My name is Pete Hulme. I’m married with one son. Ten years as a teacher of literature, thirty years as a psychologist and more than thirty years as a Bahá’í (not consecutively! I’m only 80 after all) have been part of a journey where I have been learning to use books and writing as two of the ways in which I can improve the maps I use to live by. I see human beings as meaning makers who are supremely valuable in themselves. This is in part what the best books show us. I am trying to use this blog as a further tool in this process of exploration and the application of the resulting insights in the life we live. Sometimes prose simply won’t do the job so I resort to poetry as well.
This page has the following sub pages.
Pete
I just thought I would drop in and say hello. Nice blog- keep up the good work 🙂
LikeLike
Hi, Pete! I came to your blog through Barney’s link today. You have been a Baha’i for approximately the same length of time as me. This “retirement years” and their meaning has been a puzzle and challenge for me, too. I’ve enjoyed your blog so much that I’ve subscribed! Thank you for your thoughts.
LikeLike
Many thanks for the positive feedback, Pat. I’m still finding blogging exciting and rewarding in itself. But it’s good to hear that others enjoy it too.
LikeLike
Pete, I found your blog from a link on Baha’i views and have relished each entry. Please tell me you are writing a book as I want to reserve a copy! Your gift of insightful writing woven together with beautiful quotations create a unique tapestry for the minds eye! I will encourage others to partake of your wisdom…
LikeLike
Kay, there’s something about blogging that suits my particular combination of strengths and weaknesses as a writer — I’m OK on sprints when the inspiration comes but the marathon?!? You speak somewhere of how your blog builds up a picture over time in fragments of a bigger picture. It’s a bit like that for me. If I can be a channel for something much bigger than I am it’s only in fits and starts. I’m so glad that my mirror seems just about polished enough for you to get some glimpses of the light from it when I write, but I always have to keep reminding myself the light is borrowed — it’s not mine.
LikeLike
Hi Pete thanks for the link which brought me to this site. Will think about the “chaplaincy model” and let you have any thoughts that come to mind.
Like your “Connecting To Grow links”
Dave.
LikeLike
Hi Pete,
My name is Dimitri Tishler. I am a composer and writer currently living in Melbourne Australia.
I have recently created a new website and blog which explores different aspects of art and spirituality. Please
peruse the new site at your convenience.
You will find music, writing and posts on different aspects of writing, art and spirituality:
http://dimitritishler.com/
My blog is here:
http://dimitritishler.com/blog/
Here you will find a few articles on God and spirituality:
http://dimitritishler.com/blog/2011/09/18/journey-of-the-universe/
http://dimitritishler.com/blog/2011/09/16/consciousness/
Thank you for your time
Kind regards Dimitri
LikeLike
Hi Peter, forgive me but I have had a more in depth look at your site and am very intrigued by your background.
I used to be involved with Buddhism quite a bit but lost interest due to its ‘factionalism’. I see Robert Assagioli is mentioned here – I read a couple of his books when I was doing a course with the Huber School of Astrology back in the 90s, fascinating ideas. Sadly, I don’t have much involvement with psychosynthesis or astrology these days.
And Baha’i, I’ve read about it but not to any depth, but I like the ‘syncretism’, although that may not be the correct word. I used to annoy the buddhists by talking about Jesus, how similar he and the Buddha were (to my mind and a lot of others). Your faith may go a long way in explaining that fact. I am very pleased to make your acquaintance, kind regards and my very good wishes. David.
LikeLike
It’s good to hear from you, David. I feel we are grappling with similar issues in a way.
My mind has been brought back to Psychosynthesis because a friend of mine has just started their training and is finding it fascinating, so I’ll probably have another look at my four books on the topic. Buddhism is always somewhere on my mind.
Warm regards
Pete
LikeLike
Hello Pete, I just discovered you blog, thank you for the review on Paul Lample’s book. I have read another book from Paul Lample and couldn’t stop reading. Will definitely get the book … warm regards from Germany
LikeLike
Thank you for sharing your reflections. They are stirring and thought-provoking.
LikeLike
HI Pete,
Thank you for your thoughtful and engaging blog, which I stumbled across earlier this year and am now very much enjoying. . .
With appreciation,
Marjorie
LikeLike
You have been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award. Yay! Go you! If you wish to take part, there is more information available here: http://defusingchaos.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/award-nomination/
LikeLike
Dear Pete,
This is excellent stuff. so excited to come across your blog and to get connected after quite some time.
all the best,
Mohan
in Mongolia and Japan
LikeLike
Dear Mohan, it’s great to hear from you. Hope all is well with you and your family. Warm regards, Pete.
LikeLike
Dear Pete, Thanks for your kind response and greetings to the family. Greetings from all us to your lovely family too. So good to be reconnected and thanks for your excellent blog. Allah u Abha, Mohan
LikeLike
What a fascinating site. I can’t wait to dig into your archives.
LikeLike
Wonderful writing and blog Pete!
LikeLike
Many thanks for dropping in and for the encouraging comment.
LikeLike
You’re very welcome!
LikeLike
Would it be okay to include you in the links to this project in world Bahai blogs, and with your permission reblog some of your blogs there. https://aussiebahaiblog.wordpress.com/ Thanks, I have been reviewing Mavash Sabet’s poems today and will have my review up sometime in the next week or so.
LikeLike
Many thanks, June, for your invitation to be included on the Aussie Blog site. I would be most happy for you to reblog posts from here. It is encouraging to feel that my gathering of the nectar from many different authors’ flowers is of value. I very much look forward to seeing your review of the poems.
LikeLike
Thank you.
LikeLike
Hi! Thanks very much for following me, and for your words of encouragement. It’s very nice to meet you!
LikeLike
Thanks Pete. Enjoying reading into your blog. Regards from Thom at the immortal jukebox.
LikeLike
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and liking my short bio page! I’m grateful to have found you–love your ideas and am looking forward to reading more!
LikeLike
Many thanks for stopping by. Oh, and congratulations on becoming a contributor to the Huffington Post. I think it’s well-deserved – not many people manage to be so thoughtful and yet so accessible.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much! Your feedback means a lot to me, thank you!
LikeLike
Dear Pete, I found your blog through researching Edward Thomas, our once close neighbour in Steep, and my long interest in poetry and issues of mental health, particularly depression (also Welshness and walking). Thank you for pointing me towards Matthew Hollis’s biography. I subscribed, and very much look forward to reading more of your thoughtful writings. Best regards,
Hilary Neilson
LikeLiked by 1 person
Many thanks, Hilary, for the encouraging feedback. I’m very glad that my blog helped you find Hollis’s biography. I’ve recently finished publishing a series of posts on poetry and am now ruminating on one of my other fixations, so it’ll be a bit of a drought as far as poetry in concerned for a few weeks yet!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Pete, enjoying your posts, especially the ones on consciousness, and the shares by Barney. Just wondering if you’ve seen my book, Mystic Journey: Getting to the Heart of Your Soul’s Story, and if you’d consider doing a review of it? Best wishes, Bob
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi, Bob. Many thanks for the encouraging feedback. I’m dashing about a bit at the moment and have also spectacularly destroyed my spectacles so I’ll get back to you about the review next week if that’s ok.
LikeLike
Hi! I came across your blog when putting in the words Maharshi and Abdul-Baha into Google. I am a Bahai who in the past years has discovered eastern thought and “other kinda thangs”; Mindfullness, Yoga, Jung, Adyashanti, The Enneagram, Tolle, etc. and who is trying to fit it together. It seems to me that “language” is a key, in the sense of, different ways of explaining a similar underlying reality or truth. Your blog seems interesting, and I like all the different sources you stick in. Anyway, I hope to be further enlightened by your posts, and If I have any thoughts you´ll here from me in the comments again 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi, Marcello. Many thanks for visiting my blog and for the positive feedback. I look forward to hearing from you again.
LikeLike
Wonderful…
LikeLike
Thank you for a blog… This is the first Baha’i blog I like 100%!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for your wonderful blog – Your photography is second to none of the eagle and Shrine of the Bab. I found it when i did a word search on eagle and guardian under google images. I created a small instacollage pic that incorporates your pic and a motivational quotes. i have provided a credit to your blog (including URL Link) in the hope more people read it. warm regards from canada – Anisa
LikeLiked by 1 person
Many thanks for publishing a link to my blog. I wish I could take credit for the picture but, as I remember, this was on the BWC website many years ago. It doesn’t seem to be there anymore so I’m not quite sure how to attribute it for sure.
LikeLike
https://phulme.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/eagle-and-bab.jpg looks like the photography of Marco Abrar, who has produced both a book and a DVD with many beautiful scenes from the Baha’i Gardens.
LikeLike
so glad I found your blog
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Pete, Barney Leith suggested I look at your blog and I am very glad I have. You have written lots of fascinating stuff which I am looking forward to exploring. My ideas and tools about organisation, management and personal development are on my website nickheap.co.uk, please feel free to use them any way you like. If you would like to have a chat, I definitely would, please get in touch via nick(at)nickheap(dot)co(dot)uk. Best wishes, Nick (May I put a link to your blog on my links page?)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi, Nick. Many thanks for the encouraging feedback. More than happy for you to post a link from your blog, which I plan to take a look at when things settle down this end. Similarly would be happy to chat, probably sometime after the end of the month. Warm regards,Pete
LikeLike
I read your blog on death. I am 72 and a recent widow. I stood beside my husband in a darkened hospital room and watched him take his last labored breath. He had no words because words had eluded him for many months. Alzheimers. His family and I rationalized that death was better than the alternative of enduring the inevitable painful withering of the brain. I miss him terribly and always will. In my mind he is not dead. Together we were committed to the Word. He always walked the walk. But not me. He watched as I took my first baby steps, and I joined him on the pathway. He was a little ahead of me. I have catching up to do. Death is not “death,” such an ugly and scary word. Can we change it to something more comforting so we won’t be so afraid?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for sharing your experience of death and the story of your spiritual journey. It would take more than a comment to unpack what the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, Bahá’u’lláh, meant when He transmitted the Word of God by saying: ‘I have made death a messenger of joy to thee. Wherefore dost thou grieve? I made the light to shed on thee its splendour. Why dost thou veil thyself therefrom?’The image that I use to help myself come to terms with the tests and tragedies of this world is that of the woven carpet. To those who see it from above the pattern is clear. But we, who are for the time being trapped below it, can only see the tangle of knots and dangling threads that seem to mean nothing and are certainly not beautiful. I believe that in death we join those who see the beauty of the pattern. The problem for me now is not the word death in itself, but the associations that I used to bring to it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for your comments. I have a poem on my wall called ‘The Weaver:”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Barbara, for reminding me where I got the image of the carpet from. I was trying to explain that to someone the other day but couldn’t remember. Hadn’t got round to Googling for it yet!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks again for taking the time. I am a new blogger and appreciated your feedback.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pete, sending my thanks for a really splendid review of ‘Dancing Past the Dark.’ It is so helpful –and extremely rare–to get another person’s thoughts about the book. Big gratitude!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pete, reading your post this morning, I realised it was time to say thank you for your beautiful, thought invoking, and prolific writing. Like so many, I appreciate how writing carries your body and spirit through these challenging times in much the same way that dialogue with my team and art does me. Many blessings. I am grateful.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Many thanks, Lynnclaire, for your supportive comment. It’s good to know that what raises my spirits and understanding as I write can also do the same for others as they read.
LikeLike
Thank you
LikeLiked by 1 person