As I sit here in my office I can see the small tree in the front yard. It is a favourite place for the bull-finches to sit before they venture down to the bird bath. This might seem to be just the start of a casual conversation but it has already introduced many philosophical concepts. […]
The figures move about a bit with the continuing years of research, but on the evidence it is fair to say the universe is a little less than fifteen billion years old. The first vestiges of life on earth seemed to appear some one and a half billion years ago. Hominids have been around for […]
As many of you would know, after resigning as CEO of an electricity generator, I pursued a career as an executive coach which I found extremely rewarding. Whilst I mainly worked in organisations where I was encouraged to enhance the personal development of executives, I was sometimes also asked to coach executives that were deemed […]
Being now in my eighty-first year, I thought it might be appropriate (but more likely patronising) to give you young folk some ideas about what ageing is about. I can’t pretend I’ve got it all right, but I’ll give it a shot! There are many impacts of aging, but let’s start with some of […]
When I graduated from university with an engineering degree I felt decidedly incompetent compared to those who were my peers. I have tremendous admiration for engineers. They deal with and master technical complexities that leave me baffled. But, as Jordan Petersen has alluded, their competence is dealing with the Physical world and they often lack […]
We recently endured budget week. There were no surprises as such because, as seems usual nowadays, everything of consequence had already been leaked to the press. But some of the detail turned out to be alarming Labor has recently found another hook to hang its profligate spending on – it’s called “intergenerational equity”. But it […]
Every now and then something really gets under my skin! I am far from being a perfect human being. I have faults ad flaws and vulnerabilities like every human on this earth. But by and large, with some help from significant role models, and a life of deep contemplation, I have learnt not to be […]
There seems to be an ineluctable component of the human psyche that compels us to pursue Nirvana, the ultimate state of human well-being. In the past most major religions had mapped out a way to get there by spiritual paths. Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism had their own formulae about how to access Heaven, […]
Donald Trump’s postulated six week war against Iran has been dramatically inconclusive. Despite the USA’s military might and Israel’s formidable defence capability, a convincing defeat of Iran seems illusory. No doubt the USA and Israel have severely curtailed Iran’s military capability. And few of us would believe that is a bad thing, But they have […]
We live in an ever-changing world where uncertainty seems to be increasing. We have major conflicts playing out in Ukraine and the Middle East. Western countries are facing cultural stress largely due to the burgeoning rates of migration of Muslims from the Middle East and North Africa. Our culture is also challenged by the left […]