Dante, Erotic Love and the Path to God
Mark Vernon | On the 700-year anniversary of The Divine Comedy, Mark Vernon explores a pivotal moment of transformation in the Purgatorio in which Dante gets a glimpse of the vastness of Divine Love
Rumi: The Operation of Divine Love
Alan Williams tells us about his new translation of Rumi’s great epic poem, the Masnavi
“Rumi wants not merely to define in words but to take us to that world of ultimate meaning, which is way beyond any mental conception”
A Celebration of Nature
Artist and gardener Laura Blackwood talks to Elizabeth Roberts and Kawther Luay about the importance of connecting with the natural world
“There has to be a certain receptivity, alertness or quietness to your approach. It’s a real thing to just be completely receptive.”
Robert Lax: A Life Slowly Lived
Robert Hirschfield on the contemplative practice of a remarkable 20th-century poet/mystic.
“For Lax, there was no seam between walking, praying, writing. All experiences were to be fully absorbed, integrated into a life fully lived.”
Connecting with the Unseen World
Kira Perov, wife and long-term collaborator of the video artist Bill Viola, talks to Jane Carroll about the ideas and experiences which inspire their work
“These video works give us the gift of time. They give the viewer time to spend with these images, to move from our physical ‘real’ world to a metaphysical one.”
Calligraphy – A Sacred Tradition
Distinguished calligrapher Ann Hechle talks about her lifelong quest to understand the underlying unity of the world
“As I grapple with putting letters, words and drawings together, I am using strategies that belong to a much bigger and grander world, which are part of universal law.”