Mindfulness
Am important book for me in my university days, was by Alan Watts: ‘The Way of Zen’. All my life I have been able to recite the poems quoted in this book about the Zen idea of mindfulness…
The Tao cannot be defined
Something mysteriously formed. Born before heaven and earth. In the silence and the void, standing alone and unchanging. Ever present and in motion. I do not know its name, call it Tao…
Meaning And Purpose
No-one is suddenly going to find out the meaning of life. It could not be the result of a scientific discovery. We have to work out our own meaning as part of the process of self-discovery…
Visit to Lhasa, Tibet 1994 part 2
The sight of the Potala in the distance as we approached Lhasa the capital city of Tibet thrilled us. At last A view of this famous home of the Dalai Lama. Staying at the Shangri La modern hotel seemed bazar. Having a full English breakfast with altitude sickness was a new experience…
looking for life’s purpose
As a young man I was always curious about the deeper questions of life and about Eastern culture. As part of my degree at university I studied Existentialism, Metaphysics and Physics. I was struck by the nihilistic ideas of Nietzsche (God is dead) and the theories of Jean Paul Sartre (Being and Nothingness)…
Peace of mind – the tao
The Taoist view of our existence is that we are part of a fundamental unity that is nature, a continuous flow that is “the Way” or Tao. One translation of a Chinese character depicting this was given to me many years ago by a dear friend…
Cascades Gardens – The Meditation Garden
Although I have travelled the world on business and charity projects, I have always been a passionate gardener. With so many questions, issues and answers to consider in life, meditation or “just sitting” in a natural place has always been an important part of my daily existence…
Quote attributed to Mandela
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves…
my spiritual journey (Short version)
When I was a child, I was told that God created the world and that if I put my trust in Him, he would show me the way. If I lived a good life with Christian values I would go to Heaven. The first book I was given was Pilgrims Progress, which filled me with hope and inspiration…
My spiritual journey (Full version)
From 2020, in the covid years, Alan produced a booklet that summarised his feelings aboiut his spiritual journey, It included his travels in tibet, including Namso La Lake, his visit to the Dalai Lama in 1992 and his trip to Japan in 1996 learning soto zen meditation at Eiheiji monastery, and his visit to Japanese gardens in Kyoto and Nara. As a conclusion to his research on the latest findings of quantum physics, he outlines his awakening to the concept of being one with nature, or feeling intimately connected with the universe.