Reacting to Your Reactions to Your Reactions — I got to be a groomsperson for the first time last weekend. My duties included running errands, posing for photos, doing the rounds making mandatory small talk with various guests to make sure they were feeling comfortable (which I can only assume they were before a stranger started talking to…

An “openminded sceptic” ventures a little deeper into New Age land — Recently I’ve started doing something different with my daily 20-minute meditation: sending my breath to different regions of my body in turn, while giving verbal messages to the parts of my personality that I associate with those areas. In other words, I’ve started messing around with chakras. …

Exploring a theme — A creative group I’m in recently gave us the prompt “Beginnings”. This was my contribution. There is only beginning. Perpetual beginning. Generative beginning. Everlasting beginning. The past never existed, and the future is unimaginable. What Has Been is nothing more than accusatory and exculpatory stories we tell ourselves about isolated…

A story about love and addiction, continued — This is the second half of a short story; the first half is here. All views expressed in the diary are the character’s and not mine. Wednesday 30th October There’s nothing in life except attitude and a bunch of shit for attitude to throw itself at. I never thought much…

A short story about love and addiction — I wrote this story three years ago as a sort of experiment. I find it almost impossible to write romantic fiction and my sister finds science fiction equally daunting, so as a lockdown project we challenged each other to do the impossible — I’d write a love story, she’d produce…

What does McDonagh’s film tell us about the nature of reality, and what are we going to do about it? — Trivial warning: this post contains The Banshees of Inisherin and I’m Thinking of Ending Things spoilers. Serious warning: it also explores topics like mental illness, despair and suicide, and although the essay is in no way intended to cause distress, some people may find certain aspects of my perspective upsetting.

The third druid addresses the council — Eta sits for a moment thinking about what to tell the assembled company and what to leave out. They’ve been rehearsing for this moment for days, but it’s one thing to imagine Chi’s imperious stare boring into your brain, and another to experience it in person. The others don’t have…

A druid council attempts to navigate multiple crises in a time between times — Tau is the last to arrive as usual. They enter the small clearing, scuttle through the circle of boot-flattened, dew-soaked grass, duck under the low stone arch, hang up their cowl and rustle into the chamber. Making their apologies, they take their place on the east-facing throne, a plain granite…

Satisfaction, meaning and purpose are not enough — This post follows directly on from my last piece about Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception and what it means to be happy. OK, so as I was saying….oh great, it’s Doubting Fred. Just when you think you’ve seen the last of someone. ‘This stuff about peak experiences is all…