This category is a bit different from “Reflections on Experience”, and a bit bigger than “Ethics and Values”. It’s about the bigger picture of life. The first book was “FUTURE”, in 2020. There is a new book in May 2025, with the appropriate title of “A Singular Book of Great Esteem”. It is about the I Ching. It is also about a medical episode that occurred in the early days of writing the book.
Availability of books: The links near each book take you to my Spotlight page on the Lulu.com website, from where my books may be purchased. They are print-on-demand, and wherever you are globally, they are printed and posted in or near your country. Enjoy.
Read the blog that talks about the book “FUTURE”: Returning to Centre Blog
Read a sample from the book: Click to open
FUTURE: The Spiritual Story of Humanity
Histories of the world are generally written either to celebrate technology and science, or to herald doom. My book examines the path of the spirit in the onward rush.
FUTURE is the spiritual story of humanity. There are many books which are histories of humanity; they are different depending on the point of view of the author. Many authors are excited about the human adventure, and enthused by exploration, empires, wars and progress. Others anticipate catastrophe because of population, capitalism and technology, and their effect on the Earth’s ecology.
This book approaches the question from a spiritual perspective, looking at human behaviour and what we can learn from past civilisations and from religions. It explores the question of ancient knowledge, and looks at contemporary humanity with more than the empty lens of materialism. Without imposing a solution on the world, the book suggests a way to live that offers peace and bliss.
Published October 2020. Paperback, 143 pages. ISBN 978 0 6488433 0 6
ebook version: ISBN 978 0 6488433 1 3
Go to Lulu.com to purchase the book (paperback or epub).
Read a sample from the book: Click to open
A Singular Book of Great Esteem: Life with the I Ching
The “singular book of great esteem” is the I Ching. It originated in China some 5,000 years ago as a form of divination, and around 3,000 years ago it was formulated into a system of sixty-four images with corresponding text, built up from the foundational yin-yang (binary) concept. It has been used since then by emperors, officials and ordinary people for wisdom and guidance.
I am not qualified to write an academic book about it, but I have lived with the I Ching for fifty years, and I wanted to explain what it is all about. I have found it illuminating and inspiring. I think it speaks to our inner core, and it is a way of navigating yourself through good times and pain, confusion and despair.
After I started on this project, I had a medical episode described by doctors as a “slight stroke”. After a period where I was “becalmed”, I turned to the I Ching to make sense of it and it spoke (in its own way), as clearly as ever. The book then took its own shape.
Published May 2025. Paperback, 211 pages. ISBN 978 0 6459543 5 7
ebook version: ISBN 978 0 6459543 6 4
Use links below to go to Lulu.com to purchase either version.