Writer
This is a spin-off from an online music journal I kept for a few years, in which I mused about life and the universe while exploring the back catalogue of a band I had never liked until discovering belatedly that they had a serious, dark side. The main themes in this anecdotal piece are dating …
A small reflection to start, on living in this universe. Albany to Perth via Lake Towerrinning, Darkan, Williams When you get out of the car to take pictures of rural countryside, there is another recurring theme – litter. Wherever Homo colossus goes, a trail of pollution is left behind. You’d think it would be a …
A song to start with. Albany to Perth via Lake Towerrinning, Darkan, Williams At the end of the last instalment, we were visiting an inland lake ecosystem degraded by our culture’s activities both at the lake and in its catchment. We noted that the destruction we can clearly see from a biocentric perspective is mostly …
I’m an Australian biologist, conservationist, educator, writer and “doomer” who would like to take decent people on a journey. If you’re a “doomer” you will already understand and none of what I’m going to say will especially surprise you. You will already have seen all this in your own part of the world and you …
This letter to you all has become somewhat longer than intended, so I have inserted topical music clips to listen to if you’d like a break or for related contemplations anytime. You will need your favourite beverage and a comfortable place to read.
In the 12 years since moving off-grid to protect remnant woodland/heathland and run a smallholding, I have listened to countless podcasts on all sorts of subjects. One long-standing regular programme is about people born into a fundamentalist religion growing up, encountering different world views, and having faith crises – where everything they ever believed is necessarily up for grabs.
Typically it is a very painful process, involving feelings of betrayal and an erosion of trust in a person’s community and in the wisdom of their elders and experts. While many find it a relief to let go of their religion’s unfair ideas and bigotry, a critical re-evaluation of an inherited belief in endless life, eternal love and eventual justice is far more difficult…