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Stones and Plants

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Having reached what is known in common parlance as ‘a ripe old age’, there occurs to me certain insights about the nature of human beings.

Principally, one is given to conclude that human souls, during their own short but sweet personal evolution, consist of two types;

The first might considered to be ‘stones’; that is having as much knowledge and personal charm as a stone. This is not to ‘put down’ the mineral kingdom through comparison with those who are more obviously ‘alive’ and ‘should know better’. Indeed I have personally a great regard for stones of all kinds, as a result of my scientific theoretical understanding of ‘geology’ and ‘geomorphology’ and an artistic appreciation of the significant contribution of stones to the beauty of landscapes. Indeed I have in my possession companion stones, exhibiting curious colours, shapes, sizes, weights etc., as well as natural crystals of miraculous hues and geometries, precious minerals derived from 0res, and indeed a house made entirely of stones giving me shelter from whatever the weather and life is inclined to throw at me. Stones, in short, rock.

http://www.gravitymeditation.com

More metaphysically, I am one of those stark-raving-mad-nics who regard the mineral kingdom as having a complete social structure. This comprises of a noble King and Queen, courtiers and other ‘hangers on’ who are likewise, to be found in the human realm, where matters of high office and rank are ‘out for grabs’. It is true for me, and no doubt certain other ‘cranks’ party to ‘outlandish persuasions’, that the entire earth’s crust and what is below, goes about it’s business in a most conscious, caring and controlled manner. What I am trying to say is that the whole mineral kingdom is as much alive as you or I, but slower…look at a geological time chart to see how aeons pass by as stones do, in short, very little. As one who is a mere butterfly in comparison to the length of life of minerals, I believe that conscious evolutionary changes are almost impossible to observe in stones due to their considerable slow rate of change in all aspects of their lives. From another perspective, we to stones are no more than a spark lifted out of a metaphorical camp fire, which exhausts itself on oxygen in less than a second.

It is this particular quality of stones that brings them to mind as an apt metaphor for the subject of this essay; which I promise I shall come to when the twinkle of the moment is ‘right’. You see, in my unique and therefore unusual opinion, there are certain human beings who are born, live and die with much the same enthusiasm, as a stone. Their brief nascence appears to be a complete quandary to them; to and about which they show little curiosity or even care. They probably are not conscious that ‘existence’ is, in contrast, an issue of considerable fascination for others in their society. As a result, their life consists of certain fixed stations and ideas, about all and nothing, with which they bore those who are unfortunate enough to be within earshot of them. The aspirations of these ‘stone people’, one might conclude, are summarised in the word, horizontal.

Such stones are not the type with whom you wish to spend time in awkward situations, such as ‘stuck-in-a-lift’ or ‘drifting-in-a lifeboat’, following the occurrence of a power cut or submersion of a poorly navigated ocean liner.

picture credit: The Belfast Telegraph

Least of all to be desired, is the idea of forming a relationship with them if you any have a regard for wonder in life; with all it’s twists and turns and curiousnesses. Should you mention in polite conversation or correspondence to one of these mineralised munchins, a matter of considerable interest to yourself, you can certainly expect a glazed expression in place of an informed response, followed by a ‘passing on or over’ your interests in order to talk about something more agreeable to themselves, such as the price of cheese or cucumbers.

On the other hand, patient reader, as you probably are, up until now, eagerly anticipating information about the alternative human type; ‘champ at the bit’ no more. For there is a type of homo sapien sapien who exhibits a completely opposite metaphorical disposition to life than stones; these are ‘plants’. In a sustainably organic way, these merry souls plough through life, planting seeds, irrigating fields, de-pesting, fertilising and generally invigorating life’s very soil, in extremis. Naturally they pass on this envigoration to all fellow humans with whom they come into contact.

Theirs is a life exhibiting a general compulsion to explore ever aspect of their inner self as well as the eminently curious and absorbing exterior world. If change of direction is needed, they will mentally and emotionally transform themselves upwards, in order to enjoy new vistas and ways of seeing, much as in the manner of a broad bean plant escaping the humdrumness of ‘root consciousness’. One is reminded of the wisdom of Jack and his fabled ‘Stalk of a Bean’ through the ascent of which, he returned with a notable harp and a hen that laid solid 24 carat gold eggs.

picture credit: Jack and the Beanstalk – a silent film – (1902)

Being ‘rooted’ is no more an insurmountable challenge for humans of the plant-like nature, than it is for a physically disabled person to overcome their ‘limitations’ and discover wonderful gifts, that otherwise would have been unknown or unavailable to them.

In summary, plant people are eminently the best to grow with, and if you let them, they will lift you out of any circumstance in which you might find yourself ‘rooted’. They will always find out about some thing or matter if they do not know the answer, because they are aware of the fluid nature of knowledge and the fact that ‘not knowing’ carries no shame or closure of opportunities, but is eminently instructive and a ‘good moist and shady spot to start’. In an entirely organic manner, a plant person will carry you along with a skip in their step and a smile on the tips of their leaves, waiting to respond to a challenge, good or bad, and in so doing, gaining the attitude and skill of being able to overcome anything.

With a small amount of reflection and observation of future meetings and relationships with those whose nature is enclosed in a homo sapien sapien animal body, you should, I advise you; be acutely in remembrance of these two human types.

The magic of Mother Earth and Plants meeting;
Spherical Plasma Information Vortexs’s at work in Wiltshire, England this month.

picture credit: fr.news.yahoo.com

Perhaps this knowledge begins some self reflection as to in which corner you reside? If it does, then it is my personal understanding and belief that we are all to different extents and purposes, sometimes a rock and sometimes a plant and sometimes neither; the latter, from which, nothing good will happen.

picture credit: Pinterest

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Whirled Without End

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The beginning of now…

When we look at the art of ancient times it is striking how the world is represented in two dimensions. From the beautiful court scenes from Mogul India, Japanese and Chinese evocations of nature, the wall paintings of Egypt and Mayan and Aztec relief sculptures of Central America.

At the same time and for too long, the world was conceived as a flat plain. If you travelled too far you would fall off. It’s an understandable world view, yet the believers in this theory never questioned how deeply a well could be dug before a hole appeared.

This perceptual paradigm was founded in a vague adherence to the dominion of the Divine Male. The Old Testament God was a man – naturally. Animals marched into Noah’s perfectly measured Ark, 2×2 and cells have been splitting that way ever since.

Roman armies marched in two step time and in battles formed orderly squares allowing all round defence.

Sacred buildings were rigidly formal and measured, such as the Parthenon in Ancient Athens. The Ancient Egyptians were equally inspired by formal and exact right angled geometry.

This male principal permeated the theory of design and practice and in doing so formed a reliable and solid ground work for our modern era.

When I became a student of architecture the tutors ask us on our first day what we would bring to architecture. Somewhat naively and immodestly I said I would bring the curve back to architecture. Even headlights on cars in the 1970’s, headlamps on cars were changing from being round to square.

I had a feeling of a ‘brave new world’ which indeed has happened even if I had to let the brilliant Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, steal my thunderbolts.

picture credit: Arch Daily

As a boy I used to cycle down to the south coast of England where the land meets the sea in tall chalk cliffs. Creeping along the grass to perch on the precipice to look down at the black pebble beaches far below, I was like a seer peeping over the edge of a flat world, into a third dimension.

Whether we see it or not, we are also now creeping warily into a fourth dimension represented by the principal of the ‘sacred feminine’.

This has nothing to with ‘Votes for Women’, a movement that swelled at the beginning of the nineteenth century perhaps as a natural protest against the male principled dominance of society since for ever. The First world war was perhaps, the last breath of that male principal. It briefly stopped the feminine protests and sent women to factories to build the instruments of war, but the corner had been turned. Women drove buses and ambulances and had tasted freedom from domesticity.

Mothers watched their sons march into the sunset, over the horizon and would never forgive the folly of the male Generals and politicians.

If you hold a ball in front of a child and ask, ‘where does this ball begin?’ the child will look at you as if you only have half a brain and explain that a ball has no beginning.

The question is a Koan and like all koans, challenges the rational, logical and formal pathways of thought.

Many dogmatic religious thinkers hold to the notion that the world could possibly end and proponents of this will present you with a date. Presently it is 13th August 2025 ‘according to Nostradamus’ and this date will, no doubt, pass without incident just as did the Christian Calendar’s year 2000 BCE.

Learning about the sacred feminine is a ‘learning curve’ upon which we still struggle, like young penguins sliding ungracefully up the steep slopes of an iceberg.

Ask an Astrophysicist when the Universe began and they will generally reply based on the so called ‘Big Bang’ theory. Yet the question is as absurd as guessing when and how the Universe will end. Anticipating the common sense of children observing the universe, I would expect they will say it never began and will never end.

That is the beauty of the child’s mind. It still retains the influence of the Divine Mother, before it is sent to the (male) military styled regime of education.

Yet I feel the influence of the Divine Feminine is more influential in modern Western societies than ever before. Parliaments and Judge’s benches are becoming equally filled with women as men.

From Ancient India we are given the map of the idea of the cyclic Yugas; eras circling around 25,000 years in which the world is alternately destructive and creative.

picture credit: Ancient Inquiries

In the view of many, the Age if Aquarius is happening now and introducing the Feminine Principal into all areas of life and knowledge. Exceptions abound of course, as the process is gradual and takes two steps back for each three forward.

The benefit for humankind will be to realise when the pendulum is suspended equally between the two Divine Genders. Modern Feminism becomes flawed when and if it tips the balance too far and unnaturally dominates the male principal.

In Ancient times there are a limited number of symbols that appear in wall paintings and petroglyphs literally, around the world. One of them is the spiral. This remains one of the most easy to comprehend illustrations of an idea that defies logic; infinity. A spiral apparently starts from nowhere and disappears into nowhere.

If something were an mass moving through a void, it would need a circular motion combined with a constant, weak tangental vector, nudging it ever off a circular orbit out of sight.

For a time in history, philosophers were perplexed with the puzzle in geometry of ‘squaring the circle’; famously illustrated by Leonardo de Vinci in his depiction of the ‘Vitruvian Man‘.

picture credit: Britannica

Yet in my view the spiral is a better symbolic representation of that state in matter and spirit, where the feminine is truly in harmony with the male.

In every aspect of nature, from the principals of the growth of the fractal tree and sea shores, to the spiralling movements of the moons, planets, stars, galaxies and universes, we can measure in observation the wonder of creation by two complementary Divine potter’s hands; one male, one female.

Humans were made from clay on the spinning potter’s wheel and the principal known as the anima mundi, is the final result of Divine genius – the Soul of the Whirled.

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Peace Begets Peace

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Most people hate war, especially soldiers, so why does it happen?

The problem is that war is an option of last resort. Ideally, all other options have been explored before war happens, but from then on, ‘the continuation of politics by other means‘, to paraphrase Carl von Klauswitz.

picture credit: World History Encyclopaedia

War will persist until it is possible to stop it; a process far harder to achieve than starting a war. Each conflict is a set of unique circumstances and different ways to reach a peace. At worst the war will become one of attrition and it becomes impossible for both sides to continue. Alternatively, political and public support for a war wanes or perhaps an overwhelming third force appears that compels surrender.

You would like to think that ‘how to stop a war’ is taught in military academies, but such executive decisions are more likely made my politicians rather than military leaders and politicians usually have no experience of ‘conflict resolution’ at this scale. Even in wars which have been wars of attrition, the conclusion of war requires considerable diplomatic skill. For if one side is forced into conditions of surrender that are too onerous and dishonourable, the process of recovery becomes excessively hard and national pride will almost certainly wish to seek redress sometime in the future.

The world might have learnt this lesson at the conclusion of the first world war, which was a spiral of attrition requiring the intervention of a third party; the USA to make it stop. The armistice terms demanded by the Allies, were so severe that they left a ticking time bomb, which exploded as the second world war.

The present war in Ukraine has been described by some as the beginning of the third world war, but there is another view. It could be argued that what is happening in Ukraine since 2004, when Russia annexed parts of Ukraine and later the Crimean peninsula, is an after shock of the second world war .

In that war, an American General raced against the Russians to roll his tanks into Berlin ; General George Patten.

The politicians tolerated his outspoken gaffs, because he was a superb military leader. Patten was of the opinion that the allies should continue to Moscow and finish the war for good.

The politicians ignored his advice and the United States spent the next few decades ‘fighting communism’ in what became known as, Mc Carthy era. Countries such as Cuba, Korea, China, Russia and Vietnam caused considerable headaches for the American politicians and military; feeding a neurotic culture of suspicion of called;  ‘reds under the beds’.

There is an argument that the present war in Ukraine is the continuation of the communist expansionism in Europe that immediately followed the conclusion of the second world war. President Putin justified invading sovereign Ukraine to the Russian people, by stating that his strategic aim is to defend Russia against an expanding NATO threat but less blatantly to fight ‘Nazis in Ukraine’. For Putin the ‘Great Patriotic War’ fighting fascism did not finish.

The technology of war inevitably played it’s part in this conclusion. The use of the Atomic bomb by the USA in the Japan, brought the conflict there to a sudden halt. Communist sympathisers within the Allies, gave the secrets of the atom bomb to the Soviet Union, who speedily test fired an exact copy of the American atomic bomb, shocking the world. Perhaps as intended by the ‘traitors’ who leaked the secrets of the atom bomb, this mutual threat has forced ‘the Cold War’ and an unsteady world peace ever since. Nine or so countries now have them and others want nuclear weapons despite the efforts of the International Atomic Weapons Agency, set up to prevent their proliferation.

It is important to realise that after the fall and fragmentation of the Soviet Union, Ukraine was left with fifteen pressurised water reactors of Russian VVER design, and importantly Soviet era strategic nuclear weapons.

Three of these ex-Soviet countries were persuaded to give up their nuclear weapons in the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances. Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine agreed to give up their nuclear weapons between 1993 and 1996. The nuclear powers overseeing this process were the Russian Federation, the United States and the United Kingdom. They  agreed not to use military force or economic coercion against these three countries unless for self defence or in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.

The diplomats and lawyers who wrote the Budapest Memorandum were perhaps, not clear about what constitutes ‘self defence’. Most strategists and tacticions, know that the principle of striking the enemy before they hit you, creates an element of surprise that can be construed as ‘defence’. Putin’s original ‘Special Military Operation’ was justified as ‘self defence’ but, unfortunately for him, it didn’t knock out his opponent with the first punch. The surprise was Putin’s. He thought Ukraine would be easy to take.

Putin constantly cites NATO as a growing threat, especially after the fall of Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych, Ukraine’s president from 2010 to 2014. Yanukovych had promised the Ukrainian people in his election manifesto, that Ukraine would apply to join the European Union or at least set up special trade agreements which would lead to this. But after a phone call from the Kremlin, he enraged on this promise and there were riots in the streets. These were violently suppressed by the government leading to over 100 deaths. Yanukovych fled to Russia and Volodymyr Zelenskyy was elected president on the promise of European integration. Europe responded with indirect support.

Ukraine is an important buffer state for NATO because it has arguably, prevented World War III. It has so far, been a narrow escape for all, provided Trump isn’t elected and gives in to the Russians. The USA has not been good the diplomacy of war and should have learnt some important lessons, such as from the war in Vietnam.

An indignant generation of young people in the United States rebelled against the war in Vietnam as it was played out graphically on their television screens. Newspaper reporters photographed the horror of war; photographs which stunned Americans and the world alike. Young men angrily burnt their call up papers in front of crowds of anti-war protesters as four successive Presidents presided over an unwinnable war. In a way, the protesters against this and later wars (such as the invasion of Iraq by the US and coalition forces in 2003) stuck their flag in the moral ‘high ground’. War was wrong.

Awakenings of conscience and consciousness happen at the individual level long before  parliamentarians hear and reflect the ‘mood of the nation’. If war is going to be rejected as a method of ‘problem solving’, there has to be a global realisation of the immorality and futility of using violence against a fellow human being. It would be idealistic to suggest that this could happen in the near future but perhaps there is, a greater possibility for change than now, than there ever has been.

In my view, change will only happen with the introduction of a ‘third force’ which might be a charismatic world leader from this or another solar system, new technology or a third force with the means to eliminate humans, shared global problems of a catastrophic nature or just a spiritually and / or morally inspired realisation that violence is wrong.

The reference to ‘another solar system’ may have surprised readers! But the presence of advanced beings on earth is hardly a secret any more. The problem is that they are being characterised as violent and a threat to mankind. The narrative of ‘global security’ by successive U.S administrations, introduced ‘Star Wars’ under the Reagan and a whole new defence wing under Trump called the Space Development Agency. Hollywood has aided and abetted a global fear of invasion of ‘beings from outer space’ who wish humans harm.

The reality as described in Dr. Steven Greer’s film, ‘Close Encounters of a Fifth Kind’, is that highly evolved beings are watching and guiding us until we wish only peace for each other. World religions have been advocating this for centuries so humans cannot claim ignorance.

picture credit: Screen Space

Such a change of morals and consciousness is not a vain hope. There have been historical precedents. The crucifixion of one man in Roman Palestine, started a new religion based on love and compassion for all other people, including enemies. The election of a Pope gives some hope to the world that ethics may now take more of a role in international politics.

The demand for a planet where there is no war, is now in the hands of the politicians, lawyers, military leaders, religious leaders, industry. But the arms industry has been more interested in shareholders than ploughshares. The only possible novel outcome to being a victim of unrestrained violence, is for individuals to peacefully protest.

Mahatma Gandhi used non-violent protest to British rule in India. Peaceful overwhelming presence is an extraordinary power.  When it fails, it makes powerful martyrs but when won, makes lasting peace.

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Beyond Good and Evil

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Genesis gives us the key to opening the door to everything. All we have to accept is that stories in Holy books almost certainly operate at many different levels beyond what is taught to children in Sunday School.

In the story of the original humans in the Garden of Eden, God ‘opens the eyes’ of Adam and Eve as punishment for Eve eating the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. For in doing so their eyes are opened to the concept of ‘good and evil’, but we should not be side tracked by wondering what good and evil are. What is being revealed here, in my view, is that the Unity Consciousness of the blissful Garden, split into binary consciousness. If the reader overlooks the reference to newly realised binary opposites, then the message is repeated for reinforcement.

When Adam and Eve see each other naked, for the first time, their consciousness moves from being one, to two. This ‘same but different’ paradox between men and women is the same for all binary thoughts and words. Carl Jung suggested that the minds of men and women differ as metaphorically expressed by the nuanced differnces of their bodies.

The message in Genesis, is not about ‘good’ or ‘evil’ or ‘man’ or ‘woman’; it’s about binary thought; a fataly flawed characteristic.

But thinking in opposites creates an illusion of understanding. This is whispering serpent’…the one that slides down the ladders of thought.

In physics, nothing is black and white; there is just light and an absence of light and everything in between. But using opposites as a sort of ‘algebra’ for thought has enabled modern scientists to deconstruct nature and use it’s methods to make technology.

Batteries consist of negative and positive poles. The brain consists of left and right hemispheres. Breath goes in and out. Humans are born and die. Chromosomes are X and Y.

This is how have un-zipped the polarities that keeps atoms spinning, but there is a catch!

Our thoughts attach to the oversimplified opposites. Left and Right political views are a prime example of extremist views plunging the world into chaos. Edward de Bono introduced the non-binary word Po in his book Beyond Yes and No to express infinite possibility and a practical key to freedom of thought.

Opposite ideas should only ever be a mere framework for rational thought, otherwise the space in between disturbs ‘certainty’, leading to confusion and conflict. Consider a recent example;

In the United Kingdom, the Supreme Court has just ruled that a woman is a person who was born a ‘biological woman’. In other words, a ‘biological man’ cannot become a woman. This rule provides clarity for the lawyers; but is it true?

I would argue that the model does not fit neatly over reality. When it comes to the provision of public toilets, there will need to be a ‘third space’ for those with particular needs, for instance, those who feel different to their biological gender.

Is not an impossible problem for many ‘third spaces’ already exist as a ‘disabled toilet’. All that is needed now is a gender neutral sign on the door. Something that is not ‘men’ or ‘women’.

We see here that humans are not as simple as the rule of two ‘opposite’ biological genders. Consider the complexity of the body. We have a brain with left and right hemispheres. Each half has a nuanced contrast of functions; rational and creative respectively. Psychologically, each woman has an unconscious animus and each man has an unconscious anima. One in ten of us are left handed; the rest right. In some cultures, left is ‘evil’ and right ‘good’. There have been libraries written on the complexities of gender differences.

But we also experience a range of emotions, almost involuntarily, which can be categorised as ‘expansive’ or ‘passive’ in nature. Anger and valour are expansive and ‘male’, sadness and tenderness are ‘female’ emotions, for example. Of course, men and women have the whole range of emotions in varying degrees beneath the fig leaf.

Finally, the subtlest human characteristic that guides mind, heart and body is ‘intuition’. Albeit a peaceful, almost silent, internal voice, it has a function to guide us when we are lost. Another name for intuition is Soul, and yes, souls can be ‘good’ and ‘evil’ as illustrated in the Old Testament. There is a Bible story in which Joseph experienced wise, prophetic dreams. His soul’s ability to describe the future intuitively through the pathway of dreams is symbolised by his ‘coat of many colours’. Dream messages are not black and white, but as subtle as a colour from the subtle spectrum of light.

This level of subtlety is desperately needed today, in my view, if humankind is ever going to recreate the Garden of Eden on earth through deep compassion and understanding. If we do not, a Wasteland awaits.

Who is the third who walks always beside you? When I count there are only you and I together, but when I look ahead up the white road, there is always another one walking beside you, Gliding wrapped in a brown mantle, hooded. I do not know whether a man or a woman – but who is that on the other side of you?

What the Thunder Said (from line 359) from The Wasteland by T.S. Eliot

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Francinsense, Gold and Err

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Who Stole Christmas?

PREMISE

The Church Fathers have had considerable ‘editorial control’ over what to put in and what to leave out of the Holy Bible. So much was ommitted and added, so should new ‘adjustments’ not be accepted?

OBSERVATION

In 1872 a scholar named George Smith found something remarkable in clay tablets from Nineveh. He was reading in cuneiform the Epic of Gilgamesh in which is described the great flood, God’s punishment for mankind. The suggestion that the Great Flood described in Genesis was just a retelling from ealier Mesopotamian texts, shook Victorian society. They gave Mr. Smith a hard time, as if he was the problem.

Today there is considerable proof that many of the stories in the Old and New Testaments have been subject to editing. We accept that the dates for the Christmas and Easter festivals are not in the Bible. They have been made up. The date for the birth of the Christ child was decided to be December 25th but why?

The Infant Horus: picture credit World History Encyclopedia

Previous gods had been born on this date. There was Horus (Ancient Egypt), Mithra (Persian), Krishna, Zarathustra (Iran), Hercules, Babylonian god Bal (Nimrod), Heracles, Dionysus (Greek), Thammuz (Babylonian) Hermes (Greek) Adonis (Phoenician) and others. All were born of virgins.

If such a clear plagarism of ancient gods is disturbing, there is a logical explanation based on astronomy. December 22nd is when the sun disc halts its annual progression northwards along the horizon. It then pauses for three days and rises anew on December 25th. This natural phenomenon supports neatly the story of a solar god being born; not dying and miraculously resurrecting but being born at least. Perhaps the birth of Jesus does not fit the story and date of how the ancient gods had been born.

If we investigate the ‘blasphemous’ notion that the Christ child was not born at Christmas then we should be able to find another meaningful astronomical date in the solar year relating to birth. After all, should a Christian festival be based on the Pagan festivals and superstition? The church fathers did, we should remember, hate and demonise Paganism, although Pagans did no worse than love nature and each other.

SUGGESTION

I suggest that the birth of Jesus was in the springtime; the lambing season, when shepherds watched their flocks by night. Consider afresh, the Christian nativity narrative.

The three Kings or Magi seeking Jesus were astrologers. So excited by and certain of their prediction were they, that they set off to find him, I argue, in the spring. They ventured eastwards towards the star Sirius, which rises in the east in March in the northern hemisphere. With their learning they probably knew of the goddess ISHTAR from Babylonia who represented Sirius and was associated with fertility, love and war. Another clue for us today is that in the English language is the word Easter which breaks down into two words; EAST STAR. It also is remarkably similar to the word ISHTAR.

If we dig deeper into pre-Christian gods, we find that in Ancient Egypt the star Sirius was represented by the goddess SOPDET meaning ‘skilled woman’. She was important because her appearance signalled the inundation of Nile and the beginning of their new year. She was sometimes portrayed as a large dog.

picure credit: Tarot Aotearoa

Sopdet was associated with ISIS who was the wife of OSIRIS. Their son HORUS just happened to be born on 25th December; a holy family uncannily resembling a later one. They watch over us even to this day as Sirius (ISIS) in the constellation Canis Minor and her husband OSIRIS, the constellation ORION.

These curious facts add up to support the possibility that the Nativity occurred in the spring and the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ in mid-winter. Certainly, Bible scholars are unable to qoute verses that deny this, as is anyone to confirm it. The Christian practice of using the festivals and stories of the hated Pagan gods, appears to be the only reason for Christmas and Easter being where they are today.

We cannot deny the association in popular modern culture of ISHTAR and Easter. As a nature godess, she is depicted with with hares and rabbits (famed for their procreative success) and eggs (product of the female hormone Oestrogen). Eggs and Rabbits were omitted from the Holy Bible and yet survive as symbols of birth happening at the time of the great initiator, Aries. Perhaps, some archetypes are too strong to supress.

ENDING

At this time of Easter, instead of celebrating the joys of spring, Christians mourn. Then, in midwinter they celebrate birth.

One wonders whether these important festivals, reversed for the wrong reasons, have unknowingly undermined the modern world? Knowing the basics of life and death, ending and beginning, should support rather than undermine what it is to be a human, whose life is dependent on natural cycles.

I cannot expect anyone to agree with my view but for me, this fundamental reversal of ancient truths has led to our misunderstand and abuse not only of nature, but ourselves.

The mystic Hildegard of Bingham wrote ‘wisdom awakens to wetness and greeness and flowing waters. Wisdom says I am the rain coming from the dew that causes the grasses to laugh with the joy of life’.

Pagan Wheel of the Year: picture credit Friends of the Forest

Happy Christmas!

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True or Not True?

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That is the question

picture credit: Australian Academy of Humanities

The world is experiencing mental chaos in the present; not knowing what to believe. The news media is full of reports that appear to contradict even what was said the day before.

It is important therefore, for our thoughts to be as precise as we can and also our words.

As in the title of this essay, ‘truth’ is causing the confusion and we now longer know who to believe.

Numerous politicians are being routinely accused of ‘lying’. If we consider the meaning of the word then is ‘a statement intended to deceive’. Then there are are false ‘facts’ from unreliable sources, which may not be intended to decieve but do.

The famous Dunning Kruger effect states that amateurs are less concerned about understanding a subject than professionals, who have pondered on it for years. The less you know, the easier everything appears to be. The present administration in the United States of America has more than it’s far share of sufferers of this effect, who simplify complexity to below any standard of professional opinion.

There are also things openly ‘fictional’. These may contain some truth but are largely a product of imagination. Novels and films based on truth will declare that names and events are fictional for artistic and legal reasons. What is important is that we are not deceived into believing in fiction. The World’s religions and cults are particularly prone to this absence of adherence to truth, often for no other reason than there are based on the fog of ancient history and managed so as not to embrace the present.

The civil laws of most countries try to be based on ‘the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth’. Judges attempt to distinguish between true evidence and false evidence until something is believed to be ‘beyond doubt’. It still makes mistakes even after the most rigorous processes to remove doubt. Dictators who control the judiciary can get away, literally, with murder, using fabricated evidence or just no evidence at all.

What this shows us is that even after the most challenging and examination, ideas can turn out to be mere theory. In science, theories are subject to ‘peer review’ – critical examination by equally well qualified scientists. As the Ancient Greeks understood, theories should not be confused with facts. The present irrational dismissal of a theory because it suggests a ‘conspiracy’ (intent to cause harm) is irrational. To not investigate an accusation for emotional reasons is a clear divergence from truth, but convinces crowds.

‘Facts’ are illusive and can be the product of distortion. A satellite’s instruments may be malfunctioning or incorrectly calibrated. An individual politician may have an unconscious or deliberate bias. The process of believing that ‘climate change’ is true has taken decades, largely because it was contrary to the interests of companies that extract and sell fossil fuels. As with many complex issues, the theory was too large in scope for the general public to understand. Those who should lead opinion, politicians, often use distraction, omission, obfuscation, irrelevance, obstruction and discontinuity to align facts and fictions with political ideas.

Even when we believe something is true, it can still only be ‘relatively’ true. It might be an oversimplification that just happens to work. Basing the worth of money or tokens on gold reserves was just one such ‘truth’ that reassured governments and populations. Today physical or virtual tokens of ‘worth’ are less and less dependable.

Finally, philosophy has an angle on ‘truth’ and how to find it. If science and religions regard truth as constants and dogma, philosophers understand truth as malleable. There is no ‘fixed law’, other than the law that everything changes.

In Zen Buddhism, truth is whittled down to an individual regarding life’s purpose as no more or less than being present and observing; a formula much needed in our present times; especially when things go wrong!

Oh Bush warblers!

Now you have shit all

over my rice cake on the porch. Basho

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The Empires Strike

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For centuries, Europe was dominated by Empire building around the world. In the Twentieth Century the Empires, such as the British Empire, finally broke down and gave autonomous sovereign states their freedom back. It might have appeared that the age of ’empire building’ was over, but that is far from the case.

In the Twenty First century it is clear that Empires are back. Key to the once powerful British Empire had been the Navy and control of the seas around the world. Today the vulnerable global ‘key points’ are canals and pinch points in shipping lanes. The Houthis in Southern Yemen potentially control the infamous Straits of Hormuz; gateway to the Red Sea and Suez Canal. They will stop attacking Israeli shipping, they say, when Israel stops attacking Gaza. Neither the British, USA or Israel have tested this, preferring to extend the genocide in Gaza and attack Yemen, than take the Houthis at their word.

One of the strategic reasons for the establishment of a pro-Western State in the Middle East in 1948 (Israel) was, and still is, control of the Suez Canal. In 1956 the British, French and Israelis sought to gain control of the Suez Canal when Egypt nationalised it, moving their tanks from the Gaza Strip into Egypt. In my view, this imperative has never gone away.

The Empire State Building, New York

MAGA? America is already ‘great’. It consists of a continent joined by an isthmus at Panama; again, a critical shipping route. The republic of the United States of America has a ruling president who wants to expand it’s 50 State Empire northwards and south. ‘Look at this arbitrary line between the USA and Canada,’ mocks Donald Trump, as if it means nothing just because it is straight. If it was meaningless, then Canada could claim the USA, as perhaps could Mexico and Denmark, but because of international law and common sense, they do not.

Putin wants the old Union of Soviet Socialist Republics back and China the island of Taiwan. Should then the British march back into India and Pakistan?

Should the French re-take French speaking Algeria?

Should Japan be given back it’s ‘Imperial’ territories in mainland China?

Should Italy claim back it’s Empire around the Mediterranean?

The list of historical reversals is absurd to all but the greedy and unpopular politicians who seek to stay in power indefinitely by empire building. Opponents are fed to the lions.

Today, Gibbon’s ‘The Fall of the Roman Empire’ is a critical read for the Trumps and Putins and Shi Jinpings of this world.

It is available in eight volumes and was read by a famous world statesman when he was twenty years old; Winston Churchill.

Now he knew a thing or two about world statesmanship and his preference for ‘jaw jaw instead of war war’.

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Truth Against the World

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or “Duw y Digon” ; an ancient Welsh Druid Motto

Swinside Stone Circle picture credit: Wikipedia

The first authority over our personal truth that we encounter is within the family. Losing power to others is an experience that we mainly survive, but should this loss influence us beyond childhood?

Most social organisation, whether it be for religion, employment, education, health, defence or politics, consists of submitting to the will of others; what is termed ‘the greater good’.

It’s a system that Western societies inherited from their forefathers. Consequently, most forms of government rely on the obsequence of the masses; the most extreme example being communism where the interest of the State trumps individual rights.

Even in democracies, the majority is granted authority over the minority; however small the difference. The assumed ‘unchallengeable constant’ is, that all people have the same intelligence, education achievement and wisdom. Socrates was at odds with such a premise two millennia ago!

The question is not whether to submit to authority or not. Someone, somewhere will have a hold over you. The question is not then, how clever are they? The challenge for all of us is not to give away all of our freedom but just to ‘render to Caesar what is Caesar’s’ (Matthew 22:21).

Authority manifests itself in social systems most commonly as a pyramid shaped hierarchy. In politics there will be an ‘overlord’ such as a President or Prime Minister, Chancellor or Chairman or Monarch.

Below the ‘head of government’ there are layers of middle ranking politicians. Unelected bureaucrats disseminate and legislate the strategies of the politicians. The general population occupy the lower part of the pyramid believing they are represented by those above and give away their power.

The military use an undemocratic system of organisation. There is a self organising ‘pyramid of power’. The organisation discourages individuals from thinking for themselves, requiring unquestioning obedience to orders from those higher in rank.

Take this ‘pyramid organisation’ model and transfer it to other social organisations and we see control by a minority of leaders;

Religions – Popes, Priests, Rabbis, Imams, Shaman

Companies – Managing Directors, CEO’s, Owners and Oligarchs

Education – Ministers of State, Head Teachers, Professors, Chancellors

Health – Ministers of State, Hospital managers, General and Specialist practitioners.

There have been exceptions to this ‘hierarchy of merit’. Google, for instance, practised an egalitarian approach to management for a while. At meetings, no individual oversaw proceedings. Each had a theoretical ‘equal say’. What happened in reality was that the person with the strongest personality and loudest voice controlled the meeting, rather than the person or persons with the best ideas.

So far we have considered how hierarchical organisations function. Now let us view the issue from another angle. Is it not the case that there have been in history, two types of leaders; good ones and bad ones?

This may sound trite, but it is an important distinction!

High ranking politicians for example, make promises about what they will do in government if elected. Few discuss the means by which they will achieve this objective. In this way, ‘making America great again’ fails to include a description of what greatness is, how it is going to be achieved and who is going to benefit. It even fails to describe what is meant by ‘America’. Does that include Canada, Greenland, Mexico and South America? Or does it just mean U.S. (us)? Such vague leadership is historically the breeding ground of disappointment at best and catastrophe at worst.

We know in Europe there have been good monarchs and bad monarchs. The last good monarch in England is said to have been King John of England (1166 – 1216). He was persuaded to give his royal power to his Barons. ‘Good King Wenceslas’ was good but European Kings and Queens were too often flawed by greed, anger, adultery, criminality such as murder, drug dependency, jealousy, war warmongering, excess tax demands, madness, religious dogma and bigotry, black magic and worse.

Good and bad are of course not always simple to define. In modern times political ideologies have split voters between the right and left. This is true in both the United States of America and an increasing number of European countries.

To summarise; in democracies people they to vote for who they regard as good leaders. The definition of ‘good leaders’ is unlikely to be agreed upon!

A creative thinker might desire moving power away from this divided collective schizophrenia.

A stabilising element of this unstable social organisation, is truth. For millennia, humans have obeyed whatever ‘truth’ those to whom they have given their personal power. They have been obliged to trust those who claim to be their superiors but in fact they are just acting out their weaknesses and lies! Hans Christian Anderson’s literary folk tale entitled ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ mocks the absurdity of delusional leaders and describes the masses failing to speak the truth to power.

Eventually, authority without truth, declines and falls. The Roman Empire is one of the best examples of this. So is there benign alternative to the many shades of autocracy?

In the North American indigenous tribes there was an interesting alternative form of leadership and wise counsel. People of the tribe would sit in a circle to debate important decisions on equal terms. To prevent them all speaking at once, a single feather was handed around in turn and whoever held the feather was permitted to say their truth without interruption. This was called ‘goose leadership’ after the manner of geese in flight that take turns to hold the point position at the front of the flocks V formation.

The legendary King of Britain, King Arthur, declined autocratic rule. He changed his throne into a round table for himself and his knights. In doing so he showed he was prepared to listen to others. Debate was valued for the truth of others, independent of their rank. Perhaps this was Arthur’s metaphorical sword of truth, ‘Excalibur’; released from stone hard systems of government.

As the internet today spreads it’s influence around the globe (another Round Table), disparate individuals try to speak their truth, honestly without fear or favour; so called ‘free speech’.

Humans of all races, have more in common than differences and thrive when not divided by powerful ruling minorities. Even the languages that once divided, are now being instantly translated by artificial intelligence. The ‘wisdom of the crowd’ is the ability of large groups of people to come to a benign consensus of how life is best lived.

A recent survey was made in the United Kingdom asking young people for their favourite word in 2024. It was not ‘artificial intelligence’, but ‘kindness’. The fact that the coming generation have this truth already in their hearts is good news for the population of the world in 2025…and world leaders would be wise to graffiti this word across their round tables.

Authority over Truth or Truth over Authority?

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The Faraday Way

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Listening to a science programme on the Radio just now, I heard a amazing fact about Michael Faraday, the great early 19th century scientist. Apparently he was an ardent believer in God as well as a scientist. Unlike his contemporarys, he did not believe in molecular theory and the concept of the ‘atom’, which came from the ancient Greeks. He instead said that matter is where ‘lines of force meet’.

The other great scientist from whom much understanding of electricity today came, was Nicola Tesla in the late 19th century. One of his most famous sayings is; “If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.”

These are not lightweight scientists. Most of our modern technology we owe to these two men.

The idea of ‘lines of force meeting’ immediately suggests the concept the ‘hologram’ although they were not known in Faraday’s time. Several beams or ‘layers’ of energetic force containing information that the human brain interprets as ‘an object’ is precisely what a hologram is. It is a huge leap but one made succinctly by Michael Talbot in his book, ‘The Holographic Universe’, to suggest that everything that we perceive as matter is a hologram.

Mystics have been saying for centuries that matter consists mainly of ‘nothing’ and modern physics now also states this as true. Some scientists are even questioning whether the electron, proton and neutron are just energy. This combined with the observations by astrophysicists that the Universe consists of 94% so called ‘dark matter’ suggests that we know little about what we sense to be most real, matter.

If one thinks of the ‘table of elements’ as a good proof of matter, then Faraday’s theory of there only being ‘lines of force’ does not contradict the possibility of chemical ‘elements’. Elements might simply be unique combinations of ‘lines of force’ which harmonise to produce the illusion of a ‘solid’.

Sound provides a more tangible analogy as it too is energy with fixed frequency and vibration coming together as single notes, or harmonic layers that produce unique chords when in combination.

But our brains are taught only to interpret the electrical signals from our five senses. From childhood we learn to see these patterns as a solid ‘reality’ but like all illusions, sometimes we miss notice the illusionists slight of hand and mastery of distraction.

For example, we might all have seen something in a flash which a few micro seconds later turns out to be not what we thought. It might be a leaf being blown across the road which a driver sees as a mouse or bird for a brief moment. Or a child’s kite flying high above that a walker mistake for a hovering bird of prey; even for a split second.

Such moments are ‘discontinuities’. The Ancient Celts understood this and certain places, such as the hills of Southern England known as the Downs, were described as ‘thin’, meaning localities where the boundary between ‘solid reality’ and ‘parallel dimensions’ create experiences of the metaphysical (beyond matter) realm. A church going shepherd, in the 19th century is said to have seen a vision of Jesus above these hills in the sky, which would probably have been forgotten by now had not many in the local village seen the same vision and the newspaper article from the time still framed on a wall in Firle Church.

My point is simply that, if we can accept the suggestion that the Universe is simply ‘energy, frequency and vibration’ many of the ‘anomalies’ that modern science cannot explain, suddenly become easier to understand and even, accept as true.

We do not all have to become mystics to believe and practise this. What a shepherd can see we can all see. So can we all see what children saw in the village of Fatima in Portugal in 1917 – a vision of ‘Our Lady of Fatima’ – as did hundreds of the inhabitants of Fatima on several occasions.

Santa Hosemaria in Fatima, Portugal picture credit: Opus Dei

I was sitting in the waiting room this afternoon whilst my car was being serviced. I had been meditating, and it was with a single point of attention that I was eating an apple when the garage mechanic burst into the room. The conversation went like this;

‘You are eating sweets.’

‘No I am not.’

‘You are eating a sweet apple.’

‘Yes.’

We probably exchange brief moments of an imagined reality with others, more often than we think. The phenomena of what is called as ‘telepathy’ which I would suggest is more subtle that ‘reading the thoughts in others’.

In my view, two people can experience the same ‘energetic patterns’ at the same time. In the above example this was the feeling experience of ‘sweetness’ observed in a split second by two non-connected but open minds. The mechanic had not seen the apple, only received the feeling of ‘sweetness’.

Mothers will probably have had many examples of understanding a child’s needs without conversation; even and especially when the infant has not yet learnt to speak.

A mother and child are indeed a wonderful metaphor for the scientific understanding that Faraday believed, that everything is merely ‘lines of force’ meeting; something natural philosophers term ‘love’. Following this reasoning I would argue that this is why when humans follow (without expectation of reward), their highest excitement, then they will create the energetic Universe that will provide them with their highest reward. Most people’s highest excitement is simply known as love and with this vibration was and is created, the Universe – and is why it is said that; ‘God is love’.

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An Annual Review

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Am I Right?

At the end of several years of Matters Blog, it’s time for a review. As complex as life is, my aim is to express opinions based on common sense rather than personal or political bias. Not only that, but to suggest original and innovative solutions many of which have not been taken from the public domain.

The famous Dunning Kruger Effect states that amateur pundits have a false self image of themselves as knowing it all, while experts constantly doubt. So how did I do?

In 06 August 2018 I identified the shortage of affordable housing in the United Kingdom as a problem and offered a solution. My suggestion was that houseboats are moored on the UK’s inland waterways, rivers and lakes. They avoid the purchase of land and as temporary structures can be removed or replaced as needed. They can be built more quickly than a house and provided in enough numbers would create a stop gap whilst houses are built. The housing crisis had not been addressed by the previous government and the new government is intent on more building houses even though there are not the tradesmen to do it.

In 31 July 2021 the blog ‘HS2 Where?’ listed twenty reasons, including cost, on why the proposed high speed train route between London and Northern cities in England was doomed to failure. In 2024 the Conservative government reduced it’s reach to just Birmingham on the grounds of cost.

In 09 February 2019 I wrote a questionnaire for people who voted for Brexit. Apparently they were insulted at the suggestion they did not understand the consequences of Brexit. The questionnaire was intended to highlight the multi level complexity of the process and predictable effects of the UK leaving the European Union. When Brexiteers are asked today what the benefits of Brexit have been, few list any precise benefit. They say they no longer have to obey EU law and have gained ‘Sovereignty’. Ask how this has affected their lives and they will struggle to give an example.

In my blogs ‘Let Me In’ parts one and two in June 2022 and ‘Head for the Hills’ in December 2022, I examined immigration into the UK via unsuitable boats. The last Tory government made this problem a priority but chose a non-viable solution in an expensive plan to send unsuccessful asylum seekers to Rwanda. The slogan of intention missed out the detail of ‘how to stop the boats’ while their policy probably did the opposite. My suggestions included allowing asylum applications to be made from anywhere in the world to anywhere in the world. That hasn’t happened but the new Labour government have pledged to close down the people trafficking gangs which I also had suggested was long overdue.

In 22 October 2023, I published a blog I had written a week earlier following the attack on Israeli defence forces and civilians by Hammas titled Shalom, Salaam, Peace. I suggested that Hammas, as the vastly inferior force to the IDF, had no means to destroy Israel and were instead baiting Israel to over react to attack. Any ‘destruction of Israel’ would be done by the other Arab nations in defence of the people of Gaza, such as Iran. Since then the Iran backed Houthis in Yemen have taken up this role and significant others. I suggested an Arab leader would appear to take on Israel which has not yet happened.

In 20 February 2023 I wrote a parable called The Holy Forest about the politics of the Holy Land and how Israel will one day realise why people resent and hate the actions of successive Israeli Zionist Governments. I further commented on a better solution to bombing in Gaza as being the use of a multinational force of Special Forces to clear Hammas out of Gaza in my blog War Without End in October 24. To date the tactics of the Israeli Zionist government have not changed or met their stated aims of saving the hostages and destroying Hammas. I called out the genocide of the Palestinian early on in the process and qouted the Israeli post WW2 mantra of ‘Never Again’.

These and other blogs allowed me as an observer to suggest descriptions of complexity and apply problem solving techniques without using the techniques of over simplification, project fear and the illusionist’s destraction.

So thank you to those who click the ‘like’ button and may 2025 give us all hope my observations will become shorter and shorter as those in charge of us work smarter and harder for the benefit of those they serve.