Dark Matter - Thinking the Unthinkable

Recent Posts Thinking the Unthinkable In the beginning Applauding Melvin Bragg Autumn Poem 'There is evil in the world.' Categories Book Signings Light of the Holy Musings News Poems Supernatural powered by Admin Log In

My Blog Thinking the Unthinkable Posted on Monday, October 17, 2011 10:43 AM It wasn’t so long ago that scientists had solved the last missing piece in the creation of the 14 million year old universe. The big bang explained everything and any other view or theory was simply old hat. What the scientists did not tell us was although the Big Bang Theory met some of the conditions of the beginning of the universe it failed to satisfy the finer bits of the cosmology model. Some of the math just didn’t add up. Look out for scientists sweeping unpopular bits of theory under the carpet. At last some more honest scientists have admitted that they don’t really know what is happening out there in deep space. It defies human logic, or in other words fails to meet observable criteria upon which science is based. Some brave scientists are actually saying ‘Sorry, we don’t know. We might have it all wrong!" Perhaps its time to think the unthinkable? What I mean is this. Understanding phenomena from a scientific viewpoint is all about investigation, analysis and coming up with sound conclusions. At every step of the way language and numbers are used as a tool to engender the processes with intelligence, albeit human intelligence. If the universe, or as might now be imagined multiverses, is behaving contrary to all known logic and in contradiction cosmic phenomena then perhaps the next erudite confession of the thinking mind might just be, that we don’t have the necessary tools to evaluate the mysteries of infinite space. We can’t think the unthinkable. If dark matter and dark energy is invisible, undetectable, immeasurable and simply outside everything human then intuitively we should just throw in the towel not give up but admit that we have limitations. The scientists’ latest proclamation paradoxical though it may appear is a step towards that knowledge terminus. They say "we now believe that something was created out of nothing but how this happened we may never know." The human experience is finite in all respects, that is until we come face to face with the mystery itself... "Now we see through a glass darkly..."

It wasn’t so long ago that scientists had solved the last missing piece in the creation of the 14 million year old universe. The big bang explained everything and any other view or theory was simply old hat.

What the scientists did not tell us was although the Big Bang Theory met some of the conditions of the beginning of the universe it failed to satisfy the finer bits of the cosmology model. Some of the math just didn’t add up. Look out for scientists sweeping unpopular bits of theory under the carpet.

At last some more honest scientists have admitted that they don’t really know what is happening out there in deep space. It defies human logic, or in other words fails to meet observable criteria upon which science is based. Some brave scientists are actually saying ‘Sorry, we don’t know. We might have it all wrong!"

Perhaps its time to think the unthinkable?

What I mean is this. Understanding phenomena from a scientific viewpoint is all about investigation, analysis and coming up with sound conclusions. At every step of the way language and numbers are used as a tool to engender the processes with intelligence, albeit human intelligence. If the universe, or as might now be imagined multiverses, is behaving contrary to all known logic and in contradiction cosmic phenomena then perhaps the next erudite confession of the thinking mind might just be, that we don’t have the necessary tools to evaluate the mysteries of infinite space.

We can’t think the unthinkable.

If dark matter and dark energy is invisible, undetectable, immeasurable and simply outside everything human then intuitively we should just throw in the towel not give up but admit that we have limitations.

The scientists’ latest proclamation paradoxical though it may appear is a step towards that knowledge terminus. They say "we now believe that something was created out of nothing but how this happened we may never know." The human experience is finite in all respects, that is until we come face to face with the mystery itself... "Now we see through a glass darkly..."

In the beginning

In the beginning El was infinite and eternal.
Before the beginning there was no time, no space, no form but El was.
The beginning was a moment before time and space; before it came into being in time and space it was incorporeal, without body. The beginning was coalescence of El and the first creation. Nothing pre-existed the beginning except the prime beginner whose name is El but a plurality existed even then before the beginning and beyond the end. In the beginning were the Word and the first word spoken and heard was El. From the beginning all things were created out of no thing.
Everything made from the beginning is made in time and space but the creator, El is not one with time and space. He is infinite and eternal; time less is his character and space less is his form. Creation is time filled and space pressed down and running over beyond all imagination except El.
All things made can be measured in time and in space. The first created beings immortal though they are can still be measured in time and space. Man was conceived and created to be Lord over time and space but is now enslaved. The artificer needs some thing to work upon but the architect of the universe and all of creation spread out his hands to design and build from nothing. For in nothing, in the void, was infinity and eternity, and from these El-ements all that was made is made.
And heaven was the seat of El’s throne. It was a place where El could survey the entire universe and it was a place where the first created beings could worship El as their creator and as their God. It was a place of unimaginable light and joy and peace. In the innermost secret heart of the created beings, angels we call them, there was an eternal joy and contentment and it came as a gift from God. They knew God and that knowledge was everything they needed. Even man in paradise below heaven was content. Even so God gave man the gift of woman for companionship, fellowship so that the two could be one. What more could man want but paradise as his domain and a woman to love and be loved.
But there was one angel, a beautiful created being, made to worship God in celestial music. In him was sound and song so infinitely sweet and good that all fell silent in heaven when Lucifer sang El’s praises. Yet the keeper of the King’s treasure is forever in the place of temptation. Lucifer when he sang saw with his eyes how all God’s angels so perfectly worshipped him. It was a spectacle that was beyond Lucifer’s comprehension. How could he know El’s true character? Who in all creation could know God? Whatever Lucifer saw and felt it was a pale mirror to God’s true ways.
Lucifer felt jealous of the angel’s worship. He felt proud. Was it he who alone had been made the master of worship. The revelation was his alone. No other angel in heaven not Michael, not Gabriel knew what he knew and felt. Surely El in passing the unique gift to Lucifer meant that he should be one with him. To sit upon the throne and share the godhead was his right. To be set apart, to be personally sanctified by El surely meant that all else in Heaven and earth were beneath him. His elevation to the highest order and to occupy the most holy seat was his destiny. Some of God’s angels saw this to be true and began to worship Lucifer in the same way as their Creator. These splendid beings were made greater by this allegiance with Lucifer. They would become the elect seated around the throne with El and Lucifer and with the entire angelic host they would become the synthesis of common worship and through Lucifer make it truly regal.
Lucifer commanded his angels to gather at the throne to be a sacred barrier between the ordinary crowd of angels and the high throne of God Almighty, El.
At Lucifer’s command his angels separated themselves and moved upon the throne, their countenances fixed upon their Lord. If it was in their hearts that their actions somehow enhanced the worship of El they were greatly mistaken. As Lucifer’s horde ceremoniously displaced themselves from the greater mass of angels, forming into single group according to their lord’s stratagem he, Lucifer made to step upon the dais where El sat enthroned. As he rose to take that first fateful step the gathered angels loyal to God cried out in alarm and uttered a resounding censure of the supposed Lord of Light. They were utterly amazed and horrified that one of their own would dare to ascend the throne without being first bid. Their next action was to bow the knee in subjugation to El. Every angel genuflected and keeping heading low faced the floor of heaven with eyes shut. By doing so they emphasised the state of Lucifer’s band of confused and perplexed angels. Turning this way and that they surveyed their brothers upon their knees and they as if in defiance of God still standing. Some wavered then and dropped to their knees but Lucifer seeing this cried loud unto them "Rise...rise you weak-willed angels and stand with me proud to serve both me and El. Then turning to El he was about to command God himself to allow him to ascend the sacred holy place where only God ever sat in judgement.
At this moment it was if all of heaven was subject to destruction. El rose from the throne and from his arms came terrifying lightning bolts and from his roaring mouth issued peals of thunder that shook the foundations of the universe. In a sudden moment the joyous light that bathed heaven and shone brilliantly upon the throne and God was extinguished so that a profound darkness covered everything. The angels on the knees instantly felt a shock of pain pass through them. Their rebellious brothers felt fear and anguish for the first time and they were afraid. Lucifer even in this terrible tumult tried to seize El but was thrown back with power. He and all his cohorts were catapulted violently into the darkness their screams were heard in the halls of heaven and upon earth. In the gardens of paradise man and woman became sorely afraid hearing the terrible sounds. All the animals cowered in fear.
Lucifer and his fallen angels were cast out of heaven never to return and the darkness became part of them. They would not ever know the joy and the peace of God again.
The angels lifted their heads and looked upon God Almighty. By his grace and mercy they lived. Now they had enemies. Now they had a new task in heaven. They were now the warriors of God and sworn to protect him from the evil one and their dark brothers. The future of all was changed upon this day in heaven.
The sounds of their voices rose to worship and praise Him, and ever only Him.
In a distant dark world far from heaven Lucifer now banished beyond redemption looked back to heaven and cursed El and all his angels. He gathered all his black angels around him and started even in that hour plotting how he might overthrow almighty God. Who can ever know the minds of El and of Lucifer in that cataclysmic moment? Yet we can know for sure that there was a great divide between their thoughts. The terrifying schism had happened and the heaven and earth would never be the same again.




　

Applauding Melvin Bragg

Heroes of the Modern Age

So much credit is given these days to the thoughts and ideas of scientists as heroes of our modern age, especially prominent celebrity scientists like Richard Dawkins and to a lesser degree Brian Cox. In the mind of the collective consciousness, it is horrifying philosophically speaking, when a great scientific idea is heralded as the ‘answer’ to all things and the proposer of a new scientific theory is given god-like status.
Any new pinnacle suddenly reached in human understanding becomes, it seems by default, the platform for disbelieving all that went before. We live daily in the shock of the future, where as Toffler argued, we cannot ever keep up with the pace of the juggernaut. We have no time to reflect, so we simply jettison the past (often the riches of the past) to lighten the load so that we may keep up.
I applaud Melvin Bragg who at the Hay Literary Festival recently, when speaking of the importance of the English King James Bible, said as an aside, much to this effect that ‘he could not understand how someone like Dawkins, who obviously has great intelligence, can be so profoundly wrong about matters spiritual’. His audience was not quite prepared for such a brave statement; their silence indicated their confusion, in the face of the relentless blind acceptance of new scientific ideas often so arrogantly stated by society’s ‘heroes’.
Religion, spirituality, science, technology, justice, moral teaching and ethics, philosophy, laws and democracy in our society, all stem from the mind of man. No one subject has pre-eminence over another and no one subject can do without the rest it seems to me, and an holistic approach to answering the big questions can and should be given credence. No one should ever deny the right of any thinker to argue freely for his belief, but new ideas should be presented with respect for the views of others, an approach often disregarded by one track dogmatic scientists.

Autumn Poem

Trees turning now

Dry leaves falling

Listen, hear autumn calling

Then winter is also here

Holly green and berry red

Means this summer’s dead

Winter red in tooth and claw

Blood upon the virgin snow

The arrow flies from the bow

It’s time for us to depart

Cold sleet and bone ice chill

Seizes us and tries to kill

It’s time for us.

　

True Supernatural Story

Thetford Priory

For some years in my younger days I had what some might say was the perfect job. I was employed as a surveyor of ancient monuments by the British Government. This meant I was able to visit many old churches, castles, neolithic sites and ruined abbeys and cathedrals in the daily course of my work. I spent many happy hours sketching and recording architectural details at these wonderful sites and of course much of the time it was during the beautiful English summers.

Many of the buildings had long histories stretching back several hundred years and of course there was at times a very palpable sense of the past. Old buildings are said to carry within their walls residual echoes of its past inhabitants. To be honest I never gave much thought to ghosts and supernatural happenings until one summer’s day in Thetford in Suffolk.

I was carrying out a survey of the ruins that was once a spectacular Norman Cluniac Priory founded in 1103. The superstructure of the once impressive buildings had long been destroyed by the iconoclastic men of Henry VIII going about their awful business during the dissolution of the monasteries and this priory was abandoned in 1536. There must have been great sadness and much violence done at Thetford when the priory was torn down. 

I had resumed my work after lunch and was mapping out the position of stub stone columns all that now remained of the great supporting structure that held up the large timber roof beams. The site was closed to the public on that day and the resident caretaker had gone into town for some supplies so I was quite alone. I suddenly became aware of a person to the left of my vision and quickly looking up saw a gowned figure pass behind the mass of a column and disappear from view. I put my sketch pad and pencil down on the grass and walked to the other side of the column to apprehend whoever it was, for on this day when the monument was closed, they had no right to be in the grounds. Before turning the corner of the ruined masonry I called out “Hello! You shouldn’t be here today!”

I was just about to add as I got to the far side “because the monument is shut to the public...” when I was surprised to see that no one was there. I was perplexed to say the least because I had definitely spied the figure just moments before. Calling out again in aloud voice “Hello...Hello!” I ran to several of the other piles of masonry where I thought they might be hiding but I found no one. It was at that point I felt a distinct chill course through my body and the hairs on neck stood on end. As I write these words the same feeling is coursing through me. It was only today when researching some information about the Priory in Wikipedia that I read that the place was haunted and was the subject of the TV documentary ‘Ghosthunters’. I do believe I had on that day experienced a ghost, perhaps a hooded monk still walking the sacred grounds of his once thriving Priory.  

Bankruptcy

Afraid of bankruptcy?! 'Going broke holds no fear for me. Why? because I am nearer to death than bankruptcy!'

Who said this?

Lynching

There is an old story from 15^th Century Galway which goes like this. There once was a young man who was passionately in love with a fiery red head in the town of Galway in Ireland.  One evening whilst strolling through the town the young man happened upon his love in the arms of a Spanish sailor.  Enraged he drew his sword and ran the Spaniard through.  He was tried and found guilty of murder and sentenced to hang but such was his standing in the town of Galway none would step forward to carry out the execution.  The tragedy of the young man’s death becomes a family matter.  His father, the Mayor of Galway, in order to uphold the law took it upon himself to hang his own son from the upper window of his own residence.  If you are ever in Galway, thinking that this tale is false, then ask a Galwegian to show you the window,  from where the young man met his end, for it has been preserved. It is said that because the Mayor and his son name was Lynch that this is the origin of the word lynching.

An afterthought – I mused that this story bore similarity to the death of Christ upon the cross which was commanded by the Father in heaven, except that Jesus was guilty of no crime.

Poem for today (Silence)

In the silence there is a voice

In the darkness there is a light

The voice cannot be heard

The light cannot be seen

Shut your ears and close your eyes

Open your heart and mind

And you will understand

The wisdom of The Voice

And you will bathe in the purity of The Light

'Be Still and know that I Am God'

Dublin - Coming Home!

It feels like coming home.  To be standing on O’Connell Street in Dublin and knowing that many great Irish authors and writers walked along these pavements is a sense of personal awe and joy for me.  Then onto Easons Bookshop where on the groundfloor there were lifesize portraits of many famous Irish literary men such as John Millington Synge author of  ‘The Playboy of the Western World’, 'Dierdre of the Sorrows' and many other great works, Oscar Fingal O’Flaherty Wills Wilde, Sean O’Casey, William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw. The master himself  James Joyce, author of ‘The Dubliners’, ‘Finnegans Wake’, ‘Ulysses’ – the list of great writers seems endless.  I could spend another lifetime here just paying homage to all of them but most of all to my late friend Patrick Declan O’Riordan who introduced Irish literature to me many years ago and made them come alive with his wonderful recitations.

Society of Trees - rooted in the past growing into the future

　
The place where I walk Belle, my border-collie dog, is a large green with many varied trees some of which already have leaves turning brown in preparation for the coming autumn. As I strolled under the great canopies of the larger oaks and horse-chestnuts it got me to thinking about the parallels between trees and our own human societies.
When you look at the huge spread of leaves and enormous span of branches of a mature oak we are reminded that what we see above ground is actually mirrored below the surface. If you stand under the tip of the outermost branch and leaf you are also standing over the farthest extent of the roots far below. The grandeur of the great oak with its mighty trunk and hundreds of branches and thousands of leaves can be likened if you will to the complexities of our society.

The government in this analogy can be seen as the trunk through which all necessary nutrition should easily flow, via branch and twig, to each single leaf. Each tiny leaf, though just a minor part of the greater whole, receives its just share. No individual leaf on the tree lives on subsistence or handouts. The distribution of sustenance across the whole tree structure is fair and equitable. The deep roots, the trunk and the myriad branches all do their work to bring life to other parts. There is order and life according to the laws of nature and the tree is strong and beautiful to behold. I often just stand in silent awe of these giants, admiring their symmetry and wonderful form.
Imagine if trees lived and behaved like our societies. We would surely see some awful sights in our woodlands. Trees blighted by social disease, trunks twisted and malformed, branches and stems broken and cut off, stunted and not able to sustain the life of the leaves and the fruit. We often have, in the wake of disaster, or social unrest, war and famine, the chance to rebuild and restore our homes, towns and societies. In these transitional times perhaps we should abandon sophisticated social theories and constructs and look again to nature to see how things really work and work well, then imitate nature and do the same to safeguard our precious future.

'There is evil in the world.'

‘There is evil in the world’

President Barack Obama – Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech – December 2009

In this, our new twenty-first century, when science and technology have increased and improved at an exponential rate even over the last one hundred years, there are still some profound gaps in our understanding of the way the universe works. Scientists can examine the tiniest of molecules, can trace the passage of invisible neutrinos through matter, can send unmanned rockets ships to the outer reaches of the solar system with pinpoint accuracy – and in time, we are told, when the mystery of the Higgs Boson particle is solved, we shall know the answer to the ultimate question as to how and when matter itself formed in the very first instant.

We can therefore be proud of the achievements of humankind. However, we are still so limited to the confines of our Earth’s time and space. H.G. Wells shone a light on the hopes of mankind to one day transcend our confinement. However, the danger is that by doing so we may become enfeebled, not empowered, as dreams would have us believe. We have the Hadron Collider, but cannot measure the soul or the spirit of man. We do not have the means to see as cats and owls see, do not hear as dogs and bats hear, and in a real sense we could argue that they live in a different world to us, a world that we are blind and deaf towards.

In rare moments some individuals catch glimpses of other worlds, parallel worlds perhaps, and of non-human inhabitants of our world. Some wise man once declared, ‘Demons exist whether we believe in them or not.’ Perhaps it would be wiser to say, ‘God, angels and demons exist whether we believe in them or not.’

In an odd scary way we want and desire the supernatural to exist. We want ghosts, hobgoblins, werewolves, vampires, and forest fairies, but what we absolutely do not want is to encounter the paranormal in its raw evil form, which may cause us harm. Despite circumstantial evidence and folklore, the above creatures probably do not exist. But God, angels, and demons, well, that is a different matter altogether.

If we had eyes to see and an articulate suite of new senses, we might observe the spirit comings and goings all around the planet. Homing in to the city, the town, to the main street of your community, you would be fully cognisant of angels resting, helping, and guarding all of the people and places that God in His wisdom holds dear. You would have a glimpse of another world intimately integrated with ours that is more holy than you could ever imagine. Of course, where there are angels there are their fallen brothers, demons we call them now, not wishing to bestow to any of them any fragment of their once angelic nature. They stick as close to us as we will allow. We are now their reason for existence; they mean to do us harm, and thereby hurt God.

The Psalmist asks, ‘What is man, that God is so mindful of him?’ Man is created a little lower than the angels, but we carry within our genes, in our molecular structure, the wonderful gift of love. Love is the greatest gift of all, but it came at a price, such a high price. In bestowing love and free will, we were given the awesome ability to choose to love or not to love. Sadly, the absence of love can be evil in its most brutal forms. The Bible tells us that we should treat strangers with respect, with love even, for we may be entertaining angels in our midst. However, the good book also says to be watchful and beware, to be discerning, because we just might be inviting a demon into our lives.

‘Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out and the flame of his fire shall not burn’

Bible: Job – chapter 18 v 5.

Author Fred Hurr: After reading Edward Thomas

Author Fred Hurr: After reading Edward Thomas: 　 　 In the dark I am awoken out of sleep And the muse calls me come be awake For I have words to give so do not weep But with all your...

After reading Edward Thomas

　
　
In the dark I am awoken out of sleep
And the muse calls me come be awake
For I have words to give so do not weep
But with all your mind come freely take
Take up book of paper and bedside pen
Tell my stories of gods and angels and of men.
The flesh is weak but the spirit is strong
So listen hard and record it well
For in these words true tale and song
Of time ago when heavenly angels fell
Into the blackest holes of Satan’s realm
In chaos sought power from heaven’s helm.
Do not stop to think of what to write
Don’t let your spirit bend and wane
But rather catch all quickly this dark night
For I swear I may not come again
And you’ll be left alone to sleep
And I will turn away to another’s keep

OCTOBER WALK

Pausing to wonder at the angry wildness

Of the dark flowing waters, channelled

By the thick timbers and iron gears of the lock.

Seeing the fallen leaves swirling in the black rush

Rising and falling madly like frightened fish

Caught in a mechanical trap unable to get free.

Walking along the path and seeing across the river

A great flourish of rich, majestic hues and colours,

Golden yellows, dark greens, mauves and purples,

Not declaring a new thing but stating again

The beautiful testament of decay and dying,

The promise of renewal and of re-birth.

Stopping to look at the sombre blueberries

Subdued by autumn, wintered by the cold winds.

And the blackberries, once full bloodied,

Shrivelled against the dull thorned leaves of

Stripped hedges below the ash and alder, beech

And birch and towering oaks of the silent woods.

Suddenly, standing still, sharing a passing second,

Held by something eternal perhaps; observing the light

Cascading through the brilliant leaves, a yellow brightness,

Luminous, burning without warmth, the odd dynamics

Of the winter sun creating a moment filled with peace

That bows my soul and defies all my understanding.

Are you running in the right direction?

The eclectic mind thinks about everything all the time even during the oddest moments making surreal connections. The common route I use to take Belle (my dog) for a walk at one point encounters a really nice curve in road. I mean it’s a curve that is beautiful. In my first year studying philosophy at Essex Uni we were shown by the lecturer a series of slides depicting a simple ‘S’ curve. We were asked to choose which of the various options all ‘S’ shapes of the same size and thickness we thought was the most beautiful, aesthetically. Some of the shapes were bulbous and others tending to be flatter but there was one slide that showed an ‘S’ that was neither full nor bulbous nor mean and flat. It was simply perfect to my mind. The odd thing was that all the other 200 or so students in the hall all thought the same. Why? Who knows? Do we have an innate sense of beauty and appropriateness? Any way back to Belle and out daily walk along the curve...we were walking in a clockwise direction around the wonderful bend in the road when I suddenly thought "do runners in races ever run clockwise?" I racked my brain for evidence and the result was, after much deliberation, that I think every race I have seen is run anti-clockwise! But why? Would running in the other direction disorientate the athletes? Would it mean their times would be slower? Is it something to with gravity?
Answers on a postcard please! or on this blog!

Conscience and the Holy Spirit

When I was a 'card carrying' atheist I too believed in the innate moral law and in the value of the human conscience but I have found out that the conscience is easily sullied by bad choices. When the conscience is overridden by external pressures or even indeed by the weight of internal desires it is ultimately seared and becomes scarred and then does not fully function as well as it should to protect from negative impulses and poor decisions. Since I chose Christianity as my faith I found that God working through the HS adds an extra dimension of positive quality that really helps in the times when our human conscience is not enough and becomes confounded. And with the christian creed or belief system which is founded in love, grace and mercy then the foundational moral structure is there also in times of trouble. But that's a belief choice and I understand, having been an aggressive outspoken non-believer, and respect other peoples viewpoints like your own.

Face Book Fan Page

‎498 fans on my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/#!/AuthorFredHurrLightoftheWicked - who will become my 500th fan? - some very important bits of inspiration have come through for book 2 'Light of the Holy' - what seemed to be a relatively minor incident in book 1 'Light of the Wicked' has now become pivotal - great stuff! Am excited.

Dracula

Bram Stoker the Irish author who created Dracula, in his novel about vampires, often stayed in Whitby, a charming Victorian seaside on the east coast of England and a favourite summer haunt of the middle-classes. He went there many times between 1880 and 1890 for his vacation. I am glad to record that my novel ‘Light of the Wicked’ continues the literary tradition of setting the supernatural drama in a quiet British seaside location. It was common in the 19^th Century for fiction writers of the time to explore the supernatural as did Stoker. Writers like H. Rider Haggard, H.G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling and Robert Louis Stevenson; the list is not endless but you get my drift. I have of late (no pun intended) been reading (by candlelight only) before settling down to sleep the ghost stories of M. R. James, late medieval scholar and antiquarian. Whilst not spine chilling they are of a genre in themselves, well written, spooky and thought provoking. I recommend them absolutely, especially to the faint-hearted who will get the most enjoyment out of a late night read! Last night the full moon’s rays shone right into my bedroom adding a rather spectral light. Wonderful!
PS. His books are on sale on Amazon for 1p - no kidding! my book is not quite that cheap but hey buy it anyway http://www.fredhurr.org/

The Box

The merits of mass communication through TV and the Internet is, at times like this, debatable. Uncensored scenes shown across the world on both forms of media teach and instruct on would be criminals what the possibilities are for organised riot, vandalism, theft and premeditated lawlessness.
In this year alone across the world we have all have witnessed what mob rule can do whether for good or ill, the fundamentals are the same. That police forces in the western world who don’t use deadly force to contain riots are at risk and become vulnerable to serious injury and harm and even death.
Years ago I read in a USA paper that even poor people have TV sets in their meagre homes and what they see is what the rich have and what they do not. Visions of plenty beamed into squalid rooms every hour of the day and night cause unrest in the soul and fear and resentment in society. The social effect is deep frustration and the collective question becomes "how can I get what they have". The scenes we see on our screens this morning is the same social malaise continuing on our streets of so-called peaceful Britain. Censorship is not the answer. Use of deadly force against rioting citizens is not the answer. The answer to these awful problems must be found. If it is not found then the destructive civil unrest will continue.

Supernatural Questions

Have you ever stopped to think about the supernatural? The dictionary defines the word as ‘things that cannot be explained according to natural law. For example a miraculous event or something ascribed to occult beings. Ever since I was a young man, I have experienced the supernatural, the abnormal and the supernormal. My earliest experiences were mainly limited to ghostly goings-on, in particular connected to places, castles, medieval houses, ancient monuments like Stonehenge. As I have grown older I have begun to see a pattern emerge, almost like it’s moving from the general to particular that could be summed up by saying the earliest incidents were mystical but rough at the edges. Now? Well, its more refined, more personal, moving from the external to the internal.

Financial Hypocrisy

Back in Jerusalem Jesus said to the Scribes and Pharisees ‘You hypocrites, you pronounce on the law of the Elders and tell the people that they must obey to the letter but you do not do it yourselves." The news that the USA is in deep crisis and that it must borrow $billions more is an example in our modern times of government’s hypocrisy. Greece owes millions and the EU says don’t worry about it we’ll give you more millions and wipe out your debts so you don’t have to pay. Tell me what happens when you default on a loan or a debt to the government, the tax man for instance? Does the beneficent government call you up and say ‘hey we have an open cheque just for you how do you want to get back on your feet. And the money you owe us...well don’t lose sleep over that it’s forgotten about your slate is wiped clean.’ Is that what really happens to the unfortunates that have, through no fault of their own, got into dire straits? Do I hear the bailiff knocking on the front door? Does the bailiff ever knock on the White House door or at No. 10 Downing Street? Hypocrisy is alive and thriving in the 21^st Century.

A Good Day - Bad Day

Is there such a thing as a bad day? Well I guess there is really but most of the time the bad day is already in us before we get out of bed on the wrong side.
Take today. I had a good day. Every oyster has to have a little grit to make the pearl so even good days
must have a little grit in the form of another person. As I said I had a good day. I was like a steam train on an outing to the seaside, happy and full of purpose and determined to smile and laugh all day long. But my steam train got stopped just for awhile at a junction to let another train pass on its way. The other train? A sad old grumpy train determined to travel on its track and make every one else miserable. I waved it good bye and got my way once again...anyway enough of the parable.
I started the day in the doctor’s waiting room and all the news I got was good. Then onto the best place in town for a great low-carb’ breakfast (I have shed over 7 kilos in a month) and let me say that Steve’s Ye Olde Cafe in Newland Street is the best place in Town, Witham, Essex that is. And you know what makes good food even better? It’s the people that cook it and the people who serve. Waitress Helen says "Good manners don’t cost anything and they get you far in life". She delivered my bacon and eggs with a smile. I could taste the smile. Had lunch at home with my wife...another blessed moment. Then for supper a visit to the Food Company to buy amazing Gorgonzola, Lamb Koftas, Portobello Mushrooms washed down with Swedish Strawberry and Lime Cider - fantastic. Tonight I just know I shall fall asleep with a smile on my face. Goodnight what a great day...oh that grumpy sad train...forgotten already.

True story of the Supernatural kind

 

One summer Sunday evening my wife and were standing on the garden patio at our house in Deganwy just being quiet enjoying the moment of calm and contentedness. Times had been hard during the past few months but on this evening we both agreed that we had had a stress free enjoyable weekend together. "What would make this evening even more perfect if you could have any wish, what would be it be?" I asked sipping my glass of red wine. Linda, looking up at the cloudless night sky filled with bright starry lights replied "I would like to see my own shooting star, because every time you say ‘did you see that!’ I turn a second too late and miss it. So I would like a shooting start please.""Consider it done. I stepped forward confidently and looking up to the heavens cried out ‘God I want the most beautiful, the most spectacular shooting star to go from (I pointed specifically to the places in the sky) here to here. And I want it in the next 30 seconds!"I started to count slowly from 1, 2, 3...and as I said 15 the brightest, most wonderful, shooting star shot across the dark heavens between the points I had indicated. It not only looked fantastic but it also sounded like a rocket traversing the sky. It was the most beautiful sight I have ever seen. Our jaws dropped as we experienced this amazing answer to prayer. How good is that! How great is our God at giving good gifts!

Science and the Supernatural

Just the other day whilst driving, I listened to Brian Cox and companion scientist on the Radio 4 programme ‘Infinite Monkey Cage’ making fun of the supernatural. Cheap shots, cheap jokes abounded, but in truth all they managed to reveal was that far from being open-minded, they were in fact extremely narrow minded. Because the supernatural cannot be investigated by empirical or scientific methods their own deeply held belief, is that nothing in the so-called realm of the supernatural or paranormal can therefore exist, not even possibly. That same day I was listening to a CD where one of the world’s greatest scientists, Max Planck was quoted. He said this "All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force... We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent Mind. This Mind is the matrix of all matter." Our two young scientists should listen and take notes from their betters! What do you think?