Being in isolation brings out people’s sense of humour

Just keep laughing…that’s all we can do… Teach me Senpai 21st Century Masters: Still Life with Bog Roll & Hand Sanitiser Feline Powered Gravity Hungry Hungry Sock Puppets Have you seen any other funny things out there on the wilds of the internet lately? I am finding the more serious this shit gets, the moreContinue reading “Being in isolation brings out people’s sense of humour”

The Empty Boat by Chuang Tzu

He who rules men lives in confusion;He who is ruled by men lives in sorrow.Yao therefore desiredNeither to influence othersNor to be influenced by them.The way to get clear of confusionAnd free of sorrowIs to live with TaoIn the land of the great Void. Chuang Tzu (300 B.C.)

Ancient words of the day: Arcadian Idyll

Arcadian Idyll: an idealised vision about rural life, a country paradise. Arcadia was and still is, a mountainous region in Greece. It was populated mainly by shepherds and the sleepy and fluffy flocks of sheep. In reality, rural life in Arcadia was harsh, poor and beholden to the ravages of unpredictable weather.    However thatContinue reading “Ancient words of the day: Arcadian Idyll”

Inspirational People: Tenzin Gyatso

“If we look at human history, we will find that a good heart has been the key in achieving what the world regards as great accomplishments in the fields of civil rights, social work, political liberation and religion for example. “A sincere outlook and motivation do not belong exclusively to the sphere of religion; theyContinue reading “Inspirational People: Tenzin Gyatso”

On silence and idleness

“Happiness is in the quiet, ordinary things. A table, a chair, a book with a paper-knife stuck between the pages. And the petal falling from the rose, and the light flickering as we sit silent.” Virginia Woolf, The Waves Time Moves Slow by Bad Bad Good “Nothing thicker than a knife’s blade separates happiness fromContinue reading “On silence and idleness”

Book Review: Awaken in the Wild: Mindfulness in Nature as a Path of Self-discovery by Mark Coleman

Awaken in the Wild is a really great introductory book about the connection between mindfulness and the natural world. Published in 2006, it feels before its time in terms of the themes of overstimulation from technology and mindfulness. There are around 40 brief and themed sections in the book, with a short lesson and thenContinue reading “Book Review: Awaken in the Wild: Mindfulness in Nature as a Path of Self-discovery by Mark Coleman”

Book Review: Free Women, Free Men: Sex, Gender, Feminism by Camille Paglia

Contrarian feminist Camille Paglia’s ideas infuriate most feminists. Her ideas are not for the faint-hearted or lilly-livered – she is a sex-positive, pro-abortion transgender woman with a no bullshit, straight-talking style that she combines with playful erudition and poetic pyrotechnics in this book. The New York Times review of her book basically called her aContinue reading “Book Review: Free Women, Free Men: Sex, Gender, Feminism by Camille Paglia”

The richness of lovers and tribes

“We die containing a richness of lovers and tribes, tastes we have swallowed, bodies we have plunged into and swum up as if rivers of wisdom, characters we have climbed into as if trees, fears we have hidden in as if caves. I wish for all this to be marked on by body when IContinue reading “The richness of lovers and tribes”

Film Review: Blinded by the Light

Director Gurinder Chadha who is known for the film Bend It Like Beckham, has created another feel-good film.  Blinded by Light is about a Pakistani British teenager Javed who learns how to cope with the ecstacy and heartbreak of life   through the music of Bruce Springsteen. Set in a working class suburb of London inContinue reading “Film Review: Blinded by the Light”

Book Review: In Miniature: How Small Things Illuminate the World by Simon Garfield

Are you fascinated and delighted by small things? Then I’ve found the ultimate book for you. In Miniature: How Small Things Illuminate the World by Simon Garfield. Each chapter delves into a miniature world of its own and there is only a tenuous connection between them, but no matter. All is forgiven because learning allContinue reading “Book Review: In Miniature: How Small Things Illuminate the World by Simon Garfield”