Paul's Blog

From pp 750 - 751, Russell's "History of Western Philosophy." "The politics, religion, philosophy and art of any epoch in human history are, according to Marx, an outcome of its methods of production, and, to a lesser extent, of distribution. I think he would not maintain that this applies to all the niceties of culture, but only to its broad outlines. The doctrine is called the 'materialist conception of history'. This is a very important thesis; in particular, it concerns the historian of philosophy. I do not myself accept the thesis as it stands, but I think it contains very important elements of truth, and I am aware that it has influenced my own view of philosophical development as set forth in the present work............ .......We may say, in a broad way, that Greek philosophy down to Aristotle expresses the mentality of the City State; that Stoicism is appropriate to a cosmopolitan despotism; that scholastic philosophy is an intellectual expressio...

I hate being an alcoholic..........I was a week ago, sober 22 days, 6 and half hours, when I drove past a bottle shop and could not resist (though recently spending 6 months in jail because of breaking the law while drunk, and still being on a 2 year good behaviour bond) buying a six pack of beer and 2 litres of cheap, red wine and returning home to have a quiet, harmless drink or two at home .....or so I thought....(somehow the 3 plus months I did in rehab, an AA or NA meeting a day for 90 plus days, and telling God, myself and numerous others about 500 times I was an alcoholic who could never drink again without pain, problems and humiliations etc was simply forgotten, somehow)......or so I thought.......some where between the 15th and 20th drink I went to a local pub and starting drinking double vodkas until I blacked out.........I woke up in a police cell at 6am the next morning with an enormous hangover and no coffee, cigarette, Xanax, valium, aspirin, codeine or even a...

Warren Buffett, born 1930, one of the world's most wealthy people. - It takes often up to 20 years to build a good reputation (be it in business or life in general) and just 5 minutes to ruin your reputation. When you reflect often on that, you do things differently. - When you pass 70, you will really mostly measure success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you, actually do love you. - I really think people like myself should be paying a lot more in taxes, we have it better now than we ever had it !!  (in 2015, Buffett, a multi billionaire, without full on tax minimisation as very many others like him indulge in, paid tax at a rate of 16%, while almost everyone working for him paid tax at a rate of 33%, minimum.) Buffett believes there should be increased inheritance tax and estate tax to avoid the USA becoming even more a PLUTOCRACY. Buffett made a comment along the lines of : The USA will not choose its 2020 Olympic team from only the oldest so...

Just think how we now have medications for blood sugar, blood pressure, impotence, anxiety, insomnia, delusions, mood swings and so on..... Imagine if in the near future doctors/scientists will invent medications for people who suffer from excessive greed and selfishness ?? If they did, what a better place the world would be !!

"For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul." "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to cast a stone." "Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." "If you want to be perfect, go sell your possessions and give that money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven." "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." "A man's worse enemies will be the members of his own family." "So do not be afraid of people.......do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather be afraid of God, who can destroy both body and soul in hell." "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sin...

Our cat, Molly, since she was a 6 week old kitten has lived in a comfortable flat, has never experienced being too hot or too cold and has a very warm, comfortable and safe place to sleep each night. She drinks clean water each day, has healthy dry food at all times to graze on and twice a week gets a sliced beef and lamb and gravy meal as a treat. Any sign of discomfort or poor health and Molly would be taken to the vet immediately....... Our cat, Molly, has a higher standard of living than about half the world's population; approx.: 3.5 billion human beings !! How many hundreds of millions of people around the world do not have all the following: Comfortable, modern accommodation. A warm, safe place to sleep each night. A clean water supply. Plenty of healthy food. Proper, adequate health care always immediately available when necessary. A life not surrounded by violence and disorder. Why has Molly the cat been more blessed than approx.: 3,500,000,000 human...

That show "Planet America" was on TV yesterday. They were giving such interesting statistics on guns and gun violence in the USA since 1966, 52 years ago. The statistics they presented that stuck in my mind were: Off all mass shooters in the USA since 1966: 98% were male. Only 4% of them had ever received a diagnosis of a major, serious mental illness like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia etc. But almost 90% had a history of violence towards women or a history of domestic violence in general.

Tonight there is a documentary on SBS about how gay or LGBT people are badly treated in Russia. I have been blown away tonight just being given a glimpse at how truly TERRIBLE is the treatment of LGBT people in Russia. I knew it wouldn't be good but just how BAD, I had no idea. It made me feel sad seeing human beings treated that badly and cruelly. This made me think of other ABC and SBS documentaries I have seen over the past 2 decades which give one an idea how terribly woman, LGBT people and religious and ethnic minorities are treated in so many different nations, states and regions of the world. I know homophobia, misogyny and racism still exists in nations like Australia, Canada, the UK and western Europe, for example, but compared to how shockingly TERRIBLY worse the level of homophobia, misogyny and persecution of racial, ethnic or religious minorities is in so very, very many other places on this planet that I really think a nation like Australia must be almost like a...

"Sadly we ignore a lot of things that don't affect us.( Including the tragedy of the Congo). We do sometimes mention the plight of the Palestinians, but few bother to take it further. We ignore Darfur. 30 years on from Live Aid, we still ignore starvation and corruption in Africa. If you are old enough to remember July 13th 1985, or be at Live Aid as I was, on the day as a young, enthusiastic pre-cynic, I felt that day we solved the problem. In truth it helped some, but hardly scratched the surface. The irony is we spend 99% of our lives bemoaning our terrible situation, eg being no better off than in 2007 (shock horror), while HALF the worlds population is either starving to death, in war, civil war, famine or living on $1 a day. We must examine ourselves for this hypocrisy more often, not once every couple of months. which is basically about the run-rate for articles like this. Do we care? Does anyone really care? It doesn't seem like it to me. Sorry, but...

So much of my sanity, freedom and living a peaceful life with some dignity and having a happy marriage depends on me never drinking alcohol again. I don't agree with all AA ideology and everything in AA literature but I like the idea of AA as one alcoholic talking to another; and a sober alcoholic getting support and advice from other sober alcoholics. I like these sayings especially: First things first. Easy does it. Count your blessings. How important is it? It goes without saying that a return to drinking and general active addiction will not only lead me to financial poverty but also a poverty in relationships, which is more than 10 times worse.

"Let's be honest. We ignore Congo's atrocities because it's in Africa. For more than a hundred years DRC ie: Congo has endured horror upon horror with barely any outcry. It would not be allowed to continue elsewhere..........the country was the site of the deadliest war since the fall of Hitler, and yet the vast majority of people in the West are not aware of it, nor aware of the ongoing conflict and atrocities to this day.........this is the world's least developed country in terms of life expectancy, education, standard of living and key health indicators; and yet this vast country of nearly 80 million people barely punctures our consciousness. Why?" "Congo's tragedy: the war the world forgot.......in a country the size of Western Europe, a war has raged and conflict continues to rage that has cost millions of lives and caused suffering to millions of others........rival militias inflict appalling suffering on the civilian population, and what pas...

I am 55. I have had type 2 diabetes for 10 years. I have smoked approx 20 cigarettes a day for almost 35 years. In the past I abused alcohol in a serious way. Late last year I got the results of blood tests which "suggest" I have CLL/Leukemia. It is 90% certain that making it to c. 60 to 65 before dying is the best I can hope for. The best advice I could give anyone about life: Always try to think, think and think again before acting. Remember that to be able to regularly delay gratification is sign of maturity and in the long term results in greater happiness. Remember that in most people's lives (especially us spoiled people in the wealthy western world) 99 plus % of events that happen day by day are VERY trivial; it is irrational to stress out and worry about such trivial, small events. In most people's lives, real serious, tragic events are quite rare. It is almost never the end of the world when a person makes a mistake or when another person does no...

Since the 1940s there has been no other conflict on the face of the earth that has caused so many deaths, so many atrocities like mass rape and so much all round suffering for millions as has occurred in the Congo in the past 20 years, yet no major conflict has been more completely ignored. How I wish I could write like this : "To understand the original war, consider this outrageously oversimplified analogy. Imagine a giant house whose timbers are rotten. That was the Congolese state under Mobutu Sese Seko, the kleptocratic tyrant who ruled from 1965 to 1997. Next, imagine a cannon ball that brings the house crashing down. The cannon ball was fired from Rwanda, Congo's tiny, turbulent neighbour. Now imagine that every local gang of armed criminals comes rushing in to steal the family's jewels, and the looting turns violent. Finally, imagine that you are a young unarmed woman who lives alone in the shattered house. It is not a pleasant thought, is it? Mobutu and his ...

I have recently been reading a lot about the tragedy in the Congo. I am completely amazed how much the tragedy and suffering in the Congo, especially over the past 20 years, has been almost totally ignored by western media. Until recently, I knew nothing about: The approx. six million deaths there in the past 20 years. Africa's "First World War" was fought there. Or that the Congo is "blessed" with mineral resources, including approx. 70% of the world's COLTAN, a mineral essential for all our mobile and cell phones and lap top computers and X boxes etc in the wealthy West. The ongoing ultra violent scramble in the Congo by foreign forces, rebel group and various militias to plunder the Congo's many resources. If anyone is interested so many good articles can be found by googling : the tragedy of the Congo ignored Congo hell on earth Congo COLTAN conflict minerals. Congo breaking the silence And so on..... The best article I read on th...