Posts

On the Darker Side of Life

I have thinking quite a bit lately about the issue of relationships. The thing that concerns me is the level of aggression that comes into our relationships. Not only aggression, or at least not only patently aggressive behaviour, but all the various subtle manifestations of this: social one-up-man-ship, character assassination, power struggles and so on. A particularly vivid example of this was pointed out to me a few months ago. When anyone in a social gathering tells a story, how shortly afterwards...

Lost and The Spirit Temple

Spoiler Warning. Saturday night saw the end of an era. A television series so compelling that it almost makes the invention of TV justifiable. The final episode of the series Lost has aired. This marks the end of a journey that began in 2004 and has taken an average of 16 million viewers (per episode) on a mysterious, nail biting, brilliantly written, acted and sublimely produced journey. A journey which for six years, six seasons and 117 episodes kept us all guessing...

Darwin, Dawkins & Dennet et al vs. A Meaningful Life.

The issue of science versus spirituality is a dilemma which many people around the world have been grappling with for the last few hundred years. And the absence of soul life has become increasingly acute in the 20th and now 21st centuries. This post is a look at what these challenges are to the life of the spirit, presented by science, where they come from and what, if any, answers may be offered in defence of the human soul. This paradox came...

What would Charles Darwin say about Satori?

This is the problem, as I see it, the Evolutionary Imperative, famously discovered by Darwin, which discovery ranks amongst the greatest ever (!), in the history of science, presents a problem for any form of Utopian Ideology. I quote Charles Linderman, mob boss, healer and co-founder of the Company, in the Graphic Novel (and now TV series), Heroes, in his conversation with Nathan Petrelli. “You see, I think there comes a time when a man has to ask...

What is the Meaning of Life?

This, my friends and only companions, is the question. In true paradoxical style it is both the most important and stupidest of all questions. And it is a question readily dismissed as meaningless by the bourgeois. Except possibly by some real dimwits who are simply too naive to realise how stupid (and dangerous) the question is. Stupid- because naturally there is no answer, or at least no definitive answer. The question is nonsense, at least in the rational sense. We may...

What Does The Road To Damascus Look Like Today?

Last night I had the privilege of attending a talk on the Second Coming of Christ. Nick Thomas, previously General Secretary of British Anthroposophical Society, spoke on the topic of the biblical prophecies of Christ's return and Rudolf Steiner’s interpretation of these prophecies. I will summarise the talk and add my own comments in the conclusion. The Etheric Christ The first and possibly most significant point is that Christ's return will be in the Etheric Realm, as opposed to a the...

What did Zorba the Greek know that many of us have forgotten?

The very first movie image I remember seeing, as a child, is the scene of Zorba (acted by Anthony Quinn) dancing naked down the beach into the sea, to the well known theme song. The movie was Zorba the Greek. It was actually the last scene in the movie and it's the only scene I remember. Somehow it encapsulated the whole movie for me. And if you were to ask, I would definitely list Zorba the Greek as one...

Towards a Science of Meaning

Let's try and get some perspective on the question of meaning, specifically the meaning of life. What are the questions we need to answer and what are our challenges we need to address in asking the question: what is the meaning of my life (personal, subjective) or what is the meaning of life (collective, objective)? 1. Does the question (what is the meaning of life) itself make sense? A lot of people react to the question as a naivet'. What do...

The Story of Two and a Half Dreams

As a child my father told me a story which was the start of my spiritual journey. It was the story of two dreams. My grandfather, Anthony Farah had a strange relationship with the number 5. Everything significant happened in my grandfather's life on the 5th year. He was born in South Africa in 1905, shortly thereafter returning to his family's village in Lebanon called Sib’il, he was a Sib’ilenie (man from Sib’il). In 1925 my grandfather married...

The Irrational Psyche and the Shadow.

In considering the psyche it is important to take into account that the psyche is fundamentally an irrational entity. What I mean by this is that the psyche is not at heart driven by rational forces. The concept of reason is a cultural concept which whilst immensely valuable does not describe our psychology. This was in part the great breakthrough that Sigmund Freud made. He saw through the illusion of man as a reasonable and respectable creature....