A mountain peak is something that climbers strive to attain, and when they make it to the top, the view is breathtaking. They climb in order to see the view, and on the way, they pit themselves against the elements and face physical and mental hardships, so when they achieve their goal, their sense of satisfaction and relief is huge. Sogyal Rinpoche in his book, ‘The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying,’ (p55) tells the story of the thick headed disciple who, even after many teachings on meditation, did not experience the true nature of his mind—the purpose of meditation. His teacher told him to take a bag of barley and, without stopping, climb to the top of a mountain. The disciple trusted his teacher, so he took the heavy bag and climbed. As he walked, the bag seemed to get heavier but, following his teacher’s instructions, he didn’t stop. He kept going, and finally, after a long time, he reached the top and dropped the bag. As Sogyal Rinpoche tells it: “He slumped to the ground, … [Read more...]
Philosophically Intriguing: ‘I Am The Other’ by Phillipe de Vosjoli – Review
I Am The Other by Phillipe de Vosjoli is a bold, irreverent book that is likely to offend some as it excites others. (It excited me) Set in a future extrapolated from the technological advances of our age—primarily the world wide web and cyber-realities like Second World—it's science fiction and metaphysical fiction with ideas at its core. The philosophically inclined will most appreciate it, but fundamentalist Christians are likely to be offended by the portrayal of their kind, and others may find the combination of sex and spiritually difficult bedfellows. I suspect that, as with ‘Season of the Serpent’ by David Nova, in general, the baby boomer generation will be most likely to appreciate it. The book is a disjointed series of snippets from news items, a radio talk show and scenes from the lives of various individuals as they react to a series of communications that appear all over the world at the same time and in all electronic devices from an unknown entity that calls … [Read more...]
An interesting metaphysical premise: ‘The Problem with God’ by Evan Geller.
The Problem with God takes an interesting premise: what if we could prove the existence of an afterlife. Should we share it with everyone? If you think about the ramifications for our world—as the book stimulates you to—you may come to the conclusion, as characters in this book have, that things are better left as they are. When someone does try to share such proof with the world, certain people from the Catholic Church and the Mormans take notice and make moves to intervene. The story revolves around a Jesuit priest, who rescues a woman from the river after she fell/was pushed off a bridge, and the woman, Grace, who has returned to earth after death to try to destroy the evidence. She must find a way to die again so that she returns to the same realm she was in, not a random one as is possible. In order to do this she needs to pass through a physical gateway and when someone bricks up the one she was planning to use, she has to go to New York to find another. The priest, Julius, … [Read more...]
A Glimpse Beneath the Veil: Worlds Within Worlds #1
Worlds Within Worlds is the working title of a series of writings that are shaping themselves into a story without my conscious direction. These are essentially unedited first drafts that I have made no attempt to shape with my conscious mind. Please comment on whatever aspect you would like. An introduction to the series and a list of the posts in order (should you want to begin at the beginning) is on the Writer's World page. virtual-suiseki-museum.org. A Glimpse Beneath the Veil: Worlds Within Worlds #1 Ordinary reality peels away, as if some cosmic hand wipes a film from my eyes. The sounds of cicadas, frogs, crickets and trickling water take on a vibrancy that thrums through my being like a mantra. Ripples from the gentle waterfall spread across the pond like the vibrations of my mind spreading to all humanity and beyond. Never have I seen grass so green, or such a depth of blue in the pristine sky. The grass and the sky have not changed, merely my perception of them. The … [Read more...]
A real gem: Dark Night of the Soul by E.M. Havens: metaphysical fiction
Dark Night of the Soul is a real gem. E.M Haven has used magical realism to examine suicide and the issues that surround it, and like all the very best indies, it's a completely unique voice that explores its theme in a brave new way. Seventeen year old Jayden commits suicide and finds herself in a kind of purgatory where teams of people who have committed suicide protect other suicidal souls from the demons that whisper in their ears and incite them to suicide. Life in this purgatory is a series of battles, if they defeat the demons, the person lives, if they lose, the person succeeds in their quest for death and their soul joins the team. When a new member arrives, the Judgement- a kind of sparkly storm cloud- comes for another. If it's you it comes for, you'll meet a statue of yourself and you can either submit to the judgement or fight to keep the demons off your statue/soul. If the judgment takes you, you'll either move on to the next realm, or you'll go back to your life. It's a … [Read more...]
Review:The Philosophical Practitioner by Larry Abrams
Title: The Philosophical Practitioner Author: Larry Abrams Publisher: Telemachus Press, LLC Genre: Contemporary fiction I don’t read a lot of contemporary fiction, but I’m a sucker for philosophy so the title of this book grabbed my attention. A philosophical practitioner is a kind of counsellor who emphasizes reason but doesn't slight emotions. I don’t know if there really is such a profession, but Eric is one. He doesn’t have patients, he has clients, and the idea seems to be that he helps people sort out how they view the world. They come to him for advice on how to live their lives. The book is more of a character study than anything else. We watch as Eric talks to his clients and tries to get back together with his rich and famous girlfriend. Their goals and lifestyles are very different, thus providing a philosophical juxtaposition of two different world views. On top of this, his father is nearing the end of his life which, of course, raises more questions of philosophy, and … [Read more...]
The best fantasy illuminates reality & highlights truth.
The best fantasy is real. This might sound like a contradiction in terms but it’s not, simply because fantasy must be believable or it won't quite work. That doesn’t mean that the fantasy can’t be wildly outrageous and bizarre, it can, but the characters have to act and react like people, and cause and effect must operate logically and consistently within whatever world the author has created, or it simply won’t work. That’s what I mean by ‘real’. Characters have to do things for clear reasons and in line with their motivations, otherwise the story won’t make sense. And if those characters, be they automatoms, walking plants or whatever don’t have humanlike feelings and reactions, or at least ones we can understand and feel for, we just won’t care about them, and if we don’t care, we won’t engage with the story. But, the very best fantasy goes even further than that. It illuminates reality and highlights truth. That’s what gives books what I call ‘guts’ or ‘soul’. Beneath the fantasy, … [Read more...]
How to find the state where your creativity flows.
In my last post, I gave some simple ways to enter the open state beyond thoughts and emotions where the deepest form of creativity can emerge, but sometimes (often, if you’re not used to meditation of some form) our minds are too wild for those to work straight away. If your thoughts are speeding along, you won’t notice the gap between them and if you can’t find that gap, you can’t enter there, but that’s where we’ll find the creative space. So first, we have to slow down those thoughts. There are various ways to do this, generally they’re called meditation, but that’s a word often loaded with erroneous concepts, so I try to avoid it. Here are some key points as taught by Tibetan Meditation masters. If you’re a Christian, please don’t freak out; the mental space you’re going to is where you experience God or become one with God, however you want to look at it. It is also the space from which prayer is most powerful. Where else are you going to get the best creativity from? · … [Read more...]
Real creativity and how to get it.
I can safely say that I know how to be creative, because I spent twenty years employed as a performance artist. During that time, I created posters, publicity blurbs, props, masks and costumes as well as creating and performing in Visual Theatre performances. Our shows were known for being unique, and now, my writing isn’t like anything else out there either. That’s my qualification for this post and the next two on the same subject. If you want to be creative or more creative, I think you need to 1. Know what real creativity is – then you know what you’re aiming for. 2. Know where real creativity comes from 3. Learn how to go to that place 4. Learn how to set the creativity flowing 5. Learn how to express what you find there I’m going to write this as it applies to writing, but the principles apply to any creative field. 1. What is real creativity? Real creativity is hard to define, so I’m being lazy and telling you what it’s not. It’s … [Read more...]
Guest post on Krisi Keley’s blog.
I wrote a guest post for M-Award winner Krisi Keley (author of 'On the Soul of a Vampire') on her blog. It's about soul, the aspect of her book that won her the M-Award and how Ariel's vision in Lethal Inheritance relates to the concept of soul. Don't forget to read my last post on what makes you want to read a book again. I'd love to know what you think. I had to post these two together because I'm on holiday and have one hour in the local library today, and I won't be back in town until Saturday. … [Read more...]
