Blog#32: The Fool
Part One
I guess that I first came across Tarot in any meaningful way during my early days in the commune. I soon bought a pack of the cards, the classic Rider-Waite Tarot: there was not too much choice in those days.
I took to Tarot immediately; it seemed to speak to me, and I felt at home with it. I used it for . . .
Life Story#32: West of Lhasa
Part One
I could barely contain my excitement as I thumbed my way up the length of England, from Oxford to the southern perimeter of the Lake District. Conishead Priory, the newly-acquired residence of the recently formed Manjusri Institute. The retreat with the Western Buddhists was still fresh in my mind. It had been so enjoyable, so . . .
Blog#31: The Ancient Game
A second piece using material originally intended for appendices to the 'life story'.
Part One
It is an ancient game indeed. By the time of the Roman Empire it was certainly in full swing. Since then, the details have changed and it has gone more fully global, but the face has remained the same.
Just how far . . .
Life Story#31: High Summer With Buddha
Part One
It was homework time. I had set myself an ambitious programme of research on Buddhists and Buddhist practice. In keeping with the 'suck it and see' approach which I had divined to be the essence of Buddhism, I booked myself into a late summer and early autumn of retreats. In September I would be doing three weeks . . .
Blog#30: Outside the Matrix
The original drafts for the 'life-story' sections on the blog contained a number of appendices or afterthoughts. These are not particularly suitable as such, I felt, on returning to the project. However, with a bit of juggling and reworking, some of the material can stand alone as separate articles. This piece is the result of one such . . .
Life Story#30: Re-Tuning
Part One
The mess and mayhem which constituted much of my life in the spring and early summer of 1976 also provided the backdrop for my other preoccupation: finding out more about Buddhism.
Why Buddhism exactly? The consensus during the 1970s was that Wisdom came from the East, at least in the form of any unbroken tradition that . . .
Blog#29: Manufacturing Consent
XII: The Hanged Man. The world turned upside down..... Everything looks different depending on ones perspective..... the world inverted ....... things are not as they appear.
Part One
If the name of the game is regional skirmishes, then you want to be overt, explicit - even if the reasons you give for the conflict are spurious. You . . .
