Contemplative Inquiry

I stand in brightness. It is 4.15pm on 3 October 2026. I see and feel the power of holly – shiny red berries and deep evergreen leaves against a clear blue sky. I am filled with a pleasantly unseasonal vtality.

Looking in another direction, I contemplate Gloucester Cathedral, set against a greater expanse of blue sky. The old Cathedral stone is awash with sunlight, and yearns upwards to what its builders saw as a greater light. Like the holly, though in another manner, this building models an energetic exuberance.

In this blog, I follow the wheel of the year. I acknowledge festivals, though I am drawn more to  the day to day progress of the seasons as they unfold. Each year has always had its unique story. Now, in every part of the world, we are losing our familiar parameters. Here, this has been illustrated by our extended high summer heatwaves. I have no idea of what the rest of October is going to be like. So, bearing witness to whatever happens stands at the heart of my wheel of the year practice.

I see the evolution of life on Earth as a miracle, whatever else may be happening or has happened or may yet happen in the universe/multiverse as a whole. For us earthlings times are changing radically and I want to reverence and proclaim the miracle for as long as I live. I hope (without any sense of certainty) that this miracle continues to manifest itself long after I have gone.