POETRY
SHORTLISTED FOR MAJOR AUSTRALIAN POETRY PRIZES:
Blake Prize for Poetry (2017)
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Australian Catholic University (ACU) Poetry Prize (2019, 2021, 2023, 2024)
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Lambing Flat Federation of Australian Writers (FAW) Poetry Prize (2019 'Commended', 2024 'Highly Commended' and 'Commended')
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Blake Prize for Poetry (2017) 〰️ Australian Catholic University (ACU) Poetry Prize (2019, 2021, 2023, 2024) 〰️ Lambing Flat Federation of Australian Writers (FAW) Poetry Prize (2019 'Commended', 2024 'Highly Commended' and 'Commended') 〰️
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Collection: 10 poems
Synopsis: This collection of poetry borrows its name from the spaghetti western movies of the sixties, but actually provides double-fisted value for money with ten sonnets on offer, instead of just five.
This compilation is not for the faint-hearted, as death and the complex array of issues that surround it in western first world countries are explored in depth in the seven sonnet epic "That better place, say we"; while the remaining three confront other soul-searing conundrums of the human heart and what might constitute a meaningful existence on this planet.
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Collection: 10 poems
Synopsis: An exploration of different dimensions and manifestations of love. Love is transcultural, transcendental, and unfathomable. Ultimately, it imbues human existence with meaning and yet nothing on this planet is more misunderstood, abused or manipulated for commercial, mercenary or ulterior motives.
In its pure essence, love is eternal, impregnable to time and mortality; however, flesh is fallible. And so this decalogue of verse is comprised of microcosmic snapshots of different aspects of love, manifest in everyday life - among them, agape and rapture, eros and spiritual aspiration.
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Collection: 10 poems
Synopsis: An exploration of life’s fragility and vulnerability on the one hand; on the other, its beauty, power and glory when human beings act with heartfelt courage and break through into another realm of experience.
While all human existence is temporal, and in a sense short-lived, the seventh poem in this series alludes to the mystery and source of creativity of the nothingness that we, as human beings, can either embrace or resist - and how if we choose to "partake of the nought" as it were, or "release the clenched fist of thought" life can become for us - soundless, boundless and free.
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Collection: 36 poems
Synopsis: Poems inspired by six years of work in the funeral industry.
FOREWORD: Certainly, it is never certain that one will be born or lead a full life - but dying is only a matter of how and when. Death is both abstract and personal. Like many of us you can ignore it, not think or do anything about it for almost a lifetime in some cases – but eventually of course, it will demand your attention.
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Collection: 10 poems
Synopsis: This decalogue of verse (ten ‘cupcakes’ hewn from life's grand gateau) is an exploration of the darker side of the human condition; slices of life characterised by disappointment or a sense of fragility and vulnerability rather than any kind of mastery of life's challenges and vicissitudes.
But threaded throughout these poems is the belief that with the right attitude, we are only made stronger by such experiences - and paradoxically, opened to our divine potential, as mortal vessels through which nothingness "dances like a dervish ... devilish, angelic, impossible to know, for it is everything and nothing less, and yet less than the very least".
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Collection: 150 poems
Synopsis: Poems from teenage flux and turbulence.
FOREWORD: You reach a point in life where you have more than enough - the evidence, the raw material you might say - to reward the diligent detective. The answers you seek are (you suspect) secreted somewhere inside this mountainous thicket of the past. And so, even as you move forward into whatever is left for you to live and experience, you find yourself sifting through it all like someone panning for gold in the wet dirt, the mud and slush; the residue of one's personal history.
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Collection: 36 poems
Synopsis: Poems born from the ups and downs of a lifelong spiritual search for ‘something else’, as both an individual and part of different like-minded communities.
FOREWORD: Long after the beginning of what I call ‘my search or quest’, I find myself back penning verse - hopefully, in line with Coleridge’s famous distillation of what poetry is: using the ‘best words in the best order’ - trying to the best of my ability to capture the whole travail, my ‘goat track’ as this life journey is sometimes described, especially as it relates to a yearning for something deeper, more meaningful.
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Collection: 38 poems
Synopsis: Poems about my early childhood and youth, growing up in Sydney’s inner city.
FOREWORD: It was in Redfern where we really laid down roots, where my little brother Geoff, younger sister Jan and I grew up - attending local schools with kids of forty or more different nationalities and watching the Rabbitohs play the rugby league they were famous for, at Redfern oval every winter weekend.
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Collection: 10 poems
Synopsis: Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets. I have set myself the task of writing at least 15.4 career sonnets (that’s 2,156 syllables including the last .4 – that’s 56 syllables or 5.6 lines) in his honour, and so lay claim to have pumped out exactly one tenth the output of the master, at no less than 10% the quality (hopefully!).
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Collection: 55 poems
Synopsis: Poems on diverse themes and subjects printed on the right page of every spread, with the left page presenting a running 15,000 word ‘stream of consciousness’ soliloquy about modern life and the human condition.
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Collection: 19 poems
Synopsis: An ad hoc assemblage of verse inspired by diverse themes.
FOREWORD: Mortality is not just for the birds. It is mankind’s great common denominator. For mine, the role of the poet is clear; to articulate this ineluctable - some would say preeminent - aspect of the human condition.
NON-FICTION
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40,000 words
SYNOPSIS: “A Plate of Eggs” is comprised of 68 short chapters; that’s five and three quarter dozen “eggs” or nuggets of wisdom, symbolising mystery, magic, new life and rebirth; which invite the reader to embark on a journey of observation, question and exploration of life in the 21st century – our speed-driven, space-compromised, time-poor lifestyle.
Part One (chapters 1-34) asks some probing questions based on simple life observations about things it is easy to take for granted. There are no formulaic answers, although in Part Two (35-68) the author offers experiences and insights – “glimmers” – gleaned from more than 25 years of group work and a quest for meaning shared with others who all at some stage had the gut feeling “there must be more”.
One of the key contentions of “A Plate of Eggs” is that the technology-driven acceleration of life we are witness to in this modern day age of information, is at risk of becoming a “mudslide into insanity” unless we can see and acknowledge what is happening, turn our attention inwards, and reconnect with who we truly are; our birthright as human beings to become creators in our own right.
“A Plate of Eggs” ultimately aims to ignite a spark in its readers, so that each in their own way might begin their own journey of transformation, within and without; a quest for new being, both deeply personal and able to be shared with others on the same path. This “mateship of soul”, distinctly Australian in flavour, is testimony to the power of united effort, the collective search for higher meaning.
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Synopsis: At heart, we are all Poets, and this moment is all we have. To begin is an act of faith more than skill. To be a Poet, to live and breathe the moment - one must act with courage.
In the demand of the moment, new being and the poet are born, giving voice to the inexpressible. Everything stops. The now conquers all.
The voice of the poet is an important one for society; particularly today in a world where advancing technology has become the tireless servant of consumerism.
The so-called ‘quickening’ we are witnessing in every aspect of modern life must surely continue until we have completely lost touch with who we are, what our purpose is and our uniquely human right to become creators in our own right.
Against this soulless acceleration into insanity, the voice of the poet rings out, calling us to stop; to stop and embrace the present once again, this moment of limitless potential – but to do this as a conscious act, unaided by any device or technical apparatus.
In the being of the Poet, therefore, whose message is expressed as much by the timbre of voice, a gleam in the eye and bodily gesture, as by what they have to say – the flame of the moment is kept alive and there is hope for humanity”.
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Collection: Essays (published 2010-13)
Synopsis: Fifteen (15) Articles published in Insight Magazine, InnerSelf Newspaper and LivingNow Magazine.
Themes of time, technology and the age of information are woven together throughout these articles, asking some major questions about where we are heading in this second decade of the 21st century.
SHORT STORIES
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8,500 words
Synopsis: When Ross Denton is called for jury duty, it never occurs to him that he would actually be chosen as a juror, nor that deliberations might centre on a sexual assault case.
As an excuse for levity in moments of downtime, Ross interrogates his fellow jurors from an astrological perspective and, surprisingly, finds his interpretations well-received. The gravity of the matter at hand, however, casts what astrology has to say in a deeper, more intriguing light and at the end of the case, Ross must face down some lingering demons about himself and his own behaviour, and the whole question of what constitutes real justice.
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7,700 words
Synopsis: Sydney, 2017. Petty criminal Ben Gessar spots his next target at a popular café in the central business district. Elise Carson is a rock singer performing that day with her band.
Following his usual modus operandi, Ben goes into action intending to use his charisma and charm to insinuate himself into the Elise's life for exactly as long as it takes to complete a reconnaissance of her valuables; plus obtain all the personal details needed for the next stage of the operation: that is, the breaking and entering and theft carried out by "the boys", a team of skilled thieves who for security's sake, Ben has never met and whose names he does not know.
The operation does not officially proceed when Ben unexpectedly becomes romantically involved with his intended victim. With everything in readiness, Ben calls the operation off at the last minute saying only to 'his man' - his contact for the boys - that "something came up". But the guy contracted for the job is angry at the short notice and under the added pressure of needing the money, decides to go it alone. This has dire consequences for Elise.
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4,800 words
Synopsis: From the age of five, it was evident that Nostrale Dumaarse had a disproportionately large nose, and the nasal hair growth of a middle-aged man.
At the age of thirteen, Nostrale’s overgrown nasal curlies began to involuntarily vibrate and oscillate, and he was surprised to discover that through this energetic activity, he could hear people’s thoughts; in fact, whatever anyone in close proximity to him was thinking, he could hear it as a voice in his head.
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4,000 words
Synopsis: Andrew Parkes catches a train home after an appointment with a his cricket-mad Indian tax agent, who proclaims Tachin Tendulkar to be the world’s greatest ever batsman. A cricket lover himself, Andrew disagrees; but to keep the peace, he does not argue the case in favour of Australia’s Don Bradman.
On the train, Andrew daydreams about Bradman’s century in three overs in the late Spring of 1931, playing for Blackheath against Lithgow. Interspersed with this, are feelings and thoughts of frustration with his mobile phone provider and his fourth faulty handset replacement in as many months since upgrading.
During the trip, the lower carriage where Andrew is seated, gradually fills with passengers including one eccentric fellow who moves around randomly sprouting facts and figures out loud, including details relating to the train they are travelling on, a ‘Tangara’ - an Aboriginal word meaning ‘To go’ - and cricketing stats relating to Bradman and Tendulkar.
Tension rises when, still on the train, Andrew gets a phone call on his clunky old phone from his mobile provider’s representative, Sivakumar, also of Indian extract. In a moment of outrage, Andrew puts Sivakumar on speaker, and uses the now crowded bottom deck of his carriage as a captive audience in a moment of triumphant catharsis.
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2,250 words (sci-fi, fantasy)
Synopsis: In the Earth’s etheric realm, Butan Brxan, a senior winged prescient in the Clan of Oma, is assigned Merith under his mentorship. Merith is a primorde or karmically pure soul, created only eight days before in Veruson, the mother planet.
Butan and Merith are required to work together, to serve the mission of their Clan to watch over and tend to the soul needs of humanity in their precinct. However, it appears Merith is an anomaly, with human desires Butan finds himself drawn to, in breach of his own vows and responsibilities.
In the knowledge that such dereliction of duty carries the maximum penalty of etheric law under the jurisdiction of the Seraph - overseer of soul guardianship on Earth - Butan acts without taking heed of the risks involved.
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2,000 words
Synopsis: Tash "knows" things in advance; a gift she inherited from her grandmother who lived in the bush and used to sing with the butcher birds. But this knowing also brings its difficulties. There are times where she would rather not know and be able to experience life as it unfolds, with the innocence of a normal person.
Tash’s diary is her way of managing her prescience. By pouring it all down on the page, she can keep her knowing at bay, and find some peace of mind. Most of the time anyway.
When Tash meets Mal, her second sight and matters of the heart come together in a powerful and poignant way; with consequences that could never be less than dramatic or life changing.
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8,500 words
Synopsis: Malik Yohansson - singer and music teacher - awakes in a horizontal state of sensory deprivation, able to see only through a narrow slit above his eyes and with his hearing intact, although his ears are blocked by some kind of waxy substance. His body is paralysed and seemingly embalmed inside some kind of organic, aromatic cocoon. The air is thick with fragrances of pollen and flora, which are strangely arousing for him; in fact, which keep him in a permanent state of sexual arousal.
From his strange cocoon, with only his senses to rely on, Malik is visited daily by a coterie of peculiar ‘she’ creatures who appear to be hybrids of human women and queen bees. In this helpless state of involuntary arousal, he is used as fodder for their insatiable sexual appetites.
With only his wits and his perfect sense of musical pitch to rely on, Malik must observe and learn in order to deal with his predicament. With the intervention of the repentant Sarafiini, who must battle local denial of the fact that her husband has gone missing; a mind-boggling history emerges of murder, lust, greed and mead in the Greek Dodecanese islands.
NOVELS | NOVELLAS
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120,000 words
Synopsis: In the second millennium, the results of a cosmic experiment involving planets from different solar systems begin to emerge.
These planets, among them Quox, Alleria, Creth and Blue, representing different stages of evolution, are united by their participation in the Holy Mahyniyah’s quest for all-embracing knowledge. But awareness of this is inacessible to the vast majority of these planet’s inhabitants, as the forces of darkness threaten to destroy all traces of the Child of Light.
In Creth, on the great southern island of Eusis, a small group is formed of committed individuals, warriors of the Child Light, who attempt to reconnect with the soul world, to forge a bridge between their fallen nature and the tesmic realms, learning from the ways of Blue and boldly attempting to save the divine experiment.
‘Regulus’ is born, the group of seekers named after a great sun of incalculable energy and illumination.
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43,300 words (Fantasy)
Synopsis: In 2012, Australis Boringeallis, meaning “Great southern land of boredom”, is miraculously saved from extinction, while every other inhabited land mass on earth is plunged forever to the bottom of their oceans or seas.
Forty years later in 2,052, “Australis Boringeallis Flotsam” or “Flotsam” for short, has all but destroyed its privileged opportunity to host a renaissance of the creative human spirit. A poet, Angus Rufus, accused of word crime and hunted by the Republican Guard’s crack word crime detective, Sas Havlo, leads the escape of a team of creatives self-named the ‘Stormtroopers of the Word’, to the desert-with-no-name in the scorched heart of Flotsam.
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45,500 words
Synopsis: Aaron Hudson waits harrowingingly for his fiancé Angeli Thomson to return from work on the evening he must tell her he cannot marry her. The wedding is only five weeks away, with printed invitations on the kitchen table ready to be posted. Angeli is normally home by 5:30 pm but on this occasion she is unexpectedly late.
The story unveils everything going on in Aaron’s mind between 6:00 pm and 9:30 pm, sitting in a lounge room chair, as he agonisingly waits for her to come through the front door. Another woman has entered his life, whose name he has known for less than a week. Logically, he cannot believe what he feels driven to do, yet he must face the reality of it.
If he simply says and does nothing, nothing need or will change - invitations will go out, arrangements will stand, the wedding will go ahead. But the sense of destiny is overpowering. It is a fork in the road with no turning back and no guarantees.
BIOGRAPHY
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40,500 words
Synopsis: Thirty-three (33) tales, short, tall and true from one man’s whacky treasure trove - Synopsis: A collection of stories from one man’s whacky treasure trove of life experience around the suburbs and traps of Sydney, and other parts of New South Wales and Victoria, Australia.
For example, the author’s one and only stage performance as a magician, aged 11 years, before six hundred fellow students at Stanmore Public School; a disastrous romantic first weekend away at Avoca Beach on the NSW central coast; or trapped aboard a floating car on Anzac Parade near the Sydney Cricket Ground, during a torrential downpour.
These are just three of the mind-boggling episodes captured here for posterity by a self-confessed Mr Magoo of love affairs, social occasions and various escapades, even the most mundane activities.
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81,500 words
Synopsis: Join the author on an intimate, ‘archaeological dig’; sifting through his nearly four decades of work and life experience (and counting), grappling with the questions, “Who are you ... and what have you done with your life?”
At first glance, ‘My Stupid Career’ is an examination of career, and what can happen when we go in search of what we wish to do - or end up doing for a job. On another level, it takes a close look at traditional notions of ‘success’ applied to our attempts to answer the question, ‘What do you do?”
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250,000 words
Synopsis: Ron Bosanquet’s father, Eric - ‘Peter’ as he was nicknamed in the war - was among the Australian troops at Gallipoli, stationed there for the duration of the 1915-16 campaign. Time and time again, he risked his life to save the lives of his fellow countrymen injured in the fight against the Turkish soldiers.
Peter returned to Australia, where he acquired a parcel of land as a returned soldier. In time, this became a thriving citrus farm in the NSW Riverina district, plus a home he shared with wife ‘Dolly’ and their two sons, Philip and Ron.
Growing up on this farm at Yoogali, four kilometres east of Griffith, from 1929 to the 1950s, Ron was born with a gift for ‘seeing’ the energetic aspect of nature - including human beings, animals and plant life.
This would serve him well throughout his life; and was preparation for more than twenty years under the guidance of a special mentor, a man who mysteriously appeared in Ron’s life in the late 1950s. This adventure took Ron all over the world, returning to found a school in Sydney’s north dedicated to exploring a new way of being – a living, breathing teaching for mind, body and soul.
This book is a tribute to Ron on many levels, but most importantly, the life of service he embraced and honoured, and gave his all to in the name of Love.
PICTURE BOOKS
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12,500 words
Synopsis: A salute to lesser-known great electric guitar solos from the seventies onwards in the form of ‘moment by moment’ descriptions throughout each piece.
FOREWARD: This paean to the electric guitar is a distillation of my five decades of listening and thrilling to guitarists and guitar solos. Also, as a fan of much music that is distinctly non-commercial, my choices may strike a note of interest among devotees with a foot in both the avant-garde and more mainstream camps.
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11,000 words
Synopsis: If you’ve ever wondered what the purpose of dribble is, when you should dance the Nosferatu, how a crocodile blows its nose or how to explain that murky, flat balloon, dead flower, depressed, worn out feeling that hits on Mondays – this is the book for you.
FOREWARD (extract): ‘The Salami Tosser’s Handbook of answers to life’s great questions’ represents the somewhat idiosyncratic, online collaboration of three close friends - Emma Wertheim, Jan Denham and myself. I am blessed to have Emma as my partner, and Jan as my sister.
The three of us share a certain sense of humour which I believe springs from a deep well of pathos concerning the human condition; in particular, questions about the meaning of human existence and being.
Over a period of a year or so between 2004 and 2005, mostly on Fridays I recall, one of us would email a question and the other two would respond. As these questions are somewhat short on definitive answers, I believe we “jumped in the deep end” of this existential well, exploring what you might call profound absurdity.
Hopefully the reader will derive amusement from the Handbook’s thirty questions and answers - but also they will be touched, ironically enough, in a meaningful way.
ARTICLES | ESSAYS
LivingNow magazine
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November 2011, 1,100 words
Synopsis: We live in a timeless age; but not in the sense of the fulfillment of human potential. Literally, we say we ‘have no time’. To reclaim the timelessness that has marked great cultures and civilisations of the past, we need to learn how to cultivate inner stillness in the midst of our busy lives.
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October 2012, 1,550 words
decade of the twenty first century, most of us need the dexterity of a multiple armed Hindu deity just to get through the day. As multi-tasking juggernauts, we Google, email, text, blog, speak, code, read, listen, tweet and update our social media pages; all at the same time, even on the one device, regardless of time or place. It’s like Parkinson’s Law on steroids.
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June 2013, 1,000 words
Synopsis: For human beings, animals and plants, breathing is essential for life. However, breathing is an involuntary process. For human beings this is both a blessing and a challenge. In the realm of spirituality, this automatic nature can act to sustain what the Armenian mystic G.I.Gurdjieff called mankind’s “waking sleep”. Learning to breathe consciously offer ways to experience presence and new being in the technology-driven acceleration of modern life.
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April 2016, 1,300 words
Synopsis: Self-care has always been important. However, despite scientific and technological advances which have streamlined many day-to-day activities and have the potential to prolong life and well-being, self-care today has become more important than ever.
In her “Radical Self-Care – A manifesto”, Yoga teacher Kate Alexandra says that in order to prevent stress-related health issues today, self-care must become radical. This means learning to tune in, or listen to your innermost self in order to understand what your unique, individual brand of radical self-care means. This is an ever-evolving process; a journey more than a destination.
Radical self-care is part of learning to benefit from the time and labour saving potential of technology in the age of information; to be able to stop and devote more recreational time and energy to the most important things in life.
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May 2012, 1,600 words
Synopsis: Discusses the question and nature of creativity and the key it holds to our future as we enter the second decade of the 21st century. The ideas of British creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson are used as a starting point.
Drawing from the history of science, famous thinkers and insights on the topic (Einstein, Da Vinci, Arthur C. Clarke, Edward de Bono) the nature of creativity is explored, and the case is persented that we haven’t lost our creativity – it just needs to be harnessed in a new way for the benefit of all, and as a key aspect of a sustainable future.
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June 2013, 1,500 words
Synopsis: Examines the broader meaning and significance of “language” today - beyond its association with race, nationality and ethic origin – to embrace different systems and worldviews.
Argues that when we drop our preconceptions about what is “true” or “false”, “real” or “unreal”, a world brimming with possibility opens before us. We see that there is an amazing array of belief systems and views of the world, from science and religion to astrology, feng shui and chakra anatomy – each of which offer us a unique set of concepts, rules and vocabulary (a language) for engaging with the question of who we are and the world around us.
Ultimately, language is about communication between human beings. And so the real question becomes not what is “right” or “wrong” but what enriches our shared existence. May this conversation never end.
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August 2013, 1,500 words
Synopsis: We all need space – physical, psychological and spiritual. But in this age of information, virtual space can become as cluttered as our living rooms or our minds. By space clearing our physical and virtual clutter, according to ancient spiritual principles - we nurture body, mind and spirit.
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June 2016, 1,500 words
Synopsis: On 2nd June 2016, the Australian Government officially completed the repatriation of thirty-three Vietnam War veterans, civilians and dependents who lost their lives in the Vietnam War.
As a driver in one of the longest cortèges of hearses ever in Australia - watched live on national television - I was privileged to convey one of our Vietnam Vets along a route lined with thousands of people who turned out to show their respects.
My experience of this event and how I felt about the man I transported, was also to evolve into something unexpected. It became a homecoming on different levels.
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December 2014, 1,000 words
Synopsis: Being “time-poor” might be seen as an inevitable by-product of modern living. And yet taking our time poverty - or busy-ness - for granted, fails to acknowledge that how we choose to spend our time is the key question. In fact, we always have time. So when we say we “have no time”, this is really about a lack of quality in how we experience “the now”.
When we can understand time as a mental construct and time poverty as simply a state of mind, we see that the change we need must come from within. The more we learn how to marshal our inner resources to transform the way we experience our life, the more we embrace the power of now.
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April 2014, 1,300 words
Synopsis: Timothy Leary’s famous catchphrase from 1967 “Turn on, tune in, drop out” speaks to us again in this second decade of the 21st century. In today’s accelerating, distracted, “time poor” world we need to explore again what it might mean to turn on, tune in, drop out.
Maria Arpa’s book Mindfulness at Work - Flourishing in the Workplace describes her experience of transforming her life and career direction. For Arpa meditation and “mindfulness” allowed her to see what direction she needed to take, and what she needed to do to make it happen.
Cultivating stillness and presence in the moment are keys to our future in this age of information; liberating us from “time poverty” and making possible the “ethical norm” of creativity and mental excellence that Leary describes in his book “Chaos and Cyber Culture”.
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January 2015, 1,300 words
Synopsis: Vitamin J or JOY is an essential ingredient of a “soul food diet”, where experience nourishes our true self. Just as we need Vitamins A, B, C and D for a healthy body, so do we need Vitamin J for our spiritual well-being.
Experiences that lift our spirits, make us laugh or give us meaning or fulfillment, release Vitamin J for us, or “joie de vivre” as the French say - the joy of living. In today’s age of information, we should be vigilant not to lose touch with ourselves and the things that feed our soul; that add meaning and sparkle to life.
Authors Norman Cousins, Dr Kelly Turner and Anita Moorjani provide real life examples of the transformative, healing power of Vitamin J and the soul food diet.
InnerSelf newspaper
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June 2012, 850 words
Synopsis: There is more to chemistry than the beakers and Bunsen burners many of us recall from our high school days. Chemistry can also refer to the quality of energy each of us attracts or projects at any given moment. It is surprising how neglected the whole notion of personal chemistry and energy is, and its effect on the world around us, not to mention the responsibility we all bear for what we individually contribute.
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March 2012, 850 words
In 2012 our time poverty has reached epidemic proportions. How often do you hear someone say they “haven’t had the time”, or “ran out of time” or “time got away from me”. In today’s speed-driven, space-compromised, time-poor lifestyle, it is something we say we don’t have – and yet time is a measure of life itself. Our lifetime. So saying you don’t have it is a sobering confession.
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September 2012, 850 words
Being busy is nothing new. “Beware the barrenness of a busy life” warned Socrates, who was born around 470BC. The term “rat race” has also been with us since the 1930s, originating from images of a lab rat trying to escape a maze or a wheel with a lot of useless, self-defeating activity.
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March 2012, 1,250 words
The ideas of the Armenian mystic George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff (1866-1949) may at first glance seem far removed from a discussion of multi-tasking in the 21st century – and yet key elements of his teachings speak to us now with a striking relevance. Life is accelerating in 2012, so much so that the old days can seem like not very long ago – say two or three years at most, or even just last year. And it’s not just fun that makes time fly.
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April 2013, 880 words
The saying “The lights are on, but nobody’s at home” may have humorous origins, but the technology-driven acceleration of life has given it new relevance for us today. Now it might be seen as a sobering reminder to cultivate a sense of one’s authentic inner self in a busy world, where it is all too easy to get lost in the constant demand of competing priorities.
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September 2013, 850 words
“Life is a journey, not a destination,” said American icon of the free spirit, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882). It’s interesting to ponder what he might have said about the technology-driven acceleration of life in this second decade of the 21st century, where speed has become a measure of success.
So in today’s world of instant gratification – where we are accustomed to getting what we want without delay - what has become of the journey? If life truly is more about what happens to us along the way than just getting through a bucket list of to-do or must-have items, then it is important to explore ways to make sure we don’t lose touch with the unfolding, moment-by-moment nature of human experience.
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July 2013, 850 words
“Content” is very much the buzzword in today’s age of information. It refers to everything from a news bulletin to cancer research; video games downloaded to your mobile phone, laptop or tablet; online dating channels or the latest Scorsese film. The way we take it for granted certainly gives no hint of user-related problems, and the dis-content it may cause the human nervous system.
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December 2013, 850 words
At first glance, this query may resonate with childhood memories and well-meaning attempts by parents to provide an answer that satisfies a child’s curiosity (without giving too much away, perhaps!). However, it is also a multifaceted gem. The more deeply we look into it, the more it sparkles.
Insight magazine
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March 2010, 800 words
Always on some level, we choose. We are responsible for our life. However, the age of information that is now upon us has ushered in a whole new dimension of choice – with vast and far-reaching implications. Driven by an ever-advancing technological evolution, choice now confronts us more immediately and more extensively than ever before, without limitation of time and place.
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December 2011, 1000 words
More than a quarter of a century after the year made famous by the title of George Orwell’s landmark novel – what’s the verdict?
1984’s status among classics of literature is indisputable. But does hindsight reveal it to be more speculative fiction than futurology?
What is the nature of the world we inhabit today and does it bear any resemblance to the dystopian horrors under the dictatorship of Oceania?