I had a great little conversation with a person called Joy down at Warrnambool the Sunday before last. Apparently they have a WhatsApp group that plan their own worship and they are always looking for new ideas! How could I resist? So I joined the group and sent off a whacky idea – a fun, …
Read the full post →“Participative Pieces Promoting Spiritual Nurture “
It is not ‘promise’ that is the fundamental problem when it comes to Jewish belief about a ‘Promised Land’. Nor is it ‘land’. The real issue is possession – taking for oneself, no matter how one justifies it, while denying others one has discounted and considered to be outside the ‘promise’ one believes has been …
It might seem outrageous to suggest that the West needed the events we now know as September 11, 2001, a moment when the symbols of modern capitalism and power were attacked by Islamic terrorists. If only we could have seen past the event, as horrific as it was, to ask ‘why?’. But, as if obeying …
My good friend Steve Parker reckons that probably the only one useful piece of wisdom he gleaned from reading all the Christian books that were supposed to prepare him for marriage was a rethink of the usual proposition that there are three participants in a marriage – husband, wife and God. God is the third …
Dr Steve Parker In our closely connected society, where views circulate quickly, learning to avoid offence has become crucial. What was once considered friendly teasing can now be perceived as subtle insults, leaving all parties feeling wounded and bewildered. This raises an issue: what part does offence play in our community, and how can we …
Read the full post →“Navigating the Minefield: Offence in Modern Society”
There is a lot for a Westerner like me to learn from how everyday people in other countries are adapting their cultures to the new age into which we are moving. Consider 50 to 100 motorbikes converging on an intersection that has no traffic lights, each rider with his or her own idea of where …
“Art is the queen of all sciences communicating knowledge to all the generations of the world”—Leonardo Da Vinci Da Vinci was on to something. A picture is worth a thousand words. And multi-lingual. But more than that. Randomly scribble on a piece of paper and ask someone to tell you what they see, and they …
James Plunkett was recently appointed Chief Practices Officer at Nesta with the Behavioural Insights Team.Nesta is a UK innovation agency for social good: We design, test and scale new solutions to society’s biggest problems, changing millions of lives for the better. That’s pretty ambitious! And interesting… So what is the Behavioural Insights Team?At BIT we improve …
Our Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek, was on the radio this morning, having just returned from an international meeting to see if there could be global agreement on eliminating plastic pollution. I had almost forgotten that I had written a song about this, fifty or so years ago. It was inspired by a speech by environmentalist …
There is no escaping the rallying calls of different viewpoints in today’s society; each offers its unique perspective with promises of being true and correct. However, not every argument is created equal some possess greater value than others. Good arguments are those built upon facts and logical reasoning, while bad ones rely on emotional tugs …
Read the full post →“The Power of Good Arguments: Why You Should Care About Logic and Evidence”
