Alan Heeks, Author at Seeding Our Future

Hope and Resilience in the Climate and Ecological Emergency

February 6, 2023November 4, 2022 by Alan Heeks

A retreat led by Alan Heeks and Jonathan Herbert Friday Feb 3 – Sunday Feb 5, 2023 at Hilfield Friary, Dorset Using material from the Christian contemplative tradition, from Joanna Macy – a Buddhist and deep ecologist, and from Jem Bendell’s Deep Adaptation approach, the group will explore ways to grow through emergency. We will … Read more

Bridport Climate Fellowship Circle – November 3

November 28, 2022October 27, 2022 by Alan Heeks

Mutual support and higher guidance for uncertain times The worsening climate crisis, as well as Ukraine and other situations, are a valid reason for alarm, bewilderment, and other difficult feelings, and… this is also a chance to find mutual support and take positive action amid the turbulence. The idea of the Fellowship Circle is to offer a safe and creative … Read more

Feeling our way without a map

November 7, 2022October 27, 2022 by Alan Heeks

Subtle discernment for confusing times Imagine you’re in a dream where you’re trying to drive somewhere. Your satnav goes off. You realise you don’t have an old-fashioned paper map. There’s no mobile signal, so Google is no use. As you look for road signs, you see they’re blurred or dismantled. Then you notice the clear … Read more

Creating a Life Together, by Diana Leafe Christian

November 7, 2022August 16, 2022 by Alan Heeks

Invaluable wisdom for community projects This book is a must for anyone wanting to set up or join any kind of residential community, such as a cohousing group or back-to-the-land settlement. The author was editor of Communities magazine in the US for many years, and lives in a delightful ecovillage which I’ve visited. There are … Read more

How to start a community project

November 7, 2022August 10, 2022 by Alan Heeks

Seven steps up the learning curve! Since 1990 I’ve been involved in several projects with a strong community flavour: some are still going strong, some have struggled and petered out. This blog offers you seven insights I’ve gained over the years, mainly from projects which were place-based, i.e. creating a physical focus like a cohousing … Read more

Havens in storms: climate adaptation for ourselves and our communities

October 12, 2023August 8, 2022 by Alan Heeks

Saturday October 15 at Castle Green Pavilion, Hereford 10-5pm This is an exploratory workshop space, inviting both individuals, and representatives of communities and organisations across Herefordshire, to grow their capacities to adapt to the major disruptions ahead of us. We aim to explore some of the emotional, spiritual and practical development and nourishment that may … Read more

Mapping the climate alarm-denial spectrum

November 7, 2022July 18, 2022 by Alan Heeks

Where are you? Where’s your community? As the times get more confusing, mapping your situation becomes more important, and so does calibrating it. By this, I mean some kind of validation that helps you to feel that your view of your situation is realistic and appropriate. As Joanna Macy, creator of the Work that Reconnects, … Read more

The Work that Reconnects: a way to face the future

November 7, 2022July 15, 2022 by Alan Heeks

If you’re working with hazardous materials, you need good methods and equipment. The future really is hard to face: it can easily feel bleak and overwhelming. Many people feel pain and despair about the state of the world and the environment, and blank out to avoid these feelings. One of the best processes I’ve found … Read more

Menu Options at the World’s End Cafe

November 7, 2022July 1, 2022 by Alan Heeks

Don’t despair! Choose your climate response from our wide range of options.

Emergency resilience: why you need it

July 26, 2024June 27, 2022 by Alan Heeks

Learning from Boiled Frog syndrome Climate psychologists tell us that humans aren’t good at dealing with complex, diffuse threats whose timing is uncertain. It seems we’d be great at handling a woolly mammoth attack, and our evolution is way behind reality. If you compare the latest five years to the previous five, what do … Read more

Current Events

Faith, Hope, Resilience | Saturday November 9

A reflective day With Alan Heeks and Simon Lockett How can we find our steady centre in these uncertain times? Where do we place our faith and our hope? What would spiritual resilience look like, for us and our communities? This day of exploration and support will include times of prayer, meditation and sharing, with periods outside for walking contemplation as a micro pilgrimage, and for communing with Nature as a micro vision quest: recognising the power of space and silence. Our venue is Garn Farm, a conservation smallholding and woodland near Longtown, in a beautiful valley overlooking the Black Mountains. We’ll have a warm indoor group room with woodburner and kitchen, and wonderful spaces outside. See more at www.warmthandwonder.co.uk. Alan Heeks has many years’ experience exploring Nature and faith as sources of resilience, and is deeply interested in how communities can deepen to help us adapt to climate change. Simon Lockett is a pioneer in re-introducing pilgrimage to Herefordshire, and has a long-standing love for contemplative prayer and spiritual connection with the natural world. Practicalities Cost: £40, concessions £25. Bring lunch to share. Timing: Arrive 9.30am for 10am start. Finish 4.30pm. Venue: Garn Farm, near Clodock, Longtown, Herefordshire HR2 0PD. There is some overnight accommodation at Garn Farm: contact Alan about this. Bookings/enquiries: Contact Alan Heeks, , 07494 203014. Group size limited to 12 people.

Featured Blog

Spiritual purpose and community

Why we all need collective power YouYou may wonder why I see community as important in the field of spiritual purpose. It’s a belief that has only emerged for me in the past few years of mounting turbulence. It’s now very hard for lone individuals to sustain their spiritual beliefs, as well as a healthy, realistic view of life in general. Why? Because what we experience as ‘reality’ is largely a fabrication, manipulated by social media, big business and the elite. I don’t see this as a conspiracy: it’s simply in their interest to convince us that we’re isolated, vulnerable and dependent. We know that people’s beliefs and behaviour are very heavily shaped by the society around them, so even if you minimise your direct exposure, you’ll be affected by the collective, unless you live as a recluse or in an off-grid community. A meditation and sharing group at Hazel Hill Wood What I see growing in parallel with the rise of fake news and false reality is a deep need for spiritual purpose. This grows partly from a reaction to manipulation by the materialist system, but more deeply from the climate crisis, which as Jem Bendell (Deep Adaptation) and others have observed, is at root a crisis of spiritual meaning and purpose. If our familiar world is unravelling, what are we here for? What spiritual purpose means for me is having a reason for living which tries to serve the highest good of all, which gives me a sense of meaning, and lifts me beyond self-centred concern with my material needs. You’ll find a new Spiritual Purpose section on my website which explains this more fully. It also shares the vision for the Searching Spirit Centre, a spiritual community helping people to explore this theme, which I hope to co-create in the next few years. Get in touch if you’d like to get involved (). You may see spiritual purpose as an individual choice, a personal path: to some extent I agree, but these days collective exploration and support has a key role to play. I’m an advocate of Joanna Macy’s Work that Reconnects approach: she too regards groups as vital in enabling us to work through our climate distress, and find our personal and collective path. Another reason why the community aspect is important is in putting our spiritual purpose into practical action. The scale of the issues ahead for us all is beyond the capacity of individuals and nuclear households. We’re all going to need to share material resources, and lean on the collective power and emotional support that communities can provide. For many people, it seems the word spiritual is confusing or alarming: perhaps because they confuse it with organised religion, or because the word is used in so many different ways. My other major project currently is about Community Resilience, and if I’m working with a community group, I’d avoid naming the spiritual aspect, but explore it with them implicitly. There’s plenty of evidence that groups of all kinds are more together and effective when they have a strong shared purpose. Most community groups aim to serve the greater good of their locality, and the wellbeing of the people in it. Serving these aims amid mounting challenges is what I’d call a spiritual purpose. Whilst the Searching Spirit Centre will be open to working with community groups, my guess is that its clients will mostly be pioneering individuals, of any age, but hopefully many young people, who can then act as catalysts within larger groups, helping them to find their collective power and inspiration in these times of crisis and opportunity.