Circumstance, Meaning It creates such a level of unease that every endeavour is taken to appease everyone. But of course, it is an impossible task. If we take any meaningful or purposeful action, there will be people who are not going to approve.

What do we think when someone upsets us? That depends on how we perceive the action or words that upset us. Do we think: ‘they did that, and it upset me’, or ‘they did that to upset me’? There is a very different perception of intent here. Things that happen or things that other people […]

If we supposedly have all the answers, what kind of relationship can we have with the inexplicable or the mysterious? Rainer Maria Rilke discusses possibility in the unknown and danger in the absolute. The skyline is only broken by hilltops, most of them heaving with vast forests. Menacing echos of calls can be heard from […]

We look up at the ideal we fall so short of, embittered. If only that target wasn’t so high, or better again, if it didn’t exist at all, we wouldn’t appear so dreadful! In doing so, we bring the heavens crashing down to join us in the slums. Now we are level. It creates such […]

We look up at the ideal we fall so short of, embittered. If only that target wasn’t so high, or better again, if it didn’t exist at all, we wouldn’t appear so dreadful! In doing so, we bring the heavens crashing down to join us in the slums. Now we are level.

What should we do in times of exhaustion? Perhaps ‘nothing’, is not the right answer. With quotes from F. Scott Fitzgerald, Joseph Addison & Charles Mackay. When we carry painful thoughts, a moment in silence can be a moment in hell. Can we tolerate sitting with stillness? Quotes from Seneca, Steinbeck & Eliot. In The […]

Prudence isn’t something we hear much about these days. When we do, it’s usually loosely associated with cautiousness- hardly a virtue. Why then, was it believed to be a cardinal virtue for all those centuries? Quotes from Aesop, Eliot, Cicero & more. Creativity isn’t something everyone engages with; usually because we’re afraid of doing it […]

Meister Eckhart (1260-1328) is quoted as saying “A human being has so many skins inside, covering the depths of the heart. We know so many things, but we don’t know ourselves! Why, thirty or forty skins or hides, as thick and hard as an ox’s or bear’s, cover the soul. Go into your own ground […]

In this act they redeemed their tragedy. They represented the very best of human nature, shouldering their suffering and showing courage in the face of fear. There are many things we wish we could change to be closer to who we want to be; the difficulty comes in how to make those changes. Imagine a […]

“As we look out into the Universe and identify the many accidents of physics and astronomy that have worked together to our benefit, it almost seems as if the Universe must in some sense have known that we were coming.”

“As we look out into the Universe and identify the many accidents of physics and astronomy that have worked together to our benefit, it almost seems as if the Universe must in some sense have known that we were coming.”