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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Love vs Fear

The Essential Phil Harker Some weeks ago I published a tribute to Phil Harker. I thought it might be useful to outline some of his key beliefs. As we travelled on this journey of discovery together, his philosophical understandings and psychological insights had a beneficial effect on my life. It is likely they might be […]

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Australia’s Looming Electricity Catastrophe

The overwhelming victory by Labor in the recent Federal Election will have many flow-on effects. One of the more disastrous will be Labor doubling down on its renewable energy policy. Chris Bowen is already claiming the victory as a mandate to continue his reckless pursuit of renewable energy. It is an assertion that is pretty […]

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A Last Salute to the Good Dr Phil

  My friend of 40 years has now departed this earth. Dr Phil Harker my long-time associate and mentor has left his body and gone to a better place. The world is diminished with his passing. I first met Phil sometime around 1986 when he was part of a selection panel assessing applicants to be […]

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Aristotle and the Middle Way


We are not certain when the teacher Siddhatta Gautama actually lived. Most scholastic opinion would now seem to confirm he lived most of his life in the fifth century BCE. His disciples preserved the memory of his life and teachings as best they could. Shortly after the Buddha died, the Pali texts tell us that […]

May 21, 2010

Aristotle and the Pursuit of Happiness


Thomas Jefferson is given the credit for penning the words in the Constitution of The United States of America stating that one of the basic rights of its citizens is “the pursuit of happiness”. Unfortunately it was a wrong-minded notion. It implied that if they tried hard enough any person (or at least a citizen […]

May 12, 2010

Free Will and Omniscience


It is difficult to reconcile an omnipotent and an omniscient God with how we understand the universe. Bertrand Russell in his essay on “The Art of Rational Conjecture” very mischievously gave an account of the biblical story of The Fall. God told Adam and Eve not to eat of the fruit of a certain tree. […]

May 6, 2010

A Few Stray Thoughts


Parochialism (again?) The other day there was a news item about an explosion that occurred at an Indian venue for 20/20 cricket. From recollection, a half dozen Indians were injured by this terrorist attack. The news report said, “Cricket Australia were relieved that no Australians were hurt.” Is there something unique about the humanity of […]

April 30, 2010

The Gnostic Gospel According To Bit


It has fallen to my lot to write this gospel. My teacher was a most holy man. His real name was Fred, but for the reasons that will become apparent from the text, Fred was to go by the most holy title of Bit. In the last days of his life, Bit had me pledge […]

April 21, 2010

Two Kinds of People


In a previous blog I mentioned the problem outlined by Karen Armstrong in interpreting religious writings. She maintained that there was always tension between Logos and Mythos. Much of the wisdom of the world has been transmitted by myth, fable, allegory or parable. When we get into trouble is when we start to take this […]

April 14, 2010

School Rules


Most every school has rules that students are expected to obey. In days gone by such rules were very prescriptive. They gave guidance as to dress, manners, deportment, how to address ‘superiors’ and so on. Young minds needed strict instruction on how to conduct themselves. The rules were enforced by fear. Transgression resulted in corporal […]

April 7, 2010

The Hedgehog and the Fox – Strategies for Decision Making


The Russian born, British philosopher and essayist, Sir Isaiah Berlin wrote an essay on Tolstoy’s view of history which he titled The Hedgehog and the Fox. The title comes from a fragment attributed to the Greek poet, Archilochus, who purportedly wrote, “The fox knows many things but the hedgehog knows one big thing”. The fox, […]

March 25, 2010

The Downside of Democracy


A quick read of the morning papers leaves us in no doubt that this is a federal election year. Announcements, rebuttals, claims and counter-claims are starting to fill the newspaper columns. I suppose at least in the papers there is a little more substance and some reasonable analysis. On the television all we see is […]

March 17, 2010

Open To Criticism


It is good to be exposed to a range of viewpoints. We learn from being challenged and having our horizons widened. But this can’t happen if we automatically close our minds to what we don’t want to hear. The other morning I sat with one of my fellow directors on a board that I belong […]

March 10, 2010