The Irish Renaissance
In times of crisis it is often easy to become stuck, frozen by the uncertainty of what the future holds. We can become trapped in our typically linear view of time and history, and forget to seek the wisdom of our collective experience. History can show us, if we examine it closely, without prejudice, that […]
Genius of the Northern Renaissance – Albrecht Dürer
If you were asked to name an artist of the Renaissance who was a superb painter, draughtsman, and skilled in science and mathematics, you would most likely think of Leonardo da Vinci. But there were others, and foremost among them was a German artist named Albrecht Dürer. Dürer was the leading artist of what is […]
The Political Ideas of Ancient Greece
A question we can reflect upon is whether we have achieved the best we can in terms of social form of organization. We’ve been told democracy is the apex of social development, and we’ve given up challenging this paradigm. The purpose of this article is to shed some light on different answers to that same […]
The Gutenberg Printing Press
The world before the printing press arrived was very different to the one we know today. There were very limited printing capabilities in Europe and China, such as woodblock printing, but these early methods required skilled craftspeople, were very slow and costly, and consequently did not flourish. There were few books, no publishers, no newspapers, […]
The Universe as an Answer
We often speak about the stars, the planets, the animals, the sky, the Earth, water or snow and we forget the real sense and meaning of the word Universe. Man asks himself questions about the whole of Nature, of which he himself is a part, but he tends to lose the central idea to which […]
The Alchemy of Paul Klee
Paul Klee was a Swiss-born German artist, who lived from 1879 – 1940. He is regarded today as one of the giants of early 20th Century modern art, alongside contemporaries such as Picasso, Matisse, Chagal, and Kandinsky. Not only was he a painter, but he was also an accomplished violinist and deeply passionate about using […]
Roman Home for Christmas
The austerity of winter has always had a profound impact on populations living in temperate climates. This may explain the popularity of Sun-worship rituals and the diffusion of megalithic structures constructed to receive a shaft of sunlight in their central chamber at dawn of the winter solstice. In traditional societies the month leading to winter […]
Buddhism and the Five Aggregates
Buddhism suggests that by understanding all aspects of ourselves, referred to as the aggregates, we can then control and direct ourselves to practice ‘karma yoga’ – an action which causes the least possible negative consequences for ourselves and others. These five aggregates, according to Buddhist teachings, define what a human being is, and like everything […]
Alexandria – A Culture of Tolerance and Solidarity
When we think of the great cities of the classical world we often think of Athens or Rome but one that shone just as bright was Alexandria. This Egyptian city which hugs the coast of the Mediterranean was founded by Alexander the Great and was famous for its reputation of discovering knowledge in all its […]
The 12 Days of Yule
If you ever wondered why there are ‘12 days of Christmas’, the answer most likely lies in the pagan celebration of the solstice, known as Yule. The word Yule is the anglicised form of the Norse word Jul (or Jōl), the name for the midwinter festival oriented around the shortest day of the year, the […]