Practical Thoughts

Dear Reader, The news may be disturbing that there are 5 erupting volcanoes in Indonesia, 6 in Central America and 4 in South America, in addition to 2 in the Mediterranean. And many more are in a state of 'unrest'. (For a full list see here ) The thought that such eruptions have taken place for aeons should not placate us when we consider that the number of eruptions has been irrevocably increasing and, using more reliable data, particularly in the last 200 years. These increases have interestingly enough) appeared to correspond to both the start of the Industrial Revolution and Consumerism and a significant increase in population (though see the caveat in the top left of the image), and the last 50 years or so show very significant increases. But in our disconnectedness, we probably think that all this - and Climate Change - is somehow a separate issue from the way we humans have been behaving. Do we really think that or are we accepting what is told to us through

Dear Reader, Well, that time of the year has again come round - the one that most of us treat as a time to make children happy by giving them the presents they hoped for and for pursuing the mythology that exists about Christmas. But at least the theme of 'giving' continues to be emphasised, even though we mostly don't stop to think about what it's all about. And the people involved in these UK scenarios will be wanting to know a lot more about what Christmas is about as far as they are concerned: Some 597 homeless people died in England and Wales in 2017, an increase of 24% since 2013, according to the Office for National Statistics. The amount of homelessness is thought to be far greater than the Government admits to. In addition, a new analysis finds 130,000 kids will be homeless at Christmas. Government Ministers have also been warned that the Housing Benefit freeze risks pushing renters into homelessness, The disabled have been severely targeted, parti

Dear Reader, I worked in I.T. for 40 years, but in that time (to 2006) it was all about data processing, the latest developments then being concerned with databases, enterprise business solutions (e.g. SAP) and the (then) upcoming world of the Internet. That now seems to be eons ago.  In just over 12 years since there have been exponential developments in the electronic world to the extent that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now the main topic of conversation in this realm. It is gaining pace very quickly. And one of the products gaining great momentum is Alexa. Here is an interesting (and, be warned, fairly long) article on an assessment of Alexa and her relatives: click here . The more I find out about this development the more I become apprehensive. Sure, AI will be a welcome aid in certain areas of need, but unfortunately, many of us take an unrealistic view about life and tend to develop deep attachments to gadgets. Look how we became attached to mobile phones an

Dear Reader, Anyone who has read any of my posts will know that I see all spiritual ways are like the different petals of a flower: each has the same essential quality. The way an individual petal moves in the wind may differ, perhaps, but it is still a sibling of the other petals and they stem from the same source. But what is it that practically joins the various spiritual ways together? It is surely the caring element; the notion that all people are shareholders of the same planet, together with the myriad forms of other life forms that dwell upon planet Earth. And that there can only be one Creator-God that has produced all that we behold. So how is it that it's all gone 'belly-up' (as it were) and that peoples of different religious persuasions see themselves as something better, or that their God is greater? What is wrong is surely written into the word "religion" - from the Latin, "to bind together". It invariably comes to be the case

Dear Reader, Some 44 years ago, something got me off my backside to seek what Life is really about. I do not mean so much by the usual meaning of the phrase but rather what Life itself is for, and what was my own true role in all that, minuscule being though I felt myself to be. I am not going to go into detail here of the background of that situation, but a strange event occurred that triggered a period of  profound  inner experience that caused me to switch my attitude. It was a kind of being 'born again' experience, though the kind of questions raised then, at age 30, were a continuum of the kind of spiritual feeling and philosophical questions I was asking between the ages of 12 and 17. So,  over the last 44  years   I came to study, through substantial reading, discussion and experience, all of the major religions . In terms of what effect that time and experience has had on my own life, then I profess myself to be a follower of no specific religion other than a P

Dear Reader, My past two posts were largely about the ancient origins of the British and about sacred geometry. This week the topic reverts specifically to the history of Britain, but in the context of its ancient spiritual developments and roots of Christianity in Britain and the reason why it's of importance. In those immortal words of William Blake's 'Jerusalem', reference is made through the words "And Did Those Feet In Ancient Time" to the possible visit of Jesus to Britain, and specifically to Britain's west country, from Glastonbury westwards. Now for many years I regarded those words of Blake as being perhaps of wishful thinking and not based on anything substantive and not of great importance. Until, that is, I went back to historically research ancient British history a few weeks ago and from which I have lately come across remarkable findings by other investigators over the last 200 years, and which is on-going in a project called The Go

Dear Reader, It is always marvellous to me how a train of thought leads me to something new or magnifies the topic even more. This past week has been a very good example of that. In my previous post, I alluded to 'sacred geometry'. Now (for those not familiar with the topic) sacred geometry is an extremely ancient system of design that has given rise to the basis of design of virtually all the genuine temples, mosques and cathedrals in the world. Those buildings - as places of worship to the Almighty - are designed in such a way so as to bring to those premises the full powers of the natural energies of the universe, bringing with them uplifting and healing power - particularly of the soul. Chartres Cathedral is just one magnificent example.  An example of a practitioner in this method has been Professor Keith Critchlow, a great practitioner of sacred geometry for over half a century. He is a polymath, an artist, lecturer, author, and professor of architecture in Englan

Dear Reader, To me, it is a curious condition that we seem to accept that civilised life started less than 7,000 years ago. It is also a curious condition to my mind that we westerners mostly think that the pure teachings of Jesus had not been heard before. I am constantly learning something new about man's history, and the other day I obtained a history of Britain by its most acclaimed historian: G. M. Trevelyan. In some early pages of this well-written book are references to early people of Britain called 'Iberians'. Now this name (Iberian) hit me like a thunderbolt; Iberia to me has always been the Spanish and Portuguese peninsula, so what on earth would 'Iberians' be doing in Britain? I donned my research 'hat' once more. I learnt that these peoples (the Iberians) were the same that created Stonehenge and were the main body of people in these islands until the Celts arrived, much later. And it's only since the arrival of the Celts that B

Dear Reader, In recent decades we have heard a good deal about the mantra "you are what you eat". And I would think that a majority of people in the west now take at least some note of that and actually apply the doctrine in everyday life. However, we all like to have a periodic 'day off' from what many see as being a boring path to a healthy lifestyle. The tragedy is that western eating and sedentary habits have been replicated in eastern countries too over the last few decades and yet it was they that had a better wisdom towards diet! They also are now having to think again. And in this video of a delightful dialogue between an eminent cardiac surgeon and Sadhguru my feeling is that the argument for a healthy lifestyle (exercise as well as diet) comes over well. And one particular matter took my interest in that Sadhguru referred to the dangers of looking forward to a retired life, arguing that without the challenge of something like a working life, people

Dear Reader, I am increasingly aware that all over the world there has been, sadly, a falling-away of family bonding and unsought-for generosity. Even in the East where their extended families and care towards them was famous, there has been a greater tendency for elders to be placed in care homes in recent decades. I have become more aware of this as my wife comes from the East and her generation still retain their respect for older members of their extended family. But there is the tendency now for the modern generation to be not so concerned and live more for themselves. I do not blame the modern generation for everything: far from it. It would appear to me that the seeds for this lack of concern were planted earlier when people started to be more widely educated in the western system, which tends to play more towards looking out for oneself and sticking to straight lines of thinking. That education tended to make many educationally highly-qualified people look down on their

Dear Reader, The need for commonsense leadership has been apparent for some time. How long has it taken for world leaders to agree that climate change is a reality and something to be taken very seriously indeed. There have also been ecological warnings raised by 'think tanks' since the 1970s - apart from more isolated warnings before that - and yet the world's economy goes on thinking that 'more is best'. The main problem - I suggest - is that our educational system is geared towards the 'more' syndrome, and also to the use of the brain as our sole source of direction. Our education is greatly in need of being re-framed to attune more to commonsense teaching. Even wisdom teaching. How refreshing it is, therefore, to find that some quite significant western institutions have called 'time' to examine how they should better go about things. It's taken time, but at last there's now some effort towards thinking differently. In the Youtu

The brain is not (nor should not be) the source of our thoughts. Dear Reader, Without further ado, please read this quotation from  the Bahai Teachings site : If you’re reading this, you obviously have a beating heart. In fact, why don’t you take a moment, right now, to sit back and just feel your heartbeat? Touch a finger to your wrist or your neck, and there, right beneath your skin, try to imagine the marvel of that faithful muscle. It beats constantly, without stopping, every minute of every day for your entire life. Try to truly feel your pulse and consider your heart’s job. Approximately the size of your fist—a little muscle that weighs maybe 12 ounces—it powers your entire physical existence, loyally pumping blood starting about three weeks after you begin life in your mother’s womb until your last moment on Earth. The average human heart beats a hundred thousand times a day. If you live a normal lifespan, your heart will faithfully beat nearly three billion time