by Steve Tanham
As children, we lose ourselves in play and the toys or games that give the play structure: a skipping rope, chalk to mark out a court, balls to kick and control… perhaps, now, a computer to enter a virtual world. As adults we inhabit a different world, and the entanglements of our earlier years may pay us a return visit… (1400 words; a ten … Read More The Big Picture (4) : a kind of hammer
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by Steve Tanham
The word ‘object’ has many meanings; but none more mysterious and potentially wonderful as the meeting of spirituality with the findings of psychology’s Object Relations Theory… (1400 words; a ten minute read) Everything in our daily world comes from them; they are the highs and lows, the anguish and the triumphs, the misery and the joy… and above all else, the overwhelming violence of … Read More The Big Picture (3) : objects of desire
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by Steve Tanham
The modern mobile phone puts an arsenal of photographic tools at our disposal. One of the strangest and most difficult to master is the panorama… yet the results can be wonderful. (550 words. A four minute read) The panorama is not a gimmick. It’s a wide-angled shot in which the correct proportions are retained, rather than the treatment of a ‘fish-eye’ lens, where the … Read More Winter walks with Camera (7) : panorama
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by Steve Tanham
If we’re going to set off in search of the spiritual – as seen in humanity’s ‘internal pictures’, we need to have a more modern definition of what ‘the spiritual’ actually is… Imagine we are reading a paragraph in an absorbing book – something like the image below. Normally, our brains would assemble a sequential stream of characters into recognised words, then meaning. The … Read More The Big Picture (2) : a portrait of the archer
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by Steve Tanham
Drama comes in many forms, but those forms can be accentuated by the rigours of Winter (250 words, a two-minute read) The estuary to the west of Arnside has an ancient feel, and is filled with dramatic shapes and foliage. In Winter, some of these can look primeval, and the natural desaturation of colour caused by the lower levels of light play to the … Read More Winter walks with camera (6) : the shape of drama
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by Steve Tanham
We don’t live ‘in the world’… an outrageous thing to say, and yet it’s true. Well, if we don’t live in the world, where do we live? We don’t live in the world; we live in a picture of the world… the ‘big picture’ of the blog’s title. If we actually lived in the world, we would go insane within a very short time … Read More The Big Picture (1) : life and the image
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by Steve Tanham
A bright winter day brings a wonderful benefit: long shadows. Often a matter of being lucky and at the right place at the right time, the long shadow is at its best extending the movement of people… (300 words, a two-minute read) The opening shot was taken while walking behind a family. It was a Sunday afternoon and we had been strolling behind them … Read More Winter walks with camera (5) : long-shadowed figures
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by Steve Tanham
Winter is not generally associated with clear skies, not in Cumbria, at least! But when when a period of high-pressure brings clear air, and everything begins to freeze, there can be found the most beautiful of sunsets… (300 words, a two-minute read) Sue Vincent, one of my fellow Directors of the Silent Eye, along with Stuart France, the third in our trio, are both … Read More Winter walks with camera (4) : cold sunsets
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by Steve Tanham
I find a nobility in winter trees. They endure the brutal weather, but show us, in that endurance, their purpose in revealed structure… (140 words, a one-minute read) The inner process of leaf-life to come is laid bare as the rain howls and the wind tests whether this year will be the last. Below the ground, the vast spread of roots has a life … Read More Winter walks with camera (3) : the fire in trees
by Steve Tanham
There are sails in an upstairs window Whose cloth never tasted the spray Of an ocean long lost in memory And a happier, faraway day ➰ She sailed in his heart to the sunset Where the end of their world fell from sight At ninety degrees to his life-line. And down to a watery night ➰ He waits now, his captain’s badge polished His … Read More Sails in a upstairs window
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by Steve Tanham
A series of short ‘betweens’ from the Silent Eye’s ‘Pictish Trail’ and ‘Ancient Orkney’ workshops. We’re having an after dinner walk along the night streets of Stromness, Orkney’s main ferry port and link with Scotland. My wife and I have stayed here once before. The ‘Ancient Orkney’ part of this Silent Eye trip has been so packed with exploring that this may be our … Read More Stromness by night
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by Steve Tanham
I’m not very good, nor comfortable, blowing my own trumpet… Writers on the internet know this feeling well: we are urged to promote our presence, yet our inner nature knows what sort of people talk about themselves all the time… This is particularly true if your main activity is of a teaching nature within a spiritual discipline. The road to understanding the ego – … Read More My Own Trumpet
Sun in Gemini 
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