Alan Heeks

The London Underground as a Spiritual Map

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It was in a lull on a retreat group recently that I realised I was musing on the spiritual significance of the Northern line at East Finchley. This is where, after twenty-one miles of tunnel, the Tube emerges into daylight: much as a travailing soul find illumination after the long darkness…

This blog is intended to appeal to spiritual travellers and railway lovers, though it may deter both: give it a couple of paragraphs. The Tube Network can show us a lot about aspects of our spiritual quest.

What’s wrong with our weather?

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This was the title of an enlightening BBC Horizon programme, presented by physicist Helen Czerski and meteorologist John Hammond. It explored the wider reasons for the new challenges in UK weather in recent years, which include more extremes both of prolonged rainfall and very cold winters. Their overall conclusion was that we should expect more … Read more

FACT! Virgin XC more reliable than DB Intercity Express!!

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I travel to Germany by train most years, and this year I finally realised that my major frustrations with Dutsche Bahn are not just bad luck, it really is bad. Online research quickly confirmed this: the average reliability of DB’s ICE (InterCity Express) trains has been around 75% for several years, whereas the recent figure … Read more

Social Class in the 21st Century by Mike Savage

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If you’re wondering what a book on this theme has to do with resilience and wellbeing, read on. The book points out that a new level of snobbery has developed as inequality of various kinds has increased. Class judgements at all levels of society are even more derogatory. And it’s clear that relative position, and … Read more

Finding the Gifts in Bewilderment

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I invite you to imagine that the bewildering, alarming events of recent weeks, especially coronavirus, have positive aspects which we need to discern: why not try? Like me, you may have attempted to make sense of all this by rational means, and failed. The gifts in bewilderment You may know Einstein’s saying, that a problem … Read more

From Before to Beyond: exploring the soul’s journey

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Life is getting more changeable for most of us.  Many of us these days have to face mortality more directly: perhaps because of our own health, or the passing of a friend or family member.  Sufi teachings and other traditions urge us to face our dying to enrich our living: by getting through fears and … Read more

What makes a wild boar wild?

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This true tale of animal passion comes from a showpiece of sustainable forestry in the Scots Highlands. Boar and pigs were part of many traditional forestry systems. In this case, the cunning plan was to reintroduce them to help control rampant bracken.  At considerable expense, a high wire and low electric fence were erected, enclosing … Read more

Community Woodlands in Scotland: a tool for social regeneration

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Comparing the community woodland sector North and South of the border is sad and striking – from down here.  Scotland has over 250 community woodlands, with an umbrella organisation, and national government support. In England, there are a diverse scattering of projects, but some of the big ones (such as Avon) have fizzled out as … Read more

Cracking resilience problems on Eigg

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Eigg is a small island in the Hebrides: five miles by three, with 100 inhabitants.  Try adding to your resilience challenges: harsh climate, high transport costs, poor soil, and … a series of despotic landlords. However the gift was in the problem: the despots provoked Eigg’s people into creating the first community land buyout in … Read more