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War of Words

14/01/202614/01/2026 / Matters Blog - Things that Matter to Me / Leave a comment

Words, good slaves but bad masters.

H.G. Wells wrote The War of the Worlds, a story about creatures from another part of the Universe invading the planet Earth and how the humans fought back. Words too can conquer worlds, especially the world in your mind. For this reason, I believe it is vital that we choose words that fit exactly the meaning we intend.

When speaking, we like to believe that we use words to converse clearly with others.

If there are no words in our own language we can create new words in fun and familiar ways. This linguistic phenomena is apparent in the speech of young people. New generations invent their own vocabulary with which to talk behind the backs of adults!

The power of language is it’s ability to open new perspectives on life. A restricted vocabulary will limit thoughts to the point that they no longer serve anyone’s best interest.

Words create our thoughts which can in inturn be inhibited by those words. Imagine a map of a city as a model of your neural pathways. Those journeys we repeat, such as to work, become familiar, almost over used. A map is also constrained by it’s boundaries. It does no show the whole world. The unreachable thoughts are as if in another dimension. Logic cannot venture beyond logic.

I listened to a debate on the radio recently in which scientists were challenging each other over the popular conundrum, ‘which came first, the chicken or the egg?’ They conjectured about birds as dinosaurs and an absurd point in time when the first egg was laid. Only one scientist suggested that change is a gradual process when viewed over long periods of time. No parrot changes colour over night. Evolutionary changes take thousands of years before being noticeable. There is no single moment when chickens and eggs come ‘into being’.

picture credit: The Australian Academy of Science

The same is true in astronomy. Do you believe the universe happened in a nano second as the so called ‘big bang’. Scientists are currently theorising that universes expand and contract over vast periods of time. The explosive power of the ‘big bang’ phrase, froze original thinking about how the universe began for decades. The universe was never a chicken, nor an egg…it is obviously both.

Semiotics is the science of language and meaning. In my view, we all benefit from understanding how we structure our thoughts using language and meaning. Here is an exercise;

Imagine a ‘cake’.

There are many categories we can use to describe cakes. There are cakes we sub-categorise by their ingredients such as a sponge cake, fruit cake, carrot cake and oat cake. Then there terms for cake which describe when we eat it, such as birthday cake, Christmas cake or wedding cake. Alternatively the means of production is a description such as home-made or shop-bought. Another way of thinking about cake is the origin of the recipe such as Black Forest, Dundee or French Fancies.

None of these sub-categories describe cake but the word cake includes all of the sub-categories. When we choose which cake is included in which sub-category we use thought to DISCRIMINATE between different cakes. This tool is an important power of mental faculty but unfortunately it’s meaning has changed in common usage. It has become to mean PREDJUDICE and in my view, there is a loss of meaning and ergo understanding, when these two are confused.

Discrimination is an objective skill whereas prejudice is subjective. When we think subjectively we mix emotions with logic. Feelings introduce prejudice for or against something in a way that cannot be explained logically. Insignificant examples are then used ‘prove’ to oneself and others that a prejudice is based on fact in a process known as ‘bias confirmation’.

Bear with me if you think I am stating the obvious but in my view much cultural, ethnic, racial, gender based, geographic, religious and political misunderstanding has it’s roots in how language governs thinking and in particular, prejudice.

A mind which for whatever reason developes a predjudice against a general category of something is in trouble. To use our previous example, it would be wrong to say ‘I don’t like cake’ when what is meant is that you do not like cake with a lot of cream.

When it comes to making prejudices against categories of fellow human beings we hit trouble. Any prejudice is more a product of intolerance, misunderstanding, eliteism, narrow mindedness and other unelightened views in the mind of the observer. However, we hear predjudice views in the news regularly so it is important to unpick how and why they are held.

Consider the term ‘anti-Semitism’. The German journalist Wilhelm Adolph Marr lived at the end of the nineteenth century. He popularised the term ‘anti-Semitic’ to describe anti-Jewish sentiment within political ideology and the general public.

This prejudice towards Jews we know has been present for thousands of years. What was new then was the term, ‘anti-Semitic’. It could be argued that this contributed to the start of the second world war and it remains in common usage today, so did it ever serve the world well?

Let us examine the term. We might question the meaning of the term Semite. Who can define what this means other than an anthropologist? Cynics might suggest the use of the term was a pseudo scientific device to impress and support a prejudice which in turn came from right wing views on eugenics.

Certainly just as ‘cake’ has many sub-categories, so does the word Semite. Historically a Semite might be from a specific geographical location such as Canaan, Judah, Judea, Israel or Palestine.

The term ‘Jew’ is entomologically derived from the tribe of Judea. Then of course there are sub-categories for a Jewish person by religion such as orthodox, conservative or reform. Then there are those who are Jewish but do not practice a religion such as non-practising Jews and those who do not believe in God such as Zionists; who might be Jewish or Christian.

Sometimes language is used to catergorise a ‘people’ and using this categorisation, Semites would be a group who speak Hebrew and / or Aramaic.

The Nazi’s in the 1930’s arbitrarily define a Jew by racial characteristics, not religion, derived from an elitist philosophy of the Aryan race being superior to others on which an extreme predjudice was based.

We might expect a national category of Jew, but the Supreme Court of Israel has determined there is no Israel nationality.

There are other sub-categories of Jewish identity such as by culture, ethnicity and politics, but I hope that I have made the point that the terms ‘Semite’ and ‘Jew’ mean many things to many people depending on what category you choose to define them.

There is a criticism of the term Semite as meaning Jewish by non-jewish people, that it ‘disingenuously’ excludes those who also identify themselves as Semite, such as Arabs. Does the term anti-semite poplarly applied to Jewish people, imply a denial that Arabs are also of Semitic origin?

In my view, the nineteenth century pseudo scientific phrase ‘anti-Semitic’ continues to obfuscate clear thought and sustains predjudice rather than exposing it. It has been used by politicians in particular with the intention including victims of the holocaust and stealing their suffering to gain the moral high ground. Such verbal smoke and mirrors has spawned wars and continues to do so to this day, unquestioned.

In my view, it time to clear our thoughts of words that do not describe precisely what they mean. This is not just a matter of taking sides but simply being clinically clear about where are ideas come from? Are they the product of predjudices? What are the intended and unintended consequences?

To be impartial in a debate that is more a minefield than a cornfield, let us reverse the coin and examine the current term for ‘hatred of Muslims’; Islamaphobia. Again, should we not question the use of this term? Should the psychological term ‘phobia’ really be used to describe a fear of spiders, snakes and Muslims? Clearly confusion, not clarity will result from humans being casually categorised using a word from the science of psychology incorrectly, rather than a clear expression most people understand.

Fortunately, words can serve us to correct such unclear thinking. We can invent new words or phrases in any language and in doing so, say exactly what we mean, fairly and without bias.

It should not be, but if a bigot wishes to describe a group of humans using a term of predjudice, then I suggest that those describing distaste of a sub-category of a human being, should use the prefix ‘anti’. This creates the terms anti-jewish or anti-muslim concisely and without ambiguity. Alternatively, the terms ‘jew hate’ and ‘muslim hate’ in countries where ‘hatred’ is an important aspect of a legal definition and unambiguous to all. The prejudice is clear to all and not spun with fake science. It also makes clear that these are irrational generalisations.

There is a war of the worlds, but it is contained in our heads, not the heads of other people who we may not understand.

In my opinion, the dangerous, self-unaware prejudices that thrive in the emotional biases of current politics, poison the thoughts of otherwise rational and compassionate human beings, and in doing so whole communities. Such hatred of difference is so divisive that it incites violence between one group and another. The simplest example is when governments of countries declare war on each other.

Words are powerful as they form a part of the process whereby we create and sustain our beliefs. How much of the horror that we see in the news today, started as copied or learnt bias, built on an emotional response to an unfiltered stimulus, that slipped under the barrier of compassion towards others.

It is clear to many but sadly not all, that those who express ‘anti’ views in the name of a religion, are not following the most basic rules of the religion they profess to follow.

Fortunately, those who are strongly, even violently prejudiced, are in a tiny minority. The general population do respect and are prepared to learn from, those who are different to themselves. The world’s religions all follow the principle of do-as-you-would-be-done-by.

Speak as you wish to be spoken to

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Spiritual Enlightenment

31/10/202501/11/2025 / Matters Blog - Things that Matter to Me / Leave a comment

‘Know Thyself’ : words over the Greek Temple of Apollo at Delphi

I suppose the best place to start is to suggest that becoming aware that one is a spiritual being, is not the same as becoming enlightened. The latter is something few people ever achieve in a lifetime. The former is the first step of a long walk.

The question we might ask is ‘who is enlightened?’ There are many historical figures such as Guatama Buddha and Jesus the Christ who would qualify as ‘enlightened’, but surely enlightenment is not so rare that we have to look back two thousand years or more?

In modern times, spiritually aware people do not stand out. They are generally modest and seek actively not be achieve ‘celebrity’ status. They will not perform miracles, but if they did they would allow or manipulate things such that another takes the credit. An enlightened person does not dress up in old fashioned clothes or clothes from another culture. They are not in the game of impressing others.

There is an useful expression today known as ‘virtue signalling’. It explains that the signal is not proof of the integrity of the thing that is signalled. The performance of ‘good deeds’ is something many regard as having a spiritual benefit, but as certain stories in the Holy Quran demonstrate, harmful actions can appear to be good and good deeds can appear to be harmful. Explore this excerpt from Wikipedia;

Surah Al Kahf

60-65 Moses and Joshua visit Khidr
66 Moses desires to be taught by Khidr
66-69 Khidr, knowing Moses’s inability to receive his wisdom, yields to his importunity
71-77 He scuttles a boat, kills a boy, and rebuilds a collapsing wall
78-82 Khidr refuses to communicate further with Moses on account of his protests against his conduct, but condescends to explain his conduct.

You may look up these stories that (and it is worth repeating), when examined in detail, in context, over a period of time and without bias…apparently harmful deeds can be good and good deeds can have unintended harmful consequences. It’s a possibility that needs to be explored vigorously because ignoring invites ignorance. Today, ignoring complexity is a primary tool of those who wish to deceive. The present president of the United States, who enjoys global power, promised Americans he would stop the war between Russia and Ukraine within twenty-four hours. He failed but was elected on this false promise. Since then, he has brokered several ‘peace deals’ around the world, several which, when examined in detail, are no more than temporary ‘cease fires’. He was surprised when he didn’t get a Nobel Peace Prize, which one might allege is because he is not aware of himself. We have to leave him to shine that inward looking light.

Ultimately, the only person whom you have a duty to judge is yourself. Hence, the gnostic practice echoed by Jesus the Christ in his words;

“Know what is before thy face and what is hidden from thee shall be revealed unto thee; for there is nothing hidden which shall not be made manifest.”

The Gospel of Thomas Verse 5

But can a mirror reflect it’s own image? Can an eye examine an eye? Have you ever seen the back of your head?

Becoming self-aware requires considerable skill and perseverance in observation. The ‘inner eye’ has to be turned upon one’s own thoughts. This is the first step in meditation where thoughts are likened to passing clouds. Eventually it is hoped the sky clears. It rarely does because there is work to be done, not just sitting.

We have a skill where we can control and create our thoughts. When we are not doing that, control and creation of thoughts does not cease, it becomes automatic. It is like breathing, which is either intended or automatic.

Awareness is similar. Thoughts that ‘come to us’ without our deliberate intent to create them originate in the unconscious part of the individual mind or the collective unconscious. These are largely unresolved and repressed, events and emotional disturbances in our or society’s past.

Pieces of music can replay themselves in our heads for which an apt metaphor is a ‘mind worm’. Unresolved encounters with others or other sections of society in the collective mind can become loops that replay themselves. Politicians use these triggers ruthlessly to distract and ultimately control others. In the UK, the cry is ‘stop the boats’ without really understanding the causes and solutions, just reacting emotionally to whatever people imagine ‘immigration’ is and does. The dumb are leading the blind.

Becoming ‘self-aware’ is, therefore, in my view, far more complicated than sitting in meditation. Become awake in a physical world surrounded by other cognisant beings with whom we have relationships, is a vital focus for our mind’s eye. It has to be done with the concentration of a meditator, or as is said, like a cat watching a mouse hole.

We have one brief but exciting lifetime to encounter all kinds of situations and deal with them skillfully, instantly and with joy, just as a tennis player learns how to deal with the ball when it comes from any probable or possible direction; plus any other ‘wild card’ life may deal!

I was once asked if I meditated and I replied that I meditate all the time. Whilst I may not achieve this of course, it’s an intention I try to fulfil. I was taught to become an observer of myself by being one step removed. An example of this was given as being able to hold honey in one hand and dog faeces in the other, and lick the honey.

All phobias are clear examples of how our unconscious holds us back from participating in life fully. But we can overcome the dark spaces in our minds and emotions by shining a penetrating light of consciousness into those spaces. This is the process of making the unconscious, conscious…like a baby, breaking the waters and breathing it’s first breath.

“I tell you the truth, unless you are born of water and the Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

John 3:5

The metaphor used by Jesus the Christ was being ‘reborn’ which he meant as complete self realisation and, at another rarely realised level, as re-incarnation.

Enlightenment can only be achieved by opening one’s eyes and taking deep breaths and observing the world as if for the first time.

In Zen Buddhism this practice is known as ‘astonishment’. It is a principle trigger to ‘realisation’ in the same way that a joke operates mentally as ‘getting it’.

“The bamboo shadows sweep the stairs, but raise not dust”

This essay is intended to be complimentary to the previous one entitled ‘physical enlightenment’. To be a fully realised human being, I believe there must be a playful balance in oneself between the physical world and the spiritual. People, we, usually list towards one or the other.

Becoming an observer of the physical world and one’s inner world and the interplay between them, as if you were in no way involved in either, is in my view, the most important technique for self realisation.

An enlightened person never sleeps. There are many statues of Guatama Buddha where he is sitting upright with one hand resting on a knee and apparently sleeping. But there is only partial rest required for the mind; most is for the body. Being fully conscious in daytime will empower being similarly awake whilst sleeping. We all experience this to some degree as dreams when we sleep, because our unconscious is unrealised and, in effect, has a mind of its own. We generally find dreams confusing. A good dream interpreter can assist in the process of ‘observing’ and understanding what the unconscious is processing because it speaks using symbols, as described in the works of the psychologist C.G. Jung.

An advanced stage of dreaming is becoming conscious whilst asleep, known as lucid dreaming. Some hallucinogenic drugs achieve this same effect although if the conscious mind is not trained in detached observation, the effect can be a ‘bad trip’; a roller coaster ride through the ghost train of the unconscious.

There is also another level of dreaming, in which one’s spirit leaves the body at night and travels through physical reality. This once happened to me whilst sleeping in my car and I moved out through some woods to a statue in the middle of the woods. In the morning, I took a walk into the woods and found the same statue.

People who have had ‘near death experiences’ report similarly leaving the body and observing the room in which there body is, such as a hospital operating theatre.

None of these experiences are ‘enlightenment’. Rather I have tried to describe a few of the curious and infinite depths of the mind. As an analogy, not many of us of us explore the internet in a way that is possible. Instead, we revert to our favourite places again and again. The internet and our mental world become like a cage made from iron bars constructed and installed by ourselves.

Leaving the cage, whether it is the physical cage we leave to go ‘on holiday’ or whether it is a mental cage, is enlightenment. I call holidays, ‘environmental enlightenment’. They are a short lived state of mind and heart, but there is a sense of ‘new world’ in a vacation which excites us before, like Cinderella at the ball, a pumpkin pulled by rats returns us to captivity.

We live in ‘rat runs’ imagining ourselves having god-like freewill, but in fact, we are just repeating repeat. The same applies to every place and connection in the universe of our mind; a state the most imprisoned declare as ‘boring’.

The only constant is observing perpetual change. By being fully aware, we are able to deal with all encounters in any situation, physical and mental. The constantly changing point of Universal consciousness which we contain and describe as ‘the-all-knowing-Creator’ or a thousand other names survives and surpasses this temporary sorjourn in the physical world.

The Enlightened One’s will pass you in the street and you will never notice them, not unless you are also, one of Them.

“You wander from room to room hunting for the diamond necklace that is already around your neck!

Look past your thoughts, so you may drink the pure nectar of this moment.”

Rumi

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Peace Begets Peace

13/05/202517/05/2025 / Matters Blog - Things that Matter to Me / Leave a comment

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.

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

30/04/202501/05/2025 / Matters Blog - Things that Matter to Me / Leave a comment

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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The Empires Strike

17/03/202519/03/2025 / Matters Blog - Things that Matter to Me / Leave a comment

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.

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

31/01/202502/02/2025 / Matters Blog - Things that Matter to Me / Leave a comment

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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Father Noel

14/12/202414/12/2024 / Matters Blog - Things that Matter to Me / Leave a comment

The Man in the Elon Mask

What do you associate with Christmas? A man who masquerades as someone else? A cascade of unwanted gifts? The start of a new era? Time-off to be free?

Well all of these things happen already. The man who hides a knowing smile behind a big bearded mask goes by the name of Elon Musk. He doesn’t declare any deception, but the gifts he brings us might make us question what his motives are. Is Father Noel the bringer of benign presents for the whole world? How is this even possible for one person?

We know arch deception is best done in plain view.

But if you were up to no good would you use a brand name with questionable meaning and associations – X? The ‘X’ comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Christós (Ancient Greek: Χριστός, romanized: Khristós, lit. ‘anointed, covered in oil’), which became Christ in English.

So when Xmas comes you suspect Father Noel to smile contentedly to himself. He gifted his son to this world with the name ‘X Æ A-12’. What does the X branding mean? The cross is a symbol of crux i-fiction or the story that Jesus died on the X. The ‘A twelve’ he said in interview, are the twelve archangels. The AE is pronounced ‘ASH’. Is that “ashes to ashes?” Really?

The ancient Swastika purlioned by the Nazis, is still used by far right parties and is banned from public display in many countries for that reason; but it is basically an X. Broken relationships produce ex-lovers, ex-husbands and ex-wives. The films that were too disturbing to show to children used to be given an X certificate. To flee you run for the eXit. Let us face it, X is not nice. So why did Father Noel choose such a negative symbol, as did the Russians scrawl ‘Z’ on their ‘Special Operation’ fighting vehicles in Ukraine?

Imagen: Daniëlle Futselaar (artsource.nl) & IAU / CPS

A personal history of Father Noel, describing his business and political activities is available on Wikipedia. Suffice to say here that he has, and will bring, many gifts to spread around the global Christmas tree. Of particular interest is something in the realm of the angels known as Starlink and is a constellation of low earth orbit satellites. These provide internet access to previously disconnected areas of the planet, but the question has to be asked, who approved this? The USA authorities gave permission to proceed, but other world leaders were not consulted – unless or have just acquiesced in an unreported global plan. Internet access is a two edged sword, it’s darkest edge being ‘control of the masses’. Social media platforms are already known to be causing harm to the sanity of young people. Far from being a ‘fairy Godfather’ the service Starlink provides has already been switched on and off in different parts of the world for political rather than commercial reasons; it happened in Ukraine. And if the argument is that this political tool serves only the good of humanity and will not cause harm, remember the beard and friendly chuckle could be false.

Father Noel is the CEO of an extraordinary number of large, innovative companies. How can one person control so much? In politics, the President or leader of a country, delegates the matters of state to lesser politicians and civil servants.

Against the advice of his wife and in an ‘unelected’ sort of way, Noel has accepted a post in the forthcoming Trump administration. Should we seriously wonder how he can find the time? Who are his deputies and more importantly, who are his bosses? Is he a puppet hiding the machinations of a hidden Cabal set on control of the World’s population?

What were Father’s Noel’s motives for buying ‘Twitter’ at a loss of billions of dollars? Father Noel defends this vehicle for ‘free speech’ people around the globe. All are able to insult each other without risk of retribution. One is reminded of the story in the Old Testament of the ‘Tower of Babel’ where a universal language and subsequent understanding was replaced with global misunderstanding. Free speech without boundaries is, in my view, corrosive, not freedom.

Such concerns may not be spoken in mainstream media but examination of what Noel’s other companies do, all point to the removal of the freedom of the individual under the guise of doing good.

The transition from the internal combustion engine to the electric car supports the ethically ‘green’ agenda. Therefore it is good…yes? No. There are many contradictions about the benefits of electric cars which I explore in a previous blog. The main problem is that electricity from the national grid is principally from fossil fuels and nuclear power, both of which pollute the planet. Further more it is generated centrally and distributed inefficiently across national grids causing massive wastage and high prices.

Electricity is only truly ‘green’ when it is produced locally by carbon neutral sources such as solar panels, wave, wind, geo-thermal, hydro electric etc. Nicola Tesla’s ‘free universal energy’ patent might also be worth bringing out into the sunshine. The inventor of alternating current and many other innovative technologies, deserves naming a company after him producing free energy.

In my view, the closeted reason for electric vehicle production is that driver-less cars have to be powered by electricity. Cynically, we can already see that such electric cars are expensive and limited in number. When there are only electric cars allowed, they will have to be shared in ‘car pools’. Infringement of any national law will result in the removal of a citizen’s access to the government controlled car pools. The individual freedom of ownership and choice of where and when to travel, will be taken away.

Mechanised personal transport began in the early 20^th century, mainly for the rich and privileged. It was never an option for the working classes. Now, once again, people are not buying electric cars because they cannot afford them. No Tesla X for you this Christmas!

But Father Noel has worse ‘freedom busting’ surprises in his sack.

Neuralink is described in Wikipedia as; ‘Neuralink aims to integrate the human brain with artificial intelligence (AI) by creating devices that are embedded in the brain. Such technology could enhance memory or allow the devices to communicate with software.’

Just as electric cars are presented as a noble way to ‘save the environment’, so too are brain implants presented as a noble way to overcome neural diseases. This repeated ‘cover story’ or being solely for the public good, should make us look for the problem it really intends to solve.

Neuralink should have our frontal corteX’s shivering with apprehension.

Throughout history, personal thoughts have been the last bastion of individual freedom and until now, could never be interfered with or removed. Historically, prisoners in appalling conditions for what ever reason, clung onto their sanity by remaining in charge of their minds, their emotions and in some cases, their religious faith. Whatever kept them free kept them alive.

Father Noel is on record warning that Artificial Intelligence requires strict global control otherwise it will replace humans. As there is no such global co-ordination to erase this problem and it is unlikely ever to be so, the AI genii is already out of the elegant gift box.

At least Father Noel’s lawyers can say that he did warn us.

Artificial Intelligence in robots and our cell phones, is already learning to do things better than humans and scarily well. The origins of digital images, sounds or thoughts can no longer be trusted. AI is already taking over human employment and might ultimately lead to humans dependent on government handouts or ‘universal basic income’. If that happens, personal freedom will be severely dependent on governments and the elites. No play, no pay.

Will the rule of global law be enforced by robots? As much as this question sounds like science fiction, Hollywood has already shown us robot versus human wars.

The Matrix Trilogy builds up to an epic battle between robots and humans, as does brilliantly I Robot, starring Will Smith. But the most chilling of all horrors has to be the original Blade Runner starring Harrison Ford. In a dystopian future, rogue robots have merged with human society for evil purposes and the Blade Runners have to hunt and destroy them. The ending has an unexpected twist. The ‘replicant’ robots become so advanced that they have developed sophisticated emotional intelligence. One female robot learns to love and the protagonist robot shows compassion to Ford’s character and commit suicide rather than kill him.

The question we have to ask ourselves is, how far away is all of this and what can we do to avoid it coming true? Brain implants, driver-less cars and humanoid robots that kill humans are already real.

Democracy rarely questions technological ‘progress’. Innovation is has an impetus of it’s own. It’s a form of ‘soft war’ and we have to ask, ‘against whom?’

Whilst Father Noel is not completely responsible for these developments as other companies and countries are working towards similar objectives, X is and will continue to be a world leader. Like the fabled ‘snake oil’ salesman, what we are being offered is just a bottle containing a liquid which gives little or no benefit.

The salesman tricks us all by offering a noble universal cure to problems; especially problems we did not know existed. We hand over our dollars willingly and as we do, our freedom.

And to remind you of the meaning of X; The ‘X’ comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Christós meaning; ‘anointed, covered in oil’.

‘A Merry Christmas to us all; God bless us, everyone!’

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The Road to Hell

14/09/202415/09/2024 / Matters Blog - Things that Matter to Me / Leave a comment

…is ‘paved with good intentions..,’

Dualistic thinkers (thinking using opposite terms such as black and white) have a problem with the idea of good and evil. Most spend their lives seeking goodness and avoiding evil. It’s a well intended strategy and one promoted extensively by Christians. Jesus the Christ spent forty days and nights resisting temptation by the ‘prince of the world’…the Devil.

The problem is, life is not so simple as good and bad…would that it were! Would that Western thinkers looked over the shoulders of Eastern philosophers who believe that there is no such thing as pure goodness, nor pure evil. (The corollary is that there is no Heaven and no Hell which is also true but perhaps the subject for another essay.)

In the Yin Yang symbol, which is central to Eastern philosophy, good contains a little touch of evil and evil a nudge of good. Sometimes goodness may just be a thin shell containing a large quantity of evil and visa versa. An example might be the Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in the second World War. The world would be a better place if that technology had never existed. What you see, is not always what you get.

The past can provide valuable lessons but here I shall use some examples of ‘dualistic thought’ from current Western political debate; there is a tempting assortment to choose from!

The first woe is, ‘Generalisation’. Politicians are by definition, strategists; taking a broad view and delegating attention to detail to minions. They are therefore prone to declare noble ‘aims’ to please voters, such as to ‘reduce inflation, help the vulnerable, create jobs, improve public services’ etc. etc.

What is not presented for examination is how this aim is going to be achieved.

As an example of using the wrong ‘means’, the previous government in the United Kingdom made an election commitment to ‘stop the boats’. This referred to undocumented migrants crossing the English Channel in dangerously unsuitable boats. This aim was presented as ‘good’ because there had been boats sinking and people tragically drowning. The government’s intention was ‘good’; to save life. If the means to stop the boats was challenged, the questioner was accused of wanting people to drown; they were supporting evil over good. The argument was totally dualistic and as a result over simplistic.

Pretending to be a benign policy without hiding the real reason

The absurdity is that any problem solving plan can be justified as ‘moral’ and ‘benign’ whether it was likely to work or not. It just needs a ‘good’ intention or aim and expects never to be challenged on any other grounds.

The detailed plan to ‘stop the boats’ intended to send failed UK asylum seekers to Rwanda. The plan included breaking international law and expense that did not match the benefit. Worse still it was based on an untested assumption that those willing to risk death by drowning would be put off by a comfortable flight across Africa to free food, health care and accommodation in sunny Rwanda. Asylum seekers from Rwanda would probably not be so pleased as it’s not a safe country by most definitions (but that was a level of complexity too deep to examine). The final cost of this plan was the same as putting up each asylum seeker in the Ritz Hotel in London; an option the Ritz would probably have declined.

My point is that however absurd the detailed plan, the government would repeat it’s justification by asking, ‘do you want people to continue to drown in the English Channel?’ as if that were the only option to achieve their well intentioned aim. Of course it was not the only option but presented as such. In the end the plan was abandoned and hundred of millions of pounds metaphorically thrown into the English Channel at a time when the lack of money in the countrie’s coffers was also a problem.

The new Labour government are now desperately trying to balance the books by not giving pensioners an allowance to heat their homes over the coming winter which they agree is regrettable and may cause death ( i.e. an evil ) but is justified by a need to balance the country’s books (i.e. a goodness )

When politicians are not generalising they present details to prove or disprove a generalisation. A prime example appeared in the news this week during the televised debate between candidates for the forthcoming presidential elections in the U.S. of A.

In this debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, Trump purported that migrants were eating the pets of American citizens in Springfield, Ohio. The response of Harris was the only rational one, which was to giggle. Apparently, this story was currently feeding the confirmation bias of social media zealots, which included a person who considers himself fit to rule the world. Fact checkers and local officials confirmed that the story was not true. But this does not stop those repeating it, who wish it was true.

The problem for those caught up in such an argument is that there may have been just one instance of starving migrants cooking up a street animals on a cold and windy night to feed their children. In the world of political debate not using numbers or arguing over whether numbers are true or not, allows generalisations to pass critical examination because even if there is only one instance, the general statement becomes true, even if totally misleading. It’s a gift to politicians.

At the beginning of this essay I referred to eastern philosophy as tending to take a holistic view of events, rather than focus on a particular set of facts. In Surah Al-Khaf in the Holy Quran, Moses meets a figure not named but described as a righteous servant of God possessing great wisdom. Moses watches him damage a humble fisherman’s boat and protests despite being sworn not to question any thing he witnesses. In time, an army passes in need of such boats and ignores the damaged one. The fisherman is able to repair the damage and keeps his boat and his livelihood. There follows other stories where actions are ‘evil’ at first sight, but as circumstances develope, are shown to have been benign.

In conclusion, our world at the present time is full of major choices about which we hear politicians of all persuasions expounding strong views. As humble citizens we have little say in these matters and have to trust those promoting ‘good’ and denouncing the ‘bad’.

Decisions are for reasons suggested above, and in my view, never such a clear cut choice. We assume we make choices based on hard facts, reasonableness and clear routes to known consequences. I contest this assumption and suggest we take a more pragmatic view, summed up in the simple word ‘maybe’.

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Olympics in Flames

31/07/202425/08/2025 / Matters Blog - Things that Matter to Me / Leave a comment

”Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

Puck’s line to King Oberon Act 3 Midsummer Nights Dream William Shakespeare

This was going to be an essay titled ‘The Party is Over’ but then the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony 2024 stopped me. It was too extraordinary to ignore and in fact, contained the same messages. I wish the Olympics, the athletes and the people of France and the World come together in love at the conclusion of the Olympic 2024 as was surely the original intention of the games. I express no religious or political views other than universal love. If you do not have ten minutes please slide down to the final conclusion.

The gods on Mount Olympus would have watched the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony 2024 in Paris, with a conflation of amusement and horror.

Personally, I found it pedestrian, disjointed and more than at little weird, and I was not the only one. For a country renowned for its consummate sense of good taste, design, style, and pazzazz; what in Hell happened?

I shall express views here which some will find far fetched, even disturbing. However, this sideways analysis might explain why standards fell so low.

Those who have read Dan Brown’s book or seen the film The de Vinci Code, will appreciate the power of symbols. The main character played by Tom Hanks, is an academic ‘symbolist’. He unravels symbols as a trail of clues that lead to the truth and this is what I believe was happening at this Olympic Ceremony.

So are there ‘clues’ in the ceremony and if so, what truth is being disclosed?

The Olympian gods used to look down on humanity and create situations. If you were a modern organisation, similarly determined to influence the thoughts and feelings of 29 million remote viewers around the world, this ceremony is the perfect vehicle. Being performed in the ‘city of lights’ was surely an invitation the Illuminati could not refuse?

The Illuminati picture credit: National Geographic

I recommend personal research to discover the motives and means of the Illuminati and other cabals, but their aims might be summarised as; ‘to achieve a Global Order through the removal of personal and national freedoms’.

So when you hear on the news that the fibre optic cables serving the high speed trains to the city of Paris have been sabotaged, you wonder why? Curiously, a week or so after the attack, the media are still describing this planned event as ‘vandalism’. No organisation has yet claimed responsibility. You might wonder what reporters are avoiding saying and who has told them not to say it. Was a planned and co-ordinated attack to created fear? Fear of death is the currency of cabals as we witnessed in the recent global pandemic where, again no originator has come forward or been found.

‘Let them hate us as long as they fear us.’ Caligula

Fibre optic cables carry vast quantities of information over long distances. They send light through gross matter. Cutting off this supply in the four cardinal directions was like cutting off light to the City of Lights; the city of the Sun King, Louis 14^th. So similarly ‘cut off from the world’ was Louis, when he moved the Royal Court away from the Parisian minions to Versailles, where he could enjoy a privileged hedonistic lifestyle.

The leaders of the secret societies were closely involved with and led the French Revolution. They would have introduced the ‘Phrygian Cap’ as headgear for the revolutionaries; a symbol of Mithras represented by the bull.

Close observers of the Olympic Opening Ceremony would have noticed the golden head of a bull next to the five Olympic rings at the flag raising ceremony. Should we conclude that Mithras and Revolution is alive and well in modern France?

The Roman Empire nearly adopted the Mithraic religion as it was popular with it’s soldiers and Mithraic temples can be found under many churches. In myth the bull’s spine sprouts corn and the blood is the wine of animal life. Christianity was chosen as the preferred Roman religion but the similarity of this Mithraic myth to the Eucharist should not be overlooked.

Light is a common symbol of spirituality and Jesus was not the only one who proclaimed to be the ‘light of the world’.

‘How thou art fallen from Heaven, son of the morning’ Isaiah 14:12

There is an old Testament character named Lucifer who the Church Fathers decided to eclipse by conflating Satan and Lucifer and Ahriman as the same beings

But Lucifer, the ‘Light Bearer’, is important today as he represents an ‘imbalance’ of spirituality, a powerful overload of light. We should not consider spirituality as being only goodness, as it can be too weak or too powerful and when either occurs it produces bad things.

Lucifer was responsible for the loss of the ‘third eye’ represented as the ‘brow or Adjna Chakra’ in Yoga and a Cobra in Ancient Egypt. Without this sensibility humans descend into illusion and delusion. The figure of Marie Antoinette in red in the Ceremony, represents how humans have collectively ‘lost their heads’ or rational thought and are fixed in the bright red base chakra of animal and tribal desires.

Balanced spiritual energy is a good thing, but when it becomes imbalanced it is not. Gautama Buddha discovered this after living an indulgent life in royal splendour, then aestheticism. He found little of spiritual value in either. He became enlightened when he followed what he called ‘the middle way’, which is the philosophy of Mahayana Buddhism today.

In the ceremony, Venus was represented by Beyonce as a feminine spirit of light and beauty with an enchanting voice; as with the Sirens in the voyage of Odysseus. But it was a narcissistic delight in self reflection that audiences were presented with and not the Venusian sacred mirror of ‘self reflection’.

The decent from balanced spirituality into base narcissism is present around the world in social politics today, not least in France where the left and right wing extremists, with no thought of a ‘middle way’ compromise, have recently taken over the government of the country.

The political values of the French Revolution, “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity or Death” were chapter headings in the ceremony as it appeared on television.

The above background information, is intended be some explanation of the following analysis of the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony 2024. Many have reacted to the ‘weirdness’ in the ceremony as something they could not relate to. The French people had given away their tax payers money and freedom of choice to those who created the ceremony; in other words they had given away their power.

You might ask who decided not to have an audience in the Olympic Stadium for this ceremony, as is traditionally the case. The loss in revenue from ticket sales was clearly a loss out weighed by whatever gain you must imagine. Instead of a climaxing parade of athletes before a cheering international audience, bookended by icons of national pride as in the Beijing and London Olympic Games opening ceremonies, there was nothing.

The world was given a ceremony mainly for the global television audience. The consequence was to separate people into individuals or small groups, such as those Parisians poised on balconies over looking the river. Bystanders had a partial view of the ‘ceremony’ unless they watched it on their phones. The revenue and energy created by sporting event stadiums was sacrificed on an unknown altar.

Performers were perched on buildings as individuals, groups of dancers, musicians, circus artists, singers and actors. Without the power of a telescopic lens and amplifiers, these figures were diminutive both visually and inaudible; a subtle expression of ‘disempowerment’ of the people; ‘divided we fall’.

Human performers made small by large buildings – foolish or just poor design?

Those who were clearly happy or at least good at pretending were the various circus and street performers along the route. They at least added enchantment to proceedings; especially the hired ‘global celebrities’. However these Venusian / Sirenesque qualities, come at a price to the observer as already described.

Only by being tied to the mast of his ship could Odysseus avoid a spiritual death on an island of enchantment and delusion. Is that our world today?

The ‘Minions’ or non-privilege populace, were depicted by cartoon characters who proceeded to sink their own submarine, much in the way humanity is today destroying it’s own space craft; planet earth; cheerless and disempowering messages for us all.

Humanity can not complain that it is has not been warned. The Book of Revelation in the New Testament gives warning of the apocalypse and one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse appeared in the Olympic Ceremony riding a metallic White Horse. Wikipedia informs us that;

In John’s revelation the first horseman rides a white horse, carries a bow, and is given a crown as a figure of, conquest perhaps invoking pestilence, or the Antichrist.

‘Conquest’ we can understand as victory in war and ‘pestilence’ something like the recent pandemic. The arrival of an ‘Antichrist’ is not an anti-Jesus but inverted Christ consciousness; love thyself instead of love others.

Nuclear war has been threatened by politicians and humanity would be the lesser for the intense light of the nuclear explosion – matter into energy. Are we being prepared? Spiritual and or physical death was shown to us repeatedly in the ceremony using various symbols.

A river was chosen as the central location for the ceremony. Rivers are a symbol of the journey from life to death and the Ferryman on the River Styx is perhaps the best known. At the beginning of the ceremony, three children (innocents) follow the light bearer (a football star) underground, the place of Hades or the Underworld denoted by shelves lined with human skulls.

The innocents (you and I) are given the Olympic torch which they pass onto a hooded figure in a rowing boat who takes them back into the world of light or from death into life.

Spectacular laser lights on the bridges and stages announce spectacularly that Lucifer is present above ground.

The use of the bridges that cross the River Seine must have been an enormous disruption to the daily travel of Parisians so there must also have been an overwhelming case for deciding to allow this disruption and disempowerment of ordinary Parisians. What was the benefit?

Were we being invited to remember in the recent history of these bridges that one was the location for the death of Princess Diana? The Pont d’Alma ‘underworld’ road tunnel is capped today with the symbol the Illuminati, a flaming cauldron; which incidentally is a copy of that held aloft over New York by the Statue of Liberty.

Another Royal death featured in the ceremony was that of Marie Antoinette. Actors appeared at the windows of the Conciergerie. This is a building which served the French Revolution by confining 2,370 prisoners, including Marie Antoinette, prior to horrific public execution by guillotine. The Ceremony could have chosen to avoid this macabre place in the interests of good taste, but instead chose to celebrate the horror.

If you are not convinced by these symbolic references, the next is so obvious that many Christian religious leaders have taken offence. They feel that the story of the Last Super in The Bible was mocked and their faith was being deliberately undermined. The long table on the bridge and the peculiar array of sexually ambiguous characters seated beside it employed frenzied cat walking and dance. The display, for many, was a celebration of sexual licence and depravity and even included children to whom Satanists are particularly attracted as a source of energy. The hermaphroditic characteristics of the figure on the left of Jesus in Leonardo de Vinci’s last supper is discussed in Dan Brown’s book referred to earlier and perhaps inspired the theme…is it Mary Magdelene?

To fulfil the imaginary prophecy of these orgiastic encounters, a near naked Dionysus appears wrapped in fruit on a plate as if about to be consumed by the depraved celebrants. Dionysian rites in Roman times were indeed not for the faint hearted. Was this parade endorsing such rites as an end to modern times?

Using the theme of ‘romance and love’ there were scenes in library where three sexually ambiguous young people made eyes at each other and then a rapid exit into a private room and purposefully closing the door. Families might wonder if a ‘ménage a trois’ is something to celebrate in an Olympic Opening Ceremony if is so, why?

In events such this ceremony, Satanists include symbolic messages for fellow Satanists around the world, in the way the newspaper advertisements once were used for covert communication. They will have been alerted to each message by a principle subversive technique, which is ‘reversal’ of the ordinary such when South Korean athletes were introduced as North Korea. Diplomatic telephones started to ring. An apology was demanded ‘for the next time you organise an Olympic ceremony’. Agreement was made but was ‘human error’ really involved?

The most glaring reversal was surely taking the audience out of the stadium for the ceremony. Disguised no doubt as ‘innovative conceptual thinking’ and ‘this is France’ – as President Macron explained- the losses appear to be greater than the overt gains. Why would you prefer funeral paced boats in the rain to the traditional carnival of athletes in previous ceremonies in the dry?

Light into darkness is a theme enjoyed by Satanists and the Olympic Ceremony would not have disappointed them. Whilst in a stadium the encroachment of night is gradually balanced out by artificial lighting, this effect is almost impossible to produce in a city. The clear ‘light of day’ passed into dark obscurity. One conceptual theme was actually called ‘obscurite’ meaning ‘darkness’.

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil,

Who put darkness for light, and light darkness,

And put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter,

Isaiah 5:20

A few days ago, You Tubers were posting Paris at night with large areas in black out. Electricity had been cut off. The only illuminated building was the Basilique Sacre Coeur in Montmartre. There has also been further ‘vandalism’ to fibre optic communication cables in other parts of the country.

In conclusion, if only half of these interpretations are close to the truth, I believe we are being given a warning of future problems, by those who are about to create them.

The stark warnings are;

People are being misled through their dependence on the internet and media.

Life will become more difficult because humanity is destroying the planet.

Humanity will have to become ‘Christ conscious’ (love thy neighbour) or there will be wars.

There will be a world government to achieve these aims.

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From a Distance

31/05/202410/06/2024 / Matters Blog - Things that Matter to Me / Leave a comment

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one John Lennon ‘Imagine’

There is an awareness of the prospect of a ‘New World Order’ in many modern western societies. It is ‘globalism’ by another name and assumes that for the eight billion or so inhabitants of planet earth, ‘one size can fit all’. We clearly see this in the communist countries such as China, where citizen’s rights are subordinate to the rights of society; ‘the lowest common denominator is best for everyone’ philosophy.

Astronauts in the International Space Station may enjoy a global view over breakfast and be filled with wonder at the planet without political boundaries and cultural differences.

But of course geo-politics is not as simple as the view from space implies. If we were to break down how societies are structured the categories might look like this;

…language, religion and ethics, race, class, cultural background, education, wealth, geographic placement, access to technology and food and so the list goes on. Societies are highly complex when viewed through the lens of a microscope.

There is an indigenous North American saying that, ‘it is easy to be brave from a distance’.

They should know, for their initiation tasks for young ‘braves’ were daunting to the point of life threatening. When poised to jump into a river from a high cliff, suddenly life looks and feels different from ten minutes ago.

This illusion of safety is becoming dominant in many Western societies in the modern times. Citizens go about their daily tasks in relative comfort because of the security that their State promises. Citizens will never be poised on the edge of a metaphorical cliff – so they believe.

We create a ‘safe distance’ around ourselves; living in a tiny bubble of the known and familiar. It is comforting and provides, what in general systems theory is known as ‘homeostatis’, or

‘The aim of systems theories is to create homeostasis, or a favorable person–environment fit, in that the individual interacts and responds to her/his environment where interactions and change are contributing to positive growth and development and social functioning.‘ ScienceDirect.com

The whole approach to reassurance given by crew to passengers on an aircraft is based on this principal. In a short briefing it is explained that the aircraft could crash in which case here’s a whistle, otherwise, drinks are available from the trolley.

Airliines pretend flyiing is safe, but if we think critically they could do more. For instance, why are children not given child seats as is the general law for cars? Why are companion and service animals so difficult to cater for? A disabled passenger will have their expensive wheelchaire thrown into the hold and they have to stagger to their seat; if they are lucky with extra legroom – at an additional cost. How quickly passengers embark and disembark, is mostly about money for airlines.

Life in western societies is rather like this problem that airlines have when people have unique expectations and needs. The tendency then is humans are herded like lost sheep and most of the time, we oblidge.

Fortunately, what stops the world from wobbling off it’s axis is a counter force which we call ‘co-operation’. Humans emerged successfully from the ‘natural selection’ disaster movie of prehistory by co-operating with each other. Instead of becoming the lone predator like tigers, they became pack hunters, like wolves.

So here is the good news. If generalisations and lack of detail are the centrifugal forces that tend to pull society apart, then co-operative forces are the centripetal reaction, keeping us all together.

A list of these co-operative forces would be something like this;

...written laws and national constitutions that describe and give rights to citizens, shared wealth and resources such as public services, pensions and private insurance, shared territory such a public spaces and open borders, shared fauna and fauna in natural ecosystems, shared technology and scientific research, shared buildings such as blocks of apartments and entertainment facilities, shared national infrastructure, shared human resources in education, health, armed services, politicians…the list is longer.

Those enjoying the re-assurance of a Western lifestyle, are aware of other countries where the centrifugal forces are actually pulling societies apart. We know there are wars, famine, plague and natural disasters, criminal and terrorist organisations, happening somewhere else on our shared planet all the time but we chose to do nothing at worst or give to charity at best. We rationalise our choice as ‘someone else’s problem’ because we were lucky enough to have been born in a bubble.

For the few who do take on responsibility for those less ‘fortunate than themselves’ is more they can do. If they have a set of skills applicable to a particular emergency they can join a charity or non-government organisation. Usually and sadly, such as in earthquakes or flooding, help arrives too little too late. Disaster relief warehouses do not exist at every air and sea port in the world. Instead it can take days for supplies to be shipped and taken overland to those as serious risk of harm, instead of hours. Governments and or those who caused the disaster lie about the cause and solutions that are in place such as is happening in Gaza in Palestine at this present time.

In this way disasters can be diverted from public attention; played down because ‘we’ are not the victims. Our lives continue with a good standard of living, fuel in the service stations, government workers in the social services providing education, health and the rest. The shops are open and we go to work.

Or so it appears, because of the illusion with which we are presented and which we choose to believe; we genuinely think we are brave, upright, honest, caring citizens.

That is until our borders are rushed by people without documents who risk their lives to get help, banks close, world shipping halts, a serious pandemic any other disastrous global event such as, well, global warming…

Then the problem in western countries becomes, ‘how do we keep our way of life?’, because we assume, our lives and standard of living will continue unchanged.

Feeling good at a distance. It’s a way of life.

Matters Blog

Original thoughts on a variety of subjects that matter to me

Politics

War of Words

Spiritual Enlightenment

Peace Begets Peace

Beyond Good and Evil

The Empires Strike

Truth Against the World

Father Noel

The Road to Hell

Olympics in Flames

From a Distance