Love vs Fear

The Essential Phil Harker Some weeks ago I published a tribute to Phil Harker. I thought it might be useful to outline some of his key beliefs. As we travelled on this journey of discovery together, his philosophical understandings and psychological insights had a beneficial effect on my life. It is likely they might be […]

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Australia’s Looming Electricity Catastrophe

The overwhelming victory by Labor in the recent Federal Election will have many flow-on effects. One of the more disastrous will be Labor doubling down on its renewable energy policy. Chris Bowen is already claiming the victory as a mandate to continue his reckless pursuit of renewable energy. It is an assertion that is pretty […]

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A Last Salute to the Good Dr Phil

  My friend of 40 years has now departed this earth. Dr Phil Harker my long-time associate and mentor has left his body and gone to a better place. The world is diminished with his passing. I first met Phil sometime around 1986 when he was part of a selection panel assessing applicants to be […]

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The Creation of History

My long suffering readers will be aware of my fascination with time. It seems indisputable that, no matter how you construe time, the only reality is “now”. No sentient being is able to access any time other than the present. In essence we reconstruct the past and we imagine the future. Mind you some of […]

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The Tao of Coronavirus


I have often quoted M Scott Peck who started his book, A Road Less Travelled thus: Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult-once we truly understand and […]

May 9, 2020

A Plague on all Our Houses!


In Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, a central theme is the feud between two families, the Capulets and the Montagues. The two lovers are from opposing families – Romeo being a Montague and Juliet a Capulet. In the third act Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt fatally stabs Romeo’s friend Mercutio. As he dies Mercutio utters the curse, […]

April 23, 2020

Some Radical Thoughts at Easter


Well, Easter is a bit different this year! Church services are curtailed, the beaches are relatively empty, and holiday plans abandoned. Even the Easter Bunny has had to seek special permission to cross state borders to deliver his bounty to overindulged children. Although Easter is supposed to be a solemn religious festival to celebrate the […]

April 12, 2020

Prevailing through the Pandemic


By the second century AD, European travellers had made their way to China by sea. But the sea route was long and perilous and was seldom used. Consequently a land route to China was contemplated. Chinese silk was in high demand in the West. It began arriving in Europe via what became known as the […]

March 29, 2020

The Importance of Work


I had a long career in management becoming a power station manager at the ripe old age of twenty-six! Despite having degrees in engineering and economics, I became a manager with no formal qualifications in the areas that interested me most. And what interested me most? Well, it was the nature of the human condition. […]

March 20, 2020

Avoiding Fear vs Pursuing Hope


My previous essay Creating the Culture of Fear drew a lot of favourable comment. But on rereading it I felt there was much more I could have said. I will try to fill in some of the gaps in this current essay. It is useful, to begin with, to look back at our history over […]

February 25, 2020

Cultivating the Culture of Fear


Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less. Marie Curie   So we now have something else to fear. The coronavirus has caused the death of over a thousand people in China. That of course is not […]

February 14, 2020

Searching for Reality


Form is the wave and emptiness is the water. So, “form is emptiness, emptiness is form” is like “wave is water, water is wave” . . . A wave on the ocean has a beginning and an end, a birth and a death. But Avalokitesvara tells us that the wave is empty. The wave is […]

February 2, 2020

The Latest Travesty of Identity Politics


In the past I have risked the ire of many by publishing essays on religion, politics and other controversial issues. Well here I go again! I have been reluctant to do so, but now I feel compelled to delve into gender politics. Most ordinary Australians are more interested in their economic well-being, the educational opportunities […]

January 11, 2020

A Philosophical Paradox to Mull Over in the New Year


As you would now know from my essays, I tend to read a lot. I don’t read much fiction however. It’s not that I don’t like fiction – I do. Fictional tales can be exciting, moving and very entertaining in many and various ways. Some, using allegorical devices, can also be quite meaningful and didactic. […]

January 1, 2020