A carpenter from Nazareth

Learn by ROTA, not by rote

2014-10-31T06:14:00.001+00:00

The philosophy is, Read Once, Throw Away.
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Some final words...

2014-10-16T20:16:00.003+01:00

Sweeping out the wood-chippings - and any other carpentry-related parallels one would like to make. Last-minute thoughts, things spinning round my head, raggedy old draft of an essay I was attempting from ages ago, and whatever else.
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The Carpenter is closing shop

2014-10-15T18:58:00.000+01:00

This place has served its purpose.

To be and not to be - that is the answer

2014-08-30T10:48:00.001+01:00

"We are not born in to this world. We are born out from this world." Alan Watts

Everything is born out of this world. Look all around at the growing things, all springing up and growing out, reaching up and spreading. But only so far as the fruits and leaves die and new ones take their place each year. Each growing thing reaches its limit.

This spherical earth is a rolling, broiling, seething, mass. Each plate heaving and turning, rock and mass rising to the surface, moving, and being dug under - the earth turning itself inside-out, outside-in. Topsoil turned continuously by the worm. The agony and the ecstasy. Being fertilised and giving birth. Living things spring from this earth. Seed is planted and life shoots forth.

Some say there are galaxies in clusters like grapes on the vine. On the earth life burst forth, all various kinds of living things blooming like grapes on the vine.

And mankind born like a piece of fruit on the branch, grows and expands, mostly water. Some fruit falls early, some when they are old and bruised, and are mulched back in to the earth and regurgitated. Nothing is wasted.
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The stowaway

2014-02-11T08:54:00.001+00:00

Halt your vital search elsewhere for that great illusionist, God. Turns out he was already on board all along.

He is in the cargo hold, hiding among the baggage.
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Relax - you're already dead

2013-11-19T16:29:00.002+00:00

The individual life is wafer thin. Hours and minutes and seconds are peeled off like sheaves of paper and blown away in the breeze. Looking back everything is a distant memory. We can barely remember anything, and what we can remember we struggle to remember accurately. We are only left with residual feelings and emotions, and even these may not be true. We are casting an eye over our own demise.
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What is the purpose of life?

2013-05-22T17:19:00.003+01:00

Life has got itself in to a spot of bother. It has turned down a blind alley; got itself in to an endless loop; it is a stuck record, skipping on a scratch; it needs to sit itself down in a corner and give itself a damn good talking to.
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Philip the Evangelizer, O.B.E.: You already know the answers to all your questions

2012-12-14T13:55:00.000+00:00

There is a legend told about Philip the Evangelizer (Acts 8:26-40). Apparently there was some government bigwig hailing from Ethiopia who had a mysterious life-changing experience while on a visit to Jerusalem. The power of this encounter - so it is said - led to a complete change in his life. It was in all the newspapers.

the story goes that this Ethiopian official found himself travelling by chariot on the road going from Jerusalem to Gaza. On the course of this journey he was reading aloud from the scroll of Isaiah when he became aware of a man running alongside his chariot.

"Do you actually know what you are reading?" This superman asked.

"How could I ever do so unless someone guided me?" Came the humble reply, and he invited the stranger to jump aboard, whereupon, starting from the verses he was reading, the man proceeded to explain to him "the good news about Jesus." As luck would have it, in the course of their discussion they passed a body of water. The Ethiopian took the opportunity to get baptised, after which the man bade his farewell and took off across the desert.

"What an extraordinary man," said the Ethiopian dignitary.

"What man?" Came his driver's guarded response, and indeed when the Ethiopian looked in the direction in which the man had set off, there was no sign of him.

To this day, Philip denies ever being there. Witnesses will concur that when the event was supposed to have taken place, Philip was found to be in Ashdod.

"It's a lovely story," said Philip, "but I was in Samaria, and I never got down as far as the road from Jerusalem to Gaza. It wasn't me...unless it was some sort of out of body experience."

And they all laughed uncertainly. You could never quite tell with Philip.
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Master Oogway provides inspiration

2012-12-13T06:30:00.000+00:00

Po: Maybe I should just quit and go back to making noodles.

Oogway: Quit, don't quit? Noodles, don't noodles? You are too concerned about what was and what will be. There is a saying: yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the "present."

[watch it]

Joshua Tilghman: The Sistine Chapel ceiling - the secret in plain sight

2012-12-09T08:25:00.001+00:00

In 1990, Dr. Meshberger stated something spectacular in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The background shapes which God is depicted in on this painting closely resemble the human brain—the cerebrum, the brain stem, the pituitary stalk, the frontal lobe, and the basilar artery, it’s all right there depicted in the painting!

Read the rest of the article here: The Secret In Plain Sight

Related: What awakens the "third eye?"

The solution to all the world's problems: Abolish money

2012-11-21T19:41:00.001+00:00

Certain questions (or statements) have now become so offensive to people's sensibilities that the mind instinctively rejects them. For example, anything John Holt suggests in Escape From Childhood, or Is anyone really "born this way", or would a different upbringing have produced a different result? Anyway, here's another one: Why does anything even cost money any more?

The world would be a far better place if money was eradicated. That does not mean a return to the barter system, which was simply a precursor to money anyway. No, abolishing money would mean doing away with buying anything. Everything is free of charge.
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God is not God is not God...

2012-11-07T19:29:00.001+00:00

Throughout the articles written here the term "God" is used. It needs to be made quite plain that "God" is not God. "God" is a perfectly inadequate word that is used to describe the indescribable. God is Love, Truth, Eternal, God is none of these things. God can not be defined with words. God is not something you believe in. It would be more accurate to say, "I believe in nothing."
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Why is the truth hidden in the Bible?

2012-10-31T19:18:00.001+00:00

In his essay, "Why I Write," George Orwell put this reason first on the list: Sheer egoism. He explains it this way:

(i) Sheer egoism. Desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death, to get your own back on the grown-ups who snubbed you in childhood, etc., etc. It is humbug to pretend this is not a motive, and a strong one. Writers share this characteristic with scientists, artists, politicians, lawyers, soldiers, successful businessmen — in short, with the whole top crust of humanity.

The Bible - the written word - is a product of man surrendering to the ego. It is man trying to explain man's predicament of being held captive to the ego, while himself being held captive to the ego. In other words, it wants to extol the virtues of freedom while choosing to remain confined to prison. Even if we agree that some Bible writers recognised the truth of man's condition, the fact remains that they recognised it while surrendering to their own egos. Because of this, it lacks credibility.
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Snatching Christianity from the jaws of St Paul

2012-10-24T19:36:00.001+01:00

By the sixth decade of the first century the Apostle Paul was breaking into a cold sweat. It wasn't enough that he had been shipped off to Rome and met with a complete anti-climax, but he really sensed that he was beginning to go off the boil. He was being abandoned, confronted, and challenged. To make matters worse, the original Messiah was being quoted, and word was now out that someone had been following Jesus around with a moleskin, and had been taking notes, and now - would you Adam-and-Eve it - these notes had fallen into the hands of none other than John Mark.

Including, "Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry," in his second letter to Timothy, felt like too little too late. It was unlikely Mark had ever got over the quarter-of-a-century cold shoulder he had received from Paul, and being unceremoniously replaced by Timothy in short order after Paul's bust-up with Barnabas over whether or not to take Mark on the second missionary journey. "That deserter?" was Paul's response. "Not bloody likely."
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Hymenaeus, Philetus, Alexander et al: "They were not of our sort..."

2012-10-18T09:41:00.000+01:00

"They went out from us, but they were not of our sort; for if they had been of our sort, they would have remained with us."
(1 John 2:19)

Hymenaeus, Philetus, Alexander - these names may not be immediately familiar to us, but I like to imagine that the truth resides with these rejected fellows, these waifs and strays of the New Testament who are spoken of in rather abusive terms by the likes of Paul and John.
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Even if you don't believe in God, you'd better create one

2012-10-10T15:04:00.000+01:00

The question of whether or not God exists is of no consequence. What is vital is that even if we don't believe in God, we make darn sure we create one, and the sooner the better.
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Ghostworld of the excommunicated

2012-10-04T06:17:00.000+01:00

I died on Wednesday, April 4th, 2012.

Time was called at a little after 8 o'clock in the evening.

"Rory Sullivan is no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses."
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J. Krishnamurti: Right education is not to help you to find careers

2012-09-26T17:36:00.000+01:00

Krishnamurti: Tell me what you will do, when you have plenty of leisure.

Student: I would get bored, sir.

Krishnamurti: You would get bored. Quite right. That is what most people are.

Student: How do I get rid of this boredom, sir?

Krishnamurti: Wait, listen. Most people are bored. Why? You asked how to get rid of boredom. Now find out. When you are by yourself for half an hour, you are bored. So you pick up a book, chatter, look at a magazine, go to a cinema, talk, do something. You occupy your mind with something. This is an escape from yourself. You have asked a question, Now, pay attention to what is being said. You get bored because you find yourself with yourself; and you have never found yourself with yourself. Therefore, you get bored. You say: Is that all I am? I am so small, I am so worried; I want to escape from all that. What you are is very boring, so you run away.

Carry on reading J. Krishnamurti: On Education (*.pdf) [via brockwood.org.uk]

Robert Fuller: Eureka, Epiphany and Enlightenment

2012-09-25T17:28:00.000+01:00

That moments of enlightenment can't be anticipated accounts for part of our fascination with them, but it also makes the experience vulnerable to mystification. History has seen many claimants to the titles of sage, genius, maestro, saint, or enlightened master. Mesmerized by the aura of celebrity and mystery that envelops them, we often fail to notice that, like ourselves, they are human beings. When they're not having an epiphany -- which is most of the time -- they're ordinary in the same way that everyone is. What sets some of them apart is a readier ability to rise above habit and see freshly. And sometimes they can transmit this special skill to their students. Whether using it will result in a student hitting the jackpot, or, for that matter, in the teacher hitting a second jackpot, or either of them ever having another enlightening experience -- of that there are no guarantees.

Students and seekers often collude in their own infantilization by maintaining habits of deference that lull them into believing that an experience of enlightenment is quite beyond them. Such dependent relationships with revered authority figures reflect the escapist desire for a parent whose love is constant, whose wisdom is infallible, and on whom we can always rely. The best teachers, like the best parents, freely transmit their knowledge, skills, and passion for truth-seeking to their mentees, but without leaving them starry-eyed. As with so many of the most precious gifts in life, the best we can do to repay such benefactors is to pass what we've learned from them on to someone else.

Read the rest of Eureka, Epiphany and Enlightenment. From there you could get his free e-book, Religion and Science: A Beautiful Friendship?

Predestination, or is life just a bunch of stuff that happened?

2012-09-20T07:38:00.004+01:00

Is there a bullet with your name on it? Does everything happen "for a reason"? Perhaps, like Jung and Oogway, you say, "I don't believe in coincidence," and, "There are no accidents." Are you a "Que, sera, sera," kind of person? All of these have one thing in common - they are all attempts to make some kind of sense out of life. And there's no harm in trying to make some kind of sense out of life.
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Erich Fromm: Everything Must Be Doubted

2012-08-24T06:33:00.001+01:00

What is meant by radicalism? What does humanist radicalism imply?

By radicalism I do not refer primarily to a certain set of ideas, but rather to an attitude, to an "approach," as it were. To begin with this approach can be characterized by the motto: de omnibus dubitandum; everything must be doubted, particularly the ideological concepts which are virtually shared by everybody and have consequently assumed the role of indubitable commonsensical axioms.

To "doubt" in this sense does not imply a psychological state of inability to arrive at decisions or convictions, as is the case in obsessional doubt, but the readiness and capacity for critical questioning of all assumptions and institutions which have become idols under the name of common sense, logic, and what is supposed to be "natural." This radical questioning is possible only if one does not take the concepts of one's own society or even of an entire historical period - like Western culture since the Renaissance - for granted, and furthermore if one enlarges the scope of one's awareness and penetrates into the unconscious aspects of one's thinking. Radical doubt is an act of uncovering and discovering; it is the dawning of the awareness that the Emperor is naked, and that his splendid garments are nothing but the product of one's phantasy.

This was part of the introduction to a Ivan Illich's Celebration of Awareness. The full text can be found here.

What is love, anyway?

2012-08-22T19:53:00.001+01:00

What is love anyway?
Does anybody love anybody anyway?

Can you believe it was almost thirty years ago Howard Jones asked that question?

A couple of thousand years ago Paul took a crack at answering it.

Love is long-suffering and kind.
Love is not jealous,
it does not brag,
does not get puffed up,
does not behave indecently,
does not look for its own interests,
does not become provoked.
It does not keep account of the injury.
It does not rejoice over unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
(1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

So, love is a lot of things. To borrow Dr Haim Ginott's analogy, love is too large a concept. It is like a fifty-pound note. Having it might make us feel wealthy, but it's useless in a phone box. It needs to be broken into smaller change to be any use. You'll notice Paul spends a lot of time explaining what love is not. Paul didn't really know what love is. It's like one of those things, "I'm not really sure what love is, but I'll know it when I see it." Except you won't.

One of the best indications of love is this one: "Love your neighbour as yourself." Look at the way men treat each other throughout the world and it should give you a fairly clear indication of something: Men hate themselves.
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What awakens the "third eye"?

2012-08-15T20:57:00.001+01:00

Man's inner life has captured people's interest for thousands of years. Whole religions and philosophies have been built up around this quest to find true meaning in life. In his eager search for the truth man quite literally delved inwards, carving up the human body to find answers to this strange enigma called man.

Eastern cultures reference what is called the "third eye". The Egyptians had the "eye of Horus", a symbol that bears a striking resemblance to the hypothalamus. It doesn't take much of a leap to imagine that even the ancient Egyptians could appreciate that a blow to the head affected one's eyesight, so there must be something in there that connects with vision. Couple this with man's insatiable need to know how things work (the inner mechanics), and pretty soon someone's head is being sliced in two, and the brain is being peeled apart like a piece of fresh fruit.
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This town ain't big enough for the both of us

2012-08-10T14:55:00.001+01:00

By iron, iron itself is sharpened. So one man sharpens the face of another. (Proverbs 27:13)

The beauty of this essay-writing experience is that it is a work in progress. Thoughts in motion. It can be nothing else. I find myself recording everything as realisation and understanding unfold for me. It is often a stream of consciousness methodology, which is why the essays can occasionally be a mite disjointed.

Today's essay on ego felt like a leap forward, and it was very helpful for me. I published it in the wee small hours, as dawn was breaking, and by mid-morning I had changed my mind about something. Two weeks ago Empathy Is The Skeleton Key, suggested an eventual amalgamation of the inauthentic and authentic self. Today, equating the ego with the inauthentic self enabled me to realise something: The inauthentic must die. There is no room for the ego. There is no need for it. We can live exclusively by means of love. It is man's instinct. There is no need for man to compile rules and laws, or to decide what constitutes good and evil, or right and wrong. Love knows instinctively what to do, and how to act.
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Everybody's Got One

2012-08-10T07:56:00.002+01:00

An expression I have often used throughout these essays is "the inauthentic self". There is probably a better, more familiar term that could be used: Ego.
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