This is my life
A succinct testimony to a life aligned with its owner. Rebanks has also spent decades trying to align farming in an industrialised, globalised context with his values and the demands of sustainability. Despite the pressures, he easily concludes he wouldn’t...
Finding peace
An interesting piece of aunt-like advice from Martha Gellhorn to Leonard Bernstein.  She emphasises the importance of not only finding a nugget of peace within yourself, and the conditions to nurture it, but the fact that maintaining it is a constant endeavour, if...
Work and peace
Hölderlin, who wasn’t frequently at peace with himself, describes the value of a day spent working, at ease and in one’s element.  How work can feel when it works.See also Adam Nicolson’s comment on the value and pleasure of working alone.Anyone who...
A weight of glory
 Merry Christmas if you celebrate it, and if you don’t, may you in any case enjoy bright stars and their weight of glory. The message of the day is an ancient one: peace on earth and goodwill to all men.’The stars shone so brightly that they made a weight...
The joy of peace
I believe we have a tendency to take peace for granted, though every day of it is a gift. Here Iris Origo captures the exuberance they felt when the Second World War came to an end. She was married to an Italian and kept a diary as the frontlines moved to and fro...
A spell of peace
An intricate description of the effect an ancient temple can work on the spirit – a falling away of complication and anxiety and a spilling over of clarity and hope. I had such a feeling when a handful of us were allowed to roam untrammelled through ruins and...Yes, sign me up!
