"Any fool can capitalize on their gains; it takes a wise person to profit from their losses." -(ANON)
Philosophy
In my musings on Heaven and Hell after talking to Pak Baha in Indonesia in 2008, I said that“There is no Heaven except what we create in our minds and in this world;There is no Hell except what we create in our minds and in this world”
WHAT IS YOUR BUSINESS?
To live, to survive, to enjoy, and be happy as far as possible.To accomplish those goals and targets you had set yourself, and some that maybe others had set you. To live as peacefully as possible with your fellow men, family, and friends. To reconcile differences. To forgive and ask for forgiveness. To love those …
TRICKS OF THE MIND
Sometimes when you’re reminiscing over your past life, your mind for some reason focusses on a particular place that you know you have been to and recognize, and you know that that place triggered particular thoughts and concerns at the time you were actually there. You cannot now quite remember what those concerns were, but …
WHAT IS YOUR BUSINESS?
To live, to survive, to enjoy, and be happy as far as possible.To accomplish those goals and targets you had set yourself, and some that maybe others had set you. To live as peacefully as possible with your fellow men, family, and friends. To reconcile differences. To forgive and ask for forgiveness. To love those …
TRICKS OF THE MIND
Sometimes when you’re reminiscing over your past life, your mind for some reason focusses on a particular place that you know you have been to and recognize, and you know that that place triggered particular thoughts and concerns at the time you were actually there. You cannot now quite remember what those concerns were, but …
THE SPEED OF TIME
I feel as though God is timing my final years exactly so that I complete my tasks in a timely and well- ordered fashion. Although I get frustrated with apparent delays, the tasks that I am set, and have set myself, are being completed gradually, one after the other. I cannot rush things. I am …
THE SKIN OF MY TEETH
I get through life by the skin of my teeth. I’m always in trouble of one sort or another, not of course intentionally, but either because of my thoughtlessness or by circumstances beyond my control, I seem to have to dig myself out of deep holes quite frequently. My Dad once said, after I’d returned …
THE PHILOSOPHY OF POTHOLES IN NEPAL
Why are there potholes? What causes them? Are they inevitable? One pothole is created by any one or combination of the following…. mechanical, geological, meteorological….rain, subsidence, heavy traffic, road alignment, terrain, accident, extreme weather, poor engineering, poor materials, geological fault, earthquake or shifts, erosion…In Nepal, these factors all bear to an exceptional degree on the …
THE MOUNTAIN OF LIFE
Just the very act of living each day and surviving in this mad world is a triumph of no little matter. It gets harder as you get older and more tired, the mountain a little steeper, the summit a little higher each day, but each day by a greater effort you manage to get to …
THAT GREAT DAY
Surely that day cannot be too far off now. I can see it coming. Sometimes it appears tantalizingly close, sometimes it recedes into the far distance, but I know it is now within reach, and I am getting quietly excited. That incredible day is the day when all my “To Do” points have been deleted, …
ROAD CONSTRUCTION
Practical, hypothetical, and philosophical questions relating to road construction, house building, infrastructure development in Nepal (and elsewhere). Mud huts versus concrete. Aesthetic appearances of the mud hut may be better, but who can blame someone for wanting to live in a more robust house than a mud hut, however attractive it may look? Drainage or …
REFLECTIONS ON DEATH
I have been thinking a lot about death recently. This is due to several reasons; the need to draw up a new Will; the impending inquest into my younger brother James’s death a year ago; the growing sense of growing older, with the days and weeks and years seeming to go by ever quicker, and …
Like the ant 2
Flood, fire, earthquake, destruction:-The moral must be:- why bother? Why go to all the trouble when it’s all going to be destroyed?What did Noah think when he saw the Deluge? Did he think it would rain just for a few days? No, he knew that it was going to be a huge flood because God …
LIKE THE ANT
Like the antwhose home has been destroyedby molten metaland whose brothershave been caught by the sticky tongue of the pangolin,or the termite,whose fortress of rock-hard mudhas been ripped apartby the sickle clawsof the ravening sloth bear, but nevertheless has survived, I too rebuild my lifeafter devastation. Slowly. Bit by bit. Painstakingly slowly. Painfully slowly. But …
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE
For the first time in my life, today I went out wearing 2 scarves. This was due to it being very cold, but also I’d forgotten I’d put on one scarf in the morning and hadn’t taken it off. This incident brings back memories of my childhood and one particularly cold winter which seemed much …
FEELING DOWN
When you’re feeling downGet out of townFeel the breezeTouch the treesLook at the skyAnd wonder – why?
EARLY MORNING, SUN SHINING LOW IN THE SKY, ANGLE OF LIGHT FILTERED THROUGH THE ATMOSPHERE.
The white, bright, clear sunlight strikes the dew drops at such an angle that it is reflected and refracted back at your retina, split into the multicolours of the spectrum, so that at each step forward different colours hit your eye, and as you slightly move your head and eyes, the array of pin-prick points …
EDDIE KNEEBONE
During my time earlier this year as a Conservation Volunteer in the State of Victoria, Australia, I met John McDonald, Senior Ranger of Beechworth National Park in the north eastern part of that state. John is a most engaging man and told us much about the beautiful Park he is responsible for, and had many …
PHYSICS EXPLAINS WHY TIME PASSES FASTER AS YOU AGE
By EphratLivni Senior reporter, law & politics, DC. Mind time and clock time are two totally different things. They flow at varying rates. The chronological passage of the hours, days, and years on clocks and calendars is a steady, measurable phenomenon. Yet our perception of time shifts constantly, depending on the activities we’re engaged in, our age, and even how …
PHYSICS EXPLAINS WHY TIME PASSES FASTER AS YOU AGE Read More »
DEVELOPMENT IN NEPAL
Practical, hypothetical and philosophical questions relating to road construction, house building, infrastructure development in Nepal (and elsewhere). Mud huts versus concrete. Aesthetic appearance of the mud hut is more pleasing , but who can blame someone for wanting to live in a more robust house than a mud hut, however attractive it may look? Drainage …
BOTH TOO YOUNG.
Who knows whyWe choose one and not another;Why what we doIn a precise second in the whole of eternityShould shape our life’s destiny?I was with a girlWith long, deep chestnut-colored hairBeside a river.We hadn’t known each other long or much,but for a few minutes, we were alone together one summer evening.She seemed to methat she …
AT THE END OF THE DAY, IT’S JUST YOU. NO ONE ELSE, NOW, OR IN THE PAST OR IN THE FUTURE.
You are responsible for the way you live your life, your mistakes, your triumphs and achievements. You are responsible for producing your children. You are responsible for other people’s happiness or misery, sadness or anger, when in a face-to-face encounter. You are responsible for the consequences of your own actions, be it anger, impetuosity, forgetfulness …
AT THE END OF THE DAY, IT’S JUST YOU. NO ONE ELSE, NOW, OR IN THE PAST OR IN THE FUTURE. Read More »
AS TIME GOES ON, THINGS SLIP
As time goes on, things slip even further beyond my control, my ambit, my grasp. I cannot seem to connect the last few threads, I cannot seem to complete the last jobs, I’m a helpless onlooker at the mercy of other people and events, despite my very best efforts. The more I strive, the less …