Not an apology for summer, obviously. My experience of summer this year has largely been a good one. But an apology for my failure to post regular articles on Substack. And a particular apology to those who have so generously taken out a paid subscription. I’m extremely grateful for your support, and feel rather guilty about not producing more content.
The explanation is that I am finding it very hard to commit to a regular publishing schedule. This is a combination of having a surprisingly busy day job, as well as needing to dedicate what little time remains to working on the book I am meant to be writing (about the idea of Christianity as a spiritual path).
I also appear to have repetitive strain injury in my hands, sometimes making it very painful to use a computer - and thus to write - whether it’s emails and reports for work, Substack articles and, of course, the book.
Regrettably, this means I have had to scale back some of my commitments in order to prioritise the things that require the most immediate attention. I had hoped that working on the book would simultaneously generate more material for Substack posts, but I have not as yet been able to do enough to make this possible. Hopefully, a bit further down the line, that will change.
On the plus side, I can at least say that the absence of regular posts is not been caused by lack of inspiration. I am seldom short of ideas; just the time to develop them. One thing with which I have been much preoccupied of late is the recent and rapid development of AI, which I have to admit to finding very disturbing – not least because we appear already to be losing control.
I see this as a spiritual problem, which requires a spiritual solution, and I am increasingly convinced that a resurgence of faith – specifically Christian faith – may be the only thing that can save us. I say this not, I hasten to add, because I think faith offers comfort in the face of life’s challenges, but because it has the power to return us a proper conception of the purpose of being human.
Anyway, I’ve been working on an article about all of this, which I hope to publish here soon.
Politics also engages me, as it should all of us. And not just the headline stories, but the underlying rot. Since the collective madness of 2020 I have found myself increasingly out of step with the technocratic managerialism of our globalised ruling class. I can’t help seeing this as a fundamentally spiritual problem as well.
Finally, the ‘day job’ has been particularly demanding of late as I have been engaged in the foundation of an Institute for Anglican Religious Life, which has included the building of a new theological library.
As I wrestle with my fears of the impending AI apocalypse – not to mention the unnerving prospect of civil war – the building of a library, and a theological library at that, sometimes strikes me as the most supremely quixotic of enterprises. Yet, perhaps, recalling the closing paragraph of Alistair MacIntyre’s After Virtue, this is exactly what we should be doing!
Once again, apologies for radio silence. I will still post from time to time, whenever I can, but unfortunately I am finding it impossible to commit to a regular publishing schedule at present.
Thank you for reading - I hope we’ll stay in touch!