Blogs

20 August 2010

In this life we are either growing and evolving or we are shrinking and dying.

7 July 2010

29 June 2010

Because of the way our senses work we have developed a world-view that is overly mechanical. We take comfort in thinking that everything makes sense in a materialistic push and shove kind of a way. With that kind of thinking we see the body as a mechanical machine. We think things wear out over time and when something goes wrong, we imagine and certainly hope that we can just remove the broken bit and replace it with some new parts.

21 June 2010

Everyone is talking about Corporate social responsibility (CSR) but for a minute I would like to talk about personal social responsibility (PSR). The ancient Roman ruler Marcus Aurelius said “Rational beings exist for one another. That which is not good for the swarm, neither is it good for the bee”. Where then do we play a part in the health and the wealth of our society? Where does our personal social responsibility begin and where should it end? In ancient, more tribal times our connections to each other were much more immediate.

The longer I find myself on this planet the more interested I am in the idea of art. When I was younger I could have been forgiven for thinking that artists are those people who squirrel away in studio splashing colour and plaster and abstract ideas around. Then I discovered the pure beauty of music and knew that to be one of the highest forms of art. Then any number of odd art prizes and strange concepts led me, reluctantly at times to include any number of bizarre, random and quite frankly tenuous definitions of art.

When it comes to making changes last, Aristotle said "We are what we do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit". That’s fine for him to say but making a new habit usually involves breaking an old one and that can sometimes be incredibly difficult. There are some really important reasons why that can be so difficult, that once understood can enable us to make the process of changing ourselves and improving our lives much easier.