Freedom is not the absence of restraint, a free-for-all. Freedom is when we realise our true meaning and purpose and its boundless possibilities. “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him, If you continue in my Word , then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth […]
Peace and the Dawn of a New Beginning
The ancient Chinese Taoist philosopher Lao Tzu is credited with saying “New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings”. Although we do not consciously seek pain, it nonetheless finds its way to us. As bad as it may seem, it is useful to acknowledge that we have created it and it is more than likely […]
Meaning and Purpose will Shape our Future
Meaning and Purpose will shape our Future. There is so much wrong with the way that people behave on earth that it is easy to consider us a misfit species or children of an ill-intentioned god. Some say that we are probably not of this earth, alien, and that we do not belong here, that […]
Wisdom of the elders, young people and chaos
If by some miracle I could choose to be young again, I would say ok, maybe, but I would first ask whether I could take my mind back in time with me. Herein lies the conundrum. I really would not have the appetite to repeat all those blunders and having to relearn my accumulated wisdom […]
Humanity, Survival and the Way of Truth
Humanity emerged into an earth with the highest biodiversity ever, sustained within largely cooperative ecosystems. These ecosystems had evolved over hundreds of millions of years to exist in homeostasis that is a dynamic balance of collaborative harmony with a minimum of controlled conflict. Within such a milieu both the individual and the community found meaningful […]
Is Being Happy the Goal of Life?
My 1985 edition of the Pocket Oxford Dictionary defines ‘Happy’ as “feeling or showing pleasure or contentment; fortunate of words or behaviour, apt, pleasing, satisfactory, avoidance of extremes.” The term a ‘happy medium’ points towards a balanced view or outcome. Although the actual meaning of the word happy is more nuanced than the more superficial […]
Heaven and Hell, Angels and Demons
Heaven and Hell, Angels and Demons – The heavenly realms, are necessarily intimately intertwined with life on Earth. This must be so by the very logic that underlies the belief in creation. What we believe, the narratives we tell ourselves and the tales we tell others are fundamental pillars upon which the edifice of our […]
Young People are our Hope and Future
When a woman and a man have a child they are transformed into a mother and a father. This is one of the universal laws of nature. We can see reflections of it in many other species. Many a time parents describe the birth of their child as a miracle and in a very real […]
Nature’s Cathedral is Where I Worship God
Worshipping in Nature’s Cathedral: Before the beginning all was void. The creative force that formed nature over billions of years of evolutionary time is the God we worship. According to our understanding, the laws of physics started to operate following the big bang, expanding the universe through space and over time to become the galactic […]
The Christmas parable – a gift of empathy
The Christmas parable: Stories are a greater part of our lives than we imagine. Author Patrick Rothfuss wrote “Everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.” We all love stories. They are the moments we […]