For the greater part of human history the only people who knew exactly what we looked like as individuals were other people. When the best we could do for mirrors were bowls of various metals filled with clear water, or still pools which give a slightly concave or convex view of our faces we never…
Nonsense
There are many assumptions that come to us in our education because a close reading is not given to the facts even as we know them. And let’s face it when the protagonists have been dead two thousand years it is hard to know what we know. For example would it interest you to know…
Everything You Are
There is an art to everything. A way of handling tools, be they physical or philosophical, that comes with practice, learned skills built upon inborn acuity. There is something interesting about watching any animal doing something well and especially seeing human beings perfecting something in their lives. Be it a fine dancer, a fine chef or…
Keeping Fit
I am not sure people realise that healthiness (one’s fitness regime) is intimately tied up with one’s philosophy of life. Maybe people don’t actually think they have a philosophy of life, but we all do. This is why many Eastern religions (and we may perhaps say all religions are basically philosophies or comments upon life) have…
Tested and Passed
I had five hours at hospital today because my mother lost a lot of strength in her left arm overnight. The consensus is she had a minor stroke but I want to share the UK health system with you. Her doctor visited at 12 pm after a call in the morning and did the paperwork…
Relationship Issues
I have often thought it was easier to get on with my dogs than anyone else. For a start my dogs can easily out-think me so they don’t have any dominance issues. They also have few requests and those they do have have specified times to which they adhere throughout their lives. It isn’t the…
Scary Stuff
Whilst motion pictures have given a new lease of life to horror it has to be said the scariest ideas used by directors come from ancient stories told around fires and as instructive lessons on what not to do and where not to go. For as long as myths go back human beings have filled…
Is There An Alternative To Thinking?
We got to where we are because we are a rational, thoughtful animal. But those thoughts are of particular kinds – the kinds that come to us because of our nature. The kinds that make sense of the outside world by using our senses. The kinds our brains can comprehend. The kinds that we can…
The Feudal Mind
There are few martial arts movies that I have ever really enjoyed.Knowing that martial arts began in India and are deeply rooted in religious beliefs the fare that the West is heir too with flying everything and heroism is not actually accurate. But I am struck as with movies made about knights errant or any…
The Simpler Life
Whenever my computer goes wrong I always seem to go into overdrive and worry. I recall when my pc first crashed on me and the hardware had broken I spent a week without the Internet after being on it for almost two years. I had withdrawal symptoms. Yet strangely enough when it happened again after…