In religion, fundamentalism would normally be interpreted as a belief that the doctrines espoused in the founding scriptures are literally true. As an extreme example, the fundamentalist Christian, Irish Bishop, James Ussher, relying on biblical genealogy, calculated that the earth had been created by God circa 4004 BC. Geologists, using more objective assessments, proved he […]

“Hatred is the Winter of the Heart” – Victor Hugo According to the French geneticist, Matthieu Ricard, who left his scientific career to become a Buddhist monk in the Himalayas:  Of all the mental poisons, hatred is the most toxic. It is one of the chief causes of unhappiness and the driving force of all […]

Often in our day to day lives we go about our business somewhat mindlessly. Without much thought we fall into line with the prevailing thoughts of others and forget lessons we have learnt in the past. Sometimes we are encouraged to take a point of view we largely disagree with just because it is congruent […]

It seems to me a great tragedy Australia’s original inhabitants have emerged from the Dream Time only to be ensconced in the “woke” time. With the Voice referendum fast approaching and the rhetoric from both the Yes camp and the No camp hotting up, I thought it might be wise to take pause and reflect […]

I have often told you, my good friend and mentor, the good Dr Phil, taught me many years ago that the path to psychological maturity comprised three steps, viz: Know yourself. Accept yourself. Forget yourself. Unfortunately I am still getting to know myself and what I am learning I am finding difficult to accept! Perhaps […]

I had been out of sorts for a while. I was smitten with some vague uneasiness that I felt hard to place. Even my wife noticed it. “You seem depressed,” she said. “What is wrong with you?” “I don’t know,” I responded. “I feel strangely dissolute.” “Typical male,” she replied.  “Suffer in silence and won’t […]

You can’t deny that the coronation of a British monarch is a significant event. There now have been two in my lifetime. I was in primary school when Queen Elizabeth II was crowned. And now when my faculties are again waning to childlike levels there has been another. A few weekends ago, embellished with the […]

That life in a democracy is better than under any other form of government is attested to by the migration of hordes of people from undemocratic states into the democracies of Western Europe, North America, Australia and other democratic countries. Democracy is the peak achievement of Western civilisation. And whilst the left seems to want […]

In many ways I have had a fortunate life. One of the particular good fortunes I have experienced is to to have belonged to a loving and supportive family. My maternal grandmother had eleven children. She lived in a modest two-bedroom cottage. The kitchen/dining room was in a lean-to at the rear of the house […]

What’s in a name? That which we call a roseBy any other name would smell as sweet; When in Romeo and Juliet, Juliet utters these words Shakespeare is displaying the fulsome naivety that prevailed before we were assailed by “wokedom”. In such innocent times we were not unduly concerned how we named things because there […]