I have always been fascinated by time. It has often seemed to me that if I could understand time, I might come closer to understanding reality. Turning to our scientists and philosophers does not easily clarify the matter. Newton, Kant and Leibniz all had varying opinions of the real nature of time. To begin with, […]

In a comment on my last blog I was asked to revisit the subject of love and detachment. It is an interesting, but difficult area. Consequently this week I have attempted to clarify the issue a little more. Some years ago someone shared with me a tape of Anthony De Mello running one of his […]

Researchers over the last two decades have written many papers on the subject of happiness and its determinants. Matthieu Ricard in analysing and interpreting their results came to the following conclusions: 1. Outward conditions and general factors such as wealth, education, social status, age etc account altogether for no more than 10 to 15% of […]

The quest to isolate the defining characteristic of our essential humanity has been a long and convoluted one. Aristotle wrote that “Man is a social animal.” In retrospect this seems far off the mark. Although the human animal is indeed social this is hardly a defining characteristic. We are aware of not only the social […]

I am often amused and sometimes alarmed by the way data and statistics are handled by firms, public officials and particularly the media. The erroneous use of data is either at best a result of ignorance on behalf of these people or at worst a deliberate misuse to manipulate public opinion. One area that exemplifies […]

I go to the barbershop. My sparse hair still grows, albeit more slowly these days, and perversely the less of it I have the shorter I like it cut. The barber knocks off a few wisps here and shortens a few odd strands there. Finally he is done and I shake off the smock he […]

It was one of those historical occasions. Like the death of JFK. Or the first moon landing. Everybody seems to remember what they were doing when we first saw those chilling pictures on 11 September 2001. Who could believe it? Airplanes being deliberately flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New […]

In his marvellous book “Happiness”, Matthieu Ricard told of research that showed how someone lying beside a path, seemingly in distress, attracted the attention of only 15% of passersby. But once he put on the jersey of the local football side 85% stopped to help. The research concluded that people are much more inclined to […]

I was fascinated last week to hear the news that Australian woman, Elizabeth Blackburn, had won the Nobel prize for her work in molecular biology. The work she has been doing for many years is certainly groundbreaking and the world owes a debt of gratitude to such dedicated and talented people. I applaud her, and […]

The figures move a bit with the years of research, but on the evidence it is fair to say the universe is a little under 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 less than ten […]