The world is no doubt full of paradoxes. I recently read of a poll taken in the United States that indicated that 25% of adults reported feeling lonely and isolated. It is a strange phenomenon that somebody in a country with a population of over 310 million should feel isolated and lonely! I have no […]

I have often heard, over the years, when two parties are in disputation, one side saying that the issue would be easily resolved if only the other showed some “common sense”. Whilst I am sure that they did not consciously mean it, what was being implied was that what the aggrieved party believed is “common […]

One of the most fundamental questions that science or philosophy can pose is, “Why are things as they are.” The answer that science would give us is that there exist immutable laws that shape the universe. These laws are uniformly applied throughout the universe and are invariant over time. But that avoids the question that […]

There has always been a certain mystery surrounding the Gnostics. Modern novels such as Dan Brown’s “The DaVinci Code” and films such as “The Matrix” have drawn on some of the mystical beliefs of Gnosticism. My essay this week will try to throw a little light on the little known and seemingly greatly misunderstood, Gnostics. […]

We have been told many times in popular songs and popular literature that “love is blind”. This phenomenon is easy enough to understand. Our hormones dispose to become so attached to our idealization of our beloved that rationality is pushed aside. It is only when relationships really mature that we realize that we can love […]

Predicting the future is an activity fraught with danger. And lacking the confidence of Nostradamus, I won’t even try. But I can at least give you some thoughts about various areas of human endeavour that I believe need to be tracked very closely. But even there I am in a quandary. For many issues extrapolating […]

In the beginning there was Brahman. In the end, which might have been perceived differently but was essentially still the same, there was Brahman too. And all there was, is and ever will be is Brahman or manifestations of Brahman. Brahman thought, “Here I am – everything, all-encompassing, all-pervasive, with no end and nothing unknown. […]

“Reality is what we take to be true. What we take to be true is what we believe. What we believe is based on our perceptions. What we perceive depends on what we look for. What we look for depends on what we think. What we think depends on what we perceive. What we perceive […]

You have no doubt often heard someone say, “Are you finished yet?” And the rejoinder comes, “No, not just yet. Just give me a little more time.” What could we possibly mean by this? If you asked for a little more water, a little more bread, a little more sympathy or even a little more […]

October, for some reason, has been designated depression and anxiety month. I have done a few interviews trying to promote my new book, “Yu, The Dragon Tamer.” Although the book is about mental illness, it has little to do about depression. But, because, I suppose, interviewers have to attach their interviews to various fashionable “hooks” […]