I’m writing this on the twenty-fifth anniversary of 9/11. On the morning of 11rh September 2001 I was discussing the design of the Changing Attitude website with Bertrand Olivier in his vicarage at St Barnabas Southfields. It’s the church where I had been baptised and confirmed, been inspired by Peter Hand the then incumbent, later, abused by a curate and later still, learnt my craft as a prophet and potential priest. This blog, formulated over the past week, is my attempt to gather in one place all the elements of contemporary life that trouble me, haunt me and inspire. They form the heart and soul of my spiritual life every morning when I meditate.
Mapping
I’m trying to map the many dimensions of change and concern that impact my life every day. I want to change and expand and bring into conscious awareness the multiple challenges confronting us, here and now, in space and time, stories for me as an individual, for humankind corporately and for the Anglican Christian community of which I am a member.
Sacred universe
Every single human being is a sacred presence in creation, a manifestation of the life, energy, love, goodness and wisdom of the sacred, holy energies incarnate in the universe.
Wisdom
People are born with innate wisdom and intuition. People need to be encouraged to believe and trust that we are beautiful and unconditionally, infinitely, intimately loved. What matters to me in life are the elements that help us develop cognitive and emotional awareness and wisdom.
No individual, no community, no ethnic group, no faith group, no political group is an island. This is a fundamental lesson to learn, a lesson we are not learning despite evidence to the contrary.
Decadence
We are living in a decadent period in the history of humankind’s occupation of planet Earth as the dominant species. The effect our species is having in this current era is both creative and destructive. We are experiencing a decline in and a corruption of human cultural values, vision, ethics, morality and faith.
UK’s decline
In the UK, the austerity era under the Coalition and Conservatives, the hollowing out of post-war humanitarian values, Brexit, David Cameron’s big error, continue to haunt our political, economic and social lives.
Thei rising level of addictions and the decline in mental health – and the cost to the economy and the NHS.
The rise in the prison population, the lack of effective rehabilitation and the cost to the economy and society.
Democracy’s decline
The corruption of American democracy by Donald Trump is having a global effect on international relations and institutions.
The Israeli Government’s active hostility to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank designed to secure electoral victory for Netetnyahu, a Prime Minister under threat.
Putin’s opportunistic war against Ukraine, launched following the West’s failure to confront his invasion of Crimea.
Trump’s offer to give every American $5,000 if the Republicans win the coming election in both Houses of Congress.
Fake news, an obsession of Donald Trump that can be applied both to secular and religious news. How do we tell the difference between fake news and truth?
Migration, the fear of people who are different, the insecurity of people in multi-cultural environments, racial and ethnic prejudice, manifested in Reform and right wing Conservatism in the UK, AfD in Germany and Trump’s policies in the USA, where people are branded as migrants, foreigners, invaders, “other”, “not one of us”.
The a lack of awareness of the relationship between the macro and the micro scale of events; local and global.
The dangers of AI and Artificial Superintelligence (ASI)
There are calls for a safety-first approach to the development of AI and ASI technology. In the US Bernie Sanders has called again on Congress to regulate AI. “We can’t allow a handful of greedy people to play God and determine the future of humanity – our economy, environment, democracy, privacy and more.”
An AI researcher said last week, ‘Humans are a disposable species.’ A superintelligent AI poses a threat on the same, possibly a greater scale, as nuclear war. More cautiously, Dr Andrew Rogoyski from the Surrey Institute for People-Centred AI said these systems are nowhere near as versatile as humans, let alone humans acting collectively. Advanced AI may turn out to be too expensive and not useful enough to continue in its current form.
Jacob Coxon, 28, a researcher at Anthropic who previously worked at OpenAI claimed on 8 September 2026 there is a 10% chance that AI could “kill all humans” in the next decade. Developing the ability to discern reality from fantasy and truth from fake and healthy from unhealthy ideas and practice is not easy for humans to do.
The Climate Crisis
The Climate Crisis confronts us with a critical change in our environment affecting the entire human community. Simon Stiell, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change warned today that the climate crisis is now a continent-wide economic security emergency. We are witnessing mass evacuations, crops lost, yields down, food prices up. Migration is increasing as a result of extreme weather. If humanity doesn’t cut fossil fuel pollution a permanent nightmare will follow. The risk is increasing that natural systems will irreversibly change once they are pushed past tipping points. The impacts of these conditions are increasingly being felt by communities, economies and eco-systems across the world causing severe disruption and hardship to billions of people.
Evolving Christian Belief
We need to tell a more truthful, healthy story of Christian belief dependent not on Hebrew Biblical myths but on the Christian belief in the ultimate Christian values of love, goodness, wisdom, truth, justice and compassion. embracing the story of the evolution of the universe and of life on planet Earth.
The Church of England must develop a confident understanding of / a primary content of what the essence of life in all its fullness is. The primary content will need to be read and re-read, marked, learned and inwardly digested.
In our contemporary world prophetic movements and practices seeking spiritual wisdom and health are being planted all everywhere but not very visible in Christian churches.
The Church of England is not dealing with safeguarding failures and the abuse crisis and still not dealing effectively with the full and equal inclusion of women in the Church nor pursuing the full equality in marriage and ministry of LGBTQIA+ people, which is still an endless battleground, one most bishops still don’t fully understand or have the courage to confront.
There has been a takeover of power and influence, mostly unnoticed, in the Church of England by morally and ethically conservative, reactionary, financially powerful, autocratic conservative forces.
Arun Arora, the bishop of Kirkstall in Leeds, warned last week that fascism is on the rise in the UK. He condemned the “twisted theology” of the self-described “Christian patriots” who demonstrated at ports on the south coast last weekend. The masked, black-clad, anti-migrant agitators led by Daniel “Danny Tommo” Thomas, a former bodyguard of the far-right influencer Tommy Robinson – were heard chanting: “Christ is King.”
Bishop Arun said the incidents in Dover and Portsmouth were part of an increasingly worrying and disturbing rise in attempts “to tear the social fabric of our country”.
“The biggest threat to England’s fabric today is to be found in the tidal wave of nationalism that threatens to destroy the foundations of community, to devastate social cohesion and threaten any sense of unity within the United Kingdom.”
What we have seen on our streets is an ideology that argues that might is right – that threatens not only those of us who are likely to be targeted or attacked but threatens our way of life as a country.
Seamless
I believe in a seamless cosmos.
I believe in the essential primary reality of love, goodness, wisdom, beauty and truth.
I hold to a non-binary, non-dualistic vision of reality and creation. I believe that the origin and essence of all things some name as God, and the reality of the universe in which we dwell, and the reality of the life of human beings on Earth are seamlessly interwoven. Jesus and other holy people are manifestations of the sacred, holy life.
It is up to us to become responsible, learning to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy, significant and trivial, as Christians, as congregations, and as active agents following and embodying Jesus.