I hope you are well. I had an interesting synchronicity a couple of weeks ago. We were getting the train at St. Pancras station in London, and had some time before our train left. I took my 14-year old son Bill for a walk to show him the beautiful hotel next to the station. While walking, I told Bill about the lovely old hotel where I visited Eckhart Tolle when he was in London a few months ago. Bill actually met Eckhart in Canada where he was three years old, and told me he still has a vague memory of the meeting. He sat in the front row when Eckhart and I were filming a dialogue in a theatre, and was perfectly relaxed and still all the way through!

While we were walking by the hotel, Bill asked me about Eckhart’s books and I started telling him about The Power of Now, how it was a wonderful book that had a life-changing power, and that I had met a lot of people who had undergone spiritual awakenings while reading it. I also told him the book was great because you can dip into the book without reading it sequentially. You can open it at random and find a passage that is relevant to you at that moment.

A couple of hours later Bill and I were about to get off the train at Manchester Piccadilly station. I was getting up from my seat and saw a book face down on the floor, which had obviously fallen out of someone's bag or coat. I turned it over and it was The Power of Now. I asked the woman in front of me, "Is this your book?" She said no, but a man across the aisle said, "Oh, it's mine." And we had a lovely brief chat about Eckhart Tolle. And now of course, Bill has the book on his beside table! 

I love it when synchronicities occur. A sceptic would say that it’s just a random coincidence but I doubt it. I can’t remember ever finding a book on the floor in front of me on a train before. Like all synchronicities, it was a sign of the interconnection of the universe, of the patterns that lie behind the flow of events. Sometimes when I experience synchronicities, I have a sense that someone or something is reminding me of the meaningfulness of the world, that there are hidden realms of influence that impinge on our everyday lives. 

The Adventure in London

While in London, I popped into my favourite bookshop in the world, Watkins. It was great to find my book The Adventure on sale there! 
 

Time Expansion Experiences 
 

Although it’s not long since the publication of The Adventure, I’m already preparing for the publication of my next book, Time Expansion Experiences. This book is really a sequel to my earlier book Making Time. It’s about unusual experiences in which time expands, stops or disappears, and about the illusory nature of  linear time. I show that the fundamental reality of the world is timeless. It’s great to see that the book is already online, scheduled for publication in November. The link is here 

BBC Radio Appearances
 

Earlier this month I was on BBC Radio Yorkshire, leading a 'two minute time out' reflection. I described my spiritual experience at a train station, and why such experiences are common in travel. We are all fellow travellers, sharing the journey of life. You can listen here: 
 

Also this month, I was on BBC World Service Radio, in a re-broadcast of a wonderful documentary about near-death experiences, which originated from my book Extraordinary Awakenings. You can listen here

European Transpersonal Conference 

I'm really looking forward to this year's European Transpersonal Association conference, which is in Oxford at the beginning of September. (In case you don’t know, Transpersonal Psychology more or less means Spiritual Psychology.) I'll be speaking there, along with many other transpersonalists and spiritual explorers.

Find out more here

A Poem

As usual, let me finish this newsletter with poetry. I’ve written quite a lot of poems recently. I have a lot of unpublished poems, mostly written over the last five years – probably between 200 and 250. I really should publish some of them, so I’m intending that my next project will be a new book of poetry. 

Here are two of my recent poems. In fact, I wrote the second one earlier today. I’m not quite sure what to make of it, as it came unbidden, of its own accord. (Sometimes I write poems and am not sure whether I actually agree with their sentiment or not, or even ones that I don't feel I understand.) I was inspired to write the poem when I went for a run and looked up at the blue sky and suddenly realised that I was looking into space, and that I was running on the surface of a spinning planet. Let me know what you think.

Outside My Mind 

I was anxious about the future. 

I felt guilty about the past. 

Then I stepped outside my mind

and the past and future dissolved, like mirages 

and I found that only the present was real. 

I felt disconnected, trapped inside myself. 

Events seemed distant. Experiences seemed unreal.

Then I stepped outside my mind 

and a boundary dissolved, like an illusory border

between two countries that were always meant to be united

and I found myself part of the world. 

I thought that life was meaningless. 

I searched everywhere, but couldn’t find a reason

why I was born, why I was alive.

The closer I looked, the emptier life seemed.

Then I stepped outside my mind 

and meaning shone from every object, pervaded every space 

and I found that meaning is a quality 

that can only be experienced, not understood.

I felt afraid of death.

I couldn’t accept that life was fragile and temporary 

that one day I would disappear to the world 

and the world would disappear to me 

that everything I owned and knew and loved 

would be suddenly snatched away. 

Then I stepped outside my mind 

and understood that nothing belongs to me, not even my life 

that all that disappears is the illusion of separateness.

And I found that there was no death. 

On the Surface of a Planet  

When you feel constricted 

by life’s triviality and all your dreary daily tasks

remember that wherever you are

you’re always on the surface of a planet.

that when you look up at the sky you’re gazing into endless space 

that when night falls you’re turning away from the sun

toward the cold darkness of the universe 

and when you walk, the planet is spinning beneath your feet.

When you feel oppressed 

by life’s brevity and the passing of time

remember that wherever you are

you’re always on the surface of a planet 

that has existed for eons before us, and will exist for eons after us

whose mountains and oceans witnessed the birth of life 

and watched the slow progress of evolution

from simple cells to conscious selves 

through the rise and fall of countless other species.

When you feel dissatisfied

with your life’s situations and relationships

remember that wherever you are

you’re always on the surface of a planet

that has conceived and nurtured you tenderly

and sustains your life with her life, selflessly

and that every person and place that you love

every activity you enjoy, every object you savour

is here, on the surface of this planet

as precious and fragile as the planet itself.

When you feel depressed

by the shadows of the past, or a future that seems bleak

remember that you’re on the surface of a planet 

that lights the deep darkness of space 

with her glorious verdant beauty, like a tiny gleaming island

surrounded by a vast ocean

living through her own life-force

shining with her own sentience 

moving with her own purpose.

And your body is part of her body

your mind is part of her soul 

as a child is always part of her mother. 

all best wishes and blessings, Steve