The Frugal Mind

Most neuroscientists believe that the cognitive capacities of our minds emanate from the neural complexity of our brains. It is often claimed that the number of neural connections in the human brain outnumber the number of stars in the known universe. The human brain is estimated to have roughly 100 to 500 trillion synapses. This vast […]

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Australia’s Renewable Energy Dilemma

Just as Anthony Albanese was touring the Great Wall of China, kowtowing to President Xi and walking away from our military alliance with the United States, Chris Bowen was in Germany seeking to bolster his case for green hydrogen and other green energy boondoggles to foist upon the long-suffering energy consumers of Australia. But the […]

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Of Time and Mind

As I have written before, time seems to be the greatest paradox our minds have to grapple with. The great Western interpreter of Eastern wisdom, Alan Watts, once remarked: Paradox is just the truth standing on its head to gain attention! Well I don’t know about you, but I can certainly affirm that the paradox […]

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Augustus and the Prince

Augustus and the Prince “What cannot be seen with the eye, but that whereby the eye can see: know that alone to be Brahman, the Spirit, and not what people here adore. What cannot be heard with the ear but that whereby the ear can hear: know that alone to be Brahman, the Spirit, and […]

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My Thinking Problem


Looking at my recent blog essays I have come to the conclusion (that many of my more prescient readers had arrived at long ago) that I have been taking myself too seriously lately. And after a full independent analysis (conducted by myself of course) that took five minutes and unfortunately, was not costed by Treasury […]

April 13, 2013

We Have Met the Enemy


The American cartoonist, Walt Kelly, seems to be remembered largely for the utterance of his possum cartoon character, Pogo, who proclaimed, “We have met the enemy and he is us!” Kelly contrived Pogo, who lived in a swamp, to say this to highlight the human degradation of the physical environment.   I am not denying […]

April 7, 2013

Know Thyself!


It has recently occurred to me what a slow learner I am. I don’t mean with respect to facts. You could tell me the height of Mount Everest is 8,850metres or whatever then I would have a fair chance of remembering it. But when it comes to human behaviour, and mine in particular I am […]

April 1, 2013

A Labour of Love


When the good Dr Phil and I published our little book, “Humanity at Work” we only had one review of note. It was from a very left-wing reviewer from “The Age” who accused us of making work sound like it could be enjoyable which was obviously a manipulative capitalist ploy designed to exploit “the workers”! […]

March 24, 2013

The Apple Tree


I have written extensively about one of the dilemmas of being human. This dilemma is a charade played out by the ego. The ego would have us believe that we are separate from our fellows and special. Let us see how the ego misleads us.   The ego is a by-product of our consciousness – […]

March 17, 2013

Forgiveness of Ignorance


Children are delightful and I suppose part of their attraction to us is their naiveté. When they behave in an inappropriate way we often excuse them by saying “they didn’t know any better”. Unfortunately as people grow older we seem less inclined to offer them the same latitude. Adults, obviously, should know better! Consequently we […]

March 11, 2013

Closed Minds – Open Minds


Over forty years ago now, I acquired a little paperback by one Joseph Gaer which was titled How the Great Religions Began. The original copyright for the book was dated 1929 but had been renewed again in 1956. I found it quite engrossing. The author had tried, without bias, to lay out the history of […]

March 3, 2013

On Ambiguity, Intolerance and Fundamentalism


In the early centuries of the development of Christian belief, there arose two fairly well-defined Christian positions. The first was deliberately and aggressively anti-intellectual. The supporters of this position argued that since God had apparently spoken to us (through the words of the reasonably arbitrarily compiled scriptures) it was no longer necessary for believers to […]

February 24, 2013

Whither Democracy?


When I read the paper each morning and listen to the news each evening, it is hard not to feel depressed at the direction our democracy seems to be going. Although the current federal government is the worst in my memory, which is a great disappointment after the elation of having the first Australian female […]

February 16, 2013

The Myth and Truth of Mara


In the ancient Buddhist literature there are many references to the demon, Mara. In some respects Mara resembles the Satan of Christian tradition. For example just as Satan tempted Christ, Mara tempted Siddhartha Gautama. It was only after resisting Mara’s temptation that Siddhartha Gautama was able to attain enlightenment and become the Buddha. Just as […]

February 9, 2013