Ideeahs

Over the last months I have been reading articles and books on the subject of philosophy.  I've come to the conclusion that humankind's love of negativity extends to our ideas and theories on the subject of life itself and how one should find their way through it.  Just as our media thrives on wars, disease, crime, bankruptcy, accidents it turns out that modern day philosophers tend to write their theories in the context of what misfortune humans are involved in - harassment, family disputes, divorce, depression, various types of losses.  It seems easier to draw a theory to its conclusion using a desperate situation  rather than abstracting the actual situation, or, even better, taking a positive action to arrive to the theoretical conclusion. The best example that springs to mind is that the ego is considered negative even when its actions are positive.  Philosophers will state that the ego is in control of your self and that your true self cannot thrive so long as the ego is

There is no cubic metre of air or litre of water on Earth that is untouched by man.  Heavy metals are found in the depths of the oceans, particles of exhaust are found on the snows of the Himalayas.  The atmosphere, at its outer edges, 100 kilometeres above the earth, is polluted.  Even the area of space around our planet is litered with junked satellites and various other bits of machinery or tools. Man has been screwing with nature for thousands of years.  We were even prior to the industrial revolution.  We have crossed various grains to make more resistant cereal.  Same with flowers, tomatoes and many other plants.  Of course the industrial revolution increased the pace at which we have been able to screw with nature. Having said all of this though I have wondered whether man made is natural?  Afterall man is natural.  We are an animal roaming the earth.  Our brain and resulting abilities have evolved in a way that has led to oil being pumped from the earth.  We have taken what is

We now have about 40 centimetres in our neighbourhood.  This is only the second time that I have seen this much snow in Vancouver in the sixteen years I have lived here.  The average high at this time of year is about six degrees.  Normally we have rain. The result of all of this is a city that is shut down.  The Vancouver Police Department today asked everyone to not travel unless absolutely necessary.  Numerous streets are closed.  The City of Vancouver is simply unable to cope with this quantity of snow.  So this makes for some interesting days. My wife suggested that we should go into our neighbouring forest and find a hill that she had heard about a few years back.  We went for a walk on a path called the Lily of the Valley and found the hill, just off the trail, on the fourth fairway of the golf course that adjoins this forest.  It was great fun sledding on our newly discovered hill, under a tree, over a few bumps that had been created by previous sledders. On the thirty minute w

A British Aircraft Corporation BAC-111 in Quebecair colours is overflying the apartment building I live in.  I place the binoculars to my eyes and look at its registration number and refer to one of my airline fleet guides to see whether I have ever seen this particular BAC-111.  I jot down the time and date.  Within a minute it will be touching down on runway 24R at Dorval Airport. On the floor my personal fleet of Lintoy metal aircraft await their next flight.  I open up the international Official Airline Guide book and, as is often the case, I pick a flight departing from Aalborg, Denmark, the first airport listed in the OAG.  The Scandinavian Airline Systems' McDonnell Douglas DC-9 takes off on its way to Copenhagen...a short thirty or forty minute flight.  I'll be landing soon. Where will I fly to next? Let me know what you think about what you have just read. Please and thanks!

Today we attended our children's school Christmas Concert (sorry, Winter Concert for the PC).  The parents sat in rows, on chairs and wooden benches.  We were sat quite closely for the three hour show.  Late during the second half one of the teachers pulled out his guitar and sang us a song entitled "Christmas in the Trenches" by an American folk singer named John McCutcheon. This song is about an informal truce that took place between German and British soldiers near the town of Ypres, Belgium on December 24, 1914.  The Germans had been singing carols in their trenches and the Brits responded with their own.  Eventually the men emptied out of their respective trenches and met in the middle, in no man's land, to exchange cigarettes, booze and chocolates.  They exchanged stories of home and pictures of family.  They buried the dead that had been lying in the no man's land.  They played a football match.  Boys having fun in a school yard - a school where none of the

An interesting conversation about our society arose a few days ago when my wife and I looked at the size of the cups we were drinking our after-dinner tea from.  We bought them at Pier 1 import a few years back.  Nice looking things - the ceramic has a water-colour looking design, green with red flowers on a yellow background.  They can hold about 500 millimetres of liquid.  So the conversation evolved from there. We spoke about how our grandmothers used to knit sweaters rather than buying them.  How, as we grew taller and our arms longer, they would unknit the sweater and make a larger one from the same yarn rather than buy a new one. Granny would also cook meals at home, from scratch.  Ready made sauces, vinaigrettes were not available.  She would have to mix the lemon or vinegar with the oil.  The spaghetti sauce had to be made and simmered for the hour.  Cake making involved mixing flour with eggs, sugar, baking powder, butter - not opening up a package and adding water. Granny had

I had forgotten that as a child, lying in bed at night in the dark of my room, I used to see little dots of different colours.  Green, red, blue....tiny little dots.  They would only appear in the dark, would be more pronounced if I closed my eyes and even more pronounced if I shut my eyes as tight as I possibly could.  I would lie in bed, close my eyes and see these dots wondering what they were and being mesmerized by them.  Was it space?  Where did the colours come from given the fact that my eyes were closed?  Eventually I would fall asleep. I had forgotten about these dots until a recent evening when I spent a few minutes with my daughter putting her to bed, kissing and hugging her goodnight.  She started talking to me about the difficulties she sometimes has falling asleep due to her imagination running wild about us being killed or robbed.  About coyotes.  She also mentioned that she saw dots.  When I asked her to describe them they were small, colourful and more vivid when her

I brought our car in for service yesterday .  During my wait I headed to a bookstore and spent an hour or so browsing books and magazines.  Bookstores are great places to hang out.  So many subjects, so much knowledge, so many ideas presented.  It makes me want to sponge up those ideas, that knowledge, those subjects up.  It also reinforces for me that there is so much to learn and see and yet there is relatively little that we learn and see during our lifetimes. I walked out with two magazines.  The Economist's The World in 2009 and National Geographic's Space special edition. As the day went on I finished reading the Space magazine.  Space and the universe are subjects that have amazed me since I was a child.  This universe that our tiny blue ball is a part of is incomprehensible due to its size.  Reading the magazine I learned that we had not only gone to the Moon and landed probes on Mars and Venus but that we had also landed probes on Titan (one of Saturn's moons) and

My seven-year-old son is a U2 fan - he has been influenced by me as he's heard enough of their music and seen enough concert footage to know many of the songs by heart.  Tonight we watched the Vertigo concert video taped in Chicago. Bono's political comments about war, peace and poverty led my son and I into a conversation about the human spirit.  How we all need to make a difference in this world and that it really is up to each of us to mobilize ourselves, and others, to make that positive difference.  He said a few things that I found interesting: "Children can make a difference because they are younger and will have more time to think" "What if people don't listen?" "We need to debate" All truths, those three statements. 1.  Parents around the world are raising the next generation of leaders.  As a result we parents play a crucial role in the world's future.  We had better take that role seriously. 2.  Many will not listen and continue

These days I spend a lot of time sitting, MacBook on my lap, writing.  Now that I have my entire CD collection ripped to my iTunes library I can throw headphones on, shuffle 3300 songs and be surprised by the mix that gets created.  I have been listening to a lot of music that I would not have listened to the "old" way.  One CD that I would not have grabbed from the shelf, opened up and inserted into the CD player is Up!  Shania Twain released this CD in 2002. Anyhow...to the subject that sprang to mind today as the tune Ka-Ching! was played.  Back in 2002, before any news media outlets caught on to the rising credit storm, before it became popular to discuss, there were some experts ringing alarm bells.  The economy was running on fumes and people were spending beyond their means.  It turns out that Shania was one of those who was also ringing bells.  I wonder whether her legions of listeners heeded her advice back in 2002.  More than sixteen million copies of Up! have been

The antics of Canada's leaders are reminding me of a book entitled "Lord of the Flies" written by William Golding.  Our political leaders are considering themselves and their own success rather than that of the greater good, that of the country of Canada.  They are ALL to be blamed for this distraction and for the dead-end that we seemed to have reached -  Conservative, Liberal, NDP and Bloc Quebecois. I listened to about fifteen minutes of Question Period yesterday and was not surprised by the behaviour I saw.  There was nothing cordial about it.  There was nothing professional about it.  There were not any constructive comments made.  They accused each other of lying and of gamesmanship (all true, by the way, from an observer's perspective).  It reminded me of a bunch of drunken and very emotional sports fans, faces painted in their team's colours, wanting to destroy their opponents. So now the propaganda machines kick in with attack ads on radio and television.

Last night on the CBC's nightly newscast, The National, Rex Murphy had a few thoughts he wanted to share on what is happening in Ottawa these days.  All Canadians should listen to it. I agree completely wth his statement that the shenanigans are all driven by partisan politics and have nothing to do with Canada's interests.  Our politicians are so out of tune with the citizens who elect them.  They are focused on the political process and what loop holes might exist to allow them to grab power.  Political parties exist for their own sake not for the sake of the citizens who foolishly elect them. All Politics, No Government You can read the transcript below (which I copied from this CBC website page) or you can watch the video by clicking here . Rex Murphy Point of View December 1, 2008 Political scientists will stagger gibbering witless to their graves trying to figure out why the Prime Minister decided to kick off a brand new session of a civil parliament, in the middle of a

Today I ventured, virtually, into two areas that are completely fascinating.  The universe and the atomic level. One of the images from my childhood that has stuck with me through the years is one that came from a book on space that I had.  It pictured the sun and showed its relative size to some of the larger stars in our universe.  The sun was a smallish circle and the largest star was a wall upon which you could not even discern a curve.  It amazed me that the such a large object could exist.  Today I went looking for similar pictures as my son was asking me questions on space and the universe.  I found this series of graphics from Gallaudet University in Washington D.C.  It is absolutely incomprehensible to me to imagine objects that large.  I found the factoid that there are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on all the beaches and deserts on Earth just as mind blowing.  Imagine that if you can. My son and I then explored the size of the universe.  How light

More examples of the hunger for power and the resulting short-sightedness today.  This time it has taken the form of my beloved (please add extreme sarcasm to that last word) politicians.  We had an election recently in Canada and the Conservatives were re-elected to power with a minority position however, and therefore, with little change from the previous government. Yesterday this government presented their fiscal update. The Canadian economy, and the world's, is in deep crap.  The deepest and stinkiest that it has been in for seventy years according to many commentators (though I don't see a 1930s depression happening).  So the government took the right step in scheduling a fiscal update.  I am not going to debate what should or should not have been in the update.  What I am going to make clear is that the reaction of the opposition parties (and in turn the charade that it has set off between the various parties) is again reminiscent of kindergarten schoolyard behaviour tha

During the last day we have once again witnessed the despicable acts of cowards.  Of extremists who do not value life.  Who are the lowest of the low.  Who act like children still at a pre-K level of social behaviour.  Who are tribal.  Who are warriors.  Who are backwards in thought.  Who are not forward thinking. Much like the Islamabad Marriott attack two months ago this group of nutsos attacked a soft target - a relatively easy target in that it was not well guarded (like embassies and army bases are).  Targets that, by their very nature, need to be open to guests going in and out as they wish - hotels, restaurants, hospitals, train stations.  What can be done to defend these kinds of targets from such acts?  Not much really other than reducing the number of entrances and exits and starting to treat them with airport security-like tactics. I don't want to sum up human activity as generally pathetic and destructive but this just seems to be another act that reinforces the thought

Over the last few days I have been reading articles in a magazine called "What is Enlightenment?"  The October - December 2007 issue was lent to me by a friend. There are quite a few articles in this magazine that have introduced me to the concept of Integral Philosophy.  I have found the articles very interesting as they match my ideas on the world and on how societies are evolving around the world.  The basis of the subject is that individuals and societies evolve their consciousness levels along a path that becomes more and more open to the world at large, the universe as a whole.  Societies, at different speeds and moments, move away from primitive consciousness levels in which societies are focused on themselves (tribal, warrior) and slowly move up the scale towards thinking of all people (pan-national organizations) and then on to the final, yet unattained level, where the whole (everything - the universe) is considered really as one and integral to our lives. The vario

We have had some sunny weather recently.  Autumn here on the west coast of Canada has been very nice.  Consequently I have been looking up more than I normally do at this time of year.  Most years one walks head down to avoid having raindrops and wind strike one's face.  I was downtown last week, snapping pictures of this city and took this one. This is the Shangri-La Hotel tower being built at the corner of Thurlow and West Georgia.  It will be the tallest building in the city.  But it is not the building that I want to bring to your attention but rather that little ball at the top of the picture right of centre. A nest. During the rest of the day, I noticed how, with trees' leaves now mostly fallen, many nests are suddenly exposed - no longer hidden by the green leaves that shade and protect them in the summer months. We have more neighbours then we think. Let me know what you think about what you have just read. Please and thanks!

So I am back from Japan.  What a trip it was.  If you are interested in knowing a little about what I did there and some of my thoughts you can check out my Autumn in Japan blog.  I may write a thing or two more in it but will likely concentrate on Ideeahs (this blog) from now on. The return to Canada has not been an easy one for me.  Before I left for Japan I knew I had to go there. I had read about Japan, studied the history, been fascinated by that country for decades. What I didn't know before I left was that it would also make a change in the way I was to approach life. Japan was brilliant in every respect.  The trip made me live life, moment to moment, day to day, each to its fullest.  To experience every moment.  To sense, to see, to hear, to taste.  Every day was an adventure.  These are the reasons why I like travelling so much.  It puts you out of your comfort zone, out of your day-to-day, and forces you to adapt, accept and, again, sense the world around you.  But day

Looking at pictures from my trip to Japan there was one that spawned this idea. It was taken in Tokyo that megalopolis of 38 million people. Along with the people come cars, garbage, pollution, chemicals, land taken for agriculture, seas drained of their fish stock, etc. We’ve all heard about how our crowded Earth is causing its slow destruction. So here is the picture. It was taken in the Shibuya area of Tokyo. Shibuya is the epitome of consumer society. There are billboards all over buildings. Because there aren’t enough shops at street level six or seven storey buildings are purpose built for more - basically vertical streets with more shops in them. You can find pretty much anything you want from the most extravagant and over priced to the most basic. There is lots of glam, glitz and bling. It is a lot of fun and has tremendous energy. One of the billboards in this picture proclaims “Save the Earth”. This picture represents a few opposites to me. Save the Earth....yet s

Close your eyes Ignore the rest Your breath, your pulse, your skin Anywhere in the world On the land, the sea or in the skies Use your ears Water flows by Wind rustles leaves, birds chirp Anytime in hist'ry It could be any of countless years Open them Colourful mix Wonderful cacophony Not ever repeated Admire diversity and remem— Let me know what you think about what you have just read. Please and thanks!

Sitting on the west bank of the Kamo-gawa (Kamo River) that runs through Kyoto.  Looked at the sky, snapped the picture and thought: Skies look the same to us everywhere. Under some we feel harmony, others discord. Under some we feel happiness, others sadness. Under some we feel comfort, others unease. Let's start making all the lands welcoming to everyone of all backgrounds. Let me know what you think about what you have just read. Please and thanks!

I am sitting on the Japan Rail Thunderbird 82 train bound for Kyoto.  It is 10:21 in the morning, November 3 and playing on my iPod is Bruce Hornsby and The Range's song entitled "The Way It Is". That's just the way it is, Somethings will never change, But don't you believe them. I said "hey little boy you can't go where the others go, 'cause you don't look like they do" I said "Hey old man how can you stand to think that way? Did you really think about before you made the rules?" He said "Son,  that's just the way it is, Somethings will never change, That's just the way it is" But don't you believe them. Well tomorrow, November 4 Barack Obama will be elected President of the United States of America.  The slogan used for the successful campaign was "Vote for Change".  And that is what, finally, the world is getting.  It is a fantastic accomplishment for anyone to be elected President but this one is

I am sleeping on the large bed in the bedroom at the end of the short arm of the L-shaped hallway. The door leading to the hallway is closed but all the sounds nevertheless still squeak through the door jams and below the door. It is not a well-fitting door. The window let's in the wounds of mopeds and 100cc bikes. Of stray dogs barking. The beep of a car horn. The wooden floored hallway, beyond the door, transmits echoes of all that is happening in the upstairs duplex. Footsteps of my parents - maybe. The soft click-click walk of the golden haired cat - possibly. The sound of the toilet being flushed - occasionally? Musical notes from a piano in the living room also squeak through the cracks and find their way into my ears. I awake to Für Elise being played at my grandmother's house in Parede, Portugal Let me know what you think about what you have just read. Please and thanks!

Playing chess in his basement room.  The weighted wooden pieces all jammed into their wooden box.  LPs spinning on the turntable.  Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Gentle Giant, The Rolling Stones, Emerson Lake and Palmer in the background.  The cramped room, the records (everywhere!), posters, books, the order within the disorder.  John Lennon.  His eyeglasses.  Number 9. Guessing "Let it Be" correctly after the first note of the first measure of that song. The thinking, the philosophy, the dreaming, the playing, the challenges.  The honest fun we had together.  Countless days of it. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9....the difference in our ages.  He was my cousin and my older brother. Let me know what you think about what you have just read. Please and thanks!

I am off to Japan today for three weeks.  For that reason Ideeahs will not be as active.  Having said that, you can follow me on my Autumn in Japan blog.  I imagine that certain things I see, smell, hear and feel in Japan will spawn ideeahs not specific to Japan.  If so, I'll write them here. For some background on why I wanted to go to Japan read this entry, entitled My Japan .

I sit down and am encouraged to lie down by the back rest that slowly drops away below me.  Looking up the overhead lamp inherits a yellow hue as its light passes through the protective glasses I have been given.  Beyond the yellow light hangs the cold fluorescent ones from the dropped ceiling, made up of asbestos like rectangles, dimpled with odd shaped birth marks.  The masked face suddenly appears and blocks the light.  Latex touches my lips.  My jaw is held in place by the pressure of fingers on my chin.  A thin metal instrument feels cool against my warm mouth.  It feels slightly rough - textured to allow for a better grip.  The sound of metal on enamel becomes dominant.  The sound comes from within my body, not via the exterior ears.  My head is being jarred slightly by the delicate movement of the instruments.  Scrape.  Scrape.  Clunk.  The plaque has lost its grip and fallen into my mouth.  On to the next surface.  Chip, chip, chip.   The chunks accumulate. My saliva builds up

Certain things are hard to value from a monetary perspective.  Feelings, emotions, attachment for example.  How do you price them?  I'd argue you can't....not monetarily anyway. Our world is definitely one that is money driven.  It makes sense that we have evolved that way as money is a tool understood by almost all the people on this planet.  Money is a simple way for us to compare the value of different goods and services.  We'll put a lock on our house and cars but not on that rusted tricycle.  Money makes it easy for us to evaluate what is worth protecting. So long as we go through the exercise of pricing properly. --- A parent picks up their child at school.  They are of an age where booster seats are the law.  The parent ignores this, allows the child to sit on the back bench, without a seat belt.  They can even sit on the front seat.  Doesn't matter.  Off they go, driving along quiet residential streets.  What can happen on such a short trip anyway?  They have ar

The sun is setting.  The American national anthem starts playing.  The Polynesians come running out into the gardens.  They have torches and are lighting lanterns along the paths.  I am amazed by the colours, the sound, the mystic, the tradition, the beauty of the fire. The sounds diminish.  Darkness falls and the paths of the garden are now transformed.  Eerie.  Mysterious.  Long, flickering shadows against a yellow glow.  I can hear the distant waves crashing on Waikiki Beach. Let me know what you think about what you have just read. Please and thanks!

What an amazing few days in Vancouver.  Sunny, warm.  My family and I went for a nice walk through some local woods and down to a beach in our neighbourhood.  We worked up a pretty good appetite.  On our way back we wanted to grab some food so we considered our options.  Fast food junk places and coffee shops.  More appealing was a new pub which opened up a while back.  I have been there once.  The food is OK, the decor is nice, the drinks are better.  It may not be perfect but it is a nice place to hang out on a sunny day and would have been a nice option.  Unfortunately we could not go there.  Why?  Our children were with us.  You see, they are six and nine years old.  Our lawmakers believe that my two children would get corrupted by what they saw happening in this neighbourhood pub.  A glass filled with wine or beer would be raised, the liquid drunk.  Food would be eaten.  Sports would be playing on the televisions.  Pop/rock music would be playing on the sound system.  Boy.....soun