INTERVIEW: Charles Moseley

Writer, scholar and teacher, Charles Moseley, discusses his new book Crossroad: A Pilgrimage of Unknowing …

Why the title, Crossroad?

Many reasons:

i) When you come to a crossroads you have to choose which way to go: a moment of decision: things could have been different… You never know. It’s a sort of symbol of the journey of our life, constant choice, constant possibilities.

ii) Obvious pun on the Cross: finding your way to the foot of it. 

iii) Not all roads are parallel. Roads and paths on the ground meet and cross, but just so the paths metaphorically people travel in their lives meet, intersect, pass on, with those of others, and everyone is changed by those meetings.  And also thoughts in your mind keep swerving off to things you never thought you would think about.

What is it about walking – in the mountains, countryside, or indeed an urban setting – that is good for the soul? 

Quiet rhythm tends to – not always does - quieten the over-busy thoughts, and your mind can go into what I call soft focus, when it can think outside the box without being aware of it actually having to think ‘about’ something. It becomes less noisy as your heart rate and your breathing become deeper, slower, fuller. 

As a species, I am convinced we are nomads, and are unhappy, stressed, when our bodies are not reminded of that.

 

Moreover, walking alone is a sort of going into the desert, when you can listen – or rather, as that implies rather too much expectation, you can hear. 

How does our sense of time relate to physical places and the natural world?

What is time?  We have a very linear model of time, but it isn’t the only one possible in physics. I am convinced places keep a sort of memory of things, people, that they knew, rather as old clothes keep the odour of those who wore them. 

Is generating a renewed sense of stewardship, appreciation and care for nature and the natural world essential to not only limit the impact of climate change, but also to rediscover a more contemplative, spiritual sense to ourselves?

OF COURSE!!! 

Where, of all the places mentioned in the book - from Iona to Lindisfarne, Aran to Walsingham - have you felt most at peace with yourself and the world?

Perhaps in the church (All Saints) at Helhoughton, a place of quiet restoration after a grumpy morning when I was cross with myself and everything else, or Gooderstone, in Norfolk, on my Walsingham walk; or one October dawn in Iona, looking out over the Sound as the light came up behind Ben More on Mull.   

What advice, if any, would you give to those setting out on a pilgrimage or spiritual journey for the first time?  

Just be open. The journey is the meaning. Don’t expect too much – or indeed anything. If you do, you will be disappointed, and you won’t notice what you are being given as a gift.  Trust someone else. 

Crossroad: A Pilgrimage of Unknowing is out now in hardback, priced £20.00.

You can read a sample here: Crossroad - chapter 2 - sample.pdf (booksonix.com)

Charles Moseley is an English writer, scholar, and teacher, and a former Fellow of Wolfson College and Life Fellow of Hughes Hall in Cambridge, as well as a Fellow of the English Association, the Society of Antiquaries of London, and the Royal Society of Arts. His most recent books include Hungry Heart Roaming: An Odyssey of Sorts and Between the Tides: A Lancashire Youth.