There, but for the grace of God; a perspective on psychosis.

You’re driving me mad, I’m going crazy, I’m losing my mind, he’s just daft, it just doesn’t make sense!  How many times a day do you hear such sentiments?  How often do you express them yourself?   Our lives are so complex, so pressurised that we have to work very hard... Read more »

Out for a duck!

They called him ‘The Fire of the North’.  Once a soldier, man of action, with connections to the King,   A traveller, he healed the sick  From Dumfries to Berwick,   Made miracles from Durham to Dunbar, Received acclaim from Rome.   . Be our bishop, they cried.   At first, he denied.  Too much work,  he replied.  I need peace, time and space to converse with the... Read more »

White ribbons; repression and its consequences

Eichvald is a small Baronial village in northern Prussia, a patriarchal society dominated by powerful male autocrats who justified their abuse of their womenfolk and their children on the grounds that it was what they needed.  ‘This will hurt me more than it hurts you’.    It is the autumn of... Read more »

All life is yoga

‘All life is Yoga.’  So wrote Sri Aurobindo,  sage and spiritual master, the author of ‘A Synthesis of Yoga.’  Yoga is not just a series of exercises to improve posture and make the body supple, its acolytes would define it as a method for self perfection  leading ultimately to a... Read more »

They burn money here.

It is 7 o'clock in the evening just a few days after the new year; the year of the tiger.  Any baby born this year will be strong and fierce, like the tiger.  A man is squatting in the gutter tending a little bonfire.  I make as if to take... Read more »

Cries and Whispers

I first experienced Cries and Whispers  in 1973.  I was, even then, drawn to the deeper, darker aspects of human psychology.  It was no wonder, therefore, that I was into Bergman. I rated the Seventh Seal and Persona as the greatest films I had seen.   Then came Cries and Whispers.  And now,... Read more »

Praise the Lord

They're raising the roof of the church today! The building's in scaffold, a big yellow crane Is removing the tiles that cover the nave And disturbing the sleep of the souls in their graves Oh, they're raising the roof of the church today.   They're raising the roof of the church today! The foreman's come round to... Read more »