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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Of Floods and Arks and other Nonsense


Not surprisingly, sitting here in Rockhampton for the last couple of weeks, I’ve been thinking of floods. Most of the creation myths around the world seem to be accompanied by a flood myth. At some stage humanity falls out of favour with its god or gods, which results in a wide scale destruction which requires […]

January 18, 2011

Loneliness, Isolation and Solitude


The world is no doubt full of paradoxes. I recently read of a poll taken in the United States that indicated that 25% of adults reported feeling lonely and isolated. It is a strange phenomenon that somebody in a country with a population of over 310 million should feel isolated and lonely! I have no […]

January 10, 2011

(Not So) Common Sense


I have often heard, over the years, when two parties are in disputation, one side saying that the issue would be easily resolved if only the other showed some “common sense”. Whilst I am sure that they did not consciously mean it, what was being implied was that what the aggrieved party believed is “common […]

January 4, 2011

Why Are Things The Way They Are?


One of the most fundamental questions that science or philosophy can pose is, “Why are things as they are.” The answer that science would give us is that there exist immutable laws that shape the universe. These laws are uniformly applied throughout the universe and are invariant over time. But that avoids the question that […]

December 29, 2010

The Gnostics


There has always been a certain mystery surrounding the Gnostics. Modern novels such as Dan Brown’s “The DaVinci Code” and films such as “The Matrix” have drawn on some of the mystical beliefs of Gnosticism. My essay this week will try to throw a little light on the little known and seemingly greatly misunderstood, Gnostics. […]

December 20, 2010

Blind Faith


We have been told many times in popular songs and popular literature that “love is blind”. This phenomenon is easy enough to understand. Our hormones dispose to become so attached to our idealization of our beloved that rationality is pushed aside. It is only when relationships really mature that we realize that we can love […]

December 16, 2010

Where Are We Headed


Predicting the future is an activity fraught with danger. And lacking the confidence of Nostradamus, I won’t even try. But I can at least give you some thoughts about various areas of human endeavour that I believe need to be tracked very closely. But even there I am in a quandary. For many issues extrapolating […]

December 10, 2010

A Dream of Brahman


In the beginning there was Brahman. In the end, which might have been perceived differently but was essentially still the same, there was Brahman too. And all there was, is and ever will be is Brahman or manifestations of Brahman. Brahman thought, “Here I am – everything, all-encompassing, all-pervasive, with no end and nothing unknown. […]

November 28, 2010

How We Perceive the World


“Reality is what we take to be true. What we take to be true is what we believe. What we believe is based on our perceptions. What we perceive depends on what we look for. What we look for depends on what we think. What we think depends on what we perceive. What we perceive […]

November 16, 2010

A Little More Time


You have no doubt often heard someone say, “Are you finished yet?” And the rejoinder comes, “No, not just yet. Just give me a little more time.” What could we possibly mean by this? If you asked for a little more water, a little more bread, a little more sympathy or even a little more […]

November 9, 2010