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Lao Tzu - Tao Te Ching Ancient Chinese books were commonly referenced by the name of their real or supposed author, in this case the "Old Master" Lao Tzu. As such, the Tao Te Ching is also sometimes referred to as the Laozi, especially in Chinese sources. The following are some of the many worthwhile quotes from the text: There was something undifferentiated and yet complete, which existed before Heaven and Earth. Soundless and formless, it depends on nothing and does not change. It operates everywhere and is free from danger. It may be considered the mother of the universe. I do not know its name; I call it Tao. At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to. If you are not afraid of dying, there is nothing you cannot achieve One who is too insistent on his own views, finds few to agree with him Clay is fashioned into vessels; but it is on their empty hollowness, that their use depends The heart that gives, gathers. Care about people’s approval and you will be their prisoner. Do your work, then step back. (it is) the only path to serenity. Ordinary men hate solitude. But the Master makes use of it, embracing his aloneness, realizing he is one with the whole universe Man takes his law from the Earth; the Earth takes its law from Heaven; Heaven takes it law from the Tao. The law of the Tao is its being what it is. A leader is best When people barely know he exists Of a good leader, who talks little, When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, They will say, “We did this ourselves.” The people suffer from famine because of the multitude of taxes consumed by their superiors. Only when the state is in disorder is there a need for patriotism. Life and death are one thread, the same line viewed from different sides. What makes me liable to great calamity is my having the body (which I call "myself"); if I had not the body, what great calamity could come to me?” Nature does not play favourites, it regards its creations without sentimentality. Therefore the wise person also acts in this way. When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you To lead people walk behind them Without stirring abroad, One can know the whole world; Without looking out of the window One can see the way of heaven. The further one goes, the less one knows Always be on the lookout for ways to turn a problem into an opportunity for success (and I thought I was original with “in times of crisis, when other people just see problems, I see opportunities”)

My path has touched on many different philosophies, with Taosim being the first one which fitted my way of thinking Wu Wei The method of following the Tao is called Wu Wei. This can be translated as uncontrived action or natural non-intervention. Wu Wei is sometimes translated as non-action, but this wrongly implies that nothing at all gets done. When nothing is done, nothing is left undone. Wu Wei means living by or going along with the true nature of the world - or at least without obstructing the Tao - letting things take their natural course. So Taoists live lives of balance and harmony. They find their way through life in the same way that a river flowing through the countryside finds its natural course. The world is a spiritual vessel, and one cannot act upon it; one who acts upon it destroys it. This doesn't stop a person living a proactive life but their activities should fit into the natural pattern of the universe, and therefore need to be completely detached and disinterested and not ego-driven. Perfect activity leaves no track behind it; perfect speech is like a jade worker whose tool leaves no mark. This implies that Taoists take an attitude akin to Voltaire's (satirically intended) doctrine that "All is for the best in this best of all possible worlds." And certainly pure Taoism requires individuals to live on the basis that the world is working properly, and that they therefore should not interfere with it.

There has been a lot of press comment about Dover this week, so I thought I would soften the issue with a bit of culture. This poem written in 1867 by Matthew Arnold first came to my attention when Carl Sagan quoted the penultimate verse in his book "The Pale Blue Dot". It really appealed to me and I sought out the full poem. The sea is calm tonight. The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straits; on the French coast the light Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. Come to the window, sweet is the night-air! Only, from the long line of spray Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land, Listen! you hear the grating roar Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling, At their return, up the high strand, Begin, and cease, and then again begin, With tremulous cadence slow, and bring The eternal note of sadness in. Sophocles long ago Heard it on the Ægean, and it brought Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow Of human misery; we Find also in the sound a thought, Hearing it by this distant northern sea. The Sea of Faith Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled. But now I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Retreating, to the breath Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear And naked shingles of the world. Ah, love, let us be true To one another! for the world, which seems To lie before us like a land of dreams, So various, so beautiful, so new, Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; And we are here as on a darkling plain Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, Where ignorant armies clash by night.

I started getting interested in comparative religion when I was in my teens - eventually settling on Taoism as being the closest to what I personally believed. I was always keen to get to the far east when I was with Shell, as I thought it would be good to be in a Buddhist country to see for myself how it was practiced. As is the way of all poorly-articulated wishes, I did get a transfer to the far east, but to a Muslim country - and one where they actually took my books on Buddhism out of my luggage. Not that that was anything unusual, as they also took the books on Islam out as well "in case they were wrongly written or the wrong type". I think I´ve mentioned elsewhere how I managed to recover the books as it transpired that my boss´s wife worked in the dept of religious affairs where they were responsible for checking the myriad documents and recording they had intercepted. Luckily she managed to get the books back to me on the condition "that they were immediately re-exported". Yeah, right. Anyway, the big problem (for me) with Buddhism is reincarnation. Some people might think that it would be good to come back again (especially the loony Yanks with their head frozen in a box), but I have always thought that it would be anything but wonderful. For a start, the essence of Buddhism is that you strive to get to a stage where you are not reincarnated, but that is very very difficult and there are no (well, very few) short cuts. This means, and depending upon the Karma you build up, you keep returning to earth as someone else in order to get your soul moved forward an inch on the eternal motorway to nirvana. It gets worse - you could actually regress and come back as some thing else if you are a complete a*****e. (Not much chance for you then I hear you say). Now coming back as some animals could be perfect (or in my case purrfect) as any of our cats have the proverbial "life of riley". Problem is, you could easily come back as one of the Jezzers (not too bad) or the feral ones around the village (but getting fed), but then down the ladder it could be a rat, spider, roach - what you will. Now no-one seems to be particularly concerned about linear time-lines in all this. We can´t all be being reborn at a later stage, or the world would be full of saints getting better and a*****s getting worse. There would be many "in-between" as seems to be the case. My theory, and chief worry, is that time does´t exist in the karmic card game and that you can be reborn in a previous era. All the people who claim to have seen previous lives tend to focus on their having been Attila the Hun or Florence Nightingale - you don´t get many who remember being a smelly peasant - but they all tend to be in the past. Funny no-one comes out saying "in a future life I am a corporate banker" (or whatever else you can imagine as a downgrade). Anyway, I have this secret fear. I have always worried that I might get reborn as Leonardo da Vinci, but that I just don´t have the answers the job demands. To this end, I have been stoking my brain up with all manner of technical bits and pieces (what G calls useless trivia). It is thus almost a religious duty to watch "How Things Work", "Wheeler Dealers", "One man and his shed" (ok, I made that one up), etc., just in case I get reborn as a supposed genius and inventor (who is really just another retro-rebirth who happens to remember some of the stuff from the future). I reckon that I´m pretty much at the stage where I could design a helicopter and probably create gunpowder. I could obviously discover America or Australia (on the other hand….) and I could definitely invent golf if I happened to be born in Leith. I might struggle to write Shakespeare, but I could spread a few good ideas to some struggling hacks and take all the credit for what they might develop. Electricity and magnetism are a almost shoe-in (and that without flying a kite in a thunderstorm). The internal combustion engine and carburettors are easy-peasy. I´m reading a book on quantum physics at present, so, whilst I might not quite fit into Einstein this week, I could start to think like Nils Bohr. The bottom line is that there does´t seem much point in being born again unless you can remember your previous existence and know what you did wrong or right. It´s all a bit unfair if you have to start to find out about improving yourself when you have already started to slip back down the greasy pole even from what you knew in the last existence - and all down to a few mistakes (your honor). Maybe I should have been a druid.

Private EV Shirt - Hertfordshire Regiment Watching the television tonight as they "commemorated" the start of the 1st World War, but I struggled to associate with the sentiments - especially as the "even handed" BBC were giving equal billing to the Germans. Did they really die for that? My grandmother would be turning in her grave - 70 years a widow with a child to bring up after her husband was killed in the final month of the war. Robert Fisk, the journalist, wrote that it was all unnecessary now that all the combatants were dead, therefore the "fallen" would all be dead anyway if they hand´t been immortalized by being killed at a young age. I disagree. I have always said it takes at least 3 generations to forgive - and I am only the third, so still remember my grandmother´s first-hand recollection and attitude. In fact I am still second generation in some ways, as my father had sisters the same age as my mother´s mother - and they were all spinsters as "there weren´t many men of their age around after the war". My mother never knew (or remembered) her father, which was one of the cruellest things. She was taken to his grave in France when she was 3 or 4 (I think there were some specially organized trips for that sort of thing), but it was still just a small wooden cross when she went. I guess I will see the standard white tombstone when I do eventually make my promised trip to Awoingt cemetery. For grandfather´s sake, here is another record. Somehow the local newspaper had a photo of him, but it isn´t one in our records - there is only the one seen here. The middle item is the data from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website. The medal was a small gold football medal my grandfather won in 1914. My grandmother wore it all her life, then my mother afterwards. Now it is in my safe. I also have a small wooden box my grandmother kept all her life. Inside is the telegram from the war office, with the news of her husband´s death. There are some postcards from France, plus a number from various places in the UK; a couple of handkerchiefs, some beads and the original photograph and copy of the article from the newspaper; some little buttons and lapel badges and a "peace" medal. I think the commemerative plaque was thrown in the local canal - along with the "action" medals. Imagine how incredibly sad it must have been for her as everyone was celebrating the end of the war, but her husband was killed 10 days before it ended. More poignant, that fact that it is quite possible she only got the news after the war was declared over. They may have given their future for us, but I´m not sure this is the sort of world they hoped to bequeath to us. I respect his memory, but mainly feel incredible sadness for my grandmother´s lifetime as a war-widow. When the pension finally gave her slightly more than a pittance, the government taxed her on it - and that after reneging on promise made as part of the war-loans. I always thought the saddest thing was that she was one of the people selling poppies for Remembrance Sunday - whilst she appreciated the company and support provided by the British Legion, I think that she had already contributed more than her share. If you´ve never heard it, listen to the Fureys singing "The Green Fields of France" which is as good a commentary on the futility of it all as I can think of. Politicians had (and have) a lot to answer for in the way they take the naivety, patriotism and lust for travel and excitement of young men and twist it all for their own futile ends.

A couple of days ago, I received a bit of a shock when I was in the basement shower room. A shock not from water or electricity you understand, rather a loud "thump" from behind me. On turning, I discovered that the door had fallen off its hinges. On further inspection, it turned out that the topmost of the three "bisagras" had snapped, the middle one was partially missing and the lower one was (failing to) take all the (not inconsiderable) weight of the door - and letting it down against the floor. I left it to its own devices for a couple of hours while I mused on the problem over a cup of tea, then went to do battle - more in hope than expectation that I could fix it. I took the remnants of the broken hinge off and took a photo (annotated with size and spanish name you see) then gave it a good looking at . After much "persuasion" (grips, pliers, hammer, vice and "drift") I managed to get the little cap off and discovered that it housed a (at one time removeable) steel pin. Now I would not put a steel pin in brass, nor would I fit "interference fit" caps on such a device, but it was obvious that the pin and the brass had more-or-less fused, resulting in metal fatigue on the mounting. I lambasted (almost flagellated) myself for being (irre)responsible for the poor maintenance of the hinge, but, in all honesty, and while I regularly oil the outside hinges, it never occurred to me that the door hinges would need oiling or greasing (but logically if any where to need it, it would be the ones on the door of the shower room we use daily). "luckily (ok, by great skill), I managed to take the hinge from the centre of the three (unused as no pin(??) and replace the top one with that. Chuffed was not the word, especially when SWMBO remarked on how well the (oiled) door now worked. She had naffed off shopping to Gib today, so I took myself to the hardware store in the centre of the village, run by a little guy named "Antonio" and various members of his family. This is the shop where I purchased a bunch of supposedly "unobtainable" replacement light switches, so I was pinning my hope on his backroom cave. No Antonio, but his wife looked at my photo and guessed at my poor spanish requirements - then disappeared into the cave . while I waited--- and waited. Then she reappeared with a box of said hinges, even the correct manufacturer. Then she threw me a curve ball. "Estas son por la derecha, correcto?) Shazbats - the bloody things are "sided" - and right was wrong. Back to cave for a few more minutes, then reappears with another box of left-sided ones. Brilliant! Bought two of each, as I like to be prepared (and one hinge hardly justified the effort she had put in). Flushed with success, even manged to source some bulbs for the cooker-hood, then went merrily on my way, musing on the proportion of left or right opening doors we had. But.... Decided to fit the new hinge (L or R) when I got home. Bit of a struggle to get it to bed into the cut-outs and then discovered why it had not been in use. The "barrel" was too tight on the door and put the door ever-so-slightly out of line - resulting in it not closing properly. Bodged a fitting to make it look ok and gave up. Carpentry not in the brief for today. ... and I think the left / right stuff is purely down to the holes being countersink on different side (so why not do both sides we wonder?)

There have been dozens of books I have bought - and lots I have actually read(!) - but none more influential on me than The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra. Published back in the seventies, it is his attempt to match the basics of eastern thinking (especially on religion) and the (then) evolving field of quantum physics. It may sound pretty contrived, but the similarities are absolutely amazing and have stayed in my mind ever since I read it. I have a few more of his, "Web of Life", "Uncommon Wisdom" and "The Turning Point", but none so influential as "The Tao of Physics Paramahansa Yogananda wrote "Autobiography of a Yogi" and it is an absolute stunner. His description of his early life and awakening, followed by becoming one of the most revered Yogis is actually a very readable story, but with the most mind-blowing "psychic" incidents dotted throughout the book. I´ve read it a couple of times, also some of the books written by others about him and his later followers. High on my list of people I would have loved to have met. Ram Dass is a typical (the typical) west-coast hippy-trippy professor. He did all the mind-expanding drugs with the likes of Leary, but went the whole hog with the Indian mysticism trip and converted to the extent of even changing his name from Richard Alpert to Ram Dass. I picked up his "How Can I Help" in the early 90´s (it even has a Singapore / Brunei boarding pass as a bookmark), then spent nearly 20 years trying to get a copy of his seminal work "Be Here Now" - seemingly long out of print, but appearing on Kindle a few months ago. I also have print copies of "Still Here" and "The Only Dance There Is". Good stuff. David Bohm is another writer on my long-time list, with his book "Wholeness and the Implicate Order" in my "hunt for" list since Singapore-times. A combination scientist (mainly influenced by Einstein) and philosopher (influenced by Krishnamurti and the Dalai Lama), he is another one looking at eastern philosophy and quantum physics to try to understand consciousness. Certainly harder-going than Capra, but worth the effort Karen Armstrong is a writer I found in the last few years - and one who specialises in producing very readable tomes about different religions. Her "History of God" is a great starting-point for an understanding of the Middle-eastern" religions, whilst her "Battle for God" gives a real insight into the fundamentalism that seems to have been causing problems for a long, long time. In a similar vein, Bernard Lewis´s "Crisis of Islam" is a really good way of understanding the Sunni / Shia schism that is causing most of the problems in the world right now. Amit Goswami has written a number of books, but I specifically liked his"The Self-Aware Universe: How Consciousness Creates the Material World" in which he expounds on Monistic Idealism v Cartesian Dualism of mind and matter. Since René Descartes divided reality into two separate realms—mind and matter—many people have tried to rationalize the causal potency of conscious minds within Cartesian dualism. Science, nevertheless, presents compelling reasons to doubt that a dualistic philosophy is tenable: In order for the worlds of mind and matter to interact, they must exchange energy, yet we know that the energy of the material world remains constant. Surely, then, there is only one reality. Here is the catch 22: If the one reality is material reality, consciousness cannot exist except as an anomalous epiphenomenon. The Monistic Idealism philosophy, instead of positing that everything (including consciousness) is made of matter, posits that everything (including matter) exists in and is manipulated from consciousness. Basically, that is Adviata Vedanta Ramesh S Balseker has a "mixed" reputation (to say the least), but his book " A Net of Jewels" has a huge number of beautiful little aphorisms, each of which can which can keep your mind occupied and centred. That is one I have on my phone as an e-book Ming-Dao Deng has a similar book with it laid out as offering some wise words for each day of the year and entitled "365 Tao: Daily Meditations".Another one I have on my phone as an e-book

Well, All-Saints went off very quietly - much quieter than usual, although whether that was due to covid or the 3-day weekend which allowed people to schedule visits more easily. That and the regular large taxi-buses from the village. As it was such a beautiful day, we cleaned both patios - which also gave us a good view of anyone going to the cemetery on foot. I was trying to pull apart the left-over pallets to make kindling (astillas in spanish), but had to be a bit careful as it is a “holy day” regarding work noise. G, the clockwork mouse, decided to paint all the back-wall pillar-tops (probably as they hadn´t been touched for nearly 20 years. Late on a wusser came up over the “cat-rescue” wall (so called as Deneta used to go over it then squawk until we put over a ladder for her to get back). Today´s cat must have been some athlete. Phoned a pal in Mijas golf and he told me he had taken his friend to airport and (unsurprisingly) reported very quite - people and flights. The second was very misty below - always a beautiful sight that demands photos. Ignoring the view, I got to work with the electric saw and a crowbar and turned one pallet into firelighters. Thence mowed lawn and cleaned pool edges with new trick- bought a plastic squeezy bottle of acid and squirted it onto tiles, then hosed them off. Seems effective. I had to replace the new ends on the hose after the “new” one fell off and soaked me. Such is life. G has taken a liking to the rotary clothes line we used during the building work - but seems to have as much trouble with that as I do hose-ends. I fancy putting a tower wind turbine there, but it will have to be at least 5 metres and day-glo coloured for full effect. Called my electrical man, but he is only into solar. A bit like talking to Shell planners - always on wrong energy path. The next morning it was misty again and G was a bit put out to be in sunny upland clothes in a cold fog down in the boondocks. I contented myself with a first coat of paint on the repaired wall patches. As the forecast was for heavy rain, we put fertiliser on the orchard and plants - and that was enough to put the rain off. We both got a few flu-ish symptoms and put them down to the recent jab (we hope). Anyway, the rain did arrive overnight, accompanied by a full Trollenberg (as we call a heavy low-cloud). That should wash most of the 15/15/15 in. My builder finally came for his pay and I was delighted he only added 150€ for all the mods and additions. Good guy, good work and good workmen. I convinced G that another lockdown was probably coming, so she rescheduled her hair appointment for today. My web man is still telling me he will sort out the website “this weekend”. Hmmm. A Black redstart came and sat on the rejas in front of one of my cameras - he got a selfie (well, I got one of him). They stay for a few weeks at this time of year and are very cute This one also seems to like the new top patio and stands atop the corner pillar to survey his domain. As the redstart arrived, so more money departed. The taxmen taking his second tranche at dawn on the designated day. Death, taxes and passerine redstarts hey? Quite a windy night, but with a warm wind from the east. G got me to set up zoom for some volunteers meeting she had been conned into by the hospice, but it turned out to be the annual presentation. She had to sit there for 90 minutes, bored out of her tree as the camera was on her! Her trip to feed puss yielded the news that the heavy drilling equipment in the valley above the stable had been taken away. It was only a low level rumble, but constant for nearly 7 months and accompanied by a stink of diesel fumes as they started it up at 8 in the morning. I joined a new (to me) global website to share info on wildlife. I put up photos of the brown hairy bugs we have seen on and off for many years and was informed within hours that they were fake firebugs. Can´t say I have ever seen the beetles they turn in to, but there you go. After the winds, had to clean patios of dust, but rewarded myself with a trip to the Niño for a coffee and chupito. Now even less tables and no standing at the bar. Covid really is death by a thousand cuts for bars. Juan is defintely worried they will get worse in the next few days and possibly force him to close. We watched the Festival of Remembrance on tv and I finally (3rd attempt) managed to get the Legion site to accept my donation. I tell them not to communicate, but this year they sent me a card with poppies inside. Nice but a waste of their (my) donation. G upset as helf her electric blanket is not working. I took the second control to my workshop and eventually managed to pull it apart (why do they bother with those stupid triangular screwheads?). I had to make the screw-driver first! Anyway, proved the controller is kn……..d, so her tribal name is now “half-blanket”. Half blanket, half hot water bottle, to give her her full title. We went to the Niño, mainly to give him some support. Only 4 pairs of diners and all others spanish. That is a first On Sunday, we watched the Remembrance service. My wood supplier actually contacted me to see if a I wanted to place an order. His salesmanship got him 110€ worth of business. One of G´s pals has had a problem with her cooking facilities, so bought her a pressure cooker online. It arrived within 36 hours. Between order and delivery, hear that municipal lockdowns / border closures are upon us again for a fortnight, with restaurants to close at 1800. Why even open? The firewood and pressure-cooker arrived almost simultaneously on Monday morning. The wood guy is great as he brings it in one cubic metre bags and swings them from his lorry onto a pallet truck - thence to our wood store - all in moments. Last year he was whinging about coming all the way up here for a couple of bags, but due to his tele-sales work, his lorry was fully loaded and he was a happy bunny. A pal ´phoned me to ask what sort of iPhone I fancied (or, more accurately, what he should buy). Seeing as it is VAT-free, it seemed silly not to take advantage of his offer of one for me too - so spent £1000 to save £200. Something amiss with my maths there. The next task I had set my self was to oil the chairs on the top patio (having humped them up there from where the wood store now is). Actually a pleasant task and they look fabulous, despite being pretty old. (With thanks to my old and late golfing pal Winalot* for repairing them). While I was up on the patio, found a large weird beetle on its back. Turned it over to help it, only to note that as it quickly flew away that it was a (very large) palm weevil beetle. A pest to be eradicated really, not freed from a rollover. I may not have mentioned too frequently my current alcohol free diet(!), but heading for one week and seeing the effects - if only when I go to the recycling and dont have any bottles! A friend tried to lure me to the Niño for a “coffee”, but I demurred as I was making lentil soup (how are the mighty fallen). Somehow managed to miss the England rugby game as it was supposedly in Amazon - not sure why that is. Amazon good in some ways though, as aordered a case for new phone on Fri and they actually delivered it on Sunday. Wow! Saturday was dull and damp, but the forecast is good for a couple of week, so Indian summer here we come. Sometimes the south of spain is a good place to live. * Named Winalot as his initials were PAL and he used to win a lot of our money too

Talking on the ´phone to an old friend who is one of the few people I know who is actually interested in religion / spirituality / Buddhism - and who actually is prepared to discuss things. Recently started to try to get a "conversation" going - initially on this web page, then on e-mail, but now on ´phone - and all despite her living in US and being 8 hours out of (my) sync. We joked about the Shell system as we knew it 30 years ago, when "they" used to circulate "the wisdom of the centre" in 50-page booklets generated by experts on various (generally IT-related) topics. It took me a while back then, but eventually I ´sussed that the booklets usually had a couple of good ideas, but then were padded out to create enough "bumf" to become a standard-size circular. I reckon I became quite adept at spotting the critical points (or "nuggets" of wisdom) and we were laughingly discussing that yesterday. While we were talking, I was going through my usual routine of slagging-off most of the people I run across ("you´ve really got a bad word for everyone" as my brother once said), but Sharon then said she thought most people actually had that "nugget" inside them if you were prepared to look for it. Quite profound really - and does work even with my cynical thinking. (Unfortunately, I also discarded 90% of the "Shell bumf" without hunting for any nuggets, much as I do with people. A rapid interrogation of new faces, then an equally rapid discard if no signs of convergent interests or potential intellectual stimulation. (Don´t get me wrong, I rarely meet anyone new anyway). My "doesn´t suffer fools gladly" (thanks Malcolm) staff-report comment from the 70s that haunted my Shell career still holds true all these years later) As I lay awake early this morning, watching the moon go down (new curtains still in "pinned pleats" mode, so open all night), I realised that the "nuggets" concept also holds true for many other aspects of my life. In particular, relating to religion. Whilst Sharon is persevering (sorry S, maybe wrong word) with her search for enlightenment in Buddhism, I have been browsing on every religion and philosophy available, trying to find something that can explain my "road to Nottingham" vision / enlightenment. Basically I realised that I am looking through the "religious booklets" looking for the nuggets that inevitably are contained within them (but in similar vein, I have always believed that religions are 99% bumf and ritual anyway). My search has taken me through most of the standard western religions, most of the eastern ones and a few esoteric pathways too. From most of them I have gleaned something along the way - not necessarily actual nuggets , but often a pointer to the next place to look. My current " obsession" / interest in Stanlety Sobottka´s work on consciousness has led me to his trigger - a work "I am That" by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj - basically both point to Advaita Vedanta as the ultimate truth. So I am (currently) quite happy investigating the concept that only consciousness really exists! That certainly narrows down the field of research. Now to go out and search for some nuggets in other contexts.

The following is a list of all the books I have relating to religion, philosophy and various other (slightly esoteric!) matters. I am always amazed at what I managed to buy while we were in the far east - not Brunei where they confiscated my Islamic books from our freight! - but actually from he "Times" bookstore in Singapore where I bought most of them, then just didn´t bother declaring them on returning to Brunei. ... and the number of the books that have SIngapore to Brueni boarding passes as bookmarks still amazes me

I have written before about the state of the Apple iPhone market and my personal belief that the iPhone 6s was the pinnacle of development for people like me (possibly because almost everyone I know has one) and the fact that Apple´s development has concentrated on the camera aspects - pretty much to the detriment of everything else.. Well, I haven´t changed my opinion, but I have changed my phone. The rationale was that a pal rang asking me my opinion of the latest models, then offered to get me one at a discounted price (normally almost impossible). Not wanting to look a gift phone in the handset, I acquiesced - but then we waited nearly 5 weeks for delivery. I should point out that the only reason I did agrees, was because she herself opted to take over my old iphone - mainly due to its greater capacity (but also due to her having chipped here screen - an accident which is still awaiting an incident report). Anyway, said iPhone 12 Pro arrived yesterday and my pal dropped it off - and waited to see how long it would take me to screw it up or upgrade it. He left after about two hours and I was still at it. His naive assumption was that Apple´s claim of easy transition would work well - but experience tells me that is not so - especially as I do not back up to the icloud. Sure enough, "the put two phones close to each other" b***s**t just stalled after a while. Eventually I stopped the process and reverted to manual amendments. That was not too painful, but getting the old phone set up for G was another matter. It didn´t like the backup I was restoring, as there was not enough space (duh!), so I had to do a full reboot back to zero - then load up the operating system, then restore the backup, then update the bloody operating system, then remove all my apps which it had decided to keep, then set the options to G´s taste. Midnight came and went, but eventually all was well. This morning I received a despairing email form pal saying he had to re-enter all his banks details (and he has lots), but Barclays just wouldn´t work. Sure enough, when I checked, mine was the same. Two chip and pin machines later (did you know they have 4 little batteries in them?) and it was just about done on the third attempt. Managed to stop pal from committing Hara Kiri by talking him through the absolute garbage instructions from Barclays. We both now working ok, but he says he doesn´t want to clear-down the old one and give it to his wife as he is not confident he has all his information across.. Next he says it is very heavy. Suggest he goes and offers it in the street in Gib, as he would certainly make at least 100£ on what we paid - if he could carry the weight that far. Now to find out the cost of a screen on a 6s plus - I think it might have been cheaper to have gone down that route in the first place! (bu then the new 10x zoom camera does look pretty snazzy)

Paramahamsa - literally great swan as "hamsa" is swan and the image of advaita Advaita Vedanta (sometimes called ”pracanna bauddham" - buddhism in disguise specifically madhyamaka buddhism (the Middle Way) is a Mahayana Buddhist school) most prevalent in China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore and Vietnam, Advaita Vedanta (literally, "non-duality") is a school of Hindu philosophy, originally known as Puruṣavāda. It is a classic system of spiritual realization in Indian spiritual tradition, The term Advaita refers to the metaphysical concept that the true self, Atman, and the highest metaphysical reality of the universe, Brahman, are identical, and the phenomenal world is not ultimately or indisputably real. According to Advaita Vedanta, the ultimate bliss is the experience of non-difference between jivatma and paramatma, that is the small, individual self and the all pervading Brahman, the Self or Supreme Reality. Note the difference between awareness (infinite) and consciousness (personal) The Upanishads are a class of speculative prose treatises composed between the 8th and 6th centuries b.c. and first written a.d. c1300: they represent a philosophical development beyond the Vedas, having as their principal message the unity of Brahman and Atman. The Mahabharata (an epic poem of India dealing mainly with the conflict between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, with many digressions) includes the Bhagavad-Gita. Bhagavad Gita has the form of a dialogue between the hero Arjuna and his charioteer, the avatar Krishna, in which a doctrine combining Brahmanical and other elements is evolved. Brahmasutras (aka Vedanta Sutras) is the philosophical treatise of Vedanta that systematically lays out the philosophy of the Upanishads. It consists of 555 aphorisms across 4 chapters. Shankara (Sankaracharya) born in the 8th century AD is the great mystic, saint, poet and philosopher of Hindu reform. He formulated Advaita Vedanta and from his doctrines the main currents of modern Indian thought are derived Shankara said ”May this one sentence proclaim the essence of a thousand books, Brahman alone is real, the world is apearance, the Self is nothing but Brahman” There is a classic advaita analogy of someone waking and seeing a snake on the floor, a snake which is actually a piece of rope. Anxiety, repugnance, palpitations follow, but have been induced by a snake which was never born and will never die, but exists only in your mind. Once the rope is recognised in the light, it can never turn back into a snake. The error involves not knowing what is, but also the superimposition (vikshepa) of a notion that has nothing to do with what is. In our ignorance, we continually superimpose the manifest world (snake) on the rope (Brahman) Major teachers of Advait Vedanta include Swami Vivekananda, Paramahamsa Yogananda and Swami Sivananda Brahman is the supreme existence or absolute reality. It is conceived as eternal, conscious, irreducible, infinite, omnipresent, and the spiritual core of the universe Atman is the individual "soul" - the essence that is eternal, unchanging, and indistinguishable from the essence of the universe AvidyA is the inability to experience your deep connection to others, to the source of being, and to your true self Maya is the illusion that the world is as it is perceived via the senses: sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. It is the apparent reality of the material world. The term is closely related to avidya, the difference being that avidya is individual and maya is universal. Sat Chit Ananda - is a mantra of existence, consciousness, and bliss" or "truth, consciousness, bliss". Brahman is referred to as Sat-Chit-Ananda Sat or 'existence', chit is the knowing light of consciousness, found in each person's mind. Ananda' or 'happiness' or bliss Tat tvam asi - is one of the four prominent mahavakyas from Chandogya Upanishad meaning - I am that / That thou art. Aham Brahmasmi (Ahman (I) Brahman (whole) Asmi (am) as a mantra) is a term that is used in Hindu and yoga philosophy to describe the unity of the atman (individual self or soul) with Brahman (the Absolute). It is typically translated as "I am Brahman" or less literally as "I am divine." It reflects the ultimate goal of yoga - union with the higher Self.