I’m generally pretty topic-focused in this blog, a bit shy to share details about what I’m up to and so on. I’m not sure why – I always like to read that sort of thing in blogs I follow – it helps me to feel a bit more connected. Plus I haven’t quite gotten it […]
I was recently blown away by Italian director Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty. From the huge, decadent party in the opening scenes during which Jep Gambarella, writer and aging roué, is revealed grinning mischieviously at the camera, king of the high life, through the crisis caused by the discovery that the only woman he ever […]
I’ve been struck this week by reading Chris Lowney’s book Heroic Leadership, which is all about the style of leadership pioneered by Ignatius of Loyola, and, at least to some extent, mirrored by the Jesuits in the following 450 years. One of the points he frequently makes is that Ignatius saw his business, and that of […]
Generally I’m not huge fan of New Years resolutions. Things which seem like a great idea in a late-night-champagne induced fit of enthusiasm often vanish in the cold light of day, and it just seems like setting myself up to fail. However. Having said that, I have made a resolution to start this blog again. […]
So I’ve been even busier than I thought – I always bite off more than I can chew – but the dynamic site for Spiritus et Locus is up. Missing a few features? Clunky? Far from perfect? Perhaps all these things. But, nonetheless, it’s up, and you can now register, and start adding images. Let […]
It’s been quite a while since I blogged last. The reason? I’ve been very, very, very busy putting an exciting project together for Cafechurch and Carlton Church of All Nations, called Spiritus et Locus. It’s an interesting challenge – how do you reimagine the ancient practice of the examen for today’s distracted, wired, socially-connected generation? […]
A nun of my acquaintance (actually, I think she might be a sister) told I class I was taking that “your restlessness is what is right with you.” That really struck me because it is so counter-intuitive. The idea that this uncomfortable feeling of restlessness, of always wanting more was in any sense a good […]
This post is about the experience of doubt – what it can be like to question deeply held beliefs about what the world is really like, what makes life living, what the universe is ultimately about. What we might call existential doubt, when you find your whole faith-commitment challenged. A lot of different things can […]
What is doubt? What are its good and bad points? Why is it such a big issue in faith circles anyway? There is so much to say that it is really hard to know where to start. However, I was a philosophy student first, so it is most natural for me to start there, with […]
As Lent draws to an end, I have been thinking about fasting and feasting. Our culture finds fasting profoundly odd. It runs counter to the utilitarian way modern, liberal societies organise themselves. That is, we are encouraged to enjoy ourselves as much as is compatible with doing sensible, thrifty things like saving for the future, […]
Alister Pate