The imagination is fertile. From seeds of the imagination, much is made manifest.

Non-pantheist models for god seem almost completely untenable to me, though not without interest.

I mean, in 1979 I was seven. I do remember punk, though, as a playground phenomenon, and remember that it was exciting to us. It really was, to a five- or six-year-old, quite a thrilling enticement to revolt. The anarchy sign scratched in desk tops, and so on.

What I find difficult about Buddhism, though it is also one of its significant fascinations, is the focus on what is immediately and physically present. To me, this seems a denial of the imagination, and the imagination is very important to me.

If we do want to do that [ colonise space to survive, ], then vacuous materialism is not going to be enough for us.

I suppose what I can say is that I do feel I have a natural spiritual sensibility.

I associate my childhood with two things, mainly: the North Devon countryside and a sense of connection to another world.