Steve Taylor's May Newsletter
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Dear
I hope you are well. I’ve been in a phase of busy-ness recently, doing a lot of painting and other types of DIY in our house, as well as doing my work at my university and getting my new book ready for publication. My kids are very active too and love playing sport, so I also have a part-time career as an athlete, playing games of badminton, squash and football and
visiting the gym. I have to be careful that I don’t overstretch myself sometimes, as I feel a strong sense of purpose and mission and a strong impulse to write, and it sometimes leads me to be to take on more activity than I can comfortably deal with. But normally I’m careful to balance out activity with periods of rest and doing nothing. In fact, I have a period of doing nothing planned after writing this newsletter!
Instagram
I started using Instagram this week. The link to my page is here. I aim to post on it on a daily basis. You can also follow me on Twitter and Facebook. Thanks to my wonderful son Hugh
for being my social media assistant!
Extraordinary Awakenings
My new book is due out in three months or so, and the pre-publication period is quite busy, correcting proofs, organising publicity and so on. One phase of the process is collecting endorsements from other authors – you know, when you see the words, “Read this book! You won’t regret it” or “This is one the best books every written” on the back cover. It’s quite a big favour to ask of people who are
normally very busy, so I’m always really grateful when people respond. I’ve just had my first endorsement from the well respected psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman, author of the book Transcend: "A powerful and inspiring book that shows that the most difficult moments of life can also be the most transformational. The profoundly moving stories show who resilient human beings can become, and how much potential lies inside us." Thanks Scott!
Great to see that the book is now appearing on bookseller sites like Barnes & Noble. here
Spiritual Science
My
last prose book, Spiritual Science was published in 2018, but it’s great that it is still receiving attention. There is a long and complimentary review in the new issue of the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, saying that the book should be "required reading for all educated people." The review is by Emily Williams Kelly, one of the co-authors of Irreducible Mind. (Unfortunately it isn't
publicly available.)
I’ve also just done an unusual interview about the book with the Skeptiko podcast. It was was enjoyable because Alex the interviewer was combative and confrontational - but it was quite stimulating and
refreshing. My interview begins around 11 mins. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVNp4y6bvYw
The Clear Light Podcast
How can we learn to live in the present? Why do human beings find it difficult to live in the moment? What are the obstacles that stop us becoming present? We explore some of these obstacles - such as thought-chatter, rushing and unnecessary activity - and I suggest how we can overcome them, with a 'gentle mental nudge' back into the present. I lead a presence meditation, bringing our awareness into
our different senses. This episode includes the poetic pieces 'The Two Worlds,' 'The Alchemy of Attention' and 'The Clear Light of the Present.'
You can listen on iTunes here
Or you can go direct to the podcast host here
New Events
On 12th June, I’m doing a workshop based on my book The Clear Light, with some exercises, meditations and discussions. The workshop is organised through East/West books, details here
New Articles on Time and Psi Phenomena
I’ve always been mystified when scientists and others dispute the reality of psi phenomena like precognition and telepathy. This is partly because at various times I have experienced these phenomena myself. Here are two new articles from my Psychology Today blog on this theme, about paranormal experiences (with examples of my own) and altered perceptions of
time. You can read them both here
Research on Experiences of Unconditional Love
This was a note I included in my last newsletter, but as a few people pointed out, I included the wrong link. Here it is again with the right one!
At my university, I’m supervising a PhD student called Rachel Anderson, who’s doing a project on unconditional love. She’s looking for some reports of unconditional love:
Have you had an experience of unconditional love? This is often described as an all-encompassing love for all beings and things, or a sense that love is a fundamental force in the universe. If you have had such an experience and would like to participate in this research, please follow this link for further information.
New Poems
These are two new poems that are included in my new podcast on presence. I wrote the second one (“The Return’) after watching two parents with their child on a park one afternoon. The parents looked like they were drunk or stoned, lying there half-asleep, unaware of their surroundings, while their daughter (who looked about 7 or 8) was frolicking around, looking at the sky and the trees,
playing and skipping joyfully. It struck me as a stark illustration of the difference between young children and adults.
None of this is Now
None of this is now:
your fears about the future
your guilt and bitterness about the past.
None of this is now:
the obstacles that seem to lie ahead
and the failures that seem to stretch behind.
Only this is now:
your moment-to-moment experience
of the world and of your being in the world
and of the other beings who share your world.
And only the now is real.
An unreal past can’t hurt you
as a shadow can’t burn the ground.
An unreal future can’t hurt you
as a reflection can’t break the still surface of a lake.
Only your mind can hurt you
when it wanders away from now
and loses itself in restless thoughts
of unreal times and places.
The Return
Children don’t need alcohol or drugs
because they’re intoxicated by the world.
They don’t need to accumulate possessions
because the world already belongs to them.
They don’t need to fill the future with ambitions
because they have the present.
Children only need to be
because being has a natural harmony
when you have no sense of separateness
and are part of the world’s flowing nowness
But when we become adults, self withdraws
like an injured athlete, who can’t participate anymore.
We watch the world glumly, from a distance,
and miss the exhilaration of the game
and the joy of belonging to the whole.
And from our distant vantage point,
the world which once seemed so miraculous
becomes familiar and mundane
as if an oasis has turned grey and arid.
And because we’ve lost the joy of being
we give ourselves to having and doing.
But nothing that we achieve or gain
ever compensates us for our loss.
And our yearning for drugs and distractions
is a need to numb the pain of estrangement.
Our impulse to accumulate
is a need to strengthen our fragile selves.
And all of our spiritual striving
is an urge to to transcend our separateness
so that we can become children again.
All best wishes and blessings, Steve
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