Dear ,
I hope you are all well. The weather in the UK has been sweltering over the last few weeks, very hot and humid. Yesterday it rained
for the first time in weeks and I went into the garden for a celebratory dance with my kids - fortunately no one filmed it!
I've been quite busy over the last few weeks. A couple of weeks ago I went to one of my favourite places, the Isle of Man, in the middle of the Irish Sea between England and Ireland. I was a speaker at the ‘Mindful Mann’
festival; I read some of my poems and led a couple of meditative exercises. The island is like an oasis - there's so much hospitality and friendliness everywhere, and a sense of trust and openness. Everyone leaves their doors unlocked. So many beautiful stretches of coastline and beaches and rolling green hills. I was there with my 15 year old son Hugh, and we went on a fantastic boat trip around, where we saw dolphins, porpoises and many seals. It really reminded me that the Earth does not
belong to human beings, that more than two thirds of its surface is ocean, and inside the oceans there are millions of different species with their own life-worlds going about their business in completely indifference to and ignorance to the human world. It’s a shame we’re making such a mess of things on the land!
Last weekend I went to Nottingham,
where I attended a conference on the author Colin Wilson. I went with my friend Stanley Krippner, the amazing octogenarian American psychologist, whom I picked up at Manchester airport. It was a two car journey to Nottingham but Stan is such great company that time passed very quickly. It’s a joy to listen to his stories about the 60s and 70s, and about his interactions with psychologists and spiritual teachers and rock groups. He was friendly with the Grateful Dead in San Francisco and told me
a great story about meeting The Who and sharing a joint with them. He also told me about his friendship with Alan Watts, who told him that “In 50 years I’ll be completely forgotten.” (You were certainly wrong there Alan!)
I enjoyed the Colin Wilson conference immensely. He was my favourite author for a long time when I was younger. When I read
The Outsider at the age of 20, it was a seismic event that changed my image of myself and helped to determine the course of the rest of my life. And it’s still one of my favourite books. I loved his other philosophical books and some of his novels too (although I wasn’t too fond of some of his books on the occult and crime and ancient civilisations and suchlike). Wilson was a heroic figure, who wrote about 150 books, and never lost his self belief and determination, despite being
ridiculed by many figures from the literary establishment. (He died at the age of 83 in 2014.) Colin was also very kind to me - I visited him three times in Cornwall and he was amazingly generous and hospitable. He wrote the introduction to my very first book, Out of Time. I was really glad to have the opportunity to write about the Outsider in a book of essays on Wilson a few years ago - the essay can read on my website here. Transpersonal Psychology Conference
On the weekend of 14-16th September 2018, I am one of the keynote speakers at the British Transpersonal Psychology Conference, taking place at the University of South Wales (in Newport). The title of my presentation is ‘Moving Beyond Materialism: How transpersonal psychology can contribute to cultural change.’ There are other excellent keynote speakers, including the NDE re-searcher Penny Sartori and the eminent transpersonal psychologist Les
Lancaster.
There are still some openings for presentations, so if you have some research or theory you’re interested in taking about, you can submit a proposal here.
Or if you would simply like to attend the conference, you can book here.
New Edition of The Fall Another reason why I’ve been busy recently is because I’ve had a spate of new publications. A new edition of my book The Fall has just been published, with an update and afterword. It’s amazing that the book is now viewed as a 'best-selling classic.' I would never have predicted that when it was first published 13 years ago! I’ve published 11 books now (including my new one Spiritual Science) and I don’t really have favourites. It’s a cliche, but they’re all a bit like children
who are special in their own ways! But I have a special soft spot for The Fall. It took me three years to write, and still longer to research, but I felt a strong compulsion to write it. It felt like it was coming through me rather than from me, and that I was flowing along with it all the way, through all of its 110,000 words!
Return to Harmony
In addition, as I’ve mentioned before, my Return to Harmony
audiobook/audiocourse has just been released, with nearly 7 hours of my teachings and exercises and meditations, including many unpublished poems. You can listen to a sample of it here.
Spiritual Science
Finally, my new book Spiritual Science will be published soon -
officially at the beginning of September. I’ve received an advance copy of it and am really pleased with it. (It’s one of the highlights of an author’s life when an advance copy of your book arrives in the mail and you see it for the first time! The publisher - Watkins Books - has done a fantastic job. Here’s a photo of me with the advance copy
Events I
have also just arranged a one day workshop in Glastonbury on Saturday 27th October, in the Avalon room at the Glastonbury Experience. This is still a long way off but there are only 30 places, so if you would like to reserve one, let me know at [email protected]. The cost is £45.
Going back to The Fall, this coming Friday
(20th July) I am taking part in a panel discussion at the Bluedot Science Festival, at the famous space observatory, Jodrell Bank in Cheshire. The discussion is on ‘Is war inevitable?’ and I’ll be stating my case of the lack of warfare in prehistoric times.
Poem In the midst of all my present busyness, it’s really important for me to find periods of slowness, quietness and inactivity, and to remain rooted in the present. So let me finish with a poem that expresses the importance of slowing down and being present:
Slow Down
The world keeps speeding up, moving much too fast
- that’s why it’s full of chaos,
that’s why it’s heading for catastrophe.
Slow down - don’t be so desperate to reach the future
that you push the present away.
Treat each moment with respect,
as a friend that deserves your attention.
Greet every
new experience as a guest
who’s welcome to share your life.
Slow down,
and feel how the stress of doing
gives way to the ease of being.
Slow down,
and feel how your
hard shell of separateness
is replaced by a soft, spacious sense of belonging.
Slow down,
and see how the future fades, like a mirage,
and how the present arises, as clear and fresh as dawn.
All best wishes, Steve
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