3 - 10 Feb 2008

How do we know what is true? For example: how do we know our lover really loves us? How do we know whether our view of the world is correct (whether it includes a God or not)? Can we be sure of anything? The idea that truth could be discovered by reason alone probably came from the Enlightenment period in the 17th Century. Yet one mathematician wrote:

"We know the truth not only by reasoning, but also by means of the heart, and it is in the latter way that we know first principles … the heart has its reasons of which reason does not know."

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662, mathematician and philosopher; from 'Pensée', Paris: Garnier-Flammarion, 1973, p90, 92).

Further Thoughts
Another more recent mathematician and philosopher, C S Pierce, argued that, scientific truths can rarely be discovered simply by logic and reasoning:

"When a man desires ardently to know the truth, his first effort will be to imagine what that truth can be [but]...imagination unbridled is sure to carry him off the track. Yet nevertheless, it remains true that there is, after all, nothing but imagination that can ever supply him an inkling of the truth. He can stare stupidly at phenomena; but in the absence of imagination they will not connect themselves together in any rational way."

C S Peirce (1839-1914, mathematician, philosopher and chemist; from "The Scientific Imagination", The Collected Papers Vol. I: Principles of Philosophy).

Unless our beliefs in what we hold to be true, whether scientific, social, religious or personal, are open to criticism and contradiction, we may continue to delude ourselves. Another philosopher, Karl Popper, famously showed that we can never prove anything to be true; all we know is when a theory or idea fails. He also wrote:

"Whenever a theory appears to you as the only possible one, take this as a sign that you have neither understood the theory nor the problem which it was intended to solve."

Karl Popper (1902-1994, philosopher; from 'Objective Knowledge: An Evolutionary Approach').

C S Peirce and Karl Popper were writing about scientific knowledge. How much can we apply what they say to other areas of knowedge, such as beliefs in a world-veiw or religion?

20 - 27 Jan 2008

John O'Donohue, Iris poet and philosopher and priest, died suddenly on 3 January 2008 in his sleep at the age of 53. In a recent interview by BBC broadcaster William Crawley, he said:

"Our time in this world is so short,
it's so brief and it's running through our fingers like the finest sand; ...
now is the time to live."

John O'Donohue (1954-2008).

More Writings from John O'Donohue
From 'Benedictus – A Book of Blessings' (2007, Bantam):

"May the nourishment of the earth be yours;
may the clarity of light be yours;
may the fluency of the ocean be yours;
may the protection of the ancestors be yours;
and so may a slow wind work these words of love around you;
an invisible cloak to mind your life."

A Blessing For Equilibrium

"Like the joy of the sea coming home to shore,
May the music of laughter break through your soul.

As the wind wants to make everything dance,
May your gravity be lightened by grace.

Like the freedom of the monastery bell,
May clarity of mind make your eyes smile.

As water takes whatever shape it is in,
So free may you be about who you become.

As silence smiles on the other side of what's said,
May a sense of irony give you perspective.

As time remains free of all that it frames,
May fear or worry never put you in chains.

May your prayer of listening deepen enough
To hear in the distance the laughter of God."

13 - 20 Jan 2008

In preparing to lead a workshop on the spiritual needs of those of no religious belief, a Guardian article pointed me to a book which saw spirituality simply as the 'inner life' and key to happiness:

"There is an art to living happily and like every art it depends on learning, practising and if possible mastering certain skills … skills of what I will call the inner life, the inner world of thought, emotion, belief, feeling, desire, perception, and so on. The inner life … is just your own conscious experience."

"If your inner life is lived happily , you will live happily, it is as simple as that."

Tony Wilkinson (from "The Lost Art of Being Happy: Spirituality for Sceptics", Findhorn Press, 2007).

I would love to know if you think we can have a non-religious spirituality which is more than just having a good feeling when listening to a favourite piece of music or looking at some beautiful countryside. And how valuable is such a spirituality today?