Musings

The Cycle of Life

At this time of the year I am struck by the colours of spring. The lush greens of the grass and trees with new leaves and then the dustings of purple, yellow, pink, and white of wild flowers and of the blossoms. It is as if the world has been created anew and it is wonderous. Everything is in its youth or infancy in the cycle of the year. The vitality and the strength of the life force is there and is both plain to be seen but can also be felt. The days of course, are getting longer and more light-filled and the air is warmer. Spring has sprung. As I think about the endless cycle of birth and death – the orouboros of life – the eternal return,

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Life in Bite-Sized Chunks

Being a father of three sons and a daughter, I often need to come up with advice about life. Frankly, I don’t feel particularly qualified because I am still trying to figure it out myself. There was a song I used to like that alluded to this saying something along the lines of once you have life figured out, its gone. So, what can I tell the kids about life? One thing I have come to think is that making plans is somewhat useless. Most books and experts these days will tell you that a plan is a must but you know, I can’t agree. It’s good to have a vision and dreams for sure and its OK to chase those dreams. In fact, we must have dreams but a

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Imagining

Sometimes, in a meditative state, I have some impressions about imagination. I can barely explain in words what these are except to say that I get the strongest idea that if I could truly imagine something as really there, it would be and that this is how everything works. What is even stranger is that I often have a memory of being very young and being able to do this. I haven’t explained very well. I can’t. It is very frustrating though because it is a knowledge and a memory and then it’s gone again. It’s leaving is tinged with the sadness of knowing that I knew this/know this/can do this/did do this but have now forgotten how. I have also experienced this same sense of loss on waking up

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Why We All Need to Look Up….

Living and working in a city like Prague has its benefits and one of them is simply seeing the sights on a daily basis. I work just off the main square in Prague 1 and I commute from the Beautiful Hanspaulkou area of Prague 6. My journey is partly by bus, partly by Metro and partly on foot. It is the latter bit I like best as I can observe the architecture and trip over the tourists! You just have to remind yourself to keep looking up or else you miss it all. What do I mean by ‘look up’? Well, most of us walk along staring at the floor probably thinking, worrying or planning our day. We are self-absorbed and living in our own minds walking as if on

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A Death and the Sadness of Hatred

It was 1979. The memory of the three-day week and blackouts was still fresh in my mind as I sat in the Aston University Students Union lounge. On TV was a woman. I was listening to what she was saying because, to me, it made a whole lot of sense. Raised in Hull – a working class town if ever there was one – I rejected the bitter class warfare that passed for socialism and I found myself the butt of snide remarks for it too. Comments like “who the hell does he think he is going to college and all – he should get a bloody job like the rest of us”. Some so called school friends never spoke to me again for going to college and betraying my

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Waiting for the Pudding

We had lunch today at a Sushi place. The kind with a rolling array of dishes that passes you and you grab what you want. We have eaten there many times before and they do a pudding to die for…. Today, we sat and waited for another 30 minutes hoping to see the pudding but it never came. In the interim, we of course, totally stuffed ourselves on other delicacies rolling by. But although we were waiting for the pudding, it never came. It made me laugh actually, when we said we were ‘waiting for the pudding’. Why? Well, don’t we spend half a lifetime waiting for the pudding in life that never actually arrives? Meanwhile, we get sidetracked here and there and feed on other things we saw, liked

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Dumb and Dumber?

I notice more and more that I tend to write about a few themes on this blog. At times, it is as if I am repeating myself but each time in a different way and maybe with a little more depth. I guess this is my personal journey of discovery and I am sharing it with you all but I do apologize if occasionally you think I keep beating the same drum…. This post may fall into one of those themes too which is I am losing it! Life is so complex and so fluid with so many interactions and things to do and recall that I honestly sometimes wonder if I am losing it altogether. Recently, I have had this feeling a lot. Surely, life should be simpler than

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The Measurement Problem

As a small boy, I recall quite often thinking and imagining that in reality, I was sat on a chair in a small room looking at a TV screen and controlling myself through a set of knobs and levers in front to me. In this dreamlike imagining, there were rows upon rows of these small rooms or booths each with an occupant managing their virtual life. Remember, I was thinking and dreaming this in the mid 1960’s before color TVs, computers, virtual reality and The Matrix movie. I mentioned this also in Inner Journeys: Explorations of the Soul. Additionally, at that age, I had not widely read any books and quite honestly, other than Watch with Mother, I hadn’t seen much TV either (in black and white on a box-like

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Prague and Magic

One might think the Czech Republic would be teeming with occultists, mystics, and magicians. After all, at one point in history it was the center of the Universe for alchemy and magic and even John Dee spent time here along with Edward Kelley. The Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II, was extremely interested in the occult and gathered many alchemists and occultists in Prague in the 16th Century. Apparently, however, Dee and Kelley didn’t impress the Emperor and instead found favor with a Bohemian Count instead. Rudolf patronized natural philosophers including the astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler. He was also the earliest recorded owner of the mysterious Voynich manuscript. Rudolf even performed his own alchemical experiments in a private laboratory. According to Wikipedia, when Rudolf was a prince, Nostradamus prepared

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And The Truth Will Set You Free

So we are told. Who better to obtain said truth from than a young child? This weekend we took Deni to the fair. I was joking with her that the two skeletons that were gyrating in front of the ghost train were her ‘friends’. The response? “Daddy, they obviously your friends as they are your age.” Hmmmmmm. As if that were not enough I am planning a US holiday this summer. I told Deni that she would see some really poor fat people there. Her response? “Oh so that’s why you are so fat …because you lived in America.” Yes, the truth will set you free……..

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