From the publisher…
WHEN MY FATHER died of cancer in 2010 he left me all the inspired writing he’d produced since experiencing a moment of spiritual discovery in his early twenties. I’d known he planned to entrust me with this collection of manuscripts and we’d talked of it often.
Writing was one of the interests Dad and I shared, though our focus was in different areas. My passion has always been writing for children, but I spent most of my working life as a journalist and editor. Dad was inspired to write spiritual pieces that encouraged people seeking truth to turn their attention inward, rather than looking for answers to the meaning of life in the outside world.
In 1984 Dad’s memoir The Happy Children was released as a bilingual publication by Artlook Books. Over the years he also wrote countless letters on topical subjects to newspapers and became quite well known for these in his local community. However, most of Dad’s writing was only shared among family and friends and did not find a wider audience because he wasn’t driven to seek publication. I always felt that making his work available to other spiritual seekers was my role, although I didn’t take any practical steps to do this until 1999.
At that time Dad was experiencing the greatest challenge of his life — caring for my mother, his beloved “blue-eyed girl” as she slipped ever deeper into Alzheimer’s disease. I wanted to do something to lift his spirits so I published a collection of his essays about Jesus as a small paperback called Beyond the Cross.
When Mum died I expected Dad to pick up his pen again and continue the writing that had been interrupted by more pressing demands on his time and energy, but not long afterwards he was diagnosed with cancer and instead spent his final years in quiet contemplation and communion with nature. It is now my task to pick up where he left off and fulfil the commitment I made to him and myself to take his legacy of spiritual writing to those who might find it helpful on their own life journey. The first three titles, Beyond the Cross, Beside Still Waters and The Silent Guardian, were published in 2014. Sea Song Publications was established in 2018 as the next stage of the publishing process and the first six titles in the Kitchen Table Philosopher Series were produced.
Some would describe Dad’s inspired writing as “channelling”. However you choose to think of the message contained in these publications, it is offered from one heart to another with love.
Teena Raffa-Mulligan
Sea Song Publications 