Jan. 24, 2026: Dear Mr Cayley, My name is Jay Irwin, and I'm a philosophy professor at Corpus Christi College in Vancouver. It's a great pleasure to finally have a good reason to write to you. I have been a great fan of your work for so many years—decades. Indeed, I'd say your work played a large role in my first decisions to study philosophy. You acquainted me with important thinkers early on who have never left my side: Illich, Grant, Weil, the Radical Orthodoxy group, and many others.
The reason I write is that our college (specifically me and the dean, Paul Allen) are in the early phases of organizing a conference on George Grant. It would not be a large gathering, but will seek to bring together Grant experts and amateur enthusiasts to discuss his work. The tentative theme will be a focus on Grant's theology, but the direction one takes on that theme can of course be loose.
Attracting you to such a conference would be a treat for everybody present. In fact, I'm sure many of the younger scholars will, like myself, have come alive to Grant through your work. We're still in preliminary phases, as I mentioned, but this email is to merely reach out and see if you have any interest, and if so, if you might be free in October/November of this year?
Thank you for taking the moment to read and consider this. P.S. And I am very much enjoying your new book on the CBC.
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Jan.26, 2026, from David: Thanks for your letter. It made me happy to hear of your connection to my Ideas work, and also to know that you are reading the CBC book. I'm getting pretty old and travel only sparingly, but I'm interested to hear of your conference and wouldn't rule out participating altogether at this stage, so do keep me informed. I imagined George Grant smiling at the thought of his being discussed as a theologian.
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May 8, 2026, from Jay: My deepest apologies. I felt in such connection to you as I read your CBC book (a wonderful education, by the way) that I must have overlooked entirely that I did not respond to this! I do hope you'll forgive me.
We have firmed up dates for the Grant Seminar next year. Feb 12-13 2027. It will be a small, intimate gathering of scholars with a particular interest in Grant. There will be two lunches and a dinner. Our tentative title for the seminar is "George Grant and the Human Spirit," a title that we hope brings in a broad range of interests.
Again, we would be incredibly honoured if you attended. Dr. Paul Allen and I think, too, that if you were to attend, we would love to have you deliver the final remarks. Let me know if that sounds at all interesting.
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May 10, 2026, from David: I remain tempted but unlikely for your February conference, but I'm enthusiastic about meeting up while you're here in Toronto in August, so consider yourself invited to lunch at my place on some convenient day which we can determine later.
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May 10, 2026, from Jay: Thank you for having considering the conference. Even in your absence, I'm sure you'll be quoted and footnoted often.
May 21, 2026: Subject: "Subdued Brilliance: Life and Order in the Cosmic Vision of Christopher Alexander"
From Jay to David: I've just had a book accepted at Wipf and Stock (in the Veritas Series, under their Cascade imprint), written on the architectural and design theorist Christopher Alexander. For the past few weeks, I've been humming and hawing about who I might ask to possibly offer endorsements for the insert, and I've just realized that I've had the rare and recent luck of being in touch with one of my greatest unofficial teachers—David Cayley!
It's not an out-of-the-blue solicitation either, in that I'd say Alexander fits the mold of many of the sort of thinkers you seek to bring from the margins into more popular consideration. In fact, I see Alexander as someone of a deeply counter-intuitive sensibility, a thinker I believe you'll like--in the spirit of Grant or Weil or Illich. In fact, his work might be seen as a companion piece with Illich's work on the concept of "dwelling".
And just a note, an endorsement for the book does not depend on any sort of deep architectural knowledge. As I make clear in the introduction, it's a work of philosophy. If I were to sum it up, it's a philosophy on the art of vernacular building (and perhaps the processes of any art) as well as a metaphysics of "life" or a "living world".
In any case, I would love if you would take a moment to read the introduction to see if it might interest you. If it doesn't, or if it doesn't fit your schedule (the final draft is scheduled for Sept 1), please do not hesitate to say no. Thank you for taking the time. And either way, I still look forward to meeting you in-person when I'm in Toronto this August.
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May 25, 2026, from David: Despite my old esteem for Christopher Alexander, and my budding esteem for you, I began my reading of your introduction in the hope of finding a reason to say no to your request. I just have so much to do - at least by my somewhat relaxed octogenarian standards. However, I could discover no reason, and instead found many overlappings with my own reflections at the moment. So, yes, if I have 'til September, I will read your book, and write something about it.
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May 25, 2026, from Jay: I really don't know how to thank you. This is such wonderful news. Your name has great weight in the circles I travel in, and will attract the very sort of readers I hope to draw to the book, readers similar to myself! And I shouldn't be surprised that you're familiar with Alexander! That you'd fit me into your schedule means so much, David.
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Excerpts from Jay Irwin’s Christopher Alexander Book
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Sept.21, 2026, to Jay: This is Jutta writing, David Cayley's wife (now widow). I don't know if you heard that David died on June 10, not long after his last email to you. He was playing music with some friends, at our house, and his heart stopped in the middle of a song.
That was a different kind of heartbreaker for me and our families, and yet there's a lot to be grateful for.
I'm still going through his emails and just found yours this morning. And then the George Grant conference thread as well.
It happens that I have been a Christopher Alexander enthusiast for a long time, and David got me some of the early books as birthday presents. David even interviewed him once, sometime in the 1980s, during a family road trip in California, at Alexander's out-in-a-field office, while I and our then-young kids waited outside, with the kids jumping on and off a low wall (of course). That interview never went anywhere. But I'm not surprised that you've written a book that's a philosophy on the art of vernacular building (and perhaps the processes of any art) as well as a metaphysics of "life" or a "living world." I've downloaded the draft you sent him and look forward to reading it.
I have a request. Would it be okay with you if I post the relevant sections of your correspondence, and also make a link to your book when it's published?
Sept.21, 2026, from Jay: There is nothing that would give me more pleasure. Please use whatever you would like of our correspondence. I'm exceedingly honoured to be included on the website.
I heard about David's passing during the summer and have actually been composing emails to you in my mind ever since. What a wonderful surprise to see this note. I attended a faculty birthday party a few evenings ago and David came up more than a few times in conversation. One of the comments from one of the professors was that David had "educated an entire generation." I very much agree with that. The amount of thinkers his programme and books exposed me too really seem to be all the thinkers that still matter most to me—Illich, Grant, Weil. I found an old foxed copy of his "Conversations with Northrop Frye" this summer (in an old tinker, antiques, and used book shop in Port Carling) and so enjoyed it. I'm also currently re-listening to his Charles Taylor Ideas episodes. It's an endless trove.