Owner: Karma URL:http://karma-action.blogspot.com Join Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 18:15:33 -0500 Rating:1 Site Description: Personal blog reflecting on events, mostly from a Buddhist point of view. Also includes some reflections on politics, home improvements and anything else that takes my fancy. Links to my other blogs where I record poems, essays, short-stories and money Site statistics:Click here
Rosie Winterton and Vicky Pollard 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I was listening to the BBC Today program this morning. A spokesman for the Conservative Party was repeating a claim that hospital 'reconfiguration' (its a polite way of saying 'moving services 20 miles away') was being arranged on the basis of the voting habits in the constituency. So the claim is that if a hospital was in a Labour voting constituency then compelling reasons would be found for services to be retained, whereas if it is situated in a Conservative and Liberal Democrat area then logic would compel officials to move certain services (rather than those from an alternative hospital in a Labour area).One of the charges against the government over the war in Iraq was that a decision to go to war had been made and then officials were asked to find evidence to justify the decision. This is the opposite of logical, even-handed practice which is to balance the pros and cons and then arrive at a decision. Almost every choice in life has good aspects and bad. If you choose to com Read more:Rosie
, Pollard
Princess Diana - conspiracy vs tragic accident ... or? 1970-01-01 00:59:59 With the publication of the Lord Stevens report into the death of Diana
, Dodi Al Fayed and chauffeur Henri Paul it seems like the ashes of this long dead fire have to be raked over again. There seems to be the strange, and totally illogical, contrast created in the media between the conspiracy view on the one hand, and tragicaccident
view on the other. Just because there was no conspiracy does not mean it was an accident. Surely ever since the infamous Martin Bashir interview it has been obvious that Diana was an accident looking for places to happen. Unfortunately her last excess proved fatal. If anyone else had been killed in a speeding car, with a drunken driver and no seat belts would we be surprised? The very fact that the two people supposedly in charge of the situation (ie the people employing the chauffeur) quite happily got into the car when the chauffeur had been drinking suggests that it was a common event. She may have believed the fairy tale she tried to project, bu Read more:Princess
, Princess Diana
Lucy Beresford on Broadcasting House 1970-01-01 00:59:59 On Sunday morning's BroadcastingHouse
(BBC Radio4) one of the guests was Lucy Beresford, a psychotherapist.At one point she said, without a hint of being metaphorical, 'the brain is a muscle so it needs to be exercised'. Not only did she appear to believe this was true, she wasn't challenged by any of the other guests.I'm sure that she doesn't need to be factually accurate in her job about the nature of the brain. However it makes you wonder whether she tells clients any other pieces of blatent nonsense with the same aplomb.(c) Hal Westhead 2005
A special mention for Belgium 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I guess Belgium
has an image in the UK of being a rather boring place. Belgium is associated with chocolate, with Hercule Poirot and with being the place where European battles have been fought (and hence a vast number of war graves). When I was a kid it got a lot of mention in connection with the Belgian Congo, merceneries and a lot of horrific incidents in a far away place. (When you are a small kid and have never come across the word guerillas, the repeated use on TV of guerilla fighters in a jungle conjures up some very strange King Kong type images).So when I heard on the news that Belgium had leapt on to the world stage for a short while I was fascinated. Last week Belgian state television announced that the Dutch speaking chunk of Belgium had broken away from the country, and that the Royal family were fleeing the country. In effect they were announcing that Belgium had ceased to be. Half an hour later they announced that this was all fiction, but the damage had been done
Intention and Propulsion 1970-01-01 00:59:59 A long time ago when I was starting my A-level biology course one of the first things we covered was the nature of explanation in biology. It introduced me to the word teleology and to teleological explanation. Biology (and science generally) does not like teleological explanations.The trajectory of a bullet fired out of gun is determined by the direction the gun is pointing in, the force of the explosion of the propellant, prevailing wind and even such things as local gravity and air density (and many other physical factors to). It does not depend on the intention of the bullet to hit a certain target. It indirectly depends on the intentionality of the person firing the weapon (if there is one), but their intention is only effective via the physical conditions they create (aim, steadiness etc). So the bullet does not have any intention to hit a certain target, nor is it drawn to a certain target by being part of a grand plan. One seeks for explanation in what has gone before and up to Read more:Intention
Thoughts from the Shower 1970-01-01 00:59:59 What is it about showers and odd reflective thoughts? Maybe its just me ... but no, I know of other people who suddenly have ideas come to them in the shower. Maybe its not showers, maybe its water - possibly an explanation of why the Greeks were so much into philosophy.Anyway, back the main plot.One of the interesting puzzles about the early universe is to do with why the universe is lumpy now. The universe comes in planets, stars, galaxies, dust clouds, quasars and all manner of strange objects - plus the very significant but equally shy dark matter and dark energy. Now if the original expansion was uniform and from a uniform 'something' where does all the current lumpiness come from? You only need the slightest deformity to start the cascade from uniform dispersion into the present lumpy state (metaphorically, a bit like seeding clouds).Now this all relates to a similar line of thinking within Buddhism, except in this case the subject matter is not the dispersion of matter in Read more:Shower
I received a Christmas Card in this envelope toda... 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I received a Christmas
Card in this envelope today. I didn't even look at it at first. I just opened it and took the card out. It was only when I was collecting the stamps off the envelopes (for charity recycling) that it struck me as odd. The card had come from a Scottish couple living in North London - so why was there an Eisteddfod stamp on it? Then I thought, 'That`s a funny value - 81/2p'. Still it hadn't clicked that half-pennies were abolished a long time ago. And then I noticed that the stamp was celebrating the 800th anniversary of the Eisteddfod in 1976. This stamp has been languishing in a drawer somewhere for 30 years. I wonder what year the Lifeboat one was issued.I see the post office carefully avoided franking the stamp with a a 2006 date - or is that just coincidence because the card is more or less square and went through their automated system at the wrong orientation.(c) Hal Westhead 2005
Causality, Co-production and fragrant red-heads 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Above is one version of the very famous figure-ground 'illusion'. It is not so much an illusion as an ambiguous figure. If you focus your attention on one part for a while it remains stable as a chalice. If you focus elsewhere it remains stable as two silhouettes looking at each other. If you stare long enough at one part you perception will flip between the two interpretations.Two wiggly lines cut that chunk of space into three apparent objects. On a much bigger and more inclusive scale that is the way Buddhism looks at the world in the idea of 'conditioned co-production'. (It is, in a more metaphorical sense, similar to Newton's Third law of motion - for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction). Whenever you produce something you also produce a second 'thing' consisting of all the remains after removing the first part. Every time we cut the universe in two by giving a name to a 'this' we have also created a 'that' (but probably not given a name to it). In the Read more:fragrant
Jehovah converts to Buddhism 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I saw this cartoon (from Vince O'Farrell, The Illawarra Mercury) on Beliefnet. Hardly subtle but gave me a wry smile.(c) Hal Westhead 2005 Read more:Buddhism
Sign seen in Occupational Health Department 1970-01-01 00:59:59 It's sad I didn't get a photo of this one.When I visited the Occupational Health
department of a local hospital a few years ago I noticed the sign on the back of the entrance. The message has stayed with me ever since:Your lack of planning is not my emergency.(c) Hal Westhead 2005 Read more:Department
Shirley Black Temple and Santa Claus 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Quote from ShirleyBlackTemple
:"I stopped believing in SantaClaus
when I was 6. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph."Supplied courtesy of EFT Insights Newsletter.(c) Hal Westhead 2005 Read more:Santa Claus
Erotic Furniture - you couldn't make it up 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Well I guess nothing ought to surprise me. Day by day I encounter the strange creations of the human spirit on the pages of the internet. But every now and again one encounters something that stops you in your tracks. Like this ... You don't have to look too closely to get the general theme of the table. I wonder what would be an appropriate use for this table. Is it designed to be sturdy enough for the weight of two (or more) people on top? Or perhaps a conversation starter at the WI. What is even more interesting is that it is actually very closely based on a much older design ... (c) Hal Westhead 2005 Read more:Furniture
Boxing Day and another Earthquake in SE Asia 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I'd guess that most people can remember the Earthquake
and the consequent Tsunami from Boxing Day 2005. If you were religiously inclined you might suppose that some diety or other didn't hear the message of 'good will to all men' for the Solstice Season.Blow me if it didn't happen again this year. There was a major undersea earthquake off the coast of Taiwan on Boxing Day 2006. This one didn't hit the headlines quite so much because its major effect was to break an optical communications cable and consequently destroy a lot of communication in the South East Asia
region. Major internet disruption. Major electronic banking disruption.And two people died.All much less 'photogenic' than the 2005 Tsunami, but nonetheless a major impact on life in the area one year on.(c) Hal Westhead 2005
This Life + 10 - excellent and so depressing 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Back at the beginning of December I was distinctly wary of the 'This Life + 10' reunion. Of course that caution was based on the American idea of what a Christmas TV special is like. What they came up with was televisually brilliant, but I also found it profoundly depressing
.Amita Dhiri looked a little older but still absolutely stunning. Unsurprisingly the rest of the cast also looked less fresh faced (except for the new-comers, the fly-on-the wall video documentary maker and the predatory trophy wife). What was depressing though was not the aging - natural and to be expected - but how the characters were still essentially stuck in the tar-pit of the life scripts which they had inhabited ten years previously. The program ends on the appearance of them all having breakthroughs, but I was not convinced. Since the original program had a continuing thread of the therapist/confessor - very 1990s - that the reunion was supposed to act as a kind of 'closure' to the previous chapter Read more:excellent
Arationals, Achristians and other silly terms. 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I was reading an article earlier today on the rise of secularism in the USA. Unfortunately I didn't bookmark the link and I've now lost all contact with the article - such is the nature of random findings on the internet.The article made some very good points - particularly in relation to the political strength of the US god-squad.However it, along with many other articles I've come across, used the term atheist several times in a very loose way.Atheist is a very unhelpful word. It tells you practically nothing about the stance of a person or a group. To theists this one characteristic might be the most important one there is to know, but to non-theists it somewhere down with favourite colour and top holiday destination. For instance saying that someone has a strong belief in God could imply that they are pacificist, a believer in just war, a believer in matyrdom for their faith or a believer that non-believers should be eradicated in all out war. It is no predicator of morali
Hoping for a cheerful 2007 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Somebody clearly has a very cheerful and optimistic 2007 in mind. They've just bought "Revelation: its grand climax is at hand." from my online bookstore.This is a Watch Tower (ie Jehovah's Witnesses) production. The people who illustrate their books deserve credit for their imagination. I do enjoy flicking through publications to glance at the illustrations. I think it is partly fuelled by nostalgia - a return to childhood. The most wonderfully literal and bizarre illustration in this book is that of the Pearly Gate: it is a huge pearl in a kind of pendant/necklace setting that seems to roll up and down in front of a gate in a rather Byzantine style wall, with a Hebrew inscription over the wall.It is worth noting that Marcion (one of the early, but deprecated, Christian church reformers) was of the view that Jehovah (Yahweh) was not the god that Christ was reputed to be the son of but rather some kind of powerful but flawed demonic entity. Allowing myself the luxury of wild sp
"Cursed" - well not quite 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I was approaching the checkout of a supermarket a couple of days ago when the Supervisor called over to the young woman working on the checkout. I assume that the young woman on the checkout was called Kirsty. It's a nice enough name until it is shortened, as it was in the this case, to 'Kirst'. It can't do a person any good to have people calling them 'cursed' all the time.(c) Hal Westhead 2005
Democracy and arithmetic 1970-01-01 00:59:59 How many votes would make 1+1 equal something other than 2?No matter if every person on the planet could be induced to vote to change the value of 1+1, its value would not change. Voting and opinions would not and cannot change demonstrable fact.Until a thing becomes demonstrable then opinon based on limited evidence is as good a guide as anything else. However if that opinion is presented and promoted as fact then it is a kind of poison. it distorts thinking and inhibs the search for actual fact (why search for what has, in pretense, been found).But what of matters where considerable technical knowledge is required to know the facts, and to understand the implications of observation? Then people continue to express opinion in the face of observation which contradict the opinions.Ultimately there is always a sort of voting process. The power of rational argument has to sway minds. it is because there are so many ways to demonstartye the usefulness and applicability of "1+1=2" that
Wake not the dead - Tieck 1970-01-01 00:59:59 This weekend just gone I read quite a few vampire stories, all for the first time.The first I read was Johann Tieck's 'Wake Not the Dead'. I'd been reading it very, very slowly as my bedside book for a couple of weeks but finding it incredibly hard going. It is the first vampire story published in English (in 1800), and the English style is tortured at the beginning of the story. I decided to sit down and dive in. Maybe I just got used to the style, or maybe it actually does get easier, but I found myself getting immersed in the story.I think it would make an excellent film. (Oddly enough this year a film is coming out called 'Don't Wake the Dead' but it isn't remotely similar - well ok, both in Germany and both about bringing back the dead). One of the other Tieck vampire stories, Leonor, has been made into a film quite a while ago.Socerers, vampires and flighty German noblemen with dismal castles - perfect gothic horror.(c) Hal Westhead 2005
Gay rights and individual freedoms 1970-01-01 00:59:59 There were protests yesterday over the attempt to introduce a piece of legislation - Equality Act (Sexual Orientation). The intention of this legislation is to prohibit certain forms of discrimination, such as refusing a hotel room to a sharing gay couple. The attempt in the House of Lords to block the legislation was defeated.I imagine that this, like most pieces of legislation introduced by the New Labour administration, has been poorly drafted and rushed through - good news for the lawyers. An implication of that is probability that the law will be full of unintended consequences, so that the assurances of the politicians about what it will prohibit and won't prohibit will be utterly worthless.Most of the protesters are protesting on religious grounds (chiefly Christian). This obscures the most obvious reason for protesting about this piece of legislation: personal freedoms
. This is another area of choice in which government legislation is replacing the right of two parties to Read more:Gay rights
'Identity' .... brilliant film 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Last night I didn't set out to watch a film, but once I started watching Identity I was hooked. In the film it appears that a group of people have all become stranded in a remote Nevada motel in a torrential downpour. They can't escape because the roads are flooded. The can't communicate because there is no cell reception and the phone-line is down. At one point it seems they simply can't escape because the just end up back at the motel. It is also quite clear from early on that the people are not who they seem. Without giving too much away, it turns out that most of the film is part of the fantasy of an off-screen character (well isn't that the truth about every film really).One theory (in the very speculative sense) about and a way of interpreting dreams is to view everything within them as aspects of the dreamer. The dreamer personifies parts of his/her self as characters and objects in the dream. There is a remote tribe (East Indies I think) that has been doing this for
Selling off Buddhism Books 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I decided last weekend that it was time to sell off some of the Buddhism
books I've not read for a long time, never likely to read, or could simply go to a better owner. One or two of the books are not explicitly Buddhist but do contain strong Buddhist themes.Below is a list of all the books I'm getting rid of:Buddhism booksAuthorTitleISBNPublishYear(Nagabodhi), Terry PilchickJai Bhim!: Dispatches from a Peaceful Revolution [Paperback] by Pilchick...0904766365A Irwin Switzer III D.T. Suzuki. A BiographyB000ML0RBE1985Anon.FWBO Puja Book: A Book of Buddhist Devotional Texts [Paperback] by...09047661521984SangharakshitaThree Jewels0-904766-05-51977Blakiston, HilaryBut little dust: Life amongst the ex-untouchables of Maharashtra1-85571-010-21990Ch'en, Kenneth Kuan ShengBuddhism in China0-691-00015-81972Chang, Garma C.C.The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa Volume One0-87773-095-41977Chang, Garma C.C.The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa, Vol. 20-87773-096-21977Chushin Passmore (ed) Read more:Books
A death in the family 1970-01-01 00:59:59 About 8.30 this morning I got a call from my cousin to say that my uncle had died. It was not unexpected. I'd got a call yesterday to say that he was very ill and was now suffering organ failure.He had fought in World War II in Burma, as part of Britain forgotten army out there. He had been involved in the siege of Imphal and when he returned back to the UK he was in a very bad state, but then he went on to live a long and happy life. He was one of the kindest of men and with his passing a light has gone from the world. I loved seeing him when I was a child, and learned to appreciate his generosity and kindness as I got older. However we are all mortal and he was well advanced in years. He remained clear in his mind until the last few hours and his illness was short.He will be missed.(c) Hal Westhead 2005 Read more:death
Green Lantern, Amoghasiddhi and the Bodhisattva Vow 1970-01-01 00:59:59 When I was walking back home from town today an odd line of reflection occurred to me.When I was in junior school and DC comics were the must-have collectable of the pre-teen boys, my favourite hero was GreenLantern
. I collected the Green Lantern
comics, and there was just one shop in town that sold them. Sadly I must have got rid of them years and years ago - they'd probably be quite collectable now.It struck me as I walked along how there was a sort of parallel between the Green Lantern vow/oath (each Green Lantern on their respective worlds could choose their own vow) and the Vows of Bodhisattvas within Mahayana Buddhism.It then struck me that my own affinity to Amoghasiddhi was perhaps a continuation of my original attraction to Green Lantern - or perhaps they are both expressions of something that pre-dates them both and which I have yet to remember. Unlike Amida whose vow is famous (and the basis of all Pure Land practice) I don't think Amoghasiddhi is particularly renowned
Exchanging self with other 1970-01-01 00:59:59 The expression 'putting yourself in someone else`s shoes' has a practicaly application in the Buddhist practice of exchanging self with other. This can be practiced at various levels but most simply it is just reflecting on an action or event with you as the other person. Really trying to be in their shoes.I have an interest which isn't really particularly Buddhist (beyond the 'knowing all dharmas' injunction) but to which exchanging self for other applies in a rather specific way. The interest is in how people see and feel about recent history. What I mean is this: I wasn't alive when WWII ended or when King George VI died and I only know of them through words and images. However I was alive and aware when Aberfan happened and when the first Sputnik circled the earth and I feel very differently about the way I know them. It is as though these latter happenings are more real to me. Some people find that they become immersed in a subject and begin to feel that things that
'King Arthur' - a disappointment 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I watch the 2004 'King Arthur
' film on DVD last night. I'd look forward to seeing it and been seduced by the trailers on TV. At the end I could barely believe that so much potential could be so dismally wasted. I've written a long comment on IMDB so I'm not going to say much here.Given a choice between a couple of hours of ironing or watching 'King Arthur
' again I'd have to choose the ironing.Stellan Skarsgaard is the one redeeming feature - brilliant and menacing as the leader of the Saxons.(c) Hal Westhead 2005
Jade, Racism, Multiculturalism and Discrimination 1970-01-01 00:59:59 There have been some rather strange comments about Jade Goody and Big Brother recently. Surely no one expects sense to come from the mouth of Jade - do they? Now what '-ism' is that reflecting? Just because we don't have a word for it doesn't mean its not a thought powered more by prejudice than awareness of the person.How can there be multi-culturalism without discrimination? How can I acknowledge the different traditions and values of another social grouping without making a discrimination? If I don't discriminate (ie recognize a difference) then I must surely expect others to have exactly my values.It's a funny thing with cultural values. Do I assume that an adult has chosen to accept them, in which case they are responsible for the values they follow, or I do I assume that they are mindlessly accepting whatever came before, in which case I have no reason to respect those values (because they are simply habits both good and bad). Just because a culture does something Read more:Racism
, Multiculturalism
, Discrimination
Funeral 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Yesterday was my Uncle's Funeral
.The place where the cremation took place was a bit over an hour away over hills, and the night before we had the first snowfall of the winter. Fortunately the snow wasn't too heavy, the roads were pretty clear and we arrived with time to spare.All in all it was a good ceremony - very meaningful and personal.And afterwards a chance to catch up with the family.My Aunt and Uncle had been married 57 years.My Aunt has something approaching a 'tape recorder' memory, so I think that my Uncle will be very much alive for her still. She can remember things from my life that I have no recollection of. She remembers the names of people years later that she has met just once. It is awesome.(c) Hal Westhead 2005
Funeral 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Yesterday was my Uncle's Funeral
.The place where the cremation took place was a bit over an hour away over hills, and the night before we had the first snowfall of the winter. Fortunately the snow wasn't too heavy, the roads were pretty clear and we arrived with time to spare.All in all it was a good ceremony - very meaningful and personal.And afterwards a chance to catch up with the family.My Aunt and Uncle had been married 57 years.My Aunt has something approaching a 'tape recorder' memory, so I think that my Uncle will be very much alive for her still. She can remember things from my life that I have no recollection of. She remembers the names of people years later that she has met just once. It is awesome.(c) Hal Westhead 2005
Battlestar Galactica - superb 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I have become really fascinated with Battlestar Galactica
and its plot development.When I heard that a remake of this program was being made I was sceptical. The original 1970s program was dire. It spent a fortune on glitz and special effects, but it was populated by cardboard cutout characters. It was Wagon Train in space but with much worse acting.As soon as I'd watched about 15 minutes of the remake I was hooked. Hard, disturbing and human.The latest series is even better. The Cylons have the moral high ground. The humans are prepared to do whatever it takes to survive - including terrorist bombings that kill and main those they see are collaborators. There are collaborators working with the Cylons, there are people fighting to save just their own loved ones. There are Cylons with attachments to humans. The humans are flawed, just like the real thing! The Cylons are idealists but not all of a kind - these cybernetic organisms really have evolved.And the Cylons are the undaunted, Read more:superb
Recommend Site To A Friend
