the sensation of life
[09:47, Wednesday 15th October 2014: sitting at the open window overlooking a Stockwell street] Late to bed again last night. I just want to sit here and do nothing. There is quite a bit I should be getting on with, but I don't want to do any of it. I am unhappy. I hear the … Continue reading Presencing
"The beginnings of the intellectual movement whose fruits are, among many others, the establishment of the Order and the Glass Bead Game itself, may be traced back to a period which Plinius Ziegenhalss, the historian of literature, designated as the Age of the Feuilleton, by which name it has been known ever since. Such tags … Continue reading The Age of Feuillton
September 1969. I remember the first morning I walked into my classroom, 1D, at my all-boys secondary school, and met Mr Starling, the form teacher. I was excited to find he was also my chemistry teacher – the synchronicity of it. Already in love with chemistry, it was the one thing I was longing to … Continue reading You
Born in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain, the Very Rev. Pedro Arrupe, S.J. (14 November 1907 – 5 February 1991) was the twenty-eighth Superior General (1965–83) of the Society of Jesus. Nothing is more practical than finding God, than falling in Love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes … Continue reading Falling in love
…though truth and love can never really differ, when they seem to, the subaltern should be truth. Auden, The Common Life In all the spiritual exercises that follow we bring the intellect into action in order to think and the will [heart] in order to stir the deeper affections. We should therefore note that the … Continue reading Yes, but…
Being deaf, Beethoven could hear the music of the Universe, unheard by the rest of us. The String Quartet No. 14 in C# minor, Opus 131, played without pause, seems to gather the slow and steady rise of the sun, mixing it with the unyielding turn of the Earth around the fire in its center. … Continue reading Glimpsing Eternity
In meditative or contemplative practices, the advice on dealing with so-called 'distractions' is to come back either to your breath, or to a word, phrase or mantra. I want to write about attention to this body in contrast to, or in concert with, the breath or a word. I have just prayed. When I noticed … Continue reading Desire and this body
[You may wish to read Parts I, II & III first.] Moving from regret to life There are three kinds of regret: It's gone: sadness, loss, bereavement, for who and what is no longer here, or for what might have been; It's me: shame and guilt for who and what I have been and done; … Continue reading A few thoughts on how to release regret and learn to live (IV)
May all beings be at ease. Whatever living beings there may be; Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none, The great or the mighty, medium, short or small, The seen and the unseen, Those living near and far away, Those born and to-be-born — May all beings be at ease! Let none deceive another, … Continue reading The Buddha’s Words on Loving-Kindness
[You may wish to read Parts I & II first.] The Past and The Present O God, You know my foolishness, and my faults are not hidden from You. Let not those who hope in You be put to shame through me… Psalm 69.6 I easily look back and feel shame about my past and … Continue reading A few thoughts on how to release regret and learn to live (III)