This will hurt me...

The Tao of Charlie continues...

Mein Gott , it is Theme Thursday already! Is it just me, or are Thursdays rolling around far more quickly ever since I signed up to this thing? As with every week, I have before me a challenge to locate an image that I have taken and pen some words around a theme completely independent of my choosing. As always, I’m struggling. This week? EARTH . So I have a photo that I like to think is pretty representative of the Earth. You have your trees there. Some clouds. The ocean. Some sand and rocks. You’ve got seagulls and molluscs. Grass there in the background too. That’s the kind of Earth that I like. But I got to thinking, which always spells trouble. If I am from this planet called Earth, and I’m happy enough here, am I able to identify as an Earthling ? Let’s face it, I struggle enough with identity most of the time. I think of myself as being from Burnie , and I have no shame in telling people that. I also identify (proudly) as a North West Coaster . Of course, I’m a Tasmanian befo...

This is the concrete bunker that leads through to the carpark in Salamanca Square, which is built into an old quarry. I think that it looks suitably World War Two. On occasion I drift into moments of Zen-like prescience, peace and composure. Of course, these moments represent diversions from the reality of the daily grind of waking up, rustling up Weet-Bix for Henry, shower, dress, bus, work, lunch, work, bus, rustling up Henry dinner, washing children, sleep, rinse, repeat. What I want to know is whether Zen is fulfilment or exertion? Permanent or transitory? Arrival or journey? Would we want it to be permanent?

With Ezra's foray into The Sorrows of Young Werther , Henry was feeling a little put out so has started to explore Daddy's extensive library on the works of one G.W.F. Hegel. So Saturday afternoon, when Jen was out knitting, he starts on about Elements of the Philosophy of Right , and was asking me what defines the actualisation of freedom . I said that I doubted that history had an actualisation point and wanted to leave it at that, but then he started on about what it was to lead a ' moral life ', so I asked him what it was to lead an ' ethical life ', and then Ez got started on the unity of being and nothing which Henry confused with the master-slave dialectic and things were just getting out of hand, and I was rapidly getting a headache. We did however, find some common ground regarding the owl of Minerva, that is, its big eyes made it appear quite cute.

Can you believe that it is time for Theme Thursday already? Today we are not talking chocolate , toddlers , mess or ignominy . No, today we're dealing with ANIMAL . Now I could have posted a picture of a possum, numbat, wombat, wallaby or any other furry killing machine that roams our fair isle, but I figure that I'd use a far more deadly creature as an example of an animal . Some people - I know them as fools - have chosen to embrace that highfalutin idea that human beans are for some ungodly reason superior to animals. Of course, what these imbeciles seem to forget is that were are simple animals ourselves ! Anyone with a baby, toddler, teenage boy or Queenslander in their household could tell you this. Look at Henry [above]. One chocolate frog in the back of the car on a sunny day and all of a sudden it's Elagabalus meets Bacchus for a quick shandy in the Serengeti and we're down on all fours carrying on like a cat in heat. Fair dinkum, anyone who chooses to ...

It requires no profound insight to see that many people exhibit a tendency that confuses (or conflates) the concepts of morality and faith. Obviously, as a dude who is candid and impenitent about his atheistic outlook on life – yet still endeavours to conduct himself in a professional and (more importantly) ethical manner – it seems rather obvious to me that one does not need religious faith to lead a righteous and healthy life. Similarly, simply assuming religious faith on its own does in no way mean that someone is ethically sound (in fact, it often means quite the opposite). That said – and I’ll be frank with you (and howya goin’ Frank?) – I am aware that I can be a cold and callous bastard and have high demands on people, I know that. Sometimes it takes a nice bit of graffiti to soften my marble-like disposition . So, after seeing this amiable request (and I read it as a request) neatly drawn on the entrance to the ALP HQ on my way to work this morning, I vowed to try and ...