disappear into months.

I went home with some big questions in my mind: why is it so difficult to keep prejudices from becoming attitudes which determine how we treat people? And is the only way of learning this to live in another culture for a long time?

Until now purity had implied rigid restraint to me. But purity through freedom? Purity as freedom?

There I sat, condemning a person I did not know. I suddenly saw that I was addicted to self-righteousness, a drink which breaks more people than alcohol.

The Rev Ray Simpson is Guardian of the Community of Aidan and Hilda on Lindisfarne.

The most precious secret I have found for creating happiness is the practice of silence and inner listening.

Idrees’s cousin, who was studying in London, tried to deter me from going to Pakistan by quoting ‘East is East and West is West and ne’er the twain shall meet’.

The last year has been characterized for me by two apparently opposite emotions. On the one hand the pain and grief surrounding the decline and death from cancer of my brother-in-law.

By nature I am what Australians call a 'doer', not a contemplative.

The road of selflessness and honesty, of love and purity is less travelled than some. It has superb views but is strenuous going.