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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The Struggle With Self


Many years ago my good friend Dr Phil Harker taught me that the route to good psychological adjustment had three steps, viz. Know Yourself>Accept Youself>Forget Yourself. This has over the years, proved to be good advice. This seems such a simple formula – and it is. But it is also very profound and quite difficult […]

August 24, 2010

The Way of Vedanta


Vedanta is the wisdom of the Vedic sages. It is one of the oldest forms of religion and was the precursor to Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and Buddhism. It is the spiritual path outlined in the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. The Ultimate Reality, according to Vedanta, is all-pervading pure consciousness. As one adept wrote, “ […]

August 19, 2010

Power and Fear


‘The Emperor of Tsin Chou province was a proud and haughty man. He was jealous of his power and authority and went to great pains to defend his little empire. He had numerous spies who were always abroad in the neighbouring provinces gathering intelligence because he was anxious that he would be attacked. Anyone who […]

August 11, 2010

The Mind of Ted


What a paradox it is that I have had an ongoing sense of identity all my life. The “I-ness” I now experience seems little different to that which I experienced when I was younger. Yet I am substantially a different person from that Ted Scott that existed thirty or forty years ago I am older […]

July 26, 2010

The Ground of Being


It is all there, all the time, everywhere and everywhence. How overwhelming but how strange seen from the limited perspective of one man or woman’s eyes, or discerned by their senses; beyond our perception and our conception and therefore beyond normal belief. And so we break it down to that little bit we can physically […]

July 21, 2010

Where To After The Monarchy?


One of the more pleasurable things that have happened to me in recent times was to become the Chair of the Fitzroy Basin Association (FBA).FBA is one of Queenslands thirteen community based Natural Resource Management (NRM) Groups. As a result of this position I get to sit on the Board of the Queensland Regional NRM […]

July 15, 2010

On Life in General


However you might view it, it is quite apparent to me that I have had a very fortunate life. One of the reasons I would make such a statement is the number of marvellous people I can have called friends. One such person is Brian Turnbull. I first met Brian more than ten years ago […]

July 6, 2010

The Nature of Existence


Some time ago, Greg Brown, who frequently comments astutely on my blogs as you may have noticed, sent me a few interesting quotes to ponder on. Let me share one with you. This particular one is from Steve Biller, Tutorial Fellow in experimental particle physics, Mansfield College, University of Oxford, England. “Particles, in fact, don’t […]

June 30, 2010

A Small Tilt at the Monarchy


Normally, when I have written in this format, I have avoided taking extreme points of view, (although perhaps some of my readers might have thought otherwise!) Very seldom do I come across opinions that I feel I should automatically dismiss. Most times I can see some vestige of an argument from practically any viewpoint. Today, […]

June 23, 2010

What Is a Man’s Life?


What is a man’s life? A bubble on the stream, Raised by the splashing rain, which merrily Dances along the swiftly gliding wave, Full of apparent life, then suddenly Breaks and leaves no trace behind To show where it hath been…. A summer moth, Hovering, at night around the candle-flame, And finding first its transient […]

June 16, 2010