dailyprompt
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Remembering past lives
Reincarnation: There are many compelling cases of children who recall past lives. They are able to provide such convincing accounts and details of events that are not easy to dismiss. One such case is that of James Leininger, a young… Continue reading
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A kinder, grumpy old man
How kindness can help you lead a more fulfilled life: As I get older, I find it harder and harder to be kind. Grumpy old man’s syndrome, or irritable male syndrome, is a real phenomenon for me. I seem to… Continue reading
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My beautiful, time travelling, adventurer
A time travel short story about a soul lost to time: Priya paused before putting the sleek, black headset over her weary, hungover eyes. A sudden surge of reflux engulfed her mouth, no doubt a residue from last night’s ill-advised… Continue reading
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The kindness conundrum
How kindness can become your human superpower: Kindness is linked to improved happiness and a reduction in stress, anxiety, and feelings of isolation. There’s hard science to say it boosts mood, compassion, empathy, and self-esteem. But why are we kind?… Continue reading
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Emotions in the driving seat
Far from being a weakness, your emotions may actually be a source of strength: All of my life I have been labelled as an emotional person. “He’s moody.” “He’s a sulker.” “Cry baby.” “Whinger.” “Moaner.” Later in my life, work… Continue reading
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Microbe Series 2
Microbes 2 – pencil on paper. Another very satisfying transfer of digital drawings into traditional media. There’s something beautiful about this subject matter combined with the process of drawing. #drawing #microbes #scienceart Continue reading
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The will to live
What is the mysterious force that pervades all things and drives all of life on Earth? How knowing it can help us lead richer lives: Throughout recorded history, thinkers and natural philosophers have commented on the innate, energetic spark that… Continue reading
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What should life be like?
An analysis of life in the 21st century. What you should expect from being alive: What should life be like? What can we reasonably expect from our existence? I’m not referring to those ultra people, with extreme lifestyles, who live… Continue reading
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Draw Like a Boss
In this interview, author Ashley Edge and Paul Carney explore the purpose of drawing and learning to draw, including explicit instruction. Ashley Edge is a Lake District based artist and the author of the Draw Like a Boss series of… Continue reading
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Mind Control
Oh, how I wish I had the ability to control my thoughts like a meditation master. Bad thoughts would occur, and I’d simply swat them away, able to resume my super-controlled, zen-like mental state without a care in the world.… Continue reading
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It’s Life Jim!
How the building blocks for life may be scattered around the universe : Some scientists now believe the chances of life emerging on Earth by itself are too remote. In a very honest, refreshing, (but complex), scientific paper, Robert Endres… Continue reading
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Finding God in an age of reason
What is the evidence for a Deist Creator and how can this belief bring a sense of purpose to our lives? What evidence is there that God exists? In my opinion, the likelihood of the universe springing into existence by… Continue reading
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The Blob
An evolutionary short story that illustrates the origins of complex life forms: The blob floated mindlessly in the darkness. It had no eyes, or senses, save the ability to touch. To feel. It had no explicit conscious thoughts as such.… Continue reading
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One in a billion
The incredible unlikeliness of our existence, and why our universe should not exist at all: In the Big Bang, when the universe was formulated, there should have been a blinding flash of radiation as these opposing forces cancelled each other… Continue reading
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Welcome to the spirit world.
A ghostly short story. It had been another excellent meeting, Wendy thought, as she tidied her props away into her handbag and picked up her phone. Her back was killing her from sitting on a hard seat all night, but… Continue reading
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Reality is a load of balls
What do the world’s greatest minds say about the metaphysical nature of matter? It is easy for imaginative humans to slip into science-fiction, or non-evidence based beliefs, simply because they fit our own world view and yet the reality is… Continue reading
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Come on down, try your luck on Fortuna’s Wheel of Fortune!
There’s no such thing as luck or fate. Everything has already happened. If physicist Sabine Hossenfelder is right, then it means we live in a Predetermined Universe – everything that can happen has already happened, we just don’t know it… Continue reading
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Stephen Hawking: Is there a God?
What did Stephen Hawking believe about the nature of God? “One could define God as the embodiment of the laws of nature. However, this is not what most people would think of as God. They mean a human-like being, with… Continue reading
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Star Trekking
If you could be someone else for a day, who would you be, and why? As a huge Star Trek fan, I would be Captain James T. Kirk for the day. I’d lead a mission to go boldly where no… Continue reading
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Beyond Words
How do the limitations of language affect your existence?: All of our thinking is through words, all of our actions, all of our science, all of our literature, all of our history, all our technology, all our kingdoms and empires.… Continue reading
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Pure awareness is heaven
What will life after death be like?: What are your thoughts on life after death? Where do you think we go when we die? Perhaps you think you’ll live eternally in a heavenly paradise surrounded by your loved ones. Maybe… Continue reading
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Here’s some flowers for you…
Some examples of my most recent paintings I’ve been doing. These are hand-painted and a return back to traditional media for me. I’m loving it! Continue reading
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False Perceptions
How you might find truth and peace in a world of hate and misinformation: Perceptions, the Buddha said, are very often false, which leads to suffering. We see people as threats, we weave fake narratives, we create all kinds of… Continue reading
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Movie Night
A mysterious short story about the struggle to find the meaning of life ‘Where the hell am I?’ she muttered to herself, as the vortex gave way to a dimly lit room, complete with brightly-coloured, patterned furnishings and the kind… Continue reading
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Roads to Happiness
Learn profound insights into human existence from two Holy men: Two eastern mystics with profound insights into the nature of existence and how to lead happier lives are Sri Ramana Maharshi and Thich Nhat Hanh. Maharshi was a Hindu sage… Continue reading
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Classroom Catastrophes
Learn about Paul’s autobiography as a teacher, written under the pseudonym Peter Carling. Continue reading
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Old man Hokusai
How do significant life events or the passage of time influence your perspective on life? “From the age of 6 I had a mania for drawing the shapes of things. When I was 50 I had published a universe of… Continue reading
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How can an inanimate force become a God?
This article will give you an eastern insight into the nature of God: When we think of a force such as the quantum field, we don’t think of an omnipotent, personified being, we think of an abstract mass of crackling… Continue reading
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Bhagavad Gita
What books do you want to read? Books I’m reading at present: The Ethics of Aristotle The Bhagavad Gita the Upanishads The Varieties of Religious Experience, William James Concentration & Meditation Swami Paramananda Tao Te Ching, Lao Tsu The Complete… Continue reading
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The grand coder
Eastern metaphysics on the nature of reality: A computer coder creates a virtual world which replicates our ‘real’ world, and the characters have a form of artificial intelligence. Characters in this world have the ability to sense their environment, and… Continue reading
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Find your inner creative
If you had a freeway billboard, what would it say? Find your inner creative. Being creative, in whatever form that takes, is a powerful way to make meaning in your life. It is fun, enjoyable and stimulating. It enhances brain… Continue reading
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The Hench
A David and Goliath short story about a young girl who faces an overwhelming adversary. Continue reading
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How to be creative
How are you creative? There’s a common misconception that creativity is only an artistic pursuit, which is wrong. Throughout my career as a teacher of art, I regularly had to correct people who would state that they weren’t creative. We… Continue reading
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Best of Friends
Who are the biggest influences in your life? In previous posts, I’ve outlined how I didn’t have any older male role models to look up to and guide me through life’s challenges, but I certainly had the best of friends.… Continue reading
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Love Conquers All ❤️
What skills or lessons have you learned recently? I’m learning philosophy at present, which I’ve been studying since last year. It’s a huge topic, of course, and though I’m mainly focusing on Western philosophy, I have also been reading Chinese… Continue reading
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An odd thing to find
‘Tonight, we bring you a special report on the mysterious phenomena known as sea pyramids – the strange, glowing triangular prisms that have washed up on the beaches of Japan and the Philippines in recent months. ‘Professor Richard Binks, a… Continue reading
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The True Self
A Swami describes the True Self: The true Self is the spiritual self. The true Self is the single self; it is not scattered, disorganised or divided. The true Self has no ego. The true Self does not crave attention,… Continue reading
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The Secret of Life
There is a secret to life that is so simple, yet so elusive, and it is this: all the life that has ever existed, in every corner of the universe, has one primary purpose – to find happiness. What is… Continue reading
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An Origin Story
An old man helps a young girl come to terms with her grief. A young girl was seated alone in a plush café, talking into her friend through her smartphone. The friend was on speakerphone, and the girl, although clearly… Continue reading
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One, two, three, four, five…
Share five things you’re good at. I would rather describe 5 things I enjoy doing. Whether I’m ‘good’ at them is a matter of opinion. These are 5 things I do fluently: Art – here is one of my recent… Continue reading
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Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a philosopher who advocated the rich, elite and powerful and was against the mechanisms of the church who he saw as shackling people with guilt and shame. His ideas and beliefs have been manipulated and absorbed… Continue reading
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Last Night in Middlesbrough
A short story about a man who finds himself living in a simulation. The old man winced in pain as he leant forward to pull the flimsy blanket over his calloused, gnarled feet. Even thick, thermal socks weren’t enough to… Continue reading
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Dragged kicking and screaming
Dragged kicking and screaming into a better world. Continue reading
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The Fundamental Spirit
What is the spirit? Is it a real phenomena or just a religious reference? Reality has a fundamental layer that pervades and connects all things. The Hindus call it Brahman; the invisible essence that permeates the whole universe. The Chinese… Continue reading
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Transcending Time
What is the nature of time? Time. We all know it. We all feel it’s passing and are bound by its earthly laws. Time is integral to every culture, every place, every epoch. It is known by many names: Father… Continue reading
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Dark Matter
What is dark matter? What does dark matter look like? As the early universe expanded, dark matter clumps formed. However, the dark matter didn’t expand as quickly as the universe, leaving a sprawling cosmic web of dark matter strands and… Continue reading
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An Almighty state of being
What if God wasn’t a being in the sky, but a creative life force all around us, present in all things? As my regular readers will know, I’ve been on a journey of self-discovery over the last year and an… Continue reading
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Finding Patterns
What is the nature of religion? Faith has a deep, profound nature and order to it that has survived the test of time. It encompasses inherent human virtues but elevates them to help us to become better people, wrapped within… Continue reading
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Gratitude
What could you try for the first time? I’m struggling to think of anything I’d like to try that I haven’t already. Which tells me that I’ve lived a privileged life and that I should be very grateful for what… Continue reading
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A heart full of hate
When I see people being racist, I am reminded that racial hatred has a long history in Britain: In Celtic Britain, the Iceni hated the Coritani, who hated the Parisi, Then the Romans came and everyone hated them. The Scoti,… Continue reading
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Believing in Nothing
A third way: But what if there was a third way? What if a Higher Being designed the universe in such a way that it grew and evolved to laws it had previously set out? What if evolution is God’s… Continue reading
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How to find truth in the chaos of modern life
How do we form our beliefs? We all construct our own truth, a personal, world-view mindset that we feel is right and just, from our own experiences, thoughts, happenings and memories we collect over our lifetime. Our beliefs are shaped… Continue reading
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Has feminism destroyed the traditional family unit?
Feminism is a force for good: I heard a young US woman talking recently about how Feminism has destroyed the traditional family unit. She called herself a Trad wife, which is another new term to me, and she said that… Continue reading
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Poisonous Thoughts
The effect of poisonous thinking: You don’t persuade someone of something via aggression and hostility. You do it by relating to them, by identifying with their concerns but not agreeing with them, you give them their right to an opinion,… Continue reading
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If everything that exists has a cause, who or what is the cause of God?
The cosmological argument for the existence of God says that nothing exists without a cause. The universe exists; therefore, something (God) must have caused it. Bertrand Russell argued that if this is so, then God must have a cause. Continue reading
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Cubism: was there any point in it?
Cubism was borne out of artists’ desire to subvert traditional perspective and interpret objects in new ways. Essentially, it was a new way of seeing. But when all was said and done, was there any point in it?A new way… Continue reading
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Impressionism
Misinformation about the Impressionist movement on the internet is rife. Even art education resource providers are guilty, lumping Van Gogh and Seurat into the Impressionist movement when they were nothing of the kind. Four young men Impressionism was developed by… Continue reading
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Who invented abstract art?
Up until recently, it was believed that Wassily Kandinsky ‘invented’ abstract art. These days, many popular social media posts claim that Hilma Af Klint got there before him. Neither of these beliefs are correct. The truth is, abstraction has always… Continue reading
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Hokusai: the great wave & the secret of immortality
The Great Wave off Kanagawa, 1831 by Hokusai is one of the most iconic images in the world. But it’s important to understand that this Japanese print was not simply a picture of a wave, but a highly symbolic work… Continue reading
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Is Starry Night a religious painting?
Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh is a hugely symbolic painting which represented his feelings about the afterlife. He wrote to his brother Theo that he had a “tremendous need for, shall I say the word—for religion—so I go outside… Continue reading
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Interview with my deceased mother & father
A very raw and personal interview with my parents. Continue reading
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The Ouroboros
How can people with ADHD manage their emotions? Continue reading
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Surfing, Sinking, Swimming
What daily habit do you do that improves your quality of life? The habit I do that improves the quality of my life is to employ the strategy of surfing, sinking, swimming. It is a technique I used to use… Continue reading
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How to be a creative genius
There are so many misconceptions about creativity it’s hard to know where to begin. The general trope is that creativity is some kind of arty feeling of free expression. Make a chaotic mess and you’re being ‘creative’. The problem with… Continue reading
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An Atheist Rebuttal
A rebuttal of a New Scientist article by atheist Victor J. Stenger In his 2012 New Scientist article, the God Hypothesis, Victor J. Stenger focusses on the Judaic-Christian-Islamic version of God, and then looks for empirical evidence for it. Here… Continue reading
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A biased old football dog
How your biases control your whole life. Our minds are a hodgepodge of biased, untrue, poorly informed opinions and beliefs. In my club, Middlesbrough, we sing ‘we’re the greatest team of football, the world has ever seen’. If you’ve ever… Continue reading
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Melding our Minds
A mind meld is a fictional, telepathic link that the character Spock was able to perform on other organisms to connect their minds. But could it possibly be a real ability? Might we be able to connect our thoughts with… Continue reading
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Part of something greater
Is the universe alive? If the Earth were a hydrogen atom, and I looked out from my window at the electron whizzing past in the air above, I might be tempted to think that this was all there was. After… Continue reading
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What is the purpose of our existence?
How can you find more happiness and meaning in your life? For the majority of the world’s population, God is the purpose of their existence. According to the 13th-century Italian scholar Thomas Aquinas, the ultimate goal of human existence is… Continue reading
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Loneliness of the long distance space traveler
Why you’re unlikely to ever see your loved ones again if you went into deep space. I’m a huge fan of Sci-Fi programmes such as Star Trek where they travel from star to star, trekking the universe in search of… Continue reading
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A universal SATs exam
What are you curious about? I don’t know about you, but for me, I’m curious about God. I’m pretty sure God exists, but I’m also pretty sure there is no Divine Intervention. This is because I have enough evidence to… Continue reading
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The Toymaker
A short story about changing perceptions. A man makes wooden toys. Every day he goes to his workshop, to lovingly craft and fashion his beautiful toys. He carefully displays them in his shop window, but no one ever buys them.… Continue reading
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Believing in Something is better than Believing in Nothing
Why believing in implausible things can be good for you. Learned people tell us that there is nothing to this world, save that which can be observed, measured and recorded. They state quite firmly that we must savour things in… Continue reading
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A Spiritual Journey
How my own life journey might inspire yours. Life is taking me on a journey at present and it’s one I didn’t seek. Of course, all life is a journey, but this is something completely different. These last few years,… Continue reading
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Near Death Experiences
Why do so many people experience overwhelming spiritual experiences when faced with death? I’ve been reading an old book about Near Death Experiences called Life After Life by Dr Raymond Moody. It very much relates to a topic I wrote… Continue reading
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The effects of infinity on finite systems
The repercussions of our universe being infinite are mind-boggling! “Imagine you had a perfectly sealed box. Nothing can come in, and nothing can escape. Into this box you placed an apple and sealed it shut. If you waited long enough,… Continue reading
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Beautiful Insect Art
I’ve been inspired by the wonderful insects in my garden this year. So, why not I fuse them into my art? I wanted to weave bright, vibrant colours with wallpaper patterns, comparing and contrasting nature with human design. Here are… Continue reading
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Life and time
How does time affect you, scientifically speaking? Einstein showed that, rather than there being a single unified time, time is relative, and so every phenomena has its own time. There isn’t a single entity of time, there are numerous times,… Continue reading
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Why Isn’t Life Easy?
Why isn’t life easy? If a God created life, why make it so difficult? I mean, if you were omnipotent, and you were designing life, surely you’d make it so that things ticked over nicely, you’d want them to purr… Continue reading
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Story Lines
What do you think gets better with age? Some things improve with age. Wine, whiskey, antiques and furniture, even steaks or cheeses. Other times, age spoils. Fruit, bread, cake, and flowers for example. Time can be a friend to some… Continue reading
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Splashing in Puddles
So many of us are finding the world overwhelming these days. The constant hostility on social media, the lack of empathy and tolerance for other people’s’ views, not to mention the depressing news stories, climate change and soaring crime, it’s… Continue reading
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Was the world made for us?
Imagine there was a safari park, complete with big cats, monkeys, zebras, giraffes etc. Now, imagine that the human keepers became extinct and the park was left to its own devices, with all the cage doors left open. There would… Continue reading
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Explore Paul Carney’s Two Unique Albums
Paul Carney has released two albums, “Dying Days,” produced by Mike Franklin in 2008, featuring a tribute track for his late mother, and “Suspicion,” recorded in his home studio in 2010. He also performed covers with the band Red Book.… Continue reading
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Hand of God?
Is there a Divine Hands moulding and shaping your life? Many years ago I had a marine fish tank which took a lot of hard work to keep. I had to make sure it was always at the right temperature.… Continue reading
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The Spirit Within Me
How important is spirituality in your life? I define the spirit as the living essence of a person, which includes consciousness, and the bioelectrical life force within all living things. In this way, the spirit is my mind and my… Continue reading
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Beyond Words
Knowing what lies beyond the limits of language is an incredibly powerful and profound aspect of our existence. All of our thinking is through words, all of our actions, all of our science, all of our literature, all of our… Continue reading
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Valuing our Values
How can you shape your values to help you lead a better life? We live in a creative universe; an incredible cosmic web of galaxies, miraculously derived from an infinitesimally small singularity. By default, the universe produces positive things; things… Continue reading
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Artists and their beds
What’s the one luxury you can’t live without? I couldn’t live without my bed. I love it so much, and beds have been a constant theme in art for centuries. Here are some artists who have depicted beds: Continue reading
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How to lead a good life
What are the most important things needed to live a good life?Here are five life lessons I’ve accumulated over the years. I hope they will help you become happy and healthy when you grow up. There are many more life… Continue reading
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I Believe…
Beliefs are the foundations upon which we build our sense of self. They are pivotal to our well being and happiness. But our beliefs are also personal, insecure and subjective. That’s partly because of the nature of knowledge itself, but… Continue reading
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Make your head a nice place to be
What fears have you overcome and how? Phobias have been a constant ‘associate’ of mine throughout my life. They have sometimes been so crippling that I have been unable to work and my relationships have certainly suffered. Breakdowns and traumas… Continue reading
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Get away from it all
It’s hard to be happy if you’re constantly looking inward. When we focus on ourselves too much, when we live inside our own heads, or even when our ailments occupy more of our time than they should, we suffer. It’s… Continue reading
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Unitarians
Do you practice religion? A few months ago now, I began attending services by a Unitarian church in Newcastle. Unitarians believe in the oneness of God and they affirm the essential unity of humankind and of creation. Unitarianism has no… Continue reading
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What am I?
“What am I in the eyes of most people? A nonentity? An eccentric? An unpleasant person. Somebody who has no position in society and never will. In short – the lowest of the low. Well, even if all that were… Continue reading
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Going where the Evidence Leads
My reason for believing that a Deist, non-interventionist God created our universe, is that, while no evidence for God has been found within the universe, there are enough reasons to assume one created it. This is because: The universe is… Continue reading
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What is the shape of the universe?
What is the shape of the universe? Cosmologists aren’t sure what shape the universe is. And, while this may sound like a pointless thing to think about, it is actually a profound question that has significant implications. Continue reading
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The Way of Paul : updated for 2025!
How do you balance work and home life? It’s easier for me to answer this question now I’ve retired. When I was working, I can tell you I was a workaholic. I had a full-time teaching job, and I built… Continue reading
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And Still the Weeds Grow
A story about a lifetime with ADHD. My seed was not chosen from the finest organic stock, then gently scattered on a bed of finely tilled soil. No, mine was a mangy spore, spread through the root of an irksome… Continue reading
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Suspicion album
In 2010 I recorded an album of my own songs, using what was then state-of-the-art software in GarageBand and Logic Pro. Everything was either played and recorded by me, or built from samples. The vocals were done by singing into… Continue reading
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The Arthrobot Scriptures
I used AI to create some illustrations for my young adult fiction novel, the Arthrobot Scriptures which is out on Amazon. It’s a humorous adventure about an old woman who has her brain uploaded into a robotic insect and must… Continue reading
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An Elegant and Persuasive Power
Why should we believe in something that only adds an immaterial layer to the scientific view, and which takes away the profound, revelatory nature of religion? I’ve set out in earlier blog posts what my evidence is for believing there… Continue reading
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I am that I am
I am that I am. A poem by Mike Flanagan, to be read at my funeral. Continue reading
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Oaths to Yourself
Things to help you lead a more fulfilling life. Continue reading
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The fuse of time
It occurred to me that our perception of time and reality is like a burning fuse. We experience the point of ignition in unison, all of us moving along in the heat of a singular moment, burning our available energies,… Continue reading
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What Matters?
Is matter all there is? The prevailing scientific viewpoint leaves some big unanswered questions. Here are my answers. Materialism is a philosophical and scientific viewpoint that states that matter is the fundamental substance in nature, and that all things, including… Continue reading
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Explaining premonitions of future events during dreams
Much has been written about premonitions during dreams, which seem to be a recurring phenomenon throughout human history. My theory is that some people can ‘tune in’ to EMF waves emitted by temporal future events during deep sleep. Continue reading
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Classroom Catastrophe’s: Silver Spoon
The thing I learned in school was that there are some people with a hell of a lot more advantage than others. For example, there are people my age now who talk about how much they loved their Crombie coat,… Continue reading
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Is God an invention?
Are religious people deluded? Do we simply invent Gods that don’t exist in reality? Evidence shows that religious belief is actually a natural state of human consciousness. This may actually prove God’s existence, rather than disproving it. I argue that… Continue reading
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Evidence the Universe was created
A scientific summary, from an agnostic viewpoint, as to why I believe the universe was created. I’m not religious, or an atheist. I am agnostic, but I am coming to the increasing conclusion that the universe was created. My reasons… Continue reading
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Does evil exist, and if so, who or what creates it?
An agnostic’s analysis of the big question: is God evil? One of the biggest questions philosophers and theologians ask about our universe is: if there is a Creator, how could He/She possibly create a universe with such evil and suffering… Continue reading
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Reality? There’s nothing to it!
What’s something most people don’t understand? Everything in the universe is made of 17 elementary particles and four forces. Those particles are incredibly small. Barely even a dot. As far as anyone knows, they are point-like, exhibiting no finite and… Continue reading
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What is a flower?
If you want to know what a flower is, be mindful of who you ask, because this will determine the answer you get. Continue reading
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Classroom Catastrophes: My opening line
You’re writing your autobiography. What’s your opening sentence? The opening paragraph to my autobiographical book Classroom Catastrophes is: Autobiographies tend to be written by famous people who have led incredibly rich and exciting lives, so I suppose I’d better start… Continue reading
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The Electric Life Orchestra
How bioelectricity shapes the whole universe and every living thing. Why is life so incredibly persistent, energetic and determined? Where does this vitality come from? What is it that makes us alive? Wherever it is encountered, life is imbued with… Continue reading
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Drawing for Science, Invention & Discovery
This book is aimed at all the scientists, mathematicians, engineers, pioneers and thinkers out there who understand the value of creative thinking in their field. It identifies some of the key cognitive processes that drive innovation, invention and discovery. They… Continue reading
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