It is only a few posts back that I asked (rather tongue-in-cheek) what was the purpose of spiders. Last night I watched a programme that – whilst not answering that question – did illuminate rather well the whole interconnectedness theme that permeates many of my posts in this blog. What is more, it also went beyond the focus that I tend to have – i.e. the way in which we are connected to others – to illustrate that this interconnectedness is really widespread across species.
Philosophical
It’s Not Just Me
This blog is predicated on the fact that there is a huge amount of ‘stuff’ that I don”t know – the quotation from Einstein sort of sums it up and I find it proven almost daily. Even so it is always comforting when there is some sort of independent corroboration in the form of someone else saying similar things – even if that does rather smack of confirmation bias.
Science And Spiritual Practices : Reconnecting through direct experience
Anyone who has trawled through this large list of “books I have read” will notice that there are some authors who appear frequently – Neal Stephenson, Terry Pratchett, Robert Harris – and others – and amongst the ‘serious” books are many by Rupert Sheldrake. There is a lot of repetition and cross-over within his books – but that is not surprising as what he is really outlining in all of them is his journey towards a very original worldview – and one that I, for one, can take on board as being not too far from my own.
The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena
A new author for me, but it is clear from the recent books on this list that there is a bit of a theme going on.
The Five People You Meet in Heaven
I read this very quickly – and it was both thought provoking and slightly disappointing! The central thesis resonates strongly with my own outlook which can be found throughout the blog entries that there are lots of interconnections in our lives that we know little about – I could link to some of the specific entries that explore this but it permeates so much – whether it is external events that impact on our lives or ourselves unwittingly causing a change for someone else there are lots of “unknowns”.
The Science of Meditation: How to Change Your Brain, Mind and Body
After a Rebus binge it is time for a ‘serious’ book – a return to non-fiction and the excellent Dan Goleman. Looking forward to exploring the “realities” of meditation and popular branches of that like mindfulness.
What Are Spiders For?
Can I just start this by saying that nowhere in this post will you find a definitive and precise answer to the question posed in the title. The poor spiders are chosen for investigation not because they are particularly relevant, nor because they have a great and mysterious purpose, but rather because there is one that has been web building outside our kitchen window for weeks and every time I do the washing up I am staring at it!!
Origin
Typical Dan Brown page turner. Good to read, easy to read – not too taxing!
The Long Cosmos
The next (and last) step (so to speak) in this rambling exploration of parallel worlds. Plenty of food for thought in the whole series – as long as you don’t require ‘answers’. Not that the reading date of this is approximate as I can’t remember precisely when I read it.
Biocentrism
Another ‘serious book’ – and one that was interesting for quite different reasons. I still don’t know what consciousness is – how it comes about, but this book gives an interesting – if perhaps slightly biased – view which attacks the mainstream physics view