My father was fond of quoting the famous Scottish poet Robert (“Rabbie”) Burns. And his favourite quotation was this extract from his poem To a Louse. “O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us!” Indeed it would be a great gift to see ourselves as others see us, […]

We are not certain when the teacher Siddhatta Gautama actually lived. Most scholastic opinion would now seem to confirm he lived most of his life in the fifth century BCE. His disciples preserved the memory of his life and teachings as best they could. Shortly after the Buddha died, the Pali texts tell us that […]

Thomas Jefferson is given the credit for penning the words in the Constitution of The United States of America stating that one of the basic rights of its citizens is “the pursuit of happiness”. Unfortunately it was a wrong-minded notion. It implied that if they tried hard enough any person (or at least a citizen […]

It is difficult to reconcile an omnipotent and an omniscient God with how we understand the universe. Bertrand Russell in his essay on “The Art of Rational Conjecture” very mischievously gave an account of the biblical story of The Fall. God told Adam and Eve not to eat of the fruit of a certain tree. […]

Parochialism (again?) The other day there was a news item about an explosion that occurred at an Indian venue for 20/20 cricket. From recollection, a half dozen Indians were injured by this terrorist attack. The news report said, “Cricket Australia were relieved that no Australians were hurt.” Is there something unique about the humanity of […]

It has fallen to my lot to write this gospel. My teacher was a most holy man. His real name was Fred, but for the reasons that will become apparent from the text, Fred was to go by the most holy title of Bit. In the last days of his life, Bit had me pledge […]

In a previous blog I mentioned the problem outlined by Karen Armstrong in interpreting religious writings. She maintained that there was always tension between Logos and Mythos. Much of the wisdom of the world has been transmitted by myth, fable, allegory or parable. When we get into trouble is when we start to take this […]

Most every school has rules that students are expected to obey. In days gone by such rules were very prescriptive. They gave guidance as to dress, manners, deportment, how to address ‘superiors’ and so on. Young minds needed strict instruction on how to conduct themselves. The rules were enforced by fear. Transgression resulted in corporal […]

The Russian born, British philosopher and essayist, Sir Isaiah Berlin wrote an essay on Tolstoy’s view of history which he titled The Hedgehog and the Fox. The title comes from a fragment attributed to the Greek poet, Archilochus, who purportedly wrote, “The fox knows many things but the hedgehog knows one big thing”. The fox, […]

A quick read of the morning papers leaves us in no doubt that this is a federal election year. Announcements, rebuttals, claims and counter-claims are starting to fill the newspaper columns. I suppose at least in the papers there is a little more substance and some reasonable analysis. On the television all we see is […]