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The Meaning of Life : ANSWERS TO EVERYTHING
by T. O' Donnell
http://www.tigertom.com
Other sections: Mysticism,
and Poetry. Other related
page.
EPIGRAMS
PEACE OF MIND
Peace of mind is attained by the elimination of desire and fear,
which often are the same thing. That which cannot be fought may be
avoided. That which cannot be avoided may be ignored. That which
cannot be fought or avoided or ignored must be borne.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Testing nuclear weapons is a case of not finding out how many people
will be turned to ash, but of how fine that ash will be.
APOLITICICALITY
To those who say they are not interested in politics I say one should
become interested in politics, before politics becomes interested in you.
THE INDIVIDUAL
Humans admire solitary predators; the eagle, the tiger, the cobra. We
are, however, the most social of creatures, like the apes. We admire
the solitary adventurer, but our greatest achievements come from
group effort.
EQUALITY
The great mistake of the modern era is the assumption that equality
of opportunity implies a moral obligation for all races and both
genders to behave and think alike.
GOD AND MAN
God is selfless; all that is is in Him. Man is selfish and needful,
hence there is evil.
ALCHEMY
Out of dirt life is brought forth.
FEAR
Will you always live as penned sheep at the abattoir, smelling the
fear of your fellows, guessing the fate in store for you, and at last
the rough grasp of an indifferent butcher clutching your pelt before
a common end?
HUMAN BEHAVIOUR
Human behaviour can be explained by two drives - the selfish impulse,
and the social impulse.
WEALTH AND HAPPINESS
Many people these days are materially well off but unhappy. The idea
seems to be that unless you have enough to ensure complete safety
from whatever the future may bring, one should worry. If one is not
wed to 'the partner of one's dreams'- ever youthful, ever strong,
ever beautiful, ever loving - something is wrong.
We want the Earth and the skies over it. We satisfy this need for
something beyond and better than ourselves with films and clothes and
clever toys and the very latest sophistication, but still in the odd
cold hour of the night unease gnaws in our belly, and makes us mortal
again. So what do we need to be happy: more and better of the same?
Only enough to survive? No, true happiness comes from a true
understanding of the nature of existence.
EUGENICS
What may be fitter characteristics now may not be so in a thousand
years' time. The only thing we can say for certain is that a lack of
genetic diversity is a disaster for a specie. Where should one draw
the line between weeding out the supposedly unfit, before one ends up
with, for example, a bunch of blond, blue-eyed in-bred sickly dolts?
Remember, Darwin's idea of 'fitness' meant a specie 'fitting' its'
environment, not physical or mental ability.
One can compare human evolution with that of viruses. The latter
constantly adapt/evolve/mutate in a changing environment. Humans do
the same, over vastly longer periods of time. To say that evolution
edges God out of the picture is short-sighted. It rather shows how
subtle the artist is.
TRUE LOVE AND MARRIAGE
I believe most married people settle for less that true love. It
isn't pleasant to be lusty, youthful and alone. One's true love is
someone at least as physically attractive as oneself, with enough in
common so you can get along, and enough of a difference to make it
interesting ; a composite of yearnings formed perhaps in infancy and
early childhood, and set in stone in adolescence. The only one for you.
AMERICA
All one needs to know about America is that Hollywood tells lies.
TOURISM
Tourism? Whoreism more like.
ROAD-BUILDING
Why build more and wider roads? In doing so you tend to destroy the
reason for people wanting to go someplace.
EASTERN RELIGIONS
We may draw from Eastern religions, or we may adopt them wholly. The
difference is like going on a foreign holiday or taking up residence
abroad. It may be a nice place to visit, but you will have problems
living there.
BEFORE THE SEA
Before the man, the trees. Before the trees, the fields. Before the
fields, the sea. Before the sea, the stars. Before the stars, I was.
SPEED
By taking your time, you may miss the meeting, but avoid a worse
fate. Hurry, and your journey is spoiled anyway.
VIRTUE
By the imitation of a virtue you will in time acquire it
COUPLES
One gains a lover, and loses one's mind.
POVERTY
If the amount of wealth in the world is finite, then some men will be
poorer than others. To ascribe the cause to them as being their own
fault is therefore wrong.
POLITICAL CORRECTNESS
Political Correctness is our society's prissy way of papering over
Man's hatred of other races, the opposite sex, the weak etc. It tries
to suppress feelings which, like an individual's, may one day explode
to the surface. We hate and fear the other. This makes us animals. We
strive to overcome this simple behaviour. This makes us human.
NEW AGE THERAPIES
New-Age therapies are the modern equivalent of a daily glass of stout
for your grandmother. They're not curative, but palliative. Problems
arise when their advocates take them to be the former.
ENGLISH LAW
Ah, how the English love the letter of their law, while ignoring its' spirit.
SOCIAL TYPES
Man is a group animal. His selfish needs are balanced against the
group's needs. When he exclusively heeds the first, he is a criminal.
When he heeds the first more than the second, he is a businessman.
When he heeds the second more than the first, he is a good citizen.
When he heeds the latter to the exclusion of the first, he is a saint.
MORTALITY
If human beings woke up one day immortal, they'd soon find a way of
killing themselves. As things stand, the opposite is the case.
GLITTERING TOYS
What need is it that we try to satisfy with films and pop songs and
gadgets? None of these can approach the crudest natural phenomenon in
complexity and the ability to evoke wonder. Hollywood is more prized
that the holly-tree, but which would you miss more if it were gone?
And would the Earth miss us if we were gone?
ANXIETY
People are more anxious these days. The professions are becoming as
de-valued and de-skilled as the trades once were. We know we're
disposable, like cigarette lighters. The sacred fire is now available
to all on any street for next to nothing. Serves us right.
THE OCCULT
Beyond the physical there is the etheric. Beyond the etheric is the
astral. Beyond the astral is the mental. Beyond the mental is the
spiritual. Beyond the spiritual there is God. All very well, but what
do these words mean?
ADVERTISING
Advertising or promotion of most kinds tends to hypnotise us. It
bombards us with messages which try to bypass our conscious mind and
encourage an emotional acceptance. Unless we consciously resist, or
are conditioned against it, it will work. Sometimes it is quite
blatant ; quick, repetitive, subliminal, employing reverse psychology
or sexual symbolism, or appealing to infantile needs. The product
substitutes for a deeper need, or plays on a fear which we'd prefer
not to face.
My father is a sheep farmer, and I have been a shepherd myself. Let
me tell you, sheep are stupid creatures.
RECREATION
How many hours have you spent spectating, when you could have been
living? No wonder you're tired, you don't do any work.
POLLUTION
I have been considering wearing sun-glasses, ear plugs and carrying a
canister of oxygen (with mask) while commuting to work. I may thereby
limit my sensory input, and breathe clean air. I'm tired of being
shrieked and whispered at by advertising, of having Madison Avenue
tugging at my sleeve all the bloody time I'm outdoors. A device which
automatically converted unwelcome media gibberish into white noise by
putting out a counter signal would be most welcome. Bring on the
anti-reality helmet, I say. I'll buy two!
FORTUNE TELLING
Fortune-telling is interesting. By predicting to someone their future
you may cause them to change it or act out your prediction. This is a
paradox. The cards do not lie, when used correctly i.e. without bias.
Perhaps the paradox is only apparent. What we get is vision of how
the future may occur if events take their current course. The cards
act on our subconscious link with everything around us and our
perceptions of the querent, and give an indication of what will
happen if he does nothing extraordinary and allows events to take
their course. Only a truly superior man can plead with God and bend
destiny to his will, and only if he and his motives are pure, if that
will is maniacal, and then only for a short time.
I believe destiny may be diverted but not wholly averted. The ball
regains it shape after being kicked, and we are too small. The trick
is to make God's will your will, or convince God that your will
should be His. It can be done, within limits.
The future is unmade, but human beings are so predictable even in
their free choices.
MONEY
In the past wealth was cattle or gold or land. Now we have plastics
and carbon steel and synthetic diamonds, and wealth is a pile of
promissory notes, or property to which one has written title or which
one can control by force of arms. The notes devalue, the title
rendered worthless by war or government decree, our strength or
comrades fail us.
Owning isn't everything, and dying is nothing. What matters is having
lived. All those magical moments when you and the Universe were at
one, when the summer sang in you, when the sun shone down for you
alone, when you - a mortal man - were eternal, when the little light
you had shone very bright indeed, when you could be still, and know.
When you sang silently, and the Earth answered back; infinite,
invulnerable yet mortal man. How the angels envied you, as they know
only goodness and the light.
SUFFERING
The Universe is God's way of reflecting Himself. Why should there be
pain and decay? Because then how could we truly know Good? It would
not exist. Horror makes beauty even more poignant. But oh it is a
hard lesson. It wears us down and kills us in the end.
NATIONALISM
Do not confuse your needs with the needs of your country.
MANNERS
Etiquette is the means whereby humans signal their level of
aggressiveness and dominance towards one another. "Good
Morning" and "How are you?" should really be read as
"Wanna fight?", "Are you an enemy?" and "I
submit", depending on the tone. "How was your weekend?"
means "I wish to know if you are still friendly towards me and
to defuse any tensions between us" or "Did you have a
better time than I did? ".
I have the idea that language got its' start from a primal desire to
stop hitting and biting each other, and to get on with procuring food
and shelter. Some people make "Byeeee!" sound like
"Feck off", which is what they really mean. This is
particularly noticeable in the workplace. People would rather not be
there, and there is a definite hierarchy. Those at the top and bottom
don't have too much to lose, but those in the middle cut and thrust
and simper at each other by making coffee, gossiping and being
helpful or throwing tantrums. It's a wonder we don't fall on each
other like cur dogs, but that's what manners are for.
It's this unspoken contradiction which puts people on tranquillisers
and gives them nervous breakdowns, especially when they don't realise
it's going on. Personally I find nothing so irritating as a
'hag-with-a-half-second-smile' saying "byeee!" on the
'phone and you know she dislikes the caller and he probably knows it too.
CHILDREN
Humans start off as small bundles of need called babies. Their total
self-centredness is ameliorated over the years by conditioning. They
see the value of co-operation for the greater and ultimately their
own good. However no project that does not appeal to their basic
selfishness will ever succeed. [Personality is the means whereby this
selfishness is masked and rendered socially acceptable].
People will find a dozen reasons for not participating in a project
which is truly altruistic, and which does not appeal to their vicious
nature. Those that do may truly be called saints, in that they know
they've nothing to gain - not even a boost to their self esteem - but
do it anyway.
It gives me a grim sort of pleasure to see children learning to 'act
cute' to gain their elder's approval and their own ends. I doubt if
there's ever a time when one is truly innocent.
Perhaps this is what Original Sin is; self-consciousness, and
therefore selfishness. To see a lickle boy act the part, to hear the
squalling of a thwarted brat is to see the future man.
[ We don't really become less selfish as we get older, just more
guileful and manipulative about it. "I want" is translated
into "we should" ]
SCIENCE FICTION
Star Trek is the dream of a technological age, Camelot the dream of a
feudal one.
ORGANISED RELIGION
For the great majority of people, organised religion is a social club
with an irrational set of rules haphazardly kept to for the sake of belonging.
POPULAR ENTERTAINMENT
What's wrong with popular entertainment today? It's utterly vacuous
and self-referential. You could say that Hollywood has lost the plot.
Never mind the play, it's a lovely set. Never mind the song, look at
the singer, feel the noise. Never mind the words, look how cleverly I
arrange them.
MODERN RELIGION
The spirit has been withheld from us, and we are not happy.
MODERN ART
It may be controversial, but where is the Art in it?
THE INTERNET
All this Information Superhighway crap means is that there will be
tons of data available to anyone and everyone, and hardly a peck of knowledge.
PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
People don't want imperfect human beings for mates these days; they
want disposable androids who will cater to their needs and reflect
their obsessions. Babylon has ensnared us in vice and made us solipsistic.
TEAM PROJECTS
If a colleague drags his heels in any endeavour, and keeps it up
despite promising to the contrary, get shot of him. A team of five
horses will go faster than five and a bolter or a laggard, no matter
how much you paid for the latter or how nice he looks.
MODERN ART
Most plays and books and songs have no real depth to them these days,
because they're produced and performed by people who've never had any
hardship or felt much real emotion in their lives, and who have no
classical grounding from which to understand how modern culture came
to be. In other words, our culture is produced by those who know
little, for those who know nothing. It's value-free, derivative, and
has no spirit.
OUR ENVIRONMENT
Instead of husbanding the Earth modern man rapes it. Our reason makes
us efficient at doing it, but our intuition tells the more sensitive
of us that it can't go on forever. How long will it be before our
lover lets us down?
HUMAN ECOLOGY
I believe the motivation for storing up a mass of wealth by any means
and fouling the Earth by so doing is couched in the belief that one
can eventually escape the consequences by retiring to a mansion in an
unspoilt part of the world i.e. you may shit on your own doorstep,
but you can buy another house.
Against this attitude I would say that the world is a closed system,
and in time one's pee will end up in one's tea (if only a few
molecules). There are no unspoiled places left. We all breathe the
same air, some just smells sweeter.
SELLING ONE'S SOUL
One justification for any controversial new business venture is that
'it will create jobs'. Well, the illegal drug trade employs hundreds
of thousands and makes billions of pounds, but no one is suggesting
this is necessarily 'a good thing'.
It's sad. In previous centuries a man might sell his soul to the
Devil for immortal life or great wealth. In this century a black folk
guitarist is reputed to have sold his for the ability to play 'the
blues'. Of late whole towns and villages will sell theirs for the
promise of jobs.
RE-INCARNATION
Regarding the theory of re-incarnation ; if my body decays and
its' elements are re-used in bringing forth new life, why not my
mind, my soul? Why should it not be re-used? It's a waste if it
isn't, and I don't believe nature works that way.
We cannot go to Heaven with our foibles intact, therefore we must re-incarnate.
BORROWING
From the borrower's point of view the ideal borrower is one who has
nothing. From the lender's it's one who has much. The astute
businessman works from the former position, the fool from the latter.
Do not imperil your well-being just to buy trash. A banker may have
the manner of a philanthropist but all of that breed have all the
soul of a balance sheet.
SATISFACTION
We sate ourselves with gewgaws and pastimes in the same way that a
man dying of thirst will drink wine if there's no water to be had,
even if it kills him more quickly. Strange how some these days will
drink only the wine even if there's plenty of water to be had.
SURVIVAL
The Christian ideal is selflessness and forgiveness. The natural man
goes the opposite way. To live decently one should work towards the
former state while keeping an eye out for those who exist in the latter.
MAN AND DOG
If I want to understand basic human nature I look at the behaviour of
dogs. See the slinking cur sniff around the bigger dog ; that's a
vice president of a major corporation. See the growling mastiff
confront you at a friend's doorway ; that's a farmer at his fence.
See the young collie offer you its' belly; that's a sales assistant
at a gentleman's outfitters. See the pack trotting around the housing
estate; a bunch of teenagers on a night out.
Even a pet dog will growl and snap if you try to take its' bone, and
people are surprised when Rover bites the new baby.
One cannot reduce all human behaviour to self interest, but this goes
beyond cynicism. One simply should not be surprised at the bad faith
of friends, nor be angry. The selfless few are treasures beyond
price. The rest calculate the benefits and deficits of their
companionship. Dogs are group animals, as are the great apes, and
also the human specie. Individuals want to belong, and will happily
give up autonomy to do so. A truly lone man would die. Selfish needs
strain against society's norms. The cohesive society satisfies the
needs of 51% of its' members, and persuades/cons/coerces the other
49% into acquiescence.
"I want" becomes "we should" becomes "I
accept" and 'round and 'round it goes as the individual moves up
or down the hierarchy, as he and his get and the group interact with
their environment evolving through time into... what? Hitler or
Mother Teresa or Avalon or Hades or oblivion.
Pop songs say it all: "Love me, love me" and "Gimmee
Gimmee". They are nursery rhymes for adults.
And yet there is a small still voice that cries out to be heard over
this babble, that seeks the quieting of the self, that longs to drag
the body out of the mire of need and into that place where the best
of all summer's days last forever in an instant, and the soul is
quiet and full and still.
[ We age and die not solely for reasons of biochemistry, but because
we know we've failed, and it's time to let someone else try. ]
We must strengthen our wills, exercise our imaginations, strive to
become like God, to draw nearer to Him, that we may work our will in
the Universe, and transcend our Earthly mortality and all it entails;
fear, decay, pain and stewing in a mess of vile emotions. No other
effort is worthy of us at this point is history, when for a
significant percentage of the world's population, our basic needs are
easily satisfied. We must create a heaven on Earth, and become like
worldly angels.
CONGRESS
The man says I want you, the woman says take me, each seeking to
obliterate themselves in a moment's rapture, while the Spirit moves
to propagate the light.
MAGIC
To work magic one must increase the intensity of ones' consciousness
by concentration and using suitable imagery. One must preferably be
in a traditional 'State of Grace'. The intent need not be grand or
noble, but it must be deeply felt, worked up to a great intensity and
'fired off'.
Ignoble intentions tend to mire one in base thoughts which may lead
to psychoses. To entreat and command angels and demons one should
first be able to command oneself.
[ Does magic worked for personal material gain lead to the phenomenon
of 'fairy gold'?]
MATERIALISM
In a way it is less difficult to be an ascetic in a time when one is
surrounded by so much trash which may be so easily had.
THE MEANING OF LIFE
The question 'what is the meaning of life?' implies that one can give
an adequate verbal answer, which I do not think is possible.
EVOLUTION AND TECHNOLOGY
I wonder if humans have gone up an evolutionary dead end with
technology. 'New developments' seem to be largely redundant. They are
largely value-added up-grades of old ideas. They don't really solve
our major problems, and create many new ones. For example, how much
pollution and cheap labour went into making your top-of-the-range
hi-fi. And how much joy does it bring you? Will technology sweeten
our air and water or make a better apple? More likely the opposite.
RELIGION AND SCIENCE
Religion argues that the soul precedes the body. Science argues that
it is merely an artefact of the body, and ceases when the body stops
functioning. I subscribe to the former view, even though I suspect
that my having it may be an 'evolutionary tactic' to stop me going mad.
The play pauses, the actor forgets his line, and looks out into the
audience, and wonders what's beyond the theatre doors.
DANGEROUS MEN
The only truly dangerous individual is one who truly doesn't care
what others think of him. Fortunately or unfortunately, there are
very few such individuals.
HUMAN HISTORY
Deep down every one believes that they are good (and that they are
right). Those who profess otherwise are liars. Hence we have the bulk
of human history, good and bad.
REASON AND FASCISM
Reason is a poor compass with which to circumscribe Creation.
Unfortunately a human politic based on emotion and intuition leads to fascism.
POP MUSIC
Pop music is nursery rhymes for adults. It acts to put part of our
consciousness to sleep. The 'hook' of the song repeats itself in our
mind and comforts us with its' predictability. It distracts the
enquiring, restless mind. This is a hindrance when you want to
quieten your mind and meditate. At its' most extreme the desire to
have some background noise is a compulsion which reminds me of how
some 'street loonies' can be seen holding cheap radios to their ears.
It's a soothing noise which stops them thinking about their emptiness
and loneliness. It's a substitute for human conversation, and
purposeful, interactive behaviour. Humans are very susceptible to
rhythmic sound. It can rouse them to joy or lull them into sadness,
like a drug. For these reasons, pop music should be avoided if one
wishes to meditate.
EASTBOURNE, ENGLAND
Odd place, Eastbourne. Full of retirees. Dull pebble beach being
slowly beaten away by the sea. The wide space of the sea. The chill
wind there goes right through the cracks in some lonely souls.
TELEVISION
Television is a thief of time.
BRITAIN'S CLASS SYSTEM
The class system in Britain makes people condescending towards their
inferiors, resentful of their peers and servile towards their
betters. Etiquette is simply a weapon in this struggle. The poor know
the scales are weighted against them, hence the dodgy geezer
mentality. You may step on an Englishman's foot, and he will say
"sorry", but not mean it at all. In the end this is simply sad.
FUNDAMENTALISM
The trouble with the fundamentalist religious is that they think God
is a Conservative.
DESIRE
How many rooms can you be in at one time? How many suits can you
wear? How much fine food will your stomach hold? For every desire
satisfied another one will take its' place. To be anticipating
satisfaction is a pleasant state. To be free of worldly yearning is a
better one.
MIDDLE AGE
As we become tired of life, so life becomes tired of us. Casanova
said Lady Luck deserts men after thirty.
CIVIC-MINDEDNESS
A man who has not run foul of the law of his time at some stage in
his life cannot be said to have lived.
SUNDAY SUPPLEMENTS
Sunday newspaper supplements can be seen as a metaphor for late
twentieth century waste and enervation. No longer a single newspaper.
Most of it unread. Pages of superficial tosh, aimed mainly at
encouraging consumption. Read in the dead hours of a secular Sunday afternoon.
EVIL
Without evil there cannot be the perception of good. For this reason
a singular God created diversity.
ACQUISITIVENESS
There is no prize at the end of life for the one who has amassed the
most wealth.
EDEN POSTPONED
We could create a paradise on Earth
But we'd want it for ourselves alone.
We could be given the keys to the Heavenly gates
But we'd bring our own Hell with us.
TIMING
Perhaps the magicians are right. To achieve success one must act at
the right time. One needs to be ready and aware. It's no use 'phoning
to do business at three o' clock on a Saturday when people aren't in
until six and may be out after seven as well. This is a commonplace
example of something of deeper significance, I think.
DEVELOPMENT
Some folks would grind up the landscape and sell it by the bushel if
they thought they could make a penny profit on each one.
ENGLISH HYMNS
In English hymns I hear the sound of the upper classes condescending
to God.
CHANGE
The only constant is change
IDEOLOGIES
No political system will be perfectly adequate for all times. In
times of plenty the individual's will tends to dominate. In times of
scarcity or adversity the state will take precedence. Any system
which is too rigid to accommodate such change will collapse.
FAMILIES
Oh what times are these when we cast our children off before they
come of age and are aggrieved when they abandon us to institutions in
our dotage.
HISTORY
Is the garden of our present peace set upon a mulch of the blood and
sweat and bones of our forebears. And must it therefore incubate the
seeds of our downfall?
If we cannot be at peace in our individual selves, or with nature,
how can we be at peace as a specie?
HOLY WRIT
If everything necessary to our moral well being were contained in
holy writ there would be no debate nor barely a need to think. The
Peoples of the Books have merely a guide. They still have to make
their own way.
No set of rules can cover all eventualities. We follow the map, we
honour the explorer, we pay the cartographer but the landscape
changes over time, and the map needs interpreting. If we follow the
map too rigidly we may walk into a bog. The compass points and stars
remain to guide us always.
MODERN ART
Renaissance Art reflected the grandiose ambitions of the Medici and
their ilk. Modern art reflects the psychoses and neuroses of the 20th
century capitalist. From Impressionism onwards we see the progressive
deterioration of our 'cultural psyche'. This is not too simple an
analogy. God is dead, Mammon is king of the compost heap; truth,
beauty, justice, honour, fidelity, charity, religious awe and love
are devalued ideals. Love is sex, charity is a tax write-off, justice
is a mutable thing and Art is suborned to what can be promoted and
sold as an investment to the bourgeois it supposedly scorns. Nothing
has value except in monetary terms, and money is a fragile belief
system. Dead leaves frittering in the wind.
SPEED
Our civilisation is so obsessed with speed that we'll soon confront
ourselves coming the other way - then what?
INSPIRATION
In the kingdom of the bland the one-idea man is king.
SUBJECTIVITY
A businessman looks at a wide green field and sees a block of flats.
A poet looks at a wide green field and mourns the forest that once
flourished there. A mystic looks at a wide green field and sees a
wide green field. So does a dolt, funnily enough.
LOYALTY
Do not give your soul to any institution.
THE RIGHTEOUS LIFE
The significance of the crucifixion and resurrection is this: that we
too might deny and transcend death if we had but the Grace, and enter
into the kingdom of heaven (even while still alive).
How may we acquire that grace?
By leashing our vices
By prayer and meditation
By selfless service towards others
By stoking the secret fire within us
And joining with the unseen fire outside us.
PRACTICAL LIVING
Eat when you are hungry, sleep when you are tired. If it hurts, stop
doing it.
MISERY
Why should we not be miserable? What would be the point of a perfect
world? Can a material world ever be perfect? How could it exist?
IMPERIALISM
When two cultures meet, conflict is inevitable. However it still
takes one man to kill another, and that is always wrong.
Having plundered primitive peoples of their lives and land, the West
now seeks to take up the remnants of their religious beliefs, to ease
the petty anguish caused by its' own insatiable greed. Having owned
their lives and lands, it now lays claim to their souls.
CULTURE
The function of Western culture in the late twentieth century is not
to hold a mirror up to our nature, but to obscure our true image from ourselves.
MISTAKES
A wise man learns from his mistakes, a wiser man from other people's.
GAIN
If X amount makes you happy, 2X will not necessarily make you twice
as happy.
BELIEF
Interesting how true believers seek to validate their faith by
converting others to it.
WORSHIP
Let others wail and let them sing, I see my God in the simplest things.
ENNUI
Humans begin their lives being excited about the house they live in,
its' various rooms, and their contents. Gradually they become tired
and cynical and bored. Then it is time for them to die. Most never
venture outside, to the woods or the streets beyond. Some even ignore
the first floor and the basement, yet still believe they've seen it all.
...
We are like salmon, leaping up weirs, year upon year, swimming our
way back to the Source of the river.
...
I am one with the rifle, I am one with the target, I am one with all.
LUCK
There is such a thing as beginners' luck. Dame Fortune does not bless
tired old hacks. It has nothing to do with age, but with elan. One
can save it up by not wasting it on trifling gambles. This is an
irrational proposition, but experience leads me to believe it to be true.
THE MONARCHY
Britain should rid itself of its' monarchy. As long as the Queen is
its' symbolic mother the Briton will never have the boon of political
adulthood - democracy, and the personal and public freedoms it
brings. Instead he will behave like an adolescent; resentful,
whining, prone to outrage in dress and speech rather than action, yet
anxious not to be separated from the certainty and continuity of
parental care. Any man may become President, but he may never become
King, and lordly titles are not handed out on merit alone. The
Britons, or rather the English, should grow up. They have come to
love their gilded yokes too much.
MORTALITY
A child may ask: Why are there wars, why is there pain, disease and
death? Consider how it would be if they didn't exist - we would
necessarily be ageless, invulnerable and pacific. There would be no
change. There would be no point to our existence either. If there is
a divine plan our necessity to strive is an important part of it. We
are the means whereby God comes to know himself. Anguish and death
exist so that we may know joy and the possibility of eternal life.
They are not polar opposites, merely different ends of a scale.
Consider how horrible it would be if we could live forever as we are
now. That doesn't sound so bad to you? Then consider how it would be
if all your relatives and neighbours and the people you despise could
live forever on this Earth, as they are now - the years blurring in
to each other, eir faults becoming set in stone as they go through
the same routines over and over again; without death giving them the
chance to re-incarnate and start again, without the fear of death to
jolt them from their bad habits.
The sort of person who would seek to greatly extend their natural
span is probably the one who would least profit from it and annoy the
rest of us the most.
To be free to finally perfect ourselves as the saints have done,
implies we must also be free to fall.
MARIJUANA
Marijuana smoke clouds the mind.
HATRED
It takes a lot of energy to hate. It could be put to better use.
Prolonged hatred implies one cannot affect its' object, and it harms
the hater, thereby handing the laurels to the hated.
THE COMPANY YOU KEEP
If I cannot be near the One then I would be near the ones who are
near the One.
DIPLOMACY AND AGGRESSION
Reason first, and reason second. Then wave your stick. If that
doesn't work, use it.
We all like to think of ourselves as reasonable, civilised people. It
should be noted however that a small percentage of folk will nod away
in all sincerity whilst they are reasoned with, but will only shift
when they are cudgelled.
NEED
All the world's gold will not fill the hole inside you.
PIETY
When people ask you if you believe in God, they are less interested
in your opinion than in corroborating their own
TRUE WEALTH
Each of these is worth more than gold: peace of mind, a good heart, a
healthy body and a clean soul.
HELPFULNESS
In some instances it is better to let a sheep wriggle out of a briar
patch than to wade in and assist it.
THE WORTH OF RELIGION
Pigs at base don't need table manners to eat together. Humans at base
don't need religion to live together, but who would be swine?
CAPITAL AND YOU
In a service-dominated economy, we are cash-cows to be milked.
FUNDAMENTALISM
Now we have the New Right and the new Self-Righteous.
INNER PEACE
To be at peace with the outside world one should make a thorough
inventory of one's inner world.
LOVE AND MAMMON
The capitalist ethos has extended to the commercialisation of
personal relationships. People seem to love each other these days
only insofar as how much the other meets their needs.
Never have a people been so loudly outspoken with so little of worth
to say.
OBJECTIVITY
Only God can have an objective viewpoint. All other views are partial.
INTUITION
Our unconscious mind processes everything it comes into contact with
and thereby occasionally informs the conscious mind with an 'intuition'.
ENLIGHTENMENT
The Buddha was not 'enlightened'. His was simply the intelligent
response of a person in full possession of the facts.
WISDOM
A word to the wise is usually sufficient, but you can talk to a
chimpanzee for twenty years and it will be no more enlightened.
It is one thing to know something, another to realise it, rather like
reading a manual and actually driving a car.
VIRGINITY
Virginity in one's early teens is desirable, in one's early twenties
charming, in one's early thirties disturbing and later it is simply sad.
VICTIMISATION
If people fail to accept responsibility for their actions by claiming
to be victims of circumstance they are inviting the State to treat
them like children, and restrict their freedom.
MATRIARCHY
The West is becoming more matriarchal in the way it governs itself.
People are not prepared to take personal responsibility for their
behaviour or personal circumstances, and the State is tending to
indulge this. We whinge like children, and a ravening media and
supine governments attempt to ease our petty cares. God, fate, and
the natural order are derided or marginalised ideas. Who knows what
Serpent or deadly blight may drive us from our kindergarden, and we
realise too late that this was the best of all possible worlds?
AMERICA
America fascinates and appalls other nations. We crave it's
prosperity and egalitarianism and individualism, and deride the
buffoonery of its executive and legislature, its' gun laws and crass
consumerism. At the time of writing there is a concerted effort by
the main opposition party to indict their President for petty
personal misdemeanours which took place before he took office. The
man could be taken to court for showing his penis to a secretary.
This is the foremost democracy on the planet. I fear for humanity.
UFO's
In times gone by people were visited by angels and stolen away by
fairies. Now it's UFO's and aliens. That SOMETHING is occuring is
apparent, but what it is exactly, is not.
HAPPINESS
To be happy always in this life would be as useless and un-natural as
having Christmas day forever - we'd soon become indifferent to it,
and even detest it. Perhaps this is why the Fall of Man occurred, or
was necessary.
WORK
An honest living is a frugal one, unfortunately.
PSYCHIC POWERS
The human populace in general is not psychic any more, partly because
our own and our neighbours thoughts are crazed and vile and noisy.
WEALTH
Wherever there is a great fortune there's often a great crime.
LEADERSHIP
Leaders become the slaves of their followers
REASON
We no longer reason: 2 + 2 = 5 because we FEEL it so, and freedom of
expression must not be curtailed.
Some handy hints :
Gamble only with what you can cheerfully lose. Better yet, don't gamble.
Do not be angered if a snake you nurse then bites you; it is a snake
after all.
Women do not care for men who are besotted with them; they love men
who are powerful, wealthy, handsome, humorous, lusty, artistic and
intelligent, generally in that order of preference. No matter how
much they protest to the contrary, they do not care for the truth.
Do not give a woman immediately what she says she wants in matters of
the heart - women connive with words, men seek to bludgeon with them.
Give everyone one chance, a relative two; you deserve to be played
for a fool a third time.
Most people do not change - a crook at twenty will be a crook forever.
Most habits, goals and manners of any age are rubbish.
What is Life for?
To cause the seed to grow and bud,
To make a better seed.
That the fruit of the seed may grow and refresh the one who sowed it.
APHORISMS
Aphorisms are a poor substitute for understanding; they are a mere
sketch of an awesome landscape.
The Extra-Ordinary Life - how to live like a saint
or a hero.
First we begin by quieting down the mind through meditation. This
involves finding a quiet, dark place without distractions, sitting
comfortably, breathing slowly, and gradually turning off the manic
dialogue our mind contantly engages in.
Thoughts arise. We may find ourselves solving problems or engaging in
pleasant daydreaming or introspection. We acknowledge this, but
firmly tend towards a state of either focusing on a single thought,
or none at all. The mind will resist, in many subtle ways. It talks
to itself. We are not singular beings. If we focus on a single
thought or image, it should NOT be an emotive one, such as a
religious image. We are trying to put our previous conditioning in
its' place, not re-inforce it. Such images may give rise to fine
feelings, but this is still indulgence. Such images may also corrupt
our psyche even more, and lead to worse fixations.
When NOT meditating we present our subconscious with IMAGES, not
verbal commands, of the rewards of co-operation: we become the
Superman. Not the Nazi ideal, but the best we can possibly be in this
incarnation. We contain a part of God; let this smouldering coal be
stoked into flame. This is the basis of magick.
Our will becomes what the universe wants; this is black magick. If we
are clever, what the universe wants becomes our will; this is white magick.
This can be done during the course of ordinary waking life,
during a state of active prayer, (as opposed to passive meditation)
or engaging in an occult drama.
THE POINT IS TO GET 1. OUR SELVES AND 2. THE UNIVERSE, TO GO IN THE
DIRECTION WE TRULY AND SINCERELY NEED IT TO.
This is not accomplished by griping to oneself or others, or engaging
in activities which are in line with what the mind thinks it wants,
but which the subconscious is against. That way leads to neurosis.
It is done by engaging our subconscious and the outside Universe in
our drama, and getting them to acknowledge its' correctness, and to
go along with it. Chatting with ourselves is a waste of time, we must VISUALISE.
It is done by concentration of consiousness.
It is done by careful awareness of, and use of, the energy called
Kundalini. A great deal has been written about this energy, in
relation to 'tantric sex' and Eastern mysticism. I can't personally
vouch for a lot of it. I do know however what increases life energy,
and what depletes it. Kundalini appears to be an energy that begins
in the base of the spine, goes up through the major glands to the top
of the head. Certainly I know it is intimately connected with one's
well being and reservoir of mystical power.
If you want to be vigourous:
Eat well - eat unprocessed foods. Do not eat overcooked food with
lots of additives i.e. junk food.
Sleep well - get as many hours as you need, not what society demands.
Do not agitate your mind prior to sleeping - meditate. Resolve any
problems from the day in your mind before sleeping.
Exercise - light exercise: some push ups and pull-ups, walking a mile
or two will do.
Avoid drugs - these include tobacco, caffeine, alcohol.
Avoid excessive sexual activity. Sex is ultimately a means to an end
- reproduction. Indulged in for its' own sake, to excess, it is a
waste of energy. How do we know when we've over-indulged? We lose
vitality, and our body loses tone.
Avoid taking on too much responsibilty for tasks which at heart you
dislike. Life will go on without you, never fear. It is a conceit of
the age that working like a tethered donkey is ennobling and
necessary. Your body and your subconscious know otherwise.
Avoid the company of ennervating people. Seek the company of
vigourous people.
Another benefit of constant meditation is that it throws up our true
fixations, as the mind tries to compenstate for lack of information.
This may lead to unpleasant but useful revelations. We ultimately
seek to be 'one-pointed', and not divided against ourselves. We must
NOT, however, try to coerce the subconscious into co-operating in
this i.e. we must not try 'programming' it into whatever the
conscious mind thinks it wants, by chanting or vulgar magical
practices. An entity divided against itself has lost the battle
before even taking the field.
The subconscious, being a child, is best spoken to with images, and
cajoled. This is how it thinks, when we sleep, and dream.
We must consider what we truly want, if anything. To work only to
satisfy the expectations of others leads to ennervation and death. A
part of us knows what we truly want, what we truly need. It is our
link with the divine. It is our superior, superconscious self.
The subconscious provides the emotional energy,
The conscious self operates in the waking world,
The superconscious self guides us towards God and greatness.
POETRY
BY THE RIVERBANK
29th July 1995
Stalactites of orange light
Grace a limpid Thames by humid night,
I watch the stars sedately cede
The sky to the imminent sun,
And as I watch I long to see
A trace of that grandeur
Reflected in me.
SLEEPWALKING
I have awakened
From a long and troubled sleep
Wherein I walked through fusty corridors
And ill-lit dreaming rooms
Into the Summer-land I knew once as a youth
And whose memory has lingered fitfully
Like the fragrance of a secret love.
Like the memory of a lissom girl
I never dared approach
Whilst walking on Dunmore strand
Beside a sparkling sea.
IF I SHOULD DIE TODAY
If I should die today
Will God receive me into His court,
And will I linger at the back and listen to the talk
Of saints and heroes past
Of Socrates and Ulysses and Pio and John Dunne?
Then shall I go to my appointed place,
It will be Spring there I hope,
And I will sit upon a mossy bank
And turn my face to the unconquered sun,
I'll finger the delicate blossoms there
Then walk along, then run,
Into the arms of my Beloved One.
THAT RADIANCE
I have seen a pale reflection
In a warped mirror
Through a wall of mist
A faint glimmering
Of that divine radiance.
DAY IN AND OUT
The cinema preserves us from a lovely summer's evening
And the telly keeps its' eye on the kids
We'll go for a drive with others of like mind
And hurry past the hills,
And hide from the mountains,
We'll have a laugh and then go home for tea
While the river winds its' way to the sea,
You are safe at home, my sweet
While I am lost in eternity
FOR A STRING OF BEADS
Television,
Dreaming the waking dream of another man,
Now we do not need to dream,
Another labour saving device,
First the land,
Then our sweat,
Now our dreams,
Bought for a string of coloured beads.
LEAVES OF GLASS
Leaves of glass,
Crying for no one,
Tears of remembrance,
A song heard once and long forgotten.
The face of one long loved and lost,
Seen in a crowd of half-familiar faces.
Be still my better part,
Or still the beating of my heart,
Longing, longing for the quenching drop,
The clock clicks on and will not stop.
I SEE A SPLENDID VISION
I see a splendid vision
Of a girl in cream and white
On a sand dune by the sea
And she is coming towards me.
The sky is a frivolous blue
And the wind is in her tresses
And the sun makes everything seem vibrantly alive
And she is smiling softly,
Looking up at me,
What more is there to say?
I will go down to the sea today.
SHE IS THE STAR
She it is that walks through time
Trailing sweetness, and the scent of the divine,
In her eyes there is the look that inspires wonder.
Soft music is heard playing when she comes
Swinging through the long grass in the summer sun,
Clothed in beauty,
Certain of love,
She causes men to dream,
She is the star 'round which my soul revolves.
I WAS A KING
I was a king,
At Chiswick House,
On a throne of black wrought iron,
Set in a carpet of brazened leaves,
Kindled by the setting sun,
Watching the dogs play with their single men,
Watching all the blessed things,
Under God's heaven.
THE SELF- AWARE WOMAN
Here she comes,
She wants to tell you,
Really talk to you,
She wants to drain you dry
Leaving your husk with a drink in its' hand
Then on to the next victim,
Run while you can!
It's the self-aware woman.
THE CHAMBERS OF THE HEART
The chambers of the human heart,
Half remembered perfect days
Of brown bread and blue skies,
Beautiful, imperfect with white clouds.
The chambers of the human heart,
The ventricles of sin,
The strutting cock and the greedy hen
Come under the axe in the fin.
How we curse with grudged praise
While grabbing for the tasty cup
saying I don't care who wins,
(As long as no one else does).
IN CANYONS OF BOREDOM
In canyons of boredom,
Grey concrete canyons of never-ending uniformity,
Each and every franchise is uniquely the same,
These Chinese lanterns,
These empty glittering caverns,
How long can it go on?
Not long, not long,
The singer sings the last note of his song.
ANOTHER LOVE POEM
Her face, her mouth is always smiling,
When we meet,
In some surprising place.
Her eyes, like those
Of a doe in Winter.
When we meet all History's red-light streets
Seem to converge upon us;
Elizabeth and Essex,
Kathy and Heathcliffe,
Paris and Helen,
All over again.
In a bustling street,
With the frost beneath our feet,
Our awkward conversation,
And those wonderful things,
Necessarily left unsaid.
A voice in the dark says "fool, fool",
But I just turn my head.
THE WEDDING
The petals of the blossom tree
Are strewn upon the ground,
After the wind,
After the wedding of the world.
The cherry and the hawthorn tree are grown entwined,
As I am now with thee,
The blackbird sings its' lovely daring call,
It is our wedding song.
THE SON OF THE SUN
I am the song on the lips of an innocent,
I am the flame that purifies,
I am the eyes of a hawk as it dives,
I am the lion in triumph.
I am the sparkling frost in the morn,
I live in the waxing moon,
I am the king who is not yet come,
I am the well-begotten one,
I am the son of the sun.
HELIOS AND EVERYMAN
To fly in an aeroplane,
To skim across the cloud-tops
Like the Gods we have usurped.
Their ambrosia,
Our complimentary drink.
Their Ganymede,
Our tired hostesses.
Their fiery chariots,
Our shrieking metal box.
Their Olympian souls,
Our rush to be let off.
SUMMER IN SMITH SQUARE
There is a hint of Summer in the air,
Faint stirrings 'midst the tame-life of Smith Square,
The youthful heart that quickens in the sun,
The aged one that longs for summers gone.
How strange that cloistered creatures such as we,
Still long for open fields and boundless sea.
How odd that the senators of this new Rome,
Still have barbarian souls that must needs roam.