‘Shadow and Light Source Both’ Speaking up – Speaking out What am I, a candle? If that! Some small light in an immensity of darkness then? Even to say this much reeks of hubris. Why then do I write as if I know something? Why, indeed, do I write at all?The former speaks of ego, … Continue reading ‘Shadow and Lightsource Both’
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‘Between Being & Non-Being’
‘Between being and non-being, between Light and Darkness,’ that is our situation; Responsible for the Darkness in so far as one intercepts the Light; Responsible for the Light in so far as one prevents the Darkness from invading and governing it (after Ibn ‘Arabi; in ‘Man of Light in Iranian Sufism’, by Henri Corbin). Responsibility … Continue reading ‘Between Being & Non-Being’
‘Guile & Guilelessness’
‘Guile & Guilelessness’ Somewhere, back there, if not lost in the mists of time then certainly enwrapped in memory I ‘knew’ the nature of ‘guilelessness.’ Blessed by the most wonderful intervention by two angels, I found myself - in a dream/experience in the ‘Imaginal realm’ spoken of by Ibn ‘Arabi (trans. Henri Corbin, ‘Alone with … Continue reading ‘Guile & Guilelessness’
‘Dogs, Bones, and the Enneagram: Chapter 2’
“Dogs, Bones & The Enneagram” “…It often happens that exact knowledge concerning details, communicated to a [person] before he has acquired an understanding of the essential nature of a thing, makes it difficult for him to understand this essential nature. This does not mean that exact definitions do not exist on the way of true … Continue reading ‘Dogs, Bones, and the Enneagram: Chapter 2’
‘Dogs, Bones, and the Enneagram’
Chapter 1 “In the Beginning….” Chapter 2 “Dogs, Bones & The Enneagram” Chapter 3 “Symbols and Symbolic Knowledge” Chapter 4 “Shadow and Form” Chapter 5 “Working with the Enneagram as Typology” Chapter 6 “As Above, so Below” Chapter 1 “In the Beginning…” Let us begin with a story: “Once upon a time…a hunter of the … Continue reading ‘Dogs, Bones, and the Enneagram’
‘Unopened Gifts: Opening the Word from the Inside’
Ibn ‘Arabi says, ‘Remove from your thought the exterior of words; seek the interior until you understand.’ (‘Alone with the Alone,’ Henri Corbin, in Laleh Bakhtiar, ‘Sufi: Expressions of the Mystic Quest,’ p18). Recently, after 10 years of wondering, speculating, and so on, on the meaning and the answer to the question asked of me … Continue reading ‘Unopened Gifts: Opening the Word from the Inside’
‘The Myth of the Self’
The story – our own story – flows out of one only so long as one stays in tune (with it). Such attunement is the essence of a life of meaning. Lived in such a way, all questions such as the ones dealt with (see latest blog ‘Creating a Personal Myth or Story’) are answered, … Continue reading ‘The Myth of the Self’
‘Creating a Personal Myth’
How does one live-out a personal myth in the face of a changing world, and in what ways can such a life be said to be both unique and – at one and the same time – of ‘an age’? Somewhere between ten and twenty years ago now I had this to say: ‘If we … Continue reading ‘Creating a Personal Myth’
‘The True Story of the Ram, the Lamb, and the Kangaroo’
How does one begin to tell an archetypal ‘story’ that is actually factual in all its details, in so far as they are known? I have been sitting with this conundrum for some time now, feeling that I must do this story justice, yet I find that elements of it may still be unfolding that … Continue reading ‘The True Story of the Ram, the Lamb, and the Kangaroo’
“The Last Post”
“The Last Post” The war is lost. The war is won. The ‘last post’ is played over the dead and the living together, a bugle call reminder that – though it is time to round up our days - we should not let go of the memory of times other than these, where ‘peace’ now … Continue reading “The Last Post”
Tracks in a Pathless Land 