I hope you are well. My life has been fairly uneventful over the past month so this newsletter will probably be quite short. I've been focusing on my new book which at the moment is called The Soul of the Universe. Over the last three or four years I have been going through a prolific phase as an author. I'm not sure why but there seems to be a lot of material flowing through. I know some authors who find writing a chore and have to force themselves to do it, but I love it. When I sit down to write I feel I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to do. I love to give talks and run courses and I feel I have a role as a spiritual teacher too. But I feel that writing is my essential role. I do believe in the possibility of reincarnation so it could be that I was an author in my previous life, or in one of my previous lives. I wonder who I was? If you have any ideas let me know!

Over the past week I've been writing about the philosopher-mystic Plotinus and the German mystic Meister Eckhart. I have always felt a close kinship with both of them. Plotinus’s philosophy is based on his concept of The One which is essentially the same as brahman in Indian philosophy or the Dao in Daoism. The One is the source of all things. It pervades everything and is the essence of human beings. Meister Eckhart had a similar concept which he called the Godhead, which is beyond all understanding. For him, God was not the ultimate reality but an emanation of the Godhead.

Both Meister Eckhart are a rare combination of acute intellect and deep spiritual awareness. I had a friend (now deceased) called Cyprian Smith who was a Benedictine monk, and lived in a monastery in Yorkshire. He was an Eckhart scholar and when I visited the monastery he showed me some medieval texts of Eckhart's sermons in their original German dialect. I can understand German so it was a spine-tingling experience - a feeling of direct communication with Meister Eckhart. 

Meister Eckhart lived in the 13th century. Plotinus in the 3rd century CE. After so many centuries, their teachings still seem lucid and profound - in fact, in my view some of the most lucid and profound teachings anyone has espoused. It proves that the highest spiritual wisdom is timelessly relevant.

Back to Stillness 

Thanks to everyone who has ordered a copy of my new book of poetry Back to Stillness. If anyone would like a signed copy I still have some available.

If you have bought a copy online I would be grateful if you could submit a review or rating. They are important part of the process of publishing and distributing books.

Initially the book was only available on Amazon due to some technical issues. I know that some people rightly have issues with Amazon and are reluctant to use the company. I'm glad to say that after a long delay the book is rolling out through other US online retailers, like Barnes and Noble. I'm still waiting for it to roll out at UK online book sellers.

New Interview  

It seems like a long time since my book The Adventure: A Practical Guide to Spiritual Awakening was published, but in fact it’s only two years. I’ve just done a belated interview about the book on The Bear Psychology radio show. This is (I think) the third interview I’ve done for the show, and Anna is one of my favourite interviews. As a psychotherapist herself, she's very attuned to my approach and to spiritual approaches in general. You can listen at the links below:

https://bearpsychology.ca/inner-growth-for-emotional-healing/

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bear-psychology-podcast/id1463793962

ESP Study

A friend and fellow psychologist/author Mike Daw, is conducting an experiment on ESP and diet. In particular, he’s looking for vegans or vegetarians to participate. The experiment will last for about 90 minutes and will take place in Ilkley, Yorkshire in the UK. (Mike can pay travel expenses.) If you would like to participate, contact Mike at: [email protected]

Poem

I haven’t been writing much poetry recently, but let me share one I wrote a month or so ago. I don't know about you but I often get a sense of how weird all the normal commonplace things are, that a lot of the things we take for granted are actually totally strange. It's not a disorientating feeling, but quite a pleasant one. I wrote a poem to try to describe the feeling: 

The Facts of Life 

I still can’t get over the fact 

that human beings must take off clothes, lie down

and surrender to unconsciousness 

for several hours every night

that all over countries and continents 

whole populations lie inert and helpless

as if practising for death, in synchrony. 

I still can’t get over the fact

that the human race is divided into men and women 

with perfectly different bodies

who are pulled together by desire 

to stroke, caress and kiss each other 

and share orgasmic pleasure

to create (at least at some point, by design or accident) 

new members of the human race. 

I still can’t get over the fact

that every few hours I must fill my mouth 

with lumps and strips of matter 

and mash them down to a slushy pulp

to keep my body up and running 

while it seems to be constantly running down. 

I still can’t get over the fact 

that I seem to be a sentient being 

standing on the surface of a rocky globe 

that spins into darkness every day

and tilts through seasons and rotates through years

and that whenever I gaze at a cloudless sky 

I’m staring into an infinite universe. 

I still can’t get over these facts

and I pray that I never do -

that strangeness never grows familiar

and mystery never grows mundane.

All best wishes and blessings   

Steve