The ebook contains every post on this website from its inception in March 2018 up to and including 3rd March 2026
The Crusaders
Deus Vult
There has to be a better way.
Middle East Slaughterhouse
Who’re you rootin’ for?
The Authoring of Reality – A Creative Cosmos
We humans are the mechanism by which the universe explores itself. We are a part of the universe thinking and deciding what it wants to become next.
To Touch the Face of God
The formless and ineffable source and pattern of the cosmos.
Trump Uber Alles
Heil Donald.
Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains
As the world writhes in the grip of rapidly increasing extremism and greed, it would be as well to imagine what a better world might look like
Barbarians at the Gate
And they have always been there. The question is what, if anything, to do about it.
Peace and Love
They were right all along, the peaceniks and beatniks, the hippies and the ban the bombers.
Free Will?
An enormous amount of bullshit on the topic resolves into two simple polar opposites.
The Psychological and Physiological Reality of Meditation
I write as a personal testimony, and out of gratitude.
3 Evil Men
Why does a population of 9 billion allow itself to be enslaved by a handful of tyrannical despots?
Ditching Belief….
… and the “Need to Know” is a big step on the road to peace and the elimination of suffering.
Who needs a guru?
Nobody does. Certainly not the variety on public offer.
Letter from a Senior Devil
I have found that meditation does exactly what it says on the tin.
War and Peace
Slash and burn, kill and maim.
An Atheist’s Guide to Nirvana
Transcendence is a reality and can change life for the better.
Extremism
If there can be said to be a “root” of evil look no further than extremism. Here are a few…
No Man is an Island
Peace can be found by treating life as a whole, and not otherwise.
Eudaimonia
A description of the state of being and of mind achievable through meditation.
Transcendence
Not an impossible dream.
It’s the Bloody Immigrants
They’ve ruined the country.
Welcome, Deepseek!
Scientific advances in AI belong to all humanity. Not to monopolistic and greedy Tech Titans.
How to Meditate
I am no teacher. All I can tell you is how I meditate and what it has done for me. Anything else would be a shocking arrogance.
Czech Art
I was following Moscow Rules as I turned left out of Bywater Street and headed along King’s Road for Sloane Street and Harrods.
Welcome Back Donald!
As we shuffle forwards once more towards dystopia and death camps.
Contemporary Art
As a pacific anarchist, I find up to the minute art much to my taste.
“Just the chemicals”?
Or does meditation reveal the face of god?
Life becomes Meditation
I find that my entire life has become a meditation. And that it has brought me peace.
The Terrorism of Ideology and Dogma
Original ideas, whether in religion or politics, may originate as beneficial and humane but all too often become adopted by a group of thugs who take it upon themselves to imprison, torture and kill.
…that Peace which the world cannot give…
If you are a subscriber to the guilt ridden miseries of Western religion, then peace will indeed be unobtainable.
Meditation – a wider perspective
So much can be found on the internet on the subject of meditation, and so little of it has any value.
Letting Go
I wondered whether I was small and insignificant enough to pass through the eye of a needle.
Opinions and the Opiniated
I have become very wary of expressing any opinion – it can so easily turn into aggression.
Nothing Matters
Except how you treat others.
The Migrant Rat
Even the housewife realised that the kingdom’s ills were caused by migrants.
Song of the Abbey
In an ancient abbey on a remote hilltop they sang to their god in harmony.
A Meditative Road to Enlightenment
Is it too immodest to suggest that one may have found a path?
The Unwashed
Tate Britain has become very political and I cannot claim disapproval.
Dune!
Another day, another superhero.
Getting it Badly Wrong
Note to self: “Must try harder”.
Gnosis
Being the Greek noun for “knowledge”.
Puzzle’s Stable
Or, if you prefer, Plato’s Cave
The Road to Nowhere
A series of what others of a more conventionally religious persuasion might call revelations.
The Wardrobe
I have been through the Doors of The Wardrobe and I do not intend to return.
Communing with the Infinite
It is hard to express the profound experience to be found in meditation without sounding oily and unctuous.
A Great and Mighty Wonder
Few would dispute that a mystery lies at the heart of our reality.
Quo Ego Vado?
I want to write about my experiences with meditation, in the hope of helping anyone who seeks relief from suffering. And release from the need to seek an answer to that question.
Hoc Futui
Which sums up everything I now believe in.
Purpose in a Meaningless Universe
You are unlikely to find it, unless you provide it yourself.
Peace
Internal or external, the path to peace is the same.
Credo
Too often have I pronounced upon that in which I do not believe.
Vanity Fair
Who treads the path and why.
Meditation – Nonsense or Nirvana?
Somewhere between these two extremes perhaps.
Pilgrim
One who travels to a shrine or holy place
King Charles’s Roman Circus
Today’s £125m fancy dress party both amused and bemused me.
As Man Thinketh in His Heart…
So is he.
Enlightenment
What is this fabled state of being he wondered. After many years of contemplation, he thought perhaps he might know.
A Mesmeric approach to the Dark Night of the Soul
Would Mesmerism prove any more effective than any of the other thus far useless approaches which promised salvation?
Under the Bodhi Tree
A descent into silence and meditation. A search for the soul.
The Door
And here you are, at the center of eternity, the end point of all. You are out of the physical realm here, all is pure thought.
Life on Earth
In a perfectly manicured estate beside the Thames in Central London, he came to the conclusion that life, as such, did not matter so very much.
The Chapter House
Some weeks after their adventures with the Book of Ways, Polly and Eustace sat enjoying a breakfast of boiled eggs and generously buttered toast in their little sitting room…
Seeking economic benefit?
Wouldn’t you if you were living in the Third World on 10 cents a day?
Beyond
The urge to write seems to be a purge, to be taken from time to time to express what it is one believes one has learnt.
Thin Places
“There are more things in heaven and earth than most people would dream of” chuckled Septimus. “If my dealings with Mages and their ways are anything to go by, you have both been called and must not be found wanting. Some great adventure awaits you.”
Time Stands Still
An air of deep unusualness greeted him, as he opened his door on a blustery autumn morning and set out to walk through the woods.
“Worldly”
Some consider it a compliment to be described as “worldly”. To others of a more reflective disposition, such a description might be considered as unfortunate.
Words from a Garden
Why is there something rather than nothing, he mused. Does life have any purpose.
Taliban
Has it ever known peace, this sad and beautiful land.
Sea of Words
Can you count the stars in the sky, the grains of sand on a beach. Can you hear a voice in the infinite Sea of Words unleashed by an age of digits and silicon.
City of Iniquity
Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood and stablisheth a city by iniquity.
As for Man, his Days are as Grass
As a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.
Spring
What a difference a few weeks can make and how powerful the influence of the season upon the mood. If ever evidence were needed that we are mere creatures of nature, there be it.
Winter
Rumination, or call it reflection perhaps. Free of the destructive connotations of the former, the latter seems more wholesome. A liberating appraisal of a life lived less well than it could have been.
Which Way
Will you listen, perchance, to a holy man or prophet. Does philosopher or mage have the answers you seek, a fool even.
Meditation – Proof of the Pudding
Does it work?
Doubt and Daemons
While some may appear to lead a life unperturbed by fear and doubt, many are driven by forces less benign.
“What is it like to be”……Trump?
The soon to be ex President of the USA represents everything that is wrong with our species and yet what must it be like to live inside that shell of violent emotion? We should pity the man and people like him.
Gardening for the Soul
Recently, gardening has become more than a metaphor for me. I have followed Candide in a literal sense and found great peace in our garden.
Chaos and Uncertainty
I have not found it any easier to accept uncertainty in recent years despite my intellectual acceptance that it is unavoidable.
The Traveler – Ch. 4
The Bleak
Many eons back and countless light years from anything, in another dimension and another universe, a voice cried out in the cold darkness.
Extinction Rebellion
I find it hard to criticize any of the aims of Extinction Rebellion. Almost all of what they advocate accords with my own deeply felt convictions on what is wrong with our world.
The Traveler
Where he came from or where he went, none knew, and no one could guess. On Arkady, he was simply known as the Traveler.
The Traveler – Ch.3
Back on the Good Ship Lollipop, Aeolus sat on a beach by the sea listening to gentle waves lapping the shore.
The Traveler – Ch.2
The Good Ship Lollipop hung in geo stationary orbit above Arkady, positioned directly over Alomkik. Were it not cloaked in invisibility, the Arcadians would have seen wondrous things indeed in the heavens.
My kind of God
I have been profoundly moved by religion my entire life. I have always believed in the “Good” even though I may not always have done it.
Post Scarcity
How many lives lost in competition for scarce resources.
Moving On
What now I wonder.
On Good and Bad
Will we make a better world for all, a different universe. Or will the wheel of samsara never be broken.
To be Free
Release from the shackles of a mind made prison, sought for so many years and yet so recently achieved.
Equanimity
Equanimity, the acceptance of unity and seeing through duality.
Being
Sitting in the garden listening to the rain.
Meditation
To sit in dappled shade in the late summer sunshine. To breathe the soft cool wind, to close eyes and let the mind wander where it will.
The High Cost of Woo
I find myself wondering how much the historical Jesus billed Lazarus for his resurrection.
Sitting in the Rain
Gene Kelly may have danced; I just sat but with equal pleasure no doubt.
Age or Change
My mind drifted this morning, far from the algorithm I was working on. Was I old I wondered or had I simply changed.
Seeking Meaning
Deep in meditative trance a voice, my own perhaps, told me that I sought a god and had always done so.
A Garden in the Night
Last night was a night of my soul, but not a dark one.
Make Believe
While there may be no god and no objective morality, we may act as if there were. Some of us find that we must.
Ancient and Modern
While mesmerized by the beauty of nature and the past, naive Luddism is not a philosophy I espouse or admire.
And Did Those Feet
I felt it as soon as I sat down, the presence. Or was it a smell, a feeling a sound of silence.
The Past is a Foreign Country
They do things differently there. Or do they? Man’s real fear is of the unknowable future.
A World Without Money
Imagine a resource based economy, where we revert to nature and make our planet a shared resource rather than one dominated by crooked politicians and greedy capitalists.
Lost in Thought
Lost is often a good thing. Thought may not be so good.
Unspoken, Unwritten, Unthought
The happiest mind is the empty mind. The mind of pure experience. Empty of though but full of what is.
From the Hymn of Empedocles
We overlook everyday beauty dogged by anxiety about the future.
Achievement
What does achievement mean? What have you achieved and by what standards will you be judged? Will you be found wanting and if so should you care?
The Medici
If you are tempted to envy the wealth, power and influence once wielded by this famous Florentine dynasty, consider what it took to achieve and maintain it.
Mystical Unity
Hard as they are to describe, if I had to use one word to paint a picture of a mystical…
Anger
It is very disappointing to have given in to anger, which in retrospect could easily have been averted by withdrawing from the scene.
The Path of Slowness
Slowness is a vital ingredient, in my case at least, in encouraging me along the path I wish to follow.
Mystical Experience of Reality
There are certain activities or states of mind which trigger in me what Abraham Maslow calls “peak experiences”. Reading Keith Hancock’s Mystical Experience of Reality does just that.
A Funny Old Monk
My 26 year old son is clearly a perceptive fellow and he hit the nail on the head when describing his father as “a funny old monk”.
To Seek Silence
Silence is not the absence of sound but the absence of noise. Noise is not simply the presence of undesired sound.
In the World but not Of It.
A while back I found myself disturbed that a blogger could crusade in favor of violence and dissension and against ecumenism.
Nosce Te Ipsum
Can we ever know ourselves? And what is there to know?
A Road Less Traveled
If we seek reality, I am told that we look in the wrong direction by obsessing over the human condition. I think that is right.
So, ecumenism is bad for society?
I was sad to come across a post on the internet entitled “The Ecumenical Slope” whose author is both anti ecumenism and pacifism and who appears to believe that such doctrines destroy “character”.
I’m off to Narnia
When it comes to parallel universes, it does not get much better than Narnia. Where better to escape the troubles of a world which at times feel overwhelming.
Glimpses of “Truth”
Enjoying the cool spring sunshine this morning, I had a moment of truth as my eye was caught by dew drops in the long grass. I was sitting in our beautiful patch of wild meadow at the bottom of the garden.
Edge of the World
I wonder if this is what it felt like during the phoney war in 1939? A period of almost surrealistic calm before the horrors of world War II really began.
Preparing for the Apocalypse
I’m pretty relaxed about the whole thing and since I have self isolated now for nigh on 30 years, I’m not too bothered about keeping myself to myself. If the writing is on the wall, so be it.
William Blake – The Lamb and The Tyger
I decided to read and record two poems from William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience. I chose the Lamb from the Songs of Innocence and its counterpart the Tyger from the Songs of Experience.
An Introduction
I am starting a podcast and those who are in the know tell me I must introduce myself. So here goes.
Doing it Differently
Breaking up my routine seems to add enormously to my well-being. While I might not persuade my wife to let me go trekking in the Empty Quarter, even mild change can be very beneficial.
End Game
There is nothing more sobering than a great deal of time spent in a hospital with the critically ill. Nothing more rewarding either.
Tetelestai
It is finished – yes I think I know just what the poor fellow meant.
Faith and Doubt
Most of us have developed a worldview but I wonder how many of us let doubt destroy it?
I am not Gay
Nor multicultural, nor multi gender, nor am I trans….and, odd to relate nor am I a bigot or a racist.
Is Consciousness an Illusion?
Many now hold that consciousness is a trick, wrought upon an illusory “us” by physics and you may therefore wish to contemplate whether you exist at all.
Blogging – A Window onto the Soul
I was struck today when looking at my collection of Blog “Tags” just how much they reveal about my character and obsessions.
Should you Revisit the Past?
No, I am minded to believe you should remain firmly rooted in the present, making new experiences.
The Misnomer of Public “Service”
All too often public “servants” come to serve nothing but their own interests. When entrusted with the property of the…
A Valediction to the Church of England
Only the Church of England would sign its own death warrant.
On Choosing Happiness
I believe on any number of counts, including personal experience, that we have the power to choose to be happy but the road is not altogether straightforward.
Sex Education – Netflix
While the repressed prude may find Sex Education distasteful, those with a more discerning eye will value its gentle humour and shrewd commentary on human nature.
Mysticism – Experience over Intellect
Countless words have been written about mysticism but only direct experience will ever be able to convey what it is “like”.
Hearing the Logos
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Messiah – Netflix
Profound and beautiful would be my best shot at describing this wonderful new series Messiah from the creative genius that is Netflix.
The Algorithm
The parallels between Taoism and the Algorithm are unmistakable, comforting and instructive.
Fading
I had a curious sensation of fading, being absorbed into the background, while walking along a country lane in glorious winter sunshine.
In, and out of the Silence
Can or should you remain in a state or place of “silence” or must or ought you return to the world?
Letting go
I hadn’t quite realized until very recently just how damaging the human ego is.
Unworked Wood
Let the world go by and you may find yourself at peace.
Mysticism
Fascinated by the concept of transcendence I have started to conceptualize what I believe such states of existence could be.
The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth
Figuratively speaking I suspect the meek are indeed blessed and that in a sense they shall inherit, if not the earth, then at least a life of peace.
Travel Broadens the Mind
A day in Rye in East Sussex does not sound every-man’s idea of excitement but it is change which is important to the psyche, not distance traveled.
The Contented Craftsman
Is there anything so wondrous as a man truly happy in his own skin and content with his life and…
To Concentrate on “Good Things”
How much better you feel when you focus on the good and ignore the bad.
The Internet of Fools
The internet is colonized by those who do not know that they do not know. Fools to put it less politely. Why?
The Man in the White Porsche
There is nothing quite so odd as an elderly, fat, aggressive pig driving a white Porsche.
Picture from the Post Apocalypse
Imagine yourself, if you will, in a world post the apocalypse to come.
Hope and Despair
For the miserable, moody and mercurial, one’s outlook can swivel on a sixpence. Or dime, if you prefer. Not so…
The Railway Children
There can be few greater attractions than sitting on a country railway station.
Lead Kindly Light
I found myself transported back to the time of Cardinal Newman this evening, sitting in a glum old seaman’s church on the coast at Walmer.
Economic Growth Sucks
Do we need economic growth? I find myself answering “no”.
Cynicism and LinkedIn
What makes a cynic? Reason and experience in life or the cold hand of genetic inheritance? Are cynics just born?…
Out of Your Head
It is easy enough to empathize with addicts if, for large chunks of your existence, you have had an overwhelming need to get out of your own head.
ChristianMingle.com
A kind friend sent me what I took to be a flyer for ChristianMingle.com, which appears to be a sex…
The Limits of Reasoning
“What Am I” is the most important question I can ask and yet the answer may have to be discovered not by reasoning but by experience.
To be a Prisoner
I spent the week incarcerated in Calais. It lead me to contemplate the unimaginable horror of prison life.
Is Sex Dirty?
Objectively, as a mere means of reproduction, it is hard to see how sex can be considered disgusting. And yet many humans consider it so.
Sore Points: Settle or Leave to Fester?
Should sore points be discussed and settled in the open or be buried in the hope they will go away?
1 Corinthians 13.
Dream on Paul of Tarsus. Who are you kidding?
The “Influencer”
There can be few callings which I hold is such low esteem as that of the “Influencer”.
Margate Minge
The Margate of my youth was a poorer place without Ms Emin but I am nonetheless delighted to say the working class seaside atmosphere remains.
The terror of early humans
A visit to the Bronze Age Boat gallery today brought home very forcibly the sheer terror I would have felt…
The Benefits of People Watching
If you are going to talk to people at all, make sure they are people you do not know and are foreign as regards your class, tribe or social milieu.
On Facing Daemons
“Exi ergo, transgressor. Exi, seductor, plene omni dolo et fallacia, virtutis inimici, innocentium persecutor.”
Hobbiton-on-Sea
One of the advantages of living in Middle Earth is observing the locals at work and play.
Game of Thrones 8
If you think it’s all about sex, dragons and slaughter you might just be wrong. It’s also about apocalypse and that I find rather fascinating.
Billions -Faint Disgust?
I watched an episode of Season 2 of Billions last night and was left with an unaccustomed feeling of repulsion.…
Shock and Awe – Battersea Power Station
How small and insignificant I felt grovelling at the foot of this seventh wonder of the world.
The Destructive Power of Cynicism
Reading of the demise of renowned fund manager Neil Woodford, I was reminded of my deep capacity for destructive cynicism.…
Original thinking or garbled trope?
Too often writers feel obliged to offer up a digest or synthesis of what they have read rather than contributing anything new or original.
Does Evil Exist?
In the absence of conscious beings with free will, morality can not exist. Picture a universe of infinite violence such as our own with no sentient life.
Seek and You shall Find
In the mental world, in our interior “reality” we can find whatever we want. Whatever we are looking for.
Love is……
Love is a primary and immutable moral imperative and is not subjective or relative to any particular age or society.
The Limited Use of Self Awareness
“The unexamined life is not worth living” said Socrates and few would doubt the wisdom of his belief. But is self awareness enough?
Is there an objective morality?
Is there an objective morality? If so, how can we learn about it? Or is the whole idea of a universal morality misguided?
Anger is Self-Harm
The anger I felt after a set-to a week ago was a futile exercise in self harm.
Psalm 42- Where is Now Thy God?
Like as the hart desireth the water brooks, so longeth my soul after thee O God.
Another Day, Another Guru
I was listening to some cross legged Russian windbag this morning pontificating on why micro-dosing psychedelics was bad news. It…
12 Ways to Wipe Your Butt
Why do the cretinous like numbered lists? And why do they annoy me so much?
To every thing there is a season.
There is a season for learning and a season to realize you know enough.
This too shall pass
The world is full of annoyance and “noise” in the statistical sense. Meaningless “stuff”, which in the bigger picture it is best to ignore. To shrug,walk away from.
Jesus Christ Has Risen Today.
There is something enormously satisfying about a communion service at an ancient Anglican church on Easter Sunday.
Dead Susan: Requiescat in Pace
The Good Aunt
Creating God
I do not believe that the concept of “god and science are incompatible. Provided that we accept that we have created the concept of “god” in the first place and that through science we have the means to become godlike.
What fool bought that?
What I ought to have bought was a mobility cart and a year’s pass to the Bingo Hall. What I…
Vierne: Messe Solennelle
Rarely have I felt such intensity as when singing Vierne’s Messe Solennelle with Fulham Camerata last Saturday.
Peace at Last
Very occasionally one gets a glimpse of peace and today was one of those all too rare days.
There Comes a Time
I was contemplating meditation at the Wat Buddhapadipa in London and revisiting the basics of Buddhism this morning,
Processed for the Slaughterhouse.
In the featured image, Leni Riefenstahl and a camera crew stand in front of Hitler’s car during the 1934 rally…
Born Again
I have always been faintly amused by the idea of earnest Christian converts sliding down a giant birth canal into…
Beautiful Place, Beautiful People?
No, it didn’t quite work out like that, it never does. However Arcadian the setting, we humans will wreck it…
An Allegory of Man 1596
The painting warns the viewer of the soul’s vulnerability to the vanities of the world. It strikes me as a…
William West, 1st Lord Delawarr
The somewhat brutal face and the arrogant pose of William West, 1st Lord Delawarr, reassures us that human nature has…
All Victories are Pyrrhic
Whether or not you win a conflict, something will have been lost.
Between the Cracks
I am frightened of homeless people. They remind me how all too easy it is in this world to simply fall between the cracks.
Alone in a Pew
If you are going to go to church, go alone and go when it is empty.
Me and My Vulva
Well not mine actually – its just that I liked the headline. The Guardian’s article Me and My Vulva gave…
Depression – Mind or Matter?
The state of depression is easy enough to describe but it is doubtful whether mere words manage to convey the depth of the misery to one who has never suffered from it.
Quackery and Useless Twaddle
Why is so much of the internet “told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”?
Conscious Nonsense
I am deeply disturbed to discover what a search on the word “consciousness” produces when you sift through Wordpress websites.
Hospital Blues
If you are feeling bad and want to feel a lot worse, I recommend a trip to your local government hospital.
Philosophy – Would we need it if we were happy?
Would we spend so much time in hand wringing existential anxiety if we discovered the genetic code of the pain…
Gillette Advertisement Controversy
Good on Gillette: it would be hard to deny that male aggression has played a vast and malignant role in our history.
The Internet Ain’t All Bad
While there are indeed vast swathes of Kardashians, footballers wives and people who live in Chigwell you should avoid like the plague on the internet, I would argue that the technology has immeasurably enriched our lives rather than debased it.
More From the Christian Cultist
Without comment in any shape or form (lest I deviate from my new found resolve) I report the unhappy fall…
How to be a Happy Human
Given the basic needs of life and in the absence of physiological abnormality, the solution is fairly simple. The trick…
Dangerous Religious Cults
Religion becomes a dark and dangerous tool in the wrong hands. I visited a website called Do What’s Right today and was…
What is the Purpose of Poetry?
Does poetry have a purpose? If so, then what? I noticed today that by far the majority of WordPresss bloggers…
Davos 2019
I lived in Davos-Kosters for years and loved the WEF.
Crossing the Bar – Alfred Lord Tennyson
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
Cast Out the Beam
It seems so inordinately difficult to be a decent human, unless you were born that way.
The Snob
How hilarious, the asinine snob.
Gerard Manley Hopkins – Heaven Haven
I HAVE desired to go
Where springs not fail,
The Pig
The only way to deal with the Pig is to wipe him out of your life as you would remove excrement from your shoe.
Father and Son
There comes a time in your life when, if you are lucky enough to have a son, you recognize he has become a man. And of course to you, a very special one.
Are you what you read?
The modern trope would have it that you are what you eat, but the metaphor needs taking further.
Joy to the World
I will never be able to resolve my unshakable disbelief in Christian dogma with the profound peace I find singing sacred classical music in an ancient English church with a good choir.
Why I doubt my Existence
I believe that I am merely a “program” and that similar programs run every animal and living thing on earth.
The Little Drummer Girl
I read the book with much enjoyment many years ago, but this lavish BBC adaptation of John Le Carré’s 1983 novel raises the bar to very high levels indeed.
The Shameful, Avoidable Horror of Dementia and Old Age
We would put an animal down, surely we can offer the same courtesy to a human?
My Old Sweet Etcetera – A Reading
For Eleanor.
This anti war poem, written by American poet EE Cummings and published in 1926, is such a perfect specimen of the genre.
Isness
Happiness is only attainable once you recognize that everything just “is”.
La Belle Dame Sans Merci – John Keats – a Reading
Sometimes sad and sometimes not, our stories and our poems, our Green Ladies and our Belles Dames are reflections of our desires and anxieties.
A reading: Sonnet 18, Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? A reading.
Shakespeare: Sonnet 18
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
YouTube Trailer
Encouraged and enthralled by Kim Kardashian West I was wondering whether to record a welcome video for my YouTube Channel.
If….by Rudyard Kipling
A reading of “If….” which I made for my YouTube channel.
John Keats – Ode To Autumn – a Reading
I have already written a few words about Ode to Autumn but felt minded to record my own reading of it.
If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs….
Kipling’s poem “If” is profound and moving.
Supermarket Phobia
While the modern shopping experience ranks low on my list of existential anxieties, it nonetheless merits mention as one of life’s annoyances.
A Gospel for the 21st Century Pagan
If we 21st Century pagans were to write our own book of “Good News” what would it contain?
A Finger Pointing to the Moon
Master Po say “Grasshopper never mind finger, go for moon”.
Here lies one whose name was writ in water.
Far from disappearing, Keats and his incomparable poetry have lived on after his death.
The Great and The Good are neither “Great” nor “Good”.
I have had three occasions recently, which gave me pause for thought about vanity, motive and human stupidity.
Taking Sides
Can it ever be right to take sides in a dispute? Does it ever help?
How to be Human in an indifferent Universe
How damaging we are to each other. How grim the human condition can become, and it does not take war…
Wittgenstein’s ladder: to climb or not to climb?
The happiest are those who have never heard of Wittgenstein’s Ladder. If asked, they probably assume its something you buy in Homebase.
I know that my Redeemer Liveth
Success in seeking the Absolute may simply be a matter of altering our minds chemically.
Seeking the Eternal in Systematic Investment
The process of coding financial market trading systems is fascinating , but they never seem to last very long and their performance is never very consistent.
L’enfer, c’est les autres
Teamwork my arse. Hell is definitely other people.
Stephen Fry’s Hippopotamus
Fry is a comic genius although his comedy is tinged with darkness. Erudite, witty and (dare I say it) profound.
Could Adolf have chosen to behave differently?
Pavlov’s dog aside we do not expect, largely, to change the nature or behavior of an animal. Why should we expect to change our own?
Norman Nembutal
For the ever mercurial Alfred the sun did not rise yesterday. After a splendid microdosed Sunday, he woke with a bump on Monday morning.
The Iconoclast of Iconoclasts
Psychologically related to nihilism and anarchy, the Iconoclast of Iconoclasts (“IoI”) seeks, for reasons not entirely clear (even to himself)…
Investment Myopia
Myopia, or nearsightedness is a common affliction among those who seek to profit from the financial markets. All too often…
Discarding the Irrelevant
In recent years I have found it increasingly beneficial to narrow my focus.
“I” do not exist
I have felt with increasing certainty recently that the Buddhists are right. We have no separate existence, no soul, no fixed place in the universe.
Mindfulness vs. Physiology
Much is made these days of the concept of “mindfulness”. It is the cure-all of the new age. Depressed? Mindfulness…
Where are the songs of spring?
What exquisite bitter-sweetness, an English autumn in the countryside.
God’s Bleak House
Said to be the second oldest parish church in the country, churches don’t come much bleaker than All Saints, West Stourmouth, Kent.
In Defense of the Trinity
Are we living in the 21st Century? How do serious people honestly believe in such man made hogwash.
Matins in a country church
In a lifelong search for meaning, I have found little to compare with matins in an English country church.
We are looking for the following qualities….
Such words are prone to make me lift my laptop and smash it to the ground.
Right Thinking
I had a delightful morning over a cup of coffee with some acquaintances I had been meaning to get to know better.
If God could be killed, it’d be dead already
“…..the philosophy of personal identity is relevant in the realm of ethics by helping us address age-old questions like whether being born is good or bad.”
Consider the Lilies of the Field…
…how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin…
Thoughts from the back of beyond.
The back of beyond is where I want to be. And I am back, at the back of beyond. I have come in a full circle.
On Age
Cleopatra was fortunate indeed, the rest of us may age less well. But we should embrace age, not resent or fear it.
Thought as the enemy of Moksha
Analysis and thought are the very antithesis of the sort of behavior likely to lead to lasting peace.
A Time to Live
It is time to “feel” the universe for myself. To cease to see it through the words of others and to experience it directly.
Out of my Skull
Is it a detrimental term or may it have hidden meanings and use?
The Unknowing Fool
The unknowing fool is one who does not know he does not know.
The Mysticism of Blade Runner
Does it sound curious to link a vastly popular work of science fiction to the concept of mysticism?
Facing down the Black Dog
Perhaps it is best to acknowledge the endless pawing of the black dog at your door. For some, it is a rare day that the gentle scuffling can not be heard.
The Doors of Perception
If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite.
Will the meek inherit the earth?
For some years I have assumed that far from inheriting the earth, the meek will be trampled underfoot. I am beginning to wonder whether I am mistaken.
“Objective truth” is an illusion.
Unqualified objective truth can not exist. Heavily qualified objective truth probably does.
Art as a lens on “reality”.
You may be forgiven for mistaking the image above for photo montage. But it is not: it is the London Mustaba project.
Art as metaphysics
I have sometimes wondered whether art has any importance, and if so, what?
Dvorak – Stabat Mater
For many years I had worked on the assumption that anything written east of Berlin was cacophonous and horrible. I have been proved wrong by Dvorak.
London as a foreign city.
Portobello Road in London W11 is a most curious mix of home and abroad.
The Stockmarket as a Complex Adaptive System
I recommend a paper entitled “The Stockmarket as a Complex Adaptive System” by Credit Suisse Director Michael J. Mauboussin.
Happiness and Genetic Bingo
We can expect limited success in our endeavours to change but some change is better than none. We may be able to tip the balance in our favour.
Was the Noble Savage a Happy Bunny?
It is pleasant to imagine that there was a day in the distant past where people did not live in Grenfell Tower and didn’t have to look at Trump’s haircut in the media.
Bad News Fatigue
I turned to the Guardian this morning after my Bad Hair Day yesterday, looking for inspiration but need not have bothered.
Really Bad Hair Day
Bad hair day doesn’t begin to describe the awfulness of a day of real negativity. There are days when the sun just seems to go out.
Class Prejudice
Is it right to feel distaste for your fellow man?
Get Rich Quick: El Dorado
The legend of El Dorado, a fabulous golden city in South America, inspired many expeditions in the 16th Century in search of wealth and excess.
Solace for Deep Weariness
I’m sure there is peace to be had and I have often found snatches of it. The big trick is to make it last.
Do Not Stand by My Grave and Weep
A poem written in 1932 by Mary Elizabeth Frye, beautifully set to music by Howard Goodall as part of his Requiem: Eternal Light.
The Internet – Saviour or Satan?
Is the internet a curse or a blessing? Used carefully, in my opinion it is a huge blessing.
Was Albert Einstein into Alchemical Healing?
I was reading a post this morning on “alchemical healing” and was a little puzzled by it.
Free Legal High
Earlier this morning I had been contemplating nihilism. I was feeling nihilistic and unconstructive. I wondered if some pill or other could improve my mood and cheer up my day.
Do I mean what I write, do I write what I mean?
I was wondering whether I really mean what I write? Or to turn it round another way, do I write what I mean?
How to be a 21st Century Hermit
I wonder whether it is possible to be a hermit these days? And if so, where.
The Internet Troll and the Origins of Conflict
Internet forums are the perfect place to understand the petty origins of conflict. The Troll must be studiously ignored.
The Arab Israeli conflict is very, very Simple
The Arab Israeli conflict arose from vibrating energy “strings” – it really is that simple in a sense.
Fauda – Do we, Should we Watch It?
My latest Netflix Binge is Fauda – a violent, compelling and visually superb take on the Arab Israeli conflict.
“Down” Deal
I’m sorry to have to wax lyrical but it doesn’t get much better than being “down Deal” (as the local patois would have it).
Fish, Chips and South East Kent
Deal is a little seaside town in East Kent which seems to have been forgotten by time and a mile or so further south are to be found beautiful Walmer and Kingsdown.
Flogging Blogging
Commercial blogging is so utterly grubby and most practitioners of the art are second hand car salesmen, whatever they pretend they are selling or “doing”.
Psalm 137: Happy the one who takes your little ones, and dashes them against the rock.
Someone in Canterbury Cathedral (the Dean perhaps?) decided that Verse 9 was going a little far .
Communist Manifesto vs Mein Kampf
In today’s Guardian, some dear lady say that she gives the Communist Manifesto out as a gift.
We are all Gay now
I am so grateful for the BBC who explain that LGBT+ is now passé.
The Internet Blagger and Bluffer
I am always amused by the sheer vastness of the Blagging and Bluffing community on the internet offering advice on subjects in which they themselves possess no expertise whatsoever.
Bingeing on Netflix
As deadly sins go, bingeing on Netflix probably ranks among the less serious.
Tilting at Windmills
I wonder whether I am guilty of “tilting at windmills”.
Carpe Diem
There is nothing quite like a funeral to concentrate the mind; “carpe diem” seems such an apt phrase at such a time.
Why are we forgetting the deaths of 100 million in the Spanish Flu outbreak?
Is it odd that 100 million deaths in the Spanish Flu outbreak of 1918 has received comparatively little attention?
Is it all gloom?
Is everything bad? Is the world a bad place? Are we humans damned and doomed? Is there any good news?
Corrosive, Obsessive Hatred
How can people not see what their untrammelled hatred does to themselves and those around them?
John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent ranks high in my list of favourite painters.
How should you deal with a pig?
I have come to question my behaviour when dealing with a pig over the past couple of years. Well, pigs actually.
Division and indoctrination, greed, violence and politics.
Why does society have to be so divisive? Why does political posturing have to increase polarization and seek to indoctrinate?
Bishop Michael Curry – the Royal Wedding
Bishop Michael Curry preached a fine sermon at the wedding today of Prince Harry and beautiful actress Meghan Markle.
Art Prices are Obscene .
Art prices at ‘obscene’ levels as Chinese join high-spending elite says Richard Partington, the Guardian’s economics correspondent.
Meghan Markle’s Royal Knees Up
I am trying to work out in my own mind my exact feelings about Meghan Markle’s Royal Knees Up and the role of the Royal Family in general.
Australia’s lame response to Anwar Ibrahim’s detention
Elaine Pearson (Australia director at Human Rights Watch) states that Australia’s lame response to Anwar Ibrahim’s detention was a mistake.
The Hazards of Dramatising the Near Past
Martha Gill writes of the hazards of dramatising the near past and asks whether we should delay so as to achieve perspective.
Victoria’s Requiem
Victoria’s Requiem, written for the funeral of dowager Empress Maria of Spain who died on February 26, 1603 is sublime.
To defeat hatred
Hatred is a difficult emotion to combat connected as it is with so many other qualia.
Utopian descent into Dystopian Horror
All radical and swift changes imposed on society began as Utopian dreams and descended into Dystopian horror. Need it always be so?
With or without Trump, we must back UN’s education drive
We must ensure that education is not slanted towards any political agenda and is concerned with providing what our children need to make a better world.
Class War in Journalism and Politics
Class War in Journalism and Politics is alive and well. It is business as usual in Parliament and the news papers.
Conflict in The Middle East
An end to “Conflict in The Middle East” is unlikely to be achieved by conventional and time worn solutions which have achieved nothing over the decades.
A Moral Dilemma
My own petty, unimportant and irrelevant moral dilemma should teach me something about the world and how to improve it.
Must Try Harder
Must try harder! Unfortunately as an imperfect individual I find it necessary to question my own behaviour on a daily basis.
We are Slaves to the FANGs
The mighty kings at the FANGs are the modern robber barons.
Bashing Grammar Schools
“The UK government’s education policies are damaging and benefiting the few. It’s time for a rethink.”
Scandinavian Happiness
I am disappointed to hear that Scandinavian happiness is “more a matter of class whether you can afford to take time to take care of yourself”.
Am I a Guardian Reader?
Do I have what it takes to be a Guardian Reader? I have always been desperately keen to say: “yes I am, I’m deeply socialist in moral and ethical terms”.
Ich Bin ein Londoner
JFK famously said “Ich Bin ein Berliner” but I can perhaps more accurately say the same thing about London.
Rembrandt – Belshazzar’s feast
Rembrandt – Belshazzar’s feast: the literature, art and music of religion still hold a vast sway over the imagination of many of us.
Van Eyck – The Arnolfini Portrait
Jan van Eyck painted what has become known as the Arnolfini Portrait in 1434.
The Schoolyard Thug
He is an odd character the bully, a difficult one to work out sometimes.
The Beauty of Performance
Beauty comes in so many forms and is so utterly transformative wherever it is encountered.
Catharsis in Writing
The act of self expression in writing seems to provide relief from strong or long repressed emotions – a catharsis.
Hypocrisy
Are we all hypocrites or is there the odd saintly exception?
Euthanasia
Every human should have the right to take his or her own life and the means to do so painlessly and swiftly should be made easily and openly available.
With Hindsight….
What possible use is hindsight when the past is behind us and unchangeable?
A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature’s Deep Design
Nobel prize winning physicist Frank Wilczek’s book “A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature’s Deep Design” is certainly worth reading.
Why I do not read the News
I do not read the news because it is repetitive, dispiriting, boring and irrelevant.
To Regret or to Reset
Regret, while you still have breath, is a wasteful extravagance, a futile and destructive luxury.
A Meditation on Death
To have lived a good life is all that matters in the end.
We are all so Sinful
If there is one thing I can not stand it is a mealy mouthed clergyman (in that mournful oh so serious and pious voice) telling us we are all so sinful
Racism
Racism is most often and probably correctly thought of as a modern phenomenon.
The Existence of Evil
Evil cannot exist without consciousness and free will.
Anger – an Evolutionary Curse
Anger is an invention of the selfish gene, an evolutionary tool for the survival of the fittest.
Sibling Bitterness
Why is it that siblings often fall out in such a bitter fashion on the death of parents? Is it a petty dispute over the will? Or is it something deeper?
The Salesman
Is the “salesman” grubby and embarrassing by definition?
Why Write a Blog
I write to educate myself.
A Secular Epiphany
Epiphany is usually thought of in a religious context but it can equally be a secular phenomena where one is struck by some extreme beauty or revelation.
New Age Quackery?
The New Age movement is a range of spiritual beliefs and practices that on the surface is full of foolish nonsense.
Renaissance Man: Dead or Alive?
“Renaissance Men” were able to master and practice a number of widely different subjects. Can it still be done in today’s highly specialised world?
Seeking Consciousness
Consciousness can only be sought through science and empirical, rational thought.
Positivity
Embrace the positive avoid the negative.
Invest or Gamble?
We are all looking to get rich quick. We are all looking for something for nothing. But few of us will succeed and even fewer will be able to retain the short-lived gains.
Depression – Rational Enquiry vs Emotional Wallowing
Depression can only be defeated by science and rational enquiry not airy faerie emotional wallowing such as is to be found in most useless self help books.
The Abolition of Suffering
Philosopher David Pearce has a message of overwhelming significance: The Abolition of Suffering can and will be achieved.
Where are the Customers’ Yachts?
Who thinks finance, stock broking and fund management are respectable professions dedicated to increasing the wealth of their customers?
The Absurdity of Land Ownership
How has it come to pass that a tiny handful own the vast majority of this tiny spaceship we call the Earth?
Poverty in an Infinite Universe?
The universe is infinite and contains infinite matter and yet we are still faced with overwhelming poverty and suffering on a global scale. How come?
Am I a Quale?
A quale is the singular form of the plural qualia. Qualia are a linguistic attempt to describe the subjective experience of consciousness.
What am I?
The question “what am I” is the most important avenue any sentient being can enter.
Dealing with Depression
If you can deal with depression at all you need to determine whether your life is causing your anxiety or whether it is your anxiety which is ruining your life.
Peace which the World Cannot Give?
Can we find peace in this world despite what the Book of Common Prayer says?
Job Satisfaction and Happiness – Pigs’ Ears and Silk Purses
If you are not satisfied and fulfilled by your job it is a fair bet you are not happy. Certainly not as happy as you could and should be.
Self-Help Gurus
Self help gurus are guaranteed fakes. So are all other self anointed gurus. Avoid them – run for your life and keep your purse locked.
Science and the Sublime
Will science provide what religion has failed to give us? According to the “transhumanists” the answer is assuredly yes.
Happiness
Happiness is perhaps best described as the absence of unhappiness.
Don’t Go Down the Rabbit Hole
Suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes runs close by. Don’t follow it!
Has Iain M. Banks Sublimed?
The bald facts are that Ian Banks was a Scottish socialist and atheist and one of the finest writers and thinkers of our age.
Can Artificial Intelligence dream of electric sheep?
Physics has created the human mind; physics aided by the human mind can certainly create general artificial intelligence.
Dementia – A Carer’s Survival Guide
“Dementia” is simply an umbrella term for a vast and cruel range of hideous and debilitating symptoms.
Meditation is not Just for Christmas
Meditation is not or need not be any sort of religious devotion. But it must become a way of life if it is to be any help to you.
Right Honourable Gentlemen
There can hardly be a sight so little edifying as the Right Honourable Gentlemen of the House of Commons in full debate.
Trump – Vulgar or Venal?
President Donald Trump: is he bad or simply an extreme example of vulgarity and brash showmanship?
Is Jacob Rees-Mogg Walter the Softy?
Is Jacob Rees-Mogg Walter the Softy?
Depression and Determinism – can we Change our Mind?
Depression and determinism: can we influence our moods, can we “change our mind”?
War – Why do the Nations rage?
War has its origins in the very first animal life to evolve on earth.
The Magician’s Nephew
The beauty of CS Lewis’ writing and the loveliness of Pauline Bayne’s illustrations.
Cargo Cults
Cargo cults provide a fascinating insight into the origins of religion.
In Search of the Soul
There comes a stage where some hand over responsibility to the next generation and gradually withdraw from the world.
Ozymandias, King of Kings
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings
The Book of Common Prayer
You do not have to be a Christian to immerse yourself in the timeless reflections of the Book of Common Prayer.
Hans Holbein – The Ambassadors
A rich and engaging portal into the mind of an age emerging into the modern world.