Uncivil Savant Podcast

At 1am on 4th February , after a full 90 minute cycle of good deep sleep, I was awoken by the image of a vast bog or marsh, stretching between two conical mountains, such as found in the water-lands of Sutherland, in the far north of Scotland. But my mind was in the sphagnum moss and bog myrtle, not on the heathered high mountain sides. Over the next minutes a response flooded out of me to a quest...

I am taking a break from writing essays this week. Instead, here’s a poem from the autumn in France, an ochre story and a recent painting. I hope you enjoy them. First published here with full transcript, notes and more images, January 30th 2023. Get full access to Uncivil Savant at carolineross.substack.com/subscribe

Today I want to write about tempering. Years ago I went to make a knife with the skilful Devon blacksmith and experimental archaeologist Dave Budd . Two days working flint with renowned knapper Anthony Whitlock had felt approachable to my hands as it required only short, momentary percussion and careful intent to make a serviceable blade. Working with fire and steel was another matter… First publi...

In October 2015 many forces came together in my life, the remaining ripples of which began to settle last year, when I turned 50. Looking back, over 7 years later, I see threads emerging that are now woven into my writing and art life, including here at Uncivil Savant . I want to share something of those beginnings with you, to allow a better understanding of how I came to be exploring this territ...

Seemingly endless rain is lashing down on old England as my friends in New England write describing snowdrifts many feet deep in their ‘once in a hundred years’ storm. I am away in London for New Year, spending the evening peacefully alone by choice, reading, meditating and bringing you this piece. A year ago I wrote to my friend Dougald, having just found words for a rebellion in me against the d...

Join me appreciating plant kin this Yule , while I enjoy with family the flavours and scents of tannin-rich oak, cloves, raisins, mint and bay in our festive food, plus lashings of tea, of course. My gratitude to the plant kingdom has no end. When you raise your glass or cup, it likely contains blessed polyphenols… They, and we, are steeped in meaning. First published here with full transcript, no...

Winter Solstice approaches and I am packing to go and see dear friends and beloved family over Solstice and Christmas, both of which I celebrate. I wanted to post something special for you, so here is one of my all-time favourite teaching stories, a Taoist parable, if you like. Make yourself a cup of tea, no matter if it’s finest jasmine, oolong, Yorkshire Tea with milk, or Barry’s Tea if you’re i...

This piece is a response to a recent essay by Rhyd Wildermuth and an opportunity to expand on a letter to my friend Dougald Hine . I’ll raise the case for haptic richness over the tyranny of frictionless surfaces, show how our ancestors left us plenty of medicine in unlikely places, and suggest that there is no time, or at least no linear time, in the palm of your hand. For help from Blake, my mot...

The piece below for Dark Mountain Issue 8 Technê was my first essay published in a book, or indeed anywhere other than on the T'ai Chi school blog which I started in 2005. Thankfully, it was edited down by Steve Wheeler from a rambling sprawl to this short essay, where I attempt to get to some of the deeper aspects of Chuang Tzu 's wonderful teaching story. I have updated it very slightly for you...

True wildness… Published here with full transcript, November 30th 2022. Get full access to Uncivil Savant at carolineross.substack.com/subscribe

If you want to quieten your mind do this: go to the river and stare at the surface, do not allow your eyes to move at all... Published here with transcript, notes and more images, November 24th 2022. Get full access to Uncivil Savant at carolineross.substack.com/subscribe

There is a line in a quatrain by Rumi often rendered as, ‘There are a thousand ways to pray’. But it literally reads, ‘There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the ground’. How much of life goes missing when we speak only of disembodied ideas? Replaying the words of a prayer as a voice in our heads is not the same as lowering our bodies to the earth and placing our mouths softly against it. Fee...

Welcome to the first of the podcast-hosted audios of all Uncivil Savant posts, so they can all live in one place, for easier listening. After over a year of weekly audio versions of posts, since first publishing on Substack, it seemed a good idea to use the podcast feature for those who always prefer to listen, rather than read my work. As time progresses I hope to add other audio and musical extr...