SteveTanham – writing, mysticism, photography, poetry, friends

Category: Silent Eye School

“You might wonder,” said our guide. “Why the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) would spend £112 million on a completely new interior for its world-famous theatre, only to leave in place these scruffy wooden boards… Looking at me, he continued: “Do you realise, Sir, you are treading the same boards that creaked beneath the stage shoes of Lawrence Olivier, Richard Burton David Tenant and Dame … Read More A photo tour of the RSC (1) Treading the Boards

July 21, 2022 + #Silent Eye, #Silenti, landscapes, Photography, Silent Eye School, Travel, Travel and Photography

A Hebridean Diary (4) The Drowned Lands

by Steve Tanham

We had wondered about the real nature of this landscape. On this our third day on the Hebridean Island of Lewis, we paid a long-anticipated visit to Callanish, the place of the famous stones – though the main site is not a stone circle. There, I came across a sign that perfectly described the rather barren landscape all around us. The sign read: Welcome … Read More A Hebridean Diary (4) The Drowned Lands

July 12, 2022 + #Silent Eye, #Silenti, landscapes, Photography, Silent Eye School, Travel, Travel and Photography

A Hebridean Diary (3) Of Coats and Kings

by Steve Tanham

We had gone to bed early – exhausted by the journey from Poolewe to Uig. What felt like a full night later, I woke, refreshed, to find the sun streaming through the bedroom curtains… Not a sight we were used to on this trip. I smiled. It’s always nice when something really special ‘just happens’ on your birthday. Ahead of me was a day … Read More A Hebridean Diary (3) Of Coats and Kings

July 5, 2022 + #Silent Eye, #Silenti, landscapes, Photography, Silent Eye School, Travel, Travel and Photography

A Hebridean Diary (2) Long road to Uig

by Steve Tanham

The day was already old by the time the ferry from Ullapool had docked at Stornaway. We had been warned that shops were few and far between on the Hebridean island of Lewis and advised to take advantage of the supermarkets in the capital. The no-sunday trading laws imposed by the ‘Wee Free’ Presbyterian church were in force across the island, and we were … Read More A Hebridean Diary (2) Long road to Uig

May 22, 2022 + #Silenti, landscapes, Mystery Schools, nature, Photographic techniques, Photography, Poetry, Seasons of the year, Silent Eye School

When the sky grows

by Steve Tanham

There is a wildness to these last days of May; an energy long pent-up that rushes from the thrusting ground to meet the brightness of the glowing clouds… The whole locked in some exotic equilibrium, one pushing, the other pulling, until, racing past the middle of June, they sight the shimmering solstice. ©Stephen Tanham 2022 Stephen Tanham is a Director of the Silent Eye, … Read More When the sky grows

April 24, 2022 + #Silenti, Lake District, nature, Photographic techniques, Photography, Places and Prose, Silent Eye School

Light in the Park

by Steve Tanham

It’s not a park in the usual sense of the word. Levens Park is the ancestral home of the Bagot Family who maintain a footpath along both sides of the often turbulent River Kent as it winds its last mile out to join the vast expanse of Morecambe Bay. The ‘park’ is the perfect place to walk the collie. A round trip from Sedgwick … Read More Light in the Park

March 10, 2022 + #Silent Eye, #Silenti, Consciousness, esoteric psychology, Higher Mind, Silent Eye School, spiritual turning around

The ejector-seat of self…(1)

by Steve Tanham

Do we really understand mindfulness? It’s become one of those ‘must do more of that’ sentiments, as though we could press a button on the side of the head. Perhaps the reason for our chagrin is not that we lack diligence, but that we think it’s a chore… Possibly that we don’t feel pulled or compelled from within to practice it? After all, we … Read More The ejector-seat of self…(1)

February 22, 2022 + #Poetry, #Silenti, Consciousness, Mystery Schools, Mystical poetry, nature, Silent Eye School

Emergence

by Steve Tanham

Heavy metal, thinly sailed, is cast Like toy, and dropped onto the stone. Hedges bend, bow and form New writhing shapes – grotesques – Their twisted tongues malforming names Of foolish men who thought to tame The wild and winds of Cumbria… ——– And yet, from this we do emerge In harsh, unruly tufts of grass And mud that drains off torrents passed. Bleached … Read More Emergence

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 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 25, 2022 + #Humour, #Poetry, #Silenti, Silent Eye School, Tech, Technology

Are we Book-Fat?

by Steve Tanham

I’m not sure there’s ever been a rigorous definition of gluttony, but a series of incidents have made me wonder if we are suffering from its effects, in the form of book-fat. I can hear wincing noises in the seats at the back, there… I certainly winced when I thought about it. I winced a lot more as I tipped boxes full of old … Read More Are we Book-Fat?

January 20, 2022 + #Collie dogs, #Silenti, Ancient Landscapes, Photographic techniques, Photography, Silent Eye School

The hill with two stations

by Steve Tanham

Our small village, Sedgwick, near Kendal, has a landscape shaped in the classic terminal topography of ancient glaciers. This area of gentle, rounded hills is typical of the final stages of the glacier’s course. The English Lake District, where we live, has them in abundance. ‘Basket of Eggs’ is another term you may remember from those geography text books at school. They are also … Read More The hill with two stations