Happy new year! I hope you feel rested after the festive season, and that you are looking forward to the new year with optimism. I once had a friend who was a sociologist and refused to celebrate any festive occasions., I was with him one New Year’s Eve. As the clock counted down to midnight he saw with his arms folded, looking stern. Then as the new year erupted around us he shouted, “It’s just a social construct!”

            On one level my friend was right. In fact, I will include a poem on this theme at the end of this newsletter, suggesting that every day is sacred and we should celebrate them all. Of course, there are some days that do mark special natural occasions like the winter solstice and the summer solstice, and which we should definitely celebrate. I also think that, despite my friend’s scepticism, the idea of a new year gives us a chance to orientate ourselves, to re-calibrate and begin anew, with a stronger sense of purpose and direction. 

            One common theme at the end of the year is the feeling that time is speeding up as we get older - for example, that Christmas is coming around faster each year. As I have written about time perception in the past, every year two or three journalists contact me to ask why is that time seems to go seems to speed up and if there is anything we can do to stop this. I usually say that it's related to perception - that as we get older there is less newness in our lives, and we become more habituated to our experience. But this isn't inevitable. We can stop time speeding up by bringing new experience into our lives and by cultivating a mindful attitude. In other words, we can practice conscious awareness of where we are and what we're doing - a conscious attempt to be present, which has a time expanding effect.

Back to Stillness Online Course 

On January 11^th, I am leading a six-week online course based on my new book of spiritual poetry, Back to Stillness. In each session, I will read some spiritual poems and lead meditations, exercises and discussions based on the poems. Each session will be based on a particular theme, such as space, presence and oneness. Participants will also be guided and encouraged to create their own poetry (although this is optional of course) and will connect with each other through small group sessions. The course takes place on zoom and will be recorded if you can’t make the actual time. 

More details and registration here

If you have any enquiries about the course, or would like to enquire about a concession, contact me at [email protected] 

                    My Book on The Beatles  

I believe I mentioned in a previous newsletter that I have written a book about The Beatles. It's called 'Across the Universe: The Magic and Mystery of The Beatles' Creativity.' I have written about 20 books now and this was probably the most enjoyable one I have ever written. I've loved The Beatles since I was as a young child so the writing of the book felt like a kind of culmination and fulfilment - even a kind of consummation. At the same time, I realised that throughout my life I have developed a lot of ideas and theories about creativity in general, so it was great to be able to formulate all those. Looking over the book now, I realise that it's largely about creativity, using The Beatles as an example

The book is scheduled to be published in September this year. You can see the cover below let me know what you think of it. The book is all is already up on the Internet - you can read a summary of its content here.

Panspiritism 

Now that I have finished The Beatles book and just published my new book of poetry, my task is to complete a book about my philosophy of panspiritism. I have been developing this philosophy for many years and written about it in a lot about it an articles and in passing in my other books. Now I want to draw all the threads together and write a book specifically about it. This shouldn't take long, since I have done so much writing on the topic already  In keeping with the idea of new intentions and a new year I actually started the book today, January the 2nd. 

For a preview of this book, you can read an article I wrote about it for a journal of religion a few years ago: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/zygo.12649

Poems

Here are two poems on the theme of sacredness. The first is the poem I mentioned earlier about celebrating every day, not just holidays. The second is about sacred places - how in a sense all places are sacred, and we should find sacredness wherever wa are. 

Sacred Days

There are no special days -

there is only the spinning of the earth

towards the sun and away again
warming its face before the fire

then turning again to the cold black space.

The year has no end or beginning.

There is only the floating of the earth

tilting through the seasons like a yacht at sea

on a course laid down by gravity.

Every day is sacred -

every moment of this journey

every spin and tilt and curve

every forward flow through space.

And I will celebrate them all.

Sacred Places

Sacred Places 

Seekers flock to sacred places 

where ley lines intersect and spiritual power collects 

where gurus share the secrets of enlightenment

where prophets lived and died, where saints

performed miracles 

where the air is charged with stillness after centuries

of prayer. 

Seekers flock to sacred places 

from far afield, at great expense

to rise above routine and triviality

and escape the madness of the modern world. 

But sacred places are everywhere. 

Spirit doesn’t draw up boundaries 

like a country that protects its resources. 

It doesn’t divide or confine itself

like treasure hidden behind walls. 

Spirit shares itself equally, everywhere at once

like sunlight flooding the whole of the Earth.

Even if it’s obscured by ugliness 

covered up by noise and stress 

spirit pervades every place

like silence between the notes of a melody. 

There is no need to go anywhere

except inside yourself

to calm your restless thoughts 

empty your cluttered mind

refresh your sleeping senses 

and open your awareness wide.

Then sacredness will shine from every place. 

All best wishes and blessings for the social construct of New Year,  

Steve