religion
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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The Hench
A David and Goliath short story about a young girl who faces an overwhelming adversary. 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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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More is Different
The phenomena of Emergence is how incredibly complex, profound things stem from humble components and flies in the face of Reductionist science. 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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Truth seekers and way seekers
There’s a fundamental difference between the approach western philosophy takes to living and that practised in the east. Truth Seekers – Western philosophy and science seeks to find the ’truth’ of nature and reality. It tries to describe the basic… 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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The Great Creative in the Sky
“I often wish (God) would manifest himself a bit more. He limits himself to once in a million years if we’re lucky.’ Peter Cook ***** I’m not an atheist – I don’t disbelieve in God, but I’m not religious either.… Continue reading
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