For those who’ve been following my series on “Mystical Experiences and Glimpses of Eternity” you may recognise this as the perennial question – unspoken – in the mind of anyone on the spiritual journey I describe. And it’s certainly the question behind much of my exploring. My heroine Juliet explores this too – in anContinue reading “Mystical Circles – Is Everything Really As Perfect As It Seems?”
Category Archives: literature
“Mystical Experiences and Glimpses of Eternity” Mini Series Part 3 – Sir Laurens Van Der Post, Explorer of the Spirit
We shall not cease from exploration wrote TS Eliot in his poem “Little Gidding”. And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. These words seem very appropriate for author and explorer Sir Laurens Van Der Post (1906-1996), whom I first cameContinue reading ““Mystical Experiences and Glimpses of Eternity” Mini Series Part 3 – Sir Laurens Van Der Post, Explorer of the Spirit”
“Mystical Experiences and Glimpses of Eternity” Mini Series Part 2 – The Curious Case of the Kindly Professor and the Cunning Cult Leader
This sounds like a case for Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson, doesn’t it? The kindly professor in question is: Dr Raynor Johnson, Physicist, and Master of Queen’s University Melbourne – scientist turned spiritual seeker. And the cunning cult leader is: Anne Hamilton-Byrne,a “self-appointed mystic” who led a cult proclaiming herself to be a reincarnationContinue reading ““Mystical Experiences and Glimpses of Eternity” Mini Series Part 2 – The Curious Case of the Kindly Professor and the Cunning Cult Leader”
Musings From a Saxon Sanctuary – A Lesson of History: Success or Failure Turns on Quirks of Fate
Hidden in the heart of rural Warwickshire is a Saxon Sanctuary I only recently discovered. It’s in St Peter’s Church at Wootton Wawen, situated between Henley-in-Arden and Stratford-upon-Avon. In the Lady Chapel, an exhibition tells the story of Wagen’s woodland village in the Forest of Arden. Wagen was a Saxon lord who owned the landContinue reading “Musings From a Saxon Sanctuary – A Lesson of History: Success or Failure Turns on Quirks of Fate”
The Novels of Susan Howatch, Love, Miracle Wine and the Language of Invitation
“Do you want to be well-integrated, do you want to feel whole, happy, or in tune with your deeper self?” These are the questions that novelist Susan Howatch asks her readers in her Starbridge series of novels, and her St Benets Trilogy. And then, when her readers respond to this question, they find stories withContinue reading “The Novels of Susan Howatch, Love, Miracle Wine and the Language of Invitation”
Inspirational and Not-So-Inspirational Teachers… and Books Where the Student Falls in Love With Her University Tutor
My teenage son was talking to me about the Simpsons episode when Marge Simpson fell for her university tutor, while she was going out with Homer. We got onto the subject via inspirational teachers. He mentioned his options at school and why he’d chosen not to go with certain subjects. And what did it comeContinue reading “Inspirational and Not-So-Inspirational Teachers… and Books Where the Student Falls in Love With Her University Tutor”
Books That Shock, Move and Change Their Readers
I have loved many books in my life, but the ones that stand out for me have three ingredients: archetypal themes, emotional charge and X factor. And they are the ones which can indeed change the way you see the world. My three nominations will be grouped under the headings of the power they exertedContinue reading “Books That Shock, Move and Change Their Readers”
The Double-Edged Sword of an Artist’s Silence
“If I didn’t make films I don’t know what else I would do, apart from playing jazz and making a nuisance of myself.” (Woody Allen) Woody Allen’s words above show the nature of passion for art. For many creative people cannot imagine giving up, retiring, or falling into silence, before they die. The master of comicContinue reading “The Double-Edged Sword of an Artist’s Silence”
Minor Characters Who Highlight the Theme in Great Fiction
The success of a great novel does not lie entirely in the hands of its hero. Many of my favourite novels come with a surprise gift – the character who is most interesting of all, who is not the main protagonist. This is the character you wonder about later, the character that seems to step outsideContinue reading “Minor Characters Who Highlight the Theme in Great Fiction”
Structure, Collapsed Middles and Fiction Writing
One of the greatest challenges I have found in writing a novel can come through a surplus of ideas. Which ones do you choose, and which have to be set aside to be used in another novel? The result of trying to pack in too many ideas is often a collapsed middle. So the best way to dealContinue reading “Structure, Collapsed Middles and Fiction Writing”
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