In Christianity there is a great debate about whether it is faith (as promoted in Romans) or works (as suggested by James) that confers God’s Grace on believers. (And before Father Robin interjects I must tell you I have known a couple of Graces in my life but I suspect God’s Grace was not one […]

Last week I wrote of how we need to meet our spiritual needs in order to attain a sense of wholeness in our lives. It is our spirituality that enables us to reintegrate with the One. This probably seems like gobbledygook to the more rational of you. I was heartened during the week to come […]

I have in previous blog essays explored the tension between rationality and spirituality, faith and reason, reasoning and intuition. Most seem to believe that with the waning of the influence of the Church in Western society that we are becoming more secular and that spirituality is on the wane. Superficially that seems the case. And […]

Sometimes when our egos are assailed we take on impossible burdens. Minor slights become great grievances and the least insult assumes the status of a great injustice. Many examples flow through my mind as I write these words. Perhaps I should relate to you the story of a man who once worked for me. There […]

We all experience suffering and trauma in our lives. Some of us experience more suffering. Some experience more dramatic trauma. But it is an inevitable part of life. Who among us can say they have been completely untouched by the terrible consequences of such natural events we have recently witnessed such as fire, floods, cyclones […]

Rosalind: They say you are a melancholy fellow. Jaques: I am so: I do love it better than laughing. Shakespeare, “As You Like It” Melancholy is ambivalent and problematic. Although it seems at once a very familiar term, it is extraordinarily elusive and enigmatic. Pierrot, Hamlet and even Batman are all melancholic characters with traits […]

Heng San, the philosopher, had been sent by the emperor of Chou Pai province to visit the court of his friend the emperor of Tsung Mu province. Heng San was well respected for his learning and his rationality. The emperor often sought his opinion on issues that were brought to court. The philosopher preached that […]

Science & Reality Science has spurred many of the advances that benefit us in the twenty-first century. It has improved our standard of living by contributing to our material wealth, our increasing longevity and better health outcomes, our exploitation of natural resources and has impacted on virtually every field of human endeavour. The advancement of […]

I am probably setting myself up for some criticism with this week’s blog, but it is a reaction to some media responses I have been reading to the Productivity Commission’s recent working paper titled Labour Force Participation of Mature Age Women (available on their website) which analyses the participation rate of women aged 45 – […]

Human beings always have contradictory aspirations: their will to assert their individuality conflicts with their desire to belong. And both tendencies bring inherent problems. Those who seek to emphasise their individuality and specialness develop conflated egos that hinder their ability to relate to others. The Vedantic sages understood this millennia ago. They differentiated between the […]