Smoke Hole

Tellingly subtitled 'looking to the wild in the time of the spyglass', the three stories so eloquently developed in this book engage the imagination at a soul level. The title comes from a Siberian myth that one can hurt people by closing the smoke hole in their tent, which cuts them off from God and the divine world – the realm of prayer and the timeless, which our technologies have seduced us into forgetting. The author provides us 'something to hang your heart on' in stories featuring the handless maiden, the bewitched princess and the spyglass, each of which contains existential lessons for our spiritual journeys. The process of severance is initiated from the outside by poor decisions and from the inside by curiosity, resulting in a sequence of adventures and the ultimate vanquishing of evil.

However, we learn that 'little of substance gets forged without pressure. Duress can birth ingenuity.' (p. 31) Initiations negotiate a level of suffering and are 'an attempt to equip you to stabilise in moments of great stress.' (p. 51) The author asks how we can curate the wisdom that comes from suffering, engaging us with 'the very stuff of life'. He argues that there is a certain sacredness in defeat and that 'the mess out there is because of a mess in here': disorder in our outer world is in fact a mirror. We need to learn to listen more deeply, to cultivate a sense of awe and reverence, recovering elements of our true nature in a prolonged encounter with the wild. This can also encourage us to assume responsibilities, and such experiences can lead us to wisdom. The spyglass is a metaphor for the inhuman scrutiny of surveillance tyranny where 'the new normal is being more isolated than ever and being more connected than ever', belonging to a network rather than a community. However, it is possible for each of us to 'bring a nimble infusion of love and courage into the world' (p. 94) and reclaim our true imagination. A truly inspirational book.