This morning we had a service. For the past two weeks I have been bellmaster. Adam explained it all to me. I have quite a few texts to learn by heart. I am enjoying it very much. It gives me a much stronger sense of involvement in the rituals. The be
We laid paving and erected an 18 sq metre wooden storage shed.
We created lawn all around the main buildings where previously there had been bramble and stinging nettles. The lawn has gone yellow in the current very hot weather but it will come ba
Read more…Indoors
I always like it when I come across and interesting new word. I was reading about Aristotle and the author used this word ‘zetetic’. I mentioned it to Elja and she looked it up in her on-line dictionary and got a message to the effect of ‘you
Read more…Speaking very broadly, it is possible, I think, to discern periods when popular concern is focussed on inner matters, like personal happiness and reduction of stress, and other periods when concern is focussed on outer questions - political, economic
Read more…This morning, as often on Fridays, we visited Oasis and gave a morning service there. I gave a Dharma talk based on the work of the great Japanese poet Saigyo. The name saigyo means "westward journey" and refers to the journey to the Pure Land, and,
Read more…Now that the Republican Party has chosen its candidate and the Democratic Party is on the verge of doing so, I am creating a space here for discussion. The USA is the most powerful country in the world militarily and economically, so we are all affec
Read more…It is a considerable satisfaction to see progress in our projects here. The fact that we now have more space and flexibility in the use of the buildings affords a considerable improvement. I find myself continuing to marvel at what has already been a
Read more…QUESTION: How do I proceed to live your Amidist take on the 4 Noble Truths and Eightfold Path?
SHORT ANSWER: Live wholeheartedly
LONGER ANSWER: In my understanding, the eightfold path is an outcome. You can try to mimic it if you like, but one is bou
Read more…West Europe is in the grip of a heat wave and here in central France it has been 40 degrees and even at 8pm it is still pretty hot. Really too hot to work. This morning after service and breakfast we did another class on Summary of Faith and Practice
Read more…I have started rereading the book Revaluing Ethics: Aristotle’s Dialectical Pedagogy”. I shall not give an account of the book, merely of some of the stimulating ideas that he advances or that occur to myself as I read it.
1. Since Plato never speaks
At the moment we are having glorious weather. At the height of the day it is very hot and nice to sit under the walnut trees or in the cool of the refectory.
Adam and I have been building a metal storage cabin and in the hottest part of the day we ha
Read more…I was brought up with terrorism. As a child on the island of Cyprus during the struggle for independence from Britain I heard bombs going off every night. Friends of my parents were killed. My school as a fortress. The school bus was an armoured pers
Read more…Two young hedgehogs came to see us today
and had a feed
and a stroll
and met Tara
An important part of being a couple is sharing one's feelings. It is, however, an activity fraught with danger. The problem essentially lies in the fact that many of the feelings that a partner wants to express are feelings about the other partner an
Read more…Phase One...
Phase Two...
Phase Three...
Phase four...
Phase five...
Still needs a ceiling, but we are getting there.
So we now have an almost completely new team at the top of British government ,with the two key posts of Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary going to people who are well-known due to the referendum campaign and being mayor of London but who have not
Read more…Today has been a bit cooler, though we had some hot sunshine in the afternoon. We have all been working hard. Elja is in a cleaning mood and has been blitzing the kitchen and also washing sheets and duvet covers. Adam has been laying more concrete sl
Read more…This thread is an invitation to record the really important things yhat often get missed.
To start us off I want to note that Larry the cat is to stay in 10 Downing Street when David Cameron and his family leave. I'm sure the prime minister has done
Read more…In the meditation hall...
Outside the meditation hall...
