Are you normal, or other?

The idea of "normality" is just a loosely defined convention acting as a fragile meeting ground of vastly different ways of thinking and perceiving the world.

No one is actually "normal," instead we all overlap sections of it like a giant venn diagram.

The problem comes when, instead of understanding that no two people see the world in the same way, we are told that anyone who does not fully reside inside this construct is an "other".

Dividing the world into Us and Them has always been a way to control people. We all live in fear of being found out that there are aspects to us which would exclude us from the very narrow definition of what it is to be acceptable.

We are all "other".

Good and Evil

The Eternal Battle Between Good and Evil is basically the continual conflict between compassion and selfishness.

We all have the capacity for both, but which one dominates?

When selfishness rules, then the world becomes a more dangerous place, a far more unpleasant place to live.

But when compassion is foremost, then pain is eased and life feels like it has purpose beyond just struggling to exist.

Forget personified deities.

Forget an afterlife of heaven or hell.

Forget Karma over several lifetimes

Quite simply, the more selfish everyone is, the more hellish life becomes.

Look to the future...

When we stop looking to the future,
when we stop imagining what could be,
when we stop fighting for possibilities,
when we become obsessed with nostalgia,
when we live in the past,
when we no longer look ahead, only behind,
that is when we become old,
that is when we are only treading water until we die.

The heavy weight of responsibility

If I found myself trapped in the body of a snail, ambitions or a heavy sense of responsibility to make the world a better place would be utterly pointless.

As it would if I was trapped in the body of a seagull.

Or a monkey.

In each case, if I knew I was there for the rest of my life, I would just have to make the most of it and enjoy whatever I could, within the parameters of my existence.

Is it so different if I'm trapped in the body of a human?

Righteous Anger

Anger and hatred are always righteous - at least that's how it feels.

When we are angry, we feel it is our right to be angry, and the consequences of our anger is the fault of whoever made us angry.

Even though nothing was ever solved by hatred.

But it is extraordinarily difficult to challenge ourselves when we are consumed in anger. In the heat of the moment it feels so right, so true, so justified.

Not until we have stepped out of it are we able to see more clearly.

But politicians, media and extremists of every kind want to stir those feelings and keep them alive, so they can justify what they do next and go unchallenged.

Finding peace in our hearts, not afterwards, but while we are angry, while the hate consumes - challenging it while we are feeling it - that is what we ought to be taught from a young age, and need to be practicing as adults.

In response to the response to Brexit

I have friends who voted Leave and friends who voted Remain.

I have friends who voted Yes to Scottish Independence and friends who voted No.

I have friends who voted Labour, Tory, SNP, Liberal, Green and Monster Raving Loony Party.

I have friends who voted Republican and friends who voted Democrat.

I have friends who who couldn't be bothered to vote and friends who don't vote on principle.

I have friends who are Atheists, Agnostics, Monotheists, Pantheists and make-it-up-as-you-go-along-ists.

I have friends who have doctorates and I have friends with learning difficulties.

I have friends who have problems with mental health, physical health and addictions.

I have friends who support Celtic and friends who support Rangers.

I have friends who prefer Canon and friends who prefer Nikon.

All of them are complex people.

All of them mostly try and do the right thing.

All of them make stupid mistakes.

All of them have regrets.

All of them laugh, cry, feel fear, anxiety, love, hate, tenderness, desire and a whole host of other emotions.

As do I.

As do you.

The one thing I have learned from all these amazing, annoying, wonderful, irritating, outrageous and courageous people is we cannot apply one action, one emotion, or one personality trait to anyone and assume it defines anyone.

Racism, sexism, ageism, disablism and any other discrimination is born out of blanket definitions and an inability to see beyond them.

Just because someone voted a different way to us, doesn't mean they did it out of malicious, gleeful spite.

They did it because they believed it to be the right reason under the circumstances and understandings they had at that time.

As did I.

As did you.

The Void

We're all just looking for comfort in the void

Only The Now

The past is only accessible through the imagination.

The future is only accessible through the imagination.

Only The Now is accessible by anything other than the imagination - through the actual senses.

This moment, and only this moment, can we truly experience.

Although most of the time we miss it because we are too busy using our imagination.

Stop reading this and feel the air as it passes in, then out, of your body.

Letting Go

Standing at the top of the cliff, he released his baggage - bit by bit - tumbling down the rocks into the sea below, until eventually it was all gone.

Then he leapt off and flew.

Now and Forever

If you can enjoy the now, you can enjoy eternity

Overheard

"You can't be a Messiah without getting crucified"

Which is it?

Nature, Nurture or Nietzsche?

The direction of light and sound

If you moved backwards in time, would you see or hear anything, as light and sound would always be travelling away from you?

When you're self employed

"What are you working on?"

"It's called 'The Animal Philosophers'!"

"And what's it about?"

"Well, I thought I'd try and introduce philosophy to children in a friendly format, so I've created a bunch of fluffy animal characters who will talk about philosophical concepts in the style of particular philosophers. So far I have Aristotle the bunny, Socrates the tortoise, Descartes the Hare, Kierkegaard the lemming, Neitsche the headgehog and Sartre the frog."

"And you think this is marketable?"

"Can't fail. I'll be a millionaire by next year!"