To know, to do, to be
The most profound state of happiness is achieved by the following means. To be free to exercise choice and to be able to act upon that choice. To do meaningful works in an environment where those works are validated by the appreciation of others. To function within a meritocracy, wherein the individual is accredited their [...]
The world from the lone star state
I’ve been corresponding with a man in Houston, Texas who has formed the opinion that I am an apologist for slavery, England’s colonial past and live in an isolated bubble. That is my fault, I have given that impression somehow, though I’m not sure precisely how. My argument was that John Lee Hooker, along with [...]
Woman with a balance
Happiness? I love Vermeer, things moved through this man that are exquisite. Truly a genius. I thank the powers that be that they have given me faculties to appreciate what Vermeer did and to know of it and to be able to place it within my own mental assembly as a point of reference. We [...]
The watchers and the watched
In his dystopian polemic Nineteen Eighty Four, George Orwell described the nightmare of totalitarian society. In the UK in 2008 we currently have almost eight million CCTV cameras monitoring our every move, from which lane we drive in to which street we walk down and everything that we do there. The argument for such a [...]
Stay in what’s real
There are times of relative quiet and times of relative busyness in world affairs. At the moment the world is behaving like a child with a behavioural disorder. Ominous clouds appear to be rolling across the horizon from all directions, the structure and shape of our world seems to be under pressure from every conceivable [...]
Roles and choices
Choices are the axis around which a self electing life revolves. We make choices and stand or fall by the positions those choices place us in. It can be seen that the path you have followed in your life has been defined by the choices that you have made. Significantly it may also be seen [...]
In Prison
I went on a young offenders prison visit yesterday. There was so much going on that it could be written about for hours. To keep it concise, I asked one of the prison officers with some twenty years experience what had been the major changes in his time. He said that it was undoubtedly the [...]
Count your blessings
This from the Toronto Star Stuart Laidlaw Faith and Ethics Reporter When you reflect this Thanksgiving weekend on the good things in life, don’t stop there. Take a hard look at the things that make you unhappy, as well. Then compare the two. “It has to be honest,” says Ulrich Schimmack, a psychology professor at [...]
Strange Days
The seminal album by the Doors was called Strange Days. The band took their name from Aldous Huxley’s book The Doors of Perception, essential reading for the postwar generation who were left decidedly underwhelmed by the path that the world had trodden the previous few decades. They set out intending to ‘change’ things and we [...]
Learning
Manna from heaven is assumed in a materially based world to mean physical food. I have trawled the recipe books, from Ramsey to Ronay, Blumenthal to Craddock and all stops in between and there is none for manna. Different people posit different ideas: herbs, esoteric foodstuffs, specific pastries and sweets but all are barking up [...]