I stood before the open wardrobe and ran my eyes along the desultory collection of clothes huddled inside. Moving out was the perfect opportunity to get rid of my junk. There was stuff in here I hadn’t worn in years and couldn’t remember buying. I was going to have to be systematic and ruthless. Jonah… Continue reading Addled Chapter 4: Little Miss Ouseburn
Addled: Adventures of a Reluctant Mystic is a novel about spiritual awakening in a crazy world, and how the crisis of spiritual emergency can become an awakening. The story follows reluctant mystic Zoe Popper on her quest for inner peace and self-knowledge. Addled explores the line between mysticism and madness using the philosophy of Zen… Continue reading Addled Now Out in Paperback!
I dream of being a flexible yogini. To balance with poise and grace, and wrap my feet around my neck. Such strength, such self-mastery. I can’t even touch my toes! There are many kinds of yoga, but my kind involves a lot of swearing – not exactly the spirit of the thing. Years of bad… Continue reading Yoga Pants: A Day of Yoga (and swearing!)
We’ve already explored how consciousness evolves from birth into a fully mature ego, plus some of the problems encountered on the way. To finish, we’ll look at where we can go next. Assuming all has gone well and we don’t have too many hang-ups or kinks in our development, it should be possible to evolve… Continue reading Evolution of Consciousness: The Growing Edge
The stone age temples dug into a hill near Sanliurfa in Turkey are causing a storm. It’s not often we find something that overturns everything we know, but Gobekli Tepe is a genuine mystery. Archaeology and history are being rewritten. Not that you’d know about it. The discoveries haven’t been suppressed, they’re just not being reported… Continue reading Gobekli Tepe: the temple rewriting history
To mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz I’d like to share a remarkable story from Sun at Midnight by Andrew Harvey. If you’re struggling in a dark night of the soul, this story may give you hope and show you a way through the darkness. It’s a tale of horror, death, love… Continue reading Auschwitz: Learning to Love in Hell
A selection of recommended Fiction books for anyone on the path to awakening and self-knowledge. These are some of the novels I’ve particularly enjoyed that centre around spiritual themes or the quest for self-knowledge… Peter Carey – Bliss Harry Joy recovers from a heart transplant convinced he has died and is now in Hell. He… Continue reading Fiction Bookshelf
A selection of recommended books on Mysticism for anyone on the path to awakening and self-knowledge. These are either classics or books I’ve found particularly helpful over the years. There are longer reviews attached via links, and more to come… Andrew Harvey – The Way of Passion This is an ecstatic exploration of Rumi and his… Continue reading Mysticism Bookshelf
After busting some enlightenment myths, I thought I should look at what enlightenment actually is, with the rather obvious disclaimer: I’m not enlightened, although I am working on it… maybe in the next life! The first thing to say is that it isn’t possible to say what enlightenment reveals. The true nature of reality is… Continue reading What Is Enlightenment?
John of the Cross was born into poverty in Spain in 1542. He joined the Carmelite Order of the Roman Catholic Church but quickly became disillusioned by the dogma and yearned for direct experience of the divine. When he was 25, John met St Teresa of Avila, a 52 year old nun busy trying to… Continue reading St John of the Cross: Dark Night of the Soul Review
On a dark night, Inflamed by love-longing- O exquisite risk! Undetected I slipped away. My house, at last, grown still. Secure in the darkness, I climbed the secret ladder in disguise- O exquisite risk! Concealed by the darkness. My house, at last, grown still. That sweet night: a secret. Nobody saw me; I did not… Continue reading Songs of the Soul
A Dark Night of the Soul always arrives uninvited, yet it could be the best thing to ever happen. It’s a sacred initiation into the underbelly of the soul that will make you feel cursed and blessed at the same time. Dark Nights of the Soul are all the rage these days. Our civilisation is self-destructing… Continue reading Love’s Ordeal: The Dark Night of the Soul
Jessica Davidson 