Writings
This section of the site features essays, reflections on events, and poetry by students of the School of Philosophy.
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Eckhart Tolle: The ‘Power of Now’ Tour
Eckhart Tolle, the renowned author of the The Power of Now, was in Melbourne on Tuesday 10th March 2009 at the Melbourne Convention Centre. He gave a two hour talk. It was very well attended.
At about 8.10 pm, a small, meek, innocent, childlike figure emerged from behind a gigantic midnight blue curtain which stretched across the length of the room. He then embraced the gentleman who had introduced him, stepped onto the podium, greeted us with his hands in the prayer position, and squeezed himself into the chair that was placed very close to the microphone. There was a table next to him with flowers, a bottle of water and a glass, and he did not touch them during the entire two hours. He had no papers to read from…
Moving into Autumn
As the days grow shorter, the air grows crisper and the trees lose their leaves, Autumn shows us the majesty of maturity and the beauty and ease of letting go. Nature provides a time to draw all energy inwards, to cast off what is no longer needed and prepare for the stillness and modesty of Winter.
As we learn to live a natural life, body, mind and spirit can be nurtured in ways that are supported by the season. Activities, food and relaxation naturally change from one season to the next and when we fall into step with this change, we thrive.
Opportunity out of Crisis
Ian Mason is Head of Economics and Law and Principal of the School of Economic Science in London. He recently delivered the Annual Economics Lecture on 9th February 2009:
The opportunity presented by the present crisis is to make the right choices that will affect the long term future for ourselves, our descendants and our planet. Many of the prescriptions that we read in the newspapers are about how quickly we can return to business as usual. How soon we can return to the myth of sustained economic growth and once more rising house prices. Most of them admit to the need for a more carefully regulated banking and financial system with more controls on the spread and dispersion of toxic assets. But there are not many who dare to contemplate a whole new economic order…
The Ventriloquist’s Dummy
‘The philosopher is the consciousness of his age.’—Hegel
What does it signify that some things or notions we deem to be ours so that we exclude the rest? Is it anything more than the mind applying the label ‘mine’ to some things and not others? There is a constant interchange which is generated by this arbitrary distinction; but without it no communication would be meaningful. The question arises of who is really talking to whom? According to the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, language is the illusion that maps the real, ‘The basic function of language is to assure us that we are’. To put it another way, it is through language that the speaker demonstrates to himself that he exists. I speak therefore I exist.
To Love A Garden
I have often wondered why so many of us love gardens. We devote countless hours working and relaxing in gardens, where we delight in the beauty of flowers, nurture edible crops, share time with friends and loved ones, where we dream our dreams and simply rest in the quiet and peace of nature. Many of us invest much effort in establishing and maintaining gardens around out homes expending not only valuable financial resources but much personal labour in the endless removal of weeds and other garden chores, dealing with an unpredictable climate and the vandalistic intentions of possums, birds and insects, as well as the disappointment of plants that refuse to thrive despite all our care.
So why do gardens exert such a powerful attraction and command such devotion?
Playful Parenting
Sean purposefully moves on after tiring of the building blocks.
‘Sean, could you please help put the blocks away?’
He’s resolutely indifferent to my injunction. I then squat to initiate and model my intention for an orderly floor, and also restate my request. Sean, however, remains indifferent, unwilling to conform to the imposed paradigm for order. Inwardly my ego is ignited by its sense of righteousness, at being the unacknowledged ‘teacher’ in the situation. Emotionally, however, I feel remote and powerless.
Philosophy: what’s in it for me?
This might sound like a strange title for a talk on philosophy. It’s probably an even stranger title for a talk on anything else, but the key idea here is that if something doesn’t benefit you, personally, then what’s the point of doing it? This applies to wisdom as much as it does to barracking for Collingwood or going to the pub (or both). Why do anything if you don’t get anything out of it? The basic take home message of this talk is that philosophy is about wisdom, and that wisdom is good for you. Wisdom will help you. Wisdom is better than Prozac—it makes us happier, healthier, wholer; and it has good rather than bad side effects.
Actually, there’s a subtle plot twist here. It’s a principle of practical philosophical physics that you get what you give. You could also describe this principle as karma. A common example of karma is the hangover. For those of you who’ve never had one, or never not had one, this karmic phenomenon consists of doing something that’s inherently bad for you, although it often seems pleasurable. Eventually you wake up to its true nature—pain! This could also be described as a law of physics, as well as of ethics: for every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction, or even if you do stupid things, you get stupid results.
A Look at Planning…
First recorded in Sanskrit 1500 years ago, but originating from a far earlier oral tradition, the Pancatantra is ascribed, by legend, to the celebrated, half-mythical teacher Vishnu Sharma. He was asked by a powerful king to awaken the dulled intelligence of his three idle sons. The stories are first thought to have left India before 570 AD, and have influenced a vast number of works, including the Canterbury Tales, Arabian Nights and the Fables of La Fontaine. And the story of the Three Fishes begins…
The New Year
The new year affords us the opportunity for a fresh start, to step free of old, unwanted habits and into the new. It is a great time to look with new eyes at the lives we live and the values we hold. We could consider the Sage’s Prayer and ask what that means to us right now, right here.
May all be happy,
May all be without disease,
May all behold the good
And none be sorrowful.
—Sage’s Prayer
