CONTRADICTION

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Have you caught up with Pictures of Life, my novel, yet?

I’ve written before about my love of statements – little snippets of wisdom in a few words. The Daily Grail has them as by-lines at the end of comments, and they enrich debate.
However, one thing I’ve noticed is that many of my by-lines are a contradiction. Consider this little gem: ‘I’m certain of only one thing. Nothing is certain.’ Yet how can I be certain of this if certainty is impossible?

‘Reality, like time, is relative to the observer.’

That’s another one I like. I wrote it to encapsulate the idea that the world is how we view it. And if different people view the world in different ways, then it is obvious that reality, to one, can be a contradiction to another.
Where does this leave knowledge, or the idea of a definite reality? Can we say there is such a thing if everything is relative and a contradiction? Well, I suppose I answer it in another contradictory statement:

‘I’m fanatical about moderation.’

So how can you be fanatical about something that embodies the moderate? The two exclude each other. But in an understanding of the statement we find, perhaps, the only true reality.
And this true reality is one that accepts that a true reality cannot exist. And in realizing this, the only way to stop a world of contradiction is to whittle away at the ability of contradiction to contradict another’s view. And that way is to accept a world of moderation.
For with moderation, our views can contradict without getting out of hand.

© Anthony North, November 2007

TONY ON HEATHROW AND OTHER NEWS

THOUGHTS FROM A COMMON MAN
News and comment LATEST: Heathrow Airport set to get even bigger … PLUS … Labour funding goes murky, murky, murky. Minority education is the tops.
POSTED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY – from a real voice of Britain and the world.

HEATHROW EXPANSION

Greenpeace UK are beginning a campaign against the planned expansion of Heathrow airport. Already the busiest in Europe, the government has begun a consultation for a third runway and sixth terminal.
This would mean a 70% increase in capacity. Of course, many would say these flights have to come in somewhere, so why not make that place somewhere which is already heavy in traffic anyway?

Well, despite the obvious extra pollution, safety must be taken into account.

No matter how big you make an airport, you can’t increase the size of the airspace above it. And above Heathrow, ‘traffic’ jams and ‘stacking’ are already horrendous.
But the thing that annoys me most about such things is the fact that new technology is already on the drawing board, but ignored, that could vastly reduce such problems without decreasing carriage capacity.

This technology is called many things, but I’ll call it ‘wave-rider’.

Partly boat and partly aircraft, envisioned carriers would skim several hundred feet above water, and approach speeds of existing airliners. Of course, a full investment in the project would take years, but not, perhaps, as long as the new extensions to Heathrow.
But what is so great about this? Well, first of all, it would dock, quietly, at a port instead of airport. And most importantly, any pollution would be lower level, and not deadly for the environment as high altitude emissions are.
If only our ‘far sighted’ multi-nationals could be far-sighted for a change.

© Anthony North, November 2007

FUN-DING DONG CRISIS IN LABOUR

So NuLabour are reeling again. Those naughty little closet-lefties are up the proverbial with big business again, taking money from tycoons in any way they can. And Backroom Boy cum front-man who isn’t, Brown, showed himself up once more in Parliament through his total ineptitude …
… read more …

EDUCATION AND CULTURE

Ethnic minority children are now learning the three Rs quicker than white children in the UK. This is a significant improvement from a decade ago, when ethnic minority children were way behind …
… read more …

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PICTURES OF LIFE - Chapters 3-4

Click here for Chapters 1-2. See Fiction Page for more of this novel.

CHAPTER THREE

Thadias Grimes attacked the carcass with a determination way beyond duty. Sixty years old, he had been a butcher most of his life, first as an apprentice, then in the merchant navy and finally with his own shop. Balding quickly and with an ever expanding girth, he had a darkness about him most people found troubling. It wasn’t that Thadias Grimes intended to be miserable. It was just that he was.
The aroma of his pies filtered to his nose and he offered a rare smile. He was pleased with his pies, and had a reputation of producing the best pies in the district. But as the light of dawn filtered through, his mood soon descended to gloom. Outside, he watched the still smoking embers of Jack Thomas’s house.

Julia James enjoyed a light breakfast that morning; if you could say she enjoyed anything these days. Her ribs ached, making movements slow and painful. As she crunched on another spoonful of cereal, she heard Vernie moving around upstairs. Her eyes seemed to glaze over as she stared upwards, her stare seeming to pierce the ceiling and burn into her husband.
He had hit her when she had returned from the fire – again. He had hit her for not being the wife she should be – again. And she had promised to do something about it – again. But she never did. She simply hit the bottle and festered.
‘What a beautiful morning,’ said Vernie as he entered the kitchen, already suited and without a care in the world.
‘Is it?’ said Julia, nonchalantly.
Vernie James stared at her for several seconds, then he lunged, grabbed Julia by the hair, pulled her to him, his mouth-washed breath heating her face. ‘There you go again,’ he snarled, ‘ruining my day.’ He took a deep breath. ‘I forgave you last night, but do you appreciate me? Do you hell.’ He slapped her across the face and she fell to the floor.
He seemed to calm down, then. He sighed. ‘Well I don’t feel like breakfast now,’ he declared. ‘The day’s ruined. I’m going to work.’

Dale Crawford’s morning was much more tranquil, but equally troubled. He was not a man for cereal. He stood over the cooker, preparing a real man’s breakfast of bacon, egg, sausage and beans. ‘Want some?’ he asked as Bobby walked in.
‘Yuk!’ replied his son. ‘I don’t want that. My teacher says it will take years off your life.’
Teachers, thought Dale. He was sure they made it their mission in life to undermine parents. ‘Well your teacher is wrong,’ he said, and emptied the frying pan onto the plate.
He always enjoyed a good breakfast, did Dale. And as he sat there, eating, he looked at his son, nibbling away at a slice of toast. Eventually, he said: ‘Bobby, is everything alright at school?’
Bobby looked up, offered his squinty smile that was so endearing to Dale. ‘Yep,’ he said. ‘Why do you ask?’
Dale wasn’t sure he wanted to say. The last thing he wanted to do was bring up last night’s nightmare. But there had to be some reason. And as his home life seemed settled, he could only believe that the problem was school.
‘Bobby,’ he finally said, ‘you’re not being bullied are you?’
‘Me?’ replied Bobby. ‘Oh, daddy, don’t be stupid. I’m a superhero and I’d whack them good if they tried.’
The answer had done nothing to ease Dale Crawford’s mind.

The carcass was finished – for now. Thadias Grimes had ample cuts, chops and joints to keep the shop in stock for the day. He felt tired after the exertion. Perhaps he was getting too old for this, he thought; or too fat.
He decided it was fresh air he needed, so he stood just outside the shop door. Taking a deep breath, he realized there would be little fresh air today. Rather, the air was tinged with the stench of fire.
He looked at the smoldering remains of the house, just two doors down from the shop.
How had it started? Accident? Suicide? By design?
A cold chill spread through him at the thought. Could it be murder? If so, could there be a motive?
Oh, yes, thought Thadias Grimes, grimly. The Old Man. Yes, Old Man Hollis was capable of ordering this – and his sons were capable of carrying it out. And Thadias was also aware of motive; and a motive that could place him next in the firing line.

The pain was going now. Julia had administered her own form of antiseptic. The strong liquid still burned her throat.
She looked in the mirror. He was clever, she thought. He never hit her face so much that it would show. And indeed, the red mark was almost gone already. But as she unbuttoned her blouse and observed the bruising on her torso, it was a different story. But perhaps something was happening to Julia James.
She knew little of metaphors. If she had, she might have seen the fire last night as something to cleanse the past; to offer avenues anew, the undergrowth of her old life being burned away.
Outside, she heard a door shut. Hurrying to the window, she was only mildly disappointed by seeing Bobby Crawford leave the house opposite, heading for school. He was Dale’s son, and she could have a great deal of time for him, if …
She turned away from the window. An element of doubt crept into her mind. It’s ridiculous, she said to herself. It just isn’t going to happen. She was older than him. The drink was ageing her fast. And she’d seen Rachel Hollis come and go. How could she possibly compete with that?
The door slammed once more. She rushed again to the window. Saw Dale Crawford standing there, muscular and handsome. Masculinity oozed from him. And as he got into his taxi and drove off, she fantasized about being in his house, satisfied – and free.

CHAPTER FOUR

It was one of those mornings when she could have slept all day. But as there was something on her mind, Rachel Hollis realized a lie-in was not on the cards. Jumping out of bed, she carried out her morning ritual, standing naked in front of the mirror.
It was difficult to say why she did this. On the one hand, it was to congratulate herself on her looks and her body, even though much of it was to do with her parents. But on the other hand, she was young. And in being young, she hid an extreme under confidence. And this was outed as she searched herself for blemishes, ripples and any other imperfection.
Satisfied she was free of such problems, she exploded. ‘Damn that man!’ she told the mirror, ‘Who the hell does he think he is?’ But she knew who he was. And that is what attracted her so much to him.
The outburst over, a touch of sanity entered her world. After all, she thought, it was hardly Dale’s fault he was left with a son to bring up on his own. However, she hardly thought the thought before she admonished herself for her weakness.
But what would she be missing by being strong? As she dressed, she remembered what it was like as he undressed her. As he took her to his bed. As he had sex with her.
She sat on her bed. Took out her mobile. Texted: ‘SORRY.’

The picture seemed to stare at him from the other side of the bedsit.
Did I really paint that? thought Peter Picasso. He raised himself, scratched his beard and his eyes moved from the picture to the window, where Jack’s house was now just a smoldering pile.
The thought entered his head that he was psychic. ‘No,’ he said to himself, ‘I can’t be. It was just coincidence.’ But still the thought nagged at him.
It was then that a new idea entered his head. After all, he had struggled long enough. He was good enough to make it as an artist – maybe even make enough to live on. But he was aware that there were hundreds of artists just as good, and the world wasn’t big enough for them all. What was needed, Peter realized, was an angle. Something to separate him from the rest. And he was more than aware that that separation came with spin or a stunt. And Peter Picasso realized he had the beginnings of a stunt.
If only the rest of the pictures he intended to draw could now come true.
‘If I am psychic,’ he said, ‘then they would, wouldn’t they?’
It was a thought that would occupy him for some time to come.

Old Man Hollis had finished his breakfast and was ready for his day. Of late, such days had become slower, not only because of his advancing years, but because he was going blind. A man who had the ability to laugh kicked out of him at an early age by an abusive father, he had made it his goal in life to be great. Unfortunately, that greatness had risen no more than being a big local businessman.
Three times married and three times divorced, personal relationships came hard to him, and was reflected in his relationship with his two sons, Wayne and Duane. Forever trying to emulate their father, they had already left to oil the machinery of local commerce. And at that moment, he was alone in the house, with only the thumpings of Rachel, his niece, upstairs, sounding as if he had a poltergeist.
Eventually, the thump, thump, thump came closer and Rachel thundered into the room.
‘Good morning, uncle,’ she said, scouring the room for muesli, but failing.
‘What’s good about it?’ retorted the Old Man.
Rachel looked momentarily philosophical. ‘You have a point.’ Then her mobile bleeped. ‘FORGIVEN. DINNER TO-NITE?’
‘Then again,’ said Rachel, beaming, ‘it isn’t as bad as all that.’
To which the Old Man felt like saying, ‘humbug.’

‘Shouldn’t you be at school?’ asked Peter Picasso as he came out of his bedsit and noticed Bobby Crawford loitering with intent.
Bobby offered his squinty smile. ‘That’s a matter of opinion,’ he said.
Peter smiled. ‘In what way?’ he asked.
‘It depends on if I should do what I’m supposed to, or what I want to.’
Peter liked Bobby Crawford. He could see a lot of himself as a kid. And he only hoped he had a better childhood than he did. Eventually, he said, secretively, ‘do you want to see my picture?’
Realising the importance Peter placed on his opinion, Bobby immediately said yes. And anyway, this would allow him to skive at least another ten minutes.
Upstairs, in the bedsit, Bobby scrutinized the picture with a critical eye. Eventually, he said: ‘Cool.’ Then a moment of grown-upness. ‘But isn’t it a bit weird. You know, painting something like that – as the house is burning?’
‘That’s the point, Bobby,’ said Peter Picasso. He beamed. ‘I painted it BEFORE the fire.’
To which Bobby Crawford could only say ‘double cool.’

The Old Man used a myriad of mind games to justify his existence. And as he walked down the street to do his customary grand tour of his assets, he was pleased with this frame of mind. Rachel was a classic example. His younger brother just didn’t have what it took to be a businessman, but in attempting to emulate his brother, the stresses had driven him to suicide. The Old Man, did, of course, remove from consciousness his goading of his weaker brother; the ridicule. And as such, he felt it only right to take in the little girl Rachel then was. She would have had a mother, if the Old Man hadn’t taken her as well – and discarded her just as fast. He often pondered on a DNA test, but decided better to leave things alone.
His assets were many, and not all gained through legitimate business ways. His house stood tall half way down the street, the biggest house in the area. And, of course, the ugliest. But to Old Man Hollis, it reflected perfectly how he saw himself. Of the other houses in the street, he owned nearly half of them, most rented out as bedsits. And he had twice that number in the wider area, and as well as controlling assets in a couple of dozen shops, pubs, garages and sweat shops. Yes, he thought, he had done alright for himself. But try as he might, he couldn’t think of a person he could class as a friend. Which, to him, was their loss, not his.
He stood still when he came to the site of the fire. He looked the remains up and down, and to the casual pedestrian, it looked as if he smiled. Of course, it would not have been a smile. More an acceptance of grim satisfaction. After all, it was a bit of luck, the house burning down just as he was considering …
We are interrupted in our musings. Thadias Grimes has spied the Old Man. He comes out of his shop. There is anger in his demeanour. He has something to say.
‘Good morning, Thadias,’ said the Old Man as the butcher approached.
‘Don’t “good morning” me,’ he said
The Old Man sighed. Looked, again, at the fire. ‘A great shame,’ he lied.
Thadias shook his fist. ‘Well don’t think, for a minute, that you’re going to get my shop,’ he said.
The Old Man smiled but didn’t smile. He walked on. ‘We’ll see, Thadias,’ he said. ‘We will see.’

(c) Anthony North, November 2007

Click Fiction Page for more of this novel

LATER COLONIES

The colonizing of the world by the European was often a slow, haphazard process, the central purpose behind it being trade. Initially carried out by the Spaniards and Portuguese, the rest of Europe soon indulged.
The establishing of coastal trading posts in India began in 1498 with the arrival of the Portuguese. However, by the 17th century the Dutch, English and French had joined in, exporting textiles and sugar, among other commodities.

INDIA

The main Indian power at the time was the Mogul Empire. Armed conflict began in 1740 between the French and British for supremacy of India. British victories in 1763 guaranteed her destiny.
Robert Clive began building the British Empire around Bengal in 1757, and with the India Act of 1784, large parts of northern and southern India, plus a continuous belt stretching along the east coast, came under British Parliamentary control.
However, central India remained virtually independent. Under Wellesley the remainder of the sub-continent was finally consolidated through armed aggression. By the time of his departure in 1805, the British conquest was complete.

SOUTH-EAST ASIA

In south east Asia a number of conquests by the Dutch from 1602 onwards resulted in a decline of Portuguese possessions, and by 1777 Java was in Dutch control. Their attempt to monopolise Thailand’s trading routes resulted in its rulers invoking French aid.
This, together with a succession of later Anglo-Burmese wars, guaranteed the eventual European supremacy of the region, France taking the larger slice with French Indo-China (Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia).
This period also saw a number of European nations interfering in Chinese affairs, including perhaps the largest episode of drug trafficking in history by the British, resulting in the British colony of Hong Kong and later Boxer rebellion.

BRITISH EMPIRE

Up to the early 19th century the main resource of the European empire builders were her navies, but a succession of wars - in particular the Seven Year’s War and Napoleonic Wars - destroyed many of these, leaving Britain supreme and able to take colonies from the other powers; most notably the Cape, Ceylon and Mauritius.
The British Empire grew even larger following Cook’s landing in Botany Bay (1770) with the acquisition of Australia. Though the colony of New South Wales was initially designed as a penal colony, this policy was extended to include other settlers in 1809.

AFRICA

In Africa, naval supremacy was less vital, resulting in, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, its partition with the French taking most of West Africa, the Belgians Central Africa, with German East Africa next door.
Portugal acquired Angola and Mozambique, the Italians much of the Horn and Libya, and the British taking Egypt and much of eastern and southern Africa.

GATHERING PACE

Although the empires became vast, it was not until late in the 19th century that the age of true expansion and consolidation gathered real momentum. And when it did, a prime factor, apart from power politics, was the need for trading supremacy.
Shipping routes shortened with the construction of the Suez and Panama Canals (1869 and 1914 respectively), but constant struggles caused immense difficulties for the Imperialists; most notably the Boer Wars in South Africa (1880-81 and 1899-1902) and the Indian Mutiny against the British Raj (1857-58).
The empires reached their zenith during this period and began a slow decline from the early 20th century, the two world wars decreeing the end of European supremacy.

© Anthony North, November 2007

For more posts in this series, click History of Man, on Blogroll.

END OF NATIONS

Click Tony On for my current affairs.
Have you read 1st instalments of my novel, Pictures of Life, yet?

It was pointed out to me recently on The Daily Grail that ‘modernisms’ in the English language used in the BBC News are getting ridiculous. I offered this reply.
These ‘modernisms’ are irritating. It is a problem that has always infected the Blair Broadcasting Corporation, and it gets no better with the Brown Broadcasting Corporation.

It is all part of the ‘plan’.

What plan, you may ask? Well, ever since NuLabour came to power they’ve cleverly been infiltrating liberal left commissars into all institutions, intent on indoctrinating us with political correctness.
Don’t get me wrong, I did my bit to end racism, homophobia and sexism, etc, from the early 70s onwards, but political correctness is something else. First of all, it aims at the lowest common denominator - i.e. if some people are bigots, the whole society must be treated as if everyone is.

The purpose of this is to degrade all things traditional.

This includes proper language. The reason why this is undertaken is that, by degrading the traditional at a local level, globalisation is allowed free reign, as it leaves only consumerism to ‘believe’ in - hence the modern global economy and celebrity madness.
NuLabour is at the forefront of this process of destroying nations to produce a global sameness, and as traditions are destroyed, a new machine-like, totalitarian system is emerging. Just as Orwell said (remember NewSpeak?).
Britain is at the forefront of this process, but believe me, Big Brown, or similar, will soon be watching you!

© Anthony North, November 2007

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Fiction Xtra - MATCHBREAKER - A whodunit

Cuthbert King sat in his study contemplating the letter in front of him. Some sixty years of age, his mind was as sharp as ever, and as he pushed his mass of white hair from his eyes, he turned to Mr Sprat.
‘I don’t think I can resist this one,’ he said …
… read more …

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CONSPIRACY AND SUPERSTITION

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Conspiracy theories can be like the more malign aspects of cults. The success of such a process is that it can invoke so many beliefs in demonic forces out to get us that we flock to the guru for protection and salvation.
This is the defining point of the success of the good – or bad - of a religious creed. Frighten enough people into believing in the Devil and they’ll buy anything you say. Conspiracy theories do this exact process, but in reverse.

SCARING KIDDIES TO DEATH

They tell you the good guys are really demons and the only person to trust is yourself. Hence, instead of creating strength through meaning, they produce paranoia of unimaginable degrees. And by the time they’ve finished, there is absolutely nothing in the world to trust, for evil is all around, and you should be fearful.
We’re conditioned for conspiracy from childhood. At school, kids form into gangs. The gangs have a secret, an initiation, and become a closed club. People outside the gang are suspect and cannot be trusted.
At home, parents threaten the bogeyman. You want to go out? Well be careful of the pervert. Watch he doesn’t get you. Don’t take sweets from strangers. Don’t talk to anyone you don’t know.

THERE’S A CHANCE

We live in a mad world, made madder by the reality of chance. Things happen in the world that suggest order. Forever, the coincidence will come along and slap you down. When you least expect it you’ll be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and wham! Coincidences produce just as many fortuitous events, but we forget them. Pain is easier to remember than pleasure, and the fates are out to get you.
The result of childhood, of coincidence, the after spill of religion, is a mind-set of insecurity, where the worst is expected, and we’re unlikely to be disappointed. And in this world the conspiracy theorist is king. He weaves his ink-filled wand, wraps his fears about your spine, and chills.
You are his; you are the conspirator’s apprentice and live in a house of cards upon a foundation of sand.

SUPERSTITION

But, you see, this is the normal, historic, human condition. Forces have always been around to get us, as any actor who has been in the Scottish play, Macbeth, will testify.
Performed for centuries in a culture of superstition, accidents and disasters have followed it to the point that you mustn’t even utter the play’s name.
Superstition has been endemic to humanity for most if its history. Supernatural forces lived with us, and everything in life had to be regulated in terms of evil demons bringing bad luck.
For instance, take birth. If the pregnant woman stepped on a gravestone, the child would die; if she met a hare, this was a familiar of a witch and the child would have a hare lip.
Once born, the nickname became popular as a means of hiding a child’s real name before baptism, so as a witch couldn’t take over the child. A woman gave birth downstairs so the child’s first journey would be up, else the last one would be down - to hell. And do not forget to protect it from fairies, who were out to abduct it.

MARRIAGE CAN BE SCARY

Marriage had its own set of superstitious rules. A future spouse could know how their partner would be in life by asking about when, as a child, he/she had had the palm crossed with silver. Held tightly, the person was wise with money; loosely, then generosity was guaranteed; dropped, don’t marry a spendthrift.
The veil and ring were magical symbols which had to be treated with respect. If the groom dropped the ring, he would die first, and vice versa. Wearing something old meant old traditions would be honoured; something new symbolised new life; something borrowed and blue had to come from a lucky person, transferring the luck to the couple. As the bride walked to church, sunshine or meeting a black cat were considered lucky; meet a pig and you might as well go home. And most important of all, make the wedding cake as rich and fruity as possible. This guaranteed fertility.

IT DOESN’T STOP WITH DEATH

And then, of course, there was death, usually caused by the dislocation of the soul from the body. In illness, this separation must not be impeded, or you would delay the soul going to heaven. Hence, in lingering illness, strangulation or smothering was often done. Upon death, all clothes had to be loosened and locks left unlocked so the soul could get out.
Of course, bodies had to be protected from demons, usually with salt on the chest and the practice of never leaving the body alone. When leaving the house for burial, always through the front, and feet first.
Possessions were buried with the person so that they would maintain their status in the afterlife - pretty girls even took mirror and comb so they could do their hair. And always bury corpses with feet to the east. Judgment Day would come from this direction, so the corpse could rise easily on the day of resurrection.

THE POWERS THAT BE

This brief descent into old superstitions tells us something of importance. Powers, it seems, have always been out to get us. Today, we are said to live in less superstitious times, but is this really the case? Or could it be that we have simply moved our superstitions away from the supernatural to the governmental?
Conspiriology seems to be a re-statement of superstition, with paranoid tendencies continuing to affect us. But why should this still be so?

INDIVIDUAL v SOCIETY

When our belief in superstition and the supernatural began to wane, a new mentality arose in us in terms of our feelings of individuality. To be human in the modern world is to be an individual. But individuality is a troublesome thing because it must be tempered by a social awareness of human society to continue in orderly fashion.
If we did not class ourselves as social beings, we would have chaos. Hence, we live in a world of conflict between our need to express our individuality and society’s need to keep us in check.
Society is regulated by government and authority. And it is these powers which have inherited the superstitious mantle with conspiracy theory. Hence, perhaps it is our sense of individuality which will forever keep us suspicious of forces in society out to get us.
This is the crux of conspiriology - an acceptance of powers in the world that are working against our individuality. And these powers can appear sinister indeed.

© Anthony North, November 2007

Click It’s Under Control for my conspiracy sub-domain.

TONY ON NEW ORGANS AND OTHER NEWS

THOUGHTS FROM A COMMON MAN
News and comment LATEST: New procedures in organ transplants for the future … PLUS … Is it time to look again at the Commonwealth? If Blair were still PM.
POSTED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY – from a real voice of Britain and the world

RINSED HEARTS

Scientists are working on a radical method of organ transplant. A system is being developed to ‘rinse’ organs of their existing DNA, and replace it with stem cells from the patient. The hope is that this will stop rejection by the patient’s body.
Of course, it is years from being practical as yet, but I have a suspicion that it may not be all it is cracked up to be. This suspicion has nothing to do with the procedure itself, but the usual ideals of the big medical corporations.
Are we really to believe that they will allow a simple, cheap system to operate without the need for life long drugs after it? Are the corporations going soft?

Possibly.

But two factors I would certainly like to know before this procedure goes ahead. First, can the procedure do it with adult stem cells alone, or will embryonic cells be required, thus allowing more demands for cloning? And second, are there other problems in this procedure that would require a whole new class of life long drugs to allow it to work?
Forgive my cynicism. But by past experience, it is deserved.

© Anthony North, November 2007

EMPOWER THE COMMONWEALTH

The British Commonwealth has suspended Pakistan. Whether this is a good idea or not is debatable. World affairs are rarely of right or wrong, but lesser and greater evils. And such moves could assist in Islamic fundamentalism gaining power in the country …
… read more …

IF ONLY BLAIR WERE PRIME MINISTER

I never thought I’d write that title. Of course, I don’t mean it. As far as I’m concerned he never should have been Prime Minister. But many, it seems, wish he still was. Indeed, it is this lacking why Labour is behind in the polls …
… read more …

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SHAKESPEARE’S SECRET

Read my Saturday Essay, My Body, My Mind.
Have you read 1st instalment of my novel, Pictures of Life, yet?

Okay, I’ve conned you. If you’ve come to this post to learn some amazing secret about Shakespeare’s enigmatic life, then you’re not. Rather, I wanted to grab your attention, and in doing so I used a classic storytelling device
No, the secret I want to impart is why Shakespeare remains the most popular and well known classic writer of all time. One answer people don’t realize is ‘availability’. The plays were quickly collected into a single folio, so he is easily accessible, even if his actual writing isn’t.

Shakespeare is a psychologist’s dream.

This in itself is an important point. His characters can be mad, often ridiculously in love, or hungry for power. They don’t begin with this, so the writer explores the points of transition from sanity to madness. We are fascinated by the reasons for this.
Similarly, his characters are ‘archetypes’. By this, I mean they fit a standard type of character. He writes about classic heroes and heroines, villains and buffoons. A glimpse of each exists in our own minds. Hence, they filter straight through the words and bury themselves deep in our psyche.

His plays revolve around situations.

This may seem an obvious point. Most stories do. But Shakespeare tells them in the raw, unaffected by incidences of place. His love affairs, schemes and conspiracies – his murders and supernatural events – are timeless and fit any place at any time.
Shakespeare is therefore universal. He delves deep into human situations, the reasons, the impulses. And in doing so he speaks directly to the person. And through this, his plays apply directly to you, be you sat in an Elizabethan audience, a modern theatre, or the medium being used in a thousand years hence.
More than any other writer in history, Shakespeare understood the eternal now.

© Anthony North, November 2007

FEMALE GURUS

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Cults continue to fascinate the western psyche, nurturing suspicions of their intentions. Whether there is a reality to these concerns is hard to tell, but most cults have proved to be peaceful and innocuous.
The vast majority of cult gurus tend to be male. But this is not exclusively so. There have been a handful of female gurus, most being totally peaceful, but even here there is an exception.

MARGARET PETER

This exception was Margaret Peter, and her activities in the German border town of Wildisbuch in 1823. Her group included most of her family, but things came to a head when Margaret was convinced the Devil lived in her loft and they needed a sacrifice.
A sister immediately hit herself with a mallet. Six members then battered her to death. The Devil still there, Margaret decided to be crucified, to be resurrected in three days.
The group crucified her and battered her to death.
Margaret didn’t come back to life, but the police did come to the house and throw them all in prison. However, other than Margaret, female cult gurus tend to be different in many respects to their male counterparts.

JOANNA SOUTHCOTT

Consider the 19th century British Christian sect that grew around Joanna Southcott. A deeply religious woman, she had a vision that she would give birth to the new Messiah, whom she named Shiloh.
Dying in 1814, disciples waited for days by her dead body for the birth. When the smell became too bad, a doctor opened her up but found no child. Hence, it must have been spiritually born in heaven.
The Panacea Society was then formed, still waiting for Shiloh, and also keeping a box containing Southcott’s wisdom. This box can only be opened in the presence of twenty four Anglican bishops. So far, the bishops have declined to attend the opening of the box.

ANN LEE

Ann Lee from Manchester, England, was another female cult leader. She was a Quaker who, after all four of her children died whilst young, rejected sex. Forming the Shakers, so named for their ecstatic dancing which led to hysteria and hallucination, she became known as Mother Ann for reflecting the feminine aspects of God.
Moving to America in 1774, the Shakers grew to six thousand, but her rejection of sex led to persecution, Ann being branded a witch. Dying in 1784, she began to appear in Shaker meetings and headed a number of spiritual entities who appeared to the sect. Today, only one tiny Shaker community remains.

MADAME BLAVATSKY

Perhaps the most famous female guru was Russian eccentric and Spiritualist medium, Helena Blavatsky. Becoming famous in America, this obese lady began receiving letters from Koot Hoomi, an immortal master, or Mahatma, who existed in Tibet with others.
In 1875 she formed the Theosophical Society with Col HS Olcott, espousing her spiritual philosophy that all religions were versions of the one truth. This truth was that we existed on many ‘planes’, reincarnation was a reality, and the cosmos underwent spiritual development.
In 1877 the society moved to Adyar, Madras, in India, and became fundamental to allowing eastern philosophies into the west. Derided by many, leadership passed to Annie Besant who declared the guru Krishnamurti as the coming World Teacher.
Krishnamurti later rejected this, which was a huge blow for the society. Fellow Theosophist Rudolf Steiner broke away, forming the Anthroposophical Society, which did pioneering work in the spiritual education of children, still practiced today as the Waldorf Schools Movement.

GENDER DIFFERENCES

With the exception of Margaret Peter, who we can reliably argue was not as sane as she might have been, we can see several different aspects to these female gurus above the male equivalent.
A male led cult tends to be a society based around the reverence of the guru himself. As well a certain level of violence, it can also include abuse of the sexual or psychological kind. However, this does not seem to happen with female gurus.
The obvious answer to this is that the female guru is not egotistical to the same extent as a man would be in this position. So many male led cults can be seen as a product of ego rather than a definite spiritual system.

A SPIRITUAL SYSTEM

With the female guru, spirituality seems to be the central key. And lack of ego can also be identified in the fact that, with Southcott, Lee and Blavatsky, they were not so much the centre of the spiritual system that manifested.
Rather, there was a wider purpose above the guru herself, Blavatsky even managing to birth a process that fundamentally changed the nature of spirituality in the west with the Theosophical Society.
Essential to female led cults seems, therefore, to be a definite spirituality other than the ego of the guru. And in understanding this, we can argue that there are far more female gurus than we at first believe.
But these gurus are so different that we do not see them as gurus in the classic cult sense. Such gurus are the multitude of Channelers around today, imparting wisdom to their groups through possessed entities – a process that can clearly be seen as beginning with Blavatsky.
An obvious advancement on the Spiritualist medium, Channeling can also, here, be seen to be an advancement on the cult, too. Does such an influence suggest a new stage in cult development, the notorious cults of the past becoming just that – of the past?

© Anthony North, November 2007

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MY BODY, MY MIND

Click Diary of a Writer. Meet me up close and personal.
1st instalment of my novel, Pictures of Life, is now posted.

Few subjects are really approached as a matter of life and death. But undoubtedly, one that is is our health. For the simple fact remains, our health is the decider between life and death.
Indeed, as you scan modern magazines and newspapers, it soon becomes apparent that we are so fascinated with the subject today that we are all hypochondriacs, forever diagnosing our own symptoms and expecting an immediate cure from the doctor.

DEFINING A PROBLEM

Psychiatrist, Thomas Szasz, realised this problem in the 1970s, when he wrote: ‘Formerly, when religion was strong and science weak, men mistook magic for medicine; now, when science is strong and religion weak, men mistake medicine for magic’.
But just how capable is medical science and the technologies they produce? Does it really provide the cures we think? Or is much of medical knowledge and technology a compromise with the unknown? Further, what is the future of medicine and our health?

EARLY UNDERSTANDING

In deep antiquity people died, not because of a form of physical illness, but by the will of supernatural forces. Illness itself had a distinct form. The sufferer had angered the gods.
This was to change in 400BC, when the ancient Greek father of medicine, Hippocrates, realised that illness was not supernatural but had physical causes in a physical body.
From this lead, other thinkers began to turn their attention to the human body, beginning to understand the way we worked.
The Spanish born Roman poet, Martial, encapsulated the view of health in 40AD, when he wrote: ‘Life’s not just being alive, but being well’. And by 200AD the great doctor, Galen, had consolidated the work of all the ancient physicians to produce the first anatomy of the human body.
With the rise of Christianity in Europe, and the ascendency of the Medieval world, medical knowledge took a downturn. Illness was generally seen in supernatural terms once more. But rather than the sufferer having angered the gods, the problem was seen in the sufferer’s moral fibre.
In becoming ill, he must have gone against God’s will. The problem was his lack of morality, and therefore the illness was his own fault.
There were problems with this view. For instance, supposedly good and moral Christians in the Church hierarchy also became ill. Was such immorality endemic? No. With the truly Godly, any illness was a gift of God.
Life on Earth was only a prelude to an eternal afterlife in heaven. And in a wonderfully masochistic theology, the more the good suffered in this life, the more they would be hallowed in the next. Hence, depending upon your persuasion, illness could be a result of moral crime or great Godliness.

MEDICAL SCIENCE

Prevention of illness or cure was a rudimentary thing in Medieval times. Sensible remedies for illness had been around for millenia in the pagan practices of potions and the use of herbs.
Sucking willow bark was one such remedy; a practice that was shunned and laughed at right up until the mid-18th century, when benefits were empirically proved. Finally, in 1899, the natural acids in willow bark were marketed by chemist Felix Hoffman. We call it aspirin.
Only today are these natural cures from early paganism being taken seriously. But in Medieval times these were the work of the Devil, with such barbaric practices as bleedings being used throughout the Middle Ages to allow illness to flow out with the blood.
Beginning with the 16th century Renaissance, European minds finally began to look at the world in a more rational way. And this had great benefits for medical science. For instance, in 1628 William Harvey discovered blood circulation.
But problems continued to exist - this time due to every ‘rational’ physician deciding his usually incorrect ideas were the way to proceed. The poet Matthew Prior aired the sentiment perfectly in 1727: ‘Cured yesterday of my disease, I died last night of my physician’.
As understanding of the human body proceeded, mainly due to technical innovations in monitoring devices, another major hurdle to be jumped was an understanding of the bugs and microbes which invaded us.
By the end of the 18th century, such organisms were beginning to be understood, with Edward Jenner doing groundbreaking work in developing vaccinations against such diseases. By 1928 Alexander Fleming had isolated the first antibiotic in penicillin, using organisms to fight organisms.
Further understanding of the dangers of invasion by organisms was soon to increase survival rates from surgical operations. Fundamental to this was Joseph Lister, who demonstrated the importance of antiseptic in surgery in 1890.
And in doing so, he opened a whole new branch of medical practices with the direct intervention of man and his technology in the human body to cut the offending organ out. Wilhelm Rontgen’s discovery of X-rays in 1895 was to become a ground- breaking moment in such practices, and by 1967, matters were so advanced that Christian Barnard was able to perform the first human heart transplant operation.

DISEASE OF THE MIND

With disease preventable and surgical procedures well advanced, two new fronts were to be opened up in the 20th century - psychiatry and genetic medicine. In 1900 Sigmund Freud published his epoch-making studies into the drives deep down in the human psyche which could lead to mental illness.
Previous to this, various explanations had been aired into the reasons for insanity, varying from a wandering womb, to moral decline, to idleness, to having a too active imagination. But Freud had discovered the unconscious, and understood that what we are is a product of not only our conscious self, but our fears, desires and anxieties.
Freud’s answer to mental illness was psychoanalysis. Rather than carrying on with well-understood remedies - locking up the insane in asylums - he advocated therapy in order to allow the patient to discover and master the drives in his own head which were driving him mad.
For a while, psychoanalysis became the accepted wisdom, but with the use of increasingly effective chemical suppressants, the technology of drugs took over from therapy, per se, bringing back the old asylum mentality. Rather than locking them up in asylums, lock the anxieties in the patient’s head instead.

GENETICS

Today, the great panacea for all our illnesses is said to be genetics, a whole new group of sciences and technologies.
Ideas concerning the gene, heredity, and the idea of biological programming of the body had been around since the early 19th century. But in Crick and Watson’s 1953 discovery of DNA, the field was opened up to science.
Today, with the human genome project having identified all the genes that make up the human body, the race is on to perfect a whole new science and technology of treatment, with the hope being aired of removing hereditary illness, growing new body parts, and developing drugs to change or suppress our genetic make-up to cure illness and psychological disorder.
How successful genetics will prove to be, it is impossible to say at this time. Suffice to say, genetic scientists are presently full of optimism and bluster, but hard facts remain illusive, and cures some time off yet.
However, this short history of medical science cannot be completed without mentioning one more area of medicine which began to gain ground towards the end of the 20th century. This is the area of alternative medicines and therapies - an area that uses minimum technology, thus going against the grain of our supposed advancement.

ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

Going back to the ancient pagan ways, alternative medicine is about natural substances as opposed to chemical, and therapies have returned which work on the whole body and mind as opposed to specialising on specific areas of the body or illness.
Many medical scientists will not even consider such practices. But they do raise an important question regarding the future of medical practices and illness. Fundamental to this is the role of mind upon the physical body.
It is already accepted that hormones exist in a limbo-land between the physical and the psychological, with hormones able to pump around the body due to a psychological response from fear of the shadows, to arousal following looking at nude pictures.
As hormones are also vital for much of the body’s physical function, the role of mind will increasingly come to play an important part in medicine in the future. And assuming this to be the case, an important point must be raised concerning the difference between orthodox, technological, medical practices, and the alternative remedies.
We have already noted how the orthodox is specific and specialised, and how alternative remedies work on the opposite to this, the whole body, the holistic. However, there is another fundamental difference. Orthodox medicine is geared towards pessimism. With diagnosis, the future of the illness becomes deterministic, like a machine, lacking free will, with the patient told exactly how the illness will go, including, in severe cases, the probability of death.
Alternative, non- technological therapies work differently. Rather, they are optimistic, with the patient being encouraged to improve ‘well-being’ and take a positive view of the illness, going on to fight, fight, fight, usually against the orthodox odds.
The implication of mind having a real role in the workings of the body is obvious here. Pessimism will induce a feeling of no hope, whereas optimism fills the patient with the will to live.

THE FUTURE

Of course, I am not saying, here, that in the future alternative remedies should replace the orthodox. But for a future balanced medical science to offer the best benefits for the patient, a synthesis will have to occur, infiltrating orthodox medicine with the optimism of the alternative, and placing upon the alternative the standards of the orthodox.
With the role of mind given its proper importance in matters medical, cure will no doubt increase. And that cure will increase due to a realisation that the technological is not always absolutely correct. However, there is one more psychological factor which will have to be faced in future medical practices.
Medical science and technology is advancing at such a pace that the time cannot be too far off when cancer can be cured by a pill and heart surgery completed by a process not much more invasive than an injection.
New super drugs and keyhole surgery are without doubt the future. But when a cure becomes so simple and straight forward, can we still expect the people to look after themselves to the same degree as they do today?
This is unlikely. So we must beware that, as treatments and technologies improve, heightening success and taking away the pain, we don’t adopt a retrograde lifestyle where cancer and heart disease are viable risks, and seen as little more than a hangover following a heavy night on the booze.
Technology thus holds benefits and disadvantages to society as a whole. This is an important message, for all too often the technologist looks to his technology rather than the people who have to live with it.
But above all, the important message here is that the apparent success of a technological form can divert thinkers from an alternative system of benefit to us all.

© Anthony North, November 2007

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