SteveTanham – writing, mysticism, photography, poetry, friends

Category: Consciousness

February 10, 2022 + #Silenti, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Love, Photography, Silent Eye School, Spirit, Spirituality

Being being…

by Steve Tanham

I usually write it with a capital: Being. But strictly it is just another noun, so it’s fine as simply being. Except it’s not…because that devalues its importance. Being is the word. Being is the gold ‘hidden in plain sight’ of the alchemists.. They were searchers for the inner nature of Nature. Some of them found it but had to create a language of … Read More Being being…

February 6, 2022 + #Silenti, Consciousness, Lake District, nature

When the Snowdrops come

by Steve Tanham

It’s around November time when I begin to think about the ‘vastness’ of the winter, ahead. I let my mind play over the run up to Christmas, which, although increasingly dark, is brightened by the colourful lights and the spirit of the season. My mental journey continues through New Year, which always seems an anti-climax, and on into the wasteland of January. I can … Read More When the Snowdrops come

February 3, 2022 + #Silenti, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Mystery Schools, Photography, Silent Eye School

Language: Maker and Destroyer of Worlds

by Steve Tanham

I remember the admonition from decades ago, though I’ve forgotten who wrote it: Admire and beware language, for it frames the mind and blockades the spirit… Bold words; and possibly overstated, until you come to certain stage of your own inner journey and realise how true they are. In general terms, our western languages are predicated on the style of the following sentence: ‘I … Read More Language: Maker and Destroyer of Worlds

January 27, 2022 + #Silent Eye, #Silenti, Consciousness, Reactions

The wings of the bird of reason and emotion

by Steve Tanham

Have you ever watched your own mind racing between thinking and feeling? Usually, just before it triggers something about which you have a long-term feeling of unease? We all do this. Our habitual reactions are based upon pre-formed responses, which, themselves, may be constructed from older building blocks of like and dislike going all the way back to our earliest childhood… These may be … Read More The wings of the bird of reason and emotion

January 13, 2022 + #Silenti, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Magic, Politics, Politics and Power

Listening – an active magic

by Steve Tanham

We were having dinner at the end of one of our business trips to California. On the next table at the small restaurant were an American couple from Arizona. We struck up a friendly conversation, during which the subject of armed burglary came up. The man expressed surprise that so few of the UK’s homes had guns. He was astonished when I said it … Read More Listening – an active magic

January 11, 2022 + #Humour, #Silenti, Consciousness

A devil called time

by Steve Tanham

Time is an exceedingly curious thing…and much inner humour is generated in the course of exploring it. We don’t really know what time is. It might even be ‘no-thing’ at all, of course, and simply some kind of movement of consciousness… But let’s not get too high-minded about that. This is a basic post about common sense and the fact that we can’t shake … Read More A devil called time

January 9, 2022 + #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Consciousness, Lake District, landscapes, Photography, Places and Prose, Seasons of the year, Silent Eye School, Travel and Photography

That early January feeling…

by Steve Tanham

It was the Christmas tree outside the Booths supermarket that triggered the thoughts… Now pale against the bright January sun and the crisp cold, its icy beauty was somehow less than the real thing, a warming image of a Christmas now gone and packed up into the storage boxes under the eaves. Ahead of me, the Kendal district of Fellside climbed up in the … Read More That early January feeling…

January 6, 2022 + #Silenti, Consciousness, Mindfulness, Politics and Power, Silent Eye School, Technology

Can’t Help Ourselves?

by Steve Tanham

Over the past three years, I’ve been closely following the ever-accelerating development of robots. In an age where the use of military drones for ‘state-backed’ assassinations is not unusual, and artificial intelligence is pervasively present in household devices, it pays to be aware of the various ways in which technology and the humanities are interacting. It is also instructive to see how darkly we … Read More Can’t Help Ourselves?

December 23, 2021 + #Silenti, Christianity and modern mysticism, Consciousness, Esoteric Meaning of Myth, Magic, meditation, Mystery Schools, Silent Eye School

The nothing of tasted darkness

by Steve Tanham

“It’s a good time to meet nothing at the darkness cafe,” she said. It was many years ago and I had no idea what she was talking about… It was nearly Christmas and we were working on some of the initial Silent Eye lessons. Our topic of conversation was the power of the winter solstice to invoke new feelings, new experiences… and new ways … Read More The nothing of tasted darkness

December 21, 2021 + #Silenti, Consciousness, English Lake District, landscapes, Photographic techniques, Photography

Seven Christmas Postcards

by Steve Tanham

This will be my penultimate post of 2021. After Thursday’s blog, I will be taking a break till the new year. Every December, I try to capture a set of images that would make good Christmas cards. I used to have a colour ‘photograph’ printer and would send some of these to family members. But the device was old and had begun behaving erratically. … Read More Seven Christmas Postcards

December 16, 2021 + #Silenti, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, meditation, Mystery Schools

See what you’re seeing!

by Steve Tanham

It sounds odd, doesn’t it? See what you’re seeing… But we don’t. We do see, but we don’t see what we’re seeing. I’d better explain my terms, here, before it becomes an exercise in Zen paradox – which I want to avoid. There are not only two, but three phases in our act of seeing. The first is the actual biological receiving of the … Read More See what you’re seeing!

December 14, 2021 + #Silenti, Consciousness, Lake District, Oracles, Photographic techniques, Photography

Found Objects

by Steve Tanham

‘Found art’ is a style in which objects are discovered in the environment or workplace that have artistic value or gain artistic value through being arranged in new ways. That about sums up my knowledge of the genre, though, as a keen photographer, I can see the parallel between them. Both rely on ‘seeing’ something that may not appear obvious. Both require the extraction … Read More Found Objects