quitting His Tour, His Support Acts Have Exposed the Hollowness of Neutrality – Laura Snapes (The Guardian, September 16, 2026).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• What Integrity Looks Like
• Caitlin Johnstone on the Need to Cultivate Integrity – As Both an Individual and a Society
• Truth-telling in the Face of Systemic Power That Is Silent on Genocide
• Genevieve Fraser: Quote of the Day – August 26, 2026
• Jonny Rashid: Quote of the Day – August 10, 2026
• “The Genocide in Gaza Is the Beginning. Welcome to the New World Order”
• Omid Safi: Quote of the Day – March 7, 2026
• Kym Staton: Quote of the Day – March 3, 2026
• The Architecture of Settler Colonialism
• “It Is Up to Us”
• No Justice, No Peace
• Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ “Same Love”

The Wild Reed

Tuesday, September 22, 2026

A Sacred Threshold

Monday, September 21, 2026

“The Thoughts of God Are With You”

Sunday, September 20, 2026

Will the “Astonishing” Andrew Scott Be the First Gay Man to Win the Best Actor Oscar?

Photo of the Day

Saturday, September 19, 2026

Quote of the Day

Friday, September 18, 2026

Dolly and Olivia

Thursday, September 17, 2026

Quote of the Day

Wednesday, September 16, 2026

Remembering Ms. Bacall

Memes of the Times

Exposing the Apocalyptic Thinking of Today’s U.S. Far Right

Tuesday, September 15, 2026

Ed Sheeran Chooses the Side of the Oppressor

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