Of Hanukkah and Hate

Western civilisation was built on the Judeo-Christian tradition. Most of us are probably more familiar with Christianity than we are with Judaism. But Judaism has a long (predating Christianity), colourful history. It is the oldest of the religions of “The Book” and the antecedent of Christianity and Islam. According to Jewish folklore, the Maccabees were […]

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What Should We Do About Immigration?

Whilst I have written on this subject before, I believe it is worthwhile revisiting the topic again because the Federal Liberal Party is currently trying to formulate a policy on immigration to take to the next election. They have just successfully compiled a policy on energy where they have (sensibly in my view) walked back […]

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A Few More Thoughts about Leadership

As you undoubtedly would know by now, the person who had the biggest influence on my career as an executive was the late Dr Pill Harker. Whilst Phil helped me understand the basic psychology of human beings, he was sometimes naïve about the politics of organisations. Nevertheless I will be eternally grateful to him for […]

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The Dualism Quandary

Having studied physics, chemistry and mathematics, I have always been intrigued by what is the nature of the natural world. Conventional science would have us believe that science is about “discovering” the Laws of Nature that have governed the Universe since its creation. If you are religious you probably believe that God laid down these […]

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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