mindless

I read new books and listen to the authors expounding about them. and then, as now, writing short blogs about them. I strive to keep it simple.

I also give the mindbrain free reign to churn out spontaneous doodles.

The notion is to let the unconscious do its own thing in its own way. Nature, nurture and serendipity play their parts as does aging -  and medicating on madopar, ropinerole and rivasetigmine for Parkinsons Disease.

Aha - there is nothing worthy of  comment coming to mind.

For a more  detailed outline of the practice see HERE

intention

Stuff happens and  we reckon there is an underlying intentional agent. This is true at all levels on the cosmic zoom. The big bang set the ball in motion and was the intention and cause of all that followed - galaxies with stars with planets with living things at various levels of sophistication.

Simple chemicals gave rise to macromolecules which became organelles in early cells some of which got together to form multicellular organisms with a membrane.

More Stuff happens. Some simple cells figured  how to use the energy in sunshine to convert carbon dioxide and water to sugar and oxygen. The process is called photosynthesis and it is controlled by a green stuff called chlorophyll.

Human beings are designed in parts as meat eaters, plant eaters, and a bit of both. The local supermarket bears witness to the range of plants and animals that modern people stick to.

More local stuff happens. After the big bang (see above) there was an autumn impregnation that became me for shaping by nature, nurture and serendipity on an ongoing basis with a cultural foundation.

Note -  I have been on planet earth for 70 years and I  have lived through  them for a few seconds  at a time. The only constant thing is change.
Stuff happens and there is no intentional agent other than natural selection. Or so I am presently  inclined to think.

inhospital

There is frost on the garden grass but there is a heavy duty radiator in the kitchen. Technology - and the harsh weather is powerless. I spent a lot of time in the warm and hot tropics and got here and there by motorbike which created its own breeze. But it is very British to chat about the weather.

There is a feeling to say something about the cutting edge stuff. There has been a lot about this over the past few years. It is cute that authors appear in Youtube as well as writing short stories and lengthy books.

The essence involves  mind-full-ness where there seems to be  thinking, feeling and moods.

back with the blog

I footered and this blog became editable again.

Ya Hoo

61,246 page views

time to declutter

I am 70. Time for decluttering.

I have been a teacher, teacher trainer, curriculum developer, examiner, inspector, and an education advisor in five countries.In the early days there were no computers and no access to the internet.

But latterly I gave up the formal institutions to work at changing minds with NGOs in Scotland and Tanzania. The idea was to translate formal policy documents into plain language with cartoons so as to enable popular participation in the process of social development.

So the70 years of clutter is a mix of old style handwriting, typing, and word processing and more up to date online blogs and web sites married to email and various emerging social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. So the clutter has moved into the cloud which usefully does not take up shelf space.

eg about training of trainers - cyber-clutter

beyond normal

Seven years ago I posted a blog dealing with the normal, the subnormal and the super-normal. Click HERE

Reference was made to flow and flourishing. It is not immediately obvious that there has been a lot of progress. What do you think?

changing reality

After a meeting with the Parkinsons consultant there is now a feeling that there is more to my condition than old age and laziness. 

I procrastinate about paperwork rather than deal with it as soon as it arrives. And there is a never-ending list of domestic chores where I do not make an official prioritised matrix of items. I could be more systematic but that would lead me back to work for the man with no time to stand and stare.

But what is good for me will not be good for everybody. There are many types of people


For example  introvert v extrovert. When I was working I served as a technical introvert speaking text for powerful extroverts. Now that I am retired I can afford to take time to just sit and thus gain insight into the emptiness of all created things. Reality is nothing but a fleeting set of thought moments. Reality is a product of the unconscious and as such is non-abiding.

When I was working I served as a technical introvert speaking truth to extravert power.Now that I am retired I can afford to take time to just sit and thus gain insight into the emptiness of all created things. Reality is nothing but a fleeting set of thought moments. Reality is a product of the unconscious and as such is non-abiding.

What bears preaching

I wrote this verse in 1968 when I was 19

“Had he never seen what’s real he would probably still feel
And would live, love and laugh with his fellows;
But, having seen beyond, he dares not disturb the pond
He has a sermon that never will bear preaching”

I had early exposure to archaeology and zoology. These supplied alternative views about ‘life, the universe and everything’. Our understanding of ‘Truth’ and ‘reality’ went through a few paradigm shifts in the minds of Newton, Galileo, Darwin, Freud, and Einstein etc

At Aberdeen University Professor Gimingham taught ecology with the fervour of a preacher. His text for one lecture was “change and decay in all around I see” But this was seen positively as a key aspect of biogeochemical cycles. Death is necessary and inevitable as the main driving force in evolution.

But the good people of my village were wired into the myths and magic that hung around as cultural cement. The ’good and great’ said they believed in the old Presbyterian stuff because it helped to legitimise life’s key stages (baptism, marriage and death); and legitimised peoples’ place in the local hierarchy.

I became convinced by the arguments and evidence for evolution; especially after seeing linkages with the existentialist contributions of Kierkegaard and Sartre. In the 70s and 80s I taught general science and biology in several different countries and I figured approaches to teaching about the evolution of plants and animals to people whose village culture was heavily animist.


And then there was the 90s and onwards where sociobiology morphed into multi-disciplinary consilience and where ideas from evolutionary psychology merged with the findings from brain science with its various scanning instruments.

AND there is marked consilience between the subjective findings of meditators and the objective links with mental activities that are scanned. The mind can change the brain and vice versa

SO times have moved on.

“But, having seen beyond, he must disturb the pond
He has a sermon that is shouting out for preaching”

The big history people are amassing digestible evidence about designerless evolution in its cosmic, biological and cultural forms. Once upon a time there was the big bang and life emerged out of the star dust. In another 4.5 million years our sun will explode and life as we know it will be no more.
Our understanding of the process of evolution is still evolving. I am happy to share my understanding of what is emerging. It grieves me that so many people still want to believe in the heavenly father myth and that they should die defending it.

I am now 69 and too old to romp about the world’s classrooms and pulpits but I still have an appetite for the meditation stool and for the emerging understanding of life the universe and everything. The Big History Project is an excellent, ongoing source of good stuff. It explains itself better than I can – have a look at
https://www.bighistoryproject.com/home

passing thought

I was up at 6:00 to take pills but then went back to bed with radio 4 that had a never ending flood of stories. Media distraction. It would be ‘better’ to ‘just sit’. 

Various mini projects vied for prominence and there was no worry about running dry- BUT – they were not suitable for the blog.

Aha – what makes for a suitable blog entry? Avoid the petty, personal and parochial, and focus on the new and cutting edge. I have read over 30 recent books and have listened to many talks dealing with hot topics. The roots are ‘consilence’ from E O Wilson. This calls for cross-disciplinary thinking.

I do not claim to originality. My  goal is to create plain-language versions of the new ideas. Thus in a very minor way I contribute to making the world a better place.