January Newsletter - An event in Dublin, an audio course, & a new poem

Published: Mon, 01/29/18

Dear ,

I hope you are all well. Happy new year! Things are fairly quiet at the moment, so I don’t have a lot to report. I’ve been putting the finishing touches to my new book, Spiritual Science, and have also been busy with marking essays for my university courses.

I’ve just come back from Barcelona, Spain, where I did an evening lecture/workshop and some interviews about my book The Leap (which is just about to be published in Spanish). I don't normally like big cities, but Barcelona is different - there's such a warm positive feminine atmosphere, and so much interest in spirituality. I've never seen so many yoga centres and so many courses and sessions on spiritual topics. There doesn’t seem to the atmosphere of tension and stress and unease that fills many other big cities. It feels more like a village with a massive population that stretches endlessly. So Barcelona has become my favourite city. It probably helped that the weather was so mild and sunny - I hired a bicycle and had a great time cycling around the city, and went down to the beach too.

While I was there, I did a long interview on the main radio station - Radio Catalonia - which has a very popular spiritual or transpersonal show. (It wouldn't happen on BBC Radio!) You can listen to the interview here - my section begins at about 6.00 (Note - there is a Catalan interpreter, but you can also hear my English.)

Here’s a photo of me with the genial host of the show, Gaspar Hernandez.

Event in Dublin

I’m really looking forward to going to Dublin soon. On February 16th I’m holding my first ever event there. I’ll be exploring some of the themes of The Calm Center and The Leap. focusing on the characteristics of spiritual wakefulness. I’ll be illustrating these with some of my poetic meditations and leading some exercises to cultivate them. For further information see here.

I have a few other trips coming up this year - I’ve just been invited to Portugal again in May, to lead a one day workshop, and at the end of May I’m speaking at the ‘How the Lights Gets in’ Festival in Hay-on-wye in the UK. I’m also heading back to the Isle of Man at the end of June, to speak at a Mind, Body, Spirit Festival - and then in November, I’m heading to the US, to speak at the conference of the Eckhart Tolle Foundation (although this isn’t confirmed yet). I’m also heading back to Barcelona in October, to speak at a meditation conference. The most unusual event I have is an invitation to speak at the conference of the ‘Manchester International Living Kidney Donors’ in April, where I’m going to talk about the psychology of altruism. I also have a workshop planned for London in October. So I’m looking forward to an exciting year of travel - and hopefully more events will be arranged soon.

Audio CD Course

Another exciting thing happening this year is the release of my first audio course, through Sounds True publishing. I went to Colorado last summer to record this in a studio, and it has turned out really well. It’s funny because when I was my late teens and twenties I was a musician and played in a lot of bands. It was always our aim to get a record contract and release records or CDs, but it never happened. But now I am releasing CDs - six of them at the same time! So it just goes to show that eventually we get what we wish for - but not necessarily in the way that we envisaged!

Here’s the link to the CDs - it’s already been the no.1 new release in ‘Inspiration’ category in the US!

New Poem

Finally, here is a new poem, on the theme of presence:

The Two Worlds

Every moment you have a choice

to be absent or to be present
to be elsewhere or to be here.

Elsewhere is the place where doubt and regret live -
a dull grey netherworld,
full of the ghosts of past events
and shadows of the future.

Elsewhere is the place where fear lives -
an endless open plain, full of risks and threats
where you’re always exposed, like an animal
that’s hunted by a thousand different predators.

Elsewhere is the place where desires grow -
a desert full of mirages
that tempt you with ambitions that can't fulfil you
and pleasures that can't satisfy you
but leave you gasping and panting
with a thirst that can't be quenched.

But here is a bright spring morning
where the whole world stands pristine and clear
and each moment is sufficient to itself
and there is nothing that lives or grows
apart from what is, and was meant to be.

Here is a beautiful landscape
of translucent light and infinite space
and deep rich colours and perfect forms
and endless intricate details -
a masterpiece that is freshly painted every moment
by a master who always lives amongst us.

Here there is no lack, only the wholeness of what is now.
Here there is no doubt, only the certainty of now.
Here there is no complexity, only the simple truth of now.

So why choose absence, when you can be present?
Why be elsewhere when you can be here?

All best wishes and blessings, Steve