Practical Thoughts

She became the Queen in '52, and ever since, reigned over me and you. And whatever this nation had to face she was there, smiling, in good grace. Always happy, always giving, to be a lifetime servant was her calling. Just as on that day in '52, and on her Coronation Day, too; she passed away while the blessed rain fell from the heavens with a marked refrain. And over her home at Windsor, too, the manifest rainbow gave us a clue... This Sceptred Isle has lost a great spirit; a gift of God, let's give that credit. She led a Commonwealth from nations seven, to dozens more seeking an earthly heaven. Peace be to all, was her Christian ideal, and strove towards that with quiet zeal. And on that note I confess: "Thank you, farewell, and bless you, good Queen Bess".

Dear Reader, The greatest truths have been forgotten because of their very simplicity. Great truths are simple because they are of universal application. Truth itself is always simple. Complexity is due to man's ignorance. Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902). We are living in a time of fear and, inevitably in such times, the fingers start pointing toward others - it's  they that must surely have caused the problem (we think)! Yet virtually all of us - unconsciously perhaps - have responsibility for how society is regulated. Going to one extreme, when a man is brought to trial on some criminal charge, rarely do the causes of his crime get examined unless there is something that stands out to warrant examination. The law assumes that a person of adult age is responsible for their own actions unless they have a recognised health condition that could be contributory and needs treatment.  However, beliefs and attitudes are fundamentally shaped by familial ties and personal events. ...

Dear Reader. The universe is hugely mysterious and the story of  Earth's history is mind-boggling, yet when history is studied conventionally it can be a very dull subject. But when history and its time frame is revealed in its proper context as part of a much bigger story, a grand tapestry even, it is difficult to reject its allure. So, as Heather Ensworth Ph.D. informs us,  in another insightful video  of hers, history should really be viewed in the context of the plan of the universe and through astrological understanding.  Though reason may take a different view, it is astonishing how each major period in history and its characteristics align with its astrological age. The following table of astrological ages is based on a table appearing in Wikipedia: only the comments (right column) has been changed (extended). This table also varies partly in that I have purposely made it start with the age of Leo. I have taken Leo as being significant because it  represe...

Dear Reader, Well,  some would say that it's been good while the Capitalist age  lasted! It seems to be clear that this era is over as its faults and lack of adaptability  are becoming more and more revealed.  Not that Communism - as implemented over the years - is the right answer either, and nor is anarchy. As the political writer Jim Wallis said, "The right gets it wrong and the left doesn't quite get it". So, is there such a thing as a true solution?  In traditional Socialism, however, resources would be distributed equally by the government to create a classless society.  Interestingly,   the view of Marx (as against what Communism became) was that after a few generations of people living under the benefits of a socialist system focused on cooperation and sharing, people would learn to work for equality rather than for personal greed and profit. The problem was that Marx did not factor in a quality that was needed to bring about the succ...

Dear Reader, Way back in the mid-1970s, circumstances in my life suddenly - and shockingly - came to a full stop. At age 30, I needed to find some answers to certain questions about life and soon decided to quit my lucrative job in software development in order to do that while mulling my time doing some voluntary community work for a month or two. I loved books, but until then they were mostly of the fictional kind. At this point, I paid visits to leading book shops (no Amazon then!) and was drawn to a plethora of books about our changing world - particularly about environmental studies but also about psychology and the sciences in general, and philosophy.  But some of the scientifically-orientated writers I came across were starting to look at the world through new spectacles and they fascinated me. Having been bored to death by the 'hard fact' scientific approach when I was at school, I loved these new books and their authors - particularly John Michell, but also another one...

Dear Reader , Today's issues can easily make people wonder whether it's possible for grief to be transformed into joy. Leaving aside (if possible) Climate Change and pandemics, these appear to be unforgiving  times.  The  economic pressure on every ordinary person - working or retired - causes the scrounging nature of the UK energy companies to be more vividly exposed. Their profits, apparently, are not to be touched while the average household energy bill is due to rise  early in the New Year  by 250% since April. The privatisation of these energy companies - plus the water companies - in the 1980s seems, now, to be something to be justifiably vilified, and this can be said without taking a political stance. From an independent standpoint, the argument seems to be clear. In fact, I always did think that there was  something unnatural about  the privatisation of water. Like education and health, water is surely a natural right not to be exploited for p...