Photos of Burnsall, Wharfedale
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A belated New Year resolution
I didn’t make any New Year resolutions. Very bad.
So I will make a belated resolution. To spend less time reading rubbish on the internet. I wrote an article here: managing life with internet.
As an economist, I often read articles on economics at papers like the Guardian and Independent. In one sense they are free, but the cost is that your eyes often get drawn to reading the useless comments at the bottom of the articles. In the old days, these comments were more carefully thought about, selected and the best published as letters to the editor. – And I rarely read letters to the editor, because they weren’t very good anyway. So why have I spent time reading things that only give a mild sense of frustration?
I like this page – don’t read the comments. Three of my favourites.
“The problem with internet comments is that you can never really know who’s saying them.”
— Winston Churchill
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Clip from British Time Trial Championship 2015
In 2015, I entered the British Time Trial Championship. It was really expensive and awkward to enter.
Usually I do time trials governed by Cycling Time Trials, a UK body. But, this race came under UCI rules – the International cycling body have strict rules about size and shape of bike parts.
I had to spend £400 on a UCI fork and UCI compliant aerobars, to make my bike “UCI legal” …
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The journey of one hundred thousand paces begins with
I try to have a few more meditations on Christmas Eve. It’s a good feeling as the world slows down and becomes a little more reflective.
With the sun setting below the hills, I closed my door and burnt some incense. The pungent fragrance filling the room. Settled in the chair I felt unusually receptive for meditation. I started to chant AUM, AUM, AUM … – when from above, I heard an unexpected sound.
“The journey of one hundred thousand paces begins with a flat tyre and a broken fan-belt.” …
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The journey of one hundred thousand paces begins with Read More »
University Church of St Mary Oxford photos
The University church of St Mary’s was used to host the first congregation of the University of Oxford from as early as 1252. A church has been recorded on his site from Anglo-Saxon times.
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Adventures in writing
Rather unexpectedly, on a rather dreary day, I had a good experience in a local church (a place I very rarely visit). It felt a certain grace, a feeling of newness. Hungry for more, I tried to repeat experience, but it wasn’t the same.
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The unexpected peace
From a concert by the music group, Ananda – performing the songs of Sri Chinmoy. Lord Mayor’s Chapel, Bristol, 13 December, 2015.
The entrance to the concert was through a modest wooden door. In a street filled with the brilliance of commerce, it would have been quite easy to walk straight past. But this reserved entrance, hid an unexpected sanctuary of peace – within the chapel a generosity of light and calm.
A small crowd gathers, patiently in the ancient wooden pews; a few intrepid souls, perhaps wondering what is to come.
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News, views and switching off
Everyday I make a resolution not to read the paper. Nearly every day, I fail.
But, I can admire the wisdom of Thomas Jefferson:
“The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.”
I wanted to try spend 24 hours without any access to news. Was it possible? Will the world stop revolving? What will happen to all those spare minutes saved?
I wrote about experience here: problem 24 hour news
Related
- The only news I know – Poem by Emily Dickinson
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A visit to a local church
A dull winter’s day, but I drag myself from the comfy, soporific atmosphere of being glued to a screen.
The chill bites through a thin winter’s jacket, so I walk at a quicker pace up the hill. Still, a rather aimless march – just a break for blurry eyes and cramped legs.
I contemplate the local church on the hill. The sombre graveyard, the memories of a young child – sitting in a service I didn’t understand, counting off hymns, thinking of football. I’m not so comfortable with the glare of gravestones, but the church still pulls me in. What do you find in a church these days?
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The Buddha’s silence wins
One day the Lord Buddha was meditating. An elderly man came in and started abusing the Buddha most ruthlessly. The Buddha remained absolutely silent.
How long could he continue his abuse? After a while he stopped and was about to leave the place. But the Buddha said, “Just wait, please. I have something to ask you. Tell me, when you offer gifts to a person, if he does not accept your gifts, what do you do?
“I just take them back.”
The Buddha said, “Well, you have been trying to offer me the gifts that you brought with you. Since I have not accepted your gifts, you are taking them back with you.”
The man felt sad and ashamed of his conduct. He begged forgiveness of the Buddha. The Buddha forgave him and eventually he became a close disciple of the Buddha.
– Story from AUM Magazine, January 1974. Originally written by Mano Ranjan Ghose. Translated from the original Bengali by his younger brother, Sri Chinmoy.
Comment
There is a saying kindness is its own reward. Hatred is its own punishment. Also, whatever you give out, comes back to you like a boomerang. In this story, the Buddha’s silence illumines the person filled with anger.
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