‘I don’t believe life has a purpose. Life is a lot of protoplasm with an urge to reproduce and continue in being... but each incarnation, you might say, has a potentiality, and the mission of life is to live that potentiality.'
Joseph Campbell is an incredible storyteller, spiritual guru, philosopher, academic (comparative religion & comparative mythology), writer, etc etc. Another old dead guy with a wicked sense of humour that I'm sure I would have fallen for in his day.
So "How do Read more [...]
Posts tagged Meaning of life
Follow the bliss
‘I don’t believe life has a purpose. Life is a lot of protoplasm with an urge to reproduce and continue in being... but each incarnation, you might say, has a potentiality, and the mission of life is to live that potentiality.'
Joseph Campbell is an incredible storyteller, spiritual guru, philosopher, academic (comparative religion & comparative mythology), writer, etc etc. Another old dead guy with a wicked sense of humour that I'm sure I would have fallen for in his day.
So "How do Read more [...]
Mapping out religious beliefs and learning to think
I drew this up flowchart / map of religious beliefs about three years ago. I agree with this quote in part. Thinking can be terrifying. At the time I drew up this map I was at the beginning of an emotional process of learning to think - discovering where the worldview of my upbringing fit with the worldview of other people's upbringing.
Can you see where your beliefs fit?
There seems to be an endless list of ism's. Have I missed yours? If I've missed any to do with key categories of beliefs Read more [...]
Ikigai – a reason to wake up in the morning
Why do you get up in the morning? Does an answer come into your mind straight away? It does for the people in Okinawa, and it thought to be one of the key factors in their longevity - estimated to lengthen the lives of the people by 7 years! Ikigai is kind of like the French raison d'etre - 'a reason for being'. It could be a creative passion, your relationships, your job... Everyone has a ikigai, even if you don't know it yet.
In Okinawa they do that thing they love until they die. Why do Read more [...]
A deeper exploration of Resolution Theory
Following a question from someone who came across this blog, I was inspired to revisit Resolution Theory - Gregory David Roberts' philosophical and cosmological model shared through Khader Bhai, the Mafia don, in Shantaram: The Novel.
Roberts writes:
“The whole universe is moving toward some ultimate complexity. This has been going on since the universe began, and physicists call it the tendency toward complexity. And… anything that kicks this along and helps it is good, and anything Read more [...]
Practicing what I preach
"It's easier said than done." I think we all have discovered this at some point or another. A couple of weeks ago I was struggling with a few big decisions and I punched the following rant into my phone on my way to work. In short, I consider the relationship between money, stories, optimal-trajectories, and the dynamics involved in putting these into practice. It's not always easy to practice what you preach...
When you are happy, it's easy to say that if you're not happy you should change something. Read more [...]
Are the laws of science and “God” the same thing?
''Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist... The question is: is the way the universe began chosen by God for reasons we can't understand, or was it determined by a law of science?'' that you could meet, and ask questions.'' [1] he [Hawkings] said. ''I believe the second. If you like, you can call the laws of science 'God', Read more [...]
Why I don’t commit suicide
"Camus said there is only really one serious philosophical question which is whether or not to commit suicide," said Alan Watts, quoting Albert Camus (going on to say he believes there are five serious philosophical questions... see audio book on you tube below)
It is a good question. If we are all going to die at one point or another, then why bother going on? Why not just do it now, get it over with?
What motivates you to get up in the morning, to do something rather than stay in bed Read more [...]
Inspiration: angels, devils, and suicidal ants.
While in the past I've aspired to balance, I've come to embrace the imbalance, accepting that balance is found in the wholeness of all that exists, and over time - it doesn't have to exist in every moment I experience. The yin and yang - the mixture of cold and hot, of love and fear, of birth and death - provide a fertile ground for new ideas to be seeded and creative potentials to be discovered.
I see this dynamic in everything that surrounds me, in the death of stars above, and in the death Read more [...]
Microcosms and macrocosms – we are specks of dust in a giant’s eye
"India's chaos was bigger than your ego," said Farhad Azad. "You have to remember we are but drops in the ocean." He was right, India's incomprehensibility had put me back in my place. Somewhere along the line I came across this song, it's pretty funny. By Kimya Dawson:
I like it. "I am a speck of dust inside a giant's eye"
As you can see, over a few rounds of longneck Himalaya (Nepali beer) on two brief occasions, I learned a lot from Farhad. It's amazing how when you are open to Read more [...]
