It is claimed by some that the 18th century, Dutch enlightenment philosopher, Baruch Spinoza was the pre-eminent writer on eternity. He was certainly one of the initial philosophers in the West to try to come to grips with the notion of Self. His work is credited with initiating biblical criticism.   Spinoza proclaimed, “Only intense […]

When we step back to analyse what is going on socially and politically in the world it is hard not to be dismayed by the contradictory trends. On the one hand we have the seemingly inexorable move to globalisation. Both the world’s capital markets and labour markets are seemingly growing more encompassing, demolishing national borders […]

This is an era when the rarest commodity is a person who says what they think and thinks about what they say. There is a sense that we are being deafened by a cacophony of multimedia noise at the same time we are being crushed into conformity. Chris Kenny, Associate Editor, The Australian The good […]

Well the USA has just suffered another radical Islamist inspired atrocity. The appalling loss of life in the Orlando club massacre at the hands of a gunman who swore allegiance to the Islamic State, reminds us again of the terrible danger we face at the hands of Islamic fundamentalists. Rather than analyse this specific case, […]

I have written quite a few articles on free speech in recent times, but it has suddenly occurred to me that I might have been unknowingly pursuing the wrong objective. Whilst I would surely argue that that we should be able to speak our minds without undue impediment, that is unlikely to help unless people […]

Takygulpa Rinpoche sat on his little stool on his front porch. He was making a kite for a boy who had recently lost his father. He often fashioned such things for children just as his father had done for him and his sister. Augustus sat nearby watching admiringly as the old Master deftly fashioned a […]

Our society is suffering immeasurably from the fact that free speech is now routinely curtailed. To put a point of view that is at odds with the left-wing politically correct position is immediately to expose oneself to unjustifiable vilification. If for example I try to argue against same-sex marriage, I will be immediately accused of […]

Let me start this week’s essay with a lovely quote from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibrain. And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, “Speak to us of Children.” And he said: Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They come through […]

Many of us are appalled by the seemingly inexorable deterioration of Australia’s educational outcomes relative to other nations. Despite the fact that in recent decades our funding of education has greatly increased, our children are leaving school worse equipped than they ever have to make a positive contribution to our society and to help us […]

Identity politics seems to raise its ugly head everywhere these days. It took me a while to digest the good Dr Phil’s admonition that “nobody is special”. But then it occurred to me that I had come to believe many years ago that we all are as one. And surely this amounts to the same […]