Blogs
I share insights from workshops, books, and life generally by writing short blogs. You can see a relevant selection below.
Is Earth a Karmic Enterprise Zone?
An extra-terrestrial view of our perplexities When even slightly plausible explanations fail, it's time to try some which look highly off the wall, so give this one a test flight. It came to me in a dream while on holiday in the wilds of the Pennines. In my...
Hope and Resilience in the Climate and Ecological Emergency
A retreat led by Alan Heeks and Jonathan Herbert Friday Feb 3 – Sunday Feb 5, 2023 at Hilfield Friary, Dorset Using material from the Christian contemplative tradition, from Joanna Macy – a Buddhist and deep ecologist, and from Jem Bendell’s Deep Adaptation...
Death and beyond: a close-up view
Guest blog from Palden Jenkins Alan Heeks writes: Palden is an old friend, who plays a Merlin-like role in my life, popping up periodically with cryptic insights. He’s a deep thinker out of the box, a seer and astrologer, who usually offers a radically different point...
An introduction to Soul Resilience
If you hope to thrive and grow through your life, not just cope and survive, how will you do this in the stormier times we can see ahead of us? It needs a quantum step up in resilience, and that’s what Soul Resilience could offer you. Exploring the soul’s journey is...
Climate alarm? Learning to live with it
The IPCC report this week on the climate crisis has left me alarmed and unsettled, maybe you too. I’m writing this blog for myself as much as anyone, as part of my long-running search for ways to live with this. There are plenty of good processes out there, and many...
How do we find the spiritual roots of resilience?
There’s so much talk about resilience these days, but little of it explores spiritual sources. My focus is resilience in everyday life: how we can stay steady, and grow through daily stress and bigger crises. There’s plenty of research to show that people who feel a...
Nomadic Wisdom: old roots for new futures
Probably all of us are facing a future with a lot more uncertainty, and a lot less control. So what can we learn from people who have been living positively in that condition for thousands of years? By definition, nomads represent an extreme example of this, having no...
Book blog: The Wild Edge of Sorrow by Francis Weller
Subtitle: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief You may have noticed, as I have, a growing number of grief tending workshops, grief rituals and similar events in recent years. What’s your reaction to them? I admit that mine has been a mix of mild interest...
Learning to Unlearn
Yes, it’s a paradox, but our ways of thinking, our habitual responses, are so deeply set that a deliberate effort of unlearning is needed if we want to see things as they are, and be able to find a fresh response. I’ve been exploring Sufi teachings for over thirty...
Meaning, Purpose, Connection: what does inspiration mean to you?
The literal meaning of inspire is to draw in spirit, from the Latin spiritus, signifying both breath and a bigger connection. I know the word spiritual is hard for some people, so replace it with inspirational if you prefer. I’m using it because I believe that...