Dear ,
I hope you are well. Here in the northern hemisphere, the winter has finally arrived, after a long spell of mild weather. Now the days are getting shorter, the temperatures are getting lower, and it feels as though the world is drawing in on itself, into a mode of retreat and regeneration. I'm very happy about it, and enjoying the opportunity to hibernate a little.
I’ve been doing a lot of travelling recently, including a fantastic trip to the U.S.A.
As you may remember from my last mail, I was invited to speak at an Eckhart Tolle conference near Los Angeles. I arrived there a couple of days earlier, and stayed at Venice Beach, where I had arranged to do a reading and signing at a book store. It was my fifth trip to the U.S. and I like the country a little more time I go there. I love the openness and friendliness of the people. Although I’m introverted and quite solitary, I’m a
friendly guy and relish the opportunity to chat to people and get to know them. I love the vastness of the landscape in the US too, especially the feeling of space. At the same time, I think the vastness has some negative effects. In the US, there seems to be more of a sense of national identity than in the UK, and more of a conscious attempt to assert that identity. I think that may be because the vastness of the landscape creates a slight sense of disorientation. Perhaps this also stems from
the fact that the country is so young, and used to belong to another culture, until relatively recent times. It’s well known in psychology that feeling threatened or disorientated creates a stronger need for identity and encourages consumerism. So perhaps the consumerism of American life has its origins in that too…I’m just speculating, but that was the feeling I had.
On a more immediate level, I loved swimming in the ocean and walking along the beach. One of my favourite bands is The Doors (who I’ve always loved from the age of 16) so it was great to walk along Venice Beach, which is where they formed. The conference itself was a great experience too. It was great to make friends with some of the other presenters, like Mark Nepo and Matthieu Ricard (the French Tibetan monk). I spent quite a lot of
time with Mark Nepo and he's such a lovely open and friendly guy. And of course it was wonderful to see Eckhart again. He is always so full of benevolence and so easy to talk to. I was there when he was asked to say hello to some volunteers at the conference - he hugged one of them at the end of the conversation and it was such a unconditional loving hug that I thought, "Ah - that's spirituality!"
I did a talk on ‘Dissolving Psychological Attachments.’ When I was told there would be 1400 people in the audience, I thought: ‘Hmmm, that’s way more people than I’ve ever spoken to before!’ I decided there was no point thinking about it, but to just trust that all would be well…And it turned out to be a fantastic experience, with so much positivity from the audience. At the end of my session I led a 'detachment meditation' and it was
incredible to share a meditation with so many people. And I had my first ever standing ovation at the end! Wandering around the conference over the following three days, I was stopped by so many people who thanked me for the talk and also for my books. It was great to have so much direct contact with readers of my books.
Talk at the Weekend University, London
I had another interesting speaking experience a week before I went to the US. I travelled to London to speak at a one day Weekend University event to about 200 people. Unfortunately - but by no means unusually, with the present sorry state of the train services in England - my train was nearly two hours late. I had to make a mad dash across London, with a heavy suitcase
trailing behind me, to get to the venue. I arrived literally two minutes before I was due to start speaking, in a rather sweaty and out of breath state. The organiser attached the microphone to my shirt straight away, and I was on stage literally three or four minutes later. So still rather out of breath and flustered, I had to begin my two hour presentation. I normally like to prepare for talks by meditating or doing some vocal exercises, but this time there was obviously no preparation at all.
I was out on the stage with 200 people in front of me before I could think, and didn't even know what I was going to say. And....it turned out very well, probably one of the best talks I've given. Sometimes the best preparation is not to prepare at all. So I think I'll try the 'arriving two minutes before in a sweaty state' strategy at all of my future talks.
Here's a photo of me speaking at the London event:
Spiritual Science
I’ve had some good reactions to my new book Spiritual Science, although I’m still waiting for the first reviews to appear. I wrote an essay on the book for the Integral World website (normally devoted to the work of Ken Wilber), and there have been some interesting responses, mainly from sceptics who believe that normal model of science can explain everything.
Other Events
I’ve come to the end of a busy period of talks and workshops, but have three more lined up over the next few weeks:
BBC Documentary
If you're in the UK, you might be interested to know that I am featured in a BBC documentary which will be broadcast on Sunday Dec 2nd, at 11.30am. It’s called ‘My faith and me’ and I’m featured as an ‘expert’ explaining to the TV celebrity Cherry Healey that spiritual experiences shouldn’t just be associated with religion, as they normally occur outside a religious context.
Details here.
A Poem
Let me finish with a poem I wrote recently. A few weeks ago, I was invited to a party in the countryside. It was a friend of my wife’s 50th birthday, in a marquee in Shropshire, near Wales. The party was quite nice, but I’m not really a party type of person, so after a while, I decided to sneak away, and go for a walk in the darkness. This poem describes the experience I had. I had been reading some of William Wordsworth’s poems - you
might be able to detect the influence!
Midnight Walk
I walked through the country lanes
immersed in silent darkness
with trees standing completely motionless
as if they hadn't moved for centuries
forming strange jagged shapes all around me,
almost sinister in their stillness.
The only disturbance was my thoughts
chattering away nonsensically
but soon they began to settle
and slowly a silence inside me
merged with the silence outside.
Then the darkness became so deep
that it almost seemed to glow
with its own kind of being.
The silence became so dense
that it seemed to be vibrating
with a subtle energy.
And then I looked up
and was suddenly showered with a million stars.
The whole sky was shimmering softly
like a luminous ocean, endlessly deep and wide.
I never thought the night sky
could hold so many secrets.
I never thought the darkness
could contain so much light.
And every point of light was like a reassuring kiss
across the radiant blackness of space.
And I knew for sure
that I was not alone.
I knew for sure
that the universe is alive.
And I knew for sure
that life is full of bliss
And I knew for sure
and the world is full of meaning
in its darkness and silence and light.
all best wishes and blessings, Steve
|
|
|
|
