Escatalogical faiths versus karmic faiths

The monotheistic faiths offer a static view of the human's position in life. The task is to avoid becoming tarnished with sin. We starts pure[ish] - original sin aside - and, only if we proceeds blamelessly throughout life will we have succeeded. We must preserve the innocence of childhood in our minds and lives. The development of all adult characteristics is a deterioration from this paradigm state. As of necessity we will become defiled by developing into adulthood we must throw ourselves upon the mercy or grace of the deity as our only hope of not suffering eternal punishment.

Buddhism and Taoism by contrast are developmental. One grows with experience. One learns the path and trains the inner and outer being, honing them to greater degrees of perfection. We are all Buddhas becoming, if not in this life, then in the next. We are seekers after enlightenment, both separately and collectively. For the Taoist it is the white haired sage who is the epitome of attainment. He has shaped and honed his being until, being totally at one with the Tao, he becomes an immortal.

Punishment

Punishment can be explained as being concerned with the re-assertion of authority.
In order to demonstrate that the subject has submitted to authority, they are required to undergo a humiliating, hurtful, degrading  or painful experience that they would not normally tolerate or voluntarily submit to.
Such acts of submission are more concerned with public demonstrations of the power of the authority figure, who's stature they are intended to enhance, than with any benefit that the punished may derive.
Any benefits accruing from acts of punishment are in the interests of the authority figures and not in the interests of the punished. For punishment to work the punished must loose out, suffer, be diminished, be restricted and must be SEEN to do so.
Punishment is coercive. It is as much aimed at an audience as it is at a subject.
Who gains what from punishment?
If punished, is it in your interest to be hurt, degraded, humiliated or harmed? Do you benefit from this?
Does it in someway rectify the situation? Undo the fault? Make amends? Re-balance?

Intimations of the divine

Intimations of the divine are only our emotions filling the void of meaning.

In the silence

In the silence of a Quaker meeting

During the silence of the meeting, in that deep and tranquil quiet, in that calm and safe-feeling and shared place, I became aware of what can only be described as that life-light that burns unseen, yet know if only we will but know it, within each and every one of us. I was also aware of it as burning in all the other people there, only in each one it was a different colour. There was a realisation that it was by each person letting their light shine and contribute to the brightness of the whole that the colour of the whole would be much nearer a pure white - the sum of all the colours of light being white, or, if you will, being pure or complete light.

The Air

The air has got stuck, which is unfortunate, as we need to breath it and now it is full of our own pollutants - all that exhaust, all those fossil fuel fumes - anyone might think we need to learn from this - but, hell, don't let it get in the way of our consuming.
Maximum business as usual and damn the consequences.

Take joy

Take joy in the nothing special moments of life, just in their being and their being so.

Women's suffrage100 years on

As we approach 100 years since Women received the vote it is sad to note how under-represented women are in Parliament, how small and lacking their voice is where it should be most heard. 

I think it is time for a radical overhaul. Every constituency should elect one man and one woman to represent it in parliament. At a stroke half of parliament would be female, and the voice of womanhood would no longer be echoing off the glass ceiling that has so far successfully stopped women from achieving equal representation, and more importantly, has stopped women having an equal voice in shaping this country. 

To achieve this reform constituencies would have to be redrawn, with each containing on average 200,000 people. This would produce a parliament of about 600 MPs, of which 300 would be women. End of problem. End of male dominance. The achievement of truly liberating equal representation at a stroke.

The other way has been tried for nearly a hundred years and has not worked. The glass ceiling seems just as firmly in place than it was, if not more so. Effectively, by whatever means, women are filtered out of reaching positions of power and influence, and most importantly, out of their rightful place at the centre of our democracy. 147 out of 650 is just not good enough after 100 years of trying. A meagre 22.6%, with only 4 Cabinet Ministers, an even more miserable 18%.