SteveTanham – writing, mysticism, photography, poetry, friends

Category: Love

March 30, 2023 + Ancient Landscapes, Ancient Sacred Sites, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Lake District, landscapes, Love, Mindfulness, nature, Photography

Scaling the Heights

by Steve Tanham

As a child, I remember asking the local vicar, “Where is God?” He looked at me, a little startled, and said, “God is everywhere!” I looked around, not meaning to mock him, but he took it that way. My simplistic feeling was that God was in the high places, open, accepting and taking things are they were. My family were Rosicrucians and it was … Read More Scaling the Heights

February 9, 2023 + #Silenti, Celtic Christianity, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Love, Metanoia, Mindfulness, Mystery Schools, Soul, spiritual turning around, Sufi Poetry, The Beloved

Barriers to Love

by Steve Tanham

Eight hundred years is a long way to look back and extract meaningful guidance about ‘today’s world’, and yet I can say with honesty that the historical figure whose wisdom made one of the most important differences to my spiritual life lived in the 13th century… Generally known by the short-form of his last name: Rumi, the Sufi mystic and poet Jalal al-Din Muhammad … Read More Barriers to Love

January 26, 2023 + #Silenti, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Incarnation, Love, meditation, Memories, nature

Embrace of the Inner Age

by Steve Tanham

There are many symmetries in life but one of the least remarked on is the complementary states of early and later life relative to where we place our attention. When young, despite ‘trailing clouds of glory’, as Wordsworth elegantly wrote, we are completely in-volved with the physical world ‘out-there’. From the wonder and adoration of our baby state, through the realisation that we can … Read More Embrace of the Inner Age

November 29, 2022 + #Silent Eye, #Silenti, Consciousness, Love

It’s a liquid?

by Steve Tanham

“It’s a liquid?” “Well, I’d say it’s a kind of liquid” “Because?“ “Because it’s warm and flows?” “And rises?” “Yes. Rises like a warm liquid rises.” “Could it not be a gas?” “I don’t think so…” “Why not?” Because is doesn’t feel like a gas flows, it feels like a liquid flows.” “I agree. Though I’m not sure we have the proof for that.” … Read More It’s a liquid?

September 29, 2022 + #Silent Eye, #Silenti, Consciousness, Higher Mind, Initiation, Love, Metanoia, Mindfulness, Mystery Schools, Psychology

Eye, aye and I…

by Steve Tanham

One of the many paradoxes of modern mysticism is that there is no good word to describe the ‘sense of self’ that we all have, but which does not appear to be shareable as meaning. It is as though the real meaning of ‘me’ always slips away when we try to define it. We point to ourselves and say, “Well, it’s just me!” And … Read More Eye, aye and I…

April 28, 2022 + #Silenti, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Higher Mind, Love, meditation, Photography, Psychology

Painting the Universe (1)

by Steve Tanham

There are some ‘big blocks of colour’ in an understanding of the mystical perspective – which is the inner truth of our lives. Even a cursory examination of these brings great value. Let’s consider them… Foremost of these is that there is a more powerful Life behind life; that the life we see is seen through a lens that distorts, and that our belonging, … Read More Painting the Universe (1)

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…

September 30, 2021 + #Humour, #Silenti, humour, Love, Psychology

Sweet Soup and Pot Dogs

by Steve Tanham

I usually do serious posts on this Thursday slot. They are generally aimed at the Silent Eye audience, so involve mystical perspectives on some of life’s challenges. But sometimes one’s own life drops a ‘corridor’ over you, from which there is no escape, and you have to take a withdrawn and usually humorous view of events… or go completely insane. She passed me the … Read More Sweet Soup and Pot Dogs

September 19, 2021 + #Silenti, #wantonwhimsy, Love

#WantonWhimsy: The end of time…

by Steve Tanham

The man was speaking: “Let’s meet back here at the end of time… That’s what you said…” It had seemed a fantasy; a delight; a thing that would never happen. Impossibly long ago, but meant – clear and sincere. Yet, here they were, with separate lives behind them, trudging on old legs across the wet sand. “I’m amazed you remembered the date… you seldom … Read More #WantonWhimsy: The end of time…

August 15, 2021 + #Silenti, #wantonwhimsy, Love, Memories, Travel

Wanton Whimsy: 5TAG

by Steve Tanham

You can see the moment they get it… When their tone changes: “Must be just for show; the whole thing – car, suitcase left casually on the luggage rack…” “What makes you think that?” the woman asks. “Just look at the number plate!” The man adds, cocky…but sensing fragility. It’s usually one of the women who sees it first. “It’s not STAG, Ken, it’s … Read More Wanton Whimsy: 5TAG

July 27, 2021 + #Poetry, #Silenti, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Love, Mystery Schools, nature, Writing

Books of Green and Gold

by Steve Tanham

Captured now in golden lightDay’s writing ending with a blazeA tale of green turned brown then goldAs fading Sun shapes dark to holdThese chapters in the nightThese precious children of the days. Enduring Queen of night enfoldsYet only feels, where light revealsWhat softer muse will hold till morningAnd reaching to awaken thisDelivers from her mouth the blissOf summer Sun’s new dawning. ©Stephen Tanham 2021 … Read More Books of Green and Gold

July 20, 2021 + #Poetry, #Silenti, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Love, Mystery Schools

First the loss, then the joy

by Steve Tanham

Unbearable, this song of lightThat ends the day before soft nightA gradient of blue to goldA harmony, exquisite foldsWill live its life in seconds toldContent to live and die, this domeThis perfect bowl of evening’s home Retains no anguish in the faceOf life as change and death as wroughtBy turning Earth in solar thoughtSo should I rise past ego’s fearEmbracing every moment’s splendourContent with … Read More First the loss, then the joy