Time, tides, and finding the still point in the turning world

Abstract

Reflections. One of my favourite holiday destinations is the Isles of Scilly, a small archipelago 28 miles off the southern tip of Cornwall in the far southwest of the UK. There are five inhabited islands and numerous rocky islets. It is believed that they all once formed part of Ennor (Old Cornish for ‘Great Island’) which became partially submerged by rising sea levels towards the end of the Bronze Age (c.400 CE). On a few occasions each year when the spring tides create very low water levels, the channel between two of the islands becomes dry enough to cross between them on foot. Making such a crossing is an adventure into part of the ancient landscape of Ennor before it became fragmented. Weather permitting, on one day in spring and another in autumn when the water is at its very lowest the adventure has been celebrated in recent years with a ‘pop-up’ mini-festival on the long sandbar in the middle of the crossing. Usually under 20 feet of seawater, the bar becomes the temporary home of the aptly-named ‘Sand Bar’ serving local wines and other drinks; stalls selling island produce; musicians; performers – and dozens of people enjoying an event that must start and finish within only a couple of hours. By mid-afternoon, the Atlantic tide will have risen to reclaim the old landscape again. I was thinking about the islands and the passage of time when I began to draft this Editorial because it was there, in 2008, that I drafted the initial proposal for a yet-to-be-named journal which would provide an ‘interdisciplinary, inter-professional forum’ where those engaged in the study and practices of spirituality could share and debate the many issues and insights which were then largely being generated and discussed in separate ‘silos’. The journal proposal, together with preparations for a conference, were integral parts of ongoing plans to create the British Association for the Study of Spirituality (BASS). Since that time, BASS has become the International Network for the Study of Spirituality (INSS), its seventh biennial international conference will take place in 2023, and the journal proposal resulted in what you are now reading: the Journal for the Study of Spirituality (JSS), currently in its twelfth year of publication. In several previous Editorials, I have recounted some of the anecdotes associated with getting the proposal accepted, choosing a title for the journal, and the subsequent ups and downs, via five different publishing companies, of its progress to date. Following my usual summary of the contents of this issue, I will outline some new developments which will be taking place in relation to the journal in 2023 – and conclude with a final anecdote. When writing an Editorial, I have sometimes commented on contemporary events with which it has coincided. As I began this one, my thoughts about the passage of time were profoundly affected by the sad news on 8 September that Queen Elizabeth II had died. Until her state funeral took place ten days later, the news channels in the UK were dominated by stories about her life and reports of reactions to her death. Regardless of views on the nature of