Hangingstone Cathedral

It's another day that has passed by in a flash. I'm still struggling to spend any time at the computer as it seems to make the headaches I'm experiencing worse. I do feel compelled to put a few words together tonight though, to talk about some remarkable connections that I've been making. 

It all started when TJ pointed me at a TED talk from Rupert Sheldrake, one which caused some major controversy down to getting banned. Some thirty years ago I was an enormous fan of Sheldrake and he was quite an influence on my own thinking. I still have great respect for the originality of his mind, although I'm less a fan of his theories now. I do, however, concur with him on the need for us to question the dogmas of science. He's a bit extreme but, to my mind, he still raises important questions. There is a delicious irony about his particular TED talk getting banned.

We were talking about this yesterday when Shenny casually dropped into the conversation that she had presented a TED talk herself, when she was just sixteen. She's a remarkable young woman. I was blown away when I watched this!

She then introduced me to Jason Silva, one of her own inspirations. The first video she showed me talked about Finite and Infinite Games, the book by James Carse that was perhaps the biggest influence on my own book, and on my own philosophy too. I think it's the first time I'd ever come across a popular reference to this work.

I just now went to find out a bit more about Silva and immediately read that one of his key influences was Terence McKenna, who happened to be a very close friend of Sheldrake. We had come full circle. I think the plus side of my accident is that it has slowed me down enough to listen and tune into the universe for the first time in a long while. I'm normally way too busy pursuing my own agenda. It's been a reminder that I really need to do that more often.

Finally, on a short walk on the moor this morning, I found this group of Christians from Leeds out worshipping in their cathedral of Hangingstone Quarry, tuning into the universe in their own way. I admire them for their lack of inhibition. They sing quite beautifully. I can't make out the words or even the language but the sound they produce is wonderful. This seems to be their spiritual home. It is for me too in a way. It's a special place for reasons I find impossible to put into words. I've asked one of them before now, and they felt much the same. Perhaps it's not necessary to know why.