A story of (mis)fortune: the farmer and his son
I have been trying to remember where I read or heard this story, perhaps Eckhart Tolle or Deepak Chopra. After a big of Googling (key words like "farmer", "horse", "neighbour", "son"), I discovered this story is claimed by various sources as Zen Buddhist, Chinese Proverb, Taoist and Sufi.
The story goes something like this:
There once lived a farmer and his son. One day their horse ran away. Their neighbours came by and said "Oh, that's terrible news." The farmer said, "maybe".
A few weeks Read more [...]
What is life really about?
What is life really about? Walking on the beach this morning I had a sort-of epiphany, an experience of what I interpreted to be the two worlds created by the left and right brain. I realised there really are two distinctly different ways I can be in the world:
One way I could be in the world, as I walked along the beach, was to let my mind think about various things in my life: the targets to be met with my thesis, my plans to get to the end of the beach and tick off my day’s exercise Read more [...]
Why the right (brain) is right…
Are you a right-brain or left-brain type of person? Is there such a thing? Are there differences between our left and right brain hemispheres? Does it matter?
Research into the left and right brain hemispheres was popularised in the 1970s, it exaggerated and reified the two sides of the brain as if some people were "right-brain" dominant: creative, image-based, intuitive, emotional; and other people were "left-brain" dominant: mathematical, language-based, logical.
Research has since found Read more [...]
New life: reflections on being a new mum
Every year I seem to have less and less time for blogging. This year has the record for the least number of entries, but for a very good reason: motherhood!
Oh. My. Gosh. What a new appreciation I have for all the mothers of the world.
Maternity leave is not a holiday by any stretch of the imagination. There is no time for reading. I certainly did not get ahead on my PhD...
Motherhood is joy-filled work. Joy-filled, sleep-deprived, under-acknowledged, completely-exhausting work. Read more [...]
Orwellian Australia: the “[Un]Fairer Parental Leave Bill 2015”
On 15 April 2016 the so-called "Fairer Parental Leave Bill 2015" was "Lapsed at prorogation" and the current status on the bill is (thankfully, at this stage) "Not proceeding". I'm not sure whether this is a permanent status, or whether they just ran out of time and will return to the bill later...
When I see the word "fairer" associated with this bill I can't help worry about the extent that we are living in an Orwellian Australia in which "discrimination is fair", "slavery is freedom", Read more [...]
Alan Watts’ ‘dramatic model’ and the pursuit of peace
My latest academic publication - on the work of my favourite philosopher of all time: Alan Watts, and how his "dramatic model of the universe" can contribute to peace 🙂
Abstract
This article explores the contribution of Alan Watts’ ‘dramatic model of the universe’ to the pursuit of peace. It locates Watts’ critique of dominant Western worldviews alongside process philosophers, ecologists and peace theorists who have made similar claims. It focuses on Watts’ proposition that understanding the Read more [...]
A new lens to view the world: the world as process
My PhD is essentially an exercise in communicating and examining the potential for an alternative worldview to the mechanistic materialism offered by process philosophy to contribute to addressing structural forms of violence and working toward peace.
Process philosophy is too rarely taught in university philosophy as the current fashion there is divided between analytical or postmodern navel gazing. Yet process philosophy contains deeply enlightening ideas for anyone's search for wisdom - which Read more [...]
2015 in review
‘Repetition produces a gradual lowering of vivid appreciation. Convention dominates. A learned orthodoxy suppresses adventure.’ [1] "Without adventure civilization is in full decay. ... in their day the great achievements of the past were the adventures of the past. Only the adventurous can understand the greatness of the past."
At the start of 2015 I was writing an article on Alan Watts, and hence shared a "Wattsian Message" for the new year. As 2016 begins my focus has turned to Alfred North Read more [...]
“Seizing an Alternative: Toward an Ecological Civilization”
After two years of anticipation, in June this year I attended a conference called "Seizing an Alternative: Toward an Ecological Civilization", which brought together many of my favourite scholars. I was like a teenager anticipating a music festival with all their favourite bands. Such a geek!
Around 2000 people attended the conference from around the world, splitting into 12 sections and 82 groups to workshop different ideas, uncover deeper understandings of the causes of the ecological crisis, Read more [...]
