With my eightieth birthday looming and a great deal of writing still to do, I have had to drastically limit my speaking engagements, even though discussion and debate are of the essence of any forward movement in the fields of science, religion and socio-economics.
Just talking from a platform with a brief question period to follow has proved frustrating, especially when the question “What now?” came up. Without an agenda of some kind at least in the background, I discovered the obvious, that there is not much difference between an stimulating talk and great entertainment, and I don’t want to be an entertainer.
I would hope that those who visit my website will sense the need for an agenda, when the reading and talking has to stop, and will not draw back from commitment when it has become clearer what steps need to be taken, particularly to turn the vision of a new spirituality into a reality. So while I am more than willing to give public talks, I would wish these to be more in the nature of conversations with those who have already done some thinking about the central ideas which this website is promoting. I am certainly not alone in wondering why religion and community, and science too, are coming apart. Quakers have a kind of watchword, taken from George Fox, in the question, “What canst thou say?” and if one has not given much thought to the question, the answer is going to be, in Eric Morecambe’s immortal words, “Not a lot.”
So if any viewer has already been thinking about the themes which this website deals with, and feels moved to take things further and organise a workshop with like-minded seekers, I would be happy to contribute, as required. No fee, just expenses paid.
I have in mind a minimum group of fifteen people, who have at least read Religion Without Fairy Tales, Science With Soul,” which is probably the easiest short introduction to the panoramic theme of the website. Thus we would all be singing from the same hymn sheet and aware of the promise and the problems arising from a new science and new religion which are incomplete without each other. Participants would know deep down that here can only be one reality, even if we approach it from more than one perspective.
I would hope that everyone turning up would feel unable to live without the truths of poetry, the beauty of music and the marvels of science in their lives, and that all would have a deep concern for our beautiful planet, a love of animal and green Nature and a wonder at the night sky and what lies beyond, all the way back to the Big Bang – and beyond. I would hope that all the participants would cherish their individuality, but feel their lives centring more and more on the need to give and receive love, and to understand at greater depths what love means. I would hope that the conversations would raise all these feelings from a glow to a flame.
I would envisage future meetings in this spirit to be structured around a talk on a requested topic, followed by small group discussions, where the shy and uncertain can have a voice, followed by a kind of plenary session where questions raised and insights discovered can be shared, and I can be shot at if I have got things manifestly wrong. A day’s meeting could be valuable, and a weekend moreso, as participants would have more chance to “know each other in the things that are eternal.”
Any viewer who feels like organising a group and finding a venue can get in touch with me initially by email: