Or: The Box Hill Dialogues Although the idea of privilege is rather over used at times it is a thing and it does have significance. It is, moreover, a universal phenomenon. There is no human society of which we know where privilege did not exist, if only that which accrues to the strong over the weak,... Continue Reading →
Dawn chorus, subdued and sparse, The birds of summer have flown. Washed-out blue, an autumn sky, Autumn life, drifting darkward. Pale gold late October sun. A soft light. Not a warm one. Each born thing comes to fruition, Welcome or not, still it matures. That which has been sown will be reaped. And yet, what... Continue Reading →
Marianne would have thought herself very inexcusable had she been able to sleep at all the first night after parting from Willoughby. She would have been ashamed to look her family in the face the next morning, had she not risen from her bed in more need of repose than when she lay down in... Continue Reading →
Thou hast told me of a Yoga of constant oneness, O Krishna, of a communion which is ever one. But, Krishna, the mind is inconstant: in its restlessness I cannot find rest. The mind is restless, Krishna, impetuous, self-willed, hard to train: to master the mind seems as difficult as to master the mighty winds.... Continue Reading →
Tom Holland, the historian and amateur-but-elite cricketer, races his way through about 2498 years of human history in the course of not much more than 500 pages for his latest book Dominion. The object of the exercise is to trace the impact which a particular collection of ideas and beliefs has had in the rise and... Continue Reading →
On social media I recently saw a very busy person, a hospital doctor in fact, recommending the daily experience of stillness as a restorative practice. This prompted me not only to agree with her but to reflect on the fact that 'stillness' is not simply the state at which we arrive when we stop doing... Continue Reading →
I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? (Merchant of Venice... Continue Reading →
From the outset I should say that although I am about to argue that silence is A Good Thing that does not mean that I am advocating it as a sovereign universal remedy. Broccoli is also an excellent thing but some people just can't eat it. This does not represent a personal flaw or... Continue Reading →
Let the seeker quietly lead the mind into the Spirit, and let all his thoughts be silence. (Bhagavad Gita 6:25) The word 'meditation' has a number of different meanings and the dominant meaning has changed over time. For the sake of brevity I shall ignore all these complexities and concentrate on the technique which Krishna... Continue Reading →
