I am Prime Minister

/ Matters Blog - Things that Matter to Me / Leave a comment

‘Today is the day we hold an historic meaningless vote. Two years ago I went over to the continent and told them what the terms of Brexit would be. At first the EU didn’t like my ‘red line’ attitude but after constant repetition they finally agreed; if only to shut me up (laughs self consciously).

Because no one knew what they had voted for when they voted to leave the EU, I have had to make up the terms of my meaningless Withdrawal Agreement. It’s so fraught with problems that I have had to paint parliament into a corner to get them to vote for it. This hasn’t worked so far but by constantly delaying parliamentary procedure, we are now where I want us to be – at the edge of the abyss.

So today you will all be voting for my deal…as they say on that interesting show Meaningless on tea time telly, ‘a very very good deal indeed‘. You all know the terms by now, as you have voted against them enough times. But as the alternative is falling off the cliff edge, I expect more of you will see that my Brexit is the only way forward.

‘What about a people’s vote?!’

‘I don’t know why I have to explain again but we have had the referendum ages ago. The people voted to leave. It is my mission to give the people what they want, even if the terms and conditions were not considered and  differ enormously from what people expected. But remember, we can’t just keep going back to the people asking the same question until we get the answer we want.’

‘That’s exactly what you are doing with your meaningless vote!’

‘Yes, but I am Prime Minister and I can do whatever I want. And I have told, I mean, agreed with the EU negotiators that every member of this house will strip naked, paint ourselves blue and dance around Parliament Square singing Britain Waves the Rules! That is a much better deal than staying the EU.’

‘No it’s not!’

‘Who said that?’

‘I did.’

‘See me afterwards.’

‘What about all the people who didn’t vote in the first referendum, who want to be heard now?’

‘If you mean women in refugee camps; – we have stripped her of her citizenship, so no longer a problem.’

‘No, I mean the two million sixteen year olds in 2016, who are now eighteen. It’s their future and they have a right to be heard. And then there are the UK citizens who live in Europe and were not allowed to vote on the grounds that this doesn’t concern them because they have lived out the UK for 15 years. Of course it concerns them…them more than anyone else!’

‘A second referendum will bring indecision and divisiveness.’

‘We have indecision and divisiveness now! Surely a second vote will either stop Brexit or give it more impetus and quieten dissenters.’

‘My deal is a very good deal and if you don’t agree to it then you are not being democratic and defending the rule of law and parliament…’

‘Why?’

‘Because I say so, because I am Prime Minister. So are we going to have this meaningless vote or not? Let’s get it over and this time, remember, if you don’t vote for my meaningless deal then you will have to keep voting until you vote in it’s favour.

If you vote for the good of the country instead of my meaningless deal, the repercussions will not be my fault but yours for being very naughty MP’s.

No indecision. Commit yourselves to be stupid and support the most uninformed plan anyone has ever concocted. You must vote and you must vote decisively, May. You may not vote ‘may not’ or wait until May.

Let’s be certain about one thing. I used to tell my teachers at school uncertainty, is not my middle name, it’s my last name.

Strictly Come Democracy

/ Matters Blog - Things that Matter to Me / Leave a comment

Twelve men and their captain leap into the life boats. The timber ship has broken her back on rocks and they have seconds to save themselves. They manage to reach the beach through the crashing waves, pull up the boats and huddle together, shivering. The place is the Antarctic and the man faced with the problem of survival, Captain Ernest Shackleton. The choice is either escape in the boats, or stay and wait for help. They vote. The result is six/six. Captain Shackleton decides that six should camp there under an upturned boat and the rest take the other boat to get help. The outcome of this decision, in which one half of the crew did save the lives of the others, was not divisive but mutually rewarding.

Democracy doesn’t work that way. With a 50 ½ to 49 ½ result, the majority win. In Shackleton’s case, all would have been morally forced to make the perilous journey in an open boat.  The minority clique would moan all the way and constantly demoralise everyone.

The elephant not in the room, during the parliamentary election process, are those who chose not to vote. If you ask them why the replies are;

‘I don’t trust/like politicians’

‘What is the point, the ****** Party will get in anyway’

‘It’s all a load of rubbish’

‘I’m too busy to vote’

‘It’s raining’

‘I walked the dog already so I am not going out again’

We are all familiar with the responses of those asked why they do not exercise their democratic right. Where would Captain Shackleton have been if one third of his men decided not to vote?

How can democracy engage all it’s citizens, as surely it should?

You can enforce voting by law, as in some countries, but this is too close to autocracy for many.

What can you do to voters who decide not to vote on account of the weather? A large part (sometimes the majority) are so disengaged with politics that the winning party are sometimes a minority of those legible to vote. Democracy in the UK has a problem but there is an alternative.

There is another form of democracy which avoids the voting for representatives. It is called ‘direct democracy’.

In Plato’s time the democratic city consisted of no more than 1008 people. This is the number who can stand in a circle and listen to a single speaker. This is direct democracy; no representatives. By removing the ‘middle man’, who is often the cause of the disgruntled not voting, voters are empowered in a directly personal way.

As a side issue, you might also think it odd that in the twenty first century, we vote by making a mark on a piece of paper with a stubby pencil in a makeshift polling booth at the local library. Isn’t that rather old fashioned in an age of global communication? How is it that viewers can vote for their favourite couple on ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ but can’t vote on whether there are too many immigrants or whether to declare war on another country?

I do not know but I expect there are boffin s in the Civil Service working on an Application that is completely secure and personal to each citizen. With it, citizens can vote on political issues, both local and national, regularly. How regularly? Well Switzerland already has four referendums a year and this system is generally praised across Europe for it’s success in engaging it’s citizens in political choice.

And perhaps an Application is not the solution either. After all, not every citizen has a cell phone and we must wait for the ‘My Vote App‘ to appear on everyone’s voice controlled television

Another method of voting for the present, is not to vote for party’s, policies or people. These are all fraught with over simplification and all that brings. Instead a citizen will be empowered to decide how their personal taxes are divided for different government departments. The tax form will have a box for each department ; education, defence, food and fisheries, health etc. Voting for policy is conducted in fine detail through an existing system; annual tax returns.

A citizen ticks only the boxes to which he or she wishes their taxes to be allocated. Three ticks means your tax goes three ways, six ticks separates it six ways…simple. As a result the different government departments might receive a surge in funding to empower them to address issues that citizens tell them deserve money. Not only the cause but the strength of their belief and desire is acknowledge.

Whilst it may be true that money does not solve problems how often in response to criticism have you heard a Prime Minister defend policy by saying how much money has been spent and how this will be increased?

So particularly in a period of ‘austerity’, allocating money to the NHS proportionately to the will of the people would be a huge step forward for Democracy and calm discontent with central government.

It may not be perfect and perhaps there is another way. Living in an age where artificial intelligence is making the decisions that hold the Stock Market together, isn’t it time for AI to help us voice our political choices?

The Platonic city will live again and instead of dropping black or white stones into a container or scribbling on a bit of paper – citizen democracy will move into the age of technology making the impossible, possible. In doing so it will bring together all citizens instead of just those who happen to own an umbrella or need to walk the dog.

Who Owns Knife Crime?

/ Matters Blog - Things that Matter to Me / Leave a comment

Should the citizens of the United Kingdom be afraid? Reading the headlines of the ‘red top’ newspapers – you should be. Because stories involving public violence sell newspapers and whip up politicians.

Why is a branch of violent death suddenly deemed unacceptable, when ten people die in motor vehicles in the UK every day? Clearly there is a tendency for the press and media to focus a spot light on stories that appear as fresh and ‘in the public interest’ i.e. exciting. Statistics showing an increase in knife crime need to interpreted by statisticians and explained to the public intelligently because we all know they often give a false picture of what is going on.

Crime is something most people have an opinion on but few understand. They call a burglary a robbery and a robbery a theft. Journalists often confuse the legal terminology and I expect the man on the omnibus would have trouble as well.

When children are murdering each other there certainly needs to be a debate. I would start that debate on whether the law needs another word for a child on the verge of adulthood. Should a seventeen year old be treated legally as a child when they can join the army and or get married?

Murder using a knife is a specific crime. It is however no different to murder using any other implement in it’s effect. Because firearms are hard to obtain in the UK, it is likely that a similar weapon will be preferred. A knife is certainly the weapon of the bully who uses it to cause intimidation and or cause injury or death. Rarely do cases emerge of a knife fight in which both parties use knives. This shows that those who carry a knife wish to intimidate and win a conflict rather than meet anyone on equal terms. This is bullying at it’s most extreme and behaviour pattern often learnt in the school environment and carried over into adulthood.

So when politicians are asking their civil servants who is responsible for stopping knife crime the answer is not as simple as ‘the police’. Policing is always the last resort. As Police Commissioner Cresida Dick said, ‘we cannot arrest our way out of this problem’.

Police presence as a deterrent does work but only under very specific circumstances. I once asked an ‘old time copper’ how many burglaries he had witnessed in the thirty years he spent walking the streets, he replied, ‘two’. Crimes are not generally omitted in front of the police neither do they tend to ‘come across’ them.

The mayor of New York became famous for reducing crimes on the streets at a time when violent crime was a problem. He did it simply by placing a police officer on each street corner. This had a significant effect on reducing crime in the area where crimes had previously been common. Perhaps they were moved elsewhere – deflected – some like shop lifting would be. This model however cannot always be copied and used elsewhere. It’s matter of police numbers.

So for once in my view, the UK Prime Minister, Teresa May is correct. There are many reasons for a spate in knife crime and all those with a handle on the problem need to get together. More police on patrol might have an effect in the short but random patrols – even targeted patrols – are modelled on military tactics and not part of a long lasting solution.

Who then are the owners of the ‘knife crime’ problem?

Parents

Relatives

Friends

Peers

Teachers

Social Workers

Youth Workers – Sociologists and Academic Researchers

Faith Leaders

Drugs Councillors

Mental Health Professionals

Prison Officers

Public Transport Operators and Staff

Entertainers – e.g. Rap Performers

Social Media Service Providers

Architects, Planners and Developers

Local Councils – Town Centre Managers, Retailers

Local Councils – Youth Services, Educational Establishments, Sports e.g. Martial Arts Teachers

The General Public – potential witnesses

Politicians

Police

The list is probably too short. You might think of others but my point is that the strands of the problem are complex and no single action will contribute to a reduction of the problem.

In each murder there will be some parties and partners who had the chance to impact on the likelihood of an individual child committing a murder. Parents probably top the list because of their intimacy in a family environment and ability to monitor the influences, moods, thoughts, companionship, peer demands, social freedoms and restrictions and every other aspect of their children’s lives.

The topic is considerably more complicated than focusing on gang culture and the use and supply of drugs – but these factors are certainly a part of the problem.

In the last few decades, Youth Services such as Youth Clubs and Sports Centres have been decimated by successive governments. I heard an interview with a man who lived in an area of London where gang culture ruled the streets for young people. He cited the start of the problems with the closure of the Youth Club and annual outings out of the city in which young people came together.

He had brought several warring gangs together through music. Young people who hated each other for reasons no more scary than geography i.e. territory came together to play music, sing and dance. It worked. He should be given a medal.

Drugs are inevitably a significant factor in the power and control of the gangs over their members. They are forced to operate in Mafia style battles over territory and people. Laced through this nightmare are the selling and consumption of illegal drugs that perpetuate the horror and force drug users and gang members into an downward spin.

Just because drugs are hard to control does not mean they are not part of the problem. This is an area where police do hold a significant strand and their powers to stop and search suspects need to be encouraged and used to the full. Local residents usually know exactly where drug dealing and users operate and good intelligence will empower police.

The fact that the victims and perpetrators are often under the age of eighteen is something for society to be deeply shamed about, for they have access to educational facilities and some sort of home lives which children in many poorer countries do not have.

There is not room to discuss even a small aspect of this problem here. One can only expect that the consensus amongst politicians is to do something other than spend money on knee jerk solutions.

Problems that evolve slowly with social change usually require slow time remedies. The public need to be told this and reminded of their duty to step up to their own responsibilities as shared owners of the problem.

How to Lose the Lottery

/ Matters Blog - Things that Matter to Me / Leave a comment

I remember times in the UK when there was no National Lottery. When I went to Australia I considered it quirky that there was a ‘Loto’ which concentrated the attention of the masses once a week. Profits went to social causes, one assumes, like taxes do, one assumes.

Not surprising then, that some regarded Lotteries as a form of voluntary tax. The logic of the possibility of owning more money than you can dream of for the expenditure of just one dollar, is too much. It is logical to enter a lottery, yes, because without a ticket you do not have a chance of winning.

What the Lottery advertising does not suggest is that the chance of winning can be questioned. The question is obviously, how likely am I to win the lottery? For the simple mind without any grasp of statistics or even arithmetic, this question is difficult. Surely, this would spoil the fun and why not, just take a chance?

Even when told that the chances of winning the National Lottery in the UK presently are fourteen million to one, precious pounds are handed over for an empty promise every week by many not really able to afford it. Their dreams have the better of them. Selfish desires are strong motivators.

I expect if they climbed aboard my ‘Reality Bus’ they might see the light. This bus, you see, will drive you passed a football stadium in which have been invited fifty thousand people. They sit in silent expectation, each reviewing their plans for what to do with the millions they hope to win. The guide on the Reality Bus asks how many of those in the stadium might win the lottery. Sun hats are removed as heads are scratched and partners quiz each other.

Is it a trick question?

Well, of course it is because at this moment the bus revs into life. After a few minutes it stops at the entrance to another identical stadium. Inside the stadium can be heard the discourse of another fifty thousand hopefuls. The same question is asked? Some on the bus begin to wonder how many more of these football stadiums there are. And they are correct to do so. All through the morning and afternoon, the bus drives up to another one hundred football stadiums each bristling with like minded people to those on the bus. The bus passengers are beginning to think about dinner. They are let off at the one hundred and first stadium to use the facilities. Some grab a quick pie and a beer on their way back onto the bus. The driver is keen to move on. He has done this journey many times and knows that they are going to be going through the night visiting another hundred identical stadiums.

Come breakfast time the passengers are looking tired and bewildered. How could there possibly be so many football stadiums full of people who are ALL expecting to win the same lottery?

The driver insists they have to drive on and by mid afternoon the bus stops at the two hundred and eightieth stadium. The guide stands up and holds the microphone to address the weary passengers.

‘So far we have passed by fourteen million people all expecting to win with a similar ticket or tickets that you purchased. I have to ask you now, how lucky do you feel?’

This is the point of the whole journey and the moment when the bus passengers finally understand the waste of money and time they have devoted to the purchase of a lottery ticket.

A voluminous hand of fate hangs over the audiences seated in the 280 football stadiums one by one. A clever inflatable ‘hand’ suspended from a helicopter provides this metaphor. As it leaves each stadium having conducted no positive selection, the crowds get up and leave in a dismal mood. ‘It’s not even as interesting as a nil nil footy match’ one hopeful contestant is heard to say.

At the 79th stadium, one lucky contestant is selected amongst whoops of joy from the winner – and moans of envy from the other 49,999 in the stadium.

The Reality Bus completes it’s journey with a visit to Mr. Mind Guru. This is an man from India who sits on a huge golden cushion in a small marquee. The bus passengers are seated on carpets and served tea and biscuits which they gulp hungrily. The guru explains that the secret of a happy life is not to be different to others by being ‘filthy rich’ – he almost spat out the words. The secret of eternal happiness is to cherish the things and people with whom and which one is surrounded. ‘Isn’t it?’

Despite the convoluted English, the audience confer and sort of understanding, as well as they are able following their sleep deprivation.

The audience are invited to burn their lottery tickets and pledge to give materially and with their time to as many worthy causes as they wish in some other way. This will bring them the greatest happiness – so they are told.

‘More happiness than all the tea in India – more happiness than in a selfish thought or a comparison of oneself with another.’

The audience trickle out of the marquee. Time has not been wasted. It has been a very truthful lesson.

The bus heads back to the first football stadium where another fifty hopefuls take their seats, for what they are told will be ‘the ride of your life’. Just49,950 hopefuls to be enlightened, from this stadium before the bus moves onto the next. 

Bored of the Border

/ Matters Blog - Things that Matter to Me / Leave a comment

At a critical time in UK politics, Teresa May is enjoying the sunshine in Sharm El Sheikh at the tax payer’s expense. There is an EU summit, but Brexit is not on the agenda. Brexit is due to happen in five weeks on the 29th March 2019. The scene is my house.

I put my steaming Irish Stew on the table just as the phone rang.

‘Yup’

‘Hello – the Right Honourable Teresa May here…’

‘Look, I’ve just put my dinner on the table, can I ring you back?’

‘Oh, yes – scratch my back a little higher darling…’

‘What did you say your name was?’

‘TM – the PM – ooh, lovely’

I suspected it was some sort of prank call.

When I had scooped up the last of my Danone Bifidus I eyed my phone, picked it up and speed dialled.

‘Bob! Thank you so much for ringing back.’

It wasn’t my name but I let it pass.

‘I’ve been told by Dave to call you when I get stuck up a gum tree.’

‘Do you mean Dave – captain-of-the-ship-talking-to-you-from-the-lifeboat-off-the-port-stern – Cameron?’

‘Yes, yes, him. Well he told me you were a bit of a clever Dick -a problem solver.’

She had my name wrong again. ‘Yes’

‘Well, I have a problem. It’s this Brexit thing. I keep trying but I can’t delay it any longer and I soooo want a hard Brexit. I’ve tried to string everyone along but I have run out of irrational reasons. You must have been following it, surely?’

Why was she calling me Shirley?

‘Go on Mrs. T.’

‘Well, it’s all over this Irish border back stop thing; between the North and South of the Ireland of Island.’

‘Island…it’s an island called Ireland.’

‘Yes, so, tell me what I should do? I mean, Dave knew about the Good Friday Agreement banning a hard border and yet like the silly ass he is, he still went ahead with the referendum. I mean – just because it was in the Tory party manifesto…which has never been a reason to carry out policy before. I mean, how stupid was that?’

‘On a scale of ten?’

‘Yes’

‘Ten.’

There was a long pause as if I was expected to produce a solution straight away. ‘So listen – was it Mother Teresa?’

‘No, the Right Honourable’

‘Okay Ron, here is what you do. First, that border with the farmers on their Massey Fergusons and lost tourists and local folks crossing all day and night.’

‘Yes’

‘Don’t move it. Don’t touch it. No barriers, no towers, no machine gun posts.’

‘Oh, thank you. Thank you!’

‘The border is totally fixed and that problem, is your solution. It’s a red line on the map and politically. So introduce all of your Trade and Customs checks away from the border.’

‘We thought of putting it in the Irish Sea but it was too wet.’

‘No, listen, you just move all your ‘border controls’ a few miles inland so that they are no longer literally, border controls. That leaves the real border frictionless and in full accordance with the Good Friday Agreement.’

‘Can I say robust?’

‘Sure.’

‘Robust.’

‘Even with two hundred or so border crossing points you can put in controls at suitable geographic locations.’

‘What locations?’

‘Well I thought loads of Payage’s. You know, Toll Booths, hundreds of them up and down, near to the border.’

‘Toll Booths?’

‘Yes, you see, all the traffic from Eire is not contributing it’s fair share to road tax in the UK. They are merrily wearing out UK roads and infrastructure without a care, so we stop them, and make them pay.’

‘Brilliant! Go on.’

‘…and they will need private health insurance, travel insurance, pet insurance and comprehensive vehicle insurance – which they can purchase by the day from the UK government.’

‘You mean we sting them for tax and insurance? I love it!’

‘Whilst this is going on, border control officers are doing their checks on vehicles. Number plate recognition cameras are hidden in the ‘Beware of High Tarrifs and Taxes – You Are Now Entering the United Kingdom’ warning road signs. They are alerted to any vehicles that they should be interested in. You know loaded with Somali terrorists and drug cartel bosses.

‘I love it! I’m so glad you called Alec. Dave was right. You are smart. But, I can see one other problem.  What about the other side? The EU insists on a hard border since it’s the edge of Europe.  I can see they are going to make it look like North Korea, however clever we are on our side.’

‘I know’

‘So’

‘When the wall goes up and the hostile vehicle mitigation barriers, anti-tank gun emplacements, mine fields…’

‘Oh no! Oh no!’

‘Don’t worry. That’s in my plan. When all that happens despite your robust objections as it being contravening the Good Friday Agreement and no one is listening to you…that is when you insist on a ‘border poll’…both north and south.

‘What pole? A north pole and a south pole? They are a long way away?’

‘No, a poll, you know, referendum? Both ends of the country vote on whether to unify the island of Ireland.’

‘I can’t see the IRA liking that’

‘It’s what they have been fighting for this last century’

‘Oh, yes, of course…1914…is that what it was about?’

‘…just make sure the referendum needs a majority that is as slim as possible. Do not require a super-majority of say 66% otherwise you won’t get the result you want. You know…just as in the Brexit referendum. Even a majority of one farmer who entered the polling booth by mistake looking for a lost lamb, just one casting vote will become the ‘will of the Irish people’. Your defence becomes a defence of democracy. Moral high ground and all that…’

‘I’m writing this down Dave…l a m b.’

‘Then Ireland is united, the Treasury are delighted with extra taxes for a while, and most importantly, Brexit can happen smoothly. You become Dame Margaret Teresa of Mumbai in the new year and everyone is happy!’

‘Oh Winston! You are so clever. Thank you. I hate strategy and you have really set the ship on a navigable course. So much smarter than Dave.’

‘Don’t mention it. We Irish Republican’s are always happy to work with the United Kingdom.’

Pleasure Palaces

/ Matters Blog - Things that Matter to Me / Leave a comment

Pleasure and happiness are not the same thing in my view. Pleasures are sensory stimuli through the senses. Animals are motivated to seek compulsively a combination of pleasures.

Humans are naturally motivated by pleasure seeking as much as the animals. The animal nature of the body is something that should never be denied – as in aesthetic practices. Abstention from pleasure for controlled periods of time for a specific psycho / physiological purpose may be directed by a teacher, dietician or medical practitioner. For instance, seven days of a water fast puts the body into a state where stem cells are released into the damaged parts of the bodies, replacing cells that the body is beginning to consume as a source of protein. In this way organs can be rejuvenated and the life of the body enhanced and even extended.

In general though, most people living in a western culture or aspiring to western style culture, are orientated principally towards pleasure. The body craves satiation of it’s desires and a state of comfort and rest results. I can observe this simply in my cats. They crave their food. When it appears and they consume it – they will retreat to a favourite place to wash and then sleep.

At this level humans are no different. The technology of the western cultures has enabled food to available in supermarkets continually. Hunger is something to be avoided. The same process is mirrored in the other sensual pleasures.

Sexual gratification is deemed a right – even in a war zone where children are not going to have a good life. The pervasion of pornography and places for dignified and undignified sexual gratification are available – if not openely condoned. Humans are animals and the gratification of the desire to have sex is no different to the lusts felt by a stallion of a mare in a field. The indoctrination of philosophies such as Puritanism and social remnants from societies such as the Victorians in England – have left a hypocritical attitude to sex and other pleasures.

Swinging the other way in the ‘swinging sixties’ has left present societies with a liberalism moving ever towards citizens demanding unrelenting pleasure. Social media and it’s content reflect this starkly. Even the gratification of committing suicide is instructed and awarded a status of ‘do-able’.

All of these pleasures and desires put humans on a ‘one track’ direction that is hard to leave. Prince Sidhartha in Indian legend, became disenchanted with his life of luxury and left his family, his palace and social status to search for a reality that was not transient – as is desire for pleasure.

After practising extreme aestheticism he moved into what is now called ‘a middle way’ where ‘just enough’ is enough. For whilst the desire for pleasure and it’s satiation produces problems if totally ignored, too much pleasure also blinds the soul to an inner life with qualities that are not transient – a true ‘heaven’.

From pleasures come a state known as ‘contentment’. This state is also temporary and dependent on the outside world for it’s perpetuation – so contentment is not a destination for seekers of Heaven! Immortality has to be earned.

In my view pleasure palaces contain only the first steps on a long ladder reaching into the heavens. We can remain on the lower steps if we wish. Animals find it hard to climb ladders but humans do not. We have the potential to move vertically through our desire for pleasure and contentment, not negating them, but not seeking them either. They will always come along one way or another. As Jesus the Christ says in Matthew 6

31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

To the modern western mind this sounds like a recipe for disaster – for planning and preparation, is a key to the pursuit of perpetual pleasure.

In the Taoist philosophy we find exactly the same aim as Christianity;

It is more important

to see the simplicity

To realise one’s true nature

To cast off selfishness

And temper desire

(chapter 19 of the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tsu)

Note that desire is only tempered not destroyed. When desire becomes a small part of life, it can no longer dominate a person’s being and purpose. The void that is left will be filled by the Divine – in it’s own time.

In the words of the Sufi poet and seer – Sabistari

Go sweep out the chamber of your heart.
Make it ready to be the dwelling place of the Beloved.
When you depart out,
He will enter it.
In you,
void of yourself,
will He display His beauties.

The tavern-haunter wanders alone in a desolate place,
seeing the whole world as a mirage.

The tavern-haunter is a seeker of Unity,
a soul freed from the shackles of himself.

 Through the chamber of the heart is small,
it’s large enough for the Lord of both worlds
to gladly make His home there.

Note the reference to ‘both worlds’ – for Sufism does not deny our presence as a soul in a material body. Both the physical world and it’s pleasures and the non-physical worlds are the abode of the Beloved. The task of the human is merely to become lost in the love of the Beloved and everything else, will follow – including happiness and pleasure.

Is Happiness Wrong?

/ Matters Blog - Things that Matter to Me / Leave a comment

Blaise Pascal was not only a scientist and mathematician but philosopher. He is known for his book entitled Pensees in which he stated;

‘All human problems stem from the inability to sit in a room alone.’

With the benefit of hindsight since the 1600’s when this was written, I would suggest an amendment to;

‘Some human problems stem from the inability to sit in a room alone.’

It remains certain though, that inaction of body and mind is a problem for a lot of people in the West. There remains in Western thought an imperative to voyage and discover new things, places, people. The myth of seeding the planets and stars with human beings is a modern manifestation of this, but at a contemporary everyday level, it manifests as exploring social media compulsively.

Inactivity is seen as something to be avoided and children are instructed to keep themselves busy. There is a notional link here between being engaged in something and being happy. If happiness could be measured on a scale of one to ten, then we might expect to be somewhere around five most of the time. At times of misfortune this would go down to one or zero and at times of fortune nine or ten. Being ‘unhappy’ would then become an impossible state of mind, as there was only a surfeit or depletion of happiness. As emotional beings connected to the world through our senses we could become addicted to happiness through sensual pleasure. However the power or thought has given mankind the ability to disconnect into the abstract worlds of mathematics, language, pattern and imagination. Here also we find happiness. The absence of these activities does not reduce a state of contentment if we abandon contentment as our goal.

A later philosopher to Pascal was Jeremy Bentham from the 18th and 19th Centuries. His famous ‘hand me down’ thought to humanity was his ‘fundamental axiom’ for a fulfilled life;

‘It is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong.’

The ‘pursuit of happiness’ found it’s way into the the American Constitution in 1776 as a noble aim for our endeavours. As a piece of legalised diplomacy though, it let’s the snake into the garden, as happiness means different things to different people.

Persons engaged in any or all of the ‘deadly sins’ of the Old Testament for instance (if slavery is ‘theft of freedom’) might also be condoned under this right of the constitution. It had to be so, for many Americans from the south were not totally convinced slavery was a bad thing.

When Nazi Germany mobilised it’s military might – with it’s people in general support, they appear in the contemporary movies as being at least eight or nine on the happiness scale. Yet with hindsight we can see that the second world war was wrong and should never have happened, any more than should the first. We have to conclude that we have here an example that one can be very wrong and very happy.

Returning to Pascal’s point about being able to ‘live with oneself’; it is sobering to ponder if the Nazi’s would have been better to have learnt to do this. Instead of finding ‘wrong’ in their society and supposed causes of ‘wrong’ their first endeavours would have been better directed within. Outward exploration of one’s ideals and opinions inevitably mean trampling over someone else’s, in this case Belgium and Poland and most of Europe. This is a manifestation of the inability to sit quietly. Faults that we find intolerable in others are usually those holding most power over our selves. This truth is known from ancient times and is recorded as ‘known thyself’.

When a child is bored, it is because the child has an idea that a change of mental or physical environment is necessary. For whatever reason, this function is not available to the child inwardly.

My English teacher ‘Windy Gale’ was fond of aphorisms and he posted examples around the classroom. One was;

‘There are no dull subjects, only dull minds.’ He was no doubt tired or reading dull essays from dull minds.

While quiet can at first be regarded as in some way lacking, once accepted it can become a ploughed field upon which crops grow and from these comes nourishment.

There was a television series on the world religions several decades ago, presented and written by the theatre producer, Ronald Eyre who died in 1992. In his conclusion he said poignantly that if he were able to bring all the world’s religious leaders into one room, he would expect there would be a pervasive silence. He meant that far from being arguments about dogma and doctrine, origin and authenticity; because these beings had advanced sufficiently into themselves they would not be ‘throwing stones’ at others.

In the twentieth century, the connection between any human being on the planet with another through social media, has expanded this capacity to do ‘wrong’ in the pursuit of ‘happiness’. The forces of ‘radicalisation’ for instance are able to engage the minds of ‘bored’ souls anywhere on the planet. They will break their roots and leave their families to cross borders into broken states to support an aim they perceive as needing salvation from unhappiness. I am of course thinking of the so called ‘Islamic State’ as an example. At this time it’s influence is almost broken but like all political philosophies and doctrines it will always remain as the written word and thought.

Those emerging from the war will have learnt much about being alone and being near one and zero on the happiness scale. They may find that on return to their host countries after trial, they will be placed in a room alone. The question they must face is, can they live with themselves and in doing so become happy? Perhaps then, they will find the happiness they did not find through doing wrong.

The Universe and The Universe and The Universes

/ Matters Blog - Things that Matter to Me / Leave a comment

Understanding the Universe has proved difficult for scientists. They have an idea that it started at a single point and expanded, but cannot explain what was there before. This is because their thinking is limited by their logic.

‘If a thing exists then there must have been a time it did not exist.’

This is logical but not true, because logic is limited and changed by the presence of an observer. Quantum physics proves this with such realities as an atom existing in two places at once.

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

To describe the universe we need better words, ideas, concepts than we use to describe a four dimensional world.

Mathematicians describes up to eleven dimensions. Universes that exist apart and in the same space / time, something that is ‘not logical Captain’.

To view other dimensions it is necessary to move the position of the observer. We know this because we understand the difference between two and three and four dimensions. Two dimensions is a world on a single plane. It becomes three when we see the dinner plate as a circular object rather than a straight line. When the dinner plate is dropped and breaks into pieces, the plate has an existence in time – that is the space time we have grown to understand.

There are still people who believe in a flat earth. Even though sailors and pilots and astronauts tell of a spherical earth, the Flat Earth Society members prefer to interpret the facts in their own way.

Would it not be interesting to move to the next level of thought about the universe, just as the jump in thought between the Flat Earther’s and the rest of us? The universe is without a boundary according to our astronomical observations. In fact the galaxies are expanding ever outward at this moment in time. It is more likely, in my view, that there will never be a universal boundary discovered. This is because I believe the universe bends around and comes back on itself, as does a sphere. But in my model of the universe I see it as a Toroid shape, like a Polo mint – the ‘mint with a hole in it.’

Matter and energy appear from the Torus shaped centre of the hole as waves of galaxies, stars, gases and dust. It comes from the collapsed version of itself and is in the state of either expanding or contracting depending on in what stage of its life you view it. Time spins around the surface of the Torus as a snake around a tree coming eventually to its own tail, which it swallows. This is the serpent in the garden of Eden. Time introduces the dimension of ‘self awareness’ or ‘knowledge’ which the Creator thought man would be happier without.

There is not one Toroid though, neither is a there a place outside the Universe where the inhabitants of Heavenly Space live out separate lives. This model is Medieval in origin and was created to fit with the concept of Heaven and Hell as places of destination after death.

To my mind there is no heaven or hell other than that which is created by man, respectively through Divine inspiration or not. And before you ask, Divinity is everywhere, not just in Heaven.

There are an infinite number of Toroids. Each larger Toroid is a product of a smaller one, as we may all watch when we watch a programme producing fractal patterns.

Scale, like time, is after all relative to the observer, nothing else. It does not matter what size a Toroid is. There could be a million million in one finger nail, and a million million curving over the horizon. As observers limited to a human scale our logic and our instruments can only conceive and view up to a certain point. After that, our intuitions have to operate as they do in dreams, stories and our inspirational knowledge contained in native traditions and ancient myths.

Just because time appears to move in a straight line it does not mean it does. A car driven along the equator of the earth appears to move in a straight line when viewed from space. From another view it is describing the curvature of the earth and is travelling at over one thousand miles per hour through space as the earth spirals.

These relative ideas were described by Professor Albert Einstein in the twentieth century and it is telling that the ideas of Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Computing have not begun to be explored by the popular imagination. Many people still live in the tick tock universe conceived by Sir Isaac Newton.

Perhaps intuition and stories will burst our thoughts out of the chains of logic into new worlds. Worlds which expand and contract, which are made of energy and matter, which move through infinite spaces and return every split second to the place they started.

Perhaps.

Kicking the Mexi-can Down the Road

/ Matters Blog - Things that Matter to Me / Leave a comment

Angel: Why have you decided that the wall between Mexico and the United States of America must be built?

Demon: Because it was an election promise that I made. Those who voted for me expect me to keep my promises. I keep my promises…don’t you Angels?

Angel: You did promise a wall but you also said that Mexico would pay for it. The question now is not over the wall, but who pays for it.

Demon: Yes, well I must have miscalculated how good kind and honest Mexicans are. I wanted them to pay for the wall and they are not doing what I want. But this proves what bad, very bad, people they are and why we need to keep them out. And all the other South American criminal gangs who want to come to live in our beautiful country. You know they sell drugs and murder? Is that okay for angels?

Angel: You have declared a state of National Emergency today. Is that to get around the Democrats who are blocking your demand for money to build the wall?

Demon: Demoncrats? Do you want to see American children murdered? We all love little human children don’t we? I know I do.

Angel: By most definitions, an emergency results from unseen circumstances. Undocumented migrants have been entering the USA – well since the Founding Fathers. How is it that undocumented immigration is suddenly ‘unexpected’?

Demon: Now you are just playing with words. I say what I mean and I mean to build a wall.

Angel: Even if you have to go against the checks and balances in the American Constitution?

Demon: Especially if the elite are stopping the will of the people. That’s in the Constitution too.

Angel: I’ve looked in Wikipedia and it says that undocumented immigrants increase the size of the U.S. Economy, contribute to economic growth, enhance the welfare of natives, contribute more to tax revenue than they collect, reduce American firms’ incentives to offshore jobs and import foreign-produced goods and benefit consumers by reducing the prices of goods and services.

Demon: Lies, all lies.

Angel: There is also evidence that immigrants commit less crime than natives and that enforcing illegal immigration has no effect on crime rates.

Demon: Are you making this up? Because if you are, I don’t think angels should be lying, do you?

Angel: Have you made a study on whether the wall will do what you expect it to? Will it be good value for money?

Demon: I’m never wrong. I don’t need a study to prove me right. The people voted for me. Are you saying they were wrong? That’s anti-democratic.

Angel: Let us imagine a wall. A wall that people cannot tunnel under, climb over, make holes in or go around at the ends…

Demon: Don’t need to imagine it. I can see it everyday in my mind. Gleaming and sturdy.

Angel: Let us imagine such a miraculous wall as you want…how will this change the status of those undocumented immigrants already inside the U.S.A.? How will it capture those who Visa overstay or violated their border crossing cards?

Demon: Let’s keep criminals out first, then we can P.U.R.G.E the aliens already here. I will make the holocaust look like a holoday camp. That’s good…get it?

Angel: And those seeking political asylum, who are now branded criminals. Those who handed themselves over to Border Control Agents were charged with criminal entry and if they had children with them, they were removed to detention centres.

Demon: Sounds like the reason the America people voted for to me. If you have a problem, then vote Democrat next time round.

Angel: We don’t vote.

Demon: Well there you are then. If you don’t buy a lottery ticket you won’t win the lottery. You know that’s true even if you don’t believe in democracy.

A Questionnaire for Brexiteers

/ Matters Blog - Things that Matter to Me / Leave a comment

Some Brexiteers have been offended by the suggestion that they were not in full possession of the facts when they voted. The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk recently said that he has been ‘wondering what a special place in hell looks like for those who proposed Brexit without a sketch of a plan’.

Below are twenty five questions which must be completed before 29th March 2019.

1. Explain using a diagram if necessary, what are the seven institutions of the European Union, their functions and their interrelationships.

1.a. Highlight in your answer those which contain directly elected representatives and which not with reasons.

2. Explain, in the context of the British Monarchy, the House of Lords, the Law Lords, the Church of England – why elected institutions are desirable.

3. The United Kingdom has become the fifth richest nation in the world, possibly partly due to it’s integration with Europe. Explain why it should not share it’s wealth with developing European countries. In other words, do you support the Sheriff of Nottingham or Robin Hood and why?

4. In no more than 20,000 words; what will be the principle effects on Europe from the UK leaving the EU? Give your answer in terms of; international security (such as the expansion of Russia into Europe), scientific and academic research projects, industrial production and world trade routes, inter European trade agreements, agriculture and fisheries, existing shared governmental and non governmental projects and charitable enterprises, education, health, sport, trade, tariffs, law enforcement, the custom union and the protection of borders from criminality, undocumented immigration, terrorism and espionage, cultural exchange and artistic excellence, tourism, environmental protection through existing laws and conservation projects and other aspects of European life that you understand may be affected by Brexit.

5. In no more that 20,000 words, describe the benefits to the United Kingdom in terms of the points in question 4 and which of the UK’s interests are shared with Europe’s.

6. Did you vote for your MEP?

7. The United Kingdom has voted for 95% of European Laws, vetoed 2% and voted against 3%. Which of these European Laws have contributed to the welfare of the UK citizens and which have harmed UK citizens – in your view?

8. The UK will not have access via forty trade agreements into the European market, after Brexit. Which countries within Europe will the UK continue to trade with and on what terms?

9. With which countries outside the EU will the UK seek to trade and on what terms? Prime MinisterTeresa May visited Africa in the summer of 2018 to promote trade with the UK, so include African scientific research, industrial innovation and products and design in your answer. You might also include China, India and Brazil in your answer, even though Teresa May did not visit those countries.

10. Describe, using the English language, why it is easier to trade with countries such as China (where there are eight different linguistic groups and hundreds of dialects) or India (where there are twenty two languages spoken) than in Europe where the most commonly spoken second language is, English.

11. What will be the effect of trade tariffs on UK exports and imports? Why is this beneficial for the average shopper in a UK high street?

12. The pound has weakened as a result of the Brexit referendum. This is good for exports and bad for imports and tourism. Does this beneficial the average person in the street or industry?

13. What effect on inflation will the weak pound have and describe using statistical projections, how this will affect young families with mortgages and their weekly shopping costs.

14. What will be the effect of World Trade Rules on inflation and describe using statistical projections such as graphs, how this will affect young families with mortgages and their weekly shopping costs.

15. Which Social Services in the United Kingdom will struggle with demand as a result of the ‘perfect storm’ they are currently experiencing following the 2008 recession (‘austerity’), Tory government policy to repay the national debt, immigration from Commonwealth Countries and around the world and Brexit?

16. Four out of five legal immigrants are welcomed from non-European countries into the United Kingdom. Describe how reducing migrants from Europe will impact on immigration into the UK.

16.a. Which European immigrants do you believe the United Kingdom does not need;

  • Health Workers
  • Care Assistants
  • Construction workers
  • Seasonal Agricultural workers
  • Tourism and Hospitality workers
  • Students

How would you fill these posts with United Kingdom citizens currently living on state benefits (as may have their parents and grand parents)? What is your strongest argument to persuade them to work similar hours to which Europeans work for less money than they currently get, particularly in Health and Hospitality?

All voters in the referendum to leave Europe, were aware of the terms of the Good Friday Agreement and in particular the requirement to keep the border open. In a sentence; what is your solution to keeping an open border between North and South Ireland. Include in your answer why only you have an idea that will be acceptable to all parties and why after an irreversible referendum is the best time to seek a solution and not before.

17. The referendum was determined to be decided on a majority view – however small – that is on a 50/50 basis. Describe which elected representative made this decision and how they did not believe a narrow majority would leave the UK and it’s Government ‘dangerously divided’ (in the words of Teresa May describing a second referendum.)

17.a. If the referendum had required a 60/40 majority or a 66/33 majority as is more common, would the the country have been easier to motivate and govern, which ever way the people voted?

18. How is the United Kingdom more secure from world threats by being outside Europe?

18.a How is Europe more secure from world threats without the United Kingdom?

18.b. Does the role of the United Kingdom in the two world wars suggest that it’s influence in guiding Europe through peace, is one of the most important legacies it can give it’s children?

18.c Should the weakening of the ‘special relationship’ between the UK and the United States of America suggest Europe is a more reliable world partner?

19. Describe how UK farmers will prosper without a subsidy – sometimes as much as fifty per cent of a farm’s income.

20. How will the UK fish stocks prosper without the present system of quotas and the new ‘throw away’ law? Describe the effect of these changes on the UK fishing fleet workers and how this will affect the price, availability and choice of fish in UK shops.

21. There are very successful shared academic research projects funded by Europe in which UK universities provide important leadership and support and gain benefit. Describe the effect of leaving the EU on these endeavours and how the UK will benefit from any changes after leaving the EU.

22. The vote to leave was described as a once in a lifetime opportunity. How will your children and grand children benefit in terms of family life, health, social benefits, work, pensions, travel, environmental improvement, national and international security and personal development?

23. Thomas Paine, George Washington, Sir James Goldsmith, Nigel Farage, David Cameron, all had a vision of independence for their countries. Compare and Contrast their ideas, motivation and methods and why the politics of multi-cultural cooperation and integration is inferior.

24. The United Kingdom Police do not need access to Europol or European Arrest Warrants to do their job. Comment on this statement in the light of post-Brexit policing.

25. When a multi level organisation is changed there are always unintended consequences. List three which you expect will be beneficial after Brexit and three that you think will not.