The vicar in The Insatiable Moon, Kevin, is sorry. He uses the apology like a punctuation mark, not realising the power of words. Arthur picks him up on it. “No need to be, eh?” he says. It’s the gentle rebuke of a wise soul to a cleric caught in the trappings of religion.

The worst of religion is caught up in a sense of apology – an apology for life, for humour, for pleasure, for emotion, for mistakes, for vulgarity – in effect, for humanity. There’s a lot of cringing inferiority masquerading as piety in the halls of religion. A lot of it stems from a message sounded through the ages that we’re not good enough. No matter how we try to compensate for it, no matter what vain goals we set ourselves, no matter who we try to align ourselves with – still we get the sense that we just don’t make the grade. In other words, in order to be acceptable to whatever deity may be looking over our shoulder, we have to be someone better than who we are right now. Cue the abiding sense of guilt that follows. And of course, religious institutions have the franchise on just what we might need in order to make us worthy and decent. Just sign here and pay your money.

Arthur knows different. Arthur is a free spirit, caught up in the movement of love but unburdened by authority or dogma or compulsory misery. He’s happy just being who is – even though lots of people misunderstand him. He has a joy in existence, in being grateful for participating in the stream of life. He doesn’t feel the need to make himself worthy of divine love because he experiences it every living moment. Because of that he’s able to open himself to people and the world without reserve of fear of offending.

The most beautiful sight, and sadly the rarest, is a free human being. Arthur offers us the blessing of giving up our apologies for ourselves, our lives, our failures. As he says, there’s no need for it. In the moment, in every moment, there is love and insight to be found. Take a second to be grateful for yourself exactly as you are – without apology, complaint, or qualification. Here and now you are a unique person, a gift to the world. Sorry? No need to be, eh.

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