Philosophy

I do not think it matters much what I may think
If what I think is that which matters not
And isn’t worth too much of passing thought
But I think it matters much what I may think
When what I think flows from what was wisely taught,
And that which shows me those better things to be got
By all who most carefully consider what they think
Before they do those things by unwariness are brought.
To know the fire will burn before the feeling that it’s hot.
Then I do think it matters much what I may think
If what I clearly think, to me, means such a lot.    CF

‘For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains,
but to live in a way that respects and enhances the
freedom of others.’     Nelson Mandel


A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.  Proverbs  14:30

There are three guides for the life of man. First is principle, which has been long and carefully tested; the second is experience, strengthened by long practice; and third, the authority of those ancients who could not have been easily deceived by anyone, and who appear not to have wished to deceive others. Attend more to what man has done than to what he has said, for many speak well, but few act well. (Marsilio Ficino) 

We say a person is a person through other persons. We don’t come fully formed into the world. We learn how to think, how to walk, how to speak, how to behave, indeed, how to be human, from other human beings. We need other human beings in order to be human. We are made for togetherness, we are made for family, for fellowship, to exist in a tender network of interdependence.  (Desmond Tutu)


At this point I reveal myself in my true colours. I hold a number of beliefs that have been repudiated by the liveliest intellects of our time. I believe that order is better than chaos, creation better than destruction. I prefer gentleness to violence, forgiveness to vendetta. On the whole I think that knowledge is preferable to ignorance, and I am sure that human sympathy is more valuable than ideology. I believe that in spite of the recent triumphs of science, men haven’t changed much in the last two thousand years; and in consequence we must still try to learn from history. History is ourselves. I also hold one or two beliefs that are more difficult to put shortly. For example, I believe in courtesy, the ritual of which we avoid hurting other people’s feelings by satisfying our own egos. And I think we should remember that we are part of a great whole, which for convenience we call nature. All living things are our brothers and sisters. Above all, I believe in the God-given genius of certain individuals, and I value a society that makes their existence possible.

Virtue – moral excellence, goodness, righteousness. A virtue is a positive trait of quality deemed to be morally good and this is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being

Love – If I know what love is, it is because of you.   (Herman Hesse)

Love is something eternal; the aspect may change, but not the essence.  Vincent van Gogh

Where there is love there is no question.   (Albert Einstein)

Love does not consist of gazing at each other but looking in the same direction.   (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)

To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both directions.   (David Viscott)

Philosophy (The love of wisdom)

The bigger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of uncertainty. 

You are here to enable the divine purpose of the universe to unfold. That is how important you are!   (Eckhart Tolle)

The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation, but your thoughts about it.        (Eckart Tolle)

Yesterday is history
Tomorrow is a mystery
Today is a gift and why it is called
The Present.

‘An eye for an eye will only
make the whole world blind.’              Mahatma Gandhi

‘Revenge is sweet and not fattening.’  Alfred Hitchcock

‘Before you embark on a journey        Japanese proverb
of revenge, dig two graves.’

We are all here on this planet, as tourists, as it were. None of us can live here forever. The longest we might live is a hundred years. So while we are here we should try to have a good heart and to make something positive and useful of our lives.

                                                                           Dalai Lama

Philo = Love
Sofia = Wisdom

The Past, Present and Future are totally, irretrievably and inseparably intertwined.
The Past to assist you in the present and The Present to guide us into the future.

The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, answered “Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the presence or the future; he lives as if he is going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”

Self
The I that is me you cannot see.
You see only the form that you think is me.
This form that you see will not always be.
But the I that is me lives eternally.

If you begin to be what you are, you will realise everything, but to begin to be what you are, you must come out of what you are not. You are not those thoughts which are turning, turning in your mind; you are not those changing feelings; you are not the different decisions you make and the different wills you have; you are not that separate ego.
(Sri Santananda Sarasvati)

The Tunnel
Zenkai, the son of a samurai, journeyed to Edo and there became the retainer of a high official.
He fell in love with the official’s wife and was discovered. In self-defence, he slew the official. Then he ran away with the wife.
Both of them later became thieves. But the woman was so greedy that Zenkai grew disgusted. Finally, leaving her, he journeyed far away to the province of Buzen, where he became a wandering mendicant.
To atone for his past, Zenkai resolved to accomplish some good deed in his lifetime. Knowing of a dangerous road over a cliff that had caused the death and injury of many persons, he resolved to cut a tunnel through the mountains there. Begging food in the daytime, Zenkai worked at night digging his tunnel. When thirty years had gone by, the tunnel was 2,280 feet long, 20 feet high, and 30 feet wide.
Two years before the work was completed, the son of the official he had slain, who was a skilful swordsman, found Zenkai out and came to kill him in revenge. ‘I will give you my life willingly,’ said Zenkai. ‘Only let me finish this work. On the day it is completed, then you may kill me.’ So the son awaited the day. Several months passed and Zenkai kept on digging. The son got tired of doing nothing and began to help with the digging. After he had helped for more than a year, he came to admire Zenkai’s strong will and character.
At last the tunnel was completed and the people could use it and travel safety.
‘Now cut off my head,’ said Zenkai. ‘My work is done.’ How can I cut off my own teacher’s head?’ asked the younger man with tears in his eyes.

Rene Descartes
Cogito, ergo sum
“I think, therefore I am.”
A clearer translation of Descartes’ “I am thinking, therefore I exist.” Regardless, in his exultant declaration Descartes assures himself of his own existence. It is impossible to doubt the existence of your own thoughts, because in the act of doubting, you are thinking.

The Tao of Knowledge
Do all you can
With what you have
In the time you have
In the place you are.

Blanketed by an azure sky, the orange-yellow rays of the setting sun can, at special times, gift us with a moment of such considerable beauty, we find ourselves momentarily stunned with frozen gaze. The splendour of the moment so dazzles us, our compulsively shattering minds give pause, so as not to mentally whisk us away to a place other than the here-and-now. Bathed in luminescence, a door seems to open to another reality, always present, yet rarely witnessed.